Perhaps we all should see the stomach-turning results of Nikolas Cruz’s massacre
The Herald’s Sept. 1 editorial, “Parkland jurors can’t avert their eyes from the AR-15’s carnage. None of us should,” is precisely what we need. The jurors in the Parkland case have no choice but to see and hear about the carnage of that day in order to carry out their civic duties.
Every elected official who receives funds from the NRA should be required to see the images of all the children slain at Parkland, Uvalde and Sandy Hook.
As horrific as it would be for the families of the victims, perhaps it is time the public also sees these images to fully understand the importance of a ban on these weapons of war that shooters so easily and legally obtain.
Judy Fiol,
Pinecrest
Heed the law
Gov. Ron DeSantis deems it necessary to call a press conference touting that 20 people statewide were arrested because the state of Florida told them it was OK to vote, but then changed its mind. Previously, several people at The Villages admitted they voted twice.
Republicans have put up sham candidates to make sure their candidates are elected. Likewise, FPL contributed to a sham candidate. More recently, a Republican leader in Seminole County was jailed in a vote-siphoning case.
In these latter cases involving the Republican Party, we hear crickets from the governor’s office. Perhaps it’s time to stop making everything political and obey the law, regardless of the perpetrator’s political affiliation.
Art Young,
West Kendall
Worth the fight
President Biden’s Sept. 1 speech in Pennsylvania was a call to action, reason and national unity. He appealed to those in the Republican Party who still place love of country over party. This is in contrast to the MAGA-mania that rages as a visceral resentment that cannot be broached or reasoned with because of perceived and real wrongs so powerfully ingrained that it has blinded them from seeing the dangers of Big Lie candidates.
Such candidates run on fear and division. They promise to negate the will of the people by appointing a special slate of electors to cast their party’s losers as winners. They are committed to chicanery and madness, plunging a knife in the back of democracy. MAGA politicians are villains who disdain the truth, law and order, and the power of the vote. Those who support them are accomplices in their plan to end democracy.
It’s time to stop the hatred and division. It’s time to work across the aisle to improve the lives of all Americans and give our grandkids a future in which they can live with dignity, respect and hope; a world where they can read and say what they choose and be who they are without fear of reprisal or intimidation.
We either repudiate the politics of fear and hatred and put our trust in democracy, or we vanquish the hopes of all mankind and bury democracy as a failed experiment by flawed people who tired of striving for a more-perfect union.
Steve Talercio,
Hallandale
Fraud everywhere
After reading the Sept. 2 editorial, “Florida told them they could vote, then arrested them for it. Could DeSantis care any less?” it is clear Gov. DeSantis should go after real election fraud committed by his own party and not invent fraud by innocent individuals.
Perhaps he should start with the GOP chair in Central Florida, who was recently found guilty in a vote-siphoning scheme.
Phyllis Levy, Miami
Paper or plastic?
I recently flew from Miami to Albany, New York, and back. I could not help but notice all the single-use plastic being used aboard the plane. Nearly 2 million Americans fly each day; that’s a lot of plastic cups.
Why do airlines not use paper instead?
Patrick Pecoraro,
Miami Beach
Perpetual motion
A message to Charlie Crist:
Your constituents elected you to represent us in Congress. However, you just resigned from that post.
Looking for a better job, perhaps?
If you should become our next governor, will you quit on us again if a more appealing opportunity presents itself?
I will vote for you nonetheless, because the alternative repulses me, but certainly you must understand why many people consider you opportunistic and selfish.
David Halpern,
Miami
Death of an era
It’s too bad former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had to watch his life’s work of glasnost and perestroika be destroyed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who now rules Russia with an iron fist.
JoAnn Lee Frank,
Clearwater
This story was originally published September 3, 2022 at 3:24 PM.