Whale deaths, COVID, Haley on abortion, Congress, religious values

Haley, people have it right when it comes to abortion

Isn’t it interesting the only female in the Republican debates is Nikki Haley, and isn’t it also interesting she is the only one to suggest abortion rights be decided by consensus?

Consensus is by us, the Voters. Not the men who gather behind closed doors and decide what’s best for the “little woman.”

The topic of abortion should be a referendum on the ballot next year, but I suspect our governor is afraid to let his constituents decide. We can’t vote him out, but we can vote out the legislators who have enabled him.

Isn’t it time for Florida to return to being a purple state?

Anne Brakman, Vero Beach

Catholic: Antisemites have no place in America

Michelle Obama was not proud of America until her husband became president. I was always proud of our country until Barack Obama took over the Oval Office. 

Since then, except for Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House, America’s reputation has slid quickly into the quagmire of disrespect and international shame.

The behavior of the antisemites and pro-Palestinians is beyond insane. Their violent protests and attacks on Jews have only manifested their lack of class, their anti-tolerance, their anti-patriotism, their profound bigotry. They are the epitome of backwardness, reprehensibility and evil.

Hamas and other terrorists are always the initiators in war with Israel, but Israel gets blamed. This has gone on since the Jews came into existence. The reasons are stupid and without reason. That is why Israel has been designated as a haven for Jews, and, I am all for it.

Hamas and its supporters don’t care who they kill or maim. Savagery is their mantra, and that is the philosophy of all antisemites.  Those in America who maintain this hatred are free to leave America. We don’t need them or want them. They are of no use to America, bringing only shame on us.

I am Catholic, but I loudly shout: “Go Israel!”

Nancy Celano, Vero Beach

Science doesn’t link right whale deaths with wind surveys

A recent report on North Atlantic right whales is bringing attention to this critically endangered species. (“There are only 356 North Atlantic Right Whales left. Biased studies won’t save them,” TCPalm, Dec. 1)

In response to climate change, right whale habitat use has shifted along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, reproduction has slowed, and many whales have died or been injured from human activities — mainly fishing gear entanglements and vessel strikes — resulting in a species decline since 2010.

Wind energy is one important tool for providing carbon-free, clean energy that can reduce climate change impacts, particularly for protected species such as the North Atlantic right whale. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been clear that there is currently no scientific evidence linking recent large whale mortalities and ongoing offshore wind surveys.

The New England Aquarium is helping to support the responsible development of the offshore wind industry by conducting independent scientific research on vulnerable ocean species that reside in the future wind turbine areas. Our colleagues are also conducting important studies to assess the potential impacts of offshore wind on right whales.

We are deeply invested in finding solutions to protect right whales, and we encourage others to support measures grounded in science to ensure a long-term future for this species.

John Mandelman, PhD, is vice president and chief scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, Boston.

How can anyone think Congress is working hard for us?

Hilarious. Just hilarious.

”They’d like a Congress that actually keeps its promises. A Congress that acts on our problems here at home ― our worrying costs of living, our nonexistent border, our expensive health care that needs us to allow us to see real cash prices up front, our high suicide and drug addiction rates, our schools that parents no longer trust because they teach victimhood rather success and won’t be transparent.”

Now I don’t know where the person who wrote this has been for the past year or so, but if she thinks the current Congress has even tried to deal with any of those issues, she’s delusional.

In fact, the current Congress hasn’t even thought about those issues. But it has given us not one, but two, speaker nomination circuses. And rather than deal with high inflation or anything that might improve ordinary Americans’ lives, it gives us “investigations” into the FBI (because all the agency does is investigate conservative Republicans) and Hunter Biden (because, why not?).

But one has to really admire its work in reducing the salaries of people its members don’t like to $1. Maybe that’s their attempt at stemming high inflation?

Will folks be impressed with the GOP Congress when it shuts the government down? And it will, regardless of the consequences.

How can one praise for the new House speaker, Mike Johnson; a man who believes the world is 6,000 years old and who seems to think the Bible should be our only legal system? I wonder which Bible he’s referring to.

Joseph Desmond, Vero Beach

Don’t forget COVID; never give up your rights

Well, look at this: Joe Biden wants to pardon all the service men and women fired because they wouldn’t get the shot. And police departments across the country are trying to do the same thing.

They want us to forget how wrong they were about COVID.

They want us to forget that they lied to our faces for over a year. They want us to forget that they let Black Lives Matter and Antifa burn down the streets while they told us to skip holidays with our loved ones and to “social distance.”

They want us to forget how they closed the schools, businesses and our houses of worship. Some even closed beaches, but kept pot shops, liquor stores and box stores open while the mom-and-pop stores had to close.

Worst of all, they want us to forget that thousands of hardworking, competent people either lost their jobs or were forced to take a vaccine they didn’t want.

They want us to forget that, and if we do, they will do it again.

It’s only a matter of time before they find a new reason to trample your rights and your freedoms for the so-called “greater good” (a Communist talking point).

I’m one of the Americans my so-called POTUS said was the reason for the pandemic because I wouldn’t get vaxed. Remember, “this is a pandemic of the unvaxed.” I also wouldn’t wear a mask because I knew they didn’t work.

China is now squawking about a new disease. It’s an election year; how convenient. If this doesn’t work, it will be a climate emergency.

Wake up, folks; don’t give up your rights again or ever.

Jan Alfiere, Hobe Sound

Your choice: Vote for freedom or dictatorship

America is at the crossroads of continuing our democratic way of life or of choosing to live under one-man rule: in short, a dictatorship. 

It is almost beyond our imagination that one individual could prey upon and influence enough individuals to turn what Ronald Reagan called a bright, shining city on a hill with a nod to the world’s greatest democracy into a dictatorship form of governance.

There is a solution, however. It is a four-letter word: Vote. 

It’s almost too easy for Donald Trump to dupe his followers, as those closest to him have recently tried to warn us. He has been ignoring the law, morals and most of our institutions for more than a generation.

He has an unusual capacity to deny the truth, nonetheless gaining the confidence of millions through his machinations and deceitful rhetoric.

Yes, we may have a very poor border policy at present perhaps, but to mislead the country, the entire nation, at every turn to gain power? Well, that’s just un-American.

As we have seen in other countries, power is indeed an aphrodisiac and it is pursued with vigor. Shame on us if we do not pursue freedom with the same vigor.

America goes to the polls next November, and if the majority of Americans vote for democracy, we may indeed, when all is said and done, the votes having been counted, still be able to enjoy that which Alexis de Tocqueville defined as the greatest of America’s attributes and what is at stake: the art of living free:

“Nothing is more wonderful than the art to live free; however, nothing is harder to learn than how to live free,” he said.

Roy Bickford, Vero Beach

Beware unintended consequences of gun regulations

I own two guns, among the one-third of 300 million Americans who own guns.

I don’t belong to the NRA, nor am I a strong advocate for everyone to have a gun, but I do admire the Founding Fathers for adopting the Second Amendment.

They had the foresight and knowledge to understand that at the time of our revolution, if guns were previously banned, we would never have been able to win our freedom from England. Why? Because all those fighters at the start fought with their own weapons. We had no military, just a bunch of citizens armed to protect locals from Indians and to hunt for food. Ban the guns and there would have been no opposition to the English.

Even today with mass shootings, gun owners are like Ivory soap: 99.9% would never shoot at another human except in self-defense or invasion. I doubt any foreign country would ever consider invading the United States, for they could be opposed by more than 100 million armed citizens, a pretty good defensive unit.

If we ever lose our freedom, the right to govern ourselves, freedom of movement, press, etc., it will be because we voluntarily gave up the right to bear arms; we banned guns. We allowed another government, a political party or a small group to appoint a dictator because we had no means of defense other than our military, which is controlled by politicians.

Be wary of those that advocate banning firearms, for there could be unintended results.

Edward Marasi, Port St. Lucie

Trump’s defense actions a tragicomedy

After seven years of claiming Russia had zero influence on his 2016 campaign, on Nov. 28, Donald Trump’s attorneys filed documents with the courts that explain how he was acting to save the election from Russian interference.

The documents went on to explain Trump’s intelligence community was incompetent and politically biased and Trump alone recognized the threat. The document goes on to justify Trump’s action as saving the election and as president was his No. 1 priority.

This is actually what Trump’s defense will be: Do not listen to those incompetent, politically biased intelligence hacks I hired.

If the stakes were not so high, this would be a comedy.

Of course, this does not explain Trump’s call to Georgia or the fake electors, but let’s address one scheme at a time.

Don Whisman, Stuart

Option for women upset with transgender competition?

I read today that another (former man) self-declared transgender swimmer won a women’s champion race. Are you surprised?

As a man, he would not have ranked in the top 50 in the men’s competition. Many of the women competitors voiced dismay. Many nonathletic people are also dismayed.

Ladies, might I suggest, that when you line up for the start of a race and the command “Go!” is given, you stay in place. A transgender woman will be forced to compete against herself. When she is finished, alone and in first place, one of the several women still lined up can shout, “Ready, set, go” and their race will begin … just among women.

Let the judges sort that out.

Jim Grant, Jensen Beach

Does industrial military complex fit our nation’s values?

Here’s yet another assertion that America was founded on Judeo-Christian morality.

While the first Census of 1790 listed 700,000 slaves among 3.9 million “people of the book,” 15,000 indigenous people were not counted at all.

By 1860, this land of 28 different Protestant denominations, a small-but-thriving Jewish community and a steadily growing number of Roman Catholics were 31,443,322, with 3,953,762 slaves.

Now, is it “Judeo-Christians” who are stringing razor wire across the Rio Grande River? Who dropped napalm, Agent Orange and cluster bombs on tiny countries halfway around the world?

If we truly believe in creating life, why are we spending so many billions of dollars on methods of destroying this entire, wondrous planet while cutting funds for food stamps, medical care, education, etc.?

Helen Frigo, Jensen Beach