Sarah Sanders right: Normal, crazy new poles

I watched neither President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address nor Gov. Sarah Sanders’ Republican rebuttal. I got the gist of Biden’s speech from news media, not so much about Sanders’, so I was happy to see Ingrid Jspancques’ recent prspaniseful commentspanry spanbout it. 

In what Jacques called Sanders’ most memorable phrase, the Arkansas governor argued that the “dividing line in America is no longer between right and left. The choice is between normal or crazy.”

I couldn’t agree more. But I think her implication was upside down.

You want crazy? Sanders should look in the GOP mirror. There are Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Jewish space lasers), Lauren Bobert (R-QAnon) and George Santos (R-almost as many lies as …). Then there’s Donald Trump (R-I won the election with 7 million fewer votes than what’s-his-name).

I could list a lot more, starting with a slew of Trumpian down-ballot election deniers.

I challenge your right-wing readers to name any Democratic officeholders who rise to those levels of lunacy. They are the normal ones.

Root for Ukraine, but stop spending on war

I have much sympathy for what the people in Ukraine are going through.

However, like lots of Americans, I am tired of the United States being the policeman of the world.

Americans are tired of sending money and sometimes troops to some faraway country, whether it be Vietnam, Ukraine or Iraq.

First, I really believe that if the United States had not stepped up and immediately given all this money to Ukraine, I do not think the Europeans would be much slower to give aid.

I have become extremely anti-war. One reason is I have seen the effects of war on relatives who have been in the military.

I have two uncles who I think had untreated post-traumatic disorder from World War II, a good war.   

My late husband was in Vietnam during the peak of the Vietnam War. He did not have to go out and shoot anyone due to his job there; he did not become involved in drugs. But he cried in front of the Vietnam memorial.

I have also traveled extensively and have seen what a country can do with out a big military.

Bottom line: Unless some country attacks the United States, whether it be Hawaii, Alaska or New York City, no war. Cut back on our defense department and bring most of our troops home from overseas.  

DeSantis not listening to Scripture in acting vs. transgender youth

With hurricanes increasingly devastating our state and sea level rise threatening to destroy the homes of millions of Floridians, it’s nice to know that our governor spends so much time, effort and money on the true No. 1 problem facing our state — transgender kids.

Not one to hesitate when he sees a real threat to the citizenry, Ron DeSantis has asked for and received data on treatment for all youth and adults attending our universities or who have received care at one of their facilities.

Let’s put aside for the moment the fact every major credible medical organization has called for age-appropriate and gender-affirming care for those needing it. Let’s instead look at the idea of the state having access to personal medical and mental health data to do with as they see fit.

How would you feel if this happened to you or one of your family members? Would you trust politicians to have your family’s best interests at heart? If your children or teens were suddenly denied medical or mental health care that they needed in such a situation, what would you tell them?

Governor, political ambition is fine. We all understand that. But doing this on the backs of a very vulnerable subset of children and youth is unconscionable and just plain cruel. Stop. Please, just stop before more damage is done.

Instead of political consultants and spin doctors, how about trying these simple words from Jesus: “As you do to the least of these, you do unto me.” That would be compassionate leadership.

Missing stats might help explain gaps between races

It’s Black History Month, so once again you give us the statistics regarding Black income, home ownership, incarceration rates, etc.

While I don’t dispute the fact there is a gap between Black and white as it regards these figures, what I do question is why you don’t print more statistics, such as average education levels, high school and college graduation rates and single-parent homes.

Many national and state laws have been passed since I was born in 1946 to codify the rights of minorities. Literally trillions of dollars have been spent to try to close the gap in the statistics you published.

So why does the gap still exist? The missing statistics may be part of the reason.

Remember Ohio: Brightline, freight trains pose hazards

Imagine freight trains overwhelming us with a lot of traffic and first responders having a difficult time saving our lives.

But there could be a more severe issue. The train could be hauling poisonous, harmful materials. Now a town in Ohio reportedly has toxic water due to a freight train wreck.

99.5% would be an excellent grade on a college exam. But if the freight train scores the same for no wrecks, that means for every 1,000 runs, the trains have five wrecks. And Brightline, a higher-speed passenger service getting ready to travel in this area, has the worst safety record in the United States.

From Homestead to Vero Beach, the coastal areas are densely populated. There is a track in south Palm Beach County that veers westerly, avoiding some population. But Brightline does not own it, so we get the freight.

If we get a toxic spill like Ohio just did, then we will be stuck living here because at that point our property will lose a lot of value. Who would want to buy our houses if our drinking water is contaminated?

Maybe we can mitigate the problem of first responders by building overpasses to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars?

Biden wrong repeatedly on foreign affairs

During his presidency, Barack Obama was quoted spans sspanying, “You cspann spanlwspanys depend on Joe Biden to mess things up.”  It now seems Obama was on target when you consider President Biden:

• Continues to support Ukraine with billions of dollars we must borrow, mostly from China.
• “Donated” $85 billion in U.S. military equipment to a terrorist regime due to his hasty, ill-advised, and bloody withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• Warned the China president about serious consequences if it provides arms to Russia during the Ukraine incursion.  I really don’t think Xi Jinping is shaking in his boots. Our country owes $1.08 trillion to China at interest rates ranging from 2.25% to 2.50%, which amounts to about $22.5 billion a year in interest alone.

Apparently, Biden does not have a clue concerning the real and ominous possibility that, because of his perceived weakness, presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi could be planning an alliance that would lead to war with the United States, which our military experts say we could not win. It is doubtful we would get adequate military support from our NATO allies in any such conflict.

Our once well-controlled southern border is routinely invaded by illegal immigrants, and Mexican cartels are shipping across enough fentanyl to kill our entire population, with some left over.

Biden’s recent trip to Ukraine, ostensibly to support President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was nothing but a shameful political photo op.  We learned Putin was given previous notice of the visit to assure there would be no attacks during the president’s brief stay.