As a long-time independent and optimistic voter, I am saddened by the recent Republican election for House Speaker.
He hoped that out of the chaos would emerge a conservative, right-wing leader willing to work across both parties to get things done. Instead, in Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, we have a far-right election denier calling for Democratic blood.
We see the world on fire around us and we continue this internal war that is tearing us apart. Although I am truly independent and like to examine both sides of an issue, I see the Republican cult as a clear and present danger to America.
I agree that the border and crime in our cities must be addressed, but absolutely nothing compares to the lack of truth and compassion that today’s Republicans embrace. The anti-democratic far right, wrapped in flag and religion, is dragging us down a dark path of destruction that my independent and Democratic colleagues and remaining free-thinking Republicans must stop.
Every election we hear that this is the most important election ever made. Guess what? 2024 really is!
Mark Lippman, Boca Raton
Hellish levels of desperation
The catastrophe in Gaza continues to grow until it reaches infernal levels of human anguish and despair. As death rains down, most of the millions of long-suffering people in Gaza are now helpless refugees fleeing from one bombed zone to another.
Large areas of residences and schools, mosques and hospitals have been reduced to rubble. Hospitals that survived the massacre were left without electricity and water, unable to care for the influx of new wounded or to turn on incubators and keep babies alive. Children must ask themselves: Am I about to die?
Around the world, people have become aware of how murderous and criminal the collective punishment being inflicted on Gaza residents is, but that perception eludes President Joe Biden and our Western allies, who are complicit in the war crimes committed. by an increasingly racist Zionist State. This regime, for decades before the latest Hamas attack, had violated one international law after another, including bans on settlement expansion, ethnic cleansing, arbitrary attacks, murders by extremist settlers, and other blatant forms of apartheid.
Why is Israel such a sacred cow in the United States? Surely part of the answer is the power of the Israel lobby and its allies. Whatever the reason, most Americans have not yet realized the utter barbarity of the attack on Gaza and the true undemocratic character of the extremist Zionist regime. Israel has brutally subjugated the Palestinian Arabs and, I fear, will ultimately reap the bitter fruit of its oppression.
Irwin Shishko, Delray Beach
‘Red Flag’ Distortions
Unfortunately, Governor Ron DeSantis is either misinformed or drastically mischaracterized Florida’s hazard protection law (“red flag”) in recent interviews.
He incorrectly stated that the law is only intended for people who make threats, not those experiencing mental health crises, and that it has been abused so that people can simply file a complaint and have someone’s firearms taken away.
The risk protection process was carefully designed to protect the constitutional rights of the person involved and was intended to protect people in crisis. Under a legal process, law enforcement can temporarily remove firearms and ammunition from a person who is considered a danger to themselves or others, while respecting their rights. Provides for a hearing before a judge and a court order.
In one county, which publishes its risk protection cases, the database of petitions filed since 2019 shows that more than half are “suicidal people.”
On NBC’s Meet the Press, the governor again stated that only an anonymous complaint is required. That is incorrect. At a time when reasonable citizens are seeking solutions, your repeated misinformation could cost lives.
Maria Swanson, Plantation
