I worked 28 years at Fort Lauderdale High as a language arts teacher with 15 years as department chair. I left in part due to illness and extreme anxiety caused by the pressure of teaching up to 42 students if they were honors or advanced courses, which is how schools bypass class size limits. Only a “core” class can be limited to 25 students.

I enjoyed teaching, loved my students and had great camaraderie with my peers. It was the school and district administration that caused anxiety and stress-related illness.

Next year, I heard, Broward teachers are expected to pay part of their insurance in the range of $400 to $600 and $750 per dependent. In a county of Broward’s size, one would think there would be enough money to pay teachers’ insurance premiums. And from what’s taking place with the district’s offer of a 0.5% raise, which I consider an insult, many excellent teachers are looking to go to Palm Beach or Miami-Dade counties, where salaries for the same years of teaching are at least $10,000 to $15,000 more a year.

If I were a Broward parent, I would be disturbed by the treatment of my children’s teachers and might think about moving to be sure my child would be better educated by pleasant, caring educators.

— Christopher A. Beaulieu, Ed.D., Fort Lauderdale

Keep after Uthmeier

Please accept my appreciation for your investigation of allegations that Gov. Ron DeSantis had money from a state Medicaid settlement moved to the Hope Florida Foundation through a PAC called Keep Florida Clean to defeat the 2024 recreational marijuana ballot question. There are serious allegations of money laundering and wire fraud.

Coincidentally, DeSantis’ former chief of staff, James Uthmeier, led the Keep Florida Clean PAC. Furthermore, Uthmeier has become state attorney general and the momentum to investigate this issue seems to have waned in the Legislature.

The Sun Sentinel reported that Uthmeier obtained a $100,000 adjunct professor contract to teach two hours a week at the University of Florida — far more than other adjuncts. Placing a person possibly under investigation as attorney general and further compensating him appears to be a blantant attempt to end the investigation. I thank the Sun Sentinel for keeping this in the news. Do not stop investigative reporting until this is impartially investigated.

— Steven Pomerantz, Plantation

Uthmeier and ethics

It was revealed that Attorney General James Uthmeier was given a position as an adjunct professor of law at UF that pays him $100,000 to teach two courses. I can only hope he’s not teaching legal ethics.

— George Mersinger, Miramar

No higher priority

In the 2022 midterms under President Joe Biden, Republicans took back Congress. Polls showed that democracy’s perceived deterioration resonated with voters, but Democrats went full throttle on women’s reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That flawed strategy and other misguided decisions set the stage for Donald Trump’s return.

With Trump back, the threat to democracy is greater than ever. Democrats would be wise to learn from past strategic errors and focus on the relentless assault on the constitutional order by a president seeking absolute power. There’s no higher priority in the 2026 midterms.

But even spot-on political strategies are futile if electoral oversight is in the hands of conspiracy theorists like Kurt Olsen, the White House Director of Election Security and Integrity. Election “rigging” is no longer fringe rhetoric, it’s now official policy.

— Jane Larkin, Tampa

Please submit a letter to the editor by email to letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com or fill out the online form below. Letters may be up to 200 words and must be signed with your email address, city of residence and daytime phone number for verification. Letters will be edited for clarity and length.

Boca Raton has long prided itself on civic engagement and respect for residents. Passionate debate is healthy. Disagreement is part of democracy. But when the process itself feels compromised, something deeper is at risk.

This moment is not about personalities or politics. It is about process, transparency and the values that define our community.

From the beginning, the proposal to re-develop the downtown government campus felt off track. Still, I remained engaged, evaluated the options presented, and believed that if the project were to move forward, Terra/Frisbie (now represented as One Boca) offered the strongest proposal available.

One principle, however, never changed for me: the people’s right to vote on their own public land. I have held that belief since the Mizner Park and Wildflower referendums; Boca residents have insisted on having a voice in decisions shaping our city for generations. Whether one supports this project or not, residents deserve a voice when it comes to land that belongs to them.

It is also important to remember that this proposal did not begin as a 7.8-acre plan. The City Council initially envisioned a 31-acre development project on public land. That changed because residents paid attention, spoke up and ultimately preserved Memorial Park, proof that community engagement works.

My confidence in the project began to erode with the approval of misleading ballot language approved by four of five council members. The lack of neutrality was surprising and deeply disappointing. What has followed has only intensified those concerns.

Residents are now being inundated with messaging through mailers, television and text campaigns that are misleading at best and false at worst. The project is repeatedly described as the “Downtown Government Campus Project,” framed as expanding green space and saving Memorial Park. That narrative is simply not accurate. Memorial Park was preserved because residents demanded it.

Equally important, taxpayers — not the development partners — are funding the government campus. The city has already spent approximately $17 million on an office building for staff, and public funds will finance the civic components promoted in One Boca’s campaign messaging. Meanwhile, the developers’ primary role now would be constructing a private, transit-oriented development adjacent to the Brightline station.

Even more troubling has been the tone of the campaign itself. Rather than relying on clear facts, messaging has increasingly leaned on emotional appeals, including the use of veterans and symbolic imagery designed to pull at residents’ heartstrings. Our veterans deserve to be respected, not used as marketing tools in a commercial development campaign. Emotional persuasion should never replace transparent information.

Public-private partnerships require trust, transparency and shared values. Without those, the foundation is unstable.

This moment is bigger than one project. It is about whether misleading narratives shape public decisions, whether residents can trust how public land is handled, and whether Boca Raton’s long-standing values still guide our actions.

For me, this has been deeply disappointing. Not because of disagreement, but because it feels like a departure from the standards our city has worked decades to uphold.

Boca Raton deserves better than spin. It deserves better than confusion. It deserves honesty and respect for the people who call it home.

For these reasons, I cannot support moving forward under the current circumstances. This is not about resisting change or opposing progress; it is about insisting on a process worthy of our community.

On March 10, I will be voting no on Question 2, because Boca Raton deserves decisions grounded in truth, clarity and the full confidence of its residents.

Andrea Levine O’Rourke is a 47-year Boca Raton resident and former Boca Raton City Council member.

Our city is at a critical point, both physically and fiscally. Our 100-year-old municipal golf course needs major renovations and updating; the clubhouse needs some loving care. The historic city hall annex — a major historic contributor to our downtown — now sits empty but could once again be functional. At the beach, our empty pool is a sad example of decades of neglect. Our current charter lease limits make public-private investment nearly impossible.

The hard truth is that clinging to the past and fearing the future cannot fix leaking roofs or flooding greens. We are facing a looming financial crisis that we cannot ignore. The Florida Legislature is considering two bills that could devastate our city’s budget: one that could cut nearly $8.5 million from our property taxes and another that would slash over $16.2 million from our general fund. This is a potential $24.7 million hit to the services you rely on every day. Cities all over Florida are facing this devastating legislation. There are no provisions to replace those funding sources.

Ballot questions 2 and 3 are the keys to our revitalization. Currently, our charter restricts lease terms to 30 years at the beach and 20 years for other city properties. No serious partner will invest the funds needed to prepare a presentation to a city. With no possible way of knowing if it can even be done, it simply won’t happen. By voting yes, we update these terms to “up to 99 years,” making modernization possible while guaranteeing that the city retains ownership and public access.

A yes on Question 2 will allow the city to explore possibilities at the beach. Years of neglect ruined our city pool, the pool in which we all swam, me since 1967. It was a major loss for the city. We now have a huge gaping hole. We need to explore what can be done at the beach, from keeping it green to adding some retail, a splash zone and some amenities for our residents. The referendum contains a ban on hotels and lodging at the beach, which guarantees that, despite the opposition’s assertions, the beach will never be privatized. Our residents will always be welcome.

A yes on Question 3 will present an opportunity to transform our golf course into a world-class, profitable waterfront destination. It will also be forever a municipal, public course. It is deed-restricted to remain public forever.

We must also restore faith in our representative form of government. You elect your City Commission to do the hard work of vetting experts and making professional decisions. These amendments delegate the authority to negotiate these complex leases to your elected officials, while holding us accountable to the results.

Finally, we must address basic stability. We have been without a permanent city manager for over two years. A yes on Question 4 forces the Commission to fill vacancies within 90 days, ensuring we have the professional leadership required to run a modern city. Questions 1 and 5 are essential “housekeeping” measures that bring our charter into the 21st century by reflecting how our elections and public safety services actually function today.

We cannot allow fear to dictate our future. We have new families moving here every day, eager to make their own memories. They deserve a city that works. Let’s choose progress over neglect. Let’s get the facts, ignore the fear, and vote yes for the future of Lake Worth Beach.

Betty Resch is mayor of Lake Worth Beach.

When the secretary of defense uses phrases like “death and destruction from the sky” and “vaporized,” he sounds as if he’s playing a video game with no concern for loss of life.

I have questions about the attack. What is the goal? Why, just days before this military operation against Iran, did the FBI director fire dozens of agents in counterintelligence and international terrorism units? Won’t that leave us open to attack? What happened to peace through diplomacy and strength?

— Rosemary Blumberg, Plantation

Chilling and reckless

The Sun Sentinel’s hysterical editorial (“Trump’s impulsive act of warmongering,” March 3) advances spurious and conflicting theories about his motivation in waging war, among them that “Israel and Saudi Arabia put him up to it” or that the war is a “distraction” from the Epstein files or his poor poll numbers.

Especially chilling and reckless is the accusation that Trump “confides more in the Israeli government than in our own.” The editorial alleges that the president’s goal is “regime change,” yet he clearly laid out a series of goals, including destroying Iran’s ability to employ ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, and to fund its terrorist operations.

Challenging the administration’s decision to undertake war is legitimate. But employing scatter-shot and dubious allegations against the president is not.

— Jonathan Rubin, Deerfield Beach

Had enough yet?

The Department of Defense, organized to defend the U.S. and our allies’ safety, went through a name change by the present administration to the Department of War. As that baby grew, we initiated more aggressive and threatening actions, not only to countries that don’t wish us well, but toward our nearest and dearest allies.

In the past week, the Department of War bombed an elementary school for young girls. The last body count was at least 114 children.

Had enough? What are you going to do about it?

— Randy Lifshotz, Fort Lauderdale

America had to act

While the U.S. and Israel didn’t technically start the war in Iran, their goal is to end Iran’s shadow warfare against us, once and for all.

Iran was in an unconventional nuclear shadow war with us for years. We knew they wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate us when they were ready. We had to destroy their military capabilities and eliminate their threat of nuclear weapons, to protect our ourselves and our allies.

No one likes war. I hate it. A war begets war, retaliation, violence, trauma, destruction and loss of life. Most of us didn’t want this attack, but we must cling to the hope of a just and speedy outcome.

Our prayers are with the safety of our servicemen and any innocent lives that are taken.

— Roberta Chaleff, Tamarac 

Sincere condolences

I extend my condolences as we grieve the elimination of the Iran terror regime’s leadership cadre and sinking of virtually the entire Iranian Navy (“Trump’s impulsive act of warmongering,” March 3).

As you channel the right wing’s most formidable anti-semite Tucker Carlson, why don’t you give him a byline on your editorial page?

When you write that Trump “confides more in the Israeli government, his war partner, than in our own,” you confirm that the Sun Sentinel is the absolute top choice for anyone who wants to know what Jews are up to. What’s next at your assignment desk? Speculation that Jews are poisoning the Biscayne Aquifer?

— Russel Pergament, Boynton Beach

Please submit a letter to the editor by email to letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com or fill out the online form below. Letters may be up to 200 words and must be signed with your email address, city of residence and daytime phone number for verification. Letters will be edited for clarity and length.

At the county courthouse in Tallahassee, across the street from the state Capitol, what it says is that someone is suppressing a grand jury report that the people of Florida deserve to read.

That someone might just be Florida’s attorney general.

The grand jury report, known as a “presentment,” concerns the $10 million in Medicaid money that was laundered into Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign to defeat the 2024 initiative to legalize recreational marijuana.

That amendment received nearly 56% of the vote, but it failed because constitutional amendments need 60% to pass in Florida.

About Hope Florida

It’s an open secret, effectively confirmed by courthouse sightings of likely witnesses and subsequent choruses of “no comments,” that a grand jury has been probing the Hope Florida Foundation scandal, so named because the money went through First Lady Casey DeSantis’ prized charity.

There’s no showing that she arranged that, but James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ chief of staff at the time, chaired the political committee, Keep Florida Clean, that spent the laundered money.

Rep. Alex Andrade, the Pensacola Republican whose subcommittee investigated the diversion, publicly accused Uthmeier of wire fraud and money laundering, which he denied.

Uthmeier is now Florida attorney general, appointed to a vacancy by DeSantis, and is up for election this fall.

Florida law allows at least temporary concealment of a presentment that isn’t accompanied by an indictment. Anyone it criticizes can object to its publication, which keeps it secret until a judge decides whether to release it. There’s no deadline, so if this presentment involves Uthmeier, it could remain hidden until after the election, if not forever.

Uthmeier, Andrade and courthouse officials all deferred inquiries from a public interest group, the Florida Center for Governmental Accountability, in ways that implied a presentment exists. If there weren’t one, they could say so.

Make it public

If there is one, it needs to be made public. One reason is to kick-start Senate action on legislation the House passed 116-0, Andrade’s HB 593, to prohibit the sort of intrigue that diverted the $10 million. Sadly, the Senate shows zero interest in Andrade’s bill.

The money was in a $67 million settlement with Centene, a company the state claimed had overbilled for Medicaid services. The DeSantis administration demanded that $10 million of the settlement be set aside for the Hope Florida Foundation.

Andrade’s bill bars any future third-party diversions from money refunded to the state. It forbids officials from coercing anyone else to make political contributions, curbs excessive travel and eliminates an existing provision allowing the governor to appoint non-Florida residents to university boards. It’s all good, but only if both houses pass it.

Federal money comprises about two-thirds of Florida’s Medicaid budget, which provides care to more than 4 million people. There should have been a federal investigation into the $10 million diversion.

DeSantis and Uthmeier have been crowing over reports that claimed federal prosecutors were not interested in pursuing the case.

Nonetheless, the state sent $10 million back to Washington, meaning some of Florida’s own money went into the reimbursement. Shevaun Harris, acting administrator of the Agency for Health Care Administration, told a Senate committee that was done “in an abundance of caution” to “avoid any future liability or litigation.”

Many millions plundered

All told, according to the Tampa Bay Times, the DeSantis administration plundered an additional $27 million from state agency budgets for an advertising campaign against the marijuana amendment.

There appears to be no law expressly forbidding the use of public funds to influence voters. If not, there should be.

Meanwhile, Uthmeier needs to explain how he’s getting $100,000 a year to teach two law courses at the University of Florida, far more than other adjuncts make. That’s atop the $140,000 he’s paid for being the state’s chief legal officer. The Tampa Bay Times reported that UF bent its own rules to approve the deal.

His first course was titled, appropriately, “Executive Power.”

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

If there were no verified imminent attack on the U.S. and no confirmed existence of nuclear weapons, this escalation demands serious scrutiny.

Iran remains a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Disputes on enrichment and inspections are meant to be addressed through diplomacy and international oversight, not immediate bombardment absent a clear, urgent threat. A partner’s conduct in Gaza and its role in widening this conflict also demand a reassessment of whether continued military alignment truly serves U.S. interests.

When U.S. troops die, the burden of justification is extraordinarily high. The public deserves transparency, congressional accountability, and a clear explanation of the objective and end point.

American lives should never be risked lightly.

Maliha Rahman, Plantation

Dangers of data centers

Everyone seems delighted that artificial intelligence (AI) will save time and be a shortcut to knowledge and a solution to complex problems. Fewer seem conscious of the reality that AI comes at a very high price. The costs are rarely mentioned in the press. Apart from loss of jobs, the costs include the electricity to run those banks of computers.

Across the country, AI data centers take up the space of three football fields and use as much electricity in one day as a small city. A 2023 MIT study found that 4.4% of all energy consumed in this country was by data centers. A proportional amount of potable water is used in cooling them — and this trend is just getting started.

We’re slowly becoming aware that this technological development is fraught with danger. And if we ignore that reality, we will see enormous risks. Reasonable federal regulations are needed before this thing gets totally out of hand.

This is not just another high-tech endeavor. The government has a huge stake in AI, as witnessed by the role it plays in the military. Some futurists compare this development to our primitive ancestors’ discovery of fire.

Dave Boraks, Sunrise

How long it might last

I predict that the war in Iran will last exactly one day longer than the statute of limitations for charging Trump with a crime, based on information in the Epstein files.

Jay Rechtman, Boynton Beach

A renaming, forced on us

In your Feb. 25 edition, you reported that five of six state senators and 13 of 18 representatives from Palm Beach and Broward counties voted against the bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport after President Trump.

In that same edition,10 of 11 letters to the editor from local residents voiced opposition to the bill. One writer asked why the people of this area would want to rename the airport. Obviously, they don’t, and neither do 75% of elected legislators from this area.

That means that this nauseating change is being foisted upon us by out-of-town politicians whose constituents probably use PBIA very rarely and might not even know that this bill (or even this airport) exists.

So much for government of, by and for the people.

You can add me to the list of those who will avoid an airport named for the narcissist-in-chief.

Neil Katz, Boynton Beach

Farewell to Trump Airport

We fly to and from the area at least three times a year to visit our grandchildren and family members.

Palm Beach International is a very good airport, for many reasons. However, if PBI is renamed after someone accused of multiple rapes who was indicted for 34 felonies, was known to steal from his former children’s charity, insults people of color, ridiculed someone handicapped, and lies constantly with no shame, I will gladly switch to flying in and out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

Bradley D. Knopf, Annapolis, Md. 

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There’s no budget — not even a verbal consensus on a bottom line — as the session enters its last week. In this election year, they can’t agree on the ballot language to ask voters to cut property taxes. On his farewell tour, Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t get his highly touted AI “Bill of Rights.”

But lawmakers have all the time in the world to address the evils of diversity, equity and inclusion — this time at City Hall — after earlier banning DEI policies on campuses.

In the latest culture war theatrics, mayors and commissioners could be removed from office if they “promote, directly or indirectly,” any “preferential treatment” based on “race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation.” Anyone can sue claiming violations — even the eyeroll-inducing gadfly ranting at meetings.

The Senate bill (SB 1134) passed Wednesday, 25-11. It awaits a House vote and then DeSantis’ signature. Every Democratic senator present voted no. One Republican, Alexis Calatayud of Miami, opposed it.

The overly broad and vaguely worded bill raises real fears of costly out-of-control litigation and the high likelihood that popular, diversity-promoting events may disappear, such as the Jewish film festival in Boca Raton, Stonewall Pride Parade in Wilton Manors or Pompano’s Caribbean Fest.

Official city proclamations, such as declaring June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month in Fort Lauderdale, are in jeopardy.

The bill has been rewritten repeatedly to add more and more carve-outs and exclusions for events already protected elsewhere by law, such as Black History Month or single-sex programs for the homeless.

A leading opponent, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, fought for a carve-out to protect the Pulse shooting memorial from elimination. Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, tried to narrow the bill’s scope by limiting an official’s removal to willfully seeking personal financial gain. Republicans defeated it.

But what about hiring preferences for minority- and women-owned contractors? Or studies of racial disparities in maternal and child health? They’re in danger, too.

Opponents are horrified by how tourists will react to this extreme repression and the damage to tourist-dependent small businesses. On its Facebook page, the Key West Business Guild said city-approved cultural events “sustain the vibrant and inclusive spirit that makes Key West so special.”

The force behind the bill, Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, rails against “garbage” that “divides people” being promoted by cities and counties with tax money. He said he was motivated by a Jacksonville group’s use of public money to circulate “pornographic” playing cards to children describing various body parts.

Yarborough also cites Broward’s use of “The Genderbread Person” character to explain concepts of gender diversity and sexual orientation to young people, a point made by DeSantis as proof of Florida’s “woke” culture.

The senator also cited Broward’s cultural grants manual, which requires a “demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion.”

Among Yarborough’s allies is Sen. Jason Pizzo, who represents one of the state’s most diverse areas in Fort Lauderdale and neighboring Wilton Manors, but who now aligns himself with ultra-conservative Republicans.

“I’m voting for the bill because money should not be spent on creating programs for the consulting class to amplify division,” Pizzo told senators.

Pizzo, a former Democrat who left the party last year, now has no party affiliation, representing east Broward. (By comparison, Rep. Chip LaMarca of Lighthouse Point, representing some of the same area, is the only Republican who voted against the bill in the House Commerce Committee).

As senators debated, local officials went online to blister the Legislature’s misguided priorities. They were led by Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, who said he tried to lobby Pizzo to oppose it, but that the senator didn’t respond.

“We are completely disappointed in his vote,” Trantalis said of Pizzo. “He has gone rogue on this issue … I honestly just don’t think he represents his district very well.”

In a memo to legislators, Fort Lauderdale cited multiple concerns, such as whether it would be legal to promote its popular annual Sistrunk Festival held last week or whether its upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade might be the last one promoted by the city.

As the repression in Florida grows darker, our state becomes increasingly unrecognizable from what it was.

Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the South Florida Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com or (850) 567-2240.

“Donald Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon,” a U.S. military commander told combat troops.

“Jesus made me do it” is quite the war whoop, and it didn’t stop there. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation reported 200 calls from 50 military installations where they were preaching the same pre-attack gospel. The Iran don’t-call-it-a-war is all part of God’s divine plan to trigger Armageddon, military leaders were saying, necessary for the imminent return of Jesus.

Silly. Everyone knows the Big Fella’s not cooling His heels in Iran. He’s in Minneapolis. Look for the nice guy handing out whistles.

America’s military brass didn’t just get their celestial geography wrong. They got the wrong century. We’re not in the middle of Armageddon. We’re in the middle of Vietnam.

Easy mistake for Pete Hegseth. He was born in the 1980s, the greediest, graspiest, most self-involved decade of the modern 20th Century. So, he missed ‘Nam. The lies about why we were there. The lies about how long we would have to stay. Our B-52 bombers losing against their tunnels. Our napalm losing against their punji sticks. Yes: They fought us with sharp sticks. And they won. Think about that the next time Hegseth takes time from dodging reports of day drinking to rotor his arms and chest-puff about our sophisticated bombers.

No one knows where those bombs ultimately fall; certainly not Trump, who ducked his generation’s war with five draft deferments. Avoiding venereal disease was “my personal Vietnam,” Captain Bonespurs explained.

I’m sure it was.

We bombed ‘Nam so intensely that it helped give rise to another insurgent group, the Khmer Rouge. And the Khmer Rouge gave rise to Cambodian genocide and 1.5 million bodies in 23,000 mass graves. Free from fighting with America, Vietnam toppled the Khmer Rouge. So that’s where the American bombs eventually fell. See how it works? Me neither. And neither does the Clown Car Brigade putting on war paint and red noses as they order someone (else) to go spill blood.

It takes a whole lot to make Richard Nixon look reasonable, given Tricky Dick’s late-night rage-wailing at portraits of other presidents. But our Don John has a whole lotta lot and he is busy unloading it. In Venezuela. In Somalia. In Syria. In Yemen. In Ecuador. At an elementary school. No mass grave there. Just 168 small ones.

“That’s the way it is,” said Trump of the first dead U.S. soldiers. Very pious. Very interesting to actually see the better angels of a person’s nature roll over and take a nap.

One thing we have never appreciated about either Vietnam or Iran is just how old these countries are, and what that means when the bombs stop and a new regime emerges. Vietnam is at least 3,000 years old, and Iran is even older. They may acknowledge that we are an up-and-coming 250-year-old kid on the block, but their culture is not ours. Their ideas about freedom are not necessarily ours. Their version of effective governing is not likely to be ours.

Never mind.

We will bomb them into peace, said Trump.

War is peace and peace is war, said the uber-fascists in George Orwell’s 1984.

Blessed are the peacemakers, said The Guy With All The Whistles, wondering in retrospect whether the Bible should have come with explanatory dictionaries. With pictures, to make sure the guys with all the bombs got the message.

“Death and destruction from the sky all day long,” chortled Hegseth, who clearly didn’t get the message, despite his performative protestations of his own Christianity.

When a country is led by people who wear the cross but who have lost the plot, the end times really are at hand. Theirs, not ours: Vietnam weakened an already corrupt president, and we all know how that eventually ended.

With answered prayers.

Pat Beall is a Sun Sentinel columnist and editorial writer. Contact her at beall.news@gmail.com.

Proposed new voting rules mimic the travesty Trump would force on an unwilling nation. Gov. Ron DeSantis seems to have forgotten how much the rest of the country hated him when he ran for president.

Insurers want to hide important information from regulators and homeowners to unfairly deprive them of information they deserve to know. The final blow was coverage of Hillary Clinton, once again forced to needlessly defend her wayward husband before the nation. At that point, I was happy there was no more room on the front page for the daily outrages by DeSantis, the unbalanced Legislature and the out-of-control Trump.

One article asked if this is really who we are as Floridians. I ask that people who are actually allowed to vote really study the voting records of candidates they are considering. It’s imperative that we pay close attention to how they vote — not what they say. It’s more important than ever.

Susan Guyaux, Lake Worth Beach

No more Panther pride

I was part of a season ticket holders’ group for the Panthers’ original seasons at the old Miami Arena. Thus, I’m a longtime fan and was so happy with the team’s most recent success. But not any more.

Nope, it’s not gonna happen after Trump, the Tkachuk brothers and the rest of the “gold medal bros” yukked it up over Trump’s tasteless joke aimed at the gold medal-winning women’s hockey team. Not after Matthew Tkachuk draped his medal over Kash Patel’s neck.

Please, no sorry excuses for these locker-room antics. Not backing away from Trump’s joke is akin to not backing away from sexist or racist jokes.

Frank Alioto, Cooper City

Disenfranching voters

Florida House Bill 991, limiting the kinds of ID needed to vote, is a solution to a nonexistent problem. Multiple studies supported by conservative and liberal groups found that actual voter fraud is so rare as to be statistically meaningless. To claim otherwise is a fantastical construct unsupported by facts.

The real purpose of such restrictions is to disenfranchise as many minority, elderly and economically disadvantaged voters as possible.

Jesse D. Sheinwald, Boynton Beach

Montpelier, you still here?

The northeast saw two to three feet of snow. So even though it was cold in Florida, the snowbirds wanted to stay.

Shoveling frozen iguanas off the roof of your RV in Palm Beach beats shoveling two feet of wet snow off the roof of your house in Vermont.

Any truth to the rumor that Orlando will bid for the next Olympics? Summer or winter, doesn’t matter. Here in Florida, we can handle ‘em both.

Rob Curran, Lauderdale Lakes

Eternally Trump

Before Trump leaves office, whether by the calendar or impeachment, I won’t be surprised if he arranges to be buried between John and Jacqueline Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery, so he too can be under an eternal flame. Go ahead, tell me why he wouldn’t do it. I can’t think of a reason.

Rick Garr, Fort Lauderdale

Students set an example

To the high school students in West Palm Beach, thank you for staging and participating in a walkout on President’s Day with this message: “We are skipping a lesson to teach a lesson: education, not deportation, and ICE out!”

Nina Leonard, St. Augustine

Please submit a letter to the editor by email to letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com or fill out the online form below. Letters may be up to 200 words and must be signed with your email address, city of residence and daytime phone number for verification. Letters will be edited for clarity and length.

The Florida Senate would invite that horror by voting for this year’s most dangerous health care legislation.

SB 1756, the “Medical Freedom” bill, would expose more of the state’s children to measles, polio and other diseases that can cripple even when they don’t kill. It would all but nullify the Florida law and policy requiring schoolchildren to be vaccinated against 11 diseases.

It’s scheduled for Senate approval in the session’s final days, following a 14-8 vote in the Rules Committee as three Republicans, in a rare mini-mutiny, joined all five Democrats in voting no. A Senate floor vote could come Monday.

Public opinion is against it, but Gov. Ron DeSantis and his quack surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, are all for it, as they cater to a clamorous, reckless minority.

Despite Senate support, the bill is stalled — a further rejection of the departing governor’s out-of-step policies.

Dead in the House

House Speaker Daniel Perez of Miami says the House won’t take it up, obviously aware that mandatory childhood vaccines poll well even among the MAGA base. For some, this is too dangerous to touch, especially in an election year.

That should be the end of this nonsense with a week left in the session.

But the Senate should still vote it down, if only to send a strong message.

The number of fully vaccinated Florida kindergarten students hit a low of 88.7% last year, down from 94.1% a decade ago. Recorded religious exemptions rose to 4.6%. Irresponsible legislators are encouraging more opt-outs.

Present law allows only religious and medical exemptions, which are negligible. The bill would take the barn door off the hinges by adding a “conscience” excuse, which covers anything from benighted superstition to plain laziness.

The bill also requires the state boards of medicine and osteopathic medicine to adopt a joint statement about the vaccines to be signed by a parent before a child gets the shots.

State-approved recklessness

It also allows pharmacists to provide ivermectin without a prescription. It’s the worming medicine claimed — wrongly, according to the best medical analysis — to be a treatment for COVID-19.

Perhaps most stunning and short-sighted, the bill would also forbid any future Florida surgeon general from requiring immunizations no matter what new pandemic might be raging.

It reflects how few if any Florida senators are old enough to remember the fear that gripped American parents as summers often brought a new outbreak of polio, which can paralyze and kill.

The worst U.S. epidemic took more than 3,000 lives in 1952, just before the vaccines came along to save millions of lives worldwide.

The U.S. was considered to be measles-free too thanks to the MMR shot that also protects against mumps and rubella (German measles). Florida is a state where measles is back, with 104 cases reported in 10 counties, including two cases in Broward. Collier, on the southwest coast, stands out with 73.

Raging in the Southeast

Nationally, there have been 1,136 confirmed cases in just two months, compared to 2,281 in all of 2025. South Carolina leads with 990 cases.

Measles is wildly contagious even before symptoms appear. It has spread into nearby North Carolina, where new signs on the door of a pediatric practice tell parents to return to their cars and phone in for measles screening.

It is deadly error to dismiss measles as a trivial childhood disease. At least three children have already died from it this year. Others will suffer encephalitis and pneumonia.

The willful refusal to vaccinate eligible children threatens the lives of those who are too young for the shots.

Dr. Sarah Marsicek, a pediatric hospitalist at Gainesville who testified against SB 1756, tells of “life-threatening breathing pauses in a two-month-old” due to whooping cough, a nine-month-old with seizures from pneumococcal meningitis “and is now neurologically devastated” and a toddler with Hib meningitis who is now cognitively impaired.

“These are just a few of the kids I have cared for in the past year with vaccine-preventable diseases,” she says.

Florida senators should not want any more of them.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.