Hurricane Ian wake-up call: Should we rebuild?
Laurence Reisman had an excellent piece in Sunday’s newspaper, “Hurricane Ian shows united human spirit: What if we all acted like that daily?”
Ian is a wake-up call. Mother Nature is a powerful force and uncontrollable. Often with devastating impact, as we just witnessed with Ian and other climate-related events in many parts of the world.
It is abundantly clear, it’s time to do some heavy thinking. It is time for some hard choices.
The typical response in these circumstances is to rebuild, pretty much as it was before the event. I do not think that is the right response. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Take the delta in Pakistan that floods every year as an example. I think it’s time to build infrastructure in more viable locations and encourage people to move. Movement would be automatic if devastated areas are not rebuilt. Resources for rebuild are expensive and need to be treated as though they are not endless. I think the endless rebuild in the delta is a waste of valuable resources.
It’s the same for other parts of the world and for the west coast of Florida. I cannot fathom the price tag for this loss. Do you think it’s smart to rebuild a causeway to Sanibel for a tiny piece of land that is at sea level? I think not. Nor for Captiva and all the other barrier islands that got battered. It’s the same for large parts of the coastline lined with beautiful homes and high rises.
I encourage Reisman to pursue a tough line in his writing and encourage his colleagues to do the same. It’s a very difficult topic, especially difficult in the political world of today.
Barbara Ruddy, Vero Beach
Putin tactics: Will history repeat itself?
Having served as a U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, I’m haunted now by what is happening.
Adolf Hitler seized the Sudetenland in October 1938, following the disastrous Munich Agreement. It was a part of Czechoslovakia, inhabited by German-speaking people. They were “liberated to join the Fatherland.”
U.K. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in Munich said Hitler could have it; just don’t take anything else. In March 1939, Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia, and then Poland.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin is applying the same Hitler “ethno-nationalist” logic in Crimea and Donbas. The Crimea is 50% Russian speakers, so Putin thought it should be Russian territory. He illegally invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014.
The rest of Donbas has 25% Russian speakers. Enough to justify annexing?
Putin appeared recently with goose-stepping Russian soldiers to announce four new “regions” would be integrated into Mother Russia, and bizarrely claimed America is a “colonial power” forcing nations to submit.
Putin is defending “freedom-loving peoples” from our dictatorship? No, he is the dictator, following strategy of Hitler and Nazi fascism. Putin’s claim about U.S. and NATO “colonialist action” to force Russia to submit is delusional nonsense.
Remember, it was Russia, under Katherine the Great and other czars, who expanded Russian colonialism into central and western Europe. They even seized the Russian Far East from China.
This current referendum is a sham. Most who opposed it have fled.
Hitler was not opposed in his Sudetenland annexation, and we all know what happened next. A world war. Is history going to repeat itself?
David W. Hunter, a retired diplomat who served at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, 1990-2000, lives in Vero Beach.
Support act to improve mental health worldwide
Mental health affects everyone, regardless of your income, geographic location, gender, social status, etc.
It is no secret that to this day, there is a big stigma and predisposition toward mental health and people that suffer from it.
The global pandemic has increased the mental health rate for many throughout the world. However, it created a tremendous impact on countries living in extreme poverty since they do not have access to mental health programs. This has especially affected children and their education, causing higher rates of trauma, abuse, delinquency, anxiety, and depression.
If we think about the issues these countries face on a daily basis, such as hunger and malnutrition, disease, war, and lack of education to name a few, it is clear that we must call to action and help in any way we can.
The MINDS Act is the first bill to address mental health and psychosocial support through American social global development assistance. As a Borgen Project ambassador, I urge Florida’s U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, and every person reading this to support this bill that will substantially improve the well-being and formation of these children.
Natasha Hall-Trujillo, Port St. Lucie
Why publish anti-Trump comments from PAC leader?
I want to thank the editors of this newspaper for including a column by Jessica Floyd, “Where’s the FEC? Trump raises 2024 cash without legal limits.”
That’s pretty rich considering we have George Soros money to thank for a string of left-leaning attorney generals and others across the country.
I disagreed with pretty much everything she said, but I did a search of her organization, American Bridge 21st Century, and learned a lot. One has to wonder where the money for this super Pac came from. From its website, it apparently goes after all Republican candidates and of course, its main goal is to further tarnish Donald Trump.
I am sickened by her last paragraph: “Since the 2020 election, we’ve seen Trump and his endorsed candidates working overtime to change electoral rules and skirt the will of the people.”
What Republican leaders are attempting to do is to restore the election rules and regulations that were changed by Democrats in Pennsylvania and other states, using COVID as an excuse. Organizations like Ms. Floyd’s are desperate to maintain this laxity, even though it has resulted in people no longer trusting that their votes will count.
She calls keeping these disastrous changes “leveling the playing field.” What a joke.
I would think this paper could find other more balanced contributors than the president of a left-leaning super PAC trying to sway the public before an important midterm election.
The loosening of election standards and safeguards has resulted in the election of one of the worst presidents in America’s history. How’s that working out for the people of this great country and how is this news organization in any way helping to correct the situation we now find ourselves in?
Patricia A. Perrone, Stuart
Editor’s note: The Opinion Page offers a variety of perspectives.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Why rebuild after Hurricane Ian? Let Trump help: Letters, Oct. 6, 2022
