Oh, the irony!
The FBI search at “MAL,” an unintentionally funny acronym for Mar-a-Lago (the word means “bad”), prompted a tweet from Gov. Ron DeSantis in which he called it the action of a “banana republic.”
This from a man who screams about freedom for Floridians while depriving First Amendment rights of Disney World and the Tampa Bay Rays and by throwing public servants out of their elected positions because he didn’t like their positions.
The latest was the state attorney of Hillsborough County in Tampa, but early on in his regime, he displaced an election supervisors who was a Democrat, claiming incompetence, when it was outdated equipment causing problems that the state wouldn’t replace.
What happened at MAL was the U.S. Department of Justice did its job because its famous resident is suspected of committing a serious crime.
What DeSantis has been doing in Florida is indeed replicating a banana republic.
Rick Beardsley, Boca Raton
‘Woke’ or not, wake up, people
At his announcement that he was suspending State Attorney Andrew Warren of Hillsborough County because of his beliefs, Gov. Ron DeSantis took a swipe at a new target: Pediatricians.
He said doctors who give gender-affirming medications to transgender adolescents are doing “sex change operations for minors … which are really disfiguring these young kids.” He told this lie in front of law enforcement officers.
It’s not the first time this governor expressed hatred of Floridians he doesn’t agree with, and in a grotesque and inflammatory manner. Notice how often he uses the word “inject” about ideas.
With respect to the ancestral source, I understand one of the meanings of the term “stay woke” is “watch your back.” The Department of Health is now actively working to ban gender affirming care in Florida.
Will pediatricians need to watch their backs? Will we tolerate a bully, who has already hurt so many, picking off a few doctors and kids? Or will we all finally wake up and vote the bully out?
H. Joan Waitkevicz, M.D., West Palm Beach
Parental responsibility
I am the parent of a transgender child.
A ban on puberty blockers would be unconstitutional and risks adolescent trans lives. My son is transgender and was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at age 11. Thankfully, we found a therapist who specializes in gender dysphoria, and a board-certified endocrinologist. We decided to put a pause on puberty using puberty blockers. This decision was only made after we researched and collected data from my son and from healthcare professionals.
We decided as a family, with the guidance of medical professionals, that this was for him to transition properly and safely, and as a parent it was an appropriate and educated decision to keep him thriving as a child. It was a lifesaving medical intervention.
As a parent, it is my responsibility to care for my child’s needs. Don’t let my son’s level of care be compromised, nor the children of thousands of other families like mine in Florida.
Deanna Muniz, West Palm Beach
Trump takes the Fifth
If Republicans who still support Donald Trump were capable of appreciating irony, they would marvel at the fact that he once said that only guilty people or mobsters need to plead the Fifth Amendment — then he went on to do so himself, some 440 times.
Similarly, when he accused Hillary Clinton of behavior that threatened America’s security because of her missing emails, he called for her to be locked up in jail. Now that Trump has been credibly accused of illegally retaining top secret classified materials himself, where are the chants to “lock him up”?
Jerry Barkan, Pompano Beach
