TheWiseOldFart

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart As a young man I thought I believed in the death penalty for first degree murder and treason. However, age makes most humans wiser because we are more aware of certain facts. First, I learned that the death penalty was not a deterrent for the crime of murder. For many men and women serving life without parole, death would be a relief. Second, the number of death sentences which have been overturned in the last 20-30 years is astounding and makes me wonder how many innocent men and women have been put to death unfairly. Finally, there is no doubt that America’s penal system is the cruelest and most ineffective in the world. Our prisons contain 25 percent of all incarcerated men and women on the planet although we have less than five percent of the world’s population. Our nation’s recidivism rate is by far the highest in the world at 70-80 percent. Norway has about 20 percent. If just one man or woman is put to death, and it was later discovered that he or she was...

  Ron DeSantis is a Republican. He is currently the Governor of the strangest state in the Union, Florida. Add those two facts together and I am very surprised that it took this long for DeSantis to become the center of a scandal. DeSantis revealed himself to be a fascist and a bigot time and time again. However, until now he has not been suspected of a major misappropriation of large amounts of money. It was only a matter of time: he is another fake Republican. In my life of 78 years, no situation in America has been as mishandled and no administration has failed to make genuine attempts to save lives as the coronavirus known as Covid-19. Trump did nothing other than lie to our nation’s people, claiming “it will just go away.” More than one-million lives were lost and our economy crashed, nearly becoming a second Great Depression. How does this apply to Desantis. That’s easy. Florida is home to millions of Americans who were members of the most ‘at risk’ group during the pandemic....

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart Florida does not produce anything needed by the other 49 states. Florida welcomes tourism from our states, and without tourism it would be a large ghost town. The policies of their Governor, Ron DeSantis, do not resemble the values and principles of my state and most others. He is clearly a racist, a fascist, a homophobe, and literally hates the people he invites to his state. But he needs their money. Let’s remove statehood from the “Sunshine State.” OF COURSE, I’M NOT SERIOUS My daughter and her family live in Florida. More accurately, they exist in Florida. The weather is horrible: hot and humid. Other than public beaches, the average Floridian cannot afford the theme parks and other attractions designed to captivate the interest of tourists. My daughter and her daughters are progressive and have difficulty with many of those in authority whose thought process is often aimed in a backwards direction. I admire my daughter and son-in-law for raising...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   Wannabe Fuhrer Ron DeSantis is at it again. His attempt to turn Florida into a fascist haven for men and women who hate America has been given more tools to accomplish the destruction of one of our nation’s most popular to urist destinations for people from around the world.    DeSantis’ Florida would be pure white, “Christian,” and only heter osexuals would be allowed to cross its borders. The governor of Florida has become one of the images we see when faced with the title of “Republican.”   DeSantis ’ latest actions involve two additional weapons for his state’s Gestapo.   HB 601 will weaken the power of oversight boards, giving additional powers to all law enforcement agencies.   SB 184 sets a 25-foot "no-go" zone around police and first responders who are "engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty."   This law will prevent the free press and these same oversight agencies from observing the process at any d...