Tiny Trump library would bring us glory
I join with the Jan. 23 letter writer in suggesting that Sarasota County donate land for a Donald J. Trump Presidential Library. It will redound to the glory of Sarasota County as the one place celebrating, in the writer’s words, “the best president in history.”
I have some suggestions as to the size and placement of this desired donation.
The site should be the size of a postage stamp, possibly one of the larger postage stamps. This moderately small size is because all of the papers usually kept in such a library will be held in the evidence lockers of the many jurisdictions that will be prosecuting Trump over the next months.
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A location for the future library can easily be found on the publicly owned property of any sewage processing plant managed by Sarasota County.
Such a library will certainly go a long way in the celebration of Trump’s presidential “bestness.”
Robert Brooke, Bradenton
Don’t build Trump library in crazy Florida
In a Jan. 23 letter, a reader wrote that Sarasota County should put aside land to build a presidential library dedicated to President Donald Trump, “our best president.”
Well, should the county make the wildly misguided decision to do such a thing, it would certainly add to the nation’s perception of Florida as “that crazy place,” and give Carl Hiaasen fodder for another hilarious novel.
Oh, and the irony, a library built for a president who spends four to eight hours a day watching TV, and cannot remember the last book he read!
Do you remember when we were told on the news that he preferred to receive his daily intelligence briefing in one or two pages, with graphs and pictures, if possible? Then, in an Axios interview he convinced us he couldn’t read a graph either.ron
Well, should Trump favorite Gov. Ron DeSantis decide to pick up on the reader’s idea, we can take some consolation in the fact that it won’t be a very big library. No space is needed for a president’s lofty speeches with expressions of American principles, none for accolades from foreign leaders and none for pictures of a president hard at work doing the people’s business.
Peter Hooper, Venice
Biden wreaks havoc in first week
Joe Biden has been president less than a week.
During that brief time we have seen thousands of migrants seeking illegal entry into the USA because of his words. We have seen thousands abruptly fired when he canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, despite pleas from our Canadian neighbor and ally not to do so.
We have seen steps to reenter the disastrous Paris Accords, which could cost U.S. taxpayers billions while giving China a pass as a “developing country.” That developing country has the world’s second largest economy.
We saw our main ally in the Middle East, Israel, get a slap in the face. We saw him declare sexual equality in all things, essentially abolishing women’s sports.
We saw the National Guard troops in D.C. relegated to an unheated garage.
Way to go, Joe. I can’t wait to see your next 1,454 days.
Richard D. Paolillo, Nokomis
DiPino compassionate toward the homeless
I moved to downtown Sarasota seven years ago from up north. One year our condo invited Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino to answer resident questions – primarily about being solicited by small groups of homeless people downtown, and about two specific homeless people who misbehaved, one of them (a female) in a threatening manner.
DiPino knew both by name, along with their ailments.
She reminded residents that “it isn’t a crime to be homeless.” She told us that many homeless folks collect veterans’ benefits, “but $800 a month isn’t enough to pay for an apartment downtown.”
DiPino informed us that homeless women sometimes feel safer sleeping on the sidewalk than at a shelter and told of a new surge in homeless teenagers, and the drug that was popular with them. We also learned about a program to find out if a homeless person has a relative anywhere, contacting that person and paying to send the person to the relative’s town.
Chief DiPino showed nothing but intelligent and compassionate understanding of Sarasota’s homeless population at that meeting. She provided information and guidance that were in our best interests, as well as theirs.
Carol DeChant, Sarasota
Name-calling encourages division
Was I the only one taken aback by the language used in Opinions Editor Roger Brown’s column Jan. 22 (“Enough with the ‘I ain’t wearing no mask’ crowd”)?
In his rebuke of the “I ain’t wearing no mask” crowd, he described them as “stuck on stupid,” “simple-minded buffoons,” “simpletons,” and a “mob.”
This hardly seems like helpful terminology when we’re trying to turn the corner from public ridicule and name-calling.
Peggy Collins, Sarasota