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Sheriff'intent on exertingtotal control'

I see that the Czar of Brevard is at it again, this time on thin legal and ethical ice. Not one candidate, not two, but three no less!

Who will go after him? Attorney GeneralMoody? State AttorneyArcher? Let's see ... but don't hold your breath.

I've already voted for Kimberly Musselman. I donated to her campaign. I know her deep background in the broad area of criminal justice.

His political philosophy of all county elected officials being on the same page is interesting, but it should be confined to table talk. This retired lawyer doesn't want a lock-step county government. That may be consistency in his myopic view, but it also smacks of authoritarianism, his real political philosophy. Intelligent citizens favor differences of opinion.

I'm sure that FLORIDA TODAYis not shocked at not receiving a response from his office for comment. It would be truly patriotic if our Sheriff of Nottingham recognized the First Amendment as much as he does the Second. He can dish it out, but he can't take it.

Should we infer from FLORIDA TODAY's report that Attorney Tropy will do his bidding on the county court bench? That court only has authority to sentence up to one year in the county lockup. That's small potatoes in the criminal justice system.

Thanks to FLORIDA TODAY for exposing this brash and brazen behavior of this inflated ego operating way outside his official duties and intent on exerting total control over our county government behind his badge.

Francis J. Clifford, Suntree

I was pleased to see the endorsement of Misty Belford by the FLORIDA TODAY editorial board.

When a candidate refuses to participate in a forum or debate, it makes me wonder what he or she may be hiding.To quote the endorsement, If a candidate cant make time to participate in a forum, how responsive will they be once in office?

As a former teacher, I pay attention to what is happening in our local education system. When possible I also tune into the meetings of the Brevard County School Board.Ms. Belford did indeed maintain a calm demeanor during some very heated meetings. Some who appeared before the board were loud and obnoxious, rather than addressing the board in a civilized manner.Belford always spoke to them civilly and appropriately.

We need members of the school board to be reasonable, to listen, and especially, to be available to the public.

Linda Lopardo, Titusville

I want to thank FLORIDA TODAY's staff for assisting me with my election choices.

As an independently minded voter, I always choose the best candidate regardless of their political persuasion or party registration. Your recent articles that include background information on the candidates running for various offices have been very helpful.

The other articles regarding our sheriff's efforts to influence some candidates to reconsider their decision to run and/or drop out of their race have been heartbreaking. Since I do not know how deep our sheriff's influence runs, I decided to not votefor any candidate this sheriff has endorsed. The other reason for this decision is that I want elected officials with different thoughts and opinions, which is very unlikely when our sheriff's preferred choices are probably groupthink individuals whothinkand believelike him.

George Papp, Titusville

"I am a big, big term limit guy." Really?

The hypocrisy in Commissioner Curt Smiths statement is a trend running rampant in todays political climate.His justification is ridiculous. Two terms in a row is enough.Take a break and educate yourself like the rest of your constituents from the outside. Then run again with all the new knowledge and wisdom you have gained from the time you have taken off.

As far as the cost of living increase for their salaries, my question to you, sir,is How many other public servants have that in their contracts? I agree with Nick Tomboulides that the majority of the American people want to restrict term limits not expand them.

Shari Deane, Melbourne

Thank you, Bob Reid, for your very informative recent column titled"Why it is time to address gun control."

It inspired me to write this letter to my representatives.

I am writing this letter to all my representatives regarding the mass murders we have had over the past years.We have been burying men, women and sadly, children, because our representativesrefuse to ban automatic weapons. They are war weapons and do not belong in civilian hands so they can gun down innocent people.

Imagine going to a Fourth of July parade with your family and watching your family or friends being gunned down, or your son or daughter left crippled for life.

This should not be a political issue but just a matter of what is right.The right to bear doesn't mean the right to have a war weapon. Do the right thing and ban these weapons.

Kathleen Durtschi, West Melbourne

I grew up in little Mankato, Kansas,and attended Kansas State.My dad was a cattle farmer; he taught me to value life.I have lived on Merritt Island the past 30 years but I still consider myself a Kansan, because that is where I grew up.

After Tuesdays election, I must say, I am ashamed of Kansans.I cannot understand why all those women want the right to kill babies before they are born.As I watched the TV, I saw women carrying signs like, Dont mess with my body. The baby you are carrying is notyour body. If a baby was part of your body, he/she would have the same DNA; the baby has a different DNA and often even has a different blood type. According to recent research, a significant number of babies who were born just over five months survived after being cared for in a hospital.How can women be so passionate about wanting to kill a baby, even up to the babys birth?

I understand how inconvenient an unplanned pregnancy can be.If that is the case, let a family adopt your babydont kill your baby.There are so many couples who are unable to get pregnant who would love to adopt the baby; they are flying all over the world to adopt a baby, at great expense.

People today seem to be more concerned about saving baby seals than about human babies.How can this be?What does this say about our culture?

Cheryl Warren, Merritt Island

Kansas voters resoundingly protect abortion access

Kansas voters on Tuesday sent a resounding message about their desire to protect abortion rights, rejecting a ballot measure that would have let the Republican-controlled Legislature tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure outright. (Aug. 3)

AP

I just read a recent FLORIDA TODAY article about a Moms for Liberty conference in Tampa. I found it commendable that they are trying to get more moms (parents) involved in whats going on in their local schools.

Then I read they believe theres a secret Marxist and cynical conspiracies infiltrating American public schools.That schools are brainwashing students into thinking theyre transgender or queer, and teaching racial and gender equity thats sowing division and hatred. That school districts are actively trying to harm children. The speakers made all these claims with little or no evidence to support them.

Conference participants came from across the country, some spending five days. The question I have for them is, How many days have you spent observing your children in the class? How many PTA meetings have you attended? I would be surprised if they spent more than five days doing any of those activities.

I would suggest before you try totear down the system, visit your kids' schools. Get involved in school activities; participate in the PTA. At least try to determine on your own if some or any of these recent Republican talking points have any validity.

Schools are having a hard enough time to find qualified teachers.

Why would these Moms of Liberty drive teachers from their profession with false conspiracy allegations? Florida is so short of teachers that DeSantis is allowing military veterans without four-year degrees to teach school. A small patch on a big wound Republicans have inflicted!

Bradley J. Skarpness, Rockledge

In response to your letter writer who suggested every political candidate be asked one question as to whether they believe Joe Biden was elected president, I would suggest one additional question for voters in regard to Joe Biden; do you believe he is competent, coherent, constructive, or even conscious?

William Alford, Melbourne Beach

Wouldnt you think political commercials would contain a majority of truthfulness?

One heard recently wants you to send a cop on the beat to the Senate. It must be over 30 years since that individual walked/rode a beat.

Another ad says the same candidate worked for 27 years never knowing if Id come home to my family. During the time an officer walks/drives a beat, that would be a truthful statement. Once promoted to sergeant and above, each step decreases that likelihood, until, at chief, it seems very highly unlikely.

Garey Hartman, Melbourne

As I listened to Trumps speech on Jan.6, 2021, I messaged a friend that he should turn it on because its a real barn burner,"a real fire starter."

His words were an intended, serious, and directly motivated invitation to march on the Capitol to overturnthe election outcome. It kept me glued to the television. But as Trump has often done, he disowns accountability for the consequences of his actions, saying he isnt responsible for the uprising that resulted in damages, injuries, and deaths. Of course, before his speech Trump called on his loyalists to come to Washington, and during the speech he called on them to march on the Capitol.

The precise words he used were of his own making;his rhetoric was of his own creation. That included allegedly sayingthat Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it,"for not overturning the election. He tried to get the governors to do it, and they wouldnt. He tried to get the courts to do it, and they wouldnt, in 60 separate decisions. So now all that remained was Mike Pence and of course Trumps rebellious followers occupying the Capitol and chanting, Hang Mike Pence."

People need to recognize Trump is a menace to our democracy and to the American people. His loyal followers need to stop pandering to him I guess who the voters choose doesnt matter to Trump.

Robert Soltau, Cape Canaveral

Excerpt from:
Sheriff 'on thin legal and ethical ice': Letters, Aug. 7, 2022 - Florida Today

Poor Mike Pence. The former Republican vice president apparently thinks he has a chance to win the GOP nomination for president even after an angry mob of Republicans stormed the U.S. Capitol with the intention of hanging him for betraying their dear leader, Donald Trump. So Pence is running around the country making speeches in front of small audiences as if he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning a national election again when the sad fact is that he is a man without a constituency.

Republicans who loved Pence when he was Trump's most ardent disciple consider him a traitor. Those who respect him for doing the job every vice president who came before him had done on January 6 still loathe him for all of the years he spent ostentatiously licking Trump's boots. There might be a handful of GOP officials and operatives who look at Pence and see a sort of ghostly George W. Bush (whose vocal delivery he shamelessly apes), and the press, of course, wants to cast him as a viable Trump rival. But the truth is that Mike Pence is a walking piece of Wonderbread toast.

Notably, Pence and Trump have been holding competing public appearances for the last couple of weeks. Down in Arizona,Trump held a rallyfor a couple of wildly extreme GOP candidates for governor and senate, Kari Lake and Blake Masters, as well as a few kooky down ballot endorsees. He gave his usual meandering performance, delighting the large crowd with many of his greatest hits. At the microphone, Lake praised the former president for his inspiration:

"President Trump taught us how to fight and I took a few notes. That's why I go after the fake news because he showed us how to do it. He gave us the game plan and he showed us exactly how to stand up and fight. Republicans need to fight back"

Trump made it very clear that he was going to keep fighting, telling the crowd, "I ran twice and I won twice and I did much better than the second time than the first, getting millions more votes in 2020 than in 2016 and now, we may have to do it again."

Mike Pence is a walking piece of Wonderbread toast.

Across town, Mike Pence wasspeaking at a rallyof about 300 people on behalf of Kari Lake's opponent, Karrin Taylor Robson, whom he described as the true conservative in the race as if anyone cares about that anymore. Pence's big zinger of the night was a swipe at Lake "Arizona Republicans don't need a governor that supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton" which he delivered like a blast of foghorn. Nobody mentioned Jan. 6 or the 2020 election.

As it happens, the two former allies also held opposing speeches just a few days later in Washington D.C. Trump returned to the scene of the crime to ostensibly give a policy address at theAmerica First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied "think tank" and slush fund devoted to the former president and culture war propaganda, while Pence spoke at theYoung America's Foundation. The media portrayed these two speeches as a clash of visions for the Republican Party, with Trump offering his patented hellscape view of "American Carnage," complete with his laundry list of grievances about the allegedly stolen 2020 election, while Pence supposedly offered a fresh look to a brighter future which was interpreted as a jab at his former boss. That jab was most apparently expressed as, "I don't know that the president and I differ on issues, but we may differ on focus." (That's telling him...)

Politico wondered what it all meant:

That difference in focus is at the center of several big questions for Republicansin 2022 and 2024: Which vision do they want the party to follow? Which do they think is more appealing to the voters they need in order to win a majority? And even if they agree with Trump on the issues, is his focus with its dark tone and feedback-loop quality helpful in that pursuit?

But this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Trump's appeal and Pence's lack of it.

"Issues" as we previously understood them no longer exist in the Republican Party. Trump's "dark tone and feedback-loop quality"arethe issues. It's all about grievance, anger and resentment served up with the juvenile derision and mockery that only a true demagogue can deliver. A bowl of lukewarm water like Mike Pence simply can't serve that no matter how many dramatic pauses he takes in his speeches.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

But the fact that he cannot deliver a crude joke or stick the knife in and twist it with Trumpian glee doesn't mean that Pence isn't running on Trumpism.

Pence's "policy agenda" is full of culture war grievances. He releaseda pamphletlast spring in which he promoted "patriotic" education (meaning shallow jingoism, banning books and refusing to teach the truth about American history and the indigenous, Black and immigrant experiences.) He backs the cruel assault on transgender kids, draconian laws against abortion and all of the other far-right talking points that Trump and every other Republican on the campaign trail are running on. Pence just hasn't weighed in on the Great Replacement Theory, yet, so perhaps that's what defines a sunny moderate these days.

Most importantly, while he doesn't talk about the 2020 election, Pence also hasn't said a word against the attack on democracy that GOP state legislators and other officials are enacting all over the country. If anything, he's enabling them by endorsing the fatuous insistence that "in-person voting" must be enforced and mail-in voting should be (safe, legal and) "rare." There is no reason for any of that except to continue to encourage the false belief that the electoral system has been compromised on behalf of the Democrats. It is, in fact, the Big Lie and Pence is now perpetuating it just as the man who sat idly by while his rabid mob chanted "hang Mike Pence" has done.

Nonetheless, Pence is as obsequious and submissive as ever, refusing to stand up for himself even in face of what Trump did to him that awful day and never saying a harsh word about his former mentor. He's forlornly trying to salvage a political career based entirely on his fervent devotion to the man whom the only people who would vote for him believe he betrayed. Sad isn't the right word to describe it. It's pathetic.

Original post:
Mike Pence can't be president. His devotion to Donald Trump will be his downfall - Salon

Since January 1, Fox News has referenced former President Donald Trump far more often than former Vice President Mike Pence or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in every single month of the year. The three are the top potential Republican primary candidates for the 2024 election; according to a Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey, Trump was first with 52% support, DeSantis second with 19%, and Pence third with 7% in an eight-person mock primary that included the former president.

From January through July, the network mentioned Trump at least 8,556 times while DeSantis and Pence clocked in at least 1,083 and 589 mentions, respectively. The largest disparities appeared in the last three months, when Trump received 1,757; 1,664; and 1,381 mentions in May, June, and July, respectively. By contrast, DeSantis received 125, 96, and 179 mentions in those months, and Pence received 86, 218, and 140 mentions in the same time period.

Go here to see the original:
Fox News mentions of Donald Trump this year far outpace those of Mike Pence or Ron DeSantis - Media Matters for America

Onetime Trump ally and possible 2024 presidential contender Chris Christie said the top of the next GOP ticket will probably feature Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Ted Cruz, or maybe a half dozen others, and will be a test of who'll guide the party into the future.

"My guess is it'll be somewhere between six and eight. And I think that you'll see people talking about whether the future of the Republican Party is as the party of me or the party of us," the former New Jersey governor told conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday.

Christie also tossed Trump-appointed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas into the potential mix with the embattled former president, Trump's estranged, two-time former running mate, and the Texas Republican Trump trounced in the 2016 presidential contest.

Other possible aspirants Christie apparently discounted include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and former South Carolina governor and Trump-appointed United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley. Christie also left himself off the list, though he ran in 2016 and has been making the rounds with other GOP leaders trying to wrest back control of the party from Trump.

Trump keeps hinting that he'll run again but has yet to make a formal announcement. That's left the door open for others to float their own agendas like Rick Scott's provocative "Rescue America" plan and Pence's sweeping "Freedom" platform while Trump continuously fumes about his loss to Joe Biden.

While stumping for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in May, Christie laid out the binary choice facing GOP voters, warning MAGA world that Trump's "party of me" mentality isn't a winning formula. "We have to be the party of tomorrow, not the party of yesterday," Christie said. During a pre-primary rally for Kemp in Georgia, Pence stressed that "elections are about the future."

Kemp faced a primary challenge from the former senator David Perdue, whom Trump dragged out of retirement to punish Kemp for not backing his baseless 2020 election-fraud claims. Kemp beat Perdue by nearly 50 points.

Read the original here:
2024 GOP voters to pick 'the party of me or the party of us': Chris Christie - Business Insider

Former attorney to Donald Trumps White House Ty Cobb says that Congress has already been handed the evidence they need to disqualify the twice-impeached former president from ever running for any office again.

Appearing on CNN Wednesday, Cobb noted that testimonies presented during the Jan. 6 hearings which painted a picture of Trump sitting in the White House watching TV while insurrectionists were storming the Capitol combined with him tweeting that former vice president Mike Pence didnt have the courage to do what was necessary after refusing to overturn the 2020 election results create a pretty clear path to criminal charges.

Also Read:Donald Trump Jan. 6 Criminal Investigation Launched by Department of Justice (Report)

The Pence tweet, coupled with the three hours of inaction, in my view, easily fits into the definition of giving aid and comfort to the insurrectionists, and that is the standard under Article 3 of the 14th Amendment, which Congress has at its disposal, Cobb explained. I dont for the life of me understand why instead of telling the Justice Department what to do, that they arent acting on that alone, because if they have a sense of the Congress, the penalty of finding Trump guilty of giving aid and comfort to an insurrection is disqualification from office forever.

It is, of course, expected that Trump intends to run again in the 2024 presidential race and that its only a question of whether hell formally announce his campaign before or after Novembers midterms. Congress moving forward with Cobbs proposal would all but put a halt to those efforts.

I think Congress has the lane here, Cobb said.

Also Read:Rob Reiner: Archie Bunker Would Have Jumped Off the Trump Train After Jan. 6

Elsewhere in the segment, the Trump White Houses former defense attorney noted that the existing evidence makes it exceptionally difficult for the former president to claim he didnt see what was going on for what it was. Trumps citing of willful blindness just doesnt add up, considering he had briefings on the rally prior to Jan. 6, the election results had already been challenged and determined he must have known they were acting on a frivolous legal theory, Cobb said.

Story continues

Theres considerable evidence out there that his own legal advisors, including [John] Eastman on Jan. 4, acknowledged that, you know, they were acting on a frivolous legal theory, he said. I think thats very damaging to somebody who wants to argue willful blindness.

No matter the continued content of the Jan. 6 investigations, however, Cobb noted that Trump is going to continue to act the way he always has and use the attention as an opportunity to promote his self-serving messaging.

While Trump may argue that defense, I think hes more likely to use the trial in an effort to deal with his themes that hes all-powerful, he got cheated [and] hes the only one standing up for the country, Cobb said.

Also Read:Jan. 6 Rioters Children Respond to Record Sentence: Trump Deserves Life in Prison if My Father Is in Prison This Long

See the original post here:
Ex-Trump Lawyer Says Congress Already Has Evidence That Should Easily Result in Disqualification From Office Forever (Video) - Yahoo Entertainment