Sarasota County's clueless politicians don't care about art's beauty, value

County rejects value of billboard exhibit

I am deeply disappointed − no, I am shocked − that the Sarasota County Commission has rejected spending any tourist tax dollars to support the Embracing Our Differences exhibit at our Sarasota Bayfront Park.

The caption that the Herald-Tribune posted under several of the huge posters even stated that over 420,000 visitors saw the exhibit.

There are many reasons why our county commission should continue to support the exhibit. The number of visitors who travel to downtown Sarasota when viewing the exhibit surely support local businesses in numerous ways.

But my main concern is the educational opportunities provided to our students; so many educators use the exhibit to promote the idea of acceptance and the values of all people and cultures.

More importantly, the exhibit promotes human kindness and acceptance of the value of all human beings no matter their race, religion or ethnicity.

As a retired Sarasota educator of 46 years, I am appalled that the commission does not see the educational value and opportunities this exhibit promotes for our students. I implore the Sarasota County Commission to continue to support Embracing Our Differences.

Jill R. Rothenburg, Sarasota

After shooting, will Trump favor gun ban?

Is it irony that the man who encourages and threatens political violence gets shot by a registered Republican?

I wonder if former President Donald Trump is now going to call for a ban on assault weapons.

And I wonder what crazy things he’ll say to explain why he won’t.

Michael Hirsh, Punta Gorda

Biden’s condition may have been hidden

What a sad, embarrassing debate performance by President Joe Biden.

Previously, when videos aired of him mumbling incoherently, looking bewildered and shuffling while being led offstage, the administration called them “cheap fakes” edited to appear his mental faculties were failing him.

Aides claimed Biden was as “sharp as a tack.” The media parroted those claims.

Post debate, when everyone saw that he was obviously in mental decline, they said “He has a cold.”How long has his decline been known by his family, friends, advisers, doctors and party leaders? Was it evident in 2020, when he made virtually no campaign appearances?

Who thought it was beneficial to expose him to the world by letting him participate in the debate last month against former President Donald Trump?

Are the party leaders so power-hungry they would exploit “an elderly man with a poor memory?” Are they power hungry enough to deceive the American citizens?

Who is actually running the country?

How do our adversaries and allies view this situation?

After the lying and cover-up, can our own government be trusted?

Can we ever trust the mainstream media again?

Richard Lieb, Sarasota

Paper falls for Democratic photo op

I will have to start calling the Herald-Tribune “The Confused News” because you don’t know the difference between propaganda and news.

As an example, on page 2 on July 12 you published an Arizona Republic story with the headline, “Biden ‘earned our vote,’ veterans say.”

With it, you ran a photo of former Undersecretary of the Army Patrick Murray and a dozen veterans from the Guadalupe, Arizona, American Legion Post holding pro-Biden signs.

Talk about misleading. Par for the course in your newspaper.

First, how hard is it to find a dozen Democratic veterans to pose for a picture with a big-shot Washington dignitary? This was a photo op arranged by the Biden campaign.

Second, the optics of this editorializing lead readers to believe the majority of veterans approve of President Joe Biden. I believe they actually approve of former President Donald Trump.

Remember Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal? Look at the imposition of “woke” medical dictates and DEI conditions on the American military. This story should have been identified as editorial comment.

Larry Wilson, Venice

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota County's clueless politicians don't care about art's beauty, value