Broward school shooting | Miami Herald

I am watching the news as the Broward shooting is unfolding. As I write this, very little is known. As a parent of three children, I can’t imagine what the affected parents are dealing with.

In short order, we’ll hear this is time for prayer. Enough already.

Senator Rubio, you and your cohorts must do something. Maybe common sense gun restrictions won’t do much, but maybe they will. Do something.

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Shame on you and the rest of your cohorts. How dare you cower to the lobbyists! Do something!

Secret prison

The request by the Pentagon to replace a top secret prison for $69 million is absurd. $4.6 million per prisoner is ridiculous! What makes it so expensive?

An air conditioned apartment suite with ocean view, panoramic flat TV and a bathroom for each prisoner?

How about digging a hole somewhere and make a dungeon-like, underground prison with limited sunlight?

Make the prison as comfortable as they have it for those incarcerated in their countries. I doubt they spend as much money as we do in any of their prisons.

Let’s use that money for affordable housing, for the homeless and veterans.

Winning partnership

The South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has 23 years of deep roots in Miami-Dade County. As a strong supporter of growth and development for our businesses, we advocate for partnerships that will benefit the community by creating jobs and fostering progress.

The possibility of having a public-private collaboration with Miami Dade County and FPL in building a facility that treats waste-water that would otherwise seep into Biscayne Bay is monumental. This collaboration will also provide job opportunities that are critical to our local economy. We constantly are receiving people from different parts of Latin America who need jobs.

This new technology will provide opportunities for small and large businesses, as well as encourage the younger generations to become an innovative force for the future.

Initiatives like these are a win-win for our community, and we are proud and excited to support it.

Water project

As former director of the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, I know first-hand the water issues that the county will have to undertake in the very near future.

Therefore, the collaborative agreement between Florida Power and Light and Miami-Dade County to build an advanced reclaimed water treatment facility near FPL’s Turkey Point complex is a step in the right direction.

This system effectively treats and recycles waste-water. The removal process meets industry best practices and sets the stage for beneficial water reuse practices in the county for generations to come.

The project would also provide financial benefits to everyone in the county, not just FPL customers. It is also a true example of a public-private partnership coming together for a common goal.

Unworthy parade

Let impeachment begin. Every red-blooded American rejects and must demand impeachment without question at the militaristic third world dictatorship approach to governing implied by Trump’s Pentagon directive. “No” is the only appropriate answer to any move toward directing a military parade.

Military parades and their uses may be debated in America, but given that we are at war, Trump’s suggestion for funds and resources for this purpose speaks to what is in his mind and heart.

America must have a strong defense. But we are a reflection of God’s glory, not ever to be — or even contemplate becoming — anything which suggests dictatorship or aggression toward the rest of the world.

Donald Trump, for his own good — and for that of America — needs to know in no uncertain terms that America will not go there. This directive cannot stand.

Background checks

I am a registered nurse. I am required, for my position, to pass an FBI background check — fingerprints and all — every five years, or I lose my job. No “temporary clearance,” no ifs, ands or buts.

Why is the White House any different in vetting its personnel?

Integrity won

Congratulations to Phil Stoddard on being reelected as mayor of South Miami. As one of integrity, his campaign focused on facts, evidence of proven accomplishments, and he showed himself to be a statesman.

His opponent, Horace Feliu, and his camp, provided half-truths — malicious, incendiary, and vicious — and revealed himself to have taken a page out of Trump’s playbook.

Congratulations, Mayor Stoddard. You prevailed, and South Miami residents won.

Hit the road

So many stories about transit and so much politicking and none of it good for everyday transit users. In the last five days — as a bike, bus and train commuter — I have experienced broken down trains; broken down buses; Metrorail pass machines inoperable at two train stations and on one bus; slower than molasses trains; lack of air conditioning; been told to depart a train because it was turned into an express route train; and lighting blackouts. This is all in addition to the overcrowded cars.

I feel for the transit workers who take the abuse of transit takers who are fed up but have no choice. We keep hearing relief is in sight. The TV spots about transit are sunny and light, encouraging people to save time and enjoy the ride. If it were only so.

I recently hired an employee who lives in Kendall and, after two weeks, she went back to using her car. This is exactly the opposite of what Miami mass transit is supposed to do — alleviate traffic.

One has to wonder if that result is intended by the powers that be to justify more roads.

Counting lackeys

How about we do a nose count of politicians who wear their neckties almost to their crotch, to see how many toadies there are in Washington?

What’s his job?

It seems to me that Donald Trump has a fundamental misunderstanding of his position.

He thinks he was elected president of the Republicans instead of the republic.