{"id":42300,"date":"2025-11-11T11:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T11:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/42300\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T11:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T11:30:13","slug":"tallahassee-get-your-priorities-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/42300\/","title":{"rendered":"Tallahassee, get your priorities right"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The people of Florida are being financially crushed by high prices for food, gasoline and home insurance while federal SNAP benefits are being withheld.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, some of our state legislators are focused on requiring presidential portraits in elementary schools.<\/p>\n<p>What in thunder is wrong with these people?<\/p>\n<p>Miriam Carpenter, Delray Beach<\/p>\n<p>Editor\u2019s Note: <a href=\"https:\/\/flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2026\/371\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">House Bill 371, by Rep. John Snyder of Stuart,<\/a> would require every K-5 classroom to display portraits of presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. <a href=\"https:\/\/discover.pbc.gov\/Intergovernmental-Affairs\/LegislativeDelegation\/Pages\/default.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Snyder, a Republican, is also the chairman of<\/a> the Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation. The next session begins on Jan. 13, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Keep tax policy local<\/p>\n<p>If you think the state Legislature should decide how much in taxes cities and counties can collect for roads, police and everything else, then you will appreciate Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 call to eliminate property taxes.<\/p>\n<p>After all, the Legislature meets for about two months a year, and Tallahassee is nearly 500 miles north of Fort Lauderdale. But you would have to be crazy to believe that this arrangement would be more responsive and accountable to us than the current arrangement.<\/p>\n<p>Ed Dahmus, Boca Raton<\/p>\n<p>What is Publix thinking?<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Signs like this at a Publix supermarket in Lutz just went up to remind customers that only service animals are allowed inside the stores - which means no more tiny pets in shopping carts or leashed family dogs cruising the aisles. (Bill Varian \/ Tampa Bay Times) \" width=\"4032\" height=\"330\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20230818-AMX-US-NEWS-PUBLIX-FLORIDA-DO-NOT-BRING-1-PT.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9911685\" \/><\/p>\n<p>(Bill Varian \/ Tampa Bay Times via TCA)<\/p>\n<p>Publix bans most dogs, citing &#8220;health concerns.&#8221; A reader argues that it should ban guns, too.<\/p>\n<p>I was very upset to read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2025\/10\/30\/customer-shot-in-publix-parking-lot-awarded-2-5m-after-jury-finds-company-partially-responsible\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Sun Sentinel article about the customer<\/a>\u00a0who was awarded $2.55 million after being shot in a Publix parking lot (in Lake Worth Beach).<\/p>\n<p>As a loyal customer, I am appalled that anyone can carry a gun into Publix.<\/p>\n<p>Publix is guilty of a breach of trust.<\/p>\n<p>After what happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, many Florida legislators still believe that open carry is a Second Amendment right.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m really surprised that Publix, whose slogan is \u201cwhere shopping is a pleasure,\u201d will not put signs outside its stores saying no guns allowed.<\/p>\n<p>They have beautifully handled their policy of no dogs, except for service animals.<\/p>\n<p>Sheila Cusick, Coral Springs<\/p>\n<p>Never normalize bigotry<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Rabbi Bruce D. Forman (Rabbi Forman\/Courtesy)\" width=\"1277\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/tfl-l-rabbi-forman-01-rotated-e1755624384265.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"12858172\" \/>Rabbi Bruce D. Forman (Rabbi Forman\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n<p>I commend Samir Kakli and Adam Abutaa for their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2025\/11\/02\/say-no-to-islamophobia-and-all-forms-of-hate-opinion\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sun Sentinel op-ed essay<\/a> (\u201cSay no to Islamophobia and every single form of hate\u201d), on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n<p>As a rabbi and psychologist, <a href=\"https:\/\/soflomuslims.com\/say-no-to-islamophobia-and-all-forms-of-hate-sun-sentinel\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">I recognize the painful parallels<\/a> between Islamophobia and antisemitism.<\/p>\n<p>Both communities face stereotyping, scapegoating and violence rooted in fear and ignorance. Both experience the anguish of seeing our faiths distorted as our neighbors view us with suspicion. History teaches that hatred of one group metastasizes when we normalize bigotry against Muslims, Jews or any minority.<\/p>\n<p>Our sacred traditions share profound values: justice, compassion and human dignity.<\/p>\n<p>The Hebrew concept of tikkun olam (\u201crepairing the world\u201d) and Islam\u2019s commitment to justice call us to stand together against all prejudice as baseless hatred.<\/p>\n<p>We must reject the false choice between condemning antisemitism or Islamophobia.<\/p>\n<p>Solidarity makes us stronger. When our Muslim neighbors face discrimination, Jews must speak up, and when antisemitism rises, Muslims must stand with us. Only by confronting every form of hatred can we build the just, peaceful society that our traditions envision.<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Bruce D. Forman, Ph.D., Plantation<\/p>\n<p>_____________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>Please submit a letter to the editor by email to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2025\/11\/11\/tallahassee-get-your-priorities-right-letters-to-the-editor\/mailto:letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com<\/a> or fill out the online form below. Letters may be up to 200 words and must be signed with your email address, city of residence and daytime phone number for verification. Letters will be edited for clarity and length.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The people of Florida are being financially crushed by high prices for food, gasoline and home insurance while&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[114,1205,482,232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-42300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-letters-to-the-editor","10":"tag-opinion","11":"tag-tallahassee","12":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","13":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}