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Saturday's letters: The U.S. must stay engaged in the world

Saturday's letters to the editor
 
Published Feb. 22, 2019

There has been much talk about building a wall on our southern border over the last few months, and now with the declaration of a national emergency to build the wall. Is it safe to ask if there is such an emergency why do we keep reducing the international affairs budget? The urgency to realize foreign aid is good for our country is more important than ever.

Terrorism spawns from extreme poverty. Think about it, if the only place someone can make money is working for a drug cartel or terrorist organization that is probably going to be what they will do. Now if you can give that person some help through one of our aid programs, chances are they will not join said organization.

There are also the people that say we give way too much to those aid programs. That is actually false, too. Less than 1 percent of our budget goes to foreign aid programs. Out of the top 25 economies in the world, the United States continuously ranks near the bottom. Please America, don't turn your back on the world.

David Heinold, Clearwater

School safety

Using data to predict risk

A National Threat Assessment Center study found that more than 75 percent of those committing mass attacks in public spaces in 2017 exhibited concerning behaviors before the incident. Another study, by the Secret Service and the Department of Education, found that in school-based violence, concerning behavior was exhibited before the attack 93 percent of the time. That is why Gov. Ron DeSantis' school safety executive order and his call for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to modernize our state's threat assessment strategy are so important. These actions recognize the role data integration, analytics and prioritization play in preventing mass violence attacks.

That is no easy task. According to the firm Microfocus, in 2016, 44 billion gigabytes of data was created on the internet every day. One solution is suspicious behavior reporting apps. Florida is one of almost 20 states that has implemented this technology. These apps remove barriers that previously existed for reporting suspicious behavior: Call the police? Dial 911? Tell the principal? Now it's easy to confidentially share information and help law enforcement prioritize the billions of social media communications.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are another tool. They create the equivalent of a super-charged Google search — all that publicly available data on the web can be searched for risks.

Rather than weeding through thousands of search results, these technologies turn the data into actionable intelligence for law enforcement. The governor wrote, "It is of paramount importance that we identify threats before they occur, and do everything within our power to prevent individuals from carrying out acts of targeted violence." We all play a role in that effort, and together — with data analytics and new technologies — we can save lives and protect our state.

Allan Martin, Tampa

The writer is the CEO of Lumina, a predictive analytics and risk-sensing firm based in Tampa.

Elections have consequences

Raising the minimum wage

During my time as mayor of Miami Beach I saw how income inequality was a growing issue for families. Too many residents had their cost of living go up, yet their wages remain stagnant.

This is why in 2016, I proudly sponsored an ordinance in Miami Beach to establish the first city-wide minimum living wage. It passed unanimously. However, before it could go into effect, the city was sued by then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Tallahassee special interest groups, claiming that the city could not raise its minimum wage in light of a 2003 state law. Last summer, the Florida Supreme Court agreed to hear our case.

Sadly, the new court rejected hearing the case. Elections have consequences, and Gov. Ron Desantis' ability to appoint three new justices shut the door for this case. We had the legal arguments on our side, but the grim reality was that higher wages became the first casualty of the 2018 election cycle.

But for those who remain as committed to higher wages and addressing income inequality in our state, my good friend John Morgan is leading a constitutional amendment effort to establish new minimum wages for Florida. I plan to work hard to see that measure through, so a pay raise can finally come to many of Florida's hardworking families.

Philip Levine, Miami Beach

The writer was a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018 and served two terms as mayor of Miami Beach.

What politicians are worth

A wealth of politicians

There is a phrase sometimes attributed to Harry Truman: No man can get rich in politics unless he is a crook. It would be interesting for the Times to publish the wealth of legislators before and after they left office.

Cindy Ehrenzeller, Clearwater

DeSantis redefines public education | Editorial, Feb. 19

Researching school choice

So Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to expand school choice. He is spinning what he is doing to justify public tax dollars funding religious and other private schools, and this is obviously not the intention of what "public education" was designed to mean.

Public education is really a cornerstone of the values of the United States. The most concerning piece of the governor's scheme is that he seems to have not done research into how school choice has not worked in other states. Please do some research. Do not fall prey to anecdotal stories of the success of selected students who have benefited from school choice. And remember, school choice schools can dismiss students who aren't performing in ways that enhance a particular school and are then sent back to their public school, often having fallen behind the performance of their public school counterparts. Research matters. Florida citizens should do their research about this issue and hold the governor responsible for improving real public education.

Penny Winkle, St. Petersburg