A chuckle before the crisis

What the Republicans forcing a shutdown have in common with ‘60s radicals | Column, Sept. 28

Jonah Goldberg’s column gave me a brief chuckle about the dire state of our politics. Referring to the House Freedom Caucus believing Otter’s comments in “Animal House” that “this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part” provides some levity before what looks like an inevitable government shutdown. However, the humor ceases when one considers millions of federal employees will be furloughed and many others — including those working in the military and the Transportation Security Administration — will be forced to work without pay until it ends. Of course, members of Congress still get paid during the shutdown they caused. Until we enact legislation to restrict Congress’ pay as well, we will continue to go through these rinse-and-repeat cycles of government shutdowns.

George Chase, St. Pete Beach

Need some DEI training

Tampa department’s bad display of policing | Editorial, Sept. 27

The meaning of diversity training is any program designed to facilitate positive intergroup interaction, reduce prejudice and discrimination, and generally teach individuals who are different from others how to work together effectively. It seems to me that a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training program is in order for the Tampa Police Department. Too bad it is politically outlawed and maybe illegal in Florida

Peggy Millard, Tampa

What a surprise

DeSantis’ office dropped probe into bidding | Sept. 28

So, every Floridian who is shocked that the DeSantis administration’s chief inspector general’s office is not capable of investigating complaints of steering a multimillion-dollar contract to a politically connected consultant raise your hands and pledge, “Nothing to see here, move along.” Crickets.

Brian Valsavage, St. Petersburg

Worth the price

Uncle Joe, here’s the deal | Perspective, Sept. 24

I saved Barry Golson’s Sunday Perspective piece — “Uncle Joe, here’s the deal” — until Monday morning. I followed that up with Diane Roberts’ essay — “College football reflects America as it really is” — from Monday’s opinion pages. By lunchtime, I felt that these morning reads, in and of themselves, justified my annual subscription to the newspaper. Keep up the good work.

Richard Steiner, Largo