Don’t punish peaceful Leesburg protest
With all the violence in Florida high schools, a teachable, authentic moment for a peaceful protest is an invaluable lesson in conflict resolution skills (“Leesburg High School students face suspension for ICE protest,” Feb. 6). In Florida, the Department of Education promotes February as Black History Month and Florida law has mandated including this yearly topic in the curriculum. Who else is better to study about and learn the success of peaceful protests than Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr.? There have been many examples of peaceful demonstrations throughout American history. Recently, high school students have been exposed to protests concerning women’s health care, medical costs, DOGE slashing government departments and the ruthless actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In the case of Leesburg High, the punishment does not fit the crime. Students usually get suspended for fighting or bullying, not walking out of class. High schools spend a great amount of time attempting to defuse the violent actions teenagers see as a resolution to their problems. These students were participating in a peaceful demonstration. Did they skip class? Yes, so don’t make the punishment staying away from school for two weeks. Assignments on the First Amendment, the history and effects of peaceful protests or classroom debates on the pros and cons of ICE would all be more meaningful topics. Use the infraction as a lifelong learning experience. These are important weeks of preparing for state testing. Why would the school want 49 students to miss the review practice?
— Patrice Summers, Leesburg
Religious freedom vs. local rule
SB 1444 and HB 1227 are identical (companion) bills titled “Preemption to the State.” These bills focus on centralizing regulatory power at the state level, specifically to protect religious exercise and streamline certain property and business regulations by preventing local governments from imposing stricter rules. The language in these bills is very general and will create more problems than it solves unless more detail is included.
What would stop a religious group from coming in and buying up a group of homes in the middle of a subdivision of 2,000-square-foot homes that back up to each other to assemble a 1 or 2-acre parcel and tearing them all down to build a single new church/school within that residential zoned community?
What if the (fictitious) Sisters of the Church of Divine Lust wanted to move into the subdivision which you have chosen to raise your family in? Under the general language of the new proposed state rule, that would be allowed without oversight from local government and our local elected officials.
I have no objection to practicing faith with complete freedom, nor to the inclusion of religious facilities in areas zoned for their use. But these proposed bills need specificity.
Allowing the construction and expansion of facilities (simply under the guise of “religious freedom”) that directly affect other residents’ rights to their right of quiet enjoyment of their property, etc., is not in the best interest of the overall community.
— Kurt Kotzin, Orlando
Count Trump’s lies
On June 23, 2017, the New York Times published a landmark two-page spread documenting every lie told by Donald Trump in his first six months titled “Trump’s Lies.”
Today, in 2026, those two pages would look like a mere footnote.
By the end of his first term, The Washington Post had documented 30,573 false or misleading claims. Up from six daily lies in 2017 to over 500 per day by late 2020. Since his return to office in 2025, this firehose of lies has only accelerated, distorting everything from economic data to constitutional law.
Shame on us for lowering the standards of basic truth for the highest office in the land. This is not just “politics as usual;” it is a strategic “flooding of the zone” designed to exhaust us into indifference. We cannot afford to be exhausted.
I am calling on the New York Times to republish and update that 2017 editorial. It wouldn’t fit on two pages anymore; it would likely require an entire special section. But we, the people, need to see the full, staggering scope of this deception in black and white.
A democracy cannot survive without a shared reality. We must demand a return to integrity from our leaders and a return to courage from our newspapers.
— Julia Roach, Maitland
The Trump Swamp
Instead of renaming Palm Beach International Airport for President Trump, I have a more appropriate idea for the dear leader to have his name on many more facilities that I know at least half the people in this country would support.
All prisons, sewage treatment plants and toxic waste dumps should be named for Trump.
To include nature, let’s add swamps — since he has such affinity for them, too.
— James Carbone, Fort Lauderdale
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