One reason why COVID fraud was rampant | Letters to the editor
Grifters stole billions of COVID money because the federal government failed to provide adequate oversight.
From a Sun Sentinel news article, Jan. 6: Palm Beach Attorney Derek Acree, 47, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.6 million after pleading guilty to using money meant to make rent and pay employees on private jets, car and boat maintenance, a down payment on a home and an $11,000 payment to Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.
Does the government really expect Acree to voluntarily pay $1.6 million in restitution?
If he does not, Acree does his time and walks. Making restitution is not mandatory for release. Civil forfeiture laws allow police to seize, then keep or sell, property they allege is involved in a crime. Owners need not be arrested nor convicted of a crime in order for their cash, cars or real estate to be taken away permanently by the government.
Congress passed the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act that featured the Federal Asset Forfeiture Program. The Marshals Service is tasked with identifying and evaluating assets that represent the proceeds of crime as well as efficiently managing and selling assets seized.
Will there be a clawback of those ill-gotten assets, or is restitution a paw without claws?
Carl Buehler, Plantation
The search for happiness
The Declaration of Independence lists happiness as a condition for freedom along with life and liberty. The United Nations ranks the United States No. 15 in achieving happiness. We lead the world in science, technology, engineering and applied mathematics (STEM) but lag in finding satisfaction in life. A January 2023 NBC News poll found that 71% of Americans think we are headed in the wrong direction.
Two Princeton professors discovered increases in midlife mortality for non-Hispanic whites with no more than a high school degree, growing 30% higher than those of Blacks, labeling these death “deaths of despair.” Education was a factor in increasing life expectancy, they concluded.
“Psychology and the Good Life,” a class taught at Yale by Dr. Laurie Santos, is the most popular class on campus. Students want what STEM provides, but also want to explore the possibilities of a good life.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has seemingly sided with science (STEM) while censoring literature, history, poetics and journalism and threatening to charge more for college classes in the humanities. A closer look demonstrates his disrespect for science and the humanities because of his disparaging past remarks about medicine, psychology and epidemiology. By dismissing science and humanities, the governor is creating a “mutual incomprehension” between universities and their communities.
As Peter Abelard, a Medieval philosopher and precursor to enlightened thinking, said, “Doubt leads to inquiry, and inquiry to truth.” How can we learn about happiness without inquiring into the lives of those past and present and using applied science to understand it?
Phil Beasley, Plantation
It’s all in a name
If Hunter Biden’s last name were Trump, instead of a sweetheart deal, he would be going to prison for the rest of his life.
Doris Sipos, Davie
A cartoon ‘quiz’
The Sun Sentinel editorial cartoon published on June 20 was very humorous and witty. It read “News Quiz!” and asked, “Which person does not fit into this group?” T
The cartoon showed a lineup of John Gotti, Abraham Lincoln, Meyer Lansky, Donald Trump and Carlo Gambino.
But the pendulum swings both ways.
Let’s be fair and pose the same news quiz question showing sketches of Charles Ponzi, George Washington, Bernie Madoff, Joe Biden and Nick Leeson (the original “rogue trader”).
Will there ever again be a political center line in America that praises both parties rather than criticizes each?
Edward Ross, West Palm Beach