Tag Archive for: florida

Urgent Call to Action to Florida Senators — Please Vote NO on SB 1080

/in , , , , , , , , /by

SB 1080 Threatens Florida Agricultural Land.

The amendment only mandates a public hearing and vote to certify land as an “Agricultural Enclave” under Florida Statute 163.3164.

That designation is determined by a simple checklist—either the land qualifies, or it doesn’t.

The “public hearing” becomes a formality, not a real protection. And once certified as an enclave, the land is automatically approved for residential development—no further public input, no community vote required.

If this bill passes, it would open the door to unchecked residential development on agricultural land across Florida. It undermines local control, silences communities, and accelerates the loss of working lands we cannot afford to lose.

Please send your message to all of Florida’s Senators asking them to VOTE NO on SB 1080.

Here are their emails:

albritton.ben.web@flsenate.gov
Arrington.Kristen.web@flsenate.gov
Avila.Bryan.web@flsenate.gov
berman.lori.web@flsenate.gov
bernard.mack.web@flsenate.gov
boyd.jim.web@flsenate.gov
Jennifer.Bradley.web@flsenate.gov
brodeur.jason.web@flsenate.gov
burgess.danny.web@flsenate.gov
Burton.Colleen.web@flsenate.gov
Calatayud.Alexis.web@flsenate.gov
Collins.Jay.web@flsenate.gov
Davis.Tracie.web@flsenate.gov
DiCeglie.Nick.web@flsenate.gov
Fine.Randy.web@flsenate.gov
gaetz.don.web@flsenate.gov
garcia.ileana.web@flsenate.gov
Grall.Erin.web@flsenate.gov
gruters.joe.web@flsenate.gov
harrell.gayle.web@flsenate.gov
hooper.ed.web@flsenate.gov
Ingoglia.Blaise.web@flsenate.gov
jones.shevrin.web@flsenate.gov
Martin.Jonathan.web@flsenate.gov
osgood.rosalind.web@flsenate.gov
Passidomo.Kathleen.web@flsenate.gov
pizzo.jason.web@flsenate.gov
polsky.tina.web@flsenate.gov
rodriguez.anamaria.web@flsenate.gov
Rouson.Darryl.web@flsenate.gov
Sharief.Barbara.web@flsenate.gov
Simon.Corey.web@flsenate.gov
Thompson.Geraldine.web@flsenate.gov
truenow.keith.web@flsenate.gov
Trumbull.Jay.web@flsenate.gov
wright.tom.web@flsenate.gov
Yarborough.Clay.web@flsenate.gov

©2025 . All rights reserved.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Returns Nearly $1 Billion In ‘Unused’ Federal Funds After Meeting With Elon Musk

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday that Florida has returned nearly $1 billion in federal funds after meeting with Elon Musk.

“For years, Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the Biden Administration—but they couldn’t even figure out how to accept it,” the governor said in a post on X. “Today, I met with @elonmusk and the DOGE team, and we got this done in the same day.”

“Other states should follow Florida in supporting DOGE’s efforts!”DeSantis said.

The post was accompanied by an email from DeSantis’ office to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The email noted after his visit with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the state of Florida returned $878,112,000 in taxpayer dollars to the federal government.

The governor’s office said they will “also continue to identify other unused or surplus federal funding granted to Florida and determine if further refunds can be made.”

“Almost a billion dollars of your taxpayer money saved,” Musk said in response to DeSantis’ post. The announcement comes one month after DeSantis revealed the creation of the Florida DOGE task force which is set to “further eliminate waste within state government, save taxpayers money, and ensure accountability in Florida,” according to a press release.

“Florida has set the standard for fiscally conservative governance, and our new Florida DOGE task force will do even more to serve the people of Florida,” DeSantis said in a statement. “It will eliminate redundant boards and commissions, review state university and college operations and spending, utilize artificial intelligence to further examine state agencies to uncover hidden waste, and even audit the spending habits of local entities to shine the light on waste and bloat.”

The Florida task force is set to eliminate bureaucratic bloat and modernize the state’s government “to best serve the people of Florida.”

AUTHOR

Fiona McLoughlin

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE:Commerce Secretar Hyoward Lutnick Addresses Concerns DOGE Cuts Will Harm Economic Numbers

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Democrats Are So Antisemitic Even Elected Jewish Democrats are Switching Parties

/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

“Proud of Hillary for seeing the light.”

Rep. Hillary Cassel, a Florida legislator, announced that she was switching parties.

“As a proud Jewish woman, I have been increasingly troubled by the Democratic Party’s failure to unequivocally support Israel and its willingness to tolerate extreme progressive voices that justify or condone acts of terrorism,” she posted on Twitter. “I’m constantly troubled by the inability of the current Democratic Party to relate to everyday Floridians.”

“For eight years, I was the only Republican Jew in the Florida Legislature. As I passed into law the most pro-Israel, combatting antisemitism agenda in the country, I could never understand how the Democrat Jews felt comfortable in a caucus with many members that clearly hated them,” Sen. Randy Fine tweeted. “Proud of Hillary for seeing the light.”

Even Florida Democrat Chairwoman Nikki Fried was openly talking about Jews moving away from the Democrats before the 2024 election.

“Nikki Fried, the Jewish chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, told Jewish canvassers in her state that the party was losing Jewish voters because of the robust Republican response to pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.

Fried said that, “what has happened since then in American politics has made a lot of our Jewish brothers and sisters start to question the Democratic Party.”

Fried said doubts about Democrats have spread beyond “Republican Jewish friends” who have historically been the “outliers” in a constituency that has long been reliably Democratic.

These are really bad signs for the party.

You’re going to see the same “79% of Jews voted for Kamala” nonsense spammed everywhere and if you’re intellectually lazy, you’ll echo it. The facts on the ground though are that the Jewish Democrat vote is collapsing and even the party’s elected officials and elites are aware of it.

Actual precinct-level vote numbers show a Jewish shift. Including in Florida.

In Surfside, the most ‘Jewish community’ of the Miami area, where Jews make up a third of the population, Trump won 61% of the vote. In Aventura, Miami, a melting pot of Jews from Latin America, the former USSR and the Middle East, where the majority of the population is Jewish, Trump won 59% of the vote.

The times they are a changin’.

AUTHOR

RELTATED ARTICLES:

Israeli Diaspora Minister Chikli Pushes Back at Anti-Israel Libels

BURNED, TORTURED, RAPED, STARVED, WHIPPED BRANDED: Horrifying New Testimonies from Israeli Hostages Who were Released From Hamas Captivity in Gaza

Netanyahu Offered $5 MILLION and Safe Passage Put of Gaza to Anyone Returning a Hostage

Egypt Removes Antisemitic Passages From Its Textbooks

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

FLORIDA: State Representative Announces Switch From Democrat To Republican Party

/in , , , , , , /by

Florida State Rep. Hillary Cassel announced Friday that she is switching her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.

Cassel, who represents Florida’s 101st House district, announced the switch in a Twitter post. She cited concerns over the Democratic Party’s “failure to unequivocally support Israel” and what she calls its disconnect from everyday Floridians. Cassel is now the second Florida Democrat to join the GOP, along with Rep. Susan Valdés from Tampa.

“Today, I am announcing my decision to change my party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. This decision was not made lightly but comes from a deep sense of responsibility to my constituents and my commitment to the values that guide my service. I will be joining the Republican Conference of the Florida House of Representatives because I believe in their vision for a better, more prosperous Florida,” Cassel wrote in a statement.

“As a proud Jewish woman,” she continued. “I have been increasingly troubled by the Democratic Party’s failure to unequivocally support Israel and its willingness to tolerate extreme progressive voices that justify or condone acts of terrorism. I’m constantly troubled by the inability of the current Democratic Party to relate to everyday Floridians. I can no longer remain in a party that doesn’t represent my values.”

Cassel seemed to signal the switch earlier in December, tweeting an infographic depicting the overwhelming Republican majorities in Florida’s upcoming legislative session.

“Understanding the makeup of our State Legislature is key to navigating the upcoming session and addressing the needs of Floridians,” she wrote.

Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez endorsed the move, writing, “I am proud to share that @RepCassel has joined our House Republican Conference. Welcome to the team!”

House District 101 includes Dania Beach and portions of Broward County. Cassel won the seat in 2022 with 53% of the vote, defeating Republican challenger Guy Silla, who won 46% of the vote. Her current term expires in November 2026. The 101st District also swung 16 points towards the GOP, shifting from Joe Biden +14 in 2020 to Donald Trump +2 in 2024, according to a tweet from @Uncrewed, who writes about statewide elections on Substack.

AUTHOR

Henry Rodgers

Chief national correspondent.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Voters Are Increasingly Ditching The Democratic Party For The GOP In Crucial Swing State

Republican Rep. Paul Mitchell To Change Parties Because Of Trump

Florida Homeowner Shoots, Kills Alleged Burglar, K9 Sniffs Out Migrant Accomplice, Police Say

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Florida Muslim Arrested in Plot To Bomb the New York Stock Exchange

/in , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

The FBI just foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.

Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, of Coral Springs, FL was arrested today for attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce.

”The Stock Exchange, we want to hit that, because it will wake people up,” the suspect is quoted as saying in the documents. At another point, he is quoted as saying that he “feel[s] like Bin Laden.”

Another Islamophobia Awareness Month event.

Florida suspect arrested for allegedly planning to bomb NYSE: ‘I feel like Bin Laden’

Harun Abdul-Malik Yener allegedly said he ‘wanted to hit’ the NYSE

By Andrea Margolis , David Spunt Fox News November 20, 2024 7:03pm EST

A Florida suspect was recently arrested for allegedly planning to bomb the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced the arrest on Wednesday.

“Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, of Coral Springs, Fla., was arrested today based on a criminal complaint charging him with attempt to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce,” the office’s statement read.

According to the court files obtained by Fox News Digital, suspect Harun Abdul-Malik Yener unknowingly worked with undercover FBI agents before he was arrested.

“The Stock Exchange, we want to hit that, because it will wake people up,” the suspect is quoted as saying in the documents. At another point, he is quoted as saying that he “feel[s] like Bin Laden.”

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLES:

Media Describes Muslim Terrorist as ‘Homeless Florida Man’

Biden Regime Halts Essential Weapons to Israel At The Height of War Against Hizb’Allah and Hamas

A Third of Jew-Hating J Street’s Budget Funded By Nazi Collaborator George Soros

Bernie Sanders Teams Up with Soros-Funded J Street Jew-Haters to Block Arms Sales to Israel

30% of Senate Democrats To Ban Arms To Israel

Bernie Sanders Blames Israel For Democrats’ Defeat

Over 10% of UNRWA principals and senior education staff are members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad

RELATED VIDEO: Yes, Trump Will Mass-Deport Illegal Aliens!

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Bradenton, Florida: Capital of Anti-Semitism, Murder Capital 2024, Hurricane Capital

/in , , , , , , , , /by

On this eve of Judaism’s most sacred day, Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement — many may still believe that sins and crimes against Jews will remain unpunished, as they have for decades in Bradenton, Florida, which has now earned three well-deserved titles:

  1. Florida’s Capital of Antisemitism
  2. Florida’s Murder Capital 2024
  3. Florida’s Hurricane Capital

Who would believe that it is just an inconvenient coincidence that Bradenton has been struck by two devastating hurricanes in two weeks, the second of which is happening during the Holy Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when we must atone for our sins, individual and collective?

In Bradenton, Florida lawyer, Jorge Martinez, mocked the decades of antisemitic persecution against our Holocaust Survivor family as “religious-based nonsense,” with no judicial repercussions.

In Bradenton, there are no known indictments or prosecutions of decades of crimes against Jews.

In Bradenton, Jews can be robbed of thousands of Jewish property items without any law officer, official, judge, legislator, governor, or administrator raising a single objection … Ever.

The sounds of silence opposing Jew-hatred are everywhere in Bradenton.

Perhaps, it is The Almighty Who has raised quite an objection to relentless sins and crimes against Jews in Bradenton with His force and fury. Perhaps this was the last resort “for such a time as this” in an unrepentant society during the Ten Days of Awe and Penitence.

©2024. Beverly Newman, Ed. D. All rights reserved.

Florida high-tech company creates ‘RAIA’ a launch pad for businesses to build, train and test OpenAI™

/in , , , , /by

A Florida based high-tech company has launched its newest product RAIA™.

RAIA™ is a launch pad for businesses to build, train and test OpenAI™ Assistants and Agents. It quickly and seamlessly launches powerful custom A.I. Assistants to automate work that costs business time and money.

WHY RAIA™?

Before you can save time and money, you will need to …

  • Train your A.I. by empowering your business users to transfer knowledge via conversation.
  • Test your A.I. to ensure it asks and answers questions correctly leveraging our platform.
  • Launch your OpenAI Assistants with confidence and the support of your team.
  • Manage and Monitor your OpenAI Assistants to ensure you keep up with new innovations.
24/7 Availability

RAIA™ ensures that no potential lead is missed by being available round the clock. This constant presence means that inquiries and leads can be addressed immediately, regardless of time zones or business hours.

Qualifies and Prioritizes Engagement

RAIA™ can quickly analyze and qualify conversations, helping sales and support teams focus their efforts on high priority conversations. This efficient sorting saves time and resources, which increases capacity and lowers costs.

Personalized Conversations

RAIA™ can personalize interactions. Tailored communication significantly increases the chances of conversion as it resonates more with the customer’s specific needs and preferences.

RAIA can ask and answer any question you want.

Leverage the capabilities of our Conversational A.I. platform for business to launch A.I. Assistants. Our platform enables you to customize and train bots to ask about and answer questions regarding your business.

Conversation is the key to Conversion.
  • Unlock the potential for thousands of conversations, overcoming human resource limitations. Achieve the “impossible” in outreach to your contact database.
  • Integrating conversational A.I. into your sales and marketing sequence adds a dynamic touch, enhancing lead qualification and nurturing.

To test drive RAIA and build your companies bot in a matter of minutes just CLICK HERE.

©2024. Editorial Board. All rights reserved.

Why Seven Florida Counties Got Fake Voter Guides

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

This is very disconcerting and needs to stop!

Bad enough we have Communist Democrats spreading disinformation and censoring the truth that we also have this sort of dirty tricks being pulled by establishment RINOs.

WHY THOSE SEVEN COUNTIES GOT FAKE VOTER GUIDES

Kat Stansell • The Miami Independent

We are all worried, on a nationwide basis, that 2024 will be stolen just as was 2020.

Having to be concerned with local primaries in a “red state” is new low, but that is the case in Florida. The state Republican Party (RPOF) continued its war with MAGA, which first became obvious this spring, and has continued the battle into these August primaries. ( Florida has separate primaries for national and state/local offices, for those of you who are not residents. )

The local primary season this year was filled with blatant illegal and immoral efforts, perpetrated by the state Party against certain counties. WHY JUST THOSE COUNTIES?
..,.stay tuned…

First the spreading of FAKE voter guides, over THOSE seven counties.

The voters of Manatee, Hillsborough, Sarasota, St. Lucie, Brevard, Lake and St. Johns received voter guides claiming Trump and MAGA support for candidates who were on the other (RINO) side. These were mailed and available in offices of Republican Executive Committees (REC). But, the lies did not stop there, AND some of the attacks involved a good amount of money and planning.

In St. John’s, the county Republican Executive Committee had finally chosen a slate of America First candidates, after years of discord and three separate Chairmen. This sporing, they elected a new chair, a long-time resident, former law enforcement, and strong America First Republican. They also agreed on a slate of candidates to endorse.

The RPOF didn’t like that, so they tried to change those results.

The RPOF (via the RINO Vice chair of the REC ) brought in 57 NEW REC members in one evening, granted them membership then instant voting rights, and sought to replace the slate and officers chosen by the citizens of the county with a slate of RPOF choosing.

[ … ]

The RPOF is in overdrive, attacking their constituents’ freedom to make informed decisions at the ballot boxes across the state, AND trying to forbid participation of people with whom they disagree. If you catch a whiff of Brazil or Venezuela, your olfactory senses are good.

The Republican Party of Florida has been attacking America First Republicans (MAGA Republicans) OPENLY since this past spring.

Was this just a step toward Globlist control of Florida’s lands?. If DeGov couldn’t be their standard bearer on the national scene, then was he going to try to take his state away from MAGA Conservatives, and put the state’s land into the hands of foreign investors?

Evan Power can “take these accusations seriously”. Or not. Florida voters certainly do.

You at the RPOF got caught, RINO-handed, and this will not soon be forgotten.

Continue reading the full article.

©2024. All rights reserved.

FLORIDA: Jordanian Muslim Terrorist Arrested for Attacks pro-Israel Businesses and an Energy Facility in Orlando

/in , , , , , , /by

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ⁄ Orlando, Florida — Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 43, a Jordanian citizen residing in Orlando, Florida, is charged with four counts of threatening to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility. At his detention hearing yesterday, Hnaihen was ordered detained pending trial.

“We allege that the defendant threatened to carry out hate-fueled mass violence in our country, motivated in part by a desire to target businesses for their perceived support of Israel,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Such acts and threats of violence, whether they are targeting the places that Americans frequent every day or our country’s critical infrastructure, are extremely dangerous and will not be tolerated by the Justice Department.”

“Under the guise of expressing his beliefs, the defendant allegedly attacked a power facility, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, and threatened local businesses,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “Violence and destruction of property to threaten and intimidate others will never be tolerated. The FBI and our partners will work together to pursue and hold accountable those who resort to violence.”

“Targeting and attacking businesses for perceived beliefs is unacceptable,” said U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and federally prosecute those who make violent or hate-based threats and who seek to act on these threats.”

According to court documents, beginning around June 2024, Hnaihen targeted and attacked businesses in the Orlando area for their perceived support for Israel. Wearing a mask, under the cover of night, Hnaihen smashed the glass front doors of businesses and left behind “Warning Letters.”

Hnaihen’s attacks escalated. At the end of June, as law enforcement worked to identify the masked attacker, Hnaihen broke into a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, and spent hours systematically destroying solar panel arrays. He smashed panels, cut wires, and targeted critical electronic equipment. Hnaihen left behind two more copies of his threatening demand letter. Hnaihen is believed to have caused more than $700,000 in damage.

Following a multiagency effort, law enforcement identified Hnaihen and arrested him on July 11, shortly after another “Warning Letter” threatening to “destroy or explode everything” was discovered at an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando.

Hnaihen is charged with four counts of threatening to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each threat offense and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the destruction of an energy facility offense.

The FBI and Orange County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case, with valuable assistance by Maitland Police Department, Winter Park Police Department, and Orlando Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Varadan for the Middle District of Florida is prosecuting the case, with valuable assistance provided by Trial Attorneys Ryan White and George Kraehe of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

©2024. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Victims hurt by criminal migrants could see restitution under new Matt Gaetz (R-FL) measure

Biden-Harris Failure’s in the Middle East by Act for America.

RELATED POST ON X: As the FBI and CIA warn of Iranian regime interference in our elections, Biden-Harris waive sanctions on Iran’s state-run media.

Florida Reaffirms School Board and Parent’s School Book Ban Rights

/in , , , , , , /by

Another left slanted hit piece from USA Today which the Ledger often publishes in their Opinion section.  Both USA Today and the Ledger are owned by far left Gannett Media with HQ in NYC.  They own over 100 daily print media companies and; like cable news, they all print and speak to the same Marxist agenda.

Not news to you that we don’t have a free press/corporate media in US which is why POTUS Trump called them one of the biggest threats to our Constitutional Republic.  95%+ of all so called Journalists are woke Democrats who don’t know what non-biased, truthful objective reporting or investigative reporting is.  From my perspective the long time wounded free press was mortally wounded and laid to rest when Barack Hussein Obama came to power and is still in power.

Fla. reaffirms school book ban right

Filing argues government can remove speech it disagrees with

Douglas Soule

USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is doubling down on its position that books can be removed from school libraries solely because the government disagrees with them.

“(We) maintain the position that the removal of material from public school libraries is government speech for which it has the complete discretion and freedom to speak through the removal of speech with which it disapproves,” wrote attorneys for various Gov. Ron DeSantis education appointees in a Thursday court filing.

As revealed by the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida, the state has made the same argument over the last year to counter lawsuits filed over the local school district removals of books with LGBTQ themes.

In a similar vein, another attorney for DeSantis education appointees recently told a federal appeals court that what public university professors say in classrooms is government speech and therefore can be censored by the state.

The federal lawsuit prompting the latest government speech assertion was filed last month by a trio of public school student mothers who accuse Florida’s top education officials of discriminating against them and others opposed to the surge of book removals seen across the state.

In trying to get that lawsuit thrown out, Florida’s attorneys said that since removals are protected government speech, the public can’t experience “harm or concrete injury” over those removals and therefore can’t sue.

It shows the state is only ramping up arguments that have alarmed First Amendment experts, with some accusing them of being authoritarian. And it marks yet another case in Florida that could have big effects on First Amendment law across the nation.

Government speech?

As mentioned by the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, government speech doctrine is relatively new and “not always precise,” with most of the core cases on it coming in the last couple of decades.

“Under the government speech doctrine, the government has its own rights as speaker, immune from free speech challenges,” the center says on its website. “It can assert its own ideas and messages without being subject to First Amendment claims of viewpoint discrimination.”

While the U.S. Supreme Court has not always ruled in favor of government speech arguments, it said in 2015 that Texas could refuse to allow Confederate flag specialty license plates because they represented government speech. Justices said six years before that a city could refuse to put a monument in a public park for the same reason.

But the attorneys for the state — Ray Treadwell, who used to work for DeSantis, and Caroline May Poor of Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC — acknowledged in the Thursday filing that their government speech argument hasn’t yet been confirmed by judges of the 11th Judicial Circuit, a federal jurisdiction that includes Florida.

Florida is not alone in making that argument in recent months. Similar defenses for book removals have also been used in Arkansas and Texas, for example, though it has not prevailed in either state.

Two Florida federal judges also weren’t convinced by the argument and have refused to dismiss two separate cases based on book removals in Escambia County, which is on the state’s westernmost tip.

But one of those judges, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, said that could change as the litigation continues and more information comes in. Winsor wrote in a court order that the legal balance between book removals and First Amendment protections is “surprisingly unsettled.”

During oral arguments late last year, the USA TODAY NETWORK reported on how Winsor weighed two extreme hypothetical scenarios.

On one side, school library books could be removed by the government because they’re written by members of a certain political party. On another, every bookshelf decision was subjected to First Amendment scrutiny, where tossing pro-Nazi books could be considered “viewpoint discrimination.”

Winsor has also been assigned the new case filed by the moms.

The latest case

Several recent Florida laws have prompted local school leaders across the state to pull books in wildly varying ways, fearing breaking the rules. A free speech group last year ranked Florida as the nation’s book banning leader.

As part of a measure from last year, a public school parent or guardian can ask for a state special magistrate if they’re unhappy that a school district didn’t remove a challenged title.

But the state’s not allowing parents who disagree with district decisions to bar books to likewise appeal.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed last month say that violates the First Amendment by discriminating based on viewpoint.

“The freedom to read is essential to our democracy, and extremists’ efforts across the country to impose their personal discriminatory beliefs on what books our children can read set a dangerous precedent for our most basic freedoms and democratic ideals,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, in a statement.

Perryman’s group, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Southern Poverty Law Center, are representing the three moms involved in the case.

One of them is Stephana Ferrell of Orange County, who tried and failed to appeal a removal decision. She is also the co-founder and director of research and insight for the Florida Freedom to Read Project, one of Florida’s most-outspoken book access organizations.

Beyond the government speech argument, the state also counters that the appeal process is not a “forum for speech” and the First Amendment “does not require the government to provide Plaintiffs with an official channel to level grievances about book removals.”

It points out how a government-run electricity company might provide the public with a tool to report outages but not provide one to report when their power is functional.

“A health inspection agency might have a process to receive information from the public about unsanitary conditions, without also providing a process to report or discuss sanitary locations,” the lawyers continued.

The governor’s office and representatives for both sides in the case didn’t respond to media requests Friday. No hearing has been scheduled yet in the case.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com.

©2024. Royal A. Brown III. All rights reserved.

Open Letter to all 8 Catholic Bishops in our Beloved State of Florida

/in , , , , , , , /by

Dear Beloved Catholic Bishops of Florida:

Hope all is well with you and your respective diocese as we are 144 days away from the Most Critical Election in our lifetime…and, if we don’t get it right this time around – we can all kiss our Holy Rosaries goodbye and maybe look to moving to Belize or Costa Rica. That is how critical this November 5th election is and how critical “Voting NO on Amendment 4” is. And, that is what my letter of great concern is about today. This is quite urgent.

You all know me by now and my passion for protecting our beloved Holy Catholic Church and our Precious Pre-born. You know that I would put my life on the line for each and every one of you and for every priest in our Diocese of Palm Beach! Everyone knows that!! You receive a good 3 or 4 emails from me on a weekly basis. The biggest part of my 501C-3 Christian on a Mission ministry is to Protect the Unborn from the atrocities of Abortion. As you all know, I do not hold back when I do that, and I certainly do not hold back when I write Open Letters like this. Many people on my extensive “Pro-Life Email List” feel the same way, but are not nearly as BOLD and PASSIONATE as I am when it comes to expressing my Faith. Many are afraid to write what they feel because of the Powers that be, and may be reprimanded because perhaps they work for a certain diocese or maybe a Catholic Church. I work for the Kingdom and my Boss is God. I cannot be fired by God only because I do God’s work every day of the week and the benefits are out of this world!

I am not afraid to speak my mind and I never, ever, fear that something is going to happen to my 501C-3 nonprofit Christian on a Mission ministry. That’s why I chose that name for my ministry because it is a way of LIFE – where I put emphasis on the word LIFE! On the other hand, the Catholic Church is very scared to speak their mind because they fear that something will happen to their 501C-3 Tax Exempt status and this ridiculous thing they refer to as the Johnson Amendment. Please do not pay attention to this Johnson Amendment and let’s pay more attention to this frightening Amendment 4…

My all-time favorite pope – Saint John Paul II taught me one thing: BE NOT AFRAID. That is how I live my life 7 days a week. I seldom rest on the Seventh…

I just got home from a meeting at St. Ignatius Catholic Church on this Amendment 4 issue, where only 96 people showed up, including only ONE Catholic priest and only TWO deacons. Let that sink in for a minute…I was praying that close to 500 people would have showed up with a good 25 priests and a dozen deacons attending. Prayer is Powerful, but when only 3 of our beloved clergy show up for a should-have-been-a MUST ATTEND meeting — I guess the bad weather interfered with God listening to my fervent prayers and my prayers fell short. Beyond comprehension that our clergy did not bother showing up for this meeting, where I invited everyone of our priests, deacons and all 8 bishops to this meeting. After all, the presenter and keynote speaker was only doing this type of meeting ONE TIME and our beloved clergy failed bigly. Where were the folks that work at the Cathedral at? Just asking for a friend…

Sara Johnson, our guest speaker today, did a terrific job with her presentation, just as she did a couple of months ago when I was invited to Orlando for a powerful “TooExtremeforFlorida/Vote NO on Amendment 4” presentation. She was thorough, educational and covered a ton of information today. Her and I have become good friends, as she drove two and a half hours from Orlando in the rain this morning to share her knowledge with us. We need more leaders like Sara Johnson, and keep in mind, she is not even Catholic. Yet, she did an outstanding job with her power point presentation. God bless Sara!

I do not need to mention any other names only because the other ladies who spoke this morning are good friends of mine and I have utmost respect for what they do, which covers “Communication Director for Diocese”; CEO for Catholic Charities and Respect Life Coordinator for the Diocese. The latter happens to be one of my best friends, my right hand person for our PBC Right to Life League and goes over and beyond her call of duty! Actually, all three of these ladies do and I thank God every day that we have these terrific Catholic ladies representing our beloved Diocese of Palm Beach. God bless you 3!

I understand that we had bad weather this morning. I understand that our guest speaker was running a little behind driving from Orlando. I understand that we had to start this meeting 23 minutes late…but, to cut a two hour meeting short (at 11:20 instead of at 12 noon) – really upset the good majority of the people who (some of them drove over an hour in the rain to get there) – and when the meeting was cut off rather abruptly, some tempers flared. Rightly so. I had to bite my tongue as did so many others, including the 12 other people who had their hands up waiting to ask a question. The meeting was supposed to run from 10 am till 12 pm. Starting 23 minutes late, we all figured we would run up until 12:23 pm. We did not even go to 12 noon! We stopped at 11:20, folks…

But, the problem with today’s meeting is that “it was all sugar-coated and way too vanilla” for a True Pro-Lifer’s liking. Comments were made that simply showed signs of surrender right from the get-go. If we are going to cower as a Church because somebody posted something on Facebook saying that they are not in favor of Voting NO on Amendment 4 because they happen to be a Liberal – then, we are already fighting a losing battle. When we throw in the towel at the very beginning of a meeting like today, already on the defensive (speaking about how the Catholic Church has to be extremely careful with what we say; when we have to be so worried about our 501C-3 status, etc., we are already telling those 96 people in attendance today that “the Church is not in favor of creating any waves and will be happy just to stay in that “cozy comfort zone” so that we don’t get in trouble”…Try running that by John the Baptist — the saint who I modeled my life and passion for the Church after. Try running it by Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, my other favorite saint who inspired me to work with the poor of the poorest and to put my life on the line every single day for the most vulnerable – The Precious Pre-born. God bless these two saints.

Yes, Mother Teresa, abortion is the most heinous crime a human being could impose on another human being. It’s evil. When we continue to say that this ever-critical abortion issue is NON PARTISAN (which I have always preached as such), it allows the 50% of The Party of Destruction, Obstruction & Abortion — D.O.A. – Dead On Arrival – to continue voting the way they do and know that they can still attend Mass, receive Holy Communion and even go to confession, which I believe should be the only Sacrament that they should be allowed to receive. Every one of these Pro-abortion Liberals who vote every two years for Murder, should spend their time in a confessional until they get it right! That Left-wing Liberal party is what ruins it for all True Catholics in good standing because they know that they can vote YES on Amendment 4 and get away with murder – literally! That DOA Party knows that and they will continue voting YES ON ABORTION until they are stopped and asked to leave the Holy Catholic Church because of their stance on the murder of the precious pre-born!

ARE OUR BELOVED CATHOLIC BISHOPS EVER GOING TO ADDRESS THIS EXCRUCIATING ISSUE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE??? OR ARE THEY GOING TO TELL ME “WILLY, BEFORE WE BEGIN THIS MEETING, KEEP IN MIND THAT 50% OF CATHOLICS ARE REPUBLICAN AND 50% ARE DEMOCRATS”. THAT IMMEDIATELY TELLS ME THAT THE TOWEL OF SURRENDER HAS ALREADY BEEN THROWN IN EVEN BEFORE WE UTTER OUR FIRST WORD IN THOSE MEETINGS. THERE, MY FELLOW CATHOLICS, LIES THE PROBLEM…

The Catholic Church should be NON-PARTISAN. Period! We should never have to deal with politics when it comes to our Catholic institutions, especially when it comes to the issue of ABORTION! The issue of Abortion is a MORAL issue – not a Political issue, but unfortunately, that’s what it has come to. And, when it comes to Catholic Church Teachings – the Catholic Church has always taught that ABORTION IS MURDER! No matter what party you are with! That is why we have the 5th Commandment. It is not a suggestion – it is a Commandment. But, when the Catholic Church leaders in our country continue to allow 50% of the church to go against Catholic Church teachings (and nothing is done about it) – and they continue to vote for abortion – come November 5th, this despicable Amendment 4 will pass with flying colors. If the election were to take place tomorrow – the Liberal Left would win on both, Amendment 3 and 4, allowing marijuana and abortion to be the Law of the Land in our beloved Free State of Florida. Let that sink in, folks. In just 144 days – if the Liberal Left in Florida (including 50% of Catholics) – vote Yes on 3 and 4, Florida will never be the same. As of yesterday, in the majority of the polls (including Fox News): 53% of Catholics are voting YES on Amendment 4!! NOTE: Of the more than 1,000 voters surveyed in early June, 66% were in support of the pot measure (Amendment 3), and a staggering 69% in favor of the abortion one (Amendment 4). This is what we are up against, folks, and if our beloved Catholic Church and our 8 Catholic Bishops don’t do something about it right now — Florida will be going down the tubes and The Liberal Left will run our beautiful state!

There are 2.1 million Catholics registered in our 7 Catholic dioceses in Florida. There is another 2.2 million Catholics who are NOT registered with our 7 dioceses. That amounts to 4.3 million Catholics. According to Sara’s stats this morning, she told us that we need a total of 4.1 million votes on our side to defeat this Amendment 4! Like I said at our meeting in Orlando two months ago and like I repeated again this morning at our meeting – CATHOLICS ALONE CAN DEFEAT THIS AMENDMENT 4 — ONLY IF WE VOTE LIKE “REAL CATHOLICS”! The irony here is that “our own Catholics” – those who do NOT follow Catholic Church teachings – are going to doom this election and allow Abortion to be performed any time, anywhere for any reason. Breaks my heart…

This is where I believe that our beloved Catholic Bishops of Florida must step up and take the bull by the horns and be the True Shepherds that we want you to be. No more sugar coating. No more taking the 5th. No more “Decline to Sign” experiments. This is the real deal and all 8 of our Bishops have signed on to this “Vote NO on Amendment 4” program. This is the first time that I have seen our Bishops so fired up on any one given issue. I take it, since it is a “60-40″ Majority, all 8 of the Bishops decided to jump on this program because it is WINNABLE”, and the Bishops of Florida want and need a Big Win…

If it was a mere 51-49% majority, I bet my log home that our Bishops would have nothing to do with fighting Amendment 4! You better believe that it takes a lot of guts and intestinal fortitude to write this to our Bishops, but that is God’s honest Truth…and, I only speak the Truth, so help me, God…

Folks, what we heard this morning and what we keep hearing time and again when it comes to our beloved Diocese of Palm Beach is that “It is up to each pastor to run his parish as he sees fit.” That is a bunch of B.S. and I am not talking about Blessed Sacraments! Those 2 letters stand for something else! In my eyes and in the eyes of all True Pro-Lifers, that spells Trouble with a Capital T! In the eyes of the unborn babies, that spells Double Trouble with a Capital DT! So, in other words, if a certain pastor wants to focus on Immigration because that is what his forte is, but, decides not to pay any attention to the excruciating abortion issue – who suffers? The babies. When someone asked the question of “Why aren’t all the pastors showing the powerful and well done 4 minute video of Bishop Barbarito speaking about Amendment 4 – and we heard loud and clear that “It is up to each individual pastor to choose whether he wants to show that important video or not – WE JUST LOST THE BATTLE!! Let that one sink in for a minute, folks. This is why the Catholic Church has been falling apart day by day because our church leaders are NOT being church leaders!! To date, only 2 of our 8 Bishops have made a video on this important
Amendment 4 issue – including Bishop Barbarito (who is a phenomenal human being and is very Pro-Life)! I consider Bishop Barbarito a dear friend and I have utmost respect for him and when he turns 75 on January 4th, we will probably lose him to retirement! His video is very good, informative and needs to be shown in ALL 53 PARISHES BEGINNING THIS WEEK!! Not next week. Not the week after!! This week!! This should be MANDATORY at all 53 parishes in our Diocese with NO EXCEPTIONS! End of story!! No questions asked! And, if the Liberal Left Catholics in our parishes do not approve of this video and refuse to follow Catholic Church teachings and say they are against “Voting NO on Amendment 4” – escort them all out of the church and open the doors for them! That is why we have terrific ushers at all of our churches. We don’t need any CINOs (Catholics In Name Only)! We need Bold Pro-Life Catholics!!

And, trust me, I make my way around to visit many of our parishes because I have hundreds of priest friends. I went up to St. Bernadette Catholic Church this past Sunday to go to Mass and to visit one of my best friends – Father James Molgano (a fierce, oh-so fierce Pro-Life priest, who is battling cancer). He is all about preaching about “No on 4” and I believe his parish will be showing Bishop’s video this week. Thank you, Father James. Please keep him in prayer!

We need all of our 53 parishes to step up right now and put the Vote NO on Amendment 4 ad in every single church bulletin; we need to do weekly pulpit announcements at every single Mass; we need to hand out our prayer cards and read that prayer to Vote No at every single Mass; we need to order yard signs and put them at every single parish. I only had 20 signs and I gave them out to 5 different parishes – beginning with Bishop Barbarito and the Pastoral Center. I went to 4 other parishes and 3 out of 4 put their yard signs up immediately – including the wonderful Rector who hosted our meeting this morning at his beloved parish of St. Ignatius – Father Gavin Badway (another wonderful, Pro-Life priest, who gets it)! Thank you, Father Gavin, for always Being Bold for our babies! But, one parish who I gave my very last 4 signs to about 6 weeks ago told me last week when I asked him “Did somebody steal the 4 yard signs I gave you 6 weeks ago?” He told me “I have not put them up yet. I am waiting for the right time. I am waiting to play Bishop Barbarito’s video at the same time.” Let that one sink in as well. 6 weeks holding my yard signs and I have a dozen parishes asking me for yard signs!! That’s what happens when we allow pastors to run their parishes as he sees fit. Once again, who suffers? The Precious Pre-born. Truly unacceptable, folks. Crying shame…

I really looked forward to our meeting at the Cathedral this morning. I honestly was prepared to speak for a good 15 minutes if I was allowed to. I always come prepared because, what if the keynote speaker’s car broke down and couldn’t make it? Always come prepared because you never know when someone may need you. I wish I could have spoken for those 15 minutes because I have a lot to share; I have a ton of experience; I love what I do and I speak only the Truth when it comes to the Catholic Church and the Unborn. I love our Catholic priests. I respect our 8 Catholic Bishops. I appreciate our Catholic Charities and love our Birthline/LifeLine ministry and every one who has anything to do with it. It’s all good! I love it…but, when our priests and bishops do not stand Boldly for our Babies and refuse to preach the Gospel like John the Baptist, I have a problem. During our question and answer (Q&A) portion of our meeting today – I finally got the microphone and got to speak for about 3 minutes before I was about to be cut off. Pathetic! Why? Because I was following Saint John Paul II’s command of “Be Not Afraid” and when I speak the Truth and it shakes the powers that be – those powers have to make sure they cover their backsides and make sure that they are not exposed. The Truth hurts. But, what hurts more is that the powers that be are going to allow a horrific Amendment that allows babies to be killed in the womb at any time, any place & anywhere to be the law of the Land in Florida only because their jobs and reputations are far more important than it is to Protect the Unborn. The day we run all of our dioceses and parishes around this country like CATHOLIC MINISTRIES instead of like Corporations, is the day that Saint John the Baptist and Saint Mother Teresa will say “Wow, they get it”…and God will have a big smile on His face only because of 3 powerful letters…G.G.T. Yup, God’s Got This. I just pray to God that we Catholics also have it as well…

Thank you, Catholic Bishops of Florida! Thank you, St. Ignatius and Father Gavin for hosting our meeting this morning! Thank you to all who had anything to do with our meeting today in the way of setting everything up – the coffee and refreshments – and all those who spoke during our presentation! I greatly appreciate it and if I sound a bit disgruntled with this letter – I am just speaking the Truth. And, I am speaking for the many people who thanked me for saying what I said this morning and for the dozen new people who I met today for the first time who have already contacted me this afternoon and asked me to speak at one of their upcoming functions. It’s got to be a Total Team Effort with Jesus as our Team Captain! Bottom Line: We Are All In This Two-gether! We the Pro-Lifers – and God, the Creator of Life! Let’s get this election right and put an end to this Amendment 4 and Ban Abortion from Florida completely!!

IN GOD WE TRUST! IN SPEAKING THE TRUTH WE MUST!

Willy Guardiola
Christian on a Mission
Bold Supporter of Bold Bishops

©2024. All rights reserved.

Trump Ties With Biden In Longtime Blue State A Week After Bragg Guilty Verdict, Poll Shows

/in , , , , , , /by

Former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in Virginia just one week after he was convicted, a new poll reveals.

Last week, Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the case brought forth by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Despite this, Trump maintains his lead in Florida, Arizona and Nevada, and ties with Biden with 48% in historically blue Virginia, according to a recent Fox News poll that surveyed voters following Trump’s conviction on May 31.

The last time Virginia voted for a Republican presidential candidate was for former President George W. Bush in 2004. Trump lost in Virginia in 2016 and in 2020 against former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Biden respectively.

Following his guilty verdict, Trump’s campaign donation page crashed within minutes of reaching the guilty verdict. Within a day, the Trump campaign announced a record breaking $34.8 million from small dollar donors. Along with his record breaking cash flow, Trump managed to maintain his lead in crucial states.

In Florida, Trump is leading Biden in a two-way race by four points, polling at 50.6% while Biden trails behind at 42%, according to a RealClear Polling (RCP) average. In a five-way race with Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Cornel West, Trump’s lead grows to 10 points at 48% while Biden polls at 37.5%.

Trump won Florida in both 2016 and 2020, but by a slim margin. In 2016, Trump won the sunshine state by a little over 1%, and in 2020 he kept the state red by a little over 3.3%. His lead in the upcoming election gives Trump a slightly larger advantage.

Trump continues polling ahead of Biden by roughly four points in Arizona, leading with 48.3% compared to Biden at 44.1%, the RCP average shows. In a five-way race, Trump has a roughly five point advantage with 43.8% and Biden at 38.2%, marking a significant advantage for the former president compared to Biden’s razor thin margin in the 2020 election.

In 2016, Trump narrowly won Arizona but lost Nevada to Clinton. In the following 2020 cycle, Trump lost both Arizona and Nevada to Biden. Going into 2024, Trump’s leads.

Trump is also ahead of Biden by roughly five points in Nevada, where he is polling at 48.3% while Biden polls at 43%, according to RCP. In 2020, Biden won Nevada by less than three percentage points, while Trump has consistently led the state in 2024. Taking into account third-party candidates, Trump maintains a 6 point lead at 42.5% with Biden at 35.7%.

The Fox Virginia poll surveyed 1,107 registered voters and had a three point margin of error.

AUTHOR

REBEKA ZELJKO

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Trump Guilty Verdict In Bragg Case Would Have No Effect On Most Voters, Poll Shows

Latest Polling Shows Third-Party Candidates Hurting Biden In Crucial Swing States

RELATED VIDEO: Trump: This was a political stunt that backfired on them

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Florida County Republican Registrations Report — May 2024

/in , , , , , /by


Executive Summary

  • Madison County has joined the now 57 (of 67) Florida Counties where the number of Republican registrations exceeds the number of Democrat registrations. Madison County is the last of the lower-population, heavily Republican voting counties, to have their number of Republican registrations surpass those of the Democrats. Gadsden County is the last low-population majority Democrat Registrations County in Florida. For those under the allusion that their traditional campaign tactics are effective, Gadsden County would be a great place to prove it!
  • Republicans need to implement the following items.
    • Moratorium on the building of rental housing unless county-wide homeownership rates are greater than 85%.
    • Change Florida election rules to have “universal primary contests” (multiple candidates from only one political party) and school board elections decided at the time of the general election and not at the time of the primary!
      • The primary should be used (if applicable) to narrow the field to two candidates.
  • Florida Republicans now hold an 928,157 registrations advantage over the Democrats, an increase of 25,712 relative registrations over the prior month.
  • The tables and a chart shows the following.
    • The chart shows graphically the change in active registrations since the 2022 book closing.
    • Table 1 lists Florida Counties by Republican registration margins relative to Democrat Registrations.
    • Table 2 shows how Florida Counties are performing relative to each other in Republican registration margin improvement (for example, St. Lucie County had the 57th best margin at the time of the 2022 election and now enjoys having the 43rd best margin of Florida’s 67 Counties).
    • Table 3 lists vote margin changes of Florida Counties between the last two presidential and gubernatorial elections
    • Table 4 lists Florida Counties in order by gains in Republican registrations and shows the associated registration changes for non-Republicans.
    • Table 5 presents various Republican registration and vote metrics on a percentage basis.
  • The “Vote August” effort is an attempt to educate voters that by not voting at the time of the August primary they will generally have their vote disenfranchised in local elections. The disenfranchising of the general election-only voters by having elections decided in August “universal primary contests” and in having school board elections determined at the time of the August primary, are abhorrent!

Florida Voter Registrations

Note: the registrations numbers in this writing refer to active registrations, a subset of total registrations.

Florida Republicans continue the trend of making relative gains in active voter registrations as Republican registrations relative to Democrat registrations increased by 25,712 registrations in May and by 622,207 registrations since the book closing for the 2022 general election. Florida Republicans now have a 928,157relative registrations advantage over the Democrats. Republican registrations were 39.08% of total registrations and Republicans now enjoy a 6.95% of total registrations advantage over the Democrats (see tables).

The Democrats lost 54,362 registrations in May, lost 678,479 registrations since the 2022 book closing, and 1,010,404 registrations since the 2020 election. Republican registrations decreased by 28,650 in May, and the number of registrations which are neither Republican nor Democrat decreased by 39,668 registrations in May (see chart).

Note: Vote August! Please make plans to vote in the Florida non-presidential primary election in August. A subset of elections categorized as “universal primary contests” may be deadly (in a political sense) for conservative Republicans. In the name of fairness, the system should be changed. The only current options for conservative Republicans are for conservatives to vote in the August primary!

The Epoch Times Letter-to-the-Editor

The three major factors in elections are the quality of the candidate, the quality of the candidate’s campaign, and the underlying political orientation of the voters. A significant election factor concerning the quality of the candidate is the performance of a candidate that has already held the office. The incompetence of the current president is highly favorable for Republican success in 2024.

The most critical election factor though is the underlying political orientation of the voters. Proving this is the small number of states that are competitive. Republicans completely and consistently ignore this factor.

A coveted, and until recently abandoned ritual, was the Sunday morning reading of the newspaper. The abandonment of the ritual was caused by the inability to find a paper that was readable. The ritual has been revived by the reading of The Epoch Times weekly newspaper on Sunday morning.

As a previously avid letter-to-the-editor writer, the first of such letters in years had been submitted to the Epoch Times. They were kind enough to print in their May 29-June 4, 2024, edition, the following letter dealing with one of the factors which changes the underlying political orientation of the voters.

“The Political Ramifications of a Growing Rentership Rate

To summarize the foundation of his opinion piece, Jeffrey A. Tucker (Your New Life of Housing Rental, May 22-28) writes that the federal government, starting at the end of World War II, undertook programs to increase the homeownership rate. The backstopping of mortgages by the government in pursuit of this goal eventually led to the 2008 housing crisis, which was the start of our country becoming a nation of renters.

The government has become so large and disjointed that it is at odds with itself. Starting in Hawaii in the early 1960s, and spreading throughout the U.S. by the 1990s, other government entities simultaneously adopted the United Nation’s eco-revolutionist strategy of restricting the footprint of land upon which development could take place. In their terms, sprawl had to stop. Their goal; to create a nation of renters. Why?

For brevity, being a renter is more predictive of a voter voting Democrat (aligned with the U.N.) than homeownership is of a voter voting Republican. Rentership is a much more robust political factor than homeownership. Restricting the footprint of developable land creates higher priced real estate, which in-turn forces more people to rent, leading to an out-sized increase in the Democrat vote!

An examination of Florida supports this finding. In the mid to late 1980s Florida adopted real estate development laws to be in place by 1995 that forced counties to create footprints where development could take place. This caused the supply of developable land to become scarcer, which in turn drove up all real estate prices. The result was the doubling, and even tripling, of home prices in much of Florida after the mandated footprints were established.

Florida Republicans suffered losses in their share of the presidential vote following the establishment of these footprints. George H.W. Bush carried Florida by an overwhelming 22% margin in 1988, and by 2000, George W. Bush barely captured the state, which President Obama won in 2008 and 2012.

These efforts may be thwarted. The seeds of changing Florida Republican political fortunes were planted in 2011 when determination of the size of the footprints on which development could take place transferred from the state to local governments, most of which were more accommodating to development. This made developable land in Florida less scarce, lowering its relative price, and making ownership more attainable.

This explains why President Trump carried Florida twice with an improving margin, and why Florida experienced a red wave in 2022!” (note: this is the end of the letter)

In a now two decades pursuit, there has been no Republican interest in lowing the rentership rate. This factor has now become critical.

An attribute of rentership becoming a political factor is growth restrictions, which the opposition has branded as “smart growth”. Smart growth efforts ultimately disrupt real estate markets and cause an increase in real estate prices. High real estate prices create fewer homeowners while financially benefiting existing property owners. Renters, who are unable to share in the wealth produced by the increasing real estate prices, become alienated voters, a group that predictably votes Democrat.

In analyzing the Republican losses in our four highest population states produced fascinating findings. In the late eighties, and throughout the nineties, Florida, New York, and California all suffered similar large Republican losses while Republicans made significant gains in Texas. We Floridian Republicans now look down our noses at the poor job Republicans have done in New York and California, but the only reason Florida is not a hugely Democrat state now is that Florida was much more Republican than were California and New York when smart growth policies were first adopted!

New York (rentership rate of 45.7%) and California (rentership rate of 44.4%) are forever lost to the Republicans unless a way to increase the percentage of homeownership is found. Texas (rentership rate of 37.6%) is a major concern. The concern in Texas is that their smart growth efforts did not cause higher home prices until the last decade or so. Texas is now suffering the Republican losses the other three large population states suffered decades ago. Florida (rentership rate of 33.1%) Republicans are in a better situation than the other three but its rentership rate is a far cry from Singapore’s world class 10% rentership rate.

The inability of Republicans to think-outside-the-box is a showstopper. May God have mercy on us for the pain we inflict on our progeny by our inaction in improving the homeownership rate!

©2024. Steve Meyer. All rights reserved.

Enjoy the meltdown! Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ‘Warns Public Schools Might Close’

/in , , , , , , , /by

YES! Public school systems are deservedly losing students to school choice options.

Duval, Broward and Miami Dade are three of Florida’s largest school districts that have lost substantial numbers of students.  Broward alone lost 49,000 students.  Across Florida private school attendance has increased by 50,000 and Home Schools by 50,000 last year.  Scholarships have increased by 217,000 for school choice.

Competition is the answer to better educated; less indoctrinated students.

Teach Florida’s youth how to think, not what to think!

One of biggest problems in public education is the negative influence of teachers unions like the National Education Association and local affiliates who are not concerned with student performance but rather with teacher benefits and support LGBTQ agendas.

Politico Panics: FL Gov. Ron DeSantis “Wildly Successful” In School Choice, Warns Public Schools Might Close

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers

American public schools have been declining for decades. We used to score at or near the top in the world for education in maths, the sciences, reading comprehension, writing skills, etc. Now? We trail behind (among other nations) China, Estonia, Korea, Finland, and Singapore.

American students actually graduate high school unable to read or write at the sixth grade level. But don’t worry, we’ve been long assured by the ludicrous left: students just need to be coddled, not taught; they need to achieve their best by ‘being’ and by discussion and group struggle sessions, not boring old lectures; they need to be embraced for their feewings about maths (2 + 2 = purple is just as correct as, say, “4” because feewings and ‘felt experiences’). Besides standardized tests are racist and scary . . . unless you actually know the freaking material and can answer the questions posed.

Add on the American public school teachers’ unions, the activist ‘teachers’ being churned out of activist campuses, and you have a clear recipe for disaster in terms of American public education.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is having none of it. He’s not allowing DIE to kill Florida’s schools and colleges, and he’s not letting teachers’ unions kill Florida’s children’s futures. Instead, he has fought for years to allow parents to decide where their children are educated, to make the right and best choices for their children’s futures. Parents—finally given a choice—are deciding, in droves, that failed federal government-run public schools are not adequate for their dreams and hopes for their children’s future.

In keeping with his promise to stand with Florida’s families, to defend them against the federal government’s and public teachers’s unions assault on public education, DeSantis has championed school choice, vouchers, and homeschooling. He has remade the K-12 education system in Florida so that parents are free to choose what kind of education their child or children receive. This is wildly popular in Free Florida.

It’s not so popular at Democrat hactivist site Politico.

Continue reading.

©2024. Royal A. Brown III. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Left media Bemoans Success of FL School Choice Program

RELATED VIDEO: New Documentary “Audacity To Dream”

FLORIDA: Just Vote ‘NO’ on Amendment 3 — Significant Costs to Voters

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Excellent article that addresses increase costs associated with legalizing recreational pot including vehicle accidents, automobile insurance, electricity and health insurance in those states like Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska as well as Canada.

Doesn’t address other costs like higher crime rates due to black markets (dealers & buyers who don’t want to pay taxes); interstate crime as pot grown in Florida is transported to other states where it is illegal; increased emergency room visits and hospitalizations especially of young people including minors.

This will be a disaster for FL and we need to Vote NO and encourage others to do the same.

Florida: Just vote ‘no’ on Amendment 3

Your Turn

John Michael Pierobon

Guest columnist

Amendment 3, a referendum to enshrine recreational marijuana in the Florida constitution, is on the ballot this November. The ballot language does not mention the significant cost to the voter.

Legalizing recreational marijuana will dramatically increase the cost of electricity, automobile insurance, and health insurance.

A 2022 study published by the Society for the Study of Addiction concluded that in the United States, there appears to be a 20% average increase in cannabis use frequency attributable to recreational legalization. Marijuana consumption also increased in all age groups when Canada legalized marijuana. This is especially true among the youth because they think that because it is legal there is no harm. Making it legal does not make it right; it normalizes dangerous behavior.

The scientific evidence is overwhelming; fatal car crashes increase significantly when recreational marijuana is legalized.

A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that the percentage of drivers in Washington involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana more than doubled after that state made marijuana legal for recreational use.

Another study published in 2019 in the journal ‘Accident Analysis & Prevention’ concluded that fatal crash rates increased in Colorado and Washington after the opening of commercial recreational marijuana dispensaries. The study states that in ‘the five years after legalization, fatal crash rates increased more in Colorado and Washington than would be expected’.

In Colorado, between 2013, when that state legalized recreational marijuana, and 2019, traffic deaths where drivers tested positive for marijuana increased by 140% as per a Colorado state police report.

Chances of being in a fatal car accident went up significantly in states that legalized recreational marijuana. A recent study published in the journal ‘Social Science & Medicine’ revealed substantial increases in crash fatalities of 22% in Oregon and 20% in Alaska when they legalized it.

More traffic fatalities leads to higher automobile insurance premiums.

A study published in ‘JAMA Network Open’ found that emergency room visits increased 475% when Canada legalized marijuana. The study suggests ‘cannabis-involved traffic injuries have increased over time and that the commercialization of cannabis markets may result in further increases.’

In states where recreational marijuana has been legalized, children, especially those under 10 years old, are at increased risk of accidental poisoning from edibles and other products made from marijuana. The average number of emergency room visits due to cannabis use in this age group more than tripled, from 20.9 per 10,000 visits in 2019 to 65.6 per 10,000 visits in 2022.

More emergency room visits means higher health insurance premiums and much longer waits at emergency rooms.

Voting to legalize marijuana will also raise the cost of electricity for everyone in Florida.

The demand for electricity will increase dramatically because growing marijuana consumes staggering amounts of energy. According to a 2020 study published in the journal ‘Nature Sustainability’ indoor cannabis cultivation in the United States alone accounted for approximately 1% of total electricity consumption in the country.

Even in the Sunshine State, marijuana has to be grown indoors because it requires at least 18 hours per day of high-intensity lighting such as high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps to be commercially viable.

‘Growing an Ounce of Pot Indoors Can Emit as Much Carbon as Burning a Full Tank of Gas’ is the title of an article in Smithsonian Magazine. Colorado State University researchers write that Colorado marijuana industry’s greenhouse gas emissions (2.6 megatons of carbon dioxide) exceed those of the state’s coal mining industry (1.8 megatons of carbon dioxide). Growing marijuana has a carbon footprint that easily exceeds most polluting industries.

Protect our young children, our safety, our health, our environment, and especially our pocketbooks. Vote no on Amendment 3.

John Michael Pierobon is the vice chair of the Tobacco Free Partnership of Broward County, and the chair of the Tobacco Free Environments subcommittee of the Tobacco Free Workgroup of the Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade, and an active member of Tobacco Free Volusia.

©2024. All rights reserved.