Last August, a federal court found that those supporting an Idaho ban on trans student athletes had no evidence to support their claims. With more than 30 states, including Florida, passing laws banning trans girls from sports, court battles to counter the trend are only beginning.
Commentary
‘Enough’ Is Not Enough: Flagler’s Dangerous Leer at Extremism
What happened on Tuesday at the Palm Coast City Council is indefensible and dangerous. But it’s nothing new. We’ve simply not been paying attention to a perilous degradation of public discourse and behavior. We are slowly becoming a crueler community debased by primitive instincts, because no one in charge, or too few people in charge, are standing up and saying enough.
Anti-Transgender Bills Are Latest Version of Conservatives’ Longtime Strategy to Rally Their Base
Mischaracterizing LGBTQ-supportive policies as harmful to young people are a staple strategy conservatives use to galvanize their base. A record number of anti-transgender policy reforms were introduced this year in state legislatures across the country.
FDR Must Be Smiling
President Biden has announced the most ambitious plan since FDR’s New Deal for enhancing the well-being of working Americans while trimming the fortunes of America’s super rich. The president has promised to fund his big plans for infrastructure, jobs, and education entirely with taxes on the top.
What Stolen Election Diehards Owe Holocaust Deniers
Holocaust denialism’s dregs on the fringe don’t get much attention because responsible institutions from publishers to campuses to media organizations kept them in their gutter. Election deniers are owed no less.
What We Can Learn From Canada’s Clarity on Pot
The inherent contradictions of American cannabis laws is undermining consumers and businesses unfairly and at times absurdly. Federal law must change, as it has fallen behind states’ efforts on marijuana in several ways.
Mayor’s State of the City Address: The Year of Covid, Universities and Renewed, Robust Growth
Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland delivered the annual State of the City address and recognized the year’s recipients of three awards, including Citizen of the Year and the Public Safety Award. Here’s the full text.
News-Journal: Joe Mullins’s Political Stunt with Constitution Is More Theatrics of Duplicity
Outlining a long list of Joe Mullins contradictions, bigotries and discrimination, the News-Journal in an editorial joins “those registering doubt of his sincerity last week, when he pushed the resolution of support for the Constitution that allowed him to unleash a flood of patriotic-sounding rhetoric in the middle of a commission meeting.”
Rise and Fall of the Anglo-Saxon Caucus and Its Florida Fellow Travelers
You may have heard that some of the most MAGA-ty of the congressional MAGA types — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Duelling Banjos; Paul Gosar, R-Trump Tower; plus our own Matt Gaetz, R-Lolita Shores — recently proposed a new caucus dedicated to promoting the “values” of Donald Trump, by which they mean white supremacy.
Stop Trash-Talking the Unemployed
Misinformation and distortions by businesses and some politicians, echoed by media, are blaming the unemployed for staying home to live on government checks. The evidence says otherwise, though belittling workers and lampooning government is part of the continuing war against better wages and stronger worker-safety protections.
Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Suspension: A Doctor Explains What This Means for You
It is a testament to the emphasis by the CDC and FDA on vaccine safety that J&J vaccinations have been paused while this is studied by independent scientists and medical experts, explains Dr. William Petri in a Q&A about the J&J vaccine’s pause.
Marcelino Reyes Sr.’s Son in Palm Coast Accepts a Congressional Gold Medal for His Father’s World War II Service
Marcelino (Marc) Reyes Jr., a 13-year resident of Palm Coast, in a virtual ceremony today represented his family of eight siblings to accept the bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of their departed father, Marcelino Reyes Sr., for his World War II service alongside U.S. troops.
The False Choice Between STEM and the Arts: If You Care About All Careers, Protect Arts Programs in Our Schools
The arts do more than just serve as entertainment for us or as diversions or resume-padding for students, let alone as luxuries for school districts. Like team sports, the arts develop key interpersonal and critical skills that are rarely, if ever, taught in traditional STEM classes.
Flagler Schools’ Food Service Director to Gov. DeSantis: Why a $1,000 Bonus to Faculty But Not Service Workers?
Angela Bush, Flagler County schools’ Food and Nutrition Services Director is asking Gov. Ron DeSantis in a video letter why once again service employees like bus drivers, custodians, maintenance staff, kitchen and other support staff are excluded from a proposed $1,000 bonus to teachers and principals who “answered the call” through the covid pandemic.
The Odious Victor Barbosa
An examination of Palm Coast Councilman Victor Barbosa’s accusation of “corruption” against Manager Matt Morton reveals it to be baseless and defamatory, while Barbosa’s own methods, from trying to get city employees fired, meddling in administrative business, blindsiding the council and shaming of residents in the city’s name, raise questions about his own understanding of, or fitness for, the job.
Stop Calling It a ‘Border Crisis’
Children are being jailed in deplorable conditions where they are susceptible to heightened and enduring trauma. Meanwhile our border remains largely shuttered to adult survivors fleeing rape and horrific gender-based persecution because the new administration has yet to repeal an illegal policy implemented under the last one.
A Recipe for Taxing the Rich in Seven Steps
Income and wealth are now more concentrated at the top than at any time over the last 80 years, and our unjust tax system is a big reason why, argues Robert Reich. These 7 ways of taxing the rich would generate more than $6 trillion over 10 years.
Affordable Housing Under Attack: Flagler Realtors Join Opposition to Decimation of Housing Trust Fund
Flagler County Realtors are joining forces with state counterparts to oppose a proposal that would gut the amount of money the state will spend on affordable housing, by limiting Sadowski trust fund expenditures to that end to 33 percent of the fund’s total.
I Want Civil Rights. They Want to Talk About Sports.
The Equality Act would extend basic civil rights protections to Queer people in housing, employment, education, and other arenas. Support tops 70 percent. Many people assume a federal law like this already exists. But in dozens of states, it’s perfectly legal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Anti-Asian Hate, Enduring and Violent
As our nation grapples with its legacy of anti-Asian racism, it’s important to consider the subtler forms of racism too. Racism occurs on a spectrum, from social degradation all the way to — as we saw recently in Atlanta — mass murder.
The Worst Attack on Voting Rights Since Jim Crow
Expanded voting by mail, no-excuse absentee voting, curbside voting, and early voting made the ballot box more accessible. But now, Republican lawmakers in 43 states are introducing hundreds of restrictive “voting rights” bills to roll back these measures.
Four Years Ago the Trump Administration Said Manatees Weren’t Endangered Anymore. Now They’re Dying in Droves.
Months after Trump’s election in 2017 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared manatees were no longer “endangered” and would be reclassified as “threatened.” Through March 5, 435 Florida Manatees have died, on pace for a year in which total deaths could top 2,000, or roughly a third of the total manatee population.
A Ghost Bike for Flagler Beach’s Frederick Martinez, Lost to a Crash Eight Years Ago
51-year-old Frederick Martinez of Flagler Beach was riding his bike on the side of State Road 100 toward home eight years ago when he was struck and killed by a work van. His daughter Tiffany tells the story of the “Ghost Bike” memorial that marked the eight anniversary of the crash.
Gov. DeSantis Could Use a Civics Lesson on the Florida Constitution
Even as they push a $106 million proposal to improve civics education, our legislators and our governor persist in violating the Constitution by supporting legislation authorizing programs to send nearly $1 billion to private, religious schools in our state.
The Fabricated Fear of Transgender Athletes in High School Sports
Randall Bertrand, who led last year’s campaign to add “gender identity” to the Flagler school board’s protections against discrimination, lays out a case against the Legislature’s baseless fear-mongering over transgender participation in high school sports.
Finally, the Biggest Healthcare Expansion in a Decade. Now Make It Permanent.
This victory is only one step in efforts to expand health care access. The next step is to make them permanent — or, better yet, move toward a public option or universal, Medicare for All system that doesn’t tie health care access to employment or income at all, argues Olivia Alperstein.
The Trump Health Care Policies That Deserve to Stick Around
The Trump administration’s attempted market-based interventions shined some light on dark corners of the health market and opened the door to some workarounds. They are not meaningful substitutes for larger and much-needed health reform. But as Americans await the type of more fundamental changes the Democrats have promised, they need every bit of help they can get.
Anthony Sabatini, ‘Worst Person in the Florida Legislature,’ Launches Bid for Congress on a Lie
The man the Orlando Sentinel once called “the worst person in the Florida Legislature” (and remember, y’all, there’s hell of a lot of competition) kicked off his bid by lying, assuring incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster that he would not run against him, then filing the paperwork to run against him.
Lysenko, Stalin and Trump
On the one-year mark of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump’s malicious, politically motivated anti-science handling of a calamity that has killed more than half a million Americans so far recalls the alliance between fake Soviet scientist Trofim Lysenko and Stalin, which led to the death of millions.
Guantanamo, America’s Enduring Shame
Guantánamo is a crime against humanity and there will never be any justification to rationalize why hundreds of people were held indefinitely, without trial, without due process, without international observers and without ever seeing their families and loved ones.
The Golden Rule Is Not Cancel Culture
The Dr. Seuss estate’s decision to pull six books from reprints has nothing to do with cancel culture. That pair of terms has become its own dogmatic dumbbell anyway. Our misplaced nostalgia for books we were so fond of isn’t more important than the golden rule of looking out for our neighbors, to whom the same nostalgia translates as insult or put-down.
Productivity Math: A $15 Minimum Wage Is Still $9 Short of Where It Should Be
The weakening and undermining of unions, tax policy, urban and suburban planning and minimum wage standards no longer adjusted for inflation have left an obscene gap between worker productivity and poor and working class wages and benefits.
The Educated Aren’t Immune From Absurd Conspiracy Theories
Perhaps learning to understand why people fall prey to conspiracy theories can help us learn how to reduce people’s susceptibility to them. But whatever the reason, it does no good to write them off as “uneducated.”
Addiction Is Not a Crime. The Drug War Is.
To continue with our cruel and sadistic drug war is the daily crime. The only way out is to decriminalize all drugs, treat, repair and, somehow, atone for lawmakers’ and the judicial system’s half-century assault on their own citizens.
All Undocumented Americans Deserve a Pathway to Citizenship
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) known as the Dream Act survived years of attack from the Trump administration. It temporarily protects undocumented people, most of whom immigrated to the U.S. as young children, from deportation. families deserved this moment of relief.
The GOP’s Resentment Theater
President Biden recently became the first president to condemn white supremacy by name in an inaugural address. Then some Republicans got mad because, they say, it’s an attack on them. These complaints are disingenuous.
After the Muslim Ban
Before we let the horrors of the Trump administration fade away like a fever dream, we have to ask ourselves how we got here. Otherwise, it’s going to become a recurring nightmare, argues Domenica Ghanem.
Joe Biden’s Inauguration, and Amanda Gorman’s Beacon
President Joe Biden’s moving and restorative inauguration was upstaged by Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, whose words reflected the unvanquished voice of the American we idealize, the possible and the impossibly scaled in this country of the “battered and beautiful.”
Lynching Political Correctness
Thanks to Donald Trump, a national return to some sort of centrist “normal” is now impossible. Lots of people believe a civil war is already underway and they’re excited as hell about it. Political Correctness meets Jim Crow, argues Robert Koehler.
Sedition Is Not a 1st Amendment Right, and There’s No Comparison With BLM Marches
Mob participants claim they were only exercising their First Amendment right to protest, and that Black Lives Matter protests and riots didn’t draw the same scrutiny. Both narratives are factual and moral frauds that hide behind liberal rationales to perpetrate reactionary lies and justify the unconscionable.
A Tale of Two Mobs
The second mob includes the eight Republican senators and 139 House Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election, as well as the 17 Republican attorneys general who supported a bogus lawsuit to throw out the election.
Ken Bryan, the Flagler Beach City Commissioner, Says Joe Mullins Violated Oath By Sponsoring Trip Before Insurrection
Addressing the Flagler County Commission this morning, and with Joe Mullins on the dais, Bryan said Mullins should resign his commission seat after calling on fellow-citizens to be beheaded and sponsoring a group of dozens to Washington last week, where the Capitol was overrun by a mob in an insurrection that went from rhetorical to violent.
Flagler Emergency Chief on Vaccines: ‘We Are Doing Our Best with the Resources that We Have’
Flagler County Emergency Management Chief Jonathan Lord explains the county’s covid-19 vaccine response, its constraints, what it’s learned from the experience and what lies ahead in the rollout.
Trump’s Fascism and Republican Responsibility
By the time Trump was spitting sedition and inciting violence Wednesday he’d had five years of encouragement from the same Republican charlatans who would later stand on the floors of the Senate and the House to declare themselves shocked, shocked that the rioters they’d courted had desecrated and bloodied their little sanctum.
On WNZF, Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins Calls for Beheading Liberals
A few minutes into his latest weekly infomercial on WNZF radio Saturday morning, Joe Mullins, the Flagler County commissioner, called for the beheading of liberals while decrying responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Is the Hobbled Distribution of Vaccines the Biggest Trump Screw Up Yet?
Some 7.7 million first doses of vaccines have been shipped to date (two million shots have been given), with a target of 16 million by the end of the year. This is warp speed?
Ending Trump’s Lies About Immigrants
“Relative to undocumented immigrants, U.S.-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes,” a study finds.
Stimulus Bill Is a Welcome Stopgap, But Not Nearly Enough
The Covid-19 relief bill will help, but much more needs to be done to combat the pandemic and make the country stronger in the face of future crises.
Court’s Conservatives Are Right: Pandemic Limits on Houses of Worship Are Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court’s ruling overturning its own recent precedent to forbid attendance limits at houses of worship because of Covid was not an ideological decision so much as a victory for the First Amendment that liberals should be thankful for.
Why Was Flagler’s County Administrator Allowed to Illegally Start a Public Meeting With a Christian Prayer?
A county commissioner read out a long and explicitly Christian prayer prepared by County Administrator Jerry Cameron at Monday’s commission meeting, breaking decades of precedent without prior legal review, public discussion or commissioners’ prior knowledge.