The U.S. State Department removed Cuba from its list of countries “not fully cooperating” with anti-terrorism efforts in mid-May 2024, but you would be forgiven for not noticing. Taking Cuba off the list is a big deal. This latest move is a potential step toward a rapprochement between Washington and Havana.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Social Media and Gun Laws Await Supreme Court Rulings, with Big Implications for Florida
The social-media ruling likely will decide whether Florida can carry out a 2021 state law that placed restrictions on platforms such as Facebook and X. The gun ruling in a Texas case could help determine the fate of a 2018 Florida law that barred people under age 21 from buying rifles and shotguns.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, June 17, 2024
Beach Renourishment Project groundbreaking in Flagler Beach, Elizabeth Tremoglie sentencing, the Flagler County Commission holds a pair of meetings, Ilan Pape’s detention by Homeland Security goons in Detroit.
Palestinian Writers’ Familiarity With Amputation
Though the current scale of pediatric amputations is unprecedented, the loss of limbs and the dividing of territories have been all-too-common features of the Palestinian experience since the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” of 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were forced off their land or fled from it. For this reason, amputation has long played an important role in Palestinian literature: Lost limbs represent both physical and metaphorical loss.
Banning Asylum Is No Way to an Immigration Fix
Under both U.S. and international law, anyone fleeing persecution in another country has a right to request asylum and have their claim assessed. But both the Trump and Biden administrations have dramatically undermined these protections. Most recently, Biden’s executive order and accompanying federal rule on “Securing the Border” — which effectively closed the U.S.-Mexico border this June — all but suspended the right to asylum altogether.
Biden Is Right: Over 100 Million Americans Would Lose Protection for Preexisting Conditions if ACA Is Repealed
A previous fact-check ruled Biden’s claim that 100 million Americans have preexisting conditions as in the ballpark, and nothing suggests that’s changed. Depending on the definition, the number could be smaller, but it also could be even greater and is likely to have increased since 2014.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, June 16, 2024
Father’s Day Barbecue Bash at First United Methodist Church in Palm Coast, Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, how the press reflected the Israeli rescue of hostages in Gaza and the massacre of over 200 Palestinians.
Louisiana Lawmakers Require 10 Commandments Displayed in Schools
The Louisiana bill that cleared the legislature would require officials in public schools, including colleges and universities, to post a specific version of the Ten Commandments. The text is similar to the King James translation of the Bible used in many Protestant churches.
Florida Argues in Court It Is Free to Censor or Control State-School Professors’ Academic Freedom in Classrooms
The state of Florida is free to forbid college professors from criticizing the governor in the classroom, an attorney argued on behalf of the state during an appellate court hearing over the Stop Woke Act — adding that those professors are free to seek work elsewhere if they don’t like a legislature-controlled curriculum. Academic freedom and when the government can insert itself into the classroom were focal points for a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit panel.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, June 15, 2024
Juneteenth Freedom Day at AACS, developers’ choice seats, Live From the Waterworks: Gamble Rogers Folk Festival’s Monthly Concert Series , Johnny Cash’s “Delia,” James Jones.