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Category archives for: Rights & Liberties

In Novel Argument, Constitutional Amendment Spurs Call for Stay of Execution

FlaglerLive | December 11, 2018

The arguments center on part of Amendment 11, which was approved by 62 percent of voters and which changed a more than century-old provision dealing with how revisions in criminal laws should be applied to older crimes.

The Migrant Caravan’s Lessons from South of the Border

FlaglerLive | December 6, 2018

In Tijuana, some Mexicans have embraced the Trump line on Central American migrants. But others have welcomed them with open arms.

Putnam Stays Out Fight Over Concealed Weapons Permits as His Office Goes to a Democrat

FlaglerLive | December 5, 2018

After the concealed-weapons permitting processed revealed serious flaws under Adam Putnam, attempts are afoot to move the process to state police, out of the agriculture commissioner’s purview.

Supervisors of Election Seek Answer on Amendment Restoring Felons’ Right to Vote

FlaglerLive | December 4, 2018

Florida officials don’t have a plan for how to carry out a constitutional amendment that restores the right to vote to more than a million Floridians convicted of felonies.

Florida Supreme Court Will have No
Black Justice For First Time in 36 Years

FlaglerLive | November 30, 2018

None of the nine candidates from whom Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis will select three justices is black, although six of the original 59 applicants were African-Americans.

I’m Making It My Business To Stand Up For Immigrants

FlaglerLive | November 21, 2018

A new immigrant wealth test is a cruel maneuver to diminish instead of making the country stronger. We shouldn’t take food and health from people and denies them citizenship because they aren’t rich.

Emails May Be ‘Disgusting,’ But Judge Dismisses Part of NRA Lobbyist Hammer’s Lawsuit

FlaglerLive | November 21, 2018

A federal judge said Hammer was not threatened and the ugly emails she received are protected by the First Amendment. She received emails she objected to from three other men.

Judge Rules Palm Coast Has No Choice But To Execute Dangerous Dog Cooper, Ending Notorious Case

FlaglerLive | November 20, 2018

A circuit judge ruled that Palm Coast animal control was right to condemn Cooper, a dangerous dog, to death, and the Palm Coast City Council was right to stay out of it. The dog will soon be killed.

Flagler Schools Will Reluctantly Adopt Religious Freedom Policy Imposed By State

FlaglerLive | November 15, 2018

The Flagler County school district is following state law in adopting a new but vague policy protecting religious expression, though some school board members say it’s an unnecessary imposition.

Amendments: Felons Will Get Voting Rights, Dogs Won’t Race Anymore, Homestead Expansion Fails

FlaglerLive | November 7, 2018

More than 64 percent of Florida voters had cast ballots for Amendment 4, which is designed to restore voting rights to an estimated 1.4 million felons who have completed their sentences.

Being Trans in America Was Already Scary. Now It’s Terrifying.

FlaglerLive | November 6, 2018

On any given afternoon, the author is regularly and publicly catcalled, mocked, laughed at, and treated as an object of social disgust. Donald Trump is about to deny her right to exist.

Yes, Your Car Can Be A Weapon, Florida Supreme Court Rules, Altering ’95 Definition

FlaglerLive | November 4, 2018

The Supreme Court made the somewhat-unusual move of backing away from a 1995 decision, which said a weapon must be “commonly understood to be an instrument for combat.”

Restoring Felons’ Right to Vote:
Why I’m Voting Yes on Amendment 4

FlaglerLive | November 2, 2018

In 46 other states, the right is restored either immediately or on completion of probation. Florida stands out for harshness, accounting for a quarter of America’s disenfranchised.

Showdown Over Local Control as State Aims to Stop Miami Beach From Raising Minimum Wage

FlaglerLive | October 31, 2018

Attorney General Pam Bondi claims a state law bars Miami Beach from gradually increasing its minimum wage to $13.31 an hour in 2021. The case also has drawn attention from local governments, which have sided with Miami Beach.

Journalists Say Trump’s Caravan Claims Are ‘Evidence-Free.’ It’s a Lot Worse Than That.

FlaglerLive | October 30, 2018

Journalists have a duty to give context, not just to report on whether a sound bite contains truth on a sliding scale. Otherwise, it’s journalistic malpractice.

One Email From Serial Litigant Shuts Down Flagler Beach’s Video Access to Public Meetings

FlaglerLive | October 29, 2018

Eddie Sierra, a deaf south Floridian, is filing lawsuit after lawsuit against local governments across Florida if they stream government meetings without close-captioning them for the deaf.

Trump’s Responsibility

Pierre Tristam | October 27, 2018

Trump can’t have it both ways. He can’t revel in his powers of denigration and incitement then take cover behind a bogus sense of outrage and his usual deflections when the incitement and denigration arm fuses and kill people.

“Interference In the County’s Elections”? Not So Fast: How 2 Illegal Political Signs Seeded a Phony Controversy

FlaglerLive | October 26, 2018

A pair of political campaign signs planted and then unearthed from in front of a Publix and a SunTrust bank branch in the Hammock kicked off two police investigations, but the controversy is largely made up by a candidate with a history of such tactics.

Even As Voter Registration Soars, Bogus Fraud Claims and Real Voter Suppression Live On

FlaglerLive | October 23, 2018

Experts are predicting record-high midterm voter turnout. But millions of U.S. citizens are being systematically inhibited — either blatantly or covertly — from casting votes this November.

Judge Clears Way For Local Governments to Challenge State Ban on Stricter Gun Restrictions

FlaglerLive | October 23, 2018

Some 30 local Florida governments are challenging a state law that forbids cities and counties from passing stricter gun regulations than the state allows.

Elizabeth Warren’s Identity Problem

FlaglerLive | October 22, 2018

Trump’s racism is obvious. He’s using the name Pocahontas as a racial slur. But Elizabeth Warren stepped into a controversial issue without much sensitivity for the people who are most affected by it.

‘Marsy’s Law’ Protections for Crime Victims Sound Great, but Could Cause Problems

FlaglerLive | October 13, 2018

Giving crime victims constitutional rights equal to those of defendants sets up a clash over the accused person’s Sixth Amendment right to due process and the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Amendment 4: With 1.4 Million Florida Felons Banned from Voting, Voters Will Decide On Restoring Right

FlaglerLive | October 12, 2018

Amendment 4 would automatically restore the right to vote for felons who have completed their sentences, paid restitution and fulfilled probation. Murderers and sex offenders would be excluded.

Palm Coast Government Will Fly 3 Drones For Civil Uses, Excluding Code Enforcement And Private Property

FlaglerLive | October 10, 2018

Palm Coast government will use drones in IT, planning, PR. utilities, construction and with its fire department, but officials stress that private property is excluded, as is surveillance of any sort.

After Granting Stay, Supreme Court Clears Way for Execution of Murderer Jose Antonio Jimenez

FlaglerLive | October 4, 2018

Jimenez had cited a February execution of Death Row inmate Eric Branch, who reportedly screamed and made body movements as he was being executed, among reasons not to proceed.

Saint Kavanaugh

Pierre Tristam | October 4, 2018

Whether Kavanaugh was confirmed or not is irrelevant: whoever’s next might be less personally sleazy, more temperamentally amoebic, but judicially? Same shill, different name.

Judge Moore-Stens Denies Gag Order on Sheriff, Dissolving Mound of Motions In Eric Cooley Case

FlaglerLive | September 27, 2018

Telling the attorney seeking a gag order on Sheriff Rick Staly that he was on a “fishing expedition,” County Judge Melissa Moore-Stens this afternoon denied the motion, ending an unusual sideshow in the battery case against Flagler Beach City Commissioner Eric Cooley.

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