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Cruel and Usual Trump

FlaglerLive | June 17, 2018

The Trump-Sessions zero-tolerance policy of separating children from their parents at the border has no precedent except in America’s slavery times.

The Supreme Court in its wedding-cake ruling declared gays once again second-class citizens, at least when their sexuality has to compete with someone else’s more stone-throwing version of Christianity.

To Keep America Great, Legalize All Undocumented Immigrants

FlaglerLive | January 28, 2018

We have a choice: Keep our economy vibrant and enviable or demolish it by expelling and demonizing undocumented immigrants, as short-sighted nations have done in the false name of “purity” over the years.

Notes From Underground

FlaglerLive | December 4, 2017

In Afghanistan, there may be up to 1,000 children in prison with a parent–not because they committed a crime, but because Afghan law permits their imprisonment with a criminal parent until the children turn 18.

In American First, Scott Signs Bill Providing for Birth Certificates In Cases of Miscarriage

FlaglerLive | May 31, 2017

The bill, which easily cleared the Senate and House in early May, makes Florida the first state in the nation to issue birth certificates for miscarriages. The implications of the bill are unclear.

Progressive Voices Rise to Resist Locally as Flagler Beach “Rally By the Sea” Rebukes Trumpism

FlaglerLive | April 29, 2017

Saturday’s rally of progressive-liberal organizations in Flagler Beach, organized by a group barely a few months old, suggests the local Republican sweep is not as total as it appears, or Trumpism the only movement in town.

A Country Unbecoming In the Age of Trump

FlaglerLive | March 14, 2017

Immigrants targeted for prosecution or removal could be the people who built your house, picked the fruit for your breakfast, and tidied up the hotel room where you last stayed.

Donald Trump’s New Deputy CIA Director: a Torturer Who Destroyed Evidence

FlaglerLive | February 23, 2017

Gina Haspel was deeply involved in the illegal torture of a prisoner at a secret CIA site, and when questions arose about the brutality, demolished 92 tapes that had documented the abuse.

Congress Signals Opposition to Assisted Suicide; Proponents Fear State Laws in Jeopardy

FlaglerLive | February 19, 2017

A congressional committee voted to overturn an assisted-suicide measure in Washington, D.C., last week, signalling more willingness in Congress to possibly reverse more liberal state laws.

Trump Order Blocks 500,000 Legal U.S. Residents from Returning to America

FlaglerLive | January 29, 2017

In banning newcomers from seven countries from entering the United States for the next 90 days, the president has used language that will affect those who are in the U.S. already on visas and green cards.

Israel’s Suicide Mission

Pierre Tristam | January 7, 2017

Israel’s right-wing government never seriously considered the two-state solution, which it has now abandoned as it imposes a de-facto annexation of the Palestinian West Bank, enshrining apartheid.

Cops Aren’t Under Siege.
Civilians and Liberties Are.

Pierre Tristam | December 9, 2016

It’s a widely accepted but dangerous myth: that cops are under siege, handcuffed by “new restrictions.” The reality is the opposite, with more unbridled and brutal policing than we care to admit.

The National Anthem’s False Notes

Pierre Tristam | September 9, 2016

Blasphemous as it seems, Colin Kaepernick’s freedom to sit out the Star Spangled Banner is written in the anthem’s very words, though his tormentors are more disturbed by his message, which they would rather not hear.

The Stupidity of Race:
What My DNA Test Reveals

FlaglerLive | July 3, 2016

Arab AND Jew? Greek? Italian? A DNA test unravels the ethnic origins of FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam–and underscores the absurdity of making assumptions about anyone’s race, color or so-called origins.

As Exceptionally American As It Gets

Pierre Tristam | June 17, 2016

Our mass shootings have developed their own set rituals and denials, none so lethal as the complicity with murder that blames the wrong targets while excusing guns.

A Right To Die, Even For 20-Somethings

FlaglerLive | May 15, 2016

The revelation that a 20-something woman chose to die from PTSD related so 10 years of sexual abuse tests the boundaries of assisted suicide, but not if context and compassion replace armchair judgments.

Flagler County Supportive of Broadening Discrimination Protection in Housing for LGBT

FlaglerLive | March 23, 2016

Barbara Revels, who chairs the county commission, is proposing an amendment to a housing ordinance to extend non-discrimination protection to individuals for sexual orientation.

Conservatives Should Be Leading the Charge to Accept Syrian Refugees. We Have No Choice.

FlaglerLive | November 21, 2015

Doesn’t American exceptionalism demand that we lead where others have neither the will nor the courage? We have no choice. America gives sanctuary to those fleeing persecution, argues Nancy Smith. This is what we do and who we are. We’re the good guys.

The Hell With Your Tired,
Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses

FlaglerLive | September 13, 2015

Barack Obama’s order to open the U.S. to 10,000 refugees is dismal compared to Germany’s. Racism, not means, block greater numbers from an American welcome.

Gay Marriage Is Now Legal in the United States: Supreme Court Rules for Equality, 5-4

FlaglerLive | June 26, 2015

The United States Supreme Court this morning declared gay marriage legal across the United States in a 5-4 decision authored by conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Quit Turning Your Backs on Desperate Migrants. Help Them Instead.

FlaglerLive | June 17, 2015

Like Americans’ ancestors, migrants are fleeing poverty, war, or oppression, or are searching for a better life in a new land. Blocking that flow, argues Kofi Anann, is bound to fail, with disastrous consequences for human lives.

Indiana and Arkansas Retreat From Hate Laws. Florida Plows Ahead.

Pierre Tristam | April 3, 2015

Between Sen. Frank Artiles’ war on transgender people and a House bill protecting discrimination against gay parents, Florida verges on making bigotry state policy again, harkening back to Jim Crow days, but against the LGBT community.

Bill Targeting Transgenders in Public Bathrooms Clears 2nd House Committee, 7-4

FlaglerLive | March 17, 2015

The 7-4 vote of the Florida House Government Operations Subcommittee included one dissent from a Republican, though as the bill advances, its chances of becoming law increase.

Will U.S. Supreme Court Rule Florida’s Cavalier Death Penalty Unconstitutional?

FlaglerLive | March 15, 2015

In 27 of the 31 death penalty states, the jury’s decision to impose life imprisonment is final and may not be disturbed by the trial judge under any circumstances. But not in Florida.

FDLE Arrests 15 Floridians For Running Human-Trafficking Ring in Five Counties

FlaglerLive | March 7, 2015

Women were forced to work as commercial sex slaves, performing sex acts on 25 to 45 men a day, six days a week. Victims ranged in age from 25 to 35. The investigation began in 2013 after the Collier County Sheriff’s Office discovered a human trafficking victim during a traffic stop.

Lily Sara, Humanitarian and Founder of
La Voix de La Femme Libanaise, 1929-2014

FlaglerLive | February 21, 2015

Lily Sara, one of Lebanon’s leading humanitarians and founder of La Voix de La Femme Libanaise–the Voice of the Lebanese Woman–died in Beirut on Dec. 10, 2014. Testimonies and eulogies were offered on Dec. 13.

Flagler Court Clerk Gail Wadsworth on Gay Marriage: “People Should Have Freedom to Be.”

FlaglerLive | December 22, 2014

Flagler County Clerk of Court Gail Wadsworth, whose office will be responsible for issuing same-sex marriage licenses starting Jan. 6, assuming legalities are worked out, speaks of her support for the sweeping change and hopes that it does not apply in one part of Florida but not others.

Florida Clerks Told To Deny Licenses Even When Federal Court Order Granting Gay Marriage Kicks in

FlaglerLive | December 17, 2014

Lawyers for the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers have advised county officials statewide not to issue marriage licenses “until a binding order is issued by a court of proper jurisdiction” and warned the clerks that they could be subject to criminal prosecution if they allow gay couples to wed.

With 22 Days To Go Before Gay Wedding Bells, Pam Bondi Asks Court To Object

FlaglerLive | December 15, 2014

Bondi’s request to the U.S. Supreme Court comes less than two weeks after a federal appeals court rejected her effort to at least temporarily extend the gay-marriage prohibition in Florida.

Zero Tolerance: Here’s What It’s Like to Work at a Shelter for Immigrant Kids