‘Life or death’: Arizona heat wave poses lethal threat to homeless
Romain Fonsegrives – July 19, 2023
Hundreds of homeless people live in ‘The Zone,’ an encampment in Phoenix, the capital of the southwestern US state of Arizona (Patrick T. Fallon)
On a sidewalk in Arizona’s capital Phoenix, where a record-setting heat wave has prompted warnings for people to limit their time outside, Dana Page struggles to stay hydrated in her tarpaulin shelter.
The 49-year-old, surrounded by bottles of water, knows full well the dangers heat poses to the homeless population.
Days earlier, she watched emergency responders perform CPR on a fellow resident of “The Zone,” an encampment where hundreds live in tents and makeshift shelters, near downtown.
“He died just inches away from water,” she told AFP.
Phoenix, like much of the US southwest, is surrounded by desert, and its 1.6 million residents are used to brutal summer temperatures.
But this year’s heat wave is unprecedented in its length: it has already helped the city break its previous record of 18 straight days at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), with similar highs forecast into next week.
Page, a native of Phoenix, said she has had heatstroke three times in the past five years, describing it as a “secret killer” that sneaks up if not monitoring one’s water intake.
– Jump in heat-related deaths –
The absence of typical monsoon rains has also compounded the problem: no respite from searing heat during the day allows temperatures to remain dangerously elevated overnight.
“If this continues, we will see more heat-related deaths,” said Amy Schwabenlender, head of the Human Services Campus, a large facility near “The Zone” where 16 associations cooperate to provide social services, medical treatment and a shelter for those in need.
“It is a life-and-death situation,” she warned.
With its population growth among the highest in the United States, coupled with a lack of affordable housing, Arizona has seen the number of homeless people go up 23 percent in recent years.
And as global warming fuels more frequent extreme weather events, homeless people are increasingly vulnerable to the elements.
Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and its suburbs, recorded a 25 percent increase last year in heat-related deaths, with 425 fatalities — many among the homeless population.
The National Weather Service warns that extreme heat is the top weather-related killer, and has recommended people in Phoenix “stay indoors and seek air-conditioned buildings” during the heat wave.
– ‘Enough resources to help everybody’ –
To deal with the emergency, the Human Services Campus is running at full speed. Its associations send out early morning patrols to distribute 2,000 bottles of water every day, as well as sunblock and hats.
Like some sixty other sites around the city, the facility also serves as a cooling center, where homeless people can find shade, misters and a vast air-conditioned cafeteria with film showings to pass the time.
Schwabenlender warns that scorching hot surfaces outside also pose a significant danger, especially for those with worn shoes or bare feet, as well as people who fall or lie on the ground.
“I saw a man who laid on something and all the side of his neck was burned,” she said.
Asphalt in the summer sun can climb to temperatures above 160F (71C).
A few days ago, former house painter Jose Itafranco collapsed on the sidewalk after consuming methamphetamine, but the 30-year-old said he was lucky to have his wife Alvira nearby to prop his body up.
“When you do meth… it really just makes you think that you’re tougher than you are… like you’re untouchable,” Itafranco told AFP.
“But what happens, really, is you get dehydrated.”
Schwabenlender argues the hundreds of heat-related deaths in Maricopa County could have been avoided with a more coordinated response, and calls for federal emergency action commensurate with other natural disasters.
The White House, for its part, outlined last week various federal initiatives related to “extreme heat fueled by the climate crisis,” including a forthcoming meeting with local officials to discuss preparedness, as well as the drafting of a “National Heat Strategy.”
“We have enough resources to help everybody, we just have to figure out how to put them all together,” Schwabenlender said.
Opinion: I’m a conservative who’s waiting for Republicans to come to their senses
Yaffa Fredrick – July 19, 2023
Editor’s Note: Adam Kinzinger is a CNN senior political commentator and a former Republican congressman from Illinois. He served 10 years on the House foreign affairs committee. Kinzinger is also a lieutenant colonel and pilot in the Air National Guard. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.
Traditionally committed to national security, global stability and law and order, my Republican Party — yes, I am still a Republican — is now weakening on all three fronts. In doing so, it is fulfilling the cliche that extremists on the right and left eventually come together, like a snake eating its tail.
Adam Kinzinger – CNN
That’s not only bad for America, but bad for the prospects of the GOP — particularly in light of the fact that the party’s leading 2024 presidential contender is currently under both federal and state indictment and facing further potential charges in Washington, DC, and Georgia (all of which he denies wrongdoing in).
The radical right has embraced positions on these bedrock Republican principles to try to lock in the support of the most fervent members of the base. But these stances will almost certainly doom them with the moderates and swing voters who turned out for President Joe Biden in 2020. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better way to ensure that the GOP won’t win back the presidency.
Let’s start with the GOP’s decision to insert culture wars into a bill — the National Defense Authorization Act — that funds every function of the Defense Department, in a manner that all but guaranteed alienating a voting majority in America.
Among other maneuvers, the extreme conservatives in the House want to ban a Defense Department policy that covers travel costs for service members who must seek abortions out of state, extending an existing provision that provides funds to those who must get specialized care not available near their posts. The Pentagon put this extension in place when some states limited or banned abortion access after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion last year.
How do I know this amendment is politically toxic? First, over the last several years, there has been steady public support for abortion rights, which now includes more than one-third of all Republicans, according to Pew Research Center. Second, there’s the unseemly effort to stop funding for the military with an amendment that has nothing to do with defense. Granted, others try to attach similar off-topic amendments to bills. But they are not usually as likely to torpedo getting necessary funds to the Pentagon.
Thanks to overwhelming GOP support, the anti-abortion travel reimbursement amendment made it into the House bill. Republicans also added limits on transgender care and prohibitions on programs related to diversity. All three fit the extreme right movement’s so-called “anti-woke” agenda, which seeks to block the government from supporting various groups of Americans on the basis of race, sexual orientation and gender identity.
GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has madeanti-wokeness, opposition to abortion and criticism of rights for transgender people central to his appeal to primary voters, but there’s little evidence that his stand will win over people in a general election. And House members who cling to his message in an effort to win primary voters may very well suffer defeat in a general election.
Unfortunately, further extremist (and self-defeating) mischief is taking place in the Senate, where Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has put a hold on military nominations. Under the Senate’s arcane rules, Tuberville has been blocking consideration of some 265 military officers for several months. His reason? The Defense Department’s travel support for service members seeking out-of-state abortion services.
Tuberville’s grandstanding won’t persuade the Senate to change the Pentagon policy, but as an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, I can tell you that blocking promotions is bad for the smooth operation of the chain of command at the heart of America’s national security structure. It’s also bad for morale. And it’s personally insulting to the men and women who are willing to sacrifice so much for this country.
But these culture war issues aren’t the only threat this crowd of extremists is posing to global stability. Last week, they tried unsuccessfully to tie up the defense bill by trying to scale back US aid to Ukraine by hundreds of millions of dollars.
As much of the world understands, Ukraine is in a fight for its life against a Russian military that invaded in February 2022. The Russian attack was unprovoked and pitted the much larger country, run by the autocratic leader Vladimir Putin, against a democracy that has thus far been able to defend itself, thanks in large part to US aid.
The defense of democracy has long been a conservative ideal, and that includes standing with our allies under attack. It’s hard to see the opposition to aid as anything other than the betrayal of an ally and friend.
Although the House ultimately voted down the amendment to limit aid to Ukraine, the fact that it was even introduced shows just how out of step much of the Republican Party is with the public on the issue of Ukraine. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll from last month, 65% of Americans support the US arming Ukraine — including 81% of Democrats, 56% of Republicans and 57% of independents. In that same poll, large majorities of Americans said they would support a US presidential candidate who would continue to provide strong military aid to Ukraine.
And then there’s the hostility these GOP extremists are directing at law enforcement, traditionally a wellspring of Republican support. This newfound animosity was on full view last week when FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Judiciary Committee.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and several equally exercised Republicans members attacked a “weaponized” bureau for serving as an anti-conservative attack dog. Jordan and others have been using this word — “weaponization” — to argue, without solid evidence, that the federal government in general is pursuing an anti-conservative agenda. Echoing leftists who call for defunding the police, the House’s right-wing extremists want to slash the FBI’s budget.
The attacks on Wray revolved around hot-button campaign issues, including the investigations into former President Donald Trump’s handling of top-secret documents, the plea agreement in the case of Hunter Biden’s tax crimes and the FBI’s surveillance efforts. At one point, finger-pointing Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said the FBI “deserves better than you” to Wray.
Following Trump’s example, Wray’s congressional interrogators treated him with the disrespect you might expect from members of the radical left in the 1960s. I’m certain that as they mimicked the former president, they were attempting to court his voters; but I saw House members leading their party into a political wilderness where moderate voices may just join Democrats to end the GOP’s control of the House.
It is a display of sheer political malpractice for any Republican to suggest cutting FBI funding. While the left-wing’s call to “defund” the police has been much derided, a Gallup poll from last October found rising public support for the FBI. The agency is now seen favorably by 79% of Democrats — and 50% of Americans overall.
As appalling and politically misguided as the far-right’s behavior has been, most Republicans in both the House and Senate have not been inclined to oppose it directly. They obviously fear losing the support of Trump and his followers. But I think this choice is short-sighted and may ultimately backfire.
Despite his lead in the polls, Trump does not have a lock on the 2024 presidential nomination. He did not win the presidency the last time he ran, and it’s clear that he has been a drag on GOP senators and representatives who have campaigned in the years since.
On this evidence, I’d say that the extremists are hurting, not helping, the national Republican Party. At some point, more and more normal Republicans will see the damage they are doing. In the meantime, conservatives like me will wait for our party to come to its senses.
Texas ranked worst state to live in the US, see where other states stand
Amethyst Martinez and Isabelle Butera – July 19, 2023
How does life in your state compare to the rest of America?
CNBC released its rankings of the best and worst states to live in the United States last week.
Its rankings come from the network’s yearly research on the best states for business in 2023. One of the 10 criteria for the list is Life, Health & Inclusion, from which CNBC determines the best and worst states to live.
CNBC allots 350 possible points to each state, measuring categories such as per capita crime rates, environmental quality, health care and worker protections.
The research also examines anti-discrimination laws, voting rights and access to childcare. Surveys indicate a large percentage of women consider reproductive rights in deciding where they are willing to live and work, so CNBC includes abortion laws in this category.
In an aerial vies, buildings in the Dallas skyline are illuminated in blue Thursday, April 9, 2020. Cities and buildings across the nation were lighted in blue to show support for those fighting COVID-19. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP) ORG XMIT: TXDAM321
Texas ranked the worst state to live in the US
Texas has received the number one spot on a not-so-pleasant list: The top 10 worst places in America to live and work in 2023.
While Texas landed at number six on CNBC’s yearly America’s Top States for Business study, the state scored significantly low in one category: Life, Health & Inclusion. Factors in this category include:
crime rates
environmental quality
health care
quality and availability of childcare
inclusiveness in state laws such as reproductive rights, protections against discrimination and voting rights.
Texas received 53 out of 350 points for its 2023 Life, Health & Inclusion score, giving it an F in its Top States grade and the lowest nationwide, securing its number one spot on the list.
CNBC did mention the boom in economic opportunity across the state. In the overall Top States for Business study, Texas received sixth place, with North Carolina taking the number one spot.
Top 10 worst states to live and work
The rest of the states that landed on the top 10 worst states to live and work for 2023 were:
Texas
Oklahoma
Louisiana
South Carolina and Alabama (tie)
—
Missouri
Indiana
Tennessee
Arkansas
Florida
Vermont ranked the best state to live in the US
By contrast, Vermont won the acclaimed spot of the best place to live. Residents are statistically more stress-free and healthy. With the beautiful Green Mountains, Vermont offers the best air quality in the United States. The state provides the most accessible childcare, broad anti-discrimination protections and easy access to voting.
CNBC gave Vermont an A+ in Life, Health and Inclusion. The state’s largest weakness is worker protections, which are less stringent compared to some other states.
Top 10 best states to live and work
Vermont
Maine
New Jersey
Minnesota
Hawaii
Oregon
Washington
Massachusetts and Colorado (tie)
—
Connecticut
America’s top states for Business
CNBC examines on 86 metrics in 10 broad categories of business competitiveness when assigning its rankings. The research examines the workforce, infrastructure, cost of doing business, state laws and education, among other criteria.
DeSantis has boasted about people flocking to Florida, but the transplants have helped the state reach inflation levels that are twice as high as the national average
Kelsey Vlamis – July 18, 2023
Coconut Grove, a neighborhood in Miami, Florida.Demetrius Theune/Getty Images
Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, but inflation is also booming there.
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach had the highest inflation of any large metro area in April.
High inflation and home insurance prices are among the costs that transplants may not anticipate.
Some areas of the Sunshine State face the highest inflation rates in the US, even more than twice as high as the national average, which hit 3% in June, the lowest since early 2021.
The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area had a rate of 9% for the year that ended in April, according to the Consumer Price Index. It was the highest rate of any metro area with more than 2.5 million residents. The area’s inflation rate was also high for the year that ended in June, at 6.9%. Another Florida metro area, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, had an inflation rate of 7.3% for the year that ended in May.
He has also bragged that leftist ideologies in other states have pushed people away and driven them to Florida, but the state in part has its recent transplants to thank for the rising prices.
Amanda Phalin, an economist at the University of Florida, told CBS Miami that the state’s growing population and increased demand for housing have driven up prices. “A lot of people are still coming to Florida because the economy is really strong, and many like the fact that we don’t have an income tax like in New York, for example,” she said.
Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, but residents moving for perceived economic benefits may not realize the impact of higher prices. There’s also another cost of moving to Florida that transplants may not anticipate: steep homeowners insurance.
The Guardian reported the state is facing a crisis thanks to skyrocketing premiums for hurricane coverage. A 68-year-old resident who has lived in Florida for 30 years told the outlet if her homeowner insurance premium rises any more she “may have to sell up and move to another state.”
Another Insurance Company Halts Florida Home Policies Amid Worsening Storms
NinaGolgowski – July 18, 2023
AAA has announced that it’s scaling back some of its homeowner’s insurance coverage in Florida, with the decision aligning with several other major insurance providers amid a rise in natural disasters.
“Unfortunately, Florida’s insurance market has become challenging in recent years,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.
“Last year’s catastrophic hurricane season contributed to an unprecedented rise in reinsurance rates, making it more costly for insurance companies to operate. Prior to that, the market was already strained by increased claims costs due to inflation and excessive litigation,” the statement continued.
Only “a very small percentage” of higher exposure homeowner’s policies are affected by the change, and those policyholders have been notified that their plan will not renew, the company said. A spokesperson declined to specify the number of policies or where in the state they are located.
A collapsed home is seen in Naples, Florida, following Hurricane Ian in 2022. The Category 5 Atlantic hurricane was the third-costliest weather disaster on record.
A collapsed home is seen in Naples, Florida, following Hurricane Ian in 2022. The Category 5 Atlantic hurricane was the third-costliest weather disaster on record.
The announcement came a week after Farmers Insurance Group announced that it would no longer write any new policies or renew existing homeowner, auto and umbrella policies for people in Florida. Last year Bankers Insurance and Lexington Insurance, a subsidiary of AIG, also pulled out of the Florida homeowners market.
“This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure,” Farmers said in a statement released to the Tampa Bay Times.
Farmers in May similarly said it would no longer offer new home insurance policies in California due to more frequent and intense wildfires. The insurance company blamed its decision, in a previously released statement, on “historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market.”
A skeleton in sunglasses sits beside a sign reading
A skeleton in sunglasses sits beside a sign reading “Just waiting for the insurance check,” on Florida’s Sanibel Island in May. The area was hit by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
It’s getting harder to live in the Sunshine State, with Floridians paying on average about $6,000 for their yearly home insurance premium, a 42% increase compared to last year, Mark Friedlander, spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, recently told USA Today. The average annual premium in the U.S., in comparison, costs $1,700.
Floridians have also had to deal with exceptionally high inflation rates and housing costs amid an ongoing flood of new residents from other parts of the country.
Forecasters have meanwhile given mixed predictions on this year’s hurricane season in the Atlantic, which started last month and will last through November.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted a near-normal hurricane activity season with 12 to 17 total named storms — one to four of which it said could become major hurricanes.
Colorado State University has meanwhile predicted that the season will be “above average, with 18 named storms — four of which they predict will become major hurricanes. CSU previously estimated that the season would be “near average” but updated its prediction due to record warm sea surface temperatures in most of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic.
Dad Shares The Honest Moment When He Realized He Didn’t Want To Raise His 4-Year-Old Daughter In America Anymore
Nia Tipton – July 18, 2023
Luna Ashley & husband
A dad candidly opened up about the moment he realized he didn’t want to stay in America and raise his child.
In a TikTok video, Luna Ashley filmed her husband’s opinion on how he felt about America after explaining that he had been hesitant to move abroad and leave their hometown in St. Louis, Missouri. However, after taking a trip to a European country, it didn’t take Ashley’s husband long to change his mind.
He shared that the lack of safety in America convinced him to raise his 4-year-old daughter out of the country.
In Ashley’s video, she explained that her husband had been on the fence about moving to Spain, while she had been expressing interest in moving out of the country for some time now. “He did not want to move abroad. What changed your mind?” Ashley asked her husband while the two sat in their car.
Before deciding to move to Spain, Ashley and her husband had taken a trip to the country to visit. While they were there, her husband witnessed something that immediately changed his perspective about living in America.
He recalled the two of them being at a crowded coffee shop in Spain, and originally being from St. Louis, her husband had been a bit nervous about the crowd. “There’s a ton of people walking around. Being from St. Louis, that’s not a very comfortable place for me to be in,” he said.
Probably sensing her husband’s nerves, he recalled Ashley turning toward him and telling him that no one in this crowd has any guns. “You turn to me and say, ‘Have you seen all these people?’ And you’re like, ‘None of them have guns.'”
As soon as he heard his wife say that, he instantly realized that the fear of gun violence in America was something that had weighed heavily on his chest as someone who had grown up in the country and was now raising his 4-year-old daughter in it too.
“I realized this weight that I had been carrying around my whole life wasn’t necessary. Like what we think is normal is not normal,” he continued.
The laws surrounding owning a firearm are vastly different in Spain compared to Missouri.
When it comes to citizens being able to own a gun, the laws in place are not similar in the slightest between Spain and St. Louis, Missouri.
Spain has some of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in the world and people in the country are only allowed to own a handgun if they are in verifiable danger. On top of that, the possession of machine guns, submachine guns, and any other kind of automatic weapons is strictly forbidden except for military personnel in Spain.
When it comes to Missouri, the state is a permitless carry state as well as a shall-issue state. There is no permit, background check, or firearms registration required when buying a handgun from a private individual.
There is also a growing number of people in America who feel unsafe in the country. According to data acquired by SafeWise, the United States’ rate of high daily concern about safety jumped three points in 2021 — from 47% to 50%.
Following suit, the percentage of Americans who feel safe in their state fell five points year over year, from 55% in 2020 to 50% in 2021.
In the comments section, many people shared the same opinion about feeling unsafe living in America.
“We lived in Japan for 3 years. Feeling safe in any neighborhood or at any time of day or night was amazing,” one TikTok user shared.
Another user added, “For real though! Now that my kid is starting kindergarten, I feel even more anxiety. I’m desperate to find a way out.”
“Been on a vacation in the UK for a month, and I’m convinced that even if I don’t move here right away, I will be moving here once I have kids,” a third user pointed out.
A fourth user chimed in, “We currently live in Germany and it took about a month to realize that that’s what felt better. Like just feeling safe is such a relief!”
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.
Israel briefly lent the U.S. treasured antiquities in 2019. They’re now reportedly at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
Peter Weber, Senior editor – July 18, 2023
Donald Trump at White House Hanukkah event in 2019 Alex Edelman / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Boxes full of classified U.S. government documents weren’t the only items that improperly wound up at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported Tuesday. Unlike with the government secrets, though, it isn’t clear how antiquities belonging to Israel ended up at Trump’s Florida club, or whether Trump even knows they are there. Efforts by senior Israeli officials to retrieve the national treasures have so far been unsuccessful.
The Israeli antiquities include ancient ceramic candles that were lent to the U.S. from Israel’s national treasures collection in 2019 for a Hanukkah candle-lighting event at the White House, Haaretz reported. Israel Hasson, director of the Israeli Antiquities Authority at the time, approved the loan on the condition they be returned within weeks.
Instead of shipping the fragile items, “we wanted our man to go and bring it back, but then Covid broke out, and everything got stuck,” Hasson told Haaretz. The Antiquities Authority asked Saul Fox, a major Jewish-American donor to the Antiquities Authority, to hold on to the items until they could be returned safely to Israel, but “several months ago, Israeli authorities learned that the antiquities eventually ended up at” Mar-a-Lago, “where they still remain,” Haaretz reported.
Hasson’s successor, Eli Eskozido, has asked the Israeli government and Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to Israel to help get the items back, but without success. One source, referring to photos of Trump’s document boxes stacked in unusual locations around Mar-a-Lago, told Haaretz he wouldn’t be surprised if “the items Israel seeks are also eventually found in some bathroom.” You can read more about the case of this missing candles at Haaretz.
Israel Struggling to Recover Ancient Artifacts Trump Took to Mar-a-Lago: Report
Ryan Bort – July 18, 2023
Israel lent several antiquities to the White House in 2019, including ancient clay lamps for a White House Hanukkah event. Unfortunately, Donald Trump was president at the time, which means the artifacts are now at Mar-a-Lago, and Israel can’t figure out how to get them back, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.
The artifacts were only supposed to be in Washington, D.C., for a few weeks. Israel Hasson, then the director of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, told Haaretz that because they are so valuable, he wanted someone to pick them up instead of having them shipped overseas. The pandemic derailed these plans, and the artifacts remained in the White House. Israeli authorities learned several months ago that they wound up at Mar-a-Lago.
Eli Eskozido, who took over for Hasson at the Israeli Antiquities Authority, has solicited the help of the Israeli government and Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the nation in his efforts to retrieve the artifacts — to no avail.
Somehow, the former president stealing ancient Israeli artifacts isn’t surprising. Trump all but ransacked the White House on his way out of office, most notably absconding with hundreds of classified documents. Trump was criminally indicted for his handling of the documents in June, and yet still thinks he’s entitled to the sensitive material. Rolling Stone reported late last month that he was demanding his lawyers figure out how to get “my documents” back after the government retrieved them, even as it became clear he would be indicted for hoarding them.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority is worried about getting the artifacts back, but also about where Trump might be storing them in his Palm Beach estate, given that he kept government secrets in boxes haphazardly stacked in ballrooms and bathrooms. One source told Haaretz they wouldn’t be surprised if “the items Israel seeks are also eventually found in some bathroom.”
It’s too bad Israel can’t call on Indiana Jones as a final recourse. These items clearly belong in a museum, and Mar-a-Lago a museum is not.
Editorial: In DeSantis’ Florida, obsession with LGBTQ Floridians keeps hitting new lows
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board – July 18, 2023
Joe Raedle/Orlando Sentinel/TNS
By now, most Floridians get it: The DeSantis administration is obsessed with targeting the LGBTQ community in Florida dishonestly, irrationally and repetitively across multiple venues.
The latest salvos will be fired on Wednesday, when the state Board of Education takes up a group of proposals that would once again drag Florida educators down the path of persecution. Sooner or later, local school boards — who are elected by, and accountable to, the voters of each county — must start pushing back against this ridiculous, ongoing assault.
The policies up for adoption at Wednesday’s meeting could be a good place to start — assuming they pass, which they likely will. “They’re just continuing the fear mongering from session,” says Jon Harris Maurer, public policy director for Equality Florida, describing 2023 legislative changes that fall squarely into the more-of-the-same-homophobic-nonsense category.
An expansion of the rules intended to force students to use bathrooms associated with their gender determination at birth. This is an offshoot of 2023’s ridiculous “potty purity” law (HB 1521) that attempts to keep transgender individuals out of bathrooms that correspond with their identity across multiple venues, including private businesses and government buildings. Lawmakers have consistently ignored the fact that by determining gender through at-birth assignment, the law is all but guaranteed to generate more uneasiness because it forces individuals to use restroom facilities that don’t match with their current appearance or names. Yet lawmakers seem intent on forcing these uncomfortable confrontations, and have combined the bathroom provision with another rule that threatens the licensure status of teachers who violate it. Yet in most polls taken over the past 10 years, fewer than 40% of voters think that bathroom use by transgender people should be so illogically dictated.
A provision that would extend the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” provisions to middle schools. Remember when DeSantis’ then-communications director put extensive effort into convincing Floridians that the prohibition on classroom discussion of gender and sexual protection was to protect very young children from too much sexy talk — which she used as cover for the ugly contention that anyone who lined up against that legislation was a “groomer?” Well, this rips that argument to shreds: Middle-school-aged children are certainly aware that same-sex relationships exist. Yet this rule also threatens teachers with misconduct charges for talking too much about that reality.
A new rule that seems to be aimed at “protecting” students from unexpected exposure to drag queens at any school-sponsored event or activity, because that’s something that apparently happens all the time. (Or not.) The rule is written so broadly and confusingly that it could apply to many situations that most people would describe as harmless, including performances of Shakespeare plays, showing of the Disney film “Mulan” or a review of some religious texts.
Finally, a rule that punishes teachers that talk too much about preferred pronouns, which could make life difficult for English teachers.
We say these measures are likely to pass, because the Board of Education is currently acting as the public-school arm of DeSantis’ political committee. Still, we laud the organization of human-rights groups including Equality Florida, who intend to mobilize for Wednesday’s meeting (scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort on Universal Boulevard in Orlando).
Their continued vocal opposition provides an ongoing reminder that, no matter how many times DeSantis and his supporters attack, this will never be something that passes without comment — and that it runs counter to the sentiments of the vast majority of the American people, who have long ago adopted a live-and-let-live approach to gender identity and sexual orientation. In an August 2022 Quinnipiac University poll, fewer than one in four Americans still opposed same-sex marriage. Support for civil-rights protections for LGBTQ people are almost as strong.
We hope, however, that local school officials are also paying attention. Unlike DeSantis’ supporters, who largely hold themselves aloof from the sentiments of Florida voters, they have to face their supporters. Even in the most conservative counties, many school board members are starting to express anguish over the pain they’re being forced to inflict. A widespread rebellion against these cruel and illogical policies might bring retaliation, since DeSantis has become increasingly fond of removing anyone from public office who dares to disagree with him.
But it would be a noble sacrifice. Florida needs more public officials to find the courage to stand up to Florida’s self-designated emperor and say “Governor, for someone so focused on ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ you sure seem to bring it up a lot. Find someone else to execute your politicized cruelty. We’re done.”
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick.
Texas traps pregnant migrants in razor wire, pushes kids back into Rio Grande, state trooper complains
Peter Weber, Senior editor – July 18, 2023
Razor wire at U.S. border in Texas Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP via Getty Images
Rolls of razor wire Texas installed along the U.S. side of the Rio Grande have ensnared several migrants, including a pregnant woman “in obvious pain” while having a miscarriage and a father trying to free his child “stuck on a trap” of razor wire–covered barrels in the water, a Texas state trooper wrote in July 3 email to a superior, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday.
The Dallas Morning News also obtained the email and a corroborating July 4 note from a second Department of Public Safety trooper. Both were identified by name. In recent weeks, as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) “Operation Lone Star” border initiative, Texas has rolled out about 88 miles of razor wire along the Rio Grande and also put buoys in the middle of the river to deter migrants from crossing over from Mexico. This has sparked conflicts with the U.S. Border Patrol, complaints from local businesses, and legal challenges from Mexico.
The trooper, stationed in Eagle Pass, said Operation Lone Star service members have been ordered to push children back into the Rio Grande and told not to give water to asylum seekers even as Texas sweltered in extreme heat.- ADVERTISEMENT -https://s.yimg.com/rq/darla/4-11-1/html/r-sf-flx.html
He recounted seeing National Guard soldiers push a 4-year-old girl trying to cross the razor wire back into the river “due to the orders given to them,” adding that the girl then passed out from exhaustion in temperatures “well over 100 degrees.” The 4-year-old girl, 19-year-old pregnant woman, and others lacerated by the razor wire or injured trying to avoid it in the June 30 incidents were transferred to emergency medical services, the trooper wrote.
On June 25, he added, troopers came across a group of 120 hungry and exhausted people, including small children and nursing babies, resting along the river. The shift officer in command ordered the troopers to “push the people back into the water to go to Mexico,” the trooper recounted, and when the troopers refused and asked for new guidance, they were told to drive off. Other troopers and federal Border Patrol agents then stepped in and provided care to the migrants.
“I truly believe in the mission of Operation Lone Star,” the trooper wrote. “I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane.” He specifically said migrants need to be given water, and “the wire and barrels in the river needs to be taken out as this is nothing but a in humane [sic] trap in high water and low visibility.”
DPS spokesman Travis Considine told the Chronicle there is no policy against giving water to migrants and passed along emails from DPS Director Steven McCraw acknowledging seven additional cases in July of migrants needing “elevated medical attention” due to the razor wire. McCraw called for a safety audit and investigation of the trooper’s reports. A spokesman for Abbott said “Texas is deploying every tool and strategy to deter and repel illegal crossings between ports of entry,” criticizing President Biden’s border policies.
