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Something to Put Behind You
One
thing we all use is toilet paper. Koch
Industries is one of the American companies still doing business with Putin’s
Russia, despite their aggression and unnecessary brutality against civilians in
Ukraine. The least you can do is to not use Koch
products with which to wipe! They
include Angel Soft, Quilted
Northern, Soft 'n Gentle, Costco’s house brand, and anything made by Koch-owned
Georgia-Pacific. (You should also avoid other Koch paper
products such as Brawny and Sparkle paper towels, Vanity napkins and Dixie Cups.)
Acceptable wipes include Charmin, Cottonelle and Scott. As for other paper products, Bounty paper towels and Chinet napkins and paper plates are okay too. But watch out for house brands which might come from Russia’s economic supporters at Koch-owned Georgia-Pacific.
JL
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Pulling No Punches on Will Smith
Actor Will Smith slapped MC Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscar ceremonies and much has been written and spoken about it. Here are my feelings about the incident as I saw it.
Many in the traditional Hollywood audience of screen professionals were shocked. I suspect that some among them, although never speaking up, had been personally bothered by the recognition many actors of color were receiving in the Awards, an area which until a few years ago was almost entirely the preserve of white actors. I won’t get into that, but I wonder how many of those still harboring remnants of a heritage of bigotry were quietly thinking, and excuse my language, ‘that’s how n----rs behave.” Years of progress in the struggle against racism were threatened by Smith’s behavior. Few seem to be mentioning this.
That is the way Will Smith, a talented actor but still an individual, behaved in response to some ‘humor’ from Rock directly at his family earlier. It was solely Will Smith’s personal ill-thought-out behavior, and in no way should it be extended to those who share his skin color. He should have thought before swinging. In the eyes of viewers, his action represented a diminishing of the high level of achievement he had reached before the cameras and elsewhere. And the awards, including those to “people of color” were all well deserved.
JL
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Democracy Permits the Election of Bad People
The challenge facing our democracy was well illustrated when 63 Republicans voted against a House measure upholding the founding democratic principles of NATO, (individual liberty, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law).
These Representatives were legitimately elected by their constituents. Simillarly elected were most of their party who are engaged in culture wars which are pushing today’s right wing away from democracy and toward authoritarianism, including taking away the health care that the ACA has brought to many Americans as well as other rights now guaranteed by the Constitution and its Amendments.
This is the Achilles heel of a democracy that allows the election of people who are intent on destroying it. How do we meet that challenge? Suggestions, please.
JL
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 |
| Nicole Kidman |
Which brings us to actor Vladimir Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, who is in real life is now duplicating the role he played a few years ago in a supposedly humorous Ukrainian TV sitcom, where a schoolteacher became the nation’s president. The danger of confusing his theatrical presidency with his real, actual presidency can present dangers. It appears that he is capable of handling them without becoming “untethered” while “teetering on the edge of something that is quite dangerous,” as Kidman put it. I suspect the Russians can attest to that.
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More on Homeowners Insurance in Floriduh
In the last posting of this blog, I wrote about the Homeowner’
Insurance disaster in Florida. The Palm
Beach Post covered the same material in its page one headline story on
Saturday, April 2.
I would like to make one point clear. Unbelievably, State-controlled Citizens
Property Insurance rates (supposedly the company of ‘last resort’ for Florida
homeowners) were actually lower than what private companies were offering and
causing a great increase in its business. That is a never-before-encountered
situation and the reason why they are asking for an 11% premium increase
(maximum law allows) to make sure they stayed more costly than private
companies.
Citizens rates were always much higher than those of private
companies, but private companies’ rates have so increased that they now are in
many cases, especially when less expensive private policies are being renewed,
higher than those of Citizens. Both are now at obscenely high levels, the only
difference being that Citizens, by law, had to issue you a policy whereas
private companies could decline to insure you.
It isn’t just a matter of rates, however. I believe the increase
in the number of Citizens’ policyholders is due to the impossibility of
homeowners with roofs over fifteen years old from switching companies when
facing tremendous rate increases or avoiding being dropped by their existing
companies. Regardless of rates, they had no place else to go. The causes of the
rate increases and unavailability of coverage due to roof age were explained in
my posting and in the Post article.
Basically, it is that eventual roof replacement is a ‘certainty,’ as opposed
to other hazards covered by Homeowners insurance, most of which may never
occur, and the availability of unethical roofers, inspectors and lawyers who
squeeze such claims into ‘windstorm’ damage provisions. There, they litigate until the insurer finds
it less costly to just give up and pay for the new roof rather than pay lawyers
to try to enforce policy provisions.
I proposed that the only solution other than the obvious but
unlikely one of getting rid of unethical roofers, inspectors, and lawyers, is
to eliminate the ‘certain’ hazard of roofs needing replacement sooner or later
from all homeowners’ insurance policies, so spurious roof claims from windstorm
damage would not exist. As I suggested,
a home equity loan to cover the cost of roof replacement would probably be a
less expensive solution, one to which one would turn only when the roof
actually needed to be replaced, than paying higher homeowners’ insurance
premiums year after year. Remember, tile
roofs last 25 to 50 years, so the odds are on the side of the homeowners.
And of course, the name of that football bowl game played each
December in Boca Raton needs to be changed.
It lends credibility to what’s going on!
JL
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The Palm Beach Post published
the following letter from me on March 31.
I hope Democratic leadership takes
notice. Here is my letter:
”It is not enough for Democrats to merely
disagree with the ‘your turn’ column written by Republican leader Evan
Power. His words should serve as a target for them to use to solidify
their ranks, identify their opponents and promote the voter registration
efforts needed to take away Republican control of what goes on in Tallahassee
in November.”
Here is the column to which the letter refers, with
my commentary inserted. Power’s
words are in blue. Mine are in red:
Lawmaking session a victory for
Republicans | Opinion
- Your Turn
Evan Power
The radical left and their friends in the media are in
complete meltdown over Florida’s legislative session. (All who are
dissatisfied with the legislative session are not just “the radical left and
their friends. There are many, many, more.) They claim the session was about “culture wars” and
believe, “The best thing the Florida Legislature did was adjourn.”
Why has the media been so horrified? It is simply because
an increasingly red state is governing conservatively.
Florida has led the nation during COVID by choosing to be
open and allowing residents personal freedom from mask and vaccine mandates. (And to risk Covid
infections spreading among the State’s population, especially its many seniors.)
These policies were so popular that
lockdown Democratic leaders decided to vacation in Florida while leaving their
destructive policies in place in their states. (No evidence that they
did this and their policies were not destructive.) Now, facing
universally high disapproval, they are now dropping their own mandates. (Dropping mandates, not
because of supposed disapproval, but because masking and vaccination indeed reduced
the virus’ spread.)
During this legislative session, Republicans led the way
with record tax breaks, (for whom?) bonuses for our law
enforcement officers (The money came from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan,
opposed by almost all Republicans),
greater election integrity (a lie – the reverse is true, as the courts just ruled), protecting human life (by attacking women’s
rights to choose what to do with her body), and protecting parents’ rights regarding education from
grades K-3 (allowing non-educators to overrule elected school boards.)
The left and its allies couldn’t honestly argue against
this kind of agenda that is popular with the voters of Florida (we’ll see on Nov. 8), so they had to invent reasons to oppose the policies.
If you read the social media of Democratic members, you
would think there was legislation to prevent the term “gay” or to forbid the
teaching of race in classrooms. (Another pair of lies. Granted that the legislation doesn’t
specifically use the word ‘gay,’ HB1557 clearly deals with it by referring to
classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain
grade levels. And HB7 similarly dealt with race, limiting what could be
discussed in schools. Copies of both
fascist bills appear below) None of this was true, and this misinformation was used to
try to oppose the idea that parents, not teachers and bureaucrats, should guide
what students learn in their classrooms. (A crazy idea. We elect
school boards … he calls them and their professional staff bureaucrats … and hire teachers to teach.
Parents should not ‘guide’ what students learn in classrooms. They are
unqualified to do so. If they dislike
public schools, there are other choices for them.)
Florida is changing. But, those changes are for the better,
with thousands and thousands of people fleeing to Florida because of the
freedom and policies that are being implemented in the Free State of Florida. (They come here for the
weather and lower taxes. Not for freedom. The Constitution gives them that.)
These successes have allowed over 10 counties to flip from
Democrat to Republican in the last several years. (True … with the aid of
ghost candidates if necessary and sadly, many misinformed voters) Now, for the first time, Republicans outnumber registered
Democrats in the Sunshine State. (In Florida, out of over 14,000,000
registered voters, there are just 90,000 more registered Republicans than
Democrats but there are over 3,800,000 voters registered as having ‘no party
affiliation’ most of whom traditionally vote Democratic.)
As we saw in Virginia last November with the election of
Gov. Youngkin and in recent polling from across the nation, voters are growing
tired of the overreach of their government in implementing mandates and control
over their children in public schools. (Youngkin hid his
conservatism to get elected and showed his true colors once elected. He will
not be re-elected because Virginians are smarter and better educated than
Floridians.)
Unfortunately, as the voters reject the government
overreach, the Democrats are being forced to create their own fake reality by
labeling every policy as a culture war, racist policy, or discrimination.
Voters should be on the lookout for these false claims and be prepared to fight
back. (A difficult chore since there actually is racism and
discrimination in Florida. Calling it a ‘culture war’ diminishes the truth.)
Luckily, we have leaders like Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has
not backed down from the attacks from the far left and their friends in the
media. Instead, he stepped up and took on the mischaracterizations and lies
head-on. (With more lies and
appeal to the misinformed, the gullible, and the bigoted.)
In his speeches, Gov. DeSantis likes to say, “I have only
begun to fight.” The people of Florida should join in him that fight. (The quote is from John
Paul Jones whose frigate was battling two English ships in 1779. He won the battle, seizing one of the English
ships but his own ship sank anyway. Sort of like what DeSantis is doing to the
Republican Party, which will eventually sink too, despite occasional victories.)
Republicans, independents, and even Democrats who see the
threat of the government’s attempt to control every aspect of their lives need
to join the fight to hold these leaders accountable. (Providing necessary services which the
private sector is unable or unwilling to provide is not controlling citizens’
lives.)
Florida has become the model for freedom in America. This
November, we have a chance to send a strong message that Florida stands for
freedom by re-electing Gov. DeSantis and our Republican team and rejecting the
contrived narratives of the Democrats and the media. (What Power has written is
of course a contrived narrative.)
Evan Power is chairman of the Leon County Republican
Party and chair of Chairs of the Republican Party of Florida.”
CS/CS/HB 1557: Parental Rights in Education
GENERAL BILL by Judiciary Committee ; Education and
Employment Committee ; Harding ; Grall ; (CO-INTRODUCERS) Avila ; Bell ;
Borrero ; Byrd ; Fernandez-Barquin ; Fetterhoff ; Fine ; Fischer ; Latvala ;
Maggard ; McClain ; Plakon ; Roach ; Roth ; Sirois ; Snyder ; Truenow ;
Yarborough
Parental Rights in
Education; Requires district school boards to adopt procedures that
comport with certain provisions of law for notifying student's parent of
specified information;
requires such procedures to reinforce fundamental right of parents to make
decisions regarding upbringing & control of their children;
prohibits school district from adopting procedures or student support forms
that prohibit school district personnel from notifying parent about specified
information or that encourage student to withhold from parent such information; prohibits school district
personnel from discouraging or prohibiting parental notification &
involvement in critical decisions affecting student's mental, emotional, or
physical well-being; prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or
gender identity in certain grade levels; requires school districts to
notify parents of healthcare services; authorizes parent to bring action against school district
to obtain declaratory judgment; provides for additional award of injunctive
relief, damages, & reasonable attorney fees & court costs to certain
parents.
Effective Date: 7/1/2022
CS/HB 7: Individual Freedom
GENERAL BILL by Education and Employment Committee ;
Avila ; (CO-INTRODUCERS) Bell ; Borrero ; Byrd ; Fernandez-Barquin ; Fine ;
Fischer ; Grall ; Latvala ; Maggard ; Massullo ; McClain ; Overdorf ; Payne ;
Roth ; Shoaf ; Sirois ; Truenow ; Yarborough
Individual Freedom; Provides that subjecting
individuals to specified concepts under certain circumstances constitutes
discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin; revising
requirements for required instruction on the history of African Americans;
requiring the department to prepare and offer certain standards and curriculum;
authorizing the department to seek input from a specified organization for
certain purposes; prohibits
instructional materials reviewers from recommending instructional materials
that contain any matter that contradicts certain principles; requires
DOE to review school district professional development systems for compliance
with certain provisions of law.
Effective Date: 7/1/2022
JL
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