Because I live in Florida (the state with the prettiest name!), the new surgeon general thinks COVID vaccines are ineffective and masks an example of lib tyranny. He also thinks senators dealing with cancer deserve not a modicum of compassion, including wearing a mask in their offices when asked.
Tag Archives: Florida politics
Vaccination ‘isn’t the only path’ for promoting ‘good health’
Taking comfort from my county’s high vaccination rate, I got smug when out-of-towners questioned the figures. Florida, after all — no explanation needed. But I had reported CDC data, and, indeed, the figures looked impressive. How come our infection and positivity rates stayed so high? Who was left to vaccinate?
Nothing matters and what if it did?
Behold the decadence of the POLITCO political press: DeSantis has prioritized monoclonal treatments such as Regeneron in his Florida pandemic battle plan, spending the past several weeks flying across the state supporting the treatments. Monoclonal antibody treatments are considered effective if administered early in an infection. At the same time, he has opposed Covid-related restrictionsContinue reading “Nothing matters and what if it did?”
Hurricane Andrew twenty-nine years later….
Twenty-nine years ago today, I lowered the volume on the Joy Division squall to hear the other squall outside. My calm dad, wearing a scowl as comfortably as he did his boat shoes, ordered me to join the rest of the family in the kitchen, the only room big enough to accommodate all of usContinue reading “Hurricane Andrew twenty-nine years later….”
School Year II during a time of plague
Two days before the start of the first in-person school year since 2019, I tighten sentences in my syllabi and adjust deadlines to alleviate the tightening of my belly muscles.
The CDC and its percolations
On Sanibel, the island off the Southwest Florida coast, I saw nary a mask covering the faces of tourists in flip-flops and whose cars bore license plates issued as close as Cape Coral and as far away as North Dakota. A sprinkling of grocery and general store employees wore them. This happened despite the COVIDContinue reading “The CDC and its percolations”
What’s cool about Florida?
“Between the humidity, the sinkholes, the right-wing Latin Americans, the climate change, Ron DeSantis and the people who vote for him, what exactly is the appeal of Florida?” Eric Loomis asks at Lawyers, Guns & Money about the state with the prettiest name. “I guess it is that old people don’t care about the futureContinue reading “What’s cool about Florida?”
Florida universities: ‘socialism factories’
In Florida (the state with the prettiest name!), our governor is so devoted to promoting his presidential platform for 2024 he’ll run roughshod over the most anodyne legislation, for example a bill promoting civics:
Florida’s contempt for (higher) education deepens
Parents with the best of intentions confuse an education with the prelude to a career.
Teaching is an act of criticism.
With Florida’s State Board of Education unanimously voting to keep something called Critical Race Theory™ from the curriculum of public schools, it’s important to understand what this board and the governor of Florida (the state with the prettiest name!) have said is okay with them:
‘Republican House members do not care about trans kids’
They are ghouls: The Republican majority in the Florida Legislature on Wednesday unexpectedly rammed a ban on transgender athletes in women’s and girls’ sports through the legislative process amid an outcry from Democrats who called foul on the last-minute procedural moves used to get the issue passed in the final days of session. House andContinue reading “‘Republican House members do not care about trans kids’”
‘Anti-riot’ legislation is really ‘anti-protest” bill
Let us say you, consumed with righteous fury, take to the streets should the jury in the George Floyd murder case reach a verdict of not guilty. Protest leaders caution you and your colleagues to avoid provocations. Then, for reasons known to those who have attended these things and experts in crowd dynamics, shit getsContinue reading “‘Anti-riot’ legislation is really ‘anti-protest” bill”
