WRONG WORDS, WRONG TIME

29 Mar 2023 Dwight Douglas 29 Mar 2023

The price we pay for freedom

You know, people say stupid things. It happens frequently. Many folks on social media are ready to attack those who tweet, text or talk Second Amendment smack after a mass shooting, and so today’s coverage begins.

Late last year, Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles sent out a holiday card with his entire family holding guns. The caption read, “The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” When asked about that photo in light of three kids and three adults being gunned down in a school in his city, he refused to apologize for his tasteless holiday P.R. Why? Perhaps he fears an expression of sorrow and grief would expose him to be less than the manly man he conjures for his brand and image.

Oh, Ogles did say he was, “devastated by the tragedy,” but like 99% of the Republicans in office, he will do absolutely nothing to protect the rights of “life, liberty and happiness” of the very people he represents, but he’s only one of many misguided guys who believe a gun is part of the “American dream.”

Another trope that rolls out of the mouths of the protectors of the amendment they like is a notion that mass shootings demonstrate that “freedom is not free,” and when people die at the hands of a lunatic it’s simply “the cost of freedom.” I find myself screaming that sounds exactly like a notorious domestic terrorist, Timothy McVie, who was put to death by the state.

On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVie planted a bomb at the Oklahoma City Federal Building and killed more than 168 people, including nineteen children. When asked about the kids lost in his retribution for the Waco siege two years before, McVie uttered the immortal line, “They were just collateral damage.” Now, we have far-right members of Congress blaming the Nashville shooting on transexual procedures and illicit drugs, ignoring the real problem. The alleged shooter was being treated for a mental disorder.

There was no law in Oklahoma that prevented anyone from buying enormous amounts of the fertilizer McVie needed for his bomb, and obviously there are no red flag laws in Tennessee that would have prevented the shooter from legally buying seven guns. Audrey Hale’s parents didn’t think she should own guns, but she was a 28-year-old adult who could own as many guns as she wanted.

Tim Burchett, another braindead Congressman from Tennessee, declared, “We’re not gonna fix school shootings.” He even went so far to say that he doesn’t think the government has a role to play in stopping mass shootings. This guy, along with Andy Ogles, should be thrown out of Congress. If they cannot even believe a solution is feasible then they are part of THE PROBLEM.

Intellectually, I don’t care if you own one or four hundred guns, but if the purpose of your weaponry is casting fear over the neighborhood, you are misguided. If your reason for ownership is sport and hunting, I must ask what happened to using a rifle to bring down a deer or bird? Why would you destroy the very meat that is the object of your quest? Most police departments don’t have the firepower of their local gun clubs but, when protecting blue lives, pro-gun fans never seem to remember that cops are often outgunned by those with the automatic weaponry that Democrats want to ban.

Maybe I am naïve about the protection aspect of having weapons in the home. I get that you want to protect your family, but protect them from what? If an average gun lunatic wanted to off your whole family, all they would need is a loaded AR-15 and you would be helpless with your little 9mm handgun. It’s just a teddy bear for a nervous person, bringing comfort but no real protection.

Another aspect of our ongoing struggle with the plague of lunatic shooters is this concept of congratulating the police on how fast they responded. That’s all well and good, but in the end it’s not the quick response to the 911 call but the lack of concern about mental health challenges, red flags laws and dismal gun ownership record keeping. We truly have no idea about who owns guns and how many. Maybe we just don’t care.

A workable system would be national gun registration and a database entry required for weapon merchants and accessible by law enforcement. We need to keep an eye on those who buy “too many” guns or “too much” ammunition and messages posted on social media presenting clues to a crazy person’s intent. Yell to the ACLU all you like, but the print clearly states, “a well-regulated militia.”

Let me get real here. When dishonest politicians, TV talking heads and far-right scum on the internet claim the ravaged, dead bodies of nine-year-old children is just “collateral damage” or the “price of freedom,” I want to screech, “If you cannot do something to protect our children and make America better then SHUT UP!”

I don’t care if you are a Republican or Democrat, if you don’t do something about this crisis you will go to hell. According to Axios, “At least 57 people have died in 38 mass shootings in the US this month alone, with another 133 injured.” With seven hundred people taken from the earth each year by senseless mass shootings, we must address it. We first must admit it happened, then agree it’s a scourge and decide what we will do to prevent it. If not, we are not much more advanced than Neanderthals, who didn’t have guns.

Security at every door, metal detectors, teachers with guns, students with guns, more resource officers, more weapons, more religious resistance to a Second Amendment update will only kill more. We are at the tipping point and maybe it’s too late. It’s certainly too late for the 57 people who were taken from us this month by firepower, but it’s not too late to take back some guns, limit who can own them and convince America that inaction by those in power is careless, reckless and intentional disregard. In a court of law that’s called “negligence.”

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24Mar

WHY? WHY? WHY?

24 Mar 2023 Dwight Douglas 24 Mar 2023

The death of diversity and equality

George Orwell finished authoring his classic novel 1984 in the year 1948. Orwell was a British writer who composed lucid prose with a tinge of social criticism, professing strong opposition to totalitarianism while supporting democratic socialism. In the grand scheme of things, he was the man with a bright lantern showing us the future. In his book Animal Farm, Orwell pointed out, “The animals conspire to take control of their farm from humans, establishing ‘Animalist’ commandments to prevent the reproduction of the oppressive behavior of humans.”

There you have a not-so-subtle slash at the dictators, demigods and douche bags with narcissistic personality disorders. They desire to control those they believe are “less superior,” viewing them as sinners, seditionists and suckers. If you just believe what they believe and give them the power to manipulate things their way, life will be much better… for them.

Florida is the frontline of the culture wars because there are no checks and balances on the power of one man, the governor. This will surely spread, and there are those who will conspire to take control of their farms, their schools and their cultures and create a great crevasse between those who agree and those who pray to the god of critical thinking and logic.

I had the pleasure of watching the Netflix movie The Wonder, a story about a small village in Ireland that bought into the myth of a young girl being the vehicle of a higher power because she didn’t have to eat. The city leaders, doctors and priests thought this was good for their community and could put the small town on the map. A nurse visiting from London observed the girl to determine the truth. With all the town folk captivated by the illusion, the nurse broke the news to the men who ran the small town that their little angel was only human and must eat to stay alive. The metaphor from this movie is clear; men, religion, power and misguided beliefs of the parents were more important than facts and safety. In this case, a young girl’s life was at stake.

I was struck by one person’s statement in the Florida school board wars, “The schoolboard doesn’t own the kids, the parents do.” Oh really, mothers and fathers “own” their kids? Well, morally, ethically and legally, parents don’t own their kids. Caretakers have a responsibility to keep those kids safe, I get that, but their power stops at the first step of the Constitution.

In the 1969 landmark case, Tinker v. Des Moines, on students’ rights to free speech in public schools, the Supreme Court ruled (7 to 2) that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” So, the idea that a schoolboard can stop any student from expressing themselves goes against the ruling and spirit of free speech. As a student I should be able to declare my personal gender, discuss matters of diversity and equality and doubt whatever so-called “fact” is thrown in their face regardless of whether I am gay, straight, or trans. It’s called education, not indoctrination.

When the far-right claims being around someone different from themselves will somehow force them to adopt that different person’s personal persuasion, they demonstrate a lack of understanding of the power of the human mind. People do only what they want, and even if they are told what they are doing may harm themselves or others, they often continue. Think about all the public service announcements stressing how smoking increases the chance for cancer, yet people keep smoking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30.8 million Americans still smoke cigarettes while 480,000 folks die each year from ailments and diseases caused by cigarettes and smoking. Some of these smokers scream at school board meetings about how the teachers are grooming their kids, while their children are ingesting second hand smoke every day at home. Even worse, some kids will be inspired to adopt their parent’s harmful addiction.

Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Brenda Ziegler as the Chairperson of the Sarasota School Board to rid that body of anyone who disagreed with his draconian laws, policies and prejudices. DeSantis is clearly homophobic, and the equally tainted chairperson was quoted as saying, “homosexuality is evil.” Now on the board, she claims “…there was a toxic culture within the School Board.” Ziegler underscored the unwillingness of some members to respect those with opposing views, but when the chairperson allows a speaker to harass the one member of the board who is openly gay, her lack of regulating hate speech in the chamber is allowing that “toxic culture” to grow. BRENDA ZIEGLER is the problem.

On March 15^th of this year, I picked up my daily local paper and read the headline, “Bill prohibits diversity, equality and inclusion on campuses.” I wondered if the headline was an Onion comedy bit, asking myself, “Jeez, what country am I living in?” Shortly after that, one of the most liberal state funded universities fired all the people who worked in their diversity office. In the myopic view of Chief Justice Roberts, we don’t need a law to protect the voting rights of minorities and the disenfranchised, yet the white, mostly male rulers of the land have decided they will control a woman’s body and they will control the speech of students and teachers. Instead of promoting freedom they are prohibiting it.

Ron DeSantis is not the only problem in America. There are at least a dozen ideologs in state governors’ offices who are attempting to roll out restrictions for gays and trans people, while not so secretly censoring the rights of African Americans by banning books and thwarting discussions of slavery and the civil war. When they say they are protecting the feelings of the students, they are really saying, “we need to make sure white students are not burdened with the guilt that comes out of slavery.” REALLY?

This just in from the Washington Post, “Transgender Americans experience stigma and systemic inequality in many aspects of their lives, including education, work and health-care access, a wide-ranging Washington Post-KFF poll finds.” So, it’s only the “normal” kids who get rights. The animals on the farm want to dehumanize the herd.

Donald Trump may have given people the courage to be bigots and total assholes in public, but it’s time to stop the wannabes and dolts who think the Trump playbook is necessary for a more perfect union. They are wrong.

And now, the Governor and the cult in the Florida legislature want to make the “Don’t say Gay” law apply from kindergarten through senior year. If a teacher discusses gender or being gay with their students they can be criminally prosecuted. The fire has been started but the firemen and women are not answering the alarm bell. They are ignoring a danger which has a serious potential to melt our freedoms away. And I have to ask, “Why? Why? Why?”

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10Mar

AMERICA’S CULTURE WAR

10 Mar 2023 Dwight Douglas 10 Mar 2023

Homophobia, Racism and Republicans

The battle lines have been drawn and it’s not a pretty sight. The war has begun and will be worsened by the upcoming 2024 election. Each candidate will be asked, and must be ready to say, where they stand on every issue.

A good starting point for today’s post will be the definition of a culture war. It’s a conflict between liberal and conservative groups with diverse cultural ideals, beliefs or philosophies. The personal principles of citizens have always been a profound aspect of American life, but we are now getting into trouble as politicians and “citizen zealots” try to control or manipulate what we feel.

For example, I am a Floridian and it’s possible that one or more of my convictions could be illegal where I live. REALLY! Unfortunately, our overzealous governor believes his moral core is the one all residents of the state should adopt, and Ron DeSantis will use his power, even if unconstitutional, to herd people into his dogma. He’s been arresting, firing and removing anyone who disagrees with him in the slightest, using the arcane stance that “you are either with me or against me.”

The battle cries of the Republican bottom feeders are focused on education, gender identification, freedom of speech, dissent, protest and political affiliations or philosophies. The added fuel is a disdain for the press and disregard of the First Amendment.

Ron DeSantis has made NO effort to engage, canvas or consult those citizens who do not completely agree with him. The man’s administration has total control and power over the state lawmakers, and his vindictiveness has pushed Democrats, most who deeply dislike Florida’s governor, further and further away.

This culture war in Florida is a test run for what DeSantis would probably do with the entire country if he ever becomes president. This should disturb anyone who cares about democracy and America’s role of being the “light on the hill” President Ronald Reagan referred to in his speeches.

We can break down the danger points in several key areas. First, homosexuality is a broad target with branch objectives against trans kids or those who may be suffering from gender dysphoria, which is a term describing the sense of unease caused by a mismatch between one’s biological sex and their gender identity. This dissatisfaction can be intense, leading to depression and anxiety with a harmful impact on daily life. It’s a medical condition, not a political affiliation.

The Florida bathroom controversies could have been solved by installing non-gender specific restrooms in public places, instead the state decided to magnify the problem. It didn’t take long before protective parents and religious evangelists protested by screaming, yelling and disrupting school board meetings. This led the state to take a firm stance against gay and trans kids. Florida claimed they were protecting the children, but they are clearly hurting a certain class of students by belittling them and putting them down. Their actions and laws are saying, “you are not equal.”

This gave the Governor a chance to enact what was loving referred to as the “Don’t say gay” law. DeSantis argued that the act doesn’t contain those words, but any kindergarten to fourth grade teacher can be fired, prosecuted and ruined if they even mention gender in the classroom. I guess a gay teacher will have to remove the classroom picture of his or her family because it doesn’t fit the law’s description of what is NORMAL.

Many well-trained journalists asked the governor to explain the law, but he used that opportunity to launch a concerted tirade against the press. One exchange with a CNN reporter exposed the governor as a bully and malcontent with no desire to set the record straight. He would rather brush off the press and move on. He’s the least cooperative and transparent governor I’ve ever seen.

Then we have those right-wing fanatics who continuously complain about cancel culture, a destructive campaign that hurts people. They use the First Amendment to claim their “side” is not being properly quoted but make no attempt to actually define their aims and attitudes. Their sharp, anti-media comments not only help cast themselves as martyrs but also lower the credibility of those who disagree with the demigod.

Ron DeSantis learned bullying and harassing from former president Donald Trump. The forty-fifth president used an old autocratic trope by referring to the press as “the enemy of the people” The constant berating of journalists is now a MAGA-Republican sport, played by weak and insecure rulers.

One of the most recent proposals in Florida is a law that would fine bloggers who refuse to disclose their sources of information or financial arrangements. This blatant desire to control and censor content creators is highly unamerican and unconstitutional. As a blogger, I would like to send this succinct response to our governor, “GO FUCK YOURSELF!”

From John Oliver, HBO, and CNN

Plain old racism was allowed to stew in our great melting pot before Critical Race Theory (CRT) became white America’s whipping boy at school boards across the South. Most conservative states have now outlawed the teaching of CRT, a cross-disciplinary examination of the way laws, political movements and media shape and are shaped by concepts of race and ethnicity. CRT is taught in some universities, but this curriculum has never been taught in American public schools. This imaginary boogeyman has been quite useful to Republican politicians who use Black history to frighten and manipulate parents. The most appalling aspect of the bans against CRT is promotion of the belief that we must protect the feelings of white students by ignoring the Civil War and history of slavery, in essence it’s a whitewashing of American history.

School curriculums should be based on facts and educational goals, not political authority. When recently appointed schoolboard members openly say that “homosexuality is evil” and express a desire to cleanse the world of people who don’t agree with them is proof that we are in deep trouble. As a writer, I am deeply saddened and angered by the banning and removing of books from public libraries. SHAME ON YOU!

In reality, Ron’s targeted swipes at freedom are directed to a small, vocal percentage of lunatics in the Republican party. His sinister goal is to occupy the White House and change America by throwing out the notion of all men being equal, the foundation of our democracy. If you support a system of government with one person having absolute power, then you are a traitor to American values. No one has come right out and said it, but when Ron DeSantis appoints and anoints those who want to eliminate diversity and equality studies, we are in real trouble. The man must be stopped.

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28Feb

ON BEING ANTI-WOKE

28 Feb 2023 Dwight Douglas 28 Feb 2023

Bogeymen in Blue Suits and Red Ties

Malevolent men and women have always used fear to control us. Without the anxiety they try to induce in us, they are only paper tigers. A bogeyman is one who is evil or unpleasant and makes others afraid. A paper tiger is one who is outwardly powerful and possibly dangerous, but inwardly weak and ineffectual. Now that we have the terms of this game, let’s try to figure out why these creatures have glommed onto the term “woke.”

The timeworn African American slang term “woke” once referred to someone who was alert to racial prejudice and discrimination, but just as people grow up and change, so do words, phrases and slogans. Today, there are those who characterize a woke person as “hip” or “open-minded.” Therefore, it follows that an anti-woke person is CLOSE MINDED. This background, however, doesn’t answer the question about why so many politicians and mouth-breathing zealots have decided to force this term into the malicious column. If I am aware of cultural discrimination, while being open-minded enough to see beauty in every culture and tribe, why am I the enemy?

A “woke monster” is born when she or he puts down others, then rallies people around their criticism and attack. With the power of social media, it takes mere minutes for a stupid policy, statement or action motivated by self-profit to be consumed and believed. Every time Donald Trump, Jr. opens his mouth, all the pundit putdowns, comedic ridicule and digital abuse will not make him smarter. He will always be enormously close-minded and far from hip.

But why do the bogeymen label those who disagree with them as “woke?” It’s an incorrect term for a putdown. A person who is “alert,” “awake” or “hip” is trendy, cool and up on the latest things. Such a being doesn’t warrant a repugnant response from an elected official. One who attacks another person or group using the term “woke” means they are discouraging critical thought on any level. And guess what; that is exactly what they want to do.

I remember Richard Nixon used to call protesters against the Vietnam war, “outside agitators.” This was always offensive to me, a protester, because I was just as much a citizen as anyone else. Regardless of what I chanted while marching, I was still an American. Positioning us as OUTSIDERS, who the White House claimed were bused in for protesting, was an US and THEM tactic. We were protesting a corrupt and unjust war, and gee, we eventually discovered that was a hundred percent true.

What gets my goat are these self-serving hypocrites who run around the country talking about how they support the First and Second Amendment with no true understanding of what those articles even mean. The governor of Florida constantly claims grievance from an invisible foe of “woke culture,” but introduces and promotes laws to restrict school books, courses and curricula that he personally disagrees with, even when educators tell him he’s wrong. Once anyone tells Ron DeSantis he is wrong, they are moved onto his Enemies List and classified as “radical.” I honestly believe not teaching students about the true history of America is unamerican.

There have been some interesting characters throughout US history. Remember Senator Joe McCarthy? He wanted to round up all the commies in the country and put them in jail. Then there was Governor George Wallace, who genuinely believed in segregation and used racist tropes to gain power in the south. Now we now have about twenty people in Congress who are using lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories to raise money, defraud their constituents and disrupt the normal business of Congress. They need you to believe in woke scapegoats to move their narrow, dogmatic vision of America. They work tirelessly behind the scenes to devalue the vote of minorities and disenfranchised citizens. Why?

The divide makes Rupert Murdoch and Fox News billions of dollars, because they feed back misconceptions and lies to their eagerly misled audience. What a country! They box up a term like Critical Race Theory (CRT), demonize it, slap it and push it as evil by saying they want to protect the feelings of white students. Oh really, isn’t that fake wokeness? CRT is fundamentally an advanced college concept proposing that systemic racism and the way our laws are written place people of color at a disadvantage.

Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis and Margorie Taylor Greene say they are aiming for clarity, but they’re just manipulators in search of attention and fame at any cost. If you took all the money out of Congress, all three would be working other jobs.

We liberal thinkers and writers are not the bad guys. Those are the men in blue suits with red ties who hate immigrants, colleges and criticism. They want to “take their country back.” But to where? 1950?

For every book that is banned, smart kids will be motivated to independently search the internet to get at truthful information. I once cracked, “I agree we shouldn’t teach CRT in public schools because most white kids are not smart enough to understand the concept.” But seriously, what is the big deal? Derrick Bell, whose views formed the foundation of CRT, wasn’t as angry as white politicians want you to believe.

When states ban teaching CRT in schools that receive taxpayer money, they are simply proving Mr. Bell was right. It’s white people making laws that disadvantage Black people. It’s socialized racism that gerrymanders the boundaries of what can be taught and closes the door on critical thinking. It’s a mystery why Ron DeSantis, who attended Yale and Harvard, believes he can erase history and whitewash the truth. His malevolent social engineering causes minority, gay and trans kids feel bad about themselves, and he must stop.

I am really not sure what “woke” means, but if it means I see right through these spineless bigots and racists, then I guess I am woke. Maybe it’s time for us all to woke up.

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23Jan

CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

23 Jan 2023 Dwight Douglas 23 Jan 2023

The Death of Separation of Church & State

Let’s focus on facts. After retirement I moved to Florida for the weather, not for the politics and viewpoints of many of my neighbors. I like living eight miles from the Gulf of Mexico, but normal conversations in this state can be frustratingly divided and unproductive. Here’s where I’ll bring in Thomas Jefferson.

I have always believed that Jefferson was a closet atheist, careful never to reveal his hand. If you follow his discussions, writings and letters, you will see that he was at best a skeptic, but also a highly intelligent farmer, inventor and writer. He was not good with money, so it’s safe to assume he was never a slave to math. Sir Thomas also had a strong memory of what happened in Europe when religious zealots got ahold of power and governments.

Germans, who were forced to decide between baptizing their babies or living free within their creeds and beliefs, left for America. What remains are the Amish and Mennonites of our communities. In Great Britain, all-powerful kings and queens were given command over the Church of England, and Catholics were harassed and persecuted. Millions of Brits moved to North America, drawn by the promise of our First Amendment.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The down and dirty interpretation is the government cannot prohibit the “establishment” of any religion. This was severely tested when the Internal Revenue Service fought the Church of Scientology’s tax-free status. After decades of legal battles, the US government gave up and granted them a charter. So, if a bunch of people get together and say they are a church, there is nothing Congress can do to stop them. The state cannot prohibit people practicing their beliefs, but nowhere is it decreed that the government has to fund or tolerate illegal activities within the confines of a religion.

In its early days, the Church of the Latter Day Saints codified the practice of polygamy, which is now outlawed in the Church. None of its faithful can practice plural marriage and remain a member. It was indeed a miracle when Gabriel appeared and ordered the head of the church to end the policy of men having multiple wives.

The reason Jefferson promoted the separation of church and state was simple and brilliant. To manage a population of vastly divergent views, beliefs and cultures, it was important for the government to operate above the mandates and myths of many groups. A nudist colony was certainly allowed to exist, so long as it didn’t hurt anyone who had no desire to be part of the cult.

If I don’t like something in America, I can protest with other likeminded souls. We are protected by the First Amendment as well: “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Although peaceful protest can escalate into property damage, disruptive melees and sometimes bodily harm, we still have the right to protest and petition for what we believe is right. For example, I don’t want my tax dollars to be handed over to dogmatic and religious institutions that suspend the Bible over my head.

Here in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis cares only about the power he derives from his “base,” whatever that is. He takes no advice from liberals, libertarians or librarians. If banning a book will get him a vote, he’ll do it. If he can bend a law or voting district to get reelected, he’ll do it. He never thinks about the millions of people who don’t agree with him, so there was no surprise when he took over the board of the New College of Florida, the state’s public liberal arts college. He’s now moving it toward becoming an academically rigorous but religious institution. This was part of his quest to prove to the far-RIGHT he is one of them. You can see the story here.

I believe that a constitutional scholar could argue that the actions of DeSantis are in violation of the US Constitution. By turning over the management of this state-funded higher education institution to religious zealots from Hillsdale College in Michigan, state taxpayer dollars will be used to convert the liberal arts school to a religious institution. In the end, the New College of Florida will be destroyed and get absorbed into the state’s educational myopic vision of one man. If they disagree with you, eliminate them.

The deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism

Everyone and anyone should be free to believe what they want and worship any God or bowl of pasta they want, but please don’t justify taking my money to build what you envision as a Judeo-Christian notion and nation. We are best when we allow people to be free, productive and focused on important things.

What makes me most angry is those people who say their mission is a more moral and focused educational system, but they are taking it by force and misinformation. Below you’ll see a letter I wrote to Hillsdale College after receiving a letter asking for contributions. In my estimation, they are nothing less than outside agitators and 21^st Century carpetbaggers wanting to get rich on large lies and heresy. They want you to believe what they believe and they will do anything they can to rope you in you. Be careful.

LETTER TO HILLSDALE COLLEGE

First, thank you for the copy of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States of America. I give them out to friends and neighbors who don’t quite understand what was declared and enshrined there.

Next, I would be remiss if I didn’t speak up and express my feelings and thoughts about your school and solicitation at this time.

Your opening pitch is false. You have no idea what the majority of democratically inspired citizens believe about America and the educational system.

Fact #1: Critical Race Theory, as developed and described by Derrick Bell and then studied by many experts over the years, has never been taught in public schools in America. Institutions, organizations and politicians, like yourself, are responsible for perpetuating this myth. If only you would take the time to read, study and understand what Mr. Bell was saying, you might see that passing laws and policies against “critical race studies” proves Bell was right. White lawmakers have consciously, or subconsciously, moved forward to construct laws that thwart the rights of minorities. What would Jesus say?

Fact #2: The US Constitution, as originally written, codified slavery and kept women out of the political process by prohibiting them from voting. We should teach this in our schools and, as your pitch indicates, you want to bring the document and its power into the classroom. Remember, only white men who were landowners could vote in this country and slavery was lawful for more than a century. As someone whose kin came to the Americas in the late 1600s, I am not proud of them owning slaves and fully recognize that FREE LABOR made this country great.

Fact #3: Religion and religious institutions like yours have been hijacked by FAR-RIGHT zealots and political operatives who want you to help them raise money and corral voters. You are corrupting the mission of Jesus and John the Baptist by pitting humans against other humans. You are the dividing force making it harder to discuss fundamental issues in America. You have cast a net over education, religion, poverty, gay rights, marriage rights, and even science itself. The separation between church and state was one of the reasons millions of people came to this land in the first place. It’s time for you to release the non-religious parts of your quest for power back into the pond of diversity that is the United States.

Your request for money is based on the fact that Hillsdale receives no federal educational funds. This is true because your institution has been accused of discrimination. Your marketing blatantly claims a desire to end diversity. Really? Again, what would Jesus say?

Please remove my name from your database and please stop bothering Floridians. A majority of the people here in Sarasota who really care about education are frustrated and infuriated by the hostile takeover of the New College of Florida. Your goal to convert the school to a dogmatic front for your political aspirations is a sin.

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7Jan

FEAR OF FLYING

7 Jan 2023 Dwight Douglas 7 Jan 2023

How to deal with dissent in the age of disinformation

Despite a fear of coming off as contrary or annoying, I must say that my default position is skepticism. You see, I’m inclined to question, and sometimes strongly doubt, accepted opinions.

Most of my friends were quite puzzled when I developed a fear of flying in the mid-1970s. My illogical dread began when I became obsessed with media coverage of several major air crashes at that time.

One of my friends, a true avionics enthusiast, took me by the hand and began a deprogramming process. We would meet for breakfast then go to the local airport observation deck to watch airplanes taking off and landing. Richard would point and mockingly say, “There, see that one? Didn’t crash!” He would do this routinely while interjecting his vast knowledge of aviation and how jet airplanes actually worked. The day finally came when he pointed out yet another plane that didn’t nosedive into the earth, and we both broke out in laughter.

I never forgot how much my friend helped me as this recovered-fear-of-flying human moved through life. Over the course of my more than fifty-year career, I flew millions of miles and was enrolled in numerous frequent flyer programs. My journey implanted a couple of points in my brain. One, never use a single incident or an anecdote to form an indelible conclusion, and two, without knowledge, facts and comprehension, human intellectual growth becomes stunted.

A racist who doesn’t know what racism means will never be able to cure their malady if and until they come to an understanding of what racism actually is. I remember learning the origin of the term “mulato” was a reference to a mule, the offspring of a horse and donkey. I then immediately deleted the word from my vocabulary, feeling embarrassed by my lack of realization.

Being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder in the mid-1990s, I was appalled when my personal physician told me, “You’re much too successful to have ADD.” He was wrong, and his lack of skill in identifying this simple ailment was astounding. I internally diagnosed my condition because all the data points lined up and confirmed the truth. With treatment, I have become more linear, more productive and decidedly happier.

Occasionally, I have faced someone who said ADD was a “made up thing” or an “excuse” for not working hard. I bristled, but with a calm voice and gentle smile began putting them to the test by asking if they knew the name of that spaced out sensation one encounters after a long airplane flight, “You know, that strange feeling when finding yourself in the grocery store but unable to remember why you are there?” They would chuckle and explain, “Oh, sure, that’s jet lag.”

I would thank them, then continue, “What about that peculiar feeling or having “been there before,” and not just the place but the circumstances of the situation?” Their answer came quickly, “Well, that’s déjà vu. Everyone experiences that.” And then I would say, “But it’s just a made-up thing, right?”

Once I nudged them into a defensive posture, I explained that ADD is a medical condition, primarily caused by a lack of sufficient dopamine in the frontal lobes. To be clear, jetlag and déjà vu have nothing to do with ADD, but prodding my listener to connect the dots of brain activity helped them understand their pronouncements were less than scientific or logical. Most experts believe the feeling you’ve been here before happens when there’s a bit of a miscommunication between two parts of the brain and that jetlag is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder caused by pushing the internal clock off schedule. Just observe what happens with people during a one-hour time change in spring and fall.

There’s a divide in our country based on a notion that no fact is secure. Sure, things change over time, but an openness that more data might require reversing or modifying one’s behavior is needed lest we sentence ourselves to a life of misery. I overheard a restaurant conversation where a man stated his reaction to a Covid-19 booster shot made him feel badly for a day. He said, “I will never get another shot. I don’t trust anything the CDC says.” Okay, that was one person, but I suspect he will vote for the political candidate who holds that same opinion, lacking any comprehension he would be more protected with the vaccine. If his doctor told him he has stage two cancer, would he walk out saying, “I don’t believe you,” and go home to await the third and fourth stages?

Science is not a one-night stand but rather a meaningful and ongoing relationship based on trust and truth. The more a loudmouth blowhard seasons an event with misconceptions, misinformation or disinformation, truth and trust become the victims. If a respected friend tells you that the CIA participated in the JFK assassination, it’s important that you examine and research the notion. When a person completely falls for a half-baked theory spouted by a TV talking head without any research, vetting or fact-checking, they are letting someone else program their brain. Is that a real thing? Surely.

One of the best pieces on the subject appeared in an article: The Social Dynamics of Conspiracy Rumors: From Satanic Panic to QAnon in Skeptical Inquirer magazine. The gist of that piece was use of the word “theory” after the word “conspiracy” should be eradicated forever. The word “theory” is simply wrong in that context. It’s not a theory, it’s a damn rumor. The term conspiracy rumor imparts less gravitas and more puffery.

By its very nature, a pre-conceived notion is an opinion formed without adequate evidence. We have all heard and used the phrase, “Well, that’s your opinion.” If using it ends a discussion and allows you to keep a friend, good for you, but if pushback makes the discussion escalate to an eruption, then the outcome was certainly not positive. It would be even worse to slam the door with, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” In July of 2021, when Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke those words to Senator Rand Paul, nothing was accomplished. Rand continued with his vitriolic, preconceived notions and millions of people refused the vaccine. Some of them died.

With mounting distrust of science, political manipulation of our educational systems and proclamations about everything being broken administered to millions by morally empty politicians, what can a reasoned thinker do to make the world better? You can either teach, talk to the crazy people, or leave the grid and turn off the TV.

I remember one of my kids being nervous about her first unaccompanied airplane flight. I told her, “You know, they don’t usually crash.” I’m sure my sarcasm didn’t help at all, and in hindsight I should have said, “They hardly ever crash.” Some suggest the odds of being in a plane crash are about one in eleven million. When the Powerball jackpot was over a billion dollars, it was said the odds of winning were one in 292.2 million. So, life imposes gambles, both bad and good.

Some celebrities claimed to have done research and decided not to get the Covid-19 shot. When probed about their information, they cited a whacko television talk show host or a website featuring lunatics-against-science. When asked if the 2020 election was rigged and the results invalid, a significant percentage of Americas said that is true, even though there are tons of data and documents to dispute that conspiracy rumor. How can we attain truth and trust again?

Most who fear flying will not make the effort to visit the airport for days on end to understand the vast number of verifiable data points proving planes rarely crash. Those who believe in the so-called deep state are ignoring that it is only real to the extent they embrace it. Once the poison of fixed position thinking takes ahold, the only path toward true liberation is the vaccine of truth. And you will probably need boosters along the way.

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7Dec

THE WORLD IS CHANGING

7 Dec 2022 Dwight Douglas 7 Dec 2022

Georgia Election Reality

Well, finally the hype is over and the winner of the runoff election, Raphael Warnock, has said, “Now the hard work begins.” But what does it all mean?

As many demographers have explained, the racial and cultural shifts in America will continue. Some say that by 2045 the US white population will be under fifty percent and, though it might irritate some people, there is nothing that can be done about it. Even in 2020, only sixty-one percent of our citizens identified as white. You could say it’s as simple as black and white.

It’s wrong to believe that all people of one race vote monolithically and the means of communication to those in that group must be similar. Consider, for example, the Hispanic label is applied to many Americans, but they are not one cluster of datapoints. The differences across the people are many and varied.

Those of Cuban American decent are not like the Mexican Americans living in Texas, and the Chicanos of California are as distinctive as Italians or Irish Americans. That being said, there are certain veracities brewing in our melting pot. People are specific and all elections are local. Some might say that Raphael Warnock was obviously more suited for the US Senate, but I must remind you that 1,719,393 Georgians voted for Hershel Walker. Sure, he was a famous football player and flawed to the max, but many people bought into the shadow that Republican politicians painted over his running mate Warnock as a person who votes only with President Biden. Such loyalty is never rewarded when the goal is simply to besmirch a person. Why wouldn’t Warnock vote for his party? Who else would he vote with? Donald Trump? Wouldn’t that make him a puppet of the former President?

Many political figures fail to see the hypocrisy in their words, deeds and policies. You want to outlaw abortion? Yes, it’s a moral issue, but aren’t you missing something? The people who need an abortion to plan their family or keep it economically strong are the very minorities, immigrants and unwanted voters with differing views. A strange aspect of your racism is more minorities, more recent immigrants and more non-Republican zealots will be born, and the future will become exactly what statisticians are predicting.

You see, representative government generally follows the path of the population. Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and other current powerbrokers are white men with little experience understanding minorities. Warnock mentioned his mother picking the cotton and tobacco crops owned by a white man. Sure, Mrs. Warnock and many mothers and fathers who have memories of separate restrooms and Jim Crow laws saw Senator Warnock as a leader, while the other candidate was the guy who would be the cotton-pickin’ puppet of a system that continually betrays their families. That’s why Hershel lost you see.

Some say Georgia taught us a huge lesson but let me remind you of the racist-inspired reason they have a runoff when one candidate doesn’t get over fifty percent of the vote. One of the rare places that demands a runoff continues to gerrymander their way around the elections and suppress the vote of those they believe are undesirable in the democratic process. Some racists believe they aren’t racist, but the headline in my local paper here in Venice, Florida said it all: Stricter voting laws connected to lower turnout; Voter arrests also may have contributed. Yes, video evidence shows citizens who went to the polls, but were then arrested for clerical errors, not voter fraud. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, should be called before a grand jury.

If more Georgians would just listen to what Warnock says, read what he proposes and attempt to understand the man, they would find nothing bad about the guy. He’s a preacher, a talent that has served him well. Walker is a football star who lies and scams his way around the state using God’s name, yet right-leaning, white evangelicals somehow feel he is better than an honest, intelligent person. Go figure. I have only one question for those people, What Would Jesus Do?

Here’s my bottom line. There are more thinking people in Georgia who take voting seriously than those celebrity apprentice wannabes who believe a fat, tax-cheating conman knows what is best for them. Trump was president for four years and his people are still angry. The Donald didn’t make their lives better and neither would Hershel Walker.

The deep south State of Georgia has both an African American and Jewish Senator. I am sure Stonewall Jackson is turning in his grave, but all those people who are so nervous about population change still can drive out to Stone Mountain to worship their fallen confederate heroes whose likenesses are carved on the side of the world’s largest chunk of exposed granite. You know, there’s a lot more granite under the Earth and there’s more to life than a single election. Those holding onto their Bibles and white supremacy might want to wake up and realize that America is much bigger than all of them, because it was made for all of us.

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18Nov

NORMAL WINS

18 Nov 2022 Dwight Douglas 18 Nov 2022

Guest Post from Jon Sinton:

The “Red Wave” turned out to be a puddle as normal overcame wretched, and Americans voted against the politics of grievance, lies, and conspiracy theories.

With some votes still to be counted, we know at least three things:

1. The Senate remains in Democratic hands while the House is still too close to call [since publication, the Republicans won the House]

2. The “Red Wave” that was supposed to sweep election deniers and fascist-adjacent anti-majority candidates into office were themselves swept into history’s dustbin;

3. “Predictive” polling is wrong again.

Exit polls, which are definitively the only polls that matter, showed that while 20% of midterm voters supported ridiculous and repeatedly disproven election-denying lies and conspiracy theories, 80% of Americans aren’t conspiracy theorists, voted for normal candidates, are normal themselves, and demand normalcy from those we entrust to govern us.

Polls preceding the election said the economy was all that mattered; exit polls said different. Abortion and democracy, which seemed like such moving issues in the summer, had supposedly flamed out and taken a back seat to inflation. But the polls tuned out not to be predictive. As Karl Rove said on Fox News on Election Night, “Polling is broken. Let’s not kid ourselves. We had a golden era of polling when we all had landlines and we answered them. Now, anybody here got a landline?”

Predictive Polling is a gigantic waste of time and money. I spent a long time in the consumer research business performing studies for radio and television. It started out easy: you call people at random, seeking the right age/gender/socioeconomic combination. You pay them a small sum to participate in a “qualitative” focus group. (Qualitative research is where the opinions of a few respondents are extrapolated to reflect the opinions of society at large. To backstop focus groups, you also mount large, statistically valid, “quantitative” studies.)

By the early Nineties, as wireless phones became ubiquitous, finding qualified respondents for both types of research got harder. We upped the incentives, and that worked for a few years. But once the smartphone came along, people cut their landline service and became really hard to find. The real killer, though, was the fact we were running into a ton of “qualified refusals”—people who were the right demographic mix but hung up as soon as they knew they were being polled. As David Letterman used to joke, “If you’ve ever been poled, you know how painful that can be.”

Dwight Douglas, a retired political advertising analyst for Media Monitors, told me: “Most pundits overstate polls and underestimate the electorate.” Douglas also has thoughts on why polling has gone off the rails, “Viciousness and vitriol have ruined political research. [Plus,] the theory that a person says one thing on the phone—sometimes just to get off the phone—might be opposite from their purchasing or voting decision, is a valid supposition…Post-election research carries much more value than pollster predictions. After an election…you can ask, who did you vote for and why.” That’s where sentiment toward policy direction is best found.

The smartphone phenomenon meant that pollsters totally missed the youngest voters, who showed up for democracy and choice. John Dick, the CEO of CivicScience, today’s Bible of consumer research, said: “Gen Z made its presence known in a big way. I’ve told you repeatedly they’re going to save the world and now they’re strapping on their capes. If you aren’t laser-focused on understanding what makes today’s teens and young adults tick, let me know so I can short your stock.”

People love to talk; they love to make predictions based on their own desires, a phenomenon known as “confirmation bias.” Subject matter expertise is of course optional. Cal and UCLA Professor Scott Galloway put it this way, “Our brains make it easy for our ambition to exceed our ability: The Dunning-Kruger effect [section4.lt.acemlna.com] describes a demonstrated cognitive weakness, that the less we know about something, the more we overestimate our knowledge. That’s why stupid people, and people who make great cars and then buy media companies, are so dangerous.” (Apparently no one can resist deriding Elon Musk, who, in fairness, does make a pretty easy target.)

Right or mostly wrong, they never stop. Today, Morning Consult is revealing a poll that says Donald Trump would garner less than half of Republican primary votes if a vote was held today. That’s down from 57% in August. I’m not sure it’s believable or even relevant.

Reality TV got the Former Guy elected. “Apprentice” fans thought him to be a master of the business universe. He isn’t, and never was. What he was, was a TV star in a scripted drama that paraded as an unscripted drama. That’s the dirty little secret of Reality TV.

Meanwhile, he fights on, blaming pollsters and everyone but himself for his dangerous and silly slate of now-repudiated candidates. He hasn’t quite realized his need to call the Leg Warehouse, since he doesn’t have one to stand on.

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16Nov

PROBLEM FOR THE PARTY

16 Nov 2022 Dwight Douglas 16 Nov 2022

Trump Running, Major Challenge

Last night, Donald John Trump announced he has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee to run for president in 2024. It wasn’t much of a surprise; it was almost as if Trump were trying to beat some mysterious deadline. This will be his third race, and his move might have less to do with running for office and more to do with having a stay-out-of-jail card. He’s being naïve if he genuinely believes that running for president will provide inoculation against indictment. It’s just another lie he perpetrates and believes.

Now before we get into the minutiae of media manipulation and maniacal mental meanderings, let’s take a walk down history lane for a brief lesson in ego and politics.

In 1901, President William McKinley made a trip to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where the new technology of an X-ray machine was demonstrated. Something horrible happened there. An anarchist shot the 25^thpresident. After eight days in bed with his wounds, McKinley passed away because doctors were unable to remove the bullet. Some thought the new X-ray device could help surgeons seek the slug, but the machine’s inventors warned that a piece of metal exposed to X-rays would have a detrimental effect on the patient, so they did not use it. But wait, the story gets better.

Some corrupt New York politicians and certain other elements of the political machinery hated Teddy Rosevelt, so they pushed him into the VP slot during McKinley’s second run. Well, McKinley won the election but lost horribly in Buffalo, therefore the crooked powerbrokers now had Theodore Rosevelt as the 26^th President. They had gambled and lost.

Teddy Roosevelt served out McKinley’s second term (which only lasted one month due to death), but when running for reelection he said that, if elected, he would serve no more than one term. After winning reelection, Roosevelt began to regret his disclaimer. Nonetheless, he remained true to his word, and after completing his first elected term he left the office. Another Republican, William Taft, became president in 1909.

Roosevelt went off to explore the world and years after being away he returned to New York where the city threw him an outrageous welcome and parade. Teddy’s ego was ignited and he decided to challenge his buddy William Taft and run for president again. The fight went all the way to the Republican National Convention, where the egotistical Roosevelt lost the party’s nomination. In anger, Teddy marched out of the hall, got up on a flatbed truck and announced to the adoring press that he was forming a third political party, the Bull Moose Party.

What Teddy did to his own party and to his former friend Taft was unsightly and undignified. With a third party in the 1912 election, Roosevelt and incumbent William Taft each garnered roughly 25 percent of the popular vote. Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson won 42 percent of the vote to become the 28^th US President.

Wilson was an unhealthy, bigoted racist human who was also woefully unskilled in world affairs. His lack of attention after World War I and inability to push back during the Treaty of Versailles discussions plunged Germany into financial ruin, which gave birth to the Nazi movement. One might be tempted to blame Teddy Roosevelt for this, but it’s impossible to know what he or Taft would have done at Versailles.

I think it’s safe to say Teddy Roosevelt’s ego was bigger than anything we’ve seen until Donald Trump, who’s now at his Mar-a-Lago resort screeching how he wants to be president again. Curiously, with his declaration that he is running again he’s also admitting that he LOST in 2020. So, I guess the big lie is useful only for raising money, not for legal declarations. But there is a bigger problem here.

If the Republican National Committee is smart, which is a giant stretch, they will rid themselves of the leadership of Ronna Romney McDaniel who is a Trump sycophant and terrible political operative. Just look at the midterm results. As for Florida Senator Rick Scott trying to unseat Mitch McConnell as minority leader in the Senate, well that’s much like appointing the fox to the night security position at the hen house. Rick Scott was the person who talked about eliminating Social Security and pushed the lousy slate of Trump-picked midterm bozo candidates. How in any logical world is this man ready to lead anything? And of course in a secret vote, Scott lost to McConnell who must have lewd pictures of everyone in the Senate.

Now we arrive at the crux of the matter. Let’s say that in about five hundred days a bunch of people run against Trump for the Republican nomination. Sure, we’ll have debates, and the primaries in states like Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina and others that might deal Trump a blow “like we’ve never seen before.” Further, let’s speculate they have the “come to Jesus meeting’ and tell Donald he’s not the guy. Oh, Boy!

Should that happen, I’ll lay money on Trump’s narcissistic personality disorder erupting and leading him to form a third party to burn down those who don’t like him. The action of an angry little boy taking his ball and going home will cause death and destruction along the way that will take decades to fix. By making a third-party run, Trump will pave the way for a Democratic win, even it if were Kamala Harris. Mark my words.

Politics is not a predictable concept, as proven by the recent slate of research figures. It’s always a gamble. We have no way of knowing what a given candidate might do as president. In this case, however, Trump is the devil we know, and he’s clearly stated he will get back at anyone in his way, pardon all the January 6^th insurrections and, once again, tear away at American democracy.

As the Trump 2024 flags and signs go up, let’s all remember that America hates a loser. If Donald Trump wants to be the Buffalo Bills of politics it’s fine with me, but in the off chance he becomes president again I might be looking for a new place to live. Trump has just caused major problems for the RNC and those who work there. Watch out, kiddos. If you don’t make him president, he will take your ball and go home.

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4Nov

THINGS I LEARNED FROM TWO HURRICANES

4 Nov 2022 Dwight Douglas 4 Nov 2022

Preparation and Probabilities

I grew up in Pittsburgh, so I experienced hurricanes only on television. When my partner and I retired to Venice, Florida five years ago, we were greeted by Irma, our first hurricane. For that one, we put up the shutters and got out of town. Irma brought us only minor damage, the most serious being the live oak tree in the backyard being bent thirty degrees toward the house.

As for hurricane Ian, we decided to hunker down in our home and wait out the storm. We suffered from a ridiculous myth that Venice was built on a Native American burial ground and a direct storm hit couldn’t possibly happen. We were naïve, and wrong.

So, what did we learn from our encounter with the angry tempest, which the science guys call a CAT FOUR? Initially came all the traditional preparation, buying batteries of every denomination, filling the bathtubs with water, getting as much bottled drinking water as possible and putting up the shutters. That became my first lesson: know your limitations. As a senior, seventy-something guy I didn’t realize how out of shape I was and should have put on those knee braces before doing the work. By the time Ian hit, I could hardly move.

Our home was built under the strict codes of six to seven years ago, and it’s basically a concrete fortress. Ian brought us minimal damage, but that live oak repositioned by Irma is now on the ground, completely uprooted by Ian. I’m not sure living next to tall trees is advisable, but the state and county demand we have trees. Now that Ian knocked one down, we must replace it at our expense. Another lesson learned.

Taking pictures for a friend who owns a mobile home in a park, I saw Ian’s terrible wrath, and I’ve concluded it’s immoral for such construction to be allowed in Florida. The wind acted like a giant, demonic can opener, ripping apart the metal structures and destroying every carport. I’m surprised more folks weren’t killed. I understand mobile homes are a form of affordable housing, but Floridians shouldn’t live in them. Another lesson? If you live in an older or mobile home or in a low-lying area, don’t stay during a hurricane.

Now let’s talk about the power gird. Of course, we lost electricity. Ian made sure millions of other Floridians did also, but I’ll send props to those radio stations that managed to stay on the air. One nifty idea was several stations broadcasting the audio of their TV affiliates. Sadly, there are too many automated radio stations incapable of providing helpful storm reporting these days, so hats off to all the NPR stations with real news and weather experts, not disc jockeys faking it. Another lesson? Always have a radio on hand during a hurricane. I think you can still buy one.

Cell Phones are a problem during a disaster. Why? I heard a radio discussion where a caller said, “I thought with this G5 we would never lose service.” Well, until the government mandates phone company towers have generators or powerful solar batteries, your relatives up north watching the disaster coverage on TV will assume you are dead. We need a better system of communication, and it is well past time to demand the cash rich phone companies step up and reinforce their systems. They should have already done this.

We learned our book reading lights came in handy, strategically placed throughout the house and tapped to supply dim lighting in the rooms. That Sharper Image miner’s light I bought a few decades ago also came in handy.

This brings us to post storm. Oh, the wind was cool and pleasant, but don’t think opening the windows and getting a good night’s rest was possible. The drone of generators on our street was so loud it was like living in a beehive. And instead of burning gasoline for hours, isn’t it time for us all to have solar panels that feed a large Tesla-like battery that can power our homes for forty-eight to seventy-two hours? Climate change, and thus massive hurricanes are here to stay. Let’s start using the sun to get through them.

Then there’s the drainage systems. Our street water must travel a pipeline that eventually lands in a swale, which drains into the Myakka River. However, the system appears to be stuffed up and ineffective at moving water out of our subdivision. The county experts need to step up and tell us why. Maybe it’s time to invest in a more substantial infrastructure instead of flying immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard. Let’s reallocate that money to helping Florida.

Old buildings without substantial engineering improvements will never be able to deal with a CAT FOUR or FIVE. Even our Venice Theater, which was recently remodeled, had its roof blown off. I believe it’s time to have serious talks with our vendors, contractors and builders about the fortification of our cities and towns. In Venice’s historic district, several of those brand-new, decorative, black metal streetlamps crashed to the ground. What are their wind ratings? Also, why on earth was all the red paint blown off our stop signs? And those slick talkin’ builders who put up “walls” around your community, well, one of them on Venice’s east side was blown away by the hurricane and revealed the wall was made of Styrofoam! What the hell?

Irma may be forgotten, but Ian continues to affect us and that will probably continue for years. It’s time to figure all this out and reinforce against the next one! Future storms will be just as powerful because the earth is too hot. Stop ignoring the realities and find smarter people who can make better plans.

Now, here’s one final experience. All the comradery and community we experienced right after the storm, with folks pitching in to help one another, melted away in a few weeks. Just the other day, one of my neighbors rattled off how much he hates President Biden. I didn’t ask his opinion, his was an unsolicited remark. So, you see, people don’t change. They forget.