Important headlines for January 17th:
Bottom Line: These are stories you don't want to miss and my hot takes on them...
Great white shark lurking a mile off South Florida's coast - Sun-Sentinel
Excerpt: The 8-foot-6, 460-pound female was about a mile off Miami-Dade’s coastline, according to Ocearch’s Global Shark Tracker.
Savannah — her name was inspired by the city in Georgia — was tagged on March 5, 2017, at Hilton Head, South Carolina, and has since traveled over 3,500 miles. Her path has taken her north to Nova Scotia, Canada, and then back down south toward Florida.
The most recent signal from her tag was transmitted on Sunday at 10:37 p.m., when she was out in the Atlantic about a mile off Haulover Park, a Miami-Dade beachfront park between Bal Harbor and Sunny Isles Beach.
Bottom Line: I'll admit that the sensationalism of great whites still attracts my attention even though there's probably nothing new pertaining to great white sharks and our coast. While in college I participated in a long-term research project on Tybee Island Georgia. It's the furthest east of Savannah's barrier islands and it's also where the only public beach in the area happens to be. The project was actually studying beach erosion overtime. Long story short, we found several inches of Tybee Island erodes from east to west per year...Eventually that could be a problem for developments on the north-eastern tip of the island but without much development on that part of the island it'll be decades from now at the earliest. Anyway - it was while I was doing survey work on the northeastern most tip of the island that I saw something unlike anything I'd ever seen (and I was a water bug before I had memories - my parents had pics of me riding waves with my orange arm floaties on). It was an adult great white shark that had washed up on the beach. A flatbed truck had to be brought in to remove it and it was so massive its tail was hanging off the back of the flat bed. That particular part of the island wasn't populated and over a mile from the public beach so officials kept it quiet. Talk of that kind of shark wouldn't be good for business of course (Savannah has many like secrets - if it's not good for tourism - there's a "need to know" philosophy that prevails generally). That was over 20 years ago. The point. Great whites in our waters in the south-eastern United States isn't new. We're just more aware now due to the advent of tagging and tracking.
Here's the thing. Through 2016 Florida had 244 documented shark attacks according to the shark attack files. None of them attributed to whites. Without a regular food source of theirs close to our beaches that's unlikely to change anytime soon. So, if sharks make you nervous it's still the bulls, lemons or the pesky black tips & spinners that are the ones that you're far more likely to be in the water with at any given time.
DACA and Border Security Are Just Common Sense Gov. Rick Scott, USA Today
Excerpt: I believe that immigration policy becomes much simpler once we secure our borders and we put an end to illegal immigration. It completely escapes me why anyone opposes securing our borders, and why critics in Congress try to use their opposition to border security as some kind of a bargaining chip. In an increasingly dangerous world, don’t all Americans want our borders to be secure? Safety is not a partisan issue. Simply put, I believe that legal immigration makes our country stronger, and illegal immigration makes us weaker.
In Florida, we pride ourselves on being the gateway to the world. Many Dreamers live in our state because they are in search of what we all care about: a good job, a good education and the ability to live in a safe community. It’s time for Washington to secure our borders and to do the right thing for these kids by removing the uncertainty hanging over their future goals and dreams. It’s really not too much for us to ask Congress to get these things done.
Hot Take: Any questions? Btw, will Rick go ahead in get in the Senate race already? The suspense is making the astronaut paranoid.
What If Diversity Isn't America's Strength? Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times
Excerpt: Sen. Lindsey Graham says he scolded the president for saying something scatological about certain countries and their immigrants. “Diversity has always been our strength,” he allegedly said. By my count, this makes Graham the bazillionth person to proclaim some variant of “diversity is strength.”
Is it true? I think the only close to right answer is, “it depends.” Specifically, it depends on what — often clichéd — analogy you have in mind. Diverse stock portfolios are more resilient. Diverse diets are healthier. But that doesn’t mean picking bad stocks will make you richer or that eating spoiled foods is good for you.
I once heard Jesse Jackson explain that racial integration of the NBA made it stronger and better. He was right. But would gender integration of the NBA have the same effect? Would diversifying professional basketball by height? Probably not.
All of these analogies can take you only so far. Thomas Sowell once said, “The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.”
Hot Take: Congrats for someone who isn't afraid of the PC bigots. Diversity being our strength is a bunch of BS. If we lived under a totalitarian dictator and were all indentured servants under that dictator's rule would it really matter where the heck our families were from originally or would we all be equitably screwed in what you might call an s-hole country? Truth is the freedom and opportunity for upward mobility is our country's strength. The diversity, people from all over the world wanting the opportunity this country provides, is the byproduct of that strength. That's why protecting our country and freedom - through limited government and endless opportunity - is paramount and will ensure that there's continued diversity into the future.
Until tomorrow...