Photo: AFP
Top Three Takeaways – August 16th, 2021
- Utter failure. Afghanistan, the southern border, inflation, the pandemic, these are just some of the major issues with which the Biden administration is an utter failure. What those issues all specifically have in common is that they all have and continue to make us less safe. And what’s stunning is the speed with which he fails. The southern border was lined with would-be illegal immigrants wearing Biden shirts, the day after he was sworn in. In just the first four months over 50,000 - near exclusive illegal immigrants were released into this country – with up to 1 in 5 being COVID-19 positive as a bonus. To-date, only 13% of those who’ve had court dates or check-ins scheduled have done so. In Afghanistan, not even five weeks after he lectured White House Correspondent Jon Decker over his questioning of him regarding his hap hazard withdrawal, the country’s collapse is complete with the Taliban having seized the capitol and the Afghani president having fled in exile. Don’t blame the military, the generals universally opposed Biden’s policy. He ignored and overruled them. The man’s so wrong he thought he’d be able to take a victory lap on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Instead, the United States will be in the most danger it’s been in from Islamic terrorism since 9/11, 2001. The president’s primary responsibility, the only one that’s constitutionally mandated, is to protect the country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. He does neither but spends time blaming Ron DeSantis for stuff. Seven months into his presidency Joe Biden is an utter failure which means the United States is failing as well. He’s clearly the most incompetent president since Jimmy Carter, which is where there’s some room for optimism. Carter’s debacle brought us the brilliance of Ronald Reagan. We must pray for a second coming. The problem is the getting there. This isn’t...
- Politics as usual. Among the most cynical there’s often a narrative that both major political parties are the problem. They’ll blame each other and make everything sound worse than it really is when they’re out of power and, in the end, it really doesn’t matter who’s in power. Except that’s never been true, sometimes the stakes in certain cycles just aren’t as consequential. Slavery wouldn’t have ended if any Democrat controlled the presidency rather than Abraham Lincoln. The cold war wouldn’t have ended without bloodshed had any Democrat beaten Regan and we wouldn’t be experiencing the current failures from the border, and thus the virus, to Afghanistan to inflation if Donald Trump were still president. This is a time of high consequence and in those moments of time it’s anything but politics as usual. It’s also a reminder that every election matters, which is why it’s critical that we engage, inform and make way for positive change with every subsequent election opportunity from our local school boards to federal elections when the time comes. My message isn’t one of doom and gloom. That doesn’t accomplish anything. It’s one of engagement and controlling what we can control here at home and exporting positive change across the country. I’ve often said over the past two decades that one day South Florida would save this country from itself. That time’s here. Let’s get to work.
- School board showdowns. Two school districts have voted to break the law and deny parents the choice to opt their children out of mask mandates. The Alachua and Broward school districts wanted a showdown with the state and that’s exactly what they’re getting. Tomorrow at 4pm an emergency meeting of the Florida Board of Education has been scheduled to address the indignance of the two districts. With school resuming Wednesday in Broward, the timings not coincidental. Citing the Board Failure to faithfully follow the Parent’s Bill of Rights and the Department of Health’s emergency rule endangers the safety and educational opportunities of students in these districts and has the potential to cause learning loss for these students. As for what happens at that meeting? We’ll know when we get there but the most likely outcome is a funding cut for the districts. Under law the state’s ability to cut funding is limited. The reason you’ve heard Governor DeSantis threaten the withholding of the salaries of educators responsible for violating the law, is because that’s the scope of the state’s authority. The state can only withhold funding equal to the salaries of those involved in the decision making. There is one other dynamic that’s yet been discussed, however. And it’s one Broward specifically, with its history of failed leadership, is very familiar with. It’s within the governor’s purview to remove officials who violate the law – a la Brenda Snipes and Scott Israel. Could that happen here? We’ll have to wait and see as these school boards wanted showdowns and that’s exactly what they’re getting.