Blame Biden, Not the Bears & Handling Homelessness – Top 3 Takeaways, August 14th, 2025
Takeaway #1: Blame Biden
There are a lot of things you can blame President Biden for... from ’Bidenflation being baked in anytime you buy anything, record illegal immigration, rampant related crime, evidently trying to create transsexual Easter bunnies or something with his Transgender Day proclamation on Easter Day (after previously needing to effectively be rescued by a gender indeterminant Easter bunny). The point is there are a great many things to blame Biden for that didn’t just go away as easily as his last thought did. But there’s something new to blame Biden for that I’d warned of before. What would become of South Florida-based Spirit Airlines if the Biden administration didn’t let the merger with JetBlue go through. As I reported two and a half years ago – in February of 2023: JetBlue has pledged to retain all South Florida based employees of Spirit Airlines should their takeover bid go through. New York based JetBlue had explored potentially relocating its corporate headquarters to Florida from New York in recent years and is a key reason as to why they’ve aggressively pursued the merger with Miramar based Spirit. Shareholders approved the $3.8 billion proposed takeover last fall. That merger would have protected the greater than 13,000 people who worked for Spirit at the time, including nearly 5,000 living and working in South Florida. It was the ultimate win-win but then Biden stepped in. His administration sued to block the merger, and in January of last year his administration won. Biden had this to say at the time: Today’s ruling is a victory for consumers everywhere who want lower prices and more choices. My Administration will continue to fight to protect consumers and enforce our antitrust laws. Of course all his administration did was ensure that Spirit, which needed the JetBlue merger to remain competitive and survive, would be left to die – ensuring less choice and killing all of those jobs. This week Spirit warned that it may not be able to survive the year and the company that was once worth $3.8 billion to JetBlue is now worth only $50 million on the open market. What’s more is that industry analysts are already saying that the net effect of this will be higher prices – given that Spirit was the lowest cost carrier and there’s likely to be less competition. When Joe Biden was president I used to say that everyday he was president the world was less safe- which was true, and that our country was less safe too- which was true, but we continue to see in many ways the ongoing impact of his failed decisions too. How many people are reporting that the only reason Spirit Airlines has lost $3.8 billion of value and is on the brink of collapsing today and taking all of those jobs down too - is because Joe Biden was president of the United States? But that’s true.
Takeaway #2: Don’t Blame the Bears
After Wednesday’s vote the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is truly summed up with the abbreviation FWC...as in just the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. I’m not sure how conducting a bear hunt amounts to the agency’s “conservation” mandate. After all the definition of conservation is literally: preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment and of wildlife. And by a unanimous vote what the commission said is rather than protection of wildlife – they're cool with having you go kill it. I understand many disagree with me on this and that’s ok, but it’s my position that killing animals for trophies is concerning...especially when our state’s rapid population growth encroaches on the Florida Black Bear’s territory further threatening their future by the day. Many of the advocates that spoke up on behalf of the hunt simply want their trophy. Others suggested that the bears had become a nuisance. It is true that there were over 6,000 calls to authorities about “nuisance” bears last year – a number that’s up three fold from the time of the previous hunt a decade ago. But as people continue to encroach on bear territory has anyone considered that it’s absolutely possible to live in proximity to black bears? In fact, millions of people already do (some in Florida). If you visit former congressman Mark Foley’s Facebook page you’ll see bears roaming around his house in Asheville, North Carolina just about everyday. And while we’ll seldom there, we regularly see bears around our vacation home in North Carolina (including neighbors who often send pictures and videos). If you manage the disposal of your garbage, don’t leave food in your car, or the door to your house open, you’re almost certainly not going to have a problem. The point is it’s entirely possible to live in harmony with them if you want to. It’s a choice not to. So it’s easy to blame the bears, it’s also extremely easy to kill them at a distance with a rifle too and that’s what the state is granting 187 hunters for a December hunt to do.
Takeaway #3: Seeking shelter
There’s a fine line between compassion for those who’re homeless and facilitating homelessness. In short, offering a hand up and an opportunity for a better way for those who’re willing to help themselves, is always the right thing to do. Simply making it comfortable for those who seek a life of substance abuse on the streets – isn't the thing. As part of President Trump’s plan to make Washington D.C. safe again, he’s unveiled his homeless plan which allows for the city’s significant homeless population to seek a homeless shelter, seek mental health help that’s being offered, seek addiction treatment that’s available too – but if the choice is none-of-the-above, the choice will be made for them to go to jail. Sinclair Media polled on this plan Wednesday and 69% said the approved of the plan. This is something that our own communities should be taking a closer look at. Florida passed a law banning public homelessness along the line of what President Trump is seeking in D.C. ...From what I’ve seen in certain communities it’s lightly enforced (if at all). Notably Florida’s DOGE has inquired about Palm Beach County’s handling of homelessness on there list to investigate next week.