Tag Archives: Florida

The Cost Of Inflation To Homeowners

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It’s great when the value of your house increases. For most people, their house is a major investment that increases in value and that they can pass on to their children. Homeowners make up 65 percent of American households. However, there is a down side to increasing property values. Cities and towns (in most cases) reevaluate the value of houses, and as your house increases in value, your real estate taxes go up. Sometimes the taxes go up to the point where you can no longer afford to live in the house you own. Some Americans are starting to get upset about that.

On Sunday, Betsy McCaughey posted an article at Hot Air about the property tax revolt that is beginning. This issue is up for discussion at the North Carolina legislature.

The article reports:

Across the nation, these homeowners are angry and ready to fight against soaring property taxes. Their homes have appreciated, but they don’t have more cash in their pockets to pay the rising taxes that come with rising home values.

A property tax revolt, with silver-haired payers leading the charge, is likely to shape the political map for November 2026.

Steve Moore, cofounder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, predicts fierce battles in state capitols, where teachers unions and other special interests will try to stop the tax relief movement, scaremongering about damaging cuts to school budgets and potholes in the streets.

These interests favor any state law that forces towns to reassess homes periodically because it leads to more local revenue. More money taken out of homeowners’ pockets to fill public workers’ paychecks.

The fights are already happening, and evidence so far shows that property tax relief is a winner. It’s dominating in Texas and Florida, underway in Wyoming and Wisconsin, and there is even some hope that it will catch fire in tax-hell New York state and neighboring, tax-beleaguered Connecticut.

In the blue city of Austin, Texas, 63% of voters rejected a proposal last month put forward by the Democratic mayor and city council to increases property taxes. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing a 3% annual statewide cap on how fast a home’s assessment rises. He’s styling himself as the protector of homeownership. Smart politics.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making property tax reform his issue too, even floating eliminating property taxes entirely and replacing them with sales taxes, a state fund to help the poorest counties and — imagine this — frugality.

The article concludes:

With outrage rising, all that could change. Homeownership is the American dream. Property taxes threaten it. Voters of all persuasions are feeling the pain, setting in motion a demand for tax fairness that could make 2026 an upset election season.

Stay tuned.

Facing Trial

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On Sunday, Just the News reported that the trial of Ryan Routh, who is accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump during the last campaign season will begin today in a Florida federal courtroom.

The article reports:

Routh is defending himself, with court-appointed lawyers nearby and on standby. Judge Aileen Cannon is on the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Fort Pierce.

Prosecutors say the suspect was going to attempt take the life of Trump, eventual winner of the presidency over then-Vice President Kamala Harris, as he golfed on a Sunday afternoon. The Sept. 15 incident came 65 days after a shooter on a roof struck Trump’s ear with a bullet in Butler, Pa.

Security agents for Trump encountered Routh prior to the golf group reaching the area. Routh is accused of raising a rifle, leading to a shot from agents, a short vehicle chase and the suspect’s apprehension.

Cannon in July granted Routh the ability to defend himself at trial. She laid out logistics, including attire and movements, on Tuesday. Routh has filed court documents challenging the president to a round of golf and a fight while in shackles; for the former, he said if he loses Trump can execute him.

Jury selection is Monday and the trial with four weeks reserved on the calendar is expected to begin on Thursday.

The article concludes:

Routh pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations. His past includes barricading himself from officers in Greensboro in 2002 after eluding a traffic stop and owning a warehouse in 2010 where police found more than 100 stolen building supply items.

Sentences previously did not include jail time.

A tragedy was avoided because of a very good Secret Service Agent. However, the whole situation might have been avoided if he had been held accountable for his past crimes. But we don’t know if he was convicted of a crime in relation to the warehouse full of stolen goods–he could have claimed that he rented it out.

In Case You Were Wondering…

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Recently, there was a fatal traffic accident in Florida caused by an illegal immigrant who could not read or speak English. Many of us wondered how he managed to get his commercial drivers license (I believe that the test for this license is only given in English and Spanish–he was from India).

The dotdriverfiles reports the following:

Starting June 25, 2025, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will begin strictly enforcing English Language Proficiency (ELP) requirements for commercial drivers. While this regulation has existed for years under 49 CFR § 391.11(b)(2), the new enforcement approach means drivers who fail roadside language assessments will be immediately placed out-of-service (OOS).

On Friday, Breitbart reported:

Florida police have discovered how migrants who cannot speak English have been getting licenses to drive 18-wheelers on the nation’s highways.

With news breaking all across the country of major highway accidents that have killed Americans perpetrated by non-English speaking migrants behind the wheels of massive semi trucks, many have wondered how they could be getting their licenses. Investigators in Florida have discovered that one way is by using hidden cameras and ear pieces when they enter a drive’s license facility to take their commercial truck driving license (CDL) test, WTLV-TV reported.

Investigators from the Florida State Police have discovered that some foreign-born applicants are using a camera and an ear piece connected to someone outside the DMV facility who speaks their language to cheat on the tests. The applicant uses the camera to scan the test so his cohort can read the questions, then they tell the applicant how to answer the test questions over the ear piece. That way, the migrants can pass the test without having read a single question or understood any of the answers.

Recently, the State Police arrested and convicted several migrants who used this cheat to take CDL tests at a Jacksonville, Florida, DMV. One man arrested in April was sentenced to eight months in prison for the scheme to illegally obtain a Florida CDL, another was handed over to ICE for deportation, and three more satisfied court-ordered measures and their cases were dismissed.

This is a safety issue. Cheating puts all Americans at risk.

The article concludes:

The problem of non-English speaking drivers has skyrocketed since so many migrants took trucking industry jobs after entering the U.S. through President Joe Biden’s loose border policies, either at the southern border or at international airports.

With the spotlight on foreign CDL drivers after a horrendous and fatal accident in Florida this month, Florida officials announced that under a new immigration enforcement program, truck weigh stations in the state will be used as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) checkpoints.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also announced that agricultural inspection stations will also serve as immigration checkpoints going forward.

Hopefully these actions will make our highways safer.

When A Truckdriver Is Not Able To Read The Road Signs

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The recent traffic accident in Florida that resulted in the death of three people was awful, and avoidable. The driver of the truck was unable to speak English or read the street signs that would have prevented him from taking the turn that resulted in the crash.

On Saturday, Red State posted an article about the accident, quoting The TCPalm:

A California man charged with vehicular homicide and manslaughter in a two-vehicle crash on Florida’s Turnpike that left three dead earlier this month has been ordered held without bail.

Harjinder Singh, 28, an undocumented immigrant from India, made his first appearance Aug. 23 from the St. Lucie County Jail via a Zoom link to the downtown Fort Pierce courthouse. He is charged with three counts each of vehicular homicide and manslaughter.

No bail was set for each of the six charges, primarily because of his status as an undocumented immigrant.

“The court finds you present a substantial flight risk, and there are no conditions of release that will ensure your appearance at trial,” 19th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Lauren Sweet told Singh.

The article at Red State notes that he is an illegal immigrant, not a “California man.”

Red State previously reported:

In-cab video showed Harjinder Singh and a driving companion using an “official use only” turnaround on a highway. As they entered the opposing lane of traffic, a minivan slammed into the side of the trailer, destroying it beyond all recognition. Its three occupants were killed, and Singh is now in custody, facing manslaughter charges. 

That wasn’t the end of the ordeal, though. As Florida authorities began to dig into the truck driver’s background, they discovered he’s an illegal immigrant. Worse, he was issued a commercial driver’s license under Newsom’s sanctuary state policies. 

The article posted on Saturday concludes:

If, as it seems, Harjinder Singh has limited or no understanding of spoken or written English, how did he pass the tests to gain that California CDL?

How is it that California issued a CDL to a man who was in the country illegally?

Don’t CDL applicants have to present some kind of ID when applying? What ID did Singh use?

These are inexcusable lapses on the part of the state of California, and three people are dead because of it.

This continues to be a developing story. We will bring you updates as events warrant.

Those are good questions.

Good News From Florida

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On Monday, Townhall reported the following:

An undercover operation in Florida, labeled “Operation Seek and Ye Shall Find Out,” led to the arrests of 48 men, including 6 illegal aliens. The sting against child sex predators lasted for six days in Marion County, Florida.

The report from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said the men used various social media platforms, including Snapchat and dating apps, to meet children and to coordinate physical meetings. Undercover officers interacted with the men, who believed they were communicating with 13-15 year old children.

The alleged predators possessed condoms, guns, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs at the time of their arrests, according to investigators.

Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier spoke Wednesday at a press conference held after the operation.

“As a father, I am outraged by the heinous crimes we spoke about today,” said Uthmeier. “As Attorney General, I’m proud of the brave officers behind this record-breaking operation. The predators arrested by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office thought they were meeting children—instead they were met with handcuffs. In Florida, we protect our kids and hold predators accountable.”

These arrests should serve as a warning to parents to always be aware of who your children are talking to online. Predators use different social media platforms and different methods of luring children. In some cases, children from are lured into trafficking with promises of modeling careers.

The article concludes:

The report from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office alleges that many of these men used social media platforms to arrange explicit meet-ups locations. Forty of the men have been charged with traveling to meet a minor for illegal sexual conduct and human trafficking.

Uthmeier stated the Attorney General’s Office has filed a lawsuit against Snapchat, alleging the platform violated Florida laws designed to protect its children. 

“There is no defense,” said Uthmeier. “There is no justification. There is no excuse. It cannot happen, and it will not happen in Florida.”

Another Reason It Is Hard To Cut The Federal Budget

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Theoretically the federal budget is controlled by the House or Representatives. They are supposed to send a budget to the Senate and the Senate is supposed to vote on it and pass it on to the President to sign. Unfortunately the last time Congress completed all bills on time was 20 years ago, in 1996. We have operated under Continuing Resolutions for a long time and federal spending has ballooned because of it. Why do we keep electing people who are not interested in cutting spending? The following information might be a clue,

On Wednesday, Townhall reported the following:

The state of Florida had a population of 22,610,726 as of July 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That ranked third among all states — exceeded only by Texas, which had a population of 30,503,301; and California, which had a population of 38,965,193.

As of this September, federal, state and local governments in this country employed a record total of 23,421,000 individuals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In other words, government payrolls were populated by more people than lived in the state of Florida or in any of 47 other states. Only California and Texas had populations that exceeded the number of people who work for government in this country.

The article notes the incredible coincidence that government employees vote Democrat–they want to preserve their jobs.

The article concludes with a few examples:

In Maryland’s District 4, 12.29% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey. In Virginia’s District 11, 12.06% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly. In Maryland’s District 3, 10.72% of the workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes.

Imagine what our Congress would be like if 10% or more of the workers in every congressional district worked for the government.

That’s how the system works.

The Often Overlooked Problem With Electric Vehicles

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On Wednesday, Hot Air posted an article about an often overlooked problem with electric vehicles. Lithium batteries are prone to catch fire when exposed to salt water. So if you live on the coast, you need to get very far away from any incoming hurricane. Unfortunately, the problem does not seem to be limited to exposure to salt water.

The article reports:

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) going boom in the worst places and what to do when that happens.

On Thursday, the 26th of September, on the freeway outside of the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California, one of “those accidents” happened.

A tractor-trailer carrying large lithium-ion batteries overturned and caught on fire on a highway near the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday, snarling traffic and leading to road closures and the shuttering of several terminals at the port.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement Thursday night that the fire was expected to burn for at least another 24 to 48 hours and that a roughly seven-mile stretch of California State Route 47, from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach,would be closed in that period.

The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, said that several terminals would be closed on Friday.

The crash in the San Pedro neighborhood on Thursday morning did not result in any injuries, but fire crews were taking precautions to block hazardous materials from potentially spreading from the batteries, one of which exploded, the department said.

The article notes:

In the meanwhile, Hurricane Helene was making a beeline for the Florida Coast, and FL officials were out with warnings about EVs and saltwater not mixing. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV owners this week to get their vehicles to higher ground before Hurricane Helene arrived. Although the problem is rare, there have been a number of instances in recent years of electric vehicles igniting after hurricanes.

Keeping electric vehicles out of standing water is the best way to avoid the possibility of a fire.

Tesla offers similar advice about avoiding letting its vehicles become submerged if at all possible, but if that does happen the carmaker suggests towing the vehicle at least 50 feet away from structures or anything combustible until it can be inspected by a mechanic.

The article also notes that the vehicle may ignite well after you thought the danger was over. There is also the issue of what fumes may be released during the fire or the fact that a lithium fire is very difficult to put out. It really is time to re-evaluate the value of the current generation of electric vehicles.

Priorities, People!

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On Thursday, The EconoTimes posted an article about the role of the government in providing relief to the victims of Hurricane Helene. The Biden/Harris administration has warned Americans that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) may run out of money before the end of the hurricane season.

The article reports:

In a shocking development, the Biden-Harris administration announced that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) may not have enough resources to make it through the rest of hurricane season. This warning comes on the heels of billions of dollars being allocated to foreign aid, raising concerns about the government’s ability to respond to domestic natural disasters.

“FEMA’s Running Dry — And They Just Sent Billions Overseas! How Are We Supposed to Get Through This?”

The administration’s statement was made public on Monday, September 30, raising alarm about the depleted state of FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF). With hurricane season still in full swing, this could leave millions of Americans vulnerable in the event of further catastrophic weather events.

In June 2023, The New York Post reported:

New York City is set to receive $104.6 million in grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help cover its growing expenses related to the ongoing migrant crisis, Sen. Charles Schumer’s office confirmed to The Post.

That’s a third of the $363 million left in the pot allocated by FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program, dedicated to helping municipalities around the US and nonprofits providing shelter and other services to homeless migrants who crossed into the country from the southern border. 

Although it’s also far less than the $650 million total initially requested by NYC Mayor Eric Adams earlier this year, the Big Apple has now received the largest grant from the program compared to other jurisdictions.

The migrant crisis in New York City is a crisis caused by the open-border policies of the Biden/Harris administration. The devastation in western North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida is caused by a natural disaster. FEMA money should be reserved for natural disasters–not man-made crises.

The Plan To Turn Florida Into A Blue State

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The population of Florida is growing as people flee the high taxes and high cost of living in many of the northern states. That immigration is not turning Florida blue–most of the arrivals know what they are fleeing. However, the Biden administration has another way of making sure that Florida becomes a reliable Democrat state.

On Tuesday, Fox News posted an article detailing where the migrants who are being flown into America by the Biden administration are being placed. Two Florida cities top the list–Miami with 91,821, and Ft. Lauderdale with 60,461.

The article reports:

During an eight-month period from January through August 2023, roughly 200,000 migrants flew into the U.S. via the program. Of those, 80% of them, (161,562) arrived in the state of Florida in four cities: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa Bay, according to DHS data obtained via a subpoena by the House Homeland Security Committee and provided to Fox News.

The policy was first announced for Venezuelans in October 2022, which allowed a limited number to fly or travel directly into the U.S. as long as they had not entered illegally, had a sponsor in the U.S. already, and passed certain biometric and biographical vetting. The program does not itself facilitate flights, and migrants are responsible for their own travel.

On April 18th, I posted an article about voter information being given to the people who are illegally crossing our southern border. Flyers are posted at the migrant services center near Brownsville, Texas, that tell illegal aliens: “Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States.” Voting by illegals is illegal, but these illegal border crossers are not being told that.

The article at Fox News concludes:

DHS has said that those who enter the U.S. under the program undergo and clear a “robust security vetting” as well as other eligibility criteria. 

“These processes are publicly available online, and DHS has been providing regular updates on their use to the public. These processes are part of the administration’s strategy to combine expanded lawful pathways with stronger consequences to reduce irregular migration, and have kept hundreds of thousands of people from migrating irregularly,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital this month.

Remember that at the same time this is going on, Democrats are trying to prevent voter ID laws from being enacted and enforced. All Americans need to do all they can to fight for fair elections. Every illegal vote cancels out a legal vote.

Protesting Is Legal; Civil Disobedience Should Have Consequences

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On April 16th, Townhall posted an article illustrating how the pro-Palestinian protestors that tried to block roads on Monday were treated in Florida.

The article reports:

Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down major bridges, roads, and highways across the United States on Monday, with CNN reporting that over 150 arrests were made. But whether in Chicago, where demonstrators blocked a road to Terminal 1 at O’Hare, or in San Francisco, where protesters brought traffic to a halt on the Golden Gate bridge, there was generally tolerance of the disruptive and dangerous demonstrations by those tasked with upholding law and order.

…Traffic was also affected in two other areas in the Bay area by the protesters, with California Highway Patrol Chief Don Goodbrand saying “it was an orchestrated event.” 

“They blocked three separate locations on freeways. They prevented law enforcement, paramedics, ambulances from getting to their points of destination,” he added. 

The article includes a screenshot of how these protestors were treated in Florida (this is the address if you want to watch the video–  https://twitter.com/i/status/1779976321629565433):

Protesting is legal under the First Amendment; blocking roads and bridges is not.

 

Why They Should Still Teach Geography In School

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On April 1, The New York Post posted an article some changes in the population of Florida.

The headline reads:

Florida transplants fleeing in droves over relentless heat, damaging hurricanes

What did they expect? Come to North Carolina, we also have relentless heat and damaging hurricanes, but we don’t have blizzards or severe winters.

The article notes:

Thousands of Florida transplants who moved to the Sunshine State during the pandemic are packing up to move elsewhere, complaining of the relentless heat, damaging hurricanes and dangerous wildlife.

More than 700,000 people drawn by the promise of sunny weather, no income tax and lower costs moved to Florida in 2022 — including 90,000 from New York state, according to census data cited by NBC News.

But nearly 500,000 gave up on Florida and left in 2022, according to NBC News, which interviewed several disillusioned transplants who decided to head back north.

One of them was New Yorker Louis Rotkowitz, who lasted two years in the state.

“Like every good New Yorker, this is where you want to go,” the physician told NBC News by phone while driving to his new home in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It’s a complete fallacy.”

The article tells the story of a number of people who decided that Florida was too expensive, too hot, and too full of destructive and dangerous critters. Florida may be more expensive day to day than New York and other northern states, but how much do you pay in taxes in the northern states? The difference may well be the fact that you don’t really see the money taken away from your paycheck in taxes–you see the money you spend on housing and groceries. However, inflation has hit all fifty states–not just Florida. I wonder if the people leaving will be happy with what they find when they get back home.

Taking Pre-Emptive Action

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As I reported in a previous article, America is about to experience an epidemic of ‘squatters.’ There have already been cases in New York, and I am sure other states are also experiencing people with no right to a property deciding to live there rent-free. Well, at least one state is prepared to take action.

On Thursday, Legal Insurrection reported the following:

For some inexplicable reason, squatters’ rights laws are commonplace throughout these United States. In many states, a person or persons can enter and inhabit another person’s vacant property, set up house, and after—in most cases—a mere 30 days claim some form of bizarre “right” to inhabit the home in which they did not pay a day’s rent nor a single mortgage payment: a home they do not own, did not buy, and have no right to occupy.

But states, including red states, have an array of “squatters’ rights” rules and laws that will offend—nay, even assault—the senses of all normal, law-abiding Americans.

The article cites a few examples. This is only one of many:

A Georgia man claims he returned home from caring for his sick wife to find that squatters had changed the locks on his home and moved in — and now local laws are blocking him from evicting the alleged freeloaders.

“Basically, these people came in Friday, broke into my house and had a U-Haul move all their stuff in. It’s frustrating. It’s very frustrating. I can’t even sleep,” DeKalb man Paul Callins told WSB-TV.

Callins had sunk thousands of dollars into the home and renovated it with his own hands after he inherited it from his late father, but since squatters moved in, he’s found himself facing nothing but obstacles to evicting the alleged intruders.

. . . . Rather than forcibly evicting the squatters, Georgia law requires homeowners file an “Affidavit of Intruder,” which then needs to work its way through the court system before police can act, Callins explained.

Situations like Callins’ have become all too common in Georgia.

About 1,200 homes across DeKalb County are occupied by squatters, according to the National Rental Home Council trade group.

There is a solution:

Fox Business reports (archive link):

The Florida Legislature unanimously passed a bill that would allow police to immediately remove squatters — a departure from the lengthy court cases required in most states.

“It gives me a real feeling of positive hope that we still have the ability to discuss challenges in our society and work with our legislatures in a bipartisan way,” Patti Peeples, a Sunshine State property owner who was barred from her own home after squatters refused to leave, told News4Jax.

The legislation, which passed both chambers earlier this month, would allow police to remove squatters without a lease authorized by the property owner and adds criminal penalties.

And that, my friends, is how it’s done.

If This Is True, Is It Over?

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On Thursday, The Federalist reported the following:

Democrat Fani Willis’ legal troubles extend beyond recent revelations that she deceptively hired her otherwise under-qualified, secret, married lover to run the political prosecution of former President Donald Trump and other Republicans in Georgia. A new book from Mike Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman admits that a widely misunderstood phone call, on which Willis’ political prosecution rests, was illegally recorded. That means the entire prosecution could crumble with defendants having a new avenue to challenge Democrat lawfare.

Find Me the Votes: A Hard-Charging Georgia Prosecutor, a Rogue President, and the Plot to Steal an American Election is a fawning political biography of Willis. For context on the bias of the authors, Isikoff was an original Russia-collusion hoaxer, and his articles to that end were used to secure warrants for the FBI to spy on innocent Republican presidential campaign advisers such as Carter Page.

The article explains the problem with recording the phone call:

However, the person who recorded the phone call wasn’t in Fulton County or even in Georgia. That’s a problem. Jordan Fuchs, a political activist who serves as Raffensperger’s chief of staff, was in Florida, where it is illegal to record a call without all parties to the call consenting to the recording. She neither asked for nor received consent to record.

This could get interesting. If it were anyone but Donald Trump, the case would be thrown out immediately. However, since Donald Trump is involved, the evidence may be ignored.

 

People Vote With Their Feet

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On Saturday, The New York Post reported that in the past four years, ten billionaires have changed their residences from New York to Florida.

The article reports:

New York has lost 10 billionaires in the last four years — three of whom fled to Florida — leaving tax coffers lighter by tens of millions of dollars annually.

This year 62 New York-based billionaires appeared on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans, compared to 72 in 2019 and 65 last year. 

Investor and Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris, whose net worth was valued at $5.7 billion last year, has grown his fortune to $6.9 billion — but he packed his bags for Florida.

Other billionaires who have relocated from Gotham to the Sunshine State in the last four years include hedge funder Daniel Och — whose net worth now stands at $3.6 billion — and investor Carl Icahn, who’s worth $6.9 billion. 

“You have this incredibly high rate imposed on all of the income of the highest earners [in New York], and living just about anywhere else will substantially reduce your tax burden. Going to Florida will obviously eliminate your individual tax burden, and many of these billionaires clearly have that flexibility,” the National Tax Foundation’s vice president, Jared Walczak, explained.

The article notes:

New York relies on the top 1% of taxpayers to pay for 42% of its tax receipts, and billionaires’ incomes are taxed at the state’s highest rate — a staggering 14.8%, according to Walczak.

Although it’s impossible to quantify the exact loss in state taxes from billionaires’ fleeing without access to private income documents, “If you had someone who was earning $100 million [a year] in New York suddenly move to Florida, that’s something like a $11 million-a-year hit per year recurring to the state,” said Ken Girardin, the research director for the Albany-based think tank, Empire Center for Public Policy.

Even with the tax accountants and tax lawyers that billionaires can afford to hire, eventually they reach the point where it is not worth it to stay in a state that takes more money from them then the Medieval Lords took from the peasants. I just hope that when the leave New York, they leave their big spending government ideas behind.

Some American Children Will Actually Be Educated

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On September 7, The New American reported the following:

On Tuesday, the State of Oklahoma announced that it will allow educational videos by the conservative media organization PragerU to be used in its public schools.

Oklahoma joins Florida, which announced in August that it will also use videos from PragerU’s children’s content division PragerU Kids, which creates lesson plans and videos for children in grades K-12 on a variety of subjects, including civics, financial literacy, and climate change.

PragerU announced the new partnership in a statement: “We are proud to announce that PragerU Kids will have an ongoing educational partnership with the State of Oklahoma. Now, many more American students will have the opportunity to learn from PragerU’s wholesome, patriotic, and age-appropriate content.”

State superintendent Ryan Walters announced the Sooner State’s new partnership.

“I am thrilled to announce this partnership with PragerU,” Walters said. “This expansion of our available resources will help ensure high-quality materials rich in American history and values will be available to our teachers and students. We will work together to find ways for PragerU to create content that will enrich the education of Oklahoma students.”

“I cannot be more excited to get this content in our classrooms, to get this understanding of American history without any indoctrination, but actually the facts of what happened, so that our kids can know the principles this country was founded on,” he added.

The article concludes:

What’s actually happening is that now Oklahoma’s teachers will have one tool that counters some of the left-wing dogma that passes for educational curricula in today’s public schools. There’s nothing a true propagandist hates more than a dissenting opinion. That’s what these attacks are about.

Texas is also said to be considering the use of PragerU videos, although they are receiving considerable pushback from left-wing organizations.

PragerU videos are well-researched, informative, and interesting. They are a good tool in providing information to our children in an entertaining way that captures their attention. Today’s children are a video generation with a short attention span. PragerU videos are perfect for that learning style.

The Attack On Children Continues

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On June 6th, The Daily Caller reported that a federal judge has blocked the rule restricting minors from accessing surgical sex change procedures.

The article reports:

A federal judge sided Tuesday with families who sued over Florida’s ban on gender transition procedures for minors, declaring that “gender identity is real.”

A group of families, backed by several LGBT activist groups, sued Florida in March shortly after the rule restricting minors from accessing surgical sex change procedures, puberty blockers and hormone therapy took effect. Northern District of Florida Judge Robert L. Hinkle, a Clinton appointee, granted a preliminary injunction against the law to prohibit it from being enforced against the plaintiffs, and proceeded to make the claim that “great weight of medical authority supports these treatments.”

In much of the developed world, including many Scandinavian countries, sex change interventions for minors are seen as lacking evidence and as largely experimental treatments. Additionally, pioneers in gender dysphoria treatment have come out against modern philosophies that emphasize immediately “affirming” gender-confused minors, while experts have repeatedly poked holes in much of the scholarship claiming child sex changes are medically necessary.

Just for the record–I am not opposed to any adult who wants transgender surgery, hormone treatments, etc., to accessing those treatments. I simply question the wisdom of making those treatments available to children under the age of 18. Adolescence is hard, and it is a confusing time for many teenagers. It is a time when teenagers are not necessarily making wise choices. One hopes that their parents would guide them into wise choices, but that is not always the case. Right now, transgender is a fad. Unfortunately it is a fad with lifelong consequences. Eating goldfish was also a fad at one time. It was not necessarily smart, but it generally did not have lifelong consequences.

There is a reason we do not allow teenagers to smoke or drink before age 21. Why in the world are we letting them make permanent life-altering decisions before they are mature enough to understand fully the consequences of those decisions?

Some Good News About Our Southern Border

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On Wednesday, The Epoch Times posted an article about a ruling byU.S. District Judge Judge T. Kent Wetherell regarding the Biden administration’s catch and release policy (which is really a simple release policy).

The article reports:

The federal government’s program of releasing many illegal immigrants rather than holding them until their cases are resolved violates federal law, a U.S. judge ruled on March 8.

“The evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country,” U.S. District Judge Judge T. Kent Wetherell, a Trump appointee, said in the ruling.

Wetherell struck down Alternatives to Detention, a program through which President Joe Biden’s administration has released more than one million aliens into the U.S. interior.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, sued the government in 2021 over the policy, arguing the catch-and-release policy violated federal law.

Biden administration officials have claimed they had the discretion not to hold immigrants and that Florida lacked standing.

Under Supreme Court precedent, immigration officials have “broad discretion” in carrying out immigration laws, but must adhere to laws established by Congress. The Immigration and Nationality Act, one such law, states that immigrants who arrive at the border without proper documents are subject to quick removal without a hearing or review. Immigrants who claim asylum can have their claims heard but “shall be detained” until the claims are resolved.

The “shall be detained” wording “means what it says and that is a mandatory requirement,” Wetherell said in the new ruling.

The government’s position “would render mandatory detention under” the law “meaningless,” he added later.

Hopefully this will at least slow down the flow of illegal immigrants into America via our southern border.

When Parents Fight For Their Rights As Parents

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On Friday, The Patriot Journal (quoting Fox News) reported the following:

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Florida’s parental rights bill…

U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, a judge in Tallahassee, Florida, ruled on Wednesday that students, parents, and teachers didn’t prove that they have legal standing in challenging the law after filing a revised lawsuit.

The article at The Patriot Journal notes:

This is actually the second attempt by leftists; the judge tossed the earlier version last September. Another lawsuit, alleging something similar, was filed in Orlando and also dismissed by the court.

Judge Winsor said the plaintiffs couldn’t show they suffered any harm from the law, and said their claims of harm “are from the law’s existence versus its enforcement.”

The North Carolina Senate has recently passed a Parents’ Bill of Rights. It passed the Senate in a party-line vote–Democrats voted no and Republicans voted yes. It now will go to the North Carolina House.

Parents should be in control of the content of their children’s education. If a child commits a crime, the parents are held responsible. When schools teach children that they are victims and are entitled, bad things happen. When schools sexualize young children, bad things happen. Schools and parents should work together to train the next generation of citizens to have moral values, patriotism and a work ethic. That would go a long way into cleaning up the mess our country currently is in.

 

Amazing Progress

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On Tuesday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about Florida’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Ian.

The article reports:

No one imagined this was feasible. Every expert put the timeline for repair at around a year.  However, the git r’ done crews and the Florida Dept of Transportation have accomplished a massive feat of reconstruction in phenomenal time.  Major kudos to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the construction crews who worked every hour of every day, day and night, for two straight weeks and have created/built a temporary bridge to Sanibel Island.

Trust me, having seen the aftermath, this is absolutely remarkable.  The causeway is made up of three bridge spans (A, B, and C) and three spoil islands.

The rapid response construction crews just kept bringing truck after truck of everything imaginable including rocks, concrete slabs, gravel, sand and more to fill in the missing parts of the roadway and spoil islands.  Then they surfaced the road and are now working on paving it in record time.  Today restoration emergency crews drove across the bridges, and they anticipate opening the causeway to residents of Sanibel for civilian use on October 21st.

Here are the pictures:

The article reports:

During a news conference Tuesday in Fort Myers, trucks were seen slowly driving across the bridge — beginning the journey to the island on the Sanibel Causeway.

“Ahead of schedule, it was supposed to be 3 o’clock today they thought they’d get it,” the governor said. “But we’re happy that is something that is being done.”

DeSantis explains the convoy now able to travel on Sanibel Island is a large group, including:

    • 200 bucket trucks
    • 150 line and pickup trucks towing 50 trailers
    • Two tractor trailers
    • First responders

This also includes crews from across the state, Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC), Florida Power and Light and members of the Florida Electric Cooperative Association.

After crews reach the island, the Florida Department of Transportation will be able to continue with repairs to restore access to the island for residents.

This isn’t the first time relief made its way to the island. DeSantis said barges were deployed last week to move equipment and supplies to the area to restore power and running water.  The governor’s office says barges continue to move daily to transport equipment, personnel and supplies.

Kudos to a very effective Governor and to everyone else who worked hard to complete this task so quickly.

Getting Things Done

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On Thursday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about some of the recovery work being done in Florida after the damage caused by Hurricane Ian.

This is a picture of the Matlacha Pass Bridge which connects Pine Island to the mainland taken after the hurricane:

The article reports:

The Florida Department of Transportation completed a temporary land bridge to Pine Island on Wednesday, two days ahead of schedule. Emergency responders will be able use the bridge as of Wednesday afternoon, with the general public to follow a few hours later.

This is the bridge now:

Amazing.

Florida Is Fighting Human Trafficking

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On Sunday, The Conservative Review posted an article about recent arrests in Florida for human trafficking.

The article reports:

There were 160 people arrested during an undercover sting targeting human trafficking. A Disney employee, corrections officer, a former deputy police chief, and teachers were among those arrested.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office led several law enforcement agencies in an undercover investigation called “Operation Fall Haul 2.” The seven-day sting operation focused on cracking down on human trafficking crimes.

During the press conference about Operation Fall Haul, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd joked, “Where would we be with an undercover operation and no Disney employees? Oh yes, we always have Disney employees.”

Disney bellhop Guillermo Perez, 57, was arrested after trying to have sex with an undercover detective for $80, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Samy Claude, 26, who was often contracted by Disney as a photographer, was also arrested. He reportedly attempted to have sex with an undercover cop and offered her a bag of sour Skittles.

Keith Nieves, 24, was arrested for two counts of soliciting a prostitute. Nieves is a correctional officer at the Lake County Correctional Institution.

Jason DiPrima, 49, allegedly gave an undercover detective $180 and a multi-pack of White Claw Hard Seltzer. At the time of his arrest, DiPrima was the Deputy Chief of Administration for the Cartersville Police Department in Georgia. DiPrima has since resigned from his position.

The article concludes:

Law enforcement seized cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA (Ecstasy), and marijuana during the undercover sting.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said seven people were arrested and suspected of being in the country illegally.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said it had encountered two human trafficking victims during the operation, along with five other possible victims.

WFLA reported, “One of the victims deputies encountered was a woman who was 10 weeks pregnant and was given drugs and fentanyl in hopes to abort her unborn child, who she did not want.”

For the human trafficking victims, the operation had the following social service organizations to assist: One More Child, Heartland for Children, My Name My Voice, and the Children’s Home Society of Florida.

“From the moment they come into the operation, we want to immediately hand them off to our social service friends and our counselors so they can begin working with these victims of human trafficking,” Judd noted.

Thank God they arrested the people they arrested and are helping the victims, but this is the tip of the iceberg. We need every state to do the kind of detective work that ends this practice.

It’s A Whole New World For Students Out There

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Back in the age of dinosaurs when I was in school, pornography was considered a bad thing. Parents and schools worked together to keep children (and teenagers) away from it. There was an understanding that pornography was not a victimless crime and had repercussions far beyond just looking at it. Well, things have obviously changed. Parents who are trying to get pornography removed from their school libraries are accused of wanting to burn books (obviously supporting tyrannical government control). When parents bring up the content of some of the inappropriate books at school board meetings, they are silenced.

On Tuesday, The Daily Caller reported the following:

A Florida school board muted the microphone of a concerned parent attempting to read a “pornography” book allegedly available to students in the district’s library, according to video footage of a school board meeting.

The Clay County School Board barred an unnamed parent from “sampling” three books allegedly available to students in high school libraries during a school board meeting. The parent claimed that a district employee was paid to review and input pornographic books into the school libraries.

One book he attempted to read was “Lucky,” by Alice Sebold. The book discusses the brutal rape and beating of Sebold as an 18-year-old college freshman, according to a book description from Amazon. The book is available at Fleming Island High School and Orange Park High School, according to the district’s Library Media resources.

“If there’s children watching, cover their ears,” the parent said. The school board immediately cut his microphone and told him to “hush [his] mouth.”

If it’s appropriate to have this book in a public school library, why isn’t it appropriate to read the content at a school board meeting? What are we doing to our children?

The article includes the following:

“Turn off his microphone, please. I told you, I’m stopping you,” the school board attorney said. “The reason I’m stopping you is because these meetings are — if you’ll hush your mouth for a minute, and listen, instead of just talking, you may learn something.”

When the parent requested his time back, the school official said that the parent will get his time back to discuss something other than “pornography.”

“You’ll get it back. But, you’ll get it back to talk about something besides reading pornography into a public television set,” the school official said.

The article concludes:

Ashley Gilhousen, a Clay County School Board member, told the Daily Caller that the board is working to remove the content that this parent brought forth “prior to the return of students in August.” Gilhousen condemned the school board attorney’s tone, but also noted that she speaks only for herself and not the entire school board.

“The School Board Attorney should not have responded in the tone and manner in which he did,” Gilhousen said. “It was condescending and disrespectful to the speaker … I have every confidence that any objectionable material will be removed.”

The school board attorney should be fired.

The Rate Of Recovery

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On of the principles in the founding of America was that each state would be run individually and become a laboratory for new ideas. If a state had policies that were succeeding, other states would then be free to copy the ideas that worked. However, we are not necessarily seeing that concept currently put in practice. If it were, California would be copying the policies of Florida rather than trashing the Governor of Florida.

On July 5th, The Wall Street Journal posted an article illustrating the contrast in the economic conditions of blue and red states.

The article reports:

The pandemic has changed the geography of the American economy.

By many measures, red states—those that lean Republican—have recovered faster economically than Democratic-leaning blue ones, with workers and employers moving from the coasts to the middle of the country and Florida.

Since February 2020, the month before the pandemic began, the share of all U.S. jobs located in red states has grown by more than half a percentage point, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Brookings Institution think tank. Red states have added 341,000 jobs over that time, while blue states were still short 1.3 million jobs as of May.

Several major companies have recently announced moves of their headquarters from blue to red states. Hedge-fund company Citadel said recently it would move its headquarters from Chicago to Miami, and Caterpillar Inc. plans to move from Illinois to Texas.

The article includes the following:

Pandemic Recovery

The economic recovery of states since March 2020 has been uneven. Index of state progress, based on 13 metrics including economic output, employment, retail sales and new-home listings.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It is fascinating.

The article concludes:

California’s public-school enrollment has fallen 4.4% since the pandemic, according to American Enterprise Institute. In Oakland, the school board recently voted to close schools because of declining enrollment.

Florida saw a surge in new residents, many from the Northeast, where Covid-19 related restrictions such as school closures were stricter.

At the Ohana Institute, a private school in Florida’s Panhandle, for kindergarten through 12th grade, the waiting list for students grew from 95 just before the pandemic to 393 last fall, Executive Director Lettye Burgtorf said.

Mrs. Burgtorf said the school fielded requests from hundreds of parents around the U.S. who wanted to move to Florida to be closer to the beach. Many were also unhappy that their children’s schools in other states had moved to remote learning. The Ohana Institute went remote for several weeks, then reopened, with mask mandates. “The parents were really like, ‘We cannot educate our kids at home,’ ” Mrs. Burgtorf said.

For years, a real estate boom in coastal cities made many families wealthy because their homes appreciated. Now, that is happening in red states. Florida led all states with a 31% jump in the median home price in the 12 months through January, with prices soaring in the Panhandle.

Such price increases can narrow the cost-of-living differential with the blue states that the migrants are fleeing, and increase living costs for longtime residents who don’t own homes,

These days, Mr. DeSantis’s spokeswoman said, one of the top complaints the governor’s office receives is soaring rent.

The law of supply and demand is at work in the Florida housing market.

Breaking The Budget In California

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On July 4th, The U.K. Daily Mail reported that California Governor Newsom has proposed a budget that offers all illegal immigrants in the state, regardless of age, health insurance. At the same time he is doing this, he is paying for ads in Florida encouraging Florida residents to move to California. California residents are also fleeing California for Texas.

Below is a chart from June 2019 posted by fee.org:There seems to be a pattern there.

The article at The U.K. Daily Mail reports:

The expansion in healthcare is part of Medi-Cal, which already offers coverage for illegal immigrants younger than 26 and over 50 – as well as recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Now, the state is expanding that coverage option to 700,000 undocumented residents in the Golden State between the ages of 26-49 starting January 2024.

Migration continues to surge at the southern border with the third straight month of increased crossings in May.

Thousands of migrants part of a caravan that started in southern Mexico ended their travels toward the U.S. border just two days after setting off when they were handed permits to stay in the country for 30 days.

Mexican officials handed out 3,000 temporary residence permits on Sunday and ended the march of mostly Venezuelans and Central Americans.

The move comes after a United Nations Missing Migrants Project report revealed that more migrants died in 2021 in America than in any other year since it started recording data in 2014.

How many American citizens don’t have health insurance because they can’t afford it? We need to take care of uninsured Americans and veterans before we insure people who are here illegally.

 

It’s Not Good To Mess With Mother Nature

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Over the years, men have done things in the realm of nature that have not exactly worked out as they planned. The Marine Mammals Protection Act of 1972 resulted in a dramatic increase of the seal population off off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. That was a nice gesture to save the seals, but it resulted in an influx of great white sharks in the area because of the increased food supply for the sharks. There is also the example of kudzu, which was introduced to Americans during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 where it was touted as a great ornamental plant for its sweet-smelling blooms and sturdy vines. From the 1930’s to the 1950’s the Soil Conservation Service promoted it as a great tool for soil erosion control and planting it was encouraged throughout the south. Kudzu is now recognized as an invasive plant and has killed multiple trees throughout the southern United States. Gypsy moths came from a scientist in Massachusetts who was trying to breed a more hearty breed of silkworm to create silk for America. A few escaped and have the resulting moths have now gone as far south as New Jersey.  It’s not good to mess with mother nature.

On Wednesday,The Daily Caller reported the following:

Field biologists discovered an 18-foot invasive Burmese python weighing 215 pounds in the Florida Everglades.

Researchers from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida believed their scale was broken when they weighed the beast, as none of them could comprehend a Burmese python would ever grow so huge, National Geographic reported Tuesday. The snake, the largest ever discovered in Florida, was captured using a male scout snake with a GPS tracker attached to it, the outlet continued. Burmese pythons are effectively impossible to spot without scout snakes, according to BroBible.

The article explains that these snakes are not native to Florida. The snakes were probably introduced by pet owners whose pets excaped or who let their pets loose because they got too big. It is frightening to me that they found deer hoof cores inside the animal. Please follow the link to read the entire article for further details.