Opinion
In his November 8 victory speech in Tampa Governor Ron DeSantis said: “Freedom is here to stay.…we chose facts over fear, education over indoctrination, law and order over rioting and disorder.”
Governor DeSantis rightfully pointed out that Democrats have discarded American beliefs: “The survival of the American experiment requires a revival of true American principles. Florida has proved it can be done.…we fight the woke in the legislature, the schools, and the corporations. We will never surrender to the woke mob … Florida is where woke goes to die.”
A small vocal contingent of Fernandina Beach leftist supporters of City Commission candidates Genece Minshew (Fernandina Pride president) and Mike Lednovich (BLM supporter and California transplant), berserk with rage, don’t want to hear any of it. They want to squelch the free speech of anyone holding viewpoints contrary to their own. They demand that anyone disagreeing with them be vilified and censored.
They and their supporters go into apoplectic rages when confronted with concepts they find distasteful such as the defense of Judeo-Christian religious faith and traditional family values; patriotism and respect for the American flag; the right to bear arms; smaller government and less government regulations; voter ID; less clout for organized labor; property rights and lower taxes; stable levels of immigration; respect and support for the U.S. military and local police; parental rights in education; support for the preservation of historical monuments, among other traditional American principles and conservative values that made America an exceptional and unique country.
The two local leftist City Commission candidates – Minshew and Lednovich – promote the bizarre neurosis of transgender activism; speech codes; racial and gender quotas; open borders and the shielding of illegal immigrants; flagrant assaults on the realities of American history; the radicalization of our educational system to embrace leftist political indoctrination rather than learning; gender-free public restrooms and prepubescent transgender rights. They and their supporters are psychotic in the causes they endorse and support.
They publicly preach their far-left rubbish, then refuse to admit they did so as the December 13 election day draws closer, hoping no one will notice.
For example, the Nassau County chapter of County Citizens Defending Freedom (CCDF) provided a questionnaire to every candidate running for the City Commission. Minshew and Lednovich were the only two candidates that refused to answer any of the questions. In addition, they refused to respond to the media when asked why they wouldn’t answer. They didn’t return phone calls or emails, nothing…..crickets.
Lednovich parades up and down Centre Street wearing a Black Lives Matter sandwich board while Minshew has stated publicly to others that she wants to make Fernandina Beach a gay vacation destination and is OK with drag queen story time for children. All of this has since been scrubbed from their social media accounts.
A couple of weeks ago Lednovich, took a public stance on the LGBTQ+ issue by unilaterally presenting Minshew, president of Fernandina Pride, with an official city proclamation of Transgender Remembrance Day in Fernanda Beach.
You can read what a disaster these two radicals would be for the city if elected by going to the most recent CCDF site and reading its latest newsletter at CCDFUSA – Nassau [email protected]>
Why won’t these two extremists confirm or deny their radical views on the CCDF questionnaire? Doesn’t their refusal to answer the questions confirm their agreement?
Following are some of the questions the leftist Minshew-Lednovich duo refused to provide a simple “yes” or “no” answer to:
- Should a biological male identifying in his mind as a female be allowed to use the City’s women’s restroom?
- Should biological boys identifying as girls be allowed to play on city-sponsored girl’s teams?
- Do you support Black Lives Matter ideologically?
- Would you support the city positioning itself in promotional material as a Gay Vacation Destination?
The Duval County School Board just severed its ties to a LGBTGTIA group for reasons you can read about by clicking here https://www.citizensjournal.net/duval-county-school-board-cancels-contract-with-lgbtqtia-group/
Is Minshew’s Fernandina Beach organization associated with that organization?
The December 13 Fernandina Beach runoff election depends on rational and sane citizens voting and convincing their neighbors and friends to turn out to vote for Darron Ayscue and Dr. James Antun.
Local firefighter Ayscue (Minshew’s opponent) and Dr. Antun (Lednovich’s opponent) both answered those questions saying they were in opposition. These two family men also responded to all other questions on the questionnaire that Minshew and Lednovich refused to answer.
Firefighter Ayscue is president of the local firefighters union and has been a critic of the city’s mismanaged budgeting and advocates a millage reduction. He and his wife, Michelle, and their two children are lifelong residents of Fernandina.
Dr. Antun and his Chiropractor wife, Jayde, jointly operate a Fernandina chiropractic clinic and are proud new parents. Dr. Antun is an articulate public speaker with traditional family values who promotes strict budgetary discipline.
Folks that want to help these two can contact Antun at [email protected] or (516) 547-5309 while Ayscue can be reached at [email protected] or (904) 591-3647.
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“SHUT UP!” They Explain: How extreme and out of step with the family values of the majority of Nassau County and Fernandina residents are Minshew and Lednovich and their supporters?
The duo’s supporters vehemently expressed their anger and indignation on this site’s commentary and online the past couple of weeks. They want to squelch the free speech of anyone holding viewpoints opposite of theirs and actually suggested that criticism of them or their beliefs is a form of violence.
Some of the comments on this site by this duo’s supporters were so profane and vile they were deleted. Their vile language mimics exactly what they accuse me of writing.
They vented their radicalized fury, dishonesty, and hysteria coupled with a venomous attitude by disagreeing with the content of my commentary here November 18: Two Fernandina Beach City Commission Candidates Actively Promoting Programs Designed To Sexualize Local Children .
Facts, logic, and rational thoughts are alien concepts to this crowd that collectively assailed this blog’s content without providing a single substantive fact to back up their feverish vitriol. The site was heaped with abuse by these frenzied extremists for repeating what Fernandina Pride President Genece Minshew and Black Lives Matter supporter Mike Lednovich have previously stated publicly and posted online.
Radical Commission candidates Minshew and Lednovich are darlings of this leftist crowd and are adored and endorsed by the Nassau County Democrat Club, which is aiding in their campaigns. They say that my criticism of them labels me a hater, a homophobe, and more. This frenzied crew wants to squelch the free speech of anyone expressing a viewpoint contrary to theirs.
One of the cowardly choleric critics who posted anonymously several times under the name “Alana” repeatedly said she was a “Christian” while labeling me a hater and ironically proclaiming in her Christian approach: “I DO NOT judge people.” She said my comments are: “Exactly why gay/lesbian/trans are raped, murdered, and attacked.” She concluded her tirade saying that my comments are: “…sickening BS and untrue” without providing a single factual example to back up her nonjudgmental “Christian” sermonizing.
In fact, not one of these crazed family values vandals provided a single fact, just empty, mindless rhetorical assaults without a shred of evidence to back up their vitriol. They didn’t address one question on the CCDF questionnaire or explain why their candidates refused to respond.
One of the most furious was a guy named Mike Collins, who accused me of being complicit in the Colorado Springs gay club murders and concluded asking: “Why don’t you wait until the facts come out before placing the blame?” Perhaps Mr. Collins was asking himself a rhetorical question.
With no original thought processes or facts to back up their accusations and empty bombast, they feed off each other’s shrillness. A commenter named Libby Drury confirmed that when she chimed in saying: “This is the type of speech that makes right wing extremists go into clubs and kill people.” WOW!
I was bluntly told by someone named Mary Libby about my commentary that: “This is hate speech. Cease and desist.”
By the way, it might interest Mr. Collins and Ms. Drury that the homicidal lunatic that shot up the gay nightclub in Colorado Springs told police that he identifies as nonbinary, and his preferred pronoun is “they.” A news report of the incident referred to the homicidal nutcase shooter as “their” and “they,” thus giving me a headache while reading it.
And it gets even nuttier. A recent Facebook posting from a local parent asked Fernandina Pride President Minshew (and I’m not making this up) the following: “I need to know my daughter’s feelings are validated and accepted of being a cat. When she met a fellow trans at the Fernandina Pride event at the playground something was sparked inside of her.”
He asked Minshew if she supported “transspecies rights” and Minshew responded saying: “Yes, we were very happy to give them a safe space to be themselves.” This kid doesn’t need a safe place to be a cat, the kid needs a psychiatrist and the parent needs a visit from the Florida Department of Children and Families.
In the Mel Brooks movie “High Anxiety” there’s a scene (pictured here) where a young woman’s father, who is confined to the “Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous” for believing he’s a dog, is shown clinging to the psychiatrist’s leg. A dog bed, leashes, water bowl, and a chew bone, are shown in the background. It’s a hilarious slapstick spoof of Alfred Hitchcock movies. The Minshew-Lednovich crowd probably think it’s a fact-based documentary.
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Vote Like Your Future Depends On It Because It Does: No one cares what consenting adults do in their own homes, but they do care when homosexuality, pride parades and perversion are openly flaunted in public parks and streets.
The majority of folks hereabouts are opposed to children’s events brandished by grown men wearing lingerie, wigs, and garish makeup, aka drag queens, who think it’s acceptable to read their sexual rubbish to elementary school children. Folks protesting and condemning these public displays are called homophobic, transphobic, bigots, racist and more by left-wing gender ideology zealots.
Following is one of the milder examples of what elementary age kids are exposed to at these drag queen story hours: “If you’re a drag queen and you know it, let it show by winking, shaking your bum, laughing real big, twirling around, and more!” The online review tells the kids: “Join a cast of fabulous drag queens as you sing along to the tune of ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’ in this playful celebration of expressing your brightest and boldest self. A perfect companion to The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish written by a board member of Drag Queen Story Hour. This book is recommended for ages 4-7.” Geez Louise could it get much crazier?
Do Fernandina Beach residents want their children and grandchildren subjected to this kind of garbage?
The only local news outlet to cover the outrageous antics of the Minshew and Lednovich campaign and the behavior of its far-left supporters has been the newly launched Florida Citizens Journal. Last week it ran a column by national author and educator Paul D. White the co-author of “Saving Our Youth, One Kid at a Time” (Random House), and “Bible Morals for Children – A Parent’s Guide.”
Mr. White details how there are no evidence-based practices that support gender identity education in public schools and the harm drag queen story hours can do at the elementary level. His column can be read by clicking https://www.citizensjournal.net/drag-queen-story-hours-not-normal-not-harmless/#comment-1816
The News Leader has ignored the two radical candidates’ far-left positions and this past Wednesday ran a letter (We are better than this, Nov. 30, 2022) attacking me for my recent blog commentaries critical of the Minshew-Lednovich campaigns and their supporters’ claptrap.
The letter writer, Jordan Morris, labeled my comments “hate filled, alarmist, vicious, juvenile, lazy, reprehensible, unchristian, preposterous, scathing, weak, and short-sighted.” Whew! He also accused me of “bashing and libeling two left-leaning candidates” and “going on to belligerently condemn the LGBTQ+ community in an alarmist diatribe, blah blah, blah.”
The lengthy letter, which probably exhausted the writer’s Thesaurus, didn’t provide a single substantive fact to back up the accusations and name calling. Not one. Zero. Zip. Nothing.
What the letter writer did do, however, was increase the readership of this blog and for that I thank both the News Leader and Mr. Morris.
The News Leader also failed to identify Morris, as a member of Ms. Minshew’s Fernandina Pride organization’s group leadership team.
As of this date the News Leader has not covered the CCDF questionnaire or the fact Minshew and Lednovich refused to answer any of the questions on it. Why not?
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Hey Brother, Can You Spare $300 Million? The disheveled chubby little thieving nerd, Samuel Bankman-Fried, snatched an additional $300 million from bankrupt FTX as he walked out the door, money raised from outside investors just a few months before he crashed the company.
According to Reuters’ sources, Bankman-Fried also “secretly transferred $10 billion of customer funds from FTX to Bankman-Fried’s trading company Alameda Research.”
“A large portion of that total has since disappeared,” reports Reuters. “One source put the missing amount at about $1.7 billion. The other said the gap was between $1 billion and $2 billion.”
It’s estimated that up to $70 million went to Democrat politicians who are scrambling to cover up the cash before the new GOP Congress is sworn in next month.
Who invests money so carelessly into a crazy scheme run by a leftist fruit cake? Other leftist fruitcakes maybe? And why is this thief still walking around and not in jail?
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Thinking Out Loud: Some of the highest performing public schools in the U.S. are public charter schools with student bodies that are overwhelmingly black and Latino.
If racial diversity is so essential to classroom learning , as the left claims, then how do children in countries with essentially no such diversity such as Japan and South Korea, regularly outperform American students on international tests? And why do Democrats and the Biden administration make racial balance such a high priority and fight against neighborhood charter schools? Could it be contributions from Teacher Unions that fund their campaigns that see charter schools as a threat?
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said recently: “Who’s the most likely to take this republic down? It would be the teacher’s unions, and the filth that they are teaching our kids.” He singled out Teacher’s Union President Randi Weingarten as “….the most dangerous person in the world.”
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Overheard At PJD’s Beer & Wine Garden: “If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?”
Republished with the author’s permission. Read The Dave Scott Blog– subscribe Free
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida