Opinion
By Dave Scott, 11-10-23
When Hamas barbarians attacked Jewish communities in Israel October 7, killing, raping, beheading, and burning 1,400 and kidnapping 240, the Fernandina Beach Pride group remained silent.
Yet because one person in Massachusetts was killed in 1999 in a still unsolved incident this local crowd demanded this week that the Fernandina Beach City Commission issue a proclamation “honoring transgender victims who were murdered because of their gender identity.”
They demanded that Fernandina Mayor Bradley Bean issue a proclamation about this isolated 1999 incident on the exact day (November 7) of the one month anniversary (October 7) of the slaughter of 1,400 people in Israel who were murdered precisely because of their identity – Jewish.
The slaughter of 1,400 people and kidnapping of more than 200, who may have family, friends, or acquaintances hereabouts, didn’t merit a peep from this radical group of locals who allege that they speak for oppressed gender-identity minorities. How does the pride crowd explain its lack of sympathy for Jewish victims of terrorism massacred only because of their identity?
Fernandina Beach Mayor Bradley Bean did the right thing by refusing to read the proclamation submitted to him. It would have been a dishonorable display by the city and a lack of sympathy for the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust.
An article by a biased reporter with the fortunate name of Julia Roberts in the print News leader today, Friday November 10, stated that the purpose of the proposed proclamation, but failed to mentioned that the unsolved death of the transgendered person occurred in Massachusetts 24 years ago and not in Fernandina Beach as Roberts implied in her slanted piece. She also conveniently failed to mentioned that no motive has ever been determined by the police.
Mayor Bean deserves credit for refusing to issue the proclamation. He didn’t bow to pressure from a small minority concerning a disputed out-of-state death and make a statement that serves no purpose other than furthering a local minority group’s agenda while ignoring the recent massacre of 1,400 Jews.
Local attorney James Bruner calmly and logically spoke out in support of the mayor’s decision while a trio of the usual suspects took the mayor to task for declining the reading.
Despite the mayor’s reasonable stand, outlier and bellowing blowhard, Commissioner Chip Ross, volunteered to read the proclamation from a podium in front of the Commission. The next day his local comrade in chaos and controversy, California transplant Mike Lednovich, a pretend reporter for the pretend online sight-impaired news outlet Observer, penned a biased piece of blather headlined “Division and Insults Mar Solemn Proclamation.” Mike Phillips, a newcomer to the area who publishes this tripe, agreed as he permitted the Lednovich rubbish to appear.
City Commissioner Darron Ayscue is to be commended for calling this misguided group out correctly saying: “I will not support this proclamation. I believe this proclamation silences, out of fear, part of our community who is going to be labeled transphobic because they speak out on this proclamation. This proclamation also instills fear of a cancel culture. And, for those individuals who are scared to speak up, and many of them have spoken to me, I’m using my voice to speak for them.”
Does the local pride group understand that if the murderous Hamas savages ever got their hands on them they would be equally, if not more vicious? If the Islamic terrorists in Gaza were asked to read this crowd’s proclamation to their pals what do they think the response would be? Where’s the local pride group’s outrage about the Islamist attitudes and attacks toward their LGBTQ comrades in the Middle East?
Ignorant, and ill-informed are terms too feeble to explain the local pride crowd’s lack of empathy with 1,400 terrorist victims. This pathetic crowd was too busy pressuring the City Commission to read a proclamation bemoaning the unsolved mysterious death of one person in Massachusetts 24 years ago, that has no relationship to this area and whose death is still being investigated and its motive questioned.
It is outrageous that this group that believes that people can be any sex they want to be, is attempting to bully the city into believing it as well. Anyone who thinks that a person can change their genes on a whim or a wish, or a man can become a woman or vice versa by taking pills or surgery is, objectively, either ill-informed or delusional. They can’t. A man is a man and, a woman is a woman.
It’s unfortunate that a person in Massachusetts, who may have also believed he could change his sex was killed, no matter the reason. But it isn’t cause for Fernandina Beach, 1,500 miles from the scene of that alleged incident, to issue a proclamation.
I’m not Jewish but am more than shocked that the Fernandina community hasn’t spoken out against these terrorist barbaric acts in Israel and condemned the antisemitism sweeping across U.S. college campuses. Why not?
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Trio Of Twits: Black Lives Matter supporter Mike Lednovich, tactless City Commissioner Chip Ross, and sight-impaired Observer Publisher Mike Phillips are a local trio that practice being unlikeable.
These three insisted that the city consider a proclamation concerning an issue that I’ve never once heard anyone hereabouts voice concern about and is still being disputed in the Massachusetts community where it took place, 1,500 miles from Fernandina Beach.
Lednovich leads this parade of dolts. In addition, his recent despicable doxing of local firefighter and City Commissioner Darron Ayscue in an Observer article demonstrates his ignorance and utter disdain for the community’s first responders.
What kind of warped mindset do you need to ignore the atrocities committed against children, women, the elderly, or anyone else yet concentrate your efforts on a mysterious death with no proven motive or perpetrator and then reveal personal information about one of our local firefighters?
Following is a letter I sent to Fernandina Police Chief Jeffrey Tambasco:
Chief Tambasco:
Having Mike Lednovich in any position in the city – paid or volunteer – is a disgrace. He intentionally publicly identified (doxed) a local emergency first responder. There are severe penalties for doing that.
I’m requesting that you remove him from serving as a “safety officer” and ask him to discontinue wearing a cap falsely identifying himself as a member of the Fernandina Beach Police Department.
As you probably already know doxing, or publishing a first responder’s sensitive identifying information, like their address, phone number, name, and more, is an effort to target that individual for harassment. Doxing a person is a means of bullying, retribution, or another motive that can result in severe consequences for the victim.
I also suggest that a letter be sent to Mike Phillips, who operates the “Observer,” the outlet used in this doxing incident, asking him to cease any further doxing actions.
Best regards,
Dave Scott
In a comment on this site last week an alert reader revealed that Commissioner Ayscue has legal grounds to bring charges against Lednovich for his reckless actions. He explained that “doxing” is short for “dropping dox (documents). It generally entails publishing on a public forum private “documents” or information about an individual.
According to his commentator “doxing” itself is not a crime – what it can lead to or what it represents can be criminally charged. For example, cyberstalking is illegal in Florida and codified in Florida Statute § 784.048(1)(d). Cyberstalking is classified as a first-degree misdemeanor and is punishable by up to 12 months of incarceration and a $1,000 fine.
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Pollcat! Results for the last week’s poll asking: “Should first responders personal information such as home addresses, phone numbers, etc. be made public?” was skewed by one individual.
Without this person the poll would have been “Yes” – 1 and “No” – 49 rather than 73 no votes and 49 yes votes. When it was discovered that one person was skewing the poll it was discontinued.
Every one of the “Yes” answers were submitted by one person using an automatic method of voting. The answers were in bunches, with each bunch about one minute or so apart, and sometimes at the exact same time.
This person is someone that has access to several host servers and is in the technology business. We are close to identifying the individual and until that happens there will not be any further polls. Once he person’s identity is known it will be made public.
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If You Thought The Ford Pinto Was Dangerous – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet! The Australian government has issued an official safety alert for ferries carrying electrical vehicles to raise awareness of the dangers posed by fires.
Their alert risks associated with fires on boats carrying onboard electric vehicles include:
- High voltage shocks
- Direct jet flames
- Fires develop in intensity quickly and rapidly reach their maximum intensity (typically within 2-3 minutes)
- Toxic gases
- Gas explosion (if the released gas accumulates for a while before being ignited)
- Long lasting re-ignition risk (can ignite or re-ignite weeks, or maybe months after the provoking incident)
- Once established fires are difficult to stop/extinguish
These are the same vehicles the U.S. government is endorsing and offering tax rebates to purchase.
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A Salute To Veterans: The American Legion Post 54 of Fernandina Beach will sponsor the downtown Veterans Day parade Saturday, November 11. The parade begins at 11 a.m. traveling from Central Park along Ash Street, then turns onto South Second Street, then east on Centre Street and back to Central Park.
Following the parade, a new brick paver park at the flag area in Central Park will be dedicated by Post 54 officials.
The public is invited to the Post at 626 South 3rd Street for hog dogs and hamburgers and music by Island Vibe from 1-4 p.m. The Honey Badgers will perform at the Post that evening beginning at 7 p.m.
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Local Literary Rock Star: Amelia Island resident Neal Freeman, one of America’s most impressive conservative commentators, who was present at the creation of modern conservatism, will be the speaker at the “We the People” event scheduled Monday, December 4, beginning at 5 p.m. For the location and additional information contact Deb Boelkes at 904-310-9602 or [email protected]. RSVP before November 30. Hurry, as it will be packed.
If you have liberal tendencies don’t let Neal’s credentials frighten you away, as no matter your political persuasion, there’ s much to be gained from this extraordinary man’s insights and first-hand historical observations. Neal’s wit and ability to entertainingly describe American politics are just too much fun to pass up because of ideology.
The author of several books and National Review columns and other commentaries too numerous to mention here, Freeman is the writer we all wish we were and the speaker you wish would just keep going.
He worked side-by-side with the late William F. Buckley for many years, acting as a director of National Review for 38 years; served as that magazine’s Washington editor from 1978-1981; instigated WFB’s notorious TV show Firing Line; produced more than 1,000 nationally televised shows; was an executive with the Hearst Corporation; wrote for The American Spectator, The Weekly Standard, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, among others; founded a chain of weekly newspapers; and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as Director of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He has won a variety of awards for journalistic excellence, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Emmy and, for three consecutive years, the documentary medal of the International Film and Television Festival. He has also produced more than one hundred Presidential television appearances from the White House. He recently retired as chairman of The Blackwell Corporation. an advisory firm that serves clients in the communications, defense and wealth management businesses. Neal’s son, James Freeman, is assistant editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page.
I’ll see you there.
Republished with the author’s permission. Read The Dave Scott Blog– subscribe Free
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
