Opinion
By Dave Scott, 5-17-24
Florida’s residents don’t dare get too close to the state line for fear of being trampled by refugees fleeing Democrat state controlled hellholes to take up safe residence in the sunshine state.
Floridians watch in disbelief as residents of California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan etc. are terrorized by antisemitic pro-Hamas, anti-American groups chanting “Death to Jews” and “Death to America while having their highways blocked, campuses disrupted, Jewish citizens attacked, taxes raised, crime rampage, tax payer-funded facilities opened to illegal aliens, and overall chaos spread throughout their communities.
As a result of the exodus from those Democrat run asylums, Florida’s Republican voter registration numbers are booming exponentially. Republicans in Florida are registering at a rate 20 times higher than Democrats since the 2018 midterm elections and now hold the biggest advantage in voter registration either major party has held in almost four decades.
Election data through April shows the Republicans just surpassed a major milestone with an 851,417-voter registration lead over Democrats and still growing.
Florida is certainly not a swing state and probably no longer in play in national elections.
In Nassau County as of March 1, there were 46,604 registered Republicans, 13,023 Democrats and 14,223 No Party Affiliation. Oops, make that 46,605 Republicans as Fernandina City Commission candidate Genece Minshew, who for reasons she has not yet explained, dropped her Democrat registration and registered as a Republican in May. Maybe she’ll explain it all at the next public forum and tell voters if she had an epiphany.
Newsweek magazine reports that the arrival of more conservative transplants from the Northeast and Midwest to Florida as well as Republican gains among Hispanic voters account for the Republicans’ surge in the state.
Is it any wonder why Democrat state residents are fleeing? In addition to its myriad of problems, California’s state auditor just announced that his state spent $24 billion the past five years to address the homeless problem but has no idea where any of that money went or what impact it has had.
National Review reports that roughly 30 percent of the country’s homeless population lives in California. Why not? In San Francisco it’s “happy hour” all day long. Homeless alcoholics there can drink their troubles away at taxpayer expense thanks to the city government’s generosity with its residents’ money. That city is providing free beer and vodka shots to homeless alcoholics at taxpayer expense under a little-known pilot program. I’m not making this stuff up.
In addition to no-nonsense Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida county sheriffs like Nassau County’s Bill Leeper and Polk County’s Grady Judd are building reputations as plain-speaking lawmen, who have zero tolerance for law breakers, no matter where they come from.
One, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, has a message for those fleeing blue state hellholes and wanting to bring their leftist politics to the Sunshine State: “Go back to where you came from.”
“My message is clear,” said Sherriff Marceno. “If you think you can deal poison and commit crime, stay clear of Lee County and the great state of Florida. We’re ready, and we will absolutely find you, hunt you down, and charge you to the full extent of the law.”
Florida Is thriving and attracting thousands of new businesses and residents because of its no-nonsense sheriffs and its zero-tolerance Governor DeSantis’s commitment to shut down illegal protests before they impede the rights of others.
Both the University of Florida and University of South Florida campuses were cleared of unlawful agitators, folks arrested, students suspended, and sanity restored by their uncompromising presidents.
Protestors recently attempting to shut down Miami’s port were quickly met with both the local police and state troopers and arrested before any disruptions could take place.
Meanwhile in Orlando state troopers confronted a clownish crowd calling itself “Queers For Palestine” who were trying to block the entrance to Disney World on Mother’s Day. They were rounded-up and arrested in just 11 minutes, about ten minutes longer than their life expectancy would be in Gaza.
According to several news reports their chants of “from the river to the sea” were met with honks, angry shouts and at least one confrontation with drivers who were having none of it.
Governor DeSantis is demonstrating to the nation that the difference between chaos and order is a choice. And blue-state residents fed-up with the crazed antics of the Democrat loons running their states are choosing Florida?
(Editor’s note: An abridged version of the above column appeared Thursday, May 16, in the national BizPacReview at Conservatives fleeing Democrat asylums stampeding to Florida (bizpacreview.com)
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Local Bean Bonanza: Florida District 4 U.S. Congressman Aaron Bean, who represents Nassau County, is adamant about the national college mayhem.
Local News Leader newspaper conservative columnist Steve Nicklas reported this week (DeSantis proactive on Florida college campuses, Wednesday, May 15) on Bean’s opinion opposing the racist, antisemitic crap taking place on out-of-control U.S. college campuses. “It’s evil,” said Congressman Bean. “We can’t tolerate even the smallest acts of antisemitism.”
We’re fortunate indeed to be represented by this native Fernandina Congressman and his son, Bradley, who currently serves as Fernandina’s mayor on the City Commission.
Rational thinking Nassau County and Fernandina Beach residents should be as grateful as hungry cowboys sitting around a campfire meal at the end of a cattle-driving-day thinking: “Thank goodness for these beans!”
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The Lunatic Fringe Lives Amongst Us: Years ago, when I was a daily newspaper reporter, my newsroom colleagues and I would joke about the extremist “Letter to the Editor” writers we considered “over the top” and jokingly labelled: “The lunatic fringe.”
There was no reasoning with these folks. They were filled with radicalized fury, dishonesty, hysteria, and abuse along with venomous attitudes that anyone disagreeing with them should be vilified and destroyed, probably both.
The local Fernandina News Leader has several regulars that meet the lunatic fringe criteria, but a newcomer to LF group appears to be Andrea Mateer. Ms. Mateer was triggered into an irate hysterical letter-to-the-editor writing frenzy Friday, May 10, (There is no room for politics at Shrimp Fest) by a float in the annual Fernandina Shrimp Festival parade. She wrote that she “was appalled to see a truck proudly flying a Trump flag in its bed.” She added that the “crowd around me grew angry when seeing the American flag and the Trump flag together.” She went on to write: “This whole political statement was inappropriate.”
Really, Ms. Mateer? Based on your logic not one of the Fernandina Beach City Commissioners, Nassau County Commissioners, local U.S. Congressmen, Governor Ron DeSantis, state representatives or state senators, or any other elected or unelected official running for office or their surrogates this year should have been allowed to participate. Not even Joe Biden. And local high schools and their flags, the Pride group and its flag, the local Pirates and their Skull & Crossbones flag should also be banned if they also fly the American flag. Is that right Ms. Mateer? Would you and the alleged “angry crowd around you” have reacted differently if it were a Biden banner in the bed of that truck?
There are only two reason the News Leader would publish such a letter: 1- They agree with it or 2- it wanted to embarrass the writer and her family.
Ms. Mateer’s letter perfectly defines the term “lunatic fringe.”
I sent the above comments to the News Leader. They didn’t acknowledge receiving it and have not yet printed it. I doubt they will. However, Friday, May 17, it did publish a letter from a Daniel Wilkinson agreeing with Ms. Mateer’s irrational rant.
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Speaking Of Absurdities: The realities of intellectual hypocrisy spouted by lunatics are popping up everywhere. Asian students are forced to sue colleges and universities for fair admissions because they aren’t considered “appropriate” minorities. Gay and lesbian people who don’t agree that a man can become a woman and vice versa are castigated as “not queer enough.” Jews, the world’s most oppressed people in history, are attacked both verbally and physically on campuses as “oppressors.” And the eye-popping stupidity of lunatics carrying sign declaring themselves “Queers for Palestine” is beyond comprehension.
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Speaking Of Narrow-Minded Nitwits: While protesting loons hold serious students hostage, prevent and disrupt graduation ceremonies, attack Jewish students, destroy and deface school property, and do the bidding of professional agitators, an oblivious Joe Biden is once again attempting to bribe the disruptors with student loan forgiveness. Last time around the Supreme Court ordered Mr. Magoo to knock it off, but he has shuffled back mumbling and slurring more of the same nonsense.
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Have Parents Finally Had Enough? Violent protestors, unsafe campuses, cancelled classes and graduation ceremonies, combined with spineless and cowardly college presidents and their impotent administrators and radical professors have pushed many parents to the breaking point. Reports of wealthy parents demanding full refunds and cutting off donations to the universities their kids attend are plentiful and increasing. Based on the current campus chaos many families are also questioning the value and hefty price of a college education. Some desperate parents have hired private security to protect their kids while on campus. They are demanding full refunds and yanking their kids out of these pricey out-of-control nuthouses.
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Monkey See Monkey Do Department: Why haven’t the protesting students, the professional agitators and university instructors demanded that tax payers feed, house, and cloth them? It worked for BLM, Antifa, etc. in California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, and New York. Maybe that’s one of the reasons rational folks there are moving to Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and other soberly governed red states in droves.
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History Repeating Itself: In the early 1930s, universities in Germany permitted Jewish students and professors to be harassed, intimidated, and excluded by campus Nazis. This is exactly what is happening today at Columbia, UCLA, MIT, NYU, etc. Meanwhile Joe Biden says nothing, not a whimper. Why do Jewish people vote for Democrats when only Republicans speak up on their behalf? It’s unexplainable.
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Things I Recently Read: “Capitalism is often depicted as greed-based and selfish. In truth, it is marvelously, almost miraculously, cooperative, and mutually beneficial. If you want to do something about the poor, do something to make them more valuable to other people. We’re all of value because of what we provide to other people – through markets. The thing about markets is each person has to give in order to receive.” – Dr. Vernon L. Smith, 97-year-old economist and Noble Prize winner in the June 2024 issue of National Review.
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Textbook Brouhaha: The Nassau County chapter of Citizens Defending Freedom (CDF) is objecting to the Nassau County School District’s plans for what it says are “objectionable new proposed social studies textbooks”. For more details on why see the detailed article in the online Northeast Citizens Journal Florida at: Why Should YOU Get Involved in Nassau Schools Textbook/Curriculum Situation? – Citizens Journal Florida.
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.