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Hey, GOP: There’s a museum up in Montgomery y’all really ought to see
MONTGOMERY — You walk out of the fierce summer sun into a shadowy forest of rectangular steel columns, row upon row of them, six or seven feet tall, covered in rust the color of dried blood. It takes a minute to adjust to the dim light. Then you begin to see the names inscribed on […]
Some GOP governors are finally getting a clue on COVID, but not ours
Gold! Florida stands on the top tier of the coronavirus podium: 12,888 in the hospital as of Thursday. We’ve broken our own July 2020 record. Florida now leads the nation in per capita hospitalizations. We’re Number One! Sure, Louisiana beats us in the sheer rate of COVID-19 infections in recent days, but on Thursday, we […]
Experts? We don’t need no experts!
Thank God our governor doesn’t listen to these quote-unquote experts trying to impose their over-educated, evidence-based, warped world view on decent, horoscope-reading, lucky socks-wearing, lottery ticket-buying, chicken entrails-reading Floridians. We’re not dumb, you know. Take the so-called global pandemic. The quote-unquote data show that Florida’s COVID-19 numbers are up 200 percent over the last two […]
To conservatives, history is bunk. ‘All that’s in the past: Why bring it up’?
Ron DeSantis hates our freedoms — and rightfully so. Why should Florida allow eggheads like me to go around teaching impressionable students about, say, the Rosewood Massacre in 1923, when dozens of Black people were tortured and murdered by a white mob in Levy County while law enforcement turned a blind eye. Or maybe that […]
Across Anglo-America, anti-woke crusaders can’t handle history’s complexity
LONDON — People love to tour the stately homes of England, imagining themselves taking tea in the library at Highclere Castle (the real Downton Abbey) or sporting a tiara at a Bridgerton-style ball in some Palladian mansion, just as they like to relish the gracious plantation houses of the South: Oak Alley in Louisiana, Brandon […]
Some countries are better than others at confronting their dark histories
LONDON — The United States is not alone in struggling with the endemic racism of its past — and present. The United Kingdom is also trying to reckon with the way much of its empire was built on slavery. Britain has its own Black Lives Matter movement and, even during the coronavirus pandemic, this diverse […]
Regarding critical race theory: Can we talk about American history like grown ups?
Florida State University’s new president will be Richard McCullough of Harvard. Probably. The state Board of Governors must still ratify his selection when they meet in late June, and while it’s unlikely they’ll put forth another candidate, it’s not impossible. They are political animals, and higher education in Florida — as in other red states […]
Richard Corcoran is not FSU president material, in part because he’s an enemy of public education
Florida State University’s Presidential Search Committee has refused to put Florida’s irascible Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran on its short list. He should never have been on any list. He’s not FSU president material. FSU is a public institution. Corcoran’s an enemy of public education, an ardent supporter of school vouchers. He graduated from a private […]
DeSantis and his confederates in FL’s GOP Legislature: They don’t care about bettering the state
Every year, I think the Florida Legislature can’t get any worse. Every year, I’m wrong. Let’s start with the hypocrisy. Republicans used to embrace local government, piously insisting that government closest to the people is best, and that “Tallahassee” doesn’t know what St. Pete, Palatka, or Palm Beach need. But now that city and county […]
Notes on the rise and fall of the Anglo-Saxon Caucus and its Florida fellow travelers
“America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.” — America First Caucus You may have heard that some of the most MAGA-ty of the congressional MAGA types — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Duelling Banjos; Paul Gosar, R-Trump Tower; plus our own Matt Gaetz, […]
U.S. Rep Gaetz epitomizes the present state of the state of FL: cocky, clueless, and in a heap of trouble
Matt Gaetz is not a prince among men. OK, maybe since he’s been accused of having sex with a 17 year-old, you might call him a Prince Andrew. Definitely not a Prince Charming. But even Prince Andrew didn’t go around showing naked pictures of women (one reportedly deploying a hula hoop) and bragging about bedding […]
Think every citizen has the right to vote? Not around here
Voting: It’s not for everyone. The Founding Fathers only wanted some of us to vote, not all of us, and who are we to question rich, white, slave-holding gents from the 18th century? To that end, the Republican Party is working overtime to make it much, much harder for the wrong sort to go around […]