ASK THE BIRD: Is it true the Legislature won't be banning vaccine mandates? Please say it's so
Got a question? Ask Miss Mingo. She's got answers. She writes every Saturday for Tropic Press.
Editor’s Note: We take a break from hard news every Saturday morning to let Hermina Hermelinda Obregon, a.k.a. Miss Mingo, share her insights with readers. She’s a recovering newspaper reporter living in a bungalow off Duval Street in Key West, where she answers the pressing questions of the day about life, the news, and the best happy hour prices. You can support her bar tab by becoming a paid subscriber.
DEAR MISS MINGO:
Is there any truth to a rumor I heard that the Florida House of Representatives has decided not to take up a bill that would drop vaccination requirements for school children even though it passed in the Senate? And isn’t this a win for science and sanity?
Relieved in Riverview
Dear Relieved:
We need to take our wins where we can find them, so yes. But there are a few caveats we should be aware of.
Here’s the situation:
Gov. Ron DeSantis and his surgeon general, Joe Ladapo, have made a big deal about “medical freedom” and how forcing kids to take life-saving shots is tantamount to “slavery.”
As if taking proven precautions to prevent another polio pandemic were a bad thing.
So, dutifully, Republicans in the Legislature introduced bills to make it easier for parents to exempt their school-age children from vaccine mandates.
Scientists, doctors, other health experts, and anyone with an ounce of gray matter between their ears screamed out in protest, but the state Senate rarely lets facts get in the way of pandering to the delusional MAGA and MAHA cults.
In the House, though, Speaker Daniel Perez has said the bill is dead this session. It hasn’t been moved out of committees and won’t be considered before this year’s regular session of the Legislature ends this month.
The fact that Florida now has the third-highest number of measles outbreaks in the country certainly didn’t make that decision more difficult. Measles is a highly infectious disease and is kind of like the canary in the coal mine when it comes to pandemics: First comes measles, then comes polio—that’s the thinking. It happens when people stop getting vaccinated and herd immunity is weakened.
So, it’s all good that this madness has been stopped in the House.
But this is the Florida Legislature, and this is politics, so never say never.
There is at least one special session of the Legislature planned for later to redraw the boundaries of congressional districts to help Republican candidates, and this session could be extended or another special session added to finish working on the budget. The point being that anything can — and often does — happen whenever the Legislature is meeting.
So, to quote the immortal words that Thomas Jefferson should have said: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
DEAR MISS MINGO:
What do you mean by “should have said?” You mean Thomas Jefferson never actually said those words? That’s not what I learned in school.
Troubled in Tallahassee
Dear Troubled:
Yeah, that quote is frequently attributed to Jefferson, and he did, indeed, say many clever things. But not that.
According to historians, there are several people who did say it, though, notably the liberal activist and abolitionist Wendell Phillips speaking to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1852, to wit:
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few…”
Even Jefferson, ever modest, declined to take credit. As he posted on Facebook:
DEAR MISS MINGO:
Oh, come on. You’re just being silly. We all know Facebook wasn’t around when Jefferson was alive. You’re just testing us, trying to make sure we’re paying attention, admit it.
Cynical in Clearwater.
Dear Cynical:
Well, you caught me. As Abraham Lincoln once said:
DEAR MISS MINGO:
I just heard on the Dave Elliot radio show that Waffle House has banned James Fishback, one of the Republicans running for governor. What’s that about?
Laughing in Largo
Dear Laughing:
Yes, Fishback has posted on Twitter, the social media site that is currently — and ridiculously — calling itself “X,” that he had a deal to visit every Waffle House in Florida as part of his campaign. But they backed out.
We’ve only heard his side of the story as this was written, so details on what prompted Waffle House to change its mind are unclear.
Clever idea, though, on Fishback’s part. It reminded me of how “Walkin’ Lawton” Chiles in 1970 literally traveled the state on foot during his U.S. Senate campaign from Pensacola to Key Largo—a whopping 1,033 miles.
And it worked. He won.
I thought the Waffle House idea was brilliant. But I get why the restaurant chain might have second thoughts about it. Who in their right mind wants to get tangled up in that? Next thing you know, every politician in the state with their hordes of supporters would be showing up at Waffle Houses. How would they ever keep enough batter in stock?
Got a question for Miss Mingo? About life, the news, or clever ways to avoid paying bar tabs? Write to her at MissMingo@Tropic.Press
Hermina Hermelinda Obregon—a.k.a. Miss Mingo—was an award-winning newspaper reporter before she involuntarily joined the diaspora of journalists leaving the newspaper profession. She now lives with her two cats—Deadline and Dateline—and her pet iguana Skippy. If you wander the streets (and bars) of Key West, you’ll doubtless run into her. She’ll be the woman wearing the ridiculous flamingo hat. If you want an autograph, you’ll have to buy her a Cuba Libre. There’s more about her here.
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