Even Trump throws shade on Florida's plan to stop vaccinating school children. Also, the golfer-in-chief must pay $83 million
Tropic Press brings discerning readers on Florida's Left Coast original and shared reporting and commentary on issues that matter to you
Even Trump disses Florida vax plan
A plan to make Florida the first state in the nation to eliminate childhood vaccinations has resulted in an explosion of opposition, especially from the medical community, but also from a prominent Florida resident, Donald Trump.
Want another polio epidemic? Want to see hundreds of children trapped in iron lungs like the bad old days? Stop immunizing kids. That’s how it begins.
Gov. Ron DeSantis gleefully stood by Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo as he announced the proposal last week, a sure-fire crowd-pleaser for the MAGA anti-vax, anti-science cabal.
But MAGA’s leader—Trump—this weekend cast a jaundiced eye on the terrifying idea:
“Look, you have some vaccines that are so amazing. The polio vaccine, I happen to think is amazing. A lot of people think that Covid is amazing. You know, there are many people that believe strongly in that, but you have some vaccines that are so incredible. And I think you have to be very careful when you say that some people don’t have to be vaccinated.”
The “many people” Trump referred to are actual doctors who understand the science of disease prevention.
I’ve published this quote before, but it bears reprinting. It’s from Sandra Adamson Fryholder, trustee of the A.M.A.
“The American Medical Association strongly opposes Florida’s plan to end all vaccine mandates, including those required for school attendance. This unprecedented rollback would undermine decades of public health progress and place children and communities at increased risk for diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, and chickenpox resulting in serious illness, disability, and even death. While there is still time, we urge Florida to reconsider this change to help prevent a rise of infectious disease outbreaks that put health and lives at risk.”
There is a bit of hopeful news here. Much of what Ladapo wants to do would require approval from the state Legislature. Where do our lawmakers stand on this? The Miami Herald reached out for comment, but, with few exceptions, replies from Republican legislators weren’t illuminating.
However, one high profile Florida Republican, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, wasn’t so timid:
“Florida already has a good system that allows families to opt out based on religious and personal beliefs, which balances our children’s health and parents’ rights,” Scott told Axios.
Who will do the work?
Florida employers are worried.
If President Donald Trump deports hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, Haitians and other immigrants employed by businesses around the state, who will do the work?
Last week, Trump’s administration announced plans to terminate the TPS program. That stands for Temporary Protective States and it is a program for immigrants that allows them to remain in the United States to work.
Were this decision to stand, literally hundreds of thousands of jobs would be vacated as these refugees from the Caribbean and South and Central America would either “self-deport” or be rounded up by I.C.E. agents.
Fortunately, a federal judge in San Francisco put that decision on hold. But whether that will hold up on appeal is an open question.
As the Sun-Sentinel reports:
The administration’s aggressive move to terminate TPS programs for Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans, Hondurans and Nicaraguans is stirring concerns in the business community at large and in the agriculture, construction, manufacturing, hospitality and transportation industries about how big a hole a mass exodus of immigrants might create in South Florida’s labor supply.
“All of these industries rely on lower-cost labor to survive,” said Keith Costello, president and CEO of Fort Lauderdale-based Locality Bank in Fort Lauderdale, which has a large clientele of small business operators. “These are not typically jobs filled by our American workforce.”
Costello said he is hearing concerns from an array of business owners.
“Nobody is against sending criminals back,” he said of Trump’s original pledge to expel offenders from foreign countries. “Getting criminals out of the country — everybody applauds that.
“But people who are here holding down jobs supporting families — honest hardworking people — let them continue to work here,” he added. “Honestly, we need them.”
The complete report by reporter David Lyons is here.
Can you outlaw rainbows?
Gov. Ron DeSantis is on the warpath to save us from rainbows and other symbols of dreadful wokeness.
Florida Phoenix columnist Diane Roberts takes exception:
Just as he has fought to expel books by Black and gay authors from our schools, the governor has ordered FDOT to paint over the flowers, the sunbursts, the fish, the musical notes, and the rainbows — especially the rainbows.
We want guns in our streets, not rainbows.
Speaking of guns, one of the first crosswalks to be destroyed was the one outside the Pulse Memorial.
Read her full commentary here:
Poisoning a legacy
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis entered office as an environmental hero in some quarters because of his support for Everglades restoration.
Writes Jason Garcia:
The most important moment of Florida’s 2018 governor’s race came when Donald Trump endorsed Ron DeSantis during the primary election. The U.S. president and MAGA movement leader essentially carried DeSantis, then a little-known Congressman from northeast Florida, past a Big Sugar-backed Republican rival who began the campaign much better known and far better funded.
But the second-most important moment may have been when the Everglades Trust — one of the guardians of Florida’s famed River of Grass — decided to side with DeSantis in the closing weeks of the general election campaign.
The shock endorsement over DeSantis’ Democratic opponent — in which the leader of the Everglades group labeled DeSantis a “hero” who would stand up to the sugar industry — helped DeSantis morph from Donald Trump toady in the primary to “Teddy Roosevelt Republican” in the general, where he ultimately eked out a victory by fewer than 40,000 votes.
Now that legacy is being polluted by DeSantis’s own actions.
Read Jason Garcia’s commentary here:
Trump must pay
A federal appeals court today ruled that Florida resident and current president Donald Trump must pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million, upholding a lower court verdict awarding her damages for Trump’s repeated social media attacks.
Those defamatory remarks followed a trial in which Trump was found liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a New York department store dressing room.
Parting Shot
J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida. Share this email with your friends. They will love you for it.
Thanks to our sponsor
Today’s report is brought to you by Tropic Press Books, home of The Strange Files. Interested in sponsoring these reports? Contact: Advertising@Tropic.Press
It’s good to share
Tropic Press is a reader-supported publication. Here’s a big shout-out to all our loyal subscribers. Feel free to forward this email to your friends so they can enjoy it too. The more people we reach, the greater community of like-minded people we build. This is your chance to be part of all that. Thanks!