Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried will have a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention, the party announced Sunday.

Fried will join 16 other Democratic rising stars to deliver a joint keynote address on Tuesday under the theme “Leadership Matters.” Together, they’ll speak about the Democratic Party’s vision for America and display the faces who are shaping the future of the party.

As the only Florida Democrat to win a statewide race in 2018, Fried will represent the country’s largest swing state in the convention; no other Floridian currently has a speaking role in the festivities. The distinction further solidifies Fried as the de facto leader of the Florida Democratic Party.

...........................

I must say I'm excited about this! Down here in FL I've been watching Nikki spar with DeathSantis. She's been taking him on over his failed COVID response & not being shy about it. Some months ago I started responding to her tweets urging her to run for governor. As noted, she's currently the only statewide-elected Democrat in FL, & (given how things look right now) she could be a real contender for governor in 2022.

I live in a red area of Florida. The neighbors in question are a nice couple, & I've done work for them over the years, most recently installing one of those big natural-gas powered Generac generators with a transfer switch that switches their whole house over to the generator when the power goes out, a very handy thing when you live in hurricane country.

I've never detected a hint of racism from them, they've said they've been lifelong Republicans because they lean toward small government & lower taxes, & some time ago when the topic of Trump came up the husband said, with clear dismay, that he felt like "the guy has taken over my party."

Well, this afternoon he came over & rang the doorbell. My wife answered & I overheard most of the conversation. It sounded like he came over specifically to talk about politics, which we've never done before. My wife is Italian (still an Italian citizen) so he started by asking her what her family & friends in Europe think about Trump. My wife, being Italian, didn't hold back. (I love that about her!) Long story short, he's PISSED at Trump & wanted to tell us that after being lifelong Republicans (they're both in their mid/late 50s) he & his wife were voting for Biden. He was surprisingly well-informed & rattled off a whole list of things Trump has done that pissed him off.

He said that he knows where every Trump flag in the neighborhood is (there are 4-5) & every time he drives by those houses he flips them off ... which is exactly what I do! LOL!

What surprised me the most is that he said we would see some signs in his front yard soon. I mean ... a life-long Republican in a red part of FL flipping off Trump flags & putting Biden signs in his yard???

It gives me hope!

One more time. In case it’s still unclear.

400 years ago white people brought black people over here and enslaved them. And sold them. And treated them as less than human. For 250 years. While white men formed the country and created its laws and its systems of government. While 10-15 generations of white families got to grow and flourish and make choices that could make their lives better.

And then 150 years ago white people "freed" black people from slavery. But then angry white people created laws that made it impossible for them to vote. Or to own land. Or to have the same rights as white people. And even erected monuments glorifying people who actively had fought to keep them enslaved. All while another 5, 10 generations of white families got to grow and accumulate wealth and gain land and get an education.

And then 60 years ago we made it "legal" for black people to vote, and to be "free" from discrimination. But angry white people still fought to keep schools segregated. And closed off neighborhoods to white people only. And made it harder for black people to get bank loans, or get quality education or health care, or to (gasp) marry a white person. All while another 2-3 generations of white families got to grow and pass their wealth down to their children and their children's children.

And then we entered an age where we had the technology to make PUBLIC the things that were already happening in private-- the beatings, the stop and frisk laws, the unequal distribution of justice, the police brutality (police began in America as slave patrols designed to catch runaway slaves). And only now, after 400+ years and 20+ generations of a white head start, are we STARTING to truly have a dialog about what it means to be black.

White privilege doesn't mean you haven't suffered or fought or worked hard. It doesn't mean white people are responsible for the sins of their ancestors. It doesn’t mean you can’t be proud of who you are.

It DOES mean that we need to acknowledge that the system our ancestors created is built FOR white people.

It DOES mean that we aren't disadvantaged because of the color of our skin and it DOES mean that we owe it to our neighbors-- of all colors-- to acknowledge that and work to make our world more equitable.

And as of yesterday 8 confirmed cases on the island I live on.

Close to home. Stay safe everyone!!!

This is insane. This site is getting the test kits from the federal government & they've been limited to 250 tests per day, yet Trump says there's no problem getting tests.


Officials changed the testing criteria earlier this week to include people under the age of 65 who are experiencing certain symptoms. They've quickly hit the daily capacity in the days that followed the change.

Anyone can receive a test if they have: a 99.6-degree fever or higher and respiratory symptoms, or a pre-existing condition. First responders and health care workers are also included.

The testing site can only conduct 250 tests a day because they get their tests from the federal government and said they have limits.

"That federally mandated number is what we must follow. So, while we have 2,400 tests, we're only able to perform 250 a day. You may be thinking. ‘oh, well the Miami site and the Jacksonville site have more tests that they're able to do,’ and we understand that, however the reason they're able to do that is that they have either a hospital partner, or they have tests that came in from the state of Florida. While that's an option to happen here as well, it hasn't happened yet," Lauren Luna, spokesperson for the testing site said.

[link:https://twitter.com/WESH/status/1246103945057009664?s=19|

[link:https://www.wesh.com/article/orange-county-coronavirus-testing-capacity-7-minutes-after-opening/32032967|]

#COVID19 @FLSERT Test Site @HardRockStadium is open for testing today; you must be 65+ and have symptoms below👇no appointment needed. Bring a valid photo ID with name and birthdate. @FLSERT @fema @HHSGov @FLGuard
https://t.co/DAQjBGHnen

Symptoms: On-site temperature above 99.6 and respiratory symptoms.

[link:https://twitter.com/FloridaPIOs/status/1246065114186481664?s=19|]

I don't know why. Until today people who were not at least 65 years old AND displaying symptoms (or first responders & medical professionals) were turned away from this drive-thru site & not tested per Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Today is the first day without the age limit (you still must have symptoms to be tested), but we're now told there's a federal limit of 250 tests a day (Why a federal limit on state testing? Trump trying to keep the numbers low?), so everyone beyond that is ... you guessed it ... turned away & not tested.

From Rachael Krause, ch 13 Orlando:

The @OCCC testing site is federally mandated to stop each day after completing 250 coronavirus tests. Today, after dropping the age requirement, they reached that test limit at 11:15 am - their fastest time yet @MyNews13 #N13COVID19
https://t.co/1PcZBnDSf0

[link:https://twitter.com/RKrause_News/status/1245395144188272640?s=19|]

Something smells fishy in Orlando & it's not the grouper.

Recent death in the family, unfortunately the plane ticket to get to the funeral is more than I can afford, so I'm remembering from afar.

I'm learning that memories are just as sweet no matter where you are, I just wished I could be there with my family.

My wife & I went to Fort Lauderdale for the weekend, to see the Who play Friday night & spend the weekend there.

I drove A1A most of the way back north, including the bit (South Atlantic Blvd) that runs along the back of MaL.

I flipped him off & yelled a few choice words (even though he wasn't there) for myself & for all of my DU friends as I drove by.

Then I turned around & did it again.

It felt good.

Russia attacked American elections, & Trump refused to implement the sanctions that were overwhelmingly approved by Congress.

Iran (maybe, we don't really know yet) attacked a Saudi oil facility & Trump's response (on Twitter, of course) is to "substantially increase sanctions!"

Trump does more to defend Saudi oil than he does to defend our own elections.