Zorro
Zorro's JournalEven in O.C. Trump country, some worry about how tariffs will hit their pocketbooks
In Huntington Beach — where a small, white bust of President Trump occupies the City Council chambers and “Make America Great Again” banners fly proudly outside homes and aboard boats bobbing in the harbor — support for the White House is a matter of civic pride.
But even in this conservative slice of Orange County, concerns about higher prices and the uncertainty surrounding the country’s economic future were palpable as the Trump administration rolled out its global plan for tariffs in what the president called “Liberation Day.”
At the Costco in Huntington Beach on Wednesday, Danielle Calfo said she and her husband were trying to plan ahead as much as possible — with two boys and a third son due any day now.
The 33-year-old stay-at-home mother said she and her husband had made all the necessary repairs to their cars early in the year, concerned that prices on parts shipped from overseas would soon skyrocket. They bought new furniture for their Huntington Beach home and buy in bulk as much as possible to keep costs low.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-04-03/they-love-trump-but-worry-about-tariffs
Florida's false choices on fluoride in the water supply
Weak research and paranoia are driving a public-health decision.Last week’s Clearwater City Council meeting reminded me (again) that while the pandemic is over, the damage is not.
Council members heard a presentation Monday on the merits of fluoridating the drinking water supply. I call it a “presentation,” for lack of a better term, because it was brief, superficial and featured only three speakers — a supporter, a skeptic, and one against, including Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, who appeared as part of his continuing campaign to halt fluoridation in Florida.
Communities across the U.S. have added fluoride to their water since 1945, which dentists widely credit for reducing cavities and improving Americans’ overall health. The practice is recommended by nearly every public health, medical and dental organization, which is why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has named fluoridation as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.
But the backlash against masks and vaccines during the pandemic has made some people view public health guidance as a conspiracy. That fury turned on fluoridation last year, after a new federal report and a California federal judge questioned the safety of fluoridated water. Ladapo said the developments presented Clearwater officials with a simple decision: Either believe these new studies are “junk science” or “you have to be comfortable with harming some people in your community.”
That, of course, is a false choice, yet it’s becoming the new tactic in scaring Floridians about fluoride.
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2025/04/03/floridas-false-choices-fluoride-water-supply-column/
Florida House to issue demand letters to DeSantis administration over spending
“There’s just a deep frustration,” one lawmaker said about getting information from some state agencies.Citing “deep frustration” and a lack of cooperation by officials in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, House budget leaders are issuing demand letters to some state agencies amid a probe into possibly wasteful government spending.
The House’s inquiry into agencies’ finances, ordered by Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, is part of a broader effort to slash spending as lawmakers craft a budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. House and Senate committees approved the chambers’ proposed budgets on Wednesday, setting up negotiations in the coming weeks on a final spending plan.
The House Budget Committee on Wednesday heard a litany of concerns about finances at a handful of agencies, with some lawmakers accusing agency heads of thwarting efforts to delve into questionable spending.
Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, said lawmakers need “a better understanding of how the billions were spent per disaster” by the Division of Emergency Management. Shoaf, chairman of the House Transportation and Economic Development Budget Subcommittee, also accused the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles of giving pay raises to employees without authorization from the Legislature.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2025/04/02/desantis-house-budget-demand-letters/
DeSantis really doesn't like these uppity REPUBLICANS daring to ask his administration to provide information on how they're spending their funds.
Volkswagen to introduce 'import fee' on tariff-hit cars, WSJ reports
Source: WSJ via Yahoo Finance
Volkswagen will introduce an "import fee" on vehicles affected by the 25% tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The German automaker has temporarily halted rail shipments of vehicles from Mexico and will hold at port cars arriving by ship from Europe, the report said, citing a memo to retailers.
Trump's 25% auto tariffs will cover more than $460 billion worth of imports of vehicles and auto parts imports annually, according to a Reuters analysis of tariff codes included in a federal register notice.
Volkswagen told its dealers that it would give more details by mid-April on pricing strategies for tariff-affected cars, and plans to begin allocating those vehicles to stores by the end of the month, the WSJ report said.
Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/volkswagen-introduce-import-fee-tariff-020723154.html
Trump's minions said Americans don't care about higher prices...but I think this is gonna go over like a lead zeppelin...
Colorado Woman Fights Georgia Woman With Florida Woman And Louisiana Dad Is Mad!
Meow meow meow, another catfight in the MAGA Madhouse!You know those Republicans, they can’t govern. Not even each other! They are all grownup versions of the kids nobody wanted to play with on the playground, because they have meltdowns when they get the tiniest scratch, and every time they lose they whine about changing the rules.
Now no-nuttin’ Moses of Congress Mike Johnson is stamping his little foot and saying he is cancelling ALL THE voting on the entire Republican agenda for the rest of the week, after nine disobedient Republicans joined all the Democrats in a 206-222 vote against his attempt to block a vote on a bipartisan bill from Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican, and Brittany Pettersen, Democrat of Colorado, that would let new-parent lawmakers vote by proxy for three months.
Voting by proxy, they all do it! But Mike Johnson doesn’t want any fewer tools to harass baby-vessels with, and BIPARTISAN BILL, ACK ACK KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Short version: Mike Johnson tried to use his Speaker Power to keep Luna and Petterson’s bill from coming to the floor. But Luna and allies defied him by using a procedural maneuver called a discharge petition, and collected the 218 signatures, including those of 11 Republicans, which forced a vote on the proxy resolution within two days. And then so Johnson put forward his own new-special-rule for a vote, which would block voting on Luna’s bill. BUT nine Republicans joined Democrats to vote against Johnson’s rules-change bill. And then rather than just let everybody vote on Luna’s bill and move on, Johnson huffily declared that there would be no more voting at all this week, and blamed Luna for that. Weak! So no proxy-vote-bill getting voted on, no nothing getting voted on until Mad Dad calms down.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/colorado-woman-fights-georgia-woman
DEA Classifies Red Wine As Schedule I Drug To Spite Ex-Wife
SPRINGFIELD, VA—In a decision meant to crack down on the allegedly dangerous substance and the “total fucking bitch” who uses it, the acting head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Derek Maltz, classified red wine as a Schedule I drug Wednesday in order to spite his ex-wife.
“We have been far too lenient to the cold, vicious harpies who use this substance—if you run to the liquor store down the street for a bottle of Yellow Tail malbec, bring it home, and pour yourself a glass, that will now be classified as drug-trafficking,” said Maltz, explaining that substances newly classified as Schedule I include pinot noir, merlot, shiraz, and any beverage enjoyed during a tasting tour of the Loudoun County wineries outside of D.C.
“This drug has caused irreparable damage to society and needs to be taken off the street. Otherwise, the country will continue to be overrun by passive-aggressive scolds who don’t even need all that goddamn child support.”
At press time, Maltz added that mixing up a pitcher of margaritas for the girls should be made a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in a federal penitentiary.
https://theonion.com/dea-classifies-red-wine-as-schedule-i-drug-to-spite-ex-wife/
What's up with New College's hostile takeover of USF-Sarasota?
Florida lawmakers are rushing a plan in secret with little community input.Secrecy, speed and self-dealing may be the grease that runs Tallahassee, but in the real world, they can make for monumental mistakes and generational regret. I’ll delve further into this later if the proposal moves forward, but let’s examine just a few red flags about the idea of transferring the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College of Florida.
State lawmakers are “negotiating” plans for New College to take over USF’s neighboring regional campus near the Sarasota-Manatee county line, according to a top Republican senator, Joe Gruters of Sarasota. Gruters said the idea is to merge New College, USF’s regional campus and the Ringling Museum of Art, all which lie within a couple miles of each other near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
First things first: Republican leaders in Tallahassee are “negotiating” this idea the same way a hijacked airplane “negotiates” with the control tower. The move comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed this year that New College take over the Ringling Museum from Florida State University. Gruters acknowledged to the Times/Herald that “the leading scenario for sure” is to fold all three under New College, whose president, Richard Corcoran, a DeSantis crony and former Republican House speaker, was installed in 2023 to remake New College into a more conservative mold.
At this stage, thanks to the behind-the-scenes maneuvering, there are more questions than answers. But there’s enough about a takeover already to raise serious alarm.
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2025/04/02/desantis-florida-university-joe-gruters-ringling-museum/
WASTING AWAY
Rampant pollution caused manatees to starve. Florida waters are getting worse.Perched on a spit of land, two biologists peered into slate blue water. Below them, manatees floated like clouds, raising whiskery snouts to let out long, loud breaths.
The Indian River Lagoon looked like an ideal symbol of Florida. But by that afternoon in late January 2021, the scientists knew they stood at the edge of catastrophe.
For decades, the beloved animals had survived winter by retreating to this pocket of the Lagoon near Cocoa, where discharges from a power plant kept them warm. They grazed on seagrass that swayed in gentle currents.
Quietly, though, their sanctuary changed. The seagrass disappeared. Barrens of sand stretched for miles, like an underwater desert.
Dozens of dead manatees washed up in Brevard County, and state scientists scrambled to figure out why. The biologists scanned the rippling water. It didn't take much time to find another carcass.
https://project.tampabay.com/investigations/wasting-away/florida-manatees-pollution-water-lagoon-starvation-seagrass/
Anyone shop at an Amazon Fresh store?
It’s quite a novel experience.
One recently opened up locally and we tried it out today. They have standard carts and a regular checkout line, but they also have carts that scan and weigh your items.
If you’ve linked the cart to your Amazon account, you scan your items using the cart scanners and you see a running tally on the cart screen of your grocery items and prices -- and when you’re done you exit through a special no-wait lane and the receipt is sent to your account's email address.
Prices are very competitive and the fruits and vegetables were quite fresh; I presume they’re getting their produce from the same Whole Paycheck provider. There were plenty of helpful employees, and the store was clean, well-stocked, and not very crowded.
It seems to me that this may be what grocery shopping in the near future might look like.
YMMV.
New College of Florida abruptly fires Chinese adjunct professor
Kevin Wang came to Florida to teach a language he loved — and escape the political repression he feared. But just two years into his role at New College of Florida, the Chinese-born adjunct professor is now fleeing once again — this time, not because of Beijing, but Tallahassee.
After less than two years teaching at the once liberal arts institution, Wang was abruptly dismissed from his position at Sarasota's New College of Florida on March 12.
As the college continues its conservative reformation under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's appointees, Wang’s firing could be one of the first terminations, both at New College and in the state, under Florida Senate Bill 846 — and sends a chilling signal about how immigration, politics, and education are colliding under Gov. Ron DeSantis' watch. Florida’s SB 846 — quietly signed into law in April 2023 — bars public colleges from hiring or retaining employees from countries like China without special state approval.
Who is Kevin Wang?
Wang’s story starts with a search for freedom. A former professor in his native country of China, Wang said he fled the country after criticizing the Communist Party. He was hired at New College of Florida in May 2023 to work on a contract as an adjunct professor only to be fired from his language teaching role in Sarasota due to a Florida law targeting immigrants from “countries of concern.”
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/education/2025/03/31/new-college-ousts-chinese-instructor-citing-new-florida-sb-846/82741503007/
Republican fascism is alive and well in DeSantis' Florida.
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