September 13, 2021 - The Florida Capital Star

Prolific Jacksonville Politician Tommy Hazouri Dies at Age 76

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Casey Owens

Tommy Hazouri, Jacksonville native and Jacksonville City Council president who had served in multiple political positions over the last 47 years, died Saturday at the age of 76 from recent complications that traced back to a lung transplant he received last year.

Prior to his most recent position as a City Council member, Hazouri began his political career by spending 12 years in the Florida House of Representatives from 1974 to 1986. In 1987 he was elected as the first Arab-American mayor in Jacksonville history, where he would serve until 1991.

Commentary: Winning the Cold Civil War

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

We find ourselves in a cold civil war. But we have no real generals. A war without generals is no war at all. There is no liberty or death, only death, the death of our once cherished republic. Leading Republicans who should be our generals fight battles, sometimes with spirit, but they don’t seem to see the war in its entirety, particularly its cultural aspects.

This is a war not over the size of government or taxes, but over the American way of life. The war is between those who salute the flag, and those who take a knee. Those who believe that America is built on freedom, and those who believe America is built on racism. Those who are convinced that America is good, and those who are convinced America is bad. These differences are too large to bridge. This is what makes it a war. In this case, a cold civil war.

Appeal Court Reinstates Mask Mandate Ban

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Grant Holcomb

In another step in the saga between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and local school districts, the 1st District Court of Appeal has given DeSantis a temporary victory by reinstating Florida’s mask mandate ban. The ban was initially signed by DeSantis through executive order in July.

The mask mandate ban has faced multiple steps in legal challenges by local school districts and parents seeking to have their school districts impose mask mandates for their students.

Biden Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers Does Not Apply to USPS

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

President Joe Biden’s executive order mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for all executive branch employees does not apply to the U.S. Postal Service, according to a USPS spokesperson.

“The COVID-19 vaccination requirements included in the White House executive order issued on September 9, 2021, for federal employees do not apply to the Postal Service,” a USPS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email on Friday.

Texas Governor Signs Law Preventing Social Media Companies from Banning People for Their Views

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law Thursday preventing social media companies from banning users for their political views.

The law, known as HB 20, prohibits social media platforms from banning or suspending users, and removing or suppressing their content, based on political viewpoint. The bill was introduced by state Sen. Bryan Hughes partly in an effort to combat perceived censorship of conservatives by Facebook, Twitter, Google-owned YouTube, and other major tech companies.

“Social media websites have become our modern-day public square,” Abbott said in a statement. “They are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely — but there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas.”

North Korea Restarting Nuclear Reactor Was Likely Inevitable, Expert Says

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

North Korea was likely always going to restart its nuclear reactor regardless of which presidential administration was in office, an expert on the region told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported in late August that North Korea had restarted a plutonium-producing 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon in July 2021, after previously shutting it down in 2018.

Bruce Klingner, the senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF that while it’s unclear whether the timing of the restart was meant to send a message, North Korea probably was planning for the reactor to become operational again for a while.

Justice Breyer to Those Pushing Court Packing: ‘What Goes Around Comes Around’

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Justice Stephen Breyer issued a stark warning to those pushing to pack the Supreme Court: “what goes around comes around.”

Breyer made the remark during an interview with NPR published Friday, ahead of the release of his new book, “The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics.” He has pushed back on calls to add seats to the court — and on progressives urging him to retire — on multiple recent occasions.

“What goes around comes around,” he said. “And if the Democrats can do it, then the Republicans can do it.”

White House Advisor Says Biden is Prepared to ‘Run Over’ Republican Governors Who Fight His Vaccine Mandates

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

A White House senior advisor said Thursday that Joe Biden is prepared to “run over” Republican governors who “stand in his way” on vaccine mandates.

Following Biden’s shocking, widely-panned authoritarian speech Thursday afternoon, multiple Republican-led states announced plans to sue the Regime over its “unconstitutional” mandate forcing businesses with more than 100 employees compel vaccinations.

Legal Challenges Await Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 The Center Square

President Joe Biden’s controversial vaccine mandate has sparked major pushback and talks of legal challenges, likely setting up a tense court battle that could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Biden announced the new mandates in a speech Thursday, saying his executive changes will affect 100 million Americans. Notably, his new rules would require all federal employees to get the vaccine and require that any employers with 100 or more employees ensure their employees are vaccinated.

Last Missile Fired by U.S. Military in Afghanistan Killed Only Innocent Family, Not ISIS ‘Facilitator’ as Gen. Milley Claimed

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The last missile fired by the United States Military in the 20-year war in Afghanistan struck only an innocent Afghan man and his family in Kabul— not ISIS militants, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The blast killed ten members of the extended family of a civilian aid worker, Zemari Ahmadi, and three of his children, Zamir, 20, Faisal, 16, and Farzad, 10; Mr. Ahmadi’s cousin Naser, 30; three of Romal’s children, Arwin, 7, Benyamin, 6, and Hayat, 2; and two 3-year-old girls, Malika and Somaya.

Pfizer-BioNTech to Seek Approval to Vaccinate 5-Year-Olds

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

BioNTech, the vaccine maker collaborating with Pfizer, is set to seek worldwide approval for its COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 5 and 11 within the coming weeks, according to company executives.

“Already over the next few weeks, we will file the results of our trial in five to 11-year olds with regulators across the world and will request approval of the vaccine in this age group, also here in Europe,” Chief Medical Officer Oezlem Tuereci told Der Spiegel, according to Reuters.

They Took It: The University of Texas at San Antonio Abolishes ‘Come and Take It’ Football Chant

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

University of Texas at San Antonio Inaugural Football Game

The University of Texas at San Antonio is no longer using “Come and Take It” as a football chant.

In August, university President Taylor Eighmy expressed concern that “Come and Take It” is inseparably linked to political debates, including those over gun rights.

The chant is emblazoned on a flag waved at UTSA’s football games and also used as a rallying cry during the fourth quarter.

Amazon to Pay Employees’ Full College Tuition in Latest Attempt to Attract More Workers

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Amazon will begin paying college tuition for hundreds of thousands of its employees in an effort to attract more workers, the company said Thursday.

More than 750,000 hourly Amazon employees nationwide will be eligible to have their full college tuition paid for at one of hundreds of partner universities, according to the announcement. The billion-dollar online retailer said it would also pay for employees’ associate degrees and high school tuition.

College Textbook Blames COVID Deaths on Americans Who Oppose Lockdowns

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

A textbook assigned to students at a North Carolina community college states that COVID-19 protocols “saved tens of thousands of lives” while Americans who disagreed with those restrictions caused deaths.

“Most Americans responded to the pandemic by limiting their social contact, covering their faces when going out, and washing their hands thoroughly after they did,” the passage begins and then continues with, “yet lives were lost because some Americans held beliefs that were at odds with the facts.”

The textbook appeared in the POL 120: American Government course at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte.

Andrew Yang Leaves Democratic Party to Form His Own Third Party

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang will soon be announcing the launch of his very own political party, after he has officially left the Democratic Party, the New York Post reports.

The former entrepreneur is set to announce his new party alongside the release of his new book, “Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy,” which comes out on October 5th. The book’s publisher, Penguin Random House subsidiary Crown, promotes the book as “a powerful and urgent warning that we must step back from the brink and plot a new way forward for our democracy.”

Commentary: New Study Vindicates States that Canceled Expanded Unemployment Welfare Early

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Debate over the welfare state is once again making headlines. On Monday, the expanded unemployment welfare system was finally allowed to expire after more than a year. Originally created as a “short-term” measure authorized for a few months in March 2020 then repeatedly extended, these benefits paid many of the unemployed more than their former jobs, with benefits reaching up to $25/hour in dozens of states.

Dozens of Republican-led states chose to end the benefits early. This week’s termination of enhanced benefits was in the Democrat-run states that maintained the expanded payouts, and with their lapse, the debate over whether these benefits were disincentivizing work was reignited.

Commentary: Remember What Happened After the Soviets left Afghanistan, and Why

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Red Forest near Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Exclusion Zone.

If you watched HBO’s recent docudrama about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, you may have been struck by the historic connection to the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan. The epilogue posited the theory that the need for helicopters to mitigate the nuclear disaster caused the Russians to pull the attack helicopters from Afghanistan, making the already pointless war impossible to continue. So in 1988, the Soviets cut their losses and withdrew from Afghanistan.

The Afghan rebels did not seize control of Afghanistan until 1992. But the 1988 withdrawal also played a huge role in the loss of legitimacy for the Soviet system itself. The apparent juggernaut wielded terrifying power at its borders but remained frail and vulnerable to collapse from within. The very idea that the great Soviet evil empire could fail set off a series of dominoes that led to its collapse. The Afghan war, the struggling economy, and the Chernobyl disaster all combined to reveal the wise and powerful leaders in Moscow as incompetent despots.

More than 30 years later, American planners may have felt they had years or at least months during which residual civilians could make an orderly departure from Afghanistan as needed. The Soviet puppet government lasted almost four years (ironically, longer than the Soviet Union continued to exist), so why wouldn’t an American-sponsored government be able to hold on at least that long? The American planners probably believed that they were prolonging the longevity of the puppet regime by leaving nearly $80 billion in military equipment in the hands of the American-aligned Afghan government.

Apple Engaged in ‘Anticompetitive Conduct,’ Court Rules in Antitrust Lawsuit

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

A judge ruled Friday that Apple engaged in anticompetitive conduct in its App Store, concluding a lawsuit filed by game developers alleging the tech giant was an illegal monopolist.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled Friday that Apple’s policy of preventing app developers from linking to third-party payment systems within their apps was anticompetitive, forcing the iPhone maker to change its app store guidelines. However, Rogers ruled in favor of Apple on several other allegations, finding the tech giant did not illegally maintain a monopoly.

“While the Court finds that Apple enjoys considerable market share of over 55% and extraordinarily high profit margins, these factors alone do not show antitrust conduct,” Rogers wrote. “Success is not illegal.”

Senators Cotton, Hawley to Work on Bipartisan Bills Aimed at Breaking up Big Tech

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Senate Republicans are joining with Democrats to work on a series of antitrust bills aimed at breaking up and regulating major tech companies.

Sen. Tom Cotton is working with both Democrats and Republicans in developing complementary legislation to several of the antitrust bills the House Judiciary Committee advanced in June, a spokesman for Sen. Cotton told the Daily Caller News Foundation, including the Platform Competition and Opportunity Act.

The House’s version of the act, one of a series of antitrust bills introduced by bipartisan members of the House Judiciary Committee, sought to prevent major tech platforms from consolidating their market share by acquiring smaller competitors. Under the law, the burden of proof would be on big tech companies to prove their mergers are lawful.

Kentucky Lawmakers Override Governor, Ditch School Mask Mandate

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Group of young students at table, reading and wearing masks

Kentucky’s Republican legislature overrode the state’s Democratic governor late Thursday and repealed a statewide public school mask mandate.

The move, reported by the Louisville Courier Journal, came on the final day of a special session called by Gov. Andy Beshear. The mask mandate was repealed as cases in the state increased for the 10th straight week, and as over 30% of Kentucky’s new cases Thursday were in people 18 and younger, according to state data.

The legislature last month moved to significantly limit Beshear’s pandemic-related power, an action that was upheld by multiple judges in the state.

Biden Administration Investigating Florida’s Mask Mandate Ban

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021 Grant Holcomb

President Joe Biden’s U.S. Department of Education (U.S. DOE) is opening an investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ mask mandate ban. Specifically, the U.S. DOE’s civil rights office will be leading the probe after the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of reinstating DeSantis’ mask mandate ban.

The Acting Assistant Secretary for the civil rights office, Suzanne Goldberg, wrote a letter to Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran saying the federal government is concerned about Florida’s mask policies.