By Javier Manjarres

With a laundry list of legislative wins firmly tucked away under his gubernatorial belt, 2024 Republican presidential candidate and Governor Ron DeSantis is arguably the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T) when it comes to past Florida governors, but his online messaging team sucks.

In my own opinion, and contrary to what many supporters of former President Donald Trump think, Gov. DeSantis is a very well-rounded and principled presidential candidate.

The problem DeSantis is having with voters across the nation is that he is running in a contested presidential primary race against a very popular former sitting U.S. president.

This has never happened before.

Second, while DeSantis has put together a really good team of advisors, including Ryan Tyson, James Uthmeier, David Polyansky, Sam Cooper, and Marc Reichelderfer, his communications and online team continue to be the weakest link in his political “full armor of God” presidential campaign.

While communication advisors like Lindsey Curnotte and Bryan Griffin have done a very good job promoting and staffing DeSantis, Andrew Romeo and Christina Pushaw have managed to allow themselves to be taken off message, and have continued to embarrass DeSantis with their knuckleheaded and bird-brained statements on social media.

Paper Tiger Pushaw

Pushaw, who recently ran for dear life after Laura Loomer confronted her at the Florida Freedom Summit,  has become a huge liability for DeSantis, and even though DeSantis had reeled her in for making ill-advised social media posts, she is still on staff and appears to have been back to her old ways.

Loomer calls Pushaw a "paper tiger," accusing her of hiding behind a keyboard, and for helping to destroy DeSantis's online presence.

"When is he going to drop out? He’s polling at 8% nationally thanks to you. He can credit you for completely destroying his online influencer operation," said Loomer.

MUST WATCH:

.@RonDeSantis’s Campaign Rapid Response Director @ChristinaPushaw Got LOOMERED at the @FloridaGOP Freedom Summit today where DeSantis and President Trump are both speaking. I got her right as her boss was about to take the stage. She was slacking in the corner.

I… pic.twitter.com/1K3MvMOtiT

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) November 4, 2023

If DeSantis loses his race, regardless of how large of a margin he loses by, Pushaw will be seen as being a major contributing factor for his demise.

Pushaw was managed to infuriate and offend every day Republican voters not just the "Magadonians" that make up a large portion of President Trump's base of support.

Just look at the really stupid move to create the now-scrubbed Signal “War Room Creative Ideas.”

Pushaw runs the DeSantis’s War Room” on “X” and DeSantis defended her actions of using anonymous online accounts and “influencers” to disseminate anti-Trump political propaganda.

The campaign’s director of rapid response, Christina Pushaw, told staffers to create more videos and sent content to anonymous accounts that were allied with the campaign.

In one case, Pushaw shared a clip of Trump at a Fox News town hall and asked if the group knew “any Anons who might want it.”

She added, “if we post it or a named influencer posts it, it might get noted.”

These are the same tactics DeSantis zombies,  many of whom are aligned with Pushaw, have been bitching and moaning about,  and have accused Trump influencers of indulging in.

Does DeSantis also condone Pushaw’s recent and idiotic attempt to dig at Trump at the expense of a Holocaust survivor?

In response to a CNN story about a woman who was sentenced to 51 months in prison for stealing $2.8 million from the Holocaust survivor, Pushaw tweeted, “Trump 2028 campaign is gonna hire her when she gets out.”

Pushaw’s tweet appears to be an attempt to jab President Trump regarding the tens of millions of dollars his Save America Super PAC has spent on the former president’s legal fees and the legal fees of others.

Tasteless.

The morning after we posted on Pushaw dumb move, several close donors and supporters of Trump called us to gripe about her lack of tact by posting the remark.

Both donors questioned why she hasn’t been fired.

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Romeo, who has the personality and demeanor of a flaccid turnip, leads DeSantis’s communication shop.

The bucks stops with him.

Considering that DeSantis’s communications team has a combined political experience of about two months, its not hard to understand how they keep embarrassing DeSantis.

Take Romeo’s most recent post on “X.”

Congratulations to Donald Trump on securing the Koch endorsement. Like clockwork, the pro-open borders, pro-jail break bill establishment is lining up behind a moderate who has no mathematical pathway of defeating the former president. Every dollar spent on Nikki Haley's candidacy should be reported as an in-kind to the Trump campaign. No one has a stronger record of beating the establishment than Ron DeSantis, and this time will be no different.

Romeo is “bigly” mad and appears to have his size 36 waist tighty whities all twisted in a bunch,  and has been triggered by the Koch endorsement of former Ambassador Nikki Haley.

In the past, Koch Industries, which once  employed Pushaw, was in lock step with DeSantis and supported his ascension in politics.

What changed?

Well, it wasn’t DeSantis that changed, it was most-likely his campaign mistakes, reboots, and the hiring of amateurish scrubs for mouthpieces that made Koch pivot to Haley and away from DeSantis.

Donors like Koch like to win and try to back a candidate they feel can win. Before they believed DeSantis could win, that is not the case now.

In addition to that dumb social media post, whoever is posting on behalf of DeSantis (presumably taking orders from Romeo) is making DeSantis sound weak, ineffective, and off message.

One of DeSantis’s recent posts on “X” accuses former President Trump of giving “the GOP a culture of losing” and focused on exacting “personal vendettas,” which appears to be a desperate attempt to blame recent election day losses on Trump.

The RNC and Ronna McDaniels are to blame for falling short over the past few of elections.

Remember, the buck stops with the boss. McDaniels is the boss.

What would the late George Steinbrenner do if one of his Yankee managers continued losing games?

Steinbrenner would say, “You’re Fired!”

Personal Vendetta Politics

As “personal vendettas” are concerned, DeSantis is the master of those.

Look no further than how his executive office treats elected officials who have endorsed Trump over their boss.

For example, elected officials like Reps. Greg Steube, Cory Mills, Byron Donalds, and Brian Mast, are never invited to DeSantis events that are held in their respective districts.

Just a week ago, Rep. Mast told The Floridian than DeSantis had an recent event in his district but that he was not invited to attend.

Rep. Steube also appears to have received the same cold shoulder from DeSantis.

Before Republican members of Congress endorsed Trump for president, DeSantis would invite these lawmakers to attend and participate in his press event.

Just three weeks before he endorsed Trump for president in early April , Rep. Donalds attended a DeSantis event in Fort Myers to update the media on the ongoing Hurricane Ian clean-up effort.

That was the last time DeSantis invited Donalds to any event in his congressional district,

The Iowa caucuses are less than two months away and polls show Trump trouncing DeSantis, Haley, and the rest of the field.

Polls are polls, so anything could happen. DeSantis has garnered a couple major Iowa endorsements that could help him close the seemingly insurmountable lead Trump currently enjoys.

Don’t discount Haley, who is right there just about event with DeSantis in second place.

Javier Manjarres is based in Miami/Fort Lauderdale and is a nationally renowned award-winning political journalist, author, and Publisher of The Floridian.

The post Ron DeSantis's Online Messaging Team Really Sucks appeared first on The Floridian.

I see many alerts about financial crimes against seniors, and I know some of my friends who have been scammed in various ways.  Luckily, that has never happened to me. But there is a scam that we all have to pay a price for, and it needs to stop.  The scam is frivolous lawsuits.

All the lawyer billboards, tv ads, radio ads, and direct mailers that we see urging people to file a lawsuit are because the lawyer just wants to make money off the process.  A lot of folks don’t realize that every time a lawsuit is settled for any amount, the lawyer may get fees that are greatly in excess of even the amount of the settlement.

So it pays for a lawyer to file 10,000 lawsuits because even 100 small settlements can yield big fees usually paid for by the insurance company for the defendant.  That means that every customer of that insurance company has to pay higher rates for auto, home, and health insurance to foot the lawyer bill.  So please, don’t file a frivolous lawsuit, and may God bless the legislature for their tort reform package that tried to put a stop to some of the financial abuse.  It affects us all.

Maurice Langston

13841 N.E. State Road 65

Hosford, Florida 32334

850-508-5297

team_wrinkle@hotmail.com

The post The Scam of Frivolous Lawsuits appeared first on The Floridian.

By Jackson Bakich

The Founding Fathers were brilliant. We can debate their personal actions, but what we cannot debate is the effectiveness of the government they created. Spanning only 247 years, the United States has become a world superpower in a very short amount of time by history’s standards. I do have a critique, however, of the system they’ve created. That critique is their failure to include term limits in their (still rather successful) system of government that has liberated millions.

Pioneer of the free world, head honcho of popular culture, world leader of academia, and home to inventors who have radically changed and challenged the status quo of the human experience.

That is America.

You might be asking, though, if America is and always has been so great, and a lack of term limits didn’t stop all the progress made under the current laws of the land, then why change anything?

My response is this: The incredibly long tenures in Washington are mostly a recent phenomenon. Yes, some of the longest-serving politicians were born in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, but of the 50 longest runs of public service, 24 of them have been by lawmakers who lived to see the year 2000. Eight of them are currently serving.

The Founding Fathers were incredibly concerned with preventing tyranny. The tradition of the peaceful transfer of power in congruence with the tradition of the President stepping down after two terms established by the first President, George Washington, and the second President, John Adams provided a blueprint. This blueprint, based on the idea that there was humility to public service ended when Franklin Delano Roosevelt ultimately won four terms. Congress then ratified the 22^nd Amendment in 1951, capping a president to two terms, and codifying the tradition.

However, members of Congress in both chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate face no such predicament.

They can serve as long as they are elected. With this in mind, members of Congress can play the long game. They do not need to solve problems immediately with the American people’s interest at heart.

The American people know this, and that’s why according to a Gallup poll, Congress’ approval rating rests at 17%. 82% do not approve of the job Congress has done.

With these figures in mind, you might be asking: If the vast majority of the American people disapprove of Congress, then why don’t the people just vote out their representatives to fix the problem?

I’ll tell you why.

According to the same Gallup poll, 53% of registered American voters believe their representative should be reelected. What does this mean? It basically means the American electorate believes something along the lines of “It’s not my representative, it’s everybody else’s. It’s the other legislators that other Americans have voted for and elected that have caused the sluggishness and ineffectiveness of the governing body."

I am not calling for a total institutional change of Congress. I am not calling for every incumbent to resign or not be reelected. There are plenty of great U.S. legislators who are honorable, do a good job, and have the American people’s interests at heart.

Moreover, it goes deeper than just the American people’s opinions of their representatives. Incumbents have a significant advantage to their challenger counterparts. Their campaign funds “rollover” as they can use the funding raised from their previous campaign for their next campaign. They also benefit from the crucial name recognition that politicians need when voters stroll into voting booths and pick a candidate.

So, what does this system create? It creates a system in which politics becomes a career. It creates a system in which the public serves its representatives, rather than the representatives serving the public and their constituents.

In the U.S. House, a total of 25 incumbents lost in 2022. There are 435 seats up for election every election cycle. That means roughly 83% of incumbents were victorious in their reelection efforts.

Incumbents know they have a very high chance of reelection. With this in mind and without term limits and the current election financing laws, officeholders can take 40 years to solve a problem. They can keep running on the problems that need to be fixed. As the polling demonstrates, their constituents feel it’s not their fault that problems in the United States aren’t being fixed, it’s Congress as a whole and the other representatives that are causing the inefficiencies in governance.

Six House terms of two years, two Senate terms of six years. No rollovers for election financing. Just these two changes would make elections fairer and make for more motivated public servants.

This will probably never happen, I know. Why would those in power give up their power?

I guess some part of me thinks, prays, and hopes those who’ve been entrusted by the people – deep within their American souls – could be inspired by our Founding Fathers to return to the tradition of humility. A tradition that serves the people as it was intended.

Perhaps the tradition could be codified once again.

The post A Case for Term Limits appeared first on The Floridian.

Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) got his wish— Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been booted off the Speaker's chair. But was it the right move?

This is not a question of whether or not McCarthy's removal was justified for the reasons Gaetz gave, but if this will hurt Republicans more than it helps.

To reiterate, Rep. Gaetz's rationale was that McCarthy did not release the January 6th tapes, did not push for single-subject spending bills, and did not fight hard enough to prevent Democrats from voting on bills in line with the Biden Administration's agenda.

This is all well and good if it would start draining "The Swamp", but there is just one problem:

Republicans in the House are holding the majority by the thinnest of margins.

221 Republicans versus 212 Democrats. That is just nine seats.

And as the votes indicated, only eight Republicans, including Gaetz, voted to remove McCarthy.

As anyone who follows politics has observed, Democrats are much better at voting as a united front than Republicans, and they were more than happy to see McCarthy gone because now they have a chance to replace him with Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and potentially render the Republican majority meaningless.

Let us not forget that the Senate remains in Democrats' hands, and there is a Democrat in the White House. Even if Gaetz himself got his mitts on the Speaker's gavel (unlikely, given how much of a headache he has given many Republicans, including some of his fellow Floridians), any pro-conservative bill is going to die in the Senate or get vetoed by Biden (and an override would be even less likely in the latter case).

So what does getting rid of McCarthy really accomplish?

For the Democrats, some good optics: the Republicans are fighting among themselves instead of pursuing their impeachment inquiry into President Biden, and they will be divided on who to replace McCarthy with, especially because he was trying to work with "extremists" like Gaetz (who hated McCarthy's guts anyway).

Remember, McCarthy only got in after 15 votes.

Let's see how Republicans will fare in Congress come 2024.

The post Was Ousting McCarthy Worth It? appeared first on The Floridian.

By Jackson Bakich

“I’m curious as to how President Trump would answer this question, but he wasn’t man enough to show up, yet again."

That’s how I would first respond to every question in Wednesday’s debate if I were Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Every. Single. One.

Why did Americans respond so well to Gov. DeSantis during COVID? Yes, his policy was enticing, especially to those in blue states. But the populist movement brought forward by Trump in 2016 capitalized on anger: The People were angry at smaller paychecks, Second Amendment threats, and most importantly, the media.

Americans responded well to DeSantis during COVID because he stood up to the media and bullied it back, just like Trump did (and for the most part, still does).

Everyone knows DeSantis’ policy record. For conservatives around the country and a fair number of independents and non-party affiliates, his record is strong. You don’t win Florida by 20 points accidentally.

Yes, you can point to a weak Democratic candidate, but in the polarized country we find ourselves in, the “vote blue no matter who” and the “vote red ‘til I’m dead” phenomena are still very much prevalent. DeSantis’ win in Florida was nothing short of impressive.

I’m a 21-year-old kid. I couldn’t vote in the 2016 election. Maybe take this advice with a grain of salt. I wouldn’t blame you.

But from what I’ve seen, The People responded to candidates who shared their vitriol with the rest of the electorate. Not just policy and legislation – but with public disdain for the current system. Yes, actions speak louder than words, but in elections, the pen is certainly mightier than the sword. What a paradox that is.

As the poll numbers demonstrate, The People are not responding to DeSantis’ platform in this election, which has been “Look at what Florida has done! Look at my record! It speaks for itself.”

That approach might firmly secure his 15-20% base. But if DeSantis wants to chip away at the Great Wall of Trump, he must make this election a sport. If you're attempting to satiate the hunger of a populist movement, policy résumés simply do not cut it. Strong policy records are now the expectation, not the exception.

To Americans, Trump solidified himself as a manly President (despite his billion-dollar playboy status and interesting haircut). How did a billion-dollar playboy New Yorker win the hearts of The Common Man? It wasn’t his money, it wasn’t his status, it wasn’t his power (although, it didn't hurt him either, surprisingly).

It was his ability to come across as a street fighter.

For example, the photo ops of President Trump sitting in Winston Churchill’s chair, walking ahead of world leaders at boring summits, stepping across the DMZ into North Korea, making fun of protestors at his rallies, telling Hillary Clinton she’d “be in jail,” telling Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) he had small hands, calling Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “Pocahontas,” making fun of Jeb Bush’s “low energy” and dismal poll numbers, the list goes on and on.

DeSantis doesn’t have to do that, exactly. He doesn’t have to make fun of people’s appearances; he doesn’t have to give them names.

What he does have to do if he wants any chance in this election, is to call out President Trump’s manliness.

Point out that for decades he sat in an ivory tower and only came down to “save us,” while simultaneously hammering the fact that he’s too scared to leave the safety of Mar-a-Lago to debate other Republicans. Tell the world that he is not man enough to support a 6-week abortion ban. Showcase that since he has left office, he has neglected some of the conservative principles that guided him during his presidency.

Make it personal. Be a righteous bully.

Jesus turned over the tables in the temple. It is about time that Governor DeSantis does the same.

Jackson Bakich is one of The Floridian's Tallahassee-based reporters

The post Advice to DeSantis: Be a Righteous Bully appeared first on The Floridian.

I’ve got lots of friends with small businesses, and I can tell you that the economy is still not quite right.

I know the big banks and investors seem to be doing okay in the stock market, but our cost-of-living is going out of sight.

A couple of the big issues are inflation and rising insurance. When I say insurance, it is across the board.

Auto, home, medical.

I really like what the legislature did recently on reining in lawsuits.

That should help contain some of the costs of insurance and maybe slow down some of the fraudulent scams that also make insurance costs go up, but I still see the lawsuit billboards up, and every person I know with a small business is scared to death of being sued.

We are hoping and praying that we will soon see the lawsuit reforms help make insurance more affordable.

In the meantime, maybe it is time to start talking about stopping these billboards that seem to offer a lottery ticket to anyone who is willing to sue someone.

Ernesto Rivera Vega

19113 Lone Creek Ct.

Land O Lakes, FL 34638

ernieriveravega@gmail.com

407-782-7619

The post Lawsuit Reform Could Help Save Small Florida Businesses appeared first on The Floridian.

Once Governor and now-presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (R-FL) entered the 2024 Republican presidential sweepstakes, Republicans and the politically keen immediately flocked to their Google search bars to see when the first primary debate would take place.

Trump vs. DeSantis: For the heavyweight championship of the world, it seemed. However, President Trump is opting for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson instead of attending the debate on Aug. 23, citing his 30+ point lead in many national polls.

The move is not a bad one, politically. It’s the conservative play. Why would he risk a 30+ point lead and simultaneously give airtime and viewership to his opponents in the process? It can be reasonably inferred that a debate without President Trump will have significantly lower ratings than a debate with him.

Could there be any reason that the former President and the 2020 GOP presidential nominee that leads seemingly two to one in almost every poll should attend this debate?

By conventional political strategy? No.

However, this move seems to go against conventional and non-conventional Trump behavior that his base, Republican voters, and the American people have become accustomed to.

Street fighter, brash, boastful, filter-less, daring.

All of these phrases are commonly used to describe Donald Trump. He surprisingly won the hearts of Republican voters at the debates during the 2016 race when he criticized “low energy” Jeb Bush, “little” Marco Rubio, “lyin’” Ted Cruz, and “crooked” Hillary Clinton.

He told millions of Americans that the Bush administration lied about the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq supposedly had, providing a rationale to invade the country following 9/11.

“They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction,” Trump stated.

Audience members reached their own conclusions regarding Trump’s statement. However, it can also be reasonably inferred that there was some culture shock following that moment.

“Is he allowed to say that? Did he just accuse former President (and fellow Republican) George W. Bush of being a war criminal?” thought viewers across the country.

That was Trump’s brand.

But the decision to not debate – is not.

Two things can be true at once:

1) Deciding not to debate is probably the best decision.

2) Trump is backing down from what many anticipated to be a 15-round slugfest against his most capable opponent ever in the Republican Party.

Additionally, he could use the debate stage as a platform to reach millions of Americans directly regarding his side of the story surrounding the indictments.

Yes, the DeSantis campaign has had its problems (Huge). But you don’t win the state of Florida by 20 points and 1.5 million votes on accident.

DeSantis, like the rest of the field of candidates, desperately needs for Trump to debate him because he needs voters to see a stark difference between the two men.

A debate with both Trump and DeSantis would be epic, but could come a steep price to either candidate.

Trump has won all of his past primary debates. Actually, he crushed the entire field in 2016. DeSantis limped through his gubernatorial debates in 2018 and 2022, but still came out on top.

Will Trump be Trump and show up? If he doesn't debate, will he look weak in the eyes of millions of Americans who looked forward to watching him take on his past Republican and Democratic challengers?

~ Jackson Bakich, Staff Writer. Publisher Javier Manjarres contributed.

The post Trump Refusing Primary Debate is the Safe Play, But it Isn't 'Trump' appeared first on The Floridian.

My name is John Frankman.

Up until very recently, I was a Captain in the United States Army serving as a Green Beret at 7th Special Forces Group (7SFG). On July 1st, I voluntarily separated from the Army due to struggles I encountered because I refused to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine. I can now speak freely about my experiences since I am no longer on active duty.

Throughout the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine, the rights of service members' consciences were not respected. During that time, the highest levels of the Department of Defense obscured information about the legality of the mandate, the medical safety of the shot, and the ethical implications of these vaccines. Most leaders, even if concerned about the shot, were ignorant about its medical side effects and the legality of the order.

Military leaders, rather than taking responsibility for their service members' well-being and critically asking about the potential negative effects of the shot and mandate, realized failing to conform would be detrimental to their careers. As a result, service members' morale and trust in leadership is extremely low.

Although many service members were forced out because of the vaccine mandate, many more are leaving because they are disillusioned with the military as the institution forced them to choose between their career or their conscience, health, and well-being.

Now, the military is a less lethal force than it should be as it wasted immense time and energy focusing on forcing service members to conform, rather than to train, all while facing a major recruiting and retention problem.

I’m writing so that military leaders can learn from their mistakes concerning the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccines for when something like this happens in the future.

I’m also writing to inform the public of the situation in the military so they can put pressure on political leaders to enact policies to treat service members properly and refrain from any action that compromises their morale, health, and conscience.

Finally, I’m encouraging all people to think critically when future crises arise so as to not give way to propaganda and social pressure, especially when it goes against one’s values, individual liberty and common sense.

Edmund Burke said that, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” In order to avoid these evils in the future, each of us must inform and follow our consciences, especially those in authority such as military leaders.

In sharing, I want to be fair to my leadership and those at 7SFG.  Leaders at all levels felt immense pressure from President Biden and the general officers to get every soldier vaccinated. Furthermore, there was nothing legally, ethically, or medically clear about the vaccine or the mandate.

To the extent that they could, they supported me in my situation, and from the majority, I didn’t experience any animosity. Other service members were not as fortunate. However, that does not totally remove their responsibility.

All leaders could have and should have done more to resist the vaccine mandate. Especially Special Forces Green Berets who are selected for their critical thinking skills and trained to identify a psychological operation meant to influence the populace.

As soon as the vaccines became available in January of 2021, the push to get all soldiers vaccinated began. Military leaders at all levels made being vaccinated a “readiness” issue and wielded whatever authority and power they had—legal or otherwise—to coerce individuals into getting vaccinated.

As a Special Forces Team Leader, I told my men I would neither punish nor reward them for receiving the shot and that I personally did not want to take it.

The majority of my team opted not to get the shot, with only two of the 12 members choosing to take the vaccine before the official mandate. The primary concern was the vaccine’s emergency use authorization (EUA) status and that therefore the drug companies could not be held liable for side effects.

By early 2021, we were all aware that these shots were experimental and already associated with some side effects. All of us were healthy individuals without any comorbidities and as such the risk for suffering dangerous reaction to COVID was low. Many team members already contracted COVID providing natural immunity.

We were also aware that every vaccine created up until that point was tested and/or created utilizing aborted fetal cells.

As a result of my team’s choices before the mandate was in place, my team sergeant and I were constantly harassed by the Company Sergeant Major. At one point he told me, I was screwing up my career and that he would kick guys on my team out of the company and send them to undesirable assignments if their vaccine status lost missions. Multiple times he specified, ‘this was not a threat, but a promise.’

In one conversation with the Company Commander, I brought up the fact that the vaccine seemed unsafe by referencing death statistics as cited in the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).

There were already reported a few thousand deaths associated with the COVID vaccines in early 2021, but this concern wasn’t taken seriously. Even before the mandate began, either 1st Special Forces Command or US Army Special Operations Command made vaccination a requirement for deployment. This policy forced leaders to “mitigate risk” and not permit unvaccinated Special Forces soldiers to deploy, even if there was no vaccination requirement for the country. Thus, my team had to choose to either receive the vaccine to deploy to a country with no vaccine requirement or to give up the mission. My team chose to lose the mission. The loss was heartbreaking.

Shortly after the vaccine mandate officially came into effect, my team was engaged in a massive two-week training exercise involving thousands of soldiers in the middle of the woods in Fort Polk, LA. During a pause in training, leadership found it so important to administratively write up or counsel us that they sent a Major to the training area.

We were ordered to review the information provided about the vaccine, discuss any concerns we have with our medical provider, and comply with the vaccine mandate within 72 hours under threat that we would be ordered to receive the vaccine.

I immediately expressed to my leadership that it isn’t fair to force service members to make a career and life-altering decision under duress and without the proper medical, religious, and legal resources and that having this hanging over our heads would take away all training value. Fortunately, the official counseling were pushed back by about two weeks till after training.

Upon returning to the home base after training, leadership counseled my team. During the counseling multiple members of my team raised the fact that “Comirnaty” was the only shot to receive FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval and that everything else available was only approved under EUA.

The SECDEF memo stated, “Mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 will only use COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in accordance with FDA-approved labeling and guidance.”

Thus, the order seemed to be illegal. Furthermore, leadership did not accept medical exemptions based on prior immunity or infection contradicting its prior policy in Army Regulations 50-562. Notwithstanding, Soldiers who still were not vaccinated, either had to get the shot within 72 hours of the counseling or receive UCMJ punishment. On October 5, 2021, the day after getting counseled, I submitted a request for a religious exemption.

For over a year, I received no response until December of 2022 when all religious exemptions were dropped when Congress forced the President and Secretary of Defense to stop punishing service members for their vaccine status.

During this extended period of limbo, I was selected for an assignment to become a professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Ironically, I was selected to teach philosophy and an ethics course.

Sadly, service members with pending religious exemptions were unable to move, deploy, or travel, meaning I was stuck. Because of this restriction and failure to receive a verdict on my religious exemption, I lost the opportunity to teach at West Point.

In September of 2022, I asked a General during a town hall meeting if the DoD was considering dropping the mandate since the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recently declared there was no distinction between the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

The General asked me if I heard of Novavax, to which I responded that it also utilizes aborted fetal cells. Seeming perplexed by my response, the General said, ‘when the Army tells you to do something, you should do it, and that he doesn’t want to kick anyone out, but would if necessary.’

In November of 2022, during my exit interview with a Colonel, I asked whether the vaccine mandate was legal, whether he knew it required an FDA approved shot to be legal, whether he had heard of the Nuremberg Code, and if the unit was doing anything to track down vaccine injuries.

In response I was accused of being extremist, reminded that the crusades are an example of what happens when there is too much ideology, questioned if I followed selfless leadership, and asked what I would say to a fellow Christian or Catholic that received the shot.

I responded that I was at peace and believed my actions to be selfless as I followed my conscience and did what I believed to be the right thing. I also responded that I would ask a fellow Catholic or Christian if it is justifiable to take a drug linked to an abortion; the murder of an unborn human and continued theft of its body parts and products; for a disease with over a 99.99% survival rate.

After years of pressure and the situation changing seemingly at a whim, I am separating from the Army. I am leaving because although the vaccine mandate is no longer in effect, it cost me the opportunity to teach and form cadets at West Point, cut my team leader time short, and cost me other career opportunities.

At this point, I believe that God can use the gifts, talents, and passions He gave me to serve Him in a better way. I also fear that any good I could potentially do in the military, would be drastically nullified based on the guidance and leadership coming from politicians and top military brass.

The DoD’s forced vaccination program ran counter to my leadership and military training. Leaders must do everything they can to implement force protection and mitigate risk to the greatest extent possible.

Leaders did none of this and at the highest level ignored their own medical policy. Very early on, there were reports that the COVID 19 vaccines were ineffective and harmful.

However, leadership still vigorously asserted every individual needed to get the shot even though it was only under an emergency use authorization, and despite the fact that a healthy soldier can easily handle a case of COVID 19, and notwithstanding that many had already contracted COVID 19 and had natural immunity.

Leaders willfully ignored the hazards of the vaccine and if they didn’t, they were complicit for pushing an experimental drug. They could have at least asked the common-sense question of whether it was wise to force the entire population responsible for the defense of our nation to take an experimental drug when the disease isn’t a serious risk and the side effects of that drug are unknown.

However, nearly every leader still vehemently pushed this drug on their service members.

Leadership at the very top played sadistic political games by offering EUA approved drugs while calling them FDA approved and punished service members by ruining their careers and threatening their livelihoods. To those highest-level leaders belongs the harshest condemnation.

When do we take a stand? When do we think critically? How can we justify following an order to the detriment of our own country’s defense and the health and wellbeing of the servicemembers themselves?

For most leaders, even if they had an ounce of thought that this order was nonsensical or that they personally disagreed with it, they knew it would negatively affect their career so they readily acquiesced.

If they felt bad about it later, they justified it by saying there was nothing they could do, or that no one knew any better early on, or that everything was pretty wild back then.

One senior officer told me he just wants to move on past this whole shot thing. And to that, I say “No!” Military leaders need to return to the basics of leadership and reexamine the guiding principles of our profession and what the United States of America stands for.

The obvious lesson learned is we need to think critically and do the right thing no matter what, even when it is difficult. However, everybody knows this, though it is rarely done. Rather what is needed is for every leader to reflect deeply on their core beliefs, values, and principles.

Only then will we be able to break with what is expedient and be willing to sacrifice temporal gain for immaterial principles? This doesn’t necessarily have to be a religious conversion but could be a deep sense of patriotism, love for freedom and what America stands for, and remembrance of our oath to the Constitution. This will shore up the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing.

The need for critical thought and morale fortitude extends beyond that of military leaders. Individual citizens also must exercise their civic duties by staying appraised of current events and getting involved in the culture and politics at all levels of government.

Unfortunately, as hopefully most of us have learned from the pandemic, media sources cannot be outright trusted for their truthfulness and authenticity.

There are powerful forces at play dedicating countless dollars to condition us to think a certain way, and we all must be careful to ensure we each don’t give in to our own individual confirmation bias where we agree with what we want to hear.

Citizens must protect their rights and responsibilities if they want to maintain a country of the people, for the people, and by the people. This will require them, as well as military leaders, to identify core values and beliefs, think critically, and do the right thing no matter what.

Rather than moving on from this ordeal as it is an uncomfortable topic, we must face it head-on to learn from our failures and respond to future challenges properly. Our military and our nation, but more importantly, our character and honor depend on it.

— John Frankman

The post Unvaccinated Green Beret Pressured to Leave the Army appeared first on The Floridian.

Because of his high-energy 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent presidency, 78-year-old President Donald is believed to be arguably the best U.S. President on foreign and domestic policy since Ronald Reagan, but now is being accused of being “low energy” as he campaigns for president in 2024.

During his address this past weekend at the Iowa Republican Party Lincoln Day dinner in Des Moines, President Trump delivered his usual MAGA stump speech, which included digs on 45-year-old Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the rest of the field of GOP presidential candidates.

During part of his speech, Trump rattled off poll results after poll results, which came off as very boring.

Trump has never been one of those Ra Ra Ra speakers, and his Iowa speech was no different.

Gov. DeSantis, who also isn’t inclined to give a boisterous speech, did come off as having a bit more energy than Trump during his address.

DeSantis hit all his talking points as did Trump.

After Trump’s less-than-energetic speech, Team DeSantis’s online “influencers” began to push the narrative that the former president sounded and looked “tired” and was “low energy.”

These are the same keyboard activists that supported and voted for Trump but now have turned on him because they believe DeSantis can do a better job as president than Trump.

These online influencers are merely propagating snoozefest clips of Trump reading off the poll results and nothing more.

It's all part of the political game. We get it, but Trump fatigue is real and many Republicans and online activists appear affected by it.

But as these so-called anti-Trump “influencers” continue to push the narrative that the former president has lost a step or two, and is damaged goods because of the looming criminal charges filed against him, not to mention that they believe he did not do enough while in office, these allegations cannot be dismissed.

Trump's PAC is also said to have spent $40 million in legal fees just this year. This alone has some online activists up in arms over where campaign donations are being spent.

Naturally, as one ages it’s hard not to slow down, so yes, Trump has probably slowed down a bit since taking office in 2017.

The criminal charges against Trump are undeniable, even though it appears as if the cases against him are entirely politically motivated. The optics of being charged criminally by the federal government aren’t good, and the case of the pending document is on every American’s mind.

Are the cases made against Trump self-inflicted?

Well, Trump says he is innocent, but the audio recording of his voice on a piece of evidence is cringeworthy.

The anti-Trump Republicans appear in lock-step with Democrats in already convicting Trump of crimes he is charged with, and are spewing some of the same Democratic talking points on the issue.

Now, when it comes to what Trump did while in office, the case can be made that he could have, should have done more.

To their credit, DeSantis’s “influencers” are correct in saying that Trump bent a knee to the “Deep State” or “The Swamp.”

Trump promised to “Drain the Swamp” but he didn’t.

Many of the things Trump promised to do did not come to pass.

In his defense, upon taking office, the moderate wing of the Republican-led Congress stifled Trump’s America First Agenda, and after Democrats won back the House of Representatives in 2018, Trump could not get much done outside of Executive Edicts because House Democrats control the nation’s purse strings.

Trump’s infamous “Wall” was shut down by House Democrats when they gutted funding for the wall, and a federal judge struck down his border wall executive order.

Trump did say he was going to make Mexico pay for the wall, but no one believes that the socialist Mexican government was actually going to cut a check to pay for the construction of  his border security fence.The renegotiating of the Clinton-era, pro-Mexico NAFTA deal was how the Mexicans were going to indirectly pay for Trump’s border wall.

The bipartisan U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) replaced NAFTA and evened the playing field, bringing many jobs back to the U.S.

Another issue DeSantis supporters and even DeSantis himself is criticizing Trump on is the handling of the  COVID pandemic.

Trump propped up Dr. Anthony Fauci and initiated Operation Warp Speed to fast track a vaccine.

Mission accomplished, but at what cost?

Fauci turned out to be a joke and should have been canned, but wasn’t.

Trump is criticized for not firing Fauci, and rightly so.

DeSantis has made the Fauci a focal issue of his presidential campaign, even though he also gave Fauci his support and peddled the COVID vaccine.

Both Trump and DeSantis received the vaccine.

Again, there are a lot of things Trump should have done but didn’t.

DeSantis, whose rebooted campaign continues to struggle to gain traction,  is running on Trump’s apparent missteps and missed opportunities.DeSantis is not perceived as likeable with the majority of voters, and many of those voters who do support him only do so because they question if Trump can actually win the general election.

What DeSantis needs to do is go directly after Trump, bring out the sledgehammer, but in doing so, he runs the risk of alienating even more of the devoted MAGA base of the Republican Party.

Going after Trump is the proverbial political double-edged sword.

Trump is the Mike Tyson of Republican politics and all the public opinion polls show it, while DeSantis appears to be in the wrong weight class.

There is a pathway to victory for DeSantis, but will the opportunity to outpace the leader of the Republican Party ever prevent itself?

As DeSantis continues to press the flesh, he could soon make weight to challenge Trump, but with all of the set backs his campaign has endured in the first two months of the campaign, it's hard not to digest his campaign reboot with serious skepticism.

Javier Manjarres is based in Miami/Fort Lauderdale and is a nationally renowned award-winning political journalist, author, and Publisher of The Floridian.

He is a father of 4 young children and enjoys traveling, playing soccer, mixed martial arts, and weight-lifting. Javier has made many appearances on Fox, Newsmax, CNN, NBC, CBS, and The Blaze, and has been cited by numerous media publications including, The Hill, Washington Post, POLITICO, Tampa Bay Times, Fox News, and Miami Herald.

The post Is Donald Trump now a 'Low Energy' Presidential Candidate? appeared first on The Floridian.

By Congressman Byron Donalds (FL-19)

When I discuss the benefits of nuclear energy with members of Congress, constituents, and the American public, one question consistently comes up—what about the waste? Ultimately, there are demonstrated solutions to safe keep and minimize the amount of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). In order to transform radioactive waste into an energy solution and combat misconceptions associated with SNF, it’s important that individuals have the facts about the true nature of nuclear waste—while also understanding that there are safe, feasible, and innovative solutions to address the “fly in the ointment” (i.e. SNF unease) which hinders American global nuclear leadership today.

Generally speaking, nuclear waste must be isolated from the natural environment for approximately 100,000 years+ after it’s removed from a reactor. In fact, the U.S. commercial nuclear industry has generated approximately 90,000 metric tons of SNF over the past 70+ years—which would only cover a single football field to a depth of less than 10 yards (i.e. less than half the volume of an Olympic-sized pool annually).

The U.S. even has enough SNF on-hand to power the nation for 400+ years—since nuclear “waste” still has 96% of its energy content available. Moreover, critical radioactive isotopes come from SNF—including Cesium-137 (used to treat cancer, used in industrial gauges, used in radiation detection equipment, etc.) and Strontium-90 (used for cancer treatments, used as a radioactive tracer in medicine and agriculture, and used to inspect industrial components and helicopter blades, etc.).

We must also recognize what “waste” really is. Nuclear waste actually comes from places like hospitals and research facilities—not just nuclear plants. In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) classifies nuclear waste in two categories: high-level waste or low-level waste.

High-level waste (e.g SNF) has the potential to produce fatal radiation doses during short periods of direct exposure. In comparison, low-level waste generally consists of secondary materials from reactor operations and items used during medical procedures (e.g. gloves, boots, rags, mops, protective shoe covers, radiation-exposed tools, etc.).

Nuclear reactors also generate “high-quality waste heat” (i.e. thermal energy), however, this beneficial “waste” product is often overlooked. In my view, we should embrace and welcome the use of thermal energy generated from zero-emission nuclear reactors. Such waste heat can then be utilized for district heating, hydrogen production, petroleum refining, desalination, and for various industrial applications (e.g. steel manufacturing, paper production, cement manufacturing, shaping plastics, etc.).

The question remains: what solutions are available to deal with our country’s nuclear waste? First, on-site waste storage in dry casks is a proven option—as SNF is currently being stored safely at 79 sites in 35 different states. To emphasize, these steel-reinforced concrete containers (i.e. dry casks) are heavy and can only be moved with specialized equipment—not to mention the almost-impossible challenge of removing SNF from the extremely secure nuclear facility. The NRC has even confirmed that safekeeping SNF in dry casks provides adequate protection for public health, safety, and the environment.

Another option is interim disposal at deep geologic repositories—however this solution has come to be challenging (e.g. Yucca Mountain). Many members of congress don’t understand that the U.S. Government is legally obligated to dispose of the nation’s nuclear waste (c.f. in Canada, whoever produces the waste is responsible for its disposal). With that in mind, deep geologic repositories are one of the many proven solutions to address SNF—just ask Finland and Sweden. Nonetheless, deep geologic repository discussions should incorporate a consent-based, community-minded approach.

Another aspect of the “waste” discussion is transporting SNF. To emphasize, there have been over 2,500 cask shipments of SNF and approximately 30 million shipments of radioactive materials throughout the United States over the last 55+ years—without a single radiological incident or release to the environment. To be frank, transporting radioactive materials has proven to be safe. It’s also worth noting that these dry casks are designed to withstand more than 99% of vehicle accidents (e.g. water immersion, impact, punctures, and fires).

Moreover, recycling spent nuclear waste may be an intriguing option. The 96% of energy content that remains in SNF has the potential to be recycled up to 3x. In turn, this will reduce the amount of SNF and reduce the potential impacts of uranium mining at the front end. However, the U.S. does not currently have SNF recycling capabilities, and several barriers remain for American SNF recycling, including: large infrastructure investment, economics associated with recycling, and nonproliferation concerns.

Nevertheless, it’s 2023—let’s embrace innovation on a bipartisan basis and adopt a solutions-based mindset to address barriers associated with SNF recycling. One innovative SNF recycling option even includes utilizing certain advanced nuclear reactors—which produce lower waste yields and operate for years at a time without refueling.

In terms of nonproliferation, SNF contains small levels of plutonium, and the use of such plutonium for nuclear weapons is not inconceivable. However, this should not halt America’s potential to deploy SNF recycling technologies. Simply put, a political decision surrounding SNF recycling must be made. But it’s also important to keep in mind that all SNF recycling efforts are subject to immense scrutiny by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and several U.S. agencies (e.g. NRC; DOE; EPA; DOT; DOI; etc.).

Internationally, countries are deploying solutions to manage their nuclear “waste,” but American nuclear “waste” management efforts are falling behind. From a global nuclear leadership perspective, this is troubling and insufficient—full stop. For example, France, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, Russia, and China have all developed the potential to reprocess their nuclear waste. Additionally, countries like Finland and Sweden have jointly developed a geologic repository system for SNF storage. Also concerning is the fact that our two greatest adversaries—Russia and China—are the world’s only supplier of many critical isotopes. Thus, establishing domestic recycling capabilities could bolster American global nuclear leadership while simultaneously reducing adversarial reliance.

All in all, addressing our country’s nuclear waste challenges will ultimately assist with shifting the negative stigma associated with nuclear energy. Recent bipartisan interest in addressing America’s nuclear waste predicament is intriguing, and the time is now for Congress to come together to find bipartisan solutions.

Rep. Bryon Donalds was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020 and sits on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the Financial Services Committee.

The post What About the Waste? appeared first on The Floridian.

Former President Donald Trump (R) is well clear of Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in the polls at the moment. According to the Real Clear Politics average, President Trump holds a commanding 32-point lead over Gov. DeSantis heading into the primary debates. However, his lack of a filter – his inability to think things through before hitting “send” – might lead to a political loss. An unforced error.

Simultaneously, it is the abrasiveness and disinterest to maintain good relationships with the party elite at the top if they are not on the “Trump Train” or are not “loyal” to him: That is one of the biggest pulls for President Trump – especially from his core supporters. There is this idea that Trump has no political motivations other than love of country and anybody that gets in his way (even in the slightest) either hates America or loves power more than America.

Maybe his core supporters are right. Maybe they are completely wrong. That is for voters to decide.

At the same time, we can criticize a bad chess move even if Bobby Fischer is the one who made it.

This brings us to Trump’s latest comments on his social media platform, Truth Social. From a political strategy standpoint, it is quite head-scratching. And with the Iowa Caucuses not that far away, his decision (perhaps not well thought out) to publicly shame Governor Kim Reynolds (R-IA) for her decision to not endorse him could lead to a defeat in the Hawkeye State election process.

Earlier today on Truth Social, President Trump discussed Iowa and its governor Kim Reynolds.

+ pic.twitter.com/AMW9rRuWKU

— Vince Manfeld (@AureliusStoic1) July 11, 2023

“I love Iowa, protected & expanded Ethanol, got 28 Billion Dollars from China for our great Farmers, ended the Estate (Death!) Tax on farms, made the best TRADE deals in history (USMCA, China, & many more), introduced the World to our FARMERS, & kept Iowa’s ‘First in the Nation’ status. I opened up the Governor position for Kim Reynolds, & when she fell behind, I ENDORSED her, did big Rallies, & she won. Now, she wants to remain ‘NEUTRAL.’ I don’t invite her to events! DeSanctus down 45 points!” said Trump.

Yes, President Trump has a 32-point lead nationwide. But that lead is smaller in Iowa (23 points over DeSantis – 44% to 21%) according to recent polling. The gap could diminish more after his comments, considering Reynolds has an 86% approval rating in the state.

Smelling blood in the water, DeSantis responded within hours to Trump’s statement, calling Gov. Reynolds a “strong leader” who “ignores the chirping.”

.@KimReynoldsIA is a strong leader who knows how to ignore the chirping and get it done. She earned a landslide re-election because she delivered big results, and she is poised to deliver even more for Iowans in the special session.

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) July 10, 2023

“Kim Reynolds is a strong leader who knows how to ignore the chirping and get it done. She earned a landslide re-election because she delivered big results, and she is poised to deliver even more for Iowans in the special session,” stated DeSantis.

Earlier this month, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis launched the Mamas for DeSantis coalition to aid DeSantis’ presidential campaign. She did so alongside Iowa Governor Reynolds.

The “neutrality” doesn’t appear to be all that neutral.

With all of this in mind – factoring in the history – the Republican that wins the Iowa Caucuses has not gone on to win the nomination in the last three competitve races (Huckabee ’08, Santorum/Paul ’12, Cruz ’16).

According to historical trends, it is very possible that a loss in Iowa will not deter an eventual Republican nominee. It is also possible that Iowa voters won’t care about his statement about Reynolds at all. Trump could win Iowa in a landslide.

But should the Iowa Caucuses come down to a close DeSantis win, an unforced Trump error will most likely receive the blame.

Granted, there is a lot of time between now and January, but will Trump attempt to make peace?

I think we all know that question was rhetorical.

~ Jackson Bakich, Staff Writer

The post Trump Makes Unforced Error in Iowa, but History Tells us it might not Matter appeared first on The Floridian.

In celebrating July 4, we should recommit ourselves to the promise of America. We cannot lose our way from the foundational premise that we are a country of laws, applied equally, with integrity.

In a recent report in Real Clear Politics, Florida Gov. and Republican presidential candidate Ron Desantis took aim at the Department of Justice with a plan to “tear down and rebuild” the federal justice system. The announcement of the Desantis plan coincided with former President Donald Trump’s once-unthinkable arraignment on charges including an extraordinary 31 counts under the seldom-used Espionage Act of 1917. Desantis’ intention: restore a law-enforcement mission “more in line with what the founding fathers envisioned.“

Our second president and founding father John Adams correctly asserted that a government of laws would set America apart in protecting freedom, and that “if there be no other law in the kingdom but the will of a prince, there is no such thing as liberty.”

Our country has historically distinguished itself by understanding that the whim of one in power is not “rule of law” and personal liberties are protected, regardless of whose. It is key to apply laws equally. Recently, we have strayed from this principle and allowed government to, seemingly, rule for the interests of a few.

This has become today’s America.

Whether one thinks the Trump indictment was a stunt or substantive, the bigger issue is the eroding trust in government and further division in the electorate. An ABC/IPSOS poll found that four in five Republicans consider the charges politically motivated, but just 16% of Democrats consider the same.

Amazingly, Adams predicted that such hyper-polarization would ultimately displace law-based government in favor of the law of the jungle.

“The whole state, divided into two factions… the laws, instead of being permanent, and affording constant protection to the lives, liberties, and properties of the citizens, will be alternately the sport of contending factions, and mere vibrations of a pendulum.“

Perhaps the fulfillment of Adam’s prognostication began with the scorched-earth of once-civil judicial selections to achieve political goals. Or with escalating abuses by special prosecutors like Lawrence Walsh, when he unleashed an indictment implicating incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush days before the 1992 election, or with Kenneth Starr driving an impeachment of Democratic President Bill Clinton that centered on lying about an infidelity. Or, most recently, with the phony (based upon the findings of the Durham report) Russia collusion investigation, driven by a few with Trump derangement syndrome, resulting in a complete devaluation of the impeachment process.

Contrast endless investigations and indictments of Trump against the seeming whitewashing of Hillary’s potential more serious secrecy breaches and recently developing Biden scandals. Also contrast rioters and protesters threatening Supreme Court justices getting off scot-free, while pro-lifers pestering at clinics are harassed and arrested, and parents are targeted as “domestic terrorists” for questioning school boards on transgender policy.

In this ever-downward cycle, no one seems safe, whether because of deprivation of the right of free expression or access to online platforms, employment opportunities or freedom itself. Government’s unmatched resources are brought down on regular, everyday citizens with divergent views.

The spiral must stop, but the question is how.

Adams advocated robust checks and balances. He also constantly preached the indispensability of ethics: “When public virtue is gone… the republic is lost in essence, though it may still exist in form.”

Ethical renewal was also central in Special Counsel John Durham’s report laying bare the DOJ’s and FBI’s “Russia collusion” misdeeds. He said, “Ultimately… meeting [the agencies’] responsibilities comes down to the integrity of the people who take an oath to follow the guidelines and policies currently in place.

How far we’ve come from Republican congressional leaders informing Richard Nixon that his own party could no longer support him due to Watergate. Imagine current Democrat leaders telling Joe Biden how a Trump indictment would break political protocol and be ruinously divisive and potentially dangerous for progressives in a future GOP administration.

A refocus of the DOJ is all well and good. However, we must also demand the rediscovery of public virtue and integrity in all action taken by our institutions. The commitment to the rule of law needs to overcome the scoring of political points. The Durham report and the endless double standard in place underscore the need for integrity if we are to remain a “government of laws” and preserve America as the last, best hope on Earth.

Edward J. Pozzuoli is the president of the law firm Tripp Scott, based in Fort Lauderdale, and hosts the podcast “Politics & Sunshine.” (MH)

The post Amid Trump’s Indictments and Biden’s Scandals, America’s Rule of law Remains Crucial appeared first on The Floridian.

The upsetting reality of COVID-19 and vaccines is their potential to damage the heart.  However, a terrifying new truth is emerging: when it comes to heart damage, people usually have no idea that there’s anything wrong – they feel fine. Tragically, the first indication of a problem is when people die suddenly in their sleep.  As a renowned cardiologist, medical journal editor, and Senate witness, Dr. Peter McCullough has been warning that COVID mRNA has significant side effects, most notably, myocarditis (deadly inflammation of the heart). And he is determined to provide the best research and insight that he can on this issue and find ways to help.

Watch Dr. McCullough explain:

So, what exactly is causing this?

The Epoch Times summarized Dr. McCullough’s answer this way:

Though it may seem counterintuitive, Dr. McCullough said that sudden deaths that happen during sleep are biochemically similar to the sudden deaths during or just after vigorous exercise.

The reason people die seemingly inexplicably in their sleep, Dr. McCullough explained, is sometimes because of a surge in catecholamines during the end of the sleep cycle. This natural biochemical change is the body’s signal to wake up.

These catecholamines can increase our heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate, among other things. A surge in catecholamines, whether it happens during sleep or during exercise, can stress the heart and cause it to beat arrhythmically, and if a young person’s heart has been damaged by an infection, vaccination, or for any other reason, the surge of catecholamines can be lethal. This is the reason, McCullough said, that people seem to die in their sleep. They’re really dying just before dawn.

Thankfully, you don’t have to sit idly by wondering if or when this might happen to you. Commonly recommended to his cardiac patients to encourage healing, Dr. McCullough's “Healthy Heart & Muscle Formula” may be able to aid in the healing process following cardiac tissue damage.

“Healthy Heart & Muscle Formula” contains:

• D-Ribose which can improve heart function after damage to cardiac tissue.
• Coenzyme Q10 and Selenium Citrate can work together to help reduce the risk of cardiac disease.
• Vitamin B Complex to fortify muscles.
• L-Carnitine provides energy for your heart, muscles and brain.

Dr. McCullough says:

My Healthy Heart and Muscle Formula is designed to keep your body’s cardiovascular performance and muscle functionality at its optimum condition. We all live busy and stressful lives but critical nutrients in this newest formula can also prevent overtiredness and fatigue that keep you from seizing the day. I combined D-Ribose Powder to help you maintain body composition and exercise endurance with the power of Coenzyme Q10 and Selenium Citrate to help increase overall cardiac functions.

Together with a Vitamin B Complex to fortify muscles and L-Carnitine to provide energy for heart, muscle, and even brain. This signature formula is all about keeping those core systems healthy. As a physician, I recommend these ingredients to people looking to maintain their hard-earned gains, recovering from illness, or boosting their nutrient intake as part of managing conditions related to your health.

To order Dr. McCullough’s “Healthy Heart & Muscle Formula,” click here.

What people are saying about the Healthy Heart & Muscle Formula:

“So far so good. Am happy with the ease of ordering. It is easy to take and hope it is going to help my heart health”

“It works. After the covid vaxx, my heart started pounding at different times and for no apparent reason. I found this and started taking it, and it has stopped those episodes. Along with Dr Van DeWater's Spike Recovery formula, both are helping me get my health back.”

“Dr. McCullough's Healthy Heart and Muscle along with Dr. Zelenko's Z-Stack are the two supplements that I use daily to keep my natural immunity humming along. I haven't been sick for several years, and part of my strategy is to avoid anything coming from Big Pharma and the medical tyranny that has been thrust upon us.”

“Love it! Have been taking this product three months, and feel confident that this is a quality product. Now my husband wants to take it!”

Any worried about myocarditis after COVID or vaccination should take a daily regimen of Healthy Heart to make sure their body has the tools needed to recover Moreover, the formula has also been created to help consumers save money - purchasing all the separate ingredients of this revolutionary supplement would be almost $100 – you can save 41% with the unique formulation in The Wellness Company’s Healthy Heart & Muscle Formula. 

The pandemic may be behind us, but your heart could still be at risk. Keep you and your family safe and order the Healthy Heart & Muscle Formula today! 

Click here to order the Healthy Heart & Muscle Formula today!

The post Dr. McCullough: The Shocking Truth about the Died Suddenly Phenomenon  appeared first on The Floridian.

Florida is finally turning the corner.  But perhaps there is more work to be done.  I am referring to our state’s reputation not as the freedom state but as the frivolous lawsuit state.

Every year, the American Tort Reform Association releases their judicial hellholes list, and Florida just recently moved off of that list as our state was known for having loopholes that would allow frivolous lawsuits to suck money out of every consumer’s pocket.  I am all in favor of folks having access to a lawyer and the courtroom if they need it, but the claim has to be legit – not just looking for a pot of gold.

For me and my wife, every dollar we earn means something, and if frivolous lawsuits truly are driving prices on insurance and healthcare higher, then I am glad for what the governor and the legislature did in this last session with a package of reforms that should bring costs down across the board for everyone.

And no one should believe every advertisement on every billboard.  Looks to me like the only people making real money off this process are the ones on the billboards.

Letter to Editor

Mike Wheeler

7915 Waxwood Drive

Port Richey, FL  34668

The post Florida, The Frivolous Lawsuit State appeared first on The Floridian.

By Congressman Byron Donalds (FL-19)

People always ask me why I’m an advocate for nuclear energy and where my interest in nuclear originally came from. Truth be known, I’m a former community banker and financial services professional, husband, and father of three boys, and I grew up poor in Brooklyn, New York—with zero prior nuclear experience at all.

Although I’ve learned much about nuclear energy policy over the course of approximately three years of being a member of Congress, one may still ask: what sparked my interest in becoming one of the leading pro-nuclear voices in the U.S. Congress?

Growing up, I used to brainstorm and talk politics with a role model of mine, who happened to be a commander of a nuclear submarine. He explained to me the benefits that a nuclear-powered submarine can provide and ultimately taught me that the Nuclear Navy has been a great example for the American commercial nuclear industry overall.

Additionally, my interest in nuclear energy stems from the impacts of bad economic policy and the resulting trickledown effects that bad policy can have on the price of energy and the economy as a whole. The fact of the matter is this: if we don’t have cheap, affordable, readily-available power—we won’t have a functional economy, but instead we’ll have chaos. In other words, you cannot build a successful economy without an ample supply of reliable energy—full stop.

My nuclear interest is also fueled by my concerns with the dishonest environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) policy “push.” In my view, ESG isn’t meant to actually solve real-world problems. To be frank, ESG is a corporate virtue-signaling incentive structure based on flawed information and skewed data. Unfortunately, scam ESG policy has also played into the misconceptions associated with nuclear—even though if you dig deeper, nuclear energy is the most beneficial source of energy from an objective perspective.

To be clear, nuclear is the cleanest, “greenest,” and most reliable source of energy—regardless of its historical unsubstantiated negative connotation. But there is one unintentional outcome to the artificial ESG push: momentum is growing for advanced nuclear technology as we prepare for the next Nuclear Renaissance.

Importantly, I believe that the time is now to enact meaningful public policy change to enhance the utilization of nuclear energy—both conventional and advanced. In particular, as the Vice Chair of the bipartisan Advanced Nuclear Caucus, I have personally been focused on addressing the challenges associated with developing and deploying advanced nuclear technology. In fact, look no further than the fifteen-and-counting nuclear energy-related bills that I’ve introduced thus far in the 118^th Congress.

To the American people, I want to stress that it’s not “if” advanced nuclear technology can be deployed, it’s “when” advanced nuclear technology will be deployed. When I think of “innovation,” advanced nuclear technology comes to mind. I also believe that innovation is what breeds successful economies, and innovative advanced nuclear technologies should be embraced to get the U.S. economy back on track.

Here are a few main reasons why I’m an advocate for advanced nuclear technology: (1) global advanced nuclear leadership is up for grabs, and the United States is falling behind our adversaries; (2) we must have reliable and resilient baseload power sources to avoid future blackouts and brownouts—and nuclear energy’s 92.6% capacity factor speaks for itself; (3) innovative advanced nuclear technology is no longer our grandparents’ nuclear technology; and (4) the bipartisan interest in advanced nuclear represents a great opportunity to enact solutions-oriented public policy change. Not to mention the potential complementary uses of advanced nuclear reactors, including for: natural disaster response, zero-emissions hydrogen production, desalination, industrial heating, space exploration, etc.

However, I also recognize and understand that there are major challenges that lie ahead for advanced reactor deployment. Such challenges include: (1) unduly burdensome and antiquated regulatory barriers associated with licensing advanced nuclear technology; (2) market risks associated with investing in first-of-a-kind (FOAK) technology; (3) changing nuclear’s negative connotation overall and providing factual information relating to the inherent benefits of advanced nuclear; (4) leveling the playing field between advanced nuclear technology and other less-reliable sources of energy (e.g. wind and solar); and (5) establishing a domestic supply of high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) to fuel our nation’s advanced nuclear reactors—especially because the U.S. currently depends on Russia for its HALEU supply, but this is no longer an option.

As a financial services professional with a unique take on our country’s nuclear energy-related needs, I see much room for improvement and positive change. Notably, I believe we should be developing and deploying advanced nuclear technology as fast as possible in the United States—while properly accounting for safety, nonproliferation, and environmental risks. America used to be THE global nuclear leader, but our country no longer can claim this prestigious title—which ultimately presents a short-term and long-term national security risk for our great nation.

Although I’m a fiscal conservative, it’s my view that the U.S. Government should step up to the plate and enact meaningful public policy change to foster American energy independence and American advanced nuclear leadership moving forward. For example, countries like China and Russia are establishing 100+ year financing relationships with countries around the world to construct and deploy advanced nuclear technology. In comparison, the United States has taken a back seat to our adversaries and has fallen behind the race for dominance in the international advanced nuclear energy marketplace.

In my opinion, the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch should work hand-in-hand to collaborate on modernizing the antiquated regulatory process associated with deploying advanced nuclear technology. Additionally, Congress and industry stakeholders must also address the market risks associated with FOAK technology—and having the support of the federal government will naturally alleviate market risks associated with deploying advanced nuclear technology. Therefore, I believe Congress can play a vital role in planning for the mass deployment of advanced nuclear technology, and for once I believe there is great opportunity for Congress to legislate proactively (c.f. reactively).

I also believe that Congress can assist with striking unnecessary red tape and reducing exorbitant licensing fees to ensure the timely domestic deployment of advanced nuclear technology. Finally, I believe that Congress can assist with realistically looking at the value an energy source can provide to the electric grid and environment overall, and thus level the playing between advanced nuclear and other intermittent sources of energy.

Moreover, we must turn paper reactors into actual energy generating technologies as fast as possible. Taking advantage of the achievable opportunity to deploy advanced nuclear technology domestically should be a top priority for congress—I know it is for my office.

While the Nuclear Navy and ESG policy initially sparked my interest in nuclear energy, I’ve come to discover that advanced nuclear technology is a likely solution to America’s future energy challenges. Simply put, utilizing advanced nuclear technology will assist with bolstering America’s national security and energy independence down the road, but it’s also a rare bipartisan opportunity to work with more climate-focused members of congress on commonsense nuclear-related legislative initiatives.

All in all, the time is ripe for Congress to get to work and pass impactful nuclear energy policy—there’s much to do. Moving forward, I’ll continue to be a leading pro-nuclear voice in Congress and a strong advocate for the broad deployment of advanced nuclear technology.

Rep. Bryon Donalds was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 202o and sits on the House Oversight Committee, Budget Committee,  Small Business Committee, and Economic Prosperity and Fairness Committee.

The post Donalds: Why I’m an Advocate for Advanced Nuclear Technology appeared first on The Floridian.

Dr. Peter McCullough, an outspoken critic of COVID-19 mandates and jabs, uncovered an alarming scientific study coming from the Chinese researchers Quan Zhang et al. titled: “An oral vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 RBD mRNA-bovine milk-derived exosomes induces a neutralizing antibody response in vivo.”

As someone who treated myocarditis patients on the frontline, Dr. McCullough’s warnings about this bioweapon should be listened to carefully:

“Children could be targeted with easily administered oral vaccine dosing or potentially get mRNA through milk at school lunches and other unsupervised meals. For those who have taken one of the COVID-19 vaccines, having milk vaccines as an EUA offering would allow even more loading of the body with synthetic mRNA which has been proven resistant to ribonucleases and may reside permanently in the human body…

mRNA technology has just entered a whole new, much darker phase of development. Expect more research on, and resistance to, mRNA in our food supply. The Chinese have just taken the first of what will probably be many more dangerous steps for the world.”

Indeed, many more reports have surfaced recently of farmers in the USA and EU using mRNA-based vaccines on their livestock to “help protect against disease.”

Thankfully, you can protect yourself regardless of where the mRNA originates. According to Dr. McCullough, the best-known defense against mRNA-carrying spike proteins is a daily dose of over-the-counter nattokinase:

“Nattokinase is an enzyme is produced by fermenting soybeans with bacteria Bacillus subtilis var. natto and has been available as an oral supplement. It degrades fibrinogen, factor VII, cytokines, and factor VIII and has been studied for its cardiovascular benefits. Out of all the available therapies I have used in my practice and among all the proposed detoxification agents, I believe nattokinase and related peptides hold the greatest promise for patients at this time.” 

If you or someone you love would like to try nattokinase, The Wellness Company’s “Spike Support Formula” contains nattokinase plus other extracts and is designed by Dr. Peter McCullough and his team.

In The Wellness Company’s Spike Support Formula you will find: 

• Nattokinase (enzyme shown to dissolve spike protein)
• Selenium (aids in helping the body repair itself and recover)
• Dandelion root (may prevent spike protein from binding to cells)
• Black sativa extract (may facilitate cellular repair)
• Green tea extract (provides added defenses at the cellular level through scavenging for free radicals)
• Irish sea moss (could help rebuild damaged tissue and muscle)

Here is Dr. Jen VanDeWater talking about all the elements of The Wellness Company’s Spike Support Formula: 

People are saying about The Wellness Company’s Spike Support Formula: 

“I saw Dr. McCullough talk about the product and decided to give it a try. A month and a half later, I feel sooo much better. I also have recommended the product to family members to help them detox from the painful side effects of the vaccine.” 

“I feel like I have had brain fog for the past 18 months and after taking this supplement noticed the fog lifting finally. I plan to buy more for myself and now a friend suffering from heart issues.” 

“I am grateful for the Wellness Company and for you coming out with this spike protein vitamins. I am a big believer in natural healing and not pharmaceutical drugs. Thank you for doing what is right and for speaking truth in a world that is so dark.” 

According to the Wellness Company, purchasing all the components of the Spike Support Formula would be over $100 – you can save 36% with the unique formulation in The Wellness Company’s Spike Support Formula.

The post Dr. McCullough: China's Latest Bioweapon. How You Can Stay Safe appeared first on The Floridian.

Dr. Peter McCullough is not only America’s leading cardiologist but he is also our nation’s leading COVID-19 expert and one of the most outspoken critics of the risks of the experimental COVID-19 vaccines.

Now Dr. McCullough is speaking out after the news of a severe medical event that has left famed actor Jamie Foxx in serious condition.

On May 30, celebrated New York gossip columnist, A.J. Benza, told Dr. Drew that—according to a hospital informant—Jamie Foxx suffered a stroke after being compelled to receive the COVID-19 shot in order to remain on the cast of Back in Action.

Jamie Foxx is not only a much-loved public figure, he was also, at the age of 55, in excellent physical condition just prior to being rushed to the hospital.

About a year ago, Mr. Foxx told Dr. McCullough that he had profound misgivings about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. McCullough wrote this week about his conversations with Foxx about the vaccine and about his concern for Foxx’s future,

As a public figure and practicing doctor, I get calls and questions from patients and family members every day all over the world. Without engaging in a doctor-patient relationship in the clinic or hospital, I cannot make a diagnosis, or give direct medical advice or care. However, I can help audiences develop an interpretive framework in public commentary.

I was asked by Dan Ball on Real America, about the condition of beloved actor Jamie Foxx. I had met Foxx in 2021 and we had a personal conversation about the COVID-19 vaccines. While that remains confidential, I can tell you I am concerned that if indeed he has suffered a stroke or intracranial hemorrhage, the long-term prognosis may not be good.

Spike protein is an issue whether you are vaccinated or not, but if you are vaccinated then spike protein is an even more concerning issue.

From Dr. McCullough:

“Far and away the most common question I get from those who took one of the COVID-19 vaccines is: “how do I get this out of my body.” The mRNA and adenoviral DNA products were rolled out with no idea on how or when the body would ever breakdown the genetic code. The synthetic mRNA carried on lipid nanoparticles appears to be resistant to breakdown by human ribonucleases by design so the product would be long-lasting and produce the protein product of interest for a considerable time period… it is a big problem when the protein is the pathogenic SARS-CoV-2 Spike.”

According to McCullough, the best-known defense against spike protein is a daily dose of over-the-counter nattokinase:

“Nattokinase is an enzyme is produced by fermenting soybeans with bacteria Bacillus subtilis var. natto and has been available as an oral supplement. It degrades fibrinogen, factor VII, cytokines, and factor VIII and has been studied for its cardiovascular benefits. Out of all the available therapies I have used in my practice and among all the proposed detoxification agents, I believe nattokinase and related peptides hold the greatest promise for patients at this time.”

If you or someone you love would like to try nattokinase, The Wellness Company’s “Spike Support Formula” contains nattokinase plus other extracts and is designed by Dr. Peter McCullough and his team.

In The Wellness Company’s Spike Support Formula you will find:

• Nattokinase (enzyme shown to dissolve spike protein)
• Selenium (aids in helping the body repair itself and recover)
• Dandelion root (may prevent spike protein from binding to cells)
• Black sativa extract (may facilitate cellular repair)
• Green tea extract (provides added defenses at the cellular level through scavenging for free radicals)
• Irish sea moss (could help rebuild damaged tissue and muscle)

Here is Dr. McCullough discussing how nattokinase works in attacking the dangerous spike protein:

People are saying about The Wellness Company’s Spike Support Formula:

“I saw Dr. McCullough talk about the product and decided to give it a try. A month and a half later, I feel sooo much better. I also have recommended the product to family members to help them detox from the painful side effects of the vaccine.”

“I feel like I have had brain fog for the past 18 months and after taking this supplement noticed the fog lifting finally. I plan to buy more for myself and now a friend suffering from heart issues.”

“I am grateful for the Wellness Company and for you coming out with this spike protein vitamins. I am a big believer in natural healing and not pharmaceutical drugs. Thank you for doing what is right and for speaking truth in a world that is so dark.”

According to the Wellness Company, purchasing all the components of the Spike Support Formula would be over $100 – you can save 36% with the unique formulation in The Wellness Company’s Spike Support Formula.

Click here to order the Spike Support Formula today!

The post Dr. Peter McCullough on Jamie Foxx and the Shocking Potential Role of Spike Protein appeared first on The Floridian.

In a shocking landmark study, the severe danger to brain health presented by COVID-19 Spike protein was exposed last week by a cross-disciplinary research team of 30 doctors.

From the authors:

Our results revealed the accumulation of the spike protein in the skull marrow, brain meninges, and brain parenchyma. The injection of the spike protein alone caused cell death in the brain, highlighting a direct effect on brain tissue. Furthermore, we observed the presence of spike protein in the skull of deceased long after their COVID-19 infection, suggesting that the spike’s persistence may contribute to long-term neurological symptoms. 

While this fact has been swept under the rug by major media outlets, the data shows a sharp rise in reported cases of brain fog, memory loss, and dementia-like conditions since the pandemic. The link between neurogenerative disease and spike protein accumulation in the brain is undeniable.  

Indeed, brave doctors like Dr. Peter McCullough provide insight into the current state of affairs from real clinical experience treating patients: 

“It is reassuring to patients suffering with post-COVID or “long-COVID” that it is not all in their heads, the pathophysiology is pointing to persistence of Spike protein in the blood which is pathogenic and likely driving tissue/organ injury with associated symptoms. 

Because COVID-19 mRNA vaccines further load the body with genetic code and more Spike protein, it is likely that vaccination worsens post-COVID syndromes despite raising antibodies against the Spike protein. I have not found claims that vaccination reduces long-COVID syndromes valid in bias papers that are pushing vaccines.” 

Fortunately, you can help your body to rid and protect itself from toxic spike protein. Nattokinase, an enzyme discovered in Japan, has caught the interest of the scientific world to safely combat spike protein. Dr. Peter McCullough’s research on the substance finds Nattokinase “to be the most compelling and scientifically supported approach to clear Spike protein out of the body via proteolytic degradation.” 

Dr. Peter McCullough and his team at The Wellness Company designed an optimized Nattokinase-based supplement, Spike Support, to aid in recovery and mitigate the effects of future infections. This formula contains:

• Nattokinase to aid with circulation and dissolve spike protein
• Dandelion root to detoxify and prevent spike protein cellular binding
• Black sativa to help facilitate cellular repair
• Selenium to reduce stress, which aids in helping the body repair itself and recover
• Green tea to scavenge for free radicals at the cellular level
• Irish sea moss to help rebuild damaged tissue and muscle

With millions of Americans suffering adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccination, or still not fully recovered from the COVID virus itself, as spike protein is being “shed’ from person to person, everyone should take Spike Support daily to feel their best.

References:

1. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.04.535604v1
2. https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMcibr2210069 

The post BREAKING: New Study Shows Dangers of Spike Protein Accumulation in the Brain appeared first on The Floridian.