Musings, opinions, observations, questions, and random thoughts on island life, Fernandina Beach and more

Musings, opinions, observations, questions, and random thoughts on island life, Fernandina Beach and more

7 FL Democrat Reps Betray Their District’s Moms & Kids; Minshew Admits She Switched Parties To Deceive Voters

Seven Florida Congressional Democrats where among the 158 that voted against a U.S. House bill last week to deport and make inadmissible criminal foreign nationals convicted of domestic violence and sex-related offenses, including sex crimes against children.

There should be an entire chapter on Florida’s Democrats.

Fortunately the bill passed despite the majority of House Democrats, 158, voting against it. All of Florida’s Republican representatives voted for it.

Why would anyone object to a bill that protects children from sex offenders, illegal ones at that?

Those Florida Democrats who voted against the bill deporting sex offenders, Sept. 18, 2024: (HR 7909, Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act), were: Kathy Castor, 14th District, including Tampa;  Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, 20th District, SE Florida; Lois Frankel, 22nd District, West Palm Beach; Maxwell Frost, 10th District, Central, Florida, Lake & Orange County; Darren Soto, 9th District, Orlando;  Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, 25th District, Southern Broward County; and Frederica Wilson, 24th District, parts of Miami including “Little Haiti”.

The lone Democrat voting for it was Jared Moskowitz, District 23, of Parkland in the Northern Miami area.

The bill will amend the Immigration and Nationality Act “to provide that aliens who have been convicted of or who have committed sex offenses or domestic violence are inadmissible and deportable.” This includes stalking, child abuse, child neglect, child abandonment, violation of protective orders, including credible threats of violence, repeated harassment, and conspiracy to commit a sex offense as grounds for deportation, according to the language in it.

The bill also includes crimes defined in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006: child sex offenders, sexual predators, child sex traffickers, using minors in a sexual performance, soliciting a minor to practice prostitution, producing, or distributing child pornography, transporting with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, among others.

Why do these Florida Democrats protect such vile, despicable people? And why would any Florida resident vote for a candidate that advocates for and protects any predator that preys on children?

***

Ms. Minshew Pride parading.

Speaking Of Deception & Lies: Fernandina Beach City Commission candidate Genece Minshew, the former head of the local Pride group hereabouts and two-time Commission candidate loser, responded to a question on a local social media site called “Amelia Island Fernandina Beach Network” asking her why she switched from the Democrat to the Republican party.

It’s the first time I’ve seen her respond to this question as she ignored me when I asked. She said: “…it is clear that having an R behind your name is important if you are to be successful in working with the county and the state, so I changed parties so that I can better represent all the citizens of the city.” Really Ms. Minshew?

She has now publicly admitted she has no scruples and does whatever is expedient in an attempt to brazenly mislead voters and get elected. She doesn’t believe in the conservative values of the Republican party and will say and do anything to generate votes.

This gal is a fraud, a liar, and a phony and publicly admits it. If folks thought Chip Ross and Mike Lednovich were disasters, it could be worse. Party switchers Minshew and lefty activist party switcher Joyce Tuten {Democrat to NPA} would make Fernandina the laughingstock of Florida and be a nightmare for city residents and local businesses.

Don’t let a tiny and loud minority of phony radical leftists on area social media sites and spouting nonsense in local media outlets fool you…this  deceptive duo would be deadly dangerous for Fernandina.

***

Truth-Telling Trucker: Recently, while sitting in a local seaside pub sipping a beer overlooking the ocean the guy next to me struck up a conversation.

He was a pleasant, well-spoken fellow who told me he was here overnight due to his job as a truck driver. I asked if he was a member of the Teamsters Union, and he admitted he was and added that he was fortunate to have such an organization supporting him. Without prompting he voluntarily shared his enthusiasm for his union’s refusal to endorse Democrat presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.

He explained that his increasing costs of doing business the past three years are an example of what most U.S. citizens are experiencing. “My growing fuel and maintenance costs are passed on to the businesses I serve, and they in turn pass them on to their consumers,” he explained. “The average voter doesn’t understand how the high price of fuel negatively impacts the prices of all necessities such as food, clothing, and housing. It’s all dependent on fuel-driven transportation to get where it needs to be, whether by truck, train, ship, or plane.”

He said oil is the lifeblood of the country and we’re a very, very long way from solar or wind power dependency. He said he doesn’t particularly like Donald Trump, but loves his policies, particularly making the U.S. oil independent again and lowering the prices of fossil fuels. “It lowers the prices of everything,” he added. “Drill baby, drill,” he emphasized.

He left for his hotel just before I exited and when I went to pay my bill, the bartender said: “The guy next to you paid it.” WOW! Words of wisdom and a free beer. It doesn’t get much better than that.

***

Lednovich parading in support of BLM.

Unintended Compliment: Fernandina City Commissioner, fireman, and mayoral candidate, Darron Ayscue, was unexpectedly and surprisingly presented a campaign endorsement from an unforeseen source.

One of Fernandina’s dimmest characters, failed politician, bogus journalist, activist, and BLM supporter Mike Lednovich (pictured here), labeled Commissioner Ayscue “the Trump of Fernandina.”

“Left Coast” Lednovich a California transplant, and failed one-term City Commissioner, who comically masquerades as a journalist for the pathetic online Observer — the Chicago White Sox of the area’s media — labeled Darron “The Trump of Fernandina” apparently thinking it was an insult. It was just the opposite.

The next week Lednovich, who as a commissioner, played the befuddled sidekick to crotchety City Commissioner Chip Ross, the most obnoxious and irascible commissioner in memory, called Commissioner Ayscue a “cyberbully,” a title that both Lednovich and Ross equally share. Even the Jacksonville media took notice of this duo’s incompetent arrogance a few years ago as depicted in the editorial cartoon below. Lednovich takes the term “projection” to a whole new level.

I’ve said it before, but folks hereabouts need to be reminded that Lednovich is as rational as a belligerent five-year-old’s kitchen-floor tantrum when denied a pre-dinner cookie and his silly scribblings bear a greater similarity to a psychological disorder than persuasive or coherent arguments.

Lednovich has never once called out Ross who has earned a reputation exceeding that of  the unredeemed Ebenezer Scrooge and Silas Mariner combined. Lednovich has never acknowledged any of Ross’s transgressions including the suit that drove John and Teresa Sauer, and their special needs son, John Jr., out of their Fernandina home during the Thanksgiving holidays forcing them to take shelter in a local hotel, costing them thousands of dollars. Until the suit was settled the Sauer’s were denied a certificate of occupancy on a house they spent tens of thousands of dollars to renovate.

Similar Ross antics in his former Solomon Islands, Maryland residence are detailed here in very bizarre reports of his activities. They can be found by going to: http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0906/prominent-tiki-bar-foe-charged-with-intoxicated-endangerment.htmlWashington Post article can be read in the May 28, 2011 Washington Post (At the famed Tiki Bar in Southern Maryland, it’s the … – Washington Post ). All are ignored by “crack” reporter “Left Coast” Lednovich.

Fernandina Commissioner Darron Ayscue is running for mayor against Commissioner James Antun, who has mysteriously become an ally of Commissioner Chip Ross the past few months. Why? He won’t say.

Antun’s anti-impact fee, pro-business advocacy when he initially ran for office vanished once elected. The local chiropractor has become mute except when siding with the belligerent gasbag Ross, and he’s become a massive pain in the electorate’s collective butt.

On the other hand amicable fireman Ayscue has his finger on the city’s pulse and displays his genuine sincerity in public and private.

***

Set ‘Em up Boys, Have A Round Of Bioethanol! Bioethanol is an alcohol produced by RYAM from fermentation and distillation of lignocellulosic materials, i.e., pine tree residue or waste material.

This is the same process used by Mocama and all the other breweries hereabouts. They make an alcohol called beer. RYAM makes an alcohol called ethanol.​

If RYAM gets the air rights license they have the green light. Like Mocama, RYAM knows the rules, does its homework, and abides by the laws. So, at the end of the day, will the extreme irrational screamers who hang out at Mocama, sipping coffee and locally brewed beer while plotting their RYAM opposition, get their way?

Rayonier’s neighbor, Mocama, is just a few blocks down the street.

Like Mocama, RYAM is a terrific corporate citizen. It has a strong “green deal” argument in its favor. They are replacing a fossil fuel and eliminating a toxic residue by selling it profitably and not burning it, thus causing air pollution. Further, the state, county and city governments should support it for economic reasons. Also, RYAM has a fiduciary duty to its shareholders as well as its obligation to create and maintain a safe environment for its employees and the community?

If the Tuten-Minshew extremists want to ban tanker trucks carrying ethanol off the island shouldn’t they object to the gasoline tankers coming onto the island to service area filling stations. Can’t gasoline cause fires and explosions?

These local delusional cartoonish extremists need to remember where they are—on an island that supports two paper mills and an active seaport and their employees—not Martha’s Vineyard or the Hamptons. ​However, thanks to the solid corporate citizenship of Rayonier, folks hereabouts are as safe if not safer than those in those hoity-toity places.

The Rayonier management team is as skillful and professional as any I’ve ever observed. During a recent community open house the company’s management confidently and politely fielded citizens’ questions and allayed safety concerns with ease and confidence. They explained how they will convert a waste product currently being incinerated here and turn it into a viable commodity, safely, productively, and profitably.

Activists disguised as reporters don’t want to hear that. That’s why hacks such as Mike Lednovich and the dreadful leftist editor of the News Leader, Tracy Dishman, are so dangerous to solid corporate citizens and local employers like Rayonier. Based on his last two editorials, Publisher Foy Maloy, is scrambling to catch up with these two extremists. Sad. Maloy’s background is in advertising sales, not journalism and it shows. You need to get out more Foy.

It’s pathetic that these outlets, particularly the News Leader, deprive the community, its readers and advertisers of  honest, balanced coverage and turns their personal biases into what the Wall Street Journal’s Bill McGurn calls “media malpractice”.

Thankfully the community is fortunate to have Matt Davis’s print and online www.yuleenews.com, and George Miller’s digital news outlet www.citizensjournal.net.

 ***

“No! Mom, dad, don’t vote for Harris and Walz, they don’t make any sense.”

And One More Thing! A reader sent me a comment saying: “Explain to me like I’m five years old how anybody can look at how bad things have gotten in just over three and one-half years and say: “Yep, I’m voting for more of this.”

Even Democratic strategist James Carville this past Thursday suggested that Harris stop attempting to persuade voters that the economy is doing well.

Apparently, Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate, agrees with my reader, as during a Pennsylvania campaign rally Saturday, September 21 he shouted: “We can’t afford another four years of this!”

The bellowing, bouncing, arm-flapping Minnesota Governor, must have  momentarily forgot he was Harris’s VP pick, when he bumblingly attempted to encourage his audience to continue supporting the same Harris leadership that resulted in the last four years of failed economic, border, and crime policies. Maybe he failed to close the deal because he forgot to mention that she grew up as a member of a middle-class family living in a neighborhood with nice lawns.

  • Comment (25)
  • So glad I found this blog and y’all. Truth speaker and fearless in the face of a hurricane. Dave, you are my red boy. You go boy go too!

  • No matter how you make it——–Ethanol or Bioethanol, Alcohol, etc. = C2H6O
    Marlin and Barrell make this too!!!!

    LET’S CLEAR THE AIR Ethanol is the best tool available to reduce tailpipe emissions of harmful pollutants. Adding ethanol to gasoline reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector in 2023 by 56.5 million mt. This is equivalent to:
    • Removing 12 million cars from the road for a year
    • Eliminating annual emissions from 15 coal-fired power plants
    • Eliminating emissions from 325,000 roundtrip flights from Los Angeles to New York City – SOURCE: https://d35t1syewk4d42.cloudfront.net/file/2657/RFA%20Pocket%20Guide%202024%20FINAL.pdf)

    The USA produces 900 million barrels/year of ethanol RYAM’s plant will produce approximately 150,000 barrels/year, or about 0.015%. Most of the ethanol in the USA is made from potential food products (corn, etc.). RYAM will not compete for food products.

    Based on this issue, it is clear that imbibing ethanol has significant risks as well, especially at the Tiki Bar.

    • Overall, the transportation sector accounts for approximately 30% of total U.S. energy needs and 70% of U.S. petroleum consumption. Using more energy efficient vehicles like hybrid and electric vehicles supports the U.S. economy and helps diversify the U.S. transportation fleet. The multiple fuel sources used to generate electricity results in a more secure energy source for the electrified portion of the transportation sector. All of this adds to our nation’s energy security.

    • OMG, “imbibing ethanol” reminds me of when Trump suggested folks might want to drink disinfectants to prevent COVID. But I digress. I also disagree with you. Clearly, the best tool available to reduce tailpipe emissions of harmful pollutants is called the electric car. Get with the program old man!

  • Good blog this week, Dave.
    I’ve been told that there’s a new Bioethanol Bar opening just off the Island. Delicious, flavored, carbonated, bioethanol drinks in skinny cans with modern fancy names. All designed to keep the tailpipe emissions of the Bioethanol Bar patrons at a dull roar and at acceptable noise levels!

    • If you all decide to hold a MAGA meeting there, concern for tailpipe emissions will be minor compared to concerns over the emissions coming from both ends of the patrons’ bodies.

        • Harry, Larry and whatever other juvenile alias y’all use, don’t kid yourselves. A second Trump term foreign policy would be the same as the first – a quest to leverage global crises for Trump’s personal and political goals rather than in the service of deeper strategic national interests.

          • Take your pick – imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

  • What a bunch of baloney from a guy who pretends to be an unbiased journalist. IF you ever worked for IBM, you probably were fired. That company’s culture wouldn’t have tolerated your vitriolic writing.

    Did you know that Reagan and Trump were once registered Democrats?

    • Jay Smith, allow me to barge into this discussion to see your “Reagan was a Democrat” card, and raise you a “Reagan said he didn’t leave the Democrats, they left him” card.

      Dave Scott may be an intermittently irascible curmudgeon, but to his credit he doesn’t pretend to be otherwise. His blog, as he pointed out to you, is not journalism in the broadly defined sense. He can write what he pleases, which all and sundry are entitled to disagree with, argue over, or simply ignore.

      I do have it on good authority that Dave Scott indeed had a working relationship in years past with IBM. During that era IBM was known as a white collar, dark tie workplace, and perhaps it still is.

      But I doubt there has ever been a clause in their employment contracts forbidding former employees from ever expressing, for the remainder of their natural lives, opinions likely to discomfort readers such as yourself.

      • Trump says he didn’t leave the presidency. But the voters left him!

        Love that Jack Smith and can not wait to read his new filing. Or, should I say, can not wait to listen to the CNN analysis and the political ads that ,La’a team will be undoubtedly be releasing soon.

    • Typical libtard babble. They push EV’S while knowing that electrical generation to power these EV’s produces more pollution that gas powered cars. They want The Hoe and Tampon Tim to finish the destruction of this great nation started by Senile, Demented, Buffoon Joe Biden. If The Hoe is so great why has she done nothing but word salads the past 44 months?

      • While here in PA, Trump stated that the war between Ukraine and Russia is all Zelensky’s fault because he did not strike a “deal” with Russia either before or during its illegal and brutal invasion to crush a democracy and wipe a sovereign nation of the map. That was the kind of argument made before Adolf Hitler marched across Europe, by appeasers now dishonored in history.

      • Crude! Referring to any group as “…tards” is pathetic, as are your references to the VP and her choice as a running mate.

      • And there you go again. Although I don’t agree with what I have read on this blog about EVs and alternative transportation, I don’t see anywhere that Dave has mentioned same in this weeks rant.

  • The Yulee News and Citizens’ Journal are exactly what we have come to expect from the dying breeds of ultra conservatives that currently reside in the area – rubbish. Just as bad is when they gather in person to exchange their disgusting views. Groups like Citizens Defending Freedom and We the People will slowly die out and I pray that when I am as old as the people who now frequent this blog, Fernandina will be free.

  • I just read on Kanye West’s site that Komila Harris practices whichcraft! The choice is yours people. We need a faith based government in Washington not a damn which house. So get out there and show your support for church and family values!

  • And it’s one, two, three,
    What are we fighting for ?
    Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
    Next stop is Iran;
    And it’s five, six, seven,
    Open up the pearly gates,
    Well there ain’t no time to wonder why
    Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.

    Come on mothers throughout the land,
    Pack your boys off to Iran.
    Come on fathers, and don’t hesitate
    To send your sons off before it’s too late.
    And you can be the first ones in your block
    To have your boy come home in a box.

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