Special Olympics drops vaccine rule after $27M fine threat from DeSantis administration | June 3

If Eunice Kennedy Shriver were alive today, I am convinced that she would pull the Special Olympics competition out of the state of Florida. Why? Because after receiving a $27.5 million threat from the governor over its vaccine requirement, she would care much more about the health and safety of the special needs participants than the governor cares about getting re-elected. He likes to defy the federal government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What he doesn’t get is a large majority of Special Olympians have underlying medical conditions that make them more prone to severe illness and death if they get COVID-19. With Florida in a new COVID surge (recording an average of more than 10,200 infections a day), his threat is even more alarming. Vaccines won’t prevent every Olympian from getting COVID, but they are the best tool we have to prevent serious illness and death. Does he not care about that?

Some readers ask me to stop saying ‘conservative’ when I really mean ‘crazy’ or ‘fascist’ | Column, June 6

Columnist Leonard Pitts writes about conservatives in America. As a former Republican, I never saw myself that way. I just wanted fair taxes, small government and a strong defense. Today’s Republican Party is about none of those things. Once the GOP embraced the hard religious right and followed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich down the rabbit hole of no compromise, I saw the handwriting on the wall. The party was moving, and not in the correct direction. The tea party and greedy businesspeople took over. From the powerful, like former Gov. Charlie Crist, to this lowly tile installer, our values didn’t change, but the Republican Party left us as I believe it went off the sanity cliff. Those still in the GOP had better wake up. If you love the U.S. Constitution, this is not your party anymore.

Gunman list had Mich. governor | June 6

Many on the left believe it is acceptable to protest at judges’ homes. On Friday, John “Jack” Roemer, a retired circuit court judge in Wisconsin, was shot and killed, allegedly a “targeted act” by someone who authorities say did not like his decisions. Our governor was ahead of the curve in signing a law prohibiting protests at judges’ homes.

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