Tag: florida

Florida To Investigate Teachers Found Celebrating Charlie Kirk Assassination

Florida’s Department of Education announced on Sept. 11 that it will look into public school teachers who, on social media, celebrated or justified the assassination of Turning Point USA CEO and founder Charlie Kirk.

Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas sent a letter to school district superintendents telling them that he would be investigating after it was brought to his attention that some educators had posted “despicable comments on social media regarding the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk.”

“These few are not a reflection of the great, high-quality teachers who make up the vast majority of Florida’s educators,” he wrote.

“Nevertheless, I will be conducting an investigation of every educator who engages in this vile, sanctionable behavior.”

Florida’s Department of Education told The Epoch Times in an email that the commissioner was prepared to use all of his power to hold educators responsible if the investigation proves they should not be in a classroom based on their behavior.

That power includes revoking their educator certificate.

“Although educators have First Amendment rights, these rights do not extend without limit into their professional duties,” Kamoutsas said.

“An educator’s personal views that are made public may undermine the trust of the students and families that they serve.”

The commissioner cited Rule 6A-10.081 of the Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), titled “Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession in Florida,” which holds the state’s certified educators to a set of ethical guidelines.

Kamoutsas said that a teacher could violate that rule if his or her conduct “causes a student or his or her family to feel unwelcome or unwilling to participate in the learning environment.”

He also cited sections of two Florida statutes that authorized the commissioner to discipline and sanction the certificate of an educator who “upon investigation, has been found guilty of personal conduct that seriously reduces that person’s effectiveness as an employee of the district school board.”

“Teachers are held to a higher standard as public servants and must ensure their conduct does not undermine the trust of the students and families they serve,” the commissioner said on X.

“We will hold teachers who choose to make disgusting comments about the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk accountable. Govern yourselves accordingly.”

The official action came after several voices across social media were raised to flag and speak out against people justifying or even cheering the assassination of the conservative influencer.

The social media app BlueSky was required to speak out against some of its users’ comments.

“Glorifying violence or harm violates Bluesky’s Community Guidelines,” the company said. “We review reports and take action on content that celebrates harm against anyone.

“Violence has no place in healthy public discourse, and we’re committed to fostering healthy, open conversations.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis praised Kamoutsas’s actions to hold the state’s teachers accountable.

“Celebrating the assassination of a 31-year-old father of two young kids is disturbing; that teachers would be among those who do so is completely unacceptable,” he said.

Since that announcement, several people began posting screenshots on X of teachers they caught publicly celebrating the assassination, and tagging Florida leaders and the respective school districts.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), an organization known for defending First Amendment rights on school campuses across the country, to get its take on this move by the Sunshine State.

Senior Program Counsel Stephanie Jablonsky told The Epoch Times in an email on Sept. 12 that while public school teachers retain their First Amendment right to speak as private citizens on matters of public concern, they do not have unlimited protection. However, the actions could be seen as unconstitutional if termination of employment is solely based on the disapproval of a person’s opinion.

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6 more officers fired over handling of domestic violence-fueled triple homicide in South Florida

A South Florida sheriff’s office has fired six more deputies and disciplined 11 others for their handling of the case of Mary Gingles, a woman who investigators say was murdered by her estranged husband after she had warned officers for months that she feared he would kill her. Two officers had previously been dismissed for their role in the case.

An internal investigation found that multiple Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies failed to properly investigate Gingles’ reports of domestic violence perpetrated by her husband, Nathan Gingles, before he allegedly carried out the triple homicide of his wife, her father, David Ponzer, and her neighbor Andrew Ferrin, as the Gingles’ four-year-old daughter begged her father to stop.

Nathan Gingles has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

The killings – despite Mary Gingles’ repeated pleas for help – have shaken the South Florida community of Tamarac and ignited fresh scrutiny of officers’ failure to use the state’s red flag law to remove firearms from a person deemed a danger to themselves or others.

Following through on threats that Mary Gingles had repeatedly reported, on Feb. 16, 2025, Nathan Gingles fatally shot his father-in-law as he was drinking coffee on the back patio of the family’s home, before chasing Mary down the street and killing her and Ferrin, a neighbor whose home she fled to, according to investigators.

“We had multiple opportunities to protect Mary during the months preceding her death when she alerted us to the domestic violence she was experiencing. The deputies and detectives assigned to investigate these cases failed their training and, ultimately, failed to handle Mary’s repeated cries for help with the urgency required,” Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said in a statement.

According to an investigation by the Miami Herald, in the year leading up to her murder, Mary Gingles had confided in friends, family and law enforcement officers that she feared her estranged husband would kill her.

He repeatedly violated restraining orders barring him from the family’s home, terrorizing his wife by putting a tracker on her car and leaving a backpack full of supplies like duct tape and zip ties in the garage, the investigation found.

Gingles’ alleged behavior in the months leading up to the killings was consistent with what experts say are known risk factors for further abuse, including deadly violence. More female intimate partners are killed by firearms than by all other means combined, according to a Department of Justice analysis of a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“One of the most crucial steps to prevent lethal violence is to disarm abusers and keep them disarmed,” the Justice Department’s report stated.

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DeSantis Administration Announces Statewide Investigation into Educators Celebrating Charlie Kirk’s Murder: “Govern Yourselves Accordingly”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration announced a statewide investigation into educators celebrating Charlie Kirk’s political assassination.

Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas sent a letter to superintendents throughout the state warning that the DeSantis administration will not tolerate such vile behavior.

The letter reads:

TO: School District Superintendents
FROM: Anastasios Kamoutsas
DATE: September 11, 2025
SUBJECT: Upholding Professional Conduct and Ethical Responsibilities

It has been brought to my attention that some Florida educators have posted despicable comments on social media regarding the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. These few are not a reflection of the great, high-quality teachers who make up the vast majority of Florida’s educators. Nevertheless, I will be conducting an investigation of every educator who engages in this vile, sanctionable behavior.

This memorandum serves to remind superintendents and their employees that they are held to a higher standard as public servants. Certified educators are also subject to the ethical guidelines established in Rule 6A-10.081, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession in Florida. In addition, pursuant to section (s.) 1012.796, Florida Statutes (F.S.), the Commissioner may find probable cause to sanction an educator’s certificate. Furthermore, s. 1012.795,
F.S., authorizes the Education Practices Commission to discipline an educator for violation of Rule 6A-
10.081, F.A.C.

Although educators have First Amendment rights, these rights do not extend without limit into their professional duties. An educator’s personal views that are made public may undermine the trust of the students and families that they serve. If an educator’s conduct causes a student or his or her family to feel unwelcome or unwilling to participate in the learning environment, it may be a violation of Rule 6A-10.081, F.A.C. Florida law allows the Commissioner to find probable cause to discipline an educator
who, “upon investigation, has been found guilty of personal conduct that seriously reduces that person’s effectiveness as an employee of the district school board.”

I expect you to share this reminder with all school district employees. Together, we must uphold the highest standards of professionalism and keep Florida’s classrooms places of safety and academic achievement for every student.

Govern yourselves accordingly.

Teachers are held to a higher standard as public servants and must ensure their conduct does not undermine the trust of the students and families they serve. We will hold teachers who choose to make disgusting comments about the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk accountable.… pic.twitter.com/KzXCCGkvZm

— Anastasios Kamoutsas (@StasiKamoutsas) September 11, 2025

Governor DeSantis added, “Celebrating the assassination of a 31-year-old father of two young kids is disturbing. That teachers would be among those who do so is completely unacceptable.”

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Property Taxes Are Theft

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has an absolutely thrilling idea, one I never imagined I would see unfold in my lifetime. He is putting on the ballot next year a referendum that would abolish or restrict local governments from taxing owner-occupied homes.

That’s right, he wants to get rid of the property tax, saving residents some $3,400 a year and fundamentally disrupting the way schools and local governments are financed.

Texas is considering the same path.

If this really happens, I can easily predict more of a demographic shift out of the Northeast and Northwest to the South and Texas. If this spreads to more states, it would amount to a revolution in public finance.

It’s long overdue. These tax schemes are brutal on home ownership. Indeed, it’s hard to say that you are ever really the owner of your home if you are having to pay rent to the government every year.

It’s especially a problem in an environment when the home valuation goes up every year and so does the tax you owe on the place. You have done nothing but lived there and enjoyed life. It is entirely paid off. Meanwhile, the government keeps coming after you with ever more pressing demands for money.

You cannot really say you are an owner of anything under these conditions. Of course when I hear about how this will save $3,400 on average in Florida, I nearly faint. In my area of the country, this would be pennies. Property taxes in New England can be $20K–40K and that is not unusual.

These taxes fund schools that people don’t use. That’s how public schooling in this country came to be financed. The system of school districts really is a system of tax districts. That’s why they are so heavily enforced. Live on this side of the street instead of that one and your taxes can be completely different. It’s all to fund the public schools, whether you use them or not.

Friends of mine are paying $30K in property taxes plus $70K per kid for private schools for three kids.

If that kind of expenditure shocks and amazes you, you are not alone. I find it all unfathomable but that’s how New England works.

It’s a different world in Texas and Florida. Here you have new experiments in school choice. The plans are different but they generally let the parent use the money that would otherwise go to the public school for private schools, charter schools, or homeschools, either in the form of direct payments or deductions from the tax bill overall.

We might ask how all of this is happening now. The answer traces to the school closures of 2020 and 2021 which dramatically reduced confidence in the public schooling system and hence the way they are financed. If millions of people are homeschooling and millions more are attending newly established private schools, the political pressure for ever-higher property taxes is thereby reduced.

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Florida’s Open Carry Gun Ban Struck Down by State Court

A Florida appeals court on Sept. 10 unanimously struck down the state’s law banning the open carry of firearms.

The ruling by the state’s First District Court of Appeal reversed the conviction of Stanley Victor McDaniels. He was found guilty under a 1987 state law that makes it “unlawful for any person to openly carry on or about his or her person any firearm or electric weapon or device.”

Florida Gov. Bob Martinez, a Republican, signed the law in 1987, after state lawmakers discovered that a recently passed concealed carry law created a legal loophole that allowed people to walk around in public with guns. Legislators worried that national reports on the loophole could hurt tourism in the state. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the law in 2017 in a case known as Norman v. State of Florida.

Appeals Judge Stephanie Ray said in the court’s opinion on Sept. 10 that Florida is “an outlier” that, along with Illinois, Connecticut, and California, generally forbids the open carrying of guns.

McDaniels argued that the open carry ban violated the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right to bear arms, the judge said.

“Guided by the Constitution’s text and this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, we agree,” Ray said in an opinion that was joined by Judges Lori Rowe and Kemmerly Thomas.

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Good Guy with a Gun Turns the Tables on 7-Eleven Robbers in Florida

A Florida robbery Saturday ended up far from whatever two men had expected after one victim grabbed his gun.

The incident took place at about 7 p.m. in Dania Beach, according to WTVJ-TV.

Two robberies took place at a 7-Eleven. A victim was robbed at gunpoint in the store’s parking lot.

Justin Kessel, 19, is suspected of that crime, police said.

The suspect then entered the store, where a clerk was robbed. So far, everything was going according to plan.

But while the suspect was robbing the store, the victim decided he had had enough of being a victim and went to his car to retrieve his gun.

As the suspect left the store, instead of his getaway vehicle, he found the robbery victim with a gun. The suspect was shot by the victim, who fired multiple shots at him.

The victim then kept his gun on the suspect while waiting for police. However, while he was waiting, the driver of the getaway vehicle entered the picture.

The victim said a Honda CR-V attempted to run him over, but he was able to avoid the vehicle. The robbery victim then fired more shots, hitting the vehicle.

Kessel was taken into custody by police.

Police later found the vehicle that had been shot at during the incident.

Melvin Presley, 40, was found wounded in the vehicle. Presley had multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

A man identified only as Rodney told reporters the incident happened quickly.

“I live right around the corner and it is scary,” he said. “The guy was robbing the place, tried to rob one of the customers and when he come back out, the other guy in the car shot him.”

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Report: Broward County, FL Officials Caught adding Over 100,000 Ineligible Voters Back into Voter Rolls

Never Forget: They can’t win if they don’t cheat.

Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power sounded the alarm Monday on the alleged “voter fraud” taking place in Broward County Florida.

According to Power, the Broward County Supervisor Joe Scott reportedly added 100,000 ineligible voters back into the voter rolls recently.

Now why would he do that?

Broward County Florida is the second most populous county in Florida next to Miami Dade County. Ft. Lauderdale is its most populated city.

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Politico Is Doing Insurance Companies’ Bidding, And It’s Obvious Why

n February, I analyzed how Politico functions as a glorified patronage racket, whereby “reporters serve as a publicity rag for K Street and get paid handsomely for doing so.” Six months later, another such article serves as Example No. 8,579 (or thereabouts) of this swamp machine in action.

In this particular case, Politico published an advertisement — I mean, article — about a potential extension of Obamacare’s enhanced insurance subsidies, which expire at the end of the year. That story ignored sizable evidence of fraud associated with the subsidies, while including not a single quote from a critic or skeptic of such an extension. It looks like a not-too-subtle attempt from Politico to cheerlead for the insurance industry — i.e., its corporate subscribers.

Big Signs of Fraud

The article focused largely on Florida and highlighted that state’s sizable enrollment in Exchange coverage, particularly for households claiming very low incomes, which qualify for the biggest subsidies: 

Florida is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid, so it’s more difficult for some low-income residents to qualify for the government health insurance program. The enhanced subsidies ensure that people who would be eligible under an expansion — those making just above the federal poverty level, with incomes between about $15,600 and $21,600 — can get Obamacare coverage, typically with no premiums. Two-thirds of the 4.6 million Floridians on Obamacare plans are in this gap…

But there’s one big fact Politico omitted: According to one study, while there are nearly 3.1 million Obamacare enrollees claiming income just above poverty in Florida, estimates derived from the Census Bureau suggest that only about 630,000 households actually have incomes in that range. (Disclosure: While I have done work for the Paragon Health Institute, which published the study in question, I had no involvement with this particular report and am writing this article on my own behalf.)

In other words, by one organization’s estimate, more than 2.4 million enrollees — over half of Florida’s total Exchange enrollment — are potentially fraudulent. These individuals may have overstated their income because households with income below the poverty level don’t qualify for subsidies at all, or conversely, they may have understated their income if they make two or three times the poverty level, so they can qualify for bigger subsidies. Alternatively, people could have been enrolled in “free” coverage without their knowledge by insurance brokers seeking commissions, an offense one Florida-based insurance executive pleaded guilty to this April.

Yet Politico mentioned none of this. It advertised the total enrollment in the Florida Exchange, and the billions of dollars in enhanced subsidies that went to Florida, without noting either the significant questions about enrollment discrepancies in Florida’s Exchange population or the fraud — totaling $133.9 million, according to the Justice Department — that one Florida-based individual has already admitted to.

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Florida Issuing Civil and Criminal Subpoenas to Employer of Illegal Alien Truck Driver Whose Illegal U-Turn Allegedly Killed Three

Florida is issuing civil and criminal subpoenas to the employer of the illegal alien truck driver whose illegal U-turn allegedly resulted in the death of three individuals in St. Lucie County on August 12, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced this week.

The illegal alien truck driver has been identified as Harjinder Singh, who steered his 18-wheeler through a U-turn on a Florida turnpike — an illegal maneuver — resulting in a minivan crashing into the trailer, killing three. What is more, the Department of Transportation (DOT) revealed that officials with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) had launched an investigation into the deadly crash in Florida and found that the truck driver failed the English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment. He provided “correct responses to just 2 of 12 verbal questions,” and accurately identified 1 of 4 highway traffic signs,” according to the DOT press release.

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NIH Director on FL: In My Opinion, Not Having Vax Mandates Seems Best

On Thursday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya commented on Florida moving to scrap vaccine mandates by stating that he’s not speaking for the administration, but not having mandates “seems to be the better approach” and “The strategy of using mandates, it’s not obvious it’s the right one.”

Bhattacharya said, “I’m not sure exactly what — the administration yet has a take on this, but I’ll tell you, Rob, if you look in the U.K., if you look in Sweden, you look in Denmark, none of them have vaccine mandates for any of their vaccines. All of the vaccines are voluntary in those places. What they do have is public health that doesn’t lie to their people. And so, you have amazing vaccine uptake for vaccines like MMR in all of those places, without vaccine mandates, without violating bodily autonomy of people, because public health has the trust of the people because they’re trustworthy. The problem in the United States has been, public health hasn’t been trustworthy, especially during COVID, you saw a lot of, like, exaggerations about the vaccine’s — the COVID vaccine’s ability to stop you from getting and spreading COVID, for instance, and the mandates, they just deepen the distrust. The strategy of using mandates, it’s not obvious it’s the right one. And, as I said, like in Europe, you have a very, very different strategy and they have better results than we do on uptake of essential vaccines like the MMR.”

He added, “They’re not coercing people. What they’re doing, they’re reasoning with people. I find that approach quite attractive. I’m not making an announcement as far as the administration is concerned. I’m just telling you my point of view as an epidemiologist and scientist, that that seems to be the better approach to public health, talk to people, talk to them about the data, what the data actually show and don’t show, be honest about what — when there are problems, and then, treat people like adults, especially parents, to help them make good decisions for their families.”

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