Week of Wednesday, March 8, 2023 ■ Page 4
OPINIONS
HB991: Bad for Florida, bad for America 10700 Stringfellow Road, Ste. 60 Bokeelia, FL 33922 Phone: (239) 283-2022 Fax: (239) 283-0232 Web: pineisland-eagle.com Publisher Raymond M. Eckenrode reckenrode@breezenewspapers.com Executive Editor Valarie Harring vharring@breezenewspapers.com
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Imagine a world in which newspapers have been bankrupted and shuttered. Imagine that Reddit, the Drudge Report and Red Pill are no more and that social media platforms forbid political discussion of any stripe. Imagine that while some television and radio news show still exist, they only feature endless stories about cats and dogs, and fawning coverage of those in power. Imagine a world in which robust political discussion has been cowed into silence, and all government business takes place behind closed doors, and nobody can talk about what might have transpired in this darkness unless they want to end up broke, unemployed and homeless. This is not the backdrop of some new Netflix drama about a dystopian future in a galaxy, far, far away. No. This is a possible reality right here in Florida if lawmakers succeed in passing a bill that would lower the threshold for the rich and powerful to sue anybody who says something they don’t like. HB991 is officially called the Defamation, False Light, and Unauthorized Publication of Name or Likenesses Bill. But First Amendment activists like me who have read it call it the “Death to Public Discourse Bill.” Key supporters of HB991 want you to believe the legislation is about taming the excesses of the “liberal corporate” media by
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Guest Commentary
Letter to the Editor
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giving the “little guy” a ing to an official to land a chance to avenge “bad” coverreporter, blogger or housewife age. But the truth of this bill is Facebooker in court. It can all about making it easier for merely cast the subject of the government officials and their story in an unfavorable light. rich and powerful allies to use Gov. Ron DeSantis called the courts to punish those who for a new defamation bill, saycriticize them. ing he wanted to give the And despite the belief by Average Joe a chance to clear some conservatives that their name when the press sulHB991 would only affect the lies it. But the truth is that New York Times, the Miami defamation and libel suits have Herald and CNN if it were to never been the tools of ordibecome law, the reality is no nary people who often don’t Bobby Block information outlet would be have the means to go to court. spared the depredations of But these lawsuits have all too punitive lawsuits under its often been part of the reperprovisions. Fox, Newsmax, toire of powerful figures seekconservative talk radio staing to bring their critics to tions will all feel the sting of heel. this new law as public figures This legislation is hardly a across the political spectrum look to exact novel move. Throughout history, tyrants on their vengeance against inconvenient news the left and the right as well as powerful coverage and commentary. The fallout would Robber Barons have often moved to crush the just as likely crush Fox’s Tucker Carlson as it press in order to control messaging. And the would the NYT’s Paul Krugman. easiest way to crush the press is to weaponize More than that, this legislation would also the law against commentators just as HB991 subject bloggers, community groups, average seeks to do. users of social media —in short everybody For those who doubt this could be the who wants their voices heard — to the untold rationale of HB991’s supporters, look at financial and emotional burdens of lawsuits. recent rules by the state forbidding events And the way HB991 is currently written, a story doesn’t have to be wrong and damagSee HB991, page 17
A sea of dead fish To the editor: “Promises, Promises,” as Burt Bacharach said in the song — that’s what we get from Tallahassee. All talk and no action. Forever we have been hearing about all that is being done to clean up the water in our area. The man at the top promised to clean up the mess in Lake Okeechobee and what do we see? A sea of dead fish. I spent Sunday morning rowing a small boat out of the Pineland kayak launch and could not believe the mess, fish floating belly up everywhere. When is this going to end? Instead of doing something about Florida’s real problems, filthy water, bad development, bad health care, poverty, underpaid and overworked teachers and nurses, and so much more, they throw us red herrings: the danger of critical race theory, banning books which dare to mention anything about LGBT, floating the idea of a voting police force, banning abortion, fear of illegal immigrants (who’s fixing your roof?) and
more guns. These only detract from the real issues Floridians deal with every day so they can stuff their pockets with money from Super PACS and lobbyists, who really run the show, and win elections. It’s a sad commentary that this is what it takes to win, but until we see through all the BS and look around to what we really need, nothing will change. Politicians may say they are in favor of cleaning up the environment, but are they granting the funds to accomplish anything? That’s why nothing is getting done. If you care about this place which is supposed to be so wonderful, look in the water before you vote. Jim Friedlander Pineland
Who listens to leaders that are consistently wrong? To the editor: Way back in 2021, Joe Biden said inflation was “transitory” and that “no serious
We want your opinion The views expressed on the Opinions pages are just that — opinions. These pages are intended to convey a range of viewpoints; opinions printed on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper. Opposing views are welcome. Letters to the Editor or guest columns may be mailed to: Pine Island Eagle, 10700 Stringfellow Road, Ste. 60, Bokeelia, FL 33922; e-mailed to pineisland@ breezenewspapers.com; posted to our Virtual Newsroom at www.breezenewspapers.com or faxed to 283-0232. All letters and guest columns must be signed and must contain a phone number for verification purposes. You also can comment on any letter or editorial opinion online at: pineisland-eagle.com
economist” thought that inflation wasn’t transitory. Janet Yellen, the 76-year-old Secretary of the Treasury and registered Democrat, who just made a “secret” trip to Ukraine to “bolster their confidence,” was in the same camp. That “camp”, which included Jerome Powell, head of our Federal Reserve, was dead wrong and has cost American consumers billions of dollars by their failure to heed the real economists that were not on their payroll. Larry Summers, chief economist of the World Bank and president of Harvard University, and Mohammed El Erian, an Arab American economist and president of Queens College, were busy sounding the alarm bells, but the truth was incredibly inconvenient for the Biden Administration, so they just ignored it until inflation hit a 40year high mark and ran right over all of them. I’m not sure what Yellen’s trip to Ukraine was supposed to accomplish other than that it played well to the Biden cheerleading squad but one thing is for sure, the Fed has not even begun to conquer inflation because they are too busy propping up Biden’s geriatric administration with anemic rate hikes designed to avoid a recession that have been as much of a failure as Biden, Powell and Yellen were when they were telling us inflation was only transitory. Who listens to these leaders that are consistently wrong? The voters that put them in office that either don’t understand the consequences of their actions or simply don’t care because “The Big Guy” won. Max Christian St. James City