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Get it straight, Florida: Gender, sex not the same | Letters to the editor

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Get it straight, Florida: Gender, sex not the same | Letters to the editor


I have just learned that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has taken the unilateral step to ban transgender individuals from applying for licenses that reflect their gender identity.

Gender and sex are not the same thing, and they do not always match. Gender is the socially constructed binary built upon a human’s body presentation at birth, but sometimes doctors make the decision of what to do with a body that does not conform to a shallow understanding of human dynamics and realities.

I always support our trans persons in Florida, but with these politicized, authoritarian and heavy-handed steps, I am even more supportive of individual choices and upset with our punitive government actions.

Please vote out this Florida government.

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Rebecca  Andre’, Delray Beach

Expand pet lemon law

As a Florida veterinarian, I have seen many sick pets coming out of so-called shelters for years.

While many pets are relatively healthy, some have major medical issues, yet they are presented to unsuspecting, good-hearted adopters as healthy. Some are presented as young, but the exam tells a different story.

There is a wonderful law in this state that protects the pet and the adopter. It is known as the Florida Pet Lemon Law (Section 828.29). It provides for pets to be seen by a vet, vaccinated and tested for parasites and viruses.

However, it does not apply to nonprofits, which most shelters are. For years I have reached out to our legislators to propose changes in the pet lemon law to include no-profits. I get lots of promises but no action.

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While the state legislature is in session, I call upon and challenge our legislators and Gov. Ron DeSantis to step forward and protect our pets and pet adopters. It is unfair not to cover all pets under the so-called lemon law. Please read the law at Myflorida.com to see your rights.

Ed Dworkin, D.V.M., Apopka

‘Kitchen table’ claptrap

Cable TV commentators have decided that if President Joe Biden loses to the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted Donald Trump, it will be because food and gas are too expensive.

They speak of  these as “kitchen table issues,” when wealthy Republican voters are motivated by a singular goal of wealth accumulation. Lower taxes, preferred carried interest and an entanglement of tax avoidance trusts, all to assure they die wealthy, are not “kitchen table” issues. They are uniquely Republican — and at the expense of working voters.

Republicans unabashedly favor tamping down wage growth and busting labor unions. Some Republican governors have resisted Medicaid for their underserved voters and have for years lied about having non-existent programs to replace Obamacare. Social Security and Medicare are perpetually on the Republican chopping block.

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The ordinary Republican is motivated by social and religious issues. Rejection of abortion, gay and transgender rights, minority voting rights and other social or civil rights issues fire them up. An ordinary GOP voter can’t tell you what their party is actually willing to do to solve purported kitchen table handwringing.

How do more tax breaks and reducing social programs serve lower-income voters? If you think about it long and hard, you likely can’t come up with anything Republicans have ever done for those who are struggling for a better life.

Sheldon I. Saitlin, Boca Raton

FSU’s baseball ambassador

Mike Martin (1944-2024) was an iconic figure in college baseball, a man respected and loved throughout the game.

His record of winning the most games in the history of the sport put him at the pinnacle, and his ability to win consistently at the highest level was equally remarkable.

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Mike was a tremendous ambassador for Florida State University and loved FSU with all his heart. He lit up a room with enthusiasm and energy. His insistence that his teams always play the game the right way and with class was appreciated.

College baseball has lost one of its all-time greats and we’ve lost one of our greatest Seminoles.

Paul Bacon, Hallandale Beach

 



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Florida

Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’

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Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’


It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.

Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.

But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.

William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.

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Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.

Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.

“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.

“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”

The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.

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He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.

At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”

Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.

Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.

Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.

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“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.

That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”

In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.

“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”

Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.

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Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.



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Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'

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Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'


A federal court in Tallahassee has issued a temporary injunction blocking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a “terrorist organization.” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s order comes nearly three months after DeSantis signed his executive order on Dec. 8. The order directed Florida’s executive and Cabinet agencies, as […]



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Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip

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Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip



Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.

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“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.

“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.

Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”

The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.

“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”

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That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.



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