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AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

VOLUME 27 NO. 32

GOV. DESANTIS: ‘IT’S THE INTERNET’ As Florida politicians react to the latest mass killings, a ballot initiative to ban assault-style weapons moves forward.

COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

STEPHEN M. DOWELL / ORLANDO SENTINEL / TNS

Fans carry a sign that reads, “Pray for El Paso & Dayton” during a march before a pro soccer match in Orlando on Tuesday.

TALLAHASSEE – The El Paso and Dayton shootings could help fuel debate in Tallahassee about gun-control issues and ideas for preventing mass violence, starting with a Florida Senate review of factors such as White supremacist terrorism.

The shootings come after years of debate in Florida about gun-control issues, including whether to ban assault weapons. The Republican-dominated Legislature has rejected proposals by Democrats to ban the semiautomatic weapons, though a political committee, Ban Assault Weapons NOW, is trying to get a proposed ban on the November 2020 ballot.

“This weekend, we saw yet two more mass shootings in our country take the lives of 31 fellow Americans, with both shooters armed with militarygrade assault weapons,” Gail Schwartz, chairwoman of Ban Assault Weapons NOW, said in a prepared statement.

BRONZE KINGDOM / AFRICAN ART

Congratulations to Orlando’s best Iantress Bennett and her husband Rawlvan welcome visitors from around the globe to Bronze Kingdom, a twoyear old African art gallery that houses the largest collection of African bronzes in the world. It was voted Orlando’s Best Art Gallery

by Orlando Magazine readers.

Currently located in Orlando’s Fashion Square Mall, its collection consists of more than 4,000 exquisitely crafted pieces from more than 29 different African countries.

“These events highlight the harsh reality: These killings will continue to happen, here in Florida and across the country, until we take action and do what our elected leaders have failed to do. We must ban these weapons of war.”

Legislative review Senate President Bill Galvano, RBradenton, on Monday directed Senate Infrastructure and Security Chairman Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, to lead efforts to determine if any further action is needed after laws were enacted in the wake of the Feb. 14, 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

In the aftermath, the Legislature approved a wide-ranging measure that required schools to have safety officers, bolstered mental-health services and upgraded protections through school “hardening” projects.

See DESANTIS, Page A2

Restitution or poll tax?

Amendment 4 fight continues

BY DARA KAM NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee are asking a federal judge to dismiss a challenge to a new law about restoring the voting rights of felons who have completed their sentences, arguing that the case belongs in state – not federal – court.

The request from attorneys for the state came as voting- and civil-rights groups asked the judge to block provisions of the law from going into effect while the case works its way through the courts.

Money matter The Legislature passed the law this spring to carry out a November constitutional amendment designed to restore the voting rights of felons.

Voting- and civil-rights groups went to federal court contending that the law improperly ties restoration of felons’ voting rights to their ability to pay financial obligations – what critics of the law have described as a “poll tax.”

DeSantis and Lee, however, argue that U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle should dismiss the case.

Question of interpretation More than 64 percent of Floridians approved what appeared on the November ballot as Amendment 4. The amendment granted restoration of voting rights to felons “who have completed all terms of their sentence, including parole or probation.” The amendment excluded people “convicted of murder

FLORIDA COURIER / CHARLES W. CHERRY II

See AMEND 4, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS NATION | A6

No plans to limit Walmart gun, ammo sales

FLORIDA | A3

New opioid law causes confusion for doctors

ALSO INSIDE

Study explores genetics of PTSD in veterans

Jones files bill to reduce weed penalty TALLAHASSEE – State Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, filed legislation Monday that would decriminalize possession of certain amounts of marijuana in Florida, a bill that could be a longshot in the Republicandominated Legislature.

“We must restore justice to our broken criminal justice system.

For far too long, communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by laws governing marijuana, and we must end this injustice once and for all,” Jones

said in a prepared statement.

The proposal (HB 25), is filed for the 2020 legislative session, which starts in January. If passed, the measure State Rep. would reduce Shevrin Jones criminal penalties for possession of 20 grams or less of cannabis, and products that contain 600 milligrams or less of euphoria-induc-

ing THC. Jones’ proposal also specifies that juveniles arrested for possession of certain amounts of cannabis would be eligible for civil citations or pre-arrest diversion programs.

“After being charged with possession, many Floridians feel the lasting impact as their student financial aid, employment opportunities, housing eligibility, or immigration status are adversely affected,” Jones said in the statement.

GUEST COMMENTARY: MATTHEW WALTHER: SHOOTINGS ARE ABOUT ALIENATION, NOT IDEOLOGY | A4 COMMENTARY: GLEN FORD: REPARATIONS RISE WITH WHITE DEMOCRATS’ PERMISSION | A5

FOCUS

A2

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

STOJ

Pale-faced terrorists are still terrorists I am writing this week’s column with a heavy heart.

For decades, I have been telling Gantt Report readers that there is more hate in your country than there is in any other part of the world.

Mass murders that took place in Texas and Ohio were carried out by what appears to be White nationalist and White supremacy sympathizers.

Trump’s plan working The Hater in Chief, President Donald Trump, is carrying out his demonic plan to turn neighbors against neighbors, divide American citizens and to destroy American democracy.

Right-wing conservatives of all ages don’t buy weapons of war for home protection. High-capacity magazines are not purchased for target practice. Body armor is not worn to attend the megachurch

AMEND 4 from A1 or a felony sexual offense.”

The interpretation of “all terms of their sentence” became a flashpoint during this spring’s legislative session as lawmakers struggled to reach consensus on a measure to carry out the amendment.

The new law requires all “financial obligations” ordered by the court as part of a sentence – including fines, fees and restitution – to be repaid in full for voting rights to be restored. The law also allows judges to modify financial obligations other than restitution that were part of sentences.

And the law allows judges to convert financial obligations to community service hours. Under that scenario, financial obligations are considered paid in full once community service is complete.

Amendment vs. law Plaintiffs in the case argue that hinging voting rights on a person’s ability to pay financial debts amounts to an unconstitutional “poll tax” and is a vestige of Jim Crow-era laws aimed at keeping Blacks from casting ballots.

But the state maintains that the new law is more lenient than the terms of the amendment.

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

prayer meeting.

The assault rifle’s primary use is to kill people!

Today’s mass murderers kill shoppers, students, people out for a night of dancing and entertainment. They kill unarmed, lawabiding people of color and their youth for dubious and/or illegal reasons.

Who’s doing the killing?

It’s not Latino or immigrants of African descent killing school children. It’s not Muslims firing on party people. It’s not Black Lives Matter protesters that are wearing bulletproof vests and gunning down customers at Walmart.

America’s domestic terrorists are primarily pale-faced cowards. I say “coward” because the mass murderers don’t want to fight people they detest one-onone. They want to attack disco dancers, school kids and grocery shoppers.

Trump and his minions should halt the hate. White supremacist and White nationalist rage will take America and the world to a place it does not want to go. Racism and nationalism around the world is a prelude to a possible race war!

No fear of Trump The president likes to huff and puff about “fire and fury” in North Korea, or “total obliteration” of Afghanistan and Iran. But world leaders are not afraid of Trump.

They know the president will not seek to attack a country that can attack back. The orange emperor

has no clothes.

Western nations have a lot of nuclear weapons. But Eastern nations like China, India and others have nuclear bombs, too.

If a White president launches a nuclear attack on a non-White nation, the sky will be full of nuclear warheads.

No double standard We have to stop looking at domestic terrorism as isolated events. We have to stop saying White mass murderers are “troubled” and “misguided,” but non-Whites that kill are “thugs,” “hoodlums,” and “hooligans.”

We have to understand that the whole world began as a world of people of color, and human nature is taking us back to that spot.

Start to stop domestic terror by getting rid of the greatest sympathizers of right-wing terrorists – beginning with Donald Trump!

What is ‘all terms’?

Part of the 2018 law established what is known as the “red flag” law, which allows law enforcement agencies to seize firearms from people they believe may pose a threat to themselves or others.

“With committee meetings resuming just one month from now, our focus should be on steps the Senate can take to review and better understand the various factors involved in mass shootings, in addition to, and also including, school shootings,” Galvano wrote in a memo to senators.

“This includes White nationalism, which appears to be a factor not only with regard to these recent mass shootings, but also with other acts of violence we have seen across the country in recent years.”

‘Focus on solutions’ DeSantis pointed to “recesses of the Internet” where people can share “vile” views and a need to look at White nationalism – along with other causes – when asked Wednesday about tackling

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www. allworldconsultants.net.

The state, in Friday’s motion, pointed to language that the amendment’s backers used in addressing the Florida Supreme Court and Lee. During arguments before the state court in 2017, Supreme Court Justice Ricky Polston asked Jon Mills, a former University of Florida law school dean and onetime speaker of the Florida House who helped craft the amendment, whether “all terms” of a sentence included “full payment of any fines.

Mills replied that “all terms

C.M. GUERRERO/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Voters in Hialeah cast their midterm ballots on Nov. 6, 2018. means all terms within the four corners” of the sentencing document, including restitution.

After the amendment was passed, supporters of the amendment wrote to Lee that “completion of all terms of sentence” includes “any period of incarceration, probation, parole and financial obligations imposed as part of an individual’s sentence.”

The financial obligations “may include restitution and fines,” the American Civil Liberties Union

of Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida, which is one of the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit, and others wrote in December.

Now, the state accuses backers of the amendment of changing their position.

Haves and have-nots Plaintiffs in the case, meanwhile, are asking Hinkle to block the legislation (SB 7066), which

they allege unconstitutionally creates “two classes” of wouldbe voters – those who can afford to pay their financial obligations and those who cannot.

Fewer than one in five of up to 1.4 million “returning citizens” have repaid all of their outstanding financial obligations, the plaintiffs wrote, relying on an analysis performed by University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith.

man Rob Bradley said on Twitter that “the ideology of White supremacy is evil.”

“It is the antithesis of what our country stands for and it offends God,” Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said. “It must be confronted aggressively so that it cannot metastasize further.”

from A1

State ‘red flag’

There must also be changes in gun control laws. No one needs weapons of war. Who, other than terrorists, needs bump stocks, 30-round magazines, incendiary shells, hollow points and the like?

A handgun, shotgun and a rifle can protect you and your home and can be used to hunt. You only need an AK-47 to kill people that you don’t even know.

Native Americans know about the pale-faced terrorists. They know who the undesirable immigrants were and are.

Pale-faced terrorists are still terrorists. Domestic terrorism must be stopped by any and all means necessary!

“The constitutional text is arguably more restrictive because it makes no provision for sentencing documents, modification of sentences, or a favorable construction for re-enfranchisement,” the state’s lawyers wrote in Friday’s 21-page motion to dismiss the case.

And, even if that’s not the case, the federal court should refrain from acting until a state court decides whether the new law properly upholds the constitutional amendment.

A Florida court “should first resolve the meaning of the state Constitution” before the federal court “decides whether the state statute – purporting to track the intent of the state Constitution – violates the federal Constitution,” the state’s lawyers concluded.

DESANTIS The law also raised the minimum age from 18 to 21 and required a three-day waiting period for purchasing rifles and other long guns. The increase in the minimum age to purchase long guns drew a still-pending legal challenge from the National Rifle Association.

In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation (SB 7030) that built on the 2018 bill. Among other things, it expanded the controversial school “guardian” program to allow armed classroom teachers, put $75 million into school mental-health services and strengthened reporting requirements for potentially threatening incidents that happen on school premises.

Ban war weapons

Rob Bradley

Gov. Ron DeSantis

mass violence.

But he also said, after a Purple Heart dedication ceremony at Tallahassee National Cemetery, that it’s not productive to any gun-safety dialogue to focus on partisan politics, as Democrats continued to criticize President Donald Trump after two mass shootings over the weekend.

“I have no interest in being part of people’s political narratives. I understand the narratives. I’ve seen it for years and years,” said DeSantis, an ally of the president.

“I’m trying to focus on solutions, and that’s why we’ve been forward looking on our threat assessment strategy.”

‘Never blamed Bernie’ DeSantis said delving into every word said by a politician as a way to find fault for a mass shooting only makes it harder to have discussions about preventive measures.

While Democrats have focused on Trump’s rhetoric, DeSantis, a former congressman, brought up a 2017 incident in which an activist who had worked on Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign shot four people, including Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise, during a GOP congressional baseball team practice.

“Absent of someone saying, ‘Hey, go do this,’ to try to cherry pick someone saying one thing and saying this led to that, I don’t think that’s productive,” DeSantis said. “That’s why I never blamed Bernie for (the) shooting (at) our

Gary Farmer

Bill Galvano

baseball (practice), because as much as I disagree with what he (Sanders) says, what that individual did was not justifiable, and there was nothing that was said that would justify you doing that.”

DeSantis said that while it may still be too early to determine the impact of the mental-health aspects of the 2018 law – about 1,600 orders have been issued – he supports a proactive approach by law enforcement.

Various threats “You have the guy in El Paso, which obviously that was like an ethno-nationalist motivation. Obviously, the Pulse nightclub (mass shooting in Orlando in 2017) was militant Islam. And then you have some people who are just crazy, there’s not necessarily a clear motivation,” DeSantis said.

“I think you have to be familiar with all of those types of threats and have the warning signs identified and then do something about it.”

Another area he said needs to be addressed, even though the government is limited in what it can do, is the Internet.

“You have these recesses of the Internet where people who may not have a lot of common compatriots where they live, now they can all congregate in this community online and spread a lot of the vile stuff,” DeSantis said.

House may not follow The Florida House isn’t expected to engage in a similar re-

Ashley Moody

Jose Oliva

view before the January start of the 2020 session. House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, released a statement in which he said “Racism, including White nationalism, is a vile, disgusting, un-American ideology.”

“We cannot lose sight, however, that those who subscribe to those beliefs are few and their ideas so rejected that their words and actions unify all Americans -– left and right, Black, White or Brown – in abhorrence and condemnation,” Oliva said.

Oliva noted that as a Hispanic American, he’s seen more generosity and inclusiveness than discrimination and hatred.

“What we know is; evil exists, all of us play part in either expanding hatred or loving our neighbor, and despite what we see on the news, America is a great place, filled with kind people, always willing to help a neighbor in need,” Oliva said.

“We must ask ourselves more than ‘what to do’ we must figure out, as leaders and as a society, ‘who we are.’ ”

‘Deranged’ and ‘evil’ Attorney General Ashley Moody on Monday pointed to a need to prioritize public safety.

Moody said during a news conference in Jacksonville that everyone should be “horrified, shocked and saddened” by the recent attacks and more needs to be done to detect “those that are mentally deranged, that would seek to do us harm.”

Senate Appropriations Chair-

‘Republicans won’t act’ Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, urged Floridians to back the 2020 ballot proposal to ban assault weapons. Backers of the proposed constitutional amendment still need to submit hundreds of thousands of petition signatures and get a key approval from the Florida Supreme Court before the issue could go to voters.

“Republicans in FL won’t act on our epidemic of gun violence,” Farmer tweeted.

The details The proposed constitutional amendment seeks to ban “possession of assault weapons, defined as semiautomatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition at once, either in fixed or detachable magazine, or any other ammunition-feeding device.”

The measure, which would not prohibit handguns, includes an exemption for military and lawenforcement personnel “in their official duties.”

The proposal would allow people who already own assault weapons at the time the constitutional amendment goes into effect to keep them, if they register the guns with state law enforcement.

Moody is asking the Supreme Court to block the proposal from going on the ballot and reiterated Monday that she thinks the proposal’s wording is “misleading,” contending the proposal would ban possession of “about virtually every self-loading long gun.”

Ana Ceballos and Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

STOJ

FLORIDA

TOJ

A3

New opioid law causes confusion for doctors Since July 1, doctors are supposed to talk with patients about alternatives before providing anesthesia or prescribing drugs.

BY CHRISTINE SEXTON NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

CORAL GABLES – Florida lawmakers passed far-reaching health care legislation this year, from trying to import drugs from other countries to regulating plastic-surgery centers.

But it’s another seemingly simple bill meant to prevent opioid abuse that is causing widespread confusion among physicians trying to figure out how to follow the law.

Staff members of the Florida Board of Medicine and physician organizations have been fielding questions from doctors about the broadly written bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June.

But only the Florida Department of Health can provide details as to how the law will be interpreted.

Lack of answers As for now, the department isn’t talking.

Since July 1, physicians are supposed to have conversations with patients about opioid alternatives before providing anesthesia or prescribing, ordering, dispensing, or administering opioid drugs listed as what are known as Schedule II controlled substances.

Moreover, physicians are supposed to distribute a state-approved pamphlet on alternatives to opioids and document compliance with the law in patients’ medical records.

Jeff Scott, general counsel of the Florida Medical Association, sent a letter July 10 to Department of Health Secretary Scott Rivkees noting that the physicians’ organization has been barraged with questions that it cannot answer.

“Out of an abundance of caution the FMA is requesting the department’s interpretation,” Scott wrote in the letter.

Versed question One pressing question for the FMA is whether the mandate ap-

JIM DAMASKE/TAMPA BAY TIMES/TNS

People attending the 2018 NOPE (Narcotic Overdose Prevention Education) of Pinellas’ 10th Candlelight Vigil hold candles while Gibbs High School›s choir Vox Nova sings. The October vigil in Largo was to remember the thousands in Tampa Bay that have been lost to opioid abuse. About 850 people attended the vigil. plies when a non-opioid based anesthesia such as Versed is used. The drug is used in colonoscopies.

“The purpose of HB 451 is to inform patients of the alternatives to opioids, with the hope that such information may eliminate the need for an opioid or reduce the amount of opioids used,” Scott wrote in his letter to Rivkees.

“Requiring a health care provider to provide this information when an opioid is not being prescribed, ordered or administered makes no sense,” he added.

Errors in pamphlet Meanwhile, at a meeting last week in Coral Gables, Board of Medicine members agreed to alter disciplinary rules to ensure that physicians who run afoul of

the new law pay fines for initial violations rather than face greater disciplinary actions.

The request was made by the FMA, according to Board of Medicine legal counsel Ed Tellechea.

The FMA, though, isn’t alone in its concerns about the new law and its implications.

Florida Board of Medicine member Sarvam TerKonda, a plastic surgeon at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, said he knows that the new law has sparked questions at hospitals.

Also appearing at the meeting, Tallahassee attorney Allen Grossman told board members that there were errors in the initial opioid-alternative pamphlet that was approved by the Florida Department of Health, rendering the pamphlet ineffective.

Anesthesiologists react Grossman, a former legal counsel for the Board of Medicine, asked the board to consider requesting that the Department of Health attend its next meeting in October.

Leaders of the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists also appeared at the meeting to share concerns with the law.

“We obviously want to do what’s best for our patients, but we also want to give our members and physicians in the state some guidance,” said Florida Society of Anesthesiologists President Christian Diez.

Different views Tellechea told Diez and the society’s vice president, Leopoldo Rodriguez, who also attended the board meeting, that a “strict

application” of the law requires physicians to give every patient a Department of Health-approved pamphlet describing alternatives to opioids before putting the patients under.

Tellechea then quipped: “What are the alternatives? A shot of whiskey and a leather belt to bite down on?”

Board of Medicine member Hector Vila, though, said physicians shouldn’t overthink the new law.

“It’s the standard of care for all physicians, that they should think about of opioid alternatives. So that’s part of it already,” said Vila, an anesthesiologist from Tampa. “I don’t see this changing. Do what you’ve been doing. Practice good medicine and make sure somebody gives them the pamphlet.

Agriculture commissioner blasts Trump over trade policies NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

OCTAVIO JONES/TAMPA BAY TIMES/TNS

Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried speaks during the during the Governor’s Luncheon at the Florida State Fair in Tampa earlier this year.

Senator wants coconut patties as Florida’s candy NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Coconut patties, promoted by Anastasia Confections as

a “unique, time-tested recipe that will transport you to a tropical paradise with every creamy, chocolatey bite,” is being pushed to be the Sunshine State’s official candy.

Sen. Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat, has filed a measure (SB 38) that would make the treats – “both chocolate-dipped and nonchocolate varieties” – the latest state symbol.

If approved by state lawmakers during the legislative session that begins in January, coconut patties would join a list of “offi-

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried on Monday renewed attacks on President Donald Trump’s trade policies, citing new reports that China has halted imports of U.S. agricultural goods.

“This president is a disaster for American farmers. His tariffs have made our crops less competitive, his trade war has slashed our farmers’ exports, and his new trade agreement does nothing to protect Florida agriculture from Mexico’s illegally subsidized imports,” Fried, the state’s top elected Democrat, said in a statement, referring in part to a proposed agreement with Mexico and Canada.

Fried’s criticism came after Bloomberg News reported the Chinese government has asked state-owned enterprises to suspend purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

Citing people familiar with the situation in China, Bloomberg reported China’s staterun agricultural firms have halted purchases of American farm goods and are waiting

to see how talks between the two nations progress.

Timber industry cited Prior to the Bloomberg report, Fried had blamed China’s 25 percent retaliatory tariffs for cutting Florida timber exports to China by 64 percent, lobster exports to China by 34 percent and crab exports to China by 79 percent.

Florida’s timber industry was also ravaged in October by Hurricane Michael.

Fried has said that Russia and Brazil are among the nations that have stepped in to replace the state’s timber sales.

While attending a Jubilee Orchards event in Lake City last week, Fried also warned that the president’s trade deal with Canada and Mexico, which has been branded as the “United States-MexicoCanada Agreement,” could cause $389 million in losses to Florida agriculture.

“If the president wants to put America first, then he needs to stop antagonizing our nation’s biggest trade partner and start helping our farmers compete in the global marketplace,” Fried said.

cial” Florida items that includes key lime pie, tupelo honey, horse conch and Myakka fine sand, as well as the mockingbird, dolphin, panther, and American alligator.

Coconut patties “have been one of Florida’s staple treats” for more than a half-century, according to Orlando-based Anastasia Confections. “They consist of a creamy, shredded coconut center that is traditionally dipped in rich, dark chocolate,” the com- Coconut patties “have been one of Florida’s staple treats” for pany states on its website. more than a half-century, according to Anastasia Confections.

EDITORIAL

TOJ

A4

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

STOJ

Mass shootings are about alienation, not ideology Before you even clicked the headlines, you could have guessed a great deal about the background of the murderers in Ohio and Texas.

You knew they would be White and young. They would probably be unmarried or estranged from their wives or girlfriends. They would have no children, perhaps have vexed relationships with their own fathers, and few if any close male friends.

Looking for acceptance They would likely be gamers and participants in bizarre online alternative communities to which they turn in the hope of finding the acceptance unavailable to them in the real world and shared norms – of opinion, of language, of tastes and interests and humor.

There’s a decent chance they would be users of cannabis, the psychosis-inducing properties of which our elites (with a handful of honorable exceptions) will be too blinkered to discuss until we are unable to do anything about it.

This is because many or all of these things are true of virtually every other person who has shot four or more people in the spontaneous eruptions of spontaneous violence that have been occurring in this country in the last two decades.

What about politics?

Much has been made by opportunists, cynics, and the willfully ignorant about the contents of the El Paso shooting suspect’s so-

MATTHEW WALTHER GUEST COMMENTARY

called “manifesto.” What we are meant to take away from the lunatic ravings of this person is that President Trump or the GOP or the Sedgwick County Republican Party are to blame.

It is true that he talked about a “Hispanic invasion” and cited a recent massacre in New Zealand as inspiration. He also ranted about “sustainability” and echoed the talking points of 1970s-era leftist population-control cranks.

Is concern for the environment also a Trump talking point?

Meanwhile, the Dayton killer was a soi-disant “pro-Satan leftist,” a registered Democrat, and a supporter of Elizabeth Warren who claimed to hate the president and police officers generically.

(It is worth pointing out that in a state in which unarmed Black men are routinely killed by police officers, the El Paso shooter was able to throw up his hands and calmly submit himself to justice.

Why?)

The real issue This is not about ideology. Nor, in any straightforward sense, is it about what we now call “mental illness,” for which millions of Americans are treated each year.

It is about alienation. It follows

Let’s declare war on White nationalist terrorism After yet another mass shooting, the predictable proposals begin, ideas that either wouldn’t have prevented the attack (universal background checks for gun purchases) or that address one small thing that might not even be a factor (violent video games).

Instead, we must call the attack in El Paso what it is – White nationalist terrorism – and react with alarm and speed.

No quick solutions The mass shooting problem, and the racism that fuels so much hate, aren’t going away soon. And tackling White supremacist violence won’t cover every shooter.

But by naming the biggest threat, marshaling resources and building national unity around tackling it, we can make real progress and ultimately save lives.

Here’s what a serious, sustained effort to defeat the anti-Hispanic, conspiracy-driven hate that allegedly drove a young North Texas man to slaughter 22 innocent

FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM GUEST EDITORIAL

people in West Texas might look like: More law enforcement attention – Law enforcement at all levels need to make the White supremacist terrorist threat a priority. There isn’t a central organization to pursue, as there was with al-Qaeda. Tracking and stopping individual haters is a tall order.

But almost without exception, there are signs that shooters could become violent. The Dayton, Ohio, killer apparently had a high school hit list that many of his fellow students knew about.

Police need to take these threats seriously and follow up.

It’s not just a federal job. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other state leaders have pushed state law enforcement agencies to supplement federal border security

‘We are not helpless here’ Michelle and I grieve with all the families in El Paso and Dayton who endured these latest mass shootings. Even if details are still emerging, there are a few things we already know to be true.

First, no nation on earth comes close to experiencing the frequency of mass shootings that we see in the United States. No other developed nations tolerates the levels of gun violence that we do.

Every time this happens, we are told that tough for gun laws won’t stop all murders; that they won’t stop every deranged individual from getting a weapon and

BARACK OBAMA GUEST COMMENTARY

shooting innocent people in public places.

Some can be stopped But the evidence shows that they can stop some killings. They can save some families from heartbreak. We are not helpless

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

a distinct pattern, the one I have outlined above, which has been detectable since Columbine but which one could argue begins to emerge even earlier in the 1970s, when bomb threats were a part of daily life in this country the way that so-called “mass shootings” are now.

It is also of a piece with the profile of many Islamic terrorists, who respond to the fracturing of their identities – performative religiosity at home and hedonism in London clubs or Vegas hotel rooms – with a longing for something real.

Disconnected from reality

DAVE WHAMOND, CANADA, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

List of solutions

The single most horrifying thread that runs through all of these stories for me is just how disconnected from reality the murderers are, even, indeed perhaps especially, while they are engaged in their crimes.

The Columbine shooters modified levels of the “Doom” videogame to mimic the hallways of their high school; young men still play so-called “Columbine” mods and share videos of their First Amendment-protected faux-massacres on YouTube.

Today shooters live-stream their killing sprees while they are cheered on by “fans” who beg them to beat the previous “high score.” The desired escape from the emptiness and banality of their existence is never actually achieved. Reality for them remains augmented.

efforts. They need to make White supremacy a priority, too.

Leadership from the top – President Donald Trump said all the right things Monday about America being no place for hate.

The problem is everything he said before that.

For four years, as an attentiongrabbing candidate and as president, he’s framed immigrants in ugly terms, portraying a false picture of an invasion force at the border.

Trump did not directly cause the shooting. But his words and ideas offer refuge for the worst kind of conspiracy theorist and those who would turn to violence in response to the idea that White Americans are losing their edge in life or even being “replaced.”

It’s not that hard to be tough on illegal immigration without turning to race-baiting. The president has a lot to do to build any credibility on this issue. And if he can’t or won’t, the voters must hold him accountable next year.

Yes, this new gun law would help – Expanding background checks is the preferred immediate policy of most gun control advocates. But many mass shooters have passed such checks to buy their guns.

A better first-step would be the creation of gun violence restraining orders, also known as “red-flag” laws. This popular idea would allow police, with a judge’s supervision and approval, to remove weapons from someone found to be an imminent threat.

We trust judges to allow lawenforcement incursions upon other liberties, such as the right against search and seizure, every day. Good judges balance public safety and individual rights, and they can do so here.

Law enforcement at all levels must ensure that information about potentially dangerous people is input into the right databases. This sounds stunningly obvious, but we learned after the Parkland and Sutherland Springs shootings that it doesn’t always happen. And we should consider whether in many cases, law enforcement needs more time to conduct a deeper background search.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn led an effort last year to improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, a good start. This is the nitty-gritty work of making bureaucracy function better and fill gaps that allow violent racists

to slip through.

Help young men with anger and fear – Trump talked at length Monday about the impact of the Internet. But there’s a bigger issue: young men who don’t know how to deal with anger, rejection or fear.

Boys are falling behind in education. The culture doesn’t often provide the best male role models. And yes, finding fellows online with tidy theories about who’s to blame can lead a vulnerable mind down a dark road.

Preventing radicalization is one of the biggest challenges of dealing with any terrorist movement.

It’s a matter of education, opportunity and persuasion. To prevent mass shootings, we need an extended conversation about how to help young men do better and be better.

These steps require a national commitment. If we approach this problem with the same spirit as we did the Sept. 11 attacks, we can reduce violence and curtail hate. The victims of El Paso deserve nothing less to honor their memories.

here. And until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening.

Second, while the motivations behind the shootings may not yet be fully known, there are indications that the El Paso shooting follows a dangerous trend: troubled individuals who embraced racist ideologies and see themselves obligated to act violently to preserve White supremacy.

Like the followers of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations, these individuals may act alone, but they’ve been radicalized by White nationalist websites that proliferate on the Internet. That means that both law en-

forcement agencies and Internet platforms need to come up with better strategies to reduce the influence of these hate groups.

tain type of people.

Such language isn’t new – it’s been at the root of most human tragedy throughout history, here in America and around the world. It is at the root of slavery and Jim Crow, the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

It has no place in our politics or our public life. And it’s time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much, clearly and unequivocally.

Reject intolerance But just as important, all of us have to send a clarion call and behave with the values of tolerance and diversity that should be the hallmark of our democracy. We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or referred to other people at something, or imply that America belongs to just one cer-

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.

CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.

bution of information and views as we have known it for 30 or so years.

What can we possibly do to change all of this?

We could ban the video games that warp the consciousnesses of young men, including the vast majority who never murder anyone. We could reverse the legalization of marijuana.

We could place a moratorium on non-military production of guns and confiscate all privately-owned firearms (with or without exceptions for hunting rifles, shotguns, and pistols that have been held without incident for a decade or more) and send the National Guard to deal with anyone who refuses to comply.

We could dial the PATRIOT Act up to 11 or 11,000 and start imprisoning anyone who searches for “8chan archive” or “unabomber wiki.” We could create a Chinastyle closed Internet and put an end to the free and open distri-

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Anywhere, anytime I would welcome any or all of these actions. Not a single one is feasible.

Instead we are going to continue to live in a country in which young men continue to fall into acedia, purchase weapons, and kill for entertainment. It can happen virtually anywhere, at any time.

And short of a complete revolution – moral, social, political, religious – there is virtually nothing we can do about it.

This commentary originally appeared in The Week (www. theweek.com), where Matthew Walther is a national correspondent.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is the daily newspaper in Fort Worth, Texas.

Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States.

He posted this statement on Twitter on August 4, 2019.

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AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

STOJ

More mass shootings – blah, blah, blah Please forgive me if my headline seems glib or insensitive. It’s just my way of decrying the utterly useless way we – especially police, politicians, and journalists – continually respond to these mass shootings.

That said, President Donald Trump is providing friendless, deranged, and all-too-easily misguided White men this raison d’etre (or reason for dying, as the case might be). Whatever screed they might find on the “dark web” only gives them inspiration to perpetrate these massacres.

The budding White nationalist who perpetrated the El Paso massacre bragged that he was trying to kill as many Mexicans as possible – “to remove the threat” of immigrant voters. The direct link between that and Trump’s open and notorious anti-immigrant rhetoric is undeniable.

After all, Trump has spent the last three years demonizing Mexican immigrants as “murderers,” “rapists,” and crime-infecting invaders. This is why his rhetoric is positively deadly compared even with that of the fool who shouts fire in a crowded theatre.

Insane GOP Meanwhile, nothing validates the Albert Einsteinian definition of insanity more than the all-talk, noaction way politicians respond to these massacres.

What can be more insane than Republicans spouting National Rifle Association marketing propaganda – notably that every American has the constitutional right to purchase military-style weapons?

Especially when those weapons carry high-capacity magazines, which are designed solely to kill as many people as possible.

It has been self-evident for years that the “NRA Cares No More about Gun Violence than Drug Cartels Do,” as I posted on June 17, 2014.

Uncertain meaning In the 2020 Democratic presidential season, it appears that all reforms that disproportionately affect Black people are to be called

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

Yet, Republicans remain so beholden to or afraid of its political influence, they have steadfastly heeded NRA standing orders to torpedo any gun control legislation. This includes legislation to ban assault weapons, mandate universal background checks, or confiscate weapons from unstable relatives and friends (“red-flag laws”) – all of which enjoy considerable public support.

The real terrorists Note that domestic White nationalist terrorists kill many more Americans than foreign Islamic-jihad terrorists. From the Washington Post on July 23, 2019: “FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told lawmakers Tuesday that the bureau has recorded about 100 arrests of domestic terrorism suspects in the past nine months and that most investigations of that kind involve some form of White supremacy.”

Yet laws to combat Islamic jihadis are much more comprehensive and effective than laws to combat White nationalists.

Hell, despite the terror they reign, Trump insists that White nationalists pose only a marginal threat to safety in America. Instead, he would have you believe that Black and Brown members of Congress like Rep. Elijah Cummings and “the Squad,” who dare to criticize his racist and xenophobic policies, pose a far greater threat.

In other words, Trump refuses to call out radical White-nationalist terrorists by their name. The hypocrisy inherent in this is noteworthy even for a preternatural

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

“reparations.”

Author Marianne Williamson, the only non-politician candidate on the night’s lineup, calls for between $200 and $500 billion in financial assistance to descendants of slaves. Don Lemon rightly challenged her qualifications to make such a proposal.

As Frederick Douglass told us: “the man who has suffered the wrong is the man to demand redress…the man STRUCK is the man to CRY OUT.”

Now an issue Notwithstanding Douglass’ admonitions, White Democratic presidential candidates – including Beto O’Rourke, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Tulsi Gabbard – along with Cory Booker and Kamala Harris and Mexican-American hopeful Julian Castro, all faithful corporate servants – that have made reparations an election year issue. Among the top-tier candidates, only Joe Biden refuses to endorse the H.R. 40 rep-

Trump threatens antifascists with ‘terrorist’ tag It’s no surprise that a person who would claim that there were “good people” among the fascist demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia would now move to classify an anti-fascist network as alleged “terrorists.” But that is precisely what “Agent Orange,” i.e., Donald Trump, has been intimating. Unfortunately, this is not comedic; it is deadly serious.

The network “Antifa” is a looseknit grouping of anti-fascist activists with a range of ideological views, strategies and tactics. What binds them together, however, is zero tolerance towards fascists, neo-fascists, and other right-wing populists who threaten violence and other forms of intimidation.

TOJ

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: DONALD TRUMP AND WHITE SUPREMACY

hypocrite like him.

Reparations rise with White Dems’ permission A recent Gallup poll shows 73 percent of African Americans support reparations in the form of cash payments to the descendants of slaves – the highest level of Black pro-reparations sentiment ever recorded in a national survey.

CNN anchor Don Lemon, one of the moderators of the latest Democratic presidential debate, asked Sen. Bernie Sanders how he would respond to Black reparations-seekers.

The Vermont senator responded with his usual less-than-inspiring endorsement of Black South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn’s “10/20/30 Formula Fight Persistent Poverty ” – which is not a reparations program at all.

But Sanders pretended it was, clumsily adding, “And what that understands is that as a result of slavery, and segregation, and the institutional racism we see now in health care, in education, in financial services, we are going to have to focus big time on rebuilding distressed communities in America, including African-American communities.”

EDITORIAL

BILL FLETCHER, JR. NNPA COLUMNIST

Within the Republican Party, and assisted by Fox News, a chorus has arisen over the last year or so suggesting that the Antifa network is itself engaged in terrorism. Thus, when Antifa or any of its allies defend protesters against intimidation, they, and not the fascists, are condemned by the likes of Trump, Ted Cruz, and various commentators on Fox News.

Remember this?

Recall how he berated Obama for refusing to call out radical Islamic-jihadi terrorists by their name. From CNN on June 4, 2016: “Trump … repeated the charge that Democrats’ reluctance to say ‘radical Islamic terror’ was hampering efforts to combat terror. “‘The first thing you need is a president that will mention the problem. And he won’t even mention what the problem is,’ Trump said. ‘Unless you’re going to say that, you’re never going to solve it.’”

ADAM ZYGLIS, THE BUFFALO NEWS, NY

Normal events Like roadside bombings in Iraq at the height of that ongoing war, mass shootings have become normalized in America. This in part is why I am keen to avoid feeding too much into the blah, blah, blah I’ve been decrying for years.

But I’d be remiss not to mention the media’s complicity. News channels across the spectrum invariably cover mass shootings like natural disasters – complete with doomsday music, heart-rending chyrons, and eyewitness interviews, all of which they know will keep viewers watching like rubberneckers gawking at a car wreck.

Nothing is more infuriating in this respect than journalists scavenging through the lunatic ‘manifestos’ of these shooters for insights. Anyone would be hardpressed to cite a single case where doing so prevented another mass shooting.

Psychotic killers rewarded But I’ve already written too much about this factor going back to “Massacre in Omaha” posted December 7, 2007, which includes this abiding lament: I don’t know why the media always reward these psychotic people

arations study bill.

Black people’s support for reparations has soared in sync with the concept’s receptivity among White Democrats and establishment Black politicians. Although reparations has always been part of the Black political agenda, it has most often been endorsed by about half of Black respondents to scientific surveys.

A poll conducted in May of 2016 showed 58 percent of Blacks favored reparations. By April 2019, as the Democratic campaign season got underway in earnest, the Rasmussen Report found 60 percent of Blacks in favor of reparations.

Then came the deluge of candidate “reparations” endorsements, and Black support for financial redress of historical grievances shot up to 73 percent – almost three out four Black respondents – a nearconsensus for reparations that had not previously been expressed in polls.

Giving permission?

In effect, the thumbs-up from leading Democrats for the concept of reparations has given Black people permission to demand what most have privately supported all along – redress for the crimes that the U.S. state and society have inflicted upon them.

We observed a very similar phenomenon in 2008 when Barack Obama was attempting to become the First Black U.S. President. Most Black elected officials were sticking with Hillary Clinton, as were

by giving them the fame they covet; that is, by plastering their pathetic mugs all over television and on the front page of every major newspaper … worldwide, and reporting pop psychology about why and how they did their dastardly deeds.

Isn’t it clear to see, especially in this age of instant celebrity, why some loser would find this route to infamy irresistible?

You’d think that – given the record of these psychotic and vainglorious episodes since Columbine – we would have figured out by now that the best way to discourage them is by focusing our attention on the victims and limiting what we say about the shooter to: May God have mercy on your soul as you burn in hell!

CNN is patting itself on the back for finally declaring that it will no longer mention the name or show the face of these domestic terrorists –far too belated, but I commend CNN. Until the next one, then. But God help us if a Mexican or Muslim is ever the perpetrator. The situational, discriminating outrage would be such that Trump might even threaten to invade Mexico or one of the countries on his Muslim-ban list, respectively.

Retaliation is coming

about half of Black voters. But all that changed when Obama won the lily-White Iowa primary, proving his viability among White voters.

Almost overnight, Black Democrats switched their allegiance to Obama. White Iowa voters had given Black people permission to back one of their own for president.

The same thing is happening with reparations. But nothing useful to the Black struggle will result from all this reparations-like drama if it remains within the Democratic Party’s corporate domain.

The same survey that showed three out of four Blacks favoring reparations revealed that only about half – 49 percent – of Democrats of all ethnicities favor cash reparations, with 47 percent against. Overwhelming proportions of White people of both parties oppose reparations.

struggle only if African Americans themselves are willing to (a) define the issue and formulate demands accordingly and (b) mobilize our people around those demands.

Campaign ploy

Anthony L. Hall is a native of The Bahamas with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com.

It’s our decision As I wrote in the June 25 issue of BAR, “We are Already Late to the Great Black Reparations Debate”: Forty million Black people can’t change a damn thing unless they argue collectively about what is to be done, and then organize to do it.

The Great Black Reparations Debate can be the extended, independent forum for Black people to reimagine themselves and their place in the nation and the world, and to act collectively to build a new society – one that is fit for our people’s habitation. Once such a mobilization is underway, it really doesn’t much matter what the corporate servants on Capitol Hill think reparations should look like – because Black people will have our own vision and plan.

The 73 percent pro“reparations” statistic represents a shared aspiration and a nearconsensus among the nation’s Black population, who are a people with a specific history, not just a dependable Democratic voting bloc (or “progressive” constituency). The duty of those who claim to serve the people is clear. Lots of meetings are in order.

The numbers decree that some Democrats will support programs that they choose to call “reparations” in the primary season in order to garner Black votes in selected states, but will avoid the word like herpes when the general election season rolls around.

Black elected officials will beat a quick retreat from the issue, resuming their “Me too, boss” postures – what Ajamu Baraka calls Glen Ford is executive editor subordination to the “dictates and of BlackAgendaReport.com. Eagenda of the Democratic Party.”

The surge in Black support for mail him at Glen.Ford@BlackAreparations is useful to the Black gendaReport.com.

self-defense when attacked by extrajudicial mobs or by the police – and blaming the former for violence.

It is akin to the jailing and lynching of union organizers when they have defended their right to free speech and the right of workers to free association – then turning Not new During the Obama administra- the tables and claiming that the tion, the threat from right-wing ex- trade unionists were disturbing the tremism was documented by the peace.

Department of Homeland Security, only to have said findings sup- Stay awake pressed when Republican memThere is so much nonsense bers of Congress suggested that this thrown at us each day by the revelation was only serving the po- Trump administration, whether in litical objectives of Democrats. The the form of overt lies or racist provfacts, however, were never in dis- ocations – e.g., smearing the city pute, as documented by non-gov- of Baltimore – that it is easy to beernmental organizations such as come numb. We need to resist that the Southern Poverty Law Center. impulse because it blinds us to the This is an old trick being perpe- objectives of our adversaries. trated by Trump and his allies. It is In this case, just as Trump uses akin to jailing and murdering Black the allegation of “racist” against the activists who engaged in armed “Squad” (the four congresswomen What makes this outrageous is that Trump’s own Justice Department has noted that the main domestic terrorist threat comes from White supremacists and neofascists, not from Muslim extremists or anyone on the left.

I reiterate my fear that it’s only a matter of time before these White nationalists trigger in-kind retaliation by Blacks, Hispanics, and Muslims. We bemoan the political tribalism between Republicans and Democrats. But such racial warfare would make that tribalism seem quaint.

Far wiser men than me have observed that only a thin veneer of civilization is preventing mankind from our natural state of war of all against all. So, when you couple Trump’s fracturing of the United States (by demeaning the diversity that has been its strength) with his fracturing of the world order (by normalizing dictators and undermining or withdrawing the United States from international alliances, organizations, treaties, and agreements), it’s easy to see how that veneer can become a mirage.

World War II was catastrophic.

But World War III would surely be the end of the world as we know it.

of color Trump loves to hate) after he himself is charged with racism, Trump and others use the allegation of terrorism against anti-fascists as a means of blurring the issue.

Let’s be clear The objective of this administration is increased authoritarianism.

It is prepared to join hands with right-wing populist movements, including but not limited to neo-fascists, in order to crush dissent.

What better a way to do that than to blame the anti-fascists for chaos and intimidation, thereby sowing confusion and making it that much easier to crush his opponents?

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the former president of TransAfrica Forum.

Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and www.billfletcherjr.com. He is the author of the mystery “The Man Who Fell From the Sky.”

NATION

TOJ

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AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

STOJ

NEWSMAKERS/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Walmart Inc. said it won’t stop selling guns or ammunition, or change any other retail or security practice, following the Aug. 3 shooting at an El Paso, Texas store.

Walmart doesn’t intend to limit gun, ammo sales

BY HENRY GOLDMAN BLOOMBERG NEWS/TNS

Walmart Inc. has no plans to stop selling guns or ammunition, or change any other retail or se-

curity practice following the Aug. 3 shooting that killed at least 20 and wounded 26 shoppers at an El Paso, Texas store, a spokesman for the company said Sunday.

“Our focus has always been on being a responsible seller of

firearms,” company spokesman Randy Hargrove said in an interview. “We go beyond federal law requiring all customers to pass a background check before purchasing any firearm.”

He added that in 2015 Walmart

stopped selling what he called “modern sporting rifles,” which generally refers to military-style semi-automatic rifles. It also removed from its website any air gun or toy that might resemble assault weapons, he said.

Minimum age hiked Last year, Walmart raised the minimum age for gun purchases to 21 from 18, he said.

Hargrove said Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, doesn’t break out data on gun sales.

The shooting occurred at a

Walmart where every employee received required “active shooter” training, given four times a year in association with Texas State University, which instructs employees to avoid, deny entry and as a last resort physically defend themselves in the event they encounter an armed assailant, Hargrove said.

“There’s not been any directive to any stores around the country to change any policy,” Hargrove said. “We’re focused on supporting our associates, customers and the entire El Paso community.”

Tyson’s apology trashed after he posted tweet about deaths ‘I miscalculated’

BY PETER SBLENDORIO NEW YORK DAILY NEWS/TNS

Neil deGrasse Tyson issued an apology after his tweet about the mass shooting deaths in El Paso and Dayton was slammed as “insensitive,” but not everyone is accepting his mea culpa.

The astrophysicist drew widespread backlash on Aug. 4 when he compared the number of deaths in the shootings to the average number of lives lost every day to things like medical errors, the flu and suicide.

“My intent was to offer objectively true information that might help shape conversations and reactions to preventable ways we die,” Tyson wrote in his apology early Monday morning on Facebook.

Neil de“Where I miscalculated Grasse Tyson was that I genuinely believed the Tweet would be helpful to anyone trying to save lives in America. What I learned from the range

of reactions is that for many people, some information — my Tweet in particular — can be true but unhelpful, especially at a time when many people are either still in shock, or trying to heal — or both.”

Tyson continued: “So if you are one of those people, I apologize for not knowing in advance what effect my Tweet could have on you.”

Original post But the apology didn’t sit well with many people on social media.

On Sunday, Tyson was also ripped on

social media over his initial tweet.

Tyson posted the original tweet after 20 people were killed in the shooting in El Paso on Aug. 3 and nine were killed in the shooting in Dayton on Sunday. Dozens more were injured in the horrific attacks.

The astrophysicist’s original post read, “In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings,” Tyson wrote. “On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose… 500 to Medical errors … 300 to the Flu … 250 to Suicide … 200 to Car Accidents … 40 to Homicide via Handgun.

“Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.”

Study explores genetics of PTSD in more than 165,000 veterans SAN DIEGO — A new genetic study uses information from an unprecedented number of U.S. veterans to probe a particularly vexing question: Why does posttraumatic stress disorder affect some, but not others?

It is a particularly urgent question given that suicide rates are higher among veterans suffering from PTSD, which is estimated to affect between 11% and 20% of those who served in the military.

Recently published in the journal Nature Science by collaborating investigators at the University of California, San Diego and Yale University, the study is the first PTSD analysis to draw upon genetic information collected by the Million Veteran Program.

Voluntary initiative Created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the voluntary initiative seeks to create a medical database large enough that researchers can see patterns of genetic variation capable of providing indispensable road maps for the future treatment of many diseases.

Though the program does not

CHRIS HONDROS/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Pamphlets about PTSD are seen on a table years ago at Fort Hamilton Army Garrison in Brooklyn, N.Y. yet have its full sampling of 1 million records available, there is already enough data in place to allow the research team to study more than 165,000 veterans.

Using sophisticated computer modeling techniques, they were able to compare the genomes of those who experienced a key symptom of post-traumatic stress to those who did not.

Eight DNA locations Common genetic differenc-

es were observed at eight different DNA locations among veterans who reported “re-experiencing” a PTSD symptom associated with nightmares and flashbacks that are sometimes triggered by events similar to those that were present when trauma first occurred.

Differences at three different chromosome locations were deemed to be most statistically significant and are thought to potentially affect the body’s hormone response to stress and,

perhaps, to the function or structure of certain types of neurons in the brain.

Though mutations in these genes have previously been suspected to have something to do with PTSD susceptibility, science is increasingly finding it necessary to compare the genetic fingerprints of many, many real people in order to tease out which changes, among many possibilities, drive complex disorders such as PTSD. Dr. Murray B. Stein, a UC San

Diego psychiatry and family medicine professor who led the study with Dr. Joel Gelernter, a professor of genetics and neuroscience at Yale, was quick to note that this type of association study offers suggestions rather than clear answers.

But correlating genetic information on such a large scale, he said, provides the kind of signal in the noise that can help guide deeper investigations in the future.

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REMEMBERING TONI MORRISON MOIRA MACDONALD/TNS

The author appears in a scene from “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am.’’

‘Beloved’ author captured tragic and joyful complexion of life and race

In 2012, President Obama called her a personal hero. Her novel “Song of Solomon,” he said, taught him “how to be,” and the late poet and essayist Maya Angelou described her friend as having “the insight of a shaman and the lyricism of a great poet.”

Loved by legions of fans who discovered her work either through the Jonathan Demme film of “Beloved” or through Oprah’s book club which selected four of her novels, Morrison never dreamed of becoming a writer. As she often said, she just couldn’t find the books she wanted to read.

Beginning with her first novel, published when she was 39, she filled the void with an outpouring of fiction, children’s books, a play about Emmett Till, an opera based on “Beloved,” as well as scores of essays and book reviews. Her most recent novel, her 11th, “God Help the Child,” was published in April 2015.

BY THOMAS CURWEN LOS ANGELES TIMES

W

hile working at Random House in 1970s, Toni Morrison was known as “the Black editor” for her commitment to publishing books about the African-American experience. One of her best sellers was “The Black Book.”

Documenting nearly 200 years of history, its content was as stark as its title. An anthology of artifacts, it featured slave auction notices, lynching photos, black-face advertisements and a fateful clipping from an 1856 newspaper.

“A Visit to the Slave Mother Who Killed her Child” told the story of Margaret Garner, a runaway who, as she was about to be captured, attacked her three children, killing one of them. In explaining her crime, she said death was preferable to captivity.

Morrison wondered what compassion, what love could possibly lead a mother to commit so terrible a crime, and in 1987 answered that question with her landmark novel about slavery, “Beloved.”

Challenged her readers

Silent at 88 With “Beloved” and other writings, Morrison gave voice to the silences in the past and created some of the most memorable characters in American literature.

Singing, keening, praising, mourning, laughing, crying and loving, they fill her pages in a resounding chorus that captures the tragic and joyful complexion of life and race in this country.

Now Morrison’s voice is silent. Morrison died Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, Publisher Alfred A. Knopf said. She was 88.

Winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, a Pulitzer Prize and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Morrison was one of the country’s most celebrated writers.

OBSERVER-DISPATCH/TNS

Toni Morrison is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama at the White House on May 29, 2012.

‘Insight of a shaman’ The Swedish Academy praised her novels for their “visionary force and poetic import.” Morrison, the academy said, had an “unerring ear for dialogue and richly expressive depictions of Black America.”

Famous for a magisterial presence with graying dreadlocks, an affection for scarves and a small heart pendant of butterstone – in remembrance to her son, Slade, who died at 45 – Morrison described writing as a “high-wire act,” in which she sought to blur the line between serious and popular fiction.

Long-time friend Claudia Brodsky remembered Morrison for her uncompromising belief in the power of literature. More than anything, Morrison believed that books have an ethical responsibility to shape society and culture.

“She wanted her readers to be challenged,” said Brodsky. “The goal of literature was not just to challenge you in formulistic or aesthetic ways, but to enhance your imagination. She wanted to enrich their imaginations, to help them look past barriers of the past and see her characters standing in front of them.”

Behind her name Morrison, Brodsky said, resisted, even resented any tendency to marginalize her work as that of a woman’s writer or an African-American writer.

“She was writing for all people at all time,” said Brodsky.

As adept as she was exploring the complexities of identity and race in her prose, Morrison was foremost an explorer of own identity.

See MORRISON, Page B2

ENTERTAINMENT & FINEST

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AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

MIAMI DOLPHINS

The Dolphins (below) will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 16 in an NFL preseason game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Aventura: The Motowners will be at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center on Aug. 10.

KOOL & THE GANG

Catch the band on Aug. 15 at the Seminole Casino in Coconut Creek.

JULIEN BELIEVE

CHARLES TRAINOR JR./MIAMI HERALD/TNS

The International Music & Food Festival is Aug. 10 at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Center in Miami Gardens. Performers include Julien Believe and Sizwe C.

Orlando: The Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Tour stops at Amway Center on Aug. 9 and Tampa’s Amalie Arena on Aug. 10.

Jacksonville: Auditions are being scheduled for the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus for grades 2-12. More

MORRISON

Invented Toni Morrison She came to accept her twin identities. Her public persona, she claimed, was Morrison, but when she wrote, she became Wofford, the child who lived in a world of inequality.

“In order for her to be Toni Morrison,” said friend and poet Nikki Giovanni, “she had to invent Toni Morrison, so she could become who she is and who she wants to be, not who others want her to be.”

Chloe Ardelia Wofford was born on Feb 18, 1931.

The second of four children, she grew up in Lorain, Ohio, a small industrial town west of Cleveland.

Morrison described Lorain as “neither plantation nor ghetto,” a place where segregation was enforced not so much by laws but by understanding.

Howard grad, professor Her parents were fierce in their convictions. When the family went on public relief, her mother wrote President Roosevelt to complain about the meals, and when the new movie theater opened in Lorain,

she made her children sit where the White children sat.

Morrison went to Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she was exposed to segregation in public transportation and high schools. She studied classics and joined a troupe of actors, who while traveling in the South, stayed in colored motels or in the homes of Zion or Baptist congregations.

She earned a master’s degree in American literature from Cornell University. Afterward, she returned to Howard to teach, meeting poet Amiri Baraka, aspiring politician Andrew Young, activist Stokely Carmichael and novelist Claude Brown.

Classic work rejected Morrison had considered a life as a dancer, but Jane Austen, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Richard Wright changed her mind.

Finding time between her boys and her work as an editor, she rose each morning at 4 a.m.

“I used to write with my children pulling on my hair, babies pulling on my earrings,” she said. “My baby once spit up orange juice on my tablet, and I just wrote around it.”

“The Bluest Eye,” initially rejected by two publishers, is the story of Pecola Breedlove, who sees herself as ugly for not being White. Written at a time when “Black is Beautiful” was the rallying cry, Morrison wanted to remember when that wasn’t true, when being Black was

FLORIDA’S

finest

Miami Gardens: The International Music & Food Festival is Aug. 10 at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Center.

Orlando: Khalid performs at Amway Center on Aug. 16 and Aug. 17 at Miami’s AmericanAirlinesArena.

Protest, then Pulitzer

‘A chess player’ In later years, she taught at Princeton, inspiring a new generation of writers with the moral imperatives of literature.

“She was a chess player,” said her student, novelist David Treuer. “People don’t talk about that. They talk about her lyricism, her vernacular. They don’t often talk about her intellect – and the war she waged on the perceived notions of being African American.”

In 1957, she married Harold Morrison, a Jamaican architect. They broke up when her first son, Harold Ford, was 3, and when she was pregnant with her second son, Slade Kevin.

She felt she didn’t conform to her husband’s notion of what a wife should be.

“I don’t think I did any of that very well,” she said. “I did it ad hoc, like any working mother does.”

Her first job in publishing was with the textbook division of Random House.

She was 34.

Orlando: Catch Beres Hammond on Aug. 24 at Hard Rock Live Orlando and Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center on Aug. 25.

more,” a reference to the number of Black people who died in 200 years of slavery, “Beloved” was as radical as it was profound.

“I certainly thought I knew as much about slavery as anybody,” she told the L.A. Times, “but it was the interior life I needed to find out about.”

“Beloved” was a triumph of the imagination, a book that followed in the tradition of William Faulkner with a story as realized as its prose was incantatory.

Imagining the murdered child, Morrison gave words to the ghost who lives in the company of her mother, Sethe.

“I am not dead,” says the child, known as Beloved. “I sit the sun closes my eyes when I open them I see the face I lost Sethe’s is the face that left me Sethe sees me see her and I see the smile her smiling face is the place for me ....”

from B1 Born Chloe Wofford, she changed her name in college: Toni from St. Anthony, her baptismal name when she converted to Catholicism as a child, and Morrison from an early marriage that ended in divorce.

She didn’t intend for Toni Morrison to be her published name, but when she finished her first book, “The Bluest Eye,” the galley read “A novel by Toni Morrison,” and by then the name had been recorded in the Library of Congress.

info: www.jaxchildrenschorus.org/audition

painful.

Worked with Davis, Ali In 1968, she moved to New York, where she worked with Angela Davis, Muhammad Ali and Chinua Achebe and honed her own voice as a writer.

Her third novel, “Song of Solomon,” won the 1978 National Book Critics Circle Award, beating out Joan Didion’s “A Book of Common Prayer” and John Cheever’s “Falconer.”

As her critical reputation grew, Robert Gottlieb, the editor-in-chief of Knopf, encouraged her to leave publishing.

“You can write ‘writer’ on your tax returns,” he said.

On ‘Beloved’ With its simple dedication, “Sixty Million and

When “Beloved” was not nominated for a National Book Award, intellectuals and writers protested “against such oversight and harmful whimsy” in a statement printed in the New York Times.

“For all America, for all of American letters,” the letter addressed Morrison, “you have advanced the moral and artistic standards by which we must measure the daring and the love of our national imagination and our collective intelligence as a people.”

“Beloved” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Some took exception to the book. Critic Stanley Crouch called it “trite” and “sentimental.” He likened Morrison to P.T. Barnum and objected to the book’s commercialism.

Nobel Prize too Six years later, Morrison received the phone call from the Swedish Acad-

STOJ

Orlando: Tyler, the Creator performs Sept. 27 at the Addition Financial Arena, Sept.

28 in Tampa and Sept. 29 in Miami.

Tampa: The Tampa Bay Chapter of the National Alumnae Association of Spelman College will host its first golf tournament on Sept.

29 at Top Golf. Sponsorships and more info about the scholarship fundraiser: www. naasctampa@gmail.com Clearwater: Boyz II Men is on the lineup for the Oct. 1720 Clearwater Jazz Holiday.

Details: Clearwaterjazz.com

emy. Brodsky recalls how she and Morrison twirled around in an impromptu dance as the reporters waited outside her office.

She was the 11th American writer to win the Nobel.

Not long after the Nobel announcement, Morrison lost her home, a house boat on the Hudson River.

A fire consumed drafts of her books, her sons’ school reports, family photos and first editions.

When an interviewer asked her, her eyes filled with tears. “Let’s not go there,” she asked.

On loss of son In 2010, her son, Slade, died at 45 of pancreatic cancer, and for a time Morrison stopped working.

When asked on “Oprah” about his death and how she might find “closure,” she rejected the idea as “some kind of insult.”

She ultimately found solace in her memories, and like so many of her characters she welcomed the ghosts into her life.

While critics were hard on her later novels, arguing that her writing had become too over-wrought and her plots too tangled, Morrison was undeterred.

“What Toni and Maya showed was a willingness to fight for their vision and the courage to create themselves,” said Giovanni.

Encouraging words She celebrated courage in Stockholm at the Nobel ceremony, offering words of encouragement for new generations of writers.

“Passion is never enough; neither is skill,” she said. “But try. For our sake and yours ... tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light. Don’t tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief’s wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear’s caul.”

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier.com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.

Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year before and during the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractortrailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors. Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Click on www. flcourier to see hundreds of pictures from previous Carnivals. Go to www. miamibrowardcarnival.com for more information on Carnival events in South Florida.

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

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MURAL CREATED BY MATT W. MOORE

Define your own design FAMILY FEATURES

In cities across the country, vibrantly hued murals are often created to bring color and life to buildings, community gathering places and more.

The bold energy of large-scale murals, like one created by mural artist Matt W. Moore with the help of Scotch Painter’s Tape, reflects a growing trend toward a more adventurous design. It’s a style that you can easily adapt and make your own with existing decor elements that are already in your home. Explore these ideas to help spark creativity for your next project.

Make a statement There was a time when it was considered daring to paint one wall in a room a different color. However, these days, statement walls are replacing the more subtle accent wall. A wall filled with geometric shapes or a colorful pattern is an eye-catching enhancement that can be added to just about any space.

Generally, the wall you use

should be the natural focal point of the room. Be conscious of architectural details that may distract from the design. Doors and fixtures like fireplaces can be incorporated or worked around, but windows are usually too disruptive, so it’s best to avoid if at all possible.

Although the idea is to create a stand-out feature, keep colors in line with the rest of the room to maintain a sense of cohesiveness.

Similarly, avoid overcrowding the room with furnishings and intricate wall art that will take the attention away from your statement wall.

Revamp furniture Refinishing old furniture is an affordable way to outfit a newly designed room. For an on-trend look, invite some visual interest with patterns. You might choose a single color stripe to contrast a lighter or darker hue, or create a pattern using shapes like circles or diamonds.

Tables are especially well-suited for creative painting, but don’t limit yourself. Wooden seating can also be an attractive option. If you’re painting the seat, it’s a good idea to add a protective coat after the paint

TOOLS OF THE TRADE Before starting any paint project, set yourself up for success by gathering all the tools you’ll need: Brushes or rollers: The tool you use to apply paint will have a significant impact on the finished look, so investing in quality brushes or rollers can make a noticeable difference.

Roller tray: If your project calls for a roller brush then a tray is necessary to allow for even distribution of paint across the roller and more even application. Consider investing in inexpensive tray liners that can be thrown away when the job is complete to help make cleanup easier.

Painter’s tape: While every job is unique, they all start the same way – preparation. Before starting any painting project, it’s important that you’re choosing the right tape for your job, so you end up with a better result. For more sensitive projects like geometric shapes and stripes, consider an option like Scotch Delicate Surface Painter’s Tape that seals out paint while delivering sharp lines and a clean removal. This tape is ideal on surfaces that require a little extra care, such as wood floors, wallpaper, cabinets, painted drywall and freshly painted walls.

Painter’s plastic: Protect large surrounding areas like the floor and furnishings with plastic coverings to prevent unwanted paint drippings. You can also find products that dispense painter’s tape and plastic at the same time, allowing for quicker, easier application than applying each product individually.

design is dry to reduce wear.

Another option: paint a piece such as a buffet or armoire a solid color in a standout shade then use white or another soft color to create patterns on the door or drawer panels.

Consider accent pieces Paint embellishment doesn’t have to be limited to hard surfaces; textiles can also benefit from a bold paint makeover. Accent pieces like pillows, lamp shades or rugs are easy places to add colorful designs on a small scale that can easily be swapped out if and when you’re ready for a new look.

Be sure to use paint suitable for fabric. Before diving into the full project, it’s a good idea to test a small spot to determine how the material will react to the paint.

Some fabrics will soak up or bleed the paint, and while this effect has an artistic merit of its own, you’ll want to have a sense of the finished look to ensure you can achieve the design you want.

Find more home improvement inspiration and resources at ScotchBrand.com/PaintersTape.

PRO TAPING TIPS • Make sure the surface is clean, dry and dust-free so the tape sticks properly.

• Apply tape directly on the surface, pressing down as you go without stretching the tape.

• Press down firmly with a smooth edge, like a putty knife or credit card, to secure the tape.

• Let the tape set for about 30-60 minutes before painting.

• Wait until the paint is dry to the touch before removing the tape.

• Use a putty knife or razor blade to score along the edge of the tape to help prevent cracking along the paint line.

• Lift tape slowly by pulling it back on itself then removing at a 45-degree angle.

B4

FOOD

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2019

S

Some power-packed

lunchbox ideas FAMILY FEATURES

Packing and prepping wholesome lunches doesn’t have to be a chore. You can kick health into high gear this school year with new ideas to make creative, nutrient-rich meals.

Fit to satisfy various dietary restrictions, the Power Your Lunchbox program offers kid-friendly options and allergy-sensitive selections.

The program, which is dedicated to helping families make healthier lunches during the school year, features more than 80 registered dietitian-approved, family-tested meal ideas with produce as a focal point.

Consider skipping the typical sandwich, chips and apple. Instead, it only takes a few minutes to embark on a creative approach to lunch. Get the kids involved by having them use small cookie cutters to make fresh fruits and vegetables into fun shapes. Try complementing the produce with wraps or soups to add extra excitement to typical lunchbox fare.

Regardless if your child is a picky eater or is on the more adventurous side, bento box lunches such as Chinese Mandarin Pasta Salad Bento Box and Turkey Taco Salad Bento Box can prove to be satisfying, power-packed meals.

For more lunchbox inspiration, visit poweryourlunchbox.com.

CHINESE MANDARIN PASTA SALAD ENTO BOX Prep time: 20 minutes Servings: 1 16 ounces rotini pasta 6 mini sweet peppers, sliced 3 mandarin oranges, peeled and segmented 3 green onions, sliced 2 cups baby spinach, chopped 1/2 cup matchstick carrots 1/2 cup sesame ginger dressing 1/4 cup chow mien noodles 1 kiwi, peeled and sliced ½ cup steamed edamame Cook pasta according to package directions.

Drain and rinse with cool water.

In a large bowl, mix pasta, peppers, oranges, green onions, spinach, carrots and dressing.

Toss to coat well. Top with chow mien noodles.

Place in lunchbox with kiwi and edamame.

TURKEY TACO SALAD BENTO BOX Prep time: 10 minutes Servings: 1 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce 1/4 cup cooked turkey meat, seasoned with taco seasoning 2 tablespoons shredded cheese 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered 2 tablespoons guacamole 1 ounce tortilla chips Assemble taco salad with lettuce, taco meat, cheese and tomatoes.

Place in lunchbox with guacamole and chips.

A fast, filling breakfast FAMILY FEATURES

A filling yet nutritious breakfast is a productive way to start any day, especially one loaded with flavor. Spanish Potato and Onion Omelets are simple to make and pack plenty of protein with diced ham and eggs paired with the complementary tastes of onion and potatoes.

Find more recipes at Culinary.net.

5 benefits to adding more produce to your diet FAMILY FEATURES

Maintaining a diet with an appropriate amount of fruits and vegetables has been linked to improved health, and for good reason.

Fresh produce is loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, plus a diet rich in fruits and veggies has been linked to reduced risks of heart attack, type 2 diabetes, stroke, certain cancers and other chronic diseases.

Consider these benefits of adding more fresh produce to your diet from Rachael Derr, registered dietitian at Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation, known for a 50-foot salad bar featuring more than 40 ingredients that gives guests the freedom to create their own wholesome meals.

Supports heart health and strength.

Potassium, a powerful mineral most commonly associated with bananas, aids in healthy blood pressure, heart health and bone and muscle strength.

It can also be found in sweet potatoes, white potatoes, soy beans and leafy greens.

Boosts lycopene levels. While some cooking processes can cause vegetables to lose certain nutrients, cooking others can actually improve their

FRESH BERRY SALAD WITH LEMON POPPY SEED DRESSING Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing ¾ cup apple cider vinegar 3/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup Dijon mustard 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1tablespoon poppy seeds 1 2/3 cups canola oil Fresh Berry Salad 6 cups spinach 2 cups romaine lettuce 3/4 cup sliced fresh strawberries 1/3 cup fresh blueberries 1/3 cup feta cheese 1/3 cup walnuts

nutrient content. For example, when tomatoes are cooked it boosts their levels of the powerful antioxidant lycopene, which is linked with prostate health.

Adds color. Generally, the darker the hue, the more nutrient-packed a vegetable is. Additionally, different colors indicate different nutrients in each food. Blues and purples contain antioxidants; greens contain vitamin K and folic acid; yellows and oranges contain higher levels of vitamin C; and reds contain lycopene.

Increases oxygen flow. Iron is crucial for carrying oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. Pairing iron-containing foods, like lentils, beans, peas and spinach, with foods that are rich in vitamin C, like bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoes and many

2 tablespoons scallions 1/3 cup canned mandarin oranges, drained 1/2 avocado, diced To make the Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing: In a blender, combine apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, sugar, salt, pepper and poppy seeds.

Blend 1 minute, or until smooth and evenly incorporated. Slowly add in canola oil and continue to blend until oil is fully emulsified. Reserve dressing.

To make the Fresh Berry Salad: In a large bowl, combine spinach, romaine, strawberries, blueberries, feta cheese, walnuts, scallions, mandarin oranges, avocado and Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing. Toss thoroughly to combine, making sure dressing has coated lettuce completely.

The recipe is courtesy of Rachael Derr, registered dietitian at Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes.

fruits including citrus, can help your body absorb iron better. Vitamin C also promotes skin healing.

Protects against infection. In addition to adding flavor to your plate, many vegetables also contain beneficial vitamins and minerals that can help in surprising ways. Vitamin A, found in carrots, sweet potatoes and dark leafy greens like spinach and kale, supports healthy eyesight and can also help protect against infections.

One creative way to get your fruits and veggies is with Derr’s Fresh Berry Salad, which pairs nutritious greens like spinach and romaine with refreshing strawberries and blueberries. Find more recipes and tips for adding produce to your diet at sweettomatoes. com or souplantation.com.

SPANISH POTATO AND ONION OMELET Recipe is courtesy of the National Onion Association 1 cup olive oil, divided 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch slices (about 4 cups) Salt and pepper, to taste 2 medium onions, thinly sliced (2-2 1/2 cups) 6 eggs 4 ounces cured, cooked ham or prosciutto, diced In a large sauté pan, heat 3/4 cup olive oil. Cook half potatoes until tender and golden, turning often. Drain.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Repeat with remaining potatoes.

Add 4 tablespoons olive oil to pan. Cook onions until soft, about 15 minutes. Add potatoes to onions.

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add eggs to potato and onion mixture. Stir in diced ham or prosciutto. Reduce heat to low and cook 8-10 minutes until golden brown on bottom. Invert platter on pan and flip omelet onto plate. Add remaining olive oil to pan; slide omelet back into pan.

Cook until golden brown on bottom.

Slide omelet onto serving plate. Let cool. Cut into wedges.