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(gentle music) - Coming up next, we'll look at how Russia's invasion is viewed by the Ukrainian-American community in Florida, Senator Rick Scott issues a platform for the Republican party, the legislative session is about to end, we'll discuss the new laws being passed, and it's been 10 years since Trayvon Martin was killed.

All this and more next on "Florida This Week".

(upbeat music) Welcome back.

Russia's military attack on Ukraine this week has created a crisis for the nation of 43 million people.

Ukraine, which is slightly smaller than Texas, is one of the world's top exporters of wheat and corn, essential grains to the diets of many people worldwide.

While Russia claims to be trying to avoid civilian casualties, the numbers of innocent people killed is on the rise.

The invasion by Vladimir Putin's government is seen as an attempt to replace the democratically elected government of Ukraine.

The assault amounts to Europe's largest ground war since World War II.

The UN estimates that the conflict may result in 4 million refugees fleeing their homes.

Florida's one of the largest areas for Ukrainian expats, with North Port having the highest percentage of Ukrainians in the state.

Well, joining me now is Ihor Hron, the Commander of Post 40 of the Ukrainian American Veterans in Osprey, Florida.

He's the past commander of the National Ukrainian American Veterans Organization, and Ihor, thanks for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

- You served in the US military.

You came as a child at the age of six to the US, brought by your parents from Ukraine.

What does the Ukrainian community there in Osprey, in Southwest Florida, think about what Vladimir Putin has done?

- As a whole and in totality, we reject the invasion of Ukraine by Putin.

There is no reason for it.

Ukraine is a democratic country, it is an independent country, and we fear not only for Ukraine, but what would the next steps be.

What is Putin's grand plan?

- What are you hearing from people in Ukraine?

I know you visited there within the last decade, but are you hearing from people in Ukraine and are they telling you anything about the situation there?

- They are just as stunned as people around the world are.

Ukraine has worked very hard to join the European Union, the Ukrainians have worked to build up their economy, and they are very concerned that it will go back to the communist times, pre-1991.

- So, what is the Ukrainian community in the Sarasota-Manatee County area doing?

How are they mobilizing to maybe help their relatives over there in Ukraine?

- Mobilizing is probably a very good word.

Right now all we can do is, we have prayer vigils, we are talking to our congressmen, we are talking to the people, our leadership in Washington, to ensure that they fully understand what Ukraine means to the rest of the world.

As individuals, we will be putting together collections, perhaps, to collect moneys to help the refugees, put together care packages to help the refugees, but given the fact that this has broken out in the last 48 hours, right now it's very difficult to put together a very effective and efficient game plan.

- President Putin says he doesn't want to occupy Ukraine, he just wants to change the government, or at least he's indicated he wants to change the government.

Do you believe him when he says he doesn't want to occupy the country?

- You know, I almost have to laugh at that comment.

It's not a laughing matter.

Where is he today?

He's on the doorstep of Kiev, he is bombing Kharkiv, he is attacking through Odessa, he's attacking through Kherson.

He also told our president face-to-face, as well as the German organization, as well as the French president he had no intention of attacking Ukraine.

Where is he?

The man is a pathological liar and cannot be trusted.

- And Ihor, would you expect, if there is a large refugee exit from that part of the world, would you expect a lot of them to come to places like North Port, where there already is a large Ukrainian population?

- I would assume that it would be very possible.

There's a large population here.

The West Coast, the Pacific Northwest has a large Ukrainian population, New York City, various towns in New Jersey, Philadelphia, so we are in excess of over a million plus Ukrainians in America who are established and are willing to assist the refugee movement.

I believe the government today, our government just said that the US would accept Ukrainian refugees.

- Well, Ihor Hron, thank you very much for coming on "Florida this Week."

If you'd like to help out, you can go to the website on your screen, ukrainiansofswflorida.org.

(gentle music) Joining us now on our panel this week, Patrick Manteigas, the editor and publisher of La Gaceta Newspaper and a Democrat, Sharon Calvert writes the blog "Eye on Tampa Bay," she's a Republican, and Mac Stipanovich is an attorney and is not currently affiliated with any political party, and thank you all for joining us.

Nice to see you.

Well the Republican party has no official platform, so Florida's junior US senator, Rick Scott, issued one of his own this week.

He calls it his Rescue America Plan.

- Great nations don't automatically last forever.

Our border's being invaded, inflation's raging, and our shelves are empty.

Crime's rampant, police are being killed, and God fearing people are being silenced.

I'm Rick Scott.

We've put together a plan to rescue America after Republicans win this year.

- The plan touches on everything from saying the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, to finishing the US-Mexico border wall, to a ban on teaching Critical Race Theory, and more money for police.

Perhaps the most controversial part was wanting to raise taxes on low income Americans.

Scott said, "All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount."

Currently, about half of Americans pay no income tax.

That did not go well with many, including some conservatives.

Roughly 50% of Americans at the bottom half of income distribution do not pay federal income taxes because they don't earn enough money, and because many receive tax credits.

Many of them are seniors living on fixed incomes.

Millions of these Americans do pay federal and state taxes in the form of payroll, sales, and gas taxes.

Senator Scott said nothing about the dozens of profitable, large corporations that have paid no taxes over the last three years.

- So Sharon, what does it say about Senator Scott that he doesn't know that so many people are on fixed incomes and working at low wages?

- Well, I say kudos to Senator Scott for putting those issues that he's passionate about out for an honest and public debate.

That is what we're supposed to have.

And as far as the Republicans' platform, they have a platform, and part of that platform is to simply point to Joe Biden and say, "We're not him."

So with Erasmus and latest polling showing the generic ballot, you know, Republicans being ahead in double digits, I think the Republicans do have a platform, and Senator Scott laid out those issues: crime, education, economic growth, racial inequality, and that whole discussion.

He put those issues out there.

And so it's good to put them out, because that allows the public to have an open and honest conversation.

And basically that's what he said.

He said, you know what, let's start a conversation.

He didn't put something out and said, I'm gonna go start counting heads and nobody's gonna be able to have any input on it.

This is what the founding fathers gave us, to actually put new ideas out.

And, and the interesting- - But these aren't new ideas.

- But the interesting thing is is that with Biden hemorrhaging all demographics, age groups, and ethnic backgrounds, the Republican Party's become the party of the tent, and so let's have the discussions and we'll cover those issues.

- So Patrick, you say these aren't new ideas.

Why do you say that?

- Well, let's debate his smart ideas here.

I mean, he's got one in here where he wants immigrants come to America but not to change America.

Well, what makes America great is that we've constantly changed.

If we were the same country we were 200 years ago, it would be not a good place for most people here.

He basically has a love it or leave it mentality here, and America's about loving it and making it better.

It's xenophobic.

Half of this stuff he's got in here is just anti-immigrant rhetoric.

He has in this thing that he wants to teach kids about the wisdom of Constitution and Bill of Rights, and then he has that he doesn't want us to deny religious freedom or religious speech in places like schools and other things like that.

Well, you know, you can't have it both ways.

The Constitution, the Bill of Rights said we separate church and state.

He wants to be able to force the Bible in every child's hands in a public school and say that that's the right thing to do.

So it really is just a bunch of hooey.

- So Mac, at the last- - Well, we hear that a lot from the Democrats as well.

- Okay, so back at the Republican Party Convention a couple of years ago, they chose not to create a platform, and Senator Rick Scott has stepped in and created a platform.

He's taken some shots from people within his own party too, but what do you make of Rick Scott stepping up and saying things like half of Americans pay no income tax and they all should pay income tax?

- Well, that's the only thing that is at all unique about this, and that was probably an unforced error.

But Patrick's right, there's really not much new about this.

This is standard Republican fare.

You know, we're gonna cut government by 25%, we're gonna say prayers in schools.

I mean, it's the standard stuff, much of which I did for most of most of my career, I think.

And it flies in the face of Mitch McConnell and the party saying, "We're not gonna say specifically what we would do if we take control of the Senate and the house, because that only gives our opponent something to shoot at during the campaign."

So why did Scott do it?

I think he's got DeSantis envy.

He just wants a little attention.

Abbott gets attention all the time, Noem in South Dakota gets attention, and poor old Rick doesn't get any attention.

Well, he's getting it now.

- Sharon, there's a story out today that says that Donald Trump would like Rick Scott to be the new Senate majority leader and take on Mitch McConnell.

Do you think he would make a better Senate majority leader than Mitch McConnell?

- I think that many people would like to see a new majority leader in the Senate, whether it's Rick Scott or somebody else.

We're tired of these same old people being in these same old leadership positions.

It's time for a change.

- Patrick, I gotta ask you, part of Scott's proposal is that all federal legislation would sunset every five years.

If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.

That would include social security.

How do you think people on social security would view sunsetting social security every five years.

- And that's what this is.

If you read between the lines of what he's saying, this is scary stuff.

25% of cut in government, that has to be social security.

It has to be our military.

I mean, you can't get there...

It has to be roads, ports, airports, you name it, it's gotta be cut out in order to get this stuff.

So this rhetoric he has about we all need to be able to pray to God.

We all can pray to God today.

So it's just rhetoric, but it's scary rhetoric when you really start to dive down into it.

This is the worst of the culture war, and it's the same old thing that we, you know, we're gonna cut government and we're gonna hurt people when we do it so.

- It's no more scary than the Green New Deal that was put out there.

- This Tuesday's the last day of the Florida legislative session.

Conservative culture war issues have dominated this year.

Legislators are working on a ban on abortions after 15 weeks, the Parental Rights or "Don't Say Gay" bill, and limits on how history is taught, part of what's called the "Anti-Woke" bill.

With Governor DeSantis getting ready for a possible presidential run, the culture war issues give him a high profile on conservative media platforms.

So Mack, would it be accurate to say that much of what the legislature has done is culture war stuff, and are those the most important issues to Floridians?

- Well, I don't know if they are the most important issues to Floridians by any means, but they're important to a lot of Floridians, and the Floridians are important to...

It's basically the Republican base about who the DeSantis is concerned in his reelection year and about whom the other Republicans are concerned.

They're just throwing red meat to the base.

It is pretty interesting.

Some of it's patently unconstitutional.

Are states gonna pass a law telling private businesses what sort of diversity training they can give to their employees?

I mean, the first amendment ran screaming out of the building pulling its hair the minute that bill was filed.

It's the same old divide and conquer.

The beating heart of the Republican party is fear.

And all of these things are designed to provoke outrage, upset people, and get 'em to the polls.

- Patrick is this, the Governor DeSantis session, that is, that he's really decided what's on the agenda this time around and he's been very successful?

- His rhetoric works with some people.

It makes some other people really angry, like myself.

But the legislature for the last few years has been, their top four or five bills don't do anything, get overturned by the courts.

The "Don't Say Gay" bill is talking about kindergarten to third grade.

You talk to Hillsborough County school people, this will not change a thing they do.

There's nothing here in this bill that currently affects them.

Even the other bill, the "Stop Woke" act doesn't do anything that would affect them.

There's nothing they're currently doing with Critical Race that's gonna make them change anything.

Now the "Stop Woke" act's a little bit more dangerous because you could end up with some lawsuits from it that could distract the school system and take money out of our schools and give 'em to lawyers, which I don't know why DeSantis would wanna do that, but this top legislative agenda is just nothing.

It absolutely is nothing at the end of the day.

- Sharon, was this session designed to boost Governor DeSantis' chances if he decides to run for president?

- I have no idea, because I have no idea what his plans are, but I will say that as of last year, Florida is officially a red state.

So just as Mac mentioned, Republicans, there are more Republican voters in Florida than there are Democrats.

And as far as some of these bills, we know the Supreme Court will be ruling on the Mississippi- - Abortion case.

- Abortion case, which is very similar to Florida's.

But the other thing is we've been told for the last two years, follow the science, follow the science.

We know a lot more about the science of a baby in the womb today than we did in the 1970s, when Roe versus Wade was ruled by the Supreme Court back then.

As far as the Parental Rights bill, the one controversial part that Patrick mentioned is, yes, maybe it doesn't do anything, but it does prevent instruction for kindergarten through third graders about sexual orientation.

- But Patrick says that that's not happening.

- And it won't happen, but that's one item of that bill.

- But let me also talk about this science issue.

We also know that women are smart enough to make their own choice, and so why aren't we letting women make their own choice?

- We were told for two years that we couldn't make our own choices regarding our own bodies.

- Absolutely.

- And as far as the teaching history, that bill ensures that people will be judged by the content of their characters and their actions- - Republicans have used more Martin Luther King rhetoric in the last year than I've ever heard before.

It is absolutely ridiculous.

- And, and in fact, we have made...

I guess the big question is have we reached peak wokeness when three San Francisco school board members just got recalled?

- Mac, I'm gonna give you the last word on this one.

- Yeah.

It's all a dog and pony show.

It's all performative politics.

He sends 57 game wardens to the Texas border to stop illegal immigration, holds a press conference in Jacksonville telling all the ships anchored off California ports to just drive on around and unload.

It's all a song and dance.

Like I said, it's just performative politics.

It's embarrassing.

- So why are the Democratic Governor's Association coming to Florida to hold their event?

- Because the sunshine!

We (indistinct) and they've been coming here- - No, they like Florida too!

- Alright, well it's been a decade since 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot to death in Sanford, Florida.

The shooter, George Zimmerman, claimed he felt threatened by the unarmed teen.

Authorities initially chose not to charge Zimmerman because of Florida's stand-your-ground law and later brought charges only after massive public pressure.

Zimmerman was eventually acquitted of murder and manslaughter.

A study published this week in a peer reviewed medical journal linked stand-your-ground laws to an eight to 11% increase in national homicide rates, including double digit rate increases here in Florida.

There have been attempts in the legislature to amend Florida stand-your-ground laws, but all have failed.

So Patrick, are we safer that we have stand-your-ground laws and there have been copycat laws in more than three dozen other states?

- Yeah, I've never agreed with 'em, didn't agree with it when we first passed it.

I'd love to see them go away.

I think that we should always, as the Bible would teach us, is that you should turn the other cheek.

We should be talking to people about backing down, not continuing to get to the point where you have to pull a gun out to solve your issues.

And really, that's what we're doing in society, and you see it more and more where everybody escalates everything all the time, even in our political debate and talk, it's just a complete escalation.

And so I really wish that we would change the laws to encourage people to deescalate, not escalate.

But Trayvon Martin was a changing point, and I think things have gotten better.

I wonder had we not had Trayvon Martin, would Ahmaud Arbery have been prosecuted successfully.

I mean the killers of Ahmaud Arbery.

And I also wonder had Trayvon Martin's killer been prosecuted successfully, would we have even had this death later on?

- So Sharon, are we better off with so many stand-your-ground laws across the country?

- Well, I think right now we certainly need to study whether skyrocketing violent crime in blue cities and states are linked to the defund the police agenda and soft on crime policies.

- But what about stand your ground?

I mean, are we safe?

- Well, linked, they used the term linked.

It means a connection tying one thing to another.

This data claims there's a link.

And then the researchers admitted that the stand-your-ground laws alone may not be sufficient in explaining increases in homicide, which may be a correlation, which is a statistical association between two variables, but not a causation, which is a change in one variable is a cause of a change in another.

And actually, if you go to the FBI uniform crime report statistics, Florida's homicide rate in 2005, the year stand-your-ground was passed, was five per hundred thousand.

In 2020 it was 5.9, well under the national rate of 6.5.

And according to the researchers, they were hoping to look at any protective effect on public safety and deterring violence, but they only looked at homicide.

So what about the armed robberies, the carjackings, the home invasions, or burglaries after stand-your-ground laws were passed.

- Mac, I wanna ask you about what Patrick said.

He talked about the need to go towards deescalation rather than escalation.

Do stand-your-ground laws encourage an escalation of violence?

- I think stand-your-ground laws encourage people not to deescalate.

I'm just telling you anytime somebody gets shot dead because of a scuffle over a parking space in a grocery store parking lot, something's just wrong.

You shouldn't be shooting people for things like that.

You shouldn't be shooting people for anything close to things like that.

If your life is threatened and you're in danger, maybe, but in most of these cases that get so much attention, it's really, the fact situation's really not very edified.

- There's no cause and effect.

You can't make that- - We.

- You cannot make that- - Well, taking a gun to a movie theater leads to an eight year long trial.

Had there been no gun in that movie theater, we wouldn't be here.

They wouldn't be having that trial at all.

- Before we go, what other news stories should we be paying attention to?

And Sharon, let's start with you, your other big story of the week.

- Yes, and how ironic that we were just mentioning about inflation, and real wages declining, and all this economic uncertainty, because the Democrat Majority Hillsborough County Commission is looking, it appears, to put another unnecessary and very regressive rail tax back on the November ballot.

It would take $18 billion out of the county's, out of your wallets, and the county hasn't refunded yet one penny of the $512 million that was illegally collected from the All For Transportation illegal tax from 2018.

- All right, we'll see if it gets on the ballot.

Mac, your other big story of the week?

- Well, I would just first say to Sharon that I'm sure if the people of Hillsborough county approve this tax, she would think that was just fine, because she believes in democracy.

I think the story we ought to keep our eye on, of course, is the Supreme Court nomination that Biden's about to make.

It's kind of anticlimactic, sort of, I think, because the nominee's not gonna be the first black person, even on this court, it's not gonna be the first woman, it'll be like the third or fourth on this court, but it's still gonna be a very interesting exercise for the Democrats and for the Republicans particularly.

They have to thread the needle.

They have to slap her around enough to satisfy the peckerwoods and the MAGA base without slapping her around so much that it enrages black voters.

- Patrick, your other big story of the week.

- It's very local.

Mayor Jane Castor's on full crisis control mode with her police chief.

Anybody who's opposed this chief in favor of the old one, Butch Delgado, she's trying to do coffees and get her pick out there, and probably at the end of the day, City Council'll fold on this one.

- You think they're gonna fold?

All right, thank you, panel, for another great program, and thank you for joining us.

Please send your comments to us at FTW WEDU.org.

You can view this and past shows online at WEDU.org or on the PBS app.

And "Florida this Week" is now available as a podcast.

You can find it on our website or wherever you download your podcasts.

And from all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] "Florida this Week" is a production of WEDU, who is solely responsible for its content.

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