Thoughts From the Periphery
This BLOG was About Matters Pertaining to Photography and Politics in America
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
"Donald Trump Will Resign in 2027. The First Domino Falls This November."
Thursday, June 4, 2026
"The 2026-27 environmental budget is the worst since the early days of Rick Scott"
Sandspur
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For the second year in a row, the Florida Senate and House
were unable to agree on a budget during the 60-day legislative session and were
forced to return to Tallahassee to finish the job. The 2026-2027 Florida state
budget, totaling over $114 billion, was finalized behind closed doors, without
any public input, over Memorial Day Weekend. The only committee meeting on the
final budget proposal was held at 10:45 p.m. on the Sunday night before
Memorial Day. No one from the public was recognized to speak. And to no one’s
surprise, the outcome of the budget was as flawed as the process to create it. (emphasis added)
Overall, the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection’s budget is being slashed to $2.5 billion, a nearly 40% cut to state
environmental programs when compared to 2022. That’s $1.7 billion, over just
the next year, that will not be used to protect forests and wildlife corridors;
restore springs, rivers, and estuaries; fund water quality and water supply
projects; or ensure that our permitting and regulatory systems are properly
staffed and functioning.
Despite a state law requiring the Florida Forever program
receive a minimum of $100 million a year, for the first time in over a decade,
Florida’s premier land conservation program received no new funding in the
budget. (Florida Forever should receive more than a billion dollars a year, if
the Legislature cared about voters and the constitution, but that’s another
story.) That means no new funding to purchase new lands for state parks, state
forests, or public hunting lands. No new funding to buy irreplaceable lands at
risk of being bulldozed and development. No new funding to protect critical
watersheds or habitat for endangered species.
As a reflection of the state’s priorities, the budget is a clear indication that the Legislature has abandoned its commitment to conserving our natural areas and protecting Florida’s wildlife. The Legislature is not only turning its back on acquiring new public lands but also taking funds away from the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
The 2026-27 budget clawback every single remaining dollar
from the Florida Wildlife Corridor funding approved unanimously only a few
years ago. The vast majority of this funding, $225 million, is being
transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to purchase
agricultural easements that temporarily prevent development, but offer no
public access or recreational opportunities and dubious environmental benefits.
The remaining funds are prioritized to bailout bad investments by wealthy coastal
property owners in Okaloosa County. Only after the bailouts of wealthy
landowners across the state, does any funding trickle down for land
conservation to benefit Floridians.
The picture for water restoration funding is nearly as bleak as it is for land conservation. Springs funding was maintained at a paltry $50 million which is so insufficient that it only guarantees future degradation. The Apalachicola River, Indian River Lagoon, Biscayne Bay, and Florida Keys received even less. Restoring the Ocklawaha River, the most important environmental project in Florida, received not a cent.
| Withlacoochee River 2026-05-27 (102) |
Like Wildlife Corridor funding, Legislative leaders raided
the Florida Water Quality Improvement Grant Program, enacted only a few years
ago to stop the ineffective and wasteful practice of picking water projects
based on pork-barrel politics instead of science and the benefit to taxpayers.
Despite a requirement in state law that these funds be distributed to the most
effective and beneficial projects, the Florida Legislature is redirecting funds
to projects based on partisan politics, rewarding political allies and big
donors with hundreds of millions of dollars of your hard earned money.
The budget now heads to the Governor’s desk. Although the Governor cannot add to the budget, he does have line-item veto power. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on ways you can contact the Governor to speak out against particular projects in the budget, and we’ll dive deeper into specific allocations once the budget is signed.
💦 Dive Deeper
We know you care deeply about protecting Florida’s springs
and drinking water, state parks and hunting lands, and wildlife, but it seems
the majority of the Legislature has turned a blind eye to what matters most to
their constituents and voters. Here’s a few of the biggest red flags out of the
Florida Legislature’s budget:
Florida Forever - No New Funding
The Legislature has ditched Florida Forever, which is used to acquire state park, hunting, and other recreational lands, in favor of more funding for private agricultural lands through the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. We cannot protect our springs, rivers and aquifer, conserve essential wildlife habitat, and slow development without a meaningfully funded conservation and recreation land acquisition program.
Florida Wildlife Corridor - Existing Funding Clawed-back
During budget negotiations, we alerted Springs Advocates of the Legislature's attempt to use conservation funding to bail out a property owner in Okaloosa County. Unfortunately, the misuse of Florida Wildlife Corridor only got worse as budget negotiations progressed, and the Legislature snuck in another provision to acquire property in Okaloosa County outside of the Wildlife Corridor.
And, just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, Jason Garcia reported that the property could belong to Robert Guidry, the same Louisiana real estate developer who received more than $80 million of our tax dollars for a measly four acres of undevelopable sand after similar language appeared in the 2025-26 budget.Water Quality Improvement Grant Program - Defunded
For the second year in a row the Legislature defunded the
Water Quality Improvement Grant Program - created in 2023 to ensure our tax
dollars are being used efficiently - and swept the funding into politically
driven pork-barrel projects that benefit local developers and politicians more
than the public or our environment.
Swimming at Silver Springs - Funded
We appreciate the advocates who contacted legislators to oppose swimming at Silver Springs. Despite our concerns for wildlife and state park visitors’ safety, the Legislature included a $2.5 million appropriation for swimming at Silver Springs. Although disappointing, we will continue to work on stopping swimming at the headspring as the project moves through the permitting process.
Even with Governor DeSantis’ line-item vetoes, this budget
will remain a misrepresentation of the state’s greatest and most urgent
conservation needs. Sweeping funds that were dedicated and celebrated for the
Florida Wildlife Corridor just a few years ago, spending millions of taxpayer
dollars on just a few acres with no conservation value, ignoring the growing
list of lands the state can acquire with high conservation value, and
prioritizing political favors over protecting natural resources is paving a harsh
future for Florida’s environment.
The 2026-27 environmental budget is the worst since the early days of Rick Scott. Advocates, we’ll need you to remember legislators’ budget priorities as you head to the polls later this year. Protecting springs and natural lands for future generations depends on us holding our legislators accountable today.
Thank you for staying engaged throughout the budget process,
Chloe Dougherty (chloe@floridaspringscouncil.org)
Communications Director
Florida Springs Council
Friday, May 8, 2026
Trump's Chosen War with Iran: Bill Clinton doesn't hold back
This is an assessment of Trump's chosen war with Iran as carefully enunciated by former Pres. Bill Clinton. It's 24 minutes, but as sincere and straightforward as you'll hear. You need to take the time.
It's a Facebook REEL. Find it here:
Saturday, April 18, 2026
Thinking of my mom ...
When you get to my age you have time to let your mind sift back through the accumulated detritus of past years and sometimes revisit moments and experiences long thought forgotten. Sometimes, like last night, those bits and pieces trigger dreams and, if you're like me, dreams can trigger feelings that are as real and emotional as they are in the bright of day.
Last night I had a dream that was not about my mother, but in which she was just there, as if it was normal, and she was real. There was no plot in the dream that I can remember. Only that I was home in the old wooden house on US 41 next to the sawmill my dad owned and, I think, in the kitchen. In the dream, I was not directly engaged with my mom. She was just "over there" at the edge of my line of sight. It is a "still" scene. No movement or action that I can remember. I awoke immediately after that and was filled with the feeling of just having my mother near me again, a feeling of safety, and, somehow, warmth. I'm 83 now and and haven't felt that feeling since I left home for the last time in 1963 when I watched her and my dad standing at the Brooksville bus station as I left on a Greyhound bus for flight training in the Marine Corps. I was still a kid then. When a saw them next, four months later, I no longer was.
So, after my dream and maybe because of my dream, this day has became one of those when I'm thinking I need to begin getting all the papers I've kept through the years in order. You know those that intentionally or not, time-stamp events and seemingly document if not simply suggest who you've become and what your life was about. One of those papers was a piece I wrote on December 18, 1993, in honor of my mother's 75th birthday. It was a wonderful surprise organized by my sister, Vicki, to which her entire extended family and many friends were invited and who turned out in full in her honor. On that day the plan was for me to pick her up to have dinner with my two sisters. When she walked in to that room she almost fainted when over a hundred people started singing happy birthday. Her surprise was real and it was a joyous day.
So, the piece I had written in her honor is below. I was supposed to stand read it, but couldn't finish it. Vicki had to read what I couldn't. It's about who she was and, for me, will always be.
Saturday, April 11, 2026
It feels like something has shifted in the United States this week - Heather cox Richardson
April 10, 2026
Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American<heathercoxrichardson@substack.com>
It feels like something shifted in the United States this
week after President Donald J. Trump threatened on Tuesday that “a whole
civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” As professor
of human rights, global affairs, and philosophy Mathias Risse of Harvard
University’s Kennedy School noted, the Geneva Conventions prohibit “acts or
threats of violence whose primary purpose is to terrorize civilians.” He
notes that Trump’s threat terrorized 90 million Iranians by threatening them
with genocide. Trump has continued to struggle to assert his power over
Iran since Tuesday, and has continued to fail. Yesterday former secretary of
state John Kerry told Jen Psaki of The Briefing that Israeli
prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged presidents Barack Obama, Joe
Biden, and George W. Bush to strike Iran, and they all refused him. Only
Trump was willing to go along. But negotiations have been rocky all along, and today
Trump warned that if Iran didn’t come to a peace deal, the U.S. would launch
even deadlier attacks. “We have a reset going,” Trump told the New
York Post. At 9:31 this morning, Trump’s social media account posted:
“WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL RESET!!! PRESIDENT DJT.” At 12:27, Trump vented some
of his apparent frustration that the Iranians have been trolling him,
posting: “The Iranians are better at handling the Fake News Media, and
‘Public Relations,’ than they are at fighting!” A minute later, he posted:
“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short
term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason
they are alive today is to negotiate!” Trump continues to try to shore up the international
right-wing authoritarian project even as people are turning against it. Today
he threw the economic might of the United States of America behind Hungarian
prime minister Viktor Orbán, who gutted Hungary’s democracy and turned the
country into an authoritarian state. Orbán is deeply underwater ahead of the
April 12 parliamentary elections in Hungary. Vice President J.D. Vance has
been in Hungary to support Orbán, and today Trump posted: “My Administration stands
ready to use the full Economic Might of the United States to strengthen
Hungary’s Economy, as we have done for our Great Allies in the past, if Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian People ever need it. We are excited
to invest in the future Prosperity that will be generated by Orbán’s
continued Leadership! President DONALD J. TRUMP” A recently revealed transcript of an October 2025 phone
call between Orbán and Russian president Vladimir Putin shows Orbán promising
to be a “mouse” aiding the “lion” Putin, telling the Russian leader: “In any
matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service.” Tonight
Hungarians filled the streets to protest Orbán, chanting “Russians, go home.” Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal reported
today that Trump has repeatedly promised to pardon his top officials before
he leaves office and that he brings up the subject frequently. In a recent
meeting, he said: “I’ll pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the
Oval [Office].” In response to a request for comment by Meredith Kile
of People magazine, White House press secretary Karoline
Leavitt said: “The Wall Street Journal should learn to
take a joke; however, the President’s pardon power is absolute.” But Tuesday has given momentum to those trying to rein
Trump in. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top-ranking Democrat on the
House Judiciary Committee, made a record of Trump’s recent bizarre behavior
in a letter today to the president’s personal physician, Captain Sean P.
Barbabella. Raskin noted that “[e]xperts have repeatedly warned that
the President has been exhibiting signs consistent with dementia and
cognitive decline. And, in recent days, the country has watched President
Trump’s public statements and outbursts turn increasingly incoherent,
volatile, profane, deranged, and threatening.” Raskin recounted Trump’s wild
social media posts and weird performance at the White House Easter egg roll,
what the congressman called “a bizarre display that shocked tens of millions
of Americans and astonished observers across the political spectrum.” Raskin wrote that Trump’s “apparently deteriorating
condition has caused tremendous alarm across the nation (and political
spectrum) about the President’s cognitive function and continuing mental
fitness for the office of President, and prompted concerns about the
President’s well-being.” Raskin asked the White House physician to “[c]onduct a
comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of the President, including a
formal cognitive screening instrument, and publicly release the results;
[p]rovide a detailed report on the President’s current mental and physical
health status, including any medications he is currently taking and their
potential cognitive side effects; and [m]ake yourself available for a
briefing, under oath, with Members of the Committee on the results of this
assessment.” Former secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg said
on Morning Joe today that the gradual destruction of the
United States under Trump changed suddenly on Tuesday. “For the leader of the
free world, the leader of this country, to just make a nakedly genocidal
threat against another civilization, as if the United States of America was a
death star that was going around blowing up civilizations, of course that
crosses a new line, and, of course, that’s a new low,” he said. Buttigieg continued: “I think the really important thing
to remember is that the effects of that kind of thing will outlive Donald
Trump long after he has departed the scene, the collapse in trust, not just
affection for the United States, but trust in the United States, and it’s
very important that not just allies but, frankly, also adversaries that we’re
negotiating with when we’re making a peace deal or some other kind of deal,
that they have a level of trust that there is stability in the United States.” Those trying to write off Trump’s threat as bluster or
just Trump being Trump were missing the point, he said. “[T]he reality is
that the whole country is being judged. Even though most Americans don’t
support him anyway. The whole country is being judged just for tolerating
that kind of thing at the White House.” The pushback against Trump is spreading across the United
States. Jess Craven of Chop Wood, Carry Water today called
out rock and roll legend Bruce Springsteen’s opening last night at his
concert in Los Angeles: “Good evening, Los Angeles,” he said. “Welcome to the Land
of Hope and Dreams tour. We begin tonight with a prayer for our men and women
in service overseas. We pray for their safe return. “The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the
righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times. We are
here in celebration and defense of our American ideals, democracy, our
Constitution, and our sacred American promise. The America I love, the
America that I’ve written about for 50 years, that has been a beacon of hope
and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt,
incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous administration,” he said. “Tonight we ask all of you to join with us in choosing
hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over
lawlessness, ethics over unrivaled corruption, resistance over complacency,
truth over lies, unity over division, and peace over war.” — Notes: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5825822-trump-threatens-iran-military-strikes/ Bluesky: jesscraven101.bsky.social/post/3mj5hmbih4c24 atrupar.com/post/3mj5mgqot3o2a acyn.bsky.social/post/3mj46zxfhas2s ronfilipkowski.bsky.social/post/3mj66vbwqcc22 onestpress.onestnetwork.com/post/3mj6rzlvk322q numb.comfortab.ly/post/3mj5opytgek26 woodwardnick.bsky.social/post/3mj5hznvx7k2v tomshafshafer.bsky.social/post/3mj5symdq5k2f paulballen.bsky.social/post/3mj65gur3yc27 opheliapg.bsky.social/post/3mj5tnl3g222o You’re currently a free subscriber to Letters from an
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© 2026 Heather Cox Richardson |