The Things that Fall Through the Cracks During a War: The Week Ending March 6, 2026
Introduction
Remember, I'm trying to do something new to cut down the length of these weekly newsletters while actually increasing the amount of content I'm generating about life here in South Florida.
The boxes with links that say "This Week in Florida" are my pieces and I'd love it if you checked them out. As has been the norm for some time, I wrote a piece on this week's prayer vigil across from Alligator Alcatraz. I wrote one on doodie, well, a company named Doodie Calls. I wrote another on the definition of imperialism and why that may not apply to the illegal war in Iran. And I wrote still another on that vile What's App Chat that called itself Hitlers Heaven on FIU's campus.
There are links to these in the paragraph above, but you can also find them in highlight boxes in the sections below mixed in with articles I found that I thought you should check out but were not written by me.
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington DC in February of 1968.
Table of Contents
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Finite
Disappointment
Your tax dollars into the port-a-potty
If you wonder where your tax dollars go as a Floridian–remember, taxes are lower here for the rich, but the for the not rich, they're still very high compared to the rest of the country–one place is into the port-a-potty. Literally. $92,000,000 of taxpayer dollars were spent on port-a-potties at the so-called Alligator Alcatraz. I wrote about it.
Philip Cardella
2025 was a comeback year for the measles but 2026 is a breakout year in Florida!
Central Florida Public Media | By Joe Mario Pedersen
The Congressperson representing many of the people representing reading this warns that ICE is harming...Christians
This seems obvious–if you deport people, especially people from countries with a lot of Catholic adherents, you'll be deporting a lot of Christians. I'm not sure why the faith of a person matters much...ok, I do, but I am not sure why it should matter much...but finally Maria Elvira Salazar is almost, sort of, kind of, standing up for a subset of her constituents while wearing an almost fabulous hat.
Jacob Ogles
Contextualizing Imperialism
Many people on the left, especially the far left, like to throw around the term "imperialism" a lot. They are even doing it with the war in Iran. I wasn't sure where else to put this but I wrote a piece on a piece in the Guardian where one of, of several, definitions of "imperialism" is being used to call the illegal attack on Iran imperialism. My piece goes into the missing context of this and why some people may be surprised by its origins.
Philip Cardella
Florida
Gonna Florida
Turning Point USA, Florida International University and Very, Very Bad Students
This week had some interesting stories around Florida International University and all of them connect in a way to Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA. I wrote about it this week. At least one of the stories is about the racist, sexist, antisemitic group chat that important members of the campus GOP club and Turning Point USA club participated in.
Philip Cardella
The Epicenter of Spanish Speaking Media and Misinformation
The global epicenter of Spanish speaking media, whether its news, entertainment or misinformation is Miami and it has been for some time.
This played a pivotal role in how Spanish speakers viewed the 2000 election–the one with the Brooks Brothers Riot, the hanging chads and the Supreme Court ultimately weighing in on an American Presidential Election–and American elections going forward.
Now experts are warning that Spanish radio ads are spreading misinformation ahead of the 2026 US General Election.
Sofia Baltodano
The Guardian thinks Ron DeSantis is creating a police state as his legacy
[Civil rights groups] point in particular to two House bills they say restrict free speech, and which have already found favor with Florida’s veto-proof Republican majority:
HB1471 would give a handful of state officials unprecedented power to designate as a “terrorist group” any organization whose aims and policies they do not like, including non-profits operating for religious, charitable and social justice purposes.
HB945 creates a “counterintelligence and counterterrorism” unit within the Florida department of law enforcement that critics say will be used to spy on groups or individuals whose “actions, views, or opinions” are deemed “a threat or are inimical to the interests of this state”.
But there's more, the article continues. You should read it to learn more. Though the next headline in TWIFL in this section is about HB945.
Richard Luscombe
Florida wants its own CIA–what could possible go wrong?
This article in the Guardian by three authors with this listed as their resume: Seth Stern is the chief of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and a first amendment lawyer. Lauren Harper is the Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy at FPF. Bobby Block is the executive director of Florida’s First Amendment Foundation. They tell you some of what will go wrong.
Seth Stern
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When Tony Stark said at the end of Avengers that he wanted to try some shawarma even though he didn't know what it was I was in the same boat. So, I tried it and, frankly, though the Avengers were tired, I would have been more enthusiastic than they were in the movie's end credit scene where they are eating it–along with fat, beautiful pita.
Well, that was back in the day and in Miami I've had some trouble finding the good stuff, especially with the big fat pitas.
No more.
That's where Sahara Grill in the shopping center across the street from FIU on the southwest side of the intersection of SW 107th Ave and SW 8th Street comes in.
When I walked in, the very good service began with a server named Rani offering to help us if we had questions.
The great service was followed by excellent food. My vegetarian kid called it the best they'd had and gushed over the pita and the hummus as well as the falafel.
Hummus and falafel at Sahara Grill on 107th and 8th across from FIU. Photo Credit Philip Cardella TWIFL 2026.
I nearly licked the bowl clean on my chicken shawarma bowl.
Then we chased it with a sticky, delicious baklava.
Sadly, I didn't get images of the baklava or the pita, but you'll have to go in there and see it (and try it) for yourselves!
But don't just take my word for it! The place has over 1000 reviews averaging a pure 5.0 on Google!
Historic
Interlude
Happy Birthday (State of) Florida. March 3, 1845 Florida was admitted to the United States.
Skyler Shepard
Statehood came after the Spanish, then the British, then the Spanish then the United States took control over the peninsula and fought various skirmishes with the local indigenous peoples. And mosquitoes. They fought a lot of mosquitoes.
Not to be outdone, future president Andrew Jackson embarked on what would become known as the First Seminole War from 1817-1818 in the newly acquired territory for the United States.
The Seminoles were not defeated in that war.
Nor were they defeated in the next Seminole War that broke out around 1832 and lasted a decade until 1842.
The seminoles were not defeated in that war either and along the way they wiped out an American column of 109 soldiers led by a veteran of the First Seminole War, Francis L. Dade. Dade was among the 107 soldiers killed in that action in 1835.
As is the case more often than one would think, the Americans named something, in this case, a county, after a failed military leader.
With major combat ended in 1842 Florida was ready to be a state.
Then the Third Seminole War broke out in 1855.
The Seminoles didn't lose that war either.
Happy 305 Day!
Infinite
Hope
South Floridian Bringing Hope Goes to Washington DC
South Florida's Arianne Betancourt (rocking the pink), a regular at the Alligator Alcatraz prayer vigils (because her dad has been IN Alligator Alcatraz since late October 2025) had something to say to (now former) DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
Here is what Arianne had to say at the 31st prayer vigil outside of the so-called Alligator Alcatraz this week–just before she flew to DC!
Hope for the Everglades
Jenny Staletovich
My Friends Breaking Bread Together and Bridging Divides Brings Hope to South Florida
While Israel and the United States are pounding Iran, Jews and Muslims this week gathered to break bread and talk about shared values here in Miami. Most of the people in the story are people I know and consider friends, though, to be clear, this piece is entirely by the Herald and one of my favorite reporters therein, Lauren Costantino.
The prayer vigils at the so-called Alligator Alcatraz continue to unite people around the country
Another piece I wrote this week was about the 31st prayer vigil across from the detention center on US 41, which saw people from California, Illinois and Texas in attendance representing a range of religious beliefs–including none at all.
Philip Cardella
Bear
The History Hound Finds
Jake Shore
TIM SULLIVAN
Jake Shore
Jessica Murray
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