Going on Spanish-language radio to call a popular Democratic politician an agent of Castro is a pretty standard tactic for South Florida Republicans. What's slightly weirder is to do it while promising in English to run a clean campaign. What's very weird is lying about it when caught. Watch as the Naples Daily News commits real journalism:
Recent Bluessky Posts- DLCC sent me email asking me to "renew" my membership. I've never had one because I disapprove of them intervening in primaries against progressives and funneling money to bad candidates in the general. But is lying to your own voters a new low? March 9, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Wisps from a smoking gun? www.thedailybeast.com/key-details-... "The woman who accused Donald Trump of sexually abusing her when she was 13 provided several verifiable details about her life in interviews with the FBI, according to a new report." #Epstein March 9, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Jotwell Property: Shelley Ross Saxer, The Uncertainty of Water Rights for Tribal Communities, JOTWELL (March 9, 2026) (reviewing Alexander Pearl, Homelands Not Graveyards, 71 UCLA L. Rev. 1706 (2025)), property.jotwell.com/the-uncertai.... March 9, 2026 Jotwell
- "The U.S. military said it killed six men Sunday in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean... Sunday’s attack brought the death toll to at least 157 people..." These alleged murders by the U.S. military hardly make the news any longer. March 9, 2026 SFDB
- FL Bar says it erred: "no such pending Bar investigation of Lindsey Halligan...The Florida Bar received a complaint against Lindsey Halligan and, consistent with standard practice, the Bar is monitoring the ongoing legal proceedings underlying the complaint.” news.bloomberglaw.com/product/blaw... March 6, 2026 Michael Froomkin
That sort of thing is EXACTLY why it’s a bad idea to try to have one polity with two languages. It facilitates politicians saying one thing to one language group, and something entirely different to another. (Something they try anyway, but the two groups speaking different languages makes it more likely to succeed.)
Bilingualism is bad for democracy.
Actually, the more bilingualism there is, the harder it is to get away with this stuff. It’s two co-existing monolingualisms that cause the problem. Moral of the story: start teaching English to Spanish-speakers in kindergarten, and Spanish to English-speakers. Don’t wait until middle school to start the second language.
It’s monolingualism that is bad for democracy. The more languages everyone speaks, the less tricks like this can work. (Not to mention that multilingualism is good for trade and diplomacy too.)