Florida is sinking along with the Governor Ron DeSantis

Freedom is under assault in Ron DeSantis’s Florida. While Florida sinks under the deluge of drowning rains and dangerous hurricanes, Governor Ron DeSantis is signing draconian laws. 

Ron DeSantis Is a Man Of No Qualities

Echo opinion published by the Editorial Board in The Washington Post:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) describes his state as “a citadel of freedom,” “freedom’s linchpin” and “freedom’s vanguard.” 

He titled his memoir “The Courage to Be Free” and called his budget a “Framework for Freedom.” 

Moreover, in his State of the State address last month, he said: “We find ourselves in Florida on the front lines in the battle for freedom.”

The ongoing 60-day state legislative session in Tallahassee, which Mr. DeSantis is treating as a springboard to announce a presidential bid, shows the hollowness of his rhetoric.

Backed by GOP supermajorities in both chambers, DeSantis is waging frontal assaults on press freedom, reproductive freedom, free enterprise and academic freedom. Meanwhile, in the name of protecting gun rights, he has scaled back commonsense safety rules. And now he’s poised to target undocumented immigrants, including “dreamers," with what will be some of the cruelest policies in America.

All of this should give pause to those looking to DeSantis as an alternative to the toxicity of Trumpism. Let’s look at some of  DeSantis’s efforts to undercut freedom:

Freedom of the press: DeSantis wants to make it easy to successfully sue journalists who quote anonymous sources. The governor has set his sights on overturning a 59-year-old Supreme Court precedent in Times v. Sullivan, which requires plaintiffs suing for defamation to prove an outlet acted with “actual malice” when publishing erroneous information about a public figure. The governor is pushing a bill that would create the presumption under the law that any information attributed to an unnamed source is false.This would have a chilling effect on whistleblowers and make it harder to hold corrupt government officials accountable. It would discourage newspapers, especially those without deep pockets, from tackling tough topics and reporting on litigious people. The measure would encourage venue shopping by trial lawyers whose clients want to harass journalists. It could also expose small newspapers, local TV stations, bloggers, talk-radio hosts, YouTubers and even online commenters to crippling liability. Even DeSantis admirers in right-wing media have mobilized against the measure.

Freedom to choose: Last year, DeSantis signed a ban on abortion after 15 weeks without exceptions for rape or incest. Apparently, that wasn’t extreme enough. He has since signaled support for (and since this was written-he has signed❗) legislation outlawing abortion after six weeks, a gestational point when many women don’t even know they’re pregnant. It passed the Senate. The House is expected to follow soon.

Last summer, Mr. DeSantis removed an elected prosecutor in Tampa, Andrew Warren, who said he wouldn’t enforce the state’s 15-week ban. A federal judge ruled that the governor violated Florida’s constitution and the prosecutor’s First Amendment rights but said he didn’t have the power to reinstall him.

Free enterprise: DeSantis tried to build a better mousetrap. After Disney — the employer of 75,000 Floridians — publicly opposed one of his education policies, the governor retaliated by removing the company’s power to self-govern the land around Walt Disney World in the Orlando area. He dissolved a special tax zone that existed since 1967 and named a new board to oversee the land.
But before DeSantis’s handpicked appointees took over this year, the outgoing board passed a series of covenants to tie their hands. DeSantis ordered an inspector general to investigate the former board, and his attorney general is trying to find ways to invalidate the covenants. 

In fact, the governor floated hiking taxes on Disney-owned hotels, imposing tolls on roads into its theme parks and exploring other pressure points. “Ultimately, we’re going to win on every single issue involving Disney,” said DeSantis.

Former guy Trump is ho-hum low energy #QPAC at the CPAC2021

#QPAC: With His CPAC2021, speech, did former guy Donald Trump send a signal we might finally be done with him?

Former guy at #QPAC the CPAC2021 Munich style domestic terrorist rally in Orlando, FL

Echo report by Stuart Emmrich published in VOGUE:

There was something very strange about the former guy Donald Trump’s speech at CPAC (aka #QPAC) on Sunday (Feb. 28), his first public outing since departing the White House on the morning of January 20, just hours before President Joe Biden was inaugurated: 

It was boring.

The former president is never comfortable speaking from a teleprompter, often reacting like this is the first time he has seen the words he is speaking. But, Sunday’s performance at the Conservative Political Action Conference seemed even more stilted than usual—Trump’s red-meat lines delivered without the usual ferocity, his lies feeling both familiar and tired, his tried-and-true applause lines only occasionally rousing the crowd to its feet. He seemed to want nothing more than to be back on the golf course, where he had reportedly been earlier that day, making him more than a hour late for his scheduled keynote speech at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando.

Yes, Trump did tease the audience with a predictable reference to running again in 2024—“Who knows? I may even decide to beat them for the third time,” he said, repeating his false claim that he won in 2020,—but then he returned again to the dutiful, wooden delivery of his prepared remarks.

On Twitter, the Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty was among the many who were struck by a difference in the president’s demeanor. “Does anyone else think Trump sounds like his heart really isn’t in this? The energy is ... low,” she tweeted, and then added a postscript: "Does anyone else think Trump sounds like his heart really isn't in this? The energy is ... low."

Others noticed a change as well from the Trump who, less than three months ago, was barnstorming the country falsely charging that the election was stolen, emboldened by the enthusiastic crowds that showed up.

Even when the crowd began to chant, “We love you,” it had less the feeling of a general being buoyed by his troops as they prepared to head back into battle than an elderly, retiring commander being serenaded farewell by his loyal soldiers. Trump’s reaction was almost wistful, as he welcomed the chant and recalled the “56 unbelievable packed rallies” of his last (looser!) campaign, despite the fact that he was defeated in November, 2020, and left office last month, in compliance with the U.S. Constitution, on January 20, 2021. 

And despite the standing-room-only crowd for Trump’s speech (with very few of them wearing masks, of course), there were definite signs this weekend that the Republican party might be ready to move on. Most notably there were the curious outcomes of several polls held of CPAC (#QPAC) attendees.

In one poll, 95% of the respondents said they wanted the Republican Party to advance Trump’s policies and agenda in the next election. But, when asked if Trump himself should run again in 2024, only 68% said yes. Even more striking, in a straw poll of potential 2024, candidates, Trump came in first, but with barely a majority of the vote, not a great sign for or someone who continues to insist he actually won a second term: If trump can only get 55 percent of Cpac (#QPAC), he’s in trouble. (So, is the former guy trying to create and lead a permanent minority party?)

So what’s next for Trump?

Ironically, on the day after Trump was speaking at CPAC (#QPAC), another former world leader, one whose own political comeback—fueled by xenophobia and hardline anti-immigration policies—was rebuffed by the voters four years ago, seemed headed to jail.

On Monday, the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty by a court in Paris on charges of corruption and influence peddling. It was only the second time in modern French history that a former president had been convicted of a crime.

Sarkozy, France’s president from 2007, to 2012, received a three-year prison sentence, with two of the years suspended, pending a planned appeal by the former president’s lawyers.

According to the French judge overseeing the case, Sarkozy had played an “active role” in forging a corruption pact with his lawyer and a senior magistrate to obtain information on an investigation into political donations, and there was “serious and concurring evidence” of collaboration by Sarkozy and the two other defendants to break the law.

Could Trump suffer a similar fate?

Ever since leaving the White House, the threat of legal jeopardy has hovered over the former president, as New York prosecutors have been looking into Trump’s tax returns and the accusations that he defrauded the government, as well as participated in money laundering and the payment of hush money to two women who alleged they had an affair with Trump before he was elected president.

That investigation was given an important boost a week ago, when a United States Supreme Court order cleared the way for Manhattan district attorney’s criminal investigation unit to obtain eight years worth of Trump’s tax returns and other financial records. In addition, Georgia prosecutors are looking into Trump’s efforts to tamper with the election returns in that state, and whether criminal charges can be brought.

When Trump left the White House, he lost the legal immunity that comes with the presidency.

No matter what happens with those two investigations, an increasing number of Republicans, particularly those who condemned Trump’s role in the January 6, (domestic white supremacist's terrorist) attack on the U.S. Capitol, seem to be signaling that it’s time for the party to move on.

On Sunday, appearing on CNN, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of seven Republican senators who voted for the impeachment of Donald Trump, not only predicted that Trump would not be the party’s nominee in 2024, but also said that the #GQP party itself would go down in defeat if it did not reject the deification of the former president.

“If we idolize one person, we will lose. And that’s kind of clear from the last election,” Cassidy told State of the Union host Dana Bash. “If we plan to win in 2022, and 2024, we have to listen to the voters. Not just those who really like the former guy, but perhaps those who are less sure,” he said. “If we speak to the voters who are less sure that went from Trump to President Joe Biden, we win. If we don’t, we lose. That is a reality that we have to confront.”

And on Monday morning, Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, one of 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment (and the one who had the day before had called Trump’s CPAC (#QPAC) speech “boring,” and “low energy”), was back on TV saying it was time for the party to move on and start looking for a new generation of leaders.

“I think, you know, what you could see at that speech yesterday was recycling old talking points,” the 43-year-old congressman said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “I think it’s obvious there is no vision from (former guy) Donald Trump; there’s no desire to paint a vision. All he really desires is to stand in front of a crowd, and be adored and he got that in ample amounts at #QPAC, on Sunday.”

Added Kinzinger: “This president has done nothing but reflect people’s darkness back to them, reflect their fears back to them. It was sad, but I’m still hopeful that, you know, 45% of people at this Trump rally didn’t want Donald Trump again and I think there’s a growing number of people out there that see he’s a has-been.”

Miami echo ~ calling for protection of DACA children

Congress should protect undocumented DACA immigrants and their families ~ echo opinion published in The Miami Herald

After Donald Trump ended the DACA ~
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

From not protecting DREAMers, to rescinding Temporary Protected Status, to aggressively threatening sanctuary cities, instituting travel bans for people from Muslim-majority countries and unleashing Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officers to terrorize local communities, the Trump administration is on a nativist mission to harm all undocumented families.

Rather than providing funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Congress should focus on what really matters — developing a solution for DACA and a fair pathway to citizenship for undocumented communities. 

If people of faith don’t step up now, our children and grandchildren will suffer grave repercussions of inaction.

We must resist Trump’s campaign of violence against immigrant communities by refusing to provide information about the people they serve. Lawmakers should pass policies that affirm immigrants’ sense of belonging in a nation built by immigrants.

We need action that protects entire communities, keeps families together and recognizes both the sacrifices and contributions of immigrants in this country. Rather than targeting undocumented communities in our churches, schools, workplaces and neighborhoods, Congress should act to keep families together. After all, all people, regardless of legal status, deserve protection and a sense of belonging. There are no exceptions.

From Nanci J. Palacios Godinez, Organizer, Faith in Florida, in Orlando

Gun Violence in America-nothing has changed since Sandy Hook Elementary carnage

Vox.com created an interactive map. It shows the mass shootings that have been verified since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting:

Interactive map courtesy of Vox www.vox.com

After Sandy Hook Elementary School, Americans said never again. But, the cowardly US Congress caved to the NRA gun lobby. In vact, nothing has changed. US taxpayers fight to retain every dollar we put into our retirement Social Security, and Medicare and military retiree benefits, but the US Congress accepts millions of dollars from the National Rifle Association to protect the gun owners rather than citizens who are being regularly slaughtered by weapons of mass murder. We pay lawmakers to keep us safe, while the NRA pays them to obstruct gun violence prevention regulations.

And, we let 1,000 mass shootings happen. Now, Orlando is on the interactive map.  There are another 49 mortalities, one killer dead and dozens of people wounded, with untold hundreds more being emotionally traumatized.

Updated by German Lopez and Soo Oh on June 13, 2016, 11:03 a.m. ET

In December 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children, six adults, and himself. Since then, there have been at least 1,000 mass shootings, with shooters killing at least 1,140 people and wounding 3,942 more.

The counts come from the Gun Violence Archive, a database that tracks events since 2013, in which four or more people (not counting the shooter) were shot at the same general time and location. 

In fact, the database’s researchers comb through hundreds of news stories, police reports, and other sources each day and individually verify the reports. Still, since some shootings aren't reported, the database is likely missing some shootings, and some are missing details.

Are mass shootings increasing? 

It depends on which definition you use.

Using one common definition — shootings at a public place in which the shooter murdered four or more people, excluding domestic, gang, and drug violence — they appear to be getting more common, according to an analysis from Harvard School of Public Health researchers.

But not everyone agrees with this definition. Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox, for example, defines mass shootings more widely, as any shooting in which at least four people were murdered. Under those terms, mass shootings don’t appear to be increasing.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health call the definition Fox uses too broad, since it catches domestic, gang, and drug-related shootings that aren’t usually considered mass shootings in layman’s terms.

The Gun Violence Archive is even broader — counting not just murders but injuries, too.

Even under this definition, it’s worth noting that mass shootings make up a tiny portion of America’s firearm deaths, which total more than 32,000 each year.

And the US has way more gun violence than its developed peers: According to United Nations data compiled by Simon Rogers while at the Guardian, the US had 29.7 firearm homicides per 1 million people in 2012, while Switzerland had 7.7, Canada had 5.1, and Germany had 1.9.

But why does the US have so many more gun homicides than other developed countries? One possible explanation: Americans are generally much more likely to own guns.

The US makes up about 4.4 percent of the global population but possesses 42 percent of the world’s civilian-owned guns. And the empirical research shows that places with more guns have more homicides.

Criminal justice experts widely recognize that America’s unusually high levels of gun violence are a result of cultural and policy decisions that have made firearms far more available in America than in most of the world. For the US, that means not just more mass shootings, but more gun violence in general.

Update on February 18, 2016: Vox’s map originally used the Mass Shooting Tracker, which began contributing its data to the Gun Violence Archive in 2016. The newer Gun Violence Archive database uses a slightly narrower definition of a mass shooting, not counting the shooter as one of the four-plus victims needed to qualify as a mass shooting.