"stories" is correct. I recall you presenting some bullshit about a partial lock down in Philly (if I recall the city) where people were still going to work... and calling that your proof of lockdowns during the Spanish flu. That was nothing like what we have done during Covid. you just lie and lie and lie. quick search some more... so you are not a liar by luck.
A simple Google search comes up with plenty of historical information validating everything I have stated... much of it by respected historians.
more comedy gold. you have never produced such historical information to me. ... .... .... will my stop get hit... or will the market close before moron responds with widespread examples of locking down the healthy.... still can't find anything can you.
Ron DeSantis personally had his ballot tossed once because of strict voting laws: report https://www.alternet.org/2021/04/ron-desantis-2652522119/ As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) works with Republican lawmakers to pass more restrictive voting laws, his own 2016 election mishap is resurfacing amid the latest controversy. According to NBC Miami, the Republican governor had his own ballot tossed out when he cast his vote by mail for Florida's 2016 primary election. Flagler County elections officials reportedly flagged the then-congressman's ballot and labeled When DeSantis contacted the canvassing board and provided a new signature, the board did not budge. In fact, they "determined that handwriting also had "no similarities" to the signature on DeSantis' ballot and rejected the vote," Flagler County elections officials confirmed. Now, DeSantis is being questioned about why the signatures did not match but reportedly continues to decline to comment on the matter, according to NBCLX. The publication also highlights the contradictions in DeSantis' actions in comparison to the proposed bills he and Republican lawmakers are hoping to sign into law. Like many other Republican lawmakers in various states, Florida Republicans are targeting mail-in voting as they work to implement restrictive measures to make it more difficult to vote. But despite their efforts, public records reportedly show that DeSantis often utilized many of the very voting practices he's now aiming to prohibit: DeSantis' public voting history – obtained through public records requests from the St. Johns and Flagler supervisors of elections – shows he regularly took advantage of Florida's no-excuse absentee option, casting votes by mail in six out of seven elections between March 2016 and August 2020. The only time he voted in-person during that period was at a well-choreographed photo opportunity, when he appeared atop the ballot during his 2018 gubernatorial run. The proposed voting reforms in Florida have even left some Republicans baffled. Pasco Co. Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley, also a Republican, shared his reaction to the proposed voting and election reforms. "I was perplexed, disappointed, and confused," said Corley. "Florida was held up as the model of (election) success. State leaders took victory laps after the election." He added, "I'm not really sure the 'why' of these measures. Voters love dropboxes. There were no issues in Florida with dropboxes…nobody can really address the legitimate reason why we're doing this…there are so many safeguards in place." Florida lawmakers have joined Republicans nationwide in their push to pass restrictive voting laws. Since last year, Republican lawmakers have proposed more than 240 voting bills nationwide.
DeSantis wants voters’ signatures to match. Would his pass the test? If the Florida governor gets his way, mail-in ballot signatures would have to match the most recent signature on file with the state. His own signature history shows how autographs evolve. https://www.tampabay.com/news/flori...-signatures-to-match-would-his-pass-the-test/ Ronald DeSantis had just turned 30 when the up-and-coming prosecutor sent a Mayport Navy sailor to prison for six years on child pornography charges. DeSantis’ signature on the 2008 plea agreement was crisp and elegant: A sharp “R” to start; a stately “D” for Dion, his middle name; and “DeSantis” written with an artistic flourish. Over the next 13 years, DeSantis’ signature would evolve from the neat cursive as a prosecutor to the hurried one he uses frequently today as Florida’s governor. Along the way, he dropped the middle initial. He altered the look of the “R,” and then switched it back. A quick squiggle and a big swoop replaced most of the letters in his last name. Handwriting experts say no two signatures from one person are the same. It’s why Florida election officials for years have used all the signatures at their disposal — sometimes more than a dozen — when they authenticate a voter’s signature on a mail-in ballot. DeSantis wants to rein-in that long-standing practice. Vote-by-mail signatures “must match the most recent signature on file” with the state Department of Elections, DeSantis declared in February. A bill moving through the Florida Senate would make that one-to-one matchthe law. Some election officials say limiting signature samples could make it harder to authenticate the identities of thosewho voteby mail, perhaps leading to more rejected ballots. Signatures change over time, they say, and are often affected by the choice of pen, the writing surface, fatigue or a person’s health. DeSantis’ own John Hancock has undergone a transformation during his time in government, as demonstrated by 16 of his signatures compiled by the Tampa Bay Times from publicly available sources between 2008 and now. Experts and election officials who reviewed DeSantis’ signature history for the Times said some of the modifications in his penmanship could have posed trouble for election workers, especially if constrained to one point of comparison. In a handful of instances, it’s possible the ballot could have been rejected, they said. “It shows why it is better to have multiple signatures for review than to have one,” said Tom Vastrick, a forensic document examiner based in Apopka. The Times sent DeSantis’ office copiesof his signatures along with a summary of the expertopinions. His spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment on the analysis nor did they say why this change in law is needed. The new limitations on signature matching are included in a larger bill, sponsored by Sen. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican, that would overhaul mail-in voting. Baxley said comparing the signature on the ballot to the most recent one on file with the state will simplify the verification process. “It’s the most current and more likely to be how they’re signing things now,” Baxley said. “That is the key.” Thebill is part of a package of voting legislation that Republicans are pushing this session, even though DeSantis praised Florida for how it conducted its 2020 election. “The way Florida did it, I think inspires confidence, I think that’s how elections should be run,” DeSantis said at the time. Yet five months later, Florida has joined other GOP-controlled states in proposing restrictions on voting. That includes limits on mail-in ballots, a form of voting that former President Donald Trump used as a Florida resident but ridiculed in his failed bid to overturn the election. The bill is scheduled for a committee vote Wednesday. Baxley said changes could be forthcoming. The past and the present The signature on the state paperwork for DeSantis’ first congressional campaign in 2012 bears only a passing resemblance to the one he often scribbles these days on executive actions. Richard Orsini, a forensic document examiner from Jacksonville Beach, teaches election officials how to spot the similarities. The initial downstroke of the “R” in “Ron” is consistent in the two signatures, he said. And the finishing stroke in both samples is a cursive “s” that crosses back over the last name in a clockwise curl. Despite other differences, Orsini said it would be reasonable to conclude these signatures belong to the same person. Orsini and other handwriting experts cram a lifetime of knowledge into their hours-long training sessions with election workers and canvassing boards — the volunteers who make quick decisions on whether to reject or accept a mail-in ballot based on the signature. One of the pieces of wisdom they impart is the importance of having multiple specimens to make a fair determination. “If I get a call from an attorney for a contested will, here’s my standard ask of them: I need the best copy of the questioned document signature, and then I need 10 to 20 uncontested, known general signatures that you can find written as close to the date of the contested signature,” Orsini said. “That’s my first request.” Those additional examples could help election workers if they encounter a signature like the one DeSantis adopted as a U.S. representative. This signature appeared on a 2017 letter DeSantis penned to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Unlike previous signatures or his current one, the finishing stroke is counter-clockwise, noted Vastrick. “That really sticks out to me,” he said. Herb Polson, a former St. Petersburg Council member, madedeterminations on mail ballot signatures when he sat on the Pinellas County canvassing board in 2018 and 2020. He said it would be difficult to match that 2017 signature with the one DeSantis has used more recently. “If those were the only two I had to choose from, I’d have trouble with those two,” Polson said. “It’s a completely different style of start. That in itself could lead me to say, ‘Huh, that doesn’t look like the one from a year earlier.’ " LX.com, a NBC news website, reported on Tuesday that DeSantis’ ballot in 2016 was rejected because Flagler County officials deemed his signature did not match the one on file with the state. Under Florida law, if a mail-in ballot is rejected, the voter has an opportunity to fix it at their local elections office, a process called a “cure.” When DeSantis attempted to cure his 2016 ballot, it was rejected as well, LX reported. The most recent signature for many voters may be the one they used when they signed their driver’s licenses at a Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles office. That signature is often recorded on a digital pad with a stylus — not with a pen, like how a ballot is signed. Daniel Smith, a political scientist at the University of Florida, studies the application of voter signature matching laws. His research has shown counties often apply signature rules unevenly, and students and minorities are more likely to have their ballots rejected because of a mismatch. “It’s really silly you would want to limit the signature to compare,” Smith said. DeSantis’ “own signatures show the reason for that.” Instead of limiting signatures or relying on a digital facsimile, it would be more helpful to have people sign their names 10 times in ink when they register to vote, Vastrick said. In response to these concerns, Rep. Blaise Ingoglia last week tweaked his voting bill to allow election officials to use a signature on file from the past four years. Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, said the limitation is needed “to make sure there wasn’t signature shopping where you would have 20 different signature iterations going back 20 years.” State Rep. Fentrice Driskell, a Tampa Democrat, said the amended bill is “better than what we had before” but she added: “It’s trying to fix something that wasn’t broken.” “Our poll workers have been trained to use multiple signatures,” she said, “and it seems wholly inefficient to be changing the procedures for them.” Election security? Lawmakers, students and teachers surrounded DeSantis in May 2019 when he ceremoniously signed the top policy priority of his first year in office: a massive expansion of the state’s school voucher program. After capping a blue Sharpie, DeSantis flashed the signed bills for the cameras. If that signature appeared on a mail-in ballot, an election worker would have a hard time matching it to a single sample, said Ion Sancho, the former supervisor of elections in Leon County. “This probably would be rejected,” Sancho said. “It’s one of the reasons you need multiple pieces of evidence.” Polson agreed. “That is more than a reach for me,” he said. “I would have a tough time giving an affirmative to that.” DeSantis has often voted by mail in Florida, including as recently as the 2020 August Republican primary. After Trump’s months-long crusade against mail-in voting last year, DeSantis has made it his priority to put restrictions on the popular voting method. Most of the attention has centered on DeSantis’ proposals to eliminate ballot drop boxes and a new requirement that people re-register to vote by mail every year. DeSantis has said these measures are needed for election security. He has said less about why he wants to change the signature matching rules. “If there needs to be ways to bolster the signature verification, then we need to do that as well,” he said in February in West Palm Beach. Smith said limiting signatures could have the opposite effect on election security. Fewer signatures means less evidence to verify a positive match. “If you’re interested in election integrity, wouldn’t you want more signatures to validate the one that is coming in?” Smith said. “Unless that is really not your intention.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Is Real Mad YouTube Took Down His Covid-19 Misinformation Circlejerk https://gizmodo.com/florida-gov-ron-desantis-is-real-mad-youtube-took-down-1846677140 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t quite reached the last stage of mad, red, and nude online over YouTube moderation, but he’s getting there, per a Monday report by the Associated Press. Last week, YouTube removed a video of a panel discussion hosted last month by DeSantis, former White House coronavirus adviser and “herd immunity” truther Dr. Scott Atlas, and other covid-19 pandemic contrarians. According to the Tampa Bay Times, various members of the panel gave advice contradicting the weight of scientific evidence and recommendations by health authorities. Dr. Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University told DeSantis children don’t need to wear masks in school for “their own protection and they don’t need it for protecting other people, either,” with Stanford Medical School’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya adding it was “developmentally inappropriate.” Those doctors, along with fellow panelist Dr. Sunetra Gupta, were the three authors of the “Great Barrington Declaration,” a 2020 letter that called for only the “vulnerable” to be protected from exposure to the novel coronavirus. Their plan instead demanded authorities adopt a sort of shock therapy approach in which they allow all those “not vulnerable” to “immediately ... resume life as normal,” in the hopes that a massive percentage (perhaps the vast majority) of the U.S. population would get sick and subsequently develop immunity. The letter was near-unanimously denounced by the scientific community and public health experts, which pointed out flaws such as the possibility of countless unnecessary deaths and that young adults are not actually anywhere close to being invulnerable to the virus. Similarly, their stance on masks is not scientific, goes against CDC guidance, and seems more rooted in the politically motivated insistence of Republican politicians such as DeSantis and Donald Trump that the pandemic has been overblown. In a statement to the Times, a YouTube spokesperson said it had taken down the video because it “contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities,” and the segment on masks violated its policies on “COVID-19 medical misinformation.” The spokesperson added, “Our policies apply to everyone, and focus on content regardless of the speaker or channel.” The Republican Party over the course of the past few years eagerly adjusted to the era of Trump and his former Twitter account by elevating an obsession with social media moderation policies to the level of national crisis. DeSantis, under whose tenure the Florida state government adopted a laissez-faire approach to dealing with the pandemic that local health authorities scrambled to compensate for, believes the removal of his panel video is just like George Orwell’s 1984. So much like 1984, in fact, that he was able to hold another panel with the same doctors on Monday. Like the prior roundtable, according to the Herald Tribune, the event did not feature any panelists who disagreed with each other despite DeSantis demanding a “freer exchange of ideas.” “What we’re really witnessing is Orwellian,” DeSantis told reporters, according to the Tribune. “It’s a Big Tech, corporate media collusion. And the end result is that the narrative is always right. Well, I don’t think that’s what the American people want.” “... You don’t think there are people in the state of Florida concerned about censorship?” DeSantis added. “Or seeing how massive companies are controlling the terms of debate on some of the most important issues facing our country and the world?” Per the Tribune: The panelists also referred to “large amounts of deaths in the United States and across the world,” referring not to the 560,000 deaths in the U.S. and more than 34,000 in Florida from coronavirus but instead the mental effects of lockdowns. Panelists mostly ignored the deaths and continued aftereffects from coronavirus in both older and younger populations to focus on what they called the “catastrophic consequences” of lockdowns and other restrictions. According to the Associated Press, DeSantis also accused YouTube and its parent company Google of being “enforcers of a narrative, a big tech council of censors in service of the ruling elite.” The GOP, barring a brief stint where then-Gov. Charlie Crist left the party to run as an Independent, has maintained an ironclad grip on Florida’s governorship and state legislature since 1999. Atlas, whose reckless disregard of scientific evidence while working in the White House earned him the condemnation of dozens of his former colleagues at Stanford University Medical School, took the opportunity to ramble about “trust”—namely, that people shouldn’t trust public health experts. “The question is very much what you said here, governor,” Atlas said, per the Tribune. “Who do we trust? Where is the trust and expertise now? Experts have not just failed, they have failed to admit they failed. ... You [the public] should look at people who have been consistent in what they’ve said, who have cited the data, not just emotion and uncertainty.” “Then, you’ve got to make some conclusions about how you want to live your life,” Atlas added. DeSantis and Republican legislators have supported a raft of bills that would force social media companies to give a months’ notice to users before banning their accounts or removing their posts, as well as fine them up to $100,000 daily for “deplatforming” a candidate for statewide office. Actual legal experts on free speech have noted the proposals are riddled with blatantly unconstitutional provisions that, if passed, would almost certainly be thrown out by federal courts.
"DeSantis for the win" -- let's see the case trend in DeSantis' plague-central where he lets COVID run wild. Florida reports highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases since early February State adds more than 9,000 coronavirus cases as clinics report slowdown in testing https://www.news4jax.com/news/flori...rease-in-covid-19-cases-since-early-february/
"DeSantis for the win" - Businesses including the entire cruise industry are about to tell Gov. DeSantis to stick his "no vaccine passport" nonsense up his rear. DeSantis’ ban of vaccine passports could lead to showdown with businesses in Florida https://www.orlandosentinel.com/pol...0210415-p5ih3mwtjrervlnnufbe3mijgi-story.html Vaccination passports have become a new ideological battleground of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joining the fray by issuing an order banning their use by both local governments and businesses. But already, businesses ranging from cruise lines to sports teams have announced they’re planning to require some kind of proof of vaccination for entry into their ships or arenas. And with the Biden administration ruling out issuing federal passports, that means there could be a consequential showdown between the GOP governor and major national and international businesses. “Every business has economic and reputational incentives to ensure that they have a safe place of business,” said Joel Zinberg, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., which has studied the issue. “That’s partly to protect their own employees and to reduce absenteeism. And it’s also to provide the public with a reassurance that this is a safe place to patronize.” As inoculations have increased and eligibility ages were lowered over the past few months, more countries have either announced plans to create vaccination passports or are considering it, ZInberg said. The European Union is planning to issue digital and paper “green certificates,” Japan and China plan on creating digital passports, and the United Kingdom also is working on them. At least 17 consortiums of private companies are also working on developing passport standards and shared software, Zinberg said, and one of the biggest companies in the country, Walmart, is already on board. But the idea almost instantly became wrapped up in the partisan culture war. Conservative media has condemned the idea as a violation of privacy. DeSantis soon jumped on board. On the same day he signed a bill protecting businesses from COVID-19 lawsuits last month, he announced he would sign an executive order banning vaccination passports. His order bans both local governments and businesses from issuing them, with the penalty of state grants being pulled if they do. “We’re not doing vaccine passports,” DeSantis said again last week. “What’s the next step? What’s the next thing that they’re going to want to do? I think it’s got profound privacy implications. ... It would be such a mistake to go down that road.” Cruise ships seek proof Since then, however, one business after another has announced they would require some proof of vaccination. Norwegian Cruise Lines was the first cruise line to indicate it would require such proof when the federal government allows it to sail in July, followed this week by Silversea Cruises. “Cruise ships are closed environments where you’re going to have hundreds or thousands of people all together for a week or two at a time,” Zinberg said. “There’s no question that the cruise ship operators are going to want to reassure their customers that this is a safe place to be, particularly when you consider that some of the earliest outbreaks that we had last spring were on cruise ships.” DeSantis, who has sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seeking to reopen the cruise industry, insisted he would not make an exception. “If you say, ‘Just let the cruises do it, no one else,’ it ain’t going to end there,” DeSantis said. “... We’re an 800-pound gorilla when it comes to tourism. And I think if we put our foot down, Florida can help lead the way yet again.” Opponents say DeSantis’ move against cruise lines, a major industry in Florida, will ultimately backfire. “Next to nursing homes, the cruise industry has had the worst headlines [and were] identified early on as deadly COVID breeding grounds,” said Gwen Graham, a former Democratic congresswoman and 2018 candidate for governor. “What Ron is doing runs counter to providing that sense of safety that will bring tens of millions of tourists back to Florida excited to go on their first or hundredth cruise.” Meanwhile, sports leagues and teams were also planning for vaccination passports as well. The Miami Heat had been proposing proof of vaccination for special seats closer to the court, but the South Florida<b> </b>Sun Sentinel <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports...0210413-2hsaicokofdojo6rjqnruefmry-story.html" target=_blank>reported Wednesday</a> the plan was dropped because it was “an operational challenge.” The Orlando Magic, meanwhile, will follow DeSantis’ order and currently don’t plan to have any vaccination requirements, chief communications director Joel Glass said. Outside of Florida, the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres will start requiring proof of vaccination to attend games, and many other teams are reportedly considering following suit. “There’s no God-given right to attend a football game,” Mark Poloncarz, a government official in Erie County, New York, said at a news conference Tuesday, according to Forbes. Colleges could be next Colleges and universities are also leaning into the trend. The private Nova Southeastern University in Broward County was among the first in the country to announce vaccination requirements for students, joined later by Rutgers, Brown, Cornell and Northeastern universities. But after DeSantis’ order, Nova Southeastern indicated it may back down, with President and CEO George Hanbury saying a group of experts would evaluate “how the executive order may affect our plans.” Restaurants, meanwhile, have been some of the biggest opponents of coronavirus restrictions in Florida and elsewhere. But a spokesman for Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, owner of Olive Garden and other national brands, said the company was not considering proof of vaccination to eat inside its restaurants. Still, it remains to be seen how many industries decide to go forward with it. The biggest question is what airlines and theme parks would do. Universal, Disney and SeaWorld all declined to comment if on the issue and whether the governor’s order would have any effect on them. A spokesperson for United Airlines said while the company doesn’t have vaccination requirements, it will soon allow customers to upload and store their vaccination records on its app and website to expedite travel to countries that do require them. Whether DeSantis’ order, as well as a similar one in Texas, would be enforceable against national and international corporations is unknown. But Zinberg argued the mandates don’t have much teeth within the states either. “Both Texas and Florida were done by executive orders of the governors,” Zinberg said. “These are not statutes. And there’s no sort of criminal liability for requiring a passport. And it’s not clear what sort of civil liability there would be, if any.” Seeking a law DeSantis asked the Legislature to turn his order into law. But despite rhetoric from Republican leaders, there doesn’t seem to be any hurry, even with the session scheduled to end April 30. State Sen. Joe Gruters filed an amendment last week that would have enacted the vaccination passport ban, but it was later withdrawn. Other GOP senators are looking for ways to add it into existing bills. State Senate President Wilton Simpson said he hasn’t heard from any business or industry asking for a carve-out or exemption. But he said that a system like the one the Heat had proposed could be acceptable. “We have certain freedoms in this country that shouldn’t be breached,” Simpson said. “...[But] I think that a private arrangement with businesses that say, ‘If you have it, we’ll give you VIP [treatment]’ is different from saying you have to have it to take a cruise. … But that would then be a private person with their private information disclosing it to that private business.” Asked why Republicans are in favor of restrictions on what private businesses can do, Simpson cited the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which prevents health care providers from releasing private medical information. “I believe requiring people to have a vaccine passport would go against the values of privacy,” Simpson said. “If I decide not to take the vaccine, it’s none of your business.” But many experts argue passports wouldn’t violate HIPAA, since businesses such as cruise lines and sports teams aren’t health care providers. “The reality is, there’s no federal, statutory, regulatory or constitutional bar to that happening as long as it’s applied in a non-discriminatory manner,” Zinberg said.