You are always pushing "let's look at the data" -- well let's take a gander at the economic and Covid information from DeSantis' Florida. If you want to know the shameful truth about Ron DeSantis, look at the math There’s been a sudden shift toward people opining that DeSantis’ policies eschewing public health measures during Covid are sensible and ‘good for jobs’. The numbers say otherwise https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/ron-desantis-florida-covid-jobs-b1950260.html Most people outside of Florida recognize Governor Ron DeSantis’ Covid-19 strategy as a bad deal — but how bad is it? The would-be president from Jacksonville has a clear plan: He won’t demand much testing, withholds state and even federal funds from schools that require masks, and doesn’t want to let private businesses require proof of vaccination. He’s even threatening fines for local governments that require public-facing employees to be vaccinated. In exchange, he says, Jobs! Jobs! Wonderful jobs! Unfortunately the trade fails the test of: Math! Math! Dismal math! On the right, voices like radio talk host Clay Travis have recently argued that Florida — which has the nation’s third-most Covid cases since the pandemic began and ninth-most Covid deaths — actually has the best Covid record in America. The Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page has even demanded an apology to DeSantis from all those who predicted his policies would cause thousands of unnecessary deaths — an analysis reprised just this Sunday, following up on Mike Pence’s May 2020 prediction on that page that there would be no second wave of coronavirus cases (we’ve been through four now). Let’s put DeSantis’ claim under the quantitative microscope, shall we? First, the jobs. There is no huge economic boom in Florida, let alone one that stems from declining to enforce simple public health measures. Florida’s unemployment rate is 4.9 percent, a tick higher than the national rate of 4.8 percent. But since all states are different, what really matters is whether the relationship between joblessness in Florida and everywhere else has changed since the last pre-pandemic jobs report in February 2020. Back then, Florida’s jobless rate of 3.3 percent was better than the national average of 3.5 percent. So, what do you know? Florida’s performance, relative to the national baseline, has gotten worse during Covid. Not better? Surely that can’t be true! The finest economists on talk radio could not be using their background in covering sports, like Travis and before him Rush Limbaugh, to steer you wrong! Aye, ‘tis true. If you looked at the unemployment rate alone, in fact, simple math suggests Florida has lost 30,000 jobs (compared to where it would be if unemployment were still 0.2 percentage points lower than the national average) because of Covid. In 2021, as the divergence between policies in Florida and states whose governors are not running for the 2024 Republican nomination for the White House became clearer, DeSantis’ case on jobs gets a little stronger — even as his record on Covid gets much worse. It’s helped by looking at job growth this year, when restrictions on doing business loosened pretty much everywhere and vaccine denialism and mask mandates (neither of which stop anyone from doing business, or from hiring) moved to the forefront. But it’s not much better. Not enough to be worth anything like the number of lives we’ll discuss in a minute, stemming from the fact that Florida’s Covid death rate has soared this year as it plummeted elsewhere. Florida has added 547,000 jobs since December 2020, out of the national total of 5.05 million. Its number of employed workers has grown 5.7 percent, versus 3.2 percent for the nation. On Florida’s base of 9.53 million workers in December, the best case you can make is that DeSantis’ lax Covid policies might have played some role in adding 239,000 jobs — the difference between growth at the national pace and Florida’s. But that would be offset, straight off, by Florida’s population growth — it should create jobs faster than the nation, as has California, which has very different Covid policies — and by its dependence on the leisure and entertainment sector. That sector accounts for 17 percent of America’s 2021 job growth and in Florida has added jobs almost three times as fast as the rest of the economy, according to Labor Department data. Adding restaurant and tourism jobs as restaurants and attractions reopen, and people travel more, is easy. So, what is the cost of all these jobs, measured in lives? In 2020, Florida and Texas would brag that they had many fewer Covid deaths than states like New York or New Jersey — but that’s no longer true. States that had a lot of Covid early had a lot of Covid deaths early, too — whether they had Republican governors, like Massachusetts, or Democrats, as in New York. Texas and Florida had fewer deaths until later in 2020 because they had fewer cases. But that was just a matter of time. This year, Florida has seen 36,111 Covid deaths — that’s more than four times the toll in New Jersey and almost twice as many as in New York. New York and New Jersey saw half of their total Covid deaths by Memorial Day 2020 — more than 43,000 between them — before vaccines arrived and public health measures took root. Back then, Florida had seen only 2,650 residents die of Covid. (Like other states hit early, both catastrophically mismanaged the early response in nursing homes, a phenomenon that largely skipped Florida because it had so few cases then). In other words, New Yorkers and Jerseyans died when no one knew the state of the art for diagnosing, preventing and treating Covid. Floridians have died because public officials counseled them to ignore what became known by the time their constituents got sick. Now, let’s review that math and move on to jobs. New York and New Jersey have lost about 976 people per 1 million population to Covid this year, compared with 1,679 in Florida by my calculations, using data from Worldometers.info. Multiply that by Florida’s population of 21.5 million people, and a reasonable estimate is that DeSantis’ policies cost 15,100 lives this year alone. Fifteen. Thousand. Lives. So. DeSantis. Can. Run. For. President. Think about it. The job gains you can claim from DeSantis’ Covid policies (with some stretching) may be somewhere around 100,000, averaging the effects that Florida’s unemployment rate and job growth imply. Six jobs per unnecessary death. Six. Not counting the damage done, to the economy and otherwise, by the 2.4 million overall new Covid cases in Florida this year, roughly double the rate in California or New Jersey. So, Florida, the death of your grandma, or your husband, or — God forbid — your child gave the world a slightly better-staffed night shift at a Taco Bell. Or maybe two Taco Bells. That’s the math. If you can’t handle the math, you’re probably Ron DeSantis.
Florida's flagship university faces political firestorm https://www.politico.com/states/flo...-university-faces-political-firestorm-1392161 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis and the University of Florida are facing major backlash after several highly controversial political moves at the flagship university — actions that critics contend repress academic freedoms and raise fears that the state’s top higher learning institution is being used a political tool. Educators and others lambasted the University of Florida and DeSantis over the weekend after it was revealed that the university blocked three professors from providing expert testimony in a lawsuit challenging a controversial Republican-backed voting bill. This follows the University of Florida’s fast-tracking of DeSantis’ pick for surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, through the application process. Ladapo is known for rejecting Covid-related lockdowns and has questioned the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines. Critics inside and outside the University of Florida say they’re worried that politicizing the state’s flagship higher learning institution could harm its fast-rising national academic reputation and even its finances. Already, the University of Florida's accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, is probing the school over blocking the professors from testifying as experts. If the university is found to be out of compliance with the commission’s standards, it could affect accreditation — which is needed to receive federal student financial aid. “Long-held principles of academic freedom clearly hold that professors are free to criticize both university and government policies, and even call into question the legitimacy of the government itself,” wrote Keith Whittington, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University and a member of the Academic Freedom Alliance. “Construing a faculty member’s obligation to work in the best interests of the university to prohibit criticism of the state government’s policies undercuts the very purpose of academic freedom protections in state universities,” he stated. The fight over whether professors can testify in contentious legal cases comes amid the larger backdrop of free speech on college campuses. It’s an issue Florida Republicans have elevated recently over worries that universities have become bastions of liberalism that churn out left-of-center graduates. After years of failed attempts, the GOP-led Florida Legislature in 2021 passed a bill that requires public colleges and universities to survey students, professors and staff about their political beliefs in a move supporters said would promote “intellectual diversity” and opponents said would weed out dissenting voices. It also comes as the GOP governor continues to fight with K-12 school districts that defy his no-mask mandate rules. In that fight, the state has levied financial penalties against school officials who continue to press to require masks in K-12 schools. Similarly, a University of Florida spokesperson told the Gainesville Sun on Sunday that the three university professors could testify as long as they aren’t. It’s all added to a situation that frustrated many in the academic community, regardless of political leanings. “The profound civic importance of fair trials requires the ability of fact and expert witnesses to come forward to testify truthfully without fear that their government employer might retaliate against them,” said the center-right Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in a statement issued over the weekend. “Public university faculty are no exception. We call on UF to reverse course immediately.” The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, known for ranking the best and worst campuses for free speech across the U.S., warned the University of Florida not to “pick a fight” with the First Amendment, pointing to a 2018 incident at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire that led to the school doling out a hefty settlement. In that case, the university refused to rehire an adjunct professor who testified as an expert witness in a sexual assault case and eventually paid the educator $350,000 to avoid a lawsuit. In its only public comment on the professors, the university released a statement on Saturday saying that they blocked their professors from speaking as part of a legal fight over recently-passed voting law restrictions. The school did not address the fact that professors had previously testified as experts in voting cases. “It is important to note that the university did not deny the First Amendment rights or academic freedom of professors Dan Smith, Michael McDonald and Sharon Austin,” read the statement issued by the university amid a firestorm over its decision. “Rather, the university denied requests of these full-time employees to undertake outside paid work that is adverse to the university’s interests as a state of Florida institution.” DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw said the governor's office played no role in the university’s decision, which was first reported by The New York Times. “The governor’s office did not create UF’s policy on conflicts of interest, nor did the governor tell the university — directly or indirectly — how to enforce their own policy,” she said. Pushaw pointed to McDonald, one of the professors, who posted a message on Twitter saying he “won’t back down” as evidence the professors are not having their free speech rights hindered. “Professor McDonald tweeted 'I won’t back down' and asserted his opinion that faculty are being denied their right to free speech. Professor McDonald and all faculty members are entitled to their own opinions,” Pushaw said. “The Constitution guarantees the right to free speech, but not the right to receive compensation for speech.” Yet, even the perception that the university is being used as a political tool for DeSantis is raising concern from some state higher education leaders. In the Ladapo case, the University of Florida was found to have fast-tracked his application process by USA Today, which uncovered emails between school officials. Those emails showed the university’s deans vetted Ladapo, adjusted his salary and placed him in the college’s internal medicine department and even tinkered with his schedule. “The two things that happened are the hiring of the new surgeon general… the speed to which that was done was quite something,” said a person familiar with the state’s higher education system, who spoke on a condition of anonymity to avoid retribution. “And then blocking the testimony. Not only will you not prevent them from testifying, you have now martyred them.” DeSantis’ administration has six direct appointments on the university’s 13-member board. Those six appointments have collectively given him or the Republican Party of Florida he controls nearly $900,000 in political contributions, on top of separate political fundraisers hosted by many. The biggest chunk — more than $230,000 — came from a company run by housing developer Mori Hosseini , a longtime Republican rainmaker who played an early role in helping raise money for DeSantis, who reappointed him to the board in February. Hosseini played a key role in fast-tracking Lapado’s appointment and forwarding his resume to top university officials in early September, which kicked off a process for Lapado’s appointment. By Sept. 17, Ladapo had an offer to be the state surgeon general under a deal that would pay him $437,000 annually — a number split between the university where he would serve as an associate professor and the Florida Department of Health. The help by Hosseini, who did not return a request seeking comment, was a powerful signal that Lapado was the anointed pick. Ladapo has since taken on a much more political role than his predecessor, Scott Rivkees, including picking fights with the media, doing interviews on shows like Tucker Carlson, and refusing to wear a mask in a meeting with state Sen. Tina Polsky (D-Boca Raton) — a move that got a rebuff from Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-Trilby), who called the decision “unprofessional and will not be tolerated in the Senate.” Some believe Hosseini is trying to walk the fine line of maintaining the university’s reputation while not burning any bridges with a governor or Legislature that helped it climb the national rankings. “More and the board worked so hard to get a top 5 ranking,” said the person familiar with the higher education system who spoke with POLITICO. “I think Mori would tell you they could not have done that without the support of the governor and Legislature. But where that relationship starts to cause a problem, I don’t know.”
University of Florida Told Five More Professors Not to Testify Against State https://www.thedailybeast.com/unive...stify-against-state-on-felons-votes-and-masks
Let's take a look at a typical Trump and DeSantis fanboy... Trump-loving Florida congressional candidate is a convicted felon who's not eligible to hold office https://www.rawstory.com/jason-mariner-florida/ An "America First" Republican congressional candidate in Florida reportedly is a convicted felon who failed to get his civil rights restored — which is a requirement to hold public office. Jason Mariner won Tuesday's primary in Florida's 20th Congressional District, which is heavily Democratic, Florida Politics reports, citing interviews and records showing that the new GOP nominee has not gone through Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' new clemency process for ex-felons. "It wasn't immediately clear whether the election's outcome would be challenged," the site reports. "Mariner had served roughly two years total in the Palm Beach County Jail over 2007 and 2012 on charges that included felony theft, burglary, cocaine possession, obstruction and violently resisting arrest, records show. He was open during his campaign about his criminal background, telling voters, 'Before running for Congress, I ran from the law.' He also promised he will be tough on crime." In an interview, Mariner acknowledged he didn't go through the required clemency process, but said he's confident it's "not going to be an issue." "As I am not an attorney or official in state government, it is not really my place to answer your legal or procedural questions about Florida law, applicable scenarios, etc., or advise you legally," Mariner told Florida Politics in an email. It's possible Mariner could retroactively apply to restore his rights, although it's unlikely he'll win the Jan. 11 general election given that Democrats have held the seat for more than two decades, according to Florida Politics. "DeSantis' press secretary, Christina Pushaw, said Thursday that, in response to questions from a reporter, lawyers in the Governor's Office were trying quickly to determine whether the state's rules requiring restoration of civil rights would apply to a Florida candidate for federal office," the site reports. Mariner pleaded guilty after buying crack cocaine at a home in Delray Beach in 2012, before trying to swallow it when he was pulled over for speeding moments later. In 2011, he stole four brass urns from a cemetery and sold them for $30 worth of scrap metal. And in 2014, he allegedly attacked another driver and damaged a vehicle during a road rage incident. Mariner's driver's license was suspended until August, just before he began his campaign, due to recent speeding and careless driving citations. Mariner's Facebook page includes photos that appear to show former president Donald Trump holding up his son.
We all know the rule excluding felons to vote or run for office is from the Jim Crow era I expect the local BLM office to intercede in this issue to change the law Sarcasm aside....This is the perfect case for BLM to support because it crosses the isle And if BLM could lower itself to talk to other side it could make progress by using this case
Of course the DeSantis administration is screwing around with Florida's Covid death reporting again in their latest attempt to be less than transparent in their reporting of numbers. Florida COVID update: Reporting change causes lag in death data https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article255546896.html
DeSantis, Social Media Posts Mislead on COVID-19’s Toll in Florida https://www.factcheck.org/2021/11/s...a-posts-mislead-on-covid-19s-toll-in-florida/