This is an classic example of living in an authoritarian state. Don't speak out against anything the Dictator does or supports -- or you will be punished. In DeSantis’ Florida, Miami doctor learns: Criticize the government at your own risk https://www.aol.com/news/desantis-florida-miami-doctor-learns-171314090.html The suppression of dissent continues in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Florida. The latest example: the abrupt removal of a Miami pediatrician from the Florida Healthy Kids board after she dared to publicly criticize the state for delaying access to COVID vaccines for the state’s youngest children. Dr. Lisa Gwynn, a pediatrician with the University of Miami Health System, is also the president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. And, yes, she did air her concerns in interviews, including in the Miami Herald, about about Florida’s refusal to pre-order COVID-19 shots for infants and toddlers, saying she was “devastated” by the state’s refusal to get the vaccines as quickly as possible. She told the Herald she was advocating for equal access to the vaccines. “I’m not a politician, I’m a pediatrician. And there’s no other reason for me to do what I do other than to improve the health of children in our state.” She was far from the only doctor making similar statements. But she was on a state board. On Wednesday, she told the Herald and other news organizations, she received an email from Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis’ office saying she would be removed from the board for making “some very political statements that do not reflect the CFO’s point of view.” Patronis, it should be noted, is running for reelection. The CFO is a constitutionally elected position. However, this move seems right in line with the DeSantis administration’s tactics. Florida is the only state to refuse to pre-order the vaccines for children under 5. DeSantis has said the refusal is consistent with his administration’s position that vaccinating young children is not “appropriate,” as the Miami Herald reported. But using the power of the state to squelch or punish a medical professional making, yes, a contrary statement based on her professional expertise and experience is wrong. Florida is not a private corporation where you have to mouth whatever the boss says to stay employed. Nor is it one-man rule, no matter how much DeSantis & Co. act like it is. Removing a doctor from a state board because she criticized the state? That sounds a lot like the tactic of an authoritarian regime.
In Florida for a week..drove by a school and yelled gay, signed up for an abortion and wore a mask inside.... fun times!
Yep. What obscures the campaign donation picture a bit though is that there are a couple pacs/committees generically set up as "Friends of RonDeSantis" and the like. And Ron is of course on the ballot for governor in Nov and needs the campaign cash and people are concerned right here/right now about getting him re-elected. Whereas Trump and Pence are not on the ballot anywhere of declared anywhere. So voters/donors don't really need to make any big decisions yet. Works out pretty well for the donors who want to stay hedged too. They can give bigtime to Ron via his generic "Friends of" type committees/pacs but if it turns out that Trump is looking like the man down the road they just shrug and say "hey everyone likes what Ron is doing in Florida, including Trump, so I made donation to his campaign for governor. Glad I did. Ron doing a great job." But of course there are other big donors such as Ken Griffin/Citadel who are not playing anything cagey. He flat out does not like Trump, did not vote for him last time and says he will never vote for Trump and is moving his headquarters from Chicago to Florida. He gave Ron 10 million between his last and current gubernatorial campaigns. The point being that some of these bigwigs really like DeSantis and he has the makings of being at least one- out of hopefully- two or three solid candidates then they can make their cases. No one wants another scenario like the dems got into in 2020, where there were 30 candidates and their party did not warm up to any of them and knew that their nominee would be a loser if he lost the election and also a loser if he won. NOT GOOD. You put DeSantis on the ticket with Tim Scott and you dems are fucked. Just an example, other arrangements possible too.
If you are down there, don't get monkey pox, man. Just don't do anything the lefties do and you will be okay. Lookin' out for you.
In addition to the many other problems in Florida caused by DeSantis --- they still have a significant Covid problem. Which gets to the question -- just how many people dead from Covid are acceptable in Florida? Florida already leads the nation in Covid deaths per capita since the time that vaccines were readily available in April of 2021. When Florida adds back in the over 3000 unreported deaths from 2020 outlined in the state auditor's report -- Florida is in the top 5 states of deaths per capita over the course of the pandemic. This is a terrible track record that gets worse daily in the land of authoritarianism known as DeSantisLand. 99% of Florida residents at ‘high’ risk of COVID-19 https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2022/07/02/99-of-florida-residents-at-high-risk-of-covid-19/
Let's take a look at what DeSantis and other red states are spending their federal Covid money on. Since we know that very little of it was used to help their residents with Covid. Republican states are trying to siphon COVID relief aid to cut taxes — and it may be illegal COVID relief bill bans states from using the money to offset the cost of tax cuts so Republicans are suing https://www.salon.com/2022/07/05/st...ef-aid-to-cut--and-it-may-be-illegal_partner/ Republican leaders in nearly two dozen U.S. states are attempting—potentially in violation of federal law—to use coronavirus relief funds approved by Congress last year to finance tax cuts instead of devoting the money to combating the ongoing pandemic and its economic consequences. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that GOP officials are working to subvert a provision in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) that bars states from using money from a $350 billion Covid-19 aid program "to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction in the net tax revenue." Last March, just days after President Joe Biden signed the ARP into law, 13 Republican state attorneys general sued the Biden administration over that provision, decrying it as an "unconstitutional assault on state sovereignty." In the nearly year and a half since the GOP officials filed suit, numerous Republican states have moved to slash taxes—often in ways that primarily benefit rich households and profitable businesses. Whitney Tucker and Coty Novak of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted earlier this year that Iowa—one of the states that joined the legal action against the Biden administration—replaced its "graduated personal income tax with a flat 3.9% tax while retaining credits and deductions that would allow wealthy Iowans to pay even less." "Lawmakers in multiple states are pushing deep tax cuts as states see stronger-than-expected revenues driven largely by the federal government's robust fiscal response to the Covid-19 recession," Tucker and Novak observed. "Iowa, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia are pushing for income tax cuts that would deliver outsized gains to wealthy residents and profitable corporations." The Post's Tony Romm reported Tuesday that "as gas prices climbed toward record highs this May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) secured a pause on the state's fuel taxes—a $200 million plan he helped pay for with a pot of federal funds awarded earlier in the pandemic." "More than a year after Congress approved a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Republicans in nearly two dozen states have ratcheted up efforts to tap some of those funds for an unrelated purpose: paying for tax cuts," Romm wrote. "The moves have threatened to siphon off aid that might otherwise help states fight the pandemic, shore up their local economies, or prepare for a potential recession." The Biden Treasury Department has emphasized that the ARP only prohibits states from using federal funds to pay for tax cuts, not from pursuing tax cuts at all. But as Romm pointed out, Republican attorneys general are still fighting the law, claiming that it limits their states' fiscal flexibility. "In a flurry of court filings, many of the states argued for the ability to move money around freely—plugging federal dollars into various parts of their budgets, for example, then using the savings to pay for state tax cuts," Romm reported. "Republicans have won nearly every federal lawsuit, convincing judge after judge that the rules are unconstitutional. The Treasury Department repeatedly has appealed, but the decisions for now have left the Biden administration unable to enforce the rules in much of the country."
'Reclusive and unpleasant' Ron DeSantis looks like the heir to Richard Nixon https://www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis-richard-nixon/ As former President Donald Trump faces potential criminal inquiries for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, some have speculated that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be Trump's heir apparent in Republican primaries. However, Washington Post columnist Max Boot warns that DeSantis could also be dangerous to the health of the American republic, and he said the Florida governor reminded him of former President Richard Nixon. “Smart and disciplined but reclusive and unpleasant: Who does that remind you of? That’s right: Richard M. Nixon," wrote Boot. Boot recalled that Nixon once claimed his opponent Adlai Stevenson was a coward and a Communist. He had an "enemies list" and he used government resources to go after them. He recruited the white bigots opposing desegregation in the infamous Southern strategy "and exacerbated social divisions in an attempt to mobilize the Silent Majority against liberal elites." DeSantis is on a similar path "with even less respect for democratic norms than Nixon displayed. Indeed, he wages culture war with a ruthlessness that recalls Nixon during the bombing of Cambodia.” Boot then pointed to some of DeSantis's attacks on the freedom of teachers with the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law and his decision to revoke special regulatory privileges given to Disney World after the company criticized the law. Essentially, Boot explained, "DeSantis is engaged in one of the most alarming assaults on free speech and academic freedom since the dark days of McCarthyism in the 1950s, when Nixon rose to power. His actions may not be as blatant as inciting a mob to attack Congress, but his record reveals a troubling pattern of authoritarianism and vindictiveness that would be extremely dangerous in the Oval Office." He might be smarter than Trump, but Boot warned he's just as dangerous if not more so.
‘The freest state?’ Not if you question DeSantis https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinio...0220705-4risbt63cfe6babq7lnzeee2dy-story.html In what Gov. Ron DeSantis six months ago called “the freest state in these United States,” Lisa Gwynn was not free to speak her mind. Neither was Raul Pino. Neither are Florida’s teachers. Neither is anyone else with an opinion that differs from the regime that supposedly opposes indoctrination. Gwynn is the respected president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Not surprisingly, Gwynn criticized Florida’s dubious distinction as the only state not to pre-order COVID-19 vaccines for children under five. Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis responded by removing Gwynn from the board of Florida Healthy Kids. Patronis chairs the board and appoints five of its members. He’s also up for re-election in November. The email from Patronis’ deputy chief of staff accused Gwynn of making “very political statements that do not reflect the CFO’s position.” Translation: Gwynn deviated from the anti-science ideology of DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida. Pino could relate. In January, Pino was health director for Orange County. A year after COVID-19 vaccines became available, he found himself frustrated by the low vaccination rate among department employees. Pino expressed that frustration in an email to the staff. “I have a hard time,” he said, “understanding how can we be in public health and not practice it.” As punishment for that sensible thought, Pino was put on paid leave. Like the Chinese communists during the cultural revolution, the DeSantis regime — under quack Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo — sent Pino to Florida’s version of a reeducation camp. He had to follow a “corrective action plan” and report regularly to a “mentor.” He had to take “cultural sensitivity training.” Pino finally returned to work in March. Five weeks later, however, he resigned to become director of health services for the county. His old job remains unfilled. So Florida is about as far from being “the freest” state as you can get. The refusal to preorder vaccines also exposes the governor’s hypocrisy when he refers to “parental rights.” Just because Ladapo refuses to recommend vaccinating the youngest children, DeSantis denies parents who believe otherwise easy access to the shots. As he performs day by day — even hour by hour — for 2024 Republican presidential primary voters, nothing matters more to DeSantis’ appeal than the idea of him as the warrior fighting for American values. That means casting anyone who opposes his restrictions of discussions about race as “woke” and anyone who opposes his “don’t say gay” bill as a potential pedophile. The state is offering “boot camps” this summer for teachers on the new civics curriculum in public schools. Teachers get $700 for attending and become eligible for $3,000 bonuses. Early reports on the training sessions contain no surprises. The new curriculum is less about rigorous civics education and more about rigorous civics indoctrination, DeSantis-style. Multiple news reports have quoted teachers as saying that the training all but dismisses the evil of slavery. Others said the sessions promote the myth, popular among right-wing social conservatives, that the Founding Fathers did not believe in separation of church and state. Teachers also said the training promotes the theory of “originalism,” a right-wing legal theory that federal judges must interpret the Constitution only as it was written in the late 18th-century. According to the reports, the sessions offered no opposing philosophy. Originalism is a creation of the right-wing Federalist Society. In “the freest state,” DeSantis requires that anyone under consideration for a judgeship or seat on the Florida Supreme Court belong to the organization. “The freest state” accepts no criticism at any level. Consider the Board of Governors, which supervises the university system. The governor appoints 14 of the board’s 17 members. According to Politico Florida, the board may sue the accrediting agency for state universities. The agency opened an investigation last year after professors accused the University of Florida of violating academic freedom. Former Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran serves on the board. He called the investigation “a reputational attack.” Corcoran’s real motive may be revenge. He might be president of Florida State University today if the agency hadn’t raised questions about his candidacy. The governor’s claims about indoctrination are fake. The threat from his indoctrination effort is real.