Lessons of History and Trying To Avoid the Same Mistakes

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Numerous police officers lured to new jobs in Florida with cash from Governor Ron DeSantis’s flagship law enforcement relocation programhave histories of excessive violence or have been arrested for crimes including kidnapping and murder since signing up, a study of state documents has found.

DeSantis, who is expected to launch his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination this week, has spent more than $13.5m to date on the recruitment bonus program, which he touted in 2021 as an incentive to officers in other states frustrated by Covid-19 vaccination mandates.

However, among the almost 600 officers who moved to Florida and received the bonus – or were recruited in state – are a sizable number who either arrived with a range of complaints against them, or have since accrued criminal charges, the online media outlet Daily Dot has discovered.

They include a former trainee deputy with the Escambia county sheriff’s office charged with murdering her husband; an officer with the Miramar police department fired for domestic battery and kidnapping; and a former member of the New York police department (NYPD) who was hired by the Palm Beach police department having once been accused of an improper sexual proposition.

That officer, named by the Daily Dot as Daniel Meblin, was also part of a $160,000 settlement by the NYPD for violence at a 2020 protest against the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in which officers were accused of beating Black males without provocation.


(full article online)

DeSantisâs $13.5m police program lures officers with violent records to Florida

Governor’s incentive scheme recruits officers with history of excessive violence or who have been arrested since signing up

www.theguardian.com

 

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DeSantis got his governorship with help from a cast of shady characters

In 2019, Lev Parnas and his partner, Igor Furman, were arrested at a New York airport as they attempted to flee the country. One day later, ...

www.dailykos.com

 

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Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Monday inadvertently implied that House Republicans’ high-profile investigation into President Joe Biden’s family members and their finances is actually about helping Donald Trump win the presidency in 2024.

Comer, who is leading the GOP’s probe as chair of the House oversight and accountability committee, appeared to say the quiet part out loud during a “Fox & Friends First” interview.

“We have talked to you about this on the show, about how the media can just not ignore this any longer. In an op-ed in The Washington Post, it says, ‘Millions Flowed to Biden Family Members. Don’t Pretend It Doesn’t Matter,’” said the show’s host, Ashley Strohmier, referring to a piece last week by conservative columnist Jim Geraghty. “So do you think that because of your investigation, that is what’s moved this needle with the media?”
“Absolutely. There’s no question,” Comer replied. “You look at the polling, and right now Donald Trump is 7 points ahead of Joe Biden and trending upward, Joe Biden’s trending downward. And I believe that the media is looking around, scratching their head, and they’re realizing that the American people are keeping up with our investigation.”

Comer’s apparent moment of candor is reminiscent of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s memorable gaffe in 2015, when he admitted the GOP’s Benghazi committee was created to hurt Hillary Clinton in the polls ahead of the 2016 election, as opposed to being any kind of substantive investigation.


(full article online)

GOP Rep. James Comer Implies Biden Family Probe Is Really About Helping Trump In 2024

Oops!

www.huffpost.com

 

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[ And Republicans keep saying SOROS, SOROS, SOROS, LOL ]

 

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The youngest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fired back at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday after the conservative lawmaker invoked MLK in an attempt to condemn the NAACP’s “travel advisory” for Black Americans. On Sunday, the NAACP warned tourists visiting Florida about the state’s anti-diversity initiatives, calling Florida “hostile to Black Americans” after a recent slew of new laws. Of course, Cruz called the NAACP’s warning “bizarre” and “utterly dishonest.” Then, he implied that the NAACP of the 1950s and ‘60s was not the same organization that it is today, claimed MLK would be “ashamed” of what it’s become. King’s daughter, activist and lawyer Bernice King, swiftly shut Cruz down, responding, “What my father would be deeply concerned about is the harmful, discriminatory legislation in Florida.”





(full article online)

MLKâs Daughter Slaps Down Ted Cruz

Cruz claimed in a tweet that MLK would be “ashamed” of what the NAACP has become.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

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[A horrifying new report from the state attorney general's office has discovered the scope of the Catholic child molestation scandal was MUCH larger than previously known — and we must remind everyone once again that 0 drag queens or public school teachers were involved.]



A damning, 696-page report released by Illinois’ attorney general office found that 451 Catholic clergy sexually abused at least 1,997 children across a nearly 70-year span from 1950 to 2019. When the state began its review in 2018, the church admitted to only 103 victims—an underestimate four times smaller than the new investigation’s findings. The report also calls out Illinois church leaders for neglecting the abuse and failing to address accusations or warn church goers of suspected sex abusers. The hundreds of new names on the list come from victims who shared their accounts with investigators and were vetted for legitimacy. “Survivors spoke of years, and often decades, struggling with challenges including insomnia, anxiety, trust issues, nightmares, suicidal ideation, guilt, addiction, alcoholism, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, issues creating and maintaining relationships, and sexual side effects,” the report stated. While Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a news conference that the report intends to provide “public accountability” and a “measure of healing to survivors,” he acknowledged many of the victims “will never see justice in a legal sense.”

Catholic Clergy Sexually Abused Nearly 2,000 Minors in Illinois: Report

The church initially disclosed only 103 victims of sexual abuse in 2018.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

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Orlando Sentinel:

Hamburger Mary’s in Orlando is suing Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida in federal court, claiming the restaurant has been deprived of its First Amendment rights and is already losing customers under a new law affecting drag shows.
Gov. DeSantis signed bills last Wednesday taking aim at transgender treatments for minors, pronouns in schools, bathroom use and children attending drag shows.
The changes included penalties for venues letting children into “adult live performances” and potential first-degree misdemeanor charges for violators.
Hamburger Mary’s filed the lawsuit Monday, which also names as a defendant Melanie Griffin, secretary of Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation

Filed in U.S. District Court, the suit aims to prevent the law from being enforced. Unfortunately for Hamburger Mary’s—which hosts drag-focused bingo, trivia, and comedy events, as well as family-friendly drag shows suitable for children—the new law is an existential threat. According to the suit, the business was forced to tell customers that children were no longer welcome at its shows, and as a result it lost substantial future bookings.

“They simply cannot take the chance that their business or liquor licenses would be suspended for hosting a drag show where children attend,” the lawsuit states. “In addition, the criminal penalties of the law put individuals at risk of prosecution because of the content of their speech.”

Meanwhile, the suit argues that the “broad, sweeping nature of the statute, and the vagueness regarding what conduct is and is not prohibited, will have a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of the citizens of Florida” and claims the new law targets “even the most innocent drag performances.” According to the suit, the law is also wide-ranging enough to “reach into the private homes of Florida citizens, and to determine on behalf of parents what is and is not appropriate entertainment for their children.”

In other words, DeSantis & Crew are stifling speech they don’t like. Again. Meanwhile, as Florida exits the “fuck around” phase of its gradual devolution into a swamp-forward Siberia, it’s also starting to find out.

The LGBTQ advocacy groups the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Florida have issued an updated travel advisory in the wake of last Wednesday’s bill-signing. The advisory “outlines the devastating impacts of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety policies, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum in order that prospective travelers or residents can make the best decisions for themselves and their families.”

As Equality Florida’s Senior Political Director, Joe Saunders, stated, “DeSantis has just signed into law the largest slate of anti-LGBTQ bills in one legislative session in the state’s history. This is an all out attack on freedom. Free states don’t strip parents of the right to make healthcare decisions for their children. Free states don’t ban books, censor curriculum, or muzzle free speech. DeSantis doesn’t see freedom as a value worth defending, he sees it as a campaign slogan in his bid for the White House. ... The nation should be on high alert. We are all Floridians as DeSantis seeks to export this blueprint of authoritarianism to the rest of the country.”

Indeed. Not only that, powerful history lessons like this could soon be criminalized in the name of “sexual purity”:


(full article online)

Florida restaurant sues over DeSantis' anti-drag show law, citing First Amendment violation

It’s impossible to win a race to the bottom with Donald Trump because the bottom is where Trump lives. He has home-field advantage, and everyone else is forced to play catchup. It would be like racing Matt Gaetz to a Pensacola Hot Topic on a Saturday...

www.dailykos.com

 

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A Texas House committee heard stunning testimony from investigators Wednesday over allegations of a yearslong pattern of misconduct and questionable actions by Attorney General Ken Paxton, the result of a probe the committee had secretly authorized in March.

In painstaking and methodical detail in a rare public forum, four investigators for the House General Investigating Committee testified that they believe Paxton broke numerous state laws, misspent office funds and misused his power to benefit a friend and political donor.

Their inquiry focused first on a proposed $3.3 million agreement to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by four high-ranking deputies who were fired after accusing Paxton of accepting bribes and other misconduct.


Committee Chair Andrew Murr said the payout, which the Legislature would have to authorize, would also prevent a trial at which evidence of Paxton’s alleged misdeeds would be presented publicly. Committee members questioned, in essence, if lawmakers were being asked to participate in a cover-up.

“It is alarming and very serious having this discussion when millions of taxpayer dollars have been asked to remedy what is alleged to be some wrongs,” Murr said. “That’s something we have to grapple with. It’s challenging.”


(full article online)

Investigators detail years of alleged misconduct by Texas AG Ken Paxton in stunning House committee hearing

Many allegations against Paxton were already known, but the airing of them revealed the scope of the investigation by the committee, which has the power to recommend censure or impeachment.

www.texastribune.org

 

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One party’s trash is another party’s treasure.

In the latest chapter of what seems to be a long-running series about Roll Call getting ahold of things people shouldn’t leave behind, a binder from a conference an outside group held for top GOP Senate staffers at a West Virginia resort had some cautionary signs about the 2024 climate.

The generic ballot has shifted toward Democrats, with Republicans losing ground among independents on the abortion issue, according to a new polling memo from a GOP firm that fell into Democratic hands.

“There has been a 6 point swing in the last year on the Generic Senate ballot from R+3 to D+3. This movement is [led] overwhelmingly by Independent and NEW voters that identify abortion as one of their top issues,” according to a “National Issue Study” by co/efficient, which was in the news recently as one of the pollsters for Kentucky Republican gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron.

The poll, conducted April 20-24, had similar findings on the House side. “There has been a 10 point swing in the last year on the Generic House Ballot from R+6 to D+4. This movement is [led] overwhelmingly by Independent and NEW voters that identify abortion as one of their top issues,” it said on slide seven. “Reproductive Freedom is the #1 issue among those that DID NOT vote in 2020.”


(full article online)

Left-behind polling memo shows abortion hurting outlook for GOP

Abortion has hurt generic support for the GOP and is motivating voters who stayed away in 2020, party polling obtained by Roll Call shows.

rollcall.com

 

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