Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ron desantis. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ron desantis. Sort by date Show all posts

Saturday, August 6, 2022

Rebekah Jones: We need your help to get rid of Matt Gaetz and Ron DeSantis

A GOP-backed sham candidate with a GOP lawyer used an unconstitutional law written by GOP governor Ron DeSantis to have me taken off the ballot in the running against GOP-incumbent Matt Gaetz.

All the polls and media agreed we were poised to defeat the incumbent congressman, currently embroiled in a number of controversies, including the ongoing FBI investigation into sex trafficking..

For the last two years I’ve been the thorn in Ron DeSantis’ side for exposing data manipulation by the Florida Department of Health, where I was formerly the manager of COVID-19 data and surveillance. I served as a reminder that his administration lied and recklessly got people killed during the pandemic.

The online harassment and stalking campaign I’ve endured, the death threats to myself and my family, the constant rhythm of assault-by-tweet have never dampened my commitment to truth and transparency.

The sham candidate claims to have received an application for party change while I was living in Maryland more than a year ago from an “anonymous source” online.  Any change in party during the year before qualifying would disqualify me from office. 

Thousands of ballots have already been cast, and I’m favored to win my primary against this sham candidate who doesn’t live in our district by about 77 points. 

The legal costs associated with combating this Russian-style attempt to block my campaign, which is the last desperate attempt of a terrified governor, congressman and party who knows they cannot win this election at the ballot box, are high.

We’re appealing this egregious decision, but we need your help. 

Please help us save this election from becoming another casualty of vindictive legislating and retaliation by Ron DeSantis, the most corrupt and evil governor in the United States, so that I can continue in my fight to kick him and Matt Gaetz out of office.

HELP HER HERE

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Who is Rebekah Jones?

When I was asked to present misleading data to the public during COVID-19, I refused. As the head of Florida's public COVID-19 data and surveillance systems, my oath was to the people of Florida -- not politicians.

So they fired me. 

 

Governor Ron DeSantis then outed me as the Florida COVID-19 Whistleblower to the world days later. He defamed me, attacked me, and continued his lies about how safe the state was to reopen - even though every expert inside and outside our Department of Health agreed it was disastrous.

 

And it was. 


Despite the attacks, the threats, the harassment, I stepped forward to lead the state through the cloud of misery DeSantis inflicted on our people and our state during the pandemic.

 

I continued that work for nearly two years - first by helping organizations and governments in East Africa build their own data and surveillance systems, then by creating the

only national tracking database for COVID-19 cases in schools


The success I found in filling the role our state and federal leaders failed to do became a constant reminder to DeSantis how weak and vulnerable he was. 

 

After all, if a "girl with a laptop," as he called me, can do that much damage to his reputation, then he wasn't all that popular to begin with. 

 

He became obsessed. He sent more than 4,000 emails specifically about me and my whistleblower case against the state in the year after I was fired just to his core staff and administration.

 

Seven months after I was fired, my home was raided at gunpoint by nearly a dozen officer who did not have a warrant. They held us hostage for three hours while they waited to get a warrant, not handing it to me until they were finally leaving.


They made my kids wait outside in the cold. They threatened to shoot us. They pushed around my then-11 year old son in the doorway with an AR-15 to his back


I fought back. 

 

I was not going to let an autocrat with his eyes on the White House silence any scientist -- especially not me.

 

I worked hard to earn my education and my place in the scientific community.

 

I grew up in one of the poorest counties in Mississippi - the second of four kids to teenage parents with no money.

 

I earned a full scholarship to Syracuse University. Then I earned my Master's degree at LSU. Then I moved to Florida to start my Ph.D.

 

No K-Mart Hitler wanna-be was going to kill the people in my state and scare me into never speaking out again with his failed strong-man intimidation tactics.  

 

Challenging a state is never easy. It can be lonely, isolating, terrifying -- especially when you already know that they'll break into your home without a warrant and point semi-automatic weapons at your young children.

But I kept fighting.


And I won. 

 

The state granted me official whistleblower protection - almost one year exactly from when I filed my complaint. The complaint itself is still pending with the Florida Commissions on Human Relations (two years and counting) but getting protection was a massive victory - not only for me, but for oppressed scientific voices everywhere.

 

More recently, an internal audit of COVID-19 data found everything I said was true - to a degree even I had not appreciated before the report was issued. 

 

I had spent two years watching politicians not only lie but also kill to try to climb the ladder. The worst among them - DeSantis - made it his personal mission to try to destroy my life but failed at every possible turn. I felt at times like I had an invisible layer of kevlar around me because every shot DeSantis took missed or barely scraped the skin.


Now I'm back home in Florida, where I've been running a freak-of-nature campaign against Matt Gaetz that currently has us leading him in the polls by six points.

 

We're turning the tide for Democrats in an otherwise blood red area, though our efforts haven't gone without resistance from within the party.

 

Though DeSantis' cronies couldn't find anyone who lives in the district to primary me, they did find someone from another district - who has never lived in what is now District 1 - to run a sham campaign that does nothing but harass, stalk and spread the same debunked DeSantis propaganda from two years ago. 

 

We're here to save our democracy from predators like Matt Gaetz and dangerous dictators like Ron DeSantis. This isn't the time to play, and when I fight, the gloves are always off. 

 

With the war-chest Matt Gaetz will be bringing into the general election, we need to start pulling in major funding now so we're not playing catchup in the leadup to November. Which is why I need your help.


Because let's face facts: America has never really been a friendly place to women and girls. Not really. Sure, there are certainly worse places, but why is the United States settling for the bottom of the developed world when it comes to protecting girls and women?

 

The laws governing our bodies, our families, our choices, our daughters, our futures continue to erode our faith in and hope for this nation, taking our freedoms and permitting the government to make decisions for us that are, frankly, none of the government’s business.

 

This isn’t just about pregnancy or birth control.

 

It’s about a culture of objectifying women from a young age, permitted and even promoted under a quilt of uneven, unequal, and unjust laws across our nation.

 

Consider child marriage, which is legal across most of the United States. The data show that 87% of child marriages occur between underage girls and adult men. Some girls have been married as young as 10. In most of those states, minors cannot legally divorce or even separate from their spouse once married. They’re trapped.

 

In Florida, there is no minimum age for child marriage, so long as either the parents and judges approve, and there are loopholes and legal exceptions made for pregnant girls. So, if an 80-year-old-man wants a child bride, he can escape charges related to his pedophilia if he simply gets a judge or the parents of young child to agree to a marriage.

 

Our region of Florida sees some of the highest rates of human and sex trafficking in the nation.

 

Perhaps the issue is so pervasive because we have an incumbent representative who was the only person in congress to vote against a bill to crack down on trafficking, who was been the target of a sex-trafficking investigation for more than two years, and whose new sister-in-law even came forward to protect her family, calling Matt Gaetz a “literal pedophile.”

 

And without getting too far into the statistics on rape in America, we’re first in the developed world for rates of sexual harassment, assault, and battery. Nearly half of women in the United States reported experiencing some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.

 

1 in 5 women report being raped in their lifetime. Nearly half of those rapes occurred when the victims were minors.

 

How have we gotten to this place, where girls’ lives matter so little and women are forced to carry such heavy burdens for a society that does not value them?

 

Did you know that women hold only one-quarter of the seats in Congress?

 

Even though women outnumber men in the general population, voter registration and voter turnout, we make up less than one-fourth of elected officials in nearly every level of office.

 

Married women are less likely to vote than women who are divorced, widowed, separated or have never been married, though female turnout generally increases with both age and education level.

 

We’re not electing women. In the shadow of Roe v Wade and protections we once had, the consequences of electing too few women to positions of power could not be clearer.

 

If we don’t stand together and fight for our autonomy, our dignity, our independence, then our daughters may very well find themselves without any of it.

 

I will write legislation to end child marriage, crack down on trafficking, and see that sexual predators who target children are charged with hate crimes and never able to return to society.

 

I will vote to codify rights that protect and respect our right to make decisions about our own bodies, ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and finally make us equal in the eyes of our constitution.

 

Matt Gaetz not only doesn’t support those measures – he was the only person in Congress to vote against some of them.

 

We need your help. And it couldn't come fast enough. With the election only four months away, we're putting our faith in YOU to make the difference in this race.

 

In solidarity, Rebekah Jones


Tuesday, February 14, 2023

The New College Hostile Takeover

Recently, Ron DeSantis, the Governor of the State of Florida, in a move to purge New College of Florida in Sarasota, Florida of it's "woke" ideologies, appointed 6 new fanatically conservative members to the college's Board of Trustees

The smallest school in Florida’s university system, New College has about 700 students and lists one of its core values as building a “just, diverse, equitable and inclusive community” on campus. “We seek a balance between recognizing and celebrating difference, respectfully supporting each other’s growth, and ensuring that historically marginalized and oppressed groups are not experiencing trauma and harm,” an online post describing New College’s values said.

The Florida Constitution provides that each state university shall be administered by a board of trustees consisting of 13 members dedicated to the purpose of the State University System. Six citizen members are appointed by Florida’s Governor and five citizen members are appointed by the Florida Board of Governors. In addition, the chair of the faculty and the president of the student body serve on the board.

The 6 Board members recently appointed by Ron DeSantis to the New College Board of Trustees are:
  • Christopher Rufo: A Senior Fellow for the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank
  • Matthew Spalding: The Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government, a conservative college in Washington, D.C.
  • Charles Kesler: A Professor of Government at Claremont-McKenna College, a private conservative college in Claremont, California
  • Mark Bauerlein: Professor Emeritus of English at Emory University, a conservative private research university in Atlanta, Georgia
  • Debra Jenks: A lawyer practicing in Palm Beach County, Florida
  • Eddie Speir: Co-Founder, Chairman, and Superintendent of the Inspiration  Academy, a Christian School in Bradenton, FLorida
In The Daily Caller, a conservative media outlet, DeSantis’ chief of staff, James Uthmeier, was quoted as saying the revamped board could make the school “along the lines of a Hillsdale of the South,” — alluding to Hillsdale College, a Christian college in Michigan that is prominent among conservatives.

DeSantis’ appointments came after his administration last week directed state higher-education officials to gather information about resources colleges and universities devote to programs centered on diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory. Critical race theory is based on the premise that racism is embedded in American society.

The choices for the New College board drew criticism from Andrew Gothard, president of the United Faculty of Florida union. “Like many Floridians who have ties to the New College community, UFF (the United Faculty of Florida) was surprised and disturbed today to see the appointment of six trustees whose only apparent interest in the institution is politically and ideologically motivated,” Gothard said in a statement to the News Service. Gothard said trustees have a “solemn duty” to act in the best interest of everyone on campuses. “Promises to upend programs with ideologically driven claims that could not be farther from the truth of what actually occurs in a higher education classroom — these do nothing to improve New College, nor will they draw interested students to a campus where trustees are so at odds with the faculty, the local administration and the truth,” Gothard said.

One of the first things the newly restructured Board of Trustees did was to terminate the college president, Patricia Okker, and replace her with Richard Corcoran (R), former Florida Speaker, former Chief of Staff to Marco Rubio and former state Commissioner of Education. They also raised Corcoran's salary from $394,000 to $699,000 per year.

In 2022, Corcoran, then Florida's Commissioner of Education, came under scrutiny when the DOE was shown to be in talks with MGT Consulting, a firm led by Corcoran's longtime colleague Trey Traviesa, for some time before bidding on a multimillion-dollar educational services contract that was opened for a single week, a situation that appeared to allow the firm preferential access. Out of 25 firms sent a request for quotes, only MGT responded within the one-week deadline. One week prior to the bidding being opened, Corcoran hosted a closed-door meeting between Traviesa, Jefferson County school officials, and charter school lobbyist Ralph Arza. On May 1, 2022, Corcoran stepped down as education commissioner. Read the complete story HERE.

At the time his appointment as college president was announced, Corcoran was still registered as a lobbyist for educational concerns, including Charter Schools USA, Polk County Public Schools, and the University of Miami, among three dozen clients whose relationship he had reaffirmed earlier that month.

Because the structure of the New College Board of Trustees is dictated by the Florida Constution and state statutes, the same Board of Trustees makeup is identical in all the universities throughout the state. Is this hostile takeover of New College a litmus test to gauge the inevitable pushback by the educational communiity? Is the University of Florida or the University of South Florida next? Isn't gaining absolute control of a system of education one of the surest ways to control the minds and souls of the people a fascist despot would employ?

Keep in mind that Ron DeSantis aspires to become the president, where he hopes to exercise this same dictatorial power throughout the country.


Wednesday, April 5, 2023

DeSantis Takes Two HUGE Steps Toward Making Florida The Worst State in the Union


Ron DeSantis loosens gun laws, and Florida Republicans are fighting for a 6 week abortion ban. Ana Kasparian and Francesca Fiorentini discuss on The Young Turks.

"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a law allowing Floridians to carry a concealed gun without a permit, a measure that aims to appeal to gun-loving GOP primary voters even as Democrats warned it would increase violent crime.

DeSantis, who is preparing to run against former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has used Florida’s legislative session to rack up policy victories appealing to his party’s right wing. By signing the law, DeSantis is fulfilling a campaign promise and joining the majority of U.S. states allowing the carrying of guns without a permit."

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

DeSantis gets 7-figure checks from top GOP donors as he soft launches presidential campaign


As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis intensifies his preparation for a White House bid, several of the wealthiest and most prolific Republican donors are already giving him a major financial boost.

Trader and investor Jeffrey Yass donated $2.5 million to DeSantis’ state political committee on February 7, according to online records maintained by the organization, Friends of Ron DeSantis. And Jude and Christopher Reyes, the billionaire brothers behind one of the country’s largest beer and food distributors, each gave DeSantis’ committee $1 million last week as well.

More HERE


Monday, April 3, 2023

American Bridge launches Ron DeSantis ‘research book’


Democrats claim to have written the book on Ron DeSantis … and the title isn’t “The Courage to be Free.”

American Bridge has rolled out a “research book” on the Florida Governor as he moves toward a potential presidential campaign later this year, posing the question, “Who is Ron DeSantis?” The tome also offers some answers.

More HERE

Monday, March 20, 2023

Ron DeSantis labeled ‘new Russian hero’ in Super PAC ad


Gov. Ron DeSantis is getting unwelcome air cover from a new ad in the wake of his controversial position on the Ukraine war.

The Center Street PAC rolled out a spot Friday that paints “American Ron DeSantis” as a “new Russian hero fighting imperialist American aggression in our glorious liberation of Ukraine.”

More HERE


Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Ron DeSantis’s war on “woke” in Florida schools, explained

From book bans to a hostile campus takeover, here’s a rundown of DeSantis’s conservative plan for Florida education.

In 2020, Ron DeSantis’s administration declared him the “Education Governor” for how eager he was to dramatically change the state’s education system. Three years later, he’s provoked — and been engulfed in — an ongoing list of education controversies as part of his fight against “woke ideology,” or schools acknowledging or teaching about systemic injustice in American society.

As DeSantis prepares to announce his campaign for the presidency, as many have speculated, he has ramped up his involvement in Florida schools. Not only is he doubling down on existing legislation, he’s also introducing new rules and regulations — and making sure the Education Department follows through. While he largely focused on K-12 in the early years of his term, this year he has launched new plans to remake higher education.

More HERE


Saturday, August 22, 2015

Florida's Tea Party Candidate Ron DeSantis

Tony Fabrizio, a veteran Republican pollster advising DeSantis's campaign, illustrates DeSantis's efforts to appeal beyond the tea-party side of the 
GOP primary electorate.  
people try to paint people into a box and because
 Senate Conservative Fund and 
Club for Growth support Ron DeSantis
people have this, you know, 
fire-breathing-guy" 
image of him, Fabrizio said. "But the truth of the matter is he is a Reagan conservative. here

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

‘We’ve got our ticket punched’: Ron DeSantis comes distant second in Iowa caucuses


Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has spoken to supporters following the results of the Iowa Republican caucus. 

Mr Desantis finished second place in Iowa’s caucuses over Nikki Haley, and former US president Donald Trump took first place. 

Vivek Ramaswamy – who is set to finish fourth – has suspended his 2024 presidential campaign. 

“The media was against us – they were writing our obituary months ago,” Mr DeSantis said. 

“I can tell you because of your support ... we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa.”

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Ron DeSantis Hit With Second Ethics Complaint Over Shadow Presidential Campaign


It is against Florida state law for a politician to run for an office that would force them to miss half of the time they have left in their current office, but Ron DeSantis still "appears" to be running for President without resigning as governor. Because of this, DeSantis has now been hit with a second ethics complaint, this time from the Democratic Party of the state of Florida. DeSantis may soon be forced to declare whether or not he's running, as Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains.

Monday, June 12, 2023

All Of Ron DeSantis' ‘Accomplishments’ Are Being Torn Apart By The Courts


A federal judge this week struck down most of Florida governor Ron DeSantis' ban on transgender care for youth, and issued an injunction on the legislation as the court battle continues to play out. Nearly all of DeSantis' culture war "victories" have been undone by the court system, including his ban on CRT and his assault on Disney. The governor's record is worse than most people realize, and Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains how Democrats can use these failures to attack DeSantis.

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Neo-Fascists target Hillsborough County School Board Members under guise of Parental Rights

Governor Ron DeSantis and his neo-fascist allies are wading into school board races as part of a calculated plan to up-end all the progress made since the Civil Rights movement. Public education has been the core component of social mobility in America. It now stands under attack at every avenue. Whether the efforts to decertify teacher’s unions, remove diversity and equity trainings, or out right erase history with white-washed fallacies, all these multi-pronged attacks serve one ultimate goal, the reversal of progress in America. Progress has been characterized as “Woke” ideology. To understand this fight, first allow me tell you what “Woke” truly means…

For those familiar with the 90s-2000s movie franchise of the Matrix, a dystopian future where artificial intelligences utilize human beings asleep in a virtual reality as batteries in the real world, being woke is to unplug from the artificial reality. Much in this way the moniker of “stay woke” was popularized by young African American scholars in last 20 years as a reminder to avoid falling prey to the artificial realities created by the mainstream media and global political systems. And, somehow right-wing activists and politicians have co-opted and appropriated “woke” as a blanket term to classify any policies which forward diversity, equity, and inclusion. Their long standing war on LGTBQ+ culture has now allowed them to target African American culture and any allies to either group. Gone are the days when political correctness would have right wingers call these folks special interest groups. Political correctness itself is now seen as woke ideology. Where their grandfathers had no problems dropping racial epithets in public speech, now Ron DeSantis and his Moms for Liberty now utilize the term woke in its place. These are dog whistles to a conservative base that fears the progress in America. Years ago I recall the warnings that conservatives were going to begin targeting school board races to reverse the work of desegregation. Now it is clear that they affirm to go much further in controlling curriculum from pre-K to PhD. Fascism in America was always going to be wrapped up in rallying cry for liberty while carrying a cross. This is exactly what DeSantis and his allies intend. To play victim and say their freedom is under attack, that their Christian values are lost in a public school system separated from Church by the State.

Their next target is Hillsborough County. Jessica Vaugh and Nadia Combs, two outstanding school board members are being targeted in this next election cycle by Moms for Liberty for their progressive ideals and desire to keep kids safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Make no mistake, if DeSantis gets his way, Hillsborough County will no longer be a school system that produces scholars that can compete on an international level. We will become a bastion of pseudo-science, fascism, and false history instituted by a regime of his choosing as part of the greater culture war to destroy American progress. Gone are the days when David Duke and Klan are actively working to reverse our hard fought progress, now its Karens claiming their parent rights are infringed upon because their kids have to learn that their grandparents didn’t want to attend integrated schools. I would encourage any human being with an ounce of sanity and the right to vote to get out in this next election and ensure that these Moms for Liberty have several seats, and not ones on the school board.

Christopher C. Cano, MPA, Concerned Tampeño

Friday, July 3, 2020

Florida's Ron DeSantis Disaster

One recent survey has some troubling news for DeSantis. HERE
--
His unfavorable rating has shot up from 28.5 percent to 40.5 percent. The reason? 
More and more people know who DeSantis is and have formed an opinion about him. Wish voters had know that before they 
voted for him.
---
2018 Florida gubernatorial election
Ron DeSantis 4,076,186
Andrew Gillum 4,043,723

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Ron DeSantis floats sending Haitian refugees to Martha’s Vineyard

The return of Air DeSantis may be imminent.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said some undocumented immigrants intercepted while attempting to land in Florida from Haiti may lead to a trip to New England for those refugees.

“We do have our transport program also that’s going to be operational,” DeSantis said. “So Haitians who land in the Florida Keys, their next stop very well may be Martha’s Vineyard.”


Sunday, February 19, 2023

Ron DeSantis’ use of government power to implement agenda worries some conservatives


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made freedom his calling card, but some conservatives have become skeptical of how liberally the Republican leader is using government power to impose his will.

Among GOP donors, leading conservative voices and even some supporters, there is a growing concern that DeSantis has overstepped in his fight against “wokeness” as he seeks to shore up conservative support ahead of a highly anticipated 2024 campaign for president. Several potential rivals for the GOP nomination have seized on DeSantis’ brash approach and top-heavy governing style to draw sharp contrasts with the popular Republican.

More HERE


Wednesday, March 29, 2023

No One Is Talking About What Ron DeSantis Has Actually Done to Florida

Media coverage of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s all-but-announced candidacy for president is already in full frenzy, and so far the script is exactly as his handlers would like it to be. The governor regularly opens up new fronts in the culture wars, sowing alarm over critical race theory, transgender rights, or border policies. In response, liberal pundits fall into the trap of accentuating the very issues DeSantis has chosen to fire up his base.

Omitted from the public debate about DeSantis’s policies is almost any discussion of his actual record of governance—what exactly he has delivered to the citizens of his state, especially those without seven-figure incomes and lush investment portfolios.

More HERE