Friday, January 19, 2024

ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: Ron DeSantis thinks Insurrection Act should have been used against Black Lives Matter protests. (A.G. Gancarski, Florida Politics, January 14, 2024)


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In his January 6, 1941 "Four Freedoms" speech, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feather their own nests.” 

Florida's current Governor is a doormat for real estate developer-speculators like developer-Senator TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON.  Their  mindless mission: help the ruling corporate classes to "feather their own nests," while depriving our First Amendment rights of "breathing space."  

Our Governor was Congressman from St. Johns County 2013-2018, an alien implant from Koch Industries, who appeared on faux Fox News some 40 times before being elected Governor. DeSANTIS is an unctuous, unjust steward. He lacks respect and consideration for First Amendment values, again and again.  He seeks to deprive us of our fundamental rights. Flippant, insolent, disingenuous Boy Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS's presidential campaign has cost $140,000,000 to lose ground.  The people reject his works and pomps.  

Here in our so-called "Free State of Florida,"  our First Amendment deserves "breathing space."  NAACP v. Button,371 U.S. 415, 433 (1963) New York Times. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1974); Gasparinetti v. Kerr, 568 F.2d 311, 314-17 (3d Cir. 1977)(illegal restrictions on policemen’s First Amendment rights); Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps, 479 767, 772, 777 (1986)(O’Connor, J.)(newspaper entitled to breathing space in defamation case); Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 52, 56 (1988) (Reqhnqist, J.)(magazine parody of TV preacher entitled to breathing space); Keefe v. Ganeakos, 418 F.2d 359, 362 (1st Cir. 1969)(Aldrich, C.J.)(chilling effect on First Amendment by illegal suspension of teacher over sharing Atlantic Monthly article on Vietnam War); Parducci v. Rutland, 316 F.Supp. 352, 355, 357 (M.D. Ala 1970)(Johnson, C.J.)(chilling effect in illegal firing of English teacher over Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House). 


From Florida Politics:


Ron DeSantis thinks Insurrection Act should have been used against Black Lives Matter protests

By A.G. Gancarski, 

Florida Politics, 
January 14, 2024
'Trump could have done it. He refused to do it.'

Gov. Ron DeSantis has quibbled about whether the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol Riots constituted an insurrection, but he has no such qualms about making a similar declaration about Black Lives Matter protests and how he would have handled them.

“You as the President, you absolutely have the right to prevent this type of rioting. You know, Bush 41 sent people to L.A. in 92. So Trump could have done it. He refused to do it. I think he was worried that the press would attack him. He was concerned about, you know, re-election and everything,” DeSantis said in Ankeny, Iowa on Sunday, suggesting that Trump should have invoked the Insurrection Act and mobilized federal law enforcement and military backups in 2020.

Trump reportedly considered invoking the Insurrection Act in 2020 to quell protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, but stopped short.

President George Herbert Walker Bush authorized 1,000 Federal riot-trained law enforcement officials to be deployed into Los Angeles, in the wake of protests and violence after that city’s police officers who had beaten up Rodney King were acquitted in a jury trial.

“In a civilized society, there can be no excuse, no excuse for the murder, arson, theft, and vandalism that have terrorized the law-abiding citizens of Los Angeles,” Bush said in 1992.


DeSantis’ floating the Insurrection Act as redress for BLM protests is the latest example of how the Governor evaluates right wing and left wing political actions differently.

In February, DeSantis likened protests at the Florida Capitol to the Jan. 6 riot.

“It’s interesting that if they’re doing that from the Left, then the media says that’s ‘democracy in action.’ They don’t say it’s an insurrection if you take over a Capitol because of that, but I think that’s what it’s getting to.”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at AG@FloridaPolitics.com or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A protest over police brutality is a far cry from J6, where people brutalized police and tried to overturn a free and fair election with violence. So much for law and order and back the blue. Republicans are full of shit. Of course DeSantis will buy police votes with first responder bonuses to make up for his lies. Corrupt party of charlatans and grifters.

Anonymous said...

Trying to dumb down education to aid conservative social, economic, and political goals is authoritarian and underhanded. Banning things, stiffer penalties for everything, discouraging protests, election police... and then complaining when anti-government terrorists and fascists are banned from social media, calling that censorship while he attempts to censor? The guy is crazy and he's a right wing authoritarian figure. Hopefully he ends up with as many felonies as Trump without the damage to his stupid supporters since the people are the real victims of these authoritarian figures.