90 Miles From Tyranny

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Ron DeSantis vs. Blue States: Florida Shines in Coronavirus Response Despite Media Scrutiny

Critics accused Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) of bungling his response to the coronavirus pandemic as it descended upon the Sunshine State, but after weeks of scrutiny, the Florida governor’s response is standing as a national model, as the state — which boasts more than 21 million residents — outshines its blue state counterparts.

DeSantis faced mounting pressure from politicians and media pundits, who warned that he waited too long to formally close his state. The governor, recognizing the unique profile of Florida, which varies vastly from region to region, largely allowed localities to determine their course of action.

Critics hit him hard. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused President Trump of “conveying an epic level of negligence and incompetence that is costing human lives” and threw DeSantis into the mix.

“And it’s not just Trump,” she said last month. “It is not just Trump. Look at DeSantis in Florida, who’s just calling for lockdowns today and Florida beaches have been packed.”

While DeSantis formally issued a stay-at-home order on April 1, that order occurred after he had already taken aggressive action against travelers from coronavirus hotspots, such as New Orleans and the New York Tri-State area. He imposed screenings at high traffic airports — which proved to be successful — and checkpoints along the Florida-Georgia border and Florida-Alabama border. He also issued a 14-day quarantine for individuals entering Florida from virus hotspots.

After weeks of intense media scrutiny, Florida is outshining its blue state counterparts as DeSantis’s highly criticized coronavirus response proves to be right.

This becomes even more evident when Florida is compared to a state like New York, whose governor the establishment media have heaped praise upon throughout the pandemic.

Florida — which tends to have an older, more vulnerable population — had 42,038 confirmed cases of the virus and 1,875 related deaths as of Friday morning. That represents a fraction of a percent of the 21 million-plus residents in the state. New York, with a population of over 19 million — over 8 million in New York City alone— has seen an excess of 343,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 22,170 deaths, despite the implementation of draconian lockdown orders.

“You look at some of the most draconian orders that have been issued in some of these states and compare Florida in terms of our hospitalizations per 100,000, in terms of our fatalities per 100,000,” DeSantis said during an April 28 meeting with the president.

“I mean you go from D.C., Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, you name it; Florida’s done better,” he continued, stressing that his remarks were not to be taken as a criticism of other states.

“But everyone in the media was saying Florida was going to be like New York or Italy, and that has not happened because we understood we have a...

Twitter Removes Michelle Malkin Anti-Censorship Video From Platform Immediately After Trump Retweet

Twitter immediately proved Malkin and Trump correct.

President Donald Trump re-tweeted a video from right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin on Saturday morning, and the video was immediately censored and removed by Twitter to prevent the anti-censorship message from going viral.

Malkin called out Twitter as a result of their blatant censorship campaign:

The clip was from Malkin’s appearance at the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC), which was held concurrently with the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February.

Malkin has been blacklisted from Conservative Inc. groups such as CPAC for speaking out on issues like immigration and demographics that corporate-bought “conservatives” would rather sweep under the rug.

“And I have to say that these days I’m not merely worried about my ability to do that and my fellow patriots to be able to do that,” Malkin said, referring to being able to freely communicate on social media platforms.

“I’m terrified. I’ve witnessed friends and allies stripped of their platforms and their reputations and their voices. Some can no longer communicate on social media. When I planted my little flag in the social media world on the internet almost 20 years ago, I never thought that I’d have to wake up one day and wonder if my entire website was going to be unplugged because of an opinion I expressed,” she added.

The Twitter user @af_clips has re-posted the video of Malkin’s speech after Twitter egregiously censored the post:

They Continue To Show Us Who They Really Are...Totalitarian Fascists.

Trump vows he’s ‘working to remedy this illegal situation’ of radical left controlling social media platforms

President Donald Trump blasted the social media giants on Friday including Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter for Left-wing bias, adding that his administration is “working to remedy this illegal situation.”

“The Radical Left is in total command & control of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google. The Administration is working to remedy this illegal situation. Stay tuned, and send names & events,” the president wrote in a tweet, ironically.

The president’s comments came on the heels of a report in The Wall Street Journal claiming that the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general led by Texas AG Ken Paxton could file an anti-trust suit against Google as early as this summer.

The paper, citing officials familiar with the legal action, said the DoJ and the AG’s “are well into planning for litigation, according to people familiar with the matter.”

The report noted further:

“Much of the states’ investigation has focused on Google’s online advertising business. The company owns the dominant tool at every link in the complex chain between online publishers and advertisers. The Justice Department likewise is making Google’s ad technology one of its points of emphasis. But it is also focusing more broadly on concerns that Google uses its dominant search business to stifle competition, people familiar with the matter said.”

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has slowed work on the case at the Justice Department, but the WSJ reported that Attorney General William Barr has nevertheless assigned considerable resources to the Google investigation and it remains one of his priorities.

Barr told the paper in March that he would let Justice Department officials make the final judgment this summer as to whether or not to proceed with a case.

“I’m hoping that we bring it to fruition early summer,” Barr said at the time. “And by fruition I mean, decision time.”

Meanwhile, Paxton said that the COVID-19 pandemic had not slowed down state efforts.

“We’ve issued [civil subpoenas] to Google and impacted third parties. We hope to have the investigation wrapped up by fall,” Paxton told the paper in a statement. “If we determine that filing is merited we will go to court soon after that.”

For Google’s part, officials indicated the tech behemoth was cooperating with ongoing probes.

“We continue to engage with the ongoing investigations led by the Department of Justice and Attorney General Paxton, and we don’t have any updates or comments on speculation. Our focus is firmly on providing services that help consumers, support thousands of businesses and enable increased choice and competition,” said a spokeswoman.

Sources told the WSJ that the Justice Department has shared information about the case with Texas and other state officials. It’s not clear if states will file their own cases against Google and its parent company, Alphabet, or whether the AGs will join the federal suit.

While Texas has primarily been focused on Google’s ad technology, other states and interested parties are equally concerned that the company is stifling or otherwise altering search functions.

And, judging by President Trump’s tweets, it appears as though his administration is focused on what some have perceived as political bias, and not just with...