Tag Archives: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

A Preview Of Things To Come?

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It’s only July, and the presidential election is in November. A lot can change between now and then. The lawfare against President Trump has made him more popular, and the assassination attempt has only increased his lead in the polls. Sadly to say, I don’t expect this to be the last assassination attempt. Hopefully the Secret Service will do a better job of preventing the next one. The Democrats are in a difficult position.

Hot Air posted one of the more entertaining comments made at the Republican convention last night:

It’s time to “end the Weekend at Bernie’s presidency,” DeSantis (Florida Governor Ron DeSantis) declared, and to “send Joe Biden back to the basement.”

On Wednesday, The New York Post reported the following:

President Biden said in a new interview that he would consider dropping out if he was diagnosed with a “medical condition” by doctors — giving the clearest indication yet that he may be faltering in his vow to seek a second term.

The 81-year-old president made the remark in a BET interview taped Tuesday when asked what it would take to prompt him to reconsider his candidacy.

“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” Biden said in an excerpt released Wednesday.

In the same interview, Biden said that he feels the need to run again — rather than serve as a “transitional” leader, as he said in 2020 — because the country is “so divided.”

As far as divisiveness is concerned, President Biden has been a large part of the problem–not the solution.

The comment about stepping down for medical reasons is a very interesting change from the recent “I’m not going anywhere” statements. So what might be going on? Even though it is a long way until November, the Democrats are reading some pretty ugly writing on the wall. Even if President Biden is not aware of his poll numbers, I am sure Jill is. Does Jill want her husband defeated in a George McGovern-style rout? Even if President Biden drops out of the race on whatever excuse, who is willing to be the sacrificial lamb for this election cycle?

We have definitely come to a get-out-the-popcorn moment.

What Election Interference?

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On Monday, Newsbusters posted an article about Google and election interference.

The article reports:

Google has been getting away with election interference for at least 16 years, and it is showing no signs of stopping.

MRC Free Speech America researchers compiled 41 times Google was caught interfering in U.S. elections, beginning in 2008, intensifying in 2016 and continuing into 2024. MRC researchers found carefully crafted studies and numerous reports (from 2008 through February 2024) that have consistently demonstrated the tech behemoth’s election meddling. 

This is a partial list:

In 2008, Google endorsed the radical, young Sen. Obama and censored support for Sen. Clinton.

Google allowed users to smear then-leading GOP candidate for president Rick Santorum.

In 2016, Google employed both its algorithm and its “partners” in futile attempts to push Clinton over the finish line.

Researchers uncovered clear evidence of election interference in 2018.

In 2020, Google picked its favored and disfavored candidates and continued its biased censorship spree.

In 2022, Google placed its thumb on the scale by censoring candidates in key races, and it continued censoring media

The article also comments on the current election cycle:

  • The 2024 election cycle is upon us, and Google has already begun interfering. MRC Free Speech America found that Google buried the campaign websites for every significant opponent of incumbent President Joe Biden (RFK, Jr. plus 15 Republican candidates). When searching for “Republican presidential campaign websites,” Google returned Democrat Mariane Williamson, but not former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and others.) Additionally, Google’s artificial intelligence Gemini (formerly Bard) has refused to answer prompts questioning two of Biden’s biggest weaknesses: the president’s mental health and the ongoing border crisis. The chatbot instead suggested the queries were election-related, which they are. “Elections are a complex topic with fast-changing information,” Gemini claimed in response. “To make sure you have the latest and most accurate information, try Google Search.”

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. Be aware that search engines can be very biased.

 

Why You Should Never Trust The Mainstream Media

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On August 23rd, The Media Research Center posted an article about how the mainstream media is covering the run-up to the 2024 Presidential Election.

The article reports:

Does that sound like fair coverage from the press?

The media includes the following analysis of t he coverage of two other candidates:

■ …But DeSantis Whacked With Bad Press, Too: The evening newscasts allocated 40 minutes to Governor Ron DeSantis’s battle against the “woke” agenda in Florida, including new rules on how schools should present information on matters related to race and sexual identity, and his subsequent legal battles with the Disney corporation. The evening newscasts were just as lopsidedly negative here as they were with Trump’s courtroom battles: 92 percent negative vs. eight percent positive.

But the “woke” agenda made up only about one-third of TV’s DeSantis coverage, and the remainder of the governor’s coverage was more balanced: 58 percent negative, vs. 42 percent positive. Overall, the evening newscasts treated DeSantis to 78 percent negative coverage — hardly favorable, but not as preposterously lopsided as their coverage of Trump.

■ Less Media Hostility for Mike Pence: The only other candidate with a significant amount of coverage was former Vice President Mike Pence. More than half of Pence’s coverage was devoted to just two controversies: the classified documents found at Pence’s home in January (14 minutes), and January 6 (27 minutes).

The networks’ spin on Pence’s documents case was split evenly: 50 percent positive, 50 percent negative evaluations. The negative press came early on, as news of the discovery of documents was accompanied by earlier soundbites of Pence telling ABC anchor David Muir flatly that he “did not” take any classified documents when he left the White House. In early June, however, that coverage turned positive — reflecting the Justice Department’s decision to close its investigation without any charges.

When it came to January 6, the network spin on Pence was neutral; the former Vice President was portrayed merely as a witness and a Trump critic. Yet because of their overwhelming focus on Trump’s legal problems, January 6 was the single biggest topic in Pence’s coverage as well, eclipsing much of the rest of his candidacy.

Overall, the networks’ spin on Pence was negative, but not lopsidedly so: 57 percent negative, vs. 43 percent positive. None of the other candidates received enough evaluative coverage to even calculate percentages.

If we are going to keep our republic, we need an honest media.

Looking Behind The Curtain

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The one thing President Trump has accomplished in Washington is bi-partisanship–the Democrats and the Republican establishment are working together to prevent him from ever becoming President again. After a while, you have to ask yourself what this is all about. Is he such a threat to the deep state that the corrupters want to make sure he does not get another chance to expose them or possibly put them out of power? It really does look that way. I fear for his safety if he wins the nomination or the presidency.

On Saturday, The Conservative Review reported the following:

GOP megadonors are privately courting popular Republican Govs. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Brian Kemp of Georgia to challenge former President Donald Trump in 2024, Axios reported Saturday.

As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has struggled to gain traction in the polls against the former president, the Republican contributors are seeking other potential alternatives to jump in last minute, according to Axios. Though Youngkin and Kemp have both previously ruled out a 2024 bid, several sources told the outlet they’re keeping the door open as top donors reach out.

“People are desperate. They are concerned with what could happen if Trump wins the primaries and they want a viable alternative,” a Republican source told Axios.

Billionaire Ronald Lauder is one of the GOP donors who would potentially back Youngkin if he makes a White House bid, sources who spoke with him told Axios. Billionaire Thomas Peterffy, who previously supported DeSantis for president, recently dropped $2 million into Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia political action committee (PAC).

Rupert Murdoch, who heads Fox News and the New York Post, is quietly hoping Youngkin challenges the four-time-indicted former president, according to Axios.

“Virginia’s getting attention because Governor Youngkin’s common-sense conservative leadership is working. There’s more to do, so the governor’s not taking his eye off Virginia; these (legislative) races are too important,” Spirit of Virginia PAC Chairman Dave Rexrode said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Please reread this sentence:

“People are desperate. They are concerned with what could happen if Trump wins the primaries and they want a viable alternative,” a Republican source told Axios.

What could happen? The Washington establishment could be decimated and their little fiefdom of corrupt money banished? Congressmen might actually be forced to vote in the interests of the people they represent? Yes, President Trump is a threat to Washington–a much needed threat.

The Chess Game Continues

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The only thing in Washington that is bi-partisan is the establishment. The main goal of the Washington establishment is to maintain the status quo–the Washington establishment gets rich and more powerful and Americans pay the price. The biggest threat to that establishment is President Donald Trump. Why? Because he has the resources to fight them, and no one owns him. He is also not afraid to call things what they are. The establishment needs to make sure that President Trump never has enough power in Washington to undo the status quo that makes the Washington establishment rich and powerful.

Two seemingly unrelated things happened on Thursday–the indictment of President Trump and the rescheduling of a committee vote in the Florida legislation.

On Friday, The Conservative Treehouse reported:

Timing is everything, and the timing here is simultaneously transparent and inappropriate.

Today the Florida Senate scheduled a change via committee vote of the “Resign to Run” law for next Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 2:00pm. The intent of the change is almost certainly to permit Governor Ron DeSantis to formally announce his 2024 candidacy without having to resign his job as governor.

The indictment of President Trump will probably guarantee that he will be the GOP nominee for President, but it could make it difficult for him to be elected. That would be good news for the Washington establishment. However, if the indictment gives the nomination to Governor DeSantis (because of the Florida law change), that would also be good news for the Washington establishment. If a Democrat wins, the status-quo will be maintained. A close look at the people backing Ron DeSantis tells us that if Governor DeSantis wins the nomination (and the election), the status-quo will be maintained. It’s a win-win for the Democrats.

Remember, a win for the Washington establishment is a loss for America.

Forgetting The Reasons

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On November 19th, American Greatness posted an article encouraging us to remember why we voted for President Trump in 2016. I did not initially support President Trump–all I knew about him was that he was rich and owned casinos. However, I voted against Hillary in the election. Later, I was totally impressed by the decisions he made. Among other things, the peace deals in the Middle East were thought to be impossible, and he got them done.

The article notes:

Most people do not understand the kind of true sacrifice Trump made when he decided to run for office—even though he surely didn’t have to. The hatred and other persecutions, the sorts that come with such public sacrifices, have the potential of ruining not only one’s own life but that of one’s family. Most people don’t know anything about what that’s like. Nevertheless, Trump chose to make those sacrifices to expose the unabashed corruption at every level of American politics.

Before Trump pulled back the curtain we only saw shadows and projections of what was actually happening there. We got only rare glimpses of what really goes on behind the scenes. We knew things weren’t on the up and up, but little did we know how deep the swamp really was. At that time, the Republican Party was lifeless and without any sense of direction. No one should forget that Trump resuscitated a dying party. He gave it a future. He gave it hope. 

He was the people’s champion among those who felt left behind by the establishment on both sides. He put American politics under a microscope like no other president ever has.

The article concludes:

Without Trump at the helm for the last two years, the RINOs have regained much of the momentum they lost and they, like the Democrats, cannot stand the thought of another four years under Trump. Backing away from Trump now is ill considered. Make some of your own observations about these strange occurrences and remember why you liked Trump in the beginning.

Remember, the same people who were attacking him years ago are the ones still attacking him now, only today they are using a well-liked candidate (who owes a great deal to Trump) against him, causing a divide and duping everyone in the process. Consider who that really benefits. That says a lot to me. 

President Trump is the only Republican wealthy enough to fight the Washington swamp and the only Republican willing to do it. Governor DeSantis has done a great job in Florida, but he will not fight the Washington swamp. He is a party animal–not an individual thinker. Unless you want your children and grandchildren to grow up in a third-world country where energy is rationed, food is scarce, and the average person is on a downhill slope economically, you need to support President Trump.

Additional Information About The Battle For The Republican Party

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On Friday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about the battle between the Republican Club and Republican voters.

The article notes:

The Republican Club has no interest in Ron DeSantis becoming President of the United States.  The Republican Club has interest in Donald Trump NOT becoming President of the United States.  Ron DeSantis is the foil, nothing more.  It’s not about Ron DeSantis, it’s about the Club, the mechanism behind Ron DeSantis – the same mechanism that put $200 million into his campaign as enticement for his usefulness.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis -vs- California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024 is simply two clubs playing the illusion of choice game.

Ultimately, using history and modern politics as the perspective, if you really boil down the political sauce to its reduced state, what you find is… With DeSantis the DNC Club needs less ballot collection to defeat him. However, that’s irrelevant to the intent of his usefulness for the GOP club.

The article concludes:

For the professional GOP Club, as openly expressed by the establishment politicians within it, the donors behind it and the media who promote it, the goal is to remove the populism within the club and bring back the multinational Club alignment with the corporations.  That alignment was severely damaged by President Trump and the America First economic agenda.

The core of the Big Ugly battle is a Club motive based on money, power and boardroom affluence, in essence, GREED.

For ten plus years on these pages, I have written extensively about how there was always, always, going to be a point where the Big Ugly battle was going to have to be waged.  We have waited and waited, looking at each moment, each conflict, each disparagement, each slight and snub, in hope the spark would ignite.

If the Big Ugly arrives in a contest between President Trump and Governor DeSantis, well, great; it needs to happen.

The bottom line is we need this Big Ugly fight.  Not only does the future of the GOP reside in the outcome, the future of a constitutional republic free from corporatism is contingent upon it.

Yes, this fight is going to be big, and it’s going to be ugly… and in the aftermath, hopefully lots of free footballs.

Bring it!

Keep all of this in mind as you watch the media and the Republican Club promote Ron DeSantis as the answer to America’s and the Republican Party’s problems.

Why Ron DeSantis Should Not Run In 2024

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On Friday, PJ Media posted an article explaining why Florida Governor Ron DeSantis should not run for President in 2024. The reason have much more to do with the election corruption currently running rampant most of our country. Florida had a red wave because Governor DeSantis made sure the election was honest. On November 8th, The Daily Caller reported that Governor DeSantis blocked Department of Justice monitors from inside polling places on election day. Considering the recent actions of the Department of Justice, that was a wise move. Unfortunately, as a national candidate the Governor would have no way of assuring an honest election. Unless the current corruption in our elections is dealt with, we will never have another Republican President.

The article at PJ Media concludes:

Rather, this would be the time to rally the troops and to work indefatigably, as I argued previously, toward cleaning up the Augean Stables that are now the condition of American politics. Trump is still “the Donald.” Republicans need to get their act together instead of unintentionally justifying the betrayal of the RINO Machiavellian elites and foolishly consolidating the Democrat campaign against the very nation they presumably hold dear.

The Conservative Treehouse posted an article on Friday about the battle for America.

The article notes:

Ever since the professional Republican apparatus decided to target, eliminate and destroy the grassroots movement known as the Tea Party, there was always going to come a time when the battle for the heart and soul of the GOP Club would take place.

CTH has been calling this battle ‘The Big Ugly‘ for around a decade.

The Big Ugly battle is essentially the fight between the grassroots working class base of MAGA voters and the professional political snobs in control of the Republican Club boardroom.

Some call it the ‘base’ -vs- the ‘establishment’.  There are other names and catchphrases, but the essence of the dynamic is the same.  A scruffy voting base, who, prior to Donald Trump, had no visible leader to represent their internal interests around the mahogany table.

Ordinary voters were in an abusive relationship with the people around the GOP boardroom.  The Club needed our votes, and our money (less so after the Citizens United decision) but had no intention of ever actually delivering on the priorities of the voters.  The Republican political establishment played Lucy with the football for years, and We The People always ended up flat on our backs, continually frustrated and feeling used.

In the same year the Tea Party rose up, the Supreme Court gave the GOP Club legal access to unlimited corporate money with the 2010 Citizens United decision.  Mitch McConnell used the newly unrestrained campaign finance mechanism to further diminish the influence of the unwashed masses and eliminate the movement; it’s all well documented.

For the next several years we watched and participated in a political pantomime with highlights to include the 2012 installation of Club member Mitt Romney to represent our interests.  Yeah, whatever…. It was a hot mess.   

Please follow the links above to read both articles. Just analyzing where the Republicans spent their money in the mid-terms tells you all you need to know. The Republican Club is much more interesting in holding on to power than they are in representing the voters.

Getting Things Done In Florida

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I am not totally sold on Governor DeSantis of Florida. I think he has done a good job for the state, but I question some of his endorsements and some of the people supporting him. He has serious ties to people I do not trust.

On Wednesday, Just the News reported the following:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new election crimes unit has recommended state police open a full criminal investigation into a Democrat whistleblower’s detailed complaint of a long-running, widespread ballot harvesting operation in the African-American communities in politically important central Florida.

Former Orange County Commissioner candidate Cynthia Harris filed a sworn affidavit in late August with the Secretary of State’s office alleging that illegal operations to collect third-party ballots have been going on for years in the Orlando area where voting activists are paid $10 for each ballot they collect.

She described an intricate system funded by liberal leaning organizations that dispatch ballot brokers into black communities to pressure voters to turn over their ballots. The $10 fee per ballot is divvied up among the parties who help complete the harvesting.

The collection and delivery of ballots by third parties is illegal in Florida.

The newly created Office of Election Crimes and Security did a preliminary inquiry on Harris’ allegations and concluded there was sufficient evidence to warrant a full criminal probe by the state police, the Florida State Department told Just the News on Wednesday.

Ballot harvesting has been a problem in numerous states. It is a serious threat to our representative republic.

In October 2021, Rice University posted an article titled, “The Carter-Baker Commission: 16 Years Later.”

The article lists the steps to election integrity suggested by the Commission:

In response to these concerns, former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, agreed to co-chair a bipartisan commission, housed at Washington D.C.’s American University, to examine these and other outstanding election reform issues. The final report, titled “Building Confidence in U.S. Elections,” stressed the important role of elections in the nation’s democracy and made a series of recommendations, including:

    • A national system to connect state and local voter registration lists
       
    • Voter identification based on a universally available REAL ID card
       
    • Policies to improve voter access for all communities, as well as innovations like vote centers and voter information lookup sites
       
    • Stronger efforts to combat fraud, especially in absentee voting
       
    • Auditable paper backups for all voting technology

Maybe we need to follow the suggestions of the Commission.

 

The Left’s Destruction Machine Goes Into Action

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On Wednesday, Fox News posted the following headline:

Treasury Department inspector general to audit DeSantis migrant flight spending

The article reports:

The Treasury Department inspector general confirmed in a letter to Democratic lawmakers that the agency is planning to audit whether spending by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on migrant flights was improper.

The lawmakers asked the Treasury Department to look into whether Florida improperly used American Rescue Plan funds for the migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, which drew widespread media attention.

Florida lawmakers authorized a $12 million migrant program funded with interest earnings from the federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund, according to documents.

The article concludes:

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., celebrated the announcement Wednesday, taking credit for spurring the Treasury Department into action.

“@USTreasury responded to my letter, confirming that it will investigate [Gov. DeSantis’] use of Covid relief funds to cruelly transport immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard under false pretenses and without any consideration for their personal dignity or basic needs,” Markey boasted.

Fox News Digital has reached out to DeSantis’ office for comment.

Who is paying for the federal government to move illegal immigrants around the country in the dead of night (article here)? Note that the investigation is being done at the request of a liberal Democrat. I am sure that is simply an incredible coincidence.

This is another example of the use of a federal agency to intimidate anyone who challenges the misdeeds of the Biden administration. I suspect there are many more relevant things that the Inspector General should be looking at.

Amazing Progress

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On Tuesday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about Florida’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Ian.

The article reports:

No one imagined this was feasible. Every expert put the timeline for repair at around a year.  However, the git r’ done crews and the Florida Dept of Transportation have accomplished a massive feat of reconstruction in phenomenal time.  Major kudos to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the construction crews who worked every hour of every day, day and night, for two straight weeks and have created/built a temporary bridge to Sanibel Island.

Trust me, having seen the aftermath, this is absolutely remarkable.  The causeway is made up of three bridge spans (A, B, and C) and three spoil islands.

The rapid response construction crews just kept bringing truck after truck of everything imaginable including rocks, concrete slabs, gravel, sand and more to fill in the missing parts of the roadway and spoil islands.  Then they surfaced the road and are now working on paving it in record time.  Today restoration emergency crews drove across the bridges, and they anticipate opening the causeway to residents of Sanibel for civilian use on October 21st.

Here are the pictures:

The article reports:

During a news conference Tuesday in Fort Myers, trucks were seen slowly driving across the bridge — beginning the journey to the island on the Sanibel Causeway.

“Ahead of schedule, it was supposed to be 3 o’clock today they thought they’d get it,” the governor said. “But we’re happy that is something that is being done.”

DeSantis explains the convoy now able to travel on Sanibel Island is a large group, including:

    • 200 bucket trucks
    • 150 line and pickup trucks towing 50 trailers
    • Two tractor trailers
    • First responders

This also includes crews from across the state, Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC), Florida Power and Light and members of the Florida Electric Cooperative Association.

After crews reach the island, the Florida Department of Transportation will be able to continue with repairs to restore access to the island for residents.

This isn’t the first time relief made its way to the island. DeSantis said barges were deployed last week to move equipment and supplies to the area to restore power and running water.  The governor’s office says barges continue to move daily to transport equipment, personnel and supplies.

Kudos to a very effective Governor and to everyone else who worked hard to complete this task so quickly.

Getting Things Done

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On Thursday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about some of the recovery work being done in Florida after the damage caused by Hurricane Ian.

This is a picture of the Matlacha Pass Bridge which connects Pine Island to the mainland taken after the hurricane:

The article reports:

The Florida Department of Transportation completed a temporary land bridge to Pine Island on Wednesday, two days ahead of schedule. Emergency responders will be able use the bridge as of Wednesday afternoon, with the general public to follow a few hours later.

This is the bridge now:

Amazing.

An Interesting Head Fake

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On Tuesday there were rumors that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was going to send an airplane full of migrants to Delaware to President Biden’s home. The press bought into the story and waited at the airport. While they were waiting at the airport, they somehow avoided telling Americans what was actually happening at the southern border.

The Federalist reported the following on Wednesday:

As amazing as it was to watch the media’s best and brightest flock to Delaware at such incredible speed, the same can’t be said for those same “journalists” when it comes to traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border, where Customs and Border Protection just apprehended a dozen people listed on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) in August alone.

According to Fox News, the “[n]ew data released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) this week show that there were 12 individuals encountered by Border Patrol between ports of entry at the border whose names matched on the TSDB – which contains information about the identities of those who are known or ‘reasonably suspected’ of being involved in terrorist activities.”

Let’s put this in perspective. In July 2021, I posted an article about the Biden administration using military bases to fly illegal immigrants around the country. The article came from Breitbart, the media didn’t even bother to report it. In April 2022, The New York Post reported on night flights of illegal immigrants coming into an airport in upstate New York (article here). Somehow the major media overlooked the story. It was okay for the government to fly illegal immigrants anywhere, and there were no complaints. When the immigrants land near the sanctuaries of the rich and powerful, anger, lawsuits, and hysteria follow. Meanwhile, people on the terrorist watch list freely enter our country through our porous southern border.

Something is very wrong with this picture.

When It’s Too Close To Home

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It’s very easy to be in favor of unlimited immigration and sanctuary cities until 50 people show up in your neighborhood with no visible means of support. That is essentially what happened to the residents of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. However, the residents of Martha’s Vineyard, unlike most of us, have amazing political connections that can change things very quickly. The 50 illegal immigrants that arrived on Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday were shipped off to a Cape Cod military base on Friday.

On Friday, The U.K. Daily Mail reported:

On Friday morning three buses pulled up outside of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown to take the mostly Venezuelan migrants on the first leg of their journey to the ferry.

They will be travelling from the elite island of billionaires with holiday mansions – including multi-million homes owned by the Obama’s and Oprah – to the military base on the mainland, escorted by police. 

Lisa Belcastro, a homelessness director in the area said on Thursday that the island cannot support the migrants – where the median home price is nearly $1m- because it is facing a shortage of affordable housing.

The median house in Martha’s Vineyard is worth almost $800,000, according to the census, and the median household income is $77,370 – well above the national average of $67,521.

She told reporters that at ‘some point they have to move somewhere else’, because the island is suffering from a ‘housing crisis’.

The JBCC joint-use base home to five military commands training for missions at home and overseas, conducting airborne search and rescue missions, and intelligence command and control.

The article points out some of the hypocrisy:

Keith Chatinover, a Democrat county commissioner for the area, made comments previously that he would ‘love’ to make the area a ‘haven’ for immigrants.

His comments came in response to Sen Ted Cruz’s pushing a bill for Democrat-led areas to become post of entry for processing migrants.

But he now appears unhappy at having his wish granted, and has retweeted attacks against the Florida governor of being a fascist and human trafficker for sending migrants to the billionaires’ enclave.

He told the MVTimes in October 2021: ‘I would love Martha’s Vineyard to become a haven for new immigrants to this country, but Senator Cruz has no idea what he’s talking about regarding a ‘border crisis.’

But now he is being called out for the comments, after branding DeSantis a ‘fascist’ for escalating the immigration war with Democrat-run areas.

Cruz tweeted that he was ‘confused’ over Chatinover slamming DeSantis for flying the illegal immigrants into the area.

Chatinover tweeted that he does ‘support refugee resettlement’ but has an issue when they are not given ‘advance notice’ to ‘adequately help’ the migrants.

He added that the chaos of the situation for the Republicans to ‘prove a point’ was a ‘blatant disregard’ for human rights.

Chatinover retweeted someone else who called DeSantis ‘fascist scum’ who said he should be ‘prosecuted for human trafficking.’

This event has truly exposed the double standard of many of those who say they support open borders.

When The Problem Comes Home

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On Friday, Power Line Blog posted an article about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s shipping of illegal aliens to Martha’s Vineyard. Martha’s Vineyard is a beautiful place, and I am sure that the immigrants were glad to land there. Unfortunately, the people who live on Martha’s Vineyard were not particularly excited to see the illegal aliens.

The article reports:

The strategy of Greg Abbott and others to send illegal aliens to sanctuary cities around the country was a stroke of genius. Not that it was original: for at least the last five or six years, a friend has been emailing me to the effect that illegals should be sent to Marin County, Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco mansion, and, above all, Martha’s Vineyard. That, he said, would bring the open border problem to a screeching halt.

And it may. Ron DeSantis’s master stroke of sending two planeloads of aliens to Martha’s Vineyard has made liberal heads explode. The irony is evident to everyone. These places are “sanctuaries” for illegal aliens, but if they actually see a few of them they panic. Their yards boast “All Are Welcome Here” signs, but it turns out that some are more welcome than others.

Rasmussen finds that most people approve of Governor Abbott’s shipping illegals to sanctuary cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C., by 52% to 36%. Those 36% are diehard Democrats who think it is fine for Texas to try to deal with one million aliens, but an outrage if a liberal city has to take on a few hundred.

Unlike most Americans, liberals don’t appreciate the irony. Their reaction has been priceless.

The meme below is posted at the bottom of the article:

The article concludes:

Members of the West Tisbury Select Board were told about the unexpected development during a Wednesday night meeting at which Town Administrator Jennifer Rand said she’d been receiving “furious texts” from residents, the MV Times reported.

I’ll bet they were furious! Not just anyone can live on Martha’s Vineyard. Maybe the Vineyard folks can ship the unwanted illegal aliens to a more downscale location, like the Hamptons. Or else the illegal immigrants, of whom there are only around 50, could all stay at Barack Obama’s $12 million estate. There is plenty of room there, and I understand his mansion has 10 bathrooms. That would be more than enough. But don’t hold your breath.

In all seriousness, if there is anything that could motivate Democrats to accept United States sovereignty, this is probably it.

UPDATE: I forgot to add that Governor Abbott also bused around 100 illegals to Kamala Harris’s Washington, D.C., residence, the Naval Observatory. This was in response to Harris’s absurd claim that the southern border is “secure.” No way, say the illegals themselves: the border is “open!” Let’s have more of this, until the Democrats say “Uncle.”

UPDATE: Will the Obamas come through for their illegal friends? Some are doubtful:

Who Belongs To The Club?

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“The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies… is a foolish idea. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.”
― Carroll Quigley

Keep that in mind as you watch the early maneuvering for the 2024 Republican nomination. I suspect President Trump is the choice for most Republicans, but he is NOT the choice of the uni-party, and they are gearing up for the race.

On Saturday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about the Republican Club’s beginning to set the stage to remove President Trump from the running. The article focuses on the financial backing of Nikki Haley, a possible contender for either President or Vice-President.

The article reports:

For a deep dive into the financial construct Nikki Haley put together {Go Here} reference the CTH archives from November 2019, when she registered the Stand For America SuperPAC.  For an overall summary of what she has been doing {GO HERE} and see the internal citations assembled a few weeks ago.  Haley’s superpac donor files have been leaked and the funding pattern is similar to Ron DeSantis, only Nikki Haley has more rich democrats.

There is little doubt the people around Nikki Haley have been positioning her for a 2024 presidential run for approximately three years.

Ms. Haley is following the traditional GOPe map that all republican candidates follow; including the assembly of donations to fund her political ambitions.

Ironically, in late 2019 CTH noted she was registering her financial mechanisms from New York.  Snarkily, we pointed out the location.

It is the New York location of her financial enterprise that has now become her problem.  Someone in New York government leaked the tax filings from her SuperPAC to Politico.  The irony here is a little funny.

The filing is for the year immediately following the creation of the PAC, 2019/2020, filed in 2021.  This list does not include recent donors. Ms Haley’s lawyers tried to block the release of her donor names by Politico.  It didn’t work.  Politico lawyers fired back that her donors are a matter of high public interest.  That’s how the information comes out.

The article concludes:

The Bush clan and professional political cocktail circuit was rebuked in 2016, so we can anticipate their strategy in 2024 will be with those strategic lessons at the forefront.

DeSantis = Closest to MAGA domestically, ergo most valuable to Wall Street for globalist economics.

Noem = MAGA-lite, with a twist of Koch.  Club influencer.  She’s in the race, guaranteed.

[ Watch out for the club to push a DeSantis/Noem ticket.]

Haley = Purebreed Decepticon.  UniParty Establishment favorite. Endorsements from Bush and Cheney likely.

Cruz = Controlled opposition. Useful to draft Haley or Noem into the club lane in exchange for DOJ AG position.

WHAT TO WATCH FIRST – Pay attention to the club meeting this winter (Dec ’22) and the decision on how to line up and modify the 2024 primary election dates by state.  AFTER the dates and sequence are established, then overlay the state delegate changes, if any, from “winner take all” or allocated “proportionally.”  These are club decisions with major ramifications.

The RNC club is a private organization.  They select the rules for the election.

They also knew about the DOJ plan to raid Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, months before the FBI showed up.

The Club is the uni-party. We do not need any more of their leadership. Please follow the link above to read the entire article.

Policies Have Consequences

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On Sunday, NewsMax reported that New York City Police Department officers are leaving the force in droves.

The article reports:

It is a flashing alarm on how bad it is to be a New York City police officer amid rising crime after years of social unrest and calls to defund the police, the New York Post reported.

There have been 2,465 NYPD officers leaving this year to date, a 42% increase from the 1,731 that left by August last year, pension fund data shows.

More alarmingly, those leaving before reaching full pension at 20 years is up 71% (1,098) from this time last year (just 641).

Lynch took exception with the NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey claiming the exodus is due to a large graduating class from the police academy.

“We have had retirement waves caused by large academy classes before — they were nothing like this,” Lynch told the post. “This exodus is the result of cops in the prime of their careers deciding they have had enough.

“The NYPD should stop trying to explain this staffing crisis away, admit there’s a problem and help us fix it.”

The New York Post article cited “anti-cop hostility, bail reform, rising crime,” and the now-paused vaccine mandate as the reasons for the mass resignations.

In July 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was quoted as inviting all policemen from other cities and states to come to Florida and work.

The Western Journal reported:

Republican Florida Gov. Ronald DeSantis welcomed police officers from other states to come and work in Florida on Monday, saying his state has a healthier work culture for law enforcement than others and will back the blue.

“If you have a chance to do law enforcement in Florida versus some of these other jurisdictions, you’re much better off in Florida because we’ll actually stand by law enforcement,” DeSantis said during a speech at Green Cove Springs, according to Florida Politics.

At some point, law and order in the cities where the police are not supported is going to disappear. That is already happening in some cities. Policies matter, and bad policies can negatively impact the quality of life for American citizens.

Standing Up For Children’s Health

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On Thursday, PJ Media reported that Publix supermarkets are refusing to give Covid vaccines to children under five years old. Walmart is refusing to give the vaccine to children under three years old.

The article reports:

With nearly 1,300 stores in seven southern states, most of which are in the Sunshine State, the Florida-headquartered corporation was a major player in executing that state’s vaccination program in 2021. But in March of 2022, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo became the first state surgeon general to advise against COVID shots for healthy children. (Florida state guidelines do recommend parents of children with underlying health conditions or comorbidities consider vaccinating their kids against COVID.)

More recently, Florida became the only U.S. state that declined to pre-order pediatric COVID shots, Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, from the federal government.

Aside from the fact that this is an experimental vaccine, most of the current Covid cases are among vaccinated people. That makes sense because most of the population is vaccinated, but if most of the current cases are among vaccinated people, what good is the vaccine? The claim is being made that if you are vaccinated, you will get a milder case of Covid, but where is the science behind that. How can that be measured?

The article notes:

“I would say we are affirmatively against the COVID vaccine for young kids,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Thursday. “These are the people who have zero risk of getting anything.” He assured Floridians that “There’s not going to be any state programs that are going to be trying to, you know, get COVID jabs to infants and toddlers and newborns. That’s not something that we think is appropriate, and so that’s not where we’re going to be utilizing our resources in that regard.”

DeSantis went on to assert that the FDA panel that approved the shots for infants and toddlers did so to placate panicky parents. “To do an emergency-use authorization for a 6-month-old or a 1-year-old simply to placate anxiety, that’s not the standard when you’re doing this.”

This is an experimental vaccine. Why are we experimenting on our children?

Our Culture Has Fallen, Our Country May Be Next

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There are a lot of signs of a dying republic–high taxes, corruption in high places, lack or basic morality, the end of the middle class, etc. Unfortunately, America currently exhibits all of them. The one I am most concerned about presently is the total cultural rot that has accelerated in America since the mid-1960’s.

On Friday, The Washington Times reported the following:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday she’ll appear on an episode of a popular drag queen show.

Mrs. Pelosi, a California Democrat who represents San Francisco, will make “a special Pride Month appearance” on episode five of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7,” aides said Friday.   

The show is described as “a group of talented drag queens who compete in challenges to impress host RuPaul, the world’s most famous drag queen, to win a cash prize along with a crown and the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar.”

The article concludes:

So-called family-friendly drag performances have popped up across the country, including in Dallas, Texas; Palm Beach, Florida; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington to commemorate Pride Month. 

The acts have drawn outrage from critics who say the performances appear sexual and should not be viewed by children. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his state’s child endangerment laws could be invoked if there are drag shows for children, although he did not comment specifically on the Palm Beach event.

Mr. DeSantis slammed the Dallas “Drag your kids to pride” event, which took place earlier this month at an adult venue decorated with neon signs laced with sexual innuendo. Video went viral of drag queens dancing with the children and taking money from them.

“That is not something children should be exposed to,” Mr. DeSantis said Thursday. 

Drag entertainment is something that is going to happen, and some people are going to go to it. I understand that. However, I expect more from our so-called political leaders.

Wisdom From The Bench

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On Tuesday (updated Wednesday), The Washington Examiner reported that U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga threw out the lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis filed to prevent the ending of the special deal between Disney World and Florida.

The article reports:

A federal judge tossed out a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) that sought to halt the dismantling of the Walt Disney World Resort’s Reedy Creek Improvement District.

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga determined Tuesday that the federal court lacked standing because it was a state issue, the plaintiffs’ First Amendment arguments were flawed, and the lawsuit was premised on a piece of legislation that does not go into effect until July.

“In Count I, Plaintiffs allege that Senate Bill 4-C violates Florida’s Reedy Creek Improvement Act and ‘contractual obligations’ the state owes to Floridians,” Altonaga, a Bush appointee, wrote. “The Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ sole remaining claim for violation of Disney’s First Amendment rights. ‘[A] party generally may assert only his or her own rights and cannot raise the claims of third parties not before the court.'”

In the 1960s, Florida established RCID as a special district under the Reedy Creek Improvement Act. RCID is run by the landowners in the district, predominantly Disney, who oversee basic local government functions such as zoning, infrastructure, and building codes.

The lawsuit was filed last week by William Sanchez, a Democratic contender for Senate. Michael and Edward Foronda and Vivian Gorsky were listed as plaintiffs. The suit challenged a bill DeSantis signed last month stripping RCID of its special district status.

The article concludes:

In response to DeSantis signing the bill, RCID released a statement arguing that the state would be on the hook for its roughly $1 billion in outstanding debt — something DeSantis has disputed.

“In light of the State of Florida’s pledge to the District’s bondholders, Reedy Creek expects to explore its options while continuing its present operations, including levying and collecting its ad valorem taxes and collecting its utility revenues, paying debt service on its ad valorem tax bonds and utility revenue bonds, complying with its bond covenants and operating and maintaining its properties,” RCID said in a statement, per CNN.

It is quite possible that after all is said and done, the taxes of the people in the counties involved may decrease instead of increase. This is something to watch.

How Disney Corporation Built In Florida

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The Daily Wire recently posted an article titled, “‘Shell Companies And Shady Lawyers’: Why Did Disney Get To Govern Itself In Florida?”

The article reports:

Why does a giant entertainment conglomerate get to self-govern on its very own slice of land in the Sunshine State — and who is left better off as that privilege appears to be coming to a close?

…If you have ever visited Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, you have been to the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Sitting in central Florida to the southwest of Orlando, the area was feverishly pursued by Walt Disney himself as the home of his company’s second theme park.

Frustrated by the businesses that crowded Disneyland in California, Walt Disney set up multiple shell companies — with names like Latin-American Development and Management Corp., Tomahawk Properties, and M.T. Lott Co. — to grab tens of thousands of acres in Florida. According to journalist and author David Koenig, who has spent years covering the rise of Disney, the strategy was meant to mask Disney’s intentions in the region and thereby keep real estate as inexpensive as possible.

“There were dozens of landholders, and as soon as someone heard that Disney bought lot one, they knew the price on lots two through 50 would go through the roof,” Koenig explained to the Los Angeles Times. “It had to appear as if it were just a coincidence that there were 10 different companies buying land in the same area.”

Disney took other measures to hide the fact that it was the “mystery” land buyer acquiring uninhabited swampland at a breakneck pace. A blog post from Disney acknowledges that legal counsel Bob Foster — working under the pseudonym “Bob Price” — took steps to obfuscate Disney’s intentions from citizens of Florida. 

The article explains the Reedy Creek Improvement Act:

For several decades, Disney has been a powerful political influence in Florida. According to data from Open Secrets, the company gave $350,000 to $610,000 to seven firms lobbying in Florida during the 2020 election year, followed by $460,000 to $719,974 to eight firms in 2021.

Still, Disney’s greatest lobbying victory came in the years after it acquired the large tracts of land in central Florida.

Gov. Claude Kirk (R-FL) signed the Reedy Creek Improvement Act in 1967 — the year after Walt Disney passed away — in response to the company’s lobby. The legislation allowed the state legislature to establish the Reedy Creek Improvement District, allowing Disney to act with the same authority as a county government for its 39-square-mile property. The district encompasses the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, as well as 175 lane miles of roadway, 67 miles of waterway, various power and water plants, hundreds of restaurants and retail properties, and more than 40,000 hotel rooms.

Most importantly, Reedy Creek has permission to levy taxes, issue bonds, and write its own construction and wastewater management laws — avoiding the regulatory headaches with which other companies throughout the state must wrestle. 

The article concludes:

No matter how the magic stars align, University of Central Florida historian James Clark concluded that there is only one “clear winner” from the situation.

“If taxpayers get stuck with the bonds, then the counties will be the big losers from this bill, and Disney loses a lot by losing the control they get from having Reedy Creek,” Clark said. “The only clear winner if this bill passes is Ron DeSantis.”

“Whatever you do,” Walt Disney once said, “do it well.” It seems that DeSantis has taken that advice to heart.

When lobbyists get their way, the result does not always favor the voters and taxpayers. The Reedy Creek Improvement Act was not a good thing–no business should be able to set up their own fiefdom making their own laws in the middle of a state.

Don’t Mess With Ron DeSantis!

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On Friday, Just the News reported that Florida Governor Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that will strip Walt Disney World of its special tax and administrative status after the company opposed a parental rights bill the state passed in late March. I have very mixed emotions about this. The head of a corporation should be free to express opposition to a law without the state government penalizing the corporation. It is quite possible that it was time for the ‘Disney deal’ to end, but I am uncomfortable with it being in response to a political stand.

The article reports:

The Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special administrative unit under Disney control will cease to exist under the measure, according to CBS News.

After Florida passed a parental rights bill, derided by critics as a “Don’t Say Gay” measure, the company organized opposition to the law and vowed to see it repealed. The company’s stance earned sharp rebuke from Florida Republicans, who quickly moved to revoke the company’s tax privileges.

In late March, DeSantis signed into law the Parental Rights in Education bill which limited discussion of sexual topics in the classroom by grade levels and restricted inappropriate material.

Disney stock fell 2.79% on Friday, according to Google Finance. Company stock has fallen 31.25% in the past 6 months and trades for $118.27 per share as of press time.

I believe that the Parental Rights in Education bill was a good bill and that Governor DeSantis was correct in signing it. I also believe that a lot of what was reported about the bill was inaccurate and designed to create opposition to the bill. However, I am sincerely concerned about the way the Disney situation was handled. Would conservatives be celebrating if the shoe were on the other foot?

A Tribute To A Future President

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Our Founding Fathers regarded the states as laboratories for successful governing. If a state did something that was successful, it was assumed that other states would follow. Unfortunately party politics has gotten in the way of that concept, but somehow one state occasionally manages to lead the way in successful governance. Right now, Florida is that state. The following video is only one example of the appreciation residents of Florida have for their Governor. The video is posted on YouTube.

You do not have to be a genius to see Governor Ron DeSantis as a future candidate for President. The only question is what dirty tricks the Democrats and the media will attempt to prevent that from happening. I personally would love to see a Trump/DeSantis ticket in 2024.

A Long Overdue Idea

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There have been rumblings about what goes on in Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Florida for years. I had a friend tell me once that when she took her children there, she took pictures of what they were wearing and specifically of their shoes because she feared kidnapping. That seems a little extreme, but she was genuinely concerned.

On Saturday, PJ Media posted an article about changes that may be coming to Disney in Florida.

The article reports:

On Friday, my PJ Media colleague Rick Moran wrote that DeSantis and other GOP legislators in the Sunshine State have mused about repealing the legislation that gave Disney its own governmental authority over the Walt Disney Word property over 50 years ago.

I predicted that this could be a nuclear option for DeSantis last month when I wrote, “If Disney did criticize Florida too harshly, the state could play hardball and threaten to revoke the legislation that created the company’s special quasi-governmental designation, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which allows the company to operate with less interference from the state and county governments.”

Many of you have wondered what exactly that means, but first, let me give you a little background into Disney’s special governing authority, which is called the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

I’ve written tons about Disney history here at PJ Media and in my book Neon Crosses (which you really should buy). In Neon Crosses, I explained the concept behind the creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

“Before Walt died, the legal team discovered a somewhat obscure Florida law that allowed for the creation of special improvement districts with a different form of governance than a traditional municipality. Bob Foster convinced Walt that petitioning the state legislature to allow Disney to govern its own property under that law was the way to go. An improvement district would grant the company exemptions from local building codes and would allow Disney to create its own first response and telecommunications services.”

Creating the Reedy Creek Improvement District allowed Disney to develop state-of-the-art communications systems that no one else had ever tried, implement innovative environmental control measures, and build unique buildings all without local government interference.

With recent attacks by Disney executives on the Florida law that reaffirms parents’ rights and prevents exposing young children to sexual issues beyond their understanding, Disney has put its special status in jeopardy.

The article notes:

Another thing Disney could lose is immense tax breaks that could cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars, although DeSantis has hinted that he’s inclined to leave those alone.

“DeSantis said Friday those tax benefits likely aren’t at any risk of going away, however, claiming those tax breaks are ones “that any business would be eligible for” and there are “no special tax breaks that are Disney-specific that we would contemplate’ taking away,” Durkee writes.

Disney still sees opposing the Parental Rights in Education law as a matter of “right and wrong,” as former CEO Bob Iger called it.

…But, as National Review‘s Jim Geraghty points out, “This is a law, again, that forbids teaching sexual topics such as “gender identity” to children between the ages of four and nine. For all their blathering, not a single Disney executive has attempted to explain what precisely is so ‘harmful’ and ‘immoral” about that.”

DeSantis and Florida’s Republicans are certain about the right and wrong of protecting the state’s children from sexualization in schools against parents’ permission. They’re willing to do everything they can to combat Disney’s wokeness, and they have some powerful tools they can use if they need to. But will it come down to those nuclear options?

Some recent comments by Disney executives in charge of Disney entertainment might cause parents to rethink any support they might have had for Disney and its products.

Responding To Public Pressure

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On Saturday, Fox Business reported that GoFundMe had reversed its decision to redistribute the donations made to the Canadian truck drivers protesting vaccine mandates and other Covid restrictions. GoFundMe was planning to redistribute the donations made for the truckers to other organizations.

The article reports:

Facing a potential fraud investigation by the state of Florida, GoFundMe reversed a decision to redistribute money given by thousands of donors to the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” protesting COVID-19 regulations.

On Friday, the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe froze the convoy’s official campaign, claiming law enforcement convinced the company that the convoy had become violent and unlawful.

GoFundMe encouraged donors to submit a refund form, and said that any funds not properly returned to donors would be donated to a charity chosen by the Freedom Convoy.

Within hours, however, GoFundMe walked back the refund applications, instead announcing it would be refunding donors automatically.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he would “investigate” the company, accusing them of fraud.

The article concludes:

Critics of the company’s haphazard cancellation include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who questioned whether there is a “double-standard,” given past fundraisers for legal funds in defense of antifa members and criminal protesters.

There is a double standard. There is also the fact that organizations should not be able to take donations for one case and channel them to another cause. Good for Governor DeSantis for standing up to the attempted theft of charitable donations.