DeSantis and Florida

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

Gov. DeSantis takes aim at Florida teachers' unions with proposal to end automatic dues withdrawal



Prior version of this legislation would have impacted other unions, including those for police, corrections officers and firefighters. But the current House bill exempts those groups making this primarily about teachers’ unions. DeSantis also suggested that unions that no longer represent a majority of the people they are negotiating for should be decertified.


DeSantis also indicated he supports setting a threshold for unions to represent teachers. That threshold would involve at least 50 percent of teachers being members of the unions.
“If they don’t have a majority of the teachers who are actually signing up to pay dues, it should be decertified,” DeSantis said. “You shouldn’t be able to continue as a zombie organization that doesn’t have the support of the people you are negotiating for.”


Later in his statement, DeSantis predicted that teachers’ unions in Florida would fight back hard in coming years. “I think a lot of the teachers’ unions were surprised at how much effort all of us put in to these races,” he said. He continued, “Well guess what they’re going to do. They’re going to double down and they’re going to come at it even harder, guns blazing, because this is an entrenched interest. They get their money from being able to be involved in these systems.
 

spr1975wshs

Mostly settled in...
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I have long thought that any union, the members of which are paid with tax dollars, should be banned from spending any money for political purposes.

My aunt Charlotte was a public school teacher for close to 40 years. Politicization of the teachers unions is one of the worst things to happen to teaching is her opinion. That from someone whose father was a Teamsters organizer.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

Health Officials and Other 'Experts' Worried About DeSantis Grand Jury Probing COVID Vax 'Wrongdoing'




As my colleague Bob Hoge reported, the court last Thursday approved DeSantis’s petition to impanel a grand jury to investigate COVID vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna and claims that the mRNA “vaccination” caused myocarditis and whether the pharmaceutical giants were aware of the issue.

Now, as reported by the Blaze, a number of health officials and so-called experts are worried about the impact that the grand jury probe may have on “vaccine hesitancy and the public’s faith in the medical establishment.”

Hang on. If the probe finds no wrongdoing by Pfizer and Moderna or problems with the mRNA vax, wouldn’t that increase the public’s faith in the medical establishment?

In addition, Joshua Sharfstein, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration principal deputy commissioner, told The Hill:

This is turning a matter of health and science into a political wedge issue, with the likely consequence that many people will be misled into placing themselves and their families at risk of serious illness and death.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

☕️ OCCUPIED ☙ Tuesday, December 27, 2022 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠



So let’s do another one! In the wake of news of the Florida Supreme Court’s approval of the Governor’s petition for a Covid Grand Jury, the Hill ran a stale cold-take yesterday headlined, “DeSantis’s Request for COVID Vaccine Probe Denounced by Health Experts.”

Denounced!

Well, not exactly. The halfhearted story rounded up a rogue’s gallery of compliant “experts” to criticize the Governor. One omission in particular would’ve earned the writer an “F”: they failed to mention a single one of DeSantis’ own experts who spoke eloquently at his roundtable justifying the Grand Jury. They did mention the roundtable, and I give them props for linking it on Rumble. (Sorry, YouTube!)

Here’s the Hill’s entire description of the Governor’s RoundTable:

The request was first made known during a roundtable discussion the Florida governor held last week, in which he condemned what he viewed as the linking of morality to pandemic mitigation methods such as staying at home in the early parts of the outbreak and getting vaccinated once the shots became available later on, and criticized federal COVID-19 guidance as being a “huge political farce.”​


That is all true, he did make those points. But overall, the Governor actually spoke very little at the roundtable. He mainly asked questions and let his public health and infectious disease experts answer. But oddly, the Hill omitted ALL reference to ANYTHING the Governor’s experts said. For all its readers know, nobody else attended the roundtable. It was a roundtable with one big chair.

This is what is goes for “balance” these days. Maybe the Hill reporter was working at the speed of journalism?

Anyway, the Hill summarized the opinions of its crack squad of counter-experts like this:

Public health experts and physicians, however, said DeSantis’s approach to scrutinizing the vaccines was flawed and counterproductive to promoting public health.​


I bet they hated having to add the words “approach to.” To please their demanding pharma masters, the cowardly sycophant reporters really wanted say that “scrutinizing the vaccines” itself is “counterproductive.” But they knew it would give away the game, tipping a story that is practically a vaccine advertisement right into the marketing bin.

So they were left with this tepid argument: DeSantis “approach” to “scrutinizing” vaccines is supposedly flawed and counterproductive. How “flawed?” How “counterproductive?” The Hill doesn’t say, not exactly, nor does it suggest any less-flawed or more productive way to “scrutinize the vaccines.”

The Hill’s entire premise is wrong. DeSantis isn’t going to scrutinize the vaccines, that’s the Grand Jury’s job. Actually, even the Grand Jury won’t scrutinize the vaccines. They are what they are, and aren’t. The Grand Jury is going to scrutinize the PEOPLE who pushed the vaccines using false information, like the claim that you’d help end the pandemic by taking the vaccine, or that the mRNA would stick in the injection site instead of seeping into your heart, brain, testicles and ovaries.

Rather than explain its premise, the Hill mounted a weak defense of the jabs using the “previously stated” opinions of un-identified experts and un-named “studies”:

As has been previously stated by physicians and researchers, no vaccine is 100 percent effective, but studies have consistently shown the coronavirus vaccines offer strong enough protection for recipients to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death.


Really? The jabs have “strong enough protection” to “prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death?”

That’s weird, especially in light of the Washington Post’s “pandemic of the vaccinated” article last month, in which it said:

For the first time, a majority of Americans dying from the coronavirus received at least the primary series of the vaccine. Fifty-eight percent of coronavirus deaths in August were people who were vaccinated or boosted… a continuation of a troubling trend that has emerged over the past year. As vaccination rates have increased and new variants appeared, the share of deaths of people who were vaccinated has been steadily rising. In September 2021, vaccinated people made up just 23 percent of coronavirus fatalities. In January and February this year, it was up to 42 percent[.]


Huh. If the jabs “prevent” death as the Hill claimed yesterday, how could almost 60% of Covid deaths be in VACCINATED people? Maybe I don’t understand what “prevent” means.

Next, the Hill’s roundup of cherry-picked experts criticized the Grand Jury as follows:

DeSantis “appears to be focused on creating fear around vaccines that have been shown to be safe and effective,” rather than protecting the lives of Floridians.

In other words, the Grand Jury might hurt vaccine sales, which are already on a ventilator. It also claimed to be able to look into the Governor’s mind, bypassing the reasons the Governor and his experts gave, and telling us the “real” reason for the Grand Jury: to create fear.

But, do you know who’s DEFINITELY been creating fear? That’s right, the media. Apparently it’s okay when the media does it, to sell vaccines, but it’s not okay for the Governor to do it, even assuming the Hill correctly imputed the Governor’s motive.

There are legitimate avenues for evaluating vaccine recommendations, but DeSantis’s investigation request was not one. “This is turning a matter of health and science into a political wedge issue, with the likely consequence that many people will be misled into placing themselves and their families at risk of serious illness and death.”

Are they really trying to get us to believe, at this point, that there weren’t any politics involved in vaccine recommendations? It was always only “health and science?”

“His understanding of the facts or at least his articulation of the facts are just wrong.”

Okay, but WHICH facts were articulated wrong? Hello?

The investigation is “a waste of taxpayer money and time and effort.”

You have got to be kidding me.

“No one has either inappropriately or purposely either overstated or understated the vaccine in any way. It’s a brand-new technology. Like any brand-new technology, you make some assumptions about what you think’s going to happen. It actually turned out to be a whole lot better than most people thought it would be.”

This guy should review one of those collections of clips showing officials overstating the vaccine before he gives statements to media. And claiming that the vaccines worked out better than most people thought is pure gaslighting. NOBODY thinks that. He just made it up.

Myocarditis following vaccination is a “transient phenomenon” from which the vast majority of patients fully recovered.

The heart muscle NEVER HEALS; cardiac damage is always permanent. The Hill’s expert didn’t cite any studies for this, either (he generally cited to a CDC “survey”). And ask all the dead people about how transient their myocarditis was. Oh wait, you can’t.

“The message is not as credible when [public officials] get into the weeds and start arguing really technical details without having the background and training.”

But again, DESANTIS didn’t argue any technical details. He listened to the experts, who did have the background and training.

It’s obvious that none of the Hill’s experts actually watched the roundtable, and not one of them commented on what DeSantis’ experts said, even though the story was based on the roundtable. The truth is, all the Hill’s experts’ arguments were rebutted in the roundtable discussion.

Bottom line: DeSantis outplayed the media. Again!
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
A federal judge ruled that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration did not violate a court order regarding the state’s "Stop WOKE Act," which prohibits colleges from promoting critical race theory lessons and targets other "woke" concepts prevalent on higher education campuses.

"Although this court would not hesitate to compel compliance with its preliminary injunction, this court finds there has been no violation of the injunction at this time," U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker wrote on Thursday, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Plaintiffs had challenged the law, known as the "Stop Wrongs To Our Kids and Employees Act" or "Stop WOKE Act," arguing that the DeSantis administration had failed to comply with a preliminary injunction that prevents the enforcement of some parts of the law.



 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
⛑️ Yesterday the Epoch Times ran an encouraging story — heavily quoting your favorite blogging lawyer — reporting that DeSantis Administration officials say the Governor is working to allow the hospital covid liability shield to expire on June 23rd.

Link: EXCLUSIVE: Florida’s DeSantis Hopes to Let Hospital Immunity Related to COVID Die, Insider Says.

The ‘leak’ signals to Florida legislators that DeSantis would not sign a bill extending the much-hated law. Hopefully they take the hint. If necessary, we’ll help them remember.

I predict that, if the liability shield expires, hospital covid patients will suddenly and unexpectedly start having much better outcomes. Florida hospitals might discover they don’t need ventilators as much unless they keep putting people into medically-induced comas, and those might become a lot less necessary. Just saying.

PATIENT: “Doc, I have this mild cough and a slight fever.”

ER DOCTOR: “It could be the Kraken. Lie down here and we’ll put you into a medical coma and take over breathing for you. That will stop the coughing.”

PATIENT: “Sounds great! Can I call my wife first?”

ER DOCTOR: “No. That’s against covid policy.”

PATIENT: “Okay. Tell her I said I love her.”

That will all stop about ten seconds after the immunity shield goes away. Allowing the liability shield to expire is the easiest way to get rid of it, politically-speaking. It’s progress.

The rest of the states should take note. If you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.


 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

‘Incomprehensible’: White House Press Secretary Blasts DeSantis for Rejecting AP African-American History Course



“It is incomprehensible to see that this is what this ban–or this block, to be more specific–that DeSantis has put forward. If you think about the study of Black Americans, that is what he wants to block and, again, these types of actions aren’t new, especially from what we’re seeing from Florida, sadly,” Jean-Pierre told the White House press corps.


The DeSantis administration sent a memo to the College Board, the organization responsible for devising AP curricula, stating that the pilot AP African-American Studies course is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

[clip]

A draft of the AP African-American studies curricula obtained by National Review promotes the notion that color-blindness is a form of covert racism.

Glossing over the substance of DeSantis’s objections to the course, Jean-Pierre implied that he is hostile to the teaching of African-American history in general, not specifically the curricula put forward by the College Board.

“Let’s not forget, they didn’t ban–they didn’t block . . . AP European History; they didn’t block our music history; they didn’t block our art history. But the state chooses to block a course that is meant for high achieving high school students to learn about their history of arts and culture. And it is incomprehensible,” she said.



Blocking Our CRT Based Lies are Racism
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

On Eve of Black History Month, Florida Rejects Pilot Course for African American Studies

‘A Rigorous, Multi-Year Pilot Phase’​



They also “shall be an educational activity which constitutes a part of the instructional program approved by the district school board” listed in the “Course Code Directory and Instructional Personnel Assignments” for the year of a student’s membership. The pilot program—AP African American Studies—is not on the approved list (pdf) for grades 9-12 for the 2022-2023 school year.

“Like all new AP courses, AP African American Studies is undergoing a rigorous, multi-year pilot phase, collecting feedback from teachers, students, scholars, and policymakers,” Jerome White, Director of Communications for the College Board told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

“The process of piloting and revising course frameworks is a standard part of any new AP course, and frameworks often change significantly as a result. We will publicly release the updated course framework when it is completed and well before this class is widely available in American high schools. We look forward to bringing this rich and inspiring exploration of African-American history and culture to students across the country.”

As outlined on the AP website, the plan for the 2022-2023 school year is to implement AP African American Studies in 60 schools across the country and to expand the program to hundreds of additional high schools. By the 2024-2025 school year, the goal is for every school to start offering AP African American Studies courses and to start administering the first AP African American Studies Exams in 2025.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

Karine Jean-Pierre says DeSantis wants to 'block' study of 'Black Americans' after rejecting AP course



Jean Pierre made the comments during a White House Press briefing on Friday, calling the move by the DeSantis administration "incomprehensible."

"If you think about the study of Black Americans, that is what he wants to block," Jean Pierre said. "These types of actions aren't new. They are not new from what we're seeing, especially from Florida. Sadly, Florida currently bans teachers from talking about who they are and who they love."

"They didn't block AP European history. They didn't block our music history. They didn't block our art history. But the state chooses to block a course that is meant for high achieving high school students to learn about their history of arts and culture. It is incomprehensible," she added.
 

spr1975wshs

Mostly settled in...
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Patron
^The public school system where I went K - 12, we learned about all Americans who were historical figures.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

Gov. Ron DeSantis Lowers the *BOOM* on Florida Teachers' Unions



Speaking at an event called “Florida, the Education State” in Jacksonville on Monday, DeSantis outlined his plan to rein in unions’ power.

DeSantis opened the event with the good news first, detailing how teachers’ salaries were up under his administration, fulfilling a promise to hit a minimum average salary of $47,500 for Florida teachers. With that goal met, “the state would put more funds into a program to raise salaries of current teachers,” according to WFLA.

Then he lowered the *BOOM* on the unions, announcing his intention to end the automatic deduction of union dues from teachers’ paychecks.


 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

College Board to Change Course After DeSantis Stands Up to 'African-American Studies' AP Class




Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has once more found himself in the news as he's weathered standing up to woke ideologies and agendas. Last week, as Guy covered, the governor's office expressed concern that the pilot version of an AP African-American Studies (APAAS) course violated state law, with Guy providing subsequent information in defense of such concerns. On Tuesday, however, the governor's office released a statement indicating that the College Board has said it would revise the course.


A statement from the College Board is included in Lydia Nusbaum's report for Florida's Voice:

“Before a new AP course is made broadly available, it is piloted in a small number of high schools to gather feedback from high schools and colleges. The official course framework incorporates this feedback and defines what students will encounter on the AP Exam for college credit and placement,” the College Board said. “We are grateful for the contributions of experts, teachers, and students and look forward to sharing the framework broadly.”


The governor's office also rereleased a statement from Florida Department of Education (FDOE) Communications Director Alex Lanfranconi. "We are glad the College Board has recognized that the originally submitted course curriculum is problematic, and we are encouraged to see the College Board express a willingness to amend. AP courses are standardized nationwide, and as a result of Florida’s strong stance against identity politics and indoctrination, students across the country will consequentially have access to an historically accurate, unbiased course," Lanfranconi said.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
First, it rewrites a bunch of the rules related to teachers’ unions. Teachers would no longer be REQUIRED to join the local union, and they could not be punished in any way for opting out. It would require unionized teachers to pay their union dues directly, not through a paycheck deduction, and would require annual disclosure to members of the costs of membership. And union officials may not earn more from the union than the highest-paid teacher in that union gets paid by their school.

And that’s not all, not by a long shot.

Next, and this is truly amazing, the new law would set 8-year term limits on school board service. This will help break up the blue school boards, whose members used make entire careers out of school board service. A 12-year term limit was more recently enacted, and this new law would shorten the time even more, to only two terms.

Finally, the whole thing is wrapped in a delicious breakfast burrito of a billion-dollar raise for teachers and individual liability protections for teachers from harassment by woke school administrators when teachers do things like buck illegal orders to teach materials they know are prohibited by Florida statute. Plus it would give teachers a way to file complaints against school officials who try to get them to break the law, and creates new powers to investigate those complaints.




 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
The first and most obvious reason is the original draft of this class. As College Board admits, the racist preliminary draft of this course is being piloted in dozens of high schools right now. A company that puts out such materials into classrooms is not a company one can trust to fix what’s wrong with them.

Furthermore, the company released this appalling draft under cover of secrecy. College Board alleges that its curricula used in public schools and funded almost entirely by tax dollars comprise “trade secrets” and therefore can’t be released to the taxpayers paying for them. Such secrecy and intimidation are suspicious in themselves and should be regarded as such.

Anything administered to children in public schools should be able to be published or, in the limited instance of tests, viewed by outside reviewers on behalf of the public. Anyone who resists such basic public transparency that is expected of every government entity and action doesn’t deserve public contracts.

A third reason not to give College Board the benefit of the doubt is its use of close ties with the Democrat-controlled White House to push lies about its draft curricula and to politicize American history. As DeSantis said, it’s completely false to describe “queer theory” as somehow relevant to African-American history. Yet that is what the White House did when running interference for College Board on this class.

College Board President David Coleman was the chief architect of Common Core. Because of that history, he is personally known to multiple high-level educrats from the Obama White House, which has been largely replicated in the Biden administration. He clearly used his extremely high-level Democrat connections to try to protect his corporation’s lucrative curriculum monopoly here.



 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

Civil-Rights Attorney Ben Crump Threatens to Sue DeSantis for Rejecting AP African-American Studies Course



“We’re here to give notice to Gov. DeSantis that if he does not negotiate with the College Board to allow AP African American Studies to be taught in the classrooms across the state of Florida, that these three young people will be the lead plaintiffs,” Crump told the crowd gathered at the “Stop the Black Attack” rally.

Crump’s threat comes just days after DeSantis decided to reject the pilot AP program because it was “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

A draft of the curriculum first obtained by National Review revealed that the draft promoted the idea that color-blindness is a form of covert racism.

News of the DeSantis government withholding approval of the course’s curriculum drew the ire of the Biden administration. Karine Jeanne-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the decision “incomprehensible.”
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
“We’re here to give notice to Gov. DeSantis that if he does not negotiate with the College Board to allow AP African American Studies to be taught in the classrooms across the state of Florida, that these three young people will be the lead plaintiffs,” Crump told the crowd gathered at the “Stop the Black Attack” rally.

Be my guest douchebag.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

College Board Revises AP African American Studies Course After Florida Pushback



AllSides Summary​

The College Board released a revised version of its Advanced Placement African American studies course on Wednesday, following Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R) decision to block the program from being taught in the state’s schools.
The Details: Several writers and scholars associated with critical race theory (CRT), the black queer experience, and black feminism were removed from the curriculum. Required teachings on Black Lives Matter and reparations were also removed. Both subjects remain on a list of options for a required research project, along with the newly-added "black conservatism."
Key Quotes: "At the College Board, we can’t look to statements of political leaders," said CEO David Coleman. He attributed the changes to "the input of professors" and "longstanding A.P. principles."
For Context: DeSantis took issue with the inclusion of curriculum covering queer theory, intersectionality, and abolishing prisons, and accused it of harboring a political agenda. "We want education, not indoctrination," he said at the time.
How the Media Covered It: Right-rated sources typically framed the revised curriculum as a win for "anti-woke" education. One writer for National Review praised DeSantis, saying it "took courage to face a torrent of false racism charges and get this win." Some left-rated sources highlighted criticism of DeSantis and the College Board. Several left-rated opinion writers, including from Washington Post and New York Times (Lean Left bias), said DeSantis "attacked" black history and attempted to "erase" it from high school curriculum.
 
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