DeSantis and Florida

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
There is a frustrating amount of glee dwelling within negative reporting on Florida. ABC affiliates run headlines that sound like sports coverage, such as “‘We’re not in a good place’: Florida leading states in COVID-19 cases following spike.” The Associated Press smugly released “Florida mayors defy DeSantis with mask, vaccine mandates,” an article chock-full of snippets from Governor DeSantis’s political opponents. It all seems to be an effort to make an emerging conservative political leader out to be failing.

But he is not.

The media are right to point out that hospitalizations and cases have spiked in the Sunshine State. Medical centers in Tallahassee and Central Florida once again have had to suspend elective procedures because of patient overloads. But the corresponding death spike is not present in the data, as Florida continues to have around 0.24 daily deaths per 100,000 residents. While this is above the national average, it is also below the rate of some Democrat-run states, such as Nevada (0.39 per 100,000), and also fails to account for Florida’s status as the second-most-elderly state in the union. There’s a lot at play here, and you can always count on journalists to omit important details.

The most loathsome thing to recently come out of the media is “The right’s new tone on COVID vaccines,” published by the Los Angeles Times editorial board. The only possible justification for this festering excrescence would be if the entire opinion staff of the LAT suffered a collective bout of amnesia. They claim that, had “DeSantis and other prominent Republicans been as forceful vaccine supporters as President Biden . . . from the start of the immunization campaign, the country might not have to consider new mask mandates and other restrictions.” They must be joking.


 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
DeSantis Press Secretary Suspended on Twitter for Calling Out AP Reporter Over 'Misleading' Story



"No one from our office ever threatened him," Pushaw told FOX News. "His story drew harsh criticism because it was false - and discouraged people from seeking life-saving treatment. Instead of owning up to that and retracting their hit piece, AP doubled down and tried to make the story about the backlash the reporter received."

The AP's report covered DeSantis urging COVID-positive Florida residents to take a monoclonal antibody treatment created by Regeneron, in which a company of a major DeSantis donor has invested millions in.

However, in the story, the AP also noted that the drug had been shown to be highly effective and was also touted by the Biden administration. DeSantis donor's hedge fund, Citadel, also was reported in the AP story to have had a smaller share in Regeneron than BlackRock, which has donated more to Democrats.

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"They got caught publishing misinformation that could endanger the lives of Floridians by making them unduly trust a life-saving treatment … over a governor they've decided they don't like," Pushaw said. "They got called out for it in part because of me, in part because the story was so obviously wrong … They brought this on themselves by publishing this kind of dangerous misinformation."
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattv...-us-forces-wo-n2594497?utm_campaign=inarticle
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Another DeSantis 'Scandal' Implodes




Did you year about the latest "evidence" reported by the "news" media that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is both terrible on COVID and corrupt? The Associated Press published a story yesterday that quickly gained traction among the "RON DEATHSENTENCE" crowd – primarily comprised of bored resistance warriors and nervous leftists seeking to kill his political career (many journalists fall into both categories, of course). The headline looked pretty damning. Why is DeSantis resisting government mask mandates while peddling expensive snake oil from which his fat cat donor profits? "Scandal" alert:




The first few paragraphs (beyond which few people ever read, if they read past the headline), create the atmospherics of a scandal:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has been criticized for opposing mask mandates and vaccine passports — is now touting a COVID-19 antibody treatment in which a top donor’s company has invested millions of dollars. DeSantis has been flying around the state promoting Regeneron, a monoclonal antibody treatment that was used on then-President Donald Trump after he tested positive for COVID-19. The governor first began talking about it as a treatment last year. Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund, has $15.9 million in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceutical, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has donated $10.75 million to a political committee that supports DeSantis — $5.75 million in 2018 and $5 million last April.
And then come...all the other details:
It’s not unusual for hedge funds to have a wide range of investments. And BlackRock, which has primarily donated to Democratic candidates, though has also donated substantially to Republicans, has a large holding in the company - more so than Citadel. “Early treatment with these monoclonal antibodies – Regeneron and others – have proven to radically reduce the chances that somebody ends up being hospitalized,” DeSantis said Monday at a treatment site in Orlando. “Reducing hospital admissions has got to be a top priority.” Experts agree with him. The drugs, when given within 10 days of initial symptoms, have been shown to cut rates of hospitalization and death by roughly 70%. “We definitely need treatments like monoclonal antibodies that can prevent mild disease from progressing to severe disease. Ultimately, it’s still best to prevent someone from contracting COVID-19 in the first place,” said Dr. Leana Wen, public health professor at George Washington University and former Baltimore Health Commissioner...

Citadel’s investment in Regeneron is a tiny fraction of its overall $39 billion in investments, but if the stock price were to go up, Citadel would benefit. DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw points out that Citadel has far greater investments in Moderna and Pfizer, which manufacture COVID-19 vaccines. But the relationship has generated a buzz on social media, as Democrats question the relationship ... Florida has set up treatment sites in Jacksonville, Orlando and Brevard County. The state plans to add more sites...The federal government is paying for the monoclonal antibody treatments and patients aren’t being charged for the antibody cocktail.

Well then. A huge Democrat-funding hedge fund is invested much more heavily in this company, which is a fractional part of DeSantis' donor's hedge fund portfolio. Indeed, Citadel is much more deeply invested in companies that produced the wildly successful COVID vaccines that DeSantis has repeatedly and consistently touted. Strangely, the AP headline was not, "DeSantis Promotes COVID Vaccines Linked to Ally's Investments." In fairness, the media has already tried to make a scandal out of DeSantis' smart and successful vaccine distribution strategy, an effort that famously crashed and burned (I look forward to "60 Minutes" blowing the lid off the Regeneron story in a few months).
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
They do this all the time - remember when it was dogpile on Elise Stefanik and Josh Hawley? Any time a young Republican shows leadership and gets some press for it the Democrat newsbots join forces and gang up on them, digging up stupid crap from when they were in freaking high school. They were all hot to eviscerate Madison Cawthorne until it was brought to their attention that viciously attacking a young guy in a wheelchair is some heinous chit.
 

Kyle

ULTRA-F###ING-MAGA!
PREMO Member
They were all hot to eviscerate Madison Cawthorne until it was brought to their attention that viciously attacking a young guy in a wheelchair is some heinous chit.

CNN still does.

They just do it in an underhanded way.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
The Strange Saga Of An AP Article Trying To Condemn Gov. DeSantis For Pushing COVID-19 Treatments


Still, the AP forged ahead with a biased article that is yet another media contribution to the attempt to paint DeSantis as a villain.

The AP article led many on the Left to make baseless claims regarding the donor and DeSantis. One such claim, from the left-wing Democratic Underground, ended up getting fact-checked as “mostly false” by Politifact, itself a left-leaning outlet. The Democratic Underground claimed DeSantis “has been discouraging masking and downplaying Covid vaccines” while encouraging the antibody treatments.

“You’ll be amazed to learn that the second-largest investor in Regeneron is Citadel Investment Group,” whose CEO, Ken Griffin, is “DeSantis’ number one political donor,” the Democratic Underground claimed in an Instagram post.

Politifact noted, however, that Citadel is not Rengeron’s “second-largest investor,” and that while Griffin is a major donor to DeSantis, he isn’t the number 1 donor (though the outlet noted Democratic Underground didn’t give a donation time frame).
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
‘Clicks-First, Facts-Later’: DeSantis Rips Associated Press For Pushing ‘False Narrative’ ‘Which Will Cost Lives’



The AP article attempted to draw a connection between hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin’s financial support of DeSantis’ campaign and DeSantis’ support of Regeneron’s monoclonal antibodies treatment. Griffin’s hedge fund, Citadel, has $15.9 million worth of shares in Regeneron Pharmaceutical Inc.

The AP article played up DeSantis’ connection to the hedge fund while disregarding President Joe Biden’s, who also backs Regeneron’s treatment and who has also received financial backing from Griffin. The AP article also undercuts its own thesis by noting that hedge funds often “have a wide range of investments,” and that Citadel’s investment in Regeneron is a “tiny fraction” of its $39 billion worth of investments.”

Pushaw drew attention to the article over the weekend. In a now-deleted tweet, she called on her followers to “drag,” or ridicule, the AP over the article. She also demanded that the AP reporter who wrote the story, Brendan Farrington, change some parts of the story. Pushaw was later temporarily suspended by Twitter.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
The press in this country has gotten way out of hand. They've been biased for as long as I can remember, but now they're flat out making chit up. And anyone who pushes back gets silenced on social media.

Good for Ron DeSantis for not putting up with this chit and taking these monsters to task.
 

UglyBear

Well-Known Member

Counting “cosmetic enhancements to conceal inner ugliness”...
Great, let’s do our assistant to Sec of Health now!
158957
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Florida judge rejects DeSantis' ban on mask mandates in schools


The governor’s office said the state plans to appeal the ruling.

"It’s not surprising that Judge Cooper would rule against parents' rights and their ability to make the best educational and medical decisions for their family, but instead rule in favor of elected politicians," spokeswoman Taryn Fenske said in a statement. "This ruling was made with incoherent justifications, not based in science and facts — frankly not even remotely focused on the merits of the case presented."
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Doctor who promoted ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment has advised Florida’s governor



Dr. Mark McDonald of Los Angeles is among a fringe group of outspoken medical professionals who have pushed ivermectin as an alternative to widespread vaccination against coronavirus. McDonald called ivermectin an “effective, safe, inexpensive treatment” in a Aug. 5 Twitter post, and he shared an article by the Jerusalem Post citing a recent study of the drug in Israel.

McDonald called people who think ivermectin is a drug for horses “ignoramuses” in a tweet posted Monday. (The drug can treat parasites in both humans and animals like horses.)

In a phone interview, McDonald made clear Friday that people “should not get (ivermectin) from a feed lot.” But he said people are ingesting livestock medicine out of desperation because the federal government was preventing doctors from making the drug available.

McDonald accused the Food and Drug Administration of sidelining ivermectin because it already has spent billions of dollars to “mass vaccinate the population.”

“If the goal of these people is to advance public health and make the public well, why have none of them spoke a single word about prevention and making one healthy to prevent an infection or hospitalization or death?” McDonald said. “I think there is a lot of dishonesty here and cancellation of people who support truth.”
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
DeSantis Warns Biden: Deport Or Send ‘Unvetted’ Illegals To Democrat-Run States, Not Florida



“While Floridians are working to ensure that criminal aliens are not released back into our communities, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appears to be hard at work resettling ever-larger numbers of illegal aliens who have no lawful status under federal immigration law from the southwest border to Florida,” the governor wrote in the five-page letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “I ask that DHS immediately cease any further resettlement of illegal aliens in Florida and that the aliens instead be removed from the United States or resettled in states that support the administration’s continued flouting of our immigration laws.”

“Floridians welcome responsible immigration that serves the interests of Florida and the American people, but we cannot abide the lawlessness that your department is aiding and abetting on the southwest border,” DeSantis said.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Corporate Media Once Again Target Ron DeSantis While Democrats Ruin Everything


It’s time for the media to once again pretend that it’s Ron DeSantis in Florida who’s really screwing things up.

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The New York Times last week reported that “More people in Florida are catching the coronavirus, being hospitalized and dying of Covid-19 now than at any previous point in the pandemic, underscoring the perils of limiting public health measures as the Delta variant rips through the state.”

The phrase “public health measures” is a synonym for “business lockdowns and mask mandates.” DeSantis has been very resistant to both of those things, which causes a lot of butt-bruising among liberals who absolutely live for lockdowns and masks.

True, if we only look at things right now, Florida isn’t doing so hot. It has the third-highest death rate of all of the states when accounting for only the last seven days. But why should we ignore everything that happened before a week ago?

The pandemic didn’t begin in July, so let’s see how Florida stacks up against other states for the full range of the pandemic, even now as it swims in new infections.

Under DeSantis, Florida has the 19th highest death rate for COVID, with 205 deaths per 100,000 people. That’s six spots better than the media’s favorite girl boss Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat Gov. of Michigan, whose state has the 13th highest CVID-19 death rate at 215 deaths per 100,000. And it’s 16 spots better than former sex symbol and New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state has the third-highest death rate, 277 per 100,000. (Cuomo resigned last week and when his successor was sworn in she immediately acknowledged that the state needed to add 12,000 more COVID deaths to the toll that had previously been hidden by Cuomo.)

This is called “context,” a concept that the media have to ignore as they work overtime to undercut a likely run for president by DeSantis. A good example of that is how CNN and MSNBC have tried turning Alachua County, Florida, public school superintendent Carlee Simon into a folk hero.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Florida Set to Levy $5K Fines Against Businesses Requiring Proof of Vaccination


The fine does not apply to vaccine mandates businesses impose upon their own employees. Florida is an at-will employment state, which means employees have limited rights and may be terminated for a wide variety of reasons unless they are unionized or are under contract, legal experts told Fox 13.

“Governor DeSantis is retaliating against Floridians who are trying to protect themselves and their communities from COVID-19,” Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat campaigning to run against DeSantis in 2022, told Fox 13 in a statement.

“This not only goes against common sense, it’s also an insult to the free market principles that he claims to champion,” Fried added.
 
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