Florida's New Law Against Blocking Roads During Protests Already Being Ignored By Cops Policing Protests The Governor Supports
from the behold-the-discretion-being-exercised-by-law-enforcement dept
Just a few months ago, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a broadly-written anti-protest bill that, among other things, criminalized the act of participating in a protest if other protesters did illegal things. It also criminalized the blocking of traffic and roadways by protesters, something that was already illegal but now was super-illegal with enhanced punishments that made this act a felony.
This was the Florida legislature's response to anti-police violence and Black Lives Matters protests in the state -- protests that became far more frequent and intense following the killing of Minnesota resident George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Failing (perhaps deliberately) to recognize a lighter law enforcement touch was needed to regain the trust of the public, DeSantis and likeminded legislators doubled down, making the very act of protesting police violence an opportunity to be hit with felony charges.
The new law is in the news because it very much appears it won't be enforced equitably. Miami's Local 10 wants to know why the new law wasn't deployed to stop Cuban solidarity protesters from blocking highways during recent demonstrations.
“All of a sudden you have people out there shutting down a highway. They start to do that, there needs to be swift penalties.”
Those were Gov. Ron DeSantis’ words back in April when he signed a controversial anti-riot bill.
On Tuesday?
“I think people understand the difference between going out and peacefully assembling, which is obviously people’s constitutional right,” DeSantis said on a day when South Floridians stood in solidarity with Cuban citizens’ protests by taking to the Palmetto Expressway and closing it down for hours.
The Associated Press also amplified questions about this apparent divergence from a law supposedly desperately needed to keep protests from shutting down cities.
Demonstrators on Tuesday in Miami, Tampa and Orlando temporarily blocked busy roads, chanting support for the Cubans who had taken to the streets in the communist nation Sunday to air grievances about poor economic conditions and other issues.
“When they protest for regime change, which aligns with the governor’s political viewpoint ... you see no enforcement from law enforcement,” said Michael Sampson, who co-founded the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, one of many groups that sprung up under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The governor had no real explanation for why officers were not only not arresting people for blocking roads, but waving people through police lines so they could head up ramps to access the highways they would soon be blocking. The only comment DeSantis offered was that this protest wasn't the kind of protest he felt needed to be shut down.
During a visit to Miami on Tuesday, DeSantis said the demonstrations in South Florida were “fundamentally different than what we saw last summer.”
The statement made by Christina Pushaw, the governor's spokesperson, wasn't any better.
“The legislation protects First Amendment freedoms, while ensuring that law enforcement professionals are empowered to use their discretion to maintain public safety,” Pushaw said. “The Governor has always urged all Floridians exercising their right to protest, to make their voices heard peacefully and lawfully.”
Well, ok then. I guess we'll see what happens the next time BLM protesters take to the streets and block a few of them off. If DeSantis doesn't want to look like he only respects the rights of people he agrees with, he'll need to keep cops from exercising their discretion and arresting people protesting against unequal treatment by law enforcement.
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Filed Under: 1st amendment, black lives matter, cuba, different standards, florida, free speech, protests, ron desantis
Reader Comments
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I Appreciate The Agreement
This sounds eerily familiar!
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A Republican was a hypocrite and this is news…how, exactly?
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You shouldn't go into politics.
Why would he not want that look? That's what gets the votes when you are running on a grievance platform. And make no mistake, the ultra-conservative and current Republican platform definitely is "if we let Those People™ continue thinking they have the same rights as we™ do, it will destroy the American Way of Life™".
Rights like demonstrating, voting, working, residing, living and so on.
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He does want to look that way
It looks quite clear that Gov DeSantis has ambitions to run for national office as his next step up the political ladder. Political discourse has degenerated to the point where there is no penalty for unequal treatment nor for standing on any kind of consistent set of principles other than taking care of his own. In fact, his Party has a special word, RINO, for anybody who does such a thing.
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Re: I Appreciate The Agreement
You continue to misunderstand the difference between government action and private action, I see.
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Bigoted Florida Man is Governor
First, Florida is a Slave State. They joyfully entered into the Traitor's War for Slavery. They feel, and always have, that Black people don't have rights, because they are property.
This, is how they have always been. Quit expecting them to raise the bar, but focus on whether they are digging so it can go lower.
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Time for a name change?
Given his opposition to Covid vaccines, I propose we now refer to him as governor DeathSanis.
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I swear
Racism is so gay!
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Re: Time for a name change?
We do already down here in the state.
Unfortunately despite things like willfully destroying the unemployment system and continuing to wreck the environment, he's quite popular with the base, because the whole point now is apparently to see how horrible one can be to people that 'ain't like us'
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Imagine if he was honest...
'You see when I said protests were terrible things that police need to crack down on what I meant was protests I don't agree with. Protests I support can block all the roads they want.'
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Freak of Nomenclature
Am I the only one who noticed that the governor's spokesperson's name is pshaw with an extra letter? Seems fitting.
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Re:
If we can post all the strange things the repubs are doing, and Get those that support them to Quit saying 'FAKE NEWS', it could help.
Just take more pictures, it helps those that cant read very well.
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Re:
On the one hand it is another 'Oh, It must be another day ending in Y' story it happens to often, on the other hand it's still worthwhile to point out such gross hypocrisy to make it harder for it to be normalized as 'just another moment of hypocrisy, put it on the pile and wait for the next one'.
Just because something may be expected to happen doesn't mean it should be.
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Re: Re:
post all the strange things you like. nothing can make them stop screaming "FAKE NEWS." see, pointing out their foul behavior won't help because they will either "whatabout" you to death or blame unpleasant facts on antifa. no matter what, they always have a way out - facts and logic be damned.
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Re: I swear
stares
No, I am so gay.
Step up your insult game, this attempt was so grade school.
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DeSantis renders his own law unConstitutional?
I favor laws against trapping thousands of innocent motorists on limited-access highways, but such laws have to be enforced against all parties. IANAL, but it would seem a Federal judge has ample moral justification for declaring DeSantis's law unConstitutional.
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Re: DeSantis renders his own law unConstitutional?
He does seem to have made clear that the goal and implementation of the law was not content neutral which as I understand is kind of a big deal when it comes to laws potentially impacting first amendment protected activity, so it will be interesting to see if someone takes that angle.
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Equal opportunity
I don’t care what your protesting
Get out of the street or get run over.
It’s that simple.
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Re: Equal opportunity
Your homicidal inclinations have been noted, not something most people would admit to but you do you I suppose.
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Re: Equal opportunity
Are you going to be the next person sentenced to two life sentences + 419 years for murdering protestors with your vehicle? If you give me the exclusive interview while you're on the run I promise I'll put money on your books while you're locked up.
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Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Homicide? No.
Manslaughter? Depends on the state. There more crosswalk states than not.
CW states have minimum felony sentencing for hitting a person in a crosswalk but most eliminate driver responsibility outside of the CE.
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Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Not likely.
I do my best to reschedule when selfish self righteous fucks take to the streets and violate law..
but don’t you fucking dare threaten me. You’re more likely to be shot than run over.
If people weren’t in the street they wouldn’t get run over.
If they didn’t threaten law abiding people they wouldn’t get run over.
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Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Not likely.
I do my best to reschedule when selfish self righteous fucks take to the streets and violate law..
but don’t you fucking dare threaten me. You’re more likely to be shot than run over.
If people weren’t in the street they wouldn’t get run over.
If they didn’t threaten law abiding people they wouldn’t get run over.
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Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
For killing someone with premeditation after announcing plans to do so? It will be tricky to convince a court that this doesn't count as homicide.
The U.S. may be the nation of motorists but I don't think any state has "stand your asphalt" laws on the books that would allow motorists to intentionally drive over pedestrians constricting your car's freedom of movement.
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Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Giving self-entitled human scum with a disregard for others a political platform was a mistake even before the Republican Party explicitly chose to trade in their soul for votes with the "Southern Strategy". Figuring out how to make the results of democracy significantly different from mob rule is an ongoing experiment.
Democracy empowers "silent minorities" which tends to be a good thing compared to mob dynamics. However, demagoguery is comparatively successful at shifting the balance back towards the loudmouths, and dealing with that in a convincing manner remains problematic, particularly when major players stop acting in good faith.
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Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
And id drivers didn't attempt to drive through a crowd, the crowd would not feel threatened and try to stop the idiot driver.
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Re: Equal opportunity
"Get out of the street or get run over. "
I think that's one of the more monstrous statements you've made here. You are essentially saying that human lives are worth less than your own convenience.
Pro Tip; Dropping a line which has a lower level of humanity in it than what you'll find in sources like Mein Kampf is not a good look and only brings the message that you are worthy of the same respect you offer others in that statement.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
If the crowd wasn’t blocking a throughway illegally there wouldn’t be drivers honking at them to move.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
With an exception, these aren’t people targeting protestors. These are people trying to go to work, or get home, or go to a doctor, the bank: do normal every day things.
If your angry, protest. But don’t break the law!
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Re: Re: Equal opportunity
I walk on the sidewalk. I cross at the crosswalk.
I don’t Stan in the middle of an active street.
If I did, I’d expect to get into issues with traffic.
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Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Except you just admitted intent...
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Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Oh watch out everyone we got ourselves an internet badass over here
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Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Bit late to backtrack now bro.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
dumbass*
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Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Heather Heyer wasn't blocking an active street.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
And she stands the lone exception.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
You also fail to comprehend the difference between that targeted attack, and what’s been happening in other places.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Do we really need to go over this song and dance about how you're a diehard Trump fluffer, Lodos? Or is the urge to spend hundreds of comments embarrassing yourself a "born this way" mechanism?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Perhaps you are not familiar with Florida's new S:870.07 created by SB1 (2021). The not very subtly concealed intent was that people should run over protesters having darker complexions. The effect is that someone in Florida running over people, such as Fields did in Charlottesville, should no longer be subject to damages.
I imagine that Florida is a leader on this. It was the most urgent bill for the 2021 legislative session, running even in front of the bill allowing the governor to issue an emergency decree of ``non-emergency'' to prevent local health regulation.
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Re: Time for a name change?
Before vaccines became available this year, DeSantis gained a lot of credit with the rational (pre-Trump) Right with his Covid management-- protecting the vulnerable while keeping as much of the State open as possible, especially the schools. Despite all the scare headlines, Florida was in the respectable middle in State mortality rates. But DeSantis's recent pandering to anti-vaxxers ( eg by prohibiting cruise lines from excluding the unvaccinated) is perverse and inexcusable.
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Re: Re: Time for a name change?
Previous comment made by me
("... credit with the rational (pre-Trump) Right...")
I did not realize I was signed out.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
Sounds like florida politicians are going above and beyond to ensure that the body count in that state is as high as they can make it.
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Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
"If I did, I’d expect to get into issues with traffic."
Most sensible nations place accountability on the side of the motorist, for one very valid reason; You can't assume the guy in the middle of the road chose to be there.
A) Person who is sick, drunk, or otherwise not completely in control, trying to find the nearest way to a pharmacy or their home.
B) Impaired people. Not every visually impaired person can afford a seeing-eye dog or has the option to remain indoors all the time.
C) Victims of assault tend not to be too aware of their surroundings except insofar that it allows them to navigate in the general direction of home, hospital or police precinct. Particularly so if they're running away from someone.
D) Small children. No matter the alertness of the parent, keeping a 5 year old from running after the pet dog or cat isn't always possible.
Your argument essentially means the driver of a vehicle has the right on his side when s/he plows through a panicking crowd of innocent people trying to run from a serial shooter, riot, fire or collapsing building. At that point your argument is literally at level with reich standards of principles because it advocates a kill-at-will card be given to anyone sitting in a ton of metal propelled at speed.
That said most nations similarly have sensible laws concerning individuals or groups blocking a road outside of non-normal conditions which means the joker trying to hold up traffic while emulating the old Red Flag Act will do so very briefly before the cops toss him in the slammer and he gets hit with steep fines or jail time, depending on the outcome of their actions.
The US alone has the inhumane idea that people's lives are to be held as disregardable given bad luck and malicious drivers.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Equal opportunity
[Addendum]
A car is literally heavy machinery. Propelling it along a road at speed means you have the same responsibility as a "plinker" out with a rifle. Your first responsibility should be don't hit other people.
That, at least, is what we're taught in europe. And if we can't fulfil that basic requirement our privilege to propel a heavy machine over public land at will is curtailed.
If I needed any more reason to believe the "Party of Personal Accountability" abandoned and sunk that pillar of their policy it would be reading about what the Trump adherents caroled over news where car owners plow through crowds like ISIS terrorists did in europe a few years back.
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