When a riot isn't a riot

[LoAmmo]

One of the Right's swiftest pushbacks against the umbrella of whatever-you-want-to-call-it, BLM, George Floyd, Racial Equality, whatever-demonstrations was in Florida, where their very Trumpy Governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, virtue-signaled to Trump's base with a new law.

If someone feels threatened by as few as three people, that might constitute "mob intimidation" (!) which is punishable by up to a year in prison.

If someone topples a monument (oddly specific, that), that could earn you up to 15 years in prison.

And if protesters, say, block a road, Florida's new law considers that a felony. And, incidentally, extends civil protections to Florida drivers who plow into the protesters, allowing them to claim "self-defense."

Very clearly, Florida "is having none of it," and the gauntlet has been thrown down: Not in Florida. We simply will not allow it.

Except, of course, for when we do.

Scores of people crowded a major Miami-area highway Tuesday, chanting in support of rare protests that erupted days earlier in Cuba against the country's communist government. The rally caused an hours-long closure on part of the Palmetto Expressway in Miami-Dade County.

That's about a clear-cut violation of Florida's new law, that was so important it had to be rushed into enactment, as one could imagine. The new law was designed, and expressly written, primarily to punish the specific act of shutting down highways. So, what kinds of draconian punishments were meted out to these scofflaws? Why, none at all. No arrests. No citations. No fines.
DeSantis himself said in April, "there needs to be swift penalties" for protesters who deliberately block roads. Well, there wasn't.

To know why is to know that Cuban-Americans in Florida are a strongly-reliable GOP voting bloc--one that DeSantis will need to count heavily on during his own re-election bid next year.

Asked for some kind of explanation, the GOP governor said those who blocked the highway were "going out and peacefully assembling." He added that protests in support of Cubans are "much different" from the Black Lives Matter protests that inspired the state Republican law.

um, yeah...different. I mean, he's right, in a sense, in that, if the exact same number of black demonstrators shut down that exact stretch of highway for the exact same duration of time and caused the exact same dollar figure of damages (if any), it's not much of a stretch to imagine some non-zero number of them feeling the teeth in Gov. DeSantis' new law, and cooling their heels in the pokey. Is it possible to know this, for a fact; to exactly duplicate the situation as a sort of control experiment? No. It is not. (So save your breath, Derec.)

But, just the same, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that, in the words of Governor DeSantis, that little experiment would have been...
"different."

 

[Playball40]

I have no comments as I completely agree. The protests were blocking major roads in Tampa too and it took my husband HOURS to get home. He and I both support the Cuban SOS protests so have no real issues EXCEPT DESATAN's hypocrisy. I HATE THAT MAN.

One of the Right's swiftest pushbacks against the umbrella of whatever-you-want-to-call-it, BLM, George Floyd, Racial Equality, whatever-demonstrations was in Florida, where their very Trumpy Governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, virtue-signaled to Trump's base with a new law.

If someone feels threatened by as few as three people, that might constitute "mob intimidation" (!) which is punishable by up to a year in prison.

If someone topples a monument (oddly specific, that), that could earn you up to 15 years in prison.

And if protesters, say, block a road, Florida's new law considers that a felony. And, incidentally, extends civil protections to Florida drivers who plow into the protesters, allowing them to claim "self-defense."

Very clearly, Florida "is having none of it," and the gauntlet has been thrown down: Not in Florida. We simply will not allow it.

Except, of course, for when we do.

Scores of people crowded a major Miami-area highway Tuesday, chanting in support of rare protests that erupted days earlier in Cuba against the country's communist government. The rally caused an hours-long closure on part of the Palmetto Expressway in Miami-Dade County.

That's about a clear-cut violation of Florida's new law, that was so important it had to be rushed into enactment, as one could imagine. The new law was designed, and expressly written, primarily to punish the specific act of shutting down highways. So, what kinds of draconian punishments were meted out to these scofflaws? Why, none at all. No arrests. No citations. No fines.
DeSantis himself said in April, "there needs to be swift penalties" for protesters who deliberately block roads. Well, there wasn't.

To know why is to know that Cuban-Americans in Florida are a strongly-reliable GOP voting bloc--one that DeSantis will need to count heavily on during his own re-election bid next year.

Asked for some kind of explanation, the GOP governor said those who blocked the highway were "going out and peacefully assembling." He added that protests in support of Cubans are "much different" from the Black Lives Matter protests that inspired the state Republican law.

um, yeah...different. I mean, he's right, in a sense, in that, if the exact same number of black demonstrators shut down that exact stretch of highway for the exact same duration of time and caused the exact same dollar figure of damages (if any), it's not much of a stretch to imagine some non-zero number of them feeling the teeth in Gov. DeSantis' new law, and cooling their heels in the pokey. Is it possible to know this, for a fact; to exactly duplicate the situation as a sort of control experiment? No. It is not. (So save your breath, Derec.)

But, just the same, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that, in the words of Governor DeSantis, that little experiment would have been...
"different."

 

[LoAmmo]

It's the hypocrisy, as nearly always, that's so infuriating.

The GOP has absolutely perfected the art of the glaring hypocrisy--in the interest of fairness, both sides do this, hell, all humans do this--but it's become a defining characteristic of Republican elected officials. And part of mimicking Trump, which, sadly, seems to be the GOP ticket to success, means learning from the master himself how to demonize an activity in the morning while happily, unrepentantly doing it in the afternoon.

 

[LoAmmo]

I have no comments as I completely agree. The protests were blocking major roads in Tampa too and it took my husband HOURS to get home.

Wow. I didn't realize the protests reached all the way up there, to Tampa. (Used to live there, I went to USF.) I thought this was limited more to Miami-Dade County (which of course made sense.)

 

[LoAmmo]

I guess two guys up in Tampa (speaking of Tampa) WERE charged under a part of this new law, although it sounds like they'd have been charged anyway, under any number of old ones...

Both were arrested on charges that include battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting law enforcement and taking part in an unlawful assembly that blocked streets or sidewalks, records show.

Rodriguez-Rodriguez put an officer into a bear hug as the officer was trying to arrest another protester, according to an arrest report. He then punched an officer in the face, breaking his glasses as the officer tried to arrest him, the report said. He continued to resist arrest until he was placed in handcuffs.

So, the "unlawful assembly that blocked a street or sidewalk" was new, but, you've never, under Florida or any other state's law, gotten away with punching cops in the face. Hard to count this is a "win" for the new law.

 

[Playball40]

I have no comments as I completely agree. The protests were blocking major roads in Tampa too and it took my husband HOURS to get home.

Wow. I didn't realize the protests reached all the way up there, to Tampa. (Used to live there, I went to USF.) I thought this was limited more to Miami-Dade County (which of course made sense.)

Tampa has the 3rd larges Cuban population in the Country, behind Miami and New York.

 

[Playball40]

Yes, they were. The thing is, I was at the George Floyd (BLM) march and many others before that, and the response is quite different. The cops lined up in riot gear for the BLM march, they blew tear gas and flash bombs into the crowds. They did none of these things this week that I saw. I wasn't able to be at the Cuban protest on Tuesday, but will probably go on Saturday (at Al Lopez). I don't think any protest should block ALL means of transportation especially where they were this week, blocking the only routes to the hospital.

I guess two guys up in Tampa (speaking of Tampa) WERE charged under a part of this new law, although it sounds like they'd have been charged anyway, under any number of old ones...

Both were arrested on charges that include battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting law enforcement and taking part in an unlawful assembly that blocked streets or sidewalks, records show.

Rodriguez-Rodriguez put an officer into a bear hug as the officer was trying to arrest another protester, according to an arrest report. He then punched an officer in the face, breaking his glasses as the officer tried to arrest him, the report said. He continued to resist arrest until he was placed in handcuffs.

So, the "unlawful assembly that blocked a street or sidewalk" was new, but, you've never, under Florida or any other state's law, gotten away with punching cops in the face. Hard to count this is a "win" for the new law.

 

[LoAmmo]

I remember the Cuban influence there, for sure. And not JUST in the bars in Ybor City, ;-)

Which, brings me to another sub-point. I understand, empathize with, and support the cause these protesters are highlighting. It's just that, if it's going to be made a law, the cause shouldn't matter. The law should be "blind", as they say, to the motivations, intentions, and, let's just say "political orientation" if not actual skin color, of the violators.

And it very clearly isn't, in this case.

Edit to add:
For anyone who thinks that the Miami-Dade protests weren't actually violating the new law, those responsible for enforcing it disagree.

While the law was not enforced, Colonel Gene Spaulding, director of the Florida Highway Patrol, issued a statement acknowledging that the protesters were "breaking the law" and urging them to "be respectful of our communities."

And, separately:

“They are in violation of the law, but you have to have patience. You can't come out here and arrest everybody,” Joe Sanchez of the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Yeahhh, I don't think I'd want to be the BLM'er expecting shelter from Officer Sanchez's take on law enforcement.

 

[Playball40]

I remember the Cuban influence there, for sure. And not JUST in the bars in Ybor City, ;-)

Which, brings me to another sub-point. I understand, empathize with, and support the cause these protesters are highlighting. It's just that, if it's going to be made a law, the cause shouldn't matter. The law should be "blind", as they say, to the motivations, intentions, and, let's just say "political orientation" if not actual skin color, of the violators.

And it very clearly isn't, in this case.

Agree. I don't think it EVER should have been a law.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Maybe the real lesson is about "When Hypocrisy isn't hypocrisy." You see, if you are a hypocrite for the right reasons your hypocrisy is accepted. If you commit a crime against a criminal it isn't a crime. Happens all the time in prisons. Honor among thieves and all that.

The GOP isn't much different than prison culture. Law is just another tool in the arsenal particularly when the inmates are running the prison.

 

[LoAmmo]

Law is just another tool in the arsenal particularly when the inmates are running the prison.

And "the law," as a tool in the arsenal, is one that the GOP has unquestionably mastered, as a lever to pull (with the goal of posturing and influencing the electorate.) They wield it with all of the precision of a surgeon...virtue-signaling that they're "tough on crime" by adopting all manner of frankly insane mandatory sentencing guidelines for minor recreational weed possession. They really don't give a flying fuck about weed--and for all I know, smoke it themselves--it's all in the signal.
They signal "family values," (presumably) by passing--or trying to pass--any number of laws suppressing gay rights--and go silent when the Congressman's boyfriend is outed.
They're staunchly Pro-Life, and introduce legislation that matches that passion--even the Congressman who paid for an abortion for the preggers girlfriend he was committing adultery with.
On and on it goes.

The sole, solitary purpose of this new Florida law was for that assclown DeSantis to telegraph clearly and openly how Trumpy he is. It was meant to unmistakably signal intolerance/rejection of the social and racial justice movement becoming ju--u--u-u-s-t a bit too emergent for his (and the GOP's) tastes, and meant only, ever, to punish and suppress it. Selectively. As is now painfully evident.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

That's about a clear-cut violation of Florida's new law, that was so important it had to be rushed into enactment, as one could imagine. The new law was designed, and expressly written, primarily to punish the specific act of shutting down highways. So, what kinds of draconian punishments were meted out to these scofflaws? Why, none at all. No arrests. No citations. No fines.
DeSantis himself said in April, "there needs to be swift penalties" for protesters who deliberately block roads. Well, there wasn't.

Good. This will help show the law is bogus when they try to use it against the left.

 

[LoAmmo]

Good. This will help show the law is bogus when they try to use it against the left.

Yep. And you're not the only one to notice this angle.

Lawyer David Winker, who has represented clients involved in Black Lives Matter protests, said in an interview with The Miami Herald that the lack of enforcement for those protesting communism in Cuba could present a legal defense for other protesters that the state later attempts to prosecute under the law.

Just like a law "applies to everyone" equally (as they must), they must non-apply to everyone equally.

"Honestly, as a lawyer, the next time my clients get arrested, I'm going to be throwing this in the court's face. I mean, this would be the definition of selective enforcement," Winker told the paper. "The next time there is a police brutality incident and this happens and they arrest everyone ... defense counsel is going to be in court arguing: why is this different?"

Florida probably doesn't even yet realize the extent to which they've played themselves by following their instinct to write laws that (wink, wink) apply to everybody, but (nudge, nudge,) really only apply to, you know, "them."

“However the law is applied in Miami-Dade County, it needs to be applied consistently across the board,” said Stephen Johnson of the Miami-Dade Black Affairs Advisory Board.

That's a fair point, and I'd be interested in hearing a direct refutation of Mr. Johnson's logic.

 

[untermensche]

There is nothing stopping DeSantis from arresting BLM protestors.

Nothing at all.

If the courts let them go so be it.

But nothing can stop him from arresting any other violators of the law.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

There is nothing stopping DeSantis from arresting BLM protestors.

Nothing at all.

If the courts let them go so be it.

But nothing can stop him from arresting any other violators of the law.

If Florida arests BLM peaceful protesters, but not right wing protesters or others the GOP likes, this is oppression. It is not just hypocrisy. It is something far more evil than just hypocrisy.

 

[untermensche]

There is nothing stopping DeSantis from arresting BLM protestors.

Nothing at all.

If the courts let them go so be it.

But nothing can stop him from arresting any other violators of the law.

If Florida arests BLM peaceful protesters, but not right wing protesters or others the GOP likes, this is oppression. It is not just hypocrisy. It is something far more evil than just hypocrisy.

Arresting BLM protestors will get DeSantis votes from Republicans.

He will not be indicted on hypocrisy charges if he arrests people and charges them with crimes that exist on the books.

The BLM protestors may eventually after a lot of hassles get let go but nothing will happen to a fascist governor. Not in Florida.

 

[atrib]

For anyone who thinks that the Miami-Dade protests weren't actually violating the new law, those responsible for enforcing it disagree.

Sometimes it is necessary for people to break existing laws to bring about widespread change. There is a long precedent for it. As an example, in 1930 Mahatma Gandhi led a march to the Arabian coast to make salt, which violated the laws made by the British who ruled India at the time. Some 60,000 people were arrested as a result of their civil disobedience. In retrospect, we find that the laws were unjust and made to serve the colonial rulers, not the inhabitants of the land. Gandhi and his movement prevailed, and India gained its independence from the British 17 years later.

 

[TomC]

Sometimes it is necessary for people to break existing laws to bring about widespread change.

How is this relevant to the OP?

The Florida legislature passed a law that appears to be intended to punish people that they don't like, but ignored when the lawbreakers are political allies.

That's the problem here.
Tom

 

[Elixir]

Sometimes it is necessary for people to break existing laws to bring about widespread change.

How is this relevant to the OP?

The Florida legislature passed a law that appears to be intended to punish people that they don't like, but ignored when the lawbreakers are political allies.

That's the problem here.
Tom

That's the problem all over the country. At the top, it's tax laws. Republicans defunded the IRS because if they're broke enough they can only go after poor people. It takes a lot of money to put the squeeze on billionaires' lawyers. The fact that that's where the real money is that is owed to the government but not collected, the fact that there's about a 10:1 return on the big expenditures to hold billionaires accountable - those things don't matter to elected Republicans. Because those uncollected dollars are the SAME DOLLARS that end up in Republican campaign coffers instead of in the US treasury.

 

[RVonse]

It's the hypocrisy, as nearly always, that's so infuriating.

Correct me if I am wrong but DeSantis and the republicans only passed this law. There is a big difference between passing a law and enforcing the same law.

That being said, I'm wondering why they even bothered to pass such a law in Florida. I did not know there were that many Confederate statues there.