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For the past 24 hours, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made it difficult for transgender people to receive Medicaid support, cut funding for a Tampa Bay Race training stadium over tweets from the anti-violence team, and threatened the Special Olympics with a $ 27.5 million fine. for a coronavirus vaccine.
He drove out protesters demanding action against gun violence, telling them “no one wants to hear from you” and also signed the state’s largest budget of $ 101.5 billion.
“We have a lot going on in the state of Florida,” DeSantis told a news conference on Friday, stressing the state’s stable economy, backed by large numbers of tourists and the infusion of federal money to help COVID. “I’m a good place.”
But critics say DeSantis (R) is ignoring the country’s real problems to wage war against the “vigilance” that attracts mainly his Republican base. DeSantis will be re-elected in November and is considered by many to be a possible presidential candidate in 2024.
“This is a continuation of the chaos of the DeSantis tour. He does not rule; he does, “said Anna Escamani, a Democrat from Orlando. “In the process, he immerses groups of marginalized people while continuing to ignite the flames of the cultural war.
Escamani was one of the protesters outside the ticket event in Orlando on Thursday night, where DeSantis appeared with conservative commentator Dave Rubin. DeSantis, who supports a change in gun laws in Florida to allow people to carry firearms without permission, did not comment on the mass shooting in Uwalde, Texas, which killed 19 children and two teachers.
Florida is the site of some of the most horrific mass shootings in the country. In 2016, 49 people were killed by a shooter at the Pulse nightclub, a paradise for the city’s gay community. Two years later, a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
DeSantis said last month that he would sign a law on “constitutional wear” if it was presented to him during a special session of the legislature he convened on May 23rd. The Uwalde massacre took place on May 24, and the gun problem did not come up in the Florida legislature.
As DeSantis spoke on Friday, he was surrounded by several Special Olympics athletes who were told they could not compete in the organization’s event in Florida this weekend because they had not been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The state health ministry says it estimates a fine of nearly $ 30 million against Special Olympics International for 5,500 alleged violations of the vaccine mandate law created by DeSantis last year.
Initially, the organization required all participants to be vaccinated, in violation of Florida law, which prohibits “vaccine passports” and carries a $ 5,000 fine for anyone required by a business or government agency to provide proof of vaccination.
The organization lifted the vaccine requirement on Thursday “based on the interpretation of Florida law by the Florida Department of Health,” a spokeswoman said.
The announcement of the fine came nine days before the opening ceremonies of the US Special Olympics Orlando on June 5, according to Special Olympics spokeswoman Rebecca Simon. She said the event, which attracted 5,000 athletes from all 50 states, Washington, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, did not see a drop in registrations due to the vaccine requirement.
Florida’s chief surgeon, Joseph Ladapo, appeared with DeSantis on Friday and said the vaccine requirement “makes no sense.” He wrongly claims that vaccines provide “essentially zero protection against infection”. (Studies show that vaccines remain highly effective in preventing serious coronavirus disease and death.)
Neither Ladapo nor DeSantis have addressed the growing number of coronavirus cases in the state. More than 76,000 people in Florida have died from covid-19 since the pandemic began.
The DeSantis administration addressed a various health issue Thursday, publishing a report from the Florida Health Agency that Medicaid dollars should not be used to pay for sex care for transgender people because such treatments are unsafe. This conclusion contradicts the leading medical councils.
The report paves the way for DeSantis to introduce a rule that will ban Medicaid coverage for transgender people of all ages.
“This is a dangerous escalation of his attack on transgender Florida residents,” said Brandon Wolfe, a spokesman for Equality Florida. Wolfe described DeSantis’s rhetoric about transgender people as “incredibly dehumanizing”, suggesting that it was “an attempt to ignite the right flame”.
Wolfe, a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting, also condemned DeSantis’ $ 150,000 veto of mental health resources for other survivors of the Pulse massacre.
“In a year when they had enough money to go for all sorts of things, it was such a minimal amount for these resources that when he vetoed it, it was hard not to feel it personally,” Wolfe said.
This budget item was one of $ 3 billion in spending approved by the Republican-led legislature but imposed by DeSantis. Another item: $ 35 million for a new spring training camp for the Tampa Bay Rays. The veto came a week after the team called for action on gun safety laws following the Uwalde mass shooting.
DeSantis is a fan of baseball, whose youth team went to the World Series of the Minor League. He also played for Yale and the GOP baseball team when serving in Congress. Last week, his campaign offered Ron DeSantis a $ 49 Classic Baseball Card.
But the Rays lost government funding for their spring training camp because, DeSantis said, it would not be a “reasonable use” of tax dollars.
“It is also inappropriate to subsidize the political activity of a private corporation,” he said.
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