Ron DeSantis is Intentionally Degrading the Right to Protest in Florida.
More and more rights continue to be stripped away.
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Ron DeSantis has never taken any sort of dissent lightly.
I mean, the man even seems to view masks as dissent. Who can forget when he clearly, angrily publicly berated a group of teenagers who were going to be standing behind him at the podium for wearing masks? It should come as no surprise given what we’ve seen from him previously that he has decided to seize the moment, and ban any protesting in residential areas.
AP News reports:
“Anyone who protests in front of a private residence in Florida can face jail time and fines under a bill Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Monday.
The legislation makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to protest in a manner that is aimed at intentionally harassing or disturbing someone in their home. Violators face 60 days in jail and fines of up to $500. Protesters can only be arrested after ignoring law enforcement’s orders to disperse, however.
The governor said the new law will prevent protests in Florida like those waged by abortion rights protesters in front of U.S. Supreme Court justices’ homes in Virginia.”
It’s been surreal to see the sheer nerve of the right wing, watching them hone in on these peaceful protests outside the homes of some of the most powerful people in the country, all after spending over a year brushing off what took place on January 6th. All after brushing off a violent insurrection that involved some of their most ardent supporters from around the country storming the capital, defecating on the floor, literally attempting to hunt down the Vice President, and chanting about hanging him.
We should all be acutely aware that this all focus on these completely peaceful protests is meant to serve as nothing more than a distraction. The right wing knows that what they’re doing in regards to abortion is immensely unpopular, and as people really begin to understand just how much this will impact them they know the backlash will only grow more intense. They’re attempting to draw the focus elsewhere, and it’s up to us to prevent them from doing it. They are seizing the opportunity to strip away even more of our rights, and their feeble excuses would be laughable if they weren’t so infuriating.
Every time someone like DeSantis makes a move like this, in the back of my mind I can’t help considering his Presidential ambitions, and the fact that within the next 15 years, he will likely be successful in getting the Presidential nomination. This is a man who could one day be pushing for and signing laws like this into place on a federal level.
But the GOP is all about that freedom of speech and expression, right?
What a backwards time we’re living in.
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