Long overdue, some mouthwatering gains are being recorded in terms of state governments galvanizing against the riots we’ve witnessed decimate many cities across America.
Thanks to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis penning approval of the Florida State Legislature’s HB1 — “Combating Public Disorder”— outlawing riot activity on the Sunshine State streets, law enforcement officers can do what they are trained and paid to do without the nonsensical hands-off approaches other state governments foolishly allowed for much of the past few years. As Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd reminded newcomers or anyone considering being a Floridian, “Don’t register to vote and vote the stupid way you did up north. You’ll get what they got!”
Anarchy is what they got, and police officials are still bearing the burden created by antithetical political platforms pandering to criminal elements and factions of social justice activists viewing myopically, freely throwing stones (often literally), and jeering without offering tangible, cooperation-based solutions.
Florida Rep. Juan F. Barquin (R) clarified that although Florida was not without riots (Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville), none rose to the level the likes of Minneapolis, Kenosha, Portland, Seattle and other cities across America. Florida LEOs were neither sidelined nor maintained in police precincts set ablaze by maniacal activists running amok on public streets. No, they responded and dealt with the unruliness clogging the streets with professional means and prosecutorial follow-through, the polar opposite of criminal-coddling environs.
The stale “peaceful protest” insinuations mislabeling unmistakable violence transpiring in mostly anti-cop environments are being called out for depraved ways ruddered by wayward politicos. As a friend of mine reiterated recently, “Vote with your feet.”
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey framed it this way: “Crime will rise to the level a community will tolerate.” Indeed, what is allowed to occur and fester will surely come with a steep price and stark consequences. Any cop holding the line knows this via surreal experience; and they deserve better…much better.
As far as Florida is concerned, police officers will be fully supported and violators will be apprehended, transported, and prosecuted.
In a press release from Governor Ron DeSantis (R), HB1 was elucidated with tones of honor: “Today, surrounded by our state’s law enforcement community, I proudly signed HB1 into law, which makes clear that rioting and violence have absolutely no place in Florida and provides protections for the brave men and women who keep our communities safe.”
Containing what I call wrap-around services, the bill goes further…
“HB1 protects Floridians against attempts by local governments to defund law enforcement, provides the means to hold local governments accountable for failing to protect people and property from rioting, and enacts strong penalties against those engaged in rioting, looting and violent assemblies.
“I want to thank President Wilton Simpson (R), Speaker Chris Sprowls (R), Sen. Danny Burgess (R), Rep. Juan F. Barquin (R), Sen. Kelli Stargel (R), Rep. Daniel Perez (R), Rep. Cord Byrd (R), and the Florida House and Senate for passing this legislation for the good of our state and for those we serve.”
(Photo courtesy of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.)
It didn’t stop there. Monuments throughout the state of Florida are totally protected against being toppled by activists—by anyone. As the governor underscored at the podium, “We’re not gonna let the mob win the day with that!”
The insidiousness of cancel culture was addressed as well: “No longer will people [such as BLM and antifa members] walk up and surround you as a citizen of Florida or a visitor of Florida…surround you while you’re eating dinner at an outdoor café and a big mob [appearing and taunting] without there being immediate consequences and arrest,” described Sheriff Grady Judd, reiterating the governor’s response to “mob intimidation” tactics.
An ingredient in the bill which I believe we can all embrace (especially LEOs) is outlawing “cyberintimidation by publication“—commonly known as doxxing, whereby anti-police sorts make public personal police officer info such as addresses and phone numbers.
Similarly, the Iowa House recently passed a “Back the Blue” bill which seeks to ensure some of the same public safety features contained in the Florida statute.
According to KCCI Des Moines, the “Iowa House of Representatives passed Senate File 342 Wednesday night 63-30. The wide-ranging, so-called ‘Back the Blue’ bill comes in response to last summer’s protests in Des Moines and across Iowa.
“The bill makes rioting a felony instead of a misdemeanor, and also increases penalties for blocking streets and highways, destroying public property and criminalizes shining lasers at police.
“It also makes drivers who hit protesters immune from civil liability in some circumstances. Republicans said they want to deter violence.”
I caught a comment from one Florida sheriff who said he wished other states would toughen up against rioters. Seems Iowa lawmakers heard that call, passing/forwarding its “Back the Blue” bill to the State Senate then to Governor Kim Reynolds (presuming it passes the Senate).
Incidentally, Governor DeSantis is the same state leader who told the Biden administration and proponents of the “vaccine passport” concept what they could do with that notion (read: the southside of a donkey).
Reflective of the different, often contrarian stripes holding government roles in our beloved nation, while Governor DeSantis was putting pen to paper pertaining HB1, Congresswoman Maxine Waters was being widely reported for her unambiguous rants demanding nothing less than conviction from the jury deliberating the fate of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. I watched a few excerpts depicting Waters urging people to be “confrontational.”
So far did Waters go with her inciteful comments…that the presiding judge in the Chauvin case already publicized that “her words could be grounds for the defense to appeal a verdict.” The factors and ramifications stemming from Maxine Waters’ reckless, incendiary comments were reported by the New York Post in an article titled “Judge in Derek Chauvin trial says Maxine Waters’ comments could lead to whole case ‘being overturned’”…emphasizing appeal potential based on the jury’s decision.
“Do as I say, not as I do”?
Looking at the exodus of states touting anti-police sentiments and ostensible norms of unmitigated rioting, states with anti-riot bills and pro-police statutes expressly backing the blue stand to reap growth.
According to a WFTS Tampa report airing the same day Governor DeSantis signed the police-supporting legislation, Tampa Bay is capitalizing on the influx of northerners seeking to purchase homes at whatever asking price, in an area with reportedly severe inventory shortage—many willing to close on properties, sight-unseen.
The HB1 law signing by Gov. DeSantis was held at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, hosted by fave lawman Sheriff Grady Judd and echoed by pro-police comments from various leaders. In a post-press conference interview with Tucker Carlson, Sheriff Judd discussed the rule of law and the breakdown of the republic when miscreants go unchecked. In the same interview, Mr. Carlson also recognized the fact that droves of folks fed up with riot-prone states headed south and landed in Florida.
Normally the season to see many out-of-state license plates here is during winter months; it seems the so-called “snowbirds” either never went back home and others packed U-Hauls destined for one-way trips south. I’ve been observing tons of vehicle tags from elsewhere, perhaps indicative of those who flew the riot coup.
With deserved punctuation, Gov. DeSantis said LEOs all over have been “paying the bill,” denoting the unequivocal reality that cops are being oppressed, mischaracterized, maligned, maimed, ambushed, and killed at unprecedented rates due to the wave of hatred from those so awfully misguided, with loud voices sounding the lack of an itoa of law enforcement knowledge and/or experience.
In one brief sentence Governor DeSantis succinctly stated: If anyone particularly “harms a law enforcement officer during one of these violent assemblies…you’re going to jail!” Music to a cop’s ears, especially nowadays…
With Florida’s Combatting Public Disorder law, the Sunshine State can deflect such darkness. The following brief video has a bevy of golden nuggets and depicts law-and-order politicians and a representation of Florida’s Finest exuding stellar leadership and public service principles. As Sheriff Ivey stated, “This bill protects our citizens, our cops, and our Constitution”: