Cheap lipstick on a hopeless pig
Here’s a Upstanding Man using loopholes to punish the citizens he’s charged with protecting:
Several years ago, Florida voted to restore voting rights to felons who’d done their time and paid their fines. After all, they’re debt to society had been paid in full.
But a funny thing happened on the way to rights restoration. The state, under Gov. DeSantis, began racking up all kinds of charges, penalties and late fines against these people who already had trouble finding a home, getting a job and establishing credit. So not only did they not get their rights restored, they’re on the books as owing tens of thousands of dollars in some cases.
So this year to confront the staggering problem of voting fraud we have down here (read all the sarcasm possible here) DeSantis created a new agency to investigate election crimes in the wake of former President Trump and other Republicans’ unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
The targets? Well, just like he recently used the excessive noise ordinance to arrest and harass LGBTQ protesters, he’s using the outstanding fines and the ignorance of a legal maze to arrest and harass people who’ve already seen their share of trouble.
But hey, at least DeSantis will be able to say he’s tough on crime and fraud, right? It'll be our secret.
Bonus game – ask the next Floridian you talk to from Osceola County why their trash isn’t picked up. If they tell you it’s because we’ve run out of landfill even as we explosively build. That's the guy some of you want in charge.
Several years ago, Florida voted to restore voting rights to felons who’d done their time and paid their fines. After all, they’re debt to society had been paid in full.
But a funny thing happened on the way to rights restoration. The state, under Gov. DeSantis, began racking up all kinds of charges, penalties and late fines against these people who already had trouble finding a home, getting a job and establishing credit. So not only did they not get their rights restored, they’re on the books as owing tens of thousands of dollars in some cases.
So this year to confront the staggering problem of voting fraud we have down here (read all the sarcasm possible here) DeSantis created a new agency to investigate election crimes in the wake of former President Trump and other Republicans’ unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
The targets? Well, just like he recently used the excessive noise ordinance to arrest and harass LGBTQ protesters, he’s using the outstanding fines and the ignorance of a legal maze to arrest and harass people who’ve already seen their share of trouble.
But hey, at least DeSantis will be able to say he’s tough on crime and fraud, right? It'll be our secret.
Bonus game – ask the next Floridian you talk to from Osceola County why their trash isn’t picked up. If they tell you it’s because we’ve run out of landfill even as we explosively build. That's the guy some of you want in charge.
