10.4.24 – C&C News
“How FL. Gov. DeSantis Blessed All Americans with His Quick Action”
By Jeff Childers, practicing attorney, resident of Florida
[Comment from Donna Garner: Please go to the C&C link to read the entire article and to view the many pieces of documentation that Attorney Jeff Childers has included in his important article. He tells the facts behind the headlines and gives credit where credit is due.]
TIMELINE (PROVIDED BY DONNA GARNER)
9.26.24 – Hurricane Helene made landfall.
9.27.24 – Trump launched GoFundMe that is raising multi-millions for storm-ravaged area.
9.28.24 – Trump went to Georgia to view the damage.
10.2.24 – Trump joined Franklin Graham (Samaritan’s Purse) to survey damage.
10.3.24 – Biden and Harris finally visited Florida – a full week after landfall.
Excerpts from this article:
Even though he’s only Governor of one state, Ron DeSantis is single-handedly keeping the nation afloat.
The evidence appeared in three separate stories this week.
STORY #1
…Joe Biden…visited storm-ravaged areas of the Carolinas and Florida yesterday [10.3.24].
DeSantis snubbed Biden, not to score political points… but because Governor DeSantis is busy.
…Bless him, former Governor (now Senator) Rick Scott volunteered to steer slow-walking Biden around for a couple hours so that DeSantis could keep working.
Joe Biden — who is not busy — wasted a week since Helene tore through Florida’s panhandle before visiting the Sunshine State.
There is only one reason Biden came at all, and that was the same reason that FEMA surged 5,000 relief workers and activated its volunteer network yesterday.
That reason was Governor DeSantis.
…Operation Blue Ridge [hurricane disaster program organized by Gov. DeSantis], in which storm-damaged Florida began surging disaster relief TO North Carolina and Tennessee since nobody else was doing it, created irresistible political pressure on the Biden Administration to stop sandbagging and activate federal its relief programs.
…No, Operation Blue Ridge was politically undigestible [for Biden] because it would have strengthened DeSantis.
It would also have highlighted President Trump who, like Florida’s Governor, stepped into the post-hurricane leadership vacuum. [Trump went to view the damage from Helene two days after it struck.]
…It would not have happened, or it would have happened much more slowly, had Governor DeSantis not made Joe Biden look feeble and slow.
Check out Florida’s impressive State Emergency Operations Center: CLIP: short DeSantis remarks at Florida’s Emergency Operations Headquarters (1:33).
SECOND STORY
The second story in our DeSantis series begins with the Washington Post, which ran a good-news article yesterday headlined, “Dockworkers’ union suspends strike, ports reopen on East and Gulf coasts.”
Port operators agreed to give longshoremen eye-watering raises of +62% in a deal guaranteeing ports stay open through at least January 15th.
The deal prevented a potentially catastrophic economic collapse.
We can once again thank Florida’s Governor.
I don’t know how Gov. DeSantis does it.
While occupied with catastrophic damage to several parts of the state, a slavering media hot on his heels for any slipup or mistake, DeSantis somehow found time to coordinate help for other states.
But that wasn’t all.
Florida’s Governor also leaped into the port strike disaster.
Yesterday afternoon, DeSantis deployed the Florida National Guard to Florida’s ports to keep supplies flowing amid the dockworker strike.
The Governor was appalled at the looming supply chain disruptions, especially in light of desperately needed recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene.
DeSantis said, nope, that’s not happening on my watch.
Remember, Biden holds the power to end the Longshoreman’s strike instantly by signing a piece of paper invoking the ineloquently named Smoot-Hawley Act, which would impose an 80-day cooling-off period. Had he done so, it would have gotten the nation at least past the immediate Hurricane recovery.
Six hours after DeSantis’ announcement, around nine o’clock, the Longshoremen announced good news!
…Suddenly everyone was happy and contented…
A sixty-two percent raise sounds like a lot. But the union had previously rejected offers of a fifty-percent raise.
…It seems more likely the Biden Administration decided that after Operation Blue Ridge [hurricane disaster program organized by DeSantis], it couldn’t afford to let DeSantis again embarrass the feds.
…The Longshoremen accepted a generous raise and stood down about the robots [automation concerns] to avoid Smoot-Hawley Act.
Now, all of a sudden, they are excited and energized. Who cares about robots?
The reason doesn’t matter. The end of the strike before the supply chain collapsed is good news either way.
But I think it is not unfair to conclude that Florida Governor DeSantis is single-handedly saving the country.
STORY #3
Finally, the third DeSantis story ran in CBS yesterday under the headline, “DeSantis issues executive order authorizing election changes to Helene-impacted Florida counties.”
Yesterday, Florida Governor DeSantis issued an executive order authorizing election changes in ten counties affected by Hurricane Helene.
For obvious reasons, county election supervisors are normally prohibited by state law from changing voting locations right before an election.
This commonsense rule prevents voter confusion over where they expect to vote, showing up to the wrong place, and precludes putting the ballot box down in a locked basement.
But if the polling place is suddenly submerged under three feet of water, supervisors require a little flexibility.
…The order contained other sensible changes, like letting residents who’ve evacuated vote by mail even if they didn’t request a mail-in ballot by the long-expired deadline, or if they are temporarily living with in-laws in Ohio.
In his presser, DeSantis said his order wouldn’t affect election integrity.
"None of those rules are being lifted. But if there's a polling place that's been destroyed, you have an ability to set up a different site, provide proper notice and follow all the rest of state law, but this will ensure that residents that were impacted by this storm and displaced, maybe, still have the ability to vote in November's election," he told reporters.
Careful readers will recall that over the weekend, I suggested affected states start considering how to help displaced citizens vote next month. As far as I know, Florida is the first to act.
It occurs to us that things would be a lot different if the federal government worked as hard and efficiently as Ron DeSantis and his Florida team.
Once again, Governor DeSantis —America’s Governor— is leading the country.
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