"I assumed your letter was to notify me that you were issuing a retraction of the partisan smear piece you published last week. Instead, you had the temerity to complain about the deserved blowback that your botched and discredited attempt to concoct a political narrative has received."
The Republican governor described the AP story, published on August 17, as: a "baseless conspiracy theory" with an "inflammatory headline" that might cause some Floridians to decline life-saving treatment, even though
"the public's trust in corporate outlets like the AP is at historic lows. This is what happens when you decide on the headline and narrative before you begin reporting. The corporate media's 'clicks-first, facts-later' approach to journalism is harming our country. Was it worth it?"The AP article revolved around Democrat outrage that DeSantis was promoting Regeneron - a monoclonal antibody treatment for Covid-19 - because the CEO of a hedge fund that has a financial interest in its maker has donated to the governor's campaign. The trouble with that narrative is that the treatment has also been endorsed by health experts and even the current administration.
In a press conference on August 12 - days before the AP story - the White House "racial equity in health" adviser Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith said that the Biden administration had deployed "surge teams" to promote the drug in hard-hit US states.
The AP story even noted that experts agreed with DeSantis and that Regeneron has been "shown to cut rates of hospitalization and death by roughly 70%" if given within 10 days of initial symptoms. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who tested positive for the virus after being fully vaccinated on the same day the DeSantis hit-piece came out, said he was taking the drug and has since recovered.
When DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw tweeted about the "baseless" headline and called out both the writer and his editors, AP complained to Twitter that their reporter was being subjected to "harassment" and "bullying." Pushaw's account was locked for 12 hours.
"You cannot recklessly smear your political opponents and then expect to be immune from criticism," DeSantis told AP, adding that he stood by his staff and their work.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has written previously about the phenomenon of corporate outlets labeling any criticism as bullying, commented that AP's "whining" is part of a trend that "just seems like a cynical tool to place them off limits from critique."
DeSantis and Abbott, both Republicans, have found themselves in the crosshairs of corporate media outlets over their opposition to lockdowns as well as to mask and vaccine mandates - though both have promoted voluntary vaccinations, and DeSantis has prioritized the elderly, as the highest-risk population. The White House has singled them out as "standing in the way" of its Covid-19 policies.
DeSantis has openly rejected the lockdown strategy as "Faucism" - after Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser and a corporate media darling - and publicly stated his opposition to Florida becoming a "biomedical security state" and mandating vaccine passports like New York City.
Shortly after making the AP letter public, DeSantis announced that two more monoclonal antibody treatment centers will be opening in Alachua and St. Lucie counties on Tuesday, with the capacity of treating 300 patients per day, seven days a week. They join similar sites in 14 other counties across Florida.
Reader Comments
Plants to Plant
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Now they're claiming no herd immunity without vaxxes. How did all of these critters (and humans) survive so long without vaxxes? By official narrative BS we all should have been extinct long ago.
RC
I always answer, didnt need it before, wont need it after.
As R.C. noted, life has survived quite well on this planet without vaccines to date, thanks to herd immunity. To claim that this is an exception only lends credence to the thought that the followers of Faucism created this thing never seen on Earth before, with which they hope to do what to society only Allah knows.
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Un-un-unawkened.. not our ๐๐๐ not our circus. We have a road to journey. Eins Zwei Drei lolll haha
More here
Cambridge University 'unhinged' as museum to 'explain whiteness' of statues
Cambridge University's Museum of Classical Archaeology is currently displaying plaster casts of Roman and Greek sculptures. They are also on show around lecture rooms but give a "misleading...We need a door to door grass roots campaign to round up people willing to protest and stop the insanity. No social media, just plain basic stumping that the fuckers can't track. We need massive disruption of the infrastructure, airports, rail and highways. simultaniously as their is more of us than than those to protect the elite. Single event protests are useless as it allows the police to concentrate efforts. Only a full multiprong protest would truly disrupt and get the attention, both negative and good. Politicians aren't listening to the majority, just the majority of politicians. Completely disconnected from real reality to drive their mutual agenda.
And, puppy riding chicken. [Link] (even though it's a rooster) &
Work Smarter, not harder. [Link]
RC
That is my take, getting out of my own way and let LIFE make it happen for me.... being PRESENT (it is all Pre Sent. )
Best of luck to all of Canada.
This whole thing hinges in part on people being functionally disabled, or somehow keeping them at home; thus undercutting any active protest. A crowd of motivated persons marching is powerful and may well necessary to drive a prong in.
And what a lazy dog fart of defending their writer, from bullying and harassment, by AP. Stop the whining and shred the argument with the facts the reporter reported! For example: The cover for DeSantis looks like cover for the big money players named, too. The AP article is full of numbers ('A Regeneron treatment costs more than $1,000...') that were sourced by the reporter, and it isn't baseless. Woefully misguided, and overall it's terrible, but not baseless.
[$1,000/per pt.x300pt.] x 16 sites = $4,800,000*site (now one needs to divide out the cost of operating the sites)
x7 = ... you figure it. If they operate at full capacity for a week, which is admittedly unlikely, they just doubled the dollar amount of shares Citadel has in Regeneron in net. So this looks like a good business! Especially if you can drum up customers.