Florida creates online portal to turn in your neighbors. Does that sound creepy? Yeah, it has an ugly history
News and views for Florida's Left Coast
Now Floridians can turn in their neighbors if they say things that sound suspicious.
It’s the brainchild of state Atty. Gen. James Uthmeier, the guy who gave us Alligator Alcatraz.
“Lately, we’ve seen political violence more than ever,” Uthmeier said at a press conference. “If you see something, say something. If there’s chatter out there that looks like a real threat, let us know.”
As if 911 weren’t enough.
It’s called the Combat Violent Extremism portal. Presumably, if you were to hear about, say, one of your neighbors traveling to Washington, D.C., to a Trump rally after which they planned to hang Mike Pence, overturn an election, and kill the speaker of the House of Representatives, this would be the sort of thing you could legitimately call in.
Or perhaps your next-door neighbor said something unkind about Dear Leader. Better let the authorities know so they can investigate, right?
Even before critics could weigh in, Uthmeier was dismissive of criticism that this was a clampdown on free speech.
“We respect the First Amendment more than anybody,” Uthmeier said. “We’re not going to be the cancel culture that we’ve seen for so long from the left. We’re not going to believe in silencing individuals.”
Nope. Not the cancel culture of the left. The new cancel culture of the right.
Now, to be fair and balanced, law-enforcement hotlines are hardly a new idea. But as is always the case, the devil is in the details of how they are used. This business of ratting out neighbors who don’t toe the party line has a long and ugly history of abuse.
From the internet:
Encouraging neighbors to inform on each other is a hallmark of many authoritarian states. For the state, it is a low-cost method of surveillance that uses coercion or incentives to enforce control.
Spanish Inquisition (15th–19th centuries): During the Inquisition, the Catholic Church used denunciations to identify and persecute heretics. A person's motives for informing could include self-preservation or gaining rewards by targeting Jewish converts.
Romanov Russia (17th century): Russian subjects were obligated to report insults against the tsar's honor.
Nazi Germany (1933–1945): Under the Nazi regime, the Gestapo relied heavily on a network of informants. Ordinary citizens denounced their neighbors for everything from anti-Nazi sentiment and communist activity to hiding Jews and other supposed transgressions.
Communist countries: During the Cold War, communist states like East Germany and the Soviet Union utilized extensive networks of civilian informants to report on dissidents and other "enemies of the state."
Not saying that’s what’s happening here. But I am saying this is a slippery slope, and it’s coming from a guy who seems terribly gleeful about rounding up people and throwing them into concentration camps.
We need to be vigilant.
What do you think? Add your voice by clicking the COMMENTS link at the bottom of this newsletter.
Trump Library to be in Miami
Donald Trump’s presidential library will be located in downtown Miami next to Freedom Tower.
The stage for this was set this week, according to The Miami Herald, when the board of trustees of Miami-Dade College took a “lightning quick” vote to transfer a parking lot to the state.
“Next week, the Florida Cabinet will vote to dedicate land at Miami-Dade College to house the Presidential Library of Donald J. Trump,” state Atty. Gen. James Uthmeier wrote on Twitter (currently called X) this morning. “I’ll be voting yes!”
The size of the library, at this point, is unknown. Much will depend upon what all will be housed there, surely more than any books Trump has read, which would easily fit into a banker’s box. Maybe he’ll arrange to have all those secret files he hid in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom there. Or, perhaps, that list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients that used to be right on top of U.S. Atty. Gen. (and former Florida attorney general) Pam Bondi’s desk.
Kimmel’s back, but not for everyone in Florida
Sinclair, the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group of broadcast TV stations, has announced it will not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! when it returns to the airwaves tonight.
The famously right-wing corporation posted this explanation on Twitter (currently known as X) for why it is censoring the program:
"Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return."
Sinclair has demanded that Kimmel apologize for his monologue that resulted in his show’s temporary suspension and that he “make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.”
Fat chance.
Sinclair operates at least two television stations in Florida, WEAR-TV in Pensacola and WNBW-DT in Gainesville. The map, above, shows the locations of all its stations in the U.S.
Today is …
National Dogs in Politics Day, celebrating our canine pals in the White House and other places politicians lurk. Every president of the United States except three has had a pet. The three dogless chief executives have been and are: James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Donald J. Trump. Somebody should buy Trump a pet. Maybe, given his affinity for the precious metal, a golden retriever?
Thought for the day
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
— Arthur Ashe
Florida factual
Florida is the only place on Earth where alligators and crocodiles coexist in the same habitat. They seem to get along with one another than a lot of people.
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J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida. When he’s not blogging, he’s in training for the Florida Man Underwater Ping Pong Championships. Forward this email to your friends. They will love you for it.
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Isn't it amazing - a man (term used very loosely) who has NEVER been held accountable for his actions is initiating as part of his Fascist regime the snitch bot. Folks, it's just one more step in the takeover and absolute annihilation of our dwindling Democracy. That's the kind of irony that should make us leap up out of our Lazyboy recliners, throw down the remote, and take our own steps for counter revolution. Why do people follow suit with this madness? Did we learn nothing from the history of human beings - especially within our own reaches of time? The 20th Century? Do they see Hitler reborn and truly think that it's no big deal? We are closer than we think to absolute control by this abomination of a human being, perversion of humanity.