If Donald Trump doesn’t run in 2024 then Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis would be the next best thing as he is conservative from his core and he says what he means and means what he said.
During an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Thursday, DeSantis gave little room for doubt about how he thinks of the use of the term “systemic racism” and the racist “critical race theory” that the Marxists are trying to teach America’s children in schools. The Florida governor dismissed both as racist Marxist nonsense.
Ingraham was doing a “Red State Trailblazers” town hall to feature Republican governors who defied the lies of Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden, and the entire Fake News industry over the COVID pandemic, which isn’t even a pandemic anymore, and reopened their states. The guests included DeSantis, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi, and Governor Pete Ricketts from Nebraska.
Ingraham asked the Florida governor if he thought the United States is a systemically racist country. DeSantis
Ingraham asked DeSantis if he believed that the United States is a systemically racist country, to which he unashamedly responded, “Well, it’s a bunch of horse manure. I mean, give me a break.”
“This country has had more opportunity for more people than any country in the history of the world and it doesn’t matter where you trace your ancestry from,” DeSantis said, adding, “We’ve had people that have been able to succeed.”
DeSantis went on to expose critical race theory.
“And here’s the problem with things like critical race theory that they’re peddling,” DeSantis said. “They’re basically saying all our institutions are bankrupt, and they’re, they’re illegitimate. How do you have a society if everything in your society is illegitimate?”
The answer is you can’t. DeSantis was spot on.
In March, DeSantis said that he would purge critical race theory from public schools in Florida because critical race theory’s ideology isn’t worth “one red cent of taxpayer money.”
“Let me be clear, there’s no room in our classrooms for things like critical race theory,” DeSantis said. “Teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money. So we will invest in actual, solid, true curriculum and we will be a leader in the development and implementation of a world-class civics education.”
WATCH:
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) calls the idea of systemic racism "a bunch of horse manure.”
“Give me a break … It’s a very harmful ideology, and I would say really a race-based version of a Marxist-type ideology.” pic.twitter.com/xcTuLmZtoE
Critical race theory and systemic racism are terms used to blame the failures of black people when an actual racist is nowhere to be found to blame the failure on. They used to call it “institutional racism.”
DeSantis was also asked about biological women’s sports being protected from progressive yahoos trying to force people suffering from a mental illness to ruin sports for girls and women.
“I have a 4-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old daughter, and they’re very athletic,” he said. “And we want to have opportunities for our girls. They deserve an even playing field. And that’s what we’re doing.”
For liberals reading this, what we mean when we saying we want our girls to have opportunities that are taken away from them with the transgender movement we’re talking about girls losing athletic scholarships because biological males are beating them in sports when they shouldn’t be allowed to compete in the first place. I mean, how crazy is our society now?
The Florida governor has said he will sign the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which will rightfully block males from competing on women’s school sports teams.
DeSantis also banned vaccine passports in The Sunshine State.
“I’m proud to be the first I think, elected official in the country, certainly statewide or governor to say, we’re not having vaccine passports in the State of Florida,” DeSantis said. “And not just saying government can’t make you, private businesses can’t make you. Because here’s the thing, you have a right to participate in society, without them asking you to divulge this type of health information, but just to go to a movie, just to go to a ballgame.”
Former President Donald Trump earlier this week said he may run again in 2024 and that he would “certainly” consider Ron DeSantis as his running mate. That would be a powerhouse team!
“He is a friend of mine. Certainly, Ron would be considered,” Trump said. “I endorsed Ron, and after I endorsed him, he took off like a rocket ship. He’s done a great job as governor. They like that. I’m just saying what I read and you read. They love that ticket.”
Here’s something the Left won’t brag about. When you run your state with bad policies that make people so angry, depressed, or fearful of what their future will look like, there are consequences. Part of the consequences is people vote with their feet. They move out of your state and head to states that make life worth living in. In other words, people leave high-taxed, high regulation states for low-taxed, low regulation states. There are a number of other reasons, but those are the top two for people deciding where to live.
If the number of people leaving or moving into your state continues to grow, there are political consequences as well.
For example, Florida and Texas are set to gain congressional seats during the decennial redistricting process, and California and New York are going to each lose one congressional seat, according to the US Census Bureau.
On Monday, the Census Bureau released the decennial state population and congressional apportionment totals. This is the report that outlines how many districts each state will have for the next ten years. This means the red states are going to have more seats, while the blue states will have fewer. Since the number of congressional seats in a state is based on how many people live in the state, gaining and losing populations helps or hurts a state’s representation.
And that’s not all. The data also determines the number of Electoral College votes each state will have until 2032, and determines how federal grant money is distributed to each state for schools, roads, and other stuff.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and former President Donald Trump’s attempt to exclude non-citizens from the census count, which he ultimately failed to do, the report was delivered on Monday instead of its scheduled date back in December.
During the bureau’s presentation, they revealed that the official US population is now 331,449,281. Southern and Western states grew faster than midwest and northeast states.
Florida will get one additional congressional seat upping its total to 28 and 30 electoral votes.
Thanks to the number of Americans escaping California, Texas will get two additional congressional seats, upping its total to 38 and its number of electoral votes jumps up to 40.
Colorado, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon are all set to add one congressional seat. Montana doubled its number of seats from one to two and Democrats are hoping that will give them a chance to compete there, but it will all depend on how the districts are drawn.
Republicans will have the advantage in the redistricting. In states like Florida, North Carolina, and Texas, Republicans have total control over the process of redistricting to 84 seats that could be in play.
Unlike in Montana, where there is a bipartisan commission to draw its redistricting, Colorado has an independent commission doing their gerrymandering with the hopes of being less partisan. Ha!
Though Democrats control the gerrymandering process in Oregon, they reached an agreement with Republicans to give them more say in the process. Ha!
For the first time in its history as a state, California is going to lose a seat thanks to all the people who escaped to Texas. Texans are just hoping and praying that now that those transplants found a better home, they don’t vote the same way they did in California. “Don’t California my Texas!” David Harris Jr is heard saying from time to time. That’s what happens when your governor is a jerk. California is the wealthiest and poorest state in the union, with nearly a quarter of its residents living in poverty.
New York is also about to lose a congressional seat, dropping its number of congressional seats from 29 to 28. And no, the rumor this is happening because of all the coronavirus deaths on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s watch is not true. It’s because the political leadership in that state is so awful too many people voted with their feet and moved to Florida. “Don’t New York my Florida!” says Dan Bongino from time to time.
This data that was released is the preliminary outlook with the more detailed counts for redistricting coming sometime in September. All eyes are on the House as the Democrats have the thinnest majority in modern history. How the states with changes do their redistricting could tip the balance of power in the house. Wouldn’t it be great if the Republicans took back the majority in the House do that they can block many of the god-awful things the Biden administration and congressional Democrats are trying to do?
Gov Ron DeSantis wants to make sure that illegal aliens do not compete with Floridians for jobs in the Sunshine State and he wants them to know it. He has had signs posted on all major interstate highways coming into the state of Florida announcing that companies in the state use the E-Verify system.
The E-Verify system lets a company know if someone is eligible to work legally in the United States.
Florida had tried to institute the system before but it took Ron DeSantis to bring the bill over the finish line and install it as the law within his state. This further establishes DeSantis as the front runner for 2024 should President Trump decides not to run for office himself. Both Trump and DeSantis have been strong allies to each other and a large part of Trump’s easy victory in Florida in 2020 was because of the success of DeSantis and his popularity.
DeSantis’s office told Breitbart News, the signs are now visible on all three main interstate gateways into Florida along I-10, I-95, and I-75.
DeSantis signed the bill into law in 2020 and it is considered a major step in ensuring the most jobs available in Florida goes to citizens and legal residents.
The law is also a deterrent to the federal government trying to bus illegal aliens into the state to water down the edge Republicans have there.
DeSantis said:
“I want all residents and visitors to receive this message: Florida Uses E-Verify. For years prior to my administration, attempts to pass E-Verify legislation in Florida failed, but I would not yield until this matter was addressed. Last year, I was able to deliver on working with the Florida Legislature to get E-Verify over the finish line and signed SB 664 into law.”
“Requiring use of an employment verification system not only places upward pressure [on] Floridians’ wages, it also protects the public safety. Assuring a legal workforce through E-Verify is crucial to upholding the rule of law and deters illegal immigration into Florida, which is more important than ever given the border crisis.”
“The Biden Administration has been abysmal on immigration and their policies threaten to turn all states, including Florida, into border states. Under this administration, it’s very clear we must enforce our laws and protect our residents.”
E-Verify is a web-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. E-Verify employers verify the identity and employment eligibility of newly hired employees by electronically matching information provided by employees on the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, against records available to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). E-Verify is a voluntary program. However, employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that contain the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clause are required to enroll in E-Verify as a condition of federal contracting. Employers may also be required to participate in E-Verify if their states have legislation mandating the use of E-Verify, such as a condition of business licensing. Finally, in some instances employers may be required to participate in E-Verify as a result of a legal ruling. E-Verify, which is available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, is currently the best means available to electronically confirm employment eligibility.
CNN has finally admitted that Florida Gov Ron DeSantis has succeeded in guiding his state safely through the pandemic with their economy intact. In fact, Florida came out of better than any other state their size.
Disneyland just reopened this week, but Disney World in Orlando, Florida reopened nine months ago. The unemployment rate for Florida is 4.8% but in California, it’s 9%. That’s almost double for you liberals out there.
CNN took a beating on social media by ill-informed liberals who don’t have a clue what they are talking about.
Did they want DeSantis to send COVID-positive patients to nursing homes? Shut down the state and ruin their economy? Throw 9% of their workers into unemployment lines?
Ask any New Yorker or Californian if they would trade their governor for DeSantis and if they were smart and honest, it would be a resounding yes.
Social Media comments included:
“CNN you’re out of your f***ing minds for this headline,” tweeted DJ Ross One.
“Get the f*** out of here with this s**t,” replied screenwriter Dan Hernandez.
“CNN pushing this narrative that DeSantis is some kind of hero is f***ing bulls***,” said David Weiner.
“Like, What The Actual F***, CNN? Don’t you have access to the same information *I* have on DeSantis’ execrable record on his pandemic response?” replied another user who identified herself as a mother.
“Who the f**k wrote this nonsense article? DeSantis has shunned science and silenced the public health officials in his state. He makes sure upper class, white people get vaccinated over minorities. He’s such a leader,” responded another sore user.
The article also pointed out that Florida is booming compared to other states that locked down their economies.
DeSantis refused to implement a mask mandate in the first place, making him an outlier a year ago. At the time, he was hewing closely to President Donald Trump’s playbook, which he argued at the time was good for business.
The unemployment rate in Florida is 4.8 %, according to the latest figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared to 6.8% in Texas, 8.8% in New York and 9% in California.
President Joe Biden gave a speech on his totalitarian COVID-19 policies where he said if Americans don’t behave the way he wants them to the lockdowns will become federal and strictly enforced. You forgot you lived in America for a minute. This did not sit well with many people who have been abused and used as political props to usher in a new reset of socialist policies that will harm the rest of the country while making Democrats and their elitist friends happy.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) condemned Biden’s threat of possibly bringing back COVID lockdowns. The governor promised that he would not put his state back in coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.
During Biden’s presidential address to the nation, where he picked the one-year anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns, he threatened that the United States could reestablish shutdowns if Americans “don’t stay vigilant.” Who the hell does he think he is to threaten states this way? The president does not have the authority to do anything like forcing lockdowns on states.
“Unity is what we do together as fellow Americans, because if we don’t stay vigilant and the conditions change, then we may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track,” Biden said on Thursday.
“Please, we don’t want to do that again. We’ve made so much progress,” Biden added. “This is not the time to let up, just as we were emerging from a dark winter into a hopeful spring and summer is not the time to not stick with the rules.”
Mark this down, because I think the Biden administration wants to keep us in lockdown forever, and Biden is simply planting the seed to make it appear that he’s being reasonable by saying it’s all up to us whether or not he’s going to punish the American people with more lockdowns. The number of civil liberties that have been violated so far put us on par with the now-defunct Soviet Union.
DeSantis, who was one of the first governors to reopen his state, trashed Biden’s idea of reinstating lockdown measures.
During a press conference, DeSantis said, “To even contemplate doing any type of lockdown, honestly it’s insane.” Well, look who he’s talking about.
The Florida governor then made a promise to the residents and small businesses of his state that he would not close the state down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That’s not gonna happen in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “We’re gonna continue doing what works, but under no circumstances would we entertain anything of the sort.”
WATCH:
Governor DeSantis also said the state is decreasing the age for being eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine this month to 55.
“We will be doing 55 this month for sure,” DeSantis said without giving a specific date. The age for vaccine eligibility is already set to drop to age 60 by Monday, according to the Florida Times-Union.
DeSantis blasted Biden last month for his coronavirus hypocrisy of pushing the idea of a domestic travel ban on the state of Florida, while at the same time he has opened our southern border to allow tens of thousands of migrants into our country without testing any of them for COVID.
The Florida governor referred to Biden as a “lockdowner.”
Biden was also criticized for telling Americans during his first primetime speech that if we behave we just might be allowed to gather in small groups to celebrate the Fourth of July, otherwise known ironically as Independence Day.
“If we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the Fourth, there’s a good chance, you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your back yard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day,” Biden said in his speech. “That doesn’t mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together.”
Andrew Cuomo is good for business but only if you are talking about Florida business.
Under his watch, the state has been bleeding residents but now they are bleeding businesses. Those businesses are overwhelmingly moving to Florida, a state with no income tax, good weather and a great governor.
The constant lockdowns in the state have destroyed small businesses but even larger businesses are calling Florida home.
In particular, large stock trading companies are moving to the Miami area in droves.
New York is exploring a new tax on stock transactions and brokerage houses are finding the sunny climate and low taxes to be to their benefit.
I would not be surprised to see the stock exchanges moving away from the Empire state and into the Sunshine State.
Large restaurants are finding the friendly climate in Florida to be to their liking as well.
Not only that but the employees at the New York restaurants are wanting to get jobs in Florida as they see a much lower cost of living and no oppressive taxes as they have in New York. A move to Florida, although expensive makes a lot of sense to many of them.
They can make up their moving costs in just one or two years and the rest is gravy. Add to that the much warmer climate and it is a win/win situation for them.
According to the New York Post:
“Two weeks ago, when the thermometer plunged below 20 and indoor dining was still off-limits in the city, intrepid New Yorkers continued to cling to vestiges of their social lives. But just a short flight away — in tony Palm Beach, Fla., where La Goulue recently opened an outpost that’s a mirror image of its Manhattan mother ship — all inside tables and seats at the bar are full. Patrons are laughing and living it up, seemingly oblivious to the perils of fraternizing during a pandemic.”
In fact, the Post notes, dozens of New York City restaurants have suddenly opened Palm Beach outposts, “escaping” the icy weather and severe COVID-19 restrictions, following the New York City residents who left the city in droves during the height of the pandemic — and the ensuing economic downturn.
“[Palm Beach] is really working with you, not trying to put wood in your wheels,’’ one restaurant owner told the Post, adding that, in New York City, dining has just opened to 25% capacity. “I have seen so many friends of mine, I can’t believe it. And all our New York staff is asking to come work here.’’
Democrats are big on playing class warfare to divide and conquer on Election Day. They love to raise taxes, but they learned that they can’t raise them on the poor or even working-class people, because they revolt at the ballot box. So when the subject of raising taxes comes up they love to focus their rhetoric on their favorite target: the rich.
Barack Obama was big on pushing the idea that the rich have to “pay their fair share.” He did it so effectively that we now have a bunch of nincompoops who run around thinking that the rich don’t pay any taxes. According to the IRS’s own numbers the top wage earners pay the overwhelming majority of the entire federal income tax burden.
According to the latest numbers from 2019, the top 5 percent of wage earners pay 53 percent of the entire federal income tax burden. More than half of everything. When 5 percent of any group pays over 50 percent for something that involves all of the people we can say they are definitely paying their fair share. But you wouldn’t know that by Democrats because they lie.
Most Democrats never met a tax they didn’t hike but for the far-left radical communist New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio raising taxes is a way of life.
Only a few short months ago back in December de Blasio blurted out that his “mission is to redistribute wealth.”
“I’d like to say very bluntly our mission is to redistribute wealth,” he said. “A lot of people bristle at that phrase. That is, in fact, the phrase we need to use.” He then added, “a lot of people bristle at that phrase, that is, in fact, the phrase we need to use.”
De Blasio is considered the worst mayor in the country and the worst mayor of NYC ever.
Back in August the mayor was on The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC and he responded to a caller who asked a question about integrating public schools (is New York City still in the 1950s?) by saying “Help me tax the wealthy. Help me redistribute wealth. Help me build affordable housing in white communities if you want desegregation.”
Sounds like “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” That was a phrase popularized by Karl Marx.
Have you ever noticed that while government types ask the taxpayers to be “less selfish” and to “suffer” a little bit for the benefit of the greater good the government itself never gives up its selfishness or their greed for your money and they never have to suffer or go without? When the American taxpayer has their taxes increased they have to reset their family budget to see how they’re going to make ends meet. The government never takes less money. They never have to go without, never have to reset their budgets to see how they’ll be able to get through the month.
De Blasio, like all Democrats, is a con man when it comes to taxes. He’ll tell you all kinds of stories about how he wants to do for his constituents but it will cost money. So he’ll tell the less fortunate working-class families that he’s not gonna raise their taxes because he’s gonna stick it to those rich guys, you know the ones who stole everything from them in the past and it’s his job to steal it back for them. That’s the new progressive mindset.
But the problem is that these Democrats never actually define what “rich” means and how much they’re going to raise their taxes. When tax laws are changed many people suddenly find out that they’re rich. Nobody told them they were rich, and they certainly don’t feel like they’re rich but the government deemed them as rich and therefore they get sucked into the tax increase blackhole.
It’s like when Joe Biden said that he was not going to raise taxes on anyone who earns less than $400,000. I saw a bunch of leftists who were cheering that on social media, and I asked them, “do you have a 401k?” I went to explain to them that the stocks that they have in their 401k are also owned by those rich guys that they want the government to increase taxes on. I point out to them that when the government increases their taxes on things like unrealized capital gains that are being floated by the Biden administration, the rich people are gonna dump all those stocks and put their money somewhere else that isn’t taxed like that and the little guy who also owns the same stocks will see their money plummet because the rich pulled out and the stock values dropped. They can’t blame the rich but they will. Instead, they should blame the source, the government that increased taxes in the first place that caused them, in the end, to lose money even though they don’t earn $400,000 a year.
At the rate that rich New Yorkers have been fleeing the state for states like Florida that don’t have an income tax, you would think that de Blasio would come up with something more creative instead of raising taxes on the rich. If he increases taxes yet again on the rich they too may leave the state and that will leave the state and the city of New York with fewer tax revenues. Marxists never learn this because they think that everyone is going to behave like good little Marxists themselves and take it where the sun don’t shine and scream “thank you, Sir, may I have another?”
What’s really going on here that de Blasio doesn’t want to admit is that for years the Democrats in Washington DC allowed progressive states like New York, California, and Illinois to have their rich people write their state taxes off on their federal income taxes. That way the rich weren’t paying federal income taxes because they were writing off their very high progressive tax rates from their states. This way progressive politicians were able to have high tax rates to pay for all the goodies programs that they created to buy votes from poor people and working-class middle-class families who get addicted to government handouts.
President Donald Trump put an end to that because he realized that what that tax scheme was doing was forcing everyone else to subsidize progressive states’ rich people. Middle-class taxpayers where is subsidizing the taxes that were being written off by rich people because of a special deal the progress is made for themselves and it wasn’t fair. So what happened was after Trump cut that loophole out a mass exodus from New York for Florida took place where a lot of rich people fled, and they took their money with them. Now New York politicians have to find ways to get that money back because God forbid they ever have to kill a government program.
The news went viral on Monday about a poor little woman who did nothing wrong when mean old law enforcement came and almost killed her and put guns in her innocent children’s faces, in Florida, for being a heroine and trying to save people from dying the streets over an illness that could be easily prevented.
“They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids,” Jones tweeted including footage she felt supported her claims. She tweeted: “They took my phone and the computer I use every day to post the case numbers in Florida, and school cases for the entire country. They took evidence of corruption at the state level. They claimed it was about a security breach. This was DeSantis. He sent the Gestapo.”
Political theater meant to shape public opinion and sway radical left “lawmakers” or give them cover for going around their legal authority to get what they want, looks like this:
1/ There will be no update today.
At 8:30 am this morning, state police came into my house and took all my hardware and tech.
They were serving a warrant on my computer after DOH filed a complaint.
And she was immediately promoting an appearance on TV with a far let radical talk show host:
I'll be joining @ChrisCuomo on @CuomoPrimeTime at about 9: 40 PM ET tonight to talk about what happened, why it won't shut me up, and what really matters: this pandemic.
The story begins with an activist. The activist has an agenda and has a background in progressive leftist community organizing. The activist has gotten a background in the left’s special kind of “science”. T.”t science demands urgency because the world is melting down now, and so it is a “science” which does not have to wait for Constitutional lawmaking measures to control people and to change policies and laws.
The activist does not agree with duly elected Republican Governor De Santis, and she has different ideas on how to run the state.
The special leftist “science” does not have to wait on the scientific method, it is conveniently bombastic, emotional and fast.
Evan Donovan reported on the Rebekah Jones story and said:
“This morning FDLE served a search warrant at a residence on Centerville Court in Tallahassee, the home of Rebekah Jones. FDLE began an investigation on November 10, 2020 after receiving a complaint from the Department of Health regarding unauthorized access to a Department of Health messaging system which is part of an emergency alert system, to be used for emergencies only. Agents believe someone at the residence on Centerville Court illegally accessed the system.
“When agents arrived, they knocked on the door and called Ms. Jones in an attempt to minimize disruption to the family. Ms. Jones refused to come to the door for 20 minutes and hung-up on agents. After several attempts and verbal notifications.
that law enforcement officers were there to serve a legal search warrant, Ms. Jones eventually came to the door and allowed agents to enter. Our investigation is active As in all cases, our role is to determine the facts of what happened and a State Attorney determines whether or not charges are filed.”
A a radical far left climate change activist and lawmaker takes the bait:
And the armed raid on an outspoken data scientist who has criticized the governor appears to be retribution.
Instead, the governor should be transparent and rally Floridians to work to crush the virus as cases and deaths continue to rise. https://t.co/CwxHeBbefk
The COVID Pandemic has been hugely successful for the left to make massive and historic changes to our civil liberties, without opposition and get it done very quickly.
Consider how a “Veteran for Biden” is using the political theater for his own promotion,:
A dual U.S.-Italian national was extradited from Italy to the United States on Nov. 20. The U.S. Marshals Service effectuated the transportation of the defendant from Lamezia Terme, Calabria to Knoxville, Tennessee.
Luigi Palma, 54, is a co-defendant of Sylvia Hofstetter, who, along with three medical providers, was convicted of numerous charges related to “pill mill” operations in Florida and Tennessee following a four-month trial earlier this year in Knoxville. Palma contested his extradition from Italy for approximately two years. The charges against Palma are varied, and reflect his alleged role in owning and operating pain clinics in South Florida and the Knoxville area over the course of several years. Included in those charges are a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) conspiracy and a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, oxymorphone, and morphine outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.
Palma appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra C. Poplin in the Eastern District of Tennessee earlier today and entered a not-guilty plea to all charges. Palma waived his immediate right to a detention hearing and remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Trial has been set for March 30, 2021, before U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan.
This sweeping prosecution, which has resulted in approximately 140 convictions so far, is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, and the FBI High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, comprised of investigators assigned to the task force by the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, Knoxville Police Department, Blount County Sheriff’s Office, Roane County Sheriff’s Office, Harriman Police Department, and Clinton Police Department.
Other agencies provided invaluable assistance, including the Rome Attaché of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs; FBI’s liaison in Rome; FBI’s Miami Field Office; the Hollywood, Florida, Police Department; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Tennessee Department of Health; and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Knoxville Diversion Group. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and FBI’s liaison in Rome were particularly instrumental in effectuating Palma’s extradition, as were Italian law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, including the Italian Ministry of Justice, Carabinieri Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale (ROS), and Interpol-Rome. The United States is particularly appreciative of their assistance.
The extradition of Palma was made possible by provisions of a treaty between the United States and Italy. The United States is grateful to the Italian authorities for their robust cooperation in this matter.
An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Stone and Deputy Chief Attorney Kelly Pearson and Trial Attorney Damare Theriot of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section represent the United States in the prosecution of this case.
