The charging of Jose Alba and the war on self-defense.
The war on self-defense continues, in New York City this time.
You know how it goes with these Soros-backed leftist DAs such as New York’s Alvin Bragg. When Bragg was elected in January, I wrote this post about his plans and what to expect. They’re the same sort of things we’ve become familiar with from the now-recalled Chesa Boudin of San Franisco, and from the hopefully-soon-to-be-recalled George Gascon of Los Angeles. In that post I mentioned that this was one of Bragg’s awful guidelines:
Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone. Armed robbery, a class B felony, would typically be punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison, while petty larceny subjects offenders to up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine…
So recently Bragg finally found a criminal worthy of high bail and very serious charges: murder. Unfortunately – but not surprisingly – it was a grocery store worker defending himself against an attack:
Alba was manning the counter at Hamilton Heights Grocery on Broadway and West 139th Street Friday night when Austin Simon, a 35-year-old career criminal on parole for assaulting a police officer, stormed behind the counter and shoved him into a wall, surveillance video shows.
The ex-con then grabbed Alba as the frightened clerk tried to get past him — getting his hands on a knife and plunging it into Simon at least five times.
During the fight, Simon’s girlfriend allegedly pulled a knife from her purse and stabbed Alba three times in the shoulder and hand, according to his attorney.
She has not been charged, with the DA’s office saying only “we are continuing to review the evidence and the investigation is ongoing.”
She’d only be charged with a misdemeanor according to Bragg’s guidelines anyway, right?
I’ve read several articles about the incident, and it appears to have begun when the girlfriend tried to buy a bag of potato chips and her EBT debit card was declined. She left the store and called boyfriend Simon for assistance. He came and assaulted the older, smaller man, who grabbed a knife and stabbed Simon during the fight while Simon was apparently trying to drag him out of the store. There are also reports that the girlfriend stabbed Alba in the arm with another knife; I’m not sure what the time frame was for that, before or after or during the stabbing of Simon. The entire episode was captured on store security tape and can be viewed at many of the articles.
Originally, Bragg’s office asked for sky-high bail of $500,000; it was set at $250,000 and later, after an outcry, reduced to $50,000 of which only $5,000 had to actually be posted. Alba was freed with an ankle bracelet. Alba has no prior record, but note that Simon, the dead man, was out on parole after being charged with assaulting a police officer.
I don’t think that a grand jury would be likely to indict Alba for this, even in New York, and if indicted I don’t think a jury would convict him. Even the mayor has taken Alba’s side – although he also refused to condemn Bragg.
Armed Self-Defense Is Under Attack In The U.S.A.
Is armed self-defense a basic human right? The question may seem rhetorical, even nonsensical to a rational mind. “Of course, armed self-defense is a basic human right,” you would say. Or is it?
In the countries of the EU it isn’t; nor is armed self-defense acknowledged and accepted as a fundamental human right in the countries that comprise the British Commonwealth.
But, what about the United States? Do Americans have a right to armed self-defense?
The natural law right codified in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights makes it plain that Americans do have a natural law right of armed self-defense. And the seminal Second Amendment holdings in Heller, McDonald, and, most recently, in Bruen explicitly assert that. So, why does that remain a question for us? But a question for us it is, disturbing as it is.
The Globalist elite puppet-masters and the Marxist internationalists do not acknowledge—in fact do not recognize—the right.
Of course, it should not matter what these creatures think. But as long as Americans vote their proxies into public office, the right of armed self-defense remains, in practice an open question in many jurisdictions across the Country, despite the clear meaning of the Second Amendment and irrefutable U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
The fact remains that in the U.S. the natural law right of armed self-defense is not to be denied, ignored, dismissed, or abrogated.
The right of armed self-defense is itself subsumed in the broader category of the right of self-defense for personal survival, by whatever means.
Armed self-defense simply means that a person has the natural law right to possess the best means for ensuring both his physical survival and his autonomy of self against those forces that dare crush body, or mind, or spirit. For centuries that best means of self-defense was a firearm. And it remains so.
Army Creating Second Paratrooper Division as Service Forges New Identity for Arctic Troops
Soldiers stationed in Alaska will soon ditch the 25th Infantry Division’s “Tropic Lightning” patch and be redesignated the 11th Airborne Division, in what could be an important step in the Army’s recent focus on Arctic warfare.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told lawmakers that the move will give units in the state a clear identity. Soldiers there currently fall under the command of U.S. Army Alaska and wear the 25th Infantry Division patch. But that division is mostly associated with units in Hawaii that train for combat in the jungle, the opposite of Alaska’s mission and something leaders and junior soldiers told Military.com has been a point of confusion.
U.S. Army Alaska will be redesignated as the 11th Airborne Division this summer and issued a new patch.
“It would be a new common sense of identity for the soldiers there,” Wormuth told lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing Thursday.
A Biden Tax Hike Kicked in That Affects Everything From Soap to Lightbulbs
An excise tax hike on household items that was buried in President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure package last year went into effect on July 1, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
A roughly $13 billion tax increase on 42 chemicals, metallic elements and critical minerals was included in Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Common household items like rubber, soap, concrete, plastics, lightbulbs and electronics will be impacted.
Superfund chemical excise taxes were previously in place between 1987 and 1995, according to the IRS. The infrastructure package, which the White House called “a once-in-a-generation investment,” triggered the re-implementation of the taxes.
Funds from the reinstated excise tax will be partially directed to the Superfund Trust Fund, which is administered through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and responsible for “cleaning up some of the nation’s most contaminated land and responding to environmental emergencies, oil spills and natural disasters.”
The tax impacts Americans who import, produce or manufacture qualified chemicals, Bloomberg Law reported. Importers, producers and manufacturers will pay between $0.48 and $9.47 per ton in tax on chemicals, the outlet reported.
Republicans have been critical of the Biden administration for imposing the taxes amid soaring inflation and supply chain crises. Inflation reached 8.6% in May from a year prior, which is the fastest increase in 40 years.
“The fake infrastructure bill was drafted to raise taxes on and kill jobs in Louisiana specifically,” Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said last year upon introducing a bill with other Republicans to eliminate the Superfund taxes. “Its Superfund Tax will increase taxes on our petrochemical industry by $1.3 billion, and that’s going to endanger good jobs at a time when inflation is already ravaging Louisiana families.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the EPA. The IRS declined a request for comment.
New York Tells Supreme Court ‘Thank You, Sir. May I Have Another?’
New York has made a return appointment for Constitutional scrutiny of their gun-carry laws.
Almost immediately after the Supreme Court struck down the state’s previous law over the subjective nature of its “proper cause” clause, New York is back with a beefed-up and even more subjective “good moral character” clause. In addition to requiring multiple references, the newly-passed standard for issuing gun-carry permits includes a social media review. Instead of relying on objective standards, such as an applicant’s record of convictions or mental health commitments, the state is doubling down on the subjective judgment of its permitting officials.
Instead of judging whether somebody has “proper cause” to carry a gun based on specific threats to their life, state officials will now judge whether or not they are of “good moral character” based on their tweets and Facebook posts. It’s difficult to see how the outcome will be any different.
It’s difficult to see how the legal fight will be any different either. Except, perhaps, how quickly New York loses.
New York is defying the Supreme Court. And it’s not trying to hide that fact.
“With this action, New York has sent a message to the rest of the country that we will not stand idly by and let the Supreme Court reverse years of sensible gun regulations,” Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado said in a statement.
Sounds Like Japan Needs Some Gun Laws.
Shinzo Abe was 67.
I really don’t want to hear that this sort of thing only happens in America. Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in the world, and none of those laws stopped this lunatic from making his own gun and shooting a politician with it. Laws mean nothing to the evil and the insane.
The NRA didn’t do this, unless there’s a Nipponese Rifle Association.
And once again, our media is a disgrace. Here’s how NPR decided to remember Shinzo Abe:
The man who was just assassinated was divisive and arch-conservative, huh?
And here’s their second attempt, after they deleted that one:
“Ultranationalist.” Well, maybe the third time will be the charm.
And of course, the worst president in the history of the United States had to say something stupid:
Biden statement on assassination of ex-PM Shinzo Abe of Japan: “While there are many details that we do not yet know, we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it.” pic.twitter.com/RWOO2EkVsC
— Tiana Lowe (@TianaTheFirst) July 8, 2022
Shinzo Abe was assassinated on Japanese soil with a homemade gun, and now this moron and his staffers are using it to push gun control in America. I can’t wait for November……..
Escambia County man shoots at 3 men who invaded his home; Suspects wanted
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — A man shot at three people who invaded his Escambia County home Thursday night. Two suspects are now wanted.
It happened around 11:40 p.m. on Pinestead Rd.
Sheriff Chip Simmons says three people broke into the man’s home — one carrying a handgun. During the incident, the suspects began pushing the man. One suspect dropped the gun before another picked it up.
According to Sheriff Simmons, the man ran to a back room, retrieved an AK-47 rifle and started shooting at the three suspects for protection. The suspects then ran from the home.
Investigators have identified and are looking for two of the three home invasion suspects — 18-year-old Antonio Dean Jr. and 20-year-old Da’Torrance Hackworth. Dean Jr. is also wanted for these past charges:
- battery
- robbery with a firearm
- aggravated assault with a weapon
- weapon possession
Sheriff Simmons says investigators have been speaking with a third person who suffered a gunshot wound to the head.
He has not yet been identified as a suspect in the case, as Sheriff Simmons says his statements about the gunshot wound have been inconsistent. Investigators have not yet been able to connect him to the home invasion.
Sheriff Simmons said the homeowner will not be charged.
It’s amazing what the prospect for a winter with little to no heat will do
European Commission Declares Nuclear and Gas to be Green.
The European Commission has labeled nuclear and gas as sustainable. Critics are calling the step “greenwashing” and say it could threaten the bloc’s bid to become climate-neutral by 2050.
One good way to know someone is trustworthy is that they tell you how trustworthy (credible) they are.
In a proposal presented this Wednesday, the EU Commission stated that certain strings remained attached. For example, gas plants could only be considered green if the facility switched to low-carbon or renewable gases, such as biomass or hydrogen produced with renewable energy, by 2035.
Nuclear power plants would be deemed green if the sites can manage to safely dispose of radioactive waste. So far, worldwide, no permanent disposal site, has gone into operation though.
At a news conference in Brussels, Mairead McGuinness, the EU commissioner responsible for financial services, said her institution was not guilty of “greenwashing,” as gas and nuclear were labeled as “transitional” energy sources in the taxonomy. “Our credibility is still strong,” McGuinness added.
Not everyone was happy.
Environmental organizations most certainly see this critically, saying the proposal could jeopardize the EU’s aim to reach climate neutrality by 2050. The Climate Action Network Europe wrote that the EU Commission “sacrifices the scientific integrity of the taxonomy on the altar of fossil gas and nuclear lobbies” and failed to “reorient financial flows towards genuinely climate-positive investments.”
It’s a comprehensive article and well worth a read.
What happens next?
The European Commission’s taxonomy proposal will now be reviewed by the 27 EU member states and by the European Parliament.
As the EU’s executive opted for a delegated act, a type of fast-track legislative procedure, only a total of 20 EU countries, or a majority of EU lawmakers at the European Parliament, would be able to reject it.
While EU states are not likely to turn down the taxonomy, a win in the European Parliament is not yet certain. Parliamentarians from across the political spectrum have expressed anger over the inclusion of fossil gas and nuclear power in the EU taxonomy.
Green lawmaker Rasmus Andresen said he was “disappointed” by the proposal, adding that the Green parliamentary fraction would fight hard to gather a majority against the taxonomy.
German Social Democrat Joachim Schuster told DW he thought it possible that the European Parliament could vote against the act.
And even if lawmakers were to support it, there is another threat looming: Austria and Luxembourg have already threatened to sue the European Commission over the taxonomy rules.
BLUF
Republican voters deserve better than this. They deserve leadership in Washington that cares about more than just the next news cycle. Mass shootings are, unfortunately, inevitable until the nation gets ahold of the mental health crisis gripping isolated, depressed young men. The foolish decision to pretend as if passing some federal law would stop them has only backed Republicans further into the corner. Will any lessons be learned? Don’t count on it.
Republicans Play the Fool After Compromising on ‘Gun Control’
With the recent mass shooting in Highland Park that took the lives of seven people, a renewed call for “gun control” from Democrats has begun. That comes just weeks after Republicans lined up to sign on to a gun control bill (now passed into law) with the idea that doing so would provide common ground on the issue.
As predicted, though, that didn’t even buy the GOP enough goodwill to make it through the next mass shooting, much less did it put the issue to bed for any length of time. Here’s what I wrote when Sen. John Cornyn was first announced to be negotiating with Democrats on gun control.
Here’s the thing, though. When whatever red flag laws that get passed fail to stop the next mass shooter, the call to “do something” will only grow louder. And the next “something” will be an even further encroachment. I understand the desire to act in good faith and attempt to take some of the heat off, but Republicans have to understand that the Democrat push for gun confiscation and an “assault weapons” ban will not stop with whatever compromise legislation arises here.
That leaves the obvious question for Republicans: Is it smart to give ground when the end goal of the Democrats is being telegraphed to you? I know my answer.
In the case of the Highland Park shooter, he had every red flag imaginable and Illinois’ red flag law still failed to stop him from obtaining guns. That was always the problem with any GOP compromise on this issue. When you concede ground, all you are doing is providing gun control proponents fodder to say “See, your solutions didn’t work so we need to do it my way now.”
I also shared similar thoughts on social media after the text of the then-bill was leaked.
Whether this is reasonable or not, and we'd need a lot of details to know what these vague provisions actually do, there will be another mass shooting. When there is, the calls to "do something" won't be quelled by passing this.
The GOP is getting played. Bookmark it. https://t.co/fsjwS4TEVk
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) June 12, 2022
Gov. Hochul: Here’s What the Data Actually Says
It only took 30 seconds, that’s all. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul held a press conference calling back her state’s legislature for an “extraordinary” session to pass more gun control after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down New York’s restrictive and subjective “may issue” pistol permit license scheme.
In 30 seconds, she vocalized why her gun control agenda is destined to fail.
Failed Approach
Gov. Hochul exclaimed, “I’m absolutely shocked,” after the Supreme Court held in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding Americans to carry a firearm in public for self-protection. She shouldn’t be. It only takes a simple reading of the actual amendment.
She called her state’s Democratically-controlled legislature back to Albany to restrict where licensed conceal carry permit holders can lawfully carry their firearms. The new laws include even more restrictive provisions like background checks and a state database for ammunition purchases, increased training requirements to obtain the permit, a mandatory sit-down, in-person interview and even requiring applicants to submit social media accounts for content review.
“Do you have the numbers to show that it’s the concealed carry permit holders that are committing crimes? The lawful gun owner will say you’re attacking the wrong person,” asked Albany-based CBS 6 News anchor Anne McCloy. “It’s really people that are getting these guns illegally that are causing the violence, not the people that are going to get the permit legally and that’s the basis for the whole Supreme Court argument. Do you have the numbers?”
“I don’t need to have numbers,” the governor shot back. “I don’t have to have a data point to point to to say this is going to matter.”
That’s what is called “the tell.” These laws aren’t aimed at stopping criminals. They’re designed to rob law-abiding citizens of their rights.
What’s The Data Say?
Some estimates suggest New York has more than 200,000 concealed carry permit holders. For the entire United States, it’s over 21.5 million. These are law-abiding gun owners that meet state requirements and were approved after an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification. New York is one of the states with the most stringent conceal carry requirements.
The actual data shows that concealed carry permit holders are among the most law-abiding people in America. The Heritage Foundation’s 2019 data says, “… concealed-carry permit holders accounted for 801 firearm-related homicides over a 15-year span, which amounts to roughly 0.7% of all firearm-related homicides during that time.”
A Fox News report paints a picture Gov. Hochul would rather ignore. According to the FBI, Census Bureau, and Rand Corporation data, states with lower rates of gun ownership and more restrictive gun control – like New York – have more firearm murders per 100,000 residents as a percentage of the gun-owning population than states with high gun owner rates.
New York ranks fifth, with just 19.9 percent of households saying they possess a firearm and 1.53 firearm homicides per 100,000 residents. The Violence Policy Center attempted to “fact check” a claim about concealed carry holders committing fewer crimes but ended up “revealing” there were 37 firearm incidents (not specifically intentional homicide) involving concealed carry permit holders between May 2007 and May 2022. That’s less than 2.5 per year in the entire country.
Crime rates, especially in New York City, continue to climb.
Gov. Hochul and Albany Democrats praised themselves for their “fast work” to jam through more restrictions on law-abiding New Yorkers. The policies won’t stop criminals from perpetrating their crimes. It will, however, turn law-abiding New Yorkers into criminals overnight when enacted in a few months.
Gov. Hochul isn’t to be bothered with facts. She doesn’t need the data or the science. She doesn’t even need to focus laws on holding criminals accountable. When it comes to gun rights, Gov. Hochul needs only the echo chamber of New York’s legislature to nod in agreement as they strip New Yorkers of their rights.
NYS Sheriffs: New gun laws unconstitutional by creating rules impossible to follow
New York State (WRGB) — Sheriffs from across New York State are coming out in force against gun laws passed by Governor Kathy Hochul (D-New York) and the state legislature, telling CBS 6 the governor violated the constitution in more than one way when passing new gun laws in a rush.
Peter Kehoe is Executive Director of the New York State Sheriff’s Association, which represents all 58 sheriffs across New York State.
Kehoe sat down with CBS 6’s Anne McCloy.
They wanted to make a political statement so they introduced the bill in the morning, passed it in the afternoon and signed it in the evening which is unheard of,” Kehoe said.
Anne: Did you have a chance to read the legislation before it went into law?
Kehoe: Absolutely not, and no one else did either. I think a lot of people didn’t see it until it was passed including the lawmakers.
Women Now Make Up the Largest Group of New Gun Owners
According to a recent study conducted by Harvard University, women now make up 42% of new gun owners accounting for nearly half of all new gun owners over the past 5-years. This number is up 14% from that same span of time and 3.5 million women joined the ranks of new gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021. An NSSF survey partially backs up this claim by the Harvard study by stating that 1/3rd of 2021’s new gun owners were women.
Keen observers of the firearms industry might have also noticed a distinct shift in the way that firearms companies are producing marketing material with many new products like the recent release of the PDP F Series being specifically marketed towards female shooters. Shooting organizations like “Shoot like a Girl” have also cropped up featuring female firearms instructors whose aim is to bring more women into shooting sports and provide them with a more comfortable environment to train in.
In the study conducted by Harvard University, one-quarter of the women surveyed said self-defense was the main reason they wanted to purchase a firearm for the first time with many citing the uptick in civil unrest and reduction of law enforcement assets during the summer of 2020. Another reason cited by many women as to why they’ve armed themselves is that many of them are now living alone and feel more comfortable having a firearm in the home for self-defense.
Regardless of what is spurring this increase in gun ownership amongst women, I think this is a net positive for the firearms industry as a whole and the women that the industry is trying to serve. Let us know if the ladies that you know are taking on an increased interest in firearms and what they are saying as to how or why they’re getting into firearms.
Shinzo Abe assassinated using a homemade shotgun. From the smoke, loaded with blackpowder, possibly also homemade.
NHK now showing a closeup image of the gun. Seems to have two barrels and be heavily wrapped in black tape.
Looks incredibly home-made. pic.twitter.com/mCvgR98pSZ
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) July 8, 2022
Texas armed robbers shot at while trying to steal from fireworks stand
A pair of armed men attempted to rob a fireworks stand in Austin late Monday evening but one of the employees returned gun fire, authorities said.
The Travis County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call just before midnight from a caller who said he was robbed and shot at.
Deputies responded to the fireworks stand in the 100 block of West Howard Lane. The employees told deputies they were robbed at gunpoint by two subjects.
Both men, according to their statements, were wearing all black, with masks. One of them was wearing a beanie.
One of the employees fired his weapon at the robbers and hit one of them, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies searched the area. Less than half a mile from the robbery scene, deputies found a Hispanic male with multiple non-life-threatening gunshot wounds hiding behind a residential fence. He was transported to a hospital and is now in custody.
Deputies have not located the second suspect. No further details were released.
Governor DeSantis Rights Another Pandemic Wrong for Florida Residents.
On July 5, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the No Patient Left Alone Act to right some of the most egregious wrongs of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, hospitals nationwide denied patients visitation, even at the end of their lives. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities did the same. Closing healthcare facilities to visitation from family is no longer legal in Florida.
During the announcement, DeSantis explained, “It [the law] increases patient protections and ensures Florida families have a fundamental right to visit their loved ones receiving care in Florida hospitals, hospices, and long-term care facilities.” It also prevents the facilities from requiring that family members receive a COVID-19 vaccination to access visitation and bans any policy that prevents them from having physical contact, such as hugging their loved ones. “This ensures families can be there and patients can have their support system around them when it matters most,” DeSantis added.
One woman in Florida made national news during the pandemic and met DeSantis to share her story. Mary Daniel’s husband suffered from Alzheimer’s and was in long-term care in Florida when the pandemic began. She visited her husband every day after work and spent the evening with him. On March 11, 2020, she kissed him goodnight. On March 12, the staff called her and said she could not come back. In Daniel’s own words:
I knew that the isolation was going to hurt him. With dementia patients, Alzhiemer’s patients specifically, the human contact, the hand holding, the back rubbing, me being with him was the most important part. I couldn’t talk to him on the phone. I couldn’t talk to him on FaceTime. His verbal skills are very limited. He talks but I can’t understand what he says.
So there was no conversation that we could have. He would kiss the iPad because he didn’t understand where I was and how that worked. We tried two window visits and he cried the entire time. He just truly didn’t understand why are you not in here and why are you not with me? He had no knowledge and no cognitive idea of the virus. He didn’t know what it was and didn’t understand it and so didn’t know what was going on.
She spent 114 days advocating for herself and other families and figuring out how to get back to the daily routine her husband was used to. Daniel received national media attention when she took a part-time job as a dishwasher in her husband’s facility just to check on him. She also started to connect with other families in similar situations and has a Facebook group that was 14,000 strong when she interviewed with American Thought Leaders in April of 2021.
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During the process she met with DeSantis and his wife Casey, who listened intently to her story. She participated in task forces trying to work out how to reconnect patients and families in the state. “Governor DeSantis has absolutely without question led the way in how to do this right and get us back to our loved ones. After our conversation, we walked out to a press conference, and he announced the establishment of a Long Term Care Task Force for Reopening Facilities in Florida.”
Initially, DeSantis issued executive orders to get families back in with their loved ones. Those activities resulted in the law he signed on Tuesday. Residents of other states, especially those with hard lockdowns, did not have a similar advocate in the governor’s mansion. Patty Heffernan, a resident of Michigan, lost her brother to cardiac disease during the pandemic.
Her 96-year-old mother, who is entirely cognizant and only requires assisted living, grieved the loss of her child alone. No family was allowed to visit and comfort her. The only people allowed to touch her mom was the staff. “It stays with you forever, ” Heffernan said. “We got no closure, could not gather in our grief, and only five people could attend his funeral. That just accommodated his immediate family.”
Needless to say, Governor Gretchen Whitmer did not help Heffernan or other families in a similar situation. She was too busy putting COVID-positive patients into facilities like Heffernan’s mother is in and ensuring no one could buy seeds at Walmart.
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The right to receive visitors should be in every patient’s bill of rights. Every patient deserves an advocate. And every family member needs to be able to make observations about the care their loved one is receiving and ask questions of their providers. As Daniel explained:
When I saw Steve after 114 days, there were light bulbs out in his room. His remote control was gone from his TV. When I took his shoes off to put him in bed, his toenails had not been cut in 114 days. This is a man who was meticulous about his appearance. We didn’t dry his golf shirts. We hung them.
He has every shirt he’s ever owned in that closet in there because he took care of his things and his appearance with such great care. I pulled his shoes off, and I couldn’t believe it. Now is that neglect? No, he doesn’t know, he doesn’t realize it. I know, and I see it. What do you think that looks like after 300 days?
The cruelty of making people die alone in any setting is unspeakable. We know this happened to patients who died of COVID. It also happened to countless Americans hospitalized for other illnesses and in long-term care facilities. The fact that healthcare administrators and caregivers around the country enforced policies that isolated these patients is sickening, and anyone who ever attended a death knows it.
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And thanks to the work of Mary Daniel and the decisive action of Governor DeSantis, it will never happen in Florida again.