Thoughts on Florida HB 269 and DeSantis

Over the course of the past-six months, the Dissident Right has suffered from a near paranoid dread as it pertains to the potential passage of an “antisemitism hate crime” bill in Florida. Rumors as to its contents were all over the spectrum – from the idea that free speech would be fully eradicated in Florida to the proposition that Florida students would be forced to attend synagogues to compel pro-Jewish compassion (no kidding, this belief was sent to me). To be sure, I was hesitant myself. After all, I have been accused of antisemitism and I am highly critical of Judaism and Jewish Supremacy. Thankfully, I had nothing to fear after reading the bill.

The following article dispels some of the rumors about the bill, that which is in the bill, and how I believe it will apply. Before I do, however, let me tackle some of the myths: Ron DeSantis did not create the bill nor inspired it in any way; DeSantis did not fly to Israel to sign the bill; Florida did not make antisemitism illegal. These myths that are perpetuated online are simply “fake news.” It is important that we are accurate in that which we support or oppose.

Furthermore, let me make it clear: I am against all “hate crime” legislation of any kind. It is an easily exploited trojan horse. That said, I also want to present a sober and responsible understanding of HB 269 because it has been weaponized to black-pill the dissident movement – and especially Southern Nationalists – in a state that has given Southern Nationalists more than any state in the past fifty-plus years. I hate ill-informed black pills more than I hate the antifa, because our movement actually means something to me, especially when it comes to Florida.

Let us first address the mythical origins of the bill itself. Ron DeSantis did not propose the bill. House Bill 269 was posited by an Italian-American Catholic, Florida State Representative Mike Caruso, a Republican. Representative Caruso represents Florida’s 89^th House District in the town of Delray Beach in Palm Beach County. For those unfamiliar with the area, the location is almost exclusively comprised of Yankee transplants – especially from New York City – and has a heavy concentration of Jewish and Northeastern ethnic Catholic voters. Caruso is originally from Washington, D.C.

Whereas much of Florida’s anti-Jewish activism is taking place in Northern (i.e., Confederate) Florida, news of a rash of flyer campaigns and the projection of a swastika onto private buildings in Jacksonville – Florida’s largest and most northern city – made the news throughout the state. Undoubtedly, Caruso was pressured by his large Jewish constituency to “do something.” This led to the creation of the antisemitism hate crime bill to stop such ostentatious attacks on the Jewish community in Florida.

Before I go further, let me state that it is not surprising to me that a politician will do what he believes it will take to get reelected. It is my personal belief that all politicians are sociopaths who will do whatever it takes to hold onto any power they have. They will justify their actions as some sort of constituency service, but in the end, it is about them not us. This is extremely important for the Dissident Right to bear in mind: politicians only serve groups and causes that can help them – if you are a hindrance to their retention of power, they will come after you; if you give them an option to keep power – they will listen to you. Caruso was bombarded with demands for action, and he responded. Do I like “how” he took action? No. But the reaction was predictable and was likely the motivation behind the projected imagery campaign (i.e., testing the limits).

Returning to the bill, HB 269 originated as a bill that was specific to anti-Jewish animus. To those who are seeking a “white pill” in this debacle, not a single Florida state senator, nor Governor DeSantis, sponsored the bill while it focused exclusively on antisemitism. Predictably, the bill entered a variety of committees where it was tested and chopped up. The most important “opponent” of the bill was Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Consistent with their role as the primary legal counsel for the State of Florida, the state’s Attorney General team tested the legality of hate speech restrictions and the potential of limitations on free speech in general. They provided outstanding insight into the protection of so-called “White Nationalists” to express “egregious positions.” This led to Moody’s team providing legal review documentation that contested the legitimacy of the bill as it pertained to the exclusion of justifiable religious disagreements with Judaism. For example, would someone who says, “Jews are going to Hell for failing to convert to Christianity” be subjected to the same “hate crime” threshold as someone who said, “Jews should die?” This led many of the Florida Legislature to back off the bill and reconsider the language.

At the insistence of Florida’s evangelical legislators – regardless of racial composition or political affiliation – the bill was expanded to include all faiths and it added additional language that it would be limited to (A) private property and (B) the intent of the language would have to explicitly be designed to intimidate in some way. In other words, you can still express antisemitic beliefs on public property and the nature of your communications are still protected on private property if the nature of your communications is not designed for the sake of intimidation. Whereas that latter component is rather broad in its potential for exploitation by our adversaries, it is not the clear-cut disaster that the Dissident Right has made it out to be. So, how does this play out? Let us focus on the Jewish portion first, before I tackle the Christian protections.

Furthermore, the concept of private vehicles was also debated in Florida. The outcome became an “intentional” carve out. In other words, you need to know the private property is owned by a Jewish person before you place a flyer on their vehicle in order for the act to meet hate crime status. If you mass blast a Lowes parking lot, for example, and a Jew happens to get your flyer, you are not intentionally targeting the Jewish person as the law is written.

Exploring this further, let’s say you like to provide flyers to anyone who will take one. You can say anything you want on a public corner as long as it is not an incitement of overt violence (a crime in every state). However, if you choose to say, “I hate Jews and here is why…” this bill will not impact you on public property. You can give those flyers out to folks on beaches, parks, street corners, etc. You cannot give those flyers out on synagogue grounds or “knowingly” Jewish homes. You can, however, point out Jewish dominance in key sectors of the economy and entertainment on that private property. That is not intimidation in its own right. Is it likely the Jewish owners of the property will ask you to leave? Sure. It is their private property. They would exercise a right to command of their private property as much as I would do so.

Just as I would not like BLM to hand out flyers on my private property, Jews would not want White Nationalists to do the same on their private property. Again, there is no real change in the law except, if you refused to leave, you may be faced with a hate crime enhancement. If antifa left an anti-Christian flyer on my car in a mass distribution at Home Depot, that is not a hate crime. If they see me leave a church and target my vehicle, the law makes it a hate crime.

That is it. That is the law. You may not hate on Jews upon Jewish owned property – to include electronic means to project an image upon said property – and even then, you can still hate on them, but you cannot do so in a manner that is expressly designed to intimidate them. This same law extends to Catholics on Catholic owned property… Baptists on Baptist owned property… Hindus… Muslims… Lutherans… Anglicans… If you absolutely need to use language that intimidates Jews, you can do so next to the synagogue on public grounds. Otherwise, that is HB 269.

Southerners, unlike our 48er Yankee counterparts, respect the right to private property. If someone comes on my land, I have a right to shoot and kill them in Florida if I feel intimidated (take note). Unlike Rabbi Schlomo, I am not waiting for the police if you come on my grounds and attempt to intimidate me for being a Christian or a White man. That stated, private property is private property and Southerners respect private property probably more than any other ethnicity on earth. Any so-called Southern Nationalist who does not respect private property is just a Yankee Bolshevik pig sipping on sweet tea instead of “iced tea.”

However, there was something that the DeSantis team added to the bill which was interesting. Throughout committee deliberations, Moody’s team did most of the arguing for changes to ensure the legality of the bill. After deliberations, the DeSantis team added a “political creed” caveat. In essence, you can no longer attempt to silence a legally authorized speaker on publicly funded spaces from expressing their political, social, or cultural positions. Admittedly, the language is wide open, but that was likely intentionally done for reasons that I believe have to do with the intended weaponization of the bill itself.

The DeSantis carveout effectively ensured conservatives cannot be violently attacked while giving speeches on university grounds. In other words, if David Duke were to be invited to the University of Florida, and he was speaking, anyone who attempts to silence him “can” be subject to a hate crime enhancement. The irony is rich, but I personally believe it was highly calculated by DeSantis.

Taking a quick step back, there are a lot of rumors that DeSantis flew to Israel to sign the bill. That is not true. Governor DeSantis was on a four-country foreign direct investment tour that included Japan, South Korea, Israel, and the United Kingdom. When he left for the trip, the bill had only entered the state senate. All bills passed by the legislature were set to be signed by DeSantis after May 3^rd. As DeSantis left South Korea for Israel, the bill was passed. There is no indication that he intended to sign the bill in Israel. Florida Representatives Caruso (originator of the bill), and Randy Fine (R, FL-33), who is Jewish, flew to Israel with the bill printed and ready to sign. There is no indication that DeSantis intentionally signed the bill in Israel, especially since it seems his team was preparing for a very public signing near Mar-a-Lago if it passed (a snub to Trump in a very Jewish dominated area).

Finally, how do I think this bill will be used. Whereas I am sure some so-called Nazis will attempt to test the limits of the bill – potentially leading to hate crime prosecutions – I suspect two different groups will be targeted: anti-Catholic protestors and hate crime hoaxers. The latter group – those who engage in fake hate crimes – will likely get caught-up as a warning to others: “Do not paint swastikas on Jewish homes, or you will be prosecuted in Florida – even if you are Jewish.” The reason is simple. The coming year is 2024 and anyone who can say, “I convicted X-number of hate crime perpetrators” cannot wait to use that information for their election/reelection campaigns. No one will care that it was actually Rabbi Schlomo. It is simply a notch on the belt of an ambitious district attorney seeking to elevate himself on the backs of anyone they can throw in prison. It has been my personal observation that almost none of the alleged hate crimes are perpetrated by actual White Nationalists. It is almost always an attention seeking member of the “impacted” community.

Moving onto the Christian, especially the Catholic dynamic, it is intriguing. Nothing drives Republicans to manic salivating like the “hypocrisy” argument. They cannot comprehend that the Left simply does not care about allegations of hypocrisy. The Left fights a zero-sum, winner-take-all game. The Normie Right plays by the Marquess of Queensberry Rules. This leads to inevitable crying that things are “not fair.” Nothing is more pronounced than when the Normie Right sees an uneven application of criminal justice. To be fair, even the Dissident Right has complained that the antifa and BLM were able to run around, burning these United States down, while right-wingers were imprisoned for lesser crimes. DeSantis would love nothing more than to exploit this red meat for the base in the 2024 Primary.

DeSantis is running for the presidency. He was not allowed to do so by fact of law until this past legislative session. He will soon announce. Since DeSantis is essentially running to Trump’s political right on a host of issues, there is a critical weakness in Trump that DeSantis would love to exploit: the wanton destruction of the antifa in 2020. HB 269 gives him the legal means to prosecute the antifa in ways that he did not have in the past.

Even if you do not like DeSantis, one must admit he is calculating and strategic. Of all the governors, this is the one Republican who does not fight by the Marquess of Queensberry Rules. That is evident by the way he systematically destroyed black Congressional districts prior to the 2020 elections. Now, he would love to say something to the effect, “Trump let the antifa burn down the United States; in Florida, I put them in prison.” He would be correct on this mark.

Since ascending to the governorship, DeSantis has put hundreds of leftwing agitators into prison, including almost the entirety of the ultra-violent, anti-White “Take ‘Em Down Jax” leadership. No governor in these United States has put more antifa in state prisons that DeSantis. In fact, Trump put nearly three times as many right-wingers into prison than DeSantis has put leftists into prison, but throughout the entire Trump term, his Administration did not yield a single federal conviction of a leftwing agitator.

I believe that DeSantis would love nothing more than to give the Republican base the red meat it desperately desires. He would love to publicly shove antifa members into prisons for attacks on political actors holding rallies at universities, Christian pro-life centers, Catholic churches, and prayer groups (e.g., “Patriot Prayer”), if for no other reason than to say he did more to protect conservatives and Christians than Trump ever did. In a guaranteed cutthroat primary, Trump has two Achilles’ heals: (1) Covid vaccine promotions and (2) the 2020 riots followed by the subsequent abandonment of the J6 protesters. DeSantis will weaponize HB 269 to give him the edge on heal number two.

Of course, I can be wrong, but I have watched DeSantis for more than four years. He is more calculating, disciplined, and strategic than Trump. In my personal opinion, the political Right found its answer to Obama. It is not a bombastic sledgehammer. It is a razor-sharp scalpel. HB 269 gives DeSantis weapons he wants to win in 2024. The antifa will not know what hit them in “DeSantistan.”