Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 17 submissions in the queue.
posted by martyb on Wednesday December 09 2020, @02:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the who-feels-safe-in-Florida-now? dept.

Armed police raid home of Florida scientist fired over Covid-19 data

Rebekah Jones, the Florida data scientist embroiled in a dispute with the state's Republican governor over the handling of coronavirus figures, had her home raided on Monday by armed police who confiscated her computers.

In a stream of posts on Twitter, Jones posted a video of the raid that showed state police carrying handguns escorting her out of her Tallahassee home. She can be heard saying: "He just pointed a gun at my children," with her husband and two children apparently upstairs at the time.

Jones claimed in her tweets that the raid was the work of Ron DeSantis, the governor with whom she has clashed repeatedly since she was fired by the state's department of health in May in a row over Covid-19 data. She compared the incident to sending "the gestapo", adding: "This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly. This is what happens to people who speak truth to power."

The Florida department of law enforcement confirmed they had entered Jones's house on a search warrant. But in a statement the department said the action was related to a recent computer hack of the health department website, in which emergency response coordinators were sent an unauthorised message.

Also at CNN, The Verge, and The Hill.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @07:28AM (11 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @07:28AM (#1085457)

    I agree about masks, but you all blame Trump when you're forgetting major timeline facts: there was a major SHORTAGE of masks for the first few months of the pandemic. Forget that did you? Look it up. The govt had to lock everything down because there were not enough masks for the medical workers. Then enterprising people started making and selling masks. Remember that? No? That's okay, I've told you. Yes, at some point I agree: everyone should have been wearing masks. Interesting to see how many lefties / Democrats aren't wearing masks. Something about "those who live in glass houses..."

    Rather than spew your vitriol in all directions, you'd do better to actually look at specifics of where the virus is spreading, and how it's spreading, who's carrying it, to whom, who is dying, where, etc. I know, the facts don't fit your agenda of bashing conservatives.

    Independent, and I wear mask always in public, around people, etc. And don't forget frequent hand washing, sanitizer, etc.

    I can't get over how completely unsettling it is knowing that the actual explanation is that a significant number of Americans have the same "Dear Leader" mindset as North Koreans.

    Do you actually believe that? The kool aid of the left? Are you aware that in North Korea you're "disappeared" and tortured if you don't have a "Dear Leader" mindset? You really compare Trump to that kind of situation? I know your people want you to say that, but don't you feel just a little bit moronic?

    I'm much more afraid of the lefties. They're the ones who imprison people for "hate speech". Wake up.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   -1  
       Troll=1, Insightful=1, Overrated=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @07:44AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @07:44AM (#1085459)

    Masks don't do anything unless you cover both your mouth and nose. I swear I've never seen so many well protected chins as on the lefties. They may as well not wear them.

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:32AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:32AM (#1085472)

      Those are righties. You are looking at them upside down!!

      And, righties always have bigger noses, if you know what I mean!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2020, @06:51AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2020, @06:51AM (#1085859)

        No, the righties aren't wearing masks at all. The well protected chins are lefties.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:43AM (6 children)

    by c0lo (156) on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:43AM (#1085474) Journal

    there was a major SHORTAGE of masks for the first few months of the pandemic.

    Then the message should have been "Make them yourselves from textiles, it will help. Here's how" instead of "Mask don't work, don't bother".

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
    • (Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Wednesday December 09 2020, @05:17PM (1 child)

      by leon_the_cat (10052) on Wednesday December 09 2020, @05:17PM (#1085606) Journal
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 09 2020, @10:48PM

        by c0lo (156) on Wednesday December 09 2020, @10:48PM (#1085735) Journal

        Is that the capo d'opera that demonstrates how surgeons using masks kill their patients for centuries?

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Socrastotle on Wednesday December 09 2020, @06:48PM (3 children)

      by Socrastotle (13446) on Wednesday December 09 2020, @06:48PM (#1085645) Journal

      The messaging that masks don't help didn't come from Trump initially, it came from the CDC and WHO.

      In February CDC director Robert Redfield was asked "Should healthy people wear masks?" He said, no. That was not "revised" until April, and recommendations for "universal masking" didn't happen until July.

      In case you've forgotten this, here [politifact.com] is some 'fact check' site affirming as much. Just scroll down past where it says "false" and then states, more or less verbatim, exactly what I just said. Modern "fact checkers" in a nutshell.

      The WHO said the exact same thing [youtube.com] in March stating that not only should healthy people not wear masks, but that masks themselves might be a source of infection. I guess they were suggesting that the mask itself could more readily accumulate particulate matter and help spread a later infection to the wearer. Whatever.

      Anyhow, point being that *everybody* was saying don't wear masks. In general authoritative organizations should not offer advice until they are certain of what they are talking about, because you get what you have now where people end up taking everything you say with a grain of salt, even when you are almost certainly right this time.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:01PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:01PM (#1085674)

        In many ways this is why I think decentralized responses are best.

        When you have a centralized authority that says "Ok, everybody do this!" and everybody follows... well that is great when they're right. But when they're wrong? Maybe not such a big deal in this case, but in a different case we might be looking at an explanation to the Fermi Paradox. By contrast when you leave it to people to evaluate what's up and make their own decision, you are 100% guaranteed that some people will do dumb things - which kind of sucks. But you're also almost 100% guaranteed that at least some people will adopt the right strategy.

        Decentralization is really little more than a microcosm of evolution. Some get it right, some get it wrong, and in the end the winner (and the lucky) move on and repeat the game ad infinitum.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @10:23PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @10:23PM (#1085724)

          We on the morally superior right have adopted the right strategy!!

      • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday December 09 2020, @09:28PM

        by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday December 09 2020, @09:28PM (#1085698)

        This might be confusing for you to follow, but it turns out that when new information became available, the message changed.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @03:08PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @03:08PM (#1085547)

    There was a shortage, but that doesn't excuse them lying about the efficacy of masks for slowing the spread. They had the authority to order factories to produce the masks and limit sales to first responders. There's more blood on their hands from that than just about anything else.