Episode 137 - Trump Demolishes the Media's Fake "Democracy Doomsday" Narrative. Pistol-Packing Politicians. Airbnb Bows to the CCP.
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Summary
On this episode of Hot Takes, we discuss the latest in the Trump administration regarding the transition of power from the GSA to the transition from the White House to the Department of Homeland Security. We also hear from Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) about his efforts to push for Puerto Rico to become a state, and we read from a piece from the Orlando Sentinel piece.
Transcript
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you ever watch this guy on television you all were not telling the truth and you should not
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be trusted congressman matt gates thank you for what you did for your country today be offended
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with the democratic whip not house republicans like a machine matt gates
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welcome to hot takes i'm congressman matt gates let's talk about the news 6.8 million dollars
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has been made available to the biden transition from the gsa an additional million dollars in
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training and orientation resources on top of that the gsa administrator putting out word that
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she received no pressure from the white house one way or the other on this decision but that she had
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in fact received a number of threats against herself her staff her family even people's lives as a
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consequence of her desire to ensure that the transition reached an appropriate place for her
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to make these resources available president trump signaling his support for the move in a tweet
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saying that you know he appreciated her service and that it was his belief that this ought to go
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forward and it won't prejudice the litigation that's the key point the president is still making claims
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in court those claims are still important to resolve because they speak not only to the standards in the
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2020 election but every election going forward and i want the president to keep fighting in court to
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keep making those claims to seek the relief that will clean up our election process both now and in the
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future and you know the president didn't want to see these threats happening to the gsa or their
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employees he referenced that in the tweet and he said in the interests of our country i am recommending
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that emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols and i've told my
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team to do the same now this is totally freaking out the media i mean haven't we heard non-stop since
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the election that donald trump has engaged in a coup he's seizing power america has become a banana
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republic there's nothing that can stop the deterioration of democracy that's occurring over this period of
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time and here we are lo and behold before a single american has cut into their thanksgiving turkey
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and you've got president trump telling his team to follow the protocols to do what needs to be done
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right alongside the vigorous efforts in court to ensure that we don't have late arriving ballots that we
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don't have polluted ballot pools and that we don't have procedures in the future that are a joke you know we
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covered yesterday the standards that america would apply to a foreign election and regarding observers
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regarding the integrity of the ballot and frankly i don't know that we live up to our own standards when
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you look at the way people were excluded from review and the ways in which the identification process
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and verification process to ensure that a person who had cast it cast a ballot actually intended to cast
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that ballot you know those were changed i mean trump was so good at elections and politics they've
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literally changed the rules in the months and weeks leading up to the election to reduce his chances
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of victory and here we stand now the end of november the gsa transition process beginning and democracy
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puerto rican statehood how would it happen who would it benefit these are the things being discussed in
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washington dc the orlando sentinels steven lamangelo has the story of congressman darren soto from florida
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also someone who represents a very large puerto rican community in the central florida area making a push
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not just to push legislatively but politically to pressure florida's united states senators to back
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the move here's my hot take why do democrats assume that puerto rico would obviously be a state in their
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column puerto rico would be a swing state in my view they occasionally send republican delegates to
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congress in fact the current delegate that puerto rico has sent to congress jennifer gonzalez-cologne is a
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republican they have elected governors of the republican party in the past governors of the
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democratic party in the past but puerto rico is not ready for statehood in this orlando sentinel
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piece they walk through how from a political standpoint from a referendum standpoint the people
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in puerto rico who advocate for stake statehood have cleared the hurdle they have survived the
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referendum they've prevailed on the referendum but that doesn't mean that puerto rico is
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behaving like a state and if they want to be a state then their economics have to reflect a
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certain sophistication that hasn't been there their budgets are a nightmare their structural debt is
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crippling puerto rico essentially exists on a series of bailouts from the united states federal government
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and not just because they have dealt with a series of natural disasters it's actually a problem in
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their budgeting their infrastructure spending the way they pay their public employees so if you want
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to be a state puerto rico start acting like one now i know in this orlando sentinel piece the premise
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is that despite how the elections turn out in georgia you've got two u.s senators from florida that
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in many ways are quite beholden to puerto rico i mean rick scott heck when he was first elected
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it was at times indistinguishable whether or not he represented the people of florida or the people of
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puerto rico with all he was doing for the island and to his credit that was something he campaigned
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on obviously marco rubio has always stood up for the people of puerto rico as well but they're still
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florida's senators and they should still have a very high standard for admitting another state to the
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union and in my opinion puerto rico is not ready
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as thanksgiving approaches there are many americans who will get to enjoy the great abundance
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of food i love food food brings people together it creates warmth it allows for the opportunity of
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the passing down of tradition from one family member to another but following the coronavirus
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crisis following the lockdowns that came as a result of that crisis food insecurity is becoming a real
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problem in our country and there was one piece in the providence journal by daunte naylor that caught
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our eye one in four rhode islanders can't meet basic food needs food bank's annual report says that's just
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an astonishing number one in four people now these are numbers that are the worst at any time since
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the great depression in 2019 the number of people who were food insecure was about 9.1 percent in rhode
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island again that rising to 25 percent now and the greatest contribution to the university of people
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who are now food insecure are those who've been laid off as a result of covet 19 and i would suggest
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a lot of these layoffs aren't a result of the virus as much as they're a result of the lockdowns that
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make people's jobs illegal and now those very folks are showing up in food bank lines needing relief and
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again at a time when so many of us are going to have the opportunity to enjoy great food great family
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interactions it's important to recognize that we may need to be more charitable this year than we've been
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in the past to ensure that our neighbors and fellow americans have food security again this is really
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astonishing that you would have as many as one in four people in a state a challenge to ensure that
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they're able to meet their nutrition needs and so let's dig deep this holiday season let's reach out to
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our fellow americans who may be struggling and let's extend the love and the grace and the generosity
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of our great country is airbnb getting a little too close to the ccp the chinese communist party we pick
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up this exclusive from the wall street journal the former number two at the fbi sean joyce resigned
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from airbnb last year due to concerns about the company's data sharing in china including an unwritten
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request made for real-time data and yet the co-founder of airbnb said to mr joyce quote we're
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not here to promote american values indeed working with the ccp so that airbnb can have access to that
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huge market now airbnb has a history of bending over backwards to some of the worst impulses in global
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governance matter of fact the state of florida took the position against airbnb regarding their
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designation of certain properties in jerusalem as in occupied territories it would label the listings
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of properties in east jerusalem to make a political point for the benefit of palestinian claims and that
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didn't sit well with us here in florida our governor ron de sanis stood strong against that and ultimately
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airbnb made the change but it shows how sensitive they can be to government pressures and it also
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shows what their natural instinct is and in fact this wall street journal story i think correctly
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encapsulates that airbnb is not an america first company they're not a company that exists to promote
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markets and freedom the type of sharing that we would advocate for when it can create economic
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opportunity and reduce waste and create better efficiencies those are all the things we're told
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about airbnb but in reality if the chinese communist party or some other government make a request of
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them it's frustrating to see how willing they are to meet some of those needs and if the chinese
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communist party wants real-time data about where americans are staying where they're traveling where
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they're going that doesn't make our nation stronger doesn't make our people stronger it doesn't make
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our companies stronger it makes china stronger oftentimes at the expense of our country and so
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we need to do all we can to ensure that the great minds in america that build great companies
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see that work in order to the benefit of our great nation
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looks like it's going to be harder for bears to get away with stealing picnic baskets we get the story
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from the new york post of university of virginia bear scientists teaming up with some of the brightest
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minds in silicon valley to create bear id which applies facial recognition software previously
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restricted to use with humans to bears this is helpful because it allows biologists to be able to
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track the bears monitor their activities without the process that we used to use which at times involved
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you know shooting the bear with a dart and getting a collar around its neck and then tracking which bears
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were engaged in what movements what territorial claims and what family units now we could just scan their face
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recognize the bears and engage in the science that hopefully helps these amazing apex predators in north america
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so congratulations to the folks at the university of virginia who worked on this development who knows
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maybe next we'll see a variety of different animals able to be recognized at the individual level
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based on the science that we're able to use and develop and wouldn't that be a great thing to learn
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about two-thirds of the audience of this podcast is male this next segment is for the third of you who
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aren't the times of india has the story of sanitation and makeup how to ensure that we're sanitizing makeup
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products amidst the covet 19 pandemic now you may think that just spraying your sponges and brushes
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with an alcohol spray would work but according to the piece actually you're going to want to wash those
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once a week at least mascara also can carry the virus lipstick with powders you're going to want to
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skim the top layer of the powder off it's not enough just to hit it with a spray and they're also a lot
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more natural and home remedies that are less likely to share the virus that some of the more commercial
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options maybe whip up an olive oil cleanser or put on a rich and creamy avocado mask olive oil and sugar
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can be used together as a scrub there's oatmeal soaks oatmeal honey masks all kind of different options
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so check it out the times of india stay sanitized stay safe and stay beautiful
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if you're spending time with your family in pennsylvania for the upcoming thanksgiving holiday
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and if you believe you may require alcohol to get through it you're going to need to buy it in advance
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the daily caller put out the story it appears as though alcohol will not be sold in the state of
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pennsylvania starting at 5 p.m on wednesday and then only resuming following the thanksgiving holiday
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they have created this regulation under the guise of a coronavirus restriction i guess the working
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theory is that if you don't have alcohol maybe you'll be more likely to adhere to social distancing
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protocols when spending time with your family over a holiday meal here's my hot take this is the new
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normal governments that want to control what you can buy how you can spend your money how you can
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spend your time are going to find new and creative ways to limit the choices of the american people
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under the auspices of coronavirus now do we really think that this is going to be some
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you know game changer regulation to stop the spread that people can't go and and have a holiday
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cordial with their family or buy a bottle of wine for someone's home that they're traveling to for
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a meal and some fellowship give me a break in pennsylvania i think they got a lot to be worried
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about before they are there uh you know policing whether or not someone is able to consume alcohol
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over the holiday vacation and and the fellowship that comes with it so i'm not for these restrictions
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i think that it's a lot of silliness where people in government are trying to utilize power often in
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a reactionary way just to demonstrate that they have it whether it's to travel to see family whether
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it's to purchase alcohol whether it's to go to some congregating event i trust the people of this
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country to make decisions oftentimes a great deal more than the government
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colorado's lauren bobert is one of the best new incoming members of congress she's got america first
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views and she's packing that's right she owns a gun friendly grill in rifle colorado she beats a
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five-term incumbent representative scott tipton by closely aligning herself with president trump
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and now she shows up to congress ready to strap her firearm to her side and do her legislative work
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the chairman of the second amendment caucus republican thomas massey has come out in favor
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of congresswoman bobert being able to wear her firearm on capitol grounds citing the shooting
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of our good friend and republican whip steve scalise in 2017 there are a number of antiquated regulations
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that do allow members of congress to be able to have a firearm and it does appear that congresswoman
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elect bobert is going to fully vindicate her second amendment rights and show up ready to fire away
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legislatively or otherwise congratulations congresswoman elect bobert i look forward to serving with you
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now that operation warp speed has provided not one but two vaccines for use in our country the politics
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of vaccine mandates appear to be emerging in several states florida being one of them we pick up the story
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from the northwest florida daily news florida might not force you to get a coveted vaccine but it can
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here's why and the piece goes through the legal authority that exists for states for governors through
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executive order to deem people who do not take vaccines public health risks and there's actually
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jurisprudence on this that is more than 100 years old out of massachusetts the jacobson v massachusetts
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case which upholds a state's authority to order compulsory vaccines now governor ron desantis
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said in a video that he won't force these vaccines but we're working hard to make them available here's
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the governor our goal is to make all safe and effective covid vaccines available to floridians
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who want them but the state will not mandate that floridians take these vaccines that's going to be the
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choice of each and every floridian i do though believe that these breakthroughs represent probably the
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greatest rays of hope that we have seen since the pandemic began they offer the prospect of saving
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thousands and thousands of lives and to potentially bring this pandemic to an end i agree with governor
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de santis we want to make sure that our frontline workers are protected that those who are vulnerable
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have access to the vaccine early on but it should be the choice of our fellow floridians and our fellow
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americans whether to take the vaccine or not i don't believe the government has the right to compel you
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under my understanding of personal liberty and individual freedom in the constitution despite this
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jurisprudence to the contrary and so i hope we get broad adoption of the vaccine i hope those who
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need it take it but i don't believe that the strong hand of government should be on the other end of the
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needle forcing people to do something that might not be right for them that might not be in line with
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their thinking their faith their approach to the virus different people are going to have different
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strategies some folks are isolating more frequently some folks have built up immunities that they
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regularly are checking on and some folks are going to get the vaccine to each his own all the better
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thanks for listening to hot takes i'm congressman matt gates we're glad you're listening we hope you'll
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take the time to leave us a quick rating or review on your podcast listening platform of choice
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and of course we want you to join us tomorrow for more hot takes