someone dropped dead in Ron DeSantis’s hallway. why are they covering up the facts?
so much about this story just doesn’t add up
Peter Antonacci was Ron DeSantis’s handpicked choice to lead Florida’s so-called elections fraud office.
at least he was, right up until the moment that he fucking died, alone and ignored in the hallway of DeSantis’s offices.
what the hell happened?
well, that’s a question Governor Bobblehead doesn’t want to you to ask, because as with all things DeSantis, so much about this story just doesn’t add up.
That Antonacci, 74, was stricken in the governor’s office was kept secret at the time. Instead, authorities only said he died while at work in the Capitol building, of which the governor’s office is a part.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement records released to Florida Bulldog also say Antonacci lay dead or dying on the hallway floor of the governor’s office for more than 20 minutes before anyone apparently noticed and came to his aid. More precisely, 24 minutes, in a hallway under real time video-only surveillance.
By the time a Capitol police officer arrived a minute or two later and hooked the pulseless Antonacci up to an automated external defibrillator (AED), the machine that can administer a life-saving electrical shock to victims of sudden cardiac arrest assessed Antonacci and advised that “no shock” was needed.
now wait a fucking minute. this guy collapsed and died in a busy hallway — a hallway under constant video surveillance — and for almost half and hour, nobody noticed?
here’s what law enforcement is telling us:
Investigating FDLE Agent Larry Shallar watched the video. “At approximately 1:46 p.m., Mr. Antonacci is observed standing up and walking out of the conference room [WORDS REDACTED],” his report says. “Upon exiting the conference room, Mr. Antonacci is observed staggering as he moved forward until he collapsed to the floor. Mr. Antonacci did not appear to move once he collapsed to the floor.
“words REDACTED”? what the fuck?
The FDLE released 17 redacted pages. To justify the redactions, FDLE Assistant General Counsel Janine Robinson cited state laws that exempt from disclosure certain security and fire safety information, as well as the names of family of exempt personnel. The context of the redactions, however, did not plainly show how they qualified for exemptions. The redacted information appeared mostly to refer to the spot where Antonacci collapsed.
holy shit, that’s a metric fuckload of redaction.
ok, can we see the surveillance video and maybe judge for ourselves?
Security cameras video reviewed by investigating FDLE agents, and still photographs they took at the scene, were completely withheld. Robinson said they would not be made public.
can you at least tell us who was at this meeting, or maybe why no one noticed that there was a body in a hallway?
While the FDLE reports include such mundane observations as how Antonacci was dressed — “a sky blue shirt, dark blue dress coat, and gray dress pants” — they stand out for what’s missing: the identities of everyone attending the meeting and any inquiry as to why Antonacci lay undiscovered on the hallway floor for so long.
what did the medical examiner have to say?
MEDICAL EXAMINER NOT CALLED
whaaaaaast?
but there was an autopsy, right? did we learn anything from the autopsy?
The report says that Antonacci’s widow, Tallahassee lawyer Anne Longman, and his primary physician, Dr. Stacia Groll, stated that Antonacci “had a long history of heart disease and cardiac issues that resulted in several surgeries. Based on this medical history, Dr. Groll was willing and did sign off on the death certificate.”
Still, a Florida medical examiner who spoke with Florida Bulldog said that given the circumstances it was unusual that no autopsy was performed.
um, why did the law enforcement guy who was present at the meeting suddenly retire?
FDLE Chief of Staff Shane Desguin, who was present at the meeting with Antonacci and played a yet to be fully determined, but decisive role in the preparation of the FDLE's heavily redacted report about the incident, “retired” Nov 17.
someone is pissing on our heads here and telling us it’s raining.
who is giving the orders to cover up this mysterious death? Ron, is it you? do you at least have anything to say?
The Guardian has reached out to DeSantis’s office for comment.
sigh.
what is it with this guy?
why is it that whenever some sick shit goes down, there’s Ron, spewing explanations that makes no fucking sense — or clamming up entirely.
everything about DeSantis is sketchy as fuck and nothing adds up.
go ahead, ask Ron about his time as a quote-unquote “observer” at Gitmo. by accounts, what DeSantis liked to “observe” best were torture sessions, because they gave him a laugh.
ask him about that. you won’t get a straight answer.
in fact, Ron hates questions so much that he straight-up bans reporters from covering bill-signing ceremonies.
Among those denied access to the bill signing event were journalists from The South Florida Sun Sentinel; West Palm Beach TV stations WPEC CBS12 and WPTV Newschannel 5; and WPLG Local 10 News, an ABC affiliate in Miami. The only news outlet allowed in to cover the event was the Fox News program Fox & Friends, according to multiple journalists.
at a recent campaign event in Iowa, DeSantis had has goons prevent a black reporter from attending it.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign team today contacted law enforcement in an attempt to prohibit Iowa Starting Line reporters from covering his campaign in the Hawkeye State, according to Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies.
Two reporters—including Starting Line’s Chief Political Correspondent Ty Rushing—were greeted by multiple sheriff’s deputies at the entrance of the American Legion in Harlan on Friday afternoon, where DeSantis was making his second campaign stop of the day.
and it’s not just Ron — why is DeSantis’s wife Casey claiming that she’s so poor that she has to shop at Walmart to buy her kids two-dollar shirts?
are you fucking kidding me with that bullshit? Casey DeSantis dresses like royalty and flies around on a private jet.
ask her about the shirt story. ask her about the jet. ask her about her dress. you’ll just get a faceful of doubletalk for your trouble.
we should all thank our lucky stars that Ron DeSantis’s presidential aspirations are blowing up right in his unpleasant pudding face. no way does this dissembling dipshit belong anywhere near the levers of national power.
video of the day
“If it’s a Biden and Trump race, I would vote for Biden even if he was dead. And I’m a Republican.”
— A Pennsylvania voter to Meet the Press host Kristen Welker.
I would vote for Biden in a 'Weekend at Bernies' scenario. Without question.
Thank you Jeff. While DeSantis is clearly unfit for any public office, one has to wonder about Florida voters. Prior to DeSantis they elected Governor Medicare Fraud, and then later thought he'd be a terrific U.S. Senator.
The only saving grace is that by elevating incompetent, racist, climate and science-denying so-called leadership, Florida will likely have about 3 electoral votes after rising sea levels and the next pandemic (sadly) diminish the number of living Floridians.