Rebekah Jones who reported on COVID data manipulation in FL, officially gains whistleblower status

[User.45]

The DeSantis administration has worked long and hard to discredit Rebekah Jones,fired last year from her job as a data analyst after she accused state health officials of pressuring her to manipulate certain coronavirus numbers. She has stood her ground for a year, and last week, the Florida’s Office of the Inspector General firmed up the earth beneath her feet.

Friday, the IG’s office told Jones’ attorneys that she is a whistleblower, officially. This will afford her certain protections, plus the possibility of reinstatement or compensation. The former health department staffer said that she was asked to skew data analysis to better mesh with administration policy and also to screen other statistics from public view.

So far, DOH emails reviewed by the Miami Herald show Jones was asked to remove data from public view after receiving questions about it from the news organization. In addition, she has gone up against an administration that has shamelessly concealed vital COVID information during the past year. Unfortunately, the possibility of DOH manipulating information is not a stretch.

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article251781273.html

My MR Frenemy would not like this, because he only has issues with data manipulation when Dems do it.

 

[SuperMatt]

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article251781273.html

My MR Frenemy would not like this, because he only has issues with data manipulation when Dems do it.

So we’ve got a criminal as governor of Florida, but it is California holding a recall of their governor. WTF America?

 

[User.45]

So we’ve got a criminal as governor of Florida, but it is California holding a recall of their governor. WTF America?

I wouldn't go that far just yet, but I'd say when I look at the data, I do think it makes sense. So when I looked at the JHU COVID tracker, i did see a small spike of cases 2 weeks after the first (or second reopening step). My understanding is that DeSantis used a different data aggregation method that smoothened that peak out, and the end result was a ginormous peak in FL, which was predictable *and avoidable*.

Newsom isn't perfect, but blaming all of Californias ills on him is crazy.

 

[thekev]

So we’ve got a criminal as governor of Florida, but it is California holding a recall of their governor. WTF America?

Since when does California look to Florida for guidance?

My MR Frenemy would not like this, because he only has issues with data manipulation when Dems do it.

He sounds like a jackass. A couple of the jackasses there seemed to be okay with this, based on DeSantis trying to discredit her. How the fuck is this supposed to be okay? And really, I would like to see both cops and that governor unemployed over this.

Florida police raid COVID data whistleblower’s house with guns drawn

State police raided the home of a former Department of Health data scientist who is accusing Florida officials of wrongfully firing her for refusing to manipulate COVID-19 statistics. The Florida D…

www.sun-sentinel.com

 

[User.45]

He sounds like a jackass.

He's absolutely a jackass, but TBF his views were so crazy I found some fascination in how he managed to generate them.

A couple of the jackasses there seemed to be okay with this, based on DeSantis trying to discredit her. How the fuck is this supposed to be okay? And really, I would like to see both cops and that governor unemployed over this.

Florida police raid COVID data whistleblower’s house with guns drawn

State police raided the home of a former Department of Health data scientist who is accusing Florida officials of wrongfully firing her for refusing to manipulate COVID-19 statistics. The Florida D…

www.sun-sentinel.com

Here's the very worrisome issue:

The state attorney's office in Leon county has yet to file charges. The judge that signed the warrant was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis in October and sworn in last [November]. Signing the warrant was his first act.

It appears that there was a direct goal of using government force to intimidates Jones, threaten her family with deadly harm and seized equipment in order to systematically discredit her, all with the apparently close supervision of DeSantis.

Sarasota attorney Ron Filipkowski, who resigned from a state commission in protest of the raid on Jones' home, agreed.

"I have handled a lot of these kinds of cases in my career, and generally, the way that this statute is used, is to prosecute people who are hacking into other people's systems to steal their identity, to steal their money, to crash their servers, to cause some sort of harm to that person or entity, which is not present here," Filipkowski said. The now former Republican was reappointed last year by DeSantis to the 12th Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, which nominates judges to fill vacancies.

Filipkowski, in his resignation letter, said he reviewed the warrant, and said the raid was "unconscionable."

While he said that an IP address can be enough to establish probable cause, it was the breadth of the warrant that troubled him most.

"It's broadened out to allow them to basically seize any of her devices including zip drives, including things that really are wholly unrelated to that criminal statute," he said. "There's no minimization."

"I think they intentionally worded it that broadly because they are on a fishing expedition, because they're not just looking at violations of that statute. They're looking for communications that are between state employees and Rebekah," he said.

Experts: evidence to support search warrant on Rebekah Jones' home flimsy

Cybersecurity, law enforcement and internet civil liberties experts described evidence as 'thin' and lacking probable cause to raid Jones' home.

www.floridatoday.com

 

[thekev]

He's absolutely a jackass, but TBF his views were so crazy I found some fascination in how he managed to generate them.




Here's the very worrisome issue:


It appears that there was a direct goal of using government force to intimidates Jones, threaten her family with deadly harm and seized equipment in order to systematically discredit her, all with the apparently close supervision of DeSantis.

Experts: evidence to support search warrant on Rebekah Jones' home flimsy

Cybersecurity, law enforcement and internet civil liberties experts described evidence as 'thin' and lacking probable cause to raid Jones' home.

www.floridatoday.com

That matches my recollection. DeSantis is one of those people who should have never been allowed into public office.