If you manage any Facebook pages, watch out for messages sent to the page inbox claiming to be from Facebook or Meta which say your page is going to be disabled due to violations. This is a common scam and we are seeing it at a very high volume. IF YOU GET ONE OF THESE MESSAGES IT IS IMPORTANT YOU DELETE IT, AND DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS OR GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION. These kinds of scams are known as “phishing scams” and they work by pretending to be something legit as a way get your private data. If there legitimately was an issue with one of your pages, Meta would email you directly at your registered email and send notifications to the admins on the app. I repeat, Meta will NEVER DM your page about a violation. If you do ever receive something by email, please check the email address it was sent from. If the address is not from a @support.facebook.com or similar address containing facebook.com then it is also a scam. If you are uncertain if something you received is legitimate or a scam, send a screenshot or forward the message to communications@flnow.org and our Communications Director can help you discern the legitimacy. More information about these phishing scams can be found at: https://www.omahaseocompany.com/violations-detected-on-your-page-facebook-scam/

EARLIER HE SUSPENDED ANDREW WARREN, OF THE 13TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT (HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY) FOR UNJUSTIFIED REASONS.

The Florida ACLU said, “Once again Governor DeSantis shows that he will do whatever he can in order to keep his power and control over the state, regardless of what the people want or how they voted. …Ousting elected officials because [DeSantis] disagrees with their leadership and installing hand-picked individuals to take over their job responsibilities is what happens in authoritarian regimes, not in a democracy.”

At the recent Republican Presidential Candidate Debate, DeSantis bragged about replacing two Florida elected State Attorneys without substantiated cause.

Florida House Representative Anna Eskamani said Worrell’s removal is absolutely disgusting and another example of DeSantis eroding our local control and democracy. “This politically motivated action should alarm everyone.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington noted that Worrell had been elected with nearly two-thirds of the vote in the district. “Make no mistake, State Attorney Worrell has done nothing wrong. This abuse of power by Governor DeSantis is not only an attack of Democratic Black leaders in Florida, but an attack on our democracy itself.”

Debbie Deland, Florida NOW President said, “DeSantis is blustering ahead shamelessly in his quest for national power and arrogantly disregarding the will of the people. When duly elected officials who do not subscribe to a white supremacist, sexist, homophobic, and national Christian ideology can be removed from office, we are going fast down a dark road towards autocracy. We cannot tolerateassaults on public education, women’s rights, people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, people in need of housing, medical care, voting access, etc., and our judicial system.We must step up to protect our democratic rights and human values. The Florida DeSantis is crafting is not what Floridians want! We want our constitutional rights to be enforced, we want our democratic values to direct our governance. If we want change everyone has to vote!”

CALL TO ACTION:

Keep informed. Push through the chaos, confusion, distractions, fear and hate DeSantis is thrusting upon us. Know which rights are being removed, perverted, and crushing vulnerable populations. Contact your representatives and voice your concerns, discuss issues with family, neighbors, friends. REGISTER TO VOTE and VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION (remember you need to re–enroll for the vote-by-mail option if you haven’t done so since January 2023).

President Biden signed an Executive Order to implement historic, bipartisan military justice reforms that significantly strengthen how the military handles sexual assault cases. The Executive Order transfers key decision-making authorities from commanders to specialized, independent military prosecutors in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, murder, and other serious offenses by amending the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Florida National Organization for Women (NOW) applaud this action as a necessary first step in implementing serious reforms for military survivors of sexual violence.

The Executive Order takes important action to reform our military justice system by amending the Manual for Courts-Martial and its accompanying Rules for Courts-Martial including by:

• Establishing the rules that will govern the new Offices of Special Trial Counsel (OSTC), the independent military prosecutors who will now decide, in the place of commanders, whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault and domestic violence, child abuse, and murder;

• Making clear that prosecutorial decisions made by special trial counsel are binding and fully independent from the chain of command;

• Delineating the relationship and authorized interactions between special trial counsel and commanders to protect the independence of special trial counsel;

• Modernizing procedures to better protect victims and promote fairness before, during and after court-martial proceedings;

• Reforming the court-martial sentencing system to promote uniformity and fairness, as recommended by the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military (IRC), to reduce disparities in sentencing in cases of rape and sexual assault; and

• Creating a uniform evidence standard for non-judicial punishment actions, which the IRC highlighted as critical to make consistent across the military services given that most sexual misconduct cases are handled by nonjudicial punishment rather than courts-martial.

This advances the IRC’s core accountability recommendations and builds on the progress that has already been made by the Department of Defense in implementing the IRC’s more than 80 recommendations, including:

• Establishing the Offices of Special Trial Counsel.

• Hiring, Training, and Empowering the Prevention Workforce.

• Strengthening and Professionalizing the Sexual Assault Response Workforce.

• Improving the Military’s Response to Domestic Violence and Sexual Harassment.

FACT SHEET: President Biden to Sign Executive Order Implementing Bipartisan Military Justice Reforms