Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida took credit for sending planeloads of migrants to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, as part of an apparent bid to force authorities in another state to take responsibility for them.

State Sen. Julian Cyr of Massachusetts told The New York Times that around 50 migrants arrived in two planes about 3 p.m. local time, with no warning.

Fox News Digital, which first reported the story, published a video of migrants disembarking from planes on the island and getting into a van.

"Yes, Florida can confirm the two planes with illegal immigrants that arrived in Martha's Vineyard today were part of the state's relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations," Taryn Fenske, the communications director for DeSantis, told the outlet.

State Rep. Dylan Fernandes on Twitter said the community rallied to help the migrants, putting them up in a local church.

"Our island jumped into action putting together 50 beds, giving everyone a good meal, providing a play area for the children, making sure people have the healthcare and support they need. We are a community that comes together to support immigrants," he wrote on Twitter.

He also shared photos of the makeshift accommodation.

Cyr, speaking with the Martha's Vineyard Times, criticized the move as a cruel political stunt. On Twitter, he said the migrants had arrived on a charter flight from Texas and appeared to be mostly from Venezuela.

"This is deeply disgusting. This is a cruel ruse that manipulates families that are seeking a better life," he said, describing them as "fundamentally racist tactics."

In recent weeks, the Republican-led states of Texas and Arizona have sent thousands of migrants to Democratic-led areas, including New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC.

They say President Joe Biden's policies are behind a rise in unauthorized migration and that Democratic-led cities should bear the responsibility for them. Some of the areas migrants have been sent to voted to become "sanctuary cities," places where authorities deliberately do not cooperate with efforts to enforce migration laws.

DeSantis is burnishing his anti-migration credentials amid rumors he's positioning himself for a presidential bid in 2024.

Martha's Vineyard is an agricultural area and exclusive vacation destination where former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as Hillary Clinton, frequently spend time. In the offseason, it has about 20,000 residents, and locals told The New York Times there were concerns about the town's long-term ability to host the migrants.

Christina Pushaw, a spokesperson for DeSantis, used the situation to troll liberals.

"Martha's Vineyard residents should be thrilled about this. They vote for sanctuary cities — they get a sanctuary city of their own," she tweeted. "And illegal aliens will increase the town's diversity, which is strength. Right?"

Some of you may have been wondering, "Hey, @dontmeantobepoliticalbut, did DeSantis just use Floridian's taxes to fly migrants in Texas to Massachusetts?"

You'd be half-right. Remember Blue States pay for Red States. Florida used California's reallocated surplus taxes to fly Texas's migrants to Massachusetts...

The $12 million money comes from interest earnings from Florida's $8.8 billion portion of the American Rescue Plan's Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund. It provided $350 billion to state and local governments, which the U.S. Treasury said is "to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency."

Another interesting thought....

Cape Cod’s looking into technology to stop the shark attacks but some officials say that could backfire

On Tuesday the South African government announced it will be installing the world’s first shark-repellent electromagnetic cable to protect swimmers along the end of the Busselton Jetty, a shark attack hot spot in Western Australia.

After shark attacks left one man dead and another severely injured in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, officials there have hired the Woods Hole Group to look into some tech alternatives to protect swimmers.

But some believe that unless these alternatives can be proved 100% effective, technology could create a “false sense of security for the public.”

On Tuesday the South African government announced it will be installing the world’s first shark-repellent electromagnetic cable to protect swimmers along the end of the Busselton Jetty, a shark attacks hot spot and one of Western Australia’s most famous landmarks. The 150-meter-long pulsing cable, expected to be installed by late December, will be fixed to the seafloor, with vertical risers supporting electrodes that emit a low-frequency pulsed electronic signal that proved 100% effective in turning away at least 50 sharks during its four-week trial at a Cape Town beach in South Africa. The state government will contribute $50,000 toward the shark cable, while the South African government will pay for 90% of the installation at Busselton. The South African Sharks Board chose Western Australia ahead of other locations because of its recent history of shark attacks, with 20 unprovoked incidents last year alone. This puts Western Australia second behind the U.S. at 32 confirmed cases and one fatality for the number of recorded shark attacks in 2018. Yet while tech alternatives seem promising, local officials, especially in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where the waters have become a feeding ground for these fearsome predators, believe it could provide swimmers with a “false sense of security.”

Desperately seeking solutions

Sightings of great whites off the shores of Cape Cod are a daily occurrence: Since June 1 the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s sharability app indicates there have been more than 160. “When we are lucky enough to actually get eyes on a shark, it really is no surprise,” said Nate Sears, natural resources manager for the town of Orleans, an area whose beaches have already been closed 12 times since mid-June due to confirmed shark sightings. These encounters have not been without incident. Last August William Lytton was bitten on the leg by a white shark while swimming in 8 to 10 feet of water in Truro. The 61-year-old Scarsdale, New York, neurologist instinctively punched the shark in the gills to fend him off. Weeks later a 26-year-old Revere, Massachusetts, the man was killed boogie-boarding off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet. In 2017 a paddleboarder was about 30 yards offshore of Marconi Beach in Wellfleet when a shark took a bite out of his paddle board. The encounter took place in about 3 feet of water.

Now officials in Cape Cod are desperately searching for solutions and getting a huge response from tech companies and savvy entrepreneurs pitching ideas on everything from high-powered speakers with sirens and voice capability that would warn swimmers to “Evacuate the water,” to acoustical barriers that would chase away the gray seals (which the sharks come to feed on), to orca vocalizers and electronic zappers. The Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners says they are inundated with high-tech solutions. In February a shark working group comprised of representatives from Chatham to Provincetown, the Cape’s six Atlantic-facing towns; the National Park Service; scientific stakeholders; and the offices of state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, hired the Woods Hole Group an international environmental services and products organization headquartered in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The objective: to produce a nearly $50,000 study of alternatives to protect the public from sharks. The report is expected to be delivered sometime in September. Yet unless these alternatives can be proved 100% effective, some local officials are not convinced that tech is the answer. In fact, according to Sears, implementing technology could create a “false sense of security for the public.” “Once you deploy something like this and you don’t have any incidence say, for a period of time the general public’s going to feel that technology may have been responsible for that, and it’s really hard to gauge whether that’s accurate or not,” he said. “Truly, the only way you minimize the chances of interactions continuing to happen is for the public to change their behavior.” Policing the beach remains a priority. “We keep people at knee- to waist-deep water, we don’t let them off the sandbars if water clarity isn’t optimum, and there’s times we don’t even let people in the water if the tide’s really high and there is a deepwater trough right adjacent to the shoreline,” Sears said. The towns also are continuing to push a public awareness campaign, using signage to warn beachgoers to be “shark smart” and installing severe bleeding first-aid kits at beaches to get help to victims immediately should the unthinkable happen. The towns also run Stop the Bleed training programs, which almost always have a waitlist. “Generally, most white shark bite victims survive because of first aid initiated by bystanders. We have a lot of remote beaches in Orleans, and it’s unlikely that if someone is suffering from massive hemorrhaging associated with a white shark that our first responders will be able to get there in time,” Sears said.

Pushing for change

Amanda Wilson, the general manager of Australia-based Ocean Guardian, the company whose patented Shark Shield technology is powering the cable that will be installed in the Busselton Jetty, says the culture in Australia has changed from one that “deals with the sharks” to one that needs to be proactive in protecting swimmers. This came after five people were killed there by great whites in a span of 18 months between 2012 and 2013. Before then, she said, Australians thought differently about the great whites, but “things have definitely escalated in the last five years.” Wilson met with the Woods Hole Group in June to introduce the company’s patented Shark Shield technology and discuss how it can offer protection to swimmers on Cape Cod. She explained that sharks have short-range electrical receptors in their snouts that are used to find food. Their Shark Shield technology creates a powerful three-dimensional electrical field that causes spasms in these sensitive receptors and turns the sharks away. Ocean Guardian has developed a number of handheld and belt-mounted devices that send out these tiny electrical currents and can be attached to surfboards, kayaks and fishing boats. Wilson claims that studies have proved their devices to be 99.9% effective in protecting against great whites. In 2018, after the fatality in Wellfleet, several surf shops on Cape Cod began stocking the devices, and surfers, kayakers and swimmers are snatching them up.

“Our sales have increased 100% over last year,” said Wilson, adding that the Freedom7, which sells for $499, is its most popular product. Other solutions being reviewed by the Woods Hole Group include one by Cape Cod residents Kevin McCarthy and Willy Planinshek, co-founders of Deep Blue LLC, although theirs is still in the concept stage. In late May the two men proposed their Marine Acoustic Deterrent Systems to the Barnstable Board of County Commissioners. Also known as MADS, the system would use sound waves to divert seals and sharks away from the Cape’s offshore swimming areas. The idea, McCarthy said, is to ping the seals with a sound frequency from an anchored buoy that would irritate the seal’s inner ears, sending them swimming off in a different direction. A second deterrent would feature an orca vocalization chamber to alert great whites that their predator is nearby. “The thought is that if the gray seals aren’t there, you are removing the food source and the white sharks wouldn’t come in,” said McCarthy. But he contended that “the towns were completely unreceptive to the idea. The pushback has been huge — from the environmental community, saying that we shouldn’t do anything at all to the gray seals or the white sharks, to the towns expressing concern about liability.”

“Stop the Bleed and the first-aid kits is all good stuff and it’s all needed. But again, this is something that gets done after a tragic event. Our objective is to stop the event from occurring,” McCarthy said. “There’s definitely some pilot programs that are going to need to happen. My concern is that they can’t be associated with public safety in the beginning, because they are not conclusive yet,” Sears said. “They are trying this stuff all over the world, and very few of it has been proven to be effective.” He added: “This is a very dynamic place. The sandbars are always changing. The people that are putting themselves most at risk are the surfers, and I grew up surfing around here. You are constantly searching for the best sandbar and the best wave break. Well, it’s always changing, so there’s not one definitive place where you can choose to deploy a technology. So it’s really important for people not to oversimplify this issue. “As far as tech goes, the town of Orleans is dedicated to investigating anything that’s out there. But nowhere in the world that has similar issues with sharks have they been able to solve this problem with tech yet. We are fully exposed to the wrath of the North Atlantic, and the conditions that we see throughout the year will challenge even the most robust technologies.”

Barbara Booth

source https://smilystore.com/2019/08/04/cape-cods-looking-into-technology-to-stop-the-shark-attacks-but-some-officials-say-that-could-backfire/

DiZoglio Pledges Scrutiny of Pay, Diversity and Police Anti-Bias Rollout if Elected Auditor

DiZoglio Pledges Scrutiny of Pay, Diversity and Police Anti-Bias Rollout if Elected Auditor

Sen. Diana DiZoglio, a candidate for state auditor, last week outlined her plans to report on pay equity, diversity and inclusion in agency contracting; equity in the cannabis industry; and the implementation of anti-bias training for police. Accompanied by Sens. Adam Gomez, Lydia Edwards and Julian Cyr for an online press conference, the Methuen Democrat rolled out what she called her “social…

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/cape-cod-senator-pretty-enraged-with-vaccine-rollout-boston-news-weather-sports/

Cape Cod senator ‘pretty enraged’ with vaccine rollout – Boston News, Weather, Sports

Describing himself as “pretty enraged,” Cape Cod Democrat Sen. Julian Cyr lambasted the Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s vaccine distribution effort on Thursday, arguing the plan continues to leave the region and its significant senior population unable to access the potentially life-saving inoculation.

Cyr told reporters that pleas from the Cape delegation for a mass vaccination site or additional doses have gone unanswered, even though Barnstable County has the largest percentage of population over 75 among the state’s 14 counties.

This week, 1,300 appointments available for vaccines on the Cape filled up in 29 minutes, Cyr said.  He contrasted that with the Baker administration previously flagging thousands of slots still open at its Gillette Stadium mass vaccination site.

“To me, that indicates that where the vaccines are being made available is actually not accessible to the people who need them,” Cyr, a Truro Democrat, said. “Cape Codders are being left out of this vaccination,” he later added. “I don’t know why, and I don’t know what else to do other than air these frustrations because our pleas for help are not being answered.”

Baker, who has defended his administration as working within significant vaccine supply constraints, on Wednesday announced the state would stand up additional mass vaccination sites in Natick and Dartmouth.

(Copyright (c) 2020 State House News Service.

Chronic Disease Coalition @ChronicRights Thanks #MA Sen. Julian Cyr @JulianCyr -we appreciate your efforts for our #chronicdisease community - protecting patients against #discrimination and supporting patient rights are so important to all us! #ChronicTogether #ChronicDiseaseMonth (at Hammond, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CC9R5zNjA79/?igshid=6w9dtl6qr8ev

In their May 7 letter, “Dennis is in need of McMahon’s expertise,” Phyllis Horton, Dawn Dellner and Patricia Corcoran stated that members of the community might be upset with Ms. McMahon’s vote on Maritime Landing and should be forming their own committee to meet with our state legislators.For their information, a group has formed and has had three meetings with state Rep. Tim Whelan, R-Brewster, and state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, to discuss the effects of overdevelopment on [...]

Openly gay State Senator Julian Cyr that #PTown shares with Cape Cod & The Islands sat down with QUEERGURU to talk about his passion for our Town and how we should all work together to keep it such a special place.

In 2020, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize possession of all drugs for personal use. The following year, New York, Virginia and other states began exploring the idea, and now legislators in Massachusetts have expressed interest in researching the effects of such a proposal, although a final law is unlikely to materialize.

Senate bill 1277 and House bill 2119 were both introduced in 2021 and received a recent stamp of approval from the state’s Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, and Recovery in June. This gave the go-ahead for these bills to be passed onto the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. 

The combined bills make up an “An Act relative to harm reduction and racial equality.” The Health Care Financing Committee has since referred it to a study order, allowing for more research to be conducted on the measure. A narrative report will ultimately be filed based on these findings. 

However, the vast majority of bills sent to a study order do not progress further, and one of the bills’ sponsors, Sen. Julian Cyr (D) expressed doubt about its future.

Regardless, the fact that the bills have progressed this far mark one more step forward for advocates who say decriminalizing all drugs will lead to lower incarceration rates and help reverse some of the long-standing negative effects of President Nixon’s War on Drugs.

In 2001, Portugal instituted a decriminalization policy for small amounts of drug possession and use that has served as a model for similar proposals in the United States. A 2015 report from the Drug Policy Alliance found “After nearly a decade and a half, Portugal has experienced no major increases in drug use. Yet it has seen reduced rates of problematic and adolescent drug use, fewer people arrested and incarcerated for drugs, reduced incidence of HIV/AIDS, reduced drug induced deaths, and a significant increase in the number of people receiving treatment.”

The alliance also backed successful decriminalization efforts in Oregon.

Alongside the policy, Portuguese officials worked to expand treatment and harm reduction services, including improving access to sterile syringes and medication-assisted therapies.

In Oregon, the effects of the policy have been mixed. The bill was originally designed to use the money saved from decriminalization efforts to fund addiction recovery centers. But so far only 1% of those who received citations for possession asked for help via a hotline. Proponents of the measure point to the millions of dollars that have been directed toward treatment facilities.

Since the law took effect in February 2021, emergency room visits for opioid overdoses have increased, with some attributing this rise to the heightened presence of opioids in the community.

Portugal’s approach to promoting and enrolling drug users in treatment programs are also stricter than those enforced in Oregon.

ORLEANS — State Sen. Julian Cyr and state Rep. Sarah Peake outlined their legislative agenda on environment and energy issues during a town meeting-style forum Saturday.“Now more than ever, I feel like we have to be bold, we have to be visionary and we have to do public events like this to keep all of you engaged and work collaboratively with our constituents because that clock is ticking,” Peake said. “Climate change ... is an issue we have to worry [...]

ORLEANS — State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, will host a town hall meeting focused on environment and energy issues Saturday.The event is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nauset Regional Middle School auditorium, 70 Route 28 in Orleans. Cyr and Peake will offer remarks during the first hour, and the rest of the event will feature a panel discussion with participants representing local environmental and energy organizations. [...]

State Sen. Julian Cyr’s recent social media post suggesting we select elected officials based on their sexual preference violates the spirit and intent of both state and federal anti-discrimination laws.Most Cape Codders don’t care who you sleep with, and would rather you don’t wear it on your sleeve either. We do care that our values are fairly represented.Sen. Cyr continues to struggle with both.Adam LangeBrewster

I write in response to the March 12 My View, “Coyote-killing contest dehumanizes us.“The coyote-killing contest on Cape Cod will not end until we collectively stand up against this immoral activity in our community and do something. We can start by separating out fact from fiction on Project Coyote’s website. Then we can write state Sen. Julian Cyr ([email protected]) and state Fish & Game Commissioner Ronald Amidon ([email protected]) to share our concerns. We [...]

BOSTON — Cape Cod officials traveled to Boston Wednesday to ask the state and federal government for help in dealing with the growing problem of great white sharks.“This was an all-hands-on-deck meeting,” said state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, who, along with state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, organized the gathering. “We had stakeholders from across the region.”Cyr said he was encouraged by both the level of participation and the work that [...]

BOSTON — State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, received a sweet valentine from Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, last week.Spilka appointed Cyr to the post of Assistant Majority Whip on Thursday — Valentine’s Day — placing him within the inner circle of Senate leadership.Cyr also was appointed chairman of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery, and vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Housing. [...]

State Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland) on Feb. 14 announced committee assignments and appointments to her leadership team, naming Sen. Julian Cyr (D-Truro) as Assistant Majority Whip. Cyr is the only sophomore legislator in Senate leadership and is currently the youngest member of the Senate.“I am profoundly grateful to be a member of Senate President Spilka’s leadership team,” said Cyr. “Spilka is a skilled, experienced and thoughtful [...]

According to your article, 79 inmates were referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2018 from Barnstable alone (“Sheriff to hold forum on ICE program,” Jan. 31, Page A2).State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and state Reps. Dylan Fernandes, D-Woods Hole, and Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, want to stop this practice.According to the state Department of Corrections, the average annual cost of incarceration in Massachusetts is $65,478 (in 2017). Multiply that by 79 [...]