If convicted, Brown — already a several-time loser in the state’s criminal system — faces up to a year in prison, a modest sabbatical given the outrage involved that, nonetheless, has the potential to focus Brown’s mind on gentler pursuits.

FDLE and FHP arrested a neo-Nazi demonstrator for hanging hate-filled messages along I-4 in Orlando. #YourFDLE #fdleteam #keepingfloridasafehttps://t.co/N7AtNy5qZj pic.twitter.com/4fUOuivvQf

— FDLE (@fdlepio) September 13, 2023

Three other participants, who live out of state, also face arrest.

Brown was charged under a law only lately added to Florida’s statutes. House Bill 269 (worst name for a game-changing law ever) forbids displaying images on structures without permission; it specifically identifies as verboten intimidating and bigoted language.

HB 269 was unanimously passed by the Legislature and, in a gesture effervescing with symbolism, signed in April by Gov. Ron DeSantis while visiting Jerusalem.

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis signed a bill described by one of its co-sponsors as “the strongest antisemitism bill in the US.”
DeSantis signed the bill HB 269, fm Jerusalem’s Museum of Tolerance, part of a trade mission including visits to Japan, S.Korea & Israel, to conclude in UK. pic.twitter.com/xsb1d2t5mG

— Rita Rosenfeld (@rheytah) April 28, 2023

So, where are we going with this? Right here: Friday, even as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol, which collaborated on the collar, were still basking in the glow of congratulations from all around the political spectrum in the exquisite application of this newly bestowed legal tool, here came the Miami Herald’s editorial board with a fascinating — to say no more — take on the whole affair.

And, no, silly, the Herald is not in the least bit worried about the new law’s potential infringement on the First Amendment. Instead, the proud newspaper of record for the bustling Gold Coast says, essentially, Florida wouldn’t need such a law if Ron DeSantis weren’t quite so Ron DeSantis-y. Or something.

And, anyway, his support for punishing antisemitism is all because he’s running for president.

That DeSantis signed the bill during a trip to Jerusalem about three weeks before he announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination was no coincidence.

You have to admire the Herald’s confidence in its readers to perform the Olympian mental gymnastics necessary to avoid seeing this editorial for what it plainly is: a cynical, spite-laden grinding of leftist gears in vain pursuit of its favorite bogeyman (also known as running interference for Donald Trump and, by extension, Joe Biden).

Here’s how the wildly whirling Herald attempts to stick its landing:

But it’s no surprise that racists and neo-Nazis and every other hate-filled lowlife have seen this moment, with DeSantis at the helm, as an opening in Florida. And it’ll take a lot more than one arrest to stop it.

So, the governor urges the Legislature to present him with a bill that will allow law enforcement to crack down on intimidating behavior and displays that target specific ethnicities. The Herald sees this as proof that — are you sitting down? — that Nazism and race-related hate activities are bound to soar in Florida so long as DeSantis is on the scene.

Because he didn’t make a speech, for one thing. Progressive love them some speeches. Also, one supposes, because DeSantis is opposed to corporations pushing ESG policies, schools embracing critical race theory, and public colleges that have marinated long in leftist politics.

In other words, the positions that helped him win a historic 19-point reelection victory last November.

Our friends on the Herald editorial board also rely on the Anti-Defamation League for (but, interestingly, do not link to) a couple of depressing statistics, chiefly that Florida is No. 4 among states for “hate” activities tracked by the ADL, and that those activities have doubled since 2020.

Stipulated: That’s not good. Ergo: HB 269. Ron DeAction.

What the Herald fails to drop is three other shoes. The nation’s top three for antisemitic activity are — drumroll, please — New York (finally No. 1 again!), California, and New Jersey. But it wouldn’t be useful for the Herald to mention the Big Antisemitic Three, because they’re all run, and have been for decades, by Democrats.

Also worth a mention. If it’s rates of increase about which we should be concerned, the Herald might have extrapolated some insight from Illinois, whose antisemitic incidents spiked 128% from 2021-2022, and Pennsylvania, up 65.2% in the same period. Oh, right. More Democrats in leadership.

Noteworthy, too, is how seriously New York takes its antisemitism, an instructive detail the editorial missed. The ADL breaks antisemitic events into three categories: harassment, vandalism, and assault. It’s this last, clearly the most onerous, in which New York excels, accounting for more than 54% of reported physical attacks against Jews nationwide in 2022. (Florida has reported precisely one assault in each of the last two years.)

Somehow, the sorrier plight of Jewish people in states dominated by Democrats eluded the Herald’s notice. Well, sure. Why stretch for the big nail on the other side of the work bench when you can hammer the smaller one right at your elbow?

We came in discussing goofball displays by knucklehead perpetrators. Looks like we’re going out the same way. Stupid times, indeed.