Cloud Cuckoo Land and the Governor of Florida

 

Cloud cuckoo land is a state of absurdly, over-optimistic fantasy or an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect. Someone who is said to "live in cloud cuckoo land" is a person who thinks that things that are completely impossible might happen, rather than understanding how things really are. It also hints that the person referred to is naive, unaware of realities or deranged in holding such an optimistic belief.

In the modern world, a "cloud cuckoo lander" is defined as someone who is seen as "crazy" or "strange" by most average people, often doing or saying things that seemingly only make sense to themselves, but also exhibit cleverness at times in ways no one else would think of.

See this editorial from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Friday, September 24, 2021 

DeSantis is doubling down with surgeon general who promotes COVID misinformation Gov. Ron DeSantis is doubling down on his disastrous approach to COVID-19, selecting a surgeon general for Florida who has downplayed the effectiveness of masks and spread doubts about vaccines. DeSantis announced Tuesday that the state's new surgeon general is Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a heart specialist who signed a public statement last year calling for people to become infected with the virus to build herd immunity. Ladapo has also written several opinion pieces spreading dubious medical advice, such as promoting a virus treatment found to lack benefits and cause potentially deadly complications. As surgeon general, Ladapo will oversee the state's Department of Health. He previously worked at the University of California at Los Angeles, with his research focusing on such topics as HIV and smoking, before being appointed to the University of Florida last week in a confidential faculty vote. His position pays $262,000 annually and comes with tenure subject to approval by UF trustees. DeSantis bypassed actual infectious disease experts on the UF faculty, including at its Emerging Pathogens Institute , who have experience studying COVID-19 and helping prevent its spread. Florida's previous surgeon general, Scott Rivkees, is a UF faculty member who was barely heard from publicly after advocating social distancing at an April 2020 event and being removed from the stage by a DeSantis staffer. Ladapo's appointment is further proof that UF administrators have become accomplices to DeSantis as he puts public health at risk through his COVID policies. UF President Kent Fuchs previously reversed a decision to hold classes online for three weeks as cases surged, only hours after the move was announced, and has deferred to the state on decisions about mask and vaccines. Last week, the governor visited Alachua County for a rally opposing the city of Gainesville's vaccine requirement for its employees. DeSantis stood silently as speakers spread false information about vaccines. Ladapo has also sown doubts about vaccines, including in a June opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal with the headline 'Are Covid Vaccines Riskier   Than Advertised?' The answer to that question is a resounding 'no,' based on regulatory reviews and overwhelming evidence. Causing unfounded fears about vaccines amounts to public health malpractice, especially as the unvaccinated have made up the vast majority of deaths and strained hospital resources .  Ladapo co-authored a New York Daily News column in October touting the benefits of hydroxychloroquine, a drug promoted by former president Donald Trump to treat the virus. In a recent commentary in The American Journal of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University medical researchers reviewed randomized trials of hydroxychloroquine and found strong support for halting its use to treat COVID due to a lack of benefits combined with potentially fatal cardiovascular complications. It's a safe bet those researchers won't be invited to the next roundtable that DeSantis holds on COVID-19, which he has filled with skeptics who reject the medical consensus. Florida needs a surgeon general who uses peer-reviewed research to inform the governor and challenge him when needed, not someone who finds fringe science for him to justify political positions. More than 676,000 Americans have died due to COVID-19, including nearly 52,000 Floridians. Ladapo's opening message Tuesday as surgeon general was that the state should 'reject fear as a way of making policies,' but his appointment only raises fears that the state's COVID policies will cause more people to needlessly perish. EDITORIAL Via the Gainesville Sun