Author: Pensito Editors

DeSantis Greeted by ‘Ron DeFascist’ Graffito at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley

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Library greeting Florida's MAGA extremist governor Ron DeSantis who is promoting fascism in a new book, Courage to Be Free
Graffito at the Reagan Library greeting Florida’s MAGA extremist governor Ron DeSantis who is promoting his fascist agenda in a new book, “The Courage to Be Free”

Ventura Star: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke to hundreds of supporters at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley on Sunday, potentially marking Ventura County’s first event of the 2024 presidential primary.

“DeSantis appeared to promote his new book, “The Courage to Be Free,” which was published last week. During his speech, however, DeSantis sounded more like he was on the campaign trail than a book tour….

“Not everyone at the Reagan library on Sunday was thrilled DeSantis paid a visit. Roughly 100 protesters from Ventura and Los Angeles counties lined the entrance to the campus, many carrying protest signs or LGBTQ pride flags…

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DeSantis Disney Board Appointee Ron Peri: Tap Water Turns People Gay

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Ron Peri
Ron Peri

CNN: “An appointee to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new oversight board in control of Disney’s special tax district called homosexuality “evil” last year and shared a baseless conspiracy theory that tap water could be making more people gay.

“On Monday, the Republican governor appointed Ron Peri, an Orlando-based former pastor and the CEO of The Gathering – a Christian ministry focused on outreach to men – as one of five people who will now oversee the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the government body that has given Disney unique powers in Central Florida for more than half a century…

“A CNN KFile review of Peri’s past comments found that he frequently made derogatory remarks about the LGBTQ community.

“’So why are there homosexuals today? There are any number of reasons, you know, that are given. Some would say the increase in estrogen in our societies. You know, there’s estrogen in the water from birth control pills. They can’t get it out,’ Peri baselessly said in a January 2022 Zoom discussion, later put on YouTube. ‘The level of testosterone in men broadly in America has declined by 50 points in the past 10 years. You know, and so, maybe that’s a part of it.’”

Jim Gordon’s MAGA Deep-State Whistleblower Dumpster Fire

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Failed deep-state conspiracy whistleblower George Hill

Rolling Stone: “In early February, Republicans brought an FBI veteran to Capitol Hill whom they hoped would expose a ‘deep state conspiracy’ among Democrats and their accomplices in the intelligence community. The GOP witness was part of a network of ‘whistleblowers’ — funneled to congressional Republicans’ new Weaponization of Government panel by allies of Donald Trump — to reveal covert attacks on the former president and broad, anti-conservative discrimination.

“But before the interview was over, it was the GOP witness who was failing to answer difficult questions — and Democratic committee staff doing the asking.

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Proposed Florida Law Would Penalize Writing about DeSantis and Other Government Officials

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Fla.com: “Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur (R-Lake Mary) wants bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and other members of the Florida executive cabinet or legislature to register with the state or face fines.

“Brodeur’s proposal, Senate Bill 1316: Information Dissemination, would require any blogger writing about government officials to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics.

“In the bill, Brodeur wrote that those who write ‘an article, a story, or a series of stories,’ about ‘the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature,’ and receives or will receive payment for doing so, must register with state offices within five days after the publication of an article that mentions an elected state official.

“If another blog post is added to a blog, the blogger would then be required to submit monthly reports on the 10th of each month with the appropriate state office. They would not have to submit a report on months when no content is published…

“Failure to file these disclosures or register with state officials, if the bill passes, would lead to daily fines for the bloggers, with a maximum amount per report, not per writer, of $2,500. The per-day fine is $25 per report for each day it’s late.”

‘Emperor with No Clothes’: DeSantis Mocked for Irritation over Question about Ukraine

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Alternet: “The Times of London’s David Charter, the newspaper’s U.S. editor, ‘writes that when he asked Mr. DeSantis how he would handle American relations with Ukraine, the governor referred ‘to Biden being ‘weak on the world stage’ and failing at deterrence.’

“Mr. Charter pressed for more detail: ‘How would a President DeSantis handle the conflict in Ukraine?’

“DeSantis, it appears, grew irritated.

“‘Perhaps you should cover some other ground?’ the governor replied. ‘I think I’ve said enough.’

“That is not going over well with many.

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CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp Ducks Reporter’s Question about Gay Groping Charge

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Alternet: Right-wing activist and lobbyist Matt Schlapp, the embattled chairman of the political organization that hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), avoided a reporter’s questions Thursday about a male Republican campaign operative’s sexual assault allegations against him, and ultimately was pulled away by his arm rather than face the questions.

The Independent’s Eric Michael Garcia tried to get Schlapp to respond to the claims by the man who at the time was an aide to the Herschel Walker campaign. He is reportedly suing Schlapp in a $9.4 million battery, defamation, and conspiracy lawsuit after the CPAC leader refused to admit to allegations he was “aggressively fondling” the man’s “genital area in a sustained fashion” while he was driving Schlapp to his hotel.

In the video (above), Garcia can be heard saying to Schlapp, ‘What’s your response to the allegation –’ but then a woman interjects, asking, ‘How’s your wife?’

“‘She’s great,’ Schlapp responds.

[Mercedes Schlapp was Trump’s director of strategic communications.]

“…At that point another man grabs Schlapp’s arm and pulls him away.”

Fascism Rising: DeSantis Cronies Cancel Liberalism at Small College

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New College Florida
New College Florida

Vice News: “If Ron DeSantis has his way, what his board did at New College will happen at every public university in Florida.

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handpicked board of trustees voted to shutter New College’s diversity, equity, and inclusion office on Tuesday, the latest step in its hostile takeover of the school and a harbinger of what Florida’s entire university system could look like in a few months.

“The board, which has a majority of DeSantis appointees, voted 9 to 3 to abolish the school’s Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence.

“Christopher Rufo, a rightwing education activist and one of DeSantis’ appointees to the board and [who singlehandedly made Critical Race Theory into fake issue], argued during the meeting that diversity efforts undermine fairness. ‘DEI goes against those principles because it restricts academic freedom, it degrades the rigor of scholarship, it treats people differently on the basis of skin color or other inborn identities,’ he said during the board meeting.

“DeSantis has sought to make an example of New College, a tiny liberal arts school with a mostly progressive student body that has a large LBGTQ community. Earlier this year he replaced most of the college’s board of trustees with right-wing loyalists who quickly moved to fire the college’s president, replace her with an ally, and push the liberal-leaning school hard to the right.”

Atlantic: The FBI Desperately Wants to Let Trump Off the Hook (He Just Won’t Allow It)

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Adam Serwer in The Atlantic: “A simple but obvious fact has been lost over the past few years, amid Trump’s direct attacks on the FBI, and liberal defenses of the FBI against those attacks: FBI agents are cops. Law-enforcement officers, including the FBI, have long been disproportionately conservative, but in the past few decades, like the rest of the nation, they have also become far more polarized by party, a reality reflected in the rhetoric and positioning of advocacy groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police. There are liberal and moderate cops, but they are not close to comprising a majority. Simply put, the FBI is full of people who would prefer not to investigate Donald Trump. He remains under federal investigation only because of his own inability to stop criming.”

DeSantis Promises to Control Disney’s Content

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Florida MAGA Gov. Ron DeSantis
Florida MAGA Gov. Ron DeSantis

New York Magazine: “’When you lose your way, you’ve got to have people that are going to tell you the truth,’ [Florida MAGA Gov. Ron] DeSantis proclaimed. ‘So we hope they can get back on. But I think all of these [Central Florida Tourism Oversight District] board members very much would like to see the type of entertainment that all families can appreciate.’

“It is worth pausing a moment to grasp the full breadth of what is going on here. First, DeSantis established the principle that he can and will use the power of the state to punish private firms that exercise their First Amendment right to criticize his positions. Now he is promising to continue exerting state power to pressure the firm to produce content that comports with his own ideological agenda.

“Whether he is successful remains to be seen. But a few things ought to be clear. First, DeSantis’s treatment of Disney is not a one-off but a centerpiece of his legacy in Florida. He has repeatedly invoked the episode in his speeches, and his allies have held it up as evidence of his strength and dominance. The Murdoch media empire, which is functionally an arm of the DeSantis campaign, highlighted the Disney conquest in a New York Post front page and a Fox & Friends segment and DeSantis touted his move in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

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