Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Ain’t Done Much for Floridians

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C. Jones claytoonz.com

TIME magazine has an insightful piece on how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ focus on culture wars has obscured his terrible record on accomplishing much of anything positive for the residents of his state. The essay is written by William Kleinknecht, a political journalist and author of “States of Neglect: How Red-State Leaders Have Failed Their Citizens and Undermined America.”

Here’s an excerpt from “No One Is Talking About What Ron DeSantis Has Actually Done to Florida”:

Even a cursory dip into the statistics of social and economic well-being reveals that Florida falls short in almost any measure that matters to the lives of its citizens. More than four years into the DeSantis governorship, Florida continues to languish toward the bottom of state rankings assessing the quality of health care, school funding, long-term elder care, and other areas key to a successful society.

Florida may be the place where “woke goes to die”—as DeSantis is fond of saying—but it is also where teachers’ salaries are among the lowest in the nation, unemployment benefits are stingier than in any other state, and wage theft flourishes with little interference from the DeSantis administration. In 2021, DeSantis campaigned against a successful ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage, which had been stuck at $8.65 an hour. Under DeSantis’s watch, the Sunshine State has not exactly been a workers’ paradise.

Nashville’s Serial Lying Congressman Andy Ogles Sent Christmas Card Glorifying Assault Rifles

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Yahoo News: “A Tennessee lawmaker who on Monday offered his ‘thoughts and prayers’ to families of the victims of a deadly school shooting in his district sent out a 2021 Christmas message featuring a photo of his gun-toting family.

“Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican who represents part of Nashville, posted a statement on Twitter in response to the shooting that killed three children and three staff members at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville serving preschool students through sixth graders.

In case you may have forgotten Rep. Ogle, he is the MAGA House member who lied repeatedly about his background. As was the case with his colleague in the House Liars Caucus Rep. George SAntos (R-NY), Ogle’s lies weren’t given much play in the press until after he was elected.

[…]

DeSantis PAC Spending Challenged by Florida Democratic Party

Says Governor Dines at Miami's "Dirty French Steakhouse" Where a Porterhouse is $255

Trish

Fried Tweet
“Dirty French Steakhouse?”
The new chair of the Florida Democratic Party is fearless. Nikki Fried was the only Dem in the cabinet of Ron DeSantis because Floridians elected her as our agriculture secretary and he couldn’t do anything about it. But she opted to run in the primary leading up to the 2022 gubernatorial election and lost because our team was so afraid of DeSantis winning a second term that they made the utterly wrong calculation that former governor, former Republican, former U.S. Representative Charlie Crist was the safer bet.

I knew Fried had what it would take to beat DeSantis. Unfortunately, you can’t go full nuclear on a fellow “Democrat” in a primary so Crist won on name recognition and voter laziness. DeSantis went on to take 59.4 percent of the vote, in an election with 53.6 percent turnout, or the votes of 4.6 million people in a state with 22.2 million people. But DeSantis touts his “landslide” victory and since it makes a better story, the press goes along with it and it becomes accepted fact.

But we still have Fried and she is not sleeping on retiring Ron DeSantis.

Disney vs. DeSantis: The Mouse Snaps Back, Will Host Gay Rights Summit in Florida

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Los Angeles Magazine: “Now, as tension remains high, Disney has put a major conference to promote LGBTQ+ rights in the workplace in Florida, to take place right in [Disneyworld], on the calendar for this September, as the Miami Herald reports. The event will host some of the most prominent names within the global business world; it’s also ultimately, a direct rebuttal to DeSantis’ crusade against diversity training.

“The summit — to be hosted in collaboration with longstanding sponsor Out & Equal — comes nearly a year after DeSantis sparked the feud when passing the state’s HB-1557, dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. In its essence, the legislation bans any education regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in pre-4th-grade classrooms. And when Disney clapped back at this bill, which doesn’t require legislative approval, DeSantis upped the stakes for ‘the most magical place on Earth.’”

Ron DeSantis Hates People

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Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantis

The Daily Beast: “At any given fundraiser or VIP room where he’s present, Ron DeSantis is usually easy to find—in the corner, keeping to himself.

“Despite having a job that entails exchanging small talk and pleasantries on a daily basis, the Florida governor tends to brush off those obligations and struggles with basic social skills, according to a source close to DeSantis, several of his former staffers, and other GOP operatives who have worked with him and his team.

“As DeSantis gears up for a potential White House run in 2024, his aloof public persona is being thought of by his rivals—namely, former President Donald Trump—as his Achilles heel in the retail politics-heavy early primary states.

“And even though he hasn’t announced a bid yet, DeSantis’ apparent desire to test the waters of a presidential campaign—while barely dipping a toe into the aspects he recoils from—is already being put to the test.”

Frum: Is Ron DeSantis Flaming Out Already?

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From former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum at The Atlantic:

DeSantis will be a candidate of the Republican base, for the Republican base. Like Trump, he delights in displaying his lack of regard for everyone else. Trump, however, is driven by his psychopathologies and cannot emotionally cope with disagreement. DeSantis is a rational actor and is following what somebody has convinced him is a sound strategy. It looks like this:

1. Woo the Fox audience and win the Republican nomination.
2. ??
3. Become president.

Written out like that, you can see the missing piece. DeSantis is surely intelligent and disciplined enough to see it too. But the programming installed in him prevents him from acting on what he sees. His approach to winning the nomination will put the general election beyond his grasp. He must hope that some external catastrophe will defeat his Democratic opponent for him—a recession, maybe—because DeSantis is choosing a path that cannot get him to his goal.

Tennessee’s Anti-Drag Hysteria Started in a Rural Town 90 Miles West of Memphis

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2022 Pride Parade in Jackson, Tenn.
2022 Pride Parade in Jackson, Tenn.

Tennessee Lookout: “In fall of 2022, nearly a dozen political and religious leaders met with Pride festival organizers in a back room of Jackson City Hall in West Tennessee. The shared goal? Hash out a deal over a drag show.

“Jackson’s third annual LGBTQ Pride festival was scheduled for the following month, and unlike the previous years, the event had grown beyond the usual music and games. Organizers had put together enough money for a 10-person drag performance.

“Jackson is a town of 70,000 in Madison County, Tennessee, located about halfway between Nashville and Memphis on Interstate 40. The county reliably leans Republican, while the city is more split, going 50/50 in the 2020 Presidential election.

“The city hall meeting was a dramatic affair, with Pride organizers storming out after a conservative pastor likened men dressing up in women’s clothing to blackface, but negotiations continued. Afterward, state lawmaker Chris Todd sued the city to stop the event. When that was only partially successful, he spearheaded the effort to create one of the nation’s first restrictions on drag performances.”

MAGA Billionaire Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund Withdrew Its Deposits from Silicon Valley Bank Before It Shut Down

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Business Insider: “Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund had no cash left in Silicon Valley Bank by Thursday as it began to unravel, Bloomberg reported.

“A source told Bloomberg the PayPal cofounder’s fund had moved to close its exposure to the failing bank after running into problems using SVB’s services.

“The venture capital group had been engaging in a ‘capital call’ — where it asked investment partners to send funds to invest in a company — by transferring funds to its Silicon Valley Bank account. However, the funds didn’t immediately go through as expected.

“Following the withdrawals, the fund no longer had any exposure to SVB as of Thursday morning, the unnamed source told Bloomberg. It wasn’t clear whether the transfers happened on that day, or earlier.”

Fascist Congresswoman to Introduce Resolution Declaring Anti-fascist Antifa a Terror Group

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The Hill: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said on Sunday that she will be introducing a resolution to declare Antifa as a terrorist organization on Tuesday, after blaming the group for protests at a police training facility in Atlanta.

“’Antifa are domestic terrorists and I’m introducing my resolution to officially declare them a terrorist organization on Tuesday,’ she tweeted on Sunday.

“A progressive group called “Stop Cop City” has been protesting against the new training facility being built in the wooded parts of Atlanta since plans for it were announced, arguing it will promote the militarization of the police and may result in environmental concerns…

“Greene blamed the far-left organization Antifa for the incident on Twitter, though she did not offer any evidence that Antifa was behind the protests on Sunday.”