Year: 2023

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.

[…]

DeSantis Fundraisers — A Million or Nuthin’

Buck Banks

$1 million

“It’s going to cost a lot to get Ron DeSantis to show up in person to collect political checks: about $1 million,” NBC News reports. “That’s the aggressive goal set to draw the Florida governor and likely 2024 presidential candidate to travel out of his way for fundraising events, according to three Republicans involved in efforts to raise cash for DeSantis during the shadow primary period.”

Dems Open to Dumping Biden in 2024

Buck Banks

31%

FiveThirtyEight: “Polling suggests that Democrats aren’t thrilled with the idea of Biden as their nominee again. Only 31 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they want the party to renominate Biden, while 58 percent said they’d prefer someone else, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll from Jan. 27-Feb. 1. That lack of enthusiasm is unusual. According to historical CNN polling, majorities of Democrats wanted to renominate Bill Clinton in 1996 and Barack Obama in 2012, and a majority of Republicans wanted to renominate Trump in 2020.”

Manchin Compares Dems and GOPers on Debt Ceiling, Spending

Buck Banks

“My Democratic friends don’t want to say a word about our out of control spending and are outright refusing to even talk to Republicans about reasonable and responsible reforms… My Republican friends refused to offer any specifics, and some have recklessly threatened default, which is absolutely not on the table, cannot be on the table and will not happen.”

— Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), quoted by Politico.

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.

[…]

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.”