The peninsula’s known for its palm trees and isles,
And sun-kissed sandy beaches that go on for miles.
But when the polar vortex hits Florida
You’ve got to beware of iguanas,
‘Cause when the temperature drops, it starts raining reptiles.
A new University of North Florida poll in Florida finds Donald Trump leading Joe Biden, 47% to 45% among likely voters. About 4% said another candidate, 2% said they do not plan on voting, and 3% said they do not know, or refused to answer.
“In America today‚ 2024, women have fewer rights than their mothers or their grandmothers had, because of Donald Trump. I don’t think we’re going to let him get away with it, do you?”
— President Biden at a campaign stop in Tampa, reported by Tampa Bay Times.
The Guardian: “By almost every measure, the rightwinger has had another lackluster week on the campaign trail, with ‘clumsy’ missteps in New Hampshire, Texas, California and New York. Now, barely one month after his glitch-ridden launch on Twitter, DeSantis finds himself sinking in the polls, closer to the large field of optimists below him than the twice-indicted, twice-impeached former president who retains a stranglehold over the Republican party.
“‘The more voters learn about him, the less they can stomach the idea of him running the country,’ the online magazine Jezebel concluded.”
“Governor Ron DeSantis is a job killing moron who cares more about his own political ambitions and culture wars than Florida and our future. According to him, ‘woke makes you go broke’ but this is another example of how it’s actually the complete opposite. DeSantis is not who you want for President — ever.”
— Fla. Rep. Anna Eskamani (D – Dist. 42) reacting to the news that Disney will pull a $17 billion project out of her district. The decision was announced amid ongoing attacks from Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis after Disney objected to the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which punishes any acknowledgement of nonheterosexual orientation in public schools.
Watching Ron DeSantis’ belly flop onto the empty concrete of the proverbially empty pool has been astonishing. It is very very rare to see a loss of 30 points. There hasn’t been a debate. The campaign hasn’t effectively started, and he’s collapsed under the weight of his disorder personality.
The newspapers are filled with stories. Ron DeSantis doesn’t like to talk to people. Ron DeSantis doesn’t like to make phone calls. Marco Rubio talked about the fact in the Wall Street Journal story that details the 30 point point collapse that he hasn’t talked to the governor of his state in months…
Not only does Trump have a score of congressional endorsements a few months later, while his behavior has become more outrageous, more dangerous and more unhnged. eight of those congressional endorsements are from the state of Florida.
Ron DeSantis just isn’t ready for prime time. He has no path to a comeback. He’s an extremely poor debater. It’s over.
A third travel advisory has been issued for Florida. Equality Florida, the state’s largest organization devoted to fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender idenity, is warning not to visit or relocate to Florida. The group joins The Florida Immigrant Coalition and state chapters of the NAACP in the same message:
Don’t come to Florida
The move comes in response to…the passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum.
Florida’s legislature continues to churn out culture war laws devised by Gov. Ron DeSantis. One source from within the body even told a Politico Florida reporter that the governor’s office must sign off on any changes to bills as they work through the legislature.
Florida’s elected Republicans find themselves ignoring serious problems like a crisis in homeowners insurance that is causing Florida residents to sell their homes. They have also produced no bills dealing with climate change even as the Fort Lauderdale airport had to be shut down from torrential rain and flooding. Instead, they focus on issues that Ron DeSantis wants to be able to boast about in his primary challenge to disgraced former Pres. Trump.
Politico.com: “[California Gov. Gavin] Newsom sat down with [MSNBC’s Jen] Psaki in Alabama, while on a tour of Republican-led states including Arkansas and Mississippi. Newsom recently announced the launch of a new political action committee called Campaign for Democracy, aimed at calling out red state policies and ‘authoritarian leaders.’
“With Psaki, he lit into DeSantis, a frequent target of his ire who is expected to announce a run for the Republican presidential nomination at the close of Florida’s legislative calendar.
“‘[He’s] scared to death, scared of the people, scared of the public,’ Newsom said. ‘I think the majority of NRA members probably oppose that position.’”
“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.
Among quislings, Tulsi Gabbard stood out among many.
But 52 GOP senators confirmed her — a fulsome plenty.
Why they backed her remains a mystery,
So now for the first time in U.S. history
We have a director of national intelligence without any.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared exasperated and sighed when a reporter asked President Trump about his plans to “take over” Gaza while meeting with the King of Jordan.
The Senate voted 52 to 48 to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined with all Democrats to oppose her conformation.
“I think this is the most serious constitutional crisis the country has faced, certainly since Watergate. The president is attempting to seize control of power, and for corrupt purposes.”
— Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned of an “assault on the Constitution” under President Donald Trump, ABC News reports.
A new Marquette University poll found that 71% of respondents opposed renaming the Gulf of Mexico with only 29% saying they were in favor of the change.
U.S. inflation rose to 3% in January, strengthening the case for the Federal Reserve to extend a pause on interest rate cuts, reported the New York Times. The Consumer Price Index jumped more than expected, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Wednesday, rising 0.5% from December in what was the fastest monthly increase since August 2023. Last month, the annual pace was 2.9%. “Core” C.P.I., which more closely reflects underlying inflation by removing volatile food and energy prices, also showed little improvement. It rose 0.4% from December or 3.3% on a year-over-year basis, both higher than economists expected. The monthly increase in core prices was the highest since April 2023.
“Almost $500 million in food aid is at risk of spoilage as it sits in ports, ships and warehouses after funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, was paused by the Trump administration,” CBS News reports.
Astronomers discover the largest known structure in the universe to date, a cosmic filament—a strand connecting dark matter, galaxies, and more—roughly 1.3 billion light-years in length, reports .
“Elon Musk’s net worth fell below $400 billion for the first time in two months, dragged down by a double-digit slide in Tesla Inc.’s share price,” Bloomberg reports.“The automaker’s stock has fallen 27% after hitting an all-time high in mid-December on hopes that Musk’s proximity to President Donald Trump would boost the company’s fortunes. Tesla shares and options make up more than 60% of Musk’s wealth, which peaked at $486.4 billion on Dec. 17 in the wake of Trump’s election.”