Mar 14, 2023Liked by George Takei, Jay Kuo, The Big Picture
It's past time for companies who are against this to leave Florida., including Disney. Huge undertaking, yes, but if they don't take a stand, nothing is going to stop him. Florida needs to be hit where it hurts the most, tourism dollars and corporate tax base. Some will say this would hurt the people who are against Desantis, but aren't they already being hurt? He's out to destroy everyone who dares to defy him. Enough. The media has been complicit in this crap for years. It's journalistic malpractice. They helped get us stuck with trump with their her emails bullshit, they tried to do it in 2020 and in 2022. If we don't start holding them accountable, we're all screwed.
Disney will never leave Florida/-it makes too much money there. Notwithstanding desantis’s posturing, Disney is not a “woke” company, whatever that is. Disney is simply catering to its customers in their programming. As to its condemnation of “don’t say gay,” thank its employees.
Then people who do care need to boycott Disney World in FL, then. That would at least slice into their profits there. If Disneyland in CA had an uptick in their profits, while Disney World's were going down, maybe someone would put 2 and 2 together. A strong message against all of this must be sent.
I just returned last night from Orlando, and let me say this: the mobs of families at the airport either going to or returning from Disney is astonishing. However, Disney has me means to move the whole thing lock, stock, and barrel somewhere else. Without alligators. And snakes. Big snakes. And humidity. And severe thunderstorms in March. New Mexico comes to mind.
I was in Orlando yesterday, and let me just say that the biggest industry in that area is still NASA. TOURIST dollars go to Disney, but the really serious economic viability of all of central Florida is NASA.
Background: before I retired, I was in central Florida almost every winter for everything from a month to six months. The economy created by NASA and the space program in general far outweighs anything Disney has to offer. From the Cape to aeronautical engineers' offices, that entire area has a white collar community made up of NASA employees. And by area, it stretches from Orlando down to Melbourne, to the Cape itself.
Mar 14, 2023Liked by George Takei, The Big Picture
The only hope to restore sanity to Florida is to elect a Democratic President, Senate and House in 2024, with enough votes in the Senate to overcome Manchin and Sinema's systematic undermining of progressive policies, pass the stalled voting rights legislation AND add four seats to the Supreme Court. I wish President Biden, who has done a stellar job, had done these things immediately upon his inauguration in 2021. I understand why he tried to work to create bipartisan consensus, but it only gave the fascist minority time to regroup, subvert Manchin and Sinema, and work to reestablish their narratives of hate and lies.
Reading about DeSantis's horrifying policies reminds me of actions in another country, which 90 years ago began attacking teaching and teachers, and targeting groups of people with loss of their personal freedoms, and eventually their lives. We must not let this monster get control of the federal government.
And now they are not allowing groups like the League of Women voters to get permits to protest unless they are sponsored by a 'government agency'. Like that will ever happen! This is pure fascism for sure.
Mar 14, 2023·edited Mar 14, 2023Liked by George Takei, The Big Picture
I am a Floridian, having spent 2/3 of my 65 years here, including the last 36 consecutive. This outline of DeSantis' power grab is brilliantly done and needs to be spread far and wide.
I have said since the first indications of his Presidential aspirations became clear, that once exposed to the national light, he will be exposed for the autocratic dictator wannabe he is. Of all the "commonly recognized indicia of illiberal regimes" you mention, the major failing of DeSantis is his complete lack of "charisma." That will be exposed in the coming months.
The resistance, as you mention is in its early stages, and is not yet synced. But, I will share one of the newly developed groups to fight back. I have just begun following their efforts, but I hope the group will grow into an effective force to protect one of the state's true gems, NEW COLLEGE.
I urge all of your readers to check it, but more importantly follow it as it develops and hopefully syncs up with other resistance forces.
I spent over 31 years as a Florida public school educator, arts advocate, and local teacher union President and activist. Now retired, I still love Florida, and am so saddened by what DeSantis is turning it into.
Mar 14, 2023Liked by George Takei, The Big Picture
Having worked in Florida the last 15 years of my career, and in federal govt sponsored programs, I am familiar with the last three governors and how they operated. Thank you for shining some Florida-like sun on the shenanigans with hopes the rest of the U.S. will listen and take heed!
Thank you for this. It has been very frustrating living in Florida and watching DeSantis take the state step by step into fascism, while the mainstream media ignores what is happening. All voters in the US need to know that this is who DeSantis is and do everything we can all do to keep him out of the White House.
I live in Florida, and here's what I know: WTF = Welcome to Florida, the Gunshine State. We have governor DeFascist, and Surgeon General Lacrapo. The scariest predators are not the alligators. Here's what I also know - the Ronald and Donald show will ultimately weaken both of them, and neither will survive politically. The fear-mongering bigots will not prevail. Hate will NOT win. It won't happen overnight, but sanity will return. It is up to all of us to make sure they do the least amount of damage possible until that day comes.
How can this happen? So much of what DeSantis has done is plainly in contravention of the US Constitution! How can Florida voters endorse this behavior? We need a liberal gadfly with deep pockets and a Florida home to start challenging all these illiberal and hateful policies!
It will take the people in Florida to begin to challenge this shift toward autocracy. Meanwhile, we can organize at the national level to pass and enforce laws against these measures.
The problem with ALL the banning of CRT (and identifying it as promoting "systemic racism") is that CRT did not INVENT the idea of systemic racism. It just investigates it. It is as if a grad-level history course looked into the "Frontier Thesis" of national development and noted that the lands to the West actually were not unsettled, but had an indigenous population and then studied how that affected later American society. And then because some people found that fact unsavory to be reminded of, the study of anything to do with the Frontier Thesis (or Manifest Destiny) was banned.
One big problem with CRT is that is dressed up in the convoluted language of all "theory" courses so popular in the 80s and 90s--the Derrida connection--and, being often impenetrable, is decried as "elitist." The whole concept of "intersectionality" is an example. Obviously one's life involves several connected roles, some of them contradictory, some of them making one subject to discrimination. Just call it something else and teach it--a kid needs to know s/he is not nuts for feeling the conflict or the connections.
I have already decided that I cannot in good conscience ever set foot in the state of Florida again, and certainly not spend a dime in that state until Ron DeSantis is out of power along with all his cronies. I will miss Destin and Sanibel and Jupiter and Orlando, but so be it. DeSantis must be defeated in his bid for the US Presidency and I am counting on The Former Guy (who I also hate) to eat him alive in the primary.
Thank you George for sounding the alarm so loudly.
Excellent analysis and explanation of why DeSantis's Sunshine 🌞 Reich is a travesty to the rest of America 🇺🇸. Between his strong arm tactics reminiscent of Hitler's Brown Shirts and his expanded gerrymandering to ensure a life time dictatorship, DeSantis's radical insurrectionist belief that he can force his way of life upon all of America 🇺🇸 is terrifying.
I feel so sorry for the normal people of Florida who have to tolerate his prejudices whether they like him or not.
Hopefully the orange 🍊 behemoth will take DeSantis's Sunshine 🌞 Reich to the cleaners before he has to face his own accountability for J6 and Mar a Largo. Hopefully for all of America 🇺🇸 🙏 it will play out that way. Jack Smith and DOJ can have the last laugh 😃
I have replaced the "liberal" designation with "progressive", which I think is more apt in our time, now, in order to continue to "form a more perfect union"...
It's past time for companies who are against this to leave Florida., including Disney. Huge undertaking, yes, but if they don't take a stand, nothing is going to stop him. Florida needs to be hit where it hurts the most, tourism dollars and corporate tax base. Some will say this would hurt the people who are against Desantis, but aren't they already being hurt? He's out to destroy everyone who dares to defy him. Enough. The media has been complicit in this crap for years. It's journalistic malpractice. They helped get us stuck with trump with their her emails bullshit, they tried to do it in 2020 and in 2022. If we don't start holding them accountable, we're all screwed.
Disney will never leave Florida/-it makes too much money there. Notwithstanding desantis’s posturing, Disney is not a “woke” company, whatever that is. Disney is simply catering to its customers in their programming. As to its condemnation of “don’t say gay,” thank its employees.
Then people who do care need to boycott Disney World in FL, then. That would at least slice into their profits there. If Disneyland in CA had an uptick in their profits, while Disney World's were going down, maybe someone would put 2 and 2 together. A strong message against all of this must be sent.
I just returned last night from Orlando, and let me say this: the mobs of families at the airport either going to or returning from Disney is astonishing. However, Disney has me means to move the whole thing lock, stock, and barrel somewhere else. Without alligators. And snakes. Big snakes. And humidity. And severe thunderstorms in March. New Mexico comes to mind.
I was in Orlando yesterday, and let me just say that the biggest industry in that area is still NASA. TOURIST dollars go to Disney, but the really serious economic viability of all of central Florida is NASA.
Background: before I retired, I was in central Florida almost every winter for everything from a month to six months. The economy created by NASA and the space program in general far outweighs anything Disney has to offer. From the Cape to aeronautical engineers' offices, that entire area has a white collar community made up of NASA employees. And by area, it stretches from Orlando down to Melbourne, to the Cape itself.
NASA is a Federal program. De Santis knows this.
I had forgotten about that. Jeez.
Yep.
The only hope to restore sanity to Florida is to elect a Democratic President, Senate and House in 2024, with enough votes in the Senate to overcome Manchin and Sinema's systematic undermining of progressive policies, pass the stalled voting rights legislation AND add four seats to the Supreme Court. I wish President Biden, who has done a stellar job, had done these things immediately upon his inauguration in 2021. I understand why he tried to work to create bipartisan consensus, but it only gave the fascist minority time to regroup, subvert Manchin and Sinema, and work to reestablish their narratives of hate and lies.
I agree. We need to protect against states like Florida by enacting federal level protections.
Reading about DeSantis's horrifying policies reminds me of actions in another country, which 90 years ago began attacking teaching and teachers, and targeting groups of people with loss of their personal freedoms, and eventually their lives. We must not let this monster get control of the federal government.
A good reminder of what’s at stake here.
And now they are not allowing groups like the League of Women voters to get permits to protest unless they are sponsored by a 'government agency'. Like that will ever happen! This is pure fascism for sure.
It sure doesn’t sound like speech is very “free” any more in Florida.
Am I alone in believing that outright proven lies should not be included as free speech?
I am a Floridian, having spent 2/3 of my 65 years here, including the last 36 consecutive. This outline of DeSantis' power grab is brilliantly done and needs to be spread far and wide.
I have said since the first indications of his Presidential aspirations became clear, that once exposed to the national light, he will be exposed for the autocratic dictator wannabe he is. Of all the "commonly recognized indicia of illiberal regimes" you mention, the major failing of DeSantis is his complete lack of "charisma." That will be exposed in the coming months.
The resistance, as you mention is in its early stages, and is not yet synced. But, I will share one of the newly developed groups to fight back. I have just begun following their efforts, but I hope the group will grow into an effective force to protect one of the state's true gems, NEW COLLEGE.
https://savenewcollege.org/
I urge all of your readers to check it, but more importantly follow it as it develops and hopefully syncs up with other resistance forces.
I spent over 31 years as a Florida public school educator, arts advocate, and local teacher union President and activist. Now retired, I still love Florida, and am so saddened by what DeSantis is turning it into.
He certainly lacks a certain something in the charm department. And that you for your advocacy and organizing. More of this please!
Having worked in Florida the last 15 years of my career, and in federal govt sponsored programs, I am familiar with the last three governors and how they operated. Thank you for shining some Florida-like sun on the shenanigans with hopes the rest of the U.S. will listen and take heed!
Thank you for this. It has been very frustrating living in Florida and watching DeSantis take the state step by step into fascism, while the mainstream media ignores what is happening. All voters in the US need to know that this is who DeSantis is and do everything we can all do to keep him out of the White House.
I live in Florida, and here's what I know: WTF = Welcome to Florida, the Gunshine State. We have governor DeFascist, and Surgeon General Lacrapo. The scariest predators are not the alligators. Here's what I also know - the Ronald and Donald show will ultimately weaken both of them, and neither will survive politically. The fear-mongering bigots will not prevail. Hate will NOT win. It won't happen overnight, but sanity will return. It is up to all of us to make sure they do the least amount of damage possible until that day comes.
Absolutely.
How can this happen? So much of what DeSantis has done is plainly in contravention of the US Constitution! How can Florida voters endorse this behavior? We need a liberal gadfly with deep pockets and a Florida home to start challenging all these illiberal and hateful policies!
It will take the people in Florida to begin to challenge this shift toward autocracy. Meanwhile, we can organize at the national level to pass and enforce laws against these measures.
Thank you for an important message.
The problem with ALL the banning of CRT (and identifying it as promoting "systemic racism") is that CRT did not INVENT the idea of systemic racism. It just investigates it. It is as if a grad-level history course looked into the "Frontier Thesis" of national development and noted that the lands to the West actually were not unsettled, but had an indigenous population and then studied how that affected later American society. And then because some people found that fact unsavory to be reminded of, the study of anything to do with the Frontier Thesis (or Manifest Destiny) was banned.
One big problem with CRT is that is dressed up in the convoluted language of all "theory" courses so popular in the 80s and 90s--the Derrida connection--and, being often impenetrable, is decried as "elitist." The whole concept of "intersectionality" is an example. Obviously one's life involves several connected roles, some of them contradictory, some of them making one subject to discrimination. Just call it something else and teach it--a kid needs to know s/he is not nuts for feeling the conflict or the connections.
I have already decided that I cannot in good conscience ever set foot in the state of Florida again, and certainly not spend a dime in that state until Ron DeSantis is out of power along with all his cronies. I will miss Destin and Sanibel and Jupiter and Orlando, but so be it. DeSantis must be defeated in his bid for the US Presidency and I am counting on The Former Guy (who I also hate) to eat him alive in the primary.
Thank you George for sounding the alarm so loudly.
Excellent analysis and explanation of why DeSantis's Sunshine 🌞 Reich is a travesty to the rest of America 🇺🇸. Between his strong arm tactics reminiscent of Hitler's Brown Shirts and his expanded gerrymandering to ensure a life time dictatorship, DeSantis's radical insurrectionist belief that he can force his way of life upon all of America 🇺🇸 is terrifying.
I feel so sorry for the normal people of Florida who have to tolerate his prejudices whether they like him or not.
Hopefully the orange 🍊 behemoth will take DeSantis's Sunshine 🌞 Reich to the cleaners before he has to face his own accountability for J6 and Mar a Largo. Hopefully for all of America 🇺🇸 🙏 it will play out that way. Jack Smith and DOJ can have the last laugh 😃
The same thing is happening in my state of Iowa. It breaks my heart.
I have replaced the "liberal" designation with "progressive", which I think is more apt in our time, now, in order to continue to "form a more perfect union"...