Desantis Declares Himself Emperor Of Florida?

[Jimmy Higgins]

Opinion | Ron DeSantis Doesn’t Know Whether He’s Coming or Going (Published 2023)

The strange case of the governor of Florida’s presidential campaign.

www.nytimes.com

I guess my main takeaway is that DeSantis isn’t going to be the next president. He makes Trump seem tolerant, Ted Cruz seem likable, Mitch McConnell seem moderate, Lauren Boebert seem mature and Rick Santorum seem cool. Not what I would have expected out of the Florida governor six months ago, but here’s where I confess: You were right about him, and I was wrong.

I dunno, being completely and obviously unfit and unqualified to be President appears to be the only way to get the job, if you're a Republican candidate.

The guy seems to be a smarter version of Palin for Florida. Knows how to manipulate the local voters very well, but is incapable of branching out.

However, his problem isn't the douchebaggery or his poltical maneuvering, it is that Trump is the Michael Jordan, the Bobby Orr, the Walter Peyton, the Michael Schumacher (combined) of douchebaggery. You can't beat him at it... at least his followers won't accept it.

Trump whines, complains, insults, doesn't accomplish much, obviously seeks out for attention, an idiot, barely mentally competent... and while Presidential Candidates can have some of those traits, they usually never can have them all. The guy whined about Hillary Clinton's ads during a national debate... a maneuver that would have sunk Hillary as "not being up for the task if she can't take political ads against her", but Trump, it just works for him. He is a political glitch.

And trying to glitch like him is doomed to failure.

 

[Gospel]

Desantis finds himself in a challenging spot, needing to position himself above Trump, rather than capitalizing on the simpler task of replacing that uppity negro, a tactic that served Trump well. Additionally, Trump faced a Democratic candidate who, despite party favoritism, struggled to ignite passion among younger voters and did not manage to secure substantial backing beyond the confines of the Democratic party.

Edit: She won the popular vote though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ZiprHead]

DeSantis is way behind Trump even in his home state.

 

[ZiprHead]

Veterans quit DeSantis’ Florida State Guard over militialike training

One retired Marine Corps officer called the police on instructors, alleging abuse.

www.tampabay.com

When the first recruiting class of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new Florida State Guard showed up for training last month, they had varied experiences and expectations.

Over 30 days in June, teenagers out of high school and retired military veterans came to Camp Blanding, the National Guard base near Jacksonville.

Many were told they would volunteer for a revived State Guard with a nonmilitary mission: help Floridians in times of need or disaster.

Instead, the state’s National Guard trained the volunteers for combat. Khakis and polos were replaced by camouflaged uniforms. Volunteers assured they could keep their facial hair were ordered to shave. And they were drilled on how to rappel with ropes, navigate through the woods and respond to incidents under military command.

When DeSantis announced in 2021 that he wanted to revive the long-dormant State Guard, he vowed it would help Floridians during emergencies. But in the year since its launch, key personnel and a defined mission remain elusive. The state is looking for the program’s third leader in eight months. According to records reviewed by the Times/Herald and interviews with program volunteers, a number of recruits quit after the first training class last month because they feared it was becoming too militaristic.

Weeks into that inaugural June training, one volunteer, a disabled retired Marine Corps captain, called the local sheriff’s office to report he was battered by Florida National Guard instructors when they forcibly shoved him into a van after he questioned the program and its leadership.

DeSantis’ office referred questions to Maj. Gen. John D. Haas, Florida’s adjutant general overseeing the Florida National Guard.

In a statement, Haas said the State Guard was a “military organization” that will be used not just for emergencies but for “aiding law enforcement with riots and illegal immigration.”

IIRC, some here poo-pooed the idea that DeSantis was creating a personal army.

 

[ZiprHead]

From the article above:

A Clay County Sheriff’s Office incident report reveals that tensions simmered during training.

On the morning of June 23, a volunteer who was a retired Marine Corps captain stopped Jennison in the barracks to ask questions about the training that he felt “had not been answered,” the report states.

“So you’re the leader of the group!” Jennison responded, according to the report, pointing at the retired Marine, whose name is redacted.

Jennison was “apparently referencing one or more members who were criticizing the new organization,” the sheriff’s deputy wrote.

After asking questions, the two shook hands, and the retired Marine took the bus to the chow hall. But once there, he said he was pulled out of line by two National Guard sergeants and ordered to do pushups.

“He refused, saying, ‘No, I can’t!’ because he is 100% disabled and was in pain from a physical fitness test the day before,” the deputy’s report states.

“Then you need to leave and go home!” the sergeants yelled at him, he claimed.

He finally agreed, and a white van pulled up. Not feeling safe, he refused to get in, and he said he would walk to his car some distance away, according to the report.

As a retired officer, he was allowed to use the base. But the sergeants “grabbed him and pushed him into the van.”

“He protested that they were assaulting an officer as he tried to exit the van and was told he is not an officer, only a recruit,” the report states.

When police inquired, a National Guard lieutenant told a deputy that the retired Marine “had been questioning the program since he entered into it and was argumentative with leadership.”

Another volunteer, a retired 30-year Marine, witnessed the incident and gave a statement to police, saying the sergeants acted “rather harshly,” and that they told the alleged victim that “they didn’t care he was a retired (U.S. Marine Corps) Captain, that he was only a recruit.”

The sheriff’s deputy closed the case, determining that the retired Marine captain was not assaulted or falsely imprisoned.

Cover up.

The former captain quit the State Guard that day. So did the witness.

 

[ZiprHead]

State guard set up by DeSantis is being trained as personal militia, veterans say

Veterans resign as force established as civilian disaster relief becomes ‘militaristic’ and ‘abusive’

www.theguardian.com

Additionally, DeSantis’s compliant, Republican-led state legislature has contributed to the change of direction, this year approving a massive expansion in the force’s funding, size and equipment. Its budget increased from $10m to $107.5m, and its maximum size more than tripled from 400 recruits to 1,500.

On the governor’s shopping list were helicopters, boats, police powers and reportedly even cellphone-hacking technology for a force outside of federal jurisdiction, and accountable directly to him.

“The program got hijacked and turned into something that we were trying to stay away from: a militia,” Brian Newhouse, a retired navy veteran with 20 years’ experience, told the reporters.

Newhouse was originally chosen to lead one of the state guard’s three divisions, and said he was removed from the base near Jacksonville on the first day of training after raising his concerns with national guard staff who were acting as instructors.

 

[ZiprHead]

DeSantis calls for state investment manager to consider action against Bud Light’s parent company

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is urging the state’s pension fund manager to consider legal action against Bud Light’s parent company amid conservative backlash to the beermaker’s recent marketing efforts, the latest attempt by the Republican presidential candidate to inject himself and the state he runs into the country’s culture wars.

In a Thursday letter obtained by CNN, DeSantis suggests AB InBev “breached legal duties owed to its shareholders” when it decided to associate with “radical social ideologies.” Sales of Bud Light have plummeted in the months since it entered into a minor partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney that precipitated a boycott from conservatives.

“All options are on the table,” DeSantis wrote, as the state reviews the impact of AB InBev’s recent financial downturn, though it’s unclear what legal recourse the state might have to challenge a multinational corporation’s business decisions.

 

[ZiprHead]

DeSantis downplays Jan. 6, says it wasn't an insurrection but a 'protest' that 'ended up devolving'

In an interview Friday on the podcast of comedian Russell Brand, DeSantis said the riot “was not an insurrection” but a protest that “ended up devolving, you know, in a way that was unfortunate, of course.”

wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday downplayed the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, saying it was not an insurrection but rather a “protest” that “ended up devolving, you know, in a way that was unfortunate, of course.”

DeSantis, speaking in an interview on the podcast of comedian Russell Brand, said the idea that Jan. 6 "was a plan to somehow overthrow the government of the United States is not true, and it’s something that the media had spun up.”

The violent attack by a mob of supporters loyal to then-President Donald Trump was fueled by lies that the 2020 election was stolen. Rioters stormed the building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election victory, breaking windows, fighting police officers and forcing lawmakers and former Vice President Mike Pence to flee for their lives. Nine deaths were linked to the attack, including four officers who later died by suicide.

“If somebody is honestly doing an insurrection against the U.S. government, then prove that that’s the case and I’ll be happy to accept it, but all you’re showing me is that there were a lot of protesters there and it ended up devolving, you know, in a way that were unfortunate, of course. But to say that they were seditionists is just wrong,” said DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate who was campaigning in Utah on Friday.

 

[ZiprHead]

DeSantis campaign deletes video after Nazi images found

The DeSantis campaign deleted a video that flashed a number of concerning images. Just a few weeks ago, another video surfaced using photos of shirtless men previously mocked by Secretary Pete Buttigieg. In the latest video, however, a Nazi symbol flashes on the screen with a row of marching...

www.rawstory.com

Not even hiding it anymore.

 

[Shadowy Man]

“If somebody is honestly doing an insurrection against the U.S. government, then prove that that’s the case and I’ll be happy to accept it, but all you’re showing me is that there were a lot of protesters there and it ended up devolving, you know, in a way that were unfortunate, of course. But to say that they were seditionists is just wrong,” said DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate who was campaigning in Utah on Friday.

So the guys who were convicted by a jury of sedition were doing what exactly? Isn’t getting convicted usually considered legal “proof”? Either DeSantis is ignorant or knows that his supporters are ignorant.

 

[ZiprHead]

Gillum ties DeSantis to racist robocalls day after asking they receive no 'attention'

Gillum‘s campaign hammered DeSantis for his response to the calls and said the former congressman needs to denounce Road to Power.

www.politico.com

TALLAHASSEE — A day after saying the calls should not receive “any more attention than they already have,” Democrat Andrew Gillum accused his gubernatorial opponent on Wednesday of using “bigotry as a political ploy” after the Republican, Ron DeSantis, tried to distance himself from overtly racist robocalls.
In the statement sent Wednesday, Gillum‘s campaign hammered DeSantis for his response to the calls and said the former congressman needs to denounce Road to Power, the Idaho white supremacist group that claimed responsibility.
“Making excuses for racist robocalls is disgusting,” Johanna Cervone, a spokeswoman for Gillum, said in a statement Wednesday. “Using bigotry as a political ploy is just further evidence that Ron DeSantis will stop at nothing to divide our state.“

In the call, a person who purports to be Gillum is heard using an overtly racist characterization of the Tallahassee mayor, referring to himself as “the negro Andrew Gillum.” The narrator says DeSantis is “doin’ a lot of hollerin’ about how ‘spensive my plans for health care be,” as monkey sounds play in the background.

Fuckers...

 

[ZiprHead]

DeSantis Defunds Police

DeSantis Puppet Board Moves to Defund $8 Million Police Budget at Disney — The Same Cops Who Prevented Mass Shooting From Happening There

The puppet board appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee the special taxing district at Walt Disney World has decided to take the drastic move to defund a multimillion dollar budget for law enforcement services at the park properties -- the same police presence that deterred the Pulse...

www.mediaite.com

 

[ZiprHead]

Alpha Phi Alpha, a black fraternity with approx. 300,000 members, had planned to hold their convention in Florida but has pulled it due to the 'hostile' policies to A-Americans in FL.

Oldest Black fraternity pulls 2025 convention out of Florida citing 'hostile' policies

Oldest Black fraternity in the country is moving its 2025 conference from Florida, calling the state "hostile" to the Black community.

www.tallahassee.com

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Gillum ties DeSantis to racist robocalls day after asking they receive no 'attention'

Gillum‘s campaign hammered DeSantis for his response to the calls and said the former congressman needs to denounce Road to Power.

www.politico.com

TALLAHASSEE — A day after saying the calls should not receive “any more attention than they already have,” Democrat Andrew Gillum accused his gubernatorial opponent on Wednesday of using “bigotry as a political ploy” after the Republican, Ron DeSantis, tried to distance himself from overtly racist robocalls.
In the statement sent Wednesday, Gillum‘s campaign hammered DeSantis for his response to the calls and said the former congressman needs to denounce Road to Power, the Idaho white supremacist group that claimed responsibility.
“Making excuses for racist robocalls is disgusting,” Johanna Cervone, a spokeswoman for Gillum, said in a statement Wednesday. “Using bigotry as a political ploy is just further evidence that Ron DeSantis will stop at nothing to divide our state.“

In the call, a person who purports to be Gillum is heard using an overtly racist characterization of the Tallahassee mayor, referring to himself as “the negro Andrew Gillum.” The narrator says DeSantis is “doin’ a lot of hollerin’ about how ‘spensive my plans for health care be,” as monkey sounds play in the background.

Fuckers...

I saw the name Andrew Gillum and was shocked that he was running for Governor again (especially after DeSantis won re-election recently). His train derailed pretty badly.

Article is dated 2018.

 

[lpetrich]

Dear Ron DeSantis, slavery was not a job skills program | Salon.com - "A losing Republican campaign finds a winning issue: whitewashing the enslavement of Black Americans"
Quoting historian Keisha N. Blain at MSNBC:

For example, according to the state's new guidelines, instructors will be expected to teach students that enslaved Black people "developed skills" that "could be applied for their personal benefit." Instructors are also expected to discuss "acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans" when teaching students about mob violence….Rather than offer its students courses that provide a full and honest accounting of the past, Florida is choosing to dishonestly keep its students ignorant of this country's (and that state's) history.

The article continues

These new "educational standards" are actually using the Black freedom struggle to advance a project of white supremacy. DeSantis' administration and its agents are censoring books they deem to be anti-American, "woke" or contaminated with the "critical race theory mind virus". Florida is now targeting educators for harassment and intimidation, rewriting school curriculums and threatening to defund departments and courses if they cover subjects that "make white people uncomfortable" or "feel guilty." They are banning diversity, inclusion, and equity programs, and are attempting to end academic and intellectual freedom at Florida's universities and colleges as part of a larger plan to destroy liberal arts education (i.e. courses that teach critical thinking). Several weeks ago, for example, the Florida legislature passed a law that makes it illegal for Florida's colleges and universities to teach the fact that systemic and structural racism exists in American society.

DeSantis and the other Republican neofascists and hatemongers are also, quite literally, trying to erase the LGBTQI community from public life by pushing the moral panic over "groomers" who are targeting children for "recruitment" and "indoctrination." This Orwellian thought crime campaign is part of a decades-long, very well-financed, and much larger project by the "conservative" movement to destroy and replace the country's quality public (and private) schools and education with a political indoctrination program ("patriotic education") that creates subservient and compliant citizens who will be mindless drones for a Christofascist American apartheid plutocracy.

...
At a recent campaign event in Utah, DeSantis responded to criticism about the new plan to whitewash the teaching of African-American history in Florida by evading responsibility, claiming that he had nothing to do with the new guidelines. DeSantis then proceeded to defend the changes, saying, "They're probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life."

White-on-Black chattel slavery was not a "jobs program" that helped Black people develop valuable skills.

Then discussing the stereotype of Black Africa as backward and needing to be civilized by European conquerors and slavers.

Objecting to anything that might make white people feel uncomfortable or guilty, that makes me think: whatever happened to "Facts don't care about your feelings" and "Fuck your feelings"? Are only right-wingers feelings deserving of consideration?

 

[lpetrich]

DeSantis refers to Kamala Harris' criticism of Black history curriculum as "chirping" | Salon.com

Vice President Kamala Harris: "Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery. They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it."

"These are the most robust standards in African-American history probably anywhere in the country," he said in a quote obtained from Axios. On the subject of Harris expressing her views in his state after her stop in Indianapolis, he snipped, "She's going to come down to the state of Florida and try to chirp and … try to demagogue."

noting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis fires back at Kamala Harris over Black history standards

Brian Krassenstein on Twitter: "BREAKING: Republican Tim Scott now joins Byron Donalds ..." / X

BREAKING: Republican Tim Scott now joins Byron Donalds in criticizing Ron DeSantis' support of the new slavery curriculum in Florida which teaches kids that slaves gained valuable skills as slaves.

There is no reason to make this a part of the curriculum.

Did, some slaves develop useful skills as slaves? I'm sure they did.

But should we also add to the curriculum that Concentration camps helped starving Jews by feeding them?

Or that Segregation meant that Black people didn't get attacked as much because they weren't around racist white people as often?

Or that stealing Native American land, despite massacring thousands, resulted in Native Americans assimilating better to the ways of the white man, and getting jobs?

Of course not!

There is no reason to try and glorify one of this nation's most disgusting behaviors, while at the same time we label everything "CRT" and say kids can't read books about the lives of black Americans.

As to why he might be doing all this,
Brian Krassenstein on Twitter: "@WilliamLaurent3 I feel DeSantis is overly pandering to what he thinks the base wants. He's making too much out of social issues. Social media likes the social issues, but the general voter cares about things that have much more of an impact on them and their families." / X

 

[lpetrich]

Rep. Byron Donalds calls on Florida to 'correct' Black history standards on slavery - "Aides to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed back against Rep. Byron Donalds, who is backing Trump's presidential bid."

DeSantis spokesperson Jeremy Redfern also tweeted that Donalds' office was repeating "false talking points" put out by the White House.

Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director, wrote in reply to Donalds’ tweet, "Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?"

Jason Miller, a campaign adviser to Trump, called Donalds a “conservative hero” in a statement Wednesday night.

“The Congressman also calls it like he sees it, and if he thinks something is BS, he’ll tell you. That’s why we like him so much,” Miller said, adding that any attempt by DeSantis’ campaign to “smear” Donalds was “a disgrace.”

 

[Politesse]

How are a slave's skills in any sense a matter of their personal benefit? The whole point of keeping a slave is that all of their skills and labor are to their masters' benefit, and any training they receive is an investment owed back to those masters in relevant service.

 

[laughing dog]

How are a slave's skills in any sense a matter of their personal benefit? The whole point of keeping a slave is that all of their skills and labor are to their masters' benefit, and any training they receive is an investment owed back to those masters in relevant service.

It is a benefit to the slave in the sense if the slave wants to stay alive they should produce more than it costs the slave owner to keep them alive.

 

[bilby]

How are a slave's skills in any sense a matter of their personal benefit? The whole point of keeping a slave is that all of their skills and labor are to their masters' benefit, and any training they receive is an investment owed back to those masters in relevant service.

Indeed. I don't try to make out that adding a turbocharger to my car is something I an graciously doing for my car's benefit. If I did, people would think I was crazy.

I might do it so I can get somewhere faster; Or so I can win a race; Or even just so I can get a better price when I sell it.

But I don't do it so that the car can make a nice life for itself as a free agent, if it ever leaves my service. Because that's not how ownership of a piece of property works. Not even if the property in question is a valuable money making investment for its owner.