Want to see a dead body? Take a look at democracy in Florida. From The Miami Herald:
Black Democrats in the Florida House disrupted debate on the congressional redistricting map on Thursday, staging a sit-in on the floor of the chamber to protest the passage of a map drawn by the governor’s staff that is expected to reduce the number of Black Democratic members in Congress and increase the number of Republicans.
The House was halfway through a three-hour debate on the map when Rep. Yvonne Hinson, a Gainesville Democrat, was cut off because she had exceeded the five-minute time limit set for member debate.
As her microphone was silenced, Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, walked on the floor with a T-shirt under her suit jacket that read “Stop the Black Attack” and held a sign in protest. It was 11:47 a.m.
As Black Democrats started chanting and white Democrats joined the protest, House Speaker Chris Sprowls ordered the House in recess and stunned Republicans slowly walked off the floor.
It didn’t last long. The Republicans regrouped and came back, using their supermajority to pass the governor’s Jim Crow redistricting map and voting to strip Walt Disney World of its “special districts” deal along party lines. It was over by about 1 PM.
So now, FL Republicans will have a 20:8 advantage and a likely 70% hold on the statehouse, absent court intervention.* This despite DeSantis the Map-Giver winning his office by less than 50%. This is not what democracy is supposed to look like.
Open thread.
*DeSantis’s close personal friend Justice Clarence Thomas awaits that eventuality.
ACA Menu Length shocks
scav
Both TX & FL are going full-throated the economy is just another tool for partisan political gain. Because that’s what an idealized unfettered market economy is supposed to look like.
Old School
Sorry Betty. I feel bad for all Democrats in Florida who have to deal with this.
Betty Cracker
@Old School: The only solution is to vote these fuckers out while that’s still allowed. I plan on doing my part, and I hope like hell a “silent majority” is horrified by what is happening. No sign of that yet, but overreach isn’t always obvious until after the fact.
hilts
OT
As Ralph Kramden would say, Homina, Homina, Homina:
CNN+ Is Shutting Down One Month After Launch
h/t https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/cnn-plus-shut-down-warner-bros-discovery-1235237913/
cain
@Betty Cracker: I hope so.
But I feel like the American voter is simply keeping their heads down and just trying to live. It would require complete disruption of their ability to make a living for them to focus on the politics of today.
kindness
Seems to me Florida used to be more diverse than what I see now. I don’t get it. There have to be moderate Republicans but we hear nothing from that camp any longer.
cain
@hilts:
I rather all these news streaming services die in a dumpster fire. I was disturbed to read that NBC wants to do more opinion shows to help build up peacock. I will be sticking to my two netflix and prime.
cain
@kindness: snowbirds from the midwest coming down and boosting the voting demographic.
Walker
Apparently this means (eliminating the special district) they voted to raise taxes by 2 billion.
Betty Cracker
@hilts: I remember seeing ads for it and thinking “why would I pay extra for that?” Anyhoo, kudos to them for figuring out it was going nowhere quickly instead of setting fire to piles of cash for months and then pulling the plug.
andy
@kindness: they’re willing to go along if they get their thousand year reich.
trollhattan
Harris I suppose I get, but Zuck is their buddy!
cain
@Betty Cracker: The article said that it was actually having respectable subscriber rate. But the new CEO was pissed about it being done at the last minute and stopped it.
Matt McIrvin
My understanding is, the state government doesn’t actually have the power to dissolve the district, it will probably be struck down, and it’s basically empty grandstanding so DeSantis can say he took on the evil LGBT conspiracy when he runs for president.
I care not one iota whether Disney keeps their sweet special deal, but I do care whether a bigoted eliminationist campaign gets a major win, so I’m hoping this is so.
Betty Cracker
@cain: Well, that’s a different kettle of fish. I read an article yesterday that said the subscriber rate was abysmal. Hmmm.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
@kindness: If there are still moderate republicans, they’re a very small and powerless faction. The entire party has been radicalized quickly and completely. And for the scan few who may disagree, they go along anyway in order to keep their offices, power and prestige.
Politicians are only moderate when that’s what their district calls for. But there are barely any competitive districts anymore thanks to redistricting and gerrymandering. The vast majority of elected politicians–in Florida and elsewhere–are safely ensconced in districts where they’ll never face real opposition and need only please their base to stay in office.
Dan B
@Walker: And soaking the two counties that voted 64% against DeathSanta with $2,200 extra taxes per family. Bullies gonna bully.
andy
it’s kind of funny/not funny. the GOP apparently has figured out the magic formula for winning without merit or opposition, just as this country is entering it’s years of maximum peril- and they will be making the decisions with no smart people being able to sweep in and clean up their mess.
VOR
@kindness: Moderate Republicans have been purged from the party, derided as RINOs. The old “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” approach is gone. It’s the party of De Santis, MTG, Boebert, Cawthorn, Cruz, and Gosar now. And Trump is their true north star.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
I’d imagine Disney has a pretty decent First Amendment claim too.
Baud
The Orbanization of Florida.
Old School
I’ve seen that the way they wrote the bill – eliminating special districts established before November 1968 – eliminates five special districts other than Disney, but I haven’t seen anything about what those other districts are and the effects that eliminating them will have.
Also, by setting November 1968 as the date, I’ve assumed that a district set up in December 1968 or thereabouts was purposely spared, but I’ve no idea if that is true.
James E Powell
@VOR:
True of the elected officials, but there are still a lot of people voting Republican who do not see themselves as racists, bigots, and morons. They cling to their Republican identity and continue to vote straight R for several reasons. Inertia being one. Belief in a FOX version of Democrats being another.
I have no idea how to get through to people who regard Joe Biden as a radical leftist.
H.E.Wolf
Yes.
I am putting in another request for a batch of “sign up for FL Vote By Mail” cards to Democrats in FL. It’s a tiny drop in the bucket, which adds up – thousands of other people are doing this, too. https://postcardstovoters.org/volunteer/
The addresses are always potluck. When they’re in a city with a significant percentage of Black citizens, I dig into my stash of 1970s Black Heritage postage stamps. Can’t hurt, and might help….
dnfree
@Old School: I read that The Villages, home to many Republican voters, was one of the special districts spared.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So, by next year DeStantis is going to change the states’ name to “Not Gay Florida”?
I get the feeling a guy who holds thar 2+2=4 turns children gay isn’t going to play well on a national stage. As was pointed out during last years local elections the CRT panic only works in Deep Red districts.
Kay
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I don’t think he’s national either. But he can surely ruin that state he runs like a mad dictator.
As usual, the most embarrassing are the conservative lawmakers who meekly take orders from him and kiss his ass. I don’t have as much contempt for him as I do for them. Gross.
kindness
I guess my issue is identity vs tribal loyalty. My clan were all northeastern Republicans. Social liberals but fiscal conservatives. Almost all of them now vote Democratic. I live in a nominally red area of California. Friends parents who still call themselves Republicans won’t support authoritarian/tyrannical (fascist) Republicans and vote for moderate Democrats. Sadly it’s the Boomers & younger Repubs who are the most tribal and vote Republican no matter what. Trying to have a discussion with them is useless. When you point out their own hypocrisy they laugh and blow you off. I can’t complain too much out here I guess. Republicans gave up any hope of control of the state when they tried to go after Mexicans & gays back in the 90’s.
Kay
Just to recap here, Disney’s speech crime was disagreeing with the governor on legislation.
That’s the offense he’s punishing them for. Full on authoritarian.
Cameron
@Old School: I don’t think The Villages acquired special status until the 1990’s.
Kay
The most amazing part of this is the national Republican Party followed the lead of a single far activist, Christoper Rufo, who works full time attacking public schools.
One guy. Seems like they’d want to diversify a little instead of betting the entire wad on Rufo.
Calouste
@trollhattan:
Who wants to go to Russia anyway these days? Except the shitgibbons, Le Pens, and various Republicans who need to pick up their instructions and cash in person.
Ogliberal
@cain: And the NY Metro Area. My guess is if you drove through the Villages you’d see a lot of flagpoles with an American Flag, a Trump flag and a Yankee flag. Heck, they might even throw in a Confederate flag because, you know, New York was such a key member state in the Confederacy. And one of those stupid cop flags which seems to violate all kinds of rules around what not to do with the American flag.
WaterGirl
This event is at 8 pm Eastern tonight. Tickets are $40.
But no skipping out on the social media training that is also at 8 pm, so you can attend this. :-)
Old School
@Cameron:
Yeah, I doubt the Villages is what the date of November 1968 was chosen for.
Here’s the list of other districts affected:
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: As Billy Bragg sang, “If you got a blacklist, I wanna be on it.”
Kay
We only remember their bullshit that sticks, but I think it’s important to remember they have a lot of misses. They were all worked up about this for weeks! It’s like WMD. They can’t find it.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: Oh hell ya on DeStantis can screw over Florida badly. Tourism is a big part of the economy there and basically tearing down one of the states’ big draws with accusations of child rape, while at the same time not prosecuting anyone for that crime, is a curious move.
scav
Ummm, apparently the Reedy Creek Improvement District ia also a Special District that contains Disney World (plus other theme parks) and happens to be established in 1967 — so there’s an additional duplicitous layer of smoke and mirrors in this attention grabbing stunt.
Mike in NC
Florida was a Confederate state even way back when hardly any white people lived there. It always will be. Forty years ago I knew a guy whose entire extended racist family (parents, brothers, sister) relocated from Watertown, MA to Orlando. The ones that are still alive remain there.
The Thin Black Duke
@James E Powell: This is the problem. “Moderate” Republicans could stop this madness at the next election, but they won’t because voting for a–gasp!–Democrat will make your Johnson fall off or something like that. Pathetic.
Ruckus ??
@kindness:
Politics has become so partisan that many people won’t speak up. So all you hear are the screamers. Especially on the right, the side that has zero policy other that to fuck everything but the almighty dollar. And whose pockets it falls into. They have been fighting for their restrictive policies most of my life because their concept of government is make it maximum restrictive for the lower classes (the non wealthy) to control the workforce. That worked for them when everything was basically manual labor. But that has of course changed and the old saying – A mind is a terrible thing to waste – has taken over. Conservatives can’t stand that their old ways don’t work, never did actually work, and won’t work in the future, because that shows what actual shit their concept of humans and money and power really is. The world has been changing (actually forever) and the changes are now fairly obvious and not changing is untenable for the vast majority because it always brings about war. And yet, over the last 75 yrs war has become more and more untenable. As we see in the current one. War never effects only a small area any longer, it now involves all of us in one form or another. It is past time that we all grow up and recognize that war is as it has always been stated – hell. We don’t need it, it always makes everything worse and it kills and maims way too many. Right now we are seeing what happens when one crazy MF decides that he’s not rich and powerful enough, that he hasn’t stolen enough and hasn’t caused enough destruction to acquire something that isn’t his to acquire, even if he offered to pay for it. So he’s attempting to steal a country.
prostratedragon
@Calouste: Nonbinding constraint.
Kay
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I read Rufo. Absolute lying hack. For example. He collected stats on public school teachers and child abuse that included any allegation of child abuse, which public schools compile because they have to. He then compared that to stats on prosecutions of sex offenders in Catholic churches/schools. They were all excited! The numbers don’t lie!
So this is their leader. The whole Party is following him. He’s innumerate.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I hope to Christ y’all are right that DeSantis will be a flop nationally. After seeing him build a cult of personality here in FL, I’m not so sure.
Kay
@Mike in NC:
I just think it’s an interesting decision by political leadership to brand the whole state as Republican.
Maybe they’re on to something but most businesses just want as many customers as they can get. They don’t exclude tens of millions based on ideological fealty. I wouldn’t do it, but they’re bold risk takers and I’m not. I would have a generic welcoming message, something about beaches, maybe? “Please come here and spend your money- we don’t hate you”?
The Thin Black Duke
@Betty Cracker: What happens to Florida if Disney decides it’s not worth the hassle anymore?
lowtechcyclist
Speaking of dead bodies, how about the first clause of Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution? You know, “the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.”
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I think this happens when it’s your state. I thought Kasich was more appealing nationally than he was, too. They thought it about Christie, Walker, Mitch Daniels (remember him?), now they’re promoting the governor of VA.
ODDLY they never think this about Democratic governors. It’s a mystery :)
Baud
@Kay:
Lots of double standards, but in this case, we Dems also tend to focus on national figures and ignore state and local pols (except when they do something bad).
Another Scott
The process seems really, really broken in Florida. Another MiamiHerald piece (from 4/19):
So DeSantis has a GQP majority, but he had to bully and threaten them to get the maps he wanted, and in the end they threw up their hands and said we’ve got nothing to do with this, you draw the lines. And they are loudly proclaiming they had nothing to do with it in an attempt to avoid depositions and investigations in court cases. While they let him brazenly break state and federal and constitutional law.
And all this is supposed to be legal??
Here’s hoping the legal fights are successful, and Val Demings has the last laugh on DeSantis for him eliminating her district.
Eyes on the prizes.
Grr…,
Scott.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: Wow, and no one calls them on this?
Mike S
This is a great opinion piece from someone we use frequently on my station. This is the reason McConnell packed the court and why small d democracy is dying in America.
Opinion
Conservative Supreme Court’s gerrymandering flip-flops spell trouble
Another Scott
There’s someone who understands the big picture.
(via gavmacn)
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
He does a thing where he posts mug shots of teachers who have been arrested. There are 106,000 public school teachers in Ohio alone. So posting ten mug shots of teachers is not shocking or indicative of a crime wave of pedophilia, but his idiot followers are innumerate too, so they slaver all over it.
This is the guru on the Right.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: It might also be a function of blog staffing since many of us live in states with crappy Republican governors.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: I don’t think that problem is limited to this blog. I think it’s a widespread one.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
It seems like Polis is someone media would like. Centrist, popular, quick witted. But they don’t promote him for President. Instead they just keep pining for Chris Christie. The One That Got Away :)
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@cain:
Met some prime examples of Florida snowbirds when traveling in France last week. White, scared of anything darker than a manila folder, love them some Governor Death Sentence and believe in his bullshit COVID numbers. Individually, they’re nice enough, but collectively, their politics are nothing short of maliciously racist.
On reflection, sadly, COVID didn’t kill off more of them.
Betty Cracker
Great googly-moogly, has there ever been a bigger collection of thin-skinned babies than the NYT Beltway crew? No wonder they find the Trump people relatable!
Another Scott
Cheers,
Scott.
J.
Speaking on behalf of the (somewhat) silent (hopefully) majority of outraged Dems in FL, what we need to do is get a bunch of Dems from up north to move or register to vote here before the election so we can vote the a-holes out. (Y’all can move back to wherever you came from afterwards. We just need you to vote here. Though don’t do a Mark Meadows.)
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, why did Darwin withhold all that vital information the U.S. voters needed in order to make an informed decision?
PJ
@The Thin Black Duke: The investment Disney has in Florida is massive. I have no idea in actual numbers, but they’ve been building there since the 1960s. Pulling out of FL would mean a massive write off, since so much of that stuff is purpose-built. I suppose they could dismantle everything and rebuild it somewhere else, but where? Mexico? Puerto Rico? It’s not like other Southern states are particularly gay friendly.
I think the smarter move would be to start investing in Democratic candidates and voting access. So far Chapek has not shown himself to be the sharpest CEO, so who knows.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Hit dog hollars.
Kay
I just think it’s hysterical that they started frantically deleting tweets from this account they are all so supposedly proud of, read voraciously and used as a source not just for their editorials but for state laws. 2769! That’s a lot to hide.
J.
@Betty Cracker: That’s a rhetorical question, right?
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Retweeted this from Polis the other day:
I kind of like the “authoritarian socialist attacks” line. Why the hell not? If Republicans are going to completely detach the word from its meaning, we might as well join the fun.
Baud
@Kay:
OMG they’re cancelling themselves! When will it end???
Kay
@Baud:
Either that or Twitter is frantically covering their ass because a lot of these tweets have peoples names in them and it’s not just that they put themselves on Tik Tok. It’s like a poster in a classroom and the name of the teacher and then they all scurry around finding out where she works.
Cameron
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Don’t be so impatient…….
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
“If you’re heavily invested in the idea of free speech in order for assholes to repeat and amplify the indefensible, then the problem is you.”
Miss Bianca
@Kay: Democrat. Gay.
Two strikes against him right there, as far as the MSM is concerned.
PaulWartenberg
The one hope we have about the gerrymandered districts is that DeSantis went so far out of line with his map – violating the VRA as well as the Fair Districts amendment in our state constitution – that even the conservative-controlled courts will reject it and favor the still-revolting-but-more-plausible 17-11 map the state lege had going.
The one hope we have about DeSantis kneecapping Disney like he’s doing is that the megacorp will do every legal thing they can – superfunding every Democratic candidate across the state and hell across every Red state in the U.S. – and even a few illegal things – that I dare not mention here but may involve literal kneecapping – to make DeSantis and the Republicans suffer in kind.
If anything, we now know that when it comes to culture war vs. supporting Big Business, the modern Republican Party will side with the culture war wingnuts over the corporate overlords who thought they held the power.
Kay
@Miss Bianca:
I like how he attacks DeSantis. I would attack Desantis every day if I were a D governor. Have you seen Florida crime stats? What nerve they have attacking other states on that. It’s a crime spree down there.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: See, it says right in the Constitution that Democrats can’t be allowed to win!
PaulWartenberg
@Another Scott:
When even Richard Nixon thinks a Republican ratf-cker has gone too far against an enemy…
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Interesting thought – Ronna Romney McDaniel’s GOP has so purified and distilled itself, it perceives that has to keep throwing red meat to the monsters lest the monsters turn on it.
Baud
@Kay:
Hillary has been reading your comments.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: I always assume that the contractors who put big Trump signs on their trucks figure they’ll actually get more business that way than they lose, like having a Christian fish on there– that more people will say FUCK YEAH, I’ll use THAT guy, he’s the Trump plumber, than be driven away. But maybe there’s no calculation.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@PaulWartenberg:
Weren’t the Weimar corporate overlords sure that they were the ones with the real power way back when?
Matt McIrvin
@PJ: Disney will never pull out of Florida, it’s ridiculous. Chapek probably figured he could handle Florida like he handles the Chinese government–throw them a few bones, let everyone understand it’s the cost of doing business, and it’ll be fine. But the difference is that everyone here pays attention to what they do in Florida.
Shalimar
@hilts: It’s cable television all over again. The only one I want out of CNN+, HBO plus, and Discovery plus is Discovery. I don’t want to pay twice as much for content I don’t care about once all 3 are combined.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
Not likely. If you are black, female or a Democrat, get the fuck out of that hellhole. Just leave. You and your hubby and your adorable dogs can come stay with me. I’d rather be dead than live there.
Mike in NC
I really believe that lowlifes like DeSantis and Ted Crud are strictly regional politicians that have extremely limited appeal outside of thier own states and parts of the Deep South. Of course the MSM might be tempted to carry water for them to feed the usual horse race narrative.
Shalimar
@cain: the article said they were happy about 100k subscribers in the first month. And maybe that is good. It’s a lot better than Fox Business had when it started. But it can’t be even 5% of their break-even point given all the money they put into it. I doubt they planned to make money in the first 5 years, which is millenia in digital terms.
banditqueen
The anti-everything gov is also close to limiting tenure in FL state universities to 5 years. Faculty apparently need to held accountable to him–the complete totalitarian state.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@The Thin Black Duke: I mean, with climate change and hurricanes, it’s in their best interests to move a little north.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
I just think it’s bad for business. Who cares? Fix the sink. For me – my opinion- it’s an indication they’re not focused on the customer and getting the work done, so I don’t do it and wouldn’t hire someone who did. It just isn’t about whether he loves Donald Trump. He’s off track.
Florida really wants to be the combative, belligerant wingnut state that owns the libs? Seems like a bad decision. There are other warm places.
I’m taking my 2 year old grandaughter to Sesame Place, outside Philadelphia, where they won’t be outside the gates screaming at me about whatever bug they have up their ass this week. It will be fun. She loves Grover.
We’ll just go to parks in the summer, which is the proper season to be outdoors anyway :)
Shalimar
@Kay: I don’t understand the Chris Christie thing. He built his brand in the DeSantis lane, as an asshole vindictive dictator who didn’t give a fuck what anyone else wanted. How did he manage to rebrand as some kind of intelligent centrist? It’s bizarre when you remember him pre-Trump.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@PJ: I’m pretty sure they could get cheap land in Georgia, which while not great, is better than Florida.
Iced Oranges
@Kay: If you’re going to be at Sesame Place, also think about the Please Touch Museum in Philly, it’s also great for little ones. My three year old is chomping at the bit to visit it.
cain
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Hopefully. They could probably do it in Colorado –
Captain C
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Were they wandering around yelling about how no one in France speaks American or serves a proper well-done burger and why is it filled with all these weird furriners?
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
How many people in the surrounding counties work at Disney? They’re all going along with attacking this place where thousands of people work to placate this petty little egomaniac dictator strutting around like Mussolini?
Get a hold of yourselves. The far Right activist they all slavishly follow, Rufo, crows on Twitter that he will destroy Disney’s brand. The governor of Florida is going along with this? It’s worth it for him if Disney’s revenue drops and they lay off people? Just nuts.
Shalimar
@The Thin Black Duke: They could get huge benefits re-locating to southern Georgia, but is Brian Kemp really that much better than DeSantis? And it would take a few years to get the new park running.
As for DeSantis, you’re right. Disney could destroy his polling just by announcing that they’re looking for a new home for Disney World.
Cameron
@Kay: I don’t think you’ll run into any problems at Sesame Place; actually, most any place close to Philadelphia. Cletus Lee and Skeeter set up shop much further out.
jonas
I think what DeSantis and Florida Republicans learned from the Trump years is that if you pile on a corporation for doing something you don’t like and use government to punish them…the corporations usually fall into line and obsequiously ask what they can do to get you to call off the dogs. They have to because there isn’t an integrated progressive media ecosystem they can go to to gin up outrage to put pressure on the pols like the GQP has (Fox, OAN, talk radio, Sinclair, etc.). Do you remember the seemingly endless stream of tech and industry Titans paying a call on the White House to kiss Trump’s ring and assure him that they’re going to be good boys and girls and not make him mad?
In short…I expect Disney will fold and throw its LGTBQ employees and fans under the bus by swearing it will never again comment publically on state policies or something and can it pretty please have its tax breaks and regulatory autonomy back.
Kay
@Shalimar:
The only thing I remember about him is that despite his “brand” as a rugged individualist he stood behind Donald Trump like a fucking gagged hostage when it might have mattered.
Like watching a big, loud balloon deflate. He’s a coward.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@cain: Sure, but there is a reason they originally picked Florida and California.. warm weather. Georgia would be easier for east coast, mid-west tourists to get to and the climate is pretty mild.
Captain C
@Betty Cracker: If I was President I would allow Fox in, so my Jennifer Psaki-equivalent could humiliate them every day, but I’d ban the FTFNYT until they demonstrated that they know how they’ve fucked up since at least Whitewater (and arguably since Watergate), that they understand the difference between objectivity and neutrality, and that they’ve resolved to (and know how to) act like the paper of record and not like if David Brooks, Bari “why don’t my coworkers like me after I’ve betrayed their trust?” Weiss, and Bedbug Stephens were somehow transformed into an actual entire newspaper.
It would help their case if they released all of Maggie Haberman’s and Ken Vogel’s communications with any and all Republicans and allied types.
I really wouldn’t care if this was technically illegal.
Shalimar
@cain: Disney is not re-locating from Florida to Colorado. It would be a great state for a 3rd park, though.
Bex
@Shalimar: People felt sorry for him when he was reduced to being Trump’s “go to MacDonald’s and get me a bag of double cheeseburgers” errand boy.
Shalimar
@Kay: Yeach, he had no choice but to re-brand. Donald Trump exposed him as a lickspittle. I just don’t understand why anyone would believe his current brand is any more real. He’s still a bully/asshole, but clearly 3rd rate.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Shalimar: Yes. Kemp is awful, but better than DeSantis. I think a Disney migration into Georgia would help tint the state a little bluer. It would hurt DeSantis, too. It wouldn’t take him out, but it would wound him. It would be much easier to paint him as a disaster for business and tourism in Florida.
Shalimar
@Bex: I feel sorry for him too. I’m sure there is a job as a middle school crossing guard somewhere that we can give him as consolation for his loss of dignity.
Jeffro
Speaking of…aren’t we overdue for a CARAVANNN!!! ?
Or yet another folder ‘discovered’ on Hunter Biden’s laptop?
Mike in NC
@Captain C: I’ve met people who’d happily visit the faux foreign stuff on display at EPCOT because everybody speaks English, prices are US dollars, the food is bland, etc. They would never image actually going to see a real foreign country.
Cameron
My favorite American response when told the price of something in local currency: “How much is that in real money?”
Cameron
@Kay: He certainly doesn’t care if Floridians die of COVID – why would he care if they’re unemployed?
Cameron
@Kay: I remember the Christie presidential run. Greatest collapse of a giant gas bag in New Jersey since the Hindenburg.
Kay
@Cameron:
Thanks. I’m excited. We used to send the marching band kids to Disney for their big trip as seniors. They have this great program where they teach them music and then let them add visuals from their library to make a complete piece. The kids really raved about it. It was pricey but worth it- they raise the money to go. It was well done. They treat them like working musicians, which they loved.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@jonas: You are probably right, publicly. However, they have to know he is a risk to their business. It is in their best interests to use the shady mechanisms the GOP have come up with to protect donors, and go all in against him and his supporters quietly and anonymously. DeSantis IS like Trump. He will escalate and use what ever means, regardless of legality, to get what he wants. If you knuckle under, he’ll keep coming back to smack you around.
The Moar You Know
Disney cannot move. They’ve got billions of dollars of infrastructure down there, 32 hotels alone consisting of hundreds of buildings. 200,000 employees. God only knows how many restaurants. Not to mention the actual amusements. You’re not moving any of that.
Disney has a way out of this, but it’s going to involve fully funding DeSantis’ presidential campaign and whatever the fuck else he feels like shaking them down for. And he may just decide to hold this over their heads forever. He seems like that kind of guy. I really didn’t think this was going to be the outcome, but apparently The Mouse didn’t spend nearly enough money buying Florida’s politicians. Not a mistake I’d have seen them making. I may dump their stock, because if they were stupid enough to let this happen, what else are they fucking up on?
Baud
@The Moar You Know:
kindness
Disney won’t move. Even after DeSantis’ mugging happens, they will still be making a profit. Disney has a $2B debt obligation for their Florida operation. If Disney does anything it will be to move the corporate offices back to California.
jonas
@The Moar You Know: This is exactly right. You cannot move Disney World. It would be like relocating Vegas. Which is why I think they’ll fold like Superman on laundry day. They can’t simply say they’ll get revenge by supporting Democrats who vow to overturn this bill — given all the gerrymandering in the state, there won’t be any meaningful Democratic opposition for a long time.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@PaulWartenberg:
That’s the way I see it… big business ought to be sitting up and paying attention to what DeathSantis and the Republican legislature are doing to Disney for having the temerity to speak up against the hideous Don’t Say Gay law. Republicans are just fine with using the might of the state to damage a business for stepping out of line with them and business better figure out where they stand real quick.
Conservatives jabber about freedom while forcing others to submit to their ways, or else. They want to change our nation to be more like Russia because they crave complete control. They want to rule, not govern.
Shalimar
@The Moar You Know: Infrastructure depreciates. Relocating would be outrageously expensive, but whichever state they went to would pay a fortune in incentives to lure them and that would balance some of the expense.
And they don’t have to move to destroy DeSantis. Just announce they are accepting incentive offers from other states.
Kathleen
@Betty Cracker: Ah! That’s what inspired DougJ’s Pitch Bot tweet!
Kathleen
@Baud: In the case of the Beltway Political Propatainment wagon circlers it’s more like whimpering and whining.
Mike in NC
We lived in NoVA when the Disney company was exploring putting a new theme park near the Manassas Civil War battlefield. Can’t remember the details but locals fought the idea tooth and nail because of the horrific traffic congestion it would create (it was already pretty awful).
Another Scott
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I assume the businesses you mention are paying attention and will have no qualms about suing the state, as they have done before.
FloridaPolitics.com (AP story from August 9, 2021)
I assume this latest stuff is similarly performative and will quietly go away once DeSantis claims his win and moves on to his next totem to prove his fake bonafides to the rubes.
Grr…,
Scott.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@kindness: Or they just start taking bidders for where they will move their corporate offices and set up a satellite park. Then that gets in the news a lot as places compete for the jobs. Frankly, though, moving their corporate offices back to California would be a bigger FU. You know how right wingers feel about California.
Reboot
@Mike in NC: When Youngkin was at a fundraiser here in SW Virginia, he invoked DeSantis, and it was reported that the crowd went crazy. I think he plays outside Florida way better than a lot of people would like to think.
JMG
@PJ: Puerto Rico is nice and warm and is part of the United States.
kindness
Not to change the subject but this thread did state Open thread.
I have a digital subscription to the WaPo. I read it every day and some weekend days. Their comments have an Ignore User filter which I use a lot. Too many Russian trolls & bots to bother spending another moment reading their bullshit. I have found one thing really telling though. I have Ignored probably 1000 people over the last 6 years I’ve had the subscription. When you do that it will tell you you aren’t seeing a person’s post because you ignored them. During the same article you will see that pop up a bunch since this is Russian bots and angry trolls we’re talking about. I have never once seen one of those Ignore User from a previous time (day). They are always just that day’s ‘winners’. That tells me all the people I’ve ignored were one time use bots or trolls. It’s kind of astounding when you think about it.
Shalimar
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Acording to Wikipedia and Google, Disney’s corporate headquarters is in Burbank, not Florida. I have no idea what kind of offices they have in Orlando, maybe headquarters for the theme park division.
Cameron
@Another Scott: Norwegian actually called DeSantis out – I think it was its CEO who let drop that they really didn’t need to sail out of Florida, and this after Miami had dumped a shitload of money into a new terminal.
Dan B
@Shalimar: Denver is not in a population cluster like SoCal and Florida. Maybe KCMO and Dallas would be enough for those who want to drive plus Chicago, MPLS, and where else? for relatively short flights. I could see Charlotte, NC for warm weather and greater likelihood of going bluish purple. Closer to major population clusters.
Disney should threaten to explore “possibilities”.
The Lodger
@Dan B: They could buy out the Bakkers’ old stomping grounds, Heritage USA, if Tammy Faye hasn’t already sold it.