Ron De Santis

[Stormy8330]

So, the man is brilliant.  He is the embodiment of Machiavelli himself.   His policies are at best draconic with strong leanings to fascism.   He is going to turn Florida into a waste land in 20 years or so I think.

[Blue_Eyes]

Stormy 8330          Welcome to the board! Very intelligent comments about yet another Republicant...
...anyway, I did check your profile and am now kicking myself for selling my RV.

[Stormy8330]

You got me thinking when you said you sold your RV.. That got me writing.  This was what that chain of thoughts became. Let me thank you now   Not politics sorry.

The life I live is one of just wonder and one which no one would believe.  The life I live is one which so few share, sounds more like a book than a life. Sit back and let me read you a few small pages.

The amazing things I get to see.  I have seen my wife and child ride an elephant, swam with dolphins, and helped save a sea turtle (ok mostly I watched) but I was there by God!  I have climbed lighthouses and I have walked on a virgin sand bar, I have swam on a naked beach. I have slept on the ground, in a monsoon, and I have stayed at the Point.

I have watched a hundred sun rises and I have seen a hundred sunsets.  Each one, unique, each one the only time in all of infinity that sun set or sun rise would happen.  I have watched a storm rain down on a single Palm Tree.  I have seen an island as it floats in the sky.  I have seen the rays of the sun split into arrows bouncing off the clouds.  I watched as the sky turned purple and red and exploded with the most vibrant colors. I have seen the storm clouds at night flashing with so much lightning it stunned my eyes.  I have seen hurricanes and tornados, and I have seen earthquakes and floods.

I sat by the river and watched currents as they played with the logs that float slowly by.  I have watched a Lock and Damn Flood and Raise, I watched it release.  I watched as the barges would pass us by. The engine that low grumbles announcing them before they can be seen.   I have felt and heard the sound of a midnight train passing just feet away. I have seen paddle-wheel steamers on a river.

 I have seen a bridge that goes on forever, seven miles worth.  I have seen a railroad that died at sea. I have seen the masts of the tall ships. I have heard the sounds of safety in the fighter jets that race overhead.  I have seen a great barrier reef in all its splendor.  I have seen people repel from a bridge so high they look like small specks.  I have watched huge ships dance the waves into a dock like they were light as a feather.

I have seen the largest damn in the country, from the top and the bottom.  I watched a playoff game from the top of the St, Louis Arch.  I have been inside a blue whale (route 66). I have held the remands of a shipwreck rail in my hands.  I have held artifacts hundreds of years old. I have seen tombs and crypts hundreds of years old.  I have seen a million-dollar stained glass collection and a Faberge egg, and I have seen a twenty-eight hundred pipe organ play.

 I put my foot in, the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Florida, and the Florida Straights.  I have lived in the plains and the mountains, I have lived by the ocean, and I have lived near estuaries and deserts.  I have lived in a swamp and I have lived in the hills. I have lived by the Chesapeake.   I have lived on islands, and I have lived on an archipelago.  I have seen where the river meets the ocean.

I have watched the Roadrunners run.  I have watched the woodpeckers dig a hole into a tree.  I have fed wild javelina punkins (with the permission of a ranger). I have had a coyote just feet away.  I have had vultures greet me in the morning only to have the owls sing me to sleep that same eve.  I walked among the alligators for months on end.  I have seen a pair of eagles mate, and I have seen the birth of a newborn tiger.   I have seen the falcon fly and the Egreets swoop for their dinner. I have watched the dolphins play at the docks and I have listened to the sounds of the seagulls as they cry.

As I said, the life I live is one of just wonder and one which no one would believe.

[Pornhubby]

Nice post. Woo.

[purpleshoes]

His policies are at best draconic with strong leanings to fascism.   He is going to turn Florida into a waste land in 20 years or so I think.

And now he wants to be president and run the whole country. 

*****

WASHINGTON – Today, the NAACP Board of Directors issued a formal travel advisory for the state of Florida. The travel advisory comes in direct response to Governor Ron DeSantis' aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.

The formal travel notice states, "Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color."

Advisory continues here

[msslave]

This is so scary that something like this can happen in this country.

Travel advisories are usually issued for small third world countries or isolated parts of Mexico where drug cartels make it dangerous for travelers.
 
OK...I realize the NAACP isn't a government agency but they do speak for a large segment of the population. That  a governor and state legislature can pass so many laws like restricting voting rights and other measures aimed at minority sectionals of our population should attract the attention of the justice department.

Good Lord, this state is even going after Mickey Mouse!!!
It's almost like a bad joke except when you realize how many people are being hurt.

[Stormy8330]

Did you see where Disney canceled a Billion dollar project because of De Santis?  2200 jobs going to California, Millions in lost taxes down the road. 

[msslave]

Yes, I remember seeing that. I think they were high paying tech jobs. Those people would have been big spenders at local businesses, so even more loss to the Florida economy.

Seems like shooting yourself in the foot.

[purpleshoes]

This is so scary that something like this can happen in this country.

It would be scary enough if it was just happening in Florida, but many states with Republican majorities in the state legislature are passing laws that deny basic human rights to specific groups of people.

Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and Texas are four that I've read about recently.

Republicans hold a super majority in Montana's House of Representatives. They voted to ban Zooey Zephyr, a transgender woman duly elected to her position, from being allowed to speak on the House floor for the rest of the session.

Idaho's House has passed a bill that criminalized gender-affirming care for minors. Like many Republican led states, Idaho has banned abortions, and even considered passing a law that would make it a crime for a woman to leave the state to get an abortion in a state where it is legal.

Diversity and Inclusivity? Equal rights for all? Republicans seem to be saying, not on my watch.

Scary, indeed.

[Stormy8330]

If you want the accurate data, I have it all. I have always been honest about who I am.  I have never tried to hide.  I am attacked almost daily now, TERFs, Transphobes.  You would be amazed how these bills have green-lighted the hate.  I fight them with the truth because they can't argue much with it. 

The bathroom bills you are seeing everywhere are Pandora's box.  I have started to call them Pandora's laws. They claim it's to keep women safe but they are requiring Trans Men to go into a woman's bathroom.  Right now if I guy wants to go to a bathroom he has to at least be dressed in women's clothes and guys won't do that.   When you start to allow Trans Men then we normalize men in the women's bathroom. It's not the Trans guys you need to worry about, but once you force them in.  You have no way to stop rapest from going in.  Trans people trying to follow these new laws have already been assaulted.  Not only that but one Trans Man was attacked and then even arrested.  The guys who attacked him. They walked away Scott-free.

Protecting the kid's thing, that's not a real thing either.  There are about 250 Gender Affirming Surgeries each year on kids under 18. Of those all but about 20 are done to correct birth defects.  But because those are on the genitalia they are considered Gender Affirming.   In the other 20 there has to be a repeated risk of self-harm (Suicide attempts more than one). An entire team has to agree any one of them can stop it if they feel this is wrong. Then the parents have to agree.   Purbity blockers, which are called experimental, have been used for more than 50 years. We know exactly how they work and the side effects.

What you're seeing a show for the GOP a target. The whole idea of using Trans people as a target was a conservative Washington think tank. They needed something that the Congressmen could use to talk about that would be accepted by the Conservatives and they wouldn't be uncomfortable supporting in public.   Last week one of the guys that came up with the idea apologized for the slew of laws being made because of this.

The scariest ones are like the Florida 254.  This one is taking away the meds I need to survive.  I am fleeing Florida due to that.  I am a political Refugee in the United States of America.  How does that hit ya? I am 52 and in this bill, they attached a rider that says you have to have an in-person visit with a Doctor each month and sign an informed consent.  That is a pain but liveable. However, they also made it so that the doctors have to buy High-Risk Libialy insurance and they have to carry this for 30 years, in order to prescribe ANY gender-affirming care.  80% of us will lose our doctors because they can't afford that.  I have already been told by my Dr that I need to find someone else.

There is just so much more.. This is the barest tip of the iceberg.

[msslave]

What's happening in this country is horrendous. The Red States to me appear to have lost their minds. Their disregard for basic human rights is unbelievable.

The Minnesota Legislature just wrapped up their session last night. They passed laws protecting rights for abortion and other laws protecting LGBT people. The thought of moving from warm Florida to cold snowy Minnesota may not sound like an option tho'.

Even with our State's legal protections there's still irrational people, but they are fewer than Red States.

I'm sorry you're being subjected to this unfair treatment.
You're in my thoughts.

[Pornhubby]

You have my sympathy.

I live in Texas, and it is falling all over itself to be Florida 2.0.

Texas ranks near the bottom in health, education, and general welfare. High infant mortality, high obstetric death rate, low literacy, high gun violence, and a huge portion of the population that is sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and wears red hats blowing coal in their jacked up F-350’s.  It’s truly disturbing. I live in Austin, which is halfway sane (when the Legislature is not in session), but it’s bad. And it’s getting worse.

Texas has the fourth-lowest literacy rate in the country at eighteen percent. Nineteen percent of adults lack basic literacy skills. The future does not look promising.

[Dudester]

This is so scary that something like this can happen in this country.

It would be scary enough if it was just happening in Florida, but many states with Republican majorities in the state legislature are passing laws that deny basic human rights to specific groups of people.

Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and Texas are four that I've read about recently.

Republicans hold a super majority in Montana's House of Representatives. They voted to ban Zooey Zephyr, a transgender woman duly elected to her position, from being allowed to speak on the House floor for the rest of the session.

Zooey wanted to give children the right to make permanent changes to their body. There is a reason that there is age of consent laws across the country. A 13 year old doesn't have the cognitive ability to make informed decisions about having sex or appearing in porn films. That also applies to having unnecessary major surgery.

This is so scary that something like this can happen in this country.

Idaho's House has passed a bill that criminalized gender-affirming care for minors. Like many Republican led states, Idaho has banned abortions, and even considered passing a law that would make it a crime for a woman to leave the state to get an abortion in a state where it is legal.

Diversity and Inclusivity? Equal rights for all? Republicans seem to be saying, not on my watch.

Scary, indeed.

Getting a sex change is permanent. Once a male has his penis removed, that's it, you will never have a working replacement. So, you want a 12-13 year old to make a decision like that? Since when are 12-13 year olds allowed to make permanent decisions. You have to be 18 years old to join the military, where you could end up dead.

[MissBarbara]

Zooey wanted to give children the right to make permanent changes to their body. There is a reason that there is age of consent laws across the country. A 13 year old doesn't have the cognitive ability to make informed decisions about having sex or appearing in porn films. That also applies to having unnecessary major surgery.

You don't seem to understand how democracies work.

It doesn't matter what Zooey Zephyr "wanted." In a democracy, you don't censure and censor a member of a legislative body who offers a contrary opinion -- or an opinion you don't like. You outvote them. That's how democracies work.

In Montana, the Republicans control offices of governor, secretary of state, and attorney general. They also control 68 of the 100 House seats and 34 of the 50 Senate seats. The GOP is in a position to pass any legislation they choose. Censoring a dissenting member for being in the minority is not democratic. It's not even necessary.

[Lois]

Up until the age of consent it is not possible to get more than hormone blockers, and you have to be 14 to get those.