Ouch

 

Do you suppose they shuffled that guy off to the alligator concentration camp?

Storm warning

TPM has obtained and analyzed over a dozen contracts and invoices related to the construction and operation of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention camp in the Everglades. The documents identify eight previously undisclosed companies — including two firms with a Fortune 500 pedigree — involved with the controversial facility. They also show that, in at least one instance, resources allocated for the state’s “disaster preparedness” apparatus were diverted to the site as DeSantis’ office used emergency powers to quickly establish the camp, causing a shortfall that needs to be addressed during the ongoing hurricane season.

  TPM

Especially since Kristi Noem runs DHS and has been touting the Texas flood disaster as an example of "efficient governance" since federal funds are cut and states must pick up the slack. Maybe DeSantis assumes Trump will give Florida special status to get the federal funds anyway when hurricanes wreck parts of the state.

UPDATE 08/08/2025:

Martial law?

 

They will not be limited to immigration issues.  

The rise and fall of Ron DeSantis

 

GOP, Party of grift and graft

 

Interesting choice

I wonder why the most evil of governors - Texas' Gregg Abbott - hasn't been tapped for something.  The only thing I can think of is that he's wheelchair bound, and Trump doesn't like that look.

And I don't think he'll put a woman at the head of Defense.  That's not a "straight out of casting" look either.

And Tucker Carlson really would like a position.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 12/05/2024:  More reason it won't be Joni:

The snakepit is alive and lively

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 12/05/2024:

Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker said that Hegseth promised him in his private meeting with him that he will not drink alcohol at all if he becomes Secretary of Defense.

  Meidas Touch

1) LOL, because that's how alcoholics function: just quit all of a sudden;

2) I guess he can still womanize, commit fraud, and mismanagement.

Senator Kevin Cramer told CBS: “The allegations are very, very serious. They can’t be trivialized. And I just want to know that he’s redeemed, and going forward, he’s going to be better.” Pathetic. We are talking about the Secretary of Defense, not a Celebrity Rehab contestant.

[...]

Josh Hawley told Fox that Pete Hegseth cancelled his meeting with him scheduled for tomorrow morning and has no idea why. Not a good sign for Hegseth staying in the race. Hegseth’s team told Punchbowl that the meeting “was moved due to the dynamic nature of scheduling meetings.”

Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

The WSJ reported that Ron Desantis will be next in line for Secretary of Defense if Hegseth has to drop out.

[...]

Part of that deal could include Desantis appointing Lara Trump to fill Marco Rubio’s seat in the Senate.

Bingo.

Hegseth was in the Senate today continuing his interviews: “I spoke to the president-elect this morning. He said to keep going, keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way.”

[...]

John Fetterman said he would consider voting to confirm Desantis if he is nominated, but only if he first admits that he wears 4” heel lifts.

Ha!

Perhaps we ARE a failed nation

Trump would like to have that power and will no doubt be pressing idiots in his administration, should he get back in office, to look into it.

UPDATE 09:10 am:

Meanwhile, DeSantis will let Florida be destroyed rather than work with the Federal government.  (At least, THIS federal government.)

Will you people ever stop voting for Republicans?  Rhetorical.

Yesterday's news: The rise and crashing fall of Ron DeSantis

But will Trump say he's wonderful?  Stay tuned.*

Well, it's kinda funny.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

*UPDATE 11:29 am:

“I just want to thank Ron and congratulate him on doing a very good job,” Trump said at the outset of his remarks. “He was very gracious, and he endorsed me. I appreciate that, and I also look forward to working with Ron.” Trump described DeSantis as “a really terrific person.”

  AP

They know him so well.

Not a bit obvious

When your heel lifts are too high to conceal.

The foot equivalent of a bad hair combover.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE :

Flash in the pan has fizzled

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Anybody still think DeSantis wouldn't be just as bad as Trump?

Or maybe worse?

Add this to your list.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Going hard for the MAGA vote

Two points:

1) "Consider" is the key word. 

2) No matter how MAGA he goes, he won't pull off any Trump voters.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Good lord

Only SOME parents get rights.

I assume there will be lawsuits.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a horrifying bill Wednesday that will let the state take transgender minors away from their families if they are receiving gender-affirming care.

The new law will allow the state to take custody of a child if they have been “subjected to or [are] threatened with being subjected to” gender-affirming care, which includes puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy.

[...]

Medical facilities would have to give the state Department of Health a signed attestation that they neither provide gender-affirming care to any patients under the age of 18 nor refer people to providers that do. Their medical license renewal is contingent upon sending in this attestation.

https://newrepublic.com/post/172748/ron-desantis-signs-law-allowing-trans-kids-taken-families   New Republic

"Being subjected to" gender affirming care? Jesus wept.

Florida courts could modify custody agreements from a different state if the minor is likely to receive gender-affirming care in that second state.

Oh, I doubt that very much.

Minors who have already begun transitioning will be allowed to continue to do so, but they are no longer allowed to receive care via telehealth, including for prescriptions.

How generous.

Their doctors have to tell them about the “risks” of gender-affirming care, and patients will have to sign an informed consent form, which the ACLU has pointed out often contains misinformation.

So why couldn't that arrangement apply to people considering engaging gender-affirming care for their children?

The people who support these bills insist that they are trying to protect children, but forcibly taking a kid from their loving family sounds more likely to traumatize them. What’s more, by passing legislation that describes LGBTQ health care as something that should be penalized, lawmakers are putting people of all ages at risk of real harm.

DeSantis also signed an anti-drag bill the same day, which is expected to end all Pride Parades in the state due to its vague wording.

This asshole wants to be president.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Florida, man

Surely the ACLU will file suit.  This is what DeSantis says he wants to bring to the nation.

No end in sight to the feud

And if I were you, I'd place my bets on Disney.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Disney is suing DeSantis

And a bunch of Florida tourism officials.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

NYT Bestseller lists need revamped

This is absolutely meaningless for political books.  The RNC bought up enough Don Jr books to make it a "bestseller" on the NYT list and gave them out to people who made donations to the RNC. Mike Pompeo's PAC bought his memoir in bulk, to the tune of over $42,000, on the day it was released for sale. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that's what's happening here with a DeSantis PAC. And Trump is releasing a coffee table book (for $99) of love letters to him from various celebrities - including the famous Kim Jong Un letter - which his PAC will buy up to make a "bestseller" out of , no doubt.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

DeSantis wants to make all of America like Florida

Whichever evil shitheel wins the GOP primary, DeSantis or Trump, it's  not good.

"What we're really going for is people putting it on social media and spreading it around and pushing the conversation in the public arena," [National Socialist Florida leader Josh] Nunes says.

  NPR

And I guess I've just helped them out.

Nunes and his group regularly coordinate with other far-right groups, forming what the advocacy organization Anti-Defamation League calls an unprecedented level of coordination among white nationalist groups in Florida.

[...]

"We've just seen the largest upticks in recruitment from the drag stuff," Nunes says.

[...]

"These groups are looking to sanitize this imagery like this," says Ben Popp, a researcher with the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. Over the past two years, the ADL has tracked over 400 instances of white nationalist literature being disseminated in Florida. Popp says the normalizing of racist imagery is one way that white nationalists look to gain a foothold.

"They want the community to view this as a normal occurrence, so they're attempting to make it a normal occurrence by going out every weekend and using these laser projectors to do this," Popp says.

[...]

This year, [Florida governor Ron DeSantis] tapped into outrage fueled by disinformation over Critical Race Theory by threatening to end high school advanced placement courses in African American Studies. Last year, DeSantis signed the so-called "don't say gay" law that barred classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. [...]

"Obviously, we're critical of racial issues" he says, couching racist rhetoric in civility. "But there's a nice way to go about it, that's not gonna get your teeth punched out of your head."

A nice way to push Nazi racism and hate. Who knew?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Florida, man

Republicans in the Florida legislature — a once-independent body that now simply exists as the bureaucratic vessel for Ron DeSantis’s crude impulses and cruel ambitions — have spent the past week filing one reprehensible bill after another, filling the docket with an onslaught of human rights violations. Not one of those bills aims to solve a problem afflicting everyday people in Florida, but taken collectively, they represent the pet obsessions of a power-hungry narcissist operating under the assumption of impunity.

Take a look at this list of proposals [...]

• A broad expansion of the Don’t Say Gay (LGBTQ) law

• Precedent-busting laws that strip immigrants of basic rights, takes away in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants, and makes it a crime to drive an undocumented immigrant anywhere within the state

• The most ideological and dangerous attack on higher education in generations

• Full preemption of local rent control ordinances and the legal right for companies to sue cities if a local decision costs them money

• Another preemption law, this one banning local governments from enacting laws, regulations, ordinance policies that would govern water and air pollution.

• Regulation of sex-ed in schools to force abstinence-only lessons and ban any mention of STDs and HIV until sixth grade.

• A full-blown assault on the press and the First Amendment

• Another attempt at a bill that would ban automatic reduction of dues from the salaries of public sector union members and force labor organizations to go through constant recertification

  Progress Report

All coming soon to the nation if Republicans keep getting elected.

The Disney takeover — but not the new board — got national coverage, and there’s been some TV news segments from New College as Chris Rufo sprays his insecure little bigotry all over the campus. But for the most part, the long list of reprehensible proposals have gone ignored by national political media.

[...]

In nearly every case, the local news outlets were the only media organizations covering DeSantis’s fuselage of means-spirited, far-right legislative proposals.

[...]

Then again, you can’t exactly blame DeSantis for his wildly unwarranted arrogance, given the media coverage he continues to receive.

[...]

Covering DeSantis as a normal presidential candidate and not a sweaty narcissist and local autocrat is in effect an endorsement of his extremism and unbridled bigotry. That such barbarism and authoritarianism appeals to a not insignificant number of Americans does not legitimize it or reduce the threat that it presents.

It's the way they covered Trump for years.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.