Tag Archives: DeSantis

“Make America Florida” WTF??

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All around universal genius and gazillionaire Elon Musk will be engaging Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a conversation that will include DeSantis’ announcement of his bid for the US presidency. The DeSantis krewe is obviously trying to distance themselves from #45, but not so much that they can’t poach his voters. They’re embracing capitalist folk hero and boy wonder Elon Musk’s endorsement in hopes of snagging MAGA voters who have grown weary of #45.

The DeSantis campaign has dreamed up the slogan “Make America Florida.” I’m incredulous at hearing this. Outside of Florida, “Florida Man” is a common reference to someone who is maniacal, irrational, delusional or insane. This is because, extrapolating from the news, Florida has an overabundance of them. More likely, there is more reporting of police notes than other places. Is it slander? Of course! It’s American humor unlikely to amuse outside of the US.

Credit: I don’t know, somewhere in the interwebs.

What remains to be seen is whether or not “Make America Florida” will catch on outside of the state. Especially in northern states outside of the old Confederacy. Some think that there is still a north/south divide in the US by some measures. I’ll leave that for others to expound on.

Applying DeSantis’ penchant for belligerent and punitive state politics, his presidency would surely be a setback for US democracy and a step forward for autocracy along the path the GOP is heading for. The GOP model of the US is not a place I’d care to live.

The Great Knob of Florida

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>>> Warning. This essay contains liberal political content. No chemistry here. This isn’t a “balanced discussion” of political values. I am flatly calling foul on WASPish conservatives who I maintain are destabilizing what has been an imperfect but productive US culture. <<<

No, the great knob of Florida isn’t DeSantis, although it is an amusing thought. Anybody remember when electronic devices had selector knobs that you would twist a certain number of clicks to the desired setting? The knob was constructed with detents that would hold the knob to a specific place in the rotation of a selector switch. It is a nice little simile for many things in life. For this writing, I refer to how the WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) Republican party (GOP) of the US state of Florida is methodically clicking the legislative knob toward their ultraconservative model of the social order. This is to be expected, I suppose, except that lately Florida is taking very large steps in the direction of banning many resources and services that were previously not the subject of legislation. DeSantis is backed by a substantially older, low information base of Republicans.

DeSantis’ thin-skinned punishment of Disney, Inc., makes him a very waspish WASP. But Mickey was clever. He had the board write up an agreement containing the Royalty Lives Clause before the governing board was dissolved. What a hoot!

Knobs are clicking all over the country. States with similar Don’t Say Gay bills in progress are: Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan and of course, Missouri. This issue seemingly fell out of the sky in the last few years and has spread like wildfire. Sexuality has always summoned the Puritan in Americans, but homosexuality conjures images of the worst kind in them. Conservative leaders are leaping over one another to click the big knob while the MAGA people have their time in the sun.

[Side note] A old friend has been breathing fire on Facebook about the “liberal agenda” including imminent loss of the 2nd amendment and confiscation of guns. As usual, George Soros is blamed. Imagine the folly of attempting to confiscate guns in the US. It would be a complete disaster with widespread chaos and casualties. It ain’t gonna happen. Wackos with firearms and mass shootings will remain a baked-in feature of the US cultural landscape as far as anyone can see going forward.

Used to be, the radical right wing could be counted on to be squarely against “big government”. But now we find them burying their heads into public education like a tick. Recent legislation in Florida and other like-minded states is aimed at censoring library books and curriculum having “controversial” content, namely any mention of LGBTQ+ lifestyles, alternative gender designations and any history or social studies that might suggest white complicity in past inequities (critical racial theory, CRT). This controversy is a longstanding conflict with conservatives that, like IBS, has flared up again. This time, however, they have new vocabulary such as “woke” and “CRT”, and rancid mouthpieces like Tucker Carlson to continuously beat the propaganda drum. Joseph Goebbels would have loved Tucker.

One overreach by the GOP is the matter of their public attack on gender affirming care for minors suffering from gender identity issues. Republicans have put their cloven hooves down on this (ok, this was sarcastic). In the Republican view, minors should only receive treatment by way of “curing” gender identity issues by conversion to the heterosexual, birth gender side. The alternative is to just tough it out until they reach adulthood. The associated personal strife and suicidal risk connected to gender identity issues are unpersuasive to conservative WASPs.

Public schools have a mandate to provide a quality education for all students, including those with special needs. Public school teachers and their districts want teach students how to overcome life’s challenges and take advantage of opportunities. Gender identity issues can spiral into learning difficulties or even suicide. Parents are frequently at their wits end dealing with it and look upon the public schools to provide the right environment, specialists and curriculum. Very often, the parent(s) of troubled kids do not have the financial resources to provide treatment for their students nor can they take time from work. The schools have limited resources as well but they try because they are expected to.

The GOP image of gender affirming care is a manufactured bugaboo, much like so-called CRT or wokeness have been. It is another rallying cry for the angry and disenfranchised. Republicans know that they can readily frighten some fraction of low information conservatives into voting Republican by claiming widespread pedophilia, gay-anything, evolution or just general liberal leanings. Legislative knobs are clicking all across the country over this matter. Grand Poohbahs of the soon-to-be Christocratic States of America (Ok, that’s satire) are loudly proclaiming that there is a liberal agenda to turn kids gay. Just as absurd, some believe that seeing or hearing a drag queen could harm their immortal souls.

The LGBTQ+ issue, if you can call it that, is a straw man devised to sideline people into a state of outrage. That said, however, I can’t think of a pedagogical reason for extensive exposure to sexuality in general as a subject matter in classrooms with any more than a passing mention in grades K-9. In my view, however, for grades 10-12, discussion or readings on sexuality as a sociological phenomenon should not be out of bounds. Parents who object to even this could send a note to the teacher excusing their child from this topic. Deeper study can be left to college level. The acknowledgement that alternative pairings between people or gender identity even exists is not an invitation to join in. Kids have always sought out ‘forbidden” information. If they don’t learn from knowledgeable sources, they’ll pick up odd versions of it elsewhere.

We had a similar problem years ago with sex ed in the schools. More than a few imagined that the Kama Sutra was the textbook and spoke out aghast that kids will have exposure to this. In reality, the topic was based on biology and how reproductive systems work. Sexually transmitted disease was gently introduced as something to watch out for. The histrionics at local school board meetings could be intense. No, we’re not teaching little Johnny and little Susie how to do it. They’ll figure that out on their own.

Behind this is longstanding momentum from the large, assertive and well-funded conservative evangelical wing of the GOP. Their strategists and grandees know that if they repeatedly state that public schools are teaching LGBTQ+ lifestyles or CRT, low information voters will reliably panic and vote GOP. They’re right. There are large numbers of low information voters who are easily swayed by GOP hyperbole and outright lies. Schools are just a step stool for GOP power grabbing. Religious indoctrination and basic morality are firmly the responsibility of the family.

The public schools are for learning the massive amount of information that is of a secular nature. You know, like accounting, drivers ed, wood shop, spelling, math, PE, foreign languages, chemistry, physics and biology to name a few. You know, the things that the Bible is silent on. For crying out loud, God gave us brains and expects us to fill in the blank spaces.

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Florida Clicks Another Notch Towards Authoritarianism

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State Senator Brodeur of the Republic of DeSantistan has introduced a bill that, among other things, proposes requirements on compensated bloggers. How are compensated bloggers different from professional journalists? Not being a constitutional scholar, it escapes me how this doesn’t violate the first amendment. You remember that one, it is just next to the 2nd amendment.

160 (2) If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state
161 officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that
162 post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office, as
163 identified in paragraph (1)(f), within 5 days after the first
164 post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.

Bloggers receiving compensation for their posts about elected state officers must register with the state and submnit a report-

181 (d) The reports must include all of the following:
182 1. The individual or entity that compensated the blogger
183 for the blog post.
184 2. The amount of compensation received from the individual
185 or entity, regardless of how the compensation was structured.

============================

Below is the text of the bill. The bill reads-

Florida Senate – 2023 SB 1316
By Senator Brodeur
10-00366B-23 20231316__
Page 1 of 9
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
1 A bill to be entitled

2 An act relating to information dissemination; amending
3 s. 45.031, F.S.; deleting a provision requiring a
4 judicial notice of sale to be published for a
5 specified timeframe on a publicly accessible website;
6 amending s. 50.0311, F.S.; specifying that a
7 governmental agency may use the public website of a
8 county to publish legally required advertisements and
9 public notices if the cost for such publication is not
10 paid by or recovered from a person; creating s.
11 286.31, F.S.; defining terms; requiring bloggers to
12 register with the Office of Legislative Services or
13 the Commission on Ethics, as applicable, within a
14 specified timeframe; requiring such bloggers to file
15 monthly reports with the appropriate office by a
16 certain date; providing an exception; specifying
17 reporting requirements; authorizing a magistrate to
18 enter a final order determining the reasonableness of
19 circumstances for an untimely filing or a fine amount;
20 requiring that the Legislature and the Commission on
21 Ethics adopt a specified rule; providing penalties for
22 late filing; prohibiting the assessment of a fine for
23 the first time a report is not timely filed, under
24 specified conditions; authorizing bloggers to appeal a
25 fine within a specified timeframe; specifying the
26 appeal process; authorizing bloggers to request that
27 the appropriate office waive the reporting requirement
28 under specified conditions; providing that unpaid
29 fines for a specified timeframe may be recovered

30 through the courts of this state; providing an
31 effective date.
32
33 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

35 Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 45.031, Florida
36 Statutes, is amended to read

<<< Some code relating to government access to publicly available websites is omitted for clarityt. >>>

286.31 Blogger registration and reporting.—
139 (1) As used in this section, the term:
140 (a) “Blog” means a website or webpage that hosts any
141 blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or
142 business content. The term does not include the website of a
143 newspaper or other similar publication.
144 (b) “Blogger” means any person as defined in s. 1.01(3)
145 that submits a blog post to a blog which is subsequently

146 published.
147 (c) “Blog post” is an individual webpage on a blog which
148 contains an article, a story, or a series of stories.
149 (d) “Compensation” includes anything of value provided to a
150 blogger in exchange for a blog post or series of blog posts. If
151 not provided in currency, it must be the fair-market value of
152 the item or service exchanged.
153 (e) “Elected state officer” means the Governor, the
154 Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the
155 Legislature.
156 (f) “Office” means, in the context of a blog post about a
157 member of the Legislature, the Office of Legislative Services
158 or, in the context of a blog post about a member of the
159 executive branch, the Commission on Ethics, as applicable.
160 (2) If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state
161 officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that
162 post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office, as
163 identified in paragraph (1)(f), within 5 days after the first
164 post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.
165 (3)(a) Upon registering with the appropriate office, a
166 blogger must file monthly reports on the 10th day following the
167 end of each calendar month from the time a blog post is added to
168 the blog, except that, if the 10th day following the end of a
169 calendar month occurs on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday,
170 the report must be filed on the next day that is not a Saturday,
171 Sunday, or legal holiday.
172 (b) If the blogger does not have a blog post on a blog
173 during a given month, the monthly report for that month does not
174 need to be filed

175 (c) The blogger must file reports with the appropriate
176 office using the electronic filing system:
177 1. As provided in s. 11.0455 if the blog post concerns an
178 elected member of the Legislature; or
179 2. As provided in s. 112.32155 if the blog post concerns an
180 officer of the executive branch.
181 (d) The reports must include all of the following:
182 1. The individual or entity that compensated the blogger
183 for the blog post.
184 2. The amount of compensation received from the individual
185 or entity, regardless of how the compensation was structured.
186 a. The amount must be rounded to the nearest $10 increment.
187 b. If the compensation is for a series of blog posts or for
188 a defined period of time, the blogger must disclose the total
189 amount to be received upon the first blog post being published.
190 Thereafter, the blogger must disclose the date or dates
191 additional compensation is received, if any, for the series of
192 blog posts.
193 3. The date the blog post was published. If the blog post
194 is part of a series, the date each blog post is published must
195 be included in the applicable report.
196 4. The website and website address where the blog post can
197 be found.
198 (4) Notwithstanding any other law, a magistrate is
199 authorized to enter a final order in determination of the
200 reasonableness of circumstances for an untimely filing of a
201 required report and the amount of a fine, if any.
202 (5) Each house of the Legislature and the Commission on
203 Ethics shall adopt by rule, for application to bloggers, the

204 same procedure by which lobbyists are notified of the failure to
205 timely file a report and the amount of the assessed fines. The
206 rule must also provide for, but need not be limited to, the
207 following provisions:
208 (a) A fine of $25 per day per report for each day late, not
209 to exceed $2,500 per report.
210 (b) Upon receipt of an untimely filed report, the amount of
211 the fine must be based upon the earlier of the following:
212 1. The date and time that the untimely report is actually
213 received by the office.
214 2. The date and time on the electronic receipt issued
215 pursuant to s. 11.0455 or s. 112.32155.
216 (c) The fine must be paid within 30 days after the notice
217 of payment due is transmitted, unless an appeal is filed with
218 the office. The fine amount must be deposited into:
219 1. If the report in question relates to a post about a
220 member of the Legislature, the Legislative Lobbyist Registration
221 Trust Fund;
222 2. If the report in question relates to a post about a
223 member of the executive branch, the Executive Branch Lobby
224 Registration Trust Fund; or
225 3. If the report in question relates to a post about
226 members of both the Legislature and the executive branch, the
227 lobbyist registration trust funds identified in subparagraphs 1.
228 and 2., in equal amounts.
229 (d) A fine may not be assessed against a blogger the first
230 time a report for which the blogger is responsible is not timely
231 filed. However, to receive this one-time fine waiver, all
232 untimely filed reports for which the blogger remains responsible

233 for filing must be filed with the office within 30 days after
234 the notice of untimely filing was transmitted to the blogger. A
235 fine must be assessed for any subsequent late-filed reports.
236 (e) The blogger is entitled to appeal a fine, based upon
237 reasonable circumstances surrounding the failure to file by the
238 designated date, by making a written request to the office for a
239 hearing before the magistrate from the Second Judicial Circuit.
240 Any such request must be made within 30 days after the notice of
241 payment due is transmitted to the blogger. The office shall
242 transmit all such timely, written requests to the chief judge of
243 the Second Judicial Circuit along with the evidence the office
244 relied on in assessing the fine. The magistrate, after holding a
245 hearing, shall render a final order, upholding the fine or
246 waiving it in full or in part.
247 (f) A blogger may request that the filing of a report be
248 waived upon good cause shown based on reasonable circumstances.
249 The request must be filed with the office, which may grant or
250 deny the request.
251 (g) Fines that remain unpaid for a period in excess of 100
252 days after final determination are eligible for recovery through
253 the courts of this state.
254 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.