America - The Official Thread

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It's going to be a win-win for Disney either way. Either they win their suit, or they lose it and end up packing up everything for a different state. I kind of hope they lose and end up closing their park in Florida because that would be a huge blow to Florida's income and it would be rather funny to see how the people would react.
 
Keep in mind that this is use of government force against a private entity for exercising its expressive right to criticize use of government force against private individuals for exercising their expressive rights.

This all began with Florida Republicans' deceptively titled Parental Rights in Education Act (referred to colloquially as "Don't Say Gay") which, among other things, created a private cause of action (basically a civil claim that is actionable when it meets requirements laid out in statute or defined by judicial precedent--think defamation) against a public school or district that employs an individual who engaged in disfavored expression on the ill-defined subject of sexuality and gender, initially to those "through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards," now expanded through grade 12.

What Florida has done with "Don't Say Gay" (a moniker that is apt if solely for the fact that one may indeed be penalized merely for saying "gay") is codify the heckler's veto, a means for a single offended private party to carry out government suppression of speech of another private party by way of adjudication in a court of law. Worse than that, as I have pointed out in the past, is that the law is [likely deliberately] vague enough that public school administrators may preemptively excuse an educator or other employee on the basis that one may express themself in a manner that may incur a lawsuit under the statute, and obviously that's just dandy as far as connie rats DeSantis, Florida legislators, and their respective voter bases are concerned.

I stated at the top that the law is deceptively named because it weighs the interests of individual offended parties ("interests" because there is no legitimate right to not be offended), who may be parents, against the interests of other parents and the legitimate rights of speakers.

This is all obviously contemptible overreach by government and private individuals who represent the Disney corporation to some degree were understandably critical of this state action, as is their legal and natural right to be. Because of this criticism, the Florida executive decided to rescind a legal right of limited self-governance afforded to Disney decades earlier, governance that benefitted not only Disney but also many Florida taxpayers. This sort of self-governance isn't entirely unique in the state of Florida, but it is indeed special treatment compared to that which the typical Florida taxpayer receives.

On the basis of disfavored viewpoint, the Florida executive dissolved Disney's Reedy Creek governance board and replaced it with a governance board aligned with the Florida executive--also special treatment compared to that which the typical Florida taxpayer receives, as well as unique compared to the limited self-governance other private entities in Florida enjoy.
 
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Keep in mind that this is use of government force against a private entity for exercising its expressive right to criticize use of government force against private individuals for exercising their expressive rights.

This all began with Florida Republicans' deceptively titled Parental Rights in Education Act (referred to colloquially as "Don't Say Gay") which, among other things, created a private cause of action (basically a civil claim that is actionable when it meets requirements laid out in statute or defined by judicial precedent--think defamation) against a public school or district that employs an individual who engaged in disfavored expression on the ill-defined subject of sexuality and gender, initially to those "through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards," now expanded through grade 12.

What Florida has done with "Don't Say Gay" (a moniker that is apt if solely for the fact that one may indeed be penalized merely for saying "gay") is codify the heckler's veto, a means for a single offended private party to carry out government suppression of speech of another private party by way of adjudication in a court of law. Worse than that, as I have pointed out in the past, is that the law is [likely deliberately] vague enough that public school administrators may preemptively excuse an educator or other employee on the basis that one may express themself in a manner that may incur a lawsuit under the statute, and obviously that's just dandy as far as connie rats DeSantis, Florida legislators, and their respective voter bases are concerned.

I stated at the top that the law is deceptively named because it weighs the interests of individual offended parties ("interests" because there is no legitimate right to not be offended), who may be parents, against the interests of other parents and the legitimate rights of speakers.

This is all obviously contemptible overreach by government and private individuals who represent the Disney corporation to some degree were understandably critical of this state action, as is their legal and natural right to be. Because of this criticism, the Florida executive decided to rescind a legal right of limited self-governance afforded to Disney decades earlier, governance that benefitted not only Disney but also many Florida taxpayers. This sort of self-governance isn't entirely unique in the state of Florida, but it is indeed special treatment compared to that which the typical Florida taxpayer receives.

On the basis of disfavored viewpoint, the Florida executive dissolved Disney's Reedy Creek governance board and replaced it with a governance board aligned with the Florida executive--also special treatment compared to that which the typical Florida taxpayer receives, as well as unique compared to the limited self-governance other private entities in Florida enjoy.
I just can't see a scenario where this ends well for DeSantis. Either he loses the lawsuit and basically torpedoes his chances at higher office or he somehow wins and in a possible response (not extremely likely though), Disney chooses to cut its losses and abandon Florida altogether. In the latter case, he wins but the entire state loses.
 
I just can't see a scenario where this ends well for DeSantis. Either he loses the lawsuit and basically torpedoes his chances at higher office or he somehow wins and in a possible response (not extremely likely though), Disney chooses to cut its losses and abandon Florida altogether. In the latter case, he wins but the entire state loses.
The state, even absent a malicious actor like this rat bitch, has considerable leverage over private entities. Even a private entity of Disney's fortitude may be injured by governmental action. And this is all over disfavored expression.
 
I just can't see a scenario where this ends well for DeSantis. Either he loses the lawsuit and basically torpedoes his chances at higher office or he somehow wins and in a possible response (not extremely likely though), Disney chooses to cut its losses and abandon Florida altogether. In the latter case, he wins but the entire state loses.
I've seen this suggested by a lot of people. As satisfying as this would be, I think this is extremely unlikely. Look at Disney World on google maps. Zoom out and pan around - look at all the support facilities, infrastructure, resorts, transportation, etc. The amount of investment and development is enormous. It's basically a not-small city. It would be like all of the Las Vegas strip packing up and heading out. It would be a monumental task. Then where would they go? Florida has a unique climate in the US, and the only other suitable place, really, would be California. But there is already Disneyland in CA, so it would be redundant. I suppose you could make a case for the Southwest somewhere, but Disneyworld uses a lot of water. Texas summers are too brutal and the winters are not mild enough for a year-round resort like Disneyworld. Puerto Rico could be a good spot, but I doubt Disney is interested in the risk that entails. The losses Disney would have to swallow to stick it to DeSantis by leaving Florida would be a really bad business decision, and it's not one I can see them making. What they might do which could provide some amount of symbolic consequence for DeSantis is to open a pilot for a NEW Disney theme park outside of Florida, and they could even indicate that it is meant to become the eventual flagship for their brand of parks.
 

“DeSantis’s book brags about his rapid mobilization of the state legislature to target Disney’s tax district. The same passage declares that this happened because of the company’s “support of indoctrinating young schoolchildren in woke gender identity politics.” That admits to retribution against speech opposing his legislation.

The book rips Disney for vowing to work to repeal the governor’s law, describing this as “a frontal assault” on it. That, too, is a description of political speech. Yet the book menacingly declares that, after this, “things got worse for Disney,” and that it would “soon find out” the truth about Florida’s war with Disney, i.e., the state would punish that speech.

The book describes DeSantis’s discussions with Republicans in the Florida legislature about whether they were prepared to tackle the “thorny issue involving the state’s most powerful company.” That confirms Disney was the unique target of legislative action.

In a companion to the book’s launch, DeSantis wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed that explicitly discussed governmental actions against Disney as an effort to “fight back” against its “woke ideology,” which is to say, its political speech.”
 
I'm not sure how you could even argue it wasn't retribution. Disney made a statement and the Governor immediately removed a privilege afforded to them by the government for nearly a half-century. The only plausible defense I can see is that it was "just a coincidence" but that seems like a ridiculously flimsy defense owing to...everything...that DeSantis has said and wrote...but lets see how charitable Clarence Thomas is feeling for his buddies, we can't count on SCOTUS to make a ruling based on rational thought anymore.
 
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I'm not sure how you could even argue it wasn't retribution. Disney made a statement and the Governor immediately removed a privilege afforded to them by the government for nearly a half-century. The only plausible defense I can see is that it was "just a coincidence" but that seems like a ridiculously flimsy defense owing to...everything...that DeSantis has said and wrote...but lets see how charitable Clarence Thomas is feeling for his buddies, we can't count on SCOTUS to make a ruling based on rational thought anymore.
I think even the Supremes would rule against DeSantis on this one.

Some conservatives may be over confident given the corruption in their favor on the supreme court and decide to flagrantly violate laws at whim. But I think it is over confidence. If DeSantis gets away with this, it will be a horrific outcome for free speech.
 
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Trump has been found guilty of sexual assault in a civil case. He must pay $5 million in damages.

You're better off not searching the "Trump" comments on Twitter if you value your sanity. I mean, that's every day advice but right now specifically...
 
Trump has been found guilty of sexual assault in a civil case. He must pay $5 million in damages.

You're better off not searching the "Trump" comments on Twitter if you value your sanity. I mean, that's every day advice but right now specifically...
He'll try paying it with his campaign funds! I'm sure that's not illegal at all.
 
In other news, I've been seeing a mass shooting story about every other day or so, and there's been a shooting incident when a teen was playing hide and seek.

 
Everyone's favorite, 100%, completely truthful, sincere Congressman George Santos has been federally charged.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Rep. George Santos, who faced outrage and mockery over a litany of fabrications about his heritage, education and professional pedigree, has been charged with federal criminal offenses, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The charges against Santos, filed in the Eastern District of New York, remain under seal.

The people could not publicly discuss specific details of the case until it is unsealed and spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity. The unsealing would happen when Santos appears in court, which could come as soon as Wednesday.
 
Probably only because other countries call it "Parliament" instead. Definitely sounds like something from one of Berlusconi's terms.
 
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Everyone's favorite, 100%, completely truthful, sincere Congressman George Santos has been federally charged.

How dare they do that to the first man to set foot on Jupiter!
 
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