Florida Gov. DeSantis will run for President in 2028
- Thread starter GnauzBookOfRhymes
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GnauzBookOfRhymes
Superstar
smilie worthy if she were a public figure
Broward says losses mount for tourism as more conventions stay away, citing fear for safety of diverse groups
Sun-Sentinel - via RSS feed
Posted onAugust 22, 2023
Categories Broward News
Broward County tourism officials say that financial losses are continuing to mount as conventions once scheduled for Fort Lauderdale have opted to go someplace else.
The tally now stands at 14, with four of those conventions backing out in August alone, according to Visit Lauderdale, the agency formerly known as the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.
They cite Florida’s culture wars on issues that critics say attack Blacks, gays, and transgender youth, as well as policies targeting state universities as well as migrants.
Broward’s tourism arm said the lost conventions could have brought hotel stays to Fort Lauderdale and its surrounding cities, which also meant money spent on restaurants and attractions.
The updated list now includes the National Sales Network Conference, whose founder and CEO emailed the county Monday: “Moving forward, we will not consider conducting any future conferences in the state of Florida given the Governor’s statement that slavery was good for Black people.”
And the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology wasn’t planning its annual convention until 2028, but backed out last week, citing in an email: “At the moment, we aren’t able to consider any Florida cities because of the political issues around women’s health and the added challenges with higher education there.”
It adds to the laundry list of groups including the Chicago-based American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, which had planned a 3,000-person conference in Fort Lauderdale in 2026, and cited the “unfriendly political environment in Florida.” The Washington, D.C.-based Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, which was scheduled to come to Fort Lauderdale in January, diverted to New Orleans instead because of what’s perceived as anti-migrant policies. And the Atlanta-based aParent Miracles Foundation for this November is headed to Texas instead after the NAACP issued a travel advisory for Florida “in direct response to Governor Ron DeSantis’ attempts to erase Black history, and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools,” the organizer wrote the county’s tourism office.
Last month, the Tom Joyner Foundation, and the 1,700 hotel rooms it wanted, disappeared, too. “If this were about economics, that would be one thing, but what is at the core of the issue from the above, is fear for the safety of African-American, LGBTQ+ and a smaller portion of even Latino students and others traveling to Florida to participate in what is a national event,” an organizer wrote the tourism office. The agency also cited the state’s new permitless gun carry laws, which allow people to carry concealed weapons without training or a permit, as another reason to skip the Sunshine State. That legislation was hailed by the NRA.
The emails were obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel in a public records request.
Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, Broward County’s tourism promotion arm, said Tuesday she was “keeping a careful eye on the trend, which isn’t great.”
“It’s most troubling because of the economic impact which translates into Broward County residents’ jobs,” saying an estimated 10% of Broward’s jobs were directly or indirectly tied to tourism.
Ritter’s agency is trying to offset the damage with advertising efforts to show Florida, at least the southern end, is welcoming. On Tuesday, they successfully appealed to the Broward County commission to spend nearly $800,000 — money raised from a tourism hotel tax — to participate in the January 2024 Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif.
Chief among the float participants considered to perform: Drag queens.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash
GnauzBookOfRhymes
Superstar
I mean the guy is a sociopath so sure but it’s not like he’ll be showing us his great management and people skills that you think he has
Bleed The Freak
Superstar
Pro-DeSantis ‘Never Back Down’ Super PAC Backs Down, Quits Door-Knocking in Four Key States
"Never Back Down," the Super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, is, in fact, backing down, quitting its door-knocking operations in four key primary states as both the campaign and PAC struggle with money and former President Donald Trump's dominance in the polls.
www.mediaite.com
Bleed The Freak
Superstar
DeSantis voted against Sandy aid a decade ago. Now his state needs the help.
Florida's Republicans have a complicated relationship with disaster aid.
www.politico.com
Unfortunately/fortunately Democrats aren't so petty as to withhold federal disaster dollars from this swamp ass state. Not like it'll hurt anything Florida already is a red state let em be redDeSantis voted against Sandy aid a decade ago. Now his state needs the help.
Florida's Republicans have a complicated relationship with disaster aid.
Bleed The Freak
Superstar
Holding off on aid during a disaster is disgusting and Ron should be asked repeatedly about this
Digital Omen
All Star
Meatball's crew getting gangster with it now:
www.nytimes.com
‘Now the good news is that we have all the money we need in this room,’ [JEFF ROE] told the donors. ‘The bad news is it’s still in your wallet.’”
That's some Sopranos shakedown type shyt
DeSantis Super PAC’s Urgent Plea to Donors: ‘We Need 50 Million Bucks’
In an audio recording made just before the first G.O.P. debate, the super PAC’s chief strategist disparaged rivals and described an expensive attempt to thwart Donald Trump in Iowa.
‘Now the good news is that we have all the money we need in this room,’ [JEFF ROE] told the donors. ‘The bad news is it’s still in your wallet.’”
That's some Sopranos shakedown type shyt
Ron DeSantis Is Afraid of Questions From a 15-Year-Old
The Florida governor's operation went to extraordinary lengths to intimidate a high school sophomore—all for a question about Donald Trump.
www.thedailybeast.com
Quinn Mitchell has seen at least 35 presidential candidates in person since 2019, when he first started showing up at New Hampshire primary events to ask them questions.
Not a single one of them had ever treated the now-15-year-old as if he were a threat—until Ron DeSantis came to town.
It all started with a straightforward question. In June, when DeSantis stopped for a town hall event in Hollis, Mitchell raised his hand in the crowd.
“Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power,” the teenager asked the governor, “a key principle of American democracy that we must uphold?”
DeSantis dodged the question and said Americans shouldn’t get stuck in the past, but not before remarking—in a somewhat impressed, incredulous tone—on Mitchell’s age. “Are you in high school?” the governor asked.
The moment went viral, with DeSantis’ non-answer encapsulating how even Donald Trump’s lead primary rival could not bring himself to acknowledge the former president’s efforts to undo the 2020 election. CNN even played it during an interview with Chris Christie to tee up a question to the Trump foe.
For Mitchell, however, the exchange kicked off a series of events that deeply rattled him and his family.
Speaking about it for the first time in an interview with The Daily Beast, Mitchell says that he was grabbed and physically intimidated by DeSantis security at two subsequent campaign stops, where the candidate’s staffers also monitored him in a way he perceived as hostile.
The experience, Mitchell said, was “horrifying” and amounted to “intimidation.”
At a Fourth of July parade DeSantis attended, Mitchell was swarmed by security and physically restrained after a brief interaction with the governor—with his private security contractors even demanding Mitchell stay put until they said so.
With his mother alarmed, the situation escalated to such a degree that the candidate’s wife, Casey, spoke directly with her—but to suggest her son was being dishonest about what happened, according to Mitchell.
Then, at an August 19 event—where Mitchell was tailed closely by two security guards—an attendee told The Daily Beast they saw a staffer for DeSantis’ super PAC, Never Back Down, take a photo of the teenager on Snapchat before typing out an ominous caption: “Got our kid.”
Seven other sources corroborated Mitchell’s version of events, either by sharing contemporaneous communications with the family or recounting what they witnessed in person at DeSantis events, including the Fourth of July parade. The teenager and his family say they have yet to receive any kind of apology from DeSantis.
The DeSantis campaign and Never Back Down did not return multiple requests for comment from The Daily Beast.
As astute an observer of the state’s politics as any, Mitchell had a blunt assessment of the fiasco over DeSantis’ treatment of him. “Really stupid,” he said, “in a small state like New Hampshire.”
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Apollo Kid
Veteran
Bleed The Freak
Superstar
Judge says DeSantis’ congressional map is unconstitutional, orders lawmakers to draw new one
The ruling is a rebuke of the governor’s map that broke up a North Florida district.
www.politico.com