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The Ron DeSantis thread... The Newsy You: News of Today
Started 3/12/23 by WALTER784; 1762 views.
Staff
From: WALTER784
May-12
Disney has been enjoying a loophole in that they didn't have to pay taxes. But due to the contract that DeSantis terminated with Florida, now, they must pay taxes... even though they haven't over the past 50 or so years.
It's only fair.
FWIW
- Edited May 12, 2023 11:58 am by WALTER784
Staff
From: WALTER784
May-12
Shock: Huge Bipartisan Support For School Choice — I&I/TIPP Poll
Terry Jones
April 24, 2023
It’s been said we live in one of the most divisive and bitterly antagonistic political eras in our nation’s history. That’s certainly true for some of the public debates over tough issues we face today. But data from the latest I&I/TIPP Poll show there’s one policy issue about which both major parties have near total agreement: school choice.
Fed up with substandard public schools and feeling trapped, Democrat and Republican voters heartily support greater school choice by more than 2-to-1, according to April’s online I&I/TIPP Poll. The survey, taken March 29-31 from a national sample of 1,365 adults, has a margin of error of +/-2.8 percentage points.
Specifically, we asked voters the following question:
“This week, Florida enacted an education savings account (ESA) policy for all K-12 students “regardless of race, income, background, or zip code.” ESAs allow parents to withdraw their children from public districts or charter schools and receive a deposit of public funds into government-authorized savings accounts. Families can use the ESA funds to pay for private school tuition, tutoring, textbooks, homeschool curriculum, online learning, special-needs therapy, and more. Generally speaking, how would you describe your support for this education reform?”
Support was surprisingly strong. Overall, 58% of all Americans back the Sunshine State’s new law, while just 25% oppose it and 17% are “unsure.” And a whopping 82% of parents with children under 18 support the law. Only 12% oppose it.
Another surprise: Republican responses (61% support vs. 22% oppose) were nearly exactly the same as the Democrats’ (61% support, 23% oppose). And Democrats, whose party has opposed almost all school choice measures, are even stronger than Republicans in their conviction that school choice is a good idea.
And Democrats were more ardent in their support. Among Dems, 36% supported choice “strongly,” versus just 27% of Republicans. Only 25% of Dems picked the more-lukewarm choice “somewhat support,” compared to 36% of the Republicans.
Independents, meanwhile, also liked school choice, but their embrace of the idea was not nearly as warm as the two major parties: Just 50% supported choice, while 31% opposed it.
Among all 21 demographic groups and their subgroups, only one was under 50% in its support: Those over 64, who posted 43% support, and 38% opposition.
The three other age groups 18-24, (64% support, 22% oppose); 25-44 (72% support, 21% oppose); and 45-64 (52% support, 28% oppose)) gave strong majority support to the idea.
Two other stats jump out: Blacks and whites have similar levels of support. Blacks favor school choice vouchers 57% to 22%, fairly similar to that of whites, at 58% to 27%. But the numbers really rise among Hispanics, who support the idea 66% to 18%.
So minority voters desperately want choice, it seems.
Are the Democratic and Republican parties listening?
There’s also an interesting gap between men and women. Men overwhelmingly support choice, 65% to 23%, while women eke out a bare majority, 52% to 26% (but still 2-to-1).
As for the apparent decline in support for school choice as Americans get older, that can be explained by two facts: One, older Americans don’t have kids in school and, two, they attended schools at a time when they by and large were far less dysfunctional and did a much better job educating students than today’s schools.
But the fact remains: School choice is now overwhelmingly popular among nearly all Americans. The data are quite clear and unequivocal.
A big reason for the current popularity is the lockdown of schools across the country during the COVID pandemic, which led to sharp drops in student performance and a potential “lost generation” of young people ill-equipped to compete in our rapidly changing, technologically driven economy.
This is not hyperbole, as the latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the so-called “nation’s report card,” shows. Since 2019, just before the pandemic, the 2022 NAEP report notes the following for fourth and eighth graders:
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Host
From: Showtalk
May-12
Disney was essentially their own government while taking advantage of all the opportunities paid for and offered to them by the state of Florida,
Host
From: Showtalk
May-12
Which proves that when a policy or issue affects their children in a negative way, parents feel the same whether they are Republicans or Democrat.
Staff
From: WALTER784
May-12
Yep... thus it's NOT a political issue, but an educational issue which parties on both sides oppose!
It's the minority forcing their agenda upon the majority that the majority doesn't agree with.
And school choice will help rectify that public school problem.
Completely gutting and rebuilding our public education system would do the same, but nobody in the education department wants to do that!
And thus, the standoff we're currently faced with.
Bottom line: Defund public education!!!
FWIW
- Edited May 12, 2023 9:08 pm by WALTER784
Staff
From: WALTER784
May-14
Gov. DeSantis Signs Bill Making Florida the 26th Constitutional Carry State
AWR HAWKINS
3 Apr 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation Monday making Florida the 26th constitutional carry state in the Union.
This means the majority of states in the USA are constitutional carry.
The NRA tweeted:
The Tampa Bay Times reported the new law takes effect July 1, 2023.
The bill means Floridians aged 21-years and up, who are not otherwise prohibited from gun possession, may carry a handgun concealed for self-defense without a permit.
The other There 25 constitutional carry states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Ron DeSantis Signs Bill, Florida Now the 26th Constitutional Carry State (breitbart.com)
FWIW
Staff
From: WALTER784
May-14
Gov. DeSantis Signs Bill Barring Credit Cards from Tracking Gun Sales in Florida
AWR HAWKINS
12 May 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation Friday that prohibits credit card companies from tracking gun sales in Florida.
His office posted an announcement to the Florida Governor’s home page saying, “Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill (SB) 7054 and SB 214 to protect the personal finances of Floridians from government overreach and woke corporate monitoring.”
The post noted, “SB 214 prohibits credit card companies from using firearm-specific Merchant Category Codes and institutes a fine for violations of Florida’s consumer protections against gun owner registries.”
On August 28, 2022, Breitbart News noted Gabby Giffords’ gun control group, Giffords, was urging major credit companies to flag gun and ammunition purchases via the new code. On August 30 Breitbart News noted Democrat New York lawmakers were urging major credit card companies to create and use a new firearms-specific code which would in effect flag gun purchases in the state and around the country.
In early September 2022, Breitbart News reported that Visa caved to pressure from Democrats and gun control groups and agreed to use a new merchant code to track firearm purchases. Other credit card companies caved as well.
Breitbart News pointed out that Discover would begin tracking gun purchases in April 2023. But the public outcry became so great that all the credit card companies abandoned the plan.
However, Democrats reacted by trying to get the DOJ to pressure the companies into implementing the tracking scheme. If the cards do put in into practice, DeSantis is fighting to be sure gun sales in Florida are excluded from the tracking process.
National Shooting Sports Foundation’s general counsel and senior vice president Larry Keane commented on DeSantis’s efforts, saying, “Governor DeSantis is standing up against a ‘woke’ initiative borne from the efforts of antigun Wall Street banks and their gun control allies in the media to use lawful private transactions as a means to usher in gun control.”
“No law-abiding American should be subjected to having their name and financial data being added to a government-accessible watchlist simply for exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, ” Keane added. “Governor DeSantis is ensuring that Floridians won’t be held captive by the radical ‘woke’ antigun agenda that seeks to weaponize credit cards in gun owners’ wallets against them.”
Gov. DeSantis Signs Bill Barring Credit Cards from Tracking Gun Sales in Florida (breitbart.com)
FWIW
Staff
From: WALTER784
May-26
New Florida laws ban COVID mandates, allow health care to be denied
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bills, cementing his stance on pandemic practices.
“When the world went crazy, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, the state of Florida stood as a refuge of sanity, as a citadel of freedom,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during Thursday's bill-signing event. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
By: News Service of Florida
Published May 12|Updated May 13
TALLAHASSEE — With opposition to COVID-19 mandates a key part of his political brand, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a bill that includes issues such as barring businesses and government agencies from requiring people to take COVID-19 tests or wear masks to enter their facilities.
DeSantis held a bill-signing event in Destin on the same day that a federal public health emergency for COVID-19 was set to end. But DeSantis pointed to a need to address the potential of future government mandates.
“The danger is now, one of the reasons that we are doing this bill is, yes in Florida we are glad that we stood firm,” DeSantis said. “But a lot of the elites and the bureaucrats think that this response is how you should do it again in the future if something like that happens.”
The Republican-controlled House and Senate passed the bill (SB 252) during the legislative session that ended last week. Lawmakers also passed a similar measure during a 2021 special session, but key parts of that law will expire June 1 — the same day much of the new bill takes effect.
After Florida schools and large parts of the economy initially shut down in 2020 because of the pandemic, DeSantis made a high-profile issue of getting students back into classrooms, reopening businesses and eliminating mandates. He frequently touts his handling of the pandemic as he gears up for a widely expected White House bid in 2024.
“When the world went crazy, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, the state of Florida stood as a refuge of sanity, as a citadel of freedom,” he said during the event Thursday.
The bill addresses businesses, government agencies, schools and health care providers. Among other things, the bill:
Prohibits businesses, government agencies and schools from requiring people to provide documentation showing they have been vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 to gain entry to the facilities.
Prohibits businesses, government agencies and schools from requiring people to be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 as a condition of employment.
Prohibits businesses, government agencies and schools from requiring people to wear masks to gain entry. The bill also requires the Florida Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration to develop standards for “appropriate use of facial coverings for infection control” in health care facilities.
Allows the attorney general’s office and Department of Health to levy fines up to $5,000 for each violation of the mandate prohibitions.
Prohibits hospitals from interfering with patients’ ability to choose “COVID-19 treatment alternatives” as recommended by physicians or other providers with privileges at the hospitals.
In addition to the pandemic-related bill, DeSantis also signed a measure (SB 1580) that will give health care providers the right to opt out of certain services based on a “conscience-based objection.” The bill would not apply, for example, to emergency services that are required under state or federal law.
New Florida laws ban COVID mandates, allow health care to be denied (tampabay.com)
FWIW
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