Story time!
Ahhh, Florida… Land of beaches, retirees, and tap water that is so gross and sulfurous it smells like Satan passed gas every time you turn on the shower.
The year: 2008. A coworker and I were on a business trip to Orlando. Thanks to a generous per diem, we got to eat meals on the company dime. We ate in nice restaurants and mostly had a good time. But one particular meal experience stands out, even sixteen years later.
It seemed like the topic on everyone’s lips was the presidential election. For you young’uns out there, it’s hard to overemphasize how momentous that election felt. After all, it looked like we very well might elect our very first black president! It was kind of electrifying.
So anyway, my coworker and I were chatting about what a big deal it was - and about how worryingly brain-dead Sarah Palin seemed to be. How could John McCain pick her as a running mate? I mean, here was a guy who we disagreed with, but he seemed to be principled. And then he picked this fringe nutcase for VP?
Oh, what sweet summer children we were. We didn’t recognize that Palin was a harbinger of horrifying things to come, and what the already-loathsome Republican party was going to turn into. But I digress…
So there we were, discussing the finer points of campaign promises and all that hope-y change-y stuff Obama was running on, when our waitress tentatively approached us. “You guys sound really knowledgeable,” she said, or something to that effect, and she asked us who we were planning to vote for.
She seemed earnest and genuine, and she clearly wasn’t looking for an argument, she just seemed a bit at a loss. I felt bad for her. So I told her I was going to vote for Obama, my coworker agreed, and we spent a few minutes explaining why.
When we asked her about her own plans, she looked worried and said, “I just don’t know.” So we asked her why.
Her answer has stuck with me ever since. “I’m not sure America is ready for a black president, but I don’t think a woman should be a heartbeat away from the presidency either.”
Let that roll around in your mind a bit. She was in a bind, because her racism had been forced into conflict with her ingrained self-defeating sexism, and she didn’t know what to do.
In 2008.
Every time I wonder if maybe Florida might finally pull its collective head out of its collective ass, my mind goes back to that conversation and I remember just how completely and thoroughly broken the state is.
It isn’t just Florida either. Much of the US South and Midwest are in the same boat mentality-wise. I sincerely think we’re going to be stuck in this limbo until most of the boomers are gone, but there are plenty in my generation (millennials) that are just as thick-headed. Gen X is right there too.
If it wasn’t for my horse I wouldn’t have spent that semester in school.
That’s not a Florida story, that’s an America story.
A rural area in 2016: Clinton thinks she’s owed the white house, and she basically already had her turn. So Trump I guess!
Does this fucker not get it? State laws don’t supersede federal laws.
He gets it all too well. He’s trying to provoke a nullification crisis and start Civil War 2: fascist boogaloo.
Of course he gets it. DeSantis is an intelligent man and lawyer. Here’s the thing; He cannot lose with this stance. It’s a no-brainer.
He gets to appeal to GOP voters up front and hits 'em again when he’s shot down. “Damned woke mind virus Democrat communist haters and legislating-from-the-bench liberal judges! Keep voting for me and we’ll eventually win!”
He’s term limited as governor. Question is what he does next.
Hopefully fucking croak somehow.
There’s plenty of swap in Florida
Yes, but only for one term. He is eligible again after sitting out for one term, unless of course they manage to change their Constitution.
Eats babies whist dressed in full drag.
I mean… if the USSC ends up ruling in June that a sitting president can, as an official act, order the assassination of a political rival… maybe he gets a visit from an officially-ordered spec ops team to “nullify his opposition”?
Who fucking knows at this point. I feel like we’re rapidly approaching the point where nobody’s even pretending that the rules even exist anymore.
when he’s shot down
That’s optimistic. The leaders of the fascist GOP seem to have been given pretty much free rein by the extremely overcautious Garland DOJ.
His MO is to pass illegal/unconstitutional bills and use it to fundraise while the state has to pay to defend (and lose) their case defending it.
How is a governor signing a blatantly unconstitutional law or refusing to comply with a federal law not a crime? The latter at least should end up with the FBI arresting desantis.
Is there a legal mechanism to go after him for any of this?
Lawsuits
Sure, but how do they go about enforcing the judgement?
States are sued all the time. They usually win but lose a lot too. The court that decides in the plaintiff’s favor issues the judgement and it’s enforced like any other judgment.
The federal government can just start locking up the people that get in their way, judgement or no. How do you think schools in the South were desegregated? The national guard was taken over by the president and the national guard made it happen.
This isn’t going to happen though, because Meatball Ron is a coward.
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He’s not electable this term, so he’s doing all this to try for Trump’s VP.
Eh? They will just call his bluff and say they are pulling highway and other federal funding. Just like the feds did to bump the drinking age from 18 to 21 in years past
I don’t think it’s as black / white when it comes to implementation as you suggest. Let me know if you know more, but it seems from my uninformed opinion that if the state laws don’t follow the federal law, state agencies don’t need to enforce.
Turn state / federal law around for something a bit better to think about. Looking at cannabis legalization, many states have legalized it, though it’s still illegal federally. As you state and listed in the Wikipedia article, the states choose not to have their police agencies enforce the federal law. But federal law enforcement could come in and enforce it (they just have chosen not to).
I think it’s a safe assumption that will work in the same way here? Maybe the federal government will choose to enforce their law over the states here? Not sure, but just my take. Not trying to defend this, I just wanted to call out and question how state law differences from federal don’t seem in practice to make much of a difference.
I’m also not an expert but my state legalized cannabis and my brothers and I were going to open a dispensary so I’ve got a bit of knowledge on that particular area.
When it comes to cannabis retail businesses, they must remain in jurisdictions where cannabis is legal. The cannabis that a business sells must be grown, sold, used, and taxed within state lines — without using any federal land or means of commerce. This prevents cannabis businesses from using banks (which are federally regulated), deducting business expenses on their federal income taxes (which other businesses are allowed to do), and preventing farmers from using water from federally managed resources. I’m sure there’s plenty more the federal government can do to tighten its grip around the cannabis industry, but there’s a lot of activity on the federal level surrounding cannabis legalization.
Now when it comes to a situation like we’re discussing in this thread, Florida may choose to act their own way but federal funding and other things the state enjoys could be at risk. Additionally let’s say things get violent because of DickSantis well then I will look to this US law:
Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and its rider thr Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
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Culture war is his only metric. Fuck this guy.
Sounds like Biden should start cutting federal funding of projects in Florida.
Challenge accepted.
He’s just going to continue to get spanked in Federal Court.
He’s like 0 - 8.
Turns out that’s not a benchmark the right judges their actions on.
Arrest him for sedition
