#Doonesbury: “This is #Florida. Isn’t it against the law to teach us the full story?”
Entire strip here: https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2024/02/18
#Doonesbury: “This is #Florida. Isn’t it against the law to teach us the full story?”
Entire strip here: https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2024/02/18
“Justices from across ideological spectrum appeared likely to prevent #Texas & #Florida from immed implementing laws restricting social media giants from removing certain political or controversial posts, even as they expressed concern about the power platforms wield over public debate.
..considered whether state govts can set rules for how social media platforms curate content in a major 1A case with implications for the future of free speech online” #SCOTUS
https://wapo.st/48uxY63
1/... "When the AG raised objections in court documents to the proposal to put up a reduced amount of collateral, Letitia James drew attention to another matter entirely: #Trump appears to be trying to move assets out of her reach.
Dennis Fan, a sr assistant solicitor general at AG’s office, alerted appellate judges at the state’s First Judicial Department that Trump has sneakily relocated business entities from #NewYork to #Florida. #legal
Sigh. Via Anna Bower: 1/...
Update from Ft. Pierce: Judge #Cannon did not set a trial date for the classified documents case during the morning session of the scheduling conference.
But she told prosecutors for the special counsel that their proposed July trial date is “unrealistic.”
Judge Cannon is pointing and laughing.
Via Kyle Griffin: 1/...
Breaking: Special counsel #JackSmith wants #Trump's classified #documents case in #Florida to go to trial on July 8. #legal #TrumpIndictment
#Florida is swamped by disease outbreaks as quackery replaces science #ProLifeMyAss https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/03/florida-measles-outbreak-preventable
Grace Linn’s husband was killed while fighting nazis in WWII. She’s a centenarian who has witnessed the rise of fascism first hand.
Recently she took on a school board in Florida against their book bans. She made a quilt in protest and reminded people where book bans lead:
“Banning books and burning books are the same. Both are done for the same reason: fear of knowledge.”
🤦🏻♀️ #Trump’s lawyers have filed several motions to dismiss the classified #documents case in #Florida, citing, among other things, presidential immunity and arguing special counsel #JackSmith was unlawfully appointed. #legal
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/politics/trump-moves-dismiss-classified-documents-case?cid=ios_app
Via Kyle Cheney:
Judge #Cannon will permit a lawyer for a coalition of media outlets to present argument tomorrow on issues related to access/sealing of #Trump case filings. #legal #documents #Florida
I generally don't like to write about articles, about other articles, but in this case I'm going to make an exception for this piece by Cory Doctorow, "When Private Equity Destroys Your Hospital" because I think he strikes at the heart of the issue in a way that the original writers at The American Prospect don't, or are afraid to.
https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/28/5000-bats/
Imagine for a moment that I told you a story about an open hospital that didn't have any hospital supplies because it refused to pay for them, where medical equipment and even the Pepsi machines were being repossessed by creditors, and staff (including doctors) were working without pay because their checks keep bouncing. Furthermore, imagine I told you that this hospital literally had human excrement running from the walls, and lost an entire floor to occupation by roughly five thousand wild bats. You might be tempted to think I was talking about dystopian fiction, or a place located far outside the wealthiest nation on Earth, but of course I'm not - everything I wrote above is about an American hospital in Florida, the Rockledge Regional Medical Center.
As Doctorow notes, this real life horror story is brought to you by Steward Health, a Private Equity-backed company that currently controls 32 hospitals all over the United States. That bit about Private Equity is important, because if you want to know how a hospital can be turned into a nightmare death trap in the way Rockledge Regional has been, you're going to need to follow the money; specifically, the money being looted out of RRMC by Steward Health and its CEO Ralph de la Torre - a man once hailed as a "genius disruptor" who is now mostly famous for paying himself huge bonuses while running companies into the ground.
Given that operating a hospital like Tony's gang busts out a gambler's sporting goods store in an episode of the Sopranos shouldn't be a successful business model, you might find yourself asking "how are they going to get away with this?" This would be a good question twenty-five years ago, but today of course the answer is, complicit regulatory officials (in this case Florida Republicans), and the reality that if you just buy up *all* the hospitals and start looting them, eventually the government will have to bail you out or simply leave everyday people with no hospitals. Furthermore, as Cory so eloquently notes, this is not an aberration, but the actual business model of Private Equity firms buying up all sorts of businesses and public goods in our society while promising to "disrupt" whole industries. Far from improving services or medical care, the PE industry model of operation simply loots vital businesses like the RRMC before selling them off to even more shady PE companies that loot them again; often this process occurs multiple times as predatory capital squeezes every last ounce out of their purchases, no matter who it harms.
Should this be a crime? You bet your ass it should be, but legally speaking, it really isn't; because you live in a country that facilitates the monstrous accumulation of wealth by rich businessmen, even at the cost of everyday people's lives. You should read the entire piece, but Doctorow's money quote is worth reprinting here:
"The PE sector is a reminder that the crimes people commit for money far outstrip the crimes they commit for ideology. Even the most ideological killers are horrified by the murders their profit-motivated colleagues commit."
Via Lisa Rubin: 1/2
Some of these excuses are running thin. #Trump lawyer Chris Kise, for example, lives in #Florida, as does Sasha Dadan, FL counsel for Walt Nauta.
Katie Phang:
NEW: All of the MAL defendants seek an extension of time to file certain Reply briefs to various Oppositions filed by Special Counsel that responded to Defendants’ multiple motions to dismiss.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.386.0.pdf
1/... "Brian Butler, “Trump Employee 5” in the classified #documents indictment brought by #JackSmith.. doesn’t believe the criminal case against #Trump is a “witch hunt:...Butler..unknowingly helped Nauta deliver boxes of classified information from Mar-a-Lago to the former president’s plane in June 2022 – the same day that Trump and his attorney were meeting with DOJ at Mar-a-Lago about the classified docs" #legal #TrumpIndictment #Florida https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/politics/trump-employee-5-classified-documents-mar-a-lago/index.html
”Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in #Florida classrooms, provided it’s not part of instruction, under a settlement reached Monday between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.” #LGBTQ
Via Kyle Cheney:
JUST IN: Prosecutors say they've provided another small batch of discovery to #Trump in his #Florida case, including "the memorialization of an interview conducted on March 6, 2024."
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.371.0.pdf
#legal #documents
I had no idea from the coverage that this was such a resounding win.
"The settlement was a resounding victory for the parents and LGBTQ advocacy groups who filed the lawsuit. It dramatically limits the law's application to a narrow set of circumstances that seldom occur in K-12 public schools."
As #Elections Loom, Congressional Maps Challenged as Discriminatory Will Remain in Place
==
With control of the House of Representatives hanging in the balance, the time-consuming appeals process means elections in multiple districts will take place using maps that have been challenged as discriminatory to #voters of color.
#Voting #SouthCarolina #Florida #Election #Gerrymandering #News #Law #Congress #Politics
“#Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday that a state constitutional amendment that would limit government intervention in #abortion procedures across Florida meets the necessary requirements to appear on ballots this November, and at the same time upheld Florida's 15-week abortion ban.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-supreme-court-abortion-ballot-initiative-amendment-4/
#WompWomp 👇🏼
“#Florida venture capitalist Michael Shvartsman and his brother Gerald Shvartsman pleaded guilty on Wednesday to participating in an insider trading scheme linked to the blockbuster deal that brought #Trump’s social media business public.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/03/business/trump-truth-social-insider-trading/index.html?Profile=CNN&Date=20240403
“#Florida cannot prohibit a 10th grade math teacher from asking her students to call her by her preferred pronouns, a federal judge has ruled.
The decision from the US district judge is a blow to an anti-#LGBTQ law championed by #DeSantis, which prohibits discussion of sexuality in public schools. 2023 expansion of the measure, widely known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, prohibits teachers and students from using pronouns that align with their gender identity.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/11/florida-pronouns-teacher
👏🏻Via Democracy Docket:
NEW: In a win for voters, a federal judge in #Florida strikes down Miami’s city commission districts for being unconstitutional racial gerrymanders and orders a new map for future elections.
In the Florida Everglades, a red-winged blackbird perches on a tall stalk with purple flowers, its glossy black plumage contrasting against the greenery. Its call echoes across the marshlands, symbolizing the area's untamed beauty and wildlife.
The ART: https://rebeccaherranen.com/featured/marshland-red-winged-blackbird-rebecca-herranen.html
#birds #florida #nature #WildLife #photography #buyintoart #ayearforart #wallart #art #everglades #blackbird
#VOTE! 6-week abortion ban takes effect in Florida; #SouthDakota puts access on ballot
“#Florida's six-week abortion ban took effect Wednesday after being signed into law a year ago, while #abortion advocates are submitting about 60,000 signatures to put access on the ballot in November.”
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/05/01/florida-south-dakota-abortion-ban-ballot/1751714494077/
As the sun ascended over the Everglades, casting a golden hue upon the horizon, the majestic cypress trees stood in striking silhouette against the painted sky, while a gentle mist hovered low over the tranquil waters, adding an aura of serenity to the untouched landscape.
The ART: https://rhprintsco.etsy.com/listing/1520721670
#florida #sunrise #landscape #Photography #photo #LandscapePhotography #ayearforart #nature #fediart #tranquility #beautiful #MastoArt