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All posts tagged "florida"

GOP group kicked off campus over antisemitism fails to prove free speech violation: NYT

A GOP group failed to prove a university violated its First Amendment rights by banning it for alleged antisemitism, the New York Times reported.

The University of Florida College Republicans were banned by the school from its Gainesville campus in March after a photo circulated showing two people giving a Nazi salute, the Times reported.

Members denied involvement with the photo, but the group was already accused of antisemitic and racist behavior, according to the Times. The University of Florida argued that it booted the group because a statewide campus Republican organization withdrew its charter, and the Gainesville branch no longer had any official affiliation, the Times reported.

Federal judge Mark Walker, from the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, tossed a lawsuit brought by the group after finding that they didn't have enough evidence to show the University of Florida violated its free speech rights, according to the Times.

Walker also determined that the university had cause because the Republican Party of Florida or its campus affiliates never gave the group permission to use the term "Republican," per the Times, which couldn't immediately reach the lawyer for the college Republican organization for comment. The University of Florida declined to comment for the Times.

Rock singer humiliates red state crowd chanting 'U-S-A' as audience storms out

Chris Robinson, lead singer for The Black Crowes, hit back at a crowd booing his band during a show in Florida over the weekend, TMZ reported on Monday.

The red state crowd started chanting "U-S-A" at a Tampa show where the band's backing video showed the "Black Crowes character dressed as Uncle Sam," just before the band started playing its hit song "She Talks to Angels."

Robinson told the crowd, "Thanks for the geography lesson."

When the crowd kept chanting, he quipped back, "I don't know what you have to be so proud of right now."

People in the crowd started booing at the band and walking out of the venue.

But Robinson didn't let up over the heckling.

"For those of you f------ booing us, some of us are not afraid. And we most assuredly are not f------ ignorant," he said.

'Disgrace': Horror as red state's new history course calls slavery a 'necessary evil'

A red state sparked backlash after announcing that it will offer an alternative version of advanced history classes meant to combat the "woke."

Historian Kevin Kruse warned on Bluesky that Sunshine State students could have "to suffer through the Florida Man version" of Advanced Placement U.S. History, and called out a curriculum that frames Florida as always having been Christian, anti-slavery and on the right side of history.

The Tallahassee Democrat reported on Tuesday that Florida will start offering the alternative course as a pilot program in the fall. The state-developed course will offer credit at Florida colleges and universities to compete with the AP course, which offers credit at colleges and universities across the country.

Commentators like Kruse pointed out that the curriculum will describe slavery as a "necessary evil," frame Plessy v Ferguson as a result of "the failure of Reconstruction" after the Civil War, and credit federal law that counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for "decreased slave power representation."

"Yes, allowing slave states to count their slaves for the purposes of political representation and thereby gain additional power was an *anti* slavery measure," Kruse sarcastically said. "Yes, no questions there."

Others similarly reacted with alarm. "It begins," Nicole Shuman wrote on Bluesky.

"What a godd--- disgrace," wrote Carly Goodman. "Oh no," Adam Rothman posted, highlighting a section of the curriculum that described "Black indentured servants" as "languishing" even though they "could earn their freedom."

Florida has been trying to battle "woke" ideologies since passing state laws in 2023, the Tallahassee Democrat noted.

'Oh my god': Trump triggers wave of ridicule asking crowd to imagine a moron as president

Trump asked people to imagine a scenario where "all of a sudden you're stuck with a man who's a moron," triggering immediate mockery from critics who said that that's already the case.

Trump made the comment while speaking in The Villages, Florida, on Friday. He was plugging his proposed cognitive test, saying it would screen out idiots.

"I mean, you get a guy who gets in there, he's got a good line of crap. He gets in, and all of a sudden, you're stuck with a man who's a moron,” said Trump. "This is not good."

He then took a swipe at his predecessor.

Commentators quickly called out what they saw as irony.

"That would be bad if that ever happened," Meidas Touch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski sarcastically said on X.

"We know. He's president right now," quipped @DianeSevenay.

"Amazing," the Tennessee Holler posted. "He must be feeling like people think he’s a real dummy to be talking about this so much lately."

"OH. MY. GOD," wrote the account @AntiToxicPeople. "No words imaginable for the lack of self awareness."

"He doesn't know he's talking about himself," @GeoffBrown82 posted. "He’s totally clueless."

"You're a [expletive] moron," @AesPolitics1 wrote.

Fuming Dem armed with bullhorn derails red state legislative proceedings

A Florida Democratic lawmaker interrupted state House proceedings in protest to the approval of a redistricting map that could give the GOP four congressional seats.

"You're destroying our democracy," state Rep. Angie Nixon, who's also running for Senate, could be heard in videos yelling into a bullhorn on the Florida House floor. "This is a violation of the Constitution! It is!"

The GOP-controlled Florida Legislature approved Gov. Ron DeSantis' map to redistrict the Sunshine State. The move is the latest counterattack in the redistricting wars, after the Democrats won a battle in Virginia to persuade voters to approve a gerrymandered map that waters down Republican power there.

Although the Florida House speaker tried to talk over Nixon's shouting and move forward, Nixon continued. "This is out of order," she kept repeating.

Nixon defended her actions in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

"I'm so upset because I had to disrupt the House proceedings," Nixon said. "They were trying to push through illegally drawn maps that diminish representation in the Black community."

She added that it threatens the representation of Florida's Latino and Jewish communities as well.

“This is a slap in the face of voters everywhere in our state," Nixon said. "Republicans are only doing this so that they can look out for Donald Trump and allow him to have unfettered power."

Rogue MAGA influencer accuses married congresswoman of affair with her ex-boyfriend

A rogue conservative influencer is accusing a married, sitting member of Congress from Florida of sleeping with her ex-boyfriend, whom she only identified as a well-known conservative personality from Tampa Bay.

"To this day, they both insist that nothing happened," influencer Ashley St. Clair said in an X post on Wednesday. The unnamed Congresswoman "got very upset for telling this story because it insinuates that she cheated on her husband."

St. Clair said that her relationship with her then-boyfriend was strained at the time because he moved her to Tampa Bay, smoked kratom and marijuana, had soft hands, and put mud on his truck to uphold a conservative facade, among other reasons detailed in a nearly 10-minute video.

She only refers to her ex-boyfriend as "Tampa" in the video, "because I have enough lawsuits," she said, but she described him as a "California attorney and full-time MAGA influencer."

After coming back from a short trip, St. Clair found a face mask in their shared master bedroom, she said.

"I had already moved into the guest bedroom because I was over this man. When I pressed him about this, he said, 'I thought it was yours,' to which I responded, 'I would never use something that disgusting,'" St. Clair recounted. "It turns out this face mask belonged to a current, sitting member of Congress."

The ex-boyfriend explained that the unnamed congresswoman "just spent the night because she needed somewhere to stay because she was moving to the district to carpetbag for her seat that she currently holds."

After St. Clair and "Tampa" broke up, another ex-girlfriend of his called St. Clair, "with an almost identical story, including his inappropriate relationship with a sitting member of Congress, who still to this day, despite him being in relationships, calls him in the middle of the night to look at the sky and other weird [expletive] like that."

St. Clair stood by her claims at the end of her video, concluding that "all I have done is tell the accurate recollection of facts."

DeSantis suffers major public rebuke by top Florida Republican once thought 'unthinkable'

Florida Republicans showed Gov. Ron DeSantis that they're not all the way on board with his top policy priorities.

Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez killed bills proposed by DeSantis to add regulations on AI and to grant religious exemptions from vaccines. Perez declared them dead on arrival "mere minutes" into a special session called by DeSantis to tackle those issues and a possible redistricting, Politico reported on Tuesday.

“I think both of these issues, we were very clear on our position during session,” Perez said to reporters. “And neither of these bills moved through the House and the committee process during the session.”

Politico described Perez's move as a "major reproach from a member of DeSantis’ own party," adding that it "would have been almost unthinkable several years ago, when the GOP governor was at the apex of his popularity."

DeSantis called the rebuke "typical political shenanigans.”

'What are we even doing here?' Internet erupts as Florida GOP pursues new election map

The internet erupted on Monday after news spread that Gov. Ron DeSantis was employing a three-pronged legal strategy to evade Florida's constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering and redrawing the Sunshine State's election map.

DeSantis quietly orchestrated a special legislative session to approve new congressional maps designed to create more GOP-friendly districts ahead of the November midterm elections.

People on social media sounded the alarm and raised several questions over the maneuver.

"I realize that laws don't matter anymore, but for me, if you are going to cover Florida redistricting, you must lead with the fact that whatever is being proposed here is explicitly prohibited by the state constitution. What are we even doing here?" political commentator Jamesetta Williams wrote on X.

"Quick refresher for people when we get the underlying data. A map is a 'dummymander' if the ultimate outcome is worse than **the status quo** for the party that drew it, not worse than it was intended to be. A map is not a dummymander if it aims to pick up 4 and only picks up 2," Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of Inside Elections, wrote on X.

"This is a gerrymander done with the intent of helping Republicans and hurting Democrats, which is explicitly prohibited by Florida's constitution. The only way this map could stand (assuming it's passed into law) is if FL's Supreme Court willfully ignores the state constitution," James Surowiecki, author and contributor for The Atlantic and Fast Company, wrote on X.

"The map Florida just released is missing District 25. I’m told members of the state legislature are currently discussing whether this is a mistake or not," Symone D. Sanders Townsend, Democratic strategist and MS NOW host, wrote on X.

"Where are all the Republicans who whined about the Virginia map? They’re unusually quiet this morning," "Jeopardy!" winner, author and atheist activist Hemant Mehta wrote on X.

Red state gov's bid to get in Trump's good graces doomed to backfire on GOP: strategist

Recruiting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to gerrymander his state as a counterattack to the Democratic redistricting victory in Virginia could backfire, a political consultant warned Thursday, as the GOP looks to punch back.

“We have already compacted Democrats into such tight districts, the only thing you can do when you are redrawing is cut them out of there,” said Florida political strategist Alex Alvarado told Politico in a Thursday article.

“You have to place those Democratic voters somewhere.”

The redistricting map that Virginia voters passed on Tuesday opens up four House seats for Democrats to win in November. Florida-based GOP strategist Ford O’Connell told Politico that “this is honestly an all-hands-on-deck moment, because if you lose the House, you’re going to bring, essentially, the agenda to a grinding halt."

O'Connell said that "all eyes are on Ron DeSantis and Florida now" as he expects the GOP governor to "take the gloves off like Democrats did in Virginia and California and draw as many districts as you can, legally, for Republicans.” The report said DeSantis may try the gambit to score a spot in President Donald Trump's administration.

Alvarado warned that "you have to place those Democratic voters somewhere."

Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, is similarly doubtful about the plan, saying “I don’t think you’re gonna create deep-blood-red seats all over the state,” he said. “I think we just have to wait and see what the Legislature produces.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Wednesday that Democrats will “finish” the redistricting war in Florida.

“Our message to Florida Republicans is ‘F’ around and find out,” Jeffries said. DeSantis responded during a bill signing in Florida that welcomed the challenge and a Democrat-led redistricting campaign, “I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign.”

Dems have a chance to flip red state after GOP's 'worst nightmare' came true: analysis

The Democratic Party may feel bolstered by a special election result where they gained ground from the GOP in Donald Trump's backyard.

Such a result at Mar-a-Lago, which tipped to Democratic candidate Emily Gregory over Republican Jon Maples, could give the party some hope of success in Florida ahead of the midterms. The Hill columnist Liz Peek suggested a draft of voters aligned with Democratic Party values now living in Florida could tip the balance in the election later this year.

"For long-time residents of Florida, who enjoy the state’s low taxes, safe streets and sensible pro-business policies, the recent special election was their worst nightmare come true," Peek wrote.

"Millions of people have moved to the Sunshine State in recent years, particularly during the pandemic, attracted to a pleasant quality of life, an unobtrusive government and, for sure, wonderful weather.

"Among that throng have been many Democrats fleeing New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California and other blue states, driven out mainly by those states’ burdensome taxes and high crime rates.

"What are voters thinking? Do they really want to kill the golden goose that has made Florida so livable? Were they lashing out against Donald Trump, willing to sacrifice the benefits of GOP administration just to show their fury?"

Peek has since suggested a "winning message" of "affordability" could be a game-changer in Florida this year, though it would not be enough to kill off the GOP's super majority in Florida.

"The Palm Beach seat-flip was not the only upset recently scored by Democrats in Florida," Peek wrote. "In another special election, Democrat Brian Nathan appears poised to win a state Senate seat in West Tampa and parts of Hillsborough County formerly held by a Republican.

"Most startling was the election last December of the first Democrat to become mayor of Miami in almost 30 years.

"Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by roughly 1.5 million. They have a supermajority in the state House, which won’t be threatened even if Nathan wins. But Democrats are targeting Florida, and across the nation they are, ironically, winning on the “affordability” issue — even though the most expensive places to live in the U.S. right now are all in blue states.

"Between now and the midterm elections, Republicans need to deliver programs that will lower the cost of living."

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