He didn’t just attack liberals. He attacked the whole state. I guess he figured that he would impress everyone in California by telling us that his state is so much better. I suppose he probably did impress those at the Reagan library — they were the usual California GOP masochists who love to be humiliated by red staters. He’ll probably get some money out of it. But still, this seems like a poor way to introduce yourself : As he moves toward entering the 2024 presidential race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a pilgrimage to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Sunday, where the Republican accused leaders in blue states such as California of being “lockdown politicians” and charged that the nation’s coronavirus crisis created “a great test in governing philosophies.” Speaking to a sold-out audience, with some 1,300 tickets sold and nearly 1,100 in attendance, according to organizers, DeSantis touted how Florida has led the nation in net migration — even though that is a trend set into motion long before he became governor.
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He discussed what high school kids all want to talk about This is just sad: Scott Kercher, a beloved history teacher in New Jersey, dared to tackle some of the tough issues of our times, hosting frank conversations about racism and gender identity when he came to the 85% white school district of Sparta in Republican Sussex County. He won an award and statewiderecognition for his efforts as head of the district’s diversity council, but make no mistake: This is a cautionary tale. Now an effective leader who knew how to connect with kids is gone, thanks to an intrusion of right-wing politics that is threatening the quality of education in Sparta. It’s a powerful example of the kind of atmosphere that we do not want to build in our schools, where teachers are scared to speak up and nobody wants this job because of the political lurch that we’re living through right now. But let’s start at the beginning. In 2020, more than 400 former students wrote a letter in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, saying they didn’t think Sparta was doing enough to prepare them for a diverse world.
Charlie Sykes interviewed John Bolton and was surprisingly insistent: During our interview, we talked about his serial defense of Trump’s relations with Putin, his refusal to voluntarily testify in the impeachment proceedings, and his decision to write a book instead. I may have more to say tomorrow after you all have a chance to listen, but here’s sample. (The transcript is edited for clarity.) Charlie Sykes: [In your book, you write that Trump] said that it was a good idea to have these internment camps in China. He was offering favors to dictators, including the Turkish strongman. He did not know the United Kingdom was a nuclear power. He did not know that Finland was not part of Russia. And of course, you also write about what you colorfully called “The Drug Deal,” that was going down in Ukraine. You wrote about all of this, you put it in your book, but you wouldn’t testify voluntarily to the House when the impeachment of Donald Trump was up. Why not? John Bolton: I felt that the impeachment effort was very ill advised.
“New infrastructure projects still threaten communities today, critics say” An occasional hiccup in canvassing neighborhoods near the interstate is having political software direct volunteers to street numbers that don’t exist. The list says to knock at 372 on a block that dead ends at 310. That’s because when planners put through the interstate decades ago, they cut the neighborhood in two. The street numbers pick up on the other side of the interstate. It’s most likely a Black neighborhood. It seems there are plans to “remedy” some of that, Axios reports: In an attempt to reverse the socioeconomic harm of planning decisions made decades ago, the federal government is doling out $1 billion over five years to remove highways that divide communities. Yes, but: That’s a modest sum compared to the billions the government is pumping into new highway expansion projects that critics fear will repeat the same mistakes. Why it matters: Highways and rail lines are supposed to help people get to where they want to go. Yet infrastructure can also be a barrier that divides neighborhoods and cuts residents off from economic opportunity.
‘Crazier and crazier’ supplemental Gov. Wokety-woke DeWoke, the guy who dumps any woman who dares contradict him (see Pt. 1), means to bully Floridians into submission to his (they really are fascist) policies. That’s not BDE, as Kari Lake suggests, it’s a coward compensating (with lift shoes and or/bronzer). “DeSantis says ‘woke’ so often it begins to lose all meaning,” says John Oliver. Clearly. If there isn’t a Misanthropes Anonymous, there should be. With fewer than 12 steps. Digby covered some of this ground last night, but this Florida Man seems dangerous to more people than himself. Anyone ready to follow a guy like him might do anything. Other Florida Men already have.
Is CPAC done? Last Friday I took a look at the first day of this year’s CPAC gathering where it was obvious that the attendees were overwhelmingly Trump followers but the crowds were also thinner than usual, which says something —but nobody can agree on exactly what it is. Since that dispatch reporters and other observers of the event have characterized this CPAC as an unusually desultory affair that didn’t improve much as the days wore on. Speeches were sparsely attended and the presentation was lackluster. Everyone seemed bored with the outrage. Could it be that after seven long years of Trump-style politics, they’re finally getting worn out? According to this report from Laura Jedeed at The New Republic, attendees she spoke with felt that having the event in Washington was a mistake. They suggested that instead it should have been held in Orlando, as it was last year.
Bizarroworld is bigger than we knew They didn’t start the fire? Comments by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, were met with laughter at an international conference in India, when he said that the Ukraine war had been “launched against” his home country. Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, a politics and economics event in Delhi, Lavrov also claimed that Russia was trying to stop the war. “The war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us using Ukrainian people, of course, influenced the policy of Russia, including energy policy,” he said, briefly stumbling over his words as people in the audience laughed. Lavrov continued: “And the blunt way to describe what changed: we would not any more rely on any partners in the west. We would not allow them to blow the pipelines again,” in a reference to the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea in September. Contrary to Lavrov’s claim, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, launched an invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year, in what he called a “special military operation”. Right.
Florida has gone completely around the bend Maybe I’m wrong (I hope not) but I have a feeling that these monsters are going way too fast and are pushing the limits of what normal people will tolerate. If not, we are in big trouble: Florida legislators have proposed a spate of new laws that would reshape K-12 and higher education in the state, from requiring teachers to use pronouns matching children’s sex as assigned at birth to establishing a universal school choice voucher program. The half-dozen bills, filed by a cast of GOP state representatives and senators, come shortly before the launch of Florida’s legislative session Tuesday. Other proposals in the mix include eliminating college majors in gender studies, nixing diversity efforts at universities and job protections for tenured faculty, strengthening parents’ ability to veto K-12 class materials and extending a ban on teaching about gender and sexuality — from third grade up to eighth grade.
Taking ‘national divorce’ seriously Here’s a chilling thought for a Sunday morning: What if Vice President Pence had done what Donald Trump demanded and supported his Jan. 6 coup? David French ponders the consequences in The New York Times: In that moment, American peace and unity depended on the force of will of one single person, a man who stood up to a president, to the lawmakers in his own party who challenged the election, and to the howling mob that was crying out for his head. Just that is enough to make you pull the covers over your head and go back to sleep. French critiques Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposed “national divorce” in light of the last attempt at one in the 19th century. Yes, it’s unworkable. And yes, it’s insane. But what’s sanity got to do with it?