Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 3.10.22

By Peter Schorsch

Good Thursday morning.

More often than not during this Legislative Session, Republican policy initiatives seemed like scripts from bad sci-fi movies designed to terrify and divide the electorate.

They claimed the title of family values champion by passing laws designed to make parents believe Democrats and other varlets were coming for their children.

It’s not true, of course, but Gov. Ron DeSantis and friends stuck to their game plan. They made the Session largely about parental rights against the malevolent forces that want to turn their kids into Joe Biden-loving zombies.

Every good melodrama needs villains, and DeSantis provided those. He trumped up a narrative that public schools are little more than indoctrination centers run by vile libs. Republicans equated mandatory face masks with torture, then DeSantis tried to push the false narrative that masks offer no protection against COVID-19.

He was wrong, but that doesn’t seem to bother him.

They also implied there must be something inherently morally wrong with any woman who wants a legal abortion.

A Governor with designs on the presidency turned transgender kids into a campaign prop.

At a news conference in Jacksonville, DeSantis suggested teachers are “telling kids they may be able to pick genders and all of that.”

DeSantis attended Yale and Harvard, so he should know that statement is garbage.

Republicans feel pretty good about the passage of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Democrats and teachers hate that idea, so Republicans believe the bill must be good.

They ignored that students walked out of class in protest in some districts around the state. I mean, shouldn’t they have a voice in this?

Republicans sold the bill as a way to protect those in kindergarten through the third grade from hearing inappropriate talk about sex and gender identity.

If the bill stopped there, it wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t think those youngest minds should be exposed to that, either.

However, that part of the bill is a misdirection play. It also requires teachers to refrain from any topic in any grade that isn’t “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”

That’s a little murky, which, I suppose, is what supporters of the bill wanted.

What’s not murky is that supporters aimed this bill at the LGBTQ+ community.

That’s not just me saying that, by the way.

Christina Pushaw, who (for reasons beyond understanding) remains DeSantis’ press secretary, let that secret out with a recent tweet. She called it the “anti-groomer bill” and said if you oppose it, “you are probably a groomer, or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4- to 8-year-old children. Silence is complicity.”

Groomers are those who use a process to abuse and exploit children — yes, that happens. However, Pushaw implied anyone who supports gay rights must be a pedophile.

Pushaw later said she tweeted after hours and on her personal account. She, of course, has the First Amendment right of free speech. However, when you essentially speak for the Governor, there are no “after hours.” Your personal opinion reflects on the Governor.

Since DeSantis let it slide, I guess he agreed with her.

This appears to be a winning strategy for the Governor and his party. They create an enemy where there is none so they can slay it and brag to their voters.

The voters might love that, but history probably won’t be as kind.

___

Mitch Rubin did not want a funeral, but those who knew the longtime CEO of the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association will have an opportunity to pay their respects this evening.

A visitation will be held for Rubin from 4:30—6:30 p.m. at Culley’s MeadowWood Funeral Home, 700 Timberlane Rd., in Tallahassee.

Rubin, who died at age 62 last weekend after an extended battle with cancer, was a fixture at FWBA and was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of beverage law. But he was also known for his steel-trap memory, incredible attention to detail, frank honesty, and unflinching kindness to everyone he encountered.

For those who cannot attend the visitation, FBWA announced earlier this week that it is working with Florida State University, where Rubin earned his law degree, to establish the Mitchell J. Rubin scholarship with a $250,000 initial gift. The organization said it will provide details on how others may donate to the scholarship fund in the coming days.

Rubin, a Miami native, is survived by four siblings: Debbie Jordan, Janice Glowacki, David Rubin and Andrea Skinner.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

—@EdYong209: There is still time. Two years into this, I’m not especially optimistic about our chances of learning from our mistakes or honoring our dead. But fatalism is a luxury that we can’t afford it, now, or when dealing with the variants and viruses to come.

—@GovHawaii: Hawaiʻi’s indoor statewide mask mandate will expire on March 25 at 11:59 p.m. when the current emergency proclamation relating to COVID-19 ends. It’s taken the entire community to get to this point — with lowered case counts and hospitalizations.

—@Redistrict: Dems have thwarted GOP gerrymanders in NC, OH, PA and WI this cycle by winning key statewide contests (judicial/gov). If sole power rested w/ legislatures, there’d be almost no constraints b/c they could perpetuate their own rule via — you guessed it — gerrymandering.

—@Mkraju: How Congress legislates: Members spend months negotiating spending bill and finally release 2,741-page bill at 1:34a … House Rules sends release at 2:42a saying rule was approved in Committee … Later Wednesday morning, full House will approve $1.5T bill that members haven’t read

—@HillaryClinton: Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill is the latest example of the performative cruelty that defines the GOP brand today. It will only serve to hurt children and families. People who believe in freedom and equality should oppose these ugly measures at every opportunity.

—@jcp717: The Florida Republican social agenda this Session was the equivalent of promoting the flat earth theory. They passed things that are in complete denial of reality. Whether it is vaccines, LGBTQ, abortion or immigration, this denial of how the world really works is just imbecilic.

—@BradHerold: Just checking in on Tallahassee. Seems crazy to me there are Republicans in the Capitol who haven’t figured out it’s Ron DeSantis‘ world, and they’re just living in it. Turn on a TV.

—@MDixon55: Wait around all week, then get billions of funding in dozens of pages dropped an hour before the meeting

—@DeFede: 6:43 p.m. and the Senate has adjourned for the day — Ileana Garcia never showed up. We will see if she is on the Senate floor tomorrow.

—@ChrisSprowls: The discovery of Edward Shackleton’s Endurance in the Antarctic is amazing. In addition to being one of the hardest ships to locate, it reignites one of the greatest leadership stories of all time & reminds us of “Shackleton’s Way.” Well done

—@Braedon: Gannett sites may not be spoofing their ad inventory anymore, but the fact that they were for so long calls into question the ad-tech industry’s ability to detect mistakes and fraud in the billions of ad auctions it facilitates.