S/O called in the 'rents (who brought their anxious dogs) to stay over for the week. While they are mostly here in an emotional support capacity, they are also helping re-paint the house. To add to it, her best friend stayed a night as well, bringing her cat, so the house has been bursting at the seams as guests come and go this past week (cousins visiting, other friends come for dinner, etc.). In an odd spot where I'm just being 'supportive' throughout it all, but goddamn dude. I need a break. I am thankful for the choice of job made in January, at least. It's way more flexible than I thought it would be. Though, I've had a few clarifying moments that I want to switch into project management, and stay in renewable development career-wise. Deciding to build up enough savings again, then start looking again next January. Would like to post my DeSantis blurb over the weekend once guests are gone. Small disclaimer, a fair bit of information I'm sourcing is word-of-mouth from friends & acquaintances who (A) work in or around lobbying/ists in FL, (B) are New College alum, (C) talk around town. Also, some of this is not as topical as the bills that are cooking in FL legislature now (which has a Republican supermajority)... this all to say, some information doesn't touch on all the most recent events, and my sources to articles may be a little lazy. I'd hope to have more bandwidth by the weekend to prove otherwise. The hope with the post is to draw a through-line in related FL news to show how we got here, and what yaboi Ronnie Ds agenda looks like at large for FL as a preview of what to expect if elected.
Looking forward to the Ronnie D content. I think Meatball Ron stands a good chance of winning the primary. He's more charismatic than I once thought, despite being a total weirdo in private, apparently. That doesn't bother me nearly as much as using an intentional mispronunciation as a litmus test for how submissive women he dated might be. But Ron's also recently realized that he'll have to stoop to Trump's level or lower to sling enough mud to counter Trump's attacks. Whether or not Tiny D can win the general election hinges on whether the economy tanks or not, I think. Among other issues, first and foremost, his and the GOP's efforts to literally erase the existence of trans people should be disqualifying. And it's not. Not enough people are aware or care enough about it to damage the GOP significantly at the ballot box. It's (still) got me real fucked up. It's still escalating. And that's why Chapelle's and others' jokes at marginalized groups, however minor anyone perceives the humor to be, are 100% unacceptable. In eras when these groups weren't being rapidly stripped OF THEIR RIGHT TO EXIST, maybe the jokes would be... almost OK? Also, did you see this? What a fascistic culture they've cultivated down there. Not like Greg Abbott's funhaus is much better, admittedly. Two of our largest states are abject experiments in minoritarian theocracy. Things are great.
Agreed on your first point. The GOP machine seems to have picked their favorite to back for quite some time. Purposely deleted a few lines in my op about the 'Thai' test... I expected some fresh takes or nuance from Last Week Tonight (where I was exposed to this). I was let down when they leaned into obscure potshots at his character. Granted, it's a comedy show at heart... but I'm beyond the thinking that the public really needs to be swayed on character before they decide how they vote - or that these pieces of information have any bearing in the political realm at all. A main gripe I have with center/center-left media and reddit is the same rhetoric was/is used with Trump, and it implies tests of character have meaning in the politics today. We still got Trump. Not shocked about the principal... a large amount of what I have outlined is centered around the push to reform education as a means to sway the future population. There's your sneak preview.