A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
Think dad jokes are just a phase? Well MRI scans show that becoming a father literally alters a man's neurological blueprint. On Father's Day, we explore the incredible biological upgrade that transforms men into caregivers.
Internet sensation April the Giraffe gave birth to her son, Tajiri, live online in front of millions of people this April. The baby giraffe met his father, Oliver, shortly after, but the two have not seen each other since. This week, at the Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York, the three were reunited. It made for a wonderfully memorable moment and delighted fans all over the world.
Tajiri may be the star, but I'm going to wish Oliver a happy Father's Day and the entire family a happy World Giraffe Day!
Next, the reason both World Giraffe Day and National Seashell Day are today, the Summer Solstice. Watch WMAR-2 News' Science with Stevie: Summer Solstice.
The sun is ready for its big moment in the spotlight! Meteorologist Stevie Daniels talks about the summer solstice in this Science with Stevie segment!
Here's to Stevie becoming a mom next month so her viewers can wish her a happy Mother's Day next year!
It was last year and I normally celebrate it that day to avoid pile-ups like today's, but I wasn't feeling it. I'm also not feeling like turning today into the Sunday entertainment feature. I'll make up for it later in the week, when I plan on sharing a particularly doomy preview of the drum corps season, which begins Friday. In the meantime, stay tuned for World Rainforest Day, Detroit-style Pizza Day, and the first of two WorldUFODays. I love holidays!
When you look at Federally declared disasters across the U.S., there’s a surprising blank spot in the Southwest region. What’s up with that? Is the Southwest really a safe haven from natural disasters? Or is there a more sinister explanation for this giant hole in the map? On this episode of Weathered, we talk to the folks who made this map, and some of the world’s leading experts on climate risk to find out what’s really going on.
My wife and I watched this video together on the big-screen TV in our bedroom. I guessed the lack of natural disasters in the American Southwest was because there aren't a lot of people there and that the dark secret was the heat. The first guess wasn't true; the Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler, AZ MSA has an estimated population of 5,228,938 while the Las Vegas–Henderson–North Las Vegas, NV MSA has an estimated population of 2,407,226.
The second guess was dead on. That's no surprise, as I blogged about Phoenix being the hottest city in the U.S. in 2021 and mentioned its record heat in 2023twice. What is surprising is that heat waves don't count as federal natural disasters covered by FEMA. The commenters found the reason dismaying: "You don't get disaster declarations for mortality. You only do it for economics." Ecurewitz responded "That’s the most American statement ever." RandomAngle9 commented "The fact that heat doesn't 'qualify' as a disaster because it doesn't destroy buildings, only people, says everything about how we value human life in policy." Speaking of policy, Florida banning municipalities from protecting workers from heat shows that DeSantis wasn't only bad on COVID-19. He and the rest of the Republicans on Florida are bad on climate and weather, too.
I've never mentioned cane toads on this blog before, but they're one of the organisms my students use for their answers to a question on the final exam for my organismal biology class. Since I just graded those exams yesterday, cane toads are fresh on my mind. That's a story my students tell me.
They prefer suburban living, they’ll eat anything in sight (including each other), and…they’re taking over the world?
This Earth Month, say hello to the Cane Toad: the epitome of failing upward. Wishfully introduced as a solution to a problem, cane toads have become the problem themselves. They’ve established themselves as an extremely successful invasive species… by doing nothing? Join the Fascinating Fails team as we look into how Cane Toads keep taking over ecosystems and what an ‘invasive species’ means in the era of climate change. Plus, find out ways YOU can help fight the climate crisis—it’s as simple as taking a picture!
Florida, the new home of BurmesePythons, Lionfish, and Giant African Snails, now has Cane Toads, too. I wish I could say I'm surprised. I also wish I could be more surprised that they are spreading north through the Sunshine State because of climatechange, but I've known that Burmese Pythons could spread that far north (they already have) and have been projected to be able to inhabit areas as far north as southern Maryland, so I'm not.
Did you know that Florida is home to 180 species of non-native reptiles and amphibians—and that’s JUST reptiles and amphibians! Luckily, there are a few ways to get things under control. Fascinating Fails host Maren Hunsberger tells us how!
Yikes! Florida has a worse problem with invasive species than I thought and I already knew it was bad!
Thanks to my students, Danny A. on Twitch, and PBS Terra for reminding me about Cane Toads. I learned a lot of new things today, which makes today a good day. Now stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature. Maybe I'll finally continue my Emmy Awards series!
The House and Senate unanimously pass a bill to make the bald eagle the U.S. national bird. Preston Cook, co-Chair of the National Bird Initiative for the National Eagle Center, joins Meet the Press NOW to discuss his push to make it happen.
Behold the power of impassioned and determined scholarship!
For the last 50 years, Americans have flocked to the warm, sunny South. But, as climate change makes extreme heat, hurricanes, wildfire and flooding worse, will that trend ever STOP? Well, some regions might just be showing signs of a reversal, and they hold lessons for what other areas might expect as the world continues to warm.
I wrote "I just wish that the economics were such that people would move here instead of into harm's way. That would make a great subject for another post" two years ago in PBS Terra asks 'What is the RISKIEST Region in the US as the Climate Changes?' In the case of Louisiana, which 'Weathered: Earth's Extremes' asks 'What Happens When the Land Runs Out?' covered, the answer is a combination of low income and high cost. As long as people are making money, they will continue moving into and living in high-risk states like Florida and Texas, although Miami-Dade County is starting to lose population. That looks like a good story for another day. Instead, I'm shifting to the other coast for Maiya May explaining The Real Reason California Is Burning.
The Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, and Kenneth fires in the greater Los Angeles area have already caused catastrophic damage and loss of life. They also figure to be the most expensive in terms of property damage in California, and even US history.
What caused these fires? Why are they happening during what's typically the wettest time of year in Southern California? Is climate change to blame? And how will this affect the insurance industry moving forward? Weathered's Maiya May explains.
I found out last week that the home where I grew up was in a mandatory evacuation zone. In the 25 years I lived there, that never happened. In addition, I don't recall my family ever telling me that had happened during the three decades I've lived in Michigan until this past week.*
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*I[n] case anyone is wondering, the house is O.K. It was more than a mile from the edge of the fire at its greatest extent.
My old house was under mandatory evacuation orders during these fires as well, but survived again. Whew!
PBS Terra retitled the video in the second post "The Insurance Industry Can't Weather Another Wildfire Season Like This UNLESS..." which I think is more accurate. As the second video points out, the fires have caused between $135 billion and $150 billion in damages so far. Yikes!
That's about as topical as I care to get today. Stay tuned for more evergreen and holiday entries until the end of the month.
In this story from Weathered: Earth’s Extremes, Maiya May pours over giant risk maps with NASA scientist Marshall Shephard to learn the most significant impacts of our changing climate on each region of the US. Using some of the most powerful computers in the world, scientists can project how a warmer world will change our weather. She finds an answer to the question: where is the riskiest place to live as the climate warms, and how can we prepare?
The answer is Miami/Dade County/Broward County in Florida, the parishes just east of New Orleans in Louisiana, and Los Angeles County in California. Meanwhile, Oakland County is slightly more vulnerable than I had thought, but much better than Los Angeles. That makes me extra glad I moved from Southern California to Michigan 35 years ago!
In the second of our pre-election series we look at America and... climate change. How could Kamala Harris or Donald Trump shape the global response to the climate crisis?
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As one of the world’s largest producers of fossil fuels and carbon emissions, the US plays a pivotal role in addressing climate change. The environmental policies of the next president could reshape American industry and the economy, while influencing the global fight against climate change.
Sumi Somaskanda speaks to the BBC’s climate editor Justin Rowlatt and Carl Nasman, who covers US climate issues for the BBC.
Project 2025 is calling for the breaking up of the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA). Monica Medina, former Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, joins Morning Joe to discuss as Hurricane Milton is set to hit Florida.
That's damage that's already been done and needs to be repaired. I'd rather not imagine the impact of breaking up NOAA, which paid my salary twice. That would make the consequences of extremeweather and other natural disasters worse.
This year’s presidential election will determine the fate of our democracy and, with it, hard-won environmental and climate gains. Project 2025, the conservative playbook for another Trump term, promises to completely eviscerate climate policy and empower Big Oil. Activist and author Bill McKibben and Monica Medina, a former top climate official at the State Department, DoD, and NOAA, join Ali Velshi to discuss what’s at stake this November. 'Biden has done more to support clean energy by far than any president before,' says McKibben. Trump “won’t just politicize the weather – he will weaponize it,” warns Medina.
Not only did McKibben imagine what a U.S. without NOAA would be like, he compared it to convictedcriminalDonald Trump's response to the pandemic, "if we don't know, then we don't have to talk about it." He also brought up Ron DeSantis forbidding mention of climate change in Florida's official documents, all while the Sunshine State was already facing one of the worst hurricane seasons forecast. So far, that dire prediction is coming true. Speaking of which, Trump weaponizing the weather against his enemies isn't a prediction; it already happened during his time as President.
I have three more MSNBC videos about Project 2025 and climate policy to share, but I have papers to correct and dinner to grill, so I'm saving them for part 9. In the meantime, stay tuned for a highlights post of tonight's Saturday Night Live as the Sunday entertainment feature. Ariana Grande and Stevie Nicks!
The most disturbing policy proposals for a second Trump presidency are all found in Project 2025, including a plot to destroy civil rights protections and deny the existence of racism in America. Michael Harriot and Jonathan Capehart discuss how the creators of the 900-page document plan to upend many American lives.
I have the same reaction to ceasing collection of data on race that I had to prohibiting funding of gun violence research at the CDC and NIH; it's an act of scientific censorship and I oppose it. One of these decades, it might no longer be necessary, but the U.S. is not there yet.
MSNBC Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner dives into the potential financial consequences of Project 2025, the 920 page policy manifesto by the conservative group the Heritage Foundation: higher taxes for lower-income Americans, increased student loan payments, and major cuts to Medicaid.
Those are all bad things and the "higher taxes for lower-income Americans" is something baked into the 2017 tax "reform," which I examined in The tax bill and the U.S. economy in 2018 and beyond, when I wrote "The tax cuts will expire exactly in the middle of that span in 2027." That's very bad timing and the tax plan in Project 2025 would make it permanent.
VP Harris called out Project 2025 at her first campaign rally in Milwaukee today. Stephanie Ruhle breaks down exactly how the proposed tax plan will impact everyday Americans with Juanita Tolliver and Stuart Stevens.
As Steve Rattner pointed out and Stuart Stevens repeated, Project 2025's tax proposal is not popular. That's worth reiterating. Work that eye!
Monique Worrell was suspended from her position as the elected State Attorney in Orlando after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made baseless accusations against her, claiming without any reason that her policies led to an increase in violent crime. Last month, the mostly DeSantis-appointed Florida Supreme Court refused to reinstate her. “What we’re seeing here in Florida is a preview to Project 2025,” says Worrell. Her removal, she argues, effectively disenfranchises everyone who voted for her and reverses years of progress.
Ugh, Ron DeSantis. His "anti-woke" actions are still causing trouble long after he dropped out after finishing second in Iowa. They also serve as proof of concept for Project 2025's proposals to reshape government. That makes him a bad example.
World Snake Day on July 16th urges increased awareness of the wide variety of species around the world. With around 3,500 species, finding a snake that fascinates you or that was unknown to you previously won't be difficult.
Ever heard of the phrase "when pet pythons outgrow their owners"? Well, host Shane Campbell-Staton is about to take us on an adventure to find out what happens next in this episode of Human Footprint. Join Shane as he meets bounty hunter Donna Kalil, exotic animal trader Hillary Dupont, and biologists Matthew McCollister and Kristen Hart as they battle the invasive Burmese Pythons of the Everglades.
HappyVernalEquinox! I'm passing on the science of the day this year to celebrate with the next installment of marching music for primaries and caucuses. I'm working my way more or less east to west starting at Ohio, represented by one DCI corps, three DCA corps, and a Rose Parade band. I kick off the music to watch and listen while waiting for results with with Bluecoats | #2023 | The Garden of Love | Bon Iver - ____45_____
Canton, Ohio's Bluecoats perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2023 production, "The Garden of Love," during the 2023 DCI World Championships hosted August 10-12 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Canton, OH | 2nd Place | 97.738
Canton, Ohio's Bluecoats perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "Riffs and Revelations," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
While Blue Devils won and Boston Crusaders tied for second, this was the show everyone talked about in 2022, and this was probably the most talked about moment.
From Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University Marching Band performing at the 133rd Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade on Saturday, January 1, 2022.
The World is heading for a dramatic global temperature increase as result of the polar ice caps melting and sea levels rising. And not even The Most Magical Place on Earth can wish it away. So here is an in-depth analysis of how climate change is predicted to impact Walt Disney World by 2053 and what they will need to do to mitigate the biggest challenges.
Special thanks to Bright Sun Films, Hey Brickey, TPM Vids, Midway to Main Street, Drew The Disney Dude.
Fan and travel accounts like DSNY Newscast and those he thanked aren't the only ones to notice the climate projections for Orlando. WGRZ-TV in Buffalo uploaded Climate Minute - It's A Hot World After All in Disney World three years ago.
By far, the number one vacation booked this time of year is Disney World in Orlando, FL. Florida’s weather is a welcome reprieve from a Western New York winter with sunshine, warmth and some may even appreciate the humidity. But those hot and humid days are getting even more so because of climate change. A study from Climate Central projects that central Florida may see an extreme jump in 95 degree days in the next 80 years: from 6 days to an astounding 127 days.
Add Climate Central to First Street Foundation as a source predicting more days of higher temperatures for Disney World.
Jack reversed proximate cause and effect and ignored the ultimate cause in his video description. Higher temperatures will melt the ice caps, which will then raise sea levels. Higher temperatures are the result of increasing greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere because of burning fossil fuels. Disney is doing something to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels by investing in solar energy, which Jack of DSNY portrayed as an effort at energy independence. Rob Plays of Midway to Main Street examined this effort when he asked How Much Solar Energy Does Disney World Generate?
Disney owns a whole lot of land in Florida, a state that’s known as the sunshine state. It’s almost a perfect setup for solar power, and it’s why Disney has two solar farms. Today, let’s take a look at just how much solar energy they’re using, and where they can go from there.
One of the stories I've been following but haven't blogged about here yet is how climatechange and extremeweather have caused insurance companies to stop writing policies in California and raise rates in Florida. I think I was just waiting for the right video to come along. Fortunately, PBS Terra uploaded that video Tuesday when it asked Will Climate Change Pop the Housing Bubble?
Remember the 2008 Financial Crisis? Experts warn that the same thing may be happening again, but this time, CLIMATE CHANGE is the culprit. Increasing natural hazards, from wildfires and hurricanes to rising sea levels and catastrophic flooding are threatening the very foundation of our real estate system in huge swaths of the country. State Farm, All State and Farmers Insurance all stopped writing new policies in the entire state of California. And we're seeing similar stories unravel in other states due to different threats, like in Florida and Louisiana. Could the real estate bubble be popping? Where else might be affected?
My answer to the question is by itself, no, but climate change is likely to make the coming real estate price drop worse, at least in places where climate-fueled weather disasters have become more common and severe. Real estate prices follow the Kuznets Cycle, a fifteen-to-twenty year rise and fall that reflects infrastructure investment and supply, which then has effects on demand. This averages out to eighteen years. It was because I knew about this cycle that I was able to recognize the signs of a market top in 2005 and sell in 2006. I also recognized the signs of coming out of a market bottom in 2014, which helped create the conditions for my wife and I to buy a house that year. Eighteen years after the last market top in 2005 is 2023, so residential real estate prices falling are already baked into the cake. We are due. Both the graph in the video and the one below that I included in The tax bill and the U.S. economy in 2018 and beyond that still updates show that home prices may have already peaked.
The irony of the pandemic, as the first video points out, is that "it looks like more affluent people are taking the opportunity to move into better housing in the suburbs. If one has to shelter in place, then one might find a better place to find shelter." Let's see how long that lasts as gas pricesrise while workers return to the office.
Then the public health emergencies ended, accelerating the trend of returning to physical work, as I already have. Oh, and the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates, making borrowing more expensive. All of those may have contributed to the dip in home prices during the past couple of years followed by a recent rise near to the previous high. I expect that to be followed by stagnation, if not an outright drop. That will be especially true in parts of the country where insurers will no longer write new policies to for homeowners that satisfy the conditions of their mortgages.
Each year on July 19th, people across the United States fill their glasses with a rum-based cocktail and toast to National Daiquiri Day. So, raise your glass and join all of the others in this celebration!
#NationalDaiquiriDay
Daiquiri is a family of cocktails whose main ingredients are rum, citrus juice (typically lime), and sugar.
On this episode of How to Drink, I’m partnering again with Luxardo and Anchor Distilling to bring you the Hemingway Daiquiri! This version is a classic alternative to the standard Daiquiri and my personal favorite way to prepare one, and the story goes that Ernest Hemingway had diabetes and he developed this recipe to be a less sweet version of his favorite drink. If you’re like me and love Hemingway then you should give this cocktail a try! Cheers!
That's not strictly true it turns out. The truth is that this drink was already on the menu at the Floridita bar in Havana Cuba where Hemingway was a regular where it was called Daiquiri #3. Hemingway was such a fan of the drink that it was eventually named after himself and a legend was born. Actually, it's also likely that it wasn't such an organic naming evolution, but rather that 'ol Papa Hemingway himself invented the whole diabetes story and named the drink after himself intentionally, he was of course a writer and renowned self promoter. I've read that the drink was also sometimes called a "Papa Doble" or "Papa Double" as he was known to order them "with twice as much rum and no sugar", which sounds likely. The daiquiri is of course a famous Cuban drink and there's no reason you shouldn't use Cuban rum here, in fact the original recipe calls for it. For me though, the Hemingway Daiquiri is particularly well suited to showing off a Rhum Agricole and that's my preferred configuration for this drink. If you prefer it with a Cuban, or a Peurto Rican, or really any rum at all feel free to make it that way, you really can't go wrong!
Hemingway Daiquiri Ingredients:
- .25 oz or 7 ml Luxardo Maraschino
- .25 oz or 7 ml Grapefruit Juice
- .75 oz or 21 ml Lime Juice
- 2 oz or 60 ml White Rhum Agricole
- Shake over Cracked Ice
- Pour in a Coupe
- Garnish with a Lime Wheel
I did not know that Hemingway was a diabetic, but that's in his Wikipedia entry, so I'll provisionally accept it as true. That means two things to me: I share something with a famous author and I learned something new, so it's a good day.
Tuesday marks two years since historic protests paralyzed the island of Cuba as hundreds took to the streets calling for change.
That was last Tuesday, which was National Mojito Day, not yesterday. I usually don't take serious looks at Cuba that day because it's also World Population Day. Priorities. Besides, today usually falls during Captive Nations Week, which gives double meaning to examining the island nation's issues today.
That's it for National Daiquiri Day and Captive Nations Week. Stay tuned for Moon Day as I finish my retrospective of Apollo missions 50 years later.
Disney World really is a kingdom.
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Have you ever wondered why Disney World is located where it is? Or how it came to be such a massive, self-contained universe? It’s a story that involves secret land deals, special districts, and, now, a corporation and a government locked in a feud.
The story of why Disney World is in Florida marries business and governmental concerns about the creation of the massive property. The engineering ranges from unique physical construction (like the creation of a lake) to unique legal construction (like the creation of a self-running government that could even build its own sewer system).
I knew much of the history already, since I've been following theme park YouTube accounts for as long as I've been blogging about theRetailApocalypse by that name, but I enjoyed seeing what a news organization did with the story instead of a travel or fan channel. Vox has different interests than Defunctland, Yesterworld, Rob Plays/Midway to Main Street, Offhand Disney, Expedition Theme Park, or DFBGuide, whose videos I've embedded here; law and government are secondary concerns to them, while Vox considers those topics central to their history of Disney World. I hope my readers found Vox's perspective on Disney World interesting and entertaining as well.
Normally, I would have shared this video tomorrow for the Sunday entertainment feature, but I have something else planned — 30 years of Jurassic Park! Stay tuned.
The political feud between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney has been heating up for the last few months. In April 2023, Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against DeSantis, accusing the governor of waging a ‘targeted campaign of government retaliation.” DeSantis, who’s preparing for a 2024 presidential campaign on the GOP ticket, says he isn’t backing down. So how did this all begin? And who will come out on top, once it’s all done?
I'm being a good environmentalist by recycling my reaction from last week.
[DeSantis is] "making himself look even worse while getting liberals to side with a big corporation. Nice trick, but not the one he's trying to pull."
At the time, I thought DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party hadn't fallen into the rift between them and big business. Now, I think they haven't just fallen, but jumped into the widening and deepening chasm. That calls for more popcorn.
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[The] observation that Republican primary voters are more interested in cultural issues than economic issues fits the shift in “the Republican Party’s base moving from country club to country” as CNN quoted Tom Davis, a former Republican representative from northern Virginia, in 2017. That's what I've been seeing since 2012.
[M]ajor U.S. political parties don't have consistent ideologies. They do, however, have consistent core interest groups and Gingrich is throwing one of them, the northeastern business interests, which have been with the GOP since it formed out of the remains of the Whigs in the 1850s, under the bus. That ended up being smart in the short run, given that he was angling for the votes of Southern populists, who don't care much for the northeastern business interests and haven't since before the founding of the republic.
DeSantis is hoping that will work in his favor.
Based on the polling data CNBC showed and the interviews with DeSantis supporters in Florida, it has so far. It remains to be seen how well it will continue to work now that Ron DeSantis is officially running for President against Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, and, should he actually get the nomination, in the general election.
Follow over the jump for videos by The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo! Finance on the subject.
Ron DeSantis is officially in the 2024 race, leaning on his partisan and polarizing approach to the Covid-19 pandemic. But, Mehdi says, his actual Covid record is nothing to brag about, and we shouldn’t let DeSantis rewrite the history of the pandemic in the Sunshine State.
Next, the top twelve U.S. States by population 2020 and 2022 from Wikipedia.
The top five states by official COVID-19 deaths and population are the same. The only difference is that Florida and New York switch places between third and fourth. But there are more important statistics, as Mehdi Hasan pointed out in his tweets promoting this video.
Don't let DeSantis gaslight you on Covid.
Florida has a higher per capita death rate than CA; has had a majority of its deaths since vaccines unlike CA & NYC; & a higher per capita death rate than other states with elderly populations. I brought receipts:https://t.co/XAAyiNi1S6
Remember that time Elon Musk unveiled the new Cybertruck, and when he went to demonstrate the vehicle's supposedly "bulletproof glass," two of the windows smashed? The Twitter rollout of the Ron DeSantis campaign went kinda like that.
LOL. The glitchy opening of the DeSantis-Musk Twitter space stole the show and made for an inauspicious opening to DeSantis's campaign.
The presidential race has a new big-name candidate as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially announced his run Wednesday. The Republican is a headline machine, shaping national fights over COVID policies, education and immigration. But he faces an uphill climb against former ally Donald Trump. Lisa Desjardins discussed the race with former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who served in Congress with DeSantis.
That's a good summary and former Representative Carlos Curbelo at least made a good effort at answering "why Twitter?" PBS NewHour ignored the technical glitches. It was trying to be sober and impartial, which MSNBC certainly wasn't.
Always love your prose. Pass the popcorn indeed. Always a bad policy to penalize a company since they "cannot" move. My guess is Disney will setup shop in a location that is more amenable to their business I threats and move the facility over time. Opportunity for GA or LA to get some jobs.
I gave a more practical action in my response.
Thank you. I hope I have enough popcorn. As for Disney moving the theme parks, they won't, although they might reconsider relocating Imagineering and Consumer Products from California to Florida. That's more than 1,000 jobs that the Orlando Metro Area won't get.
Disney upped the ante in its battle with Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, and it cost his state 2,000 white-collar jobs. Disney is scrapping plans to build a $1 billion office complex in Florida, citing “changing business conditions,” according to a memo provided by a Disney spokesperson.
Occasionally, I write that I wish I wasn't right. This isn't one of those times. I'm glad I saw this coming, I'm glad for the Disney employees who no longer have to move from California to Florida, and I'm glad Disney stuck it to Ron DeSantis the Friday before he declares he's running for Republican presidential nomination! As I last wrote in Disney sues DeSantis, "he's making himself look even worse while getting liberals to side with a big corporation. Nice trick, but not the one he's trying to pull."
At the time, I thought DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party hadn't fallen into the rift between them and big business. Now, I think they haven't just fallen, but jumped into the widening and deepening chasm. That calls for more popcorn.
Follow over the jump for more reactions from myself and others as I continue today's Sunday entertainment feature.
The legal filing is the latest salvo in a more than year-old feud between Disney and DeSantis that has engulfed the governor in criticism as he prepares to launch an expected presidential bid in the coming months.
DeSantis, who has framed himself as a Republican firebrand able to deftly implement his conservative agenda without drama, has dived headlong into the fray with the beloved company and major tourism driver, as business leaders and White House rivals bash his stance as a rejection of the small-government tenets of conservatism.
“We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state,” said DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske. “This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law.”
The suit was filed minutes after a Disney World oversight board appointed by DeSantis voted to void a deal that placed theme park decisions in the company's hands.
Yahoo Finance legal reporter Alexis Keenan joins Yahoo Finance Live anchors to discuss the ongoing feud between Disney and Governor DeSantis, with the latest details surrounding Disney's lawsuit filing.
I hope that Disney gets its relief, but be patient, because the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.
Follow over the jump for reactions that put the conflict in context.
