I’m just getting the details on the Disney thing. I’m a little confused about how this a punishment? It sounds like Disney just had their “powers” of paying police, fire departments, and medical workers revoked, which sounds to me that now the State of Florida has to pay for it instead of Disney. They were apparently also paying 163 million USD per year in tax revenue, and now they don’t have to pay anything?

It sounds like this is just a trick to get Disney out of a bad deal, or the Republican politicians really are as stupid as Cletus the slack jawed yokel.

That is why I want to see Disney sue.  As stated by just about every lawyer including conservative lawyers with clear speech from Desantis himself and a emergency session just to pull Disney self governing status, there is ample enough evidence to show that what Desantis did was in direct result of Disney support against the bill. Republicans continue to say how much they support the constitution, free speech and government overreach so this will be a classic example to see if the party has truly turned into something totally different then what they claim.

Oh it gets even better.  Disney actually has to agree to the whole thing in order for it to go through anyway because of how the special district is structure.  In other words, Desantis cannot just vote to eliminate it.  I also believe if I read correctly, the 2 counties that would take up all that debt and also have to provide services to Disney which would be at a loss because its at a loss for Disney already have to vote on it.  I highly doubt anybody who owns a home is going to just smile at 2K addition to their property taxes just to stick it to Disney which as you stated doesn't look like its really sticking anything to them.  It seems like a clown show where they knee jerked into something they really did not think through and I believe it can have some serious campaign issues if Desantis looks to run in 2024.

On another note, the tapes of Kevin McCarthy is pure gold. I pretty much thought that the Jan 6 investigation would be a total waste of time and resources but the investigation has turned up nuggets of gold.

That's been the case for ages now - if they were ever really anything different in the first place.

This Disney tiff is mostly just theater. It doesn't matter if nothing actually changes so long as his supporters hear a soundbite or skim a headline that he's somehow sticking it to 'woke' Disney. Anything to distract the masses from talking about any real issues plaguing the country; that's what the culture war is all about.

True on both points.  One thing I am starting to hear from my republican friends is that they are beginning to be uncomfortable with the direction of the party.  Usually the party is direction of where politicians believe their constituents reside so what Desantis is doing is just his reflection of what he believes republicans want.  What I find interesting is that there are rumblings that he is straying a little to far to the fringe which is something I believe he doesn't want if he truly believes he has a shot in 2024.

The two counties involved, Orange and Osceola, are heavily blue. DeSantis doesn't care if they get hurt, and neither do his supporters in the Panhandle and The Villages. To them, that's a feature and not a bug.

If there was any doubt that Fox News is literal state propaganda, take a look at the marching orders Hannity received from the White House on Election Day:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/politics/mark-meadows-texts-2319/index.html

I think the US needs better libel and slander laws. If anyone going to accuse someone of being a child rapist, they better have evidence or prepare to be punished by the law.

The payoff is just in Disney being able to more easily do things it needs to do for the park. For example, Universal is opening a third park, and need to have roads and such build to lead to the park. They need to work with the city to build it, and the city is more reluctant to spend than Universal is. Things like permits are sped up because there is no need to for beurocracy. Disney also gets some money for fire and police services and stuff.

Basically Disney has to pay more up front, but suppose you could get a new hotel or even a new park opened a year or so early, that's going to make up for it, and you have to compromise less on what you want to do.

Oh and the counties have to assume Disney's debt of 2 billion dollars. 

The point of this, which is incredibly unlikely to work, is to literally show that he's a fascist who will use government power against people who oppose his views. That's what appeals to the republican party. It's been that way for a while, but post Trump they can say the quiet part out loud. The people who have a problem with Dr Seuss' estate voluntarily ceasing production of one of his crappiest books or Mars putting an MnM in regular shoes instead of heels has no problem with the government retaliating against a private entity for their speech. Because it's never been about freedom of speech, it's about freedom of their speech and censorship of anyone else's.