I don't think politicians who pander culture wars rhetoric have sincere values. They toss red meat around. I doubt DeSantis believes in any of his culture wars rhetoric.
You are entitled to your opinion, of course. In general, I would never trust any politician too much, no matter which side they are from.
Like I said, presidential candidates with sincere opinions on nuanced subject matter wouldn't used politically charged meme level vocabulary that provides no value to a discussion. This is precisely why Trump was divisive. He butted himself in on every ****ing Twitter drama latest Potato Head fake controversy right wing wants to spread that brainwashes the poor and middle class GOP base to completely ignore class inequality issues and freak out about imaginary homosexual groomers.
Cruz, did Harvard/Yale and so did that guy in Missouri, Hawley the both Senators who from 01/07 defended Trump and the assault on the Capitol. BTW Morals are VIP for the presidency. Sorry, Trumpsters and fellow travelers.
The US needs about 1 million plus workers to immigrate each year. How else can Commodore and others have waiters, lawn care workers etc. to complain about their lack of excellent service or excessive compensation. In the US births are a bit less than replacement something like .1% lower than death. In Mexico they are still something like 1.1 above deaths-- much lower than in the past. Meanwhile in Guatemala it is 2.5 births per death. Wish I could find the data again without too long of a search. It is good to have actual facts at times when forming opinions.
The company, Vertol Systems which DeSantis hired to fly the migrants has long and deep ties with FL Republicans including that the DeSantis public safety Czar used to be Vertol's corporate lawer. Also Matt Gaetz used to also work for Vertol Systems. There is no evidence that multiple bids were solicited as is required by the legislature and the DeSantis Administration hasn't come out with the details of how or why Vertol Systems was chosen. Vertol Systems website is down but prior to that it appeared to mainly be focused on operating helicopters. The actual flights were done by an Ohio based company Ultimate Jet Charters. A few days ago I did a rough calculation that showed that if the migrants were transported to Marthas Vineyard using regular commercial flights that could've been done for about $24,000 or 1/25th of the price that was paid by Florida. This might shed light on why it was so expensive. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article266177831.html Company hired to arrange DeSantis’ migrant flights is tied to high-level state official When Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration needed a company it could trust to carry out a controversial program to transport migrants to other states, it chose an unusual option. Although Destin-based Vertol Systems Company is in aviation, its primary business is training pilots for the military and providing helicopters across the globe. But the company was familiar to a key member of the DeSantis administration: Larry Keefe, the state’s “public safety czar” responsible for carrying out the governor’s anti-immigration programs. The company also has a private jet that flew from Florida to San Antonio a week before charter flights took 48 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. Before DeSantis hired Keefe, and before he was named U.S. Attorney for Florida’s Northern District by then-President Donald Trump, Keefe represented Vertol Systems in a dozen lawsuits between 2010 and 2017. Keefe led the company’s litigation strategy, suing former employees accused of misusing funds, contractors suspected of stealing company secrets and a local lawn care company that ran over a wire connected to one of the company’s helicopters. The state has paid Vertol Systems more than $1.56 million to, among other things, arrange last week’s migrant flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, which sparked outrage, a criminal investigation by a local sheriff and a federal lawsuit by some of the migrants. So far, Keefe’s ties to Vertol Systems are the best explanation of why the state hired the company. The DeSantis administration has disclosed few details about the secretive program, which is being paid for with $12 million in interest earned from federal COVID relief money. State officials haven’t said how they chose Vertol Systems, whether the state solicited multiple bids for the work as required by the Legislature, or even released the state’s contract with the company. Court documents and other records show the company is active in GOP politics. In addition to Keefe, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, whom Keefe hired before Gaetz was elected to Congress, also represented Vertol Systems in two 2010 lawsuits. The company and its owner, James Montgomerie, have given $27,000 to Republican politicians and political committees since 2005. Vertol Systems is also a partner in a company called Zeppelin Holdings LLC with Jay Odom, a prominent Okaloosa County developer and close associate of Gaetz. In 2009, Odom was indicted along with Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom and the then-president of Northwest Florida State College on charges of funneling state school construction funds to build a hangar for Odom’s business, Destin Jet. The charges were dropped, but in 2013, Odom pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in a separate case and was sentenced to six months in prison. Zeppelin Holdings LLC owns an eight-seat Cessna Citation jet that flew a similar course as the planes that went to Martha’s Vineyard. Flight tracking data shows that on Sept. 5, the week before the Martha’s Vineyard flights, Zeppelin’s Cessna flew from Destin to Tallahassee, stopped in Tampa, returned to Destin and then traveled to San Antonio, where it stayed until Sept. 7. Flight records for the same jet from the previous month show no trips to San Antonio. The jet returned to San Antonio again on Sept. 16, two days after the flight to Martha’s Vineyard had been completed. Tracking data shows that the jet remained at the San Antonio airport for an hour, and returned to Destin. Neither Keefe, Odom nor Vertol Systems responded to questions about whether the Zeppelin Holdings jet was authorized to participate in the governor’s initiative. More at link.
Illegal aliens in the UK have successfully sued the UK government. While it sounds weird, it isn't unique to the USA.
This is more reason why our immigration laws need to be more in line with the actual reality. Even if we built a wall there will still be a strong impetus for a lot of people to come here. There is a big supply of people wanting to come and a big demand of companies will to hire. As long as that exist the black market will step if there isn't legal avenues. That will mean more dead migrants, more coyotes smuggling people and other other contraband.
what group that's really hating this is the people trying to be legal immigrants but have to play that green card lotto. These people have degrees and work experience and following the rules to be a citizen. It's not fair for them.
@rocketsjudoka - moving that question from the other thread to here. Was DeSantis Shipping Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard a Crime? (justsecurity.org) Conclusion The treatment of the Migrants who were transported from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard has gripped the nation. There can be little doubt that it was wrong. There are also serious questions about whether it was legal. Some of those questions are being addressed in civil litigation. Others are under investigation criminally. Federal authorities are also reported to be considering the matter. We do not know the outcome of any of those proceedings, but we hope this analysis will be useful in at least the Bexar County law enforcement review and perhaps more broadly. We emphasize again that as far as we are aware, no determination has been made that the Texas criminal law has been violated. But the allegations are serious ones which merit close attention. We have attempted to contribute to that need for close attention in this review.
@bobrek I don't follow FL politics. Do you know if DeSantis used the attention he got from this to propose a solution to "illegal immigration"?
So two real questions: How are people with degrees and work experience following green card rules hurt by illegal immigrants? The illegal ones aren’t clogging the legal immigration system, taking up spots, or otherwise impacting the legal system. By definition, the illegal immigrants operate outside of the green card system. Or perhaps you’re just talking about the fairness of the situation. Second, assuming that you don’t dispute the economic need for illegal labor brought by illegal immigration, why are you opposed to illegal immigration? I am curious about peoples feelings on this, which I will say at the outset are varied and legitimate. Clearly there is the pure legality of it, meaning we have to have laws and enforce them. Or is it the feeling that illegal immigrants are not just contributing necessary cheap labor, but they are disproportionately bringing more crime into the US? I would be curious to see if there’s a study on this talking point. Assuming they bring in more crime, does this offset the value of illegal labor to the economy?
No... He is governing Florida in a way to appeal to a potential national voting base in 2024. (Actually right now he is doing a fine job dealing with the hurricane)
Most Americans should be. The Ag sector is still very important and given the disproportionate power that many ag states hold those issues do matter.
People who believe climate change will accelerate into a global catastrophe should probably support building a wall and centers to handle possible influx of refugees. Ofc, if we were that far thinking, we wouldn't worry about that same wall locking us in our own borders during events like covid.
