Free Republic

Welp, just when Kevin McCarthy begins to score high marks among Republican lawmakers who opposed his bid for the Speakership, he does something stupid: the House Speaker on Thursday told CNBC’s Squawk Box that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis should “sit down and negotiate” with Disney and “solve the problem.”“The problem”? The governor of Florida, doing his best to force Disney to follow the same rules as other corporations in the Sunshine State, is a “problem,” Mr. Speaker? How so? Nonetheless, McCarthy opined:Why wouldn’t you sit down and negotiate and talk? If there’s [sic] differences, you can always find ways that...

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has joined a growing list of Republicans urging Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to reel in his crusade against Disney. McCarthy said during a Thursday interview on CNBC's Squawk Box that DeSantis should attempt to "sit down and negotiate" with Disney instead of attempting to wage a legal battle against the company. The governor has been publicly feuding with the company since last year, when it publicly criticized his "Don't Say Gay" law, which restricts classroom discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity. After legal maneuvering by Disney thwarted an attempt to revoke the company's...

Mostly silent on the issue for the past year, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit arguing its First Amendment rights were violated and business harmed by a “relentless campaign” of retribution orchestrated by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other officials. The 77-page lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tallahassee, pointed to retaliation for the entertainment giant’s opposition to a controversial 2022 law that restricts instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. It said the retaliation threatens the company’s...

A local governing board appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday passed a resolution to void an agreement that allowed Walt Disney World to maintain control over much of its business operations amid an ongoing power struggle with the governor. “Disney was openly and legally granted a unique and special privilege, that privilege of running its own local government,” Alan Lawson, a former Florida Supreme Court justice whose firm was hired by the DeSantis-appointed board, said during the board meeting. “That era is ending.” The unanimous vote of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is the latest step in a...

The group opted to cancel its parade and institute a minimum age limit for its ‘Pridefest’ out of concern over the impacts of a Florida law that would ban indecent shows for kids.PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (LifeSiteNews) — Event organizers in a Florida city scrapped plans for a gay “pride” parade this weekend after the GOP-led Florida House of Representatives sent a bill to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk that would ban drag shows and other sexually explicit performances in venues where children are present. The move comes as DeSantis, who is expected to sign the measure into law, continues...

The group opted to cancel its parade and institute a minimum age limit for its ‘Pridefest’ out of concern over the impacts of a Florida law that would ban indecent shows for kids. PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (LifeSiteNews) — Event organizers in a Florida city scrapped plans for a gay “pride” parade this weekend after the GOP-led Florida House of Representatives sent a bill to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk that would ban drag shows and other sexually explicit performances in venues where children are present. The move comes as DeSantis, who is expected to sign the measure into law,...

Lawyers for Governor Ron DeSantis’ Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board found that Disney’s agreements with the former Reedy Creek Improvement District were null and void as they did not follow state law requirements.The Oversight Board plans to consider a resolution voiding the agreements on April 26. Disney failed to comply with statutory notice requirements, such as notifying affected property owners by mail of the new development agreement and attempting to confer governmental powers to a private business.The new Oversight Board exerted their control by firing the planning and zoning board, appointing themselves in its place, and approving a resolution declaring...

Disney plans to eliminate thousands of jobs next week ... Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who Iger handpicked to serve as his successor in February 2020, was dismissed by the board of directors after lackluster financial performance under his leadership and replaced with Iger in November 2022. The company’s stock price has declined 17% over the past year, and several other prominent entertainment and technology companies have been forced to dismiss large shares of their employees. Disney has also lost trust among some consumers after Chapek and other executives involved the firm in contentious culture war battles last year. Disney...

The first round of the “Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis v. The Walt Disney Company” fight, held last spring, ended in a clear DeSantis victory and Disney defeat. Following Disney’s vocal opposition to Florida’s commonsense Parental Rights in Education Act, misleadingly dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Florida passed a law to abolish the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which in 1967 incentivized Disney’s initial planting of a flag in Central Florida by giving the corporation unparalleled government-like powers over basic municipal services such as zoning, building codes, and waste treatment. Disney thus paid the price for coming out in favor...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis continues to model what it looks like for a conservative politician to push back against the cultural revolution.Last year, DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, which bans schools from teaching children in kindergarten through third grade about gender ideology as well as other explicit sexuality-related subjects, limiting sex education overall to “age appropriate” content and mandating parental involvement. The Parental Rights in Education bill also ensured that parents be informed of anything that could impact the physical, emotional, or mental well-being of their child.

DeSantis Ad trolling Trans Women in Sports

Seventeen attorneys general have filed an amicus brief supporting Florida’s healthcare regulation that denies Medicaid coverage for gender transitioning procedures. They’re supporting Florida’s motion for summary judgment in the lawsuit August Dekker v. Jason Weida in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida Tallahassee Division. In the case, transgender plaintiffs are suing Weida, the secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is leading the coalition, which also includes the attorneys general of Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. The...

Disney is preparing to take its fight with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his GOP allies in the state legislature to the next level...With just weeks until Florida's legislative session ends, Disney is pushing lobbyists to step up their efforts to influence the Republican-controlled state legislature and to target land use related bills that could hurt the company...

Popular Florida restaurant Grills Seafood, which has locations in Orlando, Melbourne and Port Canaveral, has severed ties with Bud Light amid the Dylan Mulvaney fallout. In a lengthy Facebook post on the restaurant’s official page, owner Joe Penovich cited his “biblical faith” as the main reason it will no longer sell Bud Light. Grills first opened in 1997. “It is true we made the decision to remove Bud Light because of their support of something that is in direct opposition to our Biblical faith,” Penovich wrote. “There is no judgement in our heart concerning those who believe in these rapidly...

The Walt Disney Company is going to cut thousands of staff next week - including 15 percent of its entertainment division. Disney has around 220,000 employees globally, around 170,000 of which are in the US. The layoffs will affect all major divisions of the roughly $185 billion company, which was recently split into: entertainment, ESPN and parks and resorts. Disney parks employs the majority of workers in the US - around 100,000 people in 2020, according to the latest publicly available figures - but it's unclear exactly how many staffers are being cut from each division. These plans were first...

Educators in all Florida public schools for all grave levels will now be banned from teaching students about gender identity and sexual orientation in a sweeping move announced by Ron DeSantis's board of education on Wednesday. The move marks a huge expansion of the The Parental Rights in Education law - also dubbed the 'Don't Say Gay' bill by critics - which was signed last year by the governor and sparked a firestorm across the country. Critics of the policy claim it could harm children who identify as gay and transgender. While the previous version of the law prohibited instruction...

This weekend, I contributed to an article for the New York Post with an exclusive on a move by the new board governing Disney properties to declare the recent transfers of power to the company to be null and void. Below is my column on the legal implications of that move and how Disney may be set for a truly wild ride in the weeks ahead. Here is the column: Walt Disney used to say, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” Gov. Ron DeSantis is about to put Disney’s own motto to the test...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is pushing a tough-on-crime agenda ahead of an expected presidential bid with his support for two bills in the state legislature, including one that would challenge the U.S. Supreme Court. DeSantis is backing a bill that would authorize the death penalty for child rapists. Under the legislation, a jury - by a vote of at least 8-4 - can recommend a death sentence for sexual battery on a child under age 12. 'We are authorizing the death penalty for child rapists,' DeSantis said Monday morning during an interview with an Orlando radio state. 'My view is...

Florida has somehow become an even more lethal place to live for queer and trans Americans, thanks to the passage of two new bills. The first, SB 1342, stipulates that child sexual abuse and acts of pedophilia may be punishable by the death penalty. The second bill would make it easier for a jury to send the accused to the gallows.

Disney leadership thought the company out-maneuvered Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this year after a last-minute agreement with local officials gave the theme park virtually unlimited developmental power. But sources tell The Federalist that Disney’s corporate lawyers missed the fine print in Florida statute governing tourist districts. In February, supervisors running the Reedy Creek Improvement District signed an 11th-hour resolution to hand Disney maximum authority over the company’s 27,000 acres in central Florida. The late agreement effectively left the DeSantis-appointed successors on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board — which replaced the Reedy Creek board — powerless to govern...