It was just grift to collect millions. It is not clear how much went to help actual hurricane victims. This is how the wife of an authoritarian operates. The "Volunteer Florida" charity will not provide information on the individuals or businesses that have benefited. A portion of the millions in charity spending appears to be money given to politically connected campaign donors. Large amounts given to the Red Cross and Salvation Army totaling $32.5M -- but much of the spending is not documented or traceable. Casey DeSantis' Hurricane Ian relief fund is sitting on millions nearly a year after disaster: report https://www.rawstory.com/casey-desantis-2662747890/ As Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida, millions of dollars rolled into Casey DeSantis’ relief campaign. Nearly a year later, much of it is sitting unused in a bank account, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel revealed. The wife of governor and GOP presidential nominee hopeful Ron DeSantis campaigned to raise $63 million in donations for the Florida Disaster Fund as the hurricane destroyed swathes of the state in late September 2022. “We can take those resources and micro-target them and get them directly to the ground as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” she said at the time. “We’re going to cut through any red tape and bureaucracy because we know people need those funds and they need help.” More than 10 months later, about $9 million has not been used, despite many families still struggling to complete repairs or dealing with storm-related damage including black mold, Alan Harris, Seminole County’s emergency management director and vice president of the disaster relief nonprofit organization Seminole Heart, told the Sun-Sentinel. “If you are one of the families who has black mold or has a damaged roof, it’s something you think about every day,” he said. Across Florida, 1,082 families are still in RVs or other temporary housing, records kept by the Florida Division of Emergency Management show. “People who donate in response to a natural disaster want to ease the suffering of the people affected,” said Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch. “That’s why they donate. So if you still have people who are unhoused, buried in debt as a result of disaster losses, or otherwise not back on their feet, it is safe to say that the intentions of donors are not being honored.” Though Volunteer Florida, which oversees the fund, promotes success stories on its website, including giving money to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, opening emergency food banks and helping low-income homeowners raise storm-prone homes, details of some of the spending are vague, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The governor’s office announced a $25 million program in December through the disaster fund to provide “lodging for volunteers,” and more went to small business and restaurant recovery programs. But there is no list of which businesses benefited from them, the Sun-Sentinel reported. “Those funds can end up benefiting private individuals,” said Styron. “The public needs to know who are those private individuals.”
This is the type of appointee that an authoritarian puts in place. DeSantis appointee to Disney board taught seminar using discredited research claiming White people were slaves in America https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/poli...-discredited-research-white-slaves/index.html An appointee by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to an oversight board of Disney’s special tax district taught a seminar in 2021 falsely claiming “Whites were also slaves in America,” using discredited research to say there was an “Irish slave trade.” The comments were made by Ron Peri, one of five people DeSantis appointed earlier this year to oversee the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District to replace the old board after the company spoke out against what critics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida. Peri, an Orlando-based pastor and CEO of a Christian ministry group called The Gathering, made the comments in an hourlong class for his group posted on YouTube about critical race theory called “Cunningly Devised Fables.” In other comments Peri spread false claims that Irish slaves were forcibly bred with enslaved Africans. He also said a “significant” number of free Blacks in the antebellum era owned slaves, claims disputed by reputable historians who say the number was minimal. CNN archived Peri’s comments from 2021, which he deleted from YouTube following his appointment to the Disney oversight board. The oversight board, previously called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, governed Disney’s sprawling 25,000 acre footprint around Orlando. Created in 1967, its duties include providing services like sewage, fire rescue and road maintenance and issuing debt for infrastructure projects supporting Disney’s theme park empire. “Slavery is a moral wrong wherever it exists or existed and is one of America’s great historical wrongs,” Peri told CNN in a statement Tuesday. “Similarly, racism is likewise wrong. I countenance neither to any degree, so the criticism of the belief that thousands of people being held in slavery was significant and a terrible wrong is severely misplaced. Even one person in slavery is egregious and morally reprehensible, regardless of race.” The DeSantis administration but did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. Peri’s 2021 comments came in the context of him pushing back on claims of “systemic racism” in the United States from past White ownership of slaves. “Look at old newspapers, as old as you can find, and you’ll find that Whites were also slaves in America,” said Peri. “The Irish slave trade began when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the new world. His proclamation of 1625, which you can go back and see, required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies.” “By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and Montserrat,” Peri added. “From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English, and another 300,000 were sold as slaves.” “The settlers began to breed Irish women and girls with African men to produce slaves with a distinct complexion,” Peri added. Peri’s claims are based on fabricated material that has circled the Internet over the last two decades and has been the subject of repeated debunkings from news organizations like the New York Times, Reuters, the Associated Press, Snopes, and frustrated historians – many of whom signed an open letter in 2016 disputing the claims. Even the article Peri cited as evidence was updated before he used it in the seminar to note it contained a number of factual errors. Historians who spoke to CNN said that the research Peri cited is ahistorical and based on invented research: Whites were never considered slaves in America, legally or socially; 300,000 Irish were not sent as slaves to the Americas; English King James II – who Peri cited as issuing the proclamation in 1625 – was not born until 1633 and did not take the throne until 1685. Even then, no proclamations by King James II on Irish slaves exist. The Irish did not “breed” with African slaves, as Peri claimed. Irish immigrants in North America and the Caribbean were never considered slaves but were indentured servants, said Matthew Reilly, a professor of anthropology at City College of New York. Indentured servitude consisted of a fixed period of time, usually five to seven years, and was not inheritable. Whereas the race-based chattel form of slavery kept enslaved people as property for life and children would inherit their mother’s status. “The conditions may have been like that of slavery, but socio-legally, it was a very different form of unfreedom,” said Reilly. In another comment, Peri used data attributed to the 1830 census to say the numbers showed a “significant” and “large number” of free Blacks owned slaves. However, the 1830 census data cited by scholars show that out of 2,009,043 slaves in the United States, 3,776 free Blacks owned 12,907 slaves – 0.006%. “The justification that they have for it is they claim that systemic racism emanates from White ownership of slaves,” Peri said. “Therefore, all White wealth is based on the hard work and abuse of Black slaves and women. That’s their justification. Well, the reality is all races owned slaves.” “A significant number of these free Blacks were the owners of slaves,” Peri added. Historians, like esteemed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., have noted that a large number of those Black slave owners “owned” their own family members to protect them – oftentimes by purchasing a family member. And that pointing to other races owning slaves is a way to minimize the brutal realities of slavery. “The vast majority, the overwhelming majority – to the tune of millions of people who were brought from West and West Central Africa to the Americas – they were enslaved. Not people who were perpetrating slavery themselves,” Jenny Shaw, a professor of history at the University of Alabama, told CNN. “There’s a small number who did because they rose up in society and did what society was doing, which was enslaving people.” And that some people of African descent enslaved people because they were family members bringing them into their households with the intent of freeing them. Peri’s unearthed comments come amidst the controversy over the Florida Board of Education’s new standards for teaching Black history. Disney and DeSantis Peri’s appointment to the Disney oversight board followed a clash between the company and DeSantis over a state law that would restrict certain classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity. While Disney first declined to weigh in publicly on the legislative fight over what critics called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, then CEO Bob Chapek, under immense pressure from the company’s employees, later changed directions, and shared his concerns with the legislation. Later, after it became law, the company in a statement said it would work to get it repealed. However, Peri has also accused Disney in the past of adopting teachings of critical race theory in its company training. The comments touched on another top concern of DeSantis, who sought to ban employers from training workers about privilege and systemic racism when he signed the Stop Woke Act, parts of which were blocked by a federal judge from going into effect. “We’re seeing companies embracing CRT,” Peri said in his Zoom. “I’m gonna just share two – Walt Disney you’re quite familiar with. You know, down here in Orlando.” DeSantis has faced backlash in recent days over Florida’s board of education approving controversial new standards for teaching Black history in the state, which includes teaching “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” DeSantis has defended the state’s curriculum. Peri previously faced scrutiny after CNN’s KFile uncovered that the Orlando pastor had suggested tap water turned people gay. Peri disputed that he made the remark during a May 1 Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board meeting, saying from the dais, “I never said that. I don’t believe it, certainly.” The latest revelations about Peri’s beliefs come as DeSantis’ conflict with Disney is embroiled in dueling legal challenges. Peri is named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by Disney, which alleges that the Florida governor has punished the company for exercising its First Amendment rights while describing his hand-picked board as a pawn in his “retribution campaign” against the entertainment giant. In its complaint, filed in the United States Circuit Court for the Northern District of Florida, Disney alleged DeSantis picked board members who would “censor Disney’s speech and discipline the Company” and that DeSantis’ action against the company “threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.” Peri, meanwhile, voted with the rest of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board to sue Disney in state court. In the past week, a Central Florida judge rejected Disney’s request to dismiss the state lawsuit. In the federal case, lawyers for DeSantis have asked the court to delay a trial until after the presidential election while Disney attorneys suggested a timeline that would put the case before jurors next July. The board installed by DeSantis has said much of its power was stripped by Disney in an agreement reached before the governor’s appointees took over in February. Since then, DeSantis and the board have focused on clawing back authority while threatening to develop the land around Disney – including by building a prison or a competing theme park next to Disney World.
Some whites wont let minorities have anything thats their...trying to claim they were slaves in U.S. too
Good show on NPR about white slaves from 2008 Today they would not do this story, they would hide it and that's why you all are ignorant to this story America's First Slaves: Whites CHIDEYA: We've been speaking with Michael Walsh. He is the co-author of the book, "White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America," and he joined us by phone from London https://www.npr.org
Indentured servitude for seven years is not permanent slavery. The appointee from DeSantis claims they took white women imported them to this side of the Atlantic as permanent slaves to breed with blacks -- hence creating light-skinned blacks. These claims are completely not true. It is true that many white male overseers hired on plantations raped black females hence creating light-skinned blacks (who were enslaved).
A typical authoritarian clown. Note the jurisdiction of the two sheriffs DeSantis paraded on stage do not include the area where the DA was let go from. Is DeSantis unable to find a police chief or sheriff from inside the DA's county to support him? Florida Gov. DeSantis Suspends Official, Smiles Behind 'This Is Fine' Meme The Florida governor seemed very happy that a sheriff used memes to support anti-democratic actions https://kotaku.com/ron-desantis-disney-florida-meme-lawyer-removed-sheriff-1850721850 Florida Governor, Disney hater, and high-heeled shoe fan Ron DeSantis announced the immediate suspension of a democratically elected state attorney on August 9 with the help of an online meme. The resulting scene is sad, confusing, and yet another example of how the terminally online politician is just the worst. If you’ve been reading Kotaku over the last few months, you’ve seen DeSantis’ ongoing legal fight with Disney over its special district, which gave the company unique control over Disney World’s taxes, water, and more before the governor had it removed. The presidential hopeful didn’t like that Disney lightly criticized his 2022 House Bill 1557, referred to by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prevents discussion of sexual identity in Florida’s public schools. His fight against the mouse has gone poorly, costing him and his state $1 billion in the process. But DeSantis isn’t just picking fights with corporations that don’t align with his political views, he’s also going after elected officials in Florida who dare to not worship the ground upon which he walks. As reported by CNN, on August 9 DeSantis (and his weird face) suspended elected prosecutor Monique Worrell of Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit citing “neglect of duty and incompetence” as the reasoning for the controversial move. DeSantis believes she hasn’t been tough enough on criminals, ignoring that the voters of her district get to make that decision. The move—one he’s done before—is being criticized by Florida democrats as a “political hit job” and a threat to the state’s crumbling democracy. Sheriff using memes during an official press event During the press conference announcing the move, DeSantis was joined by two local sheriffs, who CNN points out don’t serve any county that overlaps with Worrell’s jurisdiction. Both sheriffs criticized Worrell and praised DeSantis. But one of them decided—with I assume DeSantis and his team’s approval—to use the conference to show off printed versions of the “This is fine” meme. “I want to show you a popular meme,” said Sheriff Grady Judd as he whipped out the image. “This is fine. As the house is on fire, our little hot dog here says: ‘This is fine.’ He was a dog. Now he’s a hot dog because his house is on fire.” At this point, the sheriff then swapped the popular meme out for an edited version that features Worrell sitting in the place of the dog, surrounded by flames. During all of this, DeSantis can be seen smiling behind the sheriff and his images. “Well, I have another one,” said Grady. “Monique Worrell says: ‘This is fine.’ The fact that two police officers were shot in the face, this is fine. Despite criminals not being prosecuted, this is fine.” The sheriff then proceeded to praise Worrell’s replacement, Judge Andrew Bain, pointing out he was an all-star football player (for some reason) before commending DeSantis on doing what’s “right.” “I am your duly elected state attorney,” said Worrell in a speech following the suspension. “And nothing done by a weak dictator can change that. This is an outrage.” Police officers praising a state governor for removing another democratically elected official using online memes. Things are going great in Florida…
Now that the persecution of Disney has blown up in DeSantis' face, undermining his attempt to be president, Lil' Ron is trying to backtrack and walk away from it. The Mouse is not having any of his nonsense. Disney has gone all in with new court filings and an additional lawsuit --- indicating that they plan to spent at least 9 figures or more in legal fees for taking on DeSantis and his cronies. BTW -- Disney plans to squeeze their legal fees back from the state in damages, I hope that Florida taxpayers are ready to pay a billion or more in new taxes - once interest & penalties are added in. Disney fires back that it should be declared winner in Florida lawsuit https://www.orlandosentinel.com/202...should-be-declared-winner-in-florida-lawsuit/