Florida Man struck again this week, but this time it wasn't because he went swimming in a meat suit in a pond full of gators. This time he accidentally did the right thing, minus the principle involved.
This Florida Man is named Ron "Gossamer Skin" DeSantis, Il Duce of Florida and one who does not like being disagreed with. This makes for some silt-brained decisions on occasion, like going to war against Disney because Disney didn't like Gossamer Skin's law banning any mention of those horrible gay people in Florida classrooms.
It takes a special kind of stupid to pick a fight with Disney in Florida. But no one ever said DeSantis wasn't special -- if in a way you generally don't like to see in a public official.
And so, he's at it again.
This time he's taking a swipe at one of the state's two major-league baseball teams, because it had the gall to publicly express views which irked him. In the wake of the latest slaughter of innocents in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, the Tampa Bay Rays spoke out against gun violence in America, a completely reasonable stance given the circumstances.
DeSantis didn't like that. So he vetoed a line item for $35 million to build the Rays a new training facility.
Of course, DeSantis didn't say it was an attempt to muzzle dissent, even though the timing clearly established it was. He said his veto was because he doesn't believe in giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports facilities.
He's absolutely right about that. Taxpayer dollars shouldn't go toward funding new stadiums and the like, for the Rays or any other pro sports entity. Especially when the owners of those entities make piles of jack from their hosts, directly and indirectly, and can easily foot the bill for facilities that -- let's face it -- primarily benefit only themselves.
Who knows. Maybe DeSantis actually does believe that.
But somehow I think it's more about punishing those who displease him. And about juicing a 2024 presidential run by sucking up to a political base with a taste for thin-skinned bullies.
Florida Man For President.
Sings, don't it?
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