#rick scott

[schraubd]

As They Do

The ongoing fallout of the Dobbs decision, and the way it's made manifest the GOP's extreme and retrogressive anti-abortion priorities, has caused no small amount of soul-searching amongst Republican politicians. We saw, for example, a slew of Arizona Republicans race to disavow their own hand-packed-picked supreme court's decision to resurrect a pre-statehood near-total ban on abortion. Donald Trump also came out and said he opposed a national abortion ban. What should voters make of this about-face? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Why not? Because Republicans are, to be blunt, lying. No matter what they say, no matter what press releases they write, no matter what interviews they give, when push comes to shove, they will absolutely either endorse or acquiesce to the most draconian possible limitations on female reproductive autonomy. That's the full truth. The list of supporting evidence on this is essentially endless, but I'll just give two examples: Exhibit A: Arizona, where the GOP-controlled legislature -- fresh off their oh-so-pained public squirming over the aforementioned state supreme court ruling -- has continued to block legislative efforts to actually, you know, repeal the offending law. Exhibit B: Florida, where Senator Rick Scott rapidly backtracked from his own heresies calling for greater moderation on abortion after that state's supreme court reversed decades-long precedent clear the way for abortion bans by clarifying that of course he'd support even a six-week ban if given the opportunity. These are two among many. I suspect that over the next few months, we will continue to see more Republican rhetoric that gestures at some sort of "moderate" or "compromise" position on abortion, occurring right alongside more extreme tangible implementations of the right's extremist anti-choice agenda (what's going to happen when the Supreme Court permanently allows states to murder pregnant women in defiance of federal law). Even as rhetoric, it's hollow -- the "exceptions" they promise are nugatory or impossible to implement, the "deals" on offer are to impose unwanted bans on blue states while letting red states be as extreme as they desire -- but more than that they're lies. No matter what they say, no matter what they earnestly promise, no matter what soul-searching they might promise, where Republicans are in charge what they will do is push for and defend the most draconian abortion bans they can possibly get away with. There's no lever that will get Republicans to behave differently; no weird trick that can change their minds. Where they have power and hold office, this is what they will do. Our only option is to deprive them of that power. No matter what they say, no matter what they believe, anyone who is taking any steps right now to assist Republicans taking or keeping office is tacitly endorsing extreme abortion bans. There's no way around it. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/CTdAlLR

#abortion #Arizona #Florida #GOP #reproductive rights #Republicans #Rick Scott

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

He’s an evil son-of-a-bitch. He’s the richest member of the Senate and spends his summers cruising around Italy on his private yacht which is the size of a battleship. He once spent over a million dollars to make a revenge video against a random woman that criticized him in a Florida coffee shop. Bat Boy needs to go.

#rick scott #republican assholes #traitor #oligarch #anti-democratic Republican oligarch #fascist #elitist #1% club

[saywhat-politics]

#florida #republican senator #rick scott #special counsel #jack smith

[porterdavis]

For the life of me I can't understand how he was elected to the US Senate after this.

Wassup Florida?

#rick scott #grifters gonna grift

[tomorrowusa]

Dear Obsequious Republicans: Don't expect much for your souls. Trump is a notorious tightwad who stiffs his workers and doesn't pay his lawyers. And given your own moral turpitude and willingness to inflict suffering on those different from you, your souls are probably not worth more than a degree from Trump University anyway.

Kissing Trump's butt will only leave you with smelly brown noses.

#republicans #souls for sale #gop presidential nomination #lauren boebert #josh hawley #gym jordan #matt gaetz #maga mike johnson #ted “cancún” cruz #marjorie taylor greene #lindsey graham #ron desantis #rick scott #trump sycophants #donald trump #kissing trump's butt #election 2024 #mike luckovich

[politicaldilfs]

Florida Governor DILFs

Bob Graham, Bob Martinez, Jeb Bush, Charley Eugene Johns, W. Haydon Burns, LeRoy Collins, Buddy MacKay, C. Farris Bryant, Claude R. Kirk Jr., Doyle E. Carlton, Millard Caldwell, Fuller Warren, Rick Scott, Daniel T. McCarty, Wayne Mixson, Reubin Askew, Lawton Chiles, Charlie Crist

#Bob Graham #Bob Martinez #Jeb Bush #Charley Eugene Johns #W. Haydon Burns #LeRoy Collins #Buddy MacKay #C. Farris Bryant #Claude R. Kirk Jr. #Doyle E. Carlton #Millard Caldwell #Fuller Warren #Rick Scott #Daniel T. McCarty #Wayne Mixson #Reubin Askew #Lawton Chiles #Charlie Crist

[pookiestheone]

Rick Scott (left) and Lee Hayes

#Vintage Men #Rick Scott #Lee Hayes

[loveboatinsanity]

#rick scott #florida

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

#Marco Rubio #Rick Scott #Florida #Vote Blue #Democrat #Democrats

[makingdonalddrumpfagain]

#rick scott #don't say florida #the 'new' republican party #seditious domestic terrorism #tre45on

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a measure that will overhaul the state’s alimony laws, after three vetoes of similar bills and a decade of emotional clashes over the issue.

The measure (SB 1416) includes doing away with what is known as permanent alimony. DeSantis’ approval came a year after he nixed a similar bill that sought to eliminate permanent alimony and set up a formula for alimony amounts based on the length of marriage.

The approval drew an outcry from members of the “First Wives Advocacy Group,” a coalition of mostly older women who receive permanent alimony and who assert that their lives will be upended without the payments.

“On behalf of the thousands of women who our group represents, we are very disappointed in the Governor’s decision to sign the alimony-reform bill. We believe by signing it, he has put older women in a situation which will cause financial devastation. The so-called party of ‘family values’ has just contributed to erosion of the institution of marriage in Florida,” Jan Killilea, a 63-year-old Boca Raton woman who founded the group a decade ago, told The News Service of Florida in a text message Friday.

The years-long effort to do away with permanent alimony has been a highly contentious issue. It elicited tearful testimony from members of the First Wives group. But it also spurred impassioned pleas from ex-spouses who said they had been forced to work long past the age they wanted to retire because they were on the hook for alimony payments.

Michael Buhler, chairman of Florida Family Fairness, a group that has pushed for doing away with permanent alimony, praised the approval of the bill.

“Florida Family Fairness is pleased that the Florida Legislature and Gov. DeSantis have passed a bill that ends permanent alimony and codifies in statute the right to retire for existing alimony payers,” Buhler said in a statement “Anything that adds clarity and ends permanent alimony is a win for Florida families.”

Along with DeSantis’ veto of the 2022 version, former Gov. Rick Scott twice vetoed similar bills. The issue spurred a near-fracas outside Scott’s office in 2016.

This year, however, the proposal received relatively little public pushback and got the blessing of Florida Family Fairness and The Florida Bar’s Family Law Section, which fiercely clashed over the issue in the past.

Along with eliminating permanent alimony, the measure will set up a process for ex-spouses who make alimony payments to seek modifications to alimony agreements when they want to retire.

It will allow judges to reduce or terminate alimony, support or maintenance payments after considering a number of factors, such as “the age and health” of the person who makes payments; the customary retirement age of that person’s occupation; “the economic impact” a reduction in alimony would have on the recipient of the payments; and the “motivation for retirement and likelihood of returning to work” for the person making the payments.

Supporters said it will codify into law a court decision in a 1992 divorce case that judges use as a guidepost when making decisions about retirement.

But, as with previous versions, opponents remained concerned that the bill would apply to existing permanent alimony agreements, which many ex-spouses accept in exchange for giving up other assets as part of divorce settlements.

“He (DeSantis) has just impoverished all the older women of Florida, and I know at least 3,000 women across the state of Florida are switching to Democrat and we will campaign against him, all the way, forever,” Camille Fiveash, a Milton Republican who receives permanent alimony, said in a phone interview Friday.

In vetoing the 2022 version, DeSantis pointed to concerns about the bill allowing ex-spouses to have existing alimony agreements amended. In a June 24, 2022, veto letter, he wrote that if the bill “were to become law and be given retroactive effect as the Legislature intends, it would unconstitutionally impair vested rights under certain pre-existing marital settlement agreements.”

But Senate bill sponsor Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, tried to assure lawmakers that the 2023 version would not unconstitutionally affect existing alimony settlements. This year’s proposal “went to what is currently case law,” Gruters told a Senate committee in April, pointing to the court ruling.

“So what you can do right now, under case law, we now codify all those laws and make that the rule of law. So we basically just solidify that. So from a retroactivity standpoint, no, because if anything could be modifiable before, it’s still modifiable. If it’s a non-modifiable agreement, you still can’t modify that agreement,” he said.

The bill, which will take effect Saturday, also will set a five-year limit on what is known as rehabilitative alimony. Under the plan, people married for less than three years will not be eligible for alimony payments, and those who have been married 20 years or longer will be eligible to receive payments for up to 75% of the term of the marriage.

The new law will also allow alimony payers to seek modifications if “a supportive relationship exists or has existed” involving their ex-spouses in the previous year. Critics argued the provision is vague and could apply to temporary roommates who help alimony recipients cover living expenses for short periods of time.

Fiveash, a 63-year-old with serious medical conditions, said she can’t afford another legal fight over alimony.

“My fears are that they can take you back to court, and I don’t have the money for an attorney. I literally live off a little bit I get for alimony. I work part-time, because I have all kinds of ailments. And now I’m going to be left without anything, absolutely anything,” she said.

Health insurance, Fiveash added, will “probably be the first thing to go” if her payments are reduced or eliminated.

“This is a death sentence for me,” she said.

#us politics #news #republicans #conservatives #2023 #alimony #permanent alimony #gov. ron desantis #nbc 6 south florida #SB 1416 #First Wives Advocacy Group #The News Service of Florida #divorce laws #Florida Family Fairness #Rick Scott #family law #Florida bar #Joe Gruters

[saywhat-politics]

A flood of anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ+ bills in Florida have caused the NAACP to issue a travel warning for Black and POC people considering a visit to the Sunshine State. According to CNN, the NAACP has deemed the state “openly hostile towards African Americans” and said that the political actions of its governor, Ron DeSantis, are an attempt to “use race as a tool to weaponize against people.”

Rather than do anything to refute that, Republican Senator Rick Scott decided to go the opposite route entirely and proudly follow up with a “Yes and …”

The Senator recently took to Twitter to publish a “travel advisory for socialists visiting Florida” saying the the state’s citizens are “openly hostile to socialists, communists, and those that enable them.” The mock advisory went on to say that Florida “devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by Socialists and others who work in the Biden administration.” The advisory concludes with a warning saying that visiting “socialists” will be met with “laughter and mockery” by the residents of northern Florida, and something “far more dangerous” by the residents of southern Florida who have experienced the “horrors of socialism” firsthand.

Disproving the false comparison between modern American leftism and oppressive Socialist regimes that have existed elsewhere would require a separate article entirely, but it should be apparent that equating the Biden administration’s policies and the actions of despotic Communist leaders is nothing short of hyperbole. (Not to mention the absurdity of equating the Biden administration to anything actually resembling far-left politics.)

Rather, it isn’t hard to infer that Rick Scott’s travel advisory defines “socialists” as any “left-wing” group that Republicans rail against. If one simply replaces “socialists” with “trans people” or any other group hated by the right, Scott’s travel advisory begins to make an eerie sort of sense. Florida Republicans are openly hostile to marginalized groups in America, and their recent political shenanigans only prove that point.

#florida #republican senator #rick scott #travel advisory #socialists

[thundergrace]

Thank you, Kaitlan for doing your job. Biden finds a way to save $300B in government spending without cuts to Medicare by cutting drug cost, and this is what you get from Republican leadership. Then they criticize him for not bringing Dems and Republican leaders together, even though they clearly have no interest in bipartisanship.

If everyone agrees not to make any cuts to social security and medicare, why the fuck are we spending the whole week on it? Because both sides now have to fight over who wanted it less and exactly which side changed its mind first (hint: democrats, because we know the right sees these programs as "SoCialISm!").

#Rick Scott #who looks terrifying #just terrifying

[porterdavis]

I will say...he's got brass balls.

#rick scott #gqp hypocrites #julie su

[nodynasty4us]

From the February 26, 2024 blog post:

I'm usually wary of news stories that read like press releases, but this Daily Beast story about former Florida congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who's running to defeat Senator Rick Scott this year, has me eager to smoke some hopium.

...

In one summer poll of this matchup -- admittedly from a Democratic Senate Campaign Committee pollster -- Mucarsel-Powell led Scott 44%-43%. Party polls usually skew a few points in favor of the party's own candidate, but even if you tweak this a bit, it suggests that Mucarsel-Powell could give Scott a run for his money. But money is the problem. Scott has boatloads of his own, and the Democratic Party and its donors might not want to spend any on this race...

...

As skeptical donors see it, every dollar spent on booting Scott from the Senate is a dollar that Democrats aren’t spending on other competitions.

#debbie mucarsel-powell #rick scott #senate #florida #2024

[thehalfwaypost]

#rick scott #satire #humor #comedy #satirical