#Disney v. DeSantis

[richdadpoor]

Ron DeSantis Wants to 'Move On' from Disney Lawsuit

In a move right from the playbook of little guys who taunt jacked up dudes a bar, Politico reports that Ron DeSantis has said that he’s ready to “move on” from his lawsuit with Disney… but, buddy, that’s not up to you any more, especially not in a legal battle you started. Twitter Is Shifting Right | Future Tech Disney has sued various elected officials, including DeSantis, alleging that he has…

[todayisafridaynight]

Cannot believe you'd shag the trans RGG version of Ron Desantis (Aoki)

why are you guys making me read words like this huh. on a tuesday. BEFORE 1PM even

[wee-woh]

Just read the new immigration bill on the website. In one month, it will be Illegal for immigrants to drive a car or work in state. Hospitals and emergency rooms that accept Medicaid are not lawfully allow to provide care anymore. Fucking 800,000 people in the state of florida who US citizens are now not allowed to associate with, give rides to, hire, or provide healthcare to without facing a third degree felony. If you have a friend that’s an immigrant, you’re a felon if you go to the movies with them and let them sit in your car. Like it’s absolute insanity i don’t understand (https://flgov.com/2023/05/10/governor-ron-desantis-signs-strongest-anti-illegal-immigration-legislation-in-the-country-to-combat-bidens-border-crisis/)

As a woman, 6 weeks pregnant means no abortion or you are criminally charged. 4-6 weeks is the earliest you can even find out you are pregnant on pregnancy tests. Which means you wouldn’t even know you’re pregnant until you are forced to carry it full term.

Indoctrinating children through book bans, no teaching of race or history, banning diversity and inclusion in post secondary education. All the while allowing very regular mass school shootings to kill the children. Ban books, not guns. Makes sense.

And if the human rights thing doesn’t matter to DeSantis you think the money would. New immigrant bill already has produce rotting in fields, no construction workers, loss of nearly 10% of his work force (immigrants in agriculture and construction). 5.8 BILLION in revenue from Disney going to be gone soon if he doesn’t stop as well.

This is very disturbing to me as one of my best friends lives in Florida and could have his rights stripped of him at anytime because of these constant anti human bills. If he isn’t directly affected, I’m worried there will be major riots and violence as the people fight against these absolutely disgusting acts by the state.

[jewlsiverse]

Guess I need to start consuming my old Disney VHS tapes to show my support to the mouse

[inkskinned]

one of the things that i think we should pay attention to, socially, about the disney v. desantis thing is that it is really highlighting the importance of remembering nuance.

in a purely neutral sense, if you engage in something problematic, that does not mean you are necessarily agreeing with what makes it problematic. and i am worried that we have become... so afraid of any form of nuance.

disney isn't my friend, they're a corporate monopoly that bastardized copyright laws for their own benefit, ruin the environment, and abuse their workers (... and many other things). this isn't a hypothetical for me - i grew up in florida. i also worked for the actual Walt Disney World; like, in the parks. i am keenly aware of the ways they hurt people, because they hurt me. i fully believe that part of the reason florida is so conservative is because it's been an "open secret" for years now that disney lobbies the government to keep minimum wage down, and i know they worked hard to keep the parks unmasked and open during the worst parts of Covid. they purposefully keep their employees in poverty. they are in part responsible for the way the floridian government works.

desantis is still, by a margin that is frankly daunting, way worse. the alternative here isn't just "republicans win", it's actual fascism.

in a case like this, where the alternative is to allow actual fascism into united states legislation - where, if desantis wins, there are huge and legal ramifications - it's tempting to minimize the harm disney is also doing, because... well, it's not fascism. but disney isn't the good guy, either, which means republicans are having a field day asking activists oh, so you think their treatment of their employees is okay?

we have been trained there is a right answer. you're right! you're in the good group, and you're winning at having an opinion.

except i have the Internet Prophecy that in 2-3 months, even left-wing people will be ripping apart activists for having "taken disney's side". aren't i an anti-capitalist? aren't i pro-union? aren't i one of the good ones? removed from context and nuance (that in this particular situation i am forced to side with disney, until an other option reveals itself), my act of being like "i hope they have goofy rip his throat out onstage, shaking his lifeless body like a dog toy" - how quickly does that seem like i actually do support disney?

and what about you! at home, reading this. are you experiencing the Thought Crime of... actually liking some of the things disney has made? your memories of days at the parks, or of good movies, or of your favorite show growing up. maybe you are also evil, if you ever enjoyed anything, ever, at all.

to some degree, the binary idealization/vilification of individual motive and meaning already exists in the desantis case. i have seen people saying not to go to the disney pride events because they're cash grabs (they are). i've seen people saying you have to go because they're a way to protest. there isn't a lot of internet understanding of nuance. instead it's just "good show of support" or "evil bootlicking."

this binary understanding is how you can become radicalized. when we fear nuance and disorder, we're allowing ourselves the safety of assuming that the world must exist in binary - good or bad, problematic or "not" problematic. and unfortunately, bigots want you to see the world in this binary ideal. they want you to get mad at me because "disney is taking a risk for our community but you won't sing their praises" and they want me to get mad at you for not respecting the legit personal trauma that disney forced me through.

in a grander scheme outside of disney: what happens is a horrific splintering within activist groups. we bicker with each other about minimal-harm minimal-impact ideologies, like which depiction of bisexuality is the most-true. we gratuitously analyze the personal lives of activists for any sign they might be "problematic". we get spooked because someone was in a dog collar at pride. we wring our hands about setting an empty shopping mall on fire. we tell each other what words we may identify ourselves by. we get fuckin steven universe disk horse when in reality it is a waste of our collective time.

the bigots want you to spend all your time focusing on how pristine and pretty you and your interests are. they want us at each other's throats instead of hand in hand. they want to say see? nothing is ever fucking good enough for these people.

and they want their followers to think in binary as well - a binary that's much easier to follow. see, in our spaces, we attack each other over "proper" behavior. but in bigoted groups? they attack outwards. they have someone they hate, and it is us. they hate you, specifically, and you are why they have problems - not the other people in their group. and that's a part of how they fucking keep winning.

some of the things that are beloved to you have a backbone in something terrible. the music industry is a wasteland. the publishing industry is a bastion of white supremacy. video games run off of unpaid labor and abuse.

the point of activism was always to bring to light that abuse and try to stop it from happening, not to condemn those who engage in the content that comes from those industries. "there is no ethical consumption under late capitalism" also applies to media. your childhood (and maybe current!) love of the little mermaid isn't something you should now flinch from, worried you'll be a "disney adult". wanting the music industry to change for the better does not require that you reject all popular music until that change occurs. you can acknowledge the harm something might cause - and celebrate the love that it has brought into your life.

we must detach an acknowledgment of nuance from a sense of shame and disgust. we must. punishing individual people for their harmless passions is not doing good work. encouraging more thoughtful, empathetic consumption does not mean people should feel ashamed of their basic human capacities and desires. it should never have even been about the individual when the corporation is so obviously the actual evil. this sense that we must live in shame and dread of our personal nuances - it just makes people bitter and hopeless. do you have any idea how scared i am to post this? to just acknowledge the idea of nuance? that i might like something nuanced, and engage in it joyfully? and, at the same time, that i'm brutally aware of the harm that they're doing?

"so what do i do?" ... well, often there isn't a right answer. i mean in this case, i hope mickey chops off ron's head and then does a little giggle. but truth be told, often our opinions on nuanced subjects will differ. you might be able to engage in things that i can't because the nuance doesn't sit right with me. i might think taylor swift is a great performer and a lot of fun, and you might be like "raquel, the jet fuel emissions". we are both correct; neither of us have any actual sway in this. and i think it's important to remember that - the actual scope of individual responsibility. like, i also love going to the parks. Thunder Mountain is so fun. you (just a person) are not responsible for the harm that Disney (the billion dollar corporation) caused me. i don't know. i think it's possible to both enjoy your memories and interrogate the current state of their employment policies.

there is no right way to interrogate or engage with nuance - i just hope you embrace it readily.

[marisatomay]

the whole ron desantis v disney thing is so funny because imagine being such a little shit stain that people start rooting for the walt disney corporation and their lawyers because their success means your annihilation

[roaaoife]

Disney v DeSantis

I've seen a lot of people cheering for Disney to win because Fuck DeSantis. I've also seen a lot of people criticizing the first group for defending an Evil Corporation.

Here is what it comes down to and what everyone needs to understand:

This isn't about DeSantis being evil and deserving to get stomped. (Though he is and he does.)

This isn't about Disney being an Evil Corporation that has Far Too Much Power. (They are and they do.)

This is about whether or not it's ok for a Government Official to politically target ANYONE for criticizing them. Because as soon as that's ok, everything is going to get much, much worse.

Here in the US, the much touted, much debated, often misapplied First Ammendment means the Government is not allowed to retaliate against you if you say something they don't like. Right now, the Florida Government is retaliating against Disney for saying something they didn't like.

You don't have to like Disney. Hell, you can absolutely support them losing their power. You can hate them and rage against them and campaign for them to get kicked out of Florida. But as soon as you start saying that it's ok for them to lose their rights, as soon as you say it's ok for ANYONE to lose their rights just because you don't like them, you've opened the door to fascism.

And that's why I want Disney to win. Because if the Government can attack a corporation as big and as powerful as Disney for speaking out, then we all lose.

[short-wooloo]

What could potentially be the funniest thing to result from disney v desantis is how disney could use its upcoming content to jab at him

Like, 1-2 years down the line we could be seeing characters in SW, marvel, Pixar, etc movies/shows that are clearly and transparently based off and mocking desantis

And do you know what? I am all for it

Make desantis the villain in your movies disney

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The Obama-appointed Judge who was overseeing Disney’s lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recused himself on Thursday over a relative’s ownership of 30 shares of Disney stock.

The case was transferred to Judge Allen C. Winsor, an appointee of President Trump who previously upheld the state’s Parental Rights in Education law. That law, known to its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, is at the center of the Disney-DeSantis controversy.

Disney sued DeSantis in April, alleging that the state had engaged in a campaign of retaliation against the company over its opposition to the bill. The state rescinded Disney’s special governing district in Orlando, and then reconstituted it under the control of five DeSantis appointees.

Disney has argued that the state has sought to punish the company for protected speech, and is seeking to overturn the state’s actions.

The lawsuit was initially assigned to Judge Mark E. Walker, whom President Obama appointed to the bench in 2012.

DeSantis’ lawyers sought to have Walker removed on the grounds that his previous comments in other cases show he might be biased against the Governor. In one case, the judge noted that Disney might lose its special status because, “arguably,” it “ran afoul of state policy.”

Disney’s lawyers, led by Daniel Petrocelli, argued that was not nearly enough to merit disqualification.

Walker agreed with Disney and denied the DeSantis motion on Thursday, saying it was “wholly without merit.”

“In fact, I find the motion is nothing more than rank judge-shopping,” he wrote. “Sadly, this practice has become all too common in this district.”

However, Walker also noted that his relative owns Disney stock, and that he therefore has an ethical duty to step aside.

The case will instead go to Winsor, who previously served as Florida’s solicitor general. In that role, he defended the state’s law outlawing same-sex marriage in 2014.

In February, Winsor dismissed a lawsuit from students and parents who alleged that the Parental Rights in Education law had caused schools to remove books with LGBTQ themes from libraries and to remove LGBTQ lyrics from school musicals.

That lawsuit was brought by Roberta Kaplan, who won a landmark gay rights case at the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. v. Windsor, in 2013. In the Florida case, she argued that the law violated the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause, as well as Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in education.

Winsor dismissed the suit twice, ruling both times that the plaintiffs had not shown that they suffered enough harm to warrant standing in federal court.

“Plaintiffs have shown a strident disagreement with the new law, and they have alleged facts to show its very existence causes them deep hurt and disappointment,” Winsor wrote. “But to invoke a federal court’s jurisdiction, they must allege more. Their failure to do so requires dismissal.”

Walker, the Obama-appointed Judge, had previously ruled against DeSantis in high-profile cases. In November, he blocked a law against “woke” ideology from taking effect at state universities.

Walker also struck down state voting restrictions last year, finding that the state had a “horrendous history of racial discrimination in voting.” DeSantis called the ruling “performative partisanship” and appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed Walker’s ruling earlier this year.

[celeste-i]

my stance on Disney v. desantis

[cidthecoatrack-blog]

I know this is a pretty obvious observation, and yet...

So the whole Disney v DeSantis thing. Like... DeSantis knows thay he just committed political suicide, right? Nevermind the fascism. Nevermind donors fleeing him. Nevermind congresspeople refusing to back him. Nevermind the public outcry. Nevermind the outright stupidity. Nevermind how stupid it is to go against your state's biggest and most popular employer.

It's DISNEY. When it comes time for DeSantis to run for ANYTHING - president, Governor, local pta, anything - you don't think Disney's lobbying arm, the thing thay has DEFINED COPYRIGHT LAW FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, isn't going to absolutely EVISCERATE him? They will throw so much money against him that not only will his loss be embarrassingly lopsided, it will be the literal end of his political career in any shape or form.

It doesn't matter how things go with the tax district. It doesn't matter how the lawsuits go. He pissed off The Mouse. He is a dead man walking.

[miss-mollys-ballet-blog]

My favorite part of the DeSantis v. Disney debacle is that it can lead to two things:

1. DeathSantis is buried and loses drastically

2. Citizens United is overturned

Either or both works for me tbh.

[ahaura]

i dont know how to say this without it coming off as being a downer or smarmy or whatever but. concerning the disney v desantis lawsuit i would just. idk. caution people against going all in for disney. yes, it is good that disney supports lgbt people. yes, desantis is a fucking fascist, a freak, and a fucking loser and a monster and he absolutely deserves to lose the lawsuit and also go directly to jail. however... just. idk. remember that disney is a massive and extremely powerful corporation who monopolizes everything it touches and regardless of their PR or the views expressed by the company the only thing they actually "care" about is profit, which they maximize through power. i think it's important to remember that even during these times that corporations supporting lgbt people is 1) the bare minimum and 2) social awareness rather than activism. corporations are not your friends and certainly not friends to its workers or the ppl their business (physical, monetary, environmental or otherwise) impacts.

[doctorcanon]

DeSantis v Disney

So DeSantis is a rich man whose pockets are stuffed by oil and the NRA. And he’s too much of a coward to oppose the gun lobby and too comfortable with his lavish lifestyle to stand for the industry that is actively destroying his state. After covid and the most gun injuries per capita, The people of Florida are all potential victims at this point. They all know it on some level and are scared and don’t know what to do. So DeSantis essentially makes a boogeyman for him to fight so he won’t have to face the actual problem. And his constituents will buy it because they feel like something is getting done and they won’t have to be afraid anymore. 

DeSantis wants to break Disney and expects that it will get him elected president because no matter what happens he will claim it as a moral victory. Because he's running on the idea that the "woke companies" are trying to "weaken the nation" when science has proven time and again that Climate change, lack of gun control and systemic racism are ruining the country. He would rather try genocide than compromise his wallet. 

Remember he’s trying to make transitioning anyone under the age of 18 a crime of Sexual Battery and getting Sexual Battery changed to a Death sentence. Like he’s straight up wants to kill people. 

But what's probably going to happen is that he's going to be forced to settle. He might be able to beat Disney legally, but his pockets aren't nearly deep enough to do it financially. He can't use his or the Koch Brother’s Super PAC money for a lawsuit like this. Federal law prohibits this. No matter how he tries to slice it, he's not a businessman. His senior staff is far more limited than Biden's or Trump's. He won't be able to handle the lawsuit AND run for president. And he won't give up his run. He’ll prolly win the primary since he’s the Koch brother’s resident taint sniffer. So he's gonna have to give up on Disney which will really hurt his run. He’ll try to claim it as a moral victory as “at least SOMEONE stood up to them” but it won’t be effective because things like that rarely are hence the entire Trump presidency. 

People are dying. No one’s going to give a fuck about moral victories when we can’t afford groceries. Hopefully his rich friends turn on him and he loses but we have to remember to stay organized and stomp him out like the cockroach he is.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 26, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

Well, the Republicans did it. After middle-of-the-night negotiations to include more of the far right’s wish list, House Republicans passed a bill agreeing to a short-term raising of the debt ceiling, so long as it is accompanied by massive spending cuts and a rollback of Biden’s major accomplishments. The bill squeaked through by a vote of 217 to 215, mostly along party lines. Four extremist Republicans voted no because they believed the measure didn’t go far enough to slash spending.

The administration reiterated that it would not negotiate over paying the nation’s bills. “In our history, we have never defaulted on our debt or failed to pay our bills,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “Congressional Republicans must act immediately and without conditions to avoid default and ensure that the full faith and credit of the United States is not put at risk. That is their job. Economists have warned that default could spark a dangerous financial crisis, lead to a recession costing millions of Americans their jobs, endanger hard-working Americans’ retirement savings, and increase long-term federal borrowing costs, adding to deficits and debt. We are not a deadbeat nation.”

“I am here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” E. Jean Carroll said in court today for the former president’s civil trial for rape. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I am here to try to get my life back.” Carroll offered a detailed account of what she says was Trump’s attack nearly 30 years ago, an attack that warped her life.

While she testified, Trump attacked Carroll on social media. The judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, warned Trump’s lawyer that his client’s statement was “entirely inappropriate,” saying he was trying to influence the jury. Any more commentary might open up “a new source of potential liability,” Kaplan said. The lawyer said he would do the best he could to silence Trump, but later in the day, Trump posted another attack and his son Eric Trump followed suit.

“I wanted to address my senators, Cruz and Cornyn,” Amanda Zurawski told the Senate Committee on the Judiciary today at a hearing on reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision. Zurawski’s water broke 18 weeks into her pregnancy, making it impossible for her fetus to survive. Because of the vague and extreme antiabortion bill Texas lawmakers had passed, her health care providers refused to treat her so long as the fetus had a heartbeat, denying her an abortion. Zurawski developed deadly sepsis and, after giving birth to a stillborn daughter, spent three days in intensive care as doctors worked to save her life.

Zurawski said she wanted the two Texas Republican senators to know “that what happened to me I think most people in this room would agree was horrific. But it’s a direct result of the policies they support. I nearly died on their watch, and…I may have been robbed of the opportunity to have children in the future. And it’s because of the policies that they support.”

Neither Cruz nor Cornyn showed up to hear her. Cornyn later said Zurawski should consider suing her doctors for misinterpreting the law. Zurawski responded: “[M]y physician and my team of health care professionals that I saw over the course of three days, while I was repeatedly turned away from health care access, made the decision to not provide an abortion because that’s what they felt they had to do under Texas’ law…. And that will continue to happen and it is continuing to happen, and it’s not a result of misinterpretation. It’s the result of confusion, and the confusion is because [of] the way the law is written.”

Today, the Walt Disney Company sued Florida governor Ron DeSantis over his “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” and attack free speech. Disney’s former chief executive officer last year spoke out against the governor’s law prohibiting teachers from mentioning sexual orientation or gender identity. The lawsuit says that DeSantis’s attack “now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”

“For more than half a century,” the lawsuit reads,” Disney has made an immeasurable impact on Florida and its economy, establishing Central Florida as a top global tourist destination and attracting tens of millions of visitors to the State each year. People and families from every corner of the globe have traveled to Walt Disney World,” but that relationship is now in jeopardy, the lawsuit warns. “A targeted campaign of government retaliation—orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech—now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”

Meanwhile, DeSantis is overseas on what has been billed as a trade mission.

Tonight, the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trump’s last-ditch attempt to prevent former vice president Mike Pence from testifying before the grand jury investigating Trump’s attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. The grand jury has issued a subpoena for Pence; Trump tried to argue that Pence’s testimony was barred because of executive privilege. The court of appeals disagreed.

Today, two associates of former Trump ally Steve Bannon were sentenced to four years and three years in prison for soliciting donations for their “We Build the Wall” charity and then pocketing the money. Bannon was also charged in the case, but Trump pardoned him for his involvement in it before he left office.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., today, President Joe Biden and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea reaffirmed what Biden called the “ironclad” alliance between the two countries. They announced a new agreement, the so-called Washington Declaration, to increase cooperation in order to strengthen the message of nuclear deterrence conveyed to North Korea. This deterrence will include military training and exercises, the establishment of a joint nuclear consultative group, and the visit of a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea. “We’re not going to be stationing nuclear weapons on the peninsula, but we will have visits to ports, visits of nuclear submarines and things like that,” Biden said.

“A nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies and partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action,” he added, a public reassurance Yoon was hoping to receive when he arrived in Washington. Nervous about North Korean development of nuclear weapons, a majority of South Koreans want to develop their own nuclear weapons, a stance the U.S. strongly opposes.

This official state visit, the second of the Biden presidency, reinforced the changing political landscape in the Indo-Pacific, where the United States seeks to support Japan and South Korea to counter the growing power of China. Since 2021, Korean businesses have invested more than $100 billion in the U.S., an investment that the White House says will create more than 40,000 new jobs here, while the U.S., in turn, is investing in South Korea. The presidents vowed to continue to work together to secure supply chains, develop clean energy, and cooperate on cybersecurity and emerging technologies.

Biden and Yoon have met four times before, and the mood at the White House after the announcement was friendly and celebratory. At tonight’s dinner in President Yoon’s honor, the attendees gave the South Korean leader a standing ovation when he sang the first verse of Don McLean’s 1971 rock ballad “American Pie.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[furryprovocateur]

in desantis v. disney i actually definitely want disney to lose. i mean dgmw desantis should annihilate his entire family then himself but disney winning would be extremely bad for the already "conglomerates own america" situation we sit in. it's also extremely likely disney will win because of this reason.