What Do You Want to Bet . . .

. . . that Florida will ask for disaster relief funds from the federal government?

Please note that the state of Florida reported a $21.8 billion surplus in 2022, the highest in state history. I am sure that, if asked, Mr. Biden will send federal aid, but Florida refers to their pile-o-cash as its “Rainy Day Fund,” and does this not qualify as a “rainy day?” Should they not spend much of that before the rest of us are asked to support their recovery efforts? (I read just this morning that Hurricane Idalia has racked up a bill of $9.36 billion which is expected to go higher but that is for all of the affected states, not just Florida. (Much of that is covered by insurance apparently.)

Gosh, couldn’t Florida demonstrate the superiority of their form of governance by offering to pay what is left after the insurance companies cough up, for all of the damage, even in the other states?

Nah, you watch. They will poor mouth their ability to recover without federal aid and ask for funds.

I will be sending “thoughts and prayers” to Governor DeSantis.

Florida’s GOP is Weaponizing their Public Schools

As loudly as the Republicans are decrying the “weaponization” of certain government agencies, they seem to be doing it with abandon whenever they get the chance.

Here is a snippet from Scott Maxwell who writes for The Orlando Sentinel.

“Every week lately, Florida seems to make more headlines for trying to turn public schools into a political war zone. The two latest examples:

The Sentinel revealed the Florida Department of Education has hired a new political operative who’s working with the book-censoring Moms for Liberty — and won’t say how many of your tax dollars the state is paying him or even why.

Also, the state has approved new classroom videos made by a guy who admits his goal is ‘indoctrination.’

One video features a cartoon version of Christopher Columbus telling kids that, while slavery might not be great, “being taken as a slave is better than being killed.” Another tells students that one of the most important things kids “need to know” about slavery is that “White men led the world in putting an end to the abhorrent practice.”

White men as saviors is quite the top-line takeaway on slavery.”

So, weaponization of a public agency is a bad thing, according to the GOP, except in cases in which there is a good cause, like white supremacy?