Category Archives: Ron DeSantis

Florida ex-cop with ‘patterns of abuse and bias’ joins DeSantis’s state guard

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Javier Ortiz, accused of false arrests, harassment and doxxing, is now member of group reportedly becoming combat-ready militia

A former Florida police captain with a long history of civilian complaints, including false arrests and harassment, has joined the state’s state guard under governor Ron DeSantis.

Javier Ortiz, 44, joined the Florida state guard in February, the Miami Herald first reported. Ortiz’s enrollment comes months after being reinstated by the Miami police department, after he was initially dismissed for slew of conduct complaints.

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DeSantis allies reach settlement over who controls Disney’s governing district

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Tourism oversight board members approve agreement, ending nearly two years of litigation after DeSantis’s takeover

Allies of the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and Disney reached a settlement agreement on Wednesday in a lawsuit over who controls Walt Disney World’s governing district.

In a meeting, the members of the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District approved the settlement agreement, ending almost two years of litigation that was sparked by DeSantis’s takeover of the district from Disney supporters following the company’s opposition to Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law.

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DeSantis signs bills expanding prison sentences for undocumented migrants

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Measures target people convicted of driving without a license – which undocumented people can’t obtain – or committing felonies

Florida’s governor signed bills Friday that increase the prison and jail sentences for immigrants who are living in the United States illegally if they are convicted of driving without a license or committing felonies.

Ron DeSantis is a frequent critic of the Biden administration over its handling of the Mexican border, sending Florida law enforcement agents and national guard members to Texas. The Republican governor, who ended his attempt for his party’s presidential nomination last month, has also flown immigrants who entered Texas illegally to Massachusetts and California.

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University of Florida terminating all diversity, equity and inclusion positions

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Move is to comply with state law passed by Governor Ron DeSantis that prohibits public funding of DEI programs

The University of Florida is terminating all its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions to comply with a state law passed in January that prohibits state or federal funds from being used to fund the programs.

The university, with more than 30,000 undergraduates, said in a memo issued on Friday that it was closing its office of the chief diversity officer, eliminating DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halting DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors.

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University of Florida student senate passes ‘green new deal’

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In a rebuke to Governor Ron DeSantis’s denialism, the student body calls for campus-wide measures to tackle the climate crisis

The University of Florida student senate voted in favour of a “green new deal” late on Tuesday, becoming the first public university to adopt such a resolution through student government.

The mandate – which was unanimously passed – calls for sweeping campus-wide measures to tackle the climate crisis that include just transition, total divestment from fossil fuels, disclosure of the university’s financial ties within the private sector and a ban on receiving research funding from the fossil fuel industry.

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Florida schoolkids may have to study ‘threat of communism in the US’

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Republican bills likely to reach Governor Ron DeSantis, who has railed against indoctrination of students by ‘liberal elites’

Kindergartners in Florida might soon be compelled to balance learning their ABCs with lectures on the history of communism, if a Republican proposal moving through the state’s legislature becomes law.

House bill 1349 would also create a “history of communism taskforce”, hand-picked by the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, to recommend how the subject is presented in classrooms from elementary to high school starting in 2026.

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Florida’s new anti-gay bill aims to limit and punish protected free speech

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SB 1780 would make it defamation to accuse someone of homophobia, transphobia, racism or sexism and punishable by fine

By day two of Florida’s legislative session, which started last month, lawmakers had introduced nearly 20 anti-gay or anti-trans bills. One such bill, SB 1780, would make accusing someone of being homophobic, transphobic, racist or sexist, even if the accusation is true, equivalent to defamation, and punishable by a fine of at least $35,000. If passed, the bill would severely limit and punish constitutionally protected free speech in the state.

Though SB 1780 is not likely to survive past higher courts, its introduction is indicative of a wider conservative strategy to stifle criticism of racist, sexist and homophobic behavior. The bill, critics argue, is being introduced to test the waters and see how far, legally, lawmakers can go until they are able to silence detractors.

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Can Donald Trump’s courtroom antics be contained?

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Judges have tried gag orders and fines, but so far the former president has shown little interest in restraining himself

Donald Trump’s defamation trial against E Jean Carroll resumes in New York today after a juror’s illness delayed proceedings. But the biggest question isn’t whether Trump will be found liable (he already was) or even how much he’ll have to pay her (it could be a lot). It’s how he’ll behave – and what, if anything, the judge can do to rein him in.

The last time Trump was in court, he grumbled so loudly from his seat that the judge, Lewis Kaplan, warned him he could be kicked out of court. “Mr Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited, and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive,” he said. “Mr Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial.”

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Ron DeSantis put nearly all his eggs in the basket of a ‘war on woke’

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The Florida governor, once billed as Trump without the baggage, ended up making a series of bad gambles

It began in a glitch-filled disaster on Twitter. It ended with a misattributed quotation on X. Just like Elon Musk’s social media platform, efforts to rebrand Ron DeSantis’s US presidential election campaign could not mask its fundamental flaws.

When in May the Florida governor announced his run during a chat with Musk on Twitter Spaces, the platform’s audio streaming feature, there were technical breakdowns that drew comparisons with one of Musk’s space rockets blowing up on the launchpad.

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Ron DeSantis drops out of Republican presidential race

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Hard-right Florida governor at one point thought to be future of party ends campaign to be GOP nominee

Ron DeSantis, the hard-right governor of Florida, has ended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed Donald Trump.

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” he said in a statement posted on X. “He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”

Adam Gabbatt contributed reporting from New Hampshire

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Trump gains backing of Tim Scott as New Hampshire primary nears

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Haley needs a strong showing after Trump’s Iowa victory, but ex-president is running strong after picking up new endorsement

The New Hampshire primary campaign has entered its final days with an increasingly nasty tone as Nikki Haley and Donald Trump attacked each other amid yet more signs that Republicans are consolidating their support around the former US president as he secured a vital endorsement.

On Friday night in New Hampshire, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and a former presidential hopeful himself, said he was throwing his weight behind Trump amid rumors that he is in the running to become Trump’s running mate.

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Ron DeSantis says Republicans will lose if Donald Trump becomes presidential nominee – US politics live

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Florida governor says former president’s mounting legal issues will be a distraction in US 2024 elections

When E Jean Carroll first took the stand, Trump could be seen whispering to his lead attorney, Alina Habba. He sat with slightly hunched shoulders as Carroll testified.

Following Carroll’s initial remarks, one of her attorneys, Roberta Kaplan, asked the former Elle columnist questions about her career. Jurors heard how Carroll ascended from writing articles for high-profile publications to landing the columnist position, as well as a talkshow and authoring multiple books.

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Ron DeSantis insists US is ‘not a racist country’, echoing claim by Nikki Haley

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Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate concedes country has faced ‘challenges’ over dealing with race

The hard-right Florida governor Ron DeSantis says the US is “not a racist country”, echoing a controversial claim by Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who is also trying to deny Donald Trump the Republican presidential nomination.

“Well, the US is not a racist country,” DeSantis told a CNN town hall this week in New Hampshire. “And we’ve overcome things in our history. You know, I think the founding fathers – they established a set of principles that are universal.”

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Iowa caucuses: Asa Hutchinson suspends campaign; Haley says she’s ‘better choice for America’ – US politics live

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Hutchinson, who came sixth in caucuses, congratulates Trump on win; Haley tries to regain momentum with attack ad on Biden and Trump

Nikki Haley has said in a new campaign advert attacking Donald Trump and Joe Biden that she is the “better choice” for America, as the former South Carolina governor tries to regain momentum after narrowly losing to Ron DeSantis in the Iowa caucuses.

Haley puts herself forward as the better choice than Biden and Trump, whom the narrator in the ad suggests “are the two most-disliked politicians in America”.

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Trump’s 30-point Iowa lead boosts his confidence for New Hampshire win

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Trump’s victory in Iowa intensifies skepticism that any of his opponents will be able to overtake him in the Republican primary

Donald Trump will continue on to the New Hampshire primaries more confident than ever about capturing the Republican nomination after the former president secured a 30-point win in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.

Trump won 51% of the vote in Iowa, giving him the largest margin of victory in the history of the state’s Republican caucuses, further securing his position as the Republican frontrunner who will face President Joe Biden in November. Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, secured a distant second-place finish with 21% of the vote, while Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, trailed in third place with 19%. The entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who came in fourth, dropped out of the race following his disappointing performance, as did the former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson.

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Iowa caucuses 2024 live: Trump wins state as Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis vie for second and third place

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Former US president beats Republican rivals in first state to choose their Republican candidate

Florida senator Marco Rubio formally endorsed Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign on Sunday, effectively snubbing his state’s own governor Ron DeSantis.

In a social media post, Rubio cited his work with Trump to expand child tax credit as well as sanctions placed on Cuba and Venezuela as reasons for throwing his support behind the former president. Rubio added:

I support Trump because that kind of leadership is the ONLY way we will get the extraordinary actions needed to fix the disaster Biden has created.

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Donald Trump wins in Iowa as first contest kicks off 2024 presidential race

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AP called race for Trump rapidly, while caucusgoers in much of the state were still casting ballots, a sign of his wide lead in the race

Donald Trump won the US’s first election contest of 2024, easily fending off a winnowed field of Republicans who failed to gain as much traction as the cult of personality surrounding the former president.

The Associated Press called the race for Trump rapidly, while caucusgoers in much of the state were still casting ballots, a sign of the wide lead the former president has in the race.

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US election season begins as Iowa Republicans brave cold in first caucuses

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Latest polls place Donald Trump as clear frontrunner for party’s nomination in first round of voting in 2024 primary

Iowa Republicans braved brutally cold temperatures on Monday evening to participate in the state’s presidential caucuses, as Donald Trump remains the clear frontrunner in the race for his party’s nomination.

The caucuses began at 7pm CT and marked the first round of voting in the 2024 presidential primary. They will offer the most tangible insight yet into whether any of Trump’s primary opponents, particularly the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, have managed to diminish his significant polling advantage in the race. Trump has maintained that advantage for months, even as he has been charged with 91 felony counts across four criminal cases.

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Extreme cold and snow blanket Iowa ahead of Monday’s Republican caucuses

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Candidates were forced to cancel campaign events as snow closed rural highways and temperatures are expected to plummet

Wild and dangerous winter storm weather continued to wreak havoc on Saturday in Iowa just two days before the Republican caucuses kick off the official nominating process for the 2024 presidential election.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in the state capital of Des Moines said on Saturday morning that more snow was expected, in combination with lingering gusty winds causing “blowing snow and whiteout conditions at times” and warned that “travel is expected to remain treacherous, so consider altering plans”.

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Who benefits as Christie ends presidential bid before Iowa caucus? – podcast

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Hours before Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis took to the debate stage in Iowa on Wednesday night, more than 1,000 miles away in New Hampshire Chris Christie shocked his supporters by announcing he was dropping out of the race. The former New Jersey governor was the only candidate to consistently attack Donald Trump, in a field of Republicans trying to beat the former president, all the while keeping his base sweet.

With only three days until the Iowa caucus, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Elaine Kamarck about who is most likely to come out on top

Archive: CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN

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