A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Several major components of Florida’s Republican-driven restrictive voting law were gutted by a federal district judge in Tallahassee on Thursday. In a blistering opinion that pulled no punches, the judge ruled that the law intentionally targeted Black voters to hurt voter turnout for Democrats.
Ginni Thomas left one cult for another.
ETA: I am supposed to mention former Senator Bill Fri!!st now?
DeSantis has taken his disapproval of Disney’s condemnation of his “Don’t Say Gay” legislation to new heights, threatening to strip the entertainment behemoth of a special status that allows it to run like a city-state around its Orlando theme park. The status, which has been in place for 55 years, has allowed Disney to ignore a law that DeSantis pushed through that bans schools from teaching young children about sexual orientation or gender identity. Disney immediately said it would work to get the law repealed, drawing heavy criticism from the Republican governor, who said the company “crossed the line.” Late Thursday DeSantis suggested he had the power to strip the company—Florida’s largest employer—of its privileges. “Disney has alienated a lot of people now,” DeSantis said at a West Palm Beach press conference, according to CNN. “And so the political influence they’re used to wielding, I think has dissipated. And so the question is, why would you want to have special privileges in the law at all? And I don’t think that that we should.” Disney has not yet responded.
Russia sends 200,000 murderous troops to Ukraine, A OK.
Ukraine sends two helicopters to Russia, so wrong in so many ways.
Some how this doesn’t seem like a smart move to me. But I’m not a politician and I’m not a fascist so maybe I’m missing something.
Ha ha. April Fool’s.
Now can we have the stories from this reality?
No, that is this reality? (sobs)
If it bears out, pokes a lot of holes in everyone freaking out about a no-fly zone, as there’s no way that a couple of Ukrainian helicopters should have been able to penetrate russian airspace there without being taken out.
Bon Poisson du Avril Hivers!
I can’t decide if the scariest person in current U.S. politics is Tucker Carlson or Rick DeSantis. It’s like Mothra vs. Gamera.
Operator Starsky just insists that Russian soldiers need to be more careful with their smoking.
Russia was stupid to use Belgorod as a forward logistics base. Hubris is losing this war for Russia and Putin.
I understand it’s pretty common, some people feel a need to be controlled.
The scariest person in our politics right now is Ginni Thomas.
Don’t mess with Mickey!
I’d buy that or an insider attack over Ukraine still having enough helicopters up and especially anywhere near Kharkiv to be able to launch an attack.
The judge ordered the legislature to go back to the drawing board and create “bipartisanly supported maps.”
Exactly the type of ruling we should expect to see from Blue states. Red states will do everything they can to increase their hue. Blue states want to play fair.
At points I have thought that the Ukrainians should copy the counterattack strategy the Scots used against Richard II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_invasion_of_Scotland_(1385).
However, upon reflection, I realize that Mr. Putin would have no reservations about responding with chemical or tactical nuclear weapons.
“The scariest person in our politics right now is Ginni Thomas.”
Nah, she’s got thousands of competitors.
DeSantis seems to have no idea how many “conservatives” make an annual pilgrimage to Disney World. Governors come and go, but Mickey abides.
Expect to be served with a lawsuit for intellectual property infringement from the company that brought you such classics as “Nazi Supermen are our Superiors.”
“The senator was one of the seven Republicans who convicted Trump in his second Senate impeachment trial, and he was [quickly censured by the Louisiana GOP as a result]”
If only Trump was convicted…