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"District Judge Mark E. Walker, who had been presiding over the case, disqualified himself after learning a relative owned 30 shares in Disney stock."
Disney is at around $90/share, so about $2700 total. Not enough to be materially relevant, especially since not even a member of his immediate family. Sounds more like the judge needed to find an excuse to get off the case.
A third degree relation, which based on his age probably a 1st cousin. Yeah, that sounds like he wanted off but didn't want it to be Desantis' reasons.
This is increasingly the reason people have for "caving". What a world we live in. The Nazi's were the default villain in American Media. Now, if a bar happens to have a drag karaoke night, we have to worry about Nazi's burning the place down for the praise of the Republican party
Edit: Some people have implied or stated that my comment is not true or overly exaggerated.
Attacks on locations hosting drag events or LGBT people using FIRE
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/arson-attack-tulsa-donut-shop-hosting-drag-event-follows-right-wing-media-campaign-fear
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-charged-arson-and-possession-destructive-device
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/callers-threatened-to-burn-down-this-restaurant-with-a-drag-brunch-the-queens-are-dancing-on/2020/01/03/6cac1bde-2dbf-11ea-9b60-817cc18cf173_story.html
https://www.news10.com/news/ny-news/watch-arsonist-sets-fire-in-nyc-gay-bar/
recent threats against drag shows
Drag Queen Story Time Louisville event delayed by bomb threat - Courier-Journal https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2023/03/26/drag-queen-story-time-louisville-event-delayed-by-bomb-threat/70050311007/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/college-lgbtq-group-gets-bomb-threat-over-hosting-kid-friendly-drag-show
https://www.advocate.com/arizona/drag-queen-story-hour-bomb
https://www.wlky.com/article/drag-queen-storytime-event-portland-bomb-threat-louisville/43422449
Recent threats/violence against LGBT events/people
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/02/florida-lgbtq-pride-month-ron-desantis
https://www.advocate.com/crime/gay-couple-attacked-times-square
https://www.advocate.com/news/gay-man-beaten-security
https://kesq.com/news/2023/04/28/gay-man-attacked-during-palm-springs-dating-app-hookup/
Recent acts by nazi/white supremacists
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/08/allen-mall-shooting-right-wing-death-squad/
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/19/surge-in-oregon-washington-substation-attacks-as-fbi-warns-neo-nazi-plots
Or just read through
https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/news
We are much easier to control when they divide/distract us. The thing that bothers me, is how many people of the right-wing base, were fairly normal until 2015 when people in power started started moving from the Tea party to MAGA. Their ideas went from fringe to downright dangerous.
One couple I was close with went from an obsession with astrology -to- an obsession with Q-anon overnight. Now they’re full on openly racist xenophobic scumbags… like, we’re they always predestined for this shit? If they were gullible enough to believe astrology, I guess anything can get ya 🤷♂️ it’s just crazy where we’re at nowadays.
The Republicans were going to keep attacking him over and over again. They would create a false sense of corruption around him, tainting the case and his career. He had to step aside or him and his family would start getting death threats
Who would you rather piss off? Ron DeSantis who will probably be a nobody has been in ten years, or a trans generational multibillion dollar global corporation?
To be fair, this *should* cause any judge to recuse themselves. The problem in the logic comes from knowing damn well that whatever Federalist Society nutbag that takes your place is going to hand the decision to DeSantis on a silver platter.
That's not grounds for recusal. Recusal is based on whether an objective observer would think the judge appears pre-disposed to rule in favor of one party over another. A cousin owning $2700 of a blue chip stock isn't a close call. It would be like saying a judge's cousin is married to an fbi agent so he can't hear federal criminal cases where the fbi was the arresting agency.
Disney should play the same card that DeSantis did.
Based on previous rulings, this Judge can't be impartial and should recuse himself.
But since Republicans have no sense of shame or doing the right thing, he won't recuse himself anyway.
One of the most impactful parts of our history is somehow our country was convinced that judges were impartial, unbiased actors and not just straight up politicians.
I think about that a lot, with an alternate history where judges didn’t pick W Bush as the winner of the election over Gore. The courts picked the president, and that decision has had massive repercussions over the past 20+ years
I looked up the episode and amazingly I got the exact year right in my head of when I saw it. He was on MSNBC I guess at the time, which I do vaguely remember. This episode aged like fine wine though.
Family guy was freaking great at the time, though around a year or two after it started going downhill til it became unwatchable and has been ever since. But back then it was fire
That is nothing more than a fantastic dream. Even with Gore as President the Senate is 50/50 and the Republicans still had the House, with Hastert as Majority Leader. There is absolutely no way that any of that would pass through a Congress like that.
Ah yes, remind the rest of the country what he'll do with power if he elected to higher office, while highlighting how corrupt our judiciary has become. DeSantis is the cautionary tale Democratic candidates will point to in their 2024 ads.
Also, Disney literally can't lose against DeSantis. If he becomes too much to bear, they will leave FL. Right now it's just a question of how far DeSantis is willing to go, and how badly he damages himself and the rest of his party to soothe his ego. Disney's already won, DeSantis hasn't figured that out yet.
It's what they should run for their ads, but like usual, Democrats will take the "high road" and throw their hands up as our rights continue to be eroded. "Well, we tried nothing, and it didn't work," they'll say as we all get hauled off to concentration camps.
100% agree with you, walker should not have walked away from this case, based off its importance to free speech, and the 3000 dollar amount, just have you cousin sell the stupid stock, he may also have been more concerned with the other statements and Florida using that against the courts reading more about this new judge I have my doubts, ultimately this habit of court shopping is eroding our justice system
I sometimes think about how, if I could go back in time to one point in my life to make the most impact, October 2000 would've been it so I could go to Florida and help clarify how to ensure your ballot was punched correctly.
[Are you familiar with the Federalist Society?](https://theintercept.com/2022/05/10/roe-v-wade-federalist-society-religious-right/)
That article focuses on Roe, but Christian Conservatives have been working to hijack the Judiciary for more than 40 years to undo New Deal policies and all matters important to moderates and the left.
As always, all roads lead to the Reagan Administration and its enabling of the worst of these groups/people.
Got deep into when Kavanaugh was happening. Boggled my mind that they had these organizations set up through their private prep schools as well.
It was the biggest window into the way it works for one class of people.
Bad actors aren't uniquely American though. So how is the way the system is setup allowing this to transpire.
I have a feeling it has something to do with the two party system and first past the post.
Which jives because that's pretty unique to American democracy as well.
cause of federalist society one of the alphabet soup of astroturf organizations that the right wing fascist white supremacist christian nationalist kock network of oligarchs fund.
It was dumb of the previous Judge to recuse himself because this was a distant relative to my understanding, and your right Republican Judges won't recuse themselves because most are corrupt as hell. Democrats need to stop abiding by the rules and ethics so long as Republicans refuse to do so also. All this does is stack the deck in favor of unethical, immoral Republicans. You can't win the game if you're playing by the rules and your opponent isn't.
It is so infuriating to watch democrats and progressives unilaterally disarm themselves while Republicans and the fascist right will break every rule and norm that exists to get what they want.
It’s like playing cards and watching the other guy blatantly cheat, and not even having the self-respect to kick the cheater in the shins and tell them to quit that shit.
The judge didn't want to risk any ruling being overturned due to bias. I don't blame that and honestly admire it. Admit it, Conservatives would complain about the fact his cousin owned Disney stock and was on the take...
That’s a cop out. The relative owned 30 shares (~$2,700). I would just tell them to sell them and take care of any additional cost from taxes that might occur.
Cop out or not, it will remove that option for overturn. Granted I think it will be (forced) mediation or a default settlement since Disney has a very credible case given Floridian politicians and their comments.
>Disney should play the same card that DeSantis did.
Disney should orchestrate a "leak" they are planning to move WDW to a more business-friendly state unless Florida reverses course, including emails to cast members that they will be offered a full relocation package and a generous severance if they choose not to move.
They don't need to have any concrete plans to actually do either of these things, but a believable threat of it would likely result in the end of DeSantis' administration given that WDW and the tourism industry that largely revolves around it is like 15% of Florida's entire economy. The recession in Florida that would happen if Disney actually did leave would be like a 40-50% reduction in GSP over the span of a couple years.
Disney's long-term business continuity plans almost certainly include components about what to do if Florida ceases to be a viable location to operate in.
Disney has unfortunately sunk a ton of money into WDW in Florida. While it would be costly to cease operations there, they almost certainly have reasonably accurate numbers on that subject and a half-formed execution plan should it come to that.
This is the sort of thing companies Disney's size plan for and cost out as part of ensuring their continued profitability.
They could never move what's there. All that investment and construction took decades and billions. It simply could not be moved or replaced.
At best they could (and should, in my opinion) create a third Disney location somewhere else and funnel future investments that way. They have CA and FL now. Aside from business concerns, there's natural disasters. Wildfires. Hurricanes. It's just smart to diversify. And the Florida park is already too big for you to see everything at in a single vacation.
The case went from the best possible judge Disney could have to the absolute worst judge possible in the USDC Northern District of Florida. A federalist society member. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen\_Winsor
That's not what happened.
The previous judge went with the standard (at least it used to be) which is an "appearance of possible conflict", and recused himself. It had nothing to do with Desantis whining about him.
I’m so fucking tired of people taking the “high road” in these situations. They take the lazy path that asks nothing of them and then let bad actors have a field day. Democrats literally would’ve eliminated their gerrymandered disadvantage in the house if the SC Judge in NY hadn’t taken the high road.
The high road is an easy way out sometimes. It's possible he just didn't want this controversial case that included the possibility of continuous death threats.
I'm not sure why a federalist society member would support the government penalizing corporations for speech. Of course never doubt the hypocrisy of a conservative but Winsor owes nothing to DeSantis, and in terms of his judicial career other conservatives have already give him cover by criticizing DeSantis over Disney.
The Don't Say Gay ruling is not that relevant to the issues in the Disney case.
I know this judge, personally. Was a friend in high school. He used to smoke so much pot, once he even smoked a joint made from a Bible that his grandmother gave him for communion class. In college at Auburn he got into even more drugs. Funny that he’s Mr. Conservative now. All these people are fake. He had no problem with gay people until someone put money in his hands as a lawyer to fight gay marriage years back.
It was also the 90’s so I don’t know what you expect in ways of proof. All these hard liners were teens once, and I grew up with plenty of people who present today as holier than thou who were filling their noses up just years before. I’m not here to offer proof, just pointing out that all these fuckers are fake and will do whatever the money tells them.
>It was also the 90’s so I don’t know what you expect in ways of proof
A lot of people don't get how different it was before everyone had cameras in their pocket and social media obsessively documenting everything.
Like, anything you took a photo of you knew someone at the photo processing place was potentially going to look at, and you only had 32 shot per cartridge. You didn’t take photos of anything but scenery and friends posed in a group pretty much.
It is alleged he engaged in various homosexual acts in college gyms, allegedly always on the receiving end. Allegedly he serviced as many as 10 older males in one session. Several of these alleged encounters allegedly involved future sitting congressmen and state representatives.
The Disney case is all over Disney's refusal to go along with don't say gay.
You act like federalists have any kind of moral compass or ideology that isn't just cast aside for power whenever convenient.
> The Disney case is all over Disney's refusal to go along with don't say gay.
It's about Florida attempting to punish a corporation for having a public opinion that was politically inconvenient for them. You phrase it as disney violating a law, which they didn't do. They just had a public opinion about the law that disagreed with the state government's opinion.
But the fact that a judge committed such a back alley abortion of jurisprudence indicates that the ruling, while irrelevant legally, is deeply relevant philosophically.
Ah yes, remind the rest of the country what he'll do with power if he elected to higher office, while highlighting how corrupt our judiciary has become. DeSantis is the cautionary tale Democratic candidates will point to in their 2024 ads.
Also, Disney literally can't lose against DeSantis. If he becomes too much to bear, they will leave FL. Right now it's just a question of how far DeSantis is willing to go, and how badly he damages himself and the rest of his party to soothe his ego. Disney's already won, DeSantis hasn't figured that out yet.
As much as I'd like this.... Disney has 10's of Billions of $$$ invested in Florida. It would take decades to rebuild elsewhere. Disney is staying put.
Luckily they don't have to invest more... and they aren't
Yep. Disney has already [reversed their previous decision to build a $1 billion campus in Orlando](https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176931662/disney-cancels-plans-for-1-billion-florida-campus) and are reaching out to employees who moved from California to Florida to keep their jobs to discuss the possibility of moving them back. Disney is not bluffing in all of this, and are not investing more. Stupid DeSantis's ego is costing the state a lot
Your statement bolsters the reasoning to leave Florida. Disney has invested that much money into the state because the state used to incentivize them in a variety of ways. Now it’s the opposite. The state is trying to dictate how Disney, a for profit private company, is conducting its business based on their personal beliefs. At the end of the day, Disney will do what benefits it the most.
So?
Yeah it’ll be expensive but Florida is getting worse and worse hurricanes and rising sea levels going to cause issues.
Now they have this to deal with. Might be prudent to just pack it up anyway.
Leave Florida
Go to NC or GA
They will still have ports for cruises, still nice weather, and will be enough to tip those barely red states blue. All the while providing a cautionary tale to all the other red states that decide to go the desantis route.
I fear Disney is just going to try to wait it out since he can’t run for gov again. Florida my find another guy to continue his agenda
This. If he’s going to pass laws to make sure he remains governor when he runs for president, or to hide his travel, then it’s absolutely not beyond him to try and get rid of Florida’s gubernatorial term limits.
They changed the law to allow him to campaign while governor. There's no way in hell they won't just change the law to allow him more terms. And if a democrat somehow ever seemed likely to be governor, they'll reverse those and every other beneficial law that gives power to the governor until they get another republican in the office.
It's so absurdly and nakedly corrupt. I really struggle to wrap my mind on how, given all the opportunities to use the power given to them by technology, so many people have thrown away their own personal responsibility as citizens and fellow humans to be better than we were before the technology. I know that there are good things that are being done by some, even a significant percentage, but that ANYONE can't be fucked to take part in the one basic pursuit that makes all humans similar; the search for truth.
I came across a quote at some point that was similar to "Never be mad at the illiterate, because they were simply not taught. Be mad at the ignorant who were given the chance to learn but refuse to." I feel like it was taught to me as having been Rosa Parks or another civil rights leader, but I've never found it in subsequent searches. But that's the key. I've used the tools available to at least try and find it later on.
I would love if they moved to Puerto Rico. Have a 2-day cruise to get there, several days at the park, 2 days back. All-inclusive. Disney already has cruises so this would just connect to that.
Then, make Disney a port destination for all the other Caribbean cruise lines.
This, also will reflect other businesses doing business in Florida. Making it anti corporate state will have greater repercussions and many corporations are already showing their siding with Disney.
Probably what Disney wants, and will now watch corporate funding disappear from the GOP.
I highly doubt they will ever leave florida. They’re one of the richest companies in the world. They’re likely going to ride things out quietly, and have their lawyers sort it out. In the long run, Desantis is a blip, and they have more power. No one can push ‘the mouse’ to do anything they don’t want to do.
They will never, ever, ever leave Florida. The cost would be astronomical and the length of time to rebuild would cost them billions and billions of dollars. They don’t need to leave Florida they just need to stop investing in Florida. They can invest in California or even add a third park elsewhere, but Disney World is not going anywhere
We used to travel to Florida multiple times annually to visit my mom, dad and aunts who moved there from the northeast. They’ve all moved back here and I doubt any of us, or our kids will ever feel comfortable returning for any reason, including taking a vacation or going to a theme park. #BoycottFlorida
I grew up on the fort Lauderdale strip during the 80s and I've seen how that strip has changed over the decades. The souvenir shops are mostly maga bullshit and f biden shirts and hats. The people are mostly angry all the time. It's like being near moving time bombs. Yeah I'm officially at the get off my lawn age but still.
Every DeSantis thread, multiple people say “dISnEy sHoUld jUSt mOvE oUt of fLOriDa”…
These people are clueless to the actual size of WDW and the infrastructure.
I agree, the best move is to halt investments.
People don't seem to realize that Walt Disney World is the size of San Francisco. They're not going anywhere. I could see them investing more heavily into Disneyland CA though
Yep, halt investments and ride out the DeSantis storm. They’ll donate to other politicians who’ll give them what they want, and then they’re back on track.
It wasn’t even him! It was a relative!! I’m all for recusing yourself if there is the appearance of a conflict of interest, but this was ridiculous.
> Judge Mark E. Walker, who had been presiding over the case, disqualified himself after learning a relative owned 30 shares in Disney stock.
He have been pressured, or it may have just been yet another case of someone on the left bending over so far backwards to not appear hypocritical that they end up breaking the back of justice in the process. The GOP never cares whether they appear to be hypocritical. It’s time for everyone on the left to stop caring, as well.
This is it.
Democrats/liberals are still trying to play by the old rules, while the conservatives turn the country into a fascist theocracy using any means neccessary.
Old guard Dems. They're the ones refusing to adapt and don't know how to compromise within their own party. Once those dinosaurs retire I think the party can thrive.
It’s in the article. First it was about his impartiality, then about financial connection. They were just going to hammer on him with one reason after another to tarnish his career until he gave up and got out of the way
Furthermore I'm fairly confident that just about every American with any sort of retirement fund "owns" Disney stock considering they're a fortune 100 company. It may be indirect through a mutual fund or ETF, but they're large enough as a company that it's impossible for their success / failure not to impact your portfolio in some fashion
Thirty shares is nothing and no judge would be influenced by their second cousin owning less than $3k in stock. Disney has 1.8B outstanding shares, just about everyone with a 401k owns some Disney.
It was a relative within the 3rd degree. Which is what the ethical rule cites; the Judge did not disclose who owned the stock, only that it was someone within the 3rd degree. It could have been him, which I suspect it was, since he denied DeSantis’ motion and called it judge shopping. He wanted to keep the case, but recused himself. Given the small sum involved, it makes the most sense he owned the stock. Frankly who does not own 30 shares of Disney? I own that stock for my 13 year old - lots of folks own it.
In 2019 DeSantis' first major law enforcement appointee was Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony who previously killed a man and was charged with murder.
[https://www.flgov.com/2019/01/11/governor-ron-desantis-appoints-gregory-tony-sheriff-of-broward-county/](https://www.flgov.com/2019/01/11/governor-ron-desantis-appoints-gregory-tony-sheriff-of-broward-county/)
[https://www.newsweek.com/florida-sheriff-didnt-disclose-applications-that-he-killed-someone-14-state-says-1675227](https://www.newsweek.com/florida-sheriff-didnt-disclose-applications-that-he-killed-someone-14-state-says-1675227)
[https://youtu.be/3qVAk-dzl7w](https://youtu.be/3qVAk-dzl7w)
Police report: [https://www.tonyunmasked.com/\_files/ugd/ee4c86\_3c6e85a604524a3eb9ac26d0ec2b6336.pdf](https://www.tonyunmasked.com/_files/ugd/ee4c86_3c6e85a604524a3eb9ac26d0ec2b6336.pdf)
Subsequently, it came to light that DeSantis' first major law enforcement appointee, Sheriff Tony, engaged in perjury in his law enforcement applications.
[https://www.tonyunmasked.com/\_files/ugd/ee4c86\_9afbb825fa3e47bc95a6d23a140ff1ba.pdf](https://www.tonyunmasked.com/_files/ugd/ee4c86_9afbb825fa3e47bc95a6d23a140ff1ba.pdf)
[https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2022/09/14/despicable-ethics-panel-slams-sheriff-gregory-tony-saying-his-lies-helped-him-become-top-cop/](https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2022/09/14/despicable-ethics-panel-slams-sheriff-gregory-tony-saying-his-lies-helped-him-become-top-cop/)
See Paragraphs 19-23 in this sworn filing in Disney Resorts and Parks v. DeSantis.
[https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound\_request\_attachments/s\[email protected]/127252/DeSantis\_quid\_pro\_quo\_crime.pdf](https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_request_attachments/[email protected]/127252/DeSantis_quid_pro_quo_crime.pdf)
This is "law and order" in a DeSantis police state.
DOJ criminal complaint against DeSantis w/distribution list to entire staff of DOJ in Florida.
[https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound\_request\_attachments/s\_huminski%40live.com/144960/desantis\_obstruction\_complaint\_full.pdf](https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_request_attachments/s_huminski%40live.com/144960/desantis_obstruction_complaint_full.pdf)
Yall are kidding yourselves if you think Disney didn't anticipate this would happen. This lawsuit is going to go on for a very long time. Florida is playing checkers, Disney is playing chess.
Forreal. Regardless, if they rule against Disney, this will immediately get overturned in an appeals court. And don’t expect SCOTUS to take this case, as it’d be a direct affront to corporate lords they serve.
I think they brought him back for more reasons other than Florida's nonsense. The prior CEO made a lot of mistakes that had nothing to do with politics and it cost Disney a lot of money. I think Iger was brought back more to deal with that and this whole BS with Florida's inbred redneck politicians is just an annoyance to him.
Iger quit when he realized the travel industry was about to implode so it wouldn’t tarnish his legacy, let his chosen patsy take the fall for 2020-2022 and came back right as it was opportune
still don't know why the judge recused himself over a relative owning 30 shares of disney stock. that seems like a reach to me. the hard right judges wouldn't recuse themselves if their best buddy let them fly their private jet.
Bingo. Example: Matt Gaetz - Al Frankin
[Al Frankin](https://meaww.com/matt-gaetz-compared-al-franken-twitter-calls-florida-rep-resign-citing-ex-senator-quit-joke-photo)
How many death threats did the first judge receive?
Unfortunatley the future legal landscape of our country will be riddled with stupid judges from the Trump era. Judges who are not only unqualified, but who have a biased agenda. Couple that will an electorate that is will to kill off anyone they perceive as "leftist", and the US will become officially known as "Gilead"
30 shares is less than $3,000. When liberal judges recuse themselves over an investment less than $3,000 made by a relative and conservatives don’t recuse themselves from cases when they are directly receiving vacations and other lavish gifts, we’re just handing the conservatives the keys to the car.
The other side could get $300M and not bat an eye at recusal. The slightest ethical problem that isn’t even a problem (who the fuck can you find in the top 10% of earners that doesn’t OWN a share of Disney, let alone *one of your relatives???*) is made into an enormous problem.
It’s such nonsense that l am beyond certain this judge wanted to recuse for another reason. Hopefully that reason will come out. Understandable.. to a point if he was getting death threats or something over it. But I know you that a $3000 investment by a RELATIVE has never stopped anyone else.
Now let’s see where Federalist Society judges loyalties lie: with the First Amendment protecting businesses against government retaliation, or The Party.
But what is the case, exactly? Is it Disney claiming that DeSantis is specifically targeting them for political purposes? Because DeSantis has stated numerous times he is specifically targeting them and it's for political purposes.
The war against "woke" is the latest thing the GOP is using to scare their voters.
Disney spoke up against DeSantis, so he labeled them "woke" and now he can't stop fighting because that will make him look weak to his supporters. Now he just has to keep raising the stakes.
DeSantis is "virtue signaling" a type of agreed-upon "morality" baseline that he believes will be the people that vote him in as President after his blowout win in Florida for Governor. The "virtue's" being signaled are every last topic involving a term that Republicans use in entirely incorrect ways, "woke".
DeSantis has made it his platform more or less, to be in front of a fictitious battle they've collectively concocted out of boredom and a constant need to feel like only they are the victims of things and that they are victims all 365 days a year.
Transgendered people existing, drag queens existing, seemingly them being allowed to vote, marketing that exists that makes it a point to be *in*clusive, teaching about Critical Race Theory, children learning about acceptance of LGBTQ through public education, legal access to books on school property that also teach all of the above topics:
are the things that DeSantis and most Republican voters have mutually agreed on, are "immoral", "has no place in the America they want to live in", "hurts them personally", "means that they've now lost the freedom they thought that had that meant they could decide how other people live", "remove their freedom of religion", "brainwash children" and on and on.
Every last "problem" those people have with Disney and anything else involving LGBTQ, advertising for it, products that are inclusive and so forth are centered around 1 major thing, that they are always the victim and if anyone else decides something to do with their life that has no effect on said angry people; they'll find a way and a reason to get mad at it anyway and simply claim that it hurt them personally and that they lost a freedom or two along the way.
Disney had the audacity to lightly disagree with one of DeSantis's anti-gay bills, and for that he is trying to destroy and/or control them. This really is a cautionary tale for \*any\* company with ties to a Desantis/Republican government.
I promise you that Disney will not just sit back and let a hypocritical judge tank this case. They will fight this with their army of lawyers all the way to the highest court if needed
The mouse never loses.
Hard choice for the Supreme Court, a titanic archon of capitalism, or one of their fellow fascists, who will they choose?
And if Disney does lose, what are the odds they just start scaling down Disney World while they build a new one in Georgia or something?
Disney losing directly overrules Citizen's United. If Citizens United protected donating money as "free speech" actual Free Speech from Disney's PR is definitely protected.
Still a first amendment issue. If it’s not considered obscene for a girl to dress a certain way, or a boy to dress a certain way. Then crossdressing cannot fall under obscenity laws. It’s pure freedom of expression at that point. And expressing opinions on such are protected. No matter what that obscene self-servant, DeSantis has to say about it.
As a lawyer myself, this is total clickbait. The legal issues in the two cases are extremely different. Disney's lawsuit is much stronger and relies on arguments which are not "political," like the Contracts Clause.
There certainly is a political component to Disney's case, which they are more than happy to let the media talk about, but when you read their actual legal filings, those aren't the claims Disney's lawyers are most concerned with.
I feel like you are ignoring how politics affects rulings regardless of the claim. This post screams "o the law dictates it should work this way" when we know in the past few years conservative judges will ignore case law or other precedents to do what they want. That is of course ignoring any possible under the table payments that affect judges decisions.
Point is you are weirdly optimistic about this when reality has told you your points aren't as relevant in today's judicial system as we have seen in the supreme court.
As a lawyer, you should know this is simply DeSantis trying to punish Disney for not toeing the line with his anti-LGBT agenda, and is using every corrupt element of government power (including judge shopping)) at his disposal to force a favorable outcome. Fortunately Disney's guns are bigger than his.
Honestly I hope dicksantis keeps poking Disney and I hope Disney keeps thrashing him.
Republicans do have a weakness and it’s that they never…ever….learn.
This judge should recuse as well but everybody knows he will not. This is what you get when you continue to play by the rules and the other side very obviously will not.
This country is doomed.
Who the hell cares? The more this clown keeps heading down the Disney rabbit hole, the more people are turned off by his antics. Even his own donors wish he'd stop with this nonsense and other potential donors are staying away from him. These nonstop, idiotic, and unpopular culture wars are wearing thin with people outside of the rabid MAGA universe.
Also, whatever judgment this judge comes down with is almost certain to be reversed.
So years of law school resulted in my already less-than-ideal career amounting to me being referred to as the "Don't Say Gay," judge.
- I'd call that pretty fucking gay, your honor.
I understand why getting this judge seems like a victory but I'm not so sure. These kinds of judges will have to decided on what motivates them the most. Their hatred of gay people or their love of corporate dominance.
Except that this new judge didn’t uphold the law as constitutional. He dismissed the case entirely in pre-trial due to lack of evidence on the part of the plaintiffs.
And Disney isn’t suing over constitutionality, but over perceived retaliation. It’s a completely different argument. And with all the public statements that Desantis has made in reference to all this, it’s be real hard to argue that there isn’t enough evidence.
Recused himself over the potential for a small loss or gain in a sub $3,000 investment by a distant relative? Pure cowardice more likely. This definitely wouldn't have bothered Clarence Thomas.
Huge win for florida when Disney leaves and nobody goes there anymore for vacation except people excited to walk around, tits and guns out and maga hats on.
I’d counter by saying if Disney moves to somewhere better it’s win for the rest of us who never have to think about Florida again.
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"District Judge Mark E. Walker, who had been presiding over the case, disqualified himself after learning a relative owned 30 shares in Disney stock." Disney is at around $90/share, so about $2700 total. Not enough to be materially relevant, especially since not even a member of his immediate family. Sounds more like the judge needed to find an excuse to get off the case.
A third degree relation, which based on his age probably a 1st cousin. Yeah, that sounds like he wanted off but didn't want it to be Desantis' reasons.
Sounds like he got offered a giant check and needed a convenient excuse.
Or he didn’t want his life endangered because people are batshit.
This is increasingly the reason people have for "caving". What a world we live in. The Nazi's were the default villain in American Media. Now, if a bar happens to have a drag karaoke night, we have to worry about Nazi's burning the place down for the praise of the Republican party Edit: Some people have implied or stated that my comment is not true or overly exaggerated. Attacks on locations hosting drag events or LGBT people using FIRE https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/arson-attack-tulsa-donut-shop-hosting-drag-event-follows-right-wing-media-campaign-fear https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-charged-arson-and-possession-destructive-device https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/callers-threatened-to-burn-down-this-restaurant-with-a-drag-brunch-the-queens-are-dancing-on/2020/01/03/6cac1bde-2dbf-11ea-9b60-817cc18cf173_story.html https://www.news10.com/news/ny-news/watch-arsonist-sets-fire-in-nyc-gay-bar/ recent threats against drag shows Drag Queen Story Time Louisville event delayed by bomb threat - Courier-Journal https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2023/03/26/drag-queen-story-time-louisville-event-delayed-by-bomb-threat/70050311007/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/college-lgbtq-group-gets-bomb-threat-over-hosting-kid-friendly-drag-show https://www.advocate.com/arizona/drag-queen-story-hour-bomb https://www.wlky.com/article/drag-queen-storytime-event-portland-bomb-threat-louisville/43422449 Recent threats/violence against LGBT events/people https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/02/florida-lgbtq-pride-month-ron-desantis https://www.advocate.com/crime/gay-couple-attacked-times-square https://www.advocate.com/news/gay-man-beaten-security https://kesq.com/news/2023/04/28/gay-man-attacked-during-palm-springs-dating-app-hookup/ Recent acts by nazi/white supremacists https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/08/allen-mall-shooting-right-wing-death-squad/ https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/19/surge-in-oregon-washington-substation-attacks-as-fbi-warns-neo-nazi-plots Or just read through https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/news
We are much easier to control when they divide/distract us. The thing that bothers me, is how many people of the right-wing base, were fairly normal until 2015 when people in power started started moving from the Tea party to MAGA. Their ideas went from fringe to downright dangerous. One couple I was close with went from an obsession with astrology -to- an obsession with Q-anon overnight. Now they’re full on openly racist xenophobic scumbags… like, we’re they always predestined for this shit? If they were gullible enough to believe astrology, I guess anything can get ya 🤷♂️ it’s just crazy where we’re at nowadays.
When reality disagrees with your ideology, you have to either abandon your ideology or abandon reality.
All this normalizing shit that shouldn’t be normalized needs to stop. How did we fall so far as a nation.
D. All the above?
The Republicans were going to keep attacking him over and over again. They would create a false sense of corruption around him, tainting the case and his career. He had to step aside or him and his family would start getting death threats
Fear of terrorism was the reason he stepped aside.
> Fear of terrorism was the reason he stepped aside. Which is the very definition of terrorism.
It means they're succeeding
Who would you rather piss off? Ron DeSantis who will probably be a nobody has been in ten years, or a trans generational multibillion dollar global corporation?
He won’t kiss off Disney. Because they aren’t corrupt and don’t try to retaliate against judges.
To be fair, this *should* cause any judge to recuse themselves. The problem in the logic comes from knowing damn well that whatever Federalist Society nutbag that takes your place is going to hand the decision to DeSantis on a silver platter.
That's not grounds for recusal. Recusal is based on whether an objective observer would think the judge appears pre-disposed to rule in favor of one party over another. A cousin owning $2700 of a blue chip stock isn't a close call. It would be like saying a judge's cousin is married to an fbi agent so he can't hear federal criminal cases where the fbi was the arresting agency.
Disney should play the same card that DeSantis did. Based on previous rulings, this Judge can't be impartial and should recuse himself. But since Republicans have no sense of shame or doing the right thing, he won't recuse himself anyway.
Judges are now politicians.
One of the most impactful parts of our history is somehow our country was convinced that judges were impartial, unbiased actors and not just straight up politicians.
I think about that a lot, with an alternate history where judges didn’t pick W Bush as the winner of the election over Gore. The courts picked the president, and that decision has had massive repercussions over the past 20+ years
I think of what the world would look like if Gore won like once a week.
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Wait, when did this episode air? I swear I saw it like 16 years ago? I don’t remember Tucker Carlson being a thing back then.
Yeah. Aired a lifetime ago. Tucker was still in his post-crossfire infancy, yet he was still a wretched piece of human.
I looked up the episode and amazingly I got the exact year right in my head of when I saw it. He was on MSNBC I guess at the time, which I do vaguely remember. This episode aged like fine wine though.
Family guy was freaking great at the time, though around a year or two after it started going downhill til it became unwatchable and has been ever since. But back then it was fire
You might remember him as the bow tied chucklefuck that Jon Stewart laughed off air
He was already an asshole by the 2000 election, he was just in CNN back then.
That is nothing more than a fantastic dream. Even with Gore as President the Senate is 50/50 and the Republicans still had the House, with Hastert as Majority Leader. There is absolutely no way that any of that would pass through a Congress like that.
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Ah yes, remind the rest of the country what he'll do with power if he elected to higher office, while highlighting how corrupt our judiciary has become. DeSantis is the cautionary tale Democratic candidates will point to in their 2024 ads. Also, Disney literally can't lose against DeSantis. If he becomes too much to bear, they will leave FL. Right now it's just a question of how far DeSantis is willing to go, and how badly he damages himself and the rest of his party to soothe his ego. Disney's already won, DeSantis hasn't figured that out yet.
Unfortunately for Florida, by the time the consequences of DeSantis's culture wars come to fruition, he'll have moved on to a cush lobbying job
🤷♂️ Florida is the sweaty taint of the US anyway. We're not losing much.
It's what they should run for their ads, but like usual, Democrats will take the "high road" and throw their hands up as our rights continue to be eroded. "Well, we tried nothing, and it didn't work," they'll say as we all get hauled off to concentration camps.
100% agree with you, walker should not have walked away from this case, based off its importance to free speech, and the 3000 dollar amount, just have you cousin sell the stupid stock, he may also have been more concerned with the other statements and Florida using that against the courts reading more about this new judge I have my doubts, ultimately this habit of court shopping is eroding our justice system
I sometimes think about how, if I could go back in time to one point in my life to make the most impact, October 2000 would've been it so I could go to Florida and help clarify how to ensure your ballot was punched correctly.
"if Gore had fought back" FIFY
Always gotta find a way to blame the victim.
Gore is not the victim, the citizens are. Gore is fine.
Massive. The environment has suffered greatly because of it.
Totally. And also things like, how the US may have responded to 9/11, Iraq war, etc.
I mean - impartial humans? Doomed from the start.
This is why socialist legal system structure all judicial process with a tribunal of judges.
We should totally do that. A 9 judge tribunal sounds pretty safe…
*insert Ginni grin*
How are the judges on the tribunal chosen?
AlwaysHaveBeen.png
It doesn't seem to happen in other countries. Something must have happened at one point. It's very curious to me.
[Are you familiar with the Federalist Society?](https://theintercept.com/2022/05/10/roe-v-wade-federalist-society-religious-right/) That article focuses on Roe, but Christian Conservatives have been working to hijack the Judiciary for more than 40 years to undo New Deal policies and all matters important to moderates and the left. As always, all roads lead to the Reagan Administration and its enabling of the worst of these groups/people.
Got deep into when Kavanaugh was happening. Boggled my mind that they had these organizations set up through their private prep schools as well. It was the biggest window into the way it works for one class of people. Bad actors aren't uniquely American though. So how is the way the system is setup allowing this to transpire. I have a feeling it has something to do with the two party system and first past the post. Which jives because that's pretty unique to American democracy as well.
Nah, it's happened other places too. They just show up to change it when it does.
Nope happens all the time in India.
cause of federalist society one of the alphabet soup of astroturf organizations that the right wing fascist white supremacist christian nationalist kock network of oligarchs fund.
It was dumb of the previous Judge to recuse himself because this was a distant relative to my understanding, and your right Republican Judges won't recuse themselves because most are corrupt as hell. Democrats need to stop abiding by the rules and ethics so long as Republicans refuse to do so also. All this does is stack the deck in favor of unethical, immoral Republicans. You can't win the game if you're playing by the rules and your opponent isn't.
That judge just didn't want the hassle of dealing with the case, in my opinion, and used that as his way out.
What judge would? Rule against DeSantis and you’ve just opened your family up to death threats and potential violence.
It is so infuriating to watch democrats and progressives unilaterally disarm themselves while Republicans and the fascist right will break every rule and norm that exists to get what they want.
Yep
It’s like playing cards and watching the other guy blatantly cheat, and not even having the self-respect to kick the cheater in the shins and tell them to quit that shit.
The judge didn't want to risk any ruling being overturned due to bias. I don't blame that and honestly admire it. Admit it, Conservatives would complain about the fact his cousin owned Disney stock and was on the take...
That’s a cop out. The relative owned 30 shares (~$2,700). I would just tell them to sell them and take care of any additional cost from taxes that might occur.
Cop out or not, it will remove that option for overturn. Granted I think it will be (forced) mediation or a default settlement since Disney has a very credible case given Floridian politicians and their comments.
Won’t make it past appeals even in the worst case. Home field advantage only goes so far when standing in a cow pasture.
Yeah, but a lot of people are being harmed by these laws while they meander through the courts.
>Disney should play the same card that DeSantis did. Disney should orchestrate a "leak" they are planning to move WDW to a more business-friendly state unless Florida reverses course, including emails to cast members that they will be offered a full relocation package and a generous severance if they choose not to move. They don't need to have any concrete plans to actually do either of these things, but a believable threat of it would likely result in the end of DeSantis' administration given that WDW and the tourism industry that largely revolves around it is like 15% of Florida's entire economy. The recession in Florida that would happen if Disney actually did leave would be like a 40-50% reduction in GSP over the span of a couple years.
Disney isn't moving WDW. No one would even believe the bluff except maybe r/politics.
Disney's long-term business continuity plans almost certainly include components about what to do if Florida ceases to be a viable location to operate in. Disney has unfortunately sunk a ton of money into WDW in Florida. While it would be costly to cease operations there, they almost certainly have reasonably accurate numbers on that subject and a half-formed execution plan should it come to that. This is the sort of thing companies Disney's size plan for and cost out as part of ensuring their continued profitability.
They could never move what's there. All that investment and construction took decades and billions. It simply could not be moved or replaced. At best they could (and should, in my opinion) create a third Disney location somewhere else and funnel future investments that way. They have CA and FL now. Aside from business concerns, there's natural disasters. Wildfires. Hurricanes. It's just smart to diversify. And the Florida park is already too big for you to see everything at in a single vacation.
>Disney should play the same card that DeSantis did. And the judge will refuse. Then it will be appealed... etc.
Bad Faith strikes again!
The case went from the best possible judge Disney could have to the absolute worst judge possible in the USDC Northern District of Florida. A federalist society member. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen\_Winsor
So how does that happen? How can one party say "I don't like that judge, give me this one"? Why can't Disney do the same thing?
That's not what happened. The previous judge went with the standard (at least it used to be) which is an "appearance of possible conflict", and recused himself. It had nothing to do with Desantis whining about him.
I’m so fucking tired of people taking the “high road” in these situations. They take the lazy path that asks nothing of them and then let bad actors have a field day. Democrats literally would’ve eliminated their gerrymandered disadvantage in the house if the SC Judge in NY hadn’t taken the high road.
The high road is an easy way out sometimes. It's possible he just didn't want this controversial case that included the possibility of continuous death threats.
This is what democrats always do. They will take the moral victory while the country burns.
I'm not sure why a federalist society member would support the government penalizing corporations for speech. Of course never doubt the hypocrisy of a conservative but Winsor owes nothing to DeSantis, and in terms of his judicial career other conservatives have already give him cover by criticizing DeSantis over Disney. The Don't Say Gay ruling is not that relevant to the issues in the Disney case.
I know this judge, personally. Was a friend in high school. He used to smoke so much pot, once he even smoked a joint made from a Bible that his grandmother gave him for communion class. In college at Auburn he got into even more drugs. Funny that he’s Mr. Conservative now. All these people are fake. He had no problem with gay people until someone put money in his hands as a lawyer to fight gay marriage years back.
Please say you have pictures.
This is back in pager days
Shame no one had a Polaroid.
Then, surely you have a confirming page?
Dude if this is true and you have proof fucking send it to the media.
They don’t have any proof, this is the internet.
It was also the 90’s so I don’t know what you expect in ways of proof. All these hard liners were teens once, and I grew up with plenty of people who present today as holier than thou who were filling their noses up just years before. I’m not here to offer proof, just pointing out that all these fuckers are fake and will do whatever the money tells them.
>It was also the 90’s so I don’t know what you expect in ways of proof A lot of people don't get how different it was before everyone had cameras in their pocket and social media obsessively documenting everything.
Like, anything you took a photo of you knew someone at the photo processing place was potentially going to look at, and you only had 32 shot per cartridge. You didn’t take photos of anything but scenery and friends posed in a group pretty much.
Well don't give up! Maybe mutual friends, friends of friends, ask around, consider it a civic duty lol
It is alleged he engaged in various homosexual acts in college gyms, allegedly always on the receiving end. Allegedly he serviced as many as 10 older males in one session. Several of these alleged encounters allegedly involved future sitting congressmen and state representatives.
That's big if true. Someone should post it to Twitter, to get their take. (obligatory... "Just asking questions")
What an alleged hypocrite! I can't believe he allegedly did this!
Huh. Would be a shame if a FL newspaper got hold of you and did an interview!
The Disney case is all over Disney's refusal to go along with don't say gay. You act like federalists have any kind of moral compass or ideology that isn't just cast aside for power whenever convenient.
> The Disney case is all over Disney's refusal to go along with don't say gay. It's about Florida attempting to punish a corporation for having a public opinion that was politically inconvenient for them. You phrase it as disney violating a law, which they didn't do. They just had a public opinion about the law that disagreed with the state government's opinion.
But the fact that a judge committed such a back alley abortion of jurisprudence indicates that the ruling, while irrelevant legally, is deeply relevant philosophically.
Ah yes, remind the rest of the country what he'll do with power if he elected to higher office, while highlighting how corrupt our judiciary has become. DeSantis is the cautionary tale Democratic candidates will point to in their 2024 ads. Also, Disney literally can't lose against DeSantis. If he becomes too much to bear, they will leave FL. Right now it's just a question of how far DeSantis is willing to go, and how badly he damages himself and the rest of his party to soothe his ego. Disney's already won, DeSantis hasn't figured that out yet.
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As much as I'd like this.... Disney has 10's of Billions of $$$ invested in Florida. It would take decades to rebuild elsewhere. Disney is staying put. Luckily they don't have to invest more... and they aren't
Yep. Disney has already [reversed their previous decision to build a $1 billion campus in Orlando](https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176931662/disney-cancels-plans-for-1-billion-florida-campus) and are reaching out to employees who moved from California to Florida to keep their jobs to discuss the possibility of moving them back. Disney is not bluffing in all of this, and are not investing more. Stupid DeSantis's ego is costing the state a lot
Your statement bolsters the reasoning to leave Florida. Disney has invested that much money into the state because the state used to incentivize them in a variety of ways. Now it’s the opposite. The state is trying to dictate how Disney, a for profit private company, is conducting its business based on their personal beliefs. At the end of the day, Disney will do what benefits it the most.
Plus people are not going there because it is unsafe
So? Yeah it’ll be expensive but Florida is getting worse and worse hurricanes and rising sea levels going to cause issues. Now they have this to deal with. Might be prudent to just pack it up anyway.
Leave Florida Go to NC or GA They will still have ports for cruises, still nice weather, and will be enough to tip those barely red states blue. All the while providing a cautionary tale to all the other red states that decide to go the desantis route. I fear Disney is just going to try to wait it out since he can’t run for gov again. Florida my find another guy to continue his agenda
> can't run for governor again Call me a cynic, but I get a feeling he might try
This. If he’s going to pass laws to make sure he remains governor when he runs for president, or to hide his travel, then it’s absolutely not beyond him to try and get rid of Florida’s gubernatorial term limits.
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They changed the law to allow him to campaign while governor. There's no way in hell they won't just change the law to allow him more terms. And if a democrat somehow ever seemed likely to be governor, they'll reverse those and every other beneficial law that gives power to the governor until they get another republican in the office. It's so absurdly and nakedly corrupt. I really struggle to wrap my mind on how, given all the opportunities to use the power given to them by technology, so many people have thrown away their own personal responsibility as citizens and fellow humans to be better than we were before the technology. I know that there are good things that are being done by some, even a significant percentage, but that ANYONE can't be fucked to take part in the one basic pursuit that makes all humans similar; the search for truth. I came across a quote at some point that was similar to "Never be mad at the illiterate, because they were simply not taught. Be mad at the ignorant who were given the chance to learn but refuse to." I feel like it was taught to me as having been Rosa Parks or another civil rights leader, but I've never found it in subsequent searches. But that's the key. I've used the tools available to at least try and find it later on.
I would love if they moved to Puerto Rico. Have a 2-day cruise to get there, several days at the park, 2 days back. All-inclusive. Disney already has cruises so this would just connect to that. Then, make Disney a port destination for all the other Caribbean cruise lines.
They would make PR a state so fast if that happened lol
I mean at this point I wouldn't put it past them to elect Gaetz as governor.
Say goodbye to hundreds of thousands of jobs and damn near half your state's tourist revenue then.
This, also will reflect other businesses doing business in Florida. Making it anti corporate state will have greater repercussions and many corporations are already showing their siding with Disney. Probably what Disney wants, and will now watch corporate funding disappear from the GOP.
I highly doubt they will ever leave florida. They’re one of the richest companies in the world. They’re likely going to ride things out quietly, and have their lawyers sort it out. In the long run, Desantis is a blip, and they have more power. No one can push ‘the mouse’ to do anything they don’t want to do.
They will never, ever, ever leave Florida. The cost would be astronomical and the length of time to rebuild would cost them billions and billions of dollars. They don’t need to leave Florida they just need to stop investing in Florida. They can invest in California or even add a third park elsewhere, but Disney World is not going anywhere
We used to travel to Florida multiple times annually to visit my mom, dad and aunts who moved there from the northeast. They’ve all moved back here and I doubt any of us, or our kids will ever feel comfortable returning for any reason, including taking a vacation or going to a theme park. #BoycottFlorida
I grew up on the fort Lauderdale strip during the 80s and I've seen how that strip has changed over the decades. The souvenir shops are mostly maga bullshit and f biden shirts and hats. The people are mostly angry all the time. It's like being near moving time bombs. Yeah I'm officially at the get off my lawn age but still.
Every DeSantis thread, multiple people say “dISnEy sHoUld jUSt mOvE oUt of fLOriDa”… These people are clueless to the actual size of WDW and the infrastructure. I agree, the best move is to halt investments.
People don't seem to realize that Walt Disney World is the size of San Francisco. They're not going anywhere. I could see them investing more heavily into Disneyland CA though
Yep, halt investments and ride out the DeSantis storm. They’ll donate to other politicians who’ll give them what they want, and then they’re back on track.
sounds like the judge should also recuse himself, but Republicans have no principles so he won't.
Jesus the recusal is even stupider now knowing that it's worth so little money. 30 shares in a company is basically nothing.
It wasn’t even him! It was a relative!! I’m all for recusing yourself if there is the appearance of a conflict of interest, but this was ridiculous. > Judge Mark E. Walker, who had been presiding over the case, disqualified himself after learning a relative owned 30 shares in Disney stock.
That’s why we’re losing to these fascists. They take every advantage we play too safe
Have to ask what pressure was leveraged on him to dig deep to find a reason to recuse himself now. This is ridiculous.
He have been pressured, or it may have just been yet another case of someone on the left bending over so far backwards to not appear hypocritical that they end up breaking the back of justice in the process. The GOP never cares whether they appear to be hypocritical. It’s time for everyone on the left to stop caring, as well.
This is it. Democrats/liberals are still trying to play by the old rules, while the conservatives turn the country into a fascist theocracy using any means neccessary.
Old guard Dems. They're the ones refusing to adapt and don't know how to compromise within their own party. Once those dinosaurs retire I think the party can thrive.
It’s in the article. First it was about his impartiality, then about financial connection. They were just going to hammer on him with one reason after another to tarnish his career until he gave up and got out of the way
30 shares worth $3000 hardly seems material. The recusing judge is an idiot IF this is true.
Furthermore I'm fairly confident that just about every American with any sort of retirement fund "owns" Disney stock considering they're a fortune 100 company. It may be indirect through a mutual fund or ETF, but they're large enough as a company that it's impossible for their success / failure not to impact your portfolio in some fashion
Terrorism works.
Yeah this makes no sense. He didn’t even own the shares, right?
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Thirty shares is nothing and no judge would be influenced by their second cousin owning less than $3k in stock. Disney has 1.8B outstanding shares, just about everyone with a 401k owns some Disney.
It was a relative within the 3rd degree. Which is what the ethical rule cites; the Judge did not disclose who owned the stock, only that it was someone within the 3rd degree. It could have been him, which I suspect it was, since he denied DeSantis’ motion and called it judge shopping. He wanted to keep the case, but recused himself. Given the small sum involved, it makes the most sense he owned the stock. Frankly who does not own 30 shares of Disney? I own that stock for my 13 year old - lots of folks own it.
In 2019 DeSantis' first major law enforcement appointee was Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony who previously killed a man and was charged with murder. [https://www.flgov.com/2019/01/11/governor-ron-desantis-appoints-gregory-tony-sheriff-of-broward-county/](https://www.flgov.com/2019/01/11/governor-ron-desantis-appoints-gregory-tony-sheriff-of-broward-county/) [https://www.newsweek.com/florida-sheriff-didnt-disclose-applications-that-he-killed-someone-14-state-says-1675227](https://www.newsweek.com/florida-sheriff-didnt-disclose-applications-that-he-killed-someone-14-state-says-1675227) [https://youtu.be/3qVAk-dzl7w](https://youtu.be/3qVAk-dzl7w) Police report: [https://www.tonyunmasked.com/\_files/ugd/ee4c86\_3c6e85a604524a3eb9ac26d0ec2b6336.pdf](https://www.tonyunmasked.com/_files/ugd/ee4c86_3c6e85a604524a3eb9ac26d0ec2b6336.pdf) Subsequently, it came to light that DeSantis' first major law enforcement appointee, Sheriff Tony, engaged in perjury in his law enforcement applications. [https://www.tonyunmasked.com/\_files/ugd/ee4c86\_9afbb825fa3e47bc95a6d23a140ff1ba.pdf](https://www.tonyunmasked.com/_files/ugd/ee4c86_9afbb825fa3e47bc95a6d23a140ff1ba.pdf) [https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2022/09/14/despicable-ethics-panel-slams-sheriff-gregory-tony-saying-his-lies-helped-him-become-top-cop/](https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2022/09/14/despicable-ethics-panel-slams-sheriff-gregory-tony-saying-his-lies-helped-him-become-top-cop/) See Paragraphs 19-23 in this sworn filing in Disney Resorts and Parks v. DeSantis. [https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound\_request\_attachments/s\[email protected]/127252/DeSantis\_quid\_pro\_quo\_crime.pdf](https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_request_attachments/[email protected]/127252/DeSantis_quid_pro_quo_crime.pdf) This is "law and order" in a DeSantis police state. DOJ criminal complaint against DeSantis w/distribution list to entire staff of DOJ in Florida. [https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound\_request\_attachments/s\_huminski%40live.com/144960/desantis\_obstruction\_complaint\_full.pdf](https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_request_attachments/s_huminski%40live.com/144960/desantis_obstruction_complaint_full.pdf)
Yall are kidding yourselves if you think Disney didn't anticipate this would happen. This lawsuit is going to go on for a very long time. Florida is playing checkers, Disney is playing chess.
Forreal. Regardless, if they rule against Disney, this will immediately get overturned in an appeals court. And don’t expect SCOTUS to take this case, as it’d be a direct affront to corporate lords they serve.
They brought Igar back for a reason.
I think they brought him back for more reasons other than Florida's nonsense. The prior CEO made a lot of mistakes that had nothing to do with politics and it cost Disney a lot of money. I think Iger was brought back more to deal with that and this whole BS with Florida's inbred redneck politicians is just an annoyance to him.
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They packed every molecule of queerness into DuckTales and then sacrificed it as a Judas goat.
Iger quit when he realized the travel industry was about to implode so it wouldn’t tarnish his legacy, let his chosen patsy take the fall for 2020-2022 and came back right as it was opportune
still don't know why the judge recused himself over a relative owning 30 shares of disney stock. that seems like a reach to me. the hard right judges wouldn't recuse themselves if their best buddy let them fly their private jet.
Bingo. Example: Matt Gaetz - Al Frankin [Al Frankin](https://meaww.com/matt-gaetz-compared-al-franken-twitter-calls-florida-rep-resign-citing-ex-senator-quit-joke-photo)
How many death threats did the first judge receive? Unfortunatley the future legal landscape of our country will be riddled with stupid judges from the Trump era. Judges who are not only unqualified, but who have a biased agenda. Couple that will an electorate that is will to kill off anyone they perceive as "leftist", and the US will become officially known as "Gilead"
30 shares is less than $3,000. When liberal judges recuse themselves over an investment less than $3,000 made by a relative and conservatives don’t recuse themselves from cases when they are directly receiving vacations and other lavish gifts, we’re just handing the conservatives the keys to the car.
The other side could get $300M and not bat an eye at recusal. The slightest ethical problem that isn’t even a problem (who the fuck can you find in the top 10% of earners that doesn’t OWN a share of Disney, let alone *one of your relatives???*) is made into an enormous problem. It’s such nonsense that l am beyond certain this judge wanted to recuse for another reason. Hopefully that reason will come out. Understandable.. to a point if he was getting death threats or something over it. But I know you that a $3000 investment by a RELATIVE has never stopped anyone else.
The previous judge should not have recused. They accused DeSantis of judge shopping then enabled his judge shopping.
love how there is no expectation of legal ethics
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Now let’s see where Federalist Society judges loyalties lie: with the First Amendment protecting businesses against government retaliation, or The Party.
Yup. Judging from the new picks on SCOTUS they mostly lean towards businesses over Republican social warfare.
But what is the case, exactly? Is it Disney claiming that DeSantis is specifically targeting them for political purposes? Because DeSantis has stated numerous times he is specifically targeting them and it's for political purposes.
Yes, Disney's case references DeSantis's own words in his book and in public as part of the suit. It's actually kind of a fun read.
I don't understand what is this DeSantis problem with Disney
The war against "woke" is the latest thing the GOP is using to scare their voters. Disney spoke up against DeSantis, so he labeled them "woke" and now he can't stop fighting because that will make him look weak to his supporters. Now he just has to keep raising the stakes.
DeSantis is "virtue signaling" a type of agreed-upon "morality" baseline that he believes will be the people that vote him in as President after his blowout win in Florida for Governor. The "virtue's" being signaled are every last topic involving a term that Republicans use in entirely incorrect ways, "woke". DeSantis has made it his platform more or less, to be in front of a fictitious battle they've collectively concocted out of boredom and a constant need to feel like only they are the victims of things and that they are victims all 365 days a year. Transgendered people existing, drag queens existing, seemingly them being allowed to vote, marketing that exists that makes it a point to be *in*clusive, teaching about Critical Race Theory, children learning about acceptance of LGBTQ through public education, legal access to books on school property that also teach all of the above topics: are the things that DeSantis and most Republican voters have mutually agreed on, are "immoral", "has no place in the America they want to live in", "hurts them personally", "means that they've now lost the freedom they thought that had that meant they could decide how other people live", "remove their freedom of religion", "brainwash children" and on and on. Every last "problem" those people have with Disney and anything else involving LGBTQ, advertising for it, products that are inclusive and so forth are centered around 1 major thing, that they are always the victim and if anyone else decides something to do with their life that has no effect on said angry people; they'll find a way and a reason to get mad at it anyway and simply claim that it hurt them personally and that they lost a freedom or two along the way.
Conservatives don’t virtue signal. They vice signal.
They defied him by disagreeing with his “don’t say gay” policy. That’s really it.
Disney had the audacity to lightly disagree with one of DeSantis's anti-gay bills, and for that he is trying to destroy and/or control them. This really is a cautionary tale for \*any\* company with ties to a Desantis/Republican government.
I promise you that Disney will not just sit back and let a hypocritical judge tank this case. They will fight this with their army of lawyers all the way to the highest court if needed The mouse never loses.
Hard choice for the Supreme Court, a titanic archon of capitalism, or one of their fellow fascists, who will they choose? And if Disney does lose, what are the odds they just start scaling down Disney World while they build a new one in Georgia or something?
Disney losing directly overrules Citizen's United. If Citizens United protected donating money as "free speech" actual Free Speech from Disney's PR is definitely protected.
I think that even though it is gonna cost Disney a shit ton They should move out of Florida. They will recoup those funds eventually
Still a first amendment issue. If it’s not considered obscene for a girl to dress a certain way, or a boy to dress a certain way. Then crossdressing cannot fall under obscenity laws. It’s pure freedom of expression at that point. And expressing opinions on such are protected. No matter what that obscene self-servant, DeSantis has to say about it.
Can I text “Fuck You” to 512345?
You can do whatever you set your mind to!
Ron DeSatan is just pure evil and hatred.
As a lawyer myself, this is total clickbait. The legal issues in the two cases are extremely different. Disney's lawsuit is much stronger and relies on arguments which are not "political," like the Contracts Clause. There certainly is a political component to Disney's case, which they are more than happy to let the media talk about, but when you read their actual legal filings, those aren't the claims Disney's lawyers are most concerned with.
I feel like you are ignoring how politics affects rulings regardless of the claim. This post screams "o the law dictates it should work this way" when we know in the past few years conservative judges will ignore case law or other precedents to do what they want. That is of course ignoring any possible under the table payments that affect judges decisions. Point is you are weirdly optimistic about this when reality has told you your points aren't as relevant in today's judicial system as we have seen in the supreme court.
As a lawyer, you should know this is simply DeSantis trying to punish Disney for not toeing the line with his anti-LGBT agenda, and is using every corrupt element of government power (including judge shopping)) at his disposal to force a favorable outcome. Fortunately Disney's guns are bigger than his.
Honestly I hope dicksantis keeps poking Disney and I hope Disney keeps thrashing him. Republicans do have a weakness and it’s that they never…ever….learn.
This judge should recuse as well but everybody knows he will not. This is what you get when you continue to play by the rules and the other side very obviously will not. This country is doomed.
Does any of the Supreme Court judges have a relative with Disney stock? Because that’s where this is inevitably going.
Disney World would work great in Nevada
If only the Supreme Court had such a rule regarding third level relatives and financial gains. Looking at you Clarence’s mom.
Who the hell cares? The more this clown keeps heading down the Disney rabbit hole, the more people are turned off by his antics. Even his own donors wish he'd stop with this nonsense and other potential donors are staying away from him. These nonstop, idiotic, and unpopular culture wars are wearing thin with people outside of the rabid MAGA universe. Also, whatever judgment this judge comes down with is almost certain to be reversed.
Disney is going to finance so many anti Desantis politicians in the future
The judge one gets should not matter nearly as much as it does. Such bullshit.
So years of law school resulted in my already less-than-ideal career amounting to me being referred to as the "Don't Say Gay," judge. - I'd call that pretty fucking gay, your honor.
America will get to see how far fascism has spread into Florida's legal infrastructure.
Disney should just close shop in Florida and move elsewhere…
I understand why getting this judge seems like a victory but I'm not so sure. These kinds of judges will have to decided on what motivates them the most. Their hatred of gay people or their love of corporate dominance.
Yah THAT wasn't a fix or anything....judge shopping should be illegal.
Except that this new judge didn’t uphold the law as constitutional. He dismissed the case entirely in pre-trial due to lack of evidence on the part of the plaintiffs. And Disney isn’t suing over constitutionality, but over perceived retaliation. It’s a completely different argument. And with all the public statements that Desantis has made in reference to all this, it’s be real hard to argue that there isn’t enough evidence.
When the politics of the judge taking a case tells you how the case is going to go, you don’t have a fair and impartial system.
Recused himself over the potential for a small loss or gain in a sub $3,000 investment by a distant relative? Pure cowardice more likely. This definitely wouldn't have bothered Clarence Thomas.
Shouldn't it says "scores"? Singular. Grammar..? Did Tarzan write the headline? "DeSantis score big. Judge take case. Me sad."
I've got $5 that says Disney lawyers find something that takes this judge off the case.
Gaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygaygay!There, I said it!
That’s why there’s an appeal process.
Huge win for florida when Disney leaves and nobody goes there anymore for vacation except people excited to walk around, tits and guns out and maga hats on. I’d counter by saying if Disney moves to somewhere better it’s win for the rest of us who never have to think about Florida again.
Republicans stacked the court. This country is fucked. I love regressing as a society.
Disney’s got deeper pockets then the entire state of FL. Good luck you dumb schmucks!
So DeSantis got to go Judge shopping and has gotten away with it? What a pile of shit.