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    Gov. Ron DeSantis

    DeSantis Targets Diversity Programs, Tenured Professors in 'Unhinged'​ Attack on Higher Ed

    The union representing Florida's professors said it would "stand in lockstep opposition to any and all so-called 'reforms' that will actually destroy our state's world-class degree programs and their ability to serve our students."

    Brett Wilkins
    Jan 31, 2023

    Taking aim yet again at higher education, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday proposed sweeping changes to the state's university system, including banning state funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and critical race theory education, as well as forcing tenured professors to undergo reviews at any time.

    Speaking during a press conference at the State College of Florida in Bradenton, DeSantis said he is asking the state Legislature to cut all funding for programs he believes are "ideological."

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    ron desantis
    Brazil's far-right ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, poses for photos with his supporters outside the Kissimmee, Florida home he is staying in on January 22, 2023.

    Bolsonaro Requests Six-Month US Tourist Visa to Prolong Florida Trip as Brazilian Probes Mount

    Brazil's far-right ex-president has applied for a visa to remain in the U.S. amid worsening legal troubles in his home country, where he is facing multiple investigations.

    Kenny Stancil
    Jan 30, 2023

    Brazil's far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month visitor visa to remain in the United States amid worsening legal troubles in his home country.

    U.S. authorities received Bolsonaro's application on Friday, The Financial Times reported Monday, citing "his lawyer, Felipe Alexandre, who has advised the former president not to leave the country while it is being processed—a period that could last several months."

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    Jair Bolsonaro
    lorida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis points

    Dear Opponents of Ron DeSantis Everywhere: Get Your Shit Together

    People in Florida of all political persuasions often talk of Ron DeSantis as if he is a formidable juggernaut that Democrats can't hope to restrain. This is false.

    Hamilton Nolan
    Jan 26, 2023

    The entire state of Florida, home to 22 million people, is currently being run as a giant Fox News campaign ad for the Ron DeSantis 2024 presidential campaign. As a method of crafting responsible public policy, this approach has a number of drawbacks. Yet when you set aside the politically archaic concept of “good governing,” it becomes clear that the DeSantis culture war strategy is highly effective air cover for the more substantive Republican project of class war. As he waves his hands and dazzles us with soundbites, he is trying to break the back of the Florida teachers union, which would rank as one of the most profoundly damaging blows to the labor movement in recent years. If the state’s incompetent Democratic Party can’t rally itself to cut through the torrent of performative bullshit and bigotry, we will soon wake up and find that this whiny, bullet-headed ex-jock has done to Florida’s workers what former Republican Gov. Scott Walker did to Wisconsin’s.

    This week, DeSantis announced that he is proposing legislation designed to decimate the power of Florida’s teachers unions. It would prohibit dues checkoff, making it excruciating for the unions to collect dues, and outlaw teachers doing union work or handing out union materials on the job. He is also trying to undermine collective bargaining by creating a pot of money dedicated to giving raises to teachers — but setting an expiration date on it, and then claiming that unions fighting for better contracts are placing their members at risk of losing access to that money altogether. It’s not hard to see the logic. In a state where less than 5% of workers are union members, the teachers union is one of the only real bastions of Democratic-leaning labor power. As is always the case when Republicans howl about teachers unions, the pious pose of caring about parents is cover for a deliberate plan to destroy one of the few types of unions that are able to carry influence, even in red states. All of that studied concern for parents never seems to extend to the issue of providing a well-funded public education system for their kids.

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    Ron DeSantis
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