Friday, April 29, 2022

Disney Rejects DeSantis' Mickey Mouse Attack

 

It's pretty obvious that mini-Trump demagogue and culture war panderer Gov. Ron "One Glove" DeSantis isn't much of a forward thinker, preferring to ban talk about LBGTQ+ citizens, removing math books that might hint at "critical race theory," and doing much to spread COVID in Florida over the past 2 years of inaction and misinformation. His latest brilliant gambit aimed at the far-right Christofascists that dominate his and the Malignant Loser's base is to wage war on the Disney World operation in Florida by removing their special, self-governing status. Vanity Fair's excellent Bess Levin reports on what's in store for DeSantis' voters:

"Last week, like the petty tyrant he is, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill dissolving Walt Disney World’s special district status, as retribution for the company’s decision to speak out against his bigoted 'Don’t Say Gay' law. Set to go into effect next June, the move abolishes Disney’s self-governing jurisdiction, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, and no longer allows it to effectively run its own city in and around the theme park. That means the counties of Orange and Osceola would be required to pay for services like firefighting, which Disney currently covers, and would be on the hook for Reedy Creek’s roughly $1 billion in outstanding bond debt. In other words, DeSantis’s act of revenge would not only punish a private company for condemning his anti-LGBTQ+ law, it would likely punish Florida residents too, whose property taxes would go through the roof."  (our emphasis)

According to CNN, Reedy Creek Improvement District informed its bondholders that a 1967 law would require Florida to pay off "all such bonds together with interest thereon, and all costs and expenses in connection with any act or proceeding by or on behalf of such holders" before any action of the kind DeSantis is pushing. In other words, under the law, Disney World / Reedy Creek Improvement District will continue to operate unless and until DeSantis coughs up roughly $1 billion to cover its bond debt. 

DeSantis needs to turn his attention back to book banning and botching public health responses, which score him points in MAGAworld, because he's lost his battle with Mickey Mouse.