Free Republic

A Florida synagogue has cited religious freedoms in its lawsuit over the state's new abortion law. The act signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on April 14 bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, without exemptions for cases of rape, incest and human trafficking. Previously, Florida allowed abortions until 24 weeks. The new law is slated to take effect on July 1. DeSantis signed the law at a church in Kissimmee, Florida. Although 74 percent of white evangelical Protestants say that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, six in 10 Americans believe it should be legal, according...

MIAMI -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ripped into President Joe Biden Thursday morning during a South Florida stop when asked about inflation and high gas prices. "He's always trying to create a scapegoat. I guess his position is that it wasn't until he became president that oil companies are trying to make profits like they're gouging. Now, they weren't doing that for the last 25 years, all of a sudden, just now they're doing that." "It's insulting to the average citizen to listen to some of this drivel coming out of the White House and because they know people are...

Left-leaning CNN political analyst Van Jones praised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday for what he described as a “very smart” response to billionaire Elon Musk’s tweet expressing potential support for the governor in the 2024 presidential election cycle. Jones weighed in after CNN aired a clip of DeSantis’ response to a tweet in which Musk said he was leaning toward backing the Florida governor if he runs for president in 2024. The South Africa native also noted that he supported Andrew Yang during the 2020 election but “DeSantis has a better chance of winning.” “So what I would say,...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised eyebrows on Wednesday when he referred to Elon Musk as an African American, thanking him for his support for the Republican Party. Musk had tweeted that he had voted for a GOP candidate for the first time (Mayra Flores in South Texas) and added that he predicts a “massive red wave in 2022.” He said that he was unsure who his pick for president in 2024 would be but that he was leaning towards DeSantis, who is rumoured to be considering a presidential run. In response to that, DeSantis told reporters: “I’m focused on 2022…...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Ron DeSantis is governor of the state of Florida, but also is increasingly trying to be the de facto head of the state’s Republican-led Senate. DeSantis is using his political sway to recruit Republican Senate candidates to run who don’t have the backing of GOP Senate leadership. The goal is to build a coalition of GOP senators with more political loyalty to him than their own Senate Republican leadership, which has had an uneasy relationship with DeSantis over the past several months. It’s a continuation of DeSantis’ one-sided relationship with the Florida Legislature, which has bowed to...

The Walt Disney Co.'s relocation timeline to Central Florida appears to be on the rocks. Reports from various blogs and sites indicate Disney's (NYSE: DIS) plans to move 2,000 jobs from California to Orlando's Lake Nona community are being pushed back to 2026 — a move of at least three years. Disney Spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler confirmed to OBJ that the plans have shifted. "While a growing number of our employees, who ultimately will work at the campus, already have made the move to Central Florida, we also want to continue to provide flexibility to those relocating, especially given the anticipated...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is best placed to take Trump's place as a 2024 GOP presidential nominee. An expert on authoritarianism told Insider that's because he's learned all of Trump's lessons. The expert added that DeSantis 'doesn't have the baggage of Trump,' and could rally voters.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that he welcomes the support of the world's richest man after Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that he likes DeSantis's odds in the 2024 presidential election. "I'm focused on 2022, but with Elon Musk, what I would say is, you know I welcome support from African-Americans," DeSantis said at a press conference Thursday. "What can I say?" Musk, who is White but was born in South Africa, said on Twitter Wednesday morning that he is leaning toward DeSantis in the next presidential election, but his vote is still to be determined. The tech entrepreneur...

Long before they called Ron DeSantis “America’s Governor,” New Jersey’s Chris Christie cut a singular figure of his own. Christie, currently out of elected office, has not ruled out a run in 2024, a play that could put him on a collision course with DeSantis if both men run. Christie already derailed one Floridian’s presidential hopes, with a bruising takedown of Sen. Marco Rubio during the Primary debates of 2016. On the edition of the Ruthless Podcast released Tuesday, Christie suggested devising a strategy for dispatching DeSantis may be a bit tougher than handling Rubio was. “It’s going to take...

A Washington Post opinion piece ripped Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his vehement opposition to kids attending drag performances after video from the "Drag Your Kids to Pride" show in Texas went viral last week, accusing him of "weaponizing" child protective services for "political gain." "Fresh off defending parental rights in education, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a new cause: using the power of the state to harass parents who see drag performances as family entertainment," columnist Alyssa Rosenberg wrote. Rosenberg noted DeSantis' complaints that children should not be exposed to drag performances, citing his quotes that, "We have child...

A new political action committee has formed attempting to draft Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president in 2024, and it is being run by a Republican consultant heavyweight who has been a veteran of campaigns involving former GOP Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. DeSantis, running this year for a second term as Florida governor, has consistently led polls among Republican primary voters if Trump isn’t a contender. However, when Trump is included in the polling, DeSantis usually runs a distant second. The Ready for Ron PAC is being led by two generations. Ed Rollins was the campaign...

Ever since the advent of COVID-19 vaccines early in 2021, the Special Olympics organization has been in the forefront of promoting their benefits. The organization created a special page on its website with vaccination information and resources, urging “everyone who has access to the COVID-19 vaccine to get vaccinated.” The page informed users that the vaccine would help protect them from getting COVID, prevent serious illness if they became infected and help protect people around them.

DeSantis sounds off on 'Fox & Friends' after man arrested for Brett Kavanaugh murder plot

Donald Trump in recent months has been telling confidants that he may launch his 2024 presidential campaign early — and that he’s considering launching it in Florida to stick it to Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump has kicked around staging a large, flashy launch rally (with fireworks, of course) that would announce his White House bid before the 2022 midterm elections, according to three sources familiar with the matter. People who’ve spoken to Trump say that one reason he’s eying the Sunshine State is to assert his dominance over an ascendant DeSantis, who — if they both run in 2024 —...

Dozens of LGBTQ rights activists gathered outside New York City's Chelsea Piers on Sunday holding signs like 'Transphobia is not kosher' and 'Say Gay' to protest the venue's hosting of a Jewish Leadership Conference featuring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a guest speaker. The governor will speak Sunday night about the vibrancy of Jewish life in Florida, and how that could translate to other communities across the country at the Tikvah Fund's Jewish Leadership Conference, which is being held at the famed Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. 'There's a Jewish Renaissance taking place in Florida, and we wanted to hear from...

The latest economic report is “brutal” and follows a series of missteps from the Biden administration and Democrats who are in total control in Washington, DC, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said on Friday ahead of signing a bill caring for retired police dogs. “I think it’s sad to see some of the economic numbers with Bidenflation coming out — 8.6 percent. They tried to say — first, they said it wasn’t going to happen, was transitory and it would basically kind of solve itself,” DeSantis said at the start of the press conference in Bunnell, Florida. “They said it...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Republican Party of Duval County organized a flotilla on the St. Johns River Saturday to honor Gov. Ron DeSantis. Boat after Boat paraded toward the Main Street Bridge, starting around noon, as some state party leaders watched from the deck of the USS Orleck. GOP leaders said it was the first big, organized flotilla for the governor and more than 1,300 boats registered for the event, which coincided with Jacksonville’s Bicentennial and a quarterly gathering of The Republican Party of Florida in the River City.

By endorsing Katie Britt in the Alabama Runoff (and turning his back on Mo Brooks) after endorsing Mitt Romney, John McCain, Paul Ryan, Denver Riggleman, Mehmet Oz and Vernon Jones (and the Marxist Bernie Bro Joe Kent), none of us owe Trump any loyalty at all. It’s worse. Trump has become a stooge for the RINO scumbag Establishment. And there are no bigger swamp scumbags than the crew behind Katie Britt. And neither do voters. His candidate for Georgia Governor got a pathetic 22% against a man Trump labeled as Satan. No one knows what he stands for anymore. At...

Why redirect migrants to Delaware and Washington when you could send them back to Mexico? Gov. Ron DeSantis says Texas should stave off the path of immigrants entering the country illegally by turning them around and sending them back south of the border. “They let them come across and then you give them to the feds, and the feds just release them anyways,” DeSantis said. “What they need to do, Texas, is Texas should just send them back across the border.”

Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed $35 million the state legislature had approved in the latest state budget to help build a spring training facility for the Tampa Bay Rays. “I don’t support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums, period,” DeSantis said.