Baitball Blogger
Baitball Blogger's JournalIs Ron De Santis moving towards political "purification" in Florida?
We are in a new era where racism is overt. Racism IS the Republican platform. Out in the open. De Santis is so sure of himself, that his talk is getting more hostile, calling for people to fight Liberals. He's not just talking about our politics. He's talking about us. Why shouldn't we feel threatened?
Everywhere you look in Florida, there are areas where you can find Anglo preference in our communities. These are in your typical suburban areas, which we called white flight districts. It's just accepted that white homeowners fled to the suburbs to get out of the urban areas and away from minorities. I know it's like that all over the U.S., but as far as I can tell, no one really looks too hard to study how these communities remain Anglo-dominant. And, I don't see why it isn't discussed more often, because I find the methods so blatant as to be offensive.
The attempt at "purification" is not new. It's been going on for some time and happens in all quarters. For example, sometime in the nineties I called a Christian private school that was just opening to see what they had to offer. I never got past the recording. It said, "If you're calling for the tickets for the Oliver North event, blah, blah, blah." You see, I think that was an intentional totem to scare off undesirable prospects for their school. These kind of discouraging, passive aggressive communications are everywhere.
And now I see De Santis bringing it to a new level. The hostile language and evil intentions that he's pushing is intentionally meant to scare off those who are not aligned with conservative politics.
My county is kind of interesting. I have seen both a Hindu Temple and a Muslim school or church permitted. Pretty impressive structures. But it also includes a Classical Christian school which was initially promoted as a Christian community. Multi-family buildings are constructed around the school, and I'm not sure if it's even legal that they can promote only Christian tenants, but that's how it was understood back in the nineties when it was still in concept form. I wonder what would happen if the Hindu and the Muslim community attempted to do the same thing?
In addition, my city was forced to accept projects with multi-family dwellings, probably because of the land scandal that took place in the nineties where some pretty heinous things occurred to disrupt a developer's vested rights. Frankly, before things got out of hand, his compromise with the city was fair, IMO. But, it appears to me that it was far more lucrative for way too many of the backwater boys and gals to throw this city into chaos. Their interference would cost everyone.
Yet, the City has been very clever, making many of the multi-family dwellings they had to approve, age specific. Over 55, Senior Apartments. That means that the City doesn't have to worry about "unruly", young kids. The price tag for these apartments are not on the low end, which means that they are not affordable to many. And, homes that are not affordable generally means that few minorities will be moving in.
See, there's two methods that zoning laws were used to effectively screen out people that look like me. The fact that De Santis is now taking it a step further, by openly scaring off people that don't fit into his political beliefs is very concerning. I just don't understand how this doesn't end with a huge Civil Rights lawsuit. Florida could use a very loud, public court case to expose their discriminatory methods. Just don't expect the local lawyers to help in the effort. They're a big part of the problem.
A lesson from the Brits.
I live in a community that went down the rabbit hole in the nineties. Logic and rationale were checked at the door because neither had a place in a community that used a backroom society to pull the strings. It was a time when we had two leaders running our HOA. The "properly" elected president, and the good ole boy with direct connections to the backroom culture and the city. Access is everything in these kind of communities.
I can tell you from experience, that having two different societies working side by side is a losing proposition. If you don't have the law willing to stand up and stop the nonsense it's like living with parasites. The damage the good buddies create hiding under the cover of the nether world, is enduring. And it will continue to get worse, unless society wakes up and uses the arm of the law to stop them. And don't bring up lawyers. The shock troops in the community will gaslight you by spouting out legal tomes you know they don't believe like "He's a lawyer. He won't break his legal code by lying to us." My experiences suggest otherwise.
So, point is, I never quite understood how to deal with these gaslighters. I would hold up documents and tell them what I was reading, and they would respond in the same manner. Someone would say something incredibly stupid, and the room would respond by either laughing at me, or mocking me. Then, things would always get worse. We would go deeper down the rabbit hole, because the good buddies and their supporters were convinced that the community was hampered from taking action. Inaction from us was a sign to continue pilfering the community goodwill.
This happened in the nineties. And now, we're all in the same boat with the Republicans. I know it would have been helpful if there was something I could have said that would have awaken the decent people in the community. But then, I tell myself, it wouldn't have changed anything in my case. Most that did figure it out, moved out.
But, as the years have slipped by I've listened for those comments that might have made a difference. And the only thing I've heard that sounds like a line in the sand was being drawn to differentiate truly heinous and unacceptable behavior from rational expectations, came from across the pond.
That was when Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, responded to Boris Johnson's claims that he didn't know he was at a party, boozing it up during a Covid lockdown, with the comment: “so ridiculous that it is actually offensive to the British public.”
"...actually offensive to the British public." As if the British public takes a lot of abuse, but this one thing is beyond even expecting them to take in.
We need that kind of talk. We need someone to draw a line in the sand to show just how irrational and unacceptable the Republicans are. And I say this knowing there are people in the Republican party that would rather die, than wake up to see what they're doing to this country. And as good Americans, we just have to let them. It's the one thing that our inaction is good for.
But, for the others, a light might come on. So, here is to the wordsmiths out there. Find a way to find the high ground.
Time to reconsider those school vouchers for private schools!
Oh, man. Did they step in it. If they really believe that "Helping kids of color to feel they belong, has a negative effect on white, Christian, or conservative kids," then they stepped in it.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017686664
Those vouchers were given out to children in public schools, who felt they would get a better education in private school. But, what kind of education is the tax payer paying for? I think I can answer that.
Back in 1980, the school I went to only had 2% minority students. My tuition was entirely paid by my parents, but my experience was that which you would expect from a college in that era that was predominantly white. I knew what my role was, without anyone telling me. The academic education, of course, was important. But I knew it was also my job to assimilate to THEIR norms and social practices. And it was tougher than I would admit to myself, because there was no one to grade me on my progress.
Reflecting back, however, I am in a better position to appraise my situation. I can now see that on a social level, I was struggling. Something always felt off. I never felt that the social experiences I had in school were geared to help me reach my full potential as a minority student. I never felt fully integrated and it was only decades later that I realized, that, though we all appeared to get along, it was because we never crossed a line that would put us in an uncomfortable situation. Essentially, we never exchanged ideas or information on a cultural level. At least, not in a productive way. A few did compliment me on my English speaking skills, but, I don't see how anyone would have seen that as anything but insulting.
Ten to fifteen years after I graduated, I began to feel like something was changing in this country. It was the nineties and the conversations with the conservative side of the family began to grow dark. I know what Meghan Markle went through because I had the same dilemma in the nineties when conservative-mania began to take over and I heard right-wing talking points for the first time. I stopped attending the family get togethers, but didn't step in the way of my children and husband going without me. A few years later, they stopped attended too.
I also had conservative friends at this time, because that happened to be the circles we were in. Between work and college friends, there weren't many progressives who openly admitted their politics or shared their views. This was back when "Liberal" was a word that many were distancing themselves from.
In my generation, we learned to get along by not talking about political views. At most, when the elections would come by, someone might let it slip how they voted. But then we would go back to work and it never came up again until the next election. In other words, all through my forties, I never lived around people who had a good background when it came to respecting people who were different than they were.
And then came Trump.
Trump would change everything. He exploited this huge void in America's education. I suddenly felt that those friends who were too conservative to even reach out to understand my point of view; or worse, thought I was "crazy," were too toxic to be around. I finally had a breakthrough when someone said, "No one thinks like that." And I thought to myself, it all makes sense now. All along I had been surrounded by conservative white people and it dawned on me, of course they would say that. I have a minority perspective and it is something that they have refused to take seriously my entire life! In fact, they have tried to dismiss it, denounce it, deny it for as long as I have lived. For the same reason they're doing it to CRT.
So in sum, you want federal money? Then, teach the truth about our country. At least the next generation will understand each other's history and roots. And maybe they will have a chance to have meaningful conversations.
Can you believe it took this long to state the obvious?
We just made it through an era where conservative white men were allowed to profusely lie and fabricate facts to incite and divide people. We were living in a world of alternate facts, and it took this long for a Court to reach the decision that they will be held accountable for the things they said.
When are we going to accept that "military service" is a sacred cow in this country?
Here's what's wrong with that: It is too often abused. Military men and women, especially officers, should be role models for integrity and honesty in their civilian lives. If they can't do that, and rely on this "Get out of jail" card, our communities begin to degrade because so many backwater organizations use them as front men to stop people from looking too hard into their local overreaches. I know, because at every step of this community's bad decision-making, there were Captains, Colonels etc, at the helm of leadership. And it's not like you could ignore it, because they would wear their titles even on stationary that was meant to relay HOA business.
At least one of them exposed how they expected you to behave: He was a Captain in the military. And, "In the military no one ever questioned me." He was offended because he was representing his in-laws in the sale of their house, and he expected everything to go without any hard questions.
It's time for this sacred cow to be put down.
Why I think people leave Florida after five years -- not because of the hurricanes. A HOA story
My city is definitely experiencing some kind of power issue in City Hall. I heard the Mayor resigned, which might not be such a great loss because he was pro-development. But, when something this big happens in City Hall, I tend to wonder how it's going to affect the rest of us, since everything in this community comes down to currying support from the cronies in order to legitimize political machinations. That means giving those cronies an opportunity to get something they desire, that they can't get through legal channels. In my HOA's case, back in the nineties, it came down to looking the other way as the cronies took over our Association common grounds. This is the reason I put up security cameras. It's times when the network is trying to gather support, that everything goes haywire.
Back in the nineties there were private meetings held with the presidents of all the Associations in our Master Planned Development. Back then, there were at least two dozen private Associations under the same P.U.D. One Master HOA claimed that they were the umbrella protection over all of them, ALTHOUGH, the documents do not support their claim. The Master HOA became a political necessity because of the way this County operates. People do need protection against the County government's overreaches. But what the board of the Master HOA decides to do with that power, usually comes down to the integrity of each member that serves on that board. Sadly, some have Napoleon complexes.
Back in the nineties, the Master HOA board did not operate under the laws of Florida. Their meetings were usually private, secretive and if they couldn't pull in a president in time to curry support for one of their decisions, they would tap one of the cronies who lived in our developments. That was true, especially if they had to rely on phone calls to build consensus for one of their ill-advised decisions.
Now, I don't give this city high marks for following best practices when it came to land-development, but the response by the civilians was worse. It was like the powers-that-be allowed them to walk into a legal quagmire, and in the end they were forced to accept Settlement Agreement terms that the then president of the Master HOA was unable to even read. He was only allowed to initial the bottom of the pages. It was such a clusterfuck of legal process. I didn't know it then, but we were deep in a rabbit hole.
What a mess. But it was the kind of experience that allows me to say without equivocation, that if newcomers to Florida leave this state after a five year stay, it's not because of the hurricanes. It's because of the community hostilities that occur when small circles of power try to follow their own private agendas, and try to keep things secret. That is the true hidden monster to tackle in Central Florida. Until we do, this place will never be a welcoming place for decent people.
So, anyways. My cameras. Because of my experiences from the nineties, the one thing I do look for is when neighbors sneak out at the same time in the early morning hours, contrary to their usual habits. It's something I look for because this is how the good buddies operated in the nineties. Breakfast meetings. And this morning, two of the usual suspects got up early and departed at exactly the same time, contrary to their usual habits. These are two people who do not socialize with each other, though they were each one degree away from people who were behind the clusterfuck of the nineties. The last time something similar to this happened, the golfcourse brought in a heavy machinery to fill in holes in the area behind my house that were probably dug up by gopher turtles, and then they proceeded to raze the last ten feet of my property, destroying my plants! So I have a legitimate concern, wondering what is going to happen next.
Add to that, that there has been a lot of interest in the property lines along the golfcourse. More than usual, golfcarts are riding the property lines along our homes. And the children of the well-connected in this community, are taking great liberties with the fairways. Something I keep track of, because our children were chastised for getting near it.
Good-buddy networks make Florida suck. But certainly give me something to write about.
Makes me sick when they say, "This is OUR building," as if that justifies the storming of the
Capitol when we all know they meant to steal, destroy, kidnap and possibly murder. Why can't they just stop and recognize that their intentions point to the fact that they are criminals.
They don't own our public areas. At best, public places are common ground. Places which are available to ALL of us. But I know it's pointless to make that comparison, because this same crowd does not respect common ground. In areas like mine, common area are targeted for hostile take-overs. Adverse Possession. And it looks like this kind of thinking has gone from stealing open spaces on plats and HOA areas, to now trying to take over our Public buildings.
Just to reinforce that connection, I do distinctly remember that kind of talk "They work for us," being spread around a City Hall public meeting, at a time when the community leaders, along with elected officials, led us all into a lawsuit that resulted in a two million dollar settlement. From what I observed, civil lawsuits that end in settlement agreements that no one pays for directly, do not create an incentive that will put down the kind of thinking that results in abusive take-overs. So I'm not surprised to discover that 22 years later, we are where we are today with these idiots storming the Capitol Building.
If you want to put an end to these criminal activities, the penalties must be stiffer.
Trump is going out with a whimper, not a bang. My prediction.
I've seen it so many times in the tribal behavior in my local community. They are tough talking when they outnumber you. If they think their group has their back, it's constant bravado, bullying and bullshit. But the moment they are singled out, everything changes. That's when they resort to the, "You can't kick me when I'm down." strategy.
And here, it's resorting to your kindness, mercy and sympathy in a hope for forgiveness and forgetfulness, in return for nothing at all. That's when you hear about someone in their family who is sick, or even terminally ill. "My husband has cancer." Or there is some other life challenge that they are dealing with, "I have six kids to put through college." Or they have back problems or some other medical issue. And this is where it gets alarming, because they walk down the street, lame, dejected or holding their backs like it's a Woe is Me parade. And it's not the walking that's the problem. It's their street too. They're entitled. But, it's the timing. They would appear when I am out in the front yard gardening, which isn't often. It's hard not to think that it's an incredible coincidence.
Maybe I fell for these ploys in the early years, when I was younger and still abiding by rules of civility that worked in the country I was born in. The problem is, they do it so often that you finally can't ignore that they're not really remorseful. It's all just a game to them. And then you realize that you and your family are not immune to the same human experiences, and yet, you manage to make it through the day without conspiring in the same ways they do.
So, I take these local experiences and I can predict that when Trump realizes that it's over for him, he's going to do the same thing. He is going to break with his usual brash, crass behavior and resort to the "You can't kick me when I'm down" strategy. Expect some family medical issue to surface and a last ditch effort to pull the sympathy strings of the nation.
One last bit of advice: Don't fall for it.
I live in a suburb of Orlando that is very red.
I know exactly what they're fighting for. They're fighting for away of life that allows them to cheat democratic methods. Instead, they prefer the backwater process that allows them to use closed social networks. They grow up in these communities, seeing their parents connect with good ole boys that help them take shortcuts, while the rest of us are left clueless and gasping for understanding. There is no organization that they can't undermine, including our HOAs.
Let me ask you. Where does anyone get the fucking idea that any of these kids plan to be good, honest citizens that respect a legal and fair process, once they grow up? They know how to undermine the fair process, by resorting to backwater conversations and meetings.
THAT's what they're fighting for. They know they can continue to cheat the system as long as Republicans are in control.
Seeing how the confederate monuments are taking a hit, I hit upon a new observation:
You are not part of the real American experience, unless your culture gets thoroughly trashed, toppled and tuned-out. Today we've come full circle. Today, the confederate culture in America is experiencing the hostile behavior that they helped create. A taste of one's own medicine, I believe is what they call it.
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Gender: Do not displayCurrent location: Seminole County, Florida
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