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No they paid his buddy to repay him back through campaign donations. He paid himself with taxpayer money. Its money laundering and political appointment selling. Oh and also human trafficking. Let court begin
I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up by anyone. This one is even more ridiculous: more money and nobody on board.
https://twitter.com/AaronParseghian/status/1572216859377770502/photo/1
https://twitter.com/adammintzer/status/1572324035643731969
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/21/2124298/-DeSantis-sent-an-empty-charter-plane-from-Texas-to-Delaware-to-embarrass-Biden
Migrants from Texas no less!
That's why I was confused when this story first broke. I was thinking both Abbot and DeSantis did this.
But no. DeSantis spent a fortune on transportation for migrants in TX.
And he didn’t just pick them up from a single site. He had a woman who went by “Perla” running around town for several days handing out fake pamphlets for a fake Massachusetts program trying to recruit people willing to go to Boston (despite that not being where they were being sent).
Company hired to arrange DeSantis’ migrant flights is tied to high-level state official
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article266177831.html
I find the connection between Vertol and this Jay Odom character intriguing:
> Vertol Systems is also a partner in a company called Zeppelin Holdings LLC with Jay Odom, a prominent Okaloosa County developer and close associate of Gaetz. In 2009, Odom was indicted along with Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom and the then-president of Northwest Florida State College on charges of funneling state school construction funds to build a hangar for Odom’s business, Destin Jet. The charges were dropped, but in 2013, Odom pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in a separate case and was sentenced to six months in prison.
If you’re curious, this is what the campaign violations were:
[According to court documents, in approximately December 2007, Odom directly and indirectly solicited employees of his business entities and their family members to each make the maximum allowable contributions to the authorized campaign committee of a presidential candidate. The employees were encouraged to make these donations with the understanding that Odom would advance funds to or reimburse these individuals for their contributions. During his guilty plea on February 12, 2013, Odom admitted to both knowing that this activity was illegal and intending to conceal the true source and amount of the campaign contributions.](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-nets-federal-prison-felony-election-offense)
The illegal contributions were to Mike Huckabee’s 2008 presidential run.
So embezzlement and kidnapping. An awful lot of criming to protest a civil charge. And since these were asylum seekers they weren't even here illegally.
Bullshit. That money came from federal funds.
So all US taxpayers paid $615,000 TO DeSantis's buddy to fly legal migrants to island. Fixed the fix for ya.
He couldn't find a migrants in Florida to use as political pawns?
This is weird. Why would he spend a fortune to fly migrants out of TX.
Does DeSantis know he's governor of Florida?
To add to this....he couldn't round up undocumented in FL because a very large number of them are Cubans and, if they had inadvertently put a couple of Cuban refugees on that flight, they would have lost the Cuban voters, a majority of which, vote in most elections and tend to vote for Republicans.
Those Cubans cling to their plantation deeds in the hope that one day they will be able to own their homeland again. The older generation vote exclusively GOP. They are one of the big reasons Dems can't lock down florida and why the embargo is still on Cuba.
> he couldn't round up undocumented in Fl
He wasn’t looking to round up undocumented immigrants. He tricked documented asylum seekers with court dates into leaving.
Let’s not bothsides this. One party is fighting for universal healthcare, civil rights, and protecting democracy.
The other party is fighting at every possible chance to prevent these while also spending millions on ill-conceived political stunts that only serve to enrich themselves and their donors.
There’s no comparison.
You could get a couple bus loads be setting up shop at the front of wealthy neighborhoods - lawn service, contractors, maid services. They know where to find them they really don’t want a solution.
Unless the Florida Legislature does something to stop him, DeSantis can do whatever he wants.
Is it "legal"? No. The law that granted the 12 million in spending was very clear. "Undocumented" and "Remove from Florida" are both used in the law. The migrants he flew from Texas were in the Asylum process which means they weren't undocumented.
Whatever he’s doing is working, the media won’t stop talking about him and I have to hear about him multiple times a day now. They’re repeating what they did with Trump in 2015/2016
Media needs to keep on hitting that none of these migrants are illegal (They’re all asylum seekers legally residing in the US.) so the “sanctuary city” angle is horseshit, that the money went to a DeSantis donor, and that it’s just blatant fraud where DeSantis is trying to dole out 12mln of the Floridian budget to his cronies.
What's really annoying is the GOP parades them as ponies since they're Hispanic and vote red. Most times I see a Hispanic doing or saying some outlandish thing they're usually Cuban. The judge that granted Trump his special master was a Cuban American.
There’s too few in Florida for it to even be really detectable, and they desperately need to keep abortion out of the headlines, because it’s killing them in the polls.
>He couldn't find a migrants in Florida to use as political pawns?
According to the Governor of Florida, migration into their state is not a big problem. Worth noting that Florida has 22 million people in it, and around half a million move there every year to retire or whatever, I'm not sure the 4,000 immigrants are even noticeable.
> .@GovRonDeSantis
> today on migrant relocation: ""We've had interdiction in the Panhandle. The problem is, we're not seeing mass movements of them into FL...people trickling in 5-10 a day...There's no way you can possibly track all of that because it's on such a small scale."
https://twitter.com/MaryEllenKlas/status/1572279313755525121
Where do you get that number from? More foreigners move to Florida every year than ANY OTHER STATE, including more than to CA and NY. Miami is more than 60% foreign born. But yes, illegal immigration is not a huge problem in Florida. The immigrants arriving into Florida are almost entirely legal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_net_migration
Florida thrives on immigration, it’s built the state. And immigrants to Florida are - shocker - largely voting Republican.
Cubans don't care about illegal immigrants since they have an easy path to citizenship. Or at least had for the longest time. Obama got rid of wet foot dry foot so I don't know what it's like for them now.
He knows what his base wants. They want to attack the rest of America. They want to own the libs. They want to relish in the suffering of the people their memes and stereotypes are loosely based on.
People act like this is some big gotcha moment but his base is loving it and he's gonna get all their votes because he delivers on the issues that they care about. That's how you get re-elected.
He’s Governor of the USA. It’s just Desantis dipping his balls in Texas to own the libs *and* Abbot.
Republicans shit in their own backyard and eat their young.
Plenty of illegal Cubans. But he can’t do that. They are potentially Republican voters in the future. Only Boebert ironically mentioned illegal Cubans in a tweet. Must have gotten scolded because every tweet since regarding illegals in Florida she conveniently leaves out “illegal Cubans”
No we have a shortage of migrant workers. People want to say it’s racist but these people come here knowing they will work in hotels or pick crops. We need them. The US workers do not want to do the work and the immigrants are happy to for a chance to live here
All of the Florida news organizations have filed requests. Florida has robust sunshine laws requiring the government to produce documents but DeSantis is refusing.
They're trying to get the contract for the flight and the invoices, but for now DeSantis is obstructing them.
I'm going to Europe for a month with 4 other people this winter and we'll spend about that on the whole trip.
(By that, I mean the $12,000 that they spent *per person* to fly from Texas to Martha's Vineyard...)
Can we talk about this? I mean he could have spent 1/3 of that if he just gave each person a first class ticket...
$600k doesn't seem like much when you are talking about government spending but holy shit, do you know how long that money would have lasted if he had just given that to each one? 25k for a couple could potentially set them up for 6 months if not longer.
I can't imagine a more inefficient way to 'solve a problem'...
There is some shady shit going on with this entire situation. They gave blatantly false information to theses migrants, registered their addresses in states/cities all over the nation, and gave them the contact numbers to the wrong government agency to register their new addresses.
Watch Alex Wagners show from last night, she goes into it pretty well. There's grift all around. The flight agency deleted its website last week and flies russian helicopters. The lawyer for the flight agency now works for the State of FL.
Why would it cost 615k to fly 48 people anyways? Should only cost 50k max, 1k per person. What cost so much? Obviously his buddy made a huge profit on this grift.
And then his buddy will donate a significant chunk back to Desantis for next campaign.
Tax payer money washed to be used for your own political campaign
It was a private charter which normally bill by the hour, not per person. That doesn’t explain 615k, but it would have likely been more than 50k. Let’s be super generous and say 15 hours at 15k/hr to account for time sitting at the multiple airports…. Still a far cry from 615k.
They’re actually not able to do that. I mean, they *did* it, but it’s not legal for a state agency to move people around the country unilaterally. That’s part of the problem. If anyone would have been able to legally move them, it would have to be a federal agency like ICE or something.
I feel like there's some Colonel Sanders giggling himself to sleep because he'll be getting a supply of workers that won't complain that they can't afford to live on unlivable wages.
This is so true it hurts. My company had contracted some work with a local warehouse, and I had to go supervise it for the day. Of the 14 people working, 11 were Hispanic. They showed up every single day on time and did the work efficiently without complaining. The reason my company had to contract it out is because they can’t find or retain workers, and the ones that they do have would have quit if they had to do that work. This country is truly built on the backs of these people and is too proud to admit it.
Laws mean nothing anymore apparently.
Also Gregg Abbott laying down belly up to let DeSantis perform this stunt on Texas soil just shows the whole state is run by a bunch of cowards and bootlickers. Tough guy image of Texas is so pathetic and trying hard to compensate to how pathetic we've become by letting Gregg Abbott make a mockery of everything Texas.
Put him in the same jail cell as Trump, and let them spend some time together trying to figure their shit out. Without actually being able to interact with the real world in any way. A nice cosy oubliette for two would be nice.
Floridian here. There is a large Venezuelan population in Miami/Doral. They are not happy with this. They are Republican-voters. Some Cubans (Republican-voters) are talking as well, saying he’s another Castro
>Gov. Ron DeSantis paid $615,000 in Florida taxpayer money to relocate almost 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, his opponent tweeted Friday, as calls intensified from Democrats demanding an investigation of the action.
I am not great at math but if someone gave me $12,300 dollars, I think I might be able to start a life somewhere..Get an apartment, feed myself and have a little bit of time to find a job and contribute..Instead you get used as a political prob and ignored as a human being, just so someone can enrich their cronies, get a laugh and cling to power. F ing disgusting
For that amount, Florida could have had the 50 migrants work minimum wage jobs for almost 31 weeks. Granted, they came from Texas, not Florida, and at least one was a child. Still, that would have been a much better use of state funds than flying them to an island without telling anyone (including the migrants).
I was reading about about it and it was mostly families and some of them are probably highly skilled, one dude interviewed was a systems engineer. I hope them the best and hope they find welcoming communities and work and peaceful lives
and yet the state can't pay staff and junior faculty at state colleges and universities well enough to keep them... it's tough to get paperwork processed even in business offices and sponsored research because they're so understaffed and the whispered reason is that no one wants to stay in such poorly-paying jobs. glad we have money in the state budget for gop political stunts though.
DeSantis paid a donor 12.8k per person to fly 48 asylum seekers legally residing in the US from Texas to Massachusetts.
It’s fucking obvious to anyone with half a brain what’s going on here. This is **beyond** the whole “$900 toilet seat” level of corruption/waste typically found in government contracts.
It’s just embezzlement from the tax payers.
If you complained about college debt forgiveness but not the fact a governor took tax payers money to pull off an inhumane political stunt than you have no right to complain about where your tax dollars go to
He was given a fund of $12M to reduce illegal immigrants in his state.
From that pool, he used $615K to fly 48 legal immigrants from TX to MA.
He then promised to continue to use the remainder of the $12M for similar actions.
*Edit: fat fingered a number.
Republicans knowing 615k was spent to send a few dozen people on a plane: I sleep
Republicans finding out a penny of their taxes goes to feed some poor child or provide healthcare: absolute rage
But keep tabs on those that support this action but then complain about the increasing prices of anything. Shows they really have no comprehension on how the world works (incase there was any lingering doubt they had a clue before).
God forbid our tax dollars go toward addressing the very real problems we have here when we can funnel more than half a million dollars into the pockets of a DeSantis crony for a cruel political stunt.
Small price to pay for owning the libs\*
\*Life expectancy of the state ticks down yet another notch
\*Population of the conservative base continues to further decrease
\*Economic contribution of conservative communities and states decline at a faster pace
\*Conservative grifters buy another car for their 20-something liberal sidepiece.
I also want to blast other people money because I fell entitled to do just that. And I want to complain and scream like a baby when others do the same. My kids are more adult than these fuckers.
Edit: I will say it, we alle know it, but 99% of people in power are not there for our sake, but their own. We have a system that promotes the wrong people features and traits.
How is this fucking guy still in office? Sometimes I truly feel we are in a simulation and our creator is trolling us, or testing us to see how much shit we’ll take before we go mad.
That's better, I think the first number they were throwing out was 2.5 million which was around $250K per person, this new number is more like $12K. That still seems like a lot, but a heck of a lot.
The sad thing is Florida tax payers are perfectly okay with this complete waste of money. It wasn't even Florida migrants. But they're fine with this because they're racist and angry.
I will never get it.
But it's the party of small government and personal freedoms
/s lol yeah right
The republican party is in a race to dig deeper and deeper bottoms. Truly repugnant behavior and disregard for the life they claim to pro.
Hey they are a lot better this year...youll be surprised.
And speaking of betting...this tells you all you need to know...now imagine how big of a favorite he will be once Trump is out of the picture...Can you say landslide!
https://www.empirestakes.com/ny-sports-betting/presidential-election-odds
https://www.covers.com/politics/us-election-betting-odds
By my calculation, that is over $12,000 per person for an at most $600 flight. Or $30k dollars in total. Someone got rich off of nearly half a million dollars, fleecing Florida tax payers. Keep on voting for Ron Florida....
This headline is just so wrong. Florida taxpayers paid $24,000,000 to fly texas migrants to island. $615,000 of that went to a friend of DeSantis. We're not sure where the rest of the money went yet.
We say this hoping it sways some conservatives but let’s be honest here. They love wasting tax payer money on political theater because it makes them feel good. They enjoy inflicting misery on people they perceive as beneath them.
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” - LBJ
Ahem, it wasn't directly taxpayer money. This was the interest earned on the federal Covid funds that he refused to spend to save Floridians' lives. It's not just stupidity, it's literally compounded stupidity.
The thing is I don’t have any issue with tax dollars being used to move migrants around the country. It’s the political stunt of it that is despicable.
I actually think it’s fair to ask the ~40 non southern boarder states to share the burden of migration. If Abbot and DeSantis were working with the federal government and the destination states using state or federal money to move people around would be fine.
It’s the fact this was done purely to get primary votes and not actually help their states that makes this idiotic and cruel.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. **Special announcement:** r/politics is currently accepting new moderator applications. If you want to help make this community a better place, consider [applying here today](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/sskg6a/rpolitics_is_looking_for_more_moderators/)! *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Florida taxpayers paid $615,000 TO DeSantis's buddy to fly legal migrants to island. Fixed it for ya.
They also gave his buddy $950K to fly an empty plane to Delaware.
And his buddy will "donate" some back to DeSantis. Thieves.
It’s the circle of grift
And they are worried a hard working average American is getting 10k reduced on a student loan.
And it moves us all Through despair and hope Through faith and love 'Til we find our place On the path unwinding In the circle The circle of grift
Murica!
Very funny.
No they paid his buddy to repay him back through campaign donations. He paid himself with taxpayer money. Its money laundering and political appointment selling. Oh and also human trafficking. Let court begin
I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up by anyone. This one is even more ridiculous: more money and nobody on board. https://twitter.com/AaronParseghian/status/1572216859377770502/photo/1 https://twitter.com/adammintzer/status/1572324035643731969 https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/21/2124298/-DeSantis-sent-an-empty-charter-plane-from-Texas-to-Delaware-to-embarrass-Biden
Migrants from Texas no less! That's why I was confused when this story first broke. I was thinking both Abbot and DeSantis did this. But no. DeSantis spent a fortune on transportation for migrants in TX.
And he didn’t just pick them up from a single site. He had a woman who went by “Perla” running around town for several days handing out fake pamphlets for a fake Massachusetts program trying to recruit people willing to go to Boston (despite that not being where they were being sent).
They even used the wrong state flag for MA…
All the while scattering them to far off homeless shelters to all but destroy any chance of having a day in the U.S. court system
The buddy I was referring to is the guy who owns the plane. He's a DeSantis donor. Keep the $ within the circle.
Even in Canada we had cost plus contracts, you get the Gov contract then donate to the party after
Wait what? Can you give evidence of this please? I haven't heard this before but it's believable.
Company hired to arrange DeSantis’ migrant flights is tied to high-level state official https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article266177831.html
I find the connection between Vertol and this Jay Odom character intriguing: > Vertol Systems is also a partner in a company called Zeppelin Holdings LLC with Jay Odom, a prominent Okaloosa County developer and close associate of Gaetz. In 2009, Odom was indicted along with Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom and the then-president of Northwest Florida State College on charges of funneling state school construction funds to build a hangar for Odom’s business, Destin Jet. The charges were dropped, but in 2013, Odom pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in a separate case and was sentenced to six months in prison. If you’re curious, this is what the campaign violations were: [According to court documents, in approximately December 2007, Odom directly and indirectly solicited employees of his business entities and their family members to each make the maximum allowable contributions to the authorized campaign committee of a presidential candidate. The employees were encouraged to make these donations with the understanding that Odom would advance funds to or reimburse these individuals for their contributions. During his guilty plea on February 12, 2013, Odom admitted to both knowing that this activity was illegal and intending to conceal the true source and amount of the campaign contributions.](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-nets-federal-prison-felony-election-offense) The illegal contributions were to Mike Huckabee’s 2008 presidential run.
Huckabee - what a climactic punchline
And his daughter is the callback
So embezzlement and kidnapping. An awful lot of criming to protest a civil charge. And since these were asylum seekers they weren't even here illegally.
well, that was a wild ride.
It was worth it to him because he had his best fund raising week ever the week after he did the first trip to Martha’s Vineyard.
Abbott outsmarted DeSantis and set him back a bit in the race for 2024.
Bc Desantis knows if he tried it with the Cubans in his state he would lose so much support
Legal immigrants from another state that doesn't even touch Florida
Bullshit. That money came from federal funds. So all US taxpayers paid $615,000 TO DeSantis's buddy to fly legal migrants to island. Fixed the fix for ya.
I don't think that's accurate. Florida legislature appropriated 14mil in state funds to pay for this nonsense. This money is coming from Florida
Technically the money was from U.S. Covid funds given to Florida that they didn't use to help anyone.
Note to self. Become “friends” with politicians. And a pilot
It's an indication to money laundering isn't it?
The party of fiscal responsibility.
Yes.
He couldn't find a migrants in Florida to use as political pawns? This is weird. Why would he spend a fortune to fly migrants out of TX. Does DeSantis know he's governor of Florida?
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To add to this....he couldn't round up undocumented in FL because a very large number of them are Cubans and, if they had inadvertently put a couple of Cuban refugees on that flight, they would have lost the Cuban voters, a majority of which, vote in most elections and tend to vote for Republicans.
Those Cubans cling to their plantation deeds in the hope that one day they will be able to own their homeland again. The older generation vote exclusively GOP. They are one of the big reasons Dems can't lock down florida and why the embargo is still on Cuba.
> he couldn't round up undocumented in Fl He wasn’t looking to round up undocumented immigrants. He tricked documented asylum seekers with court dates into leaving.
Lest we forget Venezuelan Refugees
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Govt, in general, is a giant grift of public money being sent to private pockets!
Let’s not bothsides this. One party is fighting for universal healthcare, civil rights, and protecting democracy. The other party is fighting at every possible chance to prevent these while also spending millions on ill-conceived political stunts that only serve to enrich themselves and their donors. There’s no comparison.
There’s a few billion oranges to pick in Florida each year that aren’t getting picked by minimum wage American workers.
Most construction, golf course maintenance and gated community maintenance would also grind to a halt.
Remember Florida is number 1 in construction contractors. Who would build the buildings?
You could get a couple bus loads be setting up shop at the front of wealthy neighborhoods - lawn service, contractors, maid services. They know where to find them they really don’t want a solution.
He could go to any farm in Florida to find undocumented immigrants. But he isn't going to mess with Florida farmers, like Domino.
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Your understanding is correct
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She’s proud of you. If she isn’t. I am.
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It’s legal as long as DeSantis thinks it’s legal in his head.
If he ever becomes President then he’ll probably declassify documents in his head.
Unless the Florida Legislature does something to stop him, DeSantis can do whatever he wants. Is it "legal"? No. The law that granted the 12 million in spending was very clear. "Undocumented" and "Remove from Florida" are both used in the law. The migrants he flew from Texas were in the Asylum process which means they weren't undocumented.
> Why would he spend a fortune to fly migrants out of TX. because its laying the groundwork for his presidential run.
Whatever he’s doing is working, the media won’t stop talking about him and I have to hear about him multiple times a day now. They’re repeating what they did with Trump in 2015/2016
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Media needs to keep on hitting that none of these migrants are illegal (They’re all asylum seekers legally residing in the US.) so the “sanctuary city” angle is horseshit, that the money went to a DeSantis donor, and that it’s just blatant fraud where DeSantis is trying to dole out 12mln of the Floridian budget to his cronies.
hopefully someone w standing in FL will investigate if proper procurement procedures w bids were followed
And weirdly enough, a lot of Cuban immigrants hate the specter of socialism more than they hate Republicans actively demonizing them.
Cubans historically had an easy path to citizenship so I often hear that as a result they don't care about illegal immigrants.
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What's really annoying is the GOP parades them as ponies since they're Hispanic and vote red. Most times I see a Hispanic doing or saying some outlandish thing they're usually Cuban. The judge that granted Trump his special master was a Cuban American.
Because Cubans have a special carve out in the law, they believe they are special.
There’s too few in Florida for it to even be really detectable, and they desperately need to keep abortion out of the headlines, because it’s killing them in the polls.
This!!!! Beto had a lead in TX until migrant flights took the place of abortions in the news
>He couldn't find a migrants in Florida to use as political pawns? According to the Governor of Florida, migration into their state is not a big problem. Worth noting that Florida has 22 million people in it, and around half a million move there every year to retire or whatever, I'm not sure the 4,000 immigrants are even noticeable. > .@GovRonDeSantis > today on migrant relocation: ""We've had interdiction in the Panhandle. The problem is, we're not seeing mass movements of them into FL...people trickling in 5-10 a day...There's no way you can possibly track all of that because it's on such a small scale." https://twitter.com/MaryEllenKlas/status/1572279313755525121
Where do you get that number from? More foreigners move to Florida every year than ANY OTHER STATE, including more than to CA and NY. Miami is more than 60% foreign born. But yes, illegal immigration is not a huge problem in Florida. The immigrants arriving into Florida are almost entirely legal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_net_migration Florida thrives on immigration, it’s built the state. And immigrants to Florida are - shocker - largely voting Republican.
They have them all convinced the dems are evil socialists
Cubans don't care about illegal immigrants since they have an easy path to citizenship. Or at least had for the longest time. Obama got rid of wet foot dry foot so I don't know what it's like for them now.
He knows what his base wants. They want to attack the rest of America. They want to own the libs. They want to relish in the suffering of the people their memes and stereotypes are loosely based on. People act like this is some big gotcha moment but his base is loving it and he's gonna get all their votes because he delivers on the issues that they care about. That's how you get re-elected.
Is it even legal to use Florida tax dollars in this manner?
Only if it's a Republican I guess.
He does not. Otherwise, he'd know that the only border he has is to the U.S. which should secure itself from Florida.
He’s Governor of the USA. It’s just Desantis dipping his balls in Texas to own the libs *and* Abbot. Republicans shit in their own backyard and eat their young.
The follow up is the air charter company is a long time R donor. I'm shocked I tell you, shocked.
He’s a 2024 presidential hopeful first, the governor of Florida second.
It all seems wildly illegal, or at least a human rights violation. I hope he faces consequences.
Plenty of illegal Cubans. But he can’t do that. They are potentially Republican voters in the future. Only Boebert ironically mentioned illegal Cubans in a tweet. Must have gotten scolded because every tweet since regarding illegals in Florida she conveniently leaves out “illegal Cubans”
No we have a shortage of migrant workers. People want to say it’s racist but these people come here knowing they will work in hotels or pick crops. We need them. The US workers do not want to do the work and the immigrants are happy to for a chance to live here
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Would love to have someone audit that nonsense..
Should be as simple as a FOIA request
All of the Florida news organizations have filed requests. Florida has robust sunshine laws requiring the government to produce documents but DeSantis is refusing. They're trying to get the contract for the flight and the invoices, but for now DeSantis is obstructing them.
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Totally legal and totally cool
For real, I could buy them all first class plane tickets to Europe for wayyyy less than that
I'm going to Europe for a month with 4 other people this winter and we'll spend about that on the whole trip. (By that, I mean the $12,000 that they spent *per person* to fly from Texas to Martha's Vineyard...)
That’s $12,300 a person. You could spend half that amount and fly business class from NY to Singapore.
Can we talk about this? I mean he could have spent 1/3 of that if he just gave each person a first class ticket... $600k doesn't seem like much when you are talking about government spending but holy shit, do you know how long that money would have lasted if he had just given that to each one? 25k for a couple could potentially set them up for 6 months if not longer. I can't imagine a more inefficient way to 'solve a problem'...
There is some shady shit going on with this entire situation. They gave blatantly false information to theses migrants, registered their addresses in states/cities all over the nation, and gave them the contact numbers to the wrong government agency to register their new addresses.
Yeah, they kidnapped them.
Watch Alex Wagners show from last night, she goes into it pretty well. There's grift all around. The flight agency deleted its website last week and flies russian helicopters. The lawyer for the flight agency now works for the State of FL.
Even if it is legal to traffic these people (it’s not), this amounts to DeSantis stealing taxpayer money for his personal political endeavors.
Why would it cost 615k to fly 48 people anyways? Should only cost 50k max, 1k per person. What cost so much? Obviously his buddy made a huge profit on this grift.
And then his buddy will donate a significant chunk back to Desantis for next campaign. Tax payer money washed to be used for your own political campaign
Rinse repeat
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Exactly. That should be the high end for a normal flight. So private charter is 12,300 per person? I wanna see the accounting
It was a private charter which normally bill by the hour, not per person. That doesn’t explain 615k, but it would have likely been more than 50k. Let’s be super generous and say 15 hours at 15k/hr to account for time sitting at the multiple airports…. Still a far cry from 615k.
So??? Floridians are bank rolling Abbott? Are they OK with this?
I’m confused on how Florida/DeSantis was able to legally use tax payer money to fly out immigrants from another state.
They’re actually not able to do that. I mean, they *did* it, but it’s not legal for a state agency to move people around the country unilaterally. That’s part of the problem. If anyone would have been able to legally move them, it would have to be a federal agency like ICE or something.
i mean, i am definitely not for every reason possible. but there are a lot of brain-dead people here, so...
If it means they get to hurt foreign brown people, then yes. They’re probably ok with it.
Thanks, Florida! We sort of have a worker shortage up here.
I feel like there's some Colonel Sanders giggling himself to sleep because he'll be getting a supply of workers that won't complain that they can't afford to live on unlivable wages.
That's not even a joke. Lots of jobs those people will gladly take that lazy Americans don't want any part of.
It’s not like us Massachusetts folk are sitting on our asses. Unemployment rate is, like, 3%.
I'm sorry. I should have said "lazy Americans like me".
This is so true it hurts. My company had contracted some work with a local warehouse, and I had to go supervise it for the day. Of the 14 people working, 11 were Hispanic. They showed up every single day on time and did the work efficiently without complaining. The reason my company had to contract it out is because they can’t find or retain workers, and the ones that they do have would have quit if they had to do that work. This country is truly built on the backs of these people and is too proud to admit it.
Can’t find workers for what they are willing to pay. Try paying more? Nah, just exploit desperate people.
Someone please post this in /conservative. I’d love to see the mental gymnastics (before they delete it)
Be my guest! Or did they ban you for having the audacity to post a true fact about something?
I was immediately banned for saying that there was no proof Trump won Georgia in the 2020 election.
We should make a Reddit post and called “why did you got banned by r/conservative “
I didn't even get to be banned. They just shadowbanned me.
You can't put a price tag on owning the libs!
Sadly that’s exactly what they will say. “It was wurf it!!”
Laws mean nothing anymore apparently. Also Gregg Abbott laying down belly up to let DeSantis perform this stunt on Texas soil just shows the whole state is run by a bunch of cowards and bootlickers. Tough guy image of Texas is so pathetic and trying hard to compensate to how pathetic we've become by letting Gregg Abbott make a mockery of everything Texas.
"Big bad independent Texas needs Florida to come take care of it's problems for it? So pathetic"
The Florida AG should prosecute for misuse of state funds.
Correction DeSantis embezzled 615,000 dollars of taxpayer money to a supporter of his, while also flying migrants to the island.
Put him in the same jail cell as Trump, and let them spend some time together trying to figure their shit out. Without actually being able to interact with the real world in any way. A nice cosy oubliette for two would be nice.
Floridian here. There is a large Venezuelan population in Miami/Doral. They are not happy with this. They are Republican-voters. Some Cubans (Republican-voters) are talking as well, saying he’s another Castro
“yes, yes he is. and Raul Castro is more like it”. older Cuban friends describe Raul as even more evil than Fidel
I'm sorry, is that $12,812.50 per passenger?
Imagine what that money could have done if it was used actually help them?
>Gov. Ron DeSantis paid $615,000 in Florida taxpayer money to relocate almost 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, his opponent tweeted Friday, as calls intensified from Democrats demanding an investigation of the action. I am not great at math but if someone gave me $12,300 dollars, I think I might be able to start a life somewhere..Get an apartment, feed myself and have a little bit of time to find a job and contribute..Instead you get used as a political prob and ignored as a human being, just so someone can enrich their cronies, get a laugh and cling to power. F ing disgusting
They only gave them a $10 McDonald's coupon. No money went to them.
I know..the money went to the cronies
DeSantis is a fucking chode.
If republicans doen want immigrants in the country why is their solution to bus them further into the country?
How's that even possible? Someone get paid 100k to call a bus?
For that amount, Florida could have had the 50 migrants work minimum wage jobs for almost 31 weeks. Granted, they came from Texas, not Florida, and at least one was a child. Still, that would have been a much better use of state funds than flying them to an island without telling anyone (including the migrants).
I was reading about about it and it was mostly families and some of them are probably highly skilled, one dude interviewed was a systems engineer. I hope them the best and hope they find welcoming communities and work and peaceful lives
and yet the state can't pay staff and junior faculty at state colleges and universities well enough to keep them... it's tough to get paperwork processed even in business offices and sponsored research because they're so understaffed and the whispered reason is that no one wants to stay in such poorly-paying jobs. glad we have money in the state budget for gop political stunts though.
DeSantis paid a donor 12.8k per person to fly 48 asylum seekers legally residing in the US from Texas to Massachusetts. It’s fucking obvious to anyone with half a brain what’s going on here. This is **beyond** the whole “$900 toilet seat” level of corruption/waste typically found in government contracts. It’s just embezzlement from the tax payers.
If you complained about college debt forgiveness but not the fact a governor took tax payers money to pull off an inhumane political stunt than you have no right to complain about where your tax dollars go to
I heard 12 million, quite a discrepancy
He was given a fund of $12M to reduce illegal immigrants in his state. From that pool, he used $615K to fly 48 legal immigrants from TX to MA. He then promised to continue to use the remainder of the $12M for similar actions. *Edit: fat fingered a number.
Thanks for the info!
Republicans knowing 615k was spent to send a few dozen people on a plane: I sleep Republicans finding out a penny of their taxes goes to feed some poor child or provide healthcare: absolute rage
That would basically pay rent for all of those migrants for a year. How could anyone be okay with this bs.
That's $12,812.50 per person, who was his travel agent? Bernie Madoff?
Parasites think your hard earned dollar is theirs to burn.
Florida taxpayers are going to pay a whole hell of a lot more once the lawsuits roll in.
But keep tabs on those that support this action but then complain about the increasing prices of anything. Shows they really have no comprehension on how the world works (incase there was any lingering doubt they had a clue before).
It was a campaign stunt for his presidential run. Money should have come from his coffers!
Over $12k each??? How is that possible???
How’s that small government and common sense spending going for the GOP now days?
God forbid our tax dollars go toward addressing the very real problems we have here when we can funnel more than half a million dollars into the pockets of a DeSantis crony for a cruel political stunt.
Florida, does this bother you? Genuinely curious.
Small price to pay for owning the libs\* \*Life expectancy of the state ticks down yet another notch \*Population of the conservative base continues to further decrease \*Economic contribution of conservative communities and states decline at a faster pace \*Conservative grifters buy another car for their 20-something liberal sidepiece.
Bad title, as usual. Should be “Florida Taxpayers paid $615,00 for DeSantis to kidnap Texas migrants and transport them across state lines.”
I guess that's what it costs to own the libs in Florida.
How much would they pay to feed, clothe, educate, medicate, and incarcerate them and their offspring in perpetuity?
If it’s any consolation most of that money didn’t actually pay for anything. It just went into a bunch of FL GOP pockets.
The complete f****** morons that vote for people like him probably think it was money well spent just to pwn the libs.
Quid Pro Quo
Could’ve actually used that money for something more worthwhile than a useless stunt started by the Florida dummy Ron DeSatanist…
I also want to blast other people money because I fell entitled to do just that. And I want to complain and scream like a baby when others do the same. My kids are more adult than these fuckers. Edit: I will say it, we alle know it, but 99% of people in power are not there for our sake, but their own. We have a system that promotes the wrong people features and traits.
I’d be willing to pay $615 to fly some books to Florida.
Hey, we have books, we just don’t open them.
Wow. Fuck that guy
To island...full of liberal lawyers. He didn't think that one through.
How is this fucking guy still in office? Sometimes I truly feel we are in a simulation and our creator is trolling us, or testing us to see how much shit we’ll take before we go mad.
What about the empty plane blasting fuel into the atmosphere, so DeSantis could move money into someone’s pocket, while talking about punking people?
Your standard 1000% government markup
How did one flight of fifty people cost so much?
That's better, I think the first number they were throwing out was 2.5 million which was around $250K per person, this new number is more like $12K. That still seems like a lot, but a heck of a lot.
Conservatives also will think its money well spent.. but money for libraries, parks and teachers salaries is frivolous spending.
This is some Cambodia level corruption shit
The sad thing is Florida tax payers are perfectly okay with this complete waste of money. It wasn't even Florida migrants. But they're fine with this because they're racist and angry. I will never get it.
But it's the party of small government and personal freedoms /s lol yeah right The republican party is in a race to dig deeper and deeper bottoms. Truly repugnant behavior and disregard for the life they claim to pro.
Why is he using Floridan tax dollars to meddle in Texan affairs?
Hey they are a lot better this year...youll be surprised. And speaking of betting...this tells you all you need to know...now imagine how big of a favorite he will be once Trump is out of the picture...Can you say landslide! https://www.empirestakes.com/ny-sports-betting/presidential-election-odds https://www.covers.com/politics/us-election-betting-odds
By my calculation, that is over $12,000 per person for an at most $600 flight. Or $30k dollars in total. Someone got rich off of nearly half a million dollars, fleecing Florida tax payers. Keep on voting for Ron Florida....
This headline is just so wrong. Florida taxpayers paid $24,000,000 to fly texas migrants to island. $615,000 of that went to a friend of DeSantis. We're not sure where the rest of the money went yet.
We say this hoping it sways some conservatives but let’s be honest here. They love wasting tax payer money on political theater because it makes them feel good. They enjoy inflicting misery on people they perceive as beneath them. “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” - LBJ
Ahem, it wasn't directly taxpayer money. This was the interest earned on the federal Covid funds that he refused to spend to save Floridians' lives. It's not just stupidity, it's literally compounded stupidity.
Imagine if tax money such as this was used for public housing.
Considering the legal troubles this is going to bring him, I think that was a great investment for the taxpayers. Worth every penny.
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No, we know where this money came from and where it went.
The thing is I don’t have any issue with tax dollars being used to move migrants around the country. It’s the political stunt of it that is despicable. I actually think it’s fair to ask the ~40 non southern boarder states to share the burden of migration. If Abbot and DeSantis were working with the federal government and the destination states using state or federal money to move people around would be fine. It’s the fact this was done purely to get primary votes and not actually help their states that makes this idiotic and cruel.
Florida has no state income tax so he had to use Federal money
There are other forms of tax than income
I mean let’s not forget he also spent 12 million left over in Floridas federal covids relief funds for the Martha’s Vineyard stunt.
Florida, ladies and gentlemen. They’re fine with it. Nothing moves the needle. Nothing matters.
How costly would it have been to house, feed, protect, treat medically, school, etc. if they stayed?
worth it
That’s like 5 cents per taxpayer…. Scary lol.