Opinion: Travelers are right to steer clear of Florida

DeSantis is poison for Florida. He's so busy trying to prove how much he hates gays & non-whites that he doesn't take any time to govern. But I guess that's the standard GOP playbook these days.
- One cool thing for me (as a current FL resident) is that my cost of living has gone up so much that it’s motivated me to move to WA. I’ve been kinda lingering around Central FL for several years, not really sure where to go because everywhere else would be more expensive by comparison. Now I’ve finally found that motivation! Thanks Meatball! My homeowners insurance has gone from $900 a year to $4200, and I needed to buy a new roof to get that insurance to the tune of $10k. The old roof was only 12 years old. Insurance companies won’t cover a damn thing if your roof is 10 years old in FL now.
  If I’m going to spend all this money on living expenses I may as well do that somewhere better.
  
  If I’m going to spend all this money on living expenses I may as well do that somewhere better.
  i did something similar between austin, texas and chicago, illinois. now my new place is 2x the size; w lots of amenities; costs less than texas; but most importantly, my new home isn't descending into a conservative fascist hell hole while everyone just sits around and watches it happen while simultaneously ignoring the clear reasons why and how to help it. lol
  
  Yeah, I've heard insurance is getting hard to come by in FL. Something that maybe a governor should go about trying to address, but he can't. No time, gotta get back out there and talk tough about slitting throats and repeating "woke" as many times per minute as possible.
  
  Is there anywhere specific in WA that you’re looking?
  I’m a native and happy to provide any information that might help in deciding where to land in the state.
  There’s a huge variance in economic, social, and political views. Finding the right one for your needs will go a long way in assuring you’re happy.
  Oh, weather too. The East half of the state is a highlands desert with forests in areas. Lots of high and low temperatures depending on the season. West side is VERY temperate but summers can be tough due to the way the Puget Sound and Olympics can cause heat domes where air doesn’t circulate well. That’s less common though.
  
  You're gonna love Washington, it's a beautiful state!
  
  CoL may be higher, but wages are usually higher as well. That was a big thing at the height of everybody working remotely. People were working for companies in high CoL areas but moving to cheaper places for the pay raise it provided.
- The Tory party in the UK are at this point now. They've got little to show in terms of improving the country after 13 years of power so they've gone full bore into the culture war stuff.
  
  Most of the right wingers worldwide have been working together to gain and keep power while making things easier for their billionaire bosses, it's not surprising that the Tory's, the Republicans, the conservative parties of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Ruzzia, Hungary, Turkey, etc. All have the same messaging, the same social, economic, and political goals, all utilize the same propaganda masters, Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp among too many others, and all have the same or very similar fan boys across social media.
  Global conservative Christians are the "New World Order" that the Conservatives try to scapegoat the Jews and the liberals as, they want to achieve power and control so that they don't have to fix problems like bigotry, climate change, and everything else they now consider "woke" problems. (With "woke" just being the latest doublespeak racist dog whistle)
  
  Isn’t the poor track record about to catch up to them with the next general election, or is that just wishful thinking?

I paid $350 to avoid stopping through Florida on my upcoming trip.

Floridians losing money won’t matter to them, but Republican donors losing money will.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/08/07/desantis-loses-donors-woke-war/70461487007/
- Oh they for sure care, just yesterday I was listening to a podcast and one of the ads was for Orlando. The theme of the ad? "Orlando is still great for gay people" They cited all kinds of statistics in an attempt to prove gay people should still visit and that it was a safe and fun place for them. They understand how critical those DINK tourists are, especially when you already have a lot of infrastructure and investment in attracting and serving them.
  DeSantis doesn't care, but I promise you that lots of conservatives on the ground will start caring when their business traffic starts to choke off. Conservatives retire to Florida, but I'd imagine liberals make up at least half of the tourists between spring break, nightlife/LGBTQ hotspots, and how "woke" Disney has become.
  Florida's current economic landscape is only possible due to tourism money, and once that reality becomes clear people are suddenly going to become far less concerned with non economic issues. Even the promise of tax cuts won't work when entire industries see their revenues drop by meaningful %'s.
  I'm from Kansas, I know what it looks like and feels like to live in a conservative economic death spiral. The reality is you have to let it start getting worse before people take it seriously and put a stop to it. Even the conservatives here voted out Brownback after he started gutting every maintenance, service, and school budget in a failed attempt to balance his tax cuts. All those people who treat politics as a game get real serious once it hurts them directly, but until then I'm not sure there's an effective way to reach them.
  
  And it's not just the tourism industry that's suffering, but construction and anything that requires freight shipping as well are already feeling the effects. There's been videos for the past several months of completely empty job sites with half finished houses and condos because DeSantis has made it a crime to drive undocumented workers, who make up almost the entirety of the construction workforce. A vast number of freight truck drivers also said that they won't deliver to Florida for similar reasons, though I don't remember exactly what law caused them to refuse to go into the state.

So regarding going broke, this was a result of.. checks clipboard going woke, right?
- So here's the thing. Yes, dude is terrible for Florida. But voters love the guy, so really it's everyone getting what they deserve?
  
  I don’t understand how people who profess to love powerful, intelligent alpha men have fallen for a 5’ 6” heel wearing manlette that speaks like Kermit and a grown man that wears makeup and speaks like he had a stroke. Make it make sense.
- Texas Education Agency furiously scribbling "DESANTIS WOKE" into textbooks

At the end of the day Florida is guaranteed 2 seats in the senate and due to their size it will be a long while before momentum moves to the point where their house numbers are low.
Republicans want this. They want people of opposing political beliefs to leave their state en mass. Lets not forget that up until recent conservative craziness florida was known as being the most infamous swingstate.
I dont blame people for leaving from an area where their kids will be more poorly educated, where local infrastructure is decentralized highway centric HOA built community hell, and where they may be actively persecuted. It's what the republicans want though.

As an Aussie, I'd never go there..I don't want to get shot and then someone claim they were standing their ground or whatever. As I have no problem with foreigners, lgbt people and I hate guns, why would I go?
As far as we know, it feels like I'd be stepping into kkk/nazi territory. I can go Europe instead where people are super chill
- Uh, yeah, none of that is going to happen to you. Go where you want, but comparing FL to Nazi territory is so ridiculous.
  
  Your governer (combined with Trump) is already following many of the tactics the Nazi's used (banning books, using dangerous language like "woke", etc).. This time though, its not against the Jews, it's against Trans people. Our government warns against it: https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/americas/united-states-america and I literally watched on Sky news, as Trump was setting things up for violence (it was SO obvious to anyone months in advance, and I literally worked it out within 5 mins of watching Sky news where it was headed.. I am not a smart guy...)
  And a lot of this nonsense is spilling over to Australia.
  I have no interest in going somewhere like that.. I can go elsewhere in the US, or Europe. I've got a trans friend and plenty of gay friends (but I'm totally straight myself). I probably have even more I'm not even aware of. Desantis isn't getting a dollar from me.
  What benefits does Florida have over other places? Why would I visit? I can go elsewhere without the bigotry, people carrying guns everywhere, etc.
  It's true not everyone in Florida is racist, but, if I'm on holiday, why go somewhere I'm dealing with all of that? Why go somewhere where school kids get shot? Why not go somewhere more positive
  In fact ironically, I didn't think much of Disney, until they fought back against Desantis. Now I'm happy they exist..
  
  I don't know man, it's getting there. The same could be said for Texas.
  
  They're literally imprisoning people for trying to find a place to pee. At what point are the red flags enough? Literal death camps?
  
  @OceanSoap @Auzy
  I'm concerned about the malaria and now lepercy spreading let alone the hostile environment to basic freedoms in FL.

Ron #DeSantis is a #fascist.

Might I add that this month CDC issued a letter that leprosy may be endemic to Florida now.
And back in June there were cases of locally acquired Malaria. FYI, U.S. malaria cases are typically acquired from international travel.
I don't have much hope with respect to Florida's Public Health, with DeSantis appointing the state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo who has cherry picked science research to push an agenda, wholly ignoring what the research actually concluded.

I skipped the Agile2023 conference last month because they chose Florida for some reason.

Their woke agenda and woke books, and woke teachers and woke doctors and woke postmen and woke Santa Claus and woke... FFS stfu you fascist pig
- Yo, listen up, here's the story About a little guy that lives in a woke world And all day and all night and everything he sees is just woke Like him, inside and outside Woke his house with a woke little window And a woke Corvette and everything is woke for him And himself and everybody around 'Cause he ain't got nobody to listen (To listen, to listen, to listen)
- Earlier today, I heard someone refer to the Star Wars sequel trilogy as "woke." I'm still scratching my head.
  
  Of course. There were women jedi, that's not right.

Obvious consequence of alienating half the country.

DeSantis will forever be remembered as "that woke guy from Florida" lmao
He kinda attached himself to that word now. At least, that's the only thing I remember form his campaign; "WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE"

And what the hell does woke mean anyway?
- Fortunately for everyone, they had to define "woke" during a court case.
  DeSantis' general counsel, Ryan Newman, responded that the term means "the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them."
  So there we have it. Recognizing the flaws in the justice system is woke.
  
  If they actually have that level of self-awareness, which I doubt they all do, then we should just reclaim the term. As in, “Yeah, I’m woke. Fuck you”.
  
  That's what it used to mean until DeSantis and his ilk intentionally abused the term to mean anything they don't like from the left.
  Remember this? https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2023/03/16/anti-woke-author-who-cant-define-woke-goes-viral/
  
  For all their faults lawyers tend to speak the truth when they get into court. The risk of losing their profession is all too real.
- It means that you're aware of the social and racial issues that exist in America and the world. So to be anti-woke means to be willingly ignorant.
- Everytime I see or hear "woke" I mentally replace it with compassion/ate to get a true gauge of what the speaker really feels.
  
  I remember the time they called it woke to learn empathy for others in school.
  They truly are the "fick you, i got mine" generation.
- Something about "cultural Marxists" sapping and impurifying our precious bodily fluids
- I read Ryan Newman’s definition and was all, “yup. I’m woke, baybeeeee.”
  Edit: replied to the wrong post, sorry
- They mean left

Yea I'm not traveling to or spending any money in any of these fascist states if I can help it

I wouldn't go to Texas either. Fuck that noise.

My family wants to do our first-ever Disney trip, but we’re boycotting Florida for the foreseeable future, and it’s 100% on their government. We look *at a trip to FL like vacationing in Berlin circa 1933 right now.
- Go to Disneyland in Cali instead. It's great.
  
  Love the idea, but that’s a 6 hour flight, where FL is only 2, and I’m not ready to fly with twin Kindergarteners :)
  I’ll wait.
- Same here. Looking into Anaheim instead.

Go fasch, no cash

I had planned a WDW vacation before COVID scuttled those plans. Now that it's safe to travel again, I have no plans to visit Florida for any reason whatsoever for the foreseeable future. Still taking the family on that vacation; we're just doing it in California instead.

I grew up here, have family here and have built a life here. It really is awful how much the state is being destroyed, so much has changed since 2016, it is unreal.
The propaganda has been incredibly effective here, and it is absolutely disheartening.

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: ::: spoiler Click here to see the summary His anti-“woke” message is prompting organizations and corporations to cancel conventions and other events that are an essential part of Florida’s vital hospitality economy.
The NAACP issued a travel advisory in May warning that the Sunshine State has come to be seen as “openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals” under DeSantis.
Its statement was followed by similar warnings from the League of United Latin American Citizens and Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group, advising about extreme policies that travelers from some communities might view as hostile.
Tony Pals, spokesperson for the group, in an email to CNN, explained that the organization would not hold a conference or event in a state such as Florida that has enacted anti-trans laws.
As CNN reported Sunday, Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of the Visit Lauderdale tourism marketing agency, noted that 10 events and conventions were canceled by organizations “citing recently enacted laws, policies and travel advisories.”
The consequences for North Carolina meant millions in estimated lost revenue, especially after the 2017 NBA All-Star Game and NCAA championships were moved from the state. :::

- Aleksandr Dugin dancing with joy: “It worked, Vlad, it worked! It actually worked!”

Man I never wanna leave the west coast... Let alone go to Florida
- …said everyone ever, and now the rent is ridiculously high.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/01/health/leprosy-central-florida/index.html
Central florida is now a hotbed for leprosy too.

DeSantis will forever be remembered as "that woke guy from Florida" lmao
He kinda attached himself to that word now. At least, that's the only thing I remember form his campaign; "WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE"
- I think of him as the dumbass fascist who declared war on an adjective. W said a lot of really dumb shit but he at least had the grammatical sense to declare war on a noun.

I'm sure Disney must be happy they let Ron win in 2022.
- Disney decides political outcomes now?

As a Floridian, please don't come. We make most of our money off of tourism, hospitality, and healthcare services. Go somewhere else, let this state die.

I've honestly stopped eating oranges entirely.