Florida Lawmakers Vote to End Disney’s Tax Privilege, Self-Governing Status

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Florida’s Republican-led Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that would eliminate the Walt Disney Company’s special tax district that has allowed the company to self-govern its land.

The Florida House is also expected to vote in favor of the legislation after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that lawmakers will be “considering termination of all special districts that were announced in Florida prior to 1968 — and that includes the Reedy Creek Improvement District.”

The special tax district allows Disney wide-ranging autonomy, including over local police and fire departments on the land where its theme park sits in Orlando. It currently saves the company tens of millions of dollars a year in exemptions from various regulations, taxes and fees, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the company’s finances.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District was created in 1967 in an effort to “support and administer” various aspects of “economic development and tourism within District boundaries.” (Read more from “Florida Lawmakers Vote to End Disney’s Tax Privilege, Self-Governing Status” HERE)

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Secret Service Claims It Has ‘No Records’ of Who Visits Biden in Delaware

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The US Secret Service has dubiously claimed to The Post that it has “no records” of visitors to President Biden’s two Delaware residences and therefore cannot divulge that information in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Biden was at his residences in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach on about one-quarter of all days during his first year in office, but little is known about who stopped by for official meetings or less formal lobbying efforts — such as by members of his family and their associates.

The Post sought more than one year of visitor log records, including for Biden’s first year in office, but Secret Service Freedom of Information Act officer Kevin Tyrrell wrote in a response dated Monday that “[t]he Secret Service FOIA Office searched all Program Offices that were likely to contain potentially responsive records, and no records were located.”

First son Hunter Biden is under criminal investigation for possible tax fraud and unregistered foreign lobbying after routinely seeking business in countries where his father held sway as vice president. The younger Biden worked on some overseas projects with his uncle Jim Biden.

Documents and photos from a laptop that formerly belonged to Hunter Biden indicate that he introduced his dad to business associates from China, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine — including at the vice president’s residence in Washington. (Read more from “Secret Service Claims It Has ‘No Records’ of Who Visits Biden in Delaware” HERE)

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Is Bernie Sanders Running in 2024?

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Sen. Bernie Sanders has not closed the door on a 2024 campaign for the White House, according to a leaked memo.

The Vermont independent, who ran campaigns in the last two cycles and is now 80, “has not ruled out another run for president” in the event President Joe Biden does not seek reelection, according to the memo distributed to allies written by Faiz Shakir, a senior adviser to Sanders.

“In the event of an open 2024 Democratic presidential primary, Sen. Sanders has not ruled out another run for president, so we advise that you answer any questions about 2024 with that in mind,” says the memo, according to a Washington Post report Wednesday.

Sanders spokesman Mike Casca told the news outlet that the assertion in the memo was based on a recent poll. “While it’s frustrating this private memo leaked to the media, the central fact remains true, which is that Sen. Sanders is the most popular officeholder in the country,” Casca said. (Read more from “Is Bernie Sanders Running in 2024?” HERE)

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White House: Legal Defense of Mask Mandate Necessary to Preserve CDC Power

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The White House on Wednesday said President Joe Biden’s administration would continue to defend mask mandates leveled by the Centers for Disease Control, despite airline passengers celebrating a court ruling effectively ending them.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the two-week extension of the mask mandate on planes and public transportation, arguing the CDC “felt they needed that” to examine more data about the coronavirus pandemic.

She said the Justice Department announced its willingness to defend the CDC’s mandate to help preserve the agency’s power over public transportation.

“I mean our focus here was seeing what power we had to preserve what we felt was in the public health interest of the country,” Psaki explained.

She defended the mandate extension as “entirely warranted” and “entirely reasonable.” (Read more from “White House: Legal Defense of Mask Mandate Necessary to Preserve CDC Power” HERE)

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Joe Rogan Slams Current Liberals Who Now ‘Want Censorship,’ ‘People That Are Intolerant To Other People’s Ideas’ And More

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Joe Rogan said that what it means to be a liberal has changed, arguing that the term had come to be all about “people that want censorship,” “people that are intolerant of other people’s ideas,” and more.

During “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on Tuesday, Rogan spoke to his guest MMA fighter Jake Shields, and Rogan definitely sounded like he was unsure exactly what group he belonged in anymore because he said he had identified his whole life as a liberal. He explained that being liberal now means thinking it’s “fine to insult people and to be like really aggressive” to them. It starts at the 1:27:16 minute mark here.

Shields agreed and said the “current liberals have turned really weird.” He explained he doesn’t consider himself “conservative still” but instead independent because he said these “parties they do things” he just can’t associate with.

“They seem a lot more intolerant,” Shields said.

“My parents were hippies,” Rogan explained. “It’s like there’s a difference between what liberal meant then and what it includes now. It includes now people that want military action. It includes now people that want censorship.” (Read more from “Is Bernie Sanders Running in 2024?” HERE)

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Hillary Clinton Moves to Dismiss Trump’s ‘Russiagate’ Lawsuit Against Her

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Hillary Clinton’s lawyers asked a federal court to toss Donald Trump’s “Russiagate” lawsuit against her.

Attorneys for the failed presidential candidate say the suit, which alleges Clinton engaged in “racketeering” and a “conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood” about the former president’s 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia, lacks legal merit in a motion to dismiss filed Wednesday.

“Whatever the utility of Plaintiff’s Complaint as a fundraising tool, a press release, or a list of political grievances, it has no merit as a lawsuit, and should be dismissed with prejudice,” the filing says. “By the complaint’s own telling, these alleged events occurred long ago, and Plaintiff has been aware of his purported injuries for years.”

Clinton’s lawyers contend that she disputes the allegations in the lawsuit but emphasize that even if they were true, Trump’s suit fails to identify a “cognizable legal causes of action.” Clinton’s lawyers maintain that “the statute of limitations on his claims expired long ago” and that the First Amendment protects her campaign’s activities during the election. (Read more from “Hillary Clinton Moves to Dismiss Trump’s ‘Russiagate’ Lawsuit Against Her” HERE)

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Blockbuster Revelations From the Latest Special Counsel Court Filings

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New court filings in a Spygate case solve some long-running mysteries and hint at serious developments.

Late Friday, three new memoranda and a handful of exhibits hit the docket in Special Counsel John Durham’s criminal case against former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. The filings analyzed about a dozen tedious issues concerning what evidence prosecutors may use at trial to prove Sussmann broke the law by lying to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker when he showed Baker information that supposedly indicated Donald Trump had a secret communications channel with the Russia-based Alfa Bank. . .

Two weeks ago, when the wave of pre-trial evidentiary filings began, the special counsel’s office revealed for the first time that the day before Sussmann met with Baker, Sussmann sent this text to Baker’s personal cellphone: “Jim—it’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss. Do you have availability for a short meeting tomorrow? I’m coming on my own—not on behalf of a client or company—want to help the Bureau. Thanks.”

The existence of this text is huge because, as the special counsel stressed in its filing, it shows that “the night before the defendant met with the General Counsel, the defendant conveyed the same lie in writing.” That’s the “same lie” Sussmann then allegedly told Baker in person during their September 19, 2016 meeting, namely that he was not presenting the Alfa Bank-Trump information on behalf of a client.

The text message thus debunked one of the main themes floated by those defending Sussmann: that the special counsel “is bringing a false statement charge based on an oral statement allegedly made five years ago to a single witness that is unrecorded and unobserved by anyone else.” (Read more from “Blockbuster Revelations From the Latest Special Counsel Court Filings” HERE)

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Report: Joe Biden Told Barack Obama He Will Run In 2024 to Defeat Trump

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President Joe Biden reportedly told Barack Obama he will run for reelection in 2024 to defeat Donald Trump.

Despite his low approval rating, Biden believes he is the only Democrat who can defeat Donald Trump if he also decides to run, two sources told the Hill. Biden’s plans to campaign for a second term confirm his previous statements. If Biden does run, he will be in his early 80s, an old age for a tough presidential campaign.

“I believe he thinks he’s the only one who can beat Trump. I don’t think he thinks there’s anyone in the Democratic party who can beat Trump and that’s the biggest factor,” a source familiar with the Biden and Obama conversation said.

“[Biden] wants to run and he’s clearly letting everyone know,” a second source added.

Biden claimed in March of 2021 that he intends to run for reelection, a dilemma that has divided the Democrat Party and engulfed Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. (Read more from “Report: Joe Biden Told Barack Obama He Will Run In 2024 to Defeat Trump” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Ex-School Official Sues School Board Over Anti-Racism Training

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A former assistant principal is suing a Virginia school board, claiming that she was forced out of her job for a “slip of the tongue” during a mandatory “anti-racism” training based on Critical Race Theory.

Emily Mais, who was the assistant principal at Agnor-Hurt Elementary School, accused the school district in a lawsuit filed Thursday of pushing her out in fall 2021 after she mistakenly used the words “colored people” as she railed against the training session.

Though Mais apologized for the “slip of the tongue, ”a teacher’s aide, who is black, verbally attacked her in front of all training attendees, the lawsuit filed in Albemarle County claims.

The aide accused her of “speaking like old racists who told people of color to go to the back of the bus,” the complaint claims.

Following that training, Mais said that multiple colleagues told her that the teacher’s aide and her friends were openly calling her vulgar names at work, including ‘that white racist b—-h” and “that two-faced racist b—-h” (Read more from “Ex-School Official Sues School Board Over Anti-Racism Training” HERE)

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FL Governor Out to Strip Disney’s Special Status Over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he will formally seek to strip the Walt Disney Co. of its self-governing status after it publicly bashed the Sunshine State’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.

DeSantis, seen as a potential front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said lawmakers will be “considering termination of all special districts that were announced in Florida prior to 1968 — and that includes the Reedy Creek Improvement District.”

That arrangement confers wide-ranging autonomy on the state’s largest employer — including control over local police and fire units.

The governor said legislators will discuss discontinuing those privileges at an upcoming special session.

DeSantis clashed with Disney over the recently enacted legislation, which banned instruction related to gender identity or sexual orientation for kids in kindergarten through the third grade. (Read more from “FL Governor Out to Strip Disney’s Special Status Over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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