Robert, Floridians are fighting back against many of DeSantis’ unconstitutional legislation including a large group trying to get a initiative on the ballot in 2024 to reverse the 6 week ban on abortion. But we need your help to raise the funds required to pay the unreasonable costs required by the State. Perhaps you can let the world know about our effort. I am hoping people who read this newsletter and comments can help. Please go to www.FloridiansProtectingFreedom.com to donate any amount. And this is an emergency (haven’t been able to get your attention yet) because the funds are needed by May 30. Thanks for your help!
Robert, I hope the Biden campaign reads your newsletters. You should be their speechwriter, though we would miss you! Your take on DeSantis is spot on. He is a misfiring buffoon, but one with enough power that he has already wrecked carnage in Florida and will do so to the USA at large if elected. Times have never been more serious. Thank you for helping us pay attention, and for inspiring us to remain committed to ensuring democracy wins.
May 25, 2023·edited May 25, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
I recommend you rewatch Biden's Inaugural speech, his SOTU, his Philadelphia speech, and his Howard University speech for starters. Personally, I would like to lay the myth to rest that Biden can't give speeches, his speeches are crummy, and the Democrats are meek. None of these are true.
In addition. President Biden does not bluster and bullshit. There was a truly powerful moment in the Oval Office the other day and it was missed. Here is what happened:
Biden and McCarthy were sitting side by side in those straight backed chairs in the Oval Office. Biden spoke his party line on the debt talks. Then McCarthy's turn. While McCarthy was bloviating on and on. Biden had his finger on his lips suppressing a smile and then HE WINKED at the cameras.
And finally. Watch Biden's trolling the DeSantis presidential non-rollout.
I also like Biden’s speeches. And I am always amazed that he was able to overcome a speech impediment and give speeches anyway. Plus his speeches have substance and ideas, not just hot air.
What I am amazed at is that he was gone in a trip that changed time zones and he comes back refreshed and raring to go head-to-head with the Repubs! He’s pretty awesome.
Oh, this wasn’t snark towards President Biden, who I increasingly admire. I was just complimenting Robert, who is such a great writer and so good at playing offence for democracy.
DeSaster! So Little Ron is, and so he will always be. Truth, justice and history are on our side, but only if we work to make it so. I’m going to make a small step in that direction by sending some money to Ohio Democrats.
I loved the fact that the biggest (smallest) white supremacist governor of Florida and the world’s wealthiest man, who entertains fascism, thought Twitter Spaces was going to be the bomb. Bombed by technical difficulties was the result and boy, was that ever hilarious! DeSantis fell right as the gate opened. Quite a snafu for a potential presidential candidate.
Nikki Haley didn’t test the waters before she spoke either. Her buffoonery showed as well. What’s interesting is that here are two unlikely candidates, both from heavily gerrymandered Southern states, highly educated but cannot connect with a crowd of even their own party. And getting back to Ron, he cannot even look at anyone in the eye! He is about as interesting as a piece of rotten wood.
Two very very pathetic and slimy individuals. Trump will step all over them.
Can you imagine the President from the Florida that DeSantis is creating being elected on a national mandate to Make America Florida? That's right out of Brave New World and the Body Snatchers. I can see Californians excited to live like Floridians. I want to thank DeSantis' marketing team for giving the voters fair warning about what he intends to do to America if he is elected. Did you all watch the Martin Sheen character in The Dead Zone?
I know... groan... not too sure I want Trump to step all over them since he's probably the scariest and strongest candidate in the Fascist movement right now.
Your remarks regarding our nation’s magnificent Amanda Gorman reminds me to stay ver angry at the Bushes, whose education policy was designed to keep average people semi-literate. The sad and sorry state we are in can be traced back to Barbara’s spawn.
Just as investors look at a long term chart of stock prices to predict the future we need to look at the trend in GOP policies to show us what we will have in 5, 10 years and beyond. What will our lives be like if we keep going down the road of forced birth, banned books, abundance of unrestricted guns, the government telling parents what medications they can give their children, the criminalizing of gender and sexuality, students reporting on what teachers teach, voter suppression, mocking the climate crisis, mocking common sense community health issues like masks during a pandemic, being entertained by lying politicians, accepting Putin’s lies, separating migrant children from their parents, criminalizing protests, giving tax breaks to the wealthy and taking from the working class, resisting healthcare, being against healthy school lunches, allowing religion in schools......
If this looks dystopian it is also realistic if we continue down this road. It is time to think of the Robert Frost poem about standing where two roads meet and needing to choose. Where will we end up and where will our children live?
To answer your closing rhetorical question, it seems we're in a yellow wood, discolored by what's trickling down from your very apt description of today's GOP and what it's doing to our democracy.
Her poetry is beautiful and she was so beautiful reading it at the inauguration. I keep saying these 3 words- I CAN'T BELIEVE’ but I can’t believe ONE person in Florida has the power to have a wonderful piece of prose removed from a library. For f’s sake.
A total of 11 parents are responsible for getting books banned or "reshelved" in Florida. This parent, an immigrant from Cuba, has been named and claims she never read the whole poem (never read in full any of the other books she complained about); and the problem is English is her second language.
Same reason she posted The Protocols of the Elders of Zion on her FB page--and she's not an antisemite because she has Jewish friends.
Right on as always- it helped greatly to know 1) the next check goes to Ohio and 2) the lack of connection in New Hampshire reinforces my belief that our foundation is much deeper than we sometimes think these days. Let’s leave the doubt behind and move on ! And keep reminding us to follow the path of “we the people “ with even more confidence! THANKS!!
I wrote an instagram post with a copy of concluding thoughts about Hayley and urged anyone who does not subscribe to do so. Don’t like weekends at night miss this wonderful newsletter. Thank u to my lovely and brilliant sister-in-law for introducing me to you Mr.Hubbell.Read you every night you write over many years. Love u
Although I did not (and never would!) watch De-Hypocrite's campaign launch on Twitter, I did note on all the news media's coverage of that his speech preached freedom for America, but he is the one who signs the most freedom-restrictive laws for Florida . . . laws restricting freedom in education, freedom of choice, and freedom to live and love whomever one chooses.
Also it's ironic he chooses a "Free Speech Absolutist" platform who is hosted by someone who doesn't let their workers unionize, takes down meme / parody accounts, and whenever authoritarian governments want something taken down in the name of censorship he complies. The only Moral Free Speech is the speech they want to hear, hypocritical as usual.
As I read Today’s Edition a thought came to my mind that as Nikki Haley made an inappropriate joke and no one laughed many Republicans legislators are clueless about the impact their legislation is having on the lives of millions of Americans. John Roberts as an example doesn’t get that a vast number of Americans don’t trust or believe the Supreme Court is fair and unbiased and not influenced by politics. The Republican appointed justices should be made to sit and listen to the horror stories of woman who medically require an abortion and how their lives have been put into jeopardy because doctors and hospitals are scared they might break the law. When Republican House members want to hold the debt ceiling increase “ hostage “ without any idea of the headship it will cause individuals and their families then yes the entire Republican Party needs a reality awaking and that begins now.
Amen! Chief Justice said the hardest thing, in his 18 years on the bench, he has ever done was having to put a fence around their building. What?? It wasn’t about him helping to overturn Roe vs. Wade or agonizing with families about the death penalty?! These Repub Justices are clueless to public opinion because Roberts has created a nice little bubble for them. Our only hope for real honesty and fairness in this climate is to expand the Court. The “kings and 1 queen” must be brought down a few notches. We can thank the heartless Mitch McConnell and the conniving Leonard Leo for poisoning our nation.
I think we all need to be reminded of the ultra privileged background the “elite” come from. They are basically walled off from the rest of humanity. It would be sad if it weren’t so horrifying.
Chief Justice John Roberts will be remembered for handing a Republican the Presidency, for opening the spigot of dark money for campaigns, for overturning Roe v Wade, for refusing any ethics or accountability for bribes to find their way into the hands of the justices--including his own--and for turning the SCOTUS into a gated community. Quite a legacy--and he's not done yet.
You're giving them an out. John Roberts is not stupid, he's got his own skeletons (his wife amongst many others) and he doesn't want his hood looked under. I've seen him speak live several times, he's extremely smart and calculating.
Regarding the pro-60% push for constitutional amendments. Florida is already at 60% and GOP pushed for 66.7 % this year. Fortunately the bill died in Committee.
DeSantis avoids the A word like the plague. Unfortunately the NYT article failed to mention that exceptions for rape or incest are only until until 15 weeks. Local Repubs claim adoption is the “humane compromise “ for victims of rape and incest. NO ! We do not want to make America Florida !
It isn't necessarily unreasonable to have a 60% threshold for amending a Constitution. But it needs to be consistent and applicable to both the legislature and the people. In California, the lower thresh hold allows dark money to amend the CA constitution every two years. It is a mess. The problem in Ohio is that Republicans are changing the rules that have been in place for a century because they believe that Ohio citizens will use the existing rules to protect reproductive liberty.
Oppression it seems such an easy tool and it works for quite a while. I am so thankful for all who are brave enough to stand up against these evil forces who are only seeking power for themselves. Narcissists, all of them. We live in dangerous times. Unite to save our liberty and justice!
It isn't easy speaking truth to power. If you're small and unknown, they ignore you until you push on them, and then they snap at you. If you're more influential, then they ignore you in order to exhaust your efforts. In large groups, you can get something done. But if you are a single voice, you have to hope to be guided to the very kindest people.
Is America ever going to get to the place where we stop allowing an extremist minority to trample on the rights and lives of the rest of us?Think debt ceiling disaster, abortion bans, refusal to pay gun regulations, the Senate filibuster, etc.
I, originally a "Kansas Girl" but a Florida resident for the last 53 years, come with some happy news! Our dear Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has invited Amanda Gorman to come to Miami to read her poem to us! Did I mention Daniella is a Dem? She will be seeking her second term here as county mayor. I will proudly and gratefully support her! Please do not write off Florida completely. There actually are "pockets" of sanity; just need more of them!
Robert, Floridians are fighting back against many of DeSantis’ unconstitutional legislation including a large group trying to get a initiative on the ballot in 2024 to reverse the 6 week ban on abortion. But we need your help to raise the funds required to pay the unreasonable costs required by the State. Perhaps you can let the world know about our effort. I am hoping people who read this newsletter and comments can help. Please go to www.FloridiansProtectingFreedom.com to donate any amount. And this is an emergency (haven’t been able to get your attention yet) because the funds are needed by May 30. Thanks for your help!
Thanks! Pinning to the top for others to see.
Thanks to all who can help!
Donated!!!
Robert, I hope the Biden campaign reads your newsletters. You should be their speechwriter, though we would miss you! Your take on DeSantis is spot on. He is a misfiring buffoon, but one with enough power that he has already wrecked carnage in Florida and will do so to the USA at large if elected. Times have never been more serious. Thank you for helping us pay attention, and for inspiring us to remain committed to ensuring democracy wins.
I recommend you rewatch Biden's Inaugural speech, his SOTU, his Philadelphia speech, and his Howard University speech for starters. Personally, I would like to lay the myth to rest that Biden can't give speeches, his speeches are crummy, and the Democrats are meek. None of these are true.
In addition. President Biden does not bluster and bullshit. There was a truly powerful moment in the Oval Office the other day and it was missed. Here is what happened:
Biden and McCarthy were sitting side by side in those straight backed chairs in the Oval Office. Biden spoke his party line on the debt talks. Then McCarthy's turn. While McCarthy was bloviating on and on. Biden had his finger on his lips suppressing a smile and then HE WINKED at the cameras.
And finally. Watch Biden's trolling the DeSantis presidential non-rollout.
I also like Biden’s speeches. And I am always amazed that he was able to overcome a speech impediment and give speeches anyway. Plus his speeches have substance and ideas, not just hot air.
What I am amazed at is that he was gone in a trip that changed time zones and he comes back refreshed and raring to go head-to-head with the Repubs! He’s pretty awesome.
Oh, this wasn’t snark towards President Biden, who I increasingly admire. I was just complimenting Robert, who is such a great writer and so good at playing offence for democracy.
"Robert, I hope the Biden campaign reads your newsletters. You should be their speechwriter..." from PS
DeSaster! So Little Ron is, and so he will always be. Truth, justice and history are on our side, but only if we work to make it so. I’m going to make a small step in that direction by sending some money to Ohio Democrats.
I loved the fact that the biggest (smallest) white supremacist governor of Florida and the world’s wealthiest man, who entertains fascism, thought Twitter Spaces was going to be the bomb. Bombed by technical difficulties was the result and boy, was that ever hilarious! DeSantis fell right as the gate opened. Quite a snafu for a potential presidential candidate.
Nikki Haley didn’t test the waters before she spoke either. Her buffoonery showed as well. What’s interesting is that here are two unlikely candidates, both from heavily gerrymandered Southern states, highly educated but cannot connect with a crowd of even their own party. And getting back to Ron, he cannot even look at anyone in the eye! He is about as interesting as a piece of rotten wood.
Two very very pathetic and slimy individuals. Trump will step all over them.
Can you imagine the President from the Florida that DeSantis is creating being elected on a national mandate to Make America Florida? That's right out of Brave New World and the Body Snatchers. I can see Californians excited to live like Floridians. I want to thank DeSantis' marketing team for giving the voters fair warning about what he intends to do to America if he is elected. Did you all watch the Martin Sheen character in The Dead Zone?
I don’t care about Trump stepping all over them. I just want to work t make sure they are all gone.
I know... groan... not too sure I want Trump to step all over them since he's probably the scariest and strongest candidate in the Fascist movement right now.
The ‘littlest Hitler’ in platform shoes
“… highly educated …”: No, it’s highly *credentialed*.
Note the distinction: Being highly credentialed doesn’t guarantee that one is highly *educated*.
Your remarks regarding our nation’s magnificent Amanda Gorman reminds me to stay ver angry at the Bushes, whose education policy was designed to keep average people semi-literate. The sad and sorry state we are in can be traced back to Barbara’s spawn.
Just as investors look at a long term chart of stock prices to predict the future we need to look at the trend in GOP policies to show us what we will have in 5, 10 years and beyond. What will our lives be like if we keep going down the road of forced birth, banned books, abundance of unrestricted guns, the government telling parents what medications they can give their children, the criminalizing of gender and sexuality, students reporting on what teachers teach, voter suppression, mocking the climate crisis, mocking common sense community health issues like masks during a pandemic, being entertained by lying politicians, accepting Putin’s lies, separating migrant children from their parents, criminalizing protests, giving tax breaks to the wealthy and taking from the working class, resisting healthcare, being against healthy school lunches, allowing religion in schools......
If this looks dystopian it is also realistic if we continue down this road. It is time to think of the Robert Frost poem about standing where two roads meet and needing to choose. Where will we end up and where will our children live?
Time to look back at history with Hitler, Mussolini,Stalin, et al. We haven’t learned anything from our mistakes. Sadly.
To answer your closing rhetorical question, it seems we're in a yellow wood, discolored by what's trickling down from your very apt description of today's GOP and what it's doing to our democracy.
You painted a perfect picture of roe by ignorance and fear.
Hear, hear!
Amanda Gorman's poetry is wonderful. Perhaps, there is still a possibility for a better, kinder, safer world.
Her poetry is beautiful and she was so beautiful reading it at the inauguration. I keep saying these 3 words- I CAN'T BELIEVE’ but I can’t believe ONE person in Florida has the power to have a wonderful piece of prose removed from a library. For f’s sake.
A total of 11 parents are responsible for getting books banned or "reshelved" in Florida. This parent, an immigrant from Cuba, has been named and claims she never read the whole poem (never read in full any of the other books she complained about); and the problem is English is her second language.
Same reason she posted The Protocols of the Elders of Zion on her FB page--and she's not an antisemite because she has Jewish friends.
Right on as always- it helped greatly to know 1) the next check goes to Ohio and 2) the lack of connection in New Hampshire reinforces my belief that our foundation is much deeper than we sometimes think these days. Let’s leave the doubt behind and move on ! And keep reminding us to follow the path of “we the people “ with even more confidence! THANKS!!
Good call!
I wrote an instagram post with a copy of concluding thoughts about Hayley and urged anyone who does not subscribe to do so. Don’t like weekends at night miss this wonderful newsletter. Thank u to my lovely and brilliant sister-in-law for introducing me to you Mr.Hubbell.Read you every night you write over many years. Love u
Although I did not (and never would!) watch De-Hypocrite's campaign launch on Twitter, I did note on all the news media's coverage of that his speech preached freedom for America, but he is the one who signs the most freedom-restrictive laws for Florida . . . laws restricting freedom in education, freedom of choice, and freedom to live and love whomever one chooses.
Also it's ironic he chooses a "Free Speech Absolutist" platform who is hosted by someone who doesn't let their workers unionize, takes down meme / parody accounts, and whenever authoritarian governments want something taken down in the name of censorship he complies. The only Moral Free Speech is the speech they want to hear, hypocritical as usual.
Exactly.
As I read Today’s Edition a thought came to my mind that as Nikki Haley made an inappropriate joke and no one laughed many Republicans legislators are clueless about the impact their legislation is having on the lives of millions of Americans. John Roberts as an example doesn’t get that a vast number of Americans don’t trust or believe the Supreme Court is fair and unbiased and not influenced by politics. The Republican appointed justices should be made to sit and listen to the horror stories of woman who medically require an abortion and how their lives have been put into jeopardy because doctors and hospitals are scared they might break the law. When Republican House members want to hold the debt ceiling increase “ hostage “ without any idea of the headship it will cause individuals and their families then yes the entire Republican Party needs a reality awaking and that begins now.
Amen! Chief Justice said the hardest thing, in his 18 years on the bench, he has ever done was having to put a fence around their building. What?? It wasn’t about him helping to overturn Roe vs. Wade or agonizing with families about the death penalty?! These Repub Justices are clueless to public opinion because Roberts has created a nice little bubble for them. Our only hope for real honesty and fairness in this climate is to expand the Court. The “kings and 1 queen” must be brought down a few notches. We can thank the heartless Mitch McConnell and the conniving Leonard Leo for poisoning our nation.
I think we all need to be reminded of the ultra privileged background the “elite” come from. They are basically walled off from the rest of humanity. It would be sad if it weren’t so horrifying.
Chief Justice John Roberts will be remembered for handing a Republican the Presidency, for opening the spigot of dark money for campaigns, for overturning Roe v Wade, for refusing any ethics or accountability for bribes to find their way into the hands of the justices--including his own--and for turning the SCOTUS into a gated community. Quite a legacy--and he's not done yet.
You're giving them an out. John Roberts is not stupid, he's got his own skeletons (his wife amongst many others) and he doesn't want his hood looked under. I've seen him speak live several times, he's extremely smart and calculating.
It does indeed and on so many levels.
Regarding the pro-60% push for constitutional amendments. Florida is already at 60% and GOP pushed for 66.7 % this year. Fortunately the bill died in Committee.
DeSantis avoids the A word like the plague. Unfortunately the NYT article failed to mention that exceptions for rape or incest are only until until 15 weeks. Local Repubs claim adoption is the “humane compromise “ for victims of rape and incest. NO ! We do not want to make America Florida !
It isn't necessarily unreasonable to have a 60% threshold for amending a Constitution. But it needs to be consistent and applicable to both the legislature and the people. In California, the lower thresh hold allows dark money to amend the CA constitution every two years. It is a mess. The problem in Ohio is that Republicans are changing the rules that have been in place for a century because they believe that Ohio citizens will use the existing rules to protect reproductive liberty.
I’m adopted and I had great parents. But the thought of forcing a woman to bear a child regardless is as abhorrent as it is wrong.
Same here. Susan. My mom, who adopted four children, was also pro-choice.
Thanks for letting the readers know that we already have a 60% threshold. I’m sure the 66.7% will be resurrected ext year.
Oppression it seems such an easy tool and it works for quite a while. I am so thankful for all who are brave enough to stand up against these evil forces who are only seeking power for themselves. Narcissists, all of them. We live in dangerous times. Unite to save our liberty and justice!
It isn't easy speaking truth to power. If you're small and unknown, they ignore you until you push on them, and then they snap at you. If you're more influential, then they ignore you in order to exhaust your efforts. In large groups, you can get something done. But if you are a single voice, you have to hope to be guided to the very kindest people.
You can almost feel the anger and the viciousness of all they say and do.
Is America ever going to get to the place where we stop allowing an extremist minority to trample on the rights and lives of the rest of us?Think debt ceiling disaster, abortion bans, refusal to pay gun regulations, the Senate filibuster, etc.
Let’s make it happen.
There is hope in the incompetence of the GOP.
Rather offset by the concern about the incompetence of the Dems to communicate effectively.
Yes, unfortunately – and it should be a major worry.
I, originally a "Kansas Girl" but a Florida resident for the last 53 years, come with some happy news! Our dear Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has invited Amanda Gorman to come to Miami to read her poem to us! Did I mention Daniella is a Dem? She will be seeking her second term here as county mayor. I will proudly and gratefully support her! Please do not write off Florida completely. There actually are "pockets" of sanity; just need more of them!