The Florida Miracle continues

With all that money I wish florida would get rid of their toll roads. They don't have people taking your toll, they mail you a bill. If you're a snowbird you'll be late paying the toll. This is my main complaint about florida.

That's it Rick, keep drinking the cool-aid as you lose your basic freedoms.

If DeSantis runs for president in the next election, I'll vote for him. A nice follow-up to Trump.

===> "That's it Rick, keep drinking the cool-aid as you lose your basic freedoms." . Which freedoms would those be? The right to bear arms? The right to choose where my kids go to school and what they're exposed to? The right for my girls to be safe in their locker rooms and on their college campuses? The right to operate a car without having to jump through endless expensive and time consuming hoops for the state to let me keep it on the road? The freedom to spend my money as I see fit because it isn't being confiscated by the state government? Heck here in Florida we're even free to shoot off commercial grade fireworks during certain holidays. They call this the Free State of Florida for a reason. . So which freedoms were you talking about?

According to the NEA Florida teachers are ranked 49th in the country for average salary. What good is a menial raise?

Florida does not have a state income tax because most of their residents don't have a living wage.

^ Like I said golden, nothing's perfect. Florida also ranked 16th in the nation in starting teacher salaries, which has done a lot to attract new talent. But they continue to work to get the numbers up for long time teachers. Many of the Florida counties are still very rural, which doesn't help the numbers as those school districts just don't have as much money. . But your other comment was downright stupid. There is no place harder to live in this country than CA and NY, which is why the home ownership rates are so low. In FL it's 67%, while in NY its 54% and 56% in CA. That's what happens in places that bleed their citizens dry.

How is it that libs like @alfredo_darke cannot see.that Biden and the democrats party stole their freedoms and the GOP is preserving them? Biden and the dems forced you to take a dangerous vaccine, weaponized intelligence agencies to attack his rivals, label PTA parents as domestic terrorists, suppress the truth about incriminating laptops/COVID/the border crisis, force people to forsake faith and science to appease pronoun lunatics, take privacy away from women and girls, etc. What freedoms have you lost to the GOP? The freedom to use murder as birth control? I actually support abortion as a means to reduce the excess population, but I enjoy watching libs in crisis more. The freedom for illegal aliens to take your tax benefits and squat in your neighbors' empty home? The legacy media watchers are really the ones being poisoned by their dear leaders. The truly woke vote MAGA. It's a brave new world.

I watch the video of Democrats in Cincinnati sucker punching a woman and kicking unconscious people in the head and I think that Democrats are the people Orwell warned us about.

===> "Higher crime rate and property taxes than California." . You might want to check your crime stats again dipshit. en.wikipedia.org . As far as property taxes, that doesn't remotely make up for punishing state income taxes, sky high fuel prices, the highest electricity prices in the country and the myriad other ways California punishes its citizens.

Is there a link on Florida teacher salaries? Because if there is something that happened, then those changes would have had to have been really recent. worldpopulationreview.com

I’m not really a fan of the idea of blindly giving out vouchers with no strings attached for private schools. It just means they can jack up their tuition money, and not much has changed. And it’s ridiculous for state education agencies to slam hard on school districts with nitpicky stuff but have no accountability in place elsewhere.

I believe it’s a cool concept for those who want to homeschool though. I know there was some controversy in Arizona because a few oddballs were trying to use the funds for things like bounce houses, but otherwise I do believe most parents are in a better place to give individual instruction than a large classroom setting if they want to put in the effort.

Rick - The right to be Hispanic and not be kidnapped by ICE and sent to a jail or foreign country without a hearing or charges. The right to protest without the same happening to you. Freedom of the press - Trump is extorting news media to silence the press. But all your white ass cares about is your bloody guns.

"How is it that libs like @alfredo_darke cannot see.that Biden and the democrats party stole their freedoms and the GOP is preserving them?" That is so fucked up it's beyond belief. What freedom is the GOP preserving? locking up people without charges and calling it "Alligator Alcatraz" like that's funny? More Alligator Auschwitz. You're delusional.

@Nice: The newest increase was just passed. flgov.com . It may not be a lot, but it's part of an ongoing effort to get the money up for veteran teachers. As I discussed above, new teacher salaries are already much more competitive now, which has eased a lot of strain on the FL school system. . Tbh though I am a huge fan of giving out vouchers. Why should the money automatically belong to the public school to which the kid is zoned? What kind of "accountability" do the vast number of failing schools in many of our largest school district currently have? Vouchers are the ultimate form of accountability because parents can vote with their feet if a school is failing and give their kids a brighter future in the process. . I can say this as a beneficiary of this new program. One of my kids wanted to go to a school which specializes in a certain discipline. The money is now following her now, which has definitely eased the tuition burden. Now I could have swung the tuition either way, but what about a parent who couldn't? Why should that parent not be able to maximize their child's educational opportunities, especially if the local school is substandard at best?
. Why should a top notch education only be available to those zoned in affluent school districts or able to afford private tuition? School vouchers are the great equalizer, allowing gifted kids from impoverished backgrounds the chance to maximize their futures.

I liked Florida better when I moved here in 1987, growth and congestion has continued unabated, seems to me that all of our problems come from Florida’s government selling every inch of this state, even areas that were not supposed to be built on have been built and the vast majority of our new construction has been debilitating to the state, creating crisis after crisis. The majority of destruction has been allowed starting with Rick Scott’s stewardship continuing through DeSantis’s administration. These people are hell bent on extracting every drop of profits and have sold our state to the giant developers.

@Alfredo: Does the press look "silenced" to you? You can't turn to MSNBC or CNN or countless other media outlets without reading constant negative spin about Trump. Are you one of those hyper-emotional drama queens who interprets any push back on dubious press coverage as a grave attack? How fucking stupid are you? . As far as immigration enforcement, WTF does that have to do with Florida state politics? In case you don't understand this, immigration is a federal matter, not a state issue. And why would immigration enforcement impact my freedoms in any way? I am a U.S. citizen, lol. . I mean seriously dude, that was it?

hechingerreport.org ^ Whether a school is a university, or an elementary school, apparently if you just hand them money and don’t put additional rules otherwise, then they will just gleefully jack up tuition without a care. And that doesn’t ease the burden on anything.

I was actually considering opening up my own Microschool one day, so I have nothing against vouchers. But if I were to do that, then I could take the money and spend however I please and wouldn’t have to report anything—unlike a school board.

The comparison on home ownership rates isn't a good metric, at least not to New York. First off, Florida is famously full of old people, who are obviously going to have higher rates of home ownership due to their life stage. In terms of home ownership it isn't apples to big apples when comparing to New York. 42% of New York state residents live in NYC. Long term rental is the expectation for many there. They want the amenities of the city, and don't want to deal with doing their own dry wall repairs or mowing the freaking lawn. It simply isn't the aspirational value in NYC that it is in some other parts of the country, and hence its not a useful stat to measure quality of life.

On the other hand, Florida's cost of living is very low compared to CA or NY, but that is also due to the relatively bad economy.

Man, I haven't heard the words "Miracle" and "schlong" mentioned together since the last time I got a lap dance...

That's all my time folks. You've been a great crowd...

mic drop

@Nice: I'm not surprised that some (though not all) schools in AZ used vouchers as an opportunity to increase rates, though not by anywhere near the full voucher amount I'm sure. I'm also sure that plenty of affluent families would have paid out of pocket anyway. . But none of that negates the real opportunities that this provides to children in failing schools. Or those who have specialized talents but previously lacked the means to pursue them. . The article also did not address the sliding income scale tuition rates that many private schools offer to kids in need. The problem is that many of these schools could only accept a small number of needy kids because of the fiscal realities of running a school. This voucher program allows these schools the accept many more of these children than they otherwise could have. . Here in Florida, Catholic school attendance in particular has jumped since these vouchers kicked in. Catholic schools have long been the place where kids in failing school systems could turn to for a quality education in a safe environment, but they could only accept so many for financial reasons.
. Here in FL these vouchers have been a real game changer.

Regarding the Catholic school data, the numbers are out there. Many of these kids are coming from the worst school districts in Florida. . nextstepsblog.org .

Any claims about ICE agents arresting and deporting lawful citizens is a lie. There is not a shred of truth to that seditious lie. These are hard-working men and women protecting us from criminals who invaded our country illegally or criminally lied on their visa/residency/asylum requests. Period. Full stop. Fuck off if you can't handle the truth.

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===> "The comparison on home ownership rates isn't a good metric, at least not to New York." . I disagree. Home ownership is often the most important way that Americans get off the rental hamster wheel and build lasting wealth. It is an extremely important metric both from quality of life and long-term financial security measures. . Oh, and your comment about the Florida economy was ludicrous. Florida has a very robust economy with low unemployment.

This is what happens in a state that prioritizes common sense governance and personal freedom over feel good nonsense. When the next real economic and market downturns hit, the Governors of both NY and CA are going to on their knees sucking Presidential cock while begging for yet more gargantuan bailouts. Maybe IL too the way things are going with those massive unfunded pensions.

^ Dont worry Rick, we’re just one major hurricane away from sucking on a presidential dick ourselves, not to mention we are causing our own flooding problems by building in areas that we paid to keep unpaved like the Ag Reserve, and I’m hearing about more homeowners who are going uninsured, just wait and watch, you’re a real newcomer to the Free State of Floriduh, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows any more.

Enid Oklahoma, is preferable to living in Florida, although I vacation there all the time.

^ why is that?

As far as immigration enforcement, WTF does that have to do with Florida state politics? In case you don't understand this, immigration is a federal matter, not a state issue. <<<

Couldn’t agree more about immigration being a federal matter, so explain why DeSantis needs to get involved with immigration enforcement, and why the fuck should the state of Florida be building holding facilities for ICE.

Illegal immigration may be a national issue, but it still has profound impact on states. In at least several cases, state LE has initial contact with criminals. Makes sense for state LE to work as a team with federal authorities to supplement the federal enforcement.

I’m not talking about LE cooperating with ICE, I’m talking about the bullshit DeSantis pulled sending an airplane to take illegal imigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, and his hiring busses and relocating immigrants to NYC, why the fuck is this mini me Trump wanna be, the Governor of Florida using my tax dollars to fund his political campaigns.

Baristafan actually made a good point, but it probably was lost in his cacophony of spam. 25 is a truly awful person. Fighting back against his bullying and bullshit can bring out the worst in others. We shouldn't allow him to drag us down to his level. We are better than him; he is simply not worth it.

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25 is a truly awful person. Fighting back against his bullying and bullshit can bring out the worst in others. We shouldn't allow him to drag us down to his level. We are better than him; he is simply not worth it.

^im not seeing any comments from baristafan on this thread

—>“^im not seeing any comments from baristafan on this thread”

That is very true! If one wants to make a thread about the greatness of Florida, one other point that can be made is that Florida is not only geographically on opposite ends of the continuous 48 states from Washington, but this thread has also somehow kept the Seattle dancer doxxing dipshits away.

Go Florida!

@gammanu95

@25 As someone in the northeast, I don't mind so much that they sent busses and planes of immigrants of other states. The whole country should do its part here. I do object to the stunt aspect of the vineyard flight where they didn't provide enough warning to move supplies onto the island.

@blahblahblah It's got nothing to do with running the state of Florida, that flight he sent to Martha's Vineyard, were all from El Paso,Texas, Mr DeSantis has been using money from the state of Florida, to fund his personal adventures, and that is none of his business, policies enacted by other states are none of his business, as governor. Same as the busses, our governor, does not have any business using state funds, to raise his national personal profile, and I guarantee you this stunt had no basis in policy.

I am glad, Rick, that you like the state you live in, and how it is run. Good for you.

I'm in Oregon, love living here, prefer the climate, rivers, lakes, and ocean. And for the most part how it's run. Not perfect of course, but nowhere is. About to go on vacation and enjoy some of the above. Especially the naked swimming with my lass in a sweet secluded river.