August 25th :
Lil Trumpy Part 2 - In addition to numerous schools giving DeSantis the finger over his mask mandate policy, the cruise lines have now effectively place the governor on read.
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Disney Cruise Line has joined Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian in planning to require COVID vaccines for passengers 12 and older. Gov. DeSantis, meanwhile, is busily defending the law that he pushed for, and the Legislature passed in the spring, that prevents businesses including cruise companies from requiring vaccines for service.
The governor and legislative Republicans have tried to sell their ban as a matter of personal liberty, even though it’s clear that being vaccinated is the best way to prevent infection. They also floated the notion that they were trying to protect minorities because — see if you can follow this reasoning — a higher percentage of white people has been vaccinated than Black or Hispanic people, therefore requiring vaccines of ship passengers amounts to discrimination. Got it?
After that sort of cobbled-together nonsense, we welcomed Norwegian CEO Frank Del Rio’s fresh and unflinching assessment of the matter. On Yahoo Finance last week, he called the situation “beyond bizarre,” “shameful” and a failure of governmental leadership. He noted that Florida relies on tourism: “And the No. 1 priority of any hospitality business is to keep their customers safe.”
So why is DeSantis, ostensibly a pro-business Republican, fighting against Florida businesses and common sense?
In the interview last week, Norwegian’s Del Rio was bubbling over with the same frustration and anger we feel: “I mean, come on, give it up. This is a pandemic we are talking about, people are dying every day, Florida now is the epicenter of the epicenter. What does it take for sound judgment to rule?”
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