DeSantis’s ‘Freedom Summer’ means no rainbow lights for Florida bridges

[Jimmy McGill]

Like em young? Got any daughters?

Just stop. My point was that is this really what Florida needs to be prioritizing?

 

[goldmom]

Ron is dumb as a stump, which he is coincidentally built like.

Yeah he used to drool all over himself in class at Yale, but by the time he got to Harvard Law he had lots of company who drooled too.

 

[Jimmy McGill]

Strip clubs, disney world, LGBT.....all SO important

 

[goldmom]

If you are calling me a DB, so be it. I have delt with DBs for the last 20 years

I don’t know if you ARE a DB or not but you seem to be speaking like you’re experienced in recognizing them.
FTR I bet all of us who have ever had a responsible job have met at least one or two. Hell this board has more than just one.

 

[fsu1jreed]

Strip clubs, disney world, LGBT.....all SO important

Yea, let's not try to figure out important stuff like home owners insurance, etc. let's just own the libs

Like I said, piece of shit human

 

[goldmom]

Strip clubs, disney world, LGBT.....all SO important

Wow you’re not kidding. You must spend HOURS ignoring and not finding out what’s going on beyond what asshole media incorporated is shoveling out the door.

 

[mattymoknows]

Damn should flags come down too?

Is there any color combination in America that is MORE inclusive than red white and blue? ALL
AMERICANS of ALL persuasions and colors and beliefs live together under those colors 365 days a year.
You mother pluckers don’t live her but you sure as shit have an opinion about how my state is run.
Newsflash: stay in your own lane.

I think you're one of the more reasonable conservative voices on our site but I've never understood your undying support for everything Florida.

I've lived in Iowa most of my life. I love a lot about the state yet can take steps back now and then to recognize there's a lot of dumb things our politicians/ so called leaders propose or enact.

This particular thread topic seems like an ample opportunity for people in Florida to stand up and say...

 

[nelly02]

Just read the article not going to go through the drivel that will be the comments here and I'm sure this has already been pointed out but I laughed pretty good at the irony of saying Florida being the freest state while taking away options. And the mental midgets will shovel it all up and not even come close to having the critical thinking skills to realize how stupid that all is.

 

[goldmom]

Yea, let's not try to figure out important stuff like home owners insurance, etc. let's just own the libs.

Like I said, piece of shit human

Ron didn’t have a lot to do with the mess.
Instead of being in your place all day being miserable spend some time to find out how lobbyists for billboard lawyers pressured so many reps who saw a need to reform the ability to sue insurance companies for a hangnail. “1-800-ask-Gary…Morgan and Morgan…they’re a part of needed reform.
BTW should we say Cali Dems are POS’s cause they’re in worse shape than we are with fires and renewal refusals.
You wait. Iowans are not going to be happy about their renewals after these awful storms.
And no , I don’t have any relatives in that business.

 

[goldmom]

I think you're one of the more reasonable conservative voices on our site but I've never understood your undying support for everything Florida.

I've lived in Iowa most of my life. I love a lot about the state yet can take steps back now and then to recognize there's a lot of dumb things our politicians/ so called leaders propose or enact.

This particular thread topic seems like an ample opportunity for people in Florida to stand up and say...

case

You aren’t familiar then with my diatribes about the things that just get me boiling mad in my state but I save those for the Locker Room on Warchant. Like my absolute disgust for how our DOT is backwards, incompetent and hopeless. Or how developers are just paving Paradise to put up a parking lot. But that’s been the case for decades. Before Ron was born.

Just read the article not going to go through the drivel that will be the comments here and I'm sure this has already been pointed out but I laughed pretty good at the irony of saying Florida being the freest state while taking away options. And the mental midgets will shovel it all up and not even come close to having the critical thinking skills to realize how stupid that all is.

You know Jacksonville has seven bridges and people have enjoyed the lights year round regardless of the colors.
I’m curious how those colors signify freedom/loss of freedom?
Doesn’t Red White and Blue signify freedom for ALL of us?

 

[goldmom]

Just stop. My point was that is this really what Florida needs to be prioritizing?

What are they prioritizing where YOU live?

 

[nelly02]

You aren’t familiar then with my diatribes about the things that just get me boiling mad in my state but I save those for the Locker Room on Warchant. Like my absolute disgust for how our DOT is backwards, incompetent and hopeless. Or how developers are just paving Paradise to put up a parking lot. But that’s been the case for decades. Before Ron was born.

You know Jacksonville has seven bridges and people have enjoyed the lights year round regardless of the colors.
I’m curious how those colors signify freedom/loss of freedom?
Doesn’t Red White and Blue signify freedom for ALL of us?

My only point is usually freedom means having the choice to do what you think is best. Here they are taking away choices. Doesn't seem very freedomy (I made up this word because I have the freedom to)to me.

 

[goldmom]

My only point is usually freedom means having the choice to do what you think is best. Here they are taking away choices. Doesn't seem very freedomy (I made up this word because I have the freedom to)to me.

How is ANYONE less free because of the colors of lights on a bridge?
Seriously I am of the opinion that the hand wringing should be saved for the big stuff and lights on a bridge ain’t it.

 

[KFsdisciple]

nobody does pointless culture war bullshit like ron

Disney called and said his pointless culture war sucks and he kicked their ass

 

[KFsdisciple]

Oh no only red white and blue lights on the bridges?! Yawn. If certain people are offended or feel threatened by colors they can GTFO

 

[OutbackBowl2017]

I'm sorry the rainbow lights on the bridge convinced you to start servicing dudes through the glory hole in the men's room of your local gas station. I'll pray for you.

 

[fsu1jreed]

Oh no only red white and blue lights on the bridges?! Yawn. If certain people are offended or feel threatened by colors they can GTFO

OH. THE. FVCKING. IRONY.

One constant, MAGA is going to moron

 

[NorthernHawkeye]

I'm a social conservative and even I can see this is blatantly targeting the pride month celebrations.

What a douche.

Look I don't celebrate pride month, I don't really care, it's not my thing. But for some people that is their thing and a lot of places like to openly support those celebrations.

Why can't Ron let them be them. No one is forcing him to attend.

Maybe because pride month and the pride flag/insignia are both political in nature. There is no place for political displays on state property.

And that doesn't even begin to address the fact that what you do in your bedroom is your business. So stop throwing your sexuality in everyone's face.

 

[Dorrman]

I'm sure Kim will following suit. She tends to follow all his decisions

 

[goldmom]

I'm sure Kim will following suit. She tends to follow on all his decisions

If the Governor of Iowa is so daring to use Red White and Blue then golly she’s really out there, huh?

 

[Jimmy McGill]

Maybe because pride month and the pride flag/insignia are both political in nature. There is no place for political displays on state property.

And that doesn't even begin to address the fact that what you do in your bedroom is your business. So stop throwing your sexuality in everyone's face.

why are you throwing your sexuality in our faces?

 

[goldmom]

why are you throwing your sexuality in our faces?

She’s Hawt.

 

[KFsdisciple]

Maybe because pride month and the pride flag/insignia are both political in nature. There is no place for political displays on state property.

And that doesn't even begin to address the fact that what you do in your bedroom is your business. So stop throwing your sexuality in everyone's face.

Yeah what happened to separation of church and state? Make no mistake that's a religion for them.

 

[Joes Place]

As part of what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is calling “Freedom Summer,” his Transportation Department has told cities across the state that if they want to light up their bridges at night, they can only use the colors red, white and blue.

The order — which was shared by Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue on social media recently — means that bridges across the state that normally illuminate in colorful arrays of light to mark holidays or awareness events won’t be able to use any other colors from May 27 through Sept. 2.

“As Floridians prepare for Freedom Summer, Florida’s bridges will follow suit, illuminating in red, white, and blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day!” Perdue wrote on X. “Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida continues to be the freest state in the nation.”



A number of bridges across the state prominently display rainbow colors in honor of Pride Month in June, among other celebrations throughout the year. Many see the order to display only red, white and blue as another move against the LGBTQ+ community, which has been targeted by a number of DeSantis-backed laws in recent years.
“The bridge lights were about celebrating diversity and inclusion, which will continue to happen in our communities,” said Carlos Guillermo Smith, Equality Florida’s senior policy adviser. “LGBTQ Floridians will proudly raise our flags even higher and our lights will only shine brighter in the darkness they’ve created.”
The Ringling Causeway Bridge over Sarasota Bay usually lights up in rainbow colors for a week in June, and also marks other causes during the summer, such as orange for National Gun Awareness Month and yellow for Women’s Equality Day.



Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert said the city typically gives the state Department of Transportation, which operates the bridge, a list of colors that it would like to display for various events at the beginning of the year “and they generally do it.”
“It’s very popular,” Alpert said about the different colors illuminating the 2.6-mile-long span. “But the state has control of the bridge, so we don’t control the lights.”
Perdue’s office and DeSantis’s communications office did not return requests for comment.
DeSantis originally declared July to be a “Freedom Month Sales Tax Holiday” for Floridians to save money on outdoor recreation equipment and also on entrance fees to state parks and museums. At the time, the governor’s office said nothing about bridge lighting.

But after Manatee County Commissioner Mike Rahn, whose county borders part of Tampa Bay, objected to a rainbow display on the iconic Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Perdue issued the order for only red, white and blue lights on bridges statewide.


Rahn declined to address the controversy, saying only in an email in response to questions from The Washington Post that “the Governor and the Secretary of Transportation have made the decision that all bridges in Florida will be lighted Red, White and Blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day.”
Most of Florida’s 12,881 bridges don’t have sophisticated color lighting systems, but residents in communities that do enjoy the displays, city leaders say.

“People are disappointed,” Alpert said.

In Jacksonville, the colorful illuminations on the Acosta Bridge, one of the city’s seven bridges across the St. Johns River, are regarded by many residents as a form of public art. The Jacksonville Transportation Authority uses its “dynamic LED lighting system” on the span throughout the year to mark dozens of holidays and awareness campaigns.


Among those are 10 different lighting combinations in the summer, including rainbow colors for Pride Month; red, black and green for Juneteenth; and pink, blue and red to celebrate the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the city’s minor league baseball team.
“Whichever bridge you’re on, you can see those colors, shining bright from that bridge. And it really is a beautiful sight,” said Kimberly Allen, the CEO of 904Ward, an advocacy group in the city that promotes diversity and inclusion. “When we acknowledge things like Juneteenth, or our local sports team, that’s part of what adds to the vibrancy of the city.”
Having officials in Tallahassee order them to use only three colors of the state’s choosing does a disservice to local communities, she said, especially when that decision cancels other displays city leaders approved, such as for Pride Month and Juneteenth.
“I think the undertones of this are what’s haunting,” Allen said. “Why at this moment, in this month, why is that happening now?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/21/florida-bridges-rainbow-lights-pride/

Color-Limited Summer of Freedom*

*Brought to you by the Party of Less Government

 

[KFsdisciple]

View embedded media

Color-Limited Summer of Freedom*

*Brought to you by the Party of Less Government

Lots of private businesses can cater to whatever groups they want. The government in the state of Florida has decided to be patriotic. Cry if you want to, when you become governor you can make your state all the colors of the rainbow.

Perks of kicking ass and taking names.

 

[Joes Place]

Lots of private businesses can cater to whatever groups they want. The government in the state of Florida has decided to be patriotic.

The governor in the State of Florida has decided to limit people's freedoms unnecessarily.

 

[KFsdisciple]

The governor in the State of Florida has decided to limit people's freedoms unnecessarily.

Who's freedoms? It's the governments bridges

 

[Joes Place]

Who's freedoms? It's the governments bridges

It's the people's bridges.

 

[KFsdisciple]

It's the people's bridges.

Yeah? When one needs maintenance... do you hang from the side in a harness?

 

[Joes Place]

Yeah? When one needs maintenance

They raise public taxes to repair them.

They are PUBLIC bridges. Not Desantis'.

 

[KFsdisciple]

They raise public taxes to repair them.

They are PUBLIC bridges. Not Desantis'.

So you don't repair them, you're not responsible for their maintenance, but you feel some level of ownership of them. And you don't even live in Florida.

 

[95Hawk]

How is ANYONE less free because of the colors of lights on a bridge?
Seriously I am of the opinion that the hand wringing should be saved for the big stuff and lights on a bridge ain’t it.

I’m sorry. But how does this fit the narrative of small government GOP? If a municipality wants to light their bridge colors anyway they see fit, shouldn’t they be able to do so?

Your defense of DeSantis is precious.

 

[Joes Place]

So you don't repair them, you're not responsible for their maintenance

LOLWUT?

Public money is what built them and maintains them.
Local public should determine what light colors they want to light them with.

Whether that's a local sports team color, LGBT-whatever, etc.

 

[KFsdisciple]

I’m sorry. But how does this fit the narrative of small government GOP? If a municipality wants to light their bridge colors anyway they see fit, shouldn’t they be able to do so?

Your defense of DeSantis is precious.

You and Disney can share a pity party.

 

[KFsdisciple]

LOLWUT?

Public money is what built them and maintains them.
Local public should determine what light colors they want to light them with.

Whether that's a local sports team color, LGBT-whatever, etc.

Run for and win Governorship of your state and you can light the bridges whatever color you want

 

[nelly02]

How is ANYONE less free because of the colors of lights on a bridge?
Seriously I am of the opinion that the hand wringing should be saved for the big stuff and lights on a bridge ain’t it.

I'm not saying anyone should go to the streets over it... yeah it's not a big deal. If you are not understanding my point by now I don't know what to tell you except I'm not surprised

 

[Joes Place]

Run for and win Governorship of your state and you can light the bridges whatever color you want

There is no gubernatorial power or statute that enables him to enforce it.
But you Luvs your MAGA-isms

 

[fsu1jreed]

Run for and win Governorship of your state and you can light the bridges whatever color you want

I wouldn't waste my time on such stupidity

 

[fsu1jreed]

There is no gubernatorial power or statute that enables him to enforce it.
But you Luvs your MAGA-isms

Exactly....behind Trump and maybe Kimmy, DeSantis is the epitome of MAGA

 

[goldmom]

I’m sorry. But how does this fit the narrative of small government GOP? If a municipality wants to light their bridge colors anyway they see fit, shouldn’t they be able to do so?

Your defense of DeSantis is precious.

You know it’s not necessarily a defense of the Governor it’s a presentation of the facts.
He did not mandate this idea and if cities don’t want to take part they don’t have to.

And no one has yet to say definitively that red white and blue excludes ANY American. Or limits anyone’s freedom!
After Labor Day bridges in Florida can revert back to displaying colors their city or county wants to.
The colors are to promote our unity as Americans.