Tom Sawyers Island

The Orlando Sentinel ran an article about the closure of Tom Sawyers island at Disney World. 

I found the end part interesting. It's exactly what Disney is all about these days…

What's so very Disney about it

The island leans into its cutesy, old-timey theme. It's Disney-level clean in a great outdoors way.

There are a handful of animatronics, including one that's snoring.

On the modern side, there are the standard warnings about alligators and snakes, and there are rules for Tom Sawyer Scavenger's Fort (ages 2-12 only) and the "surfaces may be hot" advisory.

What's not very Disney 2024 about it

On Tom Sawyer Island, there's no MagicBand needed, no PhotoPass stops, no Lightning Lanes, no dessert party offering and no cast members telling us to keep our hands and feet inside the fort at all times.

There are no characters to meet or greet, no touting the latest holiday, no Mickey Bars, no souvenir merchandise or really anything to spend money on with the exception of a couple of vending machines by Aunt Polly's.

Decide for yourself if that's a plus or minus.

Using your friends family in photos is just weird

This candidate for office posted a photo with a woman and kids without any context.  It looks like a normal family photo.  Only, it's not his family, it's a friend's wife and kids.

His opponents came out and cried foul because he's single, and wants to appeal to family oriented voters. 

He says it's perfectly normal, as he was just posing for pictures like people do during campaigns (you know, because you're a celebrity and can do whatever you want…even grab them….but I digress).  And anyway, where is his friend?

To make his point, he posts some other pictures with supporters.  None are staged like that.  They look like candid shots. And he even posts a picture of him and his fiancé.  She is standing a little behind him, and it's a selfie style photo.  I certainly didn't guess that was his fiancé based on how it looks.

Sometimes people do weird things.  And when it comes to politicians, it's often weirder still.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13910009/Virginia-GOP-candidate-Derrick-Anderson-borrows-friends-family-campaign-photo.html

Another example of gaslighting

"Raising the minimum wage will lead to more people getting laid off, and prices will go up"

Except, that hasn't happened. 

Here's an independent study of what is happening in California. 

https://www.kqed.org/news/12007150/californias-20-fast-food-minimum-wage-sees-no-job-loss-slight-price-hikes

Sex Ed in Florida doesn’t educate about sex

The governor is at it again. He's telling schools that they can't actually teach about sex, can't talk about anatomy, and can't show pictures of reproductive organs. 

Of course, they have to promote abstinence and can not talk about birth control. 

And naturally parents can opt out. 

Because why talk about the human body? Why should budding adults have any idea what's going on in their bodies?

In Minnesota, Tim Walz offers menstrual products. In Florida, duhsantis is happy to just call that a lady problem and moves on. 

https://apnews.com/article/florida-sex-education-curriculum-5b1a46f5a73e3122f4815cf1d439aef0

Floridas insurance crisis

Here's a piece that appeared on 60 minutes recently. 

It tells the  story about how some of the "smaller insurers" in Florida (and to be fair, there really aren't any big ones left at this point) have been screwing customers. 

Intentional underpayments for legitimate damage is the key takeaway. 

But don't miss the fact that the aggrieved have turned to the state for help… but of course the attorney general can't be bothered. You know, she and the governor are pretty aligned in priorities, and serving the public is not at the top of the list…

https://youtu.be/j5re7zBzrJk?si=bSO2XafppPhCfYLE

Xitter and free speech

Elon says Xitter is all about the public square and free speech. Yet, we have heard that he has his team promoting his content and others he likes, while holding back things that he doesn't. And he actively removes people when they say things about him (or something near and dear). 

And just this week, he kicked a reporter off for … reporting.  Because he didn't like the report. 

https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-dossier-leak-hack-iran-ken-klippenstein-1960044

And then there's this story about how someone asked why Trump assassination keeps trending. And he responded in a way that got the secret services attention - essentially suggesting that someone target Biden and Harris. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-09-19/musk-x-post-about-biden-harris-threats-leads-to-secret-service-investigation

I think we can say "what a douche"…

Cards Against Humanity is suing Elon Musk…

This is an interesting story. 

Cards Against Humanity purchased a few acres of land in Texas as a sort of thumb of the nose at the idea of trumps border wall.

They somewhat humorously said they wanted the government to try and take it through eminent domain. 

Anyway flash forward to SpaceX having their launch facility in southern Texas. And, well, they're using the land owned by Cards Against Humanity to store random debris. Without permission. 

So they're suing Musk. But if we look at it, the reason for buying the land in the first place was to make a point. And in keeping it,

And suing, they're making an even more important point: companies can't simply do whatever they want. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/91195653/cards-against-humanity-lawsuit-against-elon-musk-brilliant-stunt-that-makes-a-serious-point