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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 19, 2022

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More developments in DeSantis' political stunt of sending some migrants to Martha's Vineyard.

If you didn't already know the migrants were not even in Florida when they got on the flight. The migrants started in San Antonio, Texas. The Bexar County Sheriff (which covers San Antonio) has announced a criminal investigation into the matter. They do not currently have the names of any suspects or particular statutes in mind that may have been violated but they have started an investigation. I'm not an expert on Texas law but it seems to me their law on unlawful restraint may be applicable. The law provides:

(1) "Restrain" means to restrict a person's movements without consent, so as to interfere substantially with the person's liberty, by moving the person from one place to another or by confining the person. Restraint is "without consent" if it is accomplished by:

(A) force, intimidation, or deception;

...

(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly restrains another person.

Did DeSantis' agents move a person from one place to another by deception such that the persons so moved did not consent? Seems like it to me! If any of the people so moved were children under the age of 17 the offense is a state jail felony otherwise it is a Class A misdemeanor.

On the civil front some of those same migrants have filed a class action lawsuit against DeSantis (maybe flying them to the island full of rich lawyers was unwise.) There are 12 listed causes of action in the complaint (starting on page 23 in the pdf). These range from violations of constitutional rights (since this was ostensibly done under color of law, using state government funds) to regular torts like false imprisonment, fraud, and infliction of emotional distress (intentional and negligent).

Eh, I mean, you're arguing tendentious technicalities against a charge of comical hypocrisy.

Martha's Vineyard called out the national guard to deal with fifty migrants and deported them to a military base within 36 hours. No amount of whining about "manipulation" or long-shot lawsuits is going to change the optics of that, because the optics are real.

Jimmy Dore's take:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZmObSU3gRa4

I like Jimmy Dore. He has heterodox takes. He calls out the left for TDS from the left.

He's also been thoroughly excommunicated from the The Party. He's no longer the party member in good standing which he was when he was at The Young Turks. So Jimmy Dore noticing isn't really indicative of much.