Dixie and the Historical Implications of DeSantis' Latest Move into Texas
Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis is sending the newly re-created Florida State Guard to Texas. This is a much bigger deal then many may realize. To begin, the Florida State Guard is unlike any other State Guard. It is primarily staffed with senior leaders from the DIA - most of whom served directly under General Michael Flynn. It is also the only State Guard with an independent weapons and armaments procurement team. Finally, unlike the National Guard that can be federalized, the State Guard answers only to the Governor of Florida and the citizens of the state. Biden (i.e., Obama) cannot take command of the Florida State Guard.
Originally reactivated after nearly 80 years, the Florida State Guard was a response to Joe Biden (Obama) choosing to ignore requests for assistance after 20+ deadly tornadoes struck simultaneously in Southwestern Florida. The dispute occured when DeSantis made it illegal to impose the Covid vaccine on employees. Biden (Obama) tried to do an end run around that law by weaponizing OSHA. DeSantis subsequently withdrew the State of Florida from the OSHA Labor Safety System - creating our own version of a Florida OSHA. Within four weeks of that decision, more than twenty tornaodes hit an area of Florida largely known for housing high profile Republican donors. (In contrast to Southeastern Florida, which is largely Jewish and Hispanic, Southwestern Florida is primarily high wealth White and Christian - and rarely experiences tornadoes above an EF-2 without a hurricane nearby)
After Florida asked for emergency assistance and was denied by the Biden (Obama) Administration, DeSantis and the Florida Legislature reactivated the Florida State Guard as a form of divorce from the federal government's disaster relief system. Oddly, however, the choice of command team were all combat veterans with significant Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) experience. The Guard itself was initially built to source its own materials with its own defense contracts for the sake of "natural disaster response."
Fast Forward - the Florida State Guard hired primarily members of Special Forces and the Special Operations Community to train future Guardians on "natural disaster response" (164 trainers to be exact).These Guardians just began training in the swamps of Florida last year. Whereas we do not have the full details, we are aware of significant weapons and advanced medical training - such as treating a sucking chest wound - for the sake of combating natural disasters, like hurricanes.
These Guardians will now be deployed to Texas to assist in combating the invasion of the South. More importantly, the Florida National Guard has already been on the ground in Texas providing aerial recon and intelligence gathering. The State of Florida allows members of the Florida National Guard to join the State Guard without penalty. In effect, DeSantis can offer a National Guard soldier the opportunity to switch to the State Guard, provided the National Guardsman is not yet federalized. This was all written into law primarily by Ron DeSantis himself with help from Florida's most rightwing members of the Legislature.
Historically, this is incredibly symbolic on many fronts. First, Florida and Texas have a great deal of shared history. They were both Spanish colonies. They were both members of the original seven Confederate States of America. Texas was the last holdout of the Confederacy (excepting the Cherokee Nation), and its primary commander was Florida's General Kirby Smith. These are two Southern states with a lot more in common than most realize.
Florida is the number one "bred-2-beef" state - meaning cattle are born in Florida. They are raised in Texas. The climates of East Texas and Florida are very similar. The legal structure are similar. Combined, the two states dominate the Gulf of Mexico. They are both zero income tax states. Finally, as of a few years ago, Houston to Tampa container vessel traffic helped bridge the two states wth the largest economies in the South. Combined, they would rank the 5th largest economy in the world - ahead of Great Britain, France, and Russia. If the two states created their own monetary unit, it would be the only Triple-A credit and Zero Debt monetary system in the developed world today.
Where will all this go? Who knows. Does Abbott have the stomach to take this fight all the way? Unlikely. But Florida has been quietly preparing for this moment for years and it sounds like there are plenty of Texans who would love nothing more than to tell the US Governemnt to go to Hell.
Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis is sending the newly re-created Florida State Guard to Texas. This is a much bigger deal then many may realize. To begin, the Florida State Guard is unlike any other State Guard. It is primarily staffed with senior leaders from the DIA - most of whom served directly under General Michael Flynn. It is also the only State Guard with an independent weapons and armaments procurement team. Finally, unlike the National Guard that can be federalized, the State Guard answers only to the Governor of Florida and the citizens of the state. Biden (i.e., Obama) cannot take command of the Florida State Guard.
Originally reactivated after nearly 80 years, the Florida State Guard was a response to Joe Biden (Obama) choosing to ignore requests for assistance after 20+ deadly tornadoes struck simultaneously in Southwestern Florida. The dispute occured when DeSantis made it illegal to impose the Covid vaccine on employees. Biden (Obama) tried to do an end run around that law by weaponizing OSHA. DeSantis subsequently withdrew the State of Florida from the OSHA Labor Safety System - creating our own version of a Florida OSHA. Within four weeks of that decision, more than twenty tornaodes hit an area of Florida largely known for housing high profile Republican donors. (In contrast to Southeastern Florida, which is largely Jewish and Hispanic, Southwestern Florida is primarily high wealth White and Christian - and rarely experiences tornadoes above an EF-2 without a hurricane nearby)
After Florida asked for emergency assistance and was denied by the Biden (Obama) Administration, DeSantis and the Florida Legislature reactivated the Florida State Guard as a form of divorce from the federal government's disaster relief system. Oddly, however, the choice of command team were all combat veterans with significant Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) experience. The Guard itself was initially built to source its own materials with its own defense contracts for the sake of "natural disaster response."
Fast Forward - the Florida State Guard hired primarily members of Special Forces and the Special Operations Community to train future Guardians on "natural disaster response" (164 trainers to be exact).These Guardians just began training in the swamps of Florida last year. Whereas we do not have the full details, we are aware of significant weapons and advanced medical training - such as treating a sucking chest wound - for the sake of combating natural disasters, like hurricanes.
These Guardians will now be deployed to Texas to assist in combating the invasion of the South. More importantly, the Florida National Guard has already been on the ground in Texas providing aerial recon and intelligence gathering. The State of Florida allows members of the Florida National Guard to join the State Guard without penalty. In effect, DeSantis can offer a National Guard soldier the opportunity to switch to the State Guard, provided the National Guardsman is not yet federalized. This was all written into law primarily by Ron DeSantis himself with help from Florida's most rightwing members of the Legislature.
Historically, this is incredibly symbolic on many fronts. First, Florida and Texas have a great deal of shared history. They were both Spanish colonies. They were both members of the original seven Confederate States of America. Texas was the last holdout of the Confederacy (excepting the Cherokee Nation), and its primary commander was Florida's General Kirby Smith. These are two Southern states with a lot more in common than most realize.
Florida is the number one "bred-2-beef" state - meaning cattle are born in Florida. They are raised in Texas. The climates of East Texas and Florida are very similar. The legal structure are similar. Combined, the two states dominate the Gulf of Mexico. They are both zero income tax states. Finally, as of a few years ago, Houston to Tampa container vessel traffic helped bridge the two states wth the largest economies in the South. Combined, they would rank the 5th largest economy in the world - ahead of Great Britain, France, and Russia. If the two states created their own monetary unit, it would be the only Triple-A credit and Zero Debt monetary system in the developed world today.
Where will all this go? Who knows. Does Abbott have the stomach to take this fight all the way? Unlikely. But Florida has been quietly preparing for this moment for years and it sounds like there are plenty of Texans who would love nothing more than to tell the US Governemnt to go to Hell.
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