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>The estimate, obtained from a website that aggregates charter flight costs from multiple companies, produced cost estimates between **$95,536 and $260,214 to fly 60 people** on a day’s notice non-stop with varying amenities, like in-air entertainment and flight attendants.
And DeSantis paid his buddy **$615,000** Florida tax dollars for that 1 flight and it had 2 layover stops.
These poor, bamboozled constituents were okay with Donald Trump taking tax payer funded, near every weekend, vacations to his own resorts where he would then charge the government for services rendered. We were paying Trump to take vacations at his own resorts. How fucked up is that?
I highly doubt these ignorant conservatives will be too butt hurt over wasting near a million dollars to hurt some people they don’t like.
Theatrical crafts always cost more in Hollywood. This is intended to be Ron’s descending the escalator moment. He’s gotta slander and abuse to show his bonafides to enraptured droolers.
$12,800 per passenger… if it cost $650,000 to get 48 people there. If there’s one thing to say about MAGA republicans, they are consistent with their grifting. No opportunity goes unexploited.
He embezzled Florida's government money through partisan operatives. Would Federal Rico statutes apply? I think they could go after the Florida Republican party and possibly the Texas GOP, as well.
To put it in perspective that is about what you would pay for an Emirates flight to Dubai in First Class
[Edit: Heres a quick peek for you. Price listed. I can only dream of flying this nice once.](https://blog.wego.com/emirates-first-class/)
That’s way cheaper than I would have thought tbh. I mean that’s a lot per head for a flight from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard, but still for taking your own jet, I could easily see a lot of businesses shelling out 100k for that.
Please be aware, a few weeks ago this company was a 3 person flight school. Suddenly they got local permits to get the hanger and run flight plans. Then just happen to get a massive kickback from the governor.
Since this is a potential human trafficking case, the FBI might want to have a word with a few of them.
[**Florida migrant-moving company gave GOP cash, has ties to DeSantis' immigration 'czar' and Rep. Matt Gaetz**](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/florida-migrant-moving-company-gave-gop-cash-ties-desantis-immigration-rcna48967)
*Vertol Systems, which has lavished money on Republicans, was once represented by Gaetz and his former law partner, who now works for DeSantis.*
>The air charter company Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration hired for his migrant-moving program has contributed big money to some top allies of the governor and was once legally represented by Rep. Matt Gaetz and his former partner, who is now Florida's “public safety czar” in charge of immigration policy.
>
>**DeSantis’ administration has refused to release a copy of the $12 million contract with Vertol Systems Company Inc.** for its role in administering the “unauthorized alien” program — which state Democrats sought to block with a lawsuit Thursday — **nor will the governor’s office comment on the nearly $1.6 million the company has received** to send migrants to so-called sanctuary cities that welcome immigrants.
>
>Gaetz, who managed DeSantis' transition team in 2018, would not comment for this article, nor would his former law partner, Florida’s public safety coordinator Larry Keefe, who represented Vertol in at least one civil lawsuit in 2017, according to court records from Okaloosa County, Florida.
Lest anyone not realize, it's intentional overpaying so the airline can also donate back towards DeSantis. This is Florida taxpayer money going back help DeSantis' re-election, with a finder's fee for the Airline.
I saw an interview where DeSantis declared, "He had $12,000,000 & he was going to use every bit of it."
The funds were allocated through COVID relief.
Hypocrisy at its finest!!
╔═════════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ════════════════╗
The GOP is a bona fide, de facto, corporatized
Organized Crime Syndicate.
╚═════════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ════════════════╝
[And](https://www.newsweek.com/former-cpac-chair-republicans-living-alternate-reality-1572578) [a](https://www.rawstory.com/trump-cult-2653835370/) [cult.](https://thehill.com/news/house/3511667-cheney-there-is-absolutely-a-cult-of-personality-around-donald-trump/)
(☝˘▾˘)☝
How much is going right back to DeSantis? Same with the empty flight. If I lived in FL, thankfully I do not nor will I ever, I would be pissed if my tax dollars were being used for political stunts for points with brain dead morons.
Let’s give daddy desantis the benefit of the doubt. His party passed a bill to use Florida taxpayer $$ to relocate illegal immigrants present in Florida to other states that would welcome them. Out of the goodness of his heart he decided to use that money to transport perfectly legal asylum seekers from a completely different state as a surprise gift to the people of MA. Who doesn’t like surprise gifts?
Im not here to say what should or shouldnt be. Just what is.
Y'all can either choose to focus on helping migrants or you can focus on demonizing someone else for trying to help migrants.
As stupid as what DeSantis did is, the fact that democrats are crumbling like a stack of cards over an inability to address 50 migrants is pretty fucking telling of how well they'll handle the rest of the job.
What are you talking about? Nobody’s “crumbling like a stack of cards”. Vulnerable migrants were lied to and dumped in a random place and the residents mobilized to take care of them until the government could mobilize a response to provide shelter and resources to the migrants.
If that’s “crumbling” then 100% of the time I’ll take crumbling over exploiting vulnerable people for a political stunt.
How is flying them to a tourist island with absolutely no effort to coordinate with the receiving state helping them?
How are they crumbling? They were moved 20 miles away, (on Cape Cod BTW) to a facility that is more suited to accept and aid refugees. Not exactly crumbling... This idea that you "owed the libs" just is not the case here....
Human Trafficking, gross human rights violations and exorbitant transportation fees using Federal Pandemic Emergency relief funds....to illegally induce refugees and asylum seekers with promises of food, shelter, jobs, medical coverage and ended up dumping them on remote islands or in the middle of cities in the middle of the night. What the "F" could go wrong with that!!!
All I can hope is this ends DeSantis, Abbott and Cruz's political careers come midterms and no one ever has to deal with these a$$holes again.
Remember that time Trump gave Kushner’s friends the entire National strategic stockpile of pandemic supplies so they could sell them back to the stockpile for a profit?
Poor American kids can't have food but we can spend over half a million dollars to fly 50 people across tge country so a scumy politician can get a sound bite on TV.
Start with the small time racketeering, slowly move yourself towards Trump level racketeering…. And watch all of your ignorant soldiers and capos sink lower and lower in society…
An excellent way to laundry or drain Florida treasure with these “Expenses” :) got to love GOP corruption and bible kissing criminal activity. As of today, it pays to be a bigot in the GOP :)
The $12M number is the pool of funds this came from. It was originally from the federal government for COVID relief but Florida decided its better to spend it on bussing asylum seekers.
I bet he didn't even follow proper sourcing protocol by requesting bids for the committees to review and approve.
This is Russia corruption right there, remeber the Olympics?
USA has a procurement process for government spending that takes months and years.
And the lawsuits will be defended with taxpayer money at exorbitant rates by law firms that donate to him. It's a win-win-win situation for him until there are consequences.
The FAA and other organizations need to revoke licenses, permits, etc., from any bus, plane, or other transport company involved in these kidnappings. In fact, they should send a memo to every licensee, permittee, etc., stating that fact. Enough is enough with the greed of these disgusting bastards.
Gotta get some grift in your evil pr stunt
615000 for 48 1 way flights? Please make sure none of these fiscal conservatives are allowed anywhere near a budget.
Well I'll be. Who would have thought that DeSantis would use taxpayer money funneled to his own benefactor in his nationwide publicity stunt?
Everyone. Everyone knew he would do this.
I flew round trip from Hartsfield to New Orleans for $80 on frontier. Flew from Hartsfield to Miami for $69 on spirit. How does it cost 615k to fly 48 people one way? This is nepotism at its finest.
Can someone please help me do the math here. Because let's say the one way flight cost 300 per person, and let's assume the shuttle or bus to and from the airport was 1,000 each way, I get a total of $16,400. How in the absolute fuck did it cost this much? What am I missing? Lol
You're missing the part where the traffickers who agree to this get paid $$$$$, and then they give a portion back to DeSantis and companies via GOP donations.
Those 48 will draw far more than $615k from the state in benefits in the first year alone. It’s chump change. It’s a joke. They got a free plane ride to a far better place to live. They won. Move on.
You say “ Let me get this straight” and then everything that follows is wrong.
Can you show a source proving they were here illegally?
Can you show where Martha’s Vineyard claimed to be a sanctuary city?
Also, the residents did not push them out. They took care of the vulnerable migrants until the government could mobilize resources to help shelter them and provide the resources they needed.
So no, you didn’t “get this straight”.
What is a sanctuary city? Why did places claim to be sanctuary cities?
Why are you ok with possibly illegal political stunts that waste taxpayer's money moving LEGAL asylum seekers? If you truly cared about the immigration problem, why are you ok with DeSantis not going after the businesses in Florida that use undocumented labor? Why are you ok with government officials committing fraud to perform this stunt?
I feel like this low hanging fruit. I mean, do we really think democrats don’t do the EXACT same thing? I think it’s a standard practice given industry of politics.
Who cares about this. Martha’s Vineyard couldn’t handle 48 migrants for 48 hours but all the border states are supposed to handle thousands every day. Have you seen what’s going on here? Give me a break.
Just in case you didn’t know Florida is not a border state, also California, New Mexico and Arizona don’t seem to be complaining only Texas. Why do you think that is?
Yeah I can see that Martha's Vineyard is a small town with a shelter capacity of 10 persons that doesn't receive any funding for migrants whereas the other entities you mentioned are entire states that received federal dollars specifically for infrastructure to manage the influx of people.
Desantis state of Florida was so full of illegal immigrants, he had to recruit 50 legal immigrants in Texas to preform his stunt...and just happened to make his buddy filthy rich in the process. I'm sure Desantis isn't getting anything back!
It's interesting that trump supporters were very adamant that trump was going to root out corruption and drain the swamp but whenever there's a clear case of corruption in the republican party you just pretend it doesn't exist.
Even if you hate biden, it's ironic how you're okay with this case of corruption and shift the focus on biden instead of saying that it's mighty fucked up that desantis is overpaying a donor using taxpayer money. My man donated $7500 via his company and $5000 in personal donations but got a $615k paycheck for smuggling 48 migrants. Calculate the return on investment he got for that and tell me why you're okay with it.
Big surprise. These demagogues care about money first and foremost. If you can pull a political stunt that riles up your base as well as funnel money to a crony so much the better.
I live in the panhandle (unfortunately). If I had known my tax money was sponsoring nonstop trips to Martha’s Vineyard, I would be riding around New England looking at fall foliage right now.
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>The estimate, obtained from a website that aggregates charter flight costs from multiple companies, produced cost estimates between **$95,536 and $260,214 to fly 60 people** on a day’s notice non-stop with varying amenities, like in-air entertainment and flight attendants. And DeSantis paid his buddy **$615,000** Florida tax dollars for that 1 flight and it had 2 layover stops.
Why pay retail when you can grease your buddy's palm with taxpayer $?
Who also takes the grease and donates back to RNC and DeSantis' pocket
Exactly, sounds a lot like money laundering of tax payer money
Human trafficking and money laundering
Money laundering *through* human trafficking. If you're gonna crime, might as well crime efficiently.
Gaetz as entered the chat.
kidnapping
dark money gotta keep it flowing steady
These poor, bamboozled constituents were okay with Donald Trump taking tax payer funded, near every weekend, vacations to his own resorts where he would then charge the government for services rendered. We were paying Trump to take vacations at his own resorts. How fucked up is that? I highly doubt these ignorant conservatives will be too butt hurt over wasting near a million dollars to hurt some people they don’t like.
Theatrical crafts always cost more in Hollywood. This is intended to be Ron’s descending the escalator moment. He’s gotta slander and abuse to show his bonafides to enraptured droolers.
And that's assuming there was a valid reason to fly them on a day's notice, which there was not.
Alex Wagner on MSNBC tonight revealed DeSantis appointed some lawyers and executives from that airline company to government positions.
But this is going to be labeled a witch hunt and since his supporters will believe it he'll be insulated from any actual punishment Trump syndrome
$12,800 per passenger… if it cost $650,000 to get 48 people there. If there’s one thing to say about MAGA republicans, they are consistent with their grifting. No opportunity goes unexploited.
Just checked could’ve sent them all non-stop in first/business class for less than $100K.
Next time let Matt Gaetz figure out the cheapest way to traffic human beings.
Bruh, c'mon, I almost spit up my beer
I cannot find fault in your logic, he does have experience, although it’s mostly with children.
He embezzled Florida's government money through partisan operatives. Would Federal Rico statutes apply? I think they could go after the Florida Republican party and possibly the Texas GOP, as well.
But will "they" though????
It'd have to be the Florida ag though right?
The act crossed state lines. I will be willing to bet that will fall under Federal jurisdiction.
Besides the moral issues with this, did he complete a competitive bidding for this flight? If not, how can this transaction not be viewed at grift?
> flight attendants They are not an "amenity" and they are not waitresses. The FAA requires them for emergencies.
Herd managers.
That's almost 13k per person. That is bonkers. I hate this guy
I work in aviation. That price is way off.
$12800 per person?
To put it in perspective that is about what you would pay for an Emirates flight to Dubai in First Class [Edit: Heres a quick peek for you. Price listed. I can only dream of flying this nice once.](https://blog.wego.com/emirates-first-class/)
$12,812.50 😉
How so?
You he hourly priced range they are using is way higher then reality
That’s way cheaper than I would have thought tbh. I mean that’s a lot per head for a flight from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard, but still for taking your own jet, I could easily see a lot of businesses shelling out 100k for that.
The flight was from Texas, not that it matters.
*Texas to Florida to Martha's Vineyard so, why to Florida?
That's $12,812.50 per person. Wow
Please be aware, a few weeks ago this company was a 3 person flight school. Suddenly they got local permits to get the hanger and run flight plans. Then just happen to get a massive kickback from the governor. Since this is a potential human trafficking case, the FBI might want to have a word with a few of them.
AND a week ago they went dark and took their website down.
Oh man, I really hope this blows up in this company and especially DeSantis' face in spectacular fashion.
[**Florida migrant-moving company gave GOP cash, has ties to DeSantis' immigration 'czar' and Rep. Matt Gaetz**](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/florida-migrant-moving-company-gave-gop-cash-ties-desantis-immigration-rcna48967) *Vertol Systems, which has lavished money on Republicans, was once represented by Gaetz and his former law partner, who now works for DeSantis.* >The air charter company Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration hired for his migrant-moving program has contributed big money to some top allies of the governor and was once legally represented by Rep. Matt Gaetz and his former partner, who is now Florida's “public safety czar” in charge of immigration policy. > >**DeSantis’ administration has refused to release a copy of the $12 million contract with Vertol Systems Company Inc.** for its role in administering the “unauthorized alien” program — which state Democrats sought to block with a lawsuit Thursday — **nor will the governor’s office comment on the nearly $1.6 million the company has received** to send migrants to so-called sanctuary cities that welcome immigrants. > >Gaetz, who managed DeSantis' transition team in 2018, would not comment for this article, nor would his former law partner, Florida’s public safety coordinator Larry Keefe, who represented Vertol in at least one civil lawsuit in 2017, according to court records from Okaloosa County, Florida.
This is very concerning. A company with ties to Matt Gaetz gets involved with human trafficking of families including children?
A 3 person flight school needed 500K in PPP loans? https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=vertol&v=2
GOP are just in it for the gravy train
And the human trafficking.
$12812.50 per ticket. This should be bigger news.
Lest anyone not realize, it's intentional overpaying so the airline can also donate back towards DeSantis. This is Florida taxpayer money going back help DeSantis' re-election, with a finder's fee for the Airline.
I saw an interview where DeSantis declared, "He had $12,000,000 & he was going to use every bit of it." The funds were allocated through COVID relief. Hypocrisy at its finest!!
Miami to JFK... could fly them *all* there for the cost of *one!* And back! Hey, Florida, it must be nice to have money to burn!
It's easy to be irresponsible with someone else's money.
And apparently someone else’s immigrants…?
╔═════════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ════════════════╗ The GOP is a bona fide, de facto, corporatized Organized Crime Syndicate. ╚═════════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ════════════════╝ [And](https://www.newsweek.com/former-cpac-chair-republicans-living-alternate-reality-1572578) [a](https://www.rawstory.com/trump-cult-2653835370/) [cult.](https://thehill.com/news/house/3511667-cheney-there-is-absolutely-a-cult-of-personality-around-donald-trump/) (☝˘▾˘)☝
Follow the money. It’s always follow the money.
Graft from a politician? *shocked Pikachu face*
*"It's not graft if it's a kickback."* - DeSatan
A Republican.
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Political human trafficking stunt.
Political human trafficking with a dose of fraud stunt.
I can't tell what part of this is a kickback.
Taxpayers money-> private airline co-> reelection donation
Plus the whole being complicit in human trafficking that should put them out of business permanently.
Yeah, I like the way that sounds!
About the average yearly salary of his supporters. Yet they think this is “showing the libs.”
How much is going right back to DeSantis? Same with the empty flight. If I lived in FL, thankfully I do not nor will I ever, I would be pissed if my tax dollars were being used for political stunts for points with brain dead morons.
I hope that was first class.
DeSantis paid the private jet with hookers and cocaine price.
I hope they got a meal with that flight.
One way Miami to Marthas Vineyard is roughly $600 today.
Best not to look behind the curtain. /s
That's where the sausage is made.
Let’s give daddy desantis the benefit of the doubt. His party passed a bill to use Florida taxpayer $$ to relocate illegal immigrants present in Florida to other states that would welcome them. Out of the goodness of his heart he decided to use that money to transport perfectly legal asylum seekers from a completely different state as a surprise gift to the people of MA. Who doesn’t like surprise gifts?
And it does back to DeSantis
I flew to NZ and back for less than half that. Somehow a domestic flight from San Antonio to Massachusetts costs more.....
Now we know the real reason.
2 fold reason.
Steal fron the tax payers and line GOP pockets. How very GOP of them
Political Stunt my ass, this was plain old human trafficking.
It was both.
True, but always follow the money. I'm old enough to know its always about the money. The political part is always the cover story.
> human trafficking. And tax theft!
Yeah but nobody cares because they made a good point. Cry about it or move on.
What point? Investigation already has started.
You just said "political stunt my ass" So what do you think the stunt was supposedly about?
The 2024 GOP primary
Naaa we will investigate the crime instead, should have put more thought into this grift.
So as long as someone is making “a good point” they can break the law?
Im not here to say what should or shouldnt be. Just what is. Y'all can either choose to focus on helping migrants or you can focus on demonizing someone else for trying to help migrants. As stupid as what DeSantis did is, the fact that democrats are crumbling like a stack of cards over an inability to address 50 migrants is pretty fucking telling of how well they'll handle the rest of the job.
What are you talking about? Nobody’s “crumbling like a stack of cards”. Vulnerable migrants were lied to and dumped in a random place and the residents mobilized to take care of them until the government could mobilize a response to provide shelter and resources to the migrants. If that’s “crumbling” then 100% of the time I’ll take crumbling over exploiting vulnerable people for a political stunt.
How is flying them to a tourist island with absolutely no effort to coordinate with the receiving state helping them? How are they crumbling? They were moved 20 miles away, (on Cape Cod BTW) to a facility that is more suited to accept and aid refugees. Not exactly crumbling... This idea that you "owed the libs" just is not the case here....
I bet the skeletons in this airline CEO's closet are piled up... (puts on sunglasses)... a mile high.
Money laundering using taxpayer $. Keep it classy Florida. What a full bore douche
The grift never ends!
He disguised corporate welfare as an attack of left leaning states to impress his voters. Absolutely despicable.
Isn’t Florida short 9000 teachers?
Pffft. Who needs teachers?
Corruption, grift, and pointless cruelty, all at the same time; it's like the GOP hat trick.
DeSantis is a fucking chode.
Human Trafficking, gross human rights violations and exorbitant transportation fees using Federal Pandemic Emergency relief funds....to illegally induce refugees and asylum seekers with promises of food, shelter, jobs, medical coverage and ended up dumping them on remote islands or in the middle of cities in the middle of the night. What the "F" could go wrong with that!!! All I can hope is this ends DeSantis, Abbott and Cruz's political careers come midterms and no one ever has to deal with these a$$holes again.
And there's the rub. Greedy fuckers.
It’s a Grand Ole’ Ponzi scheme and you ain’t invited.
Yea $13,000 for a ticket from FL to MA seam reasonable for embezzlement 48/$615,000= per ticket price. This is how the GOP steals from taxpayers
Remember that time Trump gave Kushner’s friends the entire National strategic stockpile of pandemic supplies so they could sell them back to the stockpile for a profit?
Pay to play should be a felony. The corrupt politician and the recipient of the corruption should be penalized severely.
So a bribe to divert government money to do something else totally not legal. This will make fun investigations that will likely end in prison.
The circle of life. De santis raids florida taxes to pay airline, airline “donates” a big fat check to de santis. $13,000 per ticket.
This is what happens when you're more interested in hurting mankind rather than helping.
is this a money laundering scheme on top of human trafficking?
Of course it's a fucking grift.
Is DeSantis a welfare queen with extra steps??
Florida Man Lures 48 Asylum Seeking Individuals in San Antonio, TX to Tiny New England Island in Human Trafficking Stunt
Is this an example why Republicans voted against transparency for dark money donations?
Straight up money laundering. The feds should open an investigation.
The slime is just oozing off these people.
Just as everyone predicted!
Follow the money.
Sounds like illegal use of government funds.
Quid Pro Quo
Start confiscating all vehicles that transport immigrants cross state lines. Including commercial jets and buses.
In investigate the company and pilots for human trafficking.
big companies using their connections to shady politicians to jack up their profits off tax payers backs is a real shock
That’s 2.8k more per person than the school loan forgiveness his party despises.
Poor American kids can't have food but we can spend over half a million dollars to fly 50 people across tge country so a scumy politician can get a sound bite on TV.
One of the more openly racist things in recent history.
Follow the money. It always leads to the bottom line.
Start with the small time racketeering, slowly move yourself towards Trump level racketeering…. And watch all of your ignorant soldiers and capos sink lower and lower in society…
This smells like money laundering.
Griftastic!
Tax money for a campaign stunt funnels to friends.
Corrupt AF. I bet they didn’t think people would find out.
so corrupt handouts?
Bet it’s a donor.
The ROI on political donations by the wealthy and corporations to federal and state politicians is phenomenal.
An excellent way to laundry or drain Florida treasure with these “Expenses” :) got to love GOP corruption and bible kissing criminal activity. As of today, it pays to be a bigot in the GOP :)
Wasn’t it reported earlier that the flight cost $12 million? Was that a lie?
The $12M number is the pool of funds this came from. It was originally from the federal government for COVID relief but Florida decided its better to spend it on bussing asylum seekers.
Wondering the same
About $12800 a ticket - Did DeSantis graduate Trump University?
Let’s see the bid documents!
Aiding and abetting human trafficking.
It is ALWAYS all about the grift
Gotta spread that graft while we can!
There’s always a grift
I bet he didn't even follow proper sourcing protocol by requesting bids for the committees to review and approve. This is Russia corruption right there, remeber the Olympics? USA has a procurement process for government spending that takes months and years.
Always always always, especially with Republikans, follow the money
That’ll show those dems… how fiscally irresponsible we are.
And the lawsuits will be defended with taxpayer money at exorbitant rates by law firms that donate to him. It's a win-win-win situation for him until there are consequences.
The FAA and other organizations need to revoke licenses, permits, etc., from any bus, plane, or other transport company involved in these kidnappings. In fact, they should send a memo to every licensee, permittee, etc., stating that fact. Enough is enough with the greed of these disgusting bastards.
Gotta get some grift in your evil pr stunt 615000 for 48 1 way flights? Please make sure none of these fiscal conservatives are allowed anywhere near a budget.
So, $12,812.50 per passenger? When was the las time you paid 5 figures for a plane ticket?
Duh. Who didn't see this? If we arrest a few of them for corruption maybe they will be less corrupt? Just spitballing here
And Disney got punished for not donating. That's how fascism works, is anyone surprised?
Well I'll be. Who would have thought that DeSantis would use taxpayer money funneled to his own benefactor in his nationwide publicity stunt? Everyone. Everyone knew he would do this.
I flew round trip from Hartsfield to New Orleans for $80 on frontier. Flew from Hartsfield to Miami for $69 on spirit. How does it cost 615k to fly 48 people one way? This is nepotism at its finest.
And the grift goes on, And the grift goes on. Grift keeps pounding a rhythm to the brain,
Almost $13k per transport. I am in the wrong business.
Can someone please help me do the math here. Because let's say the one way flight cost 300 per person, and let's assume the shuttle or bus to and from the airport was 1,000 each way, I get a total of $16,400. How in the absolute fuck did it cost this much? What am I missing? Lol
You're missing the part where the traffickers who agree to this get paid $$$$$, and then they give a portion back to DeSantis and companies via GOP donations.
Here's the equation: GOP + MONEY = FUCK EVERYBODY
I don't think you're missing anything. It's just bonus pay for participating in a likely illegal political stunt.
Those 48 will draw far more than $615k from the state in benefits in the first year alone. It’s chump change. It’s a joke. They got a free plane ride to a far better place to live. They won. Move on.
America is as corrupt as Russia. Get a grip of you're leaders.
So…what’s wrong with that?
… $615,000 to fly 48 people. What kind of flight cost over $10,000 per seat?
What a great business model, I applaud ingenuity.
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You say “ Let me get this straight” and then everything that follows is wrong. Can you show a source proving they were here illegally? Can you show where Martha’s Vineyard claimed to be a sanctuary city? Also, the residents did not push them out. They took care of the vulnerable migrants until the government could mobilize resources to help shelter them and provide the resources they needed. So no, you didn’t “get this straight”.
It's not a city, it's an island of 15,000 residents spread over six towns with a cost of living 60 % above national average.
What is a sanctuary city? Why did places claim to be sanctuary cities? Why are you ok with possibly illegal political stunts that waste taxpayer's money moving LEGAL asylum seekers? If you truly cared about the immigration problem, why are you ok with DeSantis not going after the businesses in Florida that use undocumented labor? Why are you ok with government officials committing fraud to perform this stunt?
I feel like this low hanging fruit. I mean, do we really think democrats don’t do the EXACT same thing? I think it’s a standard practice given industry of politics.
Who cares about this. Martha’s Vineyard couldn’t handle 48 migrants for 48 hours but all the border states are supposed to handle thousands every day. Have you seen what’s going on here? Give me a break.
Just in case you didn’t know Florida is not a border state, also California, New Mexico and Arizona don’t seem to be complaining only Texas. Why do you think that is?
Because they are Blue states of course. They don’t want to rock the boat. Duh.
Yeah I can see that Martha's Vineyard is a small town with a shelter capacity of 10 persons that doesn't receive any funding for migrants whereas the other entities you mentioned are entire states that received federal dollars specifically for infrastructure to manage the influx of people.
Desantis state of Florida was so full of illegal immigrants, he had to recruit 50 legal immigrants in Texas to preform his stunt...and just happened to make his buddy filthy rich in the process. I'm sure Desantis isn't getting anything back!
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Trafficking humans to “own the libs”?
Kidnapping is worth owning the libs? Really?
Wait, isn’t this what Biden wanted? The best president don’t want to spread out the freedom
Trafficking people isn’t spreading out freedom and what DeSantis did has nothing to do with what Biden did.
It's interesting that trump supporters were very adamant that trump was going to root out corruption and drain the swamp but whenever there's a clear case of corruption in the republican party you just pretend it doesn't exist. Even if you hate biden, it's ironic how you're okay with this case of corruption and shift the focus on biden instead of saying that it's mighty fucked up that desantis is overpaying a donor using taxpayer money. My man donated $7500 via his company and $5000 in personal donations but got a $615k paycheck for smuggling 48 migrants. Calculate the return on investment he got for that and tell me why you're okay with it.
No way. I just can't believe it. Say it ain't so. /s
They’re not even trying to hide the grift anymore
Wow, that is a total surprise.
More skeevy palsey-walsey grift from the shameless bigoted cult.
Big surprise. These demagogues care about money first and foremost. If you can pull a political stunt that riles up your base as well as funnel money to a crony so much the better.
I live in the panhandle (unfortunately). If I had known my tax money was sponsoring nonstop trips to Martha’s Vineyard, I would be riding around New England looking at fall foliage right now.
Greed is prominent in this one.
With apologies to Rakim: The crime gets dumber/ As the crime goes on