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Whispers are growing louder among Republicans that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has miscalculated in his battle with Disney — a struggle that has already gone on for more than a year and has no end in sight.

There are real dangers, they say, of his fight with the corporation becoming a distraction from his likely presidential campaign — and one that could make him seem petty and vindictive rather than strong or decisive.

Despite the fact many polls suggest GOP voters are sympathetic to DeSantis’s war on “wokeness” in general, there are also concerns among conservatives about a powerful elected official targeting a specific company for political reasons.

People close to former President Trump, DeSantis’s archrival if he should enter the 2024 race, are gleefully fanning those concerns.

“If you are allowing governors to dictate their own politics to private businesses, what is to stop a liberal governor from doing the same?” asked one source familiar with the former president’s thinking.

The Trump source complained about governors who “overstep their authority for their own political validation,” adding, “The conservative media attacked Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo and Gov. [Gretchen] Whitmer for doing the same thing during the lockdowns. You can’t have it both ways.”

Such commentary is not confined to pro-Trump circles, either. Related coverage from The Hill: McCarthy hits DeSantis on Disney prison quip: ‘Sit down and negotiate’ Rubio warns against Florida going after companies for ‘political purposes’ Justice jumps into race to unseat Manchin DeSantis-Disney feud heats up 19 Michigan state GOP lawmakers throw support behind DeSantis

One Republican strategist not aligned with any declared or likely 2024 candidate said that while it is true conservatives have “issues” with Disney, they also have “issues with government picking winners and losers.”

On a practical level, the strategist added: “I think DeSantis first got on the national radar by getting in a fight with Disney. I think his problem now is that he has to win it — and it is not clear that he can continue upping the ante.”

The latest twist in the long-running DeSantis-Disney saga came on Wednesday when the corporation sued DeSantis in federal court in Florida. 

The company’s filing alleged “a targeted campaign of government retaliation” that it said had been “orchestrated” by DeSantis. 

The alleged campaign, Disney contended, “threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”

DeSantis, who has been on an international trade mission in recent days, responded from Israel. At a news conference, he argued that the Disney suit was “political” and had no “merit.”

The governor further argued that Disney was seeking special treatment in his state and was “upset that they are actually having to live by the same rules as everybody else.”

But now, DeSantis faces the prospect of being mired in a protracted legal struggle even as he is perceived to be making moves toward launching a presidential candidacy. 

The Disney saga has its roots in the Florida legislation passed with DeSantis’s support last year that prohibited teaching about gender identity or sexual orientation through the third grade.

The legislation, tagged somewhat hyperbolically as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics, caused national controversy. Within weeks of its passage, Disney issued a statement expressing its opposition, adding that the bill “should never have been signed into law.”

DeSantis fired back in short order, moving to strip Disney of the significant level of autonomy it enjoyed in the area where Walt Disney World is. 

Then, there were further squabbles earlier this year over the makeup of the five-person board that runs the district.

DeSantis, with the backing of Florida Republicans, sought to appoint his own board. But the outgoing board then tried to outmaneuver him by making agreements at its last meeting that would have greatly constrained their replacements.

Earlier this month, DeSantis went even further, suggesting the state might build a prison near Disney’s theme parks, presumably as a means of exacting retribution.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released earlier this week found a clear majority of Republicans favoring DeSantis’s basic position but a significant majority dissenting.

Sixty-four percent of Republicans said DeSantis was “rightfully rolling back special treatment for Disney,” but 36 percent said he was “punishing Disney for exercising their right to free speech.”

Worryingly for the Florida governor — especially if he ever became the GOP nominee for president — independents broke heavily against him on that question, contributing to strong sympathy for Disney among the population at large.

Moreover, although 44 percent of Republicans said they had a more positive view of DeSantis because of the controversy, 19 percent said they had a more negative view. 

In potentially even worse news for DeSantis, majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who “supports or passes laws designed to punish a company for its political, social or cultural stances.”

The escalation of the controversy with Disney also comes as DeSantis has endured a bad time in his quasi-campaign, falling further behind Trump in the polls and having to mop up an assertion that the Ukraine-Russia war is a mere “territorial dispute.”

There will, of course, be many twists and turns in the presidential campaign, which will not see its first debates until August. No votes will be cast until early next year.

Still, for now, there is no sign that DeSantis’s battle with Disney is letting up anytime soon. And that could be a hindrance, at a minimum, if a presidential campaign gets underway in earnest. MTA ends real-time service alerts on Twitter, says platform is ‘no longer reliable’ Watch live: Jeffries holds weekly press conference

“It’s just the fiercest legal tug-of-war between two titans in our state that we have seen, maybe in our lifetimes,” said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida professor emerita and a prominent commentator on politics in the state. 

“There are no holds barred, and neither side is blinking.”

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

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Stanton won’t blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

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Stanton won't blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.

Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.

“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”

Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”

He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.

“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”

While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.

Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells were among the Yankees who used torpedo bats during their season-opening sweep of the Brewers.

Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.

Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.

“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”

Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.

“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.

“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”

As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.

“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”

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Rangers’ Eovaldi gets season’s 1st complete game

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Rangers' Eovaldi gets season's 1st complete game

CINCINNATI — Nathan Eovaldi pitched a four-hitter for the majors’ first complete game of the season, and the Texas Rangers blanked the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Eovaldi struck out eight and walked none in his fifth career complete game. The right-hander threw 99 pitches, 70 for strikes.

It was Eovaldi’s first shutout since April 29, 2023, against the Yankees and just the third of his career. He became the first Ranger with multiple career shutouts with no walks in the past 30 seasons, according to ESPN Research.

“I feel like, by the fifth or sixth inning, that my pitch count was down, and I feel like we had a really good game plan going into it,” Eovaldi said in his on-field postgame interview on Victory+. “I thought [Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka] called a great game. We were on the same page throughout the entire game.”

In the first inning, Wyatt Langford homered for Texas against Carson Spiers (0-1), and that proved to be all Eovaldi needed. A day after Cincinnati collected 14 hits in a 14-3 victory in the series opener, Eovaldi (1-0) silenced the lineup.

“We needed it, these bats are still quiet,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said of his starter’s outing. “It took a well-pitched game like that. What a game.”

The Reds put the tying run on second with two out in the ninth, but Eovaldi retired Elly De La Cruz on a grounder to first.

“He’s as good as I have seen as far as a pitcher performing under pressure,” Bochy said. “He is so good. He’s a pro out there. He wants to be out there.”

Eovaldi retired his first 12 batters, including five straight strikeouts during one stretch. Gavin Lux hit a leadoff single in the fifth for Cincinnati’s first baserunner.

“I think it was the first-pitch strikes,” Eovaldi said, when asked what made him so efficient. “But also, the off-speed pitches. I was able to get some quick outs, and I didn’t really have many deep counts. … And not walking guys helps.”

Spiers gave up three hits in six innings in his season debut. He struck out five and walked two for the Reds, who fell to 2-3.

The Rangers moved to 4-2, and Langford has been at the center of it all. He now has two home runs in six games to begin the season. In 2024, it took him until the 29th game of the season to homer for the first time. Langford hit 16 homers in 134 games last season during his rookie year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Politics

Planning reforms to ‘rewire the system’ and get Britain building – all while protecting wildlife

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Planning reforms to 'rewire the system' and get Britain building - all while protecting wildlife

Major developers will only deal with one regulator under planning reforms which ministers say will “rewire the system” to get Britain building – all while protecting the environment. 

A review by former Labour adviser Dan Corry into Britain’s sluggish system of green regulation has concluded that existing environmental regulators should remain in place, while rejecting a “bonfire of regulations”.

But Mr Corry suggested there might be circumstances in which the government look at changing the wildlife and habit rules inherited from the EU, which protect individual species.

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The government has now explicitly ruled out any such change in this parliament.

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Campaigners have questioned whether the changes go far enough and will make a major difference to the rate and scale of building in the UK.

Speaking to Sky News, Environment Secretary Steve Reed insisted that accepting nine of the recommendations from the Corry review would amount to wholesale reform.

The minister said: “We can get a win-win for economic growth and for nature. And that is why we are moving ahead with proposals such as appointing a lead regulator for major developments so that the developers don’t have to navigate the architecture of multiple regulators.

“They just work for a single regulator who manages all the others on their behalf. Simplifying the online planning portal.

“These are huge changes that will save developers billions of pounds and speed up decisions doing damage to the environment.”

Mr Reed insisted that there would be “no more bat tunnels” built, even though the Corry review suggests that more work needs to be done to look again at the relevant guidance.

It says: “Rapidly reviewing the existing catalogue of compliance guidance, including on protecting bats, will identify opportunities to remove duplication, ambiguity or inconsistency.

“Natural England has already agreed to review and update their advice to Local Planning Authorities on bats to ensure there is clear, proportionate and accessible advice available.”

The review will mean:

• Appointing one lead regulator for every major infrastructure project, like Heathrow expansion

• A review on how nature rules are implemented – but not the rules themselves

• Insisting regulators focus more on government priorities, particularly growth

Economist and former charity leader Mr Corry, who led the review, said it shows that “simply scrapping regulations isn’t the answer”.

“Instead we need modern, streamlined regulation that is easier for everyone to use. While short-term trade-offs may be needed, these reforms will ultimately deliver a win-win for both nature and economic growth in the longer run.”

However, Sam Richards from Britain Remade, a thinktank trying to get Britain growing, said that while the steps are welcome, the number of regulators that report to the environment department would remain the same before and after the review. He questioned whether this would have the impact ministers claimed.

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