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Ron DeSantis’ Florida
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Well viruses have a right to life too!
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Really interesting article in the Washington Post about the subtle but important shift away from ultra-conservative policies as voters and legislators push back in Florida. (Gift Link)
I think one important takeaway is that, even in states were there is solid GOP control, voters can -- and do -- have the ability to limit extremism. Undoubtedly, DeSantis screwed himself here, too, but it goes to show that when an extremist leader loses their glow, the blinders do tend to slip from their adherent's eyes. This legislative session dealt him a lot of failures, and he had to eat crow on the book bans.
Floridians also gathered enough signatures to get an abortion bill on the ballot.
Let's see if it drives more Dems to the polls, maybe even enough to rebalance the legislature.
I think one important takeaway is that, even in states were there is solid GOP control, voters can -- and do -- have the ability to limit extremism. Undoubtedly, DeSantis screwed himself here, too, but it goes to show that when an extremist leader loses their glow, the blinders do tend to slip from their adherent's eyes. This legislative session dealt him a lot of failures, and he had to eat crow on the book bans.
Floridians also gathered enough signatures to get an abortion bill on the ballot.
Let's see if it drives more Dems to the polls, maybe even enough to rebalance the legislature.
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Unimportant
No COVID yet. Still masking.
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I hold out hope that the Alabama (I think?) decision that zygotes are people and taking them out of the freezer is murder, leading the a temporary cessation of IVF services, has served as a hell of a wake-up call even for conservatives that these "pro life" decisions can have some pretty far ranging consequences. The leopards may indeed eat your face as well as the faces of the people you don't agree with.
(Next up: If it's okay to put an embryo in the freezer till you're ready to deal with it, and embryos are exactly the same as children, is it okay for me to put my children in the freezer until I'm ready to deal with them?)
(Next up: If it's okay to put an embryo in the freezer till you're ready to deal with it, and embryos are exactly the same as children, is it okay for me to put my children in the freezer until I'm ready to deal with them?)
... Far reaching consequences...
Like turning women into the broodmares of the state? Telling them their rights to their own body isn't as high a priority as keeping them barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen?
Hang 'em from a dead tree with a new rope. THAT's a consequence.
Thought we were past this shit decades ago.
Like turning women into the broodmares of the state? Telling them their rights to their own body isn't as high a priority as keeping them barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen?
Hang 'em from a dead tree with a new rope. THAT's a consequence.
Thought we were past this shit decades ago.
Oh, wow, I'm really excited I'm going to be there to vote on this and stick it to him (hopefully). Though FL has ignored the ballot box before. I can't remember the details, but it think it might have had to do with giving felons back their voting rights or something like that? Voters said yes and then the gov just kind of ignored it. (OK, yes, thanks google: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173786694/felon-voting-database-florida-registration-card-disclaimer)
So we'll see. But I am very motivated to help turn the tide back on some of the latest insanity. FL is always going to be a little nuts and messed up because of the retirees who come down and act selfish, but we could push a lot back.
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Especially those, evidently. The American Right is the best friend Sars-Cov-2 could ever have found.
Though the latest weird theory I've heard about Covid, and not just from folks on the Right, is that it's actually a virus that's been around for ages causing a mildly contagious cold or flu like illness, but once the virus was isolated, the evil US drug companies decided to amp it up so they could make a fortune selling vaccines. Even so, it's not really that bad because it only kills people who have the poor taste to be really old, or morbidly obese, or uncontrolled diabetes, or suppressed immune systems. And the vaccine actually makes people sicker when they get it anyway, because it weakens the body's ability to fight off the disease "naturally."
I've wondered about this myself.
Hope so. Though there are always going to be people who don't care much about the issue because they are either past getting pregnant themselves and have other priorities (some older people, of which FL has many) or they never could get pregnant in the first place (some men), or they couldn't imagine not wanting to be pregnant (some women).
You'd think older folks might be kind of scared of the GOP these days, though, given how hostile it is to medicare, Social Security etc. With all the news about how apathetic some voters are about the Democrats, though, it's worrying. It's like a lot of pro choice voters have already forgotten how hostile the GOP is to reproductive rights (not to mention quite a few others, like voting rights, marriage rights etc).
Well, they do to some extent. There are limits, at least, to how hard parents can kit their kids, and there are rules about providing kids with their basic needs etc. That's always the foot that's in the door wrt disagreements over where that line is, especially when the folks trying to hinder the rights of some parents are clutching their pearls over the "danger" exposure to some kinds of information or realities pose to children.
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I think a lot of these parents are overestimating the influence of schools and teachers on their children.
Way back in the day, I certainly knew kids who thought of school as merely some sort of holding tank until they would be set free to drink, drive, party and get real jobs that paid 'real money'.
Once they had the ability to read and write well enough to fill in an application form, they were just marking time.
I suspect that these days, it's much the same, except that the kids listen to social media more than their parents or their teachers.
Taking books out of school libraries, frex, only affects those kids who actually go in and read those books. A smaller number than you'd think.
Way back in the day, I certainly knew kids who thought of school as merely some sort of holding tank until they would be set free to drink, drive, party and get real jobs that paid 'real money'.
Once they had the ability to read and write well enough to fill in an application form, they were just marking time.
I suspect that these days, it's much the same, except that the kids listen to social media more than their parents or their teachers.
Taking books out of school libraries, frex, only affects those kids who actually go in and read those books. A smaller number than you'd think.
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It appears that some of DeSantis's "anti woke" movement is losing its head of steam.
This may be, of course, because he's essentially a gubernatorial lame duck and his Presidential bid is suspended. And a number of court decisions have tossed in some roadblocks for his anti-woke bill, "don't say gay" law and so on. Plus, Florida voters may have other concerns.
He's certainly been lower profile since dropping out of the race. Whether that's down to embarrassment or to a hope that if he keeps his head down and ring kisses, DJT might consider him as a running mate, who can say? He's a vicious little weasel, so I'm sure he's still plotting about his next move. National level politics again? He wasn't exactly popular in the House, even with his fellow Republicans.
Who is going to pick up the mantle as the next FL governor? Hard to see a Democrat winning once DeSantis's term is over (still more than two years away, sadly), and (even arguably) "sane" Republicans are rarer than pay phones these days.
This may be, of course, because he's essentially a gubernatorial lame duck and his Presidential bid is suspended. And a number of court decisions have tossed in some roadblocks for his anti-woke bill, "don't say gay" law and so on. Plus, Florida voters may have other concerns.
He's certainly been lower profile since dropping out of the race. Whether that's down to embarrassment or to a hope that if he keeps his head down and ring kisses, DJT might consider him as a running mate, who can say? He's a vicious little weasel, so I'm sure he's still plotting about his next move. National level politics again? He wasn't exactly popular in the House, even with his fellow Republicans.
Who is going to pick up the mantle as the next FL governor? Hard to see a Democrat winning once DeSantis's term is over (still more than two years away, sadly), and (even arguably) "sane" Republicans are rarer than pay phones these days.
From what I'm hearing about climate change, shouldn't Floridians be more worried about hurricanes and flooding (I believe they are one big 'low-lying area') than religio-political battles?
Elect an engineer, perhaps?
Priorities, people, priorities.
It's going to be 'Florida: where reptiles rule!' soon enough in either case.
Elect an engineer, perhaps?
Priorities, people, priorities.
It's going to be 'Florida: where reptiles rule!' soon enough in either case.
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Well, according to the article linked above, one concern is that Floridians' homeowners insurance is amongst the most prohibitively expensive in the country. Even if many aren't putting two and two together and realizing that climate change is a major culprit in this, they certainly want their government to do something about it.
Incidentally, this is an issue in CA too, at least for folks who live in high fire-risk areas (which are expanding), and with major insurance companies like State Farm pulling out and refusing to write new fire policies for anyone in the state. We have a program in CA where the state underwrites fire insurance for people who couldn't otherwise buy it on the open market, but it is expensive and rising every year. I don't know if FL even has anything similar for Hurricane damage. Hurricanes, of course, cause damage on various fronts including flood, wind etc. I don't know how insurance companies break down the damage a given policy covers when people make claims for homes/businesses damaged or destroyed by hurricanes.
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Yanno, actually I'm not sure I'm completely against that, if not for the reasons that DeSantis probably has for it.
This article makes some interesting points about the effects a phone (and continuously connected) childhood has had on people.
I don't agree with everything in said article (for one thing, I think the extreme sensitivity of young adults has many origins, and not all are terrible, in fact some may even hint at greater empathy, plus we live in a world where the price of failing at something is presented, at least, as far more consequential and door-closing than it once was). But cyber bullying is a big issue that probably has contributed to depression.
As a college teacher, I actually see a lot of good things about today's under thirties. They are more socially aware, justice focused, and overall they seem kinder and more caring and accepting of differences than my own generation was at their age, or even than the millennials were. But they also have a much harder time with studying and focusing overall. And depression rates are skyrocketing among teens and young adults. I think a lot of teens and young adults were feeling pretty isolated, even prior to the pandemic closures, and social media isn't helping with that, certainly.
But of course banning something doesn't usually address the underlying issue. We live in a connected society where new technologies and social media platforms come and go at an alarming rate, faster than legislative cycles can likely keep up. And the kid's gluing themselves to social media via their phones didn't occur in a vacuum. Somewhere in the eighties, around the time little lost kids started to appear on mild cartons, parents (and our social institutions) decided it was neglectful and abusive to let kids explore their neighborhoods, or to play outside unsupervised by adults, or even to be left home alone or under the supervision of a tween or teen sibling or babysitter. Small wonder tweens and teens flocked to social media as a means of connecting with peers they could no longer hang out with in person (and likely to claim some down time free from direct adult supervision).
How is a law like this even enforceable? Lying about one's age is already ubiquitous on social media. How can we recreate world where kids and teens actually have places to hang out and explore their worlds in person?
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They don't care about enforcing it. They know they will get the tech companies to comply in advance, just like they are in Utah and Texas and wherever else these draconian, unconstitutional measures are being enacted. The newest tactics of the Abortion Prohibition movement (bounties, travel restrictions, threats of criminal and civil legal action) are proving useful in many contexts.
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Meanwhile, Disney and DeSatan have reached a settlement but the House of Mouse has one more thing to worry about: its upcoming shareholders meeting.
DeSantis Bill signing: Best intentions, ignorant means.
Parents can do this and if they don't or can't the law is not going to get the job done. Support parents efforts, including teachers and child care workers.
This is a political stunt, don't be fooled.
Parents can do this and if they don't or can't the law is not going to get the job done. Support parents efforts, including teachers and child care workers.
This is a political stunt, don't be fooled.
So is in-person bullying.
Our daughter was bullied in school. Being able to find online friends was a big deal for her.
I was bullied in high school. If I’d had the ability to find online friends, it would’ve made a huge, positive impact on my life at that age.
Cyber-bullying online is a problem. Conspiracy theories online are a problem. Fraud online is a problem. I don’t think DeSantis cares a bit about reducing any of that. He cares about LGBTQ kids finding others to talk about their challenges, because he (like most of the GOP) likes having a marginalized group to bully.
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If anything good comes out of this - and I'm doubtful - it'll make us all realize that the "click here if you're 18" modal dialogues are nothing but theater.
DeSantis signs bill banning heat protection laws for outdoor workers
Not going to bother pulling an excerpt out. Too depressing.
Not going to bother pulling an excerpt out. Too depressing.
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This is what gets me about the right wing today. It's not just that they won't help people. It's that they're specifically outlawing helping people. "We're assholes, and we're going to force you to be assholes, too."
Empathy is dangerous to fascism. Hence the attempts to remove it from the public.