Continuing the previous post on the DeSantis-like rush to fascism, the following is just a partial list that I will add to for a while...a growing list of examples hitting the shit fan daily.
Imagine if we didn't have Gov. Evers...we'd be here.
1. John Oliver derails the DeSantis fascist train to authoritarianism, verbally of course. Must see...
The Don’t Say LGBTQ policies are part of a coordinated campaign by the DeSantis Administration. They are the epitome of the administration’s effort to wage culture wars against academic freedom, parental rights, and diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of a broader strategy to challenge the Governor’s former mentor Donald Trump for a presidential nomination. The Desantis Administration’s obsession with far-right Presidential primary voters are why we have seen one of the country’s largest state university systems subjected to a McCarthy-era witch hunt for equity and diversity programs and provision of transgender healthcare, sweeping censorship of books by Black and LGBTQ authors, doctors’ careers threatened for providing transgender Floridians life-saving healthcare, and even a complete far right take over of the New College of Florida. Florida stands in the midst of an unprecedented campaign of censorship and surveillance, targeting anyone who doesn’t share the increasingly extremist ideology of Governor Ron DeSantis.
2. Alaska State Rep. Eastman accidently discloses MAGAs cruel use of Children for Political Control: Like they really care.
State Rep. David Eastman (R-Wasilla) faced criticism from ... the House Judiciary Committee, which featured a presentation from experts on adverse childhood experiences. In response to a statistic that listed the lifetime cost of fatal child abuse at $1.5 million per victim, Eastman referred to a counterargument that the death of abused children is “actually a benefit to society.”“It can be argued, periodically, that [fatal child abuse is] actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and need based on growing up in this type of environment,” he said.
After his crazy comment featured below, another Representative came up with this doozy as a defense...:
"One of the arguments for abortion has been that it’s better to terminate that child’s life before they become a burden to society.”Noooo...not familiar with that one.
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3. MAGA's Abandon "Academic Freedom" for political takeover of Liberal Arts Colleges: We're all familiar with this...
DeSantis replaced six of the 13 members on the college’s board of trustees with conservative allies, including Christopher Rufo, who has fueled the fight against critical race theory.
...which predictably grew into this lunacy...
A similar plan didn't turn out well in Idaho...
Trustees backed by the Kootenai County GOP took over the governing majority of North Idaho College and denounced alleged liberal "indoctrination" by the faculty and vowed to root out "deep state" corruption in the school administration, but their leadership resulted in lawsuits from two of the past five school presidents and Moody's downgraded their debt over “significant governance and management dysfunction," reported the New York Times. GOP activists set their sights on the college after its diversity council issued a statement of support for social justice demonstrations after the police killing of George Floyd.NO KIDDING: DeSantis takes over State Education: H.B. 999 is “laden with unconstitutional provisions hostile to freedom of expression and academic freedom.”
Former college president Rick MacLennan said the school was a warning to other institutions facing partisan attacks and hostile takeovers by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican leaders.
Last fall, I attended the National Conservatism Conference, where the attendees laid out rather plainly their ambition to turn DeSantis into a model for a ruthless, illiberal party that would use the organs of the state to crush its enemies. Since those pieces appeared, DeSantis’s actions have made me more, not less, concerned.
While the board handles infrastructure and maintenance, DeSantis boasted that it could use its leverage to force Disney to stop “trying to inject woke ideology” on children.5. LGBTQ Discrimination now Legal in Alaska: Quietly reversed...
“When you lose your way, you’ve got to have people that are going to tell you the truth,” DeSantis proclaimed. “But I think all of these board members very much would like to see the type of entertainment that all families can appreciate.”
It is worth pausing a moment to grasp the full breadth of what is going on here. First, DeSantis established the principle that he can and will use the power of the state to punish private firms that exercise their First Amendment right to criticize his positions. Now he is promising to continue exerting state power to pressure the firm to produce content that comports with his own ideological agenda.
It published new guidelines in 2021 saying Alaska’s LGBTQ protections now extended beyond the workplace to housing, government practices, finance and “public accommodation.” It updated the website ... a “sea change under Alaska law for LGBTQ+ individuals’ rights to be free from discrimination.”
But a year later, the commission quietly reversed that position. It deleted language from the state website promising equal protections for transgender and gay Alaskans against most categories of discrimination, and it began refusing to investigate complaints. Only employment-related complaints would now be accepted, and investigators dropped any non-employment LGBTQ civil rights cases they had been working on.
6. And because I think it needs to be said and repeated often:
7. Anyone hurt by Drag Shows? Drag Shows; normal, sometime outrageous, so what's the harm? As I've stated many times, I always go back to the original intent of Republican bills, because it exposes what they're thinking:
Republican lawmakers are intensifying their ongoing, all-out assault on trans existence. More than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were either passed or introduced in 2022, the majority taking aim at trans youth through health care bans, sports team restrictions, and bathroom bills, and removing Medicaid coverage for trans adults’ health care too. Meanwhile, drag performances, particularly family-friendly drag brunches and drag queen story hours at libraries, have become a focal point of histrionic Republican rhetoric and far-right militia attacks. With obsessive ferocity, the right is attempting to criminalize, harass, and legislate gender nonconformity out of existence. A bill moving at pace through the Arkansas legislature, for example, would constitute a ban on all trans adults using bathrooms in public.8. Drag Show Legislative Circus: The best argument yet...
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