#The Washington Post

[contemplatingoutlander]

DeSantis faces pushback in Florida as voters tire of war on woke

It's about time that Florida citizens started to push back against DeSantis's far-right "anti-woke" agenda.

The bill banning rainbow flags from public buildings in Florida sounded like a sure bet. State Rep. David Borrero (R), the legislation’s sponsor, argued that it was needed to prevent schoolchildren from being “subliminally indoctrinated.” That rationale echoed other measures championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as part of his “war on woke.” But instead of sailing through the Republican-dominated legislature, the DeSantis-backed bill died a quick legislative death, making it only as far as one subcommittee. It wasn’t the only culture war proposal from conservative lawmakers to end up in the bill graveyard during the session that ended Friday. One rejected bill would have banned the removal of Confederate monuments. Another would have required transgender people to use their sex assigned at birth on driver's licenses — something the state Department of Motor Vehicles is already mandating. A third proposed forbidding local and state government officials from using transgender people’s pronouns. Some of those ideas have come up in the past and may surface again next year. But the fact that the bills failed, even with public support from DeSantis, marks a change from the days when the GOP supermajority in Tallahassee passed nearly everything the governor asked for. [...] But the pushback is growing. Parents and others have organized and protested schoolbook bans. Abortion rights advocates gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot in Florida in November. A bill that would have established “fetal personhood” stalled before it could reach a full vote. Judges are also canceling some of DeSantis’s marquee laws, including the “Stop Woke Act.” A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled Monday that the law “exceeds the bounds” of the Constitution’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression.

#florida #anti-woke laws #ron desantis #pushback #right-wing florida legislature went too far #lori rozsa #the washington post

[i-am-aprl]

✍️ George Orwell wrote 70 years ago that modern political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.

When it comes to the media’s coverage of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, unfortunately there is a lot of modern political language masquerading as journalism aimed to perpetuate the status quo.

The language is designed to rob the oppressed of their very struggle for dignity.

Having worked with many of these news organizations, I know this pattern all too well, a pattern that dates back decades, and that aims to dehumanize Palestinians and absolve Israel of any accountability for the countless crimes they commit on a daily basis.

These news organizations intentionally obfuscate facts and erase fundamental context to shield Israel from facing consequences for the crimes of collective punishment, ethnic-cleansing, apartheid and occupation, protecting the racist and rogue zionist state.

Their complicity is as obscene as it is obvious and I can assure you that they know exactly what they are doing.

#media #propaganda #palestine #gaza #free palestine #bbc #israel #jerusalem #i stand with palestine #فلسطين #free gaza #israel is a terrorist state #israeli war crimes #israelis are war criminals #israelis are terrorists #israel is committing genocide #israeli terrorism #israel is an apartheid state #israel is a war criminal #israel is evil #new york times #the washington post #reuters #cnn #al jazeera

[2bpoliticallycurious]

History repeats | Michael de Adder

#black history #censorship #history repeats #gop #michael de adder #the washington post #cartoon

[chernobog13]

What The Washington Post said.

#Godzilla Minus One #Godzilla #kaiju #Toho #The Washington Post

[thoughtportal]

#twitter #tweet #tweets #aaron bushnell #the washington post #war crimes

[madame-helen]

#meme #memes #shitposting #shitpost #humor #facts #funny memes #funny humor #funny #media #journalism #propaganda #abc #nbc #cnn #fox news #the washington post #the new york times #satire #irony

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

George W. Bush, the infamously anti-gay and neoconservative former U.S. president who invaded Iraq on a lie, has criticized congressional Republicans for threatening to defund the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a largely successful African HIV-prevention program that he launched back in 2003. “There is no program more pro-life” than PEPFAR, he wrote.

Though PEPFAR is estimated to have saved over 25 million lives, its funding is set to expire on September 30. Congressional Republicans are falsely claiming that the program promotes abortion and using its re-funding as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations. Republicans have threatened to defund the entire federal government at the end of the month unless they’re allowed to slash military diversity programs and military aid to Ukraine and to increase anti-immigration measures at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We are on the verge of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To abandon our commitment now would forfeit two decades of unimaginable progress and raise further questions about the worth of America’s word,” Bush wrote in a Wednesday opinion article in The Washington Post.

Bush said that his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, his White House chief of staff Joshua Bolton, and his senior policy advisor Michael Gerson had advised him to begin PEPFAR. Gerson reportedly told Bush that it would be “a source of national shame” if the U.S. didn’t try to help end the worldwide HIV epidemic.

Bush’s opinion article cited words that Gerson himself had written in defense of PEPFAR in November 2017: “Are Republicans in Congress prepared to squander a legacy of GOP leadership that has won the United States considerable goodwill around the world? Among evangelical Christians, what definition of being ‘pro-life’ does not include saving millions of lives from preventable disease and death?”

Adding his own thoughts, Bush wrote, “There is no program more pro-life than one which has saved more than 25 million lives. I urge Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR for another five years without delay.”

During his presidency, Bush backed a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, and used bans on same-sex marriage to help him win re-election in 2004. While he served, 27 states banned same-sex marriage.

Despite Bush’s anti-gay record, PEPFAR was “a sound investment in U.S. security,” Ben Plumley, the former CEO of the now-defunct international HIV organization Pangea, said in a now-deleted interview with Hornet.com. Plumley said the program “generated very significant goodwill towards the United States” and countered “the spread of radical Islam or radical anti-Western attitudes in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Plumley also noted that most HIV transmissions in sub-Saharan Africa are heterosexual, meaning that conservative Republicans could support PEPFAR without worrying about seeming too overtly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.

#us politics #news #lgbtq nation #2023 #republicans #conservatives #president george w. bush #U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief #pepfar #hiv/aids #hiv/aids epidemic #africa #world politics #the washington post #Condoleezza Rice #Joshua Bolton #Michael Gerson #Ben Plumley #bush administration #Hornet.com #us congress #congressional Republicans

[taylorz-nicholasg]

What a lovely photo shoot to wake up to

📸 by Sean Scheidt

#nicholas galitzine #the Washington post #April 15th

[vyorei]

Well that's interesting

#free gaza #free palestine #gaza strip #irish solidarity with palestine #palestine #gaza #news on gaza #al jazeera #boycott israel #israel #Reuters #USA #The Washington Post #Hamas #benjamin netanyahu

[thesobsister]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/15/american-library-association-book-bans/

Just a reminder: Conservatives prefer the electorate to be ignorant, to lack analytical and reasoning skills, to have access to no other perspectives than those produced by the party and its right-wing media.

It's not about drag queen shows or unisex bathrooms or My Two Dads. It's about the GOP's using the pretext of wedge issues to create an ignorant mass that it can manipulate across the full range of economic, social and political issues at the city, county, state, and federal levels.

That's it.

(Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) shows the audience his motivation for his entire political career.)

#conservatives #the washington post #politics #censorship without censorship #plus bookburnings present such unfavorable optics #the stupidification of america #brought to you by the grand old party #but her emails!

[contemplatingoutlander]

Apocalyptic rhetoric is just as dangerous as the violent kind

Paul Waldman is absolutely correct about how the Republican's "apocalyptic rhetoric" about the Democrats could ultimately lead to violence just as much as the violent rhetoric. The GOP frames Democrats now as deliberately wanting to "destroy" America. (Ironically, it is the GOP who have turned toward autocracy and seem determined on establishing one party rule at all costs. This suggests that once again, Republicans are projecting onto Democrats.)

“I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to a crowd of Donald Trump’s supporters at the Iowa State Fair this past weekend while the former president looked on approvingly. Gaetz then added: “Only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C.” The second part of that statement made headlines, as it’s not every day that a member of Congress advocates “force” to achieve political goals. But the first part ought to be just as troubling, because the two parts operate together. The idea that our opponents are purposely attempting to lay waste to America is often the justification for all kinds of radical action — violence very much included. Barely a day goes by without prominent Republicans repeating that claim. Trump regularly says his political opponents will “destroy the country,” or have already nearly destroyed it. It’s a staple of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s rhetoric. “If woke ideology takes over, it will destroy this country,” DeSantis says. If President Biden is reelected, the governor insists, “the left is gonna absolutely destroy this country.” [...] Yes, liberals have made dire warnings about a second Trump presidency. But that’s unique to Trump, who actually tried to overturn a lawful election and retain power, and last year called for the “termination” of the Constitution. So the assertion that if he became president it could mean the end of democracy is at least not too far-fetched.* The talk of the United States ending its run some time in the next few years because Democrats passed some modest expansion of health coverage or kept pushing for a transition to green energy, on the other hand, is bonkers. Yet, unlike other kinds of rhetorical calls to extremism, we don’t police it at all. Journalists tend to be very attuned to hints of political violence. When a candidate says he wants to start “slitting throats” in the federal government, as DeSantis recently did, we condemn it and explore its troubling implications. We press Republican contenders to admit that Biden fairly won the 2020 election and to repudiate the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. In contrast, we treat partisan apocalyptic rhetoric as mere hyperbole. But it’s the premise that turns anger into action. If you actually believed your opponents were literally trying to destroy your country, what wouldn’t be justified? Threatening election officials? Storming the Capitol? Assassinations? You might protest that Republican politicians don’t really believe this talk. But clearly, many of their supporters do. Which is no surprise given how often they’re told that it’s true. [...] Any rational Republican knows the truth about the next election: If Biden wins, it will mean nothing more than four years of policies they don’t like. That will be deeply unpleasant for them. But it won’t mean the end of America, and they shouldn’t be allowed to say so without challenge. We ought to treat apocalyptic rhetoric just like we treat violent rhetoric: Take note of it, condemn it, challenge candidates to defend it, and explain the threat it poses. Why? Because many of the voters who are listening think the Republicans spinning out wild tales of America’s imminent destruction mean what they say. [emphasis added]

____________ *In my opinion it isn't just Trump, many on the left have legitimate concerns about extreme right-wing Republicans like DeSantis and white Christian nationalists who seem to want autocracy/ one-party rule because they have either said and/or shown that they do.

#republicans #apocalyptic rhetoric #gop lies about democrats can indirectly lead to violence #donald trump #paul waldman #the washington post

[2bpoliticallycurious]

FINALLY: Trump Is Indicted in Documents Case

Thank goodness for Jack Smith! Finally, Trump might be brought to justice!

According to The New York Times:

Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to face federal charges. The Justice Department took the legally and politically momentous step of lodging federal criminal charges against former President Donald J. Trump, multiple people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The charges follow a lengthy investigation of his handling of classified documents that he took with him upon leaving office and into whether he obstructed the government’s efforts to reclaim them. The indictment, filed in Federal District Court in Miami, is the first time in American history a former president has faced federal charges. [...] Mr. Trump was charged with a total of seven counts, including willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and an obstruction of justice conspiracy, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump is expected to surrender himself to authorities in Miami on Tuesday, according to a person close to him and his own post on Truth Social. The indictment, filed by the office of the special counsel Jack Smith, came about two months after local prosecutors in New York filed more than 30 felony charges against Mr. Trump in a case connected to a hush money payment to a porn star in advance of the 2016 election.

#trump #indictment #documents case #jack smith #the new york times #the washington post

[perpetually-profoundly-confused]

Did you guys know b dylan hollis got a newspaper article written about him

#sorry for the poor picture quality #i guess they'll write about anything at this point #good for him though #b dylan hollis #cooking #tiktok #newspaper #baking #the washington post

[krispyweiss]

Neil Young: Ex-X User

- “We are stopping all use of X that we can control,” musician says in wake of Elon Musk’s antisemitism

Neil Young to X, formerly known as Twitter: It’s over.

Young is leaving the social-media platform after owner Elon Musk broadcast his agreement with an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

“We are stopping all use of X that we can control,” Young wrote on his website. “For reasons that should be obvious to the richest man on Earth, we are taking this action against his company.”

Young joins Sound Bites and a slew of big advertisers - including IBM, Apple, Lionsgate, Disney, Comcast and others, per The Washington Post - who have fled the network in the wake of Musk’s offensive tweet and rising hate speech on the former Twitter since Musk’s takeover.

In the meantime, Young is hoping people can leave historical grievances behind and focus on a peaceful future.

“For our many Palestinian friends and our many Jewish friends, we do need to start over in the present and release our terrible connections to the past,” he wrote.

“As bad as they are, they need to be forgotten so we can be free to move on in life together, all humanity, focused on saving our planet for future generations of all people.”

11/21/23

#neil young #ibm #apple #lionsgate #disney #comcast #the washington post

[madame-helen]

#meme #memes #shitpost #shitposting #humor #funny #lol #satire #funny memes #funny humor #funny meme #amazon #jeff bezos #the washington post #news #irony #joke #parody

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The alleged presidential campaign of Ron (Three-Fingers) DeSantis is having so much trouble gaining altitude that you'd think Elon Musk were behind it. (Too soon? Don't care.) He seems to be extraordinarily unlikable, but he makes up for it by proposing policies that are extraordinarily unpopular. He has picked a fight with Mickey Mouse. But there's another devil in the unpleasant details of the DeSantis CV. From the Washington Post:

Hundreds of “enemy combatants,” held without charges, had gone on hunger strikes. As pressure grew to end the protests, DeSantis later said, he was part of a team of military lawyers asked what could be done.

“How do I combat this?” a commanding officer asked in 2006, as DeSantis recalled in an interview he gave years later to a local CBS television station. “Hey, you actually can force-feed,” DeSantis said he responded in his role as a legal adviser. “Here’s what you can do. Here’s kind of the rules for that.” Ultimately, it was the Pentagon’s decision to authorize force-feeding. Detainees were strapped into a chair and a lubricated tube was stuffed down their nose so a nurse could pour down two cans of a protein drink, according to military records.

Force-feeding is torture. Among other things, it is a stench in the history of England in Ireland going back centuries. There are no "rules" that make it less so. Only alibis.

The Post's story came out in March. As far as I can tell, it got buried in all the other stories about DeSantis' fight with Disney and about the dysfunction in his campaign. But it's now sprung back to life. DeSantis is in Israel, pretending he's a world leader. At a press availability, a reporter dogged him about his work at Guantanamo. Whereupon, DeSantis blew his cork. From The Hill:

“No, no, all that’s BS,” DeSantis told reporters at a press conference in Jerusalem. “No, totally, totally BS...How would they know me? OK, think about that. Do you honestly believe that’s credible? So, this is 2006. I’m a junior officer. Do you honestly think that they would have remembered me from Adam? Of course not.”

“They’re just trying to get into the news because they know people like you will consume it because it fits your preordained narrative that you’re trying to spin. Focus on the facts and stop worrying about narrative.”

"Narrative" is one of the newest conjuring words that conservative politicians use to obscure the obvious. And the only "pre-ordained narrative" I'm aware of concerning DeSantis is that he's a not-very-bright lightweight who's punching way above his weight class and who's running the 1962 Mets of presidential campaigns. This Gitmo business is way beyond both of those.

Mansoor Adayfi, a former Guantanamo detainee, alleged in an Al-Jazeera op-ed earlier this month that DeSantis was present when he was force-fed during an effort to break a hunger strike at the prison. Many international groups have said force-feeding amounts to torture. “As I tried to break free, I noticed DeSantis’s handsome face among the crowd at the other side of the chain link. He was watching me struggle. He was smiling and laughing with other officers as I screamed in pain,” Adayfi said in the op-ed.

He's going to need a better answer than "Narrative!" for this one. It would be a very sad irony if the only American politician to suffer politically for the torture regime created in 2001 were Ronald DeSantis, as a potential presidential candidate in 2023. History has some formidable teeth.

#us politics #news #esquire #2023 #gov. ron desantis #florida #2024 elections #2024 presidential election #2024 presidential race #guantanamo bay #forced feeding #the washington post #the hill #torture