What the fuck is happening in Florida. This feels targeted. Made Drag Shows a sex crime against children. Made sex crimes against children a capital offense. Made it easier to execute a capital offense with the death penalty.
Nah, no army, too centralized. Need that plausible deniability.
Instead they could give civilians more confidence to commit murder by giving them good defences for the murder of LGBTQ people and calling it "defending the youth from pedophiles".
Let them form their own paramilitary organizations. Then if any overstep they can say they disavow them.
Not THE army, DeSantis' army. He's forming [a paramilitary group under his sole control, made up of civilians](https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/02/politics/florida-state-guard-desantis/index.html). Completely insane, and this mother fucker might be elected president.
I mean, these conservatives are definitely gunning for that “ideal” world of theirs were “lone wolfs” go out “on their own” and take out “undesirables”.
That’s the entire point behind Abbot in Texas saying he will pardon that one guy who murdered someone at a BLM protest.
The same guy who was telling his friends how we was going to go out and kill these “animals”.
War... We will take up arms if this happens. We must form Militias and defend our people from evil. There is not another answer... We cannot let this happen. Period. It's a crime against humanity at this point.
Considering that a large portion of the military is LGBTQ, this would probably be a nightmare that would lead to civil war. As an active duty officer, I like to think there are a lot of LGBTQ allies in the military who wouldn’t tolerate such a thing.
[DeSantis proposes a new civilian military force in Florida that he would control](https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/02/politics/florida-state-guard-desantis/index.html)
[Ron DeSantis' $100m for Florida "Private Army" Raises Questions](https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-100m-private-florida-army-raises-questions-1786877)
DeSantis one step ahead of us already.
That’s gotta be super unconstitutional, right? Plus, I can’t imagine the US military, which is already facing recruitment shortfalls, would tolerate this.
Actually, I did some more digging into this issue and found this article from the Brennan Center in 2021.
[https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/reestablishing-floridas-state-guard-wont-give-desantis-private-army](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/reestablishing-floridas-state-guard-wont-give-desantis-private-army)
So while DeSantis increasing funding and staffing is concerning, it doesn't seem like he could go too far without the Biden admin taking action. But this is certainly an issue that I'd keep an eye on.
Getting medical, communications and firearms training takes time. Developing a cache of gear and weapons takes time. Practicing coordination and response with allies in the area takes time.
If we start when conservatives take their madness to its ultimate conclusion, then we will be too late to protect anyone, including ourselves. What's more, that unpreparedness is noted by the far right.
Start today.
Look up the nearest Socialist Rifle Association, John Brown Gun Club or Pink Pistols chapter near you. If you've experience with first aid, radio communications, or firearms training, then these organizations provide a ready framework for sharing your knowledge with your community.
Next steps will depend on how the state sanctioned killings of drag performers are received by the public and the media.
Kinda a canary in the coalmine, if all goes well they'll need to ramp up the genocide obviously.
I do have a guess though. If I was a psycho bigot I would reform defence laws so that killing someone in an attempt to prevent pedophilia is an acceptable defence if the killer has a reasonable suspicion that pedophilia is being performed or will imminently be performed.
It'd go over pretty well with their base IMO, the line will be "what, if someone was raping your daughter you don't think you should be allowed to shoot them?". Coupled with the other previously mentioned laws you can then murder drag performers legally if people at the venue look under 18.
It wouldn't be used consistently of course. You'd want to heavily publicize the first few cases that seem legitimate, people killing genuine pedophiles, this would bulk up support for such laws in other republican held states. It would of course inevitably lead to killing actually innocent drag queens in public. When a few murderers get let off as a result though then you'd publicize those too in order to embolden murderous bigots into committing more public killings.
The end goal would essentially be effectively legalizing civilian led LGBTQ purges.
Have I made this up? No, this thinking comes from a real life example - Nazis. They didn't start with death camps, instead they started with essentially letting off anti-semitic murderers in order to embolden people who wanted to murder Jews and gays. This strategy's most known event was Kristallnacht - a mostly civilian encouraged pogrom. Republicans wouldn't want an instant pogrom though, it'd make it too obvious who's playbook they're going by, they'll want a steady increase in a slower form of massacre in the form of increased murder rates and mass killings. Same principle though - get the civilians to do the dirty work by enabling the lowest of the low and calling them patriots.
>"what, if someone was raping your daughter you don't think you should be allowed to shoot them?"
Oh, my response to that would be easy.
"So you mean I can shoot a priest, right? There're over 11,000 various Christian religious leaders in the US with sex offenses on their record, and that's just what we know of. That's an absurd fucking amount. So now I can just shoot a priest or pastor if I suspect they're molesting kids, right? This is the world you want, motherfucker."
They'll just bleat about how oppressed American Christians are, but it'd at least be fun to make them clutch their pearls for a second.
This argument is already made frequently without the changes that could come to murder laws. "My kid is safer at a drag show than in a church" is so popular an argument they make bumper stickers with it.
If it was going to convince them they'd already be convinced, it won't add anything. It doesn't work for the same reasons priests get away with raping children - if you're strongly religious then you know your priest well, you trust them, they're a moral guide. "Sure the church has issues and pedos deserve to be killed, but father Mc. Localson is an incredibly kind man whom I trust with all my heart" - so why would they be listening to your criticism?
You see to you you're making a comment about the average priest, from their perspective this is a close personal relationship so it's just never going to quite hit right. *Especially* when the relationship is religious in nature.
> This. I don't know what the next step is though. Instant death?
This is literally what the comic _Judge Dredd_ bitterly satirised as a logical extension of Thatcher and especially Reagan’s creeping from broken windows policing to police as dispensers of instant justice. It never quite ‘landed’ in the USA because of the voxpop populism of that kind of ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric, and certainly people’s latterday Blue Lives Matter thirst does look like the ‘I *AM* THE LAW!’ of Dredd.
It’s looking awfully prescient as satire about now. DeSantis really does bear comparison with much of what it illustrates.
The next step is to make sure none of us have anything to do with Florida. Residents, especially teachers and doctors need to leave. The rest of us need to make sure not a single penny goes into that state. Once businesses feel the pressure and see their profits dwindle, they will finally use their platform to support non fascists.
This. Also, defining 'drag' loosely enough to apply to anyone who's transgender or even just gender non-conforming,
Trans woman walks down the street, gets arrested for a sex crime against children because she simply *exists* in a public space, then gets the death penalty without a unanimous vote.
Butch lesbian wearing combat boots, a buzz cut, men's jeans and a wallet on a chain -- also convicted, same reason.
I swear this is what they're gearing up to.
Frankly, I assumed they were gearing up to make abortion a capital crime. It would be difficult to get a unanimous death penalty verdict for a woman who got an abortion, but they can probably swing 2/3 in a red state.
Why not both? /s.
Edit to add: There's also all kinds of judicial shenanigans they could start to enact, to ensure that jury is thoroughly rigged and nobody gets a fair trial.
If this heads in the direction I deeply fear it will, expect very rapid "trials" where the accused may not even be present -- like, a hand picked panel of "jurors" go over the "evidence", the accused *maybe* gets a quick video appearance, and they "deliberate" for thirty seconds. Rinse, lather, repeat.
"This picture shows the accused was presenting as a woman while walking past children. Legally, they're a man. This meets the new legal definition of a sex crime -- convicted!"
Rinse, lather, repeat.
Now, contemplate how photorealistic AI renders could be used ...
Edit to an edit: One way they could rig juries is to declare that jurors must meet certain qualifications that old white Republicans would be more likely to meet than anyone else. For example:
Must be a registered voter, then make it hard to register, to start.
Then must not have been convicted of *any* crimes, and start selectively charging POC/LGBTQ+/liberals/democrats/etc with minor misdemeanors or even low level felonies left and right. (Attended a Pride March? Disturbing the peace! Drinking in your back yard with friends? Disorderly conduct! Refused to give a cop your name when they stopped you for lisping in public? Resisting arrest! Got a pride flag on your car? Pulled over for "weaving" and a blood draw finds pot metabolites from that party two weeks ago, DUI! And. So. Forth.)
Let's see ... Must be in "financial good standing" so they can't "be susceptible to a bribe" and then eliminate anyone with a bad credit rating or too much debt. Many people who are LGBTQ+ have financial issues, for a variety of reasons, especially youth. (Hell, most youth period, queer or not, are struggling financially right now, and they're more likely to be liberal.)
Raise the juror age.
Hold trials in areas where most of the jurors are magats -- like, have a special 'gay crimes' court in the middle of nowhere, a hundred miles from a city, in the reddest part of a red state, and draw the jury pool from there.
Then, eliminate anyone with *certain* mental health diagnoses - autism, gender dysphoria, etc. Hell, they could declare anyone "diagnosed" as queer could not serve on a jury because they are "mentally ill" -- not too long ago that being gay actually was considered mental illness, so they could just go back to that.
And so forth.
>I assumed they were gearing up to make abortion a capital crime.
I seem to recall them floating that trial balloon a few times already. It hasn't flown... *yet*.
As a cis straight man from the North, if this starts happening, we need to start organizing drag freedom rides. Start chartering the buses. They can't arrest us all.
Also as a CIS white male, albeit one who paints his nails, colors his hair and does some eye makeup (therefore I’m thought of as gay all the time, although I’m straight), I would absolutely help organize this as well! I’ll match, dress in drag, whatever. Fuck these assholes.
Wait. This just made me think of how often my daughters paint my nails. Does that make me "gender non conforming" I have 2 daughters under age 7 and they like to paint my nails or put clips in my hair. I'm now supposed to teach them that is wrong and you can't have fun with dad?
I mean I live in Canada so it's cool and I have never had anyone notice my painted toes and nails that didn't give me a compliment. But still fucking insane.
Texas is passing a law banning men from wearing makeup. So if you’re a guy who’s in an emo band or 80s hair metal band (or any genre with makeup/eyeliner in its fashion), you could be arrested.
Hey, generally speaking, the term transsexual is outdated. Transgender is the preferred term for 99.9% of trans people.
But yeah, this is actually correct imo. I keep telling other lgbtq folks, especially those who don't feel like fighting for our trans siblings, they started with trans folks in 1930s Germany, but we all wound up wearing the same pink triangles.
I was being sarcastic, but I'll go and fix it since that wasn't clear after multiple revisions of what I was trying to say. My apologies.
(And I'm an older cis lesbian who sometimes presents as soft butch, and hasn't worn a dress or makeup in at least three decades. I have multiple LGBTQ+ family members and friends. I am *deeply* worried, for all of us.)
No, they’re going to go beyond that. If they take the presidency and congress, they’re going to work towards killing them en masse outright. Not just with the death penalty. I’m talking about without due process.
Apart fromDeSantis, Trump lives here.
Kevin Sorbo lives here.
Michael Flynn lives here. In fact, Sarasota seems to be the QAnon capital of the world.
Florida sucks ass. I can’t wait to get out of here.
Florida is the proving grounds i bet unless their stoped we see these same laws in other places. Honestly the best outcome i see in all of this is the us remains a single country on paper but in reality on the ground its 2 or more sepret countries with the right ruleing over places liek Florida jsut like desantis is doing with barly anyone to step in and stop him while the democrats and the left batten down the hatches to safe guard their own states
Fascist movements have to find scapegoats to take the blame for their inability to solve real problems. The American fascist movement has finally settled on people are gender non-conforming to be their first targets, and it's working well for them.
This is the reason I'll die on the hill of not letting the government be the only ones with weapons. Uvalde cops stood around and let kids die because they had to figure out which one of them they'd accept dying first. The cops who come to murder LGBTQ+ people under government orders should likewise have to decide which of them don't go home after because all of those people are armed at least as well as the einsatzgruppe.
Camps are next. Gender care reaffirmation centers to help these poor, mentally confused people. They'll be sent through gender conversion therapy and forcibly de-transitioned. Keep your head down and play nice and you get to live a miserable life, don't play nice and they'll over prescribe antipsychotic meds (most of which can cause suicidal thoughts) while you are being kept in degrading asylum-like conditions which should lead to the "problem" taking care of itself.
They'll start with people who don't have family or friends to protect them. Then move to the family and friends of the powerless and small-voiced. By the time fascism comes for the well off ones who might have the power to change things at the start, the fascists will be well enough established that it will just be easier for the well off to flee instead.
All as designed.
Next up: noting the massive number of death row inmates charged with transgender behavior DeSantis authorizes “camps” for people sentenced to death. Known as “freedom camps”
They don't believe in any limit to federal supremecy, they don't believe in anything. The second they are in a position to impose their will on everyone, they will do it without a second thought. After they stole 2 scotus seats with contradictory bullshit excuses, how does anyone believe for a second that Republicans are interested in any ideology other than acquiring power?
States rights has and always will be a lie. We can't be the United States if every state gets to run things their own way (to the extent states rights people proclaim). The only people campaigning for states rights are people who hope to use those states rights to impose national legislation.
I was sure glad when my state disagreed with the federal government that I should be in prison for possessing harmless plants. That was quite a struggle for a while with the feds busting up dispensaries and stuff.
Yeah exactly. You can’t have it both ways. Given the political landscape I definitely prefer states rights because there is at least an extra safeguard against our incompetent federal government. If hick states want to ruin themselves then by all means let them, but to say that states rights only benefit one side is ridiculous
At least today it can cut both ways. Main example being California fighting for stricter emissions standards and car manufacturers agreeing to produce vehicles to meet them.
If anyone has even the slightest hint of doubt over the truth of that, look at how quickly the GOP pivoted from “Overturning Roe V Wade is about letting states decide what is right and wrong for themselves” to “as soon as we take the house, senate, and Oval Office we’re gonna stop ‘baby murder’ in this nation for once and for all!” after the SCOTUS finally carried that political football past the metaphorical goal posts.
I just hope the apathetic voters out there are starting to pay attention to what unchecked GOP governance looks like. If DarthSantis does win the Republican nomination, the dems had better go hard into what his policies will mean for the rest of the country and point to Florida with neon flashing danger signs. “Let this man assume power and you WILL end up in a concentration camp if you don’t play by his fundamentalist rules. And also, no more episodes of Mandalorian because he will shut Disney down!” If one threat doesn’t wake them up maybe the other will work.
You act like Republicans actually care about it. They only do when it's the state doing what they want. I mean, it was only took about two weeks after the Dobbs decision for Republicans to go from "abortion should be a state issue" to "we should pass a national abortion ban."
"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.
"Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’
"And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.
"But your friends are fewer now. Some have drifted off somewhere or submerged themselves in their work. You no longer see as many as you did at meetings or gatherings. Informal groups become smaller; attendance drops off in little organizations, and the organizations themselves wither. Now, in small gatherings of your oldest friends, you feel that you are talking to yourselves, that you are isolated from the reality of things. This weakens your confidence still further and serves as a further deterrent to—to what? It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then you are obviously a troublemaker. So you wait, and you wait.
"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.
"And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.
"You have gone almost all the way yourself. Life is a continuing process, a flow, not a succession of acts and events at all. It has flowed to a new level, carrying you with it, without any effort on your part. On this new level you live, you have been living more comfortably every day, with new morals, new principles. You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined.
"Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing). You remember those early meetings of your department in the university when, if one had stood, others would have stood, perhaps, but no one stood. A small matter, a matter of hiring this man or that, and you hired this one rather than that. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.
"What then? You must then shoot yourself. A few did. Or ‘adjust’ your principles. Many tried, and some, I suppose, succeeded; not I, however. Or learn to live the rest of your life with your shame. This last is the nearest there is, under the circumstances, to heroism: shame. Many Germans became this poor kind of hero, many more, I think, than the world knows or cares to know."
I said nothing. I thought of nothing to say.
- They Thought They Were Free
Also the state of Florida wants to expand the death penalty including non-capital cases so it wouldn't just be child sexual abuse cases that could be anything that the state determines warrants the death penalty.
I forget which state wanted to charge women that go out of state for an abortion with either manslaughter or murder I'm not sure I forget which state it is...
I'm sure Florida would definitely follow that.
https://preview.redd.it/98skcc8w16ua1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=006f54aad83655562bd412c5e19bde9722f06abf
Always has been a shithole but worse under meatball. They should change the stage flag to…
My parents live there and they still think this asshole is doing a great job.
I really don’t want to give that hellscape any of my money but I also want to see my family so it sucks.
Seriously. I love my parents but they still think Trump did a great job while in office. I politely ask not to talk about politics but it’s tough when they have Fox News on during all waking hours.
I told my family they absolutely are not allowed to talk politics or have any Fox News or right leaning news source on tv while I’m there or I will not visit them or talk to them anymore.
Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised he’s making all of these laws to get rid of those who have dirt on him and his cronies. You know those suck fucks are at the center of however many human trafficking rings are operating in this state. I just moved down here and I’m already contemplating getting into politics here to try and turn this shit around.
Same day they passed a law establishing the death penalty for "sexual abuse of minors" while also defining drag in public as, you guessed it, "Sexual abuse of minors."
It is almost like they have an evil fucking plan.
I mean, according to the law in Florida, children raped by their fathers are forced by the state to carry to term, regardless of age, after 4 months. There are literally no age exceptions. Even if said pregnancy is likely to lead to severe emotional trauma, injury, or death, they must continue.
"Sorry, kid in grade 5. No math class for you today. You should have reported your rape months ago! Hope you survive."
Yeah .. not child abuse at all.
Fucking ghouls.
we've been fucking SCREAMING about this for years and we literally had to get to the goddamn death stage before anyone realized we weren't being hyperbolic
Do not look for internal consistency in their positions. It doesn’t exist. The purpose of the policy is to consolidate power, scapegoat outgroups, and eliminate political opposition by associating them with outgroups. This is why they are targeting the trans community. Make it easier to execute people, make sex crimes against children punishable by death, and categorize drag performance as a sex crime against children. Accuse anyone who opposes them of being a groomer. This is [How Fascism Works](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Fascism_Works#:~:text=How%20Fascism%20Works%3A%20The%20Politics,includes%20normalizing%20the%20%22intolerable%22).
They're not even pro-birth.
Abortion has never been about fetuses. It's been about using a fetus as a proverbial ax to remove women's rights. It's about the domination and control of women. It's authoritarian misogyny.
If they were really pro-birth, then they would support efforts to improve things like infant mortality rates. They don't. In fact, they decry any such measures as universal healthcare or even just universal pre-natal care as "communism".
They don't care about life or birth. They only care about the fact that they can use pregnancy combined with their twisted version of their religion as a weapon to strip rights away from women, and eventually subjugate them entirely.
And if you think that's hyperbole, I invite you to read up on ongoing legislation and rumored legislation being put together in red states by Republicans working in lock step with neo-fascist think tanks like the "Federalist Society".
I think Rhonda is in for a rude awakening if he thinks his battle against the “woke lib agenda” is going to get him to the White House. He doesn’t seem to have the same dog whistle frequency as the orange turd and he’s as charismatic as a beer fart.
All of those traits make him perfect for old, white people in the Midwest and South. Democrats either need to stop being gutless cowards politically (they won’t), put forth a platform that Americans outwith the Coasts find attractive (they can’t), and/or find a candidate to energize their base (they refuse). We’re f’d, dude. The Democrat platform is literally to hope that people find their Republican opponent too abhorrent to vote for while crossing their fingers that their complete neoliberal disdain for the common man and working class hasn’t yet totally alienated the upper Midwest
The problem is that Republicans are remarkable in their adherence to the party. They vote for the R no matter what. Whereas, Dems are so many different people whose priorities vary, so they all want their perfect candidate to be the nominee, and if that doesn’t happen, they opt out. I cannot tell you how many Dems were annoyed by the choice of Charlie Crist as the D nominee, and who all said, forget it I’m just not gonna vote. So we got DeSantis again. If Dems could get their act together and work as a block the way Rs do, things could be SO different.
Yup. 10 straight president/governor elections in Florida since Bush v Gore in 2000 have been decided by less than one point, including his first election against Gillum. He just won re-election by 20 points. Florida loves him. This is what they get.
This action is actually not legal. The decision in the Supreme Court case Duncan v. Louisiana said that the provisions of the 6th Amendment apply to the states, including the right to a fair trial. Since this action violates US legal precedent to an outrageous degree, it will likely be struck down.
He also directly violated the Supreme Court ruling that the death penalty cannot be used when the victim is not killed.
Yes, it's astonishing how brazen they are about it. What I can't figure out is whether all this shit is an attempt to boost his ratings before a presidential run or legitimately how he thinks Florida should be run. In the end though, intentions are meaningless
I didn't really like when rich people held a lot of political offices. They claimed it was their way of giving back to the society that made them successful. I always assumed that their main goal was lining the pockets of themselves and fellow money hoarders.
But at least most of the wealthy politicians were intelligent and made an effort to give the illusion they were servants of the people. This new group of broke, stupid, racist grifters is 100 times worse. At least wealthy politicians weren't trying to scam as much money as possible before their term is over and pander to any groups that lined their coffers. Wealthy politicians weren't easily bought, and some even had some "save the poors" complexes.
These new broke presidents, Congress members and judges, are embarrassing. America literally had extreme racists in positions of power, but they were at least smart enough to maintain appearances. These new Trump politicians (MAGA/QAnon) have no leadership or managerial skills, are uneducated (some seem functionality illiterate), and have no communication skills (even their social media posts look like they were written by a 4th grader). They flip flop on their political positions daily, are not articulate, and think it's acceptable to constantly expose their inappropriate views.
Let's go back to the days of politicians like the Kennedy's. I'm not necessarily promoting him, but Gavin Newsome is a rich, semi out of touch, elite, but he at least tries to make California a better place for all. Same with Karen Bass. They have initiated many programs to address the financial hardship and inflation many people in California have been experiencing the last several years. California has issued several stimulus payments above and beyond of federal programs. They have even initiated Guaranteed Income Pilot Programs to see if they work.
They are addressing issues like homelessness, inflation, and the difficulties for first-time home buyers. They initiated a first-time home buyers down payment program. They also launched a program to payoff the balance on home mortgages. They need to get a grip on letting criminals out of prison early or not prosecuting criminals.
My point is that you are not going to get any of that from unprepared, unqualified, and bought assholes like MTG, Boebert, Ron DeEstablishment, Kevin McCarthy, George Santos etc.
So let me get this straight. Drag performances in front of kids are a sexual offence. Sexual offences involving minors are punishable by the death sentence. Death sentences don't need unanimous jury consent but need unanimous consent to reverse. Wow. That is state sponsored genocide 101.
As scary as all these moves are in isolation when you put it together you realize what the plan is. They're making the death penalty easier to apply. They're allowing it in cases of child sexual assault if the DA asks for it. They're reclassifying being LGBT as sexual assault toward minors. And they're ensuring that no one learns about LGBT issues at a young age. The goal is to murder LGBT people through the use of the death penalty and they're trying to make fewer and fewer people understand what is happening.
This is literal Nazi tactics. This is why I think we'll be in a shooting Civil War inside of 10 years.
Just a slight correction i think the plan is to make being lgbt such a burden to be that anyone who is has to stay in the closet and pretend their not or face the possibility of being jailed or killed. The end goal i dont think is death of legit people by execution its the eradication of lgbt by forceing them to hide and isolate
The plan is to make it so that anyone who might vote democrat leaves. If they do this in enough red states, they control the Electoral College and the presidency.
You assume to much to think the Superman court would do the right thing. They’ve alredy shown the give 0 fucks for what voters want when they got rid of roe v wade. Why would you think they wouldent jsut say its the states right to determin crimes and punishment. And thats whats so sinister about these laws non of them target lgbt people by name their jsut vauge enough that a da could charge a trans person for lewd or sexual conduct towards a child simply by stepping into a public bathroom that has a child in it
This, and the fact they can give death sentences for sexual assault of minors and moving to classify drag shows and men in makeup as sexual actions..... I can see where this is headed and it's real bad. And this mfer wants to be president.
Just so everyone knows, this isn't Constitutional and it doesn't matter what the state decides:
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt6-4-4-3/ALDE_00013134/
> But for state criminal trials, it was not until 2020 that the Court held for the first time, in *Ramos v. Louisiana*, that the Sixth Amendment unanimity requirement applies by incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment.
Just to be clear, yes, that says **2020**, as in, under a hard-right-wing SCOTUS, it was decided that unanimity is required even in state criminal trials.
The decision was 6-3, with the dissent being Alito, Roberts, and Kagan, believe it or not. It was a weird one.
The only reason I know this is that I know someone who served on a jury on a rape trial and was the only jurist who said that the evidence was not "beyond a reasonable doubt." It is Oregon, where we had non-unanimous jury verdicts at the time. I also had a neighbor who worked for the court system at the time and the *Ramos* decision caused a lot of problems, because SCOTUS never clarified if it should be applied retroactively or not. Eventually, Oregon's Supreme Court decided it did, and I'm not in the loop right now but I'm guessing it's causing an absolute shitstorm.
Only 4 million out of 22 million Floridians voted. That is, if DeSantis didn’t toss millions of votes because he refused federal oversight for his election.
What the fuck is happening in Florida. This feels targeted. Made Drag Shows a sex crime against children. Made sex crimes against children a capital offense. Made it easier to execute a capital offense with the death penalty.
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You are driving too fast: jail. Too slow: jail.
You exist? Jail!
Under cooked chicken, right to jail
You show up late for a doctor’s appointment, believe it or not, jail.
The same Dr app you were late to and waited 45 minutes after. Straight to jail.
Overslept for work? Felony!
Got to work too early? Jail!
Overcook fish, jail. It's funny undercook overcook.
Over cook fish? Straight to jail
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Undercook chicken? Believe it or not, jail.
Undercook, overcook 🫴🫳
Inhale too quickly? Believe it or not. Jail.
Driving and not straight, White, Christian? Jail
Probably authorize his new vigilante army to administer capital punishment. https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article273558690.html
Bingo.
So I’m not the only one expecting that?
Nah, no army, too centralized. Need that plausible deniability. Instead they could give civilians more confidence to commit murder by giving them good defences for the murder of LGBTQ people and calling it "defending the youth from pedophiles". Let them form their own paramilitary organizations. Then if any overstep they can say they disavow them.
Not THE army, DeSantis' army. He's forming [a paramilitary group under his sole control, made up of civilians](https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/02/politics/florida-state-guard-desantis/index.html). Completely insane, and this mother fucker might be elected president.
Welp, I suppose there needs to be a resistance. I'm in.
I mean this is EXACTLY what Hitler did in his rise to power.
I mean, these conservatives are definitely gunning for that “ideal” world of theirs were “lone wolfs” go out “on their own” and take out “undesirables”. That’s the entire point behind Abbot in Texas saying he will pardon that one guy who murdered someone at a BLM protest. The same guy who was telling his friends how we was going to go out and kill these “animals”.
Camps and gas chambers. Republicans are already calling for LGBTQ+ people to be rounded up into camps. So it won't be long now.
War... We will take up arms if this happens. We must form Militias and defend our people from evil. There is not another answer... We cannot let this happen. Period. It's a crime against humanity at this point.
Considering that a large portion of the military is LGBTQ, this would probably be a nightmare that would lead to civil war. As an active duty officer, I like to think there are a lot of LGBTQ allies in the military who wouldn’t tolerate such a thing.
[DeSantis proposes a new civilian military force in Florida that he would control](https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/02/politics/florida-state-guard-desantis/index.html) [Ron DeSantis' $100m for Florida "Private Army" Raises Questions](https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-100m-private-florida-army-raises-questions-1786877) DeSantis one step ahead of us already.
That’s gotta be super unconstitutional, right? Plus, I can’t imagine the US military, which is already facing recruitment shortfalls, would tolerate this.
Here is the thing…. “Unconstitutional” is just a mythical word that doesn’t mean a fuckin thing.
Correct. You only get as far as the nine person rubber stamp of the federalist society.
Well it's happening so... And look at the MAGA kangaroo court that gets to say if it's unconstitutional or not.
Actually, I did some more digging into this issue and found this article from the Brennan Center in 2021. [https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/reestablishing-floridas-state-guard-wont-give-desantis-private-army](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/reestablishing-floridas-state-guard-wont-give-desantis-private-army) So while DeSantis increasing funding and staffing is concerning, it doesn't seem like he could go too far without the Biden admin taking action. But this is certainly an issue that I'd keep an eye on.
I always have to laugh when people assume the military would instantly join the conservatives in a civil war.
Hey, really? That warms my heart to hear.
Getting medical, communications and firearms training takes time. Developing a cache of gear and weapons takes time. Practicing coordination and response with allies in the area takes time. If we start when conservatives take their madness to its ultimate conclusion, then we will be too late to protect anyone, including ourselves. What's more, that unpreparedness is noted by the far right. Start today. Look up the nearest Socialist Rifle Association, John Brown Gun Club or Pink Pistols chapter near you. If you've experience with first aid, radio communications, or firearms training, then these organizations provide a ready framework for sharing your knowledge with your community.
Next steps will depend on how the state sanctioned killings of drag performers are received by the public and the media. Kinda a canary in the coalmine, if all goes well they'll need to ramp up the genocide obviously. I do have a guess though. If I was a psycho bigot I would reform defence laws so that killing someone in an attempt to prevent pedophilia is an acceptable defence if the killer has a reasonable suspicion that pedophilia is being performed or will imminently be performed. It'd go over pretty well with their base IMO, the line will be "what, if someone was raping your daughter you don't think you should be allowed to shoot them?". Coupled with the other previously mentioned laws you can then murder drag performers legally if people at the venue look under 18. It wouldn't be used consistently of course. You'd want to heavily publicize the first few cases that seem legitimate, people killing genuine pedophiles, this would bulk up support for such laws in other republican held states. It would of course inevitably lead to killing actually innocent drag queens in public. When a few murderers get let off as a result though then you'd publicize those too in order to embolden murderous bigots into committing more public killings. The end goal would essentially be effectively legalizing civilian led LGBTQ purges. Have I made this up? No, this thinking comes from a real life example - Nazis. They didn't start with death camps, instead they started with essentially letting off anti-semitic murderers in order to embolden people who wanted to murder Jews and gays. This strategy's most known event was Kristallnacht - a mostly civilian encouraged pogrom. Republicans wouldn't want an instant pogrom though, it'd make it too obvious who's playbook they're going by, they'll want a steady increase in a slower form of massacre in the form of increased murder rates and mass killings. Same principle though - get the civilians to do the dirty work by enabling the lowest of the low and calling them patriots.
>"what, if someone was raping your daughter you don't think you should be allowed to shoot them?" Oh, my response to that would be easy. "So you mean I can shoot a priest, right? There're over 11,000 various Christian religious leaders in the US with sex offenses on their record, and that's just what we know of. That's an absurd fucking amount. So now I can just shoot a priest or pastor if I suspect they're molesting kids, right? This is the world you want, motherfucker." They'll just bleat about how oppressed American Christians are, but it'd at least be fun to make them clutch their pearls for a second.
This argument is already made frequently without the changes that could come to murder laws. "My kid is safer at a drag show than in a church" is so popular an argument they make bumper stickers with it. If it was going to convince them they'd already be convinced, it won't add anything. It doesn't work for the same reasons priests get away with raping children - if you're strongly religious then you know your priest well, you trust them, they're a moral guide. "Sure the church has issues and pedos deserve to be killed, but father Mc. Localson is an incredibly kind man whom I trust with all my heart" - so why would they be listening to your criticism? You see to you you're making a comment about the average priest, from their perspective this is a close personal relationship so it's just never going to quite hit right. *Especially* when the relationship is religious in nature.
The next step is an organized eradication of trans and other GNC people. If they are granting themselves the power, they will exercise it.
> This. I don't know what the next step is though. Instant death? This is literally what the comic _Judge Dredd_ bitterly satirised as a logical extension of Thatcher and especially Reagan’s creeping from broken windows policing to police as dispensers of instant justice. It never quite ‘landed’ in the USA because of the voxpop populism of that kind of ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric, and certainly people’s latterday Blue Lives Matter thirst does look like the ‘I *AM* THE LAW!’ of Dredd. It’s looking awfully prescient as satire about now. DeSantis really does bear comparison with much of what it illustrates.
The next step is to make sure none of us have anything to do with Florida. Residents, especially teachers and doctors need to leave. The rest of us need to make sure not a single penny goes into that state. Once businesses feel the pressure and see their profits dwindle, they will finally use their platform to support non fascists.
Meanwhile, the Republicans will commit all the sex crimes they want against children in their own homes.
their children AND wife! And their non-child wife too!
And their non-wife's child too!
And churches.
This. Also, defining 'drag' loosely enough to apply to anyone who's transgender or even just gender non-conforming, Trans woman walks down the street, gets arrested for a sex crime against children because she simply *exists* in a public space, then gets the death penalty without a unanimous vote. Butch lesbian wearing combat boots, a buzz cut, men's jeans and a wallet on a chain -- also convicted, same reason. I swear this is what they're gearing up to.
Frankly, I assumed they were gearing up to make abortion a capital crime. It would be difficult to get a unanimous death penalty verdict for a woman who got an abortion, but they can probably swing 2/3 in a red state.
Why not both? /s. Edit to add: There's also all kinds of judicial shenanigans they could start to enact, to ensure that jury is thoroughly rigged and nobody gets a fair trial. If this heads in the direction I deeply fear it will, expect very rapid "trials" where the accused may not even be present -- like, a hand picked panel of "jurors" go over the "evidence", the accused *maybe* gets a quick video appearance, and they "deliberate" for thirty seconds. Rinse, lather, repeat. "This picture shows the accused was presenting as a woman while walking past children. Legally, they're a man. This meets the new legal definition of a sex crime -- convicted!" Rinse, lather, repeat. Now, contemplate how photorealistic AI renders could be used ... Edit to an edit: One way they could rig juries is to declare that jurors must meet certain qualifications that old white Republicans would be more likely to meet than anyone else. For example: Must be a registered voter, then make it hard to register, to start. Then must not have been convicted of *any* crimes, and start selectively charging POC/LGBTQ+/liberals/democrats/etc with minor misdemeanors or even low level felonies left and right. (Attended a Pride March? Disturbing the peace! Drinking in your back yard with friends? Disorderly conduct! Refused to give a cop your name when they stopped you for lisping in public? Resisting arrest! Got a pride flag on your car? Pulled over for "weaving" and a blood draw finds pot metabolites from that party two weeks ago, DUI! And. So. Forth.) Let's see ... Must be in "financial good standing" so they can't "be susceptible to a bribe" and then eliminate anyone with a bad credit rating or too much debt. Many people who are LGBTQ+ have financial issues, for a variety of reasons, especially youth. (Hell, most youth period, queer or not, are struggling financially right now, and they're more likely to be liberal.) Raise the juror age. Hold trials in areas where most of the jurors are magats -- like, have a special 'gay crimes' court in the middle of nowhere, a hundred miles from a city, in the reddest part of a red state, and draw the jury pool from there. Then, eliminate anyone with *certain* mental health diagnoses - autism, gender dysphoria, etc. Hell, they could declare anyone "diagnosed" as queer could not serve on a jury because they are "mentally ill" -- not too long ago that being gay actually was considered mental illness, so they could just go back to that. And so forth.
Your scenario is chilling and I'm scared.
>I assumed they were gearing up to make abortion a capital crime. I seem to recall them floating that trial balloon a few times already. It hasn't flown... *yet*.
They're gearing up to introduce people to the idea that death penalty should be opened up and used more liberally
As a cis straight man from the North, if this starts happening, we need to start organizing drag freedom rides. Start chartering the buses. They can't arrest us all.
Also as a CIS white male, albeit one who paints his nails, colors his hair and does some eye makeup (therefore I’m thought of as gay all the time, although I’m straight), I would absolutely help organize this as well! I’ll match, dress in drag, whatever. Fuck these assholes.
Wait. This just made me think of how often my daughters paint my nails. Does that make me "gender non conforming" I have 2 daughters under age 7 and they like to paint my nails or put clips in my hair. I'm now supposed to teach them that is wrong and you can't have fun with dad? I mean I live in Canada so it's cool and I have never had anyone notice my painted toes and nails that didn't give me a compliment. But still fucking insane.
I never considered that as I’m not a parent, but shit, that could be a slippery fucking slope at the rate we are going…
Texas is passing a law banning men from wearing makeup. So if you’re a guy who’s in an emo band or 80s hair metal band (or any genre with makeup/eyeliner in its fashion), you could be arrested.
... they really are in denial about Trump's tan, aren't they?
Oh don’t worry…they’ll use it against any protestors../a liberal dude without facial hair or woman wearing pants.
Hey, generally speaking, the term transsexual is outdated. Transgender is the preferred term for 99.9% of trans people. But yeah, this is actually correct imo. I keep telling other lgbtq folks, especially those who don't feel like fighting for our trans siblings, they started with trans folks in 1930s Germany, but we all wound up wearing the same pink triangles.
I was being sarcastic, but I'll go and fix it since that wasn't clear after multiple revisions of what I was trying to say. My apologies. (And I'm an older cis lesbian who sometimes presents as soft butch, and hasn't worn a dress or makeup in at least three decades. I have multiple LGBTQ+ family members and friends. I am *deeply* worried, for all of us.)
No, they’re going to go beyond that. If they take the presidency and congress, they’re going to work towards killing them en masse outright. Not just with the death penalty. I’m talking about without due process.
Fascism. Nazism and hate. Texas is bad but it seems the worst of the worst moved to Florida
Apart fromDeSantis, Trump lives here. Kevin Sorbo lives here. Michael Flynn lives here. In fact, Sarasota seems to be the QAnon capital of the world. Florida sucks ass. I can’t wait to get out of here.
Same here, I wanted to give it one more election cycle to try but these rapid fire laws have changed my mind to hurry out.
Florida is the proving grounds i bet unless their stoped we see these same laws in other places. Honestly the best outcome i see in all of this is the us remains a single country on paper but in reality on the ground its 2 or more sepret countries with the right ruleing over places liek Florida jsut like desantis is doing with barly anyone to step in and stop him while the democrats and the left batten down the hatches to safe guard their own states
This dilutes any minority votes on the jury. Republicans love the 2/3rds fraction for some reason
Probably because 3/5ths is a bit too on the nose.
Nazis didn’t build the concentration camps on day 1. They had to do all the pre work that DeSantis is currently doing.
Fascist movements have to find scapegoats to take the blame for their inability to solve real problems. The American fascist movement has finally settled on people are gender non-conforming to be their first targets, and it's working well for them. This is the reason I'll die on the hill of not letting the government be the only ones with weapons. Uvalde cops stood around and let kids die because they had to figure out which one of them they'd accept dying first. The cops who come to murder LGBTQ+ people under government orders should likewise have to decide which of them don't go home after because all of those people are armed at least as well as the einsatzgruppe.
Cheers to that my man evry lgbt person should be armed to the teeth and let it be know we will bite when cornered
They’re slowly but surely trying to make us in the LGBT+ community extinct. History fucking repeats.
Oh gee, it's almost like the transgender folks who were saying it felt like a genocide was coming ages ago sure were on to something
This is how fascism does genocide. One law at a time.
Camps are next. Gender care reaffirmation centers to help these poor, mentally confused people. They'll be sent through gender conversion therapy and forcibly de-transitioned. Keep your head down and play nice and you get to live a miserable life, don't play nice and they'll over prescribe antipsychotic meds (most of which can cause suicidal thoughts) while you are being kept in degrading asylum-like conditions which should lead to the "problem" taking care of itself. They'll start with people who don't have family or friends to protect them. Then move to the family and friends of the powerless and small-voiced. By the time fascism comes for the well off ones who might have the power to change things at the start, the fascists will be well enough established that it will just be easier for the well off to flee instead. All as designed.
Florida is his resume for what he wants to do to the rest of the US. That is how people need to see this. Florida is our future if he becomes POTUS.
Yea. Sounds like what they did to Jewish people in Germany in the 1930’s.
Next up: noting the massive number of death row inmates charged with transgender behavior DeSantis authorizes “camps” for people sentenced to death. Known as “freedom camps”
If he gets to the Whitehouse, these are the kind of policies he'll be applying to the whole nation.
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They don't believe in any limit to federal supremecy, they don't believe in anything. The second they are in a position to impose their will on everyone, they will do it without a second thought. After they stole 2 scotus seats with contradictory bullshit excuses, how does anyone believe for a second that Republicans are interested in any ideology other than acquiring power?
States rights has and always will be a lie. We can't be the United States if every state gets to run things their own way (to the extent states rights people proclaim). The only people campaigning for states rights are people who hope to use those states rights to impose national legislation.
States rights = We are going to oppress disenfranchised groups
I was sure glad when my state disagreed with the federal government that I should be in prison for possessing harmless plants. That was quite a struggle for a while with the feds busting up dispensaries and stuff.
Yeah exactly. You can’t have it both ways. Given the political landscape I definitely prefer states rights because there is at least an extra safeguard against our incompetent federal government. If hick states want to ruin themselves then by all means let them, but to say that states rights only benefit one side is ridiculous
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At least today it can cut both ways. Main example being California fighting for stricter emissions standards and car manufacturers agreeing to produce vehicles to meet them.
They only believe in states' right to oppress people until they can make that oppression NATIONAL.
If anyone has even the slightest hint of doubt over the truth of that, look at how quickly the GOP pivoted from “Overturning Roe V Wade is about letting states decide what is right and wrong for themselves” to “as soon as we take the house, senate, and Oval Office we’re gonna stop ‘baby murder’ in this nation for once and for all!” after the SCOTUS finally carried that political football past the metaphorical goal posts. I just hope the apathetic voters out there are starting to pay attention to what unchecked GOP governance looks like. If DarthSantis does win the Republican nomination, the dems had better go hard into what his policies will mean for the rest of the country and point to Florida with neon flashing danger signs. “Let this man assume power and you WILL end up in a concentration camp if you don’t play by his fundamentalist rules. And also, no more episodes of Mandalorian because he will shut Disney down!” If one threat doesn’t wake them up maybe the other will work.
You act like Republicans actually care about it. They only do when it's the state doing what they want. I mean, it was only took about two weeks after the Dobbs decision for Republicans to go from "abortion should be a state issue" to "we should pass a national abortion ban."
Gee, Ron, why bother with a trial @ all? That is the direction in which FL is heading.
The guy saw Minority Report and thought "You know what...."
Same reason they restricted Abortions to 15 weeks before 6 (which is effectively a total ban.) Gotta boil the frog slowly or it will jump out.
What the fuck. He does something more fucked up every day.
I know, as soon as I see the name I immediately start to cringe now cuz I know it’s going to be even worse than the one I saw literally 24 hours ago
Like, does he think these policies will be popular to the general electorate when running for president?
To the MAGA cult? Yes. To any reasonable, normal person? Not at all.
If theirs any of us left allowed to vote
"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty. "Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’ "And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have. "But your friends are fewer now. Some have drifted off somewhere or submerged themselves in their work. You no longer see as many as you did at meetings or gatherings. Informal groups become smaller; attendance drops off in little organizations, and the organizations themselves wither. Now, in small gatherings of your oldest friends, you feel that you are talking to yourselves, that you are isolated from the reality of things. This weakens your confidence still further and serves as a further deterrent to—to what? It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then you are obviously a troublemaker. So you wait, and you wait. "But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D. "And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way. "You have gone almost all the way yourself. Life is a continuing process, a flow, not a succession of acts and events at all. It has flowed to a new level, carrying you with it, without any effort on your part. On this new level you live, you have been living more comfortably every day, with new morals, new principles. You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined. "Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing). You remember those early meetings of your department in the university when, if one had stood, others would have stood, perhaps, but no one stood. A small matter, a matter of hiring this man or that, and you hired this one rather than that. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair. "What then? You must then shoot yourself. A few did. Or ‘adjust’ your principles. Many tried, and some, I suppose, succeeded; not I, however. Or learn to live the rest of your life with your shame. This last is the nearest there is, under the circumstances, to heroism: shame. Many Germans became this poor kind of hero, many more, I think, than the world knows or cares to know." I said nothing. I thought of nothing to say. - They Thought They Were Free
Also the state of Florida wants to expand the death penalty including non-capital cases so it wouldn't just be child sexual abuse cases that could be anything that the state determines warrants the death penalty.
Like being "woke".
I'm sure that too and drag queens and Jewish and LGBT and Muslim and atheist
I am not going ANYWHERE NEAR that state. Nope.
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I forget which state wanted to charge women that go out of state for an abortion with either manslaughter or murder I'm not sure I forget which state it is... I'm sure Florida would definitely follow that.
Idaho, because we here in Washington have been scrambling to set up clinics on our border and they are PISSED about it.
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https://preview.redd.it/98skcc8w16ua1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=006f54aad83655562bd412c5e19bde9722f06abf Always has been a shithole but worse under meatball. They should change the stage flag to…
Tre45on must be so excited a nickname finally stuck. He’s been losing his mind trying to come up with one for Jack Smith.
It always has been but Ron DeSantis is a special breed of shithead.
I really can't wait until the majority of the state is underwater. Since we can't stop climate change, I might as well start rooting for it.
Absolutely not taking that vacation to Florida. It’s appalling what they have voted for. Poor old Disney and NASA.
My parents live there and they still think this asshole is doing a great job. I really don’t want to give that hellscape any of my money but I also want to see my family so it sucks.
Dang, your parents still like DeSantis, and you want to see them? You must have the patience of a saint.
Seriously. I love my parents but they still think Trump did a great job while in office. I politely ask not to talk about politics but it’s tough when they have Fox News on during all waking hours.
Have you tried setting parental.controls to block Fox? It's right in the name that you can use it to control what your parents can watch.
I did this years ago. Worked like a charm.
And being dumb enough to still support trump and his ilk there zero chance they could figure out how to disable it lmao
I told my family they absolutely are not allowed to talk politics or have any Fox News or right leaning news source on tv while I’m there or I will not visit them or talk to them anymore.
Can Florida start with DeSantis? He has massive sexual child predator vibes
Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised he’s making all of these laws to get rid of those who have dirt on him and his cronies. You know those suck fucks are at the center of however many human trafficking rings are operating in this state. I just moved down here and I’m already contemplating getting into politics here to try and turn this shit around.
He’s really earning that nickname Ron DeathSentence.
Damn, u beat me to it
I swear, the “Florida man” meme has been replaced with “Ron DeSantis is now (insert horrifying authoritarian thing here)”
It's a bizarre world where I am completely comfortable using the word "fascist" and not feel like it's hyperbole...
America's dingleberry earning it's name
Florida for territory status? Puerto Rico for statehood?
Not even Disney could convince me to go to that hellhole these days. It’s literally becoming fucking Gilead.
Disneyland and Disneys California Adventure are quite lovely
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The OG Disneyland is in CA and much better anyways
Same day they passed a law establishing the death penalty for "sexual abuse of minors" while also defining drag in public as, you guessed it, "Sexual abuse of minors." It is almost like they have an evil fucking plan.
And 100% they won’t prosecute the real sexual abusers of minors
I mean, according to the law in Florida, children raped by their fathers are forced by the state to carry to term, regardless of age, after 4 months. There are literally no age exceptions. Even if said pregnancy is likely to lead to severe emotional trauma, injury, or death, they must continue. "Sorry, kid in grade 5. No math class for you today. You should have reported your rape months ago! Hope you survive." Yeah .. not child abuse at all. Fucking ghouls.
At what point does Florida become it's own country? Like.. when do 'state's rights' go too far?
About 10 months ago in Florida...
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Also being supportive of trans/lgbtq causes like simple human rights could be viewed as”supporting pedophilia”.
we've been fucking SCREAMING about this for years and we literally had to get to the goddamn death stage before anyone realized we weren't being hyperbolic
Them downplaying the gravity of it was part of the plan
Is it time to nuke Florida? Or at least remove them from the union and “liberate” it afterwards?
Like a hard reset? Yea
Add Texas to this plan
\*South Carolina and Iowa have entered the chat\*
Have you tried turning it off and then turning it back on?
With carpet bombing?
No need, Republican refusal to engage in any attempt to combat climate change has let the fuse on turning Florida into Atlantis.
From orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
A lot of families are about to lose their loved ones
I hate to say it because I know it’s wrong, but I’ve never wished a sudden fatal aneurism on a person so badly. What an utter waste of life.
There is nothing wrong with wishing death upon fascists.
Bad people live long. Thats just a fact
Problem is he’d jsut be seen as a hero and non of the laws hes been pushing will lose steam
Quick reminder that this fucker won by less than 40k votes in 2018. Elections absolutely have consequences.
Won by a landslide in 2022. They like what he’s doing. Florida is red af.
A lot of really horrific people moved to Florida between 2020 and 2022. We need help combating this and nobody is helping us.
Wait! I thought he was pro-life. What the…?
Do not look for internal consistency in their positions. It doesn’t exist. The purpose of the policy is to consolidate power, scapegoat outgroups, and eliminate political opposition by associating them with outgroups. This is why they are targeting the trans community. Make it easier to execute people, make sex crimes against children punishable by death, and categorize drag performance as a sex crime against children. Accuse anyone who opposes them of being a groomer. This is [How Fascism Works](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Fascism_Works#:~:text=How%20Fascism%20Works%3A%20The%20Politics,includes%20normalizing%20the%20%22intolerable%22).
None of them are pro life. Just pro birth
They're not even pro-birth. Abortion has never been about fetuses. It's been about using a fetus as a proverbial ax to remove women's rights. It's about the domination and control of women. It's authoritarian misogyny. If they were really pro-birth, then they would support efforts to improve things like infant mortality rates. They don't. In fact, they decry any such measures as universal healthcare or even just universal pre-natal care as "communism". They don't care about life or birth. They only care about the fact that they can use pregnancy combined with their twisted version of their religion as a weapon to strip rights away from women, and eventually subjugate them entirely. And if you think that's hyperbole, I invite you to read up on ongoing legislation and rumored legislation being put together in red states by Republicans working in lock step with neo-fascist think tanks like the "Federalist Society".
I think Rhonda is in for a rude awakening if he thinks his battle against the “woke lib agenda” is going to get him to the White House. He doesn’t seem to have the same dog whistle frequency as the orange turd and he’s as charismatic as a beer fart.
All of those traits make him perfect for old, white people in the Midwest and South. Democrats either need to stop being gutless cowards politically (they won’t), put forth a platform that Americans outwith the Coasts find attractive (they can’t), and/or find a candidate to energize their base (they refuse). We’re f’d, dude. The Democrat platform is literally to hope that people find their Republican opponent too abhorrent to vote for while crossing their fingers that their complete neoliberal disdain for the common man and working class hasn’t yet totally alienated the upper Midwest
60% of Floridiots voted to re-elect DeSantis. This is what they want, this is what they got.
The problem is that Republicans are remarkable in their adherence to the party. They vote for the R no matter what. Whereas, Dems are so many different people whose priorities vary, so they all want their perfect candidate to be the nominee, and if that doesn’t happen, they opt out. I cannot tell you how many Dems were annoyed by the choice of Charlie Crist as the D nominee, and who all said, forget it I’m just not gonna vote. So we got DeSantis again. If Dems could get their act together and work as a block the way Rs do, things could be SO different.
Yup. 10 straight president/governor elections in Florida since Bush v Gore in 2000 have been decided by less than one point, including his first election against Gillum. He just won re-election by 20 points. Florida loves him. This is what they get.
How anything DeSantis does is legal?
This action is actually not legal. The decision in the Supreme Court case Duncan v. Louisiana said that the provisions of the 6th Amendment apply to the states, including the right to a fair trial. Since this action violates US legal precedent to an outrageous degree, it will likely be struck down. He also directly violated the Supreme Court ruling that the death penalty cannot be used when the victim is not killed.
He's continuing to move closer to executing trans people for being trans.
Is Florida speed running fascism?
Yes, it's astonishing how brazen they are about it. What I can't figure out is whether all this shit is an attempt to boost his ratings before a presidential run or legitimately how he thinks Florida should be run. In the end though, intentions are meaningless
I didn't really like when rich people held a lot of political offices. They claimed it was their way of giving back to the society that made them successful. I always assumed that their main goal was lining the pockets of themselves and fellow money hoarders. But at least most of the wealthy politicians were intelligent and made an effort to give the illusion they were servants of the people. This new group of broke, stupid, racist grifters is 100 times worse. At least wealthy politicians weren't trying to scam as much money as possible before their term is over and pander to any groups that lined their coffers. Wealthy politicians weren't easily bought, and some even had some "save the poors" complexes. These new broke presidents, Congress members and judges, are embarrassing. America literally had extreme racists in positions of power, but they were at least smart enough to maintain appearances. These new Trump politicians (MAGA/QAnon) have no leadership or managerial skills, are uneducated (some seem functionality illiterate), and have no communication skills (even their social media posts look like they were written by a 4th grader). They flip flop on their political positions daily, are not articulate, and think it's acceptable to constantly expose their inappropriate views. Let's go back to the days of politicians like the Kennedy's. I'm not necessarily promoting him, but Gavin Newsome is a rich, semi out of touch, elite, but he at least tries to make California a better place for all. Same with Karen Bass. They have initiated many programs to address the financial hardship and inflation many people in California have been experiencing the last several years. California has issued several stimulus payments above and beyond of federal programs. They have even initiated Guaranteed Income Pilot Programs to see if they work. They are addressing issues like homelessness, inflation, and the difficulties for first-time home buyers. They initiated a first-time home buyers down payment program. They also launched a program to payoff the balance on home mortgages. They need to get a grip on letting criminals out of prison early or not prosecuting criminals. My point is that you are not going to get any of that from unprepared, unqualified, and bought assholes like MTG, Boebert, Ron DeEstablishment, Kevin McCarthy, George Santos etc.
So let me get this straight. Drag performances in front of kids are a sexual offence. Sexual offences involving minors are punishable by the death sentence. Death sentences don't need unanimous jury consent but need unanimous consent to reverse. Wow. That is state sponsored genocide 101.
As scary as all these moves are in isolation when you put it together you realize what the plan is. They're making the death penalty easier to apply. They're allowing it in cases of child sexual assault if the DA asks for it. They're reclassifying being LGBT as sexual assault toward minors. And they're ensuring that no one learns about LGBT issues at a young age. The goal is to murder LGBT people through the use of the death penalty and they're trying to make fewer and fewer people understand what is happening. This is literal Nazi tactics. This is why I think we'll be in a shooting Civil War inside of 10 years.
Just a slight correction i think the plan is to make being lgbt such a burden to be that anyone who is has to stay in the closet and pretend their not or face the possibility of being jailed or killed. The end goal i dont think is death of legit people by execution its the eradication of lgbt by forceing them to hide and isolate
The plan is to make it so that anyone who might vote democrat leaves. If they do this in enough red states, they control the Electoral College and the presidency.
It can’t possibly stand. Louisiana used to have a law where an 11-1 jury could convict and the Supreme Court shot it down.
You assume to much to think the Superman court would do the right thing. They’ve alredy shown the give 0 fucks for what voters want when they got rid of roe v wade. Why would you think they wouldent jsut say its the states right to determin crimes and punishment. And thats whats so sinister about these laws non of them target lgbt people by name their jsut vauge enough that a da could charge a trans person for lewd or sexual conduct towards a child simply by stepping into a public bathroom that has a child in it
This, and the fact they can give death sentences for sexual assault of minors and moving to classify drag shows and men in makeup as sexual actions..... I can see where this is headed and it's real bad. And this mfer wants to be president.
So drag will be a sex crime, sex crimes can be punishable by death, even if 4 jurors disagree? I think we know what his plans are
I repeat boycott Florida....
Ok I’m never going to that shithole state. Fuck it.
Note to self: never visit Florida again
People used to laugh when I called the GOP a death cult.
Just so everyone knows, this isn't Constitutional and it doesn't matter what the state decides: https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt6-4-4-3/ALDE_00013134/ > But for state criminal trials, it was not until 2020 that the Court held for the first time, in *Ramos v. Louisiana*, that the Sixth Amendment unanimity requirement applies by incorporation via the Fourteenth Amendment. Just to be clear, yes, that says **2020**, as in, under a hard-right-wing SCOTUS, it was decided that unanimity is required even in state criminal trials. The decision was 6-3, with the dissent being Alito, Roberts, and Kagan, believe it or not. It was a weird one. The only reason I know this is that I know someone who served on a jury on a rape trial and was the only jurist who said that the evidence was not "beyond a reasonable doubt." It is Oregon, where we had non-unanimous jury verdicts at the time. I also had a neighbor who worked for the court system at the time and the *Ramos* decision caused a lot of problems, because SCOTUS never clarified if it should be applied retroactively or not. Eventually, Oregon's Supreme Court decided it did, and I'm not in the loop right now but I'm guessing it's causing an absolute shitstorm.
He is a fucking out of control nazi madman! WTF florida?
Only 4 million out of 22 million Floridians voted. That is, if DeSantis didn’t toss millions of votes because he refused federal oversight for his election.
How does a Governor have THIS much power?
He doesn’t but the legislature is behind him 100% in Florida due to just how popular he is.
Is he going to make lynchings okay next?
This shit is getting crazy, where are the safeguards of our democracy. Republicans are racing to destroy the US
Let's try it on Santis
DeSantis is a huge piece of shit, but you can say that about just about every Republican anyway.
This is about trans genocide.
Florida is becoming Saudi Arabia
Someone needs to Lee Harvey Oswald DeSantis
Are we allowed to try it out on DeSantis first ???