Ron DeSantis and team are now crying “hoax” when accused of banning books, which suggests maybe they dimly realize that book bans aren’t popular outside the extra-frothy “Moms for Liberty” bubble. As Judd Legum reports, Team DeSantis published a “fact sheet” on the official government website that purports to debunk “myths” about the “book ban hoax.” It’s pure gaslighting, as Legum details in his coverage:
DeSantis falsely claimed that a video of empty book shelves recorded by former Duval County substitute teacher Brian Covey was a “hoax,” noting that Covey was fired. It’s true that Covey lost his job for recording the video, but the video was not a hoax.
A spokesperson for Duval County Public Schools (DCPS), Tracy Pierce, told Popular Information in February that the empty shelves in Covey’s video once housed “the fiction titles” in the school media center, but all those titles were removed pending review by a media specialist. That review was mandated by a “curriculum transparency” law signed by DeSantis last year…
In addition to making false claims about Covey’s video, DeSantis smeared teachers, claiming there was a “concerted effort to bring some of this sexualization into the classroom, particularly in these young grades.”
The so-called “curriculum transparency” law DeSantis championed is vaguely worded by design, just like all of the other bullshit culture war legislation, to maximize the intimidation factor. On their own initiative, districts removed or covered book titles that are subject to review. The “fact sheet” notwithstanding, we have copies of district memos and official statements that resulted in bare shelves and covered titles.
Sometimes all it takes to ban books is a complaint from one parent. A single extremist in Martin County, Florida is behind the banning of nearly 100 titles in a district, including books by popular author Jodi Picoult. She wrote a piece about it in The Daily Beast:
The 92 books that were pulled from Martin County School District shelves were based on the complaint of a single parent…
Look, I’m a mom. I used to read books before my kids did, to make sure I felt they were emotionally ready for the content. If it was a hard topic, we used the book as a springboard for discussion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a parent deciding a certain book is not right for her child. There is a colossal problem with a parent deciding that, therefore, no child should be allowed to read that book.
Bolding mine. Those sentences underscore the irony here because the book bans in Florida and elsewhere invariably arise from right-wing “freedom” or “liberty” agendas that flatter busybodies who want to curtail their neighbors’ freedom and liberty.
I remember PTA and school board meetings I attended when my kiddo was a Florida public school student. Frequently, there would be a random religious kook who’d go off on a tangent about a book or movie or classroom policy that might tempt their precious Snotleigh to stray from the path of righteousness. The rest of us would exchange glances and roll our eyes while enduring the paranoid rant.
Now randos like that are effectively if not literally running entire school districts. An actual “liberty” agenda requires opposing them at every turn. After decades of mindless humping, there’s so much gross wingnut ball-sweat on words like “freedom” and “liberty” that liberals can be excused for avoiding the terms in the past. But goddamn it, it’s time to hose the words off and reclaim them.
Open thread.
pacem appellant
Fυck DeSantis. Anyway, can more newspapers get comfortable with “lie” vs “falsely claim”. One is simple to understand, the other is equivocating.
Alison Rose
DeSatan and his ilk never seem to want to answer the question of whether or not books featuring straight couples also count as “sexualization” in the classroom. I mean…men and women fuck. That’s where babies come from. But somehow, people like him have no problem showing those relationships. GEE I WONDER WHY NOT.
Baud
First the COVID hoax and now the book ban hoax. We libs are incorrigible.
Jackie
Are these book bannings getting the attention of non MAGA and non anti woke voters?
geg6
If I had a kid, particularly if I had a kid in FL (which, horrors!), I’d get my hands on those lists and buy every fucking one of those books and Junior/Junioress and I would be reading them aloud every night.
schrodingers_cat
OT: I won the auction. Caran d’ache neocolor ii crayons are on the way
And I saved $ 55 off the lowest retail price.
NotMax
Cookbooks nearly always include the word “breast.” Multiple times, even.
Also too, “rump” and “butt.”
Think of the children!
//
Brachiator
So, are they saying that the books were not “banned,” but removed for review and then all returned to the library shelves?
frosty
… gross wingnut ball-sweat…
Betty Cracker, you’re a treasure!
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
👍
frosty
@schrodingers_cat: Congratulations! Have fun with them.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: My early birthday present to myself!
Gin & Tonic
Behold, how the family of a russian “dissident” suffers
cmorenc
The RW culture warriors want the US to be like their imagined remembrance of the US c.1953, except with China as our cold-war enemy. Back then, the entertainment industry was censored, and schools opened with prayer and pledge of allegiance. And white folks were still in charge of everything.
schrodingers_cat
@frosty: Thanks! I will. I do feel a bit guilty though it was a bit of a splurge.
Jobeth
There was a new dept head at work who introduced herself and talked about her two dogs named Liberty and Patriot. I knew immediately she was a wingnut that would be lousy at her job. Sure enough she only lasted six months, the whole time whining and blaming everyone else for why she couldn’t get her work done. It’s a shame the right has taken ownership of those words but at least it gives you fair warning.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Not just removed for review. Removed for review by a position (“media specialist”) that’s vacant.
NotMax
Now we’re treading into Tuckums’ territory.
:)
AliceBlue
I saw a tweet earlier this morning that said DeSantis is the guy who would “consider unplugging your life support to recharge his cell phone.”
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
There’s a scene in To Catch a Thief where Grace Kelly, rummaging through the picnic hamper, asks Cary Grant: “Would you prefer a thigh or a breast?” Quite the racy dialogue for 1955!
JPL
DeSantis is a coward since he can’t even own up to the harm he has caused children. His not me is nothing but bullshit.
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: RRR’s maker’s outlook on the Indian freedom struggle hews too close to the RSS for my comfort.
Anyway I am going to see the movie before saying anything more. But most Americans including reviewers have no clue about the subtext they are glorifying.
Cameron
@NotMax: I guess The Woke Cookbook won’t be able to find a publisher any time soon.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jobeth:
Hi! These are my dogs, Wingnut and Batshit.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: You will put them to such good use. Everyone needs a little splurge and luxury.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Laughing.
UncleEbeneezer
I’m all for re-claiming words like “Freedom” and “Liberty” generally, but I do find it helpful that as soon as I see them in the name of some organization, I know with 99% certainty that the organization is Christo-Fascist/Nazi and I can weigh their words accordingly.
rikyrah
See, that’s my issue.
If MY child can’t read said book, then NO child should read it.
If MY child shouldn’t go to a Book Reading at a library by a Drag Queen, then NO child should be able to.
See, that encroaching on the rights and decisions of other parents to know what they want for THEIR children.
It’s time for a group of Black parents to get together and SUE TO GET THEIR HISTORY AND VOICES OF PEOPLE WHO HONOR THEIR CHILDREN BE PLACED BACK INTO THE SCHOOLS.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Congratulations
cope
@NotMax: In 2017, I retired after teaching public school in Florida for 28 years. Even back then, media specialists were being whittled back because it was equal to a classroom teaching position and budgets were being thinned. I think one would be hard pressed to find a true media specialist at any school in my old district anymore. At least at my high school, IT staff were given the duties previously done by the media specialist.
twbrandt
Meanwhile, here in Michigan a package of bills repealing the 1931 abortion ban heads to Gov. Whitmer’s desk for her sig.
waspuppet
See, that’s the problem. That made DeSantis look bad. What they were supposed to do was keep them there and taken their chances that DeSantis would wake up in a good mood and not feel like criminally charging them. That’s freedom! And really there’s only like a 30 percent chance they’d be charged, so why were they so uptight?
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Merrily We Live (1938).
A pair of Great Danes.
“That one’s name is Get Off The Rug. The other one is You Too.”
:)
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: I wonder if a lawsuit like that is in the preparatory stages. It should be.
RaflW
This is good. I actually think DeSantis is quite vulnerable. He’s been sniffing his own right wing farts for so long, he doesn’t get how much all this stinks to 2/3rd – 3/4ths of voters.
UNF Jacksonville did a poll of 1,452 FL voters about 10 days ago and found that Ronnie Dee And The GOPee is flogging very unpopular ideas:
Six week abortion ban 22% fav 75% opp
Concealed carry 21% fav 77% opp
Ban CRT/DEI at univs 35% fav 61% opp
The war on freedom of thought – and freedom from being gunned down anywhere by anyone, as well as the freedom to chose reproductive care – is only resonating with a narrow, hard-right slice, even in FL!
Tarragon
@schrodingers_cat: It was clear to while watching RRR that it has a political sub-text beyond “British Bad”. Then there is final dance sequence where it hits you over the head with a political message that I had no context to understand.
In many ways it’s a great film, but I’m hesitant to recommend it because I don’t understand the message.
Betty Cracker
@Jobeth: LOL! It’s definitely a tell. There’s an auto repair place in my area called “Patriot” something, and I’ve mentally crossed it off the list of available options should I need those services.
eclare
John Oliver had a really good piece on DeSantis week before last.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/mar/06/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-recap-ron-desantis
A former classmate of his said DeSantis would test his dates. On a date he would intentially mispronounce Thai food as “thigh food.” If his date corrected him, he would leave because he did not want a gf who corrected him. That is creepy and scary AF.
Cameron
Most of the early reporting I saw (in both local and national media) about the Florida Public School Inquisition was on people and events here in Manatee County, where I happen to live. Not just teachers, but county-level school administrators confirmed that the classroom libraries were either locked up or abandoned. A teacher who brings in an unapproved book and shared it with their class can be charged with a felony. It figures that this asshole would go the DJT route, telling easily falsified lies while claiming everybody else is lying. If I had kids of any age through college, I wouldn’t live here.
On the upside, a friend of mine is probably going to get her dream job at a college in South Carolina. I suggested to her that she should recommend the college look to Florida to fill any teaching openings. Any professor worth their salt is almost certainly looking to get out of here.
eclare
@Gin & Tonic: What are you saying about Navalny?
Jackie
@rikyrah: EXACTLY!
I was too busy encouraging my kiddos to read to even consider denying them the opportunity. I read most of the books they brought home to encourage discussion and, when necessary, sharing a different point of view. The GOAL is to EXPAND their horizons – not restrict or limit them.
Cacti
Good luck to those of you living in fundy land.
I chose to move to the unchurched belt and can’t see myself ever leaving.
Eolirin
@RaflW: Policy preferences are bad predictors of voting behaviors, unfortunately. Outside of the core ones around taxation and social spending. FL politicians are unlikely to pay much of a price for pushing deeply unpopular legislation.
Abortion access might move the needle a little, maybe, especially as women start dying. But the hole Dems are in in the state is so big now that it may not make much of a difference. It’ll probably hurt DeSantis nationally though.
It’s really hard to see how this fever breaks when so much of the electorate continues to support the GOP even when they disagree with what they’re doing.
JPL
@Cameron: Great title.
trollhattan
@NotMax: Also, rubbing and [shudder] dry rubs. “Embrocate the breast, thusly.”
Kay
@twbrandt:
I hope Democrats watch Michigan as a bellweather rather than NY.
we’ll see how MI Democrats do with protecting women’s rights and (with repealing RTW) workers rights.
it’s a good test state for Democrats
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jackie: Right. How can a school produce readers with no books?
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Grant had the leeway to get away with a lot.
Can you picture Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda or Gary Cooper expostulating “I just went gay all of a sudden!” (Bringing Up Baby.)
Impossible. &nsbp: :)
trollhattan
@eclare: “It took issuing Stepford Firmware Version 4.3 before Sir Ron could acquire a suitable mate.”
Delk
And yet the book filled with whores, incest, and lusting over donkey dick is safe for children.
eclare
@Jackie: My parents took no interest in what I read, and I am very glad about that. They prob would not have liked some of what we read in AP English, although I don’t see how anyone can understand a Faulkner book outside of reading it in a class.
trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Really, is this “reading” so important now that we have Audible?
eclare
@trollhattan: Hahaha…comes with opera gloves and cape!
trollhattan
@Jobeth: Heh. Does she happen to have boys named Walker and Texas Ranger?
Cameron
@Dorothy A. Winsor: They’re not supposed to produce readers. They’re supposed to produce service workers. You want a reader, send your kid to private school.
Doc Sardonic
@Betty Cracker: If the business has the words Liberty, Freedom, Patriot. Maranatha, etc, or trucks emblazoned with the christian swastika(fish), and/or lots of flags. I know not to use them because they are going well overpriced and under quality for the work they perform.
Gin & Tonic
@eclare:
schrodingers_cat
@Tarragon: I saw the message loud and clear when I saw a couple of trailers and teasers. I am going to watch it this week because if I am going to offer a critique I feel I need to do that. As many people IRL and here are asking me about it.
Roger Moore
@RaflW:
The problem is that voters don’t actually vote for policies in isolation. They vote for parties, and they seem comfortable voting for the Republican party in spite of their dislike of many Republican policies. Knowing that people don’t like the 6 week abortion ban abd permitless concealed carry might be useful for someone trying to pass ballot measures opposed to those points, but it turns out not to be terribly useful to the Democrats.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Worse.
Girls named Ronald and Reagan.
//
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Thanks.
citizen dave
@Betty Cracker: I had to abort (traffic jam) getting on my local beltway this morning and drove through my lovely city for a bit. I saw a Poor Mann’s Tire place. Google review says they have used tires as low as $40 with a 7 day guarantee. (Anyone remember John Edward’s Two Americas framing?).
catclub
@Jobeth:
Many retailers know that if the organization name has ‘Christian’ in it they will not pay their bills.
catclub
I see zero bolding in the passage.
NotMax
@citizen dave
Gadzooks. Retreads?
catclub
Girls named Goneril and Regan! Also Cordelia.
Alison Rose
@catclub: WWJB
who would Jesus bilk
Matt McIrvin
@schrodingers_cat: Before I forget, I’d like to thank you for bringing that to my attention. I’ve seen a lot of American reviewers I respect going gaga over that film and now there’s always this asterisk there in my mind. Haven’t seen it though.
Kay
@eclare:
I didn’t monitor what my kids read.
I’m still good with that – I made sure they got to school and the public library and just cut em loose :)
they did a competitive reading program in our public school and my daughter was absolutely dominating so I got caught up in that, which was fun, but I didn’t know what she was reading to rack up all those points
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Betty Cracker: Performative patriotism, yeah. The sort of people who’ll fly the Stars and Stripes, the Stars and Bars, the Gadsden flag, the blue-line flag, and the POW flag depending on their mood – kind of a red flag for me, as it were.
UncleEbeneezer
@Doc Sardonic: Also, any business that replaces C’s with K’s. Like Kountry Karwash etc.
NotMax
@catclub
Twins named Bryant and Schlafly?
schrodingers_cat
@Matt McIrvin: I think it reminds the film critics of the glory days of Hollywood. I loved Gone with the Wind when I saw it as a teen in the theaters in India. Even though some of the subtext about black people was troubling. I did not link that to the systemic racism and defense of chattel slavery. I was able to overlook it since I only had a fleeting acquaintance of American history and politics.
But yes a film critic should be better informed than a 13 year old.
Gvg
DeSantis and the republicans want what they want without taking responsibility. They write these laws with deniability in them, because they want to please ALL of the conservatives who don’t like each a different personal list of things but they also don’t want to stand up and say yes we banned such and so. Probably they also know it will be easier to overturn if it is that specific but this law comes across as scared to take responsibility. Lots of people, especially education administrators and lawyers need to point this out to the public. This law is to hide behind. It is deliberately badly written so that people have to guess. Can we attack it based on that?
I’d like his law degree revoked, and anyone who voted for such a law.
neldob
” it’s time to hose the words off and reclaim them.” Absofuckinglutely, if you don’t mind my saying so., and even if you do. Right on Betty Cracker!
NotMax
@UncleEbeneezer
Krispy Kreme.
(The lowest common denominator of doughnuts.)
trollhattan
@eclare: That look is going to stay resident in my head for awhile. I don’t think it was an accident.
eclare
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks.
Jeffro
These book bans are unpopular, just like the anti-CRT nonsense, just like the wokety-woke-woke boogeyman, and just like the GOP’s crazy-ass anti-reproductive rights stance.
eclare
@UncleEbeneezer: There used to be, may still be, a Krosstown Kleaners here. Gives me the willies.
Mustang Bobby
@NotMax:
Belles on their Toes (c 1950)
Two canaries:
“One is Shut Up, and the other is You Heard Me.”
Kay
I think parents are often NOT the best judges of their own children – I actually learned things about my children talking to other adults who dealt with them and sometimes changed my mind about what was good for them.
This whole rigid “parents know best!” slogan is bullshit – any honest parent will tell you they’re biased as hell and often just wrong- although I recognize I probably could not run on this :)
Jackie
@eclare: His dates are eternally grateful, I’m sure.
Makes one wonder about Mrs Anti-Woke, though; several articles hint that SHE’S the brain of his political aspirations.
Anyway
@NotMax:
Bwahaha!
Patriot and Liberty in names are a definite red flag for me.
SiubhanDuinne
@catclub:
There’s a vaccine for that now.
Betty Cracker
@UncleEbeneezer: There’s a restaurant in my town called MawMaw’s Kuntry Kafe. The food is pretty good, but Jeebus people, work on that nomenclature!
Doc Sardonic
@UncleEbeneezer: Ohh Yeah……. Forgot about Kletus’ Kountry Karwash Liquor and BBQ
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jobeth: Megan McCain and which Ben she’s married to named their daughter “Liberty”, which should get some kind of trying-too-hard award. They would’ve been more honest if they’d named the kid “Budweiser”
@Betty Cracker: Hoo, boy. That sets off all kinds of sensors. Changing Cs to Ks always make me raise an eyebrow, especially down south.
Nelle
@schrodingers_cat: Guilt is over-rated. Create. Bring more color into the world and our lives.
Jackie
@Roger Moore: ROE Your Vote made a huge difference in ‘22. One major reason we expanded the Senate and kept the GQP House red wave to a trickle.
I predict the Roe/Dobbs continuing effect to be foremost with women and the men who love them when they vote in ’24. ESPECIALLY if prescriptions for abortions are banned NATIONWIDE.
Gravie
As a graduate of the formerly (mostly) excellent Florida school system — first grade through bachelor’s degree — I am sickened and enraged by what is being done to people in my home state. All to support the ambition of a soulless weasel like DeSantis.
trollhattan
You sure that wasn’t an abandoned set from “Animal House”?
Cameron
@Betty Cracker: True, but I think it would be worse if they replaced the K’s with C’s.
Cameron
@Jackie: She’s assigned herself the impossible task of making him likeable.
Cameron
@Doc Sardonic: “Make your way to the KKK” does have a certain ring to it.
artem1s
Snotleigh
Love it. this made me snort with laughter.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: There’s a gas station in Iowa called Kum and Go.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
Here in the Midwest, there is a chain of convenience marts called Kum & Go. No, really
Edit: And Dorothy A Winsor beat me to it!
Mike in NC
Haven’t read about it of late, but in our county we’ve had right wing extremists from Heritage Action or whatever it is (was?) called trying for years to get books banned that offended their fascist sensibilities.
Doc Sardonic
@Betty Cracker: Now, if she opened up an oil change place next door…..
Citizen_X
You know, when Putin says, “That war-crime video was fake, and the reporter was shot,” that doesn’t exactly fill me with trust.
Cameron
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: What sort of….convenience….are we talking about here?
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Cameron:
I know, right?! But they are basically gas stations with the mini-marts attached.
Doc Sardonic
We have a convenience store in the area called the Hit & Run…. It has been robbed a few times.
Tony G
@Jackie: Unfortunately, empirically, the majority of people in Florida who bother to vote support this third-rate fascist. They are the problem. If DeSantis were to drop dead tomorrow, someone else would fill his high-heeled go-go boots.
StringOnAStick
I got pinched by a scary huge dog last week, if the owner holding his collar didn’t have him under control I would have been seriously injured. She was trying to introduce him to me slowly and the female dog was cool with me; I made no moved to pet him or touch him, he just went apeshit and now my friend is realizing he’s too dangerous and will have to put him down, though she’ll try the best trainer available first. Rottweiler Doberman mix, about 100 lbs. I’m still feeling traumatised,though once I got back home, it made me appreciate our gentle, sweets pair of kitties even more.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax: Molly Ivins, who wrote a great obituary:
“Shit the dog finally croaked on December 9 after fourteen and a half years of marplotting through life”
Do google books links work? We’ll find out together
Tony G
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Convenience stores with a Happy Ending! Sounds good.
Tony G
@Citizen_X: I’m obviously not a lawyer — but doesn’t DeSantis leave himself open for a libel lawsuit by falsely accusing Brian Covey of perpetuating a “hoax”?
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Budweiser or Plagiarism!
@StringOnAStick: How scary. I hope the trainer is able to help the dog so that he doesn’t have to be put down.
As I’ve mentioned, we’re dealing with a dog aggression problem, though in our case, it’s dog-on-dog aggression, and they are small dogs, so a different situation. But we’ve made remarkable progress with a combination of training and meds, so I know it can be done! Takes a TON of patience and commitment though.
Mai Naem mobile
I think RonnyBoy DeSantis is just Scotty Walker 2.0 with better hair. During the Obama years, Wisconsite BJrs used to comment about how Scotty Walker wouldn’t catch on outside Wisconsin but I was always worried about him being the next big GOP thang.
Soprano2
@eclare: Reminds me of a man I worked for a long time ago. His secretary, who was professional, said the first time she corrected some of his grammar errors in dictation he blew up and told her he wanted it typed up exactly how he said it! She said she had never before had a boss who didn’t want you to make them look better.
CaseyL
@Betty Cracker: Good to hear there is progress in the Pete-Badger Detente!
cain
@eclare: bullet dodged – probably says something about mrs. DeSantis. I hope she’s ok.I mean, didn’t this guy get his jollies at Gitmo?
trollhattan
@Mai Naem mobile: Was Walker as hellbent on prosecuting the culture wars as DeSantis? He seemed primarily focused on breaking government and unions, from several states away, while DeSantis appears hellbent on hippy-punching and putting Jesus in everybody’s underwear.
Part of that may be because Florida already has rid themselves of the whole “effective government” problem.
trnc
@Kay: If that one parent gets to do all the parenting related to what our kids can read, why don’t they have to pony up every once in a while for our kids’ tuition when the time comes?
cain
@Mai Naem mobile: the man won’t be able to stand challenge. In Florida, the entire GOP apparatus bows to him. He doesn’t have what it takes to handle a national campaign – especially with many other rivals ready to go at him.
Of course, the GOP race is going to be going to set crazy to 15 as they try to whip up votes. There will be a lot of crazy talk, and the media will cover everything gleefully because it will get the libs all upset.
Soprano2
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, they bought out the Git ‘n Go stores here about 20 years ago, so they’re all over the place here. I’m used to it now, but at first I did a double take every time I saw that name!
trollhattan
Nobody has declared a winner yet, but it appears California has broken our old snowfall record with half a month or so, yet to go. Which makes the forthcoming “pineapple express” even more interesting to ponder.
FelonyGovt
@schrodingers_cat: Congrats! Hope you love them!
Betty Cracker
@cain: All indications are she’s every bit as horrible as he is.
Gravenstone
That era wasn’t as toxically aggressive as what the aftermath of Trump has bestowed on us as a nation. But ol’ Scotty did have a hate boner for the UW system, especially the Madison campus. So yeah, I’m confident he’d have gone whole hog on the culture wars of today were he still in office.
JaneE
Can we fight fire with fire?
Raise hell if your kid is not allowed to read the books you think he should – and if they are “banned” demand to know why your child should be denied the right to learn about whatever it is they object to if you as a parent think he would benefit from it.
Matt McIrvin
“We never banned all these books, we were just strategically vague about which ones we were banning and threatened to arrest people for felonies.” This is just like their vote-suppression tactics.
cain
@Betty Cracker:
Ah,.so they are both devils and deserve each other. Got it.
Frankensteinbeck
@cain:
I think this is crucial. DeSantis is bad at hitting back. Trump hit back like an elementary schooler going “I’m rubber and you’re glue!” but that fits his Let’s Go Brandon audience fine. DeSantis freezes up. That’s going to hurt him badly on the campaign trail, and especially in the primaries.
Frankensteinbeck
@Matt McIrvin:
I do wonder how much this had to do with the low Democratic turnout in Florida. DeSantis did a great job of broadcasting that he would arrest any Democratic voter he could accuse of voting wrong for even the slightest excuse, like being black.
glory b
@Jobeth: Of course.
This is also why any corporation with the words “Liberty,” “Patriot” or “Eagle” in its title never gets my business.
Baud
@Frankensteinbeck:
Probably some, but my guess is that fundraising disparities played a bigger role.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT:
I’ve been wondering if Alan Weisselberg was somehow back in play, as a witness or a target for new charges? I’d be skeptical of an ex-in-law, and I’d take her comments to teh press with a large grain of salt, but I’m guessing prosecutors have taken that into consideration.
schrodingers_cat
@glory b: Oh and anyone declaring their religiosity in their social media bio is someone I steer clear off.
This goes for both “proud Hindu” or ” devout Christian” profiles.
glory b
@Tony G: Yes, false accusations of dishonesty are defamatory. He will have to prove damages, but if he can tie his firing to DeSantis, maybe so..
We will have to consider that the judicial branch of government is tied to DeSantis too. Remember that when he fired the prosecutor for being “woke,” the judge agreed it was outrageous but said he’d have to sue in state court, as the federal didn’t have jurisdiction.
As I recall, the former prosecutor and his attorney didn’t bother, but I could be wrong. I don’t think the statute of limitations is up yet.
Too bad that people in FL seem to have no recourse for this display of almost fascistic behavior (almost?).
glory b
@schrodingers_cat: Yep, better to avoid those types of people when you can.
smintheus
The real agenda is imposing right-wing Christian beliefs and practices upon everyone else. The Christianist bigots realize that they need to normalize imposing all manner of beliefs/practices to make it seem impossible to resist their agenda. Books are at the top of their list of things to impose because their own agenda comes from their favorite book of fairy tales, via their own twisted minds.
schrodingers_cat
I have found my people on Twitter, a bunch of other Indian people who think that Nattu Nattu is overrated and unmusical. We even prefer Jai-Ho (If I were to make a list of Rahman’s best Jai-Ho wouldn’t make it in the top 20) to it.
The choreography was not too bad. Of course YMMV.
Of the Oscar contenders I personally preferred Lady Gaga’s song.
karen marie
@StringOnAStick: Has she worked with a trainer?
Doesn’t sound like it!
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
It was fine but didn’t strike me as anything special as far as Indian movie music goes. But I’m happy for them for making history.
glory b
@RaflW: I’ve said this before here and say it again now, lots of people know what the Democratic party stands for and what we want to do. They like a lot of it. They just don’t want to vote for the party with the black people in it.
Yutsano
@NotMax: That made me physically shudder. Yeesh. Such cursed names!
Betty Cracker
@glory b: The state attorney DeSantis unlawfully suspended (Andrew Warren) appealed the federal judge’s ruling. The lackey DeSantis appointed to take over for Warren, Susan Lopez, plans to run for the office in 2024. I wonder if Warren will too.
TerryC
@glory b: I named my disc golf courses the BRATS Red, White and Blue DGC which makes it obscenely difficult to argue with me on social media if you’re on the right.
LiminalOwl
@schrodingers_cat: Congratulations! I hope you’ll share views of your lovely creations. (And do you know about the word карандаш in Russian?)
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Yeah pretty so-so, not very original and quite unmusical. India’s last entry that got a nomination in the foreign film category, Lagaan has better musical numbers than Natu Natu.
This one from Haider
is one of the best Hindi cinema musical numbers in recent years in the last ten years or so.
schrodingers_cat
@LiminalOwl: No I don’t. What does it mean.
LiminalOwl
@Betty Cracker: On my way to work I have to pass the “Patriot Village” apartment complex. I hoped it might refer to the not-really-local football team, but the cartoonish statue of a dog at the entrance, painted all over with the Stars and Stripes, makes that seem unlikely.
LiminalOwl
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Have you ever heard the country song “Standing Room Only”? Barbara Mandrell…
Jeffro
Give the people what they want!
LOL
schrodingers_cat
@schrodingers_cat: *Haider is the reimagined Hamlet set in Kashmir.
J R in WV
deleted
Geminid
@Frankensteinbeck: I did not watch the debate between DeSantis and Crist that was hosted by a South Florida Sinclair station, I saw at least a couple people say that DeSantis did not perform well. Among other things, Crist was said to get DeSantis flustered somewhat on the question of whether he would run for President in 2024. I wluld tbink that’s a question DeSants would have expected to be pressed on and been well prepared for.
So he may be on the brittle side, and that could hurt him in primary debates. Those count for some, maybe a lot if someone blows up. I expect DeSantis will be pushed plenty by the other non-Trump candidates. Or pulled, as he’ll be the highest crab in the bucket.
I still could not rule DeSantis out as the nominee. For one thing, I can’t tell how strong Trump and the other likely candidates will be. It seems that like DeSantis they all have weaknesses, but one of them still has to win.
Another problem is that this seems to me to be a very unpredictable primary electorate. Part of that may be due to Trump’s effect as a chaos agent, and part may be due to tensions from well before Trump. The party and its voters seem fractured and unsettled to me, and that state could persist well into the primaries.
That could be projection on my part. But anyway, I think I’ll have to learn about next year’s Republican voters the hard way: watching primary results and popping popcorn.
RaflW
@Roger Moore: It’d be really useful for Democrats and progressive-aligned folks to talk about these issues. All the time.
Baud
@RaflW: I’ll get on my high horse again and say part of that is talking about how blue states are doing things differently than red states. Michigan has been doing some great things with the Dem takeover there.
jefft452
Be very worried when someone says “Parents should decide”
They dont mean you should decide for your children
They mean some other kid’s parents should decide for your children
Geminid
@Baud: Blue states are doing good work in the area of clean energy transition. That is becoming a force in state and local economies..
gvg
@Jackie: I am pretty sure those are from his staff or other fluffers trying to help him evade responsibility for his own actions. I see no reason to buy those stories.
Baud
@Geminid:
Via Reddit, Dems have a new explainer in chief. Jeff Jackson, NC. He’s like a glass of warm milk.
https://v.redd.it/frasue5zwjna1
Bill Arnold
@eclare:
I wish that just once, a date had been quick enough to reverse-engineer the question and rather than correcting him, ask him about why he disliked women who corrected him.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@glory b:
Or the uppity womens who don’t know their place or the gheys or …
Bill Arnold
@Delk:
The Brick Testament (Bible in Legos)
Anyway
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
@glory b:
Too many immigrants in the party!
Geminid
@Geminid: Texas actually leads the nation in renewable electricity generation, but for dumb ideological reasons Republicans don’t brag on it. Kemp is making the most of electric vehicle investments in his state, but on a national level the party is locked into a reactionary position on the environment. This I think presents a real opportunity for Democrats, as the Republicans are on the wrong side of popular opinion in this area.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@LiminalOwl: I hadn’t, but LOL
schrodingers_cat
@Anyway: Rs have always been the anti-immigrant party since the days of Lincoln and definitely during the 1920s.
Kay
Completely insane coverage of “wokeness” in the WSJ.
Wokeness causes bank failures.
I told you the anti wokesters were idiot ninnies and they prove it every day.
Geminid
@Baud: Jeff Jackson is the freshman Rep for the North Carolina 14th CD. He’s 40 years old, and was a State Senator before running for Congress.
Last month Karl Kondyk (U.Va. Center for Politics) put out a set of ratings for 2024 House races, and he rated Jackson’s district a “Tossup.” That was because his and three other blue North Carolina districts may be affected by a new round of redistricting by the Republican legislature.
Elizabelle
Meanwhile, in Rodanthe NC (Outer Banks, south of Nags Head), the woke ocean took down another house today. That makes four in the past year.
WaPost video feature, with about 2.6 K reader comments. Gift link: Retreat in Rodanthe
I truly don’t understand how anyone bought an oceanfront home here in recent years, but … I kind of wish they’d return these islands to nature preserves, with some camping and temporary structures.
Barrier islands want to be barrier islands.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Heh.
@Geminid:
Hopefully, he’ll get some buzz with this video.
way2blue
Gosh. This brings back memories… My sons’ sixth grade history teacher wanted to take her class to see the new film, Der Untergang. One set of parents objected—they didn’t want their child to see it. Fine? But. They insisted it would be unfair to said child—if the rest of the class saw it. So. No field trip.
I did of course take my sons to see it. Well worth it…
schrodingers_cat
@LiminalOwl: I figured it out!
lowtechcyclist
@Bill Arnold:
I’ll see your Brick Testament and raise you R. Crumb’s Illustrated Genesis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Genesis_(comics)
Geminid
@schrodingers_cat: You may well know this already, but in 1860 the nativist American (Know Nothing) Party dissolved itself, and the bulk of its members went over to the new Republican Party. The American Party had been a force in 1850’s politics, and it’s politics have been a powerful strain in the Republican party ever since. One could say that an amalgam of the American and Dixicrat Parties dominates the party today.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: I need to speak to the management about this, I have vacay next week and all I see in the forecast is rain on the days I am off. This is unacceptable, I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE MANAGER RIGHT NOW!
Bill Arnold
@lowtechcyclist:
R. Crumb’s book looks like a worthy entry; thanks!
(While not Jewish, I do go to Jewish services and can (phonetically) read the liturgy (well, Friday evening at least) in Hebrew. A favorite pastime when bored is finding non-normative interpretations for passages. )
Chris Johnson
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Literally the first thing Trump blames is ‘RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA SCAM’, posted in that twitter thread, in his subsequent meltdown.
That guy has no self-control at all, and when it comes to things bigger than money, I think that’s it. Trump was Russia’s guy the whole time, that’s how he became President, and somehow the ‘bigger than money’ thing is that they’ve got him dead to rights on it.
I think Trump got caught. He’s Russia’s guy. That’s bigger than money.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: One of the standard conservative explanations for the 2008 financial crisis was that it happened because lenders were forced to make home loans to non-white people.
This time around, they’ve just gone on to assuming that putting non-white people in a bank’s management will make them foolish.
That train is, as the man said, never late.
lowtechcyclist
@Elizabelle:
I totally agree.
From the article: “she estimates it will cost her $200,000 to move her home and have its first floor rebuilt, an expense not covered by insurance.”
These articles never talk about how they can get insurance at all. You’d think that would be an important part of the conversation.
I assume they must be getting Federal flood insurance because I can’t imagine a private insurer having anything to do with low-lying coastal properties like these. But I wish that just one time, an article about houses in places like this would say where they got their insurance from, and how.
Anyway, I raised this question with the reporter on Twitter. I’ll see whether he responds, and what he says if he does.
Geminid
@Baud:
@Geminid: Jeff Jackson’s 14th NC CD consists of much of Charlotte and suburban Mecklenburg County. It’s 57.1% White, 21.8% Black, 12.8% Hispanic, and 6.9% Asian. He carried it 57.7-42.3% in 2020. Joe Biden got 57.5% of the vote there.
Jackson made a serious run for the open U.S Senate seat but in December, 2021 he suspended his campaign and endorsed Cheri Beasley.
Jackson was an officer in the Army JAG Corps, and served in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. He is now a major in the North Carolina National Guard.
Elizabelle
@lowtechcyclist: Good question. Let us know if you hear back.
StringOnAStick
@karen marie: There has been several rounds of training, starting at puppy class. They are 2.5 years old now and the male is tightly bonded to her husband. She figured his aggression had to do with feeling he needed to protect the husband because he was feeling a sudden onset of hip joint pain and playing it for everything he could to get attention from my friend, as he usually does.
There was a prior hint 6 months ago when he nipped or snagged an elderly woman’s hand and drew blood; now that event is being reviewed as being more meaningful. My friend and I sat together in the kitchen and the dogs could run around outside and come to the door; he’d look at her with love and at me with murder in his eyes. When they were locked up in their laundry room to keep him away from me, he was hitting the door in a state of rage trying to get out and get to me, so they had to be put in their crates until I left the next morning. I got away with a 2″ diameter blood blister thanks to the jacket I was wearing ; the next person might not be so lucky and this is a very, very large and powerful dog.
cain
@Frankensteinbeck:
The key here though is in a debate – you go for the jugular when DeSantis falters – say stuff like “why are you stumbling? What’s wrong?” – the trick is to make him look weak to his audience.
Hopefully, the press and stupid liberals don’t shake their heads about ‘tone’. Every time it is about that we will lose the battle.
Urza
@Gvg: The “Many Questions doctrine” that appears to be the new rightwing legal theory for denying laws would actually work in our favor here. Any law that isn’t very specific would have Many Questions as to its validity.
schrodingers_cat
@Geminid: Yes I do know about the Know-Nothings and how they hated the Irish immigrants.
LiminalOwl
@schrodingers_cat: It means “pencil.” Transliteration is KARANDASH, and yes, that does tell you where they tto the name from.
Geminid
@schrodingers_cat: The Know Nothings were anti-Irish, anti-German, and anti-Catholic. Then they became anti-Labor. I identify that strain with the “Taft Republicans” of the 1940s and 50s. The “Eisenhower Republicans” could hold them at bay for a while, but after the Southern party realignment of the 1970s the Know Nothings had powerful allies, and what used to be the Eisenhower Republicans were marginalized.
schrodingers_cat
@Geminid: Now most of them are Democrats, the Eisenhower Republicans of yore.
Geminid
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, a lot of them came over to the Democratic side. I still see a few remnants in the Republican Party around me, but they are aging out. My State Senator, Emmet Hanger, is probably one but he’s in his 70s.
There is a group of Eisenhower-tupe Republicans who run a Virginia political blog, Bearing Drift. They still try to fight the radicals, but their audience is small. It’s a good publication, though.
schrodingers_cat
@Geminid: I knew a few of them in Maine, most of them voted for Obama. All most all of them have become Ds, some have become independents.
LiminalOwl
@LiminalOwl: oops, sorry. I see you didn’t need the explanation.
kalakal
@Cameron: In one of C. S. Forester’s books, Hornblower is on half pay and is working as a teacher at a private school. “Readers – penny a week, Writers – tupenny, Counters – thrupenny”
DeStupid is already trying to fill teacher vacancies by waiving all qualification requirements for vets.
As people have pointed out he’s stiff and inflexible in debates. He’s a very thin skinned I speak your weight machine who can’t handle pushback which is why he always operates in a controlled bubble. He won’t be able to do that at a national level.
Being thin- skinned is a real problem for a politician, many voters are turned off by people who can give it out but can’t take it. DeSantis is particularly bad as he just whines, pouts, and sulks.
Ruckus
@kalakal:
Ronnie sounds like he has the maturity of a 2 yr old.
And yes I’m giving him credit here…..
whatsleft
@Tony G: No because of the burgeoning new law making it illegal to criticize the Florida governor or his cabinet unless you are “registered” with them.
https://www.wfla.com/news/politics/florida-bill-would-require-bloggers-who-write-about-governor-to-register-with-the-state/amp/
Paul in KY
@Doc Sardonic: Back in the paleozoic, when I used to wait in line for great UK basketball tics (outside in very cold weather) a Maranatha nut or two would harangue us at about 3 or 4 in morn about how we were all heathens bound for Hell. Good times….
Cthulhu
@rikyrah: I just wish the media (Corporately right wing owned, so little hope of this) would call these people what they are, Nazis and Fascists.
Paul in KY
@StringOnAStick: I never understand why someone would want an animal that, if it decided, could kill you, and you couldn’t do anything about it (unless you had a gun handy and could use it).
Paul in KY
@Geminid: They got a great deal on that one. I wonder why..
Edit: Comment was for Elizabelle comment below :-)