Typhoid Ron DeSantis’ bill to let parents sue teachers for discussions that make kids uncomfortable is kind of brilliant: rather than clear government rules, you have parents who may push back on almost anything. Saying the Civil War was about race or discussing the brutality of slavery or the Holocaust for example. Of course this frees up parents to sue from the left too but I’m guessing DeSantis is okay with that. The bill still helps make him look good to right-wing racists and the wing of the religious right that hates public education for teaching their kids reality will love him too.
I notice it also bans diversity training at businesses that makes anyone uncomfortable. I suspect what this means in practice is that as training makes racists and harassers uncomfortable, Republican political correctness requires protecting their fragile fee-fees. As Rebecca Fachner says, having parents report teachers to the state for incorrect thoughts used to be one of those things that distinguished totalitarian states from the US. As I’ve said before, Republicans are the new Communists.
“The complete list of moral and social issues in America that have nothing to do with racism is that there aren’t any.”
ALEC, a right-wing lobbying group, is pushing Republican legislatures to pass bills that block companies that divest fossil fuel stocks from doing business with the state. Bizarrely I learned that similar bills about Israel boycotts once extended to individuals — people receiving hurricane relief, a teacher told she’d have to sign a no-boycott pledge to keep her job (fortunately the courts were not down with this).
Michigan Trumper politicians are pushing a bill that would let politicians sue social media for deplatforming them for any reason. For the usual reasons (First Amendment! Freedom!).
Here’s how a big, powerful company can afford to laugh off court losses and legal sanctions.
Joe Rogan uses the n-word a lot in his podcasts. Trump, of course, is furious Rogan’s apologized. DeSantis immediately said the same. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before DeSantis or some other ambitious right-winger tries to prove their right-wing cred by saying the word publicly themselves.
Republicans attempt to play the race card by claiming white guys are victims. This is not new: remember when Trump claimed a Latino judge was prima facie biased against Trump?
Unsurprisingly, Virginia Republicans have killed bills that would have removed anti-gay marriage language from the state lawbooks and automatically restored voting rights to felons. But I was struck by the blatant lies of the Family Foundation of Virginia that their only problem is that allowing gay marriage would also allow polygamy. In other words, gay marriage is not the issue — but as their website states they’re anti-gay marriage and also oppose civil rights protection for gays, claiming there’s no evidence of discrimination. Methinks they lie …
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