The Hill We Climb is overwhelming Sisyphus
In Miami-Dade County, FL last month one person objected to her poem and several other books, calling them ‘inappropriate’ for students. The parent, Daily Salinas, challenged The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba, and Love to Langston for what she claimed were filled with "indirect hate messages" inspired by critical race theory.
She told the Miami Herald that she's not in favor of censorship but wants students to "know the truth" about Cuba with accurate reading materials.
There’s nothing in Gorman’s poem about institutionalized racism, so Salinas is way off the mark and appears to be clueless about what that theory was. She’s ‘not in favor of censorship but’ also indicates confusion about stuff.
The review committee rearranged the deck chairs. They agreed that the items didn’t belong at the elementary school so moved them to the middle school library. Even though some of the books were specifically written by the authors for elementary school kids.
Also, what does an ‘indirect hate message’ even mean? Hard to know. The non-censor censor parent apparently doesn’t speak English. She’s making all the choices for everyone in that one school. She’s not happy that the books and poem got moved to the middle school. She thought them improper for all ages.
Welcome to Impossible Meatball DeSantisland. (It’s Impossible Meatball because they only use goy milk.)
It’s gotten so bad that the staid, middle road, mainstream group, the NAACP put out a travel warning about Florida. They didn’t say ‘stay away’ but the message was clear.
The formal travel notice states, "Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color."
"Let me be clear - failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all," said NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson. "Under the leadership of Governor Desantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon. He should know that democracy will prevail because its defenders are prepared to stand up and fight. We're not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the battle for the soul of our nation."
Derrick Johnson had more to say: "We began to look at the pattern and the comments, along with the public policy that Governor DeSantis and the Florida legislative body began to enact. And we recognize that it is not only a direct attack on the African American community, but the Latino community, on women, the LGBTQIA community, and that's a problem," he said.
The response from Impossible Meatball was ‘tourism is up’ and ‘this is just a stunt.’
His mentor, Senator Rick Medicaid Ripoff (R-Bullshit) showed him how to deflect the unprecedented travel warning even better: use the ‘S’ word.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Republican Sen. Rick Scott issued a formal travel advisory Tuesday warning the state of Florida is “openly hostile toward Socialists, Communists, and those that enable them.”
In an announcement, Scott said the advisory is in direct response to the Biden Administration’s “attempts to erase capitalism and the system that has brought prosperity to Florida.”
“Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by Socialists and others who work in the Biden Administration,” the advisory states.
Scott added any attempts to spread the “oppression and poverty that Socialism always brings” would be rebuffed by Florida residents. The former governor turned senator said attempts to spread Socialism in north Florida would be met with “laughter and mockery.”
He added the situation would be “far more dangerous” in parts of Central and South Florida whose residents learn the “horrors of Socialism” from Cuban, Venezuelan, and other Central and South American immigrants.
Changing the narrative completely away from the censorship, racism and misogyny to something about Biden as Putin is utter nonsense but it does the job intended: keep stupid people stupid and voting for the Stupid Party that the Republicans have to depend on. ‘Stupidity for Everyone!’ is pretty inclusive… for the shrinking minority of stupid Americans. Examples? Howzabout the 19 year old who wanted to rule the country after killing Joe Biden?
The man accused of crashing a U-Haul truck into a security barrier near the White House Monday night praised Adolf Hitler to investigators after his arrest and said that he aimed to “kill the President” if necessary to overthrow the government and install himself in power, according to court documents.
The renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, was warning years ago that Artificial Intelligence would be a threat to mankind. Numerous others, even social media execs and scientists recently, have appealed to the government to step in to regulate it. Good luck with that.
Social media is awash with lies, hatefulness, completely ridiculous conspiracy theories and faked events. I’d estimate about 15% of the adults in this country are gobbling it all up. And politicians on the extremist right and their minions (Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, etc) are eager to exploit the dumb.
Taking it to the next step, AI will allow the powerful to manufacture videos of events that never happened, to manipulate the public. It’s not just smart machines we have to watch out for: it’s the unethical and greedy that will use the machines to propagate the evil. And the unethical and greedy creating the AI as well. The government can’t regulate it. The problems can only be avoided if people become smarter and more ethical.
Good luck with that, too.
The hill we climb, indeed. Here, have some more of Amanda’s ‘hate’.
DeSantis will announce he’s running for President today on Hate Speech Twitter. This will trigger more attacks on him from ex-President Butthurt Yodelmouth, granting him a reprieve from his daily routine of digging his own grave.
Sure, as a lifelong optimist, I shy away from saying ‘we’re doomed’. But it’s definitely leaning in that direction.
So save your best jokes and memes for when the fascists come for us. Might as well leave them laughing as we go.