Month: March 2023

So this is now the new thing? It’s what we begin the weekend with and it will no doubt lead on most of the news shows along with speculation of an iminent indictment of Trump.

We have to dredge up old outrages to justify new ones? It seems it was a lifetime ago that classified top secret information was found scattered all around Trump’s universe. Trump was caught red handed yet it was the lawyer handling that fiasco at that time whose name figured prominently in discussions regarding the documents, Christina Bobb who has taken the fall and is presently under investigation for obstruction of justice. Nothing will come out as a result of the investigation except to have it kicked further down the road because the Garland DOJ is not interested in pulling all the threads of Donald Trump’s corruption. They just handle and seem concerned with the petty criminals and thugs who rioted on 01/06/2021.

It happened in another lifetime altogether that Trump led an insurrection hell bent on overthrowing the elected government of the United States, yet almost two and a half years later he’s still not been held accountable for that day.

The ultimate goal of Trump and the people in the Biden administration who share being members of the establishment elite class is outrage fatigue. Their hope is the steady non stop scandals they broadcast will lead to a collective abandonment, with the exception of a few diehards, in prosecuting Trump and those closest to him for their illegal behavior so that when nothing is done to him that will be just fine with the rest of the Country.

The more sinister goal of people other than Trump and company is the war of attrition waged by the Trump will allow for the likes of more socially palatable yet politically discordant candidates to assume the mantle for the GOP brought in by the power structure to finish what Trump started.

Everyone should be concerned with the type of legislation like HB999 coming out of Florida. Effectively the language it uses is so broad as to be able to wipe out entire cultures from existence in the state.

We all have heard of  the term “woke” and how pervasive it has become in negatively defining the cultural boundaries set by folks like Florida’s governor. No one can really say what “woke” means but it’s usually aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, policies or themes that many in the Republican/MAGA party don’t like. It really is as bad a concept and idea to define as it’s proponent below struggles with.

That could mean almost anything and the ambiguity is convenient enough for the proponents of the term to blame failures of policies and institutions they don’t like as being too woke.  For example an editorial complaining about SVB falling on hard times can say that it’s collapse was due to the Bank’s paying too much attention to DEI and not how to keep itself solvent and people really think that’s a thing and give it traction in the discourse about the bank’s failure.  Of course they completely ignore the impact of Trump era deregulation.

This idea of  things being “woke” is behind HB999, which has taken aim at “prohibit(ing) universities or colleges from using any funds to promote, support, maintain, any programs or campus activities that support or adopt diversity, equity and inclusion.”  and sharp eyed opponents have every right to be outraged over the implications of the bill.  It’s language, as vague and open to interpretation as the term “woke”  could limit or remove from college campuses, fraternities, sororities, studies of different ethnicities, centers for different groups of students, impact the way tenure is arrived at for college professors and whether subjects are taught and how.  

I’ve never understood the Right’s opposition to diversity and equity. America, since it’s inception has been diverse.  Europeans, Africans and indigenous people have always been on the Continent at the same time. Equity and inclusion have been harder to come by and how they are received and implemented in American society have usually been dictated by Europeans motivated by fear of the diminution of their control over wealth.  HB999 controls who teaches the new MAGA/GOP narrative of America and can reduce the impact of diversity on Florida’s college campuses to effectively zero.  It’s as if it erases the existence from the state of groups of people the government of Florida considers “woke”.  They vanish from the curriculum being taught and their ability to organize and address concerns on colleges and universities is not allowed, eliminated.  Ethnic cleansing without the blood or the mess, done in the halls of government. 

#RonDeSantis #fascism #florida #GOP