#VOTE DESANTIS OUT!!!!

[soberscientistlife]

Hey Florida

[tomorrowusa]

Bad news and good news out of Ron DeSantis's Florida.

The Florida Supreme Court will allow a new 6-week abortion ban to take effect in May. BUT the court also approved a ballot initiative for November which would restore reproductive freedom in the state.

Floridians will be able to vote on abortion protections this fall, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Monday—a win celebrated by the state’s Democrats despite the court, in a separate case, also paving the way for a law to take effect that will ban all abortions after six weeks. That six-week abortion ban, passed by Florida’s Republican-majority legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, will go into effect on May 1. That measure can be undone by voters come November, however. The court’s decision is expected to reverberate across Florida and the southeast. A privacy protection clause in the Florida constitution had allowed the Sunshine State to enjoy abortion access up to 15 weeks despite DeSantis being at the helm—access that women relied upon in nearby states like Alabama and Mississippi, where abortion is outright banned, and in Georgia and South Carolina, which have laws similar to Florida’s soon-to-be-active six-week ban.

DeSantis appointed most of the Florida Supreme Court justices. Another reason why we should pay more attention to state government – regardless of state.

Florida’s Supreme Court, which had five of its seven justices appointed by DeSantis, ruled in favor of the state on Monday, 6-1. Now, Florida women will often be barred from having an abortion before many realize they’re even pregnant.

The court approval of the upcoming referendum, actually a Florida constitution amendment called Amendment 4 on the 2024 ballot, was narrow.

That amendment, if it received at least 60 percent of votes in favor of it, would significantly protect abortion access in Florida. Its text reads, in part, that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before fetal viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” Viability is estimated to be around six months of pregnancy. The Florida Supreme Court voted 4-3 in favor of approving the amendment to reach the ballot—a tight victory for abortion advocates like Planned Parenthood, which has championed the proposed amendment.

60% is a relatively high bar. But Kansas, arguably more conservative than Florida, had an abortion referendum in 2022 in which the reproductive freedom side got 59.16% of the vote; the Kansas election required just a simple majority but the final result exceeded that by almost 10%.

The necessary 60% for the Florida reproductive freedom amendment required in Florida won't be a cake walk but it is quite doable.

As many as 11 states could have reproductive freedom on the ballot as referendums this year.

Where abortion rights could be on the ballot this fall

^^^ Just to clarify: New York already offers strong reproductive legal protections. The upcoming referendum, if passed, would place freedom of choice into the NY constitution. It doesn't get more secure than that in state law.

[lenbryant]

Big Trigger Warning: this is intense. Republicans’ control of women’s bodies and the disaster that leads to is fully illustrates here.

[conspiracydawg]

man the 2024 presidential election is gonna suck, huh

[11bountyhunters]

"Hm.. Why did shinigami eyes mark you as a terf? This is a good opinion!"

"Well. That's damning."

[bioswear]

Idk hot take for a Saturday morning, but maybe people shouldn’t be SO quick to switch to a mentality of: “well I’m not voting at all” about American politics in regards to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict/genocide just bc America has had its dick in those affairs LONG BEFORE fucking Biden Presidecy and people are seemingly just NOW feeling publically vocally outraged about it bc it’s in the forefront news (as you should be), but maybe also let’s use our fucking brains for a moment if you are American:

we should, and can easily, also still focus on that which is in our own backyard, if you don’t vote fucking blue, because green/third parties are not actually viable in the deeply established two party system we have had for CENTURIES, we get fucking DeSantis or some other horrible Fascist Republican and then America is going to have its own genocide against LGBTQ+ people, fascism goes up, continued attacks against drag/immigrants/etc.

You also know damn well that any Republican, If one were president, would be doing the same fucking thing of providing aid to Israel, so I guess personally I’m just confused as to why everyone is surprised biden is doing the same.

You can and should support a free Palestine, and hold contempt for Israel and condemn their actions, AND also know that voting blue is Americas literal only chancE RIGHT CURRENTLY NOW this upcoming year, to remain somewhat of a democracy instead of a ChristoFascist regime, especially with Biden being one of the ONLY blue candidates like… our hands are TIED

Like YEAH it’s gonna fucking suck to vote for Biden but like you also gotta fucking Buck up sometimes and do things you don’t particularly WANT to do. It’s called duality and compromising in life and sometimes it’s fucking unavoidable.

But idk what the fuck do I know 🤪 I’m just a girl who thinks maybe you shouldn’t just fucking give up one of your only recognized rights in America just because some actions you can’t control from a crusty old moderate blue white man in a country whose affairs are more complicated than your messiest situationship is upsetting (rightfully so, I might add) you

[pinkautist]

dear all americans who are of voting age! PLEASE vote in the upcoming election! trump is running again and he has already stated that his presidency will be about getting revenge, which is rallying a lot of loud support. we NEED to make sure he stays out of office.

[tehjleck]

[seileach67]

Florida election police question voters who signed an abortion petition

[tomorrowusa]

« To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid. »

— Mark E. Walker, Chief United States District Judge, Northern District Of Florida Tallahassee Division. From US Courts.

It's not often you see such blunt language in court orders. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was making threats to broadcasters not to air ads favoring Amendment 4 – the right to abortion amendment. Judge Walker issued a temporary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs.

U.S. judge blocks DeSantis admin’s threats to broadcasters over Amendment 4 ads

Florida gives us a peek at what a second Trump administration would look like. This particular case covers several areas.

Freedom of Speech. DeSanctimonious tried to abridge the First Amendment for political gain.

Independent judiciary. A federal judge not beholden to politicians was able make this ruling based on established law. Certain politicians wish to pack the courts with hacks and political cronies.

Abortion. DeSanctimonious is doing everything possible to repress reproductive freedom.

Election interference. Not being able to air political advertising is a form of interference in a legal election.

You can see how Trump would use similar techniques based on his comments and on his Project 2025.

To support free speech, an independent federal judiciary, reproductive freedom, and free elections – vote for Kamala Harris.

We're just 2½ weeks from Election Day. Have you contacted people you know in swing states? Voters are far more likely to follow the advice of friends than to be swayed by ads. Don't wait until the last minute to get involved in saving your freedom.

[morgberrystreet]

We’re SERIOUSLY letting Ron DeSantis, the “Don’t Say Gay” guy, run for president??

[fitsofdespair]

reminder that if trump goes to prison desantis is likely the rep nominee and he’s worse

[curiosityschild]

Just found out 25% of my county's mayors are queer women. Based.

[weirdmageddon]

i was thinking about this since i posted earlier about us needing to address the trend of gen z men being pulled into alt-right pipelines might have contributed to the outcome of this election.

i think contrapoints is really smart, and from what i’ve seen, has been way more effective at getting people out of harmful ideological pipelines than i’ve seen from the majority of leftists online who instead berate and drive a greater wedge of antipathy (though i understand why! and it can be very hard to have empathy for the people who see you as a threat). that antipathy makes the right more radicalized because they don’t feel like they can talk about anything without the “crazy lefties” who won’t even engage with them. where did these issues come from?

what i’ve noticed, and i’m even guilty of this, is that people don’t interact with groups of people whom they refuse talk to, which makes realities more hypothetical in the minds of their opponent since they aren’t open to seeing reality from their perspective. this is true on both sides. from what i’ve observed, it seems to originate from hypothetical perception of the opponent, but when people treat those perceptions as though they are real, it becomes real with their actions, which then makes the antipathy justified to someone. again, on both sides.

what makes contrapoints so successful at breaking this down is that is that she creates these socratic dialogue skits that represent real people and ideologies, has a sense of humor, isn’t afraid to discuss these things, reframes how we see these things by introducing nuance to both sides. she’s a leftist, but she also knows how to engage without ripening division, of meeting someone halfway and being completely humble about it. she is able to soften extremes.

she is able to get into the mind of people who aren’t aligned with her views, understand the nuance and rationales from a realistic perspective, breaking down a big block of “this is all bad” into “ok, some of this makes sense…”, what this does is create a space for self-reflection that doesn’t feel ham-fisted (which could otherwise cause people to double down on their beliefs instead of opening up to other perspectives outside of their bubble). while also being entertaining and well-produced on top of it.

what she is doing is creating these scenarios and socratic discussions that SHOULD be happening in real life but aren’t in this polarized social climate.

i graduated from new college of florida this spring, the small liberal arts college that was in headlines across the country for ron desantis’s board of trustees hostile takeover and exodus of professors.

new students and student athletes from conservative walks of life were being basically incentivized to go there who were taught to fear the lgbt boogeyman growing up in their conservative communities. but once they actually interacted with lgbt students there, many of them they felt like they understood them, and they weren’t as bad as they were told they would be. new college of florida was also famous for getting derek black (child of the man who created stormfront, and godchild of the kkk grand wizard david duke) out of white nationalism. their peers at NCF called them out but also interacted with them, invited them to dinner. black wrote a book about it.

now of course some people are too far gone and you shouldn’t waste your time with them, like derek’s family for example. but i also think a lot of people who voted for trump are not informed, are operating off of emotion and knee-jerk mentality because it’s easier than thinking, and they are not seeing the discussions that need to be had to change their mind because fuckin…nobody is doing them.

and we feel this visceral disgust to people of the opposing party because of its associations. i just want to know how it happened and how we got to be like this. i think social media is partly to blame and also the algorithms that take people down dangerous pipelines and sharpen them, insulate them.

i myself understand the vitriol you might have for anyone that voted for trump. i feel so disappointed that half the people of this country voted against our collective benefit. and i’ve seen a lot of sentiment from the left today saying “every single person who voted for trump is dead to me. i disowned you”.

you can see the reality of trump’s demagoguery, and it’s so obvious, but what i want to know is: what do they see? why did they vote for him? emotion and entertainment travel faster and have more reach than reason. and it’s that’s why i think contrapoints’s videos are exemplary at tackling this ideological divide. this is something i’ve been thinking about for months before today and i thought now was a better time than ever to give my two cents on it.

[pillowcaseghostie]

I don't have a lot of followers but still reblogging because this is an amazing deal with an amazing cause a literal win-win

TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Florida

y'all there is an absolutely bonkers deal going on at itch.io right now

You can get over 500 rpgs for only *five dollars* right now. That's right, over $2000 worth of games for only five fucking dollars. It's insane. It's unreal. It's totally worth more than any dollar amount you're going to throw at it. And it's all going towards charities that work with trans folx on the ground: specifically Zebra Youth and Transinclusive Group. If you donate more than $10 you get a special bonus - the creators of Action Fiction will send you a PDF copy of the 5E supplement "Monsters of Murka: Chromatic Gamut." Go check it out now!!! Offer lasts until April 6!

[microcosmtoxin]

election good news

in delaware, sarah mcbride became the first openly trans person to be elected to the us congress

in north carolina, democrat josh stein will defeat self proclaimed "black nazi" and "pervert" mark robinson for the governorship

new york, maryland, and colorado all added reproductive right protections to their state constitution through a vote on an amendment

for the first time in history, two black women will serve in the senate, newly elected lisa blunt rochester (de) and angela alsobrooks (md)

kentucky rejected a constitutional amendment which would undermine public education by forcing public school dollars to go to non-public school

former democratic states attorney of florida monique worrell won her job back after ron desantis forced her out

palestine supporter bernie sanders won his fourth term in the senate representing vermont

despite fears, there have been no reports of any political violence or widescale voter intimidation and fraud

you will still wake up tomorrow