#florida republicans

[socialjusticeinamerica]

Florida, this is your chance but you have to vote!

[rejectingrepublicans]

[brighterdays4212]

Good Morning.. Happy Weekends 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️😚😚👅👅

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[thehalfwaypost]

Florida Republicans are at it again.

[laura37578]

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

Meet the ‘conservative pot smokers’ voting to legalize marijuana in Florida

Sam, 43, of Orlando, has voted Republican in every election since 2000 and describes herself as an evangelical Christian. She also smokes pot. The first time Mike Pappas, 37, could legally vote after a marijuana conviction, he voted for Donald Trump. Spencer, 32, of Jacksonville, considers himself “right of center.” He’s smoked weed since he was 17. Now, the drug helps him get up in the morning…

[mysharona1987]

[an-onyx-void]

Disclaimer: I am not the original owner or creator of this content. The source account is listed below.

[nando161mando]

Florida Republicans Pass Bill Allowing Trans Kids to Be Removed From Their Families

This is just the latest anti-trans bill passed in the state, but it’s among the most dangerous.

[whiterosebrian]

Florida

Yes, I am still working on poetic exercises based on the anthology of Romantic poetry.  I went through a chapter themed on protest and politics—the Romantic movement coincided with Abolitionism and the French Revolution.  Grant you, I’ve already written multiple exercises on sociopolitical themes out of a sense of necessity.  For this exercise, I decided to yet again use internal rhyme across lines, and I thought of structuring lines and stanzas to give the sense of sarcastic quips and satiric punchlines.  Over the course of working on this exercise, I realized how much can be said with only so many words.  The violently sarcastic tone that I aimed for seems to do so much heavy lifting, so I decided against writing more than I have here.

We welcome the absolute rulers of Florida!

We dare not dispute their laws!

Anyone who dissents is a dictator! 

Arrest the Marxists and send them alone to the swamps!

Black voices are fully heard!

Nobody attacks sexual minorities!

Libraries operate freely! 

Those who claim the contrary are giant corporations!

Ignore the Nazis marching with flags!

Nazis exist in Ukraine only!

Tsarist Russia is an ally!

Florida bravely resists cosmopolitan overlords!

White Christian empires bring

About a bright and happy world!

Do you yet understand the intent

Behind the strand of words which I spoke to you now?

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The recently revived Florida State Guard would more than triple in size and add aviation and maritime equipment, with funding going from $10 million to more than $95 million, under Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposed budget.

DeSantis last year pushed to reactivate the volunteer state guard to assist the Florida National Guard during emergencies. The state guard was set up during World War II to replace Florida National Guard members who were deployed abroad. It went inactive in 1947 but remained in state law.

Chris Spencer, DeSantis' director of policy and budget, told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that an expanded state guard is needed to help an overtaxed Florida National Guard.

"Our national guardsmen have a much longer, much more frequent schedule of activations because of our emergencies than other states that have more national guardsmen," Spencer said while giving a budget overview, "That's a big burden on the families of national guardsmen and it's a big burden on the national guardsmen themselves. It's a factor in the challenges that we're having in recruiting national guardsmen in Florida."

With approximately 12,000 Florida soldiers and airmen, Spencer added some members of the National Guard are deployed in non-emergencies, with about 400 working in state prisons. Meanwhile, the DeSantis administration is proposing to increase the size of the state guard from 400 to 1,500 members. Spencer said the goal is to have the state guard fully operational by the July 1 start of the upcoming fiscal year.

Sen. Bobby Powell, a West Palm Beach Democrat who questioned Spencer on the state guard's proposed funding, said after the meeting he would like more information on the plans.

"I'm just interested to know, is there something we don't know about, as regular people, that we're missing, that we need to add from 400 to 1,500 (with the) state guard," Powell said. "There is a lot of conversation centered on what is happening in Washington, D.C. Is Florida, are we a part of the nation?"

The budget for the current fiscal year included $10 million to reactivate the state guard and cover the costs of six positions.

As part of an overall $114.8 billion budget he proposed last week for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, DeSantis is asking lawmakers for $1.3 million to expand the salaried positions to 10; $50 million for aviation equipment; $3 million for maritime equipment; $22 million for storage facilities; and $19 million for training and protective equipment.

Last June, DeSantis said more than 1,200 people applied for the guard's 400 positions.

As part of recruitment efforts for the Florida National Guard, DeSantis has proposed $1,000 bonuses for new recruits and guardsmen who renew contracts.

Spencer said similar recruitment bonus incentives are not on the table for the state guard.

"If we don't hit our 400 and if we think it's going to be a challenge to hit our 1,500, we may come back and ask for support from the Legislature for an incentive plan next year," Spencer said. "But as of right now, we feel pretty strong there's going to be a lot of interest in joining, and hitting that number should not be a challenge."

[angelx1992]

[reasonsforhope]

"Georgia Republicans bundled over a dozen measures that targeted the state’s transgender residents into omnibus packages in a desperate attempt to get them passed. In a stunning defeat for the GOP, every single one of them failed.

Legislators gutted bills that had passed through committee and instead stuffed them full of their anti-LGBTQ+ wishlist items.

Bills that would ban transgender students from playing on teams aligned with their gender identity, ban transgender students from bathrooms aligned with their gender identity, opt parents into notification for every book a student checks out of the library, bar sex education before sixth grade, make all sex-ed classes opt-in and expand obscenity laws to make it easier to ban books with LGBTQ+ content all failed.

“MAGA politicians in Georgia tried it all in service to their anti-LGBTQ+ agenda,” said Human Rights Campaign Georgia State Director Bentley Hudgins, “including silencing debate and gutting unrelated, popular bills that had bipartisan support to ram through policies that would have put young LGBTQ+ Georgians in harm’s way. They failed.”

“It’s undeniable that the tides are shifting, both here in Georgia and across the nation,” Georgia Equality executive director Jeff Graham added. “Anti-LGBTQ actors are losing their political power, and more and more Georgians who know and love LGBTQ people are standing up against their baseless fear-mongering.”

In Florida recently, nearly two dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills were defeated in the wake of Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) presidential campaign implosion, dozens of measures in Virginia were tabled [Note: In the US, "tabled" means "shelved" or "taken out of consideration - the opposite of its meaning in the UK and other places], and Ohio’s governor backed off his attempt to restrict gender-affirming care access for transgender adults and minors. 

Meanwhile, in D.C., Democrats successfully excised 50 anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in the two budget bills passed and signed by President Joe Biden to fund the federal government.

Even Fox News has been forced to acknowledge transgender issues are among the lowest-priority concerns among voters."

-via LGBTQ Nation, April 1, 2024

[tippifunandprose]

every time I read about this Disney vs DeSantis thing and the bit about how the agreement doesn't end “until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England" all I can think about is some bumbling caper where the Florida government repeatedly tries to assassinate the entire royal family just to spite Disney