{"id":13041,"date":"2021-10-11T14:55:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T14:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/?p=13041"},"modified":"2021-10-11T14:55:29","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T14:55:29","slug":"committee-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/committee-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Committee Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Committee week, in Florida Capital – Festival of Ignorance.<\/h1>\n
\n
\n

It\u2019s all about sparing white people\u2019s feelings, y\u2019all.<\/h2>\n

Legislators came to town for the autumn ritual of political harlotry they call \u201ccommittee week.\u201d Tallahassee\u2019s collective IQ dropped by a good 60 points.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s bad, but what they propose doing to Florida is worse.<\/p>\n

Seems Sen. Joe Gruters, R-$ara$ota, who also is chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, was intimately involved with a plot to quash the Democratic vote.<\/p>\n

Remember that \u201cvoting reform<\/a>\u201d bill the governor signed on \u201cFox and Friends\u201d last May? The one that restricts access to ballot drop-boxes, limits vote-by-mail applications, forbids giving people standing in long lines a bottle of water, and lets partisan poll watchers police canvassing boards?<\/p>\n

Even though Florida ran an immaculate election in 2020, Republicans goose-stepped in time with the Madman of Mar-a-Lago and claimed with straight faces they merely wanted to prevent election \u201cfraud\u201d \u2014 which is about as common as polar bears in Miami. (What fraud there was, was courtesy of\u00a0the GOP<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The indefatigable Gary Fineout of Politico got his mitts on some\u00a0damning<\/a>\u00a0text messages between Gruters and Rep. Blaise Ingoglia. This ain\u2019t fake news, y\u2019all: Gruters says he wants to cancel existing vote-by-mail requests because they would be \u201cdevastating\u201d to Republican candidates.<\/p>\n

Mail-in ballots used to\u00a0favor Republicans<\/a>, but 2020 spooked them. Gruters texted, \u201cWe got killed,\u201d and added, \u201cWe cannot make up ground. Trump campaign spent 10 million. Could not cut down lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wait, it gets better (or worse, depending on your attitude to voter suppression): Ingoglia sought advice from Ben Gibson, the party\u2019s top counsel and lawyer for Republicans in the lawsuits challenging Florida\u2019s new election laws.<\/p>\n

Ingoglia insisted there was no political motive here: \u201cThis was a policy decision all along and had nothing to do with partisan reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lest you think subverting our democratic system is all Sen. Gruters is up to these days, note that he is behind\u00a0a bill<\/a>\u00a0to ban \u201cdivisive topics\u201d in \u201call public schools, both government-run and charter, all 12 public Florida universities, all 28 state colleges, all state agencies, all county and municipal governments, and all private government contractors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The House version of this atrocity was introduced by Rep. Randy Fine, R-Pyongyang, who, like Sen. Gruters and so many in the Trump Party, appear unfamiliar with the United States Constitution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Friendly note to Rep. Fine, Sen. Gruters, and the rest of the Trumpist True Believers: There\u2019s this thing called the First Amendment. That\u2019s the one that protects citizens\u2019 speech rights from the government.<\/p>\n

Of course, the play here isn\u2019t to necessarily implement Trumpist state ideology \u2014 dumb as these white folks are, they have lawyers who know they\u2019ll lose in court, even in DeSantis\u2019s tame\u00a0right-wing<\/a>\u00a0courts. The play is to make their snarling voter base think they\u2019re protecting the Disney cartoon version of America.<\/p>\n

White people, you see, are so fragile they must never, ever be made to feel even a smidgen of \u201cdiscomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex\u201d about, say, the genocide of native people, slavery, Andersonville, the Ocoee Massacre, the\u00a0Trail of Tears<\/a>, or any other of the late unpleasantness that has shaped our history.<\/p>\n

OK, the bill doesn\u2019t specifically say \u201cwhite people,\u201d but that\u2019s what it means.<\/p>\n

The American Association of University Professors, the American Historical Association, and dozens of other expert groups are not impressed: \u201cThe clear goal of these efforts is to\u00a0suppress teaching\u00a0<\/a>and learning about the role of racism in the history of the United States. Purportedly, any examination of racism in this country\u2019s classrooms might cause some students \u2018discomfort\u2019 because it is an uncomfortable and complicated subject. But the ideal of informed citizenship necessitates an educated public.\u201d<\/p>\n

An \u201ceducated public\u201d is precisely what MAGA conservatives fear.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an enduring mystery how Republicans, many of whom go to good colleges and somehow even manage to pass the Bar exam, are so determined to be ignorant. But, as\u00a0Upton Sinclair\u00a0<\/a>observed, \u201cIt is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which brings us to Florida\u2019s new surgeon general, Dr. Joseph\u00a0Ladapo<\/a>. He\u2019s not an epidemiologist, but he plays one on TV.<\/p>\n

He replaces Scott Rivkees, the former state SG exiled by the DeSantis administration after suggesting in a 2020 coronavirus briefing that social distancing might be a good idea.<\/p>\n

Ladapo is much more DeSantis\u2019 kind of guy. He\u2019s not keen on mask-wearing, but hearts hydroxychloroquine, horse de-wormer and herd immunity. He\u2019s OK with vaccines, but thinks they\u2019re overrated, \u201ctreated almost like a religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing special about them compared to any other preventive measure,\u201dsays Ladapo, adding that you could just exercise more and eat fruit.<\/p>\n

In July 2020, Ladapo attended a conference in DC at which \u201cdoctors\u201d assured the nation that\u00a0demon sperm<\/a>\u00a0is the cause of many common gynecological issues and the COVID vaccine is an \u201cexperimental biological agent.\u201d<\/p>\n

No doubt Dr. Ladapo will soon inform us that leeches can help us restore balance in our four humors, and a rattlesnake skin soaked in corn liquor will cure rheumatism.<\/p>\n

And speaking of medical matters, Rep. Webster Barnaby of Deltona, who advertises himself as a pastor known to lead the prayer at Trump rallies, just filed\u00a0a bill<\/a>\u00a0pretty much identical to that Handmaid\u2019s Tale-style forced-birth law in Texas.<\/p>\n

Given that Ron DeSantis and his pet lawmakers mean to Texas your Florida, chances of it passing seem pretty good. House Speaker Chris Sprowls says he\u2019s \u201calways fought for unborn babies,\u201d and Senate President Wilton Simpson has signaled his approval.<\/p>\n

The governor seems to like the idea, too.<\/p>\n

When asked why \u201cmy body, my choice\u201d applies to vaccines and masking but not for women exercising reproductive freedom, DeSantis\u2019 finely-honed legal mind produced the following pile of word compost: \u201cWell, I think the difference is between \u2014 the right to life is that another life is at stake. Whereas whether you\u2019re doing stuff is really \u2026 if you\u2019ve put something in your body or not, it doesn\u2019t affect other people. So that\u2019s in terms of protecting another life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cAt the end of the day, government was instituted for certain reasons, to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

One legislator who\u2019s not happy at the moment, not happy at all, is Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Kalashnikov-in-the-Closet, author of bills to allow you to pack heat anywhere, anytime, anyhow and rename U.S. Highway 27 \u2014 known as \u201cFlorida\u2019s Urethra\u201d \u2014 after Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been sent to live in the Capitol basement.<\/p>\n

But like all great freedom fighters in exile \u2014 think Fidel in the Sierra Maestra, plotting the Battle of Yaguajay, or Mussolini organizing the March on Rome \u2014 Sabatini\u2019s not taking this lying down, by God.\u00a0 He\u2019s\u00a0tweeting<\/a>: \u201cRINO Speaker of the House in Florida, beta @ChrisSprowls (the guy who kills the Pro-Life, Pro-2A, & E-Verify Bills each year) moved my legislative office because he\u2019s BIG mad I call him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources say Sabatini also stamped his little foot and is threatening to scream till he\u2019s sick.<\/p>\n

Your tax dollars at work, y\u2019all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Committee week, in Florida Capital – Festival of Ignorance. It\u2019s all about sparing white people\u2019s feelings, y\u2019all. Legislators came to town for the autumn ritual of political harlotry they call \u201ccommittee week.\u201d Tallahassee\u2019s collective IQ dropped by a good 60 points. That\u2019s bad, but what they propose doing to Florida is worse. Seems Sen. Joe Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[534,1156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13043,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13041\/revisions\/13043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}