Looking Back at Earth

As I spent this past week monitoring the Artemis II mission closely I can’t help but look at the photos of earth and think, what could have been?

Earth is a spec of dust in the universe. And yet, we fight over petty differences. We argue over who has crossed what imaginary border. We kill each other over whose version of god is better. We concern ourselves with the genitalia of others and what women do with their own bodies. All while the wealth gap increases and the rich turn into oligarchs who weaponize that money to control media which exacerbates all of the problems above.

ICE DHS Funding Time to Get Active

I’m seeing a lot of posts the past few days that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have caved because DHS is getting funded anyway. And while it is true DHS will continue as normal for 2 weeks - this is far from caving. It’s a win.

The Democrats will now be able to negotiate ICE and DHS funding separately from the rest of the government funding. This means people on SNAP and many other government programs will not be hanging in the balance during what will surely be contentious negotiations. If the funding bills fail to pass, DHS is defunded while the rest of the government operates.

This does still need to pass through the house, which is expected to happen Monday.

Fascism on the Ballot

Now that Ron DeSantis has officially filed paperwork to run for president over the past several days I put together a list of things he and his fellow Republicans have done in Florida. Unlike Donald Trump in 2016, we have an exact blueprint of what he intends to do on a national scale. He has said his plan plan is to “Make America Florida” let’s be honest about what he really represents. Fascism. Merriam Webster defines fascism as:

a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

And a bit more color from Encyclopedia Britannica

Fascist propagandists also attacked cultural liberalism, claiming that it encouraged moral relativism, godless materialism, and selfish individualism and thereby undermined traditional morality. Anti-Semitic fascists associated liberalism with Jews in particular—indeed, one precursor of Nazism, the political theorist Theodor Fritsch, claimed that to succumb to a liberal idea was to succumb to the Jew within oneself.

Lets not forget that Nazis targeted many groups even prior to The Holocaust in Germany including black people, disabled people, political opponents and of course gay and transgendered people. As I’ll illustrate, it’s not too hard to draw some frightening comparisons.

It’s gone so far that just this past week the NAACP issued travel advisory for Florida, saying the state “has become hostile to Black Americans” and the League of United Latin American Citizens and LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida have done the same.

With some of that background in mind here’s a list of things going on in Florida with relevant bills that have been proposed, already gone into effect, or have been signed and will go into effect soon. I’ve come with receipts, offering relevant sources and direct links to bills where possible.

Religious Freedom, as a Weapon

With the continuous rise of Christian Nationalism and our religious freedom actively under attack in this country, I wanted to take some time to talk freedom of religion and why I believe it is one of the most important rights enshrined in the United States Constitution. And why people from all religions and none should take it seriously.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The founders considered it so important that it was in the Bill of Rights and part of the First Amendment.

Benjamin Franklin when editing the draft of the Declaration of Independence changed the original wording from “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable” to “We hold these truths to be self-evident” It could be argued with that one phrase Franklin placed United States on a secular foundation. Is there anything more empowering than having self-evident truths? Our very freedom is founded on that proposition.

Phrases like “Under God” and “In God We Trust” were added to the pledge of allegiance and currency in the 1950s. Over 150 years after the nation’s founding, and largely to emphasize the distinction between the atheistic Soviet Union and the United States.

There are several major Religious Freedom cases before the Supreme Court this session. Obviously, the future of Roe v. Wade which could result in abortion being banned across the country which appears more likely with the leaked draft opinion. And Kennedy v. Bremerton School District where a public high school football coach lost his job after repeatedly praying on the 50-yard line. Students felt pressured to pray with him due to his position of authority.

Christians in particular have taken the line “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” and are using it to weaponize Religious Freedom into Religious Privilege. They see equality, the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights, consequences for using your position of power to push prayer, and of course a woman having the freedom to decide her own course in life as an infringement on their freedom to exercise religion. And because they do not believe in these things, they want to erase these very freedoms from existence.

Republicans Gift to Democrats

As President Biden prepares to deliver his first State of the Union address tonight and Republicans begin to investigate parents of transgender children for child abuse, I figured it would be a good time to ask - what exactly is Republican’s plan for America should they take back control in 2022 or 2024? So lets dig in to their recently announced plans.

Last week Senator Rick Scott released the Republicans 11 Point Plan to “Rescue” America. This document is a gift to Democrats for the mid term elections, and it’s quite frankly a laundry list of culture war wedge issues that are hugely popular with the far right echo chamber of Fox News and the Republican Party. It’s a manifesto of classic Republican ideas mixed in with some Christian and White Nationalism. Importantly given this recent poll - people seem to think Republicans are better for the economy. So what do they plan to do?

In an attempt to keep this on the shorter side I will not be covering every point, and there’s some off the wall stuff in it I won’t touch on. You can read the actual document here (mirrored here), as well as some additional coverage here.

To be quite frank this is an 11 point plan of fascism, bigotry, racism, transphobia, isolationism, xenophobia, and the list goes on. Let’s go into some of the finer points…