Fascism Report for 12 May 2023: The Republican States Edition

George Takei’s foundation is not happy with Democratic response – and Biden’s response in particular – to the Republicans’ anti-trans/anti-LGBT push in the states, and is taking signatures in a petition. Petitions are mostly junk but at least they don’t take long, so if you’re in the US, go ahead and do that. If you’re in the UK, the Good Law Project are looking for help in taking their fight for trans health care to the Court of Appeal. Go do that. Either way, I’ll wait.

Back already? Great. Two items about Republican Florida’s SB 254, both important. The less important part is that it doesn’t matter whether Republican Governor DeSantis signs it; it will go into effect without signature. The only way it wouldn’t go into effect is if he vetoed it, which he will not do.

The MORE important item is that the bill went through several revisions before heading to the governor, many of which I haven’t seen. IT IS STILL TERRIBLE, but there are some limits to it, one of the biggest parts being that the state cannot instigate a custody action against parents. Despite the apparent language of the bill, one of the parents has to take action and there must be an extant custody dispute before the state can act. This does allow someone from out of state in the midst of a custody dispute to go to Florida and take action there, at which point all this does come into play – but the state can’t institute the custody revocation. There’s a greater legal context into which this is all being inserted, and that’s what limits the scope.

Obviously, this dramatically limits the scope of applicability, and that’s good.

It also keeps the felony charge for providing gender-affirming care, but no longer makes out-of-state referral a crime. Similarly, it no longer requires detransitioning for already-transitioned kids. These changes reduce how horrific the bill is, but it is still a terrible, terrible bill, one which still applies to out-of-state parents and children if any of the people involved in a custodial fight decide to go to Florida and file against the other custodians on the basis of this law there.

Here’s a big rundown on what is and is not in the final version of the bill. It’s a lot. But it’s somewhat less than there was before.

Separately, Republican Florida made it legal to refuse health care service to LGBT people if providers – doctors, pharmacists, anyone involved – decide such care violates their “religious beliefs.” We know from other states and past history that this includes literally any medical services, but it includes treatment for HIV-AIDS. Meanwhile, Republicans have also made it illegal to require masks or vaccination, so if you want disease spreading, Florida’s your state.

Republican state “porn” crackdowns, as you already know, are rarely about actual “porn” – or rather, rarely only about actual porn. Do they plan a widespread Internet crackdown? Of course they do.

The Texas Observer have a worthwhile article up on the often-mentioned fundamentalist Christian pseudoscience group, the American College of Paediatrics: A recently released trove of documents from the American College of Pediatricians (ACPEDs) reveals how a Republican donor used veiled threats implying legal action against a Dallas-area children’s hospital as part of a massive pressure campaign to force the hospital to turn away transgender patients.

The Observer crew are doing good work. If you have the dosh, throw them some monthly money. We saved them, sure, but their continuing existence requires continuing funding.

I’m surprised that only one candidate in the Kentucky gubernatorial contest has promised to “eliminate transgenders” in the school system. But it’s early days.

The Progressive has a story on anti-racist protests at the University of Wisconsin, following a widely-circulated video of a white student engaging in a long racist tirade. At the same time, Republicans – who have gerrymandered the state so extremely that they functionally can’t be voted out – are demanding the college close its diversity and inclusion offices, because boosting racism is their brand.

Judd Legum has a long post up on Kansas’s “Women’s Bill of Rights,” a bill pushed by a rightist organisation with a history of working against women’s rights. Unsurprisingly, it has nothing to do with women’s rights and is instead a comprehensive attack on the right of trans people to exist.

Right then. Normally, I start with Federal-level updates, but this time the states took the lead. Back at the Federal level:

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, whose name sounds something made up for a cartoon villain from Idaho, pushed back against the idea of expelling White Nationalists from the military. Naturally, his office tried to walk it back, but we know better.

I’m not going to do in-depth coverage of CNN and Trump. It’s everywhere. CNN hasn’t been great for a while, but under its new Republican ownership it’s rapidly becoming a disgraceful fart noise of a news network. But do understand this: what they did was 100% intentional and 100% to boost Trump in his early re-election campaign. Look for more bullshit just like it. The only part I’ll mention myself is 45’s brief commentary that the House should force a default on American credit, so that’s insane – but fully in line with Republican “our country to rule or no country to rule” thinking.

And I guess I’ll point at Beau who manages to look surprised that Republican rank-and-file voters laugh at Trump’s confirmed sexual assault victim. That’s hardly a surprise to me, but I guess he still has some room to be unnerved by Republican callousness. The key point to remember here is this relevant bit of fascist/Republican thought: if someone was able to hurt you, that means you deserved it.

And they revel in that power. So of course they laugh.

See also torture. It’s old but still going and it still matters – Gitmo detainee and systematic victim of Bush II’s torture regime Abu Zubaydah is talking and drawing about the American torture programme there. The Guardian has the story. Warning: it’s graphic. Obama’s – and the Democrats’ – greatest failing was giving all this a pass. It was the last realistic chance to stop us from getting where we are now, and they. blew. it.

And yeah, I said so at the time.

Anyway.

Back on social media, a lot of Musk’s fans are enraged and declaring Musk Twitter is over after he announced he’s picked a new CEO to replace him at Twitter and used the pronoun “she.” Others have pointed out that this is classic Glass Cliff hiring, which was my first thought. (More on that.)

My second thought was that he’s decided Twitter profitability is a lost cause and he needs someone to run out the clock and/or blame until either it’s no longer useful (after 2024 elections possibly) or until his theoretical “universal app” bullshit is ready to replace it. Regardless, he’ll keep it going as long as it’s politically in his interests to do so.

But seriously, Twitter is going to matter in the 2024 “Know Nothing” election. That’s what Musk decided to do with it, after all. It’s why he stopped fighting and bought it. But if you’ve been reading me for long, you know all that.

Talking of the election, Steve Bannon spent “months” recruiting anti-vaxxer RFK Jr. to run against Biden as “chaos agent” because of course he did. RFK Jr. is a useful tool, an idiot, a stalking horse, and a sham. Don’t let anyone forget that.

Assigned Media have a post up noting that “merely existing as a popular trans woman shouldn’t mean sleepless nights and unending harassment,” and yet it does. But this post documents how Dylan did absolutely nothing wrong, and yet still saw rightists attack her and threaten personal violence – and bombings.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting have documented the New York Times’s anti-trans crusade in numbers, and written it all up here.

Finally, in Category 5 “yeah, that happened” news, enjoy this Russian Christian Fascist propagandist saying white Americans – explicitly yes white Americans, the ones he says are “like us” – are fleeing to Russia en masse because Russia is the last “normal” county. This is as opposed to the US where queers are not killed on sight, like we apparently should be. The prime-time propagandists of Russia1 echo the theme, showing why American fundamentalists love them so and want their system here.

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