mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/the-rnc-green-room.jpeg?w=640&h=432New RNC? (H/T @JohnRJohnson via Twitter)

This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, but Hair Füror and his MAGA Stormtubers have slashed-and-burned the RNC, firing long-time staffers, promoting 4th Reich Loyalists, and ending certain programs.

Which programs, you ask?

The senior leadership has been almost entirely replaced or reassigned, while dozens of lower-ranking officials including state directors were either fired or told to reapply for their jobs. A nationwide network of community outreach centers, once a fixture of the party’s efforts to attract minority voters, will be shuttered or refocused on get-out-the-vote efforts. The much heralded “Bank Your Vote” program, aimed at getting Republicans to vote early, will shift to a “Grow The Vote” program focused more on expanding the party’s outreach to less likely Trump voters.

The fascists have decided to go full White Nationalist, I guess. Maybe demographics is destiny!

We should keep an eye on this.Remember all the news about how Latinos are leaving the Democrats in droves to join Team Evil?

Anyway, I love it when a plan comes together. First they bankrupt the RNC to pay for Vulgarmort’s lawyers, then they end outreach to tighten their grasp on white voters.

Total brainiacs. Well-played, Mme. Twizzler!

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/13/rnc-surrenders-to-maga/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/even-though-these-newspaper-layouts-are-hilarious-i-guarantee-someone-was-fired-for-them-21-unfortunate-pics-1.jpg?w=640

Our pal Annie of the eponymous https://annieasksyou.com/blog/ blog has a post about local news that is required reading. Basically, Annie asks us (see what I did there?) why local news sucks, and that even assumes you have local news. As Annie reports about half of the country doesn’t have local news any longer.

Who killed local news? Clue: Capitalism, in the boardroom, with a profit-loss statement.

We like to blame it on the internet (and I bet the phrase Craig’s List will play prominently in the comments at Annie’s and here at MPS), which definitely plays a part, but Venture, er, Vulture Capitalists probably played as much, as they swooped in, sold off the business for scrap and left News Deserts in their wake. I’ve read more people get news from Social Media than from media proper now, and that should send a chill down your spine. Your Facebook Rage Uncle is a product of this system; he’s not the only one.

And returning to Annie’s question, this is one of the many problems with local news, if you are lucky enough to have a local paper: they often are not actually local. They might have a wrapper front/back page for your locality, but the stuff inside might be completely from wire services or other slickly produced packages, as I understand the industry calls it now. Go down the freeway to the next city and you might see that their local has its own wrapper and the exact same content inside. (See the Bay Area News Group as a real life example.) An assembly line operation with minimal staff to write the wrappers. It seems very Henry Ford when you think about it. Efficient. Bloodless.

Because I am an Old, I did take journalism in school (and college), and the Introduction to Journalism was actually called Current Events (sounds easy, right?) and our teacher was a retired CIA Analyst. Her job prior to teaching a bunch of high school kids was to critically read the news (of many lands) and write summaries that might get rolled up into the President’s Daily Brief. So, as you can see, this class wasn’t just reading the headlines in the SF Chronicle, and so my hope for an easy senior year class was shot to hell. I’m really glad it was harder than I wanted. There’s a life lesson there.

What I learned from my CIA Analyst teacher is that everything is about choices, and choices are political. What goes above the fold is an editorial decision; what is placed next to the lede story is an editorial decision. Even the sequence (and distance between) the Who/What/Where/When/(and sometimes)How in news stories are all decisions, and they can shape the news and they way we perceive it. And don’t get me started on stories that claim to report the Why.

When all you have for local news is a wrapper, you better believe someone made choices about what to include/exclude, and you can rest assured that politics played a part in that decision.

Go read Annie’s post. It is excellent.

• (Hat tip: https://mstdn.social/@rjblaskiewicz/111557077866698604)

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/12/democracy-dies-below-the-fold/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

Eating two-handed

Once they get an opposable thumb and start using tools our days are numbered.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/12/midday-palate-cleanser-2087/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

epic fight for the cap

This is why the NFL does not allow end zone dances. What a jerk.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/11/monday-palate-cleanser/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/roswell-nm-1947-pat-byrnes.jpg?w=640&h=580

Oh, yeah?

Anyway, a Pentagon report finds no evidence of alien visits:

A lengthy Defense Department review of U.S. government activities related to “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” more commonly known as UFOs, has found no evidence that extraterrestrial intelligence has visited Earth or that authorities have recovered crashed alien spacecraft and are hiding them from the public.

The review, publicly released Friday, covered all official U.S. investigatory efforts from 1945 to the present and examined classified and unclassified government archives.

It was unequivocal in its conclusions, finding “no evidence that any [U.S. government] investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology.” Reports of flying objects or suspected alien craft usually turned out to have quotidian explanations: They were “ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification,” sometimes by well-meaning witnesses who thought they had spotted something otherworldly.

That’s just what the Aliens want you to think, Sheeple!

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/11/no-evidence-of-space-aliens-visiting-earth/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/crying-cat1.gif?w=640

Guys, Katie Schwartz, who is frequent contributor to MPS, has bone cancer and it doesn’t look good. Some of her pals in the comedy industry have set up a Go Fund Me to help pay for her expenses as she fights Stage 4 (probably goes into hospice care).

If you ever had a laugh at one of her jokes here (or on the many shows she used to write for), please consider donating.

Schwartzie is a fighter, and I don’t expect her to go down without a punch(line). She’s a brick.

Many thanks,

TG

PS – she would eff’ing hate that I put a teary-eyed cat on this post, and probably give me hell.

Sticking this on top.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/10/scissorhead-down-2/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

hackercat

Guys, I’m telling you they don’t need us, and the moment they get opposable thumbs, we are DOOMED.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/10/midday-palate-cleanser-2086/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

A signboard that reads, “Even on Gilligan’s Island they listened to the Professor not the Millionaire” —and then a FM radio station’s call numbers CD1025FM.

Word.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/08/great-signs-cont-274/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/eat-the-rich.jpeg?w=640&h=479

Just a note at the end of Tiger Beat on the Potomac’s email thingie (link goes to the W$J):

Jeff Bezos inched past Elon Musk to reclaim the title of world’s wealthiest man. (That is, if we understand “inched past” to mean “has $2 billion more than.”)

It is the official position of MPS that every billionaire represents a tax policy FAIL.

And, as is traditional, we paraphrase the wise words of Fran Lebowitz: “No one earns a billion dollars, they STEAL it.”

Last word:

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/03/class-warfare-from-fran.jpeg?w=640&h=637H/T Scissorhead Fran

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/05/signs-of-the-class-struggle-billionaire-v-billionaire/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

Happy Hour News

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/bad-sign-london-france-underpants.jpg?w=640H/T @NamelessCynic

Well, France beat the rest of the world:

France becomes first country to explicitly enshrine abortion rights in constitution

PARIS — With the endorsement of a specially convened session of lawmakers at the Palace of Versailles, France on Monday became the first country in the world to explicitly enshrine abortion rights in its constitution — an effort galvanized by the rollback of protections in the United States.

[…] French President Emmanuel Macron announced that a “sealing ceremony,” a tradition reserved for the most significant laws, would take place Friday, coinciding with International Women’s Day.

“We’re sending a message to all women: Your body belongs to you, and no one can decide for you,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told lawmakers assembled in Versailles.

And this stunned me:

The amendment referring to abortion as a “guaranteed freedom” passed by a vote of 780 in favor and 72 against, far above the required threshold of support from three-fifths of lawmakers, or 512 votes.

That’s amazing.

Well-done France, I wish we were so lucky to have that kind of support, instead of having fetus-fondlers arguing that Zygotes are people.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/04/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-2066/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/voting-from-jimmy-t.jpg?w=640&h=422H/T Scissorhead Jimmy-T

There really is only one take-away from today’s disappointing ruling from Harlan Crow’s illegitimate SCOTUS (hey, he bought it fair and square!), and that is that only we can fix our democracy.

I’m a huge believer in institutions, and so it pains me to note that all of our institutions have failed us, especially the courts, and all formal efforts to hold Hair Füror accountable for the Stupid Coup —impeachment, criminal prosecution and now the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause— have failed, hopefully some only temporarily.

The orange-tufted hate goblin has destroyed the order of things (probably permanently). If it wasn’t nailed down, he did a smash-and-grab, and if it was nailed down, he just did the smash. And he was mostly aided and abetted by a compliant press.

Like a game of Clue, the murder of our democratic traditions was 1) in the Boardroom, by B) CEO Greenback, using iii) Dark Money. We should have seen this coming; some of us did.

The unthinkable is already in play as the fascists really are going to nominate once-elected (kinda?), twice impeached, quintuply-indicted, 91-ily charged LOSER ex-prznit Stupid. The judiciary is not a firewall, the press is nonsensically both-sides’ing the eff out everything (“well sure he is a fascist, but the other guy is old!”).

If we had a killer message, there is no liberal media to broadcast it. We are on our own.

Now, being Irish (mostly), I know that every disaster is an opportunity, and we never look a gift opportunity in the mouth (like horses, you know?). The White Christian Nationalists have wildly overplayed their groping hands, from teachers and librarians to women and the LGBTQ community to people of color to non-Christians.

The only people not targeted are straight, white, cis Christian men. So far.

Remember: there are more of us than there are of them. And they are not adding anyone to their constituency. They are pushing people away, you know despite creating

We must win in 2024 by such a grand margin that it puts the fear of Dawg into our institutions just as the MAGA put the fear of TFG into them.

We can do this; we must resolve ourselves to work even harder. Get people registered to vote, and then get them to vote like their lives depend on it.

[Insert your own Winston Churchill ‘finest hour’ meme here.]

No one is going to save us, so we have to be the heroes in this story, and remember: heroes never let the monsters win.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/04/heroes-never-let-the-monsters-win/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://hasanjasim.online/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/border-collies-forest-081c700fd3-3-750x420.jpg(Hasan Jasin)

What did we do right to deserve dogs?

And that’s your feel-good post of this very eff’ed-up week, Scissorheads.

(Hat tip: Scissorhead M Davis)

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/01/midday-palate-cleanser-2079/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

Happy Hour News

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2023/08/trump-prison-barbie-from-fran.jpeg?w=640&h=635H/T Scissorhead Fran

Our corrupt and illegitimate Fucking SCOTUS just granted Fat Nixon The Big Delay, so no Jack Smith DC Trial before the election is likely (says me, but who knows?).

The Supreme Court will review Donald Trump’s unprecedented claim that he is shielded from prosecution for actions taken while in office, further delaying the former president’s D.C. trial on charges of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to remain in power.

The justices set argument for the week of April 22 to consider a unanimous ruling from a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that rejected Trump’s sweeping assertion of immunity from prosecution.

Trump’s pretrial proceedings in D.C. will remain on hold until a ruling is issued, putting the Supreme Court in the politically fraught position of influencing the timing of a federal election-obstruction trial for the leading Republican presidential candidate.

The brief unsigned order issued Wednesday said the justices were not “expressing a view on the merits” of the case and would consider only the question of whether and to what extent a former president has “immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.

Here’s the order. (Fair warning: PDF)

It takes 4 Justices to decide to hear a case, so chances are that there are 4 justices already in the bag.

And that means that the 2-week plus delay was not someone writing a dissent, but someone(s) being pressured to take up the case.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/28/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-2062/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

Happy Hour News

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/sand-people.jpg?w=640The terrible sand people of the terrible sand kingdom of Arizonastan.

What could go wrong?

Republican bill would let AZ ranchers shoot and kill border-crossers on their property

Arizona Republicans want to let ranchers in southern Arizona legally shoot and kill undocumented immigrants who cross their land.

A bill moving through the state House of Representatives would make changes to the state’s existing “Castle Doctrine” law, which permits Arizonans to use deadly force against people who are trespassing or breaking into their home.

Rep. Justin Heap, a Mesa Republican, told the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 14 that his House Bill 2843 is designed to close a loophole that he claims has led to “increasingly larger numbers of migrants or human traffickers moving across farm and ranch land.”

The bill comes as an Arizona rancher awaits trial after he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault for killing 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Butimea after he shot at a group of unarmed migrants walking through his 170-acre ranch outside of Nogales. Under its provisions, 73-year-old George Alan Kelly would have been justified for allegedly killing any of the migrants.

It’s going to be open season, and they will all start bragging about bagging their daily limits.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/27/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-2061/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

Happy Hour News

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/dy-5zujv4aafgkr.jpg?w=640McDougal is on the right, but where’s Stormy?

Well this is a long shot (or more accurately a very short shot, IYKWIMAITYD):

New York prosecutors are seeking a limited gag order barring former President Donald Trump from talking about witnesses and court staff to “protect the integrity of this criminal proceeding” ahead of his trial next month on charges he falsified business records.

[…] Lawyers for Trump, meanwhile, filed a pre-trial motion where they asked the judge to bar testimony from three of the DA’s key witnesses in the case — former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The filing paints Cohen and Daniels as liars, and says McDougal’s testimony would be “unduly prejudicial.”

So, to summarize: 1) shut-up Hair Füror and B) do not take any testimony from the three principle witnesses. Yeah, that will happen.

I just hope the short-fingered vulgarian didn’t get into Junior Mint’s stash…

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/26/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-2060/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/screen-shot-2024-02-25-at-5.25.21-pm.png?w=640(WaPo)

Yes, a basket of lemons, and one is moldy. Seems right.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/25/the-wapo-glitch-continues-5/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/gop-nazi-party.jpg?w=640&h=320

Two items from CPAC that bear witnessing:

Jack Posobiec at CPAC: “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.”

Trump’s Republican Party openly wants to end democracy. We must stop them. pic.twitter.com/UITxEth0im

— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) February 22, 2024

…and:

Nazis mingle openly at CPAC, spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and finding allies

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Nazis appeared to find a friendly reception at the Conservative Political Action Conference this year.

Throughout the conference, racist extremists, some of whom had secured official CPAC badges, openly mingled with conference attendees and espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The presence of these individuals has been a persistent issue at CPAC. In previous years, conference organizers have ejected well-known Nazis and white supremacists such as Nick Fuentes.

But this year, racist conspiracy theorists didn’t meet any perceptible resistance at the conference where Donald Trump has been the keynote speaker since 2017.

Way back in 2016 what we noticed is that TFG was not some aberration, he was the Republican Party (he won more primary votes than any candidate in GOP history; the hand fits the glove, in other words); so while pundits and Our Failed Political Press ™ like to talk about Trumpism, we steadfastly refused to call it that, it was always Republicanism. They started proudly wearing their hoods in public in the form of Red Hats in place of brown shirts.

It is clear that the Republican Party is no more, now it is the Fascist Party, and we should be clear about that. This is the party of fascism. Call them by their name.

UPDATE 1: TBotP has a piece up about the 4th Reich’s agenda, should they get into office —

EYES ON 2025 — https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/25/second-trump-term-00140488: A wide range of our POLITICO colleagues have a thorough examination of how DONALD TRUMP’s return to the White House would blow the policy agenda from his first go-around out of the water.

The topics include: “Banning abortions in red and blue states … Neutering climate science … Expanding trade fights against rivals — and allies … Waging classroom culture wars … Trying to kill the electric car … Neutering the federal election hacking watchdog … Bombing Mexico? … Deploying U.S. troops against Americans … Abandoning NATO … Loosening the reins on crypto.”

This is not normal, this is fascism. I repeat: Call them by their name: Fascists.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/25/call-them-by-their-name/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/kamala-harris.jpg?w=640&h=360Vice President Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the Alabamastan Theocracy decision head-on:

So, on the one hand, the proponents are saying that an individual doesn’t have a right to end an unwanted pregnancy and, on the other hand, the individual does not have a right to start a family.

It’s brilliant framing, clearly stated. The whole speech is really worth reading, but that sentence just jumped off the page. It’s the whole issue, right there. Women don’t have the reproductive FREEDOM they once had.

What hasn’t gotten much attention is the court’s wording that an embryo is a child regardless of its location.

What remains unasked in Gilead is when will the theocrats say that these frozen zygotes are under false arrest and force women to take all of them to term.

Because that’s coming.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/23/the-morning-quote-437/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/traitor-joe-pointy-surreal1.jpg?w=640“I’m feeling relevant again.”

It’s much too early for this much stupid:

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — A documentary about the life of former senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman is in the works, Daniel Lippman has learned. The film, called “Joe Lieberman: Centered,” includes interviews with Tom Daschle, Donna Shalala, Cindy McCain, Lindsey Graham, Tom Nides and more. Executive producer Bruce Gould said director Jonathan Gruber (who has directed documentaries on former Israeli PM Menachem Begin and Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother Yoni) and producer Rob Schwartz are working with a number of potential major distributors and that PBS has expressed interest and will be approaching HBO. They are planning premieres starting in early September. https://vimeo.com/bep/review/813655766/df5f3cf17b

Can you imagine the box office for this one? Other than his wife, I cannot think of a single soul who is feeling the Joe-mentum to see this thing, but if you want to make a day of it, you could also catch the new Trump Musical.

(“The curtain rose at 8:00, the audience rose at 8:07… There wasn’t a dry seat in the house.”)

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/20/heres-some-stupid-to-start-your-day-186/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/trump-terrified-noooo.png?w=640&h=345

It’s not the judgement I was hoping for, but this will still leave a mark:

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Friday orderedformer president Donald Trump to pay more than $350 million in penalties, handing down a hefty penalty following a months-long civil trial in which Trump and others were accused of financial fraud by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Engoron also said Trump could not serve as an officer or a director for any New York company for three years. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and assailed the case.

Here’s what to know

Trump was not the only member of his family penalized Friday. Two of his adult children — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who were also defendants in the case — were fined $4 million each. Both men were also blocked from serving as an officer or director for any New York corporation for two years.

And this, literally, is the Truth Social meltdown right after the judgment: he’s worried he looks fat.

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/trump-fat-.png?w=640&h=512Does this $350M Amero fine make me look fat?”

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/16/big-fraud-gets-big-fine/

mockpaperscissors.com, 3 months ago to random

Like a boss. That is all.

(Hat tip: Scissorhead Purplehead)

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/16/midday-palate-cleanser-2066/

mockpaperscissors.com, 4 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/lindsey-the-fart-sniffer-e1610666269654.jpeg?w=640&h=606

The Remora of the Senate, Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina: the hotbed of writing unbridled lust) has attached his suckers to the Big Fish again.

Anyway, the WaPo has the humiliating details, such as they are:

Last May, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, warmly embracing the embattled leader and later urging President Biden to “do more” to help the nation as it fights off Russia’s invasion.

But this week, Graham voted repeatedly against sending $60 billion in aid to that nation as well as against other military funds for Israel and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific. The longtime hawk dramatically announced on the Senate floor that he also would no longer be attending the Munich Security Conference — an annual pilgrimage made by world leaders to discuss global security concerns that’s been a mainstay of his schedule.

“I talked to President Trump today and he’s dead set against this package,” Graham said on the Senate floor on Sunday, a day after the former president said at a rally that he would let the Russians do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies that did not spend enough on defense. “He thinks that we should make packages like this a loan, not a gift,” Graham said.

And that faint sound you hear, like snowflakes landing on a pile of feathers in a vacuum tube, is the last of Sen. Graham’s integrity fleeing his body.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/14/the-miraculous-spine-of-lindsey-graham/

mockpaperscissors.com, 4 months ago to random

Fighting Back

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/evil-desantis.jpeg?w=640&h=427

With so much bad news in the headlines, this story from the WaPo email thingie seems like a great way to start a new week:

A North Carolina bookstore rescued thousands of books banned in Florida.

• What to know: The store in Asheville took in eight tons of books, most of them banned under Florida laws limiting classroom discussion on race, gender and sexual orientation.
• The twist ending: The store not only took in the rejected works, but is now sending them to anyone who requests them — and many are heading back to Florida.

And from the linked story, there’s a story within the story:

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — When the managers of a small bookstore in this Appalachian mountain town received a call from a distributor wondering if they could take in 22,000 books rejected by a Florida school district, it felt like a colossal ask.
Firestorm Books usually stocks fewer than 8,000 books — titles that range from historical fiction to solarpunk. The self-described queer feminist collective wasn’t sure where they’d put them, and their customers typically weren’t looking for picture books.

“We were like, this feels like a bigger thing than we can manage,” said Libertie Valance, a managing member of the group that runs the store. “But I think even in that conversation, there was an acknowledgment that we were going to do it.”

And so began the journey to bring eight tons of books — most of them banned under Florida’s state laws restricting classroom discussion on race, gender identity and sexual orientation — from Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville to left-leaning Asheville.

It’s not lost on any of us that fighting censorship is a heroes task, and in this story it took some bad-asses from a self-described queer feminist collective to take on the herculean effort (the volume of books is 3X their store’s usual inventory!) of rescuing these banned books from the Floriduh Fascist hisself, Cracker Orbàn.

As the meme says, The Future Is Feminist.

And the story gets even better (emphasis mine):

As Florida becomes ground zero in the push to remove books that touch on racism and LGBTQ+ people from public schools, more titles are ending up pulled from shelves and stuck in warehouses. But the tale of the banned books from Duval County is unusual for how it ends: Firestorm Books not only took in the rejected children’s stories, but is now sending them to anyone who requests them. Many of the books are heading back to Florida.

[…] The initiative, “Banned Books Back!,” offers to send the banned books free of charge to whoever fills out an online request form. More than one-third of the requests have come from Duval County, and many books are going to families with community libraries in their yards.

And what does Floriduh have to say?

A representative for Duval County schools said the district had no comment on the journey of the books from Jacksonville to Asheville and now back to Florida.

I bet.

The history of censorship is one of failure, as sooner or later everything comes to the surface and the truth is illuminated. Information wants and needs to be free.

As Mr. Universe says to Mal in Serenity, “You cannot stop the signal.”

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/12/meanwhile-in-floriduh-7/

mockpaperscissors.com, 4 months ago to random

https://mps110.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/bad-sign-ugly-person-from-nameless.jpg?w=640&h=829H/T @NamelessCynic

I feel totally seen.

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/11/bad-signs-cont-1192/

mockpaperscissors.com, 4 months ago to random

(Hat tip: Scissorhead Purplehead)

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/02/07/midday-palate-cleanser-2057/