The not-so-bygone days of the state taking children from their parents because government knows better

[Coughdrop addict]

The sad thing is, had those kids been shot to death in their schools the Republicans would see it as a complete non-issue. It's only when these still-living kids did something the party says is bad that it became an issue.

[Lord Thesaurian]

If I’m not mistaken this was just signed into law. Libs on shambleses. Ron 2024

[alhoon]

If I’m not mistaken this was just signed into law. Libs on shambleses. Ron 2024

Yes, that law that targets about 100-150 confused kids will make things so much better in Florida.

[The spartan]

Yes, that law that targets about 100-150 confused kids will make things so much better in Florida.

He unironically thinks this is the main problem in the US. Yes, he thinks it will make things better.

[Coughdrop addict]

Yes, he thinks it will make things better.

He's not entirely wrong, as many on the American right do define "making things better" as "inflicting pain and suffering on anyone with the audacity to not be me."

[alhoon]

He's not entirely wrong, as many on the American right do define "making things better" as "inflicting pain and suffering on anyone with the audacity to not be me."

Those are less than 200 kids and their families in Florida. Too much effort for nothing. They could inflict pain and suffering by putting guns in the hands of kids.
Oh, wait...

[Coughdrop addict]

As this may become the Desantis mega-thread, I think this belongs here. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2023/05...ce=parsely-api

A Florida public library system’s “I Read Banned Books” library cards are drawing concern from a Republican lawmaker who said the county agency is engaging in “a political stunt” with taxpayer money and warned it could generate financial retaliation by the state.
The Broward County Library system has promoted several initiatives to counter what the American Library Association, PEN America and other free-speech advocates warn is a dramatic increase in book bans and restrictions.
In Broward:

• “Book Sanctuaries” are located in each of the counties’ 37 branch libraries. They’re described as “designated areas where endangered stories will be protected and made accessible for exploration or check out.”
• A panel, “Freedom to Read: Intellectual Freedom in a Healthy Democracy,” is scheduled for Wednesday evening at the African American Research Library & Cultural Center. Free copies of two books that are being banned nationwide will be distributed.
• Library cards proclaiming “I Read Banned Books” and including the county library logo and picture of flames are available to residents. People aren’t forced to take the “banned books” cards; other options are offered.

Read a book. Piss off a fascist.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

Now poems are banned, if from the wrong people:

Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem banned by Florida school (thetimes.co.uk)

“Don’t get mad, get even. Don’t spend time waving signs or carrying petitions around the neighborhood. Instead, run, don’t walk, to the nearest nonschool library or to the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned. Read whatever they’re trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that’s exactly what you need to know.” – Stephen King

[alhoon]

This is not a DeSantis megathread. HOWEVER government over-reach like book/poem banings are part of the thread.

[The spartan]

This is not a DeSantis megathread. HOWEVER government over-reach like book/poem banings are part of the thread.

But what if the government is banning objectively evil books that are corrupting children? That's cool, yeah?

[alhoon]

But what if the government is banning objectively evil books that are corrupting children? That's cool, yeah?

That is discussion we should have as part of this thread. My issue is that indeed some books are not suited for minors. And indeed, the parents should have a say on what goes into the classroom.
What happens in Florida is clearly politically motivated. But where is the line? HOW do we find the line?
Well, there are organizations and departments that rate movies and books for which age they are appropriate. Start from there.
And how do we protect such organizations from being overrun by ultra-conservative parents that consider the Diary of Ann Frank as porn? I don't know.

Simply pushing this "a step up the ladder" i.e. from school district decisions to state decisions doesn't solve the problem and I am personally against for using a brush as wide as a large USA state for such decisions. School districts in USA on average have 4-7 schools according to google (with some being MUCH larger). Not a bad size.
For Florida specifically, School districts go by county, if I understand this correctly.

The state constitution provides that each county in Florida constitutes a school district and requires each district to be governed by a school board comprised of at least five members, who serve staggered terms of four years.

So, how do we stop districts with large (or too vocal) concentrations of mad people (either ultraprogressive or ultraconservative) from banning books that mention slavery was not really nice to black people OR from getting teachers fired for saying there are just 2 genders?
No idea. I DO LIKE the idea of local boards of parents having a strong say on what happens to the classroom but that DOES create issues. Perhaps not-so-local boards? Perhaps greater oversight from the state's education department?
Both of these could help... or make matters worse. An example is DeSantis' Florida. If you give people he put to positions for education the power to make or influence these decisions, there will be state-wide book burnings.

Someone wiser than me should find the solution. My opinion is that some districts take their book-banning too far. Of course, the opinions of the parents on those boards differ and they may well tell me "our kids go to those schools and we like this, so screw you" and ... I would have nothing to say to them. After all, the people that govern such bodies are usually elected in USA.

[paleologos]

I don't believe there are such things as "trans children" because to be trans presupposes a sexual hormonal imbalance and children's sex hormones are not yet manifest.
Children may want to be "a pirate" on Monday, "an astronaut on" Tuesday and "a princess" on Wednesday, what on earth do they know?

Ergo, I can't help the feeling that if a (pre puberty) boy says "they" are "a girl trapped in a boy's body" then the abuse has already taken place.
When they hit puberty, they can be given hormonal treatment that will ease their dysphoria by restoring "peace with their bodies", or they can be given the opposite hormonal treatment (puberty blockers).

We know of cases of the "religiously" vegan parents who did not give their children animal protein and run into trouble with the law for that.
Why is it that the same arguments cannot be made for that?
I do believe that parents can be fashion victims too, not just their children

However, I don't believe such a law will be defensible in the SCOTUS.
What I suspect is that the Floridan republicans are trying to push out of their state some for the voters that would never be swinged.
At least temporarily.

[alhoon]

$#&@$%@# ( <=== Assume swearing fiercely!)

Remember how I said that laws allowing the state to take children from their family for gender-change reasons are, on top of immoral, dangerous because they open the Pandora's box?

Now the other sue dropped:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/californi...133522583.html

"California’s proposed Assembly Bill 957 would brand as ‘abusive’ parents who refuse to ‘affirm’ the identity of their child who claims to be the opposite sex. Failing to go along with the fantasy could mean losing custody, so that – rather than helping these kids work through the terrible pain and turmoil they are undoubtedly suffering, by finding an appropriate psychologist or counsellor – parents could feel compelled to march them down to the gender clinic and start them on puberty blockers."

This probably has a dose of hyperbole but it is not a complete fabrication. California (similar to Florida) tries to intimidate parents to raise their kids the way the state wants. In this case, by feeding them dangerous drugs - or else.
Visitation and custody are mentioned in that law. "It would also classify parents in custody battles as abusive if they refuse to affirm their child's gender identity."
Yeap.

At least, so far, parents that don't have to worry about custody aren't threatened to lose access to their kids if they fail to bow down to the Woke gods. But with divorces so high, the number of parents that will be forced to choose this avenue just because they are at risk to lose custody, is not going to be small.

[Lord Thesaurian]

The bill is already being picked apart. Last I checked the remaining amendment to California family code would require judges in family law cases to consider gender affirmation a factor in a child’s wellbeing. Far from being “the other shoe,” the implications of the bill are fairly mild, if only because parents can already get into hot water in blue states if they don’t adhere to the tenets of transgenderism.

In California, Abigail Martinez lost custody of her daughter because she refused to give her daughter a sex change. Once the court removed her daughter from the home to begin “treatments,” her daughter killed herself. Similar cases can be found in other blue states.

In California, you can seek medical treatment without parental consent from the age of 12.

Some school districts in California require teachers to keep kids’ gender identity conversations and decisions secret from their parents unless the kid gives prior written consent.

Last year, California enacted a law prohibiting courts and healthcare providers from enforcing or cooperating with child abuse judgements in other states. The law also allows the state to take temporary custody of kids from other states running away from home to get sex change treatments. Not a bill, a law.

This latest bill is the inevitable result of California’s determination to legally mandate transgenderism, not the equivalent of attempts to protect children from abusive parents in Florida. Even if it doesn’t pass, you can already get in plenty of legal trouble as a parent if you don’t keep your head down and go along with the trans cult. That’s why bills like this one are already in the works at the federal level:

https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/d...umentID=408723

[swabian]

What kind of material is actually being banned from Florida schools? If someone had the mercy of a quick summary, I'd greatly appreciate it.

What is the outrage even about? Of course I tried to google, but there are so many hysterical voices now, everyone seems obsessed about headlines instead.

Children below at least 8 should not be bothered with ongoing societal conflicts. They really can't form their own opinions (many people can't until in in their twenties supposedly ; ). Why does this even matter?

A much more important indicator of societal decline would be what those same schools teach about evolution theory - about sciences? Is that being cut together in the same strike?

[alhoon]

The bill is already being picked apart. Last I checked the remaining amendment to California family code would require judges in family law cases to consider gender affirmation a factor in a child’s wellbeing.

That is what I am talking about. That law allows a judge in a custody dispute to block a parent from seeing his or her child if that parent doesn't agree with procedures to affirm gender identity.

[Lord Thesaurian]

https://www.tiktok.com/@revfoxxusa/v...14671213350186

This story is over 3 years old.

[The spartan]

This story is over 3 years old.

Care you explain what it is you think you are showing?

[Lord Thesaurian]

Four children living in squalid conditions while being hidden from first responders were found in an apartment filled with “alcohol, drugs, sex toys” and a dead man, according to an incident report and outraged officials.

“This is sickening,” said At-Large City Councilor Michael Flaherty. “I was informed by people at the scene that there were drugs, alcohol, sex toys all around the apartment as well as a dead body on the floor.”

“The apartment was in extremely unsanitary conditions. Approximately 6 adults, who appeared to be males, were seen in the apartment,” they wrote, saying they subsequently found “four children in the back bedroom being hidden by an adult male from first responders.”

According to the incident report the children ranged from ages 5 to 10.

Flaherty, Public Safety chairman on the council, told the Herald Monday night the dead body found on the floor was “from an apparent overdose” and that “a man wearing a wig claiming to be the father” of the kids was found in a back bedroom.

Multiple sources tell the Herald some of the adults were dressed as women when first responders arrived at the scene.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/06...re-a-man-died/

Looks like Massachusetts is joining Florida in removing children from LGBTQ homes. I stand corrected. Big government is out of control.

[Coughdrop addict]

Looks like Massachusetts is joining Florida in removing children from LGBTQ homes. I stand corrected. Big government is out of control.

And would you have seen the conditions as fine and insisted the children stay had it been a husband and wife?