#pushback

[contemplatingoutlander]

DeSantis faces pushback in Florida as voters tire of war on woke

It's about time that Florida citizens started to push back against DeSantis's far-right "anti-woke" agenda.

The bill banning rainbow flags from public buildings in Florida sounded like a sure bet. State Rep. David Borrero (R), the legislation’s sponsor, argued that it was needed to prevent schoolchildren from being “subliminally indoctrinated.” That rationale echoed other measures championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as part of his “war on woke.” But instead of sailing through the Republican-dominated legislature, the DeSantis-backed bill died a quick legislative death, making it only as far as one subcommittee. It wasn’t the only culture war proposal from conservative lawmakers to end up in the bill graveyard during the session that ended Friday. One rejected bill would have banned the removal of Confederate monuments. Another would have required transgender people to use their sex assigned at birth on driver's licenses — something the state Department of Motor Vehicles is already mandating. A third proposed forbidding local and state government officials from using transgender people’s pronouns. Some of those ideas have come up in the past and may surface again next year. But the fact that the bills failed, even with public support from DeSantis, marks a change from the days when the GOP supermajority in Tallahassee passed nearly everything the governor asked for. [...] But the pushback is growing. Parents and others have organized and protested schoolbook bans. Abortion rights advocates gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot in Florida in November. A bill that would have established “fetal personhood” stalled before it could reach a full vote. Judges are also canceling some of DeSantis’s marquee laws, including the “Stop Woke Act.” A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled Monday that the law “exceeds the bounds” of the Constitution’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression.

[reading-writing-revolution]

BREAKING: Inspectors General Refuse to Vacate Posts, Citing Trump’s Firings as Illegal

Here is their letter to the Director of Presidential Personnel:

Dear Mr. Gor:

I am writing in response to your email sent to me and other Inspectors General earlier this evening wherein you informed each of us that “due to changing priorities, your position as Inspector General . . . is terminated, effective immediately.”

As Chairperson of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), I recommend that you reach out to White House Counsel to discuss your intended course of action. At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General.

Specifically, based upon the 2022 amendments to the Inspector General Act of 1978, the President must notify Congress 30 days prior to removal of an IG and provide “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for such removal. 5 U.S.C. § 403(b), as amended by the section 5202(a) of the Securing Inspector General Independence Act of 2022 (Title LI, Subtitle A, of P.L. 117-263, 136 Stat, 2395, 3222). The requirement to provide the substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons, was added to better enable Congress to engage on and respond to a proposed removal of an Inspector General in order to protect the independence of Inspectors General.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].

[tearsofrefugees]

Autopsy reports and eyewitness statements appear to cast doubt on official accounts of Chios shipwreck

The majority of migrants, who were killed off the Greek island of Chios earlier in February after their dinghy had reportedly collided with

[alivewithclive]

Thankfully, it appears that European leaders will not allow the U.S. to reward Russia for its aggression, breach of commitments to refrain from aggression, heinous acts of terror, and horrific war crimes. 🇺🇦🇫🇷🇩🇪💙💛🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇦

#Repost @kyivindependent_official with @use.repost_ . . . European leaders pushed back on Nov. 21 against parts of a new and controversial U.S. plan for peace in Ukraine, after being blindsided by a renewed effort to strike a deal with Russia without consulting them.

The plan would reportedly require Ukraine to withdraw from the part of Donetsk which they currently control, limit the size of its army, limit certain types of weaponry, and give amnesty for war crimes.

But European leaders said in a joint statement that the current front line should be “the starting point for any understanding and that the Ukrainian armed forces remain capable of effectively defending Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

The statement, which came after a phone call between the leaders of France, Germany, the UK, and President Volodymyr Zelensky, also said that while they welcomed U.S. efforts to end the war, “any agreement affecting European states, the European Union, or NATO requires the approval of European partners or a consensus among the allies.”

Zelensky said on Telegram following the call that Ukraine is working on the peace plan prepared by the U.S., and later added the plan should ensure that “Ukrainian national interests are taken into account at all levels of relations with partners.”

Photo: Leon Neal - Pool /Getty Images.

14h

[a-disaster-piece]

“The price of being oneself is so high and involves so much ruthlessness toward others (or what looks like ruthlessness in our duty-bound culture) that very few people can afford it. Most people swallow the unacceptable because it makes life so much easier. At what point does one feel that doing battle, however painful and rending, is necessary? This is the excruciating question.”

―May Sarton, The House by the Sea: A Journal (1977)

[seductive-suffering]

I’m trying.

I push.

And push.

Push through the pain.

Push through the tears.

Push through the sorrow.

It’s what we do.

But what do I do when pushing becomes pushing you away.

[melbourneaviationspotter]

Push back to S8 disconnect live taxiway

[elladastinkardiamou]

We’ve lost Greece’s manual This week's newsletter from AthensLive is out:

* The costliest Olympics end up in derelict venues and a financial crisis 

* The EU strikes migration deal, while it is revealed pushed-back refugees burned alive 

* Major Greek involvement in Predator scandal revealed in detail 

The iconic and super-expensive OAKA stadium roof, created by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava for Greece’s 2004 Olympic Games, has become derelict to such a degree that the stadium closed due to safety reasons, Greeks were told. It was reported that the roof was created with a license for a pergola and that its maintenance manual had been lost…

While the EU was striking an important migration deal that would supposedly lead to a change of its asylum rules to lift pressure on the continent’s border countries, Greek authorities were confiscating the mobile phones of the Coast Guard officers involved in the Pylos shipwreck - a whole 119 days after. Plus, the NYT revealed that refugees who burned alive during Greece’s wildfires were push-back victims.

Finally, a series of investigative reports named Predator Files brings stormy details on Greece’s deep involvement with Predator illegal spyware.  

It cannot be recommended strongly enough to read and share this week's updates on the events and developments in Greece here: https://steadyhq.com/en/athenslivegr/posts/e679cd16-c2ad-4122-86b1-0938f60e2549

For anyone with a wish or need to follow and to gain an insight into recent events in Greece and to read and support independent and investigative journalism in English, the weekly newsletter from AthensLive should be a core element in the reading flow.

If you want the best overview of the events and developments in Greece right now, this is the place to go. Not the mainstream Greek news, but independent journalism with sharp analysis and links to interesting and important topics from a variety of sources.

Become a member and get the newsletter in your inbox every week here:

https://steadyhq.com/en/athenslivegr/newsletter/sign_up