George Takei 
🏳️🌈🖖🏽You know they’ve jumped the shark in Florida when they start banning the poem Amanda Gorman presented at Biden’s inauguration.
MJ@georgetakei I really don't understand the thought process of people in charge in your country (or the UK) anymore
Kaiyalai@mazjay @georgetakei this is state-level stuff in a state where the GOP holds uncontested power.
@Kaiyalai @georgetakei doesn't matter if it's a town council or national govt or any stage in between. They are all a sandwich short of a picnic
@mazjay @georgetakei matters because different people are in control, so the crazy is in different ways and has different levels of running unchecked.
Erik Haugen@mazjay OK but literally it would be nice if we could understand the thought process behind banning this particular poem. Is anyone able to find the details of the complaint?
Reginald Goodwin@georgetakei The NAACP has issued a travel advisory like Florida is a third world country. That will probably be followed up by the United Nations.
JW prince of CPH@georgetakei 👆👆👆 - and even if we concede that this may not technically be a ban (as some have claimed, I haven't checked) it's still *very much* censorship, so really not an improvement...
Patrida1941🇬🇷🇺🇸🇺🇦@georgetakei I guarantee (fake) free speech absolutist Elon Musk won’t ask KKK Desantis about book banning and suppression of African American history tonight
LadyT@patrida1941 I suspect he will ask for any books talking about apartheid to be banned
Louee@georgetakei They’re a very sick bunch down there.
OtownKim@Janef @georgetakei Not the citizens. The government here has been gerrymandered by the scumbag Domestic Terrorist GQP.
@otownKim so who voted for them?
@LadyT the gerrymandered maps favor the minority. Also, Drumpf helped DeathSantis in his first race. Broward county votes were not counted. That's a Blue county overall. DeathSantis and his appointed MAGA like garbage he appointed to Florida Supreme court steals our rights in the middle of the night. The Rescumlicans have been Terrorists in FL since 2000 because of Jeb dumbass Bush. Gore won remember.
Jeff Lindborg@otownKim @LadyT gerrymandering could explain house and state offices but it doesn't explain why DeSantis won by huge margins, the largest in 40 years. Or why Rubio and Scott both coasted to easy state wide victories - at some point you just have to admit that the vast majority of Floridians like what they see...
@jlindborg indeed. Here in the UK I had to admit that a vast swathe of our population are both racist and stupid
Smerks1109@jlindborg @otownKim @LadyT The National Democratic Party left FL to fend for itself. They focused their money and effort in other states in 2022. We got very little attention and/or budget. DeSantis ads were relentless. This is a bit of a transient state. Hoping that initiatives important to the youth vote are on the ballot is 2024. And that the Dem party gives a lot more effort here.
@Smerks1109 @otownKim @LadyT Counterpoint: no amount of money from the DNC would have turned around one of the biggest gubernatorial curb-stompings we’ve seen in decades. Just throwing limited resources at a lost cause does not help the democrats – case in point look at how much money they threw at Greene and McGath before that – millions down the toilet for hot point candidates that simply could not lose. Smarter ways to distribute funds for better effect.
@jlindborg @otownKim @LadyT When you lose Miami Dade and Palm Beach? These are blue counties. I volunteered and the complaints about visibility and funding were rampant. There was no cohesive story here. I’m not saying it would have turned it around completely, but the lack of messaging was a factor. The complete lack of advertising. Money is a huge factor.
@Smerks1109 @otownKim @LadyT Additional money thrown at FL would have pulled money out of many close races the dems managed to win in an election they should have been blown out of. No amount of money, messaging and organizing was going to overcome a 19 point landslide for Governor. DeSantis massively outspent Crist - however most of that was raised by their campaign in FL, not from the GOP. Expecting trucks of cash from the DNC to show up in a lost cause is not going to happen. Nor should it.
@jlindborg @otownKim @LadyT The plan was middle America states. Can’t say I disagree. We need congress. Just too bad that the third largest population state in the union is now seen as a wasteland of republican right wing garbage.
@otownKim @Smerks1109 @LadyT I get the feeling – lived my first 40 years in Seattle and moved to AZ for work. First week here I nearly got my teeth knocked out for noting AZ wasn’t a state till 1912 to a guy flying a huge confederate flag off his truck in a Home Depot parking lot. Culture shock doesn’t cover it. Heaping blame on the DNC for not spending rafts of cash in your state isn’t the answer, however. Everyone likes to blame the DNC for their political woes, it’s a cheap and easy shot.
@Smerks1109 @otownKim @LadyT I’m from AZ and I’ve heard all the same arguments in the past about why AZ was such a red state when our two most populous counties were deep blue – same “DNC doesn’t spend enough money here” – the reality was not enough dem turn out. GOP was always out hustling us for turnout, registering, raising money etc… that’s changed recently and we’re a legit purple state now. FL has a long way to go for that and it’s not going to be due to a big check from the DNC.
@jlindborg @otownKim @LadyT Desantis had IDK $250M and Crist had $50ish M. Whatever the reason for this disparity, and I won’t go into money theories, money was lacking and it really showed. We’ll see what happens in 2024.
@Smerks1109 @jlindborg @LadyT Well Ginni pig Traitor Thomas and her Uncle Thomas Husband email DeathSantis directly apparently. So I'm guessing Harlon Nazi Crow is a DeathSantis donor!
@Smerks1109 @jlindborg @LadyT that's why the GQP is infiltrating and hurting public schools. The youth here hate DeathSantis. But dumb them down and they won't know the difference.
@jlindborg @LadyT bullshit. Rubio has done absolutely nothing! Red Tide Rick is a thief and a polluter! The oligarchy money is POURED into FL politics on behalf of Russia. Look it up yourself. That's why the scumbag Traitor GQP hides their donors!
Grinning Cat 
🚫👑@otownKim there is only a certain length you can go to before you really have to admit there is a problem with the voters. We had to do that in the UK
@LadyT I get it. Brexit is horrible. The GQP Domestic Terrorists are trying to ruin Public schools so the youth are not informed. That's how they get the votes. Ignorant Morons vote Republican at this point!!
@otownKim @georgetakei Who’s gonna fix it if the citizens don’t?
⚙️ Roy Phillips@georgetakei I guess the Belly of the Beast didn't like being Braved nor our Blunders becoming their Burdens? Or was it simply a Ban to Belittle Biden?
💉😷🌿🇺🇦🇺🇳🇪🇺Oiselarius (he/him)@georgetakei Since Floridans seem to be on this book banning bandwagon, does anyone know if Mein Kampf is banned in Florida?
@Oiselarius @georgetakei Not all of us. Blue dot here
Frank Inserra@georgetakei One version of this story that I read was that the action taken was to move the text from the elementary to the middle school shelves of the library, as more appropriate for that age group. I have no true understanding of the actual action taken.
Thalass@georgetakei
Even if this was said in a mocking tone, it's still pretty scary. Saying the quiet part out loud again.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4017344-rick-scott-issues-travel-advisory-for-socialists-warning-florida-is-openly-hostile-to-them/
Even if this was said in a mocking tone, it's still pretty scary. Saying the quiet part out loud again.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4017344-rick-scott-issues-travel-advisory-for-socialists-warning-florida-is-openly-hostile-to-them/
Rick Scott issues travel advisory for ‘socialists,’ warning Florida is ‘openly hostile’ to them
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) issued what he described as a “formal travel advisory for socialists visiting Florida,” on Tuesday, warning that the state was “openly hostile” to socialists and their enablers. “The state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by Socialists and others who work in the Biden Administration,”…
IceNine@Thalass @georgetakei When do all the retired people in Florida start returning their Social Security checks?
@georgetakei it's the voters, in both countries the voters are numbnuts
LHamilton@georgetakei The thing is, the GOP was going to ban Amanda's work and harass Disney and other big companies all along. De Santis has erred by jumping the gun on these acts before the GOP held absolute power in the US and before his party had further eroded citizens' ability to learn about the incursions and respond.
Gambit (he/him)@georgetakei I guess the price of "freedom" is having to ban anything you don't like.
Matthew Hall@gambit_1 @georgetakei that’s called: FreeDumb
GJ Groothedde 🇪🇺@georgetakei Enlighten me, for I'm from Yurp. Is Florida still part of the Land of the Free?
Nutriamix@georgetakei
More fearful White Supremacists afraid of being supplanted by non-Europeans.
But what if the aliens replace them first?
Phil Thane ✅@georgetakei I'm no literary expert but to me it seems like a reasonable request to unite, work together, make things better. What's controversial about it?
@georgetakei Thinking a bit deeper, is the problem her use of 'we'? Maybe to racists a black person saying 'we' is taken to mean 'we black people'. And to misogynist a woman saying it might mean 'women'. Some right wingers are both racist and misogynist so are doubly enraged. I interpret 'we' as everyone at the inauguration, everyone watching on TV and everyone reading the poem since. But then I'm a European liberal not a US 'patriot'.
Shokk@georgetakei People who are more afraid of Artificial Intelligence taking over the world are missing how Actual Ignorance is ruining it right in front of their faces.
xs4me2Where will this end?
Erik@georgetakei ah yes because it's crt or something woke
SBlizzard “Good Trouble”@georgetakei everyone should be concerned. Don’t know if it is true but saw a “DeSantis 2024 Make American like Florida “ hat. Gos help everyone has the sense not to vote for that psycho
Catherine is not complacent@georgetakei it is now going to be locked away in a trunk with other so called ‘controversial’ books and texts that I am collecting in paper format so that I can be certain that someday my grandchildren and any children they may have can read them.
At one time I would have thought that was insane but that time has passed.
#farenheit451
At one time I would have thought that was insane but that time has passed.
#farenheit451
Alison Creekside@georgetakei Respectfully submit the poem was banned precisely because it was presented at Biden's inauguration.
Mr. Bruno 
@georgetakei They need to start banning words and dictionaries now.
Cykonot@georgetakei segregationist Republicans view poetry like this as a threat
lko2181@georgetakei Well, you have to HOPE that'll be enough for people to notice they've gone off the deep end, even for THAT crowd...
Mike Nelson Pedde@georgetakei Amanda: Rather than being devastated, be proud of work that those who live in fear want to ban because it shows them their own fear, their own prejudices and the parts of themselves they believe to be ugly, unwanted.
It takes great courage to examine what we see as the worst parts of ourselves. Most shy away from it but the only way to heal, to grow, is to bring it out into the light, to offer care and attention. Work like yours continues to plant seeds of joy, of determination and of curiosity. Inspire the child willing to discover what is SO powerful about your ideas that others want to hide it. Continue to be brave. 🫂
will273@georgetakei They didn't ban it. They moved it, along with some other books from the elementary side of the library to the middle school side.
John "John Davies" Davies ☑️@georgetakei Why don't they just ban all books and have done with it. Then just watch Tiktok videos for all that troof.
Mark Moerman