Thursday, March 23, 2023

The Pieces Are Falling Into Place.

It is starting to make sense with what is happening in Florida… did you know that DeSantis was a JAG officers at Guantánamo Bay during the time when the prisoners were “force-feed” which the  U.N. Commission on Human Rights concluding that force-feeding amounted to torture.

‘Hey, you can actually force-feed,’ Ron DeSantis said he advised, endorsing a practice detainee lawyers described as torture
Washing ton Post
By Michael Kranish
March 19, 2023


Ron DeSantis was a 27-year-old Navy lawyer fresh out of Harvard Law School when he arrived in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, amid an escalating crisis at the U.S. military base.

Hundreds of “enemy combatants,” held without charges, had gone on hunger strikes. As pressure grew to end the protests, DeSantis later said, he was part of a team of military lawyers asked what could be done.

“How do I combat this?” a commanding officer asked in 2006, as DeSantis recalled in an interview he gave years later to a local CBS television station.

“Hey, you actually can force-feed,” DeSantis said he responded in his role as a legal adviser. “Here’s what you can do. Here’s kind of the rules for that.”

Ultimately, it was the Pentagon’s decision to authorize force-feeding. Detainees were strapped into a chair and a lubricated tube was stuffed down their nose so a nurse could pour down two cans of a protein drink, according to military records. The detainees’ lawyers tried and failed to stop the painful practice, arguing that it violated international torture conventions.

DeSantis had no qualms torturing the prisoners! Just like he is torturing the trans youth in Florida be denying them proper healthcare. The guy has no empathy for others, he only cares about himself. And power!

His own account of his service at the base and those of his associates also makes it clear that it was a transformational experience that hardened his views about politics, conflict and the Constitution.

DeSantis is...

You're as cold as ice
Cold as ice, I know (you're as cold as ice)
Yes, I know
(You're as cold as ice) You're as cold as ice
Cold as ice, I know (you're as cold as ice)
Oh, yes I know

Click, the pieces are starting to fall together!

Former detainees, defense lawyers and other human rights advocates said in interviews that DeSantis’s actions at the base — and his continued view of what happened there as fully legitimate — present one of the most revealing and troubling chapters of his life, noting that he has never publicly expressed any concern or questioned his own role in what transpired.

Jezebel reported that 

DeSantis not only received complaints about the force-feeding, but also witnessed it, Ahmed Abdel Aziz, a former detainee, told McClatchy. Mansoor Adayfi said that DeSantis had introduced himself by saying, “I’m here to ensure that you are treated humanely,” according to Harper’s. But Adayfi alleged that DeSantis personally observed one of his force-feedings and laughed at him; Adayfi remembers vomiting on him. (Abdel Aziz and Adayfi were released after 13 and 14 years, respectively, without being charged.) McClatchy couldn’t confirm that DeSantis witnessed force-feedings, but multiple former officers and attorneys said it was possible, as he had access to the areas where they happened, though probably unlikely.

“ you are treated humanely…” yeah as they stuffed a rubber hose down his nose.

Harper Magazine reported...

Adayfi: Yes. And, “If you have any problems, if you have any concerns, just talk to me.” We were drowning in that place. So I was like, “Oh, this is cool. This person will raise the concerns.” But it was a piece of the game. What they were doing was looking for what hurts us more so they could use it against us. In 2006, when DeSantis was there, it was one of the worst times at Guantánamo. The administration, the guards, all of them were the worst. They cracked down on us so hard. When they came to break our hunger strike, a team came to us. The head of the team, he was a general. He said, “I have a job. I was sent here to break your fucking hunger strike. I don’t care why you are here. I don’t care who you are. My job is to make you eat. Today we are talking. Tomorrow there will be no talking.” The second day, they brought piles of Ensure and they started force-feeding us over and over again.

*Foreigner Cold As Ice.


What is the worst thing right now that the country needs?

Stop inflation?
Stop the high cost of rent?
The price of gas?
Fix our crumbling bridges?
What about making sure we had drinking water?
Ban trans children for getting proper medical care?

WAIT what?

Yup.

The Hill
By Brooke Migdon and Julia Manchester
March 22, 2023


Republicans have seized on transgender rights ahead of 2024, with policy proposals including punishing doctors who treat transgender youths to barring transgender women and girls from playing on school sports teams with their peers.

In a February campaign video, former President Trump pledged to enact a federal law that recognizes only two genders if he is reelected in November, claiming that being transgender is a concept that has only recently been manufactured by the “radical left.” The former president in the video also announced his intent to enact close to a dozen policies if he is elected in 2024, all of them targeting transgender people.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is seen as a top 2024 GOP contender, has called for physicians who provide gender-affirming health care to transgender minors to be sued, and Florida under his administration has barred transgender minors from accessing puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries. A state health department rule adopted in August prohibits transgender Floridians, regardless of age, from using Medicaid to help pay for gender-affirming health care.

****

In Congress the House Republicans are debating on a “Parents Bill of Rights” that includes us.

The so-called “parents' bill of rights” being debated in Congress will increase book bans and censorship and undermine local control and educator autonomy—while doing nothing to promote authentic and constructive parent involvement in schools.
National Education Association (NEA)
By: Tim Walker, Senior Writer
March 21, 2023


The bill’s supporters call it a “parents’ bill of rights,” another example of the deceptive but familiar ploy of using popular, digestible labels to disguise unpopular and destructive schemes. This bill, introduced in January, is now being debated in the House of Representatives and will have a floor vote later this week.

The bill’s supporters call it a “parents’ bill of rights,” another example of the deceptive but familiar ploy of using popular, digestible labels to disguise unpopular and destructive schemes. This bill, introduced in January, is now being debated in the House of Representatives and will have a floor vote later this week.

The “Parents' Bill of Rights Act” (HR 5) contains a list of provisions already ensured by local and state law, including, but not limited to, a parent’s right to view a school’s budget or speak at a public school board meeting.

Of all the problems facing our nation, the Republicans think these issues are right up there at the top!

3 comments:

  1. Honestly (as one who occasionally enjoys passing en femme), one would think the most likely area upon which all perspectives might find common ground and appear sane would be to exclude children from the questions at hand.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why? Why should we hide like we are doing something wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because the question isn't about hiding or doing anything wrong. The question concerns respect. And if neither side respects the innocence of children, then we'll never get anywhere discussing the merits.

      Delete