The housing crisis in the United States has reached a tipping point. And instead of helping unhoused people and fixing a broken system, cities and governments are turning to draconian measures to criminalize homelessness and make the lived environment more hostile to homeless people through hostile architecture. This isn’t the solution.
Why do the republicans hate young people on social media? Because it exposes them to ideas that are now banned in Florida schools. It is about information control, it is about indoctrination to a conservative mindset / ideology. Think of it, even though the republicans managed to remove all reading material from schools about LGBTQIA people so LGBTQIA kids won’t see themselves represented and other students won’t see that the LGBTQIA kids are as normal as they are, young people can still see it on social media where the stars they love tell them that it is OK to be different. Plus social media clearly shows how wrong and backwards the Republican Party is, and how out of touch a minority the fundamentalist Christians are. Then you have the times that social media influences older teens to vote progressive / democrat, not regressive conservative like the state wants them to do. Social media also makes republicans and maga look as stupid as they are, mocking them, and showing young people out of touch with the modern times the fundamentalist Christian republicans are. Hugs. Scottie
Language for a new social media bill with provisions for parental consent has been filed in the Senate. The move came after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed an all-out ban on those under 16 using most social media platforms.
Sen. Erin Grall, a Fort Pierce Republican, filed an amendment with new language negotiated with the House, Senate and Governor’s Office. The legislation includes exemptions for 14- and 15-year-olds to open accounts on any platform so long as they have a parent’s permission.
“A social media platform shall prohibit a minor who is 14 or 15 years of age from entering into a contract with a social media platform to become an account holder, unless the minor’s parent or guardian provides consent for the minor to become an account holder,” the amendment states.
Read the full article. The bill vetoed yesterday by DeSantis would have banned all minors under age 16 from having a social media account.
New social media ban proposal would allow parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds
The FL legislature somehow thinks kids 16 and under are mature enough to have children when raped or molested but somehow not mature enough to use social media.
FL ledge DESPERATLY needs to find a way to keep queer kids from seeing positive messaging about themselves. They have seen the stats that 25% of Gen Z identify as something other than straight/cis. They are freaking out that Gen Alpha (yeah I had to look that one up but don’t you dare OK Boomer me) is going to follow the same curve. I for one welcome the rest of our rainbow plenty of bisexuals out there and now they are not afraid to be counted.
This is 100% the reason they want to stop young people from using the internet. I don’t remember seeing my first rainbow flag until I was 18. Up until that point, I thought there was something wrong with me. And as a result, I was politically neutral, and not fiercely anti-conservative at the time.
Keeping kids from life -saving support groups online when they are living in Hell. They want gay and trans kids to kill themselves. That’s what I take from this tripe.
They seem to think 11 year olds know nothing about the internet. Facebook has long had an age requirement, and I’ve known children as young as 11 who have had accounts. The kids figure it out quickly.
Perhaps it’s just another way to quickly create a whole new juvenile criminal class. I wonder what the consequences are, and if the parents will be held responsible for their little criminals.
I was just thinking about that. Is the 16-year-old cutoff meant to protect them from teenagers’ wrath? There won’t be any current 16-year-olds voting in 2024.
Children have long memories when it comes to blocking them from interaction with their peers whose parents have given permission to have social media accounts. Denied an account, they would be relegated to a lower social order in their school and school community.
Isn’t this a decision best left between parent and child? Does it really need legislation? Perhaps a law mandating making one’s bed before school should happen?
What is it with Republicans trying to pass the same shit over and over again recently? 15 times to elect a Speaker. Two tries to impeach Secretary Mayorkis. Do it right the first time… or don’t do it at all.
Trump and the GOP have been manipulating voters for decades. They use this through a number of fear tactics that ignite supporters’ reptilian brains and cause them to vote in irrational ways because they’ve been told Trump is their savior and the answer to the danger they’re facing.
Let’s understand what this really is about. White straight cis people (men) being in charge without having to allow non-white people in to those upper level positions. White straight cis have good easy management jobs, brown and black people do labor. The LGBTQIA simply go back to being in the closet not seen or heard, women stay home. It is white supremacy Nazi bullshit. It is an attempt to roll back the gains of those not white, not straight, not cis since the 1960s. That is what this is. It is pushed nationally by Stephen Miller, a well known white supremacist thug even though he weirdly is Jewish, who thinks that he passes as white in the eyes of the whites. He once complained in college for being required to put his own trash in the trash can rather than leave it where he was done or throw it on the ground. That was the job for the … janitors he said. We do know what he really meant. He and DeathSantis, the people of this mind set, love to punch down. They are also terrified of any changes to their privilege, and that is what they really want, white straight cis privilege over everyone else. It won’t last this last grasp to return to the past, Florida schools are already struggling to keep students and attract decent staff. Enrollment is down. People paying for an education want a real education they can use in the real world, not a fake maga paradise. See if you can count the lies, misinformation, and desperate attempt to deny the truth of what is happening in the quote below. Hugs. Scottie
“The University of Florida is – and will always be – unwavering in our commitment to universal human dignity. As we educate students by thoughtfully engaging a wide range of ideas and views, we will continue to foster a community of trust and respect for every member of the Gator Nation. The University of Florida is an elite institution because of our incredible faculty who are committed to teaching, discovering, and serving,” the memo stated.
Published: Mar. 1, 2024 at 1:52 PM EST|Updated: Mar. 1, 2024 at 6:07 PM EST
The University of Florida is firing all employees in positions related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) according to a memo sent on Friday. It follows the passage of a state law in 2023 targeting college funds spent on DEI.
UF officials say they have closed the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, eliminated DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halted DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors. Officials say 13 positions were eliminated and 15 administrative appointments were ended for faculty.
The decision was made to comply with the Florida Board of Governor’s regulation 9.016 on prohibited expenditures. Approximately $5 million previously allocated to DEI initiatives will be reallocated into a faculty recruitment fund.
Eliminated employees will receive 12 weeks of standard pay and are encouraged to apply before April 19 to other positions in the university.
Ahead of the fall semester, Florida’s public universities are working to figure out what they need to do to comply with state law
UF’s Chief Diversity Officer’s website describes the office’s mission as charting the “inclusive excellence strategy for the University of Florida.” The site notes “Inclusion is one of UF’s six core values.”
The listed staff of the department are Marsha Mcgriff, senior advisor to the president, Farrah Harvey, assistant director of diversity analytics, and Wilma Rogers, executive assistant
State Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, a Democrat from Gainesville, shared her opposition to the move hours after the memo’s release.
“I am stunned but not surprised at the elimination of DEI staff at the University of Florida, my Alma Mater,” stated Hinson. “The culture wars engaged in the Republican-dominated Florida House of Representatives will continue until Floridians have had enough and develop the will and determination to flip the majority in the Florida House.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Christopher Rufo, a conservative education activist and New College of Florida Board of Trustees member, announced the news of the firings and posted, “The conservative counter-revolution has begun.”
The UF memo ended with the following statement:
“The University of Florida is – and will always be – unwavering in our commitment to universal human dignity. As we educate students by thoughtfully engaging a wide range of ideas and views, we will continue to foster a community of trust and respect for every member of the Gator Nation. The University of Florida is an elite institution because of our incredible faculty who are committed to teaching, discovering, and serving,” the memo stated.
CORRECTION: A prior version of the article incorrectly stated that 15 administrative positions for faculty were ended. Administrative “appointments” were ended. The appointments are roles/duties that faculty members accept in addition to their regular duties as a faculty member.
If DeSantis and many other Republicans are opposed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, what they’re really saying is that they’re in favor of White Homogeneity, Inequity, and Exclusion.
If I were a black football player, Florida would be the last state I’d go to to play. Oh, who am I kidding, I’m white and in my 60s, and I wouldn’t go to Florida for anything.
That’s part of the problem. Minority students must learn that they are not wanted, and refuse to accept athletic “scholarships” to Florida schools.
Not to tout my alma-mater’s record on anything, but one item to its credit was that MSU was one of the first major universities to recruit African American football players, back in the 60s. It was an early DEI initiative that helped integrate college sports.
Southern universities were among the last bastions of white athletics. How quickly we forget our past.
MSU’s President, John Hannah, also took a global view of the mission of one of America’s first land grant universities, which included helping Africa. He was not afraid to work with black people. https://www.canr.msu.edu/ne…
Christian Nationalists standing behind a “FREEDOM FROM INDOCTRINATION” sign is the funniest thing I’ve seen from them this hour. What a bunch of hypocrites.
Here’s the kicker…if Christians were actually being discriminated against on college campuses, then these “Christians” would be for DEI programs as they would protect them.
Thank you to Ten Bears for the link. This is what the entire Israeli genocide has been about. The removing of any Palestinian people so they can have the land. If you read the article notice how the Jewish assholes say that Palestinians can come back and live there also, as complete subjective servants with no rights to do as the settlers order them to do. This has always been what this entire thing has been about. Hugs. Scottie
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists seen building an ‘outpost’ inside Erez Crossing, February 29, 2024, photo: Oren Ziv
Over 100 Israelis stormed Erez Crossing at the northern tip of Gaza yesterday afternoon in the most significant attempt to re-establish Jewish settlements in the Strip since the war began. A small number managed to cross several hundred meters into Gaza before being intercepted by Israeli soldiers, while around 20 others entered the area between the two walls comprising the barrier that encages the Strip. There, they established an “outpost” in the style seen commonly in the West Bank, building for several hours without the army or police interfering.
From the first moments of the war, it was clear that right-wing Israeli politicians and settler leaders sensed an opportunity to radically shift the status quo in Israel-Palestine. For months, calls to resettle Gaza — often in the same breath as calling to expel the Strip’s 2.3 million Palestinian residents — have been getting louder, not least at a major conference in Jerusalem in January at which senior officials laid out their plans. In parallel, right-wing activists — mostly youth — have been coming regularly to the Gaza fence to demonstrate against the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip. Yesterday’s action, however, marked a new peak in their activities.
At around 2 p.m., activists began gathering at a train station in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, close to Gaza. At that initial meeting point — for what was ostensibly a “protest” honoring Harel Sharvit, a settler who was killed while serving in Gaza — the mood was calm, even sleepy. A police car drove past, unmoved by the scene. From there, the activists drove in private cars toward the Erez Checkpoint, the only civilian crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which has been defined by the Israeli army as a “closed military zone” since it was briefly taken over by Palestinians amid the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
As they approached the checkpoint, the activists got out of their cars and began marching. At this point, they were met by another convoy of vehicles full of “hilltop youth” — young, violent settlers who regularly establish new outposts across the West Bank and attack Palestinians to force them off their land. At least two of them were armed with rifles of the kind used by the military, and they brought construction materials to build an outpost.
At a certain point, some of them started running toward the checkpoint and managed to cross it unhindered, with the few soldiers present unable to stop them. In the space between the two walls enclosing the Strip about 20 of them began erecting two structures using the materials they had brought: wooden planks and poles, and iron sheets for the roofs. Meanwhile, a handful of settler youth ran further inside Gaza, again unhindered by soldiers.
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists rush through Erez Crossing, February 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists rush through Erez Crossing, February 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
On the soldiers’ radios, the message came through that a number of people had crossed into Gaza, and military jeeps and even two tanks were sent to look for them. About half an hour later, a military jeep brought the youth back to the Israeli side of the crossing, without arresting them. They exited the jeep to applause from the other activists, joining the bigger group as they chanted, “It’s ours.”
For several hours, those who had crossed into the space between the two walls continued building the outpost — which they named New Nisanit, after one of the settlements in Gaza that was evacuated as part of the 2005 “disengagement” — without interference. As in the West Bank, the soldiers stood nearby and provided protection, rather than trying to stop them.
‘This is our country’
Amiel Pozen and David Remer, both 18, were two of the settlers who managed to cross around 500 meters into Gaza. After being picked up and dropped back at the checkpoint by the Israeli army, the pair spoke to +972.
“There was no fear of being inside [Gaza], the Holy One is with us and the IDF is here helping us,” Remer said. “We came here [because] we wanted to go home. I live in a community of deportees from Gush Katif [the Jewish settlement bloc inside Gaza that was evacuated in 2005], and we wanted to go back. After everything that happened, there’s no doubt that we have to go back.
“The feeling is very good, like coming home,” Remer continued. “It is ours. The Holy One, blessed be He, said it is ours. If we will not be there, we know what will be there.”
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists cross through a hole in the fence near Erez Crossing, February 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists cross through a hole in the fence near Erez Crossing, February 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
Pozen added: “We have come to represent the entire public, the Jewish people. We want to return to the whole Land of Israel, to all parts of our Holy Land. There are no ‘two states for two peoples’ — that’s not right. The people of Israel belong to the Land of Israel.”
Regarding the possibility of persuading the government to support resettling Gaza, Pozen said: “I would like the government to understand [what] the majority of the people already understood: We are here. It is ours. There is no political or international obstacle. We don’t need to consider anyone else. It is an internal matter. We need to go to Gaza, destroy all the terror there, and build there ourselves.”
Another of the settlers intercepted by the army after crossing further into Gaza showed his friends a photo he took on his phone of a strawberry plant in a Palestinian field, saying: “Look how beautiful the country is.”
Over the course of the evening, settler youth continued to bypass the army and run to the outpost. Many of them did so by crawling through a hole in the fence that was likely created during the events of October 7, until soldiers brought a bulldozer to close it with dirt.
Many of the youth were from the same organizations that have spent the past several weeks attempting — often successfully — to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. In their eyes, there is a connection between withholding aid to Palestinians and re-establishing Jewish settlements in Gaza: both are seen as a means toward achieving a decisive “victory.”
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists transport construction materials to the Erez Crossing area, February 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists transport construction materials to the Erez Crossing area, February 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
Mechi Fendel, a right-wing activist from Sderot, told 972: “We came here to declare that the day after this war is over, we must settle, we must spread Jewish towns all over the Gaza Strip. Because without that, it’s going to become a hornet’s nest. You can’t leave a vacuum. There’s no reason why we want that to happen again. I live one kilometer away from the Gaza Strip. I can’t have terrorists as neighbors — and they showed their true colors on October 7.”
Regarding the construction of the outpost near the fence, she explained: ”It’s a symbolic act, showing that we built two houses. They came in with these big pieces of wood and they actually built two structures here in the Gaza Strip. Of course it’s symbolic because they’re not going to stay here tonight. But the point is this is where we have to be. This is our country. We cannot let a full strip of land be unsettled.”
And what would happen to the Palestinians in Gaza if Jewish settlements were to be established? “If they’re willing to take Israeli jurisdiction, if they’re willing to have us come in and control their education system and help them financially, then let them stay if they’re peaceful,” Fendel said. “I so far haven’t found a Palestinian that’s peaceful. As I described, Palestinian workers [who worked inside Israel] for tens of years became terrorists in a second.
“I think that the government, when it sees that we are behind them, that the people want this, the government will be for it,” she continued. “Because the government also doesn’t want a hornet’s nest of terrorists cropping up. I think that if we have the people and the willingness and we show that we’re there, we’re brave, and we want to do it, the government will help us.”
‘First the soldiers stormed in, now the settlers’
The dynamics were reminiscent of typical scenes in the West Bank, with settlers being given freedom of action while the soldiers stood idly by — despite being inside a closed military zone and some of them even entering a combat zone. Some of the soldiers could be seen hugging the activists. One soldier told +972 that the soldiers support the activists and that the problem is “the media that wants action, to film soldiers beating Jews.”
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists transport construction materials to the Erez Crossing area, February 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists transport construction materials to the Erez Crossing area, February 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
Even though soldiers have the authority to detain Israeli citizens — and have detained journalists and other civilians who approached the fence in recent months — they invariably avoid detaining settlers who break the law in the West Bank, and this was the case yesterday too. One of the activists, who told +972 that he was an off-duty soldier and wore his military weapon over civilian clothes, said he left the area early because soldiers warned him they would “kick [him] out of the army.”
The soldiers spoke calmly with the activists, including the well-known Kahanist Baruch Marzel who arrived at a later stage. “It’s like the soldiers who stormed [into Gaza] — now they [the settler youth] are storming,” Marzel said to one of the soldiers.
Later on, when they were leaving, Marzel told +972 that the action reminded him of the “first settlement in Sebastia” — a village near Nablus in the West Bank where, some 50 years ago, a group of settlers from the Gush Emunim movement attempted to establish a Jewish settlement and defied the government’s attempts to evict them until it relented. He added that the main issue for him is not settling Gaza but deporting the Palestinians to “all the countries that support them.”
A security official present at the scene expressed to +972 his displeasure that the activists had been able to cross the checkpoint with such ease. “If they managed to enter Gaza, that means [Palestinians] can also enter in the opposite direction,” he said.
Police officers who arrived at the scene acted with the same indifference as the soldiers. They seemed to be in no hurry to intervene, and initially arrested only one protester. After sunset, around 7 p.m., some of the activists began to leave, and the rest were subsequently dispersed by police. A total of nine people were arrested and taken to a police station last night.
In response to an inquiry from +972 last night, a police spokesperson stated: “Israel Police forces were called in the afternoon to near the Erez Crossing, after protesters arrived and a handful of them crossed the fence into the Gaza Strip in violation of a general’s order. In light of the real danger to the protesters’ lives, the police forces were forced to operate within the territory of the Gaza Strip, where some of the protesters confronted them and refused to leave, which left the police no choice but to arrest nine of them for the offenses of violating a general’s order and failing [to obey] a police officer.
“The protesters were brought to the police station for questioning, at the end of which it will be decided which of them will be brought before the Court of Appeal tomorrow for a discussion of his case.” Police did not respond to another request for information today about whether those arrested were charged, but it seems they were released last night.
Oren Ziv is a photojournalist, reporter for Local Call, and a founding member of the Activestills photography collective.
About 972 Magazine: Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza.
We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.
Can we count on your support ? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.
Israeli settlers and right-wing activists seen building an ‘outpost’ inside Erez Crossing, February 29, 2024, photo: Oren Ziv
Scottie's Playtime 