FIRE warns HB 1119 will increase Florida school book banning

These hateful Christian bigots think any mention or media showing that LGBTQ+ people exist is pornography.  It isn’t and makes a mockery of protecting kids from real porn.  But they use these words and equate any mention or sign of LGBTQ+ with porn to make it seem as harmful and dangerous as showing hardcore rape porn to children.  See the quote below.  Their goal is again to wipe any mention of the LGBTQ+ from society and public view.  They learned from Putin who used the same protect the children tactic.  Think of this if this bill passes how do they justify the Bible in libraries and schools?  But these people want a straight cis white male dominated society where they get to force their church doctrines on the public.  However these same people scream parental rights or religous freedoom if you ask them to give others respect and equality.  They want to oppress everyone else but any attempt to get them to give the same respect they demand for their ideas to others who have different beliefs is persecuting them.  Hugs

On the full House floor, sponsor Rep. Doug Bankson called HB 1119 a “commonsense policy that answers a simple question: Should pornography be available to minors in our schools?”


 

FIRE warns HB 1119 will increase Florida school book banning

Gabrielle RussonFebruary 23, 2026

‘Our focus right now is on making legislators aware of the bill’s constitutional problems.’

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is urging the Senate to kill a bill passed by the House that First Amendment advocates fear will increase book banning in Florida schools.

“Library book removals can raise serious First Amendment issues,” FIRE’s Public Advocacy Director Aaron Terr wrote in a letter last week to Senate President Ben Albritton. “The bill creates a powerful incentive for individuals to object to any book they dislike or consider inappropriate, knowing it will be immediately pulled from circulation for all readers.”

The House passed HB 1119 via a 84-28 vote following a partisan debate. An identical Senate bill (SB 1692) has not moved in the upper chamber since it was filed last month.

HB 1119 would block schools from considering the literary, artistic, political or scientific value of books if the material is deemed otherwise harmful for minors.

On the full House floor, sponsor Rep. Doug Bankson called HB 1119 a “commonsense policy that answers a simple question: Should pornography be available to minors in our schools?”

“The answer is an emphatic no,” he told lawmakers.

Bankson and other Republicans argued some inappropriate books still exist on the shelves because of a loophole from the application of the Miller Test, which is a Supreme Court decision dealing with adult material.

The Apopka Republican filed similar legislation last year that advanced in the House but died in the Senate.

FIRE argues that HB 1119 goes too far.

“To be clear, not every book is appropriate for every student,” the Philadelphia-based First Amendment advocacy nonprofit wrote in the letter.

“Again, FIRE recognizes that school districts have a responsibility to assess whether library materials are appropriate for students of different ages. But any such assessment must be carefully crafted to ensure that students are not broadly denied the opportunity to read age-appropriate works that speak to their particular interests.”

The bill wouldn’t allow school officials to take into account the full content of the book or if the work has serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors of any age since it doesn’t consider grade levels, FIRE said.

“These elements of the Miller test are critical to preventing censorship of literature, art, medical textbooks, history texts, and other speech that depicts or alludes to sex simply because someone finds them offensive,” FIRE said.

“In other words, older students’ access cannot be restricted based on what may be unsuitable for younger children. But HB 1119 disregards this commonsense principle. It requires districts to ‘discontinue use of the material’ if they determine it is ‘harmful to minors,’ without regard to age or grade level.”

Florida passed a 2023 law that allows people to challenge book titles they find offensive for young people in schools. 

“Under the current statute, Florida school districts have removed hundreds of books from libraries, including titles that are by no stretch of the imagination ‘pornography’ and come nowhere close to the legal definition of obscenity,” FIRE said in the letter.

“The Florida Department of Education’s own report shows that during the last school year, literary classics and widely acclaimed modern works — including ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ ‘A Clockwork Orange,’ ‘The Human Stain,’ ‘The Kite Runner,’ and ‘Life of Pi’ — were removed even from libraries serving students in grades 9-12. If enacted, HB 1119 will only accelerate this trend and further narrow the range of ideas on school library shelves.”

When asked by Florida Politics whether FIRE would sue if the Legislature passes the bill, the organization did not answer.

“Our focus right now is on making legislators aware of the bill’s constitutional problems,” FIRE spokesman Jack Whitten said. “That’s a decision that would require internal discussion and depend on various factors.”


Gabrielle Russon

Gabrielle Russon is an award-winning journalist based in Orlando. She covered the business of theme parks for the Orlando Sentinel. Her previous newspaper stops include the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Toledo Blade, Kalamazoo Gazette and Elkhart Truth as well as an internship covering the nation’s capital for the Chicago Tribune. For fun, she runs marathons. She gets her training from chasing a toddler around. Contact her at gabriellerusson@gmail.com or on Twitter @GabrielleRusson .

IF Helping Try to Avert An Execution Might Be A Thing You’d Do Today,

James Duckett. A snippet from the petition page:


James Duckett is scheduled for execution in Florida on March 31, 2026 for his alleged 1987 murder of Teresa McAbee.

NOTE: As of 6pm ET on March 27, 2027, a *temporary* stay remains in place as the State seeks to reverse the stay rather than follow the advice of its own expert, who suggests that further DNA evaluation is warranted. Read the press release from FADP here. This stay may be revoked at any time. Please act as if the March 31 execution date will proceed.

Mr. Duckett has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. His attorneys argue that the case against him, built entirely on circumstantial evidence, has been undermined by recanted testimony, discredited forensic science, and the possibility of DNA testing that was never presented to the jury who sentenced him to death.

Duckett’s attorneys argue that modern forensic technology — capable of producing answers that were unattainable in the 1980s — now exists, yet the state is pressing forward with an irreversible punishment while key evidence remains inconclusively tested and thus, unresolved. (snip; more on the page, which is the petition page.)

Coloradans who underwent conversion therapy could sue for damages under proposed bill

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/coloradans-conversion-therapy-lawsuit-damages-proposed-bill/

A newly introduced bill at the Colorado State Capitol would allow LGBTQ individuals to sue for damages caused by so-called conversion therapy, or therapy aimed at changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person.

The practice was banned in Colorado in 2019, and the American Medical Association – among other medical and mental health organizations – has said it is ineffective and can lead to depression, anxiety, and other psychological injuries. 

Colorado State Capitol 2026 legislative session
DENVER, CO – JANUARY 14: Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie in front of the House Gallery starts the 2026 legislative session at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, Colorado on January 14, 2026.RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Sponsors of HB26-1322 say many of those harmed by the therapy don’t come forward for years. Their bill would eliminate the statute of limitations in cases involving conversion therapy.

Individuals could sue their therapists, facilities that hired the therapists, and anyone who knew or should have known about the therapy and didn’t take reasonable steps to stop it.

Plaintiffs could recover economic and punitive damages if they could prove that the therapy was a substantial factor in their psychological injuries.

The bill is sponsored by State Representatives Alex Valdez and Karen McCormick in the House and State Senators Lisa Cutter and Kyle Mullica in the Senate.

The House Judiciary Committee will hear the bill this Wednesday.

A #No Kings Report

No Kings 3, fuck yeah

massive protests coast to coast — and country to country

Jeff Tiedrich

let’s start off with a bang, and put the hero of the day right up top. ladies and gents, I give you the Poet Laureate of No Kings Day.

‘see you later, alligator. at your trial, pedophile’ — now that’s a message we can all get behind.

we did it again, folks. in fact, We the People outdid ourselves. yesterday’s No Kings 3 was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.

over eight million of us gathered peacefully coast to coast, to rise up as one and convey a singular message: fuck you, you fucking fuck — you’re not our king.

wait, did I say coast to coast? no, it was the entire world telling Donny Convict to fuck straight off.

HAPPENING NOW: A HUGE crowd has gathered in London, England for a protest against the far right in coordination with the No Kings day protests in the US

[image or embed]— alexjungle.bsky.social (@alexjungle.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 10:07 AM

and at the Bastille in Paris.

In 1789, furious protesters stormed the Bastille in Paris. This marks the start of the French Revolution that put an end to the highly corrupt, rotten regime of aristocrats and the ultra rich. Yesterday, thousands joined a #NoKings protest at the Bastille.

[image or embed]— Hendrik Klaassens #FBPE #FBR #BanX (@aurorablogspot.bsky.social) March 29, 2026 at 4:39 AM

Scotland fucking loathes Donny.

Solidarity from #Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇸 #NoKings

[image or embed]— Dial M for Madeye 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇮🇪 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@carnaptiousmadeye.bsky.social) March 29, 2026 at 1:32 AM

so does Portugal.

Germany’s seen this movie before, and they want no part of its sequel.

two stalwarts showed up in the town of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

holy shit, there was even one homey who parked himself in front of the US embassy in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

this dude fucking rules. he held the exact same one-person protest during the previous No Kings Day last October.

meanwhile, back here in the US of A, the crowds were gi-fucking-normous.

of course, Boston is in the major leagues when it comes to protesting. they’ve been perfecting this shit since 1773.

another two hundred thousand showed up at the rally in the Twin Cities.

We are estimating more than 200,000 people at the flagship No Kings rally in the Twin Cities. #NoKings

[image or embed]— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) March 28, 2026 at 2:37 PM

while we’re in the Twin Cities, you need to hear this chunk from comedian Lizz Winstead’s great speech.

“I’m so proud of you. you chased out of this state pure evil. you chased them out. you chased out the fun-size fascist Greg Bovino. you chased out that evil Kristi Noem. Kristi Noem is so evil, I’m starting to think that that dog took his own life. just couldn’t take it. ‘is this my future? I need to get out. I’m taking the goat with me.’”

Times Square in New York City was packed to the gills.

so was Chicago.

San Francisco does not screw around. at Ocean Beach, protesters formed a human banner telling Donny to get the fuck out.

check out deeply-red Boise, Idaho, folks. even Republicans are fed up with this shit.

Bill Kristol, who used to be the biggest neocon in the world and is now an actual goddamned social progressive, was in Waltham, MA.

huge crowds were everywhere — except for one place: the CPAC conference in Texas.

while millions of people were protesting the fucked-up reign of Mad King Donny, CPAC couldn’t even fill one small room. look at this clownfuckingly pathetic display.

it’s as if Sad Trombone became a real political party.

now let’s check out some heroes — like this dude in Seattle.

we definitely need to gif this hilarious shit for posterity’s sake.

it was raining frogs in the District of Columbia.

we’re going to need to gif that shit, too.

handmaidens bearing the names of Jeffrey Epstein’s degenerate BFFs showed up in Nashville.

there’s no way we’re not giffing that shit.

hey, do you know who can go fuck themselves all the way to Mars? the Los Angeles Police Department, that’s who. these goons couldn’t make it through the day without arresting a protester who was dressed up as the Statue of Liberty.

A remarkable photo from #NoKings in DTLA from Connor Sheets of @latimes.com http://www.latimes.com/california/l…

[image or embed]— sam³⁰⁰⁰ (@samgavin.com) March 28, 2026 at 9:09 PM

great optics, you guys. bravo. ten out of ten — no notes.


fuck those fucking fucks. let’s go out with a bang. here are some of the best protest signs from around the country.

and finally, once again, our unknown poet laureate from Ellsworth, Maine.


as for Sundowning Grandpa Bugfuck, he was unusually silent — and nowhere to be seen. there were none of his usual protest-day batshit meltdowns on the feed of his crappy app. he couldn’t even be bothered to post AI slop of himself shitting on protesters, as he did last October.

he just spent the day holed up in Motel-a-Lago. according to his official schedule, the lazy fuck didn’t even bother to cheat at golf.

I’ve got a news flash for you, Donny: America is sick of you. aside from your brain-dead cultists who are too fucking stupid to understand what’s going on, nobody voted for this shit.

nobody voted for the historic and stately East Wing to be demolished so that you can replace it with some vulgar Epstein Dance Hall™ — and speaking of your dead pedo bestie, nobody voted for the continuing cover-up of a massive pedophile ring.

nobody voted for off-the-charts corruption and greed.

nobody voted for masked ICE thugs teargassing children, and murdering anyone who looks at them funny. nobody voted for innocent immigrants to be disappeared off the streets and shipped off to far-away slave-labor gulags.

nobody voted for the price of everything continuing to skyrocket — especially when you promised bring all that shit down on Day One.

nobody voted for our allies to be insulted and ignored, or for Ukraine to be thrown to the wolves, or for Greenland to be perpetually harassed, or for Venezuela to become a vassal state.

and nobody voted for an unwinnable clusterfuck of a don’t-you-dare-call-it-a-war in Iran — certainly not one that shut down the Strait of Hormuz, destabilized the entire Middle East, and sent the price crude through the roof.

guess what, Donny: you’re such a loathsome piece of shit that over eight million people took to the streets yesterday to deliver this singular message: fuck you, you fucking fuck — you’re not our king, and you never will be.

boo fucking hoo, bro. sucks to be you.


have a great Sunday, everyone. you earned it.

Republican Vampire Can’t Sell This

Enjoy Some Clay Jones This Morning!

Mr. Johnson No Johnson

Gonads are gone-gone

Clay Jones


Grifting With The Aliens

Those aliens are going to starve

Clay Jones


Just Some Stuff








Republican National Purity Dream | David Bier | TMR

This person Same is interviewing is from the Cato Institute.  Sam and David talk about the bigotry and attempt to purify the country of non-white people.  tRump and his racist administration claim to want to remove 100 million from the US.   There is no where near that number of undocumented people in the country.  That number is almost 1/3 of the US population.  Undocumented immigrants were estimated at 14 million in 2023 at the highest.  So where are the rest of these people coming from?  Legal documented immigrants and non-white citizens born in the US.  That is why they are rounding up brown people who immigrated here legally and why they are trying so hard to end birth right citizenship.  The goal has become clear and it is scary to me.  To cement the white majority for as long as possible and stop the slow decline of the white majority / rize of minority demographics.   Stephen Miller and the other racists in tRump administration want an apartheid state like the former South African one was.  They want no rights for non-whites.  They want no non-whites in positions of authority. The administration is going after businesses and higher education for not prioritizing whites over any other group.  They feel no white male is less qualified than any non-white.  If a non-white person scored 95 and the white person scored 75, these racists feel the white person is still more qualified because of their skin color.  The racists feel the only DEI that should be allowed is the promotion of white males over everyone else. Hugs

Boise To Face $2000/Day Fine For Flying Pride Flag

The game plan is clear and was used to accomplish the genocide of the LGBTQ+ from society in Russia.  Attack the most vulnerable and smallest members of the LGBTQ+ trans people in the name of saving the most vulnerable, who are the little children espcailly little girls  / daughters.  Every study proves that the ones in real danger or under threat are not the kids but the trans people.   Then use the momentum and rising bigotry to remove all rights and equality from the rest of the LGBQ+ based on the same lies.  End goal is to create a straight cis country where the Christian white male is making the country safe / regressive enough for their bigoted view of Jesus to feel comfortable enough to return and pat them on their heads.  Hugs

Boise To Face $2000/Day Fine For Flying Pride Flag

The Idaho Capital Sun reports:

The Idaho Senate has widely passed a bill that would fine local and state governments for flying flags that aren’t on the Legislature’s pre-approved list.

The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Ted Hill, an Eagle Republican, has said House Bill 561 is meant to target the city of Boise for flying an LGBTQ+ pride flag. Boise’s City Council voted to declare the pride flag and the organ donor flag as official flags, in an apparent move to work around the Legislature’s flag ban law passed last year.

The bill would add a $2,000 daily fine, per offending flag, to the flag ban law from last year, which lacked an enforcement process. The bill widely passed the House earlier this month. But since the Senate amended the bill, it must return to the House before it would go to Gov. Brad Little for final consideration.

Read the full article.

Rep. Ted Hill [photo] appeared here yesterday for his successful bill that criminalizes using the “wrong” bathroom. Violating that law would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison. A second offense within five years would be a felony, carrying up to a five-year prison sentence.

Hill appeared here in 2024 for his successful bill banning teachers from referring to students with their preferred pronouns.

Earlier this month, the Idaho House passed a resolution to petition the US Supreme Court on overturning Obergefell.

In February, the Idaho House advanced a bill to overturn all local LGBTQ rights ordinances statewide. Thirteen Idaho cities and counties, including Boise and its home county, have such laws on the books.

https://youtu.be/3C_llxJ0OqI?si=A7t4tKDIu6LFAdys

Hey Republicans!!

You got a problem, people. Getting Americans off their lazy-boy recliners isn’t easy. What’s this tell you?

https://bsky.app/profile/artcandee.bsky.social/post/3mi53nq5lzs26

Just a question to those who support this regime: Just what the hell is it going to take before reality makes it through whatever brainwashing happened to you?