Meanwhile, in Florida...

[rainbow]

They just held the 1st Floridaman games In st. Augustine. Events included a mullet contest, pool noodle fencing in a mud pit, an evading arrest obstacle course (while being chased by REAL deputies!) and, my favorite, bicycle race while carrying a catalytic converter and a handful of copper pipes.

I am definitely attending the next one.

https://www.thefloridamangames.com

It ain't real unless there live gators in the peeit

[Sean Hayden]

bicycle race while carrying a catalytic converter and a handful of copper pipes.

[Tero]

[Sean Hayden]

In the fine print: are you forgetting parole/probation?

[laklak]

I am back in Florida. It hasn't changed much. I leave for North Carolina tomorrow. I'm betting it hasn't changed much either.

[JimC]

You can take the man out of Florida, but...

[pErvinalia]

Florida Man is back!

[Tero]

I am back in Florida. It hasn't changed much. I leave for North Carolina tomorrow. I'm betting it hasn't changed much either.

Boat still there?

[laklak]

Boat still there?

Yep, in Palmetto up on the hard. We're heading back from NC this weekend, I'll check her out then and make sure she's good for the next 6 months. Should be back next January to get her in the water.

North Carolina mountains are fucking gorgeous, but spring hasn't sprung yet on top of the mountain. Green and flowery down in the valley but up here (5100+ feet) it's still pretty bare. Down in the low 30s at night and mid-40s (F) during the day.

[L'Emmerdeur]

One for any dolts who still claim that conservatives and/or Republicans are advocates of free speech (Moms for Liberty!) unlike those oppressive leftists...

'"Challenges our authority": School board in Florida bans book about book bans'

School officials in Florida have banned a book about book banning.

The Indian River County School Board voted to remove "Ban This Book" by Alan Gratz from its shelves in a meeting last month, overruling its own district book-review committee's decision to keep it.

The children's novel follows a fictional fourth grader who creates a secret banned books locker library after her school board pulled a multitude of titles off the shelves.

Indian River County School Board members said they disliked how it referenced other books that had been removed from schools and accused it of "teaching rebellion of school board authority," as described in the formal motion to oust it.

The book, which had been in two Indian River County elementary schools and a middle school, was challenged by Jennifer Pippin. She's the head of the area's local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national conservative group that has become one of the loudest advocates for removing books they deem inappropriate.

[Brian Peacock]

Now they'll have to ban books about books about banning books that were banned.

[JimC]

You will have the freedoms we decide on...

[L'Emmerdeur]

Florida is sending police to question people who signed a petition to put reproductive freedom on the ballot. The state is not pursuing investigations of rejected petition forms (the normal procedure) but instead is 'investigating' people who signed forms that have already been vetted and validated. Nothing but authoritarian voter intimidation.

'"Unhinged and Undemocratic": Florida Cops Question Abortion Petition Signers'

Floridians and reproductive rights advocates responded with alarm on Friday to Tampa Bay Times reporting that Florida law enforcement officers have been sent to the homes of multiple voters who signed a petition to get an abortion rights measure on the November ballot.

While Isaac Menasche told the newspaper that he isn't sure which agency the plainclothes officer who came to his home is with, fellow Lee County resident Becky Castellanos said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Officer Gary Negrinelli showed his badge and gave his card.

Both visits were about potential fraud related to the petition for Amendment 4, which would outlaw pre-viability abortion bans in Florida. Menasche was asked if he signed the petition, which he had. Negrinelli inquired about Castellanos' relative, who also signed the petition.

The officer inquiries appear "to be part of a broad—and unusual—effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration to inspect thousands of already verified and validated petitions for Amendment 4 in the final two months before Election Day," the Times reported.

The Republican governor signed the state's six-week ban that would end if the ballot measure passes. He has also faced criticism for creating an Office of Election Crimes and Security, whose work has led to the arrest of Floridians who believed they were legally allowed to vote following the passage of a referendum that restored voting rights to many people with past felony convictions.

[Sean Hayden]

Those poor bastids.

I'm not opening the door for that. --fuck off, is an appropriate response.

[pErvinalia]