Jews, bicycle riders and trans folk

     Some jokes are more true than funny. A favorite of mine goes like this:
     A man stands atop a soap box in city park in Berlin in the 1930s.
     “The Jews and the bicycle riders will be the ruin of Germany,” he begins.
     A crowd gathers. The man continues his speech, repeating the refrain: “The Jews and the bicycle riders will be the ruin of Germany.” Finally someone in the crowd interrupts.
     “Wait a second,” the audience member asks, “why the bicycle riders?”
     “Aha!” the speaker replies, lighting up. “Why the Jews?”
     Now set that joke aside. We’ll return to it later. In the meantime, let’s play, “Who said it?” the game where I share a quote and you have to guess what politician uttered it. Ready? Then let’s begin:
     “Do we want our schools to impose on our children, from their earliest days in school, perversions that lead to degradation and extinction? Do we want to drum into their heads the ideas that certain other genders exist along with women and men and to offer them gender reassignment surgery? Is that what we want for our country and our children?”
     I know what you’re thinking: Ron DeSantis. The governor of Florida has been buffing his presidential credentials with a salvo of rhetoric against trans kids, and constraints against any legal or educational steps designed to help them. A one-two punch alongside exaggerating education hinting at our nation’s racist past into ooo-scary “critical race theory” that must be stamped out.

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