If you go to work at one New York City school, a teacher said, it’s OK to wear a Black Lives Matter t-shirt — but don’t you dare wear a shirt that says “Proud Zionist” with the flag of Israel on it.

According to a report in Sunday’s New York Post, Jeffrey Levy — a teacher at MS 51 in the extremely woke neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn — says he was told by the school’s principal not to wear the shirt in school, even though Black Lives Matter and women’s rights shirts have been donned by other staff members.

In a discrimination complaint Levy filed, he said principal Neal Singh told him that students and staff at the school complained about the “Proud Zionist” shirt and a previous “Back the Blue” pro-police tee he wore.

“Singh told me that my t-shirt with an Israeli flag on it and the words ‘Proud Zionist’ were ‘politically explosive,’” read his complaint, which was filed Sept. 30 with the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at the New York City’s Department of Education.

“He told me that Zionism involves the retaking of Palestinian land and is ‘offensive,’” the complaint added.

Cori Bush Peddles Sick Lie: If Rittenhouse Is Acquitted, White Supremacists ‘Can Shoot at Us’

The Department of Education told the Post they supported the principal’s decision to ban the “Proud Zionist” t-shirt.

NYC teacher: School banned my ‘Proud Zionist’ t-shirt but allows ‘BLM’ garb https://t.co/tffqHuApqz pic.twitter.com/YdYCj38s42

— New York Post (@nypost) November 15, 2021

“Schools are not public forums for advancing personal political views, and per Department of Education regulations, employees are prohibited from using schools for the purpose of political expression,” said Department of Education spokeswoman Katie O’Hanlon.

Is anti-Semitism a serious problem in NYC?

“This principal’s request followed complaints from students and staff and is consistent with policies around political neutrality in schools.”

There’s a question as to whether or not the shirts were in violation of city school regulations.

“School buildings are not public forums for purposes of community or political expression,” Chancellor’s Regulation D-130 reads.

“While on duty or in contact with students, school personnel may not wear buttons, pins, articles of clothing or any other items advocating a candidate, candidates, slate of candidates or political organization/committee.”

Levy argued “Proud Zionist” doesn’t violate that, given that it has nothing to do with political expression or advocating for a candidate — noting in his complaint Zionism is a religious movement in support of the creation and maintenance of the state of Israel.

Watch AOC’s Face as House Approves Funding for Iron Dome System

However, he highlighted in his complaint that, to the extent that it was political, there was a clear double standard at work at MS 51.

“Singh has permitted other staff to wear attire with ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘Feminism is the radical idea that women are people,’ ‘Feminist’ and [female Supreme Court justices] ‘O’Connor & Ginsburg & Sotomayor & Kagan,’” his complaint read.

“Singh’s definition of politically explosive attire appears limited to Jews only,” the teacher said.

“None of my attire, actions or beliefs endanger the emotional or physical safety of students or staff, which Singh accused me of … I have conducted myself professionally and have always respected the beliefs of all while doing my job neutrally and without bias … His attempt to threaten and intimidate me is anti-Semitic.”

Both Levy and the group Americans Against Antisemitism — headed by former state Assemblyman Dov Hikind — provided the Post with pictures of some of the shirts worn by other teachers; the Post’s article included one which said “Feminist.”

In a video for Americans Against Antisemitism, one which says “Black Lives Matter” can also be seen.

BREAKING: NYC Public School Teacher’s Job Threatened for Wearing Zionist T-shirt to School

Teachers there wear BLM and other political t-shirts, but only the Zionist was threatened!

I received no response to a letter of inquiry sent to @DOEChancellor https://t.co/asHVg4Q6f4 pic.twitter.com/6en9GMrlaf

— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) November 15, 2021

“How insulting. This is sick. This is pathetic. This is anti-Semitic,” Hikind told the Post regarding Levy’s treatment.

“You can’t say you’re a proud Jew and supportive of the people and the State of Israel?”

Hikind, who is a Democrat, said the city’s Department of Education was “representing the extreme left, the radical wing of the Democratic Party” by having different standards for “Proud Zionist” t-shirts than it did for “Black Lives Matter” T-shirts.

“There should be one standard for all. But this is what’s going on in our city,” Hikind said.

Indeed, this is one of the more unfortunate problems of the de Blasio years in New York City — with anti-Semitic hate crimes up and city hall taking an unusually strong interest in cracking down on Orthodox Jewish communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is only a complaint at the moment, but it’s certainly a complaint that’s entirely believable given the priorities of the city’s leadership.

What gets defined as “politically explosive” only runs one way for the woke, after all — and support for Israel, unfortunately, very much runs that way.

Educators pursuing a career as a middle or high school English teacher should be “trained in anti-racism,” according to a newly released set of teaching standards created by National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

The NCTE last revised its standards for educators preparing to teach English language arts (ELA) in grades 7 to 12 in 2012. The professional organization said that since then, literacy demands “have changed the landscape significantly” and that “the issues of justice, equity, and diversity” have become central for English teachers and learners.

The latest NCTE standards, released last week, replace the term “social justice” in the 2012 version with “anti-racist” and “anti-bias” based on “expert advice,” according to the council. It now recommends that prospective English teachers “apply and demonstrate knowledge of learners and learning to foster inclusive learning environments that support coherent, relevant, standards-aligned, differentiated, and antiracist/antibias instruction to engage grade 7–12 learners in ELA.”

“Bigotry, discrimination, oppression, divisiveness, and racism are part of the world in which future teachers of English are working,” NCTE President Alfredo Celedon Lujan said in a statement announcing the standards. “These new standards seek to support educators as they prepare to go into the classroom.”

When it comes to the definition of racism, the council defines racism in America as the “systematic mistreatment and disenfranchisement of people of color who currently and historically possess less power and privilege than white Americans.”

“Racism … and other forms of discrimination continue to be a part of American society, continuing to affect all students and their education,” the council declares, asking that teachers “explicitly push for anti-racism by participating in ongoing professional development for educators to succeed in countering racism and other forms of bigotry.”

Anti-racism is one of the concepts popularized by proponents of critical race theory (CRT), an outgrowth from Marxism that views society through the lens of a power struggle between white and non-white people, which proponents assign the labels of “oppressors” and “oppressed,” respectively. CRT advocates see deeply embedded racism in all aspects of American society and deem it to be the root cause of racial inequity, or different outcomes for different races.

Rather than teaching children tolerance, it requires discriminatory “antiracist” practices to solve the perceived inequity, according to CRT advocates. As explained in Ibram X. Kendi’s 2019 book “How to Be an Antiracist,” discrimination should be considered “anti-racist” so long it is “creating equity.”

“The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination,” wrote Kendi.

The NCET didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The council will be holding its annual convention next week, featuring guest speakers such as former first lady Michelle Obama and Nikole Hannah-Jones, the leading author of The New York Times’ controversial “1619 Project,” a collection of historically revisionist literature promoting the idea that the United States is an inherently racist nation founded to preserve slavery.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/national-educators-group-pushes-for-english-teachers-to-be-trained-in-anti-racism_4105074.html

The supposed experts shaping the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus forced their tunnel vision upon the administration, according to a former member of the White House Coronavirus Response Team.

In a new book, Dr. Scott Atlas lambastes the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx and former CDC Director Robert Redfield for refusing to look at all options.

In his book, “A Plague Upon Our House,” Atlas recounted an incident in which he wrote that he presented compelling data indicating that schools should be reopened and that children were not major factors in the spread of the virus.

Fauci and others acted as though he had never spoken, he wrote, according to excerpts published Saturday by Fox News.

“As I finished, there was silence,” Atlas wrote. “No one offered any contrary data … Zero comments from Dr. Birx. Nothing from Dr. Fauci.”

CNN’s Stelter Shows How Insulated He Is by Media Bubble with Clueless Supply Chain Tweet

“And as always, not a single mention by Birx or Fauci about the serious harms of school closures. In my mind, this was bizarre,” he wrote.

Atlas wrote that he appeared to be the only one on the team looking at facts before forming theories.

“Why was I the only one in the room with detailed knowledge of the literature? Why was I the only one considering the data on such an important topic with a critical eye? Were the others simply accepting bottom lines and conclusions, without any analytical evaluation? Weren’t they supposed to be expert medical scientists, too? I waited,” he wrote.

When the reaction arrived, it was hostile.

Has the country lost faith in Dr. Anthony Fauci?

Birx said Atlas was “out of the mainstream” and part of a “fringe” group supporting school reopening, Atlas wrote, according to Fox.

“Meanwhile she insisted that all experts agreed with her,” Atlas wrote. “I shook my head, thinking of some of the world-class epidemiologists who agreed with me—John Ioannidis and Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford, Martin Kulldorff of Harvard, Carl Heneghan and Sunetra Gupta of Oxford—and wondered if she or Fauci had ever read a single publication by them.”

Atlas said he presented detailed data about the spread of the virus through children. Children were unlikely to spread the disease to adults, he wrote, and were themselves in little danger of catching it. In Sweden, in particular, he wrote, there were no children’s deaths from COVID-19, though schools remained open and there were no mask mandates.

“The icing on the cake was the evidence that almost all coronavirus transmission to children comes from adults, not the other way around,” Atlas wrote.

Atlas wrote that Redfield indicated that in his mind, the mountain of data was inconclusive.

Shock Japanese Study: No Evidence That Closing the Schools Reduced the Spread of COVID-19

“I was disgusted at Redfield’s apparent lack of knowledge, shocked at his ignoring the scientific studies that had been published from around the world,” Atlas wrote. “I looked around the room, wondering if anyone else understood the glaring incompetence on display. Clearly, [Vice President Mike] Pence needed more input.”

In excerpts published Friday by the U.K. Daily Mail, Atlas explained the root of his opposition to policies that pushed lockdowns as the magic answer to stopping the virus.

“People were dying from the virus, and the lockdown policies were not preventing the deaths,” he wrote. “The simple logic of assuming you could stop the spread of, and some said eliminate, a highly contagious virus by shutting down society after millions had been infected was worse than nonsensical.

“The idea of stopping all businesses and closing schools while quarantining healthy young people at little risk from a disease in order to protect those aged seventy and over — that is simply irrational,” he wrote.

In the book, he wrote that former President Donald Trump was being given bad advice from his top advisers.

“They had let Birx and Fauci tell governors to prolong the lockdowns and school closures and continue the severe restrictions on businesses – strategies that failed to stop the elderly from dying, failed to stop the cases, and destroyed families and sacrificed children,” he wrote, according to the Daily Mail. “The closest advisers to the president, including the VP, seemed more concerned with politics, even though the task force was putting out the wrong advice, contrary to the president’s desire to reopen schools and businesses.”

Birx and Atlas have tussled in the past.

In late October, as Fox reported, Atlas accused Birx of trying to “rewrite history” during congressional testimony in which she said Trump’s advisers failed to push mask-wearing, social distancing, and other steps that could have saved lives.

Birx claimed Atlas wanted to let the virus spread to build herd immunity, regardless of the cost, a claim he denies.

“I never advised the president, the Task Force, or anyone else while in Washington to allow the virus to spread,” Atlas told Fox.

“Dozens of my writings and interviews during my Washington service explicitly called for specific mitigations, including social distancing, extra hygiene, and masks when not able to socially distance, and ‘focused protection,’ a heightened protection of those at risk, to allow a safe opening and end the public health destruction from lockdowns.”

Journalist and The Gateway Pundit contributor Jacob Engels was hacked after exposing a filthy porn book in a Florida public school library.

Several weeks ago, my friend and investigative journalist Jacob Engels who often reports for the Gateway Pundit was removed with force by police during an Orange County School Board meeting in Orlando, Florida for exposing a disgusting graphic and pornographic illustrated novel being peddled to our public school children.

The video of him addressing the OCPS School Board, which was filmed by local journalist DatabattlesZ, quickly went viral after the news broke here first on The Gateway Pundit.

I have known Jacob for nearly a decade and his work exposing the political interests who orchestrated the sham trial that wrongfully convicted me in a DC federal court, had the corrupt Obama appointed judge in my case threatening him with arrest only because he dared defend me publicly and expose the epic corruption surrounding ever facet of my sham trial.

After he exposed the Orange County School Board for prividing pronographic material to minors, which is a violation of state law, left-wing activists hacked his website Central Florida Post, erased over eight years of journalism that has exposed Hillary Clinton and George Soros alike.  They even left behind source code in Russian, to make it seem like Jacob’s website was built by the Russian state.  This is an obvious smear tactic of the left, who tries to paint anyone who is for President Donald Trump or against the political establishment as a “foreign agent.”

Thankfully, he had backups on a secure server and he intends on restoring his operation as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this will take a large amount of resources. That’s why I am encouraging you to donate to his GiveSendGo account to help him restore his life’s work. His “crime” of exposing a filthy pornograohic novel being given to children is not a crime, but a crucial public service in the fight against the anti-Christian woke mob that seeks to pollute American society with their Marxist ideologies.

During the politically motivated Mueller Investigation, I underwent the same demonic attacks on my livelihood and character, from the very same left-wing authoritarians who want to forcibly mask or vaccinate us, while allowing children to have access to graphic novels.

These attacks have left me financially ruined, even as my wife Nydia battles Stage Four cancer. You can help our family recover by clicking here. 

Jacob’s story is not uncommon. Millions of patriots are being targeted on a daily basis by Big Tech. His former hosting company even has ties to the Council on Foreign Relations, General David Petraeus, Goldman Sachs, and a host of globalist goons who hate America.

According to several internet security experts, sites like the Central Florida Post have been targeted by massive hacking operations, with no oversight or protection from the hosting company Bluehost, where Jacob’s website was formerly hosted.

Please donate to his Give Send Go today. Without outlets like The Gateway Pundit, or the Central Florida Post on a local level, we would have no idea about the criminality of the Democrats and Deep State.

In the meantime, you can follow Jacob’s work on the STONECOLDTRUTH.COM. 

An eight-year-old Florida girl is making the system bend to her will as she defies the Palm Beach County School Board’s mask mandate.

So far, she has been suspended 38 times for failing to do as the adults tell her.

“I was really shocked by it,” said Bailey Lashell, Fiona’s mother, according to WTEN-TV. “I couldn’t believe it was all over not complying with the mask mandate.”

Fiona made a brief appearance at a board meeting to tell her school board exactly what she thinks of their rules.

“Just because I get suspended for not wearing a mask isn’t going to change my mind. You can keep suspending me. I still have the right not to wear a mask,” she said.

HGTV Fans at Odds After Joanna Gaines Makes Controversial Instagram Post

“It is not fair that I’m getting punished because you guys, the school board, are not following the law,” she said. “I’m still going to stand up for what I believe in.”

“I hope you all go to jail for doing this to me,” Fiona said.

She added one final thought: “Your rules suck.”

School board speech by Florida 2nd grader who was suspended 36 times for not wearing a mask:
Legend 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/SjEAhuQuP8

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) November 10, 2021

Her mother is chronicling her daughter’s disobedience on a website named StandupforFiona, explaining how her child has been threatened with flunking second grade.

Is this nothing more than an abuse of power by supposedly responsible adults?

“Since August 31st and her first punishment of a referral and silent lunch in an office hallway, Fiona has been steadfast in her unwavering decision to not back down to tyranny and lunacy, vowing to do everything she can for every child going thru these lawless mandates,” she wrote.

“Fiona is a strong-minded and fearless young girl who was ready to conquer the world at 7. Unfortunately, the blows just seem to not stop as she was recently told after completing every assignment her teacher will provide that she is not only failing 2nd grade but that there is no way she could catch up per her teacher,” she continued.

Neither mom nor daughter seems the type to take these things lying down.

“Thankfully we realized this was as tyrannical a move from her teacher and after asking for nearly 3 weeks we received Fiona’s progression in an application known as success maker. Not only is Fiona at or meeting grade-level requirements in Math, but rather doing math work at a 4th-grade level with almost 100% mastery in most of the items calculated,” she wrote, noting that she put all the documents on the site for all to see.

AZ Cops Will Criminally Investigate School Official Who Allegedly Compiled a Secret Dossier on Parents

“Fiona has changed her priorities a bit and is on a mission to take back, not only her rights but every American child’s constitutional rights from the tyrant school board,” her mom explained on the site.

Although in July, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order that made mask-wearing optional, in Palm Beach County masks have been mandated, although the mandate ends Monday.

“You wear it for a long time, and you breathe in all those germs,” Fiona said, according to WTEN. “You set it down at lunch and put it back on your face and breathed that all in all day long.”

“I’m doing it for other kids,” said Fiona. “Not just myself.”

Her mother said compelling children is wrong.

“We have no problem with somebody wearing a mask,” Lashell said. “We just feel that the kids in this situation — or I guess the parents — should have been given that choice.”

President Joe Biden is having a hard time escaping the glaring lies he repeated during his 2020 campaign about Kyle Rittenhouse, who is currently standing trial for murder.

The trial has been a massive fiasco for the prosecution even as the establishment media carries water for the increasingly weak claims that Rittenhouse acted maliciously when he shot three people, killing two, amid the violent riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.

So far, the state’s own witness has revealed that one of the men Rittenhouse shot had tried to grab his gun, and Gaige Grosskreutz, another of Rittenhouse’s “victims,” has admitted that Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, fired on him only after he pointed a loaded handgun at the teen.

One of the more painful moments of the trial came when Rittenhouse himself took the stand and broke down while describing the moments leading up to the shooting. As video evidence clearly shows, rioters chased him down before he was ultimately forced to fire in self-defense.

So Biden probably shouldn’t have counted his eggs before they hatched last year as he leveraged Rittenhouse to beef up the narrative that then-President Donald Trump was sympathetic to white supremacists. Now that he’s in office, the lies about both Rittenhouse and Trump are coming back to bite him.

HGTV Fans at Odds After Joanna Gaines Makes Controversial Instagram Post

In August 2020, just days after the Rittenhouse shooting, Biden was asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper why he thought Trump hadn’t yet spoken publicly about the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which sparked the riots in the first place.

Biden responded by suggesting that Rittenhouse was part of a “militia” and that Trump was unwilling to denounce white supremacists.

“Look, I don’t know enough to know whether that 17-year-old kid — exactly what he did. But allegedly he’s part of a militia coming out of the state of Illinois,” Biden said.

Do you think Kyle Rittenhouse is innocent?

“Have you ever heard this president say one negative thing about white supremacists? Have you ever heard it?” he continued, claiming that Trump had called white supremacists at the 2017 Charlottesville riot “very fine people.”

It really is astounding that Biden so confidently repeated this already exhaustively debunked lie.

Trump decidedly and in no uncertain terms condemned white supremacy after the riot, as a matter of fact.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has no place in America,” he said in August 2017.

“Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

Thanks to a FOIA Request, the CDC Just Made the Biggest Admission About COVID Yet

If this wasn’t clear enough, Trump immediately followed up his “very fine people” comment by saying, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.”

That’s right — even though leftists continue to claim to this day that Trump called white supremacists and neo-Nazis “very fine people,” he actually clarified who he was talking about in the same breath and denounced the radical factions present at the Charlottesville riot.

There are no two ways about it: Biden was lying. Trump had denounced white supremacy literally years before Biden campaigned on the insane claim that he hadn’t.

Our current president was not only willing to blatantly lie about Trump, but also to imply that Rittenhouse was probably a racist militia member, too.

Of course, Anderson Cooper, the brilliant and objective journalist that he is, did not push back on this wild suggestion. The media has for well over a year now spouted entirely fabricated claims about Rittenhouse — which is probably why Biden felt perfectly comfortable including the teen’s image in a campaign video about white supremacy.

There’s no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night. pic.twitter.com/Q3VZTW1vUV

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 30, 2020

The Rittenhouse family has refused to take this bald-faced slander from the media and our now-president sitting down, as well they should not.

“The media has been absolutely irresponsible and purely abhorrent with this entire situation. They’ve been parroting the same false information time after time after time,” Rittenhouse spokesman David Hancock told Fox News on Wednesday. “It’s appalling, absolutely appalling.”

Rittenhouse’s mother also slammed Biden this week for using her son’s image in the campaign video, which recycled the same debunked line that Trump refused to disavow “white supremacists.”

“When I saw that, I was shocked, I was angry,” Wendy Rittenhouse told Fox on Thursday. “President Biden [doesn’t] know my son whatsoever, and he’s not a white supremacist. He’s not a racist. And [Biden] did that for the votes.”

“And I was so angry for a while at him and what he did to my son. He defamed him,” she said.

Who can blame her?

It’s bad enough that the media has so aggressively tried to taint this kid’s name in the court of public opinion. But for a presidential candidate to lump him in with vile racists is quite another matter.

That there’s someone in the White House who has so little regard for the basic principle of presumed innocence should seriously scare us.

Reports of intense surveillance of parents opposed to teaching critical race theory in Arizona’s Scottsdale Unified School District have provoked calls for the board president’s resignation.

At issue is a dossier of personal information of the parents and their children.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo, who writes for City Journal and is a Manhattan Institute fellow, said he reviewed the information and tweeted his conclusions.

“Scottsdale Unified school board president Jann-Michael Greenburg has been caught assembling a dossier with confidential information on parents who oppose critical race theory — including photographs of their children,” he tweeted Thursday.

“I’ve reviewed the dossier and Greenburg has assembled a disturbing range of information on parents: commercial background checks, criminal records, address histories, divorce records, business filings, personal photographs, and other sensitive data. Abusive.”

HGTV Fans at Odds After Joanna Gaines Makes Controversial Instagram Post

I’ve reviewed the dossier and Greenburg has assembled a disturbing range of information on parents: commercial background checks, criminal records, address histories, divorce records, business filings, personal photographs, and other sensitive data. Abusive.

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) November 11, 2021

“Greenburg paid for extensive private investigation profiles on individual parents. This file is more than 160 pages, with information including home addresses, family members, phone numbers, mortgage data, traffic tickets, ‘known associates,’ and social security numbers,” Rufo noted.

WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers will find offensive.

According to press reports, school board president Jann-Michael Greenburg, a 27-year-old man with no children, lives with and shares a computer with his father, Mark Greenburg. Parents have accused the father-son duo of harassing them and photographing their children.

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) November 11, 2021

“YIKES: Here’s the father of Scottsdale Unified school board president Jann-Michael Greenburg, secretly taking bodycam footage of parents on school property and saying he hired a “private investigator who is writing down all their [license] plates,” Rufo tweeted.

In the video, Mark Greenburg talks about the extent of his investigation.

“Somewhere around here, we have a private investigator who’s writing down all their plates,” he says.

Shock Japanese Study: No Evidence That Closing the Schools Reduced the Spread of COVID-19

“That you’ve hired?” a woman responds.

“Yeah, I did. Yeah. I had our law firm do it so that it’s protected. So that we can get the information,” Greenburg replies.

These lunatics want to permanently mask your children and pump them full of critical race theory. We owe a debt of gratitude to the brave Arizona moms who are standing up to creeps like Mark and Jann-Michael Greenburg. Don’t stop until they are removed from public life.

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) November 11, 2021

Although the school district is blaming everything on Mark Greenburg, the father of Jann-Michael Greenburg who reportedly lives with his son, and trying to assuage parents, a report in AZ Free News made it clear that the damage — coming at a time when the National School Boards Association wants the Department of Justice to come down hard on parents resisting critical race theory — is beyond repair with soothing words.

“I am calling for the immediate resignation of our board president Jann-Michael Greenburg. We cannot allow anyone in a leadership position to secretly compile personal documents and information on moms and dads who have dared speak out publicly or on social media about their grievances with the district,” parent Amy Carney said.

“We request President Greenburg’s resignation from the Governing Board effective immediately for this and other recent embarrassments to our district.”

“These allegations are deeply troubling, especially as concerns the photography of a minor child without parental consent and the taking down of license plate numbers of parents who Mr. Greenberg supposedly perceived as political opponents,” said attorney Alexander Kolodin of the Davillier Law Group.

“Mr. Greenberg is an elected member of the school board. If such a photograph was taken with his express or tacit consent, he would potentially be liable for violations of Arizona’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, which recognizes a parent’s ‘fundamental’ right to consent before the government makes a video or voice recording of the minor child,” he said.

If you want someone to wear a mask, the first step is to normally just ask. But some teachers have decided to go with the option of just taping masks to their students’ faces instead.

In October, there were several reports across the country of teachers taping face masks on their students’ faces.

The most recent happened in Beloit, Wisconsin.

At McNeel Intermediate School, Fox News reported that the police are investigating after a student claimed that a teacher duct-taped a mask to his face.

The 13-year-old boy said he pulled his mask down for a moment because he was having difficulty breathing. When the teacher told him to put the mask on he responded, “I can’t breathe. Give me a moment.”

HGTV Fans at Odds After Joanna Gaines Makes Controversial Instagram Post

“She got clearish yellowish tape, pulled up my mask up to my nose and wrapped the tape around my head five times. I’m thinking in my head. I’m like, this is crazy. Why is she doing this?” the student told WKOW.

The student’s parent said, “when he came home, he (had) a red mark on the back of his neck area. And it was a little bit red around his face.”

According to the police report that the Wisconsin State Journal reviewed, the teacher claimed it was all a joke.

“The teacher told police she did tape the front of the student’s mask to his face, but only as a joke after she said the student challenged her to do so and then he laughed about it. The teacher said she removed the tape, after which the student wore his mask properly.”

Should kids be wearing masks at school?

The student said that he did not feel like he could go back to school after the incident because he did not trust anyone.

“I’m very, very upset. I’m gonna keep pursuing this until my son gets justice and my family gets justice,” the parent said.

In response to this incident, a protest was then planned for Nov. 5 to take place in front of the School District of Beloit. The school district and the Beloit Police Department then decided to close the schools, “for the safety of the students and staff.“

This may sound like an outlandish, one-time kind of incident — some COVID-hypersensitive teacher just went off the rails. But there have been other reports of this happening in different states earlier in October and September.

Near Las Vegas, in Clark County School District, one fourth-grader forgot to put his mask back on after getting a drink of water. The substitute teacher, instead of simply instructing the student to put the mask back on, pulled him to the front of the class and taped the mask across the top of his face.

Author of Child History Curriculum: US Bombed Hiroshima Only to Prove Developing Atomic Bomb ‘Was Worth It’

“I was furious, furious. I was scared for my son on what kind of long-term effect it is going to have on him socially, the fact that the entire class was laughing,” the student’s mother told KVVU-TV.

The student said that this was not the first time that had happened. He recalled up to five other times that this has happened to students in the class.

KKTV News in Colorado Springs reported a similar incident happening at Chinook Trail Middle School in October.

The school investigated the situation and found that, while teachers at Chinook Trail did not go to the extremes of the Clark County teacher in Nevada, teachers instructed students to tape masks to their faces.

“After examining all evidence, the district determined a policy/procedure was violated by the teaching team of 642. While we found that the teachers did NOT affix any student’s mask to their face, we did learn teachers directed students to affix their mask to their face with tape; and students believed they were required, by a teacher, to use tape to affix their mask to their face,” the school principal wrote in a letter to parents.

The fact that children are wearing masks in school is still questionable.

Children are obviously still in the developmental stage. They are not just learning information in school, but also learning how to socially interact and be with other people. Their emotions, social skills and cognitive skills all depend on having healthy interactions with peers, teachers and parents. Numerous experts and studies have shown this.

“Face-to-face interactions between a parent and child are the building blocks of the child’s emotional, social, and cognitive growth,” the Hanen Centre reported.

It’s really quite common sense.

“The right socially interactive environment will help children develop strong language skills, creativity, social intelligence, and confidence,” Tender Care Learning Center advocated.

For students to have that face-to-face interaction taken away from them in school can be detrimental. For teachers to enforce and humiliate students by taping masks to their faces could damage students even further. That kind of humiliation handed down from an authority figure, in front of peers, is going to cause problems.

As the mother of the Clark County School fourth-grader said, “It’s crazy. Corporal punishment in schools should not be happening.”

In 68.2 percent of the 500 biggest school districts in the United States, students are still required to wear masks in school, according to data from community tracker Burbio.

To those who just view U.S. media, this shouldn’t come as a shock. After all, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, has made it clear even vaccinated kids still need to mask up.

“We still have about 85 percent of our counties that are in high or substantial community transmission,” Walensky said during an appearance on “NBC Nightly News” on Thursday.

“And so, while I’m encouraged that numbers are coming down, I would say as our children are starting to get vaccinated, just a week into this program, to continue to scale up our vaccinations for these children and to not yet get complacent with our mitigation and prevention strategies that are keeping our children in school.”

“So that means kids should continue to wear masks even if they’re vaccinated?” Holt asked.

HGTV Fans at Odds After Joanna Gaines Makes Controversial Instagram Post

“And I would say masks are for now,” Walensky said, “but they are not forever.”

And yet, while the CDC continues to promise the masks aren’t forever but need to be worn for now, the United States is one of the few countries in the Western world that still forces its students to mask up in the classroom.

According to a Wednesday report in the U.K. Daily Mail, only seven countries in the West still recommend kids wear masks in school. Meanwhile, in at least 14 other countries, there is no masking requirement.Should mask mandates be banned?Yes No
Completing this poll entitles you to The Western Journal news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

“Aside from the U.S., DailyMail.com could only identify six other Western countries where masking is broadly required or recommended in schools: Canada, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Spain,” the paper reported.

Canada leaves it up to individual provinces, all 10 of which have some kind of masking requirement. France had lifted its masking requirement previously, but it’s being re-instituted for elementary school students as of Nov. 15.

The other four countries started the school year with a mask requirement in place on a national scale.

However, in most other countries, they’ve been — as we like to say in these parts — following the science.

The Daily Mail noted that studies have shown that while minors test positive just as frequently as adults, about half are asymptomatic (compared with roughly 10 percent of those over 18) and that only 0.1 percent of school-age children experience serious illness or die from COVID-19.

Newsom’s COVID Cases Explode, Double DeSantis’ Florida Numbers

“And because of this low risk, most Western nations have opted to ditch the masks and have kids return to ‘normalcy’ in classrooms,” the Daily Mail reported.

“In the UK, for example, millions of children returned to schools in early September with face coverings not required.

“And while masks are a politically divisive issue in the U.S., members of both the Conservative and Labour Parties in the UK have stated that wearing masks prevent children from being able to communicate and socialize.”

How has that worked out for them? In the United States, children are being hospitalized at four times higher rates than in the United Kingdom.

The paper provided three potential answers for why the mask mandates aren’t in place in other Western countries.

The first postulate: higher vaccination rates. “For example, West Virginia and Idaho have yet to vaccinate 50 percent of their populations compared to more than 70 percent in all Nordic countries, according to data from the U.S. CDC and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control,” the Daily Mail reported.

However, this one doesn’t necessarily hold water; according to U.S. News and World Report, neither West Virginia nor Idaho has statewide school mask mandates.

Of the eight states that outright ban school mask mandates, only one had a fully vaccinated rate above 60 percent as of Friday, according to the Mayo Clinic — Florida. Meanwhile, of the states that require masks in school, only one had a fully vaccinated rate under 60 percent: Kentucky.

Therefore, issue number two is a bit more likely: In most Western countries, particularly in the European Union, there’s a higher degree of trust in authority figures. Paradoxically, this often leads to less regulation and freer societies. As Nick Gillespie — editor at large for libertarian publication Reason — pointed out in a Daily Beast piece back in 2016, research shows citizens in countries where authority figures are trusted want less intervention from authority figures.

Meanwhile, in the United States — where one can distinctly recall a recent gubernatorial candidate saying parents shouldn’t be deciding what the state teaches their children — one can see how this would lead to education and political officials who botched in-person learning policy and public health dictums being handed more control over it, despite having proved themselves to be unworthy of the task.

Finally, the Daily Mail noted children in other Western countries are tested more often.

“Currently the UK’s Department of Education requires all secondary school students, between ages 11 and 18, be tested at home twice a week using tests,” they reported. “Additionally, Norway is mass testing students to phase out quarantining students amid Covid outbreaks.”

All of these are valuable lessons — but then, the most valuable should be that we’re an outlier when it comes to school mask mandates and we shouldn’t be. There’s little evidence they serve a public health good, particularly among vaccinated children, and with other alternatives at hand. Psychologically, they’ve done far more harm than good.

Geez…I really think I’m going to puke. WTF is happening? [US Patriot]

Inclusion, acceptance, welcoming, understanding, equality and affirmation: These are the words we often hear in support of the LGBT community. But should all sexual preferences and orientations be accepted, welcomed and included?

What about attraction to minors?

Allyn Walker — an assistant professor at Old Dominion University in the department of sociology and criminal justice who identifies as “non-binary” — wrote the book, “A Long, Dark Shadow,” to look more deeply into “Minor-Attracted People,” address the stigma around them and discuss how they should be treated.

To be clear, though, Walker is not condoning child sexual abuse in the book.

“And I want to be extremely clear that child sexual abuse is never ever okay,” Walker said in an interview discussing the book with the Prostasia Foundation.

Rittenhouse Judge Blasts Prosecution, Says They Made ‘Grave Constitutional Violation’

However, Walker did clarify that “having an attraction to minors as long as it isn’t acted on, doesn’t mean that the person who has those attractions is doing something wrong.”

“I think we have a tendency to want to categorize people with these attractions as evil or morally corrupt … From my perspective, there is no morality or immorality attached to attraction to anyone because no one can control who they’re attracted to at all.”

This immediately brings into question the meaning of morality. In the simplest terms, morality is understanding what is right and wrong. But more specifically, morality is intricately tied to natural laws and what is innate in rational human beings.

It is not natural to be attracted to a child. That is why pedophilia is treated as a disorder.

Is pedophilia a sexual orientation?

“Because it causes harm to others, it is considered a disorder,” medical information reference Merck Manuals noted.

Walker, however, wanted to distinguish between those who act on this impulse and those who simply have it but do not act on it.

“And then just as importantly, many MAPs never commit a sexual offense against a minor. And that difference is important because when we don’t understand that distinction, we make incorrect assumptions about the likelihood of offending amongst MAPs,” Walker said.

“This leads to people believing that just because someone is attracted to minors, they’re likely to commit an offense. And we start to criminalize a population just because of their attractions. Not only is this a problem in terms of criminalization, but it also serves to heighten stigma against MAPs in general, which is a huge problem.”

However, Walker is wrong in equating pedophilia with crime. Pedophilia, of course, can lead to sexual activity with children, but attraction, arousal and behavior all fall under the definitional umbrella of pedophilia.

12 Biological Males Convicted of Violent Crimes, Sex Crimes Transferred to Women’s Prisons After Identifying as Women

“Doctors diagnose pedophilia when people feel greatly distressed or become less able to function well because of their attraction to children or when they have acted on their urges,” Merck Manuals explains.

Psychology Today also lines up with Merck Manuals, defining pedophilia as, “recurrent and intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children — generally age 13 years or younger — over a period of at least six months.”

Walker is attempting to make a distinction that flies in the face of medical information, trying to differentiate between attraction and action. But there is great danger in doing so.

If “MAPs” are just people who are attracted to children, but do not abuse them, why should they not be accepted in a society that is seeking to be inclusive and welcoming to all sexual orientations?

When transgenderism became a newly accepted sexual orientation, the American Psychiatric Association removed “Gender Identity Disorder” from “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”

Following the same reasoning, this could happen with defining and diagnosing pedophilia. And there is a push to view pedophilia as a sexual orientation.

Toronto psychiatrist Dr. James Cantor has tweeted in the past, “Speaking as a gay men, I believe we SHOULD include the P. To do otherwise is to betray the principles that give us our rights.”

Speaking as a gay men, I believe we SHOULD include the P. To do otherwise is to betray the principles that give us our rights.

— Dr. James Cantor (@JamesCantorPhD) December 8, 2018

Cantor’s reasoning is correct. If our society keeps operating on the principles that give LGBT members the rights that they have, the same has to extend to pedophiles. If we follow that train of thought, attraction to children is just their sexual orientation.

There are even sites dedicated to pedophiles who are celibate, non-offenders. “Virtuous Pedophiles” is a social support group for pedophiles that promise to live celibate, non-offending lives.

The problem is that pedophilia is dangerous to children. Even if a person who is attracted to minors is determined to not act upon the impulse, having that attraction takes them one step closer to the potential of becoming an abuser.

So if pedophilia is accepted as just another sexual orientation and not treated as a disorder, that would also widen the door to “acceptable” abuse of children. If a pedophile has sexual interactions with a child, and the minor claims that they were abused, then the pedophile could hide behind their accepted, no longer termed as a disorder, sexual attraction.

As shocking as it may seem to talk about adding pedophilia to the spectrum of sexual orientations, it should be no surprise. By throwing out the conception that morality must align with what is natural, our society just opened Pandora’s box. This is just the fallout that we have to deal with now.

The North Carolina School Boards Association (NCSBA) withdrew its membership from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) on Thursday.

NCSBA’s separation follows the South Carolina, Ohio, and Missouri School Board Associations’ cutting ties from the NSBA after its Sept. 29 letter to the White House comparing parents to domestic terrorists.

Union County Public Schools Board Chair Melissa Merrell was on her way to an NCSBA convention when she received an alert from the NCSBA announcing its separation.

“It was a pleasant surprise,” Merrell told The Epoch Times. “I definitely did not see this coming. I’ve had a couple of board members who had been requesting and sending emails to the NCSBA asking if it were going to withdraw our membership from the NSBA, and they (the NSBA) had asked for our feedback, and then, on the way to the convention, we saw this message.”

Merrell said nothing was mentioned at the convention about the NCSBA’s departure from the national board.

According to Parents Defending Education (PDE), an organization that investigates indoctrination in schools, as of Nov. 9, 26 states have distanced themselves from the NSBA after the letter.

The NSBA, which represents more than 90,000 school board members and 14,000 public school districts in the United States, had written a letter to President Joe Biden asking that the parents who have protested COVID-19 restrictions and the teaching of critical race theory in public schools be regarded as domestic terrorists that should be investigated by agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.

This led to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Oct. 4 memorandum to the FBI directing the agency to work with U.S. attorneys to “facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.”

“The September 29 letter from NSBA to President Biden, in both its inflammatory language and the request for federal agencies to intervene in our communities, was just one in a series of lapses in governance,” said NCSBA President Amy Churchill in a press release. “NCSBA shares its members’ concerns about safety at school board meetings. As a proponent of local control, NCSBA believes that local law enforcement is in the best position to respond to those concerns and seek outside assistance if necessary.”

On Oct. 22, the NSBA issued an apology, stating that “there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter.”

State Response

The PDE requested statements from 47 states affiliated with the NSBA, and reported that the Alabama Association of School Boards (AASB) said it “has withheld its dues to join the NSBA for the current membership year, though AASB’s bylaws require it to be an NSBA member.”

According to the PDE, the AASB said it would be voting in December on changes to its bylaws that would give the AASB board of directors authority to determine its membership with the NSBA.

The PDE said it received no response from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MSCA), prompting the PDE to file a public record request for emails “to get a sense of their position.”

“It turns out that Glenn Koocher, executive director of the MSCA, was so happy about the letter that he put it in an email to NSBA CEO Chip Slaven,” the PDE said.

“We in MASC are all very happy that the NSBA has reached out to the FBI and, based on local coverage, has been identified as a key agent for generating federal support,” Koocher said in the email.

South Carolina

Thirty-six Republican state representatives asked that the South Carolina School Boards Association (SCSBA) end its NSBA membership.

“NSBA has labeled parents as domestic terrorists, with no evidence to justify that term,” the House Republicans wrote in a letter to the SCSBA executive director. “The reality is that parents and stakeholders are beyond frustrated being ignored and left out of decisions with their child. The NSBA is detached from reality and fails to recognize that Americans are angered by what is happening in our classrooms.”

SCSBA Executive Director Scott Price told The Epoch Times that the decision to separate from the NSBA was “aimed at protecting our membership from fallout from NSBA’s September 29 letter.”

“Any pressure that SCSBA was under stemmed primarily from our desire to keep this from impacting our members (local school boards),” Price said.

The NSBA did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

GQ Pan and Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/north-carolina-school-boards-association-withdraws-from-the-national-school-boards-association_4099135.html

Writing for RealClearPolitics, Professor Andrew E. Busch of Claremont McKenna College finds that “one reason for Americans’ increasing political discomfort—the feeling that politics has become a blood sport in which traditional protections and safety nets are no longer present—is that the nonpartisan insulation protecting the rule of law and consent of the governed has frayed. There is a broad pattern of offices that require political neutrality being converted into offices that are genuinely partisan in their operation.”

What, I wonder, was his first clue?

Understandably, Busch concentrates on the most recent examples of this creeping partisanship in places that are supposed to be non-partisan, since the Biden administration represents a quantum leap in the politicization of everything, but especially of the law.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, he writes, “has already used the Justice Department to advance his own party’s version of the stolen-election story by suing to stop state legislative efforts to enhance ballot security, then threatening to sic the FBI on parents who complain to their local school boards about left-wing political indoctrination in the classroom.”

By contrast, Busch praises the non-partisan spirit of former Attorney General William Barr for resigning rather than supporting President Trump’s demand for a thorough investigation of election irregularities.

But then he can’t help noticing the concerted legal efforts by Democratic Attorneys General in swing states last year to change voting laws in order to create those irregularities—and, with them, the opportunities for cheating.

You can see why Busch wants to be even-handed and pretend that the partisan takeover of supposedly non-partisan institutions is coming from both sides, but he can’t quite obscure the fact that the overwhelmingly majority of these efforts have been made—and successfully made, thanks to the compliant media—on behalf of Democrats.

There is nothing like a Republican equivalent, for example, of the partisan takeover of the FBI under James Comey. “The course of the Russia investigation,” writes Busch, “complete with the obvious biases of Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page, implied that the bureau had picked sides.”

Implied? Can there be any doubt about which side these and others in the bureau were on? Or which side Robert Mueller and his team were on? If there were any doubt about it, it must have been dispelled by the recent revelations, and indictments, coming out of the John Durham investigation.

Busch might also have mentioned the disparity in federal law-enforcement’s treatment of the Capitol rioters of Jan. 6 as constituting an “insurrection” and its almost complete lack of interest in the hundreds of riots, the billions of dollars in property damage and the many deaths that took place around the country last summer.

You don’t have to be particularly good at spotting “implied” biases to tell that the difference between the two was that the first was in support of Donald Trump, the others opposed to him. And, violently, opposed to the police. But why would we expect the federal police, ostensibly there to uphold the rule of law, to care about that?

Also, as I pointed out last summer in these pages, General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the nation’s armed forces, traditionally our number one non-partisan institution, along with the judiciary, testified before Congress on behalf of the Democratic talking point by asserting on the basis of zero evidence that the Capitol riot was motivated by “white rage.”

Milley is also charged with weeding out of the services those identified by the extreme left as members of the “extremist right.”

But the perspicacious could have picked up hints of the erosion of the “nonpartisan insulation” of key institutions long before 2016.

The politicization of the judiciary, I would argue, began at least as far back as 1987 when a certain Joseph R. Biden, newly appointed chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, put the kibosh on President Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court for transparently political reasons.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who once said of his fellow judges that “we don’t work as Democrats or Republicans,” has gone to heroic lengths to keep up the pretense of non-partisanship in the judiciary, but then he is also the man who, apparently without irony, once called the U.S. Senate  “the world’s greatest deliberative body.”

The politicization of the armed services began even earlier. As the late Colin Powell cheerfully put it in 2007, presumably with reference to his own military career, which started in the Vietnam era, “Anybody who becomes a senior officer had better have some political instincts or you’re going to get ground up. We are a political nation. It is not a dirty word.”

What he meant to say, perhaps, was that it is only a dirty word when applied to constitutionally non-political institutions. Like the military.

I understand that he was talking about the internal politics that are inevitable in any large organization, but in the military, whose most senior officers are appointed by civilian (and political) authority, those politics are always bound up with the other kind.

Under President George W. Bush we learned, at least if we were paying attention, of the politicization of the CIA, which regularly briefed the media (anonymously, of course) against their ostensible commander-in-chief.

Under President Barack Obama we learned, even if we weren’t paying much attention, of the politicization of the Department of Justice and the IRS.

And, as everyone now knows, under President Donald Trump we learned of the politicization not only of the FBI and (again) the Justice Department but also of the State Department. All three, while ostensibly serving the President, were actually undermining him.

It should not be necessary to point out that all of these encroachments of the political onto officially non-political territory have been in one direction and one direction only—leftwards. It’s as if there were some law of political inertia analogous to Robert Conquest’s Second Law of Politics: “Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.”

Maybe this is what the progressives mean by saying that they are “on the right side of history,” If so, it means that the rest of us, who still treasure what we think is our right to be non-political, must be on the wrong side of history.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/americans-discomfort-non-political-offices-have-rushed-to-become-left-wing-partisans_4101401.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A public school district in Northern California announced Wednesday it will not be enforcing the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for K–12 schools.

In a 5–0 vote, the governing board of the Calaveras Unified School District (CUSD) decided at a Tuesday meeting to not “enforce, support, or comply” with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate, which would require students at all public, public charter, and private schools to receive COVID-19 vaccines following full federal approval of the shots for their grade span.

The school board said in a message to the school community that the decision, which came during the meeting, applies to both students and employees, adding that it will further discuss and potentially make a decision on mask mandates and testing protocols at its next meeting scheduled for Nov. 23.

In an earlier statement, the CUSD said its board was aware of the possible repercussions the district may face as a result of rejecting the state mandate, including “possible liability exposure, funding loss, and other formal actions that can be taken against the district.”

“[Board members] understand there are strong perspectives and opinions on both sides of the issue,” the statement read. “They understand the Superintendent’s recommendation for mandate compliance based on these potential consequences, but they feel strong in their individual positions on this topic.”

CUSD serves about 5,300 students and includes five elementary schools, one middle school, and Calaveras County’s only two public high schools.

California became the first state in the nation to announce COVID-19 vaccine requirements for K–12 schools in October, when the pediatric vaccines were still pending a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Newsom said the mandate would take effect only when the vaccines receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in children.

“The state already requires that students are vaccinated against viruses that cause measles, mumps, and rubella,” Newsom said when he announced the mandate. “There’s no reason why we wouldn’t do the same for COVID-19.”

“Vaccines work. It’s why California leads the country in preventing school closures and has the lowest case rates,” said the Democratic governor, who survived his recall election fueled by his pandemic response. “We encourage other states to follow our lead to keep our kids safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Despite mask mandates and other preventive measures the Newsom administration put in place, California’ COVID-19 infection rate has recently stopped dropping and started ticking up. As of Nov. 10, California remains one of the CDC’s red “high” level of virus transmission states, compared to yellow “moderate” level in Florida, where there is no state-issued mask or vaccination mandate.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/california-school-board-votes-to-not-support-enforce-or-comply-with-gov-newsoms-vaccine-mandate_4099663.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

NSBA leaders even altered the letter’s text to satisfy the Biden White House

Newly released internal emails reveal that the National School Boards Association coordinated with the White House and the Department of Justice before sending President Biden the notorious letter that compared concerned parents to domestic terrorists. Emails provided to Fox News show that NSBA had coordinated with the White House for weeks beforehand.

Viola Garcia, the NSBA president whom the Department of Education later named to a federal board, sent a memo to NSBA members on Oct. 11 (but dated Oct. 12), providing a timeline of the NSBA’s interaction with the White House ahead of the letter to Biden, which the NSBA sent on Sept. 29. 

Five days later, on Oct. 4, the DOJ issued a memo directing law enforcement to investigate threats to school boards. On Oct. 22, the NSBA issued an apology for the letter. 

LETTER CALLING PARENTS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS HAS ‘THROWN GASOLINE’ ON THE FIRE, PARENT ACTIVIST SAYS

“Concern over the current climate for school board members is also a top priority as disruptions at school board meetings grow and members face growing threats,” Garcia wrote at the time, according to the memo obtained by Parents Defending Education through a Freedom of Information Act request. “NSBA has been actively engaged with the White House, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Education, Surgeon General, and other federal agencies on pandemic related issues.”

(Oregon School Boards Association)

“In the September 14, 2021 meeting of the [NSBA Organization of State Association Executive Directors] liaison group, they were informed there had been a meeting with White House staff that morning and that NSBA was preparing to send a letter to the President. Subsequently, on September 17, 2021, the interim Executive Director emailed notice to the state association executive directors that indicated a letter requesting federal assistance would be sent.”

“In response to the letter sent by NSBA, on October 4, 2021 the Attorney General announced in a memorandum widely shared throughout the U.S. Department of Justice that he was ordering all U.S. Attorney Offices and local FBI offices to reach out to local and state law enforcement officials to coordinate efforts on this problem within 30 days of the memorandum,” Garcia also noted.

This statement appears to contradict Attorney General Merrick Garland’s testimony to Congress on Oct. 27. When Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked Garland if he had “second thoughts” following NSBA’s apology for the letter, he said that the DOJ memorandum did not rely upon the letter.

Sen. Tom Cotton calls for Merrick Garland’s resignation over schools memo

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., calls out the attorney general for his memo directing the FBI to look into reports of threats against school board members and has harsh words for teachers union leader Randi Weingarten.

“The letter that was subsequently sent does not change the association’s concern of violence or threats of violence. It alters some of the language in the letter … that we did not rely on and is not contained in my own memorandum,” Garland said.

MAJORITY OF VIRGINIA PARENTS WANT A SAY IN THEIR KIDS’ EDUCATION, FOX NEWS POLL FINDS

Neither Garland nor the DOJ responded to Fox News’ request for comment by press time. 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appears before the House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Oct. 21. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS)

Another email exclusively sent to Fox News revealed that NSBA had discussed the issues with the White House “for weeks” before sending the letter. Garcia and Chip Slaven, an NSBA executive, altered the text of the letter to satisfy the curiosity of White House staff.

“In talks over the last several weeks with White House staff, they requested additional information on some of the specific threats, so the letter also details many of the incidents that have been occurring,” Slaven wrote in a September 29, 2021, email to the NSBA board of directors.

Parents have spoken up at school board meetings around the country, protesting harsh COVID-19 mitigation measures like school closures, and raising their voices against transgender policies, critical race theory, and other issues. The letter warned that these parents pose a violent threat to school boards, even going so far as comparing them to domestic terrorists.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The fallout from the letter has proven particularly severe. Ohio’s, Wisconsin‘s, and the school boards of nine other states have reportedly terminated their relationships with NSBA, and parent’s education rights organizations have grown in prominence since the letter. The letter may have also emboldened concerned parents who supported Republican Glenn Youngkin, who won the Virginia governor’s race earlier this month.

Virginia Republican gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin gestures during a [Loudoun Parents Matter Rally] campaign event in Leesburg, Virginia, on Nov. 1, 2021. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nsba-coordinated-with-white-house-doj-before-sending-notorious-domestic-terrorists-letter-emails

Parents who never imagined running for office battled to win seats on local school boards last week; they won some, but lost many. Their fiercest opponents were the teachers unions.

The media portrayed these school board races as culture wars, but more than anything they were struggles by parents to wrest control of the boards from self-serving unions. For decades, the unions have maintained a tight grip on who gets elected. No wonder school district decisions—about budgets, masking, COVID closures, curriculum, and teacher contracts—protect teachers first. Never mind what’s best for kids.

That needs to change. Albuquerque, New Mexico, winning candidate Courtney Jackson told a local newspaper, “the board of education should be the kids’ union,” not a puppet of the teachers union. Jackson decided to run after watching the board discuss when to end lockdowns. The discussion focused entirely on what teachers wanted, never addressing the kids’ needs. “Their interests were not brought up once,” she said.

In Guilford, Connecticut, a small seacoast town, the Guilford Education Association, representing teachers, ran the show. In a questionnaire for school board candidates, the union’s No. 1 question asked candidates to pledge support for “collective bargaining rights.” Question two asked candidates to guarantee unions will be included in all discussions of the schools’ policies and funding. Question three asked candidates to promise to “oppose all proposals that would censor teachers from teaching about inclusion, diversity, and equity.” What about the kids?

All five Guilford candidates who gave the “correct” answers won the union’s backing and prevailed on election night. Their slogan was “Protect Guilford Schools,” but their true goal was “Protect the Teachers Union.” One of the winners boasted of coming from “a long line of educators,” while another promised, “I will listen to our teachers, administrators, and superintendent and respect that they act always in the best interest of our students and schools.”

Nearly everywhere, teachers unions use money and manpower to turn out voters. Challengers need to do the same. The three Albuquerque school board candidates who defeated the union slate went to the local chamber of commerce, other small business groups, and Republican party allies for alternate sources of money.

When the results were in, the president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation predicted “a new dynamic on the board,” with some members actually disagreeing with the school district’s employees. Imagine that.

In Colorado’s cities, including Denver and Steamboat Springs, union slates won handily. But in Douglas County, Aurora County, and Greeley Evans School District 6, challengers outspent the union and broke its monopoly on school board seats.

After union-backed candidates were defeated in Douglas County, Kevin DiPasquale, president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, predicted big changes. In the past, teachers could just assume the school board “had their backs.”

In Montclair, New Jersey, the mayor, Sean Spiller, serves as president of the state’s largest teachers union but also appointed the school board—a blatant conflict of interest. The board negotiates the teachers’ contract. Last Tuesday, the town voted 70 percent in favor of replacing mayoral control with an elected board.

That’s an improvement, but electing the board won’t guarantee students become the priority. In New Jersey, the teachers union wields enormous electoral power with the support of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

Although school board elections are often officially labelled nonpartisan, that’s intentionally misleading. In Tennessee and Florida, Republican state lawmakers are pushing legislation to discard the nonpartisan label so voters can see these elections for what they are.

Last week’s elections were just the beginning. Many school districts will elect board members sometime in the spring, instead of on Election Day. That’s by design to keep the public in the dark that an election is even happening, and to discourage turnout.

Parents and other concerned citizens have roughly half a year to gird for these upcoming contests. For anyone who has a child in public school, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/parents-go-after-union-stranglehold-on-school-boards_4099153.html

Some people spreading information about COVID-19 contrary to what is deemed “acceptable” by Big Pharma are criminals, according to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.

They’re professionals, he says, that “circulate, on purpose, misinformation” regarding mRNA vaccine shots.

“They’re not [just] bad people, they’re criminals. Because they literally have costed millions of lives,” Bourla said Tuesday in a telecast with Frederick Kempe, CEO of the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank.

.@pfizer CEO Albert Bourla: People who share “misinformation” on vaccines’ efficacy are “criminals.”

“They’re not bad people. They’re criminals because they have literally cost millions of lives.” pic.twitter.com/VjIXs5rQCg

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 9, 2021

Election Integrity Group: Most 2020 Ballot Images from 56 Georgia Counties Have Been Destroyed

So who are these professionals? Dissenting researchers? Doctors treating patients with the Drugs Which Must Not Be Named? Nurses losing their jobs because of the vaccine mandate?

What about the president of the United States, Joe Biden? He’s a professional. Is he a criminal? If we follow Bourla’s reasoning, he would be.

Is Pfizer’s CEO out of line calling professionals who are critics of COVID vaccines “criminals”?

Several times throughout the course of the pandemic, Biden has said things to large audiences which contradict White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“You’re not gonna get COVID if you get these vaccinations,” Biden said.

However, Fauci has told the American people, “It is important to remember…that infections after vaccination are expected.”

BIDEN: “You’re not gonna get COVID if you have these vaccinations.”

FAUCI: “Infections after vaccination are expected.”

Both of them can’t be right. Who is getting “flagged” for “misinformation?” pic.twitter.com/LypqsQ14AT

— Young Americans for Liberty (@YALiberty) July 22, 2021

Now, in all likelihood, Bourla would not say Joe Biden is a criminal. He would say Uncle Joe’s just wrong. And Bourla said a lot of people are refusing to take the COVID vaccine for reasons which are largely not nefarious.

They’re afraid, according to Bourla.

Parents Outraged, Frightened After Children Given Faulty Dose of COVID Vaccine

“There are two groups of people, alright, there are the people that — they are vaccinated [and] there are the people that are skeptical about the vaccination, and both of them are afraid,” he said.

“Those that are getting the vaccine, they are afraid of the disease and they believe, because people are not getting vaccinated, [the unvaccinated] are increasing the risk to them, they are increasing the exposure, so they are mad with them because they don’t get the vaccine.”

“Those that don’t get the vaccine, they’re afraid of the vaccine and they are mad with the people that are oppressing them to get it,” Bourla continued.

“Those I understand — they are very good people, they are decent people, but they have a fear and I understand it and they don’t want to take chances.”

“But there is a very small part of professionals, which they circulate, on purpose, misinformation so that they will mislead those that they have concerned. Those who are criminals. They’re not [just] bad people, they’re criminals. Because they literally have costed millions of lives.”

Millions of lives. Right.

There are plenty of top-notch medical researchers and professionals with legitimate questions about the catastrophic events of what is now going on two years, including the lockdowns, the mask mandates and, of course, the quickly developed vaccine.

But Bourla says professional dissenting “criminals” are profiting by pushing “conspiracy theory.”

“People want [to] make money — some of them — by playing with the emotions of these people [and] are creating a whole conspiracy theory and they are trying to basically to benefit and profit from this fear of the people. And this is who are the criminals.”

Would that include America’s Frontline Doctors who have pushed back and the signers of the Great Barrington Declaration who also are dissenting?

These are not criminals. They are individuals following the time-honored practices of science which, to sum it up as a sort of meme, is: “Here’s my hypothesis — change my mind.”

That’s the scientific practice of what’s called falsification.

That seems to have been missing in this entire COVID scenario. And it’s been evident in the unmitigated propaganda: the constant public service announcements, the droning announcements in stores, even the proclamations of electric highway signs.

And the censorship. Where there’s censorship, there is no science.

Besides being censored, people are losing their jobs, being subjected to unhealthy physical and mental health situations and suffering from divided friendships and families because of poor decision-making on the part of makers of public policy.

It’s due to a sickness that can be truly dangerous mainly to people who are aged and who have other physical problems, such as obesity, diabetes and more.

Maybe those at most risk can receive some reduction in the chance of getting COVID-19 from an experimental vaccine presented without legal liability on the part of companies like Bourla’s.

But confidence in a company like Pfizer is not increased when its CEO describes professionals who disagree as criminals.

For the second time in less than a week, parents are demanding answers after their children were given the incorrect of COVID vaccine.

The first incident, however, merely involved two children under 10 in Texas who were given adult doses of the vaccine on Oct. 31. This time, it involves over 100 children ages 5-to-11 in Loudoun County, Virginia, who were given diluted versions of the vaccine meant for those 12 and older, according to WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.

Despite the larger number of children who were affected this time, this still isn’t national news — in part because it doesn’t fit the narrative that the Biden administration is effectively rolling out a vaccine for children, and possibly because Google is trying to starve publications that don’t parrot the approved line when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines. (We’re trying to fight this at The Western Journal — and you can help us in our fight by subscribing here.)

On Wednesday, the Virginia Department of Health confirmed that Ted Pharmacy in Aldie, Virginia administered a diluted version of the inoculation formulated for 12- to 17-year-olds to 112 children younger than 11 on Nov. 3 and 4, according to Washington’s WTTG-TV.

On Nov. 5, state and federal authorities stepped in and ordered the pharmacy to stop administering the shots. The Virginia Department of Health later collected the remainder of the vaccines at the pharmacy.

Election Integrity Group: Most 2020 Ballot Images from 56 Georgia Counties Have Been Destroyed

Dasha Hermosilla’s daughter, 7-year-old Gryffin Fahle, is one of those affected. She told WRC that Gryffin was given a diluted dose of the vaccine for older kids, which comes with a purple cap. The dose for 5-11 comes with an orange cap to differentiate it.

The pharmacist said this was allowed. All it took was a Google search for Hermosilla to confirm that it wasn’t.

“Nothing says that you can change a purple to an orange,” Hermosilla told the station. “I had this pit in my stomach that, like, ‘what did they just do to my daughter?’”

She also criticized how the pharmacy treated parents after it happened.

Would you vaccinate your children against COVID-19?

“The way they have dealt with individuals is really, like, ‘Oh, it’s no big deal,’” Hermosilla said. “There are dozens and dozens of families out there that don’t even know that this is an issue.”

She wasn’t alone.

“Another mom sent News4 a screengrab of a Facebook conversation in which the pharmacy admitted to the mistake and apologized for the ‘inconvenience,’” WRC reported.

BREAKING NEWS: 112 children were administered the WRONG DOSE of COVID-19 vaccine at Ted Pharmacy in Loudoun County https://t.co/V1iq68N1yh

— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) November 11, 2021

If Pfizer CEO Means What He Says, Joe Biden Should Be Locked Up as a Misinformation ‘Criminal’

According to WRRC, the Loudoun County Health Department released an alert after the station reported Hermosilla’s case, acknowledging the incident.

The letter stated that the formulation used resulted in the affected children receiving “a dose of COVID19 vaccine that is potentially lower than recommended.”

“The pharmacy who administered the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination to your child last week has been removed from both state and federal COVID-19 vaccination programs,” said Loudoun County Department of Health Director David Goodfriend said in the letter.

Virginia’s Board of Pharmacy, meanwhile, said it is “not at liberty to confirm nor deny whether an investigation into a possible violation of a law or regulation is or is not underway.”

“Should an investigation reveal there is probable cause to believe a law or regulation was broken an Informal Conference or a Formal Hearing before the board may be held for consideration of possible disciplinary action,” the board said in a statement.

“The Board’s findings of fact and resulting actions are contained in a Board Order that becomes a matter of public record available online on the Board of Pharmacy’s website under License Lookup and Recent Case Decisions.”

It’s unclear what this means for the children. As the county health department’s letter stated, the pharmacy’s action meant the children likely received a lower dose than they ordinarily would have.

Even still, Goodfriend’s letter said parents should first contact their pediatrician “for clinical judgment and decision making to determine the best course of action for each patient.”

The letter also urged parents to watch for the traditional COVID-19 vaccine side effects, such as fever, chills, fatigue or pain or swelling at the site of the injection.

“If any additional or more serious side effects occur or are prolonged, contact your primary care provider or pediatrician,” the letter warned.

Parents were then told to log the event in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance says parents can either restart the vaccine series in 21 days or wait for a second dose with the orange cap as scheduled.

In this case, the danger seems less pronounced than it was during a similar incident on Oct. 31 in Garland, Texas, where a 6- and a 7-year-old were both given adult doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before a child formulation had even been approved.

“They asked us our kids’ ages, and so we told them 4 and 6, and they said ‘the 6-year-old can obviously get it if you’d like to go ahead and do that,’” Julian Gonzalez, father of the 6-year-old, told KTVT-TV in Fort Worth.

“Going off their confidence and what we read [on the form], we were all for it,” he said.

The next day, however, they were contacted by the Garland Health Department, alerting them that the vaccine hadn’t been approved for their son but that they’d received adult doses.

A dose for ages 5-to-11 is 10 micrograms while an adult version contains 30 micrograms. Gonzalez’s son experienced some side effects, while the mother of the 7-year-old said he was fine.

The case in Virginia is worrying for a different reason: It involved 112 children getting faulty vaccinations over a two-day period. And people wonder why some parents are skeptical about vaccinations?

As of Nov. 10, CDC data show only 595 individuals under the age of 17 have officially died of COVID-19 in the U.S. — and this says nothing about whether or not they had pre-existing risk factors. While every death is tragic, of course, 595 is a minuscule fraction of the more than 780,000 deaths attributed to the coronavirus in the country.

When looking at the cost-benefit analysis of vaccinating a child, that’s something that has to be taken into consideration.

Incidents like the one in Virginia may be rare. However, when it’s questionable whether the vaccination is necessary for this age group at all, it’s enough to give a mother or father pause.

A group of Virginia parents say they have secured enough signatures on petitions to remove the school board chair they say has endangered their children and placed woke politics ahead of education.

The action is the latest round in a battle between parents in the Loudoun County School District and the board.

Fight for Schools filed the recall documents in Loudoun County Circuit Court on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

The filing said board President Brenda Sheridan broke open meetings laws by using closed Facebook groups as a way to discuss school business without the public being aware. Sheridan is also accused of violating the First Amendment rights of parents by limiting public comment at meetings.

The board chair is also accused of mishandling a sexual assault case in the schools in which a student who was accused of a sexual assault was shunted from one school to another, where he has been accused of another sexual assault.

Most 2020 Ballot Images from 56 Georgia Counties Have Been Destroyed

Parents and protesters, including self-described Democrats, gather to oppose the Loudoun County School Board tonight: pic.twitter.com/pBBa4hs1Y1

— Elle Reynolds (@_etreynolds) October 26, 2021

“Today, we just filed 1200 signatures to remove the chairwoman of Loudoun County School Board, Brenda Sheridan,” Fight for Schools Executive Director Ian Prior told Fox News. “We decided that for the chairwoman and the vice-chairwoman, the buck stops with them, that we were going to draft new petitions … We were able to finish those off in 13 days.”

The group says it also has petitions to remove Board Vice-Chair Atoosa Reaser and board members Ian Serotkin and Denise Corbo, all with more than enough signatures to meet the legal requirement to trigger a recall. In Virginia, elected officials can be recalled if a petition to remove them receives a number of signatures equal to 10 percent of the votes cast in the previous election, Fox reported.

Have school boards become rubber stamps for liberals?

The intent to recall all of the board members was expressed during a public comment period at Tuesday’s board meeting.

“By the way, Denise, Brenda, Ian, Atoosa, we are well over 100% of required signatures for the petitions,” Megan Jenkins said, according to Fox News. “So I’m not going to encourage any of you to resign because when you are recalled and removed from office, it will be much more satisfying. See you in court.”

“I have the privilege of telling you that we are finished collecting signatures for your removal,” parent Jessica Mendez said during the meeting.

“I used to think that there was no point in speaking at these meetings,” Mendez said. “There was no point in trying to have a voice because you never seem to listen, anyway. But I had it all wrong. It wasn’t you who needed to hear our voices. It was all those parents, grandparents and neighbors listening at home, horrified at your actions or inactions. They were the ones who needed to hear us, and they were the ones who sign petitions, see you in court.”

Prior said the petitions required a monumental effort.

No Evidence That Closing the Schools Reduced the Spread of COVID-19

“For six months, Fight for Schools has been out collecting signatures in the heat, the cold, the rain and even hail,” Prior said on Monday. “To get 20,000 signatures during that time is a testament to the dedication of our volunteers and an engaged community that wants to see a change on its school board.”

“We are looking forward to the next steps and replacing school board members that are political servants with non-partisan public servants who will put the focus back on excellence in education,” he said.

Sheridan issued a statement in reply.

“My election was a mandate from those who came to the polls — three times — to choose me as their representative. Tuesday’s filing is the result of a fraction of those citizens signing a petition, whether they voted or not,” she said, according to the Post.

But Prior said change is necessary.

“From violating open meetings law to ignoring the school board’s code of conduct to neglecting to keep our children safe, all for her activist causes, Sheridan has been nothing short of a disaster,” Prior said, the Post reported.

“Let this serve as a message to the rest of the board and Superintendent Ziegler,” he said. “We’re still here, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Procedurally, if recall cases go to trial, a judge or a jury rules on the removal of a board member. The board then gets 45 days to appoint an interim replacement and 15 days to schedule a special election, according to Fox.

In addition to issues over student safety, parents have objected to the district embracing Critical Race Theory, as explained Tuesday night by parent Erin Dunbar, who accused the board of using tax dollars to teach “critical theory of the Marxist philosophy,” Fox reported.

“You have activist teachers using to indoctrinate their kids who are at the mercy of their authority,” she said. “That is child abuse. And you have no right to brainwash children into believing that their skin color determines their purpose.”

COLORADO SPRINGS — They admitted it. Now they think they can get away with it.

Three weeks ago, I reported to you on the appalling case of sixth grade student Rylee M., who was pressured by teachers at Chinook Trail Middle School to seal her mask to her face with thick blue painter’s tape. Another schoolmate came forward to describe how those teachers would patrol their classrooms for violators while twirling the tape rolls around their wrists.

Skeptics accused the children of manufacturing the story and of voluntarily putting the tape on themselves. Others, including the Colorado Springs Police Department school resource officer stationed at Chinook Trail, baselessly dismissed the incident as a prank committed by a teacher in “jest.” Gaslighters in the school district and their supporters misleadingly denied that teachers applied the tape directly to victims’ faces — something Rylee and her mom never alleged. By mischaracterizing the actual allegations, public school propagandists deflected attention from the brazen abuse of authority exercised by educators who issued de facto ultimatums that children comply with their directive to use the tape handed to them. Or else.

On Monday, after the district’s three-week-long internal investigation, Chinook Trail Middle School principal Tom Andrew confirmed in a meeting with Rylee’s mom, Stephanie M., that teachers had indeed “directed students to affix a mask to their face with tape” — a cruel measure that only sadists, not sane public health advocates, could embrace. Moreover, the unfazed principal blandly acknowledged, “Yes,” the “students thought they were compelled to follow through” on the teachers’ “requests” (to choke themselves off).

“In short,” the principal told Rylee’s mom in his sing-song scripted voice, “district policy and procedures were broken,” “trust and respect” were “broken,” and “poor decisions” were made. Now, the principal told Stephanie M., it’s time “to move this forward” after “admitting our mistake” and “trust” the administration. The abusers will remain in the classroom with vulnerable 11- and 12-year-olds; any disciplinary measures will be kept “confidential”; and brave Rylee, who has been harassed over the incident, will now be enrolled in online school to keep her safe from the mask bondage bullies.

“It was never our intent,” the anonymous group of “Team 642” tape torturers wrote in a crappy little note to parents handed out Monday night at a meeting closed to the public, “to cause anxiety, fear, confusion, or physical or emotional harm.” Never mind that these petty tyrants wrought all of the above and will be shielded from any transparent punishment. “We look forward to returning to normal and continuing along this learning journey with your family,” the teachers (none of whom have reached out to Rylee or her mom directly) cheerily chirped.

Elitist privilege means always pretending to say you’re sorry without ever suffering consequences for wrongdoing.

Darcy Schoening, parent advocate and town of Monument Board of Trustees member, agrees. She believes “the teachers responsible for this behavior should be fired. Their names should be released. Parents have the right to know WHO is abusing their kids. Protecting the teachers’ identities and disciplinary actions is a slap in the face to parents.”

“It’s sickening to me,” Stephanie lamented as the principal echoed the educrats’ desire to get back out of the public spotlight and “resume normalcy.” She’s not going to let it drop. “I am not going to be quiet,” the work-at-home mom of three young daughters told KVOR-AM 740 radio talk show host Richard Randall this week. “Plenty of parents are willing to step up for their kids.” No doubt about it. The Election Day revolt against K-12 control freaks just demonstrated that parents across the country from Loudoun County, Virginia, to El Paso County, Colorado, to Los Angeles County, California, will not let COVID-era abnormalities hijack their children’s health and freedom.

With Justice Department goons and local cops treating parents protesting at school board meetings like criminals, we know we can’t rely on law enforcement to side with sovereignty-defenders over the State. Remember: Stephanie M. immediately contacted the Colorado Springs Police Department to report the abuse as soon as her daughter told her what happened. They blew her off. Instead, according to creepy public record files I obtained last week, at least three members of the CSPD’s Metropolitan Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence Division/Strategic Information Center passed around my Twitter and Gab posts about Rylee’s case to several CSPD command staff and other individuals whose names were redacted. A CSPD “Intelligence Unit” detective made note of my “2 million (yes, million) Twitter followers” (so what?), and a sergeant falsely claimed I was aware of protest plans at the school (I heard no such information until after administrators shut down the school on Oct. 25 amid an international maelstrom of public scrutiny and press coverage).

It’s getting impossible to “back the blue” when they stand down as antifa and Black Lives Matter attack you for defending law and order, kneel before the altar of George Floyd, enforce junk-science-based COVID-19 tyranny lining the pockets of Big Pharma and Big Government, and spy on you for standing up for parents fighting educational malpractice. Teach your children well.

https://rightandfree.com/news/2021/11/09/our-children-are-not-chattel?utm_campaign=AmEagles&utm_source=AmEagles-20211111&utm_medium=email

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has vetoed a legislative package that would have granted tax credits for contributions to scholarship programs that could help low-income students to have a private school education they may not have otherwise been able to afford.

Collectively, the Senate Bills 687 and 688 and House Bills 5404 and 5405 would create Michigan Opportunity Scholarship Accounts that could be used by families to cover education expenses, including those related to non-public schools, courses, and programs. Michigan residents and businesses who donate to the scholarship accounts would receive a state tax credit equal to the value of their contribution.

Once established, the scholarships would prioritize students most in need, including those receiving free and reduced lunch, those living in foster care, and those with disabilities.

Whitmer, a Democrat, promised last month to veto the Republican-sponsored school choice bills, which the Democratic minority in the state legislature argue would have steered public money into private education.

“Simply put, our schools cannot provide the high-quality education our kids deserve if we turn private schools into tax shelters for the wealthy,” Whitmer said in her Nov. 5 veto message. “The movement to privatize education in this state has been a catastrophic failure, causing Michigan students to fall behind the rest of the nation.”

The Republicans decried the veto, saying that their plan was meant to help students get better educational outcomes after more than a year of school closures and the resulting stress, anxiety, and learning loss.

“Instead of empowering parents to give students—especially students with special needs or from underserved communities—better opportunities to learn and succeed, the governor has again rejected progress for the same old, tired, and failing approach to education, because she is beholden to the teachers’ unions and their generous donations,” said Republican state Sen. Lana Theis, who chairs the Michigan Senate Education Committee, said in a statement following the veto.

The Michigan Education Association (MEA), the state’s largest public sector union representing about 120,000 public school employees, applauded Whitmer’s decision. MEA President Paula Herbart criticized the Republican scholarship plan, characterizing it as an “unconstitutional school voucher.”

Herbart claimed that the plan would only benefit wealthy donors like Betsy DeVos, a Michigan-born billionaire whose tenure as the U.S. Secretary of Education was marked by increased federal support for charter and private schools.

“Michigan voters have resoundingly opposed attempts by mega-donors like Betsy DeVos to enact voucher schemes in our state,” Herbart said. “We value our neighborhood public schools and know that funneling money to private schools does nothing to provide equal opportunity for Michigan students.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-vetoes-republican-sponsored-scholarship-plan_4095381.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

If a new study coming out of Japan is to be believed, many countries across the world may need to change their strategies for combatting COVID-19.

A team of researchers from Harvard University in Massachusetts, Gakushuin University in Tokyo and Shizuoka University in Shizuoka compared Japanese municipalities that closed down their school systems in spring of 2020 to those that did not, according to study published in Nature Medicine.

The team of researchers conducted the study by examining 847 municipalities in Tokyo and Osaka.

As it turns out, the shutdown of schools did not prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic, their study found.

In fact, the number of COVID cases per 100,000 people between the two groups of municipalities remained exactly the same, regardless of whether or not schools were shut down.

Biden Responds to Skyrocketing Gas Prices by Thinking About Shutting Down Another American Pipeline

“We do not find any evidence that school closures in Japan reduced the spread of COVID-19,” one of the study’s authors wrote.

“Our null results suggest that policies on school closures should be re-examined given the potential negative consequences for children and parents.”

“School closures reduce children’s learning opportunities, negatively affect their physical and mental development and make it difficult for their parents to leave for work in the daytime,” co-researcher Dr Kentaro Fukumoto said, according to the Daily Mail UK.

“The central government should carefully consider whether to ask schools to close in the future.”

Should school shutdowns still be used to combat COVID?

This news may come as a shock to many public health experts around the world.

This includes those in the U.S., many of whom have repeatedly called for school shutdowns since the COVID pandemic began.

The Center for Disease Control even went as far as to create a guide for “considerations for school closures” as a method for stemming the spread of COVID.

While the plan did advise against closing schools “early in the spread of a disease,” it did maintain that “waiting to enact school closures until at the correct time in the epidemic” would prove helpful in slowing COVID-19’s spread.

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci has also supported the closure of schools in the past.

Sweden Said No to COVID Lockdowns – And Suffered Much Less Than Most European Countries

In July of 2020, Fauci said that “It’s been shown that children from 10 to 19 can transmit the virus to adults as well as adults can,” according to CNBC.

While acknowledging that keeping students at home can create “negative consequences,” Fauci further said that schools should nevertheless close down at certain times.

“When you get to the real hot zones, I think you’re going to have to take a really good look and examine the advisability or not,” Fauci said.

“What likely would happen is that you would have parents that don’t want to send their children to school or you’re going to have teachers that not going to want to be there.”

Some Pennsylvania students just got a lesson in how discrimination really operates in American public schools.

A middle school used a video broadcast during school announcements to invite kids interested in flying drones to attend a weekend camp.

There was just one catch — and parents of white students probably weren’t happy to hear about it.

As National Review reported Monday, the Upper Merion Area Middle School’s announcement for the camp, which took place on Saturday, opened with a woman brimming with enthusiasm, followed by video of drone activities pretty much guaranteed to pique the interest of any adolescent.

Woman Nearly Dies, Then Has Both Legs Amputated After Mistaking Mysterious Infection for COVID-19

Besides it being limited in size — there were only 24 slots available — the program was extremely limited in who its target audience was:

“Here’s the thing,” the woman said. “It is a Black Student Union-sponsored event, so, in order to participate, 1: You must have a signed permission slip to claim your seat.

“Secondly, you must be black, African-American, a person of color in order to participate.”

Check out the video here. The drone stuff is undeniably cool. The uncool, undeniably ugly part comes at the end:

There it is — an actual example of literal “systemic racism” that progressives claim, ludicrously, is everywhere. Except in this case, it’s openly biased against white people.

But Upper Merion Area School District Superintendent John Toleno evidently doesn’t see a problem.

In an email to The Western Journal on Tuesday (a collection of bubbly boilerplate that was apparently being sent for PR purposes to any news organization that raised questions), Toleno noted that the program was simply part of the district’s “ongoing efforts over the past 8 years to give opportunities to groups who are underrepresented in STEM fields with a primary focus on students of Color and students who identify as female. This has been a national focus in the STEM community.”

The modern education mindset is on full display in those few words: jargon like “groups” who are underrepresented”; the obsequious capitalization of the “c” in “Color”; being careful not to say “girls,” just “students who identify as female.”

Walking on eggshells at the same time must be a tough way to live.

Controversial AZ School District Cooperated with Police to Gather Intel on Dissenting Parents: Report

A couple of comments on Facebook communicated the reactions of what were doubtless many, many more people who heard about the video:

One commenter wrote: “This is wrong on so many levels and not at all what I want for my children, and that’s why I’m homeschooling now and by the grace of God, my children will never step foot in another public school — they undo and undermine everything my husband and I teach them.

“Maybe white people should take to the streets and start burning communities down. 😏 I jest, obviously. But this is blatant racism on its face.”

Do you think this is racism against white people?

There aren’t too many other ways to see it. (Liberals love to claim racism over differences of opinion. Don’t expect them to see it where it actually is.)

In his email, Superintendent Toleno stressed that the school district has drone programs open to all students throughout the year. He even noted that this particular program would have accepted white students if not enough black students were interested.

“Please be further advised that if we didn’t get to our 24 student limit with African American students as stipulated in the grant we wrote and were awarded, we would have absolutely opened this up to our entire middle school student population to fill the 24 student seats,” he wrote.

How very gracious. (The email didn’t come out and say whether all of the slots were filled at the event, but it sounds like they were.)

It’s worth noting here that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Upper Merion area, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, is about 72 percent white, about 19 percent Asian, and 6 percent black.

Assuming the school district’s demographics are similar, the overwhelming majority of students who watched that really cool video about drones were told right to their faces that there was a party going on and they weren’t invited.

As ugly as it sounds, there’s no other way to put it: They’re not of the favored race these days.

That isn’t the United States as most Americans of any race understand the country. It’s not the United States the civil rights movement of the 1960s fought for, with Martin Luther King Jr.’s dreams about content of character being more important than skin color.

And it’s not what parents want for their children, as evidenced by the critical role of public education in last week’s election results in Virginia.

But it’s the American public school system today.

Class dismissed.

“How do you think these schoolchildren have felt for the last year?”

Speaking in Zephyrhills on Monday, Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis took aim at both Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers labor union in America, as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci. He pointed out that Weingarten, who had favored keeping schools closed through much of the pandemic, had been found maskless recently, but protested she did so because it was too hard to communicate while wearing a mask. DeSantis fired, “Well, how do you think these schoolchildren have felt for the last year?”

Regarding Fauci, DeSantis asserted, “I do think just the lack of just leveling with the public, I think it’s been very detrimental … I think you’re gonna see people have really, really serious misgivings the next time St. Fauci comes down the pike and says something.”

Speaking of mask mandates for schoolchildren, DeSantis said, “I think the smiles matter, and particularly the young kids. You will actually have school districts that will say, ‘We are relieving mask mandate for high schoolers but we’re keeping them on those elementary.” First of all, I don’t think you should have a mask mandate, period, but the elementary are the ones that need to be able to see the interaction more than anything, cause they’re learning to speak and read and do all that stuff.”

“And it’s absolutely critical. And don’t tell me it doesn’t make a difference,” he continued. DeSantis referenced Weingarten, who had said, “We took them off as people were having a hard time hearing us,” snapping, “Heck, this head of the teachers union who tried to keep the schools closed all last year; she was found maskless, and she said, I took it off because it was too hard to understand each other wearing the mask.”

He fired, “Well, how do you think these schoolchildren have felt for the last year?”

Focus on ‘genetically engineered,’ not on ‘accidental leak’

Let me just come out and say it: COVID-19 was engineered by China in cooperation with the democrats, deep state, elites of the world, etc. to oust Trump and take over and destroy the USA [US Patriot].

The recently declassified U.S. intelligence community report on the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 muddies the water.

There had been months of open-source reporting from scientists around the world speculating that the likely origins of the virus was the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), not the so-called zoonotic disease theory (for example, a naturally-occurring virus jumped from an animal—supposedly a bat in a Wuhan “wet market”—to a human) that has been widely propagated by the state-run Chinese media, the highly politicized World Health Organization, and medical trade journals like The Lancet, and Western media anxious to divert attention from China.

Even a U.S. government agency, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, had concluded in a classified report in May 2020 “that the hypothesis claiming the virus leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation.”

But on Oct. 29, an article in The Wall Street Journal quoted from a declassified intelligence report that made this incredible claim: “Researchers at a Wuhan, China, laboratory were probably unaware of the existence of the virus that causes Covid-19 before the pandemic began in late 2019, and if it leaked from the lab, it was likely the result of an accident not connected to deliberate genetic engineering.” Incredible, as in not believable at all!

Here is one item that was conveniently dropped down the memory hole in compiling that “intelligence report” and the Oct. 29 WSJ story that torpedoes the contention that the zoonotic theory is still possible. Back in June on its own pages, The WSJ reported that the CGG-CGG amino acid sequence found in the virus is manmade and can only have been inserted through gain-of-function research, as the CGG-CGG sequence is not found in nature.

How did the U.S. intelligence community sidestep that inconvenient truth in concluding that “U.S. government analysts cannot determine whether the global pandemic emerged when the virus passed to humans from an animal, or from a laboratory accident”? Did the 18 intelligence agencies that reviewed the final report neglect to review that study because the story reporting it was behind a paywall and not readily accessible?

A second item conveniently forgotten was the study completed by British professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr. Birger Sorensen in May 2021, which claimed “that Chinese scientists created COVID-19 in a Wuhan lab.” The two scientists also claimed to have first-hand evidence of Chinese “retro-engineering” in hand for over a year, but were ignored by the scientific community and others. Another stake in the heart of the zoonotic theory!

The final inconvenient truth is from The Oxford Student, which provided this final stake in the heart of the zoonotic theory: “Research by Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Fellow, Professor David Macdonald, has shown that neither bats nor pangolins were sold at Wuhan’s wet markets between May 2017 and November 2019.”

To summarize:

1. The Oct. 29 WSJ article quoted a U.S. intel community report that claimed the following: a) that researchers at the WIV were “probably unaware” of the virus before “patient zero” contracted it, and b) the virus was not “connected to deliberate genetic engineering.”
2. The virus contains a CGG-CGG sequence not found in nature, ergo it was genetically engineered.
3. Evidence of Chinese virus “retro-engineering” has been suppressed for well over a year.
4. There were no bats or pangolins sold in the Wuhan wet markets between May 2017 and November 2019.
5. Conclusion: The zoonotic theory is a farce and complete misdirection.
6. Secondary conclusion: Open-source research-derived evidence trumps classified obfuscation by the U.S. intelligence community.

No facts have ever been presented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that “patient zero” was anywhere other than in Wuhan city, Hubei Province. In fact, all clinical evidence gathered to date points directly to Wuhan as ground zero for the outbreak. The only question is whether the outbreak was mendacious and accidental, or mendacious and purposeful, because the CCP lies have persisted regardless of which is correct. Regardless of which is true, the virus was human-engineered through gain-of-function research.

The U.S. intel community cannot conclude which alternative is correct, either, and apparently want us to believe a theory that the lab researchers who handled virus-contaminated material were simply unaware of the potential dangers, and blithely went about their jobs in a biosafety level 4 laboratory without taking appropriate personal precautions. Who truly believes that fantasy?

Focusing on “accidental release” rather than the virus origin itself is a poor attempt to exonerate the CCP. Even though that U.S. intel community report concluded that almost certainly the virus originated in Wuhan, never mind pressing the CCP for accountability for that bio-engineered virus that is still destroying the world economy and the lives of many innocents around the world. If the virus had not been bio-engineered in the first place, whether it was “leaked” purposely or accidentally would be irrelevant because the ensuing damage would not have occurred.

The state-run Chinese media tell us everything we need to know about the true origins of the virus. They know perfectly well that the virus was engineered, with the WIV being its last port of call before it was released into the human population. Denial and blame-shifting, including by Xi Jinping and his wolf warrior diplomats, mask that reality as they seek to avoid the financial pain that is coming when world consensus develops that restitution from the Chinese regime for the damages inflicted by the CCP virus is warranted and lawful.

And denial and blame-shifting about the virus origins has continued unabated in Chinese state-run media from early 2020 to the present day. Here are a few recent headlines:

• “Objective, scientific, responsible attitude should be adopted for COVID-19 origins tracing: Chinese FM [Foreign Ministry]”—People’s Daily
• “China slams ‘declassified assessment on COVID-19 origins’ released by U.S.”—Xinhua
• “Stop scapegoating China! Chinese FM rejects US intelligence-led origins-tracing report”—Global Times

Conclusion

When all is said and done, and when all the CCP propaganda and denials are deconstructed, the facts remain—the communist Chinese regime and its media mouthpieces know that the human-engineered SARS-CoV-2 virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Biosafety Level 4 laboratory. And the CCP knows that the world will soon be knocking on its door, demanding restitution. Hence its continuing complete denials in the face of all evidence to the contrary, even when a U.S. intelligence community report provides them with a little bit of shade.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/covid-19-origin-was-it-an-accidental-lab-leak-of-a-genetically-engineered-virus_4088601.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Systematic oppression sure pays well.

According to a report from Fox News on Thursday, the University of North Carolina Wilmington paid “The 1619 Project” writer and impresario Nikole Hannah-Jones over $16,500 to speak at a 55-minute event at the school this week.

“Nikole Hannah-Jones in Conversation,” which took place Tuesday, was part of the school’s “Writers Week.” On the university’s events page, it’s described as the “Department of Creative Writing’s annual celebration of the written word” where “authors, editors, students, faculty and the community join in discussions of literary craft and current issues of the profession.”

Hannah-Jones was the keynote speaker for the week. It shouldn’t be surprising that the rest of the speakers also seemed to skew left; of the other participants I knew, New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino and “The House on Mango Street” author Sandra Cisneros were both identifiably liberal. Not that I expected for there to be a panel discussion of Ayn Rand’s work, but it gives one a general idea of what “Writers Week” is about.

It’s Hannah-Jones’ contract for the event that’s drawing some attention, however — particularly the reported $16,570 price tag.

Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Is Worse Than We Thought: Look How He’s Punishing Unvaxxed Employees

The university also reportedly paid for her airfare, meals, transportation, and accommodations for two nights.

Just got to Wilmington, NC, for @UNCWilmington Writers Week, checked into my room, and I have to say, y’all know how to treat a gal. 😍 🥃 pic.twitter.com/rqDfwn4uWT

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) November 2, 2021

“The event consisted of a 40-minute speech from Hannah-Jones and a 15-minute Q&A period,” Fox News reported.

Is critical race theory an issue in America’s schools?

“The contract lists a 15-minute meet and greet with students, but is crossed out in the signed version of the contract.”

This, in other words, puts the event at 55 minutes — over a whopping $300 a minute for someone to peddle the bible of critical race theory, a left-wing school of thought that states America and Western societies are founded on systemic racism.

Because, make no mistake, that’s what Jones’ “1619 Project” is. In the introduction to the project, published in The New York Times, 1619 should be considered “the country’s very origin” because that’s when the first slaves arrived in America.

“Out of slavery — and the anti-black racism it required — grew nearly everything that has truly made America exceptional: its economic might, its industrial power, its electoral system, diet and popular music, the inequities of its public health and education, its astonishing penchant for violence, its income inequality, the example it sets for the world as a land of freedom and equality, its slang, its legal system and the endemic racial fears and hatreds that continue to plague it to this day,” the introduction said.

“The seeds of all that were planted long before our official birth date, in 1776, when the men known as our founders formally declared independence from Britain.”

Leftist Pundits Play the Race Card 19 Times in 2 Minutes to Explain Away GOP Blowout

Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer Prize in 2o2o for her introductory essay to the project, although historians noted it was riddled with errors. Beyond the obvious lie of “reframing” our founding to 1619 for narrative reasons, several prominent historians publicly called out the Times and Jones for claims like the American Revolution was actually fought so Americans could keep their slaves.

“These errors, which concern major events, cannot be described as interpretation or ‘framing,’” read the December 2019 letter, signed by five prominent historians — including two Pulitzer Prize winners.

“They are matters of verifiable fact, which are the foundation of both honest scholarship and honest journalism. They suggest a displacement of historical understanding by ideology. Dismissal of objections on racial grounds — that they are the objections of only ‘white historians’ — has affirmed that displacement.”

But never mind that. This is all about the narrative. For Hannah-Jones, that narrative could be summed up best with this delightfully race-baiting quote she gave in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes in 2019.

When asked if America could change its racial trajectory, Hannah-Jones said: “Whiteness cannot exist without blackness, so until white people are willing to give up whiteness, you will never see an end, really, to racism that is built on antiblackness, and I don’t have hope for that. It is really the oldest American value, and it continues to be so.”

It isn’t that she’s the only critical race theorist profiting handsomely off of oppression via a public university, mind you.

Last November, Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to Be an Antiracist,” was reportedly paid $20,000 by the University of Michigan for an hour-long virtual discussion via Zoom, according to Campus Reform.

That event, the University of Michigan said, was paid for out of the university’s general fund, which “comes from a variety of sources, including student tuition and fees, state appropriations and costs recovered from sponsored research activities.”

In the case of Hannah-Jones, UNC Wilmington told Fox News the money was covered by a “donor-supported fund managed by the department.”

Either way, it’s a nice hustle to have, being so oppressed. Of course, one is left to wonder how many economically oppressed students at these woke institutions might have benefited from that money being used on lowering tuition instead.

An Indianapolis-based public school educator and education journalist has gone viral on social media after he pushed back on the narrative that critical race theory (CRT) isn’t being taught in schools, warning concerned parents to not be deceived and to “keep looking” for its presence.

“When we tell you that our schools aren’t teaching critical race theory, that it’s nowhere in our standards, that’s misdirection,” Tony Kinnett said Tuesday in a video he shared to Twitter. He explained that he works as a science coach and administrator at Indianapolis Public Schools, Indiana’s largest school district that serves about 23,000 students.

“I’m in dozens of classrooms a week, so I see exactly what we’re teaching our students,” Kinnett said, noting that while the schools “don’t have the quotes and theories as state standards,” the teachers are incorporating the concepts of CRT into their teaching of a variety of subjects.

“We tell our teachers to treat students differently based on color; we tell our students that every problem is a result of ‘white men’ and that ‘Everything Western Civilization built is racist,’ ‘Capitalism is a tool of white supremacy,’” he continued. “Those are straight out of Kimberle Crenshaw’s main points verbatim in ‘Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement.’ This is in math, history, science, English, the arts, and it’s not slowing down.”

In June 2020, amid the nationwide unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd, the IPS adopted a racial equity resolution (pdf) to identify and correct practices and policies that may perpetuate racism, which is defined as “a white supremacy system” in which those considered white “oppress” those who are not. It also partly attributed the student achievement gaps to the district’s history of “privileging the prejudice of white parents over the interests of black and brown students.”

“If students of color have lower reading scores, it’s because of inequity,” Kinnett asserted. “Therefore, we take from the white students and give to the colored students. That’s Richard Delgado, straight out of ‘CRT: An Introduction.’”

“Parents, when we tell you critical race theory isn’t taught in our schools, we’re lying, keep looking,” he said at the end of the video.

Kinnett posted along the video screenshots of an email, which appears to show the IPS instructing school principals to tell parents and community members that CRT is not taught in their schools. He also posted slides that are allegedly used in the ISP, including one that explains some of the tenets of CRT.

Kinnett’s call to action comes as controversies around K–12 education, including the teaching of CRT and COVID-19 restrictions on campus, took center stage in many of the state- and local-level elections across the country. In Virginia’s gubernatorial race, Republican Glenn Youngkin, running on a “Parents Matter” platform, defeated former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe who said parents shouldn’t tell schools what to teach. In Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and other blue states, school board seats are claimed by candidates who oppose the Marxist ideological indoctrination and support parents’ right to make medical decisions for their kids.

The Indianapolis Public Schools didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

New allegations come to light after explosive bathroom rape case

Virginia’s Loudoun County school district is being rocked by sexual misconduct allegations, with three cases surfacing in recent days.

Loudoun County police on Thursday charged high school counselor Ann Barrett, who allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with an underage student from 2013 to 2015. Loudoun County Public Schools placed Barrett on leave in May after the case surfaced. The counselor turned herself in and was later released on bond.

Police are also investigating a boy at Harmony Middle School who allegedly groped male classmates last week in a hallway.

And on Tuesday, the Daily Mail reported that the 15-year-old “gender-fluid” high schooler who last month was found guilty of raping a classmate in a school bathroom sent nude photos of himself to a girl when he was in the fifth grade. The girl’s parents decided not to seek charges against the boy as long as the school district separated him from their daughter.

Sex crimes in Loudoun County Public Schools gained national attention last month when the Daily Wire reported on that 15-year-old’s two sexual assault cases. In May, the student raped a female peer in a bathroom. District superintendent Scott Ziegler claimed he was not aware of any sexual assault allegations during a June school board meeting, but internal emails showed that he knew of the rape the day it occurred. The perpetrator was transferred to another district high school while investigators processed DNA evidence against him. Last month, he allegedly sexually assaulted another student in a classroom at that high school.

Sexual assaults and other incidents in schools have driven concerns among parents that their children’s safety is being jeopardized by school officials who play politics, Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Free Beacon.

“I think there’s a real sense among parents right now that districts are neglecting basic things like student safety in favor of advancing a political agenda,” Neily said. “And you don’t have to have a letter by your name to be upset by that. It’s a really bad look for people, and voters are unhappy.”

Education issues turned out Virginia voters for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, who on Tuesday defeated Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe. Youngkin campaigned on greater parental involvement in public education, and McAuliffe tumbled in the polls late in the race after a gaffe during a debate in which he said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” The Republican won by a 2-point margin, just one year after President Joe Biden took the state by 10 points.

Students from at least 20 Loudoun County high schools staged a walkout last week to protest the district’s handling of sexual assault cases. More than 2,500 students participated, the Washington Post reported, and some students in nearby Arlington Public Schools participated in solidarity.

Neily said it should not be the responsibility of students to hold school officials accountable for their safety.

“It shouldn’t be incumbent on students to flag this,” Neily said. “What are the priorities of the Loudoun County School Board? What are you spending your time and finite resources on? Because if it’s not keeping children safe, people need to be held accountable.”

https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/sex-crime-allegations-rock-loudoun-county-schools/

As the Gateway Pundit points out in a new report, children are actually at a higher risk for dying from drowning, the flu, or from car accidents than they do from contracting the coronavirus. Kids aren’t even forced to take the flu shot, but here we have Pfizer and the FDA, along with other government agencies trying their best to force this vaccine on kids.
In fact, when you look at the data, more kids have been shot this year in Chicago than have died from COVID across the United States.

However, Pfizer sees an opportunity to put more green in their pockets by targeting this massive demographic of potential test subjects (that’s what they are, make no mistake about it) so they are going all in with this new ad campaign.

https://dudepac.com/articles/watch-pfizer-ad-tells-kids-they-ll-get-superpowers-from-covid-jab

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill Thursday to prohibit the federal government from requiring COVID-19 vaccines for children.

Cruz introduced the bill as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

“Parents should have the right to decide what is best for their children in consultation with their family doctor,” Cruz said in a news release.

“My view on the COVID-19 vaccine has remained clear: no mandates of any kind.”

NEW: Sen. Cruz Introduces Bill To Block The Federal Government And Public Schools From Mandating Covid-19 Vaccines For Kidshttps://t.co/nt9bd14m3D

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) November 4, 2021

Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Is Worse Than We Thought: Look How He’s Punishing Unvaxxed Employees

Cruz noted President Joe Biden has repeatedly ignored the medical privacy rights and personal liberties of Americans when it comes to vaccine mandates.

The senator said his goal is to keep the government out of decisions related to a child’s health.

“President Biden and his administration have repeatedly ignored medical privacy rights and personal liberty by pushing unlawful and burdensome vaccine mandates on American businesses, and now they are preparing to push a mandate on kids by pressuring parents — all without taking into account relative risk or the benefits of natural immunity,” Cruz said.

Should kids be protected from COVID-19 vaccine mandates?

“I am proud to introduce this legislation today to ensure President Biden and his administration stay out of decisions related to a child’s health — decisions best left to parents.”

Cruz’s bill will prohibit “the federal government and any recipient of federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and/or the CDC at the state, local, Tribal, or territorial level from requiring any individual aged 18 or younger from requiring a COVID-19 vaccine.”

As a result, school districts would not be able to impose a vaccine mandate for students under 18 without losing Title IV, Part A and Title II, Part A funding.

Under the bill, parental consent would be required for the vaccination of a minor using any COVID vaccine that is fully approved or authorized for emergency use.

On Tuesday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky endorsed the recommendation from the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for children 5 to 11 years old to be vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech pediatric vaccine.

DeSantis Pledges Immediate Action Against Biden’s Vaccine Mandate: ‘The Rule’s Going Down’

“CDC now expands vaccine recommendations to about 28 million children in the United States in this age group and allows providers to begin vaccinating them as soon as possible,” the CDC’s statement said.

The statement also noted the effectiveness of the vaccine in clinical trials.

“Vaccination, along with other preventative measures, can protect children from COVID-19 using the safe and effective vaccines already recommended for use in adolescents and adults in the United States. Similar to what was seen in adult vaccine trials, vaccination was nearly 91 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 among children aged 5-11 years,” the statement said.

“In clinical trials, vaccine side effects were mild, self-limiting, and similar to those seen in adults and with other vaccines recommended for children. The most common side effect was a sore arm.”

“Together, with science leading the charge, we have taken another important step forward in our nation’s fight against the virus that causes COVID-19,” Walensky said. “We know millions of parents are eager to get their children vaccinated and with this decision, we now have recommended that about 28 million children receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

“As a mom, I encourage parents with questions to talk to their pediatrician, school nurse or local pharmacist to learn more about the vaccine and the importance of getting their children vaccinated.”

Despite there being only one vaccine in the country approved for children between the ages of 5 and 11, San Francisco is already looking at the day in the not-too-distant future when a vaccine mandate will apply to those children.

On Tuesday, federal officials gave final approval for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be given to children aged 5 to 11.

Moderna has developed a shot for children between 6 and 11, but it has not even asked the Food and Drug Administration for approval yet because its vaccine for adolescents aged 12-17 is being held up over concerns that it is linked to a higher-than-normal number of cases of heart inflammation.

Johnson and Johnson is in the process of studying the impact of a vaccine on adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17.

San Francisco currently forces anyone 12 and older to prove they are vaccinated against COVID to enter indoor establishments including bars, restaurants, clubs, and gyms. A vaccine mandate would require children to also show proof of vaccination to enter many businesses and public places.

Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Is Worse Than We Thought: Look How He’s Punishing Unvaxxed Employees

City Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip said during a Tuesday town hall that a proof-of-vaccination mandate for children is an idea on the horizon and could be implemented early next year, according to SFGate.

“We definitely want to wait and make sure that children have an opportunity to get vaccinated,” Philip said.

“That will happen no sooner than about eight weeks after the vaccine is available to kids. So there will be a limited time in which there will not be those requirements, but then at some point, 5- to 11-year-olds will also have to show proof of vaccination to access some of those same settings.”

During the debate over authorizing the vaccine for children, some voiced concern that mandates would follow.

Do you trust these vaccines for children?

“I am just worried that if we say yes, then the states are going to mandate administration of this vaccine for children to go to school. And I do not agree with that,” Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine, said during the FDA vaccine committee meeting last week, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“I think that would be an error at this time.”

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has indicated that the Biden administration will push to have children vaccinated.

“We know that vaccination eligibility for our elementary-aged students would be a game changer,” Cardona told the outlet in September. “Not only would it help us keep our schools open and have less quarantining and closures, but it would also help parents breathe a lot easier and increase confidence in communities that their schools are safe.”

But some parents have concerns.

Cruz Introduces Bill to Ban COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates for Children

Erin Gauch, of Middletown, Rhode Island, said concerns over side effects give her pause, according to The New York Times.

“I’m looking at a 9-year-old and if I make a bad decision and he ends up with some debilitating side effects or lifelong adverse reaction, I don’t think I could live with that,” she said.

“If we ultimately decide not to get my youngest vaccinated right now, I guess I’ll be subjected to mommy shaming but I’ll just have to deal with it.”

Pro-vaccine parent Abby Cooper of Bergen County, New Jersey, said the issue defines who is and is not in her circle of friends, and those who do not get their children vaccinated are no longer welcome.

“Their kids are going to school with my kids and putting them at risk for no reason. It’s very upsetting. So, sadly, I’ve lost friends over this,” she said.

Minnesota has seen in the latest school board elections a number of wins by candidates opposing critical race theory and COVID-19 restrictions, including in areas that traditionally vote Democrats.

In Anoka-Hennepin, Minnesota’s largest school district serving some 38,000 students and 248,000 residents, Matt Audette won by a margin of over 30 percent. The only key issue on Audette’s campaign website is preventing the infiltration of CRT, which he said divides students based on their skin color and teaches that the most important aspect of their humanity is not their character, morality, or actions, but their race.

While CRT is not incorporated as part of the curriculum in Anoka-Hennepin schools, the district has partnered with the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center, an organization that promotes “anti-racism education” to analyze and address supposed “systemic racism” and inequity. “The school district did take a side, and they are siding with CRT,” Audette warned. “The use of this equity analysis in our schools will affect staff development, and it will eventually get into the classrooms.”

Instead of teaching “concepts of division and guilt” derived from CRT, Audette said he supports teaching about not only racism, but also achievements and successes in racial equality in the history of the United States. He also supports giving parents “complete access” to curriculum on demand.

A special one-year seat on the Alexandria School Board went to Maureen Eigen, who said in October that she opposes CRT because it “does not empower students of color” and “furthers segregation.”

“I don’t oppose CRT because of any political agenda. I oppose it because it’s not right,” she added.

In Lakeville, Cinta Schmitz narrowly won a special election for an open school board seat. A co-founder of local parental group “Informed Fully-Awake Parents,” Schmitz ran on a platform of allowing parents to make decisions for their kids when it comes to wearing masks and receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

“Keep divisive policies that teach racism and intolerance of people with different ethnic backgrounds or skin colors—whether it’s called CRT or any other equity-related term—out of our schools,” her campaign website reads.

The Minnesota wins could be suggesting a nationwide trend, too, according to the 1776 Project PAC, a political action group with the aim to combat CRT in K–12 education and help elect conservatives to school boards in the United States. The PAC reports that as of Wednesday, 44 of the 58 candidates it endorsed have either won or are leading in their school board races.

The 44 candidates backed by the PAC include 13 in Pennsylvania, with four of them sweeping seats in Perkiomen Valley School District, which serves the powerful Democratic bastion of Montgomery County. Also among them are 11 in Colorado, nine in Kansas, four in New Jersey, three in Virginia, and two each in Minnesota and Ohio.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/candidates-opposing-critical-race-theory-covid-19-mandates-win-minnesota-school-board-races_4086271.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-11-04-3&mktids=93c6962b66e6671462bf9516008cc848&est=GskglK226QK%2FwAESqrA9%2FSZ19OKvGe3O5ULm%2Bv3rVW9zxL3iK7YHQEP23q9U9%2Bx3Ug%3D%3D

Obviously, some books are better than others. This is something everyone should understand. A well-written book that tackles profound themes is far more likely to stand the test of time than a poorly written book that deals with superficial topics.

For example, Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” is a literary classic. That’s because it portrays the reality of slavery in the Antebellum South in a way that few other books have done. One cannot read that book without being deeply moved by the injustice of slavery.

However, “Huckleberry Finn” also contains inappropriate language, including a deeply offensive racial slur. As a result, some educators think that this book should not be held in school libraries or used in classrooms. That would be a mistake.

The problem with judging authors of the past by today’s cultural standards is that virtually no one measures up. This is why there is such a push among progressive educators to replace classical literature with contemporary books written by authors who espouse the “correct” ideology using the “correct” words—at least by today’s standards.

One can only wonder whether any authors from this century will measure up to whatever the prevailing ideology is several centuries from now.

At a recent meeting of the Waterloo Region District School Board, for example, the superintendent of human resources and equity announced that the board was in the process of reviewing every single book in school libraries. According to this superintendent, libraries haven’t been removing “inappropriate” books quickly enough.

“We recognize as our consciousness around equity, on oppression work and anti-racist work has grown, we recognize some of the texts in the collections that we have are not appropriate at this point,” stated the superintendent.

Not only is this verbiage typical of the gobbledygook often spouted at school board meetings, but it also reveals a profound lack of understanding of what education is all about. The notion that some books must be censored because they no longer conform to modern cultural standards is the antithesis of helping students become critical readers and thinkers.

It is only by exposing students to a wide variety of perspectives that we can help them become well-educated. The reality is that students are going to encounter ideas that challenge their core beliefs, whether we want them to or not. The only question is whether we want them to grapple with challenging concepts while in a classroom, or whether we think it’s better for them to just try to figure things out on their own after they complete school.

In addition, there is a world of a difference between culling library books due to space considerations and removing books because they might contain offensive material. Obviously, libraries have only a limited amount of space and it makes sense to remove books that no one is reading. On the other hand, it would be a travesty to remove excellent books such as “Huckleberry Finn” solely because they contain offensive language or reflect outdated cultural norms.

This does not mean that school libraries should be places where anything goes. Younger students should not have easy access to books with graphic sexual content, nor should school libraries be expected to stock books that promote blatantly false information (such as the works of prominent Holocaust deniers).

Unfortunately, censorship is becoming increasingly common in schools. For example, there has long been a concerted campaign to remove Dr. Seuss’s books from school libraries and classrooms because these books contain images and statements that are clearly inappropriate by modern-day standards.

However, a better approach would be to use these books as an opportunity for a teachable moment. Students should not only have access to classic literature but they should also be expected to study it and critique it. If students are going to grapple with challenging concepts, it’s best they do so by reading literature that has stood the test of time, and with the guidance of an effective teacher.

Hopefully, school trustees start pushing back against the woke ideology that undermines our kids’ education. There is a whole world of good literature for students to explore. Let’s not shelter our kids from reality.

Censorship is a poor way to promote literacy. If we want students to become good readers and thinkers, they need to read quality literature—including books that challenge their way of thinking.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/censorship-is-a-poor-way-to-promote-literacy_4086091.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Lawmakers say Virginia election results show parents want government out of schools

After education issues proved crucial to Republicans’ upset victories in Virginia, GOP lawmakers are turning their attention to Democratic plans to put the federal government in charge of education.

Buried in the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act is a plan to nationalize preschool programs and place them under the direction of the Education Department. The bill would require governors to submit learning standards for preschoolers for the secretary of education’s approval, which detractors say would further the Biden administration’s reach into public schools across the country.

According to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), the plan to increase federal oversight of preschools is a natural extension of Democrats’ “far-left socialist tax and spending spree.”

“It gives the Biden administration complete control to approve the early education standards being taught to three to four years olds,” Stefanik said at a roundtable Wednesday hosted by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.). She pointed to Virginia governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s (R.) successful appeal to parents to show that the Biden administration is “out of touch” with what Americans want in schools.

The Biden administration has repeatedly tried to extend federal control over public education. The Education Department in April proposed a rule to prioritize federal funding for education groups that help schools create lessons for elementary students based on “antiracism” and the New York Times‘s controversial 1619 Project. The Washington Free Beacon reported last month that the White House communicated with the National School Boards Association before the group petitioned the Justice Department to investigate concerned parents, whom it likened to “domestic terrorists.”

Stefanik also noted that Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in September refused to say whether parents were a “primary stakeholder” in their children’s education. The round table discussion was focused on the Biden administration’s attempts to keep parents out of children’s education. Also present were Republican representatives Virginia Foxx (N.C.), Julia Letlow (La.), and Burgess Owens (Utah).

Foxx slammed Democrats for focusing on radical social issues rather than falling test scores.

“If you have a federal takeover of education, what you’re going to have is drag queen story hour instead of a math one,” she said.

Some speakers at Wednesday’s event seemed buoyed by Youngkin’s win over Democratic nominee and former governor Terry McAuliffe, who drew ire for saying parents shouldn’t have a say in what their children learn.

“It’s just the clear optics that McAuliffe had Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation for Teachers union, at his final rally. And then he lost,” Ginny Gentiles, a school choice advocate said. “That is very clear evidence that that power was surpassed by the power of parents who want something different.”

Still, Parents Defending Education founder Nicki Neily warned that Youngkin’s victory will not stop Democrats from attempting to radicalize education.

“As we saw in the House and Senate Judiciary oversight hearings, I do not think they will be walking this back. We are seeing them double down,” Neily said.

None of Virginia’s Democratic representatives responded to a Free Beacon inquiry regarding their stance on the education items in the legislation.

The Build Back Better Act has hit repeated snags on the way to the House floor. Whether or not it comes to a vote, however, Stefanik says the reconciliation bill misses the mark.

“Today’s Democratic Party believes that the government knows better than parents when it comes to what is right for their kids,” Stefanik said. “We know that is not a message that resonates with America.”

https://freebeacon.com/campus/republicans-slam-biden-admin-efforts-to-nationalize-education/

A group of House Republicans are demanding answers from all 93 U.S. attorneys about what steps they have taken since the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo directing them to potentially crack down on parental protests.

“We are continuing to investigate the troubling attempts by the Department of Justice and the White House to use the heavy hand of federal law enforcement to target concerned parents at local school board meetings and chill their protected First Amendment activity,” the Republicans said in a letter (pdf) sent on Monday to every U.S. attorney in all 50 states and territories.

The DOJ memo, which sparked much controversy since its Oct. 4 release, directs the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to “convene meetings” with state and local governments to address an alleged “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” against teachers and school leaders.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland later revealed at a congressional hearing that his department issued the memo after communicating with the White House about a letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA). The NSBA letter characterized disruptions at school board meetings as “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crime,” and urged the Biden administration to invoke counter-terrorism laws to handle “angry mobs” of parents seeking to hold school officials accountable for teaching the Marxist-inspired critical race theory and for imposing COVID-19 restrictions on their children.

“Concerned parents voicing their strong opposition to controversial curricula at local schools are not domestic terrorists,” the Republicans said, adding that state and local authorities are already equipped with legal tools in case any parent actually crosses the line to commit a violent act.

Although the NSBA has apologized for the letter which the DOJ memo was based on, Garland has yet to rescind the order, meaning that his directives to U.S. Attorneys are still in effect, the Republicans said.

They further noted that during Garland’s testimony before the House, “he appeared to have no idea whether the U.S. Attorney meetings he ordered were actually taking place.”

Specifically, the Republicans demand that the U.S. attorneys provide a trove of information, including all documents and communications related to convening meetings in their respective judicial districts in response to Garland’s memo, and the names of all individual employees involved and organizations that were invited to or attended such meetings.

The U.S. attorneys will have until Nov. 15 to hand in those materials.

The letter was co-signed by 19 Republican members of Congress, including Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/house-republicans-demand-answers-from-all-93-us-attorneys-on-doj-memo-targeting-parents_4082477.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

If Republican Glenn Youngkin’s upset momentum carries him to victory in the Virginia race for governor, he’ll have voters like Saundra Davis to thank.

Davis, described by Fox News as a “lifelong Democrat,” appeared “Fox & Friends First” on Tuesday to describe how former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, had alienated Old Dominion voters.

And set the stage for a political showdown in Virginia that could stop President Joe Biden’s agenda in its tracks.

Simply put, Davis said, McAuliffe — a confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton — had taken the governor’s race for granted.

By contrast, she said, the Youngkin campaign has made education issues, a concern of parents everywhere, a key part of its strategy.

Biden Rambles for 37 Seconds, Apologizes for Repeating Himself, Loses Where He Is, Repeats Himself Again

Check out part of the interview here:

https://video.foxnews.com/v/video-embed.html?video_id=6279936368001&loc=westernjournal.com&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fvideo-lifelong-democrat-betrays-mcauliffe-party-says-knows-many-dems-glenn%2F&_xcf=

“I have a whole group of Dems for Glenn, and when people hear that they think that we’re Russian trolls or dark propaganda, but we’re real parents,” Davis said.

“And Terry McAuliffe thought he would stroll into Virginia and take this election easily, and when he figured out that he wasn’t going to, he kept bringing in more and more outsiders. But Glenn kept listening to parents. He didn’t need outside help, he was himself, and here we are. Today is the big day.”

Tuesday isn’t just a big day in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where the polls were set to close at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Coming a year after Biden won the state by 10 points in the presidential election, election day in Virginia is being viewed as a referendum on the Biden administration so far.

Considering that that administration has been a disaster from literally its first day — when Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and issued the first of a series of executive orders aimed at overturning the rational approach former President Donald Trump used to impose order on the southern border — a referendum that turned into a rebuke would be richly deserved on any number of fronts.

But for Davis and voters like her, the key issue is the arrogance shown by McAuliffe — and his party as a whole — when it comes to the elemental issue of public school education. And if the Virginia vote goes against McAuliffe, Republicans would be wise to remember that lesson in the 2022 midterms.

Virginia, of course, has become ground zero in a national cultural battle over parents’ rights to oversee their children’s schooling.

Democrats’ Tiki Torch Stunt Backfires, McAuliffe in Big Trouble on Election Day

During a gubernatorial debate, McAuliffe set himself up as the spokesman for the progressive establishment asserting its dominance when he declared:

“I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision. I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

As it turns out, a lot of parents think they should have a say. After watching public schools being used as pawns by teachers unions in the coronavirus pandemic, and the persecution of parents opposed to school district policies on transgender students and the graphic contents of some of the literature being made available to their children, they decided it was time to fight back.

“Because we put our children first, and when the schools were closed, we started watching the school board meetings and we started trying to make comments,” Davis told “Fox & Friends First.”

“And we tried to start presenting them with science to reopen the schools and they ignored us, mocked us, made the time shorter that we were able to speak at these meetings, and we weren’t having it. We’re not having it.”

“We’re not having it” sums up the attitude of millions of American voters to the actions of the Biden administration so far. (Possibly even better than the more-rambunctious “Let’s go Brandon” slogan currently making the rounds of politics and song.)

“We’re not having” a country where millions of illegal immigrants can enter with impunity. “We’re not having” a country that by right is the leader of the free world taking the role of international embarrassment instead.

“We’re not having” an economy that is slipping further and further from the heights it enjoyed under the Trump administrations thanks to a series of self-inflicted wounds created by a leftist Democratic ascendancy.

That’s the message of opposition to McAuliffe and other Democrats on the ballot on Tuesday. (New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is also up for re-election.)

Youngkin’s strength has been growing in recent polls, and if it carries him across the finish line, it’s going to be disenchanted Democrats who are going to be the key — the “secret weapon” of the Youngkin campaign.

A Republican victory in Virginia would ripple far beyond the state’s borders, delivering the message that Americans unhappy with the direction of the Biden administration are more than willing to flex their muscles at the ballot box to prove it.

But the fact that the race is as close as it is sends a message all by itself.

“We’re not having it,” as Davis said.

We’re not having it at all.

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton spoke out Tuesday after Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to meet his deadline to provide answers regarding a memo to the FBI to investigate parents.

Cotton made the comments on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” with host Bill Hemmer.

“We’re going to demand answers,” Cotton said.

“[Garland] responded in just four intervening days from the time the National School Board Association sent him this outrageous letter accusing parents expressing their opinions at school board meetings of being domestic terrorists.”

“We’re going to demand answers.” @SenTomCotton comments after AG Merrick Garland misses Senate Republicans’ deadline to provide evidence to support his memo to investigate “threats” by parents against school boards @BillHemmer pic.twitter.com/uoipCfx6qH

— America’s Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) November 2, 2021

Biden Rambles for 37 Seconds, Apologizes for Repeating Himself, Loses Where He Is, Repeats Himself Again

“That’s a land speed record for the government, Bill. As you can probably imagine, these bureaucrats can’t restock the coffee in the pantry in four days, much less issue a nationwide directive siccing the feds on parents who are concerned about their kids’ education,” he added.

Cotton called the situation an obvious act of collusion.

“What happened here is obvious. The National School Board Association in concert with political hacks and the Department of Justice and the White House colluded in advance to issue this letter,” Cotton said.

Should Merrick Garland resign?

“The Department of Justice knew it was coming, and then they sicced the feds on parents. That’s why Merrick Garland should be resigning in disgrace.”

Cotton revealed that the National School Boards Association’s letter has now been repudiated.

“All he’s ever cited is the school board letter and unspecified news reports. I suspect the news reports are the ones cited in the School Boards letter, which the School Board Association has now repudiated, and which used such discredited examples as the parent in Loudoun County, who was angry when his doctor had been raped in a bathroom by a boy dressed as a girl,” Cotton noted.

“The school board then covered it up, because they didn’t want it to interfere with their transgender policy and Pride month. And even more amazingly, they transferred the perpetrator to another school where he assaulted another girl, all because it would have interfered with their woke agenda.”

The news also follows a letter last week sent by a group of 19 Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to Garland demanding he rescind the memorandum sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation targeting parents at school board meetings.

House Repbulicans Launch Investigation Into National School Boards Association

The letter came after Garland appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last week.

“Your testimony before the Judiciary Committee last week concerning your October 4, 2021, memorandum targeting concerned parents at school board meetings was troubling,” the Republicans’ letter read.

#BREAKING: Judiciary Republicans demand Attorney General Garland withdraw school board memo.

RT if you think he should! pic.twitter.com/fo6q1MzGFP

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 25, 2021

“You acknowledged that you issued the unusual directive soon after reading about the thinly sourced letter sent by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to President Biden and not because of any specific request from state or local law enforcement,” they added.

The letter has not yet been rescinded.

Speaking at a Loudoun County Public Schools Board Meeting, a mother claimed, in a now-viral video, that her young daughter “somberly” asked her whether “she was born evil because she was a white person.”

The mother, whose identity is not clear, claimed in a one-minute speech: “My children now are in private school and are thriving. We had specifically moved into LCPS district because of its great reputation, yet we’ve been chased out of LCPS due to the swift and uncompromising political agenda of Superintendents Williams, Ziegler and the school board that have forced upon us. First it was in early Spring of 2020 when my six-year-old somberly came to me and asked me if she was born evil because she was a white person, something she learned in a history lesson at school.”

She added, “I wish I could return my kids to LCPS; private school’s expensive and I want my kids to be able to walk home from schools with their friends in their own community. I refuse to allow you to destroy our schools. They are not your schools; they are our schools. You all should be ashamed and you should have the moral courage to admit you are wrong and step down.”

The next speaker stated that she was concerned about her 14-year-old daughter, who would be “walking the halls of Broad Run High School, and unfortunately I don’t trust you with her care.” After referencing the case of the male student accused of sexually assaulting a female student at a Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County, she added, “I couldn’t but help notice the rules for this meeting; which state there will be no public access to bathrooms or other facilities inside the LCPS administrative offices. I guess you wanted to make absolutely certain that your restrooms were safe. Resign or be removed.”

Last week, a Virginia court ruled there was enough evidence to find that the teen accused of sexually assaulting a fellow student in a Loudoun County high school bathroom in May “engaged in non-consensual sex.” The Daily Wire reported on October 25:

The teen who appeared in court on Monday is standing trial on two separate cases: one involving a female student at Stone Bridge High School and a different incident in a classroom at Broad Run High School, both in the Loudoun County school district. The teen, who reportedly identifies as “gender fluid” is alleged to have assaulted Scott Smith’s daughter in a girl’s restroom at Stone Bridge while wearing a skirt. Despite indications that he had committed a serious crime, the boy was transferred.

A father of four young daughters spoke later saying, “Your policies are contributing to creating an unsafe environment in the schools. I do not want boys in my daughters’ bathrooms; I do not want boys on my daughters’ sports teams. How can I as a father, trust you as a superintendent and you as a school board to keep my daughter safe at school? Why would I want to entrust you with all of our daughters once they become school age? The answer is I can’t.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/loudoun-county-mom-to-school-board-my-6-year-old-daughter-asked-me-if-she-was-born-evil-because-she-was-a-white-person?itm_source=parsely-api&utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email

AN EPOCH TIMES PROJECT

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

— Declaration of Independence, 1776

The promise of the United States has always been about more than itself. In recognizing that all human beings are created equal, and in defending individual liberty, the United States has demonstrated that self-government is possible.

It has done so while making steady progress toward realizing its ideals so that anyone—regardless of what race they are, whether they are male or female, or where they come from—may pursue his or her idea of happiness.

This has unleashed energy and creativity. America has achieved unheard of levels of abundance and has been a fount of invention, enriching all of humanity.

America’s first settlers traveled here to gain the freedom to worship as they chose, and the United States has all along recognized the importance of “in God we trust.” It has protected spiritual life in order to give its citizens the conditions needed to flourish.

But forces inside and outside the United States now threaten to undo America’s promise.

With the American Promise initiative, The Epoch Times seeks to revitalize America’s principles and traditions while contributing to our nation’s quest to perfect itself.

Main Challenges To The American Promise

Marxist Ideology Challenges America

When KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov spoke of America’s decline, he spoke of a gradual “demoralization” of the nation driven by Marxist-Leninist ideology. While faced with this domestic ideological crisis, America is also facing the threat of China’s ruling Communist Party, which for decades has infiltrated nearly every aspect of our society, in the fields of education, entertainment, politics, and business, among others. Exposing these threats and educating people about them is now, we believe, a critical element of allowing America to realize its promise.

Traditions Under Assault

Our founders believed that our form of self-government was created for a moral people. Traditions have allowed nations to flourish for thousands of years. How do we return ourselves to a path of tradition and righteous principles?

Ideological Education

Our education system is a cornerstone of society. Over the years, however, the idea of striving for excellence has been challenged by post-modernist ideology. If we want our nation to flourish, our children should be well-educated, moral beings.

Constitutional Rights Challenged

Our education system is a cornerstone of society. Over the years, however, the idea of striving for excellence has been challenged by post-modernist ideology. If we want our nation to flourish, our children should be well-educated, moral beings.

https://subscribe.theepochtimes.com/p/?page=american-promise-v1

It has long been policy among Marxist progressives, socialists, and communists to undermine and destroy the family. The reason is obvious: When your goal is to vest all power in the government, any independent organization, such as the family, that retains the loyalty of citizens withholds power from the government. The commitments of families are to its members, not to the government, and Marxists think that this should be forbidden.

The self-proclaimed Marxist Black Lives Matter declared on its website, until it saw fit to scrub it off, that one of its objectives, along with disbanding the police, was destroying the two-parent family. Two-parent families are rare among African Americans, but in spite of poor academic performances, a high level of gang membership, a high level of incarceration, and a horrific rate of violent murder among African American youth, Black Lives Matter’s view is that one-parent families are a good plan. Black Lives Matter thinks that all will be fine (for them) once they take over.

Totalitarian societies such as National Socialist Germany, the Soviet Union, Soviet Eastern Europe, and communist China strived to undermine family loyalties, encouraging family members to inform on one another. Any anti-government sentiment, or even insufficiently strong pro-government sentiment, are grounds for re-education and punishment. Children are taught in government schools to vet their parents, and report them to the authorities if they’re not enthusiastically patriotic.

Kibbutzim in Israel were founded on the communist model. Everything was handled at the community level; nothing was left to the family unit: Cooking was communal, as was eating in the community cafeteria. Children resided and were reared in the community children’s house. But over the next decades, Kibbutzniks slowly had a change of heart, and mothers wanted more time with their children, first weekends, then full-time family apartments. Children, too, when they hit adolescence, were unwilling to reside and dress and undress in front of children of the opposite sex. Eventually unisex overalls were exchanged for clothes suitable for binary gender roles.

The logic of feminism, having incorporated Marxist class conflict for its identity politics, disparages men, marriage, motherhood, and families. What holds the greatest value for feminism is being able to kill unborn children. The feminist goal is not to support the government, but to take over the government, so that females can rule. The family stands in the way, so it has to go.

The two-parent family was the dominant form of the family, in all racial and ethnic groups, during the first half of the 20th century. But by the 21st century, the two-parent family was prominent only among Asian Americans and white Americans, with single-parent families a major percentage among Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans.

The two-parent family was also stripped down in both structure and function. In traditional societies in the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific, and elsewhere, families were either multigenerational, compound, or extended, with a large number of relatives providing a wider family within which the two-parent family was nested. In the 21st century, two-parent families, not to mention single-parent families, were in many cases on their own. This is largely the result of the spatial and social mobility facilitated and even required by an advanced industrial and post-industrial economy.

The traditional family was the basic productive unit of society, usually engaged in agricultural production. Children provided the necessary manpower to get the labor-intensive, multiple tasks done. Think of an American or Canadian family farm at the turn of the 20th century. Male children also provided the strong arms of the family militia that would defend, if necessary, the members and property of the family. In the 21st century, child labor and military defense are no longer functions of the family.

What remains of the functions of family in the North American 21st century is the establishment of a domestic household and the rearing and socializing of children, usually a small number of children, as they’re financial liabilities rather than assets. Many people under the influence of feminism choose not to marry or to establish a household with others, but instead reside as individuals, which indicates a loss of family households. Many single women decide to have children on their own, forming single-parent households. But children are increasingly under the authority, not of their parents, but of civic and governmental authorities, stripping parents of the child-rearing function.

Educational bureaucrats, school boards, and teacher’s unions engage in collusion to take control of children’s lives, sidelining parents who are purposely kept in the dark regarding what students are taught and how students’ lives are managed. These bureaucrats and officials share the radical ideologies of the extremist faculties of education in which they were trained. Thus, we see bureaucrats, unions, and school boards pushing political ideologies on K-12 students. These include racist “critical race theory” that condemns little white children as privileged oppressors and little black children as victims who have no control over their lives. Schools also push children into “transitioning” from their birth sex to an imagined alternative sex, smoothing the way for puberty blocking hormone treatments and disfiguring plastic surgery, all hidden from children’s parents. Schools now specialize in systemic programs of child abuse.

These educational officials also collude with friendly state and federal administrations, such as the Biden administration, which concur with the radical ideologies and wish to advance them. The point of this collusion among officials and governments is to wrench all children away from their parents, making them dependent on the government, in which the school officials are low-level members. This is a major step in destroying the family and making the government all powerful, smoothing the way to despotic socialism and communism.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/why-progressives-are-trying-to-destroy-the-family_4076290.html

We’ve all heard the story about the panicked mom summoning superhuman strength to lift a car off her trapped child. I’m not sure if it’s ever really happened, but I am sure that any politician who interferes with a mother’s ability to raise her children with the values she sees fit is playing with fire. The Democrats are holding the matches. Of all the radical ideas they’ve been trying to foist on America, messing with parents on K-12 education may be the one that does them in.

Democratic politicians have repeatedly failed to stand up to the “woke” crowd, the activist radical left wing of their own party. Remember the open borders question in the 2019 Democratic presidential primary debates? The moderators asked all the candidates to raise their hand if they wanted to decriminalize illegal border crossings. Almost every Democratic candidate raised a hand. Joe Biden was elected and took apart the Trump-era border policies that were working, and we now have record high levels of illegal border crossings and record low levels of arrests. Polls now show that opening the southern border isn’t actually popular with regular Americans, and now it looks as if the Biden administration may be walking back its radical open-border position. Most prominently, the White House has announced plans to begin reinstating Trump’s successful “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Democratic politicians around the country got caught up in the “defund the police” movement as well. It’s hard to find something crazier than open borders, but getting rid of police is a new level. Are there police abuses? Do we need police reform? The answer is, of course, yes. But only a crazy person thinks getting rid of the police is a real answer. Now that crime is going up, Democratic politicians across the country are starting to reverse course.

These are clearly wacky ideas. It’s hard to imagine the thought process that caused leading Democrats to promote them. Regardless, Democratic politicians’ unwillingness to stand up to the insanity in their own party has clearly hurt them in the polls. Hispanic voters, independents and even suburban moms are getting turned off by the ideological, radical strain driving the agenda. It seems that even after scalding their hands on the hot stove, Democrats are coming back for more punishment. This time, they are helping the radicals screw around with children’s education.

The things happening in American schools are truly scary. Despite the left’s desire to keep it quiet and the liberal media’s desire to whitewash it, parents are catching on — and they are not happy.

On race, school districts around the country are normalizing racism. Corporate media will tell you otherwise. The New York Times asserted definitively just this morning that “conservatives have … falsely claimed” divisive critical race theory is bleeding into schools. You’ll find similar gaslighting at NBC, The Washington Post and several other left-wing media companies.

Meanwhile, a teacher in New York City made headlines when he complained about students and teachers being broken up by race for “anti-racism” training, wherein they were taught that “objectivity” and “individualism” were white attributes. A school in Cupertino, California, asked third graders to “deconstruct their racial identities, then rank themselves according to their ‘power and privilege,'” according to City Journal. And, finally, if critical race theorists aren’t trying to indoctrinate children, why is the country’s leading critical race theory guru hocking an “Antiracist Baby” picture book for infants?

There are countless examples. Kids may not be learning the “advanced legal theory” graduate schools offer, but it is clear to anyone who has not had a significant psychological break from reality that these concepts are downstream from that theory, and schools are adopting them.

Contrary to the views espoused by Martin Luther King Jr., these concepts are teaching students that race defines us. They are teaching kids to judge others based on race. As usual with the left, this insanity is packaged to sound nonthreatening. They call it “critical race theory.” You shouldn’t. Just call it racism. That’s all it is.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a product of the segregated South, most eloquently pushed back on the insanity this week: “One of the worries that I have about the way that we’re talking about race is that it either seems so big that somehow white people now have to feel guilty for everything that happened in the past — I don’t think that’s very productive — or black people have to feel disempowered by race. I would like black kids to be completely empowered, to know that they are beautiful in their blackness, but in order to do that I don’t have to make white kids feel bad for being white.”

That’s all there is to it. That’s America. Outside of the radical left and a few crazy racists on the fringe, most Americans share Rice’s vision. Parents should certainly have the right to instill these American ideals in their children. I wouldn’t want to be the one getting in their way.

The second area of radicalization in our schools concerns the LGBTQ agenda. Two recent headlines highlight the insanity in our schools going on in the name of tolerance. First, in Loudoun County, Virginia, a young girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a male student with a skirt on in a female bathroom. The school district allegedly attempted to cover up the assault and instead arrested the young girl’s father when his complaints were viewed as endangering the school’s bathroom policies. Second, teachers in Broward County, Florida, brought elementary school kids to a gay bar for a field trip. There are so many things wrong with this. Who takes elementary school kids to any bar for a field trip? Who thinks teaching kids that young any of this in school makes sense in the first place? It’s literally insane.

Democrats may have made mistakes on the border and with policing, but there’s a good chance that the school issues dwarf even those within the electorate. Parents have the right to teach their children their own values. That’s a concept almost everyone agrees with. Yet, to date, the Biden administration’s only response to parents’ growing concerns was a Justice Department memorandum that equated concerned parents with domestic terrorists. That’s a decision they are very likely going to regret.

https://rightandfree.com/news/2021/10/29/democrats-may-regret-messing-with-americas-moms?utm_campaign=AmEagles&utm_source=AmEagles-20211102&utm_medium=email

As of this writing, the school board associations of at least 11 states have withdrawn from the National School Boards Association.

I hope the number will rise to 50.

As many readers will know, the NSBA, a left-wing lobbying group, made headlines a couple of weeks ago.

Merrick Garland, attorney general of the United States, cited a letter from the group to the White House complaining about parents who had the temerity to vigorously criticize their local school boards for attempting to insinuate the Marxist teachings of “critical race theory” into schools, foisting virtue-signaling mask mandates on students, and injecting noisome gender-identity politics into primary and secondary schools.

The vocal criticism of those parents, the NSBA letter said, was “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

In response, Garland quickly issued a memorandum instructing the FBI and other DOJ entities to create a “Partnership among federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement to address threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff.”

What threats?

The NSBA cites a score of incidents, but almost all involve nothing more than parents loudly criticizing members of their school board. A good example is this splendid performance by a parent called Simon Campbell, a Brit who understands the American Constitution much better than many Americans.

One example where there was violence involved Scott Smith, who was tackled by police, arrested, and found guilty of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Smith claimed that his daughter had been raped by a “gender fluid” boy who entered the girl’s bathroom wearing a skirt.

At first the school denied that anything happened.

We now know that Smith was right and that the boy in question not only raped his daughter but then, having been quietly sent to another school, went on to sexually assault another girl.

The NSBA, panicked by the criticism and defections, issued an apology.

They didn’t really think “or at least they are no longer prepared to say” that parents who criticize school board members are “domestic terrorists” who are guilty of “hate crimes.”

But I suspect that this effort at damage control will fail. It is too little, too late.

Garland’s breathtaking memorandum was subject to instant and scathing criticism.

And remember, Merrick Garland was supposed to be a “moderate.”

When Barack Obama toward the end of his second term proposed him for the Supreme Court (for the seat that eventually went to Neil Gorsuch), even many conservatives rallied round to tout his credentials, talents, and impartiality.

It turns out that the Republicans who kept him off the Court were right: he was a left-winger masquerading as a moderate.

We got to witness exactly what sort of partisan operative he is during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s sometimes blistering cross examination of Garland last week.

Especially noteworthy were the exchanges between Garland and Senators Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton.

Among other things, Senator Cruz pushed the Attorney General on the interesting fact that his son-in-law is the founder and president of Panorama, a multimillion-dollar company that sells critical race theory and related ESG (environmental, social, and governance) materials to schools around the country.

Was Garland’s son-in-law, Senator Cruz wondered, likely to be enriched by more schools hopping on the critical race theory bandwagon, a predictable result of the Department of Justice’s threat to sic the FBI on parents who objected to the prospect of their children being indoctrinated.

All concluded their remarks calling on him to resign.

Tom Cotton found a silver lining, “Thank God you are not on the Supreme Court.”

Far from repudiating his memorandum, the Attorney General repeatedly reaffirmed it. He himself worked on it. He said, “It reflects my view. I stand behind it.”

Which leaves us where?

I very much doubt that Merrick Garland will resign, at least not until Republicans retake the House and the Senate in fifteen months.

In the meantime, we are left with an Attorney General who is happy to mobilize the police power of the state to quash dissent.

Sure, he says he is in favor of the First Amendment, and he repeatedly stressed that he was only trying to protect school officials against violence.

But the “violence” at school boards is parents yelling ridicule at the board members, behavior they are entitled to engage in.

The journalist Chris Bray put his finger on our predicament in a thoughtful article at his substack about (in part) what is happening at school boards.

“The trap in our own moment,” he writes, “is that, first, governments have in many cases entirely stopped listening, as officials signal with growing clarity that they regard all grievances to their right as inherently without merit.”

Bray continues: “You express a grievance, and the school board orders the police to clear the room (and the police, incredibly, always do). But, second, resistance is coded as domestic terrorism at the first sign of raised voices, even if Merrick Garland pretends to be coy about the maneuver.”

Bottom line: “If you don’t resist, you won’t be heard; if you do resist, you’re a terrorist and a criminal and FBI SEARCH WARRANT—GET ON THE GROUND.”

You can ask Mr. Smith about how that works.

Bray concluded: “The game is that everyone takes their turn and then, whatever moves any players make, you lose.”

Maybe there is a silver lining here, too.

Despite the best efforts of the regime media to bury stories like the Attorney General’s police state memorandum, the word is getting out and people are angry and getting angrier.

The Obama administration was able to paint the Tea Party as a bunch of Bible-thumping rednecks and “deplorables.”

In fact, the vast majority were ordinary citizens: business men and women, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, doctors, even some teachers and lawyers.

But the campaign of vilification worked. The Tea Party was declawed, rendered irrelevant.

The strategy backfired, though, because those millions of people did not go way. They voted en masse for Donald Trump in 2016.

That is something that the agents of the administrative state might wish to keep in mind.

With every passing day, legitimacy drains from the Biden administration.

Terry McAuliffe will lose the Virginia Governor’s race on Tuesday.

Republicans will retake the House and the Senate in 2022.

You know what will happen in 2024.

It won’t necessarily be Trump, but it might be.

And if it isn’t it will be someone equally obnoxious to the Left.

Hold on, it is going to be a wild ride.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/garland-attempts-to-silence-opponents-but-they-will-vote_4080672.html

My three boys were in Virginia public schools from the beginning of their education. But no more. At the end of last year, after seeing exactly what was being taught and how little my schools prioritized education, I pulled them out. It is a sacrifice: I now have to pay tuition for my two younger children and am homeschooling my oldest child. It’s worth it.

More and more, parents are waking up to the reality that the public school system is broken. They aren’t just failing to teach kids basic skills; the public schools are misusing the trust that is placed in them. What’s worse, school boards and administrators are pushing political agendas and harming children in the process.

Many citizens still don’t know what’s going on. There is a reason why: Schools lock the public out, and the media supports it. They’ve even colluded with social media mobs to torment parents who try to speak up. Informing the public is an uphill battle.

Consider this: It recently came to light that numerous Virginia high school libraries stock a graphic novel (a genre geared to preteens) that includes extreme and violent sexual content. Parents understandably objected.

But this isn’t a case of parents trying to prevent their child from learning the facts of life or griping about the depiction of routine romantic or sexual situations. This is pornography.

Study: Americans with J&J COVID Vaccine 3.7 Times More Likely to Develop Blood Clots Than Average Person

A parent brought the existence of this book to the attention of the Fairfax County school board and read sections of the book out loud, revealing the obviously inappropriate content. The school board pulled the book from the libraries and is reviewing whether it should continue to be carried.

It’s nice that they have temporarily removed these books, but parents deserve more answers. Who included this book in the library in the first place? Are they reviewing what else is being featured in libraries? Is anyone being held accountable for exercising such poor judgment?

Independent Women’s Voice created an advertisement to raise awareness about this issue, which included images from the book. The ad was rejected as too explicit to run during the 11 p.m. hour on television in Virginia. Think about everything you see on TV and imagine what it takes for a television station to decline to run an ad that late at night.

Parents and citizens should be asking one question: Why are our schools so much less protective about what high school students as young as 14 are exposed to than TV stations catering to adults?

Will more parents start pulling their children from public schools?

This isn’t the only problem with Virginia schools. Students routinely endure race-obsessed classes, are given surveys that ask intimate questions about their sex lives, are treated to absurd lessons that tell them a British accent is a microaggression and form of racism, and are forced to watch misleading videos about Christopher Columbus in anticipation of “Indigenous People’s Day.”

Many parents woke up to the fact that something is very wrong with our schools last year when classes went virtual. Parents logged their kids into class and were surprised by what was being taught. As private schools quickly and safely resumed in-person learning, the public schools remained closed for most of the year.

We now know that our kids suffered tremendous learning losses during virtual learning, as well as from mental health issues due to the isolation and long hours spent staring at screens.

Since in-person classes resumed, safety has arisen as a major concern. For example, Loudoun County parents just found that school officials failed to report a violent sexual assault that occurred in a school bathroom, and that the student assailant was placed in another Virginia public school and went on to attack another girl.

Why was this student back in school just a few months after this first attack? Why weren’t parents alerted of the first attack? How many other incidents have Loudoun County school officials failed to report? Disturbing footage of violence in other schools has also been posted on social media. Are Virginia schools committed to actually providing students with a safe environment, even if it is at odds with their political narratives?

Young Not Stupid: While McAuliffe Brought in Dem Heavyweights, Youngkin Unleashed Ingenious Secret Weapon

Gubernatorial candidate Terry McAulliffe recently said he doesn’t “think parents should be telling schools what they should teach” and as governor, he actually vetoed a bill that would have required schools to give parents more information about sexually explicit content covered in schools. Now administration officials in Washington are seeking to label concerned parents domestic terrorists.

What’s going on here? Why is the left demonizing parents and suggesting that we somehow aren’t supposed to be our children’s chief advocate responsible for ensuring that they grow to be healthy and responsible adults?

Public school officials need to remember that they work for parents and that their top priority should be to provide kids a safe environment in which to learn. That’s not happening in Virginia schools. Until that happens, parents will continue to do as I did — pull their children out of the public schools. And it will be worth it.

Way back in 1967, in that brief window of time between the media’s notice of the sexual revolution and its dawning awareness of second wave feminism, Hollywood made a movie called “A Guide for the Married Man,” which celebrated the joys of (male) adultery. Nowadays Tinseltown may practice it but doesn’t (usually) preach it; then it did both.

In one segment the mentor of a prospective adulterer answers the question of what to do if you are caught in the act by your wife by saying: “Deny, deny, deny.” There follows a vignette in which a man so caught does just that—until his partner in sin gets up, dresses and leaves.

“What woman?” says the husband.

“The one who just left,” says the wife.

“When?” says the husband.

“But, Charlie …” says the wife.

“What?”

“Aren’t you even ashamed of yourself?”

“Why?”

“Because of … Charlie?”

“What?”

“What would you like for dinner?”

Deplorable as the whole idea of such a movie is, there is a deep wisdom in this scene, which is this: when it ceases to be possible to catch someone in a lie, it also becomes impossible for that person to lie.

So long as the liar, like Charlie, holds the whip hand and therefore is powerful enough that it is impossible for anyone else to require him to admit to his lie, it’s not a lie.

The principle is basically the same as that expressed by the 16th century poet Sir John Harington:

“Treason doth never prosper; what’s the reason?

“For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

I tried to make a similar point, as you may remember, two weeks ago in this space, when I wrote that a lie that everybody knows to be a lie is no longer a lie but a kind of functional truth, since our knowledge that it’s a lie can reveal to us the truth.

It’s at that point, anyway, where those of us without the power to force an admission of lying can only shrug our shoulders and say of the liar, “Well, I guess he’s only expressing his truth.”

The examples I gave in that earlier column were taken from the collected works of President Joe Biden—most egregiously the obvious lies that the American evacuation of Afghanistan was “an extraordinary success” and that a $3.5 trillion spending bill would actually cost “zero.”

Of course, the power of the president to lie with impunity is not a constitutional one but is conferred upon him by the media, whose own greatest power is the power to ignore.

Applied to presidential lying, this power to ignore and therefore not to expose the lies means that, even if everybody knows they are lies, they can continue to function as truth—the president’s truth.

Despotisms have always functioned in this way, but usually through the despot’s direct control of the media. In America today the situation is somewhat different. The media’s power to ignore or to promote as truth the lies of the ostensible autocrat is assumed voluntarily and without constraint or fear of punishment.

Why should that be? I don’t know, but it suggests to me that it is not, under the Biden-style of despotism, the executive which is in control of the media but the media which is in control of the executive.

That would fit, too, with the sense that many of us have that, nasty as the old Joe Biden could be at times, the nastiness of his administration is no more all his own work than anything else that’s happened over the last nine months.

We caught a glimpse this week of how the process of collaboration between the media and Democrats in power to set the administration’s agenda works. The notorious letter from Attorney General Merrick Garland to the FBI, as reported in this space three weeks ago, setting up a task force to investigate as potential “domestic terrorism” any complaints by parents about left-wing curricular or other changes to public schools affecting their children turns out to have been not quite what it seemed at the time.

It was a result of collaboration between Garland and a few left wingers at the National School Boards Association, from which numerous state boards have since dissociated themselves, and was based at least in part on an incident in Loudoun County, Virginia, last June.

Then an aggrieved father, Scott Smith, was tackled by police and arrested at a school board meeting after complaining that his 15-year-old daughter had been raped in a girls’ restroom at Stone Bridge High School by a boy taking advantage of current left-wing orthodoxy to pose as a “transgender” girl.

On that occasion, Scott Ziegler, the Loudoun County school superintendent proclaimed that, “To my knowledge, we don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms,” adding on the authority of Time magazine that “the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist.”

This was a lie on both counts. The Daily Wire reported two weeks ago that numerous allegations of sexual assault at the school had not been reported, as state law requires school authorities to do.

That, apparently was why “we don’t have any record” of such assaults. They didn’t trouble themselves to make one.

Then, on Monday, the “transgender” predator was convicted of assaulting not only Smith’s daughter but another girl at another school to which he had been transferred later as a potential embarrassment to Stone Bridge’s transgender restroom policy.

At this writing, Superintendent Ziegler still has his job. Deny, deny, deny certainly seems to have worked for him.

And, although the National Association of School Boards has since repudiated its own letter calling for investigation into “domestic terrorism,” Attorney General Garland still has his FBI task force to investigate it, as he informed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Oct. 27.

Joe Biden still has his job too, though now we have a better idea than we did nine months ago what that job is. It’s to cover up left-wing lies by playing the role of doddering old Uncle Joe who doesn’t know what he’s saying half the time anyway. You could call it type-casting.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/political-lies-that-cant-be-refuted_4080255.html

Terry McAuliffe repeatedly claims that Critical Race Theory has never been taught in Virginia’s public schools.

At the same time, the Virginia Department of Education recommends “We Want to Do More Than Survive,” a book by Bettina L. Love, which explicitly pushes CRT. A Fox investigation revealed the book had been pushed on all school stakeholders since March 2020.

Somebody’s lying.

Traditional Marxism pitted the bourgeois, those accused of hording wealth and resources, against the proletariat, the laborers who made all the wealth possible to begin with. Curious as to why the Marxist Resolution hit a brick wall in Western Europe, the Frankfurt School developed Critical Theory and birthed Cultural Marxism.  CRT is a particularly wretched form of Cultural Marxism.

Study: Americans with J&J COVID Vaccine 3.7 Times More Likely to Develop Blood Clots Than Average Person

CRT zeroes in on Whiteness, specifically white males, as the culprit and non-Whites, specifically Blacks, as the oppressed. The goal is the same under either banner: divide and conquer.  It’s one of the oldest Marxist strategies in the book.

Bettina L. Love’s magnum opus, “We Want to Do More Than Survive,” drips with hatred. The book is littered with spiteful passages, such as “teachers spirit-murder children” because “their vision is impaired by hate, racism and White supremacy.”

I had know idea the teachers at the school down the street were all such vile creatures.

Love goes on to claim that teachers “will never understand how they are being fooled by White supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia and classism.”

Should kids be taught to judge one another by the color of their skin?

I guess only evil, stupid people stoop to becoming teachers? Who knew?

It sounds to me like Love, ironically, is the one guilty of the attempted spirit-murder of anyone who reads this litany in praise of  hate.

Are Terry McAuliffe and Bettina L. Love Marxists? If so, they may or may not know it or care. What matters to them is cashing in on the pandemic of hate-mongering while they can.

They’re not alone.

Some of the most rabid CRT supporters claim they are not, in fact, critical race theorists.  Ibram X. Kendi, the “anti-racist” conman who makes piles of money teaching racism, claimed he was not a critical race theorist in an interview with Joy Reid, as reported by The Federalist.

Family Donates to School Board Candidate That Opposes CRT, Major Newspaper Outs Them in Sick Way

Kendi’s book, “How to Be an Antiracist,” has been placed on numerous recommended reading lists, including one for sailors in the U.S. Navy.

Two weeks earlier Kendi claimed in a podcast interview with Slate that “critical race theory is foundational to to to being Antiracist.” Sorry, Ibram, but you can’t have it both ways. It violates Aristotle’s law of non-contradiction.

Why all the contradictions and lies?

Sooner or later the cat was going to get out of the bag. CRT teaches kids to judge people not on the content of their character but on the color of their skin.  The plain truth is CRT teaches kids to be racists.

Parents, to put it mildly, don’t like this.

Could that be why McAuliffe keeps denying that CRT is taught in Virginia?  Is he trying to distance himself from reality by canceling truth? He may just end up canceling himself.

CRT and other Marxists campaigns attempt to reshape history and poison the minds of the people, especially the children.  When a philosophy like CRT begins to implode, as must all reality-denying doctrines, people do all sorts of strange things.

Who can blame them? After slogging around in the pit of unreality for so long, they no longer know what is real.

Last Thursday, the Cincinnati Enquirer published a piece regarding school board candidates’ use of the cash-transfer app Venmo for donations, which may potentially violate Ohio state finance law, given that it went into personal accounts.

The article involved candidates for the Lakota Local School District board of education; the district, in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, is one of many which has seen a pitched battle over whether critical race theory is being and should be taught in its schools.

The piece would have mainly been a boring one — it didn’t identify either of the candidates facing questions about their financing, Darbi Boddy and Russ Loges, as being anti-critical race theory.

However, in a painful lapse of journalistic ethics, the Enquirer decided they would leave a donor’s home address visible on a screenshot of the Venmo transactions page, essentially doxing them.

INBOX: The Cincinnati Enquirer just doxxed a middle class family from West Chester over the school board issue. Here’s a redlined screenshot of the main page on their website. pic.twitter.com/lljGbM4VGZ

— John Ashbrook (@JohnAshbrook) October 29, 2021

Study: Americans with J&J COVID Vaccine 3.7 Times More Likely to Develop Blood Clots Than Average Person

“The Cincinnati Enquirer just doxxed a middle class family from West Chester over the school board issue,” political strategist John Ashbrook tweeted.

According to Fox News, the images were later taken down from the Enquirer’s website — although conservatives were outraged.

Should newspapers be allowed to dox people in this way?

“This is absolutely unacceptable,” said J.D. Vance — author, Ohio senatorial candidate and Cincinnati native.

“I’d expect national journalists to harass families, but not our local paper.”

Another Ohio GOP Senate candidate, former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken, noted these were the same kind of activist parents being called “domestic terrorist[s]” by certain groups.

This is absolutely unacceptable. I’d expect national journalists to harass families, but not our local paper. https://t.co/lClNzizfWM

— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) October 29, 2021

Labeled a ‘domestic terrorist’, doxxed by the media – THIS is what concerned parents are dealing with when they’re just trying to exercise their right to free speech, have a say over their children’s education, and protect their kids.

Absolutely unacceptable. https://t.co/N6TjlExrfX

— Jane Timken (@JaneTimkenOH) October 29, 2021

New Investigation Debunks Pathetic McAuliffe Lie That ‘CRT is Not Taught in VA Schools’

Gannett, which owns the Enquirer, noted the screenshot was erased from the article quickly after it garnered online attention — but offered an odd excuse for revealing the family’s address.

“The cropping of the promo image was corrected immediately although campaign donations are public record,” a Gannett spokesperson said, according to Fox.

This is indeed accurate. There a lot of things you do that are public record — that also shouldn’t be amplified to the world by the biggest media source in Cincinnati, or in any other city. Most people don’t seek that information out, but the Enquirer served it to its readership on a platter. That they can’t see the problem there is just as disconcerting as the fact they amplified it in the first place.

The story in its original form is available on Archive.is with the screenshot in place. The image is thoroughly unnecessary to the story. The two individuals mentioned are running for three open seats on the Lakota board, and while their sympathies aren’t mentioned in the story, they aren’t a mystery to voters or to Enquirer writers Erin Glynn and Madeline Mitchell.

Furthermore, given the tenor of school board debates, the decision to use the screenshot — and not vet whether or not the addresses or names were visible — is a mistake that can’t just be wallpapered over by saying, “yeah, but it’s public record.”

From the sounds of things, Boddy and Loges should have been more careful in terms of how they accepted campaign donations via Venmo. The article can serve as a warning to parent activists — dot your I’s and cross your T’s when it comes to campaign finance.

However, the story quickly became a major newspaper’s decision to dox donors in a contentious campaign and then hide behind a public record defense. That reasoning is inexplicable, particularly given how little the screenshot contributed and the obvious utility of the information for bad actors. This is doxing and targeting, plain and simple. The Cincinnati Enquirer needs to acknowledge that.

Loudoun County’s sheriff rejected a request by the school district’s superintendent to dramatically ramp up the law enforcement presence at a pair of school board meetings in August, newly released emails show.

Scott Ziegler, the superintendent for the Virginia county, asked the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) for three deputies to be inside the administration building for the Aug. 10 and Aug. 11 meetings, the emails show. He also requested a “K-9 explosive sweep,” a five-person “Quick Reaction Force,” undercover deputies, and another team “stood up and on standby at nearby location.”

Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman rejected the request, according to one of the emails.You May Also Like

• Judge to Allow Men Allegedly Shot by Kyle Rittenhouse to Be Referred to as ‘Rioters’ During Trial
• Parents Urge Loudoun County School Board, Superintendent to Resign Over ‘Bombshell’ Email
• 12 House Republicans Demand DOJ Rescind Memo That Could Be Used to Target Concerned Parents
• Residents, City Officials Say They Don’t Want a Repeat of Echo Park Violence as They Prepare to Close MacArthur Park
• Judge Won’t Dismiss Charges Against Protesters Arrested on Trump’s Inauguration Day
• ‘Utterly Unacceptable’: Judge Blasts DC Jail for Not Allowing Jan. 6 Capitol Defendant Access to Evidence

Chapman informed district officials that there would be no uniformed officers inside the building where the meetings were taking place nor would there be a law enforcement presence on campus.

Officers would be “in the area” in case they needed to quickly respond to a call, he said, according to a report on a discussion between district officials and the sheriff’s office conveyed to Ziegler in one of the emails.

Chapman said he was motivated not to approve the requests because the school board made a number of decisions without consulting the sheriff’s office, including deciding to limit public comment for a previous June 22 meeting and hiring a security firm with a metal detector.

“LCSO has been made to appear as the muscle for school board and work at the school board’s direction,” Kevin Lewis, a district official, told Ziegler in the call summary. The sheriff also said he believed citizens should have a right to address the board and that the board was being dismissive of people with whom they disagreed.

The documents were obtained by the Fight for Schools PAC and published by Fox News.

An LCSO spokesman confirmed to The Epoch Times that the conversation took place.

“The concerns raised by Sheriff Chapman was regarding the request for extensive resources and security measures that were not deemed necessary based on intelligence gathering for that meeting,” he said in an email.

He also said that the sheriff’s office does and continues to provide security for the school board meetings.

“For safety and security reasons, we cannot share law enforcement sensitive operational plans in regards to public meetings but we can assure residents that we allocate the appropriate level of resources based on the nature of the public meetings and the intelligence developed prior to each meeting,” he said.

The school district did not respond to a request for comment.

The northern Virginia county has become the epicenter for tension between parents and school board members seen across the nation in recent months.

Members have been vocally challenged in recent meetings on proposed policies like one that would let children who identify as a sex different than the one they are born with use various bathrooms. That policy was eventually approved, even though most parents who publicly testified opposed it.

Ziegler claimed in the June meeting that the district had no record of assaults happening in bathrooms, which was factually untrue, according to an email recently disclosed by district officials. He has said he misunderstood the question and is defying calls to resign.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/loudoun-county-sheriff-rejected-superintendents-request-for-explosive-sweep-quick-reaction-force-at-board-meeting_4077191.html

The New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA) announced Thursday that it has withdrawn from the national organization following the group’s efforts to target parents.

The National School Board Association (NSBA) recently sent a letter to the Biden administration’s Department of Justice that described the actions of parents protesting policies such as critical race theory or COVID-19 rules as the equivalence of “domestic terrorism.”

“This email is to inform you that NHSBA [the New Hampshire School Board Association] has decided to withdraw its membership from the National School Boards Association, effective immediately,” NHSBA Executive Director Barrett Christina wrote. “NSBA’s recent actions have made our continued membership untenable.

The NSBA wrote Sept. 29 (pdf), “America’s public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat.”

The letter added, “As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

Following the NSBA’s letter, Attorney General Merrick Garland sent a memorandum to the Federal Bureau of Investigations to direct investigators to address the “disturbing spike” in harassment involving school board members by parents.

The controversy led lawmakers in Washington to discuss the matter with Garland this week. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee blasted the attorney general after he failed to rescind the letter or apologize regarding the matter.

“Thank God you’re not on the Supreme Court,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told Garland. “You should resign in disgrace.”

The NSBA has since apologized for its letter.

“On behalf of the NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter. To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials and educators, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue,” the NSBA wrote last Friday.

“However, there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for some consultation on a communication of this significance,” the letter added.

Despite the apology, the damage has already had negative consequences nationwide.

In addition to New Hampshire, state school board associations in Ohio, Missouri, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania have already withdrawn from the NSBA.

Three additional states, Alabama, Florida, and Kentucky, have also announced they are considering a departure from the national organization.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/new-hampshire-school-boards-association-leaves-national-organization-over-parent-controversy_4076004.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-10-30-2&mktids=197bd0f40b606ed83674b637f3e6b8c2&est=p712C%2Bt5HdNCPTGox7o3OwoBpXN0rGmvp9cxsrk91vmgG71oQ%2FAFRa6%2F2NbGnguREA%3D%3D

$100 million well spent

In the manner of a terrorist organization accepting responsibility for an atrocious attack on civilians, the Lincoln Project and a Democratic operative claimed credit for a bizarre performance of neo-Nazi cosplay on Friday as the Virginia gubernatorial race enters its final stretch.

Speculation swirled almost immediately after an NBC News reporter on Friday posted a photo of five dispirited young people, dressed in white shirts and khakis, holding tiki torches in front of Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign bus in Charlottesville, Va. One of the “white supremacists” was an African American.

Their costumes were intended to evoke the “Unite the Right” rally in 2018, when white supremacist groups gathered to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. Despite the pouring rain, the cosplayers did not break character even as curious bystanders snapped photos.

“These men approached @GlennYoungkin’s bus as it pulled up saying what sounded like, ‘We’re all in for Glenn,'” NBC 29 reporter Elizabeth Holmes wrote on Twitter, the popular social networking website. The reporter’s post was subsequently promoted by a campaign staffer for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe. Media experts instantly recognized the situation as “obviously a [Democratic] stunt,” but neither the McAuliffe campaign nor the Virginia Democratic Party would admit to paying hapless youngsters to get drenched in the name of social justice.

The Lincoln Project, a Democratic super PAC whose senior members are widely suspected of enabling the sexually predatory behavior of  disgraced cofounder John Weaver, claimed credit for the amateur stunt after a Vice News reporter identified one of the Democratic operatives holding an unlit tiki torch in the rain.

“Today’s demonstration was our way of reminding Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago, the Republican Party’s embrace of those values, and Glenn Youngkin’s failure to condemn it,” the Lincoln Project wrote in a statement. Democratic operative Lauren Windsor also posted a statement alleging she had worked with the Lincoln Project to “coordinate today’s Youngkin action in Charlottesville.”

Professional media observers were not entirely convinced by the Lincoln Project’s admission of guilt. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lincoln Project simply agreed to take responsibility after the fact as a favor to the McAuliffe campaign,” wrote Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

The Lincoln Project, which raised almost $100 million in the 2020 election cycle, has faced criticism after one of its founding members described his desire to transform the super PAC into a vehicle for “generational wealth,” while others have used the windfall to pay off back taxes, mortgages, and other debts.

Oh, and speaking of skinheads, here’s a photo of the Lincoln Project’s senior leadership:

A bill that would introduce party labels into local school board elections is advancing through Tennessee’s state legislature.

House Bill 9072, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Scott Cepicky, would allow political parties to nominate candidates for school board membership and school board candidates to campaign as a nominee or representative of a party.

Under the existing state law, school board elections in Tennessee must be conducted on a nonpartisan basis, meaning that one who seeks a position on a board will not appear on the ballot as a Democrat, Republican, or member of another political party.

You May Also Like

• Tennessee Legislature Must Pass Big COVID Test in ‘Special Session’
• California Senate Passes Bill Mandating Vote-by-Mail Ballots for This Year’s Elections
• Congress Passes Bill Making Juneteenth a Federal Holiday, Sends to Biden’s Desk
• Georgia Republican State Senators Propose Bills to End No-excuse Mail Voting, Automatic Registration
• Nancy’s Election-Rigging Bill
• UK Says Voter ID Rules to Stamp out ‘Inexcusable Potential’ for Election Fraud

The original version of the bill had sought to make partisan school board elections mandatory, but it was amended so that elections don’t have to be partisan. It passed the Tennessee House on Friday morning in a 52–39 vote.

“If the local parties don’t want to do it, they don’t have to. It’s totally permissive and wouldn’t be mandated across the state,” said Cepicky, reported Chalkbeat Tennessee.

The effort comes as controversies around public school boards, including the teaching of critical race theory and COVID-19 restrictions they put in place, continue to make national headlines. According to Ballotpedia, this year so far has seen at least 84 school board recall efforts against 215 board members, nearly triple from the previous year.

While opponents of the proposal argue that school boards elections should be made less, not more political, supporters say that a partisan ballot helps voters get a better sense of where each candidate stands on key issues.

“Our job is to provide as much transparency in the voter box as we can so that people have an idea of the level of expected performance from the people that they send to represent them,” Cepicky said, reported The Tennessean.

According to a 2020 survey by Education Next, Democrats have more favorable views toward increased school spending, the Common Core standard, and the effect of teachers’ unions on schools, while Republicans support school choice programs and basing part of the teachers’ salaries on how well their students learn.

A more recent survey by Morning Consult highlights the partisan divide on critical race theory. Nearly 80 percent of Republican participants said they view critical race theory negatively, compared with 7 and 46 percent of participants identifying Democrats and Independents, respectively. Republicans are also found to be more likely to describe the ideology with stronger words, such as “a Marxist proposal to indoctrinate children by blaming white people for everything.”

In Florida, a similar bill was proposed in September by state Sen. Joe Gruters, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. It is currently being considered in three state Senate committees.

The Orange County School Board in Florida removed a speaker from a board meeting after the man read a sexually explicit passage from a book that was available in local school libraries.

In a video recorded on Oct. 26 by a member of the Orange County chapter of pro-parental rights group Moms for Liberty, a man was ordered to be taken out of the meeting chamber by a police officer after he read from the 2019 graphic novel “Gender Queer: A Memoir.”

“I’m going to read a passage of a book that’s floating around in your schools that has been banned from many other schools,” said Jacob Engels, the speaker who was removed, according to Orange Observer. “As a member of the LGBT community, the fact that this is floating around for children as young as ninth grade is concerning.”

You May Also Like:

• ‘Book Banning’: Ontario School Board Trustees Concerned About Removal of Library Books Deemed ‘Harmful’
• Student Who Became Quadriplegic 4 Months After Meeting Boyfriend Says He’s Not Left Her Side
• Movie Review: ‘Submission’: A Warning to Dallying Professors in the #MeToo Era
• Student Expresses Concern in Essay That 29-Year-Old Teacher Hasn’t Found a Girlfriend
• California Teacher Placed on Administrative Leave After Video Emerges of Her Wearing Faux Native American Headdress and Dancing in Class
• DIY Video: Father Kicks Girls out of Room, Turns It Into a ‘Treehouse’

Engels then read a scene from the book depicting sexual acts before board chairwoman Teresa Jacobs asked him to stop, saying that he was “out of order.”

“If you don’t stop now, we will remove you from the chamber,” Jocob said. She then ordered the man’s removal as he continued to read.

Other community members in the audience can be heard protesting the interruption. “Our kids are reading this,” one man said.

“The language he just read is inappropriate in the forum,” Jocob explained.

“Then why it is appropriate for schools?” asked a woman.

“I understand the contradiction here,” Jocob replied, noting that neither she nor the board were aware of the book. “We will look into it, and I do hope the book is removed. OK? And if not, we’ll be back here having this conversation again, but I can guarantee you, I did not know that book was in the library.”

The school district later confirmed to the Observer that they have taken down all four copies of “Gender Queer” in three of the district’s 22 high schools.

“At this time, the book is not on library shelves and is under review,” the district said in a statement. “If anyone has a concern about materials or books found in our media centers or in our classrooms, Orange County Public Schools has a process in place for parents or guardians to submit a form to the school principal to address a concern.”

The graphic novel, created by California-based cartoonist Maia Kobabe, sparked a controversy earlier this week in Virginia, when conservative advocacy group Independent Women’s Voice (IWV) tried to run a 30-second TV ad containing the same sexual scene that Engels read. Local Virginia TV stations, including ABC, CBS, and NBC, have reportedly refused to air the ad, citing federal law which prohibits airing pornographic images.

“It’s shocking that images, and even some words, that federal law prohibits TV stations to share with adults are the same images being shared with Virginia students with no accountability,” said Victoria Coley, vice president of communications at IWV.

The book was available in schools in several Virginia districts, including in Fairfax, Loudon, and Arlington counties, according to IWV.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/speaker-removed-from-florida-school-board-meeting-after-reading-sex-scene-from-school-library-book_4076041.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Democrats dressed up as white supremacists in a last ditch attempt to smear Republican Glenn Youngkin.

n what quickly became a political stunt gone wrong, Democratic strategists have been accused on social media of posing as white supremacists while standing next to Virginia Republican Glenn Youngkin’s campaign bus.

Social media sleuths were quick to notice that the only people interacting with images promoted by an NBC reporter were Democratic Party political operatives. The photos were retweeted by far-left activist Adam Parkhomenko, as the public began to notice that one of the men posing as a fake Republican white supremacist bore a striking resemblance to Virginia Youth Democrats’ Finance Director, Camden Layton. 

To be clear:

Virginia Democrat operatives dressed up as Neo-Nazis holding tiki-torches today to smear their opponent and attempted to pass it off as actually happening

— Jack Posobiec  (@JackPosobiec) October 29, 2021

Another woman in the same series of photographs was fingered as potentially being Colleen Wachenfeld, who boasts about having flipped Arizona “blue” on her Twitter profile. Wachenfeld quickly changed her LinkedIn handle to “C W” shortly after the photos started to be questioned by users on Twitter. 

In response to tweets alleging that Parkhomenko was part of the “false-flag” attempt to associate moderate Republican gubernatorial candidate Youngkin, Parkhomenko said of user Alec Sears, “As I have said on the record: he made up a lie about me and is spreading that lie around the world. He claims to have receipts that don’t exist because his tweet is based on a lie. Delete your f***ing tweet you a**hole.”

Sears – himself a political consultant – has not deleted the tweet. It is unclear from an extensive search who Parkhomenko spoke to “on the record” as the tweets were only posted by Sears shortly before he responded with this threatening tweet. 

A Word of Warning on That Fox News Virginia Poll: Don’t Be Complacent.

The Democratic Party of Virginia was quick to deny official involvement with “events outside of the Youngkin campaign bus,” attempting to pivot to a discussion about Charlottesville, where a handful of left-leaning Neo Nazis once paraded pretending to be conservatives.

Twitter users continued to flood the thread with information linking the faux-white supremacists to McAuliffe.

On Thursday, a Fox News Poll found Youngkin pulling ahead of McAuliffe among Virginia’s likely voters. McAuliffe received forty-five percent (45 percent) to Youngkin’s fifty-three percent (53 percent).

The irony regarding CRT is that is actually white supremacy. If they believed in what they preach, shouldn’t they kill themselves to serve “the greater good?” [US Patriot]

On Friday morning, supposed “white supremacists” clad in white button-down shirts greeted Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s bus with tiki torches. Leftists immediately claimed they were Youngkin supporters showing their true colors.

“To my fellow Virginia residents: please vote against this blatant display of racism, hatred and intolerance,” NBC News legal analyst Glenn Kirschner wrote in a since-deleted tweet.

“Please vote FOR a kind, welcoming, diverse Virginia. Please vote @TerryMcAuliffe for governor. Because #JusticeMatters.”

deleted, but the List comes for all, @glennkirschner2.

✍🏼✍🏼✍🏼 pic.twitter.com/Oq9kmg7YAd

— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) October 29, 2021

Biden Tries to Explain Driving Cross-Country in an Electric Car, It Goes Horribly Wrong

But as the morning went on, other Twitter users began to notice the “white supremacists” were not Youngkin supporters at all. Instead, they appeared to be former Democratic staffers in the state of Virginia.

Virginia Young Democrats financial director Camden Layton and Democratic Party of Virginia staffer Colleen Wachenfeld were among the alleged participants in the stunt.

OMG LOL Va Dems did *not* just send a black man to play a ‘white supremacist for Youngkin’ 😬 pic.twitter.com/h0SZujvKX1

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 29, 2021

🚨 I am now confident that we have identified the woman in this group of political actors as Colleen Wachenfeld, with @vademocrats. pic.twitter.com/qySknRSUrd

— Alec Sears (@alec_sears) October 29, 2021

BREAKING: Financial director for Young VA Dems has gone private after being exposed for posing as a white supremacist pic.twitter.com/fbCbafIiZf

— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) October 29, 2021

Looks like they found the black “white supremacist”

and his account is also locked pic.twitter.com/m8DBH1Z91n

— Ames (@RestingTwitFace) October 29, 2021

Pro-Abortion Biden Says Pope Francis Told Him He Is a ‘Good Catholic’ and to ‘Keep Receiving Communion’

After being exposed, Wachenfield took it upon herself to rebrand, privatize and even scrub some of her social media accounts.

pic.twitter.com/0vERbo4qoR

— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) October 29, 2021

WARNING: The following tweet contains language some readers will find offensive.

Holy sh*t

Colleen Wachenfeld rebranded her Twitter account handle several times after being exposed for posing as a neo-Nazi pic.twitter.com/DhltQl7mhF

— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) October 29, 2021

LinkedIn profile has been scrubbed, including “Tracker/researcher at Democratic Party of Virginia” pic.twitter.com/g2z7M8P7yC

— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) October 29, 2021

Many Republicans saw the stunt as a last-ditch effort for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe, who is falling in the polls ahead of next week’s gubernatorial election. Conservative pundit and strategist Greg Price called the actions “desperate.”

Terry McAuliffe’s campaign was feeling so desperate at their terrible poll numbers that they made a bunch of their staffers dress as white supremacists and condemned them to being memes for the rest of their lives.

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 29, 2021

Later on Friday, The Lincoln Project attempted to take credit for the stunt in a statement. The group claims to be dedicated to “protecting democracy” by fighting against former President Donald Trump and “Trumpism.”

“Today’s demonstration was our way of reminding Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago, the Republican Party’s embrace of those values, and Glenn Youngkin’s failure to condemn it,” the statement said.

“The Youngkin campaign is enraged by our reminder of Charlottesville for one simple reason: Glenn Youngkin wants Virginians to forget that he is Donald Trump’s candidate. We will continue to hold Glenn Youngkin accountable. If he will denounce Trump’s assertion that the Charlottesville rioters possessed ‘very fine’ qualities, we’ll withdraw the tiki torches. Until then, we’ll be back.”

It is unclear whether the Democratic staffers coordinated with The Lincoln Project to perform the stunt. Judging by their social media reactions, the staffers weren’t nearly as proud to take public responsibility for their participation.

There are essentially two main explanations for the event. Either the participants were actually trying to fool people into believing they were Youngkin supporters, or they were trying to politically harm him by dressing up as white supremacists. In both scenarios, their actions are still reprehensible.

Youngkin has a real chance to win the governorship in Virginia next week, and that scares the life out of Democrats both in the state and around the country. If they think gimmicks like this one are going to help change that, they are sorely mistaken.

It was just another suburban school board meeting like the thousands of others that regularly take place around the country.

A typical meeting with the school superintendent and some staff, the board members probably facing the room, perhaps a microphone for comments from the public, and federal agents and a helicopter circling overhead.

Wait — what?

While a lot of attention has been focused on the Loudoun County, Virginia, school district and its cover-up of a girl’s rape, shady things have been going on in neighboring Fairfax County, another upscale suburb of Washington, D.C.

Parents arriving at a Fairfax school board meeting last week were greeted by unmarked federal government vehicles and a helicopter shining a searchlight down on them, according to Stacy Langton, a mother of six who attended the meeting.

Biden Tries to Explain Driving Cross-Country in an Electric Car, It Goes Horribly Wrong

Went to @fcpsnews #schoolboardmeeting last night. Heavy #Fed presence. Unmarked fed vehicles, @DHSgov vehicles, even helicopter circling overhead with spotlight on Moms & Dads. All on the night #DOJ Merrick Garland testifies. A little over the top, no?@SebGorka @AsraNomani pic.twitter.com/aUh2QuhaT3

— Stacy Langton (@StacyLangton) October 22, 2021

“This is something that is incredible in America and it’s, you know, ridiculously un-American,” Langton told Fox News.

“Honestly, I have paid a heavy price because of what I said at my school board meeting on Sept. 23 about the pornography and the pedophilia that I found in my son’s high school — at Fairfax High School.”

Langton said she has been harassed since participating in a “very peaceful, uneventful” protest last weekend at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington.

“Since the DOJ protest on Sunday … my family has been receiving daily threats,” she said. “So I have threats against my children by name, I have been followed in my car with my children in my car. … They know where I live, and I don’t know who’s putting somebody up to this, but it’s obviously meant to intimidate me.”

On Oct. 4, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo advising the FBI and U.S. attorneys to be aware of threats against school officials and school board members. He said the Justice Department is “steadfast in its commitment to protect all people in the United States from violence, threats of violence and other forms of  intimidation and harassment.”

Merrick’s memo followed the now infamous letter to President Joe Biden from the National School Boards Association likening parental protests to “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” The NSBA later rescinded and apologized for the letter.

School Board Endangers Children of Parents Who Speak Out

After being grilled by Republican lawmakers during a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Garland reiterated his intention to mobilize federal agents against perceived threats to school boards.

Regarding the alleged threats against her, Langton could only speculate.

“It could be it’s the DOJ, it could be it’s [Terry McAuliffe’s] campaign people because I know this is suddenly all about the election here in the state of Virginia, it could be the school board, it could be the LGBTQ community. I know there are a lot of people who are very unhappy about what I said at the school board meeting.

“I don’t know why people have a problem with what I said because I don’t know who is in favor of pornography in their children’s school. This isn’t a political issue, and even the liberals shouldn’t be happy that there’s porn in the schools.

“So I’m not getting a lot of sleep right now. Nobody’s sleeping in my house because we can’t be sure that we’re safe.”

Langton speaks quite articulately, but one correction might be offered.

Among leftists, everything is political.

Everything.

Ever since the National School Board Association issued an open letter to President Joe Biden which essentially branded parents who protest mask policies, critical race theory and transgender bathrooms as “domestic terrorists,” it’s become abundantly clear that school boards aren’t particularly thrilled about this new rip-roaring form of American populism coming from concerned parents.

The organization has since had to walk back its inflammatory suggestion, as member groups around the country have been pushing back, but not before the Department of Justice has taken up the cause. It appears that plenty of school boards are still very disgruntled that tax-paying parents want to show up and let them know exactly what they think about infusing COVID tyranny and leftist indoctrination into public school curricula.

One Minnesota school board has gone way, way too far, however.

Alpha News reported this week that residents of Mankato, Minnesota, who might want to point school board members to, say, COVID-19 case rates among children or to read aloud from pornographic novels they’ve found in the school library, will have to state their home address before they participate in the public portion of the meetings.

No, really.

Watch: Biden Tries to Explain Driving Cross-Country in an Electric Car, It Goes Horribly Wrong

On Oct. 18, Jodi Sapp, Mankato Area Public Schools board chair, detailed the new rules, which include the disclosure of one’s home address, a ban on addressing board members directly or discussing any issues not on the agenda for the meeting, and — oh yeah — if anyone cheers, claps, or even hollers, by George, she’s shutting the public forum down at once.

“Effective tonight, open forum participants are prohibited from calling out or addressing any individual school board or school district staff member. If this occurs, open forum will be closed,” Sapp stated during the meeting that evening. “Beginning at the Nov. 1 school board meeting, open forum will be limited to those individuals who wish to speak to an item on the board agenda.”

“Crowd noise, or any sort of grandstanding during open forum, including applause, talking, hollering or any outburst will result in open forum being closed,” she also said. “Further, beginning at the Nov. 1 school board meeting, open forum participation will be limited to those individuals who wish to speak to an item on the board agenda.”

As Alpha News noted, this effectively dictates that the public will not be allowed to address any topics the board hasn’t already decided are kosher and that individual members of the board will be shielded from any direct public criticism during board meetings.

Have school boards gone full tyrant?

Perhaps Sapp has observed from afar the fate of Loudoun County board member Beth Barts, who recently stepped down amid efforts to remove her from office over her alleged involvement with a left-wing parents’ group that was compiling lists of local parents who opposed the LGBT and “anti-racism” policies the board was attempting to pass.

Additionally, the Mankato board is now openly requiring that any parents that speak during the public portion of their meetings dox themselves prior to giving comments.

“Each speaker is asked to state his or her name and address for the record. Failure to do so will result in an individual not being allowed to speak,” Sapp stated during the meeting as reported by Fox News.

According to Alpha News, this appeared to be the first time such a policy was put in place. A meeting on Sep. 20 requested no such thing from members of the public.

Disturbingly, as the Minnesota-based outlet reported, one man initially refused to state his home address but finally acquiesced, turning away from the microphone in the hopes that it wouldn’t be captured and broadcast to online viewers of the meeting.

VA Mom: Helicopter Circled Overhead as Parents Arrived at School Board Meeting

However, “Sapp was sure to restate his exact address into her microphone so all could know where he lives,” they noted.

The stringent new requirements for members of the public came after an Oct. 4 meeting during which fewer than 10 people spoke to the board for roughly 25 minutes altogether.

“The majority of this time was used by community members to speak out against the district’s mask mandate and policy on staff vaccination,” Alpha News noted. “Some speakers’ remarks were followed by modest applause, much to the chagrin of Sapp, who appeared uncomfortable in the face of criticism.”

On Oct. 18, Sapp credited these people, whose behavior she derided as “unacceptable,” as being the reason behind the new regulations.

I’m sorry, even if these people had been heckling, shouting, and knocking chairs over during the previous meeting, what sane person thinks that forcing members of the public to disclose their home address is an acceptable means of maintaining decorum during a school board meeting?

This is not only petty and vindictive, it’s highly disturbing. Tax-paying members of the public certainly ought to be able to publicly address the board of the local school district they’re required to support without worrying that some nutjob could easily come and find them and their family while they sleep at night.

How is it remotely sensible or acceptable to risk the safety of every single member of a person’s family, including their own children, because you’re irritated that people don’t like mask policies and vaccine requirements?

Besides, if we’re supposed to believe that parents who hate masking, critical race theory and transgender students are basically domestic terrorists, wouldn’t it put any members of the public who spoke out in support of these policies at serious risk at the hands of these maniacs?

This is exactly the kind of subtle tyranny that’s being implemented across the country, from private employers to the federal government to classrooms and everywhere in between.

Sure, no one is forcing you to take the vaccine, but you’ll lose your job if you don’t. Sure, no one is forcing your child to adopt the ideology of critical race theory, but they’ll be alienated by their peers and told in class they’re a racist if they don’t repent of their whiteness.

Sure, no one is banning you from speaking out against local school board policies, but just go ahead and tell everyone where your kids sleep if you’d like the opportunity to do so.

What’s next? I shudder to imagine.

All across America, parents are fighting back against school boards. They are getting more and more outraged that our public schools would defy their concerns and teach their kids a revisionist version of our history. Parents have spoken up, confronting these liberal-controlled school boards.

Biden struck back by having the DOJ brand these parents as criminals. But that hasn’t stopped patriotic parents from fighting for their children’s educations. And in Republican-controlled Texas, they are taking steps to take out one poisonous form of curriculum.

From The Hill:

The chairman of a Texas state House committee tasked with conducting investigations is launching a probe into books that school librarians keep on their shelves in the wake of a measure the legislature passed earlier this year to bar teaching of critical race theory in public schools.

Texas state government is launching investigations to probe the kinds of books available on public school shelves. They are searching for anything that teaches the previously barred “critical race theory” curriculum being pushed by Democrats in our schools.

Texas banned this kind of teaching in the classrooms. But it’s possible that schools found loopholes by putting these books in their libraries. Teachers and liberal librarians could easily encourage kids to read these books on their own, circumventing the law.

Critical race theory has been widely panned by many historians and conservatives. Many believe the ideology twists American history by branding our founding fathers as villains over slavery and other issues. It removes the merits of our leaders and the incredible work they did to found the United States.

Many, including leaders like Ben Carson, fear how this teaching can warp the minds of millions of young people. At least in Texas, their leaders are taking the steps to eliminate this toxic teaching and restoring accurate, honest historical curriculum.

But in many other states, parents have to fight to get their voices heard. Meanwhile, the DOJ and the media branding Americans for simply speaking their mind. The only way CRT will fail is if Americans refuse to back down.

Key Takeaways:

• Texas state legislature is investigating to take CRT books from school libraries.
• The state banned the teaching of “critical race theory” and is ensuring it isn’t in the libraries.
• American parents have fought school boards to remove this teaching from schools.

Source: The Hill

Luke Rosiak’s report in The Daily Wire is further evidence that Democrats are pro-corrupt school boards and anti-parents. This should be a clear sign that Virginia needs Glenn Youngkin as governor to protect children.

The report from Luke Rosiak, a highly regarded investigative reporter, in The Daily Wire is quite disturbing. It details a cover-up of alleged sex crimes against a 12-year-old student in Fairfax County. Democrat Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe was a senior advisor to a law firm which is actually fighting against the victim. Please share this story as it should have a significant impact on the governor’s race and reinforce how we need to have control over our children’s education system.

-Newt

https://www.gingrich360.com/2021/10/28/newt-gingrich-audio-update-more-evidence-that-mcauliffe-is-against-parents-and-students/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Thursday%20-%20October%2028%20General&utm_content=Thursday%20-%20October%2028%20General+CID_b1c70ed144421cf9b7a5cda24126b31a&utm_source=Newsletter

A school board president in southern California is facing calls to resign after a hot mic caught her throwing a vulgar insult toward a parent who had expressed concern over vaccine mandates for children.

The incident occurred Tuesday in Orange County at a meeting between parents and members of the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education, KTLA-TV reported.

Marlys Davidson, the board president, and other members of the board listened to questions and statements from parents who expressed their opinions on issues ranging from mask mandates to critical race theory.

As we’ve seen in recent months, some of those questions were passionate. One woman who had identified herself as a concerned parent came up to a podium during the meeting with a message for Davidson.

KTLA reported Lauren Roupoli had asked the board to respect parents by not calling parents “selfish,” and concluded that any assumption that those in attendance to speak up for their children were there for themselves was “rude.”

Roupoli had barely concluded her comments when a microphone caught Davidson sharing a two-word response which she apparently thought could not be heard by the parents in the room.

Would you enroll your child in this school district?

“F*** you,” said a voice reported to be that of Davidson in a brazen display of disrespect amid a broader conversation nationally about school boards and their relationships with their communities. Footage from the meeting cuts before parents or fellow board members are given time to respond to the comment.

WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language which some viewers will find offensive.

Davidson later issued an apology to Roupoli through a statement that was sent to KTLA.

“I am going go personally apologize to the speaker who most certainly deserves to know that when the member of the public address the Board of Education, they must be heard with respect,” Davidson said. “I reaffirm my commitment to serve our community with dignity and integrity, and I hope they will accept my sincere apology.”

The apology felt hollow to Roupoli, however, who said she wants Davidson to step down from the board.

Authorities Declare No Crime Was Committed When Teacher Allegedly Taped Mask to Student’s Face

“After her true colors showed last night, there’s no taking that back,” Roupoli told KTLA.

The meeting was held the same day an expert panel advising the Food and Drug Administration recommended Pfizer’s vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, The New York Times reported.

Every school in California is required to mandate masks for students, faculty and staff. KNTV-TV reported Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom intends to make the shots mandatory for every student in the state.

Public schools attempting to indoctrinate children with woke ideologies have been a problem for years. But Broward County, Florida, is reportedly taking things to a whole new level of crudity.

On Wednesday, Broward County school board member Sarah Leonardi tweeted pictures of a field trip she took Wilton Manors Elementary students on. The problem was the destination of the field trip was a gay bar.

“I was SO honored to be invited to chaperone @WiltonManorsES’s field trip to the incredible Rosie’s!” she wrote. “The students and I had a fun walk over and learned a lot about our community!”

I was SO honored to be invited to chaperone @WiltonManorsES’s field trip to the incredible Rosie’s! The students and I had a fun walk over and learned a lot about our community! A huge thank you to @RosiesBnG for hosting this special field trip every year! pic.twitter.com/A3rpMbyUJP

— School Board Member Sarah Leonardi (@bcpsleonardi) October 27, 2021

No Woke Agenda in Court: Rittenhouse Judge Says Rioters Can’t Be Called ‘Victims,’ Approves This List Instead

In one picture, young students in masks can be seen outside the bar with three adults. Another image shows the young children sitting at tables inside the gay bar.

On its online menu, Rosie’s has items such as “Naked Sweaty Lovin’,” “Smack My Cheeks and Make ‘em Rosy Sauce,” “Miley Highclub” and “Beet Your Brains Out.”

Doesn’t that sound like a nice, family-friendly establishment?

Seeing children at a bar like this is disturbing in any capacity, but the fact that it appeared to be a school-sanctioned event was even more grotesque. Many users took to Twitter to express their concern.

A school in @browardschools district took elementary age kids to a gay bar on a field trip today pic.twitter.com/kfRgzPJwSO

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) October 28, 2021

Sodom and Gomorrah called, they’d like an investigation https://t.co/NDZnarwiGP

— Kenzo Frank The Evangelist (@FrankTheKenzo) October 28, 2021

When are we going say ENOUGH? https://t.co/DFniOSGj8v

— Wanderer (@sharrij) October 28, 2021

Watch: Sen. Hawley Destroys AG Garland in 92 Seconds, Catches Him Red-Handed on Loudoun Rape Case

In her tweet, Leonardi suggested the gay bar field trip was an annual event. One can only hope this exposure will spare future students from such gross mistreatment.

Previous actions from the Broward County school board suggest the body is on the political left. For example, the board voted in August to enforce a universal mask mandate despite a ban on such mandates by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, WPLG-TV reported. (The board later voted to make masks optional at the district’s high schools.)

Unfortunately, sexually charged school events promoting an LGBT agenda are becoming more prominent. On Oct. 15, Burlington High School in Vermont hosted a drag show during halftime at a high school football game.

VT: Burlington’s high school homecoming drag show leaves LGBTQ+ students with mixed emotions.

Principal Lauren McBride waited near the field, her walkie-talkie crackled: “They’re coming out, and they look fabulous.”

Child abuse.

Gender confusion.

At a public school. pic.twitter.com/btqXJBXYf0

— Dalton (@DaltonReport) October 17, 2021

Abuses like this are the reason parents are becoming more involved in their children’s education. They are also the reason why politicians like Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, who said parents should stay out of education, are falling in the polls. Meanwhile, students in China have reached the top of the world charts in reading and math performance.

Parents care about what their children are being taught, and they have every right to do so. If woke educators keep pushing leftist ideas on their students, the effects will almost certainly be felt in future elections.

The event “Defending Freedom in American Education,” held by a non-profit organization in Georgia on Oct. 23, addressed how parents can oppose Critical Race Theory (CRT), eradicate the harmful indoctrination, and preserve American values and principles in schools.

“We are vocal. We are loud. We are tenacious. We must be heard. But we are civil. We respect the rules of society and legitimate authority. We will not stand down. We are the majority—patriotic Americans who believe that a fair and just society can only be achieved when malleable young minds are free from the indoctrination that suppresses their independent thought,” said the organizer, Dr. Elana Fishbein from No Left Turn in Education.

Fishbein founded No Left Turn in Education in the fall of 2020 after her son was taught CRT at his Pennsylvania elementary school.

At the event, Fishbein said the first step is understanding the dangers of CRT and how it has infiltrated our culture through school curriculums, and that the goal of No Left Turn in Education is to empower parents to fight back.

CRT started in the mid-1970s in the writings of various American legal scholars, including Derrick Bell and Alan Freeman. It was revisited by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the 1980s.

CRT claims to study racism in society, and it presents racism as the root problem for a wide variety of social ills. In recent years, it has been endorsed by many in academia as well as U.S. civil-rights thinkers, seeking to examine the intersection of race and legal justice, or as an approach to racial justice.

Dr. Carol Swain, a best-selling author, pointed out that the current goal of leftist educators is to extend CRT into the 5–12 school system, from its well-established perch in U.S. colleges and universities, with the aim of diminishing American pride.

Paul Lott, the founder and president of the National Society for the Advancement of Black Americans told The Epoch Times “that the statistics show there is no discrimination in America.”

“Average white poverty went up in 2018,” he said. “The statistics comparing 1959 to 2018, show white babies were three times more likely to remain poor than black babies in America. … If racism was happening, this would never have happened.”

He also said he believes that this notion of race-based inequity is bred by the Hollywood media pushing these assumptions of fact on young people.

A recent lawsuit, handled by Southeastern Legal Foundation, challenges mandatory student segregation being exercised in Illinois schools. It’s said the white students and non-white students are separated from the same teacher and receive different curriculums.

Kimberly Hermann, general counsel of Southeastern Legal Foundation, advised parents of children who were being forced to accept divisive concepts based on race, to pursue legal help. She also said she believes that history should be taught in school and children should be educated with love, kindness, and caring for each other instead of hating each other.

An NBC News analysis earlier this year found at least 165 local and national groups have arisen, seeking to “disrupt or block lessons based on race and gender.”

A Minnesota school board is facing criticism because of new policies for public comment sessions at its meetings, including requiring that commenters state their home address in order to speak.

The Mankato Area Public School Board updated its open forum guidelines earlier this month, but only sparked controversy recently after video footage of an Oct. 18 meeting was shared on social media. During the meeting, parents and community members were told they must give their full address before they could speak for three minutes.

“I just want to remind everybody this is a business meeting of the school board, it is not a meeting that belongs to the public,” chairwoman Jodi Sapp told the audience before the open forum segment began.

She went on to read out the guidelines, stating that each speaker will be asked to state his or her name and address for the record, and that failure to do so will result in an individual not being allowed to speak.

The new rules also banned “calling out or addressing any individual school board or school district staff member.” If it occurs, the open forum will be closed, and the violator will not be allowed to participate in future open forums.

“Crowd noise, or any sort of grandstanding during open forum, including applause, talking, hollering or any outburst will result in open forum being closed,” Sapp added.

One of the public commenters was a Mankato man who identified himself as John Wicklund. When Sapp asked him to reveal his address, he replied that he “would rather not,” saying that he had suffered from “property damage, eggs, and everything else” by “fun people and their friends.”

After Sapp repeatedly pressed Wicklund for his precise home address, the man turned away from the microphone and gave his address in an attempt to avoid potential harassment. Sapp then restated that address using her microphone so that all could hear where he lives.

Mankato’s new policies were first reported by Minnesota news site Alpha News, which noted that rule was apparently not enforced or did not exist before October, since public forum participants were not asked to “dox themselves” at a Sept. 20 meeting.

The policies caused widespread criticism on social media, with many people questioning whether it is legal for the board to make such requirements, or whether the rules should also apply to board members themselves. The website of the Mankato school board currently doesn’t disclose each member’s home address.

The controversy comes amid a nationwide debate over parents’ role in their children’s upbringing and education. While advocacy groups like Parents Defending Education call for more parental involvement in local school districts’ decision-making process, the National School Board Association requested federal law enforcement to help handle what it described as “angry mobs” of parents who allegedly threaten the safety of teachers and school officials.

The school board did not respond to request for comment on the public forum policies.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/minnesota-school-board-demands-parents-announce-their-addresses-in-order-to-speak-at-meetings_4073972.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

“General Garland, you have weaponized the FBI and the Department of Justice. Your U.S. attorneys are now collecting and cataloging all the ways that they might prosecute parents … because they want to be involved in their children’s education.”

That’s how Sen. Josh Hawley challenged Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday as Garland testified before a Senate committee regarding the Justice Department’s interest in parents protesting against school boards.

“It’s wrong,” Hawley said. “It is unprecedented, to my knowledge, in the history of this country, and I call on you to resign.”

There may be headaches around the country today for the people who repeatedly facepalmed during Garland’s testimony.

Hawley zeroed in on Garland in front of a large photograph of police arresting Scott Smith, the angry father whose daughter was sexually assaulted in a school restroom in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Former CNN Cameraman Exposed as Alleged Congressional Hitman – ‘I’m Coming for Him’

The Republican senator grilled Garland on a letter from the U.S. attorney for Montana that he said called for the prosecution of parents speaking out against school boards.

The letter followed an Oct. 4 memo from Garland calling upon federal law enforcement officials to develop plans to respond to “threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” That memo had come days after the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Joe Biden comparing school board protesters to domestic terrorists.

“Now, you testified last week before the House that you didn’t know anything about [the Smith] case,” Hawley said.

“I find that extraordinary because the [NSBA] letter that you put so much weight on — the letter that’s now been retracted — it cites this case. … There’s a news article cited in the letter. It’s discussed in the letter, but you testified you just couldn’t remember it.”

Do you think Garland should resign?

Hawley had Garland backed into a corner. Either he hadn’t done his due diligence before signing off on the Oct. 4 memo, or he had lied to Congress about being unaware of the Loudoun County incident.

“Maybe this will refresh your memory,” Hawley continued. “Do you think people like Scott Smith — do you think parents who show up to complain about their children being assaulted ought to be treated like this man right here?” Hawley asked, pointing to the picture of Smith being pinned to the floor by police.

Garland countered by saying that parents who show up at school board meetings are protected by the First Amendment.

“Do you think that they ought to be prosecuted in the different ways that your U.S. attorneys are identifying?” Hawley shot back.

Garland answered, “If what they’re doing is complaining about what the school board is doing — policies, curriculum, anything else that they want to — as long as they’re not committing threats of violence, then they should not be prosecuted, and they can’t be.”

Sen. Hawley Calls for Resignation of Biden’s Secretary of State and Defense

But Hawley said some of his Democratic colleagues at the hearing had repeatedly compared parents protesting at school board meetings to “criminal rioters,” a charge Garland denied.

“Oh, really?” Hawley replied, picking up a piece of paper and apparently reading a quote from it. “‘These people are just like the folks who came here on Jan. 6 and [were involved in] the riot at the Capitol’?”

Garland, perhaps suddenly recalling comments by Democrats, replied, “I don’t think that they were referring to the picture that you’re showing there”

“Well, I certainly would hope not. They were referring to parents who go to school board meetings. Mr. Smith is a parent who went to a school board meeting.

“I’ll leave it at this. General Garland, you have weaponized the FBI and the Department of Justice. Your U.S. attorneys are now collecting and cataloging all the ways that they might prosecute parents like Mr. Smith because they want to be involved in their children’s education and they want to have a say in their elected officials.

“It’s wrong. It is unprecedented, to my knowledge, in the history of this country, and I call on you to resign.”

Despite challenges from Hawley and other Republicans, Garland said Wednesday that he will continue to mobilize federal officials against threats to school boards, according to U.S. News & World Report.

“True threats of violence are not protected by the First Amendment. Those are the things we are worried about here. Those are the only things we are worried about here,” Garland said.

“We are not investigating peaceful protests or parent involvement in school board meetings. There is no precedent for doing that and we would never do that. We are only concerned about violence and threats of violence against school administrators, teachers, staff.”

Of course, violence is increasingly becoming whatever leftists say it is (as in the “silence is violence” line from Black Lives Matter).

Hawley is right — Garland should resign.

And here’s a suggestion: Think about sending the video of Hawley grilling Garland to your representative or senator as a primer on what many of us expect of those representing us in Congress.

Thank you, Sen. Hawley.

A Texas House committee is investigating school library books in the wake of a new law that bans the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in public schools.

State Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican who chairs the House Committee on General Investigating, wrote on Oct. 25 to the Texas Education Agency and a group of unnamed superintendents, notifying them of the inquiry.

In the letter (pdf), Krause said a number of school districts across the state have recently removed books from libraries and classrooms after receiving objections from students, parents, and taxpayers. The letter cites five incidents as examples, which mostly involved concerned parents who complained that certain books are sexually explicit or teach CRT.

“In accordance with the Committee’s jurisdiction and my authority as Chairman, I am initiating an inquiry into Texas school district content,” he said.

Attached to the letter is a 16-page list (pdf) containing more than 840 books, published between 2021 and as early as 1969. It includes titles that are popular among social and racial justice activists, such as “Stamped from the Beginning: the Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” and “How to Be An Anti-Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander, and books about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Also on the list are books focused on transgender, gender identity, homosexuality, adolescent sexuality, pregnancy and abortion, including those discussing the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade. It also includes “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore, likely because of the graphic novel’s portrayal of homosexual characters.

Specifically, Krause asked school districts to report on how many copies of each listed book they possess, and how much money was spent on those books.

Krause further asked that school districts identify any other books that cover topics including “human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or HIV or AIDS, sexually explicit images, graphic presentations of sexual behavior that is in violation of the law,” or contain material that might violate the anti-CRT law by conveying that students are inherently racist or sexist or should feel guilt because of their sex or race.

The school districts will have until Nov. 12 to respond to those questions, according to the letter.

The initiative faced almost immediate opposition from Texas’s teachers’ unions. In an Oct. 26 statement, Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina said Krause’s letter “smacks of a witch hunt.”

“This is an obvious attack on diversity and an attempt to score political points at the expense of our children’s education,” Molina said.

Molina was joined by Zeph Capo the president of Texas American Federation of Teachers, who called the move “akin to the Red Scare” and a waste of taxpayer’s dollars.

It is unclear what Krause is planning to do once the school districts provide him with the information. The Epoch Times has reach out to his office for comment and will update this article accordingly.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-house-republican-investigates-school-library-books-about-race-sex_4072228.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Denouncing efforts by the National School Boards Association to demonize parents who demand a say in the education of their children, the Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday announced they will investigate potential collusion between the Biden administration and the National School Boards Association.

A rising tide of parental anger has been building across America as schools boards have jammed mask mandates, critical race theory, transgender activism and assorted other far-left extremist indoctrination tactics down the throats of children.

In response to defiant parents refusing to be pushed around any longer, Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this month issued a memo saying that the Justice Department will now intervene on the side of school boards against parents.

#BREAKING: Judiciary Republicans launch new investigation into the National School Boards Association. pic.twitter.com/O4xGUmrNFQ

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 27, 2021

No Woke Agenda in Court: Rittenhouse Judge Says Rioters Can’t Be Called ‘Victims,’ Approves This List Instead

Garland’s memo implied that parents who speak up against White House and teachers union-backed policies are a threat to society.

Garland’s policy came in response to a demand from the National School Boards Association that parents learn their place.

“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the group wrote in a letter.

The school boards association has since issued an apology for the reference to domestic terrorism, but not the general tenor of its attack on parents.

Is the Biden White House anti-parent?

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent a scathing letter to the National School Boards Association on Wednesday announcing the launch of their investigation into the organization’s war on parents in partnership with the White House.

“We are investigating the troubling attempts by the Department of Justice and the White House to use the heavy hand of federal law enforcement to target concerned parents at local school board meetings and chill their protected First Amendment activity,” the letter thundered.

Noting that the group’s letter denouncing parents produced the knee-jerk reaction of Garland’s memo, the letter added that Garland told the House panel that the letter’s wild claims were the basis of his anti-parent memo.

Merrick Garland tells @ChuckGrassley he will not dissolve school board task force even though the National School Boards Association apologized for the “domestic terrorism” letter that seemingly prompted Garland to create the task force

— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) October 27, 2021

‘WJ Live’: After Student Walk-Out, Loudoun County Parents Demand School Board Resignation

“The Biden Administration seemingly relied upon the NSBA letter — which it coordinated in advance with the NSBA — as justification to unleash the full weight of the federal law enforcement apparatus upon America’s parents,” the letter read.

“Parents have an undisputed right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, including expressing concerns about the inclusion of controversial curricula in their child’s education,” the House Republicans wrote, noting that the school boards association appears not to recognize that.

“Unsurprisingly, the NSBA’s September 29 letter to President Biden never once mentioned ‘parents’ or parents’ role in their children’s education — although its subsequent apology memorandum purported to value the ‘voices of parents.’ Concerned parents are absolutely not domestic terrorists and, to the extent actual threats exist, local law enforcement — and not the FBI — are the appropriate authorities to address those situations,” the letter read.

“Parents cannot tolerate this collusion between the NSBA and the Biden Administration to construct a justification for invoking federal law enforcement to intimidate and silence parents using their Constitutional rights to advocate for their child’s future.”

The letter called for a release of all the documents from the group and the Biden administration that were germane to its demand that parents be restrained from publicly advocating for their children.

The letter also asked whether, in light of its new-found claim that it values parents, “the NSBA will urge Attorney General Garland to withdraw or rescind his October 4 memorandum.”

The letter was signed by Republican Reps. Jim Jordan, of Ohio; Steve Chabot of Ohio; Louie Gohmert of Texas; Darrell Issa of California; Ken Buck of Colorado; Matt Gaetz of Florida; Mike Johnson of Louisiana; Andy Biggs of Arizona; Tom McClintock of California; Greg Steube of Florida; Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin; Thomas Massie of Kentucky; Chip Roy of Texas; Dan Bishop of North Carolina; Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota; Victoria Spartz of Indiana; Scott L. Fitzgerald of Wisconsin; Cliff Bentz of Oregon and Burgess Owens of Utah.

Parents group fires back, says DOJ memo designed to suppress dissenting parents

Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Oct. 27 that it was appropriate for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to send a memo to school boards despite a National School Boards Association (NSBA) decision to withdraw its letter comparing parent protesters to domestic terrorists.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Garland attempted to distance the DOJ’s memo from the NSBA letter.

“All it asks is for federal law enforcement to consult with, meet with local law enforcement to assess the circumstances, strategize about what may or may not be necessary to provide federal assistance, if it is necessary,” Garland said, in response to questioning from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

The memo, he said, “alters some of the language in the letter that we did not rely on and is not contained in my own memorandum. The only thing the Justice Department is concerned about is violence and threats of violence.”

After the NSBA letter and DOJ’s memo were issued, Republicans in Congress said the Biden administration was trying to quash parental dissent against the teaching of controversial subjects, including the quasi-Marxist critical race theory.

Republicans have said the DOJ should withdraw the memo since the NSBA retracted and apologized for its letter last week. The original letter referred to protests against school board members and likened such actions to domestic terrorism, asking the DOJ to use the Patriot Act.

“I think all of us have seen these reports of violence and threats of violence—that is what the Justice Department is concerned about,” Garland said on Oct. 27. “That’s the reason that we responded as quickly as we did when we got a letter indicating that there was violence and threats of violence with respect to school officials and school staff.”

Real and concrete threats of violence against school officials “are not protected by the First Amendment,” he said. “We are not investigating peaceful protests or parent involvement in school board meetings.”

The follow-up apology letter issued by the NSBA “does not change” its concern about the threat of violence, Garland said, telling Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) that the DOJ directive merely addresses whether any federal laws were being broken.

Without providing any concrete examples or data, the attorney general’s memo issued earlier in October said there has been a “disturbing spike” in threats of violence, harassment, and intimidation against teachers, school board members, and other educators. In a separate statement, the DOJ also announced the creation of a task force that would deal with such threats, which includes the agency’s National Security Division.

In response to Garland’s testimony on Oct. 27, Parents Defending Education head Nicole Neily said in a statement that a “number of people across the country” were terrified by the DOJ memo. The memo also suppressed parents from attending meetings and voicing their concerns “because they feared a knock at the door by the FBI,” Neily said.

Garland confirmed during an Oct. 21 House Judiciary Hearing that the basis for the claim of a “disturbing spike” in threats was based on the NSBA letter—not on law enforcement intelligence or academic studies.

But the NBSA has since distanced itself from its initial letter.

“On behalf of the NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter,” the group’s Oct. 22 letter said. “To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials and educators, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue.

“However, there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for some consultation on a communication of this significance.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/ag-garland-defends-memo-targeting-parents-after-nsba-letter-is-withdrawn_4071931.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Letter requesting federal help on rowdy school board meetings prompted DOJ action

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee started an investigation Wednesday into what they called “collusion” between the Biden administration and the National School Boards Association ahead of the Justice Department’s decision to intervene in squabbles between parents and school officials.

In a letter to NSBA officials, the Republicans asked for their communications with the White House, FBI and Justice Department related to the organization’s Sept. 29 letter to President Biden calling for federal assistance and comparing threats against school officials to “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

The NSBA board of directors issued an apology last week to its state affiliates for the letter, after Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Oct. 4 directive bringing in the FBI to address “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence” against school officials.

“We are investigating the troubling attempts by the Department of Justice and the White House to use the heavy hand of federal law enforcement to target concerned parents at local school board meetings and chill their protected First Amendment activity,” said the 19 House Judiciary Republicans in the letter obtained by The Washington Times.

They cited internal emails posted by Parents Defending Education in which NSBA President Viola Garcia and interim Executive Director Chip Slaven said their staff had been in discussions with the White House about the letter before it was sent.

“The Biden administration seemingly relied upon the NSBA letter — which it coordinated in advance with the NSBA — as justification to unleash the full weight of the federal law enforcement apparatus upon America’s parents,” said the Republican letter, led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the committee.

The GOP letter also asked “whether the NSBA will urge Attorney General Garland to withdraw or rescind his October 4 memorandum.”

“Concerned parents are absolutely not domestic terrorists and, to the extent actual threats exist, local law enforcement — and not the FBI — are the appropriate authorities to address those situations,” said the GOP letter. “Parents cannot tolerate this collusion between the NSBA and the Biden administration to construct a justification for invoking federal law enforcement to intimidate and silence parents using their constitutional rights to advocate for their child’s future.”

Mr. Garland refused to retract the memo under questioning Wednesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying it came “in response to concerns about violence, threats of violence, other criminal conduct — that’s all it’s about.”

He also made it clear that he never referred in his memo to “domestic terrorism.”

“The language in the letter that they disavow is language that was never included in my memo and never would have been,” Mr. Garland said. “I did not adopt every concern that they had in their letter. I adopted only the concern about violence and threats of violence and that hasn’t

changed.”

The NSBA letter backed up its request for federal involvement by citing two dozen articles about school board meetings featuring outspoken parents alarmed about critical race theory and mask mandates, but the reports listed only two arrests.

One of those arrested was Scott Smith, a parent in Loudoun County, Virginia, who was charged with disorderly conduct in June after he sought to confront the board about his daughter being sexually assaulted in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School.

A Loudoun County juvenile court judge ruled Monday that the attacker engaged in “non-consensual sex” and would be sentenced in November.

“The letter cited a number of interactions at school board meetings, the vast majority of which did not involve violence or threats,” the Republicans said. “Notably, as one ‘example’ of alleged domestic terrorism, the NSBA cited an instance in Loudoun County, Virginia, where a father angrily confronted members at a school board meeting about the heinous sexual assault of his daughter.”

On Monday, Mr. Smith asked the NSBA for a full retraction and apology for being called a domestic terrorist, according to ABC7 News.

The Washington Times has reached out to the NSBA for comment.

The NSBA board of directors said in its Oct. 22 memo to state affiliates that “we regret and apologize for the letter,” which was signed by Ms. Garcia and Mr. Slaven, not the board.

“There was no justification for some of the language included in the letter,” the board said. “We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance. We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.”

The memo said the organization would be conducting a formal review of its procedures.

• Emily Zantow contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/oct/27/house-republicans-launch-probe-white-house-school-/

As Republican Glenn Youngkin insists that the election for governor of Virginia is all about parents and their children, to President Joe Biden, it’s seemingly all about Donald Trump.

Biden name-dropped the former president 24 times in 17 minutes Tuesday during a campaign stop to help Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, according to the New York Post.

Youngkin has made the race a dead heat, leading to an onslaught of big-name Democrats coming to Virginia in hopes of energizing their voters in the Nov. 2 election.

Biden’s jabs at Trump were part of a Democratic strategy to paint Youngkin as a wild-eyed Trumpist who would bring the kind of chaos witnessed in the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion to the sedate liberal mainstream of Virginia voters.

Biden said “extremism can come in many forms,” including “the rage of a mob” and “a smile and a fleece vest,” according to Yahoo.

‘Identifiable Harm’: Biden Kills JFK File Release, Issues Baffling Statement

One of Youngkin’s campaign trademarks is a fleece vest.

Youngkin has Trump’s support, but given the highly divided nature of the state from its liberal enclaves around Washington, D.C., to its more conservative counties, Youngkin has decided on a campaign strategy that does not include using Trump as an in-person speaker to rally the Republican vote.

However, Biden pictures Youngkin as a Trump loyalist.

“I ran against Donald Trump. Terry is running against an acolyte of Donald Trump,” Biden said.

Will Democratic scare tactics work this time around?

“He (Youngkin) won’t allow Donald Trump to campaign for him in this state. He’s willing to pledge his loyalty to Trump in private; why not in public? What’s he trying to hide? Is there a problem with Trump being here? Is he embarrassed?”

During his speech, Biden was heckled by protesters concerning the Line 3 pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Wisconsin.

“This is not a Trump rally; we let them holler,” Biden said

Biden, along with former President Barack Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, are trying to energized Democrats.

Youngkin has turned away from the traditional political name game and has been strong in his focus on recent in-state controversies, including sexual assault accusations at Loudoun County Public Schools.

Report: Trump’s New Social Media Platform to Have Feature That Will Make It Immune to Cancel Culture

He also has backed parents who oppose certain books in schools that discuss sex in explicit detail. That has pitted him against McAuliffe, who has backed schools against parents.

What’s it like to have Terry McAuliffe block you from having a say in your child’s education?

This mom knows – she lived through it. Watch her powerful story. #VAgov pic.twitter.com/u8EjmMQX0n

— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) October 25, 2021

“I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision,” McAuliffe said in a debate against Youngkin, according to the New York Post.

“I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Youngkin, however, said the upcoming election will define if parents will be relegated to second-class status.

“Virginians have a moment to stand up, not just for the future of Virginia’s kids, but for America’s kids. And that’s why this race is so important to everyone right now,” he said, according to Fox News.

“The nation is watching because they recognize that when Virginians stand up and take a state that has been blue and elect a Republican governor, it’s going to make a statement that’s going to be (heard) not just around the country, but around the world.”

Democrats are clearly concerned about the upcoming gubernatorial election in Virginia. In fact, President Joe Biden went down to Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday to speak on behalf of Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe.

Before current governor Gov. Ralph Northam was leading the state with such accomplishments as being exposed for racist yearbook pictures and obscene views on abortion, McAuliffe was Virginia’s governor from 2014-2018. This time around, he is hoping that his previous tenure can push him to victory once again.

According to his website, McAuliffe successfully “fought the Republican-led legislature” in Virginia to achieve things like “expand[ing] preschool to thousands of Virginia children.” Biden was attempting to boast about this feat when he made one of his infamous gaffes.

“So, if you’re looking for someone who is going to keep your economy going and growing, the man behind me is the guy to get it done,” Biden said according to a White House transcript. “He’ll do it again. In fact, we’re taking a page from Terry’s book when he was governor and when he’d be governor next time.”

In his next sentence, Biden attempted to talk about McAuliffe’s achievements in Virginia preschools. If you just read the transcript, you would think nothing went wrong.

This 5-Year-Old Tweet from Hillary Clinton Just Resurfaced, And It Reminds Everyone Why She Wasn’t Elected

“We’re emerging from this pandemic, and we want to expand pre-k for three- and four-year-olds — millions of pre-K children,” the transcript claims Biden said.

In contrast, video from the speech posted to Twitter paints a much different picture.

Huh? pic.twitter.com/VOaCNt2zSG

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 27, 2021

Biden may be trying to say “millions of pre-K children,” but it sounds a lot more like gibberish. To the best of my ability, I would translate the comment as “milliuns uh pre-care gogu.”

In context, it is possible to use deductive reasoning and infer that Biden was talking about pre-K children. But that’s not the point.

Americans should not have to listen to the president garble his words over and over again and try to guess what he is saying. That is not a quality of a good leader.

Having a stutter is one thing, but consistently slurring, mumbling and forgetting things is another. Biden’s actions suggest cognitive deficiencies far beyond a simple speech impediment from childhood.

In addtion to that issue, McAuliffe’s preschool plan this time around is not all Democrats make it out to be. In reality, it is basically a massive spending spree, as are most leftist ideas.

Is Joe Biden suffering a cognitive decline?

In a separate tab on McAuliffe’s website, his campaign describes the preschool plan. McAuliffe plans to “invest a record $2 billion annually in education,” make a “$75 million per year investment in broadband to expand access and lower monthly costs,” and “cover education costs for students who commit to teaching for five years in one of Virginia’s public schools after graduation.”

Of course, the page doesn’t say how McAuliffe plans to pay for this plan, but it probably involves raising taxes and/or pulling money out of thin air.

To make matters worse, McAuliffe has made comments last month that suggest he cannot be trusted with any sort of power over education.

On Sept. 28, McAuliffe suggested parents should have less of a say in their own children’s education.

‘We Are Helpless’: Biden Ignores Disabled Man Begging Admin to Get His Wife, Kids Out of Afghanistan

“I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” he said.

Biden not only failed to speak clearly while trying to praise McAuliffe, but also praised him for his record on education despite multiple question marks. That is probably not the boost McAuliffe needed in a tight gubernatorial race.

The parents of a Leon County school student have filed a lawsuit against school officials for violation of parental rights in an effort to stop enforcement of the district’s transgender-affirming “guidance” for their minor-aged daughter that was kept secret from the parents.

The Plan

As reported by The Epoch Times in August, January Littlejohn of Tallahassee, Florida, was horrified to discover that school officials held a secret meeting with her 13-year-old daughter to discuss how the school would accommodate her decision to be acknowledged as non-binary and use an alternate name at school. The plan made it clear to staff that the parents were not “aware and supportive of their child’s gender transition.” Therefore, while the school psychologist/social worker, principal, assistant principal, counselor, student teachers, substitute teachers, and the child’s peer group were allowed to know what was going on, the use of “privacy when speaking to parents” was listed as one of the “considerations” that “must be accounted for in implementing this plan.”

According to the Leon County School District’s Transgender/Gender-Nonconforming Student Support Plan—filled out during a Sept. 8, 2020, private meeting and first obtained by The Epoch Times—a “checklist” was used to record the child’s new non-binary status, “preferred name,” and “preferred pronouns.” The child also determined which bathroom she preferred using and that she would “be comfortable rooming w/either sex” on overnight school trips. This opened the door to having the 13-year-old girl rooming with teenage boys without her parents’ knowledge.

Through the series of emails and meetings between January and Jeffrey Littlejohn, their attorney and Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna—which followed the discovery of the secret meeting—Hanna eventually conceded in a May 24, 2021 letter addressed to Mary McAlister—lead counsel for the Littlejohns—that “there was no basis to exclude” the parents from the private meeting. In the letter—also obtained by The Epoch Times—Hanna also said “a revised Q&A specific to the Littlejohn’s concern was provided to the administrators reiterating the directive to promptly contact parents of students who identify as LGBTQ+.” In conversations with the Littlejohns, Hanna further admitted the passage of H.B. 241, the Florida Parents’ Bill of Rights, “changed everything” in this matter.

Leon County Schools Equity Officer Kathleen Rodgers also told The Epoch Times in August that the district was “working to put together a more detailed policy to be more inclusive of the Parent Bill of Rights” and that “a committee” would meet “in the next few weeks to tweak policies and begin the process to present them to the School Board for adoption.”

The Broken Promises

“We have been meeting with the district for over a year and we were holding faith in what the superintendent was telling us,” January Littlejohn told The Epoch Times the day after the lawsuit was filed, “They said ‘you’re absolutely right, you should have been included,’ and ‘from here on out parents will be included.’ We thought that hiring attorneys would let them know we were serious and that passing the Parents’ Bill of Rights and having that signed into law would be enough.”

However, while the Littlejohns believed their July 1 meeting with school officials and their attorney went well—just after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Parents’ Bill of Rights into law—the passage of time found nothing had changed.

While the Littlejohns requested to see the promised revised policy from the Leon County School District, all they found was that the school had pulled the old guide from the internet.

Despite Hanna’s assurance that parents will be included in important decisions being made for their child, it has become very clear that Leon County school officials are maintaining their policy of keeping everything secret.

“That was a huge red flag for me that they weren’t adhering to what was promised at the meeting,” Littlejohn said “and I became very concerned that we were being dragged along and they were not going to make good on their word. So we filed the lawsuit.”

The Lawsuit

According to Littlejohn, school officials continue to insist that they are following school guidelines, which are to protect the privacy of the children. However, their lawyer insists school officials are twisting the definition of the word “privacy” to push their own agenda.

“When we say ‘private,’ these school officials are taking the position of ‘keeping things private from parents,” Vernadette Broyles, president and general counsel at Child & Parental Rights Campaign Inc. in John’s Creek, Georgia, told The Epoch Times. Broyles is one of the attorneys representing the Littlejons in their lawsuit.

“We have no quarrel in protecting children’s privacy from a third party,” Broyles explained. What they do have a problem with is when school officials take the position that the decisions they make that affect the mental health and well-being of someone else’s child—like the decision to identify as something other than their sex, what bathrooms the child will use, and where they sleep on a field trip—should be kept secret from parents.

“Those are profoundly impactful decisions and they’re taking a position of saying they cannot share it with parents,” Broyles asserted “and that is a distortion of the concept of privacy of a child to keep such information from the child’s parents.”

According to Broyles, the individuals named in the complaint filed on Oct. 18 are Hanna and Rodgers. Broyles said the Leon County School Board was also named in the suit because they have reason to believe the board had “some complicity and knowledge of what was going on.”

The complaint alleges that the Defendants “violated Plaintiffs’ fundamental rights by implementing a protocol and training district staff to conceal from parents information regarding their children’s assertion of a discordant gender identity,” and “violated Plaintiffs’ fundamental rights by directing staff to deceive parents by using the children’s birth name and corresponding pronouns in the presence of or communication with the parents while using the children’s new chosen name and pronouns at all other times.”

‘Common Sense Things’

According to Broyles, they are asking for “some very common sense things.” They want the school to formally rescind the old guidance they had on the website, specifically the directives to “intentionally deceive parents by using the child’s given name and pronouns when the parents were around or when speaking to parents” and to “revert to using the assumed identity of the child” once the “parents were out of the way.”

“That is unconscionable,” Broyles said.

They also want a new policy drafted that makes it clear, “whenever a child expresses confusion about their gender identity or their sex that parents would be immediately notified because it is a health issue.”

In addition, “no meetings will be held and no actions will be taken until school staff and/or officials have first spoken to the parents and obtained their permission and their participation in these decisions.” They also demand that “any new policies be implemented through school board notification and voting.”

“That’s a big issue,” Littlejohn noted, explaining that many schools are able to keep parents in the dark about what is going on in their children’s schools by calling these procedures “guidance” rather than “policies.”

“We’re seeing around the country where these kinds of “guidance” are being implemented through back channels, decided somewhere in private conversations and then put in place not through the public school boards, which are accountable to parents and the community,” Littlejohn explained.

Asked if they believe the implementation of “guidance” through “private conversations” suggests there is an intentional violation of Florida’s Sunshine Laws, Broyles said the possibility is obvious.

“We suspect there is but we decided not to focus on that because those types of violations typically have a short statute of limitations and limited remedies,” Broyles explained. “This is a bigger picture. This lawsuit is about protecting the fundamental rights of parents to raise their children without the interference of government officials so we have focused on the guarantees under the Unites States Constitution, the Florida State Constitution, the protections of the Florida Parents’ Bill of Rights, and other Florida statutes.

“This is not just a Florida thing,” Broyles insisted. “This is a national agenda to drive a wedge between parents and their children because somehow public school officials have taken the position and have somehow come to believe that they know better than parents and that children are nothing more than the mere creatures of the state. This case is to establish that children belong to families and that parents are the rightful adults to be making these decisions about what’s in their child’s best interest.

“I want to be very clear about something,” Broyles added, “affirming a child’s discordant gender identity is a significant mental health and medical decision that affects the well-being of children with potentially life-long consequences. To affirm a child’s discordant identity is a treatment decision to a complex mental health issue that schools are not qualified to make. Parents must immediately be involved in such decisions. So this case is about establishing the rightful place of parents to make those decisions and that’s what protects children.”

The Secret Game of ‘Guidance’ Versus ‘Policy’

“This issue of ‘guidance’ versus ‘policy’ is really significant,” Littlejohn reiterated, sharing that she had watched a conference hosted by Equality Florida “that specifically told the schools, administrators, guidance counselors, and all of the attendees to implement guidance, not policy because you don’t have to have any input to do that.”

When they call it “guidance” rather than “policy” Littlejohn said school officials “can effectively train teachers, put on seminars, webinars and implement these procedures without ever having to go through the school board to get public comment.”

“It’s all done very much in secret from parents,” Littlejohn said, explaining how she had found “these same exact LGBTQ non-conforming guides” in many other Florida school districts including Broward, Dade, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Orange, Pasco, Hillsborough, and Alachua.

“And these were just the ones I researched,” Littlejohn noted. “I didn’t have time to research all the counties in Florida yet but it’s very easy to find these guides and it specifically states to keep this information from parents because outing a child to the parents could result in abuse or homelessness.”

Quisha King, the mother whose speech opposing critical race theory before the Duval County School Board went viral, produced a video warning parents that what happened in secret with the Littlejohns could also be happening to their children in Duval County.  In the video, King reads directly from the Duval County Public Schools’ “Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender & Questioning LGBTQ+” Support Guide (pdf), which instructs any teacher or school administrator who is asked about a child’s chosen status by a child’s parent to provide the following “appropriate response”:Based on policy and federal guidelines, I cannot divulge whether your child and I have had any such confidential conversations, as even students are legally afforded rights of privacy.

The guide further instructs that “upon notification of a transgender or gender non-conforming student’s status,” school staff should complete a support plan, just like the one filled out by the Littlejohn’s daughter in secret meeting with school officials, “in collaboration with the student and parent/guardian (if aware) to provide guidance to school staff on how to support the child at school.” The guide also provides a “reminder,” that “a student’s gender identity should never be disclosed without their consent even to a parent or guardian.” As it reads on the booklet cover, this guidance is to be practiced in “every school, every classroom,” with “every student, every day.”

“That’s devotion, honey,” King told The Epoch Times, clarifying that this means it applies to all Duval County children in kindergarten through twelfth grade. “They even have in the guide how to talk to kindergartners about this.”https://www.youtube.com/embed/fYbeqhTYvTA?wmode=transparent&wmode=opaque

“They put this out there under the umbrella of civil rights, privacy, and anti-bullying,” King explained. “But I don’t understand why we have to cater to one specific group. Nobody should be bullied. No one should be harassed. Why do we have to have LGBTQ signs everywhere as if they’re a special group? It should just be ‘we don’t tolerate bullying or harassment of anyone,’ period.”

The ‘Mishandling of This Situation’

“While we seldom comment on pending litigation, we have seen that the district openly acknowledged their mishandling of this situation and apologized for the matter,” Christina Pushaw, press secretary for DeSantis told The Epoch Times.

This is not the first time Leon County has been in the legal hot seat. On Oct. 12, Leon County was slapped with a $3.57 million fine for violation of state law prohibiting vaccine mandates for government employees and for firing 14 who refused to comply. They have until Nov. 5 to pay the penalty.

“The district should take every step necessary to get a firm grip on its school operations and hold accountable all those who permitted this ridiculous situation to occur,” Pushaw stated further. “Governor DeSantis has always stood strong for parents’ rights and will continue fighting to protect parents’ rights to make health and education decisions for their own children.”

“The Leon County School Board has admitted their mishandling of the situation and apologized to the family,” Brett Tubbs from the communications office for Florida Department of Education Director Richard Corcoran, told The Epoch Times, “however we must hold those who permitted this situation to occur accountable. The Leon County School District must take every step necessary to fix this situation. Governor DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) have fought for the rights of parents and will continue to do so when making health and education decisions for their students. FDOE has been extremely clear that elected officials cannot pick and choose what laws they follow and that parents have the right to make personal and private health care and education decisions for their families.”

The Epoch Times reached out twice to Hanna for comment. He did not respond.

The Epoch Times also reached out to Rodgers.

“We do not comment on open litigation,” Chris Petley in the communications office replied.

The Epoch Times also reached out twice to Leon County School Board Chair Georgia “Joy” Bowen (District 5). She did not respond.

For parents who want more information on their rights regarding transgender indoctrination in Florida schools, Broyles suggests: Navigating the Transgender Landscape School Resource Guide.

“A group of four attorneys and three educators created this guide to be an antidote to the propaganda with which activists have flooded our schools,” Broyles said. “It is filled with medically accurate information that was reviewed and endorsed by fourteen medical professionals. ”

“They are really pinning the child against the parent and that’s what was so profound to me,” Littlejohn said. “There was not just one person in the meeting with my daughter but three school officials had her in a room, by herself, completing this guide with her and this is being done, not only in our state but all over America. This is a really significant issue happening that parents are in the dark about. Parents need to find a voice and stand up for parental rights before they’re completely gone.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/florida-parents-file-lawsuit-for-violation-of-parental-rights-to-stop-secret-transgender-affirming-guidance_4061814.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-10-27-2&mktids=8fad7d3c419cbc705c54928a13445e7d&est=mR7%2FgqUJckBC0Sm04dfAOxjruxWCH97pdvLTENDkU6VHLJS6VjTB%2ByTpwMkHQbrohA%3D%3D

Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy condemned Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Biden administration over Garland’s letter to the FBI targeting parents protesting at school board meetings.

Kennedy made the remarks in an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

“Merrick Garland is the vessel here. The prophet is President Biden in the White House. Merrick Garland’s not going to back off until the White House tells him to back off, and all of this was instigated by the White House,” Kennedy said.

“Most parents don’t believe that babies can be white supremacists.” @SenJohnKennedy previews the questions Attorney General Merrick Garland will face during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the DOJ’s probe into ‘threats’ against school boards @BillHemmer @DanaPerino pic.twitter.com/c7W4hA8sKV

— America’s Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) October 27, 2021

This 5-Year-Old Tweet from Hillary Clinton Just Resurfaced, And It Reminds Everyone Why She Wasn’t Elected

Kennedy said the issue is really about parents’ love for their children.

“You don’t have to be a Latin scholar to figure out what this is all really about. It’s about parental love. My late father used to tell me when I was a kid. He’d say, ‘Son, you’ll never know love until you have a child.’ And he was right,” the congressman said.

Kennedy also criticized critical race theory.

Should children be taught the tenets of critical race theory?

“Most parents want what’s best for their children. They don’t want their children to grow up to hate. They don’t want their children to grow up to be racists. And that’s what critical race theory teaches,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy argued that there is a clear distinction between teaching children American history and imposing a worldview that labels people racist from birth.

“Should our kids learn about slavery and Jim Crow in school? Yes. Should our kids be taught about the Tulsa Massacre? You bet,” Kennedy said.

“But should our kids be taught that white babies are born bad and black babies are born hopeless and can’t make it without the help of the government? That’s drivel,” he added.

“Most parents know that. They don’t want that because they don’t believe it. Most parents don’t believe that babies can be white supremacists. And that’s really what this is all about.”

Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing comes after 19 Republicans on the committee sent a letter to Garland on Monday demanding that he rescind an Oct. 4 memorandum targeting parents protesting at school board meetings.

Senator Dubs Biden’s Afghanistan Debacle ‘The Mona Lisa of Incompetence’

Garland had previously testified before the committee regarding the controversial memo.

“Your testimony before the Judiciary Committee last week concerning your October 4, 2021, memorandum targeting concerned parents at school board meetings was troubling,” the Republicans’ letter read.

Garland’s memo was sent to the FBI after the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Joe Biden characterizing vocal parents as domestic terrorists. The NSBA later apologized for the letter.

Loudoun County, Virginia, parents have a clear message for their school board and superintendent: It’s time for them to go.

At a meeting Tuesday night, parents demanded the Loudoun County School Board and Superintendent Scott Ziegler resign, according to Fox News.

This comes after an uncovered email showed the superintendent knew about a May 28 sexual assault in a high school girl’s bathroom by a boy wearing a skirt but didn’t disclose it when asked at a school board meeting regarding transgender bathrooms.

That student, who was transferred to another school in Loudoun County, was accused of a subsequent sexual assault on Oct. 6.

On Monday, the now-15-year-old boy — who the parents of the victim said described himself as “gender-fluid,” according to WUSA-TV — was convicted of all charges in the May 28 case.Trending:‘Identifiable Harm’: Biden Kills JFK File Release, Issues Baffling Statement

The school board meeting came just hours after The Washington Post estimated 2,500 students walked out of Loudoun County schools in protest of the alleged sexual assaults.

“You are so concerned with pushing race and gender that you sacrificed our children,” Patti Hidalgo Menders, president of the Loudoun County GOP Women’s Club, told the board on Tuesday. “A girl was sexually assaulted in May, and you all knew about it. The predator was put back in schools to sexually assault another girl. You all should be fired.”

“We demand the resignation of Scott Ziegler,” Alicia Brand said.

Amanda Shallott, meanwhile, told the board that “LCPS protects rapists” and said the school board “covered up the assault” and that “Ziegler lied about it.”

“I call for immediate resignations of Dr. Ziegler and any of you that had knowledge of the rape this spring,” Shallott said.

Another father called upon Ziegler to “end the mockery you have brought on this great county.”

Loudoun dad calmly told the school board to resign tonight and “end the mockery you have brought on this great county” pic.twitter.com/DlTwuHwszO

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) October 27, 2021

“You have buried a sexual assault to protect your precious 8040 policy,” said Carrie Michon, a grandmother of schoolchildren in Loudoun County. “Every last one of you, resign!”

The 8040 policy is the district’s guidance regarding transgender students, including what facilities they can use.Related:‘Loudoun County Protects Rapists’: Students Walk Out After District Reportedly Covered Up Rape

“All students are entitled to have access to restrooms and locker rooms that are sanitary, safe, and adequate, so that they can comfortably and fully engage in their school programs and activities. Students should be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their gender identity,” the pertinent part reads.

The Virginia Department of Education requires similar guidance on transgender students for all schools, although there’s a subtle difference in its model policies: “Schools frequently maintain separate restrooms, locker rooms or other facilities for males and females. Students should be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their consistently asserted gender identity.” [Emphasis ours.]

This may not necessarily be a distinction without a difference; “consistently asserted” would entail, at some level, a higher bar to use the facilities of the opposite sex as opposed to mere “gender identity.”

Whatever the case, Loudoun County’s policies passed in August, according to CNN.

In June, the New York Post reported, Ziegler said “we don’t have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms.” Yet, as the email revealed, he’d been notified of the May 28 case on the day it happened.

At that same meeting, the father of the victim in the case — Scott Smith — was arrested after he confronted district officials and a scuffle with police ensued.

Ziegler apologized for his comments at the June meeting last week, calling them “misleading” and saying he thought the question was “about the process, the experiences of students, and plans for transgender students and bathroom use during that discussion.”Should the Loudoun County School Board resign?Yes No
Completing this poll entitles you to The Western Journal news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

“You just had hundreds of Loudoun County students walk out in protest because they feel unsafe in schools,” local mom Erin Smith said at Tuesday night’s meeting. “Did any of you even respond to this email on May 28 from Dr. Ziegler? Was that email alarming to anyone?”

Smith was referring to numerous protests at Loudoun County schools earlier in the day:

Here is the walk out of students at @LCPSOfficial Broad Run High School in Loudoun County. Students in support of recent sex assault victims in the District including this school & asking for safer schools. @7NewsDC #7NewsITeam #Loudoun pic.twitter.com/CdZjqTBIdK

— Scott Taylor 7 News I-Team (@ScottTaylorTV) October 26, 2021

Video sent to me of the walkout at Riverside HS pic.twitter.com/NKYpsVWWTH

— Drew Wilder (@DrewWilderTV) October 26, 2021

Video from the Loudoun County walkout this morning pic.twitter.com/8TUN3INOvu

— Logan Ratick (@Logan_Ratick) October 26, 2021

Smith also had choice words for school board Chairwoman Brenda Sheridan, who had said parental anger had much to do with the upcoming Nov. 2 gubernatorial election.

“We’re not here to impact elections, Brenda,” she said, adding they’d be back. “Get comfy because we are not going away.”

Loudoun County has been ground zero for parents revolting against school boards that have lurched too far to the left and don’t feel accountable to the parents whose children they teach.

The revelation that the superintendent knew about the sexual assault, refused to disclose it during a school board meeting and is now claiming he misunderstood the question has simply ignited the powder keg — particularly now that the convicted perpetrator has been accused of another crime.

The Loudoun County School Board and its superintendent need to listen to their students, parents, and constituents: It’s time to go. They’ve done enough damage.

The Missouri School Boards Association board of directors announced Monday it was withdrawing from the National School Boards Association due to the NSBA’s letter likening parents to “domestic terrorists,” among other reasons.

“This decision was not made lightly,” MSBA executive director Melissa Randol wrote in a letter to its members.

“The National School Boards Association, through its recent actions, such as its letter to the White House, has demonstrated it does not currently align with MSBA’s guiding principles of local governance.”

“We also believe that no school board member or educator should ever have to endure threats of violence or acts of intimidation against themselves or their families for making these difficult decisions,” Randol added.

“However, attempting to address that issue with federal intervention should not be the first step in most cases, and is antithetical to our longstanding tradition of local control. Further, the use of inflammatory terms in the NSBA letter is not a model for promoting greater civility and respect for the democratic process.”

No Woke Agenda in Court: Rittenhouse Judge Says Rioters Can’t Be Called ‘Victims,’ Approves This List Instead

“The National School Boards Association, through its recent actions, such as its letter to the White House, has demonstrated it does not currently align with MSBA’s guiding principles of local governance.” pic.twitter.com/U19n4K5Pky

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) October 26, 2021

In a Sept. 29 letter to President Joe Biden, NSBA president Viola Garcia and interim executive director Chip Slaven wrote, “America’s public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat. The National School Boards Association (NSBA) respectfully asks for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation.”

The two cited COVID policies and “propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory within classroom instruction and curricula” as stirring angry confrontations and protests at school board meetings.Do you think other states should follow Missouri’s and Ohio’s lead?

“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” Garcia and Slaven argued.

“As such, NSBA requests a joint expedited review by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Education, and Homeland Security, along with the appropriate training, coordination, investigations, and enforcement mechanisms from the FBI,” they added.

Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum less than a week later saying, “Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values. Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.

“The Department takes these incidents seriously and is committed to using its authority and resources to discourage these threats, identify them when they occur, and prosecute them when appropriate,” Garland added.

The AG directed the FBI to convene meetings nationwide to “facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.”

Loudoun Parents Must Sign NDA-Like Docs to See Radical Curriculum Forced on Own Kids: Report

On Friday, the NSBA board of directors issued a memorandum apologizing for its Sept. 29 letter, saying, “there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter.”

“We should have had a better process in place to allow consultation on a communication of this significance,” the memo added.

Statement: Ohio School Boards Association trustees vote to leave national school boards group https://t.co/XfPFbuIk1F pic.twitter.com/TN5JEzcn8s

— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) October 26, 2021

On Tuesday, the Ohio School Boards Association joined its Missouri counterpart in terminating its membership with the NSBA, also citing the Sept. 29 letter to Biden.

In Loudoun County, almost everyone has made their voice heard.

Parent protesters both for and against the school district’s progressive curriculum continue to make headlines. School board members, district officials, teachers and other employees have made official statements to the media.

The one group we haven’t heard from, however, is the students themselves.

That changed on Tuesday morning when students in schools across the county decided to walk out of class in protest. The crowds of students were seen outside of Stone Bridge High School, Loudoun County High School, Briar Woods High School, Broad Run High School and Lightridge High School, according to WJLA-TV.

HAPPENING NOW —

Walkouts at Loudoun County High School, Briar Woods High School following sexual assault reports.

MORE: https://t.co/N2RygGtQT1 pic.twitter.com/JaeXqM49jp

— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) October 26, 2021

‘Identifiable Harm’: Biden Kills JFK File Release, Issues Baffling Statement

Students at Broad Run could be heard chanting “Loudoun County protects rapists.”

Listen to Broad Run High students start chanting “Loudon County protects rapists” & shouting other messages. Clarification: The suspect in both sex assaults at 2 different high schools in Loudoun County was not charged or convicted of rape. @7NewsDC #7NewsITeam pic.twitter.com/VnoPAvl8jO

— Scott Taylor 7 News I-Team (@ScottTaylorTV) October 26, 2021

Why would the students say such a thing? Because they’re right: The evidence shows Loudoun County officials did indeed lie to their constituents in order to protect the perpetrator of multiple sexual assaults.

On May 28, a reportedly “gender fluid” 14-year-old boy wearing a skirt attacked and sexually assaulted a girl in a girls restroom at one of the district’s schools. The boy then went on to assault another girl on Oct. 6 at a different school where he was being electronically monitored.

According to WTOP-FM, the teen has been found guilty of sexual assault relating to the May 28 incident. When it comes to the Oct. 6 attack, he has been charged with sexual battery and abduction.

Leaked emails from May 28 show that county officials knew about the attacks and said nothing to their constituents.

In fact, during June 22 school board meeting, as parents voiced their concerns over a new policy allowing transgender students to enter the restroom of their choice, school superintendent Scott Ziegler went as far as to say, “To my knowledge, we don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms.”

Bombshell: Judge Makes Swift Ruling in Controversial Loudoun County School Bathroom Sexual Assault Case

Scott Smith, the father of the teen’s first victim, attempted to speak out at the June 22 meeting, hoping to share the story of his daughter’s assault with the school board and parents present.

Instead, following a tense exchange with a pro-LGBT activist who claimed Smith’s daughter was a liar, police officers grabbed Smith and when he pulled away subsequently tackled him and dragged him out of the room.

The board later decided to implement the new transgender policy, knowing full well what had happened to Smith’s daughter and choosing not to share that knowledge with the public.

In the many weeks that have followed, as news continues to break regarding the county’s cover-up of the sexual assault, parents have continued to become more agitated at the school district.

And now, it appears that the students have had enough as well.

Loudoun County, Virginia, continues to find itself at the center of controversy.

The county’s school board is already in hot water after recent reports revealed its members had seemingly covered up a rape allegation. A boy has since been found guilty of sexually assaulting a female student in one of the school district’s girls’ restrooms. The board falsely said it had no knowledge of such a case before voting in August to allow males to use girls’ restrooms.

Concerned parents say progressive ideas have entered Loudoun County school curricula and are currently being taught to children enrolled in the district. They continue to protest at school board meetings in hopes of pressuring the district to remove the controversial teachings from classrooms.

Now, it appears that parents in Loudoun County are required to sign non-disclosure agreement-style documents in order to see exactly what their children are being taught, including a curriculum called Second Step Programs.

According to documents reportedly obtained by the Daily Caller, parents who wish to review the program must sign a form agreeing not to “broadcast, download, photograph, or record” the curriculum “in any manner whatsoever.”

Bombshell: Judge Makes Swift Ruling in Controversial Loudoun County School Bathroom Sexual Assault Case

Additionally, the district’s agreement with Second Step says the curriculum is “not subject to traditional Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws,” according to the Daily Caller.

The Second Step Programs utilize a teaching style known as social-emotional learning and are promoted by the left-leaning non-profit Committee for Children. According to the organization’s website, SEL is “fundamental to achieving social justice.”

Many of the controversial ideas found in critical race theory and left-wing gender theories appear central to the Committee for Children’s agenda.

Speaking with The Western Journal on Tuesday, James Lindsay — a leading expert on, and critic of, CRT and other far-left academic philosophies — broke down what exactly SEL is.

“Social-Emotional Learning started off trying to help emotionally troubled kids learn to deal with those issues so they could have better educational attainment, and it worked. It’s basically a psychological intervention that can work in the right cases and right circumstances,” Lindsay told The Western Journal via email.

Should school districts be allowed to hide what they’re teaching children?

However, problems with SEL began to arise when organizations like the Committee for Children started utilizing its practices “in uncontrolled, non-therapeutic environments (classrooms) by underqualified teachers without licenses to practice psychology,” Lindsay wrote.

In his view, this should be criminal.

These novel forms of SEL are referred to as “transformative SEL,” Lindsay said.

“These programs mirror the educational programs put in place by Mao in China during the Cultural Revolution and are wholly damaging to children. They’ve also adopted Marxian themes and methods, hence ‘transformative,’ and are used to groom children into Marxian views on sexuality and also Critical Race Theory,” Lindsay wrote.

Teachers Union Pres Backing McAuliffe Promotes Article Claiming Parents Have No Right to ‘Shape’ What Kids Are Taught

Scott Mineo, leader of Loudoun County’s Parents Against Critical Theory group, told the Daily Caller he found the district’s lack of transparency about the SEL program suspicious.

“LCPS is partners with Southern Poverty Law Center, Racial Equity Tools, and Learning for Justice (SPLC), all of which have copyrighted material, however, LCPS freely provides access to these materials,” Mineo wrote in an email to Loudoun County Public Schools.

“Why is there such a double standard when parents want to review Second Step SEL material in its entirety?”

Logic seems to have been thrown out the window in today’s culture and society.

The Babylon Bee, a hilarious satirical news site, does not seem so far-fetched nowadays with headlines like “Finally: San Francisco To Require Proof Of Vaccination To Poop On The Sidewalk” or “Oh No! Someone Replaced Joe Biden’s Copy Of The Constitution With A Copy Of ‘1984’.” Sounds legitimate honestly.

Then we have Democratic former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is in a very tight race with Republican Glenn Youngkin, denying the existence of pro-life female CEOs.

He said to the Virginia Chamber of Commerce last week that, “There’s not a woman CEO in America that wants to go to a state where someone’s banning abortions.”

‘Identifiable Harm’: Biden Kills JFK File Release, Issues Baffling Statement

Could he or his staff not do a Google search on this one? There are plenty of CEOs, who also happen to be both pro-life and women, who would love to set up shop in a state that bans abortion. You’re reading the words of one right now.

I founded And Then There Were None in 2012, a ministry that helps abortion workers leave their jobs and find new, life-affirming ones. I founded ProLove Ministries in 2019 as an umbrella organization to stand in the gaps in the pro-life movement. I’m a CEO who lives in Texas because it is the great land of freedom and the first in the nation to effectively ban nearly all abortions.

I exist, Mr. McAuliffe. And I’m not the only one. Marjorie Dannenfelser, Cheryl Bachelder, Kristan Hawkins, Melissa Ohden, Janine Marrone, and Jeanne Mancini are all leaders of their respective organizations and are pro-life. Imagine that. Being a woman in charge of an organization and being pro-life. They do exist after all.

I understand that abortion is a huge, divisive issue in politics. I worked at Planned Parenthood for eight years and can attest to the urgency of both sides wanting to hold power in government.

Do you think McAuliffe will win his election?

But flatly denying the very existence of women in influential positions who hold the view that all life is precious and should be protected? At best that is ignorance; at worst, willful deception.

Abortion is almost always a big deal come election season, and this year, it is perhaps all the more crucial given the Texas law that bans abortion once a heartbeat is detected in the fetus, which is around six weeks.

In Virginia, abortion looms large as it should. Abortion ends the life of an innocent unborn baby and often harms the woman in emotional, physical and spiritual ways. It is the most imperative human rights issue of our time.

According to CNBC, McAuliffe is spending an extraordinary amount of money attacking his opponent for his pro-life stance.

“Three of McAuliffe’s most expensive ads, which cost from $510,000 to $922,000 to produce and run, have attacked Youngkin for his abortion stance,” the outlet reported. The ads have already run more than 1,100 times.

Roe v. Wade Perverts Justice the Same Way Nazi & Soviet Courts Perverted Justice to Kill Millions in the Name of Equity

Polling also indicates McAuliffe’s support among suburban women is less than enthusiastic, which is problematic for him since it’s these women who have typically put candidates in his party into office.

Monmouth University Polling Institute president Patrick Murray attributes this lack of enthusiasm due in part to “a shift in key issues important to these voters and partly to dampened enthusiasm among the party faithful.”

Well, when you directly insult pro-life women and indirectly insult anyone who holds actual facts in some sort of relevance, what can one expect?

Terry McAuliffe is betting on the idea that Virginians cannot fathom a female CEO who is also pro-life. He’s wrong, obviously, but it’s up in the air whether his denial of reality sinks in with the women of Virginia come voting day.

The Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) board of trustees has voted to cut ties with the National School Board Association (NSBA) over the latter’s attempt to have federal agents police school board meetings across the country.

“The Board of Trustees’ decision was prompted by NSBA’s recent letter to President Joe Biden requesting federal intervention at local school board meetings,” OSBA Chief Executive Officer Rick Lewis said Tuesday in a press release (pdf).

The letter in question (pdf), which was sent on Sept. 29, urged that federal law enforcement step in to handle “threats or actual acts of violence” against school leaders, alleging that “angry mobs” of parents who sought to express opposition to COVID-19 restrictions and the teaching of critical race theory have been “inciting chaos” during school board meetings.

“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crime,” the NSBA argued in the letter, encouraging the federal government to invoke laws designed to counter terrorism, such as the PATRIOT Act, to address the alleged threats.

The Ohio school board group said they were not consulted by the national federation about the crafting of the letter, nor did they agree with the letter’s content.

“We were not informed of or asked for any input into the creation of the letter sent to the president,” Lewis said, adding that while it’s important to keep parental and community discussion at school board meetings free from violence and harassment, such interference should be dealt with at the local level, not by federal officials.

“We believe the letter from NSBA leadership demonstrated how out of touch the national association is with the concerns of local school boards and the principle of local control. Because of that, OSBA no longer sees the value of continued NSBA membership,” he said.

The announcement comes after the NSBA walked back its widely criticized message, saying that “there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter.”

“We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance,” the NSBA said. “We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.”

The OSBA is the latest in a string of state school board organizations that have reevaluated or ended their membership in NSBA over the letter. According to statements collected by advocacy group Parents Defending Education, as of Oct. 21, 21 state chapters have distanced themselves from the national organization, with most of them clarifying that they were not consulted about the letter.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/ohio-school-board-group-severs-ties-with-national-organization-over-domestic-terrorism-letter_4069437.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A 15-year-old boy at the center of a controversy surrounding transgender school bathroom accommodations in Loudoun County, Virginia, was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting a girl in the girls’ bathroom in May — a decision sure to bring new attention to the hot-button topic.

“I found the facts sufficient to support the charges,” ruled Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Chief Judge Pamela Brooks after a two-hour hearing, according to WTOP-TV. The teen had been charged with one felony count of forcible sodomy and one felony count of forcible fellatio.

In court, the victim said the two were “just friends,” but that she had “hooked up with him” — engaged in sexual acts — two times in the weeks before the attack took place.

On May 28, the boy — then 14 — texted the victim, asking her to meet him in the girls’ bathroom. The Washington Post reported she told the court that when she got there, he threw her to the floor and forced himself upon her.

She would report the assault to the school and was questioned by investigators from the sheriff’s office the same day. However, the defense tried to argue the encounter was consensual and noted the girl hadn’t told investigators about her two previous encounters with the boy.

‘Identifiable Harm’: Biden Kills JFK File Release, Issues Baffling Statement

However, the victim maintained she “never” gave permission or consent for the May 28 encounter.

“He flipped me over,” the victim told the court, according to the Post. “I was on the ground and couldn’t move and he sexually assaulted me.”

The incident ignited a firestorm over transgender policy after the father of the girl who was assaulted, Scott Smith, was arrested at a June 22 Loudoun County School Board meeting after progressive activist called his daughter a liar, according to a report last month by the Daily Wire. Smith had said the boy in the case identified as “gender fluid” and was wearing a skirt at the time of the attack.

After a shouting match ensued, a deputy grabbed Smith’s shoulder. When Smith pulled away, a tussle began and the father was arrested. Loudoun County lead prosecutor Buta Biberaj — who also assisted the prosecutor in the sexual assault case involving Smith’s daughter — was seeking jail time for Smith over a disorderly conduct misdemeanor charge stemming from the meeting.

Are transgender policies making schools more dangerous?

While that’s a controversy in its own right, the case became a flash point over new Virginia Department of Education transgender policies that require, among other things, that “Access to facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to a student’s gender identity shall be available to all students.”

“All students are entitled to have access to restrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities that are sanitary, safe, and adequate, so that they can comfortably and fully engage in their school programs and activities. Schools frequently maintain separate restrooms, locker rooms or other facilities for males and females,” the policy reads.

“Students should be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their consistently asserted gender identity. While some transgender students will want that access, others may want alternatives that afford more privacy. Taking into account existing school facilities, administrators should take steps to designate gender-inclusive or single-user restrooms commensurate with the size of the school.”

Loudoun County had adopted a similar policy, although it wasn’t in place at the time of the May 28 assault. A statement from the family, however, noted that the district had “formalized the policy regarding restroom use that was easily exploitable by a potential sexual assailant,” according to WUSA-TV.

While the Smiths say the perpetrator of the rape defined himself as gender-fluid, mainstream media accounts didn’t confirm this and referred to the defendant as male. However, the Post’s report confirmed the boy was wearing a skirt at the time of the assault.

Sodom & Gomorrah High: Woke School Stages Obscene Drag Show During Homecoming Football Game

“The defendant did not testify during the trial, but prosecutors played interviews he gave detectives investigating the case during which he acknowledged ‘messing up’ and said he did not intend to perform one sex act with the victim and said he stopped once he realized he was hurting the girl,” they reported.

“The defendant initially told detectives the second sexual act did not occur, but later said it may have happened briefly and accidentally when a knee-length skirt he was wearing got caught on his watch as the pair were fumbling around in the bathroom stall.”

The controversies don’t end there. The boy, now 15, is accused of allegedly assaulting a girl in a different school on Oct. 6, where he was being electronically monitored. A hearing to determine the boy’s guilt or innocence in that case is scheduled for Nov. 15, WTOP reported.

It later emerged the superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools had been notified of the first attack on the day it happened.

According to an Oct. 15 WTOP report, Scott Ziegler, the superintendent, said that while the school system “complied with our obligations” under Title IX regarding the sexual assault of students, he said the district’s processes were “insufficient.”

Bill Stanley, a Republican state senator and an attorney for the Smith family, hailed the court’s judgment in a statement.

“We are greatly relieved that justice was served today,” he said, according to WTOP. “No one should have to endure what this family has endured, and now their focus is completely upon their daughter’s health and safety as she progresses forward with her life.”

The family, which is suing the school district, said in a statement they “stand stronger than ever in moving forward to ensure that those responsible in the Loudoun County School system are held accountable, so that this may never happen again to anyone else’s child.”

And yet, so many facts about this case indicate it very well might. Neither the Virginia Department of Education nor Loudoun County Public Schools appear willing to take a second look at their transgender bathroom policies.

If another culturally and politically inconvenient attack, they’re likely to be just as loath to learn from it. Parents who vent their anger at school board meetings will arguably be treated with greater venom than Smith.

The verdict may bring justice. Wisdom, however, remains a long way off.

Appointment is the latest indication of the Biden administration’s collaboration with the group

The Department of Education earlier this month tapped the president of the National School Board Association to serve on a federal board that tracks student progress, the latest indication of the Biden administration’s collaboration with the group that compared parents to domestic terrorists.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Oct. 13 appointed National School Board Association president Viola Garcia to the National Assessment Governing Board, which develops the tests used to track student achievement across the country. Garcia was behind a Sept. 29 letter urging President Joe Biden to have the FBI monitor school board meetings for potential violence. The Department of Justice formed a task force on Oct. 4 consisting of the FBI and Justice Department’s national security and civil rights divisions, sparking outrage from parents groups who say the administration is trying to stifle parents who oppose mask mandates and left-wing curricula.

Garcia’s position on the board could raise questions about whether the appointment was linked to her advocacy work at the National School Board Association. Emails reported by the Washington Free Beacon show Garcia coordinated with the Biden White House and Department of Education in the weeks before releasing the controversial letter. “These are troubling times. NSBA has been engaged with the White House and the Department of Education on these and other issues related to the pandemic for several weeks now,” Garcia wrote in an Oct. 2 email obtained by the group Parents Defending Education.

The National School Board Association apologized for the letter on Friday, saying there was “no justification” for the language comparing parents to terrorists. Other emails showed that some National School Board Association directors were upset with Garcia for issuing the letter without the board’s input. One director said that the letter’s reference to parents as domestic terrorists inflamed tensions at local school board meetings.

Garcia’s tenure on the governing board began on Oct. 1, according to a Department of Education press release.

Congress established the National Assessment Governing Board in 1988 to set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the so-called Nation’s Report Card. Part of the board’s mission is to draft the questions used on the assessment and to use the results of the test to propose policies to the Department of Education.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/school-board-association-president-got-federal-post-after-infamous-letter/

A Virginia judge on Monday found a teenage boy guilty of sexually assaulting a schoolmate.

The crime took place at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn on May 28.

The boy, 15, was convicted on one count of forcible sodomy and one count of forcible fellatio, both felonies, local media reported.

“I found the facts sufficient to support the charges,” Pamela Brooks, the chief judge of the county’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, said during the hearing, according to WTOP.

The victim said she and the boy had consensual sexual encounters before the assault but that she did not consent to what he did in May.

A defense attorney for the boy tried arguing that his client reasonably believed he had permission because of the previous encounters.

Neither the girl nor the boy are being named because they are juveniles.

Sentencing was put off until another case is adjudicated involving the male. He was charged with sexually assaulting another student at Broad Run High School, authorities have said. That assault took place on Oct. 6.

Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Stone Bridge at approximately 1:30 p.m. on May 28, according to dispatch notes obtained by The Epoch Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Officers were briefed by an assistant principal that a student alleged they were “possibly raped or touched unwanted by another student” a couple of hours prior. The family of the victim was notified.

An FBI agent with the bureau’s Washington Field Office later that day called the sheriff’s office and inquired about the incident, according to the notes. The agent was advised that a sexual assault investigation was taking place. He said the incident would not require the FBI’s help.

The investigation led to the arrest of the male on July 8 and the case was turned over to the Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, which helped prosecute the boy.

The Broad Run incident involved a male student sexually assaulting a female student, according to dispatch notes obtained by The Epoch Times.

The sheriff’s office said no 911 calls were made and declined to provide body camera footage, citing state law. It also declined to immediately provide records on all reported sexual assaults at Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) dating back to Jan. 1, 2018.

LCPS failed to follow state law in reporting several sexual assaults from its schools to state authorities, Superintendent Scott Ziegler said earlier this month. He also recanted his claim that no sexual assaults had taken place in school bathrooms.

Ziegler made the claim during a school board meeting on a pro-transgender policy that lets students who claim to be a different gender than their biological sex use different bathrooms. The school board later approved the policy proposal.

LCPS did not respond to a request for comment on the guilty verdict.

Bill Stanley of the Stanley Law Group, who is representing the family of the victim, said in a statement that “We are relieved that justice was served today for the Smith’s daughter.”

“No one should have to endure what this family has endured, and now their focus is completely upon their daughter’s health and safety as she progresses forward with her life,” he said, adding that the family “stands stronger than ever in moving forward to ensure that those responsible in the Loudoun County School system are held accountable, so that this may never happen again to anyone else’s child.”

Scott Smith, a county resident, identified himself in early October as the father of the victim.

The family has filed a lawsuit against LCPS for allegedly violating Title IX in its handling of the case.

LCPS has told The Epoch Times that it couldn’t investigate what happened until law enforcement concluded its investigation, and that it was cooperating with the sheriff’s office and other authorities. It also said it was barred from disciplining any students without following the grievance process outlined in Title IX.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/judge-finds-teenager-guilty-in-loudoun-county-bathroom-assault_4069308.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-10-26-1&mktids=d65951cacdfebbe1f51163e3e9d61d95&est=OBEDBc%2F%2BAsXF4ND5IUh0qpccNzUnV6d7vaK5NHLTC%2FChu4B1PEhzLgtjzCfQAAEu8w%3D%3D

A group of 19 Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday to demand that he rescind a communication targeting parents at school board meetings.

The letter came after Garland appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last week following his Oct. 4 message which called out concerned parents.

The controversial memorandum was sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigations after the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Joe Biden criticizing vocal parents as “domestic terrorists.”

“Your testimony before the Judiciary Committee last week concerning your October 4, 2021, memorandum targeting concerned parents at school board meetings was troubling,” the letter read.

#BREAKING: Judiciary Republicans demand Attorney General Garland withdraw school board memo.

RT if you think he should! pic.twitter.com/fo6q1MzGFP

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 25, 2021

‘Identifiable Harm’: Biden Kills JFK File Release, Issues Baffling Statement

“You acknowledged that you issued the unusual directive soon after reading about the thinly sourced letter sent by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to President Biden and not because of any specific request from state or local law enforcement,” it added.

Despite Garland’s testimony, the letter concluded, the attorney general “sidestepped” the effect of his memorandum.

“During your testimony, you sidestepped the obvious effect of your ill-conceived memorandum and the chilling effect that invoking the full weight of the federal law enforcement apparatus would have on parents’ protected First Amendment speech,” the letter said.

Should Merrick Garland resign as attorney general?

The committee’s letter upheld the rights of parents to direct the education of their children, including involvement at school board meetings.

The response also clarified that local law enforcement is the appropriate group to respond to any threats or violence rather than the FBI.

“Parents have an undisputed right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, especially as school boards attempt to install controversial curricula. Local law enforcement — and not the FBI — are the appropriate authorities to address any local threats or violence,” the House members wrote.

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio accused the Justice Department of creating a “snitch line” to tell on parents during the committee’s hearing with Garland last week.

“When the attorney general, the United States sets up a snitch line on parents, Americans aren’t going to tolerate it,” Jordan said.

‘Are You Kidding Me?’: Jordan Counters Nadler’s Claim DOJ Became Political Due To Trump

“I think they’re gonna stand up to this accelerated march to communism that we now see America is going to fight the good fight, they’re going to finish the course, they’re going to keep the faith, because Americans value freedom​,” he added.

The NSBA apologized on Friday regarding its September letter.

“On behalf of the NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter. To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials and educators, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue,” the NSBA wrote Friday.

“However, there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for some consultation on a communication of this significance,” the letter added.

Indignation keeps growing over the Loudoun County Public School system’s response to two sexual assaults that have happened in the last six months. Now, many are calling for resignations after discovering the superintendent and school board knew about the initial assault and did very little.

On May 28 a female student claimed that a male student sexually assaulted her in the restroom, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

The police investigated, arrested the boy in July, slapped an ankle monitor on him and told him to go to a different school. But the assault and its details were not made public.

The boy began this school year at different school. Then on Oct. 6, he was arrested again for allegedly assaulting another girl at his new school.

This second assault brought the May 28 incident to public attention. Outrage ensued.

One Month Before Baldwin Movie Shooting, Crew Armorer Made Chilling Admission

Two sexual assaults perpetrated by the same student naturally raises the question: What were the school board and superintendent doing to stop this?

The answer is, nothing. What makes this worse is, Superintendent Scott Ziegler knew what happened. It was recently discovered that he even sent an email informing the school board on the day of the first allegation, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

ONLY ON WTOP: Loudoun County’s superintendent notified the school board the same day a female student was sexually assaulted at Stone Bridge High School, according to an email obtained by WTOP. https://t.co/Re4vkD7H60

— WTOP (@WTOP) October 22, 2021

“This afternoon a female student alleged that a male student sexually assaulted her in the restroom,” Ziegler wrote on May 28.

Should superintendent Ziegler resign?

It doesn’t get much clearer than that. Still, the school board did nothing.

The family of the May 28 victim is now pursuing legal action against the Loudoun County Public School system.

While there is plenty of blame to go around, the root of the problem actually lies with the school’s policy over restroom use.

“All students are entitled to have access to restrooms and locker rooms that are sanitary, safe and adequate, so that they can comfortably and fully engage in their school programs and activities. Students should be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their gender identity,” the policy says.

In the name of “safety” the LCPS allows students to use what restroom they want. Yet, it was in the restroom that a female student’s safety was compromised.

Sick Discovery in Loudoun County ‘Cover-Up’: Boy Who Allegedly Raped Girl in School Bathroom Had History of Sex Assault

The May 28 victim’s family has been clear that they largely blame this policy for the assault their daughter suffered.

“The sexual assault on our daughter and the subsequent sexual assault by the same individual were both predictable and preventable,” a statement from the family read. “Subsequent to the sexual assault on our daughter, Loudoun County Public Schools formalized the policy regarding restroom use that was easily exploitable by a potential sexual assailant. Because of poor planning and misguided policies, Loudoun Schools failed to institute even minimal safeguards to protect students from sexual assaults.”

So, not only did the school board do nothing in reaction to the initial assault, but the policy they passed enabled it.

Yet, Ziegler continues to say that the problem lies in insufficient procedures.

He proposes that there be a change in how the school system and the sheriff’s department act together and communicate “to ensure school discipline and criminal investigations can happen simultaneously … This includes notification from the sheriff’s office to the superintendent and principal when students are charged with serious offenses,” WTOP News reported on Oct. 15.

Sure, the sheriff’s department probably shouldn’t have let the kid simply go back to school. The school should have actually disciplined and expelled the student. But that still would not have fixed the essence of the problem.

The problem is that the school is allowing students to use whatever restroom they want. So if a boy wants to rape a girl, the female restroom is an excellent place to do it.

Can’t go into the female restroom as a straight boy? No problem. Just say you are gender-fluid or in transition. Then the door is wide open — literally.

After the May 28 assault became public due to the Oct. 6 assault, the Loudoun Times-Mirror reported that local residents began calling for the resignations of Ziegler and other school board members.

Resignations are certainly in order. Ziegler and board members knowingly put students in danger by letting a sexual assailant in school. But the real problem is the policy.

Removing the superintendent and board members would be like only fixing the symptoms of a disease instead of treating the disease itself. If the cause is not fixed, then easily preventable situations of sexual assault and rape will keep happening.

This is part 21 in a series examining education in the United States.

When it comes to education policy, the Biden administration is making the radicalism of the Obama years look mild by comparison.

The goal is to ultimately replace parents with bureaucrats and “experts” to facilitate the indoctrination of America’s youth. That transformation is accelerating.

Not only are the education system and America’s children being weaponized against America, federal law enforcement is now being weaponized against parents who speak out about it.

If left unchecked, catastrophe awaits. However, the more monstrous the federally directed abuses in schools become, the more outraged Americans join the fight.

The future of the nation is literally on the line in this issue. The outcome of the battle between who will raise children—government or parents—will determine the fate of America.

Parents, Get Out of the Way

The attitude toward parents in Washington has long been hostile. Hillary Clinton famously claimed in 1996 that it “takes a village” to raise children. What she really meant, of course, was a government village.

In fact, during the Obama years, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan publicly called for some children to be in government “boarding schools” 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Others should remain in school, including “after school programming,” for 12 to 14 hours each day, he declared.

A policy document (pdf) drafted by the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services called for home visits by government officials and argued that parents could be “equal partners” with government in the rearing of their children.

But as fringe as those totalitarian views may sound to normal people, the extremism has now been taken to a whole new level under the current administration.

When Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona if parents should be the “primary stakeholder” in the education of their children, it would have been easy to spit one’s coffee on the floor.

“Stakeholder”?! What?

Of course, parents should never be viewed as mere “stakeholders” in the education of their children, “primary” or otherwise. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, “stakeholder” is defined as “one that has a stake in an enterprise” or “one who is involved in or affected by a course of action.”

To call a mother or father a “stakeholder” in one of the most important facets of their child’s life is like calling a pilot of a private plane a “stakeholder” in whether his plane will land successfully or not. Technically it’s true. But it’s an outrage nonetheless.

Mothers and fathers should be in charge of their children’s education—not bystanders or “stakeholders.” This has been the case in virtually every human society for millennia. It’s also what the Bible clearly prescribes.

But the Biden administration, by contrast, does not believe parents should have any say in the “education” of children.

Cardona could not even bring himself to concede that parents should be the “primary stakeholders” in their children’s education.

“I believe parents are important stakeholders,” Cardona responded to Braun’s question, adding that “educators” also “have a role in determining educational programming.”

Indeed. That’s a nice way of saying: Parents, get out of the way, the Biden administration and its “experts” know better what and how your child should learn. More on that later.

Democrat Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAullife, who wisely sent his children to private school, famously put it this way in a debate in September: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Targeting Concerned Parents as ‘Terrorists’

As if matters could not get any worse, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, responding to an outrageous letter from the National Association of School Boards (NASB) painting concerned parents as possible “domestic terrorists,” decided to sic the FBI on moms and dads.

Among other concerns, Garland cited (pdf) “harassment” and “intimidation” by parents against the people brainwashing their kids with critical race theory (CRT), Marxist ideology, gender confusion, hyper-sexualized propaganda, and more. No examples of actual, legitimate threats were cited.

One of the examples of the supposed “threat” cited by the NASB was Scott Smith. What sort of dangerous domestic terrorist was Smith? Well, he was arrested for “disorderly conduct” while trying to tell the school board about his daughter being allegedly sodomized by a male pretending to be a girl in the girls’ restroom under the federally supported “transgender” dictates on bathrooms.

The other examples are equally outlandish: a ticket for “trespassing,” a nasty letter, a “Nazi salute” to protest mandatory face masks, somebody describing the school board as “Marxist,” and similar horrors requiring the might of the federal beast.

This is, of course, not about actual threats or violence, however. It’s naked intimidation of parents who are struggling to make their voices heard.

It’s also the political weaponization of federal law-enforcement in a way that’s unprecedented in American history. In fact, most parallels involve totalitarian dictatorships rather than civilized and free societies.

Fortunately, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state and local leaders are working to protect children in their jurisdictions from this outrageous abuse by the Biden administration. But it’s not enough to stop the freight train of evil being pumped into local schools by Washington.

The irony of treating desperate moms and dads as terrorists after pretending not to see months on end of actual domestic terrorism from rioters and looters burning down major American cities and even police precincts defies belief. Welcome to the “new normal.”

Even the former assistant director of intelligence for the FBI, Kevin Brock, has warned that the FBI should ignore Garland’s Orwellian directive.

After sparking a firestorm of criticism and alarming Americans across the political spectrum—and after being rebuked by state and local school boards nationwide—the NASB reluctantly apologized.

But nobody with a brain believes for a second that the education establishment would not sic the FBI and Homeland Security on angry parents if it thought it could get away with it.

Targeting State and Local Leaders, Too

Not long before announcing that the FBI and the Department of Justice would be employed to bully and intimidate parents, the Biden administration announced “civil rights” investigations into state leaders that refused to force children to wear masks at school against their parents’ wishes.

The threat, made by Cardona, invoked the communist understanding of “rights” to claim that everyone has a “right” to a government “education.” As such, states that do not force all children to wear face masks are somehow violating the supposed “rights” of some children to an education.

Yes, seriously. This is the so-called logic of the people who have usurped control over “educating” your children for you.

When Florida and other states sought to limit the ability of local school boards to force masks on children against their parents’ wishes, the Biden administration also vowed to send COVID stimulus money to local officials who defied their state government and state law.

Before that, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a video urging children confused about their gender to report their local communities to the feds if government schools did not fully bow down to the “transgenderism” madness being pushed on America from D.C. and Hollywood.

The video, which featured transgender Health and Human Services bigwig Dr. Rachel Levine and senior officials from the Department of Education and the DOJ, gave multiple websites for children to get the feds involved in protecting their “rights” to use opposite-sex bathrooms, play on opposite-sex sports teams, and more.

The message was clear: Trust Biden, not your family or your community. And if anyone interferes with your supposed “right” to shower or relieve yourself or wrestle with members of the opposite sex, team Biden will unleash the fury of the weaponized federal machine.

So far there has been no federal intervention to protect the rights of Scott Smith’s daughter, though.

The Biden Agenda: CRT

At the top of Biden’s “education” agenda is using the education system to further divide parents and children, as well as the nation, while weaponizing impressionable youngsters in the war against their own country and its institutions.

Earlier this year, for example, the Department of Education proposed a “regulation” to inject even more Marxist race-mongering and CRT into public schools nationwide.

Under the scheme, the feds are bribing schools with “grants” and “incentives” paid with U.S. taxpayer money.

Among other elements, the administrative edict creates “American History and Civics Education programs” designed to radically change the teaching of history and civics. Between statements on “systemic racism” and “anti-racist practices,” the nature of the changes being sought is easy to discern.

Indeed, the Department of Education actually cited the debunked “1619 Project,” a fake history narrative addressed in part 17 of this series, as one of the inspirations for the effort.

The New York Times’ propaganda version of history, which has been ridiculed even by left-wing historians for its errors, turns U.S. history on its head. It paints the first nation in history founded on the premise that all are created equal—the first nation where abolition of slavery took root—into a uniquely evil nation with racism and slavery supposedly in its very “DNA.”

Also cited by the Education Department for the proposed regulation was the work of Ibram X. Kendi, one of the premier proponents of CRT and author of books such as “Anti-Racist Baby.”

Among other ideas, Kendi advocates a “Department of Antiracism” that would serve as an unelected racial dictatorship with power to overturn any law or rule it dislikes.

To qualify for the Education Department funding, state and local “education” officials would have to incorporate the administration’s extremist ideologies into the classroom—evil ideologies that divide children by “race” for sinister purposes while teaching a twisted (and false) version of American history and government.

Almost 40 U.S. senators and tens of thousands of citizens in official comments blasted the scheme’s overtly anti-American extremism.

Only after that massive outcry did the administration backtrack even slightly and remove some of the most outrageous language and references. But the somewhat scaled-back rule was still implemented, and the vision remains clear despite the attempted obfuscation.

To illustrate just how committed the administration is to this poison, in early October they appointed political activist Precious McKesson to a senior post at the Education Department. McKesson is a strong advocate of CRT, and she even recently expressed her support for teaching all children about the alleged “systemic racism” of America.

Ironically, perhaps, Garland’s son-in-law’s company reportedly supports CRT teaching in government schools, sparking concerns about a potential conflict of interest in the decision to sic the feds on parents.

The O’Biden Agenda: Centralize and Get Them Young!

The proposed $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” abomination that Biden and congressional Democrats are trying to ram through Congress without the support of a single Republican is packed with “education” gimmicks, too. If approved, the descent into collective madness will accelerate.

One of the major schemes Biden and his handlers are trying to get through, this time with the “Reconciliation” bill, is a $200 billion program for universal pre-kindergarten. The goal: Get all of America’s children into government indoctrination programs even earlier.

Under the proposed plan, which may be rammed through Congress on a partisan vote with no filibusters allowed, all children in America ages 3 and 4 would receive federally directed, tax-funded “pre-K” through government schools.

None of this should be surprising. During the Obama years, the same warped view of “education” and parents reigned in Washington and throughout the monstrosity improperly referred to as the nation’s “public education” system.

Common Core, for example, was used to cement national standards into place using bullying and bribes from the stimulus slush fund.

And lest anyone think this was actually about “improving” education, the federal government funded a study showing “significant negative effects” on grade 4 reading after the standards were put in place. Less than one third of the victims of government school at grade 8 are proficient in core subjects, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals.

But academic achievement was never really the goal. Under Obama and Common Core, parents and elected school boards were out, while D.C. bureaucrats and special-interest groups funded by billionaire profiteers were in.

The plan succeeded wildly, with parents nationwide unable to help their children with “Common Core” math while states and school districts struggle for breathing room in the straitjacket of the national standards.

Also under Obama, federally funded so-called Full-Service Community Schools revealed perhaps the most brazen attempt to sideline parents in American history. These federally backed institutions, which are now scattered across the nation, promise to handle the dental health, mental health, nutritional needs, and much more for every child in their “care.”

It would be more honest to refer to these institutions as “parental replacement centers,” but of course those behind the agenda would never be so honest.

As explored in part 10 of this series, this federal usurpation of authority over families and schools accelerated rapidly under Obama. It’s now reaching a climax under Biden. And it has resulted in the absolute decimation of whatever may have once been decent in America’s disastrous “education” system.

From the 1960s’ Supreme Court opinions imposing humanism and ousting Christianity to the federal funding that eventually paved the way for control over standards and so much else, Washington’s influence over schools has been toxic from the start.

Under Obama and now Biden, the globalization of the indoctrination system described in part 9 of this series also came out of the closet, with Obama’s Education Secretary referring to the U.N. education agency as his “global partner” in the process.

Indeed, Common Core’s own architects and proponents bragged that the controversial standards were aligned with “international standards” even as training for “global citizenship” became ubiquitous.

This is about more than the government simply brainwashing your children. This is about removing you from the picture almost entirely so that the forces of wickedness, perversion, and tyranny can poison your children’s minds and souls unimpeded by pesky parents.

As this series has documented extensively, this was always the goal of the “education” establishment going back to the Utopian and even socialist architects of the system: communist Robert Owen, collectivist Utopian Horace Mann, and socialist–humanist luminary John Dewey.

Obviously, attending school board meetings to express concerns is not a viable strategy for protecting children. In fact, it may even lead to harassment and intimidation from the politicized and disgraced FBI. It may be worth doing, but it will not save your children.

While it’s critical for parents to be involved and for state and local government to resist the Biden administration’s escalating attacks, the only true long-term solution is an exodus from the government’s indoctrination system.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/pushing-parents-out-biden-administration-further-weaponizes-education_4052344.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Well, that took long enough.

In late September, conservative parents and voters discovered what the NSBA is. It wasn’t a pleasant introduction:

The National School Boards Association penned a letter to President Joe Biden in which the educators group asked “for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation.”

This sounds pretty dire until you realize the letter was talking, in large part, about parents revolting at school board meetings over radical curriculums that included elements of critical race theory and overreaches such as mask mandates.

Over 100 parents and children gathered outside Riverside Unified’s School Board Meeting on Oct. 21 in protest. #Riverside #vaccine #mandate #Californiahttps://t.co/GirCzcvuHB

— KVCR (@EmpireKVCR) October 23, 2021

Biden’s Delaware Summer House Gets $455K Upgrade Billed to the US Taxpayer

In the letter, the NSBA accused parents of “spreading misinformation” and asserted, without evidence, that “extremist hate organizations” were “inciting chaos” at contentious school board meetings.

And then the kicker: This activity “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

In a matter of days, Attorney General Merrick Garland snapped to attention and sent out a memorandum promising the FBI would hold meetings with school officials nationwide to “facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.”Is public education getting too woke?Yes No
Completing this poll entitles you to The Western Journal news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

This quickly soured on both ends — particularly the NSBA’s assertion that parent activists were involved in “domestic terrorism.” Things got worse on Thursday when the Washington Free Beacon reported that emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show the NSBA’s president and CEO collaborated with the White House before the letter was sent — and that it was released without the approval of the NSBA’s board.

On Friday, the NSBA finally issued a mea culpa for its woke behavior, according to the Washington Examiner.

“On behalf of the NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter. To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials and educators, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue,” the letter stated.

“We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.”

Breaking: In the wake of yesterday’s @FreeBeacon report, National School Board Association announces “we regret and apologize for the letter” to Biden admin characterizing concerned parents as potentially domestic terrorists pic.twitter.com/3RBufvWqAN

— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) October 23, 2021

Content Warning: What They’re Showing Schoolchildren Is So Disgusting the Law Requires It to Be Blurred on Television

“As we’ve reiterated since the letter was sent, we deeply value not only the work of local school boards that make important contributions within our communities, but also the voices of parents, who should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s education, health, and safety,” the letter continued.

And, of course, what belated apology would be complete without this line?: “We are going to do better going forward.”

“Doing better” is apparently defined as “a formal review of our processes and procedures,” as well as “specific improvements” regarding “coordination and consultation among our staff, and our members across the country.”

This will apparently stop the NSBA from implying parents who love their children are engaged in “domestic terrorism.” It’s also worth noting that the memorandum does not address the specific inflammatory language and positions of the group’s Sept. 29 letter to the White House, nor does it discuss the prior coordination with the White House.

Also unaddressed is the questions Garland faced over the letter — and the Department of Justice’s subsequent memorandum, issued just days after the NSBA’s missive — during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last week.

“Three weeks ago, the National School Board Association writes President Biden asking him to involve the FBI in local school board matters. Five days later, the attorney general of the United States does just that, does exactly what a political organization asks to be done,” Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan said.

“Republicans on this committee have sent the attorney general 13 letters in the last six months,” he added. “Eight of the letters, we’ve got nothing — they just gave us the finger.” Other letters took weeks to merit a response, Jordan said. But it was merely days before Garland promised the NSBA “open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting.”

“A snitch line on parents started five days after a left-wing political organization asked for it,” Jordan said. “If that’s not political, I don’t know what is.

BREAKING: Ohio Rep. @Jim_Jordan let loose on Attorney General Merrick Garland at Thursday’s hearing: “Folks all around the country, they tell me, for the first time they are afraid of their government” pic.twitter.com/9aWjNCnohU

— Newsmax (@newsmax) October 21, 2021

None of this was mentioned in the NSBA’s apology. Just a sanitized “mistakes were made“-ish retraction of an inflammatory letter which, by all appearances, spurred the Department of Justice and the FBI to treat American parents as if they were domestic terrorist threats for caring about their children’s education.

It certainly took long enough. And after all that, the apology was neither public nor specific. Meanwhile, it appears the FBI still remains mobilized against the chimerical threat the NSBA railed against.

Some mea culpa.

Not long before the pandemic, the Irish state television, RTE, contacted me to ask whether I was prepared to speak about a different kind of epidemic, that of gender dysphoria and sex-change. I was reluctant to do so because the subject, though undoubtedly socially important and very topical, was not one that interested me particularly. In fact, I tended to avert my mind from it.

The people from the RTE persuaded me that it was my public duty to appear on the programme that they were making. They had found many professors of paediatrics, medicine, psychiatry, and psychology who did not think that the Trans Movement was a force for good, to put it mildly, but none was willing to speak out in public against it. They did not want to ruin their own careers or be the object of mass obloquy: the thirst for martyrdom is not common.

I recognized that my reluctance was tinged with fear (and therefore also with cowardice). It was with trepidation that I agreed, and I was reasonably circumspect in what I said in front of the camera.

If you wanted to understand the sudden increase in the phenomenon, I said, you were better off studying the history of fashion—Chanel, say, or Balenciaga—than anything else.

There were fashions in psychiatric conditions that come and go. Hysterical paralyses of limbs were once very common but are now rare (though they still did occur).

In the 1990s, multiple personalities were fashionable, so much so that the fifth edition of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual” of the American Psychiatric Association quoted a survey suggesting that multiple personality affected up to 1.5 per cent of the population—a figure I found intrinsically absurd. As the Duke of Wellington said to the man who approached him and said “Mr Jones, I believe?”, “If you can believe that you can believe anything.”

The point is that patterns of behavior to which psychiatric labels are fixed wax and wane over time. I expected that the present craze would eventually evaporate—though it would probably be replaced by another.

I have no idea whether or not my contribution was used (I have sometimes given lengthy interviews only to find that they were not broadcast, or cut to ten seconds), but the most important or significant question about the whole episode, however, was not whether I was right or wrong in my characterization and prognosis of the Trans Movement, but the state of fear that the RTE people had described, which led to them scraping the barrel to find someone, in this case me, to say something even mildly critical of the movement. What they described, in effect, was the development of a totalitarian atmosphere in intellectual life.

Of course, we should not exaggerate. We do not yet fear the midnight knock on the door, and no one (as far as I know) has been killed for expressing unorthodox ideas on this subject.

People nevertheless fear for their careers and even their livelihoods. Followers of movements like the Trans Movement have no hesitation in calling for the dismissal of people who attract their wrath by disagreeing publicly with them. So-called transphobia is not irrational fear of people who want to change their sex, but fear of retribution by the movement that makes such people their cause (who may not be the same people).

Trans-sexualism is not the only subject on which it is now dangerous for one’s career or livelihood to express ideas that dissent from the current “progressive” moral orthodoxy. This explains the view of the journalist, Douglas Murray, that only those with no institutional affiliation, private or public, who are able independently to earn their livings, can now speak their minds on many subjects.

There are several asymmetrical wars currently going on in the intellectual sphere. On the one side are guerrilla monomaniacs with a cause, for whom the subject of their monomania is all-important, and the promotion of which is the meaning of their lives; on the other, normal people for whom that particular subject is merely one thing among many others.

In this situation, the monomaniacs have the advantage of fanaticism. Like Batista’s army in Cuba, normal people melt away in the face of fanatical attack, because they do not care enough, or are not prescient enough, to defend their position—though they may later come to regret not having done so.

What is particularly alarming about the totalitarian temper that is developing in western society is that it does not originate from the government but is a genuine expression of the thirst for power of a portion of the population, that part of it—the intelligentsia—that seemingly would have most to lose if the drive to totalitarianism were successful.

Individuals may have discovered to their cost that even merely intellectual revolutions tend to devour their young, today’s radicals often becoming tomorrow’s reactionaries hated in the eyes of a new generation of radicals that is ever on the lookout for new worlds to destroy, but young radicals never think that they will grow old: they always think that theirs is the last word in truth and justice.

Tolerance—a word that in the mouth of such radicals comes to mean the forced or coerced approval of what was formerly transgressive—is not natural to mankind. It is far more natural to want to suppress what one finds disgusting or does not want to hear. Our instinct is to turn away from views that are not our own, from evidence that might undermine our most cherished opinions, and even to dislike those who cite such evidence.

In other words, tolerance is an intellectual and moral achievement, an act of self-control rather than the expression of an instinct. No doubt some people by temperament find such self-control easier than others (I don’t find it easy myself), but there is a dictator lurking in many, perhaps most, of us, at least in those of us who take an interest in public affairs.

Suffice it to say that we are not living in a golden age of the kind of self-control necessary for a tolerant society in which diversity of opinion is taken in good spirit. And the so-called social media, which allow us to pour out our bile incontinently the moment we feel the inclination to do so, only compounds the problem.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-trans-movement-and-the-dictator-lurking-within-us_4065936.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

When we were kids, our parents had to watch out to make sure we weren’t exposed to filth on television. Now, apparently, television has to ensure our parents aren’t exposed to the filth their kids are seeing in school.

That’s at least the situation in Virginia — ground zero for educational unpleasantness at the moment, where progressive educators are aghast that parents apparently think they have some say in what their kids are exposed to at school, no matter how objectionable or dissipated it might be.

The educators have an ally in Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate this year and a former governor of the Old Dominion. During his time as governor, McAuliffe vetoed a bill that would have allowed parents to remove sexually explicit books from Virginia schools.

During the final gubernatorial debate last month with Republican Glenn Youngkin, McAuliffe vigorously defended his policies on education.

“I’m not gonna let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions,” McAuliffe told Youngkin. “I stopped the bill that I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Terry McAuliffe: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” pic.twitter.com/rs6pSWZw79

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) October 19, 2021

Most of the coverage regarding McAuliffe’s remark during the debate centered on the battles surrounding curricula that include elements of critical race theory, a controversial far-left school of thought that argues both the United States and Western civilization were founded on systemic racism.

That’s a rabbit hole for another day, but there’s a creepier side to McAuliffe’s remark, given another front in Virginia’s education battles: Pornographic materials that are either part of the curriculum or available to children.

Do parents deserve a greater voice in their kids’ education?

Take the book “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe. As a recent ad from conservative group Independent Women’s Voice noted, the material in the book is so graphic that “TV rules say adults can’t see this, but VA schools think it’s fine for kids.”

The scene from the graphic novel shows a character, who is apparently a girl who identifies as a boy,  in a library exchanging sexual texts with someone. The text had to be redacted and the images blurred because even TV — home to “The Jerry Springer Show,” “Jersey Shore,” “The Real Housewives of [Insert City Here]” and “My Mother the Car” — still has some standards.  An unexpurgated version of the ad is available IWV website — and, if you must know, the conversation revolves around a sex toy and several sex acts.

“This is the most turned on I’ve been in my life. I am DYING,” the girl says.

On the next page, one of the aforementioned sex acts is demonstrated — and needed to be blurred out, natch. Apparently, the girl doesn’t like it, saying that it “was MUCH HOTTER when it was only in my imagination.”

“Let’s try something else,” she says, to which her lover says, “Of course.”

Not Just Virginia: Poll Delivers Devastating News to Blue State Dem Governor

This is all deliberately vague because, well, you’re not reading Teen Vogue. The ad — including the uncensored version — can be seen here. Be forewarned: You’ll likely wish this all remained vague.

However, it’s important because, when he was governor, McAuliffe vetoed a 2016 bill that would have allowed parents to block their children from accessing or being taught sexually explicit material.

“McAuliffe (D) said a state law is ‘unnecessary’ because the Virginia Board of Education is considering changing state policy to accommodate parents’ concerns,” The Washington Post reported at the time.

“School boards are best positioned to ensure that our students are exposed to those appropriate literary and artistic works that will expand students’ horizons and enrich their learning experiences,” McAuliffe said at the time.

This includes “Gender Queer,” which was one of two books a Virginia mom was able to check out of her kids’ high school in Fairfax, Virginia. She went viral after she confronted the school board about the availability of the material.

“Both of these books include pedophilia,” Stacy Langton told the board, according to a Fox News from Sept. 24. “Sex between men and boys … One book describes a fourth-grade boy performing oral sex on an adult male. The other book has detailed illustrations of a man having sex with a boy.”

When she began reading from the books, one of the school board members interrupted her with this immortal line: “There are children in the audience here.” I’d recommend laughing at the irony as opposed to crying over the rank depravity, if only because the latter is unbecoming.

WARNING: The following video contains graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.

So apparently, that “changing state policy to accommodate parents’ concerns” part turned out swimmingly in the intervening five years.

And now, the Democrats are looking to elect a man who says, “I’m not gonna let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions.” This, presumably, includes “Gender Queer.”

This is why it would behoove parents to elect candidates who allow them to make the decision to take porn out of their child’s library.

According to the FCC, “Federal law prohibits obscene, indecent and profane content from being broadcast on the radio or TV.” The FCC acknowledges that what constitutes “obscene,” “indecent” or “profane” is subjective, but even in 2021, there are few sane adults who would argue that the scene depicted in the Kobabe work doesn’t fill the bill — and then some.

If they can’t show it on TV, schools shouldn’t be showing it to kids, either.

If your child is enrolled in a public school, you might want to check what books he or she is reading.

These days, you can never be sure what kind of content might be available at public schools.

For instance, one pornographic book — “Gender Queer: A Memoir” — continues to pop up in school libraries all over the country.

Written by cartoonist Maia Kobabe, the book contains cartoon-style pornographic images, including those depicting minors engaging in sex acts.

It appears that we now know who was responsible for the book’s wide dissemination.

Former NYPD Chief Calls Big Brian Laundrie Development ‘Very Strange,’ Suggests ‘Something Is Amiss’

Two prominent national school library organizations have promoted the book as essential reading material for minors.

It is likely that school libraries across the country are purchasing the book based on these recommendations.

The first organization, the School Library Journal, is the self-described “premiere publication for librarians and information specialists who work with children and teens.”

The Journal describes “Gender Queer” as a memory that “will resonate with teens.”

Should public schools promote transgender ideology?

“It’s also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand,” the organization’s review reads.

The second organization to promote “Gender Queer” is the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).

YALSA went as far as giving “Gender Queer” the “Alex Award,” an honor given to books that have “special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18.”

“Kobabe’s path to understanding eir gender and sexuality comes into beautiful focus in this graphic memoir, expressively illustrated with retro colors and simple lines. Readers will recognize a kindred spirit in Kobabe and/or gain insight into what it’s like to identify outside of the cisgender/heterosexual ‘norm,’” YALSA said in its review.

One of the first reports of “Gender Queer” appearing in schools dates back to Sept. 23.

Tom Cotton Fights for Parents, Declares War on Schools Hiding Students’ ‘Gender Transitions’

During a school board meeting held that day in Fairfax County, Virginia, a mother — Stacy Langton — brought printouts of the book’s pornographic contents and read portions of the book out loud, shocking many of those present.

The Fairfax school board chair, Stella Pekarsky, defended the district’s inclusion of the book, saying it was only available to “high school students.”

Weeks later, another mother — Nicole Solas — found the book at Rhode Island’s North Kingstown High School.

On Oct. 2, Solas tweeted out a picture of the book showcased at the school’s library, along with pictures of its pornographic contents.

In a subsequent tweet, Solas added that she would be submitting the pictures to law enforcement officials.

Schools in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina have also reportedly included the pornographic book in their student libraries.

North Carolina Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson spoke out against the book on Oct. 9.

“There’s no reason anybody, anywhere in America should be telling children about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. Yes, I called it filth,” he said.

“As you look at these photos, I challenge you to describe them as anything other than filth.”

There are two ways to be subjected to the preposterous awkwardness of elementary sex education: sitting through it and then sitting through the school meetings at which it’s discussed.

I’ve managed to experience both. Between fifth and 12th grades, I wasted hours of my life watching laughable videos on human sexuality and listening to teachers preach the gospel of permissiveness: As long as it was consensual and legal, it was OK and you were perfectly fine. Seriously. Don’t judge and don’t consider yourself judged, either by your parents or by any higher power. You’re doing great, really.

Then, for a brief period in high school, I attended some of the meetings where this curriculum was discussed. Parents, you may not be surprised to learn, weren’t thrilled about this. On perhaps the most sensitive topic a parent has to deal with, liberal value judgments were being imparted by educators who decided they got to act in the place of parents because kids might not otherwise get this message at home. This being the pre-YouTube days, things didn’t get performatively shouty, but the mood was tense — for good reason.

Those were different times, though, and the permissiveness being discussed — the mechanics of the coital act, how to get birth control, homosexuality — seems positively quaint nowadays, at least by the standards of the school that podcaster and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly sends her kids to. There, 8-year-old boys get to discuss taking puberty blockers, getting castrated and becoming women.

On Wednesday’s show, Kelly had middle school teacher Ramona Bessinger on. The Providence, Rhode Island, teacher was suspended earlier this month over an alleged lapse in safety protocol on her part, according to Legal Insurrection.

However, given the fact Bessinger has been an ardent critic of critical race theory and other left-wing pedagogy in Providence’s curriculum, this seemed like little more than a flimsy pretext to remove a fly in the ointment.

The Providence School District is calling me in Wednesday for my show-trial. “Pre-disciplinary hearing”. They do not like teachers that expose them. ⁦@Renny920⁩ ⁦@AInfanteGreen⁩ ⁦@Nicoletta0602⁩ ⁦@re_schools⁩ ⁦@CBHeresy⁩ pic.twitter.com/X88MXB2DPE

— Ramona Bessinger (@RamonaBessinger) October 11, 2021

During her interview with Kelly, Bessinger said Providence had gotten caught up in “this whole push to embrace any child who wants to be pansexual, transsexual, multisexual, who the heck knows?”

Do children need to be taught this in sex education programs?

“As a teacher, I’m not interested in talking to children about their sexual preference, especially at the age of 12,” Bessinger said, adding she felt the school was encouraging impressionable children to take on identities they wouldn’t otherwise consider.

“Developmentally, middle school children want to fit in — more so than probably elementary or secondary” school children, Bessinger said.

“And so they’re preying on that psychological phase that kids go through. They want to fit in, and if they feel it’s going to please an adult, they may even pick a pronoun so that that adult applauds them.”

If you think things are bad in Providence, though, wait until you hear what’s apparently happening in Kelly’s kids’ school — which she said “was one of the top all-boys schools … one of the top schools in the country” and which she chose “because it was … more traditional, it wasn’t this far left.”

Kelly said her third-graders were subjected to an “experimental transgender education program,” which they found out about after she and her husband “went to parent-teacher night.”

Popular Shoe Brand Apologizes for ‘Appropriating’ Native American Culture, Using the Word ‘Moccasin’

“And we were sitting there, and one of our fellow parents — a man — raised his hand and said, ‘Why did my son come home’ — these are third-graders, 8- and 9-year-olds — ‘my son come home and ask if it’s true that he can take a pill to prevent puberty, and then, when he turns 18, can have his penis chopped off if he wants to become a woman?’”

“We were all like, ‘What? Say what?’” Kelly said.

“Trust me, we were angry, and the teacher acknowledged it. She didn’t deny it. She said, ‘Because we take the conversation where the boys want to take it’ — and of course, we were like, that’s bull, no 8-year-old was asking that question.”

Kelly added that discussing these topics with children just hopelessly confuses them — and she’s right. Are we to be shocked, though? That’s not a bug in the system. It’s a feature.

We live in the era of Drag Queen Story Time. In Washington state, an elementary school featured a book for LGBT pride month this year in which an underage character who received “top surgery” — the removal of breast tissue from women who identify as men to appear more masculine — appeared on the cover.

And if your public school district doesn’t play along, expect to pay. In a back-to-school message in August, the Biden administration’s Kristen Clarke, the Department of Justice’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, told transgender students they could file a lawsuit if their school was (among other things) stopping them from “receiving the supportive and life-saving care you may need.”

Talking to 8-year-olds about castration is supposedly part of the new awkwardness students and parents have to navigate, all thanks to educators with an agenda who think their values are better than yours — and want to make a mark on impressionable children. If you don’t believe the slippery slope is real, wake up.

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) has apologized to its members on Friday for a letter that was previously sent to the Biden administration in which the school board group compared parents accused of trying to intimidate educators to domestic terrorists.

In a memo issued to NSBA members, the board said that “on behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter,” which was sent on Sept. 29, urging President Joe Biden to take action to stop what it described as “threats and acts of violence” against school boards, teachers, and others involved in the public education sphere.

“There was no justification for some of the language included in the letter,” the NSBA wrote. “We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance. We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.”

It added that the NSBA deeply values “not only the work of local school boards that make important contributions within our communities, but also the voices of parents, who should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s education, health, and safety.”

???????????? https://t.co/rJpvV086mo

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 23, 2021

The memo comes as school board organizations in at least 20 states distanced themselves from the NSBA, citing disagreement over the way it has characterized concerned parents. Some have quit or moved to leave the NSBA.

The NSBA’s initial controversial Sept. 29 letter (pdf) claimed that some clashes between school board members and parents over issues such as masking policies, the critical race theory, among others, should be equivalent to parents engaging in “a form of domestic terrorism.”

“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the organization wrote.

Emails (pdf) obtained by Parents Defending Education last week disclosed that the NSBA was in touch with the White House and others in the administration before the release of the letter.

“In talks over the last several weeks with White House staff, they requested additional information on some of the specific threats,” Chip Slaven, the NSBA’s interim executive director and CEO, wrote in an email to NSBA board members just hours after the letter was released to the public.

Most of the incidents the board included related to parents vigorously pushing back on controversial teachings or material and not incidents where any laws appeared to be broken.

Several incidents did ultimately lead to arrests at school board meetings, including a father in Loudoun County, Virginia, who was upset his daughter had been raped and school officials allegedly acted to cover it up.

Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum several days after the NSBA’s letter, ordering federal officials to crack down on parents accused of threatening violence or trying to intimidate educators.

Garland, testifying to Congress in Washington, said he learned about the letter by reading about it in the news and had not been told by the White House to issue the memo. He said he was certain the White House communicated its concerns about the letter to his department and that that would be “perfectly appropriate.”

On Oct. 21, Garland denied claims that the U.S. Justice Department would label parents as domestic terrorists, and parents who take issue with school board policies will not be investigated.

“The Justice Department supports and defends the First Amendment right of parents to complain as vociferously as they wish about the education of their children, about the curriculum taught in the schools,” Garland said, the New York Post reported. “That is not what the memorandum is about at all, nor does it use the words ‘domestic terrorism’ or ‘Patriot Act.’”

Jim Green, the executive director of Oregon’s School Boards Association, said in a statement on social media the board appreciates NSBA’s apology over the controversial letter that was issued to the Biden administration.

“We appreciate NSBA’s apology over some of the languages in the organization’s appeal for protecting the safety of school board members,” Green wrote. “That doesn’t mean the underlying issue—keeping volunteer school board members safe from threats and violence—isn’t important. It is.”

“But NSBA recognized that the wording it used alienated many parents, our vital partners in public schools. It’s my hope with this apology that the national organization can learn from the experience and move on.”

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

From NTD News

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/nsba-apologizes-to-members-over-letter-comparing-parents-to-domestic-terrorists_4064824.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-10-23-3&mktids=e434c7c98af422b7709077803a056f47&est=UBx0BOk31ULGzGC6ZH3bBwFUKqu4QOdqN%2FrhUbUx2APdGJQyD7qfGuYQNyCBp1X1PA%3D%3D

In the United States, a sharp rise in the number of children identifying as transgender has alarmed some parents. As these numbers rapidly grow, three mothers share the warning signs of transgender indoctrination.

The Child Transgender Numbers Explosion

A study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics released in May 2020 showed nearly 10 percent of high school students in just one school district identified as gender-diverse. That 10 percent figure is far higher than past estimates, such as a 2017 government survey of U.S. high school students, in which only 1.8 percent said they identified as transgender. While some studies suggest the higher rate of suicide and attempted suicide among transgender children is related to non-affirmation, other research shows that the higher rate of suicide and attempted suicide among adolescents with gender dysphoria is more related to their know history of other psychiatric diagnoses and self-reported emotional and behavioral problems. While the study called The Trevor Project—widely cited by those who push the affirmation-only approach to avoid self-harm—does show that a significant number of transgender youth admit the heavy use of drugs and alcohol, the study did not explore or provide any statistics regarding the preexistence of other psychiatric diagnoses or self-reported emotional and behavioral problems among the participants.

The Social/Mental Vulnerabilities 

While each of the three families in this story come from different backgrounds and live in different states, each of their newly self-identified transgender children have some things very much in common. They are all in the same age group, they are all socially awkward, and all have been diagnosed with some form of social or psychological disorder.

Vera Lindner of Los Angeles, California, told The Epoch Times “the trans bomb was dropped,” into her world a year ago when her daughter was 14 years old. Her daughter, now 15, had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and Attention Deficit Disorder. She suffers from depression, anxiety, insulin resistance, and obesity. Her daughter was also diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Dee, of Clover, South Carolina has a 17-year-old daughter who was indoctrinated at the age of 15. Her daughter has been diagnosed with pre-adoption trauma.

A concerned mom in Augusta, Georgia, who is a single parent, spoke to The Epoch Times under the condition of anonymity using the pseudonym Mary. She said her son made his transgender announcement in November 2020. While not formally diagnosed with any specific disorder, she “had him tested when he was younger for being on the [autism] spectrum and he fell in the gray zone.”

“They could not say yes or no,” Mary added. “He has always been a bit socially awkward and quirky.”

How it Began

Another commonality is the way each child was drawn down the transgender path. It all began with online connections who introduced them to the transgender world through various social media groups.

The trans-transformation of Vera’s daughter started when she began identifying as a lesbian and started watching a lot of YouTube videos like “What do lesbians look like?” and “Who is the ‘most lesbian’ from among this line-up?” Then came the “unrequited love for a butch-lesbian girl who was the first one to self-identify as a ‘trans-boy.’”

“This individual was the ring-leader, very aggressive,” Vera explained. “Also, very tech-savvy.” The “trans-boy” set up multiple Discord groups for the group her daughter had been introduced to, with channels such as “vent,” “general,” “art,” “LGBT” and specifically, “NSFW” where they were posting male nudes and pornography for each other to watch.

According to the Urban Dictionary, “NSFW” is “internet slang” for “Not Safe For Work” or “Not Safe For Wife” and is “used for a fandom of some sort when people want to discuss and share the sexual and porno side of the fandom.”

“At the same time,” Vera added, “they all got into TikTok and Instagram and started watching trans-related content—vile, stupid narcissistic young adults posting rotten material on these platforms.”

The subject matter of these posts centered around such things as, “you are trans if you…,” “you have been playing a role of a girl all along but you are not a girl,” and posed questions like “do you feel like a girl?”

For Dee’s daughter, everything started when “a friend who had decided she was trans a year before took her down the proverbial hole and taught her what to wear” and exposed her to lesbian pornography.

Through the social media platforms Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok, her daughter watched videos  about “trans-men” and “how to get testosterone.”

As with Vera’s and Dee’s daughters, Mary’s son spent hours on social media sites consuming hard-core, graphic pornography sent to him by his new, online trans peer group that evades parental controls by classifying the content “cartoons.”

The Drastic Transformation

By the time Vera’s daughter was in eighth grade she “was so hyper-fixated on LGBT that she was incapable of speaking about anything else besides LGBT” and she “cycled through orientations of lesbian, pan, queer, until finally she dropped the trans bomb shortly after turning 14.” Soon after, she “cut her hair, started wearing boys’ clothes, bought men’s underwear” and “demanded a binder.” She also wanted to get a “supplement from Amazon for increasing testosterone,” which she refused to purchase for her, and to see a “gender doctor,” which she refused to take her to.

Where Dee’s daughter had once been a “happy, seemingly well-adjusted and mature,” child who “excelled academically, she quickly became “disobedient, contentious, contemptuous and untruthful.”

Where she once appeared as a normal teen-aged girl, she now “presents as a boy wearing dark colors, hoodies, and occasionally wears a binder” and she has “Cut off her beautiful hair and tries to pass with a man bun.”

Mary said she was shocked at her son’s trans declaration as there was “no prior behavior that would indicate any of this.”

As with Vera’s daughter, Mary’s son became “obsessed with talking about trans issues.” She said “all talks revolved around it,” and “he demanded puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy.”

Mary said the transformation of her son started after he “found friends who were also declaring non-binary and transgender status and they began providing him with “their old girl clothes.” He quickly went from “cautiously” wearing a skirt to “full-on cross-dressing” and he “became noticeably irritable and rude,” a characteristic she said was “extremely out of character” for her son. During one manic episode, she said her son began screaming at her to look at him to recognize that he is “a girl now.”

“It was very disturbing and frightening,” she said.

The Fight to Reclaim Their Children

Because her daughter was “going through a mental breakdown upon dropping the trans bomb,” Vera and her husband decided not to take away her electronic devices. To mitigate the destructive influence of social media, they did purge her accounts of all transgendered contacts. They also stopped sending their daughter to her therapist, who had started “casually talking about testosterone and encouraging transition.”

Her daughter’s PCOS is being managed with meds and she has a daily regimen of light exercise. She has started tenth grade in a charter school and is making new friends. Still, the therapy that has had the most positive impact on her daughter has been volunteering on family farms.

“She adores animals,” Vera said, “so we adopted two kittens in addition to the dog we brought with us. Being around animals and kind people has helped her rebuild her self-esteem. We also go for walks daily. Her depression is much better, definitely in remission. So is the eating disorder. Here, she is connecting with real humans and hearing their real-life stories.”

For Dee—because “there’s too much being shared at high school at lunch and during breaks”—parental monitoring of her social media accounts, a summer job, increased volunteer work to get her off social media, and new social circles has had only marginal improvements on her daughter’s behavior. But she isn’t giving up.

Fearful and overwhelmed by the sudden changes in her son, the decision was made by Mary to send her son to stay with his father. During those next three weeks, she began to dig into his online history and many changes have been made. Since her son’s return from his father’s home, she has taken away his electronic devices and has three layers of parental control on his phone. She uses Circle and Bark apps to monitor the phone’s screen-time and frequently checks with her internet provider for controls they provide. Despite her efforts, she said her son still manages to find “a lot of gender-bending in obscure corners of the internet.”

“His attitude is slightly better,” she said. “I have taken him to a new therapist that is not affirming. I am not sure how much that has helped so far though. The previous therapist was terrible and made things go from bad to violent with the blind affirmation model.

Their Greatest Fears

Vera fears that her daughter will be taken by Child Protective Services because she is “not affirming,” She also fears that her daughter will be influenced by her friends to take hormones or worse, to have irrevocable surgeries. “She has made tremendous progress in healing her mental illnesses and I don’t want her to slip back,” Vera said.

Dee also fears that her daughter will “medicalize and embark on a course of surgery that will cause irreparable damage to her body.”

“And I fear she will latch onto her ‘glitter’ family and become estranged from us,” she confessed.

Mary in Georgia also fears that her son “will begin medicalization when he turns 18” and that “he will ruin his body and his life in search for happiness that is promised to him” but “will only result in his ruination mentally and physically.”

“He will become a forever patient of the pharmaceutical and medical industry and dwindle his dating pool down to nothing and he will be alone,” she grieved.

Who’s to Blame?

Although a self-described “lifelong” liberal Democrat, Vera blames former President Barack Obama “who got bought with the millionaire transvestites’ money” and the liberals “who parrot trans slogans” and “allowed this ideology to infiltrate so deeply the American society and families.”

She blames the “friends who dragged” her daughter into the trans world, and the school lockdowns that left home-bound, isolated children “hanging on their phones all day long to be immersed into this cult.”

“And I blame myself,” she confessed, “for not doing deep reading on this whole trans-thing years ago. I immersed myself only after she dropped on us the trans-bomb, unexpectedly.”

Dee also blames “the friend who dragged” her daughter into this, “and social media, which uses algorithms to shove the trans-agenda into her online world.” She also blames her daughter’s three therapists, “all of whom affirmed her and treated her like a special unicorn.”

Primarily, Mary blames the tech industry.

“They know the danger this technology poses to our mental health and the influence it has especially on young vulnerable people,” she said. “I blame them for not having stronger walls against pornography when kids can easily click an ‘over 18’ button.”

She also blames the pharmaceutical and medical industry who “blindly affirm this and push drugs and surgeries on kids” and therapists who use suicide statistics to pressure them into affirming their child’s irrational decisions yet give no thought to the idea that the child may deeply regret those choices and “take their life after the transition.”

New Paths Require Wise Feet

“To all despondent parents who just got blindsided by this,” two mothers offer some advice.

Vera: “Read as much literature as possible, both affirmative and also trans-critical. Be familiar with the propaganda and lies so you can rebuff them. Nothing substitutes for knowledge and information.”

Mary: “Cut off electronics/online activity, be vigilant about parental controls and monitoring. Be cautious and not confrontational and keep communication lines open and encourage critical thinking.  Give them as much love as possible but also be firm as the parent. Get them outdoors and back in nature and into the world like through volunteering, extracurricular activities, if they’re old enough getting a job.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/parents-warn-of-their-children-being-subjected-to-transgender-indoctrination_4055029.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-10-23-3&mktids=e434c7c98af422b7709077803a056f47&est=dqfEsyY6Ou52zv1D2KXyHsDCd42jJ9ZMBz%2BGy%2FSy3hYY%2FYGSswoNrXhs1Pk4lGBd%2Fg%3D%3D

Law excusing school officials from reporting crimes becomes political liability ahead of elections

A law passed by Virginia Democrats last year that exempts public school officials from reporting certain sexual crimes to the police has become a political liability ahead of November’s statewide elections.

In the wake of two high-profile sexual assault cases in Loudoun County Public Schools, one concerning an alleged rape in a high school bathroom, Republican candidates are hammering Democratic incumbents, including Gov. Ralph Northam, for passing and signing House Bill 257. The law excuses school officials from reporting instances of sexual battery and other violent offenses that do not meet the threshold of a felony to the police.

Republican Nick Clemente is running to unseat Democratic state delegate Wendy Gooditis, who cast the tie-breaking vote on House Bill 257. Clemente called Gooditis’s vote “reckless” and said he hoped voters will hold Democrats responsible for fostering an unsafe school environment.

“While the attacks that occurred in Loudoun County Public Schools were felonies that still required reporting, Gooditis’s reckless vote sent a message to victims that their being groped, molested, or abused isn’t as important as it was a couple years ago and tells potential predators that consequences have diminished,” Clemente told the Washington Free Beacon. “They are trying to deny, deflect, and hide from this dangerous bill, but voters are intelligent and will hold them accountable.”

Education-related issues, from pandemic school closures to progressive racial and gender ideology in the classroom, became a top priority for candidates this election cycle. The rape and assault cases in Loudoun County further ignited Republican candidates just weeks before the November elections, where they hope to take back control of the Virginia General Assembly and governorship.

Mike Mullin, the bill’s sponsor, and six of his Democratic colleagues who cosponsored the bill did not respond to requests for comment regarding the law and the cases in Loudoun County schools.

Jordan Gray, a Republican who’s running against Mullin, called on the delegate to resign in a statement on Oct. 20.

“As a teacher, I’m shocked and horrified by the news coming from the Loudoun County school system. This form of abuse must not go unchecked, which is why I am calling on Delegate Mullin’s resignation for his sponsorship of H.B. 257,” Gray said. “He must answer for his failures and resign immediately.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin called for an investigation into the Loudoun County school board. At a rally on Tuesday, Youngkin also blamed Virginia’s Democratic attorney general Mark Herring for failing to launch his own investigation into the district.

House Bill 257 was thrown back into the spotlight after the Daily Wire broke the story on the Loudoun County assaults on Oct. 11. The Daily Wire initially reported that officials at Stone Bridge High School, where the first victim was allegedly raped, called police not to investigate the allegations but to handle the alleged victim’s father, who made a scene at the school.

Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office records reported by Jesse Singal, however, revealed that the police were initially dispatched to investigate the assault. Those reports align with district superintendent Scott Ziegler’s email to school board members on the day of the assault, which noted that the school called for additional officers after the victim’s father “caused a disruption by using threatening and profane language.”

The father was arrested during a school board meeting in June after speaking out against the district’s transgender bathroom policies. Those policies were approved in August.

The boy accused of rape was arrested in July, according to NBC 4 Washington, but was released while investigators processed a DNA rape kit. He was transferred to Broad Run High School, where he allegedly sexually assaulted another student in a classroom. In a statement to the Free Beacon, Loudoun County school officials said they would not comment further on the case.

https://freebeacon.com/elections/virginia-dems-lax-school-crime-bill-under-fire-amid-rape-scandal/

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio did not allow House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler’s claim to go unchallenged that the Justice Department became a lawless, political agency due to former President Donald Trump, asking, “Are you kidding me?”

“For four years, the democratic institutions that you have sworn to protect, first as a judge, now as attorney general, were deeply undermined by the former president and his political enablers,” Nadler told Attorney General Merrick Garland prior to the top federal law enforcement officer’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

“During that time, the Trump administration leveraged the department to protect the president and his friends and to punish his enemies, both real and imagined,” the New York Democrat said.

Nadler accused Trump of summoning the nation’s law enforcement officers following November’s election and demanding “they use the full power of the federal government to install him for another term.”

The Democrat told Garland his task is “unenviable … because you must build back everything [the Department of Justice] lost under the last administration. Its self-confidence, its reputation in the eyes of the American people and an institutional respect for our Constitution and the rule of law.”

Former NYPD Chief Calls Big Brian Laundrie Development ‘Very Strange,’ Suggests ‘Something Is Amiss’

Jordan, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, responded to Nadler’s opening statement by saying, “The chairman just said the Trump DOJ was political and went after their opponents. Are you kidding me?”

First, the congressman argued that Garland is overseeing a politically driven DOJ, pointing to a memorandum the attorney general put out earlier this month regarding “threats” against school officials from parents who are concerned about what their children are being taught.

“Three weeks ago the National School Board Administration writes President Biden asking him to involve the FBI in local school board matters,” Jordan said. “Five days later, the attorney general of the United States does just that. Does exactly what a political organization asked to be done.”

Do you think the DOJ is political under Biden?

Jordan contrasted that rapid movement by the attorney general with the slow response to 13 letters he and his congressional colleagues have sent to the DOJ, for which they sometimes wait weeks or months.

“Eight of the letters, we’ve got nothing,” the congressman said. “They just gave us the finger and said, ‘We’re not going to get back to you.’”

But what Jordan called a “snitch line” to report unruly parents was set up “five days after a left-wing political organization asked for it.”

“Think about this, the same FBI that Mr. Garland is directing to open dedicated lines of communication for reporting on parents just a few years ago spied on four American citizens associated with President Trump’s campaign,” the representative said.

Americans have had enough. pic.twitter.com/SFlYQFiFOR

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 21, 2021

Top House Republicans Demand Nadler Take This Action on Biden Border Crisis ‘Immediately’

“The Clinton campaign hired Perkins Coie, who hired Fusion GPS, who hired Christophe Steele who put a bunch of garbage together, gave it to the FBI. They used that as the basis to open up an investigation into a presidential campaign,” Jordan continued.

He further noted that a federal grand jury last month indicted Michael A. Sussmann, an attorney who worked at Perkins Coie, for allegedly passing false information to then-FBI general counsel Jim Baker alleging covert communications between the Trump campaign and Russians.

Jordan also pointed out, “A few weeks ago, the [inspector general] at the Department of Justice released a report that found that the FBI made over 200 errors, omissions and lies in just 29 randomly selected FISA applications.”

Last month, USA Today reported that the IG “faulted the FBI for ‘widespread’ errors in its applications for surveillance authority, concluding that the bureau failed to provide supporting documentation for sensitive wiretap requests.”

“Building on a 2019 examination of the FBI’s surveillance of a former Trump aide [Carter Page], Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the bureau did not include adequate support for 183 surveillance applications between 2015 and 2020 following a review of more than 7,000 such requests,” it said.

Multiple FBI and DOJ officials prominently discussed in text messages of those serving in the FBI’s Russia probe of the Trump campaign have been forced out or left the agencies, Politico reported.

Those include former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired; former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; Comey’s chief of staff, James Rybicki; Baker; FBI agent Peter Strzok; FBI lawyer Lisa Page; and Bruce Ohr, who was associate deputy attorney general.

Bringing his remarks back to the present, Jordan contended that citizens’ constitutional rights have been under assault by the government and that “Americans are afraid.”

“They tell me for the first time, they fear their government,” he said. “And frankly I think it’s obvious why. Every single liberty we enjoy under the First Amendment has been assaulted over the last year.”

However, Jordan argued Garland’s memo was a turning point.

“I don’t think the good people of this great country are going to cower and hide. I think your memo, Mr. Attorney General, was the last straw,” he said. “I think it was the catalyst for a great awakening that is just getting started.”

Jordan concluded, “Americans are pushing back because Americans value freedom.”

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a curriculum that incorporates critical race theory’s (CRT) ideas should not be taught to schoolchildren, because it sends the wrong message to young children—that one race is less than the other.

“But if I could take a moment to talk about the whole issue of critical race theory and what is and is not being taught,” Rice said during an interview on “The View” Wednesday. “One of the worries that I have about the way that we’re talking about race is that it either seems so big that somehow white people now have to feel guilty for everything that happened in the past—I don’t think that’s very productive—or black people have to feel disempowered by race.”

One of “The View” hosts, Sunny Hostin, countered Rice’s comment by saying that those who oppose CRT don’t want real history being taught in schools.

“People want to hide history … that is exactly what we are seeing is this rollback of history. Parents don’t want children to hear about the real history,” said Hostin.

Opponents of CRT say they want all of the history of the United States taught including the history of slavery and segregation, but they do not want the divisive concepts like systemic racism, white supremacy, and sexually explicit education being taught to their children.

Those who are opposed to CRT also say the teaching materials being used in schools are rooted in the Marxist theory of class struggle, but with a particular focus on race. Proponents of CRT see racism in every aspect of the American public and private life and seek to dismantle American institutions—such as the Constitution and legal system—which they claim to be inherently and irredeemably racist.

While schools have for years been quietly infusing CRT into their curriculums, it wasn’t until last year, when lockdowns were enacted in response to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, that parents were able to see what their children were being taught. Since then, parents have been increasingly stepping forward to oppose CRT due to its racially divisive and anti-American concepts.

In the last year, parents across the nation have been voicing their opposition to this type of curriculum during school board meetings. Rice also stressed that parents should have a say in what is taught to their children.

“Parents ought to be involved in their children’s education. Their children are in school seven hours, that’s a very formative period. … they’re actually homeschooling them in increasing numbers, and I think that’s a signal,” said Rice.

Professor Rice said that she lived through the injustices of the segregated South but her parents taught her that she could overcome her circumstances and that she was not a victim.

“I couldn’t go to a movie theater or to a restaurant with my parents. I went to segregated schools, but we moved to Denver. My parents never thought I was going to grow up in a world without prejudice, but they also told me, ‘that’s somebody else’s problem, not yours.’ You’re going to overcome it, and you are going to be anything you want to be, and that’s the message that I think we ought to be sending the kids,” said Rice.

She said the way race is being taught in schools disempowers black children and vilifies white children.

Asra Nomani of Virginia, the VP of strategy and investigation with Parents Defending Education gave examples of how CRT vilifies white students. She cited a book called “Not My Idea” during a recent interview with NTD TV’s “The Nation Speaks.”

“This is a book that has been read to children in elementary schools from Philadelphia to Texas. And one of the really critical ideas here is this one, that whiteness is a bad idea, and the picture then is of the devil, and what has happened then is that white people have signed a contract with the devil that ends up with stolen land, stolen riches, and special favors.” Nomani said.

Rice said she is opposed to teaching children that white students are bad, as Nomani pointed out.

“I would like black kids to be completely empowered to know that they are beautiful in their blackness, but in order to do that, I don’t have to make white kids feel bad for being white. So somehow, this is a conversation that has gone in the wrong direction,” said Rice. “It goes back to how we teach the history. We teach the good and we teach the bad of history. But what we don’t do is make seven- and ten-year-olds feel that they are somehow bad people because of the color of their skin. We’ve been through that and we don’t need to do that again.”

Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up while the South was racially segregated. She was the first female black secretary of state and the first woman to serve as National Security Advisor

https://www.theepochtimes.com/condoleezza-rice-denounces-critical-race-theory-curriculums-being-taught-in-schools_4061703.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Parents opposed to critical race theory-based indoctrination in public schools should be treated as adversaries, teachers in Washington State have been told by their labor union.

Critical race theory (CRT) holds, among other things, that white people are inherently racist and calls for engaging in racial discrimination in the name of combating it. Leftists claim CRT promotes racial equality by highlighting the harm they claim white people have done to society.

An Oct. 19 report by the Olympia, Washington-based Freedom Foundation states the largest union in the Evergreen State, the Washington Education Association (WEA), representing 100,000 teachers and support staff in Washington’s K-12 system, is “one of the biggest forces for transforming taxpayer-funded government schools into indoctrination and recruitment centers for leftist activism.”

WEA is affiliated with the National Education Association (NEA), the largest U.S. teachers’ union with a membership of 3 million. The Freedom Foundation previously documented how NEA, which claims structural racism is part and parcel of the American experience, and favors radical causes such as defunding the police and reparations for descendants of slaves, strongly supports CRT “as a way to advance a far-left political agenda under the guise of fighting racism.”

The new report, by Maxford Nelsen, the Freedom Foundation’s director of labor policy, finds that WEA is just as steeped in the neo-Marxist CRT ideology as the NEA is.

The WEA “just completely bought into and is advocating for this toxic ideology of critical race theory in our public schools,” Nelsen told The Epoch Times in an interview.

CRT itself, “in its purest form, is absolutely antithetical to American ideals,” he said.

Critical race theory teaches that “we are all defined by our racial identity, and that that dominates all other aspects of our lives,” Nelsen said. “And so based on your racial identity, you are either an oppressor or you are being oppressed.”

Unions like WEA and NEA are “essentially seeking to turn back the clock and return us to the dark days, where people are, are defined by race. And it’s all in the service of advancing their Marxist worldview and progressive agenda.”

To beat back CRT, the public, families, and taxpayers “need to realize that one of the main driving forces for this toxic ideology is the teachers’ unions. And their ability to push back against parent advocacy stems from the level of control that too many states have granted them over the public education system. That is absolutely an issue that needs to be addressed and reformed.”

Moreover, teachers’ unions play a “fundamental role” in the “intransigence of school boards. They’re the puppet masters behind the scenes,” Nelsen said.

Much of the time “there is no daylight between school boards and unions, because the board has often been captured, and is dominated by either former union officials or current union officials, or at the very least people who have been elected with union backing, and are not willing to cross the union’s interests, because they’re on the same page ideologically.”

Nelsen’s report states that in August, WEA published a guidebook for members titled, “Teaching Truth: Tips for Teachers in a Tumultuous Time.” WEA makes it clear in the booklet that teachers know what is best for students and that concerned parents should be viewed as ideological opponents to be resisted and not taken seriously.

One of the more notable instances cited in the report of a Washington State teacher being dismissive of parents came in January when Scott Wilson, former president of the Pasco Association of Educators, spurred parent outrage when he criticized a school district’s plan to begin re-opening schools.

Wilson said opening schools was “supporting white privilege” and that parents supporting in-person schooling out of concern for their socially isolated children was “ignorant and another expression of white privilege.”

“Recent broad-ranging attacks on how we teach and what we teach has created confusion about how we can safely continue teaching accurate and updated curricula,” the union document continues advising WEA members.

At the same time, teachers are reassured that they are “protected” and “cannot be disciplined” for teaching officially “prescribed curricula,” which they have “broad leeway” to carry out, “whether that’s by choosing which books to read or by selecting which units on which to spend more or less time.” The only limit the union acknowledges is that “educators should not teach curricula that are explicitly prohibited by their administration.”

If a school district has banned the teaching of CRT, WEA members are advised to engage in spin, stressing that critical race theory is only “taught in universities and law schools,” while K-12 educators merely “teach age-appropriate lessons that help our students understand and communicate across differences and portray a holistic and accurate picture of our nation’s history.”

David Randall, research director for the National Association of Scholars, said the WEA has it all wrong.

The union “misunderstands the point at issue,” he told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

“What must be barred, above all, is the application of Critical Race Theory in the classroom–which is immoral and prohibited racist behavior. Parents have the right to prevent politicized teaching–and even more to prevent politicized (racist) behavior. Teachers, of course, should treat parents as their friends and their employers, and defer to their principled judgment in all matters of public concern.”

Meanwhile, Nelsen suggested in the interview that banning instruction in CRT, an ideology that is hard to describe with legal precision, is easier said than done.

Several states are considering legislation that attempts to ban CRT in public schools, but it’s “fundamentally difficult, though, to try and craft a legislative response … that would truly ensure that the teaching of these concepts as truths does not take place.”

“Just saying the words, ‘we banned critical race theory in the school district or the state,’ I don’t think are sufficient to prevent the concepts and the curriculum from making its way into classrooms,” he said.

Besides, the WEA doesn’t care what parents think, Nelsen said in the interview.

The union “adopted an adversarial posture towards parents and families,” he said, and “apparently has taken upon itself to twist the public education system into an indoctrination process to inculcate in these students the types of values that WEA thinks are important—families be damned.”

The Freedom Foundation report states WEA advises members they “do not singlehandedly need to justify or defend the curricula” and “do not have to reply” to parental emails “asking questions about what exactly we are teaching regarding equity, anti-racism, LGBTQ inclusion, sexual health education, and more.”

WEA won’t even admit that parents have sincere concerns about what their children are being taught, dismissing them as tools of “corporate interests” who seek to “undermine public education” by “inciting paranoia among families.”

If a teacher feels “threatened by activists,” the WEA suggests the teacher should report the parents to school administration “and to the police,” according to Nelsen’s report.

The Epoch Times reached out for comment to Julie Popper, WEA’s media relations director, but she had not responded as of press time.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/teachers-union-tells-members-to-treat-complaining-parents-as-enemies-report_4059419.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A North Carolina parent seeks to prohibit “medical tribalism” in schools after his child reported school officials differentiating between the vaccinated and unvaccinated students.

Chad Slotta spoke of two reported incidents to The Epoch Times: one in which his child recorded a Wake County school principal advising students over the intercom to get vaccinated, and the other in which a teacher had asked for a show of hands of who has had the COVID-19 vaccine and who hasn’t.

Slotta read the principal’s quote from what was recorded at a Wake County School Board meeting on Sept. 7: “I spent the last three or four days on the phone all day talking with students and parents who were forced into quarantine.  If you are not vaccinated, I encourage you to seek out a vaccine if you are able to get one.”

In the meeting, Slotta asked the board to issue directives to all school officials that medical recommendations, including those regarding taking specific medications, remain between the parent and the child.

“If I have to sign a waiver that says my child is allowed to take an Ibuprofen, certainly I should have the say on if my child gets the vaccine,” Slotta said.

He also asked that the board issue a directive precluding teachers from inquiring about a student’s vaccination status, or any other private medical information.

“I advocate for a student’s right to privacy and secondly a parent’s exclusive and inviolable right to make all medical decisions and recommendations for their children without the influence or interference of a school official,” Slotta told the board.  “Children rightly listen to and obey the authority figures in their lives. This administrator overstepped their authority in an unwise and an unethical manner.”

Transgressed Lines

A line of demarcation has been transgressed, Slotta said.

“It really concerned me,” he said. “I was very clear. I said I wasn’t there to argue for or against the wisdom of any vaccine, mask, or any other medical decision related to the current pandemic.  I was specifically addressing a parent’s right to make those medical recommendations and decisions for their children.”

There could be numerous reasons why parents aren’t allowing their kids to get the vaccine, he said.

Vested Interest

One of the Wake County school system’s sources on COVID-19 policy is the ABC Science Collaborative (pdf), coordinated by Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), a government agency that also has what NIH Director Francis Collins said in 2020 was a “particular stake in the intellectual property” of the Moderna vaccine.

The NIH is currently under criticism for its funding of gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where the first outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus occurred.

“You’ve got the NIH with a financial interest in the Moderna vaccine funding the ABC Science Collaborative, which is coming into school districts promoting vaccine mandates,” Slotta said.  “That doesn’t mean that their advice is necessarily bad. What it does mean to me is that this information should be shared with parents.  It should be pointed out that the school districts are listening to organizations who happen to be funded by people who have a vested interest in the vaccines.”

When this information is not disclosed, “it sadly creates doubt,” Slotta said.

“I think that’s something that we are seeing in our culture,” he said. “There is a mishandling with the rollout of this information that may be unnecessarily creating doubt where it might not need to be.”

Slotta emphasized that he and his family are not anti-vaccine, however, he said the money trails running through the COVID-19 vaccine narrative “are concerning.”

‘Creating Tension’

“Now you have a school administrator telling students to go get vaccinated, and that may very well put a child against their mom or dad at home in terms of creating tension,” Slotta said.

Just by having a show of hands, the “blatant violation of students’ right to privacy” can lead to dividing students into groups, pitting them against not just their parents, but against one another, Slotta said.

“We must never divide students into groups of any kind,” Slotta said.  “We must never allow medical tribalism or any other form of tribalism to be taught or to take hold in our schools.”

While tribalism is festering in many areas of the country, Slotta said, it’s not the way to raise children.

“We are teaching the future leadership of this country, and we will certainly reap from the seeds that we are sowing, so I hope, as it relates to tribalism on a number of levels, that we make wise decisions here,” Slotta said.

Wake County School District Response

When reached for comment, the communications director for the Wake County School system said the school district doesn’t ask for the COVID-19 vaccination status of its students and has no plans to do so.

In accordance with North Carolina law, however, the school district is required to collect other vaccination information, such as measles, mumps, and rubella.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/north-carolina-parent-seeks-to-halt-medical-tribalism-in-schools_4061305.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton introduced a bill on Thursday that would prevent schools from aiding and concealing a student’s “gender transition” from parents.

The bill, called the Empower Parents to Protect Their Kids Act, seeks to stop federally funded K-12 schools from facilitating a student’s “gender transition” without parental knowledge.

“Schools should never be allowed to impose radical, harmful ideologies on children — especially without parents’ knowledge and consent,” Cotton said in a news release announcing the legislation.

“My bill will protect students and ensure that parents are in control of their children’s education. Schools must remain institutions of education, not indoctrination camps where minors are manipulated and brainwashed,” he added.

Schools shouldn’t impose radical, harmful ideologies on children—especially without parents’ knowledge and consent. My bill will protect students and ensure that parents are in control of their children’s education.https://t.co/xfhbrTTiEz

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) October 21, 2021

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

“Without parental knowledge or consent, schools are facilitating ‘social gender transitions’ by changing the names and pronouns of children in school, or even allowing children to change which sex-segregated facilities they use, such as dormitories for overnight field trips,” the bill reads.

The legislation would require schools to receive parental consent before affirming a student’s “gender transition.”Should schools be allowed to conceal a student’s “gender transition” from parents?

In addition, schools could not “facilitate, encourage, or coerce students to withhold information from their parents regarding the student’s gender transition or the student’s purported gender identity, where the student’s purported gender identity is incongruous with biological sex.”

The bill would also make it illegal for schools to “pressure or coerce the parents of students, or students themselves, to proceed with any treatment or intervention to affirm the student’s purported gender identity.”

In New Jersey, state policy regarding students’ “gender identity” excludes parental consent.

“A school district shall accept a student’s asserted gender identity; parental consent is not required,” the state’s guidance on transgender students reads.

“Further, a student need not meet any threshold diagnosis or treatment requirements to have his or her gender identity recognized and respected by the district, school or school personnel.

“Nor is a legal or court-ordered name change required. There is no affirmative duty for any school district personnel to notify a student’s parent or guardian of the student’s gender identity or expression.”

Christian Employers Sue Biden Administration Over Rule that Would Force Them to Pay for Sex Changes

A similar policy was enacted in Madison, Wisconsin, before being changed following a lawsuit.

“It should go without saying that school district staff should be honest with parents, especially when it comes to critical matters concerning their children, but we are pleased that the court has issued an order now requiring it,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Roger Brooks said in a statement last year.

“As this case moves forward, we will continue to argue for our clients’ legitimate concern over the Madison Metropolitan School District’s policy of deceiving parents and excluding them from profound decisions involving the wellbeing of their own children.”

A House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Merrick Garland got testy when the top Republican and Democrat got into a heated exchange.

It happened on Thursday when Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan started when he objected to the Biden Administration’s plan to have the IRS monitor the bank accounts of Americans, and then he told committee chair, New York Rep. Jerry Nadler that he had a video to present.

But Democrat Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean objected to the video because Republicans did not follow the “48 hour rule” which would have them submit the video for approval 48 hours in advance of showing it.

When Rep. Jordan attempted to appeal the objection Nadler shut him down saying “That’s out of order. This is not debatable.”

“What’s out of order is there is no rule that requires a 48-hour notice, that’s what out of order,” Jordan hit back.

“There is such a rule,” the New York Democrat asserted.

The two argued back and forth when another member, likely a Republican, said “Mr. Chairman, what are you afraid of?”

“It’s a video about parents at school board meetings,” Jordan said, growing mor agitated. “Moms and dads speaking at school board meetings. And you guys aren’t going to let us play it?”

“Mr. Chairman, obviously you’re not going to let us play it and obviously you’re going to censor us, which is sort of the conduct of the left today it seems and Democrats today it seems,” Jordan responded.

WATCH: Fight breaks out between Rep. Jerry Nadler and Rep. Jim Jordan during a House Judiciary hearing when Nadler sustains an objection to a video Jordan wanted to be played to AG Merrick Garland. pic.twitter.com/j06MPlJduV

— The Hill (@thehill) October 21, 2021

But the video was shared on Twitter by the House Judiciary GOP.

This is the video of parents at school board meetings that @RepJerryNadler refused to let us play at today’s Judiciary Committee hearing.

Why does the Left feel so threatened by brave American parents? pic.twitter.com/GvJlkWoJa2

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 21, 2021

“Judiciary Democrats are censoring @Jim_Jordan from showing a video of American moms and dads. Classic Democrats. Afraid of the American people and truth,” Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said on Twitter.

Judiciary Democrats are censoring @Jim_Jordan from showing a video of American moms and dads.

Classic Democrats. Afraid of the American people and truth.

— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) October 21, 2021

The video was designed as a response to the attorney general’s Orwellian directive to the FBI and United States attorneys to investigate parents at school board meetings who object to their children wearing masks in schools and who oppose Critical Race Theory being taught as possible “domestic terrorists.”

“Citing an increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools, today Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to meet in the next 30 days with federal, state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement leaders to discuss strategies for addressing this disturbing trend. These sessions will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment and response by law enforcement,” the press release said.

“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values,” Garland said. “Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”

“According to the Attorney General’s memorandum, the Justice Department will launch a series of additional efforts in the coming days designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel. Those efforts are expected to include the creation of a task force, consisting of representatives from the department’s Criminal Division, National Security Division, Civil Rights Division, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, the Community Relations Service and the Office of Justice Programs, to determine how federal enforcement tools can be used to prosecute these crimes, and ways to assist state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement where threats of violence may not constitute federal crimes,” the directive said.

“The Justice Department will also create specialized training and guidance for local school boards and school administrators. This training will help school board members and other potential victims understand the type of behavior that constitutes threats, how to report threatening conduct to the appropriate law enforcement agencies, and how to capture and preserve evidence of threatening conduct to aid in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes,” it said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland told the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday that he had not sought, and would not seek, ethics review from the Department of Justice over his son-in-law’s alleged ties to the promotion of Critical Race Theory (CRT)

The issue arose because of a report that Garland’s son-in-law, Alexander “Xan” Tanner, had promoted tenets of CRT through his educational data firm, while Garland was cracking down on parents objecting to CRT at recent school board meetings.

As Breitbart News noted earlier this month, citing Becker News:

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s son-in-law is a co-founder of an educational data mining company that promotes the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT), a report at Becker News observed Wednesday.

The report noting Garland’s family ties to CRT comes in the wake of the attorney general’s memorandum directing the FBI to mobilize against parents who oppose CRT and mask mandates in K-12 schools and speak out about their concerns.

Panorama produces data mining surveys for schools, including “equity and inclusion surveys” and conducts “professional development” training in the areas of equity and inclusion for teachers and administrators.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) questioned Garland about whether he had sought ethics review from counsel within the Department of Jusice. Garland indicated that he had not, and would not, because it was not required. Later, under questioning from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Garland reiterated that he had acted within Department of Justice rules.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/10/21/watch-merrick-garland-did-not-will-not-seek-ethics-review-over-alleged-family-ties-to-critical-race-theory/

A group of parents from Michigan and Virginia has sued Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleging his recent order on investigating threats against educators misuses his office’s powers.

Garland, a Biden nominee, on Oct. 4 in a memorandum directed the FBI and U.S. attorneys to draw up plans to target parents who threaten violence or attempt to intimidate educators.

The order came after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) asked the Biden administration to respond due to what it described as acts of “domestic terrorism” against school boards, referring to protests during school board meetings over contentious teachings.

The new suit (pdf) says Garland is effectively wielding federal law enforcement resources “to silence parents and other private citizens who publicly object to and oppose the divisive, harmful, immoral, and racist policies of the ‘progressive’ left that are being implemented by school boards and school officials in public school districts throughout the United States.”

The parents are based in Saline, Michigan, and Loudoun County, Virginia, two areas that have seen heightened backlash in recent months. In Virginia, for instance, many parents opposed a rule that teachers must use a person’s preferred pronouns or face discipline.

“You’ve got the attorney general who’s weaponizing his power, his office to suppress the speech of concerned citizens—parents who are speaking out at public school boards about some of these inane policies like promotion of critical race theory ideology, which teaches the kids to be racist,” Robert Muise, an attorney with the American Freedom Law Center, which is representing the parents, told The Epoch Times.

The Department of Justice has not responded to requests for comment regarding the lawsuit or criticism of the order, which has led to over a dozen state school boards removing themselves or mulling withdrawal from the NSBA.

Lisa Monaco, the department’s second-in-command, defended the policy before Congress earlier this month, asserting it was aimed at making sure law enforcement from the local to federal level was aware of how to report threats and in communication on how to address threats and violence.

“While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views,” Garland wrote in his order.

The plaintiff parents, though, say the policy amounts to “a direct threat and warning to parents and private citizens across the United States, including Plaintiffs, that the Department of Justice and its FBI will be investigating you and monitoring what you say at these school board meetings so be careful about what you say and how you say it, thereby chilling such expression.”

That violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, they argue.

The suit also noted that there are accusations of a conflict of interest because Garland’s son-in-law, Alexander Tanner, is the co-founder and president of Panorama Education, which sells materials and conducts surveys for school districts across the country, including some that appear to have elements of critical race theory.

“He’s got a stake in this, a personal stake in this, through his family members,” Muise said.

Panorama Education declined to comment beyond pointing The Epoch Times to its website, where it disputes allegations it’s linked to critical race theory.

The suit was filed in federal court in Washington. It asks the court to permanently enjoin Garland’s order.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/michigan-and-virginia-parents-sue-ag-garland-over-order-to-investigate-violent-threats-against-teachers-school-boards_4059416.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

I get it. Terry McAuliffe is not a particularly happy man right now.

After all, this was supposed to be easy. Because of its odd-year state elections, Virginia’s gubernatorial race is one of the first referendums on how voters feel regarding the last presidential cycle. Furthermore, because of the growth of the Washington, D.C., suburbs and other liberal areas of the state, pundits have increasingly been saying that the Old Dominion has moved solidly into the blue column.

Moreover, McAuliffe is a fixture in Virginia state politics and the Democratic Party. He was Bill Clinton’s fundraising bag-man back during the 1990s, served as the head of the Democratic National Committee and was Virginia’s governor from 2014 to 2018. (The state doesn’t allow governors to serve consecutive terms.)

And yet, it hasn’t been easy. Polls have shown McAuliffe neck-and-neck with Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin; as of Wednesday morning, the RealClearPolitics polling average has Youngkin within 2.2 points of McAuliffe, 49.5 percent for the Democrat and 47.3 percent for the Republican. The Cook Political Report now rates the race as a “toss-up,” a move from “leans Democratic.”

McAuliffe is a pro’s pro, though. You don’t end up with Terry’s resumé if you can’t handle a little pressure.

The 7 Blood-Boiling Items Hidden Inside Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Socialist Wish List

You buckle down and smile a bit more broadly. You kiss a few more babies and shake a few more hands — or whatever the socially distanced version of those two unctuous archetypes of insincere campaigning happen to be.

You hit the trail before the sun rises and don’t stop until the 11 p.m. local news fades into the “Tonight Show.”

Most importantly, you never let ’em see you sweat.

Or you abruptly end a 20-minute TV interview 10 minutes into it, telling the reporter he “should have asked better questions early on.” Whichever works.

Do you believe Terry McAuliffe will win the Virginia gubernatorial election?

According to the Washington Examiner, WJLA-TV gave both McAuliffe and Youngkin 20 minutes to talk about how they would lead Virginia were they elected next month. The sit-downs with reporter Nick Minock happened on Oct. 13 and 14, respectively; the interviews were posted on their website and on YouTube.

So, how’d it go? First off, it’s never good when a local news station has to air this disclaimer:

WOAH… pic.twitter.com/etuaciYVr6

— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) October 19, 2021

Now, there’s some question about how planned McAuliffe’s early departure was.

Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams Threaten the Tax-Exempt Status of 300 Churches

WJLA said on their website that McAuliffe’s campaign only agreed to a 10-minute interview in a text message with Minock. That said, the last two sets of questions were uncomfortable ones for McAuliffe — and they also just so happened to be when his campaign staffer interrupted him.

The first question had to do with crime, during which Minock pointed out Youngkin “said that the murder rate went up 43 percent when you were governor and the rape rate went up every single year when you were governor. What would you do differently in your second term to address violent crime and decrease violent crime in the commonwealth?”

McAuliffe responded that Virginia had “the lowest crime rate of any major state in the United States of America” during his tenure — which doesn’t mean crime didn’t go up, mind you, and which doesn’t point to McAuliffe as the cause of that low crime rate. (Also, what is a minor state, just out of curiosity?)

When asked how much he would invest in public safety, McAuliffe responded, “I don’t want to go through all the numbers we are dealing with.” Translation: No clue.

Minock then transitioned vaccines and vaccine mandates, which started off fine enough but quickly degenerated to McAuliffe firing off rambling denunciations of Youngkin as “an anti-vaxxer” and “a Donald Trump right-wing agenda” supporter who would “ban abortions.”

“Your viewers should be very clear on this,” McAuliffe said.

“He wants to ban abortions here in Virginia. He says election integrity is the number one issue. No, it isn’t. Health care, COVID, education, job creation.”

That’s when one of his staffers interjected and noted that “we are already over time.”

“Alright, we are over. That’s it. That’s it,” McAuliffe said. “Hey I gave you extra time. C’mon, man. You should have asked better questions early on. You should have asked questions your viewers care about.”

Nailed the landing. Beautiful.

I understand one has a lot of demands on one’s time when running for governor, but a 20-minute spot on D.C. local news for a Clintonista that ran the state in the not-so-distant-past shouldn’t be like a tooth extraction.

Not only could he not spare the extra 10 minutes, McAuliffe ended the interview with an unfocused rant about about abortion, Donald Trump and job creation, then told the reporter he should have asked better questions at the beginning. Given the scattershot attack at the end, one gets the notion McAuliffe simply wanted prompts that would have allowed him to transition into that rant much earlier.

And in case you’re wondering, Minock didn’t ask bad or unfair questions, to the extent he had time to ask many at all.

The reporter’s first line of questioning had to do with McAuliffe’s now-infamous remark that “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what to teach” during the final gubernatorial debate, whether he misspoke and what role he would play as governor in mandating what schools teach.

His next line of questioning addressed the various school board controversies in Virginia — in particular in Loudoun County — and whether he agreed with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s memorandum indicating the Department of Justice would get more involved with these contentious school board hearings.

Then came crime, then came vaccines and then it was time for McAuliffe to skedaddle — but not before firing off that strange and insulting peroration, as if Minock’s performance had been insulting or unprofessional.

No, Terry McAuliffe may not be a happy man right now, particularly when he looks at the polls.

With Hindenburg performances like this, however, he has only himself to blame.

PITTSBURGH—Twenty years ago, Paul Carson said he never would have hesitated to speak out at a school board meeting about any issue affecting his children’s education.

But one day, that changed. “I just don’t do it,” Carson told me. A physician who practices medicine in an urban Pittsburgh hospital, Carson said it has nothing to do with his being 20 years older. “It has everything to do with the culture we are navigating.”

Anyone, he said, can take a video of what you say, edit it to his or her advantage, then post it on social media. Or they can just simply claim on social media that you are racist or extremist because you express an opinion outside the sensitivities of the cultural curators who define what is acceptable and what is not in our country.

When Carson used a media platform in discussions about school district issues, as he did last year when the children in the Pittsburgh public schools went for months without in-person education, he said he had to be “profoundly cautious” in expressing his views.

School board meetings have been around forever, and they have always had the potential to become raucous. I remember attending them with my mother as a teenager, then as a mother myself when my children were young. I also had to attend a few as a reporter for the local newspaper I worked for at the time. Emotions often ran high, as they should when children’s welfare is involved. Good parents never lose sight of the fact that the people who educate their children spend more of the day with them in a classroom setting than parents themselves do. Emotions also ran high when new buildings were proposed, which always eventually meant higher taxes.

I have often told young reporters that if they want to see firsthand the most important political process in the U.S. system, they should turn off cable news, get off the iPhone, turn their eyes away from Washington and cover a local school board meeting.

No one should accept threats or physical violence at a school board meeting or anywhere else. But such conduct is fortunately rare. The question today is, can we trust our government to distinguish between the actual threat of violence and the passionate expression of viewpoints by parents?

That question became a reality this week when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo suggesting a nationwide federal crackdown on parents at school board meetings. And the answer from parents like Carson is, “Absolutely not.”

Garland made his decision under pressure from the National School Boards Association. Its interim director responded by saying Garland’s memo sends a “strong message to individuals with violent intent who are focused on causing chaos, disrupting our public schools, and driving wedges between school boards and the parents, students, and communities they serve.”

Freedom is messy. Our discussions about things that matter to us, such as our children, are chaotic, disruptive and, yes, divisive. They drive wedges—that’s a feature, not a bug.

In the past few months, parents across the country have become frustrated with extremist curriculum choices that their school boards are making. In response, they have done what Americans have done for generations—show up at school board meetings to voice their concerns.

In many cases, their concerns cross traditional political, racial, and socioeconomic lines and are at odds with the Biden administration.

Garland is now using the FBI against parents on the grounds that school board members feel threatened. But what does “threatened” look like? Is it someone yelling at you? Disagreeing with you? Holding an opposing opinion? Who is defining those threats?

This memo wasn’t just designed to target those who would commit violence. It was also clearly designed to stop regular people with real concerns from voicing those concerns because of the fear anything they say will deem them a domestic terrorist, which would destroy their personal, community, and professional lives.

It is downright chilling to think that there are parents out there who are worried that they are going to end up on a government list or under some type of government scrutiny if they decide to go into a school board meeting to give a public comment on an issue.

Eighty years ago, dairy farmer Jim Edgerton stood up at a town hall meeting in his hometown of Arlington, Vermont, to voice his disagreement with the town councilors’ decision to build a new school. Edgerton was the only person at the meeting or in town who objected to the proposed building.

His opposition was mostly unremarkable, but he held his ground, nonetheless. No one would have known about it had not Norman Rockwell, a newcomer in town, been there.

As he watched Edgerton exercise his freedom of speech, the famous illustrator of Americana could not stop thinking about the State of the Union address President Franklin D. Roosevelt had delivered on Jan. 6, 1941, in which he warned that the values and liberties the public took for granted were under attack. Rockwell would go on to illustrate that moment, making Roosevelt’s words relatable by depicting them in use in small-town America.

It is inconceivable that the federal government today wants to squash that freedom through vague rules and intimidation. Garland seems to be making the calculation that the Jim Edgertons of this world will cower under the concern the government is watching them.

In the beginning, maybe they will. But in the long run, the air of intimidation probably won’t last. There comes a point when those feeling the threat go from being on the fringe of society to being the majority.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/school-board-meetings-show-only-that-freedom-is-messy_4058742.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Dispatch records from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office suggest that a school administrator and school resource officer (SRO) did not act urgently to involve police specialists in a reported rape on May 28 at Stone Bridge High School.

At 1:33 pm, the SRO — who works full-time at the school handling routine matters but officially works for the sheriff’s office — radioed that he “was briefed by assistant principal of a student that has made allegations of being possibly raped or touched unwanted by another student a couple of hours ago. Investigating at this time and parents are and have been notified at this time by admin.”

It is unclear whether the assistant principal learned of the rape “a couple of hours ago,” or whether the alleged rape occurred then and the administrator did not learn of it until some later time period.

The SRO then “investigated” for nearly an hour without calling for outside police officers.

At 2:21, 2:28, and 2:30, three calls for police are finally placed — one requesting a supervisor, one requesting “another unit,” and one noted as “upset parent.” Given that these calls came in a nine-minute window well after officials first learned of the rape, it seems likely that the impetus for all three was the “upset parent.

That is, after all, what Principal Tim Flynn told the community in an email at 4:48 pm:

Good evening Stone Bridge families this [sic] is Stone Bridge Principal Tim Flynn. There was an incident in the main office area today that required the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office to dispatch deputies to Stone Bridge. The incident was confined to the main office and the entrance area to the school. There was no threat to the safety of the student body. The incident was witnessed by a small number of students who were meeting with staff adjacent to the main office. Counseling services and the services of our Unified Mental Health Team are available for any student who may need to talk about today’s incident. Students might have noticed Sheriff’s Office personnel on campus and I wanted to let you know that something out of the ordinary happened at school today. The safety of our students and staff is the top priority of Loudoun County Public Schools.

Scott Smith, the parent of the victim, previously told The Daily Wire that he was aghast to find the incident being handled only by people who worked at the school full-time — with the SRO seeming to take direction from the principal — rather than a team of police officers one would expect to find processing a major crime scene. There were no outside police or medics at the scene when he arrived, he said. He became irate.

He said that police responded to deal with complaints about him making a scene in the office, not to the rape allegations. Once on the scene, he said, the team of police eventually became persuaded that what had occurred was a serious incident that required their attention, and escorted his family to the hospital where a rape kit was administered.

Smith said he did not believe a rape kit would have been administered based on the laid-back way administrators and the SRO appeared to be handling it on their own. The county’s prosecutor later said that the case relied on DNA evidence, suggesting that if a rape kit had not been conducted that day, no substantiated rape would have likely been added to Stone Bridge’s books.

Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office dispatch logs

In addition to Principal Flynn’s email which made no mention of a rape, Loudoun’s superintendent, Scott Zeigler, went on to tell the school board at a June 22 board meeting that he had no record of sexual assaults in bathrooms. The school system also reported on required statistics to the state of Virginia that it had zero sexual assault incidents in the school that year.

Zeigler later said he misunderstood the question in the school board meeting, and apologized for an “error” in reporting to the state.

The sheriff’s office previously told The Daily Wire there were no 911 calls from the school, but has now produced “dispatch” logs that include radio calls.

The calls also show that at 7:21 pm, the FBI called and “asked about the incident at Stone Bridge HS,” which was “found through prior calls.” Once the agent was advised that “it was a sexual assault investigation,” the agent said it “would not require their help.”

Smith was arrested at a June 22 school board meeting where he became angry again after Zeigler’s misleading statement. That arrest led to Smith being included in a letter, by the National School Boards Association, that talked about angry attendees at school board meetings, as well as a response by Attorney General Merrick Garland that suggested the FBI could have a hand in dealing with such matters.

The suspect in the alleged rape was transferred to a different school, where he was arrested for an alleged in-classroom sexual assault on another girl October 6.

Want more exclusive Daily Wire investigations? Become a member.

The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/records-suggest-loudoun-sent-team-of-police-to-deal-with-upset-parent-not-alleged-rape-of-student?itm_source=parsely-api&utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email