Total posts: 8,696
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SATURDAY, OCT. 10th:
BI: DONALD TRUMP SIGNALS at IOWA RALLY that he INTENDS to RUN in 2024, TEASES that his CAMPAIGN SLOGAN will be
'MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN AGAIN;
SUNDAY, OCT 11th:
fauxlaw:He is no longer your boogey man. You just cannot move on. Why?
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That ain’t blood it’s beet juice just killed me
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@Fruit_Inspector
Asked and answered- POST#16
No. Schools are currently promoting curriculum material teaching that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing, and often subtle social and institutional dynamics, as well as explicit and intentional prejudices of individuals?
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@Fruit_Inspector
-->@oromagiTeaching (high school) children that racism is complex, changing, and subtle is not teaching Critical Race Theory.That's not what I asked because you didn't address the latter portion of my question. Here is my question again:
- Are schools currently promoting curriculum material teaching that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing, and often subtle social and institutional dynamics, rather than explicit and intentional prejudices of individuals?
A yes or no would be helpful.
No, I think many high school teachers teach racism is the result of intentional individual prejudice as well as complex and subtle social dynamics. Neither is teaching CRT any more than teaching triangles is teaching trigonometry.
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@949havoc
-->@oromagiAgreed, but teaching children that systemic racism plagues Amerrica when not one systemic [read government at any level legal statute of policy statement] statement currently exists is harmful. let schools teach that individual racism is rampant, because that is true. I have long challenged that a single statute or agency policy exists that is racist be demonstrated. No one can do it, because it currently does not exist. Jim Crow died with the compliance to Civil Rights Act in 1964. All such laws and policies were eradicated. That does not mean that individuals in the system are following law and policy, but that's my point: it's individual racism, not systemic.
- We've discussed this before. Your FOX News definition of SYSTEMIC RACISM is overly narrow.
- WIKIPEDIA: Institutional racism, also known as SYSTEMIC RACISM, is a term that refers to a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, education, and political representation. The term institutional racism was first coined in 1967 by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton in Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Carmichael and Hamilton wrote in 1967 that while individual racism is often identifiable because of its overt nature, institutional racism is less perceptible because of its "less overt, far more subtle" nature. Institutional racism "originates in the operation of established and respected forces in the society, and thus receives far less public condemnation than [individual racism]".
- Your definition of SYSTEMIC RACISM is explicitly racist instructions in government statute which fails to account for most of what Americans mean when they talk about systemic racism.
- Take as an example the recent case of Gabby Petito and what Gwen Ifil used to term "Missing White Woman Syndrome." Some critics noted that some 350 underage Indigenous girls have been reported missing in the state of Wyoming over the past ten years without ever once eliciting the sort of massive manhunt, Federal resources, and daily media attention allocated to the search for an out-of-state young and pretty white girl. If you assume about 3500 underage Indigenous girls in Wyoming's total Indigenous population of 14,000, that makes roughly one out of ten girls under 18 in that population has gone missing in the last ten years.
- You would correctly argue that there's no Wyoming statute requiring State police to treat missing white girls with more urgency than missing Native girls but I don't think its reasonable to conclude that therefore there's no evidence of institutionalized racism to be discovered in the difference.
- If I was a high school teacher and a student asked me to explain the discrepancies between Petito's case and these hundreds of cases, I think I would be hard-pressed not to discuss the history of American Indian reservations as racist institutions and how that legacy of segregation, poverty, dual-classed citizenship, etc. plays a role in that discrepancy. That would definitely be teaching about systemic racism in Wyoming but it would have nothing to do with CRT. Nevertheless, FOX News viewers would call that teaching CRT.
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Six months later: "I was the first guy on TV to say give Trump a chance. I fucked up. Sorry."
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FROM Chapelle's Emmy-award winning Nov 12th 2016 SNL monologue
- You know, I didn’t know that Donald Trump was going to win the election. I did suspect it. It seemed like Hillary was doing well in the polls and yet — I know the whites. You guys aren’t as full of surprises as you used to be. And I think I speak for all of black America when I say that we are all praying for Omarosa. I don’t even know what she’s doing in the news.
- But America’s done it. We’ve actually elected an Internet troll as our president.'
- The whites were furious. I’ve never seen anything like it. I haven’t seen whites this mad since the O.J. verdict. White people screaming on both sides, “Aahhh!” I’m not saying I’m enjoying it — I’m just saying I’ve never seen this before. I watched a white riot in Portland, Oregon, on television the other night. News said they did a million dollars’ worth of damage. Every black person was watching that like, “amateurs.”
- So I’m staying out of it. I’m just going to take a knee like Kaepernick and let the whites figure this out among themselves. Know what I mean? We’ve been here before, we’ve been here before.
- And I don’t even think it’s the most important thing we’re dealing with. Don’t forget. Don’t forget all the things that are going on. Shootings. There’s more shootings than I can literally count. You can’t even go to the goddamn zoo without seeing a shooting out there. They shot a gorilla at my local zoo. And the Cincinnati Police said “Shooting that gorilla was the toughest decision this department has ever had to make.” I said, “Well, you about to see a lot of niggers in gorilla costumes in Cincinnati.”
- Why do we have to say that? Why do we have to say that black lives matter? Now I admit that is not the best slogan, but McDonald’s already took, “You deserve a break today.” And I guess it’s kind of catchy because everyone else is biting it. Even the police is biting it: Blue lives matter. What, was you born a police? That is not a blue life. That’s a blue suit. If you don’t like it, take that blue suit off, find a new job, ’cause I’m going to tell you right now, if I could quit being black today, I’d be out of the game.
- I did the next best thing: I became a rich black person. Which is harder than you think, because, you know, your life becomes gentrified. Like Brooklyn. All your black friends start moving out and all these new white friends start moving in. You find yourself saying things to friends you grew up with that you never dreamed you’d say. “Sorry, you can’t come with us, there’s only enough room in the balloon basket for four. Ta ta.”
- Donald Trump, he did it. He’s our president. I feel bad saying it. I’m staying at the Trump Hotel right now. I don’t know if he’s going to make a good president, but he makes a swell hotel suite, I tell you that. Housekeeping comes in in the morning, cleans my room. And I just, “Hey, good morning, housekeeping.” Grab a big handful of pussy, and say, you know, boss said it was okay.
- I don’t know what he’s going to do. But I know Obama did a good job. Obama did a good job. I think we’ll all miss him when he’s gone, do you agree with this? And thank God he lived to tell about it. This is the first black dude that ever heard America’s secrets. I’m happy he lived. A few weeks ago I went to the White House for a party. It was the first time I’ve been there in many years and it was very exciting. And BET sponsored the party, so everyone there was black. And it was beautiful. I walked through the gates — you know, I’m from Washington, so I saw the bus stop, or the corner where the bus stop used to be, where I used to catch the bus to school and dream about nights like tonight. It was a really, really beautiful night. At the end of the night everyone went into the West Wing of the White House and it was a huge party. And everybody in there was black — except for Bradley Cooper, for some reason. And on the walls were pictures of all the presidents, of the past. Now, I’m not sure if this is true, but to my knowledge the first black person that was officially invited to the White House was Frederick Douglass. They stopped him at the gates. Abraham Lincoln had to walk out himself and escort Frederick Douglass into the White House, and it didn’t happen again, as far as I know, until Roosevelt was president. Roosevelt was president, he had a black guy over and got so much flack from the media that he literally said, “I will never have a nigger in this house again.” I thought about that, and I looked at that black room, and saw all those black faces, and Bradley, and I saw how happy everybody was. These people who had been historically disenfranchised. It made me feel hopeful and it made me feel proud to be an American and it made me very happy about the prospects of our country. So, in that spirit, I’m wishing Donald Trump luck. And I’m going to give him a chance, and we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one too.
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@Reece101
If Jesus has mastered the power of re-appearing after two thousand years than I think its safe to assume he has the power to change his appearance. If you are asking whether Jesus will return in the body he used 2,000 years ago, then the answer is that he did not say or the record of his reply to that question is lost. If you are asking what Jesus looked like 2,000 years ago the answer is Palestinian-
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@Fruit_Inspector
-->@oromagiAnd the second question...Are schools currently promoting curriculum material teaching that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing, and often subtle social and institutional dynamics, rather than explicit and intentional prejudices of individuals?
I thought it was obvious that the argument applies to both of your examples. Teaching triangles is not teaching trigonometry. Teaching (high school) children that racism is complex, changing, and subtle is not teaching Critical Race Theory. If you are arguing that teaching high school children that racism is complex, changing, and subtle is a good reason to pull your children out of public schools, I disagree.
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a wasn't actually accompanied with good vocals.
Good vocals is a relative concept, thricely for poets.
I am a huge fan of many voices that many call ugly- Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, etc. etc. etc.
Many a pretty voice can obscure a clunky lyric but a voice that's all lung and no head leaves no hiding place for the poem.
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-->@oromagiCRT examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the US.Are schools currently promoting curriculum material that examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the US?
The Ku Klux Klan also examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the US but the Klan is no more "promoting" CRT than public schools are.
By way of analogy,
Trigonometry examines the relationship between the sides and angles of triangles. Triangles are taught in Kindergarten but Kindergarteners aren't studying trigonometry. Angles are taught in 4th grade but 4th graders aren't studying trigonometry because resolving functions needs some solid algebra.
Likewise, public schools may examine some legal issues as they relate to race but without a solid background in critical theory, civil procedure, criminal and constitutional law you aren't study Critical Race Theory any more than you are studying Trigonometry.
I learned what Marxism and Feminism were in high school but I didn't study Critical Marxist Theory or Critical Feminist Theory until I had surveyed English literature and studied Literary Criticism.
If you aren't reading Derrick Bell's critique of 20th century Liberalism and that movement's approaches to criminal justice, then you aren't studying CRT.
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@949havoc
It's being discussed, seriouusly
Then you should provide a newspaper article that includes at least one example of Critical Race Theory being taught in K-12. Your USA Today article merely demonstrates that most parents oppose teaching CRT in high school which considering the perquisites of legal scholarship should be uncontroversial whether that opinion is informed or ignorant. Reading Derrick Bell would be CRT101 so see if you can find an example of K-12 public school students reading Derrick Bell.
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@fauxlaw
Convenience as virtue? Sorry, no sale.
absence as evidence? Sorry, no sale
“The Arizona Senate’s report that was released on Friday raises some serious questions regarding the 2020 election,” Brnovich said without detailing any of those questions
So, if the AG actually gets around to making any new claims, we'll see if they meet a preliminary test of good faith and honest endeavor. Until then, my characterization stands.
which actually includes quoted testimony
Complete testimony was included in my original link
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CRITICAL RACE THEORY (CRT) is "a body of legal scholarship and an academic movement of US civil-rights scholars and activists who seek to critically examine the intersection of race and US law and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice. CRT examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the US. A tenet of CRT is that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing, and often subtle social and institutional dynamics, rather than explicit and intentional prejudices of individuals."
As such, CRT is not taught to K-12 students or even teachable without a significant pre-requisite. Anybody claiming as much is ignorant of even the basic definition of that subject of study and demonstrates susceptibility to the FOX fake news machine.
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@ebuc
While I have sort of picked up from punchlines that Morrison has descended into cranky excrementalism, I haven't actually encountered that current personality on view and hope not to. I either heard about your friend's concert or he's blown off more than one performance, either way merits a refund and apology, at least. I try not to let an artist's biography color my critique of his art and I don't suppose I will ever stop loving Morrison.
That love was reinforced by a recent viewing of Kenneth Branagh's new film Belfast, the soundtrack for which is about 80% Van Morrison- mostly good olds but some new.
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1. Although the report announces the Committee initially launched this investigation on 1/23/21, in the official committee calendar https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings?mode=calendar there is not a single reference from January to current October, 2021, of any committee meetings to conduct alleged interviews as stated in the report, nor is there any mention of the investigation at all. Why?
The calendar you are relying on is pretty obviously sketchy. Each hearing does document its own time, date, and place of meeting. For example, the Committee interviewed Jeffrey Rosen on Aug 7th, beginning 10:00 ET in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
2. Throughout the report, there are key phrases like, "to endorse his false claims that the election was stolen..." He also arguably violated the criminal provisions of the Hatch Act..." "various discredited claims of election fraud..." "false claims of 'signature match anomalies...'” "Subverting justice," [the subtitle]These statements hang as if verifiable, but nothing in the report substantiates the claims of "false," "violated," etc. Why?
Because the outcome of the election is a well-established fact. No contradicting claims have withstood even preliminary tests of good faith and honest endeavor. Six of Trump's lawyers have been referred for disbarment based on the dishonesty and bad faith of their conduct whilst manufacturing false evidence about the election. Senate Committees don't need to substantiate that the Battle of Lexington was in 1775 and they don't need to substantiate that Trump lost the 2020 Election. The falsity of Trump's claim is now so well understood that most Americans simply refer to it as "The Big Lie."
I note that the report, while stating in the body of the report that it is from the "Committee," implying the entire committee of both majority Democrats and minority Republicans [and it does include a page listing the committee members of both parties], the report clearly states on the title page that it is a "majority staff report," i.e., Democrats, only. A bit partisan, yeah? Why?
No implications or conspiracy theories, please. There is a also a minority report on the site, which is also partisan. Let's note that all the damning facts come from Trump's own men- inner core Trump appointees. These Trump men understood that Trump's intent was criminal so well that they threated to resign en masse if Trump fired Rosen and put his puppet Clark in place. Clark, a former Assistant General for the US actually refused the Senate's subpoena to testify. On January 25, 2021, the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General, Michael E. Horowitz, launched "an investigation into whether any former or current DOJ official engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election." In early August, Rosen and Donoghue told the inspector general and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that Clark attempted to help Trump subvert the election.
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Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondanceWith the stars up above in your eyesA fantabulous night to make romance'Neath the cover of October skiesAnd all the leaves on the trees are fallingTo the sound of the breezes that blowYou know I'm tryin' to please to the callingOf your heartstrings that play soft and lowYou know the night's magic seems to whisper and hushYou know the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blushCan I just have one more moondance with you, my love?Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love?Well, I wanna make love to you tonightI can't wait 'til the mornin' has comeYou know, I know now the time is just rightAnd straight into my arms you will runAnd when you come, my heart will be waitingTo make sure that you're never aloneThere and then all my dreams will come true, dearThere and then I will make you my ownAnd every time I touch you, you just tremble insideAnd I know how much you want me, that you can't hideCan I just have one more moondance with you, my love?Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love?Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondanceWith the stars up above in your eyesA fantabulous night to make romance'Neath the cover of October skiesAnd all the leaves on the trees are fallingTo the sound of the breezes that blowYou know I'm trying to please to the callingOf your heartstrings that play soft and lowYou know the night's magic seems to whisper and hushYou know the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blushCan I just have one more moondance with you, my love?Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love?One more moondance with youIn the moonlightOn a magic nightLa, la, la, la, la, in the moonlightOn a magic nightCan't I just have one more, more dance with you, my love?
-Van Morrison
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The next morning the old horse was found without his saddle, and with the bridle under his feet, soberly cropping the grass at his master’s gate. Ichabod did not make his appearance at breakfast; dinner-hour came, but no Ichabod. The boys assembled at the schoolhouse, and strolled idly about the banks of the brook; but no schoolmaster. Hans Van Ripper now began to feel some uneasiness about the fate of poor Ichabod, and his saddle. An inquiry was set on foot, and after diligent investigation they came upon his traces. In one part of the road leading to the church was found the saddle trampled in the dirt; the tracks of horses’ hoofs deeply dented in the road, and evidently at furious speed, were traced to the bridge, beyond which, on the bank of a broad part of the brook, where the water ran deep and black, was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin.
The brook was searched, but the body of the schoolmaster was not to be discovered. Hans Van Ripper as executor of his estate, examined the bundle which contained all his worldly effects. They consisted of two shirts and a half; two stocks for the neck; a pair or two of worsted stockings; an old pair of corduroy small-clothes; a rusty razor; a book of psalm tunes full of dog’s-ears; and a broken pitch-pipe. As to the books and furniture of the schoolhouse, they belonged to the community, excepting Cotton Mather’s “History of Witchcraft,” a “New England Almanac,” and a book of dreams and fortune-telling; in which last was a sheet of foolscap much scribbled and blotted in several fruitless attempts to make a copy of verses in honor of the heiress of Van Tassel. These magic books and the poetic scrawl were forthwith consigned to the flames by Hans Van Ripper; who, from that time forward, determined to send his children no more to school, observing that he never knew any good come of this same reading and writing.
-Washington Irving
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Monster Mash
I was working in the lab, late one nightWhen my eyes beheld an eerie sightFor my monster from his slab, began to riseAnd suddenly to my surpriseHe did the monster mash(The monster mash) It was a graveyard smash(He did the mash) It caught on in a flash(He did the mash) He did the monster mashFrom my laboratory in the castle eastTo the master bedroom where the vampires feastThe ghouls all came from their humble abodesTo get a jolt from my electrodesThey did the monster mash(The monster mash) It was a graveyard smash(They did the mash) It caught on in a flash(They did the mash) They did the monster mashThe zombies were having fun (Wa hoo, tennis shoe)The party had just begun (Wa hoo, tennis shoe)The guests included Wolfman, Dracula and his sonThe scene was rockin', all were digging the soundsIgor on chains, backed by his baying houndsThe coffin-bangers were about to arriveWith their vocal group, 'The Crypt-Kicker Five'They played the monster mash(The monster mash) It was a graveyard smash(They played the mash) It caught on in a flash(They played the mash) They played the monster mashOut from his coffin, Drac's voice did ringSeems he was troubled by just one thingHe opened the lid and shook his fist and said"Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?It's now the monster mash(The monster mash) And it's a graveyard smash(It's now the mash) It's caught on in a flash(It's now the mash) It's now the monster mashNow everything's cool, Drac's a part of the bandAnd my Monster Mash is the hit of the landFor you, the living, this mash was meant tooWhen you get to my door, tell them Boris sent youThen you can monster mash(The monster mash) And do my graveyard smash(Then you can mash) You'll catch on in a flash(Then you can mash) Then you can monster mashEasy Igor, you impetuous young boy (Wa hoo, monster mash)(Wa hoo, monster mash)(Wa hoo, monster mash)(Wa hoo, monster mash)(Wa hoo, monster mash)
-Leonard Rosenman
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The Hollow Men
Mistah Kurtz-he dead
A penny for the Old Guy
I
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us-if at all-not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
II
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer-
Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom
III
This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
Is it like this
In death's other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.
IV
The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.
V
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long
Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
-TS Eliot
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All Hallows
Even now this landscape is assembling.The hills darken. The oxensleep in their blue yoke,the fields having beenpicked clean, the sheavesbound evenly and piled at the roadsideamong cinquefoil, as the toothed moon rises:This is the barrennessof harvest or pestilence.And the wife leaning out the windowwith her hand extended, as in payment,and the seedsdistinct, gold, callingCome hereCome here, little oneAnd the soul creeps out of the tree.
-Louise Gluck
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The prophet is a foolThe spiritual man is madFor the multitude of thy iniquityAnd the great hatred...Everyone's tryinTo decideWhere to goWhen theres no place to hideI follow the bombsas theyre coming downThis must have beenHallowed GroundNo matter whatThey decide to have doneBurn up the cloudsBlock out the sunMy hope is inOne they cant bring downMy soul is inHallowed GroundI see the fearIts on the riseLets catch the enemyBy surpriseBury your treasureWhere it cant be foundBury it deepIn Hallowed Ground
-Violent Femmes
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John Barleycorn: A Ballad
There was three kings into the east,Three kings both great and high,And they hae sworn a solemn oathJohn Barleycorn should die.They took a plough and plough'd him down,Put clods upon his head,And they hae sworn a solemn oathJohn Barleycorn was dead.But the cheerful Spring came kindly on,And show'rs began to fall;John Barleycorn got up again,And sore surpris'd them all.The sultry suns of Summer came,And he grew thick and strong;His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,That no one should him wrong.The sober Autumn enter'd mild,When he grew wan and pale;His bending joints and drooping headShow'd he began to fail.His colour sicken'd more and more,He faded into age;And then his enemies beganTo show their deadly rage.They've taen a weapon, long and sharp,And cut him by the knee;Then tied him fast upon a cart,Like a rogue for forgerie.They laid him down upon his back,And cudgell'd him full sore;They hung him up before the storm,And turned him o'er and o'er.They filled up a darksome pitWith water to the brim;They heaved in John Barleycorn,There let him sink or swim.They laid him out upon the floor,To work him farther woe;And still, as signs of life appear'd,They toss'd him to and fro.They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,The marrow of his bones;But a miller us'd him worst of all,For he crush'd him between two stones.And they hae taen his very heart's blood,And drank it round and round;And still the more and more they drank,Their joy did more abound.John Barleycorn was a hero bold,Of noble enterprise;For if you do but taste his blood,'Twill make your courage rise.'Twill make a man forget his woe;'Twill heighten all his joy;'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,Tho' the tear were in her eye.Then let us toast John Barleycorn,Each man a glass in hand;And may his great posterityNe'er fail in old Scotland!
-Robert Burns
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@FLRW
I've given him that transcript and video before but fauxlaw is clearly not the master of his own opinion and he's not permitted to change his mind based on facts or even the evidence of his own eyes and ears.
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So-
You claim Biden is to blame for disunity in the country because he won't allow attacks on local politicians to proceed unimpeded by law and order.
but
You won't condemn Trump for disunity in the country even after yesterday's report that Trump's own appointees in the DoJ testified that Trump demanded on at least 9 occasions across 10 days that the Dept of Justice falsify evidence of voter misconduct and overthrow American Democracy.
I question your understanding of National Unity- looks to me like you are demanding subjugation of the majority to a corrupt and deluded minority.
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How to unify the country [and how Biden has failed]How? Why, it's simple as saying "progressive:" Simply call your parents of school children "domestic terrorists."Yeah, Mr. Joe, that will certainly attract those people with children who also happen to be voters, In both parties. Tell them they are Bin Laden cousins.Yep, I see them beating down their doors to get out the vote for SloJoe again. For for the hairy guy to get out of town.
So, a more cogent summary might be:
- Trumpists and other conspiracy theorists have been violently disrupting free speech at school board meetings nationwide
- After several acts of violence, hundreds of explicit threats against the safety of school board members and thousands of disrupted school boards meetings, the National School Board Association writes a letter to Biden asking for a Federal investigation.
- The Attorney General agrees to investigate.
The NSBA called these assaults "equivalent to domestic terrorism" but that is downplaying the matter. By definition, if you are attacking, threatening, or interrupting local elected politicians while they are fulfilling their elected duties, you are a terrorist.
Let's note that, contrary to FOX News claims, Biden has said nothing regarding the politicians' request and AG Garland has only just agreed to look into it.
Fauxlaw blames Biden for failing to unify the country but fails to note that the terrorists he endorses represent the minority opinion. If any science or democracy was on the side of the terrorists, they probably wouldn't be resorting to attacks on local politicians. Contrary to Democracy, fauxlaw only thinks unity is achieved when the majority submits to a violent minority. That's like blaming Buchanan for failing to unify the country because he arrested John Brown- a total distortion of the larger political landscape.
Fauxlaw claims that the terrorists are bi-partisan but that's quite false. All traditional Republicans and Democrats believe in law and order and public meetings, good conduct that allows free speech and above all non-violence in politics. Sorry, but people who endorse violence at public meetings are not acting in accordance with their responsibilities as Americans. Presidents and law enforcement officials are quite obligated to investigate and prosecute these crimes.
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TERRORIST
/ˈterərəst/
noun
- a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
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NJ MASK MANDATE for STUDENTS SPARKS SCHOOL BOARD DISRUPTION, SUSPENDS MEETING
Joe Strupp
Asbury Park Press
The fallout from Gov. Phil Murphy’s school mask mandate continued this week as one school board postponed a meeting after attendees refused to wear masks and another cut short public comment after yelling and name-calling disrupted a mask discussion.
“When the argument started to ensue, I had to shut it down,” said Dotty Porcaro, president of the Manalapan-Englishtown Board of Education, which had to kick out one resident Tuesday night who refused to wear a mask to its regular meeting. “They started talking about concentration camps and comparing (the mask mandate) to Nazis.”
The school board eventually approved a resolution urging Murphy to reverse his mandate but stressed that it would be followed when the new school year begins Sept 9.
“They were stating that if we allow this it is the beginning of the government taking away rights,” Porcaro said about some meeting attendees. “Then there was hollering back and forth. I don’t want to deny anyone the right to speak, but this was a board meeting and I can’t have people screaming and fighting amongst themselves.”
In Wall, the regular school board meeting was suspended Tuesday just after roll call when at least 60 people refused to wear masks.
Board attorney Athena Cornell stated that due to some of those in attendance not wearing masks in violation of Murphy's executive order mandating them, it would be rescheduled to Aug. 31.
“The Wall Board of Education is following Executive Order 251 (the mask mandate for schools), effective Aug. 9, and Executive Order 253 (outlining exceptions), effective yesterday,” Cornell said. “While we understand many disagree, the board is required to follow the executive orders.
"Going forward all in-person meetings will require masks. As a result, the meeting will be rescheduled for Aug. 31 at 6:15 p.m.”
Some in the crowd yelled out, “cowards, cowards.”
Wall Township Board President Ralph Addonizio said later that at least 60 people in attendance refused to wear the masks. The rescheduled meeting will be virtual-only.
He said the virtual meeting is the best way to avoid future controversy, for the moment: “It protects the district from any liability and it protects the parents who are very strongly against masks.”
Addonizio had written a letter to Murphy two weeks ago opposing the mask mandate and asking that it be removed.
“Your blanket orders do not reflect what is in the best interest of the students and staff of the Wall Township Public Schools and infringe on home rule,” Addonizio wrote in the letter.
He continued: “In your new executive order, you cite ‘the CDC now recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors in K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.’ This is a recommendation, provided to offer guidance to states and families. The district Pandemic Response Team used this guidance to make their final recommendation for the school year.”
The incidents are the latest in an ongoing battle over Executive Order 251, signed Aug. 9, which requires all school staff and students to be masked in school buildings.
Opposition has also come from school administrators and board members in Holmdel, Toms River, and Middletown.
Just days after sending a letter to parents stressing that the governor’s mask mandate for students will be enforced and those disobeying would be sent home, the Manalapan-Englishtown board passed a resolution Tuesday urging the governor to rescind the directive.
Manalapan-Englishtown school leaders have had to walk a tightrope in recent weeks between a growing vocal opposition to the governor’s executive order and efforts to ensure that the district does not break the law.
The conflict bubbled up several times during recent meetings, including Tuesday night’s board meeting that resulted in one resident being removed for not wearing a mask. Public comment at the meeting was stopped after 40 minutes after it grew into shouting and accusations of Nazi behavior by some speakers, according to Board President Dotty Porcaro.
The mask mandate drew similar anger at the Middletown Board of Education, which reluctantly passed a resolution Tuesday mandating masks for students, teachers and staff — anyone entering a school building — when the fall term begins.
The pared-down policy was more restrictive than the board had originally intended. As originally written, it would have empowered parents to excuse their children from the mandate by asserting some medical reason why their children could not wear a mask. But it was changed after Murphy clarified that such provisions would be opposed legally.
For Manalapan-Englishtown, the mask battle dates back to June when former Superintendent John Marciante took a leave of absence rather than oversee the removal of a previous mask mandate after angry parents demanded it.
He retired just weeks later.
Since then, his replacement, Nicole Santora, has found herself in the middle of a tug of war between Murphy’s mask mandate and parents opposed to it.
Things were so tense that district officials waited more than two weeks to affirm their plans for implementing the governor’s mask mandate, which was announced Aug. 9. It will require all students to be masked in class, with some exceptions for excessive heat, health concerns and other specific issues.
Santora informed parents of the implementation plan in an Aug. 20 letter that stated the mask mandate would be in place when school starts on Sept. 9 and those not following it will be forced to leave school grounds.
“Students, staff, and visitors will be required to wear masks in the indoor portion of school district premises,” the letter stated. “Additionally, we recognize that the exceptions … are there for medical necessity; and, therefore, we will be implementing the exemptions as they are part of the executive order.”
But it later made clear that anyone not wearing a mask and failing to meet an exemption would be separated from other students until a parent or guardian picks them up.
“I do not think that it is in the best interest of any child to be in a position of deciding whether they should defy their parent or the law. Nor, in this instance, will I suspend a child for listening to their parent,” the superintendent wrote.
She later explained, “If a child comes to school without a mask, they will be offered one. If they refuse, we will call their parent/guardian.
“If the parent/guardian states that they will not have their child wear a mask, we will isolate the child until their parent/guardian can pick them up. The child will be given asynchronous work to complete while waiting for their parent/guardian. The child will be excluded from school until they follow Executive Order 251.”
A recent Gallup poll found that two-thirds of U.S. adults and 60% of K-12 parents support mask mandates for unvaccinated teachers and staff members. A slightly lower percentage of U.S. adults (64%) and 57% of parents of school-aged children favor mask mandates for unvaccinated students.
Parents in the 5,000-student Manalapan-Englishtown district, which serves grades K-8, have made their opposition known for months at several school board meetings, with many claiming their children are unable to breath in masks, come home depressed and discouraged, or become frightened at the atmosphere.
Some even claim the masks do little to protect students or believe the virus is not as contagious as they are told.
In an apparent effort to appease those in opposition, the school board on Tuesday passed a resolution urging that opponents of the mandate reach out to the governor’s office to register complaints. It also formally asked Murphy to rescind the mandate.
“While the Board recognizes the risk of COVID-19, the Board also recognizes and acknowledges that many residents of Manalapan and Englishtown believe that individuals, parents, and health care providers should have the flexibility to make their own decisions about their health and the measures they take to protect themselves, including the decision to wear a mask,” the resolution stated.
“The Board recognizes that those residents call upon Governor Murphy to immediately rescind EO 251 and allow individuals and the parents of children to make their own decisions regarding mask wearing.”
Created:
TERRORIST
/ˈterərəst/
noun
- a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Created:
NAZI SALUTE, INSULTS HURLED at CHAOTIC BIRMINGHAM SCHOOLS MEETING over MASK MANDATE
Posted By Steve Neavling on Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 1:33 pm
Police are investigating a man who flashed a Nazi salute and chanted “Heil Hitler” during a raucous Birmingham Board of Education meeting over a mask mandate for students.
Unruly anti-maskers booed and hurled insults at board members and speakers, including a high school student, who spoke in favor of face coverings during the meeting Wednesday evening.
The anti-maskers spewed falsehoods about COVID-19, telling board members that masks are dangerous and that children aren't at risk of spreading the virus, despite a plethora of evidence to the contrary. Several parents said they're removing their children from school because of the mandate.
The remarks came after the board and superintendent announced that students, staff, and teachers will be required to wear masks indoors for the start of the school year.
Parents packed two rooms at the school, and dozens were not wearing masks.
While a Black woman and Jewish woman were addressing the board about their support for the mask policy, a man in the audience flashed the Nazi salute and repeated “Heil Hitler.” Two men behind him also uttered the phrase.
Police questioned the man during the meeting and are investigating whether he committed a crime.
Superintendent Embekka Roberson notified parents of the Nazi salute in a letter Wednesday and said the district has no tolerance for hate.
“Birmingham Public Schools emphatically denounces and will not tolerate any act of racism, disrespect, violence, and/or inequitable treatment of any person, including actions and statements made at Board of Education meetings. It is in situations when people feel strongly about a matter, and emotions run high, that we most need to model appropriate behaviors for our students,” Roberson wrote. “Last night’s meeting did not consistently display the behaviors that we expect from our students and community.”
During the meeting, some parents compared masks to child abuse.
Nicole Humphrey said she’s removing her daughter from school because masks make her uncomfortable.
“Hearing that the only way she can attend in-person learning is by wearing a mask is unconscionable,” she told the board. “It is not going to happen. It is like asking us to knowingly send her to a place that is abusing her and being like, ‘Oh well.’ … It’s not Ok.”
Another parent said God didn’t intend for people to wear masks, which she falsely claimed are “ineffective” and increase the risk of cancer.
“Our children will never see the freedoms we enjoyed growing up,” she said. “They are not even free to breathe fresh air. If God wanted us to cover our mouth and nose, he would have made us that way.”
Since masks aren’t effective, parent Sarah Flynn said, the school board imposed the mask mandate “to protect yourselves politically.” “COVID poses almost zero risk to children,” Flynn said. “Forced mask mandates for something that has almost zero percent chance of killing them is child abuse.”
During the meeting, Roberson said the mask mandate is intended “to make sure students can attend in person.”
Lori Ajlouny, the board’s president, repeatedly ordered anti-maskers to stop disrupting the meeting and said the mask mandate is a common sense measure to protect children from a highly contagious and dangerous virus.
“We are doing this for the safety of our children,” she said. “I’m not fond of wearing masks, but I’m going to do what’s best for the children.”
Health experts say masks are critical to slowing the spread of COVID-19 in schools. On Sunday, Francis Collins, the director of the National Institute of Health, warned about a sharp increase in the number of pediatric cases from the more powerful "Delta" variant of the virus that causes COVID-19.
On Tuesday, a Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would bar school districts from requiring students to wear masks.
On Thursday, two state lawmakers expressed disgust over the Nazi salute.
“I am shocked and appalled to see the use of racist, Nazi language and imagery in our community, particularly by parents attending a school board meeting. Let me be clear: racism, anti-Semitism, and any other forms of bigotry and hate have no room in our discourse or our community, and I forcefully condemn the use of this phrase and gesture at yesterday’s Board of Education meeting,” Rep. Mari Manoogian, D-Birmingham, said. “For the last 18 months, our state, country, and world have suffered a collective trauma. But the use of Nazi phrases and gestures is beyond the pale in any context; it disrespects the memory of those murdered in the Holocaust and dishonors the values of our community. Actions such as these must be forced out from our society as every level, and we must resume engaging with each other in the spirit of understanding, kindness, and mutual respect – themes which form the core of the values taught within BPS."
State Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, said, “The Holocaust was the systematic state-sponsored persecution and annihilation of European Jews and others. As someone with family members who suffered heinous and violent deaths at the hands of Nazis, I can assure this BPS community member that the Holocaust is not a school board meeting."
Created:
TERRORIST
/ˈterərəst/
noun
- a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Created:
MAN ARRESTED; ACCUSED of STRIKING SCHOOL OFFICIALS at SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
by KHQA News
Thursday, September 2nd 2021
Thursday, September 2nd 2021
Mugshot of Alex Felde courtesy of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office
Mendon, Illinois — A Mendon, Illinois man was arrested Wednesday night following a reported disturbance at a Mendon school board meeting at Unity High School.
According to a news release from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched at 8:17 p.m.
They were told a man identified as Alex S. Felde, 30, had been removed from the school after becoming involved in a physical altercation.
Witnesses told authorities that Felde had been causing a disruption.
When school officials tried to escort him out of the meeting, they said Felde struck one of the school officials and left.
Deputies later found Felde a short time later at his Mendon residence and was taken into custody.
He was taken to the Adams County jail with no bond on charges of aggravated battery and disorderly conduct.
Created:
TERRORIST
/ˈterərəst/
noun
- a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Created:
GOV. ROY COOPER ADDRESSES 'THREATS, BULLYING, INTIMIDATION' at SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS over MASK REQUIREMENTS
Cooper was joined by members of the Coronavirus Task Force to share the update at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh.
Cooper was joined by members of the Coronavirus Task Force to share the update at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WBTV) - As schools continue to debate whether masks are required or optional inside the classroom, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper addressed on Tuesday the behavior he has heard about during recent school board meetings.
While most school boards have voted to require face coverings in schools, there are several districts where masks are optional, including Union and Lincoln counties, in the WBTV viewing area.
There have been arguments, disruption and anger geared at school leaders based on their decision on masks.
“Many are concerned about the fevered pitch that many school board meetings have reached in recent weeks. I am, too,” Gov. Cooper said. “Threats, bullying, intimidation. None of this belongs in our public schools, particularly by adults. Remember – our children are watching.”
Gov. Roy Cooper spoke Tuesday to address the fight against COVID-19 in North Carolina.
He was joined by members of the Coronavirus Task Force to share the update at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh
The StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit recommends all students wear face coverings in school no matter their vaccination status.
Gov. Cooper backs those recommendations, however, it is up to the school district to decide on masks in schools.
Gov. Cooper says that, no matter what schools boards decide, it is up to the adults to set a good example.
“(Children) are absorbing everything they see and hear, even if we think they aren’t paying attention,” Gov. Cooper said. “Being civil and respectful of one another is important to navigate another COVID school year. Let’s behave the way we ask our kids to act. We owe it to them and we owe it to each other.
Gov. Cooper says masks and vaccinations are the best way to keep students in the classroom safely throughout the year, which is the state’s primary priority.
“Keeping children safe, healthy and learning, while in person, and in the classroom – that’s the number one priority,” Gov. Cooper said. “We cannot lose sight of that critically important goal.”
‘Get off social media’; Gov. Cooper urges vaccinations, pushes for masks in schools and touts monoclonal antibody treatment
According to state health leaders, only 38 percent of children between the ages of 12 and 17 have been fully vaccinated in North Carolina.
“All schools should require masks to keep our students in schools,” said NCDHHS Sec. Many Cohen. “The decision to get vaccinated for some is easy. For others, it is much more difficult. Please talk to doctors and nurses or go to reliable sources. I want you to get the facts to get vaccinated.”
Earlier this week, the Union County Board of Education approved a motion to recognize quarantines of students and staff who are considered close contacts of positive COVID-19 cases, in accordance with state law.
According to the motion, the school board will continue to follow its legal obligations of reporting positive cases to Union County Public Health and provide relevant information to county health officials.
Additionally, Union County Public Schools will require students who are symptomatic or positive for COVID-19 to stay home.
During the brief public meeting, board members said Union County Public Health has taken over primary responsibilities of contact tracing and has reduced the length of the quarantine period of asymptomatic individuals, in accordance with state law.
According to the district, those in quarantine will not be allowed back in school until completion of their quarantine orders from Union County Public Health.
The board reversed course from a week ago, when the members made the controversial decision to end contact tracing and quarantining within Union County Public Schools.
Days after that decision, North Carolina State Health Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen sent the district a letter asking Union County to comply with state guidance by Friday, Sept. 17, at 5 p.m., or legal action could be taken.
By the end of the week, officials with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said their attorneys had “productive conversations” with Union County School Board attorneys about their safety protocols in order to avoid legal action against the district.
On Sept. 7, the Union County Public School Board has decided to keep masks optional in schools despite thousands of students in quarantine within the district due to COVID-19.
The last time Gov. Cooper held a press conference about COVID-19, he urged vaccinations, pushed for masks in schools and touted monoclonal antibody treatment. The governor said COVID-19 vaccines are continuing to do their job by stopping most of the severe illness and death and they remain the “best tool to end this pandemic.”
In early August, parents poured into the Union County board meeting and rallied outside before it even started.
It was a heated debate that had both sides of the spectrum fired up.
Things got heated between those wanting masks optional and those who want them to be mandatory in the classroom.
There were signs, chants -- and inside -- a packed room of parents and educators.
“Easy to see from the evidence kids don’t face real danger from this virus,” one parent said.
Others pushed to make them mandatory.
“Every medical organization in the world that says masks need to remain,” another parent said.
Back in May, dozens of angry parents fought against the required mask mandate for their students in Iredell County.
In a heated debate, those parents think their children wearing masks for eight hours a day is unnecessary.
Some parents picketed outside, with signs saying, “My child, my choice.”
Inside the Iredell-Statesville School Board, exchanges became heated.
Parents chanted, “No more masks! No more masks!”
Passions in the crowd quickly went from disappointed to angry to enraged.
“You have to take it off or it never ends,” a parent said.
North Carolina health officials reported 4,381 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday. To date, there have been 1,350,697 confirmed cases since the first case was reported in North Carolina on March 3, 2020.
Officials also reported 3,464 people are hospitalized due to the virus. The total number of people who have died of complications with the virus is now 15,811 in North Carolina.
Officials also say 17,205,478 tests have been given in N.C. and the daily percent of positive tests reported was 11 percent.
Created:
TERRORIST
/ˈterərəst/
noun
- a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Created:
EDITORIAL: MOB's ACTIONS at SCHOOL BOARD MEETING UNACCEPTABLE
Protesters’ verbal abuse and disruption of a Marysville School Board meeting should not be tolerated.
Protesters’ verbal abuse and disruption of a Marysville School Board meeting should not be tolerated.
By The Herald Editorial Board
The conduct on display at a recent Marysville School Board meeting is disturbing and infuriating, particularly so for parents and students who are eager for a return this month to in-classroom instruction that was largely denied them for much of the last two school years during the coronavirus pandemic.
But it’s also maddening for the troubling lack of respect shown local elected officials and school district employees whose job it is to deliver a quality education to public school students while ensuring the safety of students, teachers, staff and the public.
And it should be recognized for what it is: a threat to public meetings and local democratic decision making.
Two weeks ago, as reported last week by The Herald’s Joseph Thompson, a group of protesters, organized by a nationwide group calling itself Unmask Our Kids, held a demonstration outside the Marysville School District offices, during a scheduled workshop and regular meeting of the Marysville School Board.
Prior to the board’s regular meeting, protesters demonstrated against Gov. Jay Inslee’s recent orders requiring students, teachers and staff to wear facemasks indoors and mandating vaccinations for teachers and other school employees. While members of the public were allowed into the meeting, others were barred from entering because they had not signed up in advance or had refused to wear masks as required.
Disruptions outside the meeting room, including protesters banging on windows, forced a recess of the meeting. Then, as shown in a Facebook Live recording, protesters, in reaction to a vote by board members to adjourn, begin yelling obscenities. “You f***ing cowards,” erupts one man. “Get back here and do your f***ing job,” another yells. As the shouting continues, one man, grasping a U.S. flag on a flagpole walks quickly to the dais to confront board members, followed by Marysville police officers who step between the man and board members. “Yeah, run away,” taunts a protester, as board members file out of the room. “Go lick Inslee’s boot,” says one. As board members left the room, an object is thrown in their direction.
The confrontations continued outside as a group of protesters surrounded a district official’s car, preventing the driver from leaving.
The incident has prompted district officials to close in-person meetings to the public and resume remote meetings and testimony.
Prior to the obscenities and threatening actions, the protest was merely misdirected. Marysville, as is the case for all of the state’s school districts, is not in the position to defy a state order regarding masks or the vaccine mandates. Both mandates were orders recommended by the state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, then made official by the governor. Any district failing to enforce either mandate — and so far no district has indicated it won’t comply — faces a loss of state funds.
When the meeting devolved into shouted obscenities and physical confrontation, however, it became obstruction of a legal public meeting and a violation of democratic principles, one with all-too-familiar overtones of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Simply put, the Marysville School Board was there “to do its job,” until it was shouted down, threatened and forced to adjourn to deescalate an increasingly dangerous situation.
Not that it will matter to those who continue to argue against both masks and vaccinations, but both mandates are essential to ensuring students can safely return to school campuses this month, hopefully for the entire school year. For much of the previous two school years, kids had either limited time in classrooms or were kept out all together, relegated to virtual lessons that could only provide varying levels of interaction with teachers.
Yet — prior to the widespread availability of vaccines — it was really the only option to safely continue the school day.
Since then schools have had the opportunity to make changes to ventilation and prepare other precautions for distancing and disinfection. Paired with widespread use of vaccines and masks, this is how the state and its school districts can assure the health and safety of all involved, while welcoming a return to classrooms and — it’s hoped — a school year that is closer to normal.
And it must be noted that both masks and vaccinations of staff and students are made even more essential because a significant number of students — those 11 years of age and younger — are not yet eligible for vaccination. At best, some level of authorization by the Food and Drug Administration for those students is not expected until late this year or early next year.
Regarding the objections to masks because of speculation that they lower children’s blood-oxygen levels, risk carbon dioxide poisoning and interfere with the facial cues students use in learning language, the arguments are not convincing.
Studies and findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the American Lung Association — the folks who put a particular importance on the act of breathing — have found either no difference or statistically insignificant differences in oxygen saturation levels for those wearing surgical-style or cloth masks.
As for carbon dioxide, those molecules — which are far smaller than the respiratory droplets the masks are meant to trap — easily pass through the masks’ material.
And as far as masks impeding a child’s learning, those are obstacles that child and teacher can manage, certainly more easily than those imposed by remote learning.
Marysville, of course, is not alone in hearing from angry protesters. On the same day as the Marysville protest, similar demonstrations were seen in Snohomish and in Kennewick, although without having a public meeting shouted into adjournment. But other meetings and the work of teachers and administrators have been interrupted — sometimes violently so — by antimask protesters. A parent in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., allegedly assaulted a student who confronted him after he attempted to enter a school building without a mask. Teachers elsewhere have had masks ripped from their faces or have otherwise been assaulted by antimask protesters.
It’s no surprise that school board members and others nationwide have resigned their posts or at least considered it.
But the incident in Marysville pertains specifically to Snohomish County residents and is serious enough to require some reflection by everyone, regardless of their positions on masks and vaccination.
What happened at the school board meeting is not acceptable and should not be condoned nor easily excused.
Those who object to the mandates can make their case to those who made those decisions, in this case the governor and the state schools superintendent. Peaceful protests and even pointed criticism are among the things for which statewide elected officials are paid to deal with; school board members for most districts are unpaid and serve voluntarily.
While most school board members expect little thanks for their public service, they shouldn’t have to endure verbal abuse and threats of violence.
At the same time, what happened should prompt the county’s other elected officials — on school boards, the county council, city councils and other public representatives — to stand with the members of the Marysville School Board and make clear to their own constituents that such disruptions — to public meetings and the testimony and participation of residents who follow the rules of basic civility — will not be tolerated.
Public meetings attended by our elected officials are the foundation for the decisions they regularly make on our behalf. If local government is going to serve us, those meetings cannot be surrendered to a mob.
Created:
TERRORIST
/ˈterərəst/
noun
- a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Created:
NORFOLK SCHOOL OFFICIALS, POLICE MONITORING THREATS MADE TOWARDS NORVIEW SCHOOLS
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Norfolk schools spokesperson says they are aware of social media posts threatening the Norview High and Middle School community.
The school district has requested more Norfolk police in that area for school Wednesday and is working to keep the community safe.
The posts have been reported to police.
The threats come as numerous schools in the region have faced similar issues. In addition, on Monday, a 15-year-old student allegedly shot and injured two other 17-year-old students at Heritage High School in Newport News.
Two schools in Suffolk received threats Tuesday, according to an SPS spokesperson.
Smithfield High School also planned to have a large law enforcement presence Tuesday, particularly at arrival and dismissal times, after a social media post was made with apparent threats to the school. Police said later there was no active threat.
Created:
TERRORIST
/ˈterərəst/
noun
- a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Created:
AP NEWS
POSTS MISCHARACTERIZE SCHOOL BOARD ORGANIZATION's LETTER to BIDEN
By TERRENCE FRASEROctober 5, 2021
CLAIM: The National School Boards Association is asking the Biden administration to label parents who protest school policies domestic terrorists.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The organization — the NSBA, for short — is not asking Biden to label parents who protest at school board meetings as terrorists. The NSBA asked the administration to do an interagency investigation of threats of violence against school board members and said the threats “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” Biden has yet to publicly comment on the issue, and there’s no indication he or the Department of Justice has called protesting parents “domestic terrorists,” despite false claims to that effect by social media users.
THE FACTS: Local school boards around the country have become political battlegrounds over issues such as COVID-19 mask rules, the treatment of transgender students and how to teach the history of racism and slavery in America, The Associated Press has reported.
The National School Boards Association, a non-profit representing U.S. school boards, said these disputes were also leading to harassment and threats of violence against school board members. On Sept. 29, the NSBA sent a letter to President Joe Biden, asking his administration to investigate these threats.
According to AP reporting, the NSBA’s letter documents more than 20 instances of threats, harassment, disruption and acts of intimidation in California, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio and other states. It cites the September arrest of an Illinois man for aggravated battery and disorderly conduct for allegedly striking a school official at a meeting.
But on Sept. 30, social media users took to Instagram to spread misinformation about the letter.
A popular Instagram post circulated widely last week, showing a screenshot of a tweet by Chris Rufo, an anti-critical race theory activist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. “The National School Boards Association asked the feds to crack down on anti-critical race theory protests as ‘domestic terrorism,’” Rufo said in the screenshot image.
Another Instagram post shared a screenshot of a tweet by an account called Fight for Schools, which advocates for the full reopening of public schools and against the teaching of critical race theory.
“The National School Boards Association is asking the Biden administration to label parents who protest school policies as domestic terrorists,” the tweet said. An article from EdWeek is also shared as part of the tweet. “The White House should aid education leaders facing disruption and harassment over COVID-19 rules, a national group says,” the linked article says.
Rufo, in a comment emailed Thursday to The Associated Press, said the Biden administration is “using the FBI to suppress parents and criminalize dissent.”
In fact, the request for a law enforcement review did not come from the Biden administration. It came from the National School Boards Association, which, in its letter, requested that federal agencies conduct a review to “examine appropriate enforceable actions” in cases of “crimes and acts of violence.”
The NSBA says comments made by Rufo and Fight for Schools aren’t accurate because violence and threats are the issue, not protests from parents.
“This is absolutely false. NSBA and school board members don’t want to stop parents from expressing their First Amendment rights or label them as terrorists,” NSBA CEO Chip Slaven said in a statement emailed to the AP. “Our letter to President Biden was about stopping dangerous and threatening acts that school board members and other education leaders are receiving,” Slaven added.
NSBA’s letter to the Biden administration does state that threats against school board members “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes”that could be prosecuted under anti-terrorism and anti-hate crime statutes. But the NSBA has not asked Biden to label parents in any particular way. Rather, NSBA asked the federal government to assist local law enforcement in investigating the level of risk posed by threats.
“NSBA believes immediate assistance is required to protect our students, school board members, and educators who are susceptible to acts of violence affecting interstate commerce because of threats to their districts, families, and personal safety,” the NSBA letter said.
The letter goes on to request that federal agencies coordinate with local law enforcement and provide them with training. The letter also asks the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to intervene against threatening letters and cyberbullying attacks sent to teachers, students, school board members and district administrators.
“We want to stop the death threats, threats to family members, and other harassment and acts of intimidation,” Slaven said.
___
This story has been updated to add comment from Chris Rufo.
Created:
As ever, I had to remember to look at what Tucker Carlson said last night to figure out what your were on about:
Created:
OCTOBER 07, 2021
Following 8 Month Investigation, Senate Judiciary Committee Releases Report on Donald Trump's Scheme to Pressure DOJ & Overturn the 2020 Election
WASHINGTON – Following an eight-month investigation, the Senate Judiciary Committee today released new testimony and a staff report,
“Subverting Justice: How the Former President and his Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election.”
The report and testimony reveal that we were only a half-step away from a full blown constitutional crisis as President Donald Trump and his loyalists threatened a wholesale takeover of the Department of Justice (DOJ). They also reveal how former Acting Civil Division Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark became Trump’s Big Lie Lawyer, pressuring his colleagues in DOJ to force an overturn of the 2020 election.
The report sheds new light on Trump’s relentless efforts to coopt DOJ into overturning the 2020 election and Clark’s efforts to aid Trump. The Committee’s interim report is the first comprehensive accounting of those efforts, which were even more expansive and troubling than previously reported.
Based on findings from the investigation so far, the Committee has asked the D.C. Bar to open an investigation into Jeffrey Clark’s compliance with applicable rules of professional conduct. These rules include Rule 1.2, which prohibits attorneys from assisting or counseling clients in criminal or fraudulent conduct, and Rule 8.4, which among other things prohibits conduct that seriously interferes with the administration of justice. The Committee is withholding potential findings and recommendations about criminal culpability until the investigation is complete.
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on today’s report release:
“Today’s report shows the American people just how close we came to a constitutional crisis. Thanks to a number of upstanding Americans in the Department of Justice, Donald Trump was unable to bend the Department to his will. But it was not due to a lack of effort. Donald Trump would have shredded the Constitution to stay in power. We must never allow this unprecedented abuse of power to happen again.”
Key takeaways from the Committee’s investigation include:
- Previously-unreleased transcripts of the Committee’s closed-door interviews with three key former senior DOJ officials: former Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen, former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and former U.S. Attorney BJay Pak. These witnesses cooperated with the Committee, and although their testimony was not under oath, they were obligated by 18 U.S.C. § 1001 to tell the truth.
- New details of Donald Trump’s relentless, direct pressure on DOJ’s leadership. This includes at least nine calls and meetings with Rosen and/or Donoghue starting the day former Attorney General Bill Barr announced his resignation and continuing almost until the January 6 insurrection—including near-daily outreach once Barr left DOJ on December 23.
- New details of then-Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division Jeffrey Clark’s misconduct, including his attempt to induce Rosen into helping Trump’s election subversion scheme by telling Rosen he would decline Trump’s offer to install him in Rosen’s place if Rosen agreed to aid that scheme.
- New details around Trump forcing the resignation of U.S. Attorney Pak because he believed Pak was not doing enough to support his false claims of election fraud in Georgia—and then went outside the line of succession to appoint Bobby Christine as Acting U.S. Attorney because he believed Christine would “do something” about his election fraud claims.
- New details of how, at Barr’s direction, DOJ deviated from decades-long practice meant to avoid inserting DOJ itself as an issue in the election—and instead aggressively pursued false claims of election fraud before votes were certified.
- Confirmation that Mark Meadows asked Rosen to initiate election fraud investigations on multiple occasions, violating longstanding restrictions on White House intervention in DOJ law enforcement matters—and new details about these requests, including that Meadows asked Rosen to meet with Trump’s outside lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Based on these findings, the interim report makes the following recommendations:
- Congress should strengthen longstanding DOJ and White House policies restricting the circumstances under which DOJ and White House officials can communicate with one another about specific law enforcement matters.
- DOJ should strengthen its longstanding election non-interference policy, which is meant to avoid inserting DOJ as an issue into a pending election.
- The D.C. Bar should scrutinize Clark’s compliance with applicable bar rules.
- The Committee is withholding potential recommendations about criminal culpability and criminal referrals until the investigation is complete.
In January 2021, following a report from The New York Times that detailed a plot between Trump and Clark to use DOJ to further Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election, Durbin led the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a letter to then-Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson calling on him to preserve and produce all relevant materials in the DOJ’s possession, custody, or control related to this plot. This kicked off the Committee’s eight-month investigation. The Committee continues to seek records requested from the National Archives and Records Administration, which have not yet been supplied, and continues to pursue interviews with relevant individuals as part of this ongoing investigation.
A link to today’s report is available here.
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@Fruit_Inspector
Well, drinking bleach in sufficient quantities also reduces the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to reproduce itself. Not much of a claim.
The more critical question is whether Ivermectin is more effective at preventing COVID than an FDA approved vaccine. The answer from the CDC seems to be a resounding no.
The next relevant question is why purchase medicine that is less effective, less available, costs more, and is still in the clinical testing trial phase than a safe, highly effective, inexpensive and readily available medicine?
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@cristo71
Since you have stated that the honest assessment of Biden's almost 9 months in office is that nothing has improved except the stock market, I think we have established that you are not, yourself, an honest assayer of political facts.
For example, Biden inherited the worst pandemic in American history, which was killing 3,000 Americans a day when he took office. The previous administration had no vaccination distribution and tracking plan in place- didn't even have people working on it. In 18 weeks, Biden ramped up vaccination production and distribution, 2/3rds of eligible Americans got vaccinated and US COVID deaths dropped under 200 a day, less than 5 COVID deaths per day among the vaccinated. Although a fourth pandemic wave has since visited the unvaccinated, I don't think any honest assessment can fault Biden for the fate of those who refused treatment or sought out Republican alternative treatments. Seems like any honest assayer of the objective facts would admit that a 99.83% decrease in pandemic deaths over 18 weeks is an IMPROVEMENT, at least.
I can think of many significant improvements Biden's administration has brought to the political landscape. Even Mitch McConnell has publicly named a few. But we've established that this is not the forum for an objective assessment of those accomplishments, in spite of pretenses to honesty.
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@ILikePie5
-->@oromagiBy all means, use reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling. Waste of a reconciliation bill anyways
That was McConnell's plan. He has now agreed to postpone to December so not much need to use reconcilliation.
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@Double_R
Republicans are trying to force the debt limit into the votes for the American Jobs Act and the American Family Act. I think Dems should simply ignore McConnell.
McConnell is trying to threaten America with a vote in which all Democrats will vote to save America from economic disaster and all Republicans will vote in favor of laying new economic catastrophes on the American people during pandemic (that was also created by Republicans). It is such a feckless threat: if you even try to pay my bills I'm going to commit suicide. Let's use McConnell's threat to restore the traditional filibuster rules and blow right past his feeble threats.
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@949havoc
Agree w/ Jane....would help to know what you are talking about before trying to make sense of your opinion about it.
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@BigPimpDaddy
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