As you read this story I want you to keep in mind several points. He lied about why he was running for the board and what he wanted to focus on. He tried to sound normal by saying he wanted to focus on generic sounds good school policy stuff. His priorities were to ensure proper education that helps everyone succeed, improve safety and mental health for students and teachers, and address budgetary concerns. As soon as he got elected the rabid Christian pushing his god and his hate for other came rushing out. I thought good Christians did not lie.
Also notice that he wants to beat kids (spank, paddle, strap, you know corporal punishment. Seems he got it as a kid and liked it) even without their parents’ permission. He or anyone else ever used corporate punishment on my kids (hit my kids) they better start gathering up guns fast, because I am coming to see them, and I will be angry!
He thinks disabled kids get away with too much and have it too good. He really means mentally / emotionally disabled kids get away with too much and have it too easy, so keep them home or even though he doesn’t say it we are back to the hit them hard and often, tie them to the desk shit. I suspect he hates the accommodations for kids with physical disabilities who need accommodations like ramps and other changes.
He also thinks gay kids get away with too much and because there is not a policy of blocking out time that the straight kids get to beat up the gay kids, he wants Christian stickers with saved zone on them for places where the Christian kids can gather and force religion on everyone else. He seems to think that is what a rainbow safe place sticker does, provide classrooms where the gay can be forced on all the kids, and maybe that trans stuff being pushed also. Time to get the Christian symbols up in the schools because the gays have special rights not to be assaulted, can’t have that. God first with mandatory prayer. (Maybe he doesn’t think kids will be praying just before they get hit with a heavy paddle for being kids not robots) He intends to go through all the history books because he claims they have revisionist history in them like that this was not a Christian nation and slavery was a bad thing. Going to make sure the kids are taught the truth, god himself set up the US as a Christian nation for Christians only, slavery was not that bad and good for those people, and that kids are taught good republican civics so they can go out and vote republican like god and the founding fathers intended. See he is going to fix that woke liberal indoctrination. Notice he wants / demands respect for authority. Sounds like he is saying you will do as your told and like it, think only republican thoughts, do only straight heterosexual stuff.
The last point I want to make is this asshole wants to block any public health measures including / especially vaccines. He was in the Air Force and that vaccine shit is against freedom. Seems his mind is going on him because in the military you have to take a lot of vaccines and you don’t get a choice, because it is so you can be deployed to places that have really bad shit to make you sick. So he wants to allow every anti-vaccine person to be allowed to send their sick kids to school to make everyone else sick, and that is called freedom in his mind.
Get the point on what is happening here in Florida. Three of these people that believe as he does got elected, this guy pushed out a person who was a teacher for 30 years. They were all backed by the same big money Christian group / network for the express purpose to drive the country regressively back to the 1950s and worse. Total hard right wing Christian propaganda in the schools with zero tolerance for LGBTQ+ or disabled students. We need a lot of people to get upset with what is happening here as the intent is to spread it from Florida and Texas, pushing it all over the country. DeathSantis is going to try to use this type of stuff to become president which means every other republican with ambition is going to go ever more hard core on these issues. Oh and the Qanon darling Gen. Flynn who was working behind the scenes for Russia as trumps National security advisor addressed the candidate’s supporters. Dogs that love gravy, our kids in schools are in a world of hurt and so are we. Hugs
Newly elected Collier County school board member Jerry Rutherford wants to bring corporal punishment back to district classrooms, he said the morning after Tuesday’s election.
He added that disabled students’ behavior in particular is “out of control.”
Additionally, he said he’d like to see fewer “rights” for LGBTQ students — or the same extended to religious students who want to practice religion in school.
Jory Westberry, who lost her school board seat to Rutherford, said his views on corporal punishment, LGBTQ students and religion in schools would “put something so pervasively wrong in schools.”
Florida allows corporal punishment in public schools as long as the district allows it.
“First of all,” she said, “if (Florida) allows corporal punishment, Collier County does not.”
“Second, students with handicaps are entitled to a free public education without retribution because of their behavior. That’s why we have behavior specialists who work with students, parents and teachers to enable them to have a more effective, productive experience in school,” Westberry said.
Westberry was one of several who spoke out against Rutherford’s priorities.
Rutherford won the District 1 seat away from longtime teacher, administrator and school board member Westberry in the 2022 election with a strong 65.4% of the vote to Westberry’s 34.6%.
After speaking on myriad issues at school board meetings countless times for more than 35 years, Rutherford told the Naples Daily News in July he decided he didn’t want to be on the outside looking in anymore, so he joined the school board race.
This was his first time running for any elected position, he said.
Rutherford was endorsed by the Collier County Republican Executive Committee, which endorsed all three challengers to the school board. All of them won their races.
As a devout Christian, he’s fought to distribute Bibles in schools and to institute prayer at school board meetings. He has also protested Naples’s LGBTQ Pride festival, specifically speaking out against drag shows.
A veteran of the Air Force, Rutherford has worked in sales and construction and owned a painting business in the Naples area for more than 20 years. He also served as a substitute teacher in the district for three years.
Florida Citizens Alliance, a conservative education nonprofit headquartered on Marco Island, congratulated Rutherford, as well as the two other challengers Wednesday via email.
“This win of all three seats is a tremendous victory for the 48,000 kids in Collier schools, their parents, and grandparents, as it now gives a clear conservative majority over a previous left-leaning school board,” Florida Citizens Alliance marketing manager Moise Stael Dantes wrote. “The delivery of quality academics while maintaining the principle of liberty can now become real.”
The ‘board of education’
Rutherford’s stated positions changed dramatically before and after his election.
In July, he told the Naples Daily News his priorities were to ensure proper education that helps everyone succeed, improve safety and mental health for students and teachers, and address budgetary concerns.
But Wednesday morning, reached by phone, Rutherford said he has a five-point agenda he’d like to implement, including “mental and physical discipline,” or physical punishment of children in Collier’s public schools.
“I only went to the principal’s office one time when I was in school and that was when they used the ‘board of education,’ if you get what I’m saying,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford added that disabled students are not in control and get away with too much. He read an article by a California teacher that said he left teaching because his disabled students were swearing and otherwise misbehaving, and he couldn’t hold them accountable.
According to a 2021 analysis by the Education Commission of the States, which tracks education policies, Florida is one of at least 18 states that allows corporal punishment in public schools as long as the district allows it. According to the National Association of State Boards of Education, Florida does not require parental permission, only written parental notification after the fact.
Currently, Collier County prohibits corporal punishment. According to school board policy 5630, “the use of corporal punishment, defined in Florida statute as the use of physical force or physical contact for disciplinary purposes, is prohibited.”
Furthermore, Florida Statute 1003.573 states that disabled students can only be physically restrained if there is an imminent risk of serious injury or death to the student or others and only once all positive behavioral strategies have been exhausted.
Jackie Stephens, CEO of the Children’s Advocacy Center in Collier County, said she is “alarmed” to hear a school board member wants to bring back corporal punishment to the classroom.
“It can be detrimental to the children,” Stephens said. “There’s no studies that really indicate that spanking is beneficial. It can actually lead to worse behavior and aggression.”
Stephens said many countries have outlawed the spanking of children, even by their own parents. In the United States, many organizations have registered as a “No Hit Zone,” which means they do not condone hitting of any kind.
“There’s a lot of places that are becoming no hit zones, like the Children’s Advocacy Center and hospitals. I think at school would be a good place not to hit children.”
Rutherford’s agenda also focuses on “respect,” he said. “There needs to be respect for ourselves, for others, and for authority.”
In that vein, he said he believed people are being indoctrinated into supporting LGBTQ rights, and “when it comes to indoctrination, I will not put up with that,” he said.
Rutherford added that some legislators had passed bills he believes extends the rights of LGBTQ people beyond normal rights.
“I’m all for equal rights, but I’m not for special rights,” he said.
For example, he said, an LGBTQ student group in Collier County gave teachers a sticker to put on their doors with a rainbow that says “safe zone.” One teacher, he said, refused to put it up.
He did not elaborate further on what rights LGBTQ people have that others do not.
According to The Safe Zone Project, which gives trainings that allow people to learn about LGBTQ identities as well as examine prejudices and biases, the words “safe zone” typically communicate that the person is an ally of the LGBTQ community, has gone through a Safe Zone training, or is trying to communicate support.
“I don’t have a problem with that, but it should extend to sectarians,” Rutherford said.
“If you’re going to have a secular symbol, you have to give a religious one,” he said. “What if we gave teachers a sticker with a cross that said ‘saved zone?’ We have religious rights, and we have personal rights.”
GLSEN, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting LGBTQ students through policy writing and advocacy, said elected leaders and elected school leaders have a responsibility to protect all young people, including LGBTQ youth.
“Queer students in Florida, especially those of color and those who are trans and nonbinary, are being cruelly targeted by extremists,” said GLSEN executive director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers. “They are facing a hostile climate amid curriculum censorship laws and have been repeatedly subject to political attacks. Florida’s students deserve so much better from the adult politicians who are supposed to support them. This kind of anti-LGBTQ+ fear mongering and misinformation from any school leader is unacceptable.”
“We are absolutely saddened by his agenda,” said Naples Pride president Cori Craciun. “LGBT kids’ rights have been taken away by the Parental Rights Bill, and the Florida Medical Board, which banned (gender-affirming) care for transgender minors. … The ‘safe zones’ are there to protect these children. They are often the only place these children know there is a supportive adult they can reach out to.”
Religion in public schools
Federal law on Bibles in public schools is derived from 1963 Supreme Court case Abingdon v. Schempp, which draws a distinction between devotional reading and the objective study of religion.
In short, while religious texts like the Bible are allowed in public schools for the purpose of studying, what is not allowed is devotion or reading from the Bible as religious practice.
Rutherford added he wants to see “textbooks that are free from bias, censorship and rewritten history,” as well as “morals and ethics in school.”
He said he planned to review all new textbooks and would flag anything he saw as dubious or biased. He did not specify what he considered to qualify as biased or rewritten history.
Rutherford was also eager to see a civics class reinstated in the curriculum, where students would study the Constitution and the Bill of Rights per Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent policy.
But Rutherford said he felt the government has gone too far in other ways, such as by forcing students and teachers to wear a mask in 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and by requiring military personnel to get vaccinated against the virus that has killed more than 1 million people across the U.S.
As a former airman, he expressed frustration by that.
“They’re saying no (to the vaccine), and they’re getting thrown out for that,” he said.
He noted that while Collier Public Schools required masking early in the pandemic, Mason Classical Academy, a local charter school, did not, which he believes better exemplified respect for students’ rights. Collier should follow Mason’s example, he said.
Education reporter Nikki Ross contributed to this article. Kate Cimini is an investigative journalist covering Florida. Share your story at (239) 207-9369 or kcimini@gannett.com.
To be very clear if this article doesn’t make it clear to you, the right is not interested in “protecting” children, they don’t really think that talking about LGBTQ+ sexualizes children, they don’t mind sexualizing children, but they are demanding to indoctrinate the kids, all kids, into believing that only heterosexual orientation / sexuality exists and teaching hating the gays / trans. That is what this entire “don’t say gay” thing is about! About spreading hate and making kids think that only heterosexual ways exist, that only opposite sex marriage is real, only way to date is boy / girl, that all families must be mommy / daddy. it is total indoctrination to make the 1950s come alive again. Plus they want to stoke hatred against the gay and trans people including kids at school. They want the bullying and they want the gay / trans kids picked on and made to be scared and in fear for being who they are. But as this guy who is big in the anti-LGBTQ+ movement says, it is great to take kids to Hooters to see what he calls the great view, in other words to see big breasts / titties. He wants to have boys reading sex magazines showing nude women. He seems to think that people have a choice about their sexual attraction / orientation and wants to make sure all the kids choose straight which he thinks is the correct choice. WTF! Do you see how this entire protect the kids / don’t sexualize kids and let them be children, is a cover for what they really want, they hate gays and want them punished and erased from society. That is the point over don’t let teachers talk about or defend kids from same sex families and forbidding pride stickers / flags and removing all LGBTQ+ materials from libraries. It is about the idea that if kids don’t see or hear that being gay is normal and same sex families are normal then the kids will be straight or pretend to be so they can fit in and have families. Plus for some reason this guy thinks all straight people are republicans and all gay people are democrats. Hugs
“If more members of Gen Z had been brought to Hooters as children, I can GUARANTEE we would have had a red wave last night.”
MAGA author Nick Adams – who was complaining about drag queens and teachers discussing LGBTQ people earlier this year as part of the larger groomer panic – is now advocating parents take minor children to Hooters.
“If more members of Gen Z had been brought to Hooters as children, I can GUARANTEE we would have had a red wave last night,” Adams – né Nicholas Adamopoulos – tweeted earlier this week about the restaurant chain known for its young female waitresses who don’t wear much clothing.
If more members of Gen Z had been brought to Hooters as children, I can GUARANTEE we would have had a red wave last night.
Adams is the Australian author of several volumes of far-right pulp including The Most DANGEROUS President in History (about President Joe Biden), Trump and Churchill: Defenders of Western Civilization, and Retaking America: Crushing Political Correctness. He claims to be Donald Trump’s favorite author.
He calls himself an “alpha male” in his Twitter handle and his account is often mistaken for a parody of the far right, but his fans know that he’s on their side.
Yesterday’s was only one of many of his tweets advocating taking minors to Hooters.
“I am sick and tired of beta males and feminists trying to guilt alpha males out of eating at Hooters,” he wrote earlier this week. “There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with eating at Hooters on a weekly basis, EVEN with the family and kids.”
I am sick and tired of beta males and feminists trying to guilt alpha males out of eating at Hooters.
There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with eating at Hooters on a weekly basis, EVEN with the family and kids.
“99% of the people who pass judgment about Hooters and parents who take their children to Hooters have never actually been to a Hooters,” he wrote yesterday.
“People who demonize parents who take their kids to Hooters are pathetic,” he also tweeted yesterday. “I feel sorry for their children.”
People who demonize parents who take their kids to Hooters are pathetic.
Adams really loves Hooters and it appears to be more of a lifestyle choice for him than a restaurant with chicken wings. In a video this week, he called it a “family restaurant”
“Hooters is fantastic,” he shouted at his camera, wearing an untucked short-sleeve shirt while standing in front of a framed picture of himself. “The view is good, the food is good, the drinks are good.”
“Alpha males have a history replete with visits to Hooters,” he claimed. Hooters opened in 1983. “If you haven’t been to Hooters, it makes it all that bit more difficult for you to claim alpha male status.”
While Adams advocates taking children to the sexually-charged environment at Hooters, he doesn’t think that teachers should be mentioning LGBTQ people to students in school, lest kids learn that there are different kinds of families. In April – at the height of groomer panic where conservatives were complaining about books like And Tango Makes Three (about a penguin with two penguin-dads) being available in schools – Adams decried kindergarten teachers who he claimed wanted to “discuss sexuality” in school and called them child molesters.
“Any adult that needs to discuss sexuality with a kindergartner is a predator, not a teacher,” he wrote.
Any adult that needs to discuss sexuality with a kindergartner is a predator, not a teacher.
— Nick Adams (Alpha Male) (@NickAdamsinUSA) April 15, 2022
In July, he said that only a “bad parent” would allow their kids to see a drag queen.
If you are okay with your young child being exposed to sex toys and drag queens, you're a bad parent.
— Nick Adams (Alpha Male) (@NickAdamsinUSA) July 23, 2022
That same month, he appeared to advocate giving pornography to underage boys, even though federal law prohibits the distribution of pornography to minors.
— Nick Adams (Alpha Male) (@NickAdamsinUSA) July 14, 2022
Trans YouTuber Natalie Wynn pithily summed up Adams’ latest tweets: “Heterosexuals openly admit they have to groom children to perpetuate their lifestyle.”
Heterosexuals openly admit they have to groom children to perpetuate their lifestyle pic.twitter.com/2diIPde4Qg
How is this guy any different from the Afghan Taliban. He complains about made up teachers showing kids porn and grooming then yet ignores the daily arrests of religious figures for actually molesting / raping kids. Didn’t I read something about a mote, eyes, beams somewhere? People this is the fastest growing sect of the Christian religion and it is built on hate, anger, and full power to white males and some power to Christian females over the non-whites as her male owner will allow. Read this and know that this is the group pushing the hardest for the don’t say gay bills and attacking drag queens / drag queen story readings. I asked who the next targets were going to be, and here you see it. These are the real purity and moral police thugs. They are going to come after you eventually. Hugs
“Marjorie Taylor Greene should be at home, being obedient to her husband,” Jason Graber said, after calling for LGBTQ allies to be publicly executed on TV.
A hate preacher who called for teachers he claimed were “grooming” kids to be beheaded on TV now says that far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is a fake conservative because she’s not at home being obedient to her husband.
Jason Graber — a New Independent Fundamental Baptist (New IFB) preacher at Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Spokane, Washington — made his comments about Greene during a recent sermon about the midterm elections.
“If we have this ‘red wave,’” Graber began, using the term for the expected wave of Republican election victories, “Are they gonna do anything? Are they going to pass, you know, the abortion ban nationwide and have all abortion doctors retroactively put to death? Are they gonna do that? No. Why? Because they’re cowards.”
“Today we have Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he continued, “and anybody that votes for her, you’re not real conservative. Fake conservative.”
“Marjorie Taylor Greene should be at home, being obedient to her husband,” he added, apparently not realizing that Greene’s husband filed for divorce in September.
“These so-called conservative women….Why are we putting them in a position of leadership when they can’t even figure out which good husband to marry? Because any husband that allows his wife to go and run for Congress is a pathetic beta man. Okay, that is wrong. That is wicked. There’s something wrong with that man. He shouldn’t show his face in public. He should be so embarrassed.”
Christian hate-preacher Jason Graber says Republicans are cowards since they don't want abortion doctors executed.
He adds that Marjorie Taylor Greene backers are "fake conservatives" because she "should be at home being obedient to her husband."
It’s notable that Greene, who is rabidly anti-LGBTQ and a self-described Christian nationalist, isn’t nearly conservative or religious enough for Graber.
That makes sense considering the extremism of Graber and other New IFB preachers. While New IFB isn’t affiliated with any mainstream Baptist denomination, both Baptist and New IFB teachings exhibit anti-LGBTQ bigotry, antisemitism, and misogyny. New IFB, however, goes a step further, calling for the execution of LGBTQ people while Baptists merely condemn queer people to hell.
“Apparently in schools today, they’re literally grooming the kids to… be taken advantage of,” Graber claimed.
“They’re showing pornographic images to children,” he added, without providing any proof whatsoever. “Preachers need to get up and say, ‘Well, teachers that do this, they should be put to death. They need to be taken out and shot in the back of the head. Because… they’re pedophiles.’”
“We need to make these executions public,” he continued. “We need to find these teachers that are showing pornographic images and grooming children, we need to find them, try them, get the television out, we need to get FOX News, CNN, every YouTube channel out there, put it on television. We need to show them being publicly beheaded… Otherwise our nation is gonna turn into a literal Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Christian hate-preacher Jason Graber, who believes the right-wing "groomer" lies, says such teachers should be shot in the head or beheaded on live TV.
Greene has previously called for violence against transgender and non-binary camp counselors who may have slept in the same cabins as fifth-grade girls at a three-day science camp. Greene also said that trans kids “groom” other children, pushing a centuries-old lie that LGBTQ people sexually prey on children.
Meanwhile, neither Greene nor Graber have made any similar emphatic statements against the countless Christian religious leaders who’ve actually been found guilty of child sex abuse.
Both these guys are anti-trans. Walsh makes up a ridiculously large number to claim children are being rushed into puberty blockers. When told the true number is less than 1,000 a year Rogan laughs about it because he loved the idea scaring people on the idea that millions of kids were transitioning. Tomorrow I will read stories all over right wing media how millions of kids are being forced to use puberty blockers as they are forced to transition. This is the sort of dirty tricks and made up false information that the right loves to use against trans people and the rest of the LGBTQ+. Facts don’t matter to these people. Also not mentioned here but Walsh has a recorded show where he said girls at the age of 12 should be married and have sex and by 14 should be having babies because they reach their peak sexuality by 16. Yet it is the gays and teachers he calls groomers. Hugs
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh claimed “millions” of kids have now been put on hormone blockers before getting fact checked by Joe Rogan’s producer. “How many people have had this done?” Rogan asked. “Depends on what — I don’t think we have exact numbers, but it’s — if we’re talking about the drugs, it’s, I mean, millions,” Walsh replied in reference to hormone medication given to those who are transitioning.
The projection screen in front of Rogan and Walsh lit up and producer Jamie Vernon interjected with a fact check from a Reuters article. “That’s a very small number if that’s right,” Vernon said referencing the article, published October 6, 2022, which said only 4,780 children had been placed on puberty blockers within the last five years. “Less than a thousand people a year,” Vernon reiterated. “A million sounds great,” Rogan laughed.
Walsh, who has called for charging adults who bring kids to drag show as pedophiles, recently appeared on JMG when he declared that Disney’s black mermaid is “unscientific.”
The previous month he appeared here when he blamed the Buffalo mass shooting on pandemic lockdowns.
Earlier this year, we heard from him when he declared that lesbians will cease to exist over the next 30 years.
Before that, he appeared here when he called for banning adoption by LGBT people. And before that, he appeared here when he called for dissolving the United States.
Walsh also claims that shooting people “is not against the law.” Walsh has declared that “everybody would be happier” if arranged marriages were mandatory.
Matt Walsh Tells Joe Rogan Millions of Kids Have Now Been Put on Hormone Blockers Before Being Corrected By Producer https://t.co/DTodVA7N3M
I’m just finishing up the agenda for the next Gay Conspiracy Meeting. Once we’ve made everyone get gay married, all children will be switched to the opposite sex, then we’ll make them switch back. Just, you know, because that’s how we roll.
Repost just because the only value folks like Walsh have is fun in mocking them.
Walsh, who has called for charging adults who bring kids to drag show as pedophiles, recently appeared on JMG when he declared that Disney’s black mermaid is “unscientific.”
I am posting this for the people who claim being gay is not “natural” and against the way god meant the plumbing to work. Homosexual acts and couplings can be found in almost all animal species. There is another gay penguin couple that has raised chicks successfully, I read of one gay bird couple that adopted a chick abandoned by the straight birth parents protecting and raising the chick to adulthood as a family. So either their god lied to these people, or these people are hiding behind their god to push their bigotry. Hugs
“They are a couple that we’re hoping one day might actually be foster parents.”
A same-sex pair of penguins has reunited for mating season at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia.
According to penguin keeper Emily Thornton, two of the aquarium’s male Gentoo penguins Klaus and Jones have been building nests together for about three or four years now.
“Initially, they started building their nest in the wrong area as such, but this year, for the first time they’ve actually put it in the nesting platform area, which is really exciting. They are a couple that we’re hoping one day might actually be foster parents,” Thornton explains.
“Although same-sex male pairs are unable to fertilize and lay an egg between themselves, Klaus and Jones can be given a ‘dummy egg’ to protect during the nesting period and practice being dads,” says Thornton.
Same-sex penguin couples have paired off in zoos all over the world. “Penguins conduct homosexual relationships that can last a whole lifetime,” biologist Guenter Strauss explained in 2019 when the Munich Zoo highlighted a male couple of Humboldt penguins during Pride Month.
Roy and Silo, a homosexual chinstrap penguin couple at New York’s Central Park Zoo, even inspired the children’s book And Tango Makes Three after they successfully hatched an egg given to them by zookeepers.
Scottie's Playtime 