Last time it was mentioned to her that her followers attack the people / places she goes after, she was very proud of that fact. She likes it. That is the point. She is a female thug, a Christian fundamentalist thug, who feels entitled to force everyone to live as she demands they do. She feels it is her god given right to take rights away from others. Hugs. Scottie
The FBI and local law enforcement said bomb threats across the country have tied up government resources even when they turn out to be hoaxes.
Chaya Raichik, creator of LibsofTikTok, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland last March.Michael Brochstein / Sipa USA via AP file
Last March, police in Coralville, Iowa, investigated a bomb threat targeting a junior high school. Authorities brought in specially trained dogs to sniff for explosives and started looking into why someone might try to target the community’s teachers and students.
Law enforcement quickly determined that the threat was a hoax. Detective Hanna Dvorak from the Coralville Police Department arrived at a theory.
“It appears this all stems from a post made earlier this week by Chaya Raichik and her ‘Libs of TikTok’ account,” Dvorak wrote in a report to her superiors.
Raichik, 29, is not accused of making any bomb threats in Iowa or anywhere else. But about a day and a half before authorities responded to the threat at Coralville’s Northwest Junior High, Raichik posted that the school offers a “pornographic” book in its library that “teaches kids about gay sex.”
“These are the books they’re giving your kids to read in school,” she wrote on the social media platform X. People have frequently targeted the book in question, “This Book Is Gay,” a coming-out guide for LGBTQ teens, with book bans going back years.
The Coralville detective wrote in her report that one of Raichik’s supporters could have had a role in the bomb threat.
Coralville was not alone. Officers and government officials in four other jurisdictions — Burbank, California; Minnetonka, Minnesota; Oklahoma City; and Tualatin, Oregon — told NBC News they believe Raichik sparked threats in their localities with her posts on social media that digitally heckle people such as drag performers, LGBTQ teachers and doctors who treat transgender patients. The name “Libs of TikTok” is a reference to the people Raichik mocks on social media — “Libs” being short for “liberal.”
While the direct inspirations for the threats are not known, the timing suggests that Libs of TikTok posts have been used to pick targets.
NBC News identified 33 instances, starting in November 2020, when people or institutions singled out by Libs of TikTok later reported bomb threats or other violent intimidation. The threats, which on average came several days after tweets from Libs of TikTok, targeted schools, libraries, hospitals, small businesses and elected officials in 16 states, Washington, D.C., and the Canadian province of Ontario. Twenty-one of the 33 threats were bomb threats, which most commonly targeted schools and were made via email.
NBC News emailed Raichik on Monday seeking comment on the threats. She did not respond directly, but said in a post on X that NBC News was working on a “hit piece.”
“They do it to try to paint me as an extremist to discredit me. This ‘b*mb threat’ narrative is really getting old,” she wrote, adding a yawning-face emoji.
NBC News identified the threats in a review of local news sources, social media posts and interviews with experts and victims.
The 33 threats drew both local and national resources. Law enforcement agencies in at least 13 jurisdictions reported receiving FBI assistance to find the responsible person or people. A police spokesperson in Burbank said he believed the FBI still has an open investigation into an incident there.
In an emailed statement, the bureau said it has, in general, observed an increase in threats of violence targeting institutions like hospitals and schools.
“As a country and organization, we have seen an increase in threats of violence targeting government officials and institutions, houses of worship, schools, and medical facilities, just to name a few. The FBI and our partners take all threats of violence seriously and responding to these threats ties up law enforcement resources,” the FBI press office said.
“When the threats are made as a hoax, it puts innocent people at risk, is a waste of law enforcement’s limited resources, and costs taxpayers. The FBI and our state and local partners will continue to aggressively pursue perpetrators of these threats — real or false — and hold them accountable,” the bureau said.
The FBI did not respond directly to questions about Raichik or the status of cases related to the 33 threats.
Prosecutors have pursued charges in only three of the 33 instances NBC News reviewed: At least three people have been charged with threatening Boston Children’s Hospital or Boston doctors, a juvenile was arrested after being accused of making a threat at an Oregon middle school, and five members of the white nationalist hate group Patriot Front were convicted of conspiring to riot at an Idaho Pride event.
The charging documents associated with those prosecutions did not mention either Libs of TikTok or Raichik.
A member of Patriot Front is searched after being arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on June 11, 2022.John Rudoff / Reuters file
Of the 33 instances, law enforcement or school officials in four jurisdictions said, there were indications — such as email addresses with a non-U.S. domain — that the threats could have come from people in foreign countries.
Raichik, the founder of the Libs of TikTok social media brand, has become an internet celebrity among some conservatives for her willingness to criticize teachers, doctors and other professionals who are LGBTQ or who are accepting of LGBTQ people. Raichik often posts their names and photographs alongside accusations of wrongdoing to X, where she has 2.8 million followers.
Konstantine Anthony, a City Council member in Burbank, said he received violent threats by email less than an hour after Libs of TikTok posted a video of him. The video showed Anthony, who at the time was Burbank’s mayor, getting spanked by a drag queen at a political fundraiser, and Libs of TikTok’s post said it happened “in front of children.” Anthony said no children were present. He was clothed and laughing in the video.
Anthony told NBC News that based on the timing, he believes he and his City Hall staff received at least two bomb threats “as a direct result of Libs of TikTok.”
A spokesperson for the Burbank Police Department said the police had referred the threats to the FBI, which was investigating them.
Konstantine Anthony in Burbank, Calif., on March 15. Tommaso Boddi / Getty Images file
Anthony, a Democrat running for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, blamed Raichik for turning him and others into targets. He said he received harassing messages and threats by email, voicemail, social media and even handwritten letters.
He said he saw increases in the number of threats after subsequent tweets by Raichik.
Libs of TikTok has now taken on a large and growing role in the nation’s culture wars. It provides ammunition to conservatives by collecting and posting examples of what it considers far-left ideology, such as TikTok videos of teachers discussing race or screenshots from gender clinic websites. Elon Musk, who restored Libs of TikTok on X after it was suspended under previous ownership, frequently shares the account’s posts on his own X profile, and the account’s followers on X include a number of politicians such as Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Former President Donald Trump hosted Raichik for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January 2023. Tucker Carlson, then a Fox News host, featured her on his show in December 2022. Raichik claimed to be at the Jan. 6, 2021, riot outside the U.S. Capitol, though not in the building, according to The Washington Post.
On Jan. 23, Raichik was appointed to the Oklahoma Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee by Superintendent Ryan Walters. At least one lawmaker has referred to the bomb threats when contesting Raichik’s appointment to the committee.
Oklahoma Public Instruction Superintendent Ryan Walters during inauguration ceremonies in Oklahoma City on Jan. 9, 2023.Sue Ogrocki / AP file
The threats have been taking up government resources and been highly distracting.
In response to the threats, some schools canceled classes for days, while others stayed open following quick sweeps from law enforcement.
Superintendent Sue Rieke-Smith dealt with two separate bomb threats in October after Libs of TikTok tagged Oregon’s Tigard-Tualatin School District. The account shared a video showing a school fight involving a person who some people said appeared to be a trans student.
The school district determined, with assistance from the FBI, that the threat was not credible, said district spokesperson Traci Rose.
Rieke-Smith said that social media accounts cross a line when they criticize kids or inspire threats.
“I think there should be consequences when social media is used inappropriately and a community is harmed,” she added. She said she had even raised her concerns with Oregon’s governor in a recent conversation.
Chief Greg Pickering of the Tualatin Police Department said he assigned a small team to investigate the threats.
“It takes time to vet those threats,” he said in a phone interview. “There’s a ton of due diligence.”
His department arrested a juvenile for making one of the threats on Snapchat. No one has been charged with the other bomb threat, made via email. Pickering said he believed that Libs of TikTok inspired the threat.
Raichik has said that she doesn’t support threatening the subjects of her posts, and that she is not responsible for how people respond to her content. She’s said that she has faced threats herself. When USA Today wrote about the threats, she posed with a copy of the article, smiling, and made it her profile photo on X.
Chaya Raichik at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on March 2. Zach Roberts / NurPhoto via AP
She continues to post the identifying details and images of her subjects. She has rarely criticized the threat-makers or urged them to stop. She told The Washington Post in September 2022, when the newspaper was reporting on threats against children’s hospitals: “We 100 % condemn any acts/threats of violence.”
Raichik has at times mocked the idea that she could influence people making threats, once joking that maybe she was also responsible for natural disasters.
But some of her followers take her posts as an invitation. People have replied with the phone numbers of schools, the names of teachers and school board members and requests for Raichik to provide more details so that users can take action.
“Need to post the school name so calls can be made,” one user replied to a recent Libs of TikTok post on X. Raichik did not respond.
Vice News reported Oct. 4 that at least 11 schools or school districts that were targeted by Libs of TikTok in the prior month received bomb threats days later.
Libs of TikTok is part of a right-wing ecosystem on social media that has targeted transgender people, drag performers, LGBTQ advocates and others in recent years.
“There are forces at work in our country that have fostered this sort of behavior, and that just needs to stop,” said John Sasaki, a spokesperson for the Oakland Unified School District in California.
One of the district’s elementary schools was targeted by Libs of TikTok for hosting an event to bring together Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, and other families of color. In August, Libs of TikTok called the event racist against white people.
The next day, Aug. 29, someone emailed a bomb threat to the school’s principal, Sasaki said. The school canceled classes for the day and sent home its 570 students as police responded.
Sasaki said the district deployed counselors and other school staff to the elementary school the next day.
For other school districts, the threats that followed a Libs of TikTok post have meant more than a one-day evacuation. Oklahoma’s Union Public Schools was the target of bomb threats for six days in August — a series that began one day after an Aug. 21 Libs of TikTok post criticizing an elementary school librarian. The librarian had said online that she emphasized social justice in her teaching.
Chris Payne, a spokesperson for the district, said the local police, with assistance from the FBI, investigated, but he wasn’t aware of any charges. He said he was told by law enforcement that many of the messages appeared to have come from outside the country.
In September, police in Salem, Massachusetts, said they responded to three hoax bomb threats in seven days against the city’s elementary school. Three days before the first threat, Libs of TikTok posted about the school.
“The frequency of school threats which turn out to be hoaxes has dramatically increased in the last two years and presents a quandary for school personnel and public safety alike,” Salem Police Chief Lucas Miller said in a statement.
He added that his department had to balance competing factors: taking all threats seriously while also considering the “mental trauma inflicted upon school children who are exposed to repeated police emergencies.”
Hate costs. These people wanted to limit other people, the LGBTQIA and their supporters, from public participation. But they tried to do it based on a lie they created. They tried to claim that drag was obscene and sexualized kids. I find it strange it only does it to kids in their minds, yet they want to ban porn from adults also? But there are already laws on obscenity if they think someone was showing a body part that should always be hidden to save the world. They did not want that, because it would still let the parade happen. So they passed a law outlawing one group … for public good. Just like in Russia, and just like that they were able to deny the pride parade permits, stopping “those people” from a public event. The law is illegal. Just because you don’t like a group, don’t like someone’s views or that they are different doesn’t give you the right to deny their human rights, their civil rights, and full equal participation in society publically. I wonder if it will pause some of the other laws pushed by fundamentalist religious right-wingers. Hugs. Scottie
A Tennessee city must pay $500,000 as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over an ordinance designed to ban drag performances from taking place on public property, attorneys announced Wednesday.
Last year, the Tennessee Equality Project — a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights — filed a federal lawsuit after Murfreesboro leaders announced they would no longer be approving any event permit requests submitted by the organization.
At the time, the city alleged that the drag performances that took place during TEP’s 2022 Pride event resulted in the “illegal sexualization of kids.”
Read the full article. My October 2023 posts on the Murfreesboro ban are here and here.
STATEMENT from @tnequality on winning the settlement against Murfreesboro: "We celebrate the resolution of this case… Now we can turn our attention to preparing for the 2024 BoroPride and defending rights at the state legislature.” https://t.co/JlYvTFF4mdpic.twitter.com/j2ffhXjgBu
The thing about Murfreesboro is it’s a small town with a large university and campus population exceeding 20k. A lot of partying happens there and the student body is very diverse. The fact that the city council was trying to tamp down Pride activities tells me their Pride must really be a popular event. Murfreesboro, TN, Rutherford Co, is adjacent to Franklin, TN, Williamson Co. It also tried to ban Pride only to lose that effort when the LGBTQ community fought back. My friends in Franklin ( the home of Marsha Blackburn) tell me it’s Pride event was well attended with many Het families bringing their children to the festivities. FYI: In my childhood Murfreesboro TN was a sundown town. That might give you an idea about it’s deep and obviously still politically active Confederate roots.
Illegal sexualization of kids? Drag queens are only sexual if you find drag queen sexual. but if you really want to talk about the LEGAL sexualization of children, Let’s talk about this:
When I lived in PA in the 90s (“Pennsyltucky”), there was a country station which the entire frickin’ region listened to (“Froggy 98”).
They had a TV commercial w/ two little girls dancing to a country song. The younger of the two girls had obviously been (though I didn’t know this term then) GROOMED to “dance sexy”. It was beyond disturbing even then, but I regret not being aware enough to protest it.
These small towns and medium sized cities seem to be unable to consult with their attorneys, or they decide that they don’t like the answer and forge ahead. Inevitably they lose at least some of the lawsuits, and their taxpayers get stuck with the bill. Maybe the city fathers have swallowed the ALEC-like model legislation without considering that the model legislation is not viable when challenged.
Fiscally, won’t dent their budget much. According to their 2022-’23 budget docs, their budget was $573 million.
$500K is nothing for them. But the humiliation of spending taxpayer money to try to keep their homophobic and transphobic ordinance active, only to publicly retract it, will deservedly embarrass the local government there.
Again this is about making sure only their god is seen, celebrated, and worshiped. It must be only their god in schools, seen in public, and running the government. It must be prevented that this fundamentalist minority in their own religion must be prevented from taking over the country. Hugs. Scottie
The GOP-backed bill selectively prevents one group from accessing public spaces
FEB 5, 2024
This newsletter is free, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can use the button below to subscribe to Substack or use my usual Patreon page!
Subscribe
Republicans in Arizona have introduced a bill that would ban Satanic displays in public spaces. It comes months after a Satanic display in the Iowa Capitol sent conservatives reeling, leading one man to vandalize it. (Just last week, he was charged with a hate crime.)
Titled the “Reject Escalating Satanism by Preserving Essential Core Traditions (RESPECT) Act,” SB 1279 would alter the law by adding the following line to three different parts of the state statute:
SATANIC MEMORIALS, STATUES, ALTARS OR DISPLAYS OR ANY OTHER METHOD OF REPRESENTING OR HONORING SATAN MAY NOT BE DISPLAYED ON PUBLIC PROPERTY IN THIS STATE.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Jake Hoffman, a first-term senator and former member of the State House most (in)famous for being one of Arizona’s fake electors back in 2020.
He’s joined by a dozen fellow Republican co-sponsors who don’t understand that the Establishment Clause doesn’t allow them to exclude one particular religious icon just because they disagree with whatever they think it represents.
Because if there’s one thing we know about Satanic monuments, it’s that groups like The Satanic Temple only request that they go up when there’s a Christian monument already in place. In Arkansas, for example, there’s an ongoing lawsuit involving Satanists who sued after state officials rejected their statue of Baphomet despite allowing a Ten Commandments on Capitol grounds.
By singling out one religious group’s monuments for exclusion—presumably when displays from other faiths would be allowed—this bill would almost certainly trigger a lawsuit if passed.
Even the title is a farce. What’s the danger of “escalating Satanism”? Too much compassion and empathy? What “essential core traditions” are Arizona Republicans trying to preserve? Apparently they involve religious supremacy.
Bills like this, though, aren’t introduced because there’s any chance of them passing. They’re introduced to placate conservative Christians who fantasize about living in a theocracy. They’re a reminder that Christians like Hoffman believe they’re superior to people who don’t share their faith, and they intend to use the government to codify that belief into law—or at least send that message.
The Satanic Temple’s co-founder Lucien Greaves shared a similar view in an email. saying he found the bill “frightening” for what it symbolized more than what it would actually do:
The bill is frightening. Not because I worry that it will pass and will reduce us to a lower tier of citizenship, but because it has no hope of passing, and is so flagrantly unconstitutional that it demonstrates the most horrific incompetence of its every signatory from the Arizona senate.
These are public representatives who not only disrespect the oath of office they swore to uphold, but apparently have no clear understanding of what the purpose of their office is, or what legal principles underpin their authority to begin with.
For an actual senator to write and/or sign such a hopelessly illegal, petty and futile bill is to announce utter and complete ignorance as to the function of their office, and total disregard for the services they are expected to perform as public representatives.
Presenting such a bill, as a Senator, should be a sanctionable offense, as it impossible to imagine that any signatory to a document so embarrassingly juvenile and counter-Constitutional could ever truly be effective at anything.
SB 1279 will be formally discussed during a hearing of the Committee on Government on Wednesday morning. That committee happens to include Sen. Juan Mendez, a Democrat who’s openly atheist. So there will be at least one voice of reason in the mix.
Please share this post on Reddit, Facebook, or the godawful X/Bird app.
The rabid fundamental Christian right is trying to do in other places what they accomplished in Florida, a government take over so they can force everyone to live by their regressive rules. In a lot of red state areas that they did this, the majority has risen up to try to take back the government from the haters / fundies. But in sleep small towns in blue states, the people are not aware of the danger the anti-LGBTQIA fundamentalist right present. Anytime someone uses the word abomination to describe gay people, you know their stance is being directed by religious church doctrine, not science or reality. LGBTQIA are not abominations, but people who support hate, taking away equality from people, and oppression are. Hugs. Scottie
The quaint town of Littleton, New Hampshire, is seeing more tourists, drawn to a main street of shops and restaurants where rainbow colors and gay pride symbols can be seen alongside American flags. Its population of 6,000 is growing younger and more diverse, supporting LGBTQ-themed art and a local theater’s gay-themed musical.
The culture change doesn’t sit well with town selectboard member Carrie Gendreau, who also serves as a Republican state senator. Last year, she said that “homosexuality is an abomination” and spoke of regulating art on public property, prompting a backlash and now the resignation of the town manager, whose late son was gay.
“My son is not an abomination,” Jim Gleason told the selectboard in January, to a standing ovation, when he announced his last day was Friday. He accused Gendreau of creating a toxic work environment by repeatedly making derogatory comments about gay people. Friday also was Gendreau’s deadline to file for reelection to the board, but she didn’t, so her three-year term ends in March.
A former mill town in the White Mountains, Littleton reversed a long decline in part through art. Tourists come now for antiques, galleries, boutiques and “the world’s longest candy counter.” They also look at the bronze statue of Pollyanna, erected outside the public library to honor the 1913 book by local author Eleanor H. Porter, whose main character came to define relentless optimism.
Pollyanna’s motto “Be Glad!” — which hangs from banners up and down Main Street — has been tested as townspeople found themselves debating over inclusion, tolerance and equality.
The controversy began in August, after three small murals funded by a diversity, equity and inclusion grant appeared on the side of a building that houses a restaurant and clothing store. Covering boarded-up windows, the murals show a white iris against a color wheel, two birch trees bending under a night sky, and a dandelion reaching skyward from an open book.
“What went up was not good,” said Gendreau, urging the selectboard’s audience to research what such symbols really mean. “I don’t want that to be in our town. I don’t want it to be here.”
The board then sought an attorney’s advice on what they could do to regulate artistic expression on town property and Gendreau gave several interviews, telling The Boston Globe that the iris painting carried “demonic hidden messages.”
The artist, Meg Reinhold, said her “We Are Joy” painting was inspired by Iris, the Greek goddess of rainbows. She told The Associated Press in an email that she hoped to “evoke feelings of joy and empowerment,” add beauty to Littleton, and celebrate people living with pride in the LGBTQ+ community.
“If a viewer looks at these works and sees demons and darkness, what does that tell us about how they view the world?” Reinhold said.
Gleason, who answered to the board as town manager, said he tried to resolve matters. When a woman approached him demanding to stop the November production of “La Cage aux Folles” — depicted on screen as “The Birdcage” — he said she was free to protest outside the theater or not buy a ticket.
She responded by invoking his son, saying “He’s in hell with the devil where he belongs,” recalled Gleason, and he said Gendreau tried to justify the the comments. The woman later admitted sending Gleason a photo of him clipped from a newspaper with derogatory language written across his face. A judge granted Gleason a restraining order against her.
As fears of a public art ban spread, selectboard meetings drew large crowds.
Ronnie Sandler, 75, an out lesbian all her adult life, said she spoke up at a selectboard meeting last fall because some of her friends told her they were scared.
“I have never felt any hatred or anything targeted at me in all of those years,” she told the AP. “Back in the late ‘70s, my girlfriend and I used to walk around in Littleton holding hands.”
A group of local business owners led by auto dealership manager Duane Coute submitted a letter signed by more than 1,000 people from Littleton and across the country urging the board to abandon “a path so detrimental to business.”
“Our community is so much stronger because of this situation,” Coute said.
New Hampshire’s Democratic-led congressional delegation stressed “how integral public art and cultural expression are to the economic wellbeing and competitiveness of towns like Littleton and similar communities throughout New Hampshire.” Surrounding towns adopted inclusivity-equality resolutions.
Some people backed Gendreau.
“She speaks for those stakeholders who are afraid to speak out due to personal retribution. She speaks out for those who are afraid for their own personal safety,” Nick De Mayo of nearby Sugar Hill, in Gendreau’s Senate district, wrote in a letter to the editor.
Others called the whole experience disappointing and disgraceful.
“It’s coming from a very small group of people. Unfortunately, that small group of people hold elected office and have some degree of power within the town,” said Kevin Silva, a physician who has lived in Littleton for about 20 years.
The board ultimately announced that they never sought an art ban. Selectboard member Linda MacNeil drew a standing ovation when she said “Whether we agree with the content or not, art is part of the fabric of history and should not be censored.” Roger Emerson, chairperson of the three-member board, did not take a position on the subject.
Gleason, 65, expressed amazement during his resignation speech at an outpouring of support for his defense of the arts, and urged his fellow townspeople to keep working “for civil rights and equality for all.”
“Keep up the fight,” he told the audience in a quavering voice. ‘You’ve got a beautiful town.”
Gleason, who was hired in 2021 following a similar job in Florida, told the AP he’s been thinking of his son Patrick, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2016.
“I believe he’d be proud of his dad for standing up, not just for him, but for everybody in the LGBTQIA-plus community, and anyone who has been marginalized or discriminated against in terms of that process,” Gleason said. “This is one of those moments. We don’t always get them in life.”
Gendreau didn’t answer directly when asked for comment on the controversy, but she suggested she wasn’t done trying to change her community. “There’s a lot of undertones that need to get corrected,” she said.
This is what passes for elected leader of the people status on the right. Can not be bothered to have staff look up stuff to see if it is true before rushing off to attack others she doesn’t like. She is rude, crude, socially unacceptable, and stupid. So yes, she fits right in with the people who vote for her. Hugs. Scottie
Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images.
Controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) received a brutal reply on Monday night after she posted a childish and off-color attack on one of her Democratic colleagues.
“Wow this is coming from the same guy who is well known to lay his suit jacket on the actual bathroom floor while spending a lot of time in the stall of the first floor bathroom of the Capitol,” Greene wrote on X in response to a viral clip of Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA).
“Eww. That’s probably when he comes up with all this,” Greene added with a poop emoji.
Wow this is coming from the same guy who is well known to lay his suit jacket on the actual bathroom floor while spending a lot of time in the stall of the first floor bathroom of the Capitol.
Greene’s middle school jab came in response to a clip of McGovern saying in a committee meeting, “The clowns are running the circus. We’re wasting time on Marjorie Taylor Greene because she wants to impeach someone. Don’t get me started on her absurd censure resolution of Congresswoman Omar that she introduced because she doesn’t know how to use google translate.” The clip was shared online by the account Acyn, which regularly shares key moments from C-SPAN and cable news.
McGovern hit back at Greene, writing, “No idea what you’re talking about… what are you doing in the men’s bathroom aren’t you late for a klan meeting?”
No idea what you’re talking about… what are you doing in the men’s bathroom aren’t you late for a klan meeting? https://t.co/G9SkNa2GQa
Greene has long been known for controversial rhetoric, which has included dropping expletives on fellow Republicans like Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and spreading baseless conspiracy theories like that the Las Vegas mass shooting was a false flag operation.
Read the full article. McGovern was mocking Republicans for attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar over a comment about Somalia that was later shown to have been mistranslated by the cult, probably on purpose.
Totally agree. While his reply is scathing and scratches an itch, our politics have become beyond dabased. And I’m not buying any juvenile “well, she stared it” nonsense. It’s all just awful and sad.
And we love it! We love the sideshow / freak show element of it. I don’t believe, in my heart of hearts, we want a functioning society anymore. We just want spin-art, cotton candy, tractor pulls and fireworks. That’s why we can’t get enough news about a puke like Donald Trump. We used to be a nation. Now we’re a dunk tank.
McGovern hit back at Greene, writing, “No idea what you’re talking about… what are you doing in the men’s bathroom aren’t you late for a klan meeting?”
From the linked article, here is what the class would teach. “…class and school wide presentations showcasing the achievements and recognizing the rich and diverse traditions, histories, and innumerable contributions of the Black communities.” So we are catering to the parents that don’t want kids to know that gay / trans people exist, now we are catering to the racist parents that don’t want black history and achievements taught. Well the first one, don’t say gay increases harassment / attacks on gay and trans kids, the second does the same for black kids, it increases the racism they have to deal with. Some more quotes from the article.
But Gallon said he is concerned about the unintended consequences this may have on children whose parents choose not to have them attend. “Something feels very off here, and the fact that the school needs to cover themselves against the state feels even worse,” said Peeling. Florida International University Professor Marvin Dunn, who is an expert in African-American history, said this will create a generation of people who are miseducated when it comes Black history.
“When parents become involved in making that decision, keeping some kids out, some kids in, you have unequal learning,” said Dunn.
Here is the entire goal of the right, DeathSantis, and maga.
“The intent of the DeSantis attack on education is to make schools more cautious, to make teachers more cautious about what they teach, and it’s working,” he said. “It’s not about banning books necessarily, it’s about banning ideas.”
Hugs. Scottie
Miami School Asks Parents To Sign Permission Slips Allowing Children To Learn About Black History Month
February marks Black History Month, an important topic being taught at South Florida schools, but now parents at IPrep Academy are being asked to sign off on whether they want their children to participate in some of the educational events.
“I was shocked,” said concerned parent Jill Peeling, who said she thought she may have misunderstood the document. “I’m concerned. I’m concerned as a citizen.” Miami-Dade School Board Member Steve Gallon said it all has to do with getting parental consent when individuals come on campus.
“This is a policy that’s an extension of a new state board rule,” said Gallon. It’s a policy that was just enacted last year in November, an extension of the Parental Bill Of Rights.
Read the full article. Those of here will know the Parental Bill of Rights by its more accurate name, “Don’t Say Gay.” To which we can add, “Don’t Say Black.” Last year the Miami-Dade School Board banned any recognition of LGBTQ History Month.
I am so glad I am not a parent and live in Florida.
These A-Holes are setting these kids up to fail when they get jobs in the real world because I can tell you my company won’t put up with discrimination.
A good friend sent this to me about a month ago.I think it came from a “reader poll” in his local paper, but I’m not sure. I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but I wasn’t surprised when I saw it. Friend is an MIT math grad who doesn’t traffic in conspiracy theories or create memes, so I give it some credence. He sent it with the comment “what a great country we live in”.
Fuckers. Why not turn this around and make the white supremacists sign OPT OUT slips so they can keep turning their own kids into good little klansmen, rather than trying to do it to everyone’s kids?
These are some of the disadvantages of leaving Black history* to a particular month — it becomes a set of optional activities, rather than facts and concepts to be learned.
*The history of African descendants in America is really the history of America, inextricable from the history of white America.
let’s be honest, what this is really about. Racism, bigotry, and misogyny. What do diversity programs do? Diversity programs promote acceptance of non-white non-straight non-cis people in the workforce and work to open the work force to those people. Yes it is so that work places become more accepting of those who are different from white straight cis men.
Which means people against diversity and inclusion are simply trying to promote a white straight cis male only in schools, higher education, and the white collar workers in the US, which means upper level income management positions. Notice these same people don’t seem to mind that the lower income labor positions are filled by the very people that the diversity inclusion programs are designed to lift up to better jobs and education. Weird that. Hugs. Scottie
Quotes from the linked article.
Under the Utah bill, universities and government would not be allowed to have offices dedicated to promoting diversity. They also could not require employees to submit statements of commitment to DEI.
The chamber’s six Democrats voted against it. Among them was Sen. Luz Escamilla, who cited statistics showing much lower college enrollment rates for Native American, Hispanic and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students compared to white students.
The board that oversees Iowa’s public universities in November directed schools to eliminate staff positions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. In December, the board overseeing Wisconsin’s university system agreed to shift dozens of DEI positions to instead focus on “student success” and freeze hiring for DEI staff in exchange for lawmakers releasing state funding for pay raises and campus construction projects.
Like last year, this year’s bills have a heavy focus on higher education. But Republicans also are sponsoring bills seeking to limit DEI in K-12 schools, state government, state contracting and pension investments. Some bills also would bar financial institutions from discriminating against those who refuse to participate in DEI programs.
Utah’s legislature became the latest in the U.S. to pass a bill Friday prohibiting diversity training, hiring and inclusion programs at universities and in state government. The bill that cleared the state House and Senate by wide margins now heads to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican who has said he is likely to sign such a bill into law.
I can assure you, after this legislative session, it will not be happening in the state of Utah, these diversity statements that you have to sign to get hired,” Cox said in a Dec. 20 news conference. Such initiatives are “awful, bordering on evil,” he added.
Under the Utah bill, universities and government would not be allowed to have offices dedicated to promoting diversity. Last year, Republican-led Florida and Texas were first to enact broad-based laws banning diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education.
Utah’s legislature is the latest in the U.S. to pass a bill prohibiting diversity training, hiring and inclusion programs at universities and in state government. https://t.co/pFksk34jh3
I just hate this. Why is it “evil” to try to treat others like you would want to be treated? Why is it evil to try to open up our society to give others the same opportunities that were hoarded by white people since before the founding of this nation? The “Golden Rule” of the Christianity they claim to follow is right in line with this, yet they call it “evil.” I guess the only positive here is that they’ve stopped hiding their racism. Now we know just who the problem really is.
Two years ago right wing propagandists had to be crafty when pushing this agenda. They had to use terms like Critical Race Theory to make these programs seem evil. Now they don’t have to hide it anymore. They can openly challenge the ideas of diversity, equity and inclusion. They’ve convinced people that these ideas are the real racism. Their messaging has been extremely effective and now they are getting their laws passed. This is what fascism looks like.
CisHet white conservatives are terrified of losing their position of supremacy. They’ll do whatever they can to keep everyone else down to maintain the status quo.
And the foreign students, who pay the most money, will go elsewhere. I hope the Utah students who are left to make up that money enjoy their larger student loans…
The SLC Redevelopment Agency is a for profit business unit of City government. I have sat on the Advisory Panel for several years. DEI is mentioned in the charter and governing documents in mission statements and strategies. I don’t see this changing and there is very little that the legislature can do about it. The only way this city will grow and prosper is to make sure all of it grows and prospers. It means that investments in less well to do neighborhoods will create a path toward generational wealth, lift populations out of poverty and build a tax base.
I don’t understand how GOPers can’t understand that a rising tide raises all the ships in the harbor.
City government has been openly at odds with the LDS owned state legislature for decades. As the blue stain has grown, the faithful have become alarmed. They are losing their cherished Deseret to inbound migration and young people leaving the church. Only 42% of residents identify as LDS, the church would have you believe that number is over 70%. They lie to us but they also lie to themselves.
Millennials and Gen Z LDS seem to be following the same national pattern that other organized religions are facing. They are just doing it a bit later than their contemporaries. Much of this is due to family pressure and the complete isolation that happens when a young person leaves the church. Often they lose everything. That’s why we see more LDS youth breaking away in their mid 20s. Here’s a good piece from the SLC Trib. Enjoy.
They have also passed a bathroom bill for government buildings which will require trans people use the bathroom of the gender assigned at birth until “fully transitioned” and changed on ID.
How and who will police this is unknown. It sounds like a violation of people’s medical privacy on its face.
Yes, those diversity statements are evil. The nerve of being forced to act Christ-like. The horror of following the Golden Rule must be stomped out in the name of Murican Freedumb. Fucking Nazi trash.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/3P2IFHTI5CAKYEDDROB4BQSTTI.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/CMQ2C46FURJK53A6RBOARPRCP4.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/GPKLAJKBR5AYTSF3Q2JEE6XKFE.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/UZMHNGYEKNQ3GKRSLU66KSNORA.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/UFIK2D4BNCLHYTY46URUVLLQLQ.jpg)
