It's time to face reality. Trump is more desperate, cruel, and dangerous than ever before, and no amount of debating or policy papers will stop him. We know that it's America or Trump. With less than one year until #ElectionDay, we are all in on stopping him. pic.twitter.com/JdfQMX9foz
That’s Bible Jesus. These cultists believe in American Jesus.
The one primary function of the US House of Representatives is to fund the US Government… And (R)’s fail at that one job.
Frankly, I’m fine with the reports & sketches, instead of the live feed. The orange load frequently rages over how he’s drawn.
Whether it’s a lawsuit, business suit or formal evening suit, Fat Donnie only attracts the biggest and the best suits.
BREAKING: Donald Trump echoes Hitler nearly verbatim, threatens to rid America of "vermin" from within on same day NY Times reports Trump's plans to force people in America into camps. https://t.co/j4ik4rHVXG
“Trump became fixated on a far-right and blatantly unconstitutional theory that he could actually be reinstated as president months after Biden's inauguration.” @JonKarl shares exclusive new reporting from his new book. https://t.co/R54Ax5g430pic.twitter.com/RlorAoqQGF
People have woken up to the fundamentalist Christian right take over. When these people first stormed the school boards and town councils they claimed they represented the people, the community and everyone was fed up with the liberal woke modern age. They claimed everyone wanted to return to 1950 strict gender roles and stereotypes. Now their lies are being exposed. Only they wanted that, and they are a small minority that do not represent their communities or the will of the people. Still, it looks like one of the hyper religious sleeper candidates did get elected, but not enough of them to take over the board. Keep up the good work of keeping fundamentalist from taking over the country as a Christian Taliban. Hugs. Scottie
Preliminary results from Tuesday’s election shows Childs’ ‘traditional side’ platform failed to sway enough voters to his cause
Matthew Childs, who campaigned on a conservative stance, lost his bid for a school board seat. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — St. Marys Mayor Matthew Childs, who previously attempted to ban LGBTQ books from the city’s public library, lost on his school board bid.
Tuesday’s election saw several candidates from the religion-dominated area attempt to win school board seats on the USD 321 Kaw Valley School Board.
The district, which oversees Rossville and St. Marys public schools, spreads across several counties. Election officials in Shawnee, Pottawatomie and Jackson counties worked together to calculate the final results for the board’s open seats, leading to some initial confusion over the final results.
Elias Espinoza and Jodi Porter were elected to the board. Porter, up against Childs, won the position with 53% of the vote to Childs’ 47%, garnering 1,425 votes to Childs’ 1,281 votes. Childs did not immediately respond to Reflector inquiries.
All of the November election results are unofficial until a final canvass on Nov. 14.
“We are in a culture war which is increasingly threatening the welfare of children especially,” Childs said in a September candidate profile by the Times of Pottawatomie County. “I am unapologetically on the ‘conservative’ or traditional side of this war. Along with many like-minded parents, I am morally obligated to defend our children from physical and moral harm insofar as I can.”
Childs is part of the St. Marys’ governing body, a five-person city commission, and a heavily religious group that attends the Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX. SSPX is a strict religious sect that broke away from the Catholic church. Commissioners have previously said their views and governing decisions are influenced by their religious affiliation.
Childs is perhaps best known for formulating a “morals clause” for the city’s public library lease. The clause asked that the library not carry, encourage or accept any sexual, racial or “socially divisive” material that supported critical race theory or LGBTQ people.
Though the library was allowed to continue operating in their location following massive public outcry, Childs has continued to speak against LGBTQ material in the library.
“We don’t want transgender books in the library. … The elephant in the room is that we don’t want the library to be promoting certain types of material,” Childs said in a July commission meeting.
Porter campaigned on teacher recruitment and keeping cell phones out of the classroom setting.
“I want all those looking for teaching positions to have a desire to come here,” Porter said in her candidate profile.
Preliminary results show Espinoza won against his opponent school board member Adrienne Olejnik, with 1,258 to 1,153 votes respectively. Reflector attempts to contact Espinoza were unsuccessful, but Espinoza is thought to have SSPX connections. A flyer for the St. Marys Academy and College lists him as a point of contact. Olejnik declined to comment publicly on the race.
Espinoza and Childs were endorsed by the Kansans for Life PAC, which sent out mailers in favor of the two ahead of the election. The mailers alleged Olejnik had donated to “leftist causes” and that Olejnik would not “take a stand against drag queen story hours.”
Incumbent candidates Michelle Martin and Kimberly Gillum returned to their board seats unopposed.
As is stated in the article the school officials were not interested in working the situation out by using other neutral terms, they wanted to force a nonbinary person to go by female pronouns and titles. Hugs. Scottie
A Florida state law that went into effect in July 2023 prevents public school teachers from using pronouns that do not align with their sex assigned at birth.
AV Vary became a teacher to help teenagers through the painful experience of growing up and to teach some science along the way.
Over the course of 15 years, Vary has taught in the Orlando area and in Maryland. Most recently, Vary taught at the Florida Virtual School, a statewide online public school for kindergarten through 12th grade students.
But on Oct. 24, Vary was terminated from FLVS after refusing to change the courtesy title used on school materials and communications from “Mx.” to “Ms.,” “Mrs.” or “Miss.”
Vary is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. AV Vary is not their full legal name, but they requested to only be referred to as such out of concern for their privacy.
FLVS issued a statement in response to USA TODAY’s request for an interview about Vary’s termination.
“As a Florida public school, FLVS is obligated to follow Florida laws and regulations pertaining to public education. This includes laws such as section 1000.071(3) of the Florida Statutes pertaining to the use of Personal Titles and Pronouns within Florida’s public school system,” the statement read.
Vary’s termination came as a lawsuit challenging Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law sits in an appeals court and districts struggle to fill vacant teaching positions.
Vary told USA TODAY in an interview that they have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over the matter and are seeking legal counsel. They said their fight to get back into the classroom is not just for them, but for the students too.
“I am a human being… I have feelings and my goals in life are positive ones. I want to see my students be successful in however they define success,” Vary said. “Yeah, this is a fight for my rights. But this is also a fight for the kindness, compassion and respect for every individual in the country.”
Florida statute requires teachers to use titles and pronouns corresponding to biological sex
Documentation reviewed by USA TODAY showed that leadership at FLVS asked Vary to change their courtesy title from Mx. to Ms., Mrs., or Miss in accordance with Florida Statue 1000.071.
The statute states that every public K-12 educational institute must operate under the understanding that a person’s sex is biological and unchangeable. As such, employees may not provide pronouns that do not align with their biological sex.
The law went into effect in July 2023 after Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB1069, which is considered an expansion of the 2022 “Don’t Say Gay” bill. A lawsuit on behalf of Family Equality and Florida families challenging the 2022 bill went to an appeals court in March 2023 after a Florida judge dismissed the original suits for not showing direct harm from the bill.
Vary said that, before termination, they offered other gender-neutral suggestions for courtesy titles.
While Vary does not hold a PhD., “Dr.” is a gender-neutral title that other teachers and administrators in Florida schools use. But Vary said FLVS wouldn’t allow Vary to use it on the grounds that they did not hold a PhD. The school said Vary could go without a courtesy title, but they were not comfortable with that.
Vary also recommended “professor,” “teacher” and “coach” as alternatives. The school did not permit those either.
“Clearly, to me FLVS is not simply concerned with following the law. There’s something more to it,” they said.
Vary said being visibly nonbinary was a safety signal for Florida students
Vary’s students have known them as Mrs. Vary, Professor Vary or Mx. Vary, depending on when they worked together.
When Vary started at FLVS in July 2021, they felt that “misunderstood female” was the best way to describe their gender. They have also truncated their legal name for students, as a way to protect their boundaries as a teacher. But over time, Vary learned more about what it means to be nonbinary and it resonated with them, as they don’t identify entirely with women’s or men’s social norms.
Vary also said there was more to their decision to use Mx. than reflecting their own identity. In the face of anti-LGBTQ laws being passed in Florida, Vary wanted to signal to students that they were an ally.
“I needed a way for my students’ first impressions of me to be that I was safe, because underrepresented minority communities need people who can protect them, especially when they’re teenagers,” Vary said.
Vary worried for colleagues amid teacher shortage
Vary said they have never lost a job before FLVS. They got into science in part because the teachers are in such high demand. They have a partner with a good salary that can help cushion the job loss as they try to get reinstated.
But in the meantime, Vary worries for colleagues.
“When I got the voicemail that I was suspended, my first thought was, ‘Oh, my colleagues, they’re now going to have way more students than they should. They’re gonna have to put in more hours than they’re getting paid for,'” Vary said. “Teacher overwork all over again.”
Vary said they felt that school leaders tried to remain neutral in the weeks leading up to their termination. But their final call became heated and Vary said the school hung up on them.
“I recognize that FLVS is in a tough position. They have to uphold Florida State law. At the same time, they’re committed to upholding the U.S. Constitution,” Vary said. “Right now, those two things are mutually exclusive.”
Vary’s complaint to the EEOC alleges that the school discriminated against them because of their sex and gender identity.
They have contacted some lawyers who said that the case may have some merit, but would be too big or too expensive to take on. Vary is exploring advocacy groups as well, or possibly joining with other people who have experienced the same thing.
“It would be unrealistic to expect any individual to cover this on their own,” Vary said. “But with a community of like minded individuals who believe in civil rights, I think that we can take it as far as it needs to go.”
Florida test scores are abysmal, teachers are fleeing the state and profession, books are banned, Black history is whitewashed, kids are doing heil hitler to my children, but a nonbinary teacher at Florida school fired for using 'Mx.' as courtesy title https://t.co/jdJS0GruMZ
First they came for the Drag Queens Then they came for the Gender Non Conforming and Non Binary Then they came for the Transgender Then they came for the Lesbians and Gays
Right to work state, so the easy answer says there isn’t a case to be had. If plaintiff wants to find a lawyer that’s willing to argue Title IX gender discrimination, that might work but it will take decades and more money than any teacher will earn in a lifetime.
“Florida test scores are abysmal, teachers are fleeing the state and profession, books are banned, Black history is whitewashed, kids are doing heil hitler to my children, but a nonbinary teacher at Florida school fired for using ‘Mx.’ as courtesy title”
And every day DeSantis goes onto a stage to polish his turds, pretends that he is a friend to all Jews. Going so far as to make threats against tiny island nations in the Caribbean.
Yet every single day that passes he fails to say so much as one word against real-life neo-Nazis who chant his name and wave his banners. Nazis love him and not only does he know it… they know it, too.
And of course while Putin supports all the actual attackers of democracy and Republicans support him attacking Ukraine while pretending he’s not behind Iran using Hamas to pick this very fight with intolerable atrocities…. in hopes of solidifying Netanyahu turning Israeli democracy into fascism as they hope to do here, and not just in Florida.
And the media make no issue of it. If they cared about democracy, they’d keep after him about it. But every outrage is allowed to slide, just as they let them slide with Trump, are STILL letting them slide. There is no rightist outrage which the media aren’t normalizing.
What DO they talk about? They busy themselves spreading GOP talking points as if they were the truth. They ignore or belittle election results and harp on polls, the way they did in the lead-up to the Midterms, pushing the “red wave is coming” BS. “Biden is too old!” They never mention Trump is just a few years younger AND showing clear signs of losing it. They shrug their shoulders over his ongoing threats to establish an obvious dictatorship if he regains the Oval Office. THAT’S their laughable IDEA of how to do their jobs as the “Guardians of Democracy.”
If Trump were still in office and the economic numbers were what they are under Biden, the media would be in ecstasies, trying 24/7 to convince everyone how GREAT things were. With Biden, they sneer and talk only about how people are “unhappy with high prices,” as though they wouldn’t be, for the same reasons, just as high if a Republican were in the White House. And, of course, they never mention that things are much worse everywhere else in the world. These dishonest men and women don’t report the news–they manipulate it to harm Democrats and help the GOP, the party their oligarch owners want in charge, the party, led by an evil MADMAN, that will establish the dictatorship THEY want.
The media has broadly mischaracterized and demonized pro-Palestinian protesters, but Sean Hannity took hysterical fear-mongering to such a comical level it’s nearly indistinguishable from satire. In this video we’ll look at the ineffective pro-Israel propaganda from media and breakdown Hannity’s hypocrisy.
Another great post by Tengrain at MPS. It is so scary how much power these religious fanatics have managed to gain over our secular government, and the drive they have to force all of us to live by their religious doctrines. Also check out the comments, as always they are sharp on the point. Hugs. Scottie
Ever since Reagan’s presidency, the core of Republican positions on public education have been five-fold: 1. Let white students attend schools that are islands of white privilege where they don’t have to confront the true racial history of America, 2. Use public money to support private, for-profit, and religious schools that can accomplish this (and cycle some of that money back to Republican politicians), 3. Destroy public schools’ teachers’ unions, 4. End the teaching of science, critical thinking, evolution, and sex ed, and, 5. Bring fundamentalist Christianity into the classroom. Earlier this year, Republican Senator Marco Rubio called America’s public school system a “cesspool of Marxist indoctrination.” “Dangerous academic constructs like critical race theory and radical gender theory are being forced on elementary school children,” Rubio wrote for the American Conservative magazine, adding, “We need to ensure no federal funding is ever used to promote these radical ideas in schools.”
A bit on the long side, but really informative over what has happened and what is currently happening in this seeming never ending war on Public schools. Hugs. Scottie
Jennifer Pippin says had she known of Rick Wiles’ antisemitic views, she wouldn’t have appeared on his program, but she didn’t apologize for having gone on.
By ANDREW LAPIN/JTAUpdated: NOVEMBER 1, 2023 18:01Books that have been donated to the “Read with Love Book Drive” run by PFLAG Bucks County to help place LGBTQ+ books in Bucks and Montgomery County libraries are placed in a donation box at the Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 7, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/HANNAH BEIER)
A Florida organizer of the right-wing activist group Moms For Liberty who successfully pressed her school district to remove a version of Anne Frank’s diary recently appeared on a livestream banned from YouTube because of its pastor host’s antisemitism.
Jennifer Pippin, who chairs the group’s chapter in Indian River County, Florida, appeared in September on the show TruNews, which is hosted by End Times preacher Rick Wiles. Wiles is a conspiracy theorist who has claimed that Jews and Zionists have “attacked Christian culture” and railed against the “Jewish lobby” and “Kabbalah wizard rabbis.”
Wiles, who is based in the same county as Pippin, has also stated, “That’s the way the Jews work, they are deceivers, they plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda.” He has claimed that “Israel” was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In 2019 he stated, “It’s not Muslims that are going to kill us. It’s the Jews.”
The following year he called the first attempted impeachment of Donald Trump a “Jew coup.” adding that Jews would “kill millions of Christians” after they overthrew the president. The Trump administration credentialed the outlet multiple times, leading to major pushback from Jewish groups. The channel was permanently banned from YouTube in 2020 over Wiles’ antisemitic rants.
Speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday, Pippin said she had not been aware of Wiles’ antisemitism before she appeared on his show and would not have agreed to it if she’d known.
A Little Free Library, which was designed to look like a prison, invites residents to take books that the library says have been challenged by schools across the state of Texas, in Houston, Texas, U.S. May 3, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/CALLAGHAN O’HARE)
Says she was ignorant of hosts’ views, but doesn’t apologize
“Honestly, I’ve never heard of him before,” she said. “And I wasn’t aware of anything that he said against any organizations or group of people or anything like that.”
Yet when she was asked if she was sorry for appearing on TruNews, Pippin responded, “Absolutely not. No.” She said she did not necessarily endorse the views of everyone she speaks to about her efforts to ensure that school libraries contain only “age-appropriate” material.
“My interview was a representation of me and our work with Moms For Liberty,” she said. “Just because somebody says or does something years ago that I don’t agree with doesn’t mean that just because I did an interview with him, I agree with every single little thing that he said or what his news outlet has put out.”
Although Moms For Liberty has some Jewish members in its leadership, the group borrows much of its rhetoric from Christian nationalist organizations and one local chapter has quoted Hitler in its communications to parents. The “parents’ rights” movement the group represents has largely targeted books about race, gender and sexual identity, but some Jewish and Holocaust books have also been caught in the dragnet.
Public figures call the graphic adaptation ‘pornography’
This spring Pippin’s school district on the state’s Atlantic coast, acting on her challenge, made national headlines when it agreed to pull “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” from high schools. A spokesperson told JTA at the time that the 2018 illustrated reimagining of Frank’s diary was “a fictional novel” and “not age-appropriate.”
Since then, opposition to the book has only grown. A Jewish parent at another Florida school district successfully petitioned for the book’s removal last month, while a middle-school teacher in Texas was recently fired for reportedly assigning and reading aloud passages from the book. Politicians and other public figures have since claimed that the book’s depiction of Frank’s attraction to another girl, and her descriptions of her own genitalia, were “pornography”; a local Florida news outlet claimed Pippin had called the book “sexually explicit” in her own challenge.
Pippin told JTA that the quote attributed to her was incorrect and that she did not object to the book’s sexual content, which she recognized came from Frank’s original diary. “I didn’t challenge it for the sexually explicit content because this was actually what she wrote,” she said. “This is what she was thinking in her teenage years, during the Holocaust.”
She instead said she objected to the book’s presence in her high school for a different reason: that it was a highly abridged version of the diary’s original text, and she and a local Holocaust education group jointly believed high school students should be expected to be able to read the original instead.
“They agreed that this one book, the graphic adaptation, should be permanently removed because they felt that children in high school should be reading the true diary of Anne Frank, and not the graphic adaptation, to get the actual, factual information from the diary,” Pippin said, adding that she supported “age-appropriate” Holocaust education in schools.
Wiles: ‘Marxist Communists are waging war against America’s innocent children’
Pippin said Wiles had reached out to her to ask about her challenge to the Anne Frank book specifically, although she said she did not think his questions about the book were antisemitic in nature and the two did not discuss the book in their live conversation.
Wearing a Moms For Liberty T-shirt, Pippin spoke to Wiles for around 30 minutes on his show, chiefly promoting the work of her group, which Wiles said he fully supported. “I will do everything I can to help you,” he told her. “I will help raise money, I will help organize, I will help you get a lawsuit against the school board.”
Wiles introduced his interview with Pippin by stating, “Marxist Communists are waging war against America’s innocent children in almost every state in the USA. They have infiltrated our nation’s local school districts and public libraries.” He concluded it by comparing Moms For Liberty’s battles with school boards to the French Revolution, adding, “If we don’t stop it really soon, none of us are going to survive over the next 10 years, because these people are violent. … They’re going after our children now.”
Pippin told JTA she did not agree with Wiles’ characterization of her activism and had tried to steer the conversation back to books.
TruNews has broadcast in various forms for more than two decades, and Wiles has taken aim at Muslims and LGBTQ individuals as well as Jews over time. In recent weeks, since his broadcast with Pippin and Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Wiles has posted almost exclusively content targeting “godless, atheistic, antichrist Zionism” on social media and called on the Israeli government to “stop the Palestinian pogrom.”
Let’s talk about the crisis at the US border with Mexico. Is it as bad as conservatives say it is? Turns out when you look at the data, immigrants aren’t the boogeyman that Fox News would have you believe. Let’s talk about what’s ACTUALLY happening at the border.
Scottie's Playtime 