A minority of a minority with in a minority is trying to force a religious strict moral view of what is acceptable in society. These small groups of driven fundamentalist, who think any advances in society since the 1950s angers their deity they are desperate to please, use threats and violence to take the rights away from everyone else. This one man is demanding the right to decide what everyone’s children get to read and see. Removing other parents rights to bring up their children as accepting of others and themselves. Please note the harm he claims will happen because of this book, damaged souls. One line about playing spin the bottle. Tell me what five year even knows that could be sexual. Kids start playing that as preteens as they go through puberty, daring each to kiss someone. So it is an innocent line, there is no description of what it is. If a kid asks, the adult says it is a game played with the bottle to see how long you can keep it spinning or something. Even worse if they lose their attempts to get a book removed all they have to do is keep filing complaints which keeps it off the shelves or the book get removed as too much of a problem. Hugs
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The children’s book is under review in one school district after a local conservative activist ranted that one aspect of it could “DAMAGE SOULS.”
A lone parent filed a complaint to a Florida school district that a book in the Arthur series—yes, the same Arthur from the beloved PBS animated show—contained references to Spin the Bottle, and now it’s possibly on the district’s chopping block.
A member of the Clay County School District community, based in Green Cove Springs, filed the challenge on July 12 to Marc Brown’s Arthur’s Birthday, a children’s book geared towards students in kindergarten to sixth grade. District spokesperson Terri Dennis told The Daily Beast that it was among 45 challenged titles now “pending oversight committee review.”
On Wednesday, the district provided The Daily Beast with the stack of challenge forms the school district had received for July. At least eight book challenges filed that month were submitted by a local conservative activist named Bruce Friedman.
Arthur’s Birthday details the title character’s upcoming birthday and how it falls on the same day as another party for a classmate, who happens to be a girl. Arthur wants all of his friends to show up, and figures out a plan to combine the parties together. At the end, Arthur receives a “Spin the Bottle” present from one of the girls.
On his form, Friedman wrote, “PROTECT CHILDREN!! IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE TO DISCUSS ‘SPIN THE BOTTLE’ WITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN. THIS BOOK IS FOUND IN ALL/ALMOST ALL [DISTRICT SCHOOLS]!”
Friedman continued to scribble across the form how “SPIN THE BOTTLE” is “NOT OKAY FOR K-5 KIDS!” and how the content could potentially “DAMAGE SOULS.” He also included images from the book that he felt were not suitable for its intended audience.
“The entire book is about being inclusive of all friends and not only inviting boys or girls (based on your gender) to your birthday party,” literary watchdog Florida Freedom to Read Project wrote on Twitter.
Reagan Miller, a member of Florida Freedom to Read Project, said she believes book banners are just trying to create “chaos in the education system” and make a boogeyman out of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“I think it’s more to keep feeding a narrative,” she told The Daily Beast, suggesting that even Barney & Friends could be the next target.
And just like that, 20 additional titles have been added to the 23/24 list in @oneclayschools.
— Florida Freedom to Read Project (@FLFreedomRead) July 17, 2023
Friedman wrote disapproving notes on other book challenge forms. However, he also included disparaging comments about librarians, suggested that district administrators needed to be fired, and consistently berated some authors for being “repeat offenders.”
Dennis told The Daily Beast that “95 [percent] of the book challenges in Clay County come from one individual in the community.” She didn’t specify who that individual was, but Friedman is responsible for nearly all book challenges in the county, according to independent newsletter Popular Information.
Friedman is the president of Florida’s chapter of No Left Turn in Education, a group known for fear-mongering the teachings of Critical Race Theory. According to the group’s website, its goal is to “use all forms of media to expose the radical indoctrination in K-12 education.”
At a Florida Department of Education meeting in December, Friedman bragged about creating a list of over 3,600 books that he felt contained “concerning content,” Popular Information reported. In June 2022, Friedman’s mic was cut off when he attempted to read a rape scene aloud during a school board meeting.
Friedman declined an interview request with The Daily Beast on Thursday. “No thank you,” he wrote in an email.
Clay County School District’s Library Media Services Manual states that “challenged materials should be presented to the District Curriculum Council.”
“Materials under question will be held until a decision has been made,” the manual reads. “A decision to remove materials from the library media center is based on the recommendation of the District Curriculum Council and the final decision of the Superintendent or designee.”
If a book is resubmitted as part of a complaint, the oversight committee—media and academic administrators within the district—can choose to completely chuck the book from schools’ libraries or dismiss the challenge. If the person who filed the complaint wants to appeal the group’s decision, then the school board schedules a hearing and they make the final call.
According to district records, as of Thursday, Arthur’s Birthday is still “Pending Oversight Committee Review.”
So many of the horrible things happening in America right now, like teaching our children slaves were lucky to learn skills, or allowing women to bleed out in hospital parking lots, or pushing migrants into rivers to drown, could be stopped by the women who look exactly like me.
CNN shared a segment about a family from Florida forced to leave due to anti-trans laws passed by Governor Ron DeSantis that impact their trans teenager. Sick, sadistic conservatives celebrated the family’s suffering and claimed it was funny and good.
These white men won’t quit until the US is a Christian theocracy policed by Christian Taliban moral police thugs. Some important quotes that show their mindset. Regardless of the legislative strategy, the panelists agreed changing the culture of America to take on a Christian biblical worldview, which will require all pastors to take the same position on abortion as their own. Also week-long series of events hosted by Operation Save America, an anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ and anti-Muslim religious group that wants all Americans to follow “God’s law” and their interpretation of the Christian gospel. The panel was part of a week-long series of events hosted by Operation Save America, an anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ and anti-Muslim religious group that wants all Americans to follow “God’s law” and their interpretation of the Christian gospel. The moderator of the panel, Derin Stidd, opened by asking, “Why do you all hate women?” to which the men laughed. Hugs
Florida's new African American history standards include a requirement that middle schoolers learn "how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit." @goni_lessanhttps://t.co/DCjauBVLbV
Enslavers defended slavery by claiming it was a “positive good” for Black people. Today Florida’s Board of Education approved new Black history standards that note enslaved Black people developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.”https://t.co/xNEIZoK4o3
^ That captures it in a nutshell. The education of slaves was to benefit the people holding them in bondage as property.
Some of his fans are disappointed they don’t get to see him in action.
So DeSantis and his followers trash talk and urge boycotts against a company in which the trust fund HE oversees invests; and when his followers boycott the company and crash the sales, he threatens to sue the company. What a maroon.https://t.co/UcBeyANmTL
If I’m understanding this correctly, DeSantis praised the Bud Light boycott, claimed he’d never drink the beer again, and now wants to sue because … the boycott he endorsed and engaged in had consequences? https://t.co/cKJyHkvZVB
It seems entirely premature, but the looming Oct. 1 deadline for state parties to submit delegate changes to the RNC has the Trump team moving to lock down their support now—and know where they might stand if there’s a 2nd ballot on the floor. https://t.co/E4LE7i5we6
Texas A&M University said on Friday that its president would retire “immediately” after fallout surrounding political pushback of a new director of its journalism program because of her work promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
Germany’s 1933 civil service law applied to university professors as well as elementary and secondary-school teachers. … Scholars who were Jewish or supported left-leaning parties struggled to find research and teaching positions in public, government-supported German universities and often worked in private ones instead. With the passage of the new law, the Nazis attempted to root out any dissent to their policies and ideology that remained in German higher education.
They call it other things, like “Protecting Children” or “Academic Freedom”. None of which is their actual goal, but it’s just bigotry and racism repackaged to make it more palatable.
Honestly, who would be against diversity? Racists… that’s who.
🚨BREAKING: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signs new congressional map that does NOT contain the second majority-Black district that the U.S. Supreme Court required.
Again this shows the republicans in congress don’t care about national security, about law enforcement, intelligence assets, or even justice. Instead they want power and to destroy their enemy at any cost. They are teens playing a video game holding nothing back. They can’t see past their petty trolling and snarky insinuations. Hugs
‘We have repeatedly explained to Congress, in correspondence and in briefings, how critical it is to keep this source information confidential,’ the FBI tells The Messenger
Published 07/21/23 02:08 PM ET|Updated 07/21/23 03:45 PM ET
Stephen Neukam
The FBI repeatedly warned lawmakers not to share the contents of a sensitive document related to a Department of Justice investigation of Hunter Biden, The Messenger has learned.
In spite of those warnings, congressional Republicans have made the document a central focus of their investigation of President Joe Biden and his son. One senior Senate Republican on Thursday publicly released a semi-redacted version of the FBI report, which contains an informant’s allegations of bribery against the Bidens.
FBI officials cautioned lawmakers on several occasions about the dangers that releasing the document could pose to confidential informants and others, according to materials obtained by The Messenger.
“We have repeatedly explained to you, in correspondence and in briefings, how critical it is to keep this information confidential,” the FBI said in a June 9 letter, obtained by The Messenger, to the Democratic ranking member and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who has been scrutinizing the Biden family.
“We are concerned that Members disregarded the Committee’s agreement that information from the document should not be further disclosed,” the FBI said in the letter, which came one day after lawmakers on the Oversight Committee were permitted to view the document in a secured room.
Other documents obtained by The Messenger show that the FBI’s warnings not to release the confidential information extended back to May — before Comer and others were allowed to view the FBI form.
The FBI told lawmakers that protecting the secrecy of the FBI form is “critical” to the “physical safety” of the source and others, according to a May 30 letter sent to Comer.
The letter cited a May 22 meeting the FBI had with Oversight Committee staff, in which “the Deputy Assistant Director expressed the FBI’s concern over the chilling effect that could flow from the wide dissemination of investigative files.”
US President Joe Biden participates in the US-Nordic Leaders’ Summit at the presidential palace in Helsinki, Finland, on July 13, 2023.ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
“As you know, confidential sources are critical to the FBI’s ability to build cases, including those against violent gangs, drug cartels, and terrorists,” the letter said. It explained that “closely protecting” information about the source could “prevent chilling of FBI’s recruitment of sources and their candor in reporting, and also to protect sources and individuals associated with them from being physically harmed or even killed.”
The FBI document in question, called a FD-1023 form — which is used by FBI agents to record unverified raw information from informants — has been at the center of Comer’s committee’s investigation of the Bidens. The FBI form contains allegations that Hunter Biden and another Biden family member received money from a Ukrainian energy firm in exchange for foreign policy decisions.
Lawmakers viewed the document behind closed doors last month, before Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released the document to the public on Thursday. Grassley said he obtained the document through a Justice Department whistleblower.
Members of Congress were also provided with a warning that the information contained in the document “should be treated confidentially,” before they viewed the form on June 8, saying the agency “expressly does not consent” to the release of the material.
The FBI also raised concerns that lawmakers were taking notes in the meeting, which was prohibited, according to the letter.
The document released by Grassley on Thursday was even less redacted than the one viewed by lawmakers, a Democratic source familiar with the form told The Messenger. The material released by the Republican senator revealed that Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm named in the alleged bribery scheme, was the source of the information.
Asked for comment, the FBI told The Messenger on Friday that throughout the agency’s dealings with Congress over GOP committee investigations of Biden family matters, the “release of the 1023 – at a minimum – unnecessarily risks the safety of a confidential source.”
“We have repeatedly explained to Congress, in correspondence and in briefings, how critical it is to keep this source information confidential,” the FBI statement said, adding that “safeguards the FBI placed on the production of this information are necessary to protect the safety of confidential sources and the integrity of sensitive investigations.”
Grassley’s office on Friday defended the GOP senator’s public release of the sensitive FBI form, noting that the version released by Grassley included redactions and that the actual FBI document was marked “unclassified”
“Democrats and the media sought to link the FD-1023 to the Bidens’ activity in Ukraine long before this document became public, citing information that only the FBI and DOJ could have known,” a Grassley spokesperson said in a statement issued to The Messenger. “Those public statements exposed the source to those he or she communicated with. The FBI can’t cite risks to sources while thwarting congressional oversight in one breath and leak selective information to the news media in another.”
A spokesperson for Comer struck a similar note, saying criticism from the FBI was “a last-ditch effor… to thwart legitimate congressional oversight.”
Another letter obtained by The Messenger, sent from the agency to Comer on May 10, explained the “great risk to themselves and their loved ones” that confidential sources take on when providing information to the bureau.
“Significant harm to investigative work—and to the program as a whole—could result from dissemination of FD-1023s or other similar documents,” the letter said.
Parents and police at the Chino Valley Unified School District board meeting.Photo: KTLA screenshot
California State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond was kicked out of a contentious four-hour meeting of the Chino Valley Unified School District board on Thursday evening after he allegedly spoke for more than his allotted one-minute time limit against a policy to out transgender students to their parents.
An estimated 300 people attended — many on both sides of the issue waving flags, T-shirts, and signs — and 83 people commented during the meeting. The board eventually voted 4-1 to approve the policy, which will require educators to notify parents within 72 hours if their child requests to use bathrooms, pronouns, or names that don’t match the gender and name listed on their birth certificate.
The state once allowed trans students use bathrooms, pronouns, and play on sports teams matching their gender identities. Not anymore…
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“The policy you consider tonight may not only fall outside of privacy laws but may put our students at risk,” Thurmond said before being ejected. In response, school board President Sonja Shaw said, “Tony Thurmond, I appreciate you being here, but we are here because of people like you,” Shaw said. “You’re in Sacramento, proposing things that pervert children.”
As security officers led Thurmond away, some attendees chanted, “Kick him out!” Officers also ejected several other attendees. While some of the other public commenters said that parents have a right to know if their child is questioning their gender, others said the policy will violate trans students’ privacy by outing them to their potentially unsupportive parents and will also burden teachers with additional stressful responsibilities that will diminish student-teacher trust.
In a statement issued via Twitter after the meeting, Thurmond wrote, “I don’t mind being thrown out of a board meeting by extremists. I can take the heat — it’s part of the job. What I can’t accept is the mistreatment of vulnerable students whose privacy is being taken away.” He also wrote that ejecting him from the meeting silences the voices of those he represents.
“Let me be clear,” he continued, “I will always stand with California students and will use every power of my office to protect them from politicians who seek to divide our communities instead of keeping our kids safe.”
Tonight I went to a school board meeting to stand up for LGBTQ+ students who invited me to join them as they spoke out against a radical new policy that threatens their safety. When done speaking,the board president verbally attacked me an instructed the police to remove me.(1/5)
In a letter to the Chino Valley Unified school board Thursday evening, state Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote, “By allowing for the disclosure of a student’s gender identity without their consent, Chino Valley Unified School District’s suggested Parental Notification policy would strip them of their freedom, violate their autonomy, and potentially put them in a harmful situation. Our schools should be protecting the rights of all students, especially those who are most vulnerable, and should be safeguarding students’ rights to fully participate in all educational and extracurricular opportunities.”
The policy is supported by several anti-LGBTQ+ groups, including the California Family Council, a group that considers gender-affirming care for trans youth a form of “medical abuse”; the Pacific Justice Institute, which opposes bans on conversion therapy; and Moms for Liberty, a so-called “anti-woke, parents’ rights” group that has recently been labeled as an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Jorge Reyes Salinas, communications director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality California, called the district’s proposal “truly sick” and said it “directly, blatantly goes against state law.”
The California Department of Education’s (CDE) website states that “schools must consult with a transgender student to determine who can or will be informed of the student’s transgender status, if anyone, including the student’s family.”
The CDE states that “schools are required to respect the student’s wishes” and adds that in some “very rare circumstances where a school believes there is a specific and compelling ‘need to know,’ the school should inform the student that the school intends to disclose the student’s transgender status [to their parents or guardians], giving the student the opportunity to make that disclosure [themselves].”
Right-wing groups have said such policies are needed to prevent schools from “secretly” “encouraging” students to change genders without their parents’ knowledge. However, medical experts say that transgender and non-binary youth don’t transition just because their peers and adult figures pressure them to do so.
A 2022 Trevor Project survey revealed that only 32% of trans and nonbinary youths felt that their home was a supportive and gender-affirming environment.
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