There are 330 million people in America and the entire Republican Party works for one man. How do you demand a bill, negotiate a bill, then tank your own bill? Who does the Republican Party work for because it’s sure not the American people.
Israeli airstrikes occurred Saturday on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza strip, leaving more than 100 Palestinians dead, including children. The attacks came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had asked the military to plan for evacuation ahead of a ground invasion.
State-level legislation and executive orders this year shifted from censoring racial issues in classrooms and instead focused on censoring LGBTQ+ issues, according to a new report from PEN America. At the same time, this significant shift also created an increased resistance to these unpopular laws and policies.
The free-expression nonprofit PEN America has been tracking what it describes as “educational gag orders” since 2021. While such bills introduced in 2021 and 2022 focused on limiting how issues of race and racism could be taught in classrooms, in 2023, conservative lawmakers and advocates turned their attention to banning discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in K–12 classrooms.
The anti-LGBTQ+ group’s candidates lost big in at least four states.
“It appears that America’s would-be censors now see proposals to restrict conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity as more of a winning political issue than efforts to restrict discussions of race and racism,” the report stated. “Leveraging that presumed support, [conservatives] have attempted to enact sweeping restrictions on what school-age children can read and learn.”
PEN America documented 110 state-level bills introduced during the 2023 legislative sessions that it defined as educational gag orders. Only 10 became law, while four other restrictions on education were imposed via executive orders or state or system regulations. Of those 110 bills, 39 specifically targeted how public school teachers could discuss LGBTQ+ issues (five of those also applied to private schools).
According to the report, about three-quarters of those anti-LGBTQ+ bills were modeled on Florida’s infamous “Parental Rights in Education Act,” commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
These restrictions resulted not only in the marginalization of LGBTQ+ students and students with LGBTQ+ family members, they have also had a devastating impact on public education more broadly, forcing teachers to self-censor and contributing to teacher shortages across the country, the report added.
“If teachers are afraid to make any mention of race or LGBTQ+ identities in the classroom, if they are afraid to answer student questions, if quality educators are leaving and cannot be replaced, students are the ones who suffer most,” PEN America’s report stated.
While efforts to impose educational censorship are expected to continue into 2024, the report also offers reason for hope in the form of increased resistance to such legislation. According to PEN America, at least 13 different lawsuits challenging educational gag orders are currently pending, and political resistance has also grown.
“Over the last three years — and especially in the past twelve months — an increasing number of national groups have begun dedicating significant resources to combat educational censorship,” according to the report. “Simultaneously, a network of state-centric groups — many of them founded by parents, community members, and educators themselves — has emerged to take the fight directly to the local school board or state legislature.”
As PEN America notes, growing public opposition to educational censorship targeting issues of race and LGBTQ+ identity could ultimately make such legislation less attractive to conservative lawmakers.
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.
Photo: Shutterstock
Scottie's Playtime 