The craziest Qanon fundamentalist Christian conservative ideologists have figured out that public schools teaching facts keep them from taking over. So they are going after the schools. That we have known for a few years. They have this idea that they can indoctrinate kids into myths, misinformation, and hateful ideas and the kids will continue that way all their lives, letting the crazies run the country as a dictatorship unquestioned. Here is an example. This person is going to be forcing the batshittery she spouts on public school kids whose parents do not have the time or energy to school their kids against her lies. She wouldn’t even let her children go to public school, she homeschooled them. Yet she will now have a say in what other parents kids learn. The US better wake up, public schools have been under attack in the US for generations with defunding and Christians trying to force their religion back into schools as factual learning material. Now the most fundamentalist crazies are taking over to finish destroying what is left of public schools. But notice this stuff is not taught in the wealthy elite private schools. Hugs
Last week, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) announced that he had appointed Laurie Cardoza-Moore to serve on the Tennessee Standards Recommendation Committee to oversee “Social Studies materials being reviewed for use in classrooms statewide.” Cardoza-Moore, known for holding extremist views and promoting conspiracy theories, has called “U.S. history textbooks” currently used in classrooms the “greatest national security threat to the United States.”
With her new appointment, Cardoza-Moore will have the power to “submit final recommendations for [Social Studies] standards to the State Board.” In a statement about her new position, Cardoza-Moore said, “[t]he materials we will be reviewing can only accomplish the mission of educating good American citizens if our Tennessee textbooks are devoid of left-aligned historic revisionism and the toxic material found in the antisemitic Critical Race Theory; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Social-Emotional Learning and Ethnic Studies.”
Cardoza-Moore homeschooled her five children and has criticized the existing public school curriculum for exposing children to “anti-Semitic, anti-American, anti-Judeo-Christian content in our public schools.” In a radio interview on the Tennessee Star Report, Cardoza-Moore said, “[i]t’s ruining our children’s lives. Our children are depressed and unless we as parents… stand up and speak up and take back control of our children’s education, we are going to lose this country.”
In 2021, Cardoza-Moore was also appointed by Sexton to the Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission, which is in charge of “recommend[ing] an official list of textbooks and instructional materials for approval of the State Board of Education.”
Sexton appointed Cardoza-Moore to important positions shaping state educational standards despite her repeated embrace of conspiracy theories. Over the years, Cardoza-Moore has promoted claims that 9/11 was an “inside job,” that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and that January 6 insurrectionists were actually “Antifa.” In 2011, Cardoza-Moore claimed that former President Barack Obama was causing “horrific tornadoes” because he made a speech that discussed the plight of Palestinians. Asked if she still held these views, Cardoza-Moore did not respond.
Cardoza-Moore has few academic credentials, which she has attempted to bolster by padding her resume. She refers to herself as “Laurie Cardoza-Moore, ThD.” But her “doctorate” is “an honorary doctorate degree in theology from the Latin University of Theology,” an unaccredited diploma mill. According to Chalkbeat Tennessee, the only degree Cardoza-Moore holds is “an associate degree from the KD Conservatory College of Film and Dramatic Arts in Dallas.” It’s unclear how this qualifies her to set standards for millions of Tennessee students. Sexton did not respond to a request for comment.
Cardoza-Moore and 9/11 conspiracy theories
Cardoza-Moore is the founder and president of the nonprofit Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), a Christian Zionist organization that claims to fight the “global war against antisemitism.” The group, which was once classified a hate group, has been a profitable endeavor for Cardoza-Moore. In 2019, she paid herself $145,000, paid her husband’s business $85,000, claimed $50,000 in occupancy expenses for her home, and spent $23,000 on meals and entertainment, among other things. The organization is also rated as a “two-star charity” on Charity Navigator, indicating that the organization “needs improvement.”
In March 2021, during a Tennessee State Senate hearing for Cardoza-Moore’s appointment to the Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission, Democratic Chair Raumesh Akbari asked Cardoza-Moore about PJTN’s statements questioning basic facts about the September 11 terrorist attacks.
According to Akbari, when reviewing a textbook passage, PJTN “suggest[ed] removing” a sentence stating that “members of al-Qaeda carried out” the September 11 attacks. PJTN cited a “plethora of evidence” for the suggested removal, stating, “This is a highly contested (per [A]rchitects and [E]ngineers for 9/11 Truth, and demolition experts) argument.” Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth was a group that falsely claimed that 9/11 was an “inside job” because they believed the impact of the planes into the World Trade Center towers could not have resulted in their collapse. According to Akbari, “the quote was pulled ‘directly from a review that [Cardoza-Moore] made.”
In response, Cardoza-Moore attempted to distance herself from the controversy. “I need to see the quote in the context that you’re pulling it [from],” Cardoza-Moore said. “Is that a Powerpoint presentation that I put together? Because I would never say that al-Qaeda didn’t participate.”
Cardoza-Moore and January 6 conspiracy theories
Cardoza-Moore also pushed false claims about the 2020 election and conspiracy theories about the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021. On December 9, 2020, Cardoza-Moore tweeted, “Calling on all citizens of the USA. Please contact your State Attorney General and let them know that as a citizen of your state, you want them to join the State of TX in the lawsuit filed against GA, WI, MI and PA for the fraudulent way their elections were held.”
On December 17, 2020, Cardoza-Moore responded to a tweet from former President Donald Trump claiming that there were “[t]remendous problems being found with voting machines.” Cardoza-Moore tweeted, “[w]hy aren’t these people being arrested? If the lawless get away with this, our Republic is lost! You’re a Churchill President Trump, PLEASE EXECUTE JUSTICE!” There is no evidence that any widespread voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election.
According to the Memphis Flyer, Cardoza-Moore also encouraged people to travel to D.C. on January 6, 2021, posting, “I’ll see you in DC on 1/6.” In a now-deleted post from December 28, 2020, Cardoza-Moore said, “Will you join me in DC to defend our Constitutional Republic? This is it! If we can’t defend our Constitutional Republic, we WILL LOSE IT! Make arrangements now!”
Cardoza-Moore continued to push conspiracy theories after the insurrection occurred at the Capitol on January 6, claiming that it was actually “Antifa” and not Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol. “Antifa stormed the Capitol! It wasn’t led by Trump Patriots,” Cardoza-Moore tweeted on January 7, 2021.
Cardoza-Moore defends plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan
In spring 2020, Cardoza-Moore celebrated on social media as armed protesters stormed Michigan’s capitol to demonstrate against the state’s COVID-19 response. “ARE WE WATCHING THE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION IN AMERICA!” Cardoza-Moore wrote.
Later that year, when news broke that right-wing extremists were planning to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D), Cardoza-Moore also expressed support for the kidnapping plot.
“Am I missing something here? Didn’t the Founders address removing a tyrant from office in the Constitution?” Cardoza-Moore wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post. “Michiganders, it’s time to step up and defend your Constitutional rights!”
Cardoza-Moore and anti-Muslim bigotry
Cardoza-Moore is also notorious for spewing anti-Muslim rhetoric. She first came to public attention in 2010 when she led opposition to the construction of a Tennessee mosque and argued that the mosque was a “terrorist training camp.” That year, she also falsely claimed that 30% of Muslims are terrorists while speaking at a rally against the Islamic Center in New York City. She would go on to repeat this baseless claim on The Daily Show.
Aside from this, Cardoza-Moore has also spread rumors that Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 2021, during her confirmation hearing, Cardoza-Moore stood by her anti-mosque comments and falsely alleged that there were “absolutely” terrorists in the group. Despite this, she told Chalkbeat in 2022 that she’s not anti-Muslim.
Cardoza-Moore and racial discrimination
Endorsed by the right-wing parents group Moms for Liberty, Cardoza-Moore has also frequently accused schools of indoctrinating students—despite the fact that all five of her children were homeschooled.
Cardoza-Moore is also a staunch opponent of Critical Race Theory, calling it “anti-semitic.” She believes lawmakers should eliminate “socialist propaganda” from education and is against virtually any curriculum that makes mention of race or inequity.
During her hearing in 2021, she “declined to answer questions about her beliefs around teaching students about the nation’s history of colonialism and slavery.” At the time, she said this was because she was only reviewing math textbooks, “therefore her thoughts on history and social studies were not relevant,” the Tennessean reports. With Cardoza-Moore’s new appointment, however, she will be tasked with reviewing social studies standards.
Cardoza-Moore also doesn’t believe that systemic racism exists. In an email sent this month, she criticizes the incoming Tennessee education commissioner and writes, “To suggest that Americans are racist in 2023 because of our history is outrageous!”
“We, the majority of our society, have overcome that ideology. We elected a Black president; we have a Black Supreme Court Justice; we have Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Jewish leaders and on and on and on… Are there pockets of hate, racism, and antisemitism? Absolutely! Is it systemic? Absolutely not!”
According to Cardoza-Moore, acknowledging the country’s “systemic racism and social and financial inequity” is the “nightmare facing Tennessee.”
The Jesuits used to say ‘give me a child of seven and I will give you the man.’ They don’t any more, probably because a priest using the words ‘give me a child of seven’ will prompt any responsible parent to call child protection before the rest of the sentence is out of his mouth.
WHERE are the good people standing up to this bull shit. All this crazy isn’t happening in a vacuum. We are at a tipping point and it is getting tooooo risky for comfort. These nut jobs are evil. This fuck head is right out of central casting as an officer in the SS. My morning cup of madness is running over.
Everyday I get more and more ashamed of being an American. We put absolutely lunatics into office and think nothing of it. We have an entire party that is dedicated to turning the United States into a fascist theocracy. I honestly never thought I would see the day this would happen.
Never underestimate the damage even just one highly motivated individual can do. In fact, there’s a portion of the evangelical movement that dwells in a space believing in the power of positive thinking, and making a difference by being an influence on others.
That maybe doesn’t sound so bad, until you witness the reality of where it leads when paired with a religious agenda. It ends up manifesting with the sort of people who believe they must be an active force for spreading Christianity in the workplace. I once quit a job where the new personnel director was exactly such a person, and insisted on leading people in prayer before meetings.
I’m not talking about some small business. It was at the headquarters for a large business covering the midwestern United States, with sister companies covering other regions of the USA, and all of them just one piece of a much, much bigger international business.
When these racist people show you who they are, believe them. Florida is becoming a fundamentalist Christian white supremacist nationalist maga paradise. Think of this: DeathSantis says he is running for president to make the entire country like Florida. He wants to take the Nazi Christian racist hateful anti-LGBTQ+ anti-civil right strict 1950s society gender roles. Notice it was all books about racism and overcoming racism this single parent complained about, and it was one parent complaining that got the material banned so no student could access it. Notice the woman is the wife of a Proud Boy maga gang thug. Hugs
A K-8 school in Miami-Dade County last month issued restrictions for elementary-aged students on three books and one poem after a parent objected to five titles, claiming they included topics that were inappropriate for students and should be removed “from the total environment.”
In March, Daily Salinas, a parent of two students at at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, challenged The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba, the poem The Hills We Climb, which was recited by poet Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, and Love to Langston for what she said included references of critical race theory, “indirect hate messages,” gender ideology and indoctrination, according to records obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and shared with the Miami Herald.
In an interview with the Herald on Monday, Salinas said she “is not for eliminating or censoring any books.” Instead, she wants materials to be appropriate and for students “to know the truth” about Cuba, she said in Spanish.
Meet Proud Boy event & far-right school board protest regulars, Alberto Rego RBT and wife “Daily Rego,” real name Daily Salinas of Miami Lakes.
At the school board mt in July Daily Salinas & M4L members disrupted the meeting w several outbursts, almost getting expelled. 9/ pic.twitter.com/A9qXsvehqg
At this point, there should be a group of parents pushing to remove every book with heterosexual-presenting characters. Then sue under the fascist laws that forbid ‘sexual identity’ being presented to students.
That’s a clever idea, but it will be ignored and dismissed. Cleverness is not getting us out of this. We have to show up and outvote them in every election from now on.
I’m so over these insufferable people. I’d like to wake up one day and realize that the whole sorry Trump era was just a bad dream, like Bobby Ewing emerging from the shower, very much alive, in “Dallas.” Alas, that is not to be. We’re stuck with these assholes forever.
…after a parent objected to five titles, claiming they included topics that were inappropriate for students and should be removed “from the total environment.
The only way to fix this one-parent veto of library offerings is for sensible people to begin filing similar complaints and force the issue into the courts with claims of unequal enforcement of these silly new laws. Surely ALL mentions of gender, sexuality, and violence should be restricted equitably or not restricted at all.
Do No Harm, a nonprofit that launched last year to oppose diversity initiatives in medicine, has evolved into a significant leader in statehouses seeking to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youths, producing model legislation that an Associated Press analysis found has been used in at least three states, including Florida.
The nonprofit, not widely known outside conservative medical and political circles, describes itself on its website as a collection of doctors and others uniting to “protect healthcare from a radical, divisive, and discriminatory ideology.”
Founder Dr. Stanley Goldfarb is a kidney specialist and a professor emeritus and former associate dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. Goldfarb retired in 2021 and incorporated Do No Harm in January 2022.
Do No Harm initially focused on race in medical education and hiring. “The same radical movement behind ‘Critical Race Theory’ in the classroom and ‘Defund the Police’ is coming after healthcare, but hardly anyone knows it,” it warns on its website.
Goldfarb declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press but said in an email that “Do No Harm works to protect children from extreme gender ideology through original research, coalition-building, testimonials from parents and patients who’ve lived through deeply troubling experiences, and advocacy for the rigorous, apolitical study of gender dysphoria.”
The organization’s executive director, Kristina Rasmussen, previously was chief of staff to former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, and served as president of the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, according to her LinkedIn profile. Perhaps coincidentally, Rauner donated $250,000 to DeSantis’ former political committee.
An AP analysis of statehouse bills to restrict gender-affirming care for youths found passages identical or nearly identical to Do No Harm’s model legislation in Montana, Arkansas and Iowa.
The organization had lobbyists registered in 2022 in at least three states — Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee — and in Florida in 2023. People associated with the group have appeared as witnesses in statehouses, including Chloe Cole, 18, listed on its website as a “patient advocate” who has spoken to lawmakers about her gender-transition reversal.
In states including Florida, Idaho, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Ohio, Cole described her transition beginning at age 13, surgery to remove her breasts at 15, and stopping her transition a year later saying it was a mistake. Republican supporters of bills restricting or banning gender-affirming care often cite Cole’s story.
Cole told the Kansas news outlet The Reflector this year that Do No Harm was reimbursing her travel expenses as she testified before state lawmakers. She and her lawyer did not respond to requests for comment from the AP.
Do No Harm originally organized as a charitable organization whose tax-exempt status would be endangered by substantial lobbying.
On March 9 this year, after the group had already made significant inroads in legislatures with its model bill, lobbyists and hearing witnesses, it incorporated Do No Harm Action as a separate nonprofit with a tax status that allows for more lobbying, according to records obtained from the Virginia Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs.
Goldfarb did not respond directly to questions about Do No Harm’s lobbying, nor did another representative for the organization.
In the application for nonprofit status obtained from the Virginia agency, Do No Harm projected revenues of $910,000 in 2022, more than $1.1 million in 2023 and over $1.5 million in 2024.
The organization is so new that federal tax forms that typically reveal nonprofits’ spending details have been either not received or not processed.
It won a $250,000 award last year called the Gregor Peterson Prize. Its previous recipients include the Center for American Liberty, led by Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign and who is representing Cole in her lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente over gender-transition treatments she now says she regrets. The prize was announced in December at a summit held by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a prominent provider of conservative model legislation.
Duke Health’s antiracist “pledge” is nothing more than a political assertion forcefully made on behalf of its employees, who were in no position to push back.
When did health institutions start acting politically under the guise of medical science?https://t.co/3aalgjq47S
We hope the inquiry into DEI spending at Virginia’s public colleges and universities will begin to dislodge this divisive ideology from medical education.
The people pushing this madness are right about one thing: systemic racism is real. They’re proving it by bringing racial segregation back into the higher education system. pic.twitter.com/MWQd2lqsKs
.@FLSurgeonGen’s guidance against socially and medically transitioning children is a well-thought-out and evidence-based approach.https://t.co/8xn8vg3qgk
The Florida state legislature and @GovRonDeSantis passed two commonsense bills that will help restore fairness and sound teaching in higher education, including in medical schools. pic.twitter.com/IPDsATjvXV
When it became obvious that the targetted religious war on just the LGBTQ+ community was starting to lose public support, they simply changed to hating the non-defined “WOKE” giving them a faceless generic enemy to rake in tax free money and run political campaigns, and giving them an even larger base of fellow Americans to focus their hate upon, and rally their “Christian Warriors” around.
Freedom Caucus — they hate freedom Moms For Liberty — they hate liberty Alliance Defending Freedom — they’re anti-freedom Do No Harm — they’re doing great harm
ALL of Iowa’s recent book banning, gay shaming, bathroom bills are simply out of state copy/paste laws. Oh and libs of tik tok and Q anon bitches got to write a couple bills too. Non are home grown
It ALWAYS starts out with the Trojan Horse of protecting the young children, before quickly expanding to including all teens/minors, and then the banishing of LGBTQ adults from sight…”for the sake of the children,” and not for the bigoted adults hiding behind them.
bans the “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade
Question 1. Are you married? Question 2. How do you explain that to an 18 year old without alluding to the fact that you’re a man and the person to which you are married is not?
Question 3. Why is that an exception to your rule?
This is about absolute power and control. Abortion bans/contraception bans Book bans Attacks on LGBTQ+
Can you tell the difference between Republicans/Conservatives and Muslims/ISIS and Sharia Law? pic.twitter.com/9MgNgF0AR2
— Fight4Justice Fight4Equality! AbortionIsARIGHT! (@fight4women) May 17, 2023
All 3 members of the Republican freshman class of 2020 who lectured us the loudest about family values and marriage didn’t have their marriages survive a second term. pic.twitter.com/Zel6uyB6Ut
I’ve been dubious of the word “fascism” being thrown around. But it’s the right word. After reading How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley, I am convinced that DeSantis is in fact a fascist.
“What normalization does is transform the morally extraordinary into the ordinary. It makes us able to tolerate what was once intolerable by making it seem as if this is the way things have always been.”
If you think racism is dead and doesn’t exist in Florida, you are wrong. It is being openly taught in Florida schools. A teacher is facing discipline and may lose her job because she showed a Disney animated movie that included a gay 16-year-old boy. That movie had no gay sex and very little talk about the boy’s feelings. But a teacher promoting: “Every year our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during what is known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Prevent Southern Independence,he said”, has been found to have done nothing wrong. Despite many parents complaining. Many upset parents. One parent complaint to get a teacher fired for showing just the existence of an openly gay character in a children’s movie, but many parents complaining and they are ignored when a teacher promotes racism. The entire reason the South started the civil war was they demanded to not only be allowed to keep humans as property, as slaves, but they wanted to expand that country wide. It was entirely about slavery, their own leaders wrote that themselves. Think if you are a person of color in that school, a black student maybe, think how that hits knowing a teacher is praising the very people who fought to keep you not only without rights but as their personal property to do with as they wish. Do you think black students can get fair grades, fair treatment, fair discipline compared to the white kids? Just as that teacher in Illinois said when she faced criticism for letting students read a book about coming out, she claimed that she figured she had gay students in her classes. I bet there are kids of color in the classrooms when this racist teacher showed that movie. Btw, Collier County is the next one below the one I live in. Hugs
A Florida middle-school teacher who had his class watch a self-made, pro-Confederacy video for Confederate History Month has filed a complaint against his school district for launching an investigation into his questionable teaching practices. Collier County Public Schools looked into a video that Manatee Middle School social studies teacher Jonathan Papanikolaou had his students watch during morning announcements on April 12.
Collier County Public Schools told The Daily Beast that its employee review committee met on April 27 and May 11, and went through a 90-page report about Papanikolaou’s Confederacy lesson. Ultimately the committee found that the lesson didn’t go against the school’s curriculum and there was “no just cause for discipline” despite outrage from parents and community members.
The school district wouldn’t identify the teacher but said they are investigating. “If you didn’t know, April is an officially celebrated month here in the State of Florida named Confederate History Month,” the teacher said in the video.
“Every year our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during what is known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Prevent Southern Independence,” he said.
So not only is the video no cause for discipline, the teacher is filing a complaint because it was even questioned. Collier County is on the southwest coast of Florida.
The social studies teacher filed a complaint against the review committee, claiming the investigation caused a “hostile work environment” because colleagues were asking why he’s racist.https://t.co/nEAveu8rGW
“Every year our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during what is known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Preserve SLAVERY.”
Or that Black people have worth and are an important part of our nation’s story. Or that there were people with rich history and cultures on this land thatE Europeans claimed they “discovered” and that these people still exist.
So Black history lessons can’t be taught in public schools because White children are uncomfortable but parents complaining about pro-slavery lessons must suck it.
Boycotting Florida is something every Black person should do. It’s a completely racist state.
I would like to remind all the former Ohioans in Collier Country (which there are many), we fought for the Union, were part of the Underground Railroad and Ohio was the birthplace of Grant and Sherman.
Let’s START with the fact that retitling the damn thing (“what is known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Prevent Southern Independence”) shows that you’ve got no grasp of the history behind slavery, therefore shouldn’t be pretending to “teach” it.
If one goes back and looks at the various letters and published speeches of the politicians of the time, not to mention the CSA Constitution and the Acts of Secession passed by the different states, they did not try to hide their motivations. A few years ago I read a history of the lead-up to the Civil War and the effects it had on the rebellious states after it was over.
The sort version is that it was essentially 14,000 people in a few hundred families who caused the Civil War. They were the most wealthy families in the United States and up in the top ranks for the world for that matter. But all their money came from slavery – either slaves used to pick cotton or tobacco or breeding slaves as if they were cattle and selling them.
In the Deep South, they essentially ran the entire state. If they did not have a family member in the governor’s mansion or the state/federal legislature, they bought one. Because of their effect on the economy, they not only exploited the slaves they owned but they financially exploited the white population as well. The slave owners used slaves as skilled craftsmen in carpentry and other skilled trades, and this meant that free white craftsmen could not economically compete. This lowered wages for the free workers. There was little cash available for the development of an diverse economy since all the money was tied up in the plantations’ economy and affiliated businesses.
When the Missouri Compromise died and territories were free to choose if they wanted to be free or slave states, they Southern elite knew it was only a matter of time before they were history. Cotton was rough on the soil and after a certain amount of time the fields had to be left fallow for a number of years until they recovered. So. they had to expand or they would die economically.
So, it really didn’t matter what Lincoln said or even if he was sincere in what he said. They knew that there were going to lose everything unless they did something, so they did something. They killed close to a million human beings, destroyed most of the South economically and physically, cemented the budding Northern Capitalist elites firmly in place, and sat back to economically exploit the Southern white and black populations right up to present. It took just over 100 years for the Southern economy to reach the same level it held just prior to the first shots over Ft Sumner.
But, these morons are still teaching the same lies about the Noble Lost Cause. It seems like 163 years is long enough to lies about that treason.
I find the while “heritage not racism’ meme to be very stupid. one of my nephew’s has this sign on the wall of his outdoor kitchen at his river cabin in southeast Missouri. funny thing is, his great great grandfather rode his horse to St Louis to join the Union Army and was a very staunch Union man. sigh…
Yes indeed, nothing like watching a film that idolizes the slave owning confederacy! But hey, at least it’s not “woke!” I’m trying to think of the proper name for it. Oh yeah, “FASCIST!”
A friend of mine who was successfully able to flee the swampland of Louisiana told me growing up in her school, it was routinely referred to as “The War Against Northern Arrogance.”
Pro-Confederacy Teacher Complains About School District’s Probe
The social studies teacher said that an investigation into his self-narrated, pro-Confederate video caused him “emotional turmoil.”
Brooke Leigh Howard
Reporter
Reuters/Jason Miczek
Listen to article3 minutes
A Florida middle-school teacher who had his class watch a self-made, pro-Confederacy video for Confederate History Month has filed a complaint against his school district for launching an investigation into his questionable teaching practices.
Collier County Public Schools looked into a video that Manatee Middle School social studies teacher Jonathan Papanikolaou had his students watch during morning announcements on April 12, local outlet ABC 7 Southwest Florida reported.
“Every year, our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during that known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Prevent Southern Independence,” Papanikolaou reportedly narrated in the video.
In the lesson, Papanikolaou allegedly taught about “slaves and property rights, over taxation and a variety of violations of state’s right and sovereignty,” according to ABC 7.
Collier County Public Schools told The Daily Beast that its employee review committee met on April 27 and May 11, and went through a 90-page report about Papanikolaou’s Confederacy lesson. Ultimately the committee found that the lesson didn’t go against the school’s curriculum and there was “no just cause for discipline” despite outrage from parents and community members.
A district spokesperson also told The Daily Beast that morning announcements had been evaluated, and were previewed before they were presented to students.
“The Manatee Middle School principal met with his staff to openly discuss the issues, and he continues to maintain open lines of communication for students, staff, and parents on this and any other school-related issue,” the spokesperson said.
But one Manatee parent, Christina Cooper, told ABC7, “I think there’s just cause for some type of disciplinary action.”
What’s more, Papanikolaou then filed a complaint against the review committee, claiming the investigation caused a “hostile work environment” because colleagues were asking why he’s racist.
In the complaint, Papanikolaou said the ordeal “has caused [him] grief and awkwardness in classroom and school exchanges” and that some students were no longer comfortable taking his class.
“This situation has created emotional turmoil for myself,” he said.
Collier County Public Schools declined to provide the entire contents of Papanikolaou’s video to The Daily Beast or comment on any requests the teacher made in his complaint against the district.
These people can deny it all they want but kids know both gender and sexuality at a very young age. Kids understand gender from the time they learn of boy or girl, Mr or Mrs / Miss. Gender is not a strange thing in human society, it is ingrained in everything we humans do. Simply think how kids are taught which bathroom to use in public, little kids don’t care until they are forced by adults to use the “proper gendered” bathroom, which forces them to identify their own gender. As for sexuality, kids also understand who they are attracted to long before they are given words to understand it. The idea that kids are somehow clueless to their attraction as they grow is not what medical science or personal experience of people asked shows. Ask yourself when you knew you were attracted to … and you will say well forever. When did you know you were a boy / girl, well I just knew. Well so do trans kids. Also gay / lesbian kids know who they get tingles and attractions to. Plus the idea that kids are not sensual in knowing what feels good with their own bodies is just stupid. How often do you hear of little kids being told they shouldn’t touch themselves in public, because even as little kids it feels good and they don’t know to not do what feels good in front of other people. The problem is some people want to keep society in the 1950s strict gender roles when society and the public has moved beyond that. We have evolved, and that terrifies those that have invested interests in keeping the country in the past. Why because in the past they were in charge, their ideas were taken for granted as being the only correct ideas, their god was not really questioned in society. Think of the history of child abuse in churches, in the time frame these people want you / the country to return to the church leaders doing the abusing were not questioned and kids not believed. Because of the automatic authority of the church. That is what these people want to force us all to return too.
Then we get to the second part of the video. The videos of the Texas Guard putting up razor wire in front of people seeking asylum and trying to enter the country. My gods if you think that this huge country couldn’t find a more humane way to handle people fleeing death and destruction to work for a better life I have to ask what is wrong with you. We have states in this country that are so underpopulated they can not afford to provide for themselves without federal wealth sharing. This country is huge and needs more people willing to be in it supporting all the infrastructure. That is a known fact. Ask what would happen if you let these people come in and establish lives working and paying taxes while being part of the communities they live in? The only reason this push to keep people out at the southern border is completely racism. The white ones convinced that the brown ones are going to take over if they are let in the country, that somehow the white ones will lose all the assumed authority and power they once had. Well guess what, it has already happened and will keep happening. If you are one of those people, the tipping point was reached long ago, and yes the white majority rule is pretty much over and will be soon. The thing is that is not such a scare thing as these white supremacist want to make it. The only difference is whites that don’t want other races will have to accept them, everyone will be equal. That is all, everyone regardless of race will be equal. Everyone’s traditions and celebrations will be give equal time. See the world won’t stop, the destruction won’t happen, just equality and expanded awareness for everyone. Now to the video. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 