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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Right-Wing Podcaster Smears School Board Members as ‘Predators’ and ‘Child Abusers’ Over Trans-Inclusive Policy

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Alliance Defending Freedom, a massive religious-right legal group, streamed live video of a protest rally outside a Loudoun County school board meeting in northern Virginia Tuesday night, at which local parents and teachers opposing the school district’s transgender-inclusive policy were joined by representatives from the right-wing political groups FreedomWorks and Heritage Action, along with right-wing author and podcaster Matt Walsh.

National right-wing groups and activists have made the Loudoun County school district a target of their hostility over a transgender-inclusive policy that requires, among other things, teachers to address trans students using their preferred pronouns. ADF is representing teachers who call the policy a violation of their religious freedom and freedom of speech.

Tuesday’s rally speakers promoted an array of right-wing causes beyond denying transgender rights, from anti-vaccine conspiracies to opposition to “critical race theory” to the upcoming statewide elections in Virginia. “We need [Glenn] Youngkin,” said one speaker, urging rallygoers to vote early for the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia and for Republicans for other statewide offices. Another called the school superintendent a communist. A few local officials and candidates signed a “Virginia Parents Bill of Rights.”

The right-wing Media Research Center sent a TV crew to interview attendees, including a parent who said, “They took God out of schools, and the devil took his place.” Another parent put the effort in spiritual warfare terms, saying, “This is not our battle. This is God’s battle, and he wins this battle.”

A FreedomWorks representative talked about the group’s efforts to help people run for office and “take back the school boards one seat at a time.” Heritage Action’s Melody Clarke slammed teachers unions and the infrastructure and jobs bill moving through Congress before promoting a website that encourages students and parents to report school materials that demonstrate the teaching of “critical race theory.” Clarke said it was a bad thing that the Build Back Better bill would include $8 billion earmarked for education, asking, “Can you imagine how much worse it would be if they had an additional $8 billion to play with for their leftist agenda?”

Right Wing Watch reported yesterday that Daily Wire podcaster Matt Walsh said he had leased property in the school district in order to comply with new school board rules requiring public speakers to be from the district. At the rally, Walsh mocked the rule, saying that he is renting the basement of an activist who served as rally emcee for one dollar.

Walsh closed out the rally with a focus on the transgender-inclusive policy, vowing, “The days of polite cooperation with evil and falsehood are over, they’re completely over.”

“The infiltration of gender ideology into the school system is a direct assault on our kids,” he claimed, describing it as part of a plan “to sexualize children and to shape them, to mold them.”

“We’re not gonna sit in silence while our kids, while any kids, are ripped to shreds by these damned vultures, these monsters,” he said, vowing that activists will not drop the issue. More from Walsh’s comments at the rally:

You know, the old tricks are not going to work on us. I want the other people on the other side of this to understand this: Your old tricks are not going to work. You could call us bigots. Doesn’t mean anything coming from you. You could call us hateful. And you’re right about that. We are. We hate what you are doing to kids. We hate that. We hate your attack on truth, and on science and on moral decency. We hate that too. And you can call us intolerant. And that’s also true because we’re not going to tolerate it anymore.

This is the line in the sand that we have drawn. We’re not going to surrender our kids to this darkness. We’re not going to do it. We’re not going to give up on truth. Not now. Not ever.

In his brief but incendiary remarks to the school board itself, Walsh called school board members “abusers” and “predators” and charged, “You prey upon impressionable children and indoctrinate them into your insane ideological cult.”

 

This article was first published by Right Wing Watch and is republished here by permission. 

Image: Screenshot via Facebook

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Pits Parents Against Parents’: House Republicans Pass Anti-LGBTQ Florida-Style K-12 ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’

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March 24, 2023

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The Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives Friday morning passed HR 5, the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” legislation similar to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ laws that have led to book bans and targeting of LGBTQ children.

The bill passed 213-208, with 14 Members not voting. All yes votes were from Republicans only. Five Republicans joined Democrats to vote no.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California warned the legislation “pits parents against parents.”

“The extreme MAGA H.R. 5 bill will let other parents dictate what books your child gets to read. It’ll make it easier for other parents to know if your child has an eating disorder, or is experiencing a mental health crisis,” Lieu warned.

READ MORE: Watch: GOP Lawmaker Orders Grieving Parkland Parents Removed From ‘ATF Overreach’ Hearing

U.S> Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) warned, “H.R. 5 would codify Republican book bans all over the country. Stories of Holocaust survivors, enslaved Americans, and over 1,600 other stories have already been pulled from shelves.”

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) said HR5 is “a vehicle for hate and political nonsense.”

Congressman Greg Murphy, Republican of North Carolina, in a recorded statement falsely claimed the bill was needed because “Children are being taught to hate our country,” and “parents are labeled as domestic terrorists.”

In his speech before the bill passed, Speaker Kevin McCarthy declared, “We believe parents should know what your children is [sic] learning.”

CNN reports the bill would also “require elementary and middle schools that receive federal funding to obtain parental consent before ‘changing a minor child’s gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form; or allowing a child to change the child’s sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.'”

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the legislation “Orwellian to the core,” and promised it “will not see the light of day.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Far Right Christian Nationalist Brags His ‘Biblical Worldview’ Group Is Behind Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Anti-Trans Law

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2 days ago

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March 24, 2023

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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation Tuesday prohibiting transgender people from using public school facilities that match their gender identity. Later that same day, Jason Rapert, a former Arkansas state senator and founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, posted a video crediting his organization for the legislation.

Rapert, a longtime religious-right activist and ardent Christian nationalist, bragged that this piece of legislation was first proposed by Arkansas school board member David Naylor during an annual NACL meeting, endorsed by the organization, and finally brought to the Arkansas state legislature by state Rep. Mary Bentley, who serves on the board of the NACL.

“The NACL has seven working committees,” Rapert said. “Those committees actually debate and discuss every major policy issue in this country, all from a biblical worldview.”

“We make model laws,” he continued. “Do you know that just recently Rep. Mary Bentley of Arkansas passed a model law that the NACL adopted at their last meeting in the state of Texas?”

“Rep. Mary Bentley, [who] is our chair of the National Legislative Council, she went to the Arkansas legislature, took that concept that came from Dr. David Naylor that was then adopted by the full body of the NACL, and guess what? It’s already been placed into law in the state of Arkansas,” Rapert crowed. “That’s the difference the NACL can make in your community.”

“This is what the NACL does every day all across this country,” Rapert bellowed later in the video. “We are fighting for the lives of little babies. We are fighting against the people that are putting the queer books into your school libraries and trying to groom these children into homosexuality. We’re standing up. We’re pursuing school board policies to save the nation. We are standing up and have our members running bills in the halls of the state legislatures to stand up against this woke ideology, to push back against the things of the devil in our country.”

In December, Rapert declared that right-wing Christians must rise up and “take authority” over everything from their local school boards to the federal government. The National Association for Christian Lawmakers seeks do just that, advancing legislation that fits their narrow conservative biblical worldview in statehouses throughout the country. The group’s advisory board includes politicians like Mike Huckabee and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as well as influential religious-right activists like Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel.

This article was originally published by Right Wing Watch and is republished here by permission.

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Watch: GOP Lawmaker Orders Grieving Parkland Parents Removed From ‘ATF Overreach’ Hearing

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March 23, 2023

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U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) is being criticized for having the parents of a victim of the Parkland school massacre removed from a GOP-led House committee hearing on “ATF Overreach” after he deemed them “out of order” for remarks they made while a Member was speaking. Minutes later, Capital Police pinned the father to the ground in the hallway and arrested him.

“See this is, exactly what we have to avoid!” Rep. Fallon, chairing the joint hearing, angrily declared as he pointed his finger after the father, Manuel Oliver, made a remark that was inaudible. “Which is some minority of folks trying to silence dissent. Dissent shouldn’t be kryptonite.”

“There’s a decorum that should be adhered to,” Fallon, who recently refused to sign a statement denouncing white supremacy, said as he chastising Oliver.

After another, louder outburst, Fallon mockingly asked, “Is this an insurrection? So will they be held to the same — I don’t want another January 6.”

READ MORE: ‘Unlawful Incursion’: Manhattan DA Schools Jim Jordan for Demanding He Testify in Ongoing Trump Investigation

Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) responded, “If they’re trying to overthrow the government, they oughta be held to the same standard, but I think they’re trying to express their frustrations.”

Angrily again, Rep. Fallon interjected.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa,” he shouted as he banged the gavel.

“Member’s out of line,” Fallon said (incorrectly. The term is “out of order.”)

Shortly thereafter, Rep. Fallon had both Manuel and Patricia Oliver removed.

ABC News reporter Will Steakin, who was in the hearing, tweeted video and said bot Manuel and Patricia Oliver “appear to leave without resistance… moments later there was a loud thud outside the hearing room and I found Manuel being pinned to the ground by multiple officers.”

“Manuel Oliver, the father of a 17-year-old Parkland shooting victim, was arrested Thursday on Capitol Hill after he appeared to shout at a Republican lawmaker who was speaking during a hearing on gun regulations,” NBC News reports. Patricia Oliver, his wife and the mother of their 17-year old son, Joaquin Oliver, who was one of 17 people who died in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, was not arrested.

READ MORE: ‘National Security Implications’: Former DOJ Official Speculates on Ruling Ordering Trump Attorney to Hand Over Docs

On social media critics expressed anger at Fallon.

“Rep. Pat Fallon (R) thinks parents of slaughtered children should just sit down & shut up as Republicans maintain outrageously dangerous gun laws. He had this parent expelled rather than just giving a warning, which is the usual,” wrote one Twitter user.

“Texas Rep. Pat Fallon: You are the EXACT problem with the gun violence and why it keeps being the leading cause of death in children today,” wrote another.

According to the NIH, gun violence is the leading cause of childhood death.

Still another Twitter user blasted Fallon: “What disgraceful & despicable behavior by Representative Pat Fallon. Exercising your right to free speech is being an insurrectionist? The man lost his son. Have you no compassion? I think he has more than earned the right to be heard by Congress. Such an abuse of power.”

And one called Fallon “feckless.”

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