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WATCH: Michigan parents try to pound their way into school board meeting to demand mask-free classrooms
April 16, 2021
More than 50 parents showed up for a Michigan school board meeting demanding an end to mask rules inside classrooms despite a statewide surge in new coronavirus infections.
The parents began banging on the doors to the auditorium where the Hudsonville Board of Education meeting was held Thursday evening after many of them were denied entrance due to social distancing requirements, and one mother said she didn't understand why parents weren't allowed into school buildings, reported MLive.
"The fact that there's no parents keeping an eye on teachers and what's going on, there's so much potential for wrong things to happen," said Jeanette Schuiteman.
"It doesn't make any sense to me," Schuiteman added. "Students are coming into contact with us and coming into contact with all the other students, so it's as if I were already coming into contact with the students because my students are in the school. So it seems like a silly rule that doesn't make a lot of sense."
Schuiteman, who has five children in district schools, saids she believes masks are "physically not healthy" and the decision to wear them should be left up to individual families.
"I think that's a decision that a parent should be able to make given the harmful side effects that might occur because of it," she said. "There is not really any scientific evidence to back up the effectiveness of masks for transmitting a virus."
Michigan leads the nation in COVID-19 cases, and officials say school outbreaks and new cases in young people are helping to drive the surge.
"Our parents' voices are extremely important for us to understand the pulse of the community, but right now it's not enough for us to get rid of masks," said superintendent Doug VanderJagt. "As soon as it becomes an option, that's a different conversation, but right now it's not."
Parents chanted "let us in" after they were locked out of the capacity meeting until security guards asked them to go outside, and VanderJagt said he regretted the scheduling.
"If we knew there was going to be 400 people that wanted to get in here, we'd have just had the meeting online," he said. "We didn't know how many to expect, otherwise we could have had a bigger venue and gone outside or virtual."
Hudsonville parents urge school officials to make masks optional www.youtube.com
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Press Secretary Jen Psaki brilliantly smacks down Newsmax reporter trying to get Black UN Ambassador fired
April 16, 2021
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded to a reporter from the right wing website Newsmax who asked if President Joe Biden will fire the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield joined the U.S. Foreign Service four decades ago, in 1982. Her extensive resume includes serving as United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Director General of the United States Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources, United States Ambassador to Liberia, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, among others.
She was confirmed for her current post by a highly partisan U.S. Senate in a strongly bipartisan 78–20 vote.
Newsmax White House Correspondent Emerald Robinson suggested President Joe Biden should bow down to any criticism or attacks from China, telling Psaki that Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield "essentially said that white supremacy is woven into our founding documents and principles."
"This statement," Robinson claimed, "is getting widely criticized as essentially parroting Chinese Communist Party talking points. So is the President going to remove her from her position as the representative before that body to promote United States values?"
Psaki, calmly, told her no.
"Is the President going to remove an African American woman with decades of experience in the Foreign Service who is widely respected around the world from her position as Ambassador to the UN? He is not," Psaki replied. "He is proud to have her in that position. She is not only qualified, he believes she is exactly the right person in that role at this moment in time. I have not seen her comments, I will say that there's no question that there has been a history of institutional racism in this country, and that doesn't require the UN ambassador to confirm that."
Robinson, apparently trying to shape U.S. foreign policy from the press briefing room, complained thast Ambassador Robinson's remarks are "essentially the same lecture though that the Chinese delegation gave Secretary Blinken in Alaska last month. So does the President think our founding documents are racist?"
Undeterred, Psaki again responded, saying: "I would say that, I will, I will leave my comments to speak for themselves, and certainly I think most people recognize the history of systemic racism in our country, and she was speaking to that."
As most Americans known, the founding documents are inherently racist, including but hardly limited to allowing slavery and counting slaves as only three-fifths of a person.
Watch:
"Is POTUS going to remove an African American woman w/ decades of experience in the foreign service who's widely re… https://t.co/QnJTcunoff— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar)1618587851.0
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The road to fill an open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri seems to be taking a sharp right turn through Florida and Donald Trump's bunker at Mar-A-Lago.
Rep. Jason Smith has lined up such loony luminaries as Reps. Lauren Boebert, Ronny Jackson and Lee Zeldin for the host committee of an April 30 fundraiser there. Smith is part of a growing field of Republicans rumored to be joining a primary free-for-all for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated in 2022 by retiring Senator Roy Blunt.
The host committee also includes such well-known GOP names as Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, former Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia and Governor Mike Parson of Smith's home state of Missouri. In Trumpy Missouri, Smith would be counting on his ongoing loyalty to the Deposed One as a key selling point.
Both the host list and the venue speak volumes about Trump's ongoing ownership of the GOP. Here's how the Missouri Times, a statewide political newspaper, described Smith's prospects:
"Should Smith seek the Senate seat, he is expected to be a good choice to garner Trump's endorsement. He's a staunch ally of the former president and even stood in his corner during a contentious debate held in St. Louis against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. "
And there's this from the News-Leader in Springfield, Mo:
"In recent years, (Smith has) made friends with President Donald Trump and his family as one of Trump's most outspoken supporters, which may come in handy.
"Trump has made clear he plans to play an active role in Republicans' efforts to retake Congress in 2022, and if Smith could score his endorsement, it would be a game-changer in a state Trump won by 15 points last year."
But Smith would be squaring off in a crowded field with others touting their fealty to Trump. More from the Missouri Times:
"Attorney General Eric Schmitt and former Gov. Eric Greitens have already announced their candidacies for the Senate seat — and both Republicans have harped on their ties to Trump. The scandal-ridden Greitens has sought to paint himself as unfairly maligned by Democrats and the media, a comparison to Trump; Schmitt has touted his defense of Trump's agenda as attorney general."
Smith represents Missouri's 8th congressional district, which includes the childhood home of the late Rush Limbaugh. Trump carried the district by a stout 54.4 % margin in 2016, by far his largest spread in Missouri and 12th among all House districts in the nation, according to FiveThirtyEight.
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