On Friday, The News & Observer reported that a group with ties to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement has come up with a novel way to try to force schools to drop mask mandates: file insurance claims against them.
"The Bonds For the Win website tells parents they can threaten to file 'surety bond claims' against school board members and superintendents accusing them of violating multiple laws unless they make changes such as drop mask requirements," reported T. Keung Hui. "This approach has been used in multiple states, including in North Carolina in Catawba, Iredell, Johnston and Wake counties. 'We have people all over the world obtaining these bonds, all over the world,' Miki Klann, who helped create Bonds For the Win, said in a January YouTube video highlighting efforts in North Carolina. 'These school districts need to be put on notice, and I really do want them to be listening to us right now.'"
According to the report, the surety bond claims, which are made to the liability insurance companies securing the schools, are facilitated by Bonds For the Win's "sample intent letters for parents that charge that requiring masks violates multiple state, federal and international laws. For instance, the group contends that requiring face masks violates The Nuremberg Code that came out of the prosecution of Nazis after World War 2." This is a common conspiracy theory that has been repeatedly debunked.
Liberty Mutual has already received claims for $1 million from the group — although it rejected them, telling the activists the claims were improper.
"Bonds For the Win links its videos to a YouTube channel for Our Great Awakening, a website that Klann helps run," said the report. "Both the YouTube channel and the website include QAnon slogans such as 'Where we go one we go all.' QAnon is an online, often pro-Donald Trump, conspiracy theory based on the fringe belief that the government is run by a group of Satan-worshiping pedophiles including top Democratic lawmakers and a number of celebrities. The website has articles promoting QAnon theories that John F. Kennedy Jr. is still alive and about mass arrests and indictments of child traffickers. Bonds For The Win is being promoted by several QAnon influencers and leaders, according to an article in VICE News."
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