Man attempts to set himself on fire outside the Supreme Court: report
April 22, 2022
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Progressives slam House passage of GOP book banning bill that turns children into 'pawns'
March 24, 2023
Progressive lawmakers and education advocates on Friday condemned federal Republican lawmakers' foray into the nationwide attack on people of color and the LGBTQ+ community as the GOP-led U.S. House passed the so-called Parents Bill of Rights Act—legislation that critics said is aimed at banning books and further ostracizing marginalized communities, while providing no improvements to children's safety at school.
Like legislation passed in at least six states and introduced in at least 26, the Parents Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 5) claims it will protect public school students by requiring schools to make classroom curricula publicly available and provide parents with a list of reading materials in school libraries.
School districts would also be required to inform parents about violent activity that takes place at schools, hold at least two parent-teacher conferences per student per year, and make budget information public.
The legislation was passed a day after the American Library Association (ALA) released a report showing that a record-breaking 2,571 book titles were the subject of "challenges," or demands that they be removed from schools or public libraries, in 2022—a 38% increase from the previous year.
"Conservatives have weaponized hate and fear to try to tear our schools apart, with students who just want to learn and thrive turned into pawns in their political games."
Ninety percent of the attempted book bans were part of challenges to multiple books, suggesting they are increasingly being driven by right-wing groups such as Moms for Liberty instead of individual parents who have concerns. The ALA said this trend began in 2021, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was pushing legislation to ban accurate classroom discussions about the history of racial injustice in the United States.
Schools in Florida have now removed dozens of book titles from shelves, including The Life of Rosa Parks and Who Is the Dalai Lama? as officials assess whether the material is appropriate for children.
"Forty percent of banned books are reported as significantly addressing LGBT issues," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday as the House debated the bill. "When we talk about progressive values, I can say what my progressive value is and that is freedom over fascism."
Speaking about marginalized people and children, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said the legislation is the work of a political party that is "trying to 'write us out' of the curriculum."
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) expressed outrage at the notion that Republicans are seeking to protect children by limiting their access to material dealing with LGBTQ+ issues and American history, considering that have blocked numerous pieces of gun control legislation even as gun violence has overtaken car accidents as the leading cause of death of children in the United States.
"Since Columbine over 20 years ago, more than 344,000 students in our country have experienced gun violence at school," said Tlaib. "Some of our children attend schools with unsafe drinking water. Others go to school in districts attempting to erase Black history from our classrooms by banning books like The Life of Rosa Parks. These are some of the real obstacles to our children thriving."
"When this bill was considered in committee, Democrats offered amendments that would keep firearms out of classrooms, remove lead pipes from our schools, and prevent censorship of Black history. But every single amendment aimed at the real threats to our children was voted down by these MAGA Republicans," she added. "It makes me angry to see how conservatives have weaponized hate and fear to try to tear our schools apart, with students who just want to learn and thrive turned into pawns in their political games."
The National Education Association noted that the legislation, which the Democratic-led Senate is not expected to take up, offers solutions to a number of problems that don't widely exist and promotes a "toxic vision of parental engagement" in schools.
The bill "contains a list of provisions already ensured by local and state law, including, but not limited to, a parent's right to view a school's budget or speak at a public school board meeting," wrote Tim Walker, a senior writer for the organization.
A survey released by Navigator this month showed that parents' top concerns about education are "making sure their children learn what they need to be successful, keeping them safe from gun violence, and protecting their mental health" and that having a "say in what their kids are learning" is not a high priority for a majority of parents.
A poll by National Public Radio last year also found that 76% of parents believe their children's schools keep them well-informed about the curriculum and classroom activities.
"At least in my experience, teachers have always been able to be accessible to parents, and I don't know what these parents' rights bills will do other than give more power and pathways to things like book banning and elimination of resources," York, Pennsylvania teacher Ben Hodge told Education Week recently.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said the bill is an example of "divisive performance politics" by the GOP.
"Every day in classrooms and communities around the country, parents and educators work tirelessly together to make the lives of our kids better and provide them with the knowledge they need to excel—with books, art, and music; tutoring programs and capstone projects; and counseling to help them navigate life, tackle challenges, and deal with trauma," said Weingarten. "The true work of partnering to support families and help our kids do well involves having meaningful discussions about the real things affecting our students and what we, as a country, must do to help."
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'I'm going to kill you': White powder in envelope marked for 'Alvin' discovered at Manhattan DA's office
March 24, 2023
A white powder was found in an envelope addressed to "Alvin" in the mailroom at 80 Centre Street, where a grand jury has been hearing evidence in the case of former President Donald Trump, according to ABC News.
The powder was determined to be non-hazardous, but the intent behind sending it is unclear, sources told ABC News.
According to NBC News, the envelope also contained a letter with the message: "ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Republicans have accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of waging a "politically motivated prosecution" of former President Donald Trump.
Bragg is investigating a $130,000 payment to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
IN OTHER NEWS: Racist man arrested for tormenting neighbors in years-long spree that involved ‘a large cutout of a Sasquatch’
The payment was allegedly made to stop her from going public about a liaison she says she had with Trump years earlier.
Trump's ex-lawyer-turned-adversary Michael Cohen, who has testified before the grand jury, says he made the payment on his then boss's behalf and was later reimbursed.
If not properly accounted for, the payment could result in a misdemeanor charge for falsifying business records, experts say.
That might be raised to a felony if the false accounting was intended to cover up a second crime, such as a campaign finance violation, which is punishable by up to four years behind bars.
Trump insists he is innocent, and has escalated his attacks on Bragg in recent days. Early Friday morning, the former president warned of "death & destruction" if he were to be charged with a crime.
With additional reporting by AFP
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DOJ memo on threats to local school boards lambasted by Republicans at U.S. House hearing
March 24, 2023
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Thursday continued to press accusations that a “woke agenda” is deteriorating parents’ rights in their local school districts.
The first hearing this Congress of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government convened to examine whether a 2021 Department of Justice memo played a role in “chilling” parents’ First Amendment rights at local public school board meetings.
The GOP has for roughly 18 months targeted an Oct. 4, 2021 memo issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland instructing federal law enforcement across the U.S. to “open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response” on possible criminal threats to local school board members over politically charged issues that flared up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The single-page document by Garland directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be on alert for “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” aimed at local school officials and teachers.
Garland has defended the memo, including during appearances before Congress.
In the panel’s two-hour hearing — occurring two days after a separate House Judiciary subcommittee released a 21-page report about the memo — GOP lawmakers criticized the Biden administration for intimidating parents “into silence by siccing federal law enforcement on them.”
“That (First Amendment) right has been significantly stifled over the past few years because the leftists have decided they apparently know better than parents do,” said the panel’s chair, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, in his opening statement.
“That is an outrage and the American people are rising up to say that they will no longer tolerate it as the radical leftists push this woke agenda on America’s children,” he continued.
Democrats disagreed with the premise of Thursday’s hearing.
“Having served on school boards and having seen what’s been happening across the country in recent months, in recent years, I’d have to say that the real First Amendment threat that our schools, teachers, students and parents are facing is the attempt to turn classrooms into the epicenter of divisive culture wars,” said ranking member Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania.
But the witnesses invited by the majority echoed Johnson’s statements.
“One minute you’re making peanut butter and jelly, the next minute the FBI is calling you,” said Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms For Liberty, a group that says one of its members was contacted by federal authorities.
No parent or caretaker has been federally prosecuted since Garland issued the directive.
GOP report
The report on the Garland memo released on March 21 by a separate House Judiciary subcommittee cited FBI data stating 25 inquiries under the threat tag “EDUOFFICIALS” had been opened since the bureau began tracking the incidents. Such tags are routine labeling used by federal law enforcement to organize reports and assess trends.
The report — published by the House Judiciary’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government — concluded that Biden officials “colluded” with school board association leaders “to create a justification to use federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources against parents.”
Correspondence between the National School Boards Association and administration officials occurred in the days before Garland issued the memo.
The NSBA has since apologized for pressing for federal action during a wave of heated school board meeting interactions. A May report commissioned by the association documented the back-and-forth between its leaders and the White House.
The subcommittee cites the NSBA commissioned report and nearly 1,500 pages of documents from the Department of Justice and Department of Education it gained access to after issuing a subpoena to the agencies in February, according to the report.
Scanlon said there are different types of speech in question.
“There’s a huge difference between attempts to suppress free speech based on content as we’ve been seeing in recent years, and addressing speech that may be criminal because it threatens violence, which we have seen directed toward educators and school board members across the country,” she said. “Our Republican colleagues have tried to frame these potentially criminal acts to intimidate school board officials as examples of protected free speech by caring and involved parents. They are not.”
The subcommittee’s chairman, Johnson, promised that the hearing is “surely not going to be the last” on the topic.
Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.
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