123 Comments

Well what do you know? Actual parents who are actual voters in the school district do not like the direction being set by Karens for Fascism and other outsider screamers. They don't like book bans. They don't like anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry. They sure as hell don't like the employment of scam artists. And they want their kids taught the real history of the country, not some ideological white washed bullshit from Hillsdale College or PraegerU. This was repeated all across the country.

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"Karens for Fascism" Good one.

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PLEASE quit the Karens routine. It's old, trite, and offensive to the good Karens out there. The Karen closest to me is a Mom for LGBTQ rights.

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Thank you, Barbara!

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Why is that a good one? Please explain if you can.

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I enjoy the play on words.

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Karen is a small persecuted Burmese ethnic group. The personal name ‘Karen’ is randomly assigned to some females at birth.

I’m missing the ‘play on words.’

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We need that energy here in Florida where Republicans are brain washed by these Koch Brothers wee-gie dolls (sp).

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The election results this week provided the best version of "R", for repudiation. As a Virginian, I'm hoping Youngkin slinks back into private life after his one term. He can go back to life as a vulture capitalist destroying businesses instead of ruining an entire state. 😆

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I am still outraged that "Gov. Glenn Youngkin blocked a deal with Ford Motor Company and Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) to bring car battery research and manufacturing to Southside Virginia, an area desperately needing this type of investment." VA needs someone who can undo Youngkin's damage.

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Valerie, our entire country needs leadership to undo so much. Getting an unbeatable majority in Congress will get us there.

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Nov 9, 2023
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The Constitution doesn’t have a chance to be changed without two-thirds majority in House and Senate or by convention by two-thirds of the states. The problem is the re-districting the Republicans do and the fact that the electoral college has voted against the will & votes of the public. With one or two exceptions in the past 30+ years, the Democrats have won the popular vote but have not been able to take office. This is an outrageous silencing of the majority of voters. And because loser trump was able to finagle his way to office, even though Hillary won the popular vote, our SCOTUS has a majority of unqualified nut cases. A very dangerous situation.

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Chris, I had a smile on my face after hearing this. When red states start rejecting their own, it gives us a true sense that perhaps humanity will prevail! 👍🏼

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Virginia is not a Red state!

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Oops! I was thinking of your neighbor with West in front of the name. But it’s exciting to hear about a blue wall for a red governor. 😁

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Finally waking up to good news! There is hope! Keep up your great work, Mr. "Bad Veggie."

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Bed Veggie, Esq. Has a good ring to it! So good to get some positive news.

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Let's all celebrate how all of PI's intensive work about book banning and Moms For Liberty groups has paid off! Nationally! All because of Popular Information shining the light on those who would suffocate learning about actual history, all racial and cultural groups, and varieties in sexuality!

Is there any news about Florida? That was where this movement against learning the actual facts of American history seemed to begin.

By the way Jordan Adams, a right-wing educational consultant hired in PA must be one of the most boring men alive--I can just see 1st graders' eyes glaze over with his curriculum. How sad because that is when children are the most open and curious!

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Imagine them taking that drivel back home and asked to regurgitate it in homework assignments. Normalizing slavery? Women as second class citizens? Responsibilities like spying on your neighbors and being a tattle tale?

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Imagine students taking college entry, certification tests and so on. I suspect this is why a group in FL (“advisors” including Rufo) worked on an alternative college entry test state universities are supposed to accept. Such tests in the past were predominantly for homeschoolers and other alternatives to traditional high school grads. NOT alternative state curriculums that don’t meet necessary standards of education or decency.

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There is a proposal in Florida to eliminate the testing requirement of 3rd and 12th graders for advancement/graduation. Why do you think that? My guess is that Florida kids are not doing well enough to pass current standards and that "moving everyone along" looks better if you report your "graduation" rate. Ronda wants to do away with the accreditation agency (forgot the name) and come up with a lesser known version. They are doing all sorts of sneaking things to get around the country norms and standards for grading a states education landscape. The stigma of "Florida Man" will soon apply to "any kid with a Florida education".

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Good chance you are correct. 3rd grade is a pivot point. Falling behind then indicates something needs to change or the student will not catch up before middle school which is a major transition. Those MS the students feel alienated, act out & do not get prepared for high school. Holding them back is a heavily debated subject. But if you have nothing to offer except the same failed methods it does nothing positive.

FL has a slightly higher rate of low literacy & low numeracy.

A multi-part exposé by the Louisville Ky paper on literacy. I don’t know if you need a subscription to see it. The brain learns to read a certain way. Only about 40% of children will learn to read well enough to overcome adult stupidity.

https://www.courier-journal.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2022/10/19/between-the-lines-thousands-kentucky-kids-cant-read/65405702007/

I’m a broken record on the subject: literacy is lacking because for decades there was a push to “modernize”. Sounding out words was replaced with pictures for “cues” and guessing. For example - I’ve seen where “experts” in this *@$%@#$% say if a child uses the system and “reads” pony for the word horse because they misinterpret the graphic that’s fine. They understood the general meaning. Try that on an SAT, job application, etc.

States are moving away from it to the outrage of the “consultant” industry.

https://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/default-source/literacy/act-517-three-cueing-system-ban-guidance.pdf?sfvrsn=98016318_2#:~:text=The%20three%20cueing%20system%20is,%2Dphonic%20(spelling%20patterns).

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That’s why Republicans are pushing voucher education like for-profit home schooling called pod schools that are essentially glorified day care in the form of home businesses run by stay at home moms providing a place for parents to drop off their kids for home schooling where they are put in front of laptops playing right wing video courses. They are not accredited and the republicans are simply monetizing education to put federal, local, and stay taxes in the form of school vouchers in their own pockets with zero accountability or oversight while they skew what is taught to create dumb Republican voters for life.

It is very well established already. Google pod schools. Republicans need an uneducated supply of voters to resupply an aging base who will be groomed to be easily duped into believing their lies and revision of history in order to not only get red votes but donations and hard right loyalty. And they’ve figured out how to rip off taxpayers to finance it. It is an insidious plot and if we just dismiss it we will regret it and our failure to imagine how willing they are to plot ultimate total destruction of our democracy.

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Until idiot Florida voters (AND DEMOCRATS) get off their asses and pay attention to what is happening, this might continue to happen here.

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And while the lower grades are foundational and to be built upon... who remembers what they were taught in grammar school theory wise? There is a reason young people start rebelling against authority. They start to be aware of a bigger picture and with today’s encyclopedic knowledge available at their fingertips, they can learn facts for themselves! They will learn that everything about the RIGHT is oh so WRONG.

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I remember quite well the B.S. I was taught in the 60s as a kid. That America was the greatest nation on earth (just because we say so); Monsanto and GE films in class showed us what great things they were doing for society (no mention of corp. indoctrination). The fact that NO black history was taught to me and that I had to learn in college about Japanese internment camps in the U.S. despite having a dad that fought in WWII and a mom who worked as a civilian on a base. Teaching critical thinking skills so kids will KNOW to go looking for answers and how to discern what is correct is the thing. I was fortunate that I was taught those skills, otherwise, I'd still belief the half-truths I was taught as a kid.

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In recent years, 50% of 12th graders failed reading comprehension. They can read the words but don’t understand a thing they read.

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Yes, which is in line with the 54% of adults who read below a 6th grade level.

Here is a scary thought from the National Literacy Institute:

“Literacy Data and its impact on Society

3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read

To determine how many prison beds will be needed in future years, some states actually base part of their projection on how well current elementary students are performing on reading tests”

https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/literacy-statistics

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Sad but true

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The oh so WRONG information is easily available at their fingertips also. Then the question is how do they determine which is correct.

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Exactly. Give me a good library, teacher and librarian any day.

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This is why we cannot allow the dumbing down of education to continue. If we don’t teach people to think critically, we will continue to zoom toward a real Idiocracy.

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True! However, indoctrination at a young age is the most damaging. We are not creatures of reason. We are often making emotional decisions while we believe we are being logical. Plus, our brains take shortcuts (like relying on previous info) which makes indoctrination at a young age particularly hazardous.

However, it would be really great if we taught literacy properly & students could actually READ and understand information. Then education would not be ‘dumbed’ down nor would publications for the general public need to be written on an elementary school level. Instead 25% of US adults are functionally illiterate.

Thankfully several many states have begun to reject the so-called ‘modern’ method of teaching literacy. As progress is made I truly hope states stop investing in the failed method, invest in literacy & remedial literacy learning; AND universities begin again to instruct on how to teach literacy. What we’ve had instead was reliance by schools on consultants.

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True.... anyone can find tripe to support their agenda. So, they need to do what I did... seek out people smarter than myself that I respect and compare views.

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That doesn’t work well if you teach fakery in school from an early age. The purveyors of fakery and discrimination etc. become the trusted ‘smarter’ and respected people. They know what they are doing.

The definition of indoctrination: the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically

Then as students (or anyone) comes across new / contradictory information a variety of biases kick in — confirmation bias; motivated reasoning: belief persistence to name a few. Repetition works which is why they want to make it overall policy & start the misinformation & restrictions early. Ideas & beliefs can also become part of a person’s perceived self-identity which increases the rejection of ‘new’ information.

Limiting factual information, learning about groups of people, removing them from history, and these other tricks is harmful. Even without teaching the Lost Cause version of history or incorporating the so-called “benefits” of slavery into official state curriculums, such ideas remained among certain groups generation after generation. Teaching it statewide as ‘truth’ is to indoctrinate students is a travesty & despicable.

This article gives a little taste of how our brains handle information: https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/why-is-it-that-even-proven-facts-cant-change-some-peoples-minds

A sound foundation in basic facts is necessary.

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I live in a red state that rejected extremism Tuesday. It’s refreshing and energizing to know that my fellow citizens, regardless of political party, will come together to reject ideological overreach. Thank you for your efforts to out these people through your reporting!

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And in Roseville, Minnesota a Holocaust denier running for the school board received one percent.

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Roy 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🎉🎉 Thanks for letting us know. It’s so helpful to hear things like this!

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The elections show that people are waking up to the effects of the Republican party. Those who lack the imagination to envision the policies have had to let them happen before they could react. So, as John Dewey, famous educator understood, experience teaches. Let us hope we do not need to have Republican plan 2025 in place for Americans to wake up to what living under a fascist government is like.

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It’s like music to my ears! Thank you for shining a light on these right-wing zealots and the organizations they represent!

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Another great follow-up report and a big sigh of relief that Moms for Liberty had a bad night.

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The first question that comes to mind is this - does't the school itself, or it's staff, already have someone more than qualified to do what they hired Adams for, without the additional expense? The second question is - why are they hiring expensive consultants when we hear numerous reports of teachers having to buy supplies for their students and classrooms?

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Yes, they have more qualified people. Anyone with a background in education is more qualified than the Rufo/MFL types. However curriculum is a specialized area and it is not unusual to hire and/or solicit suggestions and input. That said, accepting curriculum devised by people not qualified to set foot in a classroom is a giant red flag. Looks like voters are catching on. In the mid-term we had a candidate try to fly under the radar and get on the school board to promote this. Fortunately she was identified as such & lost big time.

It is more and more common as bad ed laws are passed. It is the equivalent of FL approving PragerU materials for use -- PragerU which is neither a university nor in anyway qualified. PragerU which buried on its website admits it is not a university and freely admits its goal is to spread “conservative” propaganda. ... They have moved the most succinct telling remark below the mission of being ‘alternative’ to left-wing blah blah blah.

“Learn more about how PragerU is fighting to save America with our mind-changing content.” -- The exact purpose of propaganda & precisely what they accuse ‘the left’ of doing.

https://www.prageru.com/about

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Prager U unaccredited... yet DeSaster embraced it and also completely destroyed the fantastically unique New College in Sarasota. DeSaster’s micro D energy and lifts in his boots betray his tendencies to be what he is ... a bullying hot head who only cares about what pleases HIM.

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All true.

It cannot be accredited because it is not a school. Maybe FL will change that too.

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Voucher misuse has already segregated schools and taken much needed funding from public schools. When my child was in school, the PTAs and PTOs fundraised to provide missing necessities. Most definitely the schools in the wealthier areas have distinct advantages. (And always have.)

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From 2009 to 2011, Wake County, NC (Raleigh) let in a precursor to Karen for Fascism. Our school board went hard right on neighborhood schools vs diversity and then hired total incompetent Tony Tata for superintendent. The county reacted hard against and voted them out in the very next election. Wake County has only gotten more blue in the time since then.

I think because school boards hit us where we care most, we react against their nonsense quicker. And sometimes it really wakes people up. The ripples spread.

My neighbor ousted the school board leader; after 2 terms on the school board, she won election to the county commissioners. Another school board member drew her husband into politics: he just got re-elected to our town council. The ripples keep spreading.

Judd and crew are helping to make the sane thing happen against today's Karens (I meant to type 'same' but 'sane' works, too). I am very grateful for the grand work at PI.

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Accountability journalism works. Thank you for this hopeful summary, and for all the work you do Judd!

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Honestly, this pushback is the greatest victory of the week. These people are simply the worst. The GOP culture war nonsense also really blew up in their faces in my state of NJ. Thanks for all your great reporting on this issue.

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They say that real change has to start in local elections and I am hoping this holds true!

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School Board elections are the springboards to County seats. Then on to House and Senate seats (within states). If these Nutty Karen's get their foot in the door, there are lots of Fox viewers who believe everything they say without research.

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Keep shining the light on these cockroaches

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This is all such great news Judd. Thanks for bringing it to us.

And although the news we are getting from the media recently about the 2024 election looks bleak, I have always have had an abiding faith in the majority of the American people to do the right thing when confronted with such egregious challenges to our Constitutional rights, such as this recent spate of censors and book banners.

On November 5, 2024 the forces of democracy will always prevail over those of dictatorship … just as they did on Tuesday!

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When we vote, we win!!! 💙

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The other side is well aware of this, which is why we're seeing voter roll purges and over 360 voter suppression bills since the horrible Shelby County v. Holder SCOTUS decision.

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