Latest news with #MomsforLiberty
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
The new SLO County missionaries: From conquest to coexistence
Colonizers come in all creeds, cultures, and colors. I know. I am one. White, but born in Nigeria. Raised on tales of imperial contradiction and the soft hypocrisy of good intentions, I recognize cultural conquest when I see it. And I see it now in San Luis Obispo County. Only this time, the missionaries wear yoga pants and BLM T-shirts. When the British colonized Africa, they came with muskets, trinkets and the King James Bible. At least they were honest enough to say, 'We're here to civilize and trade.' No one claimed they moved to Lagos for the weather. Contrast that with SLO County. Today's colonizers arrive not in redcoats but Teslas. They marvel that Paso Roblans wave at the sheriff, not because they're high, but because they know his name. They ask, 'Why is there an American flag outside the church, but no LGBTQ++ flag in the classroom?' This isn't just demographic drift. It's felt like a cultural coup. Yes, the change has come through ballots not bayonets, but the effect is no less perturbing. In 1990, San Luis Obispo County was a Republican stronghold. The GOP held 52% of registrations, outnumbering Democrats by more than 21,000 voters. A political landscape as red as a SLO County sunset. Today, the tide has turned. Democrats now lead by over 5,000 voters, holding 38% to the GOP's 35%. What was once a bastion of agrarian grit and frontier faith has been re-tilled and replanted into a progressive outpost. Cal Poly, once an apolitical haven for ag and engineering, now resembles a Berkeley annex with rodeo, oenology and trigger warnings. For a crowd obsessed with condemning 19th-century colonialism, 21st-century progressives seem oddly eager to reenact it. They denounce empire while building their own. Like missionaries with MacBooks, they believe the locals are running outdated software in desperate need of an upgrade. They seize school boards like administrators with manifest destiny, introduce DEI programs like colonial governors introducing cricket, and dismantle tradition in the name of 'equity.' The natives, of course, must be saved from themselves. Always the excuse of the colonizer. However, while it's easy to critique the colonizers, the harder task is the cure. History teaches us that conquest is easy; coexistence is hard, but not impossible. Look to Botswana, Canada and parts of Europe where cultures, when not hell-bent on dominance, manage to share a flag and a future. So can we. The first step? Ditch the missionary robes and martyr complexes. Abandon the intoxicating binary of 'left' versus 'right'. Of 'us' versus 'them'. If local leaders and activists of The Democrats and GOP such as Tom Fulks, Bruce Gibson, Randall Jordan, John Peschong, Moms for Liberty and The Lonely Liberals can pursue their agendas with mutual respect, we may yet replace cultural conquest with something more lasting and meaningful, genuine coexistence. We need a politics of 'and' not 'or'. Heritage and innovation. Liberty and responsibility. Compassion and common sense. These aren't enemies, they're nutrients in the soil of civil society. Civilization doesn't demand that we trade truth for tolerance. We can honor pride without erasing patriotism. We must prioritize pragmatism over purity. Real change doesn't spring from ideology; it grows from ideas that work. In SLO County, that means fixing water infrastructure before funding unconscious bias seminars. Building affordable homes before signaling virtue. Upholding academic standards over chasing DEI quotas and union indulgences. Progress isn't a performance, it's a plan. Let's get back to one. Judge policy not by whether it's progressive or conservative, but by whether it improves lives. We don't need a crusade; we need a Local Civic Compact. A shared vow, from newcomers and natives alike, to preserve what made this place worth moving to in the first place. Free speech, even when it bruises. Education, not indoctrination. Heritage, not hysteria. Conversation over creed. Dialogue over dogma. Let Paso be Paso. Let the Five Cities, Cayucos and Cambria surf their own waves. SLO County is not Hollywood with vineyards or Silicon Valley in cowboy boots. The closer power sits to the people, the more likely it serves them. If we look to Sacramento to dictate our values, we become vassals in someone else's experiment. Which brings us to the final question: Do we want to be right, or do we want to make a difference? Being right is easy. We can play keyboard warriors and bask in our own cognitive dissonance. However, making a difference takes compromise. It means losing a few fights so others might win something lasting. Real progress begins not with purging, but persuasion. SLO County stands at the intersection of two American impulses. The grit that built it from the ground up, and the orthodoxy now eager to remodel it from the top down. We need humility to admit we don't know everything and the courage to defend what we do. Progress, like truth, doesn't shout. It listens. It holds the past not as an anchor, but as a compass. Let's not mistake moral conceit for civic virtue. Civilizations don't endure because one wins. They endure because both sides grow up. Together. Or, as Twain might have said, 'The secret to getting along ain't agreeing, it's remembering you've got to keep living next door after the shouting stops.' Colonizer Clive Pinder married into a fifth-generation Paso Robles family. He lives in Templeton, hosts CeaseFire on KVEC radio and opinionizes for The Tribune. Find more of his columns at
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Moms for Liberty goes to war with New York school over five library books
Moms for Liberty, an ultra-conservative parental rights outfit the Southern Poverty Law Center considers an extremist organization, is fighting to immediately remove five 'obscene' library books from an Upstate New York public school, insisting they are simply too dangerous to keep on the shelves. The body of work being challenged supposedly 'normalizes violence and abuse of women and children, depicts rape, equates violence and pain with pleasure, [and] encourages and normalizes early sexual activity among minors,' according to a petition filed this week in Wayne County Supreme Court by Moms for Liberty and an area evangelical pastor. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is set to appear Friday evening at an event hosted by the group. In their petition, the ardent culture warriors claim the books expose kids to 'obscene depictions of sexually explicit acts.' The books in question include People Kill People, a YA novel by bestselling author Ellen Hopkins about the deleterious effects of gun violence; It Ends With Us, a romance novel by Colleen Hoover that was made into a Hollywood film starring Blake Lively; All Boys Aren't Blue, a 'memoir-manifesto' by journalist and LGBTQ activist George M. Johnson about his struggles growing up as a gay Black man; Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood centered on female empowerment; and Julia Scheeres' Jesus Land: A Memoir, a New York Times bestseller about the author's unpleasant childhood experience at a fundamentalist church camp. Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the New York State Education Department, told The Independent that leadership 'stands 100 percent behind' state education commissioner Betty Rosa for keeping the five books on the shelves in the face of past challenges. In April, Rosa ruled that Moms for Liberty had 'failed to demonstrate that the challenged books here lack 'literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,' and suggested they had not even read the books they said they found so objectionable. To that end, some of the passages Moms for Liberty claimed were sexually explicit in fact had 'nothing to do with sexuality,' Rosa wrote in her ruling. But Moms for Liberty now argues that Rosa's decision was 'arbitrary, an abuse of discretion, and based on a misapplication of the First Amendment,' and are seeking an injunction to rid the library of the books while a lawsuit to ban them permanently winds its way through the courts. Attorney Abigail Southerland, who is representing Moms for Liberty and serves as senior litigtation counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice, a Christian nonprofit run by former Trump impeachment lawyer Jay Sekulow, did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. The case was first reported locally by the Finger Lakes Times. Local chapter head Jennifer Williams told the outlet she would not comment until the case had been fully adjudicated. Moms for Liberty's attempts to remove books from school libraries have spurred vehement backlash across the nation. The battle began in early 2023, when Rev. Jacob Marchitell, who heads up the Christ Community Church in Clyde, New York, filed a formal request with the school board to have the books removed from the Clyde-Savannah Junior/Senior High School library. A committee appointed by the board reviewed the books and found them to be perfectly acceptable, according to the petition. But when Marchitell increased the pressure, the board yanked the books anyway. The school librarian and a teacher there filed an appeal, but the board reversed itself before a decision was handed down, the petition explains. Marchitell, now with Moms for Liberty on board, appealed the move, unsuccessfully, and in April 2024, Rosa ordered the books to remain on the shelves. Moms for Liberty became involved because, according to the petition, 'at least' five registered members of Moms for Liberty have children enrolled in the district and 'will be exposed and/or have access to these lewd and sexually explicit materials when they visit the District's Jr./Sr. High School Library.' A dozen or so more parents are members of the private Moms for Liberty page on Facebook, the petition states. This week's petition, which initiated what is known as an Article 78 proceeding, runs a whopping 165 pages and includes specific examples of what Moms for Liberty and Marchitell find objectionable. In addition to sex, Moms for Liberty's petition says People Kill People 'contains at least 137 profanities,' It Ends With Us 'contains at least 105 profanities,' and All Boys Aren't Blue 'contains numerous profanities.' The petition flags no problematic profanity in Red Hood , but says it contains 'numerous' instances of pornography, and that Jesus Land contains 'several examples of sexually explicit content and profanities.' '[T]he sexual content contained within these books is excessive and severely undermines any asserted literary value for the students given access to the school library,' the petition alleges. Moms for Liberty, which last year helped ban a book about book bans, has come out in favor of Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for a potential Trump administration that has been accused of veering into authoritarianism. In a statement issued following Rosa's April decision against Moms for Liberty, New York Library Association President Lisa Kropp said, 'The intimidation tactics used here are being repeated in classrooms and public libraries across the state and the country. As the voice of the library community in New York, NYLA will not allow this tactic to go unnoticed, unremarked, or unchallenged.' Trump, who has vowed to eliminate the US Department of Education if reelected, is making his appearance Friday evening with Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice at the group's yearly meeting in Washington, D.C. It will be the second time in two years he has shown up at the annual confab.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - DeSantis's reign of terror on education is Trump's model
If Americans want a glimpse of Trump-style education policy in action, they should look to Florida. Over the last six years, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has turned the state into a laboratory for a hard-right agenda, disguised as 'parental rights' but aimed at systematically dismantling public education. Under the banner of culture wars, Florida has censored classroom discussions, politicized school boards and driven teachers out of the profession, undermining not just what students learn but whether they learn at all. It's a blueprint for control, not for education. Start with book-banning. Florida leads the country in book-banning, with 4,561 books banned in schools in 33 of the state's 67 school districts. Banned books, including award-winning authors like Maya Angelou, Saul Bellow and Toni Morrison, classics from Proust to Ovid, bestselling authors like Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson, and left-leaning social commentators like Jon Stewart. This wave of book-bans aligns with broader efforts in Florida to reshape school curricula. The state's new educational standards include language suggesting that enslaved people may have developed skills that 'could be applied for their personal benefit.' The state also placed limits on African American studies programs, claiming an Advanced Placement African American Studies course lacked educational value and violated state law. Gay and transgender students and educators have come under increased scrutiny. Legislation and administrative rules have imposed restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students may use and have limited how gender identity and sexual orientation can be discussed in classrooms. Under laws signed by DeSantis, teachers face legal risks for using the preferred pronouns of transgender students without explicit parental consent. One notable case occurred in Brevard County, where a beloved veteran teacher's contract was not renewed because she referred to a student by a name chosen several years prior to the adoption of the rule. Meanwhile, new laws require parental consent for basic services like nurses' visits, accessing library books and watching PG films like 'Frosty the Snowman.' Because of these rules, tens of thousands of Florida students lose out because their parents have not filled out consent forms. School nurses risk losing their jobs for something as simple as putting a bandage on a scraped knee without prior parental consent. The burden falls heavily on parents, who must navigate a maze of new forms, and on school staff, who are overwhelmed by the surge in paperwork. Many frontline educators and support workers live in fear of backlash from activist groups like Moms for Liberty, whose influence has turned everyday decisions into political flashpoints. DeSantis has also gone to war with higher education, including the takeover of the New College of Florida. High-ranking administrators were fired and diversity programs eliminated. Scores of faculty have quit. DeSantis's hostility toward public education knows no limits. His state ranks dead last in teacher pay, Florida just posted the worst national test scores in more than 20 years and Florida has a universal school voucher program that disproportionately benefits higher-income students. None of this has escaped the attention of Trump, whose executive orders explicitly encourage states to turn federal block grants into voucher programs. His latest proposed budget also slashes $4.5 billion in support for low-income students, undermining programs that help with high school completion, college access and work-study opportunities. He proposes cutting teacher quality initiatives, funding for Howard University, the Office for Civil Rights and bilingual student programs. His proposed budget explicitly prohibits funding for progressive nonprofits and DEI programs. Will Republicans in Congress realize that Trump's assault on education hurts the very institutions their communities rely on? Schools and universities aren't just economic drivers in their districts, they're centers of local pride, identity and opportunity. In places like Brevard County, where we recently held a town hall, hope is being replaced by fear. Parents, educators, students and community leaders all expressed shame and fury at the actions of their local school board and state policymakers. Trump and DeSantis have taken the bullying approach to governing to new extremes. There is no honest debate, no give and take, no compromise. It is a relentless drive to push, divide and control. Cruelty is the point, and the negative consequences of children, families and educators aren't a side effect — it's a strategy. Forty-two years ago, Republican President Ronald Reagan sounded the alarm on the state of American education by releasing 'A Nation at Risk.' Today, that title applies to much more than our schools: our economy, our democracy, our environment, our global standing and our moral compass. But no one is more vulnerable than 50 million American school children living under an immoral, unethical and criminal president. They cannot vote. They have no lobby. They are counting on us to fight back. Jennifer Jenkins is a former Brevard County School Board member and chairwoman of Educated We Stand, a nonprofit committed to resisting right-wing extremism in Florida schools. Arne Duncan is a former U. S. Secretary of Education. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
DeSantis's reign of terror on education is Trump's model
If Americans want a glimpse of Trump-style education policy in action, they should look to Florida. Over the last six years, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has turned the state into a laboratory for a hard-right agenda, disguised as 'parental rights' but aimed at systematically dismantling public education. Under the banner of culture wars, Florida has censored classroom discussions, politicized school boards and driven teachers out of the profession, undermining not just what students learn but whether they learn at all. It's a blueprint for control, not for education. Start with book-banning. Florida leads the country in book-banning, with 4,561 books banned in schools in 33 of the state's 67 school districts. Banned books, including award-winning authors like Maya Angelou, Saul Bellow and Toni Morrison, classics from Proust to Ovid, bestselling authors like Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson, and left-leaning social commentators like Jon Stewart. This wave of book-bans aligns with broader efforts in Florida to reshape school curricula. The state's new educational standards include language suggesting that enslaved people may have developed skills that 'could be applied for their personal benefit.' The state also placed limits on African American studies programs, claiming an Advanced Placement African American Studies course lacked educational value and violated state law. Gay and transgender students and educators have come under increased scrutiny. Legislation and administrative rules have imposed restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students may use and have limited how gender identity and sexual orientation can be discussed in classrooms. Under laws signed by DeSantis, teachers face legal risks for using the preferred pronouns of transgender students without explicit parental consent. One notable case occurred in Brevard County, where a beloved veteran teacher's contract was not renewed because she referred to a student by a name chosen several years prior to the adoption of the rule. Meanwhile, new laws require parental consent for basic services like nurses' visits, accessing library books and watching PG films like 'Frosty the Snowman.' Because of these rules, tens of thousands of Florida students lose out because their parents have not filled out consent forms. School nurses risk losing their jobs for something as simple as putting a bandage on a scraped knee without prior parental consent. The burden falls heavily on parents, who must navigate a maze of new forms, and on school staff, who are overwhelmed by the surge in paperwork. Many frontline educators and support workers live in fear of backlash from activist groups like Moms for Liberty, whose influence has turned everyday decisions into political flashpoints. DeSantis has also gone to war with higher education, including the takeover of the New College of Florida. High-ranking administrators were fired and diversity programs eliminated. Scores of faculty have quit. DeSantis's hostility toward public education knows no limits. His state ranks dead last in teacher pay, Florida just posted the worst national test scores in more than 20 years and Florida has a universal school voucher program that disproportionately benefits higher-income students. None of this has escaped the attention of Trump, whose executive orders explicitly encourage states to turn federal block grants into voucher programs. His latest proposed budget also slashes $4.5 billion in support for low-income students, undermining programs that help with high school completion, college access and work-study opportunities. He proposes cutting teacher quality initiatives, funding for Howard University, the Office for Civil Rights and bilingual student programs. His proposed budget explicitly prohibits funding for progressive nonprofits and DEI programs. Will Republicans in Congress realize that Trump's assault on education hurts the very institutions their communities rely on? Schools and universities aren't just economic drivers in their districts, they're centers of local pride, identity and opportunity. In places like Brevard County, where we recently held a town hall, hope is being replaced by fear. Parents, educators, students and community leaders all expressed shame and fury at the actions of their local school board and state policymakers. Trump and DeSantis have taken the bullying approach to governing to new extremes. There is no honest debate, no give and take, no compromise. It is a relentless drive to push, divide and control. Cruelty is the point, and the negative consequences of children, families and educators aren't a side effect — it's a strategy. Forty-two years ago, Republican President Ronald Reagan sounded the alarm on the state of American education by releasing 'A Nation at Risk.' Today, that title applies to much more than our schools: our economy, our democracy, our environment, our global standing and our moral compass. But no one is more vulnerable than 50 million American school children living under an immoral, unethical and criminal president. They cannot vote. They have no lobby. They are counting on us to fight back. Jennifer Jenkins is a former Brevard County School Board member and chairwoman of Educated We Stand, a nonprofit committed to resisting right-wing extremism in Florida schools. Arne Duncan is a former U. S. Secretary of Education.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
New report finds over 1K hate groups in US: Here's which ones are in Southern Colorado
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found there were over a thousand hate and antigovernment groups in the United States in 2024, and 33 of them were in Colorado. Two of the organizations FOX21 spoke with in our region say being on the list is a badge of honor. Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit, civil rights organization that releases an annual Year in Hate & Extremism report that looks into hate and antigovernment extremist groups in the United States as well as their influence on local, state, and national government. Hate groups in the US decline but their influence grows, report shows 'These groups use political, communication, violent, and online tactics to build strategies and training infrastructure to divide the country, demoralize people, and dismantle democracy,' the report said. Over 2024, the report found there were 1,371 hate and extremist groups in the United States, a 5% decline. However, the number of hate and extremist groups in Colorado has been slowly increasing, based on the new report. The report outlines 33 groups across Colorado on its 'Hate Map,' all of which are said to be hate and antigovernment groups. 10 groups are located in Southern Colorado in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Fountain. Here's which groups across Colorado are on the list and what Southern Poverty Law said is their ideology: Group Ideology Location Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform Anti-Immigrant Lakewood Family Policy Alliance Anti-LGBTQ Colorado Springs Family Research Institute Anti-LGBTQ Colorado Springs Focus on the Family Anti-LGBTQ Colorado Springs Gays Against Groomers – Colorado Chapter Anti-LGBTQ Denver Generations Anti-LGBTQ Elizabeth The Pray in Jesus Name Project Anti-LGBTQ Colorado Springs Colorado Eagle Forum Antigovernment General Brighton Constitution Party – Colorado Antigovernment General Statewide Faith Education Commerce (FEC United) – Northern Colorado Antigovernment General Northern Colorado Freedom First Society Antigovernment General Colorado Springs Moms for Liberty – Boulder County, CO Chapter Antigovernment General Boulder County Moms for Liberty – El Paso County, CO Chapter Antigovernment General El Paso County Moms for Liberty – Larimer County, CO Chapter Antigovernment General Fort Collins Moms for Liberty – Mesa County, CO Chapter Antigovernment General Mesa County Moms for Liberty – Weld County, CO Chapter Antigovernment General Weld County Parents Involved in Education – Colorado Antigovernment General Statewide Tactical Civics – Colorado Antigovernment General Statewide Tactical Civics – Colorado Springs, CO Antigovernment General Colorado Springs Tactical Civics – Fountain, CO Antigovernment General Fountain Tactical Civics – Weld County, CO Antigovernment General Weld County Tactical Civics -Longmont, CO Antigovernment General Longmont We Are Change – Denver, CO Antigovernment General Denver Scriptures for America Worldwide Ministries Christian Identity Laporte American Freedom Network Conspiracy Propagandists Johnstown Northern Kingdom Prophets General Hate Pueblo Colorado Mountain Boys Militia El Paso County Asatru Folk Assembly – Colorado Neo-Volkisch Statewide The American States Assembly – Colorado Sovereign Citizens Movement Statewide Colorado State Assembly Sovereign Citizens Movement Statewide Peoples Operation Restoration Sovereign Citizens Movement Statewide Team Law Sovereign Citizens Movement Grand Junction Patriot Front – Colorado White Nationalist Statewide Focus on the Family says its mission is to support healthy and thriving marriages, but they've also advocated conversion therapy for gay people. The Director of Family Studies says if that lands them on a hate list, then they'll wear it with pride. 'Our big focus now is family, marriage, and parenting,' Glenn T. Stanton, the Director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, explained. 'From day one, it has been like Dr. Dobson, who founded the organization, said let's put up a shingle and let's just trust God and see who shows up and need our help, and that's exactly what we do and we'be been doing that every day since the mid seventies.' Focus on the Family made the list for an anti-LGBTQ ideology, while El Paso County's Moms for Liberty was labeled as anti-government. 'When did we start considering families and parental rights and people who want the government to get out of their household as terrorists or hate groups? And that's how far we've come,' Darcy Schoening, Member of Moms for Liberty, explained. 'So, you know, people like me, Moms for Liberty, we have to keep standing up.' Lawsuit filed over Kelly Loving Act Moms for Liberty is among several groups suing the state of Colorado over the Kelly Loving Act, which expands transgender protections in Colorado. Those behind the suit claim it violates free speech and parental rights. 'We're just asking for the government to stay out of our business and not to trans our kids behind our backs,' Schoening said. Although the total number of hate and extremist groups may have dropped in the country, it continues to rise in Colorado. Previous reports tracked 30 groups in 2023 in Colorado, 31 in 2022, 18 in 2021, and 17 in 2020. During the start of the report in 2000, the Hate Map only noted seven groups in Colorado. While the number of white nationalist, hate, and anti-government groups around the U.S. dropped in 2024, the report said this isn't because of the shrinking influence. The report attributes the decline to the lesser sense of urgency to organize because these beliefs have entered politics, education, and society. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
