A faculty committee convened by Ladapo's peers at the University of Florida condemned him for "careless, irregular, or contentious research practices.". We respectfully decline to comment any further on this issue.". In one such rebuke, a judge concluded that the real goal of a Thomas More attorneys request was the undermining of a democratic election for President of the United States.. an A! Republican retracts false claim schools placing litter boxes for 'furry' students Nebraska's Bruce Bostelman apologises for repeating rumor that schools accommodating children who. not subtle. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. They were subjected to often stinging rebukes. Kline considered the case against him to be political and denied acting unethically. The rumor that furries people who have an interest in anthropomorphic animal characters and sometimes dress up as them used litter boxes in the school district, which is about two hours. Weve always understood the importance of calling out corruption, regardless of political affiliation. So its not me singlehandedly making these decisions, Colwell said. He told everyone standing there (myself included) that they were calling his child a furry and he asked them to stop.. Knox Zajac, an 11-year-old sixth grader from Maine, spoke out against "pornographic" content in his middle school and wants the administrators to be prosecuted. Ganahl is the latest in a string of Republican candidates nationwide to condemn furries. We are nonpartisan, were bipartisan, but we want the laws to be enforced so that the democratic process is not distorted and destroyed, he said. But efforts to cast anthropomorphized animals as a niche issue are misguided, anyway. | While Arizona law splits election duties between the recorder and supervisors, many counties have given the recorder more authority over election procedures in the past, including Maricopa County for decades and, currently, Yuma County. Target announced it was making all its bathrooms gender neutral. an E! But the narrative that schools would indulge students in this fashion has a much darker underbelly. Sometimes, as in the case of Central York, the same people who supported book bans are the same people now promoting furry rumors. He did this based on a severely flawed, non-peer-reviewed study conducted by unnamed individuals within the Florida Department of Health. Not one of them provided evidence raising genuine questions about the election outcome, the report states. No, a teacher did not get fired for failing to "meow back" at a student who identifies as a cat. In recent months, it successfully lobbied Ohio lawmakers to enact a strict voter photo ID law. They called their initiative the Amistad Project, a reference to an 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship of that name. According to Kentucky NBC affiliate WLWT, parents and students alike are concerned about a group of high school students in the Meade County School district attending school acting like and dressing as cats. One woman who spoke to the outlet, the grandmother of two children who attend the high school, said the trend began last year, but seemed to become more popular when students returned to classes in August. Furries are people who have an active interest in animal characters with human characteristics. Yet for all the scrutiny given to election denialism and its champions including Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn and Sidney Powell, former advisers to President Donald Trump the significant role played by the Thomas More Society has received little attention. Who cares? Read her latest reports or check out her bio and send her an email. Cat!. No, Maine students aren't . Both Dunn and Joe Strike, another furry historian and community member . We respect him terribly, Brejcha said in a 2020 webinar. Theres always some teen craze that people inevitably blow out of proportion. While false, the widespread hoaxes play into a broader right-wing effort to discredit and demand further control over public education. How did your school find out, if ever? I was hearing rumblings of this last year, but it really got bad when they went back to school this year. How could we possibly win a war with an army filled with dogs and cats?. Long before the Thomas More Society and Kline joined together on election law, they had a different kind of relationship. Bannon applauded that action. Parent heroes will TAKE BACK our schools., Midland Public Schools do not provide litter boxesunisex or otherwise. LGBTQNation 10/25/2022. The legal machinations havent led to big victories in court so far, and in fact Thomas Mores efforts have sometimes drawn ridicule from the bench. Kline told ProPublica that he gave the committee over 12 gigabytes of data, including 107,563 pages of documents, in response to the subpoena. In Skowhegan, Maine, where Redditors were already sharing litter box rumors, a speaker at a school board meeting spoke requesting information regarding the districts stance on allowing students who identify as animals (furry), to be an exception to dress code (hats, etc), according to the meetings publicly available minutes. I do not believe the committee reviewed these materials, as they declined to schedule an interview with me, where I was happy to discuss the materials, he said in an email. The American high school experience in 2021 is plagued by uncertainty in the face of an ongoing pandemic, aggro anti-mask dads, Tiktok drama, the usual academic hurdles, and furries. One month after Jefferson County school administrators denied that kids were dressing up as so-called "furries" at school, CBS News Colorado has obtained emails showing the district was aware. Play the long game. Thats not to say furries arent in schools. As China threatens to invade neighbors, were cringing when someone tells us hes an antelope and we better acknowledge hes got hooves whether or not visible, he opined. These people will hiss at you or scratch at you if they dont like something youre doing.. The organization also considers its efforts to ban ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin a success. Weve covered everything thrown at us this past year and will continue to do so with your support. I was uh. This is only reinforced by the fact that it is a predominantly online fandom and you can pretend to essentially be whoever you want behind a screen. Thats why its doubly important for pro-life advocates to ensure the integrity of state and local elections, one of the groups attorneys wrote in an op-ed last summer. An examination by ProPublica of Thomas Mores 2020 election-law initiative shows it helped fuel skepticism over President Joe Bidens victory and the fairness of elections in numerous states. VAERS reports also rose for Gardasil when the right decided that vaccinating young girls against cervical cancer was grooming. The committee is meant to be bipartisan and to provide expertise and transparency to the process, Colwell said. Its a decades-old genre and, relative to other available subcultures, fairly wholesome. Counties arent prevented from doing what they think is right, Fontes said. Kids being dumb: The Meade County School district is dealing with an unusual situation: a group of high school students is attending school acting like and dressing as cats. Public schools in Maine and across the country have been plagued by false allegations that they have been forced to provide litter boxes for children who identify as animals, sometimes. The Daily Beast reports that in "Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan, and Iowa in recent months, school board meetings have been disrupted by allegations that educators are giving special treatment to furry students.". or click here to become a subscriber. Initially, the group which is run by staunch Catholics and named for a Catholic saint and lawyer focused on defending people in the anti-abortion movement. Apparently, from what I understand, theyre called furries, the grandmother, who asked to remain anonymous, told WLKY. 0. Jen Fifield is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Its a cousin to transphobic memes like I sexually identify as an attack helicopter using weirdos to make it easier to swallow.. The superintendent tells WLKY. A school board in North Carolina considered a proposal to ban furry costumes in schools after they say they received numerous complaints about students dressing up as . The Board of Supervisors for the southern Arizona county voted 2-1 on Tuesday afternoon to transfer the boards election oversight to Stevens, giving up their statutorily-prescribed control over the appointment of the countys elections director, Election Day procedures, ballot counting and presentation of election results. Will artificial intelligence overthrow its capitalist overlords? Privacy Policy | For corrections contact corrections@rawstory.com, for support contact support@rawstory.com. Updated on: October 31, 2022 / 10:47 PM Its because they have a strong bond and connection thats rooted in creativity.. When vaccine safety is in the news, people are more likely to attribute their symptoms to vaccines and more motivated to report those symptoms to VAERS. Lawyers for Thomas More made three trips to the U.S. Supreme Court in the clash, ultimately winning a 2006 decision in which the court held that the protests couldnt be barred under extortion or racketeering statutes. / CBS Colorado. The agreement Cochise County approved Tuesday is not that specific and it gives Stevens some of the elections directors duties, such as presenting final election results to the board for approval. In the weeks leading up to the Capitol insurrection, Kline led a group of investigators and litigators working out of a northern Virginia hotel, trying to prove that unlawful activity had influenced the election. I think you have vilified the election process.. There are no furries or students identifying as such. That generally is the case, but that doesnt mean theres not evidence that requires further investigation and effort and I believe there is.. A recent Rolling Stone article showcased a thriving, TikTok-based furry youth scene. While the districts superintendent assured WLWT that this furry gear is, in fact, a dress code violation, that hasnt seemed to ease the worries of the anonymous student who started the petition. Joshua Bergren / Via youtube.com. Furries. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider it. Then, people from another district said students are allowed to identify as dogs and wear dog collars. Its about control.. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) A rumor going around on social media has been raising some eyebrows. After the mid-January meeting ended, McMillan said she saw the group corner a local father in a hallway. Some argued that giving Stevens more control over elections threatened to derail the integrity of the countys system. The society contended that those local governments placed their thumb on the scale by accepting tens of millions of dollars in private grants for election administration from a nonprofit backed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. These "furries," as we're told they are called, are also allowed to hiss and meow at other students. Patterson is an Indiana State Teachers Association board member. Its culture war, its control, and its not about protecting kids, Patch OFurr, proprietor of the furry news site Dogpatch Press, told The Daily Beast. Within a 48-hour period this week, a federal court ruled that a school could not require children to use the bathroom that corresponds to their biological sex. ", Edwards says she wants school administrations to issue a public statement that sets the record straight, saying parents and kids deserve that, "I will continue making waves, I will continue going to his principal, I will continue contacting Jefferson County until they acknowledge that it's happening and they need to address it.". For the sake of American democracy and to strengthen our fraying social fabric, it is preferable to address the fraud issues before determining who is the next President. In case after case over the Zuckerberg grants, judges found no merit in the arguments presented by lawyers associated with Kline and Thomas More. Contributions to the Thomas More Society jumped 82% between 2019 and 2020 to nearly $17.4 million, financial documents filed with the IRS show. Antivaxers love to claim that 32,000 people have died from the covid vaccine, because there have been 32,000 reports of people dying after being vaccinated. The society declined repeated requests from ProPublica for an interview or to answer specific questions. Kline, meanwhile, is aligned with the American Voters Alliance, a nonprofit led by his daughter, Jacqueline Timmer. And others, who call themselves "furries," create animal alter egos and interact with others who do the same. The societys election integrity initiative is now headed by its Executive Vice President Thomas Olp. ", School Board Member Susan Miller asked the same question: "We can see in the emails our parents raised issues with it and I don't think we should be saying our parents are lying.". ", In another email, Deputy Superintendent Kym LeBlanc-Esparza says, "We have all received the emails about the furries in schools..", And in yet another email, Tara Pena, chief of family school and community partnerships, wonders, "If it [would be] helpful to mention that calling into question students dressing or "identifying" as furries is part of a larger, national political platform to further marginalize our transgender and lgbtq+ students. Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, Scott Adams and why American capitalism kneels before a bigger God. Lisa Hansen asked other parents to join her to . Patch OFurr, proprietor of the furry news site Dogpatch Press, tells The Daily Beast that many of the same people spreading bogus furry rumors are the same people agitating to ban books they don't like. Some of them have used anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. They were yelling at him about his kid being a furry, McMillan told The Daily Beast. But there is one major difference with the agreement, which Yuma County Recorder Richard Colwell provided to Votebeat on Tuesday. The money was awarded to communities across 47 states to pay for more staff, training, equipment and outreach to voters on how to safely cast their ballots. He added that he agrees with the committees assessment that there was not sufficient proof of fraud to overturn the election. NBC News agreed to keep their last names private due to their fear of. READ MORE: The inherent racism of anti-vaxx movements. (The organization does not release the names of its donors.). The blogs noted that schools had denied the allegations, but the authors went on to say theyd heard more rumors from locals and people at the Clay County GOP booth at the county fair., Such rumors, if true, threatened to weaken the U.S. military, an Iowa commentator wrote. The website is a online portal for scheduling meet ups and sharing information. According to the Cumberland Valley parent, their child came home from school and said, "Dad, the furries see me in the hallway and call me a dumb straight white boy," but he can't make sense of it because the furries are also white kids. (It is unconscionable that this afternoon I am sending this communication, his email to parents began.). The bare necessitiesThis kit packs $431 worth of premium skincare and haircare into a small packageand it's only $80 with the promo code. Every reader contribution, no matter the amount, makes a difference in allowing our newsroom to bring you the stories that matter, at a time when being informed is more important than ever. Sixth grader Knox Zajac appeared at the school board meeting on February 15 to . According to Kentucky NBC affiliate WLWT, parents and students alike are concerned about a group of high school students in the Meade County School district "attending school. CBS News Colorado asked Eloe to explain why she denied furries were an issue, despite emails showing otherwise, but she wouldn't answer the question, sending the following statement: "Our principals work with their staff to follow district policy around appropriate dress code. In its final report, the Jan. 6 committee did not cite the Thomas More Society or the Amistad Project by name. The investigations will be rigorous and continue whether or not the Electoral College vote is held December 14, the report states. Fargo, Moorhead and West . Crosby and Judd dismissed Bendors letter. Theyre demonizing minorities by proxy, with a target behind the target, OFurr wrote in a recent blog post. Still, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told Votebeat on Tuesday that historically, Arizona counties have made this type of decision on how to delegate election responsibilities and they should have the right to do so. She's even more frustrated that school administrators got caught up in the politics. Kline, who now teaches law at the evangelical Liberty University, told ProPublica he approached the society in 2018 about working together to publicize alleged election vulnerabilities. Think Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse, they walk on two legs, have hands to manipulate items, and talk. It did not win through court action, but as increasing attention was paid to the drop boxes, the state Supreme Court ruled their use unlawful. Claims of litter boxes in school bathrooms have cropped up on social media both locally and around the country. Hosted by Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer. ", But through an open records request, CBS News Colorado found earlier emails that appear to contradict that. After a closed session to discuss the letter, Judd said she didnt see a problem going ahead. How my high school AND college found out I was a furry! Getty Images. By Kristin Rushowy Queen's Park Bureau Sun., Oct. 30, 2022 timer 5 . A parent raised a similar concern at an Iowa school board meeting that month, and the query took on a more political tone at a board meeting in Minnesota. We saw that time and again on abortion.. Midland Public Schools Superintendent Michael E. Sharrow took to Facebook on Thursday to deny the claims, insisting no litter box accommodations had been made for any students who identify as a "furry." 5 The bizarre rumor pertains to a school in Michigan's Midland Public Schools District Credit: Google Maps 5 Yesterday I heard that at least one of our schools in our town, has in one of the unisex bathrooms a litter box for the kids that identify as cats, a speaker at a school board meeting said, in a video that went viral in January. We adopted it, Brejcha is quoted saying in the Catholic publication Our Sunday Visitor. In Wisconsin, the uproar over the grants became a central element of a taxpayer-funded, partisan review of the 2020 election, led by Trump supporter Michael Gableman, a former state Supreme Court justice. In Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan, and Iowa in recent months, school board meetings have been disrupted by allegations that educators are giving special treatment to furry students. An online search turned up no verified reports of furries in schools here, nor did requests sent to several districts. A furry might draw himself as a cartoon tiger, or dress up as a dragon at a convention for fellow enthusiasts. The students are told they cant wear hats or Budweiser shirts in school, but they can wear cat ears, cat tails, masks, leashes. Contact Jen at jfifield@votebeat.org. This is not the first time Ladapo has misused surveillance data to push governor Ron DeSantis's antivax agenda. This is a very stereotypical belief about the furry community, and it still baffles me to think that this is a widely . The memo stated that all other deadlines including the Jan. 6 date for certifying election results were established long ago in federal law for ease of travel and are largely not relevant to a time when electors do not have to ride horses to Washington, D.C. to vote.. Does Alan Cumming Really Live in a Scottish Castle? So if the patient gets struck by lightning on their way home from the vaccine clinic, their doctor is supposed to report it, just in case. The Michigan incident started when a mom of kids at the Midland School District, about 130 miles northwest of Detroit, spoke at a school board meeting about a rumor which she took as fact alleging the school was accommodating "furries" by providing litter boxes in unisex bathrooms. These characters are often created by the community members themselves, who take them on as a "fursona" (an alternate persona) who interacts with other 'fursonas' in the community via roleplaying and art. The letter asked for at least 10 days. Kids who identify as furries get a litter box in the school bathroom, Maddock wrote on Facebook. Admittedly, Im a little weirded out by it, not unlike that grandma from Kentucky. Antivax propaganda drives VAERS reports and antivaxers point to increased VAERS reports as proof that the vaccines are dangerous. ", An open records request shows Edwards is among at least two dozen parents who've written the district over the last eight months. To make matters worse, some major antivax groups and personal injury attorneys coach their followers to make VAERS reports about third parties. She says in a district where enrollment has dropped by 30,000 students and where most kids are not reading or doing math at grade level, Miller said they need parental involvement and can't afford distractions. If you actually look at whos doing this, at some of the political groups getting involved, theyre all far right.. Sharon E. Roberts, . It doesnt make sense, she added. In short, it was a big scam.. Much of Gablemans final report, released in March 2022, echoed the societys assertions about private election grants and one of its other chief concerns: the validity of some votes from nursing homes. Meow! a group of four people would taunt from the back of the room. The judge, however, was not as pleased. One month after Jefferson County school administrators denied that kids were dressing up as so-called "furries" at school, CBS News Colorado has obtained emails showing the district was aware of the issue and yet denied it was happening. First published on October 31, 2022 / 3:15 PM. I tried to help them talk to the police, he said in an emailed response. severe restrictions on abortion in the U.S. one of the groups attorneys wrote in an op-ed, nonprofit backed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Federal Election Commission reviewed the grants last year, Gableman got a job with the Thomas More Society, debunked by postal inspectors working with the FBI, subpoena issued to him by the Jan. 6 committee, postpone the counting of the electoral vote, continue to work with and support Amistad, aligned with the American Voters Alliance.

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