While the various elections yesterday were focused on the “big ones” – elections of various state House, Senate and Governors races, it is the small town school boards that deserve our attention. The battle for the soul of our children is taking place. In Lancaster County Pennsylvania, the outcome could not be more telling of the state of our moral decline. Add the major issue of home schooling which requires local school board to support each student’s home schooling to the tune of $9,000. per year and you reach a flash point.
Is hard core pornography to continue being allowed in the libraries? The choice could not be more clear.
The material in question isn’t simply “if you see it you will know what it is.” No, that is too simple. What there is are detailed descriptions of perverse sex acts, with suggestions of performance that are enough to make one sick. I have seen it. This is not just about literature or a book, but rather information entitled Sex Education.
The Democrats are running their slate of five ….. the GOP theirs. The GOP want the books gone. The Dems are accusing the GOP of being the usual Nazis at the ready to burn books. Lost in the shuffle is this is not simply “Sally has two Mothers.” But that is how the argument is being portrayed.
Worse the PA headlines read:
Transgender rights, book banning hot topics in Lancaster County school board races…
This was a year ago:
Banned and challenged because it was considered to be sexually explicit and degrading to women. In the Hudson City (OH) Schools, Moms for Liberty challenged titles for language and “sexually explicit” material. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ was the 10th-most-banned book in 2022, according to the American Library Association. Sep 30, 2023
and there we are.
Inside this year’s fight over Pa. school board seats and what happens in the classroom
A wave of right-wing parental rights activists won school board seats across Pennsylvania two years ago, some pushing forward with controversial policies centered on gender identity, race and political expression.
…
The movement has injected unusual energy into what are typically quiet, off-year elections. Conservative activists are banding together in groups such as Moms for Liberty, while their opponents are coordinating — sometimes in bipartisan teams of Democrats and moderate Republicans — to beat back what they see as the rise of extremism.
Leaders in Moms for Liberty, a group that has advocated for book bans and against mask requirements in schools, are pursuing school board seats in counties across Pennsylvania. A Bucks County venture capitalist who dumped half-a-million dollars into the 2021 school board races is preparing to pour unknown sums into this year’s contests. And even in local board contests where partisanship typically doesn’t play a major role, slates of candidates have formed to highlight sharp ideological and political differences.
Moms for Liberty among conservative groups named ‘extremist’ by civil rights watchdog
More than two years into a conservative push against teaching about Black history, literature and gender identity in public schools, the Southern Poverty Law Center has concluded that a dozen so-called “parental rights” groups behind the movement are extremist.
The civil rights organization particularly focuses on the largest of these, the nonprofit Moms for Liberty, in its annual Year in Hate & Extremism report for 2022, saying that it advances an anti-student inclusion agenda.
The SPLC has put it and similar organizations on its list of anti-government extremist entities, drawing comparisons between them and parent groups that attempted to re-segregate public schools during the civil rights movement.”
They really are seeking to undermine public education holistically and to divide communities,” said Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director for research, reporting and analysis at the SPLC. Carroll Rivas said her organization has received numerous calls from parents and educators who are concerned about the sudden appearance and tactics of Moms for Liberty activists in their schools.
“Pennsylvania has really become an increasingly large focal point for extremism, and many school board members are running simply to inflict a political agenda on kids and our communities,” said Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters of PA. “It’s something that can be really dangerous for our communities, if people don’t pay attention.”
She noted that Pennsylvania has the third-highest number of school library book bans in the nation and more than two dozen Moms for Liberty chapters.
Clarissa Paige, who heads the Northumberland County chapter of Moms for Liberty, said conservative groups like hers are the ones trying to rid school districts of politics and make sure classroom instruction stays trained on the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.
So there we have it. Those who oppose masks are right wing extremists. Those who oppose outright pornography are extreme. Those who want girls safe in locker rooms are extreme as well as wanting them to play on biological girls only sports. Those who don’t want teachers advocating transgenderism are extreme.
While cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Harrisburg get most of the attention, Pennsylvania is comprised of a large number of rural counties. Agriculture is the number one industry. With the large urban centers the voices of conservatives are overwhelmed.
There were substantial voting lines yesterday, similar to what I have seen at national elections. Other than a few judges and local government positions what was at hand was deciding the issue. Do we care enough for our kids to demand that parents have the right to raise their children.
These five very dangerous individuals according to the SPLC won the GOP School Board positions in an overwhelming blow out!
Meet your 2023 Republican Party victorious candidates for school board in the Elizabethtown Area School District!. In the video you will hear Tina WILSON, Lynda SHRUM, Menno RIGGLEMAN, James GILLES, and Kelly CARTER share an overview of their platform and motivation for running.
The best of the swamp.
BUNKERVILLE | God, Guns and Guts Comrades! 