This is a must watch documentary about a family whose lives were turned upside down when their daughter's school began transitioning her without their knowledge. It all began with the Art Club.
"Kevin
Lundberg, along with the Lee family, have spent the last year producing
this first-hand account of their family’s experience with public school
indoctrination and the transgender social contagion.
This
film takes an intimate look at this important issue, incorporates
expert testimony, and offers advice for any parent, grandparent, aunt,
uncle or friend to protect the children in their lives and stand up for
truth."
James Lindsay knocks it out of the park in this 15-minute talk on how Maoism is being forced upon us through the "politics of compliance."
If you have been told that you have to adhere to a narrative of non-partisanship, that you have to be positive in all interactions with the opposition, that you can't say certain things even if they're true, then you are a victim of the politics of compliance. Watch to the end for Lindsay's antidote:
The Politics of Compliance, or how Maoism works in practice, as given at the fifth International Crisis Summit in Washington, D.C., at the end of February. It should feel uncomfortably familiar and gratefully clarifying.pic.twitter.com/PobU0qqczR
— James Lindsay, number one Gay Studies author (@ConceptualJames) March 12, 2024
The intrepid Dan Kleinman, founder of the World Library Association and author of the blog Safe Libraries, has exposed yet another aspect of how the American Library Association (ALA) and its sister organizations like EveryLibrary reach into local communities to undermine their values and indoctrinate children.
Their latest effort is called "Fight for the First!" which is designed to get activists, students, and citizens behind an effort to "protect" the First Amendment. To the ALA, the First Amendment means that children have the right to read smut. They have the right to find it all over the shelves of the children's section. They have a right to have it hanging it out in the teen section like little mental bombs to confuse children and deprive parents of their rights to curate what their children see, and when they see it.
According to Kleinman:
"You know, if ALA is bribing local acolytes with money to affect
local political issues, shouldn't the public be able to obtain Freedom
of Information Act requests from ALA, FTRF, EveryLibrary even if they
aren't government bodies? It's Sunshine Week, so I'm asking. Anyone
know? All this money is being spent to sway public law. Isn't the
public entitled to see this?
Nowadays the
method of bribery (but not the bribes themselves) is out in the open,
and its detailed. Money. Consulting. Online fundraising tools. Media
attention. Training and resources "that you need to win." And by
"win," ALA means the community loses. All free.
It's
all a fake facade, all astroturf. 'Nearly 100 communities have
launched campaigns against book bans.' Click on the links in the
ALA/EveryLibrary tweets to see if your own community has been corrupted
with ALA bribery. Mine has."
U-turn in Education has been very active in opposing the relocating of materials unsuitable for children out of both the public library and local school libraries. In fact, the name of the individual who has signed on to "Fight for the First!" is a local parent affiliated with U-Turn in Education. She was quoted in 2022 in a News-leader article: "Jeanne Coburn, a parent and part of the U-Turn
group, said she supports parents being actively involved in schools and
the education of the their children. But, she resents parents pushing to
restrict or remove books from an entire library.
"It's
a parent's right to decide what their children are exposed to," Coburn
said. "But it's not some (other) parent's right to decide what my child
is going to be exposed to."
https://x.com/EveryLibrary/status/1767536291946639380?s=Apparently, Coburn doesn't understand that placing explicit, vulgar, and other such books in a school or public library IS giving others the right to expose your child to them. None of these books are banned. They are widely available elsewhere. Parents have a reasonable expectation that a taxpayer institution will follow community standards and leave such books to parental guidance on their own time and their own dime.
BACK TO THE ALA AND EVERYLIBRARY
The ALA has thrown everything into the "Free Speech" bucket. Granted, it gets traction with unaware citizens. However, there are enough activated community members in many areas who understand the lies inherent in the ALA agenda.
It has nothing to do with free speech. It has everything to do with the Marxist fist you see in the tweets linked in Kleinman's article. If the ALA and its allies in libraries cannot get their agendas into the hands of children, they won't get the revolution they are seeking.
Demoralizing children and youth is a feature, not a bug. If it wasn't a huge deal to the Marxists, they wouldn't be pushing so hard to make sure Critical Theory and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion brainwashing is in the schools and public libraries.
The dots all connect. This is a top-down operation that citizens in Christian County are experiencing. Why did RTWO receive a mountain of gibberish data when requesting public information about communication between the ALA and its subsidiaries and the Christian County Library last year?
Detail of a 19th-century wood engraving by Frederick Richard Pickersgill
David Rice does a great job of exposing the worldview of Nixa School Board candidate Megan Deal, who recently spoke at a local meeting. It is vitally important to understand where candidates are coming from.
They can say many right things, they can be Christians, they can be articulate and pleasant. But if their basic understanding of the world is not in line with your values as a voter, you have a decision to make.
In order to really get at their true opinions, you have to spend time digging. Rice does that. He's showing the reader what the press will not--the truth.
From his article:
"[Megan Deal] spoke alongside other school board candidates and she
talked about the emotional and mental health needs of the students who
are being overlooked by the system. In other words, she claimed she was
looking for the marginalized children in schools.
She
seems to be focused on her narrowly focused project of finding the
students during relaxed times at school (like lunch or transitioning
from classroom to classroom). She thinks the board should be there
speaking to the students during those periods and learning from the
overlooked (marginalized) students.
She also spoke about being like Aaron to Moses, trying to lean on her Christian background for her candidacy. She referenced Exodus 17:12-13,
when Aaron and Hur lifted Moses’ arms so that God’s power could still
work through him. She described the school board trustees as the Aaron
to the Superintendent’s Moses."
"There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics."-- Benjamin Disraeli
By Gretchen Garrity
We the People of Christian County held a candidate forum in Nixa on March 4, 2024, where an oft-repeated statistic was shared with citizens by Nixa School Board President and candidate Josh Roberts. He said, "We’re fiftieth in the nation, fiftieth in teacher pay. It’s
embarrassing, but the local community--we pay more than most other
communities--so we are doing our part. It needs to come from the
state and federal level to increase teacher pay and not from your
pocket.” Roberts was wise to read the prevailing winds, since local taxpayers are increasingly fed up with property tax increases for schools.
Currently, total funding for public schools in Missouri looks like this from the Missouri Budget Project:
Click on image for clarity
As you can see, local property taxes make up a very large percentage of funding for government schools compared to national percentages. Even though, according to the Missouri Constitution, "Art. IX, Sec. 1(a). Free public schools...the general assembly shall establish and maintain free public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this state within ages not in excess of twenty-one years as prescribed by law."
DEAD LAST?
But we are going to concentrate on the startling statistic that Roberts shared. How can Missouri be so terribly low in salaries for teacher pay? Dead last? As everyone knows, statistics can be manipulated to show just about anything. Before we go on, ask yourself where did this stat originate?
This very short video (one minute) shares how government schools are funded:
According to the Show Me Institute in an article titled "Breaking: The Actual Starting Teacher Salary According to DESE," by James V. Shuls, “The
NEA report calculates the average starting salary of Missouri’s
more than 500 districts. It counts small, low-paying school districts
the same as it counts large, higher-paying school districts.
If the Middle Grove School District, which according to the
Missouri State Teachers Association is the only district to start
teachers at the state minimum of $25,000 and has just 35 students,
were to hire one teacher, and the Parkway School District, with more
than 17,000 students, were to hire 20 teachers at the starting salary
of $44,250, the NEA report would count each district once and say the
average starting salary was just $34,625. In reality, the average of
those 21 new teachers would be $43,333. This is a difference of more
than $8,700.”
“The NEA reports Missouri’s starting salary as $33,234. But
what is Missouri’s actual average starting teacher salary?
According to data I have obtained from DESE, the average regular
term salary for a first-year teacher in Missouri was $38,367.33 in
2022. This figure was provided directly by DESE after my request. The
increase of more than $5,000 would move Missouri up to 37th on the
NEA report.”
Do read the whole thing (not long).
There are numerous sites with statistics that rank Missouri anywhere from the bottom to somewhere in the middle of the pack of fifty states:
Zip Recruiter (Teacher salaries in Missouri. This is fascinating since this site has no educational agenda)
Zip Recruiter (Teacher salaries by state. Here Missouri ranks 21)
Lastly, as you look at the statistics from the different organizations, you will see that often the differences in salary are only a few hundred dollars from state to state.
As long as we allow the narrative to be about dollars alone as the major comparative, taxpayers will keep taking the hit through manipulation by both the news and school districts.
What about academic scores? What about cost of living? What about each community's differing needs and wants?
In an article titled "Follow the Money" by Susan Pendergrass, the question is asked, "Do you ever wonder where more than $250,000 spent on a classroom of 20 students goes? So did we—so we built a website to help answer this question."
The website is excellent and helps citizens to understand more about the labyrinth of school spending in Missouri.
David Rice has written an excellent article regarding questionable benefits packages and payouts in the Ozark School District. Also a great exposure of the NGOs that have undue influence on school districts, robbing them of local control.
From the article:
"The School Board adopted the "PRIME CHOICE® Plan" offered by
Precision Retirement Group, which allows public employers to convert
certain forms of compensation like accumulated sick leave, vacation
time, and incentive payments into contributions to either a medical
trust called the "PRIME Plan" or special deferred compensation plans
like 401(a) or 403(b) accounts. Copies of the Prime Plan are at the end
of the article.
The materials promote these conversions as
allowing tax-free reimbursements for retiree health expenses in the
PRIME Plan trust, or opportunities to defer federal and state taxes in
the deferred compensation plans. They also advertise eliminating FICA
tax obligations for both the employer and employee.
While
portrayed as benefits for employees, such specialized retirement plans
allowing favorable tax treatments on back-end payouts have been
criticized by some as forms of excessive "golden parachutes" for
highly-compensated public officials and administrators."
Well worth reading, with links galore to get you up to speed on the issues.
At the February 27, 2024 Christian County Library Board of Trustees
meeting, citizens were once again faced with a board president who
appears to be setting up a narrative regarding public comments.
Quick Background
Since December 2022,
the library board has been taken to task by citizens who have
requested that books with inappropriate material be relocated out of
the children’s section of the library. This material runs the gamut
from early sexualization of children, indoctrination of children into
Marxist agendas through Social Emotional Learning, Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion, and Critical Race Theory, and LGBTQ themes and gender
ideology. These are the same issues that parents of public school
children are facing in their school libraries and curricula.
The library board
and staff have resisted these requests. Following the far left agenda
of the American Library Association (ALA) and its member chapter the
Missouri Library Association (MLA), the local library has been nearly
unresponsive to the requests of taxpayers.
Citizens are not
giving up, and the library board is met every month with citizens
asking for recourse to protect children. It is now March 2024. Two
new trustees have been appointed and a third one will be appointed in
the coming months.
It is understandable
that the board majority and staff are weary of the citizens’
requests, when it is obvious they have no intention of protecting
children, but rather continue to provide unsuitable materials to any
child that happens upon them in the children’s section. It is no
longer a matter of unintentional exposure. These materials are being
provided in a purposeful manner to children under the guise of
“Freedom to Read".
Suppressing Free Speech at the Library
At last Tuesday's meeting, Board President Allyson Tuckness not only reiterated the standard rules
that suppress free speech and communication between citizens and
the board, but she added another new rule. Watch (prompted to the 42:45 minute mark):
So let’s get a list going:
Comments limited to 10 speakers, with three minutes each (meetings
typically end right at the one-hour mark, unless the board’s
business goes longer, as happened at the February meeting)
Will not respond to
public comments at the time they are made (has anyone ever had a
response afterward?)
The board may ask
clarifying questions, comment or take action at their discretion (but citizens cannot ask clarifying questions or comment on board comments)
Questions for staff
about library operations should be made during normal business hours (why is this a problem? Isn't the board involved in library operations?)
If a patron needs to
step outside for whatever reason, they are asked not to go beyond the
foyer outside for “safety reasons” (a narrative being pushed)
Building the Bad Citizen Narrative
For several months
now, the library has contracted to have a police officer on duty
during the board meetings. Ostensibly this is because of “heightened
emotions,” a term that Tuckness uses often when she speaks about citizen comments.
At the latest
meeting she mentioned a speaker at the December meeting, a young man
who spoke vehemently and passionately about being introduced to porn
at a young age, and its deleterious effects upon him. He begged the
board to remove such books from the children’s section of the
library.
Oddly, at another
meeting a month or so previously, a man in the audience had become
angry at the exposure of some of the materials a citizen had shared. The man slapped the materials out of a
woman’s hand and threw them at another citizen. He was escorted
from the meeting room.
But it is the young
Christian man who Tuckness mentions in the video above —with the
'heightened emotions'. This is the narrative of the Bad Citizen, the
Bad Christian that has been formed and is being pushed to the public
and perhaps other actors.
The board president asks citizens to respect the board. “We will
not tolerate raising of voices or yelling at us, at other audience
members, or Renee [the executive director]. I will give everyone a
chance, will ask them to calm down, will not take away their time,
but if it happens a second time you may be cut off.” Then she says,
“Try to control emotions and respect us the same way that we would
respect you.”
Is it the emotions
that bother some of the board members and staff, or is it the truth
being expressed in those emotions?
“Accordingly, a function of free speech under our system of
government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high
purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates
dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to
anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at
prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as
it presses for acceptance of an idea. That is why freedom of speech,
though not absolute, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, supra,
pp. 315
U. S. 571-572, is nevertheless protected against censorship or
punishment, unless shown likely to produce a clear and present danger
of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public
inconvenience, annoyance, or unrest.”
Board
President Tuckness does not respect the citizens who speak. She
asserts she has the right to determine the tone and volume of another
citizen’s speech. Just as the socialist/progressives seek to defame those who oppose their agenda, so Tuckness is framing Christians as overly emotional, while ignoring the actual physical accosting of others on the part of a citizen opposed to relocating objectionable materials away from children.
And worst of all, Tuckness refuses to address the urgent issue of children being exposed to sexually explicit and pervasively vulgar books, even early indoctrination into alternative sexualities--there are actually board books for toddlers pushing gender ideology in the children's section of the library.
If she can't take the heat, President Tuckness should resign. The people will continue to speak.
