Florida School Board Moves to Censor Speakers and Prohibit Broadcast of Public Comments

In response to months of public backlash from parents and residents opposed to forced student masking, School Board members in Palm Beach County, Florida, are proposing new rules to censor and limit the public’s ability to voice their opinions and prohibit broadcasting of all public comments.

According to the School Board of Palm Beach County website, “speakers will not be denied the opportunity to speak on the basis of their viewpoint.” Pursuant to Florida statute § 286.0114, “the public shall be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard on a proposition before a board or commission.” Florida statute § 286.011 states that all meetings of public boards or commissions must be open to the public and the minutes of the meetings must be taken, promptly recorded, and open for public inspection.

The new policy, being drafted by school board attorneys, would limit the number of people who would be allowed to speak at public meetings and the amount of time they are allowed to speak. The new rules would also prohibit any speaker from addressing any board member by name, criticizing any board member, superintendent, or district staff member, and would prohibit the broadcasting of all public comments during all board meetings.

“We have real business to attend to,” said school board member Alexandra Ayala told the Sun-Sentinel, “and we’ve seen a taste of what can happen when there aren’t guidelines in place. We’re just sitting here for hours not doing the business and we’re backed up on things that really need to get pushed through.”

“I am a firm believer that a vibrant democracy requires engaged citizenry,” Ayala told The Epoch Times in response to a request for a statement about her comments. While insisting “our students, parents, employees, and taxpayers play a crucial role in sharing unique insights about the efficacy of the district’s operations and often illuminate opportunities for significant improvement,” Ayala did not answer the question of identifying precisely what “business” the board is “backed up on” and unable to “get pushed through” while “just sitting here for hours” listening to public comments of her “engaged citizenry.”

Board member Erica Whitfield told The Palm Beach Post her constituents are “truly there to speak” to the board but “to people on TV,” and because the board is “giving them a platform … more people come” making it “very difficult for us to get the job done.”

Whitfield did not respond to a request by The Epoch Times to clarify her statement.

Board member Karen Brill has said curtailing public comments limits the ability of residents to communicate their concerns and makes board members less in touch with their constituents.

“I think the policy is too reactive to what’s been going on,” Brill told The Epoch Times, and while she understands the concerns of her colleagues about getting business accomplished and recalled a few meetings where speakers went until 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., Brill said she couldn’t think of any business the board has been unable to complete because of public comments.

When meetings run late into the night, Brill admitted she gets tired and she’s “not as sharp” as when the meeting first started. “But we still got through everything,” she said. “Work is not being prevented.”

Brill, a realtor who spent “many years on the other side of the dais as an activist for students with disabilities,” said “the most disturbing part of the policy is shutting off the cameras” and not allowing public comments to be seen or heard by anyone who is unable to physically attend the meeting.

“I find that very troubling,” Brill said. “First of all, we report to the public, and when a person makes an effort to come talk to us, whether they are saying something we agree with or not, it’s still our responsibility to listen. We need to have a forum where people are allowed to air their grievances. It’s important that they feel they can come and speak. I just feel very uncomfortable limiting the public. We have to be careful in how we limit people. I don’t know of any entity or any other municipality where they shut the cameras off during public comments. To have the meeting begin and have elected officials and representatives from organizations come speak to us and have their faces seen and voices heard and then shut off the cameras and the voices while the public speaks, I find that very disrespectful, and I think I’m out of step with the rest of the board on that. I will stay as late as it takes for us to accomplish the business we have to accomplish,” Brill said. “I don’t see the need for the extreme changes we’re making. I don’t mind staying. That is my job. I am in this position to serve the public.”

“The parents, citizens, and employees of Palm Beach County have been actively seeking dialog with the school board for over a year,” Jennifer Showalter, mother of three and candidate for Palm Beach County School Board District Six, told The Epoch Times. “They have been exercising their First Amendment rights without violence, yet have been stigmatized as problematic for the school board’s agenda. The board, per their statements to the Palm Beach Post, labeled most speakers as attention seekers looking for publicity, not as concerned parents attending simply to speak to the board. I personally have attended the school board meetings for a year, and I can verify this is untrue. Most of the parents are nervous and inexperienced when it comes to public speaking, yet they feel compelled to attend to speak up on behalf of their children. Some are ostracized by the community for their efforts. I am running for office due to the board’s disrespect of First Amendment rights, prohibiting parental involvement, and pushing a radical agenda. They have been operating without oversight and accountability for too long. The people are awake, and realize they must be more involved in the education of their children.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/florida-school-board-moves-to-censor-speakers-and-prohibit-broadcast-of-public-comments_4163370.html

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China’s Influence Over US Universities Poses Existential Risks

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is busy developing high-tech weaponry. By the end of the decade, China will have “disruptive” military technologies capable of wreaking widespread chaos.

In other words, China is developing weapons that “will change the character of warfare.” Which begs the question: Why are U.S. universities helping China advance its military might?

According to a new report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, a number of U.S. universities are closely aligned with various Chinese universities—all of whom are closely aligned with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The report warns that these Chinese universities are heavily involved in the PLA’s military buildup—including its nuclear weapons program—which continues to expand at a rapid pace.

Who benefits when U.S. universities partner with CCP-backed enterprises? In one word: China.

As the report noted, the partnerships strengthen “China’s broader military-industrial complex, including its nuclear program, cyber-espionage platforms, and other sensitive weapons research.”

This is deeply concerning. The United States, up until very recently, was the dominant player in tech and weapons research. However, things have changed, with China now the ascendant force.

Although Chinese universities have improved significantly over the years, China still relies on “acquiring technology by any means available,” according to an unclassified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency.

By “any means possible,” as you can guess, involves acts of espionage and intellectual property (IP) theft. The unclassified report was released back in 2019; in the two years since, little has changed. It’s common knowledge that the Chinese have been stealing ideas and technologies from the United States for years.

In 2015, the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) published an article discussing China’s rapidly expanding military, and the fact that it had been (and continues to be) “bolstered by weapons cloned from the arsenals of other countries,” including the United States.

China has copied a number of U.S. aircrafts, including the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Northrop Grumman X-47B, according to the USNI piece. These designs were acquired through highly-concentrated, cyber-espionage campaigns.

Since the turn of the century, U.S. defense officials have raised the alarm about China’s technical reconnaissance and concerted efforts to steal valuable data. Alas, their warnings have largely been ignored.

The aforementioned Foundation for Defense of Democracies report discusses the dangers of Confucius Institutes (CIs), and the ways in which they serve as platforms that advance facets of China’s military-civil fusion (MCF).

For the uninitiated, the MCF has one aim and one aim only: to make the PLA a “world class military” by 2049. The MCF is overseen by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who also happens to chair the CCP’s Central Military Commission and the Central Commission for Military-Civil Fusion Development.

China’s CI-enabled alliances, according to the report, “include the establishment of academic and research partnerships between top-tier American institutions and Chinese universities supporting Beijing’s military-industrial complex.”

Under the MCF, China is actively targeting key technologies, including the likes of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, and aerospace technology.

The author C. JoyBell C. once wrote: “Don’t let a thief into your house three times. The first time was enough. The second time was a chance. The third time means you’re stupid.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/chinas-influence-over-us-universities-poses-existential-risks_4164700.html

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Parents are outraged after teacher read a Dr. Seuss-style poem mocking 'evangelicals' and 'bigots' at Texas school board meeting held to discuss the banning of 'pornographic' books

Parents in suburban Austin are outraged after a middle school teacher read a Dr. Seuss-inspired poem ridiculing 'evangelicals' and 'bigots' who want to ban books featuring sexual content they deemed pornographic.

Krista Tyler, an instructional technology specialist at Grisham Middle School in Austin read her derisive rhymes during a school board meeting in the neighboring city of Leander on December 16.

'Everyone in Leander liked reading a lot/but some evangelicals in Leander did not,' Tyler began in an exaggerated, mocking tone.

The poem went on to call the parents backing book bans 'kooks' and 'bigots' who hate reading, are fearful of critical thinking and do not have their heads 'screwed on just right.'

Earlier this month, the Leander Independent School District removed 11 books from local school libraries after finding them to be pornographic and obscene, including Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison and Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe.

Gender Queer, a graphic novel, contains explicit illustrations of oral sex and masturbation involving a child and an adult. Lawn Boy contains graphic descriptions of sexual activity.

The books have sparked similar complaints in other states, including Virginia, where earlier this year the Fairfax County Independent School District briefly removed the two titles from school libraries.

But the books were reinstated after a review by a committee and administrators who determined the books 'were valuable in their potential to reach marginalized youth who may struggle to find relatable literary characters that reflect their personal journeys.'

Tyler's public performance at the school broad meeting last week, which was caught on video and circulated on social media, has been condemned by some parents in the Leander school district, where the incident took place, and the Round Rock school district, where the teacher works.

'I'm disgusted and disheartened that there are teachers in our school district who think it is OK to mock parents for their religious beliefs, and for demanding that children not have access to books in the library or classroom that have pornographic illustrations and graphic descriptions of sex acts,' Dustin Clark, a father of four students in the district, told Fox News.

Tyler, who has a Bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University and a Master's degree in education from Lamar University, has worked at Round Rock ISD for more than 11 years, according to her LinkedIn page, where she describes herself as a 'banned book reader.'

'She is trying to lump all parents who oppose pornographic books into the "evangelicals-bigots-brainless" category that hates reading, but the fact of the matter is we are a group of very diverse, highly-concerned parents who do not want pornographic books in our schools,' Trang said. 'The fact that that statement came from a teacher who could be teaching my children at Round Rock ISD is very concerning.'

Andy Hogue, who has two children in Leander ISD, told the conservative news outlet that he finds it 'mind-bogging' that a teacher has 'such disdain for the very people who pay her salary.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10343183/Texas-parents-outraged-teacher-read-Dr-Seuss-style-poem-mocking-evangelicals-bigots.html

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http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

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