I remember how it was -- JR
Sunday, April 03, 2022
Victory: Appeals Court Upholds Massive Legal Judgment Against Woke College for Defaming Local Business
The story began in 2016 with an incident at a small, family-owned bakery that had been a pillar of the local community for decades. Some Oberlin College students tried to shoplift some wine, prompting a confrontation. Due to the skin color of the individuals involved, the situation devolved into an unhinged morality play, detached from any facts. The school sided with the mob. A lawsuit was filed in 2017. Details, via a CBS News report from 2019:
David Gibson, one of the owners of Gibson's Bakery in Oberlin, described what happened when his son, Allyn, was at the cash register when the student tried to buy a bottle of wine: "My son confronted him and would not accept the false ID...But realized that he was also trying to steal two bottles of wine. And at that point he denied him the sale....He attempted to take a picture of him with his phone. At that point, the young man took his phone and shoved it in his face and was able to run out of the store. "My son and I both pursued [him]. My son's quite a bit faster than I am at this age. And outside of the store [he] tried to detain him by hugging him. And he fell to the ground. And I witnessed all of this. And then we had multiple people come in and start hitting my son." ...
David Gibson knew that trouble was brewing. When the officer at the scene told him, "We're not going off what they're saying; we're charging him with robbery," Gibson remarked, "They're going to be trashing us." It wasn't long coming. The next morning, in fact, a crowd appeared chanting, "No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace!" Oberlin is one of the most liberal college campuses in the country, and remember, Donald Trump has just been elected president the previous day. Totally unrelated to what had happened at Gibson's bakery, but it does help explain the mood. One demonstrator said, "We are here today because yesterday three students from the Africana community were assaulted and arrested as a result of a history of racial profiling and racial discrimination by Gibson's Bakery, located 23 West College Street." Which is where generations of Gibsons had been running the bakery for more than a hundred years.
"At court, roughly nine months later, the young man, a student at Oberlin College in Ohio, received a reduced sentence after pleading guilty to attempted theft, essentially confirming the police report of what had happened," the story explains. That detail isn't so minor, but the whipped-up, frenzied mob wasn't really interested in facts or culpability. They were interested in self-righteous preening and Larger Truths. The famously left-wing college got involved, joining the smear campaign:
The college officials and students accused the bakery of racial profiling, called a boycott, suspended Gibson’s business with the college, and organized protests outside the bakery. At the protests, a flyer was handed out, according to witnesses who testified at trial, by Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo, who also handed out stacks of flyers for others to distribute. The flyers accused the Gibsons of a long history of racial profiling, including in the incident with these shoplifters. The Gibsons disputed that allegation and that they did anything wrong in this incident, and requested a public apology from the college in order to repair the reputational damage, but the college refused.
Facing reputational wounds and loss of business, Gibson's filed a lawsuit:
"Our feeling is that, that's what you have in life is your reputation. It had taken generations to build this reputation for us. And in just one day, we lost it." That damage to their reputation has led to what the Gibsons claim is a 50% loss of business. When the college refused to issue a statement exonerating the family of racism, the Gibsons filed a lawsuit...Last June, a local jury found Oberlin College on the hook for $44 million in damages. The court has since reduced the award to $31.5 million, and Oberlin College has appealed that judgment.
Oberlin appealed the jury's judgment, and over the course of the continued litigation, Mr. Gibson passed away from cancer. But the case marched on, and the appeals court has now upheld the entire verdict. A huge blow to Oberlin, as National Review reports:
An Ohio appeals court has upheld a ruling that awarded more than $30 million to a bakery that accused Oberlin College of damaging its business and libeling them with false accusations of racism. A three-judge panel on the Ninth District Court of Appeals issued a unanimous decision to uphold a 2019 ruling by Lorain County Judge John Miraldi, who initially awarded the bakery more than $40 million in punitive and compensatory damages, Cleveland.com reported. However, the sum was later reduced to $25 million, though the bakery was awarded more than $6 million for lawyers’ fees...
Gibson’s Bakery sued the college in 2017, accusing the school and one of its administrators of hurting its business and libeling them over an incident in which the son of the bakery owner stopped three black Oberlin College students, one of whom was stealing wine bottles from the store, in November 2016. Students from the school protested the bakery after the arrest, handing out fliers outside the bakery telling shoppers to buy their baked goods elsewhere. Oberlin College regularly purchased baked goods from the bakery for its student dining service but suspended its purchasing for a month after the incident. The students pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in 2017 and said the younger Gibson’s actions were not racially motivated.
This is justice. A leftist university coddled lunacy from its students, who were all spun up over the election of Donald Trump. They joined in the unjust libeling and punishment of innocent people, based on bogus racism charges, to appease their raging mob. They became part of the raging mob. The true victims in the case faced no choice but to present the facts to a jury of ordinary people, who recognized the injustice and slapped huge damages on a deep-pocketed institution responsible for fanning the flames. That decision has now been unanimously upheld. As I've said before, I'm not a litigious person by nature, but in some of these cases, the only way to force institutions to think twice before casting in their lot with the woke screamers is to present a plausible fear of huge economic consequences for doing so. Juries can be an equalizer.
Students had every right to protest, but when Oberlin abetted defamation with words and deeds, the calculus shifted. The initial verdict and fresh decision from the appeals panel represent an isolated but satisfying victory in the struggle against the destructive excesses of these people
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What's Creepy About the Unearthed Docs Instructing Teachers on How to Target Students for Trans Clubs
Let’s clear the air here first. No, I’m going all Iranian here and saying we need to wipe out the transgenders and the gays. There’s no Tehran protocol here. Again, no issues with these folks until biological males try to erase women’s sports and nuke the social order that’s been in place since...forever.
We’re not going to overhaul everything for the less than one percent of transgender folks in America. Sorry, not going to happen. Also, we’re not going to talk about these complex issues in schools, especially with the freak show teachers we have coming out of the bunker. No, fourth-graders don’t need to know your trans, teacher person. No, we don’t need to go into graphic detail about your sex life either, teacher. No, we’re not going beyond the educational boundaries of comprehensive sexual education. We’re not going to show kids how to give great oral sex to their partners. Demonstrations on how to put a condom on—that’s okay. I can see some folks still having issues with that, but there’s give and take here.
What we’re also not going to accept is creepy teachers targeting students 10 years of age or younger to join transgender clubs. No.
The Washington Examiner’s Chris Tremoglie wrote about what he unearthed reading the instruction packets handed to teachers by the California Teachers Association. This is their how-to guide to turning our schools into bastions of child abuse and brainwashing. The Left will make you care. That sure fits the bill here [emphasis mine]:
The packet acts as an instructional guide on propagandizing students with gay and transgender information. One of the most disturbing parts is the recommendation for these clubs in elementary schools, where children are 10 years old or younger. Another concerning section focuses on teachers proactively recruiting students to be leaders of these clubs. It provides a section for teachers to list the names of the students they think would be interested. This particular packet was from a previous California Teachers Association LGBTQ+ Issues Conference.
The packet also asks teachers to list supporters and enemies of these clubs. One section is dedicated to listing the names of allies who “would support this project.” Another section is provided to identify any existential threats to the club and to list those who could be a “barrier to your success.”
[…]
Other perverted indoctrination activities include a recommended videos list. The packet suggests the First Person YouTube channel. It provides 52 videos on various topics such as “Drag as a Tool for Self-Advocacy,” “Queer Black Cosplay,” “Growing Up Intersex,” “Asexuality,” and “The Importance of Being Cliterate,” among many others. Additionally, other suggested videos are “Coming out GAY to my 5 year old brother” and the animated music video “Everyone is Gay.”
The clubs are supposed to be “student-led.” Yet the packet reveals that teachers are partially funding these clubs. A section asks how much of their money teachers are “willing to put into this project.” As such, it is obvious that teachers are the true leaders of these clubs, not students. Instead, teachers recruit students to be figureheads and then use them as pawns to spread this propaganda. They are using students to brainwash other students into thinking a certain way.
“I think it’s wrong what is going on. A child’s innocence is being taken away,” said a California Teachers Association member who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity. “Children are being indoctrinated. Teachers are trying to encourage different sexualities among students. It’s disturbing, and it’s violating young and innocent minds.”
This circus must stop. Tear down the big top. If this was geared to high schoolers, juniors, and seniors—that’s an entirely different matter. It’s clear the ‘get them while they’re young’ ethos is at play here. Not everyone is gender fluid, gay, trans, or whatever alphabet or symbol comes next. They’re kids. They’re making clay snakes and playing with building blocks. Leave them alone. They don’t know what this is yet. This is child abuse. Period.
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Australia: New ‘stripped back’ school curriculum slammed as ‘just political’
Children will have to do more maths without a calculator and learn about consent and respect in a new “stripped back” school curriculum available from next term.
They will also learn more about the impact the British settlers had on First Nations Australians and about Australian democracy.
History has also been “significantly decluttered”, allowing more time for in-depth teaching, and there will be more emphasis on phonic in English, according to the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).
“Importantly, this is a more stripped-back and teachable curriculum that identifies the essential content our children should learn,” ACARA CEO, David de Carvalho, said.
“There is a stronger focus on phonics in English and on mastering essential mathematical facts, concepts, skills and processes.”
ACARA said the curriculum would include a stronger focus on students mastering the essential maths and being introduced to these at the right time.
In particular, children in Year 1 will be expected to achieve a higher level of maths than they do currently and be able to memorise times tables from the beginning in Year 2.
Students will also be taught about privacy and security online, as well encouraging children to get outside of the classroom and be more active.
Mr de Carvalho said the new curriculum would lead to better results.
The overhaul follows Australia’s steady decline in the international education rankings over the past decade.
It will be available online from the start of next term.
Education Standards Institute Director Kevin Donnelly said on the surface the new curriculum looked to be an improvement but the “devil will be in the detail”.
“It sounds good to cut it back and to talk about explicit teaching, memorising times tables and not relying on computers,” he said.
“The problem is teacher training is based on progressive fads and beginner teachers are not being properly trained.”
He said the existing curriculum was already currently weighted towards Indigenous studies so it was wrong to further emphasise it.
He said teaching about consent and respectful relationships was pushing a “woke agenda”.
“It’s just political,” he said. “Boys are taught that masculinity is negative.”
Dr Donnelly said the curriculum was just the first stage, whether the states and territories fully adopt or adapt is up to them.
He said his own research found that principals were unable to confirm what children were being taught in the classrooms.
Ministers considered the final draft of the curriculum earlier this year.
The existing Australian Curriculum that is currently taught in schools, and all support resources, will continue to be available on the current Australian Curriculum website until all states, territories and schools are implementing the updated curriculum
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My other blogs: Main ones below
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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