I remember how it was -- JR
Thursday, September 14, 2023
'The Words You Spoke Are Disturbing': Kennedy Stuns As He Reads Explicit Kids' Books During Hearing
Sen. John Kennedy showed his Democratic colleagues exactly what they’re defending in public schools and libraries when he read sexually graphic excerpts from some of the “banned books” at the center of this culture war battle.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature,” Kennedy read from “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Gender Queer” – the two most banned books during the 2021-2022 school year, according to PEN America.
"What are you asking us to do? Are you suggesting that only librarians should decide whether the two books that I just referenced should be available to kids? Is that what you’re saying,” the Republican asked Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
“With all due respect, Senator, the words you spoke are disturbing, especially coming out of your mouth, it’s very disturbing,” Giannoulias responded. “But I would also tell you that we’re not advocating for kids to read porn.
“We are advocating for parents, random parents, not to have the ability under the guise of keeping kids safe to try and challenge the worldview of every single manner on these issues,” Giannoulias continued. “When individual parents are allowed to make a decision of where that line is and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ which involves a rape scene, should that book be pulled from our libraries? I think it becomes a slippery slope.”
While Kennedy agreed with the witnesses that “censorship is bad,” he said the point is about the books he referenced, not “Catcher in the Rye.”
“So tell me what you want, who gets to decide? And all I’ve heard is the librarians. And parents have nothing to do with it. And if that’s your response, what planet did you just parachute in from?” Kennedy said.
“Senator, with all due respect, parents absolutely have a say. My parents were immigrants, came to this country. We never checked out books without our parents seeing what books we’re reading,” Giannoulias replied. “They encouraged us to read books.”
Democrats, like Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL), argued that they’re not “advocating for sexually explicit content to be available in an elementary school library or in [the] children’s section of the library.”
“That’s a distraction from the real challenge,” he continued. “I understand and respect that parents may choose to limit what their children read, especially at younger ages. My wife and I did. Others do, too. But no parent should have the right to tell another parent’s child what they can and cannot read in school or at home. Every student deserves access to books that reflect their experiences and help them better understand who they are.”
***************************************************
'Atrocious': PA School District Rehires 'Trans' Coach Who Undressed Around Young Girls
This week, a school district in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania voted to rehire a tennis coach who believes he is a “trans woman” and previously undressed in front of young girls in the locker room.
According to Penn Live, the Gettysburg Area School District voted 6-to-2 to rehire David “Sasha” Yates, the coach in question. The board was previously deadlocked and experienced weeks of delays on coming to a final decision.
In an email to Penn Live after the decision, Yates claimed that he felt “delighted” to return to his position as a tennis coach for the local high school. Yates reportedly began “transitioning” to live as a woman in 2021.
“I have been very moved by the outpouring of support that I have received,” Yates said, adding “I am very much looking forward to continuing to support and guide both teams as they represent Gettysburg Area High School in the coming seasons.”
Penn Live’s report claims that the situation arose from conservatives in the community taking issue with the fact that Yates thinks he is a woman (via Penn Live):
The lack of clarity as to why Yates’ contract was being impeded - despite what students described as a stellar coaching record - led to an outpouring of concern that Yates was indeed being singled out because of her gender. The issue was exacerbated by board member Michelle Smyers giving interviews to conservative media outlets criticizing Yates, and working with a right-wing law firm that said it was combatting the “insidious transgender movement” by assisting Smyers.
However, Townhall previously reported that there was more to the story. At a recent school board meeting, a parent named Steve Carbaugh shared that his daughter ran into Yates in one of the women’s facilities
“My daughter was in the bathroom across from the gymnasium in the senior high school, going to the restroom before one of her sporting events. While she exited the bathroom stall, she ran into Mr. David Yates in the female bathroom. Imagine that, a 16-year-old female running into a full grown adult in the restroom of her high school,” Carbaugh reportedly stated.
In addition, reports claimed that in the fall of 2022, Yates entered the girls’ locker room while the soccer team was changing (via The Epoch Times):
Mr. Yates changed his clothing too, stripping down to bra and panties, a school board member familiar with the situation told The Epoch Times, adding that students reported that it was clear from what they saw that Mr. Yates was still fully a man.
Two school board members have students on the soccer team and at least one of their students was present when this occurred, the board member said.
“Now, everybody in this area seems to be crying that it is hate—that nobody wants this guy back because he's transgender and it’s hate. This has absolutely nothing to do with hate on my part. I don't care what the guy wants to call himself,” Carbaugh reportedly stated. “What's right is right. What’s wrong is wrong.”
“My job as a parent is to protect my child. And he had no business going into that bathroom, and his actions proved that he cannot be trusted. He went into a girls’ locker room and changed while the girls varsity soccer team was in there. They talked to him about it. And he went into a girls’ restroom facility. When is enough enough?” he added.
Paula Scanlan, a teammate of Will “Lia” Thomas at the University of Pennsylvania who was forced to share a locker room with him, called the decision to rehire Yates “shameful.”
Meg Brock, a Republican committee member in Pennsylvania, called the decision “atrocious” and added that schools aren’t protecting girls if there’s no policy in place explicitly preventing “confused men who think they are women” from women’s spaces.
******************************************************
California school district pays $27M to settle suit over death of teen assaulted by fellow students
A Southern California school district has agreed to pay $27 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of an eighth-grade boy who died after being assaulted by two other students at a middle school four years ago.
The settlement with the Moreno Valley Unified School District was announced Wednesday by lawyers for relatives of 13-year-old Diego Stolz, who was sucker-punched at Landmark Middle School in September 2019.
One of the teens struck the teenager in the head from behind and he fell, hitting his head against a pillar. The teens then continued punching Stolz, who died nine days later from a brain injury. The attack was recorded on video.
Dave Ring, an attorney for the Stolz family, said the boy’s death would have been preventable if there was an anti-bullying policy in place at the school about 65 miles east of Los Angeles.
“Schools need to realize that bullying can never be tolerated and that any complaints of bullying and assault must be taken seriously,” Ring said in a news release.
School officials will not be commenting on the settlement, district spokesperson Anahi Velasco said in an email Wednesday.
The district said previously that it changed its bullying reporting system and its training for employees. Also, the school’s principal and vice principal were replaced.
The family’s wrongful-death lawsuit claimed that Stolz complained to the assistant principal that he was being bullied before the assault that killed him.
The assailants, who were 14 at the time of the attack, entered the equivalent of guilty pleas in juvenile court to involuntary manslaughter and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury.
The teens spent 47 days in juvenile custody. A judge declined to sentence them to more jail time, but ordered that they undergo anger management therapy.
******************************************************
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)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
******************************************************
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment