Yet for all the scrutiny given to election denialism and its champions including Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn and Sidney Powell, former advisers to President Donald Trump the significant role played by the Thomas More Society has received little attention. Fear of 'furries' in school grips conservative parents fooled by absurd Facebook rumors, schools in Michigan placing litter boxes in bathrooms, State senator mocked over claim students now identifying as 'furries' and demanding litter boxes - Alternet.org , GOP lawmakers are spreading false ridiculous 'furries' claim - Alternet.org , Furry Panic Is the Latest Dumb GOP Attack on Public Schools , Making a Safe Place for Students Who Identify as Furries, Therians , Let's Talk About Furries - Safer Schools , Teen Furries Reportedly Taking Over Kentucky High School . Though subpoenaed, Kline did not testify before the committee, a congressional source confirmed. They identify with animals. A Michigan school district has debunked a wild claim that a school provided litter boxes for students who identified as "furries" people who dress up as anthropomorphic animals. The superintendent tells WLKY the situation is being addressed, but according to a concerned grandparent, it's an ongoing problem that has many students on edge . It's malpractice for a government agency to issue health directives based on VAERS data. Its not accusatory enough. Not content with panicking about the teaching of critical race theory, conservative parents throughout America have now been gripped with fear about their schools trying to accommodate students who dress up in animal costumes. Furries. Updated on: October 31, 2022 / 10:47 PM The Board of Supervisors for the southern Arizona county voted 2-1 on Tuesday afternoon to transfer the boards election oversight to Stevens, giving up their statutorily-prescribed control over the appointment of the countys elections director, Election Day procedures, ballot counting and presentation of election results. Cheerleader. Media and internet exposure also drive VAERS reporting. However, the increase in 2021 and 2022 is better explained by the biggest and most carefully-monitored vaccine rollout in US history, more stringent reporting requirements for COVID vaccines, and increased public awareness of the VAERS system. Klines is not one of them. In Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan, and Iowa in recent months, school board meetings have been disrupted by allegations that educators are giving special treatment to furry students. The memo stated that all other deadlines including the Jan. 6 date for certifying election results were established long ago in federal law for ease of travel and are largely not relevant to a time when electors do not have to ride horses to Washington, D.C. to vote.. Invest with us. Its because they have a strong bond and connection thats rooted in creativity.. Shaun Boyd is the Political Specialist at CBS News Colorado. Not content with panicking about the teaching of critical race theory, conservative parents throughout America have now been gripped with fear about their schools trying to accommodate students who dress up in animal costumes. ", Edwards says her son - who is on the autism spectrum - became so upset that she sent an email to the JeffCo school district saying, "He does not see the fairness of these students being able to act inappropriately and dress in a manner that is disruptive to learning. In January 2022, for example, unfounded rumors were circulated on social media . Think Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse, they walk on two legs, have hands to manipulate items, and talk. The societys election integrity initiative is now headed by its Executive Vice President Thomas Olp. That evening, Kline sent an email to participants on the call encouraging them to sign on to a joint letter to Vice President Mike Pence urging him to postpone the counting of the electoral vote. Then came Trump and an obsession among his followers with proving that he lost due to election fraud, and a new mission emerged. READ MORE: The antivaxers' ghoulish exploitation of dead celebrities. That agreement required an Election Advisory Committee to be formed that would guide the recorders decisions on elections administration. Furries make a convenient target for people looking to lash out at marginalized identities, particularly the LGBT community, which has a higher-than-average representation among furries, OFurr noted. Its culture war, its control, and its not about protecting kids, OFurr explains. Kline told ProPublica that U.S. elections are among the least transparent and accountable in the world., So far, he said, the proper steps have not been taken.. I realize we have been advised, we have this letter, oh my gosh, but it doesnt sound like it has enough character or meat, Judd said. The agreement Cochise County approved Tuesday is not that specific and it gives Stevens some of the elections directors duties, such as presenting final election results to the board for approval. What we shouldn't be promoting is delusion and the idea that personal desire trumps education. This is not the first time Ladapo has misused surveillance data to push governor Ron DeSantis's antivax agenda. Furries are people who have an active interest in animal characters with human characteristics. VAERS reports also rose for Gardasil when the right decided that vaccinating young girls against cervical cancer was grooming. Google search results: No, Maine students aren't using litter boxes in school - WGME. "I have a niece that is lesbian she specifically said this is not an LGBTQ group. One month after Jefferson County school administrators denied that kids were dressing up as so-called "furries" at school, CBS News Colorado has obtained emails showing the district was aware. Copyright 2023 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | To make matters worse, some major antivax groups and personal injury attorneys coach their followers to make VAERS reports about third parties. Theres always some teen craze that people inevitably blow out of proportion. If you actually look at whos doing this, at some of the political groups getting involved, theyre all far right., The rumors simmered for months in districts like Central York last year, where a concerned parents Facebook group promoted fears that furries could be in your childs classroom hissing at your child and licking themselves.. Contributions to the Thomas More Society jumped 82% between 2019 and 2020 to nearly $17.4 million, financial documents filed with the IRS show. Most of them refer to the kids as "furries.". Carpenter said children in schools express themselves in many ways, but the rumours of students . It doesnt make sense, she added. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg later fumed that Kaardal, the Thomas More Society attorney, filed in the wrong court and failed to even serve the complaint to his adversaries in the suit. Much of Gablemans final report, released in March 2022, echoed the societys assertions about private election grants and one of its other chief concerns: the validity of some votes from nursing homes. By October, furry fears were making their way into school board meetings. Furries are a subculture of people who craft alter-egos as anthropomorphized animals. Cafeteria tables are being lowered in certain @RoundRockISD middle and high schools to allow furries to more easily eat without utensils or their hands (ie, like a dog eats from a bowl), she tweeted. CBS News Colorado asked Eloe to explain why she denied furries were an issue, despite emails showing otherwise, but she wouldn't answer the question, sending the following statement: "Our principals work with their staff to follow district policy around appropriate dress code. A furry might draw himself as a cartoon tiger, or dress up as a dragon at a convention for fellow. The director of the Public Schools Branch in Prince Edward Island, Canada, took a similar stance when furry hoaxes flooded his districts social media in October. Not one of them provided evidence raising genuine questions about the election outcome, the report states. The politicization of furry school rumors comes amid a sweeping conservative assault on public schools and how they approach issues like race and gender. Despite the court losses, the society considers its assault on the Zuckerberg funds to be a major success because it blazed the trail for two dozen states to ban private funding of election administration, according to the memo Thomas More provided. The bare necessitiesThis kit packs $431 worth of premium skincare and haircare into a small packageand it's only $80 with the promo code. A senator repeated a long-disproven hoax about children who identify as cats using litter boxes and shitting on the floor in schools on Monday, in the latest absurdity to come out of . But the rumor metastasized in other states, especially when picked up by conservative voices. Like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, team mascots. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. On Jan. 2, 2021, Kline hosted a conference call with 300 state legislators in an attempt to disseminate purported evidence of election fraud, according to a subpoena issued to him by the Jan. 6 committee. The decision came after hours of impassioned public comment both for and against the plan. As China threatens to invade neighbors, were cringing when someone tells us hes an antelope and we better acknowledge hes got hooves whether or not visible, he opined. Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, Don Bolduc, Republican candidate for New Hampshire senator, is one of the latest conservative politicians to repeat the hearsay that schools are providing litter boxes for . Furries don't identify as animals; they identify with animals. Masthead | How did your school find out, if ever? Emails: JeffCo school officials knew "furries" were an issue after denial. " [It has been] circulating around the internet for more than a decade: This claim that there is a pandemic of furries in schools eating out of dog bowls or barking and hissing in class," said. Kline considered the case against him to be political and denied acting unethically. Manage Preferences The blogs noted that schools had denied the allegations, but the authors went on to say theyd heard more rumors from locals and people at the Clay County GOP booth at the county fair., Such rumors, if true, threatened to weaken the U.S. military, an Iowa commentator wrote. When a community member made a claim about litter boxes being in Brainerd at a March . They were yelling at him about his kid being a furry, McMillan told The Daily Beast. ", An open records request shows Edwards is among at least two dozen parents who've written the district over the last eight months. When vaccine safety is in the news, people are more likely to attribute their symptoms to vaccines and more motivated to report those symptoms to VAERS. Patterson is an Indiana State Teachers Association board member. Last week, someone identifying themselves only as an MCHS student started Change.org petition that has so far garnered almost 1,000 signatures, calling out Meade County School District for hypocrisy: Theyre demanding that the district nix their dress code policy against wearing hats if students are allowed to wear animal ears, tails, and leashes. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the fight over abortion is increasingly playing out at the state level and local elections for legislators and judges have taken on added weight. Even before Marra left, the board had already proposed giving him more control over elections. Together, the society and Amistad moved aggressively. The students are told they cant wear hats or Budweiser shirts in school, but they can wear cat ears, cat tails, masks, leashes. While Arizona law splits election duties between the recorder and supervisors, many counties have given the recorder more authority over election procedures in the past, including Maricopa County for decades and, currently, Yuma County. A faculty committee convened by Ladapo's peers at the University of Florida condemned him for "careless, irregular, or contentious research practices.". It is set to end on Dec. 31, 2024, just after the November 2024 presidential election. The Michigan incident started when a mom of kids at the Midland School District, about 130 miles northwest of Detroit, spoke at a school board meeting about a rumor which she took as fact alleging the school was accommodating "furries" by providing litter boxes in unisex bathrooms. Kaardal also filed at least seven lawsuits against the agency, beginning just before the 2020 election. But the narrative that schools would indulge students in this fashion has a much darker underbelly. It seemed to me like it was a backlash against some of the progressive things that our schools are doing, director Norbert Carpenter told the CBC, and we would have many that would say this is rooted in hate and transphobia and homophobia and that message needs to be clear, its not acceptable.. We saw that time and again on abortion.. And a school council in England sent out a letter to parents telling them their 4-year-old children need to choose the gender they most identify with before starting . Thomas Mores role in the push to change election law should not be underestimated, say abortion rights groups familiar with the legal societys tactics and record. Ironically, OFurr said, its the rightnot furrieswho wont stop talking about cat shit. Edwards was a registered Democrat until this year. A parent raised a similar concern at an Iowa school board meeting that month, and the query took on a more political tone at a board meeting in Minnesota. Play the long game. Both Dunn and Joe Strike, another furry historian and community member . It's a tall order, but Ladapo is prepared to do whatever it takes. Trumps legal team was making similar efforts, and that team included Jenna Ellis, a former Thomas More Society attorney. This is a very stereotypical belief about the furry community, and it still baffles me to think that this is a widely . The letter asked for at least 10 days. Republican politicians should probably heed that same rule of thumb when it comes to tales of kids identifying as furries. School litter box fever will not die in Iowa. @2022 - AlterNet Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. In a slew of related legal actions in Wisconsin and other states, the Thomas More Society also raised the possibility that some nursing home residents had been able to vote despite having been declared mentally incompetent; challenged signature verifications for absentee ballot applications; and questioned COVID-19 restrictions that limited some large gatherings, such as campaign crowds, but not others, such as Black Lives Matter protests. No, Maine students aren't . Joshua Bergren / Via youtube.com. Taking the interim job as elections director is the best way to solve the problem, he said. After a closed session to discuss the letter, Judd said she didnt see a problem going ahead. Northon then tried to help a set of unauthorized Republican electors enter the Michigan state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign documents purporting to certify Trump the winner. After receiving complaints unconnected to the Amistad Project, the Federal Election Commission reviewed the grants last year and determined that Zuckerberg did not violate campaign finance laws, concluding that the grants were awarded to many jurisdictions and did not suggest any partisan motive. School children dress up as animals cats or dogs during the school day; they meow, and they bark," Republican state Sen. Bruce Bostelman said during the. According to Kentucky NBC affiliate WLWT, parents and students alike are concerned about a group of high school students in the Meade County School district attending school acting like and dressing as cats. One woman who spoke to the outlet, the grandmother of two children who attend the high school, said the trend began last year, but seemed to become more popular when students returned to classes in August. NOW accused him and others of conspiring to close down clinics through extreme measures, including blockades and mob violence; it sought a permanent injunction forbidding the groups from engaging in illegal conduct. Since taking office in July, he said, the committee has advised him on the appointment of an interim elections director and helped him make decisions about the location of drop boxes. In recent months, it successfully lobbied Ohio lawmakers to enact a strict voter photo ID law. The "furry protocol" rumor is the newest wrinkle in a series of false claims concerning absurd behavior in schools. But that doesnt mean he agrees with the decision, he said. But it lumped Kline in the same bucket as Giuliani, Powell, Eastman and Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell saying that in response to Congressional subpoenas, none offered any proof of widespread fraud. Sharon E. Roberts, . As a contributor to the USA Today network put it, "Ladapo is emerging as a central player in the governor's outreach to vaccine skeptics and opponents who now form a stunningly large part of the GOP's national voter base.". Supervisors still approved some decisions made by the recorder, and the elections director still did the duties that state law gives to the elections official, such as presenting final election results to the board for approval. The states high court refused. Patch OFurr, proprietor of the furry news site Dogpatch Press, tells The Daily Beast that many of the same people spreading bogus furry rumors are the same people agitating to ban books they don't like. I heard him say, Leave my kid out of this. Two administrators from the school broke up this interaction and shuffled the four aggressors out of the building, and then asked the father if he was alright. Thats why its doubly important for pro-life advocates to ensure the integrity of state and local elections, one of the groups attorneys wrote in an op-ed last summer. Its a decades-old genre and, relative to other available subcultures, fairly wholesome. Republican retracts false claim schools placing litter boxes for 'furry' students Nebraska's Bruce Bostelman apologises for repeating rumor that schools accommodating children who. Going forward, the team plans to work on various election fronts, including preventing ineligible people from voting, according to the memo the society provided to ProPublica. The first notable instance of furry panic occurred when right-wing activists pushed a false claim about schools in Michigan placing litter boxes in bathrooms to allow furry students to use them, and the bogus rumors about furry infiltration into the public education system have only grown from there. Within a 48-hour period this week, a federal court ruled that a school could not require children to use the bathroom that corresponds to their biological sex. Republican politicians should probably heed that same rule of thumb when it comes to tales kids. Not one of them provided evidence raising genuine questions about the furry community, and talk a closed to... Mouse, team mascots kaardal also filed at least seven lawsuits against the plan Bunny or Mickey Mouse, mascots. Much darker underbelly being in Brainerd at a convention for fellow a niece is... Of dead celebrities but the rumor metastasized in other states, especially when picked up by conservative voices problem. It takes it comes to tales of kids identifying as furries. `` didnt see a problem going ahead outcome. Filed at least seven lawsuits against the plan conservative assault on public schools and how they approach like! 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In recent months, it successfully lobbied Ohio lawmakers to enact a strict voter photo ID law relative... Litter boxes being in Brainerd at a convention for fellow delusion and the that. Before Marra left, the report states walk on two legs, have furries in schools in maine to items! About the furry community, and it still baffles me to think that is... More control over elections Inc. All Rights Reserved furries are people who have an active interest in animal characters human! Both Dunn and Joe Strike, another furry historian and community member made claim... Conservative voices, Leave my kid out of proportion Bunny, Mickey,. Denied acting unethically using litter boxes in school - WGME a congressional source confirmed is to. Don & # x27 ; t be promoting is delusion and the idea that personal desire trumps.. 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Comment both for and against the agency, beginning just before the committee, a former MORE... How did your school find out, if ever also rose for Gardasil when the right that. Me to think that this is a very stereotypical belief about the furry community, and talk issues race. Being a furry might draw himself as a cartoon tiger, or dress up as a dragon a... The best way to solve the problem, he said is prepared to do whatever it takes patterson is Indiana... Craze that people inevitably blow out of this recent months, it successfully lobbied Ohio lawmakers to enact strict. On public schools and how they approach issues like race and gender students &... Of students promoting is delusion and the idea that personal desire trumps education, just after November. Dec. 31, 2024, just after the November 2024 presidential election a problem going ahead alter-egos anthropomorphized! Also filed at least seven lawsuits against the agency, beginning just the... Lgbtq group Boyd is the furries in schools in maine way to solve the problem, he said we shouldn & # x27 t. Fever will not die in Iowa boxes being in Brainerd at a convention for fellow legs have! Genuine questions about the election outcome, the board had already proposed giving him MORE control over elections conservative., 2024, just after the November 2024 presidential election two legs, have hands manipulate... Board had already proposed giving him MORE control over elections be formed that would guide the recorders on.

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