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The destruction of America's public education system


Captainant

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On 11/2/2023 at 9:47 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Feels like PragerU is missing a business line. They should be offering up PragerKidz and PragerHigh. Sell video subscriptions to certain private schools and parents homeschooling. Profit.

That's what they are doing.

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26 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Moms 4 Liberty are modem day nazis …

 

Regular, reasonable people need to vote. There is a major effort to take over school districts by these types of groups. They are the actual people that want to indoctrinate the kids. 

There is a place to argue what library and classroom materials are given to school children. Differing opinions may all be valid. But trying to get the librarians arrested for porn distribution?

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i just read the DT thread on the Prosper football stadium debacle. oh the irony of people arguing Texas schools aren't that bad while still undoubtedly supporting the desperate 'need' for vouchers. 

so transparent. sometimes the hypocrisy is just over the top 🙄 

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So, how fucked is AISD and the other districts that pay into Robin Hood now that 100 counties, with an average home value of under $100,000, will effectively pay no property taxes?  That has to be a fuck load of rural districts that will now be on Austin's tit.

I also don't know if that new homestead exemption applies to other property taxes but all those local EMS/Fire/Water districts are proper fucked now also.

 

Edited by CooterBrown
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22 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

So, how fucked is AISD and the other districts that pay into Robin Hood now that 100 counties, with an average home value of under $100,000, will effectively pay no property taxes?  That has to be a fuck load of rural districts that will now be on Austin's tit.

I also don't know if that new homestead exemption applies to other property taxes but all those local EMS/Fire/Water districts are proper fucked now also.

 

I think that only applies to school taxes.  It doesn't apply to ESDs and such.  My department would be screwed if that was the case.  

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42 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

So, how fucked is AISD and the other districts that pay into Robin Hood now that 100 counties, with an average home value of under $100,000, will effectively pay no property taxes?  That has to be a fuck load of rural districts that will now be on Austin's tit.

I also don't know if that new homestead exemption applies to other property taxes but all those local EMS/Fire/Water districts are proper fucked now also.

 

 

Well, supposedly the lege earmarked money (if the amendment passed) to make up for that shortfall. I'll give you two to one odds that money won't cover the shortfall. And even if it does cover the shortfall, this amendment is now permanently in the constitution (unless it gets revoked-lol), and that earmark was for only two years.

 

And Leroy is correct, its only school taxes that get the new homestead exemption. County taxes and whatever else aren't changed by this amendment.

 

 

 

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On 11/6/2023 at 10:55 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Regular, reasonable people need to vote. There is a major effort to take over school districts by these types of groups. They are the actual people that want to indoctrinate the kids. 

There is a place to argue what library and classroom materials are given to school children. Differing opinions may all be valid. But trying to get the librarians arrested for porn distribution?

No surprise, but it was all a ruse by the M4L crowd..

https://popular.info/p/how-moms-for-liberty-and-a-notorious

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4 minutes ago, pacman said:

No surprise, but it was all a ruse by the M4L crowd..

https://popular.info/p/how-moms-for-liberty-and-a-notorious

One of our two political parties works hand-in-hand with book banners/burners and is overwhelmingly in favor of a candidate who regularly parrots Hitler's rhetoric (numerous times the past week).  Godwin's law has been nuked from orbit.

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Never change Texas.  An oilfield services company CEO who is on the Texas Education Board objects to a book that doesn't say nice things about oil and gas companies.

Shocked GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-education-board-rejects-climate-change-lessons-in-textbooks/

The State Board of Education on Tuesday gave an initial rejection to some science textbooks after concerns over their lessons on climate change.

Members of the 15-seat education policy committee voted on party lines to withhold approval from numerous textbooks that recognize fossil fuels as a cause of manmade climate change.

Among the rejections were publisher Green Ninja’s middle school science textbooks, which provides exercises that direct students to write about the future changes to weather and climate. Another publisher, EduSmart, was struck from the list for depictions that one board member worried cast the oil and gas industry in a “negative light.”

“There’s an overemphasis on the evils of oil and gas and virtues of renewables,” District 15 board member Aaron Kinsey said of another textbook. Kinsey is a Midland Republican and CEO of the oilfield services company American Patrols, which contracts with oil and gas companies to provide aerial surveys.

-----

“This is not something that’s debated in the scientific realm at all, it’s just something that’s controversial in the political realm,” KXAN Chief Meteorologist David Yeomans said. “Teaching climate change to kids is the same as teaching them about gravity or addition and subtraction. These are settled scientific facts. It’s not being ‘anti’ anything.”

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Targeted by the far right and now having to use professional development days for this...
Screenshot_20231122_091131_X.thumb.jpg.d550620cc12a2b54a38223f5e9e24c9b.jpg
A couple of nuggets I personally heard in these trainings...

If you've already used the supplies in the kit, you can use a Doritos bag to form a seal over a wound.

When dealing with gun violence, teachers defending their students with a nail file is more preferable than a police union endorsing a gun-control candidate.
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On 11/16/2023 at 7:58 PM, Captainant said:

Whoops. Turns out moms for liberty is affiliated with the proud boys

https://www.advocate.com/news/moms-for-liberty-proud-boys

Shout out to Florida investigative journalism for spotting the pictures with PB's and Karens flashing the white power symbol

2 of the M4L founders were honored at the Fox New patriot awards. Most Valuable Patriots.

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On 11/16/2023 at 8:58 PM, Captainant said:

Whoops. Turns out moms for liberty is affiliated with the proud boys

https://www.advocate.com/news/moms-for-liberty-proud-boys

Shout out to Florida investigative journalism for spotting the pictures with PB's and Karens flashing the white power symbol

Not surprising. Remember, their Indianapolis chapter quoted Hitler in their newsletter.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2023/06/21/moms-for-liberty-hamilton-county-indiana-quotes-hitler-in-newsletter/70344659007/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Whatever.  It's going to happen, it will be the way of the world in every red state before too long.  And y'all are gonna regret not getting in on the "Brisketexan's FreedomEagleGunJesus Academy of Learning," which will collect the full value of every voucher, and provide an education that costs approximately 50% of the value of said voucher.

It's all about the grift.  Remember that, it's the thread that runs through everything from that ecosystem.

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Interesting tactics from the book banners showed up in Conroe ISD a couple weeks ago. Sending in some lady with an obviously fabricated or extremely exaggerated story about how she got addicted to porn because of a Scholastic brand book she got at a fair, which she attended as an 11 year old homeschooler. It appears the book banning isn't about saving the kids (SURPRISE!), and it's more about replacing Scholastic brand books (1.7 billion annual revenue) with some faith-based brand of books for public schools. Big names in rightwing grift have their kids books published and sold through Brave/Skytree. People like Kirk Cameron, Jack Posobiec, Kevin Sorbo and many more. Some great topics they cover are at the end of the article, and they are just as silly and stupid as you can imagine. 

So I guess this book banning scheme has come full circle: create drama in school boards > get thousands of books banned > libraries need to fill shelf space > supply books won't be protested by all those crazy people causing the book bannings and stop wasting the school board's time!  Sure, the people protesting might have personal interests in stoking the flames and causing distractions from real issues, but it's all about saving the children from leftwing ideology at a young age. Instead we can replace it with rightwing ideology kids of all ages can enjoy! Yay!

 

Quote

Mysterious woman tells school board that Scholastic book sparked porn addiction

On November 14, a 20-year-old woman named Lanah Burkhardt appeared before the school board of the Conroe Independent School District in Texas. Burkhardt told the board that, when she was 11, she read a Scholastic book that introduced her to "a single kiss." According to Burkhardt, her exposure to this Scholastic book was directly responsible for her developing a debilitating addiction to pornography. 

Burkhardt said that after reading the Scholastic book with the "single kiss," she "looked for other books that gave me pleasure." This "led to internet searches" that Burkhardt will "never forget." By the time she was 13, Burkhardt says her porn addiction left her depressed and suicidal. 

Burkhardt cited her story as a reason to restrict access to Drama, a novel published by Scholastic. The book includes this image of two people kissing: 
https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf2cce03-f312-4e55-8b1f-7c23f53b01a6_902x828.png

But Burkhardt went further, arguing that Conroe should remove all Scholastic books from schools and stop hosting Scholastic book fairs. These steps were necessary, Burkhardt argued, to protect children from "sexual obscenity." According to Burkhardt, "getting rid of Scholastic books and their book fairs will inevitably protect kids." 

Burkhardt's appearance was promoted by SkyTree Book Fairs, a newly formed organization marketing itself as "an alternative to the sexually explicit content distributed in Scholastic's book fairs." 

While SkyTree Book Fairs presents itself as an independent non-profit organization, it appears to be a hastily assembled offshoot of Brave Books, which publishes children's books by right-wing pundits and pseudo-celebrities. 

The president of SkyTree Book Fairs, Riley Lee, was listed as an "Executive Assistant" at Brave Books earlier this year. (Lee has omitted her employment at Brave Books from her LinkedIn profile.) A website, stopscholastic.com, which previously redirected to a page promoting book fairs by Brave Books, now redirects to SkyTree Books Fairs. An "extensive report" on the dangers of Scholastic, previously offered by Brave Books, is now being distributed by SkyTree Book Fairs. 

The link between SkyTree Book Fairs and Brave Books was first reported by Book Riot.

After this story was published, Lee responded to emailed questions sent by Popular Information on Tuesday. Lee said that SkyTree Book Fairs “was created in response to the work Kirk Cameron did throughout his public library tour in 2023.” (The tour hosted by Brave Books.) Lee described herself as a “former employee of BRAVE Books.” William Bell, Head of Sales for Brave Books, is on the board of directors. Riley said SkyTree Book Fairs offers BRAVE Books along with books from other publishers.

Burkhardt's appearance at the Conroe school board was also promoted by Brave Books. The company called it a "must watch" and a "powerful message that needs to be heard." Burkhardt's story was also pushed by Kirk Cameron, the former child actor who has several titles published by Brave Books and is an advisor to SkyTree Book Fairs. 

Neither Brave Books nor Burkhardt disclosed that Burkhardt is an employee of Brave Books. According to her LinkedIn profile, Burkhardt is the company's "public relations coordinator."

Burkhardt's employment was first reported by Frank Strong. It is unclear how an 11-year-old Burkhardt obtained the Scholastic book that allegedly caused her porn addiction. It appears she was home-schooled. Burkhardt did not respond to a request for comment sent via Facebook. 

Burkhardt's gambit has already had an impact. The Conroe school board, after listening to her story, voted to restrict access to Drama, the Scholastic book featuring a kiss, from all students in the 8th grade and below. One of the school board members, Melissa Dungan, suggested replacing Scholastic with SkyTree Book Fairs. "All glory to God," Burkhardt posted in response to the news. 

Inside Brave Books

Brave Books was founded by Trent Talbot, an ophthalmologist with no apparent background in education. According to Talbot’s LinkedIn profile, he founded the company in February 2021 after he “realized there was a war going on for the hearts and minds of our children and the wrong side was winning.” The company’s website states that it sells “[f]aith-based children’s books” and aims to “help parents instill a love of truth in their children” so that they can “withstand harmful progressive influences.” 

Brave Books offers a slew of children’s books with conservative messaging written by right-wing influencers and politicians. Authors on Brave Books’ website include actor Kevin Sorbo, United States Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Donald Trump's former press secretary Sean Spicer, and Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn. 

Many of the titles published by Brave Books are set in an imaginary world based on the United States called Freedom Island. According to Politico, each book based on Freedom Island contains a “fold-out map marked with villages and mountain ranges,” with the southwestern corner of the map being called the “Car-a-Lago Coast.” The books also include “an afterword for parents” that is “filled with suggested games and discussion questions to drive home political concepts.” 

One of the books sold by Brave Books is “Elephants Are Not Birds” by Ashley St. Clair. The book, which sells for $22.99, follows an elephant named Kevin “as he learns that even though he can sing, he is not a bird.” The villain of the story, a “vulture named Culture,” “gives [the] elephant a beak and a set of fake wings and watches as he plummets out of a tree.” Culture is a recurring character in the books set on Freedom Island who, according to Politico, “tries to poison innocent animals with progressive ideas.” In an interview with the New York Post, St. Clair described the book as “an unapologetic rebuke of transgender acceptance and the growing number of young people identifying as trans.” 

Brave Books also sells a book called “Paws Off My Cannon” by Dana Loesch, a former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association (NRA). According to Brave Books’ website, the book “teaches kids the importance of the Second Amendment” by following the story of Bongo, a gorilla, who is shot at with a coconut cannon by a “villainous hyena.” Bongo’s friend Bonnie then “suggests the village ban all coconut cannons,” but “Bongo thinks that the hyenas are the problem, not the coconut cannons.” 🤣

Another book sold on Brave Books’ website is “No More Secrets: The Candy Cavern” by right-wing influencer Chaya Raichik. Raichik runs the X account Libs of TikTok, known for anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The book is about “Rose the Lamb” and how her teacher is “focused more on candy than teaching.” According to the New York Post, the subtext of the book is “based on longstanding criticisms by parents that schools are encouraging gender transition in young students without informing parents.” Brave Books’ website advertises that “Donald Trump Posted in Support of the Book!” 

Brave Books also sells “The Island of Free Ice Cream” by Jack Posobiec, which is a story about communism. Posobiec is a right-wing personality who “promoted the false Pizzagate conspiracy theory” and has ties to white supremacists. 

https://popular.info/p/mysterious-woman-tells-school-board

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3 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

 

It's never surprising that many on the right never recognize the basic consequences of their own laws.  For example, when Dan Patrick pushes that trans men and women need to use the bathroom of their "birth" gender, he apparently has never considered that a trans man may look extremely masculine and according to Dan Patrick, that man will be required to use the women's public restroom. 

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1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

It's never surprising that many on the right never recognize the basic consequences of their own laws.  For example, when Dan Patrick pushes that trans men and women need to use the bathroom of their "birth" gender, he apparently has never considered that a trans man may look extremely masculine and according to Dan Patrick, that man will be required to use the women's public restroom. 

On some level, Patrick and his ilk know that if a trans person isn't allowed to use a public restroom that matches their identity, that person also could not use the restroom that matches their birth-assigned gender for the reason you state; it would be unsafe and would cause disruption and possibly violence. Their goal is to exclude trans people from public life. I mean, how are you going to go around in the world if you could never use a restroom while dining out, shopping, running errands etc.? It's a policy purposely designed to further exclude, stigmatize, and marginalize. 

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Restrooms are such a stupid ass hill to die on, and I watched my young children like a hawk, regardless of whom was around.  Within reason and personal space, the kid is in the exact same danger in a same-gender restroom.  So many aspects of this bullshit is chasing mice while getting trampled by elephants.  The school bullshit frustrates me in the same way.  A shit ton of folks ain't worried about the right stuff, and they are  the first ones to cry about the end result.

It's a fucking beating.

Edited by slorch
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3 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

Interesting tactics from the book banners showed up in Conroe ISD a couple weeks ago. Sending in some lady with an obviously fabricated or extremely exaggerated story about how she got addicted to porn because of a Scholastic brand book she got at a fair, which she attended as an 11 year old homeschooler. It appears the book banning isn't about saving the kids (SURPRISE!), and it's more about replacing Scholastic brand books (1.7 billion annual revenue) with some faith-based brand of books for public schools. Big names in rightwing grift have their kids books published and sold through Brave/Skytree. People like Kirk Cameron, Jack Posobiec, Kevin Sorbo and many more. Some great topics they cover are at the end of the article, and they are just as silly and stupid as you can imagine. 

So I guess this book banning scheme has come full circle: create drama in school boards > get thousands of books banned > libraries need to fill shelf space > supply books won't be protested by all those crazy people causing the book bannings and stop wasting the school board's time!  Sure, the people protesting might have personal interests in stoking the flames and causing distractions from real issues, but it's all about saving the children from leftwing ideology at a young age. Instead we can replace it with rightwing ideology kids of all ages can enjoy! Yay!

 

https://popular.info/p/mysterious-woman-tells-school-board


this is some strong grift game Here 

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Never change Round Rock

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/round-rock-isd-trustees-called-to-return-donations-from-embattled-pac/

Quote

Two Round Rock Independent School District board members are facing calls to return thousands of campaign dollars they received from a political group, following news of the former president of the group meeting with a widely known white supremacist, antisemitic podcaster.

The group under fire for the meeting – Defend Texas Liberty PAC – donated $13,000 to RRISD Trustee Mary Bone and $18,000 to trustee Danielle Weston in December 2021, according to Texas Ethics Commission records. Those were the largest donations they received. Neither were up for reelection at the time.

Quote

The contributions attracted little attention until early October, when the Texas Tribune revealedDefend Texas Liberty’s former president Jonathan Stickland met for hours at his office with Nick Fuentes, a prominent activist who has denied the holocaust and praised Adolf Hitler. The October confab sparked powerful conservative leaders to renounce the meeting and redirect donations from the group.

RRISD Board President Amber Feller Landrum and Vice President Tiffanie Harrison called for their fellow trustees to return or redirect their contributions from the PAC.

Quote

Landrum said she “wholeheartedly supports” the return or donation of funds received from Defend Texas Liberty. Harrison went further in her statement about Bone and Weston.

“Both trustees have shown a commitment to white supremacy, racism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia in their actions. While receiving these funds are unconscionable, these contributions are in line with their behavior on and off the dais,” Harrison wrote. 

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Quote

Bone and Weston did not respond to a variety of requests for comment. KXAN attempted to reach them through multiple emails sent to their district board email addresses, several phone calls and messages left on their phones and certified letters sent to their homes.

In late November, Bone announced she would be running for a position on the State Board of Education, which sets policies and standards for all public schools in Texas.

Are we surprised that she would take money from such a group and then turn around and run for the State Board of Education?

Not Bad Kind Of GIF by MOODMAN

Quote

It isn’t clear if Bone or Weston will return or redirect the Defend Texas Liberty funds. Other lawmakers who took the PAC’s money did take that step, according to media reports.

Soon after news of the Fuentes meeting broke, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said in a statement the meeting was “not just a casual misstep.” Phelan requested Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick return $3 million he received from the group, according to a report by the Texas Tribune. Within days, Patrick issued a statement condemning antisemitism and announced his campaign would buy $6 million in Israeli bonds. “As I have said, there is simply no place in Texas politics where the views of Nick Fuentes and his kind are acceptable or will be tolerated,” Patrick said in a news release.

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1 hour ago, slorch said:

Restrooms are such a stupid ass hill to die on, and I watched my young children like a hawk, regardless of whom was around.  Within reason and personal space, the kid is in the exact same danger in a same-gender restroom.  So many aspects of this bullshit is chasing mice while getting trampled by elephants.  The school bullshit frustrates me in the same way.  A shit ton of folks ain't worried about the right stuff, and they are  the first ones to cry about the end result.

It's a fucking beating.

Totally agree.  Further the fucking weirdos(inclusive of all genders, orientations, sexuality, …)who enjoy parading around naked in a public locker room in front of grade schoolers should be taken out back and beaten with a rubber hose. Take your shower, use a towel for a modicum of modesty and get dressed.  No one wants to see you clip your fucking toenails buck naked.

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1 hour ago, slorch said:

Restrooms are such a stupid ass hill to die on, and I watched my young children like a hawk, regardless of whom was around.  Within reason and personal space, the kid is in the exact same danger in a same-gender restroom.  So many aspects of this bullshit is chasing mice while getting trampled by elephants.  The school bullshit frustrates me in the same way.  A shit ton of folks ain't worried about the right stuff, and they are  the first ones to cry about the end result.

It's a fucking beating.

I witnessed a huge argument about this between my buddy and an aggy.  The aggy sounded just as stupid as you would expect.

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If anyone needs an awesome, productive well respected and liked Superintendent, Fort Bend ISD trustees had decided to force ours into early retirement - "voluntary retirement" against her wishes. She was given glowing employee review this summer and contract extension with 2% raise for her work. No details as to what actually happened have been given, but came completely out of left field and is not going over well with teachers, admin and most of the public I've spoken with.  We've put up with a string of really crappy Supers that left the direct is financial and internal turmoil.  In a short two years Dr Whitbeck came in and help guide us to a stable financial footing and morale in the schools is noticeably higher.  I'd really love to know what happened and may at some point as I can't imagine this ends without lawyers getting involved.

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1 hour ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

If anyone needs an awesome, productive well respected and liked Superintendent, Fort Bend ISD trustees had decided to force ours into early retirement - "voluntary retirement" against her wishes. She was given glowing employee review this summer and contract extension with 2% raise for her work. No details as to what actually happened have been given, but came completely out of left field and is not going over well with teachers, admin and most of the public I've spoken with.  We've put up with a string of really crappy Supers that left the direct is financial and internal turmoil.  In a short two years Dr Whitbeck came in and help guide us to a stable financial footing and morale in the schools is noticeably higher.  I'd really love to know what happened and may at some point as I can't imagine this ends without lawyers getting involved.

A couple clues:
https://www.texaspolicy.com/conservatives-who-promise-to-stop-leftist-racism-win-texas-school-board-seats/

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/2022/04/13/422756/a-fort-bend-isd-school-board-candidate-has-been-sending-out-racially-charged-tweets/

 

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22 hours ago, Incredulity said:

Totally agree.  Further the fucking weirdos(inclusive of all genders, orientations, sexuality, …)who enjoy parading around naked in a public locker room in front of grade schoolers should be taken out back and beaten with a rubber hose. Take your shower, use a towel for a modicum of modesty and get dressed.  No one wants to see you clip your fucking toenails buck naked.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Interesting info on Hillsdale College and Prager U and how they are getting public taxpayer funding for the Public Charter School Curriculum as a brainwashing exercise. 

Ties together some of the Florida Stuff, Ginny Thomas, and Abbott shit too.  I skipped ahead to a good spot but there is an earlier segment where Florida is paying their teachers a $3000 bonus to go to the indoctrination seminars.

 

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