The rumor of litter boxes at schools is back.Reporters who are skilled at confirming facts that align with their biases know how to thoroughly verify them before reporting it.
Republican politicians ought to follow the same rules when it comes tales about children identifying as furries.
It goes something like this: Schools now accept transgender students, and other gender identities. They also recognize students who identify themselves as animals as valid students. These schools are forcing teachers to refer to them using animal-related pronouns. They’re even making absurd special arrangements—litter boxes in bathrooms, low-to-the-floor tables—to accommodate these pet-identifying pupils.
Nebraska state Sen. Bruce Bostelman (R–District 23) is the latest lawmaker to repeat this urban legend. “Schoolchildren dress up as animals—cats or dogs—during the school day; they meow, and they bark. … And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools for these children to use. What is the best way to keep your school clean? he said MondayAfter a debate on televised television, the group retraced hours later as school districts denied their claims.
He stated, “It wasn’t something I thought was going on. We had to do something about it if it really was.”
Similar myths in Iowa and Texas have circulated so far this year. This has prompted the same deniations from school officials.
Casey Burlau (superintendent of Iowa’s Carroll school district) wrote to parents in February that there was a rumor that schools had litter boxes in their restrooms in order to help individuals self-identifying themselves as animals. This is clearly and categorically false.
Meshawn maddock, the chairwoman for Michigan’s Republican party posted on Facebook January 1st that children who identify themselves as furries get a toilet in school. This is false.
Michelle Evans is a Republican candidate for Texas’ House of Representatives. claimed in JanuaryMiddle and high school cafeteria tables had been lowered “to let ‘furries’ eat easier without the use of utensils, their hands, or like dogs who eat out of a bowl.”
This was false. McClatchy News spokesperson said that it was not possible with the cafeteria tables.
These stories are why they keep coming up. These stories are in perfect sync with Republican fears regarding transgender or non-binary students as well as the anti-accommodation propaganda war waged by Republicans.
It is similar to the way lawmakers have argued for decades that legalizing homosexual marriages would result in people marrying animal companions.
However, the absurd rumors were not true back then and aren’t now.
There are likely to be students out there who identify themselves as animals. There might also be fairies and witches. You never know. This country is huge. Many teenagers feel confused and odd. They are always looking for ways to be different.
However, there is no evidence to support the notion that it’s widespread or a subset of gender anarchy.
It is possible that schools could be incorporated into the school district. Your litter box should be installedThis is nuts. It is amazing that this would be possible. However, it is in perfect alignment with other types of “youth” today! Fears of anti-transphobia and freakouts are not uncommon. I believe we will continue to hear such stories for quite some time.
GRATIS MARKETS
Biden’s bloated budget plan would increase taxes, while funding the military, police, FBI and ICE would be increased. The President Joe Biden released the proposed budget for federal government in 2023. The entire document can be found here. Fox News notes that under the $5.8 trillion plan “taxes will rise by $2.5 Trillion, marking the largest dollar increase in history,” and the deficit “would be $1.15 Trillion.”
This proposal “includes substantial increases in funding to the military and police services.” The New York TimesIt is worth pointing out. Proposed military spending of $773 billion would represent a 10 per cent increase on this year’s budget. Anti-violence programs and police departments will receive $30 billion. The Department of Justice would get additional funds, as would the FBI and Department of Justice.
Biden plans to set aside $367million for Justice Department support to police reform and prosecutions of hate crime. Times reports. The F.B.I. would receive nearly $70 billion and more than $17 billion to crack down on gun trafficking. To reduce violent crime. The $8 billion would be paid to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that Mr. Biden pledged to reform during his campaign, despite progressive calls to disband it.
Biden would be also nearly double the budget for the Space Force.
FREE MINDS
Research challenges the existing wisdom on social media and misinformation.Researchers report that “Contrary popular belief, it’s not clear whether the use of social media to obtain news raises belief in political misinformation.”
International Journal of Press/Politics.
????New publication????
The article contains @carmuniz2011 @celoo“Social Media and Belief in Misinformation in Mexico: An example of maximum panic but minimal effect” It is available today in #IJPP: https://t.co/UbUdu0PXc2
In this article??This???? will describe how a NULL FINDING makes an important discovery! pic.twitter.com/1Q0b5pRJOH— Sebastián Valenzuela (@SebaValenz) March 24, 2022
Researchers looked at the news exposure of Facebook, Twitter YouTube Instagram and Instagram in Mexico for the midterm elections 2021. The researchers found no significant associations between any of the social networks analyzed and misinformed beliefs. They concluded that their study was consistent with the “minimal media effects” paradigm. This suggests that there is more to misinformation than social platforms.
FOLLOWUP
Chamber of Commerce claims that the court was correct to dismiss Facebook’s lawsuit.According to Reuters, “the Chamber of Commerce” has requested that a D.C. appels court reject an appeal made by a large group of U.S states in order to revive its antitrust case against Meta Platform’s Facebook.
Along with Computer and Communications Industry Association and Business Roundtable the Chamber argued that the judge in the District Court hearing the case had the right to dismiss it because the state hadn’t filed their cases in time.
The lawsuit filed by the States against Facebook was dismissed last July by Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He stated that the state had delayed challenging the 2012 and 2014 acquisitions of Instagram, WhatsApp and WhatsApp.
However, the judge allowed the Federal Trade Commission to file a lawsuit against Facebook. The FTC filed the suit in January. (See also: Facebook’s Monopoly was Always Doomed.
QUICK HITS
The nugget is in the @NBCNewsThis poll jumps out at you: 62% Americans think they’re falling behind and cannot keep up the costs of living.
Although most of the happenings in DC don’t resonate with swing or marginal voters, this is what cuts through all the noise and impacts people every day. pic.twitter.com/H8ZnmVo22w
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) March 27, 2022
• A federal court said former President Donald Trump “more likely than not” tried to obstruct Congress in certifying the 2020 election results.
• More on the massive amounts of fraud that took place under the Paycheck Protection Program, designed to help businesses and workers make it through the pandemic. Experts say theft accounted for “as much as $80 billion—or about 10 percent—of the $800 billion handed out,” reports NBC News. “That’s on top of the $90 billion to $400 billion believed to have been stolen from the $900 billion Covid unemployment relief program … And another $80 billion potentially pilfered from a separate Covid disaster relief program.”
• After spending 28 years wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit, William “Ricky” Virgil has now died before his lawsuit against the cops who he says framed him can proceed. “His civil case was scheduled to start in August at Covington Federal Court,” Kentucky according to WCPO Cincinnati. U.S. district court judge David Bunning allowed the matter to be delayed so that the officers could appeal. They claim that qualified immunity provides them with protection from liability as well as a trial by jury.
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (a Republican) has signed an controversial bill that limits what schools can learn about gender and orientation.
BREAKING: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill that forbids sexual orientation and gender identification instruction from kindergarten through grade 3.
National scrutiny has been intense for the policy, which some critics call “Don’t Say Gay”. https://t.co/RzdJrBmgd5
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 28, 2022