To those who thought Trump and Clinton “were the same”, burn this week into your brains!

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Whatever it takes to remember folks!

If you even have a memory of our pre-Covid world, you may remember a contingent of folks who said that Clinton and Trump were the same. We scoffed at that characterization at the time, and NOW we want to make sure that idiotic notion is removed from everyone’s thought process…FOREVER!

A little over a year ago we wrote a post lamenting the dismantling of Roe V. Wade. In the year since that decision, we’ve seen states restrict a woman’s right to control her own body in a variety of Handmaid Tale ways. The hopefully unintended consequences of these laws have been OB/GYNs leaving those states, rape and incest victims being further traumatized, and a variety of other outcomes as outlined in this NIH study.

This week presented us with even more evidence as to how both candidates were not the same! A few days back we saw the court attack affirmative action programs because apparently discrimination is a thing of the past!

Today they took the right to discriminate even further. A web designer, who had never even been asked to create a website for a gay wedding, sued the state of Colorado because she feared that one day she may be asked to do so! Yes you read that right! We also just saw this woman on MSNBC and she said this was a victory for everyone! Because everyone should have the right to make other people’s lives as difficult as possible because they believe you are destined for hell!

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-supreme-court-rule-web-designer-with-anti-gay-marriage-stance-2023-06-30/

(Be sure to read the quote she chose to have displayed behind her. Cognitive dissonance is a real problem in this country!)

Public accommodation laws have been in place since the 1960s. If you chose to open a business that serves the public then you serve the public! So, now let’s think about what’s going to happen as a result of this ruling. We already have a former gubernatorial candidate declaring that taking your kids to a pride festival is child abuse (scroll down to the post he made from a screenshot from Everything Frederick, be sure to read the comments as well). Not to mention we’ve had to deal with Cindy Rose and her new Transparency in Education alliance who wants to equate gay rights with grooming children for sexual abuse. Frederick County Government also did a nice post about the Pride festival and the winning of a lego set and some of our local numbskulls are now using it as an opportunity to show their homophobic nature. This case will embolden these types of people. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing signs that refuse service to LGBTQ+ people. Don’t be surprised when we start to see more violence as well. What a dark day.

Justice Satomayor’s dissent says it all:

Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants
a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse
to serve members of a protected class. Specifically, the
Court holds that the First Amendment exempts a websitedesign company from a state law that prohibits the company from denying wedding websites to same-sex couples if
the company chooses to sell those websites to the public.
The Court also holds that the company has a right to post a
notice that says, “‘no [wedding websites] will be sold if they
will be used for gay marriages.’”

And….

Now the Court faces a similar test. A business open to
the public seeks to deny gay and lesbian customers the full
and equal enjoyment of its services based on the owner’s
religious belief that same-sex marriages are “false.” The
business argues, and a majority of the Court agrees, that
because the business offers services that are customized
and expressive, the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment shields the business from a generally applicable law
that prohibits discrimination in the sale of publicly available goods and services. That is wrong. Profoundly wrong.
As I will explain, the law in question targets conduct, not
speech, for regulation, and the act of discrimination has
never constituted protected expression under the First
Amendment. Our Constitution contains no right to refuse
service to a disfavored group. I dissent.

And if you don’t think Republicans won’t try to expand restrictions to other groups, we don’t have any words for you, except maybe “Bless Your Heart”. We can’t even get into the loan forgiveness decision because there is just so much we can deal with in a day. But we will say one thing. When one of your Lady Yokels was having her first baby Yokel in the early 2000s, one of her co workers lamented the fact that 6 weeks maternity leave (!) was paid for while they only got 2. And not lamented in a way that progress was made, she thought it was unfair. Therefore, if we go by that logic, and by extension the logic of some of these student loan forgiveness dissenters, nothing should ever change ever because of “fairness”. It’s really amazing that human civilization has evolved as far as it has.

Indicted sheriff, bored retirees, and attempted book bannings! What a summer we are having in Olde Fredericktowne!

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We can’t get a break, can we Bucky?!

It’s supposed to be a time of relaxation. The kids are out for summer, the weather is nicer, and everyone should be slowing their roll. But alas, tis not the case round these parts!

We all know about the High Sheriff’s indictment, but you may not know that Jenkins is feigning victimhood! According to the Frederick News Post, Jenkins regrets signing the letters, claims he was “duped” into signing them AND because he didn’t receive anything in return, it shouldn’t matter anyway. Is that how the law works….no it is not! According to aforementioned article the government responded to Jenkins’ claim in this fashion:

Finally, the response said Jenkins’ assertion that he didn’t receive anything from Krop in return for the letters didn’t mean that Jenkins was absolved of the crimes or of fraud. Jenkins’ motion argued that there was no evidence Jenkins benefited from the alleged conspiracy, and that there was no fraud.

“The fact that Jenkins did not receive anything of monetary value in return does not speak to [the letters’] falsity,” the response said.

Seems to us that if you are the High Sheriff, there’s certain points of law you should be acquainted with! Dan Cox’s claims, in his poor attempt to throw out the charges against his client, were hilariously refuted by the government as well. We present the following for your viewing pleasure:

“The Government will not address the various inaccurate factual assertions that Krop made in these 44 pages, the erroneous legal arguments he advances in them or the political statements he makes which have nothing to do with either the law or facts in this case,” the response said.

The first point the government pushed back on was Krop’s allegation that he and Jenkins were misrepresented to the grand jury and in the indictment since they were addressed in the past tense. For example, the indictment says Krop was a Frederick County resident, not that he is a Frederick County resident.

The government said this use of past tense was standard practice, and included a citation to the definition of “past tense” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Cox did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

The government then criticized Krop’s references to an ATF agent who is a former Ukrainian resident, calling them unacceptable “personal attacks.”

It also accused him of going on a “fishing expedition” in the grand jury process, despite having no evidence that any wrongdoing occurred.

Several of Krop’s motions asked for certain evidence to be turned over. The government said that everything he was asking for had already been turned over to him, and that he signed a document, like Jenkins, that he would get additional information a week before trial.

Finally, the government pushed back on Krop’s claim that the search and seizure at The Machine Gun Nest was unlawful. It argued that there was probable cause, which stemmed from lawful investigation, and a lawful warrant.

He's my lawyer. And he's not a very good one either.
Side note: Read this great editorial of this whole situation by Matt Edens.

To make things even more crazy, today the Frederick News Post reported that Jenkins’ leave of absence isn’t really an absence as he’s still collecting his full salary AND attending meetings.

In a phone interview on Thursday, Jenkins said he attended sheriff’s office budget meetings and has gone back to the office on occasion to do work.

He said the letter about his administrative leave speaks for itself.

“I am still the head of the agency,” he said. “That’s not going to change.”

Jenkins wrote in the letter that Col. David Benjamin would take on day-to-day operations of the sheriff’s office and “perform the duties of the Sheriff.”

Not sure if the High Sheriff understands what a leave of absence is!

In other happenings, we recently shared an article on our Facebook account about who interacts with local government the most. As you may guess it’s the 55 and up crowd. Don’t think for a moment that we are in anyway disparaging the older crowd as we Lady Yokels are practically there ourselves, but they can’t be the only ones giving their feedback.

And those other wheels have opinions too!

Here’s two examples of what we are dealing with around here. First of all, we have this FCPS reconsideration committee that’s examining books that Cindy Rose et al. decided that no kid should be allowed to read. (If you haven’t read it yet, look at our legislative suggestions on how to curb the problem of a handful of people being allowed to potentially ban books.) Her research consisted of going to ratedbooks.com and printing out the most salacious bits. While her opinion may matter, being a local citizen and all, she needs pushback. (Thankfully we’ve all pushed her back from sitting on the school board itself four times now!) Another example of the older crowd attempting to influence the school board is the former Citigroup executive who has taken up the mantle of banning transkids from sports, not allowing these same kids to identify as their gender of choice in school, and has complained on our posts about the imagined teaching of CRT in the public school system. He’s been joined by the likes of Tom Neumark, who likes to write about how horrible FCPS is in the editorial section of the FNP. The formerly mentioned executive claims on his website that he got into this game, despite having no children in FCPS and with no background in education, because of failing scores on tests. However, the only things he’s been vocal about are the same things that national Republican party has used as scare mongering techniques in order to get more votes. If you haven’t seen it, and these folks should take a look as well if they weren’t so allergic to actual journalism, there’s a great article explaining how the American Principles Project needed to find a new social issue to rile up their side and transgender kids is what they landed on. All of this book banning, anti-history, and discriminating against gay and trans people is all part of the Republican strategy to win back votes. We cannot allow it to happen in our neck of the woods. So make sure you check the Board of Education’s agenda, and the county council’s agenda in order to give your feedback. It’s when the majority doesn’t pay attention that these folks and their outdated and harmful ideas sneak in.

There’s sparks of hope that the Trump way of governing is losing its sheen around here. A group that pretends to be non partisan tried to organize a pro-Trump rally on the overpass on Route 15 on Monocacy Blvd. last week. Guess how many people showed up?

Maybe we can all get back to some sense of normalcy soon!

And don’t forget to attend Frederick Pride tomorrow! All the best people will be there.

We’ve written about some stupid shit, but damn……

fclocalyokel3 Comments
Well, yeah we can.

We will begin this post by addressing the very bad defense of the High Sheriff. His innocence apparently hinges on his ignorance:

At worst, Sheriff Jenkins was duped by Krop into providing these
demonstration letters, without ever knowing or having reason to know that Krop’s motive was to
gain financially from TMGN’s special permission to possess and to import, even to obtain, these
weapons. In all the discovery produced to date, there is no material that shows or establishes any
financial incentive or fraudulent intent on the part of Sheriff Jenkins.

And, technically, that means Jenkins is too naive or dumb (or both!) to serve the county, and therefore should resign his position….forthwith! Also, ignorance is never a great legal strategy, so good luck with that!

Jenkins’ lawyer also thinks it would be “profoundly unfair” if he had to be tried in the same trial as Robert Krop. After reading through the defense that Dan Cox has concocted, we may have to say this is one of the few times we are in agreement with the High Sheriff. Today, the Baltimore Banner reported on Cox’s strategy and we’ve seen some doozies from Dan, but this one really takes the cake!

Krop’s attorney, meanwhile, filed a scathing, 107-page motion making a wide variety of allegations, including calling the prosecution politically motivated and questioning the Ukrainian background of the lead ATF agent on the case.

“If [the agent] has not denounced his Ukrainian citizenship the warrant must be immediately quashed and the indictment dismissed,” wrote Krop’s attorney, former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox.

We are old enough to remember when Republicans used to be anti-Russia. And ANYONE who showed any pro-Russian inclination was labeled an anti-American communist! Oh how the winds of Trump have changed these folks! And to let it permeate your legalese and thereby jeopardize the freedom of your client is top shelf MAGA!

Also, if Dan thinks that he can question people’s ethnicities we are going to throw that strategy right back in his face! According to Wikipedia:

The surname Cox is of English or Welsh origin, and may have originated independently in several places in Great Britain, with the variations arriving at a standard spelling only later. There are also two native Scottish & Irish surnames which were anglicized into Cox.

Therefore we demand that Cox publicly denounce King Charles II immediately. For how do we know Dan’s not a Tory trying to bring America under monarchical control? Next thing we know he’ll be making us drink warm beer and eat beans and mash!

Yes, Dan it sounds just as stupid when you do it.

ICYMI, The Washington Post ran a great article about some former members of Dan Cox’s father’s homeschool racket. Make sure you read it, but here’s our favorite quote:

“People who think the public schools are indoctrinating don’t know what indoctrination is. We were indoctrinated,” Aaron says. “It’s not even comparable.”

The aforementioned article enlightens us to the fact that in Dan Cox’s world women are only suitable to be mothers and sparing the rod is a big no-no when it comes to disciplining your children.

Thank you Maryland for not saddling us with this guy!

When is enough, enough? Some thoughts on the recent racism at the health department meeting.

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It should have been a long time ago.

If you haven’t heard something really horrible happened around here earlier this week:

Not sure who is reacting with the shocked face, because anyone who knows even a quarter of the history of this country should not be shocked. Even sadness is not appropriate, it should only be anger. Anger and some kind resolution to help repair our sick culture is all that is needed right now.

Let’s first focus on the subject of that aforementioned meeting. It also should not come as a shock that black mothers face more difficulties during pregnancy, more still births, and more birth complications than white women. If this subject is somehow new to you, there’s a documentary called Aftershock that can help you get up to speed. The reasons for this are rooted in racism, and the subject that some people don’t even want to teach their kids about, slavery.

The whole debate about CRT and teaching kids accurate history emboldens ignorant folk, like the ones that thought it was A-OK to come into a public health meeting and spew their vitriol all over everyone else. When we allow people to ban courses on African American history, when we refuse to acknowledge the actual history of our country, and when we sit back and feign surprise this incident occurred; we allow these bad actors a stage. And we are all to blame for it.

There is no debate to be had about whether or not to teach the truth about slavery or the struggle for equal rights in this country. For hundreds of years we have allowed people to put forth a mythology and hero worship version of American history that has not served any of us well. We need to frame ourselves around what Thomas Jefferson first wrote, and later what Elizabeth Cady Stanton fixed for him 72 years later:

We hold these truths to be self – evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. 

That’s it, that’s our common denominator as Americans. We strive to fulfill the promise of this nation that has not yet been realized. All of us, which means we don’t hide history, we don’t discriminate and say terrible things about people different from us, AND we find self-worth outside the race you happened to have been born into (that’s for you white people).

The health department is going to reschedule that meeting and we will be sure to post the new date on our social media. We need to show up en masse, and we need to demand that our county not become a hellscape like the one DeSantis is trying to create.

Local Yokel Legislating Time! Time to Fight Back Against the Pearl Clutchers!

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And it can hurt everyone else around them.

There’s a whole potpourri of dumb shittery going on in this country. Most of it in Florida, because durh. If you haven’t heard about the firing of a principal because some ignoramus didn’t want their child to look at art, take a look here.

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/29/1166735136/visitors-flock-to-see-michelangelos-david-sculpture-after-school-uproar-in-flori

Besides the appalling amount of time someone must have on their hands to complain about a naked statue from the Renaissance, it’s embarrassing to the rest of us. According the above referenced article the statue is getting a lot of visitors lately. And we don’t have to stretch our imaginations too far to imagine many of those visitors are snickering at us prudish Americans. Even though, in reality, a vast majority of us are not bothered by stone figures of men. This Lady Yokel remembers taking my children to the Walters Art gallery to look at art. There were many naked statues and my then preschool-aged daughter asked why one of the boy statues had a tail. Not only did she get a lesson in anatomy, we have a fun family memory that we will never forget! No way I was pulling a John Ashcroft and asking the museum to cover up the stone genitalia.

Florida once again came into the news this week when one parent’s complaint caused a documentary about Ruby Bridges to be removed from a school district while the district reviewed the film. To spread the love around it’s not just Florida, though they do seem to be very special down there. We also have one person (cough, cough Cindy Rose), who has complained about some books we know she hasn’t read. As a result of her complaint a whole bunch of people are on a committee, and do you know what they have to do that Cindy didn’t? READ THE BOOKS!

Reading isn’t boring, people who don’t read are boring.

Dr. Jason Johnson and Randi Weingarten spoke on MSNBC’s Deadline White House yesterday about this very issue. Dr. Johnson made the point that local districts need to pass laws that prevent one person, who may not even live in the district where they are making the complaint, from removing books, movies, or art from schools and libraries. That statement got the old Yokel noggin thinking!

It’s time for some new legislation!

We propose that Frederick County Public Schools and Frederick County Public Libraries adopt the following policies:

  1. In order for a book, film, lesson, or art to come under review 10 community members need to make a complaint.
  2. That complaint should include the following:
  • A written synopsis of the media or lesson to prove the complainant is familiar with what they are complaining about.
  • A thorough analysis of the harm found in said media.
  • Peer reviewed research that backs up the harm claim.
  • Proof that the person making a complaint is from the local community AND is personally affected (parent, guardian, staff member, student, etc.) by the so called harmful media.

3. If you can’t do what is listed under #2, rethink your life choices. Because maybe you are the fucking problem.

We admit that the local authorities may have to clean the language a bit, but hey it’s a start! We need to fight back against the nutbaggery, because we don’t know about you, but we are tired of their shit.

Don’t let this be our future.

Vote for your new Frederick County Flag: Yokel style!

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In case you haven’t heard, there is a contest to redesign Frederick County’s flag. If you are a serious artist, please click here for more details. We are going to have our own Yokel brand of fun with this! Vote for your favorite flag at the bottom of this post!

Choice A: The Black Book. Remember way back yonder when we had the Black Book scandal here in Fredericktowne? Here’s a design to commemorate that period in Frederick’s history.

Choice B: Y’all remember back when Billy Shreve told us that any waterway in Frederick County was safe to drink from? He never took up our challenge to drink from them all, but here’s a design to show the world how safe and pollution free all of our waterways are around here!

Choice C: This comes from a post that Blaine Young was tagged in.(Actual post was deleted, so we found a similar pic for this flag) Yes, the same Blaine Young rumored to be in the Black Book, and the same one in fact arrested for soliciting a prostitute from a website. Such class some of our former politicians have displayed!

Choice D: There was a lot of bellyaching from Billy and Kirby when they had to park in a garage directly across the street from Winchester Hall, and then Billy had the indignity of losing his keys. Let’s take a moment to consider a flag to honor this dark period in Frederick County history.

Choice E: Who could forget our own Frederick County pioneers who braved the overflowing Monocacy River after Hurricane Sandy, armed with a thermos of Whiskey Sours, in order to go shopping at Wal Mart? Let’s salute their bravery and superior common sensical skills with this flag:

Choice F: Oh the time we made national news because of our very own Kirby Delauter. This story was spurred by Kirby telling a reporter that if she ever used his name again, he would sue her! Whew!

Choice G: Kirby made the best flowchart in the history of the world, so why shouldn’t we display that on our flag? I guess he was right about Jessica getting all the money since she was able to run a successful campaign to be County Executive!

Choice H: Of course we are going to self promote and ask for your vote for our logo as the new symbol for our county flag!

Now, it’s time to vote for your favorite!

We can’t wait to see the winning design, though we know some will be very upset over the change! But folks just look at our flag:

We deserve better than that!

Let’s take a glimpse at a world in which the book banners win!

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A dream world for those who want Idiocracy to become reality.

You’ve probably heard that the Reconsideration Meeting to explore the books that Cindy Rose claims are very harmful to our youth has been postponed. The Frederick News Post filed a complaint against FCPS claiming that the closed meetings violated the law. So, while we wait for a judge to sort all that out, let’s take a peek into a future in which books have to pass the political sniff test.

NPR sponsors a podcast called Planet Money. Last week, this podcast did a story on how picture books can teach young children about a variety of economic concepts. Before this podcast, a list of books was sent to the school district and it was agreed that the books were appropriate for 3rd graders. Well, at least until those 3rd graders had the nerve to connect one story to historical events.

We present the transcript of the incident below:

If we know our readers, and we think we do, most of you are probably crying over your computer or clenching your fists in rage. (Unless you are Cindy Rose who is probably rejoicing at this interaction). What really gets us is even the 9 year olds know what happened is bullshit. How in the world is it appropriate to first, cut off a Dr. Seuss story the kids were enjoying, and secondly make the kids who were making connections to history and the story feel as though they did something wrong? It’s the direct opposite of what should occur in a school. The lesson is that we need to protect our schools and their libraries from this kind of nonsense. For ignorance has no placed in our schools.

We don’t need this movie to become our reality.

Your Yokel Top 10 2022 Countdown!

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What a year it has been!

Let’s be realistic folks!

Per tradition we bring to you our top 10 most popular posts of the year! Let’s jump right in!

#10- Breaking down Cindy Rose’s “pornography” claims!

We are going to have to deal with this issue for quite some time since FCPS had to form a committee over her nonsense. Let’s hope that she and her ilk can learn the meaning of the word pornography. We won’t hold our breaths.

She sure doesn’t!

#9-Let’s make sure we get some good candidates on the BOE!

3 out of 4 isn’t bad! However, we are going to have to teach some folks in our community that we don’t just vote for the first name on the ballot just because we chose to remain uninformed about the election!

#8-Sound the alarm: be sure *independent & unaffiliated* voters know to vote in the primary July 19, 2022 (early voting the 7th – 14th)

Our post reminding independent and unaffiliated voters made the number 8 spot on our list. We always need to remind our unaffiliated friends that they can vote in the BOE primary election, and it’s important that they do so!

#7- Alright people, Hough says this is very serious business!

Except it absolutely was not! Thank goodness we don’t have to deal with him in our fine county.

Move along!

#6-There’s quite a few of you who should be ashamed of yourselves!

This post concerned the absolutely appalling behavior that some of our community members (You know Cindy was involved) showed at a Family Life Advisory meeting. We always need to be careful of people who can’t comprehend what they read, or worse yet, don’t read and then make things up to purposefully enflame people.

#5-Chmelik wants to be on our council again? BAHAHA..NO!

Tony Chmelik, one of your LadyYokel’s least favorite council members, tried to run for at at-large seat and failed. Hopefully this blast from the past reminded a few folks why we didn’t want him the last time around and prevented him from getting back on this time!

#4-Cindy Rose’s Facebook posts…a response in memes!

Our readers really seemed to enjoy our meme responses to some very questionable posts Cindy made this year. Some people should stay off social media.

For us the answer is always yes!

#3-Your Yokel pals watched the public comment (again-it’s what we do) so you don’t have to!

This was truly one of the worst public meetings we have ever had the displeasure of watching. And this is coming from a group of ladies that watched every single county council meeting for the long 4 years that Billy Shreve, Kirby Delauter, and Tony Chmelik were on that board. Cindy really can bring out the worst in people.

#2-Click, Clack, No!

One of our older posts got resurrected this year because people just could not believe that Cindy would complain about Click, Clack, Moo! Sometimes we can’t believe what we see either.

It was ridiculous.

Now for our most popular post of the year:

#1-Who NOT to put on the school board. Your Yokel voter primer!

Thank goodness we kept Cindy and two of her minions off the board, plus the entire 2nd rate hate slate! We are sure we will see some of them back again, but at least we have the next two years to take a nice deep breath!

We wish all of our Local Yokel fans a wonderful holiday season and a peaceful 2023!