As we sat around the Round Table at Yokel Headquarters late last week, your Lady Yokels could hardly believe that 10 years had lapsed since we began this endeavor. In celebration of this milestone anniversary we will like to take you on a stroll down memory lane.
Not sure that everyone does, so we are going to retell it!
10 years ago, after reading this LTE, https://www.fredericknewspost.com/places/local/frederick_county/frederick/blaine-young-work-together-or-nothing-will-get-accomplished/article_b1616559-e265-5a0d-9fbc-fe09bfdbe811.html, from our anti-muse, Blaine Young, a group of what became known as the Lady Yokels met in our favorite coffee spot, Dublin Roasters. After we appropriately insulted both Blaine Young and his very poor analysis of why he lost, we decided that we needed to shine the spotlight not only on Blaine, but also on his buddies, Kirby Delauter, Billy Shreve, and Tony Chmelik. At first, we discussed writing a book, but nixed that idea fairly quickly as we knew keeping an eye on these people was going to be a very fluid situation. By the end of that first meeting we decided to embark upon a blog to educate people on what is not often at the top of their to-do list, the inner workings of their local government. (Don’t worry, we’ve also kept an eye on Blaine so every time he tries to slither back into politics we are there to remind everyone of his arrests and bad behavior!)
For the next four years we religiously watched every county council meeting. More often than not, we created a drinking game to accompany such meetings in order to spice things up a bit. Here’s an example:
We sincerely hope that we didn’t hurt anyone’s livers as these games were only meant for fun. Over the first four years we made sure that everyone had a front seat to just how crazy things were with those three on the council. Here’s a curated sampling from our archives:
While there are so many artifacts from this part of Yokel history, this is still hands down our favorite:
Backstory: Kirby wanted to prove that the Citizens for Quality of Life PAC was corrupt, but you will notice that nothing comes out of the PAC and somehow Jessica ended up with everything!
After one term in office, Kirby and Billy tried to obtain a higher office, while Tony wanted to stay put. Thankfully enough people paid attention and NONE of that happened! We sent our three amigos out with a departing post:
After saner folks got on the council we kinda checked out on that scene, though we did decide to check back once last summer and boy was there some drama:
Our main, but certainly not our only focus, has been the Frederick County School Board. People often underestimate (though perhaps that sentiment isn’t as true as it was in the past) the damage the wrong people can do on a school board. Just take a look at Colt Black and Jaime Brennan! The person who dragged us into this new focus was none other than Cindy Rose. Thankfully everyone understood how bad she would be, and after four failed attempts, she has finally seemed to have given up. Here’s some highlights of what we had to say about that one:
Hopefully we will be more successful next year in reminding everyone how to do the math with the school board candidates so we don’t get left with the shit show we have right now.
Thank you all for an interesting and fun ten years! Think of your Lady Yokels tonight as we clink our glasses together and hope that we can survive another ten years of politics! We appreciate all of you being a part of this journey.
In the 9 years we’ve been doing this, we’ve tried to keep our focus on the local scene. There’s only so many hours in the day and so much sanity your Lady Yokels can expend, but sometimes we do need to expand our geographic purview. Today we need to talk about some legislation that’s made its way to Annapolis. For as Tip O’Neill liked to say, “All politics is local.”
We’ll start with HB0047, which thankfully (for the second time) was voted unfavorably in committee yesterday. However, just because it was shot down a second time, doesn’t mean that these folks won’t keep coming back. Let’s explore the bill together:
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That may take a couple of readings to really digest. It’s not only a very discriminatory and nasty bill, it’s also an enormous government overreach! Did you notice that this bill applies not only to public schools, but also to private schools and intramural sports?! Which party is supposedly the party of big government again? It’s so amusing to us how situational some people’s values are!
Besides trying to hurt kids, we really aren’t sure!!!
If you follow our Facebook page, you saw the link to this NY Times article we shared this morning:
What kind of world are we living in folks?
The next bill, HB0025 (at least as far as we know as of this morning) has not been voted on just yet. But someone is happy about the prospect of it passing!
Trying to have banned? You were rejected and will continue to be rejected!
Let’s explore the language of this very bad, vague bill!
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Who gets to define sexually explicit materials? Cindy? Here’s the rating system that most of these groups are using these days from the website, https://booklooks.org/ratings-system:
We have never had such a hateful reaction to a chart before! Who defines moderate, explicit, excessive, mild, aberrant, obscene?! Who has the right to tell the rest of us what our children should read? Where’s the evidence of harm in a 3-5 rated book? What studies do they have? What the hell is wrong with these people? Man, we don’t like to get all worked up this early in the morning!
At the bottom of this post we are going to give you a nice list so we can all email our local delegation to make sure they don’t vote for this very bad bill should it come before the entire delegation. Let’s divert, for just a moment, on why it’s so important that kids and adults read books:
See what we highlighted there?
Maybe we should put forth a bill that everyone has to read at least for an hour a day! That’s probably the best way to fix this problem.
Another tradition at the Yokel is a recap of our top 10 posts of the year. If you haven’t checked out our In and Out list ,be sure to take a gander at that as well.
At #10 is our summer lament about the High Sheriff claiming he got tricked, horrible “transparency” groups who seem hell bent on hurting the youngins, and the Reconsideration Committee that had to be formed due to Cindy’s uneducated complaints.
Speaking of that Reconsideration Committee, at #9 we all got an early Christmas present in that we got to see exactly what Cindy and friends wrote and said in their complaints about the so-called offensive books, PLUS the committee’s notes on the books in question. It really is a quite a treat.
At #8 we are sticking with the theme of fighting against the book-banners. In this post you can read all about our suggestions for future book banning complaints.
For #7, we had a little fun with the new flag contest. In our completely scientific poll our flag design won! Be sure to check out the other selections. It’s a stroll down memory lane.
You probably already guessed from the title that this post is about Dan Cox. Remember when he tried to get Jenkins’ co-defendant off by complaining that one of the agents involved in the investigation was of Ukrainian descent? We also had some fun with Cox’s last name.
This town could be a sitcom. If you don’t remember when the bag pipers from Gilead came to our school board meeting be sure to read this post. As we’ve said many times over the almost 8 years we’ve been writing this blog…we couldn’t make this shit up if we tried.
So far we’ve rejected all attempts from these people to infiltrate our school board. But we must not get complacent as one of the two filed candidates for this year’s election is one of these so-called “Joyful Warriors”. Expect them to rebrand soon as a result of some their recent sex scandals.
Our most popular post of the year was about a so-called Joyful Warrior attempting to to ruin the first day of school because she didn’t like a question on a teacher’s “All About Me” form. She was egged on by Cindy Rose, who of course shows nothing resembling joy in her interactions with the school system.
We hope that y’all see a theme here. We really need to be on guard against these book banning, anti-joy people. This year is going to be stressful when it comes to politics, but we will be with you every step of the way!
It has been a banner evening over at Yokel headquarters as we turned the pages of today’s Reconsideration Committee report! What a treat we have for you, dear readers, as sanity once more wins out in our nice county!
For a long time now we’ve tried to tell Cindy and al. that they don’t understand what the word pornography means. (Here’s the link in which we tried to educate) What we came to see, as we perused this report, is not only were we unable to dissuade her of this erroneous definition, but she and her two minions took their misunderstanding to a whole new level. These books are apparently illegal because of their very poor understanding of the meaning of that word.
We have a real vocabulary problem here folks!
Before we get to some examples of the evaluation of these books, we need to share some more of the written and verbal testimony from both Cindy and current board member (!) Nancy Allen!
Let’s start with why Cindy doesn’t believe that she actually has to read the books:
How’d you like that logic! Let’s keep going….
Does she not know that everyone can read this? Love the characterization of middle schoolers as hormonal, irrational beasts based on one anecdote that we are 100% positive her granddaughter did not want her to make part of the public record!
She continues on her journey…..
UMMMMMMMMM.. This shouldn’t have become political? From the women who strives to make everything political?!
It sure as hell is!
Now, we aren’t just going to focus on Cindy’s misconstructions, as we also have evidence of current board member (!) Nancy Allen’s problems with definitions:
Child pornography!!!!! Remember that when you get to the evaluation section of our post.
Now, let’s talk about that Miller Test because that is the standard the hard working people who spent hours actually reading and discussing these books used to evaluate these books:
Now, scroll back up and see if Cindy’s interpretation matches. If you don’t want to, we’ll save you the time and say it absolutely doesn’t.
Now let’s look at a couple of examples from committee applying The Miller Test to the books Cindy found so offensive.
We read this one over and over and over again. And we laughed and laughed and laughed! The word “mate” really got to us.
Hide your kids!!!
Here’s another one we enjoyed:
“We did not see the above things in the book”!!!! What a colossal waste of everyone’s time this was!
So, the committee gave two recommendations:
And…
The one book they removed had a similar YA version, so the committee felt as though that book would suffice. But it looks like your Lady Yokels need to start reading Ellen Hopkins’ books!
Overall, a resounding victory for intellectual freedom and sanity. So how is our friend Cindy doing on her day of resounding defeat? NOT SO GOOD…..
Well, we know someone isn’t eating from that tree!
Also, FCPS is going to start allowing parents to prohibit their child from checking out books they don’t want them to read. Therefore, if this is really about protecting their children from themes they don’t believe they are ready for and not about marginalizing groups of people and opinions they find offensive, then this case is officially closed.
Yesterday evening, as you have probably seen, there was a Board of Education meeting in which Policy 443 was featured in public debate, both inside the meeting and out on the sidewalk. This is basically a policy that allows students to be addressed by the pronouns they prefer and use the facilities they find appropriate for their gender. If you have been following our Facebook posts this will be redundant information, but to no one’s surprise more than ours, we again agree with Cindy Rose about something. These concerned parents couldn’t be bothered to notice when this policy was adopted, so now they think their inattention constitutes some kind of emergency (and perhaps it does, but that kind of deadbeat parenting is a home thing, not a school thing). Most of the deadbeats seem to be affiliated with Moms for Liberty and the coalition with Tom Neumark–whatever it is that thinks he is doing. Think of him as the general in charge of handmaids.
If you attended this and felt like there were a lot of assholes represented at this event, that’s because theyurntfrumheere. There was a large and noisy group of mercenaries in this culture war who look shockingly like the creeps who follow Bob Roberts in the brilliant 1992 film that we are afraid to rewatch because satire of that era probably pales in comparison to our current reality. They are very weird–the Crusaders from Pennsylvania, we mean. Not unimportantly they do use the term Crusade, like the Medieval thinkers that they are. They have been doing “important” “work” for years like protesting the Da Vinci Code film. That seems like time well spent. Basically they are the Catholic analogue of the Westboro Baptist Church. And here they are finding fellowship with the Moms for Liberty and Tom Neumark. Gross.
You simply must take a look at the photograph in the Frederick News Post for a good look at these crazy people. The one next to the bagpiper looks exactly like Jack Black here…oh, yeah, there were bagpipes. And drums. And then a group broke away to chant the rosary and encircle the building. And people think séances are weird. I mean, we are also people who think that, but we also think séances seem like fun, and this…doesn’t.
Anyway, the whole big deal is stupid. Yes, a lot of people are hearing a lot about transgender people for the first time in their lives. Look, gender really is a social construct and those constructs have changed over time and now women wear pants and get short haircuts and are in the military and go to college, and men change diapers. Man, that Barbie movie really did have it right. Seems like men could do a little more…Perhaps the social construct is changing a lot right now in ways some people find difficult and confusing. But you know what? Acting like an asshole isn’t actually going to stop that, and unless you can turn off the internet and the rest of society for an entire generation, you aren’t going to affect it by being mean to people who feel like they would be happier with these changes in their life. Just be nice, FFS. (P.S. We know we are preaching to the choir.)
Today was supposed to be a day of new beginnings. A time when students and teachers get to know one another and start building those relationships that will flourish throughout the year. However, one teacher at Linganore High is going to be rethinking their career choices because of one very dumb complaint.
A alert reader let us know some nonsense was afoot on the Moms of Liberty Frederick page, and sent us some very disturbing screenshots. Let’s start with what one parent posted on the group:
Hmmm. Let’s break this down… why would a kid prefer to be called another name? Maybe a Christopher likes Chris, or a Jennifer, Jenny? And yes, there’s a small portion of kids who are exploring their gender identity and may not want to tell Mom and Dad just yet. If you are so worried, why not try having a conversation with your kid?!
Anyone who has been to a doctor’s appointment, or actually signed up for school, knows that this is what is asked. But apparently it caused such an uproar amongst these ladies they decided to publish the teachers name and demand retribution! And just who do you think pushed this person over the edge? You know who…
OH PLEASSSEEE! She doesn’t hate to say it, she takes great joy in it! And now, on the 2nd day of the school year, educators and administrators need to take precious time to deal with the nonsense.
There’s more, because of course there is….
Isn’t this a delightful exchange? So, we are going to “play by their rules” and make sure that everyone sees what is happening to our teachers and our schools. These people turned what should of been a nice day into a nightmare. Seriously, we don’t know who is going to want to be an educator with people like this out there. But, don’t forget that is the whole point of the Moms For Liberty, to diminish trust in the educational system so they can demolish it. If you are in the Linganore feeder, maybe send your kids in with some doughnuts and coffee tomorrow…sounds like they are going to need it.
Right over the border in Carroll County the Moms of Liberty (snicker, barf), got 39 books removed from CCPS while a Reconsideration Committee decides their fate. You can peruse the whole list here, but of course your friendly Lady Yokels are going to give you some examples.
Yes that Wicked!
Our hearts just hurt watching this. We are going to assume that many of our followers are readers, and we therefore we want you to remember back to your high school days and to that book that changed you. Think about all of the books that have changed you in some way, and then imagine a bunch of non-readers (yeah we are going to go ahead and make that assumption with a whole lotta confidence) tried to take those books away. What part of you wouldn’t exist because you hadn’t read that book?
Moms of Liberty formed as a protest group to all of the Covid-19 restrictions they believed were unnecessary. These so-called “joyful warriors” (yes that’s the same language our very own local book banner, Cindy Rose, likes to use) needed to find another cause to keep that cash flowing when all the restrictions lifted. So, they decided to go after diversity (which they ignorantly call CRT) in the curriculum( or more accurately American History) and LGBTQ+ folks. They’ve pushed themselves into the national spotlight in such a way that Republican Presidential candidates believe they have to court these folks. They even presented Ron DeSantis with his very own liberty sword! How Nice!
When books are written about the collapse of American Civilization, that will be on the cover.
This group of bored Covid deniers have recently been labeled an extremist group by the Southern Law Poverty Center because:
“What we’ve been watching really closely around this particular group… [are] times when they show up with other groups that have explicitly advocated or committed intimidations and violence,” Hiller said. “There are cases at school boards in North Carolina, for example, where Moms for Liberty showed up together with Proud Boys and were part of intimidating the school board.” Carroll Rivas echoed this observation.
“Their organizing is quite concerning for how it harms communities, but also because of the associations with other hard right groups that they’ve really had since their inception,” she said.
Some members of Moms for Liberty chapters have also been accused — and in at least one case, convicted — of harassment.
And, hmmm, weren’t they popping up around here last election…..
Two of those ladies still pop up at school board meetings to promote anti-inclusionary measures.
We need to keep our school board sane as we’ve already heard about some of the folks gearing up for a run next time and IT IS NOT GOOD. Our school system is currently reviewing books because of Cindy Rose et al. and we all need to stand up to make sure this nonsense goes no further. These conservative groups are trying to destroy American education. First, they do things like tell people the schools are making white kids feel bad about themselves, or allowing them to find out that gay people actually exist. Then they sow so much doubt and get people all riled up (remember when folks around here spread the rumor that kindergarteners were being taught about anal sex because we sure as hell do) and then they take over the school board. Afterwards, the curriculum is dumbed down to the point that the kids in that district have a tough time making in the world outside of the county they grew up in.(And if you don’t think this has happened do some reading on the old coal towns. Coal executives sat on those school boards and do you think academics were emphasized by people who needed the local population to go into the mines? Not at all.)Throw on top of that the feeling amongst many elite Republican donors that public schools should all be privatized so they can make a pretty dime on them! It’s all a recipe for disaster!
We sure hope this guy is right:
Carroll County will regress to the point where high educated and professional demographics will stop migrating and property values will dramatically drop. The GOP is always working against their own interests!
But, we still don’t want to see things get this far in Frederick County.
There are a couple of groups besides the Moms of Liberty working towards hurting kids and dumbing down our school curriculums. Make sure you stay alert to these threats. We know it’s exhausting, but we can’t let them win.
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!
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
In order for a book, film, lesson, or art to come under review 10 community members need to make a complaint.
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.
frederick local yokel 