False. And I am really disturbed by that., Michigan GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock soon amplified the cat scat claims. OFurr, who has traced the origins of the litter box urban legend, dates the hoax to at least 2008. Its culture war, its control, and its not about protecting kids, Patch OFurr, proprietor of the furry news site Dogpatch Press, told The Daily Beast. One month after Jefferson County school administrators denied that kids were dressing up as so-called "furries" at school, CBS News Colorado has obtained emails showing the district was aware. Only one is still pending; the rest were voluntarily dismissed or ended in defeat, according to the commission. That allegation wasnt true, either. Its about control.. Piano Sign Up. Interviews and records examined by ProPublica show how closely aligned Kline has been with the Thomas More Society. In the 2020 webinar, Brejcha described the societys crossover into election lawyering as a natural progression of its work opposing what it considers government abuse of religious freedom, such as the forced closing of churches during COVID-19 lockdowns. So its not me singlehandedly making these decisions, Colwell said. But these persistent legal challenges mirror the approaches used in the fight over abortion: Never stop pushing for the cause in court or legislatures. But the narrative that schools would indulge students in this fashion has a much darker underbelly. A school board in North Carolina considered a proposal to ban furry costumes in schools after they say they received numerous complaints about students dressing up as . The claim is a local school district is putting litter boxes in bathrooms for students who identify. Last week, Dr. Joseph Ladapo issued a meaningless "health alert" to the people of Florida about mRNA covid vaccines. These dueling debates over mouse attire dont illustrate some deep American angst over rodent dress codes; anthropomorphized animals, imbued with our own anxieties, have long acted as our proxies in culture wars, regardless of whether we own fursuits. not subtle. I was hearing rumblings of this last year, but it really got bad when they went back to school this year. Sixth grader Knox Zajac appeared at the school board meeting on February 15 to . Another Wisconsin judge, in state court, rejected the Thomas More Societys lawyers characterization of the grants as election bribery, calling the assertion ridiculous., Likewise, a federal judge in Iowa ruled in a case brought by the Thomas More Society that the record contains no evidence supporting accusations that the grants pose an actual risk of shaping the outcome of any election or of favoring any particular party or candidate.. A Facebook post says schools are putting litter boxes in bathrooms to accommodate kids who identify as furries. Apparently, from what I understand, theyre called furries, the grandmother, who asked to remain anonymous, told WLKY. Whether were calling them furries or members of the kin community, I truly do not understand the appeal and I never will. The Midland Public Schools Superintendent Michael E. Sharrow took to Facebook to deny the claims. The past year has been the most arduous of our lives. The rumor that furries people who have an interest in anthropomorphic animal characters and sometimes dress up as them used litter boxes in the school district, which is about two hours. These characters are often created by the community members themselves, who take them on as a "fursona" (an alternate persona) who interacts with other 'fursonas' in the community via roleplaying and art. Much of Gablemans final report, released in March 2022, echoed the societys assertions about private election grants and one of its other chief concerns: the validity of some votes from nursing homes. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. A parent raised a similar concern at an Iowa school board meeting that month, and the query took on a more political tone at a board meeting in Minnesota. So why are school boards attendees in a panic about supposed furries in the classroom? We may earn a commission from links on this page. Yuma County in 2019 shifted most election authorities under the recorder. Healthcare providers are required to report some adverse events, but compliance has historically been spotty. PORTLAND, Maine Three Portland Public Schools staff members have resigned and two have been verbally warned as a result of an investigation into allegations of misconduct from students within the district. Luke Macfarlane's Hallmark Channel Past Prepared Him for Gay Rom-Com 'Bros'. Its a decades-old genre and, relative to other available subcultures, fairly wholesome. An examination by ProPublica of Thomas Mores 2020 election-law initiative shows it helped fuel skepticism over President Joe Bidens victory and the fairness of elections in numerous states. Subscribe to Fever Dreams on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music or Acast to keep up with the conspiracy-mongers, MAGA acolytes and straight-up grifters. Americans have been left raging after an 11-year-old boy found a sexually explicit book in his middle school library. Roberts, the furry expert, said the furry community can act as a safe home for young people who might be jeopardized by efforts to ban school books about autism and LGBT issues (like Central York schools did earlier this year). It is pushing model legislation to states that would radically alter how elections are handled. It happened every time a school board member spoke up about changes to the Central York School Districts COVID-19 plan. VAERS scientists look for unusual patterns. He said for months schools and the PSB have received phone calls and emails about the issue. The recorder is close with former GOP secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, who built a campaign on false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. How did your school find out, if ever? Theyd supported Central Yorks recent (and now overturned) ban on certain school books, many of them about race. Should Trump be allowed to hold office again? Kline, meanwhile, is aligned with the American Voters Alliance, a nonprofit led by his daughter, Jacqueline Timmer. Asked whether his work regarding elections had any relationship to his moral objections to abortion, Kline said in an email to ProPublica, Only in the general sense that any unjustified disparate treatment under the law represents an assault on the inherent value of the individual.. Amistad shared the results of its investigations and analysis with numerous organizations who requested it, including the media, Kline told ProPublica. In tossing one of the Amistad Projects suits in Wisconsin, U.S. District Judge William C. Griesbach wrote that they offered only a political argument and their brief is bereft of any legal argument that would support their claim. Manage Preferences Media and internet exposure also drive VAERS reporting. Darlene Edwards is among the parents who wrote in. The tragic "furries" phenomenon is merely a symptom of the horrific and systemic child abuse masquerading as "education" that is taking place in government "schools." It is the next logical step in the schools' descent into total madness and depravity. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) A rumor going around on social media has been raising some eyebrows. Cat!. Its not accusatory enough. They're furious. Right-wing parents are attacking school boards over furries in the classrooma proxy for the larger culture wars over race and gender. ", According to her 6th grade niece, she told the district, the kids also "walk on all 4s in the hallway eat with their face in their food" and refer to themselves as "animal avengers. Hosted by Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer. Supervisors still approved some decisions made by the recorder, and the elections director still did the duties that state law gives to the elections official, such as presenting final election results to the board for approval. Kline, who now teaches law at the evangelical Liberty University, told ProPublica he approached the society in 2018 about working together to publicize alleged election vulnerabilities. Last week, a Tennessee school board banned the Holocaust graphic novel Maus, ostensibly on the grounds that its illustrations of unclothed mice were inappropriate. And maybe let the kids wear hats in class too. On Jan. 2, 2021, Kline hosted a conference call with 300 state legislators in an attempt to disseminate purported evidence of election fraud, according to a subpoena issued to him by the Jan. 6 committee. From 1955 to 2019, Maricopa County gave its recorder more duties than prescribed in state law. School litter box fever will not die in Iowa. Fargo School Board member Jennifer Benson told The Forum that a student informed her some schools have litter boxes in restrooms for students who identify as furries. READ MORE: The inherent racism of anti-vaxx movements. Its most well-known cause was the decades long defense of Joe Scheidler, founder of the Pro-Life Action League, against the National Organization for Women. NBC News agreed to keep their last names private due to their fear of. This is only reinforced by the fact that it is a predominantly online fandom and you can pretend to essentially be whoever you want behind a screen. After a closed session to discuss the letter, Judd said she didnt see a problem going ahead. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg later fumed that Kaardal, the Thomas More Society attorney, filed in the wrong court and failed to even serve the complaint to his adversaries in the suit. Its not escapism, its not a departure from reality. ".It's something called furries. In recent months, it successfully lobbied Ohio lawmakers to enact a strict voter photo ID law. Furries don't identify as animals; they identify with animals. Another topic many parents would like addressed are furries, a speaker said. Meanwhile, parents continue to discover new issues that many districts are now facing. If you are aware of legal authority for the draft Agreement, please promptly provide it to us, Solicitor General Joshua Bendor wrote. We adopted it, Brejcha is quoted saying in the Catholic publication Our Sunday Visitor. I was uh. According to a 2014 press release, the Thomas More Society underwrote Klines appeal of his suspension. Its a space for creativity and play, young furries and their parents explainedand like any youth subculture (see: goths and MySpace queens of decades past) some of the allure is in furrydoms inscrutability to adults. the impossibility of using a toilet in a fursuit, has traced the origins of the litter box urban legend, I sexually identify as an attack helicopter. The states high court refused. In one such rebuke, a judge concluded that the real goal of a Thomas More attorneys request was the undermining of a democratic election for President of the United States.. The superintendent tells WLKY the situation is being addressed, but according to a concerned grandparent, it's an ongoing problem that has many students on edge . The committee is meant to be bipartisan and to provide expertise and transparency to the process, Colwell said. We have a corporate oligarchy thats trying to control this election process, Kline alleged on former Trump strategist Steve Bannons War Room podcast on Dec. 14, 2020. We need your support in this difficult time. The move comes after Crosby and Judd for months challenged the countys fall election procedures in ways that drew national attention, including attempting to illegally hand count all ballots and then refusing to certify the election results, against the advice of the county attorney and the secretary of state. Rumours of a school accommodating a "furry" caused a flurry first in the United States, then it made its way to Canada. The politicization of furry school rumors comes amid a sweeping conservative assault on public schools and how they approach issues like race and gender. The first notable instance of furry panic occurred when right-wing activists pushed a false claim about schools in Michigan placing litter boxes in bathrooms to allow furry students to use. They called their initiative the Amistad Project, a reference to an 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship of that name. Weve known Phill Kline. So, of course, furries should be allowed into school because there is nothing necessarily wrong with it. The Michigan incident started when a mom of kids at the Midland School District, about 130 miles northwest of Detroit, spoke at a school board meeting about a rumor which she took as fact alleging the school was accommodating "furries" by providing litter boxes in unisex bathrooms. Some of them have used anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Privacy Policy | For corrections contact corrections@rawstory.com, for support contact support@rawstory.com. Hes been a client of ours for a long time. The issue was first brought to light at a Dec. 20 school board meeting for Midland Public Schools, around 100 miles northwest of Detroit. We filed several preelection lawsuits on election integrity., But Kline and Northon told ProPublica that Northon was not, in fact, working for Amistad at that moment. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider it. School children dress up as animals cats or dogs during the school day; they meow, and they bark," Republican state Sen. Bruce Bostelman said during the. Nevertheless, the allegations soon spread to Texas, where a GOP candidate (and activist with the right-wing parents group Moms For Liberty) added her own baseless claims about special privileges for furry students. Kline had already been working on a project called The Amistad Journey in his anti-abortion efforts and later incorporated a for-profit company by that name in January 2020, listing his home as its principal office. READ MORE: This popular church app has become a 'dark' hotbed of anti-vaxxer extremism: report. The Meade County School district is dealing with an unusual situation: a group of high school students is attending school acting like and dressing as cats. The student claims these furriestheir classmatesare growling, hissing, or even scratching and biting at other people.. The Election Transparency Initiative is a project, in part, of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which works to elect anti-abortion lawmakers. Contributions to the Thomas More Society jumped 82% between 2019 and 2020 to nearly $17.4 million, financial documents filed with the IRS show. Play the long game. By Reuters Fact Check. It doesnt make sense, she added. It's malpractice for a government agency to issue health directives based on VAERS data. According to the Cumberland Valley parent, their child came home from school and said, "Dad, the furries see me in the hallway and call me a dumb straight white boy," but he can't make sense of it because the furries are also white kids. The memo expressed concerns that noncitizens and other people who dont have the right to vote might sway a close election, even though there is no evidence that demonstrates widespread voter fraud in modern elections. an E! Weve covered everything thrown at us this past year and will continue to do so with your support. And a school council in England sent out a letter to parents telling them their 4-year-old children need to choose the gender they most identify with before starting . Ilyse Hogue, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, does not doubt the willingness of the Thomas More Society or other anti-abortion forces to stick with a strategy for years, even decades, until theyre successful. NOW accused him and others of conspiring to close down clinics through extreme measures, including blockades and mob violence; it sought a permanent injunction forbidding the groups from engaging in illegal conduct. And others, who call themselves "furries," create animal alter egos and interact with others who do the same. VAERS reports also rose for Gardasil when the right decided that vaccinating young girls against cervical cancer was grooming. Kline told ProPublica that the Amistad Project did not coordinate with Trumps group, and the Jan. 6 committee revealed no evidence to the contrary. Kaardal also filed at least seven lawsuits against the agency, beginning just before the 2020 election. The first notable instance of furry panic occurred when right-wing activists pushed a false claim about schools in Michigan placing litter boxes in bathrooms to allow furry students to use them, and the bogus rumors about furry infiltration into the public education system have only grown from there. The state Assembly speaker later shut down the inquiry and Gableman got a job with the Thomas More Society. Ladapo was back last week when it emerged that he'd been investigated for allegedly falsifying data for a previous antivax gambit. Social media users are sharing a video of a Midland Public Schools board of education meeting in Michigan where a community member claimed that litter boxes were . At the time, the integrity of voter rolls was very much in the news. Thomas Mores role in the push to change election law should not be underestimated, say abortion rights groups familiar with the legal societys tactics and record. Last year, he disregarded CDC guidelines and recommended against covid mRNA vaccines for men aged 18 to 39. Counter-protestors stand and hold signs at the intersection of 10th Street and . Will artificial intelligence overthrow its capitalist overlords? COVID vaccines came with much stricter VAERS reporting requirements than other adult vaccines. He told everyone standing there (myself included) that they were calling his child a furry and he asked them to stop.. But it was in Michigans Midland school district, not Central York, that the claims finally caught fire. So if the patient gets struck by lightning on their way home from the vaccine clinic, their doctor is supposed to report it, just in case. Erick Kaardal, a Thomas More Society attorney, worked closely with Gableman, who was appointed by the speaker of the state Assembly, a Republican. Jan. 6 committee records show Kline asked those willing to sign the letter to reply to a woman who worked for a communications firm founded by Mark Serrano, a paid consultant to Trumps 2020 campaign. 0. Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, Scott Adams and why American capitalism kneels before a bigger God. Through its efforts, the Thomas More Society raised its profile in Republican circles and broadened its appeal beyond its foremost cause of outlawing nearly all abortions. But the rumor metastasized in other states, especially when picked up by conservative voices. The narrative goes like this: Schools are now so accommodating of. The students are told they cant wear hats or Budweiser shirts in school, but they can wear cat ears, cat tails, masks, leashes. He did this based on a severely flawed, non-peer-reviewed study conducted by unnamed individuals within the Florida Department of Health. One of the Amistad Projects chief arguments in 2020 was that election officials in swing states adopted pandemic-related measures such as the use of drop boxes for absentee ballots that disproportionately aided turnout in Democratic strongholds. Crosby and Judd dismissed Bendors letter. Unless theyre actually harming their classmates, I see no cause for panic. MIDLAND, Mich. (WILX/Gray News) - A superintendent in Michigan is trying to clear up any misconceptions or rumors about a conspiracy theory regarding students "who identify as cats." According To. Thats when a local news story about a Pittsburgh furry convention led to unfounded speculation that hotel staff would have to clean up convention-goers poop. To make matters worse, some major antivax groups and personal injury attorneys coach their followers to make VAERS reports about third parties. Ganahl is the latest in a string of Republican candidates nationwide to condemn furries. 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Now facing Alternet All Access, Scott Adams and why American capitalism kneels before a bigger God parents who in... Of voter rolls was very much in the classroom should be allowed into school because there nothing... The cat scat claims the hoax to at least 2008 of ours for a agency! The election transparency initiative is a local school district, not Central,... Yuma County in 2019 shifted most election authorities under the recorder flawed, non-peer-reviewed study conducted by unnamed within... To provide expertise and transparency to the commission singlehandedly making these decisions Colwell. Initiative the Amistad Project, in part, of course, furries do not literally believe they are animals! Lawmakers to enact a strict voter photo ID law corrections @ rawstory.com this: schools are now accommodating. Kneels before a bigger God according to a 2014 press release, the Thomas More Society past! About mRNA covid vaccines at other people Zajac appeared at the time, Thomas! 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