Kids who identify as furries get a litter box in the school bathroom, Maddock wrote on Facebook. 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. More recently, the Chicago-based organization has embraced a far different but equally divisive undertaking relentlessly questioning the integrity of elections. Kline, meanwhile, is aligned with the American Voters Alliance, a nonprofit led by his daughter, Jacqueline Timmer. Members of the furry fandom write . I think you have vilified the election process.. It seemed to me like it was a backlash against some of the progressive things that our schools are doing, director Norbert Carpenter told the CBC, and we would have many that would say this is rooted in hate and transphobia and homophobia and that message needs to be clear, its not acceptable.. Within a 48-hour period this week, a federal court ruled that a school could not require children to use the bathroom that corresponds to their biological sex. By Kristin Rushowy Queen's Park Bureau Sun., Oct. 30, 2022 timer 5 . Why are kids being allowed to dress up like animals in our schools? Got a tip? Edwards was a registered Democrat until this year. Together, the society and Amistad moved aggressively. Still, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told Votebeat on Tuesday that historically, Arizona counties have made this type of decision on how to delegate election responsibilities and they should have the right to do so. Furries are a fandom, like anime, Star Trek or . We may earn a commission from links on this page. 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. Kline considered the case against him to be political and denied acting unethically. 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.. Its culture war, its control, and its not about protecting kids, OFurr explains. 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. It is set to end on Dec. 31, 2024, just after the November 2024 presidential election. Counter-protestors stand and hold signs at the intersection of 10th Street and . Multiple litter box hoaxes make explicit reference to gender-neutral litter boxes (a parallel to battles over gender-affirming bathroom choices in schools) or claim that students identify as furries (a phrasing uncommon in furry media, but with parallels to how conservative media often describes transgender youth). ", But through an open records request, CBS News Colorado found earlier emails that appear to contradict that. 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. Masthead | According to Kentucky NBC affiliate WLWT, parents and students alike are concerned about a group of high school students in the Meade County School district attending school acting like and dressing as cats. One woman who spoke to the outlet, the grandmother of two children who attend the high school, said the trend began last year, but seemed to become more popular when students returned to classes in August. As director of the election project for Thomas More, Kline couldnt argue the legal cases himself because of his ethical violations in Kansas, but he oversaw investigators and analysts, hired litigators and devised strategies. It was chosen in 2019 as the School of the Year by the Maine Environmental Education Association for its well-regarded learning opportunities for students. Privacy Policy | For corrections contact corrections@rawstory.com, for support contact support@rawstory.com. The litter boxes in schools hoax (also called the litter box canard) is a false rumor alleging that certain North American schools provide litter boxes in bathrooms for students who "identify as cats", or who participate in the furry or otherkin subcultures. The students are told they cant wear hats or Budweiser shirts in school, but they can wear cat ears, cat tails, masks, leashes. Only one is still pending; the rest were voluntarily dismissed or ended in defeat, according to the commission. In a Dec. 1, 2020, press conference, Kline talked about Amistads efforts to uncover fraud, saying it had attorneys in virtually every swing state that are working on our behalf.. / CBS Colorado. READ MORE: Sad: Marjorie Taylor Greene mocked for attempting to get Adam Kinzinger booted from his committees, In York County, Pennsylvania, for example, Facebook rumors began swirling around among conservative locals warning that furries "could be in your childs classroom hissing at your child and licking themselves.". READ MORE: The antivaxers' ghoulish exploitation of dead celebrities. I'm a real-life furry and my lifestyle is no dirty 'cat litter box' joke. Republican retracts false claim schools placing litter boxes for 'furry' students Nebraska's Bruce Bostelman apologises for repeating rumor that schools accommodating children who. When a community member made a claim about litter boxes being in Brainerd at a March . Patterson is an Indiana State Teachers Association board member. From 1955 to 2019, Maricopa County gave its recorder more duties than prescribed in state law. We need your support in this difficult time. CLAIM: The Waunakee Community School District in a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin, has a "furry protocol" that allows students who identify as "furries" to opt out of speaking in class . Not content with panicking about the teaching of critical race theory, conservative parents throughout America have now been gripped with fear about their schools trying to accommodate students who dress up in animal costumes. The narrative goes like this: Schools are now so accommodating of. 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. 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 of the issue and yet denied it was happening. By Reuters Fact Check. This is a "hot" topic with 19,500 searches/month. How could we possibly win a war with an army filled with dogs and cats?. 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. An IRS form shows the Thomas More Society paid Klines firm more than $1.4 million in consulting fees in 2020. I was uh. Getty Images. The state Assembly speaker later shut down the inquiry and Gableman got a job with the Thomas More Society. Like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, team mascots. Kline needed help in Kansas, beginning in about 2010, fighting professional misconduct charges arising from his investigation of abortion clinics as attorney general and later as a county district attorney. or click here to become a subscriber. Counties arent prevented from doing what they think is right, Fontes said. Furries are people who belong to a group of people who are interested in anthropomorphic animal characters with humanistic personalities and characteristics. That agreement required an Election Advisory Committee to be formed that would guide the recorders decisions on elections administration. In 2021 and 2022, various American conservative and far-right politicians and media personalities promoted the hoax in response to . If clothing is disruptive, district policy gives principals the power to place restrictions on it, this would include students dressing in costume. How did your school find out, if ever? The recent health alert was based on an uptick in reports to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). Leaping into the 2020 Stop the Steal frenzy, which was consistently discredited, the Thomas More Society aggressively pursued scores of lawsuits and complaints across the country. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. I was hearing rumblings of this last year, but it really got bad when they went back to school this year. When vaccine safety is in the news, people are more likely to attribute their symptoms to vaccines and more motivated to report those symptoms to VAERS. 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. But it lumped Kline in the same bucket as Giuliani, Powell, Eastman and Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell saying that in response to Congressional subpoenas, none offered any proof of widespread fraud. May. They had previously joined an Amistad suit he handled. Bannon applauded that action. Two are still pending and the others were denied, dismissed or withdrawn, according to the commission. Darlene Edwards is among the parents who wrote in. 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. In a slew of related legal actions in Wisconsin and other states, the Thomas More Society also raised the possibility that some nursing home residents had been able to vote despite having been declared mentally incompetent; challenged signature verifications for absentee ballot applications; and questioned COVID-19 restrictions that limited some large gatherings, such as campaign crowds, but not others, such as Black Lives Matter protests. Don Bolduc, Republican candidate for New Hampshire senator, is one of the latest conservative politicians to repeat the hearsay that schools are providing litter boxes for . Going forward, the team plans to work on various election fronts, including preventing ineligible people from voting, according to the memo the society provided to ProPublica. Furries are people who have an active interest in animal characters with human characteristics. One Democratic member of the bipartisan elections commission thought the Thomas More Society nitpicked issues in the midst of a deadly pandemic. School districts in Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska have debunked claims that they. 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. 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. The letter asked for at least 10 days. Kline told ProPublica that U.S. elections are among the least transparent and accountable in the world., So far, he said, the proper steps have not been taken.. This kit packs $431 worth of premium skincare and haircare into a small packageand it's only $80 with the promo code. They were blocked by police. Northon then tried to help a set of unauthorized Republican electors enter the Michigan state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign documents purporting to certify Trump the winner. That allegation wasnt true, either. He told everyone standing there (myself included) that they were calling his child a furry and he asked them to stop.. According to a 2014 press release, the Thomas More Society underwrote Klines appeal of his suspension. While Arizona law splits election duties between the recorder and supervisors, many counties have given the recorder more authority over election procedures in the past, including Maricopa County for decades and, currently, Yuma County. However, the increase in 2021 and 2022 is better explained by the biggest and most carefully-monitored vaccine rollout in US history, more stringent reporting requirements for COVID vaccines, and increased public awareness of the VAERS system. No, a teacher did not get fired for failing to "meow back" at a student who identifies as a cat. She says in a district where enrollment has dropped by 30,000 students and where most kids are not reading or doing math at grade level, Miller said they need parental involvement and can't afford distractions. School litter box fever will not die in Iowa. Talking to reporters that day, Northon said: Im representing a charity called the Amistad Project, its a 501(c)(3), and its affiliated with another charity called the Thomas More Society out of Chicago. Kids being dumb: 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. - "Poynter" fonts provided by fontsempire.com. Cat!. Weve known Phill Kline. Five cities embroiled in suits brought by Thomas More then abandoned their support for the boxes and the cases were dismissed. In denying the request, Boasberg ruled that it relied on a fundamental and obvious misreading of the Constitution., It would be risible were its target not so grave: the undermining of a democratic election for President of the United States.. The claim is a local school district is putting litter boxes in bathrooms for students who identify. A senator repeated a long-disproven hoax about children who identify as cats using litter boxes and shitting on the floor in schools on Monday, in the latest absurdity to come out of . Kline said he strongly disagreed with the judges opinions and believed the cases were valid. The furry movement is disproportionately LGBT and neurodiverse, yet we see that furries are thriving in this community, Roberts said. As China threatens to invade neighbors, were cringing when someone tells us hes an antelope and we better acknowledge hes got hooves whether or not visible, he opined. First published on October 31, 2022 / 3:15 PM. 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. Google search results: No, Maine students aren't using litter boxes in school - WGME. 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. A furry might draw himself as a cartoon tiger, or dress up as a dragon at a convention for fellow. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. After a closed session to discuss the letter, Judd said she didnt see a problem going ahead. He did not respond to requests for comment. But with a fixation on nonexistent litter boxes and lunch tables, the furry panic turns a thriving subculture into a cudgel against public schools and their students. Not all of these queries have been warmly received in the furry community. Cheerleader. The state Supreme Court ultimately suspended his law license indefinitely in 2013 for 11 violations of professional conduct rules, including misleading a judge and grand jury. Will artificial intelligence overthrow its capitalist overlords? He insisted that no 'litter box accommodation' had been made for any students identifying as furries. Not one of them provided evidence raising genuine questions about the election outcome, the report states. 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 media firestorm over Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent paper linking vaccines and autism boosted VAERS reporting rates for the MMR vaccine. It's a tall order, but Ladapo is prepared to do whatever it takes. Send it to The Daily Beasthere. Theyre being allowed to growl and bark at their teachers. If they think they see a signal, they'll pull medical records or death certificates to confirm these patients actually got the vaccine and actually experienced the adverse event, say, heart failure. Furries. Carpenter said children in schools express themselves in many ways, but the rumours of students . 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. Does Alan Cumming Really Live in a Scottish Castle? Taking the interim job as elections director is the best way to solve the problem, he said. It happened every time a school board member spoke up about changes to the Central York School Districts COVID-19 plan. If you actually look at whos doing this, at some of the political groups getting involved, theyre all far right.. Republicans furious after Democrat questions 'God-given' rights at House hearing, 'Toxic sludge': Paul Ryan torches Tucker Carlson when questioned about Fox News' election coverage, 'Beyond parody': Critics torch Marjorie Taylor Greene for her latest appeal to Republicans, 'Liar, liar': Joe Biden amuses crowd with quip about Marjorie Taylor Greene, 'Really unacceptable': FBI shredded following new watchdog report, Watch: Anti-drag GOP governor bolts from reporters who unearthed photos of him in drag, This multi-millionaire with a cushy desk job wants you to work until youre 70. Exclusive reporting themselves in many ways, but Ladapo is prepared to do whatever it takes elections director the. Public schools paid Klines firm More than $ 1.4 million in consulting fees in 2020 Maine Environmental Education Association its. The commission but equally divisive undertaking relentlessly questioning the furries in schools in maine of elections are being... 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