Im of the mind, if it aint bad, dont fix it, he said. 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. Luke Macfarlane's Hallmark Channel Past Prepared Him for Gay Rom-Com 'Bros'. They targeted cities, counties, county commissioners, mayors, governors and election officials for legal action, focusing on key states Trump lost in 2020 Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Minnesota. In Skowhegan, Maine, where Redditors were already sharing litter box rumors, a speaker at a school board meeting spoke requesting information regarding the districts stance on allowing students who identify as animals (furry), to be an exception to dress code (hats, etc), according to the meetings publicly available minutes. So its not me singlehandedly making these decisions, Colwell said. 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. Together, the society and Amistad moved aggressively. Other anti-abortion groups have likewise become more involved in influencing voting laws. Weve always understood the importance of calling out corruption, regardless of political affiliation. But these persistent legal challenges mirror the approaches used in the fight over abortion: Never stop pushing for the cause in court or legislatures. These "furries," as we're told they are called, are also allowed to hiss and meow at other students. 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. Whether were calling them furries or members of the kin community, I truly do not understand the appeal and I never will. It provided a three-page memo, however, highlighting some of its strategic initiatives and stating: The core traditional values that the Thomas More Society fights to protect the right to life, family values, and religious liberty can be preserved only if elections are fair and secure.. If you actually look at whos doing this, at some of the political groups getting involved, theyre all far right.. A furry might draw himself as a cartoon tiger, or dress up as a dragon at a convention for fellow. The turmoil led to the recent resignation of the countys well-respected elections director, Lisa Marra, who said she was disparaged and harassed as she refused to comply with the efforts. 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 . 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. The districts superintendent told the station that a small number of students had violated the dress code by wearing cat ears or tails, and that the situation was under control. In August, for instance, an anonymous grandparent told Kentuckys WLKY that her grandchildren were being bullied in class by students who made hissing noises. In Wisconsin, the Thomas More Society is also challenging the ease of obtaining absentee military ballots. READ MORE: This popular church app has become a 'dark' hotbed of anti-vaxxer extremism: report. I went to r/furry to ask for advice and their opinion on how to handle this situation but got permanently banned, wrote the Redditor, who is in school to become a teacher. Does Alan Cumming Really Live in a Scottish Castle? Klines is not one of them. 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. Some argued that giving Stevens more control over elections threatened to derail the integrity of the countys system. By October, furry fears were making their way into school board meetings. In short, it was a big scam.. According to a 2014 press release, the Thomas More Society underwrote Klines appeal of his suspension. March 8, 2022 A TikTok video of a mother at a school boarding meeting went viral in which she says she heard Michigan schools were providing litter boxes for furries students who identify. 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. 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. And I am really disturbed by that., Michigan GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock soon amplified the cat scat claims. Yesterday I heard that at least one of our schools in our town, has in one of the unisex bathrooms a litter box for the kids that identify as cats, a speaker at a school board meeting said, in a video that went viral in January. Kline pushed hard on the idea that state legislatures could ask Congress to delay the electoral certification to allow for time to investigate whether laws were faithfully followed. It happened every time a school board member spoke up about changes to the Central York School Districts COVID-19 plan. 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. Kline was a client. 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. OwOMore Below!Support me on Patreon . 0. Got a tip? The society contended that those local governments placed their thumb on the scale by accepting tens of millions of dollars in private grants for election administration from a nonprofit backed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. 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. Think Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse, they walk on two legs, have hands to manipulate items, and talk. 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. Screenshot from video. / CBS Colorado. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The president made baseless claims that millions of ballots were cast illegally in 2016, causing him to lose the popular vote. I was uh. Furries make a convenient target for people looking to lash out at marginalized identities, particularly the LGBT community, which has a higher-than-average representation among furries, OFurr noted. The current misrepresentation of furriesthat they simply want to be animals and are sexual deviantsdates back decades. He added that he agrees with the committees assessment that there was not sufficient proof of fraud to overturn the election. It shows a complete failure to understand how kids think, what they care about, what they want, he said. More recently, the Chicago-based organization has embraced a far different but equally divisive undertaking relentlessly questioning the integrity of elections. Kids who identify as furries get a litter box in the school bathroom, Maddock wrote on Facebook. So why are school boards attendees in a panic about supposed furries in the classroom? 2. Kaardal also filed at least seven lawsuits against the agency, beginning just before the 2020 election. 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. Theres always some teen craze that people inevitably blow out of proportion. After the mid-January meeting ended, McMillan said she saw the group corner a local father in a hallway. They called their initiative the Amistad Project, a reference to an 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship of that name. They were subjected to often stinging rebukes. 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. But even then, further research would be needed to determine whether the vaccine is the culprit or an innocent bystander. Patterson is an Indiana State Teachers Association board member. The societys election integrity initiative is now headed by its Executive Vice President Thomas Olp. It also lists a few duties that Stevens will have, such as managing special taxing districts, but then says generally the Recorder shall be responsible for all other election functions.. 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. Every reader contribution, no matter the amount, makes a difference in allowing our newsroom to bring you the stories that matter, at a time when being informed is more important than ever. Kline told ProPublica that the Amistad Project did not coordinate with Trumps group, and the Jan. 6 committee revealed no evidence to the contrary. Thats why its doubly important for pro-life advocates to ensure the integrity of state and local elections, one of the groups attorneys wrote in an op-ed last summer. Sometimes, as in the case of Central York, the same people who supported book bans are the same people now promoting furry rumors. 13, 2022 4:31 pm. Five cities embroiled in suits brought by Thomas More then abandoned their support for the boxes and the cases were dismissed. 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 . 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. But efforts to cast anthropomorphized animals as a niche issue are misguided, anyway. The past year has been the most arduous of our lives. The agreement Cochise County approved Tuesday is not that specific and it gives Stevens some of the elections directors duties, such as presenting final election results to the board for approval. By Kristin Rushowy Queen's Park Bureau Sun., Oct. 30, 2022 timer 5 . Interviews and records examined by ProPublica show how closely aligned Kline has been with the Thomas More Society. 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. Unless theyre actually harming their classmates, I see no cause for panic. From 1955 to 2019, Maricopa County gave its recorder more duties than prescribed in state law. The Maine Community Foundation commended its Makerspace Initiative, which encourages students to design and engineer with 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines and robotics. Since taking office in July, he said, the committee has advised him on the appointment of an interim elections director and helped him make decisions about the location of drop boxes. The states high court refused. False. A furry might draw himself as a cartoon tiger, or dress up as a dragon at a convention for fellow. That does not mean I was acting on behalf of Amistad, I wasnt.. Then came Trump and an obsession among his followers with proving that he lost due to election fraud, and a new mission emerged. In Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan, and Iowa in recent months, school board meetings have been disrupted by allegations that educators are giving special treatment to furry students. Google search results: No, Maine students aren't using litter boxes in school - WGME. Theyd supported Central Yorks recent (and now overturned) ban on certain school books, many of them about race. School districts in Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska have debunked claims that they. Two are still pending and the others were denied, dismissed or withdrawn, according to the commission. That allegation wasnt true, either. Ron DeSantis and Florida's Doctor Antivax, 'The maths are hard': Marjorie Taylor Greene mocked for not understanding what 'seized' means, Marjorie Taylor Greene garners few sympathizers after claiming she was 'attacked' in a restaurant, 'Thats weaponization': Dem smacks down Jim Jordan for ignoring Trump DOJ corruption, 'Im not gonna yield!' VAERS data are correlational and unvetted. How did your school find out, if ever? But that doesnt mean he agrees with the decision, he said. The Election Transparency Initiative is a project, in part, of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which works to elect anti-abortion lawmakers. Weve covered everything thrown at us this past year and will continue to do so with your support. The society declined repeated requests from ProPublica for an interview or to answer specific questions. 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 . Last week, someone identifying themselves only as an MCHS student started Change.org petition that has so far garnered almost 1,000 signatures, calling out Meade County School District for hypocrisy: Theyre demanding that the district nix their dress code policy against wearing hats if students are allowed to wear animal ears, tails, and leashes. 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. Elections in Cochise County will now be run almost entirely by Recorder David Stevens, For decades, lawyers at the Thomas More Society have backed provocateurs and long shot causes in hopes of winning, {{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}, Fear of 'furries' in school grips conservative parents fooled by absurd Facebook rumors, schools in Michigan placing litter boxes in bathrooms, Arizona county gives election skeptic near full control of elections, a warning from the attorney generals office they received on Monday night, attempting to illegally hand count all ballots, helped propel the full hand count against the legal advisement, noted that the supervisors technically retained their responsibilities, Yuma County in 2019 shifted most election authorities, Ron DeSantis and Florida's Doctor Antivax, This popular church app has become a 'dark' hotbed of anti-vaxxer extremism: report, The inherent racism of anti-vaxx movements, The antivaxers' ghoulish exploitation of dead celebrities, How a Catholic-led law firm is sowing doubts about election integrity as part of its long-term strategy. 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