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German Government Demands Big Tech Crack Down On Telegram, Other Free Speech Apps

Following threats to shut down the pro free speech encrypted messaging platform Telegram, the German government has stepped up its efforts by putting pressure on Apple and Google to take a more hands on approach to limiting the content people are sharing on the app.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser claimed that the app is contributing to an acceleration of “right-wing extremism” and “conspiracy theories,” in the country.
The minister tweeted “We remind #Apple and #Google of their social responsibility. As long as they offer apps like #Telegram in their stores, they are also a form of accelerator for #right-wing extremism and #conspiracy theories. No place for #hate and #calls for murder!”
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In another tweet, Faeser asserted “Everyone has the #right to peaceful assembly. We draw the line when it comes to #hate and #baiting. #Right-wing extremists are increasingly abusing the #Corona demos for their ideology against the #state. We will crack down there with consistent #law enforcement.”
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A further statement statement from Germany’s regional interior ministers specifically noted that those organising against the government’s COVID restrictions are using Telegram.
“The social network Telegram and comparable providers serve people in Germany as a networking [platform for Covid protest movements], corona deniers and right-wing radicals,” the statement read.
Last week, Faeser told the German media “We cannot rule this out,” when asked if the platform will be targeted for censorship.
“A shutdown would be grave and clearly a last resort. All other options must be exhausted first,” Faeser clarified.
The minister also told the newspaper that while it is currently unclear what legal action would be needed to shut down the platform, the German government is in consultation with the European Union regarding potential regulation of it.
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/germany-considers-shutting-down-telegram_4209098.html?slsuccess=1">The Epoch Times notes</a> that in Germany, which has implemented some of the <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/20/video-german-health-minister-calls-for-immediate-forced-vaccination-of-entire-population/">most severe pandemic restrictions</a>, “Telegram has been used as a hub of communication for the protest movement against the measures established to fight the CCP virus, including lockdowns, intermittent mask mandates, and restrictions for the unvaccinated.”
Telegram has been shut down or blocked in other countries including Iran, China, Pakistan, India, Thailand, and Russia.
The platform saw a <a href="https://summit.news/2021/01/12/telegram-enjoys-user-surge-as-founder-decries-people-being-held-hostage-by-tech-monopolies/">huge surge in users last year</a> after Facebook owned Watts App introduced a controversial privacy update which led to concerns that the app would hand over user data to its parent company. It also came at the same time as President Trump’s purge from big tech social media platforms.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov warned that people are “being held hostage by tech monopolies.”
In addition to being independent from big tech, Telegram promises robust end-to-end encryption, ensuring messages remain private.
This has made Telegram a target for authoritarians and big tech monopolists.
In the U.S. lobbyist group The Coalition for a Safer Web even <a href="https://summit.news/2021/01/18/lobby-group-sues-apple-to-remove-telegram-from-app-store-for-allowing-hate-speech/">filed a lawsuit against Apple</a> in an effort to get Telegram removed from the app store, claiming that it allows ‘extremists’ to spread ‘hate speech’.
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/20/german-government-demands-big-tech-crack-down-on-telegram-other-free-speech-apps/">https://summit.news/2022/01/20/german-government-demands-big-tech-crack-down-on-telegram-other-free-speech-apps/</a>

revolution summit German Government Demands Big Tech Crack Down On Telegram, Other Free Speech Apps

Following threats to shut down the pro free speech encrypted messaging platform Telegram, the German government has stepped up its efforts b...

Why Covid-19 is always one step ahead of the US response

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UnM3_jvDwt_kyUvz-LENWFmqOXk=/0x0:3000x1571/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181965/GettyImages_1361961770.jpg" /></div>
The Biden administration’s response to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22846696/omicron-covid-19-variant-virology-mutation-vaccine">the omicron variant</a> is belatedly kicking into gear. The White House <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/covid-biden-free-masks.html">announced</a> Wednesday that it would soon ship 400 million N95 masks to US pharmacies and community health centers to be given away. Americans can <a href="https://www.cms.gov/how-to-get-your-at-home-OTC-COVID-19-test-for-free">submit their bills</a> for at-home tests to their health insurer for reimbursement, and on Tuesday, <a href="https://www.covidtests.gov/">a new federal website</a> launched that lets people order a few free at-home coronavirus tests.
Free tests and free masks are finally here — after some public health experts have been calling for them since omicron was first detected around Thanksgiving <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/12/the-biden-administration-rejected-an-october-proposal-for-free-rapid-tests-for-the-holidays">or even earlier</a>. But the tests and masks might not arrive in Americans’ hands until the end of the month.
“By the time the masks and tests get there, the surge will probably be over,” Monica Gandhi, an infectious diseases doctor at the University of California San Francisco, told me. It’s possible — but far from certain — that the omicron wave has already peaked. The average number of daily cases has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">dropped</a> by 50,000 in the last week, a 6 percent decline.
From the very beginning of the pandemic, the US response was defined by slow action on <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/6/21168087/cdc-coronavirus-test-kits-covid-19">tests</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22870268/cdc-covid-19-guidelines-isolation-boosters-masks">masks</a>. Two years after the first coronavirus case on American soil was diagnosed, the national strategy to combat the virus is still too little, too late. The Biden administration’s response to omicron, experts say, will likely not arrive in time to meaningfully change the course of the latest pandemic wave.
“At this point, not sure widespread testing is going to be helpful until this wave calms down,” said David Celentano, who leads the epidemiology department at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
On December 1, the US was averaging 87,000 new Covid-19 cases per day. It’s now averaging more than 750,000 new cases daily, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">New York Times data</a>. There are a record 158,638 Americans hospitalized with Covid-19. Roughly 1,900 people are dying of Covid-19 each day, a figure that has more than doubled since late November.
Other countries were caught off guard by omicron, too, but they were able to act quickly once it arrived. In the UK, for example, free at-home tests were already the norm. In the fall, before the omicron wave, Brits could walk into any pharmacy in the country <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/at-home-covid-tests-are-a-free-easy-part-of-everyday-life-in-the-uk-and-the-us-has-taken-note/">and get five or seven testing kits free of charge</a>.
Experts point to three main factors in the US government’s slow response to omicron: an over-reliance on vaccines, a failure to develop contingency plans, and the fracturing of the expert consensus on what the appropriate public health interventions would be.
Some experts say the Biden administration and federal officials put too much faith in the power of vaccines alone to end the pandemic. Advisers to the White House <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-covid-test-shortfall/2021/12/23/aca925a0-629d-11ec-a7e8-3a8455b71fad_story.html">told the Washington Post last month</a> that the eye-popping data reported in the initial Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials, showing those vaccines more than 90 percent effective at preventing all infections, contributed to a belief within the administration that sufficient vaccination would be enough to bring the pandemic to an end.
“I think the Biden transition team saw the first, highly promising vaccine efficacy results from Pfizer in fall 2020 and decided against making serious investments in so-called ‘non-pharmaceutical interventions’ from the beginning,” Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist at Harvard, said. “This vaccine-only strategy was never a good idea, but there were wake-up calls that were missed.”
For example, by late July of 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already knew that vaccine efficacy was waning and the delta variant was more contagious than its predecessors, which threatened a new wave of infections, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/29/cdc-mask-guidance/">internal documents leaked at the time to the Post</a>. Around the same time, Israel started <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2114255#:~:text=On%20July%2030%2C%202021%2C%20Israel,program%20to%20the%20entire%20population.">offering booster shots</a> to its most vulnerable residents, a step the US would not take for <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-authorizes-booster-dose-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-certain-populations">two more months</a>.
The vaccines did fundamentally change the pandemic. Suddenly, tens of millions of people could safely acquire some immunity from Covid-19, and the vaccines offered particularly strong protection against severe illness. But they were never a panacea. Even in clinical trials, the vaccines were not 100 percent protective against infection. Over time, their effectiveness in stopping infections <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22630979/covid-19-vaccine-booster-shots-delta-variant">declined</a>, even as they remained powerful in preventing the worst outcomes from Covid-19.
That made a vaccine-only strategy insufficient. The virus was still spreading widely. There were still millions of people who either <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22686147/covid-19-vaccine-betadine-hydroxychloroquine-ivermectin-trump-conspiracy">refused to get vaccinated</a> or for whom the vaccines did not provide as strong of protection as they do for younger and healthier people. And there was <a href="https://www.vox.com/22712737/covid-19-cases-deaths-2021-winter-wave">always the threat of a new variant</a> that would be more resistant to the vaccines.
There are limits on what the federal government can do under our federalist system of government. Mask mandates and social distancing restrictions are largely the purviews of state and local authorities. The Biden administration did attempt to take sweeping actions, such as a vaccine mandate for large employers, that <a href="https://www.vox.com/22883639/supreme-court-vaccines-osha-cms-biden-mandate-nfib-labor-missouri">got tied up in the courts.</a>
But there were also clearly missed opportunities ahead of the omicron surge.
In October, with the delta wave underway, the White House rejected a plan to manufacture and distribute at-home rapid tests for the winter holidays, according to <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/12/the-biden-administration-rejected-an-october-proposal-for-free-rapid-tests-for-the-holidays">a Vanity Fair report from late December</a>. Over the summer, Abbott Laboratories — the largest manufacturer of at-home rapid tests in the US — actually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/us/abbott-covid-tests.html">started destroying some of its test inventory</a> because it did not anticipate a market for those tests and the government had not bought the excess supply. This meant that when omicron start to spread, there was not a stockpile of masks or tests to distribute to people quickly.
And once the new omicron variant was spreading, it was already too late anyway. As several experts emphasized to me, the government does not move swiftly, even in the face of an emergency. It can take days for public health guidance to be revised. Setting up a website where people could order free tests took weeks. And the facts on the ground are always changing. With omicron, for example, the evidence is growing that throat swabs may be more sensitive in the early days of an infection than the nasal swabs included in most testing kits.
US health agencies are not accustomed to making and revising policy quickly, as demonstrated by <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22870268/cdc-covid-19-guidelines-isolation-boosters-masks">the delay in revising the CDC’s isolation guidelines</a> or <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/types-of-masks.html">a long-overdue update on which face masks are recommended</a>.
“A rapid response is not possible within the way policies are normally formulated and implemented,” Bill Hanage, a Harvard University epidemiologist, told me. “We’re not caught fighting the last battle, but the one before that.”
The government’s ability to act quickly has been complicated by another factor: Public health experts are increasingly divided on what the country should be doing in its pandemic response. It’s hard to plan ahead or change plans quickly when experts can’t even agree on what you should do.
Public health experts were never a monolith. But early in the pandemic, there was a fairly clear consensus about what to do about Covid-19: Close some businesses, ban most large gatherings, mandate masks, and develop a vaccine. A New York Times survey of hundreds of epidemiologists <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/08/upshot/when-epidemiologists-will-do-everyday-things-coronavirus.html">found in the summer of 2020</a> that more than half were in agreement about the timeline for resuming many activities that had been stopped because of Covid-19, such as vacationing within driving distance or eating out at a restaurant.
But as the pandemic has dragged on, expert opinions diverged. In spring 2021, the Times ran <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/upshot/epidemiologists-coronavirus-masks.html">another survey of epidemiologists</a>, asking them how long people would need to wear masks indoors, the answers varied wildly; 20 percent said half a year or less, while another 26 percent said people would wear masks indefinitely, at least in certain situations. As the Biden administration <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22738202/covid-19-vaccine-booster-shot-moderna-pfizer-j-j">debated booster shots this summer and fall</a>, some experts were full-throated supporters of giving everybody an additional dose, while other prominent experts argued boosters made sense only for certain people.
Even as I asked experts whether the White House’s proposals to distribute tests and masks were coming too late, there was disagreement about whether these plans were even necessary. Some said testing should be concentrated on nursing homes and on other high-risk populations. Some argued we should <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/chop-covid-guidelines-philadelphia-school-masks-20220106.html">stop testing asymptomatic kids in schools</a>.
And many of them continued to say that vaccines, more than any other intervention, are still the best way to bring Covid-19 under control. If the Biden administration neglected other parts of the pandemic response, it was partly following the belief among public health experts that vaccination trumps everything else in stopping Covid-19.
But some experts <a href="https://www.vox.com/22712737/covid-19-cases-deaths-2021-winter-wave">warned</a> that future waves — or variants — could threaten the tentative victory the country appeared to have won in the spring and early summer of 2021.
Rather than take proactive steps to prepare for that eventuality, the Biden administration sidestepped those decisions, and now the country is struggling to catch up to omicron.
“When it comes to public health overall, I think there is a relentless tendency to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good,” Hanage told me. “When you are facing an exponentially growing wave of infections, we do not have the time to identify and demonstrate which policies are optimal, and that means we are caught out over and over again.”
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2022/1/20/22889364/joe-biden-covid-19-omicron-plan-free-tests-masks">https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2022/1/20/22889364/joe-biden-covid-19-omicron-plan-free-tests-masks</a>

vox Why Covid-19 is always one step ahead of the US response

The Biden administration’s response to the omicron variant is belatedly kicking into gear. The White House announced Wednesday that it wo...

The voting rights push in Congress is over. The fight for democracy isn’t.

If you listen to some leading liberal voices, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/1/19/22881837/senate-filibuster-vote-voting-rights-joe-manchin-kyrsten-sinema">Senate defeat</a> of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22876643/democrats-voting-rights-senate-filibuster-manchin">Freedom To Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Acts</a> could sound the death knell of American democracy.
In a Wednesday speech held before the Senate votes, President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60063594">warned of future stolen elections</a>: “the prospect of [an election] being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed.” Mother Jones’s Ari Berman, a leading journalist on the democracy beat, argued that <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/01/kyrsten-sinema-just-killed-the-democrats-last-best-chance-to-protect-voting-rights/">the Senate is</a> “killing the Democrats’ last, best chance to protect American democracy.”
Biden and Berman are right that American democracy is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22814025/democracy-trump-january-6-capitol-riot-election-violence">heading toward some sort of crisis</a>, and there’s good reason to think these bills would have improved the long-term outlook. But the reality is that the bills Democrats sought to pass were hardly the “last, best chance” to act in democracy’s defense.
For all the good they would have done, the bills would <a href="https://www.vox.com/22879991/election-subversion-voting-rights-us-elections-democracy">only have had a limited effect</a> on the biggest short-term threat to American democracy: election subversion, in which partisan political actors distort or outright disregard legitimate election results. The battle against these tactics was always going to take place in multiple arenas, most of which are outside of Washington.
Across the country, at the state and local level, Trump supporters are volunteering or running for local positions that would put them in charge of the mechanics of elections. According to an <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/04/1069232219/heres-where-election-deniers-and-doubters-are-running-to-control-voting">NPR analysis</a>, at least 15 Republicans who doubt or deny the legitimacy of Biden’s election victory are campaigning for state secretaries of state. For anyone concerned with American democracy, defeating these candidates should be a priority.
At the federal level, Republicans have signaled openness to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/11/new-proposal-electoral-count-act-trump-2024/">reforming the Electoral Count Act</a> (ECA) — the obscure federal law that opened the door to then-Vice President Mike Pence potentially overturning the 2020 election at Trump’s behest. The reform isn’t perfect but it’s worth pursuing, especially since a bipartisan coalition in the Senate might be willing to consider it.
These fights — contesting thousands of local elections and passing less ambitious but bipartisan reform legislation — may not be as emotionally satisfying as landmark elections overhaul. They won’t address voter suppression and gerrymandering, which still pose challenges for American democracy. But they do move the needle in ways that the doomsaying this week can obscure.
The Democrats’ two bills would have addressed some large and significant problems, most notably state laws to suppress the vote and extreme partisan gerrymandering. These state efforts tilt the playing field in the GOP’s direction and create significant burdens on groups attempting to get voters from minority communities to the polls; there is a reason why leading experts on democracy <a href="https://www.polisciforthepeople.com/">widely supported the Democrats’ voting rights proposals</a>.
And yet the impact of these bills’ failures might not be as significant as some fear, at least when it comes to the next election cycle.
Studies suggest that voter ID laws, for example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/21/18230009/voter-id-laws-fraud-turnout-study-research">don’t significantly depress minority turnout</a>. It doesn’t make such laws okay, of course — they <a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/news/democrats-must-reform-the-electoral-count-act-and-pass-comprehensive-voting-rights-legislation/">sap valuable activist resources</a> and there’s little doubt about their racist intent — but it’s worth noting that the evidence suggests their effects on election outcomes is fairly limited. Partisan gerrymandering remains a problem, particularly at the state legislative level, but the current round of House redistricting is turning out <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/12/democrats-are-doing-weirdly-well-in-redistricting.html">far less tilted in the GOP’s direction than Democrats had feared</a>.
Republicans are certainly still working to erode Democrats’ access to the ballot box, in ways that really do threaten American democracy. But their work has not been quite as effective as some dire analyses assumed (<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/11/9/22765982/north-carolina-redistricting-gerrymandering-2021-2022">including my own</a>), giving reformers more time to come up with solutions before the system is past the point of no democratic return.
The story is different when it comes to election subversion. Anti-democratic forces are moving to seize control over the system more swiftly than even some of the most pessimistic analyses had feared.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1642723498_3391_62260" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23181936,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5jDFmrza5b3DOE8fwc0sJIp4EAE=/0x0:5104x3407/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k2GOftNaDu5ec60Kgig9n0UCoOs=/0x0:5104x3407/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ke8oCZAiCRveyWIZZCayDyIWKEA=/0x0:5104x3407/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k7TtOMalg1C9CN_w9iH5r31sK5A=/0x0:5104x3407/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gv8yEUseVasfxIIdQfXYgAQUnzQ=/0x0:5104x3407/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aCp27JfAxPH5hA9rrWcLYu8zywA=/0x0:5104x3407/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uE2ff2EgeL0JVd2sm3mBux7klBE=/0x0:5104x3407/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8gAywupL6vtuLcThZPn3sC6-SaU=/0x0:5104x3407/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JwVDMomeXe0AFtcQr2iRAnaUokg=/0x0:5104x3407/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="5104" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Vrv764DdB10U_GZ6EW81MmQ44bE=/0x0:5104x3407/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Coe423T0J3cN9ShuYuyw7dWu_gk=/0x0:5104x3407/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/L-fPSngkUKH7aWpOj6V49RmpkuY=/0x0:5104x3407/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dPkS85ZfbCR_7B0MFLJRsWtcnxg=/0x0:5104x3407/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ti8nRflbKIiHI1NSsbVpcM807mw=/0x0:5104x3407/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nJ371ikx3fLJAEiqbq8R2CXWtao=/0x0:5104x3407/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m_PD-DtmW4O5YsBI1PXCLPwuxGY=/0x0:5104x3407/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5K-VHXEIK9i1izZj5fNqOarF058=/0x0:5104x3407/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VdzomAFJjaWmm_2Ao757JdMNRlY=/0x0:5104x3407/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hkxuVZvJmAj3j-AgCNeRX7pFrog=/0x0:5104x3407/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:5104x3407):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181936/1364916799.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>Former President Donald Trump prepares to speak at an Arizona rally on January 15.</figcaption>
<cite>Mario Tama/Getty Images</cite></figure>
Election subversion can happen in different ways at different points in the byzantine American electoral process. During the actual vote count, partisan local election officials could <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/537260251/The-Election-Sabotage-Scheme-and-How-Congress-Can-Stop-It#download&from_embed">deem Democratic ballots illegitimate on specious grounds</a> or <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-55524676">invent Republican ones</a>. If this fails, Republican state election officials could <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/19/21575177/trump-wayne-county-michigan-certification">refuse to certify a Democratic victory</a>. Even if a presidential election is certified, a GOP-controlled state legislature could <a href="https://www.vox.com/22173990/electoral-college-trump-biden-stephen-miller">send an alternative slate of electors</a> to the Electoral College. And if Democrats are still winning, a GOP <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trumps-january-6-strategy-all-about-mike-pence.html">vice president</a> or <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/politics/josh-hawley-overturn-election-fact-check/index.html">Congress</a> could assert power to overturn the election on their own.
None of this is hypothetical: The Trump campaign and its allies tried every one of these tactics in 2020, and failed over and over again because public servants at key points in the system <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/election-officials-under-attack">did their jobs</a>. But the former president’s camp is working assiduously to improve their chances in 2024.
Across the country, Republican partisans motivated by Trump’s lies are <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/12/9/22824509/summit-for-democracy-biden-america">flooding precincts and contesting election administration positions</a>. Georgia’s new election law, SB202, gives the Republican legislature power to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22368044/georgia-sb202-voter-suppression-democracy-big-lie">seize partisan control over local election administration</a>. The Republicans that held the line against Trump’s attempt to decertify elections in 2020 — like Michigan Board of State Canvassers member Aaron Van Langevelde — are being <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/18/michigan-republicans-seek-replace-canvasser-who-certified-election/4202195001/">sacked by their own party</a>. Many Republican candidates for state secretary of state <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/04/1069232219/heres-where-election-deniers-and-doubters-are-running-to-control-voting">in 2022 have publicly advanced Trump’s Big Lie</a>; several have reportedly formed an informal coalition aimed at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/13/trump-loyalists-secretary-of-state-candidates">rewriting US election rules in their party’s favor</a>.
And all of this is backed by a Republican base that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/07/republicans-big-lie-trump/">overwhelmingly believes Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election</a> and a propaganda network, ranging from Fox News to Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, aimed at ensuring their minds are never changed.
The voting rights legislation would have helped address <a href="https://protectdemocracy.org/resource-library/document/election-subversion-freedom-to-vote-2-pager/">some of the concerns</a> about voter suppression. The Freedom to Vote Act, in particular, included chain of custody provisions that make it harder to outright manipulate vote counts and safeguards against state governments from removing election officials from their positions absent “good cause.”
But even if these provisions worked as intended — a big if given GOP control over federal courts — they don’t go far enough. They <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/us/politics/biden-voting-rights-speech-election-subversion.html">do not prevent Republicans from refusing to certify election results</a>, sending an alternate slate of electors to Washington, or otherwise seeking to overturn the results in January.
“If you look at 2020, we came much closer to a successful subversion of the election results than a lot of people understand,” <a href="https://www.vox.com/22879991/election-subversion-voting-rights-us-elections-democracy">Rick Hasen</a>, an election law expert at University of California Irvine, told my colleague Fabiola Cineas. The bills that failed in the Senate “would not have done much on the issue of election subversion.”
If the 2024 election is close, American democracy is heading toward a potential crisis.
But let’s not mistake that dismal assessment as the epitaph for democracy.
In their book <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172149/dictators-and-democrats">Dictators and Democrats</a>, political scientists Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman analyze what causes countries to transition from democracy to autocracy — and vice versa. One of their core findings is that, when a democracy is tottering, laws provide less of a bulwark on their own than most people think. Rules need people to help enforce them; when it comes to democracy, one of the law’s best guarantors are the citizens themselves.
The key to nearly every effective subversion strategy is control over institutions: when Trumpists are in positions of power, they get to set the rules of the game. If Democrats, non-partisan actors, or principled Republicans hold key jobs, as they did in 2020, the Trumpists can’t break the system.
So in 2022, many of the biggest fights for democracy are hyper-local: races for county executive, judgeships, election administration positions, and statehouses. If pro-democracy candidates can win these races in large numbers, they will collectively pose a significant barrier to an election subversion campaign in 2024.
There is a nascent infrastructure for competing in such races. Run For Something, a liberal group that encourages young candidates to run for state and local office, has launched a multi-million dollar effort to contest positions that “relate to local election work” — a direct effort to fight back against election subversion. Amanda Litman, the group’s founder and executive director, told me that she is hoping to field candidates in roughly 2,000 such races in 2022 alone.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1642723498_387_62261" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23181942,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/B-0lOS415COvaPWuzx2fVLB3clY=/0x0:6156x3856/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mRQNBWZPmdyE9mvueKJeie0AU-c=/0x0:6156x3856/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Bue3E7L0wMJHqCQv6Jv5C8aIBqg=/0x0:6156x3856/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EKwo5HHE7xDyq06ILZA3c07TOGk=/0x0:6156x3856/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FVNtI7N1lAJML8ADB4pBj8BnC0o=/0x0:6156x3856/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JIW8a17uuo2WsaYyUte6vP8gSTo=/0x0:6156x3856/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6AW6xekyg-QcboAuAqbvdmoUXQ0=/0x0:6156x3856/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dR0hn6ECsSPQtQJezwRD44WOFs4=/0x0:6156x3856/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FzSjEuSzCCVseIiGcCipM8hgu-s=/0x0:6156x3856/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="6156" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AdsuvAYUlyIK1eFq_jmiFOmrj5I=/0x0:6156x3856/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YVYv7L1vm4uYZVj51dWmM-EWU8g=/0x0:6156x3856/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Phy9pDme98RucNtXaDvHQf3_KeI=/0x0:6156x3856/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UYWPeGMv0EsVaIj4KCUuOpcQVX4=/0x0:6156x3856/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jByPdZlTP9dL7sehdFu615nkls4=/0x0:6156x3856/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GkBZ8ItPdhrSVi1drYu6_CtcgvI=/0x0:6156x3856/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5vMwtFwUiMcHUyLKFC6Ect_zlvk=/0x0:6156x3856/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GRQdpprjx8ExNb6OjhsP3gtuPcI=/0x0:6156x3856/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5u1qaGEvHS0eLBuZurF10NjFqPg=/0x0:6156x3856/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hbGsuB-ILpNCeBZZttEDEI2YeaM=/0x0:6156x3856/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:6156x3856):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23181942/1230399571.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>A rally for Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnick in Hampton, Georgia, on January 2, 2021. Both won their run-off elections, giving Democrats a slim majority in the Senate — but not enough votes to change filibuster rules to pass voting rights reform.</figcaption>
<cite>Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images</cite></figure>
But they need more people to run in these races. And Run For Something candidates, in turn, need volunteers and donors who can power their races against anti-democracy, pro-Trump candidates.
This is the kind of effort liberals need to look toward today. Paradoxically, the failure of voting rights bills in Congress could give this cause a boost by directing activist energy away from Washington.
“Democrats and liberals in general look to and make demands of the White House and DC when they have officials in power there,” says Theda Skocpol, a Harvard political scientist who studies political movements. “That is actually a weakness, because the focus needs to remain bottom up.”
But Washington can’t be ignored entirely. Some election subversion problems — most notably, a repeat of Trump and congressional allies’ effort to overturn the election on January 6, 2021 — can only be solved at the federal level.
Some of the most important vulnerabilities can be addressed by reforming the Electoral Count Act, a confusingly worded law from 1887 that currently governs the final stages of presidential elections. The law sets the procedures by which Congress certifies the results of the Electoral College tally, allowing simple majorities in both houses to reject the electors if they so choose. It also <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-electoral-count-act-of-1887-is-showing-its-age-heres-how-to-help-congress-certify-a-presidential-election-with-more-certainty-175222">does not clarify</a> the vice president’s constitutionally mandated role in supervising the certification process, opening the door to Trump’s effort to pressure Mike Pence to reject the election results.
The congressional count creates an obvious point of vulnerability in a presidential election: a malign party that controls both houses could, in theory, overturn the results of a legitimate election. But at the same time, it is also a bulwark against some state-level election subversion — a statehouse deciding to appoint its own competing slate of electors to the Electoral College. The Electoral Count Act would allow Congress to reject the statehouse-appointed electors and replace them with ones who actually reflect the will of the voters.
Reforming the Electoral Count Act thus means striking a balance between blocking undemocratic action at the federal level while preserving a bulwark against it at the state level. But legislators can craft a reform that addresses these nuances. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/11/new-proposal-electoral-count-act-trump-2024/">The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent</a> reports that Sen. Angus King (I-ME) has a draft of an Electoral Count Act reform bill that would address these concerns by clearly prohibiting vice presidents from going rogue, requiring a supermajority to reject electors in Congress, and creating a judicial review mechanism that could block state legislatures from sending their own electors to Washington.
Something like King’s bill has a chance. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/05/mcconnell-electoral-count-act-reform-526542">Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell</a> have signaled openness to fixing the Electoral Count Act; <a href="https://www.axios.com/electoral-reform-bipartisan-support-0b1ffd06-2c17-4460-b96e-f69f43a9786f.html">a bipartisan group of about 12 senators</a> is currently meeting to discuss a potential bill. It’s at least worth seeing if this yields something real.
Neither of these courses of action, contesting local and state elections and reforming the Electoral Count Act, are as satisfying as passing a landmark bill. Nor do they address the threats to democracy posed by voter suppression and gerrymandering. For Democrats, it’s less hitting a home run than a series of singles.
Ballgames can still be won with bloops and base hits. And Americans who care about their democracy still have agency; there are things they can do that really matter.
The future looks grim for American democracy. But liberals shouldn’t allow realistic pessimism to shade into resignation or despair. Democrats in Washington may have squandered an opportunity to safeguard future elections, but many of the key battles to protect our democracy have yet to be fought.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22876361/freedom-to-vote-act-senate-filibuster-what-next">https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22876361/freedom-to-vote-act-senate-filibuster-what-next</a>

vox The voting rights push in Congress is over. The fight for democracy isn’t.

If you listen to some leading liberal voices, the Senate defeat of the Freedom To Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Acts could...

Mask Freaks Take the L

Authorities in Western Australia say their draconian new vaccine passport scheme, which bars the unvaccinated from most public places, is likely to be in place for “years.”
Premier Mark McGowan announced the new measures, which will go into effect from the end of the month, as “the broadest proof of vaccination requirements in the nation.”
The vaccine passport mandate will now cover “a wider range of venues.”
“From Monday, January 31, 2022, the vaccine passport mandates will cover cafes, restaurants, dine-in fast food joints, pubs, bars, taverns, clubs, nightclubs, and “all hospitality venues,” as well as private and public hospitals and aged-care facilities,” writes Ken Macon.
Entertainment venues such as “play centers, gaming and gambling, theaters, concert halls, museums, cinemas, and live music venues,” will also be off limits for the unjabbbed.
“Life will become very difficult for the unvaccinated…no pubs, no bottle-shops, no gym, no yoga classes, no gigs, no dance floors, no hospital or aged care visits,” said McGowan, adding that the unvaccinated must be “protected from themselves.”
He added that the rules, which will soon only count people who have had three doses as “fully vaccinated,” will ensure the public is “confident in these public settings, and that they are only mixing with other vaccinated people.”
The restrictions “will not be removed anytime soon” and could be in place “for years.”
Australia has become notorious for becoming the developed world leader in inflicting the most draconian COVID control measures on its population.
As we <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/23/australias-chief-pharmacist-says-public-needs-to-accept-boosters-mask-mandates-for-many-years-to-come/">highlighted</a> last month, Australia’s chief pharmacist Trent Twomey says the public “just need to accept” they will have to take regular vaccine booster shots every six months and continue wearing masks for “many years” to come.
Australia is also <a href="https://summit.news/2021/10/12/australia-building-quarantine-camps-for-ongoing-operations/">building</a> COVID quarantine camps for “ongoing operations,” with one facility at Wellcamp Airport outside Toowoomba not even set to be completed until March.
Citing new strains of COVID and people “who have not had access to vaccination,” Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles told the media outlet, “We anticipate there to be a continuing need for quarantine facilities.”
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/19/mask-freaks-take-the-l/">https://summit.news/2022/01/19/mask-freaks-take-the-l/</a>

revolution summit Mask Freaks Take the L

Authorities in Western Australia say their draconian new vaccine passport scheme, which bars the unvaccinated from most public places, is li...

Video: CNN’s Lemon Says Unvaccinated “Idiots” Like Novak Djokovic Shouldn’t Be Part Of “Polite Society”

CNN host Don Lemon declared Tuesday that those who choose not to take coronavirus vaccines are “idiots” who need to be ostracised from “polite society” for the “greater good”.
Referring to a viral rant against the unvaccinated by a Mexican news anchor, Lemon stated “He’s right,” further noting “I’ve gotten criticized for saying that we need to stop listening to the people and they should not be part of polite society, so to speak.”
Lemon continued, “the unvaccinated people in the U.S., they’re key to the reason that coronavirus, the variants are emerging. And that the reason – I’m looking at the stats from the CDC – and the reason why it’s replicating and mutating. It’s because of unvaccinated people, who are doing their own research online!”
“I can’t do my own research better than experts who do have devoted their lives to medical and scientific research,” Lemon continued, adding that those who don’t “believe in science” shouldn’t be allowed to travel.
“We have to start doing things for the greater good of society and not for idiots who think that they can do their own research, or that they are above the law and they can break the rules,” Lemon further proclaimed, pointing to tennis champion Novak Djokovic.
Lemon stated that Australia told Djokovic “No, no, no, no, no. We’re going to look at the greater good of everyone in our society, and you’re not part of that. We don’t care that you’re the number one tennis player in the world.”
“And good on them because they are keeping their population and their citizens – people who want to be good citizens – they’re keeping them healthy and safe and alive,” Lemon declared.
Watch:
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"We have to start doing things for the greater good of society and not for idiots who think that they can do their own research, or that they are above the law and they can break the rules." – Don Lemon <a href="https://t.co/wLUOZklmsF">pic.twitter.com/wLUOZklmsF</a>
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) <a href="https://twitter.com/CalebHowe/status/1483484296916656135?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Lemon <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/13/video-cnns-lemon-blames-anti-mask-conservatives-for-rise-in-traffic-accident-deaths/">keeps suggesting</a> that it is time to segregate society. Last month he declared that conservatives and people who dislike wearing face masks are to blame for a rise in traffic accident deaths, because they are contributing to a “lack of civility” in society.
Lemon is, of course, another <a href="https://summit.news/2021/11/03/after-pro-mask-anti-florida-rants-don-lemon-takes-a-maskless-vacation-in-florida/">massive hypocrite</a> preaching ‘do as I say not as I do’.
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/19/video-cnns-lemon-says-unvaccinated-idiots-like-novak-djokovic-shouldnt-be-part-of-polite-society/">https://summit.news/2022/01/19/video-cnns-lemon-says-unvaccinated-idiots-like-novak-djokovic-shouldnt-be-part-of-polite-society/</a>

revolution summit Video: CNN’s Lemon Says Unvaccinated “Idiots” Like Novak Djokovic Shouldn’t Be Part Of “Polite Society”

CNN host Don Lemon declared Tuesday that those who choose not to take coronavirus vaccines are “idiots” who need to be ostracised from “poli...

Parents Outraged As More Schools Push Transgender Materials On THREE-YEAR OLD Kids

Parents watchdog group <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/saint-paul-public-schools-promotes-lgbtq-material-partners-with-organizations-that-target-toddlers-with-pride-resources-and-provide-free-chest-binders-to-transgender-individuals/">Parents Defending Education</a> (PDE) has warned that a school district in Minnesota is pushing transgender and “pride” books and materials on to children as young as three years old.
The group warns that Saint Paul Public Schools is allowing two separate organisations, called AMAZE and OutFront Minnesota, to push the materials in their schools.
The PDE shared a <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Elementary-lessons-on-Gender-Diversity.pdf">document</a> that shows books titled “When Aidan Became a Brother,” (image below) “I Love My Colorful Nails” and “My Princess Boy” being given to pre-schoolers.
 The books are all about young boys and girls transitioning or having feeling that they are different to their biological gender.
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The handout created by AMAZE, also contains suggested activities for children labelled “Social-Emotional Learning and Anti-Bias Education.”
A further <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Gender-Inclusion.pdf">handout</a> (image below) advises teachers to “Ask Students for Name and Pronouns” and to “Refer students to the Name/Gender Change Request Form.”
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In addition, OutFront Minnesota’s <a href="https://www.outfront.org/free-chest-binder-programs-0">website</a> is promoting schemes that provide free “chest binders” for “folks 24 and under” or for “any trans person who needs one and cannot afford or safely obtain one.”
Erika Sanzi, director of outreach for PDE stated that “It is especially egregious that after more than a year of disruptions and closures, the district is pushing ideologically driven content and resources on students and families.”
Sanzi further noted that “In the most recent round of state testing, 33 percent of St Paul students tested proficient in reading — down 6 points from 2019 — and 21 tested proficient in math, down 9 points.”
“It is one thing to treat all students with the dignity they deserve; it is quite another to be so far out of your lane that you are partnering with outside organizations that think it is appropriate to engage toddlers in conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation,” Sanzi added.
“How can a school district even defend spending time and money on this ideological garbage when 2/3 of their students can’t read on grade level and 80 percent aren’t proficient in math?” the PDE director urged.
As we have <a href="https://summit.news/2021/11/16/videos-parents-accuse-school-board-of-promoting-suicide-with-creepy-corporate-run-social-emotional-learning-scheme/">previously noted</a>, the so called ‘Social Emotional Learning’ agenda is obsessed with encouraging kids that it is normal to have and to openly discuss mental health illnesses and to feel like they were born as the wrong gender.
Concerned parents across the country have slammed school officials for “promoting suicide” among children by amplifying the agenda.
Parents have also warned that “profiteer consulting groups” are being brought in by schools to replace traditional school counselors, prompting accusations that the SEL programmes have evolved into creepy corporate run indoctrination schemes.
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This is some of Panorama Ed user guide explaining SEL is a bunch of touchy-feely unlicensed mental health surveys replete w Critical Race Theory verbiage like "systemic forces of racism and racial bias" and "lived experience" and "equitable." All RI schools data mine ur kids. <a href="https://t.co/eBgb2dEs9j">pic.twitter.com/eBgb2dEs9j</a>
— Nicole Solas Domestic Terrorist! (@Nicoletta0602) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1457776945291165700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://summit.news/2021/11/17/documents-reveal-kindergarteners-being-forced-to-learn-about-transgenderism/">PDE perviously noted</a> that children as young as kindergarten age in other areas, specifically Connecticut, are being forced to learn about ‘social justice standards’ including transgenderism and gender identity.
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/19/parents-outraged-as-more-schools-push-transgender-materials-on-three-year-old-kids/">https://summit.news/2022/01/19/parents-outraged-as-more-schools-push-transgender-materials-on-three-year-old-kids/</a>

revolution summit Parents Outraged As More Schools Push Transgender Materials On THREE-YEAR OLD Kids

Parents watchdog group Parents Defending Education (PDE) has warned that a school district in Minnesota is pushing transgender and “pride” ...