This story was originally published by the WND News Center
(WND News Center) – True to form, the “mama bear” mothers and the fathers who have been passionately speaking out at school-board meetings against “woke” curricula and mask mandates have something to say to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the National School Boards Association for effectively branding them as domestic terrorists.
“I am what a domestic terrorist looks like?” asked Asra Nomani, vice president of investigations and strategy for the non-profit Parents Defending Education. “You owe parents an apology!”
Her group, in a statement October 4, accused activists of “weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice.”
“This is a coordinated attempt to intimidate dissenting voices in the debates surrounding America’s underperforming K-12 education – and it will not succeed. We will not be silenced,” the statement said.
Nomani’s group posted a form on its website to respond to the Justice Department, Fox News reported.
“I urge you to reconsider mobilizing the U.S. Department of Justice against concerned parents who are exercising their First Amendment rights at school board meetings across the country,” the letter reads. “Our country’s children deserve a high-quality education. Please do not criminalize the American citizens that advocate on their behalf.”
I taped a message to the Nat’l Association of School Boards. I am what a domestic terrorist looks like? You owe parents an apology! Politely message them @NSBAPublicEd, 703-838-6722 [email protected] Copy me. We reject violence. I am an #UnapologeticParent ❤️ Like you! @defendinged pic.twitter.com/2cSqzDuj9C
— Asra Q. Nomani 🐻Mama Bear “Domestic Terrorist” 🧸(@AsraNomani) October 1, 2021
Nomani said in a tweet October 5 that Garland had issued a “declaration of war” against parents.
Garland wrote in a memo that he directed the FBI to work with each U.S. Attorney’s office and federal, state and local leaders to convene meetings addressing “threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values,” he wrote. “Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”
Garland, however, didn’t specify misconduct he believes is worthy of federal investigation.
Elizabeth Perrin, a parent in Loudon County, Virginia, commented via text.
“So the school board and the [commonwealth attorney] can target people and the people who defend themselves are now domestic terrorists … how messed up is this!”
Retired Vanderbilt University professor Carol M. Swain, a leading opponent of Critical Race Theory, said the Biden administration seems to think that supporters of the Constitution are “dangerous.”
“Do I look like a domestic terrorist to you?” she wrote on Twitter. “Merrick Garland would link #CRT protesters alongside the Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh & Muslim terrorists. Americans who believe in the #Constitution are dangerous.”
How do you define harassment and intimidation?
On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri took advantage of having Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco before the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioning her about Garland’s memo, the Daily Caller reported.
Cotton cited a letter to President Biden from the National School Boards Association asking the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and Department of Education to implement measures such as the PATRIOT Act in response to alleged threats and acts of violence against public school officials.
Noting the PATRIOT Act was aimed at the threat of Islamic jihadists, Cotton asked Monaco if it is “domestic extremism for a parent to advocate for their child’s best interests.”
Monaco initially dodged the question but replied, “What you have described, no, I would not describe as domestic extremism.”
Cotton pointed out that the NSBA letter “conveniently” coincided with Garland’s memo “describing his ‘series of measures’ to confront this grave and growing threat of parents protesting their kids being indoctrinated and the school board having to call a recess.”
“Is there any connection between those two things?” Cotton asked.
Monaco denied any connection, insisting the memo was sent “to address threats, to address violence, and to address law enforcement issues … which is the job of the Justice Department.”
Hawley said the “extraordinary” memo was an example of the Biden administration “weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to go after its political opponents.”
“Are you aware of any time in American history when an attorney general has directed the FBI to intervene in school board meetings?” he asked.
“That is not going on. Let me be very, very clear,” Monaco replied. “The memorandum is quite clear, it’s one page, and it asks the U.S. attorney community and FBI special agents-in-charge to convene state and local law enforcement partners to ensure that there’s an open line of communication to address threats, to address violence, and that’s the appropriate role of the Department of Justice, to make sure that we are addressing criminal conduct and violence.”
With the FDA's decision to officially approve the Pfizer COVID jab, calls to vaccinate schoolchildren and more university students will become louder and more insistent.
But, America's children and young people must be protected from unknown future side-effects of these drugs, and parents' rights must be respected!
Please SIGN this urgent petition which demands that COVID vaccine mandates for schools and universities be prohibited in every U.S. state.
This petition will be sent to the leaders of every state legislature and to every governor in the United States, urging them to pass emergency legislation banning vaccine mandates for primary, secondary and university students.
Students simply have the right to be educated without being forced to violate deeply held principles and their own bodily integrity!
But, unfortunately, some private schools, like the Jesuit-run Brophy College Prep School in Phoenix, Arizona, have already mandated the COVID vaccine for their students, in spite of massive parental opposition. If parents or students reject the vaccine, students face intrusive weekly testing and exclusion from extra-curricular activities.
Also, more and more universities have actually started to disenroll unvaccinated students. But, even where that is not happening, not taking the vaccine often subjects students to masking, extra testing and additional administrative obstacles.
And now, with the Pfizer jab approval, Joe Biden's Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, is threatening more mandates.
While it is true that the FDA approval for the Pfizer jab only pertains to those over 16 years of age, the pharmaceutical industry and some state actors have been pushing to get approval for pre-teens!
So, it stands to reason that the Federal government will try to impose vaccines on schools, for those 16 and over, as well as on all university students. But, eventually, such mandates could even apply to younger and younger schoolchildren.
That's why state legislatures and governors must fight back against any attempt to coerce school students to take a COVID vaccine against their will!
Science and logic should dictate public health policy. And both say that mandatory vaccination for children and university students is not only unnecessary, but very likely dangerous for the future health of America's youth.
The CDC reports that the rates of death, injury, and hospitalization are very, very low for children and adolescents and that COVID transmission in schools, both from student to staff and between students, is also very low.
And a European CDC study concluded that "no evidence has been found to suggest that children or educational settings are primary drivers of COVID transmission."
So, right now, we know that schoolchildren are at very low risk of becoming very ill as a result of COVID, or of even transmitting the virus.
But, we don't know how a hastily-prepared, unstudied vaccine will affect the health of millions of America's youth in the future.
Gambling with their future, and the future of our nation, should not even be entertained for one second!
Please SIGN and SHARE this urgent petition urging state legislatures to ban COVID vaccine mandates for schools and universities - both public and private. Urge them to respect parents' rights, informed consent and bodily integrity.
Thank you!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Ivy League schools mandate COVID-19 vaccines for fall' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ivy-league-mandates-covid-19-vaccines-for-the-fall/
'FDA approval of Pfizer jab isn’t about our health, it’s about mandating the shots' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/fda-approval-of-pfizer-jab-isnt-about-our-health-its-about-mandating-the-shots
Hawley shot back: “At local school board meetings? Is parents waiting, sometimes for hours, to speak at a local school board meeting to express concerns about critical race theory or the masking of their students, particularly young children, is that in and of itself harassment?”
Monaco said Garland’s memo made it clear that “spirited debate is welcome, is a hallmark of this country” before Hawley cut her off.
“With all due respect Ms. Monaco, it did not make it quite clear, it does not define those terms, nor does it define harassment or intimidation,” he said. “It talks about violence. I think we can agree that violence shouldn’t be condoned or looked aside from in any way, swept under the rug at all. Harassment and intimidation, what do those terms mean in the context of a local school board meeting?”
Hawley charged it’s “a deliberate attempt to chill parents from showing up at school board meetings.”
“You’re using the FBI to intervene in school board meetings,” he said.
“Senator I have to respectfully disagree,” Monaco replied. “The attorney general’s memorandum made quite clear that violence is not appropriate. Spirited public debate on a whole range of issues is absolutely what this country is all about. When and if any situation turns to violence, then that is the appropriate role of law enforcement, to address it.”
Later in the hearing, Monaco said there wasn’t “any foundation” to Hawley’s claims.
Reprinted with permission from the WND News Center
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