Stories & Opinions Worth Knowing but Maybe Not Quite Threadworthy, 5/12

[SVPete]

ACLJ LAWSUIT: Nevada Public School Forces Child To Perform Pornographic Script, Lies to Parents, and Bans Mom From Reading Script to School Board

https://aclj.org/school-choice/aclj-lawsuit-nevada-public-school-forces-child-to-perform-pornographic-script-lies-to-parents-and-bans-mom-from-reading-script-to-school-board

A student in a Las Vegas area school district was forced to perform a profanity-laced, sexually explicit, and obscene monologue before the entire class as a graded assignment. School officials then lied to the parents. Finally, the school board banned the student’s mom from even reading to them the words her 15-year-old daughter had been forced to say in front of her class. We’re taking legal action today to fight back.

... Nevada’s Clark County School District (CCSD) violated its duty to our clients, Candra and Terrell Evans, when a teacher required their child to perform a sexually explicit and obscene monologue for a graded assignment. ...

In March of 2022, our clients’ 15-year-old daughter, who will be referred to as R.E., was required to perform a sexually explicit monologue prepared by another student before the entire class. The monologue – which many will find offensive – is below (edited by our attorneys by adding ***):
...
... our client Candra, the student’s mom, went to the school by herself, as her husband, Terrell, was on military deployment protecting our nation. The assistant principal agreed that what the teacher had done was inexcusable. The school administration told our clients that school officials would meet with the student and that the school would not allow any male faculty to meet with R.E. without another female present. In addition, the school promised that they would also not allow the teacher who gave the assignment to meet with R.E.

However, right after making this promise, the assistant principal (a man) met with R.E. alone without another female administrator present. Additionally, the school forced R.E. to meet with the teacher in question, one on one, again breaking their promise. This meeting left R.E. in tears. ... the principal instructed R.E. not to tell her parents about her meeting with the teacher. Of course, R.E. told her parents anyway.

Parents need to instruct their children, at the earliest possible age, that if a teacher or school admin tells them, "Don't tell your parents about ______," that means something bad or evil has or will happen that their parents need to know, as soon as possible.

[SVPete]

Salena Zito: There’s no es­cap­ing pol­i­tics, even in the bas­ket­ball aisle

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/salena-zito-there-s-no-es-cap-ing-pol-i-tics-even-in-the-bas-ket-ball-aisle/ar-AA1axZxI

In 2002, Ed Stack took Dick’s public, and it soon expanded by purchasing rival stores like Gaylon’s Trading Post. By 2018, Dick’s was the largest sporting goods store in the country, and Mr. Stack had become a billionaire.

One year later, after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Mr. Stack decided that Dick’s would phase out gun and ammunition sales from their stores. He made a clever public relations pitch: Though he was a gun owner himself, he didn’t want to be part of the problem, and so after deep reflection, he was removing certain guns from the shelves and halting the sale of firearms to anyone under the age of 21.

Within several months, the limitation on gun sales morphed into a “test” to pull all guns from ten stores, which soon expanded to 125 stores. Now the entire hunting category, including Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Field & Stream business, is being shuttered.\...
Mike Platz is one such customer. The 65-year-old retired IT professional and Navy veteran said that for decades he was a loyal Dick’s customer, but when they decided to weigh in on politics, he was done: “It is bittersweet because it’s local, but the stance they took on the Second Amendment hurt them. I never understood that because they sold guns the proper way.”

The upshot is that for all Dick's virtue-signalling, legal gun sales have risen instead of falling, long-term Dick's customers have moved to other stores for their Sporting Goods needs/wants, and Dick's is moving to a different market niche to compensate. Speaking personally, I do not know if there is a Dick's in San Jose, but they are major sponsors of some running events, which I mostly avoid. Running event T-shirts usually have sponsors' logos on the backs, which means that when I do workouts, my shirts do not advertise Dick's.

[SVPete]

White House Unveils Rules Targeting Journalists Who Refuse To Be ‘Professional’

https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/06/white-house-rules-targeting-journalists-refuse-professional/

The White House released new requirements Friday outlining which journalists are allowed in the briefing room and presidential events, and warning about unprofessional behavior.

The new rules require journalists to submit a letter to gain access to the White House grounds with information about their employment, mandating that reporters work for “an organization whose principal business is news dissemination.”

The rule change comes as the administration has been facing repeated outbursts in the briefing room from reporters like Simon Ateba, and comes days after World Press Freedom Day. Journalists have called out White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for not giving fair representation in the briefing room and the Biden administration has faced criticism from the press corps over unfair access to White House events.

Only narrative-parrots need apply.

[SVPete]

Marine veteran will be charged in death of Jordan Neely

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/05/11/marine-veteran-will-be-charged-in-death-of-jordan-neely-n550235

When I wrote about this story last week I suggested that the Marine veteran who put Jordan Neely in a chokehold that resulted in his death might wind up being charged with second-degree manslaughter. Today we’re learning that’s exactly what is going to happen.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office confirmed Mr. Penny’s expected arrest on the charge in a statement.

“We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of manslaughter in the second degree. We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow,” the statement said.

In the real world, Penny's "crime" was doing the job that Bragg would not and NYPD could not. IOW, he exposed Bragg's dereliction of duty.

[SVPete]

Watch: Mayorkas corrects reporter about Whipgate but she refuses to accept the truth

https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2023/05/12/watch-mayorkas-corrects-reporter-about-whipgate-but-she-refuses-to-accept-the-truth-n550281

DHS Secretary Mayorkas actually did something right so I thought I’d acknowledge that rarity. During a press conference at the White House, The Grio’s April Ryan began to ask a question about Border Patrol agents and Mayorkas interrupted her with a correction. She pushed back on his correction and he held his ground.

Ryan is known for her agenda-heavy reporting. Her questions frequently have a racial tone to them. So when she began her question, it was not surprising that she asked about Africans illegally crossing the southern border. She noted it is not just Mexicans crossing the border but also Africans and she referenced the story of the Haitians who infamously crossed the Rio Grande River. She was talking about Whipgate – the phony story concocted by a liberal Democrat activist on social media about a horse unit of Border Patrol agents falsely accused of whipping the Haitians with their horse reins. Mayorkas corrected the false narrative she was pushing.

However, Mayorkas interrupted her as he said, “Well, let me just correct you right there. Because actually, the investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur.”

Ryan shot back, “I’m sorry, I saw it differently. They were whipped with something from the horse — reins from the horse. Maybe the video or the picture was fixed. But what I saw was totally different.”

Significant segments of the MSM and US society are Post-Fact. Facts that contradict firmly held ideas are rejected. "The Grio" is a nest of race-baiting victimologists, April Ryan among them.

[SVPete]

SanFran BART has #sadz, "Why nobody ride our trains?"

https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2023/05/12/sanfran-bart-has-sadz-why-nobody-ride-our-trains-n550339

Poor BART. They didn’t understand what was happening. Why is ridership tanking? Are lingering pandemic effects and remote working coupled with all that empty real estate taking a chunk out of ridership?

So they asked around.
...
Quite possibly these were not the droids answers they were looking for.

…One of the survey’s most revealing takeaways was that remote work was not the main reason most respondents said they were not riding. The survey found that it’s primarily safety and security concerns that are keeping people from riding BART, with only 17% saying they feel safe on the trains and only 16% describing the transit system as being clean.

...
The day after the report was released, as if to emphasize the heart pounding intensity of possible encounters with fellow BART passengers, there was this guy with a meat cleaver…

Reality gives no place of refuge for bureaucrats. Ridership is down 60% from pre-Covid levels. Covid shutdowns are over (= hiding place lost). BART is used by theft gangs to get their looters in and out (= unsafe). BART is used by sacred homeless dopers and mental cases to move about the Bay Area (= unsafe and filth). What not to dislike?

The thing is, unless the PDs of a dozen or two Bay Area cities and the DAs of the several Bay Area counties all, more or less simultaneously, crack down on thieves and bums, BART police can do almost nothing. Cities served by BART keep feeding thugs and bums onto BART trains, and do-nothing DAs give those thugs and bums impunity.

[SVPete]

Texas university rescinds $28,000 charge to conservative students after legal threat

https://www.thecollegefix.com/texas-university-rescinds-28000-charge-to-conservative-students-after-legal-threat/

‘Implementing such security fees is what’s known as a heckler’s veto,’ attorney says

University of Texas at Arlington has rescinded a $28,600 security fee charge to the conservative student group Turning Point USA after the public institution received a legal warning letter from Alliance Defending Freedom.

At issue were two events hosted by TPUSA during the school year: one with a former Texas state House Candidate in November and another discussing how to combat human trafficking in March.

The university subsequently sent the student group two bills totaling $28,600 for security for the two events.

Alliance Defending Freedom continues to earn Prog's hatred by representing and winning for people and groups Prog hate.