Free Republic

There is a reason why you know who Randi Weingarten, the leader of the second-largest teachers union in the country, is. She’s the one who threatened to strike if schools did not close in 2020. She is the one who said that school closures were not that big of a deal because “kids are resilient." She is the one who influenced the CDC to change its COVID-19 guidelines using almost her exact language. She is the one who introduced a campaign to bring Ibram X. Kendi’s simplistic ideas on race into “every classroom.” In other words, you know who Randi...

The fight to keep women’s sports exclusively for biological women is just beginning and will be a long one. Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines brought the fight front and center when she was forced to compete with transgender athlete Lia Thomas. Now, Gaines has upped the ante in the fight to protect women’s and girls’ sports. She recently filed a $2 million lawsuit against Thomas, who was born William Thomas, citing cheating in order to win the national women’s swimming title, and exposing himself in a female locker room. When Lia Thomas began life, and eventually her swimming...

A local governing board appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday passed a resolution to void an agreement that allowed Walt Disney World to maintain control over much of its business operations amid an ongoing power struggle with the governor. “Disney was openly and legally granted a unique and special privilege, that privilege of running its own local government,” Alan Lawson, a former Florida Supreme Court justice whose firm was hired by the DeSantis-appointed board, said during the board meeting. “That era is ending.” The unanimous vote of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is the latest step in a...

The first round of the “Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis v. The Walt Disney Company” fight, held last spring, ended in a clear DeSantis victory and Disney defeat. Following Disney’s vocal opposition to Florida’s commonsense Parental Rights in Education Act, misleadingly dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Florida passed a law to abolish the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which in 1967 incentivized Disney’s initial planting of a flag in Central Florida by giving the corporation unparalleled government-like powers over basic municipal services such as zoning, building codes, and waste treatment. Disney thus paid the price for coming out in favor...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis continues to model what it looks like for a conservative politician to push back against the cultural revolution.Last year, DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, which bans schools from teaching children in kindergarten through third grade about gender ideology as well as other explicit sexuality-related subjects, limiting sex education overall to “age appropriate” content and mandating parental involvement. The Parental Rights in Education bill also ensured that parents be informed of anything that could impact the physical, emotional, or mental well-being of their child.

Seventeen attorneys general have filed an amicus brief supporting Florida’s healthcare regulation that denies Medicaid coverage for gender transitioning procedures. They’re supporting Florida’s motion for summary judgment in the lawsuit August Dekker v. Jason Weida in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida Tallahassee Division. In the case, transgender plaintiffs are suing Weida, the secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is leading the coalition, which also includes the attorneys general of Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. The...

Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow said Thursday on his show “Kudlow” that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-FL) “obsession” with fighting the Disney Corporation was “really damaging him.” Kudlow said, “Start out with this, Trump has got all of these endorsements. He got a big lead in the polls. His endorsement list is unbelievable, but we’ll get to that in a second. Trump is running against DeSantis. Meanwhile, in my view, DeSantis is running against Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. And I think that’s a huge mistake, and his obsession here, I think, is really damaging him. And...

Former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway said Thursday on Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow” that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) spent “way too much time on the culture wars.” Conway said, “President Trump is pulling away out there as full-time job campaigning for president. He has announced filed paperwork five-plus months ago. If you want to win, you have to play. So many others are supposedly running. Ron DeSantis has a huge war chest. He has done a great job as governor of Florida. He has lots of time to have a splashy announcement, hired consultants, maybe right people, maybe not. But he’s...

Conservatives who ran on culture war issues won dozens of school board elections in battleground and Democrat-controlled states last week, but you wouldn’t know that from Politico’s coverage of the races. The outlet claimed pro-parent candidates who ran against racist curricula in classrooms, lockdowns, and radical gender ideology “flamed out.” Politico not-so-subtly concluded, based on recent school board election results in Illinois and Wisconsin, that “leaning on school-based wedge issues to court primary voters in a crowded White House campaign” won’t bode well for 2024 front-runner Republicans including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has not...

The transgender culture war sure has taken off since those ornery conservatives, snubbed by Obergefell, grabbed hold of the issue and thrust it into the spotlight and down the throats of Americans everywhere — so say the media.It wasn’t a misprint, a Babylon Bee joke, or one of Sonny Hostin’s brainless musings. This claim came from none other than paper-of-record The New York Times, which attempted to make the case that after conservatives lost the same-sex marriage fight at the Supreme Court in 2015, “the religious right went searching for an issue that would re-energize supporters and donors,” and found...

WASHINGTON — A top White House ally plans to paint Republicans’ focus on issues around race, gender and sexual identity as part of a GOP strategy to undermine public education as White House officials debate how forcefully to engage in the so-called culture wars dominating the right. In remarks prepared for the National Press Club on Tuesday, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is expected to say state and local laws that ban certain types of books or restrict what can be taught in the classroom are “fueling hostility and fear” and aren’t serving students, parents or teachers, according...

The school culture wars are not going away. A major flashpoint in the broader U.S. political debate of the last several years, schools have lately been the focus of intense protests as parents and activists have sought to roll back extremist education programs and pedagogies such as critical race theory and other left-wing curriculums. Media attention to these issues has waned in recent months, particularly after a string of conservative victories in local school board elections around the country in 2022. Yet schools are nevertheless continuing to push these progressive initiatives on students and administrators, indicating that — sustained backlash...

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ governing style was “incredibly destructive.” Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, your gubernatorial colleague, is widely expected to run for president in 2024. Like you, he won re-election last year by double digits in a state that in the past has have been very competitive. He’s increasingly leaning into some hot-button cultural issues, education, racial issues. Do you think that he poses a real threat to Democrats if he ends up being the Republican nominee?” Whitmer said, “I don’t really know Ron...

'Where woke goes to die' is more than a slogan in Ron DeSantis's state of Florida. Need some good news? Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, has a way of always delivering good news. On the culture wars front, he's gotten the steamroller out, flattening wokester investing in public pensions on what's known as the ESG model. According to the Daily Wire: (Daily Wire excerpt in Post #1) SNIP The good news doesn't stop there, though. In a move that brought unusually loud screams from the left, DeSantis junked another problem besetting Florida and the rest of the country -- woke...

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has introduced a House Bill to criminalize “conspiracy to commit white supremacy,” which includes any criticism of non-white people that influences (such as something published or said online) someone who commits a hate crime. https://congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/61/text/ih?overview=closed&format=xml

You have to hand it to the Left. It is a powerful machine and global network that knows how to get what it wants. It consists of masterful organizers and propaganda artists. It is unparalleled in spreading its (toxic and destructive) political ideologies and brainwashing billions of people to believe in its causes. And, should all of that fail, it is made up of superbly effective bullies.... ...Elon Musk appears to be the latest victim of this bullying. The billionaire new owner of the social media platform tweeted he would resign as Twitter CEO. The announcement came after Musk lost...

Temecula, California school board members Dr. Joseph Komrosky and Jen Wiersma share their goals for improving their school district's curriculum after enacting a ban on critical race theory.

New conservative Christian majority leads way on board’s 3-2 vote to prohibit critical race theory The teaching of critical race theory was banned in Temecula Valley schools after an emotional marathon meeting that drew hundreds to a Tuesday night, Dec. 13, session in a packed high school theater. Led by a new conservative Christian board majority seated at the beginning of the meeting, the school board’s 3-2 vote to prohibit such lessons came early Wednesday, Dec. 14. “A lot has been said tonight,” said newly elected trustee Joseph Komrosky, who proposed the resolution. “I’m here to keep a campaign promise....

Disney CEO Bob Iger attended a Sandy Hook Promise Benefit and referenced people in influential positions and suggested that those who shape culture “have an extra responsibility” to push gun control. Sandy Hook Promise is the group with to whom country singer Tim McGraw donated concert proceeds for a gun control fundraiser in July 2015. On April 16, 2015, Breitbart News pointed to McGraw’s planned participation in the fundraiser and he responded to the coverage by telling MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, “I lead my life leading with my heart, I do the things that I can do and support the causes...

To change the sex identification on your Social Security record, you do not need to provide medical or legal evidence of your sex designation. You will need to provide evidence to prove your identity, and sometimes citizenship or immigration status. The sex identification, if shown on your evidence document, can be binary (male or female) or non-binary (such as X). The sex identification does not have to match the sex identification currently on your Social Security record, or the sex identification you request. Currently, our record systems require a sex designation of female or male, and cannot accommodate a non-binary...