On Ryan Walters, White Supremacy and its Beef With Education

So remember Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters? You might recall that yesterday Ryan announced that every Oklahoma high school will have a Turning Point USA chapter to "promote free speech, open engagement, dialogue about [U.S.] American greatness, a dialogue around [U.S.] American values." Oklahoma is 50th in the nation in education, but sure! Why not?

Well, this morning, during a news interview with a local news affiliate, Ryan abruptly announced he's resigning as the Superintendent of Schools to become the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance. Who are they?

The Teacher Freedom Alliance is a conservative nonprofit that says it assists educators “in their mission to develop free, moral, and upright American citizens.” What it actually does is target teachers unions who are aiming for inclusivity and equity in education while amplifying the voices of the hateful, racist bigots that teach and handle school administration in some areas of the country.

During his resignation announcement, Ryan happily proclaimed “We’re going to destroy the teachers unions. We have seen the teachers unions use money and power to corrupt our schools, to undermine our schools.”

Ryan then abruptly left the news studio, running from reporters as they tried to get some kind of timetable on when he made this decision, when he would be leaving his role as Superintendent, or if he felt destroying teachers unions across the country was a good idea. As you can see in the video, he had no additional comments at this time.

So, let's summarize: Ryan Walters sold out the Oklahoma educational system to Turning Point USA, giving a middle finger to thousands of children the state of Oklahoma are failing because learning doesn't matter when you can spend education funds to "combat woke", then bounced with no notice, lining his pockets by jumping to a hateful nonprofit where he can do the kind of damage he's done to students in Oklahoma on a national level.

Ryan is, for lack of a better term, a douche.

This situation saddens me. Children are hurt because of a ridiculous white supremacist bigot and a white supremacist nationalist agenda. Oklahomans voted for this man. He sold them on a vision of their state education system that decenters legitimate educational standards and amplifies their belief that their whiteness is in danger and needs to be protected at all costs. And the scariest thing?

Oklahoma ain't the only place in the United States with a Ryan.

(Somebody's) Lord help us all.

On Oklahoma, TPUSA in High School, and "Owning the Libs"

Oklahoma is 50th in the nation in education.

50th.

But today, Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters announced that every Oklahoma high school will have a Turning Point USA chapter to "promote free speech, open engagement, dialogue about [U.S.] American greatness, a dialogue around [U.S.] American values."

50th. In the nation. In education.

Their kids can't read and write. They aren't excelling. The Oklahoma Board of Education has historically put little funding into support programs or additional educational tools for Oklahoma students to try to turn this around. And now the little funds the Oklahoma Board of Education has, funds which will be lessened even more by all of the Federal budget cuts to education, will now be used to pay for Turning Point USA to have a propaganda wing in every high school in Oklahoma because we all know they aren't showing up for free.

50th.

These kids deserve much better than this.

But you know, "owning the libs," y'all.

On Tylenol, Charlatans, and Sheep

If you believe y'all's president, RFK, Jr. (a man that sounds like he eats a carton of lit cigarettes a day, staged a bear homicide in Central Park, spouts conspiracy theories, and has a dead brainworm in his head from eating suspicious meat), and Dr. Oz (a failed daytime talk show host who doesn't currently have a medical license that shills "miracle drugs" and was so unelectable that y'all's president had to give him a job) when they tell you, without proof, that autism is linked to acetaminophen usage during pregnancy?

I'mma go out on a limb and guess that you were takin' them horse pills at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Y'all's president literally told pregnant folx to, and I quote, "tough it out," ignore their doctors, and not use Tylenol (he had to start calling acetaminophen 'Tylenol' during the press conference because he couldn't pronounce acetaminophen) when they are experiencing fevers and pain during pregancy because, you know, lets endanger the mother and child with an uncontained fever.

Y'all's president also advocated for breaking up childhood vaccinations and pushing back the hepatitis B shot for newborns — a public health strategy that has brought the infection in children to the brink of elimination — to age 12 because, and I quote, "it’s too much liquid, too many different things are going into that baby.” Oh, and he also said hepatitis B was strictly an STI. I'll let you do with that what you will.

SIGH.

Autism is a natural part of human variation and genetics, but you know, why acknowledge facts when you can vilify and target millions of people?

This "medical advice" comes from a bunch of folx with zero credibility, no evidence, no studies, and no supporting research of any kind.

Nothing these folx said yesterday is valid.

This is just another rung on the ladder of this administration's concentrated attack on folx with autism.

This is just another rung on the ladder of this administration's mission to hurt as many people as possible.

But a whole bunch of y'all are still gonna champion this administration's destruction of all of us, ignore facts and science, and "do your part" by following directions, possibly doing medical harm to yourselves, and mistreating the folx in your life with autism by regurgitating this nonsense in their presence because that's what you think a "real (U.S.) American" would do, regardless of the facts presented to you.

Facepalm.

On Transphobia, Facts, and Acting Like We Don't Know Who The Real Terrorists Are

TW: transphobia, hate.

The Heritage Foundation is urging the FBI to add “Transgender Ideology-Inspired Violent Extremism” (TIVE) to its list of domestic extremist groups so that it could “detect, disrupt, & dismantle TIVE cells.”

Citing the murder of Charlie Kirk as the “latest example in a long line of home-grown terrorists brainwashed by trans ideology,” it’s being reported that the FBI is discussing “treating Trans Individuals as a subset of its new threat category - Nihilistic Violent Extremists” or NVEs (a category created earlier this year). What’s an NVE, you ask?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines “Nihilistic Violent Extremism” as “criminal conduct… in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos.” There is, of course, not one bit of evidence that suggests trans folx are fomenting terrorism, but facts and evidence don’t matter in a budding autocracy, right?

Wrong.

Fact - y’all’s president and his cronies, with guidance from a white supremacist terrorist group masquerading as a think tank, are planning to define 1% of the U.S. population as domestic terrorists in a country where cishet males of pallor are literally terrorizing people every day.

Fact - less than 1% of mass shooters in U.S. history identified as trans. Cis males are 98% of mass shooters in U.S. history. Cishet males of pallor make up 54% of the recorded mass shooters in U.S. history.

Fact - the FBI currently has 11 known and registered white supremacist terrorist sects that they are supposed to be monitoring the activities of. I’ll let you guess the racial and gender identities of 96% of their members.

Fact - 1% of the population can’t be a terrorist group. That’s not anywhere near the population number and demographic structure it would need to be for a legitimate FBI to consider a subset of the citizenry a legitimate threat, a recorded terroristic threat, or a group that should warrant attention.

Fact - this sh-- they’re trying to pull is intentional, targeted, and violent transphobia and hatred. Pure and simple.

Contrary to popular belief, facts still matter. Facts aren’t dead.

But the way we use those facts to mobilize, stand with, and protect people and communities being targeted by hate could be, though.

It's well past time for folx to decide to stand up and fight the way we should in the face of transphobia, bigotry, and hatred or decide the facts make them too uncomfortable to care about their fellow human beings in danger.

On Kirk, Unearned Days of Remembrance, Anti-Blackness, and the United States Doing What It Always Does

TW: mentions of murder, hate, and anti-Blackness.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day didn't become a national holiday until 1983.

It took 15 years after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., - he was assassinated in 1968 - for this country to declare a national holiday in his honor. The original proposal for a national holiday in his honor was in 1968, not long after his murder. Politicians and much of the country immediately rebuked it.

It took 15 years to properly honor a man who lost his life seeking the betterment of all citizens, regardless of their race, while voraciously fighting for human rights that Black people in the United States did not have access to.

Fast forward to today, where Charlie Kirk, a white supremacist terrorist, fascist, and bigot who fomented terror on multiple communities and profited from harming other people and the subjugation of young minds, is on the verge of his birthday becoming a national holiday.

Yeah, you read that right.

Barely two weeks after he was murdered by another white supremacist bigot fascist whose ideology was that he was not hateful enough, Charlie Kirk will likely be given a national day of remembrance. And here is the kicker:

He shares a birthday with George Floyd, a man he openly mocked the death of.

And your elected Democratic officials? Most of them have already voted for or are planning to vote this into law, as many of them are scared that if they don't vote yes, their no vote “will be perceived a certain way.”

Seriously. That's what they are giving as their reason for voting yes.

Oh, and in other news, a wannabe rapper of pallor dropped a song this week glorifying lynchings and has received little to no pushback for it.

“This is not my Ameri--”

Yes, this is your America.

Quit denying it.

This is the U.S. you grew up in.

This is the country that millions of y'all have been clamoring for.

You wanted a “return to greatness.”

Feeling great yet?

Hope you enjoy your new national holiday.