Tag: protests

Judge Rules School Can Ban ‘XX’ Protests Over Males in Girls’ Sports

The Bow School District was acting within its authority to kick two soccer dads out of a girls game for wearing pink “XX” wristbands as a silent protest against biological males playing on girls’ teams, a federal judge ruled Monday.

But one of the dads, Anthony Foote, told NHJournal he plans to keep fighting for what he sees as the rights of women and girls.

“What was our offense? Supporting girls’ sports and defending biological reality?” Foote said. “This ruling is a slap in the face to every parent who believes schools should be a place of fairness, not political indoctrination. The judge openly admitted that Pride flags are allowed because they promote ‘inclusion,’ but wristbands defending women’s sports are banned because they might ‘offend’ someone. That’s viewpoint discrimination, plain and simple — and it’s unconstitutional.”

United States District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe ruled against Foote, Kyle Fellers, Eldon Rash, and Nicole Foote in a 45-page order denying their preliminary injunction against SAU 67. The parents are being represented by the Institute for Free Speech, a legal nonprofit that promotes parents’ rights. Del Kolde, the senior attorney, said he is still considering his next steps in this case.

“We strongly disagree with the Court’s opinion issued today denying our request for a preliminary injunction. This was adult speech in a limited public forum, which enjoys greater First Amendment protection than student speech in the classroom. Bow School District officials were obviously discriminating based on viewpoint because they perceived the XX wristbands to be ‘trans-exclusionary.’ We are still evaluating our options for next steps,” Kolde said.

The crux of McAuliffe’s ruling is that while Fellers, Foote, and the others acted within their First Amendment rights to protest, venues like school athletic events are considered “limited public forums” and school officials acted within their legal authority to restrict what the parents said and did.

“The question then becomes whether the School District can manage its athletic events and its athletic fields and facilities — that is, its limited public forum — in a manner that protects its students from adult speech that can reasonably be seen to target a specific student participating in the event (as well as other similar gender-identifying students) by invited adult spectators, when that speech demeans, harasses, intimidates, and bullies. The answer is straightforward: Of course it can. Indeed, school authorities are obligated to do so,” McAuliffe wrote.

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After Self-Immolations at Red Onion Prison, Virginia Prisoners Allege Crackdown

Besides an overhead light, Sidney Bowman says he hasn’t had electricity in his cell at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison for roughly three months. 

Last month, Bowman told a federal court that prison employees cut the electricity to his cell after he refused to sign what staff call a “Safety Agreement for Inmates.” The document offers incentives to prisoners—such as movies, group recreation, free commissary bags, and a fish fry—provided they don’t harm themselves. However, if they repeatedly hurt themselves, they may lose “access to television, recreation time, or other amenities.” The Appeal obtained a copy of the agreement through a public records request. 

Bowman’s statement is part of an ongoing class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia that alleges that the state’s Step-Down program—which purports to help prisoners earn their way to a general population assignment—traps people in solitary confinement for months or years on end.

The legal team has asked the federal court to restore plaintiffs’ electricity and to prohibit staff from retaliating against people who refuse to sign the agreement or participate in the lawsuit. The Virginia Department of Corrections declined to answer The Appeal’s questions.

Last year, at least six people at Red Onion self-immolated in what incarcerated journalist Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson called “desperate attempts” to escape the prison’s inhumane conditions. But rather than offer them help, emails obtained by The Appeal show prison officials discussed how best to punish them. Then, in January, prison staff began distributing the Safety Agreement to people in Red Onion’s Step-Down program.

If someone refused to sign, staff cut the electricity to their cell’s outlet. The ACLU says this prevented prisoners from charging their tablets, watching television, or listening to the radio. Bowman told the court that he accesses religious programming through his television and tablet because he cannot leave his cell for services. He says his tablet is his primary tool to communicate with his family. 

Red Onion’s assistant warden confirmed in a court statement that there have been nine self-burnings—eight last year and one in January. The assistant warden said no one had burned themselves with a power outlet since the prison distributed the agreement on Jan. 20. 

“Security leadership and mental health leadership collaborated on potential solutions, and we ultimately decided that if an inmate agreed not to use the cell’s power outlet to bum himself, the power outlet in that inmate’s cell could remain active,” he said in his statement. “Inmates who refused to agree not to bum themselves would be placed in a cell where the power outlet had been deactivated.”

The warden said prisoners can use kiosks during recreation to charge their tablets and message family members. He said the prison has also set up TVs outside the cells to view religious services. 

In addition to threatening to punish people for acts of self-harm, the agreement also requires signers to affirm that they have “access to mental health and other local resources.” The plaintiffs say compelling them to agree with or espouse statements they believe are untrue or objectionable violates their First Amendment rights. 

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Antifa-Linked Legal Group Trains Radicals Targeting Musk and Tesla

A legal group with connections to Antifa has been providing training and support to activists organizing protests against Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, according to recent reports.

The Oregon-based Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) has been active in supporting left-wing demonstrations and legal defenses of Antifa-affiliated individuals.

The group has recently offered guidance to organizers of the “Tesla Takedown” movement, a nationwide anti-Tesla effort partly motivated by Musk’s connection to President Donald Trump.

CLDC Executive Director Lauren Regan participated in a virtual training session on March 19, warning activists to remain alert when protesting in certain areas of the country.

“It’s time to be strategic and effective, but it’s not time to be afraid or silenced,” Regan said during the training call.

“There are going to be some areas of the country that are very conservative and are going to be hard on dissidents or activists no matter what the timing, and then there are other places that are going to be less so.”

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Meet The Leftist Power Brokers Engineering Anti-Trump Protests Nationwide

Protests against President Donald Trump’s administration have been cropping up nationwide. They appear to have two things in common — gray hair and a lack of energy. Are Americans supposed to believe these are organic? Or are they organized by left-wing groups to undermine Trump’s administration?

Now the answers to those questions are becoming clear. The “Hands Off” protests of April 5 and earlier anti-Tesla protests were supported by a coalition of powerful leftist groups, including The Indivisible Project, and organized through Mobilize America — which was initially founded as a Democrat PAC. Now leftist organizers are planning more demonstrations across America for the socialist holiday May Day. 

The ‘Hands Off’ Protests

Leftists gathered in cities across America to protest Trump’s administration on April 5. As images of the events streamed in from across the web, something soon became clear — many of the protestors were elderly.

Whether disaffected boomers, one-time hippies, or former bureaucrats, these were people with extra time on their hands. This was not lost on far-left activists, who used Mobilize America — a  “volunteer management platform and network that connects left-wing organizations, campaigns, and activists,” according to InfluenceWatch — to stage the Hands Off protests, apparently attempting to subvert confidence in the Trump administration. 

Hands Off is tied to the Indivisible Project, which launched in 2016 to help leftists “Resisting the Trump Agenda,” according to InfluenceWatch. Indivisible is listed among Hands Off’s “partners,” and the group’s website directs users to various Hands Off materials. Hands Off directs “general inquiries” to an Indivisible.org email address. When The Federalist asked about this, Indivisible Project Chief Campaigns Officer Sarah Dohl said the address online was a “typo.”

“Hands Off is a campaign, not an organization,” according to Dohl. She called it a “broad coalition effort,” pointing to “nearly 200 partner organizations.” According to Dohl, Indivisible provided Hands Off participants with content, toolkits, and “digital infrastructure.” 

“We were proud to help build the Hands Off website and provide early infrastructure to get the campaign off the ground,” Dohl said. “The site and campaign are now supported by many different groups, not just Indivisible.”

Indivisible partners with groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, Families Over Billionaires, and the Democratic Socialists of America, whose “paramilitary wing” is Antifa. Notably, the DSA used Action Network — one of the groups coordinating the upcoming May Day protests — to boost socialists onto the Chicago city council. 

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Congressman sues gov’t over post-J6 Capitol Police actions

A congressman from Texas is suing the federal government for $2.5 million over the “unlawful harassment” he faced following the Jan. 6, 2021, protests and riots at the Capitol.

Rep Troy Nehls, R-Texas, charges that a Capitol police officer forced his way into Nehls’ congressional office without consent, then photographed materials in the room, including a whiteboard with a discussion of proposed firearms legislation.

Then the authorities followed up with an investigation by other officers.

Significant is the claim that the police violated the Speech and Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which provides vast protections for members of Congress doing their duties.

The first count charges “intrusion on privacy,” for the entry of the officer into the congressman’s private office and taking pictures.

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Government Set to Return Nearly $63,000 to J6 Defendant John Sullivan For Earnings Off of His J6 Footage – Sullivan Organized Antifa Rally at the US Capitol That Day

Breanna Morello reported on Friday that the US government is set to return nearly $63,000 to infamous J6er John Sullivan, who also goes by Jayden X. Sullivan reportedly made the money from his filming of the protests and rioting that day.

As was reported earlier at The Gateway Pundit

Antifa-BLM organizer John Sullivan was sentenced in April 2024 to six years in prison for his actions on January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol.

Antifa-Insurgence leader John Earl Sullivan was arrested in Utah after the US Capitol riots.
As reported previously, Antifa protester John Sullivan was caught on video posing as a Trump supporter during the rioting at the US Capitol on January 6th.

Footage obtained by the Gateway Pundit from militant Black Lives Matter and Antifa activist John Sullivan’s Discord server shows the so-called “civil rights activist” reveling inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6 as he damaged federal property.

Sullivan has maintained in multiple interviews that he regularly attends protests only to record what’s going on, but did not actively partake in the insurgence in Washington.  This was a lie.  He is a leader of the Utah Antifa-BLM movement and was previously arrested in Utah.

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Protest at Travis AFB Against US Weapons for Israeli Genocide

At 7:30 a.m. on April 9, the heavy traffic flow into California’s Travis Air Force Base came to a sudden stop.  As they have done numerous times, the “People’s Arms Embargo” blocked the main road into the base. The action this time commemorated the recently deceased long-time peace advocate David Hartsough, one of the co-founders of the Peoples Arms Embargo.

With traffic into the base stopped, one angry airman jumped out of his pickup truck and threatened to assault the peaceful protestors. He finally thought better of it and returned to his truck. Other waiting airmen and airwomen were patient and a few indicated support for the protest. One lowered his window and said, “Palestine will be free!” In the workout gym in an adjacent plaza, many people on their workout machines waved and jumped up and down in support.

At the blockade on the six-lane divided highway, about forty police officers were quickly on the scene. They broadcast a recorded message in English and Spanish that anyone blocking traffic would be arrested. Twelve protesters were arrested and cited with the crime.

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‘Entitled to reimbursement’: Trump DOJ says Jan. 6 defendants deserve to get restitution refunds after having cases ‘invalidated’

Certain Jan. 6 defendants who’ve had their cases “invalidated” and vacated by President Donald Trump‘s Justice Department deserve to get restitution refunds, the DOJ says — insisting Tuesday in a federal court filing that there’s “no longer any basis justifying the government’s retaining funds.”

Stacy Hager, an alleged rioter who was arrested in Texas, had been charged and convicted of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, according to his original DOJ complaint.

Trump’s mass pardon of Jan. 6 rioters recognized Hager as one of more than 1,500 defendants who have been granted clemency since the president took office for a second time in January. The DOJ said Tuesday that what makes Hager’s situation unique — as well as others who had similar convictions like his “invalidated” — is that he was “not just pardoned” but instead told that the government was flat-out vacating his case while it was still on appeal.

“Here, Hager’s conviction was ‘invalidated’ when the D.C. Circuit vacated it, and thus ‘there is no longer any basis justifying the government’s retaining funds exacted only as a result of that conviction,’” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Dreher in response to a motion filed by Hager on Feb. 28 for reimbursement of fines, fees and restitution.

“This Court subsequently dismissed the case as moot,” Dreher said. “The government thus agrees that, so long as the Clerk of Court confirms that Hager in fact made the special assessment and restitution payments he seeks to have returned, Hager is entitled to reimbursement of those payments.”

According to Hager’s original Jan. 6 complaint, federal investigators found that he was boasting about his participation in the 2021 Capitol attack on his Facebook page, even posting pictures and videos of himself trespassing, the DOJ said.

“Hager also posted words to the effect of, ‘it’s war, don’t go quietly,’” his complaint alleged.

“The publicly available information on the subject account showed, among other things, a photograph of Hager and an unidentified male on the lawn in front of the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” the document added. “Hager was wearing a ‘Trump’ baseball cap, a gray outer jacket, a dark navy or black colored coverall and appeared to be waving a Texas state flag, with the other male waving a United States flag.”

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HORROR: Deranged anti-Musk leftist hurls two-pound rock through a Tesla windshield, seriously injuring innocent pregnant woman

The radical left’s hatred for Elon Musk has become so deranged they are now allegedly making pregnant women pay the price.

As Global News Canada reported, an anti-Musk protester in Vancouver on March 30 threw a two-pound rock that smashed through the windshield of a Tesla and struck a pregnant woman in the passenger seat. The incident occurred while Tesla was traveling north on Nanaimo Street.

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“Geofenced Every Event”: Democrats Caught Staging Another ‘Inorganic’ Color Revolution Operation Against Trump

Far-left, billionaire-funded NGOs—closely aligned with the rudderless and imploding Democratic Party—have been waging a psychological warfare operation against the American people. Framed as “grassroots,” the party of hate and violence—evident in their “Tesla Takedown” color revolution aimed at killing Tesla to pressure Elon Musk on DOGE—has been building momentum in recent weeks to segue into anti-Trump protests this weekend. The goal is to manufacture the illusion that Trump is wildly unpopular, leveraging a vast network of dark money-funded NGOs that supply rent-a-protesters to rallies nationwide. 

Ahead of anti-Trump protests, we uncovered the Democratic Party’s NGO war machine, totaling 186 NGOs, unions, and other radical leftist groups that supported Saturday’s mass mobilization efforts of rent-a-protesters and, of course, a grassroots component of the protests (mainly old white angry liberals). 

Late Friday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow openly boasted about the Democratic Party’s color revolution operation, even giving airtime to Ezra Levin of the NGO Indivisible Project, who attempted to convince the audience that the anti-Musk and anti-Trump protests are organic…

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