New look at ‘Einstein rings’ around distant galaxies just got us closer to solving the dark matter debate\
The Conversation
April 25, 2023

ESA / Hubble & NASA

Physicists believe most of the matter in the universe is made up of an invisible substance that we only know about by its indirect effects on the stars and galaxies we can see.

We’re not crazy! Without this “dark matter”, the universe as we see it would make no sense.

But the nature of dark matter is a longstanding puzzle. However, a new study by Alfred Amruth at the University of Hong Kong and colleagues, published in Nature Astronomy, uses the gravitational bending of light to bring us a step closer to understanding.

Invisible but omnipresent

The reason we think dark matter exists is that we can see the effects of its gravity in the behavior of galaxies. Specifically, dark matter seems to make up about 85% of the universe’s mass, and most of the distant galaxies we can see appear to be surrounded by a halo of the mystery substance.

But it’s called dark matter because it doesn’t give off light, or absorb or reflect it, which makes it incredibly difficult to detect.

So what is this stuff? We think it must be some kind of unknown fundamental particle, but beyond that we’re not sure. All attempts to detect dark matter particles in laboratory experiments so far have failed, and physicists have been debating its nature for decades.

Scientists have proposed two leading hypothetical candidates for dark matter: relatively heavy characters called weakly interacting massive particles (or WIMPs), and extremely lightweight particles called axions. In theory, WIMPs would behave like discrete particles, while axions would behave a lot more like waves due to quantum interference.

It has been difficult to distinguish between these two possibilities – but now light bent around distant galaxies has offered a clue.

Gravitational lensing and Einstein rings

When light traveling through the universe passes a massive object like a galaxy, its path is bent because – according to Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity – the gravity of the massive object distorts space and time around itself.

As a result, sometimes when we look at a distant galaxy we can see distorted images of other galaxies behind it. And if things line up perfectly, the light from the background galaxy will be smeared out into a circle around the closer galaxy.

This distortion of light is called “gravitational lensing”, and the circles it can create are called “Einstein rings”.


By studying how the rings or other lensed images are distorted, astronomers can learn about the properties of the dark matter halo surrounding the closer galaxy.

Axions vs WIMPs

And that’s exactly what Amruth and his team have done in their new study. They looked at several systems where multiple copies of the same background object were visible around the foreground lensing galaxy, with a special focus on one called HS 0810+2554.


Multiple images of a background image created by gravitational lensing can be seen in the system HS 0810+2554. Hubble Space Telescope / NASA / ESA

Using detailed modelling, they worked out how the images would be distorted if dark matter were made of WIMPs vs how they would if dark matter were made of axions. The WIMP model didn’t look much like the real thing, but the axion model accurately reproduced all features of the system.

The result suggests axions are a more probable candidate for dark matter, and their ability to explain lensing anomalies and other astrophysical observations has scientists buzzing with excitement.
Particles and galaxies

The new research builds on previous studies that have also pointed towards axions as the more likely form of dark matter. For example, one study looked at the effects of axion dark matter on the cosmic microwave background, while another examined the behavior of dark matter in dwarf galaxies.

Although this research won’t yet end the scientific debate over the nature of dark matter, it does open new avenues for testing and experiment. For example, future gravitational lensing observations could be used to probe the wave-like nature of axions and potentially measure their mass.

A better understanding of dark matter will have implications for what we know about particle physics and the early universe. It could also help us to understand better how galaxies form and change over time.

Rossana Ruggeri, Research Fellow in Cosmology, The University of Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

BEFORE DARK MATTER OR DARK ENERGY THERE WAS ETHER  

Artworks are perceived as less creative and aesthetically valuable if they are labeled as AI-made
2023/04/26


A series of four experiments has revealed that the same artwork is preferred less and perceived as less creative and awe-inducing when participants are told that it is made by artificial intelligence (AI). These effects were stronger among individuals who believe that creativity is a uniquely human characteristic. The study was published in Computers in Human Behavior.

Artificial intelligence is a term used to describe computer systems that are able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence. These tasks include visual perception, speech recognition, translation between languages, decision-making and others. Artificial intelligence or AI has seen explosive development in the first decades of the 21st century. The domain of tasks performed by AI has also increased to include fields that used to be considered exclusively human. This includes artistic creativity.

“AI has not only created paintings that look like the work of renowned masters like Rembrandt, but has also created original artistic styles that have been sold in auctions at high prices. Moreover, AI has composed original songs and music scores, has written poetry, and has designed whole cities and houses,” wrote study author Kobe Millet and his colleagues.

These developments made researchers curious about how people respond to AI-made art. How do AI-made artistic creations relate to people’s beliefs about the human nature? These questions are important because they have the potential to challenge people’s beliefs about the defining features of humankind. They also challenge the security of the view that humans have a unique position in the world.

Millet and his colleagues wanted to explore how and if telling people that a piece of art is made by AI affects their perception and experience with such work. Their expectation is that people will tend to be biased against AI artwork creations and see them as worse than those created by humans, regardless of the features of the art piece.

They conducted a series of 4 experiments. In all experiments participants were shown two pieces of art and told that one was made by a human and the other by an AI system (although both were either AI or human made depending on the experiment). They were then asked to indicate for which of the two pieces they experienced more awe.

In addition to this, experiments 1, 2 and 4 asked participants to indicate which piece they saw as more creative. Experiment 4 asked them which they would prefer to buy. Experiment 3 also assessed anthropocentric creativity, the belief that creativity is a uniquely human characteristic and its role in assessments participants made.

Participants of experiment 1 were 206 Dutch students (31% female) and they evaluated two AI-produced music pieces. In experiment 2, 298 U.K. residents recruited online on Prolific evaluated two paintings, both of which were produced by a human. Experiment 3 again used paintings, but these were made by an AI system called AICAN.

Participants were 404 UK residents recruited via Prolific. In this, study, researchers also measured anthropocentric creativity beliefs using a 5-item scale they made themselves. Experiment 4 tested the findings of all previous studies together on a group of 800 UK residents recruited via Prolific. The pieces of art used in this experiment were art reproductions – posters.

Results showed that participants reported less awe for the piece of music that was labeled as AI-made compared to the piece labeled as human-made (Experiment 1). Researchers conclude that the difference in evaluations is solely due to the information about the source (AI vs. human) and independent of the art content. In experiment 2 participants reported less awe for the painting labeled as AI made. This painting was also perceived as less creative.

Participants of experiment 3 again reported less awe for the painting labeled as AI-made (although both paintings were AI-made!). However, further analysis showed that this difference is completely created by participants holding anthropocentric creativity beliefs. In other words, bias against AI was present only in participants who scored high on these beliefs.

Results of experiment 4 were consistent with those of the previous 3 studies. Participants of this study reported less awe and less creativity for the poster labeled as AI-made. The bias against the AI was more pronounced in participants high on anthropocentric creativity beliefs. Finally, participants indicated that they would be less likely to buy the poster labeled as AI-made.

“Results of four experiments (including one large-scale preregistered experiment comprehensively testing all hypotheses) show that people display a negative bias against AI-made art across various forms of art,” the researchers concluded. “Merely labeling a work of art as AI-made (vs. human-made) is enough to shift people’s preferences toward the human-made one.

“This bias is expressed both in a cognitive (reduced perception of creativity) and emotional (reduced experience of awe) manner, while the former accounts for the effect on the latter. This suggests assigning lower creative value to AI art results in more restricted emotional responses in terms of awe. Importantly, these effects are more pronounced for people who endorse anthropocentric creativity beliefs more strongly.”

These studies make an important contribution to scientific knowledge about how AI-artwork is perceived by the general population. However, it also has limitations that need to be taken into account. Notably, the reasons why people with stronger anthropocentric creativity beliefs derogate AI-made art remained unknown. Additionally, all study participants come from two western, highly developed countries. It is possible that results would not be the same on samples from different populations.

The study, “Defending humankind: Anthropocentric bias in the appreciation of AI art”, was authored by Kobe Millet, Florian Buehler, Guanzhong Du, and Michail D. Kokkoris.

© PsyPost

GOP WAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Missouri county GOP fails to censure gay Republican, but passes anti-gay marriage resolution

2023/04/25

The Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri. - Wayne Mckown/Dreamstime/TNS

A censure of a gay Missouri Republican lawmaker failed to get enough votes to pass at a meeting of the Jackson County Republican Party on Monday.

However, the county party voted 44-14 to pass a separate resolution stating that marriage was only valid between a man and a woman. It states that any member of the party could be censured for trying to define marriage as anything else.

The failed censure targeted state Rep. Chris Sander, a Lone Jack Republican who told The Star about the results of the two votes. The county party was considering censuring Sander for proposing a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between “two individuals” instead of a man and a woman.

While the county party voted 32-24 in favor of censuring Sander, the resolution needed a supermajority to pass, Sander said.

“I feel unwelcome, unsupported, and excluded by (a) limited group of members on (the) Jackson County GOP committee,” Sander said in a texted statement Tuesday. “I attend our meetings, support our committee, support our voters decisions, and pay dues as a Van Buren Township committeeman.”

Jackson County GOP Chair Mark Anthony Jones, who is also openly gay, did not return several emails, calls and texts from The Star on Tuesday.

The county party has for the past three months considered resolutions censuring Sander, accusing him of deviating from the party’s platform for trying to recognize same-sex marriage through a proposed constitutional amendment he filed this year. The attempts have all been unsuccessful amid infighting among party members over the process of filing censures against state lawmakers.

Jones in February ruled a similar censure motion out of order, later calling it “dead on arrival.” In March, the county party decided not to vote on a censure and opted to have individual members sign a petition to consider a future censure.

The separate anti-gay marriage resolution approved by the county party was called the “Defense of Marriage.” The resolution quotes the Missouri Republican Party platform, claiming that marriage is only valid between a man and a woman.

While federal law enshrines same-sex marriage, the Missouri Constitution still defines marriage as between a man and a woman under an amendment approved by voters in 2004. That amendment was nullified in 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned statewide bans on same-sex marriage nationwide.

Sander’s proposed constitutional amendment, filed this year, would bring Missouri in line with the federal “Respect for Marriage Act” signed by President Joe Biden late last year, which enshrined protections for same-sex and interracial marriage into federal law.

© The Kansas City Star

The Orlando Sentinel 

Editorial: No happily ever after in Disney vs. DeSantis drama
2023/04/25

The "Partners" statue sits in front of Cinderella's Castle at Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. 

- Allie Goulding/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

We all know how much Disney loves sequels. But here’s a safe prediction: “Ron DeSantis and The Multiverse of Madness” is going to be a flop, for everyone involved.

Because while the governor’s attempts to retaliate against the magic kingdom of the Mouse started out as popcorn-worthy entertainment, they are spinning off into real threats to the stability of Florida’s economy.

Tale as old as .. 2022

Our story so far: Way back in January 2022, everything was satisfactual, at least by Florida standards. Disney gave politicians lots of money and swag, and got special privileges in return. That included near-total control of a special, county-like district set up 50-plus years ago that protected its theme parks, resorts and land from inconvenient government intrusion.

But then the Legislature, thoroughly under DeSantis control, rammed through legislation aimed at corporations (well, some corporations) that trained their employees not to be racist or gender-identity biased. Next came a series of attacks on Florida’s gay, lesbian and most of all transgender people that is still escalating. Disney, prodded into action by outraged employees and customers, finally issued a weakly vague complaint and said it was turning off the tap on campaign cash.

DeSantis’ rational response: Global thermonuclear war. He rammed through legislation to kill the Reedy Creek improvement district and took a victory strut, though there was heavy foreshadowing that all might not be well — in the form of a massive tax burden and bond debt that was going to have to be dealt with… somehow. Cliffhanger! Roll credits.

The Woke Strikes Back

A year later, the sequel came out. DeSantis had finally realized that he’d made a pretty big mistake, but didn’t realize how big: While his staff was scribbling out fix-it legislation that let him seize control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and put his cronies in power, Disney struck back in the dead of night (by which we mean, at open-to-the-public meetings of the district, backed with plans that were available to anyone who asked).

In the weeks before the DeSantis takeover, outgoing board members signed a pile of contracts and covenants that boiled down to this: While DeSantis was claiming a win, the mouse was stealing most of the cheese. The first meeting of the new, DeSanctified board featured some of their many, many attorneys saying that theboard had very little power left.

That led to last week’s goofy press conference, where DeSantis threatened Disney with all kinds of retaliation. Most of it involved the significant assets the company had stashed in the Reedy Creek governmental shell, including thousands of acres of Disney property currently serving as conservation land — which DeSantis suggested might be a dandy venue for a competing theme park. Or a state park. Or a state prison. Was he joking? Who knows?

Then there were the financial attacks: The new board would force Disney to pay off its $1 billion in bond debt. The new board would raise property taxes (Disney, which owns nearly every square inch of the property inside the district, already taxes itself more than double the maximum that would be allowed if the district didn’t exist.) The new board would sell off Disney’s highly efficient and specialized utilities.

Some of the “vengeance” clearly hadn’t been very well thought out. Higher tolls on roads around Disney would only hurt the families who visited the park and the thousands of workers who toiled there, and could actually benefit Disney’s bottom line by keeping guests on-property when they might have instead visited non-Disney restaurants and other theme parks.

Speaking of other theme parks, DeSantis wants state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson to take over inspections of Disney rides and investigations of injuries. That’s something we’ve been pushing for for years, so, OK. But how do DeSantis and Simpson justify not doing the same for SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Universal? When asked, DeSantis muttered something about “special districts” and the press conference was over.

But we can’t help but wonder about something the governor has said all along: He believes the district was never legally set up in the first place. He believes the district could and should be erased. If he pursues that train of thought, it sparks a whole new world of questions: Doesn’t that make everything listed above technically and legally impossible?

Roll credits, again.

Not feeling the love

It’s safe to say that this latest release is not getting the best of reviews. In fact, it turns out the global business community is not that enchanted with a governor who thinks it’s OK to go around seizing control of private corporations. Or one who thinks it’s OK to cobble together a plan of attack on one of his own state’s biggest economic drivers over a week or maybe three.

They’re starting to become alarmed. You can tell by the way that campaign contributions are shriveling, and people are starting to edge away from DeSantis’ camp in his all-but-announced plan to run for president in 2024. He’s making Donald look calm and rational by comparison, and in this case we mean Trump and Duck.

The governor demonstrably doesn’t listen to a word we say, but he needs to look at his own box office: This franchise is played out. He’s already made a mess that hundreds of trial attorneys will be feasting on for years, and turned #AccidentalCommunist into a tag on Twitter.

It’s enough, governor. Florida has real priorities to tend to. You know what they are.

Once more, with gusto:

Let. It. Go.

Count the Hidden Mickeys

Just to make this fun — or OK, to keep from crying —we’ve included a little challenge: This editorial contains a not-insignificant number of references to Disney movies (including ones that aren’t branded as Disney movies) as well as theme park features.

Which ones did you spot? Tell us at insight@orlandosentinel.com. Be careful: There are a few ringers in there that reference classics from other studios.

Feel free to suggest some we missed and give us your take on the situation — whether or not you feel the same way. We’ll publish a collection of the best responses (please include your name, address and phone number for verification if you’re OK with publishing.) Happy hunting!

____

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com

DESANTISLAND
Disney World to open first affordable housing units in 2026
2023/04/20

Visitors walk along Main Street at The Magic Kingdom as Walt Disney World reopens following Hurricane Ian on Sept. 30, 2022, in Orlando, Florida. - Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

The first apartments of Walt Disney World’s affordable housing project are expected to be finished in 2026, the company says.

The development west of Disney World will open with 100 more units than previously announced, for a total of about 1,400 income-capped apartments.

Disney hopes to break ground on the complex next year.

“To be able to offer more units means even more Florida families will get access to attainable housing, in addition to creating new Florida jobs as part of the construction and operation,” wrote Rena Langley, senior vice president of communications and public affairs at Disney World, on the Disney Parks Blog.

Disney World President Jeff Vahle met this week with senior members from The Michaels Organization, the project’s developer and manager, to discuss the development, Langley said.

The announcement did not include further details about the complex, such as its name and anticipated rent rates.

Disney announced in April 2022 it was contributing 80 acres of its land in Orange County to build more than 1,300 affordable apartments in an area near the Flamingo Crossings Town Center.

Disney said the units were intended to address a critical shortage of affordable housing in the area and would be open to qualified applicants from the general public as well as Disney World employees.

Disney revealed in November it chose attainable housing developer The Michaels Organization to build and manage the privately financed development.

It followed Universal, which detailed its plans to build its Catchlight Crossings affordable housing complex in April 2021. Universal initially proposed the project in December 2019 while seeking tax money from Orange County to build a road to its upcoming theme park Epic Universe.

Catchlight Crossings, off Destination Parkway and east of the Orange County Convention Center, will include about 1,000 income-limited units, a tuition-free preschool and a health center across 20 acres of land contributed by Universal. Wendover Housing Partners is developing and will manage the community.

Wendover has said rental rates for the units will start at $466 a month. Universal has said the apartments will be open to the public and employees, though no units will be specifically set aside for theme park workers.

Disney and Universal join a growing number of businesses building housing for employees and the general public nationwide as real estate and rent prices have risen, an Orlando Sentinel analysis found earlier this year.

Company-sponsored developments increase housing options for typically low-wage workers but they need to be part of comprehensive wage and benefits packages, worker advocates have said.

Dollywood in Tennessee built a similar housing development for its student interns, international employees and county hospitality interns last year. Dollywood plans to build housing for regular employees in the near future.

DESANTISLAND

Hundreds of drag performers march on Capitol to protest anti-transgender legislation

2023/04/25

People cheer when speeches are given during the Drag Queen’ s March at Cascades Park on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in Tallahassee, Florida. 

- Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Resplendent in matching scarlet T-shirts, and mauve, chartreuse and fuchsia wigs, platform heels and outrageous makeup, several hundred drag queens marched on the state Capitol on Tuesday to protest legislation targeting their livelihood and transgendercommunity.

With over 400 performers, their families, friends, and children from all around the state, it was billed as the largest drag queen march in Florida.

“It tells us drag queens are fierce, fabulous and furious. And they are fighting back,” said former Orlando state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, now a Democratic candidate for state Senate. “The shows must go on.”

Their chief target is a bill (SB 1438) approved last week. It would authorize state regulators to investigate venues that sell alcohol and host adult live performances where children are present. Punishments include $10,000 fines, loss of liquor license and jail time.

“This is not a ban on drag performances but a way to scare folks out of hosting drag performances,” Smith said.

Opponents say the bill targets drag shows, even though it doesn’t mention them by name. It was introduced after DeSantis ordered an investigation of Christmas drag shows in Miami and in Orlando where children were allegedly present. But investigators found no children at the drag show at the Plaza in Orlando.

“They say this is to protect the children but they are coming for all the drag shows in the state,” said Jason Lambert, owner of the Hammered Lamb bar in Orlando.

Other bills targeting the LGBTQ and trans community would ban unisex bathrooms and prohibit doctors and other health professionals from providing gender-affirming care. A Senate committee held a contentious hearing on the bathroom bill as the march was assembling.

“This session is cruel, unjust, full of hypocrisy, and runs counter to the very values Republicans claim to uphold,” said Darcel Stevens, an activist from Orlando and organizer of the march.

They fear that the bill by Sen. Clay Yarborough of Jacksonville is written so vague that it could endanger drag brunches, Shakespeare productions and even the “Mrs. Doubtfire” musical.

The bill has passed both chambers but hasn’t yet been sent to the governor, who is expected to sign it into law.

It targets “adult live performances” defined as “any show, exhibition, or other presentation that is performed in front of a live audience and in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, specific sexual activities … lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.”

It also would prohibit local governments from issuing public permits for events that could expose children to the targeted behavior. “This means no park use or Pride parades,” Lambert said.

At least one South Florida city has already canceled its Gay Pride parade and restricted other events as a result of the measure.

Event organizers said they hoped to show the public the rich history of drag as a symbol of gay entertainment, a form of cultural artistic expression for all ages, and a safe place where people can be themselves without judgment.

“These lawmakers couldn’t last an hour in our heels,” said Jezebel Light, one of the speakers. “Drag will not go anywhere. Don’t mistake our laughter and tears for weakness.”

Trixie Towers, a drag performer from Fort Myers in a yellow wig and Captain America back pack,called the concentrated attack on transgender and binary people unsettling.

“We’re going to stand our ground,” Towers said. “This is just another hill to climb.”

“Drag is a hot topic for the right-wing right politicians now, she said, “but they didn’t expect us to fight back.”

© Orlando Sentinel

GOP FASCISTS ATTACK HUMAN RIGHTS

Transgender lawmaker in Montana faces censure or expulsion

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - 04/26/23 

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana Republican leaders will vote Wednesday on censuring or expelling lawmaker Zooey Zephyr, a transgender state representative who has been silenced in the House since last week after telling colleagues that if they voted for a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender children they would “have blood on their hands.”

On Tuesday night, Zephyr tweeted a letter she received from House leaders informing her of the plan to consider disciplinary action against her during Wednesday’s session.

“I’ve also been told I’ll get a chance to speak,” Zephyr tweeted. “I will do as I have always done — rise on behalf of my constituents, in defense of my community and for democracy itself.”

Montana’s House speaker canceled Tuesday’s floor session without explanation, the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmaker from Missoula speak unless she apologizes for her remarks last week on a gender-affirming care ban proposal.

Much like events in the Tennessee Statehouse weeks ago — where two lawmakers were expelled after participating in a post-school shooting gun control protest that interrupted proceedings — Zephyr’s punishment has ignited a firestorm of debate about governance and democracy in politically polarizing times.

“Republicans are doubling down on their agenda of running roughshod over Montanans’ rights — to free expression, to peaceful protest, to equal justice under the law,” House Minority Leader Kim Abbott said of the plan to discipline Zephyr.

Zephyr’s remarks, and the Republican response, set off a chain of events that culminated in a rally outside the Capitol at noon Monday and seven arrests later that afternoon when protesters packed into the gallery at the Statehouse brought House proceedings to a halt while chanting “Let her speak.” The scene galvanized both those demanding she be allowed to speak and those saying her actions constitute an unacceptable attack on civil discourse.

Such a protest won’t be allowed to happen on Wednesday. Republican leaders said in the letter sent to Zephyr that the gallery will be closed “to maintain decorum and ensure safety.”

Speaker Matt Regier did not take questions on Tuesday or explain why lawmakers were not returning to the floor, but in a brief statement called the disruptions a “dark day for Montana.”

“Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules,” Regier told reporters. “The choice to not follow the House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied.”

Republican Rep. Casey Knudsen, the chair of the House Rules Committee, said Tuesday’s cancellation gave leadership time to respond to Monday’s events. Abbott said she saw leadership’s decision to cancel as giving lawmakers “some time to regroup.”


Under Regier’s leadership, the House has not allowed Zephyr to speak since last week when she said that those who voted to ban gender-affirming care for young people would have “blood on their hands.” He and other Republicans said the remark was far outside the boundaries of appropriate civil discourse and demanded she apologize before being allowed to participate in legislative discussions.

Seven arrested after protests erupt over silencing of transgender lawmaker in Montana

The events have showcased the growing power of the Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of right-wing lawmakers that has spearheaded the charge to discipline Zephyr. The caucus re-upped its demands and rhetoric Monday. In a statement, they said that Zephyr’s decision to hoist a microphone toward the gallery’s protesters amounted to “encouraging an insurrection.”

Although several protesters resisted law enforcement officers trying to arrest them on Monday, Abbott pushed back at characterizing the activity as violent. She acknowledged it was disruptive, but called the demonstration peaceful. She said public protests were a predictable response to a lawmaker representing more than 10,000 constituents not being allowed to speak and questioned bringing in officers in riot gear to handle the chanting protesters.

“It was chanting, but it absolutely was not violent,” she said. “Sometimes extreme measures have a response like this.”

There were no reports of damage to the building and lawmakers were not threatened.

On Monday, Zephyr said the seven arrested were “defending democracy” and in an earlier speech said that the sequence of events that followed her remarks illustrated how they had struck a chord with those in power.

“They picked me in this moment because I said a thing that got through their shield for a second,” she told a crowd of supporters gathered on the Capitol steps near a banner that read “Democracy dies here.”

She said she does not intend to apologize and argued that her “blood on your hands” remark accurately reflected the stakes of such bans for transgender kids.

Montana House cancels Tuesday floor session as leadership considers response to Zephyr protests
Blair Miller, Daily Montanan
April 25, 2023,

House Speaker Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, speaks to the press a day after seven people were arrested in the House gallery protesting his not recognizing Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, on the House floor. Speaker Pro Tem Rhonda Knudsen and Majority Leader Sue Vinton joined him at the news conference. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)

The Montana House canceled its floor session on Tuesday as Republican leadership determines its next steps following Monday’s protest in the chamber that led to the arrests of seven people.

House Speaker Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, held a brief news conference Tuesday morning in which he said Monday was “a dark day” for the state and admonished members of the Montana press for how it characterized his handling of Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, on the House floor during the past week. He said “the entire story was not told.”

“Headlines that have happened over the last week stating that the Montana House leadership or GOP has silenced anyone is false,” Regier said. “Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debate while following the House rules. The choice not to follow House rules is one that Representative Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Representative Zephyr is Representative Zephyr.”

He said that the House “will not be bullied” and that he will continue to treat all members of the chamber “the same,” then walked back into his office without taking questions.
The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard

A spokesperson for House Republicans came out minutes later to say the House floor session had been canceled, which the House sergeant-at-arms had already confirmed.

Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, gestures to members of the public in the gallery who were being removed for being disruptive, and chanting, “Let her speak” in the Montana House on April 24, 2023 (Photo by Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan).

The protests came in the wake of the lack of recognition on the floor for Zephyr, which Regier last week said was happening because she had broken House decorum rules by telling Republicans they should be ashamed of themselves for voting in favor of Senate Bill 99. The bill would ban gender-affirming care for minors in Montana if signed by the governor.

House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, D-Helena, had earlier on Tuesday told reporters there was not likely to be a floor session – though neither party leader said exactly why. Rep. Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, said it was so leadership could decide the next steps in the saga and whether to pursue further action against Zephyr, such as censuring her.

Abbott said most of her discussions with Regier had been “administrative in nature” and that both had tried to keep one another apprised of their next steps.

But she said she was disappointed in the statement Regier, Speaker Pro Tem Rhonda Knudsen and Majority Leader Sue Vinton released Monday evening in which they called what transpired Monday a “riot by far-left agitators” which they said “endangered legislators and staff.”

“We all watched that together and it wasn’t a violent protest. It was disruptive, it was chanting, but it was not violent. There was no need for a SWAT team,” Abbott said. “I was disappointed in the way the protest was framed given the extreme actions to silence a sitting member. They should expect a public protest; I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Abbott said as a former organizer for the Montana Human Rights Network, she was not surprised at the protest. Law enforcement booked and released seven demonstrators Monday on misdemeanor trespassing charges.

“This is the people’s House. They came in, made their statement. I think that’s absolutely part of democracy and civil society, and that’s what we saw yesterday,” she said. “Sometimes extreme measures have a response like this.”

The House and Senate on Monday passed calendar changes that pushed a Wednesday deadline for appropriations and revenue bills to pass with amendments to Friday, which Abbott said would still allow the House to get its work done.

How Regier’s nonrecognition of Zephyr affects the session in its final week-and-a-half remains to be seen. Lawmakers are expected to meet this Saturday after Monday’s calendar change, which would put the final Day 90 of the session on next Friday, May 5.

Regier said during a Senate Finance and Claims hearing Tuesday morning for his coal trust fund housing expansion bill, House Bill 927, which Abbott has testified in favor of in committee and on the House floor, that he was unsure of the bill’s prospects after Monday’s protests.


“Moving forward, and I’ll just be candid with all of you, I don’t know with recent events that have happened over in the House, I don’t know the fate of this bill. I don’t know where exactly it belongs in the conversation,” he told the committee.

Democrats have tried to get numerous affordable housing bills through the legislature this session but since Republicans have a supermajority, have had to work with their counterparts to try to pass any such legislation.

When asked how Democrats will proceed with trying to push some of their priorities over the finish line in the final days of the session, Abbott told reporters Tuesday she believes both parties need to regroup and have some conversations together. Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, said the Senate was trying to move forward the work it has to do while recognizing “challenges” on the House side.

“It’s important to address someone who represents 10,000 people and is duly elected not being able to participate in the way they should be able to,” Abbott said. “It’s a balancing act and I think our caucus will do our best.”

Law enforcement officers in riot gear push people out of the gallery after they protest in support of allowing Rep. Zephyr to speak. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)

Abbott told the press following a meeting in Regier’s office that Republican leadership is looking at different avenues for how to move forward in regard to potential disciplinary action. She said her caucus believes the actions from the Speaker are severe, disenfranchising Zephyr’s constituents, and that the focus should be on the legislation that is harming the transgender, non-binary and two-spirit community.

“I think this is the most extreme action that I’ve seen a speaker take against a member in the 20 years I’ve been in this building,” Abbott said.

Abbott said there’s a “ripple effect” from Monday, which she attributed to the vote on the Senate amendment to House Bill 359. The House voted Monday with Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, to reject the amendment that the Senate carrier said “gutted” the bill that bans drag performances on public property in the state.

“I expected a different vote on that,” Abbott said.

Knudsen told the press waiting outside Regier’s office that he has been advising leadership on different avenues they could potentially take as the Constitution, the joint and House rules and Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure allow.

“There certainly hasn’t been any decisions made yet,” Knudsen said.

There are nine legislative days left, and Knudsen said the short timeline is also impacting deliberations, especially as the legislature scrambles to finish business and get bills on Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s desk.

When asked if he thought legislation or amendments would be introduced to address Monday’s events would be put forward, Knudsen said it was a possibility, but he hadn’t heard anything about that specifically.

Knudsen was one of three Republicans to vote with Democrats against Regier’s decision against recognizing Zephyr on the floor on Monday. He said his opinion has changed a little bit since the “shit show” on the floor.

Regier ultimately did not address the press following the conference, avoiding the gaggle in the anteroom as he left.

Zephyr, who briefly appeared in the anteroom to Regier’s office where the press was waiting, did not comment on if she had heard details regarding potential disciplinary action against her.

“When there’s floor, we’ll know what’s going to happen,” Zephyr said.

Knudsen said the House leadership response would likely come on Wednesday.

“I would probably plan on being here tomorrow, that’s my feeling right now,” he said.
The Montana House of Representatives is planning to reconvene at 1:00 p.m. on April 26, 2023. #mtleg #mtpol
— Montana House Republicans (@MTHouseGOP) April 25, 2023

Montana Constitution, Legislative rules in play as leadership considers next steps

The House adopted rules earlier this session that outline how a censure could work, which is what the right-wing Montana Freedom Caucus called for after Zephyr last week told Republicans they would have “blood on (their) hands” if they supported Senate Bill 99.

Regier has said several times that Zephyr has not abided by rules of decorum for the House on multiple occasions, and that under Rule 20-20, the Speaker has the power to decide “all questions of order and privilege and decisions of recognition,” as the rule states.

He told reporters last week that he would only accept a public apology from Zephyr in order to perhaps recognize her again this session. He specifically pointed to Zephyr’s comments telling Republicans they should be “ashamed” of themselves for their vote on SB99 as the reason she was breaking rules and would not be recognized.

Under House Rule 20-80, which Democrats originally thought should be the rule in question, there is a process that could be followed to be disallowed from speaking and possibly censured.

Under the rule, the Speaker, majority leader or minority leader can call a member to order to have them seated immediately. The member can appeal being called to order, and if two others back the appeal, the House would vote on whether to uphold it to decide whether the member should continue being allowed to speak.

The call to order could also go to the Rules Committee, which could also recommend the member be censured “or be subject to other action.”

“Censure consists of an official public reprimand of a member for inappropriate behavior,” the rule states. “The House shall act upon the recommendation of the Committee.”

House Rule 20-30 also discusses questions of order and privilege, which could also apply to the Zephyr situation. It says questions of order and privilege are “those affecting the collective rights, safety, dignity and integrity of the House” and then “those affecting the rights, reputation, and conduct of individual members.”

The Montana Constitution says that either chamber can expel or punish a member “for good cause shown” with a vote of two-thirds of the chamber.

And the joint rules of both chambers say that if there is a substantiated charge of discrimination or harassment by a lawmaker filed through a complaint, a Legislative Conduct Panel can recommend to the Ethics Committee punishment, which includes removing a member from committees up to expulsion from the chamber.

The Ethics Committee would have to hold a hearing on the original complaint and vote on what action against the lawmaker in question was appropriate. The lawmaker facing the complaint would have an opportunity to speak in defense of themselves.

Then the full House or Senate chamber would be able to censure a member with a majority vote, or discipline or expel a member with a two-thirds majority vote.
Seven people booked, released by 9 p.m. Monday

Keegan Medrano, the policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, as well as Lt. Troy Christensen of the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed seven protesters were booked on criminal trespassing charges and released before 9 p.m. Monday.

Six of the seven protesters came from Missoula and one was from Great Falls, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Monday, Hannah Pate, of Great Falls, shared the reason it was important to demonstrate at the Capitol on behalf of Zephyr. Pate offered remarks while in custody of a law enforcement officer outside the Capitol before being taken to jail.

“That building is the public’s, and what they’re doing to Representative Zephyr is unbelievable — but also very believable,” Pate said, citing other actions by the legislature this session.

Christensen said it took four or five hours to book and release the seven protestors, and the jail released the last demonstrator close to 9 p.m. He said none had to post bond.

“That’s just what we do on misdemeanor charges,” Christensen said.

Justice of the Peace Tom Bremer said the people who were arrested had to leave the premises and get fingerprinted and photographed, and they have 10 days to appear before the court.

The Daily Montanan’s Keila Szpaller contributed to this story.

 

Montana lawmaker Zooey Zephyr silenced over trans youth rights protest | USA TODAY

Montana's first openly transgender woman lawmaker held up a microphone after lawmakers silenced her for protesting anti-trans bills. RELATED: Transgender Montana lawmaker says anti-trans lawmakers will have 'blood on their hands' https://bit.ly/3Nd1czf A lawmaker in Montana was silenced by her Republican colleagues on Monday, after they demanded she apologize for saying there would be “blood on your hands” if they voted for a bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Last week, as the state’s House debated amendments to the legislation, Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr criticized the bill and its supporters, referencing the group’s opening prayer. “I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,” she said.
Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D) on  her fight against a swath of anti-trans legislation

Apr 22, 2023  #Transgender #MSNBC

Montana State Representative Zooey Zephyr (D) speaks about her fight to protect gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and her emotional testimony that caused her Republican colleagues to misgender her and threaten to censor her. Zephyr, the state’s first and only openly transgender lawmaker, has also been blocked from speaking on the legislative floor. “We need to stand up for our communities,” she told Yasmin. “We cannot be complicit as they try to eradicate us.”

Devin Nunes suffers defeat as Trump-appointed judge tosses latest libel suit

Matthew Chapman

RAW STORY
April 25, 2023

www.rawstory.com

Former Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) suffered a defeat in court on Tuesday after a judge threw out libel suits he and his relatives filed over a 2018 Esquire article alleging his family employs undocumented workers on their dairy farm, POLITICO reported.

"U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams ruled Tuesday that the claims at issue in writer Ryan Lizza’s story — 'Devin Nunes’s Family Farm is Hiding a Politically Explosive Secret' — were essentially accurate. The judge said that conclusion was fatal to the suits brought by Nunes, his relatives and the company used to operate the dairy, NuStar Farms," reported Josh Gerstein. "'The assertion that NuStar knowingly used undocumented labor is substantially, objectively true,' wrote Williams, an appointee of former President Donald Trump."

"In the 101-page opinion issued Tuesday, Williams said evidence developed during the litigation showed that the farm employed numerous workers who provided names and Social Security numbers that did not match Social Security Administration records," said the report. "'This Court ordered the SSA to verify the SSNs of all disclosed NuStar Farms employees,” Williams said. “Of those employees who NuStar plaintiffs employed on or before September 30, 2018, 243 of 319 employees’ names, dates of birth, and SSNs did not match SSA records.' Williams also said there was testimony and evidence that the farm was warned about such mismatches, accepted expired credentials and did not properly complete forms designed to verify that workers were authorized to work in the U.S."

Nunes, who became a popular villain of liberal activists in 2017 due to his use of congressional committee powers to help former President Donald Trump, filed a series of lawsuits against several critics, including a parody Twitter account going by the name "Devin Nunes' Cow."

He also sued The Washington Post, which similarly ended in failure.

Nunes announced in 2021 he was resigning from Congress to take up a leadership position at Trump's Twitter-clone social media platform Truth Social.

Few complained of ‘woke’ classes at Florida universities. Still, DeSantis pushed new bans

2023/04/26

ORWELLIAN SLOGAN

Ron DeSantis signed HB 7, known as the "Stop WOKE bill," in Hialeah Gardens. 

- Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/TNS

The way Gov. Ron DeSantis tells it, Florida’s public universities are bloated bureaucracies run by liberal elites who discriminate against conservative and white students while professors indoctrinate the rest with the “woke” idea that racism, sexism and oppression are baked into U.S. history and institutions.

“We won’t allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other,” DeSantis said when he introduced the Stop WOKE Act, which became law in 2022 and restricted campus programming on subjects like privilege, oppression and racism.

But in the four and a half months that the law was enforced at public universities — before it was blocked by a preliminary injunction last November — only seven people reported potential violations of Stop WOKE across the 12 campuses, according to records obtained by the Herald through public records requests. All of the complaints were dismissed as unfounded, records show.

Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy council of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said the scarcity of complaints proves what critics have suspected all along — “woke” indoctrination is not a widespread concern.

“These are made-up issues by the governor to deflect and distract from the real issues that are facing Floridians,” Gross said. The ACLU sued Florida over Stop WOKE for allegedly violating constitutional protections on free speech and academic freedom at universities, ultimately resulting in a preliminary injunction last November.

Even unfounded complaints have a chilling effect and waste university resources, Gross said. Records show investigations into the seven complaints sometimes took up to a month to complete. In some cases, university compliance officers questioned the professors and department chairs before ultimately deciding to dismiss the complaint.

DeSantis and Florida Republicans are now advancing a higher education reform package that critics say doubles down on Stop WOKE and expands state control over universities by giving political appointees direct oversight over curriculum, campus programming and more control over the hiring and firing of faculty. Despite the injunction, the two higher education bills currently moving through the House and Senate (HB999 and SB266) explicitly reference Stop WOKE, all but guaranteeing another round of costly, taxpayer-funded court appearances should either become law.

“It is encouraging to see the Legislature taking up this important topic and joining the conversation that the governor began with his legislative proposals for higher-education reform in Florida,” said the governor’s deputy press secretary, Jeremy Redfern.

Redfern said the governor looks forward to signing a final form of the proposed legislation. He did not respond to questions regarding the few Stop WOKE complaints last year or whether more had been made to the governor’s office that were not passed on to universities.

Between July 1 and Nov. 17, 2022, Stop WOKE — later re-dubbed the Individual Freedom Act — prohibited university training or instruction promoting or compelling students to believe one of eight concepts, including the idea that someone might be oppressed due solely to their race or sex, or anything that makes anyone feel guilt due to the past actions of someone with a shared identity.

In a ruling granting the temporary injunction in November, Chief United States District Judge Mark Walker wrote that the Stop WOKE Act sought to give political appointees “unfettered authority to muzzle (Florida’s) its professors in the name of ‘freedom’” — an effort he called “positively dystopian.” The injunction was recently upheld by an appeals court pending the outcomes of the lawsuits brought by the ACLU and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free-speech advocacy group focused on education, on behalf of several students and faculty members at universities across the state.

The Herald requested records from all 12 of Florida’s public universities related to potential violations of Stop WOKE and any subsequent investigations. Despite the law being enforceable for most of the 2022 summer and fall semesters, only three universities received complaints of potential Stop WOKE violations. The nine others reported having no records of any complaints or investigations.

Records show the three complaints made to Miami-Dade’s Florida International University were all immediately closed. Two were anonymous complaints about courses that the university quickly determined could not have violated the law because the class in question wasn’t offered at the time the law was in effect.

The other was made by an FIU professor who complained that a cyber security training had promoted the idea that one race or sex might be morally superior to another, which was illegal under the act. The university found no such themes in the training and the professor did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.

The remaining four complaints were divided equally between the University of Florida in Gainesville, and the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Tipsters included an anonymous person who took issue with a UF class he or she claimed to have learned about over the internet, a woman who saw a blog post from the Young America’s Foundation, founded by the late conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr., and two mothers of UNF students. One mother complained that a professor in the UNF sports management department was presenting “woke” opinions as fact. The other said a reading assignment in the elementary education program titled “So You Want To Talk About Race” made her daughter feel bad for being white.

In each case, sometimes after lengthy review processes, the university provosts found no violation, noting the subjects of race and identity had come up as part of class discussions, which was permitted under the law so long as professors had not endorsed or promoted certain perspectives.

“The mission of UNF is not now and has never been to tell our students what to think,” wrote Karen Cousins, associate vice provost at UNF, in a written response to one mother. “Instead, UNF strives to teach our students how to think critically about a range of issues and topics and form their own well-reasoned opinions.”

Despite finding no violation of the law, UNF administrators noted the reading assignment about race — which was already voluntary — would no longer be included in the class.

It’s unclear how similar complaints would be handled under the latest proposed legislation for higher education reform, which critics say goes a step further than Stop WOKE in targeting curriculum.

Both the Senate and House bills would give a wide range of powers to the Board of Governors — the state university system’s governing body with the majority of members appointed by the governor — including the power to eliminate academic programs based on values that would also be determined by the board.

The bills would also have the board review university programming and general education courses for curriculum that violates Stop WOKE or that is “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”

Meera Sitharam, professor of computer science and mathematics at UF, said the proposed legislation is unconstitutional and already has faculty self-censoring to avoid winding up the subject of a lengthy investigation.

Sitharam — who is also a chief negotiator for the UF faculty union — said she is most concerned that the Senate bill would empower university presidents, handpicked by political appointees, to hire and fire faculty, regardless of tenure, based on criteria she said measures “obedience” rather than job performance or expertise.

“That’s where they really slid the knife in,” Sitharam said. The bill would also prevent faculty from appealing their removal, she said, in direct violation of the current faculty union contract.

In a statement to the Herald, Katie Betta, the Senate president’s deputy chief of staff for communications, said that Republican lawmakers are confident that the Senate bill and past laws are constitutional and will ultimately be upheld in court.

“The bill does not ban discussions,” Betta said in the statement about SB266. “It authorizes the Board of Governors to provide guidance to universities on [their] curriculum, to protect taxpayer funds from discriminatory programs, and to specify that courses with certain content may not be appropriate as a general education course.”
DEI bans provide backdoor for Stop WOKE

After the Stop WOKE Act bogged down in legal challenges late last year, Gov. DeSantis quickly pivoted, introducing a new legislative proposal to ban university and college programs and activities related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Critical Race Theory — often referred to as DEI and CRT.

Under orders from the governor, universities scrambled to produce a list of DEI- and CRT-related programs — search terms so broad and undefined that one university data administrator described DeSantis’ request as “rather ominous” in an email to his peers.

Left on their own to interpret the terms, universities used terms like “race” and “diversity” to search the course catalog, producing a haphazard roster of programs and classes, including everything from homeless outreach programs to a course on classical dance, emails show.

While complicating administrative efforts to identify such programs, the broad, ill-defined terms have allowed Republicans to use the proposed DEI/CRT bans as a backdoor for reintroducing key elements of the Stop WOKE Act and expanding state control of higher education during the 2023 legislative session.

“When they say critical race theory they mean the eight concepts in the Stop WOKE Act. They’re using them as stand-ins,” said Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with FIRE.

In a February statement to the Herald, Bryan Griffin, press secretary for Desantis, confirmed the governor’s office considers Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Critical Race Theory to be synonymous with concepts banned under Stop WOKE.

“DEI, CRT, and other similar ideological agendas are racial harassment and discriminatory, and we propose that they are defined in this proposed legislation by tracking the definitions in Florida’s anti-discrimination laws, Stat. 1000.05(4)(a),” Griffin said, citing the specific Stop WOKE statute currently barred from enforcement at public universities.

A rewrite of SB266 in mid-April removed all mentions of DEI and CRT after lawmakers worried federal funding and accreditation could be effected by such a sweeping ban. Betta, the spokesperson for Senate leadership, said the bill largely remained the same but “simply provides guidance on the harmful philosophy behind those titles.”

The references to the Stop WOKE statute remain in the text.

“Just removing the words is not fooling anyone,” said Andrew Gothard, president of the United Faculty of Florida. “What’s clear is the real purpose of this bill is to stop students and faculty from discussing the history of the United States.”

A subsequent revision of the amended bill reintroduced a reference to diversity, equity and inclusion and also seeks restrictions on programs or activities engaged in social and political activism.

Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director at FIRE, said that regardless of recent semantic changes made in committee, the Senate bill remains unconstitutional because it could be used to determine what concepts and ideas are taught in the classroom, which speakers can be brought to campus, and which student organizations might be allowed to exist.

“That doesn’t pass muster in higher ed, where you’re dealing with adults and not minors, where faculty are not just mouthpieces for the state but have their own academic freedom,” Cohn said.

Should either of the 2023 bills be signed into law, Cohn said that FIRE and other organizations would have to return to court to ensure the injunction was also applied to the new law. Ultimately, he warned that going to court for a second time over something that was already successfully blocked would come at huge cost to Florida taxpayers.

“If they insist on learning their lesson through litigation, they should rename the bill ‘The FIRE and ACLU’s Legal Fees Act of 2023,’” Cohn said.
Complaints from the outside

As with school boards besieged by activists objecting to individual books, records show many who complained about “wokeness” in the university system were not students or faculty. On Sept. 6, 2022, a self-described “private citizen” named Tracey Coker reported a potential violation of Stop WOKE to the governor’s chief inspector general.

Coker had read a post on the website of the Young America’s Foundation titled “Florida Professor Tells White Students They Must ‘Examine Their Privilege’” and was concerned that a summer class in the UF education department had focused on “systemic discrimination of various minority groups by the American education system,” according the complaint obtained by the Herald. Coker did not respond to questions sent to the email listed in the complaint.

The governor’s office passed Coker’s complaint on to the university, which spent the next month investigating. Records show investigators reviewed screenshots from the online course — which included activities asking students to think about how their personal identity and community might shape the way they teach — and determined the professor had not endorsed any banned concepts.

“Instead, the students are asked to consider and critically think about their positionality, which is not restricted to race, color, sex and national origin, and reach their own conclusions,” university administrators wrote in a close-out memo dated Oct. 5, 2022.

The online course also included a page where students were encouraged to “share resources that can help uplift Black humanity and promote anti-racist education.” The blog post described the page as riddled with links soliciting donations for Black Lives Matter, and arguing that “white students have avoided critical discussions of race their whole lives before college.”

Again the university noted the posted material was used for discussions, as was permitted under the law. And while everyone teaching in the department was reminded not to use their platforms to raise money for any cause, the existence of the link alone on a group page was not evidence the professor had violated those rules, administrators wrote.

Ultimately, the university determined there were no violations of the law and, according to the close-out memo, investigators found “no evidence that white students were singled out and ‘told to examine their privilege’ as alleged in the title of the article.”

The professor was a graduate student and no longer works at the university, the memo noted.

A group of Florida International University students, staff and community members participated in the "Fight for Florida Students and Workers" protest on Thursday Feb. 23, 2023. - Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS

© Miami Herald

Arkansas' MAGA governor is 'stomping on the poor' instead of solving real problems: report

Matthew Chapman

RAW STORY
April 26, 2023

Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaking with attendees at the 2019 Student Action Summit. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

Writing for the Arkansas Times, Austin Bailey and Lindsey Millar trashed the state's new "MAGA" governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, once former President Donald Trump's press secretary, and the GOP-dominated state legislature, saying that they "stomped on the poor" and disadvantaged groups without solving any real problems for their constituents.

"Supercharged by a mountain of MAGA money and an even bigger ego, Gov. Sarah Sanders called all the shots," they wrote. "The supermajority Republican legislature raced to do her bidding. Their rubber stamp on all of Sanders’ priorities (vouchers, prison expansion, tax cuts) marked a vast departure from the last administration, when Asa Hutchinson’s pro-gun, pro-life record failed to impress an increasingly insane right-wing extremist legislative branch. Where Hutchinson recoiled from drama, Sanders pursued it, eager to throw Trumpian blows of staggering cruelty if it landed her on Fox News. Her foot soldiers didn’t seem to mind Sanders’ obvious bid to get out of Arkansas and back on the national stage as soon as possible. It wouldn’t have mattered if they did. Republican lawmakers knew to expect a primary challenger to knock them out of office if they dared veer out of lockstep."

"Saying it’s the worst session ever feels trite, too flip to capture the brutality heaped on all but the wealthiest and most insulated," they continued. "Not only did lawmakers do nothing to protect Arkansans from our chart-topping gun death rates, they voted instead to protect the gun companies from us. A new law passed this session bars state entities from investing with firms that eschew the industry profiting off our homicide epidemic. Protecting children got lots of lip service, but no real action. Requiring proof of age and identity to get a social media account or view online porn, laws passed allegedly to protect kids, will be a boon for identity theft but won’t likely shield many innocent eyes. Threatening librarians with jail time if they allow young people to view or check out books about sex is not only a direct assault on free speech, but also a surefire way to maintain Arkansas’s spot as the state with the most teen pregnancies."

Through all of this, they noted, the state also rolled back child labor laws and refused to compromise on one of the most extreme abortion bans in the entire country — while planning to erect a "monument to the unborn" with taxpayer money.

Sanders has faced personal embarrassment throughout the session; previous reporting detailed how a job application to the state required people to describe something they admired about her, which was quickly walked back as soon as it was reported.

"Arkansas’s wealthy and its businesses are safer than ever, having easily secured tax cuts by simply pointing fingers at transgender children and woke librarians, then grabbing the cash when no one was looking," they concluded. "Most of us didn’t get much of anything beyond the insult that the schools we send our children to — schools that anchor our communities — are hotbeds of inadequacy and indoctrination that anyone with the means should flee at their first opportunity. Is this really what Arkansas voted for?"