By: Mark Glennon*
UPDATE 10/9/21: A request has now been made for an investigation over what appears to be an orchestrated effort to silence parents at school boards and gave rise to Garland’s directive.
It’s tempting to see the new directive by Attorney General Merrick Garland as merely a transparent attempt to intimidate parents into silence on opinions that the Biden Administrations doesn’t like. But it’s worse than that. It’s worth going though the reasons why this misconduct by federal law enforcement is so appalling, and to remind parents why they should not be deterred.
Many parents in Illinois and across the country have spoken out recently with unprecedented anger in unprecedented numbers at school board meetings and beyond. Their complaints have been about Critical Race Theory in classrooms, mask mandates and explicit materials for minors about sexuality and gender. We’ve written here often supporting some of those complaints. My colleague Ted Dabrowski and I have participated in some of the efforts directed toward our own childrens’ schools.
But on Monday, Garland issued a directive to the FBI and federal law enforcement officials across the nation to focus on alleged criminal conduct in protests by parents.
Outrage ensued immediately, and appropriately, from parents, their organizations and commentators who are infuriated that a threat of federal law enforcement is being used to try to scare them out of constitutionally protected speech.
Garland’s Department of Justice has responded simply by saying it isn’t true, and its defenders, particularly MSNBC, have cited examples of conduct by parents that allegedly were either inappropriate or illegal.
Linked here are Garland’s directive and an accompanying DOJ press release. They should be read in conjunction with a letter sent by the National School Boards Association late last month to President Biden, which gave rise to the directive. It claimed that school officials are “under immediate threat” and asked Biden to sic nearly the full force of the national security establishment on offending parents.
It contains these astonishing requests, from which you would think the entire Taliban is loose in America:
NSBA respectfully asks that a joint collaboration among federal law enforcement agencies, state and local law enforcement, and with public school officials be undertaken to focus on these threats. NSBA specifically solicits the expertise and resources of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, and its National Threat Assessment Center regarding the level of risk to public schoolchildren, educators, board members, and facilities/campuses. We also request the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to intervene…. including any technical assistance necessary from, and state and local coordination with, its National Security Branch and Counterterrorism Division, as well as any other federal agency with relevant jurisdictional authority and oversight. Additionally, NSBA requests that such review examine appropriate enforceable actions against these crimes and acts of violence under the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the PATRIOT Act in regards to domestic terrorism, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Violent Interference with Federally Protected Rights statute, the Conspiracy Against Rights statute, an Executive Order to enforce all applicable federal laws for the protection of students and public school district personnel, and any related measure.
The DOJ was happy to oblige. It’s directive, as you can see in the documents they released, is much shorter but conveys the same point.
And the DOJ made sure that school boards and officials will be trained in how to be claimed as victims who can call on those enforcement mechanisms. From the DOJ press release:
The Justice Department will also create specialized training and guidance for local school boards and school administrators. This training will help school board members and other potential victims understand the type of behavior that constitutes threats, how to report threatening conduct to the appropriate law enforcement agencies, and how to capture and preserve evidence of threatening conduct to aid in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes.
Keep in mind that a real crime requires violence or a threat to commit either violence or some other illegal act. But most of the offensive conduct being referenced by the media and school officials is not criminal. Is it criminal to say, for example “we will get you,” or “we will not forget this,” or “your career is education is dead”?
Some such things may be vile and reprehensible, like saying “we know where you live,” but criminality is a different matter. The meanings of many statements are not clear nor is there usually criminality.
Yes, there are other, worse examples of some actual, criminal conduct, including violence, which should not be tolerated. But neither the DOJ nor anybody else has put up any evidence that it is widespread enough to justify such an unprecedented federal response.
That’s part of why Garland’s directive is so pernicious. He could have provided a useful service by delineating what is prosecutable and what isn’t. Instead, he used the tactic of exploiting the murkiness about where the line gets drawn between criminal conduct and protected speech, thereby purposely chilling what is constitutionally protected.
“Garland knows this is dangerous nonsense. I personally know that he knows it.” That’s from Andrew McCarthy, who worked under Garland in the DOJ. McCarthy further wrote that “Garland incorrectly — indeed, outrageously for someone of his experience as a Justice Department official and federal appellate judge — claimed that free-speech principles yield not only to ‘threats of violence’ but also to ‘efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views.’”
Why is the federal government getting involved at all in this? Crimes like those at issue are the domain of local officials.
In fact, the constitutionality of federal involvement is highly questionable. At least two state attorneys general, in Arizona and Missouri, already blasted the DOJ for that reason and more may be coming. McCarthy, too, made that point in the column linked above.
Selective enforcement of law for political reasons is reprehensible in itself, and it’s brazen in this case. If conduct like parents’ at school boards, even when intimidating, is colorable as a federal offense, where was the DOJ when rioting, vandalism and destruction of statues was overlooked for being supposedly acceptable protest?
Doesn’t the DOJ have better things to do?
Here in Illinois, it’s been over two years since a federal criminal investigation was opened about Gov. JB Pritzker’s removal of toilets to reduce property taxes. It’s still open. The event happened over four years ago. His reelection is approaching and his state would like to know if he will be its next indicted governor. But now the U.S. Attorney’s office in northern Illinois, which is handling the case, is ordered to spend time on parents and school boards.
How about if federal resources were directed instead to, oh, say, enforcing the border? Or providing what assistance they can to major cities like Chicago being destroyed by crime?
Garland’s biggest error is underestimating parental devotion to children. Few forces in nature are more unrelenting. Parents will not be frightened off from doing what is right for their offspring by the FBI or anybody else.
Garland apparently has a different notion of parental devotion. It turns out that his son-in-law is the co-founder and president of Panorama Education, which sells teacher training and curriculum for race-focused surveys and conducts trainings on systemic oppression, white supremacy, unconscious bias, and intersectionality. CRT-type stuff, the primary thing parents are complaining about.
Parents, know that there is safety numbers. Countless other parents around the country will not stand for this.
We will not change what we say and write.
Nor should you.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
I just love watching Democrats do stupid stuff like this. As a result of these actions they won’t be able to buy cheat or steal a vote in the 2022 election. Nothing like committing suicide on your political career.
Garland, yet another illustrious product of Lincolnwood burb. Didn’t he go to Niles West HS with the other Lincolnwood guy, Bill Singer, king-pin of Operation Varsity Blues college-admissions scam? Must be something in Lincolnwood’s municipal water. So many hucksters and small-time crooks, of large and small fame, spent their formative years in Lincolnwood.
It was discovered his son in law works for a company, Panorama Education, that is making millions of dollars selling CRT material to school districts, and framing Trump supporters as racists. Irony is-the kid is as white as a ghost. Seems everyone, everywhere, pushing CRT is white.
Don’t know how true this is but it’s possible in today’s world.
https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-10-11-ag-garland-cracking-down-parent-protests-critical-race-theory-family-getting-rich.html
Yikes–don’t mess with the mama bears!! New York Post : AG Merrick Garland is at war with American families: Devine.
https://nypost.com/2021/10/10/ag-merrick-garland-is-at-war-with-american-families-devine/
Lots of momma bears these days have purple hair, use they/them pronouns, hate signs in their front yard, and talk about you at the PTA meetings behind your back as the GQP. This memo didn’t come from nowhere.
School boards are elected. In my neck of the woods school board elections have the lowest voter attendance of any election. So now people are upset about what the boards, elected by a minority of the eligible voter pool,do? How interesting…how very interesting.
Municipal elections are usually held in odd numbered years during the spring instead of November in even numbered years. The most recent municipal election in the Chicago suburbs was April 6, 2021. The elections are usually non-partisan and voters choose multiple candidates and the top vote receiving candidates are elected to the vacant seats. In many races, there are no opposing candidates. The progressives who took over the school boards did so very stealthily because they were able to hide behind the non-partisan nature of the elections. It wasn’t until recently, mostly during the Trump era, that the League of… Read more »
They are totally non-partisan as you point out in my area but if you look at the election signs in their yards during partisan election years all one observes is a sea of blue. Funny how that is.
When did we decide that winning an election gives the winning party carte blanche to do anything they wish, no matter how crazy or illegal? And that no one has the right to oppose what they do until the next election?
I don’t know but that’s the way it has always worked in my local area and, being I am in my 70s, its been happening a very long time.
Right. With turnout for those elections averaging only 16% or so, teachers and the educrats are easily able to dominate the vote. Plus they are very organized and dominate the endorsements of local caucuses.
Pretty good articale about how crt debate is a giant issue in Virginia gov race which is dead even between dem McAuliffe & rep Youngkin. With big national picture–if Virginia gov race flips to Republicans than moderate dem reps in swing states will get cold feet on voting for Bidens $3.5 ($6 trillion?) trillion BBB. McAuliffe already put his foot in his mouth on crt. : Virginia Republicans seize on parental rights and schools fight in final weeks of campaign.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/07/politics/glenn-youngkin-parental-rights-education-strategy/index.html
How did the fact that Garland’s daughter and son-in-law and their CRT-materials consulting company — which I learned from a ZH-posted article from Conservative Treehouse — escape your notice??
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/10/05/ag-merrick-garlands-daughter-married-to-co-founder-of-company-selling-critical-race-theory-resource-material-to-school-districts/
Nevertheless, there is new and helpful information in your post, and thank you for the cross-post to ZeroHedge which brought me here.
Tisk tisk. Read till the end of the article. And it’s getting worse for Garland and Panorama. New stories say Panorama has been distributing to schools materials that say Trump and his supporters are all white supremecists: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/company-co-founded-garland-son-in-law-resource-insists-trump-supporters-white-supremacists
“It’s tempting to see the new directive by Attorney General Merrick Garland as merely a transparent attempt to intimidate parents into silence on opinions that the Biden Administrations doesn’t like.” The problem isn’t that the Biden Administration doesn’t like those “opinions”. The problem is that only sociopaths will like the fact that if too many people hold those “opinions” (brainwashed falsehoods is a better term), the death rate in those areas could easily shoot up to that of Peru, because triage will be inevitable. When parents hold “opinions” that are that level of dangerous when it comes to other issues,… Read more »
Your spewing of barely coherent venom does nothing to advance the discussion.
But then, the left has all the correct “opinions”, so you see no reason for any discussion. People who hold different opinions are dangerous sociopaths.
That mindset is a whole new “level of dangerous” to civilized society.
And by the way, you should read the next article on this site, about the actual statistics for the Delta variant and children.
theyre trying to get us to revolt
theyre trying to get us to revolt so they can invoke the insurrection act
so they can declare a national emergency
so they can “postpone” the 2022 midterm elections
they simply cannot and will not allow themselves to lose 100 house and 10 senate seats
the red states wont take too kindly to this
call it whatever you want:
national divorce
realignment of states
civl war
either way
theres a whole lot of ugly in front of us
Maybe things like this will light a fire under these parents so they will be sure and actually vote next election and recognize just who they are voting for or against.
When my son was in grade school he was being bullied. I told him to take the high road and not fight back. It just got worse. I finally told him just hit the other kid back. He did. The kids and the parents all got called into the principal’s office. I simply looked at the principal and said, ” If you were abiding by your first rule, no bullying, then my son would not have had to defend himself and break your second rule.” The kids got past it and became friends. If teachers were abiding by the Constitution,… Read more »
Along with the outrage against DOJ and the DC swamp, let’s not forget who initiated this. The education establishment declared full scale war against parents, and went nuclear. It is clear they will stop at nothing to gain complete control over our children, and therefore our society.
Quite stunning what the government is up to.
Soylent Green was set in 2022, if anyone needs a reminder…
The Ministry of Justice has spoken. What a joke, except it is not a joke. No memo about the thousands (is it tens of thousands?) of educator misconduct convictions over the decades Mr. Garland? Each conviction is documented somewhere. Let me guess. Mr. Garland does not know how many educators were convicted of crimes against students, or convicted for other types of misconduct. Not a priority for the DOJ. And who knows how many more were actually guilty but there was not enough evidence for a conviction, or the crimes went unreported. No compassion there. How about the shady educators… Read more »
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/10/05/ag-merrick-garlands-daughter-married-to-co-founder-of-company-selling-critical-race-theory-resource-material-to-school-districts/
The conflict of interest is unbelievable.
Those darned white supremacists causing so much chaos in this country-umm-has anyone watched the news lately?-I might be mistaken but I havent seen too many white supremacists at school board meetings or commiting very many crimes,I wont say what color of people I see on the news EVERY night causing most of the problems.I only say these things because I saw a politician,cant recall who,but he was once again blaming everything on white supremacists.-hhmmmm
Wonder if kwame & kimmie will be getten in on the witch hunt??
It looks to me as if they see the demographic handwriting on the wall and are looking to ingratiate themselves to the new intersectional majority.
There is a quote, widely attributed to Jefferson (perhaps erroneously) that says, When the government fears the people, you have liberty; when the people fear the government, you have tyranny. It sounds like we’re witnessing an outbreak of liberty. Somebody in the government is obviously scared.
I think they are watching Biden’s presidency crash and their poll numbers sink, so they are pulling out all the stops on lying, abuse of process, hypocrisy and any dirty trick they can think of.
It’s a good way to further shrink their base. This is real George III stuff.
I also like the quote attributed to Yamamoto…………………………
Garland should take note.
Right on.
God help us. I remember when it was Democrats who you had to count on to stand up against this kind of thing. Now they are the true Nazis.
DOJ with FBI heading into complete Stasi. Using ‘lawfare’ to intimidate and suppress free speech. Disgusting. Alarming how comfortable Democrats are with tyranny when it comes to those Americans who see things differently. Like supporting the Constitution.
Durbin and Duckworth should be ashamed, and need to publicly condemn Garlands action.
Yet another illustration of the First Political Law of the Universe: It all depends on whose ox is being gored.
Dim Dick and Daffy will criticize Garland some time after Biden swears off ice cream.
Duck the worthless and Durbin are the four seasons couple; whichever way the wind is blowing.
Sen. Cruz Questions Assistant AG Clarke on Biden Admin Labeling Parents Against CRT as ‘Terrorists’. Funniest part is at the end when she states government employees carry out their position in a non partisan way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8pia1Lu77Y
Shocking, where’s the conservative/ republican opposition? And, lookout soon or maybe already FBI will be monitoring WP-ers as terrorists.
I would respond appropriately but I would be violating our own rules on profanity.
Let it fly Mark, just leave out letters.
The FBI is likely already here. They don’t just monitor they actively try to infiltrate. The posts that glow always allude to violence. Those posters should be flagged and banned immediately.
There is conservative opposition in government. But there is noting they can do but write stern letters because they are the minority party out of power. Garland knows there is nothing Republicans can do to stop him.
Not only is this wrong, it’s a conflict of interest. So wrong on two levels.
Don’t they realize there are smart people out here who are watching and reporting on their malfeasance?
Wow, labeling soccer mom’s as terrorists? That can’t be good for anyone’s reelection.
The swing voting soccer moms are a myth. Soccer moms are hardcore leftists with “hate has a home here” signs in their yard. They’ll vote for Biden no matter what he does. Soccer moms want the rabble rousing racist parents locked up for speaking out at board meetings. He’s doing this because he knows it helps his cause. Everything the Biden team does is because of polls. They are utterly incompetent and have bungled massively but they strongly believe in the power of propaganda and polls influence their decisions, and they use propaganda to influence polls. That’s why he’s blaming… Read more »
Yes, many of those ‘soccer moms’ are full blown ‘Karens’, ready to report their neighbors to the FBI for not embracing the Leftist agenda at the grade school. You can spot them in the parks, or at the lake front with their young kids wearing masks.
Yes, like my neighbors! So smug and so close minded.
I may be wrong, but what I can tell from the polls is that the swing to the hard left by suburban voters is both men and women.
For sure, they’ve both swung far the left, but in my at least anecdotal experience, the men haven’t swung quite as far to the left as the women. The only couple I’ve ever met in my life where the husband is a leftie and the wife is centrist is, right now, in the middle of a messy, messy divorce. Every other Democrat ‘suburban’ couple I’ve met in my life, the wife is mostly full blown communist but the husband is a Democrat because they’re too afraid to tell their wife how they really feel!
you call these people men?-theyre not men,theyre weak little ” todds” with no backbone,weak,weak,weak little flits
One theory is that suburban women complete their vuckhold husbands’ mail in ballots which explains why the suburbs inexplicably swung so far to the left in such a short period of time. In my lifetime R-Phil Crane used to represent the northwest suburbs and how they have a communist Raja Krishnamoorthi who is like a socialist pullstring talking toy doll spewing the latest talking points hand fed to him by the daily DNC talking points memo faxed to his office daily at 7:30 a.m. And he’s got a safe seat that won’t be flipping back anytime soon as the Northwest… Read more »
With the gerrymanding, not just NW suburbs, My rep was Henry Hyde, then Roskum now Rajicommie
Totally agree. But hockey moms are mostly conservative 🙂 We stick together.
It’s adorable you still think we have free and fair elections.
The J Edgar Hoover reincarnated FBI with it’s nose in every local school board meeting, and the poster child for Byzantine guvmn’t bureaucracy IRS in possession of everyone’s monthly bank statements.
All those, “I’m independent/undecided and voting for Joe to stop the mean tweets & return us to normal” folks must be ever so happy.
Back off Garland- A mother protecting her child will make you a loser! Pick your battles wisely! You will lose this one.
Biden has simply weaponized the DOJ like Obama did under Eric Holder with Garland as his tool. Mitch McConnell did the country a favor not putting this partisan hack on the Supreme Court. If any crimes were committed at school board meetings, they should be indicted at the local level, no reason to invoke federal crimes. The real reason for this scam is to silence political dissidents.
You beat me to it, great move by McConnell, Obama tried to portray Garland as a moderate, what a joke.