A Rhode Island school is charging a mom over $100,000 to access the curriculum of a teacher who made light of the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk last month. 
Barrington Public Schools told Nicole Solas that it would cost a whopping $117,130.50 for them to comb through the class materials of teacher Benjamin Fillo, who responded to Kirk’s murder by calling him a “piece of garbage.” Solas says that the school is stonewalling her efforts to ensure that Rhode Island taxpayers are not paying for political indoctrination. 
“It&#8217;s a big slap in the face to parents who implicitly trust their kids with the public education system,” she told The Daily Wire, adding that she was concerned that Fillo’s “political positions and radical ideologies were entering the classroom.”
Solas sent in public records requests to the school district after she flagged a TikTok video showing Fillo attacking Kirk after he was shot on the campus of Utah Valley University. While Solas noted she lives in a different district, she believes that no one&#8217;s taxpayer dollars should subsidize political education. 
“This is a man who hated the LGBTQ community, who hated women&#8217;s rights, who hated democracy, who thought that he was a big man because he went to college campuses and debated college students, thought he proved how tough he was with his words that he studied ahead of time. What a piece of garbage,” Fillo said in the video. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Can Barrington, Rhode Island <a href="https://twitter.com/bps_ri?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bps_ri</a> teacher &amp; NEA Barrington President Benjamin Fillo confirm/deny he made this video saying Charlie Kirk
&#8220;thought he proved how tough he was with his words&#8230;What a piece of garbage. Look what happens&#8230;Bye, Charlie!&#8221;
It&#8217;s inhumane. <a href="https://t.co/KD473ndMMY">pic.twitter.com/KD473ndMMY</a>
— Nicole Solas, Sued by the Teachers Union (@Nicoletta0602) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1966247694844014791?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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After that video went viral, Fillo was placed on leave, and an independent investigation was launched. In the meantime, some students came forward alleging that Fillo has exhibited bias towards conservatives.
Solas then requested that the district provide her with emails sent by Fillo in September mentioning Trump and his curriculum. The district responded that the emails would cost $379.50 and the curriculum would cost $117,130.50.
“It should never cost $117,000 to see the curriculum materials of a single social studies teacher in a public school because those materials are already paid for by the taxpayer,” Solas said. “Barrington Public School District’s exorbitant fee weaponizes Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act to block access to public information about what students are being taught instead of simply handing over the materials free of charge.”
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The Goldwater Institute provided Solas with a lawyer through its pro bono American Freedom Network to assist her in the records request. The lawyer, James McGlone, sent a letter to the school demanding that it revise its payment request or eliminate it altogether. In a letter, McGlone said that public interest in the case would likely lead to a court ordering the school to produce the requested records for free. 
Solas said that the fundamental issue at stake was that teachers should not be allowed to create a hostile environment for certain students.
“No matter what you think about Charlie Kirk, no matter what you think about Republican parents or conservatives, it doesn&#8217;t matter how bad you think they are, no one deserves to die just because of their point of view,” she said. “The impressionable minds of children in public school can&#8217;t learn from someone who doesn&#8217;t understand that basic principle.”

Political Activist Charlie Kirk Shot Dead At Utah Valley University

School Charges Mom Six Figures For Records Of Teacher Who Called Charlie Kirk ‘Garbage’

School Charges Mom Six Figures For Records Of Teacher Who Called Charlie Kirk 'Garbage'

Charlie Kirk

Rhode Island

Errors in the 2020 census benefited Democrats and hurt Republicans, and these inaccuracies could make a difference on Election Day.
In 2022, a report from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that the 2020 census incorrectly counted the American population in at least 14 states, leading some states to lose congressional representation. The report was <a href="https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/report/census-bureau-errors-distort-congressional-representation-the-states" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highlighted</a> at the time by Heritage Foundation scholar Hans von Spakovsky, who told The Daily Wire that the errors could benefit Democrats in November.
“The result of the Census errors in Florida and Texas, two red states, should have three more electoral seats that they never got,” von Spakovsky wrote in an email. “Whereas three blue states, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Colorado, have three congressional seats &#8211; and thus three electoral votes &#8211; they should not have. In a razor thin election, this could make the difference in victory.”
Another Heritage scholar, Stephen Moore, who is also an author and founder of the Club For Growth, brought the report back into the light over the weekend, noting, “A majority of the overcounted states were blue, while a majority of the undercounted states were red.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The 2020 Census robbed Red states of electoral seats.
A majority of the overcounted states were blue, while a majority of the undercounted states were red.
According to a <a href="https://twitter.com/Heritage?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Heritage</a> analysis, the result of these errors shorted red states three seats:<a href="https://t.co/QhZcUQUz7b">https://t.co/QhZcUQUz7b</a> <a href="https://t.co/rSVIzMeqUm">pic.twitter.com/rSVIzMeqUm</a>
— Stephen Moore (@StephenMoore) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenMoore/status/1832405763085537461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Moore included a chart showing that overcounted states included Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah. The error size in New York resulted in a population miscount of +695,422. Minnesota and Rhode Island, whose overcounting resulted in them keeping electoral votes they should have lost, overcounted their populations by 216,971 and 55,457, respectively.
Though Rhode Island overcounted by a smaller amount than the other states (it was still a 5% increase in population, however), it managed to hold onto a congressional seat that it should have lost, the Associated Press <a href="https://turnto10.com/news/local/rhode-island-overcounted-during-the-2020-census-rhode-island-may-19-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in 2022.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1724361346607000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ZhyOQfEkxcMH_D1Ago3CQ">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a>
If Rhode Island had counted 19,000 fewer residents – as it should have – it would have lost one of its two congressional seats. Had that happened, the AP reported, that congressional seat would have gone to New York.
As for Florida, it undercounted residents by 750,600. It only needed about 171,500 more residents to gain an extra seat. Texas, too, was undercounted by about 560,000 residents when it only needed 189,000 to gain another congressional seat.
In his analysis of the Census Bureau report, von Spakovsky noted:
<blockquote>Under the 2020 Census enumeration released on April 26, 2021, the total apportionment population of the United States was reported as 331,108,434. After application of the “method of equal proportion,” five states each gained one new congressional seat: Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon. Texas gained two new seats. Due to population decreases, seven states each lost one congressional seat: California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.</blockquote>
These errors can’t be corrected until the 2030 census, which could bring additional, similar errors.

Electoral College Map

Blue States Benefited From 2020 Census Mistakes As Red States Suffered Losses

Blue States Benefitted From 2020 Census Mistakes As Red States Suffered Losses

2024 Election

Census Bureau

Elections

Electoral College

Florida

Texas

U.S.

An illegal immigrant from Guatemala accused of child molestation was released from prison last month by authorities in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/rhode-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rhode Island</a> before federal immigration officials could take him into custody.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ero-boston-apprehends-guatemalan-citizen-arrested-locally-first-degree-child" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Friday that they had arrested a 22-year-old illegal immigrant wanted on domestic assault and first-degree child molestation on April 10. The arrest came hours after the Sixth District Court of Rhode Island had ordered him released onto the streets of Providence before ICE could take him into custody.
Providence is a sanctuary city and ignored the detainer that had been placed on the illegal immigrant by ICE.
“This unlawfully present individual was arrested locally on first degree child molestation charges and was released back into the community despite an immigration detainer,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons. “We believe it is in the interest of the community that jurisdictions honor our immigration detainers so that ICE can take direct custody of individuals like this who pose a threat to residents.”
“ERO Boston hopes to cooperate with our local partners in Rhode Island to help make safer neighborhoods for everyone in the state and throughout New England,” Lyons added.
According to ICE, the illegal immigrant, who was not named, illegally entered the United States around Nogales, Arizona, where he was apprehended by Border Patrol in November 2018. He would have been around 16-years-old at the time and he was released into the country and given a court date.
Four years later, the Providence Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest on sexual assault and child molestation charges on November 21, 2022. He was not arrested until February 28, 2024 when police nabbed him on domestic assault charges in addition to the previous charges.
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After the arrest, ICE placed an immigration detainer on him, but he was released on April 10 by a Rhode Island court.
“Later that day, ERO Boston deportation officers in Rhode Island arrested him without incident in Providence. He will be held in ICE custody pending a future hearing before a Department of Justice immigration judge,” ICE said.
In recent weeks, ICE has been drawing attention to the release of illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes in New England, The Daily Caller <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/05/03/blue-state-releases-child-molester-ice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Last month, a 26-year-old Honduran <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/19/illegal-alien-sexual-assault-minor-ice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused</a> first-degree sexual assault of a minor was released by Connecticut authorities who ignored an immigration detainer placed on him by ICE.

MixCollage-04-May-2024-03-13-PM-1525

ICE Responds After Sanctuary City Releases Illegal Immigrant Accused Of Child Molestation

Guatemala

Illegal Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Sanctuary Cities

Sex Crimes

Eight Rhode Island medical providers <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1765861434208985487?t=r6zGyN1zzXz-qohTEQpyvw&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared</a> to testify on March 7th in support of a bill shielding gender doctors from lawsuits filed by out-of-state plaintiffs. Two doctors were obstetricians — ironic considering they support sterilizing children, which actively destroys their future patient pool. The bill was held for further study.
Senate Bill 2262, titled <a href="https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/02/proposed-law-would-make-rhode-island-sanctuary-state-for-abortion-and-gender-affirming-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Healthcare Provider Shield Act</a>, is more of a healthcare provider sword to brandish against vulnerable patients harmed by “gender-affirming care” because not only does it insulate gender doctors from out-of-state lawsuits, it creates a cause of action for doctors to sue their vulnerable patients back. As a result, patients are not only deterred from having their day in court, but can be punished for it too.
I <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1766084976976490998?t=pVhIdO9xAAu_OZ6tEdpKgA&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> as a proxy for Dr. Michelle Cretella, the former Executive Director of the <a href="https://acpeds.org/press/pediatricians-respond-to-wpath-files-exposing-the-underbelly-of-the-gender-industry?inf_contact_key=8e168fa286a0f232347f4a1fb7d60c4dcc0558ed5d4c28cbfab114022b1ec50d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American College of Pediatricians</a> and current Chair of its Sexuality Committee. Dr. Cretella is also a pediatrician consultant to detransition litigation attorneys. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is Dr. Cretella&#39;s testimony I delivered as a proxy which caused Lifespan pediatrician Dr. Emily Allen to identify Dr. Cretella as part of a &quot;hate group&quot; and make unsubstantiated &quot;disinformation&quot; allegations. 3/3 <a href="https://t.co/8SmyyMelnK">pic.twitter.com/8SmyyMelnK</a>
&mdash; Nicole Solas, Sued by the Teachers Union (@Nicoletta0602) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1766084976976490998?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Legislators may not always read written testimony emailed before hearings with a hasty 48-hour notice. Given the concerning number of ideological Rhode Island medical providers lobbying for legislation to suppress medical malpractice lawsuits likely to expose and repudiate the medical fraud of “gender-affirming care,” it was critical that legislators heard Dr. Cretella’s testimony in person.
Dr. Cretella opposed the bill and cited two Rhode Island detransition lawsuits filed last October along with the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2024/03/12/leaks-us-gender-group-wpath/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WPATH files</a>. She stated:
<blockquote>And we can expect a surge of similar well-warranted malpractice lawsuits. Thanks to a whistle-blower in the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, the world learned this week that Dr. Joyce Asseler and her fellow WPATH health professionals knew that by an average age of 32 years, 27% of children transitioned young with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and surgeries express regret over “sacrificing their fertility.</blockquote>
In chilling closing remarks, Dr. Cretella warned legislators:
<blockquote>The physician inventor of lobotomy received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1949 and the practice was not repudiated until 1967. The State of Rhode Island has no interest in protecting ‘gender experts’ who are the equivalent of yesterday’s expert lobotomists. Rhode Island has every interest in giving every harmed patient their day in court.</blockquote>
Dr. Emily B. Allen, a Lifespan pediatrician <a href="https://capitoltvri.cablecast.tv/show/318?site=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testifying</a> on behalf of the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, attacked Dr. Cretella’s organization stating it is “classified as a fringe LGBTQ hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). She added that Dr. Cretella’s testimony was: 
<blockquote>&#8230;riddled with disinformation, offensive and inflammatory language, omissions, and misrepresentations of research, and were not rooted in real science or evidence-based medicine. &#8230; It is scary to see other states impose civil and criminal penalties on pediatricians and other providers for practicing medicine in line with the best evidence and professional standards.</blockquote>
This is bold testimony in light of the recent National Health Service’s (NHS) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nhs-england-permanently-bans-puberty-blockers-from-being-prescribed-to-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ban</a> on prescribing puberty blockers to children outside of clinical research, which was most certainly “rooted in real science [and] evidence-based medicine” after a review of published evidence by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) showed there was “not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of PSH [i.e. “puberty blockers”] to make the treatment routinely available at this time.”
Dr. Allen is also an assistant <a href="https://vivo.brown.edu/display/eba1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">professor</a> at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University with no peer-reviewed publications and only non-peer-reviewed publications including &#8220;<a href="https://teenspeak.org/2017/06/15/10-ways-to-be-kind-to-your-vagina/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10 Ways To Be Kind To Your Vagina</a>.&#8221; Her medical groups, Lifespan and the American Academy of Pediatrics, are two of several defendants in one Rhode Island <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgg2hEaqGzE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed by detransitioner <a href="https://www.iwf.org/identity-crisis-stories/isabelle-ayala/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Isabelle Ayala</a>—a lawsuit that may not have been filed if Rhode Island had already passed the Healthcare Provider Shield Act.
After the hearing, I asked Dr. Allen whether she read the <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a45d683b0be33df885def6/t/65ea1c1ea42ff5250c88a2f5/1709841455308/WPATH+Report+and+Files%28N%29.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WPATH files</a> and what she knew about the Southern Poverty Law Center. Dr. Allen <a href="https://x.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1766084973298073905?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> that the Southern Poverty Law Center was “the standard” even though she knew only “some about them.” Pediatricians citing political propaganda to discredit other physicians’ scientific arguments against “gender-affirming care” for kids should lose all credibility as physicians.
She refuted Dr. Cretella’s citation of the <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a45d683b0be33df885def6/t/65ea1c1ea42ff5250c88a2f5/1709841455308/WPATH+Report+and+Files%28N%29.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27% regret rate</a> of adults rendered infertile by childhood gender dysphoria treatments alleging it was based on “outdated definitions of gender dysphoria.” Dr. Cretella later responded to Dr. Allen’s refutation stating:
<blockquote>[Dr. Allen] just proved she didn’t read the report. The 27% regret rate cited by Dr. Asseler is specifically over ‘sacrificing fertility;’ it was so high because as children (ages 8-13), the gender-confused kids said they never wanted babies, but by an average age of 32, they realized they desperately wanted children but were made permanently sterile by their teens. The diagnosis of gender dysphoria is correct. The claim that any child is trapped in the wrong body or that their gender identity is innate and immutable is science fiction.</blockquote>
Dr. Allen then added that Dr. Cretella’s testimony contained:
<blockquote>&#8230;language that I know is really hurting the kids who may be listening &#8230; and the parents and the families who are trying to do what is right for their kids.</blockquote>
When I pressed Dr. Allen to substantiate her claims of “disinformation” in Dr. Cretella’s testimony, Dr. Allen said she stood by her testimony but would not speak on <a href="https://x.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1766084973298073905?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">camera</a> because it didn’t “feel genuine” to her. She emphasized again that the language in Dr. Cretella’s testimony was “very hurtful and really harmful for a lot of people, very inflammatory.” When I contended that Dr. Cretella’s testimony was scientific, Dr. Allen demurred, repeating that our conversation was not “genuine.” Dr. Allen offered to meet at a later date and provide written information but did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Other medical provider witnesses echoed Dr. Allen’s emotional appeals supplanting scientific arguments to shield gender doctors from lawsuits. For example, Dr. William Dewitt, Medical Director of Open Door Health Clinic, <a href="https://capitoltvri.cablecast.tv/show/318?site=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> to his clinic “being targeted on social media by individuals and groups motivated by fear and hatred.” Perhaps he is referring to my own <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1760647786339385503?t=f_bmRGLGpZALj-S6DZ6AKg&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on X questioning the age threshold in his clinic’s advertisement for “gender-affirming medical care for children and adolescents.” There is no hatred in asking for the ages of children starting “gender-affirming care” treatments, but Dr. Dewitt is right to note that there is fear, which is well-warranted given the alarming <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-data-shows-skyrocketing-gender-clinic-referrals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">number</a> of children whose lives have been destroyed by doctors claiming to help them.
* * *
Nicole Solas is a senior fellow at Independent Women’s Forum (iwf.org).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

State House of Rhode Island

I Testified On Behalf Of A Pediatrician Defending Detransitioners. Here’s What Happened.

American Academy of Pediatrics

Doctors

Gender

gender ideology

Opinion

Readers Pass

Social Issues

Transgender

Providence College, a Catholic university in Rhode Island, donated thousands of dollars in grant awards to several nonprofit organizations that openly promote gender ideology to children. Two organizations — Youth Pride RI and Young Voices — directly solicit LGBTQIA+ or gender and sexuality programs to children. Another grant recipient, Rhode Island Kids Count, <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1754679578243575894?t=Ze6-vfcrCCCOErufgnaVPQ&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> in support of bills teaching gender identity to students and supported the Rhode Island Department of Education’s <a href="https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/2023-06/Guidance-Rhode-Island-Schools-Transgender-Gender-Nonconforming-Students.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guidance</a> on transgender school policies keeping secrets from parents. <a href="https://www.lifespan.org/centers-services/adolescent-medicine/gender-and-sexual-health-services-children-teens-and-young" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lifespan</a>, a current Community Partner with Providence College, provides “gender and sexual health services” to children.
The most egregious error in religious discernment is found in the $10,000 grant award to <a href="https://www.youthprideri.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Youth Pride RI</a> in 2021, the same year Youth Pride RI launched a program titled “<a href="https://www.youthprideri.org/programs/groups/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Little Unicorns</a>” for adults to talk to children ages 5 to 9 about gender and sexuality on weekly Zoom sessions without parents. Youth Pride RI also consults with RI public school gender and sexuality (GSA) <a href="https://www.youthprideri.org/14th-annual-gsa-conference/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clubs</a>, organizes a multi-state GSA <a href="https://www.youthprideri.org/gsa-conference-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conference</a>, and <a href="https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/02/proposed-law-would-make-rhode-island-sanctuary-state-for-abortion-and-gender-affirming-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backed</a> a bill making Rhode Island a sanctuary state for “gender-affirming care” and abortion. Youth Pride RI’s support for transgender and abortion sanctuary state status came after the Providence College Partnership was established.
How did a Catholic college in the most Catholic <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/catholic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">state</a> in America fail to vet such an anti-Catholic organization as a grant recipient? Its name alone should have acted as Catholic repellant to any Catholic institution vigilant of the two things that nearly broke the Catholic church in 2002 — kids (“Youth”) and sexuality (“Pride”).
Youth Pride RI is “the only nonprofit in Rhode Island specifically dedicated to meet the needs of LGBTQIA+ Youth 25 and under.” It received <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1638964704331591689?t=oEa8Tnhu2vgdvpwa393eAw&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$165,000</a> in government grants in 2019.
The $10,000 Providence College grant was awarded by the <a href="https://friarphilanthropy2018.weebly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Making A Difference Board</a> (MAD) consisting of students in a philanthropy class taught by Dr. Rick Battistoni. Dr Battistoni is a professor of Political Science and of Public and Community Service Studies, as well as the Director of the Feinstein Institute for Public Service. He has been at Providence College since 1994.
In a separate 2017 <a href="https://share.transistor.fm/s/190ca1be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a>, Dr. Battistoni explained that his students learn to be “engaged in the issues and the root causes that create the need for philanthropy in the first place,” because philanthropy is “more than just writing a check.”
The students act as a philanthropy foundation board deciding which local RI nonprofits should receive Providence College grants. Organizations donated <a href="https://www.instagram.com/provcollege/p/C17b0b7PfiB/?img_index=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$50,000</a> for the class to distribute in grants this year. Each student writes a research advocacy paper to decide “the most pressing injustice … that needs philanthropic support in Rhode Island.”
MAD decided that an organization promoting gender ideology to children and soliciting sexuality conversations with kindergartners was the best recipient for a grant from a Catholic college. In the past, MAD has decided that certain organizations were “not appropriate” as grant recipients. Apparently, organizations promoting gender ideology — which was deemed incontrovertibly antithetical to the Catholic faith even by the liberal <a href="https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12451/pope-francis-attacks-evil-of-gender-theory-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pope Francis</a> because it would “‘destroy at its roots’ God’s most basic plan for human beings” — do not fall squarely into the category of “not appropriate.”
Perhaps this lapse in judgment had something to do with Dr. Battistoni&#8217;s affinity for Youth Pride RI since he <a href="https://www.youthprideri.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Youth_Pride_2014_AnnualReport_Web_File2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donated</a> to it as an individual in 2014.
Students invite organizations to apply for the grant with a <a href="https://groups.google.com/g/rieea/c/Vjdj14Ci_xE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">request for proposals</a> and visit finalists on-site. It is hard to believe Dr. Battistoni and his MAD students were unaware that Youth Pride RI furthered goals antithetical to Catholic teachings given Dr. Battistoni&#8217;s stringent research standards and his own familiarity with the organization.
Dr. Battistoni stated in 2017, “Students learn that philanthropy can be leveraged to create greater change in a community.” Catholic money should never be “leveraged” to support organizations that promote sex changes to children or have sexual conversations with kindergartners.
Compare Providence College’s transgression to The Catholic University of America, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/catholic-university-fires-professor-who-subjected-students-to-abortion-doula" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fired</a> a professor for inviting an abortion doula to a required lecture. That was one class. This is $10,000 of Catholic money supporting anti-Catholic schemes. Also compare this to the Rhode Island priest <a href="https://www.independentri.com/news/article_4ed28772-189c-11ed-94d2-d7cdfa57bc4e.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removed</a> from active ministry after allegations that he talked to adolescents about their sexual orientations. Catholic institutions should not fund or otherwise support organizations engaging in the same sexualized interactions with children it prohibits from priests after the massive sex abuse <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/special-reports/2002/01/06/church-allowed-abuse-priest-for-years/cSHfGkTIrAT25qKGvBuDNM/story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scandal</a> of 2002.
Another organization, <a href="https://www.rikidscount.org/About-Us/About-Rhode-Island-br-KIDS-COUNT" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RI Kids Count</a>, received <a href="https://www.instagram.com/provcollege/p/C17b0b7PfiB/?img_index=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$20,000</a> from Dr. Battistoni&#8217;s MAD board in January 2024. RI Kids Count is “a children’s research and policy advocacy organization that works to improve the health, economic well-being, safety, and development of Rhode Island’s children,” and recently <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1754679578243575894?t=tbLce2ac9q2uvc_B3Q8QMA&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> that it “stands firmly in support of trans youth” at a “Speak Up For Trans Youth” <a href="https://thewomxnproject.org/pr-local-organizations-speak-up-for-trans-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event</a> on October 18, 2023. This event was meant to demonize my earlier <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11244593/Conservative-mom-spent-1200-money-police-security-Rhode-Island-trans-library-talk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event</a> educating parents about gender ideology in school. Deputy Director Stephanie Geller <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1754679578243575894?t=KfXrhxTChZlfoex0n-nmNw&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> RI Kids Count opposes “hateful legislation” excluding gender identity from sex education. <a href="https://www.pflagprovidence.org/speak-up-for-trans-youth-a-community-action-meeting.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Youth Pride RI</a> was also in attendance.
Oversight for the MAD student board appears to lie solely with Dr. Battistoni, but Providence College exercised dubious judgment beyond Dr. Battistoni&#8217;s philanthropy class.
For example, <a href="https://www.youngvoicesri.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Young Voices</a>, is a current <a href="https://feinstein.providence.edu/community-partners/young-voices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Community Partner</a> of Providence College, and it solicits children to complete an <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdNRq1wiBTdeE7DM1eAinsCJ_Om5ZV46Nh8_TO87-0kkzocNg/viewform" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interest form</a> on its landing page. Children completing the form are required to provide their name, grade, school, email address, and phone number. A child interested in Young Voice’s “LGBTQIA+ Networking Night” will receive a “follow-up email with more information.” No parental consent or minimum age is required to fill out the form.
Young Voices’ mission is to “to transform urban youth into powerful advocates who have a voice in every aspect of their lives.” The goal of its Providence College partnership is, in part, to “[b]uild a more inclusive bridge for high school students in Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls to access and learn about life after college including higher education options at PC and beyond.” What do “LGBTQ+ network nights” for kids have to do with “higher education options at PC and beyond?”
<a href="https://www.lifespan.org/about-lifespan/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lifespan</a> is another questionable Providence College <a href="https://feinstein.providence.edu/community-partners/lifespan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">community partner</a> because Lifespan provides “gender and sexual health services” to <a href="https://www.lifespan.org/centers-services/adolescent-medicine/gender-and-sexual-health-services-children-teens-and-young" target="_blank" rel="noopener">children</a>. Lifespan and some member providers, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-is-just-insane-laura-ingraham-talks-with-matt-walsh-about-what-is-a-woman-documentary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michelle Forcier</a>, were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioners-sue-rhode-island-medical-provider-and-persistent-public-school-agitator">sued</a> last October by detransitioner Isabelle Ayala who alleges she was rushed into a sex change at 14 years old.
My own former Lifespan pediatrician <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/09/15/solas-my-pediatrician-discharged-my-kids-because-i-objected-to-gender-ideology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discharged</a> my children after I complained about “safe zone” stickers promoting gender identity on the walls of children’s exam rooms.
If vetting is too burdensome to ensure Catholic money does not promote anti-Catholic initiatives, perhaps Providence College can include an eligibility clause on grant applications disqualifying applicants whose organizational activities — specifically promotion of gender ideology and abortion — are in contravention to the Catholic faith. Additionally, require a certification that applicants have read the eligibility requirements and make it clear that misrepresentations will result in a return of funds.
Providence College and Dr. Battistoni did not respond to a request for comment.
* * *
Nicole Solas is a senior fellow with the Education Freedom Center at Independent Women’s Forum (<a href="http://iwf.org/EFC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iwf.org/EFC</a>).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Providence College

Catholic College Funded Gender Ideology Organizations

Abortion

Catholic Church

Children

LGBTQ

transgender surgery

Federal immigration authorities took custody of three <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/illegal-immigration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">illegal aliens</a> late last month in Rhode Island in connection with the death of a 1-year-old baby.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ero-boston-arrests-3-portuguese-nationals-charged-death-rhode-island-infant#:~:text=BOSTON%20%E2%80%94%20Enforcement%20and%20Removal%20Operations,child%20in%20Pawtucket%2C%20Rhode%20Island." target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement that the three female illegal aliens — ages 32, 25, and 22 — were from Portugal.
&#8220;The three Portuguese nationals were arrested Feb. 11 by the Pawtucket Police Department in connection with the child’s death, which occurred under their care,&#8221; ICE said in a statement. &#8220;Police also arrested a 25-year-old man alleged to be the child’s father. The three women were charged with felony child endangerment; the alleged father was charged with manslaughter, three counts of second degree child abuse, and child endangerment.&#8221;
Officers from ICE&#8217;s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) took custody of the three women a week later.
Police said when they arrived on scene after receiving an emergency call that they discovered the baby boy &#8220;unresponsive with significant bruising on his face.&#8221; He died a short time later at a local hospital.
&#8220;One of the three female Portuguese nationals had been admitted on a nonimmigrant tourist visitor in April 1998 and unlawfully remained in the United States more than 25 years beyond the allowable terms of her visa,&#8221; ICE added. &#8220;The other two Portuguese nationals were admitted to the United States under a visa waiver program — one in July 2016 and the other in March 2022. Both violated the terms of their visa waivers by remaining in the country longer than allowed.&#8221;
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ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons said that the alleged crimes by the illegal aliens &#8220;resulted in the death of an innocent child.&#8221;
&#8220;Those who commit crimes against children must be held accountable,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Unlawfully present foreign nationals posing a danger to our New England communities cannot expect to escape the consequences of their actions.&#8221;

REVERE, MA. – SEPTEMBER 25: ICE agent badge on September 25, 2019 in Revere, Massachusetts.  (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)

ICE Arrests 3 Illegal Aliens In Connection With Baby’s Death

Death

Rhode Island “gender-affirming care” medical providers Dr. Jason Rafferty, Dr. Michelle Forcier, and Thundermist Health Center became defendants in two medical malpractice <a href="https://www.iwf.org/2023/10/24/breaking-female-detransitioner-sues-american-academy-of-pediatrics-alleging-fraudulent-affirmative-care-model/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuits</a> filed last October by former patients, <a href="https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/ae9895b0-a62f-49d6-99d6-180b933bca97/Ulery%20-%20Amended%20Complaint%20filed.pdf">Hannah (“Layton”) Ulery</a> and <a href="https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/ae9895b0-a62f-49d6-99d6-180b933bca97/202310231612%20-%20(Ayala)%20Original%20Complaint.pdf">Isabelle Ayala</a>. Layton alleges she was pressured into “irreversible transgender medicalization” by Dr. Rafferty at Thundermist Health Center who deliberately ignored red flags in her medical history and comorbidities. Likewise, Isabelle alleges medical malpractice, gross negligence, fraud, and civil conspiracy against Dr. Forcier and Dr. Rafferty. You can hear Isabelle’s story in her own words <a href="https://www.iwf.org/identity-crisis-stories/isabelle-ayala/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
Local Rhode Island media has not reported on these lawsuits despite national <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12654975/Detransitioner-multiple-personality-gender-reassignment.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coverage</a> by various <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/12/13/news/detransitioner-suing-american-academy-of-pediatrics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outlets</a>. A generous explanation for this local media blackout might be the naive perception that these are niche stories outside the scope of public interest. What do these lawsuits have to do with the average Rhode Islander?
Parents may be surprised to learn that the influence of Rafferty, Forcier, and Thundermist Health Center extends well beyond their private practice and directly into Rhode Island public schools. Thundermist Health Center has been a persistent agitator in Rhode Island public schools for quite some time. Materials I obtained from public records requests reveal Thundermist Health Center <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1652000931775492129?t=bZ2Gz5XQHHa62kuk2G0Y3Q&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trained</a> South Kingstown School District social workers to deceive parents about gender-confused children in 2016.
Thundermist “Transgender workshop” slides trained school social workers to “check with the student about family disclosures!” and “Do not disclose without permission.” School social workers should “refer persistent parents to administration” and “build an alliance with the student” when there are “family conflicts with coming out and medical care.” They read like explicit instructions for school social workers to drive a wedge between parents and children in the context of “cross gender hormones vs. blockers vs. wait until age 18.” One slide titled “Medical Treatment Options Under Age 18” advises that there is “some surgery for older teens” and “insurance coverage varies.” There is only one reason for a medical provider to train school social workers on insurance coverage for child sex change surgeries—to recruit future patients.
Thundermist’s Trans Health Director, Jaye Watts, appeared at a school committee <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1699514443485401378?t=iNUbkqW05QN9j04IQ9RFbA&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meeting</a> of another Rhode Island school district on September 5, 2023, where she stated that she helped create the 2016 <a href="https://ride.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur806/files/2023-06/Guidance-Rhode-Island-Schools-Transgender-Gender-Nonconforming-Students.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guidance for Rhode Island Schools on Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Students</a> (though she herself is not listed as a reference). <a href="https://www.rwu.edu/events/pride-week-jaye-watts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaye Watts</a> is a biological woman presenting as a man and a licensed clinical social worker who uses “both his professional and life experiences to educate thousands of Rhode Islanders on LGBTQ issues with an emphasis on gender identity…” The guidance Watts helped create advises schools to keep secrets from parents about students’ chosen gender identity, allow boys in the girls’ bathroom, provide co-ed sleeping quarters on overnight field trips, and form “point teams” of school staff to “gender transition” students without parental knowledge or consent.
Watts incorrectly advised the school committee that “regulations” require the school to pass a policy keeping secrets from parents about a student’s chosen “gender identity.” When asked to cite the specific regulation, Watts said she did not know it. Watts also bizarrely alleged, “l’m hearing people saying things like trans people don’t exist,” when no such comment was made at the meeting.
Watts’ transgender activism started to focus on children in 2015 when she worked with the Rhode Island Department of Children Youth and Families to pass a <a href="https://datadcyf.ri.gov/policyregs/sexual_orientation__gender_identity_and_expression_print.htm">regulation</a> that incorporated transgender medical interventions as routine medical care for children in state custody. Consequently, when parents sign the <a href="https://datadcyf.ri.gov/policyregs/authorization_for_medical_care_for_child_in_placement_policy.htm">Authorization for Medical Care for Child in Placement Policy</a>, they unknowingly consent to transgender medical interventions for their child. In some cases, DCYF may consent to transgender medical interventions for children in state custody or obtain a court order, both without parental consent. In a 2020 interview, Watts <a href="https://provlibdigital.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A29014" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described</a> her work with DCYF as “the only like non like queer job that I had but still made it very queer.” Watts stated she also helped train Rhode Island family court judges “on LGBT youth in general with a heavy focus on trans care and treatment.” Commenting on the success of her activism, Watts remarked, “&#8230;everything must be done quietly.”
Thundermist Health Center even interfered privately with parents concerned about gender ideology in school. In September of 2022, I held a private library <a href="https://sanzi.substack.com/p/it-was-a-conversation-about-what" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event</a> to educate parents about gender ideology in school. According to Cranston Public Library trustee emails I obtained from public records requests, Thundermist Health Center contacted library trustee Larry O. Warner with “concerns” about my event. Warner wrote:
<blockquote>“I did get a call and message via social media from an acquaintance at Thundermist Health Center about their concerns. It seems that there have been threats of violence directed toward other health centers which are specifically for Transgender patients &#8211; threats associated with the host group and speaker in question or resulting from their speeches (Thundermist has a Trans Health Program, hence her call and concern). She was looking for contact information for library leadership (sorry).”</blockquote>
Consequently, a woke <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11244593/Conservative-mom-spent-1200-money-police-security-Rhode-Island-trans-library-talk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mob</a> of hundreds of radical transgender activists attempted to sabotage my event, requiring <a href="https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/speech-tax-library-forced-gender-ideology-critics-pay-cops-event-no-known" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1,460</a> in police details. Shortly thereafter, Cranston Public Library director Ed Garcia emailed Jaye Watts to discuss my private event and later held a Thundermist-sponsored library event <a href="https://thewomxnproject.org/pr-local-organizations-speak-up-for-trans-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memorializing</a> their interference with parents as the “one-year anniversary of the day when more than 200 individuals rallied to reject hate-based attacks on trans youth at the same location in 2022.”
Why is Thundermist Health Center so obsessed with parents that they interfere with their private events and train school counselors to deceive them?
Rhode Island school social workers also appear to be influenced by “gender-affirming care” defendant Michelle Forcier. Forcier is a Rhode Island pediatrician and professor of pediatrics at Brown University where her professional <a href="https://medical.brown.edu/people/michelle-forcier-md-mph" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bio</a> states she is “gender expansive” and “pansexual.” She is also the former director of gender and sexual health services at Lifespan, another defendant in Isabelle Ayala’s lawsuit.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/what-is-a-woman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: &#8220;What is a Woman?&#8221; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
Forcier received national notoriety after appearing in Matt Walsh’s documentary <a href="https://www.iwf.org/2022/06/13/the-three-craziest-moments-from-matt-walshs-what-is-a-woman/">What Is A Woman</a>. She also defended the <a href="https://turnto10.com/news/local/american-girl-guidebook-on-body-image-gender-dysphoria-identity-expression-local-parent-pediatrician-divided-concerns-children-mental-health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Girl</a> guidebook directing gender-confused children to organizations for medical care without parents.
Forcier’s name appears in a cryptic <a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1645870517961003013?t=xlXo9LIf4wrzFFjGHuKe6g&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">email</a> forwarded from an unknown sender to Rebecca Angell, member of the Rhode Island School Social Worker Affiliates. It lists Michelle Forcier as one of “two referral sources for transgender individuals.” Both the sender’s name and numerous email recipients are hidden, and attached to the email is a 2013 news <a href="https://www.providencejournal.com/story/lifestyle/health-fitness/2013/11/30/20131130-providence-clinic-serves-young-patients-in-the-sexual-minority-ece/35379110007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">profile</a> of Michelle Forcier.
Forcier also edited a book titled <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-38909-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pediatric Gender Identity</a> which endorses Thundermist Health Center’s recommendation that pediatricians take a “gender history” of children without parents present because it “<a href="https://twitter.com/Nicoletta0602/status/1752094855411490923?t=vfXewphbY7NWYLF6pnlfyg&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plants</a> seeds for future allies.” These medical providers openly admit to using pediatrics to recruit children into a political ideology through psychological conditioning and parental separation.
While the full extent of these defendant medical providers’ influence on public school is not yet known and the lawsuits of Layton Ulery and Isabelle Ayala have yet to be adjudicated, one thing is clear: when medical providers are accused of irreversibly harming children, parents should know when they are embedded in public schools.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Identity Crisis: The Detransitioner Taking on the American Academy of Pediatrics" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A5cTpFzkQSs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Nicole Solas is a senior fellow at IWF’s <a href="https://www.iwf.org/efc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Education Freedom Center</a>. Nicole is a stay-at-home mom of two children from Rhode Island. Nicole advocates for school choice and academic transparency to fight back against the oppressive teachers unions and school districts that hide public information and bully parents. She is a Massachusetts attorney and graduate of Roger Williams School of Law.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Symbol of transgender and female and male gender symbols

Detransitioners Sue Rhode Island Medical Provider And Persistent Public School Agitator

Gender Identity

Public Schools

What Is A Woman

The Department of Homeland Security paid an activist group $700,000 to create self-described propaganda that attacked conservatives, a new investigation found.
DHS used a grant program intended to combat terrorists, called the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Program, to pay activists to write blog posts that criticized Donald Trump and other conservatives under the guise of “media literacy,&#8221; the Media Research Center found through public records requests.
In its <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/COMPLETE+TVTP+Grant+Proposal+for+Courageous+RI+%28Unredacted%29.pdf-1704479299785.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funding application</a>, the University of Rhode Island&#8217;s Media Education Lab declared that “propaganda and misinformation concerning topics including immigration [and] racial justice” had become “disruptive.” It asked DHS for funding to run “community-created counter-propaganda.&#8221;
“Propaganda can also be used for socially beneficial purposes. Indeed, because the public has long been recognized as being suggestible, the United States has long made use of beneficial propaganda during WWI, WWII, and the Cold War,” the grant application said.
The findings position the University of Rhode Island’s Media Education Lab and a closely linked activist group, Media Literacy Now (MLN), at the center of a sprawling, government-funded campaign to run propaganda on Americans to create a mandate for increased censorship. The Daily Wire reported last week that the same groups were also paid by the State Department, which had them arrange for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-paid-germans-to-bring-censorship-and-propaganda-to-u-s-schools" target="_blank" rel="noopener">German anti-“disinformation” activists to train U.S. school teachers </a>on the techniques used in that country, which has some of the most anti-free speech policies in the West.
MRC said the grant shows that Congress must abolish all domestic censorship programs.
“The Biden administration is able to get something quite special with its $700,000 TVTP grant,&#8221; the MRC concluded in its investigation. &#8220;Harnessing the Media Literacy Now ‘network’ and, ultimately, paying children to advocate for ‘media literacy’ mandates ensnares the whole of the American public school system in its agenda.”
“With just two grants — first from the State Department, and now from the DHS — the Biden administration has been able to artificially create a perpetual ‘[p]ublic demand for media literacy in public education,’ supercharging a censorship industry devoted to an inherently anti-American philosophy hidden beneath the asinine monicker of ‘media literacy,’” it wrote.
The DHS grant led to an entity known as “Courageous RI,” helmed by U-RI professor and leftist activist Renee Hobbs, which said that its program would use the funds to manipulate the public and policymakers into demanding policies to crack down on “misinformation.”
It said “media literacy” training was especially needed in Rhode Island because &#8220;the Southern Poverty Law Center identified several active hate groups in the state,” and that some residents of the January 6 “insurrection that breached the Capitol Building” were from the state.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-paid-germans-to-bring-censorship-and-propaganda-to-u-s-schools">State Department Paid Germans To Bring Censorship And Propaganda To U.S. Schools</a>
The anti-terrorism grant program was created under the Obama administration, and Miles Taylor, the DHS chief of staff under Donald Trump who gained notoriety for writing a New York Times op-ed admitting to undermining Trump from within, maneuvered to ensure that it lived on despite his boss’ wishes, according to a 2020 <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/26/trump-domestic-extemism-homeland-security-401926" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico</a> article. By this year, the program was being used to explicitly liken people who believed that there is a “deep state” — the idea that unelected bureaucrats might behave like Miles — to Holocaust deniers.
The Rhode Island Lab used the DHS money to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230727193333/https://www.courageousri.com/community" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pay people $250</a> each to write blog posts about “misinformation, disinformation, media literacy… and more!” The articles pushed for Left-wing policies, even though federal grants cannot be used to fund lobbying. The posts sometimes had less to do with “media literacy” than political opining, railing against the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230727211158/https://www.courageousri.com/post/why-are-we-passive-about-mass-shootings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Rifle Association</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230710154945/https://www.courageousri.com/post/what-it-means-that-stewart-rhodes-was-convicted-of-seditious-conspiracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stand Your Ground</a> laws.
“We are all living in a darker, scarier, angrier, less hopeful country thanks to Mr. Trump’s influence. Are we on the verge of civil war?” one post <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230727201137/https://www.courageousri.com/post/donald-trump-the-most-powerful-influencer-ever" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, complaining that Trump “was able to crawl into the safety of First Amendment protections.”
“It won’t be easy, but we really have to reduce Trump’s influence,” it pledged.
“Content moderation decisions of digital platforms actually do not violate ordinary people’s constitutionally guaranteed speech rights. That’s because private social media companies are not bound by the First Amendment,” another <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230727194705/https://www.courageousri.com/post/figuring-out-free-speech-hate-speech-and-censorship-what-s-needed-is-more-speech">said</a>, claiming that “the political right enjoys higher amplification compared to the political left.”
The DHS-funded entity served to bring together federal and state law enforcement officials, anti-speech activists, teachers, and Democrat advocacy groups.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore, a Democrat, made his department an official partner of Courageous RI, and assigned his staff to ghost-write the program’s “Manifesto.” The Manifesto said that “<a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Manifesto%20_%20Courageous%20RI%20X.pdf-1704482050747.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-government theories</a>… can lead to targeted violence and domestic terrorism.”
&#8220;We have become so focused on individual rights, we have forgotten about the collective good,&#8221; Amore said at Courageous RI’s launch event.
The Rhode Island School Superintendents Association and the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island, Zachary Cunha, are also among Courageous RI’s <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230925232006/https://www.courageousri.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“coalition” members</a>, as is Moms Demand Action, a Left-wing anti-gun group.
Though it was billed as teaching people how to identify propaganda and misinformation, the grant culminated in paying youth to create government-sanctioned messages. The “Statewide Community Creative Media Contest” gave <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240106042536/https://www.courageousri.com/student-media-contest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cash prizes</a> of up to $1,000 to students who generated “public service announcements … with support from local state public safety experts as well as communications and public relations professionals.”
As part of its “Media Literacy and Civic Engagement Curriculum,” it trained teachers to use the classroom to root out “misinformation,” encouraging them to “address[] controversial current events.” It said with DHS funding, it would train more than 6,800 educators and students to embed “media literacy and terrorism prevention in many different kinds of community programs.”
The final prong in the program was “Courageous Community Conversations.” A June 2023 event pushed a video that said that the reason Hispanics tilted towards the Republican Party in 2020 was because of “disinformation” against Joe Biden in “Spanish-language media,” with Russia possibly to blame. It called for social media companies like Meta to more aggressively censor information in response.
The conversations also included a podcast series. In one episode, DHS agent <a href="https://www.courageousri.com/post/a-whole-society-approach-to-violence-prevention" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robert Mahoney,</a> the grant’s administrator, appeared as a guest. “Somebody who has access to guns or has anti-government theories or has conspiracy theories, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to mobilize to violence, but it does mean in the sense of wanting to do interventions. If you’re causing concerns among your friends and family, to have a way of reporting or maybe getting someone the help that they desperately need,” he said.
Courageous RI official Pam Steager asked how people could “help them before they get to the point where they could be radicalized so much that they turn to violence.”
Those precursors to theoretical extremism could include mainstream American positions. In another podcast episode, Hobbs promoted a lesson plan that had children listen to a podcast in which a Southern Poverty Law Center employee likened <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230730220447/https://www.ushmm.org/antisemitism/podcast/voices-on-antisemitism/mark-potok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opposition to illegal immigration to Nazism</a>.
“You know, if one looks at the anti-immigration movement today, it is astounding the things that are said by mainstream people. You know, we have national politicians right now walking around this country talking about how illegal aliens are, quote ‘coming here to kill me, and kill you, and kill our families,’” the SPLC official claimed.
The podcast also featured authoritarian leftists like Jennifer Lima, a school board member who said that students who “misgendered” people committed an <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11449901/Rhode-Island-school-district-committee-member-slammed-extreme-saying-using-wrong.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“act of violence”</a> that should be “dealt with accordingly.” Hobbs said she wanted to “inspire people to be as courageous as you are.”
Yet another podcast guest was former Congressman David Cicilline, who wrote that the “key threat to our democracy” is the GOP, which he described as “a Trumpist authoritarian cult.” On the podcast, Cicilline said that Congress needed to make laws to make social media companies liable for “dangerous” content like “misinformation” from “Trump,” MRC found. As a congressman, Cicilline advocated for DHS funding for the group.
Using the DHS money as seed money to leverage private donations, the group is now taking the program national, and is hosting a “Courageous Conversation” in Charlottesville, Virginia on Wednesday.
An activist group closely linked to the University of Rhode Island’s Media Education Lab called Media Literacy Now is intent on making these &#8220;media literacy&#8221; trainings mandatory for all American children, but only when media literacy is used to promote liberal views. It opposed a Texas bill that instituted media literacy, but which included the 1619 Project as an example of misinformation.
The head of the Rhode Island Media Lab, Hobbs, is also an advisory board member of MLN. She once convinced the National Council for Teachers of English to call for focusing on turning children into “change agents” through critical race theory, then claimed that a veteran Washington Post reporter needed to be subjected to her “media training” when he criticized it.
Hobbs did not return a request for comment on her work, nor did DHS.
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Secretary Mayorkas Visits US-Mexico Border

How The Biden Administration Used A Counter-Terrorism Grant To Fund Anti-Conservative Propaganda

Censorship

Department of Homeland Security

The U.S. State Department paid for censorship practitioners from Germany, which does not enjoy the same freedoms as Americans do from the First Amendment, to train teachers in the United States how to police so-called &#8220;disinformation,&#8221; records show.
The records unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act by the Media Research Center (MRC) found that the State Department paid for trainings that were created mostly by German “disinformation” activists, and that that program was organized by an advocacy group that promotes similar laws in the United States, while sharing top officials and finances with a for-profit anti-disinformation firm that could profit from such laws.
The <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/FINAL%20REPORT%2C%20Medialogues%20on%20Propaganda-3-5.pdf-1704380591904.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Medialogues on Propaganda”</a> training sessions, funded by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, consisted of 11 online meetings from June 2021 to April 2022, with an audience of 700 schoolteachers. The intent was to train teachers to “inoculate” students against disinformation and train them in “media literacy,” a nebulous term that shifted between claiming that media sources that questioned the government or caused offense to liberals were not trustworthy, and that schoolchildren should create their own media parroting progressive activism.
The <a href="https://www.mrc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MRC</a> investigation, shared exclusively with The Daily Wire, found that a group at the University of Rhode Island, an activist nonprofit, and a for-profit censorship firm all shared top officials and projects. The three entities propped each other up to give a veneer of credibility to behaviors that were otherwise partisan or profit-seeking, MRC said.
The anti-disinformation officials also allegedly violated their own purported tenets — misleading about their financial connections; promoting misinformation like the Trump-Russia hoax and censoring likely true information like the lab-leak theory; and opposing efforts to squash misinformation when it applied to leftist errors like the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/survivor-of-maos-china-cultural-revolution-debates-american-exceptionalism-with-1619-project-nyt-journalist">1619 Project</a>.
The State Department sessions were used by its activist organizers to promote products from their for-profit “partner,” Ad Fontes, as well as NewsGuard. The Daily Wire is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-and-the-federalist-sue-biden-state-department-over-censorship-effort" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suing the State Department</a> for promoting the latter tool, which has been used to economically punish domestic media outlets with disfavored political opinions.
A Three-Headed “Media Literacy” Monster
The seminars were conducted by a team of three entities including Germany’s University of Würzburg’s Media Education &amp; Educational Technology Lab and the University of Rhode Island’s Media Education Lab, both government entities.
The Rhode Island Media Education Lab has for years served as a center of liberal censorship efforts. It held a seminar for teachers on “how to teach students about the limits of freedom of expression.” It tried to confront the “white supremacy” of “digital blackface,” or when white people use images featuring black people.
But there was also the third entity in charge of the project: the nonprofit Media Literacy Now (MLN), which as the <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/FINAL%20REPORT%2C%20Medialogues%20on%20Propaganda-20-28.pdf-1704380742768.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“fiscal sponsor”</a> played a central role. The Rhode Island Lab is arguably a front for the activist group with which it has frequently partnered, providing an academic veneer to a something that&#8217;s closer to partisanship, the Media Research Center report said.
MLN lobbies for mandatory training in schools to fight “misinformation” and “online radicalization,” boasting that it has helped <a href="https://medialiteracynow.org/impact/current-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convince 18 states</a> to make laws on media literacy training. And while the Rhode Island Lab wrote an entire report on the importance of “media literacy” without ever defining it, MLN had spoken more clearly, calling it a “tool to create the society we all deserve: one that nurtures racial equity, social justice, and true democracy. Media literacy equals cultural change.”
That missive came below the tagline “Justice now. Equality now. Democracy now,” and a graphic of the MLN logo superimposed over a picture of a protest with signs such as <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Media%20Literacy%20Now%20community%20fighting%20for%20democ...-1-2.pdf-1704380791281.pdf">“ACAB,”</a> the antifa slogan standing for All Cops Are Bastards.
MLN promotes a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231218105356/https://www.who.int/news/item/23-09-2020-managing-the-covid-19-infodemic-promoting-healthy-behaviours-and-mitigating-the-harm-from-misinformation-and-disinformation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organization</a> statement that said that “An infodemic is an overabundance of information, both online and offline. It includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information” and must be addressed by “the UN system, with Member States and with each other, and to… prevent the spread of  mis- and disinformation.” Continuing with the virus metaphor, MLN said it intends to “inoculate” children against “misinformation.”
The founder of the Rhode Island Lab and advisory board member of MLN is University of Rhode Island communications professor Renee Hobbs, who attempted to push federal legislation creating <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2240/">$60 million</a> in subsidies for anti-disinformation work like hers — legislation whose momentum rested on the idea that Russians caused Trump to win in 2016, itself a conspiracy theory.
Hobbs hosted the State Department-funded seminars while she also chaired a National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) group that argued that English teachers should “move beyond” teaching children to write, and instead “disrupt classroom hierarchies” and focus on “consumerism, and economic injustice.” (True to form, Hobbs&#8217; Rhode Island Lab showcased an image of a <a href="https://mediaeducationlab.com/index.php/events/teaching-capitol-siege" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lego</a> set to push teachers to talk with children about the &#8220;Capital Siege,&#8221; a misspelled reference to the January 6 protest at the Capitol. It does not appear that Lego actually made the set in the image.)
Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews <a href="https://washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/01/national-council-english-teachers-change-position/">wrote</a> that the group in charge of training 35,000 English teachers had lost “its grip on reality&#8221; with its statement that &#8220;the time has come to decenter book reading and essay writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education” in favor of turning children into “change agents.”
MLN immediately called for a reeducation camp for the Washington Post columnist. Hobbs called Mathews <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/01/national-council-english-teachers-change-position/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“smug” and “whiny.”</a> Emails obtained by MRC show that MLN&#8217;s president, Erin McNeill, wrote that by not approving of Hobbs’ activities, Mathews — one of the most experienced journalists at one of America’s largest newspapers — had shown himself to be “desperately in need of media literacy.”
McNeill also coached Hobbs to be more discreet, saying NCTE should “steer away” from saying that English should be replaced with “critical pedagogies” like Critical Race Theory because it makes it <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Re_%20In%20the%20news_%20National%20English-teaching%20grou...-1.pdf-1704381013264.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“evident”</a> that they “have an agenda beyond literacy.”
MLN advocated for Texas to mandate media literacy in schools, but when Texas lawmakers did just that but included the 1619 Project as an example of disinformation, it turned against the law. “Although it mandates media literacy within a teacher training program on civics education, it also takes some <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/It%27s%20never%20been%20more%20important%20to%20act%20for%20Media...-3.pdf-1704381060513.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-free speech steps</a>,” said the group, whose mission is devoted to suppressing speech that, like the 1619 Project, is factually flawed.
When asked why the State Department would fund a propaganda seminar aimed at Americans, the State Department told The Daily Wire that with its <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient/e76523fa-f221-13aa-a815-6d9081ee37de-R/latest?section=transactions-over-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$30,000 grant</a> to Media Literacy Now, “the U.S. Embassy in Germany supported the participation of German participants in the media literacy program you are inquiring about.”
But that doesn’t change who the target audience was. German “experts” were lecturing to an audience of mostly Americans, with the intent that they would carry the lessons back to their school districts. The conference organizers also didn’t recognize any such distinction in their <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Full+FINAL+REPORT%2C+Medialogues+on+Propaganda.pdf-1704381599402.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">final report</a>. They wrote, “Thanks to a grant from the Public Affairs Section of the Berlin Embassy, we invited German, American, and global educators to gather online,” though “our total number of German participants was smaller than we had hoped.”
Ad Fontes
The third head of the three-headed monster of interconnected “disinformation” groups is the for-profit media monitor, Ad Fontes. The company assigns purported <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-ratings-firm-trying-to-influence-what-news-sites-you-visit-heavily-favors-left-leaning-outlets-over-conservative-journalism">“bias” ratings to news sources</a>, rating conservative media as twice as unreliable as liberal sources. Then it charges tech firms for the list, and the firms use it to steer viewers away from supposedly unreliable content.
MLN acknowledges that it has a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231225164609/https://medialiteracynow.org/about/partners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“strategic affiliation”</a> with Ad Fontes: the media monitor directs a <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/ISD000001MRC%20-%20ISD000354MRC-part-2.pdf-1704381072149.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">portion of its income to MLN</a>, which in turn advocates for laws that would steer millions of dollars to the for-profit firm and its peers. The president of MLN’s board, Jen Furlong, is the director of communications for Ad Fontes.
Ad Fontes CEO Vanessa Otero is also on the advisory board of MLN. Otero was a speaker at the State Department seminars and used them as a platform for a sales pitch for her firm. She also said media literacy training should be “required for everyone from a very young age.”
MRC interviewed Furlong and Otero, who denied that Al Fontes had ties to the government. Furlong said on her podcast, “Ad Fontes Media has <a href="https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/podcast/episode/7cc24a54/no-i-am-not-a-super-secret-analyst-spy-set-to-crush-conservative-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">zero ties</a> to the federal government!”
MRC concluded that “these statements are verifiably false.&#8221;
&#8220;Furlong is president of Media Literacy Now’s board of directors, and Media Literacy Now organized the State Department-funded seminar,&#8221; the group found. &#8220;Otero — in her official capacity as Ad Fontes CEO — was the featured speaker at said State Department-funded seminar, hosted by the State Department-funded Rhode Island Lab. Otero was celebrated by the seminar host Hobbs, who serves with Otero on Media Literacy Now’s board. Otero then proceeded to give a lengthy sales pitch for Ad Fontes products, all while concealing any of these facts from the audience.”
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<td align="left" height="23">Entity</td>
<td align="left">URI (Academic)</td>
<td align="left">MLN (Advocacy)</td>
<td align="left">Ad Fontes (Profit)</td>
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<td align="left" height="23">Jennifer Furlong</td>
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<td align="left">Board president</td>
<td align="left">Director of Communications</td>
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<td align="left" height="23">Erin Otero</td>
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<td align="left">Advisory Board</td>
<td align="left">CEO</td>
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<td align="left" height="23">Renee Hobbs</td>
<td align="left">CEO</td>
<td align="left">Advisory Board</td>
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<td align="left" height="23">State Department conferences</td>
<td align="left">Project Partner</td>
<td align="left">Project Partner</td>
<td align="left">Product promoted at</td>
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Germany
The seminars pushed a “Data Detox Kit,” which instructs teachers to install NewsGuard, a similar product to Ad Fontes. NewsGuard is a for-profit firm that rates news outlets — red-flagging conservative news outlets while rubber-stamping liberal ones — and then sells the lists to advertisers with the threat that they could face boycotts if they place advertisements on a disreputable media outlet.
Aside from the MLN speakers, most of the State Department speakers were European. The speaker who pushed the “Data Detox Kit” was Daisy Kidd, a self-proclaimed activist whose group, Tactical Tech, is partnered with George Soros-funded, left-wing groups as well as the Goeth Institute, which MRC calls “a propaganda wing of the German government.”
The so-called kit trains kids to reject misinformation by using left-leaning factcheckers like Snopes and PolitiFact—which have repeatedly “debunked” factual articles that were critical of liberals — but tells them <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230610165827/https://datadetoxkit.org/en/misinformation/fakenews/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not to use</a> the term “fake news,” a colloquialism popularized by Trump.
Kidd also used the sessions to promote a United Nations-funded curriculum called “The Glass Room,” a game designed to train kids what to believe&#8211;including that it is “false or misleading” that “China was responsible for releasing the coronavirus.”
Another speaker at the State Department seminars worked for a European group called MEET Tolerance. It lamented that on the internet, “it is not just progressive voices which are being spread,” but also “ideologies which are based on hatred.” That group promotes a book called, “The New Racism: Conservatives and the Ideology of the Tribe.”
The disinformation experts seem to believe that while media that does not serve their aims inherently lacks credibility — like the Washington Post article — media produced by young children would be credible. MEET teaches how to turn children into “media producers” who advocate “intercultural values and social justice.”
Part of the curriculum was developed by socialist German politician Konstantin von Notz, who helps oversee Germany’s intelligence agencies and has given away balloons and stickers to recruit children to create the impression of support for an international censorship law to block “haters” and “right wing extremism,” MRC said.
The Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone
In Germany, tech platforms are punished with steep fines for not censoring users’ content, and those who opposed the censorship measures were placed under government surveillance. Those efforts have been “horrifyingly effective” in Germany, and the U.S. State Department is now importing Europe’s most Orwellian techniques directly from the source, MRC said.
American teachers were, in turn, paid to transform what they learned at the State Department sessions into lesson plans for children. For example, April Leach, a Florida schoolteacher, attended the sessions and used what she heard to create a “social emotional learning” lesson plan that promoted Ad Fontes. A left-wing foundation paid her <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Full+FINAL+REPORT%2C+Medialogues+on+Propaganda.pdf-1704381599402.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$8,000</a> through an “SEL in Action Award,” according to the MRC report.
Another attendee, a Washington State educator named Lauren McClanahan, illustrated the circular nature of the disinformation ecosystem. She attended the State Department seminar, and then created a curriculum that relied on NCTE’s call to pursue social justice instead of reading and writing to justify having students create “public service announcements (PSAs) about a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357491535_Seeking_Justice_in_Your_Own_Backyard_Creating_PSAs_for_Social_Change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social justice topic</a>.”
The videos featured children pleading with people to donate to leftist groups like Everytown for Gun Safety, whose subsidiary is a Rhode Island Lab “partner,” MRC found. McClanahan was named an &#8220;affiliated faculty&#8221; of the Lab.
The documents obtained under FOIA by the Media Research Center show how Hobbs, the Lab&#8217;s founder, often blurs the line between “media literary” and <a href="https://www.washingtoninformer.com/u-s-residents-brace-for-violence-particularly-if-trump-loses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">progressive politics</a> that has nothing to do with disinformation. Her groups’ final report on the training sessions boasts that she used the State Department seminar to bring “media literary” to Austin, Texas’s police academy. That included making sure videos didn&#8217;t promote stereotypes and warning them not to raise an American flag for slain police officers because it might be offensive, MRC said.
Furlong and Hobbs did not return requests for comment.
MRC said that parents should ask their school board if Ad Fontes or NewsGuard are used in their schools, state legislatures must ban them from receiving funding, and attorneys general should investigate whether “activist” groups pushing “disinformation” laws are receiving kickbacks from censorship firms who would stand to profit off of such laws.
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The U-RI’s Media Education Lab trained teachers how to discuss what it called the “Capital Seige.” Its founder advocated for English teachers to turn from topics like spelling to social justice. / University of Rhode Island Media Education Lab

State Department Paid Germans To Bring Censorship And Propaganda To U.S. Schools

Academia

NewsGuard

State Department

Over the years, the United States has produced many remarkable generals and admirals, but only a few have stood out as world-class strategists and leaders of troops. As Veterans Day approaches on November 11, let’s remember and celebrate them. Here is my list of America’s finest 11 commanders.
<h2>Nathanael Greene, 1742 &#8211; 1786 (Revolutionary War)</h2>
A Rhode Island foundry-owner by trade, Nathanael Greene was emblematic of the citizen-soldier. At age 33, he was the youngest general in the fledgling Continental Army; unlike his peers, the Quaker Greene had had no military experience prior to his arrival with his Rhode Islanders in the burgeoning Patriot camp outside Boston in 1775. His knowledge of military dicta came almost entirely from books. 
<div id="attachment_647043" style="width: 451px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-647043" class="size-large wp-image-647043" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985762-1-441x576.jpg" alt="Major General Nathanael Greene (1742 - 1786) of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, circa 1775. From an original by Chappel. (Photo by Kean Collection/Getty Images)" width="441" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985762-1-441x576.jpg 441w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985762-1-230x300.jpg 230w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985762-1-768x1003.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985762-1.jpg 784w" sizes=" (max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px" />Major General Nathanael Greene (1742 &#8211; 1786) of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, circa 1775. From an original by Chappel. (Photo by Kean Collection/Getty Images)</div>
Indeed, Greene had little formal education of any kind, given his Quaker father’s “prejudices against literary accomplishments.” So, he educated himself. Still, he would confess, “I lament the want of a liberal education. I feel the mist [of] ignorance to surround me.” But this was no impediment to the resourceful Greene. With his intuitive understanding of military matters and protocols, including the importance of discipline and drilling as well as proper hygiene in the field, something much overlooked in Washington’s army when it first formed, Greene’s troops stood out as among the most reliable and professional in the still rag-tag Continental Army. Washington identified Greene right away as “an object of confidence.” 
<div id="attachment_647047" style="width: 755px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-647047" class="size-large wp-image-647047" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-537106779-745x576.jpg" alt="Engraved scene depicting George Washington contemplating in from of a fireplace, watched by General Nathanael Greene and the Marquis de Lafayette, during the American Revolutionary War, circa 1780. Engraved by H B Hall. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="745" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-537106779-745x576.jpg 745w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-537106779-300x232.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-537106779-768x594.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-537106779.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 745px) 100vw, 745px" />Engraved scene depicting George Washington contemplating in front of a fireplace, watched by General Nathanael Greene and the Marquis de Lafayette, during the American Revolutionary War, circa 1780. Engraved by H B Hall. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
It was, therefore, the steadfast Greene whom Washington turned to both for counsel as well as holding the line at particularly difficult places. It was Greene’s stout fighters who held off British bayonets to cover the Continentals’ retreat from the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777, preventing a withdrawal from degenerating into a rout. A selfless patriot, Greene also reluctantly served as Washington’s quartermaster, a role as vital to keeping any army in fighting condition as field drills. His capacity for organization and attending to detail he learned from business served the country well. There was little the enterprising and energetic Greene could not accomplish. Washington so respected the Rhode Islander that he made it known that should he fall, Greene was to take command of the Continental Army.
Greene’s true military talents blossomed when he took command of the southern detachment of the Continental Army during the campaign of 1780-1781. Sent by Washington to give teeth to the flagging southern cause (Charleston had been captured in May 1780 along with its 5,500 patriot defenders), the wily Greene led the aggressive British Lord Cornwallis, Banaster Tarleton and others on a wild chase through the Carolinas and southern Virginia. Defying military convention, Greene often split his forces to stay ahead of the pursuing British. When he did stand and fight, even if eventually ceding the field as at Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, Greene’s army nonetheless often inflicted higher casualties on the British, draining their strength and morale in pyrrhic victories. “We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again” was Greene’s mantra. 
<div id="attachment_647039" style="width: 761px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-647039" class="size-large wp-image-647039" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985763-1-751x576.jpg" alt="Major General Nathanael Greene (1742 - 1786) of the Continental Army receives unexpected funds from innkeeper Elizabeth Maxwell Steele at her tavern in Salisbury, North Carolina, during the American Revolutionary War, 2nd February 1781. Engraved by J. B. Hall after a painting by Alonzo Chappel. (Photo by Kean Collection/Getty Images)" width="751" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985763-1-751x576.jpg 751w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985763-1-300x230.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985763-1-768x589.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-150985763-1.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 751px) 100vw, 751px" />Major General Nathanael Greene (1742 &#8211; 1786) of the Continental Army receives unexpected funds from innkeeper Elizabeth Maxwell Steele at her tavern in Salisbury, North Carolina, during the American Revolutionary War, 2nd February 1781. Engraved by J. B. Hall after a painting by Alonzo Chappel. (Photo by Kean Collection/Getty Images)</div>
Understanding that he was fighting a hybrid conventional and guerilla campaign, Greene managed to integrate his Continentals with local militia to create a cohesive fighting force that kept Cornwallis off balance —giving local commanders like Lafayette and Dan Morgan much latitude while offering advice without direct interference — and eventually compelled the British general to remove his army to Yorktown, Virginia —where it met its ultimate destruction. By the time Greene’s operations in the South were completed, the British, who once held deep tracts of territory, had been reduced to a scattering of coastal toeholds. 
Says historian Russell Weigley of Greene’s campaign in the South: &#8220;Greene&#8217;s outstanding characteristic as a strategist was his ability to weave the maraudings of partisan raiders into a coherent pattern, coordinating them with the maneuvers of a field army otherwise too weak to accomplish much, and making the combination a deadly one&#8230;. [He] remains alone as an American master developing a strategy of unconventional war.”
After Yorktown, Greene struggled to finance the southern army under his command. By the war’s official end in 1783 he’d incurred heavy debts to personally pay for his men’s provisions and equipment. As with Washington, Greene resigned his commission and set about rebuilding his lost fortune. Debts prompted him to leave Newport and re-establish himself in Georgia on a plantation outside Savannah that had been granted him by a grateful government. The northern Greene succumbed to heat stroke and died at age 43.
Nathanael Greene was by no means infallible. He was the one most responsible for persuading Washington to try and hold the Hudson River Forts Washington and Lee, only to see the entire garrison, some 3,000 men who were invaluable to the rapidly dwindling Continental Army, surrender and be marched off into captivity. 
While lamenting the fate of his soldiers languishing in the sweltering holds of disease-ridden prison ships anchored in the Hudson, Washington agonized over the loss. 
Yet, Washington never lost confidence in his most talented subordinate whose fierce desire to close with the enemy belied his Quaker roots. Greene rewarded Washington’s continued trust in the subsequent years, becoming one of the United States’ great generals. Defense analyst Robert Killebrew calls Greene “The second-best American general of the Revolutionary War” behind Washington himself.
<div id="attachment_647037" style="width: 887px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-647037" class="size-large wp-image-647037" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-175504967-877x576.jpg" alt="Cancelled Stamp From The United States Featuring George Washington And Nathanael Greene Along With Mount Vernon. Getty Images." width="877" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-175504967-877x576.jpg 877w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-175504967-300x197.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-175504967-768x504.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-175504967-1536x1009.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-175504967-2048x1345.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 877px) 100vw, 877px" />Cancelled Stamp From The United States Featuring George Washington And Nathanael Greene Along With Mount Vernon. Getty Images.</div>
Although Greene was known for his robust physique, a childhood accident left him with a stiff right leg and a limp. But that did not impede the indefatigable Greene. When a dancing partner once complained that he danced stiffly due to his old injury, Greene confidently replied: “Very true, but you see I dance strong.” It is hard for a man like that to not succeed. And fortunately for the Revolution, Greene turned out to be just the man Washington needed to help bring about victory and, just as important during some very desperate days, stave off defeat.
* * *
<h4>America’s Top 11 Generals</h4>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #11 Curtis E. LeMay</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-10-matthew-ridgway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #10 Matthew Ridgway</a>
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader, columnist, and author of two acclaimed novels. His newest book, the fact-based <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Pits-Rough-Tumble-Exchange/dp/B0CKPNCMQW/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1331509151681009&amp;hvadid=83219665089301&amp;hvbmt=bp&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvlocphy=97755&amp;hvnetw=o&amp;hvqmt=p&amp;hvtargid=kwd-83219680392082%3Aloc-190&amp;hydadcr=18892_13467888&amp;keywords=brad+schaeffer&amp;qid=1698162015&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIFE IN THE PITS: My Time as a Trader on the Rough-and-Tumble Exchange Floors</a> will be published in December and is currently available for pre-order. You can also find more of Brad&#8217;s articles on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Substack</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

natgreene12bcd copy

America’s Top 11 Generals: #9 Nathanael Greene

American General

American Revolution

George Washington

U.S. Military

Don&#8217;t do the crime if you&#8217;re not a Democrat — or so seems to be the latest legal advice across the country these days.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/whats-with-new-englands-bizarre-democrat-crime-wave" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest example</a> of this can be found in Rhode Island after a Democrat state senator was given a slap on the wrist for misleading police and vandalizing a private citizen&#8217;s car. In late June, state Sen. Joshua Miller was arrested for allegedly keying a man’s car that had a “Biden Sucks” bumper sticker.
When Miller was first questioned by police, he claimed that the victim was possibly a “gun nut” who knew that Miller was a state senator and that the victim made up the whole incident. So, in other words, Miller pulled a reverse “Do you know who I am?” but a video review would appear to show he was lying.
See the saga below in a must-watch video:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Surveillance video shows the moments Senator Josh Miller is accused of keying an SUV with an anti-Biden sticker at Garden City
He first tells Cranston PD he didn&#39;t do it, then when they show up at his house and say they have video, he admits to it <a href="https://twitter.com/wpri12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wpri12</a> <a href="https://t.co/Fn78uKFKrt">https://t.co/Fn78uKFKrt</a> <a href="https://t.co/vt8Zw3sZD0">pic.twitter.com/vt8Zw3sZD0</a>
&mdash; Amanda Pitts (@AmandaPittsTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmandaPittsTV/status/1672325061083123714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Now, he&#8217;s been ordered by a judge to pay $3,000 restitution to the victim after entering a no-contest plea deal this week. However, if he stays out of criminal trouble for the rest of the year — then the conviction will be scrubbed from his record.
&#8220;I am truly sorry for my actions in this matter, and I am disappointed in my behavior and lack of judgment,&#8221; he told reporters outside a courthouse, according to Fox  News.
&#8220;In a blink of an eye, I exhibited a lack of self-control that has impacted my reputation,&#8221; Miller added. &#8220;For that, I only have myself to blame as I am solely responsible for what led to today’s court proceedings.&#8221;
Rhode Island GOP chair Joe Powers blasted the decision.
&#8220;It’s another case of politics as usual in the Ocean State,&#8221; Joe Powers said in a statement to Fox News. &#8220;In pure Rhode Island political fashion, another Democrat gets off with a slap on the wrist and retains his chairmanship of the powerful Health and Human Services Committee and committee assignments with no recourse.&#8221;
Miller <a href="https://turnto10.com/news/local/sen-joshua-miller-arraigned-for-alleged-malicious-damage-of-car-cranston-rhode-island-july-18-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> has no plans to step down anytime soon.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

R.I. Senator Josh Miller

Elected Democrat Who Keyed Car With Anti-Biden Bumper Sticker Gets ‘Slap On The Wrist’

Elected Democrat Who Keyed Anti-Biden Car Gets 'Slap On The Wrist'

Democrats

What is with the New England Democrat crime wave as of late? Over the past year, a string of Democratic officials and leftists from Rhode Island all the way up to Maine have been arrested for, accused of, or convicted of some pretty bizarre allegations. Here are seven examples:
Boston City Councilor Allegedly Crashes Car Without License, Insurance, Registration
On Friday, Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara (D) allegedly crashed her car into a home in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. The only problem for Lara is that she was reportedly driving the vehicle with a revoked license, and the car was unregistered and uninsured. To make matters worse, Lara&#8217;s autistic child was reportedly in the car. 
Per Massachusetts-based outlet <a href="https://tbdailynews.com/boston-city-councilor-kendra-lara-crashes-into-house-with-unrestrained-son-while-driving-unlicensed-in-unregistered-car-belonging-to-man-she-made-sex-tape-with/">Turtle Boy Daily News&#8217;</a> Aidan Kearney, Lara, née Hicks, ran for office in 2021 on an anti-cop, pro-socialism platform. She will appear in court later this month, <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/07/03/boston-city-councilor-kendra-lara-car-driving-history">according</a> to WBUR.
Rhode Island State Senator Allegedly Lies About Keying Car With &#8220;Biden Sucks&#8221; Sticker
Speaking of car crimes, who could forget about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rhode-island-state-senator-faces-additional-charges-over-vandalism-incident-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rhode Island state Senator Joshua Miller</a>? A couple of weeks ago, Miller was arrested for allegedly keying a man&#8217;s car displaying a &#8220;Biden Sucks&#8221; bumper sticker.
When Miller was first questioned by police, he claimed that the alleged victim was possibly a &#8220;gun nut&#8221; who knew that Miller was a state senator and that the victim made up the whole incident. So in other words, Miller pulled a reverse, &#8220;Do you know who I am?&#8221; but a video review would appear to show he was lying.
See the saga below in a must-watch video for some great Boston accents:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Surveillance video shows the moments Senator Josh Miller is accused of keying an SUV with an anti-Biden sticker at Garden City
He first tells Cranston PD he didn&#39;t do it, then when they show up at his house and say they have video, he admits to it <a href="https://twitter.com/wpri12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wpri12</a> <a href="https://t.co/Fn78uKFKrt">https://t.co/Fn78uKFKrt</a> <a href="https://t.co/vt8Zw3sZD0">pic.twitter.com/vt8Zw3sZD0</a>
&mdash; Amanda Pitts (@AmandaPittsTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmandaPittsTV/status/1672325061083123714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Miller is now facing charges of vandalism and a potential charge of obstruction of justice. The official was first elected in 2006 and is set to be arraigned in court on July 18.
Boston’s Reparations Task Force Coordinator&#8217;s Wild Night At City Hall
Then there was the arrest of Boston’s Reparations Task Force project coordinator George Williams in May. The 35-year-old ex-college professor was appointed by Boston&#8217;s uber-leftist Mayor Michelle Wu to help advise the Reparations Task Force. Police say that Williams used his position to trespass in city hall, harangue custodians, burn sage, physically assault cops, and possibly do some drugs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Boston’s Reparations Task Force Coordinator Fired After Burning Sage, Harassing Custodians, Sleeping In City Hall, And Getting Arrested: Report <a href="https://t.co/S9opik8Zqd">https://t.co/S9opik8Zqd</a> <a href="https://t.co/X7ZSYr4u9O">pic.twitter.com/X7ZSYr4u9O</a>
&mdash; Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyWireNews/status/1662565101659099141?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
Nation’s First Elected Transgender State Rep. Arrested On Child Porn Charges: Police
In Nashua, New Hampshire, an alleged pervert and the nation&#8217;s first elected &#8220;transgender-identifying&#8221; man was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-first-elected-transgender-state-rep-arrested-on-child-porn-charges-police">arrested</a> on child porn charges in June. 
Stacie Laughton might be the crème de la crème in terms of abject weirdos in Democrat politics in the Granite State — if not all of New England. Laughton was first elected in 2012, only to resign shortly after numerous credit card fraud allegations came to light.
He was later sentenced to six months in jail after reporting a bomb threat to a hospital in 2015. In July 2021, he was arrested for giving police false information.
Unbelievably, Laughton won election to the state house again in November 2022. Then Laughton had to step down in December after accusations of stalking. Laughton had been arrested on stalking charges twice in 2022, including an incident in September just months before the election. 
Now, the guy is being arrested on allegations of distribution of sexually explicit images of children. 
Ex-Democrat Maine Gubernatorial Candidate Guilty Of Child Porn Charges
Laughton isn&#8217;t the only Democrat in New England arrested on child porn charges. 
In May, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-donor-former-gubernatorial-candidate-pleads-guilty-to-child-pornography-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eliot Cutler</a>, a Democratic donor who twice ran for governor of Maine, pleaded guilty to charges of possessing child pornography. Authorities discovered thousands of images of children under the age of 12 being sexually abused in his possession. He will now serve nine months in jail for four counts of possessing sexually explicit material of a child under 12.
Senate-Confirmed U.S. Attorney Resigns After DOJ Report
So far, we&#8217;ve discussed state and local Democrats in New England. But Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins has had her run-ins with the law as well — albeit no charges thus far. 
In May, the George Soros-backed attorney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/soros-backed-u-s-attorney-resigning-after-doj-ig-accuses-her-of-election-interference-lying-to-feds-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resigned</a> after a Department of Justice Inspectors General report claimed that she effectively ran election interference, violated the Hatch Act, and committed other unethical moves while on the job.
The DOJ alleged that she &#8220;violated federal regulations, numerous DOJ policies, her Ethics Agreement, and applicable law, and fell far short of the standards of professionalism and judgment that the Department should expect of any employee, much less a U.S. Attorney.&#8221;
The supposedly apolitical DOJ under President Joe Biden declined to charge his Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney.
Racial Justice Warrior Scams The System—Allegedly
Rollins was close pals with another apparent New England ne&#8217;er-do-well: Monica Cannon-Grant, a prominent leftist activist in the Boston area, and her husband, Clark Grant. The two were federally charged and arrested on 18 counts of fraud and conspiracy in relation to her non-profit, Violence in Boston (VIB), in March 2022. Cannon-Grant was named the 2020 &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/progressive-activist-a-2020-bostonian-of-the-year-arrested-on-federal-charges-of-fraud-conspiracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bostonian of the Year</a>&#8221; by the Boston Globe for her activism after the death of George Floyd and for her involvement with local protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.
In March 2023, authorities <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/03/10/activist-monica-cannon-grant-nonprofit-fraud-allegations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tacked</a> on some more charges after she allegedly misused city funds while lying about her income to get more government cash intended for impoverished people. 
Grant and her husband pleaded not guilty to the original 18 charges. Sadly on March 30, Clark Grant died in a motorcycle accident.
Is The Late Ted Kennedy To Blame For It All?
Of course, perhaps there is one man to blame for this apparent crime wave: ex-U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
Kennedy really set the gold standard for allegedly breaking several laws and endangering others while getting away with it. Just ask Mary Jo Kopechne. (See: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/craven-teddy-kennedy-wanted-to-say-mary-jo-kopechne-was-driving-at-chappaquiddick-book-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chappaquiddick</a>).
Every liberal in New England grows up yearning to be the next Kennedy. 
It turns out that committing alleged crimes is a package deal alongside Kennedy&#8217;s words that &#8220;the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.&#8221;
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Lara Kendra, Eliot Cutler, Rachael Rollins, Monica Cannon-Grant, Stacie Laughton, George Williams, Joshua Miller

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