Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez, who flashed obscene gesture at GOP lawmakers, changes story but still manages to blame Republican women



Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) has changed her story as to why she flashed an obscene gesture at Republicans at the Congressional Baseball Game. However, the liberal lawmaker still maintained that she was the victim of the situation and somehow managed to blame Republican women.

During the Congressional Baseball Game on Thursday, Sanchez was lifted for a pinch runner. As the Democratic representative was jogging in foul territory, she gave the middle finger as she passed the Republican dugout.

\u201cDemocrat Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA) flips off the Republican dug out. Her team got blown out 10-0.https://t.co/CgPOaEsLs4\u201d
— Ryan Saavedra (@Ryan Saavedra) 1659061443

Sanchez issued a statement on her outlandish behavior on Friday – which made it seem that she flipped the bird because of rude comments made by GOP lawmakers.

“The Congressional Baseball Game is one of my favorite events of the year. It’s a great cause and brings both sides of the aisle together for a night off from partisan politics,” Sanchez said. “That is why it really struck a nerve when I heard an offensive and misogynistic comment from the Republican side on my way back to the dugout.”

"In the heat of the moment, I reacted. I have no tolerance for men who make women feel like they are unimportant or don’t belong – especially on the field," she continued. "I will always stand against that kind of bigotry."

However, the insinuation made by Sanchez was disputed by Corey Inganamort – who is the mascot coordinator for the Washington Nationals.

“I was in the dugout with the Republicans last night. She is lying,” Inganamort said of Sanchez. “Nothing offensive or misogynistic was said by anybody. In fact, everybody was shocked by what @RepLindaSanchez did.”

\u201cI was in the dugout with the Republicans last night.\n\nShe is lying.\n\nNothing offensive or misogynistic was said by anybody.\n\nIn fact, everybody was shocked by what @RepLindaSanchez did.\u201d
— Corey Inganamort (@Corey Inganamort) 1659133062

Sanchez has seemingly changed her story.

Sanchez gave a second statement where she made the clarification that Republicans did not make crude comments to her, but it was a fan.

“It wasn’t the team,” Sanchez told NBC News’ Frank Thorp “It was an obnoxious fan who shouts misogynistic s**t at me every single year."

Sanchez refused to repeat what the fan said.

"I'm not going to dignify it with a response because it's nasty and it's crude, and it has no place at a charity baseball game," Sanchez said.

Sanchez then blamed Republican women for her deceptive first response.

"If the Republican women would have stood up and said that's not acceptable instead of, you know, trashing me for my response then we might have a place where there's no misogyny that's tolerated by anybody anywhere," the Democrat argued.

The Republicans would easily coast to victory by trouncing the Democrats by a score of 10-0.

Biden says students are 'all our children' when they're in the classroom and people are horrified



President Joe Biden horrified many on social media when he proclaimed that students are the children of everyone when they're in the classroom.

He made the comments at the White House Wednesday as he and the first lady hosted the 2022 National and State Teachers of the Year.

"You've heard me say it many times about our children, but it's true. They're all our children, and the reason you're the teachers of the year is that you recognize that," said Biden.

"They're not somebody else's children," he claimed. "They're like yours when they're in the classroom."

Biden's odd statement comes at a time when many parents are fighting against local school boards that are implementing controversial policies they disagree with, including Critical Race Theory, sex and gender lesson plans, and transgender bathroom rules.

While Biden meant the statement to express how much the government cares for children in schools, many on social media angrily rejected his formulation of ownership over children.

"How about no. My kids have had phenomenal teachers. They still didn't treat them like their own, did not care about them like I care about them. Stop with this," replied Karol Markowicz of the New York Post.

"Over my dead body is my child yours or anybody else's," responded activist Ashley St. Clair.

"My children are MY children. And God forbid you forget that," read another popular tweet.

"No. No they aren't. Creep," responded Christina Pushaw, the press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

"No @POTUS they are MY children. They'll never be yours or any teachers. This is a hill us mothers will die on," read another popular tweet.

Polls and dropping school attendance show that many parents are choosing to opt out of the public school system in droves after the pandemic lockdown and numerous public school controversies.

Here's the video of Biden's statement:

Joe Biden: "They're all our children .. They're not somebody else's children. They're like yours when they're in the classroom."pic.twitter.com/ATNGGO594U
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis) 1651097684

Joy Reid says the world cares more about Ukraine because of, you guessed it, racism



MSNBC's Joy Reid argued on “The ReidOut” Monday that the only reason "the world" cares about the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is because it's happening to a "white and largely Christian" nation.

"As the world watches the devastation unfold in Ukraine, nearly 4,000 miles away, another crisis is deepening that we don’t hear much about in the U.S., and that is the war in Yemen," Reid began the segment.

"The coverage of Ukraine has revealed a pretty radical disparity in how human Ukrainians look and feel to western media compared to their browner and blacker counterparts, with some reporters using very telling comparisons in their analyses of the war," she continued.

"Let’s face it. The world is paying attention because this is happening in Europe. If this was happening anywhere else, would we be seeing the same outpour of support and compassion? We don’t need to ask ourselves if our response would be the same if Russia unleashed their horror on a country that wasn’t white and largely Christian.”

Watch:


Joy Reid makes everything about race again...Claims people are more compassionate towards Ukraine because it\u2019s \u2018White And Christian\u2019pic.twitter.com/6y7Tsrtx4B
— Daily Caller (@Daily Caller) 1646743387


Over on Twitter, folks had a few suggestions for the MSNBC host:


Explain to me how anything happening in Yemen involves the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons. Yeah, that\u2019s the difference, Joy. WTFingF.
— Steve Fronabarger (@Steve Fronabarger) 1646756692


I was just thinking the same thing. Let me re-iterate that!
— SevenThousandIslands (@SevenThousandIslands) 1646756777


Keep on fueling the flames joy.
— corey eagan (@corey eagan) 1646758790


Her beloved Biden is now wanting to cut oil deals with Iran, who's backing that conflict she's talking about in Yemen. Hypocrisy..
— Carlos E. Torres (@Carlos E. Torres) 1646756629


How many of those other crises you mention is your network covering Joy? How many are you covering? Stop trying to divide people by race. It is not helpful.
— Deirdre Robinson (@Deirdre Robinson) 1646751290


What I have observed is that Reid and others like her are actively teaching racism in spite of so many in our country working to progress onward. Strange.
— Dada (@Dada) 1646754728


She's even free to go to Yemen and report. What is she waiting for? They don't have 5-star accommodations or limousine transportation?
— Scott Chastain (@Scott Chastain) 1646744205



Maryland county closes schools over COVID but opens 'Equity Hubs' where kids can meet in person to learn virtually



As four schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, have temporarily closed in response to surging COVID-19 cases, the school district is offering "Equity Hubs" where students can meet together in person to learn virtually.

Montgomery County Public Schools announced last week that Loiederman Middle School, Harmony Hills, Pine Crest, and Wheaton Woods elementary schools, and the autism program at Westover Elementary School will revert to virtual learning for 10 days beginning Monday. The schools are expected to reopen Feb. 10, the district said.

While the schools are closed, MCPS is providing spaces where students in kindergarten through grade 5 can gather in person for "a safe place to learn while their parents work." According to the district, not every student has access to virtual learning at home, and some live in a situation where at-home learning is difficult. These so-called Equity Hubs are a solution designed to provide a "more structured learning environment" for poor kids whose home lives make virtual learning a struggle.

MCPS is working with the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence and the Children’s Opportunity Fund, two certified child care providers, to establish these Equity Hubs, which first opened in fall 2020 at the height of school closures during the coronavirus pandemic. Students who qualify can meet in person Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. til 5 p.m. at schools located throughout Montgomery County. Child care providers at these Equity Hubs follow "strict health and safety guidelines," provide meals and exercise/play for the kids, and assign two staff members for each group of 13 students.

According to the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the Children's Opportunity Fund raised over $4.6 million in 2020 to enroll 1,500 students across 70 sites. In January 2021, MCPS and Montgomery County Council provided another $3.6 million to support the Equity Hubs through March 2021, when schools reopened.

There are 165,267 students enrolled in Montgomery County's 209 schools, 25.4% of whom are economically disadvantaged, according to U.S. News & World Report. Only a tiny fraction of them are served by the Equity Hubs.

Critics questioned why the schools are safe enough to open for these Equity Hubs but not safe enough to resume normal in-person learning.

They're doing it again.\n\nSchools safe enough for daycare but not for learning.\n\nThe additional cost is $300 per student per week\n\nMontgomery County Public Schools already spend about $17,000 per student per year\n\nGive that money directly to families so they can find alternatives.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis) 1643338583
Montgomery County going virtual and then having the same students bring their laptops to a school without teachers and calling them Equity Hubs is beyond ridicule. These people shouldn\u2019t run a bake sale.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026
— Rory Cooper (@Rory Cooper) 1643377203
Like a work of absurdist art. An "Equity Hub" is school. It's just in-person school, which the county is admitting it CAN offer to offset the disastrous harm caused by its refusal to offer... in-person school.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026
— Mary Katharine Ham (@Mary Katharine Ham) 1643377812
What is MCPS doing with these school closures???\n\nThe literature is quite clear that closures INCREASE transmission.\n\nThe wave is long past peaked in Maryland.\n\nAre they trying to prop it back up? Or just this dumb?\n\nCongrats to the kids who qualify for "Equity Hubs" though!https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026
— Phil Kerpen (@Phil Kerpen) 1643378468

The decision to close Montgomery County schools again was made after "a review of multiple key factors and input from a multi-stakeholder group." MCPS said the switch to virtual learning was made "in the interest of the overall school community's health and safety," but did not specify what those factors were or who those stakeholders are.

WTOP-TV reported last week that COVID-19 cases in the county are declining "precipitously," but health officials warn case rate numbers are "still at the highest they’ve been during the pandemic."

County Executive Marc Elrich said last Wednesday that cases in the county have fallen 51% since the week before, at 579.81 cases per 100,000.

“We can’t celebrate just yet, and we have to pivot our focus on what’s next," Elrich said.

He reported that the county has seen 120 COVID-19 deaths in January, more than the previous four months combined.

“More people in the state of Maryland have died from COVID this month than any other month in the pandemic,” he said.

Elrich and other county health officials strongly encouraged residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with booster shots to avoid serious illness or death from COVID-19 infection.

Iowa governor confronts interviewer with obscene passage from book, defends parental rights in schools



Editor's note: The subject matter of this article contains graphic content.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) spoke up in favor of parental rights Monday, telling a local news outlet that parents should decide what is and is not appropriate for their children in schools.

Concerned parents across the nation are butting heads with school districts over certain books available in school libraries, and whether those books — some of which contain explicit sexual content — are appropriate for school-age children. This debate is playing out across six school districts in the Des Moines Metro area of Iowa, where school officials are examining the content of several books deemed objectionable by parents.

During an interview with KCCI-TV, Reynolds read aloud from one of the controversial books, "All Boys Aren't Blue," by George M. Johnson, a series of essays that the author describes as a "memoir-manifesto" of what it was like to grow up as a gay black person. Johnson is homosexual and identifies as non-binary.

A reporter with KCCI asked the governor if she supports comments made by Republican state Senate President Jake Chapman, who recently said Iowa teachers unions have a "sinister agenda" and want to "normalize sexually deviant behavior against our children, including pedophilia and incest." Those comments drew outrage from teachers, who said they were offensive and untrue.

"If you're talking about, do I think inappropriate things are being displayed in libraries, and in classrooms, across the state? From what I've heard from parents, I absolutely agree with that," Reynolds told KCCI, declining to comment directly on Chapman's remarks.

She then read a passage from "All Boys Aren't Blue" that contains a graphic description of a sexual act between two boys who are cousins.

"You told me to take my pajamas, my pajama pants, which I said to take off my pajama pants, which I told you when, which I did. You then took off your shorts, followed by your boxers," she read from the book. "There you stood in front of me, fully erected and said, 'Taste it.' At first, I laughed and refused. But then you said, 'come on, Matt, taste it. This is what boys like us do when we like each other.' I finally listened to you. The whole time I knew it was wrong, not because I was having sexual intercourse with a guy, but that you were my family. I only did that for about 45 seconds before you had me stop. Then you got down on your hands and knees and told me to close my eyes, and that's when you began oral sex on me as well."

"So I don't know if parents feel that that is appropriate for children in K-12 education," Reynolds told KCCI after reading the passage. "Then I think that's a that's a decision for parents to make."

She went on to say that parents have a right to determine what their children are taught in schools.

“These are the parents’ children, they’re not ours, they’re not the government’s, they’re not the school district’s,” she said. “They’re the parents’ children and they have a right to say, to weigh in on their children’s education.”

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds: "Parents\nmatter. \n\nThese are the parents' children.\nThey're not the government's.\nThey're not the school district's. \n\nThey're the parents' children. And they have a right to say, to weigh in, on their children's education."pic.twitter.com/D2nb5wZZoW
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis) 1643039033

While schools across the nation are removing "All Boys Aren't Blue" from libraries, the author has defended the work as an important message foryoung adults, who may be struggling with their sexuality.

"The reality is there is no topic that is too heavy for a child who could experience said topic. If a child can experience sexual abuse at the age of seven, a child should understand what sexual abuse looks like, how to handle it, how to discuss it, and how to talk about it," Johnson told CBS News last November.

"The repercussions of removing a resource like mine doesn't mean youth, specifically Black queer youth won't experience these things. What it does is remove an educational tool for them to have the knowledge and the wherewithal to understand how to handle those situations."

Other books challenged in Iowa include "Lawn Boy" by Jonathon Evison and "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe, each of which contains graphic depictions of sex.

Prof compares mask mandate opponents to drunk drivers: 'Maybe ppl wearing masks should just drive drunk and speed thru the neighborhoods of pro-covid parents'



Pennsylvania State University Professor Edward Fuller on Sunday suggested that masked, drunk drivers consider speeding through what he calls "pro-COVID" neighborhoods, according to the College Fix.

What are the details?

In a widely criticized — and since-deleted — tweet, Fuller wrote, "Why is it a parent's right to endanger the lives of other people's kids and of teachers? Maybe ppl wearing masks should just drive drunk and speed thru the neighborhoods of pro-covid parents as a way to exercise their freedom and rights."

Fuller, an associate professor education as well as director of the school's Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, is said to have switched his Twitter account to private following immense backlash.

In a statement on the remarks, Penn State spokesperson Lisa Powers said, "Penn State does not condone the tweet, and we can share that the faculty member regrets his poor choice of words — which do not represent the views of the University nor the College of Education."

Powers did not state whether Fuller would face any type of disciplinary action with regard to his head-scratching social media statement.

The College Fix reported that Powers did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

According to the report, the professor's outraged remark came in response to a tweet praising Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) for his order to allow families to decide whether their children wear masks in schools.

The outlet also pointed out that according to a report from Education Week, at least 422 active teachers died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Given that there are over 3 million public school teachers in the United States, plus 500,000 in private schools, 'so many' deaths equates to a 0.012 percent death rate," the report concluded.

The Education Week report also documented personal information of those teachers lost during the pandemic, such as their names, schools in which they taught, and ages.

You can view the full list here.

Penn State professor just deleted this tweet:pic.twitter.com/as5ipv2nBy
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis) 1642374142

Chicago Teachers Union once again considers locking down schools, floats 'city-wide work stoppage'



With the rise of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, the Chicago Teachers Union is once again considering shutting down in-person education in the city and returning strictly to remote classes.

What are the details?

In a survey issued this week titled "Possible Actions for Safety January 2022," the union asked its 25,000 rank-and-file members if they would support initiating a temporary return to distance learning if cases continued to spike, WFLD-TV reported.

"If COVID continues to dangerously accelerate or should staffing levels in our schools drop to unsafe levels, would you support a district-wide pause and temporary shift to remote learning?" the questionnaire asked.

BREAKING: Chicago Teachers Union is polling its membership asking if they would "support a district-wide pause and temporary shift to remote learning."\n\nThey're also asking if membership would be willing to "participate in a city-wide work stoppage."pic.twitter.com/AOLuOyoXGY
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis) 1640642929

"Cases of the new omicron variant are spiking in Chicago and around the country. It is imperative that we return from our winter break with a plan to ensure school communities’ and our own safety," the survey said. "Please answer the following very short survey to help guide the CTU’s response to CPS’s inadequate pandemic response."

What else?

Elsewhere in the survey, the nation's third-largest teachers union probed members about how far they would be willing to go to demand that Chicago Public Schools enhance their safety measures.

"What actions would you participate in to force CPS to improve its COVID safety measures?" the union asked teachers, listing five different action-step options for members to check off, ranging from minor to major.

Some of the minor action steps included "conven[ing] a meeting of the school safety committee," handing out flyers to parents, and launching an event at school such as a "neighborhood car caravan."

Then the union suggested "participat[ing] in a city-wide action like a car caravan or an outdoor rally" and even floated "participat[ing] in a city-wide work stoppage" to pressure the school district.

What's the background?

It's not the first time the union has demanded an end to in-person learning since the start of the pandemic.

In January 2021, the union ordered its teachers not to return to classrooms amid health and safety issues, and threatened to initiate an illegal strike if any of the absent teachers were disciplined. Some members strangely performed an interpretive dance in protest of the district's return to school policy.

A deal was eventually struck between the district and the union in February that allowed children to return to Chicago classrooms. But it didn't mark an end to the union's protesting. Many feared it would only be a matter of time until the union renewed its calls for school closures.

Now it appears Chicago Public Schools is prepared to kowtow to the union's activism once again. Seeing the writing on the wall, the district purchased 100,000 laptops last week in preparation for a renewed shutdown.

As the nation's fight over reopening schools wages on, West Virginia Legislature advances major school choice bills



School freedom is advancing in the state of West Virginia this week as major legislation to expand school choice passed through the lower house of the state Legislature.

The Republican-controlled House of Delegates on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill to expand the number of charter schools that could be approved in the state in a three-year period from three to 10. The bill passed 66-32, with all Democratic delegates opposing the legislation. On Thursday, legislation creating education savings accounts was approved by the House of Delegates in a 60-29 vote.

These education savings accounts, known as the "Hope Scholarship," would permit parents to use their tax dollars for education expenses like private school tuition, home tutoring, testing aids, and other permitted education expenses. Republicans approved an amendment to the legislation that would make nearly every school-age child eligible for an education savings account by 2026, opening the program to a maximum 22,000 students at a cost of $101 million.

Families would be able to take their children's education dollars to the education provider of their choosing:• P… https://t.co/imh6XsabHh
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis)1613671127.0

"We're a diverse state. We have different geographic regions that have different needs," Delegate Joe Ellington, a Republican and the charter school bill's chief sponsor, told the Associated Press. "This just gives opportunity. If people don't want to take advantage of that opportunity, they don't have to. So it's strictly voluntary."

Charter schools were legalized during a special session of the West Virginia Legislature in 2019, after intense statewide protests by teachers unions opposing the bill. This year, however, school choice advanced speedily with the support of Republican supermajorities in the legislature.

Under current law, county school boards may authorize applications to create a charter school. So far there are no charter schools in West Virginia and only one application to create a charter school has been submitted to the school boards in Monongalia and Preston counties. That application was rejected, and there is a lawsuit against the state Department of Education over the decision.

The charter school expansion bill would create the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board to review and authorize charter school applications in addition to the county boards. It would also allow each of Virginia's 55 counties to approve the creation of a fully online virtual charter school, which would be allowed to enroll up to 10% of public school students.

Democrats opposing charter school expansion and the creation of education savings accounts say permitting parents to use their tax dollars to send their kids to private or religious schools will detract from state funding for public schools. They also raised concerns about the cost of the legislation after Republicans expanded the education savings accounts bill.

"The price tag just went right through the roof," Delegate Larry Rowe (D) said of the Hope Scholarship's $101 million price tag. "It is an unbelievable amount of money to be voting here in a simple amendment on the floor for the first time to be completely changing the nature of this program."

Last month West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) signed an executive order to begin reopening public and private schools that had closed down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Teachers unions sued to block schools from reopening, but Kanawha County Circuit Judge Carrie Webster ruled against the unions and refused to block reopening plans from the state board of education.

Under the reopening plan, pre-K, elementary and middle schools will be open for in-person instruction in all West Virginia counties for four or five days per week. Alternatively, school districts can opt for a hybrid reopening plan that permits schools to open at least two days per week until all their teachers are fully vaccinated. High schools may also reopen in all counties except those designated as high risk for COVID-19 spread by the Department of Health and Human Resources County Alert System.

Nation's largest teachers union targets charter schools in 'policy playbook' for Biden-Harris administration



The largest teachers union in the United States has released a "policy playbook" for the next Congress and presidential administration that calls for policies that will reduce school choice and oppose the expansion of charter schools.

The National Education Association in mid-November published a report titled, "2020 NEA Policy Playbook for Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration," calling for former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential administration to pursue a wide-range of progressive policies aimed at consolidating education funding in the public school system.

"With a Biden-Harris administration, we have new opportunities to implement policies at the federal level that will benefit the lives of our students and educators locally," the NEA report states. "New relief funding will help our schools overcome the immense hurdles created by COVID-19. Fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program will get educators the debt relief they were promised and ease the teacher shortage. Racial inequities caused by decades of unjust funding, white supremacy, and anti-immigration policies, will begin to be corrected."

The report covers "27 different issue areas for the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress to address." Scholar Corey A. DeAngelis, the director of School Choice at the Reason Foundation, on Friday called attention to several policies in the report that oppose charter schools and school choice.

The nation’s largest teachers union released a "policy playbook" for the Biden administration:• "Oppose all chart… https://t.co/nCCFLUKcCs
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis)1605894592.0

"Public education should be our first priority," the report states. "Any program that diverts resources from the traditional public schools that 90 percent of American students attend by definition undermines the promise of public education."

The NEA "opposes for-profit management of public schools, which creates a conflict of interest and undermines the transparency required to maintain public accountability regarding school finances."

They demand the following policies:

  • Oppose all charter school expansion that undermines traditional public schools.
  • Bar federal funding to charter schools, charter school authorizers, and charter school management companies not authorized or operated by local school districts.
  • Require charter schools, charter school authorizers, and charter school management companies to abide by the same laws and regulations applicable to traditional public schools.

The NEA also opposes "the enactment of any new voucher program, including education savings accounts and tuition tax credit schemes, or the expansion of existing programs."

"Vouchers divert scarce resources from public schools, while offering no countervailing benefits," the report says. "Private schools can and do discriminate by denying admission on the basis of religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, English language proficiency, and disability. Using federal tax dollars to subsidize such discrimination is unconscionable."

"These policies all protect the monopoly at the expense of families," DeAngelis tweeted.

The NEA also calls for $175 billion in additional federal emergency aid for schools in response to the coronavirus pandemic, passage of the HEROES Act or simular trillion-dollar stimulus legislation by Congress, and a nationwide mask mandate.

Further, the policies requested go well beyond education policy. The NEA declares support for single-payer health care; demands legal status for illegal immigrants; an immediate end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids; the reinstatement of an Obama-Biden administration anti-discrimination policy for transgender students; gun control measures including banning high-capacity magazines and outlawing private firearms sales; repealing the 2017 Trump tax cuts; and expanding voting rights for ex-felons and others.

"We need the federal government to return to its role of ensuring equal access to opportunity, protecting the most vulnerable, and investing in the future of society." NEA president Becky Pringle said.

Trump campaign allegedly being prevented from watching vote count in Philadelphia despite court order allowing them to do so



Members of President Donald Trump's campaign Thursday allegedly were not being permitted to observe ballot counting in the Philadelphia Convention Center despite a court order issued earlier in the day allowing them to do so.

What are the details?

A Philadelphia court ruled Thursday morning that poll watchers were allowed to be within six feet of ballot counting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center rather than the previous 20-foot perimeter, KYW-TV reported.

Pam Bondi and Corey Lewandowski of the Trump Campaign presented the order, which went into effect at 10:30 a.m., the station said, adding that the pair said it allows them access inside and up to six feet of the vote-counters. KYW reported that they then walked inside the convention center.

Lewandowski, Bondi, and others head into the Pennsylvania Convention Center. They said they'll be observing the mai… https://t.co/7oDD5MIDfx
— Erin McCarthy (@Erin McCarthy)1604590684.0

However, two videos posted to social media show Trump campaign representatives — including Lewandowski — declaring that they were being blocked from observing the count:

The latest via @CLewandowski_ https://t.co/VRbnit2ksM
— Ron Coleman (@Ron Coleman)1604595215.0

Lewandowski said in the above clip that Philadelphia officials "refuse to honor the judge's order" giving them access and that it "flies in the face of democracy." He added that "the attorney for the city said they are going to evaluate ... the judge's order."

🚨 Here in Philadelphia with Former Democratic Candidate for Judge Michelle Hangley who is paid for by city tax paye… https://t.co/zfW5NigHeO
— Corey R. Lewandowski (@Corey R. Lewandowski)1604600457.0

A woman who said she's an attorney representing Philadelphia stated in the above clip that the city is "evaluating" the judge's order and determining "what the order means" and "when they're ready to talk to you about it, they will." The woman also said the city isn't violating the court order by its actions.

Ballot counting in Philadelphia was halted for about an hour Thursday morning due to legal challenges, KYW said in a separate story. It isn't clear if above videos were recorded when counting was paused or not.

City commissioners tweeted later that the count was back on:

The count is going forward. There was a brief pause in light of the ongoing litigation, but it has resumed in accor… https://t.co/4RpygtK4u5
— Philadelphia City Commissioners (@Philadelphia City Commissioners)1604597349.0

However, TheBlaze looked at the livestream referred to in the above tweet just before 4:30 p.m. Thursday, and it didn't appear to show poll watchers standing within six feet of ballot counters.

Still, Republican Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt told KYW that representatives from both the Trump campaign and from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign were watching the vote count.

"They're observing all of it," Schmidt noted to the station.

None of the three Philadelphia commissioners on Thursday immediately responded to TheBlaze's request for comment on the allegations that Trump officials were being prevented from observing the vote count despite the court order allowing them to do so.

Anything else?

The Associated Press reported late Wednesday that Trump's campaign sued to stop the Pennsylvania vote count over lack of "transparency" and was seeking to intervene in the Supreme Court case. Fox News said the lawsuit was meant to overturn a SCOTUS decision that allows Pennsylvania to continue counting mail-in ballots received after Tuesday until Friday, as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3.

An NBC News reporter said Thursday she incorrectly tweeted that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overruled the lower court's decision favoring the Trump campaign and added that the state's high court hasn't "weighed in" on the case yet.

Pennsylvania officials on Thursday were still counting mail-in ballots for Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Winning the state's 20 electoral votes would put Biden above the 270-vote threshold that determines the winner of the election.