BUZZ
An ‘unprecedented, violent attack on U.S. democratic institutions’ … and don’t question the 2020 election!
A bill requiring the teaching of January 6, 2021 as an “insurrection” recently passed the Democrat-majority Virginia House of Delegates and Senate … and stands ready for Governor Abigail Spanberger’s signature.
According to the text of HB 333 (“Public schools; programs and courses of instruction; instruction on January 6 insurrection”), the bill prohibits referring to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as anything but an “insurrection,” one that was an “unprecedented, violent attack on U.S. democratic institutions, infrastructure, and representatives for the purpose of overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
Jonathan Turley notes teachers “effectively” would be prohibited from mentioning “peaceful protests” or any sort of “irregularities” regarding the 2020 election.
“’Insurrection’ and ‘sedition’ are legal terms,” Turley says. “They have a meaning. The FBI investigated thousands after January 6th and charged hundreds. Not one was charged with insurrection or conspiracy to overthrow the country.”
Turley notes the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Delegate Dan Helmer, is again running for the U.S. House, this time in the notorious “lobster” or “scorpion” district created via his party’s gerrymandering.
Virginia Democrats reduced the Republican Party to just one U.S. House district, despite the state being evenly split politically.
Helmer once compared Donald Trump to Osama bin Laden, calling the president the “greatest threat to democracy.” He’s a big proponent of gun control and abortion, backs the Equal Rights Amendment, and supports eliminating taxes on menstrual products.
In addition to the heavily partisan redistricting, Virginia Democrats — who, like Gov. Spanberger, ran as moderates during last year’s campaign — have sought to codify abortion as a “fundamental right,” restore voting rights for felons, and ban “assault” weapons and “large-capacity” magazines.
Legislators also recently voted themselves an almost-300 percent salary increase. And Gov. Spanberger issued an executive order banning key state agencies from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Professor Turley says Virginia Democrats “have objected to the pressure put on universities for greater diversity of viewpoints as an attack on academic freedom, [but] see no problem in mandating the teaching of positions that are demonstrably false.”
He adds this latest endeavor “will only accelerate the exodus of families from public education.”
MORE: Professor sends his what-if-Jan. 6-succeeded comic book to all Pennsylvania high schools
