We need to talk about how media fact-checkers and disinformation journalists are a constant source of misinformation in this country.
The Associated Press this week published a fact-check claiming the National School Boards Association did not, in fact, petition the White House to classify parents and activists who oppose mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory as “domestic terrorists.”
Except the board absolutely did.
“Contrary to false claims circulating online,” the Associated Press said this week in a news alert, “the National School Boards Association didn’t ask President Joe Biden to label protesting parents ‘domestic terrorists,’ and there’s no indication Biden or the Justice Department called them terrorists, either.”
The newswire’s subsequent fact-check reviews the following claim: “The National School Boards Association is asking the Biden administration to label parents who protest school policies domestic terrorists.”
This is “false,” says the Associated Press.
“The organization is not asking Biden to label parents who protest at school board meetings as terrorists,” the newsgroup reports. “The NSBA asked the administration to do an interagency investigation of threats of violence against school board members and said the threats ‘could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.’”
Its fact-check adds, “Biden has yet to publicly comment on the issue, and there’s no indication he or the Department of Justice has called protesting parents ‘domestic terrorists,’ despite false claims to that effect by social media users.”
The Associated Press then turns its attention to supposed “misinformation” peddled by anti-mask and anti-critical race theory activists, including a tweet by Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo, who wrote, “The National School Boards Association asked the feds to crack down on anti-critical race theory protests as ‘domestic terrorism.’”
The report also highlights a social media post from a group called Fight for Schools, which said, “The National School Boards Association is asking the Biden administration to label parents who protest school policies as domestic terrorists.”
However, the school board group tells the Associated Press it did no such thing.
“This is absolutely false,” NSBA CEO Chip Slaven told the newswire. “NSBA and school board members don’t want to stop parents from expressing their First Amendment rights or label them as terrorists. Our letter to President Biden was about stopping dangerous and threatening acts that school board members and other education leaders are receiving.”
He added, “We want to stop the death threats, threats to family members, and other harassment and acts of intimidation.”
This is a nice sentiment and all, but the organization 100% recommended the White House classify parents and activists as domestic terrorists.
The association’s letter to the White House last week stated explicitly that as “threats and acts of violence have become more prevalent, NSBA respectfully asks that a joint collaboration among federal law enforcement agencies, state and local law enforcement, and with public school officials be undertaken to focus on these threats.”
A few of the most outrageous examples of these “threats and acts of violence,” according to the association, include a man filming himself while calling school administrators and another man labeling a school board as “Marxist.”
Last I checked, merely affixing a pejorative label on someone is hardly the stuff of terrorism. It certainly doesn’t require a response from the federal government.
“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased,” the group’s letter to the president said, “the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
The letter continues, taking things a step further.
“[We request] a joint expedited review by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Education, and Homeland Security, along with the appropriate training, coordination, investigations,” it reads, “and enforcement mechanisms from the FBI, including any technical assistance necessary from, and state and local coordination with, its National Security Branch and Counterterrorism Division, as well as any other federal agency with relevant jurisdictional authority and oversight.”
It adds, “NSBA requests that such review examine appropriate enforceable actions against these crimes and acts of violence under the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the PATRIOT Act in regards to domestic terrorism, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Violent Interference with Federally Protected Rights statute, the Conspiracy Against Rights statute, an Executive Order to enforce all applicable federal laws for the protection of students and public school district personnel, and any related measure.”
So yes, the association not only asked the White House to consider classifying the protests as “domestic terrorism,” but it also went that extra step and recommended the administration look into leveraging Bush-era anti-terrorism legislation against demonstrators.
The Justice Department, for its part, announced this week it will mobilize the federal law enforcement apparatus against the school board protesters, saying it will investigate and prosecute as necessary.
One may say the association didn’t technically ask for parents to be labeled “domestic terrorists,” but for one to believe this, one must first ignore that it recommended both the “terrorism” label and the use of the PATRIOT Act.
The Associated Press’s “fact-check,” by the way, neglects to mention that the association pitched the administration specifically on bringing out the PATRIOT Act.
How the newsgroup managed to omit this relevant detail from its “fact-check” is anybody’s guess.
It was probably just a mistake. Just some devilish oversight!
