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PERK’s Amy Bohn: Newsom ‘using children in this political game’ of gender identity in schools

PERK’s Amy Bohn: Newsom ‘using children in this political game’ of gender identity in schools

Amy Bohn is the president and co-founder of California-based PERK (Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids). The organization advocates for parental rights at the local and state level, and has been a constant thorn in the side of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Bohn sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss California’s recently passed legislation, AB 1955, which would prohibit educators from informing parents when their children change their pronouns, name, or gender identity at school. NEWSOM’S SCHOOL GENDER IDENTITY LAW MANDATES ‘TEACHERS MUST LIE TO PARENTS,’ PARENTAL RIGHTS GROUPS SAY Bohn argues that the legislation is a usurpation of parental rights. “So California’s AB 1955 is, I think, one of the worst bills we’ve seen thus far, that prohibits parents from being notified or informed about their child, changing their gender identity or anything like that at school,” she said. “So it completely prohibits educators, teachers and the school from letting parents know about any kind of change with their child. It also promotes secrecy… removing all of this information from parents, and creates a file on parents at the school level as well, a secret file.” Supporters of the legislation suggest that students are entitled to privacy. The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Chris Ward, a Democrat who represents a San Diego-based district, argues that it affords students “the dignity of deciding when they’re ready to share some of the most private information about themselves.” Minors, Bohn said, do not have the legal standing to consent to making such decisions. “I would say that the issue in this is that a child does not have the capacity to consent. So every minor has to grow up and is developing, and a brain is not fully developed until they’re 25 years old. That’s science. So to even think that children have some kind of capacity to consent to something like this without their parents… that’s why there are consent laws in place,” she said. “And parents are there to guide, to protect, to make sure that their children are not exploited or taken advantage of. I think what he’s saying is honestly utter nonsense.” CALIFORNIA GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM SIGNS BILL BANNING SCHOOLS FROM NOTIFYING PARENTS OF CHILD’S GENDER IDENTITY Bohn said she believes that the legislation enjoys the backing of Newsom for reasons of political expediency. “I think he wants it to go into law because I think it’s a political move, to be honest. And that’s also one of the problems with this bill is they’re using children in this political game, this political agenda,” she said. “I don’t think he’s concerned or cares about the children. And I think that we have seen as PERK, in California, Newsom is eroding parental rights.” While AB 1955 has been a major issue for PERK this year, the organization has also been active in other public policy battles, particularly related to educational policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bohn has been vocal against vaccine mandates in school districts. WALZ’S ‘FREEDOM’ MESSAGE CLASHES WITH RECORD ON COVID SCHOOL CLOSURES, INDOOR MASK MANDATES “I do not believe schools should be able to mandate vaccines, because that’s a medical treatment. That’s something that parents and doctors should be the stewards of,” she said. “We’ve actually seen mandates across the state of California on vaccines, including the COVID mandate, and it was illegal for them to do that. They were bypassing the legislative process and the [state] Health Department.” PERK was involved in litigation challenging such policies. “We pushed back against that. We filed lawsuits. We won those lawsuits, by the way,” Bohn said. “I just don’t think mandates belong anywhere in our society, because if we’re supposed to be free, which we are, then mandates are completely [the] opposite of what the Constitution stands for.” Bohn and PERK also fought Newsom and the teachers unions over COVID lockdowns.  “So from the very beginning, when we heard Gov. Newsom say it was going to be two weeks to slow the spread and schools closed, we looked at each other and [we knew] this is going to be a year or longer,” she said. “Immediately, within two weeks, we sent a letter to Gov. Newsom and to the legislators saying, ‘This is bad policy. We can already tell you how this is going to harm children.’” Bohn added: “You shouldn’t be implementing these kinds of lockdown measures, especially on the kids. So we started to push back immediately at the highest level. Then, we informed parents, ‘This is what’s going on. This is how it’s going to hurt your families, your kids and their education and academic learning and the academic loss we were anticipating,’ and got parents involved to push back.” PERK was credited with driving local protests and activism at school board meetings in the wake of the lengthy closures. “So we actually brought lots of parents and people to school board meetings to encourage the schools to open back up as quickly as possible. We put out surveys. We filed lawsuits. We did a lot in the space to try to help get the schools opened back up,” Bohn said. “And we’re very active in representing hundreds of thousands of families and kids that needed those schools open.” Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Harris tells African church conference ‘we are not going back’ as its leaders voted to ban gay marriage

Harris tells African church conference ‘we are not going back’ as its leaders voted to ban gay marriage

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, thanked leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church for their support this week and told them she is determined to move the country forward for them, but the church’s leaders don’t seem to want that when it comes to gay marriage. Leaders of the AME church voted Wednesday at its 52nd quadrennial conference held in Columbus, Ohio, to strike down a bill that would have ended the AME church’s ban on same-sex marriage.  In an address to attendees of the conference the same day, Harris slammed Republicans for trying to pull the country backward.  “We face a choice between two very different visions for the future of our nation. One, ours, that is focused on the future. The other focused on the past,” Harris told those in attendance. “But we are not going back.”  HARRIS CAMP HIRES ACTIVIST REVEREND WHO CLAIMS CHRISTIANITY HAS BEEN ‘HIJACKED’ BY WHITE SUPREMACY  Gay marriage was legalized by the federal government in 2015.  The AME church is a predominantly Black church based in the U.S. It originated due to racial animosity between Black and White congregants in the Methodist church during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Today, 92% of the AME church’s congregants identify as Democrats, according to the polling firm Pew Research Center.  Leaders of the AME church have been credited with helping play a key role in getting President Biden elected in 2020 and this year have campaigned with prominent Democratic candidates. Although the church boasts a vast network of Democratic congregants, its position on same-sex marriage remains out of step with the official stance of the Democratic Party. In 2004, the church’s leaders released a statement indicating gay marriage was contradictory to how they interpret the Bible, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a pro-LGBTQ nonprofit.   More recently, there has been internal disagreement on the matter, illustrated by Wednesday’s vote to strike down the church’s gay marriage ban, which received 896 nays and 722 yeas.  While Harris seems unconcerned with the AME church’s stance on gay marriage, she has had some harsh words for Republicans on other “anti-equality” measures. She previously referred to GOP lawmakers who have sought to keep biological males out of girls’ bathrooms, limit public drag shows open to minors and restrict transgender care to only adults as “extremists.”  “These so-called leaders have proposed and passed more than 75 new anti-equality bills across our country,” Harris said at a Pride Month event last year. Republicans, meanwhile, have derided Harris as a “political chameleon” who shifts her policy positions for political purposes. ‘EVANGELICALS FOR HARRIS’ COURTS ‘POLITICALLY HOMELESS’ CHRISTIANS TO BACK DEMOCRAT IN NOVEMBER The Harris campaign did not respond to questions on whether the vice president was aware of the AME church’s stance on gay marriage prior to filming her message that was played at the conference or if she still supports the rights of same-sex couples to get married. The AME church hung up the phone when Fox News Digital tried to reach out.  “This is the most consequential election of our lifetime,” Harris told the congregants Wednesday, thanking them “deeply” for their support and get-out-the-vote efforts. Harris made no mention of LGBTQ issues during her short message but did touch on economic, health and religious liberty issues. She also implored the congregants to “do all we can to move our nation forward.” “As the Gospel of Luke tells us, faith has the power to shine a light on those living in darkness and to guide our feet in the path of peace. In moments such as this, faith guides us forward. Faith in the promise of America: freedom, opportunity and justice – not for some, but for all.”

Critics say CNN’s Bash used ‘kid gloves’ with Harris and Walz, while Vance ‘grilled’

Critics say CNN’s Bash used ‘kid gloves’ with Harris and Walz, while Vance ‘grilled’

Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for her first media interview Thursday since ascending the Democratic presidential ticket, with some critics arguing the CNN interviewer should have taken a tougher approach similar to an interview just weeks before with former President Trump’s running mate. CNN’s Dana Bash interviewed Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for a total of roughly 26 pretaped minutes, which aired Thursday night. Harris was asked about inconsistencies in her political record, Trump’s personal attacks and what she would accomplish on day one in the Oval Office.  Walz was asked about comments he made on the campaign trail related to his military service — that he once carried weapons in war, though he was never deployed to a war zone.  Some critics say they wish Bash had pressed the pair in the way she grilled GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance in a one-on-one interview just weeks before.  KAMALA HARRIS OFFERS VAGUE ‘DAY 1’ OVAL OFFICE PLAN IN CNN INTERVIEW: ‘A NUMBER OF THINGS’ “Mixed marks for Bash, who pushed on some necessary subjects, but missed glaring follow-ups,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X.  More specifically, Vanessa Santos, president of Renegade PR, told Fox News Digital on Friday, “Dana was fired up when she grilled JD about his ‘cat lady’ comments. If she would’ve brought even half of that energy to the Harris-Walz interview, voters might have learned something last night.”  “Instead, she let their nonsensical answers go unchecked and unchallenged,” she said.  Bash asked Walz during the interview, “You said that you carried weapons in war, but you have never actually deployed in a war zone. A campaign official said that you misspoke. Did you?”  Walz replied, “I’m incredibly proud. I’ve done 24 years of wearing the uniform of this country, equally proud of my service in a public-school classroom, whether it’s Congress or the governor. My record speaks for itself, but I think people are coming to get to know me. I speak like they do. I speak candidly. I wear my emotions on my sleeves. And I speak especially passionately about our children being shot in schools and around guns. So, I think people know me. They know who I am. They know where my heart is. And again, my record has been out there for over 40 years to speak for itself.” “And the idea that you said that you were in war, did you misspeak as the campaign has said?” Bash pressed.  “Yeah. I said we were talking about, in this case, this was after a school shooting, the idea of carrying these weapons of war. And, my wife, the English teacher, she told me my grammar is not always correct,” he said. In contrast, during her interview earlier this month with Vance, Bash pressed the Ohio senator for roughly six minutes about his leading the charge on criticizing Walz’s characterization of his military record, challenging his criticisms three separate times during the segment.  She also pressed him multiple times on his “childless cat ladies” comments from an interview a few years ago.  ON DODGING THE MEDIA, KAMALA HARRIS ‘OWES RESPONSES’ TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, SAYS CAMPAIGN ADVISER But critics argued that Bash didn’t ask the hard-hitting questions Americans wanted to hear during her interview of Harris and Walz on Thursday. In one light exchange, Bash questioned Harris about a viral photo of Harris’ young niece watching her speech at the Democratic National Convention.  “You didn’t explicitly talk about gender or race in your speech. But it obviously means a lot to a lot of people. And that viral picture really says it. What does it mean to you?” Bash asked. Harris replied, “I am running because I believe that I am the best person to do this job at this moment for all Americans, regardless of race and gender. But I did see that photograph, and I was deeply touched by it.” To which Bash followed up, “Did she talk to you about it afterwards?” “Oh, she had a lot to talk about. She had a lot. She listened to everything. And she listens to everything,” Harris replied. “Did she give you your hot takes?” Bash asked. “Oh, yeah, definitely,” Harris said. Michael Knowles, host of the conservative talk radio show “The Michael Knowles Show,” commented, “Dana Bash only did a bad job if you consider her to be a serious journalist.” “In reality, her job was not to ask tough questions, as she did of JD Vance, but rather to allow Kamala Harris to check the box of having endured an uneventful interview,” he told Fox News Digital.  Link Lauren, a TikTok influencer and former senior campaign adviser for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., told Fox News Digital, “It was as if Dana Bash was leading the witness.”  “She would give options for Kamala to choose from — as if this was the SAT multiple-choice section,” said Lauren.  “Bash is clearly capable of conducting a hardcore interview in the peak of a critical election cycle. It’s unfortunate she didn’t deploy those skills with Harris and Walz and instead put on kid gloves,” said Santos.  Santos added that Bash “allowing Walz to blame ‘bad grammar’ for lying about his military record seems like a politically motivated tactic, and is a disservice to Americans.” ‘WHATEVER’: DEMOCRATS REACT TO KAMALA HARRIS’ LACK OF INTERVIEWS Conversely, some critics say Bash leaned too far into “right-wing talking points” and should have had a more original line of questioning with Harris and Walz. Sami Sage, co-founder of Betches Media, posted on X, “the CNN interview summarized: Dana Bash: why did you [right wing talking point]? Harris/Walz: because [answer they’ve given 5+ times] Dana Bash: but is it because [right wing talking point]? have you changed your mind on [right wing talking point]?” Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott commented, “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz gave a perfectly thoughtful, insightful interview. But the press continues to be plagued by an inability to

Trump and Harris tell supporters to ignore the polls, but for very different reasons

Trump and Harris tell supporters to ignore the polls, but for very different reasons

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are both telling their supporters not to pay too much attention to the latest polls – but for very different reasons. As the 2024 edition of the race for the White House enters the final stretch, Harris is preaching caution amid a surge in fundraising and polling numbers since replacing President Biden atop the Democrats’ national ticket six weeks ago. Trump, meanwhile, has seen his momentum blunted, but also has a history of outperforming underwhelming poll numbers, including during his 2016 campaign. “This is going to be a tight race until the very end,” Harris told supporters this week at a packed arena in this historic coastal city in Georgia, one of seven crucial battleground states that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election. Harris spoke on Thursday after the release of a series of polls – including new surveys from Fox News – that indicated a margin-of-error race in the key swing states and a trio of national polls showing Harris with a very slight edge. NEW FOX NEWS POLL NUMBERS IN 4 KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES But the vice president told the crowd at Savannah’s Enmarket Arena: “Let’s not pay too much attention to the polls because we are running as the underdog.” “We have some hard work ahead of us. But we like hard work. Hard work is good work,” Harris said to cheers. “And with your help, we are going to win this November.” KAMALA HARRIS DEFENDS POLICY REVERSALS AS SHE SITS FOR HER FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE REPLACING BIDEN ATOP DEMOCRATS’ 2024 TICKET Trump, running to win back his old job in the White House, has repeatedly dismissed the polling bump for Harris and touted his standing. “She’s not having success. I’m having success,” Trump told Martha MacCallum in an interview last week on the Fox News Channel. “I’m doing great with the Hispanic voters. I’m doing great with Black men. I’m doing great with women. We’re doing very well in the polls.” For much of this year, polls suggested a close contest between Trump and Biden as the pair engaged in a rematch of their 2020 showdown. Trump opened up a small but significant lead in the weeks after Biden’s disastrous late-June debate performance in Atlanta. But since Biden ended his re-election bid in a blockbuster July 21 announcement, Harris has benefited from a swell of media attention that’s helped boost the prospects of the Democratic Party ticket. Harris’ rally in Savannah came at the end of a two-day swing through parts of southeastern Georgia with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. And she arrived at the arena about two hours after sitting for her first network interview since becoming the Democrats’ standard-bearer. Georgia had long been a reliably red state in presidential politics until Biden narrowly edged Trump in 2020 to become the first Democrat in nearly three decades to capture the state. In runoff elections there two months later, Democrats flipped both of the state’s GOP-held Senate seats. But fast-forward to this summer, as Biden was facing a rising chorus of calls from within his own party to end his 2024 bid, and Trump had begun to build a lead in Georgia. THIS STATE MAY DECIDE THE 2024 SHOWDOWN BETWEEN HARRIS AND TRUMP Harris’ trip this week, however, sends a signal that Democrats feel the state is once again in play. “Georgia, for the past two election cycles, voters in this very state … have delivered,” Harris told the crowd. “You did that, and so now we are asking you to do it again. Let’s do it again.” Georgia’s popular two-term Republican governor agrees that his state is very competitive. “Certainly this is a battleground state,” Gov. Brian Kemp said during a Fox News Digital interview on Tuesday. “I’ve been saying for a long time that the road to the White House is going to run through Georgia. And there’s no path for former President Trump to win, or any Republican … to get to 270 without Georgia.” But Kemp, who on Thursday headlined a fundraiser in Atlanta for Trump, added that Georgia “should be one that we win if we have all the mechanics that we need. And I’m working hard to help provide those in a lot of ways and turn the Republican vote out and make sure that we win this state in November.” Labor Day marks the start of the unofficial final sprint in the presidential election. One week later, on Sept. 10, the first – and possibly the only – presidential debate between Harris and Trump is scheduled to take place in Philadelphia. And while Election Day remains more than two months away, some voters will start casting ballots in the coming weeks. In swing state North Carolina, mail-in voting begins on Sept. 6. Early voting begins on Sept. 16 in Pennsylvania and Sept. 26 in Michigan, two other crucial electoral battlegrounds. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

To be a Palestinian child, trying to survive Israeli jail

To be a Palestinian child, trying to survive Israeli jail

For 10 long months, 16-year-old Hussein* lived in the same clothes he was wearing when he was detained on October 3. His trousers were still bloodstained when he was released. On October 3, he was shot in the right thigh by Israeli forces in a watchtower near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Hussein fell to the ground and saw two Israeli soldiers walking towards him. They beat him, kicking him in the head until he lost consciousness. He woke up three days later in a hospital, only to realise he had undergone surgery and was about to be taken to Ofer Prison. That was only days before Israel unleashed its continuing assault on Gaza and the last time he received any medical attention in detention. Can’t walk Hussein is one of hundreds of children Israel has detained over the years, a number that has multiplied dramatically since Israel began its assault on Gaza on October 7 and intensified its daily raids and mass arrest campaigns in the West Bank. He used to love going to the gym, challenging himself to lift more. He also loved playing football with his friends. Now, he limps, needs crutches to walk, and spends most of his day lying on a mattress. He will require joint implant surgery once he is done growing at the age of 18. “I’m really struggling … I can’t walk properly or catch up with any of my friends any more,” Hussein told Al Jazeera. Medical negligence is just one of the many forms of abuse, torture, humiliation and mistreatment  Palestinian prisoners face in Israeli detention facilities, according to several rights groups. Along with UN agencies, they have shed light on the systematic abuse being committed. More than 700 arrests of children have been documented by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society since October 7. Currently, 250 of them remain in Israeli detention. “This number, especially compared to previous periods, is very high,” said Amani Sarahneh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. Sarahneh added that children are abused and tortured the same way adult Palestinian prisoners are. “A Palestinian child will likely experience every abuse tactic you can think of,” she said, adding that Israeli forces have used them on Palestinian children for many years. Palestinian detainees are beaten, exposed to the cold for prolonged periods, and deprived of food, sleep, water and medical attention, a report by the UN Human Rights Office last month revealed. Children today live “in a constant state of hunger inside Israeli jails”, Sarhaneh said. ‘Just enough to keep us alive’ When Wassim left detention, he had vitamin, iron and calcium deficiencies. “The prison was … unlivable,” he said. “I would ask for medical treatment every single day, but … no doctors showed up, they didn’t even exist [in the prison],” Wassim said. The frequency and intensity of arrests after October 7 are ‘unprecedented’, Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says [File: Mussa Qawasma/Reuters] Food rations were also largely inadequate: Hussein said that he and the nine other prisoners in his cell would receive food in “a tiny plastic cup”. “It was just enough to keep us alive,” he said. “Most days, it was white rice … sometimes, it was undercooked. We’d eat, be full for five minutes, and then continue the rest of the day as if we were fasting. “We’d be begging for water, and end up drinking contaminated water from the bathroom. We had to … we had no choice,” he recalled. Israeli prison authorities shut down the canteen where prisoners could buy food and basic supplies and removed electrical devices including hotplates and kettles. Hussein’s father Omar* said he was worried sick about his son, especially after October 7. “After the war on Gaza, when we heard how bad things had gotten for Palestinians in Israeli jails, we were devastated,” Omar told Al Jazeera. “We cried … day and night,” he recalled. Omar had hoped Hussein would be released in November when Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire agreement that included the exchange of dozens of Palestinian prisoners with some of the captives held in Gaza. But despite his injury, Hussein was not released. “They deprived him of his childhood, and the rest of his life,” Omar said. According to Omar, a much quieter Hussein is now struggling to reintegrate back into his community. In crowds, he will often retreat into a corner and often wakes up with nightmares. ‘I just want to work and build a home’ In the town of al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, another Palestinian boy was freed on August 8. Ahmed Abu Naim, now 18, has been in and out of Israeli detention facilities since he was 15 years old, held at times under administrative detention – being held for renewable six-month periods under the pretext of secret evidence. There has been an “unprecedented and terrifying spike” in the number of child administrative detainees, according to Palestinian Prisoner’s Society’s Serhaneh, who said at least 40 children are held under the widely criticised practice. When asked to compare being in detention before and after October 7, Abu Naim said, “The last time I was arrested, it was different; it was much worse than the other times.” The first time he was arrested, it was for two days. The second time, he was held for just more than a year. The third time, he spent six months in detention. He said his most recent experience was “1,000 times harder”. Ahmed Abu Naim has been in and out of Israeli detention facilities since he was 15 [Al Jazeera] “They didn’t treat us any different because we were minors,” Abu Naim, who recalled being severely beaten “so many times”, said. “We were even sprayed with gas sometimes,” he said. Wearing a baseball cap, he was trying to speak boldly, eager to appear both older and stronger. Abu Naim has been recovering from scabies, a skin disease that spread in the Megiddo prison, where he was held. “Hygiene standards were abysmal. We were not