Tag: moms for liberty
Busted: Moms For Liberty Moralist Quits School Board After Shoplifting Arrest

Busted: Moms For Liberty Moralist Quits School Board After Shoplifting Arrest

This past Friday, Keri Leigh Blair, a Tennessee school board member backed by the far-right group Moms for Liberty, was arrested and charged with stealing over $700 of merchandise from a local Target. Oh, the morality! Blair resigned from her position on the Collierville Schools board on Tuesday, having served just over one year, saying she is leaving for “personal, family reasons.”

According to the Collierville Police Department, Blair is accused of stealing from Target by “skip scanning” items at the self-checkout on November 25, November 30, Deccember 3, December 6, December13, December 18, and December 20—seven times! Target alleges Blair made off with $728.61, and police say the chain “is prosecuting.”

This is just the latest example of book-banning moralist moms behaving badly. Around the same time that Blair was being investigated, a so-called “parental rights” activist in Pennsylvania was facing criminal charges of “assault, harassment, and furnishing minors with alcohol” at a birthday party she hosted in September.

The rot of this anti-education movement can be seen at the top as well. Recently, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler and her politically connected Republican husband, Christian Ziegler, have been embroiled in a scandal after a woman who’d been in a sexual relationship with the married couple accused Mr. Ziegler of sexual assault. In every instance, these holier-than-thou actors—who seek to censor our country’s racial history and attack LGBTQ+ children—demand that everyone submit to their narrow view of the world. Everyone except, of course, themselves.

As for the school board seat left vacant by Blair, the local ABC affiliate reports that state law dictates that the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen appoint a replacement who would serve until November 2024.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Christian Ziegler

Police Expand Rape And 'Voyeurism' Probe Of Florida GOP Chair

Sarasota police are expanding their criminal investigation into Christian Ziegler, the embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, to include video voyeurism, a felony that carries a possible five-year prison penalty. Ziegler has been accused of rape by the same woman he and his wife Bridget, a Moms for Liberty co-founder and school board member who helped draft Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law, admit to having a three-way sexual relationship with.

According to a search warrant affidavit, police believe Christian Ziegler unlawfully filmed his alleged rape of the woman, which he claims was consensual. They have obtained a search warrant for Ziegler’s Instagram account, which they believe contains “evidence of the crime,” according to the Florida Trident, which also first broke the news of the rape allegation against Ziegler and of the three-way relationship.

The woman, who has not been named, says she was not aware Ziegler had filmed the encounter.

The alleged rape occurred after the woman canceled a planned three-way sexual encounter with the Zieglers, known as Florida’s Republican “power couple,” upon learning Bridget Ziegler, Christian’s wife who has strong ties to Gov. DeSantis, was not available.

“Detectives spoke with both the victim and Ziegler’s wife,” Sarasota Police Det. Megan Buck wrote in the search warrant affidavit. “The victim did not give Ziegler consent to take this video of them having sex. Neither … Ziegler’s wife or the victim knew anything about this video that had been taken of the sexual encounter on 10/02/23, and neither had seen the video of this encounter.”

The Herald-Tribune adds, “A Sarasota police detective wrote in the search warrant affidavit for Instagram records that she believes ‘probable cause exists to show (Zeigler) has utilized Instagram to commit the crime of Video Voyeurism.'”

Police have obtained two sex videos of the Zieglers: the one Christian reportedly filmed of the alleged rape, and a second one, of Bridget Ziegler “engaging in sexual relations” with an unidentified woman, sources said, according to a previous report by theTrident. “It is not known if the woman in the video is the same woman who has alleged she was sexually assaulted by Christian Ziegler.”

Bridget Ziegler confirmed the married couple had a three-way sexual relationship with the woman now accusing Christian Ziegler of sexual battery. She stood right behind DeSantis, now a GOP presidential candidate, when he signed his “Don’t Say Gay” legislation into law, an act some have called hypocritical given her consensual three-way sexual relationship and that both helped write and promote the legislation.

Last month the Republican Party of Florida stripped Christian Ziegler of his $120,000 annual salary and responsibilities, finding him unfit to serve. He has refused to resign, but reportedly is willing to step down if handed a massive payout, allegedly up to $2 million.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Moms For Liberty Activist Pushed Anne Frank Book Ban -- And Joined Antisemitic Broadcast

Moms For Liberty Activist Pushed Anne Frank Book Ban -- And Joined Antisemitic Broadcast

A Moms for Liberty chair who previously fought a library for having an adaption of Anne Frank’s diary recently promoted her organization on an antisemitic network that warns viewers about “seditious Jews,” “Jewish tyrants,” and how Jewish people “have forsaken God.” She clearly had a positive effect on network leader Rick Wiles, who told her that he wants to “do everything I can to help you” and said that Moms for Liberty is doing “great work.”

Jen Pippin is the chair of the Moms for Liberty chapter in Indian River County, Florida. Pippin was recently awarded the group’s “Abigail Adams Award for Public Policy” and the group wrote that she “stepped up to launch one of the first two Moms for Liberty chapters in the country." The post celebrating Pippin’s award said she “has not only had an enormous impact on her community, she has served at the state level on committees to shape policies and guidelines for school libraries and teachers.”

Pippin made national news after she forced a high school to remove Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation from its library because it allegedly had “sexually explicit” content and was “not a true adaptation of the Holocaust.”

Media Matters has documented Moms for Liberty’s extremism as the group has gained influence among Republican politicians and in the right-wing media. Moms for Liberty also promoted rhetoric from Adolf Hitler to argue for its mission.

Pippin appeared on TruNews on September 12 to promote Moms for Liberty and its mission. Evidence about the nature of the network is ample and readily available.

TruNews is led by Rick Wiles, a virulent antisemite who has said of Jewish people: “That’s the way the Jews work. They are deceivers, they plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda. … You have been taken over by a Jewish cabal.” He has also claimed that “the American people are being oppressed by Jewish tyrants” and the impeachment of Donald Trump was a “Jew coup.”

TruNews posts antisemitic content on its website such as:

National outlets have documented TruNews’ virulent antisemitism, including after the Trump White House gave the site press credentials and Donald Trump Jr. granted an interview to the outlet.

Pippin appeared in a 30-plus-minute segment on TruNews with Wiles. The two promoted the work of Moms for Liberty and Wiles repeatedly praised and offered to help the organization. After complaining about allegedly inappropriate material in schools, Wiles asked Pippin: “I think, Jennifer, we should sue the school board. You want some help, you want some help in suing the school board?” He added:

RICK WILES (HOST): I will do everything I can to help you. I will help raise money. I will help organize. I will help you get a lawsuit against the school board. I think you should sue the school board and the sheriff's office for the violation of constitutional rights in a meeting. These people have to be taught a lesson. They must be taught a lesson. And I will help you. The remaining minutes we got, tell us about Moms for Liberty, because your group just suddenly appeared in the last couple of years and now you're listed as domestic terrorists.

He continued later: “We are on your side. We will help Moms for Liberty in anything that you need. … If you [in the audience] are interested in Moms for Liberty, go to their website, MomsforLiberty.org and become a member. Start a chapter. Do something. Help them and support them because they're doing a great work and the leftist communists are smearing them and trying to take them down.”

Pippin replied at the conclusion of the segment: “Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it.”

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.