Paul Vallas helped launch a far-right campaign against COVID precautions, Black history, and LGBTQ inclusion in IL Schools, in order to privatize schools
We all know Vallas "rubbed shoulders with the far-right"
He led a rally with Darren Bailey and Shannon Adcock a month before she founded Awake IL, which opposed COVID precautions, Black history, and sex ed in schools
4 months later they incited an anti-LGBTQ hate crime
And Vallas still hosted Awake IL on Dan Proft's show and attended their fundraiser
It's been too easy for him to pretend like that was a fluke
I want to substantiate those links: Awake IL was born from Illinois Parents Union and Paul Vallas was with them every step of the way
Here's how these astroturf groups usually work: 1. The CNP forms a national group
2. They send out a memo calling for the creation of local chapters
3. SPN-affiliates create state-level organizing hubs to form chapters
In this case, SPN-affiliate IPI had already formed Reopen Illinois Schools by the time the national Moms for Liberty formed in January 2021
And they'd discussed forming a parents union
So in April 2021 they rebranded as the state-level organizing hub, Illinois Parents Union
IPU members formed Awake IL later that month, which took the lead a couple months later forming Moms for Liberty chapters, which required 10 members.
So let's go back to the beginning. Longtime IPI organizer Kati Spaniak created Reopen Illinois Schools in June 2020 was joined by Paul Vallas
Two of their first activities were webinars with Paul Vallas
The parents union conversation started a day later
Paul Vallas continued to share his public posts, pass action items to Kati, participate in webinars, promote the campaign across media channels, speak at 14+ rallies between fall 2020 and spring 2021, endorse school board candidates, and lead the Open New Trier group
Paul Vallas promoted the launch of Illinois Parents Union in April 2021 and continued to participate well into 2022 when he launched his campaign and left the group
That was a lot of work and the hour is late. I hope you all get out and vote #BrandonIsBetter. Tell your friend who doesn't vote.
We have a lot more receipts, but I think those will have to wait until PART 3.
Going to follow a loose thread here. This tweet refers to Alan Dershowitz. He was on a fellowship at Stanford to write a book as a member of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.
That was the same Ford Foundation-founded center where Kenneth Boulding had previously done a fellowship. While there, he co-founded the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) with former Nazi Ludwig von Bertalanffy isss.org/history/
Trivia: Ruth Bader Ginsurg was a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences a few years after Dershowitz. Both had been directors of the ACLU. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_fo…
I knew about the Esalen connection but I didn't realize Boris Yeltsin worked so closely with Paul Weyrich. Also didn't realize how Esalen's origins were closely tied to Weyrich's crowd.
Guess it's time to do PART 4, the conclusion of my thread on Paul Vallas and the Illinois Parents Union.
This part is focused on the group's 2021 relaunch (from Reopen Illinois Schools) and the creation of district-level groups like Awake IL and Moms for Liberty.
I'll start by paraphrasing some of the conversation from the thread mentioned below. I'm not going to provide screenshots of everything because it's too long and I'm working from a saved web page (so the formatting is off).
@The_Wub_ Also, re: bipartisan RenTech, haven't connected the dots but interesting Volker's role at UMKC, which became central to MMT; Oppenheimer Capital's role in MPS, RenTech, and the post-Keynesian Levy Institute at Bard College; and Stony Brook University's ties to RenTech and MMT.
@The_Wub_ Wonder if there's a Rockefeller connection in there
@The_Wub_ Bard is notably endowed by Soros's foundation
Paul Vallas was instrumental in launching a far-right campaign against COVID restrictions, Black history, and LGBTQ Inclusion in IL Schools, in support of school privatization. PART 1 (background)🧵
(credit: @cholent_lover for contributing research)