Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Must be the season of the witch...
When I look out my window
Many sights to see
And when I look in my window
So many different people to be
That it's strange
So strange
You got to pick up every stitch
You got to pick up every stitch
You got to pick up every stitch
Mmmm, must be the season of the witch
Must be the season of the witch, yeah
Must be the season of the witch
‘Free Speech Advocates’ Panic Over Parents’ Push for More Curriculum Transparency
Teachers, unions, and “free speech advocates” argue that more school curriculum transparency would be equivalent to “educational gag orders,” experts told NBC News.
State lawmakers in at least 12 states across the U.S. have introduced legislation to promote more school transparency by requiring teachers to post educational materials online, NBC News reported. Conservatives see more transparency as a way to prevent controversial curricula such as race-based education, critical race theory, and sexually graphic books.
Critical race theory holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race. Its adherents pursue “anti-racism” through the end of merit, objective truth, and the adoption of race-based policies.
“People are going to disagree on a lot of these issues,” Matt Beienburg, the Goldwater Institute’s director of education policy, told NBC News. “Transparency is something I think that at least allows for that conversation to know what is being taught. Everybody should be able to rally around the fact that we shouldn’t be teaching something in secret.”
Public schools have become battlegrounds for culture wars over mask rules, COVID-19 vaccinations, school reopenings, critical race theory, and remote learning. Parents have called on school boards across the country to allow them more of a say in what their children are being taught.
In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe with the help of parents who were fed up with the current administration and the state’s policies, and made it clear they wanted to see change in the state’s education system.
He promised to ban concepts like critical race theory and to put parents first. McAuliffe slipped out of favor when he claimed critical race theory was a “racist dog whistle” and made the assertion that he doesn’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.
“We reject the notion that parents shouldn’t have a say in what their kids are learning in school,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Jan. 11 speech.
Chris Rufo, journalist and anti-critical race theory proponent, has been critical of teachers unions who “don’t want families to see what’s happening in the classroom.”
The Goldwater Institute, along with the Manhattan Institute, have published model legislation that encourages curriculum transparency.
But opponents of transparency legislation believe it would put an unnecessary burden on teachers and restrict the materials they teach out of fear of criticism, according to experts, NBC reported.
Legislation supporting more educational transparency through the use of “neutral sounding language” is “potentially just as censorious,” Jon Friedman, the director of free expression and education at PEN America, a nonprofit group that promotes free speech, told NBC News.
In 2021, nine states—Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Arizona, and North Dakota—passed legislation that prohibits teaching students that the U.S. is inherently racist. Although, none of the laws mention critical race theory by name, NBC News reported.
PEN America has even equated such laws to “educational gag orders.” Friedman said the newly proposed transparency laws are meant to stoke concern over lessons about race and gender in schools.
A curriculum transparency bill proposed in Missouri would require teachers to post instructional material along with descriptions of the content.
Conservatives argue educators should have nothing to hide, while Democrats believe it will be used as an “easy tool to censor anything controversial,” according to Missouri state Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern, NBC News reported.
The Goldwater Institute issued a policy brief in January 2020 advocating state curriculum transparency laws, which Beienburg said could be implemented if teachers posted links to instruction materials on...
Glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife...
Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night
I can see paradise by the dashboard light
Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night
Paradise by the dashboard light
You got to do what you can
And let Mother Nature do the rest
Ain't no doubt about it
We were doubly blessed
'Cause we were barely seventeen
And we were barely dressed
George Soros’ DAs: Billionaire’s cash helped elect two dozen district attorneys across U.S.
Capital Research Center finds Soros-backed groups spent $29 million since 2016 on district attorneys
George Gascon, Kim Foxx and Larry Krasner get most of the attention, but they are far from the only left-wing prosecutors whose campaigns were bankrolled by Democratic megadonor George Soros.
A report from the conservative Capital Research Center revealed that 24 district attorneys have been elected since 2015 with help from political action committees funded by the billionaire activist. Most of them are pursuing liberal policies that critics blame for soaring crime rates.
Parker Thayer, the researcher who wrote the report, said Mr. Soros’ “influence on left-wing DA candidates is often wildly underestimated.”
Since 2016, he said, Mr. Soros’ “personal network of political action committees formed specifically to back left-wing DA candidates” has doled out at least $29 million.
“Most Americans have no idea what happened,” Mr. Thayer told The Washington Times. “They see the headlines, they see the crime taking over cities, but regrettably few know that these crime surges are largely the direct result of George Soros’ influence and his generous funding of the left-wing ‘Rogue Prosecutor’ movement.”
Critics have countered that violent crime shot up even in jurisdictions where far-left prosecutors are not in charge, including some cities run by Republicans, and that overall crime has declined slightly, even though homicides have spiked.
Mr. Krasner, who won his 2017 and 2021 elections for Philadelphia district attorney with more than $2 million from Soros-supported PACs, was slammed last month after declaring, “We don’t have a crisis of crime.” He later said he was referring to overall violent crime.
Philadelphia recorded 559 homicides in 2021, the most since the city began keeping records in the 1960s.
“Under Krasner’s watch, crime rates have soared, and in 2021, Philadelphia became the murder capital of the United States with the highest per capita homicide rate of the country’s 10 largest cities,” the center’s report said.
All but one of the two dozen Soros-supported prosecutors cited in the report still hold office. A third have won reelection despite the mounting criticism over policies popular with the left such as down-charging defendants and eliminating or reducing cash bail.
Newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose campaign received $1.1 million from Soros-funded groups, kicked off his tenure this month by declaring he would no longer seek prison sentences for low-level crimes and would downgrade some felonies, including drug crimes and armed robbery, to misdemeanors.
The policy prompted a petition backed by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa seeking an amendment to the state constitution giving New Yorkers the ability to recall officeholders.
Other Soros-backed prosecutors in the news include Chicago’s Kim Foxx, who declined to prosecute actor Jussie Smollett for faking a 2019 hate crime. A special prosecutor found “substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures” in her office’s handling of...
Australian Open Censors Fans’ ‘Where Is Peng Shuai?’ Shirts, Raising Questions About Tournament’s Chinese Sponsorship
Tennis Australia demanded that fans wearing T-shirts with the question “Where is Peng Shuai?” remove their shirts at the Australian Open over the weekend.
“They are asking our friend to take her shirt off,” an incredulous fan can be heard saying in a viral video showing the peaceful confrontation with security.
“The Australian Open does have a rule that you can’t have political slogans,” a security officer appears to say in the video. “They are allowed to confiscate your shirts and the banner.”
Shortly afterward, Chinese state media released footage of Peng and had the CCP-friendly International Olympic Committee publish a still photo of what was supposedly a video conference with Peng. A month later, the tennis star denied ever making the allegations of sexual assault, raising more questions about her freedom to communicate to the world without...
The 90 Miles Mystery Video: Nyctophilia Edition #909
Before You Click On The "Read More" Link,
Please Only Do So If You Are Over 21 Years Old.
If You are Easily Upset, Triggered Or Offended, This Is Not The Place For You.
Please Leave Silently Into The Night......
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #1609
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Monday, January 24, 2022
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