More silliness from the nation's campi
In the news. . . Issue No. 4 / Updated with corrections at 3:20 p.m. ET
The new definition of “liberal” education
Julia Saville was a junior at St. Margaret’s School for Girls in Tappahannock, Va., and chapter leader for Turning Point USA, an organization founded by Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk to help young people learn about our rights and liberties as Americans. In the search for truth and wisdom that is the hallmark of liberal education, Julia joined the school’s Black Student Union to “diversify her understanding of black cultural issues,” according to a story at Media Entertainment Arts Worldwide.
In a presentation that was scheduled for Black History Month, Julia called Candace “a Black trailblazer.” For this she was rewarded with condemnation in a school-wide email for praising the “racist” young political leader. It had its intended effect. Julia has left the school.
“I just decided it wasn’t best for me to be there anymore and be surrounded by people like that,” Julia told The Daily Wire. “I didn’t feel threatened, but it’s definitely uncomfortable when you know that [my peers] all feel a certain way about me and don’t like me simply because of my political views.”
Candace, cool as always under fire, had the last word. She tweeted “to remind all of you leftists that I have zero shame about having supported @realDonaldTrump for the last four years and I stand unapologetically with every patriot in this country.”
To improve performance, lower the standards
Boston Public Schools has figured a way to make its programs more equitable – equitable meaning the same outcome for everyone regardless of skill, effort, motivation, or preparation. It’s phasing out its advanced studies program for elementary school children because – hold onto your chair – it’s racist. And as usual, white people have to share the blame with the go-to villain, the CCP coronavirus.
“There’s been a lot of inequities that have been brought to the light in the pandemic that we have to address,” Superintendent Brenda Cassellius told WGBH News. “There's a lot of work we have to do in the district to be antiracist and have policies where all of our students have a fair shot at an equitable and excellent education.”
(We could have omitted eight or 10 of the meaningless fluff words from this quote, but then you wouldn’t capture the flavor of how education bureaucrats talk.)
Cassellius did not explain how the program is racist, because the program was open to all students who competed on a test in third grade, without, we’ll guess, having to reveal their race on the answer sheet.
We’ll be sure to let you know if Brenda answers our question on this.
The perils of having too much time on your hands
Social media freakballs are all worked up over the stage design at the CPAC convention last weekend at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Orlando. They accuse the hotel and convention sponsor American Conservative Union of using a Nazi symbol for the state design. See more of this ridiculous story at Business Insider. Hyatt denies any responsibility.
Death penalty for cock fighting
A rooster in Hyderbad, India, imposed the death penalty on its owner by slashing him in the groin with a 3-inch knife, likely severing his femoral artery. The knife was tied to the rooster’s leg, and the rooster likely panicked during the fight preparations, the Associated Press reported. Although India outlawed cock fighting in 1960, it remains popular at Hindu festivals in some Indian villages. Police are looking for accomplices, because witnesses were too chicken to come forward.
That worked, so let’s try something else
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is still unaware of who is responsible for the explosive growth of both the economy and personal freedoms over the last four years and continues to blame the catalyst, one Donald J. Trump. Cassidy says the Republican Party can’t return to its roots – spineless status-quo middle-of-the-roaders running the show, not making waves or upsetting state media – until it jettisons Trump and looks to fearless statesmen like John Kasich and Mitt Romney to steer the GOP going forward.
“If you're going to win in 2022 and 2024, you have got to speak to voters who didn't vote for us last time,” Cassidy said on a state-friendly CNN program and reported by The Blaze. We assume Mr. Cassidy means voters other than the 75 million who voted for Mr. Trump. Louisianians will have to suffer Mr. Cassidy for a while. He was just re-elected in November.
The perils of a road rager
A man in Loris, S.C., was unhappy with how the driver in front of him was operating his vehicle. So he followed the other man to the local Speedway gas station, got out of his truck and pulled a knife on the man, who met him with a shot from his handgun. David Gordon Lynn suddenly understood the warning against bringing a knife to a gun fight. He was 34. From a story at American Rifleman, first reported by WBTW-13.
Cutting the racist police down to size
Democrats led by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Rep. Ayanna Pressley are introducing legislation to end qualified immunity and open up law enforcement officers to civil liability, the Washington Examiner reports. They even have the support of Sen. Mike Braun, the Indiana Republican who wants to eliminate Columbus Day.
“There will not be true racial justice until we end qualified immunity,” Markey said. The legislation would open the door to civil suits against police officers who arrest suspects who are later released or acquitted.
May I first please see your medical degree?
Hospitals in the United Kingdom have begun using the term “chestfeeding” instead of “breastfeeding,” a few years after U.S. academics published a study arguing that the promotion of breastfeeding as the “natural” way to feed a child has many negative societal effects. In January, Brighton and Sussex University hospitals made the switch “in an attempt to be more inclusive of transgender individuals.” And Harvard Medical School now refers to women as “birthing people” in an effort to “include those who identify as non-binary or transgender.” – from a story at Campus Reform.
More great uses for your tuition dollars
Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis offers a credit course called “Defund the Police? Race, Policing, and Criminal Justice Reform.”
“We will examine evidence of racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes for African Americans, LatinX, and other minoritized groups,” an IUPUI bureaucrat said in a promotional email. “We will explicitly consider the current roles and functions of the police, use of force policies, and how police discretion is and should be used. We will also review the marked expansion of prisons and jails over the past four decades.
“Finally, we will examine reforms to simultaneously reduce the size and scope of our criminal justice system and increase public safety, as well as policing reforms to maximize justice for all who live in America, while maintaining public safety.” – from a story at Newsmax.
CCP virus bailout money for cons and pedophiles
Criminal predators will get a slice of the Chinese coronavirus bailout pie because House Speaker Pelosi denied a vote on a bipartisan amendment that would prevent “felons, including child molesters, rapists, and other public predators from receiving a stimulus check.” That is the charge of Rep. Tom Reed, an upstate New York Republican.
Reed, however, is not a doctrinaire conservative. He is one of three House Republicans who voted for HR-5, allowing boys to use girls’ locker rooms and restrooms.
According to a story in the Sunday New York Post, “Reed’s amendment sought to correct a mistake contained in 2020’s two COVID-19 relief packages after a federal court forced the IRS to send stimulus checks to prisoners — because Congress had neglected to exclude them.” The Post reported that President Biden wants quick passage in the Senate despite the objections. Without a single Republican vote and with two Democrat defections, the House passed the American Rescue Plan Act early Saturday morning, 219-212.
The News-Guardian’s Data Base and How They Voted page reports selective votes in the Congress.
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