News of the Week (May 23rd, 2021)

Posted on May 23, 2021 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for May 23rd, 2021


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Firing Line Friday: A Scrutiny of the Reagan Economic Policy

Posted on May 21, 2021 by The Political Hat

     In the hopes of encouraging a more civil, and illuminating, discourse, here is another episode of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s “Firing Line”.

     With massive spending under the Biden administration and the call for trillions and trillions of dollar more for spending and the lurking specter of inflation, let u look back upon a scrutiny of Reagan’s economic policy by Willian F. Buckley, Jr. with Lester C. Thurow, James Dale Davidson, and Robert Heilbroner.

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Quick Takes – Anti-Racist Academia: Critical Race Theory Professorship; Faculty of Color Endowed Chair; Antiracism Librarian

Posted on May 20, 2021 by The Political Hat

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: Free inquiry into how to best peddle a gnostic doctrine.

     First, a little mood music:

     Ideology isn’t an academic discipline, yet here we are treating it as the truth in a world of our truths…

“Boston University’s law school recently announced its inaugural appointment for a professorship focused on critical race theory and antiracism, the first of its kind in the country.

“The private university selected Angela Onwuachi-Willig (right), the law school dean, as the first Ryan Roth Gallo and Ernest J. Gallo Professor. The Gallos endowed the position with a $3 million gift, according to the Bostonia, the university’s alumni magazine.”

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Legislative Update: Texas vs. Critical Race Theory

Posted on May 19, 2021 by The Political Hat

     Of the many states that are considering or have passed legislation to stop the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools, the biggest so far is Texas, who because of their population size is overly influential with school text book makers.   HB 3979, a companion bill of HB 4093 (and SB 2202) reads, in part:

(4) a teacher, administrator, or other employee of a state agency, school district, or open-enrollment charter school may not:
(A) be required to engage in training, orientation, or therapy that presents any form of race or sex stereotyping or blame on the basis of race or sex; and
(B) require or make part of a course the concept that:
(i) one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;
(ii) an individual, by virtue of the individual ’s race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously;
(iii) an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the individual ’s race or sex;
(iv) members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex;
(v) an individual ’s moral character is necessarily determined by the individual ’s race or sex;
(vi) an individual, by virtue of the individual ’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;
(vii) an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual ’s race or sex; or
(viii) meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race to oppress members of another race.

     The bill can be read here, or below as of time of writing:

Texas HB 3979 (2021) by ThePoliticalHat

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Washington State Embraces Critical Race Theory

Posted on May 18, 2021 by The Political Hat

     Despite many, many states standing up against Critical Race Theory, some states are embracing institutional racism, such as the state of Washington under the guise of “cultural competency”:

   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

   NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that state resources have been invested to:

   (a) Identify model standards for cultural competency;

   (b) incorporate these cultural competency standards into both the standards for effective teaching and the standards of practice for paraeducators;

   (c) develop cultural competency training programs for school district staff from paraeducators to administrators; and

   (d) develop a plan for the creation and delivery of cultural competency training for school board directors and superintendents.

(2) The legislature plans to continue the important work of dismantling institutional racism in public schools and recognizes the importance of increasing equity, diversity, inclusion, antiracism, and cultural competency training throughout the entire public school system by providing training programs for classified staff, certificated instructional staff, certificated administrative staff, superintendents, and school directors that will be provided in an ongoing manner.

     This is not only bad, but likely illegal according to the Washington Policy Center (via Legal Insurrection):

Key Findings

  1. Lawmakers are considering three bills to impose Critical Race Training on Washington’s public education institutions.
  2. Much of the Critical Race Training curriculum required by these bills is untrue, false, and destructive.
  3. Critical Race Trainings require people to publicly profess their racial and sexual identities, and then be labeled as either “oppressors” or “oppressed.”
  4. According to Critical Race Training, all white heterosexual men are “oppressors” and certain minority groups are “oppressed.”
  5. These bills violate Washington’s Civil Rights Act, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Washington State and U.S. Constitution.
  6. The bills violate workers’ First Amendment rights by compelling speech or by suppressing their legitimate views and opinions.
  7. Critical Race Training undermines the friendship and trust that make a caring and tolerant society possible and would make the problem of racism worse.

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Oklahoma vs. Critical Race Theory

Posted on May 17, 2021 by The Political Hat

     More and more states are standing up to the teaching of Critical Race Theory.   Oklahoma now joins many other states with HB 1775, which reads in part:

No teacher, administrator or other employee of a school district, charter school or virtual charter school shall require or make part of a course the following concepts:
a. one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,
b. an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,
c. an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex,
d. members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex,
e. an individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex,
f. an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex,
g. any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex, or
h. meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race to oppress members of another race.

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News of the Week (May 16th, 2021)

Posted on May 16, 2021 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for May 16th, 2021


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Firing Line Friday: The Black Panthers

Posted on May 14, 2021 by The Political Hat

     In the hopes of encouraging a more civil, and illuminating, discourse, here is another episode of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s “Firing Line”.

     Before there was #BlackLivesMatter, there were the militant Black Panthers. William F. Buckley, Jr. and talks with Eldridge Cleaver shortly before he fled for Havana.

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Quick Takes – The New Lawless Wastelands: Minneapolis; Seattle, Portland

Posted on May 13, 2021 by The Political Hat

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: False utopias and their inevitable consequences.

     First, a little mood music:

     Minneapolis’s “no go zone”/”autonomous zone” where only the hell of “Social Justice” reigns supreme is so bad, that the zone’s enforcers are keeping out inquiring eyes.

     Even though they try to hide how much of a hellhole this “zone” is, the news is getting out, from people getting killed to those under occupation crying out for help.

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Tennessee vs. Critical Race Theory

Posted on May 13, 2021 by The Political Hat

     The Tennessee Legislature has approved a bill to stop the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools.

SB 623 (substituted for HB 580) incorporates the following:

This amendment also prohibits any LEA or public charter school from including or promoting the following concepts as part of a course of instruction or in a curriculum or instructional program, or allowing teachers or other employees of the LEA or public charter school to use supplemental instructional materials that include or promote the following concepts:

(1) One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;

(2) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously;

(3) An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual’s race or sex;

(4) An individual’s moral character is determined by the individual’s race or sex;

(5) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;

(6) An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex;

(7) A meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, or designed by a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex;

(8) This state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist;

(9) Promoting or advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government;

(10) Promoting division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people; or

(11) Ascribing character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges, or beliefs to a race or sex, or to an individual because of the individual’s race or sex.

This amendment does not prohibit an LEA or public charter school from including, as part of a course of instruction or in a curriculum or instructional program, or from allowing teachers or other employees of the LEA or public charter school to use supplemental instructional materials that include:

(1) The history of an ethnic group, as described in textbooks and instructional materials adopted in accordance with present law concerning textbooks and instructional materials;

(2) The impartial discussion of controversial aspects of history;

(3) The impartial instruction on the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion, or geographic region; or

(4) Historical documents that are permitted under present law, such as the national motto, the national anthem, the state and federal constitutions, state and federal laws, and supreme court decisions.

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