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MAY 4,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

MAGNIFICENT EDUCATION NEWS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:    New York City schools have quietly canceled the Columbus Day holiday, replacing it with an Indigenous Peoples’ Day, while also making Juneteenth a school holiday and getting rid of snow days altogether.  The city Department of Education called Oct. 11 “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in the 2021-2022 calendar it posted on its website Tuesday, flagging the beginning and end dates for the school year as well as winter and spring recesses but not the big changes within in a tweet.  The move officially cancels for school kid recognition what remains a federal, state and city holiday on the second Monday in October — although the Indigenous Peoples’ holiday will give students and teachers the same day off.  In another first, the schools will be closed on June 20 in observation of Juneteenth, which celebrates the day in 1865 that black slaves in Texas were informed of their freedom.  Protesters with the Unite NY Juneteenth 2020 organization walk a banner with thousands of protesters behind them on June 19, 2020.  I'm certain that these sweeping improvements will raise the level of the city's schools.  High school graduates will be at a full, uninflated seventh-grade level.

DEMS ARE GETTING FRIGHTENED – FROM NATIONAL REVIEW:    The Texas Democratic leader who called Senator Tim Scott an “oreo” has resigned in response to mounting pressure from state officials on both sides of the aisle.  “I am deeply and sincerely sorry for my inappropriate and hurtful use of racist term I used to describe Sen. Tim Scott on my personal Facebook page. It was insensitive, and I have embarrassed myself and my party by its use,” Lamar County Democratic Party Chairman Gary O’Connor told the Washington Examiner Tuesday.  “As a result, I feel compelled to offer my resignation as chair of the Lamar County Democratic Party for consideration by the County Executive Committee,” O’Connor said.
After Scott delivered the Republican rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s joint address to Congress, O’Connor labeled the senator an “Oreo”, referring to a black individual who is perceived as displaying characteristics of a white person.  “I had hoped that Scott might show some common sense, but it seems clear he is little more than an oreo with no real principles,” the Texas Democrat commented.   Even Dems can learn, but it takes time. 

May 4,   2021       Permalink

THE MARCH AGAINST WOKISM CONTINUES – OVERNIGHT.  The trend is unmistakable.  The unwoke haven't gone woke.  They're just waking up.  From  dailywire: 

Coca-Cola has pressed pause on a controversial “diversity plan” after what Fox News described as an “intense backlash,” and the company’s general counsel, Bradley Gayton, who authored the plan, has now abruptly resigned.

As the Daily Wire reported back in February, “Coca-Cola debuted a new policy this year implementing a diversity quota for the outside counsel it retains, saying it will only hire law firms that commit to providing 15 percent of billed time from black attorneys, higher than the percentage of African Americans in the U.S. population.” Law firms working with the soft drink giant, were also required, under the new policy, to “commit that at least 30% of each of billed associate and partner time will be from diverse attorneys, and of such amounts at least half will be from Black attorneys.”
The soft drink titan also passed the “diversity” on to its employees. In a series of slides leaked to media, a company working with Coca-Cola to provide corporate training encouraged Coke employees to “be less white” in an effort to create a more welcoming and racially diverse workplace.

Gayton reportedly authored the law firm diversity plan after viewing websites for firms providing Coca-Cola’s outside counsel and seeing mostly white headshots.

“I write you with a heavy heart,” Gayton said in a letter to outside counsel firms, according to the Daily Wire. “Gayton declared that Coca-Cola’s previous efforts to promote diversity ‘are not working’ as apparent from the ‘alarming number of new partner headshots’ with an ‘obvious lack of diversity.’”

‘The hard truth is that our profession is not treating the issue of diversity and inclusion as a business imperative,” Gayton wrote in his letter. “We have a crisis on our hands and we need to commit ourselves to specific actions that will accelerate the diversity of the legal profession.”

Legal experts, Fox Business noted, questioned “whether Gayton’s policies violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says employers can’t treat people differently based on their race.”

COMMENT:  What Americans are saying, all over the country, is that equal rights are fine, special rights are not.  Teaching about racism, accurately, is okay.  Teaching to hate is not.  Pretty basic lessons.

May 4, 2021       Permalink

MAY 3,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

I HOPE THE GOP KEEPS THIS ALIVE – FROM THE HILL:   Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday requested additional information regarding potential conflicts of interests related to John Kerry, President Biden's special envoy for climate, and his previous involvement in finance and energy investing after he left his last government post as secretary of State.  In a letter to current Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Grassley wrote that it is “unclear exactly what matters Mr. Kerry has been barred from working on and whether he has received any waivers for specific matters that he would otherwise be recused from,” according to Axios, which obtained a copy of the letter.  “The operation of good government requires faithful adherence to ethical rules,” Grassley added.  The request comes after Axios reported last week that Kerry disclosed millions of dollars in income and divested assets that could pose a conflict of interest between his previous personal finances and current government business, according to his financial filing.  And this is in addition to the news story that Kerry may have disclosed classified information to a hostile country after leaving the Department of State at the end of the Obama administration.   This man's activities must be investigated.  He may consider himself above the law.

LAW AND ORDER IN A WOKE CITY – FROM FOX:    David Bouchard admitted he put a Customs and Border Protection officer in a chokehold. Charles Comfort was indicted by a grand jury of civil disorder for twice charging at Portland Police Bureau officers and hitting them with a makeshift shield then kicking a third officer while being arrested. Both men faced federal charges stemming from their actions during a summer of more than 100 straight nights of often violent protests in Portland. But Bouchard and Comfort are among dozens of Portland federal arrestees whose cases were dismissed or are being deferred without so much as a day behind bars.  Between May 25 and Oct. 7, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon filed federal charges against 97 people connected to the Portland unrest. Since then 58 of those cases have either been dismissed outright or are on track for dismissal through a deferred resolution agreement. Thirty-two cases are still pending, with many likely to also end in dismissal according to sources. Seven people have entered guilty pleas.  Why bother observing the law?

May 3, 2021       Permalink

FIGHTING BACK – OVERNIGHT:  Each day brings more examples of our side fighting back against the dictatorial mentality of the WOKE crowd.  We take special pride when students lead the way.  From College Fix: 

Two authors of “canceled” books are calling on young Americans to combat today’s hyper-politicization and intellectual censorship, suggesting the censorship trend is akin to “modern day book burning.”

Abigail Shrier, journalist and author of “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” denounced today’s cancel culture and pessimism as “not American” in a recent talk to Yale University students.

“This generation needs an injection of optimism,” she said during a webinar hosted by the William F. Buckley Jr. Program at Yale.

“They need to know that they can confront ideas they disagree with, too. They’ll be okay. But this whole cowering … is really quite pathetic, and it’s not American,” Shrier said.

Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment,” echoed similar sentiments as a fellow speaker at the event, titled “Modern Day Book Burning: The New Digital Censorship.”

“Maybe we’re right, maybe we’re wrong. The only way that you’re gonna show us that we’re wrong, though, is by actually engaging the substance of the book. Not delisting us, that doesn’t persuade either of us,” Anderson said.

“If you’re gonna persuade people that we’re wrong, you actually have to make a substantive argument.”

Anderson’s and Shrier’s books were published in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Both critiqued the transgender movement and its effect on individuals, especially children.

Less than six months after publication, Target stopped selling Shrier’s book in response to two Twitter complaints. Anderson’s book was removed from Amazon two months ago.

The two authors criticized higher education in particular for its lack of intellectual diversity.
“The whole point of a liberal education is to liberate you from preconceived opinion. It would be liberating, this form of education, because you would hear lots of different viewpoints,” Anderson said.

“There’s something about the approach to modern day book burning in which it seems like, ‘Well, why would anyone wanna buy this book except for people who agree with it?’ There’s a vision of what books are all about, and what reading is about, and what education is about, that looks much more to me like indoctrination,” he said.

College campuses have been criticized in recent years for their lack of open political diversity. Conservative students in particular have complained about free speech violations and the perceived need to “self-censor” their opinions.

“The young people today need to take [this] back. They need to take back the ability to explore ideas and have friendship and conversation even with people they share nothing in common with,” Shrier said.

COMMENT:   Read the rest.  Situation critical.   The cancel culture extends down to elementary school, but the backlash is in full swing.  Local elections are toppling school board members who advance the woke philosophy, especially Critical Race Theory.  Companies that went full woke are unwoking themselves in the face of public protest.  Even a columnist at the very woke New York Times braved a column challenging critical race theory.

There is hope.

May 3 2021       Permalink