Day: January 30, 2025

A ‘Patriotic Education’

I keep returning to the days of Obama, the 2010-2012 time frame…..we were warned about Americans being sent to indoctrination camps for those that did not see the country as the Dems did…..and yet the GOP and Herr trump seem to making that dire prediction come true on several levels.

We now have the Trump goons throwing up and attacking education…..this time they want a ‘patriotic education’ for America’s children.

In executive orders signed Wednesday, President Trump mandated changes for American schools that include replacing what he calls radical ideologies with a curriculum of “patriotic education.” One of them calls for cutting federal funding for schools that teach certain topics related to race, sex, gender, or politics, ABC News reports. It’s the first time the federal government has tried to exert such control over curriculum, one expert said. Another directs agencies to use funding to expand school choice through voucher programs. “Too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school,” the order says, per the New York Times.

  • Teaching: This order gives the secretary of education 90 days to come up with a strategy to end “indoctrination” in K-12 schools, subject to Trump’s approval. There is no education secretary at the moment; confirmation hearings have not been scheduled for the nominee, Linda McMahon, per NPR. The order says it “prohibits federal funding of the indoctrination of children which includes radical gender ideology and critical race theory in the classroom,” per the Hill. It’s not clear what criteria would be used by the Department of Education to identify schools teaching critical race theory. Trump has said American history classes should be rooted in “patriotic education.” The order, which does not say “critical race theory,” says without citing evidence that teachers have been “demanding acquiescence” to concepts of “white privilege” or “unconscious bias.” That has promoted racism, it says, per Reuters.
  • Response: “Whether the federal government can influence curriculum in this way is a completely open question,” said Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “If they were actually able to compel school districts to alter their curriculum, that would be the first time the federal government had done that. Ever.” Such restrictions imposed at the state level around the country have led to lawsuits.
  • School choice: This order directs the secretaries of education and defense to decide how discretionary grant programs can promote school choice, a goal the president calls “education freedom.” Education Savings Accounts let families to divert per-student public school funding to instead pay expenses involving private schools, micro-schools, or homeschooling. Agencies are to give guidance on how funds can go toward “educational alternatives, including private and faith-based options,” per ABC.
  • Response: Opponents argue that such efforts damage public schools while propping up schools that don’t have to meet state standards for student performance. “Instead of stealing taxpayer money to fund private schools, we should focus on public schools,” said Rebecca Pringle, president of the National Education Association. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the plan “likely illegal.”

Indoctrination?

Is that what we now call a well-rounded education?

If the children is ignorant the choice of school will not improve that condition.

The hate of education by some is a pathetic turn of events.

This is just another way to turn Americans into subservient tools….will do nothing to prepare them for the world they must live in later.

Hopefully lawsuits will be forthcoming and possibly a change of direction.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is This A ‘Death Panel’?

I recall back in the days Obama and his push for healthcare the GOP and its minions of stupid kept on and on on the meme of his ideas would create ‘death panels’ and Americans would pay with their lives.

Does anyone else remember those idiot statements?

Well here is one for the d/bags on the Right….those ‘death panels’ may be back.

Since both Sue and I are fighting cancer I keep an eye on the doings that could be news for others that suffer as well…..and news from the Lord High Executioner’s office is not promising.

… all purchasing is frozen using government purchase cards; researchers cannot submit abstracts to meetings or manuscripts to journals; hiring is stopped entirely for 90 days — though it is unclear if that time frame may change — and all job listings must be pulled down; and of course, no external communications at all, and any activity remotely considered DEI-adjacent is stopped.

It is difficult to overstate the damage this can do to both cancer research and treatment. The NCI has around 3,500 employees, and is the largest cancer research funding body in the world. It supports the dozens of NCI-designated Cancer Centers around the country, and helps coordinate clinical trials across more than 3,000 sites. Though the list of prohibitions didn’t necessarily target them directly, there are reports of canceled appointments for patients set to enter some of those clinical trials.

Across NIH, researchers as well as administrators and support staff are some combination of terrified, angry, and confused. One employee told me they simply didn’t know what to do — meaning, literally how to spend the work day — once the commands to stop all purchasing, travel, and more came down. Another source within a different NIH institute said, “I feel like every time we try to keep things moving, we get another directive to stop.” Another pointed out that this will also affect training the next generation of doctors and researchers — interviewing for the NIH’s Graduate Partnership Program, in which graduate students at other universities work in NIH labs, has been suspended, and if that doesn’t lift within a month or so then there will likely be no such visitors next year.

https://www.splinter.com/trumps-assault-on-nih-will-kill-people-with-cancer

Is this the ‘death panel’ that the GOP warned us about in the past?

Seems to me that there is evidence that it is just that and it is different from the Obama claim because that is examples here and with Obama there was just bullshit.

I will continue to watch and write when something is said or done….our health is important and should not be fucked with in any way by any minor dictator in waiting.

Update:  Trump has rescinded the order for there was a major wave of blow back from states and organizations.

But I look for an end run along the same lines just in different language….he has not given up.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”