[guest post by Dana]

After the horrific attack in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo where a lone gunman opened fire in a grocery store and eleven of the 13 shot were Black, a manifesto alleged to be from the shooter revealed the mindset of hate behind the attack:

A 180-page manifesto allegedly made by Gendron and circulated widely online seemingly outlines the gunman’s racist, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic beliefs. Among them was a desire to drive all people not of European descent from the U.S., as well as a theory that minorities are replacing the U.S.’s white population. The document seemed to draw inspiration from the gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.

Another document circulating online that appeared to have been written by Gendron sketched out a to-do list for the attack, including cleaning the gun and testing the livestream.

CNN also notes that in their review of the document, the author “attributes the internet for most of his beliefs and describes himself as a fascist, a White supremacist and an anti-Semite”.

Attorney General Merrick Garland later announced that the attack was being investigated by the Justice Dept. “as a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism”.

The New York Times links “replacement theory” to recent mass shootings involving victim minority groups:

Inside a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, a white man with a history of antisemitic internet posts gunned down 11 worshipers, blaming Jews for allowing immigrant “invaders” into the United States.

The next year, another white man, angry over what he called “the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” opened fire on shoppers at an El Paso Walmart, leaving 23 people dead, and later telling the police he had sought to kill Mexicans.

[I]n Buffalo on Saturday, a heavily armed white man is accused of killing 10 people after targeting a supermarket on the city’s predominantly Black east side, writing in a lengthy screed posted online that the shoppers there came from a culture that sought to “ethnically replace my own people.”

Three shootings, three different targets — but all linked by one sprawling, ever-mutating belief now commonly known as replacement theory. At the extremes of American life, replacement theory — the notion that Western elites, sometimes manipulated by Jews, want to “replace” and disempower white Americans — has become an engine of racist terror, helping inspire a wave of mass shootings in recent years and fueling the 2017 right-wing rally in Charlottesville, Va., that erupted in violence.

The report further points out how the replacement theory has gone mainstream:

But replacement theory, once confined to the digital fever swamps of Reddit message boards and semi-obscure white nationalist sites, has gone mainstream. In sometimes more muted forms, the fear it crystallizes — of a future America in which white people are no longer the numerical majority — has become a potent force in conservative media and politics, where the theory has been borrowed and remixed to attract audiences, retweets and small-dollar donations.

I don’t know the exact number of Republicans who embrace the replacement theory or some form of it, but there is a record of those who have espoused the same or very similar views. Anyway, in what has become standard practice, it takes a former GOP House leader to take her party to task and demand the House clean house:

The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 16, 2022

Rep. Adam Kinzinger also pointed out the ongoing problem within the Republican Party:

Did you know: @EliseStefanik pushes white replacement theory? The #3 in the house GOP. @Liz_Cheney got removed for demanding truth. @GOPLeader should be asked about this.

Stefanik Blasted for 'Despicable' Facebook Ads Pushing 'Replacement Theory' https://t.co/RcuzJ37BiE

— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) May 14, 2022

The replacement theory in the MAGA faction of the Republican Party is not just confined to elected officials, but it is also being pushed by popular pundits with enormous audiences, such as Tucker Carlson. The New York Times documented 400 times that Carlson “has amplified the notion that Democratic politicians and other assorted elites want to force demographic change through immigration”. Here is a short compilation of his comments:

Tucker Carlson pushing Great Replacement Theory, all in one place, courtesy of the @MehdiHasanShow on @MSNBC.

Watch/share/be disgusted:pic.twitter.com/uwOeYkWHSW

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) May 16, 2022

Now, I know that the left and all the little gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term replacement – if you suggest the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the third world. But they become hysterical because that’s what’s happening, actually. Let’s just say it. That’s true.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with Mitt Romney’s spot-on observation following the attack in Buffalo:

Good and evil in stark relief: the demonic Buffalo shooter and the heroic officer Aaron Salter, Jr. who returned fire, making himself a vulnerable target. Voices of hate inspire acts of horror; honor streams from the better angels of our nature.

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 16, 2022

The GOP needs to clean out the rot and needs to do better. However, given that it remains (at least for the time being) Trump’s party, I’m not holding my breath.

–Dana

Nothing says “thanks for teaching my kid!” like a free boob job at taxpayer expense:

As thousands of teachers face layoffs across the country, teachers in Buffalo, New York are getting lipo? Yep. And nose jobs and whatever else they want. All on the taxpayers’ dime. How is this happening?

. . . .

The sweet deal that all the 3,400 teachers in Buffalo are eligible to get under one of their insurance plan options, they are billed nothing for any plastic surgery procedure, such as botox, liposuction, tummy tucks, and there is no deductible.

Linda Tokarz teaches second grade and says she gets regular treatments. She says, “I think its great for us. I wouldn’t want to see it taken away.”

Well, what’s the problem? The taxpayers can well afford it, right?

Of course they can’t:

Last year, Buffalo’s schools spent $5.9 million on plastic surgery which is also known as a cosmetic rider. And Buffalo teachers have had this rider for nearly four decades.

Now you might think Buffalo’s school district must be flush with cash to be offering perks like free plastic surgery, right? Wrong. Louis Petrucci, the president of the Buffalo Board of Education says he is projecting a $42 million deficit in next year’s school budget.

If it were up to me, I would put the matter to a vote. Then I would find out who the teachers were who voted for the benefit and fire them all.

But I guess that would be illegal or something. It reminds me of the classic Mr. Burns quote:

“Ironic, isn’t it Smithers? This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes has cost me the election, and yet if I were to have them killed, I would be the one to go to jail. That’s democracy for you.” –Mr. Burns

Since my plan won’t work, here’s Plan B. Contact the hackers who used e-voting machines to elect Bender the robot from Futurama to the Washington D.C. school board (h/t Aaron Worthing) — and send them to Buffalo.

Plan C: establish fiscal sanity in this country.

Never mind. That plan is too far-fetched.

Thanks to Dana.

That crash may have been caused by ice buildup on the wings.

Youtube has home video of the crash’s aftermath taken by someone at the scene:

The video appears to be genuine; near the end of the footage you can see the house next door, which is also viewable in this Google Maps street view image of the location:

In a tragic footnote to the story, one of the victims was a 9/11 widow who was on her way to Buffalo to celebrate what would have been her husband’s 58th birthday.

She often cried when she told how Sean, her high school sweetheart, telephoned her on the morning of the attacks, said he loved her. A loud explosion then silence ended the call.

The ripple effects of 9/11 continue to be felt; but for what happened that day, Beverly Eckert would probably still be alive today.

She once remembered her husband in this way:

This is how Sean would want to be remembered:

The evening sky has deepened into darkness on a soft summer night. He is sitting on the stone step near the kitchen door, watching the fireflies rise in the backyard over the newly mowed lawn. Friends are expected for dinner. A steak is on the grill, a glass of wine is in his hand and his wife is at his side. They are laughing. He is content.

It’s a lovely image. One hopes that there is an afterlife, and that they are now together in it. He would, once again, be content.

[guest post by Dana]

President Biden’s remarks made today about his executive order expanding background checks:

Last year, after the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, I signed into law…the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act…Today, I’m announcing another executive order that will accelerate and intensify this work to save more lives more quickly.

First, this executive order helps keep firearms out of dangerous hands, as I continue to call on Congress to require background checks for all firearm sales. And in the meantime…my executive order directs my Attorney General to take every lawful action possible…to move us as close as we can to universal background checks without new legislation.

I just — it’s just common sense to check whether someone is a felon, a domestic abuser, before they buy a gun.

The executive order…expands public awareness campaigns about the “red flag” orders…So more parents, teachers, police officers, health providers, and counselors know how to flag for the — a court that someone is exhibiting violent tendencies, threatening classmates, or experiencing suicidal thoughts that make them a danger to themselves and others and temporarily remove that person’s access to firearms…

The second thing it does — the executive order ramps up our efforts to hold the gun industry accountable. It’s the only outfit you can’t sue these days. It does that by calling out for an independent government study that analyzes and exposes how gun manufacturers aggressively market firearms to civilians, especially minors, including by using military imagery.

And it directs the Attorney General to…publicly release Alcohol, Tobacco, and…Firearms inspection reports of firearms dealers who were cited for violation of the law. That way, policymakers can strengthen laws to crack down on these illegal gun dealers and the public can avoid purchasing from them.

Third, the executive order improves federal coordination to support victims, survivors, and their families and communities affected by mass shootings the same way FEMA responds to your natural disasters…all around the nation…

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

While Kevin McCarthy’s desperate efforts to obtain enough votes for the speakership is wholly captivating, other events continue to happen throughout the world. So, here we go.

First news item

At the time of writing this post, here’s where Kevin McCarthy says he’s at with negotiations with House Republicans:

During a conference call this morning with the Republican conference, McCarthy told members that there’s not officially a deal to vote him speaker, but said he believes they’re “in a good position” and working in “good faith.”

“I’m not telling you we have an agreement,” McCarthy said on the call, according to multiple sources. “We’re in a good position and having meetings.”

So basically, he’s nowhere. He reportedly again offered the concession to make it easier to remove him as speaker if he is elected. The house is set to reconvene at noon (ET) today.

And there is this interesting tidbit:

The vast majority of the Republicans blocking McCarthy’s speaker bid have given life to the so-called ‘big lie’ in the two years since the Capitol attack.

Of the 15 incumbents…rejecting McCarthy, 14 challenged the results of the 2020 election two years ago.

Just two of the 20…acknowledge the legitimacy of the 2020 election…

The small but significant group appears on the verge now of taking the reins of power in Washington by using their leverage against McCarthy, who himself has a tortured relationship with Jan. 6 and the 2020 election.

McCarthy was one of 147 House Republicans to reject its certification ahead of a floor speech deeming Trump “bears responsibility” for the “mob attack.”

Second news item

The Charlie Hebdo publication is in trouble with Iran after the cover of the latest edition had a cartoon showing (explicit description warning ahead) “a line of clerics walking into a naked woman’s vagina with the message: “Mullahs, go back to where you came from.”

Iran says it has closed a Tehran-based French institute over “sacrilegious” cartoons of its supreme leader in a French satirical magazine. Charlie Hebdo’s latest edition features caricatures mocking Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and fellow Shia Muslim clerics sent in by readers in support of the anti-government protests in Iran…It threatened further action if France did not “hold to account the perpetrators and sponsors of such instances of spreading hatred”.

France’s Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna had told LCI TV before the announcement that “freedom of the press exists [in France], contrary to what is happening in Iran” and blasphemy was not an offence under French law.

The special edition marks the eighth anniversary of an attack on its Paris office by French Muslim terrorists outraged by the magazine’s publication of caricatures of Mohammed. The attack left 12 people dead, five of which were cartoonists for the magazine.

Third news item

Of course they are: Republican House members gumming up the McCarthy vote are cashing in off the chaos:

Multiple McCarthy holdouts have used the fight to raise campaign cash this week.

Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) campaign asked potential donors to “support our fight with critical reinforcements” and in one email dubbed McCarthy “Kiev Kevin.”

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) asked donors “to turbocharge our emergency efforts to break the Establishment.” His campaign emails link to a payment processing page that claims “every dollar helps secure the Speaker position.”

An email from Rep. Bob Good’s (R-Va.) campaign Thursday claimed that McCarthy “spent millions of dollars trying to defeat conservatives in Republican primaries” and closed with a donation plea.

House Freedom Caucus member Mick Mulvaney also said that he received a fundraising letter from Colorado’s Rep. Lauren Boebert. Additionally, Ultra MAGA PAC, a group run by ex-Trump aide Corey Lewandowski, is also fundraising by calling for McCarthy, Mitch McConnell and RNC chair Ronna McDaniel to be replaced.

Democrats are fundraising as well. They are pointing to the chaos on the other side of the aisle, saying: “Republicans have fallen into complete chaos. Will you help me prove that grassroots Democrats can get more support than Republicans in these first hours of the new Republican House?”

Fourth news item

President Biden on the border:

President Joe Biden said Thursday the U.S. would immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the border from Mexico illegally…

The new rules expand on an existing effort to stop Venezuelans attempting to enter the U.S., which began in October and led to a dramatic drop in Venezuelans coming to the southern border. Together, they represent a major change to immigration rules that will stand even if the Supreme Court ends a Trump-era public health law that allows U.S. authorities to turn away asylum-seekers.

“Do not, do not just show up at the border,” Biden said as he announced the changes, even as he acknowledged the hardships that lead many families to make the dangerous journey north.

“Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” he advised.

Ah, and then there is this:

…the U.S. will accept 30,000 people per month from the four nations for two years and offer the ability to work legally, as long as they come legally, have eligible sponsors and pass vetting and background checks.

President Biden’s announcements comes as a decision regarding Title 42 is pending (and if it ends, would bring untold numbers of migrants across the border), and just days after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced that he would be sending migrants to New York City, Chicago and elsewhere because, as he claimed, Colorado was not really their destination state:

Polis’ office said about 70% of the migrants who arrived in Denver aren’t seeking to make Colorado their final destination. But “due to weather and workforce shortage, they have been experiencing transportation cancellations,” hence a large number of people suddenly making their way to other places…

Because of the very high number of immigrants arriving in Denver, the mayor declared a state of emergency for both the county and city of Denver.

New York City Mayor Adams balked at having yet more migrants, yet “local laws compel the state to shelter the new arrivals…

The president is scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas this Sunday.

Fifth news item

She lost her election by 17,000 votes but that won’t hold her back in Arizona:

A number of Republican names have been floated as possible Senate candidates in 2024, including unsuccessful 2022 gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, failed 2022 Senate nominee Blake Masters, Treasurer Kimberly Yee, Rep. Andy Biggs (R), Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, and former Rep. Matt Salmon.

Lake has recently fielded calls from supporters encouraging her to run for Senate, according to a person familiar with those calls.

“On the Republican side, I think this has all the makings of a total jungle primary with several candidates running,” said Brady Smith, an Arizona-based GOP strategist. “Republicans in Arizona looking at this race are cautiously licking their chops.”

Sixth news item

Some great news about Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin:

On Thursday, his doctors announced Hamlin had started to awaken. Though he remains critically ill and on a ventilator, his medical team said the player is showing signs of “good neurologic recovery” and is making significant improvement.

The immediate response of Kellington and other medical personnel was vital to “not just saving his life, but his neurological function,” Dr. Timothy Pritts, one of Hamlin’s doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said Thursday.

First question upon waking up, according to Hamlin’s doctor:

Damar Hamlin is awake and able to communicate with written messages, doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said Thursday.

The first question the 24-year-old asked from his ICU bed was “who won the game?”

The answer was simple, “yes, Damar, you won the game of life,” said Dr. Timothy Pritts, who specializes in general surgery, trauma, surgical critical care and more at UC Health.

I’m reading here and there that some people are appalled that this was what Hamlin asked. What’s the problem? He’s a grown man who nearly died from a harrowing experience, he can ask whatever the hell he wants. It’s nobody’s business.

Here is what a cardiologist and one of the world’s top researchers in the field had to say about commotio cordis.

Seventh news item

The brave men and women of Iran continue to protest against the regime. Here is a summary of where things stand:

Iranian authorities have tried to stamp out the protests with mass arrests, the use of live fire and intimidating those they perceive to be linked to protesters or in some way support them. They have also accused foreign forces of fuelling the unrest.

So far, at least 516 protesters have been killed, including 70 children, and 19,262 others arrested, according to the foreign-based Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA). It has also reported the deaths of 68 security personnel.

Two protesters have been executed and some 12 others sentenced to death, according to AFP news agency. Half are awaiting retrial, it says.

Eighth news item

Today is the second anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. President Biden will be honoring 12 Americans with the Presidential Citizens Medal:

The individuals include law enforcement officers who were injured defending the Capitol, a Capitol Police officer who died the day after rioters stormed the building and election workers who rejected efforts by former President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Biden is set to deliver remarks and host a ceremony at the White House honoring the dozen individuals chosen for having made “exemplary contributions to our democracy” and shown “courage and selflessness” around the events of January 6, a White House official familiar with the details told CNN.

About the award:

The Presidential Citizens Medal is one of the country’s highest civilian honors, given to American citizens deemed to have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”

Honorees include: “Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Capitol Police Officer Carolyn Edwards, retired Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, and retired Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, mother-daughter election workers who were targeted by MAGA election conspirasists after the 2020 election, and Several state and local officials who stood up to pressure to overturn the 2020 election results will also receive the honor, including Rusty Bowers, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt…Biden will also bestow the honor posthumously to Brian Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer who officials said died of natural causes a day after being assaulted with bear spray while defending the Capitol.”

JVW sends our ninth news item which concerns Hillary Clinton:

Hillary Clinton will join Columbia University as a professor and presidential fellow in global affairs, the university announced Thursday.

Clinton will become a professor of practice at the School of International and Public Affairs and a presidential fellow at Columbia World Projects next month, Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger said in a statement.

“Given her extraordinary talents and capacities together with her singular life experiences, Hillary Clinton is unique, and, most importantly, exceptional in what she can bring to the University’s missions of research and teaching, along with public service and engagement for the public good,” Bollinger said.

Never short of a deliciously to-the-point insight, JVW opines:

I’m sure Columbia will use Hillary to raise oodles of money from high-strung wealthy progressive alums, just as Hillary will use Columbia to burnish her credentials as a deep-thinking intellectual, but this is the kind of rot in academia that is hollowing out public respect for higher education. How would you like to be an adjunct professor at Columbia, teaching three classes a term at wages that barely allow you to live in NYC, hoping against hope that a tenure-track position opens up and that you have a shot at it, and then see Hillary waltz in and teach one graduate seminar per term for $250,000 annually (or, knowing the Clintons, much more than that)? What a racket.

Have a great weekend.

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Happy weekend and Happy New Year! I don’t have the wherewithal to compile a Best Of and Worst Of 2022 post. Feel free to share your take on the closing year and hopes for the new year, or anything else that interests you.

Here are a few news items. Ready or not, here we go.

First news item

Trump’s tax returns released:

Trump and his wife…paid $0 in income taxes for 2020, according to a report released late Tuesday by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. The nonpartisan committee’s findings also raised several red flags related to the filings, namely Trump’s carryover losses, loans to his children that may or may not also be considered taxable gifts, and deduction-related tax write-offs.

That year, as the COVID pandemic hit, the Trumps reported a loss of $4.8 million. For 2018 and 2019, the then-president’s reported income increased and they paid approximately $1.1 million in federal taxes each year.

What’s more, the Internal Revenue Service only started to audit Trump’s 2015 tax filings on April 3, 2019, more than two years into his presidency…

Second news item

Two despicable peas in a pod meet:

China and Russia should “strengthen strategic coordination” and “inject more stability into the world,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin via video link on Friday, according to Chinese state media Xinhua.

China is “ready to work” with Russia to “stand against hegemonism and power politics” to oppose unilateralism, protectionism and “bullying,” as well as to safeguard sovereignty, security, as well as international equity and justice, Xi said, according to Chinese state media.

Third news item

Read Sudden Russian Death Syndrome:

Here is a list of people you should not currently want to be: a Russian sausage tycoon, a Russian gas-industry executive, the editor in chief of a Russian tabloid, a Russian shipyard director, the head of a Russian ski resort, a Russian aviation official, or a Russian rail magnate. Anyone answering to such a description probably ought not stand near open windows, in almost any country, on almost every continent.

Over the weekend, Pavel Antov, the aforementioned sausage executive, a man who had reportedly expressed a dangerous lack of enthusiasm for Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, was found dead at a hotel in India, just two days after one of his Russian travel companions died at the same hotel. Antov was reported to have fallen to his death from a hotel window. The meat millionaire and his also-deceased friend are the most recent additions to a macabre list of people who have succumbed to Sudden Russian Death Syndrome, a phenomenon that has claimed the lives of a flabbergastingly large number of businessmen, bureaucrats, oligarchs, and journalists. The catalog of these deaths—which includes alleged defenestrations, suspected poisonings, suspicious heart attacks, and supposed suicides—is remarkable for the variety of unnatural deaths contained within as well as its Russian-novel length.

I bought a Russian advent calendar. Every time you open a window an oligarch falls out.

— Gary Delaney is on tour now (@GaryDelaney) December 28, 2022

Fourth news item

It’s done:

President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a $1.7 trillion federal spending bill that includes a number of administration priorities and officially avoids a government shutdown, ending what he called a “year of historic progress.”

“It’ll invest in medical research, safety, veteran health care, disaster recovery, (Violence Against Women Act) funding – and gets crucial assistance to Ukraine,” Biden wrote in a tweet.

He added: “Looking forward to more in 2023.”

The legislation includes $772.5 billion for nondefense discretionary programs and $858 billion in defense funding…package includes roughly $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies, an overhaul of the electoral vote-counting law, protections for pregnant workers, an enhancement to retirement savings rules and a ban on TikTok on federal devices…will provide a boost in spending for disaster aid, college access, child care, mental health and food assistance, more support for the military and veterans and additional funds for the US Capitol Police…And the legislation contains several major Medicaid provisions, notably one that could disenroll up to 19 million people from the nation’s health insurance program for low-income Americans.

Fifth news item

Iranian protests and the survival of the IRGC:

It was an understandable impulse to wonder whether Iran’s protest movement might continue to grow until it reached a threshold that would cause the country’s security forces to back down and side with the demonstrators over the regime. Afshon Ostovar, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, explains why this expectation was always rooted in naivete. Iran’s most powerful security force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was designed precisely not to back down in such a situation.

During the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Ostovar explains, “it was the Iranian military’s decision to declare neutrality and stand down that signaled the end of the Pahlavi dynasty, setting Iran on a new course.” But by demanding an end to the Islamic system, Iran’s current “protesters challenge the IRGC’s very raison d’être. The IRGC cannot exist under a form of government that is no longer defined by the Islamic Revolution. If the current order is overturned, the IRGC will have no place in whatever comes next.” Which is why they will fight to protect it to the very end.

Sixth news item

What a neat surprise :

Snowbirds are a common sight in Southern California in wintertime — except when they’re actually a bird. A snowy owl to be exact.

Crowds of bird-watchers have been showing up regularly in an Orange County neighborhood to gawk at a snowy owl, a species normally found around the Arctic, Canada and several northern U.S. states.

It’s current home is a rooftop perch in the balmy city of Cypress.

Nice photo of the visitor at the link.

Seventh news item

Of course they’re keeping quiet:

Weeks after winning a district that helped Republicans secure a razor-thin majority in the US House of Representatives, the congressman-elect George Santos is under investigation in New York after acknowledging lying about his heritage, education and professional pedigree as he campaigned for office.

Santos has conceded he lied about his background, but there is also growing scrutiny over his campaign spending and whether it ran afoul of campaign finance laws.

Santos spent more than $40,000 on air travel alone, a staggering amount that outpaced other congressional candidates and even leading members of Congress, the New York Times reported…Nick LaLota, another Republican congressman-elect from Long Island, spent $3,000 on airfare, according to the Times.

There are also questions about whether Santos used campaign funds to pay for personal expenses including housing, the Times reported. Dozens of items listed on his campaign disclosures are for $199.99, one cent less than the amount required to keep receipts, according to the paper.

The top House Republican, Kevin McCarthy, and his leadership team have kept silent about Santos, who remains set to take the oath of office on Tuesday even after publicly admitting to fabricating swaths of his biography…Santos has shown no signs of stepping aside, punting the decision to hold him accountable to his party and Congress, where he could face an ethics investigation.

Before Big Media reported on the questionable claism of George Santos, a small local outlet sounded the alarm about the Republican.

MISCELLANEOUS

This is just unbelievable:

A drone has captured incredible footage of entire houses encased in ice after a bomb cyclone hit the US and parts of Canada.

Read more: https://t.co/jMSLhhH6kY pic.twitter.com/wdLzJUuUJA

— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 28, 2022

And two lovely stories about kindness and generosity:

Couple takes in tour group stuck in the snow:

A group of South Korean tourists whose van couldn’t make it through the wicked winter conditions in the Buffalo, New York area found shelter thanks to a helpful stranger this past weekend.

Alexander Campagna, a dentist, wrote on Facebook that he received a “frantic knock on the door” in the Village of Williamsville on Friday. Two men from a group of ten tourists were at the door to ask for shovels to dig out their vehicle stuck in front of his home…

The couple provided the ten tourists with places to sleep and – during the unexpected weekend stay – the group watched a Buffalo Bills game and also ate Korean meals together, food that the Campagnas love to consume, the newspaper reported.

“It was kind of like fate,” Choi told the Times.

“We will never forget this,” Campagna said.

And also from Buffalo, woman saves developmentally disabled man stranded in the storm:

Sha’Kyra Aughtry said she was home when she heard someone screaming on her street. When she looked out her window, she saw a man calling for help in the frigid cold.

Aughtry’s boyfriend carried the man, 64-year-old Joe White, into the house, and she used a blow dryer to melt the ice off his red and blistered hands and used a “grass cutter” to take his rings off, she said in a Facebook livestream.

…

White is now recovering in the ICU with fourth-degree frostbite after arriving the hospital Sunday night, his sister Yvonne White told CNN.

“I’m hoping and praying for the best,” she said.

Have a great weekend!

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Three days after the mass shooting in Uvdale, Texas that saw 19 children and two adults killed, the National Rifle Association will hold its annual convention in Houston:

Donald Trump is still scheduled to speak at an NRA meeting in Houston…The former president is set to join fellow Republicans, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Senator Ted Cruz, and Congressman Dan Crenshaw, at the annual NRA Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum over the weekend.

The pro-gun lobbyist group is still intending on holding on the meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center from Friday to Sunday, despite the massacre at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Michael Heckman, CEO of Houston First, the government corporation that oversees the convention center, said he was not aware of any plans to cancel the event or change the schedule in the wake of the school shooting.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said that the NRA meeting will be held in Houston as scheduled because if they were to renege on the contract, “it would open the city up to a number of lawsuits”:

“The convention has been on the books for more than two years,” Turner said during Wednesday’s City Council meeting. “It’s a contractual arrangement. We simply cannot cancel a conference or convention because we do not agree with the subject matter.”

The NRA’s website continues to promote the upcoming event:

The Exhibit Hall is open all three days and will showcase over 14 acres of the latest guns and gear from the most popular companies in the Industry…Make plans now to join fellow Second Amendment patriots for a freedom-filled weekend for the entire family as we celebrate Freedom, Firearms, and the Second Amendment!

After the massacre, the NRA tweeted this:

pic.twitter.com/l5msXNjX4l

— NRA (@NRA) May 25, 2022

Meanwhile, Rep. Sheila Lee Jackson, who represents Houston in Texas’s 18th congressional district, has called on the NRA to cancel its event in light of the massacre. I rarely agree with her on anything, but I do agree with the representative on this: “It’s not the time” for the event to be held.

Also, Sen. Chuck Schumer, who was all about bringing gun control measures to the floor today, announced that it would not be happening:

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told colleagues on the Senate floor Wednesday that he will not immediately bring gun control measures to the floor in the wake of two mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, because he doesn’t expect them to muster enough Republican votes to pass.

Instead, the Democratic leader said he will wait for Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and other members of his caucus to try to negotiate a bipartisan compromise with Republicans on a measure that has a better chance of securing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

“There are some who want this body to quickly vote on sensible gun safety legislation, legislation supported by the vast majority of Americans,” he said. “They want to see this body vote quickly so the American people can know which side each senator is on …. I’m sympathetic to that, and I believe that accountability votes are important.”

But Schumer said he thought that bringing gun-control legislation in the immediate aftermath of Buffalo and Uvalde, where two lone shooters left a total of 31 people dead in the span of 10 days, would be fruitless because of staunch Republican opposition to such reforms.

As with Sheila Jackson Lee, I can’t remember agreeing with Schumer on much of anything, but I have to say I agree with him on this, regardless of his posturing:

“If the slaughter of schoolchildren can’t convince Republicans to buck the NRA, what can we do?” he said, referring to the National Rifle Association.

I believe the optics of the NRA holding their convention this soon after the shooting and this close to Uvalde are horrible. Nothing like rubbing salt into an unspeakably raw wound.

I don’t know what the answer is with regard to getting current measures on the books enforced and establishing new safety measures. We’ve discussed tightening up red flag laws, increasing wait time for purchase, universal background checks, more available mental health outreach and treatment, an armed presence at schools (including teachers/staff), etc. But really, unless Texas raised the legal age to purchase firearms, would any of the above measures have prevented the 18-year-old with no criminal record from legally purchasing the two guns, 375 rounds of ammunition, and a tactical vest? As I said yesterday, I’m gutted by yet another school massacre where small children who had just barely begun to live their lives are now dead. In perusing the internet, it remains shocking that some gun advocates seem to feel that the imposition of having to wear a mask or the thought of having Ruby Bridges Goes To School read to elementary students is cause for a much more immediate and bigger response than the massacre of 19 children. I don’t get it.

In the face of the Second Amendment, America’s romance and reverence for guns, the staggering proliferation of guns in the U.S., and an increasing level of hostility and anger as a result of social upheaval and the massive political dysfunction of Washington, at the very least, let’s start here:

In 2018 Arizona Governor @DougDucey and his team analyzed the deadliest school shootings since Columbine. What did they find? A red flag law had a chance to stop every single one. Pass red flag laws. Now. https://t.co/Wh3VJMnOrV pic.twitter.com/i6uN0Jj0PZ

— David French (@DavidAFrench) May 25, 2022

UPDATE: As expected, protestgroups will be at the George R. Brown Convention Center where the NRA annual convention will be held this weekend in Houston. Several groups will be represented:

Ashton P Woods says they [NRA] are not welcome in his home town.

“These people are coming into our community. The city of Houston needs to kick them out,” said Woods, an activist and founder of Black Lives Matter Houston. “We have to be just as tough about these things as they are.”

Woods is helping organize one of several protests planned just outside the George R Brown Convention Center…

The goal of the Black Lives Matter protest, Woods said, is to “get loud” outside while powerful speakers take the podium inside. Woods said the issue of firearms was particularly important to the civil rights group that primarily tackles issues of police brutality in America.

“Whether it be death by suicide, death by cop, death by mass shooter, we need to control the access people have to deadly weapons,” Woods said. “These things are interconnected.”

…

Outside the convention center, multiple counter-demonstrations are expected in Houston – especially in light of a mass shooting that killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

…

Hansen and Pecinovsky have organized an interfaith gathering that will include a silent march and a moment of reflection when organizers will read the names of those who died in Uvalde.

UPDATE 2: After facing pretty widespread criticism, it was announced that Texas Gov. Abbott will no longer be attending the NRA convention, but will instead be sending in a pre-recorded video address to attendees:

Abbott, 64, was originally slated to speak in person as the three-day event gets underway at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

But the Republican governor changed his plans after facing a widespread backlash for holding a fundraiser just hours after a gunman stormed into a Uvalde elementary school, killing 19 students and two teachers.

He will instead head to the site of Tuesday’s horrific school shooting to hold a press conference “on state’s ongoing efforts to support the Uvalde community.”

Also no longer attending the convention are several country music artists who were slated to perform this weekend.

And just this morning, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced he is dropping out of speaking at the convention after giving it “prayerful consideration”.

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

An unlikely candidate will likely win:

The man who is poised to topple one of New Jersey’s most feared political kingpins has never held public office, he has been a commercial truck driver for 25 years and he claims to have spent a whopping *$153 during the primary portion of his campaign.

His name is Edward Durr, and he may be on the verge of one of the most unthinkable upsets in New Jersey political history.

With 98% of the vote counted, Durr, the Republican Senate candidate in the South Jersey-based 3rd legislative district, leads New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney by roughly 2,000 votes — 32,134 to 30,125.

In answer to his question: clearly he had a pretty darn good chance:

“I joked with people and I said, ‘I’m going to shock the world, I’m going to beat this man,’” NJ quotes Durr as saying on Wednesday afternoon. “I was saying it, but really kind of joking. Because what chance did a person like me really stand against this man?”

Durr reportedly spent less than $10,000 on his campaign.

And, in what has now become inevitable for public figures, especially newbies:

Edward Durr, the newly elected Republican state senator who shocked New Jersey by knocking off incumbent Senate President Steve Sweeney, has apologized and deleted his social media accounts after past xenophobic and anti-Muslim messages surfaced.

“I’m a passionate guy and I sometimes say things in the heat of the moment,” Durr said in a statement released Friday morning and reported by the New Jersey Globe. “If I said things in the past that hurt anybody’s feelings, I sincerely apologize.”

Here is his $153 $2300 iphone campaign ad:

This is Ed Durr, the New Jersey truck driver who is leading the Democrat president of the NJ State Senate without even campaigning.

He slams Governor Murphy for killing thousands of seniors by placing COVID patients in nursing homes.pic.twitter.com/Ohwn9hSmpT

— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) November 3, 2021

Second news item

More advancements made:

Pfizer Inc. said Friday that its experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% in high-risk adults, as the drugmaker joined the race for an easy-to-use medication to treat the coronavirus…Pfizer said it will ask the FDA and international regulators to authorize its pill as soon as possible, after independent experts recommended halting the company’s study based on the strength of its results. Once Pfizer applies, the FDA could make a decision within weeks or months.

Third news item

Unsurprising:

Gov. Greg Abbott has a comfortable lead over potential Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, according to a new poll from the University of Texas at Austin and The Texas Tribune.

The survey of registered voters found Abbott with a 9-percentage-point advantage over O’Rourke, 46% to 37%. Seven percent of respondents picked someone else in the hypothetical matchup, and 10% said they have not thought about it enough to have an opinion…

Abbott’s approval rating has slightly improved since the last poll in August, but it remains underwater, with 43% of voters approving of the job he is doing and 48% disapproving.

O’Rourke, meanwhile, has a well-defined — and negative — image with voters. Only 35% of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of him, while 50% registered an unfavorable opinion. Only 7% of voters said they did not know him or had no opinion of him.

Fourth news item

Maybe STFU until you’ve walked in their shoes…and all of their kids’ shoes:

A large family featured on CNN discussing the rising costs of basic groceries like milk was mocked by some progressive media figures on Thursday.

To demonstrate the “squeeze” of inflation and supply chain issues on everyday Americans, CNN’s “New Day” featured the Stotlers, a Texas couple looking after nine children – two of whom are their biological kids, while they’ve adopted six more and have one foster child.

Krista Stotler said she started seeing prices rising this summer and it was costing them an extra $100 a week on groceries.

“A gallon of milk was $1.99. Now it’s $2.79. When you buy 12 gallons a week times four weeks, that’s a lot of money,” she said, as her husband Larry added he felt guilty that they were being forced to buy less healthy food to save money.

Responses from those who clearly have trouble watching a video from beginning to end, yet believe themselves better than you:

12 gallons of milk a week may sound like a lot, but they've actually had to cut out their milk baths on alternate days. https://t.co/3vwwMWjKfR

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) November 4, 2021

Why did @NYTimesWordplay delete this tweet? pic.twitter.com/oMktig3D0Y

— Mike Schietzelt (@mike_schietzelt) November 4, 2021

Having to buy 12 gallons a week means you have an issue with contraception… not the price of milk 🤷🏽‍♂️

— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) November 4, 2021

Fifth news item

Wholly unsurprising:

Because the defund movement took off in mid-2020, it was largely too late for the issue to be truly reflected on that year’s ballot. But versions of it were very much before voters in Tuesday’s election and in the 2021 primaries. The lesson: Voters are open to police overhauls and new oversight, but they strongly rejected some of the more drastic ideas — including in some very blue areas. And amid rising crime nationwide, pro-policing messages won the day.

The big results came in Minneapolis, Buffalo and Seattle.

In Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed by a police officer, voters rejected by double digits a proposal to turn the Minneapolis Police Department into a somewhat-nebulous Department of Public Safety that would have been overseen by the city council. Two city council members who had supported the proposal also lost their seats by wide margins.

In Buffalo, democratic socialist India Walton had defeated incumbent Mayor Byron Brown in a primary earlier in the year but lost to Brown’s write-in campaign Tuesday. Walton had said at one point that she would “absolutely” run on a defund platform, though she later sought to moderate that stance.

Results on Long Island in New York also appeared to demonstrate uneasiness with going too far on criminal justice change. Republicans flipped district attorneys’ races in Nassau and Suffolk counties while focusing their campaigns on the state legislature’s move to limit judges’ ability to set cash bail for more-minor charges — an effort that had pitted moderate Democrats against liberals.

Sixth news item

Fear motivates people to arm themselves:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a national trade association in the firearms industry, says that when comparing 2019 to 2020, there was a 58.2% increase in gun purchases among Black people, a 43% increase with Asians and 49% among Latinos. The NSSF estimates that 40% of gun sales overall were for first-time gun buyers.

There are many factors motivating new gun purchases among people of color: some buyers who spoke with ABC News cited concerns about safety in the U.S., while others claim that pro-gun outreach by various gun advocacy groups is behind the rush to arm oneself.

…

Anti-Black hate crimes rose nearly 40% from 2019 to 2020, according to the statistics. There were 2,755 reported incidents targeting Black or African American people in the U.S. in 2020, making this demographic the most targeted racial group by a large margin.

Hate crimes targeting the Asian community in the U.S. rose by about 73% in 2020 when compared with 2019’s numbers, from 158 to 274, according to FBI hate crime statistics.

And hate crimes against Latinos dropped just slightly, but still surpassed 500 incidences in both years.

Seventh news item

What an infantile culture:

But as is so often the case when liberals use a double standard, conservatives suddenly discover it, too. Partisans on the right were often outraged by crude attacks on Republican presidents. They condemned such epithets as offensive and disrespectful. Now they think they’re great. If the left should lighten up, the right should grow up.

Part of the problem driving this coarseness is the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier between social media and real life. Often, what’s funny or arguably defensible on Twitter, TikTok or Facebook is simply inappropriate in real life.

The way social media encourage people to behave like jackasses is itself part of a deeper and more pernicious trend in society. In his book “A Time to Build,” Yuval Levin catalogs how leaders — in politics, business, sports, media — increasingly use their institutions as “platforms” to perform on, rather than the organizations molding their members to specific missions. De Niro used award shows to lecture and scold. Colin Kaepernick used the NFL as a platform for his causes. Trump saw the presidency as a stage on which he could celebrate himself.

Eighth news item

How about just making sure they can add and subtract, know their multiplication tables, and be able to solve for X. No more pi-in-the-sky distractions:

But ever since a draft was opened for public comment in February, the recommendations have set off a fierce debate over not only how to teach math, but also how to solve a problem more intractable than Fermat’s last theorem: closing the racial and socioeconomic disparities in achievement that persist at every level of math education.

The California guidelines, which are not binding, could overhaul the way many school districts approach math instruction. The draft rejected the idea of naturally gifted children, recommended against shifting certain students into accelerated courses in middle school and tried to promote high-level math courses that could serve as alternatives to calculus, like data science or statistics.

The draft also suggested that math should not be colorblind and that teachers could use lessons to explore social justice — for example, by looking out for gender stereotypes in word problems, or applying math concepts to topics like immigration or inequality.

…

Even in heavily Democratic California — a state with six million public school students and an outsize influence on textbook publishing nationwide — the draft guidelines encountered scathing criticism, with charges that the framework would inject “woke” politics into a subject that is supposed to be practical and precise.

The question is why?, also, the potential for damage to students is real:

States are lagging behind those in other industrialized nations. And within the country, there is a persistent racial gap in achievement. According to data from the civil rights office of the Education Department, Black students represented about 16 percent of high school students but 8 percent of those enrolled in calculus during the 2015-16 school year. White and Asian students were overrepresented in high-level courses.

“We have a state and nation that hates math and is not doing well with it,” Dr. Boaler said.

Critics of the draft said the authors would punish high achievers by limiting options for gifted programs. An open letter signed by hundreds of Californians working in science and technology described the draft as “an endless river of new pedagogical fads that effectively distort and displace actual math.”

Ninth news item

The House divided:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to pass a $1.9 trillion economic package and a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill…was at risk of collapsing as leaders struggled to unify progressives and moderates, though signs of progress emerged Friday night as Democrats resumed debate on the House floor.

After previously expressing confidence that both bills will pass on Friday, Pelosi indicated in the afternoon that they would just move the infrastructure bill amid push back from moderates that the $1.9 trillion bill needs an official cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, a process that could take about two weeks.

After hours of negotiating, the House finally moved forward to a series of procedural votes Friday night…despite opposition from progressives who have warned that they will sink the infrastructure bill if it moves ahead without the separate economic package, known as the Build Back Better Act.

Throughout Friday, progressives made clear that both bills must move in tandem, and they have pushed that if the $1.9 trillion dollar bill is delayed then the infrastructure bill should be voted on at the same time.

MISCELLANEOUS

Oh hello:

UNINVITED COMPANY: A Southern California man returned home to find his front door wide open and a bear on the kitchen counter, scarfing down a bucket of chicken.

The man says he was eventually able to get the bear out by making loud noises. https://t.co/8basATUSyi pic.twitter.com/NUUFC6S3xu

— ABC News (@ABC) November 6, 2021

Have a great weekend!

–Dana

I am dubious about the idea of addressing the teaching of “anti-racism” through a state-level law, but I sure am seeing a lot of dumb arguments against it. Some critics of these bills actively want white kids to feel distress because they are white. Take this piece in the San Antonio Current by someone named Kevin Sanchez, which quotes very sensible restrictions from the Texas law and makes the following arguments against them:

Decree #5: “A teacher may not make part of a course the concept that an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual’s race.”

How, pray tell, can one study the dispossession and slaughter of Native Americans, the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans, the legacy of lynching and segregation and housing discrimination with which we’re still living, the racial wealth gap, mass incarceration or the murder of an unarmed Black suspect in custody without feeling some measure of distress?

These injustices should break our hearts, and when teachers are allowed to teach, they can walk the line between letting kids know that while racism was not their idea, many of us are its inheritors and beneficiaries and therefore have a moral obligation to face uncomfortable truths. Being “colorblind,” sadly, is not enough.

There is a difference between feeling distress because something awful happened in the past, and feeling distress because of the color of one’s skin. Must we allow the deliberate infliction of distress on young schoolkids because of their skin color? I say no, but Sanchez wants these kids to feel personally guilty for past injustice because they are white:

Decree #4: “A teacher may not make part of a course the concept that an individual bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race.”

Imagine if a right-wing government in South Africa or Germany passed a malleable restriction like this regarding education about racial apartheid or atrocities during Word War II. In 1946, philosopher Karl Jaspers published The Question of German Guilt, evocatively arguing that “an acknowledgment of national guilt was a necessary condition for the moral and political rebirth of Germany.” Can we ever truly heal from our wounds as a country without admitting that racism remains a problem the white majority must honestly confront?

It is hardly a squashing of freedom to mandate that teachers not tell young children to feel bad due to their skin color. Nor should they be taught to expect special or adverse treatment due to skin color, although Sanchez of course disagrees with that too:

Decree #6: “A teacher may not make part of a course the concept that an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the individual’s race.”

“Reverse discrimination” and “special treatment” are how Fox News pundits have recently spun COVID-19 relief aid to Black farmers, despite the fact that over the past century the Agriculture Department stole tens of billions of dollars from them thanks to actual racial discrimination. This edict ostensibly declares off limits any teacher-led discussion of affirmative action to redress past wrongs — and that in itself is a wrong.

Let adults debate the merits of government-sanctioned race discrimination. I oppose it, and unlike this writer I do not want some woke teacher telling young children “that an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment” because of their skin color.

FIRE put out an excellent piece on these laws recently, which was highlighted by John Sexton at Hot Air. It highlights some of the common things that are prohibited by these laws, and argues (as has David French) that many of these things are already prohibited:

With the exception of the vague kinds of clauses mentioned above, most of what these bills prohibit are speech or patterns of behavior by teachers that even many of the critics of these bills would find problematic, and arguably would already run afoul of laws prohibiting racial discrimination and harassment. For example, North Carolina’s HB 324, mentioned above, prohibits public K-12 schools from “promoting” the following concepts:

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

(2) An individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

(3) An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex.

(4) An individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex.

(5) An individual, solely 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.

(6) Any individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress. […]

But as the Sanchez piece shows, the left’s attacks on these laws are not limited to the concept that we already have laws in place to address these problems. They also argue that children need to be made uncomfortable because of their skin color. And as the FIRE report makes clear, there are some actual examples out there. This is not just a Fox News made-up bogeyman:

I was disturbed to read some of the examples in my co-author — and FIRE colleague — Bonnie Snyder’s forthcoming book Undoctrinate: How Politicized Classrooms Harm Kids and Ruin Our Schools—And What We Can Do About It, such as:

1. A biracial high school student in Las Vegas was allegedly singled out in class for his appearance and called derogatory names by his teacher. In a lawsuit, the student’s family alleges he was labelled an oppressor, told denying that status was “internalized privilege,” and told he needed to “unlearn” the Judeo-Christian principles imparted by his mother. When he refused to complete certain “identity confession” assignments, the lawsuit claims, the school gave him a failing grade. He has had to attend counseling.

2. Third grade students in California were forced to analyze their racial and other “identities,” rank themselves according to their supposed “power and privilege,” and were informed that those in the “dominant” culture categories created and continue to maintain this culture to uphold power.

3. Parents in North Carolina allege that middle school students were forced to stand up in class and apologize to other students for their “privilege.”

4. Buffalo public schools teach students that all white people perpetuate systemic racism and are guilty of implicit racial bias.

5. Elementary children at the Fieldston School in Manhattan were sorted by race for mandatory classroom exercises.

6. A head teacher in Manhattan was caught on tape acknowledging that the curriculum at his school teaches white students that they’re inherently “evil” and saying, “we’re demonizing white people for being born.”

While there is some debate to be had over how widespread the phenomenon is, some students are being made to feel, in class, that their mere existence is problematic and requires an apology or explanation. These bills, wise or not, are intended to address this problem. If your argument against these bills is that they’re much ado about nothing, or a solution in search of a problem, I think you should look deeper and think more critically about what proponents of these laws are worried about.

I am going to need some time to digest the entire FIRE piece, but I remain appalled at the way so many people act as though it is a civil rights violation to tell teachers they are not allowed to humiliate young children just because of the color of their skin.

[guest post by JVW]

In these woeful times we’ve seen a troubling trend where ordinary citizens — those who make our country such a bastion of freedom and toleration — are oftentimes shamed into silence because their views might not be entirely tolerated in a close-minded society in which compliance with community mores is aggressively enforced. Yet we can still rejoice that there are those among us who refuse to be bullied by the mob into meekly going with the flow. One such man is Ander Christensen of Lincoln, Nebraska, and he won’t stand idly by as popular barfood is misnamed:

I can’t tell you what I love more about this brave whistleblower, this Thomas Paine for our times: maybe it’s the hamburger tie, maybe it’s the ironclad logic with which he makes his argument, and maybe — just maybe — it’s because he is absolutely right in his assessment.

Naturally, Mr. Christensen’s crusade has attracted a great deal of attention among intellectual circles and the barfly community. The sports-beer-and-wings behemoth, Buffalo Wild Wings, while disagreeing with Mr. Christensen’s premise, is addressing the situation in that time-honored capitalist manner: by trying to buy him off. But our hero is an all-American patriot and he won’t be lured by filthy payola (or tasty Mango-Habanero wings) from the greedy corporatists of Big Wing:

Thank you for the wings. And I'm a sucker for a good charity. But know this fight isn't over yet.

— Ander Christensen (@Handsome121Duck) September 3, 2020

Our hero campaigns on, having earned a powerful and influential ally in the Nebraska Barbecue Council, who is taking the battle outside the borders of the Cornhusker State and urging their neighbors in Iowa to take up the cause against the criminal mislabeling of chicken parts. The franchise Wingstop has asked Twitter whether they should change the name of what is misleadingly called “boneless wings” to the more accurate “saucy nugs,” and thus far a majority of respondents has weighed in on behalf of honest disclosure.

The fight is far from over, but I am glad it has been set in motion. Not all heroes wear capes; sometimes they don a hamburger tie.

– JVW