What teachers can't teach in Oklahoma!

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2021

Would we want them to?: We became aware of Karen Attiah in the aftermath of Jamal Khashoggi's death.

Khashoggi went missing in 2018. As the Post’s founding Global Opinions editor, Attiah surfaced as the voice of the Post during this episode. She was only 32 at the time. We assumed she must be very capable.

We've had a different reaction to her work as a columnist  in the past year or so. Her work strikes us as highly bombastic and highly (tribal) war like. One example would be this morning's column from Oklahoma—her column about "emergency rules...limiting what students in the state can be taught on race and gender."

Attiah speaks the language of war. We were most struck by some of the things she chose to omit. We'll focus on the emergency rules the State Board of Education recently approved. 

Were these rules necessary? Probably not. But the rules are eight in number, and as it turns out, here they are:

HB 1775 prohibits educators from teaching the following: 

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

2) An individual, 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) Members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex

5) An individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex,

6) 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

7) Any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex

8) 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

A few of those rules are perhaps a bit fuzzy: 

Interpretation of Rule #3 would turn on someone's judgment of what counts as a case of someone being "discriminated against." 

Due to a double negative, Rule #4 is clumsily composed, though we think we know what it means. 

That  said, the draconian rules against which Attiah rails are, in the end, rather sensible, possibly even admirable. To wit:

Do we want educators teaching that "one race is inherently superior to another race?" 

Do we want educators teaching that "an individual, by virtue of his or her race, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race?"

Do we want educators teaching that "a hard work ethic is racist, or was created by members of a particular race to oppress members of another race?" (Warning! Some high-profile ethnic justice training sessions have come very close to making that assertion. Our Town is capable of tilting toward very dumb statements too.)

Smoke was rising from Attiah's column—and then we searched and read these eight new rules. We don't know that these rules were needed, but especially given their rather gentle thrust, we feel the same way, even more strongly, about Attiah's smoke.

At times of tribal war, our lizard brains will instruct us to join the tribal fight. In our view, Our Town can't win this tribal war. Only the crazies can, because only the crazies want a war to the end.

We'll make one other point about Attiah's tone. At one point, she offers this standard complaint:

ATTIAH (7/15/21): Carlisha Williams Bradley arrived knowing she would cast one of the most consequential votes of her professional life. The only Black member of the board, she wondered whether she would be removed from her position for pushing back. But the education advocate and former executive director of Tulsa Legacy Charter School spoke truth: that the right-wing’s current bĂȘte noire, “critical race theory”—which the legislature claimed to be responding to—means merely the examination of laws and legislation that uphold racism and oppression. Oklahoma’s new education law and harsh punishment, she said, would serve only to generate fear in teaching an accurate history of the United States.

Bradley, we were told, is the only black member of the state board. As if by instinct, we wondered how large the board might be.

As it turns out, there seem to be six board members, with the superintendent seeming to make it seven. Based on surface indicators, the demographics seem to break down like this:

Five white members, one black member, one Hispanic member.

That said, the state is 65 percent white; it's less than 8 percent black. How many black members should be on the board given demographics like that?

Attiah didn't list or explain the rules or the demographics. To our ear, she only engaged in war. In fairness, engaging in war is an easy thing. Also, it tends to sell.

One last point:

Attiah spoke to the superintendent. She then proceeded to clown Post readers by offering this:

ATTIAH: Ultimately, there would be little debate, though Oklahoma State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister acknowledged the lack of transparency with the process and then voted yes on the emergency rules anyway. Once the governor signs off on them, Oklahoma will have the harshest penalties in the nation for the crime of making White people uncomfortable.

“We didn’t ask for this law,” Hofmeister told me with an air of helplessness, arguing that the move was necessary for the sake of clarity.

The super spoke "with an air of helplessness." Meanwhile, the new rules are designed to regulate "the crime of making White people uncomfortable."

Our judgment on those presentations would be sad and sad. For the record, as we did some background reading, board members and statewide teacher reps referred to the pre-existing statewide curriculum. They said the curriculum does teach our nation's brutal history with respect to race.

What does the state curriculum actually look like? Attiah blew past that question too. 

We see no way out of this tribal war. Can a war like this be won? (There's no good answer to that.)

Is the Post just peddling pure warfare now? That's the way it sometimes seems. In the process, is it possible that readers get disrespected, dumbed down, treated like fools, poorly served?

Is it possible that this sort of thing is unhelpful? That a certain amount of imperfection also exists in Our Town?


105 comments:

  1. Tribal war?
    She sounds like every Right-winger who ever supported equality for black people.
    All none of them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm. The Oklahoma rules seem perfectly fine, dear Bob.

    No wonder they (just like any other reasonable statement) make dembots squirm and foam at the mouth.

    What else is there to say, dear Bob? Well, nothing, except to suggest that perhaps exorcism might help.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ...and now for something completely different, dear Bob. May we suggest this super-excellent media criticism by incomparable Howie Carr:

    https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/07/10/howie-carr-lets-try-to-keep-track-of-the-democrat-lies/

    Read and weep, dear Bob.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "completely different" in this case means "bullshit".

      Delete
  4. ‘That  said, the draconian rules against which Attiah rails are, in the end, rather sensible, possibly even admirable.’

    Sure. They’re admirable, if you’re ok with a little thought control.

    If a teacher wants to say that blacks are equal to whites, surely that will be ok. (Note that the law doesn’t ban the teaching of race as a thing.)

    But if that teacher then says ‘and that is why the inequality that persists as a result of historical racism is so objectionable’, will that teacher be hauled in front of a judge or fired?

    It all depends on how Big Brother Oklahoma Board of Education decides to implement this law. And I fully expect it will be applied in ways that are not ‘admirable’, depending on who is making the complaint and which media/politicians are looking to score another salvo in the culture war. The full context surrounding the creation of such bills is important.

    I’m sure Somerby will check back in on Oklahoma to see how it’s going. Not.

    Can you imagine the howls from the right if liberals had passed such a law?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What "inequality that persists", dear mh?

      Don't poison the minds of children -- someone else's children -- with your hitlerian ideas. If you see inequality, call the civil rights commission and provide evidence.

      Delete
    2. You make a good point, mh I think those guideline are the ticket to many unnecessary controversies predicated on what “is” means.

      Speaking of which, what does #4 mean?

      Delete
    3. And Mao, very predictably and who can’t help himself, immediately proves my point.

      Delete
    4. What is it, in what I said, you disagree with, dear mh?

      Delete
    5. Oh, I didn’t agree or disagree. I merely welcomed it as a flawless example of the bad faith complaints that will be raised by the right wing mob when a teacher dares suggest there are racial wealth and educational achievement gaps between blacks and whites that may be at least partly determined by historical patterns. That by itself is enough to get right wingers frothing at the mouth about those black thugs who are clearly less law-abiding and therefore lesser citizens than whites...oops, we just ran afoul of the new OK law.

      I mean, I figured you were just providing helpful backup to my point.

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    6. mh, so how many bad faith complaints were there about teachers referencing historical patterns before the media and the chattering class started hyping the tenets of CRT after the death of George Floyd?

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    7. Strictly speaking, CRT was hyped by the right as its latest culture war bogeyman. The left has not "hyped" CRT -- it has pursued its usual support for civil rights issues (which are not what CRT is about). The left doesn't talk about CRT, except in grad programs, and schools do not talk about CRT either, they just try to teach accurate history. Only the right has been talking about CRT, largely without having any idea what it is.

      Delete
    8. Yeah, we know. You don’t talk about it, except in the most heavenly regions of the Ivory Tower, unless an obscure entity called the NYT takes its principles up as a cause.

      Delete
    9. Again, you are not making any sense.

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    10. Anonymouse 8:34pm, it’s called the NYT 1619 Project.

      It is an entire school curriculum built around the tenets of CRT that informed the thinking of its developer Nikole Hannah-Jones.

      They almost got away with it.

      Delete
    11. Wait until Cece realizes schools are teaching basic mathematics, just to condescend Right-wingers.

      Delete
    12. Those triggered by the 1619 Project, are those
      triggered by equality for all.

      Delete
    13. Oh, we know your thought processes. Only racists differ with Anonymices.

      Delete
    14. Try noticing how you've moved from saying CRT is only discussed in graduate studies, to now saying that people are racist if they don't want it taught in grade and high schools.

      Delete
    15. CRT IS only discussed in graduate studies. History is and should be taught in K-12 schools. It is only when you conflate the two that you can argue that CRT=racial history. It does not. No people should be made invisible by being omitted from the history of our nation, even those who were the victims of white bigotry.

      And yes, you are very racist, as evidenced by your arguments here.

      Delete
    16. Let me help you out. The principles behind CRT are very likely discussed only in graduate studies.

      The philosophy stemming from these principles was going to be incorporated into public schools via the 1619 Project.

      Delete
    17. Let me help you out. The KKK hates blacks. The philosophy is incorporated into the GOP platform.

      Delete
  5. ‘How many black members should be on the board given demographics like that?’

    That wasn’t the point.

    She was worried that ‘she would be removed from her position for pushing back’ because she is black.
    Neither the board member nor Attiah claimed there should be more blacks on the board.

    What should Attiah have written? ‘A black member’? ‘The black member’? ‘A member, who is black?’ Or, ‘I don’t see race, so what the hell was she talking about?’

    Does it seem more or less likely that the black board member would be removed because she is the only black board member?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "She was worried that ‘she would be removed from her position for pushing back’ because she is black."

      We can think of two ways to deal with this kind of worry.
      1. anti-anxiety medications, or
      2. a different career. A job with simple, unambiguous instruction to follow.

      Delete
    2. Mao thinks that being on a school board isn’t a volunteer position, or that a person serving on one wouldn’t be concerned about the school kids rather than themselves.

      Delete
    3. Come to think of it, the third option would be to keep your insecurities and your self-pity to yourself. No one needs to know.

      Delete
    4. People have been telling black women to sit down and shut up for centuries now.

      Delete
    5. More to the point, no one said it to Carlisha Williams Bradley, though we’re told she rightly feared it.

      Delete
    6. You think it is right that any member of a public board should be intimidated into not participating actively?

      I know you think your snotty remarks are clever, but today they certainly seem revealing of your intentions.

      Delete
    7. No, what is revealing of my intentions is my remark that Carlisha Williams Bradley has not mentioned one actual incidence of intimidation, she has referenced only that she feared it.

      Facts don’t care about your feelings of snottiness.

      Delete
    8. "Facts don’t care about your feelings of snottiness."

      But let's not teach about slavery because whitey's fee-fees get hurt by that.

      Cecelia, you're a clown.

      Delete
    9. Put you hands over your ears and start whistling now.

      No one has argued that our history of slavery should not be studied.

      Delete
    10. That's exactly what is being argued.

      Delete
    11. No one who isn't an asshole has argued that our history of slavery should not be studied.

      Fixed for accuracy.

      Delete
    12. Anonymouse 9:06am, you mean you fixed it am for Anonymouse logic.

      Not on board with CRT= glossing over slavery (which apparently educators have allowed for 150 years).

      Delete
  6. “ Tulsa Legacy Charter School spoke truth: that the right-wing’s current bĂȘte noire, “critical race theory”—which the legislature claimed to be responding to—means merely the examination of laws and legislation that uphold racism and oppression.”

    That’s bullshit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, that is literally all CRT is. It is a complex theory taught in law schools and grad programs. It has nothing to do with K-12 education.

      Delete
    2. From Wikipedia:

      "Critical race theory (CRT) is a body of legal scholarship and an academic movement of civil-rights scholars and activists in the United States that seeks to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race in the U.S. and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice. CRT examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the United States."

      Don't listen to Cecelia. She doesn't know what she is talking about. In fairness, that may be because she only listens to right wing sources and Fox News.

      Delete
    3. How are your fee-fees, Cecelia.?
      Still painful from all the talk about slavery?

      Delete
    4. No, I'm dizzy from your wiggling back and forth.

      Delete
    5. I believe that history itself informed Hannah-Jones's work. That is how historians do their job. Do you think she would have received a Pulitzer prize for just parroting CRT (and where does CRT get its content)?

      By the way, her name is spelled Nikole.

      Delete
    6. Hannah-Jones didn’t just parrot CRT, she built a school curriculum around its tenets as established in highest reaches of academia or sumpthin.

      You’ve have now exhausted your wiggle room.

      Delete
    7. I don’t think she wrote that part of the 1619 project.

      Delete
  7. And let's not forget where the noise about CRT is coming from. Not parents but Republican activists goaded by Fox News.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tucker-carlson/2021/07/13/398fa720-dd9f-11eb-a501-0e69b5d012e5_story.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. Somerby quotes the rules enacted in OK, but he never quotes Attiah's tone, despite his repeated assertions about its warlike tribal nature. Those are very serious charges against Attiah, but Somerby offers no evidence to support his slurs against her (note that she is another black female journalist being singled out for negative attention by Somerby). One must assume that he is OK with white male journalists since he so rarely criticizes them.

    The only excerpt written by Attiah is about Bradley and talks about her worries as the only black members of the School board. Not even Bradley sounds warlike in that paragraph.

    If Somerby is going to slime someone, he should at least provide some examples of their warlike tone to support his claims. I really get the feeling that being black is sufficient to be described as warlike in Somerby's world, no further tone needed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, it’s a damn shame there are so many female writers writing on cultural matters for the media and that there female persons of interest who are their subjects.

      Otherwise, Somerby could focus solely on the men who overwhelmingly hold all the power, positions, interest, or something…

      Delete
    2. Why exactly does Somerby write about so few white men here? Inquiring minds want to know...

      Delete
    3. Show that he critiques women writers more often in a year than he does men.

      You over a decade of blogs.

      Delete
    4. I have been doing this for more than a year now. If you weren't paying attention, that is on you.

      Delete
    5. No, you haven’t. You’ve only been complaining when he treats women as he does men.

      Delete
  9. Here is a brief roundup of the activities that should be the focus of laws and policing, not schoolteachers:

    https://www.informant.news/p/intel-brief-arrested-and-unmasked?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxOTc1NzM1NywicG9zdF9pZCI6Mzg3MTYxNzYsIl8iOiJuOGhWViIsImlhdCI6MTYyNjM5MjYxNiwiZXhwIjoxNjI2Mzk2MjE2LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjE1NTYiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.eGe-5HpjYzDW6auUrutYAUPbf69gVHaeov5qAmQ-6f4

    ReplyDelete
  10. Essentially, the right decided that sound bites in which they were critical of civil rights efforts might sound bad to prospective voters, so they bundled those efforts into one overall term, CRT, then declared opposition to it and are now trying to establish a legal mechanism to punish anyone who tries to promote civil rights for minorities in our country. As if that will stop progress.

    We need to call this effort what it really is -- more right-wing bigotry. And just as so-called parents opposed busing back in the bad old days, the right-wing activists today are pretending that they are just worried about the children (not the black ones, just the white ones).

    Earlier this week, Somerby was pretending that the left wants to teach CRT to first graders!!! The horror!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is it a horror or not?

      We had schools prepared to institute an entire curriculum around the 1619 project that is based upon the principles of Critical Race Theory.

      Stop trying to gaslight everyone.



      Delete
    2. I think I know more about what liberals think and care about than you do. Conservatives are the ones conflating anything having to do with race with CRT. It is sloppy thinking to the point of being propaganda to lump things together like that, and it is motivated by conservative politics.

      "Stop trying to gaslight everyone."

      Every conservative accusation is a confession.

      Delete
    3. As we learned from Somerby's efforts to understand relativity from an Einstein-made-easy book, CRT is unlikely to be taught to first graders because it is quite complex and difficult enough to teach at the graduate level without expecting first graders to understand it.

      How will first graders understand the importance of the slave trade in the triangle trade routes if they don't even know what a Pilgram is, much less an Abolitionist? Get real Cecelia. You and your Republican buddies are sounding hysterical.

      Delete
    4. Well, here’s the articles that inform the 1)19 curriculum.

      I doubt first graders start by reading them, but even you are sophisticated enough to know how that process starts.


      https://libguides.hofstra.edu/1619/majorarticles


      Search this Guide Search
      The 1619 Project: Major Articles
      Start
      Register
      Contents
      The Whole Work (pdf)
      Major Articles
      Brief Articles
      Artistic Works
      Additional Material
      Panels
      Essay Contest
      Contents
      Start Here

      Register

      Contents

      1619 Project: The Whole Work

      The Major Articles

      Brief Articles

      Artistic Works

      Additional Materials

      Panels: Voting and Healthcare

      Essay Contest

      The Major Articles
      Click on the links below for text only versions. You will need your Hofstra username and password for access. The page numbers for articles in the pdf version are in parentheses.


      Jake Silverstein
      1619 (Introductory Editorial) (pp. 4-5)


      Nikol Hannah-Jones
      "Our founding ideals of liberty and equality were false when they were written. Black Americans fought to make them true. Without this struggle, America would have no democracy at all." (pp.14-22)


      Tiya Miles
      Chained Migration: How Slavery Made Its Way West (pp. 22-26)


      Matthew Desmond
      "In order to understand the brutality of American capitalism, you have to start on the plantation." (pp. 30-40)


      Jeneen Interlandi
      Why doesn't the United States have universal health care? The answer begins with policies enacted after the Civil War. (pp. 44-45)


      Kevin M. Kruse
      A traffic jam in Atlanta would seem to have nothing to do with slavery. But look closer... (pp. 48-49)


      Jamelle Bouie
      What the Reactionary Politics of 2019 Owe to the Politics of Slavery (pp. 50-55)


      Linda Villarosa
      How False Beliefs in Physical Racial Difference Still Live in Medicine Today (pp.56-57)


      Wesley Morris
      Why Is Everyone Always Stealing Black Music? (pp. 60-67)


      Khalil Gibran Muhammad
      The sugar that saturates the American diet has a barbaric history as the 'white gold' that fueled slavery. (pp. 70-77)


      Bryan Stevenson
      Slavery gave America a fear of black people and a taste for violent punishment. Both still define our criminal-justice system. (pp. 80-81)


      Trymaine Lee
      How America's Vast Racial Wealth Gap Grew: By Plunder (82-83)


      Jake Silverstein
      “An Update to the 1619 Project,” New York Times Magazine, 11 March 2020.
      There is a link to a YouTube video discussion of the project at the end of the article. When you access the video, advance to the 14:30 time. The actual discussion begins just after that point. Before that you simply have the opening title.

      Delete
    5. It's no wonder the Republican Party is suppressing the votes of black people as hard as they can.

      Delete
    6. Thank you for proving my point, Cecelia.

      Delete
    7. In return you disproved my mine about you being sophisticated enough to understand how this would be taught incrementally from first grade.

      You really aren’t.

      Delete
    8. First graders should be taught the Republican Party is just the KKK gussied-up for the 21st Century.

      Delete
  11. From Wikipedia:

    "Critical race theory (CRT) is a body of legal scholarship and an academic movement of civil-rights scholars and activists in the United States that seeks to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race in the U.S. and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice. CRT examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the United States."

    Don't listen to Cecelia. She doesn't know what she is talking about. In fairness, that may be because she only listens to right wing sources and Fox News.

    ReplyDelete
  12. But she knows the definition of “cultural”.

    ReplyDelete
  13. And that ain’t just about “laws and regulations”.

    ReplyDelete
  14. CRT- the Anonymouse love that dare not speak its name.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Republicans know all about loves that they dare not speak about. Matt Gaetz has hired Epstein's lawyer.

    ReplyDelete
  16. That's me! So sad how they play your dumbass. But I'm happy to have an opportunity to show you here in real time (with sources) exactly how they do it. But first - let me ask you - you are claiming this is proof "Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election". Yes or no?

    ReplyDelete
  17. I have news for you young'n - Trump didn't collude with Russia to win the 2016 election and this is not proof of it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Again ... are claiming this is proof "Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election".

    Yes or no?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is now converging evidence from multiple sources about Trump's collusion with Russia, including from Russian sources now.

      Delete
    2. "There is now converging evidence from multiple sources about Trump's collusion with Russia, including from Russian sources now."

      Sad. Really sad. (see above idiot)

      Delete
    3. Where in the world is Carmen Santiago and the leaked documents on politicususa.com?

      Delete
    4. Russia, if you're listening, tell us why Trump gave you a shout-out during his election campaign.

      Delete
    5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/07/15/trump-kompromat-claimed-report-says-kremlin-documents-show-putin-conspiring-for-billionaire/?sh=5183d21d6b1e

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/15/kremlin-papers-appear-to-show-putins-plot-to-put-trump-in-white-house

      https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-leak-appears-to-confirm-existence-of-trump-kompromat

      Delete
    6. You really are that stupid aren't you? You haven't even thought about what you're saying. You're saying you feel like Trump genuinely was asking Russia to help collude live on TV in a speech. Do you realize how stupid that is? I guess not. He did that because he has nothing to worry about. He did that because he knew that they were coming after him with Russia and the whole thing was a made up non-event. Hillary planted the whole thing in early 2016. And here you are, so incredibly stupid, all these years later, insinuating that that is some kind of proof that he colluded! It's incredible. Your stupidity is completely off the charts. As is the rest of your idiotic cohort who turn to completely balkanized media sources that help keep you stupid by never letting anyone challenge the prevailing dogma. Instead, anyone that challenges your stupidity, no, they're all racists and Trumptards! It's gone way too far. And you know you ruined your movement. You don't understand it yet. You're in a completely balkanized bubble so you don't realize it yet. You're way too stupid to understand anyway. And you can thank the fucking morons at Lawyers Guns and Money and the rest. They put you there. They trained you to not think critically and ward off any hint of opposition to the party line with trite non answers that you think are cute. They trained you to close your eyes and put your hands over your ears and shout "wha wha wha" whenever you are really challenged with something you don't want to hear. The payback is going to fucking brutal for that lazy ignorance.

      Insinuating the Trump was actually trying to collude on national television. Think about how stupid that is. You're way way way way behind the times.

      Delete
    7. "Do you realize how stupid that is?"

      Yes, Trump is exactly that stupid. He also told his supporters to attempt a coup on his behalf, in public.

      This reasoning is far from counter-evidence to Mueller, the intelligence community, and the election results themselves in 2016.

      Delete
    8. 8:30, if you're listening, tell us something other than bigotry which got Trump elected President.

      Delete
    9. So here we are. You've lost another argument about collusion. Have a good weekend.

      Delete
    10. A tone argument! The last refuge of an intellectual lightweight who has lost an argument. Sorry sweetie, you lost another argument with me as you lose every argument with me. You need to pick your battles better and broaden your horizons. Have a good weekend!

      Delete
    11. The whole thing is already totally debunked. Not even MSNBC is reporting on it. That author has had so many "bombshells" that have fallen through completely 100%. He's a liar. Have a good weekend,

      Delete
  19. I don't see anything in your messages that critiques my source.

    This is a news report about the existence of proof. You can read it and follow its sources (from The Guardian). You've never actually provided anything here except denial and name calling.

    ReplyDelete
  20. It's pretty easy - once you get deep into this stuff - the first thing you look for is who wrote it. And then look at their record of publishing "bombshells" about Russian/Trump collusion. I saw that headline this morning and the first thing I thought was "Did Luke Harding write it??" Sho nuff bitch. So you know it's bullshit.

    You can do that research on your own but let's look at how the article is worded ... starting with the headline!

    Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House

    Oh my. How would you like it if you got thrown in prison because something "appeared to show" you committed a crime???? This is how you get played son. Weasel words. People like yourselves, a common man not particularly invested deeply in the story, just read the headline and rush to claim vindication probably without even reading the article or definitely not seeing or looking for all the weasel words!

    Next: Subhead!!!

    Exclusive: Documents suggest Russia launched secret multi-agency effort to interfere in US democracy

    Are you getting it? This is how they play you. This is how they played you in the Senate Intelligence Report.

    "likely"
    "possibly"
    "could have"
    "may have"
    "suggests"
    "appears to"

    This is how the CIA, Maddow and all the warlords of propaganda play you (as well those pathetic blogs you waste you time one -- SO sad!)

    Next: First graf!!!

    Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russia’s national security council, according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents.

    What are assessed to be!

    Need I go on? Ok ...

    2nd graf: the papers suggest
    4th graf: in a decree appearing to bear Putin’s signature
    6th graf: The papers ... seem to represent a serious and highly unusual leak from within the Kremlin.

    Shall I go through the whole thing? 'appear to be', 'apparent', 'suggests'. This one is a fucking master class. But you rush to the Howler to call the guy an "idiot". BWWWWWWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

    Let's fast forward to a few hours after it was published.

    Twitter - Russians see the "extract" they posted and guess what!!??? I'll let you read for yourself:

    https://twitter.com/IvanTkachev1/status/1415700348388483081

    "with a considerable degree of confidence I can assume this is either “Google-translated” text from foreign language to Russian or a text composed with help from an unschooled Russian speaker, or both."

    This how the warlords of power play you - and of course the low-IQ blogs you read don't mention a word of this. It's forbidden to fall out of line.

    Listen little lady, if Trump colluded with Russia in 2016 and got caught, I would be the happiest guy in the world. But, being world wise, knowing Russia is a marginal state power with an economy smaller that Italy's!!! it always smelled like bullshit - because it was! It was invented by Hillary Clinton - that is documented here:

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dni-brennan-notes-cia-memo-clinton

    "“CITE [summarizing] alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service,” Brennan’s notes read."

    Sorry -you'll never be vindicated on this one. Never.

    ReplyDelete
  21. "This is a news report about the existence of proof."

    IT IS NOT!!!!! WTF??!! So sad how they play you and you would make an idiotic inaccurate claim like that. "a news report about the existence of proof." That makes me want to cry. But it is exactly their plan. It is exactly what they want you to say. They know you will read the reposted headline on a low-IQ partisan blog and just run with it without looking at the weasel words or looking at it with any depth or critical thinking at all. And that's just what you did!!!!

    So sad!!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Final note - your vaunted "news report about the existence of proof" doesn't even mention the world collusion shit-for-brains.

    ReplyDelete
  23. You were probably young in the eighties and have a mistaken impression about Russia's influence and power based on the movies at the time. This ain't Blockbuster Rambo time little needle dick. You better put away your Twizzlers and stop playing the fool (because of Hillary Clinton no less!). Russia ain't shit. If they had any kompromat or fucked with us in any way whatsoever we would bust their balls so hard - it's not even ... it's not even funny or a thing. That's why Russians laugh their ass off about all this. Russia .... is two cities. Basta! Russia SO isn't shit. Trump Russian collusion. Man oh man. And they won't even let it die because of suckers like you and the charlatan liars to whom you turn for information. It's wild. Let it stop!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Do you know anything about attorneys?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Once the press decided they weren't going to report that Republican voters care about nothing but bigotry, stories like "Russia" were inevitable.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Another idiotic non-response. You're God's gift to the Republican party. You might as well just send your whole paycheck to the Trump 2024 campaign. Because that's what you're doing. You're re-electing Trump. You're too stupid to realize it. Are you proud? Are you proud that your idiocy is destroying the Democratic party?

    ReplyDelete
  27. This is why we need to teach children that if their phone is misplaced, the nearest black man didn't necessarily take it, just because mommy taught you that black people are all criminals (are you listening David?):

    "A Black California man was wrongfully accused of stealing a child's phone in an incident strikingly similar to one involving the son of a Grammy Award-winning trumpeter. Only video that Ja’Shear Bryant posted of his encounter on Monday in a Moreno Valley, California, Walmart didn’t show the woman physically attacking him. Instead, she was shown accusing him then mocking him when the child predictably resurfaced with the phone that had been left in the woman’s car."

    ReplyDelete
  28. You want to blame Matt Gaetz's behavior on his attorney? That's a stretch Cecelia.

    ReplyDelete
  29. "8) 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"

    This one will prevent a teacher from explaining how literacy tests were used at the polls to prevent black voting. Tests were constructed that couldn't be passed by white voters either, due to their nit-picky questions, but such tests were only given to black voters, not white ones. Once this rule is enacted, no need to worry that the white shenanigans during Jim Crow will be exposed in classrooms.

    "7) Any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex"

    This one would prevent a teacher from consoling a child who recently realized that Indians were nearly wiped off the continent by disease after encountering white people who brought Small Pox to the Americas. That teacher could not tell such a child that it is natural to feel that way about what happened. The teacher would have to expect the child to suck it up and feel no remorse over the past, encouraging the child to suppress natural feelings and become more like a psychopath or sociopath.

    "6) 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"

    This one is designed to keep children from confronting their parents over racial behavior they might encounter at home, such as racial epithets and discriminatory acts kids might see their parents engage in. Kids who are taught about environmental problems go home and ask their parents to recycle. That is bad enough. Kids who are taught about race might expect daddy to stop using the n-word and mommy to stop saying mean things about that black checker at the market who seems disdainful when mom presents her SNAP and EBT benefits card.

    The point of each of these rules is to preserve white self esteem by preventing them from being confronted by history that might make them feel bad about what was done in the name of race by white supremacists in the past, so that children will not be tempted to become white supremacists themselves when their parents or campus recruiters try to elist them in the cause.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Trump voters don't care about how Liberals speak about Republicans. They care about bigotry.

    Besides if Republican voters won't vote for people who treat them like they are morons, they'd never vote for a Republican politician.

    ReplyDelete
  31. "Do we want educators teaching that "one race is inherently superior to another race?"

    How would a history teacher explain to children that Germans who were Nazis considered themselves inherently superior not only to other races but to other nationalities within Europe (French, Hungarian, Russian)? How would that teacher explain that the Japanese in WWII considered themselves inherently superior by virtue of race to those they were fighting (China, the USA)? It is important to understand these attitudes because they motivated behavior in that time period. This isn't only about how slave owners felt about their slaves but also about how Ford felt about his assembly line workers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “ This isn't only about how slave owners felt about their slaves but also about how Ford felt about his assembly line workers.”

      Thank you.

      Delete
  32. This discussion is interesting, especially the comments of actual K-12 teachers:

    https://jabberwocking.com/request-to-anti-crt-folks-do-we-have-examples-of-crt-being-taught-in-public-schools/#comments

    ReplyDelete
  33. The attack on CRT isn't about teaching history to children in public schools. It is about combatting white terrorism today as the alt-right and white supremacist organizations attempt to bring their corrupt beliefs into the mainstream (largely via the Republican party). Opposition to teaching an accurate history in the schools arises from those who want to preserve white superiority, not from those who wish to protect children.

    The best way to protect children, white and black, is to push white supremacism back into the shadows and fever swamp where it has long festered and not permit it to become normalized, as Trump as done during his term in office.

    Those who object to "CRT" are supporting a corrupt and bigoted interpretation of history and our CURRENT way of life that has no place in a multicultural society in which all must get along, without one group asserting dominance over others.

    This opposition needs to be explicitly identified as the threat to our nation's democracy that it poses. Somerby is on the wrong side of this issue, and on the wrong side of history, when he attempts to scare people into thinking that first graders are going to be traumatized in the name of treating all people with kindness and respect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, we’ve finally moved CRT out of the highest heights of the Ivory Tower into the reality that it’s not the newest Red Scare.

      Delete
  34. No, I want to suggest that if Gaetz was charged with murder he would want a highly successful and experienced attorney in defending clients against that charge.

    He’d want that attorney if he were guilty or innocent as a baby.

    Take off your partisan blinkers for five seconds and get a clue.

    ReplyDelete
  35. You do know that Epstein was convicted, don’t you?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Epstein got a sweetheart plea deal that kept him from being prosecuted for federal crimes.

    They had steamer trunks of stuff on him, but he got to plead out to two felony prostitution charges and got an 18 month sentence.

    Note: Epistein Didn’t Kill Himself

    ReplyDelete
  37. "Epistein Didn’t Kill Himself"

    Why would he, when he was thisclose to being put on the Supreme Court by Republicans?
    The GOP settled for Brett Kavanaugh to be the new rapist to pair with Clarence Thomas.

    ReplyDelete
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