I am becoming increasingly alarmed at what The Republicans are doing to education in the Red states they control,because it is going to create a generation of children who are indoctrinated with MAGAt fantasies not actual facts. And I am equally concerned by the complete failure of these governors to take climate change seriously. Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and their like have proven to be a disaster for their states, the social outcome data makes this irrefutable.
In DeSantis’ own words, “Florida is the place where woke goes to die.”
It’s also, apparently, where science goes to die. Last month, Florida became the first state in the nation to approve the use of “educational” videos produced by the conservative organization Prager University Foundation, a group co-founded by right-wing radio host Dennis Prager. While no school district has announced plans to show any of PragerU’s videos, NPR reports, there’s nothing to stop teachers from independently airing the material. As a Florida Department of Education spokesperson said in a statement, the material aligns with Florida’s revised civics […]
Diana Kwon, Contributing Science Writer - Scientific American
Stephan:
A reader wrote and asked me “What do we know about narcissism since that seems to be the principal characteristic of most of our politicians today?” The medical papers I researched are too technical, but I found this which I think may be useful. As to the crux of her question, I fear she is correct. Americans seem to be enthralled by narcissists.
Credit: Deena So’Oteh
Can you think of a narcissist? Some people might picture Donald Trump, perhaps, or Elon Musk, both of whom are often labeled as such on social media. Or maybe India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, who once wore a pinstripe suit with his own name woven in minute gold letters on each stripe over and over again.
But chances are you’ve encountered a narcissist, and they looked nothing like Trump, Musk or Modi. Up to 6 percent of the U.S. population, mostly men, are estimated to have had narcissistic personality disorder during some period of their lives. And the condition manifests in confoundingly different ways. People with narcissism “may be grandiose or self-loathing, extraverted or socially isolated, captains of industry or unable to maintain steady employment, model citizens or prone to antisocial activities,” according to a review paper on diagnosing the disorder.
Clinicians note several dimensions on which narcissists vary. They may function extremely well, with successful careers and vibrant social lives, or very poorly. They may (or may not) have other disorders, ranging from depression to sociopathy. […]
Increasingly I see the Republican Party trying to do to education in the U.S. what has been done in North Korea. The end of education and the beginning of indoctrination. This, in my opinion, is not getting anywhere near enough attention, and discussion there is is being dominated by MAGAts who want their children to be trained to their nasty hate filled sense of education. This has enormous long term implications. The Republicans don’t like education becausse the more educated a person becomes the more likely it is that they will vote Democrat. The evangelicals don’t like education because they want their children to be indoctrinated in their fantasy version of Christianity. Lack of fact based education also means that the United States will no longer be a leader in technological development which will have a strong negative impact on the economy. What is the solution? Voting both Houses of Congress into an overwhelming Democrat majority. Keeping the Presidency in Democrat hands. I would also eliminate the Electoral College, and restructure the Supreme Court and impose strict anti-corruption ethical standards. The only way this country is going to survive is by making a national commitment to promoting wellbeing.
U.S. Department of Education
Multiple Republican presidential candidates made it clear at this week’s debate that the Department of Education is in danger if they are elected.
“Let’s shut down the head of the snake, the Department of Education,” Vivek Ramaswamy said. “Take that $80 billion, put it in the hands of parents across this country.”
Conservatives see the department, which has more than 4,400 employees and in its current form dates back to 1979 after first being established in 1867, as a prime example of Washington’s meddling in Americans’ lives. The time has come to “shut down the Federal Department of Education,” former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday.
But what would it mean to actually shutter the massive agency?
How could the department be eliminated?
Killing the Department of Education (DOE) would be easier said than done.
Conservatives have said since the creation of the department they want to get rid of it. From President Ronald Reagan and his Education secretary to President Trump and his own, Republicans have decried the department’s existence but failed to abolish it.
The Trump cult, to me, is a a very loud alarm bell telling us that something has seriously gone awry in the American culture. When you have this many people who no longer care about our democracy, whose grievances are so great that they have overpowered their ability to operate rationally, then you have a culture in crisis whose future is uncertain at best.
Cult leader Inmate PO 1135809
Cults work hard to turn their adherents against family, friends, and anything from the outside that might snap them back to reality. In Scientology, this is called “disconnection,” which the Wikipedia entry describes as “a form of shunning. Among Scientologists, disconnection is viewed as an important method of removing obstacles to one’s spiritual growth. In some circumstances, disconnection has ended marriages and separated children from their parents.”
There is something wrong in a number of the regulatory agencies in the Biden administration. I don’t no whether it is corruption or left over people from the Trump administration, but there have been a number of environmental decisions from these agencies that are not designed to foster wellbeing. Here is an example of what I mean.
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it is pulling the plug on its reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone, commonly referred to as smog and starting a lengthy, slow full review. As a result of today’s decision, if the EPA doesn’t pick up the pace, the agency would likely complete its review in the late 2020s, denying communities any chance of stronger ozone standards until implementation began sometime in the early 2030s. The EPA’s decision comes despite mounting evidence of the adverse health impacts and environmental damage caused by ozone pollution. Environmental advocacy groups condemn the decision as scientifically, legally and morally insupportable.
Just two short years ago, the EPA won praise for its announcement that it would start and, by end of 2023, finish a reconsideration of a December 2020 decision to retain outdated standards.
As part of that process, this past June, 18 independent experts on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) reviewed the existing ozone NAAQS, and all, except one, concluded that “the […]
