Florida Bills Would Let Citizens Remove Textbooks That Mention Climate Change and Evolution
One resident complained that “evolution is now taught as fact”. Evolution and creationism taught side-by-side.
Climate change presented as a controversial hypothesis. If these proposed bills in Florida pass before the end the legislative session this month, the fate of science education in some school districts would be threatened. Two new bills—one passed in the house (HB 989), and one making its way through the senate (SB 1210)—give anyone, not just parents, the ability to question teaching materials in a school district and receive a public hearing with an "unbiased and qualified hearing officer."
This is hardly odd in a state where politicians once banned mention of man-made climate change in the government.
The irony is rich here. These are the same folks who took to their fainting couches because some students didn't want Ann Coulter to speak at UC Berkeley, but they have no problem censoring words and phrases from educational material that they disagree with. When you hear the Right barking about how the Left is against freedom of speech! Talk to the hypocrites about Flori-DUH!
And here's another report, this time from the state of Arizona -- or should we call it the State of Stupidity. Soon to be, anyway. Some GOP lawmaker wants to stop mandatory education and allow children to opt out of getting an education at all. This will do much to replenish the GOP as many drop away because of natural causes, like death. If we think the current GOP is America's Stupid Party now (it's proud of DJT, you know), wait till an entire state supplies it with their worst and dumbest.
Arizona lawmaker: "Let's end compulsory schooling and stop forcing education down everybody's throat."
Rep. Paul Mosley just became a hero to kids everywhere.
The Lake Havasu City Republican wants to repeal the law requiring them to go to school.
No really, he does.
“Education used to be a privilege,” he told Hank Stephenson of the Arizona Capitol Times. “People used to believe getting an education was something you had to be privileged to get, that you had to work hard to get. Now we basically force it down everybody’s throats.”
Forcing education just isn't fair? Oh the horror of trying to create an educated citizenry. Of forcing kids to actually learn something in the hope that they grow up and become able to earn a living, contribute to society and maybe even pay a few taxes.
Another bright idea from one of Trump's MAGAts.
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Trump's nasty attacks on what he calls "the failing New York Times," are lies. Always remember, if Trump's mouth is moving, he's lying.
New York Times Stock Soars on Report of Record-Breaking Digital Subscriber Growth
Shares of New York Times (NYT) were surging in afternoon trading Wednesday after the publisher boasted the best quarterly digital subscriber growth in its pay model history as it continues to ride the wave of interest in high-quality journalism.
5 comments:
There's much more work to do. The spherical-Earth theory is also "now taught as fact". Let's have the spherical-Earth and flat-Earth theories taught side-by-side. And the germ theory of disease is "now taught as fact". We should demand equal time in schools for the theory of witchcraft and demonic possession.
And as always, these people fail to consider the biggest problem they ought to be considering with such efforts -- that the kids whose education is reduced to rubbish by this kind of nonsense (or who get no education at all, if Mosley gets his way) are going to grow up to compete with their contemporaries in Japan, Europe, Russia, Israel, and so on who did learn real science. Even Iran teaches evolution in its schools without equivocation. Think about that. Iran has better science education than some parts of the US.
I agree with Neil deGrasse Tyson's recent observations -- this kind of thing is actually the beginning of the end of America's position as the world's leading country.
Republicans and conservative pols and pundits have been bashing education, science, and the press, incessantly. The last thing they want are educated, rational, informed citizens.
JMJ
I've been rereading 1984 and the parallels between their government and ours is truly scary.
I hope sticking their fingers in their ears helps the folks in Florida. De Nile isn't going to be the only thing under water. Sorry, couldn't resist.
Speaking of climate change deniers...
So I was listening to the NPR report on the Trump administration’s attempt to roll back the EPA regulation of May of 2016 requiring periodic reports for existing oil and natural gas operations to better understand where the methane leaks are coming from and what efforts are being made to control methane leaks, intentional or otherwise. Scott Pruitt has already rescinded the orders for reports in January and May of this year.
There is a famous cloud of methane stretching over the four corners region of the U.S. about one half the size of Delaware.
So the oil and gas industry spokesman comes on the radio and explains why the Obama era regulation is really just too annoying and how he wishes government agencies that have no regard for the profit motive just mind their own business please.
“There is already a financial motive for recapturing this Methane.” He continues unapologetically. “We’re in the business of making money. We don’t want to do anything that’s going to effect our bottom line.” The industry has already invested in technology to capture methane leaks from their newer operations. “But my fear is that the older facilities will have to be closed down prematurely because it does not make economic sense to invest methane capturing systems.”
In other words, if he can make a dollar by allowing pollution to continue, he is not concerned with the lost resource, i.e. methane. Even Obama’s EPA allowed for the mining and selling of precious natural gas resources to other countries. If the mining, handling and transportation of this energy resource itself causes pollution to occur, it is not in our national interest to sell it off.
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