We'll get to Gov. Newsom in due time, but first: National School Choice Week just wrapped up, and advocates on the issue undoubtedly feel a sense of momentum. A growing number of states are seeking to reform the allocation of education dollars in order to fund and follow students, instead of government systems -- and the shrillest opponents of school choice have inadvertently spent the last two years making the case for choice more clearly and urgently than anyone else. ever could. From kindergarten all the way up through the university level, madness is afoot in our education system. Reformers have their work cut out for them. For instance, American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten recently took a brief respite from smearing parents and campaigning alongside Democrats to announce her union's partnership with an organization to help crack down on 'misinformation.' Do any of these details surprise you? Via the Free Beacon:
Tens of millions of American school children will soon rely on a liberal media watchdog group to determine what counts as misinformation. The American Federation of Teachers this week struck a deal to license NewsGuard web browser extensions to its 1.7 million union members. Students across the country will soon rely on NewsGuard's tools to determine the reliability of hundreds of websites. American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said her union will use NewsGuard to help students to "separate fact from fiction" and "develop their critical-thinking and analytical skills." But while NewsGuard claims to be nonpartisan, one analysis of its rating system found it skews heavily in favor of liberal outlets. The Media Research Center found NewsGuard rates liberal sites 27 points higher in terms of trustworthiness than conservative outlets. Nine out of the 10 websites on NewsGuard’s misinformation list are conservative or pro-life websites. NPR, which came under fire last week for an inaccurate story about the Supreme Court, is listed as one of its most trustworthy sites, along with other establishment media outlets.
...NewsGuard executives have bungled evaluations of major news stories in recent years. Steve Brill, NewsGuard’s founder, asserted in 2020 that the New York Post’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop was likely false and based on Russian disinformation. "My personal opinion is there’s a high likelihood this story is a hoax, maybe even a hoax perpetrated by the Russians again," Brill said in an interview with CNBC. Brill said that NewsGuard had a negative rating of the Post because the newspaper tended to favor Donald Trump and had "published irresponsible stuff in the past." Emails from Biden’s laptop have since been validated...One of NewsGuard's biggest funders is the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a philanthropy that backs numerous left-wing causes, including a journalism department at Howard University headed by Nikole Hannah-Jones. Hannah-Jones is the author of the "1619 Project," which pushes a distorted view of America’s founding. Another NewsGuard backer is Jules Kroll, the founder of the intelligence firm that helped Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein compile dossiers on women who accused him of sexual assault.
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The Hunter Biden laptop story, much like the COVID lab leak theory, was suppressed and dismissed as "misinformation," even though it wasn't. Should parents have any confidence in the misinformation police tool hired by government unions, who are heavily aligned with the ruling party? Meanwhile, as countless children remain needlessly masked for hours on end each day, in defiance of the science, the adults presiding over this virtue-signaling superstition are living their best, unmasked lives:
@GavinNewsom did you enjoy #SFvsLAR tonight at @SoFiStadium? Love your gorgeous maskless face! Unmask my children now please. My toddler, 5yr old, and 7 yr old are going to school in LA County tomorrow and will be sent home if they unmask like this, even outside. pic.twitter.com/ChUgV3yZTK
— Hamill Law (@hamill_law) January 31, 2022
This conduct by the governor (and also the Democratic mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco) appears to violate the state's ongoing indoor mask mandate, as well as the stadium's requirements. But we already knew that Newsom doesn't care about the rules he imposes on the Little People (the same goes for the SF mayor). Newsom has also engaged in lying spin to try to justify the photo -- see update below. I'll also remind you that Los Angeles schools are mandating that students wear medical masks, even outdoors. Just up the coast in Oregon, bureaucrats have sought to impose permanent masking requirements in K-12 schools, replacing temporary measures that expire every six months. They claim the permanency is temporary. Parents have every reason for skepticism. On the racial indoctrination front, let's head back to California, where a female teacher of color is blowing the whistle on CRT being force-fed to minority students -- who are racking up failing grades because of this inculcation racket. As you read this, please recall that we have all been strenuously assured that Critical Race Theory is a myth that isn't taught in anywhere beyond law schools (but when it is proven to be taught in K-12 schools, that's a good thing, so shut up). Robby Soave reports:
A California English teacher discovered that her students were failing a mandatory ethnic studies class. All of them were Hispanic. https://t.co/BhqPBJFFSm via @reason
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) January 31, 2022
During the 2020 fall semester, Kali Fontanilla—a high school English language teacher working in the Salinas, California, school district—noticed that many of her students were failing one of their other classes: ethnic studies. This was at the height of the pandemic, and instruction was entirely online, leaving many students in the lurch. Still, Fontanilla thought it was odd to see so many Fs. Salinas has a majority Mexican population; all of Fontanilla's students were Hispanic and were learning English as a second language. Education officials who propose adding ethnic studies to various curriculums—and making it mandatory, as the Salinas school district did—typically intend for privileged white students to learn about other cultures. There's a certain irony in requiring members of an ethnic minority to study this, and an even greater irony in the fact that such students were struggling intensely with the course. "My students are failing ethnic studies," says Fontanilla, who is of Jamaican ancestry. "I would say half of them are failing this ethnic studies class."
...This made Fontanilla curious about what the course was teaching. All of the high school's teachers used the same online platform to post lesson plans and course materials, so Fontanilla decided to take a look. She was shocked by what she saw. "This was like extreme left brainwashing of these kids," says Fontanilla. "Critical race theory all throughout the lessons, from start to finish. The whole thing." ... Many adherents of CRT deny that it's taught to primary education students, and the mainstream media have been quick to line up behind such claims. That's why Fontanilla's discovery was so significant. "The teacher had the kids all learn about the four I's of oppression," says Fontanilla. The four I's were institutional, internalized, ideological, and interpersonal oppression. "And then there was a whole presentation on critical race theory and they actually had the students analyze the school through critical race theory." Slides from lesson plans provided by Fontanilla confirm that the ethnic studies course references critical race theory by name.
California's governor, pictured maskless above, signed a law last year adding "ethnic studies" as a prerequisite for graduating high school in the state. He also gallingly sneered at CRT as "something that doesn't exist" in the context of attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. It does exist, of course, and it's being taught in California schools -- likely more than ever before, thanks to the law Newsom supported. The gaslighting is off the charts. Across the country in Virginia, government schools that are "open" are doing whatever they can to limit in-person instruction (while blue area school boards fight the governor's mask-optional executive order tooth and nail). The state's leaders may need to further clarify what 'counts' as in-person education, as some educators appear to be bending over backward to avoid doing work. Heavily Democratic Fairfax County in particular seems much more committed to fighting Glenn Youngkin over anti-data forced child masking than offering students real instruction, five days a week:
For 18 months of virtual “school” they took every Monday off. It was a clear sign of what was coming. Endless 3 day weekends (for them, sorry working parents).
— Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) January 28, 2022
Today is the 3rd day of asynchronous learning out of the last 7 school days. My 10yo’s work is to listen to an audiofile and come up with discussion Qs, and one math assignment. That’s it. Tomorrow is a staff day. The lack of instructional learning this year is outrageous.
— Diana Loveless (@DianaLoveless1) January 31, 2022
As ridiculous and outrageous as this is, it still doesn't hold a candle to the "equity hubs" in neighboring Maryland. Finally, even if students manage to navigate the insanity of mask mandates, racialized indoctrination, irregular schedules, bogus "misinformation" minders, and dueling book bans at the K-12 level, they have more unhinged nonsense to look forward to at state-run colleges and universities:
Truly weird times when there are like 8 phone numbers for you to call if you as an adult encounter an idea you dislike https://t.co/B3zzzoJG1S pic.twitter.com/Yo3hLZ93Bi
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) January 30, 2022
We are living in the dumbest timeline. pic.twitter.com/VWniUKy32q
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) January 29, 2022
We are an unserious and decadent society. And one prominent face of that unseriousness and decadence was shown grinning for the cameras without a mask on Sunday night. That face belongs to a man who seems more concerned about using the "derogatory" term "gangs" in a problematic way than actual gang crime itself.
UPDATE - Oh, Gavin.
This you, @GavinNewsom? Also, is there a “photo with celebrity” exception to the indoor mask mandate? https://t.co/705WJelrqp pic.twitter.com/7z5vmVdwNG
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 31, 2022
TV cameras captured a maskless California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom hugging Magic Johnson last night in violation of his own mask mandate.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 31, 2022
The video contradicts Newsom's assertion today that he only removed his mask "for a brief second" when he "took a photo." pic.twitter.com/kTOjBOlT0F
In fairness to him, this is exactly who Californian's effectively re-elected by 30 points in the recent recall election. Of course he's arrogant. He thinks he's untouchable in California as a Democrat, and he's probably right.
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