Checking Our Math

By Todd Lassa

Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis (above), is trying to grab the title of chief culture warrior from his Mar-A-Lago neighbor.

It began with Florida’s Education Department announcing it has rejected 54 mathematics text books out of 132 submitted for use in the state’s K-12 public schools. According to the Education Department’s press release, 28 math books (21%) are rejected because they “incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including critical race theory (CRT).” Twelve more (9%) got the boot because they do not meet Florida’s Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (BEST), and the remaining 14 (11%) “do not properly align to BEST standards and (emphasis added) incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT.”

Few details have emerged about the state school board’s objections with the mathematics text books (though R.J. Caster offers some color on that in his column, on the right).

DeSantis did offer this criticism: “It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students. I’m grateful that (Education Commissioner Richard) Corcoran and his team at the Department have conducted such a thorough vetting of these textbooks to ensure they comply with the law.”

This would seem to be a good opportunity to remind readers what CRT is and is not: https://thehustings.news/critical-race-theory-facts-dont-matter.

We can be sure that CRT has not to this point been taught below the college level. If it has since seeped into, say, high school text books–and about math–we’d like to see those math problems.

Before anyone had much time to delve into a math textbook report, DeSantis extended the Florida legislature’s special session to give Republicans a chance to introduce Senate Bill 4-C, which the Florida House of Representatives then quickly passed and the governor promptly signed, removing The Walt Disney Company’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, giving it virtual governmental autonomy over roughly 25,000 acres in Central Florida and established by the state’s Republican governor in 1967. This allowed the company to build Disney World largely unfettered by state and local regulations. It runs its own water district and fire departments, for example.

Four other districts also were stripped of their special tax status and will revert to regular governmental control this July 1, and potentially increase property taxes for Orange and Osceola counties by 20%-25%.

Like Trump with his administration’s pro-tariff policies, DeSantis is defying the Republican Party’s antipathy for government controls. The source of this animus is DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education bill passed by the state legislature–better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which The Disney Company’s leadership has avowed to get revoked.

DeSantis’ proposal to strip Disney of its special status has prompted never-Trumper conservative Charlie Sykes to call him “Florida’s ‘Authoritarian Socialist’ governor” in The Bulwark.

All this leaves us with a couple of big questions; Does the current high level of animus between Republicans and Democrats have more to do with the GOP’s social conservatism than its traditional free market conservatism? And what could possibly be in those math books?

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

DeSantis’ Education Push-Back

By RJ Caster

Gone are the days when a story began with “Florida Man…” and didn’t have anything to do with Governor Ron DeSantis. One thing is for certain, Governor DeSantis learned from President Trump that one has to be high-energy to drive the political narrative and be top of mind, nationwide, in order to raise name identification. And Gov. DeSantis is doing just that on the battlefield of his choosing: Education.

There is a unifying thread that runs through many of those actions DeSantis has taken as governor lately:

DeSantis signs a bill targeting explicit books in schools.
DeSantis signs a bill to put an end to allowing transgender athletes to compete in high school sports.
DeSantis bans schools from being able to forcibly quarantine children who were exposed to COVID but did not test positive for COVID.
DeSantis signs the "Stop the W.O.K.E. Act," banning Critical Race Theory from being taught in classrooms.
DeSantis applauds the Florida Dept. of Education's rejection of 54 math books for not meeting standards and/or incorporating "prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT."

Regarding the rejection of 54 math books, the state released several of the examples found. One example was multiple charts illustrating what cross sections of the population were “more racially biased.” The chapter starts out with “What? Me? Racist?” before getting into the topic of… “Adding and Subtracting Polynomials.”

Both Retired Adm. William McRaven (U.S. Navy) and former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice called our K-12 Educational system the “greatest national security threat to our nation.” Last year the Pentagon released the Defense and Industrial Capabilities Report and its findings sounded the alarms around America’s failing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) culture and how it can hurt American policy on the world stage. Why is the educational industrial complex so concerned with fighting against something they supposedly “don’t teach” like Critical Race Theory? Why does the curriculum need to be politicized at all when it comes to teaching students the fundamentals of Math, Science and Technology?

The left would have people believe that it’s “Trump’s Republican Party” acting overzealous in this new battle over the hearts and minds of our youth. But the problem is a growing number of moderates and independents also feel like the Democratic Party is dismissing their concerns about education and what their children are learning. The Teachers unions did themselves no favors when they lobbied for continuous “learning remotely” measures which allowed parents working from home a chance to see what and how their children were learning (or lack thereof).

Furthermore, it’s a poorly kept secret there is an implicit left-leaning bias among educators, and a glaring disparity when money from teachers unions and their members are involved. Now the people in power are trying to say they aren’t inculcating any political leanings in children even though they tend to be predominately of a particular political persuasion. We are facing a growing mental health crisis among our children and public school educators, lobbyists, and their Democratic counterparts in government continue to stand athwart school choice measures yelling, “stop!”

We learned this past year in Virginia and almost in New Jersey, among other places with off-year elections, that parents are voting on the left’s handling of education this generation. So Gov. DeSantis is taking the fight to the Democrats over an issue that Democrats monopolized for nearly half a century -- and only time will tell if his strategic vision pans out. Ron DeSantis and the Right have embraced an issue traditionally held dear by the left in education which will benefit them in the coming elections, and possibly the future.

Caster is chief executive officer of Jacksonville, Florida-based Techne Media, and one-time intern for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD).

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Leaving Twitter?

Who will leave Twitter when Tesla CEO Elon Musk completes his $44 billion takeover of the social media platform? Where will they go?

“I want everybody to come over to TRUTH – conservatives, liberals, whatever,” former President Trump told Fox News. He was promoting his own social media platform, recently launched, and said he does not plan to return to Twitter.

You may comment here, or for the right column if that’s your preference. (Please tell us your preference in the subject line.) Note that The Hustings welcomes comments from any and all sides of a political issue, so long as it’s civil and respects the facts. No echo chambers, no trolling, and no twisting of the facts. We edit for length and clarity, though we do not edit content or context. Email editors@thehustings.news.

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…meanwhile…

(TUE 4/26/22)

Who’s at war with Russia? … At a press conference in Poland Monday after a surprise meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Secretary of State Lloyd Austin said he “wants to see Russia weakened” and unable to recover quickly from its war against Ukraine. This ramps up, at least, the established Biden administration goal of helping Ukraine retain its sovereignty and defend its territory, The Guardian reports. The U.S. also pledged another $713 million in military aide to Ukraine.

The Kremlin responded Tuesday by cranking up its rhetoric. “NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian state media, according to The Guardian. Russian President Vladimir Putin meets later Tuesday with U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who will argue for an immediate cease-fire, The Washington Post reports. Of course, the Kremlin may agree to a cease-fire, but no one should believe it.

•••

Civil case against Trump Organization is very much alive … While the criminal investigation against former Donald J. Trump’s business organization by Manhattan’s district attorney continues to flail after two prosecutors resigned earlier this year, the civil case by state Attorney Gen. Letitia James scored a victory Monday when a New York Supreme Court judge held the former president in contempt and imposed a $10,000 per day fine against him, NPR reports. Trump’s attorney has appealed.

James’ office is investigating whether the Trump Organization has undervalued its properties to avoid taxes and overvalued its properties in order to procure more favorable loans from financial institutions. Trump turned in zero documents to James after her request last year, according to NPR’s Morning Edition, and has turned in just 10 documents from earlier requests.

Boilerplate: Trump has repeatedly accused James’ investigation of being politically motivated.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Tweets v. ‘Truth’

Fox News host Tucker Carlson tweeted this Monday evening: “We’re back.” Scary as that may be coming from the Putin apologist, we understand it may have something to do with his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight.

But the looming question now that Richest Man in the World and “free speech” absolutist Elon Musk is about to take over Twitter is whether MAGA will take over the social media platform, which currently has 200 million users.

Predictably, Donald J. Trump ended speculation that he may quickly re-join the platform that banned him permanently after the January 6 Capitol insurrection by promoting his own company.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH. I hope that Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to stay on Twitter,” Trump told Fox News.

You may comment here, or for the left column if that’s your preference. (Please tell us your preference in the subject line.) Note that The Hustings welcomes comments from any and all sides of a political issue, so long as it’s civil and respects the facts. No echo chambers, no trolling, and no twisting of the facts. We edit for length and clarity, though we do not edit content or context. Email editors@thehustings.news.

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No Sympathy Left for McCarthy

There was no sympathy from the left for the House minority leader after release of a January 10, 2021, GOP leadership phone call revealed that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had lied about intending to tell then-President Trump to step down 10 days early, for being complicit in the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Comments from the left (identified by Twitter handles):

Horror show for America.

--Just Say No to Jim Crow

Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

--Shuttem Downes

*Tweets, like letters and other readers’ comments may be edited for clarity, length and civility, but never for context nor meaning.

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Comments: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

(MON 4/25/22)

EU Score: Democracy 2, Authoritarianism 1 … By now you know about incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron’s (pictured) decisive, but relatively narrow, 58.5% to 41.5% victory over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s runoff elections (Associated Press). Macron had won his first term over Le Pen in 2017 by a 66% to 34% margin.

It was just one of two victories for liberal democracy over authoritarianism. Also on Sunday, in Slovenia the opposition liberal party had received nearly 34% of the vote while the governing conservative party had just 24%, with 97% of the ballots in the parliamentary election counted, the AP says. The winning Freedom Movement can now form a new coalition government with the New Slovenia party (7% of the vote), Social Democrats (more than 6%) and the Left Party (4%).

Of Le Pen and Jansa: France’s Le Pen has ties with the Kremlin going back to her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen and 1968, when Russia ran the Soviet Union (which says something about the bi-polar political philosophy of populism). Just days before Sunday’s French runoffs, she laid out some foreign policy priorities, according to Salon.

They include an attitude toward NATO that sounds very Trumpian:

•Limit military support to Ukraine.

•Leave NATO’s integrated command.

•Relaunch “strategic rapprochement” between NATO and Russia as soon as peace between Moscow and Kyiv can be secured (really?).

Slovenia’s defeated incumbent prime minister, Janez Jansa, is an ally of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the authoritarian populist who won a fourth consecutive landslide just three weeks ago, and he is an admirer of Donald J. Trump, who is still trying to win the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Jansa has been in office just two years, clearly not long enough to smother the local free press as Orban has.

Name to watch: Leader of Slovenia’s winning Freedom Movement and thus likely the nation’s next prime minister is Robert Golob.

•••

Speaker fixed? … Late last Friday The Hustings initiated a weekend Twitter poll (@NewsHustings) that asked whether House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would become next speaker, replacing Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) assuming, as everyone does, that Republicans will win the chamber’s majority in November’s mid-term elections. Our poll was a response to McCarthy’s denial that he had called on Donald J. Trump to resign as president after the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Quell surprise – a recording surfaced.

Scroll down to the next center-column headline, “Speaker Blown,” for the whole story.

Shortly after we posted our poll, The Wall Street Journal published an interview with ex-President Trump, who said he wasn’t pleased to learn of McCarthy’s comments in the January 10, 2021 House GOP leadership call, but said that the California congressman ultimately never advised him to quit and quickly reversed his stance “once he found out the facts.”

That must have been one helluva visit to Mar-a-Lago McCarthy made later that month.

Anyway, our poll predicted overwhelmingly that McCarthy was “toast”, with more than 80% for the affirmative, until news of the interview spread. It would still look bad for the once and future speaker…

•McCarthy becomes speaker: 23.2%

•McCarthy is toast: 76.8%.

This is of 155 votes cast. It should be clear this is not scientifically balanced. But it is a good gauge of our readers’ thoughts. Twitter reader comments appear in the left and right columns.

•••

Former Sen. Orrin Hatch … (R-UT) served in the upper chamber from 1977 to 2019 and has been remembered for his ability to his friendship with liberals, especially the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA). But the longest-serving Republican senator (sixth overall) also allied with President Trump and was one of the key figures in assuring the Supreme Court’s conservative majority (per The New York Times). He died Saturday in Salt Lake City, at the age of 88.

--Todd Lassa

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No Right Answer for McCarthy

Conservatives were not any easier on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s recorded comments about calling on then-President Trump to resign after the January 6 Capitol insurrection. But their expectations may be different if polled again after learning of Donald J. Trump’s forgiveness toward McCarthy in his late-Friday interview with The Wall Street Journal. Comments:

If he does (become speaker) patriots will abandon the party.

--Mike Soubirous (retired Riverside, California city councilmember)

R.I.N.O.s need to go.

--Jeanette Starykowicz

*Tweets, like letters and other readers’ comments may be edited for clarity, length and civility, but never for context nor meaning.

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Comments: editors@thehustings.news

Naturally Aspirate Social Media

Tech companies should face the sort of regulation that cars, food and other consumer products face, for the safety of democracy around the globe, former President Barack Obama said in a speech at Stanford University, one of the primary feeders of graduates to nearby Silicon Valley. Tech companies have “turbocharged” political divisions and requires government oversight, he said, according to The New York Times.

“Tech companies need to be more transparent about how they operate,” he said.

While The Hustings is a media company and not a tech company, as anyone who has tried to read us on a smartphone knows (TIP: Turn your phone to the horizontal position), we are committed to no-echo chamber, no trolling dialogue between liberals and conservatives. We encourage comments to editors@thehustings.com and will post them in the left and right columns so long as they are civil and do not attempt to spread conspiracy theories or misinformation.

[About the headline above: An internal combustion engine that is not turbocharged or supercharged is called “naturally aspirated.”]

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Blown Speaker?

(FRI 4/22/22)

In the era of American politics before Donald J. Trump, the man who would be next year’s House speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would now be toast. After he tweeted that the book, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America's Future is “totally false and wrong” reporting he had “a plan” to remove then-lame duck President Trump from the White House after the January 6 Capitol insurrection and before President Biden’s inauguration January 20, authors of the book released an audio recording proving he had said just that in a phone call to other House GOP leaders.

Authors Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns are reporters for The New York Times. Read the newspaper’s story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/us/politics/trump-mitch-mcconnell-kevin-mccarthy.html

In a recording of the January 10, 2021 call, McCarthy asked the other Republican leaders about the mechanism for invoking the 25^th Amendment to remove Trump, whom he faulted for “inciting people” to attack the Capitol. Rep. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, asked McCarthy whether Trump might resign over it.

McCarthy was doubtful, according to The New York Times, but he told the group of GOP leaders he had a plan to tell Trump of the impending impeachment resolution in the House of Representatives and that it was time to go.

“What he did is unacceptable. Nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it,” McCarthy said.

On January 11, according to the NYT, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told two longtime advisors he expected a sufficient number of Republicans to vote to convict Trump, which held the possibility the former president would not be allowed to run again.

By the end of the month, McCarthy had kissed Trump’s ring on a surprise weekend visit to Mar-a-Lago. On February 13, eight Republican senators joined 50 Democrats and Independents to convict, nine short of the two-thirds vote necessary. That May, McCarthy stripped Cheney of her number-three position in the party’s caucus leadership (Cheney denies she leaked the January 8 call recording).

Still the future speaker?: McCarthy yearns to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as House speaker, of course, under the expectation that Republicans will obliterate Democrats in this November’s mid-term elections. Will he maintain sufficient support of both traditional Republicans and MAGA Republicans to win re-election for California’s 23^rd District? Thanks to a new congressional district map, McCarthy has not just two Democratic challengers, but also Republican Jay Obernolte, incumbent for California’s 8^th District, according to Ballotpedia. The state’s non-partisan primary is June 7.

Meanwhile, a likely subpoena of McCarthy from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, on which Cheney is one of two Republicans, looms.

--Todd Lassa

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Supercharging Twitter

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has endorsed Tesla CEO Amendment I absolutist Elon Musk’s plan to take over Twitter for $46.1 billion and open it to any and all free speech. Yell “fire” in a crowded theater all you like.

Carlson says any Democratic Party and “corporate media” opposition to Musk’s hostile takeover plan is simply a gambit to maintain control of their political message.

At The Hustings we welcome political opinions from the right and left, so long as they are fact-based and civil. No echo chambers, no trolling. Please email your comments on anything we post to editors@thehustings.news. Free and open and civil discussion from all points of view will keep us honest.

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DOJ Appeal?

The Biden administration’s Justice Department is ready to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that has overturned the public transportation and airline mask mandate only if the CDC determines that extending the mandate is needed, NPR reports.

Beside further exacerbating the divide between conservatives and liberals over COVID-19 mask mandates and vaccinations, such an appeal could hamper future CDC mandates for potentially more dangerous health crises if the Supreme Court were to set a precedent by upholding the federal judge’s decision, Lindsay Wiley, professor of public health law at the University of California, Los Angeles told NPR’s Morning Edition.

What do you think? Should the Justice Department appeal, or let it go? Comments:

editors@thehustings.news

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Breaking Buzz

(THU 4/21/22)

Scroll down to below this post to read "(Ketanji Brown) Jackson Deserves Better."

More arms for Ukraine … President Biden Thursday announced an additional $800 million in military aid for Ukraine (AP) but warned that Congress will need to approve additional funds to maintain U.S. support. This is on top of $2.6 billion already contributed to Ukraine’s war effort against Russia. The latest tranche goes for heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and drones for an escalated battle over the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. …

Tweet this … Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he’s secured the $46.5 billion necessary to buy Twitter outright, at $54.20 per share, NPR reports. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the world’s richest person says he has lined up $25.5 billion in loans from Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and other banks, and will shell out the remaining $21 billion from his personal fortune. ...

Mask mandate appeal coming … The Justice Department says it will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that struck down the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask mandate on public mass transit including commercial airplanes, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. The CDC asked the DOJ to appeal the ruling by a federal judge in Tampa, Florida, that lifted the mandate earlier this week.

The CDC did not follow proper rule-making procedures, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said in a 59-page opinion Monday. The CDC says that wearing a mask on buses, subways, airplanes and other public transit “remains necessary to protect the public health.”

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WED 4/20/22

Masks Off

Some airline passengers removed masks mid-flight Monday after a federal judge overturned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national public transportation mask mandate to fight the COVID-19 virus. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, in Tampa, Florida, said in a 59-page opinion that the CDC did not follow proper rule-making procedures in issuing the mandate.

Mizelle’s ruling does not preclude local authorities and private companies from mandating their own masking requirements, The Washington Post reports, though United, Delta, Southwest and American immediately lifted their requirements –- even triggering removal celebrations on some in-air flights –- and the Raleigh-Durham (North Carolina), Miami and Portland (Oregon) airports are among those announcing they will no longer require masks, per local TSA directives, according to the New York Post. Lyft and Uber also have lifted the mask mandate for drivers and passengers.

New York’s subway system and LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports, and San Francisco International are reportedly maintaining mask mandates. There has been a surge in new East Coast cases of the BA.2 omicron variant in recent weeks.

This left the Biden administration and the CDC scrambling Wednesday to determine how to respond. See left and right columns for more.

What do you think?: Should the Justice Department appeal Judge Mizelle’s ruling to the Supreme Court, or is it time to take off masks while on airplanes and public transportation? Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and tell us in the subject line whether you’re “left” or “right” no matter whether it matches your opinion on this question. We will post civil comments … no echo chambers and no trolling … in these columns.

--Todd Lassa

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Judge Judged

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle is being hailed by the prevailing Trump wing of the Republican Party for her wisdom in striking down the CDC’s COVID-19 mask mandate on public transportation. Mizelle was 33 when then-President Trump nominated her to the federal bench in Tampa, Florida, in September 2020, and became the youngest federal judge ever. Her husband is Chad Mizelle, who was acting general counsel for the Trump administration’s homeland security council.

Responding to her nomination, the American Bar Association rated her “not qualified.”

The ABA “prefers a dozen years of practice experience and she had merely eight,” Carl Tobias, law professor at the University of Richmond (Virginia) told The Guardian. Mizelle also lacks experience in litigation and trying cases.

But Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, best-known for its annual CPAC conventions, tweeted: “God Bless Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle.”

Your opinion of Judge Mizelle and her ruling? Comments:

editors@thehustings.news.

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The Left on Jackson’s Confirmation

The Senate Judiciary Committee has a long, enduring tradition of mishandling Supreme Court justice nominees for political purposes. You are invited to join this conversation on the most recent example, the hearings of Judge Kitanji Brown Jackson.

Comments from the left on Nic Woods’ center column assessment will appear in this column. Whether you are on the left or right of American politics, we’d like to hear from you. Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and indicate in the subject line whether you are liberal or conservative.

NOTE: If you are trying to read The Hustings on a smartphone, this column will appear first. It is not the center column. Place your phone horizontally to get the proper three-column perspective.

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