Then They Came For The Educators

As a longtime educator, I have always believed that whatever progress we can make as a species resides within the domain of knowledge and its concomitant, critical thinking. When both fall into societal disrespect, devolution seems to be the inevitable outcome.

Now that education has become one of the right's political footballs, what happened to Colleyville Grapevine principal, Dr. James Whitfield, should surprise few but dismay all fair-minded people.

Please advance to the 9:55 mark for the story:

It would seem that in Amerika, a little knowledge is, indeed, a dangerous thing.

From The Land Of Freedom

 It's hard not to be inspired by our southern neigbours, eh?

This Is Not A Parody

A little something for those Canadians who pine for the re-opening of the border to Amerika. 

Rarely have I seen such a sterling expression of commitment and leadership:

A Clear Threat To The World

I know that I probably allot an inordinate amount of space on this blog to the United States. I wish it were otherwise, but the fact that they are the most powerful nation on earth and that we live next store to this dysfunctional giant means what happens there potentially affects not only us but the entire world.

And that giant is in real danger of becoming another failed democracy, with consequences we shudder to contemplate.

Edward Keenan writes:

The New America organization this week published a “statement of concern” signed by more than 100 democratic scholars from universities across the country. They wrote: “Our entire democracy is now at risk.”

After “unproven and intentionally destructive” allegations about the 2020 election being stolen, they wrote, the Republican party governing many states is undertaking changes to core election procedures, a transformation that will mean they “no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections.”

The threats come from former Trump flunkies like Michael Flynn, who

had to walk back comments he made this week at a Trump-supporting conspiracy conference in Dallas, Texas, in which he appeared to agree with a suggestion that a Mynamar-style coup in the U.S. should return Trump to office. 

Meanwhile, at an “America First” rally in Dalton, Georgia last week Rep. Matt Gaetz said the second amendment protects the right to bear arms specifically to allow citizens “the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government if that becomes necessary.”

At the state level, the inmates appear to be running the asylum. While not openly calling for insurrection, they are doing their utmost to ensure that democratic choice becomes just a sad joke, as they

have still embraced the lie of widespread fraud and are pushing legislation to ensure fewer Democratic supporters can vote next time around — and that Republican state legislatures can overturn the results if they do.

The most recent battle on this front is in Texas, where a bill from the Republican governor would limit forms of voting popular with Black and young voters. That measure was blocked when the Democratic minority refused to provide quorum at the end of a legislative session last week, but will return, the governor promises, in a special session later this year. Fourteen other Republican-controlled states have already passed laws this year to limit voting access, and more are proposed. Many such measures also make it easier for legislatures to overrule voters in assigning electoral college votes, as Trump urged them to do in 2020.

In short, Trump and his supporters are still fighting to overturn the last election, and Republican legislators appear to be fixing things to ensure he (or his successor) cannot lose the next one. 

Democracy has always been a fragile construct. In their lust for power, Republicans now appear ready, willing and able to obliterate it.

 

 

 

 

Toxic Nation

Recent events here have served to amply remind all of us that, as Canadians, we do not walk on the side of the angels. However, events south of the border serve as yet another reminder that the United States is a toxic nation that all of us would do well to avoid.

Some will find the language in the following offensive, but I think you will agree that the courier doing the videoing had ample provocation.

Here is the context for what ensues:

@lostsoulcollective

John’ asks me to show I.D. while I’m delivering Narcan in Pacific Heights

For those who don’t know it’s reputation, pac heights is one of the most affluent, snobby, and white neighborhoods in San Francisco. It’s a neighborhood of old money, unlike the heavily gentrified neighborhoods where new tech money has displaced historically black and brown communities. Everyone who grew up here knows that There is an invisible line drawn on the corner of Fillmore and Sutter that separates pac heights from uptown Fillmore, a line which I rarely care to cross(because this type of thing is a common occurrence in my everyday life). On this particular day I found myself on the wrong side of the line. I was doing a Narcan delivery (for the @the.d.o.p.e.project ) to the 2200 block of Clay street when a man called out to me from a 3rd story window. He asked me what I was doing, and I replied my job. He asked me who I worked for and I told him to mind his business. He then followed me to the halfway house I was delivering to and stood in my way as I tried to leave. I’ve never seen this guy before in my life. I posed no threat to his safety or his property. He threatened to call the cops on me, and after I talked some shit to him he admitted that it was an empty threat. He explained that things have come up missing in the neighborhood, so it must have been me who stole his shit. I’m guessing that in his mind I had no right to be walking down his street, and I must be looking for something to steal. I have a strong feeling that he wouldn’t have harassed me of I was of a lighter complexion, but this is an everyday thing when you’re a man of color living in America. #alwayscarrynarcan #narcansaveslives #harmreductionsaveslives #narcan @harmreductioncoalition