Trump 2.0 trolls the country
I just can’t believe what an asshole Ron DeSantis is. He’s clearly running for president on the MAGA line, trying to ramp up the culture war to unprecedented levels to prove to the Trump Cultists that he’s and even bigger asshole than their Dear Leader, dedicated to owning the libs with great enthusiasm. He’s also replicating the worst totalitarian states in history with indoctrination of school children in historical lies and designating non-gender conforming children as a class of untermenschen to be shunned and degraded. He is a monster.
I almost can’t believe what I’m seeing:
Under a new civics program launched by Gov. DeSantis, the Florida DoE is partnering with Hillsdale College to offer professional training to public K-12 teachers. Here is what teachers were shown last week about:
1. The Founders’ opposition to slavery;
2. The argument for Originalism (note: no alternative interpretive theories were discussed);
3. The political, moral, and social need for religion;
4. The Founder’s support for religious institutions.
According to attendees, the principal focus was on Christianity. Says one, “There was this Christian nationalism philosophy that was just baked into everything that was there.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article262941378.html#storylink=cpy
The training session was voluntary. However, attendees were given a $3000 bonus, payable out of leftover CARES funding that DeSantis declined to spend on COVID.
He’s using COVID money for this!
I went to public school a long time ago, long before anyone was “woke” about much of anything, and I wasn’t taught this bullshit. This is scary.
But that’s not all:
Meanwhile, Orange County’s legal team has introduced guidelines for how public schools should implement HB 1557 (aka the Don’t Say Gay Act). Among the new rules for teachers in that county:
1. No more rainbow clothing or photographs of same-sex partners;
2. No more Safe Space stickers. Also, teachers must out gay students to their parents (because parental rights are absolute), but teachers must use a student’s birth pronouns regardless of parental desires (because parental rights are unimportant).
A spokesman for Orange County acknowledges that some of these interpretations of HB 1557 are extreme, but explains that staff need to “err on the side of caution” because the law is so vague and the penalties so severe.
Finally, in Leon County, the school board just approved new guidelines that require (and I fucking swear this is real) schools to let parents know whether any student using a locker room or attending an overnight trip is “open about their gender identity.”
At the school board meeting, one parent pointed out that pretty much everyone, trans and non-trans alike, is open about their gender identity, so this policy would seem to require a continuous stream of parental notifications.
But I think we all know better.
This is Florida on June 30th, one day before HB 1557 goes into effect. 2.8 million students are enrolled in that state’s public schools. Expect much, much more along these lines.
Link to the Leon County story.
Originally tweeted by Jeffrey Sachs (@JeffreyASachs) on June 30, 2022.
This is what they want to do in the whole country.
I need a drink.