News Miner 87
Atheism, asteroids, Israel, minority student outcomes, religion in schools, human trafficking, the McClain trials, and more.
My New Book: I have out a new book: Getting Over Jesus: Finding Meaning and Morals without God. I hope you’ll consider reading it and leaving a positive review on Amazon. See also my “landing page” for the book, where I will post updates.
Asteroids: Complete Colorado published my column about an important Colorado fossil bed that reveals the development of life in the million years after the asteroid impact that wiped out the large dinosaurs. I praise “Colorado’s scientists who are advancing the ways we think about our world,” and I draw some broader lessons from their discoveries. Read the entire piece.
Moral Equivalence: In an editorial thinly veiled as a news report for Colorado Newsline, leftist journalist Chase Woodruff criticizes Reps. Brittany Pettersen, Joe Neguse, and Doug Lamborn for criticizing a “cease fire” plan for Gaza. Woodruff implies without good evidence that Israel is responsible for destroying a hospital; the AP article on which he relies opens by saying it’s unclear how it was destroyed. Nowhere in his article does Woodruff note that Hamas terrorists intentionally use civilians as human shields. Hamas actively seeks to create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Woodruff’s (implicit) call for a cease-fire is a demand for Israel not to defeat those seeking to wipe Israel off the map. It is possible to both care about the lives and welfare of Palestinian civilians and want Israel to defeat the forces attempting to annihilate it. Incidentally, in my last report I neglected to mention the Denver Post editorial critical of Tim Hernández (prior to his apology).
Black Students in Denver: I have written about the horrible academic outcomes for most Black and Hispanic students in Denver and in Colorado. Melanie Asmar has a new story: “Denver Public Schools is creating a new team of administrators to find the strategies and teaching practices that are working best for Black students and spread them throughout the district.” DPS wants to ensure “that students have access to rigorous courses and are being taught by experienced teachers.” So does that means that DPS has not been doing that to date? That so many minority students are “falling through the cracks” is absolutely shameful.
A School Attack: Well this is horrible. Eric Lagatta: “Theodore Temple said his 12-year-old son was in art class earlier this month when the attack happened. Without warning, another student at the Denver middle school [Marie L. Greenwood Early 8] stormed into the classroom wielding a knife, which Temple said he used to stab his son repeatedly. . . . Temple believes—and the charges against the juvenile suspect seem to support—that his son was attacked because of the color of his skin. . . . [T]he 12-year-old suspect had become fascinated with Nazi paraphernalia and ideology. . . . Just a week prior to the attack, Temple claims that the student had been disciplined for calling another Black student a racial slur.”
Religion in Schools: Jenny Brundin: “A group called Transform Colorado calls itself ‘a movement that unites Christian leaders to restore biblical values in the public square.’ The faith-in-politics group has distributed what it calls a ‘nonpartisan’ voter guide in churches across Colorado that highlights candidate positions to ‘help citizens make informed decisions as they seek to vote according to biblical values.’ The individual flyers for 30 school districts are paid for by the Truth & Liberty Coalition, the Woodland Park-based nonprofit, which has called for Christians to reclaim the ‘Seven Mountains’ of societal influence—one of them being education. Its website states: ‘We seek to restore biblical truth and Godly morality into our country’s failing educational system.’” As I continually say, “It’s so weird how government-run schools become so political.” But—let’s be blunt—the organization behind this campaign is promoting Christian authoritarianism.
Religion in Education II: Heidi Beedle: “Messages from the Advocates for D20 Kids Discord server show that conservative candidates Derrick Wilburn and Amy Shandy [in Academy School District 20] were actively courting local churches for support in their campaigns.”
School Funding: Common Sense Institute: “The recent trends indicate there has been a sizeable decline in total enrollment, while funding has continued to increase and student achievement outcomes appear not to have fully recovered from the impacts of the pandemic.”
Human Trafficking: Government should take strong action against crimes of forcing people into labor and prostitution. Particularly horrific are crimes involving the sexual trafficking of women and children. But I have some questions about Jennifer Brown’s report that begins, “Colorado prosecutors landed a single conviction for labor trafficking and fewer than 50 convictions for sex trafficking in 17 years despite multiple efforts to strengthen state laws.” As Brown says, the cases often result in convictions of other offenses. So how many of the original charges are trumped up? Brown notes that charges are mostly based in a few areas, but is it not reasonable to think that most of the offenses are happening in a few areas? Here is the key point implicit in Brown’s report: Government sets the stage for human trafficking through its insane and rights-violating anti-immigration laws, which force people underground and deprive them of usual legal protections. Also, especially local governments drive up housing costs by arbitrarily limiting the development of housing. As Brown writes, “People who have unstable housing are some of the most at risk for becoming trafficking victims.” Maybe to address the problem of human trafficking government should stop creating the conditions in which it thrives.
Elijah McClain: Shelly Bradbury: “Suspended Aurora police Officer Nathan Woodyard, 34, is charged with reckless manslaughter and a lesser included count of criminally negligent homicide in the 2019 death. . . . Woodyard performed a carotid hold on McClain . . . .” “Performed” is a rather odd choice of terms here! Here’s my question: Why was the officer not also charged with assaulting McClain and forcibly detaining him? As I have pointed out, police had no legal authority to detain McClain in the first place.
Hurd: Jeff Hurd, Lauren Boebert’s primary challenger, has out a hard-hitting ad featuring his wife’s account of the brutality of the Soviet regime—she grew up in Communist Czechoslovakia.
Tattered: 9News: “The Tattered Cover bookstore chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, three years after the iconic local business was sold to an investment group, and plans to close three of its stores over the next two weeks. . . . Tattered Cover owes its creditors, numbering in the hundreds, between $1 million and $10 million.”
Libraries: 9News: Colorado libraries are seeing a few more requests to remove books, especially books having to do with LGBTQ issues, but these requests usually don’t result in changes.
Bridge: CPR: A “bridge . . . collapsed onto I-25 near Pueblo on Sunday, killing a semi-trailer truck driver and spilling coal as well as mangled rail cars onto the roadway. The interstate is shut down indefinitely.”
Grooming: In case Colorado conservatives are interested, here is a real case of someone allegedly grooming a child for purposes of sexual exploitation. (Hint: The perpetrator wasn’t a drag queen or a transgender person.)