News Miner 89
Bottoms and academia on Israel, anti-LGBTQ and anti-science Republicans, forest schools, other school issues, migrant policy, suing Meta, airplane lead, and more.
Bottoms on Israel: From my new column for Complete Colorado: “Religious-right Republican legislator Scott Bottoms . . . joined [“democratic socialist” Tim] Hernández in blaming Israel for the attacks on Israelis. During a sermon (Bottoms also is a pastor), Bottoms baselessly speculated that ‘our government and the Israeli government knew this [Hamas attack] was about to happen,’ Jason Salzman reviews. Bottoms thought this was plausible because of ‘how corrupt bureaucratic leadership is in both Israel and America.’ This sounds a lot like the ‘blame America first’ conspiracy mongering about 9/11. As 9News reported, Bottoms also asked Jesus to ‘use’ the Hamas terrorist attacks on Jews ‘as an opportunity’ for ‘the Jewish people to realize’ that Jesus is ‘the savior, the redeemer.’ The notion that God might ‘use’ brutal rape, torture, and murder to induce the victims to accept Bottoms’s preferred religious beliefs is repugnant. Bottoms also wondered aloud whether the attack might be ‘a sign of the coming rapture,’ 9News reports.” In the column I also discuss “horseshoe” theory and the ways that different political groups use the language of “abolition.” Read the entire piece.
Academia and Gaza: Luige Del Puerto: “Philip DiStefano, chancellor of University of Colorado Boulder” “sought to distance the educational institution from a department's accusation that Israel's retaliatory strikes amounted to an ‘unprecedented genocidal attack,’ a development that mirrors the tension roiling America's colleges after Hamas militants crossed the border from Gaza earlier this month and killed 1,400 Israelis.” See also David Flomberg’s critical column on the anti-Israel document. He writes, “My own experiences over the last three weeks align with what appears to be playing out at CU and around the nation, which is a steady avalanche of hate-filled rhetoric and action aimed at Israel and Jews alike.” Related: Joshua Sharf writes that several “academics from at least five Colorado universities and colleges have signed on to a statement accusing Israel, among other things, of ‘genocide and ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinian refugees living in Gaza.” See also Ilya Somin’s broader article on the left’s “long history of defending horrific mass murder and other atrocities.”
Anti-LGBTQ Republicans: Recently two Republican representatives, Ryan Armogost and Brandi Bradley, attended a rally that obviously was bigoted against transgender people. See Erik Maulbetsch’s report. One can argue that teachers should focus on teaching the basics and mostly side-step culture-war issues without disparaging LGBTQ people.
Republicans and Schools: What in the holy hell: Via 9News: A student group proposed that students should be able to go by their preferred names in their public-school classrooms. Of course conservatives freaked out about this because a student might use a name of the “wrong gender.” Rep. Ron Weinberg said nicknames would confuse police during school shootings. And Republicans wonder why they have no power in the legislature.
Anti-Science Republicans: Barbara Evanson, a school board candidate in Grand Junction, wants public schools to teach creationism and to “ban a ton of material” from their libraries. See Erik Maulbetsch’s report. See also a Grand Junction Sentinel story about the school board race is indicative of the “conservative” approach to school “reform”: “Skalla, Evanson say ‘yes’ to book-banning, ‘no’ to comprehensive sex education at D51 candidate forum.”
Forest Schools: I know several homeschooling families whose children attend a “forest school” part-time. Now Erica Breunlin has a story for the Sun about the “growing movement of forest schools across Colorado.” I am all for children spending a lot of time outdoors; however, I do not see playing in the woods as a substitute for learning how to read and do math. Breunlin has a good quote about that: “An outdoor school gives kids a wide-open space to release their energy so that they can better concentrate when it’s time to sit down and do work, said Megan Patterson, founder and executive director of Worldmind Education.” My main reason for not putting my child in a forest school part-time is the expense. Plus he already gets a great deal of outdoor time. Part of Breunlin’s article discusses how state bureaucrats don’t quite know how to license these schools. Anyway, I’m pleasantly surprised to see such positive treatment of alternative schooling now from the Sun and previously from Newsline.
Cherry Creek Schools: Dave Perry writes, “Cherry Creek schools in Aurora have become the latest focus of hysterical culture-warriors determined to ignore reality, science and common sense about human sexuality, even at the expense of innocent kids.”
Tax-Funded Religious Preschool: Reuters: “A federal judge [U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico] has blocked Colorado from excluding a Christian private school [Darren Patterson Christian Academy] from its taxpayer-funded universal preschool program due to the school’s requirements that employees share its faith and that students use bathrooms and pronouns corresponding to their biological sex.” I wrote a column about these conflicts.
Sin Funding: John Daley asks a good question: When the state relies on “sin taxes” to finance popular programs—as Colorado relies on tobacco taxes to fund preschool—does that affect how state actors view and treat the “sins” being taxed?
Indian Boarding Schools: Jason Gonzalas: “An estimated 1,100 children from 20 Native tribes attended the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School for 17 years. But for many of them, ‘school’ meant forced labor, forced assimilation, and abuse, not real education. At least 31 students died at the school, far from the families that loved them.”
Killing Immigrants: That the U.S. routinely imprisons people for the “crime” of seeking work here is insane and shameful. It appears that one such prison killed a person through neglect. Matt Bloom reports on an Aurora ICE facility: “During a rec yard soccer game one morning, Calero Mendoza injured his foot. Over the next few weeks, he was repeatedly given mild painkillers by staff, who did not refer him for further care. The injury developed into a blood clot, which traveled to his lungs and killed him on Oct. 13, 2022.”
Ellis: AP: “Jenna Ellis, a Colorado attorney and prominent conservative media figure, reached a deal with prosecutors Tuesday and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.”
Suing Meta: AP: “Dozens of US states, including Colorado, California and New York, are suing Meta Platforms Inc. for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.” I’m not sure what to think about this. Isn’t this a matter for parents? Is government going to look at the benefits as well as the costs of social media use? But if the government can show that Meta knew its practices are harmful—and I don’t know that it can—perhaps there would be a legitimate case there.
Abortion Reversal: A federal judge has blocked “Colorado’s ban on abortion pill reversal treatments,” CPR reports. “My body my choice?”
Grocery Taxes: CBS: “Voters in the City of Loveland will soon decide whether or not to get rid of sales tax on groceries consumed at home.”
Airplane Lead: Jane Reuter: “Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport is poised to beat a federal deadline to phase out leaded fuel. . . . Airport officials said they have taken a first step by purchasing a fuel truck and storage tank to transport unleaded fuel that will serve two-thirds of its fleet by late 2024. . . . Airport officials say they expect to complete a phased move to unleaded fuel three years before a 2030 deadline set by the Federal Aviation Administration.”
Roads: When the federal government runs the interstates, it has a responsibility to ensure that trucking companies do not pose undue danger to others. Making sure they’re insured is part of that. Congratulations to 9News for prompting more attention to federal oversight.
Roads II: Denver Post: “Owners of large SUVs and trucks in Colorado could pay more to fund pedestrian safety measures.” This seems reasonable to me, insofar as large vehicles are inherently more dangerous for pedestrians and bikers, due to loss of visibility.
Spooky: The Colorado Sun, the state’s premier online news source, recently had “paranormal experts” on its podcast, as if that were a real thing. Ridiculous (via an October 27 email).
Snow: A photo.