Dumb And Dumber-3
Starting in Texas, where earlier this month, the San Antonio City Council, by an 11-0 vote, passed a politically-correct resolution deeming the term “Chinese virus” to be hate speech! Yes, but what about freedom of speech, you say? Doesn’t this infringe on our First Amendment rights? Responding to this obvious concern, the San Antonio Mayor said: “Oh no, not at all. What this is, is a statement of values, as we say that we are a compassionate community.” Oh well, I guess if it’s “values” then by-passing the First Amendment is OK. We of little Constitutional knowledge now understand! Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), however, did not. His response: “This is NUTS. SA City Council is behaving like a lefty college faculty lounge.” He went on to remind them that major news outlets have repeatedly referred to it as either the Chinese or Wuhan coronavirus. So, to be accurate, let’s see. It started in Wuhan (fact) which is in China (fact). It was started, and then initially transmitted, by Chinese residents (fact) living in China (fact). But, even though that’s all correct, we still can’t call it the Chinese virus, because it leads to hate crimes and hurt feelings. Well, we don’t want that. So for absolute PC clarity, we can just call it “that nasty virus, from who knows where, that kills people.” There, done.
Well, not exactly. Seems Senator Harris (D-CA…surprise) introduced a bill last week condemning “all forms of anti-Asian sentiment related to Covid-19, including “Chinese Virus or “Wuhan Virus, as inaccurate rhetoric perpetuating anti-Asian stigma.” And for some more punch, she added “racism” to her rationale. So instead of paying full attention to every conceivable effort to combat this insidious deadly virus, and to help American’s get safely back to work, we’re now taking Senate time, as well as the obvious show-boating, to back an absurd measure that avoids calling Covid-19 what it is: the Wuhan/Chinese virus. That pretty well sums up the scorecard for the current PC-Progressive-Socialist-dominated Congress: Accomplishments over these past four 4-years= little of value, and certainly not that indefensible make-believe impeachment scam that dragged the President and the nation through the mud for too many months, distracting us from a killer virus that was heading our way. But to help her avoid “anti-Asian sigma,” perhaps she’d be more comfortable calling it the “California virus,” a Progressive infection that’s been plaguing the nation for a very long time.
And speaking of California. The governor and state legislature there have approved spending $125-million to assist “undocumented” (i.e., illegal) immigrants in their state. It’s estimated that there are currently over two-million illegals in California, meaning they will likely have to beef up that funding to cover them all with relief, legal services (to include preventing deportations), and healthcare, etc. California is reportedly looking at a $54-billion state budget deficit in 2021. The governor has proposed $6.1-billion in budget cuts for next year, the largest slice, reportedly, pulling as much as, if not more than, $10-billion from the state’s K-12 education funding, in addition to imposing a 10% pay cut on teachers, and others. Wrote article author Rick Moran: “What makes spending public monies on illegals so repugnant is that they are able to get relief from private charities and other non-profit groups. The network of aid groups who assist illegals in California is extensive.”
Cut education funds for the state’s children and reduce other state services, but keep a large amount of money to spend on those who have entered the U.S. and California illegally. Folks think differently, or are forced to, where Progressives dominate.
Remaining in California, the University of California board of regents has voted unanimously to drop the requirement for standardized student SAT or ACT test scores for admission, to be replaced at some future point by some form of a ‘new test.’ Reacting to this development, a Wall Street Journal editorial had this to say: “Applicants to the largest university system in the U.S. will now be judged entirely on how well they can flatter admissions bureaucracies with coached personal statements, as well as high school grade point averages whose meanings are obscured by grade inflation.”
The claim is that those nationally-standardized tests discriminate. This usually comes up, of course, when disadvantaged/minority students don’t score well. Sadly, that says more about the inadequate quality of their preparatory education and/or possibly attitude and student effort, than about the tests. But then replied an advocate for dropping the SAT’s/ACT’s: “These tests are incredibly sensitive to socioeconomic status and race, and have nothing to say about the individual.” That all goes back to the rigor of academic (high school) preparation. The poorer the preparatory schooling, likely the poorer the test score results. What the SAT’s and ACT’s do historically pretty well at predicting is the likelihood, or not, of student success (and graduation) at the university level. They do not factor in a student’s individual situation (home life, school quality, etc.).
Dumping standardized tests seems to be an admission that some, or many, of their schools are not performing well, which is a huge and lasting disservice to those students impacted. Sadly, school deficiency issues, from the standpoint of higher-education academic preparation and performance, regularly emerge as a concern in more states than just California. But rarely does anything effective ever get done about it.
We’ll close this episode of D&D with this from Texas. Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), who has been a leader in opening up and getting his citizens back to work, with all of the established safeguards. Last week, he sent out this encouraging tweet: “Texas is Opening Safe, Smart, and Strong.” Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke responded with the following: “Dangerous, dumb, and weak.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) then fired off this great come-back to O’Rourke’s cheap shot: “Is this the new Dem slogan?” And it might as well be. It fits. Perfect!
(San Antonio/Cruz via townhall.com, Leah Barkoukis, 5-8-20; Harris via freebeacon.com, Josh Christenson, 5-20-20; CA illegals spending via americanthinker.com, Chriss Street, 5-23-20; CA illegals via pjmedia.com, Rick Moran, 5-19-20; Dumping SAT/ACT’s via dailycaller.com, Varun Hukeri, 5-22-20; Reaction quote via The Wall Street Journal, editorial, 5-23-20). O’Rourke/Cruz via foxnews.com, Dom Calicchio, 5-24-20).