SCOTUS Have Lost Their Minds

Posted on April 28, 2024 by Professor Taboo

Precursor — I am still working on the blog-drafts Conclusion: A New U.S. Constitution and Paul, Acts, Forgeries & Marcion – Part III (the Marcion part). However, this news here was just far too critical to ignore and not write about. Our country is on a very, very dangerous path and the consequences must be fully realized.

∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼

There are five (5), maybe six (6), U.S. Supreme Court Justices that have literally lost their minds and abandoned the core foundations of our sacred Charters of Freedom, the precedents, and what it means contextually to live and govern a nation by laws, not personal opinions or beliefs. Who are the “rogue” federal justices? They are from most radical (MAGA puppets) first, to least conservative at the end:

Samuel A. Alito – appointed under George W. Bush’s administration.
Clarence Thomas – appointed under George H.W. Bush’s administration.
Neil Gorsuch – appointed under Trump’s administration.
Amy Coney Barrett – appointed under Trump’s administration.
Brett Kavanaugh – appointed under Trump’s administration.
John Roberts – the least radical, appointed under George H.W. Bush’s administration.

*Chief Justice Roberts’ Supreme Court, October 2022*

The other three justices which are not ultra Conservative or extreme radical are Ketanji Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, the most liberal according to Axios. What is the obvious indication that these five justices (six?) have completely lost their way and forsaken their Constitutional vows? Read this…

On Thursday, April 25^th, 2024, a Trump lawyer argued to the Supreme Court justices that “the president could assassinate a political rival and be immune from prosecution.” But the most shocking, appalling part of this brazen claim is that the five (six?) MAGA Supreme Court justices agreed with him! 😲

Assassinations of political rivals or enemies today happen in countries like Russia (Vladimir Putin & Alexei Navalny), Venezuela (Nicolás Maduro), Saudi Arabia (Mohammed bin Salman), Syria (Bashar al-Assad), or China, if one speaks out publicly against Xi Jinping and his communist government, you disappear in prison for life. But this isn’t supposed to happen in the United States. Our Founding Fathers clearly designed our nation to be ruled and governed by the law, not anarchy, authoritarianism, or societal trends or ideologies.

Furthermore, when the U.S. declared its independence to Great Britain in 1776 then drafted and ratified its Constitution in 1788, it was with the full intention of moving away from the kings, rulers, and despots of unstable colonial Europe.

In America, the rule of law is king.
— Thomas paine, a core founding father

*Left to right: Pol Pot, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Mao Zedong, and Kim Il-Sung*

When I was a 4^th thru 8^th grade History-Social Studies teacher in 2010–2014, I often did a role-playing activity for my 8^th graders called “Rule of Law or Rule of Man.” All my students would receive a Post-It note with words or phrases such as:

Public Safety	Dissent	Dictator
Executive Branch	Constitution	Liberty
Anarchy	Consensus	Freedom
Inalienable Rights	Fairness	Protest
Protection	Lawyer	Mob
Gang	Court	Prison
Responsibility	Legislative Branch	Violence
Hedonism	Democracy	Equality
Abuse	Separation of Powers	Selfishness
Inequality	Checks & Balances	Judicial Branch
Independent Judiciary	Best Interest of Country	Best Interest of One Person

After giving each student about 5-minutes to consider what their Post-It note says, then have them put their Post-It note in the correct column of the Big Chart which is divided in two: Rule of Law on the left; Rule of Man on the right.

Once all students have placed their note in one of the columns—it’s possible that some notes can be in either column, hence ‘on the line’—then ask the 8^th-graders to make a consensus classroom definition of the Rule of Law and the Rule of Man. Next would be a set of discussion questions. For example:

When and where did our system of law originate and how?
How do laws today affect each of us daily?
What functions do laws serve in our society?
- Be sure to discuss at least nine sub-topics of this question.
Are there flaws in our system of law? How are they resolved?
What role does our government’s Separation of Powers play in ensuring adherence to the Rule of Law?
Why is an Independent Judiciary fundamental to the Rule of Law?
It has been said for over 235 years that based on our Constitution, we are “a nation of laws, not people.” What does that mean?
Why is it so critically important to be well educated about our Founding documents and Founding Fathers like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?
Why is it critically important all Americans, especially our elected officials, follow the Rule of Law?

These are just a sampling of the important questions I would’ve asked my 8^th-grade students. I would also have my students role-play in groups of 3-to-6 students per group assigning one of them to be the group Director. Following are a sample of the role-playing scenarios students would play:

Scenario #1 — “Brown vs Board of Education,” Little Rock, Arkansas. This case involved the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Scenario #2 — “Mapp vs Ohio,” Cleveland, Ohio. This case involved seized evidence without a legal search warrant was deemed inadmissible in state courts according to the Fourth Amendment.
Scenario #3 — “Gideon vs Wainwright,” Panama City, Florida. This case involved the Circuit Court judge denying Clarence Gideon his right to a state attorney to represent him when he couldn’t afford one himself, according to the Sixth Amendment.

And here is the real gut-punch scenario for the 8^th-grade students:

Scenario #4 — This scenario is based on the Watergate scandal. The Constitution states that an Executive (like the U.S. President) who puts himself/herself above the law and deliberately abuses his or her powers of office may be impeached and even sent to prison. President Richard Nixon obstructed legal proceedings into the scandal by refusing to comply to the special prosecutor’s demands for Nixon’s wire-tapping tapes. Nixon resigned from office before he could be convicted. SCOTUS determined that Executive Privilege was not and is not limitless.

From this above 8^th-grade classroom activity you might have deduced that the Separation of Powers was specifically designed by the Core Founding Fathers to protect against one office, one person, one branch of government seizing total or near-total, authoritarian power. Even 8^th-graders, and 9^th-graders to 12^th-graders grasp and understand these basic Constitutional principles. They all know what a bully is like in the school yard and if not stopped what will eventually happen.

Yet, there is a sizable U.S. contingent within our state and federal governments as well as in the Supreme Court and within the general public who fail to comprehend, protect, and enforce this core Constitutional precept against bullies! Their deliberant naïvety is appalling as well as deeply disturbing. This November Americans might well be adding another man to the above image of history’s most infamous dictators: Donald J. Trump.

Some food for thought and debate…

Should this Trump lawyer’s and the supporting MAGA Supreme Court Justices’ logic somehow prevail and win out for a President’s total immunity to assassinate, should President Joe Biden consider assassinating Donald Trump? After all, you can’t have it both ways or apply the law when it suits you best and disregard it when it doesn’t. Why shouldn’t Biden entertain the idea of erasing Trump while he is the sitting President? Or why not imprison Trump in some remote ~~Siberian~~ location just as Vladimir Putin, Nicolás Maduro, Mohammed bin Salman, Bashar al-Assad, and Xi Jinping all do with regularity? If it is legal for Trump to do it, then it follows that Biden can do it.

What has Trump stated publicly and explicitly he will do if put back into the White House? Here are just three Project 2025 action plans, out of a litany of others, which he and MAGA Republicans promise to execute beginning in January 2025:

Incite violence against anyone, including political opponents, he deems a threat to his ambitions. Trump hasn’t just verbalized this intent, he has actually done it. Just last month Trump posted on his social media platform a video of President Biden hog-tied in the back of a pickup truck, bound and gagged with what appears to be a bullet-hole in his head. Regular threats such as these against the POTUS is in fact a crime.
Completely overhaul and dismantle civil service positions to favor his political allies that will loyally do his biddings. Within Project 2025 there is already a documented plan to replace thousands of agency employees with his own loyal sycophants, then undo hundreds of environmental protections and reduce even more civil rights for Americans.
Turn the FBI and other law enforcement agencies into his personal police state and imprison—just like Putin did with Alexei Navalny—all political or social opponents he deems a threat to himself. These are Trump’s words verbatim, “If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business.”

Anyone with a quality, fair and well-rounded education of American history and American government must admit that the above rhetoric and promises made by Trump 2024 and his MAGA cult members/minions, including 5-6 Supreme Court Justices, flies in the face of everything this nation was founded on by our six core Founding Fathers and the Charters of Freedom they drafted and the states ratified.

I cannot stress enough nor vehemently enough just how monumental this November will be. Not just for the future of the United States, but also the world. Mark my words right now, if the Orange Orangutan Baby gets back into the Oval Office, that is the beginning of the end of this democratic republic from which we may never recover.

Rating Democracy in All 50 U.S. States

Posted on August 23, 2023 by Professor Taboo

“My definition of a free society is
a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”
— Adlai Stevenson

As of August 7, 2023, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) released its annual scorecard for each of the U.S. state’s democracy rating. As I alluded to in my previous blog-post and its comments, my home state of Texas has been passing legislation over the last two–three years which suppress the votes of non-white, anti-conservative, less-advantaged Texans or making easy convenient access to voting stations, and actual voting, increasingly difficult. Over the last 5-7 years it has been ever harder for myself to vote and/or register to vote, and I am a well-educated white man! Now riddle me that one please!

Nevertheless, I was quite interested in knowing what Texas’ scorecard reveals. Not much of a surprise to me our democracy tally has been rated “Low” (in the orange) scoring 6.5 out of 33.5 points. Personally, that’s a fair score given how noticeably more difficult it has become for me—a college educated white man—to vote or re-register to vote after my frequent moves between Dallas and Kerrville, TX for Mom’s declining dementia, and to get this year (as well as 4-yrs ago) a new renewed driver’s license. By the way, have I told you that I am an 8th-generation white Texan with no criminal record or outstanding warrants, fines, over 42-years of employment and paying my share of taxes over those 42-years? Eighth-generation means my family was here in Texas BEFORE it was annexed by the United States in 1845!

*Click here to go to MAP’s 2023 Texas scorecard and other 49 states*

As far as MAP’s “Who Votes” and “How to Vote,” two of the three main metrics for scoring, yet again, no surprise whatsoever for Texas’ abysmal ratings: Who Votes — a -0.5/5 and How to Vote — a -0.75/5. Our highest ratings? “Election Security” 4 out of 6, and “Voting in Person” 2.5 out of 5.5. Both of those better scores, yet still weak, I have explained their ~~difficulty~~ mediocrity in detail over the last decade. “Election Security” is cryptic Conservative code for Much Harder to Vote and “Voting in Person” means Hard Registering to Vote, respectively.

Curious to know what four states rate the highest in democracy’s election laws and policies according to MAP? Yes, you read that correctly, only 4 states out of 50, or just 17% of our population of 332-million Americans reside in a state with high-levels of democracy. Let me repeat, just seventeen percent of Americans! Here are those highly democratic republic states:

Washington with 31 out of 33.5
Colorado with 30 out of 33.5
California with 29.5 out of 33.5
Oregon with 26 out of 33.5

Let’s see who the last four states of the Union are with the most undemocratic elections and policies:

47. Tennessee with 5.5 out of 33.5
48. Arkansas with 5.5 out of 33.5
49. Mississippi with 4.0 out of 33.5
50. Alabama with 3.25 out of 33.5

What percentage of the American population do these four states make up? The answer: almost 6% of the American population.

The bottom-line is and what these numbers show when one reviews the entire fifty states on the MAP’s website is that a large portion of the American 50-states and their populations are NOT truly, purely democratic in their elections and policies. I don’t know about you, but I find these facts disturbing, alarming, and they need to be confronted and addressed not just by each individual (legal) American citizen, but also by your district’s House of Representatives and your district’s Senators! Are we not a Constitutional Republic democracy as written in our Charters of Freedom by all six (6) of the Core Founding Fathers? Yes, of course. Then WHY do twenty-nine (29) of our fifty states score a measly grand tally of just 16.75 (or lower) out of 33.5 democracy data-points? Those scores are abysmal!

What has happened to democracy in the United States to rate that horribly on the major points of what defines a TRUE democracy?

Try to Live Free – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Alot More

Best U.S. States to Reside

Posted on August 21, 2023 by Professor Taboo

Since at least 1994 I’ve always been intrigued to know how my home state (Texas) ranks in Quality of Living tables compared to the other 50 U.S. states. Why? Very simple: affluent Texans, many of which are only first, second, third, or perhaps fourth generation Texans, arrogantly boast that Texas (at least politically) is hands-down THE best state in the Union. Yes, I hear this from fellow Texans quite often, mostly in the rural areas. I have heard these claims most all of my six decades of life while living here. It seems to be a personal source of deep-seeded pride whether justified or not.

But I have always been greatly puzzled by their expressed, audacious claim. Aside from one’s own biased personal opinion, by what metrics, by what standards could these ~~white~~ Texans possibly be referencing? I regularly check these quality of life criteria, every 1-2 years minimum, not just for the required oversight and civic duty/privilege by a concerned, caring citizen, but also to monitor how our Lone Star State is progressing: Is it thriving, stagnate, or declining?

According to US News & World Report, the data points collected in ranking the U.S. states overall are many. The two primary categories most all Americans most care about are healthcare and education for its residents. Secondary points are public safety, social and occupational opportunities, economy, roads, bridges, environment, internet access and other infrastructure.

Well, sorry (again) Texas, the 2023 facts and data are not good at all for Texans and their “proud friendly” state. The overall quality of life in Texas is below average: ranked 35^th out of 50 states. In fact, Texas doesn’t rank #1 in any of the eight primary categories, much less the lower priority categories. In 2021 Texas ranked 31^st overall, today down four places after two years. It ranked 36^th in 2018 and 38^th in 2017. There is however, one particular category Texas has always excelled in: its economy. There has always existed in Texas-economics very plush advantages for past and present wealth-accumulators to make much more excessive wealth; tax-codes and opportunities abound for Texas’ upper-class. This is exactly why Elon Musk, originally of South Africa, the founder/CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, present owner of Twitter, and a number of other mega-businesses, moved here and now calls Texas his home. He is just one of many of America’s wealthiest persons living in Texas.

Ironically, the one category Texas has never excelled in since these stats and data-points were first collected is its Individual Median Income—it is $38,059 for 2023 single-earner Texans. Sadly, according to SmartAsset’s study, individual Texans need to earn a minimum $44,865 per year and closer to $133,926 to be considered “middle-class,” or to only have a decent standard of living while working and alive, barring any unforeseen emergencies or catastrophes.

from “You Might Be From Texas If…” by author and cartoonist Nick Anderson
from “You Might Be From Texas If…” by author and cartoonist Nick Anderson
from “You Might Be From Texas If…” by author and cartoonist Nick Anderson
from “You Might Be From Texas If…” by author and cartoonist Nick Anderson

It becomes quite obvious why there is such a large disparity in the Lone Star States’ Quality of Life categories, like the economy versus all other categories. What is it? What drives this lopsided metric? It’s income and economic inequality. Severe? Probably. Improved? Not at all. Digressing, expanding? Most definitely.

So one must ask these (typically rural and far-suburban) Texans, What verifiable facts and data are you quoting to conclude that Texas is THE best state in the Union to live? My next two questions to them are 1) What zip code do you live, and 2) Where exactly have you and your family been experiencing Texas the last at least 30–40 years?

Care to guess what bewildering answers I usually get?

∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼

Addendum Aug. 22, 2023 — In conjunction with this post I am connecting or linking my next blog-post to this one as a follow-up. It is entitled “Rating Democracy in All 50 U.S. States.”

Try to Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Alot More

Black Swans

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Professor Taboo

I learned a new definition and tag the other day: “Black Swan.”

What is a Black Swan? As best as I can decipher a Black Swan has three attributes:

The event is unpredictable (to the observer).
The event has widespread ramifications.
After the event has occurred, people will assert that it was indeed explainable and predictable (hindsight bias).

These three Black Swan components can comprise a positive or negative consequence, or both. But it is primarily the second component that makes the event historic for the ages.

The origin of the term “black swan” in order to characterize such events I found intriguing. Prior to 1697, not one Western civilization country had observed any black swans in existence. This gave rise to the blind notion that such creatures just didn’t exist. Hence, the term became used to describe situations of impossibility and in my own estimation, egocentric innocence.¹And then it happened.

After a black swan was indeed observed in western Australia in 1697, the egocentric innocent assumption was disproved. Since then, “black swan” now describes situations where (premature) perceived impossibilities have later been disproven and those false egocentric paradigms have been shattered. Thank goodness for elapsed time and losing our supposed, imposed innocence.

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

And Robert Browning called it “sin.”

There are many Black Swan events throughout human history, more than you might think or that you were unaware of or not privy to and as it were was classified as “Strategic Subterfuge” by higher powers. The latter is much more prevalent than one might imagine. Some examples include:

Rise of the internet
The personal computer
The Georgia (1829) to the Black Hills (1874) Gold Rushes and others
Battle of Little Big Horn
World War I
Discovery of fossil fuels then electricity and AC vs. DC
Discovery of nuclear fission
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 or
The collapse of Spain’s global Empire over the 18th- and 19th-centuries
The 15th-century Columbian Exchange
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on targets in the U.S.
COVID-2019

The inventor of the term “Black Swan,” Nassim N. Taleb, underscores the point that the black swan event depends upon the observer. A Thanksgiving turkey sees its demise as a black swan, but the butcher and guests dining do not.

It’s important to draw the distinction between a black swan event and a crisis. Not all black swan events are crises, any lottery winner will attest to that. And not all crises are black swan events. Terrorist attacks are an almost daily occurrence worldwide, but the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were of unprecedented magnitude and unpredictability, hence their characterization as a black swan. Additionally, I have included COVID-19 because it meets all three criteria for being a Black Swan event. Yes, its ramifications are just as widespread as other black swan events and in hindsight it was obviously predictable and quite explainable; by all reputable, established, global medical experts. COVID-19 only became a global pandemic, especially lethal inside nations of defiant egocentric ignorance, and without question clearly fulfilling criteria #2 above as a direct result of defiant sectors of the human population. The fact that this pandemic is still not under control and behind us can only be blamed on our chosen, willing defiance and ignorance.

However, Mr. Taleb disagrees with me and anyone else calling COVID-19 a Black Swan. You can read his argument in The New Yorker entitled The Pandemic Isn’t A Black Swan But A Portent of A More Fragile Global System. It is an excellent article that I recommend reading. Though Taleb disagrees the pandemic is a black swan, he is correct in pointing out that there are clear reasons why humanity, nations, and governments are all too often repeatedly unprepared for them. This denial or chosen innocence/ignorance by populations gives more credence to the above framed quote on how costly the chosen apathetic mindset becomes.

Moving along now to the distant history in the ancient Levant.

~ ~ ~ § ~ ~ ~

I want to add another Black Swan event to the list that many in the Western Hemisphere and the U.S. will want to take exception. What is it? In a word: Christianity. Several of my regular blog followers will have a general idea as to how and why I add 4th-century CE (and after) Christianity. You’ve read enough of my blog-posts over these last 10-years to know how and why I would label it as a firm, strong holder of being a Black Swan. Listing all the verified, contextual evidence as well as the likely plausible conclusions based upon the said exhaustive interdisciplinary components, it is in my mind without question a Black Swan. Specifically the event? The 17-year disappearance of Yeshua bar Yosef from the Greco-Roman—not the Jewish account, but the Roman—canonized New Testament. This event caused and causes an entire host of many further problematic ripple-effects fragmenting and eventually destroying Christendom’s veracity.

If you did not know about or had not heard of a Black Swan event as I had not, now you know. What are some Black Swans you can recall or comprise as one? Feel free to share them below!

Live Well — Love Much — Laugh Often — Learn Always

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://professortaboo.com/contact-me/.

Texas’ 1836 Project

Posted on July 11, 2021 by Professor Taboo

There are different stories, legends, and narratives in popular culture today in Texas, and parts of the U.S., about events that took place over twelve days and nights at Misión San Antonio de Valero February 23 to March 6, 1836, otherwise known as the Siege of the Alamo. One such pop-narrative is from a southeastern Anglo-American viewpoint, post-Civil War. Another is from a later Anglo-Texian viewpoint about the new Republic begun in 1845. And still another much less popular or well-known narrative from an indigenous Tejano viewpoint begun in circa 1821. There is a fourth narrative that is so obscure and completely overlooked today that for the purposes of this blog-post, time, and word-count I shouldn’t mention it. But that would disrespect and defeat the virtues of Agnotology, something I personally hold very dear in our modern fight against disinformation, destitute scholarship in town squares, and partisan politics. Therefore, I will indeed mention the unsung fourth narrative of earliest Texas history: the Indian Nations of Taysha, or Texas.

It’s worth mentioning that part of Texas’ state and national identity is wrapped in what we call the Six Flags of Texas. Technically speaking this is not the full story. It should actually be at least “Seven Flags of Texas,” perhaps one representing the Indian Nations of Taysha. But unfortunately when Anglo-Americans write their victorious histories, peoples they’ve labelled “uncivilized” are omitted and made footnotes, maybe. But oh well, I digress.

Quietly woven throughout the narratives of the Southeastern Anglo-American and Anglo-Texian viewpoints, but rarely mentioned publicly or taught in Texas school classrooms today was slavery’s role in Texas’ fight for independence from Mexico and eventual willing annexation by the expanding United States. The deluge of Anglos immigrating from the Deep South slave-states which Mexico was against and trying to stop were, in the minds of Mexico’s government and empresarios, illegal incursions and seizures. At the very least, they were controversial, agitating, and enflamed tensions present between several clashes of cultures throughout the once vast (proclaimed) Spanish Territory of Tejas. Anglo-American immigrants did not wish to pay any taxes or tariffs to the Mexican government, particularly to Antonio López de Santa Anna who seized power himself in an insurrection against former President Bustamante. Many prevalent Tejanos of Tejas such as the very well-known José Antonio Navarro opposed Santa Anna’s dictatorship and by default Mexico.

What might surprise many Texans today is that several of Tejas’ Tejano elite such as the Navarro family also owned slaves, and by default and by way of economic motivations, Navarro and key Tejanos of Texas’ Republic also opposed Mexico’s recent independence from Spain and from the practice of slavery. However, these historical facts found on a Texas 1860 Census Slave Schedule for Atascosa County (location of Navarro’s San Geronimo Ranch) show he owned six to nine slaves indicating clearly that Texas’ fight was at least in part to keep slavery legal in the new Republic. Navarro and other famous Texas Tejanos with him fought Mexico for independence along with slave-owning Anglo-Americans…

…to protect the practice of slavery in Texas, upon which cotton farming relied heavily. It was not uncommon for families of this group to own slaves in the colonial period. Although the number of families holding slaves was small, it was a vital connection between Tejano elites and American cotton growers immigrating to Texas.
“Henry and Patsy Navarro” from Casa Navarro History at the Texas Historical Commission website, accessed 7/10/2021

What is also commonly unknown about earliest Texas history is that those same Tejanos who fought, bled, and died for Texas’ independence from Mexico at the Alamo and other battle-fields eventually lost over the next decade their original land grants and rights as citizens of Texas. By 1860-61 they were “legally expunged” you might say when Texas officially joined the Confederate States of America and its fight to keep slavery alive.

Since the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the legendary fight at the Alamo twenty-nine years earlier was intentionally altered to emphasize the southern Anglo-American and Anglo-Texan narrative as a fight solely against Santa Anna, thus overshadowing all other narratives in the face of humiliated Confederate defeat. Confederate Texans wanted to save face then and were successful. Now today with the advent of reignited racial awareness and heated tensions, resident first-, second- and third-generation Texans (a few fourth-generation too) and politicians—many of whom trace their pedigrees to the Midwest and Deep South slave-states—want at any cost to protect and advance a more Anglo-narrative of Texas history. More precisely, Texas school curriculums are being further realigned to promote an anachronistic Republican narrative which is not comprehensive or contextual to verifiable Taysha–Tejano Texas history.

Over the past two-weeks of this month, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, himself a first-generation Texan from Maryland, confirmed on his Twitter account that he personally called for the censorship and cancellation of a July 1st book promotion at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, TX. The name of the book and co-authors? Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Chris Tomlinson, Bryan Burrough, and Jason Stanford.

But this censoring tactic is part of a greater movement by GOP state officials like Gov. Gregg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Senator Ted Cruz, and other Republican officials regarding critical race theory and whether verifiable academic history has a place in Texas public school curriculums.

On June 16th, 2021 the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 797 requiring Texas schools to display the term “In God We Trust” across campus buildings if such signage is donated to them. House Bill 2497 was passed by the Texas Legislature in May 2021 giving a biased GOP committee the authority to promote our “official” state history—to residents receiving their driver’s license—from the aforementioned Anglo-narratives. House Bill 3979 is awaiting Gov. Abbott’s signature and it dictates how Texas teachers can talk to their students about current events and America’s as well as Texas’ history of racism and slavery. These legislative bills are just three of a number of other bills in a state-wide Republican campaign to ~~teach~~ reteach and promote a more narrow, patriotic version of our national and Anglo-Texan histories. Here in Texas it is called The 1836 Project and it plays off of and counters the acclaimed or controversial 1619 Project, but with a modern, intentional Texas GOP twist. From Gov. Gregg Abbott this past May:

“To keep Texas the best state in the United States of America, we must never forget why Texas became so exceptional in the first place.”

Personally I would argue that these recent campaigns to modify or omit established historical scholarship that is indeed verifiable, in Texas and other states, began as early as 2010, if not sooner. Though governmental officials like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are and have been censoring or obstructing democratic freedoms and liberties in Texas on public property, they have gone much further than book promoting events.

For those of you born prior to the year 2000, remember in your classrooms the concept of “Compare and Contrast“? Critical-thinking and analysis skills are paramount for students to learn and acquire for the overkill of today’s “Disinformation Age.” Beginning at least in 2010 and 2012 political campaigns within the Texas GOP began muddling up this vital concept and skill getting taught in our public school curriculums. From The Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact website:

Gail Collins [of the New York Times] says Texas GOP platform calls for schools to stop teaching “critical thinking.”
Sue Owen, PolitiFact.com, August 11, 2012 — accessed 7/11/2021

Nevertheless, the Texas GOP did muddled-up and confuse the issue. Deputy Executive Director of the Republican Campaign, Chris Elam, stated the platform subcommittee unintentionally and unknowingly implied opposition of teaching critical-thinking in schools. He and his party were correct about that as can be read here:

“We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”

As Gail Collins wrote, the Texas GOP platform does state that the party opposes “critical thinking.” But Collins also leaves out some important context. The platform makes it clear that its opposition is centered on one type of education model: outcome-based education.

Whatever one wishes to call it and play complicated games with words and phrases, this past May and June 2021 in our Texas Congress, the confusion and muddling has been scaled up again. It seems it has taken on yet another form when it all begins to censor and omit significant facts that compose an exhaustive contextual historical picture. This new type of political manipulations upon verifiable, established academic scholarship—whether in classrooms or in the town square—has become a dangerous epidemic in 21st-century America. Allowing this epidemic to continue will only setup further future digressions into sociopolitical turmoil that is ill-equipped to correct, adapt, and progress itself into a truly healthy, thriving Constitutional democracy. I’m unsure how you my readers might feel, but this destitution of Agnotology being replaced by (hyper?) Patriotism over historical, contextual facts disturbs me greatly.

Live Well — Love Much — Laugh Often — Learn Always