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American Greatness
Thank You, Florida, for Fighting Indoctrination
Last month, two conservative groups made court filings to oppose Florida’s anti-woke law: The Academic Freedom Alliance (“AFA”) joined the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (“FIRE”) challenging the statute’s constitutionality.
The Florida law bans promotion of divisive concepts, based on race or sex, in the educational setting. Its language is similar to President Trump’s Executive Order 13950 which applied to the federal workforce but was withdrawn when Biden took office.
Challengers claim that the Florida law chills the free speech rights of professors and therefore violates both the First Amendment and what is called “academic freedom,” a term that is variously defined but here refers to the right of professors to teach as they see fit.
The law is actually a laudable and constitutionally sound measure to rein in the political radicalism and race-baiting that are so rampant in American schools and especially in universities. Most have heard of anti-American teaching materials such as the New York Times 1619 Project, which says that America is inherently racist, or the concepts of “white privilege,” which teach that Americans of European descent (“whites”) are “oppressors,” and even “race shaming” where teachers separate students by race, calling some groups “permanent oppressors” and others “permanently oppressed,” recently exposed and denounced by Moms in Duvall County, Florida.
Bearing Arms
Wisconsin paper revisits editorial blasting concealed carry after two decades
As a lover of history, it’s always enlightening for me to go back and read what folks where saying about the gun control debate back in the past. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the lessons to be learned in a 30-year-old copy of Playboy magazine that featured a pro-con debate on the Second Amendment, and I recently ran across another blast from the past: an editorial from the Wisconsin State Journal that ran two decades ago imploring lawmakers to just say “no” to a concealed carry law.
I’ll give credit to the current editors of the State Journal for highlighting the 20-year-old editorial, because it would have been much easier to keep this buried in the online archives, and probably better for today’s anti-gun activists as well. Two decades after running, the editorial doesn’t hold up well. At all.
Some Wisconsin lawmakers want to let the masses pack hidden heat. State Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Union Grove, and Sen. David Zien, R-Eau Claire, claim their bill will clarify confusion between the state ban and a more recent state constitutional amendment granting citizens the right to bear arms.
The misguided measure uses a state Supreme Court decision as ammo. The court recently ruled that the constitutional amendment allows owners of homes and businesses to carry guns on their property so long as it’s for a lawful purpose.
But gun advocates have intended all along to renew their effort to legalize hidden firepower: The current measure is a carbon copy of a concealed-carry bill thwarted last year by the state Senate. The new measure, allowing gun owners who pass a background check to get a five-year permit to tote their weapon under wraps, is updated only to reflect the court ruling.
American Thinker
It’s time to prosecute the prosecutors
The farther we drift from the constitutional rule in this country, the less shocking the shocking will become.
A few years ago, the notion of an incumbent American president prosecuting his political opponent for so-called “crimes” involving the opponent’s speech would have shocked America’s conscience.
This totalitarianism tactic happens in Russia, where Putin jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, or Venezuela, where Nicolás Maduro arrests opposition leaders like Leopoldo López, or Cambodia, where opposition leader Kem Sokha was convicted of “treason,” got 27 years in prison, and was banned forever from running for office.
But not in America. Not in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Imagine Ronald Reagan prosecuting Walter Mondale, or George H.W. Bush prosecuting Bill Clinton, or Bill Clinton prosecuting Bob Dole.
Victory Girls
Florida Black History Curriculum Truths
The state of Florida established a task force in 1994 to write a new curriculum for African American/Black History. Not much happened. Then, in 2021 Governor Ron DeSantis disbanded that effort and established a Working Group to write a comprehensive curriculum. The Democrats/Progressives are yowling with anger. The curriculum doesn’t tell the right story. But, short of letting the Florida Education Association write the entire curriculum, there is nothing DeSantis could have done to make the Left happy. It was always going to be a cudgel to beat him with. That’s who they are. We are fortunate that one of the academics, Dr. William Allen, is pushing back. Fortunate, because if you listen to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, it is still 1955 in the United States.
Just for the record, slavery is evil. There are more slaves in the world today than at any time in the past. We owe it to ourselves to eradicate slavery where we find it. Black History is complex and varied, because Black people are complex and varied. Each person has his/her own story and history. That said the overall story/struggle for freedom and civil rights must be told to all students because it will uplift them.
I thought everything that could be said about the Florida Black History Curriculum and the story of Dr. William Allen had been said. Our friend Beege, at Hot Air told how the remarkable Dr. Allen ripped Kamala Harris a new one. Read it here. Dr. Allen is a Civil Rights leader, political activist and historian, but to the Left, because he is on the Right, he is an Uncle Tom. What could I add?
Legal Insurrection
Biden Overrides Defense Secretary Recommendation for Navy Chief of Operations, Appoints Woman To Achieve “A First”
Biden passes over Pacific Fleet Commander, a white man but with current expertise confronting the China threat, to lead the U.S. Navy, in favor of a woman currently serving in the Pentagon
In a stunning, but perhaps predictable move, Joe Biden has nominated Admiral Lisa Franchetti, currently the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, to the position of Chief of Naval Operations, overriding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s recommendation that Admiral Samuel Paparo, currently Commander of the Pacific Fleet, get the job.
Here, from Fox News, is what I find disturbing:
In a statement on Friday, Biden noted how Franchetti is an unprecedented choice for such a high-level military post due to her sex, adding that she’s the second woman ever to achieve the rank of four-star admiral in the Navy. (emphasis mine)
“As our next chief of naval operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti will bring 38 years of dedicated service to our nation as a commissioned officer, including in her current role of vice chief of naval operations,” Biden continued. “Throughout her career, Admiral Franchetti has demonstrated extensive expertise in both the operational and policy arenas.”
