15 Comments

War & Tyranny in the 20th century is the focus of my 9th grader's history this year (we homeschool), so the communism act caught my eye. The text of the bill starts out rather innocuous & generic. And as the bill went on, the names of those testifying in various hearings went from rather mainstream voices to...Heritage Foundation & Ryan Walters (of Trump Bibles in the classroom fame).

And then we come to the stated purpose. Its purpose isn't to help students understand the details of communism, how & why countries 'choose' communism, examining the complex history of communism, the West's role in the history of communism, how it plays out in modern politics. Nope.

Stated purposes for teens to understand:

1. that communism has led to 100,000,000+ deaths

2. the dangers of communism & other similar ideologies

3. that 1,500,000,000 people still suffer under communism

While the significant impacts of communism ARE important to know, that the bill focuses solely on those points and not a actual understanding of communism & it's role in shaping the 20th century....well, it leads me to some definite conclusions about the purpose.

The minority's response is worth reading, too. The whole text is only 14 pages, so it's a quick read.

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The graphic novel adaptation of his On Tyranny is part of his history studies.

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Is it my imagination or is Donald Trump avoiding being seen in public? I have come across that question a couple of times and it stays in the back of my mind. The usual clips keep coming from his social media platforms but that's a much safer way to communicate if someone old (like me) wants to avoid the inevitable clumsy mistakes and memory lapses that happen more often.

Before I stopped working altogether I spent nearly a decade working with other old people and to me he appears to have the markers of a sundowning geriatric case. Look it up.

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That didn't seem a trouble with Biden. Why worry now?

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But it was trouble with Biden! When he didn't bounce back from COVID, and it became clear that he was in permanent decline, he was booted off the ticket so he wouldn't serve beyond Jan 20. So what's going to happen with Trump? Y'all will let him serve the whole four years, I bet. Just like Reagan did.

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"Donald Trump is never wrong." let me translate that for you - our country is almost finished. Ever so close.

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Okay Jamie. I took the bait with that Muse of history. You're telling me SCOTUS couldn't retire back then? Or was the guy not capable of signing a letter to retire?

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Of course they could retire. It sounds like it was the latter

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Okay so this was the better path than impeachment. That's good to see something productive.

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Jamie, I understand why TFG has Mexico on his radar to threaten them with tariffs. He’s been pretty vocal about blaming that border for all our problems, but why Canada? I feel like I missed something.

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Please tell me Nehls was being sarcastic.

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No he wasn't being sarcastic. He was explaining how Republicans deal with Trump.

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Maybe a different take on tariffs and deportation?:

Trumps tariff talk is just bluster. He knows how bad it would be for the economy.

But he just loves getting CEO's to come before him and grovel and beg for exemptions, As well as foreign leaders. When it comes to actually implementing he will back down on most and say he got the 'concessions' he wanted.

On deportation, again it could affect the economy. But you can only deport so many in a certain period of time. And there are plenty who could (and some who should) be deported to feed the rabid hatred of immigrants so many of his supporters feel, all without really affecting the economy. After all, who is going to make the beds,clean the rooms, cook and clean up - at maralargo and his other properties?

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