History While It’s Happening

There’s a story told, I think, in Lake Wobegon Days, where Garrison Keillor talks about writing a short story that gets lost in transit. And he can’t recover it. And it haunts him as possibly the best story he ever wrote, now lost to the world.

So, I attempted to write this blog last week, not quite a week into the debacle happening in Afghanistan. I couldn’t finish on Thursday, because of overscheduling myself. So I work on Friday night, after all the Friday tasks. I was just finishing and getting ready to copy to post when Word stopped responding. It was molasses slow. So was everything on my computer. I couldn’t even get the screen that tells me program usage to come up. I knew the file had saved—it’s typically on auto-save mode. So I turned off the computer to reboot.

When I tried opening it, the file was corrupted. I went through all the possible ways the various messages told me to try to recover it. Nothing worked. I couldn’t even find previous versions on my online drive. Mr. Spherical Model started some programs to look for malware or problems. That eventually turned up nothing.

Sometimes you just have to cut your losses. Finally, I set about recovering what I could. I’m using a lot of links in this post, so I went through my online history to find all the URLs I’d visited. And I wrote a quick outline of the points I’d made, while I could still remember them.

So I’m trying again today. Did I lose the best post ever? Frankly, I was still in the mode of gathering information and trying to process it. My purpose was to record the history in live time, suspecting it will be important to remember in the future. And, who knows, maybe the things I’ve come across over the weekend are a worthwhile addition.

 

Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Rep. Mike Waltz
image from the podcast

Two Views

There are two views about the past 20 years in Afghanistan. I don’t know which is correct. When I listen to the arguments, I tend to agree—while I’m listening. And then I hear the other side and feel pulled a different direction. Neither of the views ought to have led to what is happening.

The first view is that we are better off fighting the enemy overseas than on our own soil. My US Rep. Dan Crenshaw expresses this very well. In a podcast a week ago, August 15, he spoke with former Army Ranger US Rep. Mike Waltz. Here’s something I learned: The war in Afghanistan has been in a peaceful stasis for some time—18 months without a casualty. Calling what we do there an endless war, or nation building, while ignoring multiple other places where we keep a military presence to maintain peace is more political than strategic. This view is definitely worth listening to:

·         “The “No More Endless Wars” Crowd Got Exactly What They Asked For” Dan Crenshaw podcast with Rep. Mike Waltz, August 15, 2021. 

The other view is that we should avoid all international entanglements, a view led by Sen. Rand Paul. But there are nuanced views of that, including that we needed to take out the Taliban, but then we needed a quick end to that mission. Jason Buttrill, chief researcher for Glenn Beck, was deployed to Afghanistan right after 9/11. He gives this view:

·         “Former Marine: Afghanistan FAIL should result in 'MASSIVE' Biden admin resignations” Jason Buttrill with Glenn Beck, August 17, 2021. 

With some time passing, I’m not always sure where to credit details. But somewhere in what I heard there is polling that shows over 70% of Americans have wanted us out of Afghanistan. Pres. Trump made that promise and set up a timeline, along with agreements the Taliban would have to keep in order to make it happen. Another 70% say Biden botched the exit, which seems obvious to the whole world—except maybe the president, his close staff, and the US State Department.

 

Losing the Peace

Americans know how to win wars. We did it spectacularly in World War II, so well that, as Great Britain saw the end of its global imperial period, it felt content stepping back on the world stage, because the United States was there to step up.

But what we now know is that the US cannot be trusted to “help” any country in its fight against tyranny—because at some point Democrats will get elected and lose the peace. And break our promises.

We won Vietnam. Democrats got us into the fight. Then Republicans struggled through the tough part, and we won. Then Democrats in Congress refused to fund the support we had promised in order to keep the peace. The local people struggled on against communist insurgents for two years before the fall of Saigon.

Joe Biden in the 1970s
image found here

Incidentally, Joe Biden has been around Washington that long. Back in 1975 he was the leading voice insisting that the US should not evacuate a single Vietnamese who had helped the US during the war, feeling no compunction about leaving them to be tortured or killed at the hands of the communists. (See also.) 

In 2010, he told a US diplomat, who had asked him about our duty to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, "F--- that, we don't have to worry about that. We did it in Vietnam. Nixon and Kissinger got away with it."  

Who knew he could be so consistent about anything? Well, not totally. In 2015, he was in favor of inviting in Syrian refugees—especially if we didn’t vet them. 

Anyway, Democrats subjected Vietnam to decades of communist tyranny. Those who escaped, the many Vietnamese boat people, are among our neighbors. And they've been good neighbors. But they lost their home country.

In the early 90s, when we won the first Gulf War in Iraq, quickly and decisively, the Democrats gave that victory away by refusing to hold Saddam Hussein accountable to the terms of the cease fire. Bill Clinton kept letting them cross one red line after another, until finally, as a way to distract from the Lewinsky affair, he bombed what turned out to be an aspirin factory, rather than one of several actual arms production facilities we were supposed to be able to freely inspect.

We won again in Iraq starting in 2003, when they were a key state sponsor of terrorism. We took out Saddam Hussein this time, and worked to help the people recover from his tyranny, for which they were grateful. (I heard this from them myself.)  But Obama managed to lose that semi-stable peace, giving rise to the ISIS caliphate. Nothing we could do about that but take in unvetted refugees, he insisted. Until President Trump got elected and then wiped out ISIS swiftly. Done.

So, in Afghanistan, we had won a peace, and kept the Taliban at bay for two decades. No more 9/11-style terrorist attacks on our soil. Their numbers were minimal, and the few remaining were hiding out in caves or hovels just over the border in Pakistan. If you need to review the history, I recommend Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.

I don’t know whether Trump’s intention to pull out of Afghanistan emboldened them. That is possible. But Trump’s plan was to make our leaving contingent on their keeping the terms of peace. If they didn’t, they should expect to feel the full weight of the US military. Some think that means he would have kept a minimal force there indefinitely.

Biden’s interpretation of an exit plan was to bug out of Bagram Air Force base in the middle of the night, not even giving notice to the Afghani commander, who showed up the next morning to that eerie emptiness. 

During our relative peace there, contractors were hired to do work in Afghanistan. The people Biden left there were tens of thousands of Americans—many along with families—doing work the US Government had urged them to do. Plus there were the many tens of thousands of Afghanis who had helped the US, as interpreters or otherwise, in the effort to build their infrastructure, military, and government—making them de facto enemies of the returning Taliban. These are the SIVs, the special immigrant visas.

A month ago the international terrorist threat was quite low, arguably the lowest it had been since 9/11. Now, with the Taliban claiming triumph over the US, recruitment and numbers are surging, and al-Qaeda, maybe even ISIS, are making a reappearance—incidentally while Biden has kept the southern border open to all comers.

By the way, on Friday, August 13, just as the chaos was getting underway, Homeland Security's Alejandro Mayorkas put out a bulletin on the heightened domestic terrorism threat—coinciding incidentally, a week later, with the admission that there was no coordinated attempt at insurrection on January 6th, but claiming that ordinary people are terrorists nevertheless (not the first time).

In July, Biden claimed there was no chance of a repeat of Saigon, with people clinging to helicopters lifting off embassy roofs. I think he failed to say he was fine with people clinging to airplane landing gear taking off from the tarmac of the only airport people can escape from, which is surrounded by Taliban. Biden’s creation makes Saigon look like just an ordinary bad day.

So I think it’s time we conclude that we must look at every possible victory as something Democrats will follow up to un-win.

Five days into the Afghanistan chaos, Biden
does a press conference and takes no questions.
Tweet from Michael P Pregent August 18

It is hard to imagine that things could go as wrong as they have out of simple incompetence. I think it’s only possible if you combine massive incompetence with hatred of America—which I think will be the historical summary of the Biden presidency.

Biden was busy vacationing at Camp David while this chaos was underway in Afghanistan. Finally, five days into the chaos, he showed up, gave a statement, and took no questions. Later on Wednesday he did an interview on ABC (more below), saying he couldn’t imagine why anyone saw anything wrong. Thursday he did a presser, taking four pre-approved questions. VP Harris has been absent from beginning to end. One report said she was heard to be screaming, “They’re not going to pin this on me!” True? I don’t know. But conceivable. Without comment, she’s continuing plans for a trip to Singapore. This administration is feckless at best, more likely evil.

In last Wednesday’s interview with George Stephanopoulos (full transcript here), Biden said there were no mistakes; everything was going as expected, and he didn’t see how things could have gone better.

Joe Biden during the interview with George Stephanopoulos
screenshots from here

Biden said, “No, I—I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that— there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing. I don’t know how that happens.”

Let me help here, with the strategic plan that—absolutely everyone else in the world could come up with:

·         Get the people out first.

·         Then get your equipment out—anything you don’t want getting into the hands of the enemy.

·         Then get the military out.

Here’s some the technology the US Military has left behind to be reverse-engineered by whichever enemies partner with the Taliban.

Julian Ropcke tweet of weapons left behind
image found here

It wasn’t just Americans abandoned in this far-flung land. Our allies had people there as well. Biden lied and said he had contacted them all and they were in agreement with his plan. News is that British PM Boris Johnson was essentially put on hold for 36 hours before his phonecall would be taken by Biden. (Another story said 24 hours for Biden to make the phonecall to PM Johnson.) Our NATO allies are livid. They are considering sanctioning him. And they are scrambling to find ways to rescue people.

On the Mark Levin show, retired British Colonel Richard Kemp, former chairman of the Cobra Intelligence Group, said this: 

The whole world just became vastly more dangerous.  The US Government, President Biden humiliated the United States. He humiliated the United States Army. In my opinion—and I don’t say this lightly, and I’ve never said it about anybody else, any other leader in this position: People have been talking about impeaching President Biden. I don’t believe President Biden should be impeached. He’s the Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces, who has just, essentially, surrendered to the Taliban. He shouldn’t be impeached; he should be court-martialed for betraying the United States of America and the United States Armed Forces.

I agree that impeachment is too good for him. However, I don’t see a legal path in the Constitution to court-martial our president. But removing him one way or another is looking likely. And sooner rather than later. Shaming him ought to bring about a resignation—except that he has no shame.

 

Turning Tide

The media—and Biden’s subordinates—are turning on him, pointing out the lies. An early indicator was CNN reporter Clarissa Ward, from on the ground at the airport in Kabul, showing the chaos—in stark contrast to everything Biden and his spokespeople say.

Stu Burguiere offers a collection of Clarissa Ward posts, around midpoint in this episode:

·         “The Afghanistan Evacuation Debacle: An American Embarrassment” Stu Burguiere, Ep 331, August 20, 2021. 

Tucker Carlson points out how odd this negative reporting is, along with the contradictions by military and intel sources. He says it has to be coordinated, and this shows they are now turning against him.

·         “Tucker Carlson Tonight 8/22/21” 

Journalist/Commentator Mr. Reagan (Christopher Kohls) offers his analysis of this sudden distancing from Biden, and thinks their timing might be off.

·         “Why Has the Media Turned on Biden?” August 22, 2021. 

And add this one:

·         “Liberal Reporters Turn on Biden, SLAM Him for Handling of Afghanistan” Glenn Beck on Facebook, August 20, 2021. 

 

Rescue

Jason Buttrill, on The Blaze program The News & Why It Matters, was discussing the difficulty of just telling people, “Make your way to the airport in Kabul.” He shared this map, from Michael P. Pregent, showing the difficulty people face.

Michael Pregent graphic of Afghanistan situation
shared on The News & Why It Matters August 17.
screenshot from here

So I looked for Michael Pregent’s twitter feed and found it to be a useful source for updated reporting, including good graphics. Pregent said, on August 18, that this is the worst foreign policy decision in his lifetime, and it may go down as the worst foreign policy decision ever.

Tweet from Michael P Pregent August 23, 2021

Afghanistan is a mountainous desert, riddled with mines and IEDs. And it’s now occupied by the Taliban, making death a likely outcome for cross-country travelers intent on getting to the only airport to exit. I don’t remember who to credit with saying, “Does Biden think you can just call an Uber?” Add to the danger, the Taliban is already threatening to kill all Christians in particular. They’ll kill any American, foreigner, or Afghani who helped the NATO allies, but they have a special hatred for Christians.

One story Glenn Beck passed along was from an American Christian missionary, in her mid-20s, who recognizes her life is threatened and she may not make it home. She contacted her family and let them know she is at peace with her impending death.

Last Wednesday Glenn Beck detailed the difficulty Christians are facing and asked his audience to help fund the rescue being planned by The Nazarene Fund, which has been successful in rescuing many Christians from Syria and other world hot spots. They estimated a cost of about $4,000 per individual, and they had a goal to rescue 3-5,000. $4,000 X 5,000 = $20 million. So that was the goal. In less than two days they reached $22 million. (We felt the call and added our comparative widow’s mite.) This morning, everything was ready, but the US State Department refuses to offer permissions or any other type of support. Department of Defense has been helping as they can, but the State Department seems to think if they help it’s an admission that the reality exists. 

·         “THIS Is The Reality Of Afghanis Today: ’30Minutes That’ll Change Your Life’ Part 1” and “Forget Government. YOU Can Be A LEADER: ’30 Minutes That’ll Change Your Life’ Part 2”  Glenn Beck Radio blog, August 18, 2021.

·         “Taliban reportedly going 'door-to-door' looking for Christians to kill them” Phil Shiver for The Blaze, August 19, 2021. 

·         “Glenn Beck's audience raises staggering $22 million in 2 days to rescue Christians trapped in Afghanistan” Sarah Taylor for The Blaze, August 20, 2021. 

·         Glenn Beck Radio Program, followup interview with Rudy Attallah, CEO of The Nazarene Fund, August 23, 2021. 

 

Keeping the Historical Record

The reports and commentaries I've collected this past week is mainly to keep the historical record. If we individuals keep the record, maybe we’re less subject to being deceived when we’re inevitably lied to.

I used The Blaze and The Epoch Times quite a lot, but there are certainly other good sources—like I said, even CNN reporting on the ground. So this is just a snapshot, mostly from last week, showing the vast distance between Biden administration claims and reality:

WEAPONS ABANDONED

·         “Shocking videos show just how many US military weapons are now in the hands of Taliban terrorists” Chris Enloe for The Blaze, August 18, 2021. 

·         “US Black Hawk Helicopters, Airplanes, Rockets Captured by Taliban; Refugees Coming” Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov, August 18, 2021. 

BIDEN VERSION

·         “President Biden indicates there was no way to exit Afghanistan 'without chaos ensuing'” Alex Nitzberg for The Blaze, August 18, 2021. 

·         “Biden claims military advisers never told him to keep troops in Afghanistan, but multiple reports say otherwise” Phil Shiver for The Blaze, August 19, 2021. 

·         “Democratic lawmaker says US military isn't responsible for getting Americans to Kabul airport safely” Chris Pandolfo for The Blaze, August 19, 2021. 

·         “Psaki has Total TRAINWRECK When Reporter Asks If Americans Will Make It Out of Afghanistan” press conference clip posted by Glenn Beck on Facebook, August 18, 2021. 

 

This guy giving a State Department update was
so pleasant and calming, I really hoped he would
tell the truth. But he didn't.
Tweet from Michael P Pregent, August 21

REALITY

·         “An internal State Department memo in July reportedly warned of Kabul collapse” Alex Nitzbeg for The Blaze, August 19, 2021.  

·         “Biden reportedly ghosted UK, ignored PM Johnson for 36-plus hours amid Afghanistan fallout” Phil Shiver for The Blaze, August 19, 2021. 

·         “Taliban militants fire into crowd to disperse protests, reportedly kill at least three people and injure dozens” Chris Pandolfo for The Blaze, August 18, 2021. 

·         “VIDEO: Desperate Afghani mothers throw their babies over barbed wire to allied troops in order to protect their children from Taliban” Sarah Taylor for The Blaze, August 19, 2021. 

·         “Taliban fighters are 'hunting down' journalists, carrying out revenge executions against Afghans who worked with the West” Phil Shiver for The Blaze, August 20, 2021. https://www.theblaze.com/news/taliban-fighters-hunting-down-journalists-revenge-executions

·         “Two Afghan stowaways who plunged to their deaths after clinging to US plane ID'd as teen brothers who scavenged from trash to care for mother: Report” Sarah Taylor for The Blaze, August 18, 2021. 

·         “What? - Americans Have To Pay For Their Trip Home From Kabul?” Donald Trump, Jr. post on Rumble, August 20, 2021. 

·         “DoD ADMITS Out Of 2,000 Evacuees, Only 300 AreAmericans” Dinesh D’Souza post on Rumble, August 19, 2021. 

·         “Shapiro Breaks Down What's Actually Happening in Afghanistan” Ben Shapiro highlights on Facebook, August 16, 2021. 

 

PERSPECTIVES

·         “Fed-up Sen. Sasse sends clear message to Biden about 'hostage situation' with Americans and allies trapped in Afghanistan: 'Go get them'” Chris Field for The Blaze, August 19, 2021. 

·         “WATCH: Details of Trump’s Afghanistan exit plan suggest it would ‘NOT have been this way’” BlazeTV staff, August 20, 2021. 

·         “Why Biden’s Afghanistan failure wouldn’t have happened under Trump” Glenn Beck Radio, August 17, 2021. 

·         “No, Biden Can’t Blame Trump for The Afghanistan Withdrawal Disaster” Margot Cleveland for The Federalist, August 16, 2021. 

·         “WW2 Heroism Exemplifies OUR DUTY To Help Afghanistan Today” Glenn Beck Radio, August 20, 2021. 

·         “Glenn: Biden’s IMPEACHABLE response to Afghanistan is NOT Us” Glenn Beck Radio, August 20, 2021. 

·         “Glenn is FIRED UP about Joe Biden’s SHAMEFUL embarrassment in Afghanistan” Glenn Beck Radio, August 20, 2021. 

·         “Actually, the Taliban are an enemy.” Ted Cruz posts clip of spokesman John Kirby refusing to call Taliban the enemy, on Facebook, August 20, 2021.  

Stand Up, Speak Up

People differ on advice when facing a criminal. Some say, “Let the mugger take your handbag. It’s not worth your life.” Others say “Scream and fight. Bullies are weak and easily scared off.”

Some say, “Don’t fight a rapist and he won’t kill you.” Others say, “Fight with everything you have; if he’s willing to take that from you, he’s willing to kill you, and he’s motivated to, because you can ID him. So you have nothing to lose by fighting and everything to gain.”

Some say, “A burglar is only taking stuff; that’s not worth the death penalty.” Others say, “If he’s willing to come on your property and take your stuff, how do you know that’s all he’s willing to do? He knows you have the right to protect yourself before he risks his life to get your stuff.”

Two approaches. One says, “Submit and be a victim.” The other says, “Fight. You don’t have to be a victim.”

Today’s post is about standing up, refusing to be a victim—against some particular assaults on our freedom and civilization.

A number of stories lately give me hope, because people are standing up. When enough people do that, we start to win, and then those committing the assaults on our freedom and civilization will get scared off—back into the dark corners they crawled out of.

The main type of assault we have examples for today is Critical Race Theory. But the principles apply to the gender agenda, often tied up with CRT because of intersectionality. And it applies to other forms of tyranny as well, which might get a mention at the end.

 

Critical Race Theory Assault Response

Standing Up at School Board meetings—especially when the message gets shared—is having an impact.

Virginia is getting a lot of attention. In this first one, a Fairfax County teacher speaks at a Loudoun County school board meeting.

A teacher speaks against Critical Race Theory
at a Virginia school board meeting.
screenshot from here

·       “Virginia Teacher Eviscerates ‘Woke’ Leftist Critical Race Theory Agenda at School Board Meeting” by David Rufful, Analyzing America, June 10, 2021. 

·       “Teacher Unloads on 'Woke' CRT Agenda During Loudoun County School Board Meeting” by Sister Toldjah for RedState, June 9, 2021. 

Her speech is brief. Here’s the transcript:

I’m a Fairfax County public school teacher, and I’m going to give a message of encouragement to parents and teachers and students who are too afraid to come forward and speak.

Parents, the longer that you wait and you don’t hold your child’s schools accountable gives these guys more time to dictate what’s best for your child’s physical, mental and emotional health. Don’t be afraid to speak out for your kids, because they are voiceless and they rely on you.

You should be afraid of them rooting for socialism by the time they get to middle school.

Teachers, it may seem that our careers have come to a dead end, but I’m here to remind you, we don’t work for the school board. We work to mold the next generation of well-rounded American patriots, so don’t give up because it is up to us.

Students, you are on the front lines of these indoctrination camps. Challenge the staff when you’re presented with a ludicrous statement and do not allow anybody to tell you that you cannot accomplish anything because of your skin color or to hate yourself because of your skin color. Students, it is up to you to be the next generation of victims or victors.

And finally, to the board, this isn’t over and your policies are just as [mic was cut off].

This second one is also in Virginia, Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao’s cultural revolution, giving us warning:

·       “Survivor Of Mao’s China: Critical Race Theory ‘Is Racist,’ China Used ‘Wokeness’ To Install Communism” Daily Wire News, June 11, 2021. 

·       “Woman who survived Mao's purge compares critical race theory in US schools to China's Cultural Revolution in scathing speech” by Paul Sacca for The Blaze, June 10, 2021. 

·       “Virginia mom who survived Maoist China eviscerates school board's critical race theory push” by Michael Ruiz for Fox News, June 10, 2021. 

This additional Virginia story happened a while ago, but there’s new news:

·       “Judge Reinstates VA Teacher Suspended For Refusing To Affirm Trans Identity For Kids, Calls School Response ‘Vindictive’” by Jon Brown for The Daily Wire, June 8, 2021. 

Tanner Cross, an elementary school PE teacher in Loudoun County, was suspended for speaking at a school board meeting at which the board had requested opinions on the subject of pronoun policy for transgender students. But they didn’t like his opinion, so they suspended him. They had additionally restricted him from any school property, taking away any opportunity for further public comment. A judge has called them out as being vindictive.

Here’s part of Cross’s statement:

I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. I’m a teacher, but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa, because it’s against my religion. It’s lying to a child, it’s abuse to a child, and it’s sinning against our God.

 

Here's one from New York:

·       “New York Mother unleashes on school board: 'You're emotionally abusing our children'” by Thomas McDonald, Independent Chronicle, June 10, 2021.  

Tatiana Ibrahim, the NY mom, told them,

You’re emotionally abusing our children and mentally abusing them. You’re demoralizing them by teaching them communist values. This is still America, ma’am. And as long as I’m standing here on this good ground Earth of God, I will fight. This is not the last of me you will see. I’m retired; I’ve got nothing else better to do.

Tatiana Ibrahim speaks at a Carmel, NY, school board meeting.
screenshot from here

This was an intense 11 minutes. At one point a school board member tried to get her to stop, because this wasn’t a “peaceful discussion.” Ibrahim responded, “No, that's your opinion. See, here we go again. This is peaceful; to me, this is peaceful. I'm not burning, looting, and murdering.” She told them she had proof that their teachers were supporting those types of behaviors, including encouraging murder of police. The board looked nonplussed. But the people there—and the people who have watched the video—are glad to see someone standing up against the misguided authority figures.

 

This one is from Bloomington, Illinois:

·       “Mother unloads on school board over young children being taught about masturbation, anal sex, transgenderism” by Phil Shiver for The Blaze, June 14, 2021.

Becky Swan confronts Illinois school board with text containing
explicit content being presented to young children.
screenshot from here

 

At the school board meeting, Becky Swan mentions that introducing sexualizing topics to young children is grooming behavior. She’s right about that. http://sphericalmodel.blogspot.com/2019/05/its-called-grooming.html  Making children suffer through these uncomfortable topics is a form of sexual harassment. Also true. After listing the explicit content topics being forced upon children at different levels (all inappropriate), Swan held up a book and said that if the content is too sensitive to be brought up at that meeting, it was too sensitive to be taught to young children.

 

Rhode Island mom Nicole Solas stood up to a school board in yet another way, to find out what CRT and gender curriculum was going to be taught to her kindergartener.

·       “Kindergartner's mom files 200 records requests on CRT, gender curriculum to force school district to respond. Board claims she's using intimidation tactics” by Sarah Taylor for The Blaze, June 4, 2021.  

·       “Mom fights anti-White training in daughter’s kindergarten class: ‘They reduce everything down’ to skin color” by Angelica Stabile for Fox News, June 3, 2021. 

Nicole Solas speaks with Tucker Carlson about getting
information on what her kindergartener would be taught.
screenshot from here

What started out as “several” records requests—the method for getting the information that the school district directed her to use—grew to 200 records requests, because she couldn’t get a straight answer from the school district about what they were going to teach her daughter.

The school board felt the heat. They threatened to sue her, accusing her of intimidating them in order to get rid of that heinous curriculum they wanted to use. At a public hearing, they shouted at her and called her racist—just as you’d expect from a bully. But she has stood firm.

Solas uses APRA, the Access to Public Records Act, which is essentially a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request. There’s a good explanation and sample request letter here. 

 

Some good things happened in Colorado. Parents spoke up, and the school board changed their minds:

·       “Colorado Mother Rebukes Critical Race Theory As ‘Nightmare’ That Needs To ‘End Now’” by Chrissy Clark for The Daily Wire, June 2, 2021. 

·       “These Parents Successfully Pressured Their School Board To Ditch Divisive Equity Training” by Georgia Howe for The Daily Wire, June 3, 2021.  This is in Douglas County, Colorado.

 

Here's an example from Florida:

·       “Black Mom Torches Critical Race Theory: It’s ‘Racist,’ It’s ‘Teaching Hate,’ Will Destroy America” Daily Wire News, June 11, 2021. 

Keisha King speaks to Florida State Board of Education.
screenshot from here

Keisha King, a Duval County parent supporting school choice and opposing divisive CRT curriculum, says,

I don’t know about you, but telling my child or any child that they are in a permanent oppressed status in America because they are black is racist, and saying that white people are automatically above me, my children or any child is racist as well.

 

State Actions

By the way, the State of Florida has now banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory.

·         “Florida bans use of critical race theory, ‘1619Project’ in teaching history” by Jeffrey S. Solochek for the Miami Herald, June 10 (updated June 11), 2021.  

The “1619 Project,” was a badly non-historical rewriting of American history put forth by the New York Times. President Trump banned it in September 2020 and replaced it with the “1776 Unites Curriculum,” and put in place the “1776 Commission.” But Biden switched back toward Critical Race Theory and its Marxist dogma on his first day in office. 

Florida is not the only state banning these ideas. Here are stories about Iowa, Idaho, and Oklahoma:

·       “Iowa Bans Critical Race Theory: Schools Should ‘Promote Learning, Not Discriminatory Indoctrination’” by Tim Pearce for The Daily Wire, June 9, 2021. 

·       “Red States Against Critical Race Theory/Idaho and Oklahoma pass legislation banning state-sanctioned racism in public schools.” by Christopher F. Rufo, May 3, 2021.

This next one covers Florida and others, and lists the following as considering such bans in their legislatures: Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Arizona, Kentucky, Utah and New Hampshire.

·         “Critical Race Theory Is Banned in These States” by Chris Dutton for Newsweek, June 11, 2021. 

While Texas was on that list, the Texas legislature finished its legislative session May 31^st. Before close of session, it passed HB 3979 requiring that civics teaching must include the moral, political, and educational foundations of America and must not include CRT ideas; the bill has been sent to the Governor for signature. He has until Tuesday, June 15^th, to sign or veto the bill, or else it automatically becomes law.

Even though these states have banned the teaching of CRT, we’ve seen this before, with Common Core. They retitle and put it in anyway. Some of the laws are specific enough to specify what curriculum must include or exclude. But that doesn’t mean local districts won’t use other materials that they might not call curriculum. So parents better be vigilant about holding their local school districts accountable.

By the way, for local friends, we have a Cy-Fair Independent School District board meeting Monday, June 21, at 6:00 PM. Info here. You might want to mention that they sent out CRT materials to teachers just this past month, and we need a solemn promise that such propaganda will have no way into our schools ever again. I wrote about this here. 

Some Outcome Effects

We need to know we’re not alone in our opinions. We have a right to speak them. And things get better when we do.

Here’s an example of what outcome this damaging indoctrination has led to—but the employer isn’t giving the wokes a win:

·       “Employer says he has stopped hiring Ivy League grads: They're too 'woke,' too 'self-important,' or have been trained to stay silent when it matters” by Phil Shiver for The Blaze, June 9, 2021.

In this next story, Matt Walsh offers this opinion: 

Do you want to know why conservatives are losing the culture? Nickelodeon put out two videos in a week of a drag queen pushing gay pride on children and still most conservative parents will allow their children to watch shows on the network. That’s it. That’s why we lose.

Nickelodeon should be bankrupted. They’ve made their agenda clear. They’ve made it plain that they hate us. And if we all stopped giving them our money, they’d collapse. That’s what should happen but it won’t.

I did hear elsewhere today that Nickelodeon’s viewership is 1/3 of what it was 4 years ago. “Since July of 2017, Nickelodeon’s viewership has dropped from 1.3 million average viewers per week to a June of 2021 average of only 372,000.”  It looks like bankruptcy may be looming after all. If that happens, it will be because parents spoke by tuning out.

 

Learn Then Speak

While collecting things for this post, I learned about investigative reporter/filmmaker Christopher Rufo (he wrote the piece about Idaho and Oklahoma above). It was his investigative journalism that led President Trump to ban CRT in the federal government. He has put out some resources.

·       This “Critical Race Theory” explanatory video, which includes CRT history, what’s happening in institutions, and how to fight back. 

·       This Critical Race Theory Briefing Book.  I especially like a section called “Winning the Language War.” This free online “book” also includes links to examples, and info about passing legislation.

·       This 11-part series “Critical Race Theory in Education” in the Articles section of Rufo’s website.  Every example is jaw-dropping. These things shouldn’t be happening.

·         This transcription of Rufo's Atlantic interview on CRT. 

Rufo also wrote these two informative pieces:

·       “Critical Race Theory: What It Is and How to Fight It” for Hillsdale’s Imprimis, from a lecture he gave March 30, 2021. 

·       “Critical Race Theory Would Not Solve Racial Inequality: It Would Deepen It” by Christopher Rufo for the Heritage Foundation, March 23, 2021. 

 

Here’s another guide to stopping CRT in schools:

·       “Conservative think tank creates 'A to Z guide' for stopping critical race theory in schools/Former Trump official Russ Vought leads effort to train anti-CRT parents” by Matt Leach for Fox News, June 8, 2021. This includes a free 18-page downloadable booklet by Vought on what CRT is and how to stop it.  

And, because terminology changes whenever a term becomes negative, here is Vought's list of terminology that often accompanies CRT ideas:

·       “List: Critical Race Theory Terms” from the Center for Renewing America, a Russ Vought website. 

 

Additional Stand Taking

What is giving me hope right now is the accumulation of people standing up and speaking up. CRT and the LGBTQ agenda are worth standing up against—even though you get maligned and cancelled. It’s beginning to make a difference.

Here are some other examples of people standing up against the tyranny we’re facing—from CRT and other arenas of tyranny.

·       “Houston Hospital Nurses Stage Walkout Over Vaccine Mandate” by Holly Hansen for The Texan, June 8, 2021. 

·       “117 employees sue Houston Methodist overCOVID-19 vaccine requirement” KHOU-11 News, May 28, 2021. 

·       “Breaking News: Harris County Voter Applied for a Ballot by Mail—29 Years After Her Death” by Colleen Vera for Texas Trash Talk, June 12, 2021. Colleen, a friend of mine, keeps finding these examples. One FOIA request at a time. She has given the state AG’s office quite a lot of work to do. 

·       “‘We Are Going To Expose You’: Vets Crenshaw, Cotton Create Whistleblower Doc To Combat ‘Woke’ Efforts In U.S. Military” by Hank Berrien for The Daily Wire, May 30, 2021. 

·       “Cotton Reveals Military Whistleblower Complaints On Woke Training, Biden’s SecDef Insists, ‘Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Is Important To This Military’” by Hank Berrien for The Daily Wire, June 11, 2021. 

·       Dan Crenshaw has this Whistleblower Form for military to report complaints on Woke Training.  He posted about it on Facebook here. 

·       “How Critical Race Theory is Sabotaging Our Schools” Rep. Dan Crenshaw on his Hold These Truths podcast interviews Dr. Richard Johnson of Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Booker T. Washington Initiative. 

 

Think of information as your ammo. Your voice is your weapon. Use it carefully and wisely. But use it.