vxbush 1/28/2021 5:31:25 AM

1

JCM, I need to come over to your house for breakfast today. /

Seriously, though, that looks yummy. Now, let's start the day on a cynical note and get it out of the way now.

So last year, Trump signed an executive order (goes to an archive of the White House page) banning professional development that involved ideas generated from critical race theory. The EO clearly says that rule applies "in the Federal workforce or in the Uniformed Services, and not to allow grant funds to be used for these purposes. In addition, Federal contractors will not be permitted to inculcate such views in their employees."

It clearly says federal employees and federal contractors. 

As everyone knows, President Biden rolled back that executive order, overriding it with a new one. Happy happy joy joy. So everyone can have this training again. Locally, this means a university can now include CRT in their programming they give to new hires for the university. 

But here's what I don't get. They had stopped all training on the advice of the university council when Trump's EO was signed. I didn't think Trump's EO was applicable to state or private colleges or universities--but realized that they might use the carrot of federal education grants to prevent this. Sure enough, looking up at the EO shows the following language: "Sec. 5. Requirements for Federal Grants. The heads of all agencies shall review their respective grant programs and identify programs for which the agency may, as a condition of receiving such a grant, require the recipient to certify that it will not use Federal funds to promote the concepts" of CRT. Note the emphasis on may. That lead to 

The president had every right to write that EO, and Biden had every right to reverse the EO. But why didn't the university simply recognize that the pot of money used to train these professors was different from the money that paid student instruction? That kind of shell game is done all the time. At least in Illinois, the state provides money to higher educational institutions, and the university could have said, "Oh, those sessions were paid for with state money." It's like these intellectuals are stupid enough to think that an EO has the same weight outside of the federal  government as actual law that has been passed by Congress and signed into law. 

Clearly I'm missing something here. Are these people really this stupid? I freely admit IANAL and I am not well versed in federal law and how these things apply outside the federal workforce, but I also am cynical enough to think that the LLLeft would have a hissy fit and proclaim doom because of Trump's EO and claim it applied in areas where it actually doesn't. 

vxbush 1/28/2021 5:35:56 AM

2

One follow up note: This article at Inside Higher Ed included the following paragraph, which seems to reinforce my thought that the higher ed community was using the EO to fall on their fainting couches: 

Preliminary guidance from the State University of New York notes that the order "makes a passing reference to a carve out for education, stating (in full) that '[n]othing in this order shall be construed to prohibit discussing, as part of a larger course of academic instruction, the divisive concepts listed in section 2(a) of this order in an objective manner and without endorsement.'" Yet it is "unclear how the EO would define its 'objectivity' and 'non-endorsement' requirements." 

JCM 1/28/2021 7:23:53 AM

3

Remember the hissy fits the left threw when Trump overruled Obama EOs with his own? I'm a dozen state AG's suing, the screaming about illegally overturning law, how it was unprecedented etc... 

As do the details of this matter and how it's implemented... don't know.

PaladinPhil 1/28/2021 7:31:12 AM

4

God it's cold this morning. Will be colder tonight and tomorrow. Trees were covered in frost crystals.

JCM 1/28/2021 7:34:03 AM

5

Reply to PaladinPhil in 4: 

Unpossible! Global Warming is killing us all!

vxbush 1/28/2021 7:38:39 AM

6

In #3 JCM said: Remember the hissy fits the left threw when Trump overruled Obama EOs with his own? I'm a dozen state AG's suing, the screaming about illegally overturning law, how it was unprecedented etc... 

Actually, no, not until you posted this. There was quite a bit a wailing and gnashing at the time.

JCM 1/28/2021 7:40:53 AM

7

Reply to vxbush in 6:

I'm not a huge fan of EOs, because they are so abused. One suit I remember was our State AG Sideshow Bob suing calling an EO to overturn an EO Unconstitutional.

vxbush 1/28/2021 7:53:21 AM

8

In #7 JCM said: I'm not a huge fan of EOs, because they are so abused. One suit I remember was our State AG Sideshow Bob suing calling an EO to overturn an EO Unconstitutional.

Heh. If only a conservative AG would file the exact same lawsuit. 

JCM 1/28/2021 8:00:28 AM

9

Reply to vxbush in 8:

That's part of the problem.

We're hidebound, part of what makes us conservative. We can not like EO that usurp legislative or judicial authority, but recognize their legality.

The left doesn't mind breaking rules and laws. We do, part of Alinsky recognizes this and uses it against us.

vxbush 1/28/2021 8:20:12 AM

10

In #9 JCM said: That's part of the problem. We're hidebound, part of what makes us conservative. We can not like EO that usurp legislative or judicial authority, but recognize their legality. The left doesn't mind breaking rules and laws. We do, part of Alinsky recognizes this and uses it against us.

Yes, I know. I've seen articles lately saying "Screw this, we need to get in the sewers with the left to win this--play just as dirty as they do", but we do not make government our god. It's much harder for us to feel comfortable doing this, and some of us know we are being evaluated by Someone who is watching closely. 

Occasional Reader 1/28/2021 8:48:24 AM

11

Reply to PaladinPhil in 4:

Don’t worry, once President Biden declares a “climate emergency“ and begins ruling by decree, the climate will be fixed all over the world, and everything will be great.

PaladinPhil 1/28/2021 9:23:32 AM

12

JCM 1/28/2021 9:36:48 AM

13

Reply to PaladinPhil in 12:

Can you do a cell phone hot spot?

If you have 4G, the bandwidth should be sufficient.

PaladinPhil 1/28/2021 9:40:44 AM

14

Reply to JCM in 13:

Oh, I have internet, just not what  I am paying for. As for hotspotting, I only get 8 GB a month. Using Google Meet would kill my data.

JCM 1/28/2021 9:44:12 AM

15

Reply to PaladinPhil in 14:

I understand, thinking out loud. I've got myself working remotely, and 3 kids online for school.

Comcast / Xfinity started throttling me, and I had to throw a bit of a fit with them to get my paid for bandwidth.

vxbush 1/28/2021 11:16:39 AM

16

In #15 JCM said: I understand, thinking out loud. I've got myself working remotely, and 3 kids online for school. Comcast / Xfinity started throttling me, and I had to throw a bit of a fit with them to get my paid for bandwidth.

I'm surprised that my ISP doesn't. cut me off after a day with all the video we got through. 

JCM 1/28/2021 11:25:52 AM

17

Reply to vxbush in 16:

I pay for unlimited data and 275Mbps, I usually get 350Mbps.

Work is data intensive, lots of up and down traffic. I can have 3 videos running and be transferring large files, it is a necessity.

Kids have tons of school videos, and when they are not in class watch videos or chat with friends.

vxbush 1/28/2021 11:27:10 AM

18

In #17 JCM said: I pay for unlimited data and 275Mbps, I usually get 350Mbps. Work is data intensive, lots of up and down traffic. I can have 3 videos running and be transferring large files, it is a necessity. Kids have tons of school videos, and when they are not in class watch videos or chat with friends.

Oh, I hear you. 

Occasional Reader 1/28/2021 11:30:34 AM

19

Occasional Reader 1/28/2021 11:31:32 AM

20

In #17 JCM said: I can have 3 videos running

If you cut down on the pr0n just a bit during work hours, that might help things...

/

doppelganglander 1/28/2021 11:56:02 AM

21

Reply to PaladinPhil in 14:

If you haven't been getting what you pay for, you can demand an adjustment to your bill. I lost Dish Network once for several days because - and I am not making this up - the technician was afraid of heights and refused to get up on the roof to fix it. I got a credit to my bill and I sincerely hope the technician was fired.

JCM 1/28/2021 11:58:03 AM

22

Reply to Occasional Reader in 20:

Well maybe cut down on the 4K pr0n, 1080p should be good enough!

/

vxbush 1/28/2021 12:31:00 PM

23

In #19 Occasional Reader said: Oh, fabulous.  DC schools have a great big "Black Lives Matter" segment planned for next week.  Because what we need in elementary school is less reading, writing and math, and more political indoctrination.  

It is only going to get worse. 

Occasional Reader 1/28/2021 12:48:25 PM

24

JCM 1/28/2021 1:16:10 PM

25

Reply to Occasional Reader in 24:

So you are the reason for the security alert in DC!?

lucius septimius 1/28/2021 1:18:30 PM

26

Reply to JCM in 25:

Yep -- because of him the razor wire is now going to be permanent.

buzzsawmonkey 1/28/2021 1:18:52 PM

27

Two online classes to teach in less than an hour.  Here's hoping the magic distance learning software does its job.

First class has THIRTY students, which is a lot for a distance class.  Gah.

buzzsawmonkey 1/28/2021 1:22:38 PM

28

In #26 lucius septimius said: Yep -- because of him the razor wire is now going to be permanent.

The government ought to get Harry's, or one of the other new shaving companies, to sponsor the razor wire.

vxbush 1/28/2021 1:31:07 PM

29

In #28 buzzsawmonkey said: The government ought to get Harry's, or one of the other new shaving companies, to sponsor the razor wire.

Did that work for Burmashave? 

buzzsawmonkey 1/28/2021 1:46:58 PM

30

In #29 vxbush said: Did that work for Burmashave? 

They tried it, but everyone got too lathered up.

Occasional Reader 1/28/2021 2:15:06 PM

31

Reply to JCM in 25:

I basically look at this as my “double-O“ license.

///

vxbush 1/28/2021 2:24:15 PM

32

In #30 buzzsawmonkey said: They tried it, but everyone got too lathered up.

Well, the last time Burmashave was big, Germans were trying to clean our clocks. 

doppelganglander 1/28/2021 2:37:40 PM

33

Reply to vxbush in 32:

My great-aunt wrote poetry and sold a few jingles to Burma Shave. I have her notebook.

lucius septimius 1/28/2021 2:38:54 PM

34

Reply to vxbush in 29:

Right wingers think they have some rights

But their folly needs correction

And if you assemble and try to speak

We'll call it insurrection

BIDEN SHAVE

buzzsawmonkey 1/28/2021 3:14:01 PM

35

Reply to lucius septimius in 34:

++++++++

buzzsawmonkey 1/28/2021 3:14:46 PM

36

One class down, one to go.  

Gasp.  I'm getting too old for this.

doppelganglander 1/28/2021 3:27:27 PM

37

Reply to lucius septimius in 34:

Well done.

Occasional Reader 1/28/2021 3:52:19 PM

38

Reply to lucius septimius in 34:

++++