The powers that be have chosen to change the STAAR test. Naturally, it seems to have a bigger impact on English classes than any other content area. For one, our (I support English classes primarily) test scores were already lower than the other content areas. Secondly, they are adding even more writing to a test that was the only one to have writing as a component. Finally, they are removing the persuasive essay and don’t plan to tell us what it will be replaced with.

Taking a step back for a moment, I can see the wisdom behind this move. You want writing to be more authentic and having a set essay genre allows teachers to teach and reteach to the point where writing is formulaic. Yet, something is lost in the process. We used to teach our students about ethos, pathos, and logos. I’m not sure we are going to do that. Teaching great works of fiction is fun and does have some practical lessons in it, but that pales in comparison to to teaching kids about how people will try to sell to them and persuade them.

Ethos, pathos, and logos was the foundation of that lesson. From there we could move onto logical fallacies that advertisers often use and begin to look at the tricks those in politics use to persuade us. Ethos is very simply the credibility that someone has. Credibility is earned. It isn’t given away. At least it shouldn’t be.

As you might surmise, pathos is a potentially dangerous tool. It certainly is powerful when accompanied by facts, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s what makes it dangerous. The facts can strengthen an argument, but the key is the story. If the story rings true then it must be. We teach our students to do that. We teach them they can make stuff up because those grading the test are more likely to give them a good grade if they pull at the heartstrings. We are cultivating a whole generation of liars.

The normal arc of persuasion used to be that if someone proved they were reliable with their facts and knowledgeable of their area of study then they would develop credibility. With credibility they could simply fall back on their expertise. We would listen to them because they know what they are talking about.

The idea of “do your own research” sounds wonderful in a vacuum. It says that we shouldn’t rely on anyone’s credibility. Except we have to. No one is capable of going through the painstaking process of verifying everything. Ultimately, subject area experts do that in their area of study and work. We might “do our own research” but inevitably that ends up being a Google search where we find someone that reinforces what we already think. Maybe a YouTube video is involved. If so, so much the better.

So, we find ourselves listening to some jackass we’ve never heard of, never verified, never vetted, or scrutinized. He or she is somehow given credibility they have never earned. We are led by the nose by our heartstrings. We believe because it just feels true. We believe because it’s made simple for us. Simple is easy. Except none of it is really true. The truth is never simple. It might be brief. It might be succinct. The verbiage might be easy to understand, but it is never easy.

Those of us who are paying attention to the January 6th Committee woke up yesterday to the strategy of these public hearings; well, at least I did.  The committee is clearly taking direct aim at TFG, heaping loads of evidence on the facts that he KNEW that he didn’t win; he KNEW there was no fraud that would change the outcome of any state result; HE whipped up The Big Lie and repeats it continuously, even today.  We all pretty much knew or suspected that all this lay at TFG’s feet.

However, all this evidence is hard to use to get TFG convicted, much less even charged, so the committee is giving prosecutors a roadmap to get this sumbitch.  This roadmap is not going down the insurrection road; it shows the way down the wire fraud road.  Testimony revealed yesterday that using The Big Lie TFG raised a QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS for the “Election Defense Fund”, which, wait for it…doesn’t and has never existed.  The Election Defense Fund was supposedly to be used to fight election fraud lawsuits, but the money didn’t go to that activity.  It went, instead, to TFG’s Super PAC, doled out to his hotels, family, and even Jr.’s girlfriend.  That’s wire fraud.  So now we have not only The Big Lie, we have The Big Grift.

There is clear and ample evidence that TFG and his cronies defrauded millions of supporters, and the good thing about this crime is that the attorneys general in the states where the donors live can also prosecute TFG.  On top of all the possible federal cases you can name, this wire fraud charge is serious with heavy penalties and up to 30 years in the slammer.  The states have similar penalties.

The committee is drawing the roadmap with turn-by-turn directions, making it easy for the feds to go after TFG and Corruption Inc..  If Garland lacks the will to prosecute, I know a bunch of states with aggressive AGs who would likely be happy to perp walk TFG live on television.

One of the things that some loyal readers of this blog have asked me is to outline a battle plan for liberals, progressives, and Democrats. Admittedly, those are three different things and that’s one of the things that presents a problem. However, it is a fair question.

My first suggestion is easy and yet it hasn’t successfully been done. We have a list of problems people commonly agree on. At least we agree that they are problems. The first thing you do is list all of the things that you have done to fix those problems. That includes mostly legislation passed by the House. You include what the bill was for, how many Republicans voted for it, and what percentage of Americans were in favor of it. Usually, these things died in the Senate and that’s also something you have to mention.

Believe it or not, Congress has enacted 139 laws since January 3, 2021. So, Congress is always acting more than people think. Most of these laws are ones you’ve never heard of, but it always is a good idea to remind them of the good stuff you have done. How many Republicans voted for those measures? What percentage of Americans were in favor of those measures?

The picture you begin to see is the fact that Democrats (be they progressive, liberal, or moderate) are trying to address our nation’s problems. The way they are addressing them are popular with a majority of the American people. The other side is not. They are actively blocking those things even when a majority of the people want them.

The second thing we need to do is the harder thing. Hearts and minds are tough to change, but the conservatives in this country have managed to beat the drum on gas prices, supply chain issues, and inflation. They have pulled off two major coups. First, they have convinced enough people that these are the main issues of the day. Secondly, they have managed to successfully blame Joe Biden.

You can tell people that the president doesn’t set the gas prices. You can tell people that the president can’t control world markets. You can tell people that world markets are terribly complex and susceptible to numerous factors out of everyone’s control. Then, you are explaining. When you are explaining you are losing.

This one is hard because it requires resetting people’s priorities. If the price of gas is the most important thing in your life then you don’t have much of a life. If the availability of a particular product or rising costs of goods are the most important thing then you’ve lost them. In many cases it will be. Some people can’t be bothered to care about quality of life issues. They can’t be bothered to care about safety. They can’t be bothered to care about anyone else’s life and how it has been improved by something Democrats have actively done. You won’t capture everyone or even most. You can capture some.

From there, you simply circle back to what is currently being done to alleviate that problem. You also go back to the fact that the other side hasn’t done a damn thing or even suggested a damn thing. They’ll tell you something Biden has supposedly done wrong. Make sure to fact check those things. Did he actually do that? If he did then did it have the negative impact those people say it did? Again, we won’t capture the majority, but we can capture some. Some is what we need.

TFG spent billions of OPM (Other People’s Money) to start Wannabe Twitter; he calls the new platform Truth Social, a name just dripping with irony.  The platform was built for TFG and his supporters when he was permanently banned for habitually violating Twitter’s moderating policies for everything from personal attacks to incitement to sedition.  When announcing the launch of Truth Social, he touted it’s “free speech” environment and alternative to “Big Tech”.  Except it’s not really a free speech platform…it’s a pro TFG platform.  Its terms of service specifically said that users may not, “disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.”  So, you have free speech unless you criticize the boss or his cronies.

That little provision is coming into play now, as apparently the platform is suspending the accounts of those posting about the January 6th Committee hearings.  Multiple users are reporting that they’ve been permanently banned from Truth Social for simply discussing the hearings.

Apparently, in TFGland, free speech is what they say it is.

The January 6th commission is finally releasing its work. They chose to do it during prime time over the course of several days. We seem to be following this pattern day after day, week after week, and year after year. We know exactly what happened. We’ve always known exactly what happened. Hearing it again is both shocking and familiar. Either you will hear it and nod in agreement or you will think it’s fake news. I’m not sure anyone will actually see their opinion change.

This has all been mentioned before, but here we are. So, let’s add up some things and put it all together to see if we can paint a picture. In the entirety of his life, Donald Trump has successfully done only one thing. He’s cultivated an image that he is a successful and a smart businessman. That’s it. If you look at any success he’s had it is all connected to that one thing. The Apprentice, frauds like Trump University, the presidency, all of this can be traced back to that one thing.

The fact that he’s a failed businessman hasn’t really sunk in with the people that support him. So, when you look at his failures as president, they all get laid at someone else’s feet. They are someone else’s fault or they didn’t happen at all. Naturally, it also manages to seep into the natural defense he is able to use when any of these horribly illegal activities get brought back to his door.

All of the fraud over collusion, the attempting strong arming of the Ukrainian president, the attempted overturning of the 2020 election, and the attempting coup on January 6th all didn’t work. They failed spectacularly. Not only did he not meet his objective, but he failed in such spectacular fashion and did such a horrible job covering it up that it all seems so unbelievable.

How does someone so successful fail so miserably? If he really is that smart and that successful then he must not have done it. There really is no other logical explanation. After all, a smart and successful businessman would have clearly succeeded somewhere along the way because he had done so all those times before when he was making billions of dollars.

Except, that was all a fraud. Any success he may have had he stumbled into. Trump Steaks? Trump Vodka? Trump Airlines? These were all spectacular failures. Not only did those businesses fail, but they failed in spectacular fashion. The reality of Trump is as a failed businessman. It is the reality of a blowhard that really is empty when you get past the bravado.

The reality is that when you attempt to collude with the enemy, attempt to overthrow the government, attempt to circumvent our laws to get dirt on an opponent, attempt to strongarm someone into committing election fraud you have broken the law. The attempt is still breaking the law. The fact that all of these were unsuccessful doesn’t matter.

The defense that a brilliant and successful businessman wouldn’t fail so spectacularly is the fraud. Strip everything down and Trump is the guy that holds up the bank without a mask, a bag with a hole in the bottom, and a carrot in his pocket in place of the gun. It’s stupid to the point of being comical. It’s still a crime. It’s haphazard, laughable, and pathetic, but it’s still a crime. Yet, if the commission’s obvious breakdown of these events don’t lead to arrests and convictions then it will be just another episode of the Keystone Cops. Those that know he’s an idiot will know he’s guilty. Those that think he’s brilliant won’t. Those are the facts of the case and they are undisputed.

Yep – his own daughter. The one he supposedly loves the most.  He threw her under the bus.

Tiffany!  Quick, Girl!  There’s an opening for Favored Daughter.