We have a focus meeting during the week of teacher orientation every year. A focus meeting is a district wide department meeting where we focus on curriculum and new instructional approaches. They have breakout sessions and this year they had a breakout section on media bias. Of course, the session was led by an instructional specialist that watches Fox News regularly. So, going in I wasn’t expecting much and I probably would have skipped it if I had been warned beforehand.

Yet, it was through this 45 minute session that I was able to cement something I have thought for a long time. We are teaching bias wrong. The materials included an infographic with all of the major media outlets being split into left, right, and center. It registered from far left to far right. Naturally, they put CNN and MSNBC on the far left with NewsMax, Fox, and OAN on the far right.

The implication was already clear based on looking at the infographic, but the instructor hammered home the point anyway. Fox News and CNN (or OAN and MSNBC) are basically the same thing. They are mirror images of each other. Simply seeing that straight off pissed me off. I’m not sure if that was the effect the instructor was going for. Even though I’m sure she was well meaning, the concept of media bias is a complex one. It exists on a number of fronts, and the lesson seemed to focus on one dimension.

Bias seeps into media in a number of different ways. The traditional way regards story choices and charged language. That’s what she showed us. The problem is more pervasive than that. Some networks/media outlets use facts and form opinions around those facts. It is rare to watch CNN or MSNBC and see them report something that wasn’t true. Sure, they focus on storylines that fit a particular narrative. They may pump up an issue as being more important than what someone else would report. However, they print and/or broadcast facts.

The outlets on the far right of the spectrum don’t. In particular, when you leave the news divisions of those particular networks the ratio of fact to fiction levels out significantly. Equating CNN and Fox News is itself a show of extreme bias. Certainly putting NewsMax and OAN in the same category as Fox News is problematic. Heck, they didn’t even mention Breitbart or InfoWars. Accounting for the bias in story selection or perspective is one thing. The lesson never accounted for the bias in whether reporting is actual factual.

Unfortunately, any kind of balanced approach to bias fails to capture what is really going on. This is one of the reasons why the media itself fails so often. They are dedicated to a both sides game where both sides are playing the game in the same way.That might be a balanced approach, but it certainly isn’t a truthful one. Sadly, the answer is not to fight fire with fire. The solution involves damning the torpedoes and telling it like it really is. Fox lies. OAN lies. Newsmax lies. Alex Jones lies. Breitbart lies. It’s one thing to simply disagree on how to interpret a fact. It’s another to make up our own facts. Sadly, as long as this is allowed to continue I’m not sure if we can ever really solve our country’s problems.

We seem to be doing this a lot lately, so I thought I would try this from another angle. It seems the governor and others are determined to shove character education down our throats. Character education is only one way to put it. Another way to put it is white washing. Another way to put it is indoctrination. However, the most accurate way to put it is to call it what it really is: an empty gesture.

Of course, the governor couldn’t resist the urge to pump himself up.ss

To keep Texas the best state in the nation, we can never forget WHY our state is so exceptional.

I signed a law establishing the 1836 project, which promotes patriotic education & ensures future generations understand TX values.

Together, we'll keep our rich history alive. pic.twitter.com/4yZuygS2yX

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 7, 2021

So, we could take this from a few angles, but I decided to take a look at the source. If you take a look at the list of priorities you’ll see that we are currently teaching those things. Sure, you’ve added a few awards and what not, but I’m struggling to figure out what the point is. I’m sure the governor is already aware, but maybe he’s not. We teach Texas history to 7th graders. Maybe he’s suggesting we do more, but it doesn’t seem clear by the verbiage of the bill.

Like I said before, we could conceivably approach this from numerous angles. Sure, we could look at the likely desire to remove unsavory facts from the historical account. However, let’s assume the very best and only look at the letter of the law. They want to assure that we are doing something we’re already doing. What’s the purpose of that exactly?

When you abandon your ideology I’m not sure what you have left. Some people are dedicated to the idea of limited government. They don’t want the government involved unless absolutely necessary. It is a philosophy I’ve always respected. I’ve always disagreed but I’ve always respected it. When you abandon that philosophy and fill it with empty gestures you’ve abandoned that philosophy for good public relations. Congratulations.

Judas sold his soul for some pieces of silver. The governor appears to be selling his for a simple photo opp. He can’t even come up with an original name for this fiasco. His hero dubbed character education as the 1776 project. Just adopt the year we gained our independence and pass a quick law. Throw in a black guy into the picture to make it look good. The law really won’t change anything. It’s a great use of our time and money.

There’s been a lot to mourn about over the past several years. Obviously, the loss of 600,000+ Americans is on top of that list when it comes to COVID-19. Everyone has either lost someone close to them or knows someone who has. However, that’s not the type of mourning that has been on my mind. Instead, I’m mourning the loss of civility and intelligent debate that we used to have concerning complex issues.

The Texas Tribune released one of those stories that surprises no one. For those that don’t want to go down the rabbit hole, they basically said that resuming in person instruction in Texas accelerated the spread of the virus. Knock me over with a feather. That falls under the category of news that isn’t really news. It’s more the kind of common sense that seems to be a lot less common these days. When you deny science and deny logic like this you end up getting this kind of news story.

Yet, there has been something else going on this year in schools that is also impossible to deny. Failures are up. Frustration is up. It is much more difficult to teach students remotely and it is much more difficult for them to learn. Furthermore, it is also more difficult for students to enjoy school when many of their extracurricular activities have either been canceled or limited. They are not feeling the connection they need to succeed. I’m not sure how that can be replicated in a virtual environment and this is supposed to be what I’m an expert at.

This is where the mourning comes in. We used to be a people that could acknowledge both of these facts and then have a somewhat intelligent debate on how to move forward. The more heads we put together the better we usually do. We have made awesome innovations as a society so maybe someone can come up with a way to offer connection and keep people safe. Naturally, a part of that is getting as many people vaccinated as possible, but when you have people denying the jab just to own the libs it impossible to do that universally. Idiots have always been among us, but it seems we have more of them.

These are the same idiots that seem to think having more guns in society makes us safer. It seems that the police are drawing a chalk line around common sense and fewer and fewer people are able to identify the victim. It’s not that we have complex problems like those in our schools. It is that fewer and fewer people seem to want to try to tackle them. I know we are supposed to fight when the idiots try to fight culture wars instead of tackling real issues. Unfortunately, there is just an overwhelming sadness that this is where we are at.

So now it’s Betsy DeVos.

Federal marshals are protecting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos at a cost to her agency of nearly $8 million over nearly eight months, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

The Education Department has agreed to reimburse the marshals $7.78 million for their services from mid-February to the end of September, said a marshals spokeswoman — an average of about $1 million per month.

Now, this contract is just through September.  No word on how much it’s going to cost after September.

Let me see if I have this right.  Our billionaire Secretary of Education, who hates public education, is taking one million dollars a month out of the hands of public schoolchildren?  She must be thrilled!

Thanks to Steff for the heads up.

Apparently, Hang-’em-High Cornyn is not happy that his phone and email system crashed this week from thousands of concerned Texans who were terrified that he was supporting the most ill-prepared and ignorant candidate for Secretary of Edumucation in the History of Edumucation.  You see, he publicly came out in support of Betsy DeVos, Super Special Deluxe High Grade Christian and Private Church School Crusader after she gave the most disastrous testimony in the History of Senate Hearings during her Senate hearing.  She lacks even the most basic grasp of education policy, and has no clue about the behemoth that she has just inherited which is a more than full time job for even the most experienced education experts (Arnie Duncan), much less for a dumbass like her (sorry Momma).  Lil’ Betsy believes you should just “pray on it” and all will be good.  She’s going to be drinking from a firehose just right quick, like her boss, Cheeto Jesus, who just got his ass handed to him by the 9th Circuit over his wonderfully planned and articulated unconstitutional Muslim ban which is going so well.

Cornyn was most offended that constituents from Texas voiced their loud and vehement opposition to DeVos, calling it “sour grapes” and that they were angry that CJ won.  Well, he’s right on that one.  We are angry that the worst presidential candidate in US history is now polluting the White House.  But, no, the reason we were all calling Cornyn the Deaf was that we were waving our arms and screaming at him as he gleefully jumped on the crazy train over the cliff that destroys public education.

The US government is unrecognizable to me, and my elected officials are simply the worst I have ever witnessed in my 6th decade life.

Jesus.  No.  Literally, Jesus.

UPDATED: Cheeto Jesus continues to fill the DC swamp with more alligators and snakes; today’s addition to the primordial soup? Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who’s devoted decades and untold dollars in an effort to destroy public education.  She’s one of those cynical “school choice” activists, which is code for privatizing all education through robbing public schools to issue “vouchers” for private schools.  Privatizing education is along the same idiotic ideological lines of pretending that healthcare is “free market” when it’s anything but.  I would liken appointing DeVos to the Department of Education to nominating Dennis Hastert to be principal of an elementary school.  It just doesn’t get any worse than this.

And the hits just keep on coming.  It’s become a bit of a drinking game for me where I imagine who the absolute worst candidate for this administration could be and then when it comes true, taking a drink.  Come to think of it, I need to run to the local liquor store before it closes for the holiday.

UPDATE:  Guess who happens to be DeVos’s brother?  None other than Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, the “security” contractor that provided mercenaries in GWB’s invasion of Iraq, and whose employees engaged in a mass shooting in Iraq in 2007, killing 17.  Several of his employees have been convicted of crimes from murder to manslaughter.  Nice guys.

Prince was an early supporter of Cheeto Jesus, and has been a large contributor to hyper right wing PACs.