I remember how it was -- JR
Cruz Slams Senate Democrat for Blocking School Safety Bills
Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday called out a Senate Democrat for blocking passage of a pair of bills intended to provide schools with additional funding for safety and mental health services.
The Texas Republican, in a statement, questioned how Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., could oppose the Securing Our Schools Act and the Protect Our Children’s Schools Act.
The Securing Our Schools Act, drafted by Cruz and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., aims to aid schools with security resources by investing “$15 billion in school safety personnel, $10 billion to hire 15,000 mental health professionals, increase the physical security of schools through grants, and triple [the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s] Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help secure schools,” the Cruz statement said.
The Protect Our Children Act would have allowed schools to “use unspent, previously appropriated federal COVID-19 education-related funding to improve school security,” according to the press release.
“This bill would be the most serious, the most significant, the most major investment in school security Congress has ever enacted,” Cruz explained on the Senate floor.
Murphy objected to Cruz’s Secure Our Schools Act, but didn’t explain why. Cruz called him out for putting partisanship before solutions, saying:
What we just saw reveals that the Democrats have one objective when a mass murder happens, and that is to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. That is always, always, always their solution.
Never mind that it doesn’t work. … If another lunatic attacks a school, and there’s not a police officer at the front door to stop it, remember right now. Remember this moment, when the Democrats said, ‘No, we will not protect our kids.’
Cruz has made previous efforts to keep schools safe while protecting Second Amendment rights. In 2013, an amendment Cruz co-sponsored with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa (retooled in 2021 as the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act) would have further bolstered the background-check system to keep guns away from criminals and added many protections of the gun rights for ordinary citizens, but Democrats blocked it.
Cruz and Barrasso made another effort in June with the Safe Kids, Safe Schools, Safe Communities Act, but that was blocked by Senate Democrats then, too.
Cruz tweeted that the blocking of the Securing Our Schools Act was “utterly shameful” and that the bill would have “doubled the number of police officers in schools to protect our kids.”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/09/15/cruz-slams-senate-democrat-for-blocking-school-safety-bills
*********************************************************Bill Maher warns woke schools' critical race theory lessons and insistence on keeping students' 'sex changes' secret from parents is driving liberal voters to Trump
Bill Maher says that woke schools' lessons on critical race theory and decisions to conceal transgender students' new identities from their parents are driving liberal voters into the arms of Donald Trump and the Republican party.
During a discussion screened Friday with Trace Adkins, Julia Ioffe, and John Meacham, Maher stated that his two biggest issues when it comes to voting are democracy and the environment.
He admitted that he doesn’t have children but said his friends who do have kids ‘don’t like it when they come home and say they divided the class today into oppressors and oppressed.’
Maher, a Democrat who has donated millions to his party, went on: ‘And if I change my sex I don’t have to tell my parents. There’s s*** like that going on that makes people go, you know I agree Donald Trump is a creep. ‘He is everything wrong that could be stuffed into one man, but I have these other considerations, that’s all.
‘That’s why, you know, you seem like you have such contempt for half the country. I don’t think that’s going to get us where we need to go.'
Discussing the ongoing divide between Republicans and Democrats in the US, Maher sounded a pessimistic note. ‘I think we’ve crossed this line and now the question is how do we walk it back,' he began. 'How do we walk it back from "I hate you so much I can’t live with you."'
He added that of those who voted for Trump in the last election, he has been told that the ‘biggest mistake liberals make is thinking I like him.’
Maher explained that he would never vote for Trump, but he ‘understands’ why people would vote for him because there are things that are going on in the country. He went on to say that it depends on what the ‘priorities’ of the voter are, and those with kids often have different views.
Maher also called out the Portland school system, where they plan to teach that the concept of gender was brought here by white colonists, saying: ‘Not even Star Trek would try that story.’
That is a concept known as 'presentism', where historical figures are held to the most progressive of modern social standards.
Maher spoke after furious Virginia parents gathered outside a Loudoun County School Board meeting on Tuesday to demand ‘an end to the racist and divisive ideologies being infused into the government schools.’
The area has become the nerve center for parental activism, with debates over critical race theory ideologies bleeding over into the rest of the United States.
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Australia: Senior High School students ditch difficult subjects in search of higher marks
The number of HSC students taking physics has tumbled to its lowest in 20 years, while the proportion of girls studying the subject has failed to budge in more than a decade.
A snapshot of this year’s HSC subject data shows 7730 students are studying physics – almost 2000 fewer students than a decade ago – as biology, business studies and personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE) enrolments climb to near 10-year highs.
Physics enrolments fell after a new syllabus was introduced in 2018, as the course became more mathematical, shifted to traditional physics and focused more on areas like quantum mechanics and astrophysics. Students are also selecting other science subjects such as earth and environmental sciences and science extension.
Simon Crook, a physics education expert and consultant, said students are choosing easier subjects due to the difficulty of achieving a band 6 in physics and chemistry. “And when you have low staff morale and teacher shortages that exacerbates the problem,” he said.
There are dwindling numbers studying maths at the highest levels, with enrolments in the three advanced maths courses offered at HSC level falling 12 per cent in 20 years.
Of this year’s physics students, 22 per cent are girls. In chemistry and biology the proportion of girls studying the subjects has risen slightly, with 48 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.
Data from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) data reveals biology enrolments continue to surge: 19,173 students opted to take the subject this year, up 14.5 per cent from ten years ago. Business studies increased by 18 per cent and PDHPE enrolments have grown 20 per cent.
Meanwhile, enrolments in modern history and economics have flatlined, while ancient history has taken the biggest hit with 6530 enrolled this year – almost half the number enrolled in 2012.
NSW Science Teachers Association vice president Lauren McKnight said the 20 per cent drop in physics over ten years is concerning, but she welcomed the growth in biology, investigating science and science extension.
“Students turning away from academically difficult subjects such as chemistry and physics possibly reflects more on the nature of the exams, student workloads, and the overt focus on band performance,” she said.
NSW History Teachers’ Association Jonathon Dallimore said the addition of many new HSC subjects over the years means students now have more options. “One reason that students have maintained their interest in modern history is the content – the crisis of democracy, dictatorships, modern conflicts.
“This is all so clearly connected to current events giving it a sense of real immediacy, whereas on the surface ancient history can appear to some students as more detached from the news cycle.”
HSC student Chelsea Leung from Brigidine College in Randwick, one of five physics students in her year, attributes her curiosity and interest in “knowing how things work” as her motivation for studying the subject.
“When experiments work and support your hypothesis, it is so satisfying. I am looking into biomedical engineering at university,” she said. “I want to help people, I’d love to make hearing aids or medical devices.”
A NESA spokesperson said enrolments are consistent with previous years, with maths, biology and business studies attracting the largest numbers for nine years running.
“Year-on-year HSC course enrolments fluctuate based on a number of factors,” the spokesperson said. “Students may choose HSC courses for a number of reasons including their interests, future goals and courses most suited to their pathway to university, employment or further studies.
“Young women are very well represented in science courses, particularly in biology and science extension.”
There are 75,493 students studying one or more HSC courses this year, with exams starting on October 12.
Macquarie Fields High teacher Melissa Collins said year 12 students were still dealing with challenges after ongoing COVID-19 disruption this year, and next week the school will run five days of wellbeing initiatives for HSC check-in week.
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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