Parents Do Not Own Their Children?

Just not all of the new information.

Curiously missing in his report was the revelation discovered yesterday that the White House – despite prior press reports to the contrary – appeared to have been dialed in with the plan to send the FBI in and retrieve the documents from Trump's resort.

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/2 On August 8, 2022, the FBI conducted an unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago on the ground that potentially classified records existed there.

According to press reports, Biden Administration aides were surprised to hear of this development. pic.twitter.com/d951QcbUY8

— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) April 10, 2023

Low Octane Gas Lighting – SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

• Maybe it would be best if you all just stuck with the Science, ya think?

In yet another critical assessment of Ron DeSantis, Eden McLean writes that the moves seen from the Florida governor in the realm of schools and giving parents a greater involvement in their children's education do not make him a leader of his voters. No, McLean stipulates this makes DeSantis the next Mussolini:

Public education has long been a battlefield in the U.S., from the Scopes trial to desegregation to climate change. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s recent demands for greater control over public education — and students’ bodies — in the guise of 'parent’s rights' accelerates this conflict, rejecting the importance of learning as a public good in itself in favor of promoting conformity and uncritical thinking.

Try following this, if possible: Granting more power to the citizens and wanting to lower the amount of government-run involvement from schools makes him like a dictator…somehow. This echoes the charges we heard when the mask requirement in the state was issued, and DeSantis was called a "fascist" for removing the government mandate.

"...Florida’s legislation represents only the latest in a long history of attempts to deplore knowledge, deride academic inquiry for its own sake, and discourage intellectual curiosity in our children and the American public." | Analysis https://t.co/AUwaCyVQxf

— Scientific American (@sciam) April 8, 2023

Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT

• Okay, so he was completely accurate in his statement – HOWEVER…

It is with a small dose of amazement that PolitiFact looked at a comment from Ron DeSantis and actually deemed his truthful and accurate statement to be rated as TRUE. The Florida governor mentioned how New York District Attorney Alvin Brag downgraded half of the felony cases he was dealing with down to misdemeanors. As writer Jill Terreri Thomas looked into the matter, she asked rhetorically if this was accurate – and answered with a glaring "Yes, but–."

The site felt the need to wax on at length and go on to explain that while he was 100% accurate, more needed to be said:

Data from 2021 show that other boroughs had a greater percentage of felonies that were downgraded to misdemeanors. Downgrading or upgrading charges after an arrest are not uncommon, experts said.

Also providing shading to this measurement is that there was a need to describe this 100% accurate comment by DeSantis as an "attack" on Alvin Bragg.

Yes, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has downgraded felonies as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, but it’s a common practice among peer counties. https://t.co/To8hRQb0iV

— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) April 11, 2023

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE INTELLIGENCER

• You are just dying to make the name of your outlet ironic, aren't you?!

Joining in on the DeSantis-bashing over his temerity to give parents more involvement in their children's education, Sarah Jones attempts to argue that conservatives view their children with a sense of propriety. Her take: how dare these conservatives demand to have control over their children as if they are property! Those kids belong to the state! 

While that sounds like a hyperbolic interpretation, it is actually a calmer read than what Ms. Jones offered up in her rambling screed. Behold, just one paragraph:

Conservatives betray a conviction that a child is the property of parents. [Schools meanwhile can retain ownership, we guess.] Because parents own their children, they can dispose of the child as they see fit. [Actually, abortion would be the disposing of a child, and not the policy favored by those on the right.] They can deny them evidence-based medical care. [Her lack of evidence to this is noteworthy.] They can put a child to work. [Uh, just where exactly is this being proposed?] They can make sure a child is sheltered from the dangers of a serious education. [Gender studies and CRT are 'serious' course, sure…] When a child goes hungry, that’s because a parent isn’t caring for their property [That is a rather accurate statement, with which she disagrees.] — and what a person does with their property is their right. [Schools, meanwhile, should have the right to do as they please with other people’s property.]

It all unspools from there.

The idea that underlies the right-wing campaign for “parents’ rights.” https://t.co/zqWPx7hmOG

— New York Magazine (@NYMag) April 8, 2023

Reporting on the Mirror – THE NEW YORK TIMES

• Guiding people to resources is triggering and threatening.

The Daily Beast has an exclusive from inside the preschool aftercare program that is The New York Times, where employees scorched one executive after she dared to guide them to take workplace concerns to a Human Resources channel set up for such occurrences:

'I just wanted to share a note about discussing or reporting about your workplace experience to ensure everyone knows about our resources,' wrote Natalia Villalobos, the Times’ vice president of inclusion, strategy, and execution. 'Going forward, I want to encourage folxs here to raise concerns or issues via the places above ^^^^ rather than in this ERG channel,' she wrote.

This calm and reasoned approach to the group was met with immediate hostility from the group. Said one, in response:

'I can’t help but feel lately like I’m expected to just shut up and deal with the negativity because it might make some of my coworkers feel uncomfortable if I speak up.'

This paper must be a nightmare to work for when executives who use the term "folxs," because the entirely generic word "folks" is deemed exclusionary, are still vilified after attempting to assist those who have concerns.

EXCLUSIVE: A New York Times executive stepped in it last week when she seemed to encourage a Slack room full of LGBTQ staffers not to raise workplace concerns in the channel dedicated to… raising employee concerns.

The latest from Confider: https://t.co/TOCaViuOUW

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 10, 2023