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Being our semi-regular weekly survey of whats goin down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin gets done, and where you can see that painted wagon and smell the tail of the dragon.

We begin in Michigan, where they keep electing sexist jackasses to their state legislature. From the Michigan Advance:

Before moving along, though, we should check on the issue at hand about which Ms. Donahue wanted to ask. From Detroit Metro Times:

Jeebus, these people belong in a zoo. Seriously. Hang in there, Alison Donahue. Not everyone is a caveman.

David Eggert/AP/Shutterstock

We move on to Florida, where Congressman Matt Gaetz is in the news again. This time, hes gotten sideways with another Republican and, as the Tampa Bay Times informs us, this is part of an ongoing family feud. It all began with a legislator named Chris Latvala tweeting out a photo of himself chatting with Rev. Al Sharpton.

Matters escalated apace.

Against all possible odds, the exchange gets even more childish. Please, Florida, stop electing these people. Youre lowering the discourse.

The Washington PostGetty Images

We skip on up to Virginia, where it truly was a helluva week. First, the Commonwealth became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which makes it part of the Constitutionor, maybe not. The fight goes on. From The Atlantic:

Almost at the same time, Governor Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency in Richmond because some gun-fondlers were said to be preparing An Action to protest gun control measures that are currently before the state legislature. From The New York Times:

Northam wasnt kidding, either. Goons of many lands seem to be converging on his capital. Again, from the NYT:

It is here where we note, without irony, that the Arabic for "The Base" is al-Qaeda.

Sue Ogrocki/AP/Shutterstock

And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, where Blog Official Fry Cook Friedman of the Plains brings us the tale of another embattled Christian who is being oppressed. From Channel 8 in Tulsa:

The measure is supported by one of Americas most respected smugglers.

And safe from customs officials, I would imagine.

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.

Read more:
Matt Gaetz Is in an Internecine Beef With Another Florida Republican - Esquire.com

I had the honor and pleasure of riding on a bus full of spirited teachers and support staff on their mission to rally for education at the state Capitol last Monday.

I am not a teacher. I raised two sons who attended public schools, have a grandson who graduated from a public school and is in his second year at a state college. I believe in public education.

I come from a working class, union family who never had the money to send any of us to a private school. Charter schools werent even thought of back then. My parents paid their taxes and knew that some of that money went to support public schools where their five kids would be given the best education available.

I believe that unions are good and that the unions for teachers are designed to help them get the full range of benefits and safe working conditions that they should have. That is why I supported Sarah Fortney when she ran for Polk County School Board. She believes this as well, as evidenced by her never-ending support for the teachers and support staff in Polk County schools.

I cant begin to tell you how emotional it was as the crowds from other school districts parted and allowed the mass of Polk County teachers and support staff, chanting We Are Polk, enter the building. These are the same teachers who were bullied and threatened for their jobs, and yet they made their signs and they boarded those buses at 6:30 in the morning and were delivered to the parking lot at the civic center in Tallahassee. Polk County was, literally, the star of the show in Tallahassee and it was inspiring.

Sadly, it was for something should never have happened.

And Im not talking about the letter that Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd sent out after hours in what was perceived as a threat to the staff. That was unfortunate, a bad call on her part, poor planning at best.

Im talking about the past 20-plus years in the Legislature that have been controlled by the Republican oligarchs. I keep hearing, even from those who are supportive of public education, that this is not a political issue. Rev. Al Sharpton said is wasnt political, that it was a moral issue.

Yes, morals play an important part in this issue, but we cant legislate morals although many try.

This is a political issue. We can legislate how we should fund our schools, how to make sure that our teachers have the best, up-to-date tools and equipment necessary to teach our children.

We can legislate budgets that direct our taxpayer dollars to public schools rather than divert our money to charters and private schools who are not held to the same standards as a public school. Charter schools, where the teachers arent as regulated, arent expected to have the same level of education, nor are they even expected to be committed, full-time employees. Charter schools that can be set up in a strip mall almost overnight and given thousands of dollars that could have helped a struggling public school; and then may shut down in a few short months.

This is a political issue when our schools, our teachers salaries and pensions, our students access to quality teaching tools and everyones safety are all controlled by the Legislature. And just a reminder here, the Legislature has been in control by the Republican Party for over 20 years.

You can say that politicians created this problem but look at who has had the power in Tallahassee for over 20 years. Democratic lawmakers can submit all the great bills they need to, but if the majority leader doesnt get them to the floor for a vote, it goes nowhere.

Im suggesting this: Please stop wrapping this around all politicians. They are not all the same.

And please stop saying this is not a political issue. It is absolutely a political issue. Teachers and parents, if you want to have the same old, same old, and be treated the same old way in 2021, go ahead and vote to keep the Legislature controlled by the same Grand Old Party that pushed you to your historic Take on Tallahassee day.

But if you want something different, you may want to consider voting for the Democrat on the ballot in November. And even better, find a teacher who wants to run for office. We have several running now. We could use a few more in Tallahassee.

Or you can join the new statewide Democratic Public Education Caucus of Florida. Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DPECF/ or http://dempubed-fl.org (under construction).

Karen Cooper Welzel is chairwoman of the Polk County Democratic Executive Committee. She lives in Winter Haven.

Excerpt from:
Polk Perspective: Support teachers, support schools and support Democrats - The Ledger

Al Sharpton said Friday on MSNBC that President Donald Trump loses his temper because he is covering up for his lack of knowledge.

The panel was discussing reports on Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnigs new book, A Very Stable Genius, which has an account of whenformer Secretary of State Rex Tillersonallegedly called President Donald Trump a moron.

Sharpton said, I think youve got to always go back to who Donald Trump is as a person. Donald Trump always wanted to be in the circles of influence and was always rejected. Always seen as this outer-borough guy whose daddy had money. You know, with Roy Cohnthey were not considered respectable.

He added, I think a lot of the bombast including this encounter we just talked about is that he rejects getting into those kinds of conversations because he really does not understand the policy or the strategy that youre talking about it. So rather than sit there and try and learn, he overrules everybody with bombast and with anger, so he doesnt have to engage in the conversation, so you dont know that hes really not a moron, which Tillerson found out and assessed and said.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

Originally posted here:
Al Sharpton: Trumps Bombast Is an Attempt to Cover Up His Ignorance - Breitbart

As in most of Crown Heights, strollers, tricycles, balls and scooters fill the lobby of the apartment building where I live with my family. Children are constantly going in and out of one anothers apartments, little girls huddle together with snacks as they block staircases and wild dodgeball games take place in the courtyard on a Shabbat afternoon.

Crown Heights recently in the news because of violent anti-Semitic attacks is home to followers of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. They have lived in the neighborhood since the early 1940s. Like most buildings here, ours is occupied by black and Jewish occupants.

Families are, in general, neighborly and respectful to one another, and some have even become close. Last summer, tragedy struck a black family in our building when their son was murdered in an altercation at a bodega a few blocks away; Jewish families organized a meal train so that the grieving mother and children wouldnt have to worry about dinner for a few weeks.

The media dont cover black and Jewish coexistence much, but it is a feature of life in Crown Heights for many residents. A friend who grew up a few blocks away from where I live enjoyed a warm relationship with her next-door neighbor, an older single black woman. She recalls her mother sending the kids over with fresh challah and chicken before Shabbat, her neighbor attending their childhood gymnastics performances and bat mitzvahs, and gift exchanges during the holidays.

To be sure, there is also fear and resentment, too. Acts of anti-Semitism have become part of everyday life for Jews in Brooklyn, with viral videos of each incident quickly becoming old news as fresh footage arrives to replace it.

Crown Heights highlights from the last few months include a rock hurled at a bus carrying elementary-school girls; a window at their school smashed with a gun on a Friday night; a homeless man from a Bronx shelter entering the central community synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway and yelling that he would shoot up the place and kill everyone; a 33-year-old woman slapping three Jewish women and yelling F--k you Jews; and a group of black teenagers attacking a Chabad man with a chair.

While crime has always been a part of life here, these attacks arent typical muggings, but intentional anti-Semitic acts.

This month, documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz asked black Crown Heights residents why they thought the attacks were taking place. The responses often reflected classic anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews as domineering exploiters. Said one resident: It seems like Jewish people own all the buildings out here, and they own everything, and theyre not sharing nothing. It seems like they own all the property, and we dont. They dont even try to help us. Another echoed this theme, saying, They own everything down here. Theyre coming over here and taking over but theyre not bringing it back to us. See, theyre kicking us out.

At the same time, racist attitudes about African-Americans persist in the Jewish community. Many Jewish residents remember the mob murder of Yankel Rosenbaum during the 1991 Crown Heights riots, the incitement by black leaders like Al Sharpton and the chanting of death to the Jews in the streets. Others defend their use of slurs or holding of racist viewpoints by citing violent crimes committed in the neighborhood by blacks.

In the last few years, three families in the neighborhoods Chabad community have adopted nonwhite children and written publicly about it. Im one of those adoptive mothers, and Ive spoken to Jewish women about my experience, the foster-care crisis and the need to rid ourselves of bias as we raise the next generation of Jewish children. The young women I speak to, mostly under 40, are responsive to this message.

These communal shifts in attitude have made the recent onslaught of attacks on Jews by blacks all the more traumatic. Chabad mothers social-media groups are filled with recommendations on where to get pepper spray, how to find self-defense classes and expressions of anxiety and sadness about feeling unsafe.

The progress that I see around me will be threatened if anti-Semitic attacks continue in Crown Heights.

Malka Groden is deputy director of development at the Manhattan Institute. This column was adapted from City Journal.

See the article here:
Crown Heights blacks, Jews share real community thats now under threat - New York Post

Baytya Ungar-Sargon, the opinion editor at Forward, writes:

I missed the @NRO piece that let someone call Jews locusts, and then claimed hassidic men dont work & rely on welfare. Now theyve allowed Kevin Williamson to call the Jews getting beaten and killed stupid for objecting to the piece. Truly abominable.

This is a lie and a slander. There is no reasonable reading of the piece in questionwhich is, ironically enough, about the willful misrepresentation of a news reportthat bears that interpretation.

Bethany Mandel, leaning on the shift key, writes:

This is absolute bullshit. Im sorry. This is infuriating. A LOT of people who defend NR and Kevin from cancel culture bullshit criticized the piece. IT ALLOWED AN ANONYMOUS BIGOT TO CALL JEWS WHO WERE THE TARGET OF A MASSACRE LOCUSTS.

Ive written probably 50 times about Al Sharpton calling Jews bloodsuckers and worse. At no point did I insert a parenthetical reading (And I very strongly object to this characterization!). I dont write for morons.

Some people have ugly and stupid views about things; sometimes, those views are of public interest and are written about in news stories. This is not allowing someone to say something but reporting that it has been said.

Mandel is being ridiculous and dishonest. Which, ironically enough, is precisely the sort of thing I was writing about.

See the rest here:
As If They Were Working To Prove My Point . . . - National Review