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House Republicans Plan to Recast January 6 to Absolve Trump

By dianeravitch
September 24, 2025 //
6

Joe Perticone of The Bulwark describes the committee that has been created by House Republicans to recast what happened on January 6, 2021. They aim to show that it was mostly staged by anti-Trump provocateurs, with substantial help from the FBI. And at the same time, despite what everyone saw with their own eyes, it was “a day of love,” because Trump said so.

Frankly, I can’t make sense of it. Why would Trump praise a large group of people driven and controlled by anti-Trump forces?

Perticone wrote:

A new House subcommittee has been established to finally, at long last, give the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol the investigation Donald Trump thinks it deserves. Two weeks ago, Republicans tucked its formation into a rule vote that, among other things, approved a resolution expressing support for the House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The new subcommittee’s Republican members, appointed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, have all held conspiratorial views about what transpired at the Capitol that day.

Atop the subcommittee will be Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.). The other Republicans joining him will be:

  • Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.)
  • Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas)
  • Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.)
  • Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.)

Democrats, for their part, put their more pugnacious members on the subcommittee as a counterbalance of sorts. The list includes Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.).

Loudermilk had been advocating for the formation of this panel for quite some time, saying over the summer that setting it up was a high priority for Trump. The nature and extent of the proposed subcommittee’s jurisdiction had been debated for months before Loudermilk introduced the resolution establishing it in July. The Capitol riot has been a consistent focus of Loudermilk’s throughout the 119th Congress and even before it was convened: Back in December, he oversaw the publication of a report that downplayed January 6th by emphasizing—as the lawmaker put it in a prefatory letter—“that there was not just one single cause for what happened at the U.S. Capitol . . . it was a series of intelligence, security, and leadership failures at several levels and numerous entities.”

The committee structure is unique. Loudermilk will have unilateral subpoena authority, allowing him to go through with decisions that even a majority of subcommittee members might oppose.

But I don’t think Loudermilk need worry much about being stymied in his quest to uncover the real truth behind January 6th. The new subcommittee is stacked with lawmakers who have peddled baseless conspiracy theories about that day.

Loudermilk himself claimed widespread voter fraudleading up to the attack and voted againstestablishing the original January 6th Committee that then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi put together.

Over the years, Higgins’s conspiracy theories have proliferated like daisies in an unmowed field. He claimed that “ghost buses” had provided transportation to many of the rioters, by which he meant that the buses were most likely non-MAGA plants being used to cause trouble for Trump.¹ His evidence for the “ghost buses” claim, which he presented on blown-up posters in a hearing with former FBI Director Christopher Wray, consisted of photographs showing that there were many buses parked at Union Station on the day of the attack. (Union Station hosts more than 2.6 million intercity bus riders per year.)

The FBI was not only involved in actions on January 6th from within. They had, I suspect, over two-hundred agents embedded within the crowd, including agents—or as they would call [them], “human assets”—inside the Capitol dressed as Trump supporters before the doors were opened.

Higgins has also claimed a large portion of the January 6th crowd consisted of actual FBI agents. As he told Newsmax in 2023:

Along with Higgins, Nehls has spread the “fedsurrection” conspiracy theory that the FBI was behind the attack, elevating claims that wedding planner Ray Epps was one of the government’s plants. Epps, a two-time Trump voter who became a central character in a wild yarn of conspiraciesaround that day, later pleaded guilty to January 6th–related charges. He was ultimately pardoned by Trump as part of the mass absolution on the first day of the new administration.

Hageman, who defeated Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in a Republican primary after Cheney worked on the original January 6th Committee, has cosponsored legislation claiming Trump didn’t engage in any wrongdoing with regard to the attack. Hageman also signed on to an October 2024 letter to then–Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding he not withhold any evidence that could show how the FBI may have been involved in January 6th.

“The American people deserve to know those federal employees involved in formulating and carrying out the events on January 6th,” Hageman said in a statement accompanying the letter. “With today’s weaponized federal government, led in no small part by an FBI that continues to target conservatives, we should take every measure to ensure the truth is revealed.”

And while Griffith hasn’t openly promoted conspiracy theories in the way that Nehls and Higgins have, he did, like the others, vote against the 2020 election certification.

If you’re wondering why Republicans feel there is a need to relitigate the findings of the original January 6th Committee, the simplest explanation is purely political. The new subcommittee is meant to downplay the events of the attack, shift blame to the Democratic lawmakers and staff who hid behind locked doors while Trump watched television footage of the mob roaming the hallways of the Capitol, and—perhaps most importantly—to validate the president’s longstanding delusion that January 6, 2021, was a “day of love” for all involved.

Categories Accountability, Disruption, Extremism, History, Lies, Trump

Trump Excoriates the United Nations, Praises Himself, Mocks Climate Change

By dianeravitch
September 23, 2025 //
18

Trump spoke at the United Nations today, where he put his personal opinions, his arrogance, and his vanity on display.

ABC reported:

President Donald Trump delivered a combative speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning, lambasting the international body while touting the work of his administration.

Trump spared no criticism in the hourlong address, beginning with his predecessor former President Joe Biden before taking aim at world leaders on everything from migration to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“One year ago, our country was in deep trouble. But today, just eight months into my administration, we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world, and there is no other country even close,” he said at the top of his remarks.

Trump touted the U.S. as having the “strongest” borders, military and relationships around the world.

The president then turned his attention the United Nations, accusing it of not living up to its promise and even accused it of bringing on more problems.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump asked. “It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential. For the most part, at least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly-worded letter and then never follow that letter up. It’s empty words and empty words don’t solve war. The only thing that solves war and wars is action.”

Trump accused the organization of ignoring conflicts around the world that he says he solved, casting himself as a peacemaker.

“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements,” Trump said. “But for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who lived to grow up with their mothers and fathers because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and inglorious wars.”

Richard Drew/AP – PHOTO: President Donald Trump addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, Sept. 23, 2025. 

Trump threatens Russia sanctions, but says Europe must do more

Trump said the United States is prepared to enforce a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” on Russia should Moscow not be ready to make a peace deal.

But he said other countries need to pull back on buying Russian oil and energy products “otherwise we’re all wasting a lot of time.”

“Europe has to step it up. They can’t be doing what they’re doing. They’re buying oil and gas from Russia while they’re fighting Russia. It’s embarrassing to them,” Trump said.

Trump also took a moment to criticize China and India, calling them the main sponsors of the war in Ukraine because of their purchases of Russian oil.

The president has threatened for months to impose harsher economic penalties on Russia but has yet to do so. He didn’t say on Tuesday what it would take for him to determine Russia doesn’t want peace, though he said the war is “not making Russia look good, it’s making them look bad.”

Jeenah Moon/Reuters – PHOTO: President Donald Trump addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, Sept. 23, 2025. 

Trump bashes world leaders on migration, green energy

Trump said other countries should be modeling the U.S. on the issue of immigration.

“Not only is the U.N. not solving the problems it should, too often it’s actually creating new problems for us to solve,” Trump said. “The best example is the No. 1 political issue of our time, the crisis of uncontrolled migration. It’s uncontrolled. Your countries are being ruined.”

To leaders gathered in the conference hall, Trump said: “Your countries are going to hell.”

He also encouraged leaders to reject policies geared toward fighting climate change and global warming, calling climate change “the greatest con job ever” and touting his administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

“If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said.

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters – PHOTO: President Donald Trump addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, September 23, 2025. 

Trump demands Hamas release hostages, disagrees on Palestinian statehood

On Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Trump said the world has to “come together” to “end the war in Gaza.” He reiterated that he wanted to see the hostages released immediately, but offered no clear path forward on progressing negotiations.

Trump continued to express his disagreement with countries moving to recognize Palestinian statehood. Several key U.S. allies, most recently France, have announced they are recognizing a Palestinian state.

“Now, as if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists for their atrocities,” Trump said.

Trump instead called for a united message from the body for Hamas to release hostages.

“Those who want peace should be united with one message: release the hostages now. Just release the hostages now. Thank you,” Trump said.

Trump also boasted about his poll numbers, which he said were the highest ever. His approval rating is 37%.

Categories Environment, Ethics, Extremism, Immigration, International, Trump

Disney Announces that Jimmy Kimmel Will Return Tomorrow!

By dianeravitch
September 22, 2025 //
23

Disney announced that it was bringing back the Jimmy Kimmel show, starting tomorrow.

He was suspended for saying that the killer of Charlie Kirk was a MAGA adherent. He was wrong. No one knows the motive of Tyler Robinson, who had not been identified or arrested when Kimmel spoke.

If everyone who made a mistake was suspended from the screen, not many people would be left. The news could be announced by robots using AI. Comedians would disappear.

Disney released this statement:

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent company, said in a statement.

“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the statement said. “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

The outcry against Kimmel’s suspension was so loud that Disney backed down. His removal was seen as a test of the guarantee of free speech in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Public protest mattered!!

Now what about the teachers, members of the military, and others who have been suspended or fired for not saying the “right” words about the murder of Charlie Kirk? The suppression of speech has been widespread and over-the-top, based on political passions and prejudice.

Categories Accountability, Censorship, Extremism, Freedom of Speech, Humor, Media

Ta-Nehisi Coates Examines Charlie Kirk’s Bigotry

By dianeravitch
September 22, 2025 //
13

In a bipartisan vote, Congress passed a resolution to honor Charlie Kirk on October 14 as a National Day of Remembrance for him.

At a time when Republicans are canonizing Charlie Kirk, it’s useful to remember what he stood for, what he believed, what he advocated.

Here are some video clips of Charlie Kirk in his own words:

The Guardian.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, himself a controversial figure among some whites for his frank writings about racism, wrote an article in Vanity Fair about Charlie’s oft-expressed views.

Charlie was an unrepentant white supremacist. He was a male chauvinist who believed that a woman’s place was in the home, raising children and deferring to the authority of her husband. He was a proud and unrepentant bigot. He should not have been murdered. Political violence is poison to a democracy, which should rely on persuasion, not repression, censorship, or violence.

Coates reminds us that if Charlie’s views prevailed, we would abandon the rights of everyone who was not a straight white Christian male. That’s a majority of us.

Coates wrote:

Before he was killed last week, Charlie Kirk left a helpful compendium of words—ones that would greatly aid those who sought to understand his legacy and import. It is somewhat difficult to match these words with the manner in which Kirk is presently being memorialized in mainstream discourse. New York Times columnist Ezra Klein dubbed Kirk “one of the era’s most effective practitioners of persuasion” and a man who “was practicing politics in exactly the right way.” California governor Gavin Newsom hailed Kirk’s “passion and commitment to debate,” advising us to continue Kirk’s work by engaging “with each other, across ideology, through spirited discourse.” Atlantic writer Sally Jenkinssaluted Kirk, claiming he “argued with civility” and asserting that his death was “a significant loss for those who believe engagement can help bridge disagreements.”

The mentions of “debate” and “engagement” are references to Kirk’s campus tours, during which he visited various colleges to take on whoever come may. That this aspect of Kirk’s work would be so attractive to writers and politicians is understandable. There is, after all, a pervasive worry, among the political class, that college students, ensconced in their own bubbles, could use a bit of shock therapy from a man unconcerned with preferred pronouns, trigger warnings, and the humanity of Palestinians. But it also shows how the political class’s obsession with universities blinds it to everything else. And the everything-else of Kirk’s politics amounted to little more than a loathing of those whose mere existence provoked his ire.

It is not just, for instance, that Kirk held disagreeable views—that he was pro-life, that he believed in public executions, or that he rejected the separation of church and state. It’s that Kirk reveled in open bigotry. Indeed, claims of Kirk’s “civility” are tough to square with his penchant for demeaning members of the LGBTQ+ community as “freaks” and referring to trans peoplewith the slur “tranny.” Faced with the prospect of a Kamala Harris presidency, Kirk told his audience that the threat had to be averted because Harris wanted to “kidnap your child via the trans agenda.” Garden-variety transphobia is sadly unremarkable. But Kirk was a master of folding seemingly discordant bigotries into each other, as when he defined “the American way of life” as marriage, home ownership, and child-rearing free of “the lesbian, gay, transgender garbage in their school,” adding that he did not want kids to “have to hear the Muslim call to prayer five times a day.” The American way of life was “Christendom,” Kirk claimed, and Islam—“the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America”—was antithetical to that. Large “dedicated” Islamic areas were “a threat to America,” Kirk asserted, and New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was a “Mohammedan,” with Kirk supposing that anyone trying to see “Mohammedism take over the West” would love to have New York—a “prior Anglo center”—“under Mohammedan rule.”

Kirk habitually railed against “Black crime,” claiming that “prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people.” He repeated the rape accusations against Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated Central Park Five who is now a New York City councilman, calling him a “disgusting pig” who had gotten away with “gang rape.” Whatever distaste Kirk held for Blacks was multiplied when he turned to those from Haiti. Haiti was, by Kirk’s lights, a country “infested with demonic voodoo,” whose migrants were “raping your women and hunting you down at night.” These Haitians, as well as undocumented immigrants from other countries, were “having a field day,” per Kirk, and “coming for your daughter next.” The only hope was Donald Trump, who had to prevail, lest Haitians “become your masters.”

The point of this so-called mastery was as familiar as it was conspiratorial—“great replacement.” There was an “anti-white agenda,” Kirk howled. One that sought to “make the country more like the Third World.” The southern border was “the dumping ground of the planet,” he claimed, and a magnet for “the rapists, the thugs, the murderers, fighting-age males.” “They’re coming from across the world, from China, from Russia, from Middle Eastern countries,” he said, “and they’re coming in and they’re coming in and they’re coming in and they’re coming in…”

You can probably imagine where this line of thinking eventually went.

“Jewish donors,” Kirk claimed, were “the number one funding mechanism of radical open-border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions, and nonprofits.” Indeed, “the philosophical foundation of anti-whiteness has been largely financed by Jewish donors in the country.”

Kirk’s bigotry was not personal, but extended to the institution he founded, Turning Point USA. Crystal Clanton, the group’s former national field director, once texted a fellow Turning Point employee, “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE. Like fuck them all … I hate blacks. End of story.” One of the group’s advisers, Rip McIntosh, once published a newsletter featuring an essay from a pseudonymous writer that said Blacks had “become socially incompatible with other races” and that Black culture was an “un-fixable and crime-ridden mess.” In 2022, after three Black football players were killed at another college, Meg Miller, president of Turning Point’s chapter at the University of Missouri, joked (“joked”) in a social media message, “If they would have killed 4 more n-ggers we would have had the whole week off.”

Kirk subscribed to some of the most disreputable and harmful beliefs that this country has ever known. But it is still chilling to think that those beliefs would be silenced by a gunshot. The tragedy is personal—Kirk was robbed of his life, and his children and family will forever live with the knowledge that a visual record of that robbery is just an internet search away. And the tragedy is national. Political violence ends conversation and invites war; its rejection is paramount to a functioning democracy and a free society. “Political violence is a virus,” Klein noted. This assertion is true. It is also at odds with Kirk’s own words. It’s not that Kirk merely, as Klein put it, “defended the Second Amendment”—it’s that Kirk endorsed hurting people to advance his preferred policy outcomes…

Mere weeks before his death, Kirk reveled in Trump’s deployment of federal troops to DC. “Shock and awe. Force,” he wrote. “We’re taking our country back from these cockroaches.” And in 2023, Kirk told his audience that then president Joe Biden was a “corrupt tyrant” who should be “put in prison and/or given the death penalty for his crimes against America.”

What are we to make of a man who called for the execution of the American president, and then was executed himself? What are we to make of an NFL that, on one hand, encourages us to “End Racism,” and, on the other, urges us to commemorate an unreconstructed white supremacist? And what of the writers, the thinkers, and the pundits who cannot separate the great crime of Kirk’s death from the malignancy of his public life? Can they truly be so ignorant to the words of a man they have so rushed to memorialize? I don’t know. But the most telling detail in Klein’s column was that, for all his praise, there was not a single word in the piece from Kirk himself.

Categories Bigotry, Censorship, Civil Rights, Cruelty, Democracy, Ethics, Extremism, Freedom of Speech, Gender, Immigration, Racism

Trump Fires US Attorney for Eastern Virginia for Failing to Prosecute Letitia James

By dianeravitch
September 21, 2025 //
7

The New Republic tells the shameful story of Trump’s decision to fire Eric Siebert, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia for his failure to find evidence to indict New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to bring retribution on his enemies. His Attorney General Pam Bondi has protected and obliged him, not only by not releasing the unredacted Epstein files, but by firing any lawyers who worked on Trump investigations while he was out of office.

Trump is determined to prosecute Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, James Comey, and Adam Schiff.

He assigned Erik Siebert, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, the job of prosecuting Letitia James. Trump hoped to get her criminally prosecuted for mortgage fraud, for having obtained a mortgage on a vacation home, getting a favorable rate by claiming it as her home. Unfortunately, the case fell apart when evidence emerged that she had not claimed her second home as her primary residence.

Trump was furious at Siebert.

Siebert announced that he had resigned since the President didn’t want him. Trump quickly contradicted him and said Siebert had not resigned, he was fired. Trump promptly announced a replacement, a conservative Republican, Mary “Maggie” Cleary.

Just last night, Trump expressed his frustration that there had not yet been indictments of his enemies.

The New Republic wrote before Siebert’s ouster:

Trump is set to remove Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, for being faithful to facts, evidence, and guidelines governing good prosecutorial conduct, rather than fully corrupting his office to target Trump’s enemies.

That’s not a rhetorical cheap shot. It’s what Trump is actually doing, per ABC:

President Donald Trump is expected to fire the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after his office was unable to find incriminating evidence of mortgage fraud against New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to sources.

Federal prosecutors in Virginia had uncovered no clear evidence to prove that James had knowingly committed mortgage fraud when she purchased a home in the state in 2023, ABC News first reported earlier this week, but Trump officials pushed U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert to nevertheless bring criminal charges against her, according to sources.

Nixon tried to hide his plots against his enemies. Trump says the quiet parts out loud.

What are they guilty of? Criticizing Trump and–in the case of Schiff and James– trying to hold him accountable.

Categories Accountability, Citizenship, Democracy, Ethics, Extremism, Justice, Lies

Texas Superintendent Goes Viral in Defense of Teachers, Books, and Public Schools!

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2025 //
10

John Kuhn is the superintendent of schools in Abilene, Texas. He was hired by the Abilene school board in April 2024. He previously served as superintendent in three small districts in Texas. The Abilene board introduced him this way

Dr. John Kuhn brings 27 years of proven experience in public education to Abilene ISD. Prior to joining the Abilene ISD team, Dr. Kuhn most recently served as Superintendent of Schools for Mineral Wells ISD. He has also served as superintendent of Perrin-Whitt CISD and as a high school principal, assistant principal, teacher, and bus driver in the Mineral Wells and Graford Independent School Districts.

I met John Kuhn at a conference of the Network for Public Education about a dozen years ago. At that time, he was superintendent of the Perrin-Whitt Distrist, which has about 320 students, half of whom are economically disadvantaged.

John is one of the most eloquent champions of public education that I’ve ever met. I remember him saying, “Send me the kids you don’t want. Send me the kids who don’t speak English. Send me the kids who are struggling to learn. Send me the kids with disabilities. I’m in a public school and we will teach them all.” Or words to that effect. I’m hoping he will be a keynote speaker at our next conference in Houston in April 2026. He’s the leader we need!

He posted this letter on his Facebook page and it drew a massive response and national attention.

Gosh where to begin? I’m eligible to retire in January, and I don’t want to because I feel like I owe the good people who hired me and this great community at least a few years of blood sweat and tears. I work for a great school board in a city I’ve absolutely fallen in love with. But holy moly do I want to pack it in right now. The burden is heavy.

Yesterday I spent hours at an update listening to the impacts on teachers and admins at public schools of bill after bill passed by our lege. Did you know that one bill says teachers are going to be required to catalogue every book in their classrooms? Kindergarten teachers have hundreds of tiny books. With what time? When?

Did you know that another bill says nurses can’t provide any health care whatsoever and counselors can’t provide any emotional support whatsoever without a written permission slip from parents? The bill language is so poorly written that—despite what it clearly says in black and white English—the bill author sent out a clarification saying nurses can provide a band-aid to a kid who is bleeding. He wouldn’t have to send out a clarification if they wouldn’t pass dumb bills—but legislators have been convinced by political groups who hate public schools that everyone inside them are wicked, evil people.

Did you know about the other new bill that says school administrators who work on the side as refs or one-act-play judges at any school anywhere are subject to a $10k fine per offense for working those jobs if they each individually don’t present a contract to their school board.

That doesn’t apply to me, but I know tons of APs and principals who ref and judge student drama contests. In fact, there’s a huge shortage of both, so if they didn’t do it, we’d be in an even bigger bind in trying to put on games. Again, the bill author had to put out a “clarification” claiming the bill doesn’t mean what it clearly says.

Because they refused to listen to the input of our educator groups—groups, by the way, that they are trying to get defunded because they consider them “taxpayer funded lobbyists” for representing school districts and municipalities.

There is a political movement to pull the teeth of local officials at schools and on city councils and county commissioners courts so that all we have is centralized state leadership. So local yokels like yours truly have to be continually demonized and legislated into submission.

I haven’t even talked about vouchers draining our public schools of resources so those education dollars can go toward private schools that aren’t subject to the crushing bureaucracy. I haven’t event talked about the new testing bill—the one that replaces STAAR with the 3x per year Death STAAR that, like its predecessor tests is solely owned and controlled by the TEA commissioner and is not norm-referenced so Texas student results can be compared to other states, which would keep things honest and prevent the manipulation of student results for political narrative-building.

Anyway, I go to a conference all day listening to this stuff the day after Republican Charlie Kirk is murdered and months after a Democratic state senator is murdered, and I just keep thinking, is it worth it? I can retire and keep to myself until I die of old age. I can just fish every single day. I can travel. I can camp. I can sleep in.

And I get to my hotel room and find some social media commenter calling my teachers “demons” because they assigned an chapter of the amazing book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as a reading passage for a freshman honors English class. This is a book written in the voice of a nine-year-old boy who lost his dad on 9/11 in the terrorist attack on the twin towers. It’s an award winning book. But the passage has the word “shit” in it. And it has a vulgar term that I’m told the teacher was unfamiliar with it. And it has a crude joke about talking butts, which I was a nine-year-old boy and that’s the kind of crudeness we giggle at, so the author was pretty spot on. It also has the word “pussy” but that was what the kid called his cat, but the Facebook post highlighted it as part of making a case that this book was inappropriate.

Thing is, it’s likely valid that this book should be restricted to older kids—17 and 18 year olds. It’s worth noting that this was assigned to only the honors kids because the other passage that the class was reading—also related to 9/11–was at too easy a reading level. So these poor teachers are trying to find something for advanced kids to read, and they don’t have time, and they’re making a good faith effort to push kids to Meets and Masters because they care (and if our A-F grade is too low, there is outrage over that too). And they pick this award-winning book. They decide one “shit” is tolerable. They aren’t offended by the word “pussy” because it literally isn’t a bad word in the context. They get it approved by a colleague.

And they are called “DEMONS.” (Ironically, in the comments of the outrage post, they’re also called “assholes,” which is literally worse than “anus,” which is one of the words the parent highlighted and took offense to, but nobody scolded the commenter for that vulgarity. What’s good for the goose… Commenters also typed “wtf” and “WTH,” which mean “what the fuck” and “what the hell” but nobody accused them of “grooming” children. Selective outrage, anyone.

Who needs this? Is everybody serious? Does everyone just feel absolutely compelled to post their moral superiority online by attacking perceived enemies they’ve never met or shared a meal with.

Our country is no longer capable of living in community. We’ve been driven to our corners. It is barely possible to be a public servant anymore. I totally get why our city manager retired.

My teachers aren’t demons. They may have made a mistake in assigning this book to 15-year-olds rather than 17-year-olds, and for that there are people online saying they need to be fired. Today Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close is likely temporarily coming off our library shelves while we review our book challenge policies. Read the book. It’ll make you cry.

We can’t win in public ed anymore. This is absolutely ridiculous. If I make it to December, it’s gonna be a miracle. I don’t need your sympathy replies, either. I’ll hang it up when I have to for my family and my health, and I’ll stick it out if I feel like I want to. In the meantime, I just want you to know I’m sick of politicians playing divisive politics and leaving local public servants to clean up the mess. Public schools are apolitical entities with the job of teaching kids to think critically and become awesome humans. We aren’t perfect. We have missteps, because we are human organizations. But don’t call my teachers DEMONS while you cuss in the comments.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Censorship, Courage, Democracy, Ethics, Extremism, Freedom to Learn, Freedom to Read, Resistance, Supporting public schools, Teachers, Texas

Trump Mob Cancels Jimmy Kimmel

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2025 //
35

Oliver Darcy, media journalist, wrote in his blog Status about the events leading ABC to indefinitely cancel Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show. If you care about the state of our democracy, it’s a scary story. Who will be silenced next?

The concept of free speech, enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, is in jeopardy. The Trump administration celebrates every triumph in their ongoing campaign to censor speech that they don’t like. They have made clear that they would like to stifle all criticism and dissent.

Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office, January 20, 2025, ordering the protection of free speech and an end to federal government censorship. The order was titled “Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship.” Hahaha. The joke’s on us.

The point of guaranteeing freedom of speech is not to protect uncontroversial speech. Such speech needs no protection. It’s to protect speech that offends someone, speech that is unpopular, speech that is despised by the powerful.

Please join me and write to the chairman of Disney, which owns ABC: Robert.Iger@Disney.com

Darcy writes:

Inside ABC, emergency meetings were convened after the FCC chair’s Jimmy Kimmel threat, with the late-night host ready to respond on-air—but Disney brass ultimately decided to bench the marquee talent instead.

On Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr dropped in via webcam for an appearance on far-right personality Benny Johnson’s program. That the FCC chairman would sit down with Johnson at all was remarkable in itself. Johnson has built his brand trafficking in MAGA memes, misinformation, and cultural outrage; not typically the type of programming a government official would want to lend their credibility to. In any case, it wasn’t the venue alone that raised eyebrows. It was what Carr said once the program started taping. 

Speaking to Johnson’s audience, Carr lashed out at ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a remark the comedian made during his Monday monologue. Kimmel had said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” The day after Kimmel’s comment, authorities released the suspected killer’s messages, which showed he held disdain for the “hate” Kirk espoused. Notably, Kimmel never stated that the suspect was on the right, but that is how many interpreted the remarks. 

Indeed, Carr took significant issue with the comment, first dismissing Kimmel as “frankly talentless” on Johnson’s show. He then went further, delivering a naked threat aimed at Disney, ABC’s parent company: “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” he said. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” It was an extraordinary moment: a sitting FCC chairman openly pressuring a network to silence one of its marquee talents. 

Carr’s appearance set off an immediate cascade of events inside ABC. According to people familiar with the matter, the network held a series of emergency meetings to discuss how to respond. Kimmel wanted to address the situation on his program Wednesday night. In fact, I’m told that he had even written a script about how he could respond to the controversy—but ultimately Disney brass wasn’t comfortable with it. Amid the meetings, Nexstar, the largest owner of local television stations in the country, decided it would decline to air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for the “foreseeable future.” Ultimately, Disney boss Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment chief Dana Walden, among others, made the decision to pull the program from the network while it determined next steps.

ABC then issued a seven-word statement: “‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be preempted indefinitely,” a spokesperson said, declining to elaborate on the shock decision. For an acclaimed late-night show long considered a staple of the network’s entertainment offerings, the sudden removal was stunning, even though I’m told the hope is that Kimmel will eventually return.

Donald Trump was also quick to celebrate the announcement, writing on his social platform: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.” The emboldened Trump also sent a clear message to Comcast and NBCUniversalbrass: “That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”

Carr, of course, was also delighted by the outcome. Reached by Status via text on Wednesday evening, he responded to a request for comment with a smiling emoji: “😀.” When pressed for words rather than symbols, Carr shot back that Status “has plenty of room for emojis.” He also singled out Nexstar on social media for praise, commending the company for “doing the right thing” by refusing to carry Kimmel’s program. The reaction would normally be considered inappropriate gloating from a regulator whose remarks had, in the span of hours, helped trigger the cancellation of one of network television’s best-known shows.

Nevertheless, the implications are seismic. Iger blinked, capitulating to political pressure from the Trump administration. The move sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, where executives and talent agents privately expressed alarm about what it signaled for creatives moving forward. “Clients are texting me scared,” one prominent agent told me in the hours after the announcement, describing a climate of growing unease and concern over what could be next. “This one is really bad,” another media executive texted me, adding that it “feels like an inflection point.” Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner at the FCC, noted that the Trump administration “is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression.”

Of course, lurking beneath the surface are transactional calculations. Nexstar is working to merge with TEGNA, in a deal that requires FCC approval. Meanwhile, Disney’s decision comes as the company is working to complete a high-stakes deal with the NFL, one that is crucial to the future of ESPN. Securing those rights requires federal regulatory approval, and the company can hardly afford to pick a fight with Trump’s Washingtonwhile the deal hangs in the balance. By sidelining Kimmel, Iger may have protected Disney’s larger business interests. But the cost is a frightening message to the creative community and a major blow to free expression.

To a degree, what we’re also seeing is media executives reckoning with the reality that in 2025, with the country so polarized and in various information silos, there is no way to please everyone. Iger’s decision has sparked fierce backlash from the left and moderates, who are rightly outraged by Disney’s capitulation, even as Trump’s supporters cheer the move as a victory. Once upon a time, companies like Disney prided themselves on speaking to the whole country. That is no longer possible.

It goes without saying, but the Kimmel episode represents yet another example of a major media corporation bending the knee to Trump—and it comes at a time that the president appears more emboldened to target speech he dislikes. Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi bluntly threatened that the administration would “absolutely target” those engaging in what she described as “hate speech,” in the wake of Kirk’s killing. She quickly attempted to walk it back, but Trump himself then threatened ABC directly, singling out journalist Jonathan Karl as a possible target.

The irony, of course, can’t be missed. For years, Republicans cast themselves as the party of free speech, railing against what they derided as “cancel culture” from the left. Yet what we are witnessing now is a full-scale cancel campaign led from the right, with the force of federal government power behind it. The same voices that once claimed to defend open expression are now actively weaponizing regulatory threats to silence critics.

And Kimmel is hardly the only casualty. Paramount abruptly canceled Stephen Colbert’s program earlier this year, citing financial concerns, but the decision—coming against one of Trump’s sharpest critics—was obviously related to his politics. Now Disney has benched Kimmel. The result is a media landscape where critics of the president are vanishing from broadcast television one by one, not because audiences have turned away, but because executives fear government retribution. The message is chilling: in Trump’s America, even the most powerful media companies will silence their own talent if it keeps them in the administration’s good graces. It is a remarkable, and deeply alarming, moment for free speech.

The right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group, the owner of dozens of ABC affiliates, issued a press release calling on Jimmy Kimmel to make a “direct apology” and donate to Charlie Kirk’s family and Turning Point USA. It also plans to air a “special in remembrance” of Kirk on Friday in the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” time slot. [BusinessWire]

The Writers Guild of America issued this statement:

WGA Statement on ABC’s Decision to

Pull Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other – to disturb, even – is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice.

As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to – painful as it may be at times – is the freeing agreement to disagree.

Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth. As for our employers, our words have made you rich.

Silencing us impoverishes the whole world.

The WGA stands with Jimmy Kimmel and his writers.

Categories Censorship, Ethics, Extremism, Fascism, Freedom of Speech, Media, Trump

Department of Education Will Violate Federal Law by Joining with Right-Wing Groups to Create a Civics Curriculum

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2025 //
14

The U.S. Department of Education announced that it will work with numerous rightwing groups to design a civics curriculum. It will, of course, be patriotic. It will also be illegal. Since 1970, federal law prohibits any federal official from being involved in curriculum in any way.

The law is clear. Federal officials are prohibited from seeking to influence or direct curriculum in any way.

The federal law is the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232a.

This section says:

“No provision of any applicable program shall be construed to authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system…”

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon probably doesn’t know that she is breaking the law. Why doesn’t the legal staff at of ED warn her?

Justine McDaniel and Laura Meckler of The Washington Post reported:

The Education Department said Wednesday that it is partnering with conservative organizations to present educational programming about patriotism, liberty and what it described as American values, as part of the observation of America’s 250th anniversary next year.

The initiative is led by the America First Policy Institute, a right-leaning group founded by senior veterans of President Donald Trump’s first-term administration. It convened 40 other conservative organizations on Wednesday, including Turning Point USA, Hillsdale College, the Heritage Foundation and Moms for Liberty, to begin planning. Christian evangelical groups, such as the Faith and Freedom Coalition, are also participating.

Called the America 250 Civics Education Coalition, the initiative was billed by the Education Department as an effort to renew patriotism and advance “a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation.”

The department provided few details about what the programming would entail and how it would reach students or schools. The coalition appears to mark another step in the Trump administration’s effort to push a rosy narrative about American history and to use education about civics, a traditionally nonpartisan topic, as a vehicle for that mission.

“We are proud to announce this coalition to ensure every young American understands the beauty of our nation and is equipped with the civic knowledge required to contribute meaningfully to its future,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a former chair of the board at the America First Policy Institute, said in a statement.

Categories Civics, Curriculum, Disruption, Ethics, Extremism

Trump Goes to War….Against American Cities

By dianeravitch
September 17, 2025 //
10

Trump posted this meme on his Internet site, “Truth Social.” He intended to invade Chicago but changed his plans after massive pushback from the people of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker.

His next target is Memphis, where federal intervention has been welcomed by Republican Governor Bill Lee, but not the mayor of Memphis.

Remember when Republicans used to believe in local control and small government? I do.

The meme stirred outrage and controversy, as he intended. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said in a tweet that he should not wear a military cap since he dodged the draft five times. Stolen valor, she said. Duckworth was a helicopter pilot in Iraq who lost both legs when her copter was shot down.

From the web:

She lost her right leg near the hip and her left leg below the knee from injuries sustained on November 12, 2004, when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents. She was the first American female double amputee from the Iraq War.

Trump, the war-lover, posted this meme:

So far as I know, no one asks what the point of this action is. Will the Guard stay for 30 days, then leave? What happens when the National Guard is withdrawn? Will crime return to previous levels? Will the President station the Guard in every big city indefinitely? Is this all a diversion from the Epstein files, inflation, other bad economic indicators?

Categories Chicago, Democracy, Extremism, Trump

Florida: “We Have Accountability for Food Stamps, Why Not for School Vouchers?”

By dianeravitch
September 17, 2025 //
9

Scott Maxwell is my favorite opinion writer at The Orlando Sentinel. He always makes sense, in a state led by a Governor and Leguslature that make no sense at all.

In this column, he asks a straightforward question: Why is there no accountability for school vouchers? Why are taxpayers shelling out money for substandard schools? Why is money diverted from public schools to pay for schools where the curriculum is based on the Bible, not facts?

Maxwell writes:

Florida recently joined about a dozen states in passing new rules that say participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, can’t use their vouchers on junk food.

I think that makes sense to most people. This program, after all, is supposed to provide “nutrition” to people in need, most of whom are children, elderly or people with disabilities.
Basically, if taxpayers are providing $330 a month for basic food needs, that money shouldn’t be used on Red Bull and Oreos.

So now let’s take that a step further.

Taxpayer money also shouldn’t be used to send students to the junk-food equivalent of school — places that hire “teachers” without degrees, use factually flawed curriculum or that hand out A’s to every kid, regardless of what they actually learn, just to make their parents feel better.

Just like with food stamps, taxpayers have a right to know that the money they’re providing for schools is actually funding a quality education.

Yet in Florida that is not the case. Here, the voucher-school system is the Wild West with a lack of accountability and scary things funded with your tax dollars.

The Orlando Sentinel has documented this mess for years through its “Schools without Rules” investigation that found taxpayer-funded voucher schools where:


• “Teachers” lacked degrees or any kind of basic teaching certification
• Finances were so disastrous that schools actually shut down in the middle of the school year, stranding families and students
• Science classes taught students that dinosaurs roamed the earth alongside man, and history lessons claimed slavery and segregation weren’t really all that bad

• Administrators refused to admit students with disabilities or who had gay parents
• Parents filed complaints that included “Cleaning lady substituting for teacher,” “They don’t provide lunch and they don’t even have a place to eat” and “I don’t see any evidence of academics”

I don’t care how pro-school choice you are, tax dollars shouldn’t fund that kind of nonsense.

Some of these fly-by-night schools set up in strip malls seem to thrive because they tell parents what they want to hear — that their kids who were struggling in public schools magically became straight-A students at voucher schools with little to no standards or legitimate measures of success.

Well, that’s the educational equivalent of junk food. And taxpayers wouldn’t fund that kind of nonsense if the state enacted basic accountability measures.

Namely, all voucher-eligible schools should be required to:

• Publish graduation rates and nationally accepted test scores
• Hire teachers who are certified or at least have a college degree
• Disclose all the curriculum being taught
• Ban discrimination

Most good schools already do this. Think about it: what kind of reputable school wouldn’t agree to hire qualified teachers? Or wouldn’t want the public to see what kind of test scores their students produce?

If you want to send your kid to a school that’s unwilling to clear those ground-level hurdles, you shouldn’t expect taxpayers to fund it.
Similarly, if you want to run a school that refuses to serve kids in wheelchairs or who are gay, you shouldn’t fund your discrimination with money that belongs to the people against whom you’re discriminating.

In Florida, some of the worst voucher schools are faith-based. But so are some of the best. Parents and taxpayers deserve to see the difference — the test scores that show whether students are actually learning.

Many faith-based schools embrace science and history. But some try to replace proven facts with their own beliefs or opinions, using “biology” books that claim evolution data is false and “history” books that try to put sunny spins on slavery and segregation.

The people who defend — and profit off — Florida’s unregulated voucher system usually cite “freedom” and “parental rights” as a justification for unfettered choice. But you know good and well that virtually every other taxpayer-funded system has sensible guardrails.

You can’t take Medicaid money to a witch doctor or a psychic “healer.” And just like we don’t give parents the “choice” to use SNAP vouchers to buy their kids Snicker bars, they don’t deserve the “freedom” to take money meant to provide a quality education to a school that can prove it’s providing one.


Basic transparency and accountability measures are needed for any program to be effective. So whenever you hear anyone protesting them, you have to wonder what it is they don’t want you to see.

Categories Accountability, Bigotry, Corruption, Curriculum, Deregulation, Disruption, Extremism, Florida, Funding, Lies, Privatization, Propaganda, Vouchers
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