The Response to Merrick Garland’s Memo
I open this piece re: AG Merrick Garland’s recent memo on parents concerned about curriculum and activities in their K-12 public schools with this statement: there has never been a more blatant attempt by our government to totally disregard the Constitution and intimidate the public.
The memo, dated 0ctober 4, 2021 opens with: “In recent months, there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s public schools.”
It goes on: “The Department takes these incidents seriously and is committed to using its authority and resources to discourage these threats, identify them when they occur, and prosecute them when appropriate.”
In the coming days, the Department will announce a series of measures designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel.”
“I am directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with each United States Attorney, to convene meetings with federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders in each federal judicial district… for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.”
I’m aware there has been some yelling and sign carrying by frustrated parents at school board meetings, but I am not aware of any incident where parents have been violent or threatened violence against anyone. Garland’s memo does not refer to any example of a threat to the wellbeing of anyone either – yet refers to “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence.” In a Congressional Committee hearing he admitted the info came from the letter received from the National Association of School Boards.
Regardless, local law enforcement is, and has been, totally capable of enforcing local and state laws and handling violence or the threat thereof.
The irony is: there is, nor has there been, any widespread threat of violence from parents of school children. The “threat” is in the memo itself to those parents who are vocal at school board meetings.
They are threatened to be arrested by the FBI for exercising their constitutional, 1st Amendment rights of free speech, of assembly and to petition the government. It’s government’s job to guarantee those rights, not threaten people with the loss of those rights and freedom.
With the threat of harassment of parents by the FBI, the Civil Rights office of the DOJ and the US attorneys, what Garland apparently is attempting to accomplish with his memo of 10/4/21 is to quell the legitimate exercise of those rights.
The Garland memo followed a Sept. 29 letter from the National School Boards Association to President Biden, asking the federal government to use the Patriot Act and other laws to prosecute threats to school officials from parents whom the association identified as “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” The whole thing seems ‘prebaked’ to me, with the letter providing ‘cover’ for the administration to issue the threat to people’s rights.
It not only doesn’t work for me, but it also makes me angry that the federal government would see local school boards, school curriculum and mandating masks for children as part of it already too extensive purview.
Parents should be telling their local schools what to teach. This is the very basis of representative government. Anyone, particularly parents in this case, have a protected right to petition their government for redress of grievance. Telling elected officials, including local school board members, they’re wrong is democracy, not intimidation, harassment, or violence.
Previously in our history it was inconceivable to think the head of our federal justice department would issue a directive so obviously in the face of civil rights. Yet here we are. The inconceivable is now reality. Rights are selectively and subjectively granted to looters and rioters but denied to parents who publicly disagree with the direction and curriculum being followed in their kid’s schools.
If there ever was a time when school choice was desirable, it’s now – to counter the monopoly public K-12 schools enjoy without challenge. Most parents don’t have the where-with-all to send their children elsewhere. So, they are forced to send their children to public schools with many of which they disagree.
Who would not be frustrated? Who would not stand up for their children? It’s not only a right, but also an accepted fundamental parental responsibility – and one the rest of us need to support.
The FBI should not be involved in quashing and criminalizing discourse that is well beneath violent acts – and federal law enforcement muscle should never be used against protesting parents.
There should be widespread outrage surrounding a memo and directive to law enforcement to intimidate parents into silence and submission on what their public schools are doing.
And to think political hack Merrick Garland was nominated to the Supreme Court.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://nypost.com/2021/10/08/mcconnell-garland-memo-could-stifle-parents-free-speech-rights/
SPIDER Bites
As of December 1, Facebook will change its name to Meta – short for metaverse.
The Federal Reserve now projects lower growth and higher inflation for the rest of 2021 than it did in earlier forecasts. Hello! It initially forecast 2021 economic growth (GDP) at 6.7% growth. It’s now at 3.7%. 3.7% would be a great number in most any year except this one – coming off a major economic disruption in 2020. Expectations were with COVID vaccines, the economy would quickly recover – but not so. Government policies and mandates have blunted economic growth as demand for products has increased, government spending is through the roof – both enacted and planned – while oil and gas prices have exploded because of significantly less US production amid higher demand. Add the supply chain bottlenecks and we have 6% inflation with 4% growth. Not a winning formula. The Fed has a target of 2% inflation. It’s missing its target by a mile. No solution is on the horizon unless you count expansion of the IRS as real economic growth.
Yahoo Finance indicates it has 1970’s style stagflation on its radar, meaning economic slowdown coupled with high inflation – not an encouraging economic outlook as corporate 3rd Q earnings generally are beating estimates.
We all know we get vitamin D from the Sun, right? Well, not exactly. Sunlight – ultraviolet B rays – hits cholesterol in the skin cells, providing the energy for vitamin D synthesis to occur. Vitamin D is essential for strong bones and to lower the risks of osteoporosis, cancer, depression, and muscle weakness. Windows do not allow ultraviolet B rays through. It’s difficult to get enough vitamin D during northern winters without taking a supplement like cod liver oil.
What does the electricity cost to charge your EV? The Federal Highway Commission estimates the average American drives 39 miles/day. The residential cost of electricity/kilowatt hour (kWh) varies from 6.2 cents in Wyoming to 25 cents in Hawaii. Using an average of 12 cents, the cost to drive your EV on average at 4 miles/kWh is 39/4 X 12 – or $1.17/day. Plug in your mileage and your cost/ kWh to get your cost. BTW, current EV battery capacities range from 24 to 54 kWh.
The Lewes Cape Gazette and Washington Examiner report the Department of Homeland Security has awarded $457,000 to a Sussex County, Del., company to construct a wall around President Biden’s $2.7 million summer home near Cape Henlopen.
I understand there are still tents, porta potties and free, sterile needles available in major California cities if you’re interested. And, so long as you don’t loot more than $900 at a time, there are no criminal charges. Aren’t we silly to be worried about and paying for stuff? We need to get woke.
The hits just keep coming. President Biden announced a plan to eliminate cash bail for all criminal arrests, in the interest of “gender equity.” Get it? I don’t.
October marks 13 years of my writing weekly blogs posted on the internet – one of my hobbies since retirement. I’ve missed 5 weeks because the site was hacked those weeks. Thanks to all readers, especially long-timers.
