'This letter doesn’t pass the smell test'

'Not here to play lawyer games'

'We require our implementers to have proper safeguards'

'I want a straight month&;#33;'

If you were a college student in the 1990s‚ you probably had some R.E.M. posters hanging on your dorm room wall. Come on‚ you know you did. R.E.M. was formed in Athens‚ Georgia‚ in 1980. The band initially consisted of Michael Stipe (lead vocals)‚ Peter Buck (guitar)‚ Mike Mills (bass guitar)‚ and Bill Berry (drums). They released 15 studio albums before disbanding in 2011. R.E.M. achieved significant commercial success and critical acclaim throughout their career‚ earning multiple awards‚ including three Grammy Awards. They are known for their role in developing the alternative rock genre and have influenced many other music The post Complete List Of R.E.M. Band Members appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

The decay in American education is an alarming national security threat. Most high school or college graduates know about little more than their sexual orientation or Taylor Swift’s juvenile lyrics and strutting. They are unable to write a single‚ succinct‚ evocative sentence‚ like the magnificence of a “rosy-fingered dawn.” They could not pass the civics test required for naturalization. They do not know the fundamentals of citizen duties‚ including informed voting and participation in politics‚ eternal vigilance over their government servants‚ and petitioning for redress of grievances. They do not know the majestic‚ inspiring gospel of the Declaration of Independence. They do not know the United States Constitution or about the separation of powers‚ its crown jewel finding expression in judicial review. They do not know the Federalist Papers‚ the greatest assemblage of political wisdom in the history of mankind. They do not know President George Washington’s farewell address or President Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address‚ both warning against the bane of extreme partisanship. They do not know the unhappy history of the Alien and Sedition Acts‚ the Missouri Compromise‚ the Trail of Tears‚ or Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America.” They have not mastered the Bible‚ the Holy Quran‚ Buddhism‚ Hinduism‚ Confucius‚ Seneca‚ or Epicurus. They are clueless about Aristophanes‚ Sophocles‚ Homer‚ Virgil‚ Dante‚ Plutarch‚ Chaucer‚ Shakespeare‚ James Baldwin‚ Zora Neale Hurston‚ Langston Hughes‚ John Donne‚ John Milton‚ Samuel Johnson‚ Balzac‚ Alice Walker‚ Washington Irving‚ James Fennimore Cooper‚ Ralph Waldo Emerson‚ Henry David Thoreau‚ Walt Whitman‚ Frederick Douglass‚ and countless other literary giants. Parents should be complaining about what’s not in school libraries and classrooms more than what is there. Indeed‚ if education was made vastly more demanding in reading‚ writing‚ and arithmetic‚ there would be no school time remaining to squander on obscenity or sexual orientation. The survival of the United States is more and more a race between education and ignorance. The new generation is incapable of self-government. They do not understand the importance of process over personality. They are easily swayed by demagogues because their cerebral faculties have left their innate hormonal urges undomesticated. They feel worthless‚ lack faith‚ and believe in little beyond themselves. They are lonely and suicidal. They crave being part of a cult rather than marching to their own drummer‚ searching for truth without ulterior motives and acting accordingly. Jefferson advised‚ “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free‚ in a state of civilization‚ it expects what never was and never will be.” Washington‚ in his first State of the Union address‚ elaborated: Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of government receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours it is proportionably essential. To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways—by convincing those who are entrusted with the public administration that every valuable end of government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people‚ and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights; to discern and provide against invasions of them; to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; between burthens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness‚ cherishing the first‚ avoiding the last‚ and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against encroachments‚ with an inviolable respect to the laws. We desperately need a new birth of education. No student should be permitted to graduate from high school or college without passing an exacting civics test and writing a lucid essay about the principles of natural law and government enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. During the regular school term‚ students should be required to devote at least eight hours per day to reading or writing. Debate contests should be preferred to athletics‚ the thinker to the armored knight. Parents should be required to visit teachers monthly and be tasked to encourage and monitor the study habits of their children. They should read an age-appropriate book with their children at least one hour each evening. Self-government without education and critical thinking is a fantasy. Aristotle advocated state-supported public education for all to foster good judgment and wisdom. But education should not end in the classroom. It should be with us every moment of the day‚ like inhaling and exhaling. It is our deliverance from an animal‚ hormonal existence. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation. The post The Decay of Education appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A White House official told the Agriculture Department to include left-leaning groups‚ including the United Food and Commercial Workers union and the League of United Latin American Citizens‚ among “stakeholders” to help implement President Joe Biden’s executive order aimed at turning out the vote. At the same time‚ records obtained by The Daily Signal show that USDA brass had extensive discussions with the Raben Group‚ a Democrat-aligned lobbying group managed by former officials of the Clinton and Obama administration.  The Raben Group represented the left-wing advocacy group Demos‚ which has pushed the so-called Green New Deal and labor unions’ policy goals. As The Daily Signal previously reported‚ Demos worked with the USDA on “best practices” to boost voting.  The United Food and Commercial Workers‚ the League of United Latin American Citizens‚ and the Raben Group were not on a previously reported list of more than four dozen left-leaning organizations that participated in a “listening session” with White House officials on July 12‚ 2021‚ under six months after Biden became president.  Two days before that “listening session” via Zoom between White House officials and the left-wing groups‚ Raben Group associate Dylan Tureff wrote on behalf of Demos to DeWayne Goldman‚ USDA’s senior adviser for racial equality to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.  Tureff’s goal: to set up a meeting with Goldman to “discuss how your office can play an essential role in protecting and expanding democracy.” Biden signed the executive order in March 2021‚ directing federal agencies to partner with private organizations to increase voter registration and participation in elections. Since that time‚ records emerged through Freedom of Information Act requests from multiple agencies showing that the Biden administration’s bureaucracy has enlisted an army of left-leaning nonprofits to mobilize voters. Critics of Biden’s order have called it “BidenBucks.” They also say Biden’s Executive Order 14019 weaponized taxpayer-funded agencies to advance his reelection effort—and those of Democrats.  Demos long has been associated with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. “Demos and its organizational partners have identified the below-stated agency systems and programs as areas of great opportunity for the implementation of this vital executive order‚” Tureff told USDA’s Goldman in his July 2021 message. Writing on behalf of Demos‚ Tureff said get-out-the-vote efforts for Agriculture Department offices could include online portals; “direct interaction programs”; grant programs “for both state and private actors” grants for governments and authorities; and programs focused on tribal services and support. Goldman wrote to colleagues July 27: “Do we have any activities around this EO [executive order] on Voting Access&;#63; I have a meeting request from Demos to engage with USDA‚ but could use some help understanding the prioritization. Do you have any knowledge of this group&;#63;” In response‚ Lynn Overmann‚ USDA senior adviser for data and technology‚ seemed to raise some concerns in the email thread under the subject line “Demos Meeting Request on Voting Rights EO.” Overmann wrote to Goldman and others: “Has USDA supported voting rights efforts in the past&;#63; Given our footprint in communities‚ I could imagine offering voter registration information at in-person locations or sharing information broadly across our communications channels‚ but think there would be privacy/consent issues around sharing data.”  The Biden executive order directed all federal agencies to develop a strategic plan for increasing voting by September 2021.  The Agriculture Department’s first interim response to a records request by The Daily Signal didn’t include the department’s strategic plan‚ but did include emails discussing what its key priorities likely would be.  Kumar Chandran‚ acting undersecretary for food‚ nutrition‚ and consumer services‚ sent an email to colleagues on May 29‚ 2021‚ that said an attached draft strategic plan contained the “top 5 suggestions.”  The email released to The Daily Signal‚ in which several redactions were made‚ summarizes the top five recommendations as including voter registration at “Voter Registration &; Information at Food and Nutrition Service Program Sites Though WIC and SNAP sites.” WIC is an Agriculture Department food program for “women‚ infants and children.” SNAP‚ better known to Americans as food stamps‚ is an acronym for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Critics of Biden’s executive order allege that government agencies could give a false impression to the public that benefits of social programs are tied to voting.  The USDA also listed “Rural Development” as the second of the top five suggestions. Details were redacted.  Third on the list was “voter registration and information through production and conservation‚” but again details were missing.  Fourth was ensuring that the Agriculture Department’s 100‚000 employees were registered to vote and had leave time to vote.  The fifth and last suggestion for implementing Biden’s order pertained to social media and communication about voter information using Twitter and other such platforms. An email dated April 7‚ 2021‚ from Paul Zeiss with the White House scheduling office sent a list of “stakeholders” on voting issues to Akhil Rakam‚ then a USDA official.  The mail included the mentions of the United Food and Commercial Workers‚ or UFCW‚ and the League of United Latin American Citizens‚ or LULAC. UFCW‚ the sixth-largest labor union in the United States‚ represents workers in the food production‚ retail‚ and chemical industries.  LULAC‚ an advocate for Hispanic Americans‚ sued Texas in 2006 over the state’s redistricting‚ alleging that the new election districts violated the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court upheld the districting plan‚ but found some districts needed to be revised.  In 2021‚ the League of United Latin American Citizens served subpoenas on several Republican state legislators in Texas in connection with a lawsuit over the state’s election reforms.  Other “stakeholders” the White House identified for USDA are more directly related to agriculture and not overtly political.  These groups include the Intertribal Agriculture Council‚ the National Black Farmers Association‚ the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities‚ the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture‚ the National Association of Counties‚ the Rebuild Rural Coalition‚ the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition‚ the American Public Human Services Association‚ and Rural Organizing. A USDA spokesperson didn’t respond to The Daily Signa’s request for comment on this report.  Demos‚ the Raben Group‚ UFCW‚ and LULAC also didn’t respond to inquiries from The Daily Signal. USDA-FOIA-2022-OSEC-02115-F-responsive-record-redlined-interim-1_RedactedDownload The post EXCLUSIVE: Under Biden Order‚ USDA Teams With Left-Wing Groups to Grow New Voters appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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