1.
Last week, the Kansas Board of Regents approved a “workforce management” framework for Emporia State University that will allow them to make sweeping cuts to programs and faculty alike, as the university seeks to realign its focus to address what ESU deems concerning enrollment and budget deficits.
Max McCoy, writing for the Kansas Reflector, wrote the plan will allow the firing of faculty members with only a 30-day notice and would effectively suspend tenure for the fall 2022 semester.
He went on to write the draft is not a management plan, as observed by one professor at a faculty forum on Friday, but a blueprint to quickly terminate employees — and not just faculty, but classified staff, graduate assistants, anybody the university administration might want gone. The reasons for termination are so broad as to invite abuse, and range from program restructuring to employee conduct deemed disruptive of the work environment.
The Board of Regents was also responsible for hiring Ken Hush as Emporia State’s new president. Hush is a former CEO of Koch Carbon and, according to the Federal Election Commission database, a contributor of tens of thousands of dollars to KochPAC, which predominately funds conservative candidates for Congress. Are you connecting the dots here?
In an update in yesterday’s Reflector, even the author Joyce Carol Oates weighed in on Twitter: “If a university abolishes tenure, how can it expect to hire instructors who could get tenure-track jobs elsewhere? In both the short & the long run, this is self-sabotage to a university.”
The author of this article, Sherman Smith, is a 2004 graduate of Emporia State University with a degree in English and a minor in journalism. He took classes from English professor Mel Storm who was called into a “mandatory meeting” at a deserted off-campus building. They were told to come alone and arrive no more than five minutes early, Storm said. A woman let him in the door, and two individuals were present for the meeting: An HR person and an administrator who read a statement about the university’s plans to save money by firing employees. Storm, who started teaching at the university in 1971, was among those who were laid off last week. He said he was targeted because he teaches literature. “The English department is gone,” he said, “I did hope to leave on my own terms when the time came. It’s kind of a personal affront.”
The University of Kansas in Lawrence will NOT be using this policy, BTW.
2.
Dammit, Liz Cheney keeps making it hard for me to dislike her, but she’s not her father. She, along with Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., sponsored a bill that passed the house Wednesday that includes a set of electoral reforms aimed at shoring up ambiguities and archaic language in the presidential certification process, some of which former President Donald Trump and his allies tried to exploit in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The legislation would make it more difficult for members of Congress to muck up the certification process with objections that aren't based on legitimate concerns, and would clarify that the vice president's role in counting electoral votes is strictly ministerial.
The Electoral Count Act was written in 1887 and them thar Republicans do like them so old, antiquated laws, as all but nine Republicans opposed the measure (most likely because that are ones who lost their primaries or are retiring). They had on their frowny faces, to be sure, as they collectively said the legislation represented a renewed Democratic attempt to exert more federal control over elections that are usually the responsibility of state officials and courts. Well, duh, it’s for the national election, not state or local elections.
Anyway, Just Vote Blue. I mean it.
3.
And in the spirit of voting blue, Michael Moore, relentless champion of the working schmoes, penned a love letter to Governors Abbott and DeSantis calling it You, sirs, are the gift that keeps on giving.
The first paragraph reads First off, thank you for liberating thousands of newly arrived human beings from the hellhole the rest of America knows as “Texas.” I’m sure most of them, when they fled the terror and poverty of their own countries to come to the land of the free in Texas, had no idea they were going to a new place of terror, a place led by men devoid of conscience, a state run by bigots and idiots too stupid to know how to a) build a modern energy grid, and b) figure out how to hook that grid up to the rest of the country’s grid so they wouldn’t freeze to death in the winter. And Governor DeSantis of Florida — what a mensch you are! These people aren’t even in Florida! Yet you’re using Florida taxpayers’ money to send private jets to Texas to give free rides for homeless people to go to Martha’s Vineyard! Wow! How do the rest of us sign up for this?!
He went on to say how the entire debacle backfired: We are finding homes for them. There are so many job openings here they will all soon have work if they want it and money in their pockets. New York City has already enrolled thousands of their children in one of the finest public school systems in the country. There’s an army of translators to help them communicate (because up here in WokeVille, lots of non-Spanish speaking people learn to speak… wait for it…. Spanish!). And on any given day, as soon as the city learns of a new arrival of a Texas bus dumping humans on a street corner (or in the driveway of our Black Vice-President’s home in DC), a team of health professionals are dispatched to go greet them and help them with any and all health issues they may have. It’s a beautiful thing to see. Literally, an unknown street corner in Hell’s Kitchen immediately looks like it’s been transformed into a Canadian free health clinic. That’s how we roll up here in our Sanctuary Cities — providing sanctuary from you. You see, many of us have read the Bible you claim to have read. Most of us don’t go to church, but we’re pretty sure we’re doing What Jesus Would Do. You like to ask that question a lot. Too bad you never answer it. So we will — and do — answer it for you (even though many/most of us don’t even “believe” in him). Weird, isn’t it?
Read the entire piece here. You’ll feel better once you do…
4.
Along the lines of ‘what would Jesus do,’ Politico reports that Most Republicans Support Declaring the United States a Christian Nation, and that Christian nationalism, a belief that the United States was founded as a white, Christian nation and that there is no separation between church and state, is gaining steam on the right.
The University of Maryland, in a critical issues poll among over two-thousand respondents (May 6-16, 2022), found that overall, 62 percent of respondents said they opposed such a declaration, including 83 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of Republicans. Fully 61 percent of Republicans supported declaring the United States a Christian nation. In other words, even though over half of Republicans previously said such a move would be unconstitutional, a majority of GOP voters would still support this declaration.
The good news is that members of younger generations are less likely than those of older generations to support declaring the U.S. a Christian nation. I’m all for anyone following the deity of their choice, but to foist political intentions behind the screen of the invisible, white, bearded God that justifies any action doesn’t really smack of the kind of democracy I want to see. You?
Yale sociologist Phil Gorski has recently published a book titled “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy." In an interview with Yale News he summed up white Christian Nationalism: It is an ideology based on a story about America that’s developed over three centuries. It reveres the myth that the country was founded as a Christian nation by white Christians and that its laws and institutions are based on Protestant Christianity. White Christian nationalists believe that the country is divinely favored and has been given the mission to spread religion, freedom, and civilization. They see this mission and the values they cherish as under threat from the growing presence of non-whites, non-Christians, and immigrants in the United States. This is one point at which white Christian nationalism overlaps with the Make America Great American narrative. It’s the view that somebody has corrupted the country or is trying to take it away. White Christian nationalists want to take it back.
Carina Benton, an author at The Federalist, published an article in that rag titled “Christian Nationalism Is Biblical And America-First, But It’s Not White.” Some stand out paragraphs state that the U.S. chose God and Christianity: The United States isn’t special because it’s a nation chosen by God; it’s special because it’s a nation that chose God. The implications are entirely biblical. Holy Scripture invites individuals from every race, tribe, nation, and language to freely enter into a personal relationship with the Savior, to live by His commandments, and worship Him as King.
She went on to promote the idea of a state-imposed Christendom over the nation and its inhabitants: [Holy Scripture] also envisages, from Genesis to Isaiah, from the Gospels to the Book of Revelation, the conversion of whole nations or peoples, and warns of the inevitable harm of instead embracing a culture of idolatry, depravity, and deceit. Hence, we read in Proverbs that “a nation without God’s guidance is a nation without order.”
There are many people working full time to make this happen in this country, including many elected officials (and possibly many more come November). At the recent CPAC (Conservative Political Action) conference Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “When I said that I’m a Christian nationalist, I have nothing to be ashamed of because that’s what most Americans are. We’re proud of our faith and we love our country and that will make America great again. When we lean into biblical principles, you know, is there anything wrong with loving God and loving others? No. We need to be the party of nationalism. And I’m a Christian. I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists.”
Reporter Katherine Stewart, attending a conference in June of Christian conservatives, saw three trends that were alarming: First, the rhetoric of violence among movement leaders appeared to have increased significantly from the already alarming levels I had observed in previous years. Second, the theology of dominionism—that is, the belief that “right-thinking” Christians have a biblically derived mandate to take control of all aspects of government and society—is now explicitly embraced. And third, the movement’s key strategists were giddy about the legal arsenal that the Supreme Court had laid at their feet as they anticipated the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Hey, you know what? Just. Fucking. Vote. Blue.
5.
And in the “What the Hell Are the Masses Up To Now?” category, the FDA wants you to know that cooking chicken in NyQuil, which contains acetaminophen, doxylamine, and dextromethorphan is not the brightest idea.
And now…