I think, and I hope, that part of the message of Tuesday's elections was that many Americans are getting sick of the racist divisions being created by the left, including among school children. All of this stuff is done in the name of antiracism, but it's actually just the opposite. The timing of our conversation with today's first guest couldn't be better.
Today's Guests
John McWhorter teaches English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He's written more than a dozen books, several of which are fascinating looks at language. His new book, "Woke Racism", is somewhere between a call to (rhetorical) arms and a cry for help -- not primarily aimed at conservatives -- to push back against the new religion of wokeness and antiracism that McWhorter describes as treating black people as simpletons. Here's the book: Woke Racism by John McWhorter: 9780593423066 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
Lightening it up a little, Christian Dusbabek graduated from Ft. Collins High school in 2015, then from the University of Colorado in 2020 with a degree in physics. (Wonder if he knows Professor Paul Beale!) He's now at US Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI chasing his dream of becoming a Naval Aviator. If you want to learn more about becoming a US Navy officer: gof-ods-ocs-brochure.pdf (navy.com)
Ben Murrey is the director of fiscal policy at the Independence Institute. Always a great resource for Colorado tax-and-spend issues, Ben joins us to talk about why you're not actually seeing the tax cut the state recently voted for and how Amendment B, which will lead to much higher property taxes in this state, was passed in part by a bait-and-switch by Democrats targeting rural voters. Here are some links:
Colorado State Income Tax: How to Eliminate | National Review
Is this REALLY the "culture war" the left wants?
Look at some of the stuff the left is saying about Tuesday's election results: Opinion | One Lesson of Virginia? The Culture War Still Works. - POLITICO and https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/glenn-youngkin-wins-virginia-governor-race-rcna4316, for example.
The headline in the second link is: "Glenn Youngkin’s victory proves white ignorance is a powerful weapon".
Dems are describing the VA results as a successful prosecution of a culture war by the GOP. That would imply it’s one version of culture versus another version, and according to people like Joy Reid, it's ignorant white racists versus everybody else. Meanwhile, the GOP elected a black female Lt. Gov and probably elected a Hispanic Attorney General. So now what’s the culture we’re talking about? The left won’t admit it but it’s the culture that believes kids belong to and are the responsibility of parents, and that parents should be involved in their kids’ educations, versus the culture that doesn’t believe those things. It may also be a culture that believes in both the American Dream and Martin Luther King Jr's dream versus a culture that wants to divide up everyone into racial and victim groups and turn us against each other. And if that is the culture war, who would really want to be part of the left’s culture? I truly don’t think even most Democrats would.
It sure looked like the left lost a LOT on Tuesday: "Anti-CRT" school board candidates are winning - Axios
Germany made an enormous mistake by eliminating most of its nuclear power generation
Before: Nuclear Power in Germany - World Nuclear Association (world-nuclear.org)
After: Russia cuts gas to Europe and amasses military on western borders (telegraph.co.uk)
Ghosted by a ghost? (This is an extra-silly story)
'I'm being ghosted by my ghost lover after going public about our romance' - Mirror Online
Well that's one way to settle an election
This seems even more unlikely in a ranked-choice election, but here we go: After vote ends in tie, candidates to draw straws, basically (apnews.com)
I knew I remembered another story like this from several years ago, and here it is: Mississippi state election settled by 'drawing straws' - BBC News
Predatory towing in Colorado:
Colorado regulators cite backlog, orders not to fine in towing complaints (thedenverchannel.com)