Happy Monday! Weโd like to apologize for the panic we sparked on Friday with our joke about ceasing publication of The Morning Dispatchโand thank those of you who believe in us enough to think we could actually be leaving TMD to join the New York Jetsโ offensive line.
The outpouring of shocked and anguished notes we receivedโin the comments, via email, on Twitterโmade us feel like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn attending their own funeral service. Weโre not going anywhere!
Quick Hits: Todayโs Top Stories
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday the country is planning to move tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus. Aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons are already in the country and facilities for holding the weapons will be completed this summer, Putin said, but he provided no timeline for the actual transfer of the weapons. โWe have not seen any indication that heโs made good on this pledge or moved any nuclear weapons around,โ said John Kirby, a National Security Council spokesperson. โWeโve seen nothing that would cause us to change our deterrent posture.โ
- Honduras established diplomatic relations with China over the weekend, forcing it to embrace the Chinese Communist Partyโs One-China policy and sever its ties with Taiwan. โTaiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and as of this date, the Honduran Government has informed Taiwan about the severance of diplomatic relations,โ the Honduran Foreign Ministry said in a statement, while Taiwanโs foreign minister claimed Honduras had recently sought billions in foreign aid from the island. Following the move, just 13 countries now formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation.
- Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark announced plans last week to jointly operate their air forcesโapproximately 250 fighter jetsโas one fleet. โThe ultimate goal is to be able to operate seamlessly together as one force by developing a Nordic concept for joint air operations based on already known NATO methodology,โ Denmarkโs Defense Command said in a statement. Norway and Denmark are both NATO members and Finland is expected to officially join the alliance in the coming weeks, while Swedenโs bid to join is still being held up by resistance from Turkey and Hungary.
- Large-scale protests broke out across Israel on Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired the countryโs defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for opposing his governmentโs judicial overhaul plan. Citing the national security threat posed by the โgrowing rift in our society,โ Gallant on Saturday had called on the government to โhaltโ the reforms for several weeks. Netanyahu was reportedly poised to suspend the overhaul on Monday amid the demonstrations and a planned general strike, but faced resistance from far-right members of the Israeli parliamentโs governing coalition.
- President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency on Sunday in the aftermath of deadly tornadoes in Mississippi overnight Friday that killed at least 26 people and injured dozens more. The towns of Silver City and Rolling Fork sustained significant damage, with the long path of the tornadoesโcollectively 170 milesโmaking them particularly destructive.
- At least 29 African migrants died this weekend after two boats sank while attempting to make the journey from Tunisia to Italy. Tunisia has become a hub for migrants trying to reach Europe in recent years, but itโs a perilous journey: Five additional boats carrying migrants have sunk over the last week, killing at least seven peopleโincluding childrenโand leaving 67 missing.
- An envelope containing a suspicious white powder arrived ย on Friday at the office of Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney investigating Donald Trump over alleged hush-money payments to an adult film star. Although the material was later deemed non-hazardous, a law enforcement source told Fox News the envelope contained a note that read โAlvin โ Iโll kill you.โ On Friday afternoon, Trump deleted a Truth Social post that included a split-screen image: him holding a baseball bat on one side, and Braggโs face on the other. Pressed by NBC News on Sunday, Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina said he was not the former presidentโs โsocial media consultantโ and admitted the post was โill-advised.โ
- Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois on Sunday endorsed Paul Vallas in Chicagoโs mayoral race, citing his โfocus on safer neighborhoods, improved schools, and economic growth.โ Vallas, a former chief executive of Chicago Public Schools, will face off against Brandon Johnson, a Cook County Board member, in a runoff election on April 4.
- DirecTV and Newsmax reached an agreement last week for the satellite television company to carry Newsmax in its content packages, resolving a months-long dispute that Newsmax previously characterized as โpolitical discriminationโ but the companyโs CEO Chris Ruddy admitted Friday was โalways based on financial considerations.โ
Republicans Bring โParental Rightsโ Front and Center
In 2022, legislators in Utah passed a law banning โpornographic or indecentโ content in schools. Parents have since used it to challenge books they consider inappropriate, including ones touching on controversial racial, sexual, and gendered themes. Maia Kobabeโs graphic memoir, Gender Queer, is a frequent target.
But late last year, one Utah parent proposed a new candidate for removal. โIncest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation,โ the parent wrote, listing the bookโs supposed content. โItโs pornographic by our new definition.โ
The text in question? The Bible, of course.
Utahโs law is just one of many such statutes passed since 2021 in an effort to provide parents with more knowledge ofโand control overโwhatโs going on inside their childrenโs schools. In the name of whatโs become known as โparental rights,โ conservative-led states across the country are advancing legislation placing restrictions on how teachers can discuss hot-button issues and what materials they can cover. On Friday, House Republicans took this effort national, voting 213-208 to advance the โParents Bill of Rights Actโ over Democratic objections. The legislationโwhich mirrors many of these state initiativesโhas no chance of becoming law given the makeup of the Senate and whoโs in the White House, but it provides a good look into an issue thatโs likely to drive conversation on the right for years to come.
The idea of parents playing an integral role in their childrenโs education is nothing new, of course, but this latest Republican push began during the pandemic, when fights over in-person learning, masking, and curriculum sparked engagement in growing parents groups. Moms for Liberty, for example, was founded in Florida in 2021 and now boasts more than 200 chapters nationwide and some serious political sway. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin rode to victory in 2021 with his โparents matterโ sloganโand his opponentโs gaffe insinuating the oppositeโand the movement hasnโt slowed down despite Republicansโ disappointing midterm results. By late 2022, 25 states had passed a combined 64 laws over the previous three years tackling issues from transgender studentsโ participation in sports to discussions of race and sexuality in classrooms, according to a Washington Post analysis.
That push has continued into 2023, as many states weigh bills requiring schools to warn parents about more types of content and give them opportunities to opt their children out of lessons. Last week, for example, GOP West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed into law a bill requiring public schools to post curricula online at the beginning of each school year or within 30 days of adoption. On Friday, Idaho lawmakers advanced legislation that would require libraries to โprotect minors from harmful materialsโ and create a review process for library resources deemed offensive.
Other states passed similar legislation last year, and while the details vary from classroom to classroom, thereโs no question theyโre encouraging parents and teachers to reconsider whatโs on the shelves. Floridaโs recently established limits on curriculum and booksโtouted as preventing divisive or inappropriate instruction on race or genderโhave reportedly subjected more than one million books to review. The Utah parent challenging the Bibleโs inclusion in school libraries reportedly did so to highlight what the parent considers the excessive scope of the stateโs new content rules.
There are also bills limiting transgender studentsโ use of gendered facilities and how or whether teachers can use studentsโ preferred pronouns. New Hampshireโs House narrowly voted down a measure that would have required teachers to tell parents if a student wanted to switch his or her pronouns, but a similar measureโrequiring teachers to disclose the change if parents askโpassed the Senate and is headed for a House vote. Floridaโs House Bill 1223 would build on legislation passed last year, expanding a ban on instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade to kindergarten through eighth grade, and blocking school employees and students from using a personโs preferred pronouns if they donโt match the personโs biological sex. โWe need to focus on the basics of academics,โ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis argued earlier this month. โWe need to focus on reading, writing, math, all of these different things. That is what unites parents and unites us.โ
As the migration away from public schools continues apace, initiatives helping parents pay for private education or homeschooling have also spread. So far this year, according to the think tank FutureEd, at least 32 states have proposed bills creating or expanding school-choice programs. Not every proposed measure succeeds, of courseโin Virginia, for instance, four education savings account bills flopped.โbut others have made it through. Utahโs education savings account program will allow parents to apply for up to $8,000 per student for around 5,000 scholarships. In Iowa and Arkansas, new school-choice funding will start by prioritizing low-income families before expanding to include more students. The โTexas Parental Bill of Rightsโ would offer $8,000 a year to cover homeschool or private school expenses.
The House bill passed Friday is the national culmination of these state-level initiatives. The โParents Bill of Rights Actโ would require schools to publish their curricula for perusal, send parents lists of whatโs in the school library, and notify them of any violence on school grounds. The GOP likely plans to use Democratsโ votes against the bill as a cudgel to accuse them of opposing parentsโ influence over their childrenโs educationโthough five Republican representatives also opposed the bill, arguing either that it went too far in targeting transgender students or offered too much federal control of education.
Such positioning on education will almost assuredly play a significant role in Republican primaries ahead of the 2024 election. As weโve reported before, DeSantisโlikely former President Trumpโs chief opponent for the nominationโhas led the way on education battles, spearheading limits on the discussion of race and gender in schools and opposing an Advanced Placement course on African American studies. Trump has taken the hint, proposing his own education-related measures like allowing parents to vote to choose school principals. At an Iowa rally earlier this month, Trumpโs promise to โbring back parental rights into our schoolsโ won loud applause. โIโm saying, โparents, you have rights,โโ he marveled. โAnd the place goes crazy.โ
Worth Your Time
- Tim Albertaโs latest for The Atlantic focuses on the voting bloc that could become Doanld Trumpโs greatest vulnerability in next yearโs Republican primary: Evangelical voters. โDesperate to dodge culpability for the Republican Partyโs poor performance in the November midterm elections, Trump blamed the โabortion issue,โโ Alberta notes. โHe suggested that moderate voters had been spooked by some of the partyโs restrictive proposals, while pro-lifers, after half a century of intense political engagement, had grown complacent following the Dobbs ruling. This scapegoating didnโt go over well with social-conservative leaders. For many of them, the transaction they had entered into with Trump in 2016โtheir support in exchange for his policiesโwas validated by the fall of Roe. Yet now the former president was distancing himself from the anti-abortion movement while refusing to accept responsibility for promoting bad candidates who lost winnable races. It felt like betrayal.โ
- For the Wall Street Journalโs weekend interview feature, James Taranto spoke with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp about his handling of COVID-19, his willingness to stick it to corporations, and how the 2024 GOP field is shaping up. โโI have a great relationship with Pence and a really good relationship with DeSantis,โ said Kemp, who insisted he harbored no plans of his own to run in 2024. โChris Christie came and campaigned for us multiple times, along with a lot of other governors. I know Tim Scott real well. Nikki Haley came and campaigned for us. Iโve known her over the years, and Iโve gotten to meet [Mike] Pompeo a couple of times. So Iโm kind of like everybody else, Iโm just seeing how things are playing out and keeping an open mind.โ One candidate is missing from that list. โYeah, I havenโt heard from Trump.โโ
- Gordon Moore, the co-founder and former chairman of Intel, died on Friday at the age of 94. โAlong with a handful of colleagues, Mr. Moore could claim credit for bringing laptop computers to hundreds of millions of people and embedding microprocessors into everything from bathroom scales, toasters and toy fire engines to cellphones, cars and jets,โ Holcomb Noble and Katie Hafner write in an obituary reflecting on Mooreโs life and work. โIn 1965, in what became known as Mooreโs Law, he predicted that the number of transistors that could be placed on a silicon chip would double at regular intervals for the foreseeable future, thus increasing the data-processing power of computers exponentially. He added two corollaries later: The evolving technology would make computers more and more expensive to build, yet consumers would be charged less and less for them because so many would be sold. Mooreโs Law held up for decades.โ But even Moore recognized physical limitations would eventually bring his eponymous law to its end. โIt canโt continue forever,โ he said in a 2005 interview with Techworld magazine.
Presented Without Comment
Also Presented Without Comment
Also Also Presented Without Comment
March Madness Update
After another incredible weekend of gamesโincluding Creightonโs heartbreaking loss to San Diego StateโTwadsworth13 and OkieStrat are tied for first place in the TMD Pool, followed by SamwichesSam, Stevemwoodward, and potter.r.d.
All of the top-five bracketsโ winners have been eliminated, however, so readers who picked UConnโMFPRanger, Definitely Wrong, Alex_Mayer, Gatorsarousโcould come storming back if the Huskies win it all.
Toeing the Company Line
- In the newsletters: Chris dissects (๐) the standard Republican reaction to a Trump scandal, Nick looks into (๐) a story involving the statue of David and a fired principal, and Jonah tackles the โmetaphorical orgy of fake rebelliousness, elite anti-elitism, the riot of exceedingly profitable and comfortable anti-establishmentarianism, suburban radicalism, and institutionalized transgressivenessโ plaguing American politics today.
- On the podcasts: Jonah waxes poetic on the president of West Texas A&Mโs decision to cancel a drag show on campus, and Sarah talks to David Pietrusza about his book, 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents. Plus: For more information about how to subscribe to members-only podcasts like High Steaks, click here.
- On the site over the weekend: Alec panned Netflixโs attempt to recast Elvis as an animated secret agent, Guy Denton reviewed Willem Dafoeโs latest movie, and Peter Meilaender filled readers in on a book about the Greek classics and Chinese nationalism.
- On the site today: Harvest covers Bidenโs broken promises to expand the countryโs refugee program and Chris argues that universities should take a page from the late Charles Krauthammer by engaging with the best arguments of their ideological opponents.
Let Us Know
What role do you think parents should have in shaping what their children are taught in public schools?
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