Terry McAuliffe’s staff, at Joe Biden rally in Virginia, are passing out Toni Morrison books to the press pic.twitter.com/NAHjDFQV3z
— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) October 26, 2021
Anecdote: I got the Book-of-the-Month-Club edition of Beloved when it first came out. My co-worker, another library clerk, borrowed it after I finished reading. She liked it so much she asked if she could pass it on to her ‘not a big reader’ husband… whose reported opinion (it took him some time to get through it) was ‘I didn’t know books could be good.’
If you’re wondering why this ad never mentions what the scary book was that she wanted to ban or what course it was used in, well, it was Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved and the class was senior-year AP English. https://t.co/UVRH7my7Fb
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) October 25, 2021
A lot of people are embarrassed for her son, but (unless I’m mistaken) he seems to be a 27-year-old Republican Party lawyer so he’s probably fine with all this? https://t.co/tR4nDXQxFThttps://t.co/uKPOwUkc0p pic.twitter.com/04riASidKB
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) October 25, 2021
“AP teachers must make sure they teach to the test!”
“Wait, not like that!” https://t.co/izSNd9m2NS
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) October 25, 2021
Kropacetic
Planning a trip to the bookstore.
Old School
There’s a standardized AP literature exam?
Bill K
The trauma was so horrible it turned him into a Republican lawyer. Oh, the inhumanity!
Baud
This is why I don’t read.
Kropacetic
But enough about his family life…
Villago Delenda Est
No! Not Beowulf again!
Villago Delenda Est
@Old School:
At least back in the distant past, the AP exams were the same all across the country in each school year. Like in 1975 when I took AP European History and AP German. Wound up not doing that much good at the University of Oregon, I didn’t get credit for Fives on either test, just a “pass” for the college courses they replaced.
Ken
@Baud: I get my books fourth-hand, by reading Balloon Juice comments that link to tweets that summarize New Yorker reviews of the books.
Elizabelle
Brilliant! Go, Terry Mac. I wish he would give me a copy of Beloved, too.
I hope that Concerned Troll Laura Murphy ad backfires so damn hard.
Ken
No worries, although the Laura Murphys of the world approve of Grendel’s mother’s helicopter parenting, incels have objected to the portrayal of a strong female character.
Villago Delenda Est
BTW, Not having nightmares is probably not a good sign after you’ve read Beloved and your a pasty white descendant of monstrous slaveholders.
AirSpencer
@Old School:
Yes, the College Board test you take at the end of the class to submit to higher ed is standardized. Any tests that are administered by the high school aren’t.
(I’m curious how the AP program would function without a standardized curriculum and final exam.)
Or what Villago Delenda Est said.
oatler
The GOP is still bitching that the “”woke” libs are trying to pull un-PC books out of libraries.
Suzanne
Man, someone should ask this GOP lawyer and his mom why they want to cancel Toni Morrison.
rikyrah
UH HUH
UH HUH
Why is the press rooting for a Democratic loss in Virginia?
Thumbs on the scale
Eric Boehlert
SFAW
@Suzanne:
It’s NOT cancelling when it’s Real ‘Muricans doing it, you know.
dr. bloor
@Old School: Yeah, they’re developed by the College Board, the same student-peddling middlemen who bring you the SAT.
geg6
@Old School:
All AP courses have standardized tests for students who wish to use them as college credit. I forget the exact score you must make to have it count, but you have to take the test for the college credit. Otherwise, it’s just another honors course on your high school transcript and doesn’t carry any college credits.
Leto
Sen Lee (R-Shitbird) grilling Garland over the same thing Cornyn did: why is the DoJ even looking at those school board meetings? Why are they partnering with local/state law enforcement in trying to tamp down threats of violence to school board members, teachers, principals, etc? Why, they’re chilling free speech! Lee just asked, “Is intimidation and harassment federal crimes?” Garland, “Yes. And here’s the list of federal statues (lists a ton of them), as well as the Supreme Court has ruled that it’s a federal crime.” These fucking people.
SFAW
@rikyrah:
Not true — it will mean Demon-craps stole the election via election fraud, by letting “those people” vote.
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: Axios is just Tiger Beat on the Potomac rebranded. Same two vile Villager shits founded both.
geg6
@Villago Delenda Est:
That’s true for all transfer credits, which is basically what AP credits are. If accepted by the school, they are noted as passed and never counted in the institutional GPA. But it does usually mean that the credits go toward, say, general education or language or math requirements for the degree.
Elizabelle
More (good) news out of Virginia: from the Richmond Times Dispatch. This hearing will be Monday.
Ex Rocky Mount police officer charged in Capitol riot seeks release from jail
And then he went to jail, in July. The lesson commenced anew …
His father went to his eternal reward with his son, the former police officer, fired and caged like a zoo animal. No idea what Dad thought about that …
Felanius Kootea
Handing out copies of Beloved was brilliant!
Villago Delenda Est
@Elizabelle:
Robertson, fuck around and find out, asshole.
MisterForkbeard
@Bill K: I mean, we should all be sympathetic. That’s an awful fate for a young man. He’s doubly soulless now.
Leto
Republicans stated position is threats to kill school board members, administrators, principals, local/state/federal officials is just perfectly normal speech protected by the First Amendment. Anything to stop that is just “chilling free speech”. They are definitely the party of law and order. Run those clips as ads, “Senator X believes it’s perfectly fine for teachers and school board members to receive death threats. Candidate Y will stand up for teachers and educators!” I’m sure something could be generated to great effect.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Good on Boehlert. The press does indeed have its thumbs on the scale, and it absolutely seems they are rooting for a Dem loss, or at least cage match. At a time when the GOP is screaming about stolen elections, no matter what the outcome.
The press is not always an honest broker. They can manufacture the aura of a loser. Emails! Collapsing at an event!
Alexandra Petri shamed the press for covering the infrastructure bill like a horse race, too. Her term.
Villago Delenda Est
@geg6:
It’s nice to have an expert on these things around. I didn’t know that about AP credits. Oh well, still have bragging rights, I guess. My AP European History teacher loved to point out those graduates who scored Fives as “A living Five!” when they visited.
Old School
@Villago Delenda Est: @AirSpencer: @dr. bloor: @geg6:
Thanks! Nothing AP was offered at my high school, so I guess I missed out.
Elizabelle
@Villago Delenda Est: Pretty much.
This slow learner might end up in more trouble over ordering the hidden “arsenal” while he was out on bond than he faced for the first offense.
No nonsense judge. More of this, please.
Matt McIrvin
@Villago Delenda Est: I did get AP course credit at William and Mary–they didn’t count toward college GPA, but the main good it did for me was that it got me past many of the college’s byzantine distribution requirements, so I could concentrate on taking the classes I wanted (which were not all STEM; I took a lot of French lit).
There’s been a big backlash against AP credit on the grounds that the courses are not actually as rigorous as the college classes they supposedly replace. In my case, I’m pretty sure several of the AP classes I had at TJHSST were more substantial than the corresponding college freshman courses, based on conversations with people who took them. But it was an unusual case.
Leto
@Villago Delenda Est: What’s that old saying, “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime?” Well sounds like he can def do the time. And more time. And some more time after that.
So f’ing what? You do this to people every single day. Officer Sedition is no different. We’ve tried to do prison reform for ages now, but have been constantly told how super harsh maximum sentences/treatment are the only way to deter violence, and that ideology has been push from the cop population since forever. Maybe next time don’t join a seditionist mob intent on violently overthrowing our democracy. I guess that’s just too much to ask from some people.
Kay
@Leto:
It’s because they’re public officials. That’s all the explaining I would do. They’re just going to misrepresent any lawyerly or nuanced answer and it’s a fake question anyway.
They are threatening public offoicials. There are now tens of public offocials who have said publicly they have been threatened. There are videos of them following public offocials to their cars or homes and threatening them. Is it all of the school board activists? No. But that’s true of all crimes and criminals. Now it has to be majority or 100% criminals or they’re immune from investigating any one of them? It’s ludicrous.
Matt McIrvin
OT: I’ve been hearing from people with criminal-law experience that the story of the judge in the Rittenhouse case was sensationally misreported; it’s common in criminal cases for the word “victim” to be disallowed in prosecution’s statements because it prejudicially implies a crime has been committed, whereas the words like “rioter” and “looter” were allowed only in closing arguments by the defense and only if accompanied by actual evidence of that status. So maybe there’s less to that than there appeared.
MisterForkbeard
@Villago Delenda Est: I was part of the AP program at my high school. One of the highlights of my high school career was that we only offered ONE AP class in junior year: US History (and 6 more in Senior year)
Because it was only one AP class in Junior year, there was a ton of attention on it. After school studying groups lead by the teacher 3x/week. Weekend study groups. Parties thrown by the AP students. I loved history but avoided most of those because I was kind of a loner. I got the only 5 out of the whole class.
The next year, my girlfriend was in that AP class. The teacher made a point of talking about how “There was ONE GUY who skipped all this stuff and fluked into a 5. Don’t be him, attend the study sessions”. She was amused and offended on my behalf and I thought it was hilarious. I asked him about it the next week and he was both super embarrassed and very clear that “I don’t know what you did to study in your off hours and it worked but you are a terrible example to your peers.” :)
Kelly
Kinda relaxing to to have classic book banning BS in the newz to dilute some of the violent insurrection stuff
MisterForkbeard
@Matt McIrvin: That was my experience too. The AP classes I took cut out about 50% of my General Ed requirements and let me focus on the classes I really wanted to take.
Kay
I just love how nuts it is for the extremely sensitive high school student to NOT have nightmares over novels about the Holocaust or slavery but to have nightmares about one part of a book that deals with a sex act. In the genre of novels about horrendous events that’s what upset him. He’s old enough to deal with 6 million people being marched off t to their death, or human beings being held in bondage, as property, but not that one scene.
Honestly? He’s an outlier. He should have taken the special reading list option. Everyone else was having other nightmares.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@MisterForkbeard: My brother and I have talked about that situation, and being a GQP lawyer fits the bill perfectly.
Leto
@Kay: Lee said, at the end of his time, that his staffers went through “every newspaper” and they didn’t find any reports of teachers facing death threats. I guess they don’t understand how to use Google (big tech censuring us!!!) because if you type in, “teachers facing death threats” a ton of article pop up. Again, disingenuous, dangerous, and totally on brand. Garland has a hell of a lot more patience with them than any of us here.
Leto
@Kelly: it’s the “Footloose” reboot we didn’t want or need.
Ken
@Kay: I’m reminded of the representative who criticized the TV broadcast of Schindler’s List as obscene, because they didn’t censor the scenes where the concentration camp prisoners are naked. There are many obscene things in that movie, but the nudity is not one of them.
Kay
This is all you have to know to know none of these people give a rat’s ass about “the kids”:
The students are props for this political campaign. It’s disgusting behavior by the adult organizers.
Brantl
He’ll probably too old to keep up, by then.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@Kay: My librarian friend tells me about a Karen (shouldn’t we call them Ivanka?) who complained that Anne Frank’s diary was too much for her 17 year old little Karen to read. She didn’t like it when friend pointed out that Anne Frank didn’t live to be 16.
Kay
@Leto:
I’m not Garland but the best thing prosecutors can do is stop talking. They get into trouble when they try to buttress “the institution”. Just do the job. The work has to speak for itself.
The way not to politicize prosecutions is to stop talking about how you don’t politicize prosecutions.
It’s the Comey error. Don’t make it. Shut. Up. All Comey had to do was follow the process- the process is the protection from charges of politicization. It’s designed to protect them. They can fall back on the rule if they’re questioned. Comey freelanced, because he’s an egomaniac. Just follow the rules. Smart people don’t like that because it takes away their (dumb ass) decision making and subjective (bad) judgment but that’s what it’s MEANT to do. Don’t defend. No explanations. No anguish.
schrodingers_cat
Sangh vigilantes are burning mosques in Tripura, a northeastern Indian state.
Baud
@Leto:
Please, Louise.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
That’s not good. Why there?
Elizabelle
WaPost:
As in: passed through cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’s chest, then hit Souza and lodged in his shoulder.
Tragic. I want to see criminal charges in this case. A nine year old boy lost his mother, to stupidity and negligence. All of us lost a great talent, and a badass woman pathbreaker, at that.
Perhaps some people who have been around guns all their lives, and so become inured to the danger they pose, should not be “armorers” on film sets. Respect the weapon.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Doesn’t sound like a blank.
rikyrah
@Leto:
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP for the AG.
No lie told
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Sure doesn’t. Blanks can be dangerous, even fatal as well under the right circumstances, but a lead projectile? That’s part of a live round.
Omnes Omnibus
@Old School: I didn’t do AP, but I did the IB diploma program. We had standardized tests that were given worldwide on the same date and then graded by the same group of graders (imagine the horror of that job). I assume AP is similar.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Nope. Sadly, never did. I think Alec Baldwin realized that immediately, once that gun went off.
It is ironic that he may soften his image as the result of a woman’s tragic death. Cannot imagine he faces any jeopardy for being the innocent actor who thought he was rehearsing with an unloaded gun.
But he might get sued up the wazoo in his role as a producer. To see.
Geminid
@Elizabelle: A good armorer does not neccesarily become inured to the dangers of firearms. In any event, the armorer in this instance was inexperienced. And the assistant director who grabbed the weapon off a cart and told Baldwin it was “cold” was reckless. He had been fired from another film because of his sloppy handling of firearms.
Immanentize
A.P. — Some interesting details: The highschool my son went to did not have official “A.P.” courses, because to call them that, a school has to agree to a pre-set curriculum and materials (like the reading list in AP English). So, his school said, forget that, we will have regular classes, but you can still take the AP exams at other schools. Which almost everyone did. My son took 4 or 5 AP exams which allowed him to skip Freshman English, the GenEd (General Education) math requirement, and one intro. computer science class. True, he got no grade for those credits, but credits they were which allowed him to get a semester ahead of his graduation requirements before he started. As he is a young man in a hurry, he liked that very much.
Elizabelle
@Geminid: The armorer was a 24 year old nepotism hire. Her father was the real deal, worked for Quentin Tarantino, etc.
She says she’s been around guns all her life; that’s why I say “inured.”
Immanentize
@Villago Delenda Est: On a movie set, blanks are also “live rounds.” Anything with gunpowder is a “live round” — it doesn’t just mean bullet. But “cold gun” means that there is nothing at all in it, not that it doesn’t have a bullet round. The lingo is getting all mashed up by the press. As it is a western, I assume it was a revolver and therfore, not too hard to check.
Elizabelle
@Immanentize: The LA Times:
It is also weird, to me, that the guns were left lying out on a cart (apparently covid protocol) while the crew broke for lunch. You’d think you’d secure them, since they are weapons. Portable, of value.
Immanentize
@Elizabelle: Reports are that some of the crew would pop off rounds in the desert when they had breaks. There really is no excuse for a bullet round to be on a movie set. None.
Leto
@Omnes Omnibus: it is. My dad was an AP history grader for about a decade. All of the graders descended upon Trenton, NJ for a week to do the grading.
Geminid
@Elizabelle: I see your point now. But she may not have actually been directly involved with firearms much, just heard her dad talk about them. An interview she gave about her first movie indicated some insecurity about handling them.
AP reported this weekend that the fatal gun was one of three on the cart. If this was so, the safety standards on that set were well below industry standards. These practices were laid out in detail by the professional armorer whose tweets were linked to by a commenter here on Saturday.
oatler
@Matt McIrvin:
Oh no, William & Mary won’t do
bluegirlfromwyo
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin): I had plenty of nightmares over The Diary of Anne Frank. I suspect that was the result my mother hoped for when she gave it to me to read. But she thought my having a conscience was important. Somehow I don’t think Laura Murphy and her ilk consider that a parental priority.
Anyway
Shameful Confession – I haven’t read -Beloved-. Need to remedy that.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Because BJP came to power there. This is their “celebration”
Elizabelle
Whoa. Glenn Kessler, the WaPost’s “fact checker” who often leaves us slapping our own foreheads, brings it. Many more levels to the “Concerned Mother” story. Like how plugged into GOP politics that whole literature-abhorring family is.
Like the “child’s” brother invited Donald Trump Junior to speak at U Florida for a $50,000 fee, and nearly got impeached as student body president over it.
I am starting to think this whole episode may really backfire on Youngkin, and remind better parents (and other voters) to vote for Terry Mac. At least it’s got us laughing. There is that. Albeit, serious business.
Glenn Youngkin’s viral ‘child’ ad is missing important context
First of all, I love how Kessler goes there (after pointing out the “child” was in an AP English class):
Also that the online teacher’s guide warns:
LOL at that last point. Both the RNC lawyer and his private equity fund wife were inducted into the U of Florida’s “Hall of Fame” (“a high honor”, the FTF NY Times assures us). And then: his student body president brother faced an impeachment effort. For trying to enrich Donald Trump Jr., no less. I wonder if that is a first, even for Florida mens.
I am not kidding about the “child” growing up to look like a Jared Kushner clone, either. Evidence: The FTF NY Times puff piece for his wedding.
Viral indeed.
Soprano2
@rikyrah: They’re bored, that’s the total explanation. They miss TFG badly, and want someone to put in his place that is as “exciting” as he was for them.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
My forefathers haven’t been here that long and my background is craft workers so likely no slave holders among them, but one never knows about white people.
Ruckus
@Leto:
At least in this case it seems like the gentleman is a slow learner. I believe we should give him enough time to ponder the situation with the silence and calm demeanor one should find in solo lockup 23 hrs a day. Till he understands. That might take what 8-12 yrs?
catclub
Stephen Fry had an interesting turn on this in ‘The Liar”, when the extremely out of touch British professor reviews something like Rambo. He had no problem with all the shooting and stabbing, but the violence done to the english language was more than he could take.
glory b
@Villago Delenda Est: My understanding is that they still are standardized, which is why her protest was so stupid. Anyway, I also heard that his father is a republican lobbyist so they went to the legislature and passed a law allowing students in AP classes to select opting out of assignments and still remain part of the class. Passing the test is on them.
glory b
@Matt McIrvin: Yes, I read that the judge said they could call them rioters, looters and arsonists if they could provide proof that they were.
Generally, dead people are referred to as “the deceased” if I’m not mistaken “Victim” presupposes there was a crime and can be prejudicial.
glory b
@Soprano2: This is the subject of Tom Nichol’s book “Our Own Worst Enemy.” I may disagree with him about a number of things, but he is spot on about the middle/upper middle class boredom that results in this kind of thing.