It’s not paranoia if….

Created
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 00:00
Updated
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 00:00
Coming soon to a red state near you Further evidence this morning that opposition to democracy has become a feature of the Republican Party. And not of the Trumpublican Party, mind you. This trend predates the Menace from Mar-a-Lago. Will Bunch comments on doings in Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s Texas that merit attention yet again. Texas officials last week announced the state’s takeover of the eighth-largest public school system in the country: Houston’s. Take note, Bunch cautions: First of all, the move is outrageous. Despite facing the same struggles as most large urban school districts around poverty and disinvestment, topped by the double whammy of COVID-19 and the natural disaster of Hurricane Harvey, Houston schools have been improving under metrics set by the state. Even the one “failing high school” cited by the Texas Education Agency for its takeover — which will allow the GOP administration to supersede the elected school board and appoint its own superintendent — has raised its grade to a passing “C.” No wonder most local leaders in the Gulf Coast metropolis think this move by Abbott’s minions has little to do with what’s best for Houston’s 195,000 public schoolkids — 62% Latino and 22% Black — and everything to do with the grown-up politics of punishing a city now run by people of color who vote mostly Democratic, as well as giving Team Abbott a new venue to wage the GOP’s war on what they call “woke education.” “Woke” now being MAGA-ese for nonwhite. Bishop…