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I’s sure you’ve heard by now that Florida’s new school curriculum says that enslaved people in the United States may have had a rough time in some respects but they got some benefits from slavery too! (This isn’t a new thing, I’ve heard right wingers suggest for years that Black people thank white people for bringing their ancestors to America.) Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis was clearly not sure if it may have gone too far and didn’t claim credit for it but defended it anyway. Philip Bump at the Washington Post took a look at why he would do that: Asked about it, DeSantis offered that the curriculum — which he insisted wasn’t something he produced — would probably “show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.” Needless to say, this is not generally how historians view the institution of slavery. But DeSantis’s argument isn’t offered solely as a governor of a large state.

Demographic change is more than race and ethnicity A flurry of articles and polling herald the arrival of Gen Z voters: progressive, more engaged than their predecessor “Gens” and, critically, more prone to show up and vote. You’re either at the table or on the menu, the saying goes. Younger voters are pulling up chairs. Youth turnout jumped dramatically in 2018 and again in 2020, spawning headlines. Critically, turnout among the 18-29 set in 2022 helped stave off the overhyped red wave that instead rippled. “Researchers say the 2022 election had the second highest voter turnout among voters under 30 in at least the past three decades,” NPR reported. The record was set in 2018 when 31% of those eligible cast ballots. Not exactly “whopping,” but we’ll take it. The trends are moving in the right direction. Harvard Youth Poll director John Della Volpe points to “the big four” issues driving their engagement: climate change, gun violence, economic inequality and LGBTQ+ rights drive their engagement.

Pay no attention to those pundits behind the curtain Attempts on the right to vilify teachers and public schools have long infuriated me. As I’ve indicated time and again, it’s about the money. An investor class bent on privatizing public schools wants to turn those not-for-profit abominations into another rent-seeking extension of Wall Street. Teachers and school adminstrators stand between them and their money. Christian right parents are their useful idiots. Chalkbeat’s Matt Barnum cites data that refutes the notion that parents of school-age children are unhappy with their kids’ public education: “Contrary to elite or policy wonk opinion, which often is critical of schools, there have been years and years worth of data saying that families in general like their local public schools,” said Andy Smarick, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank.  “It would be natural to assume that in 2020, 2021, parental support for schools would have cratered,” said Smarick. “But it didn’t.” You might not know that from that narrative advanced in the press.

These days the news is filled with stories about the “extreme”, “record-breaking” and “deadly” heat waves sweeping across Asia, the US and, most notably, Europe (and especially Italy). Rome — my hometown — has been redubbed the “infernal city”. I appreciate the global concern for us poor Romans but I can assure everyone that we’re …

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I’ve written for UnHerd about the right-populist wave sweeping over Europe. Liberal politicians and pundits are understandably freaking out. Conservatives, on the other hand, can barely contain their excitement. But — “anti-wokeness” aside — what alternative do these parties offer? As it turns out, on a number of issues, they are peculiarly aligned with the mainstream. In terms …

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The banks know it. Why don’t more Americans? Those folkloric man-on-the-street (or in a rural diner) puff pieces are as infuriating as they are uninformative. They do, however, reinforce false, often minority, impressions of what’s really happening in the country, Timothy Noah argues in The New Republic. Misinforming tales abound (his mock example): “People Believe Stuff That Isn’t True, but They Feel Like It Is True, So Let’s Give Them a Hearing Because We Don’t Want to Seem Elitist.” Outlets such as The Wall Street Journal regularly hand Joe Everyman a megaphone and let him expound on microchips in vaccines, schoolteachers “trying to turn your children gay or trans,” and the crappy Biden economy that isn’t. Given a platform, uninformed views steer public opinion by making the wrong seem right. Polling later confirms that people think the economy sucks. It doesn’t. Ask Morgan Stanley.

The all-circus, no-bread party Polling suggests (as I wrote earlier) that Americans really don’t get that things are looking up for them economically. Inflation is down — down by 44% — from last September. Unemployment is at record lows in many states, the lowest in 54 years in February. What Republicans cannot afford is for voters to notice. So it’s culture wars a-go-go (Politico): Republican policy riders seeking to limit diversity efforts, drag shows, Pride flag displays and promotion of critical race theory are rife throughout the House’s dozen proposed annual spending bills, including those that would fund the national parks, pay for roads or maintain U.S. embassies abroad. The cascade of social issues turning up in the must-pass bills is noteworthy for how it’s pervaded this year’s appropriations process — and for how the GOP concerns have spread far beyond top-tier conservative causes such as limiting abortions and gender-affirming care.

You’ll note that New Hampshire voters pick Vivek Ramaswamy as their dream president over Ronald Reagan too… He posted this rambling screed from Congressman Mike Davis: They all sound like him now. This is what he spends most of his time posting, however: I guess this is what’s known as campaigning in the Republican Party these days.

Less than a day after owner Elon Musk changed the company’s logo from a decade-old internationally recognized symbol with sky-high brand awareness value to the letter ‘X,’ workers had moved in to start dismantling the building’s giant Twitter sign. The only problem was that Musk hadn’t secured the correct permits for the crane now blocking the street, according to a witness at the scene. Officers with the San Francisco Police Department quickly arrived and started “shutting it down,” he tweeted. The half-finished removal operation left only the sign reading just “er.” I think that says it all. After Donald Trump and Elon Musk, I wonder if we might be coming to the end of the “Genius Businessman will save us” era. Nah… Americans just love the idea that being rich means you must be smart. It’s hard to imagine them giving that up even in he face of such humiliation.

Senate Republicans have not been eager to sign onto Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s, R-Ala. one-man blockade of military promotions to protest a Pentagon abortion policy. A new online poll of likely voters from Data For Progress suggests their political instincts might be right: Given two statements, one dismissive of Tuberville’s actions and another supportive, 55% went against the senator’s plan while only 33% backed it. You will note that 57% of Republicans agree with interfering with the military in order to make a point about abortion. Tuberville is right in the mainstream of the party. It’s the party that is out of the mainstream of America,