The implementation of recently enacted legislation in Texas is sounding an alarm that should reverberate through state legislatures and local school boards across the United States. Texas Senate Bill 3 (SB3) requires that K-12 teachers present “opposing viewpoints” on “widely debated and controversial” issues. This was bad legislation from the beginning. We are now seeing its consequences. Most historical issues are better understood as having different angles of vision rather than “opposing sides.” In some cases, the facts are the facts; although they can be interpreted in different ways, they remain stubbornly the facts. Moreover, different interpretations still require evidence; in many cases, an “opposing” interpretation (versus a different angle of vision) cannot be supported by existing evidence. In some cases, consensual community values preclude “opposing viewpoints” on a particular issue. The Holocaust and slavery offer obvious examples. Historians, teachers and …
Texas Republicans Approve New Congressional Map That They Hope Will Blunt Democratic Gains
Texas Republicans advanced new congressional maps late Monday over the objections of Democrats who argued that the process was rushed and that the new districts unfairly grouped people of color. The new maps shore up Republican incumbents, several of whom won in 2020 by slim margins, but some opponents of the maps say that they dilute the representation of minority communities. “What we are doing in passing this congressional map is a disservice to the people of Texas,” Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia said before the vote, according to The Texas Tribune. “I’d love to be able to say it is a stain on the legacy of voting rights, but that seems to be the playbook decade after decade.” Though Texas’ Latino population has recently grown at nearly 11 times the rate of the white population, the state’s two new seats represent populations that consist of over 60% white residents, the Tribune noted. The new map also cuts the number of Hispanic-majority districts from eight to seven …
Five and a Half Utopias
USED to read a good deal of science fiction when I was a boy. Even though I knew pretty early that I was going to be a scientist, it wasn't the science that interested me in science fiction; it was the vision of future societies that, for better or worse, would be radically different from our own. This led me on from science fiction to utopian literature, to Plato's Republic, Thomas More's Utopia, and Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, and also to the literature of anti-utopias, to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984. I have been more interested in other things in recent years, but now that we are starting a new millennium, it is natural to start thinking again about what sort of utopia or anti-utopia might be waiting for us in the future. There was a great deal of this sort of speculation at the end of the previous century. The characters in Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters (written exactly a hundred years ago) seem captivated by utopian dreams. Here, …
All single-use items could face extra charges as ministers tackle ‘throwaway culture’
New powers allowing ministers to introduce charges on all single-use items - in addition to plastic - are set to be announced on Wednesday by the government . Ministers will introduce the new laws to tackle “throwaway culture” and could see the 10p carrier bag policy replicated across all single-use items such as straws and coffee stirrers, the i reported. The use of carrier bags has reduced by 95 per cent in supermarkets since the 10p charge was introduced in 2015, and government ministers are hoping that the move will encourage a similar reaction encouraging people to use more sustainable items. The move is led by Labour’s Shadow Environment Minister Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, who passed an amendment to the government’s flagship Environment Bill first introduced in January 2020. Recommended Government urged to stop new oil drilling in Surrey ahead of Cop26 ‘Don’t burn our future’: Climate activists light diplomas on fire outside …
Nasa reveals the future of space travel in incredible sci-fi video
Nasa has shared its vision for human space exploration in the future in a new sci-fi video. The minute-long ‘Visions of the Future’ short shows holiday destinations booked through the Exoplanet Travel Bureau, such as the Moon , and Mars . Venus has a futuristic observation deck – looking like an ice cream cone with a large glass come over it – while Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons , is orbited by a metal bubble with a family inside gazing at the ringed planet. Another astronaut kayaks on one of Saturn’s other moons, Titan, and yet another skydives into the exoplanet HD 40307 g , which was discovered to be a potential ‘super-Earth’ that could have a life-supporting climate and even water. The video was inspired by a series of travel posters created by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab, with the agency sharing a series of behind-the-scenes shots showing the before-and-after of green screen technology. Human exploration of other planets has seemingly become …
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It’s time to fix—or nix—the Senate filibuster | Opinion
The U.S. Congress—and the entire global economy—dodged a bullet earlier this month, maneuvering around a GOP filibuster that could have caused the U.S. government to default on its debt obligations. But the filibuster gun is still loaded, and now aimed directly at our right to vote. The Freedom to Vote Act—crucial legislation to protect our most basic democratic rights—is scheduled for a vote later today. Is there any way around the predictable Republican blockade? There is. Earlier this month, we saw what happens when President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats take a strong stand. On October 5, President Biden said "it's a real possibility" that Democrats would fix or nix the filibuster to break the logjam on raising the U.S. debt ceiling. Less than 24 hours later, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blinked, and an artificially created crisis was averted. But action on the debt ceiling is far from the only problem where responsible measures are blocked by DC gridlock. …
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Facebook fined $70 mln in Britain for breaching order in Giphy deal
Britain's competition regulator has fined Facebook 50.5 million pounds ($69.6 million) for breaching an order imposed during its investigation into the U.S. social media giant's purchase of GIF platform Giphy , the agency said on Wednesday. (Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today's Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click here to subscribe for free.) The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Facebook had deliberately failed to comply with its order , and the penalty served as a warning that no company was above the law. Facebook said it strongly disagreed. The CMA said Facebook had failed to provide full updates about its compliance with requirements to continue to compete with Giphy and not integrate its operations with Giphy's while its investigation was ongoing. Facebook had refused to report all the required information, despite multiple warnings, the CAM said, and it therefore considered the …
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Naidu takes ‘YSRCP attacks’ to Amit Shah’s notice
TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday complained to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan against the “vandalism by the ruling YSRCP at the TDP’s head office and district units.” Many party cadres were injured in the “mob attacks,” Mr. Naidu alleged in his complaint. Mr. Naidu also requested Mr. Shah to deploy Central forces to ensure adequate security to the TDP offices and the cadre in the wake of “politically motivated attacks.” He reportedly told the Union Minister that law and order had completely collapsed in the State. Complaint to Governor In a telephonic conversation with the Governor, Mr. Naidu complained that the YSRCP “gangs,” armed with sticks and rods, barged into the party’s central office at Mangalagiri and went on a rampage beating up the TDP activists and damaging furniture and window panes. They even attacked a media person and snatched his phone, he alleged. Meanwhile, TDP national general secretary N. …
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Can’t outgoing CBI chief continue in exceptional circumstances, asks Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Union Government to respond whether it can, in “exceptional circumstances”, continue with the outgoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director rather than appointing an “Acting” chief. A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao asked the Government, represented by Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, that instead of an interim or an ‘Acting’ Director, the premier investigating agency could continue with the incumbent until the high-powered selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition zeroed in on the next regular appointment. NGO’s plea The suggestion came while hearing a petition filed by NGO Common Cause, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, about how the law does not permit the Government to issue executive orders on its own, appointing interim CBI Directors. Mr. Bhushan said the government had done it thrice since 2017. Such manoeuvres would hamper the functional …
Style of governance
It is amusing to find Home Minister Amit Shah heaping adulation on the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, calling him a “better listener” and that he does not take unilateral decisions (Page 1, “Modi not dictatorial, hears all views: Shah”, October 11). The reality, sadly, is quite different, and there are numerous examples to prove this. If, as claimed by Mr. Shah Mr. Modi holds extensive discussions before taking decisions, how did the demonetisation exercise — which, doubtless, was the top leader’s brainchild — end in such a disaster? Again, if Mr. Modi hears every viewpoint and also ‘likes criticism’, why did his party get enraged by the recent plain speaking of party MP Varun Gandhi over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident? Was it due to his “patient” listening that he did not hold even a single press meet in his seven years in office? Which democratic norms did the Government honour when it bulldozed the three Farm Bills with its brute majority in Parliament and, even now, is unwilling to …