Ron DeSantis shows how not to run an education system

[Daily Kos Morning Roundup]( A morning roundup of worthy pundit and news reads, brought to you by Daily Kos. [Click here to read the full web version.]( - [Ron DeSantis shows how not to run an education system]( Ron DeSantis shows how not to run an education system, Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post The Florida governor seems to view schools as the battleground for his war on inclusivity and truth. Whether it is Desantis’s “don’t say gay” law or his vendetta against African American and gender studies, his obsession with telling teachers what they cannot teach far outweighs his concern for how students are performing. And as it turns out, that performance is pretty lousy. While Florida officials — including DeSantis — have boasted about the state’s relatively high proficiency scores among fourth-graders, they have largely ignored how quickly those scores drop as students grow older. As education journalist Billy Townsend writes in an opinion piece for the Tampa Bay Times, “No other state comes close to Florida’s level of consistent fourth to eighth grade performance collapse.” - [Josh Hawley’s False Choice]( Josh Hawley’s False Choice, Jill Lawrence, The Bulwark For a guy who says we should do less for Ukraine and more for America’s working people, he sure doesn’t support policies that help the working people. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley has been trending, sadly, for presenting a false and dangerous choice to his fellow Republicans in Congress: “You can either be the party of Ukraine and the globalists or you can be the party of East Palestine and the working people of this country.” Puh-leese. It’s absurd to suggest the United States should ignore what’s happening in the rest of the world or that America can’t handle a literal train wreck at the same time it is helping Ukraine fight to survive and bury Vladimir Putin’s imperialist delusions of resuscitating the Russian Empire. What’s even more ridiculous is that Hawley himself isn’t choosing either option. He’s made clear he wants to back away from Ukraine, to cut off aid. But he has also passed up major opportunities to help working people. What does Ukraine have to do with the unfortunate souls of East Palestine in the wake of a freight train derailment that spewed toxic chemicals all over their town? You won’t be surprised to hear, if you haven’t already, that a very concerned-looking Tucker Carlson appears to have led a willing and well-prepared Hawley into this thicket. “Yeah, I don’t think they’re unrelated at all, Tucker,” Hawley says in a short video clip he tweeted. - [Bad news: Daily Kos revenue is down, and we might not be able to do all we do. Good news: You are a big part of the solution, and small donors have never let us down. Donate $5 TODAY.]( - [Biden’s Biggest Job Now: Crush the Economic Argument]( Biden’s Biggest Job Now: Crush the Economic Argument, Michael Tomasky, The New Republic Events have conspired to give the president a chance to start putting the grand economic vision he articulated during the State of the Union into practice. But now, Ohio awaits. The president is really good at building empathic connections to people who have experienced loss or are enduring worry; he should do fine in that setting. But there’s something far more important than local face time: Biden should focus the country’s attention on the way Wall Street is wrecking (literally) the freight-rail industry. The New Republic’s Tim Noah ably described all the ways that moneyed interests had hollowed out the industry last September at the time of the strike—laborers got Dickensian working conditions, communities got massive resistance to reasonable regulation, and the fat cats got the highest profits of any industrial sector in America. In an interview over the weekend with ABC’s David Muir, Biden mentioned—twice—that the railroad companies make “tens of billions of dollars in profits.” The big four freight-rail companies are hauling in profits of around 50 percent (the average profit margin in American business is just under 10 percent). And, of course, they’re spending a lot of that money on stock buybacks to make themselves even richer. They’re a huge target, and making them into a bad guy is exactly of a piece with the middle-out economics Biden is making the centerpiece of his policy campaign. Taking a stand against the highest-profit employer in America would send a strong signal that he means what he says about sticking up for the little guy—and that he’s ready and willing to make some enemies. - [As CPAC’s head faces sexual assault claim, other leadership concerns emerge]( As CPAC’s head faces sexual assault claim, other leadership concerns emerge, Beth Reinhard and Isaac Arnsdorf, The Washington Post Matt Schlapp, who runs the Conservative Political Action Conference, has been backed by prominent Republicans but some staffers complain of the group’s culture With CPAC readying to welcome Trump back to its flagship annual gathering in D.C. this week, Schlapp is facing multiple challenges, including the exodus of more than half of its staff since 2021, according to the current and former employees and board members. Some expressed concern that Schlapp has given an inexperienced contractor too much influence. One former employee notified the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last month of plans to sue over claims that she was fired in retaliation for complaining about a co-worker’s sexist and racist comments. “The culture was toxic,” said the former communication director, Regina Bratton, in an interview. “From my perspective, he acted like a bully.” - [A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake has devastated Turkey and Syria: Donate to humanitarian efforts assisting survivors that are in need during this horrific time.]( - [It’s clearer than ever that Fox News stars lied about 2020 while local election officials told the truth]( It’s clearer than ever that Fox News stars lied about 2020 while local election officials told the truth, Jessica Huseman, VoteBeat Bonus: Here’s how many election administrators you could pay with one year of Tucker Carlson’s salary. It’s a weird thing to know for an absolute fact that the people lying to you knew they were lying to you at the time they did the lying. But there it is, the proof, in black and white. Still, it’s not particularly surprising, is it? Surely it makes more sense that Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham simply lied, rather than that they really did believe that stuff. Right? And it’s not surprising specifically because while these people popped off on cable there was a group of hundreds of people telling us the truth about the election in real time: Local and state election officials. Even under wave after wave of scrutiny, their reassurances about the security and integrity of the 2020 election have been supported by the facts. - [COVID-19 Origin Debate]( COVID-19 Origin Debate, Katelyn Jetalina, Your Local Epidemiologist I’ve been asked by many to comment on the SARS-CoV-2 origin debate and new Wall Street Journal article. And, honestly, I don’t want to touch this topic with a 10-foot pole. But, I will leave you with a few thoughts: The origin of COVID-19 is an ongoing scientific debate. Scientific consensus has not settled. We can all agree that the Wuhan market was an amplification event (i.e. super spreader), but I don’t think we will ever know how it got there because we’ve missed the window of opportunity for critical data. Disproving the lab leak will be close to impossible. This is a tragedy, but I look forward to seeing the ongoing science we can muster. Transparency is key, and I don’t like how things have to be “leaked” to be known. The debate is another example of false dichotomies. In reality, opinions range on a scale from “natural spillover” to “lab leak.” Perspectives fall somewhere within the spectrum of probabilities. I lean more towards natural spillover, but I’m certainly not 100%. (I’m a ~70% given some evidence released last year.) I think everyone should recognize where they land on this spectrum and why. Also recognize there are conflicts of interest all over the place. ICYMI: Popular stories from the past week you won't want to miss: - [Trump-loving Republican said something awful enough that his peers actually voted to censure him]( - [Jimmy Kimmel got under Trump’s thin skin—so much so that officials tried to muzzle the host]( - [Ukraine Update: Russia's 'BTG' was always a joke, and now it's dead]( Want even more Daily Kos? Check out our podcasts: - [The Brief: A one-hour weekly political conversation hosted by Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld]( - [The Downballot: Daily Kos' podcast devoted to downballot elections. New episodes every Thursday]( Want to write your own stories? [Log in]( or [sign up]( to post articles and comments on Daily Kos, the nation's largest progressive community. Follow Daily Kos on [Facebook](, [Twitter](, and [Instagram](. 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