We all know that things are very different than they were in the last 234 years when the Constitution as lawfully amended and interpreted by the Courts obtained. The current regime has very different plans for the country and with the functional normalization of election fraud by the Left, there are limited non-kinetic means to stop them. If they move too fast, they might provoke attempts to stop them. So their strategy is akin to a quote from Lord Robert Baden-Powell in 1896 (yes, that Baden-Powell who founded the now functionally defunct Boy Scouts) of an Ashanti phrase he encountered when he was in Africa. “Softly, softly, catchee monkey. … Don't flurry; patience gains the day.” If they tear apart what we have regarded as normal, one bit at a time, eventually it will be impossible to go back.
I've got a couple of examples of what sound like relatively small things but which have big implications. The first one I heard about on St. Patrick's Day, when I was called by a friend named Randy. Today being March 18. There is a bill in the Colorado Legislature. Remember, just as the Democrats control both Houses of Congress in the National Guard-occupied District of Columbia; the Colorado Legislature is controlled by the Democrats in both Houses. And like in D.C., Democrats claim to not be doctrinaire Leftists but always vote that way here. And Republicans promise to stand up to the Democrats, and a significant fraction of them always end up voting with them.
The bill I mentioned is SB 21-182 and has the title “School Discipline.” School Discipline has to be a good thing, right? Its two sponsors are Democrat state senator Janet Buckner [Senate District 28 (South Aurora) Health & Insurance Committee and on the Education Committee] and Representative Leslie Herod [House District 8 (just east of Capitol Hill) Chair of the Appropriations Committee]. Both are raging Leftists and one of Herod's prime career accomplishments is being the first gay, Black member of the Legislature. It does not sound like discipline is the real goal.
So what is in the bill? Fortunately, it is on the Legislature's website. From the official abstract: First, it requires every school district and charter school to break down “all reports of conduct and discipline violations by race, ethnicity, gender, status as a student with a disability and socioeconomic status.” It also “requires each school district and institute charter school to report the specific action taken in response to each discipline violation.” All the way to the State Board of Education. That addition of paperwork alone would encourage schools to make sure that there are as few as possible 'official' breaches of discipline dealt with, giving students free rein to act out.
Second, “The bill prohibits law enforcement officers from arresting students, or issuing a summons, ticket, or notice requiring the appearance of a student in court or at a police station” which makes schools a formal combat zone. Third, it requires school districts and charter schools to adopt policies to select school resource officers such that they minimize “student exposure to the criminal and juvenile justice system.” Finally, it mandates that “Each school district and institute charter school shall develop, implement and annually review improvement plans to address disproportionate discipline practices by race, ethnicity, gender, status as a student with a disability, and socioeconomic status based on the policy and disciplinary data reported to the department under the safe school reporting requirements.”
Now, just consider for a moment what it is like in urban schools, especially high schools; but sometimes all the way down to elementary schools. I mention elementary schools because I remember presenting living history programs in schools in Pueblo and seeing and catching wanna-be gangbangers who tried to steal real Civil War weapons and who when caught claimed they had a right to.
So, internal enforcement of rules in the school is made more trouble than it is worth. The law functionally requires that politically correct groups can scream discrimination. Law enforcement is prevented from dealing with any actual crimes. And the school is encouraged to not prosecute any real crimes in order to minimize “student exposure to the criminal and juvenile justice system.” Yeah, that is going to work.
The bill was filed March 12 and assigned to the Education Committee (Buckner's) and has the support of the Chair of the Appropriation Committee (Herod). It may sound like a small bite, but it will destroy our schools.
A lot farther to the east, there is another decree (Democrats do decrees to avoid having to deal with the Deplorable serfs) that should scare the hell out of all of us. If it is not squashed, it will definitely come here in one form or another.
This one is coming from New York City. Functionally unopposed Democrat at all levels. They epitomize Leftist mismanagement AND Leftist immunity from any consequences for their actions. And like all Leftists they have contempt for the Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights. Deplorables having unalienable rights against the government and rulers is literal heresy to them. What they do there, they want to do elsewhere, including here.
The First Amendment to the Constitution is key to the Bill of Rights. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Basically, anything short of what are referred to as narrowly court defined “fighting words” can be said and the government cannot do anything about it. At least for the first 234 years of our country.
New York City Mayor William De Blasio (D-Above the Constitution), just gave an interview that was supposed to be about recent hate crimes against Asians but wandered off into a discussion of the “hate crime” of using the wrong pronouns for any of the 57 or so different “genders” that Democrats insist exist. He called for the police to intervene in private interactions EVEN IF NO CRIME HAD BEEN COMMITTED and threaten to file actual criminal charges if the act or statement is repeated. Mind you, no law would have been broken, the citizen will just be told by an official that he is not allowed to say something in the view of the official, and a charge will be filed against him or her (or whatever pronoun) if it is repeated.
From his interview with the NEW YORK POST today (3-18-21):
“Even if something is not a criminal case, a perpetrator being confronted by the city, whether it's NYPD or another agency, and being told that what they've done was very hurtful to another person - and could, if ever repeated, lead to criminal charges - that's another important piece of the puzzle,” de Blasio told reporters.
“That's why we need these reports. If someone has done something wrong, but not rising to a criminal level, it's perfectly appropriate for an NYPD officer to talk to them to say, 'that was not appropriate, and if you did that on a higher level, that would be a crime,'” he said. “I think that has an educating impact on people. I think it has a sobering impact that we need. That's why we need every report.”
De Blasio suggested a simple warning could curb further violence.
“I assure you, if an NYPD officer calls you or shows up at your door to ask you about something you did, it makes people think twice,” he said. “We need that.”
“Shows up at your door to ask you about something you did.” That has a certain Thought Police aura about it.
Remember, no crime will have been committed. No statute will have been broken. There is no legal or constitutional requirement that you like everybody, or have to be polite to everyone, or to submit to what someone else wants as long as you are not breaking a law. But that is exactly what the Democrat Mayor of what still may be the largest city in the country is publicly telling his cops to threaten people for.
They are taking the country apart one bite at a time.