Ted Cruz Makes Impassioned Plea For Repeal Of Federal Legislation That Does Not Exist | ThinkProgress

Another lost-in-the-shuffle but yet still important.  This one concerning Ted Cruz:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is known for waging political battles even if the odds of success are slim. He famously launched a 21-hour filibuster in a failed, last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare. But his latest crusade may be his biggest challenge yet: repealing a federal law that does not exist.

On Twitter, Cruz blasted the federal government role in education and called for the repeal of Common Core:

Federal govt has no business sticking its nose in education. We need to repeal every word of Common Core! #nhpolitics #MakeDCListen
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 15, 2015

Can Cruz “make DC listen”? It will be particularly hard since Common Core is not, in fact, a federal law. 

As Legum points out, whether you agree or disagree with Common Core, at least know WTF you are talking about:

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, known as Common Core, was developed by the states — with input from teachers, education experts and business leaders — and has been voluntarily adopted,,, Common Core is not a curriculum but a set of standards,,, But many states that did not receive funding continue to implement Common Core,,, The RNC attacked Obama, who was not involved in the creation of the standards, but ignored the role of many Republicans in creating Common Core.

Like Santorum, Cruz is not stupid, he knows full well that Common Core is not a Federal mandate, but he knows the battle cry will play well with a group of voters who are unlikely to fact check his claim, but love to rail against the big, bad ole government.

Ted Cruz Makes Impassioned Plea For Repeal Of Federal Legislation That Does Not Exist | ThinkProgress

Homeschooling expert: Sex-ed is a liberal plot — make kids watch guinea pigs do it instead

A conservative activist, who has been billed as a homeschooling expert by tea party groups, warned over the weekend that sex-ed courses were a plot to increase the number of Democratic voters by destroying marriages.

In an interview with radio host Jan Markell, Marjorie Holsten argued that the only way that schools could teach sexual education in the Common Core curriculum would be to waive obscenity laws in many states.

“People say to me, why would they teach such awful things to our children?” she remarked. “If you go deep down and you connect those dots, you see that when children are desensitized to sexual things, that affects their ability at a later date to bond with a spouse.”

“And so if you have somebody who can’t bond, they’re not going to have a stable marriage. When you have unstable, broken households, how do they vote? Democrat. So this has a very evil underlying intent.”



Homeschooling expert: Sex-ed is a liberal plot — make kids watch guinea pigs do it instead

The Plots to Destroy America

Conspiracy theories have been woven into the fabric of American society since before the signing of the Constitution. But what was once dismissed as the amusing ravings of the tin-foil-hat crowd has in recent years crossed a threshold, experts say, with delusions, fictions and lunacy now strangling government policies and creating national health risks. “These kinds of theories have the effect of completely distorting any rational discussion we can have in this country,’’ says Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center who recently wrote a report on the impact of what is known as the Agenda 21 conspiracy. “They are having a real impact now.”

Experts say the number and significance of conspiracy theories are reaching levels unheard-of in recent times, in part because of ubiquitous and faster communications offered by Internet chat rooms, Twitter and other social media. “Conspiracy narratives are more common in public discourse than they were previously,’’ says Eric Oliver, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago who has published research on the phenomenon. “We seem to have crossed a threshold.”

[,,,]
These kinds of fearful convictions are not limited to one side of the political debates, research shows. “Who believes in these? Everyone,” says the University of Chicago’s Oliver. “Conspiracy theories go across the ideological spectrum.”

[,,,]
Experts who study conspiracy theories are uncertain as to why so many national figures are now openly advancing suspicions of sinister plots. “There are certainly people who will take things further than they honestly believe,’’ says Dr. Michael Wood, a lecturer at Britain’s University of Winchester who teaches the psychology of conspiracy theories. “But it is also quite possible that these ideas about conspiracy theories have taken hold in top levels of politics. It would be strange if politicians were completely immune to this.”

The Plots to Destroy America