SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

LATEST EXCITING EDUCATIONAL THEORY – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:    A Virginia high school teacher is under fire for calling efforts to make kids behave in class “the definition of white supremacy.”  Josh Thompson, an English teacher at Blacksburg High School, posted a since-deleted TikTok video attacking Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) used in Montgomery County schools, Fox News said.  The teacher called the techniques that help reduce disruptive student behavior “white supremacy with a hug.”  “It’s things like making sure that you’re following directions, and making sure that you’re sitting quietly, and you are in your seat — and all these things that come from white culture,” he said in the video, which was saved before being deleted as is being widely shared online.  “The idea of just sitting quiet and being told stuff and taking things in in a passive stance, is not a thing that’s in many cultures,” Thompson claimed.  “So if we’re positively enforcing these behaviors, we are by extension positively enforcing elements of white culture,” he claimed with a smug smile.  I'm so glad to know this.  I feel I'm a better and more inclusive person. 

FOX CONTINUES TO DOMINATE – FROM FOX:  Fox News Channel's ratings success continued as it beat struggling CNN and MSNBC for the 30th consecutive week in both primetime and total day viewers last week.  From September 6-12, Fox News not only bested its direct cable news competition, it beat them combined in both primetime and total day in total viewers and in the coveted 25-54 age demographic. Meanwhile, the latter channels saw a number of recent lows.  Morning show "Fox & Friends" crushed CNN's "New Day," who saw just 423,000 viewers and 79,000 in the demo, and MSNBC's "Morning Joe," which averaged just 813,000 viewers and 97,000 in the demo. It marked the 25th straight week that "Fox & Friends" bested its cable news competition across the board.  The ratings woes didn't end there for CNN or MSNBC. CNN had its lowest-rated week in weekday primetime with total viewers since December 2019, averaging 743,000 total viewers. MSNBC, for the second straight week, posted its lowest-rated week in the weekday total day 25-54 demo since November 2015.  In fairness, we should point out that CNN and MSNBC split the liberal audience, whereas Fox has the conservative audience mostly to itself.  But still, the power of Fox is phenomenal.  It has beaten off all contenders.  And it is not mean-spirited.   

September 16, 2021