One of the things that is bringing me great joy right now is the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard. This season, they have gotten the entire main cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation back together and it is glorious!
After watching the first season of Picard, I went back to rewatch all seven seasons of TNG (followed by watching Deep Space 9, Voyager, Enterprise, and Discovery, all for the first time). It had been years since I watched TNG and I’d forgotten A) how much I loved that show and B) how influential it was on my life.
Now with season three of Picard hitting the airwaves, I decided to rewatch TNG. Again. And guess what? It gets better each time I watch it.
Picard reuniting all of the TNG crew has been an absolute joy. The chemistry that the actors have with each other is still incredible, if not better than it was before. I am sure to be a ball of tears after the series finale, but it’s been wonderful getting one last adventure with this crew, almost like reuniting with a long-lost friend.
Something that has been really f-ing with my mental health is the (terrible) elected officials in the state of Oklahoma. Case in point, State Superintendent Ryan Walters. This fool, based on his words and actions, HATES public education. He seems to think that teachers, librarians, principals, and administrators are pushing leftist agendas, spreading pornography, and grooming children. For fuck’s sake, who comes up with this nonsense. This state elected a guy who has advocated against public education and believes a bunch of whacked-out poppycock he heard from conservative media. To quote the great Joe Lanza, what are we doing?!?
Now, the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) Board voted unanimously on rules that are just another step in the complete and utter dismantling of public education. Check it out (emphasis mine) —
One of the proposed rules would allow parents the right to inspect sex and sexuality education material and opt out their children if they don’t like it. It would also require school districts to inform parents of a child’s developmental changes — including identity information — within 30 days of learning the info.
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Supt. Walters then clicked through a presentation where illustrations found in a few books including “Gender Queer” were seen by those in attendance.
The illustrations presented were extremely sexually graphic.
Supt. Walters insisted the media outlets present share the content with their viewers. With the content being so sexual, News 4 is unable to do so.
Supt. Walters was asked which schools the above pictured books were found in.
He wasn’t able to name specific schools, but did say finding the book in one classroom was enough for him to see.
Supt. Walters also admitted to not reading the entirety of the three books, but instead skimming through them.
He said what he saw told him enough and he felt there was no need to read the entire book.
He pointed out these three books and said they were a part of the reason behind the push for new rules involving library media.
Not only did this mother fucker not bother to read the books, he didn’t even know what schools they were in! Jesus fucking Christ. Do people not see how authoritarian this is? And while, as a parent, I understand being concerned about the content that they are exposed to, I guarantee you Mr. Superintendent, that EVERY kid is more likely to discover porn on their phones than in the library. Also, I don’t understand the audacity of people who think they know more about quality education than people who’ve spent years studying and training in that field. I don’t care what you found on Google, you are not more of an expert on education than an actual educator. Get the fuck out of here with that nonsense.
Professional wrestler Jon Moxley was on his wife Renee Paquette’s the Sessions podcast and made the following, absolutely brilliant and spot-on statement —
Just because somebody said some stupid shit on social media, that’s not news, but it is and become(s) a thing.
OMG, he is so right! I can’t tell you how many “news” stories I see on a daily basis that are simply articles based on tweets. It’s fucking ridiculous and it is certainly NOT news.
Here’s the thing though, people post ungodly amounts of shit on social media. Seriously, you do not need to tweet every little thought or post every picture you take of absolutely mundane crap. No one cares. Just stop. Please.
Yes, I know that I am complaining about people posting stuff online by posting stuff online but whatcha gonna do?
If you like pro wrestling, the entire interview is really good.
I guarantee that book was not actually found in any classroom or school. That’s why he said he didn’t know because then it could be checked and proven it wasn’t actually there.