Education & Illegal Immigration – Deceptions in Your State and Local News – Top 3 Takeaways – March 17th, 2025
Takeaway #1: Stuck on Stupid
As in literally, our country has been stuck on stupid (or at least ignorance anyway) for decades. The United States currently ranks 31st for education around the world. Ain’t that spiffy for what’s supposed to be the world’s leading superpower? Meanwhile where does our, and the free world’s, biggest adversary – China rank? 13th. Now one might wonder how the average education outcome in the most populous country in the world, that happens to be an impoverished and communistic society (quality of life in China currently ranks 81st in the world), could rank 18 slots ahead of the United States. There’s no one answer of course, but there is one clear catalyst that’s to blame…the US Department of Education. Entering 1980, the first full year of operations for the Department of Education, the average education outcome for Americans was 2nd in the world. Over the next twenty years, entering the 2000’s, we experienced a 300% increase in diagnosed depression. At the same time the United States slid to 17th in grade school education outcomes. Over the next 24 years we’ve fallen to 31st. It’s a slide that never seems to stop. The US ranked 27th entering this decade in 2020. So… What’s the definition of insanity again? We have 45 years’ worth of data to show that the single biggest education mistake this country has ever made was the establishment of the US Department of Education and with it the federalization of education. It is absolutely inarguable. This is why for the entirety of my 27-year career I’ve documented the education declines, have called for an end to the Department of Ed and have dreamed for the day that common sense rather than the teacher’s unions’ political interests, would win out. But of course, from Washington D.C. to news media interests right here in our community –
Takeaway #2: A hardcore fight to keep the status quo in place remains
Take for example this story from WPTV last week: How Education Department cuts could impact students in schools. It reads like this: The Department of Education is cutting more than 1,300 jobs. Education Secretary Linda McMahon posted on X that the cuts are part of the department’s “final mission” and represent nearly half of the department’s workforce. The cuts are part of the Trump administration’s wider goal of shrinking the federal workforce. Critics have taken aim at the Department of Education, noting students are falling behind. A recent education report card found the average U.S. student was almost half a grade level behind in both reading and math, compared to before the pandemic. But those who study education policy, like Jon Valant, the director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, say that’s not the fault of the Department of Education. Of course not. Neither was the 39-year education decline prior to the pandemic, right Mr. Valant and WPTV? So, did WPTV go find an expert who would argue the factual counterpoint? Of course not. Instead, they found another bonehead who said the kinds of things they evidently want to convey. Continuing with an expert from the story: But education equity advocates, including Wil Del Pilar, senior vice president at think-tank EdTrust, worry the widescale cuts will have ripple effects. The keyword being “equity” right? You know anytime “equity” enters the conversation Marxism is the name of the game and right on cue the boob had this to say: I’m not even convinced that we can perform the functions, the basic functions that need to be performed, with the staffing that are left at the department currently,” Del Pilar said. “The sad thing is that many of the protections that are in place protect the students that are most vulnerable. It’s the students who depend on these resources that are going to be most impacted,” he said. And that was the end of the story. That agenda driven bunk is what now qualifies as news at WPTV. It’s also a sample of what the Trump administration and those truly seeking better education are up against as the effort to make education in this country great again is underway. This country has been stuck on stupid for way too long and the definition of insanity is what’s most commonly advocated for without contestation within news reporting at all levels. But it’s not just in education. It pertains to illegal immigration and healthcare too.
Takeaway #3: Stuck on Stupid w/ illegal immigration and healthcare too.
Last week we learned that Floridians paid $660 million to cover the costs of healthcare of illegal immigrants last year according to a report from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. The report cites 67,700 illegal immigrants who made emergency room visits with costs covered completely by taxpayers over the past year. The cost amounts to an extra $77.19 in costs per Florida household. A recent law passed by the state of Florida mandates data collection of a patient’s immigration status – leading to the findings – meaning that this has been annualized abuse of our healthcare system and our wallets that we’re only just now starting to fully understand. But has that been the focus of state news media? Nope. What has? Stories like this from the Tampa Bay Times: Deportation fears scare Florida immigrants from seeking healthcare. Yes, that’s right sports fans. Now your godless, soulless and slanderous news media isn’t only omitting the truth from you – which historically has been the most pervasive form of bias in news media… They’re also attempting to flat out propagandize you. Now, apparently, illegal immigrants, or illegal aliens if you prefer, aren’t just being misreported as being warm and fluffy “undocumented migrants”, they’re just being reported as “immigrants”. So that’s fun. It’s more important than ever to consider the source when it comes to news – and that now firmly extends to your state and local news.
