Humoring the Headlines: June 13, 2014

 

By Laurie Baron

Laurie Baron
Laurie Baron

SAN DIEGO―A California Superior Court ruled that tenure for public school teachers is illegal because it denies students access to quality education by guaranteeing tenured teachers their positions despite their teaching records. Will federal judges recuse themselves from hearing subsequent appeals of the case because they all hold lifetime appointments?

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Voters tossed out Eric Cantor and selected his Tea Party Challenger because Cantor was deemed too moderate. Bernie Sanders is now worried that Vermont voters may reject him for being a Blue Dog Democrat.

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As the frequency of school shootings increases, CNN is considering doing a weekly show devoted to the week’s latest shooting and filling the rest of the program up with stock footage of a psychologist explaining the motivations of shooters, a detective reviewing how the forensic investigation will be conducted, a representative of the NRA asserting that Americans need more guns to defend themselves against shooters, an advocate of tougher Gun Control laws calling for universal background checks and limits on semi-automatic weapons and high capacity ammunition clips, and interviews with grieving parents and traumatized bystanders.

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The latest results from the Terrorist Olympics shows ISIS of Iraq and Syria taking a lead over Boko Haram. What accounts for the ISIS surge is that the opposing team has walked off the field.

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The surge in children from Central American countries crossing illegally into the United States has deeply divided US Borders and Customs Protection officials over how to respond to this crisis. While opponents of immigration reform demand that the children be deported, supporters of it recommend that we build new schools.
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Baron is professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University.  He may be contacted via lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com.  San Diego Jewish World points out to new readers that this column is satire, and nothing herein should be taken literally.