Latest news with #CriticalRaceTheory
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
From MAHA to TACO: A Guide to the Acronyms of Trump's Second Term
President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 28, 2025. Credit - Chris Kleponis—CNP/Bloomberg/Getty Images You may be familiar with POTUS (President of the United States), MAGA (Make America Great Again), and GOP (Grand Old Party), but there's a new acronym that President Donald Trump isn't a fan of. Short for 'Trump Always Chickens Out,' Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the phrase shortened as 'TACO' to describe the President's pattern of making major disruptive policy moves, such as levying hefty tariffs on effectively every country in the world, before reversing course after the moves cause panic and economic shock. The shorthand, which has been picked up by others, has clearly ruffled Trump's feathers. 'Don't ever say what you said, that's a nasty question,' Trump shot back when a reporter asked him about 'TACO' on Wednesday. 'To me that's the nastiest question.' 'You call that chickening out?' Trump said. 'It's called negotiation,' adding that he 'usually [has] the opposite problem—they say, 'you're too tough!'' Trump's apparent sensitivity will likely only ensure the acronym's longevity among critics. 'I want to be famous for my dumb joke, definitely, but I also don't want the President to ruin the U.S. economy," Armstrong told Axios. 'And so I'd like to have both of those things, if at all possible.' But TACO isn't the only acronym to take off in Trump's second term. Here's a guide to some of the others to know. 'DEI is DOA,' Trump's son Don Jr. posted on X in March, referencing the medical acronym for 'dead on arrival.' It's a common refrain among Republicans and supporters of the President's push to dismantle diversity-related policies across the federal government and private sector. Whereas Trump's first-term Administration focused most of its attacks on 'CRT' (Critical Race Theory), his 2024 campaign and current Administration have made 'DEI' a main target and scapegoat. What started in the 2010s as a nickname for an internet-viral shiba inu and morphed into a 'meme coin' became an official initialism in November when then-President-elect Trump announced the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk. The initiative, aimed at slashing federal spending, has overseen mass layoffs and sweeping cuts to government programs in the early months of Trump's second term. Musk, who announced on Wednesday that he is exiting the Trump Administration, has long hyped up the Doge meme, including naming a SpaceX satellite 'DOGE-1,' and boosted the cryptocurrency, including when he changed the then-Twitter logo to the dog-image meme. Amid a dispute over deportations with Colombia's President Gustavo Petro in January, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself wearing a fedora with the letters FAFO in red on a sign next to him. 'This is awesome,' Musk said, resharing the image on X. Trump had previously reshared a post by right-wing internet troll that said '5 days until FAFO' alongside an image of Trump, on Jan. 15, five days before Trump's second-term inauguration. The acronym, which stands for 'f-ck around, find out,' has been adopted 'as a slogan' by far-right groups, according to Merriam Webster, but is also widely used across the ideological spectrum 'as an expression of schadenfreude' about someone receiving negative consequences for their actions. The Times of London dubbed it 'Fafo diplomacy' when Trump pressured Colombia to quickly reverse its opposition to accepting deportation flights after Trump threatened to hike tariffs on the nation's exports. MAHA is a spin on Trump's tried-and-tested slogan 'Make America Great Again'—only with a focus on health. It took off in 2024 after Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—known for his fringe and sometimes disinformation-based views on health including vaccine skepticism—suspended his presidential campaign and threw his support behind Donald Trump. Trump nominated Kennedy to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Kennedy has since continued to use the slogan for government initiatives. 'Are you or your loved ones suffering from illnesses such as TDS, also known as Trump Derangement Syndrome?' begins a satirical ad released by Kennedy's former running mate, Nicole Shanahan, in late August, days after Kennedy suspended his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. (Trump even promoted the video on his Truth Social platform.) 'It's a horrible, horrible terminal disease. It destroys the mind before the body, but the body eventually goes,' Trump said of TDS at a Moms for Liberty event in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 30, 2024. While the phrase originated during Trump's first presidential campaign in 2016, TDS has become an increasingly popular diagnosis Trump and his supporters like to give his critics. Five Republican state senators in Minnesota introduced a bill in March to codify TDS and categorize 'verbal expressions of intense hostility toward' Trump as a mental illness. The bill defines TDS as 'the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies' of Trump. It also lists symptoms as 'Trump-induced general hysteria, which produces an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump's behavior.' 'This is possibly the worst bill in Minnesota history,' Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, a Democrat, said. 'If it is meant as a joke, it is a waste of staff time and taxpayer resources that trivializes serious mental health issues. If the authors are serious, it is an affront to free speech and an expression of a dangerous level of loyalty to an authoritarian president.' Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio, on May 15 also introduced a bill in Congress to direct the National Institutes of Health to study TDS. 'Instead of funding ludicrous studies such as giving methamphetamine to cats or teaching monkeys to gamble for their drinking water,' he said, 'the NIH should use that funding to research issues that are relevant to the real world.' Contact us at letters@
Time Magazine
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
From MAHA to TACO—A Guide to the Acronyms of Trump's Second Term
You may be familiar with POTUS (President of the United States), MAGA (Make America Great Again), and GOP (Grand Old Party), but there's a new acronym that President Donald Trump isn't a fan of. Short for 'Trump Always Chickens Out,' Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the phrase shortened as 'TACO' to describe the President's pattern of making major disruptive policy moves, such as levying hefty tariffs on effectively every country in the world, before reversing course after the moves cause panic and economic shock. The shorthand, which has been picked up by others, has clearly ruffled Trump's feathers. 'Don't ever say what you said, that's a nasty question,' Trump shot back when a reporter asked him about 'TACO' on Wednesday. 'To me that's the nastiest question.' 'You call that chickening out?' Trump said. 'It's called negotiation,' adding that he 'usually [has] the opposite problem—they say, 'you're too tough!'' Trump's apparent sensitivity will likely only ensure the acronym's longevity among critics. 'I want to be famous for my dumb joke, definitely, but I also don't want the President to ruin the U.S. economy," Armstrong told Axios. 'And so I'd like to have both of those things, if at all possible.' But TACO isn't the only acronym to take off in Trump's second term. Here's a guide to some of the others to know. DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) 'DEI is DOA,' Trump's son Don Jr. posted on X in March, referencing the medical acronym for 'dead on arrival.' It's a common refrain among Republicans and supporters of the President's push to dismantle diversity-related policies across the federal government and private sector. Whereas Trump's first-term Administration focused most of its attacks on 'CRT' (Critical Race Theory), his 2024 campaign and current Administration have made 'DEI' a main target and scapegoat. DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) What started in the 2010s as a nickname for an internet-viral shiba inu and morphed into a ' meme coin ' became an official initialism in November when then-President-elect Trump announced the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk. The initiative, aimed at slashing federal spending, has overseen mass layoffs and sweeping cuts to government programs in the early months of Trump's second term. Musk, who announced on Wednesday that he is exiting the Trump Administration, has long hyped up the Doge meme, including naming a SpaceX satellite ' DOGE-1,' and boosted the cryptocurrency, including when he changed the then-Twitter logo to the dog-image meme. FAFO (F-ck Around, Find Out) Amid a dispute over deportations with Colombia's President Gustavo Petro in January, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself wearing a fedora with the letters FAFO in red on a sign next to him. 'This is awesome,' Musk said, resharing the image on X. Trump had previously reshared a post by right-wing internet troll that said '5 days until FAFO' alongside an image of Trump, on Jan. 15, five days before Trump's second-term inauguration. The acronym, which stands for 'f-ck around, find out,' has been adopted 'as a slogan' by far-right groups, according to Merriam Webster, but is also widely used across the ideological spectrum 'as an expression of schadenfreude' about someone receiving negative consequences for their actions. The Times of London dubbed it ' Fafo diplomacy ' when Trump pressured Colombia to quickly reverse its opposition to accepting deportation flights after Trump threatened to hike tariffs on the nation's exports. MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) MAHA is a spin on Trump's tried-and-tested slogan 'Make America Great Again'—only with a focus on health. It took off in 2024 after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. —known for his fringe and sometimes disinformation-based views on health including vaccine skepticism —suspended his presidential campaign and threw his support behind Donald Trump. Trump nominated Kennedy to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Kennedy has since continued to use the slogan for government initiatives. TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) 'Are you or your loved ones suffering from illnesses such as TDS, also known as Trump Derangement Syndrome?' begins a satirical ad released by Kennedy's former running mate, Nicole Shanahan, in late August, days after Kennedy suspended his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. (Trump even promoted the video on his Truth Social platform.) 'It's a horrible, horrible terminal disease. It destroys the mind before the body, but the body eventually goes,' Trump said of TDS at a Moms for Liberty event in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 30, 2024. While the phrase originated during Trump's first presidential campaign in 2016, TDS has become an increasingly popular diagnosis Trump and his supporters like to give his critics. Five Republican state senators in Minnesota introduced a bill in March to codify TDS and categorize 'verbal expressions of intense hostility toward' Trump as a mental illness. The bill defines TDS as 'the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies' of Trump. It also lists symptoms as 'Trump-induced general hysteria, which produces an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump's behavior.' 'This is possibly the worst bill in Minnesota history,' Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, a Democrat, said. 'If it is meant as a joke, it is a waste of staff time and taxpayer resources that trivializes serious mental health issues. If the authors are serious, it is an affront to free speech and an expression of a dangerous level of loyalty to an authoritarian president.' Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio, on May 15 also introduced a bill in Congress to direct the National Institutes of Health to study TDS. 'Instead of funding ludicrous studies such as giving methamphetamine to cats or teaching monkeys to gamble for their drinking water,' he said, 'the NIH should use that funding to research issues that are relevant to the real world.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sen. Tommy Tuberville running for governor of Alabama
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — In another life, Sen. Tommy Tuberville was one of the top college football coaches in Alabama. Now, he's going for an even bigger job in the state: governor. Tuberville, who has represented Alabama in the United States Senate since 2021, announced his campaign for governor Tuesday afternoon during an appearance on 'The Will Cain Show' on Fox News, where Cain initially mispronounced Tuberville's name as 'Tooberville' and the Grateful Dead's 'Alabama Getaway' played in the background. The announcement came as Tuberville, who appeared during a rally at Byron's Smokehouse in Auburn, launched a website marking his campaign. 'My record over the last four years in Washington has proven that I'm not afraid to say it like it is. I believe, as Alabamians do, that men are men and women are women. Allowing men to compete in women's sports is wrong,' Tuberville wrote on his website. 'Poisonous ideologies like Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which teach our kids to hate each other, should have no place in our government or our schools. And zero taxpayer dollars should go towards abortions. Like President Trump, I'll continue to protect common sense and stand up for our shared conservative values in Montgomery.' Prior to getting elected to the Senate, Tuberville was best known as a college football coach, his longest and most significant stint being at Auburn University, where he led the Tigers to a 85-40 record between 1999 and to his resignation in 2008, beating Alabama six times in a row and leading them to a Southeastern Conference win in 2004. Despite his brief time in politics, Tuberville has been one of President Trump's most outspoken supporters on Capitol Hill, vigorously defending the administration's policies, from seeking to prevent transgender people from serving in the military to questioning the results of the 2020 election. In fact, he was even rumored for consideration as Trump's Secretary of Transportation earlier this year, but Sean Duffy was ultimately confirmed. However, days following Trump's reelection last November, Tuberville told CNN's Manu Raju that he would be running for his Senate seat again. 'Yeah, I'm running,' Tuberville said. 'Yeah, I'm getting on up there. I don't know how many more times I'll run, but I enjoy it.' Tuberville's most notable action in the Senate was blocking hundreds of senior-level promotions set to be filled in the military, citing the Department of Defense's policy of reimbursing travel costs for pregnant service members seeking abortions. Tuberville's hold lasted a year from December 2022 to December 2023. Out of the 271 bills that Tuberville has sponsored in Congress, only one has passed into law: Supporting Families of the Fallen Act, which would increase the maximum coverage amount for members of the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance program and the Veterans' Group Life Insurance program from $400,000 to $500,000. He has co-sponsored 539 bills with other Senators, only seven of which have become law: Laken Riley Act, originally sponsored by Alabama Sen. Katie Britt Poison Control Centers Reauthorization Act of 2024 Billie Jean King Congressional Gold Medal Act Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act of 2023 United States Army Rangers Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021 As Senator, Tuberville serves on several committees, including the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Special Committee on Aging. As Gov. Kay Ivey is not eligible to run for office again after serving two terms, Tuberville is likely to win the Republican nomination for governor. Last week, Lieutenant Gov. Will Ainsworth announced he would not run for office. Tuberville's gubernatorial run begins as questions surrounding his residency remain unanswered. According to law, a candidate must live in Alabama for at least seven years to be eligible to run. Different media outlets, including The Washington Post and have pointed to campaign finance and property records linking him to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, not Alabama. Despite this, Tuberville has maintained that he and his family have had a homestead exemption since 2018. According to Alabama Daily News, the Tubervilles own a home on Cherry Street in Auburn that remains in his wife's name. 'There's not any problem with that,' Tuberville told ADN last April. The race will be held November 3, 2026. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
California school district must halt ban on critical race theory, court rules
A small southern California school district must immediately pause its ban on critical race theory (CRT), a California appeals court ruled on Thursday morning . The 4th district court of appeals ruling put a halt to the Temecula Valley unified school district ban until its litigation is settled in the California legal system. The decision is the latest in a long-running legal battle over the CRT ban, which was first adopted as a resolution by the Temecula Valley Board of Education in December 2022 as they attempted to purge elementary school textbooks that reference gay rights icon Harvey Milk. The recent decision, authored by Judge Kathleen O'Leary, and concurred by the panel's other two judges, said that the vague nature and lack of legal or academic terminology in the resolution jeopardized its constitutionality. 'The Resolution defined CRT as 'a divisive ideology that assigns moral fault to individuals solely on the basis of an individual's race' and, therefore, is itself a racist ideology,' O'Leary's ruling said. 'The Resolution operates as if this definition is universally accepted, but the text does not indicate where this definition is derived, or whether it is shared with anyone else besides the Board.' The ruling pointed to the resolution's lack of examples of CRT, and lack of guidance for teachers looking to modify their curriculum. O'Leary's other primary concern revolved around 'confusion and fear' from educators due to the policy, and negative impacts on education provided. One fourth grade teacher submitted a letter of evidence stating that under the doctrine, 'she did not know what a permissible response was when her students asked her how and why slavery happened.' 'Teachers are left to self-censor and potentially overcorrect, depriving the students of a fully informed education and further exacerbating the teachers' discomfort in the classroom,' O'Leary wrote. 'Rather than lead the classroom and moderate healthy discussion, the teachers are forced to leave children's questions unanswered.' The conflict over CRT in education has been divisive in Temecula, a historically conservative southern California city of just more than 100,000 people. The battle has followed familiar lines, with three conservative school board members elected in 2022 after running in opposition to mask and vaccine mandates, as well as 'sexualized' material in school curriculums. The school board president also famously labeled Milk as a 'pedophile' and originally rejected a state-issued social studies textbook including the assassinated gay rights activist. Gavin Newsom, the California governor, threatened a $1.5m fine in response. While the school district may have run into opposition in their community and at the appeals court, headwinds at the federal level are in their favor. In late January, Donald Trump signed executive orders to promote school choice, or the use of public dollars for private education, and to remove funding from schools accused of 'radical indoctrination'. Trump also revived a '1776 commission' to 'promote patriotic education'.
The Hindu
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
What India can learn from U.S. academic freedom crisis: When politics enters the classroom
With conservative State governments in the United States enacting policies that opponents claim jeopardize academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and intellectual diversity, American colleges have recently turned into arenas for ideological conflict. Although freedom of thought and inquiry have long been defended by the U.S. as essential components of its higher education system, that basic foundation is currently in jeopardy. This incident serves as a frightening reminder to Indian administrators, students, and policy intellectuals of how readily university integrity can be undermined by politicization. A disturbing pattern Laws that limit the teaching of subjects like race, gender, and sexuality in schools have been passed in a number of conservative-led U.S. states, including Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. These laws, which were framed as attempts to shield kids from political indoctrination, have caused: Critical Race Theory (CRT) being prohibited in public institutions; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices being dismantle; and control of course content and library resources Many educators are concerned about this top-down management because they perceive it as an open attack on their freedom to teach and conduct research. There are also requests to restrict or do away with tenure systems, which are a cornerstone of academic freedom. Consider the discussion surrounding critical race theory. The theory known as Critical Race Theory (CRT), which was created in American law schools throughout the 1970s and 1980s, essentially explains how racism is ingrained in institutions, legal systems, and public policy rather than being limited to individual opinions. The key underlying concepts are: Racism is systemic; it is not limited to individual prejudice but is ingrained in institutions, laws, and structures. Race is socially manufactured; it is not biologically based; rather, it is a social construct used for control and classification. Privilege and power are important: Who gains from current structures? CRT poses challenging queries regarding inequality and justice. To fully tell the tale of law and history, the voices of the underprivileged must be heard. Intersectionality: When race coexists with other identities such as gender, class, or disability, particular difficulties might arise. Affirmative action, housing laws, education inequalities, and police reform are just a few of the topics that are examined utilizing CRT. It promotes critical thinking about history, equity, and how we formulate laws to create a society that is more inclusive. Although CRT is mostly taught in academic institutions, it has recently become politicized, particularly in the U.S., with detractors saying it sows discord. Advocates claim it makes it possible to have frank discussions on justice, history, and racism. The conservative point of view Advocates of these regulations contend that liberal ideology have taken over universities, turning them into echo chambers. They think that more balanced, ideologically diverse learning environments will result from eliminating some types of content and regaining control over the curriculum. But rather than promoting conversation, the methods used to achieve this goal frequently entail stifling it. Some conservative leaders have publicly expressed hostility against prestigious universities. Donald Trump has questioned the worth of an Ivy League education and referred to American universities as 'radical left indoctrination centers.' Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that 'education is not about imposing ideology' but rather 'about pursuing truth' in his criticism of the New College of Florida and his doubts about Harvard's ideological neutrality. These remarks reveal a deeper hostility for academic institutions that are viewed as strongholds of progressive ideas. The Harvard conflict The difficulties are further exemplified by the recent impasse between the U.S. Department of Education and Harvard University, one of the most respected Ivy League universities. Following the 2023 Hamas-Israel crisis, a number of Harvard student organizations made contentious remarks that infuriated donors and the general public. The Department of Education launched a civil rights inquiry into Harvard amid claims that the university was encouraging antisemitism. Although this action was purportedly taken for campus safety, it was widely perceived as pressure with political motivations. Opponents cautioned that these inquiries might be used as instruments of ideological control, using federal supervision as a weapon to threaten organizations that don't fit the prevailing political narratives. The significance for India India's higher education system is about to undergo a significant change. There is a major drive for increased autonomy, interdisciplinary learning, and international research collaboration with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. However, the U.S. case serves as a caution: Autonomy is brittle. It is difficult to get back once lost: Indian universities, especially public ones, frequently have to balance academic independence with governmental supervision. The danger of political ideology controlling curricula is not only intellectual homogenization but also a deterioration in research quality, international recognition, and student readiness. Politicization over pedagogy: The goal of education changes from inquiry to indoctrination when political narratives begin to influence curricula. It is discouraged for faculty to question prevailing views. Diverse worldviews and critical thinking are not presented to students. Additionally, the university stops being a forum for free discussion. This risk is not fictitious. We have already witnessed attempts in India to marginalize specific academic disciplines, remove inconvenient viewpoints, and rewrite history texts. The decline of academic freedom may resemble the American experience if these trends continue unchecked. Stakeholders in Indian higher education need to be proactive. They need to redouble their effort to boost institutional oversight to safeguard academic freedom; encourage scholarly organizations, not political appointees, to create curricula; encourage critical thinking instead than memorization; preserve research freedom and tenure. Students also play a part. Students' conversations, not simply faculty arguments, should include awareness of and participation in academic freedom problems. India needs to learn from other countries' mistakes if it hopes to establish top-notch colleges and establish itself as a global center of knowledge. The story of American institutions becoming politicized serves as a warning. Ensuring that the next generation of Indian leaders, scientists, artists, and thinkers are educated in settings that encourage truth, complexity, and free discussion is equally as important as protecting academic freedom. Universities must continue to serve as the nation's guardian and conscience, promoting its essential diversity of people and viewpoints; the country's civilizational qualities, rather than acting as echo chambers in a democracy.
