Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Emmett McGroarty
Privacy, Property, and Third-Party Esteem in Arendt’s Constitutionalism
1. Introduction: Arendt’s Constitutionalism Fosters the Pursuit of Happiness In the epilogue to his memoir A Confession, Leo Tolstoy describes a dream in which he suddenly becomes aware of resting, suspended between an unfathomable abyss below and an infinite space above (Tolstoy 2009, pp. 2196–99). As he looks downward into the abyss, he feels terror and anxiety, a slipping all the more acute as he struggles to arrest his fall.
The New Majority Tyranny as the Old Oligarchic Despotism
In modern times, human flourishing takes place only in civil societies that have broad protections for individual liberty and public freedom. Historically, the biggest threat to those liberties has come from the government. Alexis de Tocqueville predicted that in modern democratic societies, majority opinion in a form of cancel culture could become even more tyrannical than governmental tyranny; but so long as the press remained free and decentralized, this threat would be neutralized.
Congress Plays at Anti-Civics
Congress has a citizen problem. It repeatedly delegates responsibility to bureaucracies, without considering the consequences to the ordinary citizen. Then, when things go awry, it responds with more of the same. The Civics Secures Democracy Act, which is being introduced in the House and Senate by Sens. Coons (D-DE) and Cornyn (R-TX) and Reps. DeLauro (D-CT), Cole (R-OK), and Blumenauer (D-OR), is a case in point.
The Providence College Mob Comes for Anthony Esolen
Those who doubt that orthodox Christians risk persecution should consider the case of Anthony Esolen. A prominent scholar of Renaissance literature, Esolen authored a widely used translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. He writes books and essays incessantly, contributing to Magnificat, Crisis magazine, and other publications and online outlets that take seriously Christianity and human excellence.
Iowa House GOP Bill Removes 'Gender Identity' From Civil Rights Act
The transgender flag Photo Credit: torbackhopper via Flickr (CC-By-2.0) DES MOINES, Iowa – A bill introduced on Wednesday, if passed into law, would remove “gender identity” as a protected class under Iowa’s Civil Rights Act. “Gender identity” and “sexual orientation” were added to a list of protected classes in Iowa’s Civil Rights Act in 2007 that bans discrimination in employment, wages, housing, public accommodations, education, and credit practices.
Reynolds Says She Will Not Appeal Fetal Heartbeat Ruling
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) decided against appealing a ruling by District Court Judge Michael Huppert that struck down Iowa’s fetal heartbeat abortion ban saying the law violated the Iowa Constitution. “This was an extremely difficult decision, however it is the right one for the pro-life movement and the state of Iowa.
Every Student Succeeds Act
Jane Robbins and Emmett McGroarty: The politicians vented their outrage about Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, censorship of conservative content, etc., but Michelle Malkin points out, “not a peep was heard about the Silicon Valley-Beltway theft ring purloining the personal information and browsing habits of millions of American schoolchildren.”
Education report card shows Common Core still fails US students
Since the Common Core national standards were dumped on American schools beginning in 2010, national and state education officials have largely either ignored or belittled parental concerns about the resulting deterioration of education. The establishmentarians are now reaping what they’ve sown. With a vested interest in the success of Common Core, these officials have been dreading release of the 2017 NAEP scores (the National Assessment of Educational Progress, AKA the “nation’s report card”).
Malkin's Right: Silicon Valley's-Beltway Ed Data Mining Has Been Ignored
Writing for National Review, Michelle Malkin points out the gaping hole in Senators’ questioning of boy billionaire Mark Zuckerberg last week.
Facebook Is Deeply Enmeshed In Education Data Mining And It’s Probably Affecting YOUR Children
Revelations about the machinations of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have illuminated the gaping holes in so-called “data security” at Facebook. The personal information of approximately 50 million people was given to (apparently not stolen by) Cambridge, a political profiling firm that used the data to create highly detailed voter profiles for the 2016 Trump campaign. The fact that the Obama campaign did essentially the same thing in 2012 hasn’t muted the outrage.
Against the Filibuster
Editor's note: It has been our great privilege to publish dozens of articles over the years by Jeffrey Bell, and it was with great sadness that we learned of his death over the weekend. You can read a tribute to Jeff by his colleague Rich Danker elsewhere on this page (as well as other tributes, from when he was still with us) and we shall have more to say in the coming days on his storied career as a political consultant.
More Politicized Curricula Means College Board Needs Some Competitors
History repeats itself. The College Board, which controls much of the curriculum in American high schools through Advanced Placement (AP) courses that can earn college credit, continues its game of leaning as far left as it can before criticism from scholars and parents pulls it back from the brink.
American Test Scores Decline… Gee, Wonder Why?
In 2013 Michael Cohen of Achieve, Inc. (an organization integral to developing and marketing the Common Core national standards) testified in New York that Common Core is a long-term education experiment on our children: “The full effects… won’t be seen until an entire cohort of students, from kindergarten through high school graduation, has been effectively exposed to Common Core teaching.” Four years later we may not be seeing the full effects, but heaven help us when we get there.
Will the Trump Administration Push Back Against Transgender Ideology in Schools?
In 2016, under the Obama Administration, the United States Department of Education (DOEd) and Department of Justice issued guidance instructing public schools to open all restrooms, locker rooms, sleeping quarters, and probably sports teams to students of both sexes. Although the Trump administration has rescinded that guidance, it’s difficult to discern exactly what policy the current DOEd will pursue concerning students who suffer from gender dysphoria.
Here to Help? Congress Thinks Government Bureaucrats Belong In The Home
We’ve been writing at length about the dangers of the new Paul Ryan/Patty Murray bill, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (FEPA), which requires federal agencies to share and analyze Americans’ personal data in the name of “evidence-building.” The theory is that all this new evidence will enable Congress to cut programs that aren’t working and save taxpayers boatloads of money.
EPA's Scott Pruitt drains the swamp like no one else in Washington
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Edward (Scott) Scott PruittOvernight Energy: Senate confirms top EPA air regulator | Feds to roll back emissions rule for big trucks | Defense bill mandates climate study EPA seeks to repeal part of Obama emissions rule for big trucks Senate confirms top air regulator at EPA MORE is a man who gets things done.
Invasive New Education Technology Turns Students Into Lab Rats
The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of The Christian Post or its editors. As education-technology lobbyists persuade policy-makers that "personalized learning" is the golden ticket to academic achievement, parents must understand exactly what this concept is and what it means for children. What they discover should trigger a rebellion.
Transgenderism: A Leftist Weapon Against the Family
The Los Angeles Times recently published an approving article about schools’ introducing kindergartners to gender dysphoria (otherwise known as transgenderism). This topic has been much in the news lately, especially after a California charter school—without notifying parents—held a “gender-reveal ceremony” for a confused little boy. The teacher then read to the other children, now confused as well but for other reasons, from a book written by a dysphoric teenager.
LGBT Totalitarianism? Minnesota Imposes Radical Transgender Agenda on Schools
Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Jane Robbins. At The National Pulse, Andrea Moury has written about the “toolkit” produced by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to dictate policy toward K-12 students suffering from gender dysphoria (“transgender” students).
Republicans and the lost promise of local control in education
When the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was enacted in 2015 to replace the hated No Child Left Behind law, the new legislation’s supporters trumpeted that, henceforth, control over education would reside with the states.
Bill Would Surveil Americans For Life By Unifying Government Databases
The new movie “The Circle” demonstrates how a laudable concept—transparency—can be corrupted for very bad ends. In a speech before a millennial audience, techno-billionaire Eamon Bailey (played by Tom Hanks) persuasively argues that people’s lives should be an open book because of all the good that can come of it. Unfortunately, some congressional Republicans seem to have internalized this soliloquy but didn’t hang around for the rest of the movie.
Parents should still be concerned about Betsy DeVos
We all know that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos supports school choice, and that the organizations she funded or in some cases founded actively defended the Common Core national standards. Now she’s offering more insight into her general philosophy of education – and parents should be concerned. DeVos seems to be endorsing the concept of competency-based education (CBE).
The Goal of Common Core Completely Misses the Point
A recent op-ed at FoxNews.com illustrates the philosophical problem with Common Core and other progressive education schemes: the schemes are misguided because the goal is wrong. Vince Bertram, president and CEO of an organization called Project Lead the Way, argues that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos must focus less on controversial issues such as school choice and Common Core, and more on the goal of education — which he identifies as straight workforce-development.
Obama Administration Wants To Kiss Your Local Schools Goodbye
The administration is maneuvering to replace local control in education (and in other areas) with school systems that extend across entire metropolitan regions. If the Obama administration and its supporters have their way, the suburban neighborhood school could be headed for extinction. In a veritable symphony of bureaucratic coordination, the administration has figured out how to recruit three cabinet departments, liberal non-profits, and deep-pocketed foundations to this effort.
Not a conspiracy theory: Educrats discover alarming new ways to data mine our children
Opponents of the progressive-education elitists on issues such as the Common Core scheme are routinely accused of spouting paranoid conspiracy theories. This smear is particularly common in discussing technology-driven “digital learning.” It’s ridiculous, educrats say, to suggest that schools — meaning the government —and their corporate ed-tech allies will be probing the psyches of our children. Track children’s eye movements or scan their brains?
Fraudulent Hillary blasts the very tax loopholes she uses
Today, Hillary Clinton stood before the nation to outline her vision for the American economy. During her speech, she was resolute in her differences with political nemesis, Donald Trump. Clinton was correct; the policy positions she shares with Trump are few; their policy differences, many. Clinton would like to increase taxes, regulations, and labor union membership. Trump wants the exact opposite.
Listen: Ted Cruz’s RNC speech and Wall Street regulations EP16
Subscribe: iTunes | RSS By Multiple Authors In Episode 16 of Capitol Fight Club, John Gray, Brian Darling, Sam Sacks and Sam Knight debated the Cruz performance at the Republican convention and the banking regulatory law Glass-Steagall. Capitol Fight Club is a weekly face-off between two political insiders on the right versus two on the left. Darling and Gray (editor of The Ideas Factory) worked for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and both write for Conservative Review.
The Left Wants All Of Your Personal Data. Yes, All Of It.
The far-left Center for American Progress (CAP) recently sounded another volley in the campaign to collect and share enormous amounts of personal data on American students. CAP argues the federal government should enhance interoperability among its various data networks and modify privacy protections that currently prohibit sharing of information housed in those separate databases.
Obama's 'Gender Identity' Mandate Would Usher In 21st Century Newspeak
This may be the first time in history a government project is ahead of schedule. George Orwell wrote in 1984 that the State-created language of Newspeak would be implemented in the nation of Oceana by 2050. But here it is only 2016, and in its effort to erase sex differences in schools, the Obama administration has already made an excellent start in imposing its Newspeak code.
Bill Gates Admits On Education Tech, 'We Really Haven't Changed Outcomes'
Progressive educrats tell us that the onset of the 21st century changes everything about how we educate children. What worked for little boys named Thomas Jefferson and Winston Churchill is now passe. In its place must be installed sophisticated technological systems for “personalized learning,” which will transform education.
Why Does Your Congressman Want to Psychologically Profile Your Children?
Editor's note: This column was co-authored by Jane Robbins. If the GOP-led Congress had not done enough damage to public education by passing the statist Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), it’s poised to make things even worse. The new threat is the Strengthening Education Through Research Act (SETRA). If SETRA passes in its current form, the federal government will be empowered to expand psychological profiling of our children. Parents must understand this threat so they can mobilize to stop it.
The War On Student Privacy
At first few people noticed and even fewer understood. In 2002, the Bush administration started incentivizing states to create massive databases of personal student and family information. The Obama administration – aided and abetted by a roll-over Congress — threw that effort into overdrive. It did so through, among other efforts, the 2009 Stimulus Bill and its Race to the Top grants. And through unauthorized regulatory changes, it stripped away vital privacy protections.
The Fight Over Common Core Ain’t Over Yet
The passage of the new No Child Left Behind reauthorization bill (the Every Student Succeeds Act) hasn’t ended and, in fact, will intensify education debates in this country. In the coming months, we’ll see whether the state legislature leaders and governors like Doug Ducey (AZ), Pat McCrory (NC), Charlie Baker (MA), Asa Hutchinson (AR), John Bel Edwards (LA), Andrew M.
Does Common Core hurt minority students the most?
Proponents of the Common Core national standards have claimed from the beginning that a major goal of the initiative is to reduce the “achievement gap” between white and minority students. Common Core test scores in California and New York suggest that the opposite is occurring. And now we have confirmation from what could be called the premier Common Core state in the country – Kentucky.
Common Core Is Lowering Students' Academic Achievement
Photo credit: CollegeDegrees360 via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) The country is in the midst of an education crash. The 2015 SAT scores were the lowest in a decade. And the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which tests 4th and 8th graders in math and reading, saw scores drop for both grades in math and 8th grade reading, while 4th grade reading scores were flat. Yet, politicians do not want to face reality.
Competition For The College Board, Now More Than Ever
When teachers and scholars began to speak out against its 2014 Advanced Placement U. S. History (APUSH) Framework, the College Board initially dismissed the critics as extremists unworthy of attention. The response changed somewhat when the Texas State Board of Education challenged the curriculum’s leftist tenor.
McGroarty: House Republicans Betrayed Common Core Moms This Week
WASHINGTON DC – Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5, the No Child Left Behind reauthorization bill, in a narrow vote despite the efforts of grassroots activists and the national opt-out movement opposed to a culture of standardized testing.
How To Make Common Core Look Good
One of the lead drafters of the Common Core national math standards, Jason Zimba, admitted under questioning in 2010 that the math standards were not designed to help students succeed in “the colleges their parents aspire to.” Instead, he said, the standards were designed to prepare students only for “nonselective colleges” – i.e., community colleges. But what happens when these Common Core-“educated” students end up in four-year universities?
Don't Let Elitists De-emphasize Patriotism in U.S. History Classes
American cynics, such as those who developed the controversial new Advanced Placement U.S. history course, are aghast at the idea of “teaching patriotism.” But what does it really mean to promote patriotism through the study of history? Few Americans would approve of the government indoctrinating students with a particular worldview. However, if teaching the truth about American history inspires patriotism, then that’s an entirely different matter.
Bullying and Civil Rights
Bullying has attracted significant media attention in recent years, usually focusing on the most extreme examples of such behavior. Bullying can certainly be so severe as to trigger the police power of the state, and even federal involvement in enforcing civil rights (for example, through the Constitution’s mandate of “equal protection of the laws”). But this confluence of responsibilities creates fertile ground for federal overreach.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Emmett
Contact Emmett, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack