Keeping up with reality isn't easy

A couple of news bits. As far as I can tell, they are real, although they read like satire.

The Texas Republican Party has come out with its new platform, and it includes a plank that opposes teaching of "critical thinking skills" because it is wrong to teach anything that might "have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs." (The full passage is, "Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.") Hat tip: Dangerous Minds.

A CNN columnist named LZ Granderson has written a column advising everyone not to be "nosy" about what the U.S. government is doing. Because "in the political arena, there are things that should be and need to be kept quiet." 

"We do not want to open Pandora's Box, not about this and certainly not about a bunch of other potentially scandalous things the federal government has been involved with," Granderson writes. CNN helpfully explains that he was named journalist of the year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. Kind of makes you wonder who the runner up was. (Via Kevin Carson on Twitter, @KevinCarson1, and Glenn Greenwald.)