Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.
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FBI Tracks Threats Against Teachers, School-Board Members <[link removed]> ­– Federal lawmakers have learned that the FBI is, in fact, treating parents like terrorists, as Jonathan Butcher and Mike Gonzalez explained in their commentary <[link removed]> for FoxNews recently. This means the Federal Government is using the awesome power at its disposal to violate the Constitutionally protected right of American parents to seek redress from all levels of government, including engaging with their local school boards over issues related to mask requirements and the use of critical race theory, which discriminates racially, in school lessons. For parents to care about school children in their communities is a healthy, all-American development. Parents want to know what is being taught to their students—as they should.
 Heritage Experts: Jonathan Butcher <[link removed]> and Mike Gonzalez <[link removed]>





‘This Is What Catch and Release Looks Like’: Heritage Experts Blast New Biden Border Crisis Numbers <[link removed]> – “President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas should be ashamed of the border crisis they have created. Sadly, they knew what they were doing when they undid nearly every single effective border security policy <[link removed]> of the previous
administration. Mass illegal immigration was the goal, and with these October numbers, we have yet another month of unchecked flows across our border. We know most of these illegal aliens are being released into the interior, where they put additional strain on our communities. It’s far past time Congress got serious about exercising its constitutional authority to investigate the Biden border crisis, to determine who’s driving it, and to stop it. That’s just the first step in getting out of this crisis and undoing the damage Biden and his administration have done.” Heritage Expert: Lora Ries <[link removed]>
 
In hours-long virtual meeting, Biden and Xi manage strained U.S.-China ties <[link removed]> – Like the other US-China interactions thus far (Anchorage, Tianjin), the US walked into this one with little clear goal, other than to have a meeting. Indeed, this pattern supports one of the worst motives for summits: Summiting for the sake of summiting. Both sides entered the virtual room with low expectations, something emphasized by the American side, begging the question of why there was a (virtual) summit at all. At the end, the argument presented is that, by having a summit, the two sides arrested a
steady decline in relations. Yet, there is little evidence of any kind of meeting of the minds (even virtually), on any of the key issues. Heritage Experts: Olivia Enos <[link removed]> and Dean Cheng <[link removed]>
 
Parent Activists Warn That Fight for Education Far From Over <[link removed]> – Parent activists, school board members, and a congressman gathered Monday in
Washington to remind Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department that the fight for education is only just beginning. “Whether it’s radical transgender policies in our schools, whether it’s putting masks on our children, which is paramount to child abuse, whether it’s forcing vaccines on our children, or whether it’s teaching radical critical
race theory in our school systems, educating our teachers to teach that, the lens through which everything is taught, we reject that,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., said at a press conference held by the conservative and libertarian advocacy group, FreedomWorks <[link removed]>. Heritage Expert: Jonathan Butcher <[link removed]>
 
Book Review: ‘Rigged’ and ‘Our Broken Elections’ <[link removed]> – Voting is a messy human endeavor: 2020
involved 158 million ballots in 10,000 jurisdictions. Irregularities are inescapable, and they aren’t all easily remedied, especially if voters cast ballots in good faith under rules that a losing campaign challenges after the fact, as in Wisconsin. Even so, there’s room for improvement, and John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky offer ideas, with a longer view, in “Our Broken Elections.” Since absentee ballots add slack, voter error and space for mischief, the authors suggest reserving them for people who are genuinely disabled or out of town. Bar codes on the envelopes would let votes “be tracked through the mail.” Letting paid partisans knock on doors to collect mail votes is “reckless.” Legislatures could pass bills to ensure they have standing to sue if officials “attempt to make unauthorized changes in state election laws.” Heritage Expert: Hans von Spakovsky <[link removed]>


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