Weekly News Headlines And Commentary – Week of March 10, 2025
ROPE2.org
I have absolutely no idea why this legislation was proposed. I need to make an appointment and go talk to the author and ask, but this makes no sense. Since 2013 we’ve had a State Longitudinal Database System (SLDS) and it’s still working because I went out to the OSDE website and found all the new fields they’re adding to the School Interoperative Framework (SIF) to collect new data. This article describes the SLDS and why we don’t need a bill for something we already have.
Last week I interviewed Ashlyn Jade, the mother who posted the now-viral AP Psychology worksheet given to 11th graders at Waurika Public Schools. She had no intention of running down the coach that produced the worksheet and handed it out, she was simply posting the worksheet to let parents know what was going on. Instead of parents being concerned and wanting to know what was going on, they essentially turned on Ashlyn and dogged her on social media for getting the coach ‘fired’. As our friend V1SUT has pointed out, for some reason, parents in small towns seem to circle the wagons around the school and throw whistleblowers under the bus. This seems to be happening here.
A Discussion About Oklahoma Homeschool And Other Education Legislation
Michael and I talked to Jana Belcher and Robert Scott about some legislation being floated this year. At the end, Robert talked about the tax credits being offered to homeschoolers. The state keeps all the data on all the many tax credits they hand out – and that includes the homeschooling credit and the tax credit for the Parental Choice educational credit – where your name is publicly listed in the Oklahoma Tax Commission data report. Robert essentially makes the point that, if you’re homeschooling, it’s likely that you don’t want your child to be tracked by the government. However, if you take the tax credit, the government not only tracks you, they release your name as well.
Citizen Lobbying 101 – Learning How To Work With Legislators On Important Issues
Our discussion with Carolyn McLarty of Eagle Forum (and former Oklahoma State Republican Committee Woman for 12 years) was a lot of fun. We talked about how citizens should go about dealing with their elected representatives and talked about how people who’d like to go to the Capitol could connect with her through Eagle Forum. It’s always a lot more effective to have more than one person lobby on an issue and Carolyn can help you with that.
All the work I’ve been doing on the SLDS this week got me very concerned when I found that organizations are keeping data on babies at the taxpayer expense. Of course it all stems from money ‘gifted’ to the state in a public/private partnership to ‘help’ the underprivileged in our state. Unfortunately for babies and families, this money comes from the George Kaiser Family Foundation. This is truly a huge problem, taking babies and toddlers away from their parents to be raised by the state while the state collects data on them that they then use to justify getting more tax dollars to keep babies and toddlers away from their parents. Please read this and pass it on to others. It needs to stop.
LEGISLATION
Next week, all the bills must change houses – House bills that have been voted off the floor of the House must go to the Senate and vice-versa. At this point, we will look at the bills that have been passed and make a list of the ones that need to be stopped and the ones that need to be passed. We should have that for you by next week’s news wrap up.
OKLAHOMA SUBSTACK AUTHORS
V1SUT – This week, our friend Mary had two great articles, but the last one is definitely an issue everyone needs to know about. OK Speaker Hilbert Pulls Shady Bill Flip in Gov Stitt’s Ongoing War Against Supt Walters’ Board of Ed tells the tale of gutting one bill and dropping new language into that bill. From the substack: “After 5:00 pm on Wednesday, March 4th, that amended bill was gutted and replaced with language giving Stitt’s new appointees control over the State Board of Education agenda, a right and responsibility historically reserved for the State Superintendent as the only member of that board elected by We the People.” Read the rest of her article to find out why this is bad.
The Sooner Sentinel – Author Marvin Goodman writes multiple times a week so it’s hard to put all his substacks in each week, but PLEASE check out the one he wrote yesterday. It. Is. Scary. The Invisible Eye in the Sky: Dirtbox and the Silent Expansion of Surveillance in 2025. Americans are being heavily surveilled to the point that it’s out of control. We need legislators who have the guts to protect WE THE PEOPLE from these constant invasions of our 4th and 1st and 5th Amendment rights. Please read. I had no idea about any of the things he wrote about here and I’m imagining maybe you might not either and knowledge is power.
Restore Liberty Oklahoma – Wendi Montgomery Dial writes often about election issues. Her latest, is an audio note posted the 7th where she discusses the Make Elections Secure Act (MESA) and what Oklahoma can do to get rid of it.
The Oklahoma State Capitol – Author Jason Murphy’s last post was about the passing of Governor David Boren. Did you know that during his time as Governor he was a staunch advocate of transparency? I didn’t. Check out his substack on Boren for more information.
David Arnett – David is the publisher of Tulsa Today and also writes on his personal substack. Check it out.
Shooting The Oklahoma Breeze – Oklahoman Ryan Kester is sick of the ‘green agenda’. As he has time, he writes about it. Check out his latest post, Another Mirage.
Critical Thinking Still Matters – Okie Author J Ossenkopf writes about various subjects pointing to the lack of critical thinking we humans seem to display currently as a general rule. Her latest is, “The Golden Age of Common Education Funding and Union Influence (Not Academics, Students, Families) in Oklahoma” and it’s a really great summation of all the educational BS that’s been going on and why it is meaningless to outcomes of students. Lots of great data here to mine!
LOCAL MEDIA
Governor calls for audit of Oklahoma mental health agency, says it may need additional funding
Oklahoma Voice: In a shocking turn of events, we find that government misuses the money that is stolen from taxpayers. Worse, we’ll have to pay even more out of the treasury to keep open a government office that has no business being a government office in the first place. Once, long ago now, churches and other private organizations took care of the mentally and physically infirm and little ones. Now, Big Brother does it for us and we’re shocked when we find out they not only don’t do the jobs they were appropriated to do, they misspend they money stolen from us for the cause.
Regent says employee tip led to internal OSU audit that showed alleged misspending
The Oklahoman: Rinse and repeat from above. Government money means little to people using it who often like to believe it’s ‘their’ money.
Governor’s DOGE-OK initiative takes shape ahead of reporting deadline
The Frontier: So, Oklahoma’s very own DOGE is up and running. Here’s a quote from the article: “Stitt appointed Marc Nuttle, a businessman and political insider who worked on the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan and Pat Buchanan, to administer DOGE-OK. Nuttle also coordinated fundraising efforts for Stitt’s inauguration as governor.”
SD 8 GOP primary: Bryan Logan, David Nelson advance to runoff
Non-Doc: BOY WAS THIS GREAT NEWS! Bryan Logan knocked it out of the park with a whopping over 40% in the primary. Now, we’ve just got to stay focused and help him finish out the homestretch on May 13th. (Let’s not ask why our Governor took so long to call this election, since the people of SD8 will have had no representation through nearly the ENTIRE legislative session – and let’s not ask why Senator Roger Thompson had to throw such a baby fit and quit and leave his district without representation for nearly the ENTIRE legislative session.) Let’s also remember that the swamp would prefer Bryan’s opponent, so all the stops will come out before May. Here’s an interview we did with Bryan for our Candidate Corner. Please share.
NATIONAL MEDIA
Chris Wright: “We need more energy. Lots more energy.”
Robert Bryce Substack: Bryce quoting Wright, “Everywhere wind and solar penetration have increased significantly, prices on the grid went up and stability of the grid went down.” Now, can we convince our tax-credit-happy Governor to get away from the stupidity? Who knows, but we can’t quit trying.
Breaking News: South Dakota Governor Signs HB 1052
FreeSoil Foundation: “South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden signed HB 1052 to protect property rights and prohibit the use of eminent domain for CO2 pipeline projects.” This is great news for SD and I’m hoping that, not far behind, will come a real repudiation of the whole C02 carbon credit scheme that’s driving so much of this stuff from Harold Hamm (Continental Oil) down.
The Federalist: Hopefully, people are learning that nearly ALL the organizations they had believed to be at least politically ‘neutral’ have been taken over by leftists. Look at the AMA and other US medical groups. A study just last year found that, “Overall, activism is common across specialty medical societies. Among the 26 societies that take stances, 23 (88%) do so on multiple issues.” From the Federalist article, “By endorsing race and sex discrimination, presidents unilaterally changing the Constitution, and forbidding elected executive control of unelected executive bureaucrats, the ABA has disqualified itself as a legal organization or any kind of legitimate player in American public life. No elected official who has made a public vow to preserve and protect the Constitution should give this anti-American pressure organization the time of day.”
Honors Student Sues After Graduating Without Being Able to Read
The Liberty Sentinel/Alex Newman: From the article, “Despite graduating from high school with “honors” and being accepted into the University of Connecticut on a scholarship, 19-year-old government-school victim Aleysha Ortiz cannot read or write. At all. Literally. And she’s hardly alone. Now, with help from an attorney, Ortiz is suing the city and the school board. And the national media is paying attention.” I knew social promotion was happening back in the early 2000’s – it’s one of the reasons I left public school teaching. We can write laws against social promotion all we want, but it’s still done and it will CONTINUE to be done until parents wake up and decide to take an interest in what their kids are learning at school. As our friend Kendra Wesson has said before, all it takes is a parent who will listen to a child read on a regular basis to tell how well they’re doing in school. If you can’t do even that, you’re dooming your child to this same outcome. That is a parental responsibility and until parents accept their responsibilities, they don’t have parental rights.