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By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa

If they held a local competition for off the rails in politics, Chester County Republican Chair Gordon Eck would win by a landslide.

His I wont dignify it by calling it an Op/Ed recently published screed attacking a fellow Republican and local Board of Education president over the fake issue of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in our countys schools was factually challenged (okay, it was completely bogus), violated Ronald Reagans 11th Commandment Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican and frankly was just looney tunes.

Chris McCune is the president of the West Chester Area Board of Education and he has become the target of Ecks false claims about CRT in the school district. He is a Republican and has served two terms on the board and is seeking a third in November. Eck is calling for a write in campaign against the official GOP nominee which seems unlikely to do much beyond making it easier for a Democrat to win the seat.

I was able to speak with McCune this week and he came across as a shockingly normal, moderate person not unlike dozens of other board of education members Ive known over the last couple of decades in Chester County. The kids, their families, the staff and the schools are the top priority for people like McCune, while trying to keep budgets in check to respect local property owners. Its likely there are issues we disagree on, but at least you can have a conversation with the guy hes willing to listen and engage.

That last part describes almost every school board member I know in either party, by the way. For these folks today with the challenges in education, it is often about making the least bad choice when presented with no good ones. They get no pay, it is an amazing time commitment (dont forget about committee meetings, in addition to the two or more regular meetings held monthly). And in the best of times, they get a lot of grief.

It is not the best of times.

Right now? While McCune is in the spotlight, the same kind of crap is going on all over Chester County with a bunch of brainwashed lunatics screaming over something that just doesnt exist. For reference, these are some of the same people who claim COVID doesnt exist and masks dont work.

No school in Chester County is teaching CRT. None.

Are there schools working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts to better serve a growingly diverse community? Yes. Are those notoriously left-leaning Fortune 500 companies doing the same thing for their work forces? Yes.

McCune said he has tried to explain this to Eck and some of the others on the committee that the DEI efforts are not just about race, but about better inclusion for special needs students and those of varying social-economic groups, but that the message just doesnt get through.

In a county where only a few years back, entitled white students at one high school started chanting mow my lawn to the students of a school with a higher latino population during a football game, Im pretty DEI isnt just a nice idea, it is kind of warranted.

But, you know, those are just pesky facts.

Lets be honest, truth and reality have been slipping away from Chester County Republicans for more than a decade, since the Tea Party started taking over county committee slots, running out the old moderates.

According to McCune and others Ive spoken with of late, there are four unbreakable truths one must agree to if you wish to run for office as Republican in Chester County:

This is entirely out of step with the people of Chester County, of course, and leading a once dominant party into becoming a very small minority party of screaming extremists. It also keeps a lot of good people who might do well in the public arena, but consider themselves too conservative to be Democrats, from running for office.

Ive taken much heat in the last three years for suggesting that you cannot vote for any Republican as unfair as it is to folks like McCune and others who are part of sane minority in the party.

It was my thought that without utter and total repudiation and one would think that losing every row office and control of the County Commissioners, not to mention the countys Congressional seat might have been a wake up call the Republican Party would not reset, reassess and return to its old center-right conservative roots.

But thanks to a never-ending media machine driving these lies, Im not sure there is any hope for this party to be reformed.

In the long run, it might be best for the GOP to be retired and replaced with a less crazed center right party that can start from scratch. Like it or not, we need two parties dedicated to democracy so we dont find ourselves running to extremes. The Republican Party no longer embraces anything beyond a naked grab for power and autocracy.

Its a tragic truth and maybe one you do not want to hear: Gordon Eck is todays GOP, not Dick Thornburgh or Tom Ridge.

And we are all the poorer for it.

Read the original:
Rabid GOP now feeding on their own | chescotimes.com - The Times of Chester County

Have you ever wanted nail art that highlights your favorite Disney Movie? Maybe nails that show Mulan below a cherry tree, or Alice at her Wonderland tea party, or maybe you want to see Stitch getting into shenanigans across your hands... Whatever your preference, Vivian Xue Raheyhas you covered.

These conversation pieces are clear fan favorites online. Vivian's Pamper Nail Gallery has hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok, and millions more views.

And they do more than just Disney; they paint everything from popular anime shows to pop singers. It's a unique art form. And their business is growing.

Since the start of the pandemic, Vivian, has switched up her "Disneyland of Nails" business model: moving from appointments in the salon where nails are painted on site, to an e-commerce model where you can order press-on sets that ship to your doorstep already bedazzled and painted with scenes from your favorite flick.

Since the switch to press-ons, Vivian says, "now we can do it at a larger scale, faster!"

Vivian, who had been concerned about her ability to retain employees through pandemic, says she's started to hire more artists from across the country.

Despite changes to the model, the company is staying true to the vision she first described to me in the spring of 2019. Today, we're revisiting that conversation with the CEO of Pamper Nail Gallery, and hearing how this art-based business not only stayed afloat, but expanded in the midst of a global pandemic.

Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on NPR One, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Pressing On with Press-On Nail Art During The Pandemic - KQED

Editors' Note:On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Dennis Cook was where you'd expect to find him on a Tuesday morning at work. He was a 33-year-old bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald, which had its offices on the top floors of the World Trade Center.

Dennis was killed that day, when a hijacked plane crashed into the North Tower. More than 650 of his coworkers also died that morning.

He left behind a wife, Dana, and two young daughters Sophia, who was 3, and Lindsay, who was just 6 months old.

Research shows that most of us dont have memories before the age of 3. Sophia and Lindsay are young women now, and theyve spent their lives coping with the loss of a father they cant remember.They cant outrun the tragic and violent death of their dad the nation has been trained to "never forget" but they want a say in how it defines their lives. And, more than anything, they want to understand who their dad was, and which parts of him live on in them.

This is Sophia and Lindsay Cook, in their own words.

LINDSAY: I'm definitely a "9/11 kid." I know some people don't like the title, but I guess if the shoe fits ... I'm still figuring out how much, what percentage, what fraction of 9/11 is part of me. I'm 20 on the 20th anniversary, and I've still been figuring out what that means to me.

SOPHIA: I think that's something that my mom did a really good job of ... that she never wanted us to see that as part of our identity. She wanted us to, you know, it's something that happened to us. It's very, very sad. But you can still be your own person.

SOPHIA: So on Sept. 11, 2001, it was my first day of preschool. My mom was going to drop me off, and when she was in the parking lot she heard on the radio a plane had crashed into the twin towers. She obviously didn't know what was happening, but you had to assume the very worst. And that's kind of how that day began and unfolded for her in the middle of what would have otherwise been a very regular, normal day.

LINDSAY: One day she was living with an infant and a 3 year old, and she had her husband by her side. And then the next day, she didn't.

LINDSAY: We didn't talk about my dad a lot growing up, not in the sense that he was hidden or something,but maybe that was my mom's way of coping. She couldn't talk about my dad all the time and keep herself steady and keep everything really normal.

But now, I have all these questions that I don't always know how or when to ask. And very recently she said, I wish I'd talked about your dad more growing up, because she'll realize there are these things that she thinks we know, but we don't know.

A song will come on in the car and she'll say, this song reminds me of your dad. So now when I'm out and I hear, Come On, Eileen I turn to my roommate and say, My dad. My dad liked the song. This song reminds my mom of my dad.

SOPHIA: A lot of what I know of my dad is stories. It's not my own personal memories because I was so young. My dad's name was Dennis Cook, and he is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

LINDSAY: People say Sophia looks a lot like my dad and that I'm a mix of my mom and my dad. I feel like I'm constantly looking at pictures of my dad, trying to pull out myself in him. He was often described as a funny, fun-loving guy. But I've never heard a joke he's told. That's just what everybody tells me. I want so badly for people to tell me, not bad things about him, but ...

SOPHIA: But, like, more human character traits.

LINDSAY: Yeah. Like the real trouble he got into when he was in college. They weren't going to tell me the stuff when I was 8 years old. What was your dad like? He was very nice, Lindsay. Give me the dirt. Give me the inside scoop.

SOPHIA: One of my favorite pictures with my dad is us having a tea party. And it's at one of those teeny tiny little kiddie tables. I fit perfectly in the chair and everything's my right size. And it's funny because my dad sitting there, this big man, sitting at this tiny little lady table.

LINDSAY: I have four or five good pictures with my dad. In one of them, hes holding me; in one of them, I'm in the stroller and you can't see me; in another, it's me fresh in the hospital; and there's one at my baptism and that's about it. It's different not having anything tangible, not having anything concrete no memories that are my own.

DENNIS: I, Dennis. Take you, Dana. To be my wife. I promise to be true to you. In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.

LINDSAY: I heard my dad's voice for the first time. A few years ago, when I found my mom's wedding video. I took it and I watched it alone.

DANA: Id especially like to thank my parents for the best night of our lives, and Id like to thank Dennis's parents for all the love and support.

DENNIS: Hi, Mom and Dad.

DANA: Thanks, Mom and Dad.

LINDSAY: I was 17 and I had spent the past 17 years of my life puzzle piecing my dad together.

DANA: And Lets say hello to our future kids. Look how young we look! Dont we look good?

DENNIS: Dennis Jr., not little Alfie.

DANA: Well see

DENNIS: All my ushers. I'd like to thank you guys. Dave and Pat, you did a great job tonight.

LINDSAY: Watching that video I was definitely trying to get a piece of the demeanor that everybody told me about the fun-loving guy who's a great time to be around. It's getting to see that in motion.

DENNIS: Uncle Mike, Karen... and everybody that came by that gets to see this video. I hope you had a good time tonight. And thanks for coming.

DANA: Yeah, we thank you all. Thank you!

LINDSAY: It wasn't just a wedding video to me. It was so much more. I feel like I've dealt with it internally, on my own time, and I've been figuring out what it means to miss somebody who you never knew.

LINDSAY: Sophia and I have kind of talked before about how, we can see our friends with their dads and you don't really expect it. But just in little ways and little interactions, you feel that little pang of pain and you just move on from it.

SOPHIA: In 2004, my mom got remarried. So my dad" is technically my stepdad, I call him dad. My younger siblings are my half-siblings, but that's never been how it rolls. We're full siblings.

LINDSAY: Thinking about some other alternate universe feels so wrong, but it's so natural to think, What would this life have been like? What would he have been like?The "what ifs." But sometimes thinking about the "what ifs" feels wrong.

SOPHIA: People have asked: do you ever just wish it never happened? You know, you could just go back and stop that day? And that's probably one of the most difficult things and a very hurtful thing for someone to ask. Of course, I wish it didn't happen. But also, you're asking me to give up the lives of other people that came into the world only because it did. I think that's really how my mom and Lindsay and I look at it. We lost so much, we gained a lot more.

LINDSAY: I think about my dad a little bit every day. That doesn't mean I'm sad every day or grieving every day. I can think about him and be happy. But I never know where my mind is going to take me. It's just something that I've come to accept.

This piece was produced by Cloe Axelson and Frannie Carr Toth, with help from David Greene and Paul Calo.

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As '9/11 Kids,' We Only Have The Stories Other People Tell Us About Our Dad - WBUR

MEQUON, Wis. A loose network of conservative groups with ties to major Republican donors and party-aligned think tanks is quietly lending firepower to local activists engaged in culture war fights in schools across the country.

While they are drawn by the anger of parents opposed to school policies on racial history or COVID-19 protocols like mask mandates, the groups are often run by political operatives and lawyers standing ready to amplify local disputes.

In a wealthy Milwaukee suburb, a law firm heavily financed by a conservative foundation that has fought climate change mitigation and that has ties to former President Donald Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election helped parents seeking to recall Mequon-Thiensville school board members, chiefly over the boards hiring of a diversity consultant. A new national advocacy group, Parents Defending Education, promoted the Wisconsin parents tactics as a model.

In Loudoun County, Va., a Justice Department spokesperson in the Trump administration rallied parents in a recall effort sparked by opposition to a district racial equity program. In Brownsburg, Ind., a leader of a national network of parents opposed to anti-racist school programs helped a mother obtain a lawyer when the districts superintendent blocked her from following his Twitter account.

This growing support network highlights the energy and resources being poured into the cauldron of political debate in the nations schools. Republicans hope the efforts lay the groundwork for a comeback in congressional elections next year. Some see the burst of local organizing on the right as reminiscent of a movement that helped power the GOP takeover of the House 10 years ago.

It seems very Tea Party-ish to me, said Dan Lennington, a lawyer with the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which has offered free legal advice to several parent groups pursuing or weighing school board recalls, including the one in Mequon. These are ingredients for having an impact on future elections.

Lenningtons group is funded in part by the Bradley Foundation, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that supports conservative causes. The foundations secretary, GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell, advised Trump as he sought to overturn the 2020 election results and has since worked to push for tighter state voting laws.

Like the Tea Party movement, the groups have been labeled astroturf by some opponents activism manufactured by powerful interests to look like grassroots organizing.

Outsiders are tapping into some genuine concerns, but the framing of the issues are largely regularized by national groups, said Jeffrey Henig, a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University, who has written on the nationalization of education.

But the advocates and their outside backup argue theyre harnessing real outrage and working to counter the disproportionate influence of liberal groups in schools.

Theres a misconception out there that this is part of some national right-wing agenda, said Amber Schroeder, a 39-year-old parent of four who is helping lead the Mequon recall. Were the ones pushing back on our own here against an extreme liberal agenda by the teachers union.

The political tracking website Ballotpedia counts about 30 active school board recall efforts nationwide. Some are focused chiefly on disputes over anti-racism training and education in schools, often labeled critical race theory. Others were prompted by debates over school policies on transgender students and pandemic public health measures.

Local parent activists are quick to claim credit for that work, and the outside groups offering legal help, research, organizing tools and media training are often reluctant to discuss their role.

See more here:
Tea party 2.0? Conservatives get organized in school battles across nation - The Columbian

A month ago, the turret atop Mad Tea Party in Magic Kingdom was painted dark blue, indicating the attraction would be getting a makeover ahead of its 50th anniversary. The roof went mostly untouched since then, but today more dark blue paint has overtaken the old teal green color.

The roof has eighteen triangular panels, and four of them have now been painted.

The colorful streamer-like designs were also repainted on the panels.

The trim between each panel has also been painted purple, having previously been the same color as the roof.

This trim holds the lights that give the attraction carnival illumination at night.

The trim has even been updated between panels that have yet to be painted.

The new color palette is similar to the purples and blues associated with Walt Disney Worlds 50th anniversary.

Many attractions and buildings in Magic Kingdom have been repainted and refurbished recently so the park is looking its best by the time The Worlds Most Magical Celebration begins on October 1.

What do you think of Mad Tea Partys new coloring? Let us know in the comments.

As always, keep following WDWNT for all of your Disney Parks news, and for the absolute latest, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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PHOTOS: Painting of Mad Tea Party Roof for 50th Anniversary Resumes at Magic Kingdom - wdwnt.com