It’s Thursday, February 13. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: An F-eulogy for the paper straw. Trump pardons dirty Democrats. Penny for your thoughts? Not for long. And much more.
But first: The kids can’t read—and they’re getting litigious.
America might be more polarized than ever, but almost everyone seems to agree on one thing: Our kids are getting dumber. Studies show that the Covid generation is nearly eight IQ points less intelligent than their slightly older peers because of lockdowns. Reading and math scores are at their lowest in decades. On TikTok, teachers have reported mass illiteracy and declining attention spans.
What’s the solution? Blow everything up? That might be the strategy of the Trump administration. Earlier this week, they terminated nearly $900 million worth of contracts at the Department of Education—an agency DOGE head Elon Musk has claimed “no longer exists.” It does, but former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos argued last week in The Free Press that it shouldn’t—saying the agency doesn’t educate kids, but instead “shuffles money around; adds unnecessary requirements and political agendas via its grants; and then passes the buck when it comes time to assess if any of that adds value.”
But changing—or abolishing—the department won’t make kids smarter. Because education, by and large, is a local problem that requires local solutions, as Frannie Block reports today about a case out of Tennessee.
“William A.” graduated from Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools last year with a 3.4 GPA. The problem? He couldn’t read the words on his diploma. He couldn’t even spell his own name. Now he’s suing the district, claiming that his teachers denied him the “free appropriate education” guaranteed to him under federal law, and left him illiterate.
Read Frannie’s shocking new report, “A High Schooler Graduated with a 3.4 GPA. He Couldn’t Even Read.”
And in better education news, Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia, which accepted its first MA class only two years ago with the vision of being a college dedicated to “seeking the truth without censorship or shame,” enjoyed a moving viral moment yesterday. In the video below, Ralston alumna Mari Otsu explains how the college’s commitment to free speech turned her life around, after she “lived through social media addiction, long-term illness from cosmetic surgery . . . reliance on alcohol and drugs, and disconnected, fragmented, untrusting relationships.” Click below to watch:
Governor Blago? Pardoned. Mayor Adams? Let off. Rule of law? Fading, writes Free Press deputy managing editor Joe Nocera.
It’s been a great week for crooks. On Monday, Trump pardoned former Illinois governor and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption in 2009 after attempting to sell Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. Later the same day, Trump’s Department of Justice ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop charges against New York mayor Eric Adams, a newfound Trump ally who was under investigation for taking bribes from the Turkish government. Both Blagojevich and Adams are Democrats who formed close relationships with Trump. Is this a new age of bipartisanship? A testament to the power of good networking?
Not according to Joe, who responds to the news with a question of his own: Is this how justice now works in America?
Read Joe’s piece: “It Pays to Be a Friend of Donald Trump.”
On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order banning paper straws. Or at least, that’s what the liars on X dot com, the everything app, told me. I was disappointed to learn that the ban applies only to federal agencies, and that I might still be forced to papier-mâché my tongue every time I have a piña colada on the beach. Nevertheless, it’s a great start. Everyone I know hates paper straws, a terrible product that’s been shoved down our throats—literally.
How did we get here?
In her newest column, Free Press First Lady Nellie Bowles explains how in 2011, a Vermont 9-year-old more or less randomly decided that Americans use 500 million plastic straws per day, which led to a nationwide moral panic, numerous laws, and an awful drinking experience. We’ve suffered. But is it for nothing? And are Americans actually the ones killing all those sea turtles?
Read Nellie’s piece: “The Triumph of the Plastic Straw.”
And speaking of cheap nonsense getting banned, on Sunday, Trump announced that he has ordered his administration to cease production of the penny. The argument for the move seems straightforward enough. It costs more than a penny to make a penny (3.7 cents, according to the U.S. Mint). Given inflation and the move to digital payments, ditching the coin is just common cents, right?
Not necessarily. Two Free Press writers have squared off to debate Abe Lincoln’s copper-faced fate. Bye bye or best kept around? Deputy editor Charles Lane supports Trump’s move. Consulting editor Jonathan Rosen opposes it. A penny for your thoughts, gentlemen.
Read: “Stop Making Cents?”
Computers Might End Us—but Can They Move Us Too?
Will the robots kill us? Will they become our slaves? Will they simply make porn more realistic? As the AI race heats up, so is the American stage. Today in The Free Press, Suzy Weiss reports on three new plays about artificial intelligence: The Antiquities, Maybe Happy Ending, and Doomers.
“For all the future casting—the talk of billions of dollars, existential risk, and mega-compute—it’s a relief when the lights come up and you’re reminded: The humans are still in charge, still deciding whether we’re building heaven or hell, even as we build it.”
Read: “The Plays About the End of the World.”
Pete Hegseth announced a major transition yesterday—and no, he’s not going by Patricia now. Hegseth says that Europeans need to step up and “provide the overwhelming share” of funding in Ukraine. He also said the country should not join NATO and that “returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.” Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Meanwhile, Trump says he expects to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia following a phone call about the war.
The Senate has voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, putting the former Democratic congresswoman in charge of the country’s sprawling intelligence community. This, despite a rocky confirmation hearing that focused on Gabbard’s secret 2017 meeting with then–Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad; her former support for Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information to the press about U.S. spying programs; and her efforts to repeal Section 702, a powerful government surveillance tool. The 52–48 vote was largely along party lines—of the Republicans present, only former Senate leader Mitch McConnell voted against her.
The United States will release Alexander Vinnik, a cyber criminal, in exchange for Marc Fogel, the American teacher who Russia freed earlier this week. Fogel was held for three and a half years for possessing less than an ounce of medicinal marijuana. Vinnik, meanwhile, was arrested for ransomware attacks, identity theft, and hacking, and for laundering billions of dollars for drug trafficking rings.
Canadian musician Grimes has spoken out against her former partner Elon Musk, saying he should not have paraded their son X Æ A-Xii—a.k.a. Lil X—around the Oval Office as Trump signed an executive order bolstering DOGE’s powers in government. She expressed similar sentiments on January 10, when Elon brought Lil X to an inauguration party.
The Justice Department says it’s taking legal action against the State of New York and Governor Kathy Hochul over its alleged resistance to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Attorney General Pam Bondi said yesterday that the suit centers around New York’s Green Light Law, which supposedly prohibits sheriffs and other law enforcement officials from sharing motor vehicle data with federal authorities for the purposes of enforcing immigration law. Bondi also said the state has an “unconstitutional” provision requiring the New York DMV commissioner to inform illegal immigrants when federal immigration authorities request their information. Hochul plans to meet with Trump today.
The U.S. Agency for International Development spent thousands of taxpayer dollars to fund the education of an al-Qaeda terrorist. Anwar al-Awlaki, a jihadist with ties to the 9/11 hijackers, received “full funding” to attend Colorado State University in 1990, according to USAID documents shared with Fox News. After graduating in 1994 with a degree in civil engineering, al-Awlaki taught Islam and recruited terrorists at mosques across the United States. In 2011, the graduate was killed in a U.S. air strike at the order of President Obama.
The New York Stock Exchange is launching in Texas. Lynn Martin, president of NYSE Group, said in a statement that “Texas is a market leader in fostering a pro-business atmosphere.” Another explanation is the growing competition in the Lone Star state. Last month, TXSE Group filed for the registration of the Texas Stock Exchange, saying it had raised $161 million and planned to launch trading in 2026. When I was a kid growing up north of Houston, people had to drive across the border to Louisiana to gamble. But now, finally, Texans can do it at home!
Well, this is odd. I left a comment and it had several hearts (oh, how sweet), and now it has disappeared. Thin skin, much FP? I’ll repeat it. Maybe it will stick this time. “This passes for “reporting”? I do not know the persons referenced in the article or the particular situation, but I live in Clarksville, had a child graduate from CMCSS, and minister to educators in the system. There’s something rotten about this article. It doesn’t pass the sniff test. It certainly doesn’t live up to self-proclaimed, self-righteous FP standards. (Yes, I’m a subscriber.). Dig deeper. Do better.”
Although Covid almost certainly had an impact on learning, far, far more damaging is the impact of children being babysat by tablets, starting before they are potty trained. Their brain development is being changed for the worse, and kids raised this way will never, ever be normal. Having been a teacher since the mid-1980s, I have seen this fall happen, and it started before Covid.