Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item
Reading a book on a college campus should not prompt formal administrative intervention. But that’s what’s reportedly happening at Stanford University this week, after a photo of a student reading Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, “Mein Kampf,” circulated on campus last Friday… administrators were working “swiftly” with the students involved to “address” the incident.
Stanford was reportedly alerted to the book-reading via its Protected Identity Harm reporting system. Effectively a bias response system, Stanford says PIH reports help the university “address incidents where a community member experiences harm because of who they are and how they show up in the world.”
NOTE Mein Kampf is a book
that has been required reading in at least one recent Stanford humanities class and is available to borrow from the university library
It gets worse:
Stanford defines a PIH Incident as “conduct or an incident that adversely and unfairly targets an individual or group” on the basis of actual or perceived characteristics like race, religion, or marital status. Yet, it acknowledges such conduct does not necessarily violate its harassment or discrimination policies that, quite rightly, already prohibit such unlawful conduct.
FIRE warns:
Administrators with disciplinary authority formally notifying students they’ve been accused of “harm,” when they’ve done nothing more than read a book, and asking them to “acknowledge” what they’ve done and “change” their ways through restorative justice-type exercises undoubtedly chills student speech.
Read the report and FIRE’s letter sent to Stanford at the link.
Also concerning schools:
While there is certainly much to debate about the subject of gender identity, especially when it concerns minors, public school officials intentionally deciding to withhold from parents that their minor children are identifying as a different gender at school is becoming more widespread, and rightfully upsetting parents on the both the Left and Right:
Jessica Bradshaw found out that her 15-year-old identified as transgender at school after she glimpsed a homework assignment with an unfamiliar name scrawled at the top.
When she asked about the name, the teenager acknowledged that, at his request, teachers and administrators at his high school in Southern California had for six months been letting him use the boy’s bathroom and calling him by male pronouns.
Mrs. Bradshaw was confused: Didn’t the school need her permission, or at least need to tell her?
It did not, a counselor later explained, because the student did not want his parents to know. District and state policies instructed the school to respect his wishes.
Mrs. Bradshaw said that there had been no notification of any sort from the school informing her that her 15-year-old daughter was now identifying as a boy in the classroom. When they did find out about their child’s change, both parents accepted the new identity.
Prior to their child’s transition, their teenager faced a number of serious (including being on the autism spectrum, having ADHD and PTSD). No small potato issues. One assumes that the school was aware of these. Because of these already existing issues, the fact that the school felt justified in not notifying the Bradshaws of yet another very serious event taking place in their teenager’s life, the parents were angry. While they had accepted their teenager’s new gender identity, their level of concern increased significantly when their teenager wanted to have surgery to remove her breasts:
…Mrs. Bradshaw said she resented the fact that the school had made her feel like a bad parent for wondering whether educators had put her teenager, a minor, on a path the school wasn’t qualified to oversee.
“It felt like a parenting stab in the back from the school system,” she said. “It should have been a decision we made as a family.”
Liberal parents are also uncomfortable with schools not disclosing to them what is taking place in the classroom with regard to their children’s gender identities:
…dozens of parents whose children have socially transitioned at school told The Times they felt villainized by educators who seemed to think that they — not the parents — knew what was best for their children. They insisted that educators should not intervene without notifying parents unless there is evidence of physical abuse at home. Although some didn’t want their children to transition at all, others said they were open to it, but felt schools forced the process to move too quickly, and that they couldn’t raise concerns without being cut out completely or having their home labeled “unsafe.”
…
Parents of all political persuasions have found themselves unsettled by what schools know and don’t reveal…Mrs. Bradshaw said she wouldn’t align herself with Republican lawmakers who sought to ban L.G.B.T.Q. rights, but she also felt as though her school’s policy left no room for nuance.
“It is almost impossible to have these discussions,” Mrs. Bradshaw said. “There is no forum for someone like me.”
Other self-described liberal parents said they registered as independents or voted for Republican candidates for the first time as a result of this issue. Although they haven’t sued, some have retained lawyers affiliated with the largest legal organization on the religious right to battle their children’s schools.
Second news item
Trump’s lawyer might lose CA law license:
John Eastman, the conservative lawyer who helped lead former President Donald Trump’s legal efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election, is facing disciplinary action in California, where state bar regulators say they will seek to strip his license.
The complaint features 11 counts alleging ethics violations stemming from Eastman’s work and public statements in the weeks after the 2020 election.
“The Notice of Disciplinary Charges alleges that Mr. Eastman violated this duty in furtherance of an attempt to usurp the will of the American people and overturn election results for the highest office in the land — an egregious and unprecedented attack on our democracy — for which he must be held accountable,” [State Bar of California’s Chief Trial Counse] Cardona said in a statement.
Third news item
Earning praise from Russia and happy about it:
Russian Olympic officials on Thursday praised the International Olympic Committee’s decision allowing Russian athletes to participate in the Summer Olympics in Paris next year.
The IOC Executive Board agreed to allow individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in Olympic events if they are not “actively supporting” Russia’s war in Ukraine. The athletes also must compete under neutral status.
“I believe that this is already a success,” said Igor Levitin, vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee. “The Olympic community realizes that the Olympic Games cannot transpire without Russia’s participation.”
Fourth news item
Gov. DeSantis makes an interesting move:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is praising California attorney and former Trump campaign adviser Harmeet Dhillon amid in her bid to take the Republican National Committee chairmanship away from Ronna McDaniel…“I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC,” DeSantis told Charlie Kirk, the founder of conservative Turning Point USA.
“I like what Harmeet Dhillon has said about getting the RNC out of D.C. Why would you want to have your headquarters in the most Democrat city in America? It’s more Democrat than San Francisco is…We’ve had three substandard election cycles in a row: ‘18, ‘20 and ‘22. And I would say of all three of those, ‘22 was probably the worst. Given the political environment of a very unpopular president in Biden, huge majorities of the people think the country is going in the wrong direction — that is an environment that’s tailor-made to make big gains in the House and the Senate and in state houses all across the country. And yet that didn’t happen.”
The GOP is scheduled to vote for RNC chair today.
Fifth news item
This guy thinks he deserves to hold the most powerful position in the world:
Trump announced on his social media platform on Tuesday that he won the Senior Club Championship at Trump International Golf Club in unincorporated West Palm Beach last weekend, despite not playing the first round of the tournament.
Members arrived the second day surprised to see Trump with a five-point lead, according to the Daily Mail. But Trump never played the first round as he was attending a funeral in North Carolina of ardent supporter Lynette Hardaway, known by the moniker “Diamond” of the conservative political commentary duo Diamond and Silk.
Trump told tournament organizers he played a strong round on the course Thursday, two days before the tournament started, and decided that would count as his Saturday score for the club championship. That score was five points better than any competitor posted during Saturday’s first round.
No wonder he has the reputation of cheating like a 4-year-old at Monopoly…
Sixth news item
Neither the Left nor the Right are happy with President Biden’s border policies:
A group of 77 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticizing his administration’s policies restricting asylum access for migrants crossing the southern border.
The letter, signed by New Jersey Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 74 others, said the new policies announced Jan. 5 to open more legal options for migrants from Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba while also eliminating pathways for those nationalities to claim asylum at the border are “disappointing.”
MISCELLANEOUS
Republican lawmakers decide women’s shoulders are simply too tantalizing for male colleagues to see:
Republican leadership of the Florida House has posted flyers throughout the Capitol showing what to wear — and perhaps more strikingly, what not to wear.
The flyer breaks down a dress code for three different scenarios — when in the chamber, when Members are in the building, and when Members are not in the building. The required attire is, not surprisingly, most formal when in the House chamber.
What sticks out though, is the requirement that women never show their shoulders when House Members are present in the building, whether in the chamber or not.
Have a great weekend.
–Dana
Good morning!
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 8:57 amnk- the other day when you mentioned you got wordle in 2, i think that was the day I had to stoop to using levee to figure out where the frickin “e” went so I could salvage a 5- so I plan to snipe at your comments for the weekend…
steveg (dcc9f5) — 1/27/2023 @ 9:45 amIt did not, a counselor later explained, because the student did not want his parents to know. District and state policies instructed the school to respect his wishes.
When I was 16, I banged up my dad’s car. I really wish that there was a government program to fix it and hide my mistake from my dad. I did not want him to know! But there wasn’t and I had to face the music (which was much less than I feared).
I really don’t think that the State should attempt to replace parents, especially in matters as sensitive as this.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:02 amPrior to their child’s transition, their teenager faced a number of serious [issues] (including being on the autism spectrum, having ADHD and PTSD).
I would think that at this point, someone is practicing psychiatry without a license.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:08 amI have no doubt that Eastman will lose his CA legal ticket, but I’d argue that he’s being disciplined for serving and odious client more than any ethical issue. After all, a lawyer who knowingly gets a mass murderer released would appear unethical to many people, but not to the state bar. A DA who works to undermine the prosecutors under him is similarly considered ethical.
In Eastman you have a man who chose to work for Trump. While I might find what he did unethical, I just don’t see bright line in legal ethics here.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:14 amPual Pelosi bodycam footage: https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1619020098894979072/video/1
kaf (559bca) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:17 amWhich nation did best against COVID? Possibly Australia, according to Bill Gates:
If we had done that well, hundreds of thousands of American lives would have been saved.
(Many people will prefer not to hear his argument, and so I am not surprised to see that his latest book, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic is already being discounted.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:20 am2. As you wish, steveg, but I have to tell you that my personal par is four. Hitting into the rough and getting out of it by eliminating letters or limiting their positions is part of the fun for me.
nk (bb1548) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:47 amRe: Item Two:
Notice of Disciplinary Charges against John Eastman
Rip Murdock (364a93) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:52 amLike KevinM said: It’s California. Actually, the Eastman story juxtaposes well with the Stanford Mein Kampf story.
nk (bb1548) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:58 amEastman’s Notice of Disciplinary Charges include the following counts (all are based on violations of the California Business and Professions Code):
1. Failure to Support the Constitution and Laws of the United States]
2, 4-Seeking to Mislead a Court
3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-Moral Turpitude – Misrepresentation
10,11- Moral Turpitude
Rip Murdock (364a93) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:04 amJudgments made no doubt after reading the charges.
Rip Murdock (364a93) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:06 amRe: Requiring women legislators to cover their arms and shoulders:
It’s officially a trend, the Missouri House of Representatives did the same thing two weeks ago.
What’s next, a burka?
Rip Murdock (364a93) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:25 am6. Paul Pelosi video from police bodycam.
When the door opens, Paul Pelosi and the intruder are standing in front of the door, Paul Pelosi a bit in front, although also to the side, and they are both holding on to the hammer, but not fighting over it.
The intruder says everything is OK, evidently hoping that the police will just go away.
When the police say drop the hammer, Paul Pelosi decides to try to take the hammer away from the intruder, but the intruder is stronger and gets complete control of the hammer and begins furiously attacking Paul Pelosi.
Paul Pelosi looks like he is not fully awake.
This seems to contain the full video. (some sites start abit too late)
https://www.newser.com/story/330879/police-release-video-of-attack-on-paul-pelosi.html
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:52 amnk- Am struggling with some strange competitive impulse that insists on staying ahead of the South African average
steveg (dcc9f5) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:52 amPaul Pelosi evidently expected the intruder to release the hammer. Start at about 40 seconds into the police video. The police had verified that they were at the correct address and asked in a friendly and somewhat confused manner, “What’s going on?”
Paul Pelosi had sort of managed to keep tings under control until the police said to drop the hammer. Even then it was his trying to take it away from the intruder that precipitated the attack. He was not prepared for that, and had not tried to use much force when pulling the hammer.
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:59 am3. Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:02 am
That’s precisely why they do it. They think there is only one proper way to handle this (agree with the child0 but in some cases parents have a different opinion. And how can it be that the decision belongs to the parents? How can this depend on what the parents think? Are they experts in this (while the school is following medical advice it trusts – but shouldn’t)
The only reason we don’t like this is because we think they are wrong about the underlying issue, and they (and the students) shouldn’t be doing this or allowed to do this even if the parents are fully supportive.
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:06 pmRed wave failure McDaniel’s wins.
… and Brandon smiled.
DCSCA (eb9be1) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:22 pmre: First news item
I’ve been told there is no culture war, so this all must be fake news.
JF (24b1d9) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:26 pmGas Stoves: (only 38% of the population as them?)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-gas-stoves-dangerous-to-your-health-heres-what-science-says-11674650089
On the other hand:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-campaign-to-ban-gas-stoves-biden-climate-change-appliances-cooking-culture-war-11674774370
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-campaign-to-ban-gas-stoves-biden-climate-change-appliances-cooking-culture-war-11674774370
So Kimberly Strassel argues in effect it is scientific fraud.
One question I have is: Does any bad effect come from the food being heated up in the open air? They also talk about particulate matter. And the nitrogen dioxide comes from burning (food)
https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/nitrogen-dioxides-impact-indoor-air-quality Sources of Nitrogen Dioxide
The primary sources indoors are combustion processes, such as:
unvented combustion appliances, e.g. gas stoves
vented appliances with defective installations
welding
tobacco smoke I think it has to be heated food not the gas itself. So wouldn’t this apply also to cooking with some other source of eat? Unless maybe such homes cook more in enclosed containers, or food gets heated up less. And I can see that if the gas is vented what’s released into the air doesn’t get breathed in.
And the thing is these climate groups, in other places, also want more insulation. Yet you need ventilation to get rid of soot and pathogens. So we need more leakage and less conservation.
Their math in any case the whole thing in terms of climate change does not add up or even really pretend to.
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:29 pmUsually, when an RNC Chair underperforms in the previous three elections, she’s replaced, but not Ronna McDaniel. How is that?
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:31 pmMy two cents: Public schools would do well to remember that parents are just that. Withholding such vital and life-changing information from parents is usurping a parent’s role and responsibility. It’s wrong. If a school doesn’t like that a parent chooses not to embrace the school’s view of gender identity, that is the parent’s prerogative and it’s between parents and their kid. For better or worse, parents are allowed to instill worthy or unworthy values in their children, as well as sound or cockeyed views of social, moral, and ethical issues. The school’s role was once to support parents, and with parents, they worked as a team. Unfortunately, I think that because so many parents have abdicated their parental roles and responsibilities, schools have happily filled the vacuum. Public schools are now social institutions that also make life-changing decisions and offer moral guidance because too many parents, in one way or another, essentially said: You do it for me.
Being the parent of a teenager is one of the hardest jobs on the planet. The challenges can change from day to day, even moment to moment as a kid is in the grasp of roiling emotions and a constantly changing, well, everything. Good parents do their best to stay on top of the merry-go-round. The immense challenge of parenting teenagers can be greatly helped by their kids’ school supporting them in their efforts instead of going behind their backs.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:34 pmThis is the whole series of articles about After Putin from Saturday/Sunday November 5-6,. 2022 Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-putin-11667576491
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:34 pmGeorge Santos files some routine updates to his campaign finance statements, in which boxes previously checked that he’d loaned money to his campaign was now unchecked.
The only thing that would leave him in the clear was that if the source of the money was a loan backed by collateral, probably by a bank (a bank could use anticipated campaign contributions as collateral)
All other possibilities are illegal. Even income for George Santos could be the result of money laundering
Santos also replaced the Treasurer, but the person he claimed was not the Treasurer, who had been replaced by the way from another campaign
for inaccurate filings, said that he had been asked and declined.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/politics/santos-campaign-treasurer/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/nyregion/geor ge-santos-treasurer.html
Thomas Datwyler may be something of a crook, but he’s not stupid.
This scandal is probably bigger than Santos.
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:45 pm@22 Public schools are now social institutions that also make life-changing decisions and offer moral guidance because too many parents, in one way or another, essentially said: You do it for me.
If that were truly the impetus, then we’d see the same level of interference in red districts as we see in blue districts. But, we don’t.
Are red district parents more involved? Don’t think so.
The impetus is that left leaning administrators don’t like certain things that parents do, like affirming their birth gender identity, not sexualizing them in 3rd grade, not classifying them by race and ethnicity, etc. It’s really annoying that parents treat their kids like kids.
JF (24b1d9) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:47 pmPaul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:31 pm
She didn’t underperform in raising money, maybe. Everybody who had a vote she could count on got money. (maybe not personally)
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:48 pmTreasury dept under Biden telling the House committee to pound sand isn’t newsworthy? Guess it makes Biden look too bad.
Look forward to the “but Trump” remarks.
NJRob (4918bb) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:50 pmRonna McDaniel was elected to serve a fourth term as RNC chair.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:50 pmThe real star of Baruch College’s volleyball team in 2010:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/nyregion/santos-baruch-volleyball.html
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:51 pmHere’s an unintentional Far Side cartoon about Democrats taking advantage of Trumpism:
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:53 pmAnthony Devolder/George Santos pretended to his acquaintances to be going to Baruch College some years later but he later claimed to have graduated in 2010.
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:54 pmBeing a Stanford alum (for graduate school), I am unsurprised but very disappointed.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 1/27/2023 @ 12:57 pmhttps://nypost.com/2023/01/26/ex-fbi-official-charles-mcgonigal-worked-for-more-than-one-russian-billionaire
This was after h retired in 2018. The second Russia dates from 2022.
Sammy FInkelman (1d215a) — 1/27/2023 @ 1:01 pm@7: Most islands did just fine. Hawaii, New Zealand and others. Only those which had a lot of transit traffic or international trade (Japan, UK) didn’t, but then those places could not be walled off. The world could go on forever without anyone coming or going to New Zealand.
Here in the US, we had the worst of all possible worlds, being at the center of the world economy with heavy air traffic from everywhere, a porous border, and excellent hospitals that attracted those thinking they might have COVID.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 1:02 pmBiden policy is to minimize criticism, both from the left and from the right, but he’s not too good at it.
Sammy FInkelman (02a146) — 1/27/2023 @ 1:05 pmYou know, Rob, I’m getting tired of your digs on the open threads. For the hundredth time: if you are interested in discussing a subject, feel free to bring it up. But a little advice: if you want people to actually engage with you on the matter, maybe not be so confrontational and judgemental in your presentation.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 1:36 pmgop fla. terrorist/congressman cory mills sends grenades to fellow congressmen as a welcome gift. Supreme court sleuth michal chertoff who didn’t question justices under oath unlike their clerks had secret financial ties to court before being appointed.
asset (1290ab) — 1/27/2023 @ 1:37 pmAs you wish, steveg, but I have to tell you that my personal par is four
If you wish to see what your Wordle “par” really is and/or try out starting words, go here: https://wordleunlimited.org/
My long-term score there is:
1 – 2
2 – 10
3 – 126
4 – 346
5 – 330
6 – 73
and a small number of losses, usually on words that have 8 choices for that last letter.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 1:59 pmMy par moved up half a try after changing my starting words, so those numbers are actually worse than my current averages
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:00 pm.
Starting with words that have three vowels sure makes a big difference.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:09 pmThey want to disbar Eastman for:
1. Failure to Support the Constitution and Laws of the United States
Almost all of these are 1A issues. Yes, he is an asshat, but there is a constitutional right to be an asshat. Besides, Biden has done worse in two short years as he has the means to effect his attempts to subvert the Constitution. Not to mention most (all?) of Congress.
2. Seeking to Mislead a Court (2 counts)
What lawyer does this?!
3. Moral Turpitude – Misrepresentation (5 counts)
Some of these relate to advice he gave Trump regarding the Electoral Count Act, and some of these relate to statements he made as a public speaker. The later are 1A issues. I guess that the terrible advice he gave Trump could be grounds for disbarment, but it would seem a spectacular act of malicious prosecution considering the targets available.
4. Moral Turpitude – 2 counts.
These charges are based on opinions he expressed about the election of 2020 and strike at thje core of Eastman’s first amendment rights.
And really: moral turpitude? Isn’t that what they used against gays and adulterers?
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:12 pmStarting with words that have three vowels sure makes a big difference.
I don’t see using 3 vowels to be particularly effective. Consonants like S, T, L, R and N are also frequent. Scrabble values A, E, I, O, U, L, N, S, T and R with one point. I aim for an answer in 3 tries, so my second word needs to work with my first. I know that some people choose the second word based on the results from the first, but my grain isn’t that big. Also, “U” is not so very frequent and Wordles often have a “Y”. I also like “CH” in a try.
Right now I’m starting with “SLATE” and “CHOIR” although I’m thinking about “CRONY” as a second word.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:20 pm* grain = brain
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:20 pmSome personal services contracts (for corporate officers and athletes, for example) have moral turpitude clauses
Rip Murdock (364a93) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:29 pmYes, but what they apply to is pretty open-ended. Is cross-dressing “moral turpitude”? It was in 1980. Is racism? It wasn’t not so long ago. William Tallman was fired from “Perry Mason” in 1960 due to unproven charges of pot use and “lewd vagrancy” after being arrested at a sex party. He was later reinstated under a much less favorable contract. I very much doubt even TMZ would care about that now.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:48 pmI sure do. There are only five vowels, so if you can eliminate three right off the bat it gives a good framework from the get-go.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:51 pmIn the spirit of compromise, throw away their shoes.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:52 pmThe irony about “Perry Mason” is that Raymond Burr was a closeted gay man who went to great lengths to protect his secret life:
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781423473718/Hiding-in-Plain-Sight-The-Secret-Life-of-Raymond-Burr
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 2:58 pmThe trans issue again:
1. Students have a right to confidentiality and the older a teen is the more rights to confidentiality they have, in all life settings, not just in school. Frex, A 16 can self-consent (no parental consent necessary) to almost every kind of (non-medical) counseling/therapy. A 13 yr old can self-consent to substance abuse treatment.
2. (This is both unkind to say and yet true) Why isn’t your student telling you? Why are they telling us instead?
3. What has happened to that 15 yr old to cause PTSD?
4. Autism and/or ADHD don’t, in and of themselves, make a person unintelligent or incapable.
Dress code:
Why is Florida, of all places, mad at women for having bodies? You’d think that given the climate that people would be allowed to come to work in a polo shirt (sleeved or sleeveless) and Bermuda shorts.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:00 pmI sure do. There are only five vowels, so if you can eliminate three right off the bat it gives a good framework from the get-go.
The problem with that is that vowels give you little structure. It’s consonants that drive the letter placement and elimination of possibilities. If you have an E, just about any letter can precede or follow it. Not the same with a consonant, where diphthongs are important constraints.
Computer analysis by the NYT says to use “SLATE” or one of several other words (CRANE, SLANT, CRATE and CARTE). MIT says that “SALET” (yes, it’s a word) is 1% better than SLATE for positional reasons.
Computer studies fully debunk the ADIEU and AUDIO type approaches.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:09 pmIn the California State Bar attorney disciplinary context “moral turpitude” refers to dishonesty.
Rip Murdock (364a93) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:11 pmNic,
Students have rights of confidentiality, sure. But NO ONE is more privileged here than parents. At least not in a sane society. You cite rules that exist as if that trumps opinions about what rules should exist.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:13 pmIn the California State Bar attorney disciplinary context “moral turpitude” refers to dishonesty.
LOL. How can any politician stay a member of the bar?
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:14 pmhttps://www.breitbart.com/law-and-order/2023/01/27/masterpiece-cakeshop-loses-appeal-for-refusing-to-bake-transgender-cake/
Never ending attacks and harassment from the left to destroy a man for refusing to submit to their evil fetishes.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:17 pmOoops. Whaddaya know. Diphthongs are vowel combinations. There really should be a cool name for consonant combinations.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:17 pmYou think the First Amendment protects a lawyer from discipline for giving legal advice the lawyer knows or should know is unconstitutional or otherwise illegal? A lot of lawyers probably wish that were true, but it isn’t.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:17 pmNever ending attacks and harassment from the left to destroy a man for refusing to submit to their evil fetishes.
The real slippery slope: Tolerance, then acceptance, then mandatory participation. When you hear arguments that X is just a private act and you should “live and let live”, think of this. Eventually “live and let live” will disappear and it’s “bow down.”
People who try to force people to violate their conscience are dispicable.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:22 pmDana,
I’m tired of the never ending hostility towards those who won’t bend the knee to NeverTrump. We see the constant digs that are supported towards those who won’t bend the knee. They are never told to stop the hostility.
It’s plain the see that the political world has realigned. Social conservatives are no longer taking a back seat and that bothers many who proclaimed to be pro-life in the past. Border enforcing is a major issue, but it bothers the cheap labor contingent or those who in their delusional state proclaim that borders don’t exist. Seeing the left use the power of the government to enforce their will while those who thought the government should mind their own are now being called bigots. Just look at Nic’s remarks against parental authority.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:24 pmFor some reason I am unable to link to a website with an excellent discussion of “moral turpitude” but if you search for “ California Attorney Misconduct and Malpractice: Laws, Rules, Ethics, and Moral Turpitude” it will be the first link listed.
Rip Murdock (364a93) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:25 pmYou think the First Amendment protects a lawyer from discipline for giving legal advice the lawyer knows or should know is unconstitutional or otherwise illegal? A lot of lawyers probably wish that were true, but it isn’t.
I said “almost” — that charge runs a number of pages and is largely regurgitated in the other sections.
That you find a few truly objectionable things in there does not make everything in the laundry list a valid charge. As far as trying to mislead a court, whoever compiled this list (which itself suggest that the court do a number of unconstitutional things regarding his actual speech rights) is as guilty as Eastman.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:26 pm@Kevin@52 Different people have different ideas about what rules should exist but don’t. The rules that exist exist.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:30 pmNo one was suggesting that it did. If you read the article, the kid also dealt with anxiety and significant loneliness during the pandemic . The point being that this kid obviously faces tremendous challenges that impact the entire family. Add to that gender identity issues and they are facing an even bigger challenge to navigate. This is a life-changing issue. How dare people who have little vested interest in the kid (temporary) make the determination that it is their place to withhold such information from the people who will bear all of their kid’s hurt, disappointment, pain, and sorrow for the rest of their lives
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:33 pm@Dana@62 What happened to a 15 year old that gave them PTSD? Why isn’t the student already in therapy if they are having all these issues? Why did the student tell the school, not the parents?
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:41 pmThe report doesn’t address this any further so we don’t know. We could speculate but that doesn’t really give us any insight to what actually caused it.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:45 pmFrom the report:
But here’s the thing: school officials could have easily met with the parents, and simply Told the parents that their kid was going through a very difficult time and wrestling with a serious issue and that he needed their support to work through it together. Any decent parent who has that sort of exchange with their kid’s school is going to do anything and everything to be “available” to their kid. Instead of reaching out at all, the school opted to shut the parents out altogether. Why do you think they did that? That is not how a mutually supportive team works. The kid is a minor under the authority and responsibility of the parents. Why didn’t the school recognize this unique privilege that the *parents* have by reaching out to them? Why did they instead assume the file themselves? Usurpation.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:54 pmOther NeverTrumpers can chime in, but I never asked or demanded any such thing of you. What I have seen is you smearing NeverTrumpers as liberals, socialists and left-wingers for criticizing his non-conservative populist dishonest ways.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:59 pmCommenters can read the piece in its entirety and with no paywall here.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:59 pmAs long as Trump continues to have influence over the Republican Party and seeks the presidency, everything he does and says is open to scrutiny. it’s not my fault that he continues to give us so much to work with.
What I’ve observed over the years is that Trump defenders get angry at anyone criticizing him for any reason, even when the evidence justifies it. There is a steadfast refusal or avoidance to acknowledge and accept that Trump alone is responsible for his own dishonesty and corruption. Much easier to attack his critics rather than the one responsible, I suppose.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 4:14 pmSimon Jester,
In light of this:
, I simply can’t take their Protected Identity Harm reporting system seriously. They’ve embarrasssed themselves and revealed the absurdity of their mission. These are not minors, these are young adults and as young adults, should be able to read whatever they choose. Additionally, we have no idea what motivated the student to read it, Curiosity? Class assignment? History major? It would seem that this would be a vital piece of information to have before getting worked up over it. Assuming an individual’s motivation must be bad is a dangerous thing to do.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 4:28 pmDana, from the article, it sounds like the student did tell the parents. They knew, they just didn’t want to. This is a kid who, based on the description of their mental health concerns, should’ve been in therapy, yet they don’t seem to be. Is mom mad because the school listened when she didn’t? Or because the school didn’t force her to look at something she didn’t want to look at? IDK.
(admittedly I am not in charity with blind parents at the moment, since I had to take 2 students to their counselor for suicide risk assessments this week, one of whom had huge and obvious self harm marks AND we’ve had repeated meetings with the guardian who still hasn’t gotten her into therapy and the other of whom was sexually abused by a family friend last year, the parents, who seem like perfectly nice and functional people, know, and they didn’t get her therapy. FFS. I have a third student that we are propping up with basically every service we have available because her mother is a mentally ill substance abuser and her father and step-mother (who otherwise appear sane) think she’s too much trouble to have living with them any more. And a fourth who got in big trouble yesterday because during her Teacher Assistant period (which is a privilege BTW) she refused repeatedly to put her phone away when the teacher asked and then told the teacher to F-off and mom doesn’t think she should lose her TA privileges and spent 30 minutes on the phone yelling at me about it. I’m sorry, but your daughter is just going to have to suffer through art. ARGH.)
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 4:37 pmDana, you must have seen what happened at Hamline University. We are truly in what Heinlein called “The Crazy Years.”
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 1/27/2023 @ 4:42 pmTrumpWorld unhappy (even though Trump congratulated her “ big WIN as RNC CHAIR”):
Rip Murdock (364a93) — 1/27/2023 @ 4:46 pm
Yes, Simon, I saw that. At some point, the powers trying to make this sort of imbecilic nonsense work will run out of gas. The pendulum is always moving, and eventually common sense will return and prevail. Until the next swing of the pendulum, that is.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 4:49 pm@Kevin@52 Different people have different ideas about what rules should exist but don’t. The rules that exist exist.
Yes, and your answer was to “rebut” those opinions with the current terrible, bad, no good rules. That’s not engaging, it’s condescension. The “tall children” syndrome.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:08 pmAs long as Trump continues to have influence over the Republican Party and seeks the presidency, everything he does and says is open to scrutiny. it’s not my fault that he continues to give us so much to work with.
Yeah, but he’s not in power. Squinty is. And look how much MORE he gives ‘us’ to work with— and there’s half-a-century of riches to mine.
DCSCA (c34442) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:18 pmNic – You have my sympathy. And these family situations in so many places in the US remind me of a thought Joe Leaphorn had in one of the Tony Hillerman Navajo detective stories*. Leaphorn wonders why her family hadn’t taken better care of a teenage white girl, and thinks that whites should take better care of their children. Then he remembers a Navajo kid who also was neglected.
But I can understand why so many politicans don’t want to talk about family breakdowns, being old enough to have seen what happened to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, when he did.
(*I don’t remember which one, off hand, but I can find it if anyone is curious. Incidentally, Hillerman says, in a number of places, that the worst thing a Navajo can say about another Navajo is that he acts as if he has no family.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:21 pmIt peeves me when the Wordle word has double letters next to each other. Come on, algorithm, do better.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:27 pmAgain, when you’re a parent and your teenager discloses something very serious and perhaps something out of your wheelhouse, it can take time to come to grips with it. They sound like parents that were already coping with a lot with this kid, and the latest issue might have been more than they could deal with at the time . I don’t know. That still doesn’t excuse the school for intentionally excluding them from the conversation. I feel like you are defending, even justifying that side of the equation without acknowledging the unique role that parents have. It’s dismissive and condescending.
My guess is that the student had an IEP in place and that counseling of some sort was included. The Whether in private counseling outside of school, it’s unclear.
Why can’t it simply be what the mom said? Why assume something negative rather than a parent being rightfully angry that they were excluded from an incredibly important event in their kid’s life? Why do you diminish her?
Also, consider that the parents did listen to their kid, but they didn’t agree with making the change at that age. Especially when the removal of breasts was in question. They are allowed to be parents and put down parameters. The school should respect that. And therein lies the rub: there doesn’t appear to be that respect and the school chose to become a wedge between parent and kid. That would fuel the fire of most parents.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:42 pmAh, it sounds like a rough week, nic. These are the parents that give parenthood bad name. And these are the parents that sear the minds of school employees. They’re the ones remembered because they are causing so much unnecessary hurt on top of hurt in their kids’ lives. And these are the kids that keep one up at night saying prayers for them and hoping against hope they make it through.
I hope you have some downtime this weekend with a nice glass of wine and doing nothing but watching a beautiful sunset.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:56 pm@62: As usual, Dana states my feelings better than I can.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:56 pmThese are the parents that make all other parents look bad. And these are the parents that sear the minds of school employees.
But these are not the parents to base the rules upon, as it seems they are.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:57 pmWho wants the headache of having a kid these days? There are just too many pernicious influences that didn’t exist when I was a kid, starting with social media.
The root problem of education, as my retired teacher mother will tell you, are the parents. Good schooling starts with family culture. My mother said she could more readily teach 100 Asian students than 10 random white students. It’s not genetics; it’s culture.
How does the saying go? The teachers are afraid of the students, the principal is afraid of the parents, and the students aren’t afraid of anyone.
My mother even had a principal go behind her back and change a student’s grade, and this was over 30 years ago, in Utah, which has one of the better school systems!
The public schools getting more top-heavy, bureaucratic, and “woke” doesn’t help the matter, either.
Dana, you make a very good point about the parents having to live with bad outcomes the rest of their lives, while it’s only a temporary issue for the schools.
norcal (862cdb) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:59 pm@Kevin@75 The rules exist as they do for a reason. The children of parents who have fostered a positive and open relationship with their children and who their children trust, mostly tell their parents about their sexuality/gender identity/mental health issues first or almost simulatenously with the school, even when they know their parents aren’t going to be OK with it. They don’t need those types of confidentiality rules. The children of parents who have not fostered a positive and open relationship and who do not trust their parents may or may not need those types of confidentiality rules, but if they need them, they really really need them. The people here are, I assume, good parents who are doing their best to have positive relationships with mentally healthy children and if the kids aren’t, for whatever reason, mentally healthy, will get them help. You are looking at the situation from the viewpoint of parents who can handle their children’s hearts and minds and emotions in a supportive way. Your kids/grandkids don’t need the rules, so you wonder why they exist because obviously you are trustworthy.
The kids who need these rules are the ones where the parent will cart them off to church to be rolled in a rug and beaten with sticks while the pastor reads bible verses in order to drive the demons out. (not one of my students, fortunately, but the case ended up with CPS because, oddly, it’s illegal to beat a child with sticks, even if they are wrapped in a rug and you believe they are possessed by demons.) They are the ones whose father will spend the next 4 years calling them a f@ggot pvssy until they graduate HS and run (families that are non-accepting of same sex attraction tend to be better with their gay daughters than their gay sons, it’s odd). Or the ones who will keep telling them they are nuts. Or the ones who will send them immediately to live with their other parent and cut off all contact with their much loved younger sibs so that they don’t “contaminate” them. Or the ones whose parents will now think they are pedophiles. Or the ones whose parents will kick them out of their house and leave them on the street. Or the ones whose parents will ground them and continually yell at them for lying. Or the ones whose family will laugh at them over and over. Or even just the kids who think it will break up their parents marriage (which happens more than you’d think).
@Jim@77 People are a mess. Families are a freaking mess. I’m glad I’m not a therapist, I hear enough bad stories as it is.
@Dana@79 Same answer I gave to Kevin. The parent wasn’t excluded in this case, they opted out. If a parent calls and says they want the original birth certificate information used, that’s what schools use. There are no permanent changes that could happen at school. The school has nothing to do with any surgeries (and in fact the only time I was asked by parents, I suggested that it might be better to wait) or medical intervention. I see too much of kids where the parents who aren’t good and whose kids need protecting. It isn’t condescension, it’s negative experience.
@81 It’s been a dead flat run since we got back from break and it wasn’t a picnic before that. I’m not sure what is going on with families right now, but I’ve had more students talk to me casually about kind of horrifying family situations this year than in any other year (including last year, when everyone had just gotten out of enforced covid confinement). I don’t drink (not LDS, I just don’t like the taste) but I do plan to have some expensive chocolate and a movie.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:13 pmTymofiy Mylovanov explains how they reduced corruption in Ukraine, after the Russian stooge was forced out of power.
Here’s a stray thought: If Putin cared about ordinary Russians, he could have learned from these Ukrainian successes.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:16 pmWho wants the headache of having a kid these days? There are just too many pernicious influences that didn’t exist when I was a kid, starting with social media.
Well, you know the so-called ‘pernicious influences’ appear in different guises but they’ve been around… and a long time in American society. Back in the day it was– comic books, swivel hipped Elvis and that rock ‘n- roll has got to go… ever see ‘Blackboard Jungle’ ? Gangs, always… ever see ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ or WWS w/the Jets & the Sharks… and, of course, always POOL…
Hit it, Professor Hill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2ySBtVLCYA
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:17 pmSpeaking of Putin, if we were to make the number of our comments roughly proportionate to a man’s faults, as was suggested here earlier, there is a prolific commenter who owes us more than a thousand comments criticizing “Czar” Putin.
(Don’t hold your breath waiting for it to follow its own rule.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:19 pmThe House dress code is ridiculous. Only small-minded people insist on rigid dress codes.
While I’m on the topic, suits and ties are pompous, archaic, uncomfortable, and ridiculous. Why does discomfort have to be part of “dressing up”?
All we need is for one U.S. president, JUST ONE, to refuse to wear this stifling costume, and it could all change. Consider JFK. He did not wear a fedora, and the fedora promptly fell out of fashion.
I don’t even own a suit. They’re ridiculous.
Don’t even get me started on “dress” shoes.
All of these items need to join hoop skirts and top hats on the ash heap of history. I mean, the British used to think that one had to wear a powdered wig to look good.
Can we all just agree not to foist this sartorial servitude on the next generation?
norcal (862cdb) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:20 pmThis discussion between Dana and Nic has me wondering. How much latitude should parents have before the state steps in?
Who gets to decide what is bad parenting and what isn’t? Is it better to err on the side of parental control or state control?
Fortunately, I’m not a parent. Good luck to those who are.
norcal (862cdb) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:30 pmFifty Years Ago Today-“Peace With Honor”
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:32 pmWhat are you basing this on?
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:36 pmFifty Years Ago Today-“Peace With Honor”
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:32 pm
Peace With Honor. Ha! Anytime the government puts a fancy name on something, you know it will be a stinker. See Affordable Care Act, Inflation Reduction Act, etc.
The same principle works for country names. German Democratic Republic, People’s Republic of China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
norcal (862cdb) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:40 pmI watched some of the Tyre Nichols footage, and the main questions I have are at the beginning, because the beginning is what caused events to unfold as they did…
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:44 pm(1) What, if anything, prompted the police in very their first encounter with Nichols to forcefully yank him out of his car, yelling at him the whole time, and force him to ground?
(2) The police claim he was pulled over for “reckless driving”, but is that true or was there some other thing?
(3) What kind of conditioning program does Memphis police have? It’s not a good look to see cops bent over, gasping for breath (granted, they have a lot of gear on ’em).
(4) Why didn’t they cuff him right away? In the second encounter, why didn’t they cuff him right away?
We are talking about about a public school, right?
nk (2735bc) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:46 pmFirst, the teachers and staff will take the path of less resistance, less effort, and less responsibility.
Second, they will follow the prevailing ethos of their institution and peers which these days is transgender affirmation.
@norcal@90 I probably shouldn’t be answering this question this week, but IMO, the options the state has mostly aren’t right for most of the situations that are dangerous (mentally or physically) for kids. Obviously are the situations we all hear about where the parent beats the he!! out of a kid and the kid is taken away, but mostly that isn’t what is going on in families. What do you do in a situation where the 11 year old is watching their 4 younger sibs, including the baby, while their single parent works 2 jobs, including one at night? Or when a 12 year old is basically living alone because they are nominally living with their 22 year old older sister who is the best choice of guardian their terrible family, but who is really living across town with her boyfriend? Or a parent is on serious opiates but isn’t violent and provides an apartment and food? Or where the parents are violent toward one another but not the kids? Or otherwise good but entirely alone and unsupported single parent is at the end of their rope with their teenage and hits them once to prove they are serious. Or two/three kids are living with their elderly, ill, and disabled 80 yr old grandmother and basically taking care of themselves? Or parent is bringing casual sex partners (or paying sex partners) home every night? (these are all real situations I’ve come across). These are not safe situations, but is it safer or even reasonable to remove them to foster care, which is also not a good or sometimes not very safe system? IMO, the entire system needs to be retooled and revamped to have more flexibility and options, but we don’t want to fund that.
@Dana@92 If their kid told them and they didn’t listen, they chose to exclude themselves from the conversation.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:50 pmhttps://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1619029772977455105
They knew it was a lie when they claimed that trends were being pushed by Russian propagandists. And they supported the lie because of who was doing the pushing and it served the
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/27/2023 @ 7:03 pmSovietleft’s agenda.If their kid told them and they didn’t listen, they chose to exclude themselves from the conversation.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:50 pm
FFS, they don’t have to agree with their kid or the school. From the story:
“He had tried to come out to his parents before, he said, but they didn’t take it seriously, which is why he asked his school for support.”
Disagreeing with your kid on such a significant issue is a conversation. Saying that’s evidence they’re not listening is just arrogance.
JF (b699a8) — 1/27/2023 @ 7:11 pm#89 norcal – What you say reminds me of an incident at the Google site about a block away from where I live. They were having a demonstration protesting management’s decision to pay off some guy who had, as I recall, a harrassment problem. I went to see the protest, and take a few pictures — and was struck by the fact that the protesting Google employees were wearing almost identical clothes.
Nearly all were wearing jeans and casual shirts; or to put it another way, nearly all were wearing the same “uniforms”. I assumed at the time that this was a matter of conformity, not company rules, but didn’t ask the employees, since I didn’t know them, and a demonstration didn’t seem the time to ask such questions.
But I was interested to see that they were wearing clothes that I consider impractical in the often damp climate here in the Seattle area. Jeans are generally made of cotton, or at least a cotton blend, and can be hypothermia city, almost instantly, when they get wet.
And, since most of them were young and, as far as I could tell, unmarried, I was — sadly — reminded that most of us are not particularly attractive when we wear jeans.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/27/2023 @ 7:13 pmThat sounds like a fair characterization, and it may have been ill-advised or even bad parenting. But surely it shouldn’t be enough to strip them of their parental rights. It may be maddening to watch, but short of abuse, bad parents have the right to be bad parents. That includes the right not to be excluded from making (bad) decisions on behalf of their children.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 1/27/2023 @ 7:38 pmI agree, lurker. For better or worse, parents have the right to instill worthy or unworthy values in their children, as well as sound or cockeyed views of social, moral, and ethical issues.
Until one has navigated the devastatingly tricky minefield of their offspring’s teenage years, everything is little more than academics and ticking the boxes and void of the many nuances of the relationships. The complicated and messy nature of parent-child relationships shouldn’t be minimized. Nothing is ever clean it, and the more serious the issue the teenager and parent face, the messier it tends to be. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, wrong or bad, or even evidence of deficient parents.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 8:24 pmNIc,
Do you think that parents who believe that transexuality is a mental health issue should have their concerns overridden by the current political fads? Is it possible that the child (and I repeat CHILD) is simply acting out in a way that they know will upset their parents? Does presenting new and hitherto unimagined avenues of rebellion to CHILDREN seem like an unalloyed good idea?
This is the place that the publicly-supported schools are inserting themselves. Fifty years ago it was forced busing, and it destroyed LAUSD. This is not going to end well either.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 9:51 pmThe schools approach transgender issues from a position of approval and assistance. Parents who oppose such acceptance and assistance are “bad people” who must be lied to and kept from the truth. A few years later, when this mess lands in their laps and the schools has washed its hands, it will be the parents paying for years of psychotherapy for children abused at the hands of the state.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 9:56 pmFree link.
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:23 pm@kevin@102 I think parents who believe that it’s a mental health issue should get their kid into therapy and, if they don’t want the school to use a student’s preferred name or pronouns, they should have a serious discussion about it with their child and let the school know that this is an issue they are working on, but would prefer that the student go by their given name etc. They should also understand, however, that the preferred name might go into the computer as a nickname so that we know who the other students are talking about when they use it and not freak out when they see it in the AKA box in the database entry. If someone tells me that Coco is going to get in a fight, I need to be able to figure out who Coco is (example give from one of my adventures this week. WHO IS COCO?!? I did eventually track down someone who knew, and I did add it to the AKA box for that student. 😛 ).
I’ve never seen a kid using being trans as an acting out behavior against their parents, there are too many social consequences. However, they do sometimes confuse being trans with other mental health issues and think that they can stop being depressed if they social transition, which isn’t really a thing that happens. Being called Bob instead of Alice doesn’t make you a different person.
@Rip@104 Anxiety. It’s anxiety right now. Often because the parent is anxious. All my super anxious kids have anxious parents. Also fightiness. Right now, if you tell your kid it’s OK for them to defend themselves, they think that means it’s OK to find and punch out a person who might have made some vaguely negative statement about them at some point because that person is “bullying” them. They also don’t know how to resolve disagreements or how to deal with the idea that a person they don’t like exists somewhere. They just want to be fighty about it. This year is much worse than last year in both those areas.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 10:32 pmI’ve said this before, but sometimes Mother Jones does good reporting despite their blatant liberal bent, such as their database on mass shootings that goes all the way back to the 1980s. More recently, they’ve tracked the alleged donors to George Santos’ campaigns, and it smells.
And so forth. It’s probably a good idea that the DOJ is taking over.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:22 pmEvery time we have one of these discussions with Nic they’re depressing.
What Nic is describing doesn’t seem like any sort of educational system. It sounds more like a juvenile detention facility with optional life coaching classes.
My experience with education majors in college does not inspire confidence in their ability to handle any of this. My experience as an adult hasn’t increased my confidence. And I say this as a person with several family members who are teachers. This isn’t a slight against teachers. It’s trying to use the wrong people to fix a system they simply aren’t equipped to handle.
The unfortunate thing is none of this should be surprising. But many of Nic’s predecessors and associates have not only ignored but mocked and ridiculed anyone pointing out the obvious.
frosty (ea6cd1) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:43 pm107,
It would be interesting if this was done for all federally elected officials. I think we’d find something like the SCI documents scandal if we did.
Then we’d get to debate who did it the most egregiously.
frosty (ea6cd1) — 1/27/2023 @ 11:47 pm@frosty@108 In all fairness, I’m mostly seeing probably the 10%-15% of kids who are struggling the most and for many of them they aren’t struggling due to lack of ability, but because their personal lives are a disaster. So a lot of my stories are bad. If you want a bit more of a hopeful note, we’ve seen a huge reduction in gang involvement in the last 10 years.
There are some things that could be done on just the school end that would help a lot. We should double our number of campus monitors so that we have 1 per 100 students instead of 1 per 200 and give them full day hours instead of cheaping out by paying them for an hr in the morning, 2 hrs around lunch, and an hour in the afternoon. Administrators should stop trying to get rid of all the extra help classes/ advanced classes. Kids want to do well in school, but if they get behind or get to something they can’t understand w/out 1 on 1 help, they often just give up. And smart but bored kids check out or cause trouble. Classes should be no more than 20-25 students so that there are fewer discipline issues and teachers have time to get to more of their students. Every school should have an actual nurse and an actual librarian and at least one more administrator than the district thinks is strictly necessary. We need to think about what kids actually need to learn. Most politicians think the answer is SHOVE MORE FACTS INTO THEIR HEADS FASTER without thinking about what they actually need to know vs what they should have the option to learn. Most of us don’t need to know how many electrons are in which zone of electrons in an element, a rather large number of us need to use a spreadsheet at some point. We need more mental health services, esp gen-ed mental health. The parents want them for the kids, the kids want them for themselves, there’s always a huge waitlist. If kids could learn how to manage stress, identify and manage their emotions, build healthy relationships, and talk to eachother productively from Kinder on up, maybe they’d be less of a mess as teenagers. And something needs to be done for teachers, I don’t know what, but something. I know that Rob thinks that teaching is an easy job for lazy incompetent people, but every single person that I know in education is exhausted almost all the time. More money might help some just from a fewer personal life stressors end of things and a larger number of teachers, so fewer teachers having to substitute during their prep time, but really we are all so tired.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:32 am@110. Classes should be no more than 20-25 students so that there are fewer discipline issues and teachers have time to get to more of their students.
Absolutely. Another point, when in school in the UK, our ‘extra curricular’ distractions were quite purposely limited nor was there a large parking lot for kids with cars And vacation time was much shorter than it is in the U.S. Class start and stop times were gauged on a business day calendar structure– from 8 AM to 4 PM… so the kids were not fatigued. Homework was heavy, too– and unlike in the U.S., our faculty pressed to go through an entire textbook while stateside, in public schools, they’d be lucky to get though half. But the most critical element for sure was class size and the teachers made it known they demanded control of this and insisted on no more than 20 or 25 students, tops. It allowed for more individual attention and participation by the kids and extra help classes were not only welcomed but encouraged. The system in the U.S. these days appears broken if not top heavy with misplaced priorities. My own niece got through HS with zero history classes– while American, World/European and British history courses were mandatory in my day. The reasoning, she was told, was history courses highlighting past dates and events long over have no bearing on getting a good job today. Worse, the nephew graduated HS w/o every knowing how to fill out and sign a check. The reasoning from the school being their world was everything on plastic. The methods, procedures and habits of learning stay with you through life. U.S. kids today appear to be getting infused with a poor set of habits from very early on.
DCSCA (f36ca3) — 1/28/2023 @ 1:46 amhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-campaign-to-ban-gas-stoves-biden-climate-change-appliances-cooking-culture-war-11674774370?st=w9vermjlwuyz06u&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
To repeat, leftists don’t care about freedom. They want to control every aspect of your life.
NJRob (4918bb) — 1/28/2023 @ 4:33 amYour entire post describes babysitting, not educating. Not once do you delve into why students need to learn certain things or why we teach them. Teaching how to think is important. Shortening classes won’t help. Recruiting professional instead of “educators” will.
NJRob (4918bb) — 1/28/2023 @ 4:42 amhttps://www.foxnews.com/politics/kamala-harris-deliberately-omit-life-referencing-declaration-independence-americans-react
The current Vice President who deliberately omits “life” when discussing the Declaration of Independence to support her barbaric views supporting abortion.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/28/2023 @ 5:41 amJunk science. For how long did Freud get away with “hysteria” before feminism scotched it? We criticize Soviet psychiatry for being a political tool, but Western “mental health” is no less fakey. Just a bunch of self-defined “experts” peddling untestable theories.
nk (2735bc) — 1/28/2023 @ 6:07 amDana (1225fc) — 1/27/2023 @ 5:42 pm
It may be the “believe all children” mantra will trump “believe all parents” when it involves an important agenda to the Admin.
When any child says to me ” I did tell my parents, but they…” I know it is time to talk to the parents because sometimes the “but they” is childspeak for “I didn’t get my way” as often as candor. Of course, if one presumes the parents to be the “enemy” then any conversation with parents is foolish -right?
felipe (484255) — 1/28/2023 @ 7:23 amNJRob (eb56c3) — 1/28/2023 @ 5:41 am
I wonder how many people think what you’re talking about has nothing to do with what Nic is talking about?
frosty (ea6cd1) — 1/28/2023 @ 7:46 amHere are some random thoughts on K-12 education:
1. Germany spends 240 days/yr in the classroom (Japan and China more); we spend 179. Our students don’t need summers to work the farm fields. There needs to be more time on task.
2. Differentiated instruction is killing us. Classrooms can have gifted, average, developmentally-disabled, disruptive, and ESL students in there together. This makes no sense. Tracking matches content to achievement, so gifted students aren’t bored and slower students aren’t discouraged (and bored).
3. Which career has the lowest prestige: Doctor, lawyer, executive, engineer, or K-12 teacher? You don’t need courses in calculus and complex numbers to be an effective algebra teacher. There needs to be some way to pay the best teachers more than the mediocre teachers. It should not just be time in service. Impove the teaching environment and you will attract and retain better teachers (see #2 for instance; also work more days, earn more money). Good teachers shouldn’t have to go into administration to make more money.
4. Too many education researchers have spent very little time in an actual classroom. Why should university professors be training K-12 teachers rather than the best K-12 teachers? Researchers tend too often to arcana and weakly supported theses because they have to publish something for tenure and promotion.
5. Classroom size is deceptive. Would you want a class of 30 with a good teacher or a class of 20 with a teacher that would not otherwise have been hired? We don’t have enough good teachers as it is, maybe don’t compound the problem. All things equal, of course a smaller size is better, but all things aren’t equal.
6. The curriculum should better serve students where college might not be an immediate good fit. What content is sticky and seems relevant to life? Numeracy with respect to after-tax income, mortgage affordability, and the power of compounding interest. Reading newspapers and voter guides for content. Building arguments using evidence, logic, and avoiding fallacies. Being able to find information and use it; follow assembly instructions and learn how to do-it-yourself. Life skills for conflict resolution, managing anxiety, and understanding abuse. Gifted students can test out of much of this.
7. We must slow the descent into ethnic enclaves. The curriculum at its core should unite us and tap into our common interests. Self esteem is most productively earned by achievement.
8. Students should arrive to school ready to learn. This is the challenge to society. How much time, money, and effort is expended on disruptive or troubled kids…at the expense of others? Our teen pregnancy numbers are dropping but are still high relative to the other industrialized countries. Unacceptable. Get creative with mentors, but adult parents need to be held responsible (parenting education?). School shouldn’t be day care and therapy time. Kids need to be encouraged to read and be creative.
9. In this age of technology, we should be able to find and mine the most effective curriculum out there and have teachers exploit it using video and interactive exercises. In-class teachers should be answering questions, ensuring everyone is on task, and building a rapport. 90% of curriculum should have 0 controversy and should not be federally mandated, but available for any local district to adopt.
AJ_Liberty (6188f4) — 1/28/2023 @ 7:48 amI don’t know how to solve the problems that come from transgender/transitioning students. I feel for everyone, and I hope they are all acting with the best intentions.
But the conversation regarding the education profession reminds me of conversations about the legal profession. Both make people deeply unhappy, and I think that is often for good reasons. They don’t work well much of the time.
I believe the legal profession has suffered from a change in standards that most lawyers interpret as requiring zeal in representing clients. Many lawyers and clients believe that means the lawyer must do whatever it takes to win. I don’t think that is correct and I think it hurts society and the profession.
I think something similar has happened in education, possibly because now there are so many more administrators in the field than teachers. Both professions seem intent on promoting conflicts rather than resolving them.
DRJ (265356) — 1/28/2023 @ 8:42 amNic,
My experience with helping addicts tells me that, especially with young adults, the factors leading to atypical sexual identity are myriad. About half the time the identity is clear and not an issue. And about half the time it relates to neurosis, past molestation, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, depression, and/or general confusion given the societal pressures regarding sex. I tend to suggest that this latter group seek professional help as my only expertise is with addition recovery and some of these conditions require medical treatment. Admittedly the folks I’ve worked with may be an atypical group.
But this makes me reluctant to accept lay intrusion into these matters with children and/or keeping the information from parents. While those truly understanding of their own sexuality should be supported, those exhibiting “confusion” should get actual psychiatric help. I don’t buy that they would normally tell their parents, even the most loving parents, as sexual secrets seem to be the closest held. Unless there are serious red flags, the parents need to be brought in at the earliest possible point and allowed to direct their child’s care.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/28/2023 @ 8:47 amBizarre:
Related:
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:01 amAJ, great post. I mostly agree, but I have a few quibbles:
We must slow the descent into ethnic enclaves. The curriculum at its core should unite us and tap into our common interests. Self esteem is most productively earned by achievement.
Well, yes, but the problem is we are generally starting with ethnic enclaves, so I see it more as supporting an ascent from them. This isn’t helped by a teacher seniority system that allows the better and/or more experienced teachers to opt for schools in nicer areas. A sizable (e.g. 30%) pay bonus for working the less-desirable schools might help.
You also leave out the real killer to public schools — the massive bureaucracies intercepting the money stream/ Most of this is in response to the top-down control are reporting requirements that were exacerbated by the federalization of education. If you removed the federal ed oversight and funding systems completely about half this bureaucracy could disappear.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:02 amNic, what you’re saying really resonates with what I’ve heard from friends / family who teach. They’re pretty smart and became teachers because they wanted to educate and help kids. The ones who stayed in all work in school districts for middle/upper middle incomes. The ones who left usually referenced lack of support from administrators and “failing” due to external factors.
When the problem with teaching a kid math/reading/history/writing is that theyre hungry and exhausted because their personal life doesn’t get them proper nutrition or rest it’s disheartening.
Affluent districts have less of that problem and more resources to deal with it if necessary.
One of my friends taught in a lower income exurban area that was turning into a bedroom community. She quit after a few years. She said it was heartbreaking not being able to do more for good kids that needed more help then she could provide.
Some might deride the type on intervention her students needed as “daycare” but if we want to live in a society where outcomes aren’t entirely determined by the circumstances of birth those services are critical.
Glad you do the work you do. It’s valuable.
Time123 (90562d) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:29 am115,
Did feminism scorch it? Have you seen what’s going on with modern feminism?
frosty (0921b0) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:44 amFor some reason, the relationship between schools and parents have become adversarial, rather than mutually respectful with a shared goal of what’s in the best interest of students. Nothing causes more anger for parents than when their knowledge and experience is dismissed out of hand because they are not the “educator”. That is condescending and wrong. And nothing frustrates teachers more than neglectful parents ignoring the observations they make about their kids when in their charge (behavioral or academic).
Without a demonstrated respect, both sides lose. And that includes the students.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:44 amOoops. Whaddaya know. Diphthongs are vowel combinations. There really should be a cool name for consonant combinations.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/27/2023 @ 3:17 pm
Look up “consonant digraphs” in your preferred search engine.
ColoComment (49afe1) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:51 am@125, you’re describing what I see in culture war media. But that’s not what I see in my kids schools.
Time123 (c4f804) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:55 amIn order to do that you would need to end residential segregation, which in turn produces segregated school districts. Families live where they do because of who their neighbors are and economics.
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:58 amHere’s an easy problem, for practice: What mistake did Isaac Asimov — who was a very smart guy — make in this bit from Foundation:
(It from the beginning of chapter three of the first story, “The Psychohistorians”.)
I must have read that dozens of times before I finally did the arithmetic.
If you want to give others a chance to solve it, wait a day or so before posting your answer.
(I seem to recall that, in a later story, Asimov tried to fix his mistake by saying that Trantor had 40 billion bureacrats, which would make the total population much higher.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:06 amnk (2735bc) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:46 pm
Yep. It also applies to private institutions. It’s a human thing.
felipe (484255) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:11 am@Dana@92 If their kid told them and they didn’t listen, they chose to exclude themselves from the conversation.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/27/2023 @ 6:50 pm
“If,” eh? I disagree.
So the parents have excluded themselves (and thereby forfeited any rights but retain blame, of course) – how convenient.
Yes, I am firmly on the parent’s side – conservative or liberal alike.
felipe (484255) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:24 amWorth study: This Bill Gates opinion piece in the Washington Post:
25 million lives — so far!
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:31 amAn alternative poll:
Former President Donald Trump is nearly 20 points behind Gov. Ron DeSantis in a poll of South Carolina Republicans regarding next year’s Presidential Primary.
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:39 amI don’t know how to solve the problems that come from transgender/transitioning students.
It seems to be a misplaced priority today. In my grade school days it flared up as a notable issue because it involved a teacher, not a student- and became a fairly big case at the time. Our music teacher was a ‘fella’ named Paul Grossman– who became Paula Grossman. He/she lost her job because of revealing the gender issue and the case made its way to the SCOTUS but they refused to hear it… [maybe they lost the file 😉 ] A gregarious sort, we used to call him ‘Beatle boots Grossman’ because at the time he wore those ankle high shoes similar to what the popular Fab Four wore– and he always wore silk socks and a bow tie. But his classes were fun, remain memorable and his personal gender preferences were certainly not an awareness issue w/t students– only the school administrators.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Grossman
DCSCA (4033b1) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:41 am@125, you’re describing what I see in culture war media. But that’s not what I see in my kids schools.
Time123 (c4f804) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:55 am
a totally unexpected dismissive response, predicted @19
like clockwork
more fake news from culture war media
I don’t see systemic racism in my school, so it must not be happening.
JF (110f66) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:44 amTick-Tock:
Related:
What chutzpah!
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:01 amHi JF, to explain what should be obvious; I was responding to a specific point Dana made by referencing my own experience. I was not dismissing the existence of the culture war generally. Do you follow that distinction?
Interesting link that you posted by the way.
Time123 (90562d) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:08 amThe Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been.
Sounds a bit ‘PR-ish’ in intent; hard to believe given the tick-tock experience of the Cuban Missile Crisis- where one guy literally saved the world:
The Man Who Saved the World
‘[I]n October 1962, the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war. On October 22, 1962, after reviewing photographic evidence, President John F. Kennedy informed the world that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases in Cuba, just 90 miles off the shores of Florida. For the next 13 days, the world held its breath as the Soviet Union and the United States confronted each other about missiles stationed in Cuba. While politicians sought a resolution to the standoff, no one was aware of the events taking place inside the Soviet submarine B-59 in the waters off the coast of Florida. It’s[t]he unsung story of Soviet naval officer Vasili Arkhipov, the Brigade Chief of Staff on submarine B-59, who refused to fire a nuclear missile and saved the world from World War III and nuclear disaster.
For decades, Arkhipov’s story was hidden, only emerging in recent years. The events depicted in The Man Who Saved the World unfolded over four hours on October 27, 1962, when fear over the Cuban Missile Crisis was at its highest.
The commander of each submarine had permission to act without direct orders from Moscow if they believed they were under threat. Each of the four subs was carrying what the Soviets called a ‘special weapon’, a single nuclear torpedo, comparable in strength to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The torpedo could only be fired if the submarine captain and political officer were in agreement. Each had one half of a key which, when joined, unlocked the firing mechanism. Aboard the sub B-59, three men—not two—needed to be in agreement. As commander of the entire submarine fleet, Arkhipov had the power to veto firing the missile and was one of the only men who knew about the mission in advance. Fifty years later, The Man Who Saved the World recounts Arkhipov’s courageous story and how, with a single act, he stopped the destruction of life as we know it.’
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/the-man-who-saved-the-world-about-this-episode/871/
DCSCA (bd9f72) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:18 amToo short:
………
On Friday, a man who attacked Brian D. Sicknick with chemical spray at the Capitol was sentenced to 80 months — nearly seven years — behind bars. Julian Khater, 32, pleaded guilty in March to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon.
……….
In court, Khater said what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, was “extremely unfortunate,” and that the officers and their families didn’t deserve it. “I wish I could take it all back,” he said.
But as (Judge Thomas F. Hogan) told him, the “self-centered” pronouncement “did not include any apology to the officers who you sprayed.” While Sicknick’s loved ones marked the 751 days since Jan. 6, Khater began his statement by counting the 684 “agonizing” days he has spent in jail.
……….
The average sentence for those convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers is more than 48 months, in line with the nationwide average for that offense in recent years, according to a Washington Post database and data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The longest Jan. 6 sentence issued so far has been 10 years to retired New York Police Department officer Thomas Webster, who swung a flagpole at police before tackling one officer and pulling his gas mask off his face.
Khater’s defense attorneys ((Khater’s attorneys Joseph Tacopina and Chad Seigel ) in court filings, also blamed Trump.
………
They asked for a sentence of time served.
Seigel said in court that while Khater was remorseful, the spray’s impact was “temporary” and he was “not directly or indirectly” responsible for Sicknick’s death.
Prosecutor Gilead Light countered in court that the attack was “cowardly and premeditated,” targeted at officers who lacked protective gear.” …….
Light said Khater assaulted at least three police officers: Caroline Edwards, an unnamed D.C. police officer and Sicknick . …….
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:25 am55 years ago last Monday-USS Pueblo (AGER-2) seized by North Korea
Related.
Rip Murdock (f588d9) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:50 amLink to resolution.
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:53 amBetter link.
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:55 amI think the point many people are making, DCSCA, is that the school policies undermine the parent-child relationship.
DRJ (265356) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:56 am@144. Yes, they seem to be today; it was ‘school policy’ that forced Grossman out of his gig back in the day.
DCSCA (7f4815) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:01 pmMr. Steube (for himself, Mr. Waltz, and Mr. Tiffany) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
In other words, three swampy congresscritters are back at it wasting time on the taxpayer’s dime being typically bureaucratic shoving papers into an overloaded bureaucracy on an issue totally irrelevant to addressing current problems facing America in 2023– not 1968.
DCSCA (7f4815) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:11 pm@DCSCA@111 fortunately most states require at least a US history class for graduation at this point. The personal finance question is currently under discussion in our curriculum development committee. We don’t currently teach it to most students under the theory that parents would, but it seems that they aren’t so the committee is trying to figure out how/where to fit it into the curriculum.
@NJRob@113 “Your entire post describes babysitting” Yeah? What do you think most parents value schools for? /sarcasm (but only slight sarcasm). More seriously, we weren’t actually talking about curriculum, but I can if you want.
@AJ@118- 180 :P. the german 240 days is deceptive. It counts the start of the year to the end, but they have way way more breaks during the year. They also do a half day on Wednesdays and on Saturdays, that equal out into a full day on Wednesdays. They also often have a full hour for lunch where they can go home and eat. I don’t think would necessarily be a bad idea to have more breaks spread out through the year and a shorter summer and it would probably reduce learning loss esp among elementary children.
Totally agree on the differentiated instruction, but admins loooovvvvvveeeeeee it. I don’t even know why.
The part of teacher training that’s getting credentialed is split between being instructed in class and working under an “expert teacher” in a classroom. The real disservice is to the 1st and second year teachers. Theoretically they are given a mentor teacher, but really that just ends up being extra work for them both. The reality is that 1st and 2nd year teachers are given a full schedule of classes and expected to figure it out with maybe some help from the other people in their department.
Class size can be the difference between a good teacher and a mediocre teacher, good teaching isn’t always scaleable.
The career and technical ed end of curriculum is getting better at the moment. During the GWB NCLB years, almost all career and technical ed classes went away because the only thing that the feds cared about were test scores and students attending 4 year colleges. That trend started to reverse maybe 10 years ago? But a lot of the teachers had retired or left teaching and most professional tradespeople aren’t interested in taking the pay cut and hassle increase to go to teaching (there’s a special shortcut path to certification for professionals who want to move to teaching).
Teachers are transitioning to more technology based and multimedia classrooms, but it’s expensive to get the equipment in and there are still a lot of teachers with a low level of tech comfort. General comfort with technology tends to start with teachers in their mid 40s, anyone older tends to struggle. There are also subject areas where technology doesn’t help a lot. Writing an essay is mostly an analog learning process, even if they are now writing it digitally. 😛
@Kevin@120 My experience is that most kids would rather not lie to their parents about who they are, most of the time (as long as they don’t think they will get in trouble. Let me tell you about your middle school daughter and dating.). They don’t want to have a graphic discussion about it, but they don’t want to have to hide, either. And yes, the district office is always over staffed. In my case Very Very over staffed.
@Time@123 Pretty much. Thanks.
@Dana and @Time 125/127- Parents are, as far as I can tell, afraid for their kids futures and sometimes that creates an adverserial atmosphere surrounding discipline and consequences and grades. A lot of parents worry that if the discipline consequence they earned for themselves goes on their record it will effect their opportunities in the future and want their kids to be able to have a lot of extra time and a lot less rigor if they are having trouble with their grade in a class because they don’t want an F or D on the transcript for college. They want to short-term rescue their children and make things look better, but in the long term the student isn’t learning how to make better decisions.
@DCSCA@135 It’s really a very small issue that takes up a lot of oxygen. This year my student body has less than 0.5% trans students.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:27 pmTrafalgar Group Poll:
Only 1 in 50 people contacted participated. This is a red flag. Almost 80 percent of respondents were over 45 and 90% were white. Is the SC GOP really like that?
The poll shows that Donald Trump still has a lot of support, and that only DeSantis and the native SC candidates have a chance there against him. I would have liked to see a set of results without Trump, as he might not still be a candidate by the time the election happens.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:28 pmSooner…….Rather Than Later;
Rip Murdock (fd7522) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:28 pmNic, your comment addressed to me at 147 puts the full burden for the adversarial relationships on the parents and not at all on schools. I think that speaks for volumes.
Dana (c83304) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:42 pmInteresting link that you posted by the way.
As a former NM Finalist, it should be pointed out that the actual scholarships are diversely funded and administered and each imposes additional requirements and application methods. For example, some may be offered by the UAW for the children of UAW members. The sooner parents are notified of their child’s eligibility, the sooner they can begin the labyrinthine process. Those who start late are at a significant disadvantage.
While the Finalist designation opens college doors, it does not guarantee ANY scholarship. I can see parents being upset at not being notified in a timely manner. Sure, they could have investigated themselves (and many Asian parents might), but it is still poor form from the school administrators.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:45 pmNic, your comment addressed to me at 147 puts the full burden for the adversarial relationships on the parents and not at all on schools. I think that speaks for volumes.
I think that both groups stereotype the other. Teachers view parents as ignorant rubes, and parents view teachers as extensions of a hostile bureaucracy. This is unfortunate as both groups have a common enemy in the parasitic management structure.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:49 pmI can agree with that, Kevin.
Dana (d1c777) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:50 pm“We must slow the descent into ethnic enclaves.”
Thanks for the comments Kevin and Rip. I was not thinking segregated communities here, but rather ones already with some ethnic diversity. In those communities, does the K-12 curriculum unite those groups or does it encourage groups to identify primarily by their ethnicity? Don’t get me wrong, some efforts at inclusion can be beneficial as are considering other perspectives. The problem is whether there is too much pluribus and not enough unum. Are students getting the perspective that ethnicity matters more than citizenship? No, I’m not lurching into CRT conspiracy land. It’s a simple exercise. In schools with diversity, do the students sort by race and does the curriculum contribute to this? If it does, should we re-consider that portion of the curriculum? Now maybe the sorting is dominated by other factors: who lives by me, who do I do extra curricular activities with, or who do I have most classes with. I think the curriculum should bring us together.
“the massive bureaucracies intercepting the money stream”
I remember my Catholic school was pretty lean and mean with respect to admin. It probably had to be. Of course nuns were free to dispense with discipline and use the fear of God to ensure compliance. One nun had a paddle with holes drilled in to cut down on wind resistance. And there was a bit of crazy in that lady too, God love her. But yes, certainly dysfunction requires over-seers to manage it. Get rid of the dysfunction and you can get rid of the excessive bureaucracy. I would also agree that there is too much duplication and reinvention going on that probably produces little added value. But if you want to do merit pay and teacher development and mentor and counsel troubled students, someone has to do this. The paddle and God…though some may disagree…are probably not the answer in these new times.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:51 pmYour analogy is not on point, DCSCA. Grossman was an adult.
DRJ (265356) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:56 pmAJ,
The “California Almanac” (Fay, 1995) listed information about the employment classifications in California public and private schools. About 80% of private school employees were teaching personnel, while less than half of the public school employees were. I doubt that this has improved since.
I wish I still had my copy, but things get trimmed in moves, and books are the first things to be triaged when you have thousands.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/28/2023 @ 1:05 pmI think that about half of the local school bureaucracy is collecting data for state and federal purposes and/or managing programs funded from there. I might be wrong, but it does seem like things took a wrong turn in CA with Serrano v Priest moving financial control to the state, and later with the US DoEd.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/28/2023 @ 1:11 pm@155. The point is the meddling of the school board/parents when the issue was irrelevant to the children in class.
DCSCA (42cbfe) — 1/28/2023 @ 1:16 pm@154. The discipline stretched to dress code; uniforms, if memory serves; back in the day the Catholic schools – at least in northern NJ, all required the kids to wear uniforms to attend classes. Not sure they still do that. Coats and ties, the dresses and such- no jeans, of course was not the ‘code’ at other schools; though in Britain- even though it was a U.S. accredited school, we had to wear sport coats and ties as well; one day we all protested [late 60’s, of course] and wore jeans to school– and were suspended for three days.
DCSCA (42cbfe) — 1/28/2023 @ 1:23 pmPublic schools have to take everybody private schools don’t. In az public schools have to screen for sex criminals private schools don’t yet get state paid funding.
asset (f8bf91) — 1/28/2023 @ 1:34 pm@Dana@150 The adversarial bit on the part of the schools is generally institutional. I am not just trying to get your specific child onto a life path to success, I am trying to get 50 other children onto a life path success as well, which means that sometimes their needs for my time, meetings, a safe classroom, whatever, are more important than your/your child’s need for more of my time, meetings, extra chances after they’ve made a decision that’s unsafe for other students. Is it reasonable for a parent to demand that I meet individually with their child for half an hour every day to work on math so that they get their homework done at school and will pass math? Even if I have 50 (or 100/150, sigh) other students to meet with? It is not. However, that parent doesn’t have to care about the other 50 kids passing math and may be mad if I explain that I cannot, and from their viewpoint I am being adversarial to them because their child needs the extra time and I am unfairly refusing to give it to them. I am not being adversarial from my viewpoint, I’m being fair to the other students.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/28/2023 @ 1:35 pmThere is a teacher shortage in every state. Red states worse because of lower pay. Liberals and leftists are more willing to put up with lower pay then conservative are. When teachers went on strike other states put up bill boards saying come to their states for better pay. None of the southern states put up bill boards saying come here for better pay because they don’t. Floriduh teachers don’t have to put up with desatan’s BS. Other states teachers groups should put up billboards in floriduh don’t just strike ;but quit and come here for better pay no being used as political pawns!
asset (f8bf91) — 1/28/2023 @ 1:56 pmCould U.S. BoEs deal with a structured system like this:
BRITISH EDUCATION: EXPLAINING O-LEVELS AND A-LEVELS: WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT TO BRITISH EDUCATION?
https://anglotopia.net/british-identity/british-education-explaining-o-levels-levels-important-british-education/
In a society so stratified by class, this structure essentially determined the fate of kids at a ver young age– you were either fated to be a tradesman or a middle class existence.
DCSCA (e3b854) — 1/28/2023 @ 2:28 pmRussian Media Watch:
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/28/2023 @ 2:43 pmRussian Media Watch II:
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/28/2023 @ 3:06 pmDoes that mean you think systemic racism in schools is happening? Systemic racism generally?
lurker (cd7cd4) — 1/28/2023 @ 3:21 pmAJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/28/2023 @ 12:51 pm
One nun had a paddle with holes drilled in to cut down on wind resistance.
Okay. That one tickled my funny bone.
And there was a bit of crazy in that lady too, God love her.
Never getting laid can do that do you.
If crazy nuns wielding paddles can produce writing talent like you, AJ, then let’s bring them back!
norcal (862cdb) — 1/28/2023 @ 3:46 pmSad!
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/28/2023 @ 3:55 pmAJ_liberty and norcal – In Playing to the Edge, Michael Hayden notes that several accepted terrorist interogation techniques were employed for discipline by the nuns in his Catholic school in Pittsburgh.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/28/2023 @ 4:17 pm@165. Wouldn’t worry too much about Russian nuke threats there. That bark is part of their defensive strategy as it is and they pull it out like a gun, waving it around knowing the Western media goes goofy over it for a few days. Setting off a nuke of any kind in their own backyard or on territory they want to reclaim is like dropping a hand grenade down their own shorts and crying, ‘See, I’ll show you, I’ll hurt me!’ As if they want more Chernobyls peppering the region and contaminating everything from the air to the soil and essential ground water. Won’t happen. Besides, they have a non-nuclear FOAB to use.
But Germany needs to explain why it will take three months to donate a pathetic 14 tanks to Ukraine. How long does it take to spray paint over the Iron Crosses on their sides? And where are the French tanks– the Froggies best hop to it PDQ; more British armor would help as well. This European mobilization is what they should have been doing and supplying 8 months ago in better weather. European NATO members acting individually rather than as a whole under the singular NATO banner is the wise way to do this and long overdue… The Biden Administration should have been pushing for Europe to take responsibility for policing this mess in their backyard right from the start. It could have saved American taxpayers billions. The Europeans have plenty of top line equipment; some of the best armor, munitions and aircraft in the world- and by coercing those European nations to commit it, take responsibility for their region and bear the burden of the costs PDQ, the Abrams may never get deployed for combat use — just gifted as security, after the conflict is resolved.
Full List of NATO Countries Sending Tanks to Ukraine
The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported Madrid would supply the tanks once Germany had agreed to supply the tanks, Spain will as well. Portugal is also reportedly getting ready to send Kyiv four Leopard 2 tanks.
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-leopard-tanks-germany-nato-scholz-putin-zelensky-1776426
Even Sweden’s Saab is stepping up w/some superb aircraft– and they’re not officially in NATO yet due to Turkey…
Why is Turkey blocking Sweden and Finland NATO membership?
STOCKHOLM, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Swedish and Finnish hopes of quickly joining NATO have run into an obstacle in the form of objections by Turkey, which holds veto powers over accession to the military alliance.
https://www.reuters.com/world/why-is-turkey-blocking-swedish-finnish-nato-membership-2023-01-25/
Sweden plans to supply Ukraine with Gripen fighter jets
Sweden plans to supply the Ukrainian Air Force with JAS 39 fighter jets, as Ukraine is currently in desperate need of any type of Western fighter jet. With Sweden and Finland on the cusp of joining NATO, and after decades of neutrality, let’s take a look at Sweden’s most impressive fighter jet: the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen.
https://min.news/en/military/a409faa4bc530b328f75ed6ccff23b7e.html
DCSCA (ead5d7) — 1/28/2023 @ 4:43 pmRIP Tom Verlaine (73). Leader of the band Television.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/28/2023 @ 4:47 pmDoes that mean you think systemic racism in schools is happening? Systemic racism generally?
lurker (cd7cd4) — 1/28/2023 @ 3:21 pm
did you read the link?
JF (f4ab60) — 1/28/2023 @ 4:47 pmAnother California shooting leaves 3 dead, 4 injured in ritzy LA neighborhood
‘The shooting took place shortly after 2:30 a.m. in the Beverly Crest area, an upscale neighborhood north of Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles Police Department said.’
https://www.foxnews.com/us/another-california-leaves-shooting-3-dead-4-injured-ritzy-la-neighborhood-reports
DCSCA (ead5d7) — 1/28/2023 @ 4:58 pmSimon Jester,
Just saw that Hamline University’s faculty voted 71-12 to ask the university president to step down:
Volokh has the details.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/28/2023 @ 5:17 pmJustice Department Announces Charges and New Arrest in Connection with Assassination Plot Directed from Iran
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/28/2023 @ 5:28 pmForeign National Pleads Guilty to Mailing Ricin to President of the United States in 2020
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/28/2023 @ 5:32 pmTrouble for Biden in New Hampshire:
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/28/2023 @ 6:00 pmAdam Carolla made a good point about schools. He said that paying to live in an expensive area is really just buying better parents of your children’s classmates.
Much of education would be fixed if all parents were more like Asian parents.
norcal (862cdb) — 1/28/2023 @ 6:12 pmFWIW-
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/28/2023 @ 6:12 pmRe the Hamline University incident,
I’m not sure the professors who say “academic freedom” get it, either. It’s not about what they should be free to teach in their classes. It’s about the core mission of an institute of higher learning.
The complainant at Hamline said that she had never seen a depiction of Mohammed before. Well, that’s what colleges are for: To teach people what they don’t already know; to show them things that they had not seen before.
nk (2547cf) — 1/28/2023 @ 6:44 pmhttps://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/01/28/utah-educators-and-union-officials-caught-boasting-of-secretly-teaching-crt-n1666006
Leftwing indoctrination into CRT and other poison even when they know it’s banned. They don’t care. They spit in the face of the law.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/28/2023 @ 9:49 pm183 banning teachers from teaching good luck with that. Would you rather have them teach the history of village tyrants like ron desatan or the evil history of the republican party starting with nixon’s southern strategy. There is a teachers shortage in every state with the southern states having most problems ;but other red states (kansas) decided to have non teachers baby sit class room instead of pay teachers to teach children. If teachers strike and decide to leave floriduh what can desatan do.
asset (1e9ddd) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:40 pmBreaking news drone strikes are hitting Iran’s military industrial complexes! I wonder who?
asset (1e9ddd) — 1/28/2023 @ 10:41 pm@185. Wonder still if Bennie had the courtesy to call Joey before hand and inform him of the raid… won’t help matters should Iran collects and picks apart any surviving wreckage and discovers U.S. ‘Intel Inside’ microchips in the Israeli drones– unless they were wise enough to scrub them clean.
DCSCA (2dbafc) — 1/28/2023 @ 11:53 pmIndoctrination into the leftist cult isn’t teaching, but you knew that already. It’s just religion without god.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/29/2023 @ 5:48 amA new voice over at the Dispatch: David Drucker. He has some analysis of Nikki Haley’s brewing run. https://thedispatch.com/article/nikki-haleys-campaign-in-waiting-starts-its-engines/#respond
Here are my thoughts.
The GOP needs a new tone and a reinvigorated message. Trump will hopelessly be Trump and for every disaffected blue collar voter he ropes in, he loses 2 suburban women tired of his schtick. DeSantis is trying to copy Trump’s bully ball, which works in Florida, but does it have legs in toss-up states like Wisconsin or Michigan? Ask those suburban moms what they see with DeSantis: unlikable bully is the consensus. Now he has time to recraft himself…somewhat….but you can’t fake your personality for long. Yes, this reflects the ever irritable mood of the base, but does it win general elections?
Enter Haley. It’s been excruciating watching her tightrope and not trigger the Trump base. Excruciating. I get the disappointment of many commenters here. A quiet disappointment would have been better than the ping-ponging support she’s shown. Still, she has a potential for optimism that evades DeSantis. She can attract those suburbanite women while having a chance with those disaffected blue-collar men. In the end if it’s Haley v. Biden, I suspect most NeverTrump will also come around. Demographically she’s better positioned for the General Election.
Yes, early on she will be pressed to square her vacillating stance on Trump. There’s no great answer, with the truth being that it was necessary to stay viable in the current GOP (ask Lynne Cheney). NeverTrump is not a clear lane to the nomination (ask Larry Hogan polling in low single digits). But this comes across as calculating and opportunistic, rather than principled and idealistic. Still, she can now vector. Hogan can’t. She can be critical but forward looking. She can genuinely claim Trump is wounded and saddled by charges, and persuadable MAGA supporters can nod that there is some truth to that. For the GOP, it will come down to whose voice will lead the party back to winning. The GOP needs younger and less abrasive…..that’s probably Haley. Let’s see how she does….
AJ_Liberty (95b2c9) — 1/29/2023 @ 7:04 amTrump Lawsuits:
And:
Sad!
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 8:42 amOuch!
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 8:53 amThe Man Who Tried to Stop the Space Shuttle Challenger’s Launch
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 9:01 am@191. Reaganomics and bad management doomed that crew and spacecraft. NASA was under profit-driven privatization pressures from the Reagan administration bean counting weenies for the bird to make a buck and satisfy the customers- particularly the DoD, which contributed development funds instrumental in the final design of the Orbiter [a large cargo bay to carry spy sats up.] It was an experimental machine that was never truly ‘operational,’ requiring much more maintenance than projected and expected; the two-week turn around sales pitch was absurd. Worse still, management turned a deaf ear to the engineers closest to the hardware. They were aware of the problem[s]; O-ring burn throughs had occurred on earlier flights– but labeled the problem[s] ‘acceptable flight risks’ to address later and failed to just stop and fix them. A similar mindset existed w/the foam issue which doomed Columbia as well– ‘Popcorning’ foam had been a problem since the first flights and labelled an acceptable flight risk as well… a ’tile repair kit’– slated for testing in the first few flights never materialized; costs and priorities again an issue. Such is the nature of aging bureaucracies.
DCSCA (8cb470) — 1/29/2023 @ 9:37 amIn az public schools have to screen for sex criminals private schools don’t yet get state paid funding.
Private schools may not have to by law, but their liability insurers probably insist. LAUSD keeps known molesters on the payroll (but out of classrooms) as firing them costs more than paying them, due to union protection. Private schools will turn them over to the police ASAP.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:08 am#188
I liked Haley as governor of SC. She hasn’t done anything noteworthy since she was UN ambassador. She needs to demonstrate she is not just the GOP version of intersectionality bingo. (ht JVW). I don’t thnk Trump allows the GOP to tiptoe away from him. So at some point, the issues of January 6 and why Trump is a loser will come up and Haley, if she is to be a successful candidate, won’t escape them.
Appalled (a17066) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:12 amHouse Republicans introduced more than a dozen impeachment resolutions against Biden in the last Congress
Speaking of the Boy Who Cried Wolf….
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:22 amThat was under a Democratic House. With the majority, Republicans can actually impeach.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:37 amI see that we are now considering sending F16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Good. I like what the Netherlands said:
Dana (1225fc) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:38 amShe hasn’t done anything noteworthy since she was UN ambassador.
Golly, given she chose to leave the Trump Administration rather than get ‘fired’- you’d thnik anti-Trump trumpeters would applaud her wisdom and judgment. 😉
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:38 amIt would have been better had she never joined at all.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:42 amEnter Haley. It’s been excruciating watching her tightrope and not trigger the Trump base. Excruciating.
And yet, when you compare her balancing act to the paths that Cheney or McCarthy chose, you have to admire her ability to remain separable from Trump. This is a capable politician who, going forward, can operate without the concrete overshoes that nearly everyone else has donned.
She has the potential of moving the GOP to a post-Trump era, dealing with the Trump-Biden rubble without having to defend the past. This is what the GOP needs to survive, if not prosper.
And if she’s running against Biden, the story writes itself.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:42 amAt the Pentagon, push to send F-16s to Ukraine picks up steam
No. It’s not good– especially when the money has to be borrowed by the U.S. to finance the policy folly. And, of course, like the Abrams, they’d have to be configured for export to corrupt Ukraine w/propietory U.S. tech removed– just like the Abrams. It’s the devious, always contract-chasing MIC at work:
“I don’t think we are opposed,” said a senior DoD official about the F-16s, speaking on condition of anonymity [coward] to discuss a sensitive debate. The person stressed that there has been no final decision.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/28/pentagon-send-f-16s-ukraine
But this is good: Sweden plans to supply Ukraine with Gripen fighter jets
Sweden plans to supply the Ukrainian Air Force with JAS 39 fighter jets, as Ukraine is currently in desperate need of any type of Western fighter jet. With Sweden and Finland on the cusp of joining NATO, and after decades of neutrality, let’s take a look at Sweden’s most impressive fighter jet: the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen.
https://min.news/en/military/a409faa4bc530b328f75ed6ccff23b7e.html
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:49 amThe big banks and a group of their peers agreed to pay a total of $2 billion in fines to U.S. regulators over their employees’ use of social-messaging applications such as WhatsApp. Banks are supposed to track correspondence between staff and clients.
This is so that the US government can subpoena the conversations. The allowed methods are not as easy to use, and clients are unlikely to want to use them (and may not want their financial dealings subject to government oversight).
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:50 am@199. Then she’d have missed the brass ring losing high profile experience on the national and international stage and been another governor lost to history a la Chris Christie. Lest you forget, she joined the board of DoD contractor Boeing, post Trump, and finally bailed out as the 737Max problems mounted. She’s always been my gal- but the flavor of the month of late remains spit-on-the-griddle-DeSantis.
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:55 amLOL! She better start polling above 3% nationally if she wants real influence.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:56 am@204. She’s running for the VP gig. She has already stated she’d not run for POTUS if Trump declared– and he has.
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:02 amHaley is like Obama-an empty vessel that people searching for an alternative to Trump pour their hopes and dreams into.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:02 am“When it comes to things that the Netherlands can supply, there are no taboos.”
Netherlands doesn’t have nukes.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:07 amIf you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:09 amShe has already stated she’d not run for POTUS if Trump declared– and he has.
Yet she will. That was then…Trump is Dead Man Walking now.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:10 amAir Force general predicts war with China in 2025, tells officers to prep by firing ‘a clip’ at a target, and ‘aim for the head’
“I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025,” said Gen. Mike Minihan in a memo sent to the officers he commands and obtained by NBC News.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-air-force-general-predicts-war-china-2025-memo-rcna67967
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:10 amNetherlands also will not send troops, so there’s at least one taboo.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:12 am@209. Self-inflicted would; flip-flopping out of the gate w/her low polling as is handicaps herself, brings her honesty into question and makes her a lame horse at the start.
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:13 am@208. See 212. She’s my gal but going pretzel early on will make her snack food for the likes of a DeSantis or Pompeo.
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:15 amMore:
Related:
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:19 amLOL!
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:21 amHaley also said younger politicians should be entering the race. “I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C. I think we need a young generation to come in, step up and really start fixing things,” she said.
To which Pompeo and DeSantis respond in harmony, ‘thank you for the endorsement, Nikki.’
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:34 amMinnesota Senate passes abortion bill opponents call ‘most extreme’ in nation
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:36 amTrump is Dead Man Walking now.
As opposed to the foot in the grave, half-dead shuffler.
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:36 amThe total bans in some states are giving the other side cover.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:36 amAs opposed to the foot in the grave, half-dead shuffler.
Who Ms Haley would beat by 20 points.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:37 amTo which Pompeo and DeSantis respond
Pompeo is the worst of all possible personas: a young fogey.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:39 am@221:
This is a false-flag question. The real complaints (as opposed to those of Trump and other morons) have not been about “vote counting” but about voting rules being changed or gamed.
But, like the JFK assassination, the easiest way to defeat minority opinion is to create tons of stupidly false narratives and conflate them all.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:43 am@220. She’s won every beat of my heart.
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:47 am#206 – So, who do you like, and why?
(Haley is on my short list of Republican candidates who haven’t disqualified themselves.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:48 amThe survey addresses vote counting issues raised by the controlling wing of the Republican Party. You just don’t like the question, and resort to name calling.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:49 amThere are many people in their 80s, and even 90s, that are as good and sharp as ever. Biden is not one of them…
You mean those multiple brain surgeries of Biden’s didn’t help, eh Donald?! 😉
DCSCA (8cd068) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:51 amI really can’t think of anyone I would support right now mentioned in current polling, but Larry Hogan, Chris Sununu, Asa Hutchinson, and Mike DeWine come to mind as pragmatic governors. Mitch Daniels, but his politics are out of fashion and he’s too old.
None of them have a chance in current Republican Party.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 12:06 pmYou’re not going to spin the GOP on the dime. There is no perfect GOP candidate that has criticized and distanced himself from Trump that is viable. None. So the question at this point is which viable candidate has the best opportunity to de-Trumpify the GOP at the national level? In order of Trumpiness, I would go
Trump > DeSantis > Haley
Tim Scott doesn’t appear to have the national recognition or executive-branch-experience to be a player yet. Sununu and Hogan can’t win in the south or west. Pompeo doesn’t have much of a case having not been a governor or a leader in congress. Pence may have a bit of evangelical clout, but the Trumpers and NeverTrumpers both don’t trust him. What’s his lane? Cruz sold his soul, which puts him high on the Trumpiness scale, but I don’t see him taking many votes away from Trump or DeSantis. Noem is running for a VP shot. I like Asa Hutchinson. He’s smart and thoughtful, but at 72, long in the tooth and, being from Arkansas, not especially high visibility. I think he’s to the right of Haley in Trumpiness, but I doubt he will be relevant. No one really knows him and he doesn’t have the personality that can create buzz — Haley does.
So unless a miracle happens, you have Trump-DeSantis-Haley. DeSantis may crumble under the fire of a national campaign. That, and he’ll struggle in swing states that don’t live and die by the culture war. By my reasoning, that leaves one person as both safety net and for re-branding of the GOP. Perfect? Far from it. But she’s not harpooned herself. Perfect is the enemy of pointing the party in a new direction. Don’t get me wrong, she has to get out there and earn it…and control a campaign room, but I have some hope there.
AGES: Asa Hutchinson age 72; Mitch Daniels age 73; Mike DeWine age 76; Larry Hogan age 66. I doubt Daniels signs up for a run against Trump. I think he’s eyeing the Senate for some curious reason.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/29/2023 @ 12:53 pmTrumpWorld not amused:
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 1:10 pmWordle in 4. I disagree with Kevin’s loathe of the 3-vowel approach. I’ve been starting with MINAE, then working off of that using as many of RST as possible (unless none of aei hit). Today, I went with FIRST as my second guess. I would estimate that got me down to 10 good possibilities. Of course you need some luck…like when I got it in 2 the other day. Double letters always make it tough.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/29/2023 @ 1:20 pmDaniels has no chance in any Presidential campaign-his politics are old-fashioned and way out of step with the Republican Party.
And if he runs for Senate (an easier race, given his least instant name recognition)-ditto.
The same reasons apply to the aforementioned governors: they may have been in touch with their state’s politics, but they are out of their league nationally.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 1:27 pmYet.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 1:33 pm“She needs to demonstrate she is not just the GOP version of intersectionality bingo”
Well she served in the house, was a 2-term governor, and was UN ambassador. How does DeSantis have more on her? Or does the white male automatically get more of an assumption of competence.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/29/2023 @ 1:42 pmLink for post 235.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 1:46 pmWhen you use a woke word like “ intersectionality” to describe a Republican presidential candidate you’re already losing the argument.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 1:50 pmThis is sort of off topic but would like thoughts.
We all probably agree that lying is pernicious and I’d go on to say that applies even to lying in the interest of the public good. We know COVID leaders lied to us, we know law enforcement lies to us. Law enforcement lies to us routinely in press conferences to protect sources, to enable sources and simply to not let the criminal they are searching for what they really know or don’t know. The public understands. I understand. However I think the FBI has perfected lying. It is institutionalized in the sense that they have professionals who craft lies for a living. The FBI lawyers craft back doors, work arounds into laws so they can leak lies. The FBI and their other government cohorts are losing the trust of the American people and it isn’t Trumps fault. Trump is just the story that ripped a little of their cover off. This is ironic, because Trump was the biggest liar of all. All of his lies were evil, but all of the FBI lies were said to have been done in the search for the better good, but some of those were simply sanctimonious lies. The FBI should take this time to review their department of misinformation and crafting of lies. Lying is pernicious and maybe its is time to clean if up a bit. This isn’t an attempt to absolve Trump, this is about the FBI who didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory and most of the worst in my view were the lying liars who lied about lying and then tried to hide behind lady justices skirts and left a stink on her
steveg (e52012) — 1/29/2023 @ 2:04 pmAnd we have a cultural problem but the government isn’t going to come with a big heavy army and solve that problem.”
“We??” Cultural issues are pretty subjective; like perceptions of poor ethics and corruption, eh Chris?? The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree… stones, glass houses and all that… has the 2003 Sununu ever “driven” a 1980s Sununu? There was one parked in the family garage:
‘John Sununu [Chris’ pappy] was the first White House Chief of Staff for George H. W. Bush, holding the position from 1989 to 1991. Time magazine dubbed him “Bush’s Bad Cop” on the front cover on May 21, 1990… As White House Chief of Staff, John Sununu reportedly took personal trips, for skiing and other purposes, and classified them as official, for purposes such as conservation or promoting the Thousand Points of Light. The Washington Post wrote that Sununu’s jets “took him to fat-cat Republican fund-raisers, ski lodges, golf resorts and even his dentist in Boston.” Sununu had paid the government only $892 for his more than $615,000 worth of military jet travel. Sununu said that his use of the jets was necessary because he had to be near a telephone at all times for reasons of national security. Sununu became the subject of much late-night television humor over the incident. Sununu worsened the situation shortly afterwards when, after leaking rumors of financial difficulties in his family, he traveled to a rare stamp auction at Christie’s auction house in New York City from Washington in a government limousine, spending $5,000 on rare stamps. Sununu then sent the car and driver back to Washington unoccupied while he returned on a corporate jet. In the course of one week, 45 newspapers ran editorials on Sununu, nearly all of them critical of his actions. Sununu resigned his White House post on December 4, 1991. Sununu repaid over $47,000 to the government for the flights on the orders of White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, with the help of the Republican Party. However, the reimbursements were at commercial rates, which are about one-tenth the cost of the actual flights; one ski trip to Vail, Colorado alone had cost taxpayers $86,330…
Sununu as a national co-chair for the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign made controversial comments directed towards then President Barack Obama calling Obama “un-American.” After receiving backlash for the comment, Sununu apologized soon afterwards. A few months later, Sununu again caused controversy for the Romney campaign when he said that the reason he believed former Secretary of State, Colin Powell (a Republican) endorsed President Obama over Romney was because both Powell and Obama are the same race. After the election, Sununu blamed Romney’s loss to Obama on Obama’s supporters being “dependent” on government programs.’ – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H._Sununu
DCSCA (1fde6a) — 1/29/2023 @ 2:05 pmRip,
I’d go further and hope to never use the woke words and their synonyms used in a Gavin Newsom press conference. (He likes to use a big woke word and then pound in about seven synonyms)
steveg (e52012) — 1/29/2023 @ 2:07 pmof course, NeverTrump will keep things in perspective, cuz they represent the “normal” party
that’s why they don’t even care what each candidate’s position on the issues is
it’s all about each candidate’s stance on Trump
ya know, normal
JF (f4ab60) — 1/29/2023 @ 2:10 pmWordle in 3 today. Still a firm believer in starting with as many vowels as possible in first guess. Double-letter words are an absolute frustration.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/29/2023 @ 2:26 pmAccording to Trump, Darling Nikki called him about running for President:
Promises by a politician aren’t worth a d*mn.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 2:56 pmhttps://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/01/29/maxine-waters-we-have-right-wing-conservatives-who-are-domestic-terrorists-in-the-house/
Maxine doesn’t sound terribly different from many so called moderates out there. She calls conservatives domestic terrorists. Must be fun at parties.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/29/2023 @ 2:57 pmNow do the left.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/29/2023 @ 2:59 pmI’m not at all worried-Ithe articles I excerpted demonstrate the genocidal commentary of the Russian media (and government, as the networks are state-owned), directed toward Ukrainian and American civilians.
I have complete faith in the US nuclear deterrent, built and maintained by the military-industrial complex.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 3:11 pmThe aforementioned governors are on the left in today’s Republican Party.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 3:13 pmWordle in 4. I disagree with Kevin’s loathe of the 3-vowel approach.
Wordle in 3. The Vowel + 2 working consonants I got left only one good choice. Again, it’s a gestalt problem, not so much an anagram (although those can occur) and consonants eliminate options rather quickly where vowels don’t do crap by themselves.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 3:53 pm“She needs to demonstrate she is not just the GOP version of intersectionality bingo”
She is well proven, working without a net as governor. As UN ambassador for Trump it was with a boat anchor but no net.
Compare this with the intersectionality bimbo who is leading the race to replace Biden.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 4:01 pmWhen you use a woke word like “ intersectionality” to describe a Republican presidential candidate you’re already losing the argument
Different intersection.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 4:02 pmMy argument is, the government is not the solution to cultural issues.
No, but you still have to block those who try to make it one.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 4:03 pmPromises by a politician aren’t worth a d*mn.
Well, this one was largely to another politicians, so it doesn’t really count.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 4:05 pmWordle in 3 today.
Me too. With CAUSE as my starter word. My second word was random as well, but it gave me the remaining two vowels and one consonant, all three green, which made the third word easy.
nk (2547cf) — 1/29/2023 @ 4:08 pmNeverTrump will keep things in perspective, cuz they represent the “normal” party
JF, after all this time you insist on missing the point. Probably because if you actually accepted what we say our reasons were, you might have to reflect upon all your no good, terrible, bad choices. Which you clearly will not do.
Most of NeverTrump accepts that the GOP of 2012 is dead and gone. Trump destroyed enough of it (particularly blind trade with China and the gutting of our own country’s economy in the service of international capital) that it needs to reform.
But Trump was incapable of building anything — all he was about was stoking the anger of his mob — and he had the temperament of a small, spoiled, and not very bright child. He was manifestly unfit for office and unable to get anything done, and any topic he touched became toxic.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 4:16 pm@234: I had 3 yellow, but they really only went together one way given the negative information from one of the consonants’ placement and the combination of the two.
It’s like this: Let’s say you have an N as the second letter. This means that the first letter can only be {AEGIKMOPSU} and some of these are pretty limited.
If the second letter is an E, just about anything can precede or follow.
The NYT site has a link for something called “Wordlebot”, and while it cheats by having a searchable dictionary, its strategies are instructive.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 4:24 pmDodging the question. Who on the left is too radical for you and who is acceptable?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/29/2023 @ 5:26 pm@247. I have complete faith in the US nuclear deterrent, built and maintained by the military-industrial complex.
I don’t, given their poor assessment of Russian military capabilities- be it deliberate for perpetuating lucrative contracting or in error due to incompetence, and the history of known mishaps and documented deceptions of same:
Report Lists 29 Accidents Involving Nuclear Weapons
WASHINGTON (AP) _ A report prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency and given to Congress Thursday said there have been 29 accidents involving nuclear weapons in the United States since 1950, eight more than the Pentagon had acknowledged. The Pentagon has acknowledged as many as 21 domestic, nuclear-related mishaps involving the Air Force, the Army and the Navy in the United States and another dozen incidents abroad involving U.S. weapons.
https://apnews.com/article/ba9450c746dcad59f0072c6fcf7f81d3
Broken Arrows: How Many Nuclear Accidents Have We Had?
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/command-and-control-broken-arrows-how-many-nuclear-accidents-have-we-had/
… and we’re supposed to be better at command and control of this junk.
DCSCA (2804bd) — 1/29/2023 @ 5:29 pmAll Democrats are unacceptable.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 5:36 pmThis is quite the tell: ‘“I don’t think we are opposed,” said a senior DoD official about the F-16s, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive debate. The person stressed that there has been no final decision.’
It’s not the responsibility nor purview of the DoD to peddle nor set national policy; this rests w/civilian authority:
‘The president of the United States is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the “ultimate authority,” according to the official Department of Defense website. The Secretary of Defense works with the military departments, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the other command leaders to carry out defense policy. The organizational flow, according to the Department of Defense, is as follows: “The departments train the forces, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff plan the military operations, and the unified commands carry out the plans.”
DCSCA (2804bd) — 1/29/2023 @ 5:46 pmhttps://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/industries/summary?id=D03&cycle=2022
“Follow the money…” — ‘Deep Throat’ [Hal Holbrook] ‘All The President’s Men’ 1976
DCSCA (2804bd) — 1/29/2023 @ 6:11 pmThe practice of creating demand for something, or someone, that humanity has gotten along without for 200,000 (or 2 million) years should not be unfamiliar to any of us.
So, like, you know, whatever. You won’t find me offering the crown to any Caesar. Not Haley, not DeSantis, not nobody. It swells their heads and makes them fall down in a swoon when they see that the mass of the populace does not want them.
nk (2547cf) — 1/29/2023 @ 6:17 pmAFC Championship:
Tied, Bengals 20, Chiefs 20- 4th qtr.
Good game.
DCSCA (2804bd) — 1/29/2023 @ 6:26 pmI’ll take this rare opportunity to agree with DCSCA. It’s a good game.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 1/29/2023 @ 6:33 pmBengals denied… w/0.03 left and a KC field goal… tough one to lose.
DCSCA (881eff) — 1/29/2023 @ 7:10 pmLook at the annual contributors list/party affiliation and so forth and the firms involved; it’s certainly cost effective for them given the size of the contracts awarded- particularly the likes of GD.
‘Lobbyists! You’ve probably heard of them before — they’re a go-to villain in modern politics. But what, exactly, are lobbyists, and what do they do? Are they really buying our government out from under us?’
Well, yes. Yes they are. Here are 5 ways lobbyists are corrupting our government.’
https://represent.us/action/5-facts-lobbyists/
DCSCA (881eff) — 1/29/2023 @ 7:18 pm@256 what 5-letter word starts mn?
AJ_Liberty (ba43e2) — 1/29/2023 @ 7:34 pmToo bad it’s an activity protected by the First Amendment.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 7:48 pmThis is all before any added supplementals in billions borrowed for aid to corrupt Ukraine…
US Military Budget 2022: How Much Does the U.S. Spend on Defense?
Breakdown of the DoD Base Budget
The National Defense Allocation Act (NDAA) accepted the DoD’s defense base budget for the 2022 fiscal year and was signed into law in December 2021. This granted the DoD a $715 billion defense budget for 2022 to fund the implementation of new programs and technologies, modernize weapons systems, improve military readiness, and research and development projects.
These include:
1. Nuclear modernization – $28 billion
2. Missile defense – $20 billion
3. Long-range fires – $6.6 billion
4. Science and technology – $14.7 billion
5. Advanced capability enablers – $112 billion
6. Air force – $52.4 billion (with a $12 billion budget for 85 units of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and an additional $36 billion for readiness development)
7. The Navy – $34.6 billion (additional $49 billion for readiness development)
8. The Army – $12.3 billion (additional $27.8 billion for readiness development)
9. Space-based systems – $21 billion
10. Cyberspace activities – $10 billion
11. Marine corps – $48.5 billion
12. Special ops – $9.4 billion
13. Service members – military pay raise of 2.7% and raise in housing allowance
14. Education, child care, and professional development of family members of service members – $8.6 billion
15. Department of Defense’s maintenance and construction – $25 billion
16. Mandatory military funding for national defense – $2.5 billion.
Mandatory spending is automatically provided by law and cannot be changed except through an act of Congress…
Here’s a list of the top defense contractors, and their ranking was based on the amount of defense contracts they received from the DoD in FY 2020:
Lockheed Martin
Contract worth: $73 billion
Headquarters: Bethesda, Maryland
Lockheed Martin Corp. is an aerospace and global security company that employs about 114,000 people worldwide. It’s mainly engaged in research, design, manufacture, development, sustainment, and integration of advanced technology systems, services, and products.
It works on multiple business segments such as:
Aeronautics – advanced military aircraft (e.g., unmanned vehicles and air mobility aircraft)
Missiles
and Fire Control – (e.g., tactical missiles and air-to-ground precision strike weapon systems)
Rotary and Mission Systems – support military helicopters, ships, and submarine
Space – satellite production and defensive missile and space transportation systems
The majority of Lockheed Martin’s business comes from the government agencies, mainly the Department of Defense, but it also sells products to other clients commercially and internationally.
Raytheon Technologies
Contract worth: $26.489 billion
Headquarters: Waltham, Massachusetts
Raytheon Technologies is driving the future of defense and civil solutions. Its products include:
Guided
missiles
High-performance sensors
Airborne artificial intelligence systems
Unmanned vehicles
It partners with U.S. and international customers in over 80 countries to provide an integrated portfolio of capabilities to support its client’s mission. Raytheon is a company that employs about 174,000 people worldwide who are committed to building safer, more secure, and more reliable products to meet the world’s most demanding challenges.
Raytheon has been at the center of innovation since it began in 1922 as the American Appliance Company. Today, it’s a global defense leader serving the federal government, civil agencies, and commercial customers with innovative solutions in aerospace, cyber, electronics, and advanced manufacturing
General Dynamics
Contract worth: $21.880 billion
Headquarters: Reston, Virginia
General Dynamics is an American aerospace and defense conglomerate. The company has four business segments, namely the:
Marine systems- builds submarines and ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers.
Combat systems – expeditionary and land combat systems for the U.S. military and its allies.
Information systems and technology – provides services to the government and commercial needs (e.g., software and hardware products, engineering, and system integrations).
Aerospace – manufacturing and development of advanced business-jet aircraft.
How does U.S. defense spending compare to other countries?
The United States spends a great deal of money on defense compared to other countries. US military spending amounted to $801 billion in 2021, a drop of 1.4 per cent from 2020. The US military burden decreased slightly from 3.7 per cent of GDP in 2020 to 3.5 per cent in 2021. This comprised 38% of the year’s total military spending worldwide. While the U.S. spends more than any other country, it’s worth noting that its nominal GDP is also the largest globally, at $20.49 trillion, according to International Monetary Fund.
The U.S. spends the most on national defense compared to India, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, and Japan combined. This is because the U.S. has historically allocated most of its economy’s share to defense than most of its allies. The total discretionary defense and non defense spending purposes are about one-third of the yearly budget.
https://www.govconwire.com/articles/us-military-budget-2022-how-much-does-the-u-s-spend-on-defense/#:~:text=These%20include%3A%201%201.%20Nuclear%20modernization%20%E2%80%93%20%2428,additional%20%2436%20billion%20for%20readiness%20development%29%20More%20items
All this spent annually, and the U.S. has generals and planners who say/leak we may not be able to defend Taiwan, and be in a war w/t PRC, where American interest are truly at risk… and need still MORE $.
It’s lunacy and out of control. The U.S. sorely needs another Truman Committee.
DCSCA (881eff) — 1/29/2023 @ 7:55 pm@269. So is swearing at nuns and baseball umpires but that doesn’t make it right.
DCSCA (881eff) — 1/29/2023 @ 7:57 pmnoun. mneme ˈnē-(ˌ)mē : the persistent or recurrent effect of past experience of the individual or of the race.
nk (bb1548) — 1/29/2023 @ 7:58 pmMore here.
nk (bb1548) — 1/29/2023 @ 8:00 pmThanks for the post. It warms my heart.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 8:22 pmDoomed:
Having a “monthly prebate” and exemptions makes the proposed national sales tax unnecessarily complicated.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 8:40 pm@210 When has the military been right? Military intelligence a contradiction in terms. Yes men who kiss up kick down. The mavericks have not been protected for years. Gen. marshall was the last to try.
asset (aee1ce) — 1/29/2023 @ 9:44 pm@217 good my side giving the right to lifers a post natal abortion! There is no right to life or any other right only privledges that must be defended. unalienable rights were not self evident. first enforced at concord bridge and finally yorktown. Dred scott decision by supreme court was appealed to a higher court sitting at harpers ferry and finally adjudicated on july 3 1863 sitting on cemetery ridge gettysburg pennsylvania.
asset (aee1ce) — 1/29/2023 @ 9:58 pmRIP Lisa Loring (64). Played Wednesday Addams on the original TV series.
Rip Murdock (47b290) — 1/29/2023 @ 10:25 pm@276 david schweikert is a corrupt politician who was censored by the house for corruption. He is a crook not a wonk. He barely won by smearing his primary opponent with lobbyist money as a homosexual who likes young boys. He is a stooge for lobbyists. In the general it almost went to a recount against a young black man with no money. POS schweikert sent out mailers with his democratic opponents face like a mug shot so the republican district would know he was black. He had no money so you never heard from him only schweikert ads and mailers saying he was no good and probably a militant or a homo.
asset (aee1ce) — 1/29/2023 @ 11:06 pm@275. It warms my heart.
Depends on where it is… also burns a hole in your wallet. 😉
DCSCA (3b1903) — 1/30/2023 @ 12:01 amWordle in 3, in under two minutes, with MNEME as my starter word.
nk (30f74b) — 1/30/2023 @ 5:02 amMoney well spent.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 9:17 amRIP hockey legend Bobby Hull (84).
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 9:22 amUh-oh:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 9:39 amR.I.P. Bobby Hull, the golden jet
Icy (008067) — 1/30/2023 @ 10:22 amR.I.P. Lisa Loring, who played Wednesday Addams on tv’s original The Addams Family
Icy (008067) — 1/30/2023 @ 10:26 amIf everyone is breaking the law, isn’t it a sign the law is broken? American Prospect with a sensible article on our screwed up security protocols.
https://prospect.org/politics/2023-01-30-president-classified-document-scandal/
Appalled (456883) — 1/30/2023 @ 10:28 am@206
Except, Haley is a “Not Trump” candidate.
If you don’t want Trump, Haley is light years better, and capable.
whembly (d116f3) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:04 amIt depends on what day it is.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:06 am@291 How do you figure?
whembly (d116f3) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:11 amAt best Darling Nikki is a Trump waffler.
More:
And if she is “Never Trump”, why did she call him?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:15 am@283. Money well spent
All evidence to the contrary:
Audit finds US Defense Department wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/371178-audit-finds-us-defense-department-wasted-hundreds-of-millions-of/
Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05
Pentagon Waste Takes Many Forms – Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhartung/2021/05/20/pentagon-waste-takes-many-forms/?sh=23c431862482
DCSCA (65c11f) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:26 amDoD Waste
There’s so much waste in military procurement and systems design and deployment, it’s a dizzying task to sum it up. By its own admission, the DOD can’t account for $8.5 trillion allocated to the military since 1996. Twice now, it has failed to pass audits which have been required by law for decades. Mark Skidmore, a defense analyst and professor of economics at Michigan State University, has established that $21 trillion in government expenditures since 1998 are effectively missing.
https://peacedividend.us/DOD-waste/
Pentagon fails 5th annual audit in a row – what you should know
The overall DoD audit assessment was also hurt by accounting problems with the F-35 joint strike fighter program, which provides the stealth fighters for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The audit said “the DoD is unable to provide or obtain accurate and reliable data to verify the existence, completeness, or value of its Joint Strike Fighter Program Government property.”
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/11/pentagon-fails-5th-annual-audit-in-a-row-what-you-should-know/#:~:text=November%2018%2C%202022%20Ryan%20Morgan%20Flip%20The%20U.S.,DoD%20to%20pass%20off%20on%20a%20clean%20audit.
Defense Department fails another audit, but makes progress
The Defense Department has failed its fifth-ever audit, unable to account for more than half of its assets, but the effort is being viewed as a “teachable moment,” according to its chief financial officer.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3740921-defense-department-fails-another-audit-but-makes-progress/
DCSCA (65c11f) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:37 amThe Pentagon’s $35 Trillion Accounting Black Hole
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-35-trillion-accounting-black-231154593.html
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:38 amhttps://pjmedia.com/columns/stephen-kruiser/2023/01/30/the-morning-briefing-you-will-be-forced-to-care-gay-hockey-edition-n1666164
Once again showing it’s not about tolerance akd acceptance, but instead about forced compliance and submission. Reminds me of Islam in that way.
NJRob (116094) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:47 amhttps://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/35550147/novak-djokovic-back-top-win-australian-open
The GOAT wins another major on his terms.
NJRob (116094) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:49 am@290, What I know of Haley i don’t have any reason to vote against her. I may be mistaken but IIRC she spoke out clearly against MAGA’s efforts to steal the presidency and hasn’t been supporting candidates who bought into that in the time after.
She’s been silent about holding people accountable for violently assaulting the police in an effort to stop the peaceful transfer of power. But I know that no candidate the phrases it the way I did can win a GOP primary.
Basically, I’m a getable vote for her.
Time123 (30d232) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:50 am@299 She’s simply a politician.
In fact, the ALL are.
They have to win your vote.
Additionally, the fact that she’s “Not Trump”, should be a plus for those who considers themselves #NeverTrump.
If Trump loses the primary, then the winner must be able to “thread that needle” to ensure that the Trump-faithfuls will voter for the primary-winner AND win over the never/agnostic Trump voters.
Haley seems to have that acumen to thread that needle, as she has shown during your UN ambassadorial tenure as she’s largely kept the the “stink” off of her as being Trump administration cog.
This is why I’m always hectoring folks here about the grassroots/primary phase of the campaign. If you truly believe Trump is a disaster in waiting, then rally behind another candidate who can win, even if that candidate isn’t your ideal/perfect candidate.
Right now, there’s only two that has a chance imo:
Nikki Haley
Ron DeSantis
(I wish Glenn Youngkin can raise his national profile, but he’s not there yet, and he’d be my first choice)
whembly (d116f3) — 1/30/2023 @ 12:07 pmIf the Ds give Kamala the Eagleton bum’s rush and a Biden/Clinton ticket emerges, they can win.
DCSCA (1558b5) — 1/30/2023 @ 12:22 pmBasically, I won’t have to worry. Darling Nikki won’t make it to the California primary (roughly 13 months from now).
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 12:45 pmLOL! In virtually every poll so far for the Republican presidential nomination, DeSantis is in 28-30% range (as an undeclared candidate) while Darling Nikki is 2-3% (Trump’s poll range is in the mid-40s.)
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 12:56 pmNot according to the Trump faithful here……
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:04 pmHere’s a pleasant thought:
“Emperor” Xi thinks “Czar” Putin is likely to lose? That’s good to hear, for more than one reason.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:05 pmWordle in 3, in under two minutes, with MNEME as my starter word.
Took me 4, but there was a 1-letter guess for three possible words. Got it the second time.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:08 pmBradleys to Ukraine:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:09 pmWordle in 6. I think the blind monkey beat me. My second guess doomed me. I can accept the poo flinging, but the ugly screeching is the worst.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:14 pmHaley is like Obama-an empty vessel that people searching for an alternative to Trump pour their hopes and dreams into.
Within limits. But I’d rather have a smart, capable leader who shares my general philosophy than a blusterer who aims to own the Dems. DeSantis is better than Trump, but then who isn’t? Haley is capable of leadership in a way that DeSantis is not.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:15 pmAJ,
The vast mind of Wordlebot, crunching down its electonic word library for the optimum path to a solution, took 5 tries.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:17 pm256. Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/29/2023 @ 4:24 pm
CBS has a Wordle like game show on Wednesdays from 8pm to 9pm Eastern time.
https://www.cbs.com/shows/video/Lc_fE_poLNWRLzcUlCHZx3bOylj0eVOO/
Contestants are given the first letter of the 5 letter word, and have to guess the actual word correctly. When guessing a word they must both pronounce it and spell it. I think they are given a maximum amount of time to do it. They are by the number of tries, and they try out words very quickly. They have ten seconds for each guess. They try out words so fast, (by the second or third episode) the contestants must have memorized the list of words, which may not be the exact same list that Wordle has. If they guess a non-registered word, another team gets the chance to “steal”
There’s also superlingo (more letters)
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:25 pmhttps://nypost.com/2023/01/28/up-is-down-and-inside-is-out-for-uber-progressive-mike-gianaris
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:40 pm@303
Polls are largely meaningless. What was Trump’s numbers before he announced? (I’m remember some polls did include him before his escalator announcement)
Neither of them hasn’t formally announced. So, let’s wait till then.
whembly (d116f3) — 1/30/2023 @ 2:25 pm#312 – Can you fill us in on that fight over La Salle? Would he be a good judge?
(Possibly related: Saw a story recently about Nancy Pelosi(!) criticizing NY Democrats for failing to take crime seriously, and so losing House seats.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/30/2023 @ 2:29 pmSeventy-five years ago today.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 2:54 pmWhembly, you’re right at this point that a lot of what the poll measures is name recognition. That said, the things I like about Haley will make her unpopular with much of the base.
Time123 (98a500) — 1/30/2023 @ 3:17 pmRip,
New post up re F16s.
Dana (1225fc) — 1/30/2023 @ 3:49 pmWithin limits. But I’d rather have a smart, capable leader who shares my general philosophy than a blusterer who aims to own the Dems. DeSantis is better than Trump, but then who isn’t? Haley is capable of leadership in a way that DeSantis is not.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/30/2023 @ 1:15 pm
The left is terrified of DeSantis for the precise reason that they know how capable he is. They’ve already written plenty of articles about it.
If they aren’t afraid of Haley, it’s because they know how much of a pushover she’ll be in the seat.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 1/30/2023 @ 3:51 pmWordle in four. Saint as first guess. I was going to go with aisle but didn’t. Clearly should have
Dana (1225fc) — 1/30/2023 @ 3:54 pmDCSCA (65c11f) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:37 am
And the whole time, the brass in the Building parrot to those at brigade level and lower, “squawk, do more with less, squawk!” while happily feathering their own nests.
Just think how much manning and basic equipment all that lost money would have paid for instead of it falling into a fiscal black hole, all while the people who clapped along with all that waste told everyone to “support the troops.” No wonder long-standing military families, who have essentially been the nation’s warrior class for decades, are telling their kids to avoid enlistment at all cost these days.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 1/30/2023 @ 4:11 pmhttps://www.nationalreview.com/news/pro-life-activist-arrested-by-fbi-acquitted-on-federal-charges/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=breaking&utm_campaign=newstrack&utm_term=30402266
The jurors did the right thing, but it was a travesty of justice that this case was ever brought by the Biden administration against this man. It was a clear case of religious persecution.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/30/2023 @ 4:43 pmAnd that’s exactly why many former Republicans are against him, but would support Romney again.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/30/2023 @ 4:45 pmRIP Cindy Williams (75).
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/30/2023 @ 4:49 pmRussian propaganda channel sent a female reporter and male driver to occupied Melitopol to interview Russian soldiers regarding the “Special Operation. It went way sideways. Translation follows but the gist of it was that the Akmat Batallion of Chechens beat the driver and sexually assaulted the female propagandist. Other than that, I am assuming the special operation is continuing on its way to success
On the evening of January 17, 2023, while in the hotel restaurant
steveg (87717e) — 1/30/2023 @ 5:17 pm“Vorontsovsky” (Melitopol), the film crew was attacked by a group of people in
camouflage uniforms, who introduced themselves as “fighters of the Akhmat battalion”.
As a result of the attack, Epifanov Artyom Sergeevich received moderate
injuries, as evidenced by the examination report at the Melitopol City Hospital No.
1. Violent acts of a sexual nature were also committed by a group of
persons against correspondent Zenkova Olga Viktorovna
Information about this incident was immediately reported to the eastern
commandant’s office and law enforcement agencies of the city of Melitopol. However, the employees
of NTV Television Company JSC were denied the opening of criminal proceedings and
fixing the circumstances of the crime.
This information was also sent to the Acting Governor of the Zaporozhye region
E.V. Balitsky. To date, we have not received a response to our request.
Sincerely,
First Deputy General Director – Director of
the Directorate of Information
H
Prostorov Sergey
-7-962-924-90-37
@324 Desatan is trump without trumps charm. I would like to see him try to campaign in blue states. It would be interesting as mr spock says. This is what democrats fear biden/harris vs nikki haley and tulsi gabbard. How many here wouldn’t vote for nikki and tulsi? By the way laura Ingram on her show said she was a populist republican and that establishment republicans are part of the regime and her new enemy. The populists are starting to take over fox news.
asset (df9d87) — 1/30/2023 @ 7:55 pmIt’s massively unlikely that tulsi will be on either major ticket.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:06 pmTuesday Wordle in 3, with my usual start.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:07 pmMy current voting strategy for the primaries is (if this is an option) to pretend that any candidate over 65 doesn’t exist. While I appreciate y’all in the boomer generation and I do love all my boomer relatives dearly, your generation deserves to enjoy your retirement instead of working in government until you are 90, so I’ll do my best to do my part in encouraging that.
Nic (896fdf) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:40 pmYou’ll mind your manners, young lady. We didn’t walk to school, five miles in the snow, uphill each way, not to mention ducking and covering under our desks to keep you safe from Ruskie A-bombs, just for you to tell us what to enjoy and when to enjoy it. Now eat your TV dinner so that nice whipper-snapper Tucker can afford to tell us who the liberals are pedophiling today.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 1/30/2023 @ 11:59 pm“I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
Ronald Reagan, October 21, 1984
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/31/2023 @ 3:18 amTo be fair, Joe Biden is not a Boomer. His birthday in 1942 makes him a member of “The Silent Generation.” Only Clinton, Obama and Trump were Boomers and all of them were on the edges (1946, 1961 and 1946 respectively). No president ever was born between 1947 and 1960, when the majority of “Boomers” were born.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/31/2023 @ 3:24 amFox News. Populists. Cockerels. Dung heaps.
nk (bb1548) — 1/31/2023 @ 5:22 amTuesday Wordle in 3,
Me too, after my second cigarette.
nk (bb1548) — 1/31/2023 @ 6:00 am@319
They should be afraid, because she ain’t a pushover.
All you have to do, is pull up that article where the news media tried to pin Haley on the expensive drapes in the Ambassador’s office. (her predecessor was the one who authorized that).
whembly (d116f3) — 1/31/2023 @ 6:07 am#336
We like to talk about a politician’s toughness as if that is what keeps them from being a political weathervane. However, we need to look at ambition as well. McCarthy doesn’t strike me as a weakling. However, his ambition made him act the part.
If Haley’s ambition is potent enough and she sees that yielding to anti-MAGA cultural forces is the way to the top of the heap, she might be the “pushover” FWO fears, even if she can leap tall buildings with a single bound.
Appalled (df240b) — 1/31/2023 @ 6:17 amHere’s the answer to the puzzle I posed at #129: If you do the arithmetic, you find that there would be about 1.2 acres of land for every person on Trantor. If you assume they lived in groups of four, and some of the land was reserved for public purposes like streets, there might be about 4 acres for each group.
So there would be no need for a “single city” covering all that land.
And all that’s assuming no one lives on, in, or under, the ocean(s).
(Why did Asimov — who was a very smart guy — make this mistake? The most obvious answer, and probably the corect one, is that he was, to put it nicely, a “claustrophile”, and was imagining what a covered Manhattan (where he grew up and lived most of his life) with twenty times as many people would be like.
BTW, Poul Anderson would almost certainly not have made the same mistake.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/31/2023 @ 7:35 amStorytellers do not concern themselves with facts, probabilities, or even possibilities, but only with entertaining plausibilities. Aristophanes put a name to it with “Cloudcoockooland” and it’s widely practiced by fiction writers, with or without salt.
nk (bb1548) — 1/31/2023 @ 7:48 am#339 – Depends on the storyteller. Poul Anderson, for example, often worked out the physics in some of his stories. And so does Larry Niven, who sometimes gets help from physicists, or even has them as co-authors. (He also has written stories in which magic is, or rather was, real.)
Some years ago, Charles Sheffield, a scientist and science fiction writer, wrote a book, The Borderlands of Science, telling other authors how to get the science right.
And so on.
(Science fiction stories in which the science is right are generally called “hard” science fiction, though I should add that it is not unusual for them to include one or two things, like faster-than-light travel, even in such stories.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 1/31/2023 @ 8:23 amIf that’s what turns their readers on. A see-through spaceship made of a single molecule orbiting a neutron star where the pilot is found squashed flat as a coat of paint in the prow made a plausible vehicle for tidal forces for Larry Niven in possibly the first story of his I read.
nk (bb1548) — 1/31/2023 @ 8:49 amKevinM
I’ve concluded my brain doesn’t work like yours. As comforting as that must be to you, I used your two opening words at wordle unlimited over the weekend and slipped behind Afghanistan. I’ve reverted to my way of doing Wordle. I use my standard first word. SAINT and for my second word I build a word using any green and letters, working in missing vowels if need be. For example, if I get a yellow “S” and nothing else I’d spell out something like CHOSE. If I get a mix of green and yellows after saint, I go for it in two. I average about 5% guesses in 2 in every 100 plays but still was having trouble beating the average South African score at Brian Falkners wordle calculator site: https://www.brianfalkner.com/wang2022.asp?cc=202321
The South Africans on his site are #1 and I was ahead, behind. I went over to Wordle unlimited and played 100 games using your method and am losing to Afghanistan. I modified your approach a bit though because if I got 3 of mixed greens and yellows using your start word SLATE, I’d go for 2 and not use CHOIR
steveg (d9cc02) — 1/31/2023 @ 9:35 amRIP Barrett Strong (81):
Songs written by Strong that have become classics.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/31/2023 @ 9:36 amRecord for days without snow that remains on the ground in New York city.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nyc-no-snow-new-york-city-new-record-longest-winter-period-50-years
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/new-york-city-record-latest-first-snow
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 1/31/2023 @ 4:44 pmBreaking- Fox News reports Nikki Haley will announce a POTUS run Wednesday. My heart and vote is with her but saying she would not run if Trump did is a disappointing tell on her word of honor. Such is the flaw of all politicians. Still, a run puts Apprentice Nikki in the running for fund raising and the VP spot for the one term-limited Trump.
DCSCA (af0241) — 1/31/2023 @ 7:42 pmThere was a touch of snow February 1 but it quickly vanished
https://abc7ny.com/latest-measurable-snowfall-nyc-winter-snowless-streak-over-forecast/12757309/
There is what is maybe called a polar vortex where the jet stream dips to lower latitudes in some places. It was over the Eurasian continent last week, and was slowly moving east. It is now in the Central Time zone but shouldn’t reach the East Coast till Friday and Saturday – by Sunday temperatures here should go back up
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/2/2023 @ 4:38 pmYour MIC at work; defying the order of the Commander In Chief:
Pentagon Discloses Chinese Spy Balloon over U.S.: Reports
A Chinese spy balloon was spotted over the U.S. by civilians on an airplane this week, the Defense Department revealed today, with President Biden initially ordering that it be shot down, according to news reports.
According to the Journal, President Biden had initially ordered that the reconnaissance device be shot down but was rebuffed by the Pentagon, which worried that such a move could cause civilian casualties. The balloon first was spotted by passengers onboard a civilian aircraft, the paper also reported.
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/pentagon-discloses-chinese-spy-balloon-over-u-s-reports/
Bullsh-it– literally… IT IS OVER MONTANA- POPULATION OF MONTANA: 1.1 MILLION; OTOH, there are 2.6 million head of beef cattle in Montana.
DCSCA (f4bd49) — 2/2/2023 @ 5:02 pm