STANDARDIZED TESTS VS MINORITIES? Will Eliminating Standard Tests Really Reduce Racial Disparities In Education?.

Instead of addressing the failure to educate kids in these communities, the push is to get rid of the testing itself. The deficiencies will remain — but the ability to expose them will be gone.

Eliminating standardized scores will not erase true racial disparities in our educational system. Indeed, it may only exacerbate them.

One does have to wonder if “the ability to expose them will be gone” might not be the real motivation.

SOMEBODY TELL THE PENTAGON: Why the Purpose of a Fight is to Win.

SO FAR THE VARIANTS SEEM OVERSOLD: Pfizer jab less effective, still protects against Indian strain: study.

FASTER, PLEASE: The Gathering Resistance to the Stigmatisation of Masculinity.

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP! U.S. administers 294.9 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccines – CDC.

LAW NEWS: Kim Kardashian Failed California Baby Bar Exam; Her 474 Score Was ‘Extremely Close’ To 560 Passing Score.

SPACE: FIRST STARLINK SHELL COMPLETED WITH LATEST FALCON 9 LAUNCH.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “EQUITY” AND EQUALITY: To Make Orchestras More Diverse, End Blind Auditions.. “If ensembles are to reflect the communities they serve, the audition process should take into account race, gender and other factors.”

No one ever argues that sports teams, or university faculties, should “reflect the communities they serve.” For example, should the University of Tennessee faculty be 60+% Republican, like the state of Tennessee? Even in blue states, such a rule would produce a massive influx of Republicans onto state university faculties. And that would be equitable, right?

Of course, university hiring doesn’t even involve blind auditions.

GREAT MOMENTS IN REACTIONARY POLITICS: ‘If Tom Cotton Is Saying Something, It Can’t Be True:’ NYT Writer Admits Media Dismissed Claim Of Wuhan Virus Origin Because Cotton Said It.

Related: White House reporter: People have ‘egg on their face’ over COVID origins denial:

“I think a lot of people have egg on their face. This was an idea that was first put forward by Mike Pompeo, secretary of state, Donald Trump,” ABC News’ chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl said in an appearance Sunday on “This Week.”

Karl, who was responding to a question on why it was important that the lab leak theory was dismissed so aggressively, noted that President Donald Trump polarized some with his delivery, but “said flatly” that the virus came from a lab.

“Now serious people are saying it needs a serious inquiry,” Karl added.

The “serious people” bit is the tell — Karl doesn’t have “egg on his face,” he’s admitting this was the DNC-MSM’s modified limited hangout to slam Republicans such as Trump and Cotton as dangerous conspiracy theorists during a presidential election year. With Biden safely in office, the lab leak theory can now be openly discussed. Or to put it another way: Don’t let the media (and Dr Fauci) get away with U-turning on the lab leak theory.

Another reason why network news operations went soft on China and the CCP flu: China’s Long Tentacles Extend Deep Into American Media. “Comcast Corporation is not only the participator of the increasingly close cultural exchanges, but also the contributor and beneficiary of deeper economic exchanges between China and the US. The NBC and the Universal Studios Theme Park in Beijing are witnesses of the in-depth development of Sino-US economic and trade relations and increasingly close cultural exchanges.”

And note that Jon Karl, quoted above, works for ABC, which is owned by Disney: Disney’s Mulan Disaster Highlights Dangers of China Deals: The cost of doing business with Beijing has risen sharply and swiftly.

As Jim Geraghty wrote in October of 2019, when the CCP-NBA connection exposed for millions of Americans to see: We’re Not Exporting Our Values to China — We’re Importing Theirs.

Further thoughts at the Lid blog: MSM Hacks Admit They Spiked Wuhan Lab Leak Story Because Trump Backed It (Video).

WELCOME BACK, CARTER: The trucking industry faces higher diesel prices that will influence what consumers pay.

This Babylon Bee headline has at least a 50/50 chance of becoming true: Brilliant: Trump Begins Running 2024 Campaign Ads On Gas Pumps.

MATT MARGOLIS: Kamala’s CYA Memorial Day Weekend Tweet Is Too Little Too Late.

TEXAS DEMS PULL THE WISCONSIN PLAY, DISCOVER THEY’RE NOT IN WISCONSIN: Democrats Throw a Hissy Fit in Texas and Gov. Abbott Responds Accordingly. “Fortunately, Gov. Greg Abbott was ready to deliver the proper response to this attempt at obstruction. He’s going to be calling a special session soon which can not be ended simply because the minority party walks out… This law will eventually be put on Abbott’s desk, and he will sign it. It’s just a matter of the timing at this point. There is no reason for it not to proceed, especially when Republicans have firm control of the legislatures.”

DISPATCHES FROM YEAR ONE: Federal Commission Wrongly Puts ‘Antietam’ On Confederate Names Chopping Block.

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: Crenshaw, Cotton Fight Back Against Threat of Woke in Military. “Enough is enough. We won’t let our military fall to woke ideology. We have just launched a whistleblower webpage where you can submit your story. Your complaint will be legally protected, and go to my office and @SenTomCotton.”

CHINA IS GARBAGE, AND OUR RULING CLASS IS LARGELY IN ITS POCKET: Chinese Hackers Posing as the UN Human Rights Council Are Attacking Uyghurs.

BUT THE NARRATIVE! Madison Becomes Last of Wisconsin’s 5 Largest Cities to Face Election Complaint. “As I talk to citizens around Wisconsin, there still are a lot of questions about CTCL [the Center for Tech and Civic Life] and their involvement in the 2020 election. The lack of oversight of these [outside] groups should concern everyone in the state of Wisconsin as we work toward transparent elections.”

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Teacher allegedly suspended for saying a boy can’t be a girl.

RUTHLESS SCIENCE DENIERS: Moms Learn Lengths to Which a School Board Will Go to Silence Complaints About CRT and Masks. You’ll Want to Sit Down for This.

SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER! Harvard-affiliated physicians want to deliver ‘preferential care based on race.’

BRAN POLUMBO: Latest economic data show red states crushing blue states — and here’s why.

Of the top 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates in April, nine have Republican governors. What’s behind this destructive discrepancy?

Economist Dan Mitchell looked at these figures and concluded that there’s “a clear relationship between joblessness and the degree to which states pursue big-government policies.”

In particular, the unemployment rates different states are experiencing are strongly correlated with the harshness and length of the pandemic lockdowns their state governments imposed. With a few exceptions, Republican governors rolled back restrictions on the economy much faster than their Democratic counterparts.

“Get the hell out of my way!” the wise man once said.

AMERICA’S PAPER OF RECORD: Brilliant: Trump Begins Running 2024 Campaign Ads On Gas Pumps. “I tried to warn you. I tried to warn you people what would happen. But no, you didn’t listen, and now you’re paying five bucks for gas. Sad!”

It’s actually a great idea.

Plus: “The Biden campaign isn’t taking this lying down though, and is running a series of billboards near gas stations with the catchy slogan, ‘THE HIGH GAS PRICES ARE BECAUSE THE ECONOMY IS DOING GREAT!'”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Memorial Day 2021—Remembering the Fallen. “Because so many have mentally checked out when it comes to Memorial Day, it’s incumbent upon those of us who haven’t to redouble our efforts to remind people. And to spend some extra quiet time ourselves reflecting on the unfathomable price so many great patriots have paid for us to be able to enjoy freedom. We have the luxury of being frivolous because they weren’t.”

THEY LIE, AND THEY THINK YOU ARE THAT STUPID: Rep. Mark Pocan lies about Israel having “segregated highways.”

One of the leading Israel-haters in Congress, Pocan told the Washington Post that “when he traveled to the region, he saw segregated highways and ‘that does remind me of an old South Africa, right?'” The South Africa analogy seems to make it clear that he was referring to racial or ethnic segregation.

There are certain roads in the West Bank, mostly near Jerusalem, that drew consistent terrorist attacks on Israeli drivers when they drove near Palestinian towns, resulting in many deaths and injuries. So Israel built bypass roads for cars with Israeli license plates. These cars could be driven by Jews or Arabs (over 20% of Israel’s population), but not by Palestinian drivers who are not residents of Israel, who could still use the old roads. Even that policy was restricted by the Israeli Supreme Court, which held that one major road from Jerusalem could not be restricted because it found that Palestinians did not have a good alternative. A new Jerusalem highway has separate lanes for Palestinian residents of the West Bank who have Palestinian license plates, and for those with Israeli license plates, to allow Palestinians access without providing terrorists an opportunity to attack Israeli drivers.

These are the “segregated roads” Pocan was referring to. Unlike South Africa, they have nothing to do with race, and everything to do with distinguishing between Israeli citizens and residents of all ethnicities, and West Bank Palestinians. Similarly, for security reasons Israel law forbids Israeli citizens from entering Area A of the West Bank, which is under Palestinian Authority security control. There is no racial or ethnic bias behind these rules, only security concerns because of terrorism.

So I called Pocan out on his lie on Twitter.

Pocan easily could have ignored my Tweet. He also could have claimed that when he said “segregated” he simply meant segregated between Israelis and non-Israelis, which is unfair, in his opinion, even if it’s not race-based. As a law professor colleague claimed on Pocan’s behalf, he could have argued he had been imprecise, and clarified that he was not referring to South Africa-style racial segregation.

Instead, he doubled down on the lie, and then, remarkably, accused me of lying.

HONG KONG: ‘Grandma Wong’ released after solo Tiananmen protest.

A Hong Kong friend writes: “I spoke this weekend with a Hungarian about my age. He said that HK today reminds him exactly of what Hungary was like before the Iron Curtain fell. He is leaving Hong Kong once his employment contract expires.”