ACTUALLY, THE WARNING IS FOR US: Obama’s Fed Chief Has Dire Warning for Biden.
Archive for 2022
May 18, 2022
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: With Plunging Enrollment, a ‘Seismic Hit’ to Public Schools: The pandemic has supercharged the decline in the nation’s public school system in ways that experts say will not easily be reversed. “All together, America’s public schools have lost at least 1.2 million students since 2020, according to a recently published national survey. State enrollment figures show no sign of a rebound to the previous national levels any time soon.” And this is only the beginning.
That’s because parents have realized — it was made very clear — that teachers’ unions and administrators don’t care about the wellbeing of their kids, and are moving their kids to places where the attitudes are different. This is as it should be, and I hope all the current apparatchiks wind up flipping burgers, or engaged in some other useful work, for a change.
And even NYT readers agree. This was the top-rated comment:
Can’t speak for the other cities here, but Oakland’s problem is deep seated. It has been a perpetual downward spiral for the last 12 years. I sent both my kids to public schools, but by next year both will be in private school. There are so many problems that seem intractable. Indeed, some under-enrolled schools need to close, because the overhead is too high for the number of students attending. Parents anger over the situation doesn’t change the math.
On the other side of the coin, we have a school district that refuses to downsize its administrative staff to compensate for its shrinking budget. Oakland has one of the highest administrator to teacher ratios in the state, if not the country. Personally, I’d rather see a huge increase in pay for the teachers that remain and far fewer administrators.
On top of this, many parents are frustrated with the pursuit of equity above academics. Yes, schools should make sure they provide an environment where kids from all backgrounds receive the resources they need to learn effectively. However, in practice, the district has chosen to lower standards to achieve equity rather than meet kids where they are and bring them to their highest possible level. Parents see this, but would never say it out loud because the social blowback of voicing this opinion swift and brutal. Still, kids (and most adults) should be pushed to reach their potential. This is different for everyone and underserves the majority by setting the bar so low.
Remember, the term “equity” was chosen because it sounds like “equality,” which Americans like, but it’s used to cover for policies that are the exact opposite of equality, and that Americans hate. “Social blowback” is the way of disciplining the wants of the majority using a loud and vicious minority.
And another top comment: “The teachers unions destroyed the public school system in states led by Democrats. That is the obvious conclusion from the single most important paragraph in this article: that public school enrollment did not decline in states like Florida that kept schools open. Europe never closed its schools for extended periods because there, teachers do believe in the importance of teaching.”
All is proceeding as I have foreseen.
FIRE AS MANY AS IT TAKES UNTIL THE SURVIVORS, IF ANY, GET THE MESSAGE: While Iowa law bans CRT in campus trainings, it’s still taught inside the classroom.
WHEN THE WITCH-HUNTERS ARE OUT, INDEPENDENT THOUGHT IS NOT ENCOURAGED: “It was probably somewhat naive of her not to realise that this is indeed ‘an ideology’ and one with which you’re simply not allowed to disagree.”
Make it painful for them and it will stop overnight.
I QUESTION THE TIMING: Double Jeopardy: Princeton Prepares To Axe Star Professor Who Raised Hell Over Woke Lunacy.
DEMOCRATS HATE A STRONG BLACK MAN: Hakeem Jeffries steps up attacks on Justice Thomas.
DEAL OF THE DAY: Camouflage Outdoor Travel Laptop Backpack. #CommissionEarned
THE WORST OF IT, SO FAR: Massachusetts high gas prices keep hitting records every day: ‘We may be in the worst of it.’
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Gen. Michael Flynn Punches Back at His Government Tormentors. “Flynn was tragic collateral damage in the Obama/Clinton jihad against Trump. It’s a shame that they can’t be locked up for what they facilitated.”
INCOMPETENCE, CORRUPTION, AND WORSE: 1 Million Dead Americans: ‘Biden’s China Virus’ reaches grim milestone.
GOP SENATOR’S SON SINKING MICHIGAN VOTER ID EXPANSION: Odds are you’ve never heard of Andy Blunt. He’s the son of retiring Sen. Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican.
Andy Blunt and two of his Republican consulting firm partners are partnering with one of the many George Soros-funded leftist dark money groups to oppose efforts to strengthen Michigan’s voter ID requirements, according to the Washington Free Beacon’s Collin Anderson.
Andy Blunt managed his fathers two most recent re-election campaigns, while the partners, Greg Hartley and Meghan Cox, were, respectively, formerly Blunt’s chief of staff and a director of field activities.
Three GOP consultants being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by George Soros’ minions. And then we wonder why things change so little when Swamp Republicans are in charge?
HITTING THE LIMITS OF STATE CAPACITY: The Incapable States of America? “Much of the problem, however, is down to incompetence. . . . The whole sorry business was redolent of service in a Sicilian bank just before siesta, right down to the plethora of uniformed officials (some government, some private) with overlapping and contradictory responsibilities.”
Plus: “America’s unusually poor state capacity (given, like Australia and Western Europe, it is a wealthy country) has political, social, and military consequences. I’ve long suspected that the widespread desire for a government small enough to drown in the bathtub reflects the negative experience many Americans have with utterly Byzantine state and private sector bureaucracies plus associated general uselessness.”
In modern pop culture, 'biblical' is what comes after 'mega' and 'ultra' and even 'king'.https://t.co/QXDddGZptH
— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) May 18, 2022
MATERNAL MORTALITY: Try googling “maternal mortality” and click for “news.” Maternal mortality is a big issue on the Left. From their point of view, even though the numbers are very small, the racial disparities are large, and American rates are worse than rates in many other countries (though that’s at least in part because we define maternal mortality broadly). The abortion angle on the issue also interests them. Oh … and climate change … Ms. Magazine is blaming climate change.
They’re not wrong that the death of a young mother (or father) is especially tragic or that we should do better. But the emphasis on racial disparities and the solutions they offer won’t get us there.
The racial disparities are what has inspired the so-called “Momnibus Act,” which is getting a lot of attention in Congress. But the attention is mostly misinformed. The proposal is all about spending federal money to “invest” in minority communities, when the most useful thing to do would be to advise all obese or diabetic women (not just those of any particular race) to lose weight and keep their diabetes under control. Meanwhile, one California county has declared “Latina Maternal Health Awareness Month,” even though Latina mothers are actually less likely to die in childbirth than non-Hispanic white mothers. Nobody wants to talk about obesity in connection with maternal health (just like they don’t want to talk about obesity in connection with cancer).
The Commission on Civil Rights’ report on maternal mortality preferred to put more blame on the racism of doctors and nurses—even though doing so would only discourage minority mothers from seeking care early in their pregnancy (which is also a contributing factor to the racial disparities).
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY:
Maybe I need to start headlining these stories with “THE HUNGER GAMES.”
WELL, IT WAS MOSTLY BOOSTED BY THE ESTABLISHMENT WHEN IT WAS PROMOTING THE ESTABLISHMENT’S PRIORITIES: The End of the Supreme Court’s Authority?
But given how it’s operated, a loss of authority by the Supreme Court probably helps the right more than the left. Which won’t stop the left from wrecking things in a fit of petulance.
GIVEN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND THE JUDICIARY, WE NEED MORE OF IT: Judges Fight Over Jury Nullification.
OF COURSE HE DID: Prosecutor says Sussmann tried to ‘use the FBI as a political tool.’