Author Archive: Stephen Green

WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT…:

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: School safety is top reason parents use choice to leave public schools.

Bullying is the number one reason parents use choice programs to leave public schools, write researchers Misty Gallo, Colyn Ritter and Patrick J. Wolf. Low middle-school test scores rank second. “When public schools are not equipped to limit exposure to bullying behavior and when the academics of the middle school years are insufficient, parents flee the public schools if and when private school choice programs provide the financial means to do so.”

Even if test scores go down when a student moves to a private school of choice, long-term success odds improve, argues Marty Lueken, director of EdChoice’s Fiscal Research and Education Center.

“Many high-quality evaluations of private school choice, such as those in Washington, D.C., Louisiana, Indiana, and Milwaukee, have found a disconnect: lower test scores, but better long-term outcomes like high school graduation and college attendance, persistence, and degree attainment,” he writes.

How much of the decline after leaving public schools might be attributable to earning honest grades instead of inflated grades?

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Colorado’s gun rights restrictions keep criminals empowered. “The recent flurry of gun control measures has made Colorado one of the most restrictive states for firearm ownership in America. Senate Bill 25-003 for example, imposes a three-stage process on every Coloradan who may need to purchase a semiautomatic pistol for self-defense. There is no cap on fees and there is no time frame within which an application must be approved or denied. This will create substantial time and cost barriers for anyone who needs protect themself and their families in case of an emergency.”

PEACEMAKING: The Ugly Truth About a Necessary Ukrainian Peace.

That there is any Ukraine left to save is a testament to the courage and tenacity of the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainians, with the help of their Western allies, stopped Russia from the takeover of what had been a part of the former Soviet Republic. Their defense defied conventional wisdom, which held that Ukraine would likely fall within weeks. After the initial invasion, the front has largely remained static with the Ukrainians slowly giving up inches—at great cost to both sides.

Zelensky cannot be faulted for not wanting to settle the war before all Ukrainian land is restored. In the eyes of the West, it’s not fair or just that the Russians would benefit in any way from the attack. But this is not a court case in which rational and moral arguments will result in a fair outcome as decided by a third party with absolute power over all concerned. This is a war. There’s no judge and there’s no justice. The terms of peace in this war, and indeed in every war, are an extrapolation of what will happen if the war continues without peace. Both sides must use strategic leverage to extract terms. Fairness is irrelevant. It’s not the way we want the world to work. But that’s how wars are settled.

Moscow isn’t going to give up at the negotiating table anything that Kyiv can’t take back by force. If Ukraine comes out with most everything they still hold and their sovereignty intact, that’s as “fair” a peace as they can expect.

But I don’t expect Ukraine to get its kids back.

BUT THE SUPREME COURT’S OPINION DOESN’T COUNT WHEN CONSERVATIVES ARE IN THE MAJORITY, I’M TOLD: Who Says You Can Redistrict Mid-Decade? The Supreme Court. “For the overwhelming majority of that two century history, Democrats have been the ones wielding the gerrymander pen, reaping the partisan advantage of lopsided representation. Now that Republicans are finally in a position to do the same, they want to to cry foul.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Let’s Trade the Vodka for Diet Coke. I Have a Kremlin Hangover. “We all know Democrats have a big guy problem, as in, guys don’t want to vote for them. Unfortunately for them, putting Tim “Jazz Hands” Walz in a flannel shirt didn’t solve that issue. I guess now they’re trying Eric Swalwell in a backwards baseball cap.”

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, UK-STYLE:

From the replies: “Bacon, drop bacon.”

My first thought was, “Waste bacon?” But maybe it wouldn’t be a waste.

THE NEW SPACE RACE:Trump orders cull of commercial launch regulations.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday directing government agencies to “eliminate or expedite” environmental reviews for commercial launch and reentry licenses, Ars reports. The FAA, part of the Department of Transportation, is responsible for granting the licenses after ensuring launch and reentries don’t endanger the public, comply with environmental laws, and comport with US national interests. The drive toward deregulation will be welcome news for companies like SpaceX, led by onetime Trump ally Elon Musk; SpaceX conducts nearly all of the commercial launches and reentries licensed by the FAA.

Deflecting scrutiny? … The executive order does several things, and not all of them will be as controversial as the potential elimination of environmental reviews. The order includes a clause directing the government to reevaluate, amend, or rescind a slate of launch-safety regulations written during the first Trump administration. The FAA published the new regulations, known as Part 450, in 2020, and they went into effect in 2021, but space companies have complained that they are too cumbersome and have slowed down the license approval process.

Faster, please.

DON’T MESS WITH THE KIDS: Melania’s Message for Putin. “Unfortunately, while thousands of people from both sides have lost so much during the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian children have, perhaps, suffered the most. While the first lady didn’t mention them specifically, Ukraine reported that as of March 2025, Russia had ‘stolen’ nearly 20,000 vulnerable children from the country, many from its orphanages, starting before the actual invasion began. Those are just the ones who are verified. Exact numbers are said to be much higher, with some even speculating them to be around 70,000.”

IT’S TIME FOR VICTORIA TAFT’S West Coast, Messed Coast™: Gavin Newsom Falls Hard for Trump Troll, and It’s Glorious. “As President Donald Trump was preparing for his big meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, California Gov. Gavin Newsom was falling hard for what he said was a “sick and pathetic” — and hilarious — Trump troll in L.A. A shocking stat from the mean streets of Portland, Ore.. More reaction to Dog Park Karen. Portland, protesters are so violent that a school has decided to move away from THEM. In Washington, Republicans are out and murders are up.”