What Possible Reason...

Is there a legitimate reason for this?

Joe Biden’s Department of Education is seeking to roll back a Trump-era effort to collect data on teacher-on-student sex crimes.

“The department’s Office for Civil Rights will not ask school districts questions regarding teacher-on-student sexual assault allegations as part of its 2021-2022 Civil Rights Data Collection, proposed Thursday,” reports the Washington Free Beacon. According to an Education Department spokesman, the change is designed to “reduce burden and duplication of data,” but not everyone is buying that explanation...

Districts will still be asked to document cases of rape and sexual assault to the Department of Education, but not pending cases or allegations that resulted in the resignation, reassignment, or retirement of the accused teacher.

Got Your Goat

The best laid plans:

West Point cadets attempting to nab the U.S. Naval Academy's mascot ahead of the annual Army-Navy football game ended up grabbing a different goat, according to a report.

U.S. Military Academy cadets traveled this weekend to a farm near Annapolis, Maryland, that is home to Navy mascot Bill, who belongs to a long line of goat mascots with the same name. Cadets gave chase to the spooked goats. And instead of grabbing Bill No. 37, they came away with Bill No. 34, a one-horned, 14-year-old retiree, according to The New York Times...

"The U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy are disappointed by the trust that was broken recently between our brothers and sisters in arms. These actions do not reflect either academy's core values of dignity and respect," read a prepared statement attributed to superintendents Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams and Vice Adm. Sean Buck.

I've become less and less impressed with Darryl Williams, but at least there's a reason for signing on to that statement:

Nabbing mascots is a decades-long service academy tradition, typically viewed by the perpetrators as a prank. But it has been officially off-limits since the early 1990s.

It was sort-of expected back in my day.

Off To The Camps

First they came for the people with 'rona, but I didn't have 'rona, so I said nothing:

The Australian army has begun forcibly removing residents in the Northern Territories to the Howard Springs quarantine camp located in Darwin, after nine new Covid-19 cases were identified in the community of Binjari. The move comes after hard lockdowns were instituted in the communities of both Binjari and nearby Rockhole on Saturday night.

What has happened to Australia?  They used to be a freedom-loving people.

This One Was Actually Funny

An SNL skit:  Republican or Not?

Did He Offer Them Candy, Too, Or Let Them See His Puppy?

What kind of sicko is this?

Parents protested before the North Kingstown School District in Rhode Island on Tuesday after administrators withheld reports of the school's basketball coach having student athletes strip naked to conduct "fat tests" behind closed doors.

Basketball coach Aaron Thomas resigned in February just before North Kingstown High School planned to terminate him, WPRI reports.

Parents turned out last night to express outrage over North Kingston School District’s handling of a coach who reportedly made students strip so he can conduct “naked fat tests” on them.

They apparently covered it up since 2018.

Austria

Do governments work for the people, or do the people live at the whim of governments?  It's an important question to ask:

Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said Friday that the country will go into a national lockdown to contain a fourth wave of coronavirus cases.

Schallenberg said the lockdown will start Monday and initially last for 10 days. Most stores will close, and cultural events will be canceled...

Starting on Feb. 1, the country will also make vaccinations mandatory, public broadcaster ORF reported.

A political conservative will answer my question one way, a lib will answer it the opposite way.

Standing Up To The Mob

A year ago, Kyle Rittenhouse stood against a mob.  Today, 12 more stood against a mob when the jury found him not guilty of all counts--standing up against those outside threatening violence, and despite being followed and photographed earlier in the trial.

And the president, the person who is sworn to uphold the Constitution and ensure the laws are faithfully executed, showed what a truly despicable person he is.

I understand the governor of Wisconsin had 500 national guardsmen on the streets of Kenosha in anticipation of the verdict.  If he'd have done that a year ago, none of this would have been necessary.

Kyle Rittenhouse is a good American who was forced to endure a political show trial to appease rioters and racists.  Screw all of them--and if fires start burning in cities tonight, screw them even more.  One of the primary functions of government is to maintain the peace and protect property, and if they won't do it, someone should.

I'll be honest, I thought the jury might cave to the mob and find him guilty of at least one count.  That they didn't speaks well to their integrity and character.

Today was a good day for justice.

Update:  Instapundit says it well:

Of course, the real responsibility is that of politicians and law enforcement who let armed lefty thugs rampage at will in the streets, necessitating self-defense by people who had every right to expect the government to stand between them and the thugs. This is malfeasance, and in a just world those officials would be on trial.

If you don’t want people taking guns into scenes of civil unrest, then don’t pull police out and leave citizens to fend for themselves in scenes of civil unrest.

Update #2, 11/20/21:  Was this man let off the hook--in Florida, no less!--because of his skin color, or because he wasn't guilty?

Some details:

A jury found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all accounts on Friday afternoon. On the same day as the Rittenhouse acquittal, another young man who claimed he fired a gun in self-defense was also found not guilty of murder.

“A jury found Andrew ‘A.J.’ Coffee IV, 27, not guilty of second-degree felony murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer by discharging a firearm, and one count of shooting or throwing a deadly missile,” the TC Palm reported on Friday.

Around 5 a.m. on March 19, 2017, at least 14 law enforcement officers — including SWAT team members in camouflage pants and shirts with “SWAT” on the sleeve — arrived at the home in Gifford, Florida. The shooter’s father, Andrew Coffee III, reportedly opened the front door to the house and was taken into custody by officers, according to Vero News.

Before entering the house, deputies yelled, “sheriff’s office search warrant,” according to witness statements from deputies.

“Coffee IV told the court he was asleep at the time the SWAT team arrived,” the TC Palm reported. “He woke up and thought he was being robbed. Coffee said he saw what appeared to be a rifle sticking through an open bedroom window pointed at him. That’s when he fired a .45-caliber pistol out of the window, shooting two or three times.”

Deputies returned fire with more than a dozen rounds shot towards the bedroom, according to court records. Andrew’s 21-year-old girlfriend, Alteria Woods, was killed after reportedly being struck by 10 bullets fired by the SWAT team, including one bullet that entered her chest. 

I don't support such raids by police.   Too much can, and often does, go wrong.  Looks like justice went 2-0 here.

There's more, though:

The younger Coffee was acquitted of all of the murder charges after claiming he fired in self-defense. However, he was found guilty of possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon. Coffee — who has four felony convictions — faces a maximum prison term of 30 years at his sentencing on Jan. 13.

If you're in fear for your life, self-defense is a legitimate plea. 

Update #3, 11/21/20:  Maybe such stupidity works for those who don't know any history, but for those of us who do, I'd say the NAACP president jumped the shark with this comment:

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson stated that Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal “was an injustice. This was worse than the Emmett Till trial.”

Facts About Slavery They Don't Teach You In School

From Thomas Sowell:

If you want to talk about slavery, at least know what you're talking about--and Thomas Sowell does.

F*** Joe Biden Flag at School

I agree with the sentiment.  I have nothing but contempt for Biden and his Administration. 

Having said that, foul language in public is not something I can support.  Neither is foul language by students.  As I wrote regarding the "Bong Hits For Jesus" case, such language and behavior is not appropriate at school:

In a demonstration meant to honor U.S. military veterans, students in Paso Robles High School’s Conservative Club waved flags on campus for several hours — including one that said “F--- Biden.”

Although most of the flags displayed by students on Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day, were traditional star-spangled American flags, others included the one with the profanity-laced slogan, at least one “Trump 2020” flag and a Gadsden flag featuring a snake and the words “Don’t Tread on Me” on a bright yellow background.

Trump 2020 and Gadsden are ok.  Foul language is not.

Canada? This Already Happens In My California School District.

This is happening in Canada:

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) will allow students to "make their own decisions about their gender identity and expressions" at school without their parents' knowledge...

The email states that parents or guardians "do not have to be involved" in their childrens' new identities. Parents will be able to see any changes to a student's chosen name or gender marker.

Oh, those wacky Canucks, you say.  No one would do anything so crazy here in the good ole U.S. of A., would they?

Buckle up, because here it's worse.  It's not ethical to keep information about their children from parents, but it's the law in many places--California among them. 

Did you know that if a student wants to leave school for a "medical procedure" (that's a euphemism for abortion, BTW), not only are we required to let the minor leave school, but we're not allowed to tell the parents even that the student left school?  We don't let kids get tattoos, and we can't even give a kid an aspirin for a headache, but we are required let them make such decisions without parental input, permission, or even knowledge.

Also, if a child wants to go by a different name and gender at school, not only are we required to comply with such silliness, but we are not allowed to let parents know this.  In fact, if involved in a parent conference, we're required to hoodwink the parents by referring to the child with the name/gender the parent thinks is the case so as not to "out" the child.

We expect parents to be responsible for their children, we want them to be "partners in their children's education", but we withhold from them information about their minor children so that someone else's political beliefs can be satisfied.

This is execrable.

Update, 11/18/21:  Seen on Instagram:

 

Update #2, 11/19/21:  Sue the district?  Not a bad idea, but what if it's state law--then who do you sue?

A Wisconsin school district is facing a lawsuit from the parents of a 12-year-old female student after they stated that would be using a male name and pronouns for the young student expressing gender dysphoria, despite objections from the parents.

They're.not.our.kids.  They're their parents' kids.

This Is What A Domestic Terrorist At A School Board Meeting Sounds Like

"Threatening" to vote people out of office for imposing their political beliefs on your children isn't the sign of a domestic terrorist, Merrick Garland.  This is:

Malikk Austin turned to address parents who had expressed their discontent over Critical Race Theory (CRT) pedagogy being taught in the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) during the public comment portion of the meeting, according to video footage of the incident.

“For those who got an issue with this critical race theory, equity it’s something I fought for my children,” Austin said to meeting attendees. “How dare you come out from here and talk about the things that my daddy and my grandparents went through, the lynching, the oppression, Jim Crow. My kids are still being afflicted by this. How dare you come off in here and challenge me on critical race theory"...

“Look at the word racism, this is something deliberately done to people of African descent to shackle us down, this hate, fear-mongering ain’t gonna work no more,” Austin added. “It’s over with, we are not our ancestors. I got over 1,000 soldiers ready to go"...

Onlookers and attendees continued to engage with Austin, when a school board member repeated “One and done.” Austin was then escorted out by officers while he shouted “I’ll bring my soldiers with me next time … locked and loaded.”

Kids Haven't Changed

Adults get soft and give in to kids (and/or their parents), that's how things have gotten so bad at school:

It Was Real

Thursday morning I hitched up the trailer and headed up to Lake Tahoe for some camping, returning home yesterday.  It was a magnificent respite.

It usually takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to drive there from home, but there was work going on that required many stretches of Highway 50 to be reduced to one-way, so it took 3 1/2 to 4 hours to get there.  What was this work, you might ask?  Tree removal.  Burned tree removal.

One of those horrific fires we all heard about this past summer burned through a lot of the El Dorado National Forest and made its way to the Tahoe Valley, some of the most beautiful (and expensive) real estate in the country.  There were very real fears that the fire, once cresting Echo Summit, would burn its way down the mountains and right up to the lake itself.  Fortunately, it didn't get down into the valley, but the Lake Tahoe area was evacuated.

I had to drive through a lot of burned area to get to Tahoe.  We were stopped a lot so that one-way traffic could get past a work area, and the damage was visible and bad.  Here would be a wall of burned, cut, and stacked trees, and there would be the remains of someone's cabin--the stone chimney remained standing, with warped corrugated aluminum from the roof covering ashes.  Here you'd see a scorched propane tank for a cabin, and there--there would be a complete cabin, seemingly untouched by the fire that charred all that was around it.  Much like a tornado, the damage was devastating, but once in awhile you'd see a completely freestanding cabin amidst all the other ruins, completely unharmed by the inferno that obviously raged all around it.  

Will we ever allow small fires to burn, or clear underbrush, so that these huge fires don't do so much damage?  Hard to say.

Woke Math

The author of this piece solicited my input but I didn't see or respond to her email until the I got home from work, which was too late.  Still, I think she did pretty good!

According to California's draft "Mathematics Framework," math is not just a "neutral discipline"; it also can be used to promote equity and "social justice."

Call it "Woke Math."

The authors mean well. They want to close the achievement gap between white and Black and Latino students. But they're doing it the wrong way. They're trying to close the gap by pretending that math -- a discrete discipline forged on the purity of numbers -- can be taught like English or political science.

If California approves the framework, expect it to be a guide for textbooks used across the land. This is what it looks like.

It was shelved until next year--but they'll try it again next year.

Trees

Dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks Kamala Harris asks a NASA representative about trees:

Vice President Kamala Harris asked NASA if it could use its satellites to track trees “by race” in various neighborhoods as part of “environmental justice” during a recent display on climate change, leading many to ridicule the vice president online and even giving rise to a “Black Trees Matter” hashtag.

You don't believe it?  Believe your lyin' eyes:

That came immediately to mind as I read this article:

A landmark report conducted by University of Michigan environmental sociologist Dorceta Taylor in 2014 warned of the “arrogance” of white environmentalists when they introduce green initiatives to black and brown communities. One black  environmental professional Taylor interviewed for the report, Elliot Payne, described experiences where green groups “presumed to know what’s best” for communities of color without including them in the decision-making and planning processes.

“I think a lot of the times it stems from the approach of oh we just go out and offer tree plantings or engaging in an outdoor activity, and if we just reach out to them they will come,” Payne told Taylor.

In fact, this is exactly what was happening in Detroit at the time that Taylor’s report came out. In 2014, the city was a few years deep into a campaign to reforest its streets after decades of neglecting to maintain its depleted tree canopy. A local environmental nonprofit called The Greening of Detroit was the city’s official partner for carrying out that reforesting task, which it had started doing on its own when it was founded in 1989. By 2014, TGD had received additional funding to ramp up its tree-planting services to the tune of 1,000 to 5,000 new trees per year. To meet that goal, it had to penetrate neighborhoods somewhat more aggressively than it had in the past and win more buy-in from the residents.

The tree-planters met stiff resistance: Roughly a quarter of the 7,500 residents they approached declined offers to have new trees planted in front of their homes. It was a high enough volume of rejections for such an otherwise valuable service that University of Vermont researcher Christine E. Carmichael wanted to know the reasons behind it. 

The reason?

The residents Carmichael surveyed understood the benefits of having trees in urban environments—they provide shade and cooling, absorb air pollution, especially from traffic, increase property values, and improve health outcomes. But the reasons Detroit folks were submitting “no tree requests” were rooted in how they have historically interpreted their lived experiences in the city, or what Carmichael calls “heritage narratives.”

It’s not that they didn’t trust the trees; they didn’t trust the city...

There was distrust not only of the city, but of the tree planters as well, particularly considering how TGD staff stepped to the people in the communities they were plotting on. The Greening of Detroit had 50,000 volunteers (during that 2011-2014 time period), most of them white and not from Detroit. The organization had just one community-outreach person on staff. And that outreach apparently did not include involving neighborhood residents in the planning of this urban-forestry program. 

Lefties always know what's best for everyone.  Just ask them.

America's Nine Political Tribes

I don't know how accurate this is, but it struck a chord with me nonetheless:

U.S. voters are segmented into nine political tribes - four that lean left, four that lean right, and the 'stressed sideliners' who have a minimal interest in politics - according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

Pew surveyed 10,221 adults this July, but has been conducting interviews  with respondents since January 2020. 

While partisan polarization remained high, the research also showed that there are divisions within both the Democrats and the Republicans - as members' views vary on issues including racial justice, abortion, taxes and the future role of former President Donald Trump. 

Of all the groups, I identify most closely with the committed conservatives.  However, one of the comments got my attention and made a salient point that I had missed upon my first reading of the article:

Gotta love how there was alot of negative descriptions on the conservative side, but hardly any descriptions other than "educated and intelligent" on the liberal side.

Take this article with a grain of salt.  YMMV.

Veterans Day Discounts

If we veterans really wanted to, we could eat free all day.

Of course, that's not why we joined the military, but it's a nice thank you from many companies across the country.  Here are some of them.

Voting Fraud

The left tries to tell us there's no such thing as voter fraud, but some beg to differ:

Hans von Spakovsky and John Fund have teamed to write an emotionless history of voter fraud, filled with recent examples, especially in the 2020 election, and based on the Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database.

In Our Broken Elections: How the Left Changed the Way You Vote , the duo with three decades of voting study between them highlighted the 1,334 cases of fraud and 1,147 criminal convictions Heritage has collected dating to the 1982 conviction of 63 involved in a scheme to stuff 100,000 extra ballots in an Illinois gubernatorial primary.

Evidence is a wonderful thing, but it won't convince the lefties.

It's Coming To A School Near You

You can be struthious all you want, but this will be at your or your kid's school soon enough:

Columbia University released a video stating that "intentionally misgendering someone" is against the Ivy League university's nondiscrimination policy, which could lead to an employee being dismissed.

The video, titled "Why Pronouns Matter," was uploaded to Columbia University's official YouTube account and explained how "using correct pronouns is a way to respect those around you."

"Intentionally misgendering someone by refusing to use the correct pronouns or name is a violation of the Columbia University nondiscrimination policy," the video stated. "Words matter. Even unintentional errors can create challenges."

It's a good thing I don't use gendered language, I used biological-sexxed language.

Here's the thing about pronouns--except for "you", which is non-gendered/unisex, pronouns are used in the 3rd person:  HE did a good job.  (You) give that to HER.  In other words, the person being referred to with the pronoun is not part of the conversation, and you don't get to dictate how I refer to you to other people.

As Bill Maher said in a video I posted a few days ago:  "You can try to change reality by changing the words, but you can't.  It just stops you from dealing with it."  Pretty much nailed it, Bill.

This attempt to control your thought and speech won't stop at Columbia.  It's coming to your kid's school, you watch.

Hot On The Tails Of Our Local Commie

California is one of the bluest of the blue states, and teachers are some of the bluest of California's blue.  Recently a local commie teacher was outed and fired, and now we get another nearby (but as yet unidentified) teacher who thinks it's perfectly reasonable to, well, read on:

A Northern California high school says it is investigating after an alleged inappropriate, politically charged question appeared on a quiz last week.

Justin Cutts, principal of Whitney High School in Rocklin, wrote in a letter to parents that “students, families and the Rocklin community have raised concern about the class assignment,” which was a quiz given by a social science teacher Thursday. The teacher was not identified.

“While personnel matters will remain confidential, appropriate disciplinary steps will be taken,” Cutts wrote in the letter, sent Friday.

The principal’s letter came shortly after an image — allegedly a screenshot of the quiz, which was administered electronically — quickly went viral on social media. The post showed a multiple-choice question with the prompt: “A group of complete idiots.”

The four multiple-choice options were allegedly: “KKK,” “all of Florida,” “Fox news” and “Texans.”

Doing this makes all of us look bad in the eyes of the public.