School Discipline

It's an axiom of leadership: you get more of what you tolerate.  When you don't enforce discipline at schools, often because it's in vogue to consider it "racist" to do so, you get more misbehavior.  It's bad for the adults, it's worse for the other students:

Alternatives to standard, punitive discipline, while glittering ideals in the abstract, are a resounding failure in practice. It's a story that parallels the rise and fall of "broken windows" policing in society more generally — an analogue through which we can understand the causes and consequences of the abolition of school discipline...

Intentionally or not, the theory of education that undergirded these schools' approach to discipline borrowed from the philosophy behind broken-windows policing: Eliminating small instances of disorder — replacing every "broken window" — helps fend off more disruptive disorder. And, as with every sort of approach that "defines deviancy down," the alternative is a slow slide toward chaos: A child leaves litter in the hallway. It's not picked up. Soon a student throws something down the corridor, but no teacher bothers to address it. Students begin to wander hallways during class. Their noise grows louder. A student mocks a teacher. Before long, students are berating teachers — and worse.

You can say that's a slippery slope, but it's a real slippery slope.  It exists, and we slide down it all the time. 

In many schools, disciplinary reforms have taken the form of "restorative justice," which focuses on mediation and restitution as opposed to punishment. The theory envisions schools as places where students are supported emotionally through various therapeutic and community-building prophylactics. Interpersonal squabbles result in community circles where students are asked deeply personal questions about their mental health and any trauma they've experienced. Classroom disruptions garner a chat with the school counselor. In Dallas public schools, misbehaving students kicked out of the classroom are sent to "reset centers" full of stress balls and bean bags.

Sadly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the rigorous evidence we have on restorative justice finds that it doesn't achieve its promised goals. The RAND Corporation ran two studies on the theory, the first of which found that it decreased suspension rates — a trend that was already occurring in the district studied. At the same time, academics worsened while arrest rates remained the same. The second study found that restorative-justice techniques had negligible effects but still placed a heavy burden on teachers.

Stupidest idea in a long time, besides 'rona shutdowns.

Proponents of restorative justice reject punitive discipline because they worry that it pushes kids into the school-to-prison pipeline. But if restorative justice degrades academic performance while failing to reduce misbehavior — or, in some cases, fostering it — this proposed solution to the school-to-prison pipeline might actually worsen matters.

Critics of punitive discipline miss its purpose. Perhaps a suspension does little to reform the behavior of an individual student — suspend him once or a hundred times, and he'll likely act out again (though there is some evidence that suspensions increase individual achievement). But the purpose of a suspension isn't necessarily the reformation of the one, but the protection of the 30 other children in that student's class and the hundreds of others in the building. Suspensions may not always influence the individual student, but they certainly prevent community spread.

If preventing community spread is the best we can do, I'll take it over what we have right now.

An important aspect of our principal's strategy was implementing punitive consequences for absenteeism. When the bell for class rang, administrators and monitors patrolled every hallway and sent every tardy student to our building's theater. There, the students checked in. If they had been tardy fewer than three times, they were sent back to class with a monitor. If they had amassed more than three tardies, they spent an hour spread out across our school's theater. The punishment wasn't significant; students merely spent an hour sitting silently in a room. Nonetheless, it formed a pillar on which the school's cultural change stood. We had taken away what drew students to ditch classes: a chance to roam the halls while chatting and laughing with friends. If that was no longer an option — and if any attempt brought not entertainment, but boredom — class quickly became the preferred alternative.

At my school we have "roamers", students whose class is apparently named "Hallway".  Nothing is done. 

In her essay "The Crisis in Education," Hannah Arendt predicted that if we remove adult authority from schools, we don't get some utopian sharing of power among students and teachers; instead, the strongest students take charge and force a far more destructive environment onto their classmates. Schools become less an educational Eden and more Lord of the Flies. Much as we cannot destroy energy but only change its form, we cannot remove authority from a school building; we can only change who wields it and to what end.

Wow.  I hadn't heard that before, but it's undeniably true. 

Kicking a student out of school may seem unkind, but no child has a right to interfere with another child's education. When we abolish discipline, we're not abolishing consequences; we're merely asking other students and staff to bear them. How society ought to manage disruptive children is an unendingly complex and ethically fraught question, but we owe it to future generations to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to learn.

As identified in the article, much of the impetus for reducing school discipline is because of racial disparities.  What I've never seen demonstrated, though, is that disparities exist in punishment because of race, only that students of certain races are penalized more--which would make sense if they're causing more of the problems.  Race hustlers, however, have an incentive to ignore that latter issue, and well-behaved students of all races pay the price.  I don't care about the race of the students who are out of control, I care about their behavior--and I want that behavior excised from campus.

Schools don't have to be prisons to be well-disciplined, but they will be chaotic and dangerous if they're not disciplined.  It's time to restore reasonable discipline to America's schools.

Shin Ultraman

The new Ultraman movie is showing in US theaters for two nights only.  Last night was the subtitled version, tonight is the dubbed version.  I toyed with the idea of going again tonight, but I don't think there's a need to.  I enjoyed the movie plenty last night.

There's always cause for concern when you hear a story is being "reimagined" or "updated", and this movie was no exception.  Having seen the character names, I knew that the new movie was not about our old Science Patrol friends--these are all new characters.  The "Science Patrol" of the dubbed 1960s TV show has been given it's original Japanese name of SSSP, the Science Special Search Party. They are no longer a paramilitary organization that fights monsters with VTOL jets and rockets and ray guns, they're now a team with laptops who analyze monsters and try to determine how best to defeat them given today's technology.

And then there's Ultraman himself.  The modern writers relied significantly on the original series for background.

The story of how he came to earth is similar--he was accidentally responsible for the death of a human, so he chose to share his life force with that human.  The human transforms into Ultraman via the "beta capsule", a thin cylinder with a button on it.  He's from the "Land of Light" in the TV series, from the "Planet of Light" in this movie.  And of course, he can fire the spacium ray from his crossed hands!

What I really appreciated about this movie is how it was able to bring the original Ultraman story into the modern day without destroying the original.  For example, in the original series, the monsters were clearly just men in a rubber suit.  With today's CGI tech, the (one) monster in Shin Ultraman could have been a fearsome computer-generated creature that actually looked alive!  Instead, this monster, while not a man in a rubber suit, was CGI generated to appear just campy enough to be recognized as an homage to the original series.

The SSSP members wore logo pins, but unlike on the TV show, they were not communication devices.  The telephones rang with the same tone as they did on the TV show.  But what was for me the most exciting part was in the one scene in which the original "Science Patrol March" was played when action was starting!

If you're curious, here's episode 1 of Ultraman from 1966:

The Science Patrol March starts at 5:43.

Obviously, a full length motion picture made for today's audiences has to be more sophisticated than a TV show from 1966, and Shin Ultraman had a much more involved plot that merely defeating a ravaging monster (a kaiju in Japanese).  Still, the writers and director were able to weave into the movie those references mentioned above, generating nostalgia for the original at no cost to the modern story.

While Shin Ultraman is a good movie in its own right, I wonder if a viewer unfamiliar with the original series would enjoy it as much as I did, lacking as they would the background information that makes it even more enjoyable.   Still, I had a ball watching this movie.  I'll add it to my collection if it comes out on DVD or Blu-ray.

Update, 1/14/22:  The childhood friend with whom I watched Shin Ultraman shares the following:

I was just really impressed how they managed to bring such a familiar feel to it while still making it contemporary.

I was prepared to be disappointed and was pleasantly surprised how well done it was.  The makers clearly hold the source material with reverence.

Leftist Absurdity

What has happened to USC?

The University of Southern California's School of Social Work will no longer use the word "field" because it "may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign," according to a letter from the department.

USC's Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work will make the change in order to ensure the use of "inclusive language and practice," according to the letter.

"Specifically, we have decided to remove the term ‘field’ from our curriculum and practice and replace it with ‘practicum,'" the letter said. "This change supports anti-racist social work practice by replacing language that would be considered anti-Black or anti-immigrant in favor of inclusive language."

They've gotten so open-minded that their collective brains fell out. 

As long as they wear cotton, I don't want to hear this kind of stupidity. And even if they stop wearing cotton, I don't want to hear it.  I don't want to hear about whipped cream or "whipping up a crowd",  either.

No one is helped by this kind of silliness, but it emboldens idiots with ideas that aren't as silly and harmless. 

How To Make A Class Full Of Teenagers Bust Up Laughing, A Step-by-step Primer

1.  In a lesson on angular velocity, explain that angular velocity is usually represented by the Greek letter lower-case omega.

2. Write a lower-case omega on the board.

3.  Notice one student trying exceedingly hard to maintain composure.

4.  Stare at what you wrote on the board, letting the realization wash over you.

The Good And The Bad

Shortly after midnight, a neighbor posted on the Nextdoor app that her internet was operational again.  When I got up this morning I fired up my modem and found that mine is, too.  This is good.

A few days ago, through the Xfinity app, I was told that I'd get a text message when my internet was restored.  No message yet....

Update:  It's now 5:05 pm, and still no text message.  I probably won't receive one.

It Might Be An Interesting Semester

Today I got a new student who asked me a disquieting question:  do I know what a "furry" is?

*sigh*

Push Back

Generally speaking I don't believe people, especially adults, should wear clothing with political statements on them at school, but if you're forced to undergo political indoctrination, I'm willing to relax that rule a bit in the interests of "equal time" and respectful dissent:

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Washington state teacher who wore a MAGA hat to his district’s pre-school year “racial bias and cultural sensitivity” trainings.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel said former Wy’east Middle School Principal Caroline Garrett had violated science teacher Eric Dodge’s constitutional rights in 2019 when she told him “Next time I see you with that hat, you need to have your union rep,” Education Week reports...

The genesis of the imbroglio was Dodge “displaying” the hat “on top of his backpack” at the trainings. He never actually wore the hat during the sessions. The leader of one workshop, a professor from Washington State University, told Principal Garrett she felt “intimidated and traumatized” by the hat...

Garrett and other school district officials prevailed in district court after Dodge sued, but a unanimous Ninth Circuit panel “revived” the teacher’s case against the principal. It ruled that Dodge’s hat did not disrupt the educational process and that “political speech is the quintessential example of protected speech, and it is inherently controversial.”

The Ninth Circuit has been getting some cases right lately, and this is certainly one of them.  While this was not en banc, but merely a 3-judge panel, I'm pleased that the court ruled correctly.  "The most overruled circuit court in the country" will not have to face down the Supremes on this ruling.

This Man Is Mental

Governor Newsollini, who clearly wants to be president, thinks that the 7 Republicans left in California are the cause of all the state's problems:

With the state suffering under a plague of hundreds of thousands of homeless drug addicts living on the streets, a serious spike in violent crime and theft, highest-in-the-nation taxes and cost of living, failing public schools, a state-created water shortage, and hundreds of thousands of California businesses and residents fleeing to friendlier states, Newsom made his second inaugural speech all about him – and he attacked the toothless GOP in this Democrat one-party state...

Newsom played a victim of the Covid time period, in denial of his decisions to lock down school children and businesses, force vaccines on millions of Californians, and mask the population indoors and outdoors, while he went about his life unmasked, attending events and parties, and while his children attended private school...

Newsom played the game of “I know you are, but what am I?” described by the Urban Dictionary as, “quite simply the most retarded comeback someone makes when they’ve completely lost the argument. This statement signifies that the argument has gone to a completely immature level.”

He continued attacking the right, GOP, and red states...

That last statement is really rich coming from the Governor who still clings to his Covid State of Emergency powers three years after the order, and ruling by fiat, locked down 40 million people during Covid, issued more than 70 executive orders containing 561 provisions, and killed off half of the businesses in the state.

What strange things are in this man's head.

Never In My Life

I've heard of people in the US having lengthy utility outages, but I've never experienced an outage of any kind longer than a few hours in my life.

Maybe you've heard about the storms we're experiencing in California.  Sure, fallen trees knock out power lines, always have, but I have electricity.  What I don't have is my home internet connection, which has been out since 2am Sunday without word from Xfinity.  Doing without the service is bad enough, not being given any information is worse.

So I went to a nearby Xfinity store and was told there that a technician can't be sent to my area until at least Thursday.  At least I have day to look forward to now.

This is why I get cell service and internet from different companies.  I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.  I'm using my phone as a hotspot right now to post this....

Update, 1/11/23:  Up after 3 days.

Storms

Part of my back fence is down, the storm drain in front of my house seems clogged--and I haven't had home internet service since 2 am.  I had already scheduled the Art post, and I'm using my phone as a hotspot to post this and the previous post.  Don't want to use too much data on the hotspot, though, so now you know why if you don't see anything else here today.

Metro Collision

Yesterday there was a collision on the Mexico City Metro:

Two subway trains collided between two stations Saturday in Mexico City, killing at least one person and injuring 41, authorities said.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on her Twitter account that the accident happened on Line 3 of the capital’s Metro system, without specifying the cause of the crash between the Potrero and La Raza stations.

Sheinbaum said one woman was killed and 57 people injured, who were taken to seven hospitals. Four people were trapped in the wreckage for a time, including one train driver, who was reported in serious condition. Late in the afternoon, the mayor said 26 of the injured had been released.

I was in that spot on Wednesday, as I took the Metro to and from the Basilica of Guadalupe.  This is very sad.

Art

Here we get a little bit of sculpture from around Mexico City:

Is it just me, or do the sculptures on the corners of the Monument to the Revolution look a little "socialist-y"?

And while not a sculpture, it sure is a work of art...my hotel was built in 1904:

Yes, I took that picture with my phone, and with no filters!  That's really what it looks like!

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Please read this brief post for background information.

As planned, last Wednesday I made it to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the most visited pilgrimage site in the Americas.  How many basilicas have been built over the years to house Juan Diego's cloak?  I don't know, but it's cool seeing a cloak that's been revered for almost 500 years.  In this video you can see the carillon, an old convent building, the old basilica, and the new basilica:

I've been told that this "version" of the Virgin Mary for the Americas is darker skinned than the "European version".  Well, I've always heard that Our Lady of Guadalupe is darker skinned, but she doesn't seem so to me after looking at Diego's actual cloak.  I doubt miracles fade, so that can't be an explanation.  In the first picture you can see the cloak hanging on the wall, framed, behind the altar, and in the second picture you can see it closer up:

click to enlarge

What do you think?

While I can respect some of the work that the Catholic saints performed, I'm not sure I accept the idea of a "saint".  Having said that, though, here's one saint who deserves to be revered:

 

I love the statuary throughout the complex, and I respect the devotion of those who created it and who make pilgrimages to it:

It was a contemplative couple of hours.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

If you want to talk about a stock's performance over a certain time period, it's best and most accurate to describe its percentage increase or decrease from the start of the period to the end of the period.  Why?  Because in general you don't average averages:

If a stock goes from $10 to $100 in a year an investor has a 900% return. If it drops from $100 to $10 the next year it only dropped 90% so an investment advisor could truthfully say that there was an average 405% rate of return for two years while the investor earned zero. A stock can go up an infinite amount and can only go down 100% so don’t always trust statistics. They are as easy to manipulate as climate computer models.

The Media Aren't Fickle--They're Always On The Same Side

The media will like you as long as you spout the leftist creed.  Dare depart from it, though, and they'll turn on you on a dime.

Take Elon Musk, for instance:

The media used to love Elon Musk. They adored his “eco-conscious” business ventures because it fit their Green agenda. Musk, being a manufacturer of electric cars powered by the highly flammable pollutant lithium and a seller of worthless pieces of paper called carbon credits, made him the media’s golden boy. But now, everything has changed….

Now, Musk is hated by the media and other Democrats as much as Donald Trump, and they are seeking to destroy him. Why? Well, because Musk bought Twitter and he’s been on a rampage of transparency and truth, exposing the massive corruption and collusion of the media and government officials to silence dissenting opinions and to interfere in elections. Musk is doing the job they should be doing...

Thank goodness Musk is showing the public the dangers of a government colluding with the media. Sadly, most media outlets are burying that story just like they continue to bury the truth about the massive corruption of the Biden family, and sadly, the media will never forgive Musk for doing their job as they seek to pull out every stop to discredit him now he’s their enemy.

Who Could've Predicted Such An Outcome

It's like lefties don't think that people will ever change their behaviors with respect to money:

As a 2016 California law requiring agricultural employers to pay overtime continues to roll out in 2023, farmworkers and employers alike say the policy is costing them money. 

“Last year was one of the worst years that we ever had financially,” said Marco Mendoza, a farmworker based in the Fresno County city of Kerman in an interview with The Bee/Fresnoland on Tuesday.

Farmworkers say since the new law passed, they’re largely not being paid overtime, and their hours – and take-home pay – have been reduced as a result, making it harder to cover basic living expenses such as food and rent.

Huh, who'd'a thunk?  Time after time this happens, and they still think they're "compassionate" and "helping the little guy".

Will Californians ever learn?  As the Magic 8 Ball might say, "don't count on it."

Xochimilco

In last Tuesday's post, which I scheduled before I left, I said I might go to Xochimilco.  I did, and it took quite awhile to get there--the end of the subway line, to the end of the light rail line, and then a mile or so walk to the embarcaderos--but that's just me experiencing Mexico.

I only saw the touristy part of the remnants of the Aztec canals and floating islands, but it was still pretty cool.  On DVD I have old Pan Am travel videos from the 1950s, and the only differences between then and now are the crowds and the fact that then, the boats were smaller and covered with flowers, but not anymore.  Still, it was pretty cool.

There's a house for sale on the canal opposite the Nuevo Nativitas Embarcadero.  If Mexico had an MLS system I'd look up how much it costs!  It had some wide steps leading from the back patio right down to the canal.  Imagine, people-watching and live music all day!  Get hungry, need a drink?  Call one of the "vendor" boats over, have a meal!

Sounds like retirement heaven to me.

click to enlarge

QR Codes In Restaurants

I agree, I don't like having to scan a QR code to read a restaurant menu on my phone:

A couple things.  First, I don't think too many restaurants do this so they can change the pricing quickly and often.  Why do I think that?  Because most of the menus I see on my phone are just pdf's of the old school menu--although sometimes you're taken to a web site, but I have a hard time believing someone is constantly adjusting prices on a web site.

And second, while I understand the possibility that someone could put a fake QR code on your table and thereby install malicious software on your phone, my visit to a restaurant in Coyoacán this past week showed what I thought was a reasonably unhackable way to display the QR code:

click to enlarge

No one's going to laser-cut blocks of wood and swap them out with the restaurant's just to install malicious software!

I still want a handheld menu, for a variety of reasons, but I thought this block was cool.

Last Day

Can't believe it's true, but I was able to book a direct flight from Mexico City to Sacramento.  This visit is short enough that I'll not even have checked luggage, just a carry-on; combine that with using the CBP Mobile Passport app, and I should get through customs and immigration rather quickly.  I've got family picking me up, and as my flight is scheduled to arrive at 10 pm, my family assures me they'll be waiting for me in the "cell phone lot" by 10:15.

Let's hope everything goes according to plan!!!

Update, 1/6/23:  Between using Mobile Passport and not having checked baggage, I almost didn't have to stop between exiting the airplane and exiting the airport.

Pilgrimage

I'm not a Catholic, but I recognize the importance of the Catholic Church in Western history, for good and for bad.  I'm not convinced that their saints have performed post-death miracles, which is a requirement for sainthood, but I respect the power of faith. 

I'll quote from my Top 10 Mexico City book, published by DK Eyewitness Travel:

The holiest Roman Catholic shrine in Latin America is also the most visited in the world.  It was here in 1531 that an Aztec peasant named Juan Diego claimed to have seen a vision of the beautiful Virgin who requested that a chapel be built.  Over the centuries, pilgrims and the faithful have come to workship the Virgin of Guadalupe.

There is also a 490-year-old cloak there, and Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge and wisdom) tells the story:

She (the vision of the Virgin Mary) assured him (Juan Diego) that Juan Bernardino had now recovered and told him to gather flowers from the summit of Tepeyac Hill, which was normally barren, especially in the cold of December. Juan Diego obeyed her instruction and he found Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, blooming there.

According to the story, the Virgin arranged the flowers in Juan Diego's tilma, or cloak, and when Juan Diego opened his cloak later that day before Archbishop Zumárraga, the flowers fell to the floor, revealing on the fabric the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The next day, December 13 (Julian calendar), Juan Diego found his uncle fully recovered as the Virgin had assured him, and Juan Bernardino recounted that he also had seen her after praying at his bedside (fifth apparition); that she had instructed him to inform the Archbishop of this apparition and of his miraculous cure; and that she had told him she desired to be known under the title of 'Guadalupe'.

The Archbishop kept Juan Diego's mantle, first in his private chapel and then in the church on public display, where it attracted great attention. On December 26, 1531, a procession formed to transfer the miraculous image back to Tepeyac Hill where it was installed in a small, hastily erected chapel. During this procession, the first miracle was allegedly performed when a native was mortally wounded in the neck by an arrow shot by accident during some stylized martial displays performed in honor of the Virgin. In great distress, the natives carried him before the Virgin's image and pleaded for his life. Upon the arrow being withdrawn, the victim fully and immediately recovered.

Is today the day I go to see the new basilica and the cloak?  Maybe!  It's certainly on my list of things I'd like to do this trip.

The City In The Lake

Did you know that when Cortez arrived in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec (ne Mexica) capital, it was a city built on islands in a lake?  With over 20 million people living there now, there's certainly no lake to be seen anymore!  There remains, however, a tiny area of Aztec/Mexica canals and artificial islands.

Will today be the day I finally visit Xochimilco, a World Heritage Site?

Back In A Few Days!

This post should go live at 1am PST--just about the time my red-eye flight to Mexico is scheduled to take off.  I'm not even taking the laptop with me for new posts, but I've scheduled a trip-related post for each day I plan to be gone.

Feliz año nuevo!

Throwback To My Childhood

There were two 1960s Japanese import TV shows my peers and I watched in the early- to mid-70s:  Speed Racer in the morning, and Ultraman in the afternoon.  Speed Racer was anime, Ultraman was live action.

Ultraman was cheesy, but when your age is measured in single digits, that's OK.  We loved the fight scenes, we loved the monsters, we loved the Science Patrol theme song, and we loved Ultraman's crossed-hands pose that fired a spacium beam.  And since it was dubbed, we even liked watching mouths move and seeing that the words didn't match the mouths!  Yes, we could sometimes see the string holding the model that was supposed to be Science Patrol's VTOL plane, and we could see the zipper along the back of the Ultraman costume, but that didn't matter.  Whereas children in the 50s had Superman as their TV superhero, we had Ultraman, and he was awesome.

When I saw the complete series, all 39 episodes, on Blu-ray at Best Buy a couple weeks ago, and at a reasonable price, I had to buy it.  And you know what?  The show is just as cheesy as it ever was, and I like it just as much as I did as a child.  The only difference is that this version is not dubbed so I have to read the subtitles.

In May 2022, an Ultraman movie was released in Japan.  It's Ultraman "reimagined", and all the characters have changed.  There's no Hayata!  If you want to see this movie, though, you have to act quickly:

Move over Godzilla; Shin Ultraman will have a limited theatrical run in U.S. theaters, according to an announcement made during the Ultraman Connection panel at Anime NYC.

In partnership with Fathom Events, Shin Ultraman will have a two-night run in theaters across the U.S. Fathom Events is owned by three of the world's largest theater circuits: AMC, Regal Cinemas (Cineworld) and Cinemark. Fans can catch the film in participating theaters on Wednesday, Jan. 11 and Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. 

Get your tickets here.

Welcome to the Party

I figured this out years ago and have always adjusted my side-view mirrors thusly:

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) published a paper in 1995 suggesting how outside mirrors could be adjusted to eliminate blind spots. The paper advocates adjusting the mirrors so far outward that the viewing angle of the side mirrors just overlaps that of the cabin’s rearview mirror. This can be disorienting for drivers used to seeing the flanks of their own car in the side mirrors. But when correctly positioned, the mirrors negate a car’s blind spots. This obviates the need to glance over your shoulder to safely change lanes as well as the need for an expensive blind-spot warning system.

Everything they say and show in that very short article, published 15 years after the 1995 SAE paper, is 100% true.  Now it's almost 15 years after that article was written, do people still adjust their side mirrors in the (wrong) goofy way???

A Letter From My Congressman

About 3 weeks ago I called out my congressman for failing to respond to my letter about the rape of women Merchant Marine cadets while on ships at sea for training.  I closed that post by saying, "Ami Bera, on the other hand, from whom I've received more franked letters than all the other congressmen I've had in my lifetime combined, can't share a letter or a phone call regarding the rape of Merchant Marine cadets.  What are your priorities, congressman?"

Well, I received another of those franked letters today:

Fancy words, Ami Bera.  You're full of crap.  You care about yourself, certainly not about everyday Americans, certainly not about those in uniform, certainly not those women cadets.  And I'm not even going to address the obvious economic silliness in the content of the letter above, which is far worse than your usual letters.

I used to give the man the benefit of the doubt.  No longer.

Bison vs Buffalo

Recently, as in the last month or so, I had a conversation about bison.  Because of my advanced age I cannot even remember who I had the darned conversation with, but I remember pulling out my phone and showing the picture I took at Yellowstone of a nearby bison.  Anyway, part of the discussion was about how in America we don't have buffalo, we have bison--not that I know the difference, of course, but that was kinda the joke.

Well, we now have 13 fewer bison:

Multiple bison died near the western entrance of Yellowstone National Park in Montana on Wednesday after being struck by a semi-truck, according to police.

“Thirteen bison were killed in this traffic accident, with some of the bison needing to be euthanized due to severe injuries,” said the West Yellowstone Police Department in a news release posted to Facebook on Friday.

I just wonder how fast you have to be driving such that you kill or morally injure 13 bison at once. 

Here's An Example of Media Bias

Is it ok for a politician to go on vacation during a storm, or not?

link

I'd Never Heard of This Service Before

This link to the Veterans Canteen Service is on the VA web site:

It's Obvious Where Their Priorities Are

I'm just going to post the entire Instapundit post here:

NOTE THAT NPR IS SYMPATHETIC TO THE “CLIMATE ACTIVISTS,” NOT TO THE PEOPLE IN DANGER OF FREEZING IN THE DARK: Climate activists are fuming as Germany turns to coal to replace Russian gas.

Humans want to stay warm.  Anyone remember the stories of winter in Sarajevo during the siege?

This Seems Unjust

It's hard to believe that something like this is allowed to happen in American courts:

A jury convicted Dayonta McClinton of robbing a CVS pharmacy but acquitted him of murder. A judge gave McClinton an extra 13 years in prison for the killing anyway.

In courtrooms across America, defendants get additional prison time for crimes that juries found they didn’t commit.

The Supreme Court is being asked, again, to put an end to the practice. It’s possible that the newest member of the court and a former federal public defender, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, could hold a pivotal vote.

McClinton’s case and three others just like it are scheduled to be discussed when the justices next meet in private on Jan. 6.

Sentencing a defendant for what’s called “acquitted conduct” has gone on for years, based on a Supreme Court decision from the late 1990s. And the justices have turned down numerous appeals asking them to declare that the Constitution forbids it.

The closest the court came to taking up the issue was in 2014, when Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg provided three of the four votes necessary to hear an appeal.

“This has gone on long enough,” Scalia wrote in dissent from the court’s decision to reject an appeal from defendants who received longer prison terms for conspiring to distribute cocaine after jurors acquitted them of conspiracy charges.

Yes, that's bad.  This is, too--have you ever heard of civil asset forfeiture? 

Civil forfeiture in the United States, also called civil asset forfeiture or civil judicial forfeiture,^[1] is a process in which law enforcement officers take assets from people who are suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without necessarily charging the owners with wrongdoing. While civil procedure, as opposed to criminal procedure, generally involves a dispute between two private citizens, civil forfeiture involves a dispute between law enforcement and property such as a pile of cash or a house or a boat, such that the thing is suspected of being involved in a crime. To get back the seized property, owners must prove it was not involved in criminal activity. Sometimes it can mean a threat to seize property as well as the act of seizure itself.^[2] Civil forfeiture is not considered to be an example of a criminal justice financial obligation.

Proponents see civil forfeiture as a powerful tool to thwart criminal organizations involved in the illegal drug trade, with $12 billion annual profits,^[3] since it allows authorities to seize cash and other assets from suspected narcotics traffickers. They also argue that it is an efficient method since it allows law enforcement agencies to use these seized proceeds to further battle illegal activity, that is, directly converting value obtained for law enforcement purposes by harming suspected criminals economically while helping law enforcement financially.

Critics argue that innocent owners can become entangled in the process to the extent that their 4th Amendment and 5th Amendment rights are violated, in situations where they are presumed guilty instead of being presumed innocent. It has been ruled unconstitutional by a judge in South Carolina.^[4][5] Further, critics argue that the incentives lead to corruption and law enforcement misbehavior. There is consensus that abuses have happened but disagreement about their extent as well as whether the overall benefits to society are worth the cost of the instances of abuse.

More evidence that just because something is legal doesn't make it right.  Neither of these judicial happenings sounds very American to me.  They sound like tyranny.

How To Destroy A School

You cannot take these actions and simultaneously claim to be doing right by students, the events are mutually exclusive:

For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission prospects and earn scholarships. This episode has emerged amid the school district’s new strategy of “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.” School administrators, for instance, have implemented an “equitable grading” policy that eliminates zeros, gives students a grade of 50 percent just for showing up, and assigns a cryptic code of “NTI” for assignments not turned in. It’s a race to the bottom...

It gets worse.

Last fall, along with about 1.5 million U.S. high school juniors, the Yashar teen took the PSAT, which determines whether a student qualifies as a prestigious National Merit scholar. When it came time to submit his college applications this fall, he didn’t have a National Merit honor to report—but it wasn’t because he hadn’t earned the award...

School officials had decided to withhold announcement of the award. Indeed, it turns out that the principal, Ann Bonitatibus, and the director of student services, Brandon Kosatka, have been withholding this information from families and the public for years, affecting the lives of at least 1,200 students over the principal’s tenure of five years...

In a call with Yashar, Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award.

Anti-Asian racism?

I see ideas like these coming to many more schools, perhaps including in my district, before saner minds take over.

Is She A Cat?

Raising The Minimum Wage

FightFor15, baby. We told you this is where it would lead:

McDonald’s opened its first automated restaurant, with machines handling everything from taking orders to delivering the food – and dividing opinions everywhere. 

"When you step inside the test restaurant concept, you'll notice it's considerably smaller than a traditional McDonald's restaurant in the U.S.," McDonald’s said in a statement. "Why? The features—inside and outside—are geared toward customers who are planning to dine at home or on the go."

The Fort Worth, Texas, location uses technology to minimize human interaction when ordering and picking up food. The restaurant features an "Order Ahead Lane" where customers can receive orders by conveyor belt, Newsweek reported. 

The initiative is part of McDonald’s "Accelerating the Arches" plan, which works to grow and innovate the customer experience...

People who knew better still pushed for it. Why? To force people out of jobs and into more reliance on government? 

This was not an unpredictable result.  When people push ideas with predictable effects, they can be held accountable for those effects.  So good job, lefties.  Perhaps I should go buy some McDonald's stock now, as their amortized costs will be going down.

My Favorite Part of Christmas

I get to hold the newest additions to the family:

May your Christmas be as joyful as mine.

The Local Wildlife

My neighborhood of 1200-square-foot houses is over 60 years old. We humans have been here quite some time. I'm the third generation to live in this house! Not too far away is a creek, though, and with it what counts for "nature" in these parts. 

Periodically I'll look out front and see the wild turkeys out on my lawn or down the street. Even given their size they're somewhat skittish. (Side note: gawd, turkeys are dumb. Dumb animals. What was Franklin thinking?) 

Anyway, lately I've learned that I have a new animal neighbor. Usually s/he comes between midnight and 1 am, but this morning was out there after 7:30:

Such videos are as close as I want to come to this "neighbor". 

(This has been posted for awhile and still the video hasn't rendered.  It's very short and in a format Blogger accepts.  Hmm.  In case it never renders, it shows security camera footage of a skunk running up my walk and across the front of my house.)

Update, 12/29/22:  Tried it again after converting the file from mp4 to avi.  Now you can see my furry neighbor.

Might There Be A Less Complicated Way To Do This?

I'm not against getting money, and I think our taxes are too high for what we (working Americans) get for them, but anyone who knows even Introductory Economics 101 knows that sending out money the way it's been done recently ("stimulus checks") is a tremendously bad idea, especially from an inflationary standpoint.  If government has taxed us too heavily, and has too much of a surplus, it can refund some of that money or lower tax rates, but the feds at least do not have an excess of money.  In fact, we're $31 trillion dollars in the hole, and counting.

Even though projections are for deficits for the next couple fiscal years, California has a surplus this year.  Pretending they care about average Californians, Governor Newsollini and the state legislature are refunding some of that money to many Californians.  We are to get anywhere from a couple hundred to over a thousand dollars each to "help combat the effects of inflation", or some such silliness.  Will these bribes refunds actually contribute to inflation while attempting to ameliorate its effects?  Ask an economist.

It may surprise some of my long-time readers to learn that I don't pay a lot of attention to the news, so while I'd heard about these California "Middle Class Tax Refunds", I didn't really know much about them.  I just assumed if a couple hundred extra dollars showed up in my checking account, that's where it would have come from.

Several days ago I received an envelope with the return address of  "California Middle Class Tax Refund Card" in Omaha, Nebraska.  Instantly my el-toro-poopoo detector was activated.  I opened the envelope and in it was a Visa debit card.  The way it was presented just didn't seem right.  Here's the letter:

No indication that the California government sent this at all.  A Visa debit card from "Money Network", whatever that is, just doesn't sound legit.  Not being sure, I just set it aside to deal with when I had more time.

It's my first day of Christmas break, so now I have more time!  I thought I'd see what the search engines could offer, so I typed in California Middle Class Tax Refund and the first hit was the web site of the Franchise Tax Board, California's version of the IRS.  This was actually helpful as it explained what was going on, and even showed a picture of the letter and the expected card--maybe this card isn't a scam but is, in fact, from the state.  I read on.

MCTR (Middle Class Tax Refund) direct deposit payments for Californians who received GSS (Golden State Stimulus) I or II are expected to be issued to bank accounts between October 7, 2022 and October 25, 2022. The remaining direct deposits will occur between October 28, 2022 and November 14, 2022.

MCTR direct deposit recipients who have changed their banking information since filing their 2020 tax return will receive a debit card. Debit cards for this group will be mailed between December 17, 2022 and January 14, 2023.

MCTR debit card payments for Californians who received GSS I and II are expected to be mailed between October 24, 2022 and December 10, 2022.

I don't even remember if I received those stimulus payments, I probably did, but I've never received a check or a card--any money I get from the state, including my state tax refunds, for example, has always been direct-deposited into the same checking account I've had for a few decades.  

So I should have received this money by direct deposit but instead got it via a debit card.  That's odd, but not a sure sign of a scam.  Everything from the FTB web site matches up with what I received, and this news report from San Francisco makes what I received seem entirely on the up-and-up.

Yet it's still goofy.  The 4th largest bank in the country, Wells Fargo, is headquartered here in California, yet the state went through the 47th largest bank in the country, headquartered in New York and one I've never heard of, to issue these cards (I'm still wondering why I received a card instead of a direct deposit).  The headline of the news report linked above says, "The state of California turned over data for millions of Californians so companies in New York and Wisconsin could issue the cards and mail them out."  Why?  Why not just mail checks from the FTB for those who don't have direct deposit? 

So I turn the paper over to read the fine print, and whoa, what fine print there is!

Look at all those fees!  Why would someone have to pay so much money to a bank in order to access what's supposed to be their own money?  I thought that perhaps I wouldn't have to pay, because on the back of the card are the logos for the the Star, Interlink, and Plus networks, and one of those is on the back of my bank ATM card, but that's not good enough, because my bank can charge me a fee for trying to get this money (whether they will or not, I don't know, but it seems ridiculous even to have to find out).  I went to www.mctrpayment.com to find an in-network ATM I could use without a fee and typed in my zip code--I guess I can go to the nearby Rite Aid or Costco, as those are shown on the map, but no banks are shown.  Doesn't that seem odd?  I know it can be expensive to be poor in this country, and especially in California, but you shouldn't have to pay a bank or two (the bank that issued this card, as well as your own bank) in order to get your money from the state--that's just not right.  Again, why did they not just send checks rather than going through this bank to send out cards?

Shortly after Christmas I'll go through the hassle of activating the card, setting up a PIN, checking the balance, and then withdrawing all that money in cash at a nearby ATM.

So I ask you, Governor Newsollini, the California legislature, and the FTB:  might there be a less complicated way to do this?

Tell Me You're A Geek Without Telling Me You're A Geek

This is what I have playing while I putter around this morning:

Break, Day 1, Morning

Slept in, had a light breakfast, having tea while writing thank-you notes to students who brought me gifts.  It's a good way to spend time on an overcast morning.

It's Hard To Believe, But...

The days are going to start getting longer now.  Doesn't feel like it, but they are.

Sic Semper Thieves

I still believe in West Point's honor code regarding lying, cheating, and stealing.  All three are equally bad, but I think stealing is more equal than the others.  The guy who made this video doesn't like stealing much:

He might be my new hero.

Can You Imagine The Hue and Cry If White People Intentionally Excluded Hispanics?

Racismracismracism, that's all you'd hear.  When other Hispanics intentionally exclude Hispanics, well, that's somehow good:

A few months after she was elected in 2020, Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, the first Republican Latina senator in state history, considered joining the California Latino Legislative Caucus. 

It seemed only natural, she said. 

Ochoa Bogh had spent half her youth in Mexico. Her first language was Spanish. And she was raised by parents who immigrated to the United States to achieve the “American Dream.” 

But Ochoa Bogh soon learned that Republican legislators, regardless of Latino ethnicity, are barred from joining the caucus. 

“It came with an irony because traditionally Democrats speak of equality and opportunity and they’re not allowing all Latinos,” she said.

Democratic lawmakers created the caucus 50 years ago and excluded Republicans from the beginning. It is one of two ethnic caucuses in the California Legislature that prevent GOP members from joining, and the policy has been a point of contention from time to time when multiple Hispanic Republicans win state office.

The one-party dynamic works, Democratic members say.

I'm sure it does.

Raising The Standard By Lowering It

Rather than educating students, we retreat and call it a victory:

Kansas universities may scrap their algebra graduation requirement because too many students fail the course, NPR Kansas reported.

“About one in three Kansas students fails college algebra the first time around. Some take it several times before they pass. Others get so frustrated that they drop out altogether. And that cuts into university graduation rates,” the news outlet reported Dec. 12.

With that, the Kansas Board of Regents is considering alternative requirements such as statistics and quantitative reasoning under what’s called a Math Pathways program, it added.

“We’re sending the majority of students down the college algebra road, which is really not necessary,” said Daniel Archer, vice president of academic affairs for the Kansas Board of Regents. “It’s not practical. It’s not really needed. And it’s not relevant for their fields.”

I remember when a university degree used to be a sign of academic achievement. 

Pathetic.

The Sense of Entitlement Is Amazing

Have these college students ever been told no?  I marvel at the sense of entitlement.

First, the crazy artsy students at New School:

As part of their list of demands, students at the private New York City arts school The New School (TNS) are occupying a campus building until instructors agree to give As for the semester.

According to the Instagram account New School Occupied, the students occupied the TNS University Center on Dec. 8 in support of faculty on strike for higher wages and better healthcare. While the strike ended on December 10, the occupants published a new set of demands that day that included A’s for all students, the resignation of school leadership, and the dissolution of the Board of Trustees.

Second, students at Cornell who are supposed to be smart enough to know better:

Students at Cornell University are split over calls for “universal pass equitable grading,” which would ensure all students would pass their courses and receive credit regardless of one’s final grade.

As I quoted in a recent post:

There was a time when college administrators paid little attention to student dissatisfaction. Their opinions were largely written off as a sign of their immaturity. But things have changed because of the high stakes involved. Students believe that they are entitled to all A’s while putting in little effort because they are paying soaring tuition.

If this is how they're going to act, our society would be significantly better off if we returned to the idea of administrators' paying "little attention to student dissatisfaction."  College students may have lots of potential but they don't really know anything yet.

Why Is DIE Becoming A Thing In Math?

What's the difference between these two beliefs:

1)  Racist, 1950:  Dark-skinned people aren't like white people, their brains and bodies are different.  They should be treated differently.

and

2)  So-called anti-racist, 2022:  Dark-skinned (and other so-called marginalized people) aren't like white people, their brains and bodies are different.  They should be treated differently.

There's no difference.

So what explains this?

At a recent mathematics education conference in Nashville, Tennessee, scholars pushed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agenda. Campus Reform obtained exclusive audio and images from the meeting.

Occam's Razor tells me the reason for this is because teaching and learning math both require more effort than teaching and learning race-based hatred about math.  These people are taking the path of least resistance.

As I've said so many times before:  If they can't give you good government, they'll give you "woke" government.  If they can't give you good education, they'll give you "woke" education.

Who are these so-called marginalized people?  Where are they from, Africa?  Mexico?  East Asia?  Here's a thought experiment for you.   Go to Algebra 1 classes in Kenya, in South Africa, in Egypt, in Mexico, in China, and observe what is being taught and how it is being taught.  Then tell these so-called marginalized people they're doing it wrong.

This DIE crap will only keep students from learning.  It will keep people uneducated and dependent.  It serves no one but the powerful lefties who use it for their own power.  And that's why I change the letters around a bit from how it's usually written.

Saving The Environment, Or Not

For those of us in the Democratic People's Republic of Kalifornia, where state government mandates that grocery stores not use so-called single use grocery bags, this should be obvious--but it doesn't matter.  Our leftie overlords feel good about dictating that we should not use plastic grocery bags, facts be damned:

Restrictions on their use are in place in almost a dozen US states and in many other countries around the world. And in many cases, these efforts have been successful at eliminating new sales of thin, wispy plastic bags that float up into trees, clog waterways, leech microplastics into soil and water and harm marine life. (Of course, these restrictions don’t address the plastic bags already out there that will take centuries to decompose.)

But this environmental success story of sorts masks another problem.

Many of us are drowning in reusable bags — cloth totes or thicker, more durable plastic bags — that retailers sell cheaply or give away to customers as an ostensibly greener alternative to single-use plastic. (I have 15 cotton totes and 12 heavy-duty plastic bags stashed in a kitchen drawer, only a few of which see the light of day.) 

The author knows there's a problem but can't seem to admit it. 

According to one eye-popping estimate, a cotton bag should be used at least 7,100 times to make it a truly environmentally friendly alternative to a conventional plastic bag.

The answer to what’s the greenest replacement for a single-use plastic bag isn’t straightforward, but the advice boils down to this: Reuse whatever bags you have at home, as many times as you can. 

Read the "unintended consequences" section of the article.  They may have been unintended but they were entirely predictable. 

Interesting information about pollution and recycling in this article.

Anyone Wanna Go Halfsies With Me?

You think I'm kidding, but I'm not:

Ever dreamed of owning your own secret citadel in a beautiful region of Italy, wandering along its fortified walls like a monarch surveying their kingdom?

For less than the price of a townhouse in central London or an attic apartment in Rome’s historic center – that dream can now come true.

The medieval castle and hamlet of Serravalle, half-way between the cities of Modena and Bologna in Italy’s northern Emilia Romagna region, is up for sale for 1.9 million euros, or about $2 million.

Already livable and fitted with heating, it requires just minimal fixes – and the price is negotiable. 

Set in green rolling hills, the castle comes with a portion of the village, which bears the same name and was once part of its fiefdom, lying at its feet.

Update, 12/18/22:  I think I've found the location on Google Earth:

Its WSW of Bologna, where the red pin is on the map.

I'll Bet It Works For Young Gay Guys, Too

From the "duh" category:

In a surprise to absolutely no one, scientists have discovered that literally smearing testosterone onto the skin of young straight dudes makes them unbelievably horny.

If that's what passes for scientific research these days....

Not Sure How This Would Turn Out

Yes, there are many dogs on this planet that are clearly smarter than many lefties, but I still have a little hesitation about going forward with this:

Artificial selection is a well-known phenomenon of selecting for certain physiological characteristics of various species of plants and animals, and it is something that human beings have been doing for thousands of years. A perfect example of this is the union and development of dogs under human stewardship since the beginning of the agricultural era of society. In that time, approximately 6,000 years [1], dogs have been artificially selected in such a way as to produce thousands of different breeds. From the stout Dachshund, a dog breed produced for the purpose of hunting den-dwelling animals, to the highly intelligent Border Collies who were bred to help sheep herders herd their flocks; the many different canine breeds have served humanity in a multitude of capacities for many generations. In this paper, using the concept of artificial selection,[1] it is determined with mathematical and statistical evidence how humans could artificially select for canine intelligence to such a degree as to produce canines with human levels of intelligence within a relatively short amount of time—600 years.

Unintended consequences, and all that.

He Worked For President Trump So He Must Be Cancelled

Talking about Dr. Ben Carson here:

Dr. Carson grew up in a Detroit housing project before going on to become a ground-breaking neurosurgeon. He became the youngest chief of pediatric neurosurgery in the nation at the age of 33. In 1987 he led the surgical team that performed the first successful separation of conjoined twins. Carson is famed in his field for developing new surgery techniques and successfully managing some of the most difficult pediatric neurosurgery cases in the nation.

Dr. Carson was also the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Trump administration.

It is astounding that a Black man who is the epitome of the American dream – grew up in the projects and went on to become one of the most famed surgeons in the world and then work in one of the highest positions in American government – and have all his accomplishments nullified because he holds the same political beliefs as half of the country.

They didn’t like his boss so they cancel him.   Is it that, or is it because he left the Democratic plantation?  Whichever is the reason--and it's one of those two--Detroit is renaming a school they'd named for him. 

Not sure if it’s sad or sickening, but it’s one of those two.

'Rona--Is There Anything It Can't Do?

A Canadian study showed that those unvaccinated against the 'rona were more likely to be involved in car accidents.

To answer my question:  yes.  It can't make lefties make sense.

Banana Republic

Reposting from Instapundit in its entirety:

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: DOJ Official Admits Targeting Pro-Lifers Is Response to Overturn of Roe. “At least 98 Catholic churches and 77 pregnancy resource centers and other pro-life organizations have been attacked since May, but the DOJ has apparently not charged a single person in connection with these attacks. Meanwhile, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has charged 26 pro-life individuals with FACE Act violations this year.” 

 The law — and the DOJ — only protects people the Administration likes. That’s been made quite clear.

Merrick Garland obviously does not have the judgement, temperament, or concept of fairness to sit on the Supreme Court. We dodged a bullet when McConnell refused to bring his name before the Senate.

The Left Are Masters of Manipulating Language

The left likes to use euphemisms (e.g., pro-choice for killing a baby, or unhoused for bums), hyperbole (e.g., the moral equivalent of war!), and outright lies (racist!  white supremacist!  homophobe!  Nazi!) to distract from what they're really saying.  We on the right need to do a better job of standing up to such manipulation, as the author of this article did:

This week a leading eco-politician in the UK, Caroline Lucas of the Green Party, referred to the building of a new coalmine as a ‘crime against humanity’. Take that in. Once upon a time it was mass murder, extermination, enslavement and the forced deportation of a people that were considered crimes against humanity. Now the building of a mine in Cumbria in north-west England that will create 500 new jobs and produce 2.8million tonnes of coal a year is referred to in such terms. Perhaps the coalmine bosses should be packed off to The Hague. Maybe the men who’ll dig the coal should be forced alongside the likes of ISIS to account for their genocidal behaviour.

We cannot let Ms Lucas’s crazed comments just slide by. We need to reflect on how we arrived at a situation where a mainstream politician, one feted by the media establishment, can liken digging for coal to crimes of extermination. It was in the Guardian – where else? – that Ms Lucas made her feverish claims. On Wednesday, when the government gave the go-ahead to the Cumbria mine, the first new coalmine in Britain for 30 years, Lucas wrote that the whole thing is ‘truly terrible’. This ‘climate-busting, backward-looking coalmine’ is nothing short of a ‘climate crime against humanity’, she said.

It isn’t though, is it? Sorry to be pedantic but it is not a crime to extract coal from the earth. If it were, the leaders of China – where they produce 13million tonnes of coal a day , rather putting into perspective the Cumbria mine’s 2.8million tonnes a year – would be languishing in the clink. I look forward to Ms Lucas performing a citizen’s arrest on Xi Jinping. It certainly is not a crime against humanity. That term entered popular usage during the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis. It refers to an act of evil of such enormity that it can be seen as an assault on all of humankind. Earth to Ms Lucas: extracting coal to make steel – what the Cumbria coal will mostly be used for – is not an affront to humankind. I’ll tell you what is an affront, though: speaking about the burning of coal in the same language that is used to refer to the burning of human beings. That, Caroline, is despicable.

It's one thing not to want a new coal mine, it's quite another to conjure up visions of swastikas in response.  Don't let them get away with it.