Entertaining Ideas

For John, BLUF:  Smaller municipalities need innovation to grow, or sustain their current populations.  This should not be a shock,  Attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, “Now that we have run out of money we have to think.”  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Cambria County fights population loss in little, big ways

Here is the sub-headline:

The first of three reports on counties with declining populations.

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by Reporter Salena Zito, 21 November 2021, 4:00 AM.

Here is the lede plus two:

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Reggie Canal began the process of moving from New York City to this Cambria County city this past July. The Queens native is a financial adviser who has spent much of his life working in the five boroughs as well as various places abroad. He was lured here for a number of reasons, including quality of life, affordability and the ability to start his own business in the main business district of a city, without breaking the bank.

The kicker, though, was the remote worker incentive, a pilot program that offered a cash motivation — $2,500 to be exact — to attract people to move to the county and take up residence.

The brainchild of local civic and business leaders with a boost from the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, the program required applicants to agree to live here for a year.

I applaud the County of my birth.  Those of us in smaller governmental units need to think smarter.

In Lowell we don't need more residents, per se, but se do need more and better jobs, and less homelessness.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Watches the Watchman?

For John, BLUF:  Per The New York Post, "The FBI raided Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe’s home on Saturday, as authorities continued to investigate the apparent theft of President Biden’s daughter’s diary".  They tipped off friendly press, which didn't see the irony.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Even the Washington Post Wonders if the Justice Department Went Too Far in Raiding Project Veritas

From PJ Media, by Mr Robert Spencer, 17 November 2021, 2:54 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

It’s hard to believe that all this is happening in the United States.  First, secret police chief Merrick Garland directed the FBI to monitor parents who protested at school board meetings against the imposition of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools.  Then there was the Justice Department’s raid of the home of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe because of Ashley Biden’s diary.  After that came the arrest of harsh Biden critic Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress, the first such arrest in decades, for his refusal to cooperate with the Democrats’ Jan. 6 pseudo-insurrection show trials.

Then today came news of FBI raids of the homes of Colorado’s Elections Clerk and Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) campaign manager.  It looks as if the Justice Department has become an authoritarian tool of Biden’s handlers in their quest to criminalize dissent from their agenda — and this corruption is advancing so rapidly that even the Washington Post, a reliable mouthpiece of the Deep State, is now wondering if it is all going too far.

When you’re on the left and lose the Post, you’ve really gone too far.  It’s abundantly clear at this point that the Post is fully on board with the authoritarian Biden/Garland agenda.  Its coverage of the Attorney General siccing the FBI on law-abiding anti-CRT parents included such Orwellian headlines as “Faced with Republican criticism” — which all good Post readers know is something that is always wrongheaded, ill-advised, cynical, opportunistic, and on the wrong side of history — “Attorney General Garland defends school board memo”; “A man gave a Nazi salute at a school board meeting to oppose mask rules.  Ted Cruz defended it as a form of protest”; and “Garland asks FBI to address recent ‘disturbing spike’ in threats against educators.”  Nonetheless, if you go too far too fast, you risk waking up the sleeping populace, and so the Post is now calling for the Injustice Department to slam on the brakes.

From my understanding it seems that there is a campaign to shut down Project Veritas.  I don't think this is good for Press Freedom.  For Press Freedom for all press outlets.

In addition, there is the appearance that the Department of Justice, as an institution, has become a partisan supporter of the Democratic Party side of many cultural issues.  This kind of perception on the part of a fair sized part of the Citizenry is not a good thing in a Democracy.  The Department of Justice should work hard to not only be impartial, but to appear impartial.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Does Shop Class Help Language Learning?

For John, BLUF:  Don't kids in Middle School take Shop anymore?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Using mechanical tools improves our language skills

From Medical Press, by Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, 11 November 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Our ability to understand the syntax of complex sentences is one of the most difficult language skills to acquire.  In 2019, research had revealed a correlation between being particularly proficient in tool use and having good syntactic ability.  A new study, by researchers from Inserm, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon and Université Lumière Lyon in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, has now shown that both skills rely on the same neurological resources, which are located in the same brain region.  Furthermore, motor training using a tool improves our ability to understand the syntax of complex sentences and—vice-versa—syntactic training improves our proficiency in using tools.  These findings could be applied clinically to support the rehabilitation of patients having lost some of their language skills.  This study is published in November 2021 in the journal Science.

Language has long been considered a very complex skill, mobilizing specific brain networks.  However, in recent years, scientists have revisited this idea.

Research suggests that brain areas, which control certain linguistic functions, such as the processing of word meanings, are also involved in controlling fine motor skills.  However, brain imaging had not provided evidence of such links between language and the use of tools.  Paleo-neurobiology has also shown that the brain regions associated with language had increased in our ancestors during periods of technological boom, when the use of tools became more widespread.

When considering this data, research teams couldn't help wondering: what if the use of certain tools, which involves complex movements, relies on the same brain resources as those mobilized in complex linguistic functions such as syntax?

I am hoping that the Lowell School Committee can illuminate the answear to this question.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Trust in Schools

For John, BLUF:  He isn't out right lying to us, but neither is he giving us the truth.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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His team’s trying to hide it, but de Blasio’s bungling has parents fleeing NYC schools

From The New York Post, by Mr Ray Domanico (Director of Education Policy at the Manhattan Institute), 10 November 2021, 7:47 pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

Mayor-elect Eric Adams won on a common-sense platform of making critical city services more efficient.  Nowhere is the need clearer than in Gotham’s school system, which under outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio has drifted aimlessly, sowing parental discontent.

Last week, the system released its annual student headcount, much anticipated after last year’s huge drop, particularly in the early grades, due to COVID-related school closures and the city’s uneven remote-learning performance.  Did some students who left return this year or has the Department of Education irrevocably lost them to public charter and private schools?

We have no way of knowing: In an incredibly cynical act, the DOE released a single number, total students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.  With that restricted accounting, the news didn’t seem so awful:  Enrollment was down 17,000, a much smaller drop than last year’s 43,000.  But that comparison says little because year-to-year changes often look very different at different grade levels.

What is the city hiding?  A close look at State Education Department numbers shows parental confidence in de Blasio’s stewardship was already dwindling pre-pandemic, before the disastrous 18-month shutdown of most DOE schools.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has been a disaster for Public Schools and for the leadership of such schools, be it Administration or Labor Union.  Suddenly, parents were seeing, live, what was going on in the classrooms.  Parents got to see what was going on in the classroom and some of them, many of them, were unimpressed.

I think that Mayor Bill de Blasio only added to the distrust and distaste.  Then along came Virginia Gubinatorial Candidate Terry McAuliffe, with his assertion:  “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” I hope that as we go forward together, schools will be receptive to the desires of the parents, working with all parents.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Happy Veterans Day

For John, BLUF:  I looked last night and couldn't find my Poppy.  It is somewhere in the bedroom, I am sure.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The origin of the phrase:  “All gave some, Some gave all.”

From Spec Ops Magazine, by Writer Eric Sof, 10 March 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

The widely used phrase “All gave some, Some gave all.” is mostly related to the United States military members who were wounded or killed in action.  You will probably hear it more often around Memorial Day every year, and it’s not for Veterans Day.  Many Americans get this confused, and we’ll be honest — it can be a little annoying to all of the living veterans out there.

Memorial Day is a time to remember those who gave their lives for our country, particularly in battle or from wounds they suffered in battle.  Veterans Day honors all of those who have served the country in war or peace — dead or alive — although it’s largely intended to thank living veterans for their sacrifices.

I think the author is a little picky here.  This morning I greeted my wife, the widow of an Air Force pilot killed while flying a training mission, with "Happy Veterans Day" because she was deprived of her husband while he was on active duty.  Fortunately for me she had room in her heart for an additional person.

I think it is fine to remember the fallen, the wounded, in body and in mind, on both Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  Memorial Day started as Decoration Day, the day folks put flowers on graves.  Veterans Day started out as Armistice day, the day in 1918, 11/11, at 11:00 that an Armistice went into effect. It was about the Western Front of The Great War, when the fighting stopped and the Butcher's Bill had been paid.  On both days we honor those who served, as we should.

And thank you to all those who served, and all those who gave us support while we served.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Reds Under the Bed

For John, BLUF:  We have had Communists in the Treasury Department since at least World War II, the Big One.  However, this seems a little blattant.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Treasury Department Nominee Says Biden Administration Purposefully Wants to Bankrupt Oil, Coal and Gas Companies

From The Conservative Tree House, by Sundance, 9 November 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

Against catastrophic outcomes, we have been pointing out how the people within the Biden administration are not incompetent; they know exactly what they are doing, and they are destroying the U.S. economic system on purpose.  All of their economic damage is by design, it’s a feature – not a flaw.

An example today is so demonstrative of that point, it’s almost a parody.  Joe Biden’s nominee for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a branch of the Treasury Department that polices some 1,125 banks, is a communist ideologue named Saule Omarova.  She is directly from communist central casting and literally from Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union.  Ms. Omarova graduated from Moscow State University in 1991, and Joe Biden nominated her for the OCC job in September.

Today, Ms. Omarova is caught on tape saying it is the intent of the Biden administration to use the treasury department to bankrupt oil, coal and natural gas companies.  This is what happens often with avowed ideologues; they are so focused on their mission to destroy the U.S., they often just say the stuff out loud

I would say Ms Omarova is problamtic as a high level Tresury official.  I was thinking that before this most recent revelation.  Before this she was talking about eliminating local banks.

What are they thinking?  Who are they paying off?  For sure, this kind of thinking is not good for our Capitalist system, for Citizenry across the fruited plain, or for the environment.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Doubling Down

For John, BLUF:  This is how gamblers go deep into debt and nations lose wars—they double down on a strategy that isnt going well.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden Advisor Ignores Warnings From Election Defeats, Wants to Push Further Left

From PJ Media, by Writer A.J. Kaufman, 7 November 2021, 2:16 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

Blind to reality and wholly dedicated to partisan politics, Democrats have ignored their major electoral setbacks last week and doubled down on their radical agenda.

The party even refuses to listen to its own strategists, or a Democrat congresswoman who’s been successful in the very places where they received backlash last week.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who’s twice won in a suburban Richmond district that was held by Republicans for 40 years prior, is someone with credibility.  After the Tuesday shellacking, she told the New York Times “nobody” made Joe Biden president to pursue sweeping legislation similar to former President Franklin Roosevelt’s transformative New Deal, but rather they elected Biden to “be normal and stop the chaos.”

Needless to say, that has not occurred.

Asked on “Fox News Sunday” if Spanberger was wrong for this view, Biden’s senior advisor and former congressman Cedric Richmond surprisingly said she was.

In the article the veteran non-partisan election analyst Charlie Cook is quoted:

They are pretending they have political capital in the bank when the reality is, they are overdrawn.

I see the Administration, and the Democrat Party Leadership in Congress taking a big leap of faith.  I am guessing they won't be able to make it to the other side in 2022, or maybe even 2024.

That said, in these United States the side in power manages to alienate the voters, after a while, and we have a reversal of fortune.

Regards  —  Cliff

Call to Action

For John, BLUF:  This talks to a problem which is often misidentified, but a problem that needs to be fixed nevertheless—voter turnout.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Solving the national civics crisis begins in our homes

From The [Lowell] Sun, by Ms Katharine C. Gorka, 5 November 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

As the election results in Virginia and elsewhere demon-strate, many parents are upset with how American history and civics are being taught in schools.  And it’s hard to blame them.

Some feel we are tearing down our nation’s past.  Others believe we are not doing enough to tell the history of all Americans, particularly those in communities that have long been marginalized.  The good news is that discussions are taking place in school districts nationwide over what we should teach our children.  The bad news is that those debates may not resolved anytime soon.

But parents can take an active role in ensuring their children receive the education they want them to have.

Yes, the problem Lowell faced a while back with the lawsuit about how we elect local officials was really about a failure of the School Committee to ensure we teach civics.

Lowell has a new system for electing local officials.  Now we have to knucle down and make it work.  That means serious civics instruction.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Citizen Journalism

For John, BLUF:  The story is summed up in these two sentences:  "Captain Lorenzo [Die Hard 2] understood this.  The officers in Laredo should have, too….".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Right to Ask Government Officials Questions

Here is the sub-headline:

The Die Hard 2 Principle makes a special appearance

From Reason, by Lawyer Eugene Volokh, 3 November 2021, 2:39 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

From Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho's Monday opinion, joined by Judge James Graves, in Villarreal v. City of Laredo (Chief Judge Priscilla Owen dissented and stated she "will file a forthcoming dissenting opinion"):

If the First Amendment means anything, it surely means that a citizen journalist has the right to ask a public official a question, without fear of being imprisoned.  Yet that is exactly what happened here:  Priscilla Villarreal was put in jail for asking a police officer a question.

If that is not an obvious violation of the Constitution, it's hard to imagine what would be.  And as the Supreme Court has repeatedly held, public officials are not entitled to qualified immunity for obvious violations of the Constitution….

Priscilla Villarreal is a journalist in Laredo, Texas. She regularly reports on local crime, missing persons, community events, traffic, and local government.  But Villarreal is not a traditional journalist.  Instead of publishing her stories in the newspaper, she posts them on her Facebook page.  Instead of using a tape recorder to conduct interviews, she uses her cell phone to live-stream video footage of crime scenes and traffic accidents.  Her reporting frequently includes colorful—and often unfiltered—commentary.  Perhaps because of this, she is one of Laredo's most popular news sources, with more than 120,000 Facebook followers. See, e.g., Simon Romero, La Gordiloca:  The Swearing Muckraker Upending Border Journalism, N.Y. Times (Mar. 10, 2019) ("[Villarreal] is arguably the most influential journalist in Laredo, a border city of 260,000.")….  [But] local law enforcement officials [have been] less than enthused with Villarreal's reporting….

Once in a while the Courts protect the rights of the Citizens against the Government.

I am hoping that this Court decision holds up.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Confusion in DC

For John, BLUF:  It appears that there is not a strong voice in the Executive Branch, guiding policy.  Thus we have gridlock.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Klain in Vain

Here is the sub-headline:

#43: Did Biden's chief of staff make a fateful blunder?

From Kaus Files, by Political Analyst Mickey Kaus, 2 November 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

There’s a remote—but increasingly less remote— possibility that Dems will wind up with neither of their two big spending bills:  1) the bipartisan “BIF” hard infrastructure (bridges, roads, etc.) bill and 2) the partisan Dem social spending laundry list, aka “Build Back Better” (BBB).

Why would that happen?  Because Terry McAuliffe’s upset loss in Virginia could freak out vulnerable Dems, who then bail from the second, BBB bill — the way an Eric Cantor loss in Virginia freaked Congress out about “comprehensive immigration reform” and sank that legislation in 2014.  But if BBB dies … well, since many progressives only support the bipartisan “hard” infrastructure bill if it’s twinned with BBB, it’s possible enough of them might vote against the bipartisan bill to sink it too.  (It would only take 4 or 5, out of a “Progressive Caucus” of 94 members, to do that.) Biden’s agenda dies in a Tarantino gunfight.

Still an unlikely scenario, as it’s always been almost inconceivable that the Democrats would screw things up so badly they’d end up passing nothing.  But this achievement is now within reach, and if it happens, it looks like there will be an obvious fall guy: Ron Klain, President Biden’s chief of staff.

I find it hard to believe that the Troika (Biden, Pelosi and Schumer) can't make it happen.  Surely the staffs will eventually get together and find a compromise.  Compromise is what the system is set up to force on the elected officials.  So why isn't it happening?  If you think the system is hard broke then you take an all or nothing position.  I would describe it as a repudiation of our American experiment.

On the other hand, if President Biden is not exercising a strong hand, then power is fragmented in the Executive Branch.  There is not a clear voice, a certain trumpet, as the Good Book says, and we will have problems.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

We Are Making Progress

For John, BLUF:  I expect the Progressive Democrats will draw a lot of wrong lessons from Tuesday's election, as will the Republicans.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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New Virginia Lieutenant Governor

Here is the Tweet:

Iris Miller
@IrisCMiller

Can’t wait to see the media talk about her historic victory breaking down barriers in a former slave state.

Oh wait, she’s a Republican.

Mollie
@MZHemingway

First black woman elected statewide in Virginia is conservative Winsome Sears.

Good on Virginia.

Good on Winsome Sears.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Shanksville Monument

For John, BLUF:  A quick loook at the monument outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to the passengers aboard Flight 93, who took down the hijacked airliner, at the cost of their own lives.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A SHANKSVILLE MEDITATION

Here is the sub-headline:

It took the passengers of Flight 93 less than 20 minutes to decide that they would rather risk death as free men and women than submit to certain destruction as submissive captives of evil men intent on mass murder.

From The Pilot, by Mr George Weigel, 27 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

The most moving feature of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, are the pictures of the 40 brave men and women who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, while preventing al-Qaeda terrorists from destroying the U.S. Capitol.  At this moment of intense divisiveness and polarization in America, it's important to reflect on those images and learn from them, however peripheral they may be to the memorial's design.

At 8:42 a.m. on 9/11, United 93, a Boeing 757, took off on a flight from Newark to San Francisco.  The north tower of the World Trade Center was struck by a hijacked airliner four minutes later.  At 9:03 a.m., the south tower was hit.  Some 25 minutes after that, terrorists seized control of United 93.  And a few minutes later, the Pentagon was struck by another hijacked plane.  The next 20 minutes wrote an epic story of courage and resolve into the annals of American history.

Thanks to cell phones and on-board airphones, Flight 93's passengers, who were herded to the back of the plane after the hijackers seized the cockpit, learned what had happened to the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.  Thirty-seven phone calls, plus the fact that the plane had reversed its course and was heading east toward Washington, convinced the passengers that the hijacking of United 93 was part of a coordinated terrorist plot to cripple the United States.  After discussing their situation and responsibilities, the passengers voted to try and retake the plane, tackling the hijacker who remained in the passenger cabin (and claimed to have a bomb), and then forcing their way into the cockpit to regain control of a 65-ton jetliner careening through the sky.

Passenger Todd Beamer, whose call, "Let's Roll" has lived beyond the day is the known hero.  That said, all the passangers on that flight acted like Americans and came together to do the right thing I thank them for their fine example.

Mr Weigel is not all that impressed with the Shanksville Monument.  But he is very impressed with the dignity of those passangers on that flight.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Reset For Jews

For John, BLUF:  Something that is often missed in both the media and during coffee table discussions is that American Jews are being pushed into a corner, where their support of Israel is seen as just more inherent Caucasian Supremacy.  Not by everyone, but certaining by their former progressive allies.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A strategic reset for Jewish community relations and advocacy

Here is the sub-headline:

Do we dig in our heels with progressives because it used to make sense, or do we pivot and develop new partnerships and strategies that reflect our community’s interests today?

From Americans for Peace and Tolerance, by Mr David Bernstein, 18 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus six:

For more than a decade, the primary strategy of the Jewish community relations field has been to build ties to key non-Jewish segments on the political left deemed “fence-sitters”on Israel.  An influential report issued by the REUT Group, an Israeli think tank, in 2010 stated that “Israel and its allies should maintain thousands of personal relationships with political, financial, cultural, media and security-related elites.”  The report went on to say that “Israel should engage its critics, while isolating the delegitimizers.”

Fence sitters include, among others, segments of the African American community, mainline Protestants, Latinos and LGBTQ activists.  The strategy had been to engage these groups on social justice issues that they — and many Jews — care about, and in the process influence their thinking on Jews and Israel.

With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2015, many in the Jewish community, myself included, were especially concerned about the prospect of growing hostility toward Jews and Israel.  We worried that a total breakdown would mean many mainstream Jews would become politically disenfranchised.  In 2016, as the president and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Jewish community relations umbrella, I wrote:

“If the (Jewish) community wants to have any influence on how today’s civil rights activists view Jews and Jewish issues, it must show up to the planning meetings, press conferences and protests.”

But, I cautioned:

“We must find our own voice on civil rights.  It will not be easy integrating the Jewish community into civil rights coalitions, some of which hold very different political sensibilities. Young activists routinely invoke phrases like -‘white supremacy’ – to describe America’s prevailing power structure…Rather than feeling obliged to use these terms, however, the Jewish community can…come to the table in its own voice.”

This strategy of engaging progressive activists, I am sorry to say, has largely failed.  The attitudes toward Israel among progressives have markedly worsened in the past five years.  And the prevailing ideological environment has become toxic and fundamentally illiberal.  Aligning ourselves too closely with the progressive movement, especially insofar as such alignment requires conformity to its pieties and credos, gives succor to an ideology that will ultimately harm us.  It’s time for the mainstream Jewish community to do a strategic reset.

It was just over a year ago that the Labour Party in the United Kingdom forced out its leader, Mr Jeremy Corbyn.  Part of Mr Corbyn's problem was his antisemitic presentation.

We are seeing the same sort of anti-Israeli attitude on the part of some Progressive Democrats, including members of The Squad.

Many GOP voters are clearly supportive of an independent home for Jews in the Holy Land.  Based on that, the Republican party should be making room for those Jews who can accommodate a more conservative philosophy, one oriented on freedom, including freedom of thought, speech and religion.

Regards  —  Cliff

Striving to Be Better

For John, BLUF:  The message from the Author, Ms Sara Hoyt, is that we need to struggle to be united, rather than separating ourselves.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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REGRESSING

From the Blog According to Hoyt, by Novelist Sarah Hoyt, 2 November 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

A Catholic priest, a rabbi and two Lutheran ministers walk into a bar…

If they’re friends, and at ease with each other, you’re almost certainly in America.  Or in a country so far gone into atheist socialism, that it doesn’t matter what religion you have, you’re an enemy of the state.

In this post Ms Hoyt introduces a name change.  She is now calling Progressives as "Regressives".  She sees the regressives as intent on destroying the progress we, as Americans, have made.  She says:

And that rows back decades of just learning to live together and ignoring what’s not relevant to building and living and having a functional society.

Ms Hoyt believes we can continue to get better as a nation, but not if we embark on a plan of separation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Election Day

For John, BLUF:  Please, please, please vote.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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GO VOTE

There are a number of reasons to vote.  Perhaps your friend is running, and deserves a little suppport from you.  Perhaps someone you admire is running and you think they would be a good elected official for your town or city.

However, the best reason to vote is that politicians, and government bureaucrats, pay attention to the voter turnout. The reason the Belvidere section of Lowell seems to get special attention from local government is because, in local elections, about 40 percent of the voters actully go and vote.  On the other hand, in some parts of the city the turnout is less than 10 percent.  Which area attacts more attention?  Exactly.  Even with "districts" Belvidere will have a disproportionate impact on which "at large" candidates win.  But, if all areas turn out in large numbers, then the whole City because an important garden of voters, to be carefully cultivated.

The problem with the recent election law suit is that it misidentified the problem to be fixed. It wasn't minority participation.  It was voter turnout.  Remember what Dead Karl told us:  "The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish . . . the kind of war on which they are embarking."  It applies in politics, as it does in war.

Here are the Lowell polling locations.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Education Support by Parents

For John, BLUF:  Many parents are not happy with how things are going in the schools their children attend.  Further, many of those parents think they are not getting the strait word as to what is happening in those schools.  Finally, the school officials are not doing a good job of appearing to be transparent.♠  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Edexit:  We Shouldn’t Let the Education Crisis Go to Waste

From Law & Liberty, by Harvard Professor james Hankins, 1 November 2021.

Here is a key excerpt:

The most important factor keeping most American schoolchildren in unionized public schools is undoubtedly cost.  Public schools, after all, are free, and it’s hard to beat free.  Of course they are not really free; they are paid from tax revenues, mostly property taxes, which is to say they are in effect subsidized by wealthier property owners.  Property-tax-paying parents understandably do not want to pay twice to school their children.  To be sure, some public schools are highly rated.  Precisely for that reason, many parents have been willing to pay a premium for homes in townships with good public schools.  While it is true that the “awokening” of public schools has made even the best of them unpopular with most Americans, many parents, for now, will have to stick with their local public schools.  It’s a question of path-dependence: for many Americans, to go private would mean radically altering college funding plans and perhaps push retirement several years further out.  It could mean leaving beloved homes and communities for others with less burdensome property taxes.

What is clear is that a huge proportion of parents with children currently in K-12 public schools would go private if they could afford it.  That much is revealed by the polling data compiled by EdChoice, a non-partisan organization committed to giving American parents more power over their children’s education.  According to EdChoice’s Polling Dashboard, of current K-12 school parents, 83% have actually enrolled their children in district public schools, but only 39% would do so if they had the freedom to choose other kinds of school.  50% would like to send their children to private or charter schools, but only 14% are able to do so.  78% of the general population and 84% of current school parents favor Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs) once informed of how these accounts would work.  Similar numbers favor some kind of public voucher system which would allow parents to decide which schools will receive the public funds allocated for their own child’s education.  EdChoice’s polling data also shows that the last two years have seen a considerable jump in public support for educational choice in general, from the mid-70th percentile in 2018 to the mid-80s in 2020-21.

All this adds up, I believe, to a historic opportunity to set a new direction for American K-12 education.

This should be one of several wakeup calls coming out of the Pandemic.  This is like the imbroglio in Laudaun County, Virginia.  While a number of parents are happy to turn their children over to some school for the education of those children, there are others who are sitting there in silent horror over when it is going on.

This should be a wakeup call for school systems and teachers unions and teachers colleges.  Public Institutions depend upon public approval,  It is eroding for schools.  We should all be dedicated to fixing this.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I would say, with regard to transparency, our local Lowell School District was doing an excellent job of being transparent, right up until the Bob Hoey imbroglio.  Since they they have not been as open to all branches of the media, which is sad.  Perhaps post election things will open up again.

Placement of Students (By Parents)

For John, BLUF:  Are parents voting on Public Schools by moving their children to other schools or to home schooling or maybe just moving to a new community and school district?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Blue State Blues:  Record Number of Students Flee Nation's Largest Public School Districts

From PJ Media, by Reporter Gwendolyn Sims, 31 October 2021, 9:40 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

This week the three largest public school districts in the U.S. announced that they are in the middle of a massive and continuing problem: record low enrollment numbers.

The New York Times reported that since the fall of 2019 enrollment in New York City’s (NYC) public school system—the nation’s largest district—has dropped by about 50,000 students or 4.5%.  The numbers are even worse in the nation’s second-largest public school district, where the Los Angeles Times reported the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) lost a record of more than 27,000 students or 6.0% of its enrollment since 2019.  The third-largest district’s numbers are just as bad in Chicago’s public schools (CPS), where WTTW reported enrollment is down nearly 25,000 students or 3.0% over the same time.

What exactly is to blame for the record drop in enrollment across these districts?  The districts are quick to blame the COVID-19 pandemic; that’s not the only reason fewer parents want their children to attend these public schools, but you’d never know that to listen to them.

We need more data, but the current numbers suggest there may be problems out there.

While I find it unlikely to happen, it would be interesting and revealing if state and local governments allocated school money to the individual students, to be spent as the parents see fit.  Will parents who can't afford private or parochial schools today shift their children's school of choice under such a regime?  There is a hint in the election of Florida Governor Ron DiSantis.  What put him over the top was 100,000 Black women who voted for him over the issue of schools.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

CRT Again

For John, BLUF:  One has the sense that US Public Schools, by and large, embrace Critical Race Theory (CRT).  On the other hand, they deny all.  Where is the truth?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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CRT:  IT DOESN’T EXIST…AND IT’S AWESOME!  [WITH COMMENT BY PAUL]

From Power Line Blog, by John Hinderaker, 31 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Critical Race Theory has become the number one political issue in the U.S.  So, needless to say, it is the top issue in school board elections that are taking place across the country.  Thus, in one of Minnesota’s largest school districts, the administration emailed talking points to school board members, telling them how to answer questions about CRT from concerned parents.  No doubt many other districts have done the same.  Remarkably, this particular email included no fewer than six attachments with talking points on CRT.

These six pro-CRT missives are pretty much interchangeable, although they come from a variety of sources: the school district itself; Education Minnesota, the teachers’ union (this one includes an attack on American Experiment); the Minnesota School Boards Association; the University of Minnesota; the Minnesota Association of School Administrators; and the Council of the Great City Schools.

I like the title for this blog post.  It captures what I have picked up from the various news sources I consume.

I am all for looking at all of our history,  However, as a believer in evolution, I believe the same happens in history.  Most of our progress toward a freer and fairer society is based upon the actions of those who have gone before us.  While the Magna Carta wasn't the Declaration of Independence, it was a big step forward in helpinig define the Rights of Englishmen. 

What I don't see is where we are going.  Remember the line from General David Patraeus, "Tell me how this ends"?  I hear a lot of talk about how Caucasians from Europe have made the world a worse place,♠ but I don't hear much about how others are going to make it better.  I am sure there are folks who think General Secretary Xi Jinping is offering a better path, but I am not sold.  I thought South Africa might be a model of integration and freedom, but it doesn't seem to be working out.  Look at their Gini.  I wouldn't pick Venezuala and their Bolivarian Revolution.

This kind of issue is why voting in your local School Committee (School Board) is so important.  Even if you aren't sure who to vote for tomorrow, the fact that you vote will send the signal that folks are paying attention and the Committee Members and the school leadership needs to be aware of public sentiment.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  One of their worst acts was the elimintion of human sacrifice as a public ritual in North America.

Gifted and Talented

For John, BLUF:  In the name of equity and equality we are dumbing down the education of our youth.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Pitt students want to 'abolish' their community's elementary gifted program

Here is the sub-headline:

• The Pitt News Editorial Board recently published a piece in support of abolishing local elementary gifted programs.
• According to the piece, the gifted program intellectually and racially 'segregates students.'
• Members of the Pittsburgh community share mixed viewpoints about what such a change would mean for their community.

From Campus Reform, by Correspondent Logan Dubil, 29 October 2021, 8:55 AM.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Editorial Board of the University of Pittsburgh student paper recently published an article calling to get rid of the gifted program in surrounding schools.

“The gifted program segregates students — sometimes based on IQ tests conducted at an early age.  The program is deeply flawed, encourages students to unnecessarily compete against each other academically and often ends up leaving behind students of color.  It is time for Pittsburgh to follow New York’s example and eliminate the gifted program from local school districts,” claims the piece.

The paper published the piece in light of New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent decision to remove elementary school based gifted programs over the next five year period, saying "Pittsburgh should be next."

I did poorly in elementary school, and not all that well in high school (junior high school was my period of shining).  Even so, I found that the brighter students, who surged ahead of me, did help me and my learning, both in school and after school.  Their interests and learning helped to spur me on and made me a better student.  My prime example is Lloyd Davis, who lived at the end of town in Wenonah, NJ.  His interest in science helped spur my interest in science.  Hold him back, even if only by not pushing him on, would seem to be the opposite of encouraging education.

This is a bad idea.  If you see no other indicztor, remember tht New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is backing it.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff