Teachers Walking

For John, BLUF:  The COVID Pandemic was a hit against Public Schools.  This suggests that Wokeness is also damaging the structure of the systems.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Midwest teachers leaving the classroom over student behavior, left-wing politics

From American Experiment, by Catrin Wigfall, 22 July 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

While the national teachers’ unions cite Republicans’ and parents’ “politicization” of the classroom as the reason for educators wanting to leave the field, Tony Kinnett with the Chalkboard Review discovered this is not what’s driving Midwestern educators out of their classrooms.

Kinnett asked 615 K-12 teachers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin the main reason they were leaving their current position and whether they would return if it was dealt with.  Respondents were also asked whether they were union members, of which over half (356) said they were.

Student behavior, left-wing politics

An overwhelming majority of respondents (319 out of 615) listed student behavior as their number one reason for resigning, followed by 138 selecting “progressive political activity” (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, CRT, gender identity) and 134 basing their decision on “insufficient” salaries.

The Second Comment to the posting is interesting to me.

If the Mid-west is having this issue, will we soon find it in our own schools?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Citizens police Tour de France

For John, BLUF:  The Legislature should understand what the People are feeling and be responsive to it, either legislating as they want or stnading up and leading the People in a new direction.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Tour de France fans take justice into their own hands and tackle militant eco-protesters before dragging them off the road to stop them blocking the race

Here is the sub-headline:

• Climate activists held a fourth protest at the Tour de France today but were dragged off the road by fans
• The incensed bystanders piled into the road and hauled the eco-protesters off the tarmac so bikes could pass
• Police later arrived and arrested eight activists from the sideline of the competition, which finishes today

From The Daily Mail, by Reporter Charlotte McLaughlin, 25 July 2022, 03:01 EDT.

Here is the lede plus two:

Tour de France fans took matters into their own hands yesterday as they angrily removed a gang of eco-protesters threatening to disrupt the historic bike race by sitting in the middle of the road to block oncoming riders.

Eight climate activists from French campaign group Dernière Rénovation (Last Renovation) sporting T-shirts emblazoned with the message 'we have 978 days left' to tackle environmental decline tried to stop the race during the 20th stage between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour on Saturday.

But their attempts to wreak havoc at the stage were thwarted by spectators, who stormed onto the road and dragged them out of the path of the oncoming bikes even before the police arrived on the scene to make arrests.

This is the kind of thing thaat happens when the ordinary citizenry gets tired of being pushed around by criminls or protestors and the police are not doing their job.

The good news here is that the citizens just pushed the Climate Change protestors oult of the way.  They did not, themselves, ingage in vioolence..

On of the issues for the Public is if the Climate change we are experiencing is of a magnitude and velocity as to require rapid change, thus justifying massive civil disobedience.  I am doubtful that is what the science is saying.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Public School Popularity

For John, BLUF:  "School choice has long been a goal of the conservative movement, long before [Christopher] Rufo was born.  But as Gallup’s polling clearly shows, Rufo did not create the public’s distrust in public schools.  Public schools did that on their own.  And the COVID shutdowns only made that crisis of confidence worse."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Did conservatives discredit public schools, or did public schools discredit themselves?

From The Washington Examiner, by Reporter Conn Carroll, 15 July 2022, 11:49 AM.

Here is the lede plus five:

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo took a victory lap Thursday after New York Magazine corrected a quote in an article attacking Rufo by Jonathan Chait.

“Winning: New York Magazine’s @jonathanchait fabricated a quotation in an attempt to smear me, but I caught him red-handed and his editors had to retract the false statement and issue a correction,” Rufo tweeted. “Very embarrassing for him.”

Chait admitted the quote in his article had to be changed but claimed that the two quotes “said virtually the same thing.”

The fake quote read, “In order to achieve universal school choice, it’s necessary to create an atmosphere of universal public-school distrust.”

The real quote said, “To get universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust.”

These statements may appear to be close in meaning, but they say two very different things. As one of the top comments in Chait’s timeline notes, “One calls for creating mistrust, the other is assuming everyone already mistrusts them.”

The excerpt is a little long, but it allows us to get at the heart of the issue, Citizen mistrust of public schools.  This is a growing problem and school administrators and teacherrs pushing a "Woke" agendsa are not helping.

The COVID-19 Pandemic did not do public schools any favors, in that parents were exposed to some of the teaching their children were receeiving.  And, the long delay in reopening the schools seemed selfish to many parents.

The push for school vouchers (the money following the child, rather than going to the public school automatically) will create more debate, and perhaps more hardening of the lines.

Here in Lowell we appear to be in a good positionm with a School Administrstion does not appear to be overly woke, while still working to meet the needs of a very diverse student popultion.  In addition, our School Committee seems responsive to the needs of the students and the parents.  May it continue that way.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Congress, Do Your Job

For John, BLUF:  The US Congress needs to get back into the legislsting mode.  Not just feel good Bills, but substantive ones as well.  If Climate Change is an important issue, the US Congress needs to take a stand.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Congresswoman Trahan's 4th of July Greeting

From Congresswoman Lori Trahan, 4 July 2022 .

Here is the lede plus one:

I hope you and your loved ones are enjoying a happy and safe Fourth of July!

What has always made our nation great is our unending stride toward progress and a more perfect union – a better, fairer nation for our children.  That’s what our parents fought for on our behalf, and it’s what we’ve been working toward for our children.

I expect that Congresswoman Trahan is alluding to the Dobbs decision on Abortion.  However, the decision on West Virginia v EPA is even more important in the long run, in that it says that Congress needs to get back to its job of Legislating.

The Dobbs decision doesn't end abortion in the United States, but does provide freedom to individual State Legislatures to make more local decisions on the issue of abortion.  These United States are diverse and one size does not alays fit everyone.

The key decision, however, demands of Congress that it do its job and legislate?  It is time for the Congresscritters to knuckle down and find solutions that meet our needs and can be passed with some participation from the other party.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Path to Success and Happiness

For John, BLUF:  When I was young the pth to El Dorado led through higher education.  Today it may well be via a trade school or apprenticeship.  Students and parents should think about this carefully.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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College enrollment drops by 1.3 million in two years

Here is the sub-headline:

Business professor identifies ‘bloated bureaucracy’ as one cause

From The College Fix, by Writer Gigi de La Torre, 12 July 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

olleges have lost 1.3 million students in the past two years according to a report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

According to the survey, college enrollment has decreased since the start of the COVID shutdowns with a 3.5 percent drop last spring semester and a 4.1 percent drop this most recent semester.

This adds to an overall 9.4 percent decrease or 1.3 million enrollment drop since the spring 2020 semester before COVID lockdowns began.

The study reported that public colleges and universities as well as community colleges suffered the greatest decrease in enrollment rates.

The Professor, mentioned in the sub-headline, Stanley Ridgley, at Drexel University’s LeBow College, says:

Bloated bureaucracy on the campuses along with a perceived decline in seriousness and courage by university administrations give people pause.

The bloated bureaucracy not only adds to the cost of higher eduction, it also infantilizes the students, who are almost all of voting age.  They should be growing into robust adults, not needing to be protected from the vagaries of life.

Further, as the bureaucracy grows the plzce and power of the professors diminishes.  This leads to a diminishment of academic freedom.

That said, the author, Ms Gigi de La Torre, attends Francisczan University of Stubenville (Ohio), a school I would encoursge young men nd ewomen to attend, if they wanted to go the college route rather than the trade school route.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Theme of the Supreme Court

For John, BLUF:  The recent Dobbs case shows that there are different views as to the role and power of the US Supreme Court.  This reference gives us an easy breakdown of the differences in approach to the role of our Supreme Court.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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There Are Two Fundamentally Irreconcilable Constitutional Visions

From Manhattan Contrarian, by Mr Francis Menton, 1 July 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

It’s been a momentous couple of weeks at the Supreme Court.  As usual, they saved the big cases for the end.  This year the big three were Bruen (gun rights), Dobbs (abortion rights) and West Virginia (administrative regulation of CO2).

All three cases were decided 6-3 along ideological lines.  These cases involved the most basic issues of what the Constitution is and how it is to be interpreted.  On those issues there is virtually no hope of one side ever convincing anyone from the other side.  There just are two fundamentally irreconcilable visions of how this should work.  The two visions can be summarized in just a few sentences each:

Vision 1.  The Constitution allocates powers to the three branches of government, and also lists certain rights entitled to constitutional protection.  The role of the courts is (1) to assure that the powers are exercised only by those to whom they are allocated, (2) to protect the enumerated rights, and (3) as to things claimed to be rights but not listed, to avoid getting involved.

Vision 2.  The Constitution is an archaic document adopted more than 200 years ago, and largely obsolete.  The role of the courts is to implement the current priorities of the academic left and then somehow rationalize how that is consistent with the written document.  If a right is enumerated in the Constitution but disfavored by the current left (e.g., the right to “keep and bear arms”), then the courts should find a way to uphold enactments that minimize that right down to the point that it is a nullity.  If a right is not enumerated in the Constitution, but is a priority of the left (e.g., abortion), then that right can be discovered in some vague and unspecific constitutional language (“due process”).  And if the left has a priority to transform the economy and the way the people live, but the Congress does not have sufficient majorities to enact that priority, then the Executive agencies can implement that priority on their own authority, and the role of the courts is to assist the agencies in finding something in the tens of thousands of pages of federal statutes, however vague and dubious, that can be claimed to authorize the action.

I hold to Vision 1.  I am wary of Vision 2.  It seems to put me in the position of allowing a cabal of legislators to adjust our Constitution without going through the process laid out in our Constitution.  The same goes for the Supreme Court itself.  The Court should not be expanding or contracting our Constitution without going through the agreed Amendment process.

The Constitution is not perfect, as the twenty some amendments so far shows us.  However, it is an agreement that successfully brings together a diverse group of Citizens under one roof.  It works and we should be happy with that.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Good Pact

For John, BLUF:  If I could I would create a law that said the Father must support the Mother and Child.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Leftist women discover traditional marriage

From Twitter, by Common Sense Extremists, 6 Jul 62022, 8:55 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

Common Sense Extremists
@crushmarxismnow
Leftist women discover traditional marriage

Me and some of my girlfriends did a retreat this weekend to help us cope with the monumental serback in human rights.  By the end of it, we had moved from sad to ANGRY.  We all agreed to a pact not having sex with any man, until he had proven himself a capable provider, and until that man had signed a contract, written on paper, agreeing to stay with us and support us if we get pregnant.  We started drafting an actual contract, and we're planning on sending it to a lawyer to make sure it is legit.  At this point I am completely done with men who want to hook up and leave, its high time for American men to STEP UP.

The way it should be!

I have always thought that having sex carried a covenant that if pregnancy resulted, marriage followed.  Forget about your "career", being a husband and father was your new priority.  I hope that American women step up to this new (old) standard.  That would be real feminism.  That would be real self-respect.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Justice for All

For John, BLUF:  In this new world that is evovling out of Western Civilization the criminals are gaining more rights than the People.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The charging of Jose Alba and the war on self-defense

From The New Neo, by Herself, 8 July 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The war on self-defense continues, in New York City this time.

You know how it goes with these Soros-backed leftist DAs such as New York’s Alvin Bragg.  When Bragg was elected in January, I wrote this post about his plans and what to expect.  They’re the same sort of things we’ve become familiar with from the now-recalled Chesa Boudin of San Franisco, and from the hopefully-soon-to-be-recalled George Gascon of Los Angeles.  In that post I mentioned that this was one of Bragg’s awful guidelines:

Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone.  Armed robbery, a class B felony, would typically be punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison, while petty larceny subjects offenders to up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine…

This story writes itself.

Without the police the Citizens bring justice themselves.  The police exist to protect the criminals from the Citizens.  The job of these Prosecutors is to keep the Citizens down so they do not rise up against the criminals and the Government.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Happy Fourth

For John, BLUF:  It is a goood day to be an American.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Happy Independence Day

Here are inspiring words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I am not sure everyone across the Earth believes that, but I am confident that in these lands the majority does.  They may bicker and complain, but they believe, we believe, those words from the Declaration of Independence.

Let us rejoice in this day, when those who went before us mad a stab at Democracy and came pretty close, and left us a firm foundation upon which to build, and a way to build.

Regards  —  Cliff

Grow Up

For John, BLUF:  We have, as a society, evolved to the point that we do not hold peple responsible for their actions, from petty crime to pregnancy.  There will be long term consequences.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Comment Of The Day (on) “Comment Of The Day:  ‘Sunday Morning Ethics Warm-Up… Dobbs Freakout Edition”

From Ethics Alarms, by Mr Jack Marshall, 30 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

“We seek power and equality in society, and then we continually play the victim”.

Agreed.  I saw a meme the other day (yes memes are reductionist) that captured a part of this whole debacle.  It said something about being able to wear a mask for two years but not being able to wear a condom for 48 seconds.

Aren’t strong women supposed to be able to say ‘no’ to sex with men they don’t want babies with?  Aren’t they able to practice self-care by taking care of their bodies during sex?  Aren’t they smart enough to know that abortion carries risk and do what is necessary to not put themselves in that situation in the first place?

Apparently not.  Apparently it’s men’s fault or the fault of the patriarchy or Trump or Catholics on the Supreme Court.  It’s never a woman’s fault for making terrible disembodied choices that end a life.

You can’t be a strong woman if you won’t value yourself enough to stop sleeping with jerks.  You can’t be a resilient woman if you refuse to take responsibility for your body before pregnancy (or STI’s).  And you can’t be very smart if you deny basic biology in how pregnancies happen.

This is the other side of the Abortion argument.  Not that it should happen, but that if women took charge of their own bodies it would be, in the words of President Bill Clinton, "rare".

I am of the view that every act of sex is an implied contract, which executes upon conception.  If a baby is conceived, it is the Mother and the Father who should commit to each other and the child, the way nature intended it.  Oregnancy does not mean abortion,.  It means marriage.  If one is not in a position to accept that reality, one needs to find an alternative form of sexual gratification.  Actions have consequences, or at least should have consequences.

In the long term the failure of a society to hold its members to responsibilities and consequences will result in the undermining of that society.

Regards  —  Cliff

Congress; Do Your Job

For John, BLUF:  The most important decision in this SCOTUS Term is with regard to the Enviornmental Protection Agency and the broad sweep of authority it has given itself.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Justices Send a Message to Congress

Here is the sub-headline:

The EPA case doesn’t preclude climate rules.  It require lawmakers to enact them.

From The Wall Street Journal, by Columnist Kimberley A. Strassel, 30 June 2022, 6:41 pm ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

It’s tempting to view Thursday’s Supreme Court decision to rein in the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate authority as a missile aimed solely at the bureaucratic swamp.  It’s just as much a swipe at that bureaucracy’s enabler:  the feckless U.S. Congress.

Sweep away the opinion’s numbing technical descriptions, and the ruling is a joy to read.  The six conservatives on the court, in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, have officially declared the “major questions doctrine”—a concept that has appeared in a handful of past court decisions—to be a living, breathing principle.  The federal bureaucracy is no longer allowed to impose programs of major “economic and political significance” on the country absent “clear congressional authorization."  Hallelujah.

This points directly to Represenative Lori Trahan and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.  The US Supreme Court is asking them to assume their responsibilities as our elected legislators.

But, in the mean time, we are losing our Democracy and sliding toward a Chinese style democratic centralism, a nation run under the principles of the Chinese "Social Credit" System.  We, the voters, need to hold our legislators accountabe, including for allowing Federal Three Letter Agencies to usurp their legislative responsibilities.  Government Agencies should not be providing the direction that should come from debated and voted legislation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Educating Our Youth

For John, BLUF:  As we go into the 4th of July Weekend it is not encouraging to find that the children of the Elite are being taught that America is a bad place..  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Elite NYC private schools are teaching kids that American society must be destroyed

From The New York Post, by Mr Robert Pondiscio, 16 June 2022, 5:18pm.

Here is the lede plus four:

Ryan Finlay is a brave young man.  A senior at the elite private Horace Mann School, Finlay last week published a pointed but measured essay describing the aggressive political bias that’s dominated his education on the Bronx campus, where generations of famous and well-connected New Yorkers, from Jack Kerouac to Eliot Spitzer, have matriculated or sent their children.

Faculty “feel obligated to open students’ eyes to the inequality that surrounds them,” Finlay explained, but that takes the form of “continuous pressure in the classroom to embrace visions of wholesale societal reform.”

The message, hammered relentlessly into students’ heads at Horace Mann, is that “the system is broken, unable to be reformed, rotten to the core, and deserving of demolition,” he wrote.

The irony of hyper-privileged New Yorkers paying nearly $60,000 a year for their children to learn they are the undeserving beneficiaries of a broken system need not be dwelled upon here.  Finlay’s essay breaks the self-imposed conspiracy of silence that has largely shielded top private schools from criticism from within.

There have been rare exceptions of dissident teachers like Paul Rossi of the Grace School and “Brearley Dad” Andrew Gutmann, who blow the whistle on private-school indoctrination.  But few are willing to do so publicly.  The largely unquestioned proposition is that private prep schools are the gateway to elite universities and America’s leadership class, an academic arms race famously described in a New York magazine cover story 25 years ago as “Give me Harvard, or give me death.”

It seems that the"Right Thinking" people are rejecting our the idea of the United States for something else.  What that is, I don't know.  Do they?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff