The French Are Aroused

For John, BLUF:  The French have a several hundred year tradition of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité", which is a delicate balance,  Now radical ideas from the United States threaten to overthrow the balance.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some Think So.

Here is the sub-headline:

Politicians and prominent intellectuals say social theories from the United States on race, gender and post-colonialism are a threat to French identity and the French republic.

From The Old Gray Lady, by By Norimitsu Onishi, 9 February 2021 Updated 9:38 a.m. ET.

Actually, I caught this at a Tweet by Reporter Glenn Greenwald.  I have dropped off of Twitter, but that doesn't mean I won't check out a tweet recommended by someone I trust.

Here is the tweet:

Glenn Greenwald  @ggreenwald  ·  49m
Obama-endorsed French President Emmanuel Macron has joined numerous French intellectuals & journalists in warning that "out-of-control woke leftism of US campuses and its attendant cancel culture" poses a grave threat due to the social strife it creates:

Here is the article lede, plus three:

The threat is said to be existential.  It fuels secessionism.  Gnaws at national unity.  Abets Islamism.  Attacks France’s intellectual and cultural heritage.

The threat?  "Certain social science theories entirely imported from the United States," said President Emmanuel Macron.

French politicians, high-profile intellectuals and journalists are warning that progressive American ideas — specifically on race, gender, post-colonialism — are undermining their society.  "There’s a battle to wage against an intellectual matrix from American universities," warned Mr. Macron’s education minister.

Emboldened by these comments, prominent intellectuals have banded together against what they regard as contamination by the out-of-control woke leftism of American campuses and its attendant cancel culture.

It is unusual for the French to be concerned about Americans having radical ideas.  It is usually the other way around.  I would think it would cause all those bien-pensant Democrats to pause and take stock.  But, not today.  Today is about ridding of kingdom of that troublesome Developer.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Parties Have Work to Do

For John, BLUF:  The Impeachment Trial notwithstanding, both parties have issues to work out before 2022.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Marcy Kaptur’s warning

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by the Editorial Board, 7 February 2021.

Here is the lede plus many very short paragraphs:

Marcy Kaptur is the longest-serving woman in the current Congress.

She has also been in the U.S. House of Representatives longer than any woman has served there, in all of U.S. history.

She came to the Congress in 1983.

She is 74 and has been a Democrat her entire voting life.

You might think she is worth listening to.

As it happens, she has a message for her party: Wake up.

Wake up or you will lose the House in the next election and maybe not regain it for many years.

Wake up or you will lose the working class to the Republicans, for good.

It is already happening.

I see her thinking, but the Democrats could be save by ability of media and Big Tech to "fortify" future elections.

On the other hand, Blogger Ed Driscoll points out Professor Glenn Reynold's comment back in November:

“For a guy who supposedly lost, Trump sure had a lot of coattails.  And for a guy who supposedly won, Biden sure didn’t.”

The General Election in 2022 is not a given for either party.  A lot will depend on the moves of the Democrats.  A lot will depend upon if the Republicans can figure out who they are.  A lot will depend upon the Republicans straighening out State election laws.  A lot will depend upon the ability of Democratic Party allies to "Fortify" the elections.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Great Climate Divide

For John, BLUF:  The Republican Party, heck the Republic, is divided between the well off, with well paying, long term, jobs, and the rest, who are not so well off and have more of a hard scrabble existence.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Charllie Baker Climate Official blasted for comments to 'break your will' over emissions.

Here is the sub-headline:

Baker:  Undersecretary will be talked to over comments

From The Boston Herald, by Reporters Joe Dwinell and Sean Philip Cotter, 5 February 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

The state’s $ 130,000- ayear undersecretary for climate change is being blasted by a fiscal watchdog for saying the administration needs to “ break” the will of taxpayers when it comes to heating homes and driving cars.

The video shows David Ismay, Gov. Charlie Baker’s under secretary for climate change, telling Vermont climate advocates that it’s time to go after homeowners and motorists to help reduce emissions.

At the end of the clip, he adds:  “ I can’t even say that publicly.”

Ismay did not return a Herald request for comment Friday.  Asked about the video during a press conference, Baker said he and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito had seen the video earlier that morning.  He added Climate Secretary Kathleen Theoharides, Ismay’s boss, is also aware of it.

“ First of all, no one who works in our administration should ever say or think anything like that — ever,” the governor said.  “ Secondly, Secretary Theoharides is going to have a conversation with him about that.”

Baker continued, “And the third — and one of the main reasons we didn’t sign the climate bill when it got to our desk was because we were specifically concerned about the impact that it’s going to have on people’s ability to pay for many of the pieces that were in it, which means it also doesn’t represent the administration policy or position.”

First, thanks to Mass Fiscal Alliance for posting the talk by Undersecretary for Climate Change David Ismay.

Second, this is a warning that there are people out there, like those talking about the "Great Reset",♠ who are prepared to demolish our Capitalist economic system in order to prepare for a climate change that may never arrive.  The losers in such an economic realignment are the little people.  People like those who read this blog.

When we reorganize our Economic System in anticipation of catastrophic climate change, we will have the haves and the have nots, and the great American dream of everyone being able to better themselves will be shattered.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I am reading the book, but it is slow going, because I sense where the author (World Economic Forum CEO Klaus Schwab) is going, and it is a bad place for most of us.  The sorting out will be ugly.

Follow the Science

For John, BLUF:  Teachers, and students, should be returning to the classrooms, in person.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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When the White House can't handle the truth

From The Washington Examiner, by Chief Political Correspondent Byron York, 5 February 2021, 08:39 AM.

Here is the lede plus six:

On January 21, President Biden’s first full day in office, White House press secretary Jen Psaki began her briefing with this:  “When the president asked me to serve in this role, we talked about the importance of bringing truth and transparency back to the briefing room.”  Now, the administration’s position on opening schools shut by COVID lockdowns is testing that pledge.

Psaki’s problem started on Wednesday, when the White House COVID Response Team held a teleconference for the press.  Among the group was Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the president’s new choice to head the Centers for Disease Control.  A reporter asked Walensky about the CDC’s priorities for vaccination, and in particular whether “the federal government would be working more closely with states to kind of get more vaccinations to teachers in particular so that schools can reopen in the fall.”

Walensky said that a group inside the CDC, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, had created a priority list for those receiving vaccinations.  In December, the committee included teachers in what was called the 1b category, meaning they would be among those who should be next in line.  But that wasn’t law — it was the CDC’s guidance for states to follow, or not to follow.

“We’ve left that to the states to manage,” Walensky explained, “in terms of recognizing the prioritization of ACIP, but also manage at their own local level.”

And then: “That said, I want to be very clear about schools, which is:  Yes, ACIP has put teachers in the 1b category, the category of essential workers.  But I also want to be clear that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely.  So while we are implementing the criteria of the Advisory Committee and of the state and local guidances to get vaccination across these eligible communities, I would also say that safe reopening of schools is not — that vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools.”

There it was: The head of the CDC frankly stating that the science shows schools can safely reopen, and that the reopening of the schools does not depend on vaccinating teachers.  Given the current debate, in which teachers unions, the longtime allies and benefactors of Democratic politicians from Joe Biden on down, are demanding that schools remain closed and that teachers be vaccinated before any reopening can occur, Walensky’s statement was big news.  Would Democratic officeholders listen to the science and break with the unions?

It was such big news that the White House immediately ran away from it.

There are two issues here.  The first is that this White House, notwithstanding the promises to be different from the Trump Administration, is trying to curate the news to meet the interests of various constituencies.  Business as usual.

The second issue is getting our students back to school.  The science seems to say that we can reopen schools, but the Teachers Unions are saying no.  I can see their concern that if the CDC (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention) is wrong, it could be a serious problem for teachers.  However, it is the science.  I thought we are about following the science.  Are we?

Then there is the cui bono question.  If, as COVID-19 goes on, Student performance declines, if teachers are not in the classroom they can distance themselves from said decline.  And, they are still getting paid.

For sure, the White House hung CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky out to dry on this one.  Not a good look.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Exam Schools on the Block?

For John, BLUF:  This is about San Francisco's Lowell Exam High School, named after Lowell, MA, or so I have read.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Academic high school is too elite (and Asian) for SF

From Linking and Thinking on Education, by Blogger Joanne Jacobs, 4 February 2021.

Here is the lede plus one and a third:

After denaming 44 schools — including Abraham Lincoln High — for historical imperfections, San Francisco school board is fast-tracking a plan to end merit-based admissions for Lowell High School, one of the top high schools in California, reports David Li for NBC News.

The board is on track to approve a resolution to admit students to Lowell (which will be renamed) by lottery, rather than grades and test scores.  Selectivity “perpetuates the culture of white supremacy and racial abuse towards Black and Latinx students,” states the resolution.

The real issue is Chinese supremacy.  Of Lowell’s 2,871 students, 50.6 percent are Asian, mostly Chinese, in a district that’s 33.4 percent Asian, reports Li.

And there is equity for you.  Exam schools allow the smart kids, and also students that come from households that stress academic achievement, to benefit in terms of high school opportunities.  The question is, is it a good thing or a bad thing?  Do those those who go to a former exam school do better?  Or is it that those who might have benefitted from a high performing high school now do not achieve their full potential?

The more subtle question is, does eliminating Exam Schools create equity by denegrating hard work and achievement?  The supplemental question is, does this result in all being worse off, because those entering the economy have failed to achieve their full potential?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fortifying the Election

For John, BLUF:  This helps to explain what happened last year, during the election of the US President.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election

From Time Magazine, by Reporter Molly Ball, 4 February 2021, 5:40 AM EST.

Here is an excerpt:

To the President, something felt amiss.  “It was all very, very strange,” Trump said on Dec. 2.  “Within days after the election, we witnessed an orchestrated effort to anoint the winner, even while many key states were still being counted.”

In a way, Trump was right.

There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes, one that both curtailed the protests and coordinated the resistance from CEOs.  Both surprises were the result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists and business titans.  The pact was formalized in a terse, little-noticed joint statement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO published on Election Day.  Both sides would come to see it as a sort of implicit bargain–inspired by the summer’s massive, sometimes destructive racial-justice protests–in which the forces of labor came together with the forces of capital to keep the peace and oppose Trump’s assault on democracy.

Here is how Time sees the effort—"fortifying":

That’s why the participants want the secret history of the 2020 election told, even though it sounds like a paranoid fever dream–a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information.  They were not rigging the election; they were fortifying it.  And they believe the public needs to understand the system’s fragility in order to ensure that democracy in America endures.

I was doubtful that the Democrafts stole the election, or that it could be proven.  Now I am convinced that the election was fortified.

Here is another view of it, from PJ Media, today.

And here is Columnist James Delingole's take, in Breitbart.  It has an interesting spin on the article.

Regards  —  Cliff

Cynical Use of Power

For John, BLUF:  This is a flashback to when then Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened the members of the US Supreme Court, less than a year ago.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Schumer tells justices they will 'pay the price' in angry rebuke

From CNN, a Flashback to Early 2020.

Here is the lede:

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, speaking at a rally of abortion rights supporters, appeared to threaten Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's two Supreme Court nominees who were confirmed after bruising nomination fights.

I think that Senator Chuck Schumer has memory problems.  He can't remember when he threated the members of the US Supreme Court.  Worse than President Trump threated the US Congress on 6 January 2021.  Or, he is just another NYC hypocrite.  Things were better before 2000, when Senator Schumer and Senator Clinton were elected.  People like Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Al D'Amato, James L Buckley, Robert F Kennedy, Jacob Javits, John Foster Dulles, Robert F Wagner and Elihu Root.

We are not seeing leadership from our Senate Majority Leader, Charles Schumer.  We are seeing naked cynicism.  I hope that Senator Schumer experiences some sort of a change of heart, and expresses that.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff