Trump at the NAMJ

For John, BLUF:  Ms Juliette Ochieng, a retired Air Force Member, writes as a Black Conservative.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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No Pandering

Here is the sub-headline:

Amatuer shrinking the NABJ

From Baldilocks Talks, by Ms Juliette Ochieng, 2 August 2024.

Where the Blogger shifts from talking about her Caucasian Brother-in-Law to talking about Candidate Donald Trump:

He doesn’t treat black people like children - unless they’re his own children - and doesn’t kowtow.  If they’re nice to him, he’s nice to them and the same goes for nastiness.

After watching Donald Trump's interview with the NABJ I thought of this phenomenon.  Most journalists and politicians who are white tip-toe around black people in fear of being labeled as racist.  In contrast, President Trump treats blacks, whites, etc. as individuals.  (I was especially amused when the former president lambasted the interviewers for being on CPT.)

To be honest, I think that a significant segment of black Americans aren’t used to that, especially from white persons in authority. Many are more used to having smoke blown up their backsides, and when that doesn’t happen, they don’t know what to do with that, so they think it’s racism.

Yes, it’s true. Many of us aren’t used to being treated as equals. And I think it’s why many think Mr. Trump is racist but can’t name a racist thing he has said or done.

The last quoted paragraph was interesting to me in that I don't think of Candidate Trump as racist or Anti-semetic.  Yes, some do.  I was impressed that during his interview with the NABJ that President Trump was willinig to engage with the reporters asking questions.  It is my belief that as long as we are talking there is a chance that we are communicaitng and perhaps even learning.

Learning is good.

Regards  —  Cliff

Disguised Theft

For John, BLUF:  Richmond Law Schoool has shown that between ethics and money, it picks money.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Law School’s ‘Denaming’ Evokes Donor Family’s Ire

From Tax Prof Blog, by Professor Paul Caron, 11 March 2023.

Here is the lede plus one:

Following up on my previous post, After Richmond Law School Removed Slave-Owner Benefactor From Its Name, Family Demands Return Of His Donations ($3.6 Billion With 132 Years Of Interest): Inside Higher Ed, A Law School’s ‘Denaming’ Evokes Donor Family’s Ire:

When the University of Richmond’s Board of Trustees voted last fall to remove the name of alumnus and donor T. C. Williams from its law school, Williams’s descendants were irate. The board was following a new set of principles adopted earlier that year to ensure the namesakes of buildings, colleges and professorships lived up to the university’s values; the trustees decided that Williams, a wealthy tobacco farmer and slave owner, did not.

A successful law suit is very unlikely.

To me this is straight forward.  The school wishes to distance itself from a benefactor, but is unwilling to give up the financial benefit from that person.  Keep the money, but take down the name.  Hide the fact that the school benefitted from money earned in part via slavery.

This is rank hypocrisy.

I would be happy if they changed the name and then added at the end "formerly T C Williams."

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Today's Election

For John, BLUFI thought we were making progress on race relations and integration, but then I read something like this:  .  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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HERSCHEL WALKER IS AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

Here is the sub-headline:

Black bodies, white agendas

From , by Poet Caroline Randall Williams, DECEMBER 06, 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

Commodity.  Chattel.  Contraband.  Capital.  What is a Black body in the South?  What is a Black southern man, carted out to work a white-owned field?

It’s impossible today to talk about Black men and white agendas without talking about Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in the runoff election in Georgia.  But in order to talk about Walker, I’ve got to start in what may be his actual state of residence, Texas.

Per The Atlantic, the author, Ms Caroline Randall Williams is a poet, the television host of Discovery Plus’s Hungry for Answers, and a writer in residence at Vanderbilt University..

It is interesting to me that in my lifetime the roles of the political parties have reversed.  When I was young the Democrats were, mostly, the party of racism and the Deep South.  If not all the politicians, at least the power in the US Congress.  The Republicans were the party of integration and equal rights.♠

Ms Williams sees Candidate Hershal Walker as a mere schill for cynical Republicans.  Senator Warnock, by implication, is seen as the paragon of virtue.  She is apparently not aware of the small demographic shifts that see Black and Hispanic Voters moving toward the GOP.  This shift is, apparently, driven by the issues facing the nation, such as jobs, crime, immigration, inflatin and education.

This is sad.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠ As is always the case, there were exceptions.  I spent Elementary School in a Sundown Town in South Jersey.  The Mayor conceived of the town as Republican.
♥   This is notwithstanding the actions by Reverend Warnock, such as his actions during his divorce and his actions with regard to his Church's housing project.

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.

---

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

Real Equality

For John, BLUF:  I Found this lawsuiot to be interesting in that it seems to turn the tools used to reverse segregation in schools seen as implementing new forms of segregation.  Are we not able, are we never able, to see ourselves as one People?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Lawsuit Targets Massachusetts Public School System for Racial Segregation, Censoring Students

From The Daily Signal, by Writer Mary Margaret Olohan, 22 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

A Massachusetts public school system is actively promoting racially segregated student groups and a “bias reporting program” that encourages students to report instances of their peers’ biases to school officials for disciplinary action, a lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.

Parents Defending Education filed the lawsuit against the Boston-area Wellesley Public Schools Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts—a lawsuit that specifically targets both the racially segregated student groups and the school’s speech policies.

“Nearly seven decades of Supreme Court precedent have made two things clear,” said the lawsuit. “Public schools cannot segregate students by race, and students do not abandon their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.  [Wellesley Public Schools] is flouting both of these principles.”

The school system has held “multiple racially segregated events for students,” the Parents Defending Education lawsuit said, describing how the school district’s equity director lamented that the school did not keep a list of students sorted by race and ordered white students not to come to certain events.

Not only did the school host these racially segregated events, the lawsuit said, it also refused to host a Jewish students’ affinity group or to fly Israeli or Thin Blue Line flags “as a gesture of viewpoint diversity” when parents complained about Black Lives Matter flags at various schools.

The lawsuit also alleges that Wellesley Public Schools displayed “similar disregard for students’ First Amendment rights” through a policy that punishes “biased” student speech, including “any student speech that is ‘offensive,’ has an ‘impact’ on others, ‘treats another person differently,’ or ‘demonstrates conscious or unconscious bias.”

This story was also covered by Breitbart, with an emplhasis on the phrase "affinity groups".

At issue under the allegations of racial segregation are WPS’s “‘affinity group’ meetings that are open to some students, but closed to others, based solely on the races and ethnicities of the students involved.”  The lawsuit notes that “A racial affinity group is commonly defined as ‘a group of people sharing a common race who gather with the intention of finding connection, support, and inspiration.'”  However, these groups also “by definition, exclude individuals of certain racial groups,” according to the filing.

This sort of advocacy for racial segregation has become more commonplace with the recent push for Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools.

This idea of "affinity groups" seems, on the surfacee, to run counter to decades of legislation and Supreme Court rullngs on segregation.  I still remember remember the idea, from Brown v Board of Education, that "separate but equal is inherently unequal."

On the other hand, we have evidence that students perform better when they see teachers and paraprofessionals who are of the wame race or ethnic group.  Is there scientific evidence that affinity groups actually enhance educational performance.  There should be little doubt that at least some communities in our Commonwealth need a hand up in the area of education.

I am looking forward to how this all plays out.  I hope science is part of the process.  Good science.

Hat tip to my Wife.

Regards  —  Cliff

Building on a Dream

For John, BLUF:  People have dreams of what the perfect world would be.  Not all dreams are the same.  That different groups get to try out there dreams is possible in a nation as land and resource rich as these United States.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

These peeps are building a race-exclusive communist state in the Rockies and I wish them the very best of luck 👍

Here is the sub-headline:

From Not the Bee, by Writer Joel Abbott, 7 May 2021, 10:20 am.

Here is the lede plus one:

In the great nation of America, the land of opportunity, even racist communists can achieve their dreams.

I mean that literally.  A group of ethno-communists is preparing to build a town high in the mountains of Colorado where white people will not be allowed[]

"White People".  Do you think he means Caucasians?

Is this a Great Country, or what?  That a group with unique ideas on Ethnicity and Economics can build a community and govern themselves is a great testimony to this Nation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Cast System?

For John, BLUF:  Here is a take on the topic of Critical Race Theory, which sees it as a way of binning people and creating a hierarchy, a caste system.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Do You Want a Caste System in America? Keep Pushing Critical Theories and We'll Have It in No Time.

From PJ Media, by Ms Stacey Lennox, 3 May 2021, 4:23 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

The debate about curriculum based on critical theories is getting a lot of hype for how it impacts the teaching of history and civics. Critical theories can absolutely infect those two subjects, but this ideology is far more pernicious than that. There are curricula for math, science, and English that use the underlying thesis of critical theories that are every bit as damaging as teaching a warped version of history that claims America is built on the original sin of slavery.

Critical theories divide society into groups based on their immutable characteristics. Then, it assigns personality characteristics, motives, and societal roles to children based simply on how they were born. This strategy divides children by race, sex, immigration status, disability, and other characteristics they have no control over. It then assigns roles, such as oppressed and oppressor, based on those characteristics. Marxists learned long ago that dividing people by class was challenging. A content middle class was always a barrier to their progress. Dividing people based on immutable characteristics was more straightforward, and creating a coalition of the oppressed groups became the means to gain power, beginning in earnest in the 1980s.

Critical theories are pernicious because they remove agency and free will from one segregated group and blame the other for any disparity in outcomes between groups. It encourages blame and victimhood based on how children were born. The philosophy calls for outright discrimination against groups seen to be “privileged” historically. Generally, these children are white, male, and sometimes Asian. It follows in lockstep with the philosophy articulated by one of the high priests of critical theories, Ibram X. Kendi. “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

For me the lead into the second paragraph is important to understanding the wider impact on society.  I have modified the first two sentences slightly:

Progressives divide society into groups based on their immutable characteristics.  Then, they assign personality characteristics, motives, and societal roles to voters based simply on how they were born.

We are looking at a form of a political caste system in the United States, with implications for voting, at the local, state and national levels.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Rule of Law For Now

For John, BLUF:  While most of us tend to follow the law, some like to abuse the law to achieve higher goals.  In the process they alienate those who believe in the rule of law fr all.  This can lead to a breakdown in the Rule of Law, which will be bad for everyone.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Rigged System Can’t Last

Here is the sub-headline:

From Town Hall, by Columnist Kurt Schlichter, 26 Apr 2021, 12:01 AM.

Here is the lede plus two:

You can’t win, but that’s all part of the plan.

Reason, rules, processes – these are the foundations of a free society, which is why the cultural left is so dead set against them.  A citizen needs to be able to rely on clear rules and fixed processes to vindicate his rights in order to have any rights.  But the rights of free citizens – your rights – are an obstacle to the Lil’ Stalins who yearn to rule over us.  If the liberal establishment can create a society where you can’t appeal to facts, evidence, or law, then – until the peasants' revolt – its poobahs can wield undisputed, undiluted authority.  That’s their dream, a country where you live in terror of them because you can never be sure that what you are doing or failing to do is suddenly going to be criminalized.

Take the whole imbroglio about Stabby Girl, the teen psycho in Ohio who decided to filet a girl in front of a cop.  Not surprisingly, to people who aren’t idiots, the officer ventilated her, saving the life of the innocent victim.  But then, of course, the establishment and the media – including America’s #1 Matlock superfan – weighed in on how stopping this future felon was racist racism of racismness.  Normal people were baffled, but then, it’s only if you haven’t been paying attention that you might think that non-criminal black lives matter to Black Lives Matter.

I think he has some important points.

I especially liked this sentence, later in the essay:

There’s this basic Anglo-American premise in law – I know we’re supposed to pretend that our political and legal culture didn’t come down to us [from] the British Isles but it did – that you can use deadly force in the defense of yourself or another when some bad actor is trying to cause death or great bodily harm.

That seems pretty straight forward.  However, we need agreement on how the system should work.  It appears we don't have that agreement.  Moreover, it is not clear that those presuming to speak for Blacks speak for all Blacks.

The author worries that while one side is firmly bound by rules and obligations, the other is makung it up as it goes along.

Eventually, you will inevitably reach a breaking point.  And that’s coming.  Then the bad guys are going to miss the rules that they still expect to protect them.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Math Answers

For John, BLUF:  In an effort to stamp out racism, public education seems to be working overtime to dismiss "Western" learning, including Western math and science.  As a practical matter, this doesn't make sense to me.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Profs help push program that claims math is 'racist' because it requires a 'right answer'

Here is the sub-headline:

• A new program promoted by the Oregon Department of Education is designed to “dismantle” instances of “white supremacy culture in the mathematics classroom.”
• Professors at San Diego State University and Loyola Marymount University assisted in creating the program.

From Campus Reform, by Correspondent Wyatt Eichholz, 25 March 2021, 8:10 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

An Oregon Department of Education newsletter from February promoted an online course designed to “dismantle” instances of “white supremacy culture in the mathematics classroom.”  One example of “white supremacy” highlighted by the course was “the concept of mathematics being purely objective,” an idea which the resource stated is “is unequivocally false."

The program, known as “A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction,” describes itself as “an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students” that provides “opportunities for ongoing self-reflection as they seek to develop an anti-racist math practice.”

The "feedback advisors" for a portion of the program include William Zahner, who is an associate professor at San Diego State University; Melissa Navarro Martell, who is an assistant professor at San Diego State University, and Elvira Armas, who is the Director of Programs and Partnerships for the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University in California.

“White supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms in everyday teacher actions,” the guide states.  “Coupled with the beliefs that underlie these actions, they perpetuate educational harm on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics.”

The newsletter pitched the program to educators “looking for a deeper dive into equity work,” offering to teach “key tools for engagement, develop strategies to improve equitable outcomes for Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, and join communities of practice.”

There are links in the original.

Back when I was somebody and flying fighter jets for the US Air Force, math, and the predictability of math, seemed to be important.  The ability to navigate from the launch airbase to turn points A, B, C, D, etc, to the recovery airbase depended on being able to determine a heading and distance, and based on airspeed, a time.  This, in turn, was used to calculate fuel consumption.  Running out of fuel and having to make an emergency divert, or worse, abandon the aircraft in mid-air, would be embarrassing.♠

It seems to me that math being consistent and predictable was very important to safe aviating, regardless of race or ethnicty. Whether in my Ar Force Academy Class it be me, or my Roommate Bill Perez, or my Cadet Squadron mate Willie T Sakahara or our distinguished classmate Fred Gregory.  It was all the same.

Maybe in the airline business it is different.  I wonder if the "feedback advisors" fly on airliners?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  With the F-4, all Marks, the Pilot's Handbook said a flame out landing was not recommended, and "High Key" (where you start the 360 degree turn to touchdown was 15,000 feet AGL (Above Ground Level)).  No typo.  One would have to lose almost three miles of altitude in a single turn from overhead the point of intended landing and touchdown.

Our Changing Culture

For John, BLUF:  We look back at the Victorian Era and think how quaint their ideas were.  I wonder if those who follow us will look back on us and think the same way.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Radical New Rules for Post-America

Here is the sub-headline:

Americans privately fear these rules, while publicly appearing to accept them.

From American Greatness, by Historian Victor Davis Hanson, 31 March 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

There are 10 new ideas that are changing America, maybe permanently.

. . .

Americans privately fear these rules, while publicly appearing to accept them.

Professor Hanson lists ten items, and they all reflect how we are evolving.  And not in a good way.

I am optomistic.  As a Republic we had a glaring defect early on, which gave us a Civil War.  Then we had segregation, which limited life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but we mostly made it go away.  We do need a “spiritual” revival that revives the belief in hard work and personal trust that elevates all.  I think of our Nation's Capitol's Quadrants and the contrast I remember from 25 years ago between NE and SE.  If SE can be more like NE and we can avoid a major nuclear blowup with a resurgent (after 500 years) China, or an all out war in the Ukraine, things are going to be peachy. Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Georgetown Law Embarrasses Itself

For John, BLUF:  My experience is people learn by asking questions and finding answers.  When people may not ask questions, they will not learn.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Yet Another Update On “Introducing The ‘Technologically Inept Adjunct Professor With Politically Incorrect Opinions Principle’”…&nbhsp; Ethics Dunce:  Professor David Batson

From Ethics Alarms, by Mr Jack Marshall, 15 March 2021.

Here is the lede:

When we last left furiously virtue-signaling Georgetown University Law Center it had fired veteran adjunct professor Sandra Sellers last week for discussing frankly but inadvertently over Zoom a situation that everyone connected with the Law Center knows to be real.  GULC had also suspended her co-instructor David Batson for barely nodding his head during Sellers’ statement of frustration that black students too often end up at the bottom of her grading curve.  Dean Treanor, in his statement declaring the intended private discussion as “reprehensible,” darkly insinuated that Batson had failed a “bystander responsibility.”

Now Professor Batson has resigned, sharing his stated views with The Washington Post.

The author of the Blog Post, having read what Professor Batson shared with The Wash Post, declares:

Batson is a groveling coward, another of many we are seeing enable the suffocation of open discourse in the U.S. as censorious bullies take charge.

It is an unkind statement, but it appears to be true.  That Professors at Georgetown University Law School can not discuss the performance of students, at least in collective terms with regard to common characteristics is an indictment of the school.  If there is a chance that Black students, as a group, suffer a disadvantage in some way it is dereliction for Professsors not to ponder the situation, and then try to improve that situation.

Doesn't Georgetown care?

Regards  —  Cliff

Reframing America

For John, BLUF:  Critical Race Theory appears to be an Anglo-American construct that sees the world centered on an all powerful Euro-American "race", while ignoring the racist (nationalism) in the rest of the world.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Asian Americans Emerging as a Strong Voice Against Critical Race Theory

From Newsweek, by Writer Helen Raleigh, 9 March 2021, 6:00 AM EST.

Here is the lede plus three:

Critical race theory (CRT) is a divisive, discriminatory ideology that judges people on the basis of their skin color.  It has penetrated our society—it's in federal agencies' and federal contractors' "bias training," in school curricula and many corporations' "diversity training."  Few are willing to speak out against it for fear of being labeled racists or white supremacists.  Asian Americans, however, have emerged as a powerful voice against this pernicious ideology.

The Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York (CACAGNY) delivered the most vigorous rejection of CRT yet, calling it "a hateful, divisive, manipulative fraud."  CACAGNY is one of the oldest chapters of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, which was founded in San Francisco in 1895 to respond to nationwide discrimination and violence against Chinese Americans.  For more than a century, this organization has helped Asian Americans, especially Chinese Americans, to "quicken the spirit of American patriotism" and to "insure the legal rights of its members."  CACAGNY speaks out against CRT now because Asian Americans have experienced its harm firsthand.

According to CRT's victimization ledger, all whites are oppressors, and all "people of color" are oppressed.  CRT argues that unequal economic outcomes among different races in our society result from white power and white privilege.  Asian Americans punch a big hole in that worldview.  As a group, their economic achievement has surpassed that of all other racial groups, including whites.  Last year's Department of Labor statistics even showed that the median weekly earnings of Asian women surpassed white men's earnings.

Values drive Asian Americans' economic success.  Many believe in education attainment, stable marriages, delayed gratification, hard work and meritocracy.  CRT attacks all these as "white" values, and the people who practice them as acting "white."

I was surprised to see this article in Newsweek, which I normally think of as part of the major media orbit.

I believe the approach of Critical Race Theory will influence Federal, State and Local Governments, until Hispanics decide that it is not working for them, at which time the tide will turn against this view of America and swing back to the themes of hard work and "land of opportunity".

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Reaching the American Dream

For John, BLUF:  There is no doubt in my mind that some groups have not achieved the American Dream.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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That was no typo:  The median net worth of black Bostonians really is $8

Yes, this is from three years ago, but it is still pertinent in this time of COVID-19 Pandemic and Protests in the streets.

From The Boston Globe, by Reporter Akilah Johnson, 11 December 2017.

Here are the two key paragraphs:

The cities were selected because their diversity allowed researchers to disaggregate data among subgroups within broader racial categories.  In Boston, the report said researchers focused on “multigenerational African Americans (referred here as US blacks), Caribbean blacks (including Haitians), Cape Verdeans (both black and white), Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans.”  A total of 403 people were surveyed.

The household median net worth was $247,500 for whites; $8 for US blacks (the lowest of all five cities); $12,000 for Caribbean blacks; $3,020 for Puerto Ricans; and $0 for Dominicans (that’s not a typo either.)  The sample size for Cape Verdeans was too small to calculate net worth, the report said.

These numbers suggest strongly that some groups have failed ot achieve the American Dream.  The why needs to be explored, but the existence of "Red Lining" for decades, is surely one of the factors.  Real estate is how many Americans build up their family wealth.  That option was closed to many, including many Blacks.  That needs to be fixed.  Reversed would be a good word.  While the idea of "Reparations" (for Slavery) does nothing for me, the idea of correcting bad economic conditions has an appeal.  We need to be helping individuals who have been trapped in poverty due to past discriminatory practices.  Not to make them rich, but to put them on the launching pad to success.

First we need the statistics, so we understand the dimensions of the problem.  Then we need Federal Assistance to help those who had been squeezed out to get in, a sort of new GI Bill.

Regards  —  Cliff

Rioting Continues

For John, BLUF:  Do mobs in the street impact the outcome of national elections?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Since the BLM autonomous zone was such a raging success in Seattle, BLM has decided to set one up in Minneapolis

From The New Neo, by the Blog Mistress, 18 September 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

Are they trying to get Minnesota to flip to Trump?

Because with news like this, one wonders:

Then the Blog goes on to mention setting up a George Floyd autonomous zone in Minneapolis and actions in Portland.

It does cause one to wonder what is going through the minds of the Democratic Party Pooh Bahs.  Does the Biden-Harris Camp have an opinion?

Hat tip to the .

Regards  —  Cliff

First Non-Caucasian VEEP

For John, BLUF:  Given how we used to be in these United States, we are making progress.  But, more is needed.  We need to move past exterior presentations to what is inside.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The first vice president of color was a Republican elected over 90 years ago

From The Washington Examiner, by Reporter Joseph Simonson, 16 June 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

Joe Biden's pledge to choose a woman as his running mate, and his consideration of several black female officeholders for the role, has spurred considerable chatter about diversity in the nation's second-highest office.

"Historic" is a term often associated with the search by Biden, himself a former vice president, after 36 years as a Delaware senator.

But the United States has already elected its first minority vice president, Republican Charles Curtis, who had significant Native American ancestry.  Curtis was vice president under President Herbert Hoover for four years, much of it consumed by the nation's darkest economic times, the Great Depression.  Curtis, Senate majority leader when tapped by Hoover for the Republican ticket, was also the first person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach the highest ranks of the federal government.

Born in the Kansas Territory in 1860, Curtis spent many of his formative years on an Indian reservation.  His mother, Ellen Pappan Curtis, who shared Kansa, Osage, and Potawatomi heritage, died when he was 3 years old.  He then moved in with his maternal grandmother on the Kaw Indian Reservation, where his first language was that of the tribe.  He later learned English and French.

Not just a Vice President, but a Senate Majority Leader.

I'm impressed.

Which is not to take away from an action by Nominee Joe Biden to pick a woman as his running mate, perhaps a woman of color.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

MAS

For John, BLUF:  "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Minneapolis City Council members intend to defund and dismantle the city's police department

From CNN, by Reporters Dakin Andone, Christina Maxouris and Josh Campbell, 8 June 2020.

Here is the lede plus two:

Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council on Sunday announced they intend to defund and dismantle the city's police department following the police killing of George Floyd.

"We committed to dismantling policing as we know it in the city of Minneapolis and to rebuild with our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe," Council President Lisa Bender told CNN.

With nine votes the city council would have a veto-proof supermajority of the council's 13 members, Bender said.

Defunding the police seems like a splendid geopolitical act.

It will turn the United States into Sicily.  (MAS, or Make America Sicilian).  Of course, organized crime, which depends upon some level of civil control, or policing, will quickly figure out that they need to act. Thus we will have the kind of thing Mexico sees, with the Drug Cartels enforcing the rules.  So, we will more or less go back on an even keel, except the voters having a say will be much less direct.

At the same time, like with Sicily, there will be mass emigration.  I am guessing masses of people will leave the US for Russia, which is suffering from severe depopulation.  Russia will be swamped and we may see efforts to limit immigration.

The Greens and Ultra-Progressives will be thrilled with the reduction in the human footprint.  They will double down on the reduced pollution by killing the space program.  This will increase emigration of aerospace engineers, who will go to Russia and help them in their race with China, to colonize Mars.  America will be happy, what is left of it.  Russia, although being swamped with Americans, will be happy.  However, China will not be happy.

But, happiest of all will be long haul movers.

I am counting on some California Avocado Rancher to incorporate this into a novel, which will be published, in French, under a pseudonym (Monsieur Mec du Vin), and he will use the profits to keep his Avocado Ranch going, and, with movie rights, fund Small Wars Journal.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Avoiding Future George Floyds

For John, BLUF:  Decades of Federal Government intervention and we are still miles from solving this problem.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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THIS IS CNN:  Antifa Supporter Chris Cuomo All but Lights Matches for NYC Rioters in Despicable On-Air Rant

From Red State Blog, by Sister Toldjah, 3 June 2020.

Here is the InstaPundit except:

“Now, too many see the protests as the problem.  No, the problem is what forced your fellow citizens to take to the streets, persistent, and poisonous, inequities and injustice.  And please, show me where it says that protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful.”

And, of course, the InstaPundit Blogger, Mr Ed Driscoll, obliged, by quoting the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

So Newscaster Christ Cuomo doesn't really know the First Amendment.  I am not shocked by that.  He seems to be all emotions and little knowledge.

The other place Mr Cuomo falls down is in not acknowledging that this problem of minorities feeling they are not being listened to is decades old and thus falls on his Brother and his Father, with regard to New York State.  Why is he not excoriating his own kith and kin?

The death of Mr George Floyd is an example of a failure of local government.  Not just the police department, which failed to discharge this officer with over a dozen complaints, but also the local States Attorney, who let him slide on a previous complaint.  And she, now Senator Amy Klobuchar, was short-listed for the Democratic Party Vice Presidential nomination.  If she had acted decisively back in the day might we not be here today.

The problems we are facing today, the abuse of civil rights, the lack of trust in government on the part of some groups in these United States, is not for lack of laws.  It is for lack of good law enforcement.  And not just the police.  This includes things like building inspectors and folks enforing zoning codes.  It is about the education of our children and where the sewer lines are being installed.

If we want to fix this we need to elect local leaders who want to make thing fair.  As for legislation, we might consider this tweet:

Jane Coaston  @cjane87 · 21h
1. End qualified immunity.
2. Curtail the power of police unions
And here’s the toughest one:
3. We probably need fewer laws, in general.

The InstaPundit himself, Law Professor Green Reynolds, bumped this, because it is true.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Dave Patrick Underwood RIP

For John, BLUF:  We know about Mr George Floyd, who died in police custody, in Minneapolis.  Should we not known about this man, murdered by a rioter this last weekend  Yes, we expect higher standards of those who provide us protection, but that does not mean that rioters are not to be held to a high standard.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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FBI identifies federal officer killed near protest

From The Federal Times, by Reporter Daisy Nguyen, 1 Jun 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

A federal law enforcement officer who was shot and killed while providing security at the U.S. courthouse in Oakland, California, during a protest has been identified.

Dave Patrick Underwood, 53, died from gunshot wounds sustained after someone fired shots from an unidentified vehicle Friday night, the FBI said Sunday.

For irony, Mr Underwood was a Black man.

For further irony, he was murdered while providing protection to the Ronald Vernie Dellums Building in Oakland.  Representative Ron Dellums was the first Black Member of Congress from Northern California and served thirteen terms.  He also served as Mayor of Oakland.

Mr Underwood is survive by a Sister, Angela Underwood Jacobs.  Ms Jacobs, earlier this year, ran for the Republican nomination for the US Congress in the California 25th District.  The seat was won by Republican Mike Garcia, who replaces disgraced Democratic Representative Katie Hill (resigned November 3, 2019),

Our condolences to Ms Jacobs and other members of Mr Underwood's family.  He should not be forgotten.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Colin Cut Again

For John, BLUF:  It appears we are not solving problems related to race.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rioters Decline To Sign Colin Kaepernick

From The Babylon Bee, 29 May 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Colin Kaepernick arrived at the Minneapolis riots last night, saying he was excited to be a part of the looting and violence.

Kaepernick tried out for the riots by throwing bricks into windows but missed every time.  He was able to rush a Molotov cocktail into a target window and then spike it on the ground, but then he caught fire.  Finally, in a last-ditch effort to get selected for one of the riot squads, he filmed a workout video and sent it to various protester organizations but hadn't heard back as of publishing time.

I appreciate the great and innovative humor here, but at some point we need to address the failure of civil government leadership that led to this rioting.  Not the failure in leadership that led to the death of Mr George Floyd.  The failure in leadership that resulted in thousands being so alienated their only redress was rioting.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Winnie the Flu Spreads

For John, BLUF:  There is a lot we have yet to learn about the Coronavirus, but what we are learning isn't uplifting, including this information.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Stanford Antibody Studies Indicate No Safe Option for Eradicating COVID-19, Including Lockdown

From PJ Media, by Ms Stacey Lennon, 14 May 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford Medicine recently released his antibody study of the staff of 27 Major League Baseball (MLB) teams from across the nation.  The study is of mostly staff, not players, and covered a broad demographic range.  The results of the MLB study showed that only 0.7% of the staff had the antibodies indicative of having had COVID-19.

Some staff is located in areas where antibody testing has been conducted for the general population such as New York, Los Angeles, and Santa Clara. Most of these locations showed the MLB staff had a much lower rate of prior infection than the general population.  For example, the New York City metro area showed 25% of the population had antibodies.  The MLB staff for the Yankees only showed antibodies in 1.64% of the employees. The Mets tested positive at a rate of 2.61%.

Dr. Bhattacharya said this was indicative of a trend seen in the other studies he has done. Lower-income residents had higher exposure rates to COVID-19.  While the MLB had put mitigation policies in place, he believes that middle-to-upper-income individuals, like most of these staff in this study, have lower exposure.  The ability to work from home and live in areas away from where they work that are less densely populated may be a factor.

The conclusion that Dr. Bhattacharya comes to based on the studies he has done to date is that the epidemic is far from over.  The good news is his studies show about 70% of those who display antibodies were asymptomatic.  This testing also places the death rate at somewhere between 0.1- 0.5%.  This is orders of magnitude lower than originally thought.

So, culture is a factor with the spread of coronavirus, just as Fiction Writer Sarah Hoyt told us, a month ago.  And, it is likely not so much race as it is poverty and the cultural mores associated with poverty.  Don't get distracted by race.  The solutions will require some thought.  Back when LBJ was President we worked to fix things and had some counter-productive results.  We should avoid that this time, if we can.

Hat tip to my Buddy Neal for noticing this and recognizing its significance.

Regards  —  Cliff