Sunday, June 30, 2024
Phones Out
No phones in class:
Aument said that smartphones present a big distraction for students when it comes to learning in school, adding that smartphones also play a role in students' mental health. Consequently, the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee has agreed to pilot a grant program that will provide certain schools throughout the state with lockable bags that will hold students' smartphones until the end of the school day. 'I can't think of another issue I worked on in the 14 years I've been here that's resonated quite like this has.' The grant program would also give education employees locks to store smartphones in as well, per the report. Additionally, the proposed legislation would implement a performance review of the smartphone storage plan, monitoring and tracking academic achievement and students' mental health over two years to see how effective the program is. "I can't think of another issue I worked on in the 14 years I've been here that's resonated quite like this has," Aument said earlier this week. "I just think it's critically important that we free our kids from these devices for six and a half hours during the school day and the response we've gotten from parents and the response we've gotten from educators has been overwhelmingly positive," he continued.Lock 'em up...
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Person Made
No pronouns for them:
The document tells employees to “avoid using terms that use ‘black’ to mean something bad or negative and ‘white’ to mean positive or less harmful” and “consider the order in which you present groups of people, as it can imply that first mentioned dominates the later mentioned.” However, it also warned that “the introduction of new terms to avoid bias may introduce comprehension issues,” in a stunning lack of self-awareness. In a section about “inclusive language for gender,” the document says that the term “birth sex” is “disparaging for many individuals that identify as transgender, gender-nonconforming, or nonbinary” and suggests that “assigned sex” or “sex assigned at birth” is preferred. The adjectives “male” and “female” are to be avoided, while “they,” “them,” and “their” are supposed to be used when referring to people if their preferred pronouns have not been explicitly shared. Additionally, “Mr./Ms./Miss/Mrs.” should only be used sparingly, with “Mx.” being used when someone’s pronouns are unknown.Don't offend the perpetually offended...
Joe's Last Stand
It's time for Joe to go:
"The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant," the board wrote. "He struggled to explain what he would accomplish in a second term. He struggled to respond to Mr. Trump’s provocations ... More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence." They continued: "As it stands, the president is engaged in a reckless gamble. There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency." The board acknowledged the president's long devotion to the country, and praised his leadership over the past few years. But the board claimed that trying to pass off Biden's performance in the debate as a bad cold, or a bad night, was no longer sufficient and a new leader and candidate must take his place. "It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes," the board said.And now the media sees it, too...
Friday, June 28, 2024
Dumb Time
The Biden campaign is living up to its promises:
Checking in on the Biden campaign 🥴 pic.twitter.com/MwwlwP9qt3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 28, 2024
Mc Fail
No fake meat for them:
Speaking at the WSJ Global Food Forum, Erlinger said he had "asked the team to test the McPlant in two very different markets, and they chose San Francisco and Dallas." McDonald’s kicked off testing of the plant-based burger in the two cities in February 2022 and concluded it after a limited time. It involved about 600 restaurants in total. "It was not successful in either market," the McDonald’s USA president said at the forum. "So, I don’t think the U.S. consumer is coming to McDonald’s or looking for a McPlant or other plant-based proteins from McDonald’s now." He said the fast-food giant, which has over 40,000 locations around the world, would "continue to monitor" the trend, according to the Journal's footage of his remarks. The company has introduced the McPlant to various countries in Europe over the years and even permanently added it to the menu in some places, like the U.K. and the Netherlands. "The bigger trend around protein consumption is really around chicken, and we think we’re poised to serve that trend well, and that’s where we’re making investments," Erlinger said during the forum.Meat's still on the menu...
Move Along Homeless
The homeless will have to sleep elsewhere:
In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the high court found that outdoor sleeping bans don’t violate the Eighth Amendment. Western cities had argued that the ruling made it harder to manage outdoor encampments in public spaces, but homeless advocates said punishing people who need a place to sleep would criminalize homelessness. In California, which is home to one-third of the country’s homeless population, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the decision gives state and local officials the authority to clear “unsafe encampments” from the streets while acting with compassion. “This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years,” he said.He probably won't lose any sleep over it...
Women And Women
Some people still don't know what a woman is:
At a House hearing, "Standing up for the Rule of Law: Ending Illegal Racial Discrimination and Protecting Men and Women in U.S. Employment Practices," Mace challenged Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights CEO Maya Wiley, "Can you define what a woman is?" Wiley, a former MSNBC legal analyst who ran for mayor of New York City in 2021 on a defund the police platform, responded, "A woman is a person who says she is, and let me tell you one story about this—" "No, no, you’re not going to tell me a story, we’re not doing that right now, it’s not story time," Mace said, eventually telling Wiley to be quiet as she reclaimed her time. "Biological women are real women," Mace said. "A guy born as a man who wants to pretend to be a woman and put him and his big-Jim-and-the-twins in the locker room with underage girls or, his little-Jim-and-twins by the way, is disgusting."But still not a woman...
Plan B
Democrats look for alternatives:
One major Democratic donor and Biden supporter said it was time for the president to end his campaign. This person described Biden’s night as “the worst performance in history” and said Biden was so “bad that no one will pay attention to Trump’s lies.” “Biden needs to drop out. No question about it,” the donor said in a text message, proposing an alternate ticket led by the governors of Maryland and Michigan. Biden stumbles, rambles at first presidential debate beside Trump SharePlay Video At least two prominent potential 2028 contenders — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom — said they stood by Biden even after his performance. Newsom, when pressed on MSNBC if Biden should step down, said that talk is “unhelpful” and “unnecessary.” “You don’t turn your back because of one performance,” Newsom said. “What kind of party does that?”One that needs a new candidate...
Court Decision
The Court gives more power to the courts:
Why it matters: The landmark 6-3 ruling along ideological lines overturns the court's 40-year-old "Chevron deference" doctrine. It could make it harder for executive agencies to tackle a wide array of policy areas, including environmental and health regulations and labor and employment laws. Driving the news: Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the opinion of the court, argued Chevron "defies the command of" the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs federal administrative agencies. He said it "requires a court to ignore, not follow, 'the reading the court would have reached had it exercised its independent judgment as required by the APA.'" Further, he said it "is misguided" because "agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities. Courts do." Roberts noted the court's decision did not call into question prior cases that relied on Chevron, including holdings pertaining to the Clean Air Act, because they "are still subject to statutory stare decisis despite our change in interpretive methodology."Let the courts do their job...
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Olympic AI
The Olympics gets creepy:
NBCU announced on Wednesday during an Olympic presentation in New York City that as part of its Paris Olympic coverage, Peacock will use A.I. technology to offer a personalized recap experience for Olympic fans. “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” will use generative A.I. and A.I. voice synthesis technology to offer Olympic fans a customized recap of highlights and events from the Games. Each compilation will feature clips from the Olympics coverage and be narrated by an A.I. re-creation of Michaels’ voice. Peacock said the voice comes from using Michaels’ past appearances on NBC. The broadcaster signed off on the use of his voice. Earlier in the week, the company held a brief demonstration for reporters of the Daily Olympic recap, and it certainly sounds like Michaels’ voice.Let the creepy games begin...
Speech Limits
Biden's speeches are getting shorter:
Beyond the small number of rallies, has anyone noticed that Biden has only spoken 30 minutes or longer at rallies on just three occasions? Most of his speeches are shorter than a sitcom, according to Fox News.And he knows where he is...Biden spoke for more than 30 minutes on just three occasions during the 11 rallies in 2024 examined by Fox News Digital. Rallies are defined as campaign events at which Biden took the stage alone, stood in front of a podium and was joined by cheering supporters, as opposed to intimate campaign stops, fundraising events, or the brief remarks he has made while carrying out his duties as president. All three rallies at which he spoke for more than 30 minutes occurred during the first two months of 2024. He spoke for 33 minutes at a rally in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in January; for about 32 minutes during a rally at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina, also in January; and for 32 minutes during a North Las Vegas rally in February.Trump's speeches are a minimum of one hour and are more usually an hour and a half or two hours. Trump speaks extemporaneously and, at times, wanders far afield to get to his point. But he's still standing after two hours.
Crazy Test
Conservative men are saner:
The historic data from a 2020 Pew American Trends Panel study asked respondents whether a doctor or healthcare provider had ever told them that they have a mental health condition. Results show that white liberal women aged 18-29 were the most likely to have been diagnosed with a mental health condition with 56.3% of respondents answering ‘yes’ in response to the question. This dropped to 27.3% when 18-29-year-old conservative women were questioned. Trends show a decrease among all political affiliations in older age groups, with the exception being white moderate women aged 30-49 (32.8%) compared to the 18-29-year-olds of the same political viewpoint (28.4%). White conservatives over 65 were around ten percentage points lower than their liberal counterparts, with only 4.5% of conservative men aged 65 and over answering ‘yes’. .... This is hardly the only research coming to this conclusion. In fact, all research on this topic comes to the same conclusion. The results from the paper “Mental Illness and the Left,” which was published in Mankind Quarterly, showed the same correlation between a person’s gender + ideology and mental illness.Sanity comes with maturity...
By Definition
Sex isn't sex according to a judge:
The Montana law defines “sex” in state law when referring to a person as only male or female. However, District Court Judge Shane Vannatta claims this law is “unconstitutional.” The judge argues that the law’s description did not explicitly state its purpose. Judge Vannatta struck down the 2023 law on Tuesday. The ruling came after a group of plaintiffs who identify as “transgender,” “nonbinary,” “intersex,” and “other identities” sued the state. The plaintiffs argue that the law denies legal recognition and protection to people who “identify” as “gender-nonconforming,” according to The Associated Press. Vannatta did not address the claim of a lack of legal recognition and protection but did say that the bill’s title did not adequately explain whether the word “sex” referred to gender or sexual intercourse.The judge probably couldn't define it either way...
Inflated Numbers
Inflation is still getting higher:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis said that the personal consumption expenditure price index rose at an annual pace of 3.4 percent in the first three months of the year, far faster than the 1.8 percent recorded at the end of last year and up from the 3.3 percent estimated in the prior report issued in May. The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index is used by the Fed as the yardstick for its two percent inflation target. The upward revision indicates that the surge of inflation as 2024 began was even worse than previously thought. Core PCE prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose by 3.7 percent, according to the new estimate. The previous estimate had core prices up by 3.6 percent. In the fourth quarter, core prices were up at a two percent annual rate.The high cost of voting for Democrats...
All Wet
The US Swim Team is racist, or something:
Writer and associate professor of law Janel George took exception to the U.S. Olympic swimming team which will be flying to France in the middle of July. In particular, she took issue with the majority-white team which features only one black swimmer. “When people say that Jim Crow was so long ago, it’s important to remember the lasting effects of segregated spaces — like segregated swimming pools — and the continued impact across generations,” George wrote on social media. “This visual reflects that legacy.”Everyone who's not diverse enough out of the pool!
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Tech Police
Free speech suffers a setback:
PJ Media’s Chris Queen explained, “The court ruled that the plaintiffs didn't have standing to sue the federal government for pressuring social media companies to suppress opinions about COVID that didn't fit the government's narrative.” This tacitly gives the government carte blanche to demand that social media censor whatever they falsely label “misinformation,” a serious blow to the sacred First Amendment, one which legal analyst Jonathan Turley labeled “censorship by surrogate.” Blaze TV podcaster Matt Kibbe pulled no punches: “This reveals the real majority in the Supreme Court, and they hate you for your liberties.” Constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley told Fox News, "It's very frustrating for the free speech community because standing is often used to block meritorious claims." "This is one of the most fundamental issues that we are facing," he added. "I just wrote about this issue, this case, in my recent book because you have one of the largest censorship systems in our history, if not the largest. It's been called Orwellian by lower court judges, and what the court is saying is that we won't hear you on this issue because you're not the right litigants." Turley noted that he's always been a "dove" on standing, and added, "I believe that these standing decisions are too narrow because they do prevent the court from rendering a decision on such important constitutional questions." "So this issue will have to wait for another day," he continued, "but one of the things that many of us have been arguing for years is that the government is engaging in censorship by surrogate. I testified about this in Congress, that they have made a mockery of the limits of the First Amendment by doing indirectly what they're barred from doing directly. They're using academic and corporate allies to bar and cancel and blacklist critics on a variety of different subjects. So it's going to be very frustrating for the free speech community."Censorship lives, for now...
Red Democracy
Voters say trump would be better at protecting democracy:
Polling of six swing states that President Joe Biden won in 2020 shows that voters believe Trump is a greater defender of democracy than Biden, outpacing the current president by 11 points. “Which candidate do you think would do a better job handling each of the following? Threats to democracy in the U.S.,” the Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University poll asked respondents: Trump: 44 percent Biden: 33 percent Neither: 16 percent Both: 7 percent The poll sampled 3,515 registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin from April to May with a ± 2.9 percentage point margin of error.Democrats seem to forget that there's an opposition...
Reverse Taxation
Trump will raise taxes or something:
Escobar stated, “[W]e’ve known from the beginning that this was going to be a tough election. The country is really divided. We’re seeing that. I see that, on a daily basis, in Congress. I see that in communities across the country, which is why we are investing and going to people where they are. This is a long game. Obviously, we’ve only got about four-and-a-half months left until Election Day. This debate, this Thursday, is going to be an important component of that. There will be a second debate, and there’s a lot more campaigning ahead. And I have faith in the American people that they will see that contrast, that they won’t want to see tax increases that a Trump economy will bring or catastrophic job losses that a Trump economy will bring.”Sounds more like what is already happening under Biden...
Cow Tax
How now taxed cow:
The tax will increase to 750 kroner ($108) by 2035. However, because of an income tax deduction of 60 percent, the actual cost per ton will start at 120 kroner ($17.3) and increase to 300 kroner by 2035. “We will take a big step closer in becoming climate neutral in 2045,” Bruus said, adding Denmark “will be the first country in the world to introduce a real CO2 tax on agriculture” and hoped other countries would follow suit. New Zealand had passed a similar law due to take effect in 2025 which sought to tackle all livestock emissions in what critics saw as a punishing new tax on farmers. However, the legislation was removed after hefty criticism from farmers and a change of government at the 2023 election from a hard left-wing bloc led by former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to a center-right one, as Breitbart News reported.The taxed cows come home...
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Milk Mania
Milk is colonialist, or something:
The Daily Mail notes that a new project is in the offing. It will be headed by Dr. Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp, who is a University College London associate professor at the Institute of Archaeology. It will be based at the History of Science Museum in Oxford. The name of this study? “Milking it: colonialism, heritage & everyday engagement with dairy.” Yes, it is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds. The museum released a statement regarding the scope of this *ahem* research:Colonialism does a body good...By focusing on communities intersecting industry, aid, and government regulation, the project aims to centre on heritage as a vital framework for understanding how colonial legacies influence contemporary issues and affect people's lives. Through milk diaries, archival research, and participatory podcasting, it will investigate historical engagement with milk, building networks with consumers and producers in Britain and Kenya. The project will question both the imagined and real aspects of milk, revealing the intimate and political nature of this everyday substance.I didn't even know there were such things as "milk diaries."
Canadian Bust
The Canadian speech police at work:
Tommy Robinson, an outspoken critic of mass migration, and commentator on the incongruity of Islamic beliefs with Western society, particularly majority-Muslim child rape gangs in England, was arrested on an alleged immigration offence after giving a speech to around 150 people in Calgary during his planned three-stop tour of Canada hosted by Ezra Levant’s Rebel News. Footage posted on social media showed Robinson being handcuffed and put in the back of a police car by what appeared to be undercover officers in street clothes. The right-wing activist was seen laughing while describing his arrest as “absolutely insane”. “What have I got a warrant out for?” Robinson was heard questioning, to which an officer replied: “You’ve got an outstanding immigration warrant, we’ll talk about it in the vehicle.” At the time of this reporting, Calgary Police have not made any statement on why the English political campaigner was arrested. However, Robinson has previously been convicted of entering the United States with a friend’s passport.No free speech here...
Cheap Fake
Whatever you say:
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 25, 2024
“There were grocery things that were up — it has gone down!”
(Grocery prices are up 20%+ since Biden took office)
“We saw gas prices go down!”
(Gas is up 44%+ since Biden took office) pic.twitter.com/G5jB6PV7Hg
Monday, June 24, 2024
Obamacare Overruled
A key part of Obamacare (remember it?) is unconstutional:
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on June 21 that the mandate requiring insurers to cover preventive services, such as cancer screenings and HIV prevention drugs, was unconstitutional because the task force issuing these requirements wasn’t appointed by the president or confirmed by the Senate. The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, requires coverage of “preventative care” but doesn’t include a definition of that care. Instead, it requires coverage of preventative services and drugs that receive an A or B rating from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Members of the task force wield power akin to that of presidentially appointed officers but aren’t appointed by presidents. The task force is completely independent, issuing legally binding ratings without supervision, the panel found. “The unreviewable power it wields—the power to issue preventive-care recommendations that insurers must cover by law—renders its members principal officers of the United States who have not been validly appointed under Article II of the United States Constitution,” U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote.Darn actual pesky law...
Spending Spree
Where your money is going:
Overall, CBO increased the estimated budget deficit for the current fiscal year (which ends on Sept. 30) by $408 billion and the 10-year budget deficit by nearly $2.1 trillion. A breakdown in the report shows the major causes of the worsened financial conditions. The (bloated) spending bills passed in March added nearly $1.3 trillion to the 10-year deficit, as higher spending this fiscal year leads CBO to assume (not incorrectly, in most cases) that spending will continue at those higher levels in the future. Spending on Medicaid and Obamacare subsidies will increase deficits by $511 billion in the coming decade, in large part because more people will continue signing up for “free” coverage. The budget office also noted that “the recent surge in immigration [has] made more people than CBO previously estimated eligible for” Obamacare subsidies, accounting for an increase in projected enrollment. The Biden administration’s student “loan forgiveness” will cause the deficit to grow by $145 billion this fiscal year alone, and because the administration has not finalized several of its regulatory proposals, CBO has yet to put the full fiscal effect of these giveaways onto the federal government’s books. Even though the budget gnomes assumed that changes in economic projections since the last estimate (primarily higher income tax receipts) will reduce the budget deficit by $568 billion, the effect of Washington’s spending overwhelmed the comparatively good economic news, leading CBO to raise deficit projections overall.It all has to be paid for somehow...
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Electric Regrets
EV owners are having second thoughts:
Nearly half of American owners of electric cars want to switch back to traditional cars powered by internal combustion engines, according to a consumer survey released by McKinsey and Co. earlier this month. The consulting firm surveyed consumers in multiple countries: the U.S., China, Germany, Norway, Australia, France, Italy, Japan and Brazil. Between all of those countries, 29% of electric car owners want to return to driving internal combustion cars, with 46% of surveyed American electric car owners wanting to do so. This surprised the consulting firm, cutting against received wisdom about people’s switch to electric.Buyer's remorse begins here...
Budget Breakers
California chooses what not to spend on:
The Sacramento Bee reported: The budget agreement California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders announced Saturday sets aside $12 million to help the state implement a series of reparations-related bills lawmakers hope will pass this year. … For [Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus], it was exactly what Black lawmakers asked for, she said. But it also comes in a year when the state was facing an almost $47 billion shortfall. … The money would help support proposals endorsed by the caucus, including having the state apologize for inflicting harm on Black Californians and allowing slavery to occur in the state. CalMatters.org reported Saturday on the budget deal, which combines spending cuts and withdrawals from the state’s “rainy day” fund to overcome the shortfall (which CalMatters says is even higher, at $56 billion): The $297.9 billion spending plan, announced this morning by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, also relies on reserves and pauses some business tax credits to address a remaining revenue gap estimated at $56 billion over the next two years. … The plan makes $16 billion in cuts, including a blanket 7.95% reduction in funding for nearly all state departments and the elimination of thousands of vacant positions, which are collectively expected to save nearly $3.7 billion. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will take an additional $385 million cut at the urging of progressive lawmakers, far higher than what Newsom had originally sought for the shrinking prison system. Other major reductions include $1.1 billion from various affordable housing programs, $746 billion for health care workforce development and $500 million to build student housing. A scholarship program for middle-class college students will lose $110 million annually, about a fifth of what the governor had originally sought to cut. The push for reparations began in 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, at both the state and local levels, in left-wing cities like San Francisco. Proponents began recommending massive cash transfers, leading Newsom to back away cautiously from cash payments as a form of reparations.Until he decided to leave them in...
Woman Warriors
Democrats want women to fight:
Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) inserted language into the annual defense authorization bill to require women to register for the draft, according to The Hill. The two Democrats have come under intense fire from Republicans and conservatives for pushing this into the legislation. Critics say that the senators from Montana and Nevada and other Democrats supporting the provision are currently facing tight reelection races, which could make their actions an issue in their states. Rosen's Republican opponent, Sam Brown, an Army combat veteran, has already made it an issue for his Nevada Senate race. "Look at my face. This is the high cost of war. Amy and I volunteered to serve, and we honor all who serve. But forcing America’s daughters to register for the draft is UNACCEPTABLE. Shame on Jacky Rosen," said Brown in a tweet. Brown was severely burned by an IED explosion while serving in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), promised to remove the provision requiring women to register for the draft. "I’m opposed to that. I don’t think this is the time to get into a debate on the floor of either house about that. We’re not anywhere near implementing a draft, and to me it’s a distraction when we need to be talking about real issues that are immediate," said Wicker, adding "I hope it will fall out, either on the floor or in conference." Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), himself a veteran, told Fox News that the provision was "insane" and that "There shouldn’t be women in the draft. They shouldn’t be forced to serve if they don’t want to."The antiwar movement has come full circle...
Fact Fact Check
Better late than never:
Critics of Trump have claimed for years that he equated neo-Nazis with counterprotesters following the event. President Biden was chief among those critics, citing the supposed incident as a main reason for launching his 2020 campaign. "While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and White supremacists and said they should be 'condemned totally.' Therefore, we have rated this claim 'False,'" Snopes wrote. The Snopes fact check now aligns with years of arguments from Trump's camp, who long stated, backed by transcript and video, that his comments were taken out of context. The fact-checker notes that the false claim about Trump's comments "spread like wildfire" on the left, eventually being cited as a cornerstone of Biden's election campaign.That stone has been removed...
Saturday, June 22, 2024
The P Word
No phonics for them:
Dozens of studies since the 1950s have shown the benefits of teaching phonics as a vital aid in learning how to read, especially for the youngest students. However, when a bill came before the California legislature mandating the teaching of phonics, the teacher's union swatted it away. In a letter to Al Muratsuchi, the chair of the Assembly Education Committee, the teachers laid out their opposition to AB 2222 in typical academic gobbledygook. "The proposed legislation would duplicate and potentially undermine current literacy initiatives, would not meet the needs of English learner students and cuts teachers out of the decision-making process, especially when it comes to curriculum," read the letter. “Educators are best equipped to make school and classroom decisions to ensure student success,” the letter said. “Limiting instructional approaches undermines teachers’ professional autonomy and may impede their effectiveness in the classroom.” In other words, the CTU opposes the "top down" approach to teaching kids phonics to augment their reading instruction. They've got to try something different. According to the most recent testing, just 43% of California students in grades 1-3 read at grade level. It's worse for blacks and Hispanics. “This is also a matter of civil rights,” said Kareem Weaver, an NAACP activist and co-founder of the literacy advocacy group FULCRUM. “Kids need access to prepared teachers, and communities like ours, I feel like we’re bearing the brunt.” The NAACP is one of the primary supporters of the phonics legislation.Well, if the kids could read, they wouldn't need the teachers' unions anymore...
Republican Democracy
The left doesn't understand how it works:
Ask the contemporary leftists who target virtually every protection we have against mob rule in the name of "democracy" -- attacking the Supreme Court, the Electoral College, federalism, the filibuster, the Senate and even the existence of states. They understand the difference, even if just intuitively. Ask leftists who treat the "popular vote," not as a wishcasting cope but as means of legitimizing presidential elections. Those who want a few big states ruling the nation via a direct federal democracy are not interested in a "republic" that derives power from the governed but one that strips local control and individual rights from those they dislike. Blunting the federal government's power over states and the state's power over individuals is an indispensable way to ensure a diverse people in a huge nation can govern themselves and live freely. The "save democracy" types who refer to these long-standing federalist institutions as "minority rule" do not view "democracy" and a constitutional republic as interchangeable concepts.They hate what they don't understand...
Women's Voices
Britain's Labour party doesn't like women:
Rowling wrote in The Times: “I’ve been a Labour voter, a member (no longer), donor (not recently) and campaigner (ditto) all my adult life. I want to see an end to this long stretch of chaotic and often calamitous Tory rule. I want to want to vote Labour.” However, she said that “as long as Labour remains dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain the rights their foremothers thought were won for all time, I’ll struggle to support them,” she said. “The women who wouldn’t wheesht [be quiet] didn’t leave Labour. Labour abandoned them.”Sounds a lot like the Democrats...
Biden Ban
Jim Jordan exposes Biden censorship:
“We knew that @Amazon censored books because of pressure from the Biden @WhiteHouse. Now we know which books,” Rep. Jordan began in a Friday thread posted to X/Twitter. The congressman added that the House Judiciary Republicans and Weaponization Committee “obtained internal Amazon documents showing that the urgent ‘impetus’ for Amazon censoring books in March 2021 was ‘criticism from the Biden administration.'” To censor the books, Amazon created a “new [Do Not Promote] class for anti-vax books,” he said. “Internal emails reveal that Amazon initially added 43 books to its newly created ‘Do Not Promote’ class of allegedly anti-vaccine books,” rep. Jordan continued. “These pro-censorship changes were being made ‘due to criticism from the Biden people.'”Don't mention the regime...
Friday, June 21, 2024
Blue Bail
Biden is losing women:
Mr. Biden’s lead among women has slid to about eight percentage points since the 2020 election, according to an average of more than 30 polls conducted over the last six months and compiled by The New York Times. That’s down from a lead among women of about 13 percentage points four years ago. And since the 2020 election, former President Donald J. Trump’s support among men has recovered and is back to the double-digit lead he had in 2016. Republicans have generally held leads among men in most presidential elections going back decades. But every year that Democrats have won the presidency, they have led among women by more. Mr. Biden’s drop in support has been particularly pronounced among Black and Hispanic women, according to a new set of polls focused on women across the country and in Arizona and Michigan from KFF, a nonprofit organization that focuses on health care research.Old Joe is a no-go...
Right Shift
Why Europe went right:
In Germany, the core country of the European green movement, support for the Greens plunged from 20.5 percent in 2019 to 12 percent. Shockingly, among voters under 25, the German Greens actually did worse than the hard right Alternative for Germany (AfD). That contrasts with the 2019 elections, when the Greens did seven times better than the AfD among these young voters. And in France, Green support crashed from 13.5 percent to 5.5 percent. The latter figure is barely above the required threshold for party representation in the French delegation. The Greens’ overall poor performance means they are now behind not only the traditionally largest party groupings—the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the social-democratic Socialists and Democrats group and the liberal Renew Europe group, but also both right-populist groupings—the European Conservatives and Reformists (which includes Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy) and the Identity and Democracy group (which includes Marine LePen’s National Rally group)—and even the non-affiliated group (which includes Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Hungary’s Fidesz party).Green socialism doesn't sell any better than the other kind...
No School Zone
SF schools are out:
San Francisco has 4,000 fewer students than it did a decade ago and projects it will lose another 4,600 by 2032. In those same projections, the district leadership noted that nearly all schools in all grades had unfilled seats. And yet, despite the enrollment declines, the district has not closed schools, and the city’s teachers union has pushed for that moratorium to continue. But by delaying those hard decisions, the district has spread itself thin, because it’s harder to provide a full range of services at severely underenrolled schools.Destroying schools, one district at a time...
Red Farm
The Chinese seem very interested in American farms:
China has been buying up strategically placed farmland next to military installations across the US, raising national security fears over potential espionage or even sabotage. The Post has identified 19 bases across the US from Florida to Hawaii which are in close proximity to land bought up by Chinese entities and could be exploited by spies working for the communist nation. They include some of the military’s most strategically important bases: Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) in Fayetteville, North Carolina; Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in Killeen, Texas; Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California, and MacDill air force base in Tampa, Florida. Robert S. Spalding III, a retired United States Air Force brigadier general whose work focuses US-China relations told The Post: “It is concerning due to the proximity to strategic locations."I'm sure it's just a coincidence...
Spellbound
Welcome to Hogwarts:
The course is titled "Radical Magic." A full description can be found here. You will need to do a bit of scrolling and there are some other courses that promise to be interesting. "Radical Magic" covers witchcraft, starting with the Salem Witch Trials through second-wave feminism to the present day. The description even takes time to bemoan the fact that Taylor Swift has been accused of including occult references in her performances. I'm not a Swift fan, so you will have to judge for yourself below. The description reads in part: We will explore the feminist and queer communities who have gravitated towards spells, incantations, and Tarot decks to provide a greater insight into a dominant world that was not made for them. Ah, there you go! I knew feminism and queerness would be in the mix somewhere! To wrap up the coursework: For your final project, you will create your own personal grimoire, or spell-book. Yes, you read that right—a spell book! This non-traditional assignment challenges the distinctions we often put between writing, crafting, art, and magic, and it will provide a space to try new things. Your grimoire will likely be playful, at times somber, but ultimately the tenor of your book will be defined by what excites you. (sic) Yes, the final project is a spell book. Any surprises?Only if the spells actually work...
Elite Eats
How they're coming for your food:
The “elite” – as the agglutinators of power who like to use it to control others like to think of themselves – will have all they can eat. Just the same as they have and will continue to have private jets and 10,000 square-foot homes with thousands-of-gallons of liquid hydrocarbon fuels on hand to power their homes and keep their meat cool in the Viking ‘fridges they’ve got that most of us can’t afford – and cook their meat on gas ranges they’ve decided we’re not going to be allowed to have. .... The “elite” have tried to get us to eat them voluntarily; that hasn’t been working. They have tried guilting us to eat them, telling us that eating meat results in “emissions” – of a piece with the tactics they’ve been using (successfully) to drive the car out of the showroom in favor of the device. But it’s been much harder to get people to give up chicken and beef (and milk and cheese and everything else that’s made using milk). People like eating meat – and most do not like the idea of giving it up for a plate of crickets or a smoothie made of liquified maggots. There is also the problem of people who do not need stores to get meat – or milk. Or eggs. These people are a big problem for the “elites” because they are far less controllable. People who are not starving being harder to control.Control the food, control the people...
Sorry About That
Don't call terrorists terrorists:
Children at Schuyler Colfax Middle School in Wayne, New Jersey, were asked to select one answer in a multiple choice test that fits the description, “It is a terrorist organization that commits acts of violence, destroys cultural artifacts, and encourages loss of life in order to achieve its goal of global rule under strict Islamic Sharia law.” The choice of answers was as follows: Islamic State Peru’s The Shining Path Al Qaeda Palestinian Liberation Organisation Of course, the Islamic State is the ‘correct’ answer. However, the group known as ‘Teaching While Muslim’ (TWM) charged, “We have seen anti-Muslim & anti-Palestinian sentiments, teachers, and content in our schools over and over again. But we must not allow it to continue.” The social media post from the group continued: “Call and email everyone that you can. This is NOT okay on a million levels. Go. And yes. This is real.” The post ended with the hashtags “anti-Muslim racism” and “Islamophobia.”It's not phobic if it's true...
Street Money
The homeless are still there:
ECOnorthwest’s analysis found in the counties of Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas, “local governments and nonprofits” shelled out $531 million for homeless interventions, Fox News reported on Thursday. “The huge increase was driven in part by nearly $90 million in federal pandemic relief funds, as well as a regional homeless tax approved by voters in 2020, the report shows,” the outlet said. In February, Portland’s city leaders bought 100 tiny home pods, at a cost of $16,510 each, for homeless people living at the Multnomah Safe Rest Village, per Breitbart News. “Temporary Alternative Shelters Sites Public Information Officer Savannah Eadens said the pods have a bed, bedding, and heater. She added that the structures are supposed to last for five years but they also come with a warranty,” the outlet noted. The recent Fox article continued: About 7,500 people in the tri-county area are living in emergency shelters or on the streets. But the report also includes more than 13,000 individuals who have recently exited homelessness and now receive rental support, as well as more than 81,000 people considered to be at risk of homelessness due to low incomes and high housing costs. … The bulk of the funds were spent on temporary shelter and services, followed by housing placement, according to the report. Administration and other operating costs ate up about $50 million. Some families in Portland have fled the city to get away from rampant homelessness and crime, a report said in 2022.Money doesn't always matter...
Thursday, June 20, 2024
House Patrol
Oakland's mayor get raided:
"The FBI is conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane. We are unable to provide additional information at this time," the FBI said in a statement. As if Thao didn't have enough to worry about, the Oakland registrar's office announced on Wednesday that enough signatures had been gathered to place the petition to recall Thao on the November ballot. Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao (OUST), the campaign spearheading the recall effort, submitted 40,000 signatures before the July 22 deadline. Supporters of OUST say they want Thao gone because of the high crime rate, the firing of the Oakland police chief, and the loss of the MLB team the Oakland Athletics. "This historic achievement marks the first recall in Oakland's history, with Oakland voters signing with a sense of urgency and purpose to recall this dishonest and incompetent mayor," said OUST President, Retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte. "Thao’s actions have pushed Oakland to the brink, but the community is saying, 'NO MORE. We want Thao gone.'"That might happen sooner rather than later...
Avocados Out
No more dip:
According to El Sol De Mexico, the incident took place last Friday when a group of gunmen claiming to be a community police force in the town of Paracho, Michoacan, stopped the inspectors, took their vehicle, phones, and computers, and detained them for a day. Despite the efforts by Mexican officials to downplay the issue, community police forces in Michoacan have a history of being a front for the various drug cartels that operate with almost complete impunity in the state. As Breitbart Texas reported, community police forces such as the ones run by the accused drug boss Juan Jose “El Abuelo” Farias have been a front for Cartel Jalisco New Generation, or for their rivals, the Familia Michoacan, or Los Viagras. El Sol de Mexico quoted Michoacan Agriculture Secretary Cuauthemoc Ramirez Romero, who claimed Mexico’s government has spoken with U.S. officials and resolved the issue. The secretary says importations could likely resume in the coming days.The dippers will not be denied...
Disney DIE
Let's hear it for diversity:
The senior VP told OMG’s undercover journalist that Disney is not considering any white men for the job. “Nobody else is going to tell you this, but they’re not considering any white males for the job,” says Michael Giordano, a Vice President of Business affairs, “there’s no way we’re hiring a white male.” Giordano revealed Disney uses “code words and buzzwords” to avoid legal action and even mentions a candidate being rejected for not looking black enough. Giordano also admitted Disney gives bonuses to executives for practicing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), agreeing that “diversity helps with financial incentives.” “We wanted to hire somebody in the department a few years ago now, who was half black but didn’t like appear half black. And there was a creative executive who was like, ‘Were not, that’s not, that’s no what’s wanted,'” Giordano said. “They wanted somebody in meetings who would appear a certain way and he wasn’t gonna bring that to the meeting.” The Disney VP said there will be a lawsuit at some point over the company’s discriminatory hiring practices.The Mouse gets got...
Biology Lesson
Senator Kennedy explains biology:
Girls’ lungs are 12% smaller than boys’ lungs. Their hearts are 14% smaller.
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) June 19, 2024
That gives boys a clear edge in endurance sports. pic.twitter.com/cGieBNHDpE
Luxury Living
L.A.'s homeless are getting their own high-rise:
Local ABC affiliate KABC-7 reported:There goes the neighborhood...There are 278 units in the 19-story development known as the Weingart Tower. It’s intended to help people currently without shelter on Skid Row and it will be L.A.’s largest permanent support housing project. The building will have an entire floor of offices for case workers, in addition to a list of impressive amenities: a gym, art room, music room, computer room and library. … It’s considered affordable housing, but the cost to build this type of project still adds up. Each unit costs nearly $600,000 and it’s being funded by taxpayers.The cost to build each unit in the homeless high-rise is higher than the median price of a condominium in Los Angeles, which was $564,520 at the end of 2023. The median listing price for a single-family, detached home in Los Angeles was higher, at $1.3 million.
City Dump
San Francisco is literally the worst:
The survey considered everything from the effectiveness of local leadership to the quality of city services. Thirty-six metrics, grouped into six service categories, were compared against the city’s total per-capita budget. San Francisco came in dead last among 148 of the largest U.S. municipalities. WalletHub looked at financial stability, education, health, safety, economy, infrastructure, and pollution. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale. It also calculated an overall quality of city services score for each city based on its weighted average across all the metrics. WalletHub divided the quality of city services score by the total budget per capita dollar amount to come up with a score per dollar spent that it used as its overall rank. This Oct. 28, 2015, photo shows the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline from the Marin Headlands above Sausalito, California. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) For San Francisco, that meant a less than impressive showing. Nearby Oakland, California, followed San Fransisco. Gulfport, Mississippi; New York City; and Flint, Michigan, rounded out the bottom five. The top of the list was populated by mostly smaller cities. Nampa, Idaho; Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky; and Boise, Idaho, were the top three. San Francisco has struggled since COVID-19. The city also has problems related to homelessness, crime, and cash-strapped public schools. The downtown area of San Fransisco, once a tourist hotspot, has been hollowed out, with businesses opting to move to safer areas where retail theft isn’t as big of a problem and law enforcement isn’t hamstrung by local laws that let offenders go free. Last year, a Gallup poll found that nearly half of the people surveyed believed San Francisco is unsafe and would not live or visit there.San Francisco, it's not gonna rise again...
Los Border
Legal immigrants don't like illegal immigration either:
Forty-one percent of Hispanic voters trust Trump to handle immigration while only 38% said the same for Biden, according to a newly-released Equis poll. The survey reached out to 1,592 registered Latino voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. (RELATED: ‘Unconstitutional’: Biden’s ‘Amnesty’ Executive Order Poised For Slew Of Legal Challenges) The divide is even greater with non-Hispanic voters, with 49% of respondents trusting the former Republican president and the GOP on immigration compared to only 34% for Biden and the Democrats, the poll found. The survey appeared to show that many Latino voters are frustrated with Democrat accomplishments on the issue, with 72% of Latino respondents describing themselves as either “very” or “somewhat” concerned with Democrats’ “broken promises” on immigration. Sixty-five percent of Latino respondents also expressed concern over Democrats’ failure to deliver a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.You can't promise what you can't deliver...
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Rock Heads
Climate crazies get offended by giant rocks:
Stonehenge was daubed bright orange on Wednesday, as radical environmental activists used their now-familiar tactic of reloading fire extinguishers with paint to attack buildings and places. Footage provided by the Just Stop Oil extremist group shows two people running towards the ancient stones with fire extinguishers and marking the monument. Shockingly, despite the large number of bystanders, at first only one member of the public stepped up to prevent the vandalism. After a physically diminutive but undoubtably courageous woman tousles with one of the attackers, another member of the public then joins in and helps wrestle away a paint-projecting fire extinguisher.Spinal Tap would like to have a word with them...
Full Mental Jacket
Amazon takes out the K word:
Modine, who starred in the iconic film, paired a smartphone screenshot of the Full Metal Jacket poster as advertised on Amazon Prime with the original poster, which indeed showed that the phrase “Born to Kill” had been removed from the drawing of the soldier’s helmet, though it must be noted that the phrase appeared in regular search bars. “Who decided to remove ‘BORN TO KILL?’ Modine wondered aloud. “Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there. Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with ‘BORN TO KILL’ and the peace button as a statement about ‘the duality of man.”Human nature isn't easily censored...
Name Change
California allows kids to choose their pronouns:
School districts in California would be barred from requiring teachers to notify parents if their child asks to go by a new pronoun at school under a bill the state Legislature is weighing amid legal battles over the rights of parents and gender-nonconforming students. The state Senate approved the proposal Thursday, which would ban school districts from passing or enforcing policies requiring school staff to disclose a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to anyone else without the child’s permission, with some exceptions. The goal is to protect students whose safety could be threatened if they live in unwelcoming households. The issue is personal to Kai, a transgender man who recently graduated from high school within the Rocklin Unified School District near Sacramento and was treated for suicide attempts before coming out. He confided in a teacher “who had displayed her dedication and empathy toward all her students,” Kai said at a news conference last month. “Having a trusted adult is paramount to ensuring a queer kid makes it to their next birthday,” he said. “If you care about kids, you’ll enact this legislation that will protect their well-being and protect their lives.”If you cared about them, you wouldn't...
Doctors Are Out
Medicine in Oregon gets even more woke:
Under Oregon law, doctors who fail to report "unprofessional conduct" from themselves or a colleague within 10 business days can face severe penalties, including loss of license. The state's medical board is in the process of shoehorning "microaggressions"—innocently intentioned behaviors interpreted by women or minorities to be subliminal communications of bias—into its definition of "unprofessional conduct," according to the proposed rule, which the board unveiled in April. The rule, which has thus far flown under the media radar, expands that definition to include "discrimination through unfair treatment characterized by implicit and explicit bias, including microaggressions, or indirect or subtle behaviors that reflect negative attitudes or beliefs about a non-majority group." Discrimination, the rule states, is defined as "differences in the quality of healthcare delivered that is not due to access-related factors or clinical needs, preferences, and appropriateness or intervention." The proposed crackdown on microaggressions, a concept that germinated at elite Ivy League universities and has since spread to the legal and medical fields, marks the latest example of medical institutions infusing left-wing cultural trends into their work.No actual medicine allowed here...
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Candy Man
Why kids like Trump:
“My friends love Trump,” Joshua Adler told Breitbart News of his classmates in Wisconsin while attending Turning Point Action’s “The People’s Convention” in Detroit, Michigan. After being asked if he believes Trump has become more popular among young people in recent years, Adler said, “Definitely,” before giving an anecdote about how he and his classmates have been personally hit with inflation under the Biden administration. “When I went to the sports center in Eau Claire, the Airheads, now they’re 50 cents,” he said. “They used to be 25 [cents], now it’s 50 [cents].” Breitbart News replied by asking, “So, you guys are getting affected by the inflation, too, with the Airheads?” to which Adler nodded. “So that makes Trump more appealing, then?” Breitbart News asked, to which the seventh grader replied, “Yeah.”Candy for everyone...
Bad Blue Ethics
No ethics for them:
After Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced their Presidential Ethics Reform Act last month, the pair have been working to secure support from both sides of the aisle to ensure its success in the lower chamber. However, those efforts began to unravel when at least three Democrats rescinded their support after they were contacted by the White House, a source familiar told the Washington Examiner. “I was excited to come to Washington to introduce my bill. And was proud that I had found three senior Democratic co-sponsors. When I landed, I was really disappointed to learn that those co-sponsors had decided not to support the bill and had had conversations with the White House,” Porter told the Hill, which reported the news. The three Democrats who originally agreed to be co-sponsors but later dropped out are Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), according to the report. The three cited concerns that the bill was too overarching and could be unfairly used against the Biden family ahead of the 2024 election. “It’s too partisan a tool to cudgel the president as opposed to a serious effort of bipartisan ethics reform,” Khanna said. However, the lawmakers denied they were contacted by the White House or that it had anything to do with their decision-making. Rather, Khanna said, he backed out after reading the bill text because he didn’t think it was bipartisan enough.They can't decide how unethical they are...
Monday, June 17, 2024
Blue Fear
Why the Democrats are scared:
As USA Today notes, these numbers show that Biden “has suffered significant losses among Black voters who supported him in 2020.”If you take your base for granted long enough, sooner or later they'll notice...Seventy-six percent of those surveyed in each state said they voted for Biden four years ago. Now, his support has fallen 20 percentage points in Pennsylvania (to 56%) and 22 points in Michigan (to 54%). Exit polls in 2020 showed Biden received 92% of the Black vote in each state, making his decline now even more precipitous. The top reason volunteered by respondents in the survey was discontent with the job he's done in the White House, followed by worries about his age and mental acuity. Third was concern about wars, including his support for Israel in the conflict in Gaza. Biden was viewed favorably by 61% to 31% in Michigan and 59% to 33% in Pennsylvania. While a net positive, it's an anemic showing for a candidate among a part of the electorate that for decades has overwhelmingly supported his party. To compare, former president Barack Obama, the nation's only Black president, had favorable ratings of 88% to 9% in Michigan and 84% to 11% in Pennsylvania.Meanwhile, Trump received increased support among black voters compared to four years ago. He’s up six points in Michigan with black voters compare to 2020, and up eight points in Pennsylvania.
Right Rebels
The kids turn right:
After being asked if she believes that being a young conservative is a rebellious position to take, given that academia is controlled by the left, Castillo agreed, saying that Generation Z is “getting fed up with being fed [left-wing] propaganda.” “The propaganda is getting to a breaking point,” Castillo said. “I think we’re really seeing that as conservatives, it’s like, ‘Hey, maybe this is the better place to be, it’s more fun, it’s more free, maybe there isn’t something wrong with being proud to be an American, instead of being proud to stand by the gay pride flag in your classroom.'” “I think that absolutely it’s getting more fun,” Castillo continued. “I think with things like Turning Point, I think that that movement really gained a lot of traction within the young people and the youth, and so I’m very thankful for that.” Castillo added that the left, meanwhile, has “found a way to incorporate themselves with childish values.” “Now it’s just the adults are into all this ridiculously childish propaganda,” she said.The kids might be all right after all...
Scenic Route
Scenery is racist, or something:
Social media user @kaseyklimes, who formerly worked on Google Maps, revealed the reasoning behind the lack of a “scenic route” option on the app in a thread on X over the weekend, revealing that DEI gibberish is responsible. “Inadvertently diverting foot traffic from low-income streets to high-income streets takes revenue and potentially tax dollars from already struggling communities and funnels it instead to richer communities,” he wrote on the platform. In other words, he’s upset that people may spend money in nicer areas if a “scenic route” option was available on the app. Despite his desire for a scenic route option, Klimes added that the global reach of Google Maps would add a “bias” across the system compared to the current model where each street has “an equal chance” at being used to direct foot traffic. In response to the revelations, fellow social media users were quick to vent their frustrations, with some moving towards other navigational systems such as Apple Maps instead.Don't enjoy the racist scenery...
Sunday, June 16, 2024
California Cuts
The cuts just keep on coming:
Last year, California’s Democrat-led legislature passed the bill to hike the minimum wage to $20 for the state’s more than 500,000 fast-food workers, and the state’s Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom enthusiastically signed it into law despite strong objections from businesses. Newsom claimed the law was “one step closer to fairer wages, safer and healthier working conditions, and better training by giving hardworking fast-food workers a stronger voice and seat at the table.” Opponents of the law warned that fast-food restaurants would have to downsize their workforce, scale back remaining workers’ hours, raise prices, or even shut down locations to offset rising costs. The Democrats and the labor unions brushed aside critics’ concerns. Since April, the critics’ warnings have turned into a harsh reality. Fast-food chains in California, in an effort to adapt to the new regulations, started reducing their workforce last year. The Southern California Pizza Company, for instance, laid off around 841 delivery drivers statewide in December 2023. The California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) reported that fast-food chains have cut nearly 10,000 jobs since Newsom signed the minimum wage hike bill into law last September. These are not just numbers but real people losing their livelihoods. Unfortunately, the job cuts are not over yet. Franchisees for Pizza Hut and Round Table Pizza announced plans to lay off around 1,280 delivery drivers this year.The law of intended consequences...
Land Lender
Kamala Harris has an offer:
Eligible candidates must be the first generation in their family to buy a home to secure the $25,000 grant. In addition, a “certain tranche of folks” will receive the $400 a month to help pay their mortgage costs. The purpose of this all is pandering, of course. Harris’ pledge is catered towards Black Americans whose support she needs to help President Joe Biden secure the White House for another four years – a demographic that Democrats are increasingly desperate to hold on to. Even 15-20% of the Black vote going toward Trump would be catastrophic for them. And it seems to have worked – at least to the audience she was directly pandering to, which applauded her racialnomics: Immediately, there’s a problem. If you’re looking for somewhere which will be covered by the payments, then you must search hard for a property worth no more than $92,000. Obviously that math assumes the person in question is unemployed, but even if a poor person was able to come up with another $400 a month to put towards the mortgage, the maximum home price they’d be able to afford is far below the national average. Alas, it has raised questions over whether the policy actually promotes equality or favors one group over another – and what kind of loopholes may exist.Welcome to the neighborhood-if it's worth it...
No Sale
No SUV's allowed:
Edinburgh’s city council voted to ban fossil fuel advertisements on city property, undermining the ability of not only oil companies, but also car manufacturers, airlines and cruise ships, to promote their products. The ban targeted arms manufacturers as well. Edinburgh is not alone. Amsterdam and Sydney have cracked down on advertisements for fossil fuels and high-emissions products. France also limited the promotion of coal, gas and hydrogen made from fossil fuels. Even the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, has joined in, endorsing a ban on fossil fuel ads this month in a speech in New York this month: “Stop the Mad Men from fueling the madness.” “There’s a moment happening here,” said Ben Parker, the Edinburgh city councilor who spearheaded the ban and a member of the Scottish Green Party. “It’s a way of saying fossil fuel companies and arms manufacturers are not welcome in our city.” A local ban on fossil fuel advertisements might seem minor at a time when carbon emissions — and temperatures — continue to march upward. But there is evidence that sweeping advertising bans, such as those targeting tobacco products in many countries, can change how consumers view and purchase certain products. The question is whether the new fossil fuel advertising bans are substantial enough to have an impact.Like most "green" laws, probably not...
Bad Karma
No yoga allowed:
Park rangers arrived unannounced at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park on a recent day to keep instructors and students from taking their familiar pose atop the bluffs overlooking the Pacific. Naturally, yoga enthusiasts are bent out of shape, the good vibes disrupted by the threat of tickets and fines. “San Diego is the mecca of yoga, it’s the reason people move here,” said yoga instructor Kody Hetherington. “If you don’t allow people to take care of themselves in this healthy way outside, then what are people going to do?” City officials this year revised a sidewalk-vendor ordinance, and as part of that, clarified that fitness classes, including yoga, held in public parks and beaches require proper permitting—and are restricted to certain spaces. That led to the park rangers’ crackdown in May, and San Diego’s yoga crowd has been in warrior pose ever since. Local yogis accuse city officials of being inflexible and bending over backward to soothe affluent NIMBY homeowners who live nearby. “Honestly, it seems like a wealthy, privileged few are trying to keep their ocean view clear of other folks,” said Amy Baack, who has been teaching yoga class at Sunset Cliffs since 2021.No yoga in their backyard...
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Bad Faith
Meet the leftist faith healer:
“As I learned how to apply God’s Word to my life in new ways, I better understood the power that was already residing in me,” Bush wrote of her abilities in “The Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America.” The passage was summarized in a report from the New York Post. “It was there, waiting for me to acknowledge it, to use it. I had the confidence to heal others with God’s power.” Elsewhere in the book, Bush told the story of an ailing toddler she met during a prayer service in St. Louis. “The child had had a bleed in her brain, shortly after she was born, and so couldn’t walk. She had never taken a step in her life,” Bush recalled. “I carried the child from the prayer room in the back of the church out into the sanctuary . . . ‘Walk,’ I said gently to the three-year-old girl, ‘you will walk.’ And this girl took her first step. Then another, and another. She walked. “Her grandmother walked into the sanctuary just in time to see the child take about two dozen steps. She screamed, and then she kept screaming,” Bush continued. “When she caught her breath, she looked at me in wonder and said ‘Praise God.’ She grabbed her granddaughter and walked with her out of the church.” In another instance, Bush claimed she cured a woman who was suffering from a number of tumors. “One woman whom we met had several visible tumors on her torso. She was due to have surgery but lacked health insurance and living in the park. One of the tumors was particularly painful to her. I laid hands on her and prayed, and I felt that my hand was no longer touching a tumor. It shrank along with the others on her body,” the “squad” Democrat wrote. Bush has long been affiliated with a faith-healing church in Missouri, whose lead pastor claimed that he cured the congresswoman of coronavirus through faith healing in 2021.If you can't beat the religious nuts, join them...
The Illiterate Age
Using bad science to keep kids from reading:
A story at AMP Reports titled "'Science of reading’ movement spells financial trouble for publisher Heinemann" notes that "The educational publisher raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during the 2010s selling reading programs based on a disproven theory [the now disfavored Common Core]. The company now faces financial fallout, as schools ditch its products." More: The three biggest educational publishers — Heinemann’s parent company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, along with McGraw Hill and Savvas — are all now marketing their core reading programs as aligned with the science of reading. Lather, rinse, repeat. My home state of Ohio has allocated "$86 million for educator professional development, $64 million for curriculum and instructional materials, and $18 million for literacy coaches." More money down the drain that will do next to nothing to improve the reading ability of children.If you can read this, you didn't need the "science..."
Big Bite
Joe saw it all:
According to files released to Judicial Watch by way of litigation through the Freedom of Information Act, members of the Secret Service wished each other a “safe shift” while protecting Biden due to the dozens of agents who were allegedly attacked by the German shepherd over a two year period before the dog was given away, the New York Post reported. USSS records obtained by CNN in February showed that the dog attacks numbered at least 24, but the new agency report suggests that the attacks could be more than three dozen, the Post noted. The files showed that the president reportedly accused one member of the Secret Service of lying about the attack, but personally watched at least three other attacks occur, the Post noted.Joe knew, Commander chewed...
Friday, June 14, 2024
Signed Out
Keep it straight, or something:
Messages like, “No cruising. No U-turns. Midnight to 6 am” were posted around the neighborhood in 1997, with the intent to curb gay men from roaming the streets to hook up. For years the signs remained, even as the city’s leadership changed and the community grew — until this week. In a celebration with LGBTQ community members, District 4 Councilmember Nithya Raman and District 13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez retired the signs on Monday. “Los Angeles has a rich history of welcoming the LGBTQIA+ community, but there has also been real and present homophobia— which at times has been inscribed into the city’s physical spaces, as with these no-U-turn signs,” Raman said in a prepared statement. […] “I would completely agree that we need to do more to protect these spaces,” said Soto-Martinez. “It’s not just unique to Los Angeles…we’re all sort of facing the same very serious challenges.”Traffic directions seem to be one of them...
Green Grade
In Chicago, teachers are paying attention to the important things:
The CTU will push the city to include initiatives like electric school buses, green jobs training programs for students and reducing emissions from buildings with solar panels and other retrofits, among other initiatives, according to E&E News. Those demands are being made while 2023 testing data shows that about 75% of Chicago’s public school students were unable to read at grade level and 83% of students were behind grade level proficiency in math, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. The union is also demanding the removal of all lead pipes in school buildings, replacement of windows that do not open and the creation of a “climate champion” role at each school to organize climate-related initiatives and activities, according to E&E News. CTU is also proposing to have solar panels and heat pumps installed in school buildings, as well as to create “heating and cooling centers” for communal use when temperatures are either very hot or very cold.too bad they aren't proficing any actual education...
DEI DA's
It's for the lawfare, or something:
Rep. Maxine Waters (D) explains why DEI is so important:
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 11, 2024
Black prosecutors are going after Trump pic.twitter.com/LG7fw1DYg8
No Title
No Title IX here:
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty granted a preliminary injunction on Thursday, and referred to the Biden administration's unilateral Title IX changes as a "threat to democracy." "This case demonstrates the abuse of power by executive federal agencies in the rulemaking process," Doughty said in his ruling. "The separation of powers and system of checks and balances exist in this country for a reason." Doughty ruled that the changes were inadmissible because the term "gender discrimination" as used in the establishment of Title IX "only included discrimination against biological males and females at the time of enactment."Actual biology still matters...
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Chinese Sun
The Pentagon wants to go green with Chinese panels:
"The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon, part of the Biden administration’s plan to promote clean energy and 'reestablish the federal government as a sustainability leader,'" PBS reports. "The Pentagon is one of 31 government sites that are receiving $104 million in Energy Department grants that are expected to double the amount of carbon-free electricity at federal facilities and create 27 megawatts of clean-energy capacity while leveraging more than $361 million in private investment, the Energy Department said." Republicans in Congress are trying to stop the project from going through. "We write today to express strong concerns regarding implementation of the Biden administration’s executive order to make the federal government carbon neutral by 2050. As part of its green agenda, at the start of this year the Department of Defense announced that it would install solar panels on the Pentagon," House Republicans Robert Wittman, Ben Cline, Jen Kiggans and H. Morgan Griffin wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week. "We are deeply concerned that the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy are not demonstrating appropriate attention to the economic and national security risks posed by pursuing this initiative when Chinese solar manufacturers continue to dominate the marketplace, historically violate U.S. trade laws, and advance the surveillance activities of Chinese military and intelligence agencies."It's just a green partnership...
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
School Daze
Drinking and teaching don't mix:
Munson’s blood alcohol content was found to be two times the legal limit, investigators said. Despite this, Sutter County District Attorney Jennifer Dupre said the law does not allow Munson to be held on criminal charges. “It is not illegal to teach drunk,” she said, adding that prosecutors could not prove that Munson drunk-drove to work. “There was the possibility that she drank after she arrived at the school.” The district attorney also could not prove that Munson’s intoxication would “endanger” her students. “We would have to prove that she is unable to care for herself and others, and the investigation didn’t show that,” Dupre said. “We tried because I don’t like the conduct. It’s not acceptable, but it’s, unfortunately, not criminal,” Dupre said, adding that she does not “support anyone teaching drunk.”Friends don't let friends teach drunk...
Hammer Down
No Thor for them:
Thor is not technically an official part of the school’s logo or team name; they’re called the “Thunder.” But there’s a Thor statue in the main entrance and imagery around the mascot include Thor’s hammer. The AI-generated mural shows the Norse god Thor standing on a mountain with light bolts flowing from his hammer, held over his head. An Evergreen Public Schools district administrator sent an email to the students involved in designing the mural. Students were asked if the senior class surveyed students about their thoughts on the mural and then reminded them that, “We are a system that strives for inclusive representation and our Title IX and Gender Inclusive Schools commitments obligate us to create a neutral and diverse representation of the ‘Thunder’.” The email rejected the mural, though that wasn’t said explicitly. It said the district would like “to see some other options of the mural from the artist” so that they could review the new concept and ask the student body to vote on it. The staff member also offered an “idea” to “remove the person (Thor), enlarge the hammer and rotate it so that it’s hammering the center of the mountain.” Tara said she knew something was wrong when they met with district staff, including the equity advancement specialist. The other elected senior class council members attended, as well. “(Equity department officials) had an issue with the image not being racially and gender inclusive, as well as upholding an image of pure colonization, white power, white supremacy and even going as far as to say that it was alluding to racist anti-black imagery in the south,” Tara said she was told at the meeting.Maybe they'd take Loki instead...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)