[JohnKassNews.com] John Kass has had a buy-out at Chicago Tribune and started his own blog. I'd bookmark it
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is an experienced lawyer, skilled in the great game of words.
She made a good living craftily parsing words at one of the city's top law firms.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2021 09:11 ||
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#1
Lightfoot should immediately ...make a 180 degree turn on police and law and order that is now absolutely necessary to protect lives and the future of the city.
Other Democrats in other places are trying to do this now. For example, Stacy Abrams in Georgia has reversed her position on Voter ID laws after repeatedly likening them to Jim Crow racism.
[American Thinker] It is really a struggle to imagine what the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has in mind by discussing the elimination of accelerated math classes in schools until 11th grade in the name of equity. The story broke in April 2021and shortly thereafter, the VDOE leadership was backpedaling due to parent backlash. "Absolutely, acceleration is NOT going away in mathematics courses in Virginia, if a student needs an accelerated pathway they will absolutely get it," said Superintendent Dr. James Lane.
So, exactly what is meant by an "accelerated pathway"? It's obviously not an advanced or accelerated course or classroom. This sounds confusingly similar to the malarkey being proffered by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) recommending students find their ways on common pathways to learn Essential Concepts.
The NCTM and VDOE initiatives lack discussion on structure, sequence, topics, courses, classrooms, and advancement and most important, how the cornerstones of high school math -- algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus – will survive the restructuring.
What is really happening is a rare reveal of liberal orthodoxy exposed in the sausage-making process. I doubt the ideas are going away, they just won't resurface until better disguised.
Eliminating accelerated math courses for middle and high school students is simply a bad idea with serious consequences. For starters, Virginia will have far fewer students accepted into engineering programs of study at U.S. colleges. Thereafter, Virginia's engineering universities will be faced with watering down admission requirements for its own state students. Ultimately, Virginia students who are accepted into in-state and out-of-state engineering programs will not be able to compete with students from other states.
Math classes are the backbone of a high school student's body of work for those pursuing engineering. The normal sequence of classes offered toward high school graduation is Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2/Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus. Accelerated math students can handle Algebra 1 in 8th grade, which puts them on a trajectory to take full calculus (even AP Calculus) before graduating high school. According to PrepScholar's article "How to Get Into College as an Engineer: 5 Key Factors":
#1
Proof that 'educators' can't and won't do their job. Time for the students and parents to have an open market for the services and not one forced upon them.
#2
Ironic, isn't it? In Colonial America the feeling that children needed "enough 'Riting to sign a document, enough 'Reading to read their Bible (Protestant King James version naturally), and enough 'Rithmatic to cypher their monthly budget." Everything beyond that was Rich People's Education™ and was paid for by Rich People at their private schools...
#3
If you insist on bringing in lower paid engineers and industrial technology from India and China, no need to teach the deplorable proles math skills at any level. Pump them full of CRT and give them their trophy.
#7
Never mind engineering schools, which most of those parents and their children aren’t interested in anyway. Without the full sheaf of advanced/honours/AP courses, none of those students will have the knowledge or the GPAs to get into Ivy League schools. With all that those parents in particular already spend privately to train their children’s abilities to the highest possible pitch in preparation for winning the competition for Ivy League acceptance, those kids will be moved from public to private school at the speed of thought. If necessary certain previously necessary luxuries will be given up to pay for it, rather than endure the degradation of sending their precious offspring to a public or second tier private university.
#8
I had heard sermons in the 80s there was coming a time when America would be infested by demonic influences that would willfully destroy everything the fathers had built. I had thought it was all malarkey then. Today I see stupidity of the level of criminal insanity, sheer evil and madness... and I wonder.
[Illustra Media] Over the years, Jerry Harned and I have been blessed to explore the details of some incredible animal life cycles. In the process, we've photographed and studied biological attributes and behaviors that have often made me step back, shake my head in amazement, and exclaim to anyone within earshot: That's absolutely impossible without the direct intervention of a supernatural designer!
Specifically, I'm talking about the epic migrations upon which the survival of an entire species is at stake (i.e., Monarch butterflies, Arctic Terns and Pacific Salmon). I love these types of stories because they involve daunting physical obstacles, seemingly impossible odds against success, and undeniable evidence of design, purpose, and the creative power of God. That's certainly the case with our newest John 10:10 Project release FIND THE WAY HOME.
This short video will transport you on a voyage that spans thousands of miles in the open sea. You'll travel without an ocean liner, multi-million-dollar GPS system, or cell phones to call the Coast Guard for help along the way. Instead, you'll dive into the Atlantic Ocean with hatchling sea turtles–small, fragile creatures (they weigh less than eight ounces at birth) that travel alone on an odyssey to ensure a new generation. Each is equipped with a sophisticated navigational system that guides them flawlessly through uncharted waters. And each reveals new wonders and confirmation of the God who once spoke them into existence. I hope you enjoy this remarkable journey. Bon Voyage.
[The Libertarian Institute] Over the course of the past century, a number of truly awe-inspiring heists have been carried out by con artists, whose modus operandi is to exploit human frailties such as credulity, insecurity and greed. Con is short for confidence, for the con artist must first gain the trust of his targets, after which he persuades them to hand their money over to him. A con job differs from a moral transaction between two willing, fully informed trading partners because one of the partners is deceived, and deception constitutes a form of coercion. In other words, the person being swindled is not really free. If he knew what was really going on, he would never agree to invest in the scheme.
The "Ponzi scheme" was named after Charles Ponzi, who in the 1920s persuaded investors to believe that he was generating impressive profits by buying international reply coupons (IRCs) at low prices abroad and redeeming them in the United States at higher rates, the fluctuating currency market being the secret to his seemingly savvy success. In reality, Ponzi used his low-level investors' money to pay off earlier investors, support himself, and expand his business by luring more and more investors in. More recently, Bernie Madoff managed to abscond with billions of dollars by posing as an investment genius who could deliver sizable, indeed exceptional, returns on his clients' investments.
It is plausible that at least some of the early investors in such gambits, who are paid as promised, suppress whatever doubts may creep up in their minds as they bask in the splendor of their newfound wealth. But even those who begin consciously to grasp what is going on may turn a blind eye as the scheme grows to engulf investors who will be fleeced, having been persuaded to participate not only by the smooth-talking con artist, but also by the reported profits of previous investors. Eventually, however, the house of cards collapses, revealing the incredible but undeniable truth: there never were any investments at all. No trading ever took place, and all of the company's transactions were either deposits or withdrawals of gullible investors' cash.
Before a con artist is unmasked, nearly everyone involved plays along, either because they stand to gain, or because they truly believe. Sometimes the implications of having been wrong are simply too devastating to admit, and these same psychological dynamics operate in many other realms where most people would never suspect anything like a Ponzi scheme. It is arguable, for example, that the continuous siphoning of U.S. citizens' income to pay for misguided military interventions abroad constitutes a form of Ponzi scheme. If President George H. W. Bush had never used taxpayers' dollars to wage the First Gulf War on Iraq in 1991 and to install permanent military bases in the Middle East, then Osama bin Laden would likely never have called for jihad against the United States. If the U.S. military had not invaded Iraq in 2003, then ISIS would never have emerged and spread to Syria and beyond. Such implications are deeply unsettling, and even in the face of mounds of evidence, most people prefer to cling to the official story according to which the 1991 Gulf War was necessary and just, while the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were completely unprovoked, and all subsequent interventions a matter of national self-defense.
#1
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist."
- Excerpt from Dwight D. Eisenhower's final speech to the nation.
#2
If the U.S. military had not invaded Iraq in 2003,
If Saddam had only followed the 'letter of the law' cease fire agreement that ended the fighting in 1991, then his followers (rebranded ISIS) would have not continued the fight.
Interesting if places like Portland and Seattle and Minneapolis had enforced the law and not tolerated anarchy, would they be in the position they are today.
Small scale, large scale. It's all human behavior.
If you want the 'what if' games -
The US had not taken the Spanish claims on the Philippines in the Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish American War would we have been involved in WWII? No reason for the Japanese to remove their perceived threat to their claim on the material wealth and access to the Dutch colonial East Indies.
Concur. And the con is who influences this behavior.
In this case con = proxy wars. My experience with the ongoing middle east fiasco(s) is that we are involved in a series of proxy wars that our unwitting politicians and strategists never quite understand ... or maybe they are witting accomplices...
Lets play the game...
-Gulf War I - the US could clearly be considered a proxy for Israel
-Afghanistan - the land of proxy war...an initial raid to eliminate or reduce OBL ended with us embroiled in a series of proxy wars as a spectator (Pakistan v. Afghanistan) and proxy war engaged against us by China and Iran...and US forces bled by large criminal enterprises with Taliban front groups.
-Iraq v.2 - perhaps led into this mess by Israel intel to reduce Saddam once again in what was supposed to be a large scale raid...then Bush the younger idiot was influenced to stay in Iraq and nation build based on what he saw on CNN...and we ended up in a huge proxy war between Sunni and Shia...
The arrogant American believes that we are the primary target in Iraq/AF...in most cases we were just in the way...they will fight their proxy wars no matter who inhabits those base camps.
#4
/\ ......they will fight their proxy wars no matter who inhabits those base camps.
All the more reason to simply stand back and observe. If a LEGITIMATE THREAT to our national securty evolves, say nothing and kill every damn one of them. Return home, and continue to say nothing.
[Geopolitical Futures] Throughout the past century, sub-Saharan Africa has more often than not either been largely ignored by outside powers or functioned uneasily as a proxy space for outside powers' various battles. Three things tend to pull outside powers in: There‘s of course the continent's abundance of natural resources, from oil to minerals to timber to, more recently, undeveloped farmland. There are concerns about nonstate threats spawning from the continent's many ungoverned spaces, particularly jihadism.
Finally, there's the global great-power competition that spills into the continent. All three pull factors are currently in play, leading to a surge of attention from several heavy hitters and aspiring powers alike – and, perhaps inevitably, a more crowded military environment.
Interview with Russian professor of economics at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Andrey Kazantsev
[REGNUM] The growing chaos in Afghanistan can combine with permanent chaos in Central Asia," Professor of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics, Chief Researcher of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Andrey Kazantsev, commented to REGNUM IA REGNUM scheduled for June 28-29, the visit of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov to Tajikistan.
#5
The growing chaos in Afghanistan can combine with permanent chaos in Central Asia Central Asia has been in a state of permanent chaos since shortly after the Mongol Empire disintegrated.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
06/27/2021 15:12 Comments ||
Top||
#6
At the line of verse, "Asked Vindmans of yore",
I laughed so hard,
nearly fell on the floor.
#3
It's amazing to me, having done a tour there to see the contrast in accomplishment by South Korea. By the time of the cease fire the place was devastated. It's a small country with limited natural resources and land suitable for agriculture. Compare their situation with Mexico in 1953. Mexico has vast natural resources, abundant farm lands, a greater population, and had not suffer the devastation the Koreans had. Yet today when listing GDP for each, they are usually listed one before the other around the same location in the standings. Corruption is present in any government, but the degree it is pervasive in the culture easily reaches the self destructive and crippling levels.
#4
My father (Sgt. in Yankee Div.) on leaving France/Germany/Austria thought he landed a great assignment doing occupational duty in Kobe Japan, and then the Communists invaded Korea.
He earned his next Bronze Star somewhere up there by what was called the Lincoln Line.
A few years later we were all sitting in front the TV watching Battlefield and he saw himself marching long a roadside. He said he got wounded 2 days after that march was filmed.
[AlJazeera] On September 2, 2020, Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Kenarov headed to the centre of the Bulgarian capital Sofia to cover an anti-government protest.
He was filming the largely peaceful demonstration calling for then-Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s government to resign, when a few individuals started throwing projectiles at the police, who responded with pepper spray and batons.
In the ensuing violence, Kenarov, who had by then put on a gas mask marked “Press”, was yanked to the ground by police officers, kicked repeatedly in the face, and handcuffed, despite insisting that he was a journalist and showing them his press card.
He was eventually taken to the police station and released several hours later.
In the following weeks, the interior ministry denied that Kenarov had been held, despite available footage of his detention and a medical certificate that he was assaulted.
When he tried to take the case to court, the prosecution stalled the proceedings, while the interior ministry asked the National Income Agency to audit his tax and social security payments.
The episode provoked international condemnation from organisations including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which took the case into account when preparing its latest Press Freedom Index released in April.
It ranked Bulgaria 112th in the world, the third-lowest among European countries, after Russia (150) and Belarus (158).
Mariya Petkova is a Bulgarian journalist covering the Middle East, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. More at the link
[American Thinker] There's a story that goes back to the time of President Harry S. Truman. President Truman was a very "earthy" guy from Missouri, and he did not put on airs or act like someone he wasn't. He used the phrase "horse manure" quite often when he was president. Whether talking about the Russian communists or the do-nothing Congress or the critics of his daughter's piano skills, Truman would often say, "It's a bunch of horse manure." With credit given to "Give 'Em Hell Harry" Truman, I can think of a few more events and ideas that cause one to say the same.
– When Dr. Fauci lied about how effective masks are and how important it is to wear masks when, in fact, he knew they were not helpful at all...horse manure.
– When scientists lied about the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine because they did not want President Trump to get any credit for stating its positive effect over COVID...horse manure. Neil Cavuto: "It will KILL YOU! Squee!"
– When the CDC, Fauci, and other scientists lied to the American people by saying the China virus came from a wet market when they knew that it probably came from a Chinese bio-lab...horse manure.
– When colleges and universities are no longer safe havens for free thought, free speech, and free expression, but more resemble the "thought police" of 1984 indoctrination camps...horse manure.
– When the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel protests going on in New York City are making NYC look more like the Gaza Strip than America...horse manure.
#2
Found somewhere on the internet: While speaking to a group of farmers, Truman repeatedly used the word "manure." His wife, Bess, was in the audience with one of her friends who whispered to her, "Bess, can't you get Harry to say 'fertilizer'?"
Bess replied, "It took me 30 years to get him to say 'manure.'"
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
06/27/2021 15:22 Comments ||
Top||
[Washington Examiner] Podcast host Joe Rogan renewed his criticism of President Joe Biden, saying he is not a "real leader."
"Everybody knows he's out of his mind," Rogan said during a segment on the Joe Rogan Experience with comedian Iliza Shlesinger.
Rogan, a veteran color commentator for the UFC, said history would not be kind to the 2020s or Biden's presidency.
"In the future, they're gonna be saying it's one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the country," he said as Shlesinger agreed.
"We'll look back, and it will be scary," Shlesinger said. "Everybody was afraid of getting canceled, people were eating each other, nobody was listening to science."
[Rudaw] In a military parade put on by the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Baghdad earlier this month, drones were front and centre, carried in the backs of pickup trucks and driven through the streets of the capital, sending a clear message to the United States, which is concerned about growing use of drones by the Iranian-backed militias.
US interests in Iraq have come under frequent attack by rockets and, more recently, drones. The attacks are blamed on the militias who want the Americans to leave the country. Last year, the US installed Patriot air defense systems at bases in Iraq, including Erbil airport hoping that, along with its counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) systems, US forces would be better protected from aerial attacks. But just over a year later, Erbil International Airport was hit in a drone attack targeting a CIA hangar.
The PMF’s military parade on June 13 was a preview for a bigger celebration planned for June 26, marking the anniversary of the establishment of the Iraqi militia forces that the Pentagon says are drawing attention away from the war against the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[JohnKassNews.com] 
[American Thinker] It is really a struggle to imagine what the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has in mind by discussing the elimination of accelerated math classes in schools until 11th grade in the name of equity. The story broke in April 2021and shortly thereafter, the VDOE leadership was backpedaling due to parent backlash. "Absolutely, acceleration is NOT going away in mathematics courses in Virginia, if a student needs an accelerated pathway they will absolutely get it," said Superintendent Dr. James Lane. 
[Illustra Media] Over the years, Jerry Harned and I have been blessed to explore the details of some incredible animal life cycles. In the process, we've photographed and studied biological attributes and behaviors that have often made me step back, shake my head in amazement, and exclaim to anyone within earshot: That's absolutely impossible without the direct intervention of a supernatural designer!
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist."
