Today I am having a colonoscopy.
Normal service should resume tomorrow.
Update: Back home. My ass hasn’t felt this way since freshman year at boarding school.
Tag: Things that totally suck
No Surprises There
Like we couldn’t see this one coming: we suck.
Results of the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) found American teens showed no actual improvement in reading, math, and science compared to the 2015 results.
Our ranking improved, though. Why?
The ranking of U.S. students improved only because the scores of students in other countries dropped.
So we’re getting dumber at a slower rate than the rest of the world’s kids? How nice. And guess what?
As Education Week reported, PISA reading results indicate American teens are able to comprehend the main idea and draw simple inferences in a medium length text, but comprehension and comparison skills when other texts and ideas are introduced – so-called critical thinking skills – are lacking.
Despite a decade of the Common Core State Standards, an Obama-era progressive education reform that was touted as one that would improve students’ critical thinking and eliminate the achievement gap between white and minority students, U.S. public schools appear to be failing in both areas.
So Common Core is failing… along with just about every other nostrum provided by the education establishment, most notably No Child Left Behind, which should now be renamed “Every Child Left Behind”. Here’s some more on the topic.
But all is not lost: I see that SecEd Betsy DeVos has managed to shed 600 useless functionaries from the Education Department in just a couple of years. Go, Betsy, go! MOAR reductions!!!!
Educating Immigrants
From Gates Of Vienna comes a “tl;mr” (too long / must read”) post by a teacher at the sharp end — probably literally so — of the effort to get newly-arrived immigrant children to integrate into the host society. As you can well imagine, it’s going to fail dismally:
I know I will be called a “damned whore”, “damned pussy”, and I know I will hear, “You don’t decide for me.” There will be mess and noise in the classroom, the hallways, the schoolyard and the dining room. Changing rooms where classes change for physical education classes will, as usual, be places where girls don’t dare change since boys will show up and sneakily photograph the girls.
Showering is not on the world map for girls and even for some boys in school. It is enough that one or two pupils refuse to follow the instruction and scream “shut up” at me every time I am going to say something; thus is the lesson destroyed for 28 other pupils who want to learn something.When I call parents in for a conversation, I hear that I don’t have the right to tell their children off, that I should be careful so that I won’t be reported to the principal or school inspectors. They know where my family and I live, what car I drive, and I know that the risk is great that my car will get scratched or destroyed in some other way. I know that certain pupils threaten other pupils, but I don’t dare get in the middle because I risk being beaten.
Read it, and don’t weep; get angry. Because this (and the mindset which enables it) either has come, or will soon be coming to a school near you.
Straightening Out The Military Brass
Actually, I think the so-called “brass” need to be hammered flat like their namesake metal, but let’s move on.
During the awful Obama years, it became obvious that soldiers were not, in fact, supposed to really act like soldiers. And when they did, the criteria for punishment were not “this is what happens on a battlefield” but instead, “it’s not a battlefield, it’s a garden party.”
Soldiers got prosecuted for shooting bad guys because said bad guys hadn’t actually done anything bad, yet. In WWII terms, this would have equated to not gunning down a column of advancing Nazi bastards because they hadn’t started shooting, yet.
Which as any fule kno, is ridiculous except when Obama-era senior officers say it isn’t. Here’s the story behind the conviction of one unfortunate officer:
He ordered his men to shoot three Taliban insurgents who were charging at his platoon on a motorcycle in Afghanistan on July 2, 2012.
The Taliban did not heed orders to stop. Lorance could have let them men pass and possibly kill some of his own American soldiers by blowing themselves up with a suicide bomb (as has happened in other cases) or by gunfire. He chose to stop them and save American lives.
Sending a soldier to prison for defending his troops in a war zone should never have happened and should never happen again.
God-Emperor Trump, however, seems to know what’s what, and has pardoned or reinstated those unfortunate soldiers who fell foul of the Obama milquetoast rules of engagement.
And it’s about time. He should have done it on Day One of his presidency, is my only criticism.
Now the next item should be to go after the fucking officers (up to and including generals) who approved both the rules of engagement and this travesty of justice — it’s the .dotmil, there’s a signature on a document somewhere — and either demote them or toss their asses out. And the sooner the better.
We need fighting spirit in our senior officer corps, not rules-bound wokeness and pussyfooting.
Oh, That’s Charming
I see that the Supremes have fucked up yet again:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting can proceed with their lawsuit against gunmaker Remington Arms.
The high court decided it won’t take up the case, but said the families can still seek damages from the gun company over the 2012 Newtown, Conn., attack that killed 20 children and six adults. Justices rejected Remington’s argument that firearm manufacturers are shielded from liability in crimes.
The families argue Remington marketed the AR-15-style assault rifle in a fashion that inspired shooter Adam Lanza to plot the attack. Advertisements, they say, promoted the gun as “a highly lethal weapon designed for purposes that are illegal — namely, killing other human beings.”
The lawsuit says Remington should never have sold a weapon that dangerous to the public — and argues Remington used product placement in violent video games.
Remington has argued a 2005 federal law shields gunmakers from liability for crimes committed with their products. Tuesday, the Supreme Court justices rejected that position.
I feel I should say something about this travesty, but what I say could possibly result in an unfriendly visit from a federal alphabet agency — to be met by an extremely unfriendly reception from yours truly — so I’ll just shut up.
So much for that “conservative” Supreme Court the Left has been wailing about.
If I had the money, I would buy a fucking Remington AR-15 right now, even though I’m not a fan of AR-15s (as any fule kno) and apparently the Remington variants are not highly regarded by the AR-15 cognoscenti.
I think I am going to buy another Remington product, however, just so they can get a few bucks into their coffers to defend themselves against this bullshit. But which one?
There’s the 1911R1 (as a possible replacement for my venerable Springfield):
Then the 870 pump, always a crowd-pleaser, and I’ve never owned one before:
And because I still don’t own a semi-auto .22 rifle (sssshhhh don’t tell the TX state police), there’s the little heavy-barreled 592:
Or I could just go for something a little more ummm deadly (seeing as that’s what’s getting everyone upset), like the Remington Semi-Automatic Carbine in (say) .308 Win:
None of that wussy AR-15 .223 shit for Kimmy, not in my current mood.
Sadly, right at this moment I can’t afford any gun, but I think I can formulate a plan to get one which would satisfy everyone except Michael fucking Bloomberg.
Watch this space…
No Kidding
I know, we all have a good chuckle at stuff like this:
And then there’s this, which pushes the needle even past Code Red (click to embiggen):
I know, I make fun of our Oz friends a lot on these here pages, but this is no laughing matter:
About 100,000 homes in the Sydney area are said to be at risk, with 31,500 of those being in the city’s North Shore. Residents have been warned to take action before it’s too late.
‘Under these conditions, some fires may start and spread so quickly there is little time for a warning, so do not wait and see,’ the Rural Fire Service said on Monday.
‘There are simply not enough fire trucks for every house. If you call for help, you may not get it. Do not expect a firetruck. Do not expect a knock on the door. Do not expect a phone call. Your safest option will always be to leave early.’
Sheesh.
Looks like everything’s more dangerous Down Under: snakes, spiders, sharks, Train Smash Women — and now, fires.
Good luck, me old cobbers. Holding thumbs on this side of the water…