From the New Blog
#ThingsThatAreOkToForget The Obama Presidency
- #ILikeYouAsMuchAsILike reading Trump's latest tweet (and I don't follow him).
- #ILikeYouAsMuchAsILike getting mail from the IRS
- In contrast, the federal government has passed over 4300 laws and 89,000 rules since 1995. Clearly God is a libertarian. #TheTenCommandments
- What the hell is wrong with my home state of Texas, putting people in prison for voting on legal technicalities? What about things like taxation without representation? Is this really worth exacerbating one of the highest global incarceration rates?
- Spurs coach Popovich questions the relevance of the Second Amendment, which suggests the the natural right of self-defense is some sort of State-conferred right decided by. mob rule. No, Popovich: we don't trust in a State monopoly on weapons. Ask the Founding Fathers.
- Personally, I tend to appreciate commercial sponsors who respect a diversity of perspectives, who refuse to get caught in the middle of squabbles among their customers. You simply note that the viewpoints expressed by a program's host or guests aren't necessarily shared by you.
- As to the Hogg-inspired boycott of Laura Ingraham's show sponsors, I'm not part of her show's demographic (I'm not an anti-immigrant Trumpkin). But ads are aimed at viewers, not hosts. Boycotting companies alienate that audience.
- Why are we still in Iraq and Afghanistan 15 years after Bush's disastrous intervention? "Master Sgt Christopher Raguso"
- Apparently Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg has adopted some mannerisms of German national socialists.
- Hogg should be mocked not for rejections by 4 CA colleges, but he thinks he's changing the world. "Celui qui n’est pas républicain à vingt ans fait douter de la générosité de son âme; mais celui qui, après trente ans, persévère, fait douter de la rectitude de son esprit. "
- McConnell's push to legalize industrial hemp is a rare pro-liberty step forward in this Congress.
- Trump was a registered Democrat #TeachMeSomethingIn5Words
- Check facts before you tweet. #TeachMeSomethingIn5Words
- I don't get this idea that anybody, including children, who get involved in political activities should be exempt from criticism. "Ted Nugent"
- I've boycotted "progressive" entertainers for years; I don't watch late-night TV or the leftist news media, I stopped buying movie tickets, and I don't buy their CD's. If you don't like Nugent's politics, don't buy his stuff. "Ted Nugent"
- As for Trump's freezing funds for Syrian recovery, Trump should have withdrawn at the beginning of his Presidency, not a year later. The US' destructive intervention in Syria morally requires compensation: you broke it; you bought it.
- We pro-life libertarians oppose the State's regulation of marriage and family. We don't believe in State mandates over voluntary choices in child quotas, partner selection, sexual behavior or preventive birth surgeries, meds or technologies.
- Pro-abort TX Dem state rep. Jessica Farrar has introduced a mock bill that penalizes male reproductive activities, including masturbation. (What of woman's sex toys?) There is a SHARED responsibility when a preborn child is conceived.
- #INeedABreakFrom the high maintenance Trump Administration
- Tell that to the Koch brothers.
You remember then the GDP grew more than 3% yearly. #SignsYoureNot18Anymore
- Have you notice how much Fox News Channel has been promoting Trumpkin Roseanne's TV revival? Yeah, it turns out even Roseanne has higher ratings than Trump.
- Can't fight: bone spurs? #DestroyABullyIn4Words
- Except for deregulation, Reagan would have been a harsh critic of the corrupt, faux populist Trump. He would be repulsed by Trump's economic illiterate immigration policies. "President Reagan"
- Trump sycophant Hannity seriously argues that Trump's early Presidency was more productive, effective than his hero-worshiped Reagan. Reagan never had a GOP House. Reagan inherited a far worse economy. "President Reagan"
- There is too much bullshit to debunk here in one tweet, but let me comment on "supported pro-choice". As POTUS, Reagan was staunchly pro-life. Said troll may be referred to his signing a bill as an inexperienced California governor he later renounced. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political…
- Coffee coming with cancer warnings in California? What would we do without meddling political, bureaucratic and judicial whores infringing on First Amendment rights? Screw fear-mongering politicos; I'm a proud coffee drinker.
Facebook Corner
[Yesterday's exchange on education continued. My sister-in-law had republished what I regarded as self-serving teacher union propaganda, bristling at the idea that teachers are responsible for dubious public education outcomes, blaming lack of parental involvement, inadequate funding or parents' failure to send their kids to school with supplies that teachers make up at their personal expense, etc. I've heard it 100 times before, it's bullshit and I'm bored. It doesn't make me popular in the family; 4 of my nieces and nephews teach. (One of my sisters has an education degree but got married near the end of college and started her family shortly after; after raising her large family, she got work at the local library, earned a Master's in library science and landed at position at a nearby metropolitan library.) My brother's son teaches I think now at a Catholic school. In any event, my sister in law is largely sympathetic with my critique, but was also sympathetic to the parent-bashing critique in the union piece, not really for stated reasons but for short shrift of their role in shaping the moral character of their children.
[A second relative joined the thread, a divorced nephew with 2 young sons. He wasn't thrilled with his sons' initial public schools; they put them in private school although they could barely afford it with two incomes but loved the results. They have since enrolled them at better public schools. My nephew is receptive of education choice but for some reason he thinks privatization implies crony capitalism. I'm not sure; it seems to buy into bogus "progressive" talking points. What defeats cronyism is transparency and competition.]
I don't disagree that parents shouldn't delegate moral instruction to a public education system. But the piece you re-posted sounds like self-serving teacher union propaganda; they blame others instead of their own colleagues. When I was a professor, I inherited a bunch of obnoxious students (many, not all) who had attitude, didn't have discipline, actually believed their past inflated grades, couldn't coherently answer essay/discussion questions, etc. Not just that; for example, at UTEP, I once taught a database course which required a data structures prerequisite, and 90% of the students didn't know review material. This was the fault of their instructor, who didn't teach the content of the course, and the administration--that wasn't the fault of their parents. I have no problem with pointing fingers. I had to clean up after these bastards didn't do their job.
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Well, among other things, people in more affluent districts generally have more options, including private schooling, schools may offer better pay and/or may have more selective hiring criteria. Competition is sorely lacking. Catholic schools operate at about 60% of the cost with better outcomes. We would be far better off privatizing education and if necessary subsidizing the costs for lower-means families.
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There are all types of private schools. But keep in mind that public schools are a huge part of your local taxes, and parents who sent their kids to private schools are being double-burdened. Generally speaking, it costs about double to do something in the public vs private sector. You have extraordinarily high administrative and regulatory costs, never mind the inefficiencies of public sector staffing. There are all sorts of examples, e.g., you basically end up paying not by supply/demand (math) but a union-negotiated "equal" salary, no bonuses for doing a better job compared to your peers, etc. Another example is an MEd, which has ZERO correlation with better student performance, but usually comes with a hefty salary hike.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall |
April Fools! (This Cop Isn't Real)
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists
Taylor Dayne, "Prove Your Love"
