The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

A Failed State: California Admits It Can’t Teach Black Children How to Read

Posted on | February 22, 2020 | Comments Off on A Failed State: California Admits It Can’t Teach Black Children How to Read

An admission that will cost California taxpayers $50 million:

The state of California [on Thursday] agreed to settle a years-long, high-profile lawsuit that accused the state of depriving low-income students of color of their constitutional right to a basic education — by failing to teach them reading skills.
Under an agreement reached with plaintiffs in the complaint, Ella T. v. State of California, the state will provide $50 million specifically to improve literacy in the 75 California elementary schools with the highest concentration of third-graders scoring in the bottom tier of the state’s standardized reading exam.
The agreement, part of which needs the Legislature’s approval, also requires the state to advise public schools how to reduce disparities in discipline of students of color, according to an outline of the agreement provided by Public Counsel, the pro-bono firm representing the suit’s plaintiffs.
Public Counsel celebrated Judge Rupert Byrdsong’s approval of the settlement, calling it “a historic first step forward towards affirming the (right to literacy) for all children in California.” . . .
The plaintiffs represented by Public Counsel and the law firm Morrison & Foerster included current and former students of three California elementary schools with some of the lowest reading proficiency marks in California: La Salle Avenue Elementary in Los Angeles Unified School District, Van Buren Elementary in Stockton Unified, and the Inglewood charter school Children of Promise Preparatory Academy. The suit sought to hold the state responsible for the students’ poor literacy, noting that 11 of the country’s 26 lowest-performing large school districts were based in California.
Ella T., a 7-year-old black student at La Salle Elementary when the complaint was introduced, did not receive the “intensive support” and interventions she needed by the time she left first grade reading below kindergarten level, according to the suit.
Several other students of color represented in the complaint also were several grade levels behind in reading literacy. One black student who attended La Salle, identified in the suit as 11-year-old Russell W., did a book report for his fifth-grade class on “Cat in the Hat,” a book meant for kindergarten readers.

To understand how bad it is, look at this graph (click to enlarge):

 

In California, 77% of Asian students and 66% of white students score “proficient” on reading tests, compared to 41% of Latino students and 33% of black students. In other words, white students are twice as likely as black students to read at a “proficient” level, and two-thirds of black students are reading below grade level. The lawsuit claims that the state of California is to blame for this education disparity, and I’m perfectly willing to accept that claim, because f**k California, a state wholly controlled by the Democratic Party. If, however, you reject such a simplistic explanation, liberals will help confuse the issue:

Over the last decade . . . California has initiated sweeping reforms in an attempt to channel more resources to high-needs students and to better level the educational playing field. These and other efforts have, to some extent, improved academic outcomes — but black, Latino and poor students still lag dramatically behind Asian American, white and wealthier students. . . .

(Note the assumption that “resources,” and the distribution thereof, can lead to “improved academic outcomes.”)

UCLA researchers recently found that California was the most segregated state for Latinos, “where 58% attend intensely segregated schools,” exacerbating inequities in educational opportunities. More than half of the state’s black students are concentrated in just 25 of the state’s 1,000 school districts. Of the students enrolled in K-12 public schools in California, less than 30% are white, the researchers found. . . .

(Wait a minute — California is “the most segregated state for Latinos”? Has anyone told Nancy Pelosi about this? And what’s up with the shortage of white children in California? Maybe Democrats can start a program to import white kids to California from out of state.)

A recent study by Stanford researchers found student achievement gaps are mainly driven by school poverty — not a school’s racial composition. “Racial segregation appears to be harmful because it concentrates minority students in high-poverty schools, which are, on average, less effective than lower-poverty schools,” the study found. . . .

(Keep in mind, when they say “segregation,” they’re not talking about some kind of Jim Crow policy, but merely the fact that “minority students” go to schools in their own communities with children from similar backgrounds. And notice the assumption that the school is independently responsible for education outcomes, as opposed to the individual student being responsible. If your kid flunks math, just blame the “high-poverty” school.)

In 2018, researchers with the American Institute for Research looked at California’s spending the prior school year and calculated that, to educate all the state’s K-12 students to California’s learning standards, the state would have had to spend an extra $25.6 billion over the $66.7 billion it spent that year.

A simple solution — MORE MONEY!

Do you see now why California is circling the toilet bowl? Their entire way of thinking is limited by their liberal worldview, so that they can never understand any problem where the facts contradict their belief system. The “sweeping reforms” intended to “level the educational playing field” were premised on the idea that differences in test scores could be explained in terms of “resources,” so that all they needed to do was target more “resources” (i.e., taxpayer money) at schools with low test scores. Throw in a lot of social-justice talk about poverty and “segregation,” and you make it seem as if only a racist bigot could be skeptical of the efficacy of such “sweeping reforms.”

After years of this kind of “reform” effort, you’ve got fifth-graders doing book reports about The Cat in the Hat, and taxpayers will have to pay out an extra $50 million to settle a lawsuit, but did you notice where this money will go? To “the 75 California elementary schools with the highest concentration of third-graders scoring in the bottom tier of the state’s standardized reading exam.” Yes, the worst-performing schools in the state will get this money, so that the result is to reward failure, and does anyone think that’s actually going to solve the problem?

Liberalism is a mental disorder, and putting liberals in charge of public education guarantees that the madness will become an epidemic.

Oh, and for the record: As of the 2016-2017 school year, 54.2% of California public school students were Latino — an absolute majority — while 23.7% were white, 12.1% were Asian and 5.5% were black.

What do these numbers suggest about California’s future? Are the state’s educational problems likely to get better, or worse?




 

Category: California, Education

Police: Couple Terrorized Teen Boys Over Trump Flags, Posted Video to Snapchat

Posted on | February 22, 2020 | 1 Comment

 

Democrats engaging in political terrorism:

A northwestern Indiana couple allegedly used a car to force two teenage boys off a road, angered that the twin brothers were riding bicycles adorned with flags supporting President Donald Trump, before ripping one of the sibling’s flag from his bike, police said Friday.
Hobart police said Snapchat videos helped officers secure charges against Kyren Gregory Perry-Jones, 23, and Cailyn Marie Smith, 18, in connection with a July 22 incident.
Police Capt. James Gonzales said the Hobart couple are accused of driving in their car, running the 14-year-old boys off of the road, and making threats toward them.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the boys told officers that a vehicle with a man driving and woman passenger followed them before the male driver pulled up nearby and asked one of the boys “if they were Trump supporters” — to which the boy replied that they were.
The driver then swerved at the boys, forcing them onto roadside grass to avoid being struck, according to the affidavit. The driver followed the boys before exiting the car and tearing off the flag from one of the brother’s bikes, the affidavit states. . . .
Gonzales said the charges weren’t filed until Thursday because there was a delay in detectives getting information from Snapchat, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.
In a video posted to Snapchat, allegedly by the couple of their encounter with the boy, shows “the driver turns the wheel sharply as if he saw the boys and wanted to hit them with the vehicle while yelling `ya’ll better get home,'” according to the affidavit. A male’s voice is then heard telling the female passenger “pull that flag down” in the video which shows the female trying to reach it through her window and her saying, “get closer.”
“The female is then heard saying `ya’ll scared, just like your president” and `America is not great'” followed by an expletive, according to the affidavit.
In a second Snapchat video, Perry-Jones allegedly says, “Don’t let me see you downtown” to one of the boys and threatens to beat him up.

These two Democrats posted video of their felonies to Snapchat, which isn’t very smart, but then again, they’re Democrats, right?




 

Category: Crime, Democrats, Indiana

CPAC Emergency Tip-Jar Rattle

Posted on | February 22, 2020 | Comments Off on CPAC Emergency Tip-Jar Rattle

So, I had been procrastinating about preparations for CPAC, an event that I’ve been covering every year since 2006. It starts Wednesday, and today I went online to see about booking a hotel room and HOLY FREAKING CRAP! The Residence Inn where I usually stay is sold out, and the hotels nearest the event are charging completely crazy prices — $400+ a night. I managed to find a hotel about two miles away for $225 a night, but with taxes that will total about $1,000 for four nights.

Maybe I can get The American Spectator to comp me part of that, but still my wife is going to hit the roof if I don’t come up with at least a few hundred bucks soon — and by “soon,” I mean, today.

Anyway, I know this is the second emergency tip-jar rattle of the month, but if the readers could chip in a little extra — $5, $10, $20 — today, that would do wonders in terms of keeping my wife happy, which is of course Job Number One. This year, I’ll be bringing my brother Kirby to CPAC for his photography skills, and we should get some nice images on the blog, plus John Hoge and I will be doing The Other Podcast from the site.

CPAC has announced Vice President Mike Pence among the speakers, and we don’t know yet if President Trump will also show up. At any rate, the fact that my usual hotel is sold-out suggests that this year’s CPAC will be pretty big, and once more I remind you that the Five Most Important Words in the English Language are:

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!




 

Category: CPAC, Shoe Leather Fund

Creep Linked to Sleazy Democrat Katie Hill Hacked Rival Campaign’s Web Site

Posted on | February 22, 2020 | Comments Off on Creep Linked to Sleazy Democrat Katie Hill Hacked Rival Campaign’s Web Site

I love it when Democrats commit crimes against each other:

The FBI on Friday arrested a man married to a staffer for former Democratic representative Katie Hill for a hacking spree against one of Hill’s political opponents.
Arthur Dam, the husband of Hill’s campaign fundraiser and eventual district director Kelsey O’Hara, is charged with intentionally damaging and attempting to damage a protected computer for committing cyber attacks against Hill’s Democratic rival Bryan Caforio. Two of the attacks came at crucial points during their 25th Congressional District primary fight, the Intercept reported.
According to the complaint, Caforio’s website went down for a combined 21 hours during the 2018 campaign due to distributed denial of service attacks, a cyber attack that effectively shuts down a website from being used by interfering with its host or provider. Two of the hacks happened directly before a primary debate and a week before the primary election. The FBI connected Dam to the attack through “subscriber information, IP addresses, geolocation history, and open sources,” as well as through his wife.
The FBI traced the hacking to an anonymous Amazon Web Services account that was paid for by Dam’s credit card. Hill’s Federal Election Commission records list a $500 in-kind contribution from Dam on March 25, 2018, for “graphic design and website security consultation,” the Intercept reported.
The complaint stated the attacks cost Caforio upwards of $30,000 in expenditures and lost time to investigate and mitigate them. The hacks occurring at high-buzz times in the campaign exacerbated their harm.
Caforio said in a statement to the media that he was “shocked and saddened” that the arrested hacker was connected to Hill’s campaign, adding it should be “a reminder that Russia is not the only threat to our democracy.”

Let’s hope he gets as much prison time as Roger Stone. In case you’ve forgotten, Katie Hill is the naked bisexual Democrat who engaged in a “relationship” with a member of her congressional staff.




 

Category: Crime, Democrats

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

Posted on | February 22, 2020 | Comments Off on Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

by Smitty

Held the lantern before her as the alley ended.
Comfortable night; last week’s storm had purged the alley.
Senses alert; autonomic nervous system deftly controlled, she knocked on the door.“Results,” a voice challenged.
“Not excuses,” she replied.
Blindfolded, gently led, eventually seated. She gave the guide the lantern.
“Report,” he demanded. The leader.
“Data in the lantern. Grim situation. The mainland is devastated.”
“As bad as the third Velvet Revolver album?”
“Worse.”
“Indeed, imposter: there were only two Velvet Revolver albums, and the real Sophia McNish would not have fallen prey to that misdirection.”
The fake-tooth detonator worked.
—
via Darleen

Category: Friday Fiction

You’re Not Paranoid Enough Yet

Posted on | February 21, 2020 | Comments Off on You’re Not Paranoid Enough Yet

The one thing a responsible blogger would never do is to spread baseless conspiracy theories in an effort to incite fear and suspicion among Democrats. Fortunately, I don’t have to do that, because the daily headlines suffice as paranoia fodder:

Mike Bloomberg is privately lobbying Democratic Party officials and donors allied with his moderate opponents to flip their allegiance to him — and block Bernie Sanders — in the event of a brokered national convention.
The effort, largely executed by Bloomberg’s senior state-level advisers in recent weeks, attempts to prime Bloomberg for a second-ballot contest at the Democratic National Convention in July by poaching supporters of Joe Biden and other moderate Democrats, according to two Democratic strategists familiar with the talks and unaffiliated with Bloomberg.
The outreach has involved meetings and telephone calls with supporters of Biden and Pete Buttigieg — as well as uncommitted DNC members — in Virginia, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and North Carolina, according to one of the strategists who participated in meetings and calls.
With Sanders’ emergence as the frontrunner in the presidential primary, Democrats in those states have recently raised the prospect that the democratic socialist could be a top-of-the-ticket liability.
“There’s a whole operation going on, which is genius,” said one of the strategists, who is unaffiliated with any campaign. “And it’s going to help them win on the second ballot … They’re telling them that’s their strategy.”

(Hat-tip: Ace of Spades.) We haven’t had a brokered convention since 1952, and I doubt there will be one this year, but never say never. And so it’s important that every Bernie Sanders supporter know this: The Democrats are trying to steal the nomination from your guy, just like they stole it from him in 2016. Even if you beat Bloomberg on Super Tuesday, the Democrat establishment still won’t stop trying to f–k you over. If you’re going to get f–ked over, well, Republicans can do that.

Republicans have catered buffets and better-looking women. So why not just come on over to the Dark Side? It’s a great party. And at least when Republicans f–k you over, they don’t call it “social justice.”




 

Category: Democrats

In The Mailbox: 02.21.20

Posted on | February 21, 2020 | 1 Comment

– compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: At Some Point, You Deserve What You Get
EBL: Kaitlin Bennett, also, Who Killed Malcolm X?
Twitchy: Mollie Hemingway Shares “Silliest Part of Latest Russia Nonsense”
Louder With Crowder: Media Attacks Bloomberg Over Gag Video – “Doctored”
According To Hoyt: Breaking Out, also, Unicorn Farts Is No Basis For A System Of Government
Monster Hunter Nation: February Update Post, also, Our Semi-Annual Reminder Of Why Mike Glyer Of File 770 Is A Total Scumbag
Vox Popoli: Go Gay, Fade Away, also, Never Trust Anyone Over 30

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: The Military Won’t Save Men From “Doritos & Porn”
American Greatness: Cambridge, MA Allowing Illegals To Drive Without Licenses
American Thinker: How Trump Made The Federal Courts Blink
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Future Airliners Friday
Babalu Blog: The Cuban Dictatorship’s Addiction To Spying
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm For February 21
Cafe Hayek: The Federal Government’s Fiscal Incontinence
CDR Salamander: Spartans, Warriors, Gladiators, Lend Me Your Ears
Da Tech Guy: It’s Not Wednesday’s Debate, But How Bloomberg Reacts To The Next Debate That Matters
Don Surber: Afghanistan War Ends, also, Trump’s Week Was Better Than His Best Week Ever
First Street Journal: When #BelieveAllWomen Collides With Transgender Rights
The Geller Report: Sanders Wins Backing Of Top Muslim Political Group, also, AFRICOM Hits Al-Shabaab Base In Somalia
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, The Stupid, It Burns
Hollywood In Toto: Esquire Bullies John Krasinski, also, Ford Rescues Call of The Wild From CGI Run Amok
Legal Insurrection: New UK Policy Restricts Entry Of Non-English Speaking & Unskilled Workers, also, Fauxcahontas Indian Giver On Super PAC Support
Power Line: Ilhan Omar’s Reign Of Terror, also, The Most Important Campaign Document Of 2020
Shark Tank: Parental Consent Abortion Bill Passes FL House
Shot In The Dark: As Predicted
STUMP: French Pension Protests Will Continue Until…When?
This Ain’t Hell: Veteran Suicides – Who’s To Blame? also, The Duck of Dupe – Phony Gunner’s Mate
Victory Girls: Is Ilhan Omar Losing Her Base In The Somali Community?
Volokh Conspiracy: FL Can’t Strip Voting Rights From Ex-Felons Unable To Pay Fines & Fees
Weasel Zippers: Baltimore Teacher’s Lesson Slide Compares Trump To Nazis, Communists, also, Here Comes Throuple – Hacker Tied To Katie Hill Busted For Cyber Attack On Opponent
Mark Steyn: Stand-Up Guy, also, NDA Playoffs

Amazon Warehouse Deals




Category: Linkagery

Russian Bots Get Results!

Posted on | February 21, 2020 | Comments Off on Russian Bots Get Results!

 

 

“And let me say something else about this, not being too paranoid. All of us remember 2016, and what we remember is efforts by Russians and others to try to interfere in our election and divide us up. I’m not saying that’s happening, but it would not shock me.”
— Bernie Sanders, Las Vegas debate, Wednesday

Look, I’m not saying that help from Russian military intelligence is the reason Bernie Sanders is going to win the Nevada primary Saturday, I’m just saying, draw your own conclusions:

U.S. officials have warned Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that Russia is attempting to boost his prospects of winning the White House in 2020, according to the Washington Post.
President Donald Trump and Congressional lawmakers have also received briefings regarding the Kremlin’s efforts to help Sanders, sources familiar with the matter told the Post. In a statement to the newspaper, Sanders called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “thug” and said he stands “firmly against” any efforts to interfere in U.S. elections
“I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president,” Sanders said. “My message to Putin is clear: stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.”
“In 2016, Russia used internet propaganda to sow division in our country, and my understanding is that they are doing it again in 2020. Some of the ugly stuff on the Internet attributed to our campaign may well not be coming from real supporters,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Sanders campaign would not comment on the nature of Russia’s attempted efforts to help the Vermont senator.
Speaking to reporters about the Post’s report, Sanders revealed that he learned of Russia’s interference a month ago and seemingly suggested that their efforts were made public Friday in a bid to hurt him one day before the Nevada caucuses.
The development comes after Sanders raised the prospect of Russia being behind some online posts in support of the lawmaker, which have been described as toxic and violent by former Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) at this week’s Democrat debate in Nevada. Several other Sanders detractors have made similar claims.

So now, Bernie is about to score a gigantic win in Nevada, and we’re supposed to believe Russian bots aren’t the reason he’s winning.

Like I said, draw you own conclusions. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.




 

Category: Bernie Sanders, Russia
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