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DECEMBER 15,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

WELCOME TO NEVE – FROM THE JERUSALEM POST:   Archaeologists excavating a grotto in northwest Italy discovered the burial of a 10,000-year-old infant – the oldest known findings of newborn bones – giving researchers a peek into Mesopotamian society and early human fossils.  The findings, a summary of which were published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Scientific Reports on Tuesday, occurred in the Grotta Arma Veirana cave in Italy, which was being explored by an archaeological team at the University of Colorado (Denver). The bones were well-preserved, making it easier for researchers to identify the age and gender of the ancient remains.  The girl, dubbed “Neve” by researchers, was around 40 to 50 days old at the time of her burial, according to the study. Neve was buried with 60 shell beads, four pendants and an eagle-owl talon adorned on her corpse, providing a glimpse into the burial customs of that era.  "The evolution and development of how early humans buried their dead as revealed in the archaeological record has enormous cultural significance," researcher Jamie Hodgkins said in a press release.  Leading members of the Democratic Party are demanding to know whether Neve was pro-choice.

December 15, 2021       Permalink

ANOTHER EDUCATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH; THE EXCITEMENT BUILDS – OVERNIGHT;  The state of California, where criminals control whole sections of cities, has come up with the latest, brilliant, educational idea.  Read about it.   Tell your friends.    From American Greatness: 

Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento City, and San Diego Unified school districts have found a novel way to improve academic results—they’re getting rid of D and F grades. One imagines this will improve results immediately. On paper.

Reporting from San Francisco, KRON 4 News, writing in semi-literate English, informs us, “If a student fails a test or doesn’t complete their homework, they’ll be able to retake the test and get more time to turn in assignments.” 

The assistant principal at Fremont High School in Oakland, speaking in semi-literate English, told KRON, “Right now, we have a system where we give a million points for a million pieces of paper that students turn in, without much attention to what they’re actually learning.” 

I don’t think anyone will dispute that schools are not paying much attention to what kids are learning. But banning Ds and Fs won’t help students as much as it will help teachers and principals in these districts look less awful by comparison, or else make comparisons with schools that retain a full grading system impossible. The real goal is to rescue teachers’ unions and professional administrators from what they’re doing to the kids. 

To take a random example from the English readers on my desk, a seventh grader of a century ago, learning, no doubt, in a one-room schoolhouse with just enough funding for these text books, would have read Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Keats, Poe, Ruskin, Sir Walter Scott, Longfellow, Kipling, Thoreau, Whitman, Washington, Lincoln and Marcus Aurelius, to cite just a small subsection of the included authors. Selections range from stories and poems to nature study, science, and history. These authors have long since gone the way of the D and F grades: Better to eliminate challenging material than create the impression students are failing. Which really means—better to eliminate material than create the impression that teachers are failing to teach their students.

For all their supposed erudition, leftists have always had trouble with symbolism. That is, they tend not to understand that a concept may represent another concept, rather than being the thing itself. They think that by getting rid of bad grades, they can get rid of what the bad grades represent – failure, ignorance, and laziness, on the part of students and teachers both.

Just as they think that by getting rid of terms like “fat,” they can make people healthier and more “body-positive.” Or that by replacing “fireman” and “policeman” with “firefighter” and “police officer” they can end male dominance in these dangerous professions. Or that they can make a man into a woman just by changing what he calls himself—and that it’s a triumph when one of these “women” joins a girl’s swim team and smashes all previous records by a gigantic margin. 

COMMENT:  Read the rest.  It's well worth it.  Many years ago an outstanding young black woman, an activist in the civil rights movement, complained to me about the status of that crusade.  "Our movement," she said, "isn't about what you can get away with, and that's what it's become."  And indeed, that's what it seems to be today.

Ditto education.  We're bombarded with new "concepts," "narratives," and "symbolisms," but it seems the general trend is downward, toward gimmicks and tricks and excuses, and not real nourishment of the mind. That is held to be an obsolete notion, or the theme of the "oppressor."

December 15, 2021       Permalink

DECEMBER 14,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

NEW YORK MAYOR-ELECT MAKES HIS FIRST MOVE – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Mayor-elect Eric Adams has tapped Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD — a stunning, close-to-home pick from a field of seasoned top women cops across the country, The Post has learned.  “I’m here to meet the moment,” Sewell told The Post in an exclusive interview Tuesday, just a couple of weeks before she becomes the city’s 45th top cop.  At a time when the NYPD and the city its officers are sworn to protect are at a crossroads over a sharp rise in street violence, her name will join the fabled ranks of such reform-minded New York police commissioners as Teddy Roosevelt and in modern times, William Bratton.  “I’m very humbled to even be considered for this and it’s an extraordinary opportunity. And I take it very seriously, the historic nature of this,” she said.  Sewell will be the first woman to take charge of the department in its 176 years.  The surprise choice of the 49-year-old from Long Island — who has led just 351 uniformed officers for the past 15 months — was a “gut-choice” for Adams. Sources say he had favored her for months since the hunt began for the next leader of the largest police force in the county with more than 52,000 members.  Adams, a former NYPD captain, has long said he would appoint a woman to the post and his team launched a nationwide search, interviewing dozens of female executives, including one-time Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, former Newark Chief Ivonne Roman and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.  She is African-American, as is the mayor-elect.  Adams, in my view, has national ambitions.  This is his most important appointment as mayor, and it's a gamble.  If it goes well, and Sewell defeats the criminals, Adams becomes an immediate national figure, like Rudolph Giuliani or Mike Bloomberg.  But if Sewell is crushed, or is seen as simply a politically correct choice, the Adams regime could fade away quickly.  Adams is a shrewd operator.  This will be fascinating to watch, for he has called himself "the future of the Democratic Party. 

December 14, 2021       Permalink

I WONDER WHAT THE CHINESE AND RUSSIAN MILITARY CHIEFS ARE THINKING – OVERNIGHT:  Although the public backlash against the Biden administration is growing, the Dems push forward with their weirdness, and strange notion of policy.  When the military is affected, this stuff is downright dangerous.  From the Washington Free Beacon: 

President Joe Biden's nominee for the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Senate "gender advisers" for combat troops are critical to the United States' success, a position some veterans say is nothing more than a left-wing initiative that distracts from the military's core duties.

The revelation came during a Dec. 8 exchange with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.), who asked how Adm. Christopher Grady intends to implement "women, peace, and security" legislation within the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The role of a gender adviser is a way to attack a very significant issue, and if confirmed, I look forward to leveraging those advisers who can make me think better and smarter about the issues that you raise," Grady said. "So I look forward to, if confirmed, understanding that ecosystem and helping advance that cause going forward again."

How's that for Washingtonese coming out of the mouth of an ambitious officer?

The Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 required the Department of Defense to require training in "security initiatives that specifically addresses the importance of meaningful participation by women" and to develop "effective strategies and best practices for ensuring meaningful participation by women."

Grady's answer drew outrage from veterans such as Jason Church, who earned a Purple Heart when serving in Afghanistan. Church told the Washington Free Beacon that "gender advisers" are nothing more than "liberal pet projects" to score points with Democratic lawmakers.

"When someone nominated to be the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says something like this, it tells me top brass is aligned with radical political elements in the country," he said. "You have people's lives on the line. These positions aren't about how to communicate with Afghan women, we have a diplomatic corps for that."

Military gender advisers occupy a nebulous role within the armed services. A 2016 paper in the Military Law Review traces the position back to a 2000 United Nations resolution that "recognized the disproportionate impact of armed conflict on women" and called for more formal female-centric roles within militaries.

COMMENT:   We face grave threats internationally.  Why do I wonder whether Admiral Grady is up to the standards set by Admiral Nimitz?

December 14,  2021     Permalink