Posted on by

Edward T Steel Elementary and Middle Schools Our current education bureaucracy hasn't done very much good, has it?

The First Street Journal has mentioned the Edward T Steel Elementary and Middle School several times previously, primarily in connection with former Philadelphia city councilwoman Helen Gym Flaherty and her use of the school as a backdrop in her campaign for the Democratic mayoral nomination in the spring of 2023, a nomination she very fortunately lost. Mrs Flaherty proudly proclaimed that it was thanks to her efforts that the school didn’t “go charter”. We noted, at the time, that the school at the time ranked 1,205th out of 1,607 Pennsylvania elementary schools, in which 8% of students tested grade-level proficient in reading, and a whopping 1% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math.

Well, that was then, and this is now, 1¾ years later, and the ranks have been updated Continue reading →

Posted on by

That thing that never happens has happened again

The murder of Laken Riley by José Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant released into the US by Customs and Border Patrol during the Biden Administration because the surge in apprehended border crossers had worsened to a point where they did not have enough space at a detention facility to hold him, was a rare, rare event, certainly nothing over which to criticize our 46th President’s compassionate immigration policies. Such criticism was inflamed by the evil reich-wing former President Donald Trump, for political gain, don’t you know.

Detectives arrest a subject who sexually assaulted children.

Continue reading →

Posted on by

He didn’t have to be an [insert slang term for the anus here]

It might seem like an unimportant story in Saturday morning’s Washington Post, and the ruling won’t affect all that many people, but it demonstrates the willingness of some people to be absolute assholes — note that I used the word directly rather than my more usual [insert slang term for the anus here] — for no good reason. Yes, sometimes we need government officials to be [insert plural slang term for the anus here] for the good of government and of the country, but this kind of behavior over pettiness is just plain stupid. Continue reading →

Posted on by

Illegals apprehended in Kentucky

Our good friends on the left would have people believe that the poor, oppressed ‘undocumented’ residents in our country are all just sweetness-and-light, good, people working hard to make a living. Well, when the liberally-oriented Lexington Herald-leader starts pointing out that those apprehended in the Bluegrass State might not be among our better angels, perhaps some of us might doubt the meme the left are presenting.

Kentucky isn’t the largest state in the union, but it’s good to see that we’re not being ignored in Operation Take Back America.

16 people federally indicted on criminal immigration charges in Kentucky

Continue reading →

Posted on by

Soft-peddling the Gangs of Philadelphia

Ellie Rushing, from her Twitter profile.

If there’s one thing of which no one can accuse Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Ellie Rushing it’s laziness. Her author profile states that her beat is “cover(ing) criminal justice and law enforcement in Philadelphia, including how crime and the court systems impact communities,” and there’s certainly plenty of that in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia.

Miss Rushing gave us a deep look into the West Philly gang Young Bag Chasers, about whom we have nine times previously noted. Despite the fact that we were reliably informed by the newspaper that there are no gangs in the city, just “cliques of young men affiliated with certain neighborhoods and families,” who sometimes had “beefs” with other cliques, and that we have previously reported that the newspaper really, really, really doesn’t like to refer to gangs as gangs, Miss Rushing, though using other descriptions occasionally for prosaic reasons, does refer to “YBC” as a gang occasionally.

But, sadly enough, in a very in-depth article, one that the research of which must have put the reporter in some physical danger, Miss Rushing gives us far too many excuses as to how and why the gang became a gang and the gang members became gang members. Continue reading →

Posted on by

World War III Watch: Can one of the chest-thumping neocons tell me how they intend to actually win the wars they are pushing?

Elwood P Dowd is one of the liberal commenters on my good friend William Teach’s The Pirate’s Cove. The distinguished Mr Dowd is a Democrat and true hater of President Trump, and every so often, he gets me rolling in my response. He wrote:

If Trump abandons Ukraine to Putin, the Baltics are likely to be at risk. Do you believe King Donald would risk anything to help NATO defend Latvia? LOL.

Kind of a throwaway ending to a longer comment on a completely different subject, but that was the part to which I had to respond.

In 1939, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of France gave an unconditional guarantee to Poland that they would defend the Poles’ independence. Two days after the Nazis invaded, the UK and France declared war on Germany, but not a single British or French soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine ever fought in Poland to defend the country from the Third Reich! If der Führer hadn’t been stupid and invaded the USSR, it’s quite possible that the Nazis would still be in control of Poland, and all of Europe. Continue reading →

Posted on by

The left really do hate Freedom of Speech and of The Press

This site has previously noted that, despite their protestations about protecting democracy, today’s left really hate our Freedom of Speech. Media Matter for America, a thoroughly left wing group, posted on Twitter — I refuse to call it 𝕏, which is part of my Freedom of Speech! — a bubble diagram and link to their article “The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces“. Very unsurprisingly, Amy McGrath Henderson, the twice-failed Kentucky congressional candidate who once stated, in a fundraiser not in the Bluegrass State, “I am further left, I am more progressive, than anyone in the state of Kentucky,” said of the graph, “This is way more important than we want to admit.”

The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces

Continue reading →

Posted on by

Beware the Ides of March! There's more to Chuck Schumer's surrender than people have realized.

Some of my good friends on the right are chortling with glee because Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said that he will not try to stop the continuing resolution passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to keep the government from shutting down as the Ides of March come upon us. But Mr Schumer has a good reason, that few have realized.

There is the alternative that Chuck Schumer really, really doesn’t want. The so-called nuclear option was used by then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on November 21, 2013, because evil, reich-wing Republicans were filibustering the judicial nominations made by President Barack Hussein Obama, and judicial nominations except for the Supreme Court could now have cloture invoked by a simple majority vote.

Then, during President Trump’s first term, Senator Mitch McConnell turned the tables on the Dems, and, using the same procedure, removed the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations as well.

Well, here we are again: the Republicans control the Senate, and can change the rules with a simple majority vote that can’t be filibustered, and they could just end the filibuster rule altogether. Because of the narrow majority in the House, all bills passed have to satisfy virtually every Republican, including the hard-liners, and the Republicans in the Senate realize that the Dems will filibuster all that they can. Continue reading →

Posted on by

Has the federal Department of Education actually improved educational outcomes?

The left are totally aghast that President Trump’s plans to shut down the federal Department of Education are beginning to be put into action. “Students will suffer harm,” CNN told us, after department’s civil rights office was ‘gutted.’ Education professionals in Charlotte are “sounding the alarm,” “Ten percent of the district’s funding comes from the feds, used to pay for basic educational needs, staffing and professional development,” and “‘We really don’t know who, which department, what positions, who’s controlling what really, it’s up in the air right now,’ said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board Vice Chair Dee Rankin.” readers were told, which raises the obvious questions: why are local schools being partially funded by the feds, and why should the feds be controlling anything? NBC News told us that “Experts say this week’s mass layoffs could lead to less research and support for children with special needs.”

But perhaps, just perhaps, it should be asked whether the Department of Education was actually improving education. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Lower Merion led racial equity efforts in the ′90s. But its achievement gap has only widened.

Continue reading →