Teachers performing monthly mental health exams on your child!

Susan Goldberg reports at PJ Media,

On paper it reads like a not-so-vague attempt to socially engineer your child’s behavior. In reality, teacher-led mental health assessments coming to a growing number of public schools are a bureaucratic "nightmare. One that will no doubt further clog our nation’s public education system with increased paperwork and administrative costs while putting your child's future at serious risk.

Thanks to Dr. Aida Cerundolo's piece in The Wall Street Journal, we are beginning to understand the real-life ramifications of these dangerous educational ideas. Want the Cliffs Notes version? Head over to the excellent summation by Emmett McGroarty and Jane Robbins, detailing the ramifications of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a federal bill focused on the buzz-phrase “Social Emotional Learning” (SEL), the latest craze in public education. Schools in states that have ESSA legislation on the books can use the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) to fulfill ESSA paperwork requirements.

...every month the teacher must answer 72 questions about each of the perhaps dozens of students in her class. She must assess whether the student “carr[ies] himself with confidence,” whatever that means for a 5-year-old, and whether he can “cope well with insults and mean comments.”
… Dr. Cerundolo’s alarm at the imposition of DESSA is shared by at least some New Hampshire teachers. One of them contacted Ann Marie Banfield, Education Liaison for Cornerstone Action in New Hampshire, to express her objections to completing the DESSA forms on her students. The teacher was especially troubled that the school neither sought parental consent nor even notified parents that their children were being screened by amateurs for mental-health issues. As the mother of public-school students, she worried that other teachers were completing this assessment on her children.

You read that right: if you live in an ESSA state, your child’s mental health will be assessed by a non-medical professional in a non-medical context. The paperwork will not be protected by HIPAA laws, which means that the sch!ool district can share a teacher’s assessment of your child’s mental health with literally anyone. Parents are not asked for permission before the DESSA is administered, nor do they have any say over where the records go once they are obtained.

Read more here.

A chain of communications between the baseball field Democrat terrorist and Senator Dick Durbin

JJ Sefton writes at Ace of Spades,

the Democrat-inspired terrorist attack that left Rep. Steve Scalise and several others gravely wounded has been nothing-to-see-here-move-along'd way too quickly. The Daily Caller is reporting that there is evidently a chain of communications between the terrorist and the office of Dick Durbin and that office is refusing to let reporters from that outlet have access to them. Considering the fact that the Left has essentially blamed the President and the victims for the act of a lone wolf, it's kind of puzzling (read: alarming) that these communications exist in the first place, let alone the refusal to release them. Couple all this with the FBI's (don't laugh) bizarre press announcement that the attack was spontaneous, random and had no specific target, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, and the complete politicization of its leadership that is in open revolt against the President and his political allies, and you know something is terribly wrong here. Either I'm insane or there is something being covered up is truly explosive.

Two New Mexico women in Santa Fe County have the plague!

Circa News reports,

The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) on Monday announced it had confirmed two new cases of human plague in the state’s borders.

The agency reported that a 52-year-old woman and a 62-year-old woman in New Mexico’s Santa Fe County are sick with the bacterial disease.

The NMDOH added that there are now three human plague instances in the county this year, with all requiring hospitalization but none resulting in death.
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“Pets that are allowed to roam and hunt can bring infected fleas from dead rodents back into the home, putting you and your children at risk,” Dr. Paul Ettestad, public health veterinarian for the NMDOH, said in a statement Monday.

“Keeping your pets at home or on a leash and using an appropriate flea control product is important to protect you and your family.”

Read more here.

"That moment when you convince yourself that the monsters under your bed are real!"

Here is tonight's Tucker Carlson Show.

The first part of the program is devoted to the news about CNN's fake news. I have an idea: how about not using anything from sources that wish to remain anonymous?

MRC did a study. Since May 17 there have been 353 minutes on evening newscasts about Russia or Comey. 29 minutes have been devoted to terrorism. 5 minutes on the economy. 5 minutes on trade!

Chris Murphy, a Democratic Senator from Connecticut, takes the bus home. He talks to his constituents. He says wages, education, and public safety are the three subjects people on the bus talk to him about most.

Charles Murray says what he would have liked to talk about at Middlebury College is how the new elites are screwing America's working class. He says the majority of students are cowed, especially those in the social sciences and humanities.

Raheel Raza is a Muslim American who I wish could be heard by a larger audience. Maybe a job with the Trump Administration? She said Trump's travel ban is about region, not religion. She notes that five of the six countries are failed states.

Kevin Jackson is a black radio talk show host who says that any black who speaks out against violence and other problems in black communities "catches a lot of grief."

Sarah Palin is suing the New York Times for defamation

Peter Hasson reports at The Daily Caller that

Sarah Palin is suing The New York Times for defamation, according to documents filed in federal court Tuesday that were obtained by The Daily Caller.

The lawsuit has to do with an editorial the NYT ran on June 14 that falsely smeared Palin as inciting the 2011 shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords by a mentally ill man. There is no evidence to support the NYT’s implication that Palin played a role in inciting the Giffords shooting. (RELATED: NYT Uses GOP Shooting To Falsely Attack Sarah Palin With Debunked Conspiracy Theory)

“Mrs. Palin brings this action to hold The Times accountable for defaming her by publishing a statement about her that it knew to be false: that Mrs. Palin was responsible for inciting a mass shooting at a political event in January 2011,” Palin’s suit states.

“Specifically, on June 14, 2017, The Times Editorial Board, which represents the ‘voice’ of The Times, falsely stated as a matter of fact to millions of people that Mrs. Palin incited Jared Loughner’s January 8, 2011, shooting rampage at a political event in Tucson, Arizona, during which he shot nineteen people, severely wounding United States Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and killing six, including Chief U.S. District Court Judge John Roll and a nine-year-old girl.”

The lawsuit states that the paper “published and promoted its Editorial Board’s column despite knowing that the linchpin of its ‘sickening pattern’ of politically-incited shootings was the false assertion that Mrs. Palin incited Loughner to murder six people, among them a child and federal judge, and seriously wound numerous others.” (RELATED: NYT Has Been Pushing Palin-Giffords Falsehood For Years)

It goes on to state: “As the public backlash over The Times’ malicious column mounted, it responded by making edits and ‘corrections’ to its fabricated story, along with half-hearted Twitter apologies–none of which sufficiently corrected the falsehoods that the paper published. In fact, none mentioned Mrs. Palin or acknowledged that Mrs. Palin did not incite a deranged man to commit murder.”

Palin claims the editorial “exceeded the bounds of legality, decency and civility by publishing the false and defamatory column.”

Read more here.

Can we have honest debate?

Another good Andrew Klavan podcast today, in my opinion.

As he focuses on the upcoming national holiday, Andrew wonders aloud if we have created a generation of Americans who do not appreciate America. That was part of his focus in his opening monolog.

He has much to say about the media living in a sealed environment sequestered among people who agree with them.

Of course, he mentions the CNN debacle in which three reporters have been fired for fake news. Project Veritas adds to CNN's woes by using a hidden camera to interview a supervising producer, who admits that all the Russian collusion stories are bulls##t! I wonder how long that guy will remain at CNN!

Programs like Hannity on Fox and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC are not the shows that bother Klavan, because each is honest about where they are coming from: Hannity from the right, and Maddow from the left. President Trump points out that the dishonest ones are the ones who pretend to be objective but produce fake story after fake story (ABC, NBC, CBS, New York Times, and Washington Post).

Andrew makes the point that if we do have an honest debate, then we are more likely to be able to compromise. He believes our present divisive climate started with the Roe v. Wade decision, in which a 5-4 Supreme Court decision pretended to find constitutionality of abortion. None of us had a chance to debate the issue. It just became the law of the land.

That same thing is happening now with Bernie Sanders and Al Franken painting the opposition as wanting people to die.

So, how can we come together? The media constantly slants the news, so that there are two opinions, the Left, and Hate!

Andrew ends by talking about Athens, Sparta, the Persians, World War II, and freedom.

The Russians run the White House and they want you to die!.

That headline supposedly summarizes this week's fake news.,

Laura Ingraham has been studying the Senate version of the new health care bill, and she sees the fingerprints of lobbyists from big pharma, hospitals, and insurance companies all over it.

After yesterday's Supreme Court activity, Laura is prouder than ever for having clerked for Justice Thomas. He and Gorsuch opposed the law-making provisions of the travel ban, in which the Court ruled that persons from the six countries could still come to America if they have family or business connections. Laura says Andy McCarthy weighs in on this today over at National Review.

Senator James Risch of Idaho, the man who asked Comey if anyone has ever been criminally charged for hoping something, was a guest. I thought Risch did the best job of questioning Comey, so I was glad he was on Laura's program today. He is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and also Foreign Relations. He says obstruction of justice and collusion are both off the table now. Laura told him that Mueller and Comey have in the past called each other "brothers in arms."

Favors, money, and access

Some humor and some patriotism

Andrew is getting warmed up for Fourth of July. He opens the show with a hilarious monolog, featuring Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Michael Knowles comes on the show to talk about the American revolution, especially about George Washington, a man of boldness, faith, and confidence.

Mel Gibson's famous speech from Braveheart is brought up to date by Steven Crowder, reminding us who we have become.

The hail storm has ended, and so has my windshield!

The criminalization of political differences

Another really good Laura Ingraham Show today.

Trump has learned that Obama was briefed by the CIA that Russia was attempting to meddle in our election. Trump wants to know why Obama did nothing!

Is there a reason the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies stocks all went up after the Senate bill on health care was announced?

Laura goes after Ohio Governor Kasich, who says, "Neither party cares about poor people." Kasich is a globalist who favors policies that help China's poor people while hurting America's poor and creating a $360 billion trade deficit. Republicans and Democrats have spent over 6 trillion dollars to help poor people since the beginning of the Great Society programs in the sixties. Kasich is all for giving amnesty to low-wage illegal immigrants, thereby hurting low-wage Americans. Kasich was also one of the Lehman Brothers brass. When he was with Lehman Brothers, did he care about poor people?

Laura is critical of Republicans' messaging on health care reform. They need to fan out across the country and talk about premiums coming down, prescription drug costs coming down, choosing plans across state lines, and cutting regulations.

Liberal former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz is against the criminalization of political differences.

Andy McCarthy has a new piece out that Laura talked about. In it he argues that Trump demanded the exposure of a false narrative.

Who governs? Who elects?

hat tip Rico at Theo Spark

Change of heart

Carolyn Glick writes in the Jerusalem Post,

Earlier this month Norway, Denmark and Switzerland did something surprising.

Norway announced that it was demanding the return of its money from the Palestinian Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Secretariat, for the latter’s funding of a Palestinian women’s group that built a youth center near Nablus named for PLO mass murderer Dalal Mughrabi.

Denmark followed, announcing it was cutting off all funding to the group.

And last week, the Swiss parliament passed a resolution directing the government to amend Swiss law to block funding of NGOs “involved in racist, antisemitic or hate incitement actions.”

For years, the Israeli government has been urging these and other European governments to stop funding such groups, to no avail. What explains their abrupt change of heart? In two words: Donald Trump.

For years, the Obama administration quietly encouraged the Europeans to fund these groups and to ratchet up their anti-Israel positions. Doing so, the former administration believed, would coerce Israel to make concessions to the PLO.

...If the US administration keeps moving forward on this trajectory, it can do far more than suspend funding for one terrorism-supporting Palestinian NGO. It can shut down the entire BDS industry before Trump finishes his current term in office.

To understand what can and ought to be done, it is first important to understand the nature of the BDS movement. Under the catchphrase BDS, two separate campaigns against Israel and against Jews are being carried out.

The first BDS campaign is a campaign of economic warfare. The focal point of that campaign is Europe. The purpose of the campaign is to harm Israel’s economy by enacting discriminatory, anti-Israel trade policies and encouraging unofficial consumer and business boycotts of Israeli firms and products.

...The second BDS campaign being carried out against Israel is a form of political and social warfare.

Its epicenter is US academia. Its purpose is to erode US support for Israel, by making it politically unacceptable and socially devastating to publicly voice support for Israel on college campuses and more generally in leftist circles.

As is the case with the economic BDS campaign, the best way to defeat political BDS is through state and federal government action. If state and federal governments withheld funding to universities and colleges that permit BDS groups to operate on their campuses, campus administrators, who to date have refused to lift a finger against these hate groups, would be forced into action.

If the US Education and Justice departments opened civil rights investigations against major BDS groups for antisemitic bigotry, campus administrators would finally begin banning them from their campuses.

...to the extent that the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress take action to defeat BDS on campuses and in Europe, they won’t be answering the call of their Jewish constituents. American Jews vote overwhelmingly for the increasingly anti-Israel Democratic Party. And while making up a mere 2% of the US population, American Jews contributed 50% of the donations to the Democratic Party in the 2016 elections.

Read more here.

Supreme Court rules: State cannot discriminate against you because you are one of those icky religious persons

Richard Wolf reports at USA Today,

The Supreme Court ruled decisively Monday that religious institutions should be eligible to receive public funds for purely secular purposes.

Like, for instance, playgrounds.

The justices ruled 7-2 that Missouri stretched the constitutional separation of church and state too far by declaring a Lutheran church ineligible to receive a competitive state grant for playground resurfacing. The decision could have implications for more than 30 states that block public funds from going to religious organizations.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the decision. Only Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

Even though the state's denial of funds likely would lead only to "a few extra scraped knees," Roberts said, "the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand."

Sotomayor took the unusual step of dissenting from the bench, something justices rarely do. The high court, she said, "has never required a state to turn over taxpayer funds to a house of worship."

"Today's decision discounts centuries of history and jeopardizes the government's ability to remain secular," Sotomayor wrote in her 27-page dissent, almost twice the length of Roberts' opinion.

It was perhaps the marquee case in a lackluster Supreme Court term dominated by the search for a ninth justice rather than landmark jurisprudence. Finally bolstered by the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch in April, 14 months after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court clearly sided with the church during oral argument.

"It does seem as though ... this is a clear burden on a constitutional right," liberal Justice Elena Kagan said then, in reference to the state's refusal to treat Trinity Lutheran Church equally to other non-profits seeking state grants. The church had met all the neutral criteria for the program.

Gorsuch and Justice Clarence Thomas would have gone further than Roberts, who suggested in a footnote to the court's decision that the case "involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing. We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination."


Gorsuch wrote: "The general principles here do not permit discrimination against religious exercise -- whether on the playground or anywhere else."

The case dates back to 2012, when the Columbia, Mo., church applied for a state grant to replace the unforgiving, pea gravel surface of its child learning center's playground with material made from recycled tires. It placed fifth among 44 applicants, 14 of which were awarded grants, but the church was passed over based on a provision in the state constitution.

The church's lawsuit soon became a cause célèbre among supporters of religious freedom, led by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Trinity Lutheran in court. It lost at the federal district and appellate court levels, but the Supreme Court's decision in January 2016 to hear the case was seen as a positive sign. Then Scalia died the following month, prompting the justices to delay hearing the case — presumably because they feared a 4-4 deadlock.

Gorsuch's confirmation wasn't the only late-breaking event. Missouri's new Republican governor, Eric Greitens, reversed the state policy and said churches will be eligible for such grants in the future. That led some justices, as well as liberal interest groups, to wonder if Trinity's challenge was unnecessary.

The church raised two central claims in court papers. It said the exclusion violates the First Amendment’s protection against policies prohibiting the free exercise of religion, as well as the 14th Amendment's promise of equal protection for all. "This is clearly singling out a religious organization with no justification to do so," David Cortman, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, said during oral argument.discrimination against religion

Supporters of the church had warned that a negative ruling could give states justification to deny funds for other services, ranging from police and fire protection to soup kitchens and battered women's shelters. The conservative Institute for Justice said 1.3 million students in school-choice programs could be affected.

Justice Samuel Alito, one of the court's staunchest defenders of religious freedom, cited a series of examples to illustrate that Missouri's exclusion of religious groups would extend to programs that protect against school violence or acts of terrorism.

Ace of Spades writes,

Gorsuch strikes twice.

The case involved grants made generally available to all schools in the state for the refurbishment of run-down playgrounds. But then the state ruled that, while these funds were appropriated for all schools, religious schools nonetheless had to be affirmatively discriminated against, because you can't have government money ever going to icky religious schools (even if the money is not specifically to advance religion, but is just another state boondoggle of taxpayer cash for hard-to-argue-against feel good spending programs).

Gorsuch and six other justices said Nah, brah.

Broadband access for all?

Dani Deahl reports at The Verge,

FCC chairman Ajit Pai has released a statement announcing that the commission has granted OneWeb approval for US market access to launch a network of internet-beaming satellites into orbit. OneWeb, which is backed in part by Richard Branson, has been working on providing broadband internet via satellite since 2000, when it acquired the satellite spectrum formerly owned by SkyBridge.

OneWeb plans to launch a constellation of 720 low-Earth orbit satellites using non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) technology in order to provide global, high-speed broadband. The company’s goal has far-reaching implications, and would provide internet to rural and hard-to-reach areas that currently have little access to internet connectivity. Additionally, OneWeb has a targets of “connecting every unconnected school” by 2022, and “bridging the digital divide” by 2027.

Other companies are currently planning similar “space internet” satellite constellations, including Boeing, ViaSat, Telesat, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has been meeting with the FCC for months. Tom Sullivan, chief of the FCC’s International Bureau, says the additional applications range from “as little as two satellites to as many as 4,000,” and are still under review by the bureau.

According to OneWeb, the company plans to launch an initial 10 production satellites in early 2018, which, pending tests, will then be followed by a full launch as early as 2019.

While Pai’s statement grants access, it is still only a first step. FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly said in a statement that the “scope of these systems has raised many issues, such as preventing in-line interference and orbital debris, which will need to be considered further.” Additionally, “there are also multiple conditions on OneWeb’s approval. For example, access to some frequencies could be restricted by future Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Service (MVDDS) proceedings and our action today is conditioned on the outcome of the larger NGSO rulemaking.”

Even with hurdles, this news puts OneWeb well on the way toward creating space internet, making broadband access for all a more tangible reality.

"Perhaps there is a happy medium somewhere between bitter division and blasé complacency."

Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal,

I was traveling this week for work, in Europe.

When we arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, passport control was closed down. Many hundreds of people milled about confusedly. An airline worker said two unattended bags had been found and security personnel were on the scene. Officials might have to explode the bags where they are. Will there be any warning? Yes, I was told, they’ll tell us before and we’ll hear it. Does this sort of thing happen often? “A few times a day,” an attendant said.

There was no air of alarm, and everyone around us was pleasant. After 35 minutes passport control opened, without an explosion. The attitude was that this was par for the course, just another day at the office.

Two hours after I got to my hotel, word came of a terror attack three blocks away, on the Champs Élysées. I asked the woman at the desk for directions and she said, in low and measured terms, “I’m sorry madame, there has been a terrorist occurrence. You should not go there.” I said, “Yes, I’d like to go see it.” She brightened: “In that case, go left, left, then final left!”

...My editor discerns this theme: Perhaps there is a happy medium somewhere between bitter division and blasé complacency.

Read more here.

"Bias is boring. It’s predictable, rote, is an audience-limiter. What has value at a time like this is playing it straight and presenting the facts."

MJ writes at Ace of Spades,

Our civic debate and the intellectualism surrounding it has become boring. We all know the prism through which Charles Blow (racism), Thomas Friedman (globalism), or any left leaning publication will present its view. Everything the Left does is predictable.

The Right is oftentimes similarly rote, although there exists a stronger willingness to debate an issue beyond the merely emotional. It's more about the construct than the destruct; the depth and breadth.

Whereas speech is the hallmark of the Right, it is anathema to the Left. Their adherence to a limited cadre of acceptable words has led directly to their stunted and sheltered views.

I believe this unwillingness for honest diagnosis is leading to a growing, if not already fatal wound in Europe; the pinnacle of Leftism.

Peggy Noonan writes at The Wall Street Journal,

Dislike of Mr. Trump within the mainstream media is unalterable. It permeates every network, from intern to executive producer and CEO.

...media bias now is in part a financial decision, instead of what it used to be, a good old-fashioned human and institutional flaw.

...I add only that it’s not only cynical and destructive, as a business strategy it’s stupid. Bias is boring. It’s predictable, rote, is an audience-limiter. What has value at a time like this is playing it straight and presenting the facts. That’s what they ought to do instead of taking a side.

Escaping Leftist nannyism

Cumberland Astro writes at Ace of Spades,

Since Donald Trump was elected I have seen a spate of local news stories about companies building, expanding, or investing in manufacturing plants within a 50-mile radius of Chattanooga. With these new plants, there will be hundreds of new manufacturing jobs. Although pundits in Washington who are much smarter than me (just ask them) keep saying that manufacturing in America is dead, I'm observing a multitude of companies behaving otherwise, including several foreign companies. I don't think the Acela crowd is aware that manufacturing is expanding in business-friendly states.

A semi-skilled worker could live fairly well in Dayton, TN for $45k per year, especially if his spouse is also bringing home a paycheck. Even better, Dayton is so far from DC that the factory's employees can work at their factory job without hearing Democrats call them "deplorables" or having Acela Republicans shrieking at them "YOUR JOB IS NOT COMING BACK!" Donald Trump wants these working class Americans employed, but it genuinely seems that a lot of politicians in both parties want to see them contrite, broken, and out of work. Many Republicans would rather a Chinese peasant be lifted out of poverty by one of these jobs than have it stateside so a small-town Alabaman can live a middle-class life.

Below is a sample of what I am referring to.

400 new jobs coming to Dayton, TN as Nokian Tyres opens plant

LA-Z-BOY INVESTING $26M, ADDING 115 JOBS AT TENNESSEE PLANT

Mohawk creating 380 jobs, investing $70 million in new Alabama fiber operation

Walmart to invest in 442 textile jobs at Renfro Corp. in Fort Payne, AL

Mohawk building new Tennessee plant, creating 245 jobs

Wacker starts work on $150 million plant expansion in Bradley County (Cleveland, TN)

Aerotek to hire over 200 more production workers for VW plant (Chattanooga)

My wife and I (age early 50s) moved from Austin (our hometown) to Chattanooga in 2016 in part because we could no longer tolerate the suffocating left wing nannyism of the Austin ruling class. The evangelists of the Sustainable Organic Church Of The Carbon Apocalypse have taken control of Austin city government and were closing roads, evicting Uber, criminalizing grocery bags, downsizing parking spots, and engaging neighborhood volunteers to train/spy on residents' recycling and composting compliance. There is another whole story about how Americans are self-segregating themselves into politically compatible locales. I've ceded Austin to the fascist left, and I want to live in a community where I can fight to preserve the conservative-liberty culture.

Supreme Court rules on Trump's travel ban

The Supreme Court has ruled on Trump's travel ban. Ace of Spades summarizes:

The only limitation the court is permitting on the travel ban is for those who have a bona-fide pre-existing close relative in the country or bona-fide, established-previously business in the country. Such persons may visit the country.

But for all others, the Trump ban is back on.

The resistance's greatest legal victory has been gutted, and not even Ruth Bader Ginsburg accepted its most extreme arguments.
Incidentally, the opinion doesn't even mention Trump's campaign statements, suggesting that the Court views this entire line of argument to be so illegitimate as to not even be worth a rebuttal.

Another week of winning?

Chickens watching horses watching goats watching the sunset!

For some reason, the horses like to hang out with the chickens. Many of the chickens also like to watch the horses. In this picture there are also two black goats hanging out between the two horses.

Time for tonight's sunset!