R.I.P. CNN

They did it to themselves. For example (click directly on the graphic to enlarge it):

CNN has gone from the most trusted name in news to fake news. Therefore:

[hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance for the first graphic in this blog post]

North Korea: Charles Krauthammer's 1994 Predictions

These are the cities Kim Jong-un CAN destroy with nuclear weapons

From O’ say can you see, North Korea’s highest, longest ICBM test yet? (dated July 5, 2017):

While Americans shot off Roman candles for July 4th, North Korea launched an ICBM higher and farther than any of its other 10 missile tests this year.

[...]

...North Korea is also developing a submarine-launched missile, which would not need the range to cross the Pacific.

FLASHBACK TO 1994...

"The West will never ever be broken"

Image credit

I caught the last ten minutes or so of President Trump's speech today at Krasiński Square, the site of a monument commemorating the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis in Warsaw, Poland.

WOWZER!

What a statement of the importance of national borders and of limited government!

But it was the words I cited in the title of this blog post that jumped out at me:

"The West will never ever be broken."

We no longer have an apologist POTUS. Instead, we have a POTUS who stands strong for the West — and without any mealy-mouthed whimpering about colonialism-based guilt (Zinnism).

Below, I have, more or less, cued up the portion of the speech that made me want to stand up and cheer. Worth your time.


Yes, President Trump uttered the words "radical Islamic terrorism."

Note: the full transcript of the speech is HERE.

Improving Graduation Rates

From Prince George's County, Maryland, comes this story of "earning" a high school diploma the wrong way – that is, making sure that student achievement looks good on paper but without improving the quality of education:

...One [teacher] said he did everything he could this year to help a senior headed toward failure — contacting parents, alerting a counselor and an administrator and referring him to a school intervention team. But little changed, so the teenager got an E — a failing grade — in an English course required for graduation.

A couple weeks later, he said, he spotted the student in a cap and gown, collecting a diploma. How that happened remains a mystery, he said. “It solidified what I’d heard about grades being changed and that administrators will do whatever it takes to make sure they meet their graduation rates,” he said.

At another school, a teacher said two of her seniors this year missed weeks of school, did not do assignments or make up work, and failed her course. But the principal encouraged students and their families to appeal, she said, and their course grades were revised to a C and a D. She was told both graduated.

[...]

At a third high school, an employee with firsthand knowledge said grade-change forms are often signed by the principal but not by teachers. The employee said the forms are often attached to academic “packets” designed to compensate for missed or failed work, but many of the packets are only partly complete.

“I think it’s all a numbers game,” the employee said, alleging that more than 100 students at the school graduated with the help of such changes during the past four years.

Four-year graduation rates in Prince George’s have jumped from 74.1 percent in 2013 to 81.4 percent in 2016...the largest gain for that period of any school system in Maryland....

Read the rest of Some employees in a large Maryland school system see signs of grade tampering, if the Washington Post's subscriber wall will allow you to do so.

By tampering with grades which are supposed to reflect students' achievement, the Prince George's County Public Schools System has denigrated and devalued the high school diplomas for all the students enrolled in the school system!

Of course, educational malpractice is not unique to the Prince George's County Public School system. See Dozens of Atlanta educators falsified tests, state report confirms (2011) and Public school employees who falsify student data are making a mockery of reform efforts (2012) and When Teachers, Not Students, Do The Cheating (2014) – to cite just three articles on the topic.

Lest we think that only public schools engage in such unethical behaviors, I am here to tell you that private schools sometimes cheat.

In fact, at the last private school in which I taught, administrators often overrode teachers' submitted grades so as to put higher grades on the report cards.  The administration's philosophy at the time was that parents shouldn't see C's on their children's report cards because, after all, the parents were paying hefty tuition rates. As a result of this grade cheating on the part of the administration, several other teachers and I resigned at the end of the school term.

There were plenty of applicants to fill the vacancies we created. Mammon triumphs, after all.

Sadly, for especially the last five years, I've been something similar occurring in the homeschooling movement. Most parents now are looking for good grades for their children so that their children look good on paper – never mind the erosion of learning itself.

Is it any wonder that we are seeing a decline in actual education (student learning), particularly in high school and beyond?  Even worse, is it any wonder that we are seeing an overall  decline in student interest in acquiring knowledge?

The state of education in a nutshell (click directly on the graphic to enlarge it):

Happy Birthday, Land That I Love!

I am posting a few days early for Independence Day 2017 so that readers of this blog will have enough time to enjoy the soaring music of Symphony No. 9 In E Minor (aka "From The New World") by Antonín Dvořák (1841 –1904) and the accompanying images:



For detailed information about the composer and the above piece, please see THIS POSTING at Musical Musings. Those of you familiar with the song "Goin' Home" you may be surprised to learn the following:

[Dvořák] composed the Symphony No. 9 in 1893, and while American music inspired him, he did not use any American melodies in the work. He wrote in the American style of pentatonic scale use and did it so well that for a long time many put the cart before the horse, especially in regards to the melody from the 2nd movement. A song named "Goin' Home" takes its melody from the symphony, not the other way around. The words were not set to the melody until many years after the symphony had been written.

A detailed discussion of the origins of "Goin' Home," is found HERE.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, USA!

AND HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY 2017 TO ALL WHO STOP BY ALWAYS ON WATCH!

Never forget why we celebrate this day:

The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a resolution earlier in the year which made a formal declaration inevitable. A committee was assembled to draft the formal declaration, to be ready when congress voted on independence. Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which congress would edit to produce the final version. The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The Independence Day of the United States of America is celebrated on July 4, the day Congress approved the wording of the Declaration.

Quotes from signers:

"Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America."
Thomas Jefferson

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."
John Adams

"There, I guess King George will be able to read that."
John Hancock

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right...and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers."
John Adam

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
Thomas Jefferson

"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth all the means. This is our day of deliverance."
John Adams

"Equal and exact justice to all men...freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected,these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us."
Thomas Jefferson

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Benjamin Franklin

A New First Chair?

(For politics, please scroll down)

An antidote to overdosing on politics:

More information below the fold.

Illegal Immigration And Crime

Despite the fact that many illegal aliens coming to America have good intentions and flee here for a better life and sometimes for their very survival, the fact remains that many illegal aliens do not have good intentions and, instead, have come here to plunder.

From the Washington Times (dated June 21, 2017):

Nearly 30 percent of the illegal immigrant children the U.S. is holding in its dormitories have ties to criminal gangs, the government revealed Wednesday, suggesting that the Obama-era surge of Central Americans has fed the country’s growing problem with MS-13 and other gangs.

Federal officials refused even to guess at the true scope of the problem, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that they can give only small snapshots of what they see. But they said the devastation on communities across the country is clear: killings and chaos, particularly among other immigrants — both legal and illegal....

Read the rest HERE.

How much the above gang presence impacts you where you are living likely shapes your own views on illegal immigration.

The Travel Ban At The SCOTUS: Upheld 9 To 0 For Certain Portions

The United States Supreme Court Building

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've already heard about this June 26, 2017 decision from the Supreme Court of the United States.

Yesterday, President Trump was taking a victory lap on Twitter:

Very grateful for the 9-O decision from the U. S. Supreme Court. We must keep America SAFE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2017

Note this detail of the SCOTUS decision, a detail which might have some far-reaching consequences:

[T]he court concluded that foreigners who have no ties to the U.S. cannot argue, on their own, that constitutional protections apply to them. They're not U.S. citizens, U.S. students or U.S. employees, so the protections established in the Constitution do not apply to them....

Read the rest HERE.

Enforcement of the limited 90-day travel ban may begin as early as Thursday, June 29, 2017.

Now that the SCOTUS has ruled, will the protesters screeching about Trump's travel ban go home?  Not a chance:

...A number of high profile Democrats and migrant rights advocates vowed to continue fighting against the ban.

Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Trump’s order remained “an unconstitutional and un-American assault on our country’s religious freedom”.

“Democrats will continue to fight this hatred every step of the way,” he said....

The 21st Century Democratic Party is the Party of Lawlessness.

The Breaking Point?

John Kass's modest proposal for the dissolution of Illinois: Carve up the failed state and let the rest of the Midwest have it.
(Ryan Marx)

From the Chicago Tribune comes this satire by John Kass (dated June 20, 2017):

Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper.

But before we run out of the essentials, let's finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally run out of other people's money.

Those "other people" include taxpayers who've abandoned the state. And now Illinois faces doomsday.

[...]

The best thing to do is to break Illinois into pieces right now. Just wipe us off the map. Cut us out of America's heartland and let neighboring states carve us up and take the best chunks for themselves.

The group that will scream the loudest is the state's political class, who did this to us, and the big bond creditors, who are whispering talk of bankruptcy and asset forfeiture to save their own skins.

[...]

The alternative is hell. Illinois hasn't had a state budget for years. The state continues to spend money it doesn't have, and the state's credit ratings have dropped, increasing the cost of borrowing more money we don't have to keep the rotten shebang going....

Read the rest HERE.

Comments are interesting, too; those comments run all along the socio-political spectrum.

One commenter opined:

Between the crooked Madigans, Dalys, and now stubby Rahm...we are being robbed right in our faces daily. We have no checks and balances from the crooked mayor and aldermen because they themselves are paid for.

High crimes from the thug blacks who have daily shooting contests and nothing is done about that. A state that is giving "OUR" money to illegals while REAL Americans struggle to keep their house or apartments, pay their bills, keep food on the tables, oh and BTW keep their jobs and pay. The list goes on but nothing gets done. The Feds know that every politician is corrupt yet they do knowing. For those lucky enough to be able to leave(running) from this shit hole we used to love and sell their homes, the others have to continue enduring this crime. The continued rise in all types of taxes so that they can pocket that money also.

Yes, Kass's essay is satire.

For the moment.

Seriously, though, can a state within the United States go belly up and dissolve?

If a state cannot dissolve, what is such a bankrupt state supposed to do when the breaking point arrives, as it surely will?

Are any other member states of the United States approaching the same financial precipice as that of Illinois? 

And does the nation as a whole have any responsibility to rescue a bankrupt member state?

Additional reading: The man behind the fiscal fiasco in Illinois (Reuters, February 8, 2017) and Could Illinois be the first state to file for bankruptcy? (CBS Money Watch, June 16, 2017).

Solar System Fantasy

(For politics, please scroll down)


Which planet gets your vote?

A Tale Of Two Tweets — And Discussion Of The Senate's 2017 Bill For Healthcare Reform

#Trumpcare is an incredibly mean and thoroughly heartless piece of legislation.

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) June 22, 2017

So is this a healthcare proposal you actually READ? https://t.co/KaYE93Lvpd

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) June 22, 2017

And what of the most recent healthcare bill, which some have called ObamaCare Lite? According to the Conservative Tribune:

...Both the House and Senate versions of health care reform would get rid of the individual mandate, phase out Medicaid expansion, eliminate Obamacare’s onerous taxes on the wealthy and defund Planned Parenthood for at least one year.

The bills differ in regard to subsidies for purchasing insurance, as well as the rate at which Medicaid expansion would be stopped. The Senate has proposed a more gradual path than the House put forward....

Business Insider offers this detailed rundown of the Senate version, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (as well as the full version of the bill):

Making Sense Of Social Justice Warriors

(with a hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

At last we have an explanation for what ails 21st Century Social Justice Warriors (SJW's)!

This is what happens when you add the voice over of an old documentary about mental illness onto video of SJWs
And it actually makes sense pic.twitter.com/frIYeYEiqn

— Jenna Abrams (@Jenn_Abrams) June 21, 2017

The full length video is below the fold. In case you feel that you need to see it. Heh.

A Referendum On Trump?

According to the Chicago Tribune and numerous other Democratic Party mouthpieces, the June 20, 2017 special election for the 6th District of the United States House of Representatives, was a referendum on Trump.

Well, Democratic Party candidate Jon Osoff lost to Republican Party candidate Karen Handel.

According to the New Yorker, this election result is a reality check for the Democrats.

Don't miss the actual photo of disappointed Democrats below the fold (hat tip to Bunkerville). Spew alert!

Flashback About Otto Warmbier — And A Few Questions (With Addendum)

Image credit

I wasn't going to post today until I stumbled across the following about 22-year-old University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, brought home in a persistent vegetative state. Home six days after eighteen months of imprisonment in North Korea, Otto Warmbier died on June 19, 2017, at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

From Grabien News...Flashback: Left-Wing Media Outlets Mocked U.Va. Student for 'White Privilege' Running out in N. Korea.

Recommended Reading

[Note:this blog post was previously published early on the morning of June 14, 2017, but pulled back into draft form after the news about the shootings of Congressmen in Alexandria, Virginia, broke]

Apparently, Trumpophobia extends to attacking an eleven-year-old boy, particularly in the social media. See Sick: Barron Trump Roasted for Holding Innocent Item in Photograph.

 In December 2016, Forbes declared: Fidget Spinners Are The Must-Have Office Toy For 2017, but because Barron Trump was spotted using a fidget spinner, some Trump haters have concluded that the boy must be autistic. The social media are toxic.

45th Wedding Anniversary Blog Break (With Addendum)

(For politics, please scroll down)

Mr. AOW and I tied the knot on June 17, 1972. Today, we are celebrating our sapphire anniversary:

From Wedding Anniversary by Years:

...Most Popular Song 45 Years Ago: "THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE" - Roberta Flack...

As that song says:

...I knew our joy would fill the earth
And last till the end of time my love...

Addendum at the suggestion of FreeThinke...Below the fold are two photos of the sapphire-and-diamonds pendant that Mr. AOW presented me for our 45th anniversary. These photos do not do justice to the pendant!

Why Trump Tweets

And should continue to Tweet (HERE and HERE, two different Twitter accounts).

The Democrats, the establishment GOP, and the media want President Trump to stop Tweeting because his Tweets are interfering with and eroding the narrative.

As Donald J. Trump Tweeted @ 8:23 this morning:

The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to be my very powerful Social Media - over 100 million people! I can go around them

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2017

Here Is The Left In All Its "Glory"

Steve Scalise is in critical condition after surgery, and Sonia Gupta must be delighted about that bit of dire news.

According to Grabien News, Sonia Gupta is a former prosecutor from Scalise's home state of Louisiana.

Her Tweets are protected, but here is an image capture of one of her Tweets today, upon hearing that Rep. Steve Scalise had been shot (from Grabien News):

Her Twitter profile shows the following:

Overcoming internal resistance and just...being. 😊 New Orleans Lawyer➡️ Denver Software Developer. Always seeking new opportunities.
Denver, CO
Joined March 2016

ADDENDUM

Now go read It Wasn't The Trump Supporters at Infidel Bloggers Alliance.

BREAKING NOW: HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP STEVE SCALISE HAS BEEN SHOT AT AN EARLY MORNING GOP BASEBALL TEAM PRACTICE IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA!

(Note to readers: tomorrow, I will republish the original post I had already put up for today)

The scene this morning (image credit)

Details everywhere on the web (Google search term: steve scalise shot), including at Infidel Bloggers Alliance, where I have been frenetically posting updates.

Congressman Steve Scalise (R-Lousiana) was shot and was lying wounded on the outfield for about 10 minutes.  Two Capitol Police officers have also been shot.

Among the updates I've posted at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

This shooting appears to be a deliberate, target attack on the GOP (CNN).

The weapon appears to have been an AR-15 (according to some gun-savvy witnesses, Fox News).

Fox News: the shooting went on for 10 minutes. The shooter reloaded at least once.

The Congressional Teams Baseball Game was supposed to take place tomorrow at Nationals Field and has been well-publicized (Fox News).

One of the Capitol Police officers, although shot, was able to take down the shooter. The shooter is now en route to a hospital (Fox News).

Congressman Scalise was airlifted from the scene and is now in the hospital, probably INOVA Fairfax Hospital, which has a trauma center (Fox News).

"It was a shooting field" (Rand Paul, interviewed by phone on Fox News). Some 50 rounds were fired by the gunman.

According to Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), Steve Scalise was playing 2nd base. When he was shot, he dragged himself into the outfield so as to be further away from the shooter, who was behind the 3rd base dugout. Congressman Jeff Flake went to the outfield to put pressure on Scalise's hip wound. The Congressional Baseball Game has been a Washington tradition for over 16 years (Fox News).

Report on Fox News: before the shooting started, a man in running shorts came up and asked if the baseball team was Democrats or Republicans.

UPDATE: Congressman Scalise may be at Georgetown University Medical Center. Police in assault rifles all over the ER entrance there.  The Today Show Twitter feed is showing that he may have a groin wound:

New video shows Congressman @SteveScalise after Alexandria shooting. https://t.co/afPAJ2WT6x

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 14, 2017

As Anonymous posted at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

If the shooter is tied to the right Trump will be blamed. If the shooter is tied to the left the gun will be blamed.

As predicted (with thanks to Anonymous at Infidel Bloggers Alliance):

Rolling Stone, Washington Post Freelancer Blames Scalise For Getting Himself Shot https://t.co/dWKFfShEej

— Thomas Paine (@Thomas1774Paine) June 14, 2017

UPDATE...Shooter identified by law enforcement officials as James T. Hodgkinson:

The shooter at the GOP congressional baseball practice this morning is James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Ill., according to law enforcement officials. Hodgkinson, 66, owns a home inspection business. His home inspection license expired in November 2016 and was not renewed, state records show.

Hodgkinson was charged in April 2006 with battery and aiding damage to a motor vehicle, according to online records in St. Clair County, Illinois. The charges were dismissed, records show.

Apparently, the shooter is a Bernie Sanders supporter and rabidly anti-Trump.  More information about the shooter HERE at Heavy.com.

Maxine Waters Hotly Rejects Reporter's Question

At Los Angeles March for Truth on June 3, 2017, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the Democratic Party's Representative for the 43rd District of California, once again declares her mission to impeach President Trump because of his supposed collusion with Russia to undermine our elections.

Same old, same old.  Yawn.

What is interesting in the video below, however, is Congresswoman Waters's reaction to the reporter's question about President Obama's policy with regard to Russia (about time marker 1:04ff):


The Washington Post's article about the above-mentioned portion — and much more — below the fold.

Nostalgic Weekend Break From Politics

(For politics, please scroll down)

One of my Facebook finds:

I miss Mom's homemade vegetable beef soup, made from leftover pot roast and vegetables canned from our one-acre garden.

Without success, I've tried over and over again to duplicate Mom's vegetable beef soup. To my knowledge, she didn't use a recipe for that wonderful soup.

What do you miss from the days that your grandmother or mother did the cooking? Recipes welcome!

Stabbed In The Neck

(with a hat tip to Tammy Swofford, who provided the medical information in this blog post)

We spend much time discussing jihadists. What of their victims, particularly their surviving victims?

Image credit: Candice Hedge, from Brisbane, was viciously attacked in the city's centre on Saturday night while having a drink after work. She has described the horrifying moment her throat was slashed.

What kind of man looks a woman in the eye, then stabs her in the throat?

Candice Hedge, survivor of the London Bridge jihad attack, appears to have a "Panda tube" coming out of her nose. The Panda tube is a weighted feeding tube. Ms. Hedge probably sustained a tear in her esophagus. Thank God it was not her trachea!

From London attack: Australian woman Candice Hedge stabbed in neck (dated June 4, 2017):

Tipping Point?

To this we have come....

But not all that surprising when we consider some of Wellesley's alumnae who entered government and public service.  That particular list includes Hillary Clinton.

We also read that Charlotte Anita Whitney is an alumna of Wellesley. She was an early Communist Labor Party of America and Communist Party USA organizer in California. She was named the national chairwoman of the Communist Party in 1936.

From Wellesley College Students: ‘Hostility’ Is Warranted Against People Who Say Anything Offensive:

... The student editors say it’s fine to suppress and deny people the right to speak their minds if their thoughts offend others.

“We have all said problematic claims,” the editorial reads. “Luckily most of us have been taught by our peers and mentors at Wellesley in a productive way.”

If that doesn’t sound like it was ripped from a dystopian novel, what comes next is truly Orwellian: “If people are given the resources to learn and either continue to speak hate speech or refuse to adapt their beliefs, then hostility may be warranted.” In other words, if you say things some people find offensive, then there will be physical consequences.

[...]

This weird interpretation of free speech — that saying offensive or politically incorrect things deprives others of rights — is not exclusive to the faculty. Here’s how the student editorial staff describes the objective of free speech: “The spirit of free speech is to protect the suppressed, not a free-for-all where anything is acceptable, no matter how hateful and damaging.”...

Read the rest HERE.

Parents, beware when you send your children off to college! Our institutions have become bastions of the suppression and extermination of any and all ideas not in accordance with Leftism.

Related reading: Radical Professor Arrested for Anarchist ‘Bike Lock’ Assault at Berkeley. Brief excerpt:

...[T]hree separate victims...were injured by an attacker suspected to be Eric Clanton. In all three cases, the victims were struck in the head or neck with a bike lock.

Read the rest HERE.

The Ugly Reality

Posted by the Voice of Europe in the wake of the June 3, 2017 jihad attacks at London Bridge and the nearby Borough Market:

This is the third terror attack in the UK since March:

On 22 May, 22 people were killed and 116 injured in a suicide bombing at Manchester Arena.

On 22 March, six people died, including the attacker, and at least 50 people were injured in an attack near the Houses of Parliament.

Read the rest at Zero Hedge's "This Is For Allah" - Seven Killed In London Terrorist Rampage; Three Assailants Shot.

The complete text of Prime Minister Theresa May's speech below the fold. If you watching instead of reading, there is also a video of the full speech below the fold.  I will leave it to commenters to parse the speech.

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

One hundred minutes of the incomparable J.S. Bach:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Recommended Reading

(Note: two posts today. Please scroll down)

One anti-Trumper's inconsistency on display. See Washington Post’s Fake Conservative Blogger Hated The Paris Deal…Until Trump Agreed With Her: Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin used to hate the Paris climate deal. Then Trump agreed with her. Now she loves it. What changed? in The Federalist. Excerpt below the fold:

Patronizing Inclusiveness

From Student Union Wants to Ban Clapping and Cheering Because it Excludes Deaf People (dated April 28, 2017):

Higher Education? (With Addendum)

Did you see Tucker Carlson's May 25 interview of Evergreen State College Professor Bret Weinstein, a self-declared Progressive?  Before reading the rest of this blog post, please watch the video — even if you don't like Tucker Carlson.  This time, Carlson allowed a guest to speak without constant interruptions.

Another Manchester Victim?

7/7 London attack survivor Tony Walters has been found dead amid suicide fears

From the UK Sun (May 28, 2017):

7/7 HERO IS '23RD VICTIM': Survivor of 7/7 London terror attack Tony Walters, 52, found dead hours after Manchester bombing as friends claim ‘he didn’t want to live in a world where ­attacks continue’

Pals believe recent Westminster attack and Monday night's atrocity at an Ariana Grande concert brought back traumatic memories for the haunted 52-year-old

A SURVIVOR of 7/7 was found dead hours after the Manchester Arena attack — amid fears he took his own life.

Haunted Tony Walters, 52, was discovered at his home after failing to go to work. A friend said: “He is the 23rd victim of Salman Abedi‘s suicide bombing.”

Friends believe he killed himself because he was overwhelmed by the horror of yet more innocent lives lost to terrorism.

One said: “He didn’t want to live in a world where these ­terror attacks continue.”

[...]

On July 7, 2005, Tony was yards from fanatic Mohammad Sidique Khan when he detonated a device on a Tube train after it left Edgware Road station.

Seven people, including Khan, died. Tony was showered with shrapnel but survived.

Friends believe the Manchester bombing, coupled with the Westminster attack in March when four people were killed by Khalid Masood, brought back traumatic memories of 7/7 and Tony could not cope.

[...]

“Everyone that knew Tony believes he is the 23rd victim of the Manchester Arena attack....

Read the entire article HERE.

The empty same old, same old did not begin to console or help Tony Walters. He had been bloodied on the field of jihad warfare on his home soil almost twelve years ago. Some experiences are just too intense to forget and continue to claim victims.

Memorial Day Weekend 2017

(For politics, please scroll down)

With all our busy-ness, let us not forget the meaning of Memorial Day.  Instead, with solemnity and humility, let us remember and honor the more than 1.8 million servicemen and servicewomen who have died in the service of our nation since 1775.

The Same Old, Same Old

With a hat tip to Bocopro (Click on the image to enlarge it):

There is no genuine or lasting outrage — even when children are slaughtered in the name of Allah.

Neither is there a change in policy on the part of the West's feckless leaders.

I am so sick of the West's dhimmitudinal cycle.

Related reading at the blog site Bunkerville: Every Nine days, a terrorist attack is attempted in Europe in 2017.

The Manchester Slaughter

At least 22 dead and 59 injured in suicide attack at Manchester Arena, on May 22, 2017, at an Ariana Grande concert attended by thousands of tween and teen girls.

One of the dead is Saffie Rose Roussos, an eight-year-old girl:

From the Express UK:

President Trump's Riyadh Speech

Click directly on the image to enlarge it:

The comment below appeared to the opinion piece "This Wasn't a Speech About Islam" by Mustafa Akyol and Wajahat Ali (New York Times, May 21, 2017):

TDurk Rochester NY
I am not a supporter of Donald Trump. I find the man to be repugnant and his proposed domestic policies to be injurious to the interests of the American people.

That said, his speech focused on the responsibility of the Muslim people to stamp out Islamic terrorism. He correctly laid the issue at the feet of the states, the clergies and the money who have, either through benign neglect or quiet support, allowed barbarians to use religious fervor as an excuse to commit barbarous acts upon innocents. He correctly stated that the problem is not the problem of the US or of Europe to solve, although the west may need to eradicate the terrorist structures, root and branch.

In this instance, Donald Trump is right.

In the opinion piece, Mustafa Akyol, a contributing opinion writer, is a visiting fellow at the Freedom Project at Wellesley College and the author of The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims, whined:

A “speech on Islam” could have included some references to the faith, an acknowledgment that Islam is a great religion with values in common with Judeo-Christianity, and with a history of pluralism and tolerance. A “speech on Muslims” could have also been richer, with perhaps examples of how Muslims have contributed to the world, including to American society. This was a more modest, narrow and pragmatic speech, mostly appealing to Muslim leaders — in fact, only Sunni ones — for more cooperation against terrorism. But given Mr. Trump’s earlier views on Islam, it could have been worse!

Mr. Akyol is correct: President Trump's Riyadh speech wasn't nearly as sycophantic as the 2009 Cairo Speech spewed by Apologist-In-Chief Barack Hussein Obama.

My take:

The Riyadh Speech was as daring a speech that an American President could give on Arabian soil to an assembly of Arab nations.

As Kid mentioned at Infidel Bloggers Alliance, there was much nuanced threat.

Yes, indeed! Note this portion about condemned souls:

Religious leaders must make this absolutely clear: Barbarism will deliver you no glory – piety to evil will bring you no dignity. If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and YOUR SOUL WILL BE CONDEMNED.

A deliberate salvo directed at the Wahhabist imams, many of them from Saudi.

President Trump also called out Hamas.

I also note that President Trump at one point said, "Islamic extremism." Apparently, the original script said "Islamist extremism." An accident on Trump's part?

Additional reading...Tale of the Tape: How Trump's First Middle East Speech Compares to Obama's: Half as many self-references, zero Koran quotes, more focus on Islamic extremism.

Musical Interlude

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My music appreciation teacher in elementary school introduced us to Classical Period music by having us listen to Haydn's Surprise Symphony; we also learned about the basics of symphonic form.

Haydn (1732-1809, contemporaneous with George Washington), was a prolific composer, in part because he held the position of Kapellmeister for the Esterházy Family, who, in Haydn's words:  "forced [him] to become original."  The Esterházy estate ([s]ometimes called the "Hungarian Versailles") was distant from populated areas and isolated him from other composers and trends in music.

When I studied Music Appreciation in college, I discovered more of Haydn's glorious music, including the piece below.


About the above piece, from Musical Musings:

Impeachment?

All the chattering and nattering about impeaching President Trump!  Some — Left, Right, and Center — are openly longing for his impeachment.

To a great extent, some news networks (MSNBC and CNN, for example) are speaking as if impeachment and removal from office are a foregone conclusion.

Related reading...

(1) Impeach Trump Now (web site)

(2) Pat Buchanan: It Isn’t Watergate Yet, But How Long Can This Sustain?

Three questions:

1. What, specifically, are President Trump's impeachable offenses?

2. What might be the consequences, short term and long term, of such an impeachment?

3. What might be the consequences, short term and long term, if Robert Mueller, appointed as special counsel for the United States Department of Justice to oversee the investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, finds no cause for impeachment?

That Time Of Year

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As the end of the 2016-2017 school term looms, I am making the mad dash to complete the necessary paperwork: exams to score, grades to average, and report cards to issue.  Not the best of times!

At the end of every school term, I feel as if I've not accomplished much. And so it goes for teachers for whom teaching is a calling and a passion — not merely a career. Yet, we start over again the next school term.

Convention of States (bumped to the top by AOW)

Posted by Warren

Lately, I have been troubled by events in Washington DC and across the country. From the inability of Congress to perform its Constitutional duties to a rogue Judiciary that finds "rights" that don't exist in the Constitution and denies enumerated rights clearly stated in bold.

 In these troubling age, we see our Liberty eroded away at the hands of a duplicitous Congress, an unanswerable Judiciary; many who are no more than politically driven ideologues, plus a host of  nameless faceless bureaucrats whose regulations carry the force of law. 

 

In the evening, as I work, I listen to Mark Levin, Conservative, lawyer, Constitutional scholar, author and radio talk show host. He offers a solution to these problems which are Constitutional in nature

 

Article V, U.S. Constitution

* * * * * * * * * *
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

(Bolding added by Warren)

This is not a Constitutional Convention but a legitimate provision of the Constitution enabling the States to add amendments to the Constitution.                                          

Mark has thoroughly researched this subject and the rational for consideration in his book "The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic" . The book is available in several different formats.

The eleven amendments he proposes are:                                                                                 

For Mother's Day 2017

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Remembering Mom (January 3, 2016-November 8, 1987):

Mom, I miss you every day. Not a day goes by that I don't long for your wise advice and much-needed encouragement!

Recommended Reading

See Europe's Childless Leaders Sleepwalking Us to Disaster by Giulio Meotti at Gatestone Institute.

The bullet points in the teaser:

Illegal Aliens And Constitutional Rights

Please watch this video of less than one minute in length, and consider the concepts presented:


The now-ubiquitous phrase undocumented citizens as used so often by various media and other Leftists, is nonsensical! The very word citizens implies that these individuals have entered into the United States Compact (Constitution) when they have not.

Related reading: The Civic Cost Of Illegal Immigration by Victor Davis Hansen. Excerpt:

...[L]ost in this conundrum are the pernicious effects of illegal immigration on the idea of citizenship in a consensual society. In the Western constitutional tradition, citizenship was based upon shared assumptions that were often codified in foundational constitutional documents.

[...]

When borders are fluid and unenforced, it inevitably follows that assimilation and integration also become lax, as society loses a sense of who, or even where, their residents are. And the idea that the Bill of Rights should apply to those beyond U.S. borders may be a noble sentiment, but the practical effect of such utopianism is to open a Pandora's box of impossible enforcement, affronts to foreign governments, endless litigation, and a diversion of resources away from protecting the rights of citizens at home.

Residency is also confused with citizenship, but they are no more the same than are guests at a dinner party and the party's hosts, who own the home.

A country reverts to tribalism unless immigrants enter it legally-often based on the host's determination of how easily and rapidly they can become citizens, and the degree to which they can benefit their adopted country-and embrace its customs, language, and habits.

Read the rest HERE. Worth your time.

Musical Interlude

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Some years ago, Mr. AOW and I went to a National Symphony Orchestra concert presenting the piece below. Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) narrated the concert, which had accompanying photos taken by NASA projected on the big screens inside the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

Enjoy Gustav Holst's The Planets (1914-1916) and the accompanying images:

Movements of the suite:

MARS, Bringer of War: 00:00
VENUS, Bringer of Peace: 7:20
MERCURY, Winged Messenger: 14:50
JUPITER, Bringer of Jollity: 18:41
SATURNE, Bringer of Old Age: 26:18
URANUS, The Magician: 35:29
NEPTUNE, The Mystic: 41:00

[about The Planets]

Recommended Reading (The Recent Continuing Resolution, aka "The Budget Deal")

See Vice President Calls the Show to Defend the Budget Deal at The Rush Limbaugh Show (dated May 2, 2017).

Excerpt:

...RUSH: If this is what happens, Mr. Vice President, why vote Republican? What is the point of voting Republican if the Democrats are gonna continue to win practically 95% of their objectives, such as in this last budget deal?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, look, respectfully, Rush, I actually think this was, as the president said a little a while ago, I think this was actually a clear win for the American people....

Read the rest HERE.

What are your thoughts about the recent budget deal?

Even Without The Wall

Like many others, I'm frustrated that the border wall promised by Donald Trump is not under construction and still remains unfunded. The wall was the primary plank of Trump's campaign platform and launched his first political campaign.

That said, if the following information is true, the Trump Administration needs to get the word out — before Donald Trump loses the support of a core group within the electorate that elected him to the Oval Office. WE THE PEOPLE are wary of our so-called elected public servants, because they have so often reneged on campaign promises made.

Click directly on the image to enlarge it:

Related reading at RickWells.us: Trump And Americans Want The Wall – Vote In A New Congress If They Refuse Our Demands.