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MARCH 24, 2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

THE PANDEMIC AND THE KIDS – FROM DAILY MAIL: Children at every grade level are still performing worse in math and reading than they were before start of COVID, data from 7.3 million standardized tests across the US reveals.  The study, released this week by standardized test provider Renaissance Learning Inc., revealed that a return to in-person learning in the latter half of the last school year has seen standardized test scores improve across the county. However, students are still lagging well behind pre-pandemic levels. The firm analyzed reading scores for 4.4 million students from kindergarten to 12th grade in all 50 states, as well as 2.9 million students' math marks during the 2020 and 2021 school years.  It found student performance during the second year of the pandemic was markedly worse than the first year, with each state seeing marked declines in 2021, suggesting remote learning has had a lasting - and negative - impact on student achievement.  The sad fact is that most people in power don't care much about children, and the teachers' unions only care when there's something in it for them.  This country has some makeup work to do for our kids. I wonder if we'll do it.

March 24, 2022     Permalink

THE SINKING SHIP – OVERNIGHT:  President Biden, despite all his efforts and gimmicks, continues to sink in the polls. His problems include an aura of weakness, the image of an obviously impaired man, rampant inflation, and a belief by many that things are only getting worse. His sidekick, Kamala (Tonto) Harris, isn't making things easier for the president.  From Daily Caller:

The latest poll shows President Joe Biden’s approval rating dropped Tuesday as the worsening economy weighs heavy on voters.

Biden’s approval ratings fell three points, with only 34% giving him a favorable rating, and 52% of Americans disapproving of his job as president, according to the latest Grinnell College National Poll. The poll surveyed 1,002 U.S. adults ages 18 and over from Mar. 15 to Mar. 20 with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

A majority of Democrats, 70%, still approve of Biden’s job as president, while 89% of Republicans strongly disapprove.

J. Ann Selzer of Selzer & Company said the percentage of “not sure” votes, 14%, struck her as high.

“It’s interesting to me that the “not sure” factor is as high as it is. It seems unlikely that Joe Biden isn’t well known enough to make a judgment,” said Selzer, according to Grinnell College. “I believe this is a reflection of the high level of uncertainty everywhere – war in Ukraine, inflation, Covid-19 and more.”

Grinnell College National Poll director Peter Hanson believes Biden’s low approval rating, 34%, can be explained by the voters’ frustration with America’s struggling economy.

“The collapse in economic confidence means that President Biden and congressional Democrats are facing strong headwinds as they head into the November elections,” Hanson said in the poll. “Midterm elections are frequently a referendum on the performance of the administration, and these numbers are a sign that the judgment from voters is likely to be harsh.”

He added that outside “a major change,” the Republicans are still favored to win back control of Congress in the Nov. midterms.

Almost 60% of Americans believe the economy will get worse over the next 12 months, and only 27% have faith the economy will improve, according to the poll.

COMMENT:  We always caution readers that a poll is a snapshot in time.  Although it's unlikely, the Democrats' fortunes can brighten by election day in November.  The economy could improve, gas prices could drop, or the Dems can hustle through a fast tax cut to compensate for inflation. Those steps might work, or backfire.

We'll keep following the trends, always with the thought that the only poll that counts is held on election day.

March 24, 2022     Permalink  

MARCH 23, 2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

ANOTHER EDUCATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH – FROM COLLEGE FIX: An upcoming event at Cornell University will cover “Robo-sexism,” a discipline which explores the intersection of technology, gender and sexuality. The event will be led by University of Michigan anthropology Professor Emerita Jennifer Robertson, a leading scholar in the field. It will delve into the sex-gender stereotypes and operational functions informing the design and embodiment of artificial intelligence and robots. And, in particular, that link in “humanoids and androids,” according to the event’s website. It is titled “Robo-Sexism: Gendering AI and Robots” and is scheduled for April 22.
“Robots have been imagined, designed, and deployed in rhetorical and tangible forms alike to reinforce conservative models of sex/gender roles, ethnic nationalism, and ‘traditional’ family structures,” the event description states, adding Robertson will consider the ramifications of such “retro-tech.” When asked by The College Fix via email to describe robo-sexism, Robertson said the discipline is rooted in an industry practice in which technology designers assign human genders to non-human objects. “I define ‘robo-sexism’ as the practice among roboticists, whether intentional or unintentional (from indifference or ignorance), of designing humanoid robots on the basis of essentialized and reductive stereotypes about human females and males,” Robertson said.   I'm so glad the academic world is confronting this.  What kind of a country would we be if we permitted sexist robots?  Please think about that.  This is the new climate change.

March 23, 2022      Permalink

THEY ARE FIGHTING!  THERE IS BAD BLOOD!  JOEY AND KAMMIE, CAN THEY BECOME LOVERS? OVERNIGHT:  It is obvious that the president and vice president are less than close.   The country is in danger from either one of them.  If there were ever a time for an American coup, it's now.  From Daily Mail:

Kamala Harris wasn't happy with Joe Biden appointing her to address the southern border crisis, wanting a more softball foreign policy assignment, and thinks the president's 'white inner circle' looks down on her, according to claims made in a new book.

During an April meeting with Congressional Black Caucus leaders, Biden praised Harris and said she would do 'a hell of a job' handling immigration.

'The vice president corrected him at once,' New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns wrote in their new upcoming book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future.

''Excuse me,' she said, 'it's the Northern Triangle — not immigration.''
The book also explains that the first minority and female vice president felt belittled by Biden's white staff.

'Some of Harris's advisers believed the president's almost entirely white inner circle did not show the vice president the respect she deserved,' they wrote.

'Harris worried that Biden's staff looked down on her; she fixated on real and perceived snubs in ways the West Wing found tedious,' they added, according to excerpts published by Politico on Tuesday.

Biden tasked Harris with addressing immigration – and the vice president took her opportunities to share her dissatisfaction with the role.

According to the book, Harris' aides felt that the task of addressing the southern border crisis, in any way, was politically undesirable and wanted the vice president to have a more softball foreign policy assignment – like overseeing relations with Nordic countries.

'Staff floated the possibility of the vice president overseeing relations with the Nordic countries — a low-risk diplomatic assignment that might have helped Harris get adjusted to the international stage in welcoming venues like Oslo and Copenhagen,' the authors wrote.
They added that the prospect of overseeing Nordic countries was 'rejected' by White House aides and even 'privately mocked.'

'More irritating to Biden aides was when they learned the vice president wanted to plan a major speech to outline her view of foreign policy,' they added in the book. 'Biden aides vetoed the idea.'

COMMENT:  Oh, read the rest.  Who doesn't love a good soap opera?  I wanna see the Second Gentleman secretly take up with AOC. Soon to be a major motion picture. 

March 23, 2022     Permalink