SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

SLIPPING – FROM BLOOMBERG: It’s the first drop below 50 percent since Gallup started asking the question 17 years ago.  An estimated 47 percent of U.S. adults are “extremely proud” to be Americans this year, according to a Gallup survey issued in advance of the Fourth of July holiday.  “Left-leaning groups’ antipathy toward Donald Trump and their belief that other countries look unfavorably on the president are likely factors in their decline in patriotism, particularly the sharp drops in the past year,” Gallup said. “The declines began before Trump was elected” and “accelerated in the past year,” the polling organization added. It’s the first drop below 50 percent since Gallup started asking the question 17 years ago.  The far left is doing its job, sadly.

MARCHING TOWARD MEDIOCRITY – FROM COLLEGE FIX:    The chancellor of the California community college system has stated that institutions’ algebra requirements are “the biggest barrier” for “underemployed or unemployed Americans,” and as such is … a civil rights issue.  According to NPR, Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley is “among a growing number of educators who view intermediate algebra as an obstacle to students obtaining their credentials — particularly in fields that require no higher level math skills.”  In an interview with the chancellor, NPR’s Robert Siegel pointed out the low graduation rate in the community college system (48% for an associate’s degree), and then asked Oakley if ditching algebra wasn’t just the “easy way out.”  Oakley retorted “I hear that a lot and unfortunately nothing could be farther from the truth. Somewhere along the lines, since the 1950s, we decided that the only measure of a student’s ability to reason or to do some sort of quantitative measure is algebra.  You know where this is going.  Lower those standards instead of teaching those students.  We study algebra not simply because it can be useful, but because it trains the mind in logic and precision.  But who needs those things when you're "woke"?

ANOTHER GENIUS HEARD FROM – FROM CNBC:   One solution to income inequality is giving out free cash, according to the British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson.  “A basic income should be introduced in Europe and in America,” Branson told David Gelles of The New York Times.  Branson was responding to the question, “What do you think those in positions of power should do to address social problems like income inequality?”  In a report published in January, the global charity Oxfam found that 82 percent of the growth in global wealth in the previous year went to the top 1 percent of individuals ranked by riches. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent had no increase in their wealth, the report says.  “It’s a disgrace to see people sleeping on the streets with this material wealth all around them,” Branson said.   The road to ruin.  People getting free cash have no incentive to improve themselves. 

July 2, 2018