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

REAL CLASS – FROM NEWSBUSTERS:    The New York Times carried a column last weekend by Maureen Dowd where Jimmy Carter shocked the liberals by saying “I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I've known about...I think they feel free to claim that Trump is mentally deranged and everything else without hesitation.”  Times columnist Thomas Friedman took it to a new level on Wednesday's Charlie Rose on PBS. Trump isn't mentally ill...he's a brain-eating disease.  Such style, such elegance.  These are the people who consider themselves superior to we mere citizens.  Well-dressed trash talkers.

THE PAIN, THE STRESS – FROM POWERLINE:   Student anxiety and hostility at public high schools have worsened since Donald Trump became president, according to a study. More than half of the 1,535 teachers who responded to a survey claimed to see more students than ever with “high levels of stress and anxiety” between January and May of this year.  The study was conducted by UCLA’s director of the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access. The title of the institute suggests to me that the study was looking for the result it found.  Indeed, there are some obvious problems with the study. First, more than 10,000 teachers were invited to respond. Only about 15 percent did. One suspects that the teachers who responded were among the most likely to tell the researchers that student stress is rising under Trump. One suspects that many of these teachers, if asked, would report that mildew in their classroom has increased since Trump became president.  Yes, I've heard that a major mildew crisis is about to be declared by Hillary Clinton and CNN.

LAND OF THE FREE? – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   The Supreme Court’s 1969 Tinker decision is supposed to protect the constitutional rights of children in public schools, particularly peaceful political expression.  Several Senate Democrats couldn’t care less. They are demanding that the Department of Education illegally squelch children’s political speech they dislike.  Education Week reports that eight members wrote a letter to Secretary Betsy DeVos* Wednesday asking her to “outline its plan to address the rise of discrimination and harassment in our schools” that they blame on her boss, President Donald Trump.  The signatories all serve on the Senate committee that handles education, including Ranking Member Patty Murray, and they trace the alleged spike in harassment (contradicted by Education Week itself) to the election of Trump.  The best thing the Republican Party has going for it is the Democratic Party.Dysfunction and madness, together again.

October 27, 2017