Monday morning links

California’s Minority-Stress Experiment - Legislative efforts to combat “homophobia” and “transphobia” have produced few results besides stifling free speech.

Director Is Baffled After Reporter Asks Why No Diversity in Film About 18th Century Denmark

Chicago Fire - Brandon Johnson is on course to be the Windy City’s most damaging leader in living memory.

Bill Maher to MSNBC’s Ari Melber: ‘Try to Understand Why’ So Many Support Trump

What are Joe Biden’s unarticulated reasons for a very costly overseas intervention?

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:41 | Comments (36) | Trackbacks (0)

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It's the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 and, yet, no links to columns reflecting on that day and/or all the events and developments since? Wow.

#1 PCB on 2023-09-11 09:05 (Reply)

“A DAY TO BE PROUD”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/09/a-day-to-be-proud-13.php

#1.1 Erasmus on 2023-09-11 09:42 (Reply)

Students are entering college unable to write
There are at least two reasons for this. First, as the article points out, is the tendency to assign high grades without demanding high standards for getting those high grades.

I also suspect that standardized test grading of essays has encouraged a cookie-cutter approach to teaching writing skills. On the other hand, a quick form for essay writing- state your main points in the first paragraph, then elucidate those points in subsequent paragraphs, and sum up what you have said in the final paragraph isn't such a bad approach.

A childhood friend back in the '70s took a temp job at a Fortune 500 company. She was appalled at the writing skills of new hires. She proposed a writing program to higher-ups, and commenced a successful career in instructing in the business world. The point here is that writing skills, though they may have deteriorated in recent years, have long been an issue.

While I liked English class through 8th grade, I developed a strong dislike for English classes in high school and college for their approach to teaching essay writing. The junior literary critic approach to teaching essay writing didn't sit well with me. The main reason was that the approach seemed forced. Students went looking for metaphors and symbols even when they didn't really think they were there, because that is what junior literary critics were supposed to do. I was never so happy in high school English classes as when we were assigned to write an in-class essay on a topic far removed from literary criticism.

I would add that the interminable term papers increased my phobia for writing that began with my encounter with the junior literary critic approach. Not until when I started writing on a PC could I write comfortably once again.

#2 Gringo on 2023-09-11 09:18 (Reply)

related:

Math disaster in college: Would-be STEM majors can't add 1/2 + 1/3

https://www.joannejacobs.com/post/math-disaster-in-college-would-be-stem-majors-can-t-add-1-2-1-3

#2.1 feeblemind on 2023-09-11 09:32 (Reply)

Wakanda, baby!
Why you be so rasicts?

#2.1.1 Mark Matis on 2023-09-11 17:53 (Reply)

Attended university during the early '70s when science students were expected to take some arts courses to be "well rounded", and these would be the regular arts courses which included those majoring in the subjects. The reverse was not true; arts students were given watered down science courses such as "rocks for jocks" and "bits for twits", none of which involved laboratory work. I always thought that - at the very least - the English department could have produced a course on report writing for scientists and engineers, but obviously that would have been too déclassé.

#2.2 Frances on 2023-09-11 22:22 (Reply)

I always thought that - at the very least - the English department could have produced a course on report writing for scientists and engineers, but obviously that would have been too déclassé.

That would have been a good idea.

One reason I chose engineering as a major was so that I wouldn't have to write term papers. To my chagrin, I found out that Senior Lab involved six lab projects with a team of four students which included a 30 page write-up of theory and results- written in less than a week.

All professionals need to write and present reports as my Design professor said, in a manner that is "brief, concise, and to the point."

Regarding engineers taking classes with other majors, I am reminded of an interdisciplinary engineering course which one week consisted of a "land use game" with business students. Being a numbers person, I took over that part of the game. At the end of the game, the business students thought I was an accounting major.

#2.2.1 Gringo on 2023-09-12 10:19 (Reply)

The common thread through many of these stories today is the substitution of feelings over data or critical thought. It's a good set of links, representative. I've been noticing the theme in modern journalism now, too. Listening to NPR last week, several of the stories in their limited repertoire of subjects (Climate Change Oh-No's, Progressive Political figures, LBGTQIA stories, DeFund-the-PoPo, Abortion, etc) would have testimony from people that didn't convey any kind of evidence past their feelings. They are concerned that something bad might get worse. They are scared that they can't provide for themselves. They are fearful that they won't be able to get the services. And so on. The stories are less about the nonexistent or minimal impact that a given influence is actually having over somebody's quality of life, instead the story focuses on their feelings - as if this is somehow more important than the actual evidence.

If you take the time to notice, it makes you want to turn it off.

#3 Aggie on 2023-09-11 09:25 (Reply)

All reasons (and then some) I stopped listening to NPR years ago. Nothing but agitprop for the Left and anxiety porn for Progressive neurotics.

#3.1 PCB on 2023-09-11 10:42 (Reply)

The current mission in education is to teach feelings in every subject. Even the teachers unable to pass tests for their teaching credentials rely on the law to punish the testers so as to salvage their feelings. Earth Day is established to appeal to feelings and tests applied to enforce the proper feelings. The 1619 project is established to promote the proper feelings and history be damned. A feelings education system has been established and advanced and so often it is protected with such zeal that even parents are unable to stop the feelings industry.
Get out of the public school system and fund parents/students rather than such vile institutions. Monopolies eventually kill including the uniparty monopoly.

#3.2 indyjonesouthere on 2023-09-11 15:59 (Reply)

'Large Study Demystifies Female Squirting During Sex'

A disgusting trend, and one of several reasons I'm sex-avoidant.

#4 Maniac on 2023-09-11 09:30 (Reply)

Au contraire mon frere. The best day in my life was when I discovered I could give me wife exquisite pleasure with oral sex in the way she needed it. Yes she did squirt which was exciting to me too. But she was so taken over by her orgasm her squirming and moaning that when she stopped and lay so still I thought she had passed out. She was speechless and seemed unable to move for what seemed a long time. After that our sex life become so much better for both of us. I wish I was 20 something again and with her...

#4.1 OneGuy on 2023-09-11 10:15 (Reply)

With regard to Gov Abbott. Tucker has a slightly different take.

https://twitter.com/WatchChad/status/1701048385820663907

#5 Greg on 2023-09-11 10:13 (Reply)

I have concluded that Tucker Carlson had some first rate producers behind him while he was at Fox. Since leaving Fox though, his messaging has deteriorated, and his selection of interview subjects has made me question his overall judgment. Not RFK Jr, not Trump, I'm speaking about such loathsome creatures as Andrew Tate, or that guy claiming to have had gay sex with Obama. These guys have chumped Carlson into giving them valuable air time, IMO, and Carlson has sullied his reputation by granting it.

I was never much of a fan of his anyway, but my wife used to enjoy listening to his Fox show, and I would overhear it at times. Same thing with Bill O'Reilly. Often they have good messages, on point, good criticism of policies or hypocrisies, but sooner or later you recognize that it's a production, not a sincere message, crafted to elicit a dopamine rush and emotional reaction from the audience.

#5.1 Aggie on 2023-09-11 10:56 (Reply)

re It’s called the Autonomous Weeder

Appears they are being marketed for high value crops.

They look VERY expensive to own and maintain.

One wonders about the possibility of a malfunction with the weeder 'weeding' the crop out as well?

One also wonders about the laser's ability to kill larger weeds? Tiny weeds are easy to kill.

Like any other piece of equipment, the bottom line is, will the autonomous weeder help the bottom line?

They are interesting to watch.

#6 feeblemind on 2023-09-11 10:26 (Reply)

Do not forget that it was policies first implemented by Ted Kennedy that opened up immigration from shithole countries and further policies by Democrats that allowed and ignored illegal immigration that lead to 9/11. This was one of the most important lessons from 9/11, that is to not allow the enemy to get in the gate. Now the gate is wide open, everyone/anyone can get in and is given free stuff. Literally thousands of CCP and spies have entered our country and untold numbers of Muslim terrorists too. I don't believe this was accidental or incompetence. Biden is compromised and likely totally controlled by Obama and his fellow communists. They are not your friends, they want America to fall. So what have we learned from 9/11?

#7 Anon on 2023-09-11 11:39 (Reply)

QUOTE:

What are Joe Biden’s unarticulated reasons for a very costly overseas intervention?

Articulation:

Statement from President Joe Biden on Ukraine Independence Day: "Today, the people of Ukraine are once more marking their Independence Day, while suffering the all-out assault of Putin’s craven war for land and power. For eighteen months, Ukrainian families have lived under the daily threat of Russian rockets and the reality of brutal attacks. But the people of Ukraine have refused to break.

"On this Independence Day, as they have since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, brave Ukrainian women and men are defending Ukraine from assaults on fundamental principles essential to every nation on the planet – sovereignty and territorial integrity. They are showing the world once more that freedom is worth fighting for."

QUOTE:

What precedent led to our involvement?

World War II and the United Nations Charter: "WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small"

QUOTE:

Again: where lies the clarity of military purpose or grave diplomatic involvement for peace?

A lasting peace can only come with the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

#8 Zachriel on 2023-09-11 11:46 (Reply)

SO war forever, spending our resources overseas instead of on our own citizens and continued decline until we are so weak China declares war on us and destroys us. That is your brilliant plan???

#8.1 JustMe on 2023-09-11 12:02 (Reply)

QUOTE:

A lasting peace can only come with the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

No, there are many other ways a lasting peace could come about.

Zachriel: What doesn't it know?

Astrophysicist, property lawyer, affirmative action expert, search engine, newspeak dictionary, constitutional scholar, carrier of Trump Derangement Syndrome, master of the non sequitur, pretentious movie critic, high school civics teacher, financial analyst, the ackchyually guy, nitpicker, Historical art critic, armchair economist, poverty expert, theoretician of science, Covid apologist, speech therapist, climate scientist, civil engineer, sociologist, political analyst, Biden apologist, Federal prosecutor, atmospheric scientist, military strategist.

#8.2 eeyore on 2023-09-11 13:11 (Reply)

JustMe: SO war forever, spending our resources overseas instead of on our own citizens and continued decline until we are so weak China declares war on us and destroys us.

We agree that one can't fight every battle, so battles should be carefully chosen. But, as already noted, and you left unanswered, the Russian invasion violates the most fundamental international norm. Leaving Russia free for imperial expansion could lead to a much wider conflict. As history has shown, the U.S. can't always avoid involvement in foreign wars. Ukraine rose in defense of their sovereignty. The Western nations are providing the weapons. This has checked Russian ambitions for further expansion.

As for weakening the United States, the Russo-Ukrainian War has exposed the weaknesses in the West's military industrial production, allowing the West to address these problems. There's a tradeoff between not being prepared, and spending too soon on equipment which will become obsolete, so there is that.

Regardless, the original article made several errors: that Biden hasn't been clear on the purpose of arming Ukraine and the suggestion there is no precedent for such involvement.

#8.3 Zachriel on 2023-09-11 14:10 (Reply)

You're the reason God created the middle finger.

#8.3.1 Zachinoff on 2023-09-11 16:15 (Reply)

QUOTE:

And yet this didn't seem to be quite so fervently in play with you and the rest of Team Jackass in regard to Crimea back in 2014, did it?

#8.4 Bill Carson on 2023-09-11 16:38 (Reply)

Bill Carson: And yet this didn't seem to be quite so fervently in play with you and the rest of Team

Not sure what “Team” to which you refer, but the annexation of Crimea was condemned by the United Nations General Assembly, and international sanctions were imposed. Negotiations were initiated to find a diplomatic solution, but those efforts were ended by Russia’s attempt to topple the Ukrainian government and take its capital.

#8.4.1 Zachriel on 2023-09-11 20:46 (Reply)

There is no vaccine for covid, there never was. The pharmaceuticals and scientists always knew that they could not develop a vaccine against this virus. But they also put harmful tings into the vaccine. Let me say that again, they knowingly put harmful things into a vaccine that they knew was ineffective and then pushed for a mandate to vaccinate everyone. Why? now that we know some of the truths about this bizarre series of events called the covid pandemic why isn't the media asking those questions? Why did they create a vaccine that couldn't prevent covid and sell it as safe and effective? If the answer is as simple as greed, for the billions in profit I would believe that but why don't we seriously ask that question out loud. And secondly why put stuff in the vaccine that would kill and injure millions? That part stumps me. Yes I know there crazy conspiracy theory about the new world order/WEF wanting to reduce the population... but there is no other possibility being offered to explain this. If you hate and disagree with that insane conspiracy theory than wouldn't you want to know the real reason???

As it stands now the virus was a military grade weapon that was likely released on purpose. Our government knew this from day one and used the crisis to steal power. The vaccine had been created before covid was released and was foisted upon an ignorant population with full backing of various departments of our government. The entire sordid plan was covered up and continues to be covered up by our government. People are still dying as a result of an intentionally fatally flawed vaccine and our government has always known this. And still they are toying with the idea to mandate the vaccine again and mandate masks and lockdowns which never worked at all. This is crazy and yet it's happening and has happened. And no one, almost no one, is asking why?

#9 Call me crazy but on 2023-09-11 13:46 (Reply)

Call me crazy but: There is no vaccine for covid, there never was.

The vaccine works. The body develops antibodies and an immune memory cell response to the virus. The antibodies were effective for infection against the original strain, but lost some effectiveness as the virus evolved. The memory cell response persisted though, and this meant exposure was much less likely to result in illness or severe illness, even against evolved strains.

#9.1 Zachriel on 2023-09-11 14:24 (Reply)

Zachriel: What doesn't it know?

Astrophysicist, property lawyer, affirmative action expert, search engine, newspeak dictionary, constitutional scholar, carrier of Trump Derangement Syndrome, master of the non sequitur, pretentious movie critic, high school civics teacher, financial analyst, the ackchyually guy, nitpicker, Historical art critic, armchair economist, poverty expert, theoretician of science, Covid apologist, speech therapist, climate scientist, civil engineer, sociologist, political analyst, Biden apologist, Federal prosecutor, atmospheric scientist, military strategist, Level 1 Priest of Vaxx.

#9.1.1 eeyore on 2023-09-11 14:33 (Reply)

See Wherry et al., T cell immunity to COVID-19 vaccines, Science 2022; Kim et al., Germinal centre-driven maturation of B cell response to mRNA vaccination, Nature 2022; Ciabattini et al., Evidence of SARS-CoV-2-Specific Memory B Cells Six Months After Vaccination With the BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine, Frontiers in Immunology 2022: "These data demonstrate that mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine elicits strong B cell immunity with spike-specific memory B cells that still persist 6 months after vaccination, playing a crucial role for a rapid response to SARS-CoV-2 virus encounter."

Antibodies can prevent infection, but are very specific to the viral strain. The memory cell response takes some time, so the person may get an infection but will usually clear it quickly as the memory cells respond.

#9.1.2 Zachriel on 2023-09-11 14:45 (Reply)

Chat GPT.

#9.1.2.1 Zachinoff on 2023-09-11 16:04 (Reply)

Chance that it knows of what it cuts-and-pastes: 0%.

#9.1.2.1.1 eeyore on 2023-09-11 19:36 (Reply)

Here is what every government should have released to each individual interested in taking the Vaxx rather than the CDC, FDA, political mumbo-jumbo that they got.
You know... informed consent rather than bullshit.

https://twitter.com/CKellyUAP/status/1700439819556639116

#9.1.2.2 indyjonesouthere on 2023-09-11 17:19 (Reply)

The neocon 'warrior' complex was doomed to failure as two out of the three main participants, Russia and China, are not at all interested in the NWO/BBB/WEF global government that the US/Euro neocons are desperate to install. The US as the lone empire builder of the 90's is long gone. All we have to show for the effort of empire is debt that we can never repay. And a military incapable of completing military tasks to a useful conclusion.
Our nearly 3 decade interference at the head of NATO has been an embarrassment. We stuck our nose in Serbia, with no invitation, and continue to stick our nose into European affairs when we should have disembarked for home in the 60's. Now we are stirring up shit in Africa and that storm is only beginning. Taiwan... another joke awaiting. We have no diplomats in the State dept that are competent and tend to only provide incompetents such as "fuck the EU" Nuland.
The most competent thing we could do today is remove ALL our military personnel from Europe and shelve the NATO alliance. The alliance is neither competent nor functional. If Europe needs military protection let it create its own protection. To protect a Ukraine neo-Nazi state is not in our or Europe's best interests.

#10 indyjonesouthere on 2023-09-11 16:36 (Reply)

"To protect a Ukraine neo-Nazi state is not in our or Europe's best interests."

Your facile Kremlin-bot information campaign is never more obvious than when you regurgitate lines like that.

#10.1 JJM on 2023-09-12 07:02 (Reply)

The SAT/ACT is remarkably good at predicting college completion and later success. Better than GPA, better than interviews, better than activities, better than recommendations - better than any other available data. It is better than all the others put together. (GPA is a distant second. Everything else is pretty much useless.) Therefore developing a Classical Learning Test is just trying to show off and be holier-than-thou.

An SAT of 1200 (or any other number you choose) also accurately predicts the same completion rate for college regardless of race. Sure there are 1600s who collapse, and 800s who force their way through. But very few, in both cases.

#11 Assistant Village Idiot on 2023-09-11 22:02 (Reply)

SAT also correlates closely with IQ. We may not like it, but IQ is the most important factor in academic achievement.

#11.1 Texan99 on 2023-09-11 22:24 (Reply)

Quite so. While the SAT/ACT are proxies for an IQ test, so is undergraduate school itself, in the traditional liberal arts rubrics especially. You can credit the disastrous "Briggs vs. Duke Power" SCOTUS decision (which essentially outlawed IQ tests in the hiring process because they revealed what people already know, which is that few non-Asian minorities can perform at the level of whites and Asians) for much of the blame for today's watered-down and overpriced higher-education product.

Ironically, the last I heard at least, the military still uses IQ tests to sort its recruits because it knows from experience what hiring managers have always known, that stupid people are untrainable, break things, and cause trouble. Who needs that?

#11.1.1 Hairless Joe on 2023-09-12 08:43 (Reply)

"I can't take my wife square-dancing. She's a squirter."

#12 rhhardin on 2023-09-12 06:44 (Reply)

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Monday, September 11. 2023

Monday morning links