Seven in 10 Detroit Students ‘Chronically Absent’ – Michigan Capitol Confidential

Seven in 10 Detroit Students ‘Chronically Absent’ – Michigan Capitol Confidential
"More than seven in 10 students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District were chronically absent in 2017-2018, meaning they missed 10 percent or more of the year’s class days, according to state data.
Of 54,575 students enrolled in Detroit Public Schools for at least 10 school days, 38,383, or 70.3 percent, were chronically absent.
The state average for chronically absent students was 19.9 percent in 2017-18.
Flint Community Schools had 52.0 percent of its students categorized that way, while Benton Harbor Area Schools was at 63.3 percent.
...In some schools in Detroit, McMillin said, the chronic absence rate can surpass 90 percent..."
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De Blasio and ‘co-mayor’ wife have wasted $1.8B of taxpayer money

De Blasio and ‘co-mayor’ wife have wasted $1.8B of taxpayer money
"Who’s got a billion to burn?
Well, Bill de Blasio for sure.
But also mayoral spouse Chirlane McCray, who has just been revealed as a world-class boondoggler in her own right.
Hey, the family that preys together stays together, right?
And it’s only (your) money — even if it is quite a lot of it.
McCray is the proprietress of ThriveNYC, a mental-health-related something-or-other created four-plus years ago to give a little heft to the conceit that Bill and Chirlane were elected as co-mayors — which is nonsense on stilts.
...Mayor Bill coughed up enough cash to break a pack mule’s back and sent it off to co-Mayor Chirlane — who then went forth to cure Gotham’s mental-illness problems.
Fast-forward to Wednesday, when the City Council was startled to discover that McCray and Team Thrive are closing in on having spent an eye-popping $900 million since the program’s inception — and nobody seems to have a clue on what..."
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Lunch video-----California's High-Speed Rail Disaster Is a 'Shot Across the Bow for the ...

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Republicans React To Push For Medicare-For-All By House Democrats: They’re ‘Totally Dishonest With The American People’ | The Daily Caller

Republicans React To Push For Medicare-For-All By House Democrats: They’re ‘Totally Dishonest With The American People’ | The Daily Caller:

Republican lawmakers painted Medicare-for-all as a socialist nightmare after Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Debbie Dingell of Michigan unveiled their bill to place virtually all health care payment in the government’s hands Wednesday.
“If I have a beef with the Medicare-for-all, they’re being totally dishonest with the American people,” Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy told reporters at a meeting Thursday. “They’re not telling people how they’re going to pay for it. They’re not telling people … that they have to, against their will, give up their employer-sponsored insurance. That Medicare is the trust fund that is going bankrupt, but we’re about to add 150 million people to it who are currently satisfied with their employer-sponsored insurance.”

Must read!!-----WHAT AOC, LBJ SHARE WARNS CPAC NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE HER

Instapundit  Blog Archive  Yes, she often talks like a lefty loon and …
"WHAT AOC, LBJ SHARE WARNS CPAC NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE HER: 
Yes, she often talks like a lefty loon and maybe she is, but she shares something with the young LBJ that should give the Right pause...---Posted by Mark Tapscott "
Do read the comments!
This from the article:
"...The LBJ Example
...To the contrary, she has something in common with a young, unconventional Democratic House member who, decades ago, challenged party leaders, became the most powerful member of Congress, and ultimately made it into the Oval Office.
Currinder explained the bold move that launched Rep. Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) on that path after spending his first two years in Congress in obscurity:
...“So what happened in October 1940? Johnson made a career-changing discovery: He could use his connections with Texas oilmen to raise a lot of money for his Democratic colleagues..."

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Lest we forget-May 2015-----Bernie Sanders: Don’t Need 23 Choices of Deodorant, 18 Choices of Sneakers When Kids Are Going Hungry - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Bernie Sanders: Don’t Need 23 Choices of Deodorant, 18 Choices of Sneakers When Kids Are Going Hungry - Hit & Run : Reason.com
"...Channeling his inner Hugo Chavez in an interview with CNBC, Sanders bemoaned the choice of deodorant and sneakers in this country, because children are starving. Via CNBC:

"You can't just continue growth for the sake of growth in a world in which we are struggling with climate change and all kinds of environmental problems. All right? You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country. I don't think the media appreciates the kind of stress that ordinary Americans are working on."

Read all. 

#1 This day in1986-----Mr. Mister - Kyrie

Never trust. Always verify.

Incredibly, this is true.

America's Second Civil War Has Already Begun

America's Second Civil War Has Already Begun:

Most of this country is center-right and never considered America a place that needed transformation.  Most people can think of things they would change but few believe the nation needs to be torn down and rebuilt.  Obama failed but the left soldiers on in its quest for a new America remade in their own image.
When Obama went on his world apology tour, he wasn’t apologizing for America, he was apologizing for Americans.  This is the essence of this second civil war.  Leftists are demi-gods who believe they are America and that anyone who does not believe in them cannot lay legitimate claim to this country as their own.
Yes, this war has begun.  The opening skirmish was the Obama presidency itself, which history will see as a failure, despite what the media want us to believe in the here and now.

I'll tell you what happened. Progressivism. Progessivism happened.

Fans of Best of the Web Today--Michael Smith
"I've noticed that the AOC lovers are touting her credentials of intelligence - and if accurate, I will admit that they are pretty impressive.
Per Wikipedia:

• [In high school] She came second in the Microbiology category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair with a microbiology research project on the effect of antioxidants on the lifespan of the nematode C. elegans.[21] 
• In a show of appreciation for her efforts, the International Astronomical Union named a small asteroid after her: 23238 Ocasio-Cortez.[22][23] 
• In high school, she took part in the National Hispanic Institute's Lorenzo de Zavala (LDZ) Youth Legislative Session. 
• She later became the LDZ Secretary of State while she attended Boston University. 
• Ocasio-Cortez had a John F. Lopez Fellowship.[24] 
• In 2008, while Ocasio-Cortez was a sophomore at Boston University, her father died of lung cancer.[25][26] 
• During college, she served as an intern in the immigration office during the final year of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy's tenure.[27]
• She graduated cum laude from Boston University's College of Arts and Sciences in 2011, majoring in international relations and economics.[24][28][29]"

OK.

If that is her record, that is her record. 

I disagree with her politics but for a young person, that sure seems to be impressive. 

I'll give her full credit for what she did.
Given that she has made some pretty stupid statements and seems ignorant of how things work, even to the point of questioning whether she attended her econ classes, the question really should be, "With those achievements and credentials, what happened?"
I'll tell you what happened.
Progressivism. 

Progessivism happened.
Progressivism is like Alzheimer's, it causes people to believe things that aren't true and see things that aren't there. 

It atrophies the entire left side of the brain (the center of logic and reason) and reduces the activity in the frontal cortex (where complex thinking is done) and inflames the right side (the emotions).
AOC might well have gotten off to a solid start in high school, but she is prima facie evidence of what progressivism does to a young mind."

But wait!

There's more!!

From the Comments:

• Eileen Priest Then why was she bartending? I know that bartenders can make good money especially tips but why didn't some Fortune 500 company grab AOC to score diversity points?
• Craig Werner There is also another clarification. By saying her degree is in "International Relations and Economics" most people assume that it is a double major in "International Relations" and "Economics." No, the economics courses that she took were not in the Economics dept, but in the International Relations program, more international economics, not as rigorous as formal economics courses.
• Rick Pisciotta Hmmmmm... yet, she was a bar tender prior to running for office. Granted, an attractive female bar tender can clean up big time at the right bars, given her supposed ultra intelligence and achievement, she should have been recruited to many a company, especially given her "diversity" attribute. Something about this smells fishy.
• Paul Weiss Like many of her peers (and those who taught them), she is highly credentialed and still uneducated.
• Brian Terwilliger Yet the best job she could get after college was bartender. Sounds like a lot of grade inflation, participation trophies and unearned accolades that were exposed in job interviews as no one wanted her.

AM Fruitcake

History for March 3

History for March 3 - On-This-Day.com
Alexander Graham Bell 1847, Matthew Ridgway 1895, Jean Harlow 1911


Jackie Joyner-Kersee 1962 - Olympic track and field gold medalist, David Faustino 1974 - Actor ("Married With Children"), Jessica Biel 1982 - Actress ("7th Heaven")

1931 - The "Star Spangled Banner," written by Francis Scott Key, was adopted as the American national anthem. The song was originally a poem known as "Defense of Fort McHenry."


1952 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld New York's Feinberg Law that banned Communist teachers in the U.S.

Ben Carson on Abortion: Some Think It Is Okay to Murder Babies

Ben Carson on Abortion: Some Think It Is Okay to Murder Babies:

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson spoke at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday in National Harbor, Maryland, about his career as a neurosurgeon, including operating on prematurely born infants and even babies still in the mother’s womb.
“I can guarantee you they can feel,” Carson said. “They can react.”
“You have to give them anesthesia if you’re going to cut them, believe me,” Carson said. “But they can also respond to comfort and to warmth.”

The way we were-----The Beatles - Hey Jude

Boob-tube-----28 TV INTROS - VINTAGE 1960-65 SITCOMS

Olympics to allow transgender athletes to compete without gender reassignment surgery

Live Blog | March 1, 2019 01:48:28 | PJ Media-- STEPHEN GREEN

John Cardillo

✔@johncardillo

Olympics to allow transgender athletes to compete without gender reassignment surgery

The Olympics are dead

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3412969/Olympics-change-policies-allow-transgender-athletes-compete-without-having-gender-reassignment-surgery.html ter Ads info and privacy

Olympics to change policies and allow transgender athletes to compete

The International Olympic Committee received the proposed guidelines in November from its 'Consensus Meeting on Sex Reassignment and Hyperandrogenism'.

dailymail.co.uk

...And now the IOC has gone and ruined whatever was left of the women's events with this one stupid decision.

What a shame."

Read all.

Media bias? Check out two 'news' items in the same subject

Media bias? Check out two 'news' items in the same subject
"This goes beyond the  "glass half-full, glass half-empty" metaphor.  
Apparently, there really are two alternative universes.  
Check out two articles on economic growth.

• The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board writes:

Thank You, Tax Reform

The American economy is a tremendous engine of prosperity when politicians get out of the way, and for proof look no further than Thursday's report on fourth-quarter growth.  It's clearer than ever that business investment has rescued the U.S. economy by shifting into a higher gear.  Tax reform and deregulation, take a bow.

Growth in the fourth quarter came in higher than expected at 2.6% after a December financial-market scare, and the internals were better than the top line.  Consumer spending declined a bit but was still strong. Growth from government spending was negligible — so much for claims of a deficit-led boom in "demand."

The best news was business investment, which contributed 0.69-percentage points to GDP growth.  This is even better than it looks because housing subtracted 0.14.  Housing has now been flat or worse for most of the last two years, but that may be a silver lining.

This means the expansion isn't marked now by ever-rising housing prices, which means growth hasn't been driven by unsustainable home building.  If interest rates don't keep rising, and assuming the labor market stays strong, the housing market should return to modest growth.

Wow!  That sounds great!  
With data like this, everyone must be happy.

• Yet, in the alterative universe of the NBC Universal–Comcast empire, John Harwood of CNBC writes:

Trump and GOP promised economic growth much better than Obama's. That's not what happened

President Donald Trump's central claim about his economic policies officially crashed into reality on Thursday.

Throughout the 2016 campaign and since, the president and his party have vowed to kick-start tepid Obama-era economic growth.  Specifically, they insisted tax cuts and deregulation would return growth to its post-World War II average of 3 percent — a level, candidate Trump said derisively, that President Barack Obama became "the first president in modern history" never to reach in a single year.

New government data on Thursday morning show that Trump, too, has failed to reach the 3 percent promised land, according to one major metric.  The Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis measured 2018 growth at 2.9 percent, matching the peak Obama enjoyed in 2015.

I guess Harwood thinks record low unemployment, rising average wages, and other indicators of major prosperity are meaningless.  
In his universe, nobody is better off than under Obama."

Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows refer Michael Cohen to Justice Department for perjury - Washington Times

Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows refer Michael Cohen to Justice Department for perjury - Washington Times:

Two of President Trump’s strongest House allies on Thursday urged the Department of Justice to investigate Michael Cohen for perjury, accusing the president’s former attorney of intentionally lying to Congress during his Wednesday appearance before the House Oversight Committee.
GOP Reps. Jim Jordan, Ohio, and Mark Meadows, North Carolina, sent the letter to Attorney General William P. Barr.
“In sum, Mr. Cohen’s testimony … was a spectacular and brazen attempt to knowing and willfully testify falsely and fictitiously to numerous material facts,” they wrote. “His testimony included intentionally false statements designed to make himself look better before a national stage.”
Last year, Cohen was sentenced to three years in a federal prison for lying to Congress in 2017.

San Fran bigots!-----� GREAT MOMENTS IN COVER STORIES: High-end coffee company Blue Bottle will ban cash at 12 locations…

Instapundit  Blog Archive  GREAT MOMENTS IN COVER STORIES
"High-end coffee company Blue Bottle will ban cash at 12 locations across the country starting on March 11 as part of a month-long experiment that aims to speed up purchases, the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Two of Blue Bottle’s San Francisco locations, at 1355 Market St. and 2 South Park, will participate.

“Credit card transactions are smoother for both our guests and the baristas,” said Shawna Sharie, vice president of retail for Blue Bottle, which is headquartered in Oakland and majority-owned by Swiss food giant Nestlé.

The move reflects a growing cashless trend across the restaurant industry, which is eager to make service more efficient. But that trend has also triggered a backlash from those who say banning cash excludes people unable to obtain credit cards or other electronic payment methods...

On Twitter, Rob Province, aka, “Educated Hillbilly” asks, “Am I a total racist for thinking this is a way to keep poor & minority customers out of their hip San Francisco coffee shop?” 

Not at all. 

Beyond that, as Glenn noted in December, “This is mostly a stealthy way to keep homeless people out.”

...---Posted by Ed Driscoll"
Read all!

See California or New York for what happens when you subsidize poverty by offering “support” to all comers.

(3) Fans of Best of the Web Today
Greg Harvey shared a link.

"Let’s discuss this honestly: our Earned Income Tax Credit seeks to do the same thing as Universal Basic Income by bundling the subsidy as an incentive to those who work. 
It lowers their labor rate while ensuring adequate support especially for households with dependents.

True conservatives can understand economic arguments and at least acknowledge when they work. 
EITC works by assuring a worker has access by not being priced out of the labor market to acquiring and refreshing essential work skills.

UBI? There is very little to hope for the efficacy of a direct transfer payment other than this: conservatives understand the value of block grants: it gets the federal government out of the business of determining how the states solve specific problems. 
Generally less red tape is better.

I do not believe UBI—anymore than food stamps—would be essentially improved by additional regulation on how it is used.

I also am skeptical of whether it is sustainable.
See California or New York for what happens when you subsidize poverty by offering “support” to all comers.
You get more comers than you could ever imagine to the point that your more valued residents become goers."

WSJ.COM

Opinion | Italy Institutes a Universal Basic Income. Is the U.S. Next?

Conservatives who hope the Democratic nominee is ‘unelectable’ should be careful what they wish for.

Lunch video-----Pulse - Why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal is Disastrous

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