“The 220,300 public school teachers who said they were physically attacked by a student in 2015-2016 is up from the 197,400 who said they were attacked by a student in 2011-2012 (which is the last school year before 2015-2016 for which teachers were surveyed on the question).”
In recent years, many school systems have curbed suspensions of students who engage in “willful defiance” of their teachers. California plans to eliminate suspensions for all K-12 students for “willful defiance” (previously, it was an option for kids in grades 4-12).
California’s State Senate has voted 30-to-8 to ban such suspensions, and the State Assembly is expected to enact the ban into law. California’s legislature previously passed such a ban in 2018, but it was vetoed by former Governor Jerry Brown, who viewed it as too extreme. But Brown is no longer in office, and this time the ban is expected to become law.
The real cause of the Boward Florida school shooting was the Obama Administration changes to school discipline. Suspending and Expelling lots of unteachable or disturbed students made for embarrassing statistics. Forbid the school administrators to suspend or expel those students and the government report on school violence looks a lot better.
After all what else can the unruly or disturbed student do to get attention?
Venezuela 2012: Citizens lose their right to own firearms, millions of guns turned into the government
Venezuela 2016: Citizens are starving and line up for hours in breadlines
Venezuela 2019: Citizens are fired upon by their government and denied humanitarian aid
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11)
And yet the Democrats are going to expend millions and political capital in an effort to assault the basic American right to own the means of self defense… from ALL enemies, domestic and foreign.
A World War II Veteran, who served in China behind enemy lines & trained Chinese guerilla fighters was carried out of the VA draped with the US flag.
Resident Vets lined the halls to salute him as “Taps”was played. May you Rest In Peace Sir…..
Comments
PA CatMay 6, 2019, 4:59 PM
My VA story, which is about 5 years old by now, concerns a Vietnam vet who had just been admitted to the hospice unit of the local VA with terminal cancer. Prognosis: 2 to 4 days at the outside. A friend of mine who worked in the admissions department phoned me with an urgent request for help. It turns out that the vet had come in with a cardboard box that he clung to with all his remaining strength. When the staff peered inside, they saw a tabby cat named Tiger, who was the vet’s only family. They couldn’t allow the cat into any sterile areas, so they stashed Tiger in the office of a nearby veterinarian until they could come up with a plan. My friend called me because Tiger was so fearful he would not have stood a chance of adoption if animal control had picked him up, so I was asked if I could foster him.
I was happy to do so because I have the necessary supplies for fostering a kitty who has to be kept separate from my own cats. My friend said that a doctor and a nurse from the VA would bring Tiger to me around 5 p.m., which gave me time to get his little “officer’s club” ready for him: clean bed, brand-new toy, the works. I had the sudden inspiration (I’d call it grace) to ask the doctor and nurse to bring a camera with them so that they could photograph Tiger’s new home and reassure his dying owner that Tiger was in a real house with a foster caregiver and not in a kill shelter where he would have been euthanized within a day of intake.
The MD and RN both thought that was a great idea, and they took about 20 pictures of Tiger in his new digs, including general shots of the living room itself. After they got back to the VA, they made copies of the photos, attached them to a large piece of poster board, and showed them to the dying vet. They told me the next day that he wept in relief to know his beloved cat was safe. They called me back the day after that to tell me that the vet had died about eight hours after seeing the photos.
While Tiger was indeed one of the most frightened cats I’ve ever seen, he did find a wonderful adopter, a respiratory therapist from the VA with experience in caring for traumatized animals. No, I couldn’t play Taps or salute Tiger’s “cat dad,” but I did what I could to thank him for his service.
It’s been over a year since I revisited this topic. But the opening of two different movies in the same week, neither of which are going to be playing anywhere around here has prompted me to bitch discuss the problem of the poor choices being made at the local People’s Center for Approved Media.
Tolkien
TOLKIEN explores the formative years of the renowned author’s life as he finds friendship, courage and inspiration among a fellow group of writers and artists at school. Their brotherhood strengthens as they grow up and weather love and loss together, including Tolkien’s tumultuous courtship of his beloved Edith Bratt, until the outbreak of the First World War which threatens to tear their fellowship apart. All of these experiences would later inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-earth novels.
“Tolkien” is even putting TV ads out. But no local theaters are going to play it. It’s a movie I would very much like to see. Probably on Hulu.
The Professor and the Madman
Based on the worldwide best-selling novel by Simon Winchester, THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN is an extraordinary true tale of madness, genius, and obsession about two remarkable men who created history with the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary. The compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary began in 1857 and was one of the most ambitious, and revolutionary projects ever undertaken. Professor James Murray (Mel Gibson) took on the challenge of creating the most comprehensive dictionary ever compiled, but knew that it would take him and his team over a century to compile all known definitions. However, by “crowd sourcing” the work, that is, by enlisting definitions from people all over the world, the dictionary could be compiled in mere decades. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W.C. Minor (Sean Penn), had submitted more than ten thousand words. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was a convicted murderer and being held at an asylum for the criminally insane.
The book was extraordinary (I wonder where my copy is?), an amazing story combining history, scholarship, unique and interesting persons that really existed, murder, mystery and tragedy. But with the 2D, 3D, and smell-o-vision versions of “Avengers: End Game” playing at every screen, everywhere; no room at the inn for this story.
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man.
Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded -- here and there, now and then -- are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck." -- Robert A. Heinlein
Wrath Of Gnon
“In an age where the media publish endless stupidities, the cultured man is defined not by what he knows but by what he ignores.” ー Nicolás Gómez Dávila
“The energy needed to refute BS is of an order of magnitude greater than the effort needed to produce the BS in the first place. ”
My VA story, which is about 5 years old by now, concerns a Vietnam vet who had just been admitted to the hospice unit of the local VA with terminal cancer. Prognosis: 2 to 4 days at the outside. A friend of mine who worked in the admissions department phoned me with an urgent request for help. It turns out that the vet had come in with a cardboard box that he clung to with all his remaining strength. When the staff peered inside, they saw a tabby cat named Tiger, who was the vet’s only family. They couldn’t allow the cat into any sterile areas, so they stashed Tiger in the office of a nearby veterinarian until they could come up with a plan. My friend called me because Tiger was so fearful he would not have stood a chance of adoption if animal control had picked him up, so I was asked if I could foster him.
I was happy to do so because I have the necessary supplies for fostering a kitty who has to be kept separate from my own cats. My friend said that a doctor and a nurse from the VA would bring Tiger to me around 5 p.m., which gave me time to get his little “officer’s club” ready for him: clean bed, brand-new toy, the works. I had the sudden inspiration (I’d call it grace) to ask the doctor and nurse to bring a camera with them so that they could photograph Tiger’s new home and reassure his dying owner that Tiger was in a real house with a foster caregiver and not in a kill shelter where he would have been euthanized within a day of intake.
The MD and RN both thought that was a great idea, and they took about 20 pictures of Tiger in his new digs, including general shots of the living room itself. After they got back to the VA, they made copies of the photos, attached them to a large piece of poster board, and showed them to the dying vet. They told me the next day that he wept in relief to know his beloved cat was safe. They called me back the day after that to tell me that the vet had died about eight hours after seeing the photos.
While Tiger was indeed one of the most frightened cats I’ve ever seen, he did find a wonderful adopter, a respiratory therapist from the VA with experience in caring for traumatized animals. No, I couldn’t play Taps or salute Tiger’s “cat dad,” but I did what I could to thank him for his service.