[NYP] For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission prospects and earn scholarships. This episode has emerged amid the school district’s new strategy of "equal outcomes for every student, without exception." School administrators, for instance, have implemented an "equitable grading" policy that eliminates zeros, gives students a grade of 50 percent just for showing up, and assigns a cryptic code of "NTI" for assignments not turned in. It’s a race to the bottom.
An intrepid Thomas Jefferson parent, Shawna Yashar, a lawyer, uncovered the withholding of National Merit awards. Since starting as a freshman at the school in September 2019, her son, who is part Arab American, studied statistical analysis, literature reviews, and college-level science late into the night. This workload was necessary to keep him up to speed with the advanced studies at TJ, which US News & World Report ranks as America’s top school.
Last fall, along with about 1.5 million US high school juniors, the Yashar teen took the PSAT, which determines whether a student qualifies as a prestigious National Merit scholar. When it came time to submit his college applications this fall, he didn’t have a National Merit honor to report — but it wasn’t because he hadn’t earned the award. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a nonprofit based in Evanston, Illinois, had recognized him as a Commended Student in the top 3 percent nationwide — one of about 50,000 students earning that distinction. Principals usually celebrate National Merit scholars with special breakfasts, award ceremonies, YouTube videos, press releases and social media announcements.
But TJ School officials had decided to withhold announcement of the award. Indeed, it turns out that the principal, Ann Bonitatibus, and the director of student services, Brandon Kosatka, have been withholding this information from families and the public for years, affecting the lives of at least 1,200 students over the principal’s tenure of five years. Recognition by National Merit opens the door to millions of dollars in college scholarships and 800 Special Scholarships from corporate sponsors.
[Fox News] "Dry January," as the name implies, involves avoiding alcohol for 31 days during the month of January.
The movement is part of a public health campaign that people have been practicing across America as well as in European countries.
"I’ve been doing it for years. It is a great chance to hit the reset button after so many holiday parties from Thanksgiving and Christmas through New Year’s Eve," John Hayes, a financial broker in Atlanta, Georgia, told Fox News Digital.
"Feels like a million bucks. Big advocate," he added.
Mike P. (who asked that his last name not be used) from Long Island, New York, told Fox News Digital that he took part in "Dry January" last year.
One New York man (not pictured) told Fox News Digital that he felt some very particular benefits from leaving the booze behind for a month. "I slept better," he said. "It was a good reset."
"I fell into a pattern of having some drinks each night and thought it was a great way to sort of break that habit."
The 51-year-old said he felt some very specific benefits from leaving the booze behind for a month.
"I slept better. It was a good reset," he said.
Participating in "Dry January" has been associated with an increased sense of well-being and general self-efficacy, according to a study that surveyed more than 4,000 participants.
It was published in the journal Psychology & Health in 2020.
In Cincinnati they were saying it’s the worst weather for this date since 2008. In other words, it’s winter, bay-bee!
[MSN] The Tennessee Valley Authority that extremely cold temperatures across the region are creating unprecedented demands on the power system.
The Knoxville Utilities Board at around 1:30 p.m. that TVA lifted their rolling outage requirement. They also said crews would continue working to repair damage caused by strong winds. The Lenoir City Utilities Board said the same thing.
The Appalachian Electric Cooperative also said that the rolling blackouts have been terminated, but said because of high winds and downed trees some customers could still experience outages. They also asked people to reduce electricity use as much as possible without sacrificing safety to reduce demand on the power grid.
The City of Oak Ridge also said that TVA ended all rolling blackouts across the region, but also said people should try to conserve electricity where they can such as by not using washing machines, dryers or dishwashers. They should also try to retain heat in their homes keeping window coverings closed.
The Sevierville Electric System discontinued the TVA-requested blackouts, according to a tweet from Sevierville Police. They advise continuing to reduce power throughout the holiday weekend.
TVA was asking businesses and the public to help by immediately reducing electric power use "as much as possible without sacrificing safety," according to a Facebook post from the company.
While not in the TVA area, I wonder what effect the Dam Busting Environmentalists actions will have on the National Power Grid and the heating of common people homes.
#3
They had threatened us with rolling blackouts but we didn’t have any in our electric cooperative. There were some in adjacent areas. I guess we don’t have any electric cars to charge…
#5
My power went out yesterday for 2 hours and again this morning for 30 minutes. I planned for outages years ago with propane heaters and wood stoves.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/24/2022 11:10 Comments ||
Top||
#6
We have been hit at least four times with the rolling blackouts - power off for 15 minutes at a time. Minimal impact. 5% of the customer base off at a time for roughly 15 min...rolling through the grid during peak hours.
#7
I'll hazard a guess that they've gotten a bit like California where they build massive suburban housing tracts and apartment complexes with complete disregard for infrastructure.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/24/2022 13:09 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The old saying - put government in charge of the Sahara and they'll run out of sand.
[An Nahar] North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Friday, South Korea's military said, its latest weapons demonstration that came days after U.S. and South Korean warplanes conducted joint drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
South Korea's military detected the missile launches from North Korea's capital region at around 4:32 p.m., South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It said the South Korean military has strengthened its surveillance posture and is maintaining readiness with close coordination with the United States.
The U.S. flew nuclear-capable bombers and advanced stealth jets near the Korean Peninsula for joint training with South Korean warplanes on Tuesday. South Korea's Defense Ministry said the drills were part of a bilateral agreement on boosting a U.S. commitment to defend its Asian ally with all available military capabilities, including nuclear.
North Korea typically calls such military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea an invasion rehearsal, though the allies have steadfastly said they have no intention of attacking the North.
The South Korea-U.S. training came after North Korea recently claimed to have conducted key tests needed to develop its first military spy satellite and a new strategic weapon, a likely reference to a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.
North Korea said it launched a pair of rockets Sunday to test cameras and other systems for the development of its first military reconnaissance satellite. Its state media published low-resolution photos of South Korean cities as viewed from space.
Some civilian experts in South Korea and elsewhere said the photos were too crude for surveillance purposes and that the launches were likely a cover for tests of North Korea's missile technology. South Korea's military said North Korea fired two medium-range ballistic missiles.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
[Breitbart] The British analytics company Airfinity published a report this week estimating some 5,000 people were dying in China a day as a result of Chinese coronavirus infections — a significantly higher number than the seven Chinese government officials admitted to all week.
The scientific estimate, based on analyses of hospitals and cases in the country, preceded a report published Friday by Bloomberg claiming that internal Chinese government documents show a staggering 37,000 coronavirus infections being documented a day in the country.
The Chinese Communist Party subjected its population to a brutal policy known as "zero-Covid" for nearly three years in which it implemented sudden, city-wide lockdowns and forced thousands of people into quarantine camps if testing positive for coronavirus, even if experiencing mild or asymptomatic cases. An untold number of people died of suicide, starvation, and lack of access to health care while the policy was in full vigor, triggering nationwide protests unseen since the pro-democracy movement crushed by the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
In early December, in response to the protests, communist officials announced that they had abruptly found the omicron variant causes less severe disease than previous versions of the Chinese coronavirus — a conclusion international scientists had reached a year ago — and therefore they would stop implementing "large-scale" lockdowns and allow people to forego being imprisoned in quarantine camps. The announcement prompted panic-buying of basic medicines such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen and has, anecdotal evidence suggests, resulted in massive overflow in the nation’s hospitals.
#4
Besoeker, those significant long term Covid complications would help explain why CCP tried so hard to achieve zero Covid… if you assume they knew what was coming.
If they aren't cutting off the patients from ACE inhibitors, or antibiotics, and they aren't using Remdesivir, and aren't pursuing Zero Treatment until the patients are on a vent and dying, those could contribute to a markedly lower casualty rate.
And on top of that they could be using HCQ and Ivermectin.
#6
Ref #4: ....those significant long term Covid complications would help explain why CCP tried so hard to achieve zero Covid… if you assume they knew what was coming.
It is my understanding that 'long-term complications' of one kind for another, follow many of these pandemics.
#8
Vascular inflammation introduces tissue hypoxia during which cells are crippled or die.
Generalized vascular inflammation from 'long-term' fevers or caustic cancer treatments induce full body cell death due to blockages or full closure of small capillary channels. A presumed cause of Cognitive Problems or Changes in Thinking or 'chemo brain'.
[IsraelTimes] Field estimated to hold 2-3 trillion cubic feet of hydrocarbon fuel, as eastern Mediterranean including Israel’s territory estimated to have enough supply for export until 2050.
[RedState] During day 2 of the Kari Lake election trial in Phoenix, Arizona, Maricopa County attorney Tom Liddy argued that it was "political malpractice" for a campaign to tell voters to vote in person on election day instead of voting early, and that "you reap what you sow," meaning that Lake’s campaign lost because of strategy, not because of a printer malfunction error that rendered the ballots incapable of being machine read, long lines that led to voters being unable to vote, or other malignantly incompetent actions on behalf of Maricopa County officials.
Now, playing devil’s advocate, it may well be that even with all of the malignant incompetence on behalf of the county that Hobbs still won. However, for a county attorney to excuse all of that away with references to those who want answers as "election deniers" who shouldn’t have any expectation of working voting machines on Election Day is reprehensible.
#1
So basically, Maricopa County attorney argued as a ????? defense ?????, that Democrat ran Maricopa County Board of Elections does not, will not, or cannot operate their Election vote counting machines on election day and acknowledges that there are problems with bias personnel.
Then infers that voters should "TRUST" the Pro-Democrat Union USPS to deliver the voter mail-ins and unknown bias election personnel to honestly count the untracked ballots coming in.
#10
Evidently, he used to be head of the county RNC and he is G Gordon Liddy’s son. I still have not heard an explanation of why there were 20 and 19 inch sized ballot stock in the polling place with out the knowledge of anyone.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2022 18:17 Comments ||
Top||
[Breitbart] The National Guard troops’ paychecks were disrupted due to congressional drama surrounding the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that Congress recently approved. After weeks of negotiation, Congress came to a deal on the omnibus spending package. Included in the spending bill is, among other things, a $45 billion aid package for Ukraine. The $45 billion is on top of the $66 billion taxpayer dollars that have already been used to fund Ukrainian aid.
The federal government was set to shut down on Friday after Congress passed a week-long continuing resolution (CR) to continue funding the government after the initial shutdown date of December 14.
The Senate passed the 4,155-page bill on Thursday, and the House approved it on Friday, sending it to Biden’s desk for final approval.
According to the letter sent to members of the National Guard, there has been an ongoing "pay issue that has been plaguing the unit and the division as well."
The letter states that "many Soldiers were due pay today," but rather than getting paid, they only received their Leave and Earning Statement (LES), which are pay stubs, but funds did not accompany those pay stubs.
The paycheck issue is "nation wide," according to the letter, and it "seems to be at" Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and is "related to the CR."
The National Guard Bureau was "not made aware of the issue" before Friday, but they are "currently working the issue with DFAS time now," according to the letter. They are hopeful that the paycheck problem will be "rectified today or tomorrow."
"This is unfortunate and can cause serious issues and aggravation across the formation which are understandable. Especially 2 days before Christmas," the letter continued. "I think the messaging is important that it’s understood the issues are at the highest levels and that everyone in the Division and State are pushing for immediate resolution."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
Strange daily cravings for 'Kung Pao Chicken' was my first clue. I really should stop reading Stephen Kinzer.
[RedState] During day 2 of the Kari Lake election trial in Phoenix, Arizona, Maricopa County attorney Tom Liddy argued that it was "political malpractice" for a campaign to tell voters to vote in person on election day instead of voting early, and that "you reap what you sow," meaning that Lake’s campaign lost because of strategy, not because of a printer malfunction error that rendered the ballots incapable of being machine read, long lines that led to voters being unable to vote, or other malignantly incompetent actions on behalf of Maricopa County officials.
You really are in luck Murc. She's announced she's leaving Ga. and in the process of buying a 5 bdrm home on Cape San Blas. 
[Breitbart] The National Guard troops’ paychecks were disrupted due to congressional drama surrounding the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that Congress recently approved. After weeks of negotiation, Congress came to a deal on the omnibus spending package. Included in the spending bill is, among other things, a $45 billion aid package for Ukraine. The $45 billion is on top of the $66 billion taxpayer dollars that have already been used to fund Ukrainian aid.
