BLUF:
[Birds Eye View of the Vinyard] Knowing exactly where to look
It’s out of the question that U.S. intel, in this case the NCMI (National Center for Medial Intelligence), was unaware of these developments in China, considering CIA spying and the fact these discussions were in the open on Weibo and WeChat. So if the NCMI "product" is not a fake and really exists, it only found evidence, still in November, of some vague instances of pneumonic plague.
Thus the warning — to the DIA, the Pentagon, the National Security Council, and even the White House — was about that. It could not possibly have been about coronavirus.
The burning question is inevitable: how could the NCMI possibly know all about a viral pandemic, still in November, when Chinese doctors positively identified the first cases of a new type of pneumonia only on December 26?
Add to it the intriguing question of why the NCMI was so interested in this particular flu season in China in the first place — from plague cases treated in Beijing to the first signs of a "mysterious pneumonia outbreak" in Wuhan.
There may have been subtle hints of slightly increased activity at clinics in Wuhan in late November and early December. But at the time nobody — Chinese doctors, the government, not to mention U.S. intel — could have possibly known what was really happening.
China could not be "covering up" what was only identified as a new disease on December 30, duly communicated to the WHO. Then, on January 3, the head of the American CDC, Robert Redfield, called the top Chinese CDC official. Chinese doctors sequenced the virus. And only on January 8 it was determined this was Sars-Cov-2 — which provokes Covid-19.
This chain of events reopens, once again, a mighty Pandora’s box. We have the quite timely Event 201; the cozy relationship between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the WHO, as well as the Word Economic Forum and the Johns Hopkins galaxy in Baltimore, including the Bloomberg School of Public Health; the ID2020 digital ID/vaccine combo; Dark Winter — which simulated a smallpox bio-attack on the U.S., before the 2001 anthrax attack being blamed on Iraq; U.S. Senators dumping stocks after a CDC briefing; more than 1,300 CEOs abandoning their cushy perches in 2019, "forecasting" total market collapse; the Fed pouring helicopter money already in September 2019 — as part of QE4.
And then, validating the ABC News report, Israel steps in. Israeli intel confirms U.S. intel did in fact warn them in November about a potentially catastrophic pandemic in Wuhan (once again: how could they possibly know that on the second week of November, so early in the game?) And NATO allies were warned — in November — as well.
#2
If you or your friends are clandestinely funding selected researchers and source reporting in Wuhan, releasing the 'oh shi*' balloon early would certainly put your sources, methods, and potential culpability at risk. Better to let discovery take it's course and hope the host nation disposes of your sources.
These are non-trivial matters. The appropriate political 'closed-door' notifications must be made. Ample time for stock trading and portfolio adjustments must be provided. Our highly valued Chinese trading partners must be given time to prepare.
#3
It was a top level highly classified up to take the world I Dr with Petri dish dollars insteAd of Petro dollars!
Posted by: Ebbinetch Spawn of the Nebraskans2768 ||
04/24/2020 6:26 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Suspiciously close to the Chinese line that it came from the US, from a "source" never heard of before. Especially notice the attempt to absolve the Chinese of covering up the outbreak, as if they didn't arrest doctors and take down research information.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/24/2020 6:59 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Ref #4: Especially notice the attempt to absolve the Chinese of covering up the outbreak, as if they didn't arrest doctors and take down research information.
When the air travel restriction were imposed, were members of the Saudi Royal Family high level Chinese nationals permitted to return to China in spite of the travel restrictions ?
#9
"China could not be "covering up" what was only identified as a new disease on December 30..."
None of this clears them from closing domestic transport to/from Wohan while leaving it open to the world. Of promoting hug a Chinese person day in Italy or sending bad PPE to a dozen countries while playing savior.
#12
"I recall the rush to return was for State Department employees and dependents. Common tourists were pretty much left on their own."
Several 100 private Americans were evacuated at the same time and on the same planes as the State people. They were not "left on their own" - some decided to stay for a variety of reasons. By law - we cannot leave them on their own. We are required to offer the same evac options as official Americans. Total AmCits evacuated from Wuhan is about 550. I'd bet less than 50 were official Americans as Wuhan is small consulate.
To date - State had evac'd about 60,000 AmCits worldwide.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
04/24/2020 12:00 Comments ||
Top||
#13
I went to that website, read the article, and wonder if it is total BS or a muddy blend of BS and a few possible facts. The writer seems like a nut. Doing a deep virus scan now.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/24/2020 13:07 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Ah'm on the outside and my recall is mushy, but law and rule and events rarely align.
The State Department official said "as space is available, seating will be offered to U.S. citizens on a reimbursable basis, to leave from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport to the United States.
#16
If you or your friends are clandestinely funding selected researchers
As I, ahem recall, the recently reported monies to the Wuhan lab was @3.7M. That's more in line of a 'this might be interesting' university grant. I was thinking there was something like a $5M minimum threshold for an actively managed project.
#17
/\ Non-for profits and foundations have historically served as 'cut-outs' for laundering money via grants or endowments to selected entities. Once it goes into the big pot, it's very difficult to trace back to it's origins.
[The Hill] The administration's top infectious diseases expert, said Thursday that the United States needs to "significantly ramp up" its testing capacity in order to effectively contain the coronavirus as blunt measures like stay-at-home orders are eased.
"I agree you don't need to test everybody, but you should at least be able to test the people in which you have to test to be able to do containment, and right now I think there's still some gaps there," Fauci said in an interview with Time magazine. "I mean, on paper it might look OK, but we absolutely need to significantly ramp up not only the number of tests, but the capacity to actually perform them."
He noted there are problems with securing supplies needed to conduct the tests as well, such as swabs and chemicals.
"I am not overly confident right now at all that we have what it takes to do that," he said of having robust enough testing. "We're doing better and I think we're going to get there, but we're not there yet."
#2
So, correct me if I am wrong, but 'testing' should require a degree of universal (meaning - ya'll get tested), documentation, and follow-up action. If testing is refused or testing follow-up action is rejected, then do we refer to follow-up action as.... 'selective enforcement?'
#5
B raises important points. As has been mentioned before, if some sort of "proof of having been tested" will be necessary, it's been noted that forged versions of such documents will be available as soon as the forgers know what they look like. And the "selective enforcement" mentioned will be messy and bad optics at best. And then there's this.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 6:23 Comments ||
Top||
#7
more testing will mean revealing that a greater number of the population has been exposed and already fought it off. either being asymptomatic or thinking the symptoms were something else.
that sure will 'bend the curve'. especially the mortality curve. what if it ends up that the virus is very communicable but ultimately not particularly lethal?
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 ||
04/24/2020 7:28 Comments ||
Top||
#8
what if it ends up that the virus is very communicable but ultimately not particularly lethal?
Same thing that always happens to our grifting gummint functionaries. Nothing.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 7:59 Comments ||
Top||
#9
ifsome sort of "proof of having been tested" will be necessary, it's been noted that forged versions of such documents will be available as soon as the forgers know what they look like.
#15
#12 ID = Social Credit? Poor me, I live in a totalitarian country. When I vote, I've to show ID twice: entering the polling station (usually a school) and before receiving an envelope for the vote.
On the other hand, I've been carded several times while buying alcohol in USA - at my mid-thirties.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 8:37 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Insurance agent: "Well, sir, we have reviewed your application for [health/life] insurance. Tell me, have you had COVID-19? Have you been innoculated? Can you prove it?"
Sad sap: "Well, uh, I've never been sick a day in my life, so I...."
Insurance agent: "We thank you for your interest in XYX Insurance. Have a wonderful day."
#24
Just like there is a different flu vaccine every year, there will be a different test every year. Count on it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 9:24 Comments ||
Top||
#25
Well, there's a move afoot to decriminalize knowingly transmitting HIV by concealing your infection status. That's being done at the behest of a favored group, however...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 9:31 Comments ||
Top||
#26
NY didn't follow the plan anyway. They gathered way later than they should have, kept subways running but cut the number of cars to ensure everyone packed together, and didn't institute masks until a week ago. They basically followed the Swedish plan through incompetent local government.
The rest of the US shut down out of terror because the Media was in NY and wetting themselves and made it seem as if NY was following the plan and still things were a nightmare.
When the dust settles De Blasio and Cuomo will be known as the guys that crippled the US and led to GOP electoral dominance for years to come.
#27
I still don't understand why he is trying to focus us on testing before going back to work. Is he going to put the position up that if you have not had the virus you need to stay in quarantine? That those without antibodies MUST take the vaccine before working? That our society must divide, yet again? From a data point of view the testing is good. From a causing panic and confusion this data will be gold. From a national perspective of reigniting out economy, returning to a life under a constitution its not good, its just useless data.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/24/2020 11:12 Comments ||
Top||
#28
Will you have to show ID to get tested? Heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2020 11:47 Comments ||
Top||
#29
its just useless data.
It's a 'cotton' swab up your nose for exposure, or blood, for anti-bodies.
#33
But the DNA issue is a fair question to be asked. What will be done with swab contents? Where will it go (if it goes somewhere)?
A bit different, but it reminds me of those suckers who sent in samples to ancestry DOT com only to find out the ancestry toads were giving DNA info to the authorities. Probably something in the fine print. They can kiss my dupa.
#37
Is he going to put the position up that if you have not had the virus you need to stay in quarantine?
Now that, my friend, is already happening.
What we're seeing is a surge in remote employee 'self reporting' required by HR. "How do you feel?", "Did you have trouble breathing this morning?", "What is your temperature?" are the general themes of the Covid inquiries...
If you don't report, you don't go to work.
If you are getting 'a temperature', you don't go to work. Other positive Covid symptoms, go to a doctor, but don't go to work.
Less emphasis on those employees that have anti-bodies, more for those unexposed.
#39
And your doc does all the tests him/herself - never sends anything to a lab.
p.s. If you're ever tested, you'll find out that the tests come with promise of medical confidentiality, and that the sample will be destroyed (you think they keep them around to spread infection?), once it's tested for the virus - it's not build to test for anything else.
Yes, imagine the staff required to deal with said samples with they were to be somehow retained or forwarded...not practical.
I sure miss a doctor I had not too long ago...made house calls and carried a Gladstone bag like days of yore. If you needed to give a blood sample, HE took the blood, and some lab came and picked it up. Old school and damn good.
#44
Speaking of TSA swabbing; I use my briefcase as my shooting bag; dual purpose. I make sure no brass or mags remain (except for that one time, dammit) but the powder residue dominates, and they go nuts. I am told I have an odd sense of humor.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/24/2020 12:38 Comments ||
Top||
#45
Doctor-patient confidentiality? I hope it still exists.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!
Recently several big hospital chains were sending HIPAA regulated information to gurgle. Abstracted and anonymized, of course. Strictly for testing data formats, of course. You can bet cramazon and micro$soft, oracle, fartbook, et. al. got some too. Just to help us all out, make us healthier, dontcha know. Yeah, some people maybe don't get out enough. OTOH, some people believe the entire Universe exists inside their head and it's all on the Up And Up.
Yeah. Right-e-oh...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 12:50 Comments ||
Top||
#46
The term for the information in question is PHI - Patient Health Information. Your identity is part of each of those PHI records because they are about - you guessed it - a specific patient. Now, how do they identify you specifically? Can you say Social Security Number? I knew ya could...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 12:55 Comments ||
Top||
#47
Maybe you will show up in Health Court, telling them some illegal stole your SSN. Of course, it will be up to you to prove that.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 12:56 Comments ||
Top||
#49
I was a HIPAA Security Officer at a medical practice and also worked with a practice management system developer 1996-2011. I actually was involved with practice management software from 1983 on, so I watched HIPAA get promulgated, instituted, implemented and crash and burn.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 13:05 Comments ||
Top||
#50
But I have no magic numbers or pretty graphs to share from that experience. Because I was on Minoxidil (oral) for BP back then, I couldn't even give myself a bald spot, not for lack of trying.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 13:07 Comments ||
Top||
#51
BP? Black Plague?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/24/2020 13:40 Comments ||
Top||
#52
Never mind. I looked it up.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/24/2020 13:42 Comments ||
Top||
#53
You mean like those ancestry tests who sold the information to third parties?
Or the doctors who can ask you about whether you have certain person possessions deemed unnecessary by the State, firearms in particular, and decide whether you are ok to have them or not?
Or can give my underage child hormones or abortion pills without my knowledge or consent?
Or can, based entirely on a one-to-one discussion with a child, sic child protective services onto parents who must prove their innocence to retrieve their child?
These are all things, right now, no tin hat necessary.
#54
^ This guy gets it. I have no doubts he "gets out enough."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 14:31 Comments ||
Top||
#55
Of course, some people thing it's tasteless that I am more concerned with what the demonstrably corrupt USGOV is up to than I am with this week's episode of the Knesset soap opera. And I fucking dare you to call me an anti-semite, you...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 14:39 Comments ||
Top||
#56
The testing is needed, if for no other reason than to show how widespread this is. Until we have that number, the data is incomplete, and the government can continue to use it to justify bad decisions.
If initial testing is any indication, the reported cases people are basing all the percentages off of may be an order of magnitude below the actual cases. And this would show just how the lockdown was a massive overreaction.
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
04/24/2020 16:46 Comments ||
Top||
#57
Pretty simple solution: test locally, with primary care keeping the information between the physician and the patient, and then require the all reporting anonymize the results, then aggregate it at the county, state and federal level. Reporting up the chain is already done for a lot of other disease diagnoses to track prevalence, not people.
All it takes is a "rule" on the fed side (the President can probably do it with "A pen and a Phone"), or Congress to pass a law adding "privacy" penalties for this.
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
04/24/2020 16:47 Comments ||
Top||
#58
^ this. Hash the IDs, anonymize the data, and aggregate at a county level so individual can be identified. Store the hashing keys separately from the data.
#60
Anyone who believes the data will be handled in the fashion described above, I don't want to say anything nasty about you, but I will not be accepting any brown thing you avver is "chocolate ice cream."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 17:32 Comments ||
Top||
#61
Ancestry ID Test: yeah, I did it. Birthday gift. Mom and sister already had done it, so they had mine anyway. BLUF: I wasn't adopted or a bastard
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2020 17:32 Comments ||
Top||
#62
BLUF: I wasn't adopted or a bastard
However opinions may vary :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2020 17:33 Comments ||
Top||
#63
And I misspelled "aver." Doesn't invalidate what I said.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 17:37 Comments ||
Top||
#64
You're probably right, MM.
That approach is all we can do; proby not secure enough.
#65
Well, you may not have been an issue of bastard, but you still might be a bastard, bastich, bâtard, etc.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 17:40 Comments ||
Top||
#66
Issue of bastardy. Gawd the spelchek sucks worms.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/24/2020 17:41 Comments ||
Top||
#67
13th Warrior: "At least I knew who my Father and Mother were"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2020 18:13 Comments ||
Top||
#68
Require family and friends to take a test prior to entering a retirement home or anyone entering a hospital. Beyond that testing really isn't needed and the ID of identifying badges is silly when they keep saying they don't know if you can re-catch the virus or not.
BLUF:
[American Thinker] I want to alert all who are involved in fighting the disease that "culture" will be deemed by progressives of all ethnicities a taboo subject. Any attempts to reveal to black Americans that cultural habits could be killing them will be turned back on the hapless investigators as evidence of their racism and lack of understanding.
The victimhood scam, perpetrated by progressive leftists must be protected at all costs.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the perpetually race-baiting Democrat congresswoman from New York, has already expressed the ridiculous notion that even to suggest that blacks are doing something contrary to their well-being is racist.
Ocasio-Cortez is a very low-intelligence progressive who plays the victim card well. But I don't doubt that some of the more astute among progressives were waiting for the issue of victimhood to raise its ugly head. For them, any behavior is unassailable. T here is no right or wrong, no acceptable or unacceptable. In the name of "inclusiveness," whatever anybody does, no matter the harm it causes, cannot be questioned.
In line with this misdirected notion, blacks are fed the lie that they hold no responsibility for their circumstances. If they eat unhealthy foods and suffer the consequences of those choices, it's not their fault. They are victims of that nebulous "racist system." Progressive Democrats have been masters in force-feeding that lie.
Michael Fumento wrote a book about it called “The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS” back in 1989 and was excoriated over yet was ultimately proved right. I’ve little doubt most of what we’re hearing from the “scientific” community about COVID-19 will ultimately be proven wrong.
If you are doing something a Democrat doesn't like, you are racist.
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 ||
04/24/2020 7:36 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I read yesterday that some doctors are finding a connection between high blood pressure drugs (ACE inhibitors) and Covid deaths. I also know almost all high blood pressure meds are made in China.
[Strategic-Culture] It could be seen as a fatal blow to Boris Johnson’s premiership. A bombshell report at the weekend revealed the British prime minister had declined to attend five emergency cabinet meetings in the lead-up to the Covid-19 crisis. He is accused of "sleepwalking" Britain into disaster.
As Britain’s death toll from the pandemic continues to soar — with projections that it could end up the worst in Europe — Boris Johnson will be in for intense heat from public anger. Sympathy for his own personal recovery from the disease will soon recede as the public demands a reckoning for Britain’s grim epidemic.
Coincidentally, it seems, the damning report on Johnson’s hands-off approach before he became ill also comes amid signs of infighting among senior government ministers about how Britain exits from its weeks-long lockdown policy to contain the deadly pandemic.
Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove and the finance minister Rishi Sunak are reportedly keen to speed up Britain’s return to normal business, while Prime Minister Johnson and the health minister Matt Hancock are more cautious about lifting the public lockdown out of fears that a second wave of infection may occur. Both Johnson and Hancock suffered from Covid-19 infection which may account for their more wary position. Indeed earlier this month, Johnson spent several days in hospital intensive care while in a critical condition.
The tensions at the core of the British government over handling the Covid-19 crisis may explain the extraordinarily damaging report by the Sunday Times painting Johnson as woefully complacent in the face of the pandemic. The rightwing press owned by Rupert Murdoch usually have a favorable and indulgent attitude towards Johnson. He used to write a column for the tabloid Sun. Something has changed like a switch, however, in that crony relation....
That's why the media exposé of Johnson and his non-attendance of Cabinet emergency meetings has more an air of political hatchet job than investigative journalism....
The Wuhan Virus may not have been a bioweapon but it was certainly used as one. My latest for The American Mind: The Chinese Art of War https://t.co/5o6FL62N5A
[CJ] - At the end of March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled back Obama-era fuel economy standards projected to add nearly $3,000 to the cost of a new car. It was the latest instance of President Trump’s record of cutting excessive regulations, which he describes as "stealth taxation, especially on the poor." Trump’s deregulatory actions over the past three years will increase the purchasing power of working-class income by up to 15 percent, at least after the Covid-19 pandemic passes and the economy begins functioning again. The current economic depression from the pandemic underscores the importance of removing obstacles to economic advancement for those most in need of it.
One of the best-kept secrets in the economics of regulation is how regulation’s costs fall disproportionately on the poor. "Well-intentioned regulation often indulges the preferences of the wealthy," observes Creighton University professor Diana Thomas. By "driving up the prices of regulated goods and lowering the wages of lower income households and workers, such regulation is likely to have disproportionately negative or regressive effects on the poor."
Trump’s 2020 reelection drive will likely position itself on the side of the poor and middle class, while portraying his likely Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden, as a representative of the entrenched bureaucratic class that oversaw accelerated rulemaking during the Obama years. The historical trend has been toward ever-greater regulation, with all of Trump’s political competitors promising to restore that tradition and even exceed it.
[Mises] President Trump is convening with governors to reopen the economy, which will likely mean some sort of compulsory face mask order. Now is the time to seriously consider scrapping the patents on masks such as the N95.
Government at all levels has severely overreacted to the COVID-19 pandemic, but at long last there is political will to at least pretend as though there should be some return to normalcy. That, of course, doesn’t mean partisan politics is being set aside.
The governors of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, all Democrats, have announced that they are forming a "regional advisory council" to come up with a plan to reopen their economies. The same thing is being tried by West Coast Democratic governors in California, Oregon, and Washington.
Continued on Page 49
#1
I believe the war industrial act covers that already. Just ask the gun gurus here about a Singer 45 cal pistol. The only question the government asks is 'can you make this?'.
[The Hill] Nina Turner, the former co-chairwoman of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, on Thursday said Democrats will need to gin up more excitement with the party’s base if they hope to unseat President Trump in November.
"We need some excitement," she said in an appearance on Hill.TV’s "Rising."
"To get people to vote, I have a news flash, it doesn’t happen in the head first, it happens in the heart. And you must excite people. And Trump as bad as he is, as rotten as he is, as wrong as he is, he does bring a certain type of excitement."
You can watch more from the interview with Turner above.
[JPost] - According to a Channel 13 poll, most Israelis support the coalition deal signed on Monday between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz. The numbers (62% in favor and 22% opposed) are not surprising.
Following three Knesset elections that ended in deadlock and numerous negotiations that led to nowhere, the public is both fed up and beaten down. The prospect of returning to the ballot box for a fourth time — particularly with the country in the throes of the coronavirus crisis — made the very inking of the Netanyahu-Gantz agreement for an "emergency national unity government" palatable. Under any other circumstances, the deal in question would be cause for dismay, if not outrage.
...Nevertheless, a majority still hopes for the next government, however bloated, to be up and running and ready to heal the ailing economy before it dies of COVID-19. Though a gargantuan task — especially for a coalition that contains an array of capitalists, socialists and fiscal fantasists — it is a mission that enjoys national consensus. Except, of course, among the "anybody but Bibi" extremists. You know, the ones who are unleashing the wrath they previously reserved exclusively for Netanyahu on Gantz.
YES, THE politicians who propped up the former IDF chief-of-staff as the perfect candidate to replace the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history are treating him like a traitor.
Take Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, for instance.
Gantz’s co-pilot in the Blue and White "cockpit," Lapid — like the bulk of the bloc’s motley crew — was willing to join forces with the anti-Zionist Joint List, comprised of Arab partites, in the endeavor to oust Netanyahu. That’s how far Gantz’s gang was prepared to go in the absence of a Knesset majority to form a government, despite repeated declarations that they would never even consider accepting outside backing from a party that includes proponents of terrorism against Jews.
Luckily, Blue and White MKs Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser, as well as Gesher MK Orly Levy-Abecassis, refused to cross that particular red line. If they had not, Gantz would have cobbled together a minority government, with the Joint List heading the opposition — and thus privy to all state and military secrets. Kinda like electing the Obama POTUS.
[TownHall] - Every year, I tell my students that one of Shakespeare’s triumphs was imbuing his plays with moral complexity—ethically ambiguous protagonists stumbling through an equally ambiguous world. In a recent campaign, Harvard has returned to myths good versus evil. A recent onslaught of advocacy masquerading as academic work has pitted the supposed crusaders of public schools against devilish parents. The crime of these demonic parents? Homeschooling. A short review of dame Bartholet rant
...On average, homeschooled students perform better on standardized tests. Bartholet admits this reality but casts it off as irrelevant. She complains that conservative groups like The Heritage Institution fund such research and rely upon bad data. However, even a professor writing for the Brookings Institute, a definitively non-partisan institution, admits that it’s "unwarranted to argue that homeschoolers are doing badly. The available evidence certainly seems to indicate otherwise." IMO, if one is NOT autodidact, one should learn a trade.
...The more powerful argument against homeschooling comes by way of mandatory reporting laws. As a teacher, I have to report to CPS any signs I see of child abuse like bruises or drastic behavioral changes. Discussing the absence of mandatory reporting in homeschools, Bartholet casts an unseemly picture through anecdotes—children chained to beds, beaten, neglected, and raped. By her telling, every home is a dystopian landscape and public schools an eden of safety. Don't know about USA, but in Israel every homeschooler meets with Dept. Edu. rep every two weeks. The flip side, IMO*, Ritalin - practiced widely in our wonderful educational system - IS child-abuse.
*I've taught kids on Ritalin. When they come in the morning, after taking their "medicine" - they're virtual zombies, as time passes by they recover into normal children - some pretty bright.
In response to her anecdotes, I have my own: one student confessing his desire to commit suicide because of school bullies, another hacking from a likely bruised trachea after an uninstigated brawl, bathroom drugs, and vapes in classes. I could go on with more stories of a scatological-bent but I’ll spare you the details.
...Parents pull their kids because of bullying, academics, personal interests, and safety. Any system cannot possibly cover all externalities and even now students in neglectful or abusive homes go unrecognized despite attending public schools. Homeschooling poses a risk but public schools are not necessarily the best protection. Of course if home schooling/internet learning become common, hundred of thousands (mostly female & mostly incompetent) teachers will have to go back to being housewives - and we can't have that, can we?
#5
Our school model is a weird artifact of the early phase of the Indistrial Revolution: a factory model that turns out minimally-competent factory workers for a mass industrial society.
For an intelligent kid with even average motivation, the homeschooler model of flexible, 1:1 tutorials is far superior on every dimension to the factory-industrial schooling model.
[The American Spectator] A message to the disaster brokers who think they are our superiors.
To our betters in the American ruling class:
Just a note to say thanks for giving us a much-needed lesson in the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, who were not shy at all in admonishing us to be wary of surrendering the kind of government power you people have wielded, supposedly for our benefit, since the Chinese Communist virus hit our shores at some indeterminate point in the recent, or maybe not-so-recent, past.
You told us that Patient Zero in America for the Wuhan ChiCom virus came to Seattle and first landed in a hospital on January 19. You built an entire response to the virus based on that, and three months later more than 26 million Americans are out of work, and the projections are that some 24 percent of our economy will have evaporated in the second quarter of this year thanks to that response.
Head to the link in title and read the whole rant!
Posted by: 3dc ||
04/24/2020 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
#1
Truly a righteous rant that covers the territory well.
Nothing in this to disagree with. Nicely put.
#2
The shutdown of virtually all non-COVID-19 medical practice is putting great numbers of doctors and facilities around the country in danger of going out of business. Can the call to 'save' them by nationalization of the health care system be far behind?
#4
Israel 8 million, Sweden 10 million. Israel 193 deaths and daily infections rate goes down. Sweden 2000 death and and daily infections rate goes up.
#6
I really, really hate the idiot turn the right has taken during this. It's destructive and intellectually corrupt -- there's no allowance for caution, no allowance for imperfect knowledge, and nothing but brainless contrarianism.
We've gone from objecting to restrictions that had no connection with public health to apparently rejecting the idea of public health, in the space of two weeks. I've seen the most bizarre conspiracy theories grow up in minutes, based on nothing more than the dislike of a statement a person said.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/24/2020 6:52 Comments ||
Top||
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.
LCD green light Clem. Red LCD blinking....STF away. Not available at Amazon.
[Strategic-Culture] It could be seen as a fatal blow to Boris Johnson’s premiership. A bombshell report at the weekend revealed the British prime minister had declined to attend five emergency cabinet meetings in the lead-up to the Covid-19 crisis. He is accused of "sleepwalking" Britain into disaster.
