EDUCATION Comments turned off

A Fail of Two Cities Schools in Chicago and Los Angeles are in bad shape, and there are no fixes on the horizon. By Larry Sand

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/01/11/a-fail-of-two-cities/

In this “Fail of Two Cities,” it has been only the “worst of times” for government-run schools.

When it comes to education, Chicago, America’s “Second City,” is nowhere near second. The kids aren’t learning despite piles of money being spent, and families are abandoning the system.

According to the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), just 15% of Chicago’s 8th-grade students are proficient in math, and 21% are proficient in reading.

Money is certainly not the problem, as Chicago Public Schools spend about $29,000 per student. So, a class of 20 students costs the taxpayer almost $600,000 per year. Additionally, Chi-town teachers aren’t suffering; a rookie teacher makes $64,000 a year and eventually can earn up to $122,000 per year—not including pension and healthcare perks.

A great deal of the reason for the poor education system in the Windy City can be laid at the feet of the Chicago Teachers Union. As with most teachers’ unions, especially those in big cities, its primary goal is to advance a left-wing political agenda. In fact, the Illinois Policy Institute reports that the union spent nearly three times more on politics in 2023 than the year before, and just 17% of its spending was on representing teachers

As former Mayor Lori Lightfoot noted in 2021, CTU would “like to take over not only Chicago Public Schools, but take over running the city government.”

In fact, that actually happened. The recent recipient of the union’s largess, Brandon Johnson, a former CTU “legislative coordinator,” became Chicago mayor in May 2023.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism By Michael Berenhaus

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/01/antizionism_emisem_antisemitism_.html

If, as the Washington Post editorial title says, “Anti-Zionism isn’t the same as antisemitism…” (1/7/24), then why is the one tiny Jewish state the only country in the world challenged over its right to exist? 

Further, if anti-Zionism isn’t the same as antisemitism, why are those that shout and riot against Israel wantonly attacking Jews indiscriminately? Why are antisemitic attacks up throughout the world including America especially on college campuses? 

In France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish population, “The interior ministry recorded more than 1,500 incidents [of antisemitism] in the six weeks following 7 October, ranging from the desecration of cemeteries to antisemitic graffiti and banners, social media attacks, vandalism against Jewish property, threats against Jews and a handful of assaults,” according to the Guardian.

Students at college campuses across America report widespread intimidation and harassment for being Jewish. Just in the past week, at a NY high school girl’s basketball game, a Jewish High School team was taunted with screams of “I support Hamas, you f–king Jew” by opposing players.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Our Incompetent Elite is Opening Up America to Attack Our enemies are very serious about one particular thing. by Kurt Schlichter

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/our-incompetent-elite-is-opening-up-america-to-attack/

My first Townhall Column of the year was my top 2024 predictions, but one prediction did not fit with its snarky vibe. Let me make it now. In 2024, we’re going to see a massive terrorist attack here in the United States. I’m not going to sugarcoat it – I’m worried that we’re facing a terrorist threat unlike anything we’ve ever seen and that a lot of Americans are going to die. It does not have to happen, but because the people running this country are so corrupt, malicious, and incompetent, it will.

The people running this country have made choices – like throwing open the border – that are going to kill a lot of Americans because our enemies, unlike our alleged leaders, are serious people. They’re serious about subjugating and killing us. But the only things our leadership is serious about are keeping their names off pervert passenger lists, skimming endless Ukrainian cash, and pronouns, pronouns, pronouns, always pronouns. We have a distinctly unserious elite in the most serious of times.

When October 7 happened, we saw the Israelis caught unawares by an asymmetrical attack where a determined and cunning foe leveraged all its limited strengths against the Jewish state’s very few weaknesses, allowing Hamas to execute a short but bloody rape and murder spree. Understand that 10/7 was not a military assault, though it used violent means. It was an information operation, an operation designed not primarily to destroy the combat power of the IDF but to attack the will of the Israeli people and force Israel to change its policies. That did not work. Israel was stronger than Hamas imagined, and it hit back harder and more consistently than the terrorists expected, despite the shameful backstabbing by the Biden administration and the screaming of the terrorist wing of the Democrat Party here at home.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

‘Genocide’: The Population of Gaza Tripled Under Israeli Occupation So what’s really the conduct of the IDF in Gaza? by Hugh Fitzgerald

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/genocide-the-population-of-gaza-tripled-under-israeli-occupation/

What does Israel do in Gaza? Does the IDF deliberately rape, torture, and murder Palestinian civilians, as Hamas did to the Israelis at the dance party and in the kibbutzim? Does the IDF take delight in killing, in as sadistic a way as possible, as many Gazan civilians as it can? No, of course not. The IDF tries instead, to minimize civilian casualties. It has no desire to harm the truly innocent. Unfortunately, Hamas wants to maximize those civilian casualties, and to exploit that result to undermine Israel’s standing in the world.

Whenever it can, the IDF warns civilians away from areas about to be targeted. These warnings are enormous undertakings. When the IDF had concluded that it was first going to concentrate its war-making in northern Gaza, it dropped 1.5 leaflets on that area, urging inhabitants to move south of the Wadi Gaza, so as to avoid the most intense fighting that was about to begin in the north. 900,000 Gazans ultimately heeded the warning, and headed south on the north-south corridor of Salah al-Din Street. Hamas fired on, and killed, some of the Gazans trying to move south, in order to keep their civilian shields trapped in the north. Later, when the IDF began to attack Hamas in the south, it dropped both leaflets, and sent emails, with maps included, that showed Gazans the precise areas in the south, in and around Khan Yunis, where the IDF would not be attacking, and that, therefore, they should move to for safety’s sake. It was the same with buildings — schools, apartment buildings, mosques — where the IDF was about to attack. The IDF messaged, emailed, telephoned, and used the “knock-on-the-roof” technique to warn civilians living in or near those buildings soon to be targeted to leave them. Furthermore, Israeli pilots will call off an airstrike if they detect too many civilians near the target.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

U.S., U.K. Launch Air Strikes against Houthi Rebels in Response to Attacks on Ships in Red Sea By Brittany Bernstein

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/u-s-u-k-launch-air-strikes-against-houthi-rebels-in-response-to-attacks-on-ships-in-red-sea/

The U.S. and Britain launched air strikes in Yemen on Thursday in response to the Iran-backed Houthis’ recent attacks against vessels in the Red Sea.

The strikes came hours after White House national-security spokesman John Kirby called on the Houthis to “stop these attacks” and warned that the group would “bear the consequences for any failure to do so.”

The militants have launched 27 attacks on vessels in the Red Sea since November 19, the U.S. military said earlier on Thursday. The group says the attacks are in protest of the Israel–Hamas war.

The retaliatory strikes targeted a source of the group’s attacks, Bloomberg News reported, noting that heavy explosions were seen in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the port city of Al Hudaydah. The attacks were carried out with support from Australia, the Netherlands, Bahrain, and Canada, while the U.K. contributed aircraft.

President Biden confirmed the strikes in a statement on Thursday evening, explaining that the action was “in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea — including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history.”

ANTI-SEMITISM, EDUCATION Comments turned off

Harvard Students Sue University over Failure to Address ‘Severe and Pervasive’ Antisemitic Harassment on Campus By Brittany Bernstein

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/harvard-students-sue-university-over-failure-to-address-severe-and-pervasive-antisemitic-harassment-on-campus/

Harvard University students filed a lawsuit against university officials on Wednesday, claiming they have failed to protect Jewish students from “severe and pervasive” antisemitic harassment sparked by the Israel-Hamas war.

In a 79-page federal civil complaint, six Harvard graduate and law students who are members of Students Against Antisemitism say the university “has become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment.”

The suit says pro-Palestinian protests on campus have been rife with “vile” bigotry against Jews and Israel.

”Mobs of pro-Hamas students and faculty have marched by the hundreds through Harvard’s campus, shouting vile antisemitic slogans and calling for death to Jews and Israel,” the suit said. “Those mobs have occupied buildings, classrooms, libraries, student lounges, plazas, and study halls, often for days or weeks at a time, promoting violence against Jews and harassing and assaulting them on campus.”

Jewish students have also been met with antisemitic attacks online and in classes where faculty members have allegedly “promulgated antisemitism.”

“Harvard permits students and faculty to advocate, without consequence, the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel, the only Jewish country in the world,” the complaint says. “Meanwhile, Harvard requires students to take a training class that warns that they will be disciplined if they engage in sizeism, fatphobia, racism, transphobia, or other disfavored behavior.”

The suit comes after Harvard president Claudine Gay resigned earlier this month amid mounting pressure over scandals involving her comments at a Congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses and over allegations that she had plagiarized in her past academic works.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Winner of the DeSantis-Haley Debate By Tom Bevan

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/01/11/winner_of_the_desantis-haley_debate_150313.html

After two hours of going at each other with hammer and tong, there was a clear winner at the debate between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at Drake University last night sponsored by CNN. But he wasn’t in the building.

Instead, Donald Trump was across town, speaking at a town hall hosted by a different cable network, floating the tantalizing claim that he has already chosen his running mate.

If it seems brazen to make an announcement before the first primary season votes have been cast, there’s a reason: With less than a week before the Iowa caucuses, Trump maintains a sizeable – possibly insurmountable – lead over his nearest rivals. A big victory for Trump next Monday night would put him in a position to run the table of early states and cruise toward the nomination – notwithstanding his mounting legal difficulties.

And, as has been the case so often through the primary process, the bickering and infighting among his main challengers that took place on the debate stage in Des Moines last night only served to help the former president’s campaign.

They didn’t waste any time on niceties, either.

In his opening statement, DeSantis rehashed Haley’s recent remarks in New Hampshire where she seemed to acknowledge Trump’s looming victory in Iowa by telling New Hampshire voters that they can “correct” Iowa’s caucus results.

“We don’t need another mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear just to try to get your vote, then to get into office and to do her donors’ bidding,” DeSantis said. 

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Second Largest U.S. Land Owner Is a CCP Member

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2024/01/11/second-largest-us-land-owner-is-a-ccp-member-n2633516

The second-largest foreign landowner in the United States is a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

According to a report reviewed by the Daily Caller, Chen Tianqiao— founder, chairman, and CEO of global investment firm Shanda Group, owns nearly 200,000 acres of land in Oregon. 

The Chinese national made billions from online gaming, making him one of the most significant non-American landholders in the U.S. In only five years, Tianqiao became one of China’s largest Internet companies, producing some of today’s most popular games, such as, “The Word of Legend,” “Dungeons & Dragons Online,” and “Final Fantasy XIV.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Bidenomics Is Working: Deficits Are Off To A Roaring Start

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/01/12/bidenomics-is-working-deficits-are-off-to-a-roaring-start/

“We the Democrats are the ones that are fiscally responsible. Let’s get that straight now.” — Joe Biden, October 2022

Just three months into the new fiscal year and the federal deficit already tops $500 billion. How’s that for being “fiscally responsible”?

The latest report from the Treasury Department shows that the federal deficit for October, November, and December of last year (which mark the first quarter of the government’s 2024 fiscal year), had already hit $509.9 billion.

That’s a 21% increase over the prior year. And if this pace holds true, we’re looking at $2 trillion deficits this year. (Biden’s own Treasury Department currently projects it to hit $1.9 trillion.)

The current surge is entirely driven by out-of-control spending. Revenues are so far coming in slightly above last year’s, but spending in the first quarter ballooned by $170 billion.

Spending on entitlement programs is up a relatively modest 4%. Defense spending is up 11%. Discretionary spending, however, is 23% higher so far this year than last – thanks in large part to Biden’s spending sprees.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Will Trump’s Rising Support From Minority Voters Put Him Back Into The White House? I&I/TIPP Poll Terry Jones

Posted By on January 12th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/01/12/will-trumps-rising-support-from-minority-voters-put-him-back-into-the-white-house-ii-tipp-poll/

As 2023 has ended and a new year begun, those looking for a big change in the presidential polls for either major party may be disappointed. The I&I/TIPP Poll taken in early January shows that both President Joe Biden (69% support) and former President Donald Trump (65%) have big leads currently in the primaries for their respective parties.

With little competition so far from others, what about the head-to-head competition between Biden vs. Trump?

I&I/TIPP’s national online I&I/TIPP Poll of 1,247 registered voters taken Jan. 3-5 shows that Trump holds a slender 1 percentage-point lead over Biden if the election were held today. The actual numbers are 41% Trump, 40% Biden, a virtual statistical tossup given the poll’s +/-2.8 percentage point margin of error.
However, significant problems lurk for both candidates, but mainly for Biden, the data show.

Biden runs strongly in urban areas, taking 55% of that vote to Trump’s 31%. But the suburbs favor Trump 44% to Biden’s 38%, while Trump’s lead in rural areas is even larger: 49% Trump, 27% Biden. Urban voters in the I&I/TIPP survey make up just about 30% of all voters.

An even larger problem looms for Biden when it comes to minority voters, in particular blacks and Hispanics. In 2020, according to a Roper Survey exit poll of voters, Biden took an estimated 87% of the black vote and 65% of the Hispanic vote running against Trump, who received an estimated 12% of the black vote and 32% of the Hispanic tally.

This time around might be a surprise for the Democrats, who have long held a tight lock on the votes of the country’s two-largest minorities. Current I&I/TIPP data show Trump getting a near-identical level of Hispanic support as in 2020, 31%, but Biden’s backing has plunged from more than 60% to just 53%.