From a post that was talking about the Detroit school system NEAP results (at “total expenditures” of $18,361 per student):

In the Detroit public school district, 96 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in mathematics and 93 percent are not proficient in reading.

I gasped – MASSIVE #FAIL.  I could use that money better by just taking it in singles and burn it for heat.  I can see a teacher’s results not being all that great once in a while – yes, I do ascribe to the theory that every so often there is that certain class of kids can be a disaster compared to those that just preceded them and those that follow. But across a district of 49K kids, that evens that out.  But an average of only 5% proficient overall???   You can’t blame the kids.  Yes, you MIGHT be able to blame the facilities a bit.  But the only other component is the staff – and 5% is the BEST you can do district wide?

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As I just wrote:

Which means that 67% AREN’T PROFICIENT.  Haven’t we learned that doing the same thing, over and over, with results like this, is just insanity? This is our national standard of excellence – the majority of kids failing to learn?  An entire nation?

Well, if you can’t do well on the standardized tests, play games with the grades that go home to Mom and Dad – like this! Emphasis mine, reformatted:

California school district lowers the bar for an ‘F’ to 20 percent

Cotati-Rohnert Park School District in Sonoma County, California, is courting controversy over the restructuring of its grading scale. Called the “equal interval scale,” it “departs from the traditional A to F scale in which students receive F’s for scores below 59 percent.” “Instead, the scale awards F’s only for scores below 20 percent.”

Are they SERIOUS?

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All the talk after this last debate is that Jeb! Bush’s campaign is now swirling the drain.  The Great Establishment Hope came into this being the inevitable candidate and was supposed to sweep all away vestige of competition off the Yellow Brick Road (and which with his, his brother’s, and his Dad’s donors, should be the owner of) with all of the money in his war chest.  Hasn’t worked out all that well, has it, with plunging poll numbers.  He must be muttering like Lindsay Graham: “How can I be losing to these nitwits”?  Well, was Judd Gregg listening to the last two debates?

And what Jeb’s campaign thinks about Republican voters?

Not only has he had to cut staff and coverage as the donors are trying up, his performances have been weak at best and watching (and tweeting) during Wednesday’s debate, I just kept cringing – and so did his donors afterwards:

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Nothing that is voted upon at 3am can be a good deal for ordinary Americans – especially when phrased as “a gift” from now former and retired Speaker Boehner to new Speaker Paul Ryan (“cleaning out the barn”).  Sorry, Steve, Kelly Ayotte is showing us again that going DC is not helpful – she showed her willingness to again go against what she campaigned against: a Leviathan Government.  And she gave what one other Republican Senator called a:

“diamond encrusted glow in the dark AmEx card“

to Obama as there is absolutely NO limit now to the oblivion into which Obama can spend.  But never fear, Kelly, you aren’t alone on that road away from Conservatism – your McCain Sidecar friend Lindsay Graham was there right by your side in letting the national debt now go up by Trillions. So I don’t want to hear a WORD out of you claiming to be for a smaller, less costly government when now we can call you Kelly “Blank Check” Ayotte.

Sure, it

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That’s the headline over at Big Government.  Heck, I beat them to it – have been saying this for years and actually, for a general election, willing to do such with the Left of center bloggers here in NH (Blue Hampshire kept turning me down):

Get some conservative bloggers to ask the question – they know the issues that are important & broke no deflections https://t.co/IKQO9Ht36D

— GraniteGrok (@GraniteGrok) October 29, 2015

But Big Government has the right of it:

Thus far, conservative media have been shut out of the process, save for the Salem Radio Network’s Hugh Hewitt, who joined the panelists for occasional questions at the second GOP Debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in September.

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Steve’s most excellent post, that is – is Kelly Ayotte really with us?  He says no, I say no, and now another one has a BUNCH of reason of NOPE!  I get to see (and have to moderate) all of the comments on GraniteGrok and Ken from the Seacoast has a dandy comment from Steve’s post – an impressive list that I thought needed to be “promoted” to our front page in its own post (emphasis mine):

I have e-mailed her office on many occasions regarding many Senate votes. I receive very nice platitudes but nothing substantive in return. CPP is just the latest offense. Remember:

voted for EPA’s CPP, Utility MACT and cross state border pollution rules

voted for re-authorization of Ex-Im Bank (twice)

voted for TPP

voted for TAA

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Ah yes, Hillary Clinton, that paragon of Income Inequality (“…we were dead broke when we left the White House”) that earns $225,000/hour when speaking at colleges (thus perfectly fine with incrementally making it just that much more expensive for poor students to go to that college) to have a net worth of $32-50 million.  And while she lambasts Income Inequality from that perch of the top 0.001%,  she has the temerity to NOT pay her staff at least $15 / hour (reformatted, emphasis mine):

I met you several years ago on the “Sustainable Communities Initiative” program.   I am working on some updates on what has happened since program was started.  I am doing some research right now.  But, I think you will be very interested once I get the info. together.  Anyway, I am on the Hillary Clinton mailing list.  They sent me an email today.  They are looking for fall Fellow and Interns for the campaign.  Now, considering that Hillary is calling for a minimum wage of $15, you would assume that they would be paying that $15 an hour.  But, when you click on the application link.

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And that would be to resurrect the zombie Ex-Im Bank – better known as the Export-Import Bank, that bastion of Crony Capitalism that I keep hearing is the last resort of companies that can’t get funding otherwise with taxpayers on the hook as that last resource.  What the heck is the Federal Government doing acting as a lending bank anyways?  Simple – financial favors for the well connected.  If you listen to them (and I keep getting emails from some nitwits that four months AFTER the Export-Import Bank was sunsetted.  Influence the influencers, I guess, was their thinking.

Yeah, that’s workin’ out for them so far – sending emails asking to expand government to a guy that thinks it’s already too portly to begin with?  That stands ready with a burlap bag, rope, and a bathtub full of water with a willing spirit?  And the above coalition decided to send out a congratulatory email to me effuse with their praise for Frank Guinta and is vote to not just keep Government big but to make it bigger by reattaching a dead limb?

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Tuesday the NH House Judiciary Committee held an Exec Session on HB636, asset forfeiture reform. It came out shiny.

This c/o Kevin over at the Reform Asset Forfeiture Faceook Page, which you can join, btw.

HB 636, the Asset Forfeiture Reform bill, just came out of Executive Session in the House, 14-5! Congratulations to Michael Sylvia, co-sponsor and chair of the subcommittee, Dennis Corrigan who spent many hours on the language, Dan McGuire, the prime sponsor, Devon Chafee and Gilles Bissonette from the NHCLU, and Lee McGrath from the Institute for Justice who all contributed hugely to the bill’s passage.

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Cloward-Piven, you say?  Yes, only not at a city level, not even a country level, but at a Continental one.  Cloward-Piven, you ask?  Summary:

Cloward & Piven were two NYU sociologists and Socialists that predicated that by overloading the welfare system and drive New York City so far into debt, it could not recover and Capitalism would have to be replaced by another form of governance (gee, guess which!).  They almost succeeded.

BTW, go read what Alinsky said in that post and measure it against what is going on today here in the US – but I digress.  Yes, Cloward-Piven – overloading the system of multiple countries – and overloading their cultural norms: the jizya.  Too many posts to keep up on but the question to keep in mind is “Why now?  Why so many – now?  And WHY are these Western countries allowing this to happen to themselves (although a few are starting to go “oh CRAP!”)?  So, once again, a quick tour around some posts over the last few days:

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