Scattershooting while wondering what happened to objective academic rigor in public-school curricula…

NADLER CRAPS HIS PANTS at PELOSI: I’ll start out this posting with some comedy gold, courtesy of Jerry Nadler. Watch this video on C-SPAN of Nadler obviously dropping a big ol’ butt biscuit in his boxers, while introducing Nancy Pelosi. If the video disappears from C-SPAN, you should be able to find it on YouTube by searching for “Jerry Nadler pants”. It’s hard to blame him. Indeed, having had a few “wet farts” myself in a lifetime, I feel sorry for the guy actually, despite my admitted amusement at the slapstick but ultimately harmless scene. Others’ reactions to Nancy Pelosi have been worse…and justifiably!

STEALING OTHERS’ PHOTOGRAPHY DOESN’T PAY, EXCEPT for the PHOTOGRAPHER: It looks like Montana photographer Sean Heavey got a solid settlement (solid enough to be satisfactory to him, whatever its amount) from Netflix. To be succinct, Netflix straight-up stole his wonderful supercell photo for one of their shows, then had the stunningly arrogant audacity to defend their theft with the legally invalid, laughably ridiculous, straw-man claim that you can’t copyright Mother Nature. Good for Sean (and all of us photographers of the vapors aloft). I’m happy he busted Netflix and got a settlement from them. [After learning of their illicit use of his imagery, several others and I strongly encouraged him to do so.] On smaller scales, I’ve done the same, and absolutely will do it again whenever necessary. Gear, fuel & lodging aren’t free. Intangible property is still property; taking it without permission is still theft; and commercializing it still is selling stolen property. Exodus 20:15

CHINA LIED, PEOPLE DIED: A recent Congressional report asserted (rightfully, in my view) that, in essence, the 200,000+ deaths and countless more numbers of severe, debilitating illnesses the U.S. has suffered so far can be laid straight at the feet of the red commie Chinese government. You can argue all you want about our bungling response once their coronavirus got here, but that ignores that it shouldn’t have arrived here to begin with, and why it did. This is disgusting, but not surprising. All of the available evidence (not including what’s been covered up by the Chinese Communist Party that we don’t know yet, of course) has pointed this way all along. Their nationalization of PPE production by foreign companies (including ours):

1. Directly harmed efforts to contain this disease here and elsewhere around the world, and
2. Serve as Exhibit A on why the US should be beholden to no other nation for manufacturing of essential medical equipment and supplies.
   Bottom line: collectivist dictatorships cannot be trusted, in any way, shape or form.

CRITICAL THEORY HARMS RACIAL MINORITIES: The struggle over dilution of admissions standards at a top American public school, to accommodate specific racial groups at others’ expense, is a prime example of how the entirely subjective, arbitrary, radicalizing, societally destructive, and diabolically evil thought cult known as “critical theory” undermines excellence. In this case, we have a gifted-student STEM magnet school that already has 79% racial-minority enrollment, with a large fraction of immigrant parents. Yes, PC “woke” infestation of education can hurt minorities, and this shows how. The ideological cancer knows no limits. As a formally published scientist who came from far poorer means than almost all those pushing the “woke” idiocy, married to someone who was an academically gifted immigrant, I insist: facts, reason, logic, and objectivity must prevail…and rigorous excellence must be restored as priority one in STEM education (and all education for that matter).