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SHOULD SCHOOLS HOLD KIDS ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHAT HAPPENS OFF CAMPUS? This is a question that was NEVER a question when I was a kid, which is why every after school fight took place in the parking lot of the convenience store next to our campus. It was beyond reproach but close enough for the spectators to arrive in a timely fashion. Now the script has flipped as parents are asking schools (or are they?) to monitor children all day and night for the possibility of misbehavior. The case we're discussing today is this:
As a high-school sophomore, B. L. was upset when she failed to make the varsity cheerleading team. At the mall with a friend that weekend, she vented her frustrations by posting a picture to Snapchat in which she raised her middle finger accompanied by the caption, “F*** school f*** softball f*** cheer f*** everything.” One student took a screenshot of B. L.’s post, which otherwise would have automatically deleted in 24 hours, and showed it to her mother, a team coach, who reported it up the line. The school decided that B. L.’s private post had violated school rules and suspended her from the junior-varsity cheerleading team.
She sued, and in Mahanoy Area School District v. B. L., the Pacific Legal Foundation filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court and I'm talking to one of their attorneys Daniel Ortner at 1pm about the case. Support the Pacific Legal Foundation by clicking here.
THE BOOK OF QUESTIONS AT 2 And we'll spin the big wheel at 2 to see what page we land on for today's question. Buy your own copy of the book by clicking here.
TODAY'S VACCINE FACT OF THE DAY! IT DOES STOP TRANSMISSION There have been a lot of questions about whether or not vaccinated people, who can still get covid, just not a case that will kill them, can transmit the disease to others if they have an asymptomatic case. Recent data shows that after the FIRST SHOT of a vaccine your chances of giving this to anyone drop DRAMATICALLY. So there you have it.
HAVING COVID COULD LEAD TO NEUROLOGICAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES And this is one for the "it's just like the flu" folks out there. Unlike the flu, which doesn't seem to have any lingering effects, Covid has the ability to do some long term damage. SEEMS to, anyway. The studies are just beginning but the early data shows there may be a connection between covid infection and a subsequent diagnosis of things like Guillain-Barre Syndrome and other neurological problems. The numbers are small, but they are enough to be statistically significant when you consider how many people have been infected with this disease. Best to avoid it, imo.
NEW YORK HAS ANNOUNCED VAX/NO VAX SEATS AT THE YANKEES GAMES And this virus must be HELLA smart to know which sections will be full of unsuspecting potential victims. The best part of this story is when Gov Andrew Cuomo says that his new plan to segregate vaccinated people from unvaccinated people is NOT segregation. I'm not sure he knows what the word means. They are also offering J&J shots AT the game and if you get one, you get a free ticket for an upcoming game. The payoffs have begun!
TIME TO CLEAR CUT THE WORLD'S LUNGS IN THE AMAZON The phrase "the world's lungs" is a marketing tool by environmentalists trying valiantly to "Save the Rainforest" in the Amazon. Except it's a lie and the Amazon is NOT the world's lungs, it's just a big rainforest. Cool and unique and surely worthy of care and protection but not the world's lungs. Well now it has become a net releaser of CARBON in a BIG WAY. You saw that right, it's PUTTING CARBON INTO THE ATMOSPHERE!! Burn it down, NOW! JK, that's dumb but perhaps maybe so is the supposition that we are poisoning the Earth with carbon?
DENVER DEMOCRAT IS ATTACKING CHARTER SCHOOLS AT THE STATE LEVEL And she also happens to sit on the Denver School Board (how is this even a thing, btw) and now she's sponsoring a bill that would make it harder for charter schools with an unfriendly charter school board to go around the board to the state for certification or renewal of their charter. This is a direct shot over the bow and every parent of every charter school needs to pay attention and call your legislators NOW about House Bill 21-1295. Just do it. If they pass this I believe it will create a situation where union-controlled school boards will begin to whittle away at our thriving charter school system. They can't make the argument that charters are failing, so they have to do an end around to stop them from making union-controlled public schools look bad. That's all that's happening.
THE DEMOCRATS ARE GOING TO TAX YOUR FOOD DELIVERY AND CALL IT A FEE TO GET AROUND TABOR And I sure hope SOMEONE is ready to sue over this toxic stew of TAXES called FEES. If we can't stop this, we have lost the protections of TABOR forever. I bet that if they ran a bill that offered a tax increase with the promise that every dime would ONLY be spent on roads and bridges it would pass. Voters just don't want to pay for the "electrification" of state vehicles with new taxes, or more multi-modal transportation either. We just want to be able to drive where we want to drive when we want to drive there.
AHHHH, SCHOOL PICTURE DAY.... Sometimes they go better than others.
DEBT FORGIVENESS IS MAKING WORKERS PAY FOR THE PRIVILEGED and Mike Rowe talks to John Stossel about the travesty that is college debt forgiveness.
SWEDEN JOINS THE DUTCH AND THE UK IN BANNING PUBERTY BLOCKING HORMONES FOR CHILDREN UNDER 16 And kids 16-18 will only have access to these experimental treatments AFTER a process of review and education. Sweden has decided to focus earlier interventions on supporting mental health issues, especially for children who showed no signs of gender dysphoria prior to declaring they are transgender. This is not anti-trans, as none of these puberty blocking hormone treatments have undergone long term studies that show they are safe.
PRESIDENT BIDEN WANTS YOU TO PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE WHILE HE DODGES PAYING HIS At least he dodged them legally, but nonetheless, he took advantage of his corporation to avoid paying personal income tax on his massive book and speaking fees of $13.5 million dollars. That means he and his wife, she's a doctor you know, used the tax code TO AVOID PAYING HIS FARE SHARE. Of course on one will hold him accountable because real journalism is dead.
IF YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE A HOLE IN ONE AT LEAST WIN A PORSCHE
A WOMAN IN MALI JUST HAD A LITTER OF CHILDREN She was expecting SEVEN but imagine her surprise when she had NINE babies instead. I can't even imagine.
IN DEFENSE OF HATING CERTAIN WINES If you ask the Wine Yogi about Lodi wines, her response will be a quick "I don't think so" and her hatred, yes hatred of them, is legendary. And that's okay according this column which dispels the notion that it is somehow improper to have such strong negative feelings about a kind of wine. I'm like this with any oaky Chardonnay. Blech.
NOW ANTI ASIAN HATE IS BEING RECLASSIFIED AS RANDOM VIOLENCE Because too many of the perpetrators of these attacks are black. It happened AGAIN in San Francisco where a black man began hitting an Asian man walking his child in a stroller. BECAUSE the alleged aggressor is black, this is NOT being looked at a hate crime. Got that? So this is just random violence. But here is another black man attacking Asians. And a black woman attacking an Asian. Why is this happening? I don't know, maybe some race hustler can explain to us why it's okay. And this is not new in San Francisco, where Black on Asian crime has been a thing for over a decade. Watch this video and see if it's okay.
ARE YOU SHOWERING LESS BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC? Since moving here I've become an every other day shower person. Our dry air means far less sweatiness than in more humid areas. Now the pandemic has seen people cutting back dramatically on their shower routines. I'm cool with it unless you stink. You do you.
NOT NEWS TO ME, GROCERY PRICES ARE WAY, WAY UP And this is the kind of thing that should concern EVERYONE because it hits people on a fixed income hardest. Food prices are WAY up over last year, some up as much as 20%.
AND NOW CAPYBARA'S SINGING THE SONG OF THEIR PEOPLE