caulfield12

https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-flooding-three-gorges-dam-weather-disaster-yangtze-river I’m starting to think Greg was on to something with his apocalyptic predictions. We’re getting battered again with 12 hours and counting of rain, and increasing rumors about the Three Gorges Dam collapsing. We all know what happened with Fukushima (Japan), and there are something like 30 nuclear power plants in the potential flood path. But hey, climate change isn’t real. Is Mother Nature finally attempting to send a message that can’t be ignored this year?

The current campaign approach is to allege the Biden has been co-opted by a radical takeover by the Sanders/AOC wing of the party. The average progressive thinks Biden is so far to the right, they have to bite their tongue just to vote for him. It's also ironic....Russia used to have the best medical system and public university system in the world until the mid 1980's under communism. Cuba, arguably, has a better system than the United States with an extremely limited budget, they're still far more innovative and patient-friendly in terms of costs, whether for treatment or pharmaceuticals. China has done well with the virus, and their entire health care system is state-funded. Singapore, very much a government-controlled state. Northern Europe, with the exception of Sweden...lean far more to the left than the majority of western democracies (see Germany, France, UK.) Canada, too. That said, look at the US, Iran, Brazil, India...all have fascist, right wing strains running through those systems.

“I watch everything in a ballpark from that dugout. How the [bleep] did more managers not know that every time there’s banging from [the Astros’] dugout, a certain pitch was coming? What the [bleep] were you guys watching? The goddamn [analytics] book they gave you, the tablet, the iPad? Then anyone can manage. Right now, a lot of players do whatever they want to do because the coaches are a bunch of kids with no credentials. I had [a coaching staff with] Harold Baines, Tim Raines, Joey Cora, Greg Walker, [Don] Cooper — I don’t think he’s the best pitching coach, but he made you believe you were the best [pitcher] that night. Now, you have players that are like, ‘Who the [bleep] are you? I’m going to call my high school coach or my dad. They’re better.’ Then what are we even doing here?” https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports-saturday/2020/7/18/21329284/ozzie-guillen-white-sox-marlins-manager-fidel-castro

https://news.yahoo.com/letters-editor-o-c-schools-100037380.html The accompanying picture exemplifies the sad state of affairs on both schools and vaccine acceptance. Only 47% of Republicans will agree to get vaccinated... and the school reopenings are in complete shambles. How to get out of the COVID-19 testing mess According to Harvard researchers, states like Mississippi, Arizona, Alabama and South Carolina are woefully short on testing, (while a few states like Hawaii, Alaska and Vermont are actually testing more than they need to.) Overall though, the Harvard model suggests the U.S. is under testing by a significant margin. As far as global comparisons, Johns Hopkins data shows the U.S. is under testing too, along with Brazil, Mexico, India, Iran and yes, Sweden and France. Countries testing enough include: Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and yes, Russia. I asked Dr. Thomas Tsai, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard, a simple question: What the hell is wrong with our country and testing? “It's deeply frustrating,” Tsai said. “It comes down to a lack of coordinated federal strategy and inconsistent and harmful messages from the White House. The HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) state testing plans are like a cursory outline instead of a detailed report.” One harmful message the good doctor might be referring to is when Trump essentially discourages testing by saying it increases the number of cases. “Testing is a first step in addressing any epidemic,” Shah says. “You have to test to know how much to fight what’s out there. Whether you have enough ammunition or troops or not. You’ve got to know who you’re fighting.” No wonder the logjams are as bad as they’ve ever been. The New York Times notes that “In New Orleans, testing supplies are so limited that one site started testing at 8 a.m. but had only enough to handle the people lined up by 7:33 a.m.” “We're back to a lot of the stories from March and April in terms of delays in getting results back, and shortages of reagents, only now it's more complicated than it was earlier,” says Tsai. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/covid-19-testing-mess-how-to-solve-it-115228785.html

I have taught children of Vietnamese immigrants in the US. I have taught in three Chinese cities, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea and Indonesia, as well as Colombia. Education is simply more important in the Asian culture. They spend 50% more time in school than Americans, roughly....including night and weekend/supplemental tutoring and ESL classes. It has nothing to do with loyalty. It's almost persistence, and willingness to work hard. These also used to be American values, at least through the 1960's. I could just have easily pointed out why and how Finland is kicking our butts. Because they only allow the top 10-15% of students in any given field to be selected for teacher training. But they give them a lot of latitude/freedom/autonomy because they trust them, and they also pay them a significantly higher salary (compared to local cost of living) than teachers in the United States. In America, teachers are not really respected, except professors at the university level. Many of my best colleagues had false allegations made against them because they expected excellence, and tried to treat kids in the same way they would teaching at the most elite/prestigious school in the country. They all gradually left, disheartened. Even the poorest students in Thailand and Indonesia and the Philippines, they and their parents have great respect for teachers, it's shocking when someone shows any disrespect in a university setting. The worst thing that happens in terms of discipline is kids are bored or looking at an iPad or iPhone they sneaked into the classroom and hid in their desk or lap. Never any fighting. In Kansas City, we had 2-3 fights in the school every day, the worst between groups of girls. Knives. Guns. Everything under the sun, it happened. I saw a Fulbright scholar break down in his first month teaching because he attempted to block the door at the end of the school day to keep the students from leaving early and they just knocked him over after running right through him. Pregnant students right and left. Neglect, where kids had to sleep in the cafeteria because the single mother at home had a boyfriend and was doing crack and the cafeteria workers wanted to make sure he was fed. Kids with ADHD that were born to drug-addicted mothers who were like zombies from over-prescription of Ritalin. Meds given out right and left because many of the kids were simply uncontrollable and couldn't focus in school at all because of terrible home environments. Students forced by their families to work from 4-12 a.m. every day after school, unable to keep their eyes open in the morning, yet we were told it was abuse/neglect as teachers to let them sleep, and we would potentially be fired. The one that still stands out was a history student who parents said they didn't care about his C, but that he was going to be severely beaten for anything less than A in math and science.

This is why China is winning. We have students studying six days a week through July 20th to make up for distance learning. The teachers have no unions, and the school has total control over your life. In the US, tenure protects bad teachers...that said, teachers that push and challenge those at-risk students are often targeted for expecting more, and believing they can actually make a difference. It feels like a combination of babysitting, social work and test prep regurgitation for state standardized exams, which have nothing to do with helping students earn money to take care of their families. It’s just a game. Theory and application have to be taught together. Conversely, education always comes first in China, ahead of economics or really any aspect of society. Fwiw, I have taught four years in some of the worst public high schools in the country, where the average ACT score of those who were hoping to go to community college was just 13. 75% weren’t even testing. I've also spent the last five years teaching kids going to Oxford, Cambridge and the best American universities. Don’t paint with a broad brush. Every teacher is different. After a decade plus in Asia now, I can certainly understand why Singapore is the best place for education in the world right now, at least through the senior year of high school.

Odds to win National League MVP Mookie Betts +600 Christian Yelich +600 Ronald Acuña Jr. +600 Cody Bellinger +800 Juan Soto +900 Bryce Harper +1400 Fernando Tatis Jr. +1400 Nolan Arenado +1600 Freddie Freeman +2000

We taught fewer actual hours, but do I then have the right to ask for more teaching 70-100 students at one time online? I had 332 students, previously about 1/3rd of that when in school. Same amount of grading and homework expected for three times as many students, but 50% of the actual teaching time. Previously, 16 hours per week, cut down to 8 (on a US teaching schedule, it would be considered 20 and 10 hours.). Every single student had at least 3-4 full 90 minute classes per day, with ten minute breaks in the middle. No office hours, obviously. But we also went an extra month into summer with no extra compensation. Is that fair? We have to jump into regular instruction full time August 17th, with one non-paid day to prepare (Fri, Aug.14th.). This happened because pay period is 16th of every month until 15th of the following one. If you want IB (PYP/MYP/IBDP), AP, A Levels (British system), your son or daughter can now take classes anywhere in the world. Of course, the 12-13 hour time difference is the biggest obstacle. We had teachers stuck in North Carolina, UK, France, Thailand, Panama and Australia all adhering to online schedules in China in order to keep getting paid. If you couldn’t do that, your salary was cut to 1/3rd then you were let go in June/July.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/betsy-devos-michigan-school-experiment-232399 He’s wrong on everything. Look at the record in Michigan. Or look at her record protecting the interests of financial institutions over borrowers. Look at how much harder it is to qualify for forbearance. Look at how many profit machine online schools with little job placement success are being gifted hundreds of millions of dollars in PPP money. Look at the disproportionate number of ex military as well as black and Hispanic students being taken advantage of by false advertising claims by those online schools. Some charter schools with billionaires funding them do perform better, but that’s not scalable...the majority struggle financially, have significant corruption issues and siphon off money from public schools. How would they be open to the entire public? That’s laughable. Sure, a voucher for $5000 will magically allow everyone to pay $12500-17500 in tuition. Brilliant. It will help maybe 25-30% of middle school parents, perhaps, but the other 70-75% will be MUCH worse off than previously.

He went to Northwestern... graduated in 1992. David, pretty sure that's his first name. Around 50.

All that’s missing is a Nick Saban or Bear Bryant steely glare GIF.

Wilson Betemit. Ryan Sweeney. SSS. We had months of hand-wringing over Madrigal. Give the guys some time...Rodon can throw 94-98 when he chooses too, it’s always location and counts with him. And with how bad EE was looking in spring, will take this game and put it in the books.

Millions of Americans have lost employer-sponsored health care coverage since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., causing a recession and widespread job losses. Nearly half of all Americans receive their health insurance through their employer. And amid coronavirus layoffs, some states have seen a massive uptick in the number of uninsured adults. According to a report by Families USA, a non-profit public health organization, nine states and the District of Columbia have more than a 30% increase in the number of uninsured from February to May 2020, compared to 2018. Overall, the percentage increase of uninsured in the U.S. is at 21%, with 5.3 million people losing health care coverage between February and May. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/lost-health-insurance-coronavirus-pandemic-125934943.html

When I wear a mask in public, or decline an invitation to a party or to come inside: I want you to know that I am educated enough to know that I could be asymptomatic and still give you the virus. No, I don’t “live in fear” of the virus; I just want to be part of the solution, not the problem. I don’t feel like the “government is controlling me” any more than when I wear a seat belt, don't drive drunk, obey the speed limit, or stop at a red light. I feel like I’m being a contributing adult to society and I want to teach others the same. The world doesn’t revolve around me. It’s not all about me and my comfort. If we all could follow these simple steps, the virus could be under control, and businesses back open. Wearing a mask doesn’t make me weak, scared, stupid, or even “controlled.” It makes me considerate. When you think about how you look, how uncomfortable it is, or what others think of you, just imagine someone close to you - a child, a father, a mother, aunt, uncle, or grandparent - choking on a respirator, alone without you or any family member allowed at bedside. Ask yourself if you could have sucked it up a little for them.

DeSantis is now blaming the media for piss-poor Florida response. Of course. How did Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) respond to this obvious surge in Covid-19 in his state? By signing an executive order banning cities and counties from mandating that people have to wear a mask when in public. Yes, really. This, from the AJC's Greg Bluestein, lays out exactly what Kemp did on Wednesday night: "Though Kemp's previous orders have barred local governments from taking more restrictive steps than the state, the rules he signed on Wednesday were the first to explicitly ban cities and counties from requiring the use of masks or other face coverings. "The governor has said he believes requiring masks are a 'bridge too far' and that such a mandate is unenforceable. Instead, he's forcefully urged Georgians to don face coverings and warned not doing so threatens the college football season." Kemp's move to bar local officials from requiring masks came on the same day that Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, mandated mask-wearing amid a similar uptick to Georgia in coronavirus cases in her state. www.cnn.com

If you go out in Wuhan these days, 100% wearing masks in public places...85% roughly outdoors. But “maskne”! Theatres will open, but at only 30% capacity. 50% reduction in number of showings compared to previously. No concessions at all. No tickets sold onsite, they must be reserved seat by seat in designated array using mobile app. This weeks and weeks after our last SINGLE recorded case, certainly symptomatic individual.

Are you talking about corporations, elite executives, high finance and the pairing with exponentially expensive campaigns/lobbying/PAC money that makes it all possible?

Online/for profit and charter schools. Fighting against any benefits accruing to borrowers...all the advantages and protections to lenders. Complete teardown of public school systems without any solution on reforms or improvements. Complete lack of awareness of what it actually means to be an instructor with anything but elite/private/suburban school students.

In other ways, the spread of COVID-19 is keeping Americans from going back to work. The perception of public transit as unsafe, for example, makes it expensive and tough for commuters to get to their jobs. Schools and day-care centers are struggling to figure out how to reopen safely, meaning millions of parents are facing a fall juggling work and child care. This is a disaster. “The lingering uncertainty about whether in-person education will resume isn’t the result of malfeasance, but utter nonfeasance,” the former Department of Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem has argued in The Atlantic. “Four months of stay-at-home orders have proved that, if schools are unavailable, a city cannot work, a community cannot function, a nation cannot safeguard itself.” International comparisons are enlightening. Countries that successfully countered the virus seem to have enjoyed better financial recoveries; countries that did not shut down saw major hits to their economy anyway. In Sweden, authorities declined to enact strict public-health measures as the virus took hold. It has seen significantly higher case counts and more deaths than its neighbors, such as Norway, and its economy tanked. Or consider South Korea. With aggressive contact tracing and mass testing, it kept many of its commercial and educational facilities open as it quashed the pandemic. (The country has tallied just 288 deaths from COVID-19, compared with roughly 135,000 in the United States.) The unemployment rate there is 4.2 percent, and the economy is expected to contract just a small amount this year, due in part to falling exports. In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern did a “little dance” to celebrate the country’s reopening one full month ago. In Taiwan, thousands of fans cheered from the stands at a baseball game last week, unafraid of disease. In France, one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, families are back to going on vacation, eating in cafés, and visiting loved ones in hospitals. In the United States, outbreaks are shutting everything down yet again. The United States can still contain the spread of COVID-19 and save lives, epidemiologists argue. The country can still flatten the curve and lower the death toll. Simple, low-cost measures like requiring masks in public would preserve as much as 5 percent of GDP, economists haveestimated, as well as preventing thousands from getting sick. The supposed trade-off between public health and the economy doesn’t exist. And right now, the country is choosing not to save either. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/the-terrifying-next-phase-of-the-coronavirus-recession/ar-BB16KRlD

LEAST POPULAR: BETSY DEVOS,who has 28% favorable, and 40% unfavorable rating. JEFF SESSIONS: 34% (-4% net), RICK PERRY: 30% (-3% net), STEVEN MNUCHIN: 26% (-3% net), RYAN ZINKE: 22% favorable, 22% unfavorable, 22% have no opinion of him, and 34% haven’t heard of him. politico.com Can the Left really wish death on others? What’s the point? Those numbers are not even being reported anymore. It’s laughable after all the attacks on China that we’re openly operating like the worse totalitarian regimes around the world...and nobody is even slightly surprised because we’re so anesthetized to it all. Meanwhile, we will see Mulan in Wuhan movie theatres with national chains across the country opening up beginning on Monday, six months after the lockdown originally was imposed.

Long live Thomas Paine!

She married into the super-rich Amway fortune family. That’s her lone education qualification. Nepotism. She’s never had the perfect anything. She’s basically ordering teachers and students to walk through a firing squad of bullets every day...with 5 or 7 of those 100 bullets during long lasting damage to an American family that no amount of money will fix. The American thing would have been to give 91% of the $3 trillion spent so far to those earning under $75,000 as a household. Instead, they only got a measly 9%. “Draining the swamp” in reverse and exchanging corporate welfare for a lost generation saddled with paying off the massive $26 trillion debt accrued over the last forty years.

And if 75% of teachers and even 50% of teachers choose online or hybrid...then what? Not adhering to science...better yet, the complete disregard of sound science and reason, is most certainly NOT American. In America, we value every individual life and fight to our fullest to protect those lives...knowing there will always be ways to make that money back with American ingenuity and perseverance. We were not a country that was based on economic opportunity cost valuations of every person, regardless of race, creed or color. Killing off more lives than any country in the world despite spending the highest on GDP per capita on health care expenses in the entire world isn’t American. Threatening to remove health care security in the midst of the worst national crisis since World Two and the Great Depression is not an American value. Communist/socialist beliefs value the contribution of the working class...refusing to lead essential workers like lambs to the slaughter. They embrace the ideas of solidarity, not divisiveness and lives lived by the decrees of the privileged few making decisions about what is best for them, not the greatest good for the greatest number. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

What salary would you pay per hour? How to protect from Covid spread? Where would these daycares be located? Students would go to companies that host daycare on site? Local shopping malls? Community centers or non profits? Besides K-8 education majors, psychology/counseling majors...which students would be extremely interested unless you paid roughly $12-18/hour depending on cost of living in that area? Why just not use AmeriCorps/ViSTA national service halftime positions that come with a stipend and university voucher? This is how SE Asian countries do contract tracing...they don’t mess around, even in the case of only two positive individuals. Nobody found infected by ‘privileged’ foreigners yet By THE NATION The Public Health Ministry announced on Thursday morning (July 16) that nobody was found to have been infected with Covid-19 after exposure to two cases – the Egyptian soldier in Rayong and the Sudanese girl in Bangkok. On Tuesday, lab officials said all 1,336 persons, including 886 who visited Passione shopping mall, 447 who went to Central Rayong department store and three who were summoned by an SMS from a government agency, tested negative to Covid-19. Also, none of the 267 high-risk persons in Bangkok were found infected. On Wednesday, 1,252 people in Rayong went to mobile biosafety units to take tests and their results are not out yet. Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30391414