What Israel means: perpetual war

It's really that simple.

The hiding of responsibility

Consider this:

"High Murder Rates in the Caribbean Linked to Guns Trafficked from the United States | U.S. GAO" https://search.app/zGfXWTajrrRUEc3v8

Wow!

So if blacks are using guns to commit crimes, up to murder,

the fault is with the gunsellers?

All the fault of whites???

Talk about 

"Designated Victims, Designated Villains".

The educational gap Arlington should be addressing

While many in Arlington are obsessed with the persistent racial gap in standard test scores, 

there is another, perhaps more important, gap that should be addressed.

Elon Musk points it out here:

"Elon Musk needs H-1B workers because math education fails our students"

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/elon-musk-needs-h-1b-workers-because-math-education-fails-our-students

"While much of the coverage of the H-1B debate focuses on the foreign-versus-American-worker angle, 

the real issue regarding H-1Bs is that the U.S. is failing to produce domestic workers with the requisite math skills required by Musk’s SpaceX and other high-tech companies. 

In 2024, a shocking 72% of eighth-grade students taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress math exam failed to score at the proficient level -- 

a full 6% increase over the 66% of eighth graders failing to achieve proficiency in 2019.

Why are American students doing so badly in math? 

The answer lies in the ineffective math instruction they are receiving."

I think there is a broader problem, and issue.

The prioritizing in our broader culture of various "Woke" issues, over the hard work it takes to become proficient at the STEM fields.

A teacher can only do so much.

It takes a real commitment by the student to do the hard work to master these fields.

The cited article goes on to criticize Common Core:

"In the early 2010s, most states adopted the Common Core national education standards, which were touted as a cure for America’s math woes. Unfortunately, Common Core turned out to be bad medicine. 

Common Core confused many students by emphasizing indirect ways to arrive at the right answer instead of just learning straightforward mathematical operations. 

For example, in multiplying numbers, children are often asked to draw pictures instead of simply memorizing the multiplication tables."

I am not sure that is the real problem.

For example, take a look at this:

"Number & Operations—Fractions | Common Core State Standards Initiative" https://search.app/1B2fErzBGsGjMjoP7

To understand that, it is helpful to replace the abstract variable "b" by the specific whole number "2".

Then go through the reasoning.

Once you understand what is happening when b=2, 

then you can understand the general case of an arbitrary whole number "b".

There are two distinct issues:

One is purely computational.

E.g., memorizing the formula 

(a/b) × (c/d) = (a×c) / (b×d)

The other issue is conceptual.

E.g. given whole numbers a and b,

what exactly does a/b MEAN?

It is that latter question, of meaning, that the sample Common Core page cited above is getting at.

Again, the easiest way to get into that is to let b=2.

Then we can relate 1/2 to "half", 

so a/2 is just half of a.

E.g., 6/2 = 3, and 

5/2 = (4+1)/2 = (4/2) + (1/2) = 2 + (1/2),

which is usually written as 2 1/2.

Is arlnow.com arlhomosexual.com?

I have witnessed a parade of articles from arlnow.com featuring the homosexual viewpoint.

For example,

https://www.arlnow.com/2025/01/27/lgbtq-advocates-call-on-county-board-for-greater-protections/

Question:

Is the editor of arlnow.com a homosexual?

If not, why the stress on the views of homosexuals?

The hatred of math

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-problems-with-math-education/

<Blockquote>Humans have been learning math for thousands of years. As long ago as the third millennium BC, Mesopotamian scribes-in-training practiced calculation and geometry by etching numbers into clay tablets. Measuring, accounting, computing totals, divvying up resources: One generation has taught these techniques to the next—and the next and the next—for a dizzyingly long time, a lineage that indirectly connects the scribes of old Babylon to the kids in room 413 at Kealing Middle School, in Austin ...</blockquote>

Health care advocacy and national bankruptcy

Who has not read the pleadings of those advocating for spending more, more, more on health care?

Those advocating for more research or more care.

It should be obvious that this is a bottom less pit.

We can always spend more on health care.

But when does it end?

We could spend the entire American Gross Domestic Product on health care.

Would that be enough?

I am sure there would be some "health care advocate" who would be saying that is not enough, that America should go deeper in debt to meet "health care needs".

Enough with these "health care needs".

A really good Jonathan Turley post

"Mass shootings by leftist gunmen have repeatedly occurred, but those are treated as one-offs, 

while any conservative shooter is part of a pattern of right-wing violence."

https://jonathanturley.org/2025/02/01/fight-in-the-streets-democratic-leader-hakeen-jeffries-triggers-renewed-debate-over-rage-rhetoric/