Monday, January 22, 2018

Lurching From Side to Side

Congress agreed to fund our national government for three weeks--three weeks! I don't have any specific issue that I want anyone to fight for--I do have a desire for more stability and more comity. Do young people who were brought here without their consent have hopes for concessions? Of course they do. If we can punish those young people for their parents' acts we should be able to punish the employers who lied and cheated to employ those parents. That information should be readily available and actionable.

Lurching from one deadline to another is no way to run a country. The only good news is that most people in Congress are spurning and castigating Trump. At least they understand that he is an uncertain partner. Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell is the big winner.  

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Repulsive

Mick Mulvaney, who was one of the architects of the last government shutdown that cost each of us multiple dollars, described being in charge of the current shutdown as "kind of cool". Isn't that just swell that this man, whom I have described previously as a mad leprechaun. thinks that shutting down services, shutting down access is kind of cool. What a guy.

Define Non-Essential

No deal was reached in Washington, so the federal government is shut down, except for essential workers. There are a variety of non-essential classifications from most national park service employees to most IRS employees. Too bad we can't declare Trump non-essential.

One year after Trump's inauguration and we have chaos and disarray. Now that's the art of the deal.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

I Am Not Abandoning Anyone

Three young women came to my house yesterday afternoon, after I had hosted a recent Harvard graduate for lunch and chatting, to talk about writing AP essays. I told them that while I was still in Utah I would be happy to help them either individually or as a group, but that I had purchased a house in Pennsylvania and would be leaving Utah before they took the exam. All three snapped to attention and cried, "But we won't be ready!"

When I first took this job on, my only delineated responsibilities were to read the essays and make small marks in what margins there were. There weren't any instructions from the school district and there were different directions from each teacher who used my services. Some of the teachers wanted me to simply note misspellings, some wanted more direction, some made what seemed to be very odd restrictions on putting scores on the essays. It wasn't until at least five years later that I found out I wasn't supposed to be putting scores on the essays at all let alone anything beyond reading the essays and making check marks in the margins.

That revelation happened when one of my teachers asked me to sign up as a substitute teacher so she could use me during a long term absence. When I told the interviewer what I had been doing, she said that I wasn't supposed to do what I had been doing and that I needed to stop. The teachers told me to pay no attention to the district instructions and then, for a one school year period only, the head of the department expanded my duties even further. That year every single teacher who taught what is now called language arts had to submit essays to me. I not only was to score those essays but I was to report to the department head on what I found as to weaknesses in student's writing. As it turned out, I found out that this teacher wanted to build a case to get this one guy fired, but his classes' essays were by no means the worst of the group and I told her so.

Of course this didn't end badly for me or the guy who wasn't much of a teacher. It didn't really end badly for the department head as she only had two years left on her entire contract since she had reached mandatory retirement age. She left, others left, I remain for a few months.

The problem, beyond the serious overcrowding and lack of resources (Utah is the lowest per pupil expenditure in the country and most of the AP English classes have 40 plus students), is that everyone in the AP English Literature program at this high school has come to rely on me. It isn't because I am nice--I am not--it isn't because I am sympathetic to the students--for the most part I am not--it isn't because I have any training to do what I do--besides being an avid reader, and intelligent person, and a promoter of education I have no qualifications at all.

But everyone relies on me. Last spring a young student wrote a note on her essay that I hadn't provided enough feedback for her to improve, but the school district doesn't expect me to provide any feedback at all. If she wants feedback she is supposed to go to her teacher, not me. If this whole program implodes because I am not here in Utah, I am not going to feel at all responsible.

Someone, somewhere needs to start paying attention to problems like this. We are falling further and further behind other countries in all international tests. Conservative pundits like to point out that when only the richer school districts are judged against other countries we are ahead. Well, swell. Then let's make all districts richer, but of course that isn't in the plans because public education is not what it once was.  We don't have inherently stupid or inherently lazy or inherently unmotivated young people. We have entrenched interests on all sides that want special compensation. We have parents who complain that teachers pick on their kids, we have teachers who complain that they have too many students and not enough resources, we have kids who are only interested in passing exams not learning or who have never found any reason to pass tests because there are no consequences. I score English literature essays for students who don't speak English. That is simply crazy. No one in public school is allowed to demand performance because everyone is afraid of our litigious society rather than being afraid of having uneducated people as the end result.

Now, I know I am an old fogy. But when I was in school we were expected to perform. If we didn't, our parents were told and it was not the teacher's fault (though truth be told it often was). But at least there were expectations. Now, heaven forbid that anyone should tell any student that their work is sub-par. 

The benefits of public education used to be visible. An educated work force, civic engagement, upward mobility. Those benefits should still accrue to all Americans but we have starved the system from the left and the right. In 1986 I attended the 350th anniversary of  Harvard's founding. One of the symposia that I attended was about public education led by a man from the graduate school of education at Harvard. He told all these high achievers in the audience that all schools should continue to go downhill until the United States was completely equal in its treatment of white students and students of color. He wished that all public schools could be as bad as the school he had gone to as a child.

We are there now.    

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

How Many Ways Can Multiple People LIe?

Apparently it doesn't matter to Trump voters if he upends negotiations between the two major parties even though the Constitution stipulates that the three branches of government are equal.  If anything, the office of the president was delineated as more ceremonial by the framers. They were accustomed to useless or ridiculous kings but they understood the power of presentation.

All of Trump's minions have twisted themselves into pretzels to try to either defend Trump's shithole statement or to reword it in such a way that they might retain their jobs. What they really should be asking themselves is if they want to retain those jobs. Seriously, is there a substantive difference between shithole and shithouse? Obviously Tom Cotton, who wants to be head of CIA so bad he can taste it,  and David Perdue can reconcile the difference that they heard (possibly) with what was told by two senators from opposing parties.

I wrote a few months ago about Trump applying for H2B visas for employees at Mar al Lago. He was granted those visas despite the very obvious evidence that there are people in Palm Beach who can do the very jobs that he advertised. But they don't want to do them for minimum wage or even wages that are substantially lower than the norm for Palm Beach.

So I don't support unlimited immigration but that is tied to a desire for better education for the poorer segment of Americans (not something that Republicans including the secretary of education favors). We are constantly told that we need to bring in more skilled, i.e., educated people, but we do very little in real terms to upgrade the level of education around our own country. I do not disparage entire countries or groups because they are poor. All of my DNA would be gone from the US if the poor had been barred from entry because I have no ancestors who came to this country with money.

Finally, if you still want to give money to worthy causes despite the recent tax changes that disadvantage contributions, St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark does very good work.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Hard To Have It Both Ways

By now most people are aware of what Trump reportedly said during a meeting with members of Congress about countries with majority black populations. What is curious about the statements and the reporting about the statements comes from both the White House and immigration hard liners. In the immediate aftermath of the meeting, Lindsey Graham (R) and Dick Durbin (D) both condemned the remarks that were made and indicated that the reporting was accurate. Uproar ensued so Trump did what Trump does--he called his friends to find out how people were reacting to the vulgarity and inherent racism of the statements. When Tom Cotton (R) and David Perdue (R) were initially interviewed, one said he couldn't hear all the remarks and so couldn't comment and one said that he couldn't recall the exact phrasing. Now both of those remarks are pusillanimous to the extreme.

Then after anger and outrage spread around the US and around the world (and after Trump called his friends of course), Trump said he used rough language but not the specific words. As the furor mounted, the White House, Trump, and the two timid Republicans came out and said none of what had been reported was true, not even the initial responses from their own mouths. The press secretary said the words were taken out of context and didn't mean what you think they mean.

This is now the paradigm for any reporting from DC--obfuscate, deny, deny, lie, point fingers at everyone else.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

New Beginnings

My husband and I went to Philadelphia to look for a new home. After we visited Pittsburgh, we knew that area of Pennsylvania wasn't going to work for us so we began the process anew. Decades ago I went to college at Bryn Mawr and after that my husband and I lived in South Jersey while he was stationed on the destroyer at the Naval Shipyard and subsequently while he attended Wharton Graduate School. Since we were more familiar with the area it felt different even though our life circumstances are changed now.

Anyway we made an offer that was accepted on a house in Wallingford, out on the southwest side of the Philadelphia area. The house was built in 1737 which could be a problem in and of itself, but the current owner has rewired the entire house (including even more circuit breakers than we normally use because she operated two electric kilns), replumbed the entire house, put in all new bathrooms with heated floors, and a very lovely kitchen with a Viking range and a Carrera marble surround. She also had all of the exterior stonework repointed and central air installed. So while the house is seriously old, it is also seriously new. It has a copper roof, a spring house with a large upstairs area for whatever, a small pond and waterfall, and just short of 3/4 of an acre of grounds. The house itself is smaller than our current one but the area above the spring house section makes it just about the same size.

We won't close until later in the spring which gives us time to get our current house on the market and perhaps even sold since the market is pretty hot where we live.

Then it will be off to a whole new adventure.

Trump showed his true colors both in attitude and language. The man is so crass and vulgar that nothing he does surprises anymore.

Monday, January 8, 2018

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh

I will grant the folks at the Trump White House that they do not understand much about how life works. That's how it is when you inherit money or position. Everyone knows that Trump wanted to grow beyond being an immigrant third generation from Queens. The people in Trump's home growing up understood the 400--those families in NYC who were the social hierarchy highest. They are still who they are--some are wealthy, some are educated, everyone in NYC knows the names.

But the world moves on. When my husband graduated from Harvard College (case in point, when one is an undergraduate at Harvard, one attends Harvard College not Harvard University), people who wanted to go to Wall Street were the third tier of graduates, not smart enough to become anything else. But the world moves on and now financial jobs are the coveted positions. Is anyone better off because of this shift?

Richard Nixon learned that simply being the guy in charge doesn't mean that the guy in charge is respected. NYC does reflect the Donald Trump world now, but that doesn't make NYC better or more interesting. It definitely doesn't mean that Donald Trump has "taken Manhattan". He is not the top and will never be the top. As a side note, that song includes a reference to the factory where my grandfather apprenticed and where he worked until 1929--"You're the top, you're a Brewster body."

BTW--my mother, the seventh of eight children, was the spelling champion of the borough of Queens. I never disrespect Queens

Friday, January 5, 2018

Schadenfreude

Gloating or feeling some kind of glee at the discomfort of others is a reaction I try to limit but sometimes it just isn't possible. One of the very basics of humor is to laugh at the woes of others, including all the banana peel skits and comics making drunk jokes. Unfortunately the schadenfreude we feel now involves the future of our country. While Wolff's book may have some fabulist aspects to it, no one denies that he had unprecedented access to the White House and he has indicated he has multiple tape recordings of interviews. He has to tell people when he makes recordings so unless everyone in the WH is brain damaged or on drugs, they know that he has their voices on tape.

At the very least, and the item that is the most obvious and provable is that Trump does not read. Many people who have worked with him both before and after last November have told multiple news outlets that Trump cannot hold his attention to complete reading a document longer than a 200 character tweet. This is not good news nor is it good for any of us, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, male or female. Small wonder that facts and truth matter very little. If all you listen to is your own voice or the voices of lackeys who fawn over you, then facts don't mean anything. Remember The Emperor's New Clothes?

So while some of the items that are in Wolff's book make me cringe while also chuckling, I am appalled that we the people are in this position. There is no doubt in my mind that Putin already knew all of the disturbing details of Trump's personality and failings. The man was a KGB officer used to getting information and play his assets. Whether Trump acquiesced in this makes very little difference.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Old Chinese Curse

There is an old Chinese curse that condemns one's enemies to live in interesting times. Since I was born on the day the UN decided to allow war between the north and south in Korea, I think my life started off interesting and hasn't slowed down since. Now we are looking at another possible war, just in time for the Winter Olympics, while also having an unhinged leader who is imploding even as we speak.

Trump's lawyers are trying to stop the publication of the tell all book by Wolff but they clearly aren't that good at what they are doing since so much of the book is already out there. Additionally Paul Manafort has filed a lawsuit that no one thinks will even be heard in a court to protest his charges while at the same time Steve Bannon, who was a banker before he was a Breitbart, has told everyone in hearing distance that Jared Kushner and Donald Jr. are going to be charged with money laundering sooner rather than later. If any of these sound like rational decisions to you, you might want to take a nice long bath.

One can only hope that Trump doesn't try to wag the dog or that if he does try to wag the dog, cooler heads will prevail and Article 25 will go into effect.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Hell Will Break Loose

Trump, who was already crazy, has "lost his mind." He is worse than the puppet president who simply does what he is told to do. This not very bright man who has never to anyone's certain knowledge read a book is once again deflecting attention from anything else he does by calling people names, making fun of other world leaders, threatening nuclear holocaust. Hey you Trumpettes, how do you feel about him now?

Paul Manafort and his legal team have filed a lawsuit against the DOJ. It doesn't matter that this lawsuit is specious from its opening statements to its conclusion. If you do not understand that all of this is deflection from the investigation by Mueller because it is getting too close to him and his children, then you either haven't been paying attention, or you just don't care. If you are one of those people who are happy when people like me get irritated, just keep in mind that as I wrote before and as Tom Lehrer wrote 50 years ago, "We will all go together when we go. The Hottentot and the Eskimo." 

Return To Applique

I began adding the applique to the borders of the Album quilt yesterday. Doing so reminded me that I adore sewing applique. The intricacies of the patterns, the blend and discordance of the colors, the need to use precision and skill when putting the pieces together all appeal to my inner OCD self. When I was a competitive swimmer, one of my favorite races was the 800 meter freestyle because I could focus on timing and skill. The applique has similar appeal even if the two activities seem entirely disparate.

Our state's senior senator, Orrin Hatch (Borin', Whorin', Orrin) announced he will not be running for reelection this year. While that is very good news, it won't change the makeup of Utah's congressional delegation in any significant way. The leading candidate to replace Hatch is Mitt Romney whose political philosophy is remarkably similar to Orrin's although I don't think he is as beholding to the pharmaceutical industry. Oh well, in these political times I take the small pleasures where I can find them.

Trump announced via Twitter (what else) that his button was bigger than Kim Jong Un's. The one statement he made this year that remains accurate is that he isn't like other of our country's leaders. One paper wrote yesterday that Trump has made nearly 1600 false or misleading statements in the 350 or so days that he has been in office. Now if only every time he or Sarah Huckabee Sanders makes one of those statements the same newspapers would simply write, "Yesterday Trump lied about..." or "Yesterday Sanders repeated the lie told by Trump when..." 

Monday, January 1, 2018

Happy New Year

The fireworks seemed to go on longer than usual last night. That meant that my hound dog was nervous and pacing and that meant that my coon cat just had to unlatch his door to let the hound in. We close the cats up at night because they are annoying when they scratch at our door and none of them can last longer than about three hours without going poke, poke--hey are you awake. But the coon cat learned to open the closed door and if we don't remember to lock the door, he just lets everyone out, or in the dog's case in, and then wanders around being annoying.

So that meant we had to get up seriously early which for us means about 3:45 am--happy new year! The up side is that we got our chores done super early as well so now I can move on to other tasks. I am marking the other three borders on the Album quilt just so they will be ready whenever I am ready. I hope to continue appliqueing with no further interruptions until they are completed. That is no interruptions other than the usual tasks including the essay scoring.

The day rose clear and cold and the moon was as bright as daylight so we got our canyon walk done fairly early as well, meeting one old friend and his dog, and a nice man with another hound dog. Soon it will o-zoni lunch for good luck and a very happy new year.

Best wishes to everyone in 2018.