And maybe that’s just fine. This was actually reported a week ago: “Move over, Sue: World’s largest dinosaur taking center stage at Field Museum.” Visitors to the Field Museum early next year will be in for a shock: For the first time in almost two decades, Sue, the museum’s star attraction and the largest, most complete T. rex skeleton ever found, will not be on display in the museum’s central hallway. Beginning with her dismantling in February, the apex predator and... Read more
Why can’t we solve the issue of illegal immigration? First, genuine policy disagreements. There are real policy disputes about the level of legal immigration, and the type of immigration we should have. Silicon Valley wants high levels of all kinds of immigration — skilled workers to fill their offices cheaply during the day, and unskilled workers to clean them cheaply at night. Hispanic activists want high levels of unskilled immigration to bring in family, neighbors, and compatriots, and to increase... Read more
I have just a few minutes before I have to start work, but I want to say a few more words on the whole business of — arrgh, I can’t stand the propagandistic label “Dreamers”, so let’s say Unauthorized Minor-Arrived Residents, even though UMAR doesn’t roll off the tongue very easily. First of all, these individuals have no legal right to stay here. The whole premise of DACA was that these people are of a class that’s a low enforcement... Read more
Let’s review DREAM Act history, shall we? (And, by the way, I reject the terminology that calls these teens and young adults “Dreamers” because it’s so loaded and propagandistic. The journalists tend to say, “they’re called Dreamers because of the bill that would have given them legal residency.” But the bill itself was given that name, one of those appalling acronyms invented by creating goofy bill titles that had the sole purpose of creating an acronym, in order to call... Read more
I’ve just started reading a library book, Boys Adrift, by Leonard Sax, which I will describe more thoroughly after I’ve finished it. But I’ve written about multiple books now on the topic of boys struggling in and out of school, and girls pulling far ahead of them. Here, within the first couple pages, Sax observes that kindergarten has evolved into first grade, in terms of its academic expectations, and boys struggle accordingly, because they’re far less likely to be ready... Read more
In the back-to-school news: “Students question dress codes in District U46: ‘It’s basically telling us to hide ourselves’” in which students are upset that a new principal at Elgin High School is enforcing a school dress code which bans leggings and tank tops. “Telling us we’re too revealing, a distraction, it lowers your self esteem, and we already have a lot of that at Elgin,” [junior Maris] Lipsey, 16, said. “I can see it in the girls, and it’s been... Read more
I am not an expert, and I am writing this largely as a discussion-starter, but here’s my list: First, just say no to the Red Cross. Seriously, time and again, they’ve proven that they’ve lost sight of their mission, and are more about self-promotion than relief and aid. Propublica.org had a lengthy twitter thread on the topic: 1/ #Harvey has devastated Texas. In time of devastation, people give to disaster relief. And so let’s talk about the @RedCross for a... Read more
So some time ago — nearly 4 years ago, in my early blogging days, I told you about pumpkin rolls, and shared the recipe, which was lost, then found again in an IKEA prop cookbook. Yes, these are unsightly. Misshapen. They didn’t rise quite right and I was impatient as it was getting late, so didn’t let them rise as long as they should have, and I pulled them from the oven prematurely, and I didn’t supervise my 10 year... Read more
Should Arpaio have rotted in jail for his abuses in his office, regardless of whether he was guilty of the specific crime at hand or not? Read more
In the (other) news on Friday, a Catholic school in Marin County, California is discarding its religious statuary, keeping only 18 out of 180. Here’s Legal Insurrection on the topic, and here’s the local newspaper: Removal of a number of statues and other smaller Catholic icons from the campus of San Domenico School in San Anselmo has raised concerns among some parents. In an email to the school’s board of directors, Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and the head of... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In