Recovery efforts utilizing military planes and helicopters in the far northeast arctic region of Alaska continue, where on Friday an unidentified object was shot down by F-22 jets.
Still, little definitive is known, including who owns the object or where it came from; however, in media and US official reports the 'high-altitude' object is increasingly being referenced as a another balloon.
A Project Baltimore investigation revealed the devastating reality of nearly two dozen Baltimore City Schools having zero students proficient in math.
New test scores, known as MCAP (Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program), obtained by Project Baltimore, revealed that 23 schools, including elementary, middle, and high schools, had not one student that could do math at grade level.
"The results of the latest Project Baltimore study are very alarming, "Civil rights attorney Ben Crump told FOX 45
The civil rights attorney joined a lawsuit against the school system last year, which accuses them of squandering taxpayer dollars and failing to provide basic skills to kids.
"I think anytime a young person is denied a quality education, it represents a crisis. What we have to do is look at the situation for what it is; we have to say 'we are failing our children and we have to take the responsibility to do better,'" he said. "This is an unprecedented lawsuit because what it's trying to do is give the taxpayers a greater say in the education of their children based on the fact it's their tax dollars being used by the city school system, and if I'm paying my money, I need to see some results."
Here's more on the test scores:
The Maryland State Department of Education recently released the 2022 state test results known as MCAP, Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program.
Baltimore City's math scores were the lowest in the state. Just 7 percent of third through eighth graders tested proficient in math, which means 93 percent could not do math at grade level.
But that's not all; Project Baltimore combed through the scores at all 150 City Schools where the state math test was given.
Project Baltimore found, in 23 Baltimore City schools, there were zero students who tested proficient in math. Not a single student.
Among the list of 23 schools, there are 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three Middle/High schools and two Elementary/Middle schools.
Exactly 2,000 students, in total, took the state math test at these schools. Not one could do math at grade level.
"They [school kids] go there to get babysat for eight hours and come home," Nichelle Watkins, a Baltimore City parent.
We've shared reports from Project Baltimore (read: here & here) over the years exposing the school system's corruption. The question people need to be asking: Why is the liberal-run city setting up future generations of kids to fail?
Lax laws and paltry fines have turned shutting down the Big Apple’s illegal pot shops into nothing more than an endless game of whack a mole.
There’s no laws on the books to penalize unlicensed vendors for displaying rolled joints and other cannabis products, according to the NYPD.
Instead, cops have been relying on public nuisance laws, but the process requires tedious court proceedings that could stretch for months before businesses can be ordered to shut down.
“It seems like it would be easy for the city to close stores that are illegally selling unregulated cannabis, but under current laws it really isn’t,” said Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), whose employees randomly visited 61 Upper West Side smoke shops last December and found 26 of them illegally carrying pot products.
City Sheriff Anthony Miranda and NYPD brass testified at a City Council hearing last month that there were roughly 1,400 illegal cannabis shops citywide. Authorities typically issue meager $250 fines, in addition to seizing illicit products, but most shops almost immediately re-open.
State legislators are looking to beef up enforcement through new laws and put a stop to unlicensed dispensaries.
State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), author of the 2021 law that legalized recreational cannabis use in New York, introduced a bill last month to help enhance the powers of the state Office of Cannabis Management and the Department of Taxation and Finance so they can better enforce licensing. She’s working with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office to help finalize the language before it goes before other legislators.
It’s similar to a previous bill drafted by Krueger that stalled last year. That legislation would also have allowed both state agencies to seize pot from illegal smoke shops and yank stores’ certificates of registration over “illicit cannabis” sales.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/11/illegal-nyc-weed-shops-running-amok-thanks-to-lax-laws/
This week former Congressman Ron Paul discussed on his program The Liberty Report how mainstream media is suppressing reporting of legendary journalist Seymour Hersh's How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline, or at least they are willfully ignoring its damning contents.
The program summarizes: "Legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a blockbuster report on last year’s attack on the Nord Stream pipeline. Though at the time, US mainstream media and neocons blamed Russia for attacking its own pipeline, Hersh lays out in detail how the US government, in a covert operation, blew it up. What’s next? Also today, Ukraine war is McCain’s legacy."
As for "McCain's legacy", Congressman Paul and co-host Daniel McAdams review very important archived footage showing how in December 2016 both Senators McCain and Lindsey Graham traveled to Kiev to tell the Ukrainians "your fight is our fight" while pledging a coming "year of offensive". They brazenly urged the Ukrainians to take an "offensive" fight to the Russians. Watch below:
And the late Sen. McCain had vowed while standing before Ukrainian troops and officials at the time:
"All of us will go back to Washington and we will push the case against Russia... It is time for them to pay a heavier price."
He added: "We will do everything we can to provide you with what you will need to win."
Much that was communicated by the two hawkish GOP Senators years ago during the Donbas war in the east is continuing to unfold now, as escalation potentially leading to direct clash between nuclear-armed superpowers Russia and the US continues to grow with few off-ramps.
Watch the McCain and Graham clip below:
by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Seven different officials in President Joe Biden’s administration are in office illegally due to time limits, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
On Wednesday, the GAO found that seven presidential appointees serving in “acting” positions in their respective offices have run out of time on how long they can serve without a full Senate confirmation. GAO has issued five separate reports on the issue.
There are numerous positions within the executive branch that the president must appoint, and the U.S. Senate must confirm. These roles are referred to as PAS positions. Oftentimes, presidents will select individuals to temporarily fill these PAS positions while seeking Senate confirmations to fill out the roles on a more long-term basis.
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 regulates when and how a president can choose “acting” officers to temporarily fill these PAS positions. The law generally stipulates that appointees may only serve in an acting position for about 210 days, starting from the date the vacancy occurs.
The law states that if the Senate rejects a first nomination to permanently fill a PAS position or if the president withdraws the nomination, an “acting” officer may fill the position for up to 210 more days.
The president may submit a second nominee to the Senate, and if the nomination is rejected, an acting officer may fill the position for another 210 days. Outside of these time limits, if no individual is confirmed, the PAS position must remain vacant, and only the head of the agency may perform the functions or duties of the position.
The GAO found that seven officials have exceeded the time limits stipulated in the law:
Shirley A. Jones, the Managing Associate General Counsel for the GAO, said each of the alleged violations “began in 2021 or 2022 and involves a long-vacant position for which previous Presidents submitted nominations.”
GAO discovered these alleged violations after conducting a review of vacant positions following a June decision.
According to the GAO letters, Dye’s service with the FLRA has been continued on in alleged violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act since Nov. 16, 2021.
Randall’s service with the DOJ has continued on in alleged violation of federal law since May 26, 2022.
Harrison’s OMB service has continued on in alleged violation of the law since Aug. 2, 2022.
Johnson’s ICE service ran afoul of the law starting on Nov. 16, 2021, but Jones said Johnson ended her time in the acting position on Monday, Feb. 6.
Jones said GAO had found Freeman’s service in an acting USAID role exceeded the federal limits on Nov. 16, 2021. Freeman was eventually replaced by Hart and then by Yastishock, who vacated the position on Aug. 8, 2022.
The OMB and FLRA disputed the watchdog agency’s assessment, citing an October 2022 opinion by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel.
“We respectfully disagree with GAO’s conclusion,” an OMB spokesperson told NTD News. “DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded in a recent public opinion that, under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a change in administrations restarts the timing sequence for acting service in a position that was vacant on inauguration date. OMB, like all Executive Branch agencies, is bound to follow DOJ’s legal conclusions. It is undisputed that Ms. Harrison’s service has been proper under DOJ’s legal interpretation of the Act.”
An FLRA spokesman also cited the DOJ’s October 2022 opinion that a change in administration restarts the timing sequence for acting service in positions that were vacant on inauguration day.
NTD News also reached out to the DOJ, USAID and ICE for comment, but they did not respond by the time this article was published.
Violations of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act are not unprecedented.
In April 2022, the GAO found that an official overstayed the time limit in the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
GAO recorded several instances of individuals staying beyond the vacancy time limits during President Donald Trump’s administration.
Here’s where I am these days.
I keep it simple.
I am aware of research and read some of it. I read The Good Life recently and loved it btw.
But I’m not obsessing about optimization and things like the perfect ratio of Zone 2 to Zone 4 training etc. It’s splitting hairs and I can get 90% of the superhealth with none of the complexity.
I focus on having One Good Day, which mostly includes,
Morning Sun
Body Movement (Play)
Focused Work
Strong Nourishment &
Family Dinner
Rest
And then I shoot for another One Good Day again tomorrow.
That’s pretty much it.
Maybe I could be optimizing more but I find that simplicity and consistency trumps complexity and intensity (though I do enjoy and add some intensity).
I’m not into watches or rings or apps and maybe that changes but not very soon. I have nothing against anyone into these things, especially those who are becoming more aware of how much alcohol affects sleep.
But I’m more into paying attention to my body and learning more about myself from internal cues.
Am I hungry? Do I feel rested? What’s my mood?
Seems like we’ve gotten away from tuning into our own internal cues. Perhaps, this is a symptom of the toxic health culture we live in, so I focus more on tuning into me.
I take this One Good Day thing and I stack it, one after the next and this works well.
I wrote a post a couple years ago called How Much Do We Age in a Day? that pairs well with this current post.
It focuses on how, if we live clean for one day, we might age less than a day that day. Then if we stack those clean days, we age a lot less over time.
Hat Tip to my old pal Mike Bellafiore who wrote this wonderful book back in the day called One Good Trade, which inspired the title of this post!
Links
Here are some links relevant to this post.
Buddha Didn’t Use an App Under the Bohdi Tree
United States Naval Academy - Department of Economics
Ahmed Rahman
Lehigh University - Department of Economics
U.S. Naval Academy
Why do peers influence people’s choices? Is it for information (social learning) or for socializing (social utility)? We explore this fundamental question by exploiting unique data and natural experiments from the United States Naval Academy (USNA). We then analyze data on major selections of USNA freshmen, using a rich set of covariates and the random assignment of students to peer groups and courses. We find that students can be influenced by peers into selecting different academic paths relative to what they would have chosen on their own. Through random reassignments—known as “shot-guns” at USNA—of students into new peer groups along with random assignments into courses, we explore the reasons why herding occurs. The preponderance of evidence suggests that social learning, as opposed to social utility, is the key driver for herding behavior.
