RealClearInvestigations'
Picks of the Week
April 21 to April 27, 2024 In RealClearInvestigations, Vince Bielski reports on "Grading for Equity," an ambitious project that has gained traction in public schools nationwide despite frequent objections that it's a form of leniency hurting the very kids it aims to help. Bielski reports: “Grading for equity” joins police officers in schools, transgender bathrooms, the history of slavery, and standardized testing as fodder in the ongoing culture wars over public education. Schools are latching onto grading for equity as a path to higher graduation rates as they face post-pandemic crises, including a spike in chronic absenteeism and sharp academic declines. But some districts have soured on grading for equity as just more grade inflation. Its practices include omitting behavior as a factor in figuring grades, no penalties for late assignments, exam do-overs, and a ban on zero as the lowest mark. Promoter Joe Feldman insists his program is a matter of fairness and accuracy in an educational system stacked against minorities. He’s part of an army of educational consultants vying for slices of schools’ estimated $26 billion “professional development” pie. Districts can spend the equivalent of a third of a teacher salary per teacher each year on such “PD.” Some consultants charge as much as $10,000 per day. Waste of the Day
by Adam Andrzejewski, Open the Books Frisco Rail Staff Built Own Apts. in Stations, RCI
China Owes $1T+ to U.S. Bondholders, RCI
Freedom Caucus Earmarks Beat Squad's, RCI
San Diego Schools Squander a Bundle, RCI
Texan's Tall Tale of Retirement, RCI Biden, Trump and the Beltway The Biden administration had a very busy week. By a 3-2 party-line vote, the Federal Trade Commission may have stretched its constitutional authority by voting to ban non-compete agreements that affect millions of workers. In another 3-2 party-line vote, the Federal Communications Commission revived Obama-era “net-neutrality” rules that could allow the government to regulate internet services providers as forcefully as it does public utilities. Meanwhile, Biden’s Department of Education offered a sweeping rewrite of Title IX rules that, the Federalist reports, will allow biological men to compete in women’s sports: [They] effectively erase protections for sex-based spaces by expanding the Title IX prohibition against sex discrimination to include “gender identity” – a term that’s never mentioned in the original law. A majority of Americans agree that males who claim to identify otherwise should not be allowed to infiltrate girls’ and women’s sports teams. As of now, some 25 states have laws or regulations aimed at keeping boys and men out of female-only spaces, on and off the field. Reason reports that the Title IX revisions also include dramatic changes to how colleges handle sexual assault allegations, effectively reversing Trump-era due process reforms: According to the final regulations, accused students will lose their right to a guaranteed live hearing with the opportunity to have a representative cross-examine their accuser. This is accompanied by a return to the "single-investigator model," which allows a single administrator to investigate and decide the outcome of a case. Further, under the new rules, most schools will be required to use the "preponderance of the evidence" standard, which directs administrators to find a student responsible if just 51 percent of the evidence points to their guilt. Schools are also no longer required to provide accused students with the full content of the evidence against them. Instead, universities are only bound to provide students with a description of the "relevant evidence," which may be provided "orally" rather than in writing. Other Biden, Trump and the Beltway Widespread Lawsuits by Both Parties Over Voting, Associated Press
Trump’s New Legal Bills Hiding $8 Million Mystery, Daily Beast
DOJ Prosecuting 88-Year-Old Pro-Life Activist, Daily Signal
CDC Hides Self-Defense Gun Use Stats, Law Enforcement Today
Archives & White House Collaborated in Trump Case, Just the News
Ex-Biden Disinfo Czar Fights for Online Censorship, National Review Other Noteworthy Articles and Series From the Annals of the Double Whammy, this article reports that while incarcerated workers often make far below the minimum wage for their labor (and sometimes nothing at all), prison commissaries often charge inmates inflated prices for food and goods. A nine-month investigation found prison prices up to five times higher than in the surrounding community and markups as high as 600 percent. This financial burden, which can cost hundreds of dollars per month, is often passed onto prisoners’ loved ones. In Georgia prisons, a denture cup was marked up over 600 percent. Peanut butter had a markup of more than 70 percent. In Missouri, ramen noodles and Tums antacids were marked up more than 65 percent. In Arkansas, all food items “deemed healthy” and over-the-counter “health aids” – including reading glasses and denture adhesive – were marked up 40 percent, and all remaining items were marked up 50 percent. In Wyoming, departmental policy set a 20 percent markup on “luxury goods,” including reading glasses and shower shoes, and a 30 percent markup on so-called “premium goods,” including ramen and Velveeta macaroni and cheese. There is no markup on “basic hygiene items” or religious items. The article reports that private vendors and the prisons are profiting from the mark-ups. In Florida, for instance, a five-year, $175 million contract with the for-profit company Keefe Group gives the Department of Corrections a 35.6 percent commission on all marked-up items. (Those sold at or below cost are not subject to the commission.) In Kentucky, under the terms of its contract with Union Supply Group, the state’s Department of Corrections receives a 16 percent commission from “inmate canteen and inmate vending.” Vast reserves of fuel in the South China Sea off Vietnam and the Philippines have remained untapped for years because of an armada of Chinese fishing boats, coast guard cutters and a giant vessel, this article reports: Beijing’s vast claims across the South China Sea – based on a vague 1947 map showing what’s become known as a “ten-dash line” through the waterway – were rejected by a United Nations-backed tribunal in 2016. But President Xi Jinping dismissed the ruling, and ever-growing tensions in the disputed waters all point to an uncomfortable truth for Southeast Asian nations, as well as the US: In this standoff, China is winning. “The tactics have worked,” said Bill Hayton, author of “The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power in Asia.” “China has effectively established a veto over new oil developments within the U-shaped line.” The article reports that China’s actions have created a growing energy crisis in the Philippines. Although President Biden has vowed, “Any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty,” China is undeterred: On March 5, two Chinese coast guard vessels directed high power water cannons directly at a Philippine ship sent to resupply the isolated crew of the Sierra Madre, a grounded and decrepit warship in the contested Second Thomas Shoal, where a small cadre of rotating military personnel defend Manila’s claim to a reef that sits within its exclusive economic zone. The Philippine craft reeled under the barrage, pushed backwards and sideways as the Chinese ships circled it. With the water cannons blasting out windows on the ship, the clash left several Filipino crew members injured. A similar incident took place March 23. New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. For two years the Pentagon has insisted that 13 U.S. military service members and about 170 Afghans died that day from a single explosion and that troops who reported coming under fire and returning it were likely confused in the chaotic aftermath, some suffering from the effects of blast concussion. But video captured by a Marine’s GoPro camera that has not been seen publicly in full before shows there was far more gunfire than the Pentagon has ever admitted. A dozen US military personnel, who were on the scene and spoke to CNN anonymously for fear of reprisals, have described the gunfire in detail. One told CNN he heard the first large burst of shooting come from where US Marines were standing, near the blast site. “It wasn’t onesies and twosies,” the Marine said. “It was a mass volume of gunfire.” An Afghan doctor who spoke to CNN on the record for the first time said he personally pulled bullets from the wounded, and with his hospital staff counted dozens of Afghans who died from gunshot wounds. Millions of people rely on payday lenders, who approve quick loans to folks who need cash to tide them over before their next paycheck. But the practice has long been criticized because of high fees. This article reports that the practice has a new name, Earned Wage Access, and is receiving new scrutiny because of increased demand for the loans through the rise of more than a dozen smartphone apps that make it easy to borrow: Many charge monthly subscription fees and most charge mandatory fees for instant transfers of funds, though there is typically a no-cost option to receive funds in one to three business days. The average APR for a loan repaid in seven to 14 days was 367%, a rate comparable to payday lending, according to a report from the Center for Responsible Lending. Muddying the waters is the fact that some employers have integrated Earned Wage Access apps into their payroll, with different costs, models, and fee structures. Amazon and Walmart, for example, do not always charge employees for early access to earned wages outside of regular pay periods. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation found that borrowers who use Earned Wage Access take out an average of 36 loans a year. This article reports that a number of states have moved to regulate Earned Wage Access by capping fees on these products. The industry backs a federal bill, currently before Congress, that would exclude the apps from being regulated by the Truth in Lending Act. | 