Vietnam veteran Bill Poulton stood on the bandstand erected on his farm in Muncy, Pennsylvania, and asked the several hundred spectators to stand.
With almost military precision, the assembled crowd rose, placed their hands over their hearts, looked upward to the American flag nearby, and said the pledge of allegiance.
I hadn’t seen such a display of unity and patriotism in many years. It was a striking reminder that my wife and I had chosen well when we decided to leave the woke environment of Philadelphia and move to Muncy, a town of 2,500 people in central Pennsylvania.
After the pledge, the crowd settled back into their lawn chairs to listen to The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra perform a collection of old American tunes from around the turn of the 20th century.
Nearby, Boy Scouts sold hot dogs to raise money for their troop, and the Muncy High School band and choir offered burgers at another stand. The Muncy Historical Society provided free popcorn.
“It was a slice of Americana,” one of the organizers told us. Norman Rockwell couldn’t have put it any better, and the scene just a few blocks away from our home was reminiscent of a Rockwell drawing.
Rick Benjamin, the orchestra leader, provided background about each of the songs, including tunes from Scott Joplin, John Philip Sousa, and some lesser-known composers. Our neighbor, talented soprano Bernadette Boerckel, sang some of the selections, such as “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” by Gus Edwards. She led the crowd in a rendition of The Pan Alley Song Medley, which included “The Sidewalks of New York,” “Sweet Rosie O’Grady,” “A Bicycle Built for Two,” and “The Band Played On.” Muncy Ragtime Band
As twilight merged into nighttime, the orchestra erupted into an encore by John Philip Sousa, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
On a cloudy, summer evening, this verse seemed particularly appropriate:
“Let eagle shriek from lofty peak The never-ending watchword of our land; Let summer breeze waft through the trees The echo of the chorus grand. Sing out for liberty and light, Sing out for freedom and the right. Sing out for Union and its might, O patriotic sons.”
Posted: August 10, 2021 by datechguy in baseball, Sports
I’m entering my 2nd year of not watching MLB or going to MLB games as they’ve become woke and this week has been an excellent example of why that decision isn’t going to change anytime soon.
First in Colorado we had the spectacle of the Colorado Rockies and the MLPA rushing to condemn a fan who was shouting for a mascot named “Dinger” (baseball slang for Home Run appropriate for a park like Colorado where many are hit) so he could get a picture with his children and grandchildren hounded and condemned because someone thought he had said “nigger” instead when an opposing player was at bat.
Now the player didn’t hear him say this and the film showed the fan was not playing attention to the player but did the Rockies or MLB take the time to check this out? NO they rushed out a statement to make sure that that they were properly woke and properly anti racist and thus this grandfather got a lot of unwelcome attention that he didn’t deserve.
The key line from a tweet from a reporter covering the story:
I spoke to the fan, who isn't sure whether he wants his identity released out of fear of the Twitter mob. I'll respect that.
He said he was at the game with his wife and grandkids. He wanted a picture of all of them with Dinger.
Since right and wrong apparently aren’t in play here in a post Christian society let me frame this is a practical ends and means way that MLB will understand?
How anxious do you think he will be to return to the park, how anxious will his children be to return to the park and how anxious do you think his grandchildren will be to go to the park after the team and the players association along with the twitter mob piled on?
And as a fan aren’t you just delighted with the notion that if someone mishears something I’ve said MLB & their players association and the journalists that cover them will be delighted to sic the mob upon you?
If I was MLB I’d think long and hard about the incentive system I am creating.
SHREVEPORT – In absolutely shocking news today (insert sarcasm here), the standardized testing scores for Louisiana’s students last year show a significant drop as both teachers and students attempted to conduct classes in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, there are now calls to shelve the annual school report card scores:
The letter grades are typically announced in November and are aimed at showing taxpayers how schools are performing.
But scores in math, English, science, and social studies took a nosedive that affected virtually every school system in the state.
Scores on the exams, called LEAP 2025, fell 5 percentage points in meeting state achievement targets after years of inching up a point or two annually.
This is an indicator to why so many people distrust the suits that run public education. Who in the world ever thought this would turn out any differently? Who thought these test scores would resemble anything like a normal year? Who thought it was even a good idea to go ahead with standardized testing in a year when students were dealing with unprecedented stress because of the pandemic?
It doesn’t matter how you feel about the pandemic; that’s not the issue here. Whether you believe it is a political conspiracy or the next bubonic plague – it doesn’t matter here. The events since March 2020 have affected literally everyone in some degree or another, but I’m not sure we are paying enough attention to how it has affected our at risk kids, or even kids in general.
Let me tell you what I saw.
I taught in a Title 1 school for twenty years and that’s where I was when this all rolled out. In our high school we had kids in extreme poverty, terrible home situations, homeless kids, stories that would make you weep. Not every kid was in a dire situation but by far the majority had some level of poverty at the very least. I say this only to indicate the level of stress at which these kids were already functioning.
In March 2020 we closed schools and they did not reopen until August. For at least five months these kids lost the support system of the school including the administrators and educators who look out for them, who look to be sure they have food, a roof over their head, or if abuse is present. In our school we have paid electric bills, bought shoes, found housing, provided meals and clothing when it was needed. Maybe this isn’t the job of a school, but it’s the job of humanity.
When we returned in August, our kids were so damn glad to be back in a social, structured environment, we had zero classroom management issues. But, we had other issues.
We dealt with quarantines and A/B schedules. We struggled with online classes, kids with no technology, kids with no home support, kids that never logged on. Imagine the struggle of a child trying to log onto an online Chemistry class while mom is entertaining all night, your house is filled with people some of whom you don’t know. You aren’t getting proper rest or food. Maybe you don’t have electricity. You don’t know where you are going to be sleeping from one night to another. Any number of heartbreaking situations.
And we expect these kids to learn at the same level as a normal year? And then give them a standardized test?
When our State Dept of Education announced that we would not waive testing as some other states had done, as teachers we had no choice but to do our best to prepare these kids as best we could. So many of them felt unfathomable stress over these tests. It broke my heart.
The State wanted the data. They wanted to see how far students had dropped, what the learning loss was because of the pandemic.
So now they know.
And I could have told them all along that the scores would drop. I had only half my kids in class at any given time. In addition to the quarantines and the illness, as teachers we also dealt with incessant cleaning and sanitizing our rooms and equipment. We had to modify lessons and deal with changing restrictions and guidelines on a weekly basis. Kids weren’t the only ones feeling the stress.
And so now those brilliant Suits in Education think maybe it could be a good idea to waive school report card scores. We spend a bloody fortune on standardized testing which we knew would show a significant drop yet we forked over all that money anyway, and for what?
For what?
What has been gained from all that testing?
Nothing.
And the suits in Education wonder why we rail against public education.
You know I’d take Twitter’s assurances that they are simply retraining people who are spreading “disinformation” more seriously if i didn’t have direct experience of them lying about me on twitter for about a month
For the life of me I can’t understand why people are so shocked that a pol who would consent to have a national election stolen on his behalf is willing to openly violate his oath of office. Doesn’t the former guarantee the latter?
As I wrote the day he was sworn in Biden is the first president in history to violate his oath of office by taking it.
At My work they re-imposed a mask mandate so my 18 foot Dr. Who scarf has returned with it wrapped once around my face. Alas while I work in Massachusetts I don’t work at the Obama Birthday Party where apparently immunity rules.
If my wife was not currently sick out of work with me providing the insurance…
It’s amazing to watch people who have been held over Jan 6th being charged with “unlawful parading” and locked up for it after watching DA’s let people who rioted, looted and burned cities off without prosecution. Cripes even the Kavanaugh protesters banning on the doors of the SCOTUS were never charged.
I’m increasingly heading toward the opinion they want to provoke us to an actual revolt so they can kill us with a clear conscience
While Christ specifically states that those Christians at prayer beaten by ANTIFA in Portland are blessed, said blessings don’t apply to the police of Portland who stood by and let it happen apparently under orders. That not a single one of the officers had the courage to risk the anger of their superiors to protect them speaks volumes about those who have not already left or retired and explains why Portland’s sudden attempt to hire police is doomed to fail.
Finally it’s worth remembering that even if the GOP takes the house and / or senate back in 2022 and Trump takes the White House in 2024 the trust that federal institutions threw away will not return. After all the lower downs who have happily enforced our oppression of the last six months+ will still be in place.
Our enemies sure got their monies worth out of this administration.
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