Posts Tagged ‘Da Magnificent Seven’

Damning OIG report leads to an obvious conclusion: Chicago Public Schools system has too much money

Posted: January 14, 2024 by John Ruberry in crime, education, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

When I was in sixth grade at Palos East Elementary School near Chicago, for two semesters the school principal withheld my report card–pretty good ones by the way–because the shrewish school librarian said I failed to return a book. I told her that I did, but that wasn’t good enough for her. 

Eventually, the missing book turned up. It was a school library employee, possibly “the Shrew” herself, who misplaced that book. 

Which brings me to a story out of Chicago that is not getting nearly enough coverage The disappearance from mid-2022 to mid-2023 of electronic devices–laptops, iPads, and more–over 77,000 devices, according to a report from the Chicago Public Schools’ Office of the Inspector General. 

Sure, the local media reported on the OIG report for a couple of days. But they of course lean left, and the sympathetic media has moved on to other stories, such as criticizing Texas governor Greg Abbott for sending buses with illegal migrants to the Chicago area. Of course, our “betters” in the media rarely condemn the politician who is at fault for the migrant crisis–Joe Biden.

Back to CPS: The OIG says there have been no repercussions for the students who failed to return them. Their parents weren’t sent a bill–and yes, the kids certainly received their report cards. The value of those lost and stolen devices is massive, over $23 million. In 2021-2022, CPS spend $123 million on technology devices. “You can’t pin this on COVID,” CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher told CBS Chicago. “You can pin this on students who are just taking devices and not returning them.”

CPS, with COVID-related funding drying up next year, faces a huge deficit. But when reading the OIG report, one can conclude Chicago Public Schools has too much money. It’s time for CPS to go on a diet, or be put into some kind receivership, possibly under federal control–but only with a Republican in the White House.

Too much money? Yeppo. If $23 million in equipment goes “missing” and it only becomes public knowledge because of an OIG report, then there is not a lack of money issue for Chicago schools.

Let’s not place all of the blame on the students for the thievery. The report also notes that at three dozen CPS schools, every tech device was marked lost or stolen. All of them. An inside job? That’s likely, in my opinion.

Here’s some more waste: Could these devices have been tracked. Yes. OIG Fletcher also told CBS Chicago, “The district spends about two and a half million dollars on software that’s meant to track and locate devices, but the district just wasn’t using that software.”

The Office of the Inspector General previously discovered over a dozen CPS employees, some in leadership roles and collecting six-figure annual sinecure salaries, allegedly fraudulently obtained PPP loans. And one elementary school assistant principal has allegedly stole over $270,000 from her school.

Even worse than theft and incompetence is sexual assault. During the same time period covering the thefts, the OIG discovered eight substantiated adult-against-child incidents of sexual abuse.

Last year Chicagoans made the horrible mistake of electing leftist Brandon Johnson mayor. He’s a former CPS teacher and Chicago Teachers Union instructor. Johnson apparently is too busy criticizing Greg Abbott–a Google News search retrieved no comments from Johnson, the CTU pick for mayor, about the OIG report.

Chicagoans voted for more failure.

Are the students learning anything at CPS schools? Not really, over three-quarters of them test below grade level. 

Now back to report cards: Here is my grade for Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Teachers Union, and Brandon Johnson.

It’s an F minus. 

And I will happily hand out those report cards.

John Ruberry, who attended a CPS school as a kindergartener, regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

First aid vs fighting back

Posted: January 13, 2024 by navygrade36bureaucrat in Blame Biden Administration, official oppression, vaccine mandates
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To nobody’s huge surprise, “Dr” Fauci revealed that the 6 foot “social distancing” rule was basically made up.

Lest anyone forget, there were plenty of 6-foot Nazis that screamed at you for getting inside the 6 foot distance…unless it was at a BLM riot. People were doing all sorts of logical backflips to justify riots while shutting down church services. I remember having to open church doors and stream service using a cell phone, laptop and projector so the people outside could still attend.

What frickin’ rubbish.

But that’s not the point of this article. During this time thousands of service members were dismissed from service for refusing the vaccine, which we are finding doesn’t work well, and that COVID is going to essentially be like the flu: annoying, even temporarily incapacitating, but not really a threat to young and healthy that (at least now) make up our military force. Most of these were General Discharges, which can negate the amount of VA benefits you receive. Worse still, this was done as businesses were recovering from the shutdown, so many servicemembers and their families suffered through unemployment and underemployment.

Plenty of Republican lawmakers are making it easy for those members to return to service, and most are…not taking it. These same lawmakers are proposing legislation to open VA benefits to these servicemembers and discharge upgrades. I don’t have an issue with any of this, except that this is first aid, and in reality people should be fighting back.

First aid helps people that have been hurt. In this case, servicemembers got screwed out of good jobs, retirement benefits, VA benefits, and all the other things they were promised if they raised their hand to defend our country. Restoring those things will help in the near term, but its not going to repair the long term damage done. Look at how poorly our recruiting efforts are going. More than a few young people watched how a loved one was poorly treated and said “Gee, I’m not signing up for that!”

First aid isn’t enough. People need to fight back.

Every official that pushed this nonsense needs to be punished.

  • Send Fauci to jail. Sounds extreme? The man admitted to spending US money in CHINA developing bioweapons. I see people getting angry over retired service members caught helping the Chinese learn how to land on aircraft carriers. How is this any different?
  • Court martial flag officers that pushed for General Discharges. At least the Navy had the good sense to use Honorable Discharges for most of its folks. Every flag officer that used a General Discharge knew they were screwing people out of benefits, and even late in the game they continued to push for it. Court martial every, single one of them. For the ones already retired, bring them back and charge them, which is still legal (although perhaps bringing back a few admirals and generals will get this thrown out).
  • Fire the civilian leaders that pushed this nonsense. Their zeal and glee in punishing people needs to be matched with stiff fines and jail time.

First aid doesn’t save you when you’re being assaulted. Only fighting back will.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Ouch-ouch: Failures of Latvia’s new electric trains serve as a warning for the rest of us

Posted: January 7, 2024 by John Ruberry in business, culture, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

During those rare occasions I get into a political discussion with leftists, often the back-and-forth veers into a predictable detour–whether the topic is health care, energy, or the environment–with this reply, “But in Europe they do it this way.” 

For the most part, I don’t care how things are done in Europe. 

One exception is Latvia, where Mrs. Marathon Pundit was born–and both of us visited this EU nation last summer.

What is the biggest story in Latvia in the first week of 2024?

The failure of new electric trains there, replacing old electrics. The new trains are operated by a company called Vivi. and the trains were built by Skoda Group, a Czech company.

From Public Broadcasting of Latvia last week:

On Tuesday morning, trains were delayed by up to three hours on the Rīga-Skulte line. Latvian Radio correspondent Viktors Demidovs was among those inconvenienced by the delay.

“I saw the new electric train at the station Garciems. I pushed the button to open the door but nothing happened. The conductor opened it manually. There was complete darkness in the train and climate control was not working either. [..] It turned out the train had been standing there for half an hour.”

Vivi representative Sigita Zviedre said there had been an issue with the power collector and the train’s battery had run out.

Vivi also stated that Latvia is not unique in finding deficiencies with new trains after putting them in traffic and said that Lithuania and Estonia had faced similar issues at the beginning. 

For emphasis, I’m repeating part of the last sentence of the third paragraph, “…the train’s battery had run out.”

Commuters rely on these trains, and not surprisingly, their malfunctions are a major inconvenience for many of them. Some passengers have been to forced to hail taxi or Uber rides to get them to their destination, and for now, Vivi is offering to reimburse those riders inconvenienced.

Of the 11 Vivi trains that are supposed to be operational, according to Public Broadcasting of Latvia, only six are currently running. While yes, with any new transportation product, some minor and infrequent hiccups are expected, but five of eleven trains not running is too high of a failure rate for just about everyone. Imagine if we were talking about new automobiles instead–and it’s a model that you were considering buying.

Okay, you are very likely reading this blog post from everywhere else but Latvia. What does this have to do with me?

Remember what I said that leftists are obsessed with how things are done in Europe. And they want to replicate, failures and all, the European way here. By the way, much of the funding for Vivi trains comes from the Cohesion Fund of the European Union.

Electric trains, failures and all, may be coming here.

Here’s an op-ed from Forbes, written by “climate futurist,” Michael Barnard:

North America has a railroad problem that the rest of the world doesn’t have. As a result, a lot of North Americans think it’s too expensive to electrify that mode of transportation. As we explore electrifying everything everywhere all at once as a key wedge in solving global warming it’s time to debunk that notion. 

Why am I singling out North America and North Americans? Because the Americas are singular in their lack of ability and willingness to do what the rest of the world has already mostly done.

Climate futurist? Yep. That’s a thing among those pushing the green agenda. And of course, I’ve noted before that liberals adore trains because they only go where there are rails.

In a practical way, it’s beneficial in North America to see how Latvia is enduring its electric train problems.

Meanwhile, the electric trains debacle is a Latvian cultural phenomenon.

Jānis Liepiņš adds another song to the many tunes about trains, although his mournful ballad, “Dzeltens Melns” (Yellow Black), unlike most train songs, does not celebrate riding the rails. Because of course, when you sit in a Vivi train car, the yellow and black cars often sit still as well.

Mrs. Marathon Pundit also noticed that Latvians on social media are quipping that instead of Vivi, the new electric trains should be named Vai-Vai, which translates into “Ouch-Ouch.”

UPDATE January 9:

The temperature this morning in Riga, Latvia was 32 degrees Fahrenheit (Zero Celsius). The “impact of frost” is being blamed for some Vivi electric trains not running today. Latvia is northern Europe and it borders Russia. It can get much colder than it is today there.

From Public Broadcasting of Latvia:

Due to the ‘impact of frost’ on the new electric trains as well as health issues of drivers, several trains in the directions of Sloka and Skulte have been canceled on Tuesday, January 9, passenger carrier Vivi said on Facebook.

And what are these ” health issues of drivers?”

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

A Navy desperate to keep…everybody!

Posted: January 6, 2024 by navygrade36bureaucrat in Afghanistan war, Blame Biden Administration, opinion/news
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Over the holiday period I didn’t bother checking the latest NAVADMINs, because spending time with my family was for more important. So when I looked this week, I saw I missed a doozy: the Navy’s message concerning retention boards.

In December the Navy announces its promotion boards, which are in January (for Captains), Feb-March (for Commanders), and April-May (for Lieutenant Commanders). Some years ago the Navy began convening the retention board immediately after these boards to decide the fates of anyone not selected for promotion. The overarching policy of retention boards is a direct measure of the health of the service, and well, the Naval Service is not healthy.

Take a look at NAVADMIN 291/23. I’ll break it down below:

Paragraph 2 states that any Captain (O-6) that has certain AQDs (basically, special training or expertise in a specific area) that relate to Acquistion can stay until 33 years of service. Normally Captains have to retire at 30 years of service. This isn’t a huge surprise, the Navy is in dire need of Acquisition Workforce personnel, so it’ll keep anyone that it can.

LCDRs (O-4s) that twice failed to select for CDR (O-5) will simply be kept until 20 years, when they can retire. They won’t even be considered for retention…it’s assumed. In the past the retention board could be used to shape manpower by removing the bottom performing LCDRs. That is not happening at all now, essentially if you have a pulse and made O-4, you can stay till 20 years.

Let’s say you’re a LCDR that is a flight instructor, chaplain, cyber warfare engineer, foreign area officer, information professional, maritime space officer, medical corps, nurse corps or supply corps. What if you want to stay past 20 years? Well, you can!

URL 1310 aviators with primary AQDs of DIP or DA5/DA7/DB2/DB5/DB6/DD1/DH3/DL3/DS2 (TACAIR), CWE, FAO, IP, and SC officers selected for continuation will be continued for a period of 3 years to 23 YOAS.  CHC, MSO, MC, and NC officers selected for continuation will be continued until the last day of the month in which the officer 
completes 24 YOAS.

That right there is a bad sign. That means we are significantly short in all those areas, and we’re willing to keep people for an additional 3-4 years to cover the gaps.

What about Lieutenants (O-3s)? Typically LTs that are passed over twice for O-4 are sent home at the end of the next fiscal year. The only LTs I’ve seen the Navy hold onto are people that were prior enlisted and needed another year to reach mandatory officer retirement criteria. But now: 

Lieutenant (LT)  Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO), CHC, CWE, Cryptologic Warfare (CW), Dental Corps (DC), FAO, Intelligence Officer (INTEL), IP, Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC), MC, Medical Service Corps (MSC), MSO, NC, and SC will follow the below as applicable:
    a.  2XFOS LTs covered in paragraph 4 with less than 18 YOAS and selected 
for continuation will be continued for a period of three years, but not 
beyond retirement eligibility at 20 YOAS.

FOS stands for “Failure of Selection.”

So now LTs can stay for 20 years until they can retire. I never thought I’d see that, but here we are. Granted, it’s not every officer, but it won’t surprise me if the retention board eligibility expands to include more officer specialties.

I want to remind everyone that this crisis was generated 100% by our own government:

  • We changed the retirement system way back in 2016-2018, which was the number one thing that kept good people in past 5-10 years of service. I predicted this would end badly, by the way.
  • Then we started losing wars, specifically Afghanistan. We drew out of Afghanistan in a horrible way, so everyone that lost limbs or part of their sanity fighting in that war felt betrayed. This in turn made them tell their kids to never join the military.
  • Oh, and we stayed around in Syria so more of our people could die needlessly. Because nothing says we love our Special Forces more than allowing them to die needlessly in a crappy country where we don’t have an exit strategy.
  • THEN, we kicked people out over the COVID vaccine. Instead of handling that crisis with care, we booted people with general discharges. But don’t worry, we’ll invite them back, I’m sure they’ll come in droves!
  • THEN, the Navy played politics and openly told Congress to go f*#! themselves and used OPTAR money to pay for abortion.

NOW, we are SHOCKED! SHOCKED! that we are in a huge recruiting. crisis. I made a prediction back in February that the Navy would use its “BINGO card” to keep people in:

  1. Not kicking people out for physical fitness test failures
  2. Waiving darn near everything, from age to non-violent felonies
  3. Asking people to pretty-please stay around a few more years
  4. Opening OCS and other admissions
  5. Raising bonuses
  6. Make life better for officers
  7. Reduce opportunities to leave early
  8. Op-Hold people

The Navy has in fact done all the things in bold. The only missing one is making life better. Maybe that’s a draw, since if you wanted free time and per diem off to go murder your unborn baby, you can now get it. The only prediction that hasn’t held was that the Navy would remove marijuana from its drug test, although it was totally an option in Congress.

My prediction for 2024: it only gets worse!

  • We’ll relax rules on marijuana, opioids and other drugs
  • Mental health rules will relax
  • Bonuses will be handed out just to get on the bus
  • We’ll create some new ribbon candy to congratulate people on passing boot camp
  • We’ll see Navy advertisements EVERYWHERE, especially on Reddit, YouTube, Amazon Prime and other streaming platforms

None of it will work. When we spend more time focused on renaming the John C Stennis aircraft carrier, continue to allow flag officers to violate rules and get away with it (remember, you can sexually assault people and not go to jail, so long as you’re a 3-star in the Air Force), and continue to allow a broke acquisition system to churn out expensive weapons, we can’t recruit the best people. The best men and women want to join the Navy to fight for their country, with people and leaders they trust and on equipment that works. They want people held accountable for their actions, and they want others to hold them accountable because that’s how they become better.

We’re doing all the wrong things, and I expect 2024 to be another terrible year for military manning.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

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