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Author: Kim du Toit
Of Course They Are
Let’s hear it for European Wokism:
More than 90 per cent of severely ill coronavirus patients in Germany have a ‘migrant background’, a leading doctor has said, prompting claims that the government is turning a blind eye to the issue to avoid igniting a race row.
…
‘There are parallel societies in our country. You can only put that right with proper outreach work in the mosques, but we’re not getting through. And that sucks,’ he said.
Guess those niqabs aren’t helping them much, huh?
Which leads to another interesting question: Are face condoms worthless?
In related news, Texas will lose all the stupid Chinkvirus restrictions next Monday. If I weren’t staying in a hotel, I’d be building a bonfire for all those stupid and, as it turns out, useless masks…
No Comment Necessary
Best opening in a news article*:
This week, Matt Meyer did what many parents long to do. He dropped off his kid at school. That’s unusual in Berkeley, California, where he lives, because the schools there have been closed for a year, and the teachers’ union adamantly opposes their reopening. Parents like Mr. Meyer who can afford private schools, which are mostly open, send their kids there. His child has been there since last June. So he dropped off his child and drove off to his job.
His job is head of the Berkeley teachers’ union. His main task there is to keep the public schools closed for everyone else.
[insert “fucking hypocrite” joke here]
*so far. “Barack Obama dies painfully” would beat it.
I’ll Take “1” For $500, Alex
Well now, isn’t this special?
A woke offensive has taken the nation’s schools by storm in the aftermath of the George Floyd fallout, but instead of the intended purpose of solving racial inequities it’s irritated parents of all persuasions.
In interviews with DailyMail.com, parents say they’ve been overwhelmed by education reformers seeking to impose anti-racist agendas on America’s schools. They describe the efforts as well-intentioned but often rushed, condescending, insulting and poorly timed, coming during a global pandemic when most families are just trying to get by.Yeah, well, sorry folks, but this is anything but well-intentioned: these assholes are trying to eradicate your history, your heritage and your culture. Herewith one of the tools they’re using:
And the handy-dandy little crib sheet:
First things first: someone needs to take this Barndoor Hissy out back and either horsewhip his sorry ass, or else apply the old Chinese Solution To Social Problems (which includes making his surviving family pay for the cartridge).
Or both.
In the meantime, let’s hear it for Whitey:
Suspended Plans
It looked as though New Wife and I would be able to move back into our apartment around next Monday (March 8), but that was before we went back there yesterday evening to get a few things. Here’s what greeted us, firstly the living room:
…and the laminate flooring has gone bye-bye too. Next, the entrance hall:
And finally, the master bedroom:
…but amazingly, the carpet (which was soaked) is being covered up to protect it from the carnage — which means they don’t plan on replacing it. Uh huh. Time for a little explanation of the facts of life to Management…
But it looks as though month-end will be a more realistic move-in time, now.
And once again, folks: Thank you all so much for your unbelievable generosity. It has made all the difference, by enabling us to order replacement furniture and such before the insurance company made its final settlement offer — the excellent news being that we’ll be getting a full settlement of our stated replacement value, and the funds will arrive either tomorrow or the next day. But having that little bit of financial security immediately after the catastrophe made all the difference to our mental well-being, and we are eternally grateful.
Helping Hand
One of the benefits of homeschooling is that parents can tailor the curriculum and teaching methods towards the individual child’s needs. In our case, we improved Son&Heir’s reading level, for instance, by imposing a strict three-hours-per-day reading regimen — topic or authors of his own choice, of course — and inside two years he went from a three-grades-below-average level to twelfth grade level, at age 15. (His favorite authors were Daphne du Maurier and E.L. Salvatore, and by age 17 he’d read their entire works respectively — an enormous feat in the case of Salvatore, whose works are prodigious).
For #2 Son, who was high-functioning autistic, we improved his reading ability by letting him watch any TV show he wanted, as long as sub-titles were turned on. This was prompted by the fact that being autistic, he dreaded loud noises — he’d clap his hands over his ears and become near-catatonic — which meant that he would have to turn the TV sound way down to avoid being startled by dramatic increases in the soundtrack volume, but which resulted in him not being able to follow the dialogue and plot. The sub-titles enabled him to follow the story, and it improved his reading level by a similar degree to Son&Heir’s. (At age 17, he was yelling at the TV adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo for being a travesty of the original plot; I wasn’t even aware that he’d read the thing, but he had.)
So when I saw this, I nodded with approval:
…simply because I’d proven it to be true in my own experience as a homeschooler.
If you decide to do this, though, be aware that while comprehension and reading skills will improve, you have to work really hard on correct pronunciation, if like in #2 Son’s case you also turn down the TV volume (the spoken word teaches that, of course, so you have to be patient, thorough and non-judgmental in your constant correction). I and the other family members still have to work on this when we talk to him, even though he’s now in his 30s. (For those who’ve known him, you may suddenly feel very old; sorry.)
But to improve reading skills at pretty much any age, closed captions can be your friend.