Wednesday Potpourri

First, our mentally challenged president has been around so long that he knows all of the players on the world scene. This includes the president of France, one Emmanuel Macron.

But now, Joe Biden has claimed to have met recently with the French president, Francois Mitterand, who died in 1996. Joe even declared that Mitterand was from Germany. 

Way to go, Joe!

Second, psychiatrist Daniel Amen has offered some advice you can use. To manifest self-discipline you should only do nice things for people who treat you with respect.

That means, you are under no obligation to be nice, or even to do favors, for people who disrespect you, or better, who fail to respect you.

By extension, if someone shows you respect by doing a favor, whatever it is, you are obliged to reciprocate. Otherwise you are showing yourself unworthy of respect.

Think about it. I call it excellent advice.

Third, and there is the case of a BBC executive named Dawn Queva, who fired off a rant about white people and Jewish people.

She called Jewish people “Nazi apartheid parasites” who had created a “holohoax.” She added that white people are a “mutant invasive species.”

She posted that Jews are “a subcontinental European CaucAsian invader coloniser species with zero indigenous/blood on their maternal or paternal side, just a bunch of thieving squatters from a land mass north of the Mediterranean.”

She is no longer with the BBC; she was fired. One suspects that she was a diversity hire. And yet, you have to ask yourself, in what world would anyone imagine that such vitriol would be acceptable? Figure that one out.

Fourth, the city of San Francisco has been troubled by the poor academic performances of its kindergartners. So it brought in an organization called Woke Kindergarten to show teachers how to teach anti-racism.

As a result, the children became dumber. Last year, less than 4% of the children were proficient in math. And less than 12% were proficient at English. 

Do you want to take the full measure of the organization?Akiea Gross, the non-binary founder of Woke Kindergarten had this to say:

I believe Israel has no right to exist. I believe the United States has no right to exist. I believe every settler colony who has committed genocide against native peoples has no right to exist.

I trust that you are not surprised.

Fifth, not to be done in the race toward complete stupidity, the American Psychological Association has taken out after merit-based hiring practices. You see, if you hire on the basis of merit, your staff might not look like a rainbow. 

The APA wrote this:

Fairness heuristic theory suggests that, as long as people consider selection processes such as hiring and promotion to be meritocratic and fair, they may continue to accept ever-increasing levels of income inequality. Yet, in reality, inequality and merit-based decisions are deeply intertwined.

Sixth, it should be well known by now that American children are falling behind in math and science. 

Daniel Nuccio reports about it in The College Fix:

The continued embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM combined with a broad decline in academic standards is producing a generation of scientists who are less capable than their predecessors, warned some scientists in recent interviews with The College Fix.

From easier math classes in high school to the elimination of standardized tests to extreme grade-inflation to DEI tropes that elevate lived experiences and ways of knowing over facts and data, the trend represents a pressing problem for science professors working to protect STEM and preserve its standards and meritocracy.

Seventh, and then there is the migrant problem. Which is a crime problem, a threat to our civilization. Gerard Baker summarizes some events in the war of migrants, legal and illegal, against our civilization:

On the streets of New York, two police officers are beaten by a gang of eight migrant asylum seekers. Five of them are released without bail, one of them literally flipping the finger at the American public as he goes. The other three simply disappear.

On the streets of London, a woman and her two young children are doused with lethal chemicals. The suspect was twice denied asylum in the U.K. but managed to stay and was convicted of a serious sexual assault, then was granted asylum on appeal. The victims are left with life-altering injuries. A member of Parliament from the governing Conservative Party tells a television audience that this is a warning about the consequences of “microaggressions” that women face every day.

In Sweden a gang war between rival groups of migrants is unleashing havoc on the citizens of what was once a global model of social harmony. The European media descend on the country and publish dark warnings about the rise of “far right” anti-immigrant parties.

In Chicago, a “sanctuary city” recently inundated with illegal migrants, and where gang crime (most of it not migrant-related) is rampant, the City Council rouses itself from its indifference to pass a resolution that calls for antagonists to put down their arms—in Gaza.

Eighth, In the rage toward DEI many colleges and universities ceased requiring standardized test scores for applicants. In truth, MIT had already tried this and had discovered that those students who were admitted with substandard scores generally flunked Freshman math courses. They were so far behind that they could not make up the slack.

Now, Dartmouth is leading the Ivies in bringing back standardized tests. Naturally, it made a brief reference to diversity, but, in truth, the students who do best on the tests are not a very diverse bunch.

The Wall Street Journal has the story:

Dartmouth College will require SAT or ACT scores beginning with next year’s class of applicants, the first Ivy League school to reverse course on pandemic-era test-optional policies. 

The New Hampshire school said it was making the move based on new research showing that, at Ivy League and other highly selective schools, standardized test scores help predict first-year college performance—even better than high-school grades do.

Ninth, as a rule I am skeptical about the claims made for the latest panacea. In a society where people believe that there is a pill for everything, as in, obesity, we are not surprised to discover that certain people have recently discovered that the cure for whatever ails them is-- magic mushrooms, aka psilocybin. 

Back to the 60s. 

It is certainly not the first Mamma’s little helper to hit the market. For now it is popular among the trendy set, on the West and the East coast. It is not prescribed by a physician. Its side effects are not very well known. Yet, its users swear by it. 

On the one side are those who insist that they cannot function without their daily dose of magic mushrooms. On the other side are recreational users and therapy aficionados who believe that correct dosing will allow them to explore their psyches-- whatever that means.

Some people take their magic mushrooms daily, to get through the day. Others go on New Agey retreats where they indulge themselves for several days at a time, learning new breathing exercises and meditation techniques. They can even commune with Gwyneth Paltrow.

As for the questions about this treatment, consider this:

Greg Fonzo, a clinical psychologist who co-directs a psychedelic research center at the University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School, says that while studies have shown that macrodosing—taking 10 milligrams or more of synthetic psilocybin—can provide joy and clarity, those on microdosing have found that the drug works no better than a placebo.

And, consider this warning:

Dr. Bogenschutz of NYU Langone says the risks of taking shrooms outside a clinical setting include potentially dangerous drug interactions. Certain conditions rule out study candidates, he says. “All of the modern studies with psilocybin and LSD have excluded people with high blood pressure, significant heart disease, and a personal or strong family history of psychosis,” he says.

Tenth, the fat lady is singing for Ronna McDaniel. A manifest incompetent chair of the Republican National Committee, McDaniel has lost the confidence of her most avid supporter, President Trump:

Former President Donald Trump hinted Ronna McDaniel should vacate her position as Republican National Committee chair, appearing to reverse course from his earlier support after the organization reported decade-low fundraising numbers entering the presidential election year.

The GOP front-runner, 77, was asked Monday on Newsmax whether McDaniel, 50, should step down after three straight election cycles of Republican underperformance.

“I think she knows that, I think she understands that,” Trump responded. “As far as me, as far as I’m concerned … almost 100% of the Republicans I endorse win. In the midterms, out of 253 endorsements, I won 222 races.”

McDaniel has faced calls to resign from some of Trump’s fiercest supporters, including biotech entrepreneur and former 2024 GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump privately backed McDaniel’s bid for a fourth two-year term last year, despite widespread grumbling over her stewardship after Republicans only narrowly recaptured the House and lost a Senate seat in the 2022 midterms.

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