

Politics
Disproven Myths, Hoaxes, and Lies Linger On
If myths can survive for decades, is there any hope that the Left’s manufactured myths about Donald Trump and his administration will ever die?
Some 45 years ago researchers for Nova, aired on the Public Broadcasting Service undertook an exhaustive examination of the myths surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. They found absolutely no statistical deviation in the incidence of disaster or disappearance of planes and ships in that area.
The team concluded that those people who propagate the myth do so with limited, anecdotal “evidence,” usually for considerable promotional and commercial gain.
Rising Crime with the Full Moon
Several studies in scholarly journals have found no correlation between the incidence of a full moon and aberrant human behavior. More people tend to be out on nights with a full moon, which correlates directly with mishaps, accidents, and predictably, crimes.
Trending on PolitiCrossing.com: Academic Underachievement As a Permanent Condition
A similar phenomenon occurs during holiday seasons. Since more people leave home and drive long distances, more burglaries, admissions to hospital emergency rooms, and arrests by police occur.
Yet no one suggests that holidays such as Christmas or the 4th of July are directly linked with abhorrent human behavior.
Ancient Visitors on Earth?
The Learning Channel aired a program 30+ year ago in which a team of scientists and engineers visited Egypt to determine how the great pyramids were built.
Recreating the activities needed to build a pyramid, the team found that with arithmetic equations the Egyptians built the structures that many people erroneously believe involved aliens. In fact, construction of the Great Pyramid requires only basic arithmetic.
The Egyptians were masters of moving stone by using sand and working in coordinated teams. Rather than using slaves to build the pyramids, the researchers deduced that an inspired citizenry, seeking to be part of the first great nation, chose to offer its labor.
An Industry Built on Lies
JFK assassination conspiracy theories won’t die, but they should. There is no question as to who shot and killed President John F. Kennedy. It was Lee Harvey Oswald, and he was acting alone. This is explained in intricate detail by Gerald Posner in his landmark book Case Closed (1993), which is all but forgotten today.
Mr. Posner dislodged every conceivable stone (including Oliver Stone) to reveal precisely why it was Lee Harvey Oswald and only Oswald who committed this crime.
After illuminating Posner’s work in 25-page feature in its publication, U.S. News & World Report declared it would never review another book on the topic because the case was closed.
Still, people are invested in having JFK’s death be surrounded by controversy. Since 1995, JFK conspiracy theories annually support a multi-million dollar industry.
Refusing to Die!
If myths can survive for decades, or even centuries, is there any hope that the Left’s manufactured myths about Donald Trump and his administration — such as those concerning Russian-collusion, Jussie Smollett, Covington Catholic students, Ukraine quid pro quo, migrant kids in cages, hydroxychloroquine, Lafayette Park, the Capitol “insurrection,” and 2020 election integrity — will ever die?
– – – – –
We'd love to hear your thoughts about this article. Please take a minute to share them in the comment section by clicking here. Or carry the conversation over on your favorite social network by clicking one of the share buttons below.
Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
Education
Academic Underachievement As a Permanent Condition
Academic achievement occurs through individual effort: One boy and one girl after another rising above
On the state and local level, as decisions are made about how and in what form we will educate the nation’s children, an age-old issue remains. The underlying causes of income inequality and civil unrest likely has less to do with media-inflamed coverage and more to do with a lingering issue that few people want to earnestly discuss: educational disparity.
In virtually every U.S. school system, the disparity year after year, decade after decade, and even longer, in mathematics competency, reading proficiency, test scores, honor roll status, and graduation rates, between African American students and other students is disturbing.
A Disturbing Reality
Here in the third decade of the third millennium, with a male African American high school dropout rate at 40% across the U.S., can anyone view the situation optimistically? Any responsible American would understandably be concerned.
Trending on PolitiCrossing.com: Common ‘Wisdom’ that Just Ain’t So
As Eric Hanushek, who is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, as well as a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, exclaimed “It’s remarkable.” Following his extensive analysis of the situation, he remarked, “I knew that the gap hadn’t been closing too much, but when I actually looked at the data I was myself surprised.”
In one community after another, and one school system after another, when strenuous efforts to bridge the gap do not bear fruit, invariably someone yells “foul,” as if some grand conspiracy is occurring and a magic wand, yet to be waved, could suddenly redress all. And, as if hard-working, dedicated teachers are not attempting their utmost for each of their students.
An Undesired Path
Consider the school system in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, North Carolina. This locale, deemed, “The southern part of heaven,” by a variety of writers, is among the most progressive in the United States. The teachers and educators here have a vested interest in demonstrating that their school system, beyond all others, can succeed in the vital area of closing achievement gaps between whites and minorities.
Nevertheless, year in and year out the gap remains. So, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education becomes primed to try anything! Another in an endless line of supposed “fixes” was to eliminate the advanced math classes in the middle schools and to lump all non-pre-algebra students together, with similar plans to eliminate other advanced classes such as in language arts.
Just as you cannot easily erect a sound building on quicksand, and you cannot expect to solve a decades-old problem by starting with a shaky foundation. Taking a lowest common denominator approach to developing school curriculum has never consistently worked, anywhere. It frustrates the students and dramatically increases a teacher’s burden – all such students must then be taught at individual learning speeds. Do you know any superhuman teachers? If so, could you afford them?
Face the Real Issues
Permanently closing the academic gap between underachieving students and the rest of the student population requires addressing reality – airing the truth about the disparity – not resorting to politically “correct” psychobabble and curricula finagling for another ten years, and then another ten, and then another.
This disparity encompasses such issues as the number of hours the television is on in given households, family or parental encouragement for completing homework assignments, a regular workspace, and established hours for studying in a quiet environment, among other factors.
Until solid analysis, exploration, and programs that address these issues are undertaken, no amount of wrangling with classes will prove to be the “winning formula.” And, school boards will have no chance of effectively addressing the continuing problem of poor academic performance among student groups.
In Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story The Sign of Four, detective Sherlock Holmes says, “…When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” The schools in U.S. communities routinely exhaust talented teachers with a task that cannot be solved by them, nor is it theirs to solve.
Students Eager to Learn
However improbable to those who wish to pretend otherwise, academic achievement occurs through individual effort: One boy and one girl after another rising above and cracking the books, then coming to class as serious students, eager to learn, and primed to excel. Such achievement is not likely to occur any other way.
Otherwise, expect that income inequality and civil unrest will continue for decades into the 21st century.
– – – – –
-
Life2 weeks ago
A Dozen Enduring Axioms of Life
-
Tucker Carlson2 weeks ago
Roe v Wade is a widely acknowledged joke
-
Tucker Carlson2 weeks ago
Tucker: The Left’s Unhinged Reaction To Ending Roe
-
Tucker Carlson2 weeks ago
Joe Biden has turned out to be an unparalleled disaster
-
Tucker Carlson1 week ago
Biden’s queer new press secretary: Everyone’s a racist
-
News1 week ago
Nancy Pelosi: The Personification of Evil
-
Tucker Carlson1 week ago
The message to Joe Biden’s abortion militia could not have been clearer: Go forth and terrorize
-
Tucker Carlson7 days ago
American Taxpayers to Give $40 Billion to Ukraine