A public school district near Louisville, Kentucky has come down with a bad case of what I call “Participation Trophy Syndrome” – or PTS.

The Greater Clark County School Board in Jeffersonville, Indiana, is considering a plan to eliminate the valedictorian system because it creates “unhealthy competition,” according to Supt. Andrew Melin.

Unhealthy competition? Is he serious?

Did a kid suffer a concussion while trying to parse a participle?

“When students are competing for the Val and the Sal, they’re trying to find ways to maneuver through the system to try to get the best grades they can possibly get, as opposed to taking the course work that’s truly in their own best interest,” Supt. Melin told television station WHAS.

For you folks living in a commune in Berkeley, the “Val” is the valedictorian and the “Sal” is the salutatorian.

Now, the superintendent does have a valid point. If the kids are taking easy classes for an easy “A” – well, that’s not right.

But I’m curious about the kinds of courses he thinks the youngsters need to take. Are we talking about useful classes like shop or mechanics? Or is it more along the lines of “The Textual Appeal of Tupac Shakur” or “Interrogating Gender: Centuries of Dramatic Cross-Dressing”?

So instead of honoring the best and the second-best – the school is considering a plan to honor more kids.

“We’ve got all these great students that work very hard, and become very distinguished in their academic career and we want to be able to recognize more of those students at the end of a given year,” he told the television station.

My diagnosis has been verified, folks.

Clark County does in fact have an infestation of PTS. The school district will discuss the change on Sept. 6 – meaning the disease is only in the incubation stage.

Symptoms of Participation Trophy Syndrome may vary depending on the seriousness of the outbreak. However, most of the infected typically receive a trophy or a gold star.

Parents should also be wary of underage athletic programs. Teams that refuse to keep statistics or scores are more than likely infected.

Supt. Melin told WHAS there is “growing sentiment nationwide” to change the way schools honor academic success.

A school district in Whiteville, North Carolina recently made a similar change. Instead of recognizing two students, they will move to a three-tier Latin honor system.

Wake County, North Carolina opted for the Latin honor system, too, according to the News & Observer. And it also happened in Christian County, Kentucky where kids could earn either cum laude, manga cum laude or summa cum laude.

But even in the Latin honor system, someone still has to be number one, right? So isn’t that person being denied well-deserved honor and accolades?

Public schools are doing a disservice to kids when they try to cushion them from disappointment. In the real world, not everyone comes in first place.

In essence, they are minimizing achievement and teaching kids to aspire to mediocrity. What kind of message does that send to the kids who are trying to do their very best?

Just remember, folks. When everybody is a winner – we’re all losers.

Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is “God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values.” 

. Here we go again folks. Is this another Dr. Spock fad? Some of you may not be old enough to remember that imbecile. Oh, and remember the more resent fad where we endanger our children by telling them they are wrong. I remember the commercial that went something like this:

Teacher: “Johnny, what is two plus two?

Johnny:  thinks for a minute or two and says: “Five.”

Teacher: “GREAT Johnny, Good Answer, that’s super that you were able to think so hard about that some so close.”

Then my long time friend and shipmate, who was one of three Naval Officers for whom I had great respect when I was sentenced to one year on board the USS Chicago for some obscure reason I have yet to determine, sent me an email in response to the above email from a mutual friend. It’s priceless, and I learned soem things about my shipmate that I did not know.

Please forgive the personal reference, but:

In high school, we had National Honor Society (and me in it);

Top 10% (yup, me)

Youth Week with kids “running” for election (fire chief, police chief, mayor (guess who? Me))

Senior students voted stuff for the yearbook (best smile, most athletic, most versatile (me), most dependable (me), most likely to succeed (me, as second most likely)

Club presidents (no, I didn’t much like to join)

Dramatics Award for senior play (me, even though I didn’t join those geeks in the dramatics club)

We had something called Girls and Boys State with 4 chosen to go off to Rutgers University to play at legislative politics junior year (me again).

Anyway, all those offensive selective things bound to cause all the other boys and girls to commit suicide or lead forever traumatized lives!!! Nope, don’t recall that happening!

Bet they have little of this left today.

Our downward spiral, not started with Obummie, but he sure greased the slide.  We are going to leave this earth too late to avoid witnessing this…….

Doug

Originally posted 2016-09-02 12:19:49.

What never ends? The news about how inefficient and negligent our government really is, and some people expect the Hildabeast to straighten it all out. What rock are you living under?

I apologize, but I could not help from making some comments on this horrible example of  how bad our congress is at doing their job. They all need to go!!!

IRS doesn’t tell 1M taxpayers that illegals stole their Social Security numbers

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testified at the time that it may take new legislation from Congress to let his agency inform taxpayers they’d been the subject of identity theft. (Associated Press)

By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Tuesday, August 30, 2016

The IRS has discovered more than 1 million Americans whose Social Security numbers were stolen by illegal immigrants, but officials never bothered to tell the taxpayers themselves, the agency’s inspector general said in a withering new report released Tuesday.

Investigators first alerted the IRS to the problem five years ago, but it’s still not fixed, the inspector general said, and a pilot program meant to test a solution was canceled — and fell woefully short anyway.

As a result, most taxpayers don’t learn that their identities have been stolen and their Social Security files may be screwed up.

“Taxpayers identified as victims of employment-related identity theft are not notified,” the inspector general said.

The report alarmed lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who were shocked that the IRS had gone for so long without fixing the issue. Really? Five years? That’s because we do not have a pragmatist any where in the administration – we have inept politicians

“It is stunning that the IRS has chosen to aid and abet identity thieves for so long instead of protecting the innocent victims of the theft,” said Sen. Daniel Coats, Indiana Republican.

Victims’ numbers are stolen by illegal immigrants who need to give employers a valid Social Security number in order to get a job. Employers are prohibited from probing too deeply into numbers, even when they suspect fraud. Really? What would it take to change that prohibition? A pragmatist like Trump.

But the IRS learns of the scam when the illegal immigrants file their taxes using a special Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) the agency doles out chiefly to illegal immigrants as a way of making sure they’re paying taxes even if they’re not supposed to be in the U.S. OMG!

Between 2011 and 2015 the agency flagged nearly 1.1 million returns where someone appeared to have stolen a valid Social Security number, the inspector general said.

The IRS did not have any new comment on the findings, instead referring reporters to an official response filed with the inspector general, in which the agency insisted it’s making progress. Really? After five years? Wow!

Karen Schiller, commissioner for the IRS‘ small business and self-employed division, said the 2014 pilot program was helpful, even if it didn’t completely solve the notification problem, and said the agency will try to alert all taxpayers beginning next year. Really? Next year?

“As we continue to battle and make progress against all strains of identity theft in the tax ecosystem, we recognized that we were missing an important partner in this effort — the taxpaying public,” said Ms. Schiller, who had the task of answering the inspector general. What pray tell is a tax ecosystem?

She also vowed to figure out a system to let the Social Security Administration (SSA) know if someone’s number has been stolen.

Under the 2014 pilot program, the IRS did notify some 25,000 taxpayers whose SSN’s were pilfered. The notice they received told them to contact credit-monitoring agencies to try to head off any more damage to their personal finances.

But the IRS said it’s prevented by federal law from telling taxpayers who stole their identity. Then change the law Congress!

The IRS says its role is not to enforce immigration laws but rather to collect taxes. The agency issues ITINs to ensure that unauthorized workers can still file tax returns, even if they aren’t supposed to be working in the U.S. Taxpayers who use an ITIN are eligible for some tax credits, particularly for their children who are U.S. citizens. OMG. 

Congressional Republicans have long complained to the IRS that it is protecting illegal immigrants from discovery by allowing the use of ITINs but failing to share the information with other agencies.

Mr. Coats, who has written legislation requiring victims to be notified, even confronted IRS officials about their lax behavior at a hearing in April.

“All of us can agree that victims need to know that they’re victims, and need to know that an agency of the federal government, whether it’s IRS or whether it’s SSA, or both, ought to have some ability to talk to each other,” Mr. Coats said.

IRS Commissioner John G. Koskinen told Mr. Coats at the hearing that in many of the cases, friends or relatives lent their Social Security numbers to the unauthorized workers, and already know their information is being fraudulently used.

He also said the agency struggled to come up with a solution that wouldn’t chase illegal immigrants away from filing their taxes altogether. So, you are more worried about getting your tax dollars than protecting the American citizen? This jerk needs to be fired, and I believe he will when Trump gets into office.

“Obviously, priority for taxpayers and the IRS is collecting those taxes,” he said.

Mr. Koskinen testified at the time that it may take new legislation from Congress to let his agency inform taxpayers they’d been the subject of identity theft. So, Mr. Congress person when are you going to do your job and  provide that new legislation, it’s only been five years.

But the hiccup in communicating with the Social Security Administration seems like it should be easier to solve. The inspector general, however, said the IRS didn’t have a system set up to make sure SSA always knew of the fraud.

In some cases IRS employees said they sent a notice, but the Social Security Administration had no record of it. In other cases, it appears the IRS didn’t even bother to make a notification.

“The lack of a formal process to ensure that the SSA is notified of income not associated with an innocent taxpayer is problematic because this notification is essential to ensure that victims’ Social Security benefits are not affected,” the inspector general said.

I am beside myself. What has happened to our government? Please give me your thoughts. 

Originally posted 2016-08-31 15:01:40.

Gunny’s Rule. Gunny’s tell it like it is. Gunny’s never lie. When Gunny’s talk, everyone listens> read what the Gunny says about Colin Kaeperpoop. Did I spell that correctly Gunny?

Most of my friends know I am totally not into sports. I mean I am not impressed by these sports so-called super stars who make millions for playing games and too often make the worst choices in their daily lives because they cannot handle the fame and their own finances.   I mean really, if you are making millions a year and still beating up your girlfriend, getting DUI’s, dog fighting, drunk in public, illegal firearms….I mean grow up already.  If you’re making that kind if money, you are no longer in the frat house or back on the block.  It is now your time to be a responsible adult or learn how to be one.  If you want all these endorsements and to have your wealthy asses on the Cheerios box for young kids to emulate, then pull up your pants, get a haircut, learn how to speak,  buy yourself an education and get your act together!

I feel the same way most Veterans do about this idiot football player (notice I did not defile this commentary by using his name) refusing to stand for the National Anthem. Part of me realizes that is his right as an American, but most of me also realizes if he is that passionate about his cause, he should be taking the millions he is making and putting his money where his mouth…or in his case his butt…is.  What have you done, Mr. Football player, to help the “oppressed people” in this country you obviously hold in contempt?

Now the football fans in videos all over Facebook and the internet that are standing in salute playing the National Anthem while they burn his jersey hit a home run, in my eyes, right out of the ball park. So I join these fans in a  salute to you, you moron.  Of all the things you could protest or show youngsters in America as a role model, you had to show how to be “un-American.”

Just Sayin’,
The Gunny

Originally posted 2016-08-31 11:21:19.