Tag Archives: California

Current Events

America’s War on Children Part II

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I’m sorry gang, you probably want to hear more about Trader Joe, but I just got this from Fox News and almost spilled my coffee reading it. Are there any sane humans still living in California? If you know of any, please ask they why and let us know what they say.  It has to have something to do with family, ya think?

Anyway, this is a hoot, I mean an absolute hoot,. Even worse than banning straws. What is interesting is to read what some members of the school board said to defend their 6 to 1 decision. They have literally no clue what they were elected to do. We didn’t hear from the one dissenting vote, wonder why? Maybe he’s in hiding?

What’s even funnier is to read some of the idiotic comments responding to this post by Fox News. Should you desire to do so, please cut and paste the following into your browser. Otherwise read on and enjoy!

https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-francisco-school-board-votes-to-rename-schools-honoring-washington-lincoln-feinstein-others

San Francisco school board votes to rename schools honoring Washington, Lincoln, Feinstein, others.

Replacing signage at the 44 schools will cost more than $400,000, a report says, plus other related costs. The price tag could also go up to around $1 million for schools to get new activity uniforms, repaint gymnasium floors, etc., according to the Chronicle. The district is facing a budget deficit.

Not even revered former presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson are safe from “cancel culture,” it appears.

The American icons were among a list of historical figures whose names will be removed from San Francisco’s public schools following a 6-1 vote by the school board Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

Washington and Jefferson were both slave owners and Lincoln, who ended slavery, became controversial because critics claim he oppressed indigenous people.

The presidents were among a long list of men and women whose namesake schools will soon be renamed. Others on the list include Francis Scott Key, who wrote the words to the national anthem, former presidents William McKinley, James Garfield, James Monroe, and Herbert Hoover, Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere and author Robert Louis Stevenson, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Even an elementary school named for current U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., will be changed over allegations that she replaced a damaged Confederate flag outside of City Hall when she was the city’s mayor in 1986, according to Courthouse News. She didn’t replace the flag after it was pulled down a second time.

Historical figures have come under a sharp focus since anti-racism protests swept the country last summer, with some protesters ripping down Confederate statues but also those of figures like Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and others they deemed offensive.

STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN WITH KNEELING SLAVE REMOVED IN BOSTON

Mayor London Breed rebuked the plan in October as “offensive,” saying the school board should be focused on reopening schools closed during the pandemic rather than renaming them. Wow, a sane statement in a sea of insanity; remarkable. Heck she might even have a piece of a brain left, ya think?

(Abraham Lincoln High School, among 44 schools targeted for renaming, is seen in San Francisco. (Google))

“It’s offensive to parents who are juggling their children’s daily at-home learning schedules with doing their own jobs and maintaining their sanity,” she said at the time, according to Courthouse News. “It’s offensive to me as someone who went to our public schools, who loves our public schools, and who knows how those years in the classroom are what lifted me out of poverty and into college. It’s offensive to our kids who are staring at screens day after day instead of learning and growing with their classmates and friends.”

Replacing signage at the 44 schools will cost more than $400,000, according to the Courthouse News. The price tag could also go up to around $1 million for schools to get new activity uniforms, repaint gymnasium floors, etc., according to the Chronicle. The district is facing a budget deficit.

While the board focused on renaming the schools in the Tuesday meeting, it did not discuss reopening schools from coronavirus shutdowns.

Other critics complained the panel that reviewed the appropriateness of school names used little input from historians and didn’t put the figures into a historical context or weigh their contributions with their failings.

Others argued the research process was thin, relying on selective sources and using websites like Wikipedia to back up claims.

NY TIMES COLUMNIST: ‘YES, EVEN GEORGE WASHINGTON’ STATUES MUST GO

In the case of Roosevelt Middle School, it wasn’t clear if the board knew which former President Roosevelt it was named for, but decided to have it removed anyway.

Board member Mark Sanchez, however, called the decision a “moral message.”

“It’s a message to our families, our students and our community. It’s not just symbolic,” he said, according to the Chronicle.

Board member Kevine Boggess, who supported the resolution, suggested schools shouldn’t be named after anyone.

We “should not make heroes out of mortal folks,” he said, according to the Chronicle. “I think we need to examine our naming policies across the district and really consider how the way we go about naming schools reflects our true values.”

School staff and families have until April to suggest new names for the schools.

Originally posted 2021-01-27 12:07:04.

Current Events

Flight Over Iwo Jima

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Every now and then I come across a story that has nothing whatsoever to do with the political swamp, or sick society in which we find ourselves. Some move me and make my chest swell. Well here’s one for you jar heads out there. It’s wonderful story that needs no additional words from me! Enjoy, comment, and share.

Bill Knowles Green Valley News & Sun and The Sahuarita Sun
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Off and on during my adult years I have associated with members of the United States Marine Corps and these short interludes have been worthwhile in all respects; most recently I have shared a mutual volunteer chore with a retired member of the Marines, a local guy by the name of Master Gunny Bob Duerden. Another great member of the “Corps.”

For Bob and the rest of our local retired Marines, here is a story about 165 Marines on their way to war!

During the years 1963 to 1971, I had the privilege of managing the flight operation of a 13-plane fleet of Boeing 320C aircraft carrying troops and/or cargo from United State’s shores to SE Asia and the war known as Vietnam. When carrying Marines, our flights progressed from the USMC base at Pendleton, in Southern California, to Honolulu thence to the Marine base in Okinawa and then to Da Nang in Vietnam, where the Marines would board their own helicopters to proceed to their in-country posts.

It was a typical lovely Sunday that we departed Honolulu bound for Okinawa; there were three cockpit crew members , eight cabin flight attendants and 165 members of the USMC in this gold-tailed Boeing 320C Intercontinental jet capable of flying nonstop some 13 hours and more than 6,000 miles.

Over the Pacific Ocean the skies were clear and the ride was smooth … most of our passengers quickly fell asleep. Some seven hours later, a smidgen of light coming up on our tail suggested the arrival of the morning sunrise; I called the first flight attendant to the cockpit and asked about the well-being of the passengers and when she was planning to awaken them for their breakfast.

“We have a small gift for the Marines coming up in 20 minutes but I need them all to be awake.” She answered that she would awaken them now and serve breakfast when I advised her.

During flight planning, before departure from Honolulu, the en route winds and weather suggested a route that took us directly over the islands of Iwo Jima — these islands were deeply etched in the history of the USMC in World War II — and forecast winds would result in a flight faster than the normal for this route.

I called the first flight attendant on the intercom and advised her that I would be making a PA to the passengers in about 10 minutes and that after that please do not serve any beverages until we had passed Iwo Jima. A short time later our weather radar picked up the Iwo Jima Islands on the nose 40 miles ahead; I made the following PA to the passengers: “Gentlemen, I hope that you have been comfortable … we are ahead of schedule and we have a small gift for you this morning … in about 12 minutes we will pass directly over the islands of Iwo Jima where earlier members of your Marines fought so gallantly in World War II. We will circle the islands two ways so that all of you will have a great view of the islands.

The Pacific Ocean six miles below was glassy smooth and deep blue, it was an outstanding morning.
As we started our circle of the islands below, the first flight attendant came into the cockpit saying, “Captain, look back through the cockpit door at the passengers.” She opened wide the cockpit door.

The First Sergeant had every Marine aboard standing up, at attention and these 165 proud warriors were singing the Marines’ Hymn as we passed over these Iwo Jima Islands where so many of their brothers had earlier fallen.

The cabin of the aircraft had taken on all those qualities of a land-based church; I really do not think that, including the cockpit, there was a dry eye aboard this flight, on this morning, so far from home. The hymn from 165 Marine voices reached every nook and cranny of this largest of Boeing aircraft on this peaceful morning … never to be forgotten.

Later arriving at Okinawa , where the Marines would spend a week or so before heading for Da Nang to join their fellow Marines, as our crew descended the steps after the passengers has proceeded us, we heard a great “Thank you, crew” from 165 proud Marines. It was a gratifying moment!

Of 157 flights across the Pacific, that particular trip — with 165 of the nation’s finest – will live forever in the memory of this flight crew member.

Bill Knowles lives in Green Valley.

Thank you Mr. Bill Knowles for such a wonderful story

Originally posted 2020-08-10 12:37:34.