Peaceably to assemble

 "Congress shall make no law ... abridging ...  the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."   First Amendment.  

The word peaceably is important.  Peaceably means marching a route coordinated with local authorities.  It means carrying signs and flags and banners.  It means singing and chanting and speech making.  These days it means TV coverage.  And dispersing when the demonstration is over and going home.  First amendment requires government to permit these peaceable assembles.

Then we have riots.  Setting fires, beating people up, smashing shop windows, and looting.  Riots ought to be suppressed, rioters arrested, and held in arrest until all the paperwork is completed.  Use non-lethal weapons, tear gas, water cannon, pepper spray, tasers to break them up.  Start breaking up the riot as soon as possible to prevent it from getting bigger.  Many of the stores and businesses we see burning on TV belonged to people who had put everything they owned into starting the business, and keeping it going.  Burning the place down ruins those small business owners.  They expect law enforcement to protect their shops and businesses from being burned to the ground by rioters.  

And I have to wonder about the lack of common sense among the voters, who elected mayors and governors who permit riots to grow large and refuse offers of federal aid to suppress them.   Let's hope the voters have learned something over these last few weeks and make better choices this November.  At least they ought to vote the incumbents who have permitted this rioting out of office.   

Victory at Sea

 This was made shortly after WWII and it was on TV when I was in grade school in the 1950s.  They gathered up all the news reel and movie film of the war, including film captured from the Germans and the Japanese, and spliced it all together to tell a coherent story.  Richard Rodgers of Rogers and Hammerstein fame did the musical score, and it is a spectacular score.  It's a good watch and it does not only the naval side of WWII but a does a fair job on the land and air wars too.  It moves right along and kids will enjoy watching it.  Your kids will have a better understanding of what WWII was about and how it was fought for watching it. 

   I picked up a 5 DVD set that has every episode from the "Cheap Old DVD" bin at Walmart some years ago.  I don't know where you might find it today, but Googling for "Victory at Sea DVD" might turn something up.  

The video is all black and white.  Partly because color TV did not become widespread until the 1960s and largely because the color film of the day (Kodachrome) was so achingly slow, and only really worked out of doors on bright sunny days.  The available black and white film was much faster (more sensitive to light) and less fussy about exposure settings.  Even so, many of the video clips have the tops of everything burned in white and the sides and undercarriages solid black.  

Anyhow, if you can find it, your children will enjoy it and they will learn something. 

Pelosi suggests Biden not debate Trump on TV.

 Wow.  I (and lot of other people) expect the two presidential candidates to debate each other.  We have been doing this since Kennedy debated Nixon back in 1960.  Pelosi's suggestion to kill this year's debate strongly suggests that Pelosi fears that Biden is not up to debating Trump.  It is a reasonable fear.  But I think they have to debate, to pull out is a sign of weakness that everybody in the country will notice.  I saw that the Biden people said that Biden would indeed debate no matter what Pelosi thinks.  I think Biden made the right move there. 

So how effective was the Democrats TV only convention?

 So why do we hold political conventions.  Way back when, say John Kennedy's time, we chose the party's candidates at the convention.   Now we hold primary elections in every state to chose the party candidate, certainly more democratic, but it kinda took away the reason for conventions.  However, going to the national convention was so much fun for the delegates, that the parties still hold conventions, partly 'cause everyone has such a good time and partly hoping that TV coverage will win them votes.

   This year was a dry season, due to Corona virus, nobody went to the convention, it was all on TV.  So, did the Democrats convention say or do anything that won them votes?  I was not impressed, but then I am not a Democrat. 

Yellow Can Raid, slays 'em left and right

 The last can of Raid came in black can.  This Raid can is bright yellow.  And it is potent, like you would not believe.  I gave a couple of house flies a few squirts and got 'em.  Next morning, I find my rug covered in dead flies, must have been a hundred of 'em.  So bad I pulled out the vacuum cleaner and sucked 'em all up.  They must have added something to the insecticide to make it more potent.  Good for Raid.  The only good bug is a dead bug.

Campaign Rhetoric

 

I listened to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris doing their what-do-you-callit speeches on the car radio last night while driving up to Lancaster for a VFW election event.  They both talked a lot, using the vague generalities dialect of English.  They spent a lot of words trashing Trump, never a specific accusation, just blaming him for everything under the sun.  And a few outright falsehoods.  Kamala accused Trump of destroying American jobs just a week after the government released the jobs report showing 1.8 million new jobs this quarter.  Biden said that Trump inherited his good economic from Obama.  And a couple of other whoppers that slip my mind right now.

   No campaign promises.  No Statements like “If elected I will do thus and such to make your life better.” No promises to lower taxes, increase spending on pet programs, open the borders, reform criminal justice, increase EPA regulation, subsidize battery powered cars, protect forests and wild lands, insert your favorite Democratic program here.

   In short, the only reason Biden and Harris gave us to vote for them is to get rid of Trump.  Nothing else. Will this work in November??

Remote learning is really homeschooling

 Been a lot of talk about re opening the schools, especially k thru 12.  Parents are all in favor, with out open schools they cannot go to work, someone has to stay home and look after children.  The teachers are NOT in favor, they claim they will all catch COVID-19 and curl up and die. Most of the medics say this is not a problem, that small children are mostly immune to COVID-19.  And now we have some talk about "opening" the schools to offer "remote learning".   That's not really opening the schools in most people's book.  

The younger children need an adult, Mom, Dad, a grandparent, someone, to teach them.  The adult picks the lessons, finds the textbook or DVD or logs them in.  The children need someone to explain what they are supposed to be learning, and to insist that they sit down and work the home work problems.  The really small children have not learned to read yet, so following written directions is beyond them.  And even teen aged high school students can be exceptionally unmotivated and fail to do any of the "remote learning" work.  They need an adult to push them into learning.  

At this point, I don't see much difference to the parents between "remote learning" and home schooling.  I'm thinking unless your school is really open and the children can go to it 5 days a week, you better set up for homeschooling.  One parent has to stay home and school the kids. To my way of thinking, a good textbook[s] is/are essential.  You explain the lesson best you can.  The kids won't remember everything first time thru it.  They have the textbook to reread the lesson, pick up the points they missed, and lots of homework.  There are some very good lectures out on VHS or DVD.  My little local library has a set of VHS tapes of a course in the American Revolution.  A Gettysburg University professor stood behind a lectern and just lectured.  He was good.  He had some maps, and some prints of period paintings, but none of the fancy re enactment stuff you see on the history channel.  He told it straight, none of that Charles&Mary Beard "Economic Interpretation of the Constitution" stuff.  It was a college course, but it would work just fine for high school.  It was so good I watched all the tapes, on my own time, just for enjoyment.  There has got to be more good stuff like this out there.

Watching the Shakespeare plays is educational, especially if you discuss each one after watching it. Writing an essay every day is excellent.  Word-for-Windows takes a lot of the curse out of writing.  Field trips to historic sites, Bunker Hill, the Constitution, Lexington, Saratoga, what ever is in your part of the country, are great learning opportunities.