So you think President Trump and our Government are Facist? I don't think that word means what you think it means Antifa so we will start with the Webster Definition.
Definition of fascism: 1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
GONNA BREAK IT DOWN NOW.
1 a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation (Nationalism is the advocacy of or support for the political independence of a particular nation or people)
■There is nothing wrong with people of any nation wanting a strong nation)

2. and often race ☆ Trump has improved the lives of minorities and marginalized people:
■Sentencing and Prison Reform: The FIRST STEP Act. In late 2018, Congress enacted its most sweeping prison reform legislation in a generation. Formally known as the First Step Act, the law's purpose is to shorten sentences somewhat for particular crimes and improve conditions of incarceration for some inmates as well.Apr 22, 2019

■ Prior to Covid 19 things were looking good for minorities and marginalized people. Due in large part to President Trump keeping his promise that he would make our economy great again.
□All minorities groups saw their unemploymentrates drop to some of the lowest rates since 1944
□"Low unemployment is forcing employers to raise pay and become more aggressive about hiring and training workers. Average hourly earnings rose 3.2 percent in the past year, well above inflation, and lower wage workers enjoyed some of the largest gains as companies scrambled to fill jobs and many states have raised their minimum wage." (May 3, 2019 at 11:20 a.m. Washington Post)

3. above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government
■An autocracy is a system of government in which an autocrat, defined as a single person or party, possesses supreme and absolute power. The decisions of this autocrat are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control.
□ Republicans do not possess absolute power. If the did there never would have been an attempt impeach the president
□ 2 words. Senate/House
□ President Trump didn't demanded States do certain things regarding covid 19 and was blasted for it by many Democrats. He didn't do it because the rights not specifically given to the federal government by the constitution are the rights of the State.
4.headed by a dictatorial leader Do you know what dictator means? a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.
■Trump may wish he had total power but that is obviously not the case.
5. severe economic and social regimentation
■The economy was better than ever before covid. A rising ship lifts all people as was evidenced by historically low unemployment for all segments of society.
6. Forcible suppression of opposition.
■If there is any forcible suppression of opposition it would be from the "progressive" left that encourages people to confront Conservative Republicans in restaurants and public venues and verbally and in some cases physically harass them.
Just some more facts to take into account. That's my two cents.

Decline of the American Civilization

Thinking about Roman, Greek and Mayan civilizations. All considered great civilization and yet they are gone. As I look at our young country I am afraid that our history may be much shorter than those of these great civilizations.
I wrote this line 05/27/13 to start a blog post but never fleshed out what I was thinking. Tonight I as I watch President Trump deliver the 2020 State of the Union Address I am sure that in 2013 I had not imagined the state of America at this time in our history. We seem on the road to civil war. So much hate and vitriol against conservatives.

Uncivilized Society

* This current period of hate seemed to start when we discovered that democratic operatives hired thugs to cause trouble at Trump rallies https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/18/undercover-video-shows-democrats-saying-they-hire-/
* Then there have been calls from progressives to acts of violence against Conservatives. This document is 7 pages long single spaced and deliniates these many agregious acts. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20190409/109266/HHRG-116-JU00-20190409-SD008.pdf
* We see media out lets support the vilification of President trump. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-39592010. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/bjwky3/2020-voters-are-already-being-inundated-by-fake-news-on-facebook utm_source=viceadwordsdynamicus&utm_medium=cpc
*Some media outlets give up on reporting facts and give opinions, here is just one example https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/01/trump-is-mentally-unwell-and-everyone-around-him-knows-it.html
*Antifa (A violent fasist group that hides behind masks) begins attacking supporters https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/28/democrats-silent-after-antifa-attacks-berkeley-tru/
*Top Democrat leaders encourage violence. Hillary Clinton herself said the time for civility toward Republicans is over. “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about,” Clinton told CNN. https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/30369-anti-gop-violence-escalates-top-democrats-egg-on-the-goons
*During her campaign against President Trump, Hillary Cliton stated that "you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.",
*Maxine Waters called on constituents to quote. “If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,”
*ManyTrump supporters have been the victims of numerous targeted attacks, brutal violence, and hate crimes (https://www.foxnews.com/us/video-emerges-of-mob-beating-chicago-man-while-yelling-dont-vote-trump) (https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2018/07/05/rap-sheet-acts-of-media-approved-violence-and-harassment-against-trump-supporters/)
*It seemed to became ok to threaten to kill the President https://bgr.com/2016/11/15/man-threatens-to-kill-trump-ceo-sniper/
*or his son. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/peter-fonda-barron-trump/
*Made up stories of attacks by Trump supporters https://nypost.com/2019/02/21/the-list-of-bogus-hate-crimes-in-trump-era-is-long/
*Media becomes a tool to radicalize the left https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/15/inside-the-beltway-media-lies-that-radicalized-the/
*Citizen's begin to view opposition as something to kill. https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=57444
*School officials think nothing of depicting Trump head on a pike for mural https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/mural-of-trump-on-chula-vista-school-wall-sparks-controversy/509-017636f1-e340-4670-94a4-fa4ea0cb79df Many conservatives are scared to express their support on their clothes or their possessions, for fear of being physical attacked or their property vandalized.
There have been attacks by Republican's on Democrats too. I could not help but notice however, that many of the stories I found while researching those were mostly about verbal attacks, not physical violence or threats of violence as I found against conservatives.

Tonight much was made about President Trump not shaking Palosi's hand after handing her a copy of the speech. He didn't shake Vice President Pences hand either and does not appear to be purposly dissing her. Yes he might have needed to be more aware that that would be the polite thing to do, I don't disagree there. On the other hand, making a show of tearing up her copy of the speech was disrespectful to the President. There is usually some booing and the like from the people not in power but the Democrats Chanting HR 3 complete with hand gesture (Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act sent to the Senate on December 16th) and shouting over the Presidents State of the Union, was not the decorem we expect of our Representatives and Senators, It was unbecoming and innappropriate. Democrats couldn't even applaud when President Trump touted the great employment numbers of all groups.

We elected him to do a good job for America, we were not electing him Pope. (he sure isn't anywhere near Pope material). But lets be honest, we kinda knew what kind of person he was when he ran for office. (He is not a racist white supremist as the many democrats would like you to believe) He was elected because he promised to do things that his base wanted done. He was elected because he wasn't Hilary Clinton who left American's to die in Bengazi and then lied about the incident. He wasn't the person who used a private server for confidential, classified American buisness then to hide evidence smashed and bleachbit her phone and server. He was not a carreer politician. America wanted the "swamp" cleaned up. President Trump is a bombastic,arragont and a name calling bully. Basically an arse. But as I said we didn't elect him to be pope.

Here are some of his accomplishments in his first 3 years of office:

--He has kept many campaign promises and made headway on others.
--He defends Religious freedom.
--He defends life.
--He takes no salary,donating it each quarter.
--He reformed the tax code.
--He signed the First Steps Act which is intended to reform prison system.
--Reduced regulations that caused American Companies to leave the US by He signed executive order directing that for every new regulation, two be repealed, thus, helping to bring about the reshoring of jobs and companies to the US. Employment figures for minorities are at all time highs
--He created a White House veterans hotline.
--He reverse Obama's executive order on gun control.
--He signed an order placing lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying for foreign government.
--He is making NATO partners pay their share.
--He moved US embassy to Jerusalem. and more
We must challenge ourselves to research the truth. Too many people (76% according to one article) get their news from social media. To many people repost and believe outright lies without ever checking the facts. Talking heads on TV and the internet vomit up outright lies and assertions without basis, espousing their opinions and gut feelings as facts.

As we live our daily lives we must not push aside our morals and values. We must live by the Golden Rule and think to ourselves What would (God, Budda, Gandi, M.L King, a nice person do? We must endevor to love those that hate us. We must resist the temptation to follow the crowd. I pray that we will not devolve so far as to fight a civil war again in this country, but things look grim my friends. It's up to each of us to stop this slide into polarized maddness.


some links to information used in this opinion piece.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/19/occupy-wall-street-advocates-killing-ice-agents/ https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/476438-the-real-threat-to-civil-rights-trump-haters https://investorplace.com/2017/01/10-companies-bringing-jobs-back-to-america/ https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/promise/1341/take-no-salary/ https://www.gobankingrates.com/making-money/business/companies-reinvested-america-following-trumps-election/#0

Idiotocracy

Idiotocracy is a movie starring Luke Wilson and while it may be fiction I think it's message is clear. This country is going to hell in a hand basket. Tonight I am thinking about one of the reasons for this decline. Dr Benjamin Carson said tonight that "The politically correct "everyone's a winner" philosophy is destroying the fabric of our society" I believe it is also creating self centered, disrespectful children who think they are entitled to things without an ounce of work. NCLB (No Child Left Behind) is leaving whole groups of students behind. State and Education laws are too. A teacher who has high expectations is lauded until too many student fail to rise to the expectation. Then they are told that something is wrong with their teaching because too many fail. No wonder you hear about weak minded people who cheat on the State Tests. No one likes to get beaten down after they have worked themselves ragged. A very smart person once said "the best teacher is not necessarily the one with all the children passing their class. It could be that that teacher ensures that they students have a passing grade so they don't have to deal with the hassle of parents" Yes Teachers can be more engaging, motivating and a "Guide on the Side. We can spend untold hours looking at data, making all our decisions driven by that data, making materials and working to do our job the best we can for each individual child in our care. We can learn new tricks. We can have a loving, deep relationship with our students. We can be teacher, counselor and cheerleader. We can be all these things and yet feel like we am being told we are not good enough. If only we were more engaging, our lessons more interesting and geared toward each individual and if we had greater relationships with students we would reach them all....... But the reality is more complicated than that. Our students come to us with baggage; fatherless, motherless, poor, abused, hungry, parents or siblings in trouble with the law. Our kids spend hours alone as latch key kids as parent or guardian works to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. Some parents don't parent. Our kids are angry and hurt and starved for love in some cases. Our kids are spending countless hours playing violent first person shooters and watching graphic murders, rapes and crimes on TV. Some students get passed from grade to grade because holding them back makes the likelihood that they will drop out rise. Laws and statutes set arbitrary lines that schools must abide by even when it doesn't make sense. Some students simply were born with deficits in intellectual capabilities. Not all students will achieve a passing rate on any state assessment even if you legislate it. NCLB was well intended just not well thought out. A speaker came to our school district to talk about culture but most in attendance heard him mostly speak about race. During his PD he said that (I paraphrase here) African American students and other minorities have trouble in schools because the standards and expectation are those of middle class whites..... He argued that we needed to change our standards and expectations to more reflect where the kids are coming from. . Reality check!! These children must learn to conform to those "middle class white" standard because that is the world they live in. Right or wrong, fair or not; That is the world in which they will have to compete for jobs. This is a free country and employers have the right to have some standards that must be met if you want them to employ you. The ability to read, write and reason are chief among them. They will also expect appropriate dress for the job and adherence to the rules. They will be expected to be well spoken and well groomed. They will expect the people they employ to be motivated, self starters and team players When students are not raised with much in the way of morals and values.they end up with the morals and values they find on the street. These values tend to be that "I can do anything I please and if you try to stop me you are disrespecting me and I can injure or slander you as payback" Kids are shooting kids dead for the shoes on their feet, We are losing a whole generation of students to the "do it if it feels good" philosophy. The trend today in Education is that we can't look at those things as we try to educate the child. These are things we have no control over and I totally agree that it is true. But you can't just sweep it under the carpet and say it doesn't matter in the classroom. Whether we talk about it openly or not that Elephant is sitting in the room with us. Parents are the most influence people in their children's life. As teachers we have your child a year or two and then they are gone. A parent must stand up and say to their child that failing is not an option. Disrespecting your teacher and classmates will earn some form of punishment. Parents need to discipline their children when they do wrong and celebrate them when they do right. Parents must say what they mean and mean what they say. If a standard is broken or a line crossed there must be consequences. If a parent threatens a consequence they must follow through. To fix the schools we need to do everything we can as educators and this country needs to do something about the cultural crisis. What crisis you ask? The crisis of the loss of the family unit and the beliefs and values that built this country. That's all I will say now, I will leave the rest for another day. God Bless.

ADHD or Sleep Deprivation? Worth Another Look!

People use to call me the Nap Nazi. I was and am proud of that nickname. With three small children each a year apart and a teenage son, I didn't play around when it came to feeding my children and getting them to their beds for nap. Most days we played at the park with another group of moms with young children. We would eat a picnic that was packed with fruits, veggies and crackers then we would say good bye to our friends and be home by 11:45 am where we washed up, got a drink and headed for bed. The girls and I would sleep for about 2 hours. Bedtime started around 7:00pm. Full tummies and washed bodies were tucked into bed and the 'Lullaby Magic" cassette was plugged in and played loud enough that it could be heard in every room. The girls always slept till almost 7 am then the whole routine started over. We had read somewhere that habituating your child to the same music played every night at bedtime would be useful when change of location due to traveling. Sure enough we could load the kids into the car at 3:30 am, plug in that cassette and the girls would sleep until 8am or so, ready for us to pull over and eat breakfast. Funniest of all on a trip to Santa Fe New Mexico that same cassette worked on my teenage son. We could turn that tape on and he would go to sleep as quickly as the girls. I ran across a story in the Sunday Review http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/diagnosing-the-wrong-deficit.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=1& And was struck by this paragraph. "For some people — especially children — sleep deprivation does not necessarily cause lethargy; instead they become hyperactive and unfocused. Researchers and reporters are increasingly seeing connections between dysfunctional sleep and what looks like A.D.H.D., but those links are taking a long time to be understood by parents and doctors." Vatsal G. Thakkar is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the N.Y.U. School of Medicine. It is no secret that sleep helps rejuvenate the mind and body. Just talk to some new mother who is awake every hour and a half with her newborn. Sometimes post part em depression is just lack of continuous uninterrupted sleep. When given 6 hours of sleep the mood is often raised and reason returns. Maybe it is just my husbands and my stellar parenting that raised polite young ladies who could sit still and quiet in a room. But I believe that the strict adherence to our sleep schedule (and an obsessive control of health eating) played a large part. At nearly 15 years old the youngest still puts herself to bed around 7 pm every night. As a teacher of 5th graders I routinely hear from them that they stay up till hours of the night. Some of the most distracted and unfocused are among these. Then there is the problem of the students who can't keep their eyes open and their heads raised. These kids are missing so much of the learning happening in the classroom. So before you take your child to the doctor for ADHD give this simple plan a try. Set a bedtime that will allow your child to get at least 10 hours of sleep. Your child will insist that they can't sleep, they will fight you tooth and nail. You are the parent. Put your foot down. The second crucial step is to wake them up around the same time every day. 6 am on school days, no later than 7 am on weekends. Retrain their body clock and you might be surprised at how much calmer and nicer you child can be. WAKE UP AMERICA! Our kids need to sleep!

Tune out!

Turn off the T.V. Walk away from idle talk about the recent tragedy. Drop onto your knees and pray. Pray for those families. Pray for the world. PRAY!

I wish....

I wish I had been born with a different disposition.  I wish I could shrug off the unthinking, hurtful things that people do and say.   I wish I didn't take everything so personally.  I wish I knew how others expect me to respond to things. ( maybe pretending would satisfy them) I wish people could make their expectations apparent and reasonable.  
I wish I could solve the worlds problems and wave a magic wand and have everyone treat everyone with kindness, compassion and mercy.  I would wipe away world hunger and poverty, I would insure that every child and every animal and every person was treated with love, dignity and respect. If I had a dollar for every wish I wished I would be rich.
God  made of me a mother, not only of children but friends and loved ones.  He put me through hard dark times to give me a unique understanding.  God made me with a desire to serve, to be everything that he wants me to be. God made of me a teacher, to reach and teach the heart and minds of students.  God made me in his image to act in a way that allows people to see him through me.  God did not promise an easy road, in fact he promised it would be difficult.
 God's love is sufficient but honestly I wish he'd throw in some armor to protect my heart.
I pray often for the strength to do my job, the continued drive to keep up the good fight, I pray for motivation and wisdom and the ability to reach the unreachable.  God answered that prayer and things were going well.  Then the world put's it foot out and trips you up.
I wish I could say that it doesn't stop me in my tracks.  That is doesn't send me spiraling down into sadness and despair.  I wish I could say " I'm doing the best I can" then just keep my chin up and keep smiling.  I wish....  Truth is it makes it hard to do anything but withdraw.  It is hard do my job and talk with people.  It makes me wonder why I put so much of myself out there for people.
You can do everything in the world to be everything to everyone and it won't be good enough.   Your humanity and your faults will trip you up.  Unthoughtful or hurtful people will try to push you down.  Happenstance and humanness will keep you from perfection.  You will try something new, you will try to do what is expected and it will fail.   If you are me, it will always cut deep.  It will always make it hard to get up and continue.
I will still praise God,. God made me this way but  I still wish I had been born with a different disposition.

Tragedy in the classroom

The following is my opinion about the state of Education and in no way is intended to portray any school, district administration or teaching staff. I am not responsible for assumptions made by person's reading this blog.

When I was a kid, the classroom was a place of learning. Students sat in rows and didn't speak unless spoken to. Students were respectful and worked hard. When a student dared to test the rules of the class, there was swift justice, not only in the principles office but also at home.

What happens in some classrooms these days does not resemble that classroom. Not all changes are bad. Technology and hands on lesson plans that engage kids and allow them to experience the learning instead of listening to it described is a great advancement. Differentiation to meet the needs of your highest and your lowest performing is a lofty and worthy goal that should be lauded.

As a parent of three gifted girls I have greatly appreciated the effort made by the teachers at Anderson-ShiroCISD to meet their needs and keep them interested. Tragedy however hovers close by. Laws made by well intending, but clueless lawmakers, saddle the districts with huge responsibility but don't provide proper funds to implement such mandates. Under the mistaken belief that Standardized testing will help insure a well educated populous. People who don't stand on the front lines in teaching, create standards and tests that serve to stifle creativity and innovation in the classroom.

Teachers are desperately getting the entire year of learning squeezed into the first 7 months because it's all on the test. The breakneck pace that is required leaves dozens of children behind. Then students are tutored outside the classroom and continue to fall farther behind their piers. There is just not enough time in the day to reach enough students. Interventions are also required by law for these students, but arbitrary caps, limits the number of students that can be served at each level. Every couple years these same people raise the difficulty of the tests. No Child Left Behind was a grand idea. What an awesome goal; 100% of children passing state mandated tests by 2014. But NCLB is not reality. Continuing to believe in it, is detrimental to our schools. Legislative bodies will continue to make decrees from on high that no one without the perfect situation will be able to meet. God has created children of all different kinds. Not all children are endowed with the same gifts or interests. State and Federal governments have their hand in a pie that is leaving a bad taste in the mouth of educators in classroom around the U.S.

Laws about what can and can't be done about abhorrent behavior in the classroom, tie the hands of Administrators and Teachers. Students who disrupt the learning environment, disrespect and bully their classmates and teachers and refuse to attend to lessons or do classwork can't be removed from the classroom without a mountain of documentation. While the documentation is gathered the student continues to make class a living hell for classmates and teachers.

The world of Education has changed in more ways than just innovation and laws. The misguided politically correct philosophy that we must be "fair" is ruining our students. Years ago when my 2nd child was nearing her Kindergarten Graduation another mother, Dena and I looked at the handmade and nearly see through smocks that served as the graduation robes for the last fifty years and decided we needed a more modern version. We approached the principle about fundraising for new modern robes and were given the blessing to go ahead.

Having 3 girls who would wear a robe and Dena having 3 that would wear a robe, we offered parents the option to purchase their own so that they would have a keepsake to be worn by all our children. Our fundraising covered the cost of 46 graduation gowns needed for the large kindergarten class with a few extra for future growth.

As we were completing the orders, the assistant principle told us that it was "unfair" for some parents to be allowed to buy their robe. "What about the parents who can't afford to buy it? What about little Johnny who sees Casey go home with a robe and he can't? It's not fair!" I place that in quotes because it is the actual words that came out of her mouth. My response was that Johnny needs to understand that his mom and dad don't have the money and Casey's do. Simple as that. If Johnny views this as an injustice maybe it encourages him to do well in school so he can go to college and be more successful than his parents were able. Johnny learns that life is what you make it. Life isn't fair. It's a dog eat dog world and we do a dis-service to our kids when we don't allow them to learn this important lesson early.

The fourth change to the classroom is the huge number of children dealing with family issues. Parents divorced, separated jailed or absent. Students who are latch key and virtually raise themselves on junk food and violent T.V and video games. Students who run the streets because parents are working or self absorbed. Parents fight custody battles in front of the children and bad mouth the other parent to the child when given the chance. I have witnessed this more than I care to remember. I myself am divorced but my son will attest the the fact that I did not involve my son in any issues I had with his father. We worked together for the good of Adrian. We even went on cub scout camping trips with the ex in the tent next to my husbands and mine. We knew it was all about the our son, not ourselves or our issues.

As many children today, I was often home alone, as are my own children. My parents both worked hard as do my husband and I. My parents had rules that we knew had to be followed and we respected our parents for them. We were taken to church, taught about respect and what it looked like. We were taught morals and values at home. My husband and I have rules that are children follow. We take them to church and have taught them respect, morals and values beginning at an early age, the kids respect us and follow the rules.

Another nail in the coffin of public education is reality shows and video games, Snooky. Teen Mom and Grand Theft Auto as the blueprint for dreams of what kids want out of life. God help us! Children as young as 3 watching R rated movies and emulating what they see. We have young kids shooting there friends because they "disrespected them" The young mind is not developed enough. It really doesn't make a firm line between what is real and acceptable behavior and what they see on T.V and in video games. Violence spreads like a disease in American schools

The final nail in the coffin is the growing belief by people who have never been in a classroom that a teacher's pay should be tied to their students test scores. I try daily to make my classroom a safe and engaging place for my students. I believe that all children are capable of great things. I know that not all children have the same aptitude and must be treated as individuals. I am attempting to have 44 individual plans for the 44 students in my care. (Seriously, current thinking says this is what should happen!) I have no control over the laws or the environments my students come from. I work hard to make it interesting, fun and collaborative. I work my butt off to form relationships with kids and keep parents informed. Sometimes this is not enough and some people think my pay should be based on my students success on state tests. This year the criteria for passing the test will be decided after the students take it! As one intelligent man said. "It's throw the dart, and draw the target later." What if I tested like this? It must be fair, cause we are doing it to our children. If the people who want to connect student success with teacher pay get their way' you can write off all of the schools in low income areas. Teacher's will leave economically disadvantaged schools for higher ground. It will be impossible to find qualified teachers to teach at some schools. Those children will suffer. Those children will lose. We will all lose.

What do you think could be done to turn this tragedy around?