CHANGE: 32 States and Counting: Why Parents Bills of Rights Are Sweeping the U.S.

From Stephen Green, at Instapundit, “'The proposed laws have fueled questions about the role parents should play in their children's education. At the same time, they have fanned partisan flames, weaponizing a longstanding concept – parental rights – that academic experts and advocates alike say should not be politically charged'.”

Michigan Democrat Party

At Mary Katharine Ham's feed. Click to enlarge those screenshots.

Narrator: The post did reflect the views of Michigan Democrats. https://t.co/sZLuaOPDVE

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 17, 2022

Caroline Wozniacki

Beautiful family.

Feeling very grateful and blessed! Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours❤️#thanksgiving pic.twitter.com/QqJLNB1O9J

— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) November 25, 2021

The War on Thanksgiving

Hey, it's that special day when deranged "progressive" extremists dunk on U.S. colonialism, genocide, imperialism, racism, and all the other evils of AmeriKKK.

Check out Matt Tabbai: 

Thanksgiving is Awesome, by @mtaibbi https://t.co/Enzvqwjkmc

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) November 25, 2021

In the space of a generation America has gone from being a country brimming with undeserved over-confidence, to one whose intellectual culture has turned into an agonizing, apparently interminable run of performative self-flagellation.

More at Memorandum, "The War on Thanksgiving Is America at Its Worst." 

The Nuking of the American Nuclear Family

I should also be blogging Michelle Malkin more often, but, as noted, my blogging's been light of late, due to big family and work responsibilities. 

That said, I should have more "hotties" posted over the weekend.

Anyway, at the Unz Review:

“Gay poly throuple makes history, lists 3 dads on a birth certificate.”

That’s an actual headline from The New York Post, which last week featured an unsettling trio of men who recruited two female friends to help them conceive and deliver a baby girl named Piper.

Piper is now 3 years old and has a 1-year-old brother named Parker. According to the “gay poly throuple,” Piper told her preschool classmates how proud she was of her plentiful progenitors by bragging: “You have two parents. I have three parents.”

Actually, the “throuple” is really a quintet. If you count Piper’s egg donor and birth surrogate, we’ve now traveled from “Heather Has Two Mommies” (the infamous children’s book normalizing same-sex adoptions published in 1989) to “Piper Has Five Parents.” And in 2021, if you have any discomfort or reservations at all about the nuking of the nuclear family by throuples or quadrouples or dozenouples, then woke society tells us there’s something wrong with us, not them.

Dr. Ian Jenkins, one of Piper’s polyamorous pops, wrote in a newly released book about their “adventures in modern parenting” that the arrangement is “just not a big deal.” Nothing to see here, move along. Two, three, whatever. “Some people seem to think it’s about a ton of sex or something,” Jenkins complained, “or we’re unstable and must do crazy things. (But) it’s really remarkably ordinary and domestic in our house and definitely not ‘Tiger King’ (the creepy Netflix hit series about convicted murder-for-hire zookeeper Joe Exotic, who headed up a three-way “marriage to two men).

Weirdly, one of Piper’s other dads, Jeremy, is also a zookeeper like Joe Exotic whom the other two met through an online dating service. All very “remarkably ordinary and domestic.” Ho-hum.

Neighborhoods, cities and nations are safer, healthier and more prosperous where nuclear families are the norm. But for the sake of social justice and modern progressivism, we are all just supposed to shake our heads politely and keep our alarm about the sexual slippery slope to ourselves. As University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox summarized in a 2020 article reviewing the benefits of two-parent married households for The Atlantic magazine, “sadly, adults who are unrelated to children are much more likely to abuse or neglect them than their own parents are.”

Never mind all the scientific studies showing an elevated risk of child sexual abuse in households where children live with unrelated adults. Never mind the CDC data showing that introducing men unrelated to the children in a family elevates the risk of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of those children by about nine times higher than the rate experienced by children raised in normal, stable nuclear family of married biological parents and their children...

Still more.

 

'A Mother's Birthday Greeting to Her Son'

A beautiful, wonderful short post, from Phyllis Chesler:  

I can still remember the exact moment of his birth, how small and wet he was, and how unexpectedly blonde. He was gasping for air, needed oxygen, and I was completely worn down by a 32 ½ hour labor. But, within an hour, I was up and filled with the most incredible joy. Giving birth to life is a unique rite of passage, both divine and yet incredibly human, the stuff of mortal beings, the way of female flesh. I was so overcome by it all that I wrote a book With Child: A Diary of Motherhood, which some publishers turned down because, as one editor said: “You can write about important things, why waste your time on this?” Another editor said: “You will not be a normal mother, other women will not be able to relate to your experience.” Arnold Dolin, a wonderful man and a wonderful editor, published it. When my son was eighteen, he wrote the Introduction to the book. He is a beautiful writer and I will forever admire his words.

But oh, how quickly his childhood was over. One minute it was here—diapers and Barbar-the Elephant King, Paddington Bears, and Cabbage Patch Kids, and all those little action figures (I called them boy dolls), and then it was all gone in only an eye-blink of eternity...

Keep reading.

 

Mary Katharine Ham's 'Op-Sec' Christmas Gifting Experiences

A great thread, via Instapundit (click through), "A DELIGHTFUL THREAD FROM MARY KATHARINE HAM: Christmas surprises and OpSec failures."

'Authority for the Last Days'

Pastor Mike Webb's service this morning, at Foothill Family Church, in Lake Forest, California.

Amazon Sales: Pools, Spas, and Supplies

*BUMPED.*

At least folks can swim in their own backyards during the lockdown, man.

At Amazon, Shopping for Pools, Spas, and Supplies.

Plus, Kaufman – 100% Cotton Velour Striped Beach & Pool Towel 4-Pack – 30in x 60in, and AmazonBasics Cabana Stripe Beach Towel - Pack of 2, Navy Blue.

Also, Outdoor Patio Synthetic Backyard Poolside Garden Black Rattan Wicker Chaise Lounge Chair Cushioned Set Adjustable with Armrest (Set of Two, Royal Blue), and Best Choice Products Adjustable Outdoor Steel Patio Chaise Lounge Chair for Patio, Poolside w/ 5 Positions, UV-Resistant Cushions - Beige.

More, SKINNY TUMBLERS 4 Colored Acrylic Tumblers with Lids and Straws | Skinny, 16oz Double Wall Clear Plastic Tumblers With FREE Straw Cleaner & Name Tags! (Clear, 4).

Still more, Coleman 24-Can Party Stacker Portable Cooler.

And, Fujifilm FinePix XP130 Waterproof Digital Camera w/16GB SD Card - Sky Blue.

Also, Banana Boat Sunscreen Ultra Sport Performance, Broad Spectrum Sunscreen Spray - SPF 30 - 6 Ounce Twin Pack.

BONUS: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: 50 Years of Beautiful Hardcover.

Remote Learning Is Breaking Parents

This is too true. My 18 year old is trying to graduate high school, and this remote learning has been tough for him --- and my wife and I.

At NYT, "With Schools Shut by Coronavirus, Remote Learning Strains Parents":

Daniel Levin’s son, Linus, 7, was supposed to be doing math. Instead, he pretended to take a shower in the living room, rubbing a dry eraser under his arms like a bar of soap, which upset his 5-year-old sister, distracting her from her coloring.

As much as he tried, Mr. Levin, who lives in Brooklyn, could not get Linus to finish the math. His hopes for the reading assignment were not high, either.

“He’s supposed to map out a whole character trait sheet today,” Mr. Levin said one day last week. “Honestly, if he writes the name and the age of the character, I’ll consider that a victory.”

Ciarra Kohn’s third-grade son uses five different apps for school. Her 4-year-old’s teacher sends lesson plans, but Ms. Kohn has no time to do them.

Her oldest, a sixth-grader, has eight subjects and eight teachers and each has their own method. Sometimes when Ms. Kohn does a lesson with him, she’ll ask if he understood it — because she didn’t.

“I’m assuming you don’t, but maybe you do,” said Ms. Kohn, of Bloomington, Ill., referring to her son. “Then we’ll get into an argument, like, ‘No, mom! She doesn’t mean that, she means this!’”

Parental engagement has long been seen as critical to student achievement, as much as class size, curriculum and teacher quality. That has never been more true than now, and all across the country, moms and dads pressed into emergency service are finding it one of the most exasperating parts of the pandemic.

With teachers relegated to computer screens, parents have to play teacher’s aide, hall monitor, counselor and cafeteria worker — all while trying to do their own jobs under extraordinary circumstances. Essential workers are in perhaps the toughest spot, especially if they are away from home during school hours, leaving just one parent, or no one at all, at home when students need them most.

Kindergartners need help logging into Zoom. Seventh-graders need help with algebra, last used by dad circa 1992. “School” often ends by lunchtime, leaving parents from Long Island to Dallas to Los Angeles asking themselves the same question: How bad am I if my child plays Fortnite for the next eight hours?

Yarlin Matos of the Bronx, whose husband still goes to work as a manager at a McDonald’s, has seven children, ages 3 to 13, to keep on track. She spent part of her stimulus check on five Amazon Fire tablets because the devices promised by the city’s Education Department had not arrived.

Ms. Matos, a psychology major at Bronx Community College, said she must stay up late, sometimes until 3 a.m., trying to get her own work done.

“I had a breaking moment where I had to lock myself in the bathroom and cry,” she said. “It was just too much.”

Laura Landgreen, a teacher in Denver, always thought it strange that she sent her two sons, Callam Hugo, 4, and Landon Hugo, 7, off to school rather than home schooling them herself.

She doesn’t find it strange anymore. “My first grader — we would kill each other,” she said. “He’s fine at school, but here he has a meltdown every three seconds.”

“I need to teach other children,” she said...

The Beautiful Jackie Johnson Enjoying Motherhood and Nature

I miss her nightly weathercasts as CBS News 2 Los Angeles

But she's posting updates to Twitter on her post-weathercaster career as a beautiful and loving mother:

Happy Easter 🌿🐇 pic.twitter.com/1w6bFKM9vW

— Jackie Johnson (@JackieJohnsonLA) April 12, 2020

Love your mother 🌿 #earthday pic.twitter.com/VXT0VGxdjJ

— Jackie Johnson (@JackieJohnsonLA) April 22, 2020

Can a Family of Four Enjoy a Major Sporting Event in Orange County/Los Angeles for $100 for Tickets, Food, and Parking?

My favorite games are Saturday nights at Anaheim Stadium, where Angels games are followed by fireworks. We sit up on the top deck usually, and tickets are about $50 bucks for the whole family, sometimes less. (Once in a while we'll get field level, but my wife likes sitting up top, as she's not craning her neck every which way for foul balls and what not.) I get hot dogs, peanuts, and beer --- then I hand my wallet over to the family for the rest of the night, lol.

In any case, a great piece, at the Los Angeles Times, "Good luck getting a family of four into a professional sport for $100 — not in good seats, but any seats":

The Games Are Too Damn Expensive: As ticket prices for pro sports rise, teams risk losing the next generation of fans. In an era when kids might prefer video games anyway, families are increasingly priced out of live sports. https://t.co/IGTOWUGXDQ

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) December 26, 2019

A lifetime of sports fandom often starts with that first vision of the towering stadium before you, that first peek at the vibrant green grass of a ballpark, that first chance to see star players up close on the court and even closer on a gigantic video screen, that first moment to stand and scream for your team.

“We do remember that first ballgame our parents, our friend, our Scout troop might have taken us to,” said Andy Dolich, who has run marketing operations for teams in all five major North American sports. “It’s one of those indelible memories for tens of millions of people.”

That experience has become all but unaffordable for the typical family in the Los Angeles area.

As teams focus on maximizing revenue from the current generation of fans, they risk losing a future generation of fans, particularly at a time when kids limited to experiencing games on a screen might well prefer Fortnite to ESPN.

The arms race to turn athletic venues into opulent cash machines — with gourmet dining, finely appointed luxury suites, VIP seats within sweating distance of the action, and video boards suited for Hollywood premieres — has all but left the common fan behind. Good luck getting a family of four into a game for $100 — not in good seats, mind you, but in any seats.

Dolich is a former chief operating officer of the San Francisco 49ers and Golden State Warriors and a former president of business operations for the Memphis Grizzlies. He now runs a sports consultant firm, and he is worried for an industry in which kids are increasingly priced out.

“You’re not yelling. You’re not screaming. You’re just not going,” Dolich said. “That, I think, is the most pernicious part of it.”

The median income for a family of four in Los Angeles County is $78,673, according to the USC Price Center for Social Innovation. After accounting for the costs of housing, child care, health care, food, transportation and taxes, that family would be left with $3,413 in discretionary income for the year, $284 per month.

Elly Schoen, data and project manager at the Price Center, said it would be “reasonable” to consider $100 as a price point for a family day at a sporting event.

“You’re thinking about going out to one or two games a year,” Schoen said, “and you’re thinking about spending about half your monthly discretionary income on that kind of family outing.”

The Times asked the 11 major professional teams that call Los Angeles and Orange County home whether a family of four could attend a weekend game for $100 — tickets, parking, and something to eat and drink. When prices exceeded that amount, The Times asked teams what the most affordable option for a family might be.

The Angels are the only team that guarantees any family can get to a weekend game for that amount. The team offers a $44 family pack that includes four field-level tickets, four hot dogs, and four soft drinks. Parking at Angel Stadium is $10.

The Sparks offer a $100 family pack that includes tickets, food and autograph vouchers, with parking for an additional $10. The Galaxy offer a family deal for $128, including a $10 concession credit and souvenirs but not food or parking.

The Ducks have a weekend family pack at $120, not including parking. The Kings have a family pack at $220, which includes family activities before Saturday games and a skating session at the team’s training facility.

LAFC offers 200 first-come, first-served tickets at $22 each, with discounted food and drinks in that section.

The Clippers sell $10 tickets at Staples Center on game day — first come, first served, with 50 to 200 tickets available for each game. They also provide the 120,000 participants in their Jr. Clippers youth basketball program with a free ticket to one game each season; parents pay for their game tickets.

The Lakers suggested the option of their minor league affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. The team plays at the Lakers’ team headquarters in El Segundo, where parking is free, and a $125 family pack includes $40 in food and beverage credit.

The Chargers and Rams both noted that training camp is free, often with interactive activities designed for families. The lowest single-game price this season is $35 for the Rams and $70 for the Chargers, although the Chargers anticipate a lower price when they move into the larger Sofi Stadium next season.

The Dodgers declined requests to participate in the survey. According to the initial 2020 single-game prices posted on the team website last month, the Dodgers are selling tickets for as low as $10 to the two midweek Freeway Series exhibition games. The Dodgers are selling $21 tickets for only one weekend game next season; the minimum price for all others is $30...

Keep reading.

Hey, Hands Off the Hallmark Channel!

My wife loves the Hallmark Channel, and I've watched numerous weepy holiday dramas with her.

Leave the network alone.

It's one of the last television outlets that consistently promotes traditional conservative courting rituals and family values.

At Instapundit, "EVERYTHING IS PROBLEMATICAL: Hallmark Channel Under Assault by Race Hustlers and LGBTQ Cult, ‘Too White’."

California's Archaic Alimony Laws

This is something else, at LAT:

"His ex-wife could not be reached for comment..." I'll bet. 🙄 https://t.co/TE7BX6GjOa

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 14, 2019

Jessica Calarco, Negotiating Opportunities

At Amazon, Jessica Calarco, Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School.

As a Ring of Fire Closes In, a Mother Calls Her Daughters: 'This is How I Die'

This is the front-page story at today's Los Angeles Times.

Harrowing:

.⁦@MelissaTweets⁩ #CampFire #Paradise 🔥 https://t.co/WSynQAA6Ew

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 22, 2018

My Mom's Going to Be Okay

Here's some photos from the trip to Santa Rosa to visit my mom.

She's in pain from her broken sternum and she can't move around by herself. On Sunday, she was taken by ambulance over to an assisted nursery rehab facility, for about a week of physical therapy. After that, she should be back home in Yucca Valley. I'm praying for her. She was so happy that I made the trip up there to visit her.

And thanks for the support of my blog readers. I wish I could've posted updates while I was up there, but it wasn't convenient and I wanted to just enjoy being with my mom.

The top photo below is the view from the front drive at the hospital. The second photo down is the view of the nearby foothills from the fourth floor looking south. (It's really beautiful up there; I had no idea.) The third photo shows the roof of the emergency room trauma center helicopter landing pad, which is really cool. (I didn't see any copters land, but it's a wicked setup.) And at bottom is a selfie of yours truly. I don't post these to Twitter. I save them for the blog here, lol.

Thanks again for your support. It's much appreciated.

Anthony Bourdain Has Died

Today's a sad day. Charles Krauthammer released a statement saying he's got just weeks to live. He's been recovering from a successful surgery to remove a tumor of the stomach, but now the cancer's returned, very aggressively it turns out. More on that later, but it makes me sad. I think I've been just amazed by Krauthammer all these years, even when I disagreed with him, but he's so good. Just so good. It's a wonderful thing that he was able to share some final thoughts with everybody, so folks can respond with their well-wishes.

Meanwhile, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain committed suicide. See CNN, via Memorandum, "CNN's Anthony Bourdain dead at 61."

Bethany Mandel has written about suicide this week, first about Kate Spade's death, and the loss of her father to suicide, at the New York Post. And then again today, with the news of Bourdain. It's very profound reading:

In the wake of Kate Spade's death, I wrote about my father's suicide for the first time. Thank you to my amazing husband @SethAMandel for editing this, I don't usually submit things to him because he's brutal, but this time he was kind. https://t.co/nlgHdfBmzJ

— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) June 7, 2018

To all suicide survivor kids, a note: https://t.co/d3kmxndiRA

— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) June 8, 2018

30-Year-Old Man Must Move Out of Parents' House, Judge Rules (VIDEO)

This story was getting a lot of attention the other day, and then the dude went on CNN with Brooke Baldwin, god knows why?

At Hot Air, "The 30-Year-Old Being Evicted From His Parents’ Home Is Exactly How You Thought He’d Be":

Exit question: Is it true, as Brooke Baldwin claims near the end, that the public views Millennials as “so entitled”? Goofing on them is fun but what supposedly makes Millennials more entitled than the garbage generation you and I know as Boomers? Millennials have had their career prospects damaged by the financial crisis, with all sorts of bad knock-on effects (some of which may resonate with Rotondo), and they’ve had their retirement prospects cannibalized by greedy elders who won’t let go of their federal entitlements no matter what it means for the country’s future. If ever you’re forced to choose between Millennials and Boomers, take the Millennials every time.

Actually, I'm a Boomer so no.

Interesting post, in any case.

More People with Autism Pursuing Higher Education

My young son's on the autism spectrum. I just say he's autistic, but for some reason people don't like being that specific. It used to be that he had "ADHD," but that was only part of it, or perhaps even a misdiagnosis. In any case, my son's been having intense behavioral problems. He's been around bad influences at his school, kids who're having their own family or behavioral problems. He's been introduced to vaping (and worse). And he's been hard to handle.

In any case, we're getting him medical help, therapy and what not. But it's an issue for parents as well. You want to see your kids being successful.

So, this piece caught my attention, at the Chicago Tribune, "Chicago man's success shows college dreams within reach for more people with autism":

Chicago man's success shows college dreams are within reach for more people with autism. https://t.co/AGxa5RCoNL (via @vikkiortiz) pic.twitter.com/i4P5hMjCU2

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) December 15, 2017

It was never a question whether Paris King would go to college.

The 23-year-old, who is on the autism spectrum, loved learning — especially history — and he and his parents saw no reason why he shouldn’t continue to do so after high school.

But during the four years King spent earning his bachelor’s degree in history at Roosevelt University, he endured setbacks that would have challenged any student. His father died. King was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He was mugged near his home. And his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer that required aggressive treatment.

So when King walked across the stage and received his diploma Friday at a graduation ceremony, he was cheered on by faculty, family and friends for not only believing that a person with autism is capable of college, but also for overcoming enormous personal challenges to become a role model for people with disabilities.

“Paris never has a bad attitude,” said Danielle Smith, associate director of academic success at Roosevelt University. “He always finds a way to do it.”

King is one of four students with autism who graduated with bachelor’s degrees from Roosevelt this year, a number that has been steadily increasing for the past four years, Smith said.

“I came to college so I can learn more about the world we live in,” King said. “It has been a fun experience, but it has been hard.”

The increase at Roosevelt mirrors a national trend of students with autism enrolling in and finishing college. Because universities cannot, by law, require students to report autism or other disabilities in college applications, exact numbers are hard to pin down. But anecdotally, advocates say the large increase in the number of people diagnosed with autism is prompting more conversations about how to offer opportunities and access to the growing population.

And in turn, more students on the autism spectrum are pursuing bigger education goals.

“It’s really important for every individual to be able to have access to lifelong learning opportunities,” said Vanda Marie Khadem, founder of the Autism Higher Education Foundation, which launched in 2008 with a mission of opening access to education for people on the autism spectrum.

“Parents are demanding it, and students are demanding it, and teachers are recognizing it,” she said.

King, the youngest of three children, grew up in a Navy family that relocated several times when he was young. As a toddler growing up in San Diego, he exhibited speech delays, sensitivity to noise and fixations with hobbies. But after a doctor’s quick evaluation incorrectly determined King was not on the autism spectrum, and instead had an unspecified learning disability, his parents carried on, handling his idiosyncrasies without guidance from doctors or educators, said his mother, Patricia King.

The family moved to the Chicago area by the time Paris King was of school age. Because he struggled to focus and missed social cues, he often was separated into classes for students with behavioral problems. King also became the target of bullies. At 12 years old, he was diagnosed to be on the autism spectrum — a revelation that triggered mixed emotions from his parents, his mother recalled.

“I felt irresponsible, because as we know now, the earlier you’re able to get intervention and get them the help they need, the better they do,” Patricia King said.

But it also motivated Paris King’s parents to advocate for him and his access to educational opportunities from that point on, she added.

“It was definitely in the plan for him to go to college,” she said. “We believed that he had the ability … and the whole plan was to support him as much as he could, to make sure that he had the tools that he needed.”

With encouragement from his teachers at Gary Comer College Prep High School, where he graduated with honors, King applied to Roosevelt University. He and his parents sought out the university’s Academic Success Center, which works with students with disabilities to help them meet the same class and credit requirements expected of all students.

King began meeting twice a week for an hour with Smith, of the academic center, who was impressed with the way he tackled difficult assignments, from term papers on ancient African tribes to readings on renewable energy. King takes longer to focus and get his thoughts onto paper than some of his classmates, but he never lets his challenges stifle him, Smith said.

More.