Fresno School Bans 9-Year-Old from Wearing 'Make America Great Again' Hat on Campus

Nothing's permitted these days. Nothing.

And note that the Supreme Court ruled last year that students couldn't wear American flag t-shirts to school on Cinco de Mayo, since they might offend Latino students (who then might start a riot). It was a heckler's veto decision, but profoundly unfair either way.

Now there's more along the same lines. Poor kid.

At KFSN 30 News Fresno:

#ICYMI 9-year-old banned from wearing 'Make America Great Again' hat at school in Fresno https://t.co/rVIqMkEvV1 pic.twitter.com/QzNtD9BtHK

— ABC30 Fresno (@ABC30) June 3, 2016

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- One local Trump supporter is being banned from wearing a signature Donald Trump hat to school after it began to draw tense conversations.

Logan Autry left Powers-Ginsburg Elementary School early on Thursday because school leaders said something he was wearing is causing a safety concern on campus-- his red hat.

"The vice principal came up to me and told me to take my hat off because it brings negative attention from other students. And I said no a few times and then the principal told me again and I still said no and refused," said Logan Autry.

For three days straight the third grader wore the hat to class. But each day, more and more classmates began confronting him at recess.

"I still want to keep my hat. It's not the hat that draws attention, it's just my personality that the other children do not like," said Autry.

Autry recently moved to Fresno from the foothills, he loves politics and American history.

"He knows more than I do. He knows more about this election than I know, it's kind of embarrassing. You know, like are you smarter than a third grader kinda thing. But he is just very adamant about his beliefs and his rights. He wants to be a politician that's his goal," said Angela Hoffknecht, Logan's guardian.

He already has the shirt and tie down, and practices speeches about Trump on the playground.

"I've told them his policies on illegal immigration, and our second amendment, and our first amendment and all of our amendments that need to be protected which are not going to be an amendment at all if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders gets elected," said Autry.

Autry got his $20-- now, controversial-- hat when he skipped school to attend a Trump rally last week.

"He doesn't speak like a politician. He speaks like a normal person. He knows what this country needs."

Autry briefly met the presidential hopeful during his local stop and even got his hat autographed...

Seattle University Dean Placed on Administrative Leave Amid Student Protests

This is actually horrifying to me.

And from a personal standpoint, I'm lucky I'm teaching at the community college level. Some, but not too much, of the radical campaign activism has seeped down to the two-year colleges. If I was at a university I'd have been hounded out by now, or I'd have self-censored my classes so much I'd by now be a shamed, fading hulk of a man. It's a terrible prospect.

At the Seattle Times, "Student protest: SU president says some in faculty also wanted dean to resign":

The sit-in started in mid-May with a group of students who demanded changes to a curriculum that emphasizes Western history and philosophy, and a climate they describe as hostile and condescending to students of color. They say they were influenced by alumni who graduated nearly a decade ago who told them they also tried to make changes to the school, to no effect...

And at Heat Street, "University Puts Dean on Leave Over ‘Too Western’ Curriculum":

Seattle University student occupiers: "We want a liberatory education" https://t.co/wl1GADVzQo pic.twitter.com/JNlNO3SfZZ

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) May 22, 2016

For more than three weeks, a group of students have staged a sit-in at Seattle University’s Matteo Ricci College. One student complained to the Seattle Times that “the only thing they’re teaching us is dead white dudes.” They have demanded the resignation of Dean Jodi Kelly.

In a written statement, the protestors said that “dissatisfaction, traumatization and boredom” have characterized their time as students, “as well as being ridiculed, traumatized, othered, tokenized and pathologized.” They claim “these experiences have been profoundly damaging and erasing, with lasting effects on our mental and emotional well-being.” 

The protestors, who call themselves the MRC Coalition and say they’re “led by queer folx, womxn of color, and people of color,” issued a lengthy list of demands, including an overhaul of the college’s curriculum that “decentralizes whiteness and has a critical focus on the evolution of systems of oppression.”

Still more.

Arizona Sportscaster Paul Cicala Deletes Twitter Account After Blaming Trump Supporter for Being Attacked

Good.

I looked up the guy's Twitter feed to give him an earful. I'll bet hundreds of patriots beat me to it. Nasty stuff.

At Pat Dollard's, "Tucson NBC Sportscaster Deletes Twitter Account After Blaming Trump Supporter for Being Attacked."

#ESPN Sportscaster #PaulCicala said Trump supporter had it coming because she was wearing a Trump Jersey #TrumpRally pic.twitter.com/x1k9vZ8S6d

— Feisty☀️Floridian (@peddoc63) June 4, 2016

Flyover Nation Out June 21st!

Thanks again to all the readers who've done their shopping through my Amazon links. As y'all know by know, I've been plowing the proceeds back into more books for myself, lol. I'm picking up two or three new books at the beginning of each month, and then sometimes I buy used books while I'm out and about around town.

So, thanks again to everyone. Every little bit helps, although I still blog for the fun of it, not the money.

In any case, I'm looking forward to Dana Loesch's new book, out later this month.

At Amazon, Flyover Nation: You Can't Run a Country You've Never Been To.

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Anthony Beevor, D-Day: The Battle for Normandy.

And Stephen Ambrose, D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II.

Max Hastings, Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy.

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Kelly Brook in London

New photos, at Egotastic!, "Hot Brit Kelly Brook Super Chesty While Out In London."

Plus, flashback from 2013, "Phenomenal New Kelly Brook Sunbathing Pics From Cancun." (Very hot.)

Backlash After San Jose Protest Could Help Donald Trump

Following-up from the other day, "Vile Leftists Attack Donald Trump Supporters in San Jose (VIDEO)."

Here's far-leftist Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast, "How Anti-Trump Violence Could Elect Him":

How anti-Trump violence could elect him: https://t.co/K3Ihy84Ey7 pic.twitter.com/bKG8oTs0ng

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 3, 2016

Americans admire protest movements and civil disobedience, but they draw the line at violence, so harassing and beating up Trump supporters could do him a lot of good.

And, amazingly, today's front-page story at the leftist Los Angeles Times, "Anti-Trump violence is widely condemned. Will backlash help his candidacy?":

Anti-Trump violence is widely condemned. Will backlash help his candidacy? https://t.co/HIHWXfLslP #Clippers #NBA pic.twitter.com/iMRqxDHBdp

— LA Clippers News (@BBClippers_News) June 3, 2016

The violent assault on Donald Trump supporters in San Jose led to bipartisan condemnation Friday and widespread agreement that protesters crossed a line, possibly provoking a backlash that could boost the presidential hopeful.

“I know the depths of emotions that have come out,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has campaigned across the country for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. “But somebody who thinks they’re being helpful by throwing an egg – I would say that’s a tactical mistake.”

Hector Barajas, a Republican strategist who had expressed consternation about the presumptive GOP nominee and his inflammatory statements about Mexican immigrants, said he would vote for Trump in Tuesday’s primary and predicted others less than enamored with the Manhattan businessman would do so as well.

It is one thing to oppose Trump and “quite another to start throwing eggs, to start throwing punches and act in a thuggish way,” Barajas said. “I think you get a lot of folks who are going to look at this.... and they might not have been supportive of Trump or on the fence, but now say, ‘I’m going to vote for him; it’s needed to put an end to this ugliness.’”

Dozens of fights broke out Thursday night at the conclusion of Trump’s Silicon Valley appearance.

Demonstrators jumped on cars, stole the candidate’s trademark “Make America great again” ball cap from Trump supporters and set them on fire, and clashed with police in riot gear. Some protesters waved Mexican flags as rallygoers in Trump regalia shouted, “Go back to Mexico!”

One Trump fan was hit with an egg and others were chased and harassed, scenes that blazed across television newscasts and social media.

At least four people were arrested and a police officer was slightly injured after being hit with a metal object...

The interesting thing is that the Costa Mesa rioting was even more intense, but the images from San Jose are really personal, especially the woman getting egged surrounded by illegal immigrants with Mexican flags. It proves Trump right all along, and that's got to piss off radical progressives.

Still more.

The Great American Road Trip

Summertime and the livin' is easy, heh.

At the New York Times, "America Is Hitting the Road Again":

ON ROUTE 66 IN NEW MEXICO — Bob Pack forgot to bring his James Taylor CDs. Still, he and his brother and sister were having a blast, rolling among the sandstone mesas, ghost towns and kitschy tourist attractions.

They reminisced about family trips as children back in the 1950s, Mr. Pack and his sister, Joann, said, and not even their brother’s “annoying” habits of chewing tobacco and telling dirty jokes could ruin the drive. “I wanted to see West Texas one more time,” he said over breakfast at the Route 66 Casino Hotel.

Over in Arizona, Kay McNellen, a 23-year-old actress from San Diego, said she took to the highway almost every weekend these days, just to see how far she could drive. She has motored across the Mojave Desert, admired Sequoia National Forest and Instagrammed the Grand Canyon. “This is a better view than Netflix will give you,” she said.

The great American road trip is back.

It’s partly that gasoline this driving season is cheaper than it has been in 11 years, according to the AAA motor club, and that the reviving economy is making people more willing to part with their money. But there is more than that at play here. This may be a cultural shift, as Americans experiment with the notion that maybe money can, in fact, buy happiness, at least in the form of adventures and memories.

It is a change that appears to have taken root in the years since the 2008 financial crisis. “Postrecession, people are focused on memories that cannot be taken away from them, as opposed to tangible goods that expire and wear out,” said Sarah Quinlan, a marketing executive at MasterCard Advisors. “There’s a sense that you can take away my job, you can take away my home, but you can’t take away my memory.”

Whatever their motivation, Americans last year drove a record 3.15 trillion miles, according to the Department of Transportation, beating the previous mark, set in 2007. So far this year, both travel and gasoline consumption are up again.

The desire to get behind the wheel still comes as something of a surprise. The conventional wisdom was that driving mileage had probably peaked in 2007. The demographic bulge represented by the baby boomers is aging out of the driving years; people typically drive less as they hit retirement.

At the same time, millennials were not sharing the passion for the open road that previous generations of young adults had. Many, in fact, preferred to live in the nation’s downtowns, eschewing personal cars in favor of shared Ubers, or walking to their work and play.

But it turns out that both generations are driving more than anyone expected. “A lot of millennial behavior was really deferred assimilation,” said Steven E. Polzin, a transportation researcher at the University of South Florida. In other words, just like Mom and Dad, they were destined for a more traditional lifestyle — the marriage, the home, the garage — they just took a little longer to get there.

One such millennial is Jenna Bivone, a 29-year-old website and app designer, who two years ago left downtown Atlanta to live on the outskirts of the city with her boyfriend. “We used to walk everywhere, but the rents were too high and we wanted some land for my dog,” she said. “In a more suburban area we found good schools, stuff like that for future plans.”

Now she has a daily commute of at least a half-hour each way, and on weekends she and her boyfriend drive around Georgia and neighboring states looking for the best hiking. Over the last three years they have taken road trips in Wyoming and Colorado to hike in the national parks.

“When we travel we want to go to places we might never see again,” she said. “We’re not going to be young forever.”

Michael McNulty, a 67-year-old biotech executive from San Francisco, might not agree with the last part of her statement. Last year he bought a used Ford Airstream B-190 motor home on Craigslist for $13,000 as an experiment. He and his wife are enjoying the road trips, he said, and they are gradually extending their radius.

“The kids’ colleges are paid for, and they are out of the house,” he said. “We have been all over the world, and now we are seeing the U.S.A.”

Mr. McNulty did all the driving to the Grand Canyon for an extended weekend in April, and he prepared to drive all the way back home, 14 hours, in one day. The reason was simple, he said. “We’re going to go for it on Tuesday,” he said, smiling, “because I have to get back to work on Wednesday.”

The phenomenon is being further amplified by, of all things, a desire in some families for cross-generational adventures that harks back to a halcyon age of bundling everyone into the station wagon, counting license tags from faraway states, and mediating back-seat fights over who started the fight. Baby boomers, it seems, want to bond with their grandchildren on the road. Rental-car companies are reporting increased demand for bigger vehicles to accommodate the generations...

Still more at that top link.

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Vile Leftists Attack Donald Trump Supporters in San Jose (VIDEO)

The radical leftist protests against Donald Trump are getting more intense, more vile, and more hateful at each campaign stop, especially in California.

Even people, left and right, that don't like Trump are sympathetic if not supportive of the candidate in the face of literally violent attacks and rioting such as this. And when you have the Mayor of San Jose blaming the unrest on Trump himself, with the city's police department standing on the sidelines while innocents and peaceful participants are being brutally harassed, egged, and even beaten, then something is seriously out of whack.

At the San Jose Mercury News, "San Jose Police chief defends handling of protest":

San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia released a statement about the violence after the Donald Trump rally Thursday night in downtown and his department's handling of the 400 protesters:

"The violent behavior exhibited by some protestors last night was reprehensible, completely unacceptable and unrepresentative of our democracy and this City. We saw demonstrators behaving poorly and our officers clearing the streets as safely and expeditiously as possible. Officer safety and crowd control techniques are critical and cannot be abandoned when protestors scatter from area to area faster than the police lines can move.

"Furthermore, de-escalation techniques are important -- not just when someone has a weapon. We are not an "occupying force" and cannot reflect the chaotic tactics of the protestors. Instead, we achieved our goal of clearing the streets and making arrests in an appropriate manner. Our officers should be commended for both their effectiveness and their restraint.

"Let me be clear: the violence that occurred last night was not unchecked. Four arrests have already been made, and I have immediately assembled a task force, headed by the Bureau of Investigations Chief Shawny Williams, and in coordination with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, to review all video evidence and investigate all reported assaults or other crimes from last night's incident. I'm calling on the public as well as media outlets to submit all video evidence to our Police Department so we can root out those whose intentions were to disrupt our civil democratic process and put the safety and welfare of the public and my officers at risk. We will work tirelessly to hold them accountable and bring them to justice."

That doesn't sound quite accurate, actually.

Folks on Twitter last night reported the police did not declare an unlawful protest until well after the rally let out, and innocents were being assaulting by the anti-Trump demons. CNN's Sara Murray has an excellent timeline of events.

More, at Memeorandum, "Ugly, bloody scenes in San Jose as protesters attack Trump supporters outside rally."

Ireri Carrasco, Open-Borders Activist, Sues Obama Administration Over Deferred Deportation (VIDEO)

I hate the entitlement. Folks like this should be the first deported under the Donald Trump administration.

At Democracy Now!:

Triple-Digit Temperatures in the Inland Empire Today (VIDEO)

Not near that hot in the L.A.-Orange County metro areas.

It was rather lovely, in fact.

Amber Lee reports, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Didn't Feel Well Yesterday

I had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend, but yesterday was a strange day at work.

Mostly, I was upset at the news of the UCLA shooting, which starting breaking around 10:30am. My office hours were busy, and then the campus fire alarm went off and faculty, staff, and students had to exit the buildings for about 20 minutes or so until the all clear was given. News trickled in, and by the time I went to teach my first class reports indicated that the shooting was a murder-suicide.

My classes were fine --- I have one section of American government and one section of international relations on Mondays and Wednesdays. (I felt a little out of it in my IR class, though, since my usual preparation was thrown off by the strange morning. Sometimes it takes a little more to get back in the swing of things, in any case. Oh well, I'll hit it out of the park during Monday's class.)

Plus, Milo Yiannopoulos ended up cancelling the talk he was going to give on campus, as he was apparently personally affected by the shooting and didn't think it was appropriate to hold a debate. (Trolls were blaming him for the shooting on Twitter, unsurprisingly.)

Gustavo Arellano, the editor of the O.C. Weekly, who was scheduled to debate Milo, did speak solo it turns out, talking about corruption in Orange County. He's an interesting guy, not the least his public profanity. He gave a shout out to this feature piece at the magazine, "Who Wants to Free a Southern California Serial Killer? Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas." I don't care for local politics that much, so it was educational for me.

(I also had a nasty bout of acid reflux late yesterday afternoon, which didn't come under control until later in the evening. So there's that.)

I'll have more blogging tonight, and then over the weekend. Next week's finals week and then I'm out for the summer. I'm looking forward to some time off from teaching.

And thanks to everyone who's been shopping at my Amazon links. As noted, I've been plowing the proceeds back into my own reading habit, so thanks again.

Have a great day.

Professor William S. Klug Killed in UCLA Murder-Suicide (VIDEO)

Watch the report, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Victim In UCLA Murder-Suicide Was Engineering School Professor, Father and Husband."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Professor killed in UCLA murder-suicide was brilliant, kind and caring, colleagues say."

No word yet on the identity of the shooter. He was a student of Professor Klug's, apparently. There was some chatter on Twitter that he was disgruntled, but there's been no reporting on this outside of posts on social media. See Claudia Peschiutta, at KNX, for example, "#UCLAshooting: Student apparently despondent about his grades shot professor & then killed himself, according to law enf source. @KNX1070."

More, from Robert Stacy McCain, "Gosh, the media sure is taking its sweet time publishing the NAME of the student who killed that UCLA professor."

And Kurt Schlichter, "From the seeming lack of media interest in the UCLA shooter's identity I assume he's someone from a politically unuseful demographic."

Donald Trump's 'Hostility' Toward the Media (VIDEO)

Well, if he's "hostile," it's a good kind of hostile. His supporters are going to be eating it up.

Watch, at CBS This Morning, "What Trump's hostility toward press could mean for possible presidency."

Deal of the Day: ASUS 128GB ZenFone 2 Special Edition

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And, from Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America.

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How Swimmer Survived Newport Beach Shark Attack (VIDEO)

Well, previous attack victims have survived by punching back twice as hard.

That's always good advice, in the water and in real life.

At the O.C. Register, "Shark attack survivor: Woman suffered one big bite across her body, a punctured lung and broken ribs":

She had wounds in a half circle across her torso, teeth marks from her upper right shoulder in the back to her pelvis in front and to the other side of her buttocks in the back.

Several ribs were fractured. A lung was punctured. She lost no less than a liter of blood. Doctors looked for teeth that might’ve still been in her body.

Maria Korcsmaros, a 52-year-old triathlete and mother of three, survived a shark attack Sunday in Corona del Mar.

She lived only because of her own quick thinking, strong work from a pair of Newport Beach lifeguards who luckily were close at hand, and medical experts who responded well to a trauma none had seen first-hand.

“It was life before limb,” said Dr. Philip Rotter, director of orthopedic trauma and chairman of orthopedics at Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Details of the attack emerged Tuesday as Rotter and other experts offered an inside look at what the swimmer endured Sunday and how she was treated.

They talked about how lifeguards pulled her from the water and treated her appropriately, and how emergency physicians and others later had to spring into action to treat a woman who had a tourniquet wrapped around her arm to slow the flow of blood spilling from her body.

Based on the description of the wound, local shark expert Chris Lowe, who runs The Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, thinks the shark was an adult, likely more than 10 feet long.

“I can tell you that’s probably not a pup.”

As medical experts discussed the events that saved Korcsmaros, Newport Beach lifeguards on Tuesday re-opened beaches between Balboa Pier and the Wedge, a stretch of water closed to swimmers since the attack. Swimmers returned to the water around noon, after lifeguards had looked into the ocean from boats and from overhead, in a helicopter, to see if any sharks remain in the area.

Corona del Mar, where the attack occurred, was opened back up Wednesday morning.

Lifeguards also described what happened during the human-vs. shark rescue...

Keep reading.

Kendall and Kylie Strip Down to Model Their New Bikini Line

I just love Kendall.

At London's Daily Mail, "Sizzling hot! Kendall and Kylie Jenner strip down to model their new bikini range."

Kendall and Kylie Jenner 🔥 🔥 🔥 https://t.co/3SLte134iT pic.twitter.com/lio7glWHZA

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) June 1, 2016

Giant Alligator on Golf Course in Florida (VIDEO)

Wild.

Via CNN:



RELATED: At USA Today, "2 alligators found eating dead body in Florida."

The Graying of America's Homeless

It's not an easy problem to solve. Lots of homeless people have psychiatric issues and refuse services.

It's sad.

And that's downtown Los Angeles at the background photo at the link.

See, the New York Times, "Old and on the Street: The Graying of America's Homeless" (at Memeorandum):

LOS ANGELES — They lean unsteadily on canes and walkers, or roll along the sidewalks of Skid Row here in beat-up wheelchairs, past soiled sleeping bags, swaying tents and piles of garbage. They wander the streets in tattered winter coats, even in the warmth of spring. They worry about the illnesses of age and how they will approach death without the help of children who long ago drifted from their lives.

“It’s hard when you get older,” said Ken Sylvas, 65, who has struggled with alcoholism and has not worked since he was fired in 2001 from a meatpacking job. “I’m in this wheelchair. I had a seizure and was in a convalescent home for two months. I just ride the bus back and forth all night.”

The homeless in America are getting old.

There were 306,000 people over 50 living on the streets in 2014, the most recent data available, a 20 percent jump since 2007, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They now make up 31 percent of the nation’s homeless population.

The demographic shift is mirrored by a noticeable but not as sharp increase among homeless people ages 18 to 30, many who entered the job market during the Great Recession. They make up 24 percent of the homeless population. Like the baby boomers, these young people came of age during an economic downturn, confronting a tight housing and job market. Many of them are former foster children or runaways, or were victims of abuse at home.

But it is the emergence of an older homeless population that is creating daunting challenges for social service agencies and governments already struggling with this crisis of poverty. “Baby boomers have health and vulnerability issues that are hard to tend to while living in the streets,” said Alice Callaghan, an Episcopal priest who has spent 35 years working with the homeless in Los Angeles.

Many older homeless people have been on the streets for almost a generation, analysts say, a legacy of the recessions of the late 1970s and early 1980s, federal housing cutbacks and an epidemic of crack cocaine. They bring with them a complicated history that may include a journey from prison to mental health clinic to rehabilitation center and back to the sidewalks.

Some are more recent arrivals and have been forced — at a time of life when some people their age are debating whether to retire to Arizona or to Florida — to learn the ways of homelessness after losing jobs in the latest economic downturn. And there are some on a fixed income who cannot afford the rent in places like Los Angeles, which has a vacancy rate of less than 3 percent.

Horace Allong, 60, said he could not afford a one-room apartment and lives in a tent on Crocker Street. Mr. Allong, who divorced his wife and left New Orleans for Los Angeles two years ago, said he lost his wallet and all of his identification two weeks after he arrived and has not been able to find a job.

“It’s the first time I’ve been on the streets, so I’m learning,” he said. “There’s nothing like Skid Row. Skid Row is another world.”

The problems with homelessness are hardly uniform across the country. The national homeless population declined by 2 percent between 2014 and 2015, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Some communities — including Phoenix and Las Vegas — have declared outright victory in eliminating homelessness among veterans, a top goal of the White House.

But homelessness is rising in big cities where gentrification is on the march and housing costs are rising, like Los Angeles, New York, Honolulu and San Francisco. Los Angeles reported a 5.7 percent increase in its homeless population last year, the second year in a row it had recorded a jump. More than 20 percent of the nation’s homeless lived in California last year, according to the housing agency.

Across Southern California, the homeless live in tent encampments clustered on corners from Venice to the San Fernando Valley, and in communities sprouting under highway overpasses or in the dry bed of the Los Angeles River. Their sleeping bags and piles of belongings line sidewalks on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Along with these visible signs of homelessness come complaints about aggressive panhandling, public urination and disorderly conduct, as well as a rise in drug dealing and petty crimes...

Keep reading.

Previous homelessness blogging here.

It's sad.