This morning, I quit the eclipse.
To be specific, I left Facebook groups and “unfollowed” pages devoted to Monday’s total solar eclipse. They’d run their course with me. The images being posted all began to look the same.
I could appreciate the photos captured by relative tyros like me, actually. What really drove me toward the exits was the avalanche of assembled images — composites, artificial and obviously fake. Just wretched stuff.
At least it was obvious to me. I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked to see so many people posting absolutely awful photoshopped pics that look nothing like what really happened in the sky on Monday. Even folks who witnessed the phenomenon themselves are being duped into perpetuating this visual garbage.
Clickbait thrives on the herd mentality. And yeah, P.T. Barnum was right.
I had to get away from that, all of it, if only to preserve my own experience of the one total solar eclipse I’ll see in my lifetime.
But hey, if you’re one of those who responds to a fake with, “I don’t care, it’s pretty anyway,” I’ll play your silly little game. This, from Monday on The Mountain, is for you.
Mercy’s “death wobble” is back. Deb reported that disappointing development on her drive home Wednesday afternoon, and we dropped the Jeep off at Schroder Tire in Flippin yesterday morning. It hadn’t been sorted and repaired by day’s-end, which meant that I’d be driving her to work this morning.
It was cool seeing what she sees on her daily commutes — the sun rising over our road, a herd of whitetail deer (ten today) down The Mountain, dew-glistened pastures along the county road. Also, since she opened the bank branch this morning, I was at the wheel while she performed the required security sweep.
It’s quite an involved ritual, for good reason. And if anyone has the head for such a drill, it’s Deb.
The last four days on The Mountain have been a big fat nothing, frankly. I haven’t accomplished a single thing of substance, only chores.
I move, but in no productive direction.
We had 18 hours of rain and a couple of days when we were buffeted by 40mph winds. I can’t blame the weather, though.
It’s me.
The Mountain is getting greener. Spring wants to be summer. The trees are closing in a little more every day, and soon we’ll be covered, tucked away, hidden from view for the next seven months. We’ll lose our vista but reclaim our seclusion.
Between now and the arrival of oppressive heat in June, we have these perfect days. Rarely do we switch on the air conditioning. Heat is seldom required for comfort overnight. We’ll have our share of gray days and rainy days, but we’re also treated to crystalline blue-sky days like today.
Shirtsleeves are all the rage on The Mountain.
The Jeep was ready to pick up this afternoon, but Schroder Tire closed at 5pm for the week and Deb didn’t get off ’til 5:20pm. So I dropped by the shop, paid the bill and got the key, then picked Deb up at work. We fetched the Wrangler, drove Home, fed the dogs and went right back out to Crooked Creek Pub for beer, burgers and live music.
“Comfortable,” Deb mused as we rolled back toward The Mountain afterward. “It’s the best word I can come up with. I feel so very comfortable here.”
That goes for both of us, of course. We love it here.
If you still were under the impression that the dusty concept of “merit” has a chance in this country of ours, allow me to disabuse you of that silly notion. The Entitlement Culture has come a long way from participation trophies and subtly catering to the slow and the stupid. Now it’s actively (and unashamedly) throttling our best and brightest.
You may be familiar with the “gifted and talented” programs in many schools, identifying achievers and putting them in learning environments where they can make the most of their abilities. Seattle Public Schools has one of those, for “highly capable” kids.
Not for long, though. A couple of years ago, Seattle began killing the program. Three years from now, it’ll be gone. Why would they do that?
Well, as we used to say, I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.
White kids make up 52% of Seattle’s advanced program, compared to 45% of all students. Also over-represented are Asians (16% vs. 12%) and mixed-race (20% vs. 13%). Blacks and Hispanics skew in the opposite direction — 3.4% vs. 15% and 8.2% vs. 14%, respectively.
Those numbers play holy hell with DEI doctrine, of course. Today’s public-education establishment is committed to grenading anything that’s not acceptably diverse. The original goal of schooling — education — is secondary, at best. And merit is accorded no value whatsoever.
In place of Seattle’s advanced-learning program will be a system-wide initiative that’s “more inclusive, equitable and culturally sensitive.”
Just typing that makes me want to throw up.
Is it any wonder that right-thinking parents are (if they can) opting for private schools and home-schooling? Faced with the sabotaging of their kids’ potential, who can blame them?
If I had school-age children these days, that’s what I’d do. Whatever it took, I’d keep them the hell outta the public schools.
Seattle is but one of many. There will be more. It’s all part of progressives’ unmaking of America.
Last one to leave….
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB