Anti American left

ASVAB Exposes Education Failures

For those who don’t know, the entrance exam for the US military is a standardized test called the ASVAB, and is one of the best vocational aptitude tests out there. The ASVAB includes tests in 10 areas: general science (GS), arithmetic reasoning (AR), word knowledge (WK), paragraph comprehension (PC), mathematics knowledge (MK), electronics information (EI), auto information (AI), shop information (SI), mechanical comprehension (MC) and assembling objects (AO).

The test is scored as a percentile. That is, the score ranges from 1 to 99. A 60 would indicate that you scored higher than 60 percent of the people who have taken the exam. For that reason, a perfectly average person would score a 50. The score required to enlist is different for each branch of the military, with the lowest being a 30 for the Army, and the highest being a 36 for the Coast Guard. (There are waivers that allow even lower scores to qualify)

With that being said, black applicants are half as likely to reach the minimum score as any other demographic. In fact, a whopping 40% of black test takers cannot achieve a passing score on the ASVAB. The average score for blacks is 38 and for Hispanics is 44, compared to whites’ average score of 55. These scores reflect the similar racial gaps on other standardized exams.

This is more problematic than it appears at first glance, going back to my post about licensing and certification. Every applicant for the military has a high school diploma- a piece of paper issued from their school district certifying that they can read, write, and perform arithmetic, yet are dumber than two thirds of the test takers. Even worse, if you extend this to those who have dropped out of school before high school graduation, a whopping 60% of US blacks can’t pass this exam. Our education system is a waste of money that is largely accomplishing nothing but grooming children to become liberal sexual deviants.

Now there are many who will claim that this is caused by some sort of racism, using the stupid metric of “anything that results in disproportionate results for blacks is racist” instead of looking deeper into the causes. Why? Looking deeper is difficult and exposes uncomfortable realities.

By Divemedic, ago

This Makes Me Happy

A Federal Judge in Illinois ruled that outlawing particularly dangerous weapons, high capacity magazines, and dangerous weapons accords with US history and tradition, meaning that the state of Illinois lawfully exercised their authority to control their possession, transfer, sale and manufacture by enacting a ban on commercial sales, which comports with the Second Amendment.

I love this decision because it doesn’t set court precedent, but is almost guaranteed to be overturned on appeal, which WILL have precedential meaning.

By Divemedic, ago

That’s a Bold Plan, Cotton. Let’s see how it works out for them.

The leftists in the Blue cities want to starve the red states out economically until we submit to their socialism and gun control. The Civil War that follows is going to be epic. Larry Correia cuts to the quick in his usual outspoken style.

Olbermann is one stupid son of a bitch.

By Divemedic, ago

I Fully Support This

In fact, I threw all of mine out just recently. It’s for the children.

By Divemedic, ago

Shouldn’t Have Been There

One of the big arguments you hear from the left about the Rittenhouse case is: Kyle is a murderer because he had no business being in Kenosha. If he had only stayed at his mom’s house, he wouldn’t have needed to defend himself.

OK, let’s play that game. I will counter that claim with one single name: Manuel Terán.

Manuel Terán was from Venezuela. He had a student visa to attend Florida State University. Instead, he decided to drop out of school to become a self described “forest defender” who would protest to protect the environment. In other words, he was in violation of the terms of his student visa, and was then an illegal immigrant. He headed up to Georgia and began camping in the woods to prevent the construction of a new police training center near Atlanta. By camping in the woods, protesters hoped to prevent the construction crews from clearing the land.

When Georgia State Police arrived to clear out the protesters, one of the officers was shot. When police returned fire, the dead body was found to be holding a handgun. Ballistic tests matched the bullet taken from the police officer to that handgun. The dead protester was identified as Manuel Terán.

His mother said that Manuel was not the type of person to shoot at police, and also claimed, “They said he had a gun. If he had one, it was for protecting himself against the animals in the forest.” Except it is illegal for him to have a gun, since he was in the country illegally.

Still, Manuel Terán has become a martyr for the cause in Atlanta. If only he had stayed where he belonged. Isn’t it funny how Kyle Rittenhouse was wrong for visiting his father in Kenosha, less than 50 miles from his mother’s home, but an illegal immigrant is celebrated for crossing a national border illegally, travelling thousands of miles, arming himself with a handgun (which the left wants outlawed), then using that handgun to shoot a police officer?

By Divemedic, ago

Childish, Magical Thinking

Watch this, and read some of the comments.

My initial thought was that it can’t be real. Then I reconsidered. This is the kind of childish, magical thinking that my children displayed when they were 8 or 9 years old. My daughter once asked me why I wouldn’t buy some expensive car or another. I replied that we didn’t have money for that. Her answer was, “Just go to the ATM and get more.”

That is the exact level of thinking displayed by this man-child, and the comment that followed. Just who is going to provide or pay for the basic, no frills life that you feel should be provided to you?

I had a similar conversation with my niece less than a year ago. My niece made the statement that people should get things that are necessary for free, because we all have a right to the necessities of life. She used feminine hygiene products as an example.

I pointed out to her that, since no one was paying for tampons, there would be no money to pay the people who worked in the tampon factory, so why would anyone work there for free? Her first reply was, “Wait! There is a tampon factory?”

I said, “Well just where do you think tampons come from? Is there a tampon tree somewhere?”

She replied, “Well, in that case, I suppose you could get women to work there and pay them with free tampons.”

I said, “What would that be worth? If everyone already gets tampons for free, what good is it to pay them with free tampons? So how are your employees going to eat, buy gas, or buy a house?”

She said, “That’s my point. Money is stupid. Why can’t everyone just trade and barter for stuff? Why should we all have to go to work just to be able to afford the things we need to live? The government can just print all of the money we need.”

I tried to explain money to her, but she didn’t get it. She is only 14, so I can excuse that. It’s her older sister, who is 21, that is evidence of an entire generation that doesn’t understand money. All they know is that they think somehow it’s their right to receive a living without having to do anything. This is why they all are demanding a living wage, or whatever they want to call it. It’s why they love socialism. They all want something for nothing.

There is a word to describe people working to provide things to people who aren’t doing a thing to earn what they receive, and that word is slavery.

By Divemedic, ago

They Hate the Nation

Michelle Obama famously said, “for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country,” after the Democrats nominated her husband. Politifact gaslighted the nation by claiming that wasn’t what she said, and Michelle had to walk back her comments.

Last week, Tim Kaine’s wife, as part of Virginia’s Board of Education, denounced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as being responsible for slavery. As a result, the US history that will be taught in Virginia schools is one that seeks to vilify the nation’s founding, then use that as a springboard to vilify the nation today. Of course, the press and her husband are seeking to walk back those comments, not because they disagree with them, but because she wasn’t supposed to say that part out loud.

The left positively hates this country, its government, and everything it stands for. They want to tear it down and replace it with their version of a communist utopia. Never mind that socialism and communism have never worked before. See, the reason that those have never worked before is that people who are as smart as they are have never been in charge.

They aren’t just grooming your kids to be their little sex puppets. They are grooming them to understand and believe that the little people are simply objects to be owned by their social betters. They are teaching children to be subservient little slaves with no capacity for rebellion or independent thought. They want a nation of serfs, of obedient little servants who can be ruled over by the political elite.

This vision of America, a communist one with them as the leaders, is the reason why they want to disarm you. That’s the vision that Tim Kaine and his wife have for us. He wants to disarm and enslave you, she wants to teach your kids that the Constitution and the nation’s founders are evil and should be eliminated.

The Democrat party is evil. There is no other way to say it.

By Divemedic, ago

The Left Suddenly Cares About Soldiers?

Leftists on Twitter are all upset because there was a Pat Tillman tribute during the Superbowl. Although the left is all in favor of going to war against a nuclear armed Russia, wars that are started by Republicans are bad, so the facts of his death have to be viewed in that light. The reasons that the left is giving for being upset are:

  • Tillman was supposedly opposed to the war in Iraq, according to some rando who claims to have been in his unit (of course he was killed in Afghanistan, so I don’t see how this matters)
  • Tillman was not killed by the enemy, but by friendly fire when a part of his platoon mistook Tillman’s forward position for an enemy one, and fired on it. (friendly fire or not, he was killed in a firefight with enemy combatants. If a cop dying a week after J6 can be pinned on the right, I think we can chalk this one up to a combat death.)
  • Tillman supposedly said (again according to a rando who claims to have heard a guy who claims to have been in Tillman’s unit) “If something happens to me, I am afraid they will parade me in the streets. I don’t want them to parade me through the streets.” (Even assuming that Tillman actually said this, he couldn’t possibly have been referring to the Rangers who were killed and then dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, and not wanting that to happen to him, could he?)

So if the US winds up in a shooting war with Russia, I expect all of those bloviating leftists to rush down to the recruiting office to sign up.

By Divemedic, ago

CNN to Black People: You Were Born Stupid and Poor, But It’s White People’s Fault

A recent study found that black children have less grey matter in their brains than white children. They researchers then came to the conclusion that this was the result of the stresses of poverty, drugs, and violence, which was caused by systemic racism. How can you draw that conclusion? It seems to me as if they began with the conclusion, then went looking for the support.

I can think of several alternative conclusions.

  • Cause and effect is reversed. Perhaps it is the lack of grey matter that causes the poverty and violence.
  • Perhaps it is that poverty and violence were caused by something else. Why does it have to be racism, and what supporting evidence do you have?

The study itself said this:

Black children experienced more traumatic events, family conflict, and material hardship on average compared with White children, and their parents or caregivers had lower educational attainment, lower income, and more unemployment compared with those of White children. Black children showed lower amygdala, hippocampus, and PFC gray matter volumes compared with White children. The volumes of the PFC and amygdala, but not the hippocampus, also varied with metrics of childhood adversity, with income being the most common predictor of brain volume differences. Accounting for differences in childhood adversity attenuated the magnitude of some race-related differences in gray matter volume.

OK. So how did you determine cause and effect? Were the black children born with less grey matter than whites? Did the amount of grey matter decline over time? Did you compare black children who were wealthy (say, Jayden Smith or the Obama girls) to white children who were poor, to see if there were correlations there? How about including other races? Asians?

Nope. Instead, the study began with the following assumptions:

Current U.S. Census data show that Black households, on average, have a lower median income, lower educational attainment, and higher rates of unemployment and poverty compared with White households. Moreover, research suggests that Black children are more likely to be exposed to trauma and domestic violence and are more likely to have a parent who died, an incarcerated parent, or divorced or separated parents compared with White children. Additionally, research has shown that Black children live in disproportionately disadvantaged neighborhoods and are more likely than White children to be exposed to neighborhood violence. These racial disparities are not random. Rather, they are deep-rooted structural inequalities that result from a history of disenfranchisement of racially minoritized groups (e.g., slavery, segregation) that reinforce themselves through societal norms and practices (i.e., systemic racism)

(highlighting added)

I was with them on the other evidence. Yes, there is evidence that black children are likely to be poor, have incarcerated parents, and lower intelligence. I agree. What they are essentially saying is that blacks are poor, less intelligent, and more likely to be criminals than are whites, and that there is a biological and physiological basis for this. That’s exactly what I have been saying for years. What I have a problem with is the conclusion that is unsupported by any evidence presented by this so-called study- that it’s white people’s fault.

This seems like junk science with no control group and little in the way of actual, well, science. When I was a teacher, had one of my students turned in an unsupported conclusion like that one, it likely would have received a poor grade.

By Divemedic, ago