Good afternoon, Music Lovers!

[Unrelated to the Stupid theme, but of interest: my mostly Democratic audience for today’s sexual harassment training  had no sympathy whatsoever with Joe Biden’s shameless groping, nor with his party’s hypocrisy in supporting him (so far.) Another interesting exchange—I was ready for the question—was when an attendee asked about “the current occupant in the White House” and his sexual harassing ways. “Has he harassed anyone while President?” I asked. She said, “Not that we know of.” Then I put up one of Uncle Joe’s groping photos. “How can a party that nominated someone who openly harasses women on camera challenge same but speculative conduct by the President?” I asked.

It’s also interesting that the un-American and unfair concept of presumed misconduct has so infected progressive thought where Donald Trump is involved. This was the answer I got repeatedly from one of our Self-Exiled Warriors of the Left before his exit: he knew that the President had colluded with the Russians and stolen the election because that’s just the kind of person he is.

What kind of governments oppress, accuse and punish people based on the kind of person they are?]

Stupid #1. In my back yard of  Richmond, Virginia, a woman left instructions in her will that Emma, a healthy Shih Tzu mix, be put down. The Chesterfield County Animal Services , where Emma was residing, appealed to the executor of the dead woman’s estate. “We did suggest they could sign the dog over on numerous occasions — because it’s a dog we could easily find a home for and re-home,” said Carrie Jones, manager of Chesterfield County Animal Services. Nope. Representatives took Emma in custody to be euthanized. The dog’s remains were cremated, and her ashes were placed in an urn to be returned to the “authorized representative of the estate.

There’s no excuse for this screaming example of human arrogance, narcissism, cruelty and idiocy. As a matter of public policy, testamentary wishes involving the killing of anything  should be declared unenforceable by law.

Trust the humans, Emma: they have decided that you’ll be happier dead.

Stupid #2: Boy, I don’t know if Kamala Harris is beatable in the Ethics Alarms contest to be the worst candidate for the Democratic nomination.

To begin the week,, Harris announced  her plan to close “the gender wage gap in the United States,” which is largely a fake talking point the Democrats have been flogging for decades. Her proposal would require that businesses submit  their payroll to the federal government, and if employees in the same position are not paid the same (absent legitimate reasons like seniority or merit, the company would face fines, including a fine of 1% of the company’s profits for every 1% of a “wage gap” that exists.—after expensive appeals, of course. Good plan!!!

But I digress. After Harris’s announcement,the Washington Free Beacon  investigated her own staff’s salaries and found the the median male salary disbursement was $34,999 and the median female salary was $32,999, a 6% gap.

How smart, responsible and competent would a candidate have to be to make certain that her own staff salaries showed nothing that could even be claimed to be a “gender gap”by grandstanding a proposal like hers?

Not very, but apparently Harris can’t even clear that low bar.

Stupid #3: In New Jersey, Colette Tretola, a Ridgewood High School parent, stood up at this week’s Board of Education meeting and revealed that her child’s teacherhanded out extra credit in exchange for students buying a $20 ticket to a fundraiser. The teacher sent a fundraising announcement to the class and encouraged her students to buy a ticket to the  event, offering extra credit on their grade as an incentive. Students in the class who were queried confirmed the episode. Tretola also said that her had asked the same teacher if she  could do work for the class to get extra credit, but the teacher said she didn’t give extra credit that late in the quarter. “How is it too late on day to do curriculum work for points but the very next day you can buy them?” the parent asked.

Here’s my favorite stupid sentence in the news report, however:

“Tretola is asking the board to create a district policy to ensure students can’t pay to get a better grade.”

Stupid #4: In Torrington, Connecticut, the  police department negotiated a deal with fugitive Jose Simms in which he agreed to surrender if the police Facebook post with his  online wanted poster got 15,000 likes. Lt. Brett Johnson revealed  that Simms had contacted him through Facebook and agreed to turn himself in if the post containing his poster got 20,000 “likes.’ but Johnson was able to talk him down to 15,000.

Whether Simms surrenders or not, Officer Simms should be suspended and busted down to walking a beat.

Stupid #5: TWO school Stupids out of five! Why am I not surprised?

I was scooped on this one in today’s Open Forum, but it was already on my list…from the Chicago  Chicago Tribune:

“The Oak Park and River Forest High School board has decided to reprint the 2018-2019 yearbook after more than a dozen photos of students engaging in the “circle game” were discovered inside. The high school will pay Jostens $53,794 to reprint the yearbooks… Last week, administrators announced the yearbooks would not be distributed in their current format after officials found 18 photos inside of students making an upside-down “OK” gesture. The school said the students flashing the sign were of “of various races, ethnicities, genders and grades…” The “circle game” hand gesture began as part of a juvenile “made-you-look” game but has been appropriated in recent years by white supremacists.”

Neither the “OK” sign nor the “made you look” game have been “appropriated” by anyone. Trolls and pranksters have exploited the absurd fearmongering and speech policing of the totalitarian Left to prompt organizations and weak-kneed, -spined, and -minded middle managers and bureaucrats to behave like fools, just as the Chicago Cubs did in another recent “OK” episode. Here’s the sad and frightening blather from the School Superintendent Joylynn Pruitt-Adams:

“I want to be clear that we are not making any presumptions about students’ intent in using the gesture. Regardless of intent, however, there is a real and negative impact. Many students, not only our students of color, experience this gesture as a symbol of white supremacy. Potentially subjecting our students to this trauma is simply not acceptable. We are concerned that the gesture will become more closely associated with white supremacy in the future. Publishing the photos in question could not only harm students today but could subject students to potentially a lifetime of questions or penalty from colleges, employers, etc.”

Ugh.

• So the school will waste over 50 grand to eliminate a sign that they can’t prove means anything at all other than “let’s troll our Dumb Education Masters by panicking them with the “made you look sign.”

Got it, Joylynn. You’re an idiot.

• Oh, some students “experience” the sign as a a symbol of white supremacy, do they? You mean like some people “experience” a benign red campaign hat as a racist statement justifying their beating up the wearer? Wait—isn’t this a school? Aren’t teachers supposed to teach things, like “Being traumatized by expressions and symbols, shivering in terror over a hand-gesture, and requiring adults to protect you from what you might be thinking no matter how silly, is no way to go through life, son”?

In my graduating year, we were told that political gestures like the peace sign would not be permitted in the yearbook because it was disrespectful to school graduates fighting in Vietnam. I’d  estimate that there were about 50, usually “disguised” by putting the “V” sign—which also could have meant “victory” behind the head of the student next to them. No, they didn’t reprint the books.

• You are spending 50, 000 today just in case a gesture comes to mean something on the future. You really said that.

Wow.

• Has anyone ever, ever, heard of a potential employer investigating a candidate’s high school year book? Here’s a translation of that excuse: “We want our students to be in the best possible position when the nation is in the thrall of Fascist from the Left, who will mete out harsh punishment based on perceived political correctness breaches in high school yearbooks.”

That’s all the stupid I can handle today. Here’s your poll: