In Defense Of David Brooks, His Failing Memory, And His Failed Fact-Checker

David Zweig at Salon gets some clicks with a breathless expose of the lying David Brooks:

The facts vs. David Brooks: Startling inaccuracies raise questions about his latest book

Factual discrepancies in the NYT columnist's new book raise some alarming questions about his research & methods

Spoiler alert - we can all exhale, this is not that alarming. Still...

For at least the past four years David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, TV pundit, bestselling author and lecture-circuit thought leader, has been publicly talking and writing about humility. Central to his thesis is the idea that humility has waned among Americans in recent years, and he wants us to harken to an earlier, better time.

One of the key talking points (if not the key talking point) cited by Brooks in lectures, interviews, and in the opening chapter of his current bestseller, “The Road to Character,” is a particular set of statistics — one so resonant that in the wake of the book’s release this spring, it has been seized upon by a seemingly endless number of reviewers and talking heads. There’s just one problem: Nearly every detail in this passage – which Brooks has repeated relentlessly, and which the media has echoed, also relentlessly — is wrong.

David Zweig was exploring similar humilty-related themes when he came across this factoid from a David Brooks talk a few years back:

In 1950 the Gallup Organization asked high school seniors “Are you a very important person?” And in 1950, 12 percent of high school seniors said yes. They asked the same question again in 2006; this time it wasn’t 12 percent, it was 80 percent.

But diligent fact-checking could not confirm that detail, so Zweig did not use it himself. But Brooks did, in 2015!

The passage from “The Road to Character” reads:

“In 1950, the Gallup Organization asked high school seniors if they considered themselves to be a very important person. At that point, 12 percent said yes. The same question was asked in 2005, and this time it wasn’t 12 percent who considered themselves very important, it was 80 percent.”

And oddly, a thematically similar point had been made in Brook's own 2011 "The Social Animal":

The passage from “The Social Animal” reads:

“In 1950 a personality test asked teenagers if they considered themselves an important person. Twelve percent said yes. By the late 1980s, 80 percent said yes.”

So Brooks forgot his own book and his own factcheckers don't re-reread his own stuff. Color me disappointed, but hardly horrified. But if Zweig is right I am under-reacting:

Somehow, between the publication of “The Social Animal” in 2011 and the publication of “The Road to Character” in 2015, a study that originally occurred, by Brooks’ telling, in “the late 1980s” became one that occurred nearly 20 years later. (Amazingly, to the New York Times reviewer, the late 1980s and 2005 are only “slightly different dates.” And how was any difference in dates for the same citation, no matter how “slight,” not problematic to the Times reviewer?)

What began as a simple fact-check of a Gallup poll was devolving into a morass.

Zweig contacts Brooksies people, eventually is offered a research paper by Newsom, Archer et al as a citation, and contacts the authors. The gist - Brooks wasn't so wrong in The Social Animal" but was deeply wrong in "The Road To Perdition Character":

The thing I keep wondering is how did Brooks get nearly every detail of this passage wrong? He said Gallup did the polls, when they were actually done by academics. He merged a data set from 1948 and 1954 into 1950. He said the second data set was from 2005, when it was from 1989 (to me, the most damning and damaging inaccuracy). He said it was high school seniors, when it was ninth graders. And he said 80 percent answered true, when that was only so for boys. Can one accidentally get this many details wrong?

So the question is, if it wasn’t an accident, why would Brooks deliberately falsify nearly every detail in a passage of his book, let alone one that is a cornerstone of the book’s P.R. campaign?

Why would Brooks deliberately falsify this whole factoid? Is that really the obvious next question? I would ruminate on the fraility of human memory before I assumed Brooks to be lying. 

Speaking of which, and filed under "everything new is old again", here is an aggrieved blogger from 2011:

Back in March David Brooks titled one of his New York Times columns “The Modesty Manifesto.” In it, he argued that over the course of a few generations American culture has shifted from an emphasis on self-effacement to one on self-enlargement — in short, that Americans now hold themselves, as individuals, in much higher regard than they once did.

You see this freight train coming, don't you?

However, one item from his column that Mr. Brooks keeps repeating on the lecture and interview circuits is more sinister. He cites polling data showing that in the 1950s 12% of American high school seniors said they were “a very important person” and that by the 1990s a whopping 80% believed that they were. Leaving aside the fact that Brooks keeps changing the date for that 80% figure (sometimes he says it’s from polling done in the 1990s, sometimes from 2005), Brooks is refusing to look under the surface of this seemingly alarming number.

Hmm. So even back in 2011 Brooks was muddling his dates on the stump, if not in print. The Modesty Manifesto column from 2011 says this:

In a variety of books and articles, Jean M. Twenge of San Diego State University and W. Keith Campbell of the University of Georgia have collected data suggesting that American self-confidence has risen of late. College students today are much more likely to agree with statements such as “I am easy to like” than college students 30 years ago. In the 1950s, 12 percent of high school seniors said they were a “very important person.” By the ’90s, 80 percent said they believed that they were.

Hmm, right that time! And in July 2010, in the course of berating the narcissistic Mel Gibson, Brooks offers the same cite for the same factoid:

In their book, “The Narcissism Epidemic,” Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell cite data to suggest that at least since the 1970s, we have suffered from national self-esteem inflation. They cite my favorite piece of sociological data: In 1950, thousands of teenagers were asked if they considered themselves an “important person.” Twelve percent said yes. In the late 1980s, another few thousand were asked. This time, 80 percent of girls and 77 percent of boys said yes.

I Boldly Infer that Twenge et al were the source of this tidbit for Brooks. A diligent reader can Look Inside and find it on p. 35 here, or check this cool screenshot:

 

So why is Salon author Zweig contacting professors Newsom and Archer? Because they are the citation offered by Twenge (e.g., in this Journal of Personality 76:4, August 2008 paper, "Egos Inflating Over Time: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory", p. 878). Rather than blaming Brooks for moving a 1948 survey into the 1950s and muddling boys with girls, one might take it up with Twenge. (And FWIW, Twenge reverses the 80% / 77% boy-girl breakdown provided by Zweig, and if I had a copy of the Newsom paper I would gleefully adjudicate that dispute. And do, see UPDATE.)

Still, one wonders how Gallup got involved and why the second study keeps getting moved into 2005. Let me compound the mystery - here is a blogger from 2007 describing "Fame Junkies", published in 2007 by former factchecker, New Republic and NPR writer Jake Halpern:

"American teenagers are the most narcissistic people in the world."

That conclusion comes from a study published in Jake Halpern's new bookFame Junkies, The Hidden Truths behind Americas Favorite Addiction. 

Last night I went to see him do a reading at a local bookstore.  He talked about how in the 1950's 12% of American teens answered yes to the question "Are you an important person?"  In 2006, that number  jumped to over 80%.

Well, that is one fanboy heard from, but did Halpern really say that? I wasn't there, but in the book (Look Inside p. 35 - that page is not presented, but searches on "important person" confirm the factoid's presence) he cites the 2006 "Generation Me" by Twenge, and in the press release he offers this:

Are teenagers in America really more self-important than they were in the past? 

There is certainly information to support this notion. This piece of data is my favorite. It comes from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. This personality test has been given to teenagers since the early 1950s. If you compare the results from teenagers who took the test in the early 1950s to results from teenagers who took it in the late 1980s, it's quite interesting. One of the most striking differences between these two groups was the way they responded to item 58, which reads: "I am an important person." In the early 1950s, only 12 percent of teenagers endorsed that statement; by the late 1980s, that number had jumped to roughly 80 percent. 

This is everybody's favorite factoid! If I had to guess, I would wager that Halpern mentioned a 2006 book citing a study from the 1950s and late 80s, and the blogger dropped the 80s figure. I would further wager that Our Guy Brooks remembers the 2006 book and is making the same mistake on the dates.

So how did Gallup get in the mix? Beats me. On August 31 2011 on C-SPAN, Brooks cited Gallup, contra his then-recent book. In 2010, at a talk in Asheville, Gallup was in the story, and the second survey was "last year":

“It occurred to me that this is a shift in our culture,” he said. “In 1950, a Gallup poll asked teenagers ‘Are you an important person?’ and 12% said yes. Last year, 80% said yes. That’s a shift in culture."

But why Gallup? Another unsolved mystery. There is a Gallup Youth Survey which was founded in 1977, and in a head as packed with factoids as Mr. Brooks, some cross-wiring may have occurred (yet again, more information equals less knowledge).

I would opine that Brooks is obviously confused, his factcheckers are either overworked or underpaid, and Zweig is a bit too excited about his "gotcha". As Mark Twain might have said, "It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so."

UPDATE: Don't seek and ye shall find - in the course of looking for something else I stumbled upon the full Newsom paper, which has something for everyone:

In the 1950s, this item, placed on the ego inflation (Ma4) subscale, was endorsed as true by only about 12% of the Hathaway and Monachesi (1963) sample. In contrast, this item was endorsed as true by 77% (girls) to 80% (boys) of contemporary adolescents. The dramatic shift in endorsement frequency probably reflects a fundamental shift in the connotation of this item, that is, in the Hathaway era this item was likely interpreted by adolescents as related to self-aggrandizement, whereas it is seen as reflective of positive aspects of self-esteem by modern adolescents.

So 1948 is culturally repackaged into 'the 1950s' here and down the line, But for some reason, Prof. Twenge reversed the boy/girl split.

And of course, when a 2003 paper cites 1989 data to describe "contemporary adolescents", I suppose some confusion is possible. That said, the authors are crystal clear, several pages earlier, that the "contemporary" data is from the late 1980s:

The contemporary adolescent sample is comprised of the 805 boys and 815 girls collected in the late 1980s to create the MMPI–A adolescent norms.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Rocco]

I didn't mean to offend Miss Marple. I remember discussing his potential run last time and the possibility that he would run third party to screw the GOP. This time he's serious and so is Hillary, I can't help but wonder if he's in it for Hillary? Time will tell I suppose.

[rich@gmu]

>>>I am saying he will resonate with a lot of people.

Posted by: Miss Marple | June 16, 2015 at 08:47 PM<<<

and that is the more depressing thought.

[rich@gmu]

Rocco-

yep, he's a ringer. maybe he can turn it into a reality tv show to recoup some of the campaign expenses ...

[rich@gmu]

was the trade vote today?

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

--Ben is crazy. Please don't respond to him, JOM'ers.--

I reserve the right to respond to his 7:57 mellifluous but incomprehensible eructation.

ROFLMAO

There.

[rich@gmu]

wow would rather be fishing with Rocco. did y'all grill them up or release ...

[rich@gmu]

Iggy with the translator ...

[lyle]

I love the word eructation.

[henry]

Rich, no trade vote until late July.

[Beasts of England]

What's this so-called Cleveland Curse? Have they never win it all? Never won it at home?

[rich@gmu]

thanks henry. thought the GOPe was trying to get something today.

[Beasts of England]

*won*

[Rocco]

We only keep the salmon rich but yeah we steak some and fillet some. They're awesome on the grill but I've never had salmon that tasted as good as the salmon Jane served at her party...out of this world. The lake trout sometimes called togue take so long to grow that we feel obliged to release them. There are lakers in that lake older than my son Ross.

[Rocco]

But...without doubt, the best freshwater fish to eat IMO is perch as GUS will probably attest to.

[GUS]

Hey Rocco, you were wondering what Trump is...Dem, Gop, Conservative, Dem, Gop...????
He's a black woman today.

I was shocked to catch so much perch. It was fat and deeeelish. Big Twin Lake, Phelps Wisconsin.

[rich@gmu]

lol ...

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

What's your question Beasts? The Cavs have never won it all. Cleveland teams haven't won a championship in 51 years but they won a few before that, home and away.

[Miss Marple]

Rocco,

You didn't offend me. I was just clarifying.

His rhetoric rings true to a lot of people, and in a few cases he's pretty much spot on, mostly on foreign policy.

I think that this is why I like Carly Fiorina, who is the less-bombastic and more level-headed example of the type of plain talk people are longing to hear.

I also think it's why Jeb's wonkish and boring speeches will fall like a lead balloon.

My primary isn't until May, so my vote doesn't count as it will probably be decided by then. And I don't have any money to donate, either.

So I am pretty much an observer other than lobbying for Carly Fiorina to make it into the debates. The rest of these candidates need to learn direct talk with specific details and how to go for the throat with the dems.

Otherwise, I am just an observer.

[Dave (in MA)]

Rocco, you need to school daddy on the difference between whoopie pies and moon pies.

[rich@gmu]

up 13 points after the 1st ...

[Beasts of England]

Thanks, Captain. We had heard mention of a curse and couldn't figure it out.

[Beasts of England]

Thanks, Captain. We had heard mention of a curse and couldn't figure it out.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

51 years is a long time. Good thing I cheered for some other teams during that.

[Jim Miller]

Beasts - There was a longish article a week or two ago on American cities that were unlucky with their teams, Cleveland was #1. (Seattle was #13, the last on their list of unlucky cities.)

[Jim Miller]

The article I mentioned was in the NYT.

[Rocco]

When I think Wisconsin I think musky. The fish of 10,000 casts. Some guys fish their whole lives and never catch one. We usually speed troll for musky with leadcore line and deep diving crankbaits. I wish I could say I caught this one but once again I was taking the pic. Sometimes I think if I had a duck it would drown! Someday I want to fish Wisconsin for musky. This one although nice is considered small for musky and caught at Lake Chautauqua in NY by my wife's brother.

MM, he's going to shake things up for sure but if he starts talking third party, we're screwed.

Dave...it was great to finally meet you. I remember Jane trying several times to pin you down!

On a previous thread sue reminded of Steve Martin in The Jerk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtmi4Nc-3dE

[GUS]

My best pal Al has fished for 40 years, he has one Musky on his record. It's also on his wall in his den. I'm a catch and EAT fisherman. I caught 30some fish this weekend. Perch, Walley, bluegill and several small mouth bass. I have caught sea bass and even a barracuda, but never a musky. Rocco if you ever get here, I know where he musky hang out.

[Dave (in MA)]

Rocco, same here. Glad we've got you posting again.

[Rocco]

Well now I have a great reason to visit you GUS! Good nite all.

[Stephanie]

Megalodon has now jumped the shark...

http://rightwingnews.com/democrats/race-faker-dolezal-wanted-to-start-boycott-of-white-actors-portraying-black-characters/

[Jane on Ipad]

Rocco,

Easy peasy recipe that I made up. I'll send it to you.

[narciso]

I saw jurassic world pretty good all told, Ms Howard was not as annoying as I thought she might be.

Le donald was one who indulged in 'they lied us into war' carp and that's a bridge too far in my book. He still has an odd fixation with japan.

[narciso]

I cross checked some of the stove piped material
And it is uneven at best, probably from for dgse, b nd even svr, the last probably not so.

[Dave (in MA)]

Pricey but worth it

Yike

[narciso]

How are you doing ann?

[narciso]

Probably some now in the brat va as in the new Gerald sey mour novel, set In spain.

[narciso]

The Nazguls are wee we'd over something the huntress said about b wana dolezal.

[narciso]

And another lanyard skinner reference re Neil young, we'll you know what I mean.

[Cecil Turner]

He was doing business in Libya, for which he never got paid, and just passing along information to his friend (Hillary!) from Tyler Drumheller:

He wrote the formally structured notes like memos: “For: Hillary … From: Sid.” And a “source” was always given, such as a vague reference to the new Libyan transitional government or European intelligence. Drumheller was not mentioned.

Republicans are still skeptical.

Those Republicans are cynical bastards, obviously.

[narciso]

He was the head of European division, not just some guy, you know.

[narciso]

Is everyone in Washington except for present company willfully ignorant, rhetorical?

[narciso]

If it wasn't for judicial watch and guider and a few others we would know nothin

[daddy]

CNN---Gowdy to release new Blumenthal-Clinton emails

More sparring at the Sid Hearing:

Gowdy said that his committee received about 60 new emails from Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal ahead of his closed-door deposition with committee members Tuesday...

Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, said Gowdy should release the entire transcript of Blumenthal's deposition along with the emails to provide proper context.

Gowdy said he is open to Cummings' request but said he's "releasing the emails no matter what."

"I need him to explain to me why this witness should be treated differently than any other witness," said Gowdy, noting that other witness transcripts have not been made public.

[Cecil Turner]

So, the five day delay isn't waived, and we can expect a monday morning email dump, if I'm reading it correctly.

I'd be very interested to read the documents Sid was cutting and pasting from. I wonder if they're going to chase those down. (And what access Drumheller still had, nearly a decade after retiring.)

It's worth recalling Blumenthal and Drumheller teamed up on Iraqi WMD back in 2007, politicizing intelligence much like the video turned out to be. I doubt they were the first to connect those particular dots, but early reports suggest Sid was selling it pretty hard and early.

[GUS]

Elijah Cummings is a p.o.s.. We need to recognize who our enemy is. SERIOUSLY. The LEFT, the CO-DEPENDENT and COMMIE LEFT, are more our enemy than CUBA or VENEZUELA. They have POWER...here and now.

[GUS]

Cecil. Rodham is less than an amateur. What the fuk? What expertise does this dishonest witch have in the DIPLOMATIC REALM??? NONE. Blumenthal is a POLITICAL HACK, Blumenthal has HACKED for Rodham and Blowjob Billy for years. The dizzy bitch trusted him and used him as a intel source. It's bizarre and AMATEUR. Blumenthal passed on old and borrowed intel and COLLECTED CASH. Rodham was AMATEUR and STUPID enough to think BLUMENTHAL was a DIPLOMATIC or COVERT INTEL PRO. It simply illustrates how IGNORANT and USELESS Rodham is.

[CR]

Gowdy said they will be considering whether to subpoena Drumheller.

[GUS]

Gowdy needs to take off the gloves.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

Congrats to Steve Kerr, Jerry West, the Warrior players and any JOMers who are fans. The rest of their fan base can die in a fire, preferably in Oracle tonight.

[Dave (in MA)]

Condolences to the Cavs fans.

[GUS]

Capn' I think it was a VERY VERY VERY GOOD series. If Cleveland doesn't lose LOVE and Irving, it's a different series.
It's hard not to like Steph Curry.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Wonder how the series would have gone without the two key injuries to the Cavs.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

Eh I can think of a few things Curry does that people will find irritating next season.

[GUS]

Hey Capn' The Cav's hit their stride as a TEAM. Halfway thru the season, the Cav's stopped being the Cleveland LeBrons, and played awesome ball and were dominant. Losing Love and Irving, made them so one dimensional. Deli was GREAT, but the chemistry on offense was gone.
Hang in there Capn H. Cleveland WILL win a title soon.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

Hopefully we'll find out next season, Iggy. Btw your namesake had a very good series.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Acknowledging she's a plagiarist and making the problematic assumption she actually did the work Crazy Rachel is a pretty impressive painter, technically speaking.

[Stephanie]

Gotta go thru Atlanta, first! :)

[GUS]

Capn. 14 year old Gus Jr was riding in the car with me, he doesn't know LeBron from Le Mans, but he is aware the Mister James is a stud and a star. Jr hears LeBron make a statement about being the SOLE LEADER and FACE of a FRANCHISE, and without me saying a single word, Gus Jr says...."Wow, Daddy, that guy is really full of himself".
I defended King James.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

--Btw your namesake had a very good series.--

True Cap, but I've never gotten the guys who can bomb 3s proficiently and then clang free throws off the rim like Wilt or Shaq.

[GUS]

Capn and Ig, I was quite impressed with Iguodala. He has made his mark. I was surprised that he won MVP, CLEARLY CLEARLY CURRY was MVP, but, Ig surprised people, and Curry did what is EXPECTED of him.
Curry was the MVP by any reasonable standard, and if not Curry, LeBron was next.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

Actually I thought it was LeBron, Iggy and Curry in that order. Except for a monster fourth quarter in game 5 I thought Curry was lackluster at times. He's a very talented player who can put up points in a hurry but just didn't show the type of consistent dominance that he did in the regular season imo. He was certainly better than his fellow Splash brother who had a consistently bad series.

[GUS]

I'm not a fan of Golden State nor Steph Curry, but I watched the series. Here is my take.
LeBron is the best player alive.
Steph Curry was the MVP fo shiz. No doubt 100%. Andre Iguodala was given the FINALS MVP, because he ROSE to the occasion. Steph Curry is OUTSTANDING, and he is expected to be.
LeBron was a man among boys. LeBron couldn't get it done alone..no one can. But again...Steph Curry was MVP.

[DrJ]

I'm coming up for air. I've been working on a major proposal (to NCI) and it is turning into the best one I have every written. It really is good. Great idea, great preliminary data, great collaborators, and a wonderful plan addressing a very real concern.

It still probably won't fund.

Tomorrow -- the submission deadline -- has a few boilerplate activities, but other than that it is good to go.

What a way to live. :(

[GUS]

Jeb!!! Says the RODHAM is "smart" and she
"Loves our country".

JEB!!! Is DISMISSED. Jeb is a politician from birth. And Possibly a good one.

He is also DISMISSED, because he is a BALL-LESS FUKTARD.

Thanks for playing "JEB".

[jimmyk]

If Dolezal were smart, she might have claimed that she disguised herself as a black person as a journalistic experiment, like John Howard Griffin did in the late 50s. He was (justifiably, I think) widely admired.

[glasater]

"Doležal also entertains an interest in the medical field and has begun Pre-Medical studies, working toward an MD and a residency in trauma surgery"

Who in their right mind would want this idiot attending them in an emergency medical situation?

[DebinNC]

Complete except from Dolezal's now-deleted EWU bio:

"Doležal also entertains an interest in the medical field and has begun pre-medical studies, working toward an MD and a residency in trauma surgery. She hopes to combine her medical knowledge with her passion for human rights and engage in life-saving surgery efforts around the world."

[Extraneus]

I like the one with all the puzzle pieces, My Place.

[rse]

After Curry left college to enter the nba draft, the davidson alum group got tickets to the warriors playing in atlanta. I took Red as it was before I recognized they had moved away from th type of traditional history major she was looking for. Curry came in after game to say hello to the alums and prospective students.

When we were out in sf last week, lots of attention on this series and Red looks at me and says "isn't that the Stephen Curry we met, mom?" He did take Davidson the longest in NCAA play they had been in decades.

Condolences to ch, but congrats to Golden State. It was amazing how many people we saw wearing the jerseys all week and even sunday at the airport.

[Beasts of England]

@Jane: Would you please post your salmon recipe here at JOM? Thanks!!

[Jane]

Beasts, the recipe is unimpressive on paper, but spectacular on the taste buds.

Chipolte peppers in sauce
Mayo
Dijon Mustard
Ketchup (for color)

Lay the salmon on tin foil. Mix the above ingredients, majority mayo, smaller amount of mustard, dash of ketchup. Make sure the pepper if chopped up so it spreads with the sauce. (one pepper is usually enough)

Slather the mixture on the top of the salmon, not sparingly, and then wrap the foil so it is air tight but sort of a bag so it can steam.

Place on grill and cook until done (maybe 20 minutes, but check it.

If you do it in the oven, cook at 450 degrees.

Do not turn over.

[Beasts of England]

Thank you, Jane - will try it soon!!

[Beasts of England]

150 days. Slowly losing the desire and ideation. Very slowly...

[Jack The Trans-Former]

Jane,

What kind of salmon did you use?

Off to breakfast then a stroll through the Market. Maybe a carriage ride down South of Broad. Very steamy hot in Charleston. Coming up in South Georgia near the aptly named town of Summerville, I registered 103F on the car's dashboard indicator.

[DebinNC]

There's a pretty Summerville in NW GA near me, where you'll find Paradise Gardens - featuring the art of a true eccentric whose ilk Southerners love so much.

[Miss Marple]

Good morning!

Looks like my backyard will resemble a rainforest of weeds by the time the rain stops. We have off and on showers today followed by the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill on Thursday and Friday.

Snippets from today's Crazytown dispatches:

The Mayor of South Bend (Notre Dame country) announced in an op-ed that he is gay. (Of course we are to praise him for his courage, blah,blah.)

Melissa Harris Perry commiserating with Rachel what's her face on the difficulties caring for their hair. (Simple solution for Rachel would be to QUIT PERMING IT.)

Indianapolis mayor (GOP) and city council (dem majority) are fighting over the contracts for a fleet of electric cars which was awarded two years ago. The council wants the bids redone (probably because a crony wants the contract). The company that owns the contract is suing the city council. The mayor under statute has the sole authority to handle the fleet, so he is fighting the council. This proves that no good deed goes unpunished, especially when environmental stuff is involved.

Glen Beck is having a rally in Birmingham on August 8 for people who refuse to go over the cliff with the rest of the nutcases.

[DebinNC]

Rachel Dolezal's terrible, horrible, very bad yesterday ended with her in effect playing the I want y'all to think I'm crazy and not responsible for my actions card.

[James D]

Jeb!!! Says the RODHAM is "smart" and she
"Loves our country".

She isn't, and she doesn't.

And we need candidates who will SAY THAT! Loudly, and repeatedly and in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS!

She is a corrupt, venal liar who's spent decades enabling and covering up after an endlessly grifting sexual predator. THAT should be the opening line to any comment about Hillary from every single R candidate, every time they're within range of a microphone.

[James D]

hears LeBron make a statement about being the SOLE LEADER and FACE of a FRANCHISE, and without me saying a single word, Gus Jr says...."Wow, Daddy, that guy is really full of himself".
I defended King James.

If you're the best player in the world, you don't need to say it out loud.

I mean, yeah, he needs to believe it 100%, and there's little question that it's true. But let others say it for you.

[Extraneus]

Another hero.

Teacher resigns after reading students book about gay couple

RALEIGH, N.C. – After a third-grader tearfully recounted how another boy had called him "gay" during gym class, teacher Omar Currie chose to raise the issue during story time by reading his students a fable about a prince who falls in love with another prince, ending with a happily-ever-after royal wedding.

That decision in April ignited a public outcry from some parents in the rural hamlet of Efland, North Carolina, resulting in Currie's resignation this week from a job he loved. The assistant principal who loaned Currie her copy of "King & King" has also resigned, and outraged parents are pressuring administrators at the Orange County Schools to ban the book.

"When I read the story, the reaction of parents didn't come into my mind," Currie, 25, said Tuesday. "In that moment, it just seemed natural to me to read the book and have a conversation about treating people with respect. My focus then was on the child, and helping the child."

Once upon a time, it was soliders and firemen who were considered brave. Now it's transvestites and gays. Is that how it went right before Rome fell?

[Jane]

Congrats Beasts! Will it help if we ask you?

[DebinNC]

HillBilly are grifters article at Politico. Great comparison toward the end of Condoleeza Rice's speaking fees/actions v. HC's.

[rse]

Ex-we had a new Principal at the local high school who had come from out of state who decided about 2 weeks after school started to be seen marching in the Atlanta gay pride parade. The students thought it was cool and then began to speculate about whether he had a boyfriend. I thought it shouldn't be the first thing you come to know about someone who is brand new to a school and district.

Same principal who began writing up the fine veteran teachers who still wanted to lecture and stress knowledge. He also called a meeting of the faculty and wanted each to pick the Disney character they most identified with and tell why. He didn't make it an entire calendar year before leaving.

My kids thought it was quaint I did not think a principal's sex life should be the topic of hallway conversation.

[Jack The Trans-Former]

Correction: It was Summerville, SC not GA where it registered 103F yesterday. It is also the town where the football coach of 63 years who at 88 years old has retired with 621 victories. Its all over the news here and in USA Today. 88 and he feels 40.

See what lots of heat and humidity can do for you?

[DebinNC]

The issue was name-calling, but the 3rd grade teacher made it about "gayness"? Buh-bye.

[Marlene]

rse,my husband stays with his sister (the schoolteacher) when he works in his northern Maine office. Yesterday was the last day of school and at 3 on the dot, the teachers hit all the bars in town. Ha.He called to tell me she got home about 6 and brought him a pizza.

[sbw]

In defense of David Brooks, returning to topic, I want to say . . .

I want to say . . .

. . . I have nothing to say.

[Marlene]

Does TK know that Rachel Dolezal's birth certificate wasn't issued for a month and a half and that is one of the reasons she thinks she's black? *runs out of the room for more coffee* :)

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

--Deliberately obtuse.--

It's a poor writer who clams his readers are tools.

[Miss Marple]

You know, when I was in school we had a really good teacher who was fired for having a part-time job tending bar in an adjacent township.

Not saying that wasn't harsh, but there used to be strict standards on public behavior of teachers.

[James D]

Legal question for the next book, if anybody can help me. This would be New York State.

After someone is arrested and then brought before a judge to be arraigned, what happens to them if they plead either guilty, or nolo contendre?

Obviously if they plead not guilty, a trial date is set and they either go back to jail to await trial or they post bail and go home.

But if they plead guilty, does sentencing happen immediately, or does a date get scheduled for that and they go back to jail to wait until that day? Is there any possibility of bail being granted if they've pled guilty? Does it work any differently with a plea of nolo contendre?

In the book, the crime is a hit and run resulting in a serious injury of a pedestrian, followed by a crash resulting in the death of a passenger in the car, both accidents while the driver was drunk (or at least, that's what everyone, including the driver, thinks).

[DebinNC]

We recently had an epiphany in Summerville, GA. After several weeks of "Let's buy a travel trailer and see America" fever, we went to Summerville to actually walk through a few models we'd id'd as fitting our needs, and left with serious doubts that the rv life was for us. Summerville is home to James "Sloppy" Floyd State Park, so I suggested we drive through the rv section to see how appealing the spaces were and how difficult it might be to back a ~22' trailer into one. Every rv space was filled to overflowing, as it was the Memorial Day weekend. Not only lots and lots and lots of people everywhere but also various tents/igloos/screened rooms, etc. surrounding the rvs adding up to one word: "bedlam". Thus, the epiphany.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/dc-officials-stole-110k-childrens-program-fund-obama-inaugural-ball_972981.html

[Porchlight]

DebinNC, I love Howard Finster.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbiggs/2015/06/16/cbo-social-security-shortfall-quadrupled-since-2008/

[Miss Marple]

DebinNC,

As expensive as RV's are, I think it more cost effective to travel in a large car or SUV and stay in motels every night.

Bonus: air-conditioning, clean sheets, and free breakfast. Also no mosquitoes or bears.

[rse]

I used to go to camp near Summerville up on Lookout Mtn at a place named for the Girl scout founder, even though it was not affiliated. Playing chase I fell and my rib's hit against a large rock and ultimately I got taken for x-rays at the summerville hospital.

I still remember a nurse coming in to exam room to ask the other nurse where the thermometers were. I decided small town healthcare was very different from metro ATL.

[DebinNC]

You described our epiphany to a "tee", MM.

[Miss Marple]

I confess, Deb, my attitude comes from my dad, who spent a large amount of times in tents during WWII, including slogging through the mud of Italy.

My dad loved the outdoors, but he would NOT camp. Said he hadhad enough of it. We vacationed at fishing lodges in Wisconsin until he got enough money to buy a place in the Nicolet National Forest area. It wasn't much, a one-room log cabin with a bottled gas stove and outdoor toilet.

BUT, it had walls and a roof, mattresses, and a table and chairs for eating.

Being as I am of a younger generation, I require air-conditioning and running water.

No camping for me.

[NKonChrome]

MissM-- the Soc Sec collapse. You know why that is? look at payrolls, the USA economy is MILLIONS of jobs behind where it ought to be, thanks to ObamaCare mandates, and anti-business Obummernomics generally. 12+% of every missing job paycheck starves SocSec further. Many people (I raise my hand) will receive $0 soc sec 'benefit' funds, after paying in hundreds of thousands to the 'trust fund'. "TRUST" fund. We will have been Madoffed by our own gov't.