California School Punishes First-Grader for a Drawing, Sparking Federal Lawsuit
by Patrick McDonald, Reason, August 9, 2024.
Excerpt:
In March 2021, the elementary school student, referenced in legal filings as “B.B.,” drew a sketch depicting several individuals of different races, representing “three classmates and herself holding hands,” the family’s complaint states. Above the drawing, B.B. wrote “Black Lives Mater” [sic] with the words “any life” transcribed below the slogan.
B.B. then gave the drawing to one of her classmates, who is black, in an attempt (as she later testified) to comfort her classmate.
The words any life are, of course, similar to the phrase, “All Lives Matter,” which became a controversial retort to the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
That similarity—whether the first-grader was aware of it or not—was soon to land B.B. in hot water. The same day she made the drawing, B.B. was told by the school’s principal, Jesus Becerra, that her drawing was “inappropriate” and, allegedly, “racist.” (The parties dispute whether Becerra told B.B. that the drawing was “racist.” The defense alleges that B.B.’s testimony on the subject is inconsistent.)
DRH comment: Think of the emotional scars on this elementary school student who was punished for doing something nice. Also, notice that the first grader thought more clearly about human beings than Jesus Becerra, the principal did.
Moral of the story: keep your kids out of government schools if it’s financially doable. Many of them are toxic.
Why Does Building Roads Cost So Much in the United States?
by Timothy Taylor, Conversable Economist, August 9, 2024.
Excerpt:
One of my personal frustrations with how legislation is often discussed arises when there is a heavy focus on the total amount spent, which is easy to measure, and much less focus on what is received for what is spent, which is harder to measure. But the intention (level of spending) is not the outcome (actual results). The estimates in this paper
E.U. Regulations Made the CrowdStrike Fiasco Much Worse
by J.D. Tuccille, Reason, August 9, 2024.
Excerpt:
“CrowdStrike’s bug was so devastating because its security software, called Falcon, runs at the most central level of Windows, the kernel, so when an update to Falcon caused it to crash, it also took out the brains of the operating system,” The Wall Street Journal‘s Tom Dotan and Robert McMillan reported July 21. “A Microsoft spokesman said it cannot legally wall off its operating system in the same way Apple does because of an understanding it reached with the European Commission following a complaint. In 2009, Microsoft agreed it would give makers of security software the same level of access to Windows that Microsoft gets.”
“Mr. Bean” on free speech in UK.
Don’t miss this one: it’s an impassioned case against Britain’s harsh restrictions on speech.
HT2 Dan Klein.
READER COMMENTS
Monte
Aug 12 2024 at 2:04am
Even more egregious is the fact that a federal judge sided with the school, stripping the child of her 1st amendment right to free speech on the basis of her age. If the 9th circuit upholds the lower court’s decision on appeal, this will set a terrible precedent.
All lives (and ages) do matter when it comes to free speech. Shame on both the school and the judge.
Grand Rapids Mike
Aug 12 2024 at 10:28am
The question why does build roads cost so much should include why does repairing roads cost so much. Here in the Midwest winter creates a lot of road damage. With all of today’s tech improvements, wonder why so little has been done to make roads more durable. Why is there no anti dote to pot holes, created by winter. Another thing how come in road construction, or more often in road repair, it seems a work crew consist of 2 guys working, 3 guys watching the 2 guys working and another 1 guy walking around looking busy.
Richard W Fulmer
Aug 14 2024 at 10:38am
One of the problems is that many states and municipalities must, by law, choose the lowest bidder. Roads that last cost more up front, though in the long run, they tend to be far less expensive – especially if lost commuter time due to construction is taken into account.
Dylan
Aug 12 2024 at 11:28am
On crowdstrike, there’s a little more nuanced discussion here.
Short version, there’s a reasonable argument that the EU regulation helped ensure the problem was less bad than it could have been. By forcing Microsoft to allow access to the kernal, this bug only impacted 1% of Windows machines instead of all of them.
(Note: the author doesn’t endorse this conclusion, but I think fairly presents the argument)
Comments are closed.