Sure Russia wants PDJT and not the socialist communist Dope candidates

The failing NY Times says that intelligence officials briefed congress that the Russians were looking to interfere in the 2020 election on PDJT’s behalf. Hmm, anything is possible I suppose.  After all, Barak Obama is trying to lay claim to PDJT’s booming economy. Obama taking credit for Trump’s economy is akin to Joe Montana taking credit for the Chief’s Super Bowl win because he threw his last NFL pass in Chief’s uniform 25 years ago.

I’m just wondering why the Russians would be backing a guy who has sanctioned their butts off, sanctioned their proxies’ butts off in Venezuela and Iran, humiliated them in Syria, drove their economy into a further tailspin by lowering the cost of oil, shipped lethal aid to Ukraine to kill Russians and is responsible for a flourishing American economy when they could be backing any one of a long line Democrat candidates who would bankrupt America by offering free healthcare for the world while encouraging the forsaking of energy that works in favor of costly environmentally shaky energy that doesn’t behind a Green New Deal, and pretty much disarm America in the process. 

Besides, didn’t we just digest the three year 40 million dollar Mueller report that could find no Trump - Russia collusion in the 2016 election?  That sorry episode combined with these new allegations remind of the old adage: Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  Fool me most of my life, shame on the public school system and an incurious leftist mind.

Today’s many JG Rants
Subscribing to the JG’s new school of journalism where it’s okay to tar all members of a group with the same broad brush a la race baiting hoaxer Chris Francois labeling all Hoosiers racists, in his letter “A nation full of cowards is reaping consequences” of Feb 23, 2020 Michael Zirkle labels all Republicans cowards before labeling America as a nation of cowards.

Of course as a “real” Christian, that’s one who subscribes to Zirkle’s leftist point of view, Zirkle virtue signals his own holier-than-thou worth and exempts himself from his own scathing “America’s a nation of cowards” condemnation.  How convenient.

It’s a shame dueling was outlawed.  Were it still legal, poorly worded ill-advised bombast from people would immediately be met with a challenge. Soon people would be choosing their words more carefully. 

       

Sunday, February 23, 2020 1:00 am

Letters to the editor

A nation full of cowards is reaping consequences

The Republicans' vote on impeachment, their party rhetoric and complete denial of facts lead me to think one thing. They are all cowards who have sold themselves out to what will prove to be, in history's hindsight, Russian money. Cowards standing behind God as their mascot.

Honoring the market and greed above Jesus and his word, they attack all who oppose them. I too am a Christian, but I choose Jesus over greed and politics.

They are all cowards, even the Democrats who selectively drew up the impeachment articles when they could have and should have been much more scathing.

We as a people are the problem. No one cares to have their buzz harshed, nor their happy, smiling, holding-hands world be enlightened by the truth of all that happens. Damned be the consequences. Don't interrupt my fun seems to be the attitude of most. We are a nation of cowards where this is concerned.

Michael Zirkle

Fort Wayne

I wondered how long before leftists suffering from three plus years of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) would start a crusade against PDJT for octogenarian Nancy Pelosi’s infantile behavior at the State of the Union (SOTU) speech.

Thom Bauer believes all manner of PDJT’s behavior months before and - in sort of a pre-crime indictment - months after the SOTU justify Pelosi’s erratic and foolish behavior during the speech.  After all, he tweets.  So anything that Pelosi does in response is not only excusable, it’s what irrational people demand from other irrational people.  

Heck yes, it’s perfectly natural for leftists suffering TDS to cheer on Pelosi’s boorish breakdown of decorum before the nation and the world, because HEEEEEEEE STARTED IT!!!! – whined the petulant little brat. 

GOP uses Pelosi to deflect from Trump's defects

I wondered how long before Republicans would start a crusade against Nancy Pelosi tearing up Donald Trump's speech (Letters, Feb.13).

So Diane Jones believes Trump rises above Pelosi. After a fact check on Trump's State of the Union, there were many lies and misrepresentations of facts. So tearing up a speech that was filled with so much garbage, I believe, was the right thing to do.

Trump has never risen above anything. He attacks anyone who might disagree with him. He has started removing everyone he believes is a threat to his presidency. For instance, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and his twin brother (who wasn't involved in his impeachment) are gone. His disrespect for Judge Amy Berman Jackson and the prosecutors who resigned (in the Roger Stone case) is unimaginable and not presidential but the actions of a child who perceives anyone who disagrees with him as his personal enemy.

It is time to stand up to a president who maligns everyone and call him what he is, a wannabe monarch. It is time we no longer stay complacent on behavior we would reject in our own personal lives. Finally, would you really tell your children and your grandchildren it is OK to lie more than 16,000 time in three years and they could grow up to be a corrupt president who has put this country in danger more times than we can count? Is this really what we should expect out of our leaders? I think not.

I can only imagine what these same individuals would do had President Barack Obama acted this way. Let's start calling it what it truly is – corruption at the highest level of his administration. I so badly want his taxes released so everyone can see what a phony he truly is. Just one more coverup.

This puts our democratic republic in danger of no longer being what we should all hope for: what the founding fathers vision of this country is.

Thom Bauer

Fort Wayne

The JG reprinted Mark Beck’s whining letter about teacher pay as its “Golden Pen” award.  Lex tilted at Beck’s nonsense when it was first published.  That post follows Beck’s bio below.  Unable to let this kind BS slide, Lex took another run at Beck’s idiocy below.

See the JG decided to reprise sad sack Mark Beck’s letter “Pay is just one way teachers are devalued” with a Golden Pen on Feb 23, 2020.

I get the sense that Beck believes that he was somehow duped into the teaching profession and then forced to remain, mired in poverty, for 38 years by some invisible hand.  My guess is that Beck either found the profession rewarding – rewarding enough to offset what he claims was a life-time of low pay – or he had so little confidence in his own education and ability that he was afraid to venture outside the security of the teachers’ union.   

Beck notes in 2019-20 the beginning salary for northern Indiana school district teacher is about $37,000. For that sum teachers are expected be in class from say 7am to 4pm Mon – Fri and perform a fair share of “off duty” supervisory responsibilities for 9 months of the year.

Juxtapose a teacher’s responsibilities to those of an entry level military officer.  Second Lieutenant base pay is about $38,000.  For that meager sum the American taxpayer gets a college educated, highly trained individual prepared for world-wide deployment on short notice, to combat zones, natural disasters and/or peacekeeping missions in every climb and place.

When deployed, the lieutenant works year round with little regard to the clock, calendar, weather, danger, meals and personal hardship.  They are subject to regular physical fitness tests and unannounced drug testing. They can be moved cross country in the middle of school year or reassigned jobs at the drop of hat for the “good of the service” and without regard to one’s family situation.

When compared with the duties, responsibilities and expectations of an entry level military officer, school teachers may be overpaid – by a lot.

Last, I find it a bit incongruent for a guy who owns an experimental aircraft to be complaining about his pay.  I don’t care how Beck spends his money, but I happen to know that slipping the surly bonds of Earth via private aviation is an expensive hobby, one that is well out of reach for most families just getting by with reduced-price school lunches.

    

Sunday, February 23, 2020 1:00 am

Golden Pen: January

Pay is just one way teachers are devalued

In 1976, as a first-year teacher whose own child was entering school, and for a few years thereafter, my child qualified for reduced-price lunches based upon my meager salary in an Indiana public school. I also had significant repayments of student loans. We got by, partly by my taking on 17 years of half-time, year-round outside employment, which also detracted from giving full attention to my chosen profession.

Reading “Signs of struggle” about free and reduced-priced school lunches (Jan. 19) prompted me to look at the current salaries in the northern Indiana school district where I began my career. If I were to do it all over again, as a beginning teacher with a spouse and one child on the 2019-20 salary in that same district, I would earn $37,000. The income to qualify for reduced-price lunches for a household of three is $38,443 or less, so my child would still qualify for reduced-price lunches – probably for several years.

Indiana expects, as it should, teachers to educate students to the highest standards while denying the financial benefits of professional achievement to our teachers and their own children. Indiana legislators and governors past and present have talked about improving schools by helping teachers and improving salaries – nothing but promises, empty and delayed, at least for the past 44 years.

We need bright, multitalented individuals to take on the diverse challenges of teaching, but as a state and culture, through low salaries, social and political attacks on the profession, and continued erosion of public school funding by privatization, we do little to incentivize talented young people to consider the profession. As a state, we need to reevaluate our priorities and take action to improve public schools by respecting teaching as a profession and teachers as skilled professionals.

About the author

Mark Beck of Fort Wayne has been selected as January's Golden Pen Award winner. In the judgment of the editors, his Jan. 25 letter was the month's most effective.

Beck retired in 2014 after 38 years of science education in elementary and middle schools across four area districts; in 1996, he was teacher of the year in the Southwest Allen County district and was a finalist for Indiana teacher of the year. (In a 1997 story, Beck's Indian Meadows Elementary School principal, Charles Hill, was quoted as saying Beck “has an outstanding ability to reach kids. It's just so neat the way he brings science to life.'')

He credits his Huntington North High School writing teacher, Sandra Long, for the development of his skill. “She taught me how to be critical of every word I write,” Beck said. “She got me to think about every word and how to use them.”

Beck and his wife, Barb (whose career was also education-related), are the parents of two daughters. They have five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Of teaching, Beck says: “I had a long career ... a good career. (My wife and I) both realized we need to encourage young people to consider the profession. It's difficult for a young person to make that kind of commitment,” knowing the financial realities.

In retirement, the Becks have kept up with the hobby that was featured in a 2016 Journal Gazette story: their self-built two-seater airplane. Beck became a licensed pilot in 1970 while still in high school. The couple spent seven years constructing the 600-pound kit plane in their garage, followed by two years of test flights. It has since logged more than 730 hours of flight time to destinations nationwide.

Beck received a gold-plated inscribed pen for his efforts. The Golden Pen Award was established to express our appreciation for the contributions of our letter writers to the editorial page.

The original Lex run a Beck's rubbish:s PDJT 

Mark Beck’s letter “Pay is just one way teachers are devalued” of January 25, 2020 is cautionary tale for young people.  Someone once told me young people have to make two of the most consequential decisions of their lives early in their lives when they are least prepared to make them – choosing a career and choosing a life partner. 

When choosing a career the two big questions are, do I follow my heart and do what I love or follow the bucks and make a good living.

In 1978 I left a high wage union job for a career in the Marine Corps.  When filed my first income tax as a second lieutenant, I discovered that I’d have been a bit better off if I’d stayed with the union.  But the union job wouldn’t have me traveling cross country doing exciting things with highly motivated and skilled people in every clime and place.  I was doing something I thought was worthwhile, important and satisfying. In the Marine Corps, I liked what I was doing.  In the union job, I liked the money.  So I stayed in the Marine Corps for 20 years. 

Today the average second lieutenant earns a base of pay of about $38,256.  For that sum America gets an educated highly trained individual sworn to support the constitution, ready to leave their home and family for world-wide deployment at an instant, required to maintain a healthy height weight ratio, subject to mandatory drug and physical fitness testing, required to maintain thousands of dollars of uniforms, subject to civil justice as well justice under the UCMJ and willing to risk life and limb engaging in serious and deadly combat at the behest of their government.  All of those conditions exist 24/7 365, not just nine months out of the year 7am-4:30pm.  That’s not a bad deal for American taxpayers.

Now I’m pretty sure if lieutenants, like most seasonal workers, found themselves with three months off every year, they’d go about finding ways to supplement their income with other work rather than begging Uncle Sam to pay them for not working for three months.

Teaching is a tough job.  I know.  I tried it.  I couldn’t do it.  The very best teachers like the very best Marines aren’t in it for the money. As Gunny H once put it when a Marine complained about pay, “Well, if you joined the Marine Corps for the money, you fouled up.”