Author: haroldblackphd

Harold A Black

Critical race theory (CRT) is being used in many public school systems as an excuse to deflect from their inability to teach our children how to read, how to spell and how to do math. We have a system – the Education Industrial Complex – in which only the teachers care about teaching the children and they are handicaped by having to rely on methods that are a proven failure. The textbook authors, publishers, colleges of education, teachers’ unions, accreditation boards and sadly our local school administrators and PTAs don’t care about teaching students. If they did, they would not accept the dismal reading and math proficiency scores in our schools. It is embarrassing. Instead of correcting the problem – and there are well established methods that can do so – many school systems have trotted out CRT as an excuse. CRT asserts that systemic racism in the public schools is the reason for the poor academic performance of black children. Even if that were true, then what excuse is given for the poor academic performance of white children? As a friend of mine who teaches physics in a major southern city has said “What do I tell my white students who are struggling?” 

That racism once existed in public education is undeniable. Black schools in the segregated south were woefully underfunded. In K-12 I never had a text that did not have some white school’s name in it. Local school boards were generally all white as were virtually all of the school system administrators. It could be inferred that any difference between black and white student achievement could be the result of systemic racism stemming from the inequality of facilities and equipment. However, the overt systemic racism of the past is gone. Is the racism of the past so deeply embedded in our schools that the differentials in achievement persist even though many urban school systems have significant numbers of black teachers and black administrators? 

The basic reason that most kids – regardless of race – struggle in school is highly correlated to economic status. Poor children often find themselves in classrooms where they do not speak the same language as the teachers and other students. In essence, they have to learn English as a foreign language while at the same time trying to master the schoolwork. It is a daunting task for most and many simply fail to catch up. In grades 1-3, students learn to read and thereafter, read to learn. Some years ago I approached the then Knoxville school superintendent with a proven program that catches up students who have reading deficiencies and asked to implement it in our worse performing schools. He rejected it because the accreditation board would not approve it because it contained too much reading! I kid you not. 

The Education Consumer Group (https://education-consumers.org) has produced charts showing that in certain schools, poor children perform as well or better than in schools where there are few disadvantaged students. These may be charter schools or schools that have rejected the standard teaching method employed in most public schools. 

The reading scores for American students are abysmal. Nationally less than 34% of fourth graders read at grade level. Less than half of Tennessee’s third graders read proficiently. In Boston, fewer than 25% of black children are proficient readers, yet I bet you they are proficient in CRT, gender identity and climate change. The poor reading results results cannot be explained by claiming systemic racism nor can they be corrected by teaching Critical Race Theory. I defy its proponents to show me one study that demonstrates that reading proficiency is improved in those schools where CRT is taught. That evidence does not exist. Systemic racism cannot explain racial disparities in student proficiency. Those disparities have more to do with economics than with race. Systemic racism is being used by our public school “educators” as an excuse to mask their failure to teach our children. 

Importantly, parents can take matters into their own hands and catch up their kids themselves. A proven method, Funnix, is available online. I know it works because I along with several retirees used it to teach second graders to read in an after school program at one of the lowest performing Knoxville schools. It is highly recommended (https://education-consumers.org/computer-based-instruction-produces-catch-growth/). Lastly, if any school system institutes instruction in CRT, I encourage all parents, regardless of the achievement level of their children, to organize to replace the entire school apparatus, except the teachers. Fire the entire school administration, vote out the PTAs and the Board of “Education”. They do not have the children’s interests at heart and need to be replaced.

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Harold A Black

George Will once referred to the Republicans as being the “dumb” party – although some have called it the “stupid” party. Either may be apropos when it seems like its leadership is trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Mitch McConnell is no friend of Donald Trump and Trump is no friend of Mitch McConnell – although Trump should be forever thankful that McConnell blocked Merrick Garland from sitting on the Supreme Court. McConnell said that the Republicans chances of taking back the House are greater than taking back the Senate. It is an obvious indictment of the Trump-endorsed MAGA candidates who won their primaries in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Ohio. McConnell’s Leadership Fund has responded by cutting off campaign funding to Blake Masters in Arizona although the incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly is vulnerable. The question is why isn’t Trump with his considerable resources and his PAC stepping into the void and helping out Masters? Mind you, Kelly voted against hiring additional border patrol personnel while his state is being flooded with illegals. That alone makes him vulnerable. Yet while the Democrats are spending over $60 million to get him re-elected, Masters is struggling for funds. It will be interesting to see how much of an impact dollars will have on this race where the incumbent seems to be more aligned with the national party than with the interests of his local constituents. 

On the other hand, the Democrats don’t seem to have any problem with supporting fringe candidates in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Fetterman in Pennsylvania seems to have no positives. Aside from always wearing a hoodie and sporting a variety of tattoos he appears to have never had a job, instead relying on the largesse of his rich parents. He actually pulled a gun on a black jogger – sounds like what happened in Georgia. He favors letting one third of Pennsylvania’s inmates loose and low bail. You would think that in today’s climate, Fetterman would be toxic. Instead the Democrats have stood behind him unflinchingly. Lastly, he suffered a severe stroke and has trouble speaking. To hide that fact, he has refused to debate and has limited campaign appearances where his speech is obviously impaired. He is perhaps taking Biden’s cure from campaigning from his basement. Biden won so why can’t Fetterman? I am clueless as to why anyone would vote for him unless voters have an intense dislike for the Republican, Dr Oz. By the way, the three contenders in the Pennsylvania Republican primary all sought Trump’s blessing. If it had gone to David McCormick instead, the Republicans would easily beat Fetterman. Instead, the polls show him leading Dr. Oz.

In Wisconsin, the Democrat is Mandala Barnes, who like Fetterman is the state’s lieutenant governor. Barnes is a climate change zealot and anticapitalist. He asserts that the free enterprise system is leading the world down a path to destruction. Someone needs to point out to him that the world’s greatest polluters are China and Russia. Unlike Fetterman who wants to reduce Pennsylvania’s prison population by a third, Barnes wants to cut it in half. He has called for defunding the police. He wants to abolish Immigration and Customs enforcement, favors government funded health care, college tuition for illegals, eliminating the Senate filibuster and packing the Supreme Court. Somehow, the polls show him leading the incumbent Republican, Ron Johnson.

I wish McConnell would put aside his personal enmity for Trump and wholeheartedly support the Republican senate candidates. He may not like Masters or OZ. He may not like Herschel Walker in Georgia. But Georgia’s Warnock and Arizona’s Kelly have been a rubber stamp for Biden’s policies and Fetterman and Barnes are just plain frightening. If McConnell and the Republicans continue down this path, they are indeed the “stupid party.”

The government wants you to buy an electric vehicle. Just like “I’m from the government and I am here to help you” if the government is encouraging an action, it is buyer beware. EVs won’t save the planet. They actually may be more damaging to the environment than gas vehicles – especially their batteries. Yet the government is offering a subsidy if you buy one, although the fine print limits the vehicles that qualify. There is an incentive to buy a used EV. Just hope you don’t have to replace the battery bank which may cost more than the vehicle. Also make sure that the used EV is still supported by the manufacturer. Recently a woman bought a used EV. Soon it needed new batteries. The batteries would have cost more than the vehicle but were no longer available. Caveat emptor.

But there are other issues that need to be considered. Have you ever been stuck in the traffic jam to end all traffic jams? I was caught between Knoxville and Asheville for four hours due to an accident on I-40. I’ve been in others as well. I left the Outer Banks in 2011 one day before it was ordered evacuated because of Hurricane Irene. News reports said that the delay coming on to the mainland was over 6 hours. I was riding my motorcycle years ago near Laramie, WY and noticed that there were gates at the entrances to the interstate. Seems that in the wintertime, they closed the interstates during snowstorms. Remember the storm in 1998 that closed I-40 near Monterey, TN for 18 hours? Traffic was backed up for 13 miles. Motorists were stranded. The state dropped food and blankets to help motorists survive. Over 100,000 residents lost power.

In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans, the city was ordered to evacuate. I told my friends there that they could come stay with me but they chose to go to Houston to stay with family. A five hour trip took them 12 hours. When Hurricane Irma threatened Florida in 2017, almost the entire state was ordered to evacuate. My niece in Oregon asked if her daughter and her boyfriend who were in Tampa could stay at my farm in Gray, Ga. I happened to be at the farm and said yes. The interstates had turned into parking lots. There were no hotels available in Georgia. My niece’s daughter arrived after nearly 24 hours. The hurricane was supposed to track to the east toward South Carolina but as luck would have it, the hurricane shifted west and the eye came over the farm. As the eye approached, I was afraid that trees would fall on the house or that the roof would be torn off. Luckily none of that happened. But I was in the basement with my dogs.

In 2020, I-95 was shut down for 24 hours in northern Virginia after a crash of big rig trucks during a snowstorm. One congressman said that the trip from Richmond to DC took him 27 hours. Cars ran out of gas. There was no food or water available as people and their pets were stuck for hours.

Every year there is a hurricane season, a tornado season and cars crash. Remember the great fog crash on I-75 near Calhoun in 1990? Can you imagine if you were in an electric vehicle? Its bad enough if you an in a gas powered car, but an EV? Currently finding a charging station – especially one that works – is a challenge especially if you are planning a trip beyond the range of the batteries. What happens if you are stuck for hours and run out of juice? You are going to have to wait for a tow because AAA might be able to bring others gas, but I don’t think you can jump start a dead EV. And what do you do, if the power grid is down as often happens in hurricanes and snowstorms? Even if you can get a tow you won’t be able to charge your vehicle until the power comes back on. Let’s hope that the grid isn’t dependent upon “renewables” or else it might be a really long wait.

With all the Teslas in west Knoxville, I only hope that these cars are second vehicles and just used for commuting. It is too risky to take them on a long trip, even if the weather forecast is benign. That the government wants you to buy an EV is enough to give you pause. Buy one if you want, but one day you will remember that I told you caveat emptor.

I never have liked Joe Biden. I wrote in my old blog (haroldblack.blogspot.com) on August 12, 2012, that Biden was a racist and had he been a Republican that he would have been forced out of the Senate. Nothing Biden has done while in office has changed my mind. Don’t get me wrong. I do not care for Donald Trump. He reeks of self-importance. He is a bully. While I liked the majority of his policies, his anti-trade actions with our allies were ill-advised. But he is better than Biden – which is a sad commentary on the state of American politics.

Biden said that “MAGA” Republicans were a threat to democracy and described Trump as “semi-fascist”. He did not cite any examples. However, if fascism is state authoritarianism, then it is Biden who is the fascist.

Biden thinks he has carte blanche to control the United States any way he wants to. This was demonstrated by the unprecedent flood of 40 executive orders within the first week of his administration and his actions afterwards.

He rejoined the Paris Climate Accords.

He started renegotiating the Iran nuclear deal.

He completely botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

He removed the constraints at the border allowing a flood of over 2 million illegals into the country.

He “forgave” $10,000 in student debt without the approval of congress and exceeded his Constitutional authority.

He shut down of the Keystone pipeline, shutoff of energy permits and is conducting a war on fossil fuels in the name of “climate change”.

He invoked the Defense Production Act to force private companies to “secure American production of critical materials to bolster our clean energy economy,” specifically the raw materials to make batteries for electric vehicles. 

Remember the proposed creation of a “Ministry of Truth” – the so-called “Governance Disinformation Board?

What about the raid on Mar-a-Lago? 

What about the arrests and raids on Trump’s lieutenants? Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, George Nader, George Papadopoulos and Rudy Giuliani have all been harassed either by the FBI or Mueller’s Russia witch hunt. Yet Trump is greatly diminished in my eyes by not using his considerable resources to help his friends fight persecution. 

If Trump were a fascist, then why didn’t he sic the FBI on Hillary Clinton’s server and email deletion and Obama’s taking of 30 million pages classified materials when he left office? 

What about the targeting of the FBI on parents opposed to teaching gender identity and CRT in the schools and labelling them as domestic terrorists?

What about use of the FBI and its role in the Russian hoax?

What about the FBI’s role in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop? 

What about doubling the size of the IRS in the mislabeled “Inflation Reduction Act”? We all know that the purpose is to further harass American taxpayers.

What the use of the FBI, the EPA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the real domestic terrorist groups?

What about invoking the Defense Production Act to increase the production of more baby formula while sending formula to the border to be used by illegals.

What about pandering to the LBGTQ community declaring monkey pox a national emergency even though there have been few cases and no deaths? Where is the national emergency?

What about the pressuring of social media giants to censor free speech?

What about Biden using an executive order to force schools to prevent “discrimination” on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation that allows boys to compete in girls’ sports and have full access to girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms?

What about using his executive powers to try to work around the Supreme Court’s overturing of Roe?

What about his chilling threat to the unvaccinated claiming that the unvaccinated are a threat to the safety of the country? “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us”. 

I am sure there are more. So Biden thinks Trump is a semi-fascist. Well there is nothing “semi” about Joe Biden. He is demonstrably a fascist.

Janet Yellen is one of the few in Biden’s cabinet that is actually qualified for her job as Treasury Secretary. She has been president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She has a PhD in economics from Yale, held a chaired professorship at Berkeley and is married to a Nobel Laureate in Economics, George Akerlof. So unlike Pete Buttigieg at Transportation, Jennifer Granholm at Energy, Marcia Fudge at HUD, Xavier Becerra at HHS and Alejandro Mayorkas at Homeland Security, Yellen should know what she is doing. However, she seems to have no pride and instead of educating the president on basic economics, she has become a political hack.

Remember when she said that the proposal that the IRS monitor bank transactions over $600 was intended to address tax fraud among the wealthy and not spy on ordinary folks? No one believed her and certainly she didn’t believe it either. Yellen knows that a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GNP growth. Yet she has stated “This is not an economy that’s in recession, but we’re in a period of transition in which growth is slowing.” A period of transition in which growth is slowing? Give me a break. We are in a recession and Yellen knows it. By trying to redefine it, she has no shame. Saying that the economy is not in recession is akin to Mayorkas saying that the border is under control. 

She has repeated Biden’s talking points about the economy and inflation, blaming Putin and Covid.  She said, “The pandemic has been calling the shots for the economy and for inflation.” Thus, inflation, in her view, is not a result of an out of control Federal Reserve and Congressional spending but is because of pent up consumer demand unleashed by the waning of the pandemic.

She testified before Congress that overturning Roe would damage the economy saying, “I believe that eliminating the rights of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades.” Yellen, citing some economic studies, implies that overturning Roe would mean that some women would be kept from completing their education and would lower the labor force participation rate. What Yellen is saying is disingenuous at best. She implies that women would not have access to abortion when the vast majority of states will still allow the procedure. She also implies that because these women will have  babies that they will have to stay home and not complete college (I guess because she is old she doesn’t know about the internet) and will not enter the labor force (I guess she never heard of working from home via the internet).

Lately, she has been pushing for a global 15 percent corporate income tax. But countries with lower taxes like Ireland and Hungary haven’t been receptive. The Biden administration is threatening to end its trading treaty with Hungary unless it caves. Countries with lower taxes are attractive to corporations chartered in other countries. Yellen is a trained economist. Yet she is denying the benefits from competition and trying to enshrine the inefficiencies of high tax countries.

Yellen stated that inflation was “transitory”. How she did this with a straight face is a mystery to me. Now she admits that she was wrong saying  “there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that have boosted energy and food prices and supply bottlenecks that have affected our economy badly that I, at the time, didn’t fully understand, but we recognize that now.” I’m sorry. She didn’t fully understand that Biden’s war on domestic energy, the Congress’ 1.2 trillion dollar “infrastructure” bill, 1.5 trillion dollar stop gap government spending bill and Ukraine were inflationary? If that were true she deserves to be fired and have Yale revoke her PhD. But in this administration, no one is fired because they are all repeating the same lies as the president. I’m not disappointed with the other cabinet members because they don’t know what they are doing. However, I am disappointed in Janet Yellen.

Black-Diallo-Miller Residence Hall

On August 4, 2022, my alma mater the University of Georgia held ceremonies naming its newest residence hall, Black-Diallo-Miller Hall honoring the first blacks to enroll as freshmen and graduate from the university. It was an emotional day. In 1962, the university was in its second year of forced desegregation, having been ordered by the courts to admit Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter in January 1961. Holmes and Hunter had their applications rejected as being not qualified when they applied their senior year out of Turner High School in Atlanta. They sued and when the court ordered them admitted, they were college seniors: Holmes at Morehouse and Hunter at Wayne State in Detroit. Given that Georgia had a two year residency requirement, we all thought that they would simply graduate from their schools the next semester. We were surprised when they decided to enroll at Georgia. That September the university did not admit any black undergraduates but admitted Mary Frances Early in a one year’s master’s program in education. She became its first black graduate. Holmes and Hunter were indeed qualified. Hunter was Phi Beta Kappa in pre-med while Hunter became a well-known PBS correspondent.

Admitting Hunter and Holmes changed my life. My brother Charles was a junior at Purdue. Since he wanted to be an engineer and no black state university offered that major, the state paid his tuition to go to leave the state. Over 600 black students at that time were also gifted tuition. I loved Purdue and was set on joining my brother there. However, desegregating the University of Georgia prompted the state legislature to stop the tuition grants. My father broke my heart when he told me that he could not afford to pay out of state tuition for both of us. “Harold, you are going to have to find another place to go.” I knew I was going to receive scholarships from black schools – I had gotten an early admission scholarship to Morehouse out of the 10^th and 11^th grades. Dad graduated from Savannah State and Mother was the first four year graduate of Fort Valley State. But I wanted to go to a school that was integrated. So I got a catalog from Georgia. Tuition was $98 a quarter. Dad said that he could afford it but “They will never accept you.”

I applied and was told that I had to come to Athens for an interview. It was with the registrar who was an unrepentant racist. He did not shake our hands. He did not ask us to sit. His first words were “Why do you want to come there because we don’t want you here.” I relied. “That’s why I want to come.” That did not sit well and soon he casually used the N-word. Dad was furious and pulled me out of my seat and we left going back to Atlanta. Dad said “That didn’t go well. What’s Plan B?” There was no Plan B. However, to our shock, two weeks later a letter arrived with a red and black banner proclaiming “Official Acceptance: The University of Georgia.” 

I was 16 when I graduated high school and turned 17 the month before I enrolled at Georgia. When we got to campus and went into the freshman men’s dormitory, Reed Hall, it was like Moses parting the Red Sea. Everyone moved out of our way as we went to the desk to check in. The house mother then took us to my room. It had one bed in it. Mother said, “Is he going to be the only colored boy here.?” “Yes” was the answer. When we went back to the car, Mother was crying and said “Get in. You are not going back in there.” I had never seen my mother cry. I looked at Dad who said, “I’ll borrow the money to send you to Purdue.” I said that my stuff was already in the room and Mother countered “We can get you new stuff – get in.” I shook my head and said that I would try it for one quarter and watched them drive away.

Dad had warned me that I wasn’t going to have any friends. He said that they would have to give up their friends to be mine. They would be harassed, called all sorts of names and would be ostracized. He was wrong. There was a dorm meeting that evening and being back of the bus days, when I walked into the auditorium and walked down the aisle until I found a seat close to the front. Everyone on that row got up and left. The three boys directly in front turned around and said, “Can we sit with you?” They did and leaving two of their friends joined us. We went back to my room and talked all night. I had never talked to a white person before going to Athens and they had never talked to a black person on a peer level. They became my close friends that year.

My windows were broken so often that a window crew came by every morning to see if I needed a replacement. Obscenities were scratched on my door. Firecrackers were put on the door slats so a solid board was installed. The room was set on fire three times. I carried a gunk extraction kit in case my keyhole was stuffed with chewing gum. I had a large bathroom all to myself. One morning, all the knobs had been removed from the face bowls. Toilet paper was crammed into the toilets. The shower heads were gone and obscenities were scrawled in soap on the mirrors. I walked down to their bathroom which was full of kids getting ready to go to class. I sat on every toilet, washed my hands in every face bowl, tried to urinate in every urinal and ran through every shower. I announced that if they messed with my bathroom again then I would use theirs. That ended that. My bath was never bothered again.

My friends in the dorm were constantly badgered and harassed. The ringleader was a big boy called “Smoke”. He projected a tough guy image with a duck-tailed haircut, leather jacket and tight jeans. He told one friend that he was going to beat him up. This had to stop so one day when I was in the cafeteria, I saw him at a table with all his friends. I went over, sat down and said “Hi Smoke.” His buddies all left causing him to plead with them to stay because he was not my friend, No avail. I told him that if he kept threatening my friends then I would be his best friend, so leave them alone. He did. I think that I shocked everyone in not being scared and not taking any grief. I often wonder if he, and others like him, ever regretted how they behaved.

The three freshmen women who were admitted had completely different experiences. Marly Blackwell (Diallo) was from Athens and lived at home. Kerry Rushin (Miller) and Alice Henderson shared a suite of rooms in a women’s dorm with Charlayne Hunter. Charlayne was a senior and resented having been invaded by two young 18 year old freshmen. She was no mother hen, leaving Kerry and Alice to fend for themselves. Alice did not come back after our freshman year. When I called her to find out why her mother answered and said “Never call back. I don’t want anything associated with the University of Georgia near my daughter.” Mary had an awful set of experiences and Kerry had buried many of her memories deep within her.

When the University decided to name its newest residence hall after us, I was shocked.  When the vice provost called me, I could not believe my ears and had her repeat it three times. What I was most proud of was that I was told that the naming was not just because we were the first but that we all had made the university proud. Mary was a professor of French at Florida A&M university with a PhD from Emory. Kerry was a math major and had a distinguished business career. 

The naming ceremony was emotional. Family and friends gathered together. We all gave brief remarks. Mine can be seen at https://news.uga.edu/harold-alonza-black/. We had come full circle. It was almost 60 years to the day that I walked into Reed Hall as a 17 year old freshman that students would walk into the new Black-Diallo-Miller Hall. We have all come a long way and I, for one, have enjoyed every day of that journey. Go Dawgs!

Harold A Black

Knoxville Focus

August 22, 2022

I was puzzled at first as to why the left started referring to women as “birthing persons.” Turns out it was part of the gender identity movement that the left is foisting on the rest of us. The left is trying to separate gender from sex. They say that a woman who identifies as a man can give birth. Instead of confirming that this woman is a woman, the pregnancy and birth, for the left, means that a so-called man can have a baby. Of course, this is nonsense. Despite the effort to change one’s gender by changing what we call ourselves, one’s gender is determined by biology and not by people. Your plumbing and chromosomes determine your gender but not your testosterone levels. If it were testosterone, then older males who have seen declines in their levels as they age would have to be reclassified. Males who are claiming to be women and reducing their testosterone still have male genitalia and the male chromosome. Also, the reduced testosterone levels for these newly minted “women” are well above that of 99 percent of women. Why not use the testosterone level of the majority of women and female genitalia as necessary to be defined as a woman? This is why the effort to blur gender is misguided and is baseless. Also, women who cannot give birth either for medical reasons or by virtue of aging are not “birthing persons”. So are they women or should we call them “former birthing persons”? 

Gender identity is one of the areas pushed upon the public by the Biden Administration. It’s Department of Education has proposed a rule “that would force federally funded schools to accommodate gender ideology in all school activities and programs. This change would mean requiring biological males to use women’s facilities, forcing faculty and students to use others’ preferred personal pronouns, and withholding funds from those institutions that refuse to comply.” Many colleges and universities are already far along this path so perhaps the rule is to force primary and secondary schools to comply. 

The most publicized case involving a college was of the University of Pennsylvania swimmer who decided he was a female so he could transform his mediocre performances as a male into being ranked number one as a female. It was amazing that he was allowed to do this. More amazing is that Penn has nominated him as “woman athlete of the year”. This is akin to Time naming Rachel Levine, Biden’s assistant secretary for health, as “Woman of the Year” despite the fact that she is a male. The Babylon Bee, the satirical site, more appropriately named him/her “Man of the Year.” The Penn swimmer still has male genitalia and still is attracted to women. There are reports from the genuinely female members of the swim team about their discomfort when he is using their locker room. Want to bet now that the transgender swimmer’s eligibility is up that she (he) will return to being a male? Penn’s women swimmers said that the transgender person was allowed on the team because the coach only cared about winning. Then I don’t know why Penn doesn’t field a transgender basketball team, soccer team, track team and a transgender team in every sport. They would dominate Ivy League “women’s” sports.

As I have said in the past, I would solve the bathroom/locker room controversy by putting pictures of genitalia on the doors and saying “If you look like this, then you enter here.” Then the men who claim to be women would still go into the men’s bathroom if their plumbing were still intact. I would also assign prison inmates based on their plumbing. That way males would not declare as females simply to get housed with women.

Lastly, those with positions similar to mine have been labeled “transphobic”. Since a phobia is defined as an irrational fear or aversion to something, I am not transphobic. I do not fear transpeople nor have an aversion to them. I am not irrational either. If I identified as a giraffe, that would not make me a giraffe.

Harold A Black

The cancel culture has claimed another victim in George Washington University. It has been known as the Colonials” and the name will continue until a new one is announced. The university said “For supporters, the term refers to those who lived in the American colonies, especially those who fought for independence and democracy. For opponents, Colonials means colonizers who stole land and resources from indigenous groups, killed or exiled Native peoples and introduced slavery into the colonies.” Obviously, the opponents won. However, for us black southerners, “Colonial” refers to what we called “light” bread which later we learned was properly called “white” bread. We never could figure out why wheat bread wasn’t called “dark” bread.

It’s a miracle that they did not decide to rename the university since Washington was a slave owner. New Orleans renamed Washington Elementary School after Charles Drew, the brilliant medical researcher who developed the first blood banks. Berkeley California’s school board changed the names of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington Schools. Pasadena renamed Washington Middle School after Octavia Butler – one of my favorite science fiction authors. My granddaughter’s high school in northern Virginia changed its name from Robert E. Lee to John Lewis High School. I found it amazing that Virginia would disown Jefferson and Robert E. Lee – although John Lewis was one of my heroes (along with Clarence Thomas, Tom Sowell and Milton Friedman). However, I am completely sympathetic to why black students would not want the name Robert E. Lee on their diplomas. I feel the same about the unrepentant racist registrar at the University of Georgia whose name is on my diploma. 

But were Washington and Jefferson unrepentant? In 1786, Washington wrote “I never mean (unless some particular circumstance should compel me to it) to possess another slave by purchase: it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by the legislature by which slavery in the Country may be abolished by slow, sure, & imperceptible degrees.” Of course, he never acted on his words, but freed his 123 slaves upon his death. Jefferson was elegant in his words about freedom. He authored the Declaration of Independence (all men are created equal) and called slavery a moral depravity. Jefferson said that slavery was the greatest threat to the survival of the American republic and was contrary to the laws of nature. Yet he owned over 600 slaves and did not free them upon his death. Jefferson’s wealth and place in society were dependent upon his ownership of human beings and he was loath to give them up. Still his words inspire us despite his being deeply flawed.  

On the other hand, Washington, despite his slave ownership was a truly great man.  He led by example, commanding a rag tag army of nonprofessionals against the premiere army of his time. He overcame hardships, deprivations, desertions and defeats leading to a most improbable victory against all odds, making him our greatest national hero. He resisted efforts to make him king and refused to serve more than two terms as president which marked him as a unique leader. His old nemesis, George III remarked “If George Washington goes back to his farm, he will be the greatest character of his age.” Indeed, he gave up the presidency and went back to his farm. Washington was prosperous owning over 8,000 acres and 300 slaves. He could have sided with the Loyalists and not have rocked the boat – I am a direct descendent of one of his soldiers who was killed by Loyalists. Yet he accepted being a traitor to the crown to fight for independence. What would have happened to him if he had lost? He would have been fortunate to have died in battle. He certainly would not have wanted to be captured alive. He would have been taken to London and after being tortured, George III would have had him drawn and quartered. That is where each limb is tied to a horse and each horse was simultaneously whipped and run in each direction. I leave the rest to your imagination. Washington knew this and yet to potentially sacrifice everything to establish a new nation built on individual liberty and freedom makes him one whose name should be honored by us all, regardless of color.

Harold A Black

If “all politics is local” then what is Donald Trump doing endorsing 194 candidates since leaving office? His endorsement of J.D. Vance for the Republican nomination for senate in Ohio is credited as his signature win and his endorsement of losing candidates for governor, secretary of state, insurance commissioner, attorney general in Georgia and a congressional seat is cited as evidence of failure. Trump openly disliked the governor and secretary state of Georgia due to their not supporting his allegations of election fraud but his endorsements in the races for attorney general and insurance commissioner are head scratchers. Trump has endorsed candidates for state legislature, county commissioner, local judges, and even for mayor. Voters probably wonder what does Trump know about the issues important to voters in races for county commissioner?

If keeping score, Trump’s record thus far has been impressive. The loses have been Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina whose challenger was endorsed by virtually every elected North Carolina Republican; Herbster for governor in Nebraska who was accused of sexually assaulting several women; McGeachin for governor in Idaho who was running against the incumbent, Mace in South Carolina who was a popular incumbent endorsed by Nikki Haley and the five races in Georgia. The vast majority of Trump endorsements have been “safe” being for incumbents. Cawthorn is the only endorsed incumbent who lost. In Ohio Vance ran in a crowded field and received 32 percent of the vote. But the candidates who embraced MAGA won 56 percent of the total. Trump endorsed Oz in Pennsylvania. Oz’s opponent openly courted Trump for his endorsement. The third candidate in Pennsylvania campaigned as being the most MAGA of the bunch. In a race that pitted two incumbent representatives against each other in West Virginia, the Trump endorsed candidate won. Interestingly, that state’s only statewide elected Democrat, Joe Manchin endorsed the loser. In Alabama, Trump first endorsed Brooks for senate and then rescinded the endorsement and endorsed Brooks’ opponent, Britt. That Britt won over a six term congressman shows Trump’s strength in Alabama. Of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, five retired, Rice of South Carolina lost in the primary, Cheney (WY) is expected to lose, Valadao (CA) is in the general election, Beutler (WA) and Meijer (MI) face primary challengers on Aug 2.

So what are we to glean about the Trump endorsements? First, endorsing an incumbent is likely a no-lose situation except where the incumbent is scandal ridden. Second, endorsing someone running against a popular incumbent is likely to fail. Third, local voters are interested in local issues and although they may be Trump supporters, they are likely not to be swayed by an endorsement that runs contrary to their local interests. Fourth, the Trump has an enormous ego and takes things personally. He is petty and while his supporters back many of his policies, fewer support his personal vendettas. I would wager that if Trump ran against Biden, Georgia would overwhelmingly vote for Trump. Yet the same Georgia voters, voted against all four of Trump endorsed candidates. Fifth, my personal conclusion is that candidates that support MAGA issues will remain attractive to the majority of Trump voters but not necessarily Trump himself. Biden’s trying to link MAGA and Ultra-MAGA to white supremacy is a desperate attempt to divert attention from his administration’s failures and has gotten no traction among voters. Ironically, the most MAGA candidate in the Pennsylvania senate race was a black woman. 

The proof will be in the Republican primaries for president where MAGA candidates may be running against Trump himself. Given the choice of say a Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump, I would again wager that the voters would continue to embrace MAGA but would reject Donald Trump.

Harold A Black

The left has always loved the judiciary making policy that fail to make it through the legislature. However, when the Supreme Court stopped making policy and starting enforcing the law, the left cried foul. Three recent rulings drew its ire: the overturning of Roe, the ruling on the Second Amendment and the ruling on the overstepping of the EPA. In all of these cases, the left lost its mind – but more so on Roe. Maxine Waters (D-CA) truly earned the title of “Mad Max” when she proclaimed,” The hell with the Supreme Court. We will defy them.” AOC called the court “illegitimate” and urged people to take to the streets. Tim Ryan (D-OH) who is running for the Senate said, “Today’s disastrous decision is the largest case of government overreach in my lifetime.” Ryan obviously has a short memory because Roe was the “largest case of overreach” in my lifetime. Twenty black congresswomen asked Biden to declare a national health emergency. Apparently, they wanted to continue the trend in New York City where the number of abortions exceed the number of live births. And the president proclaimed “With this decision a conservative majority of the Supreme Court shows how extreme it is, how far removed from the majority of the country. They made the United States and outlier among developed nations or the world, but this decision must not be the final word. “Of course, as usual Biden was wrong. The US was an outlier with Roe being more permissive than countries other than China and North Korea. The decision was not “far removed from the majority of the country”. Biden went further when he said, “We cannot allow an out-of-control Supreme Court working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican Party to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy,” With Biden joining the chorus of those on the left opposing the decision, so much for the rule of law. That Biden is sounding like a member of the Squad demeans the office of the president and may be the first time that a sitting president has openly opposed a ruling of the Supreme Court using language of open defiance.

What was interesting was that all of us knew the ruling was coming given its leak a month before. Therefore, it was confusing to me to see all the protests after the decision was announced. The protestors could not change the ruling and they only made fools of themselves at the homes of the justices and yelling in the streets of our cities. Elizabeth Warren acted as if she was going to have a heart attack and she and others proclaimed the Court as “illegitimate.” Some, like Biden, have claimed that the Court is the minority overriding the majority. AOC has argued that the justices were appointed by a president who did not win a majority of the votes in the presidential election and as such were illegitimate. Of course, she ignores the fact that the United States is a republic and not a democracy. She was perfectly content when the justices of a previous court enacted policy that she favored. The left may be wrong in claiming that the majority of Americans opposes the Supreme Court decision. Most Americans would likely agree that the legislation rests with the states rather than the federal government. I find it amusing that the same crowd that wants the federal government to made making abortion legal without restrictions also favors the federal government mandating vaccinations for COVID.

There are 26 states which had in place legislation to curb abortion once Roe was overturned. Twenty six is a majority – not a minority – of the states. Most Americans, the polls tell us favor early term abortions – prior to fetal viability – and most states will have similar laws. 

The left conveniently forgets that a republic is not governed by a supermajority. Rather it is governed by a majority of the majorities. Currently, there are 30 republican controlled state legislatures and only 17 democratic ones. Three are split. There are 28 republican governors and 22 democratic ones. Does that sound like a minority to you? The Democrats, because of California and New York, may be in the majority but they are the minority party in the majority of the states. California and New York do not dictate policy for the entire country. Thank goodness.