Ann Arbor Public Schools Beclowns Itself

Ann Arbor Public Schools sticking it's nose in a rather partisan fashion into international relations of which it has no mandate, authority, or power to do so.

In an anti-Israel way of course, unsurprisingly the board president just happens to be a Muslim Arab and the rest of the progressives on the school board approved the partisan resolution.

The Detroit News: Ann Arbor school district OKs measure calling for cease-fire in Gaza and Israel

Schoolboards are rarely called upon, nor equipped, nor desired nor even smart enough to engage in international relations.   But, that didn't stop the Ann Arbor School Board.

Do note that they amended their resolution only after they had proposed it to at least add a statement about releasing the Israeli hostages so as not to appear completely partisan. Apparently the cause of the conflict - the mass murder and taking of Israelis as hostages was but an afterthought, and a sop to pretend neutrality after they got called out on it.

Most curiously, for a board trying to have international heft and show how caring they are about advocating resolving conflicts to their students,  the Ann Arbor Public School systems has yet to pass any resolutions at all calling for a ceasefire:

a.  Between Russia and Ukraine;

b.  In the Sudan civil war;

c.  In the Myanmar civil war;

d.  In the Syrian civil War;

e.  In the various Islamic-led insurgencies throughout Africa;

f. Nor in any other of the many ongoing conflicts around the world, even where Muslims are the bulk of the victims (or indeed the perpetrators).

Funny that.  I daresay we all know exactly why that is, now don't we?

Ann Arbor Decides Broken Windows Are No Problem

Remember the Broken Windows Theory of crime prevention? In short, the idea is that allowing low-level crimes and signs of disorder encourages more and more serious crime.  So enforcing the law and enforcing low-level infractions and smacking criminals doing low-level offenses helps deter more major crimes from occurring.

The theory worked.

The City of Ann Arbor doesn't like this theory.  Per their beliefs, stopping criminals committing low-level crimes is apparently racist.

The Detroit Free Press: Ann Arbor adopts ban on select traffic stops to help build trust with minority population

Ann Arbor City Council unanimously approved an ordinance banning certain traffic stops, in an effort to build trust with the city's minority population.

Under the new law, police officers can no longer pull over drivers for equipment violations like tinted windows, a chipped windshield or loud exhaust.

So now, these low-level violations of the law will be ignored in Ann Arbor, allegedly because minorities are more likely to have cars with tinted windows, a chipped windshield or loud exhaust.

Citing an extensive body of research, the ordinance points to the disparate outcomes of traffic stops that Black, Indigenous and people of color experience — making interactions with police, even for minor infractions, laced with trauma.

The risks and trauma associated with traffic stops for Black people and people of color outweigh any potential safety benefits, according to the Urban Institute, and they instead create a tension between community members and those sworn to protect. Traffic stops neither increase trust in police or people's perceived sense of safety among their neighbors.

We will note that traffic stops, for quite valid reasons, such as these equipment violations, are excellent starting points to catch criminals traveling back and forth as they commit crimes  -- and thus they actually lower the victimization of Black, Indigenous and people of color by criminals.

We'll also note if you have trauma from being in a traffic stop, you're either getting it as a result of resisting arrest, which is on you, no matter what color you are, or you simply lack the emotional resilience to be driving a 4,000 plus pound vehicle on the road.

But the City of Ann Arbor has now decreed that they will ignore minor crimes in the name of social justice and progressiveness.  Expect Ann Arbor to see a rise in broken windows as a result, and a rise in crime - which I am sure they will be completely surprised about as a result.

Electric School Bus 2: Electric Boogalo and A Little Democrat Corruption Too

Turns out Electric Buses aren't as reliable nor as cost-effective as they are cracked up to be, shocking, I know.

Washington Free Beacon: Biden Spent $1 Billion To Get Schools Electric Buses. This Michigan District Says Theirs Hardly Work. 

During an April 19 presentation to the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education, the district's environmental sustainability director, Emile Lauzzana, highlighted a number of issues with the district's electric bus fleet. Those buses, Lauzzana said, have "a lot of downtime and performance issues" and aren't "fully on the road," despite the fact that they are "approximately five times more expensive than regular buses." The infrastructure upgrades required to use the buses, meanwhile, were "originally estimated to be only about $50,000" but "ended up being more like $200,000," according to Lauzzana. "I have a number of colleagues in different states who are facing similar challenges," the district official lamented. "For the school bus market, it's been challenging for us."

Note that this is in solid-Blue Ann Arbor.  When even the enviro-nut, quasi-commies of Ann Arbor are complaining about these electric green busses, you know it's bad.

But, no worries, Democrats still made bank on the deal, and that, after all is what matters along with the "green" virtue signalling at the public' expense:

The Biden administration has faced intense criticism from congressional Republicans over its ties to electric bus maker Proterra. Administration officials repeatedly showcased the company while Biden's energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, held up to $5 million in Proterra stock. Granholm eventually sold her 240,000 Proterra shares in May 2021, with the former Michigan governor earning a cool $1.6 million.

Nice bit of insider trading if you can get it, neh?

Only Took 18 Years, But Better Late Than Never I Suppose

For 18 years now, a bunch of Antisemitic and anti-Israel protestors, including such lovely people as Holocaust deniers, have been getting their jollies by protesting and harassing congregants of a synagogue during Shabbat morning services in Ann Arbor.

It only took 18 years of this going on for the Ann Arbor City Council to formally condemn the activity because anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activities tend not to upset lefties all that much:

JTA: After 18 years, Ann Arbor condemns weekly synagogue protesters as antisemitic 

The protestors’ stated purpose is to critique Israel policy, but members of the group frequently bring antisemitic signs and chant antisemitic slogans. The group’s de facto leader, Henry Herskovitz, identifies himself as a former Jew and has spread Holocaust denial and praised neo-Nazis in blog posts.

Scratch an anti-Israel protestor, you'll generally find an anti-Semite hiding behind it, as is the case here.

Courts have upheld their right to be assholes and harass people from the sidewalk near the synagogue, and have their protests, but it's nice the city finally got around to condemning it.

What Figure Is Washtenaw County Leaving Out As They Freak Out About Covid at UofM?

The Washtenaw County Public Health Department just issued a rather draconian 2-week lockdown order for University of Michigan Students.

The Detroit Free Press: Washtenaw County issues two-week stay home order for U-M students

More than 600 confirmed and probable cases have been reported in Washtenaw County in the past week, with 61% of those being U-M students.

So that's around 366 cases (or elsewhere in the article an even lower count of 301) in a university with an undergraduate population of 31,266.

So, what are they not publishing?  Hospitalization numbers.

Are any of these 301 cases actually requiring medical attention beyond the ordered isolation and quarantine?  

Did anybody actually got seriously ill from this at all among these students, or are these positive case asymptomatic or just suffering moderate flu-like effects?

That kind of information would be good to know after all in assessing if this lock down was a rational response or not.

University students are very low risk for health issues due to COVID and here they are getting locked down for about 1% of the student population testing positive for it.

You Know You're In Ann Arbor When...

On Saturday arriving for the Ron White show we headed to a nice Korean BBQ restaurant, Tomukun, which was fabulous to say the least. It had a 45 minute wait, but we were early so that was fine.

So we wandered around and across the road was a used bookstore, which emitted an irresistible siren's call.

Lovely place, full to the ceiling with books.

You knew you were in Ann Arbor when you passed this section by:

Yep, forget about just a political theory section, in Ann Arbor you need one section designated for Marxism and one for Anarchism. It's not called "The People's Republic of Ann Arbor" for no reason.

Perusing around the shelves I found the following books of interest:

Into the Jaws of Death: British Military Blunders 1879-1900

That one is Mr. Garibaldi's fault. After his excellent article on British military blunders in the Boer War, this one just leapt off the shelf into my hand. It should be a good read.

Then in the classical studies section this bargain popped into view. For $7.50 I could not say no:

Josephus: The Historian and His Society

One of the great ancient historians, Titus Flavius Josephus was a Jewish leader captured by the Romans in the First Jewish Revolt who found favor with the Emperors Vespasian and Titus (hence his Roman appellation) and became a noted historian of the time. His work on the Jewish War is an excellent recounting fo the war by someone who was there and his other works siuch as The Antiquities of The Jews, a history of the Jewish people up to the Jewish Revolt is similarly very well done.

Josephus is certainly an interesting fellow and this book on his life and way as an historiographer should make for good reading.

Interestingly enough, the section in the Antiquities of The Jews dealing with Jesus, while some references exist in all texts, the section that claims to recount his crucifixion and resurrection, the Testimonium Flavianum, was most likely added in the fourth century AD, and 3 references to Jesus were added long after the events in the 9th Century in Russia by a Slavonic monk.

Yes, the Russians were inserting false news into the mainstream long before Twitter and Facebook.

Michigan Court Of Appeals Decision Hammers Legal Open Carriers

The Court of Appeals decision in Michigan Gun Owners v Ann Arbor Public Schools upheld the Ann Arbor Public School's position that it can prohibit people from carrying firearms even as state law specifically states people with concealed carry permits may open carry (only no concealed carry with the concealed carry permit mind you) in schools.

The Michigan Court of Appeals, without any irony whatsoever, was able to declare it the law inapplicable as they determined, with a straight face no less, that a local school district was not a local unit of government, unlike a library district in a previous case which had been found to be a local unit of government. This of course is an awfully outcome-determinative decision considering all those elections for school boards, and the rules and regulations they promulgate, not to mention the public funding for them.

The Court also determined, likely with a nod and a wink, that the law exhaustively allowing such did not specifically and entirely preempt the field of firearms regulation prohibiting the school district from banning carry in compliance with state law.

We'll see if this gets appealed to the State's Supreme Court as the Supreme Court tends to be less anti-gun than our Court of Appeals.

Or better yet, would the Republicans please send another bill to Snyder to get rid of the no carry zones and amend the law to say pistols may be carried concealed with a concealed permit in schools rather than the current stupid mix of only being able to carry openly with a concealed permit in schools and other listed places? That would likely get rid of the pearl-clutching craziness as if the Lefties don't see the pistols they won't be alarmed by it, and there won't be people out trolling and trying to cause them to become so alarmed so that we get to this situation in the first place.

Henry Herskovitz, 66, of Ann Arbor: Modern Kapo and Idiotarian Extraordinaire

At least those Jews in world War 2 and the Holocaust that served as Kapos had the excuse of being in a life and death situation in incredibly extreme circumstances.

Modern idiot Henry Herskovitz has no such excuse.

Wearing a hat with "End Israel" on it, Herskowitz held a sign, visible at the link that said:

End Starvation in Palestine ------------------- End "Israel".

I do love those quotation marks - it's as if these scum cannot even bring themselves to write out the world Israel, much less admit and recognize that it exists.

The sign itself also ignores the fact that Israel is stupidly still allowing humanitarian shipments into Gaza while its being attacked from Gaza - let me know any other nation in the world doing that during wartime.

Mlive: Pro-Palestinian protestors in Detroit say U.S. needs to stop supporting Israel

What the article doesn't tell you is that good ol' Henry is quite the lefty activist who apparently got his start protesting US sanctions agianst Iraq and now has ties to the ISM of Rachel "Pancake" Corrie fame .

Let's remember the facts: this started current battle after the Arabs in Gaza continued to lob hundreds of rockets into Israel, leading to Israel taking out one of Hamas' military heads as a message to stop the attacks.

Its bad enough when Detroit's Arabs conduct their lies and propaganda, but it is absolutely shameful when a Jew who should darn well know better that he's being used joins them.

Ann Arbor Finds Out That Subsidizing The Homeless Has Consequences.

The City of Ann Arbor is finding out that when you subsidize certain behavior you (surprise!) get more of it.

The Detroit News: Ann Arbor struggles with homeless influx
City tries to balance services with surge in panhandling, tent camps
Ann Arbor, often know as the Berkley of the Midwest, is having a little problem with a great influx of aggressive homeless panhandlers swamping their social safety net.

Why? Because they subsidize and provide for the homeless for more than any other City and homeless people from as far away as Detroit and beyond are flocking to get some of these services, bringing all sorts of social issues along with them.

Ann Arbor — This progressive city, long known for embracing the poor and destitute, is learning that its support has a price.

For several years, homeless from around the state have descended upon the city because of a largesse that ranges from social services to the generosity of U-M students toward panhandlers, said city police, social service agencies and transients.

The number of homeless in Washtenaw County jumped from 4,212 in 2008 to 4,618 last year, according to the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. A quarter of them are from outside the county, said the association.

The influx contributed to a panhandling problem that grew so severe this summer that the police chief labeled it the "No. 1 crime," and the City Council assembled a task force to study it.

"We have people from all over," said Police Chief Barnett Jones. "We're on the cusp of being a victim of our generosity."

And in return for this generosity:

Some of the homeless became emboldened after the city eliminated downtown police patrols for budgetary reasons, area merchants said.

In the spring, the homeless began aggressively asking people for handouts, blocking their path, following them, sometimes grabbing them, the merchants said. They violated a panhandling ordinance by approaching people in outdoor restaurants, movie lines and near ATMs.

Merchants and customers began complaining. Police don't keep track of the number of complaints, but said it was the biggest source of downtown calls they received during the summer.

"It's a pain," said Caroline Peters, 36, a Saline resident who frequently shops in Ann Arbor. "It makes you not want to come here anymore."

Of course, in request to the demand for increased social services brought on by homeless from beyond the City flooding their city and taking uo resources, what did the City do?

Because of the horrid economy that has roiled government budgets across the state, Ann Arbor city staff has recommended for the past three years that the social service money be cut from the city budget.

And for three years the City Council has said no.

Instead, its members have chopped into such things as police and fire services.

Anyone see the connection between the continued increase in social services, reduction in police and concomitant upswing in the panhandling problem?

Apparently not the Ann Arbor City Council:

Councilwoman Sabra Briere said it was important to help the poor now more than ever.

"I would not like to think of us as Mr. Plentiful and Lady Bountiful," she said. "A lot of people here actually care about keeping the ladder down to help people than pulling it up from behind them."

Well, as long as she cares, after all that's the important thing.