https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ9tTottjB8

Bari Weiss interviews Roland Fryer.

An eye-opening look at a very unusual life.

I turned a corner and God surprised me again.

 I'm both very busy and very contemplative lately.  It's taken a while for me to realize it, but God has set me up once again.  

I have finished the first week of my new school and I have things I want to talk about.  I can't say them in short paragraphs so I'm going to resurrect this old blog site of mine (I looked into a new blog site and they don't fit my needs).  If you are interested, you'll follow me here from Facebook or X.

I got laid off from Nutley High School back in June and started collecting unemployment.  It was enough money to get us by while I tried to rest.  You see, I was tired.  Exhausted.  Weak.  Brain fog.  

I was beat.

My doctor says I have a resurgence of Epstein Barr virus.  That sapped all my energy and made a difficult job much harder.  By the time they decided to not renew my contract at Nutley, I was so relieved that I could lay down and just do nothing.

But, of course, nothing is boring.  And then the roof caved in.  Well, actually it was the ceiling.

In September the ceiling in our bedroom fell.  Maddy was sitting on the bed going through the mail with her little dog, Frodo.  Frodo suddenly jumped up at a cracking sound and leaped off the bed.  This startled Maddy so much that she got off the bed.  Then the plaster ceiling, about ten square feet of it, fell onto the bed, mostly on my side.

I was upstairs at my computer.  And long story short, the insurance company might be made to pay, but only for the ceiling and only after the $1,000 deductible.  So, it wasn't going to help.  I started to work on it and I kept struggling.  I have so far removed the plaster and most of the lathing.  I'm going to work on it bit by bit until I can hire someone to do the drywall.  Then we'll move back in.  Right now Maddy and I are using our living room as a bedroom.  And it's been months and it's going to be longer because I have a new job.

January 3rd was the last day I could collect unemployment.  By this time I was starting to worry.  Not that disaster might befall us.  That was a given.  But that God might have the dingiest, poorest old folks home that needed Maddy and me to live in for some reason.  Oh, me of little faith.  

I got an email that day from the principal of a charter school in Paterson that was looking for a Physics teacher.  I went in for an interview and a demo teach and they hired me and offered me a pretty good salary with a starting bonus and performance bonuses.  I'm pretty pleased with it all, except that it took until last week before I could start.  The bank account got down to under $25 and by the time my first paycheck is set to show up I will owe two mortgage payments.

Oh, did I mention that some fraudulent activity ran up an old Paypal account we had forgotten about and it started deducting a couple hundred a month from the bank?  I couldn't log in because it was tied to an old email account I couldn't access so we closed out account and got a new one.  

Did you know it takes Social Security (our only income in January), at least two months to redirect payments to a new account?  (Insert long, annoyed rant later.)

Meanwhile, I started my job on the 15th.  I have six classes averaging 29 students, all freshmen.  I'm teaching freshman physics (a course I know very well), in a school that doesn't have much in the way of lab equipment.  But I can handle the entire freshman class (about 160).  It's the weird stuff that has my head spinning.

Day one was getting information and my computer from the vice principal.  I met most of the classes, learned about the bell schedule and met the young lady who's been subbing all year.  She's going to continue as my teaching assistant and is already a great help.

That was Thursday.  Friday there was no class because of a professional development day in Plainfield (about 45 minutes away).  I'm used to going to meetings and conferences where I know no one.  But the fun part was how excited people were to meet the new Physics teacher who actually knew Physics.  And I met three other Physics teachers from other schools and we had a great time.

Then, after the President's Day weekend we started school on Tuesday.  The school went into shelter in place during first period, then they announce the school was closing "for safety".  Turns out a serious bomb threat was delivered, with other violent threats.  My students cheered wildly.

It's just crazy.  

I'm trying to keep this short but there are still two things I want to talk about.  

First, Mr. I, the science department head.  He is very organized and my google calendar is busy.  So is my email.  We have meetings... that are excellent!  Mr. I has an amazing superpower.  He's a teacher who teaches teachers with the goal of making their jobs easier.  I have found a unicorn!  We get along great and he's explaining how he wants me to use the curriculum (that I know well) to get the most out of our time in instruction.  For the first time in 12  years of teaching I have found someone to actually help me advance my knowledge and understanding of pedagogy.  So, this will be a good experience. 

Second, and going back in time a bit further, I want to talk about The Chosen.  

I'm sure you've heard of the TV series about Jesus.  If not go watch.  It's great.  (Opinions differ.)

During the past three years Maddy and I have watched every episode.  And as I watch this portrayal of Jesus and His disciples wandering around Israel I'm reminded of my years wandering around with YWAM.  I know those disciples!  I was a semiliterate nitwit just like they were!  

Anyway, I watch that show and I've been praying for a while now.  I'm desiring in my heart to do something more, or else, for Jesus.  I've imagined if I had courage and faith enough I'd go into the heart of Paterson (only minutes away) and preach the Gospel.  Maybe just read the Sermon on the Mount and see what happens.  

I'm a daydreamer so this isn't new, but I recognize the desire that is in my heart, that hunger for following Him.  And today, suddenly, I realized... I'm now working in downtown Paterson.  In fact, I'm in a building (on the 6th floor) that is right next to the City Hall.  I can see their roof from my classroom window.

God has put me right where He wants me.  Right in the middle of Paterson.  A city that is third largest in New Jersey.  That is as densely populated as Manhattan.  That has many problems (bad streets, garbage everywhere, high crime... you name it), and I am wondering exactly what I'm to do.  Right now I know these:

I'm going to do my job better than I ever have.  I'm going to teach these unruly teenagers Physics.

I'm going to pray for Paterson while in the heart of Paterson.  I can take my lunch period and walk around the downtown.  And there's a Taco Bell across the street!

And I'm going to try to recruit you to pray too.  I've looked back at my Facebook history and I see how many of you have prayed for me as I've struggled with life and health and finances.  Now I'm going to ask for your faithfulness to join me in tearing down the walls of darkness and sin in Paterson.  

Revival has to start somewhere.  Might as well be here.

Vote by Mail in 2020

 

Vote by mail

 

Our discussion is in regard to this article from cnet.com:

 

Cnet article

 The poster and another friend both agreed that the article is ‘very balanced’ and ‘pretty factual’.  I disagree.  This article is fraudulent and biased.  Here’s what I see:

The author, Alfred Ng, begins with his opinion as the title.  Unless you think it through, you’ll assume he’s put a factual title on his opinion piece.  Don’t be fooled.

[Text from the article is in yellow]

 

The threat to vote by mail isn't fraud. It's disinformation and sabotage

Election officials say it's nearly impossible to commit voter fraud by mail. Getting people to doubt the legitimacy of the whole process is much easier.

Millions of Americans have voted by mail securely for more than 150 years, with fraud historically being so rare that election officials wouldn't even consider it significant enough to be a rounding error. But with the coronavirus pandemic pushing a record number of absentee ballot requests, President Donald Trump and his administration have attacked the time-tested system, claiming that it will lead to a chaotic Election Day outcome.

The last sentence in the above paragraph is false.  The President and his staff have not attacked the ‘time-tested system’.  They have attacked the plans of some states to mail ballots to every registered voter, not those who request an absentee ballot.  Those are two different systems of gathering votes, one of which has been and will continue to be used, while the new idea of governors like Phil Murphy of New Jersey (my home state) is to mail a ballot to every registered voter in the state.

 Since April, Trump has questioned the legitimacy of vote-by-mail on Twitter, saying it will "lead to massive corruption and fraud," without offering any evidence of what security flaws are present. Attorney General William Barr also claimed, in June, that voting by mail "opens the floodgates to fraud," also without any proof. 

My red highlights are also untruths the author states.  Check out this article:

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2020-08-19/trump-campaign-sues-new-jersey-over-hybrid-voting-model-for-2020-election

Trump Campaign Sues New Jersey Over Hybrid Voting Model for 2020 Election

New Jersey’s governor signed an executive order allowing residents to mail in a ballot or vote in person in the election.

Trump’s legal challenge offers the proof the writer of this article needs.  Since he’s a journalist, I won’t assume he didn’t see the US News article.  It’s his job to look things up.  I am taking an hour of my time to do this and I already have poked holes in his work…

 These attacks on mail-in voting aren't new, but they do come at a time when a record number of people in the US are expected to request absentee ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has killed more than 160,000 Americans, causing businesses to shut down to prevent the spread of the infectious disease; pushing people to keep their distance from each other; and leading children to attend school online or have their parties via webcam. Sending in your ballot is the next logical step when trying to stay safe. 

In Minnesota alone, the number of requests for mail-in ballots has risen more than 16 times, to roughly 470,000, according to Steve Simon, Minnesota's secretary of state, who doesn't buy into the concerns raised by the president.  

"It would be almost impossible to pull off voter fraud on a scale that would be required to tip the balance," Simon said. "We have vanishingly rare cases of voter misconduct. The security precautions in place have stood the test of time."

Nice quote from Democrat… maybe he’s biased against the President…  Bottom of Form

Mr. Ng spends most of the rest of his ‘article’ explaining how it would be impossible to vote fraudulently WITH ABSENTEE BALLOTS.  He completely ignores the issue of states like New Jersey and Arizona and Minnesota that want to expand voting by sending out millions of ballots.

 Now, back to the US News article:

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order allowing residents to mail in a ballot or vote in person for the election due to the coronavirus pandemic. The order calls on officials to mail all registered voters in the state a ballot beginning Oct. 5 along with a prepaid return envelope.

The above is a screen capture from Wikipedia: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_New_Jersey_gubernatorial_election

Total votes cast:  2,147,415

Turnout: 38.5%

Total registered voters: 5,461,540

Unused ballots:  3,314,125

Question:  What happens to the 61.5% of the ballots that are mailed but not used by the voters? 

Let’s assume that because of COVID, Mail-in voting, a presidential election, and many other reasons, that 50% of the electorate mail in their ballots.  That leaves 2,730,770 ballots in the hands of… who?

I have worked at several jobs in the last 20 years.  One of which was a floor measure technician for a branch of Home Depot.  I spent almost 6 years visiting about 12 homes a day all over North New Jersey.  Ranches, suburbs, urban apartments, public housing… you name it, I’ve seen it.  I measured almost 12,000 homes in that time.  Based on my observations of how mail is delivered, there would be no problem with traveling around to apartments in heavily populated neighborhoods and gathering up thousands of ballots.  I could then vote them, sign them, and mail them.  So they catch half.  I’ve still managed to vote 10,000 times for Trump. 

If it’s that easy for me to think of this, how hard will it be for political activists who spent all day on election day driving around the state gathering up people and taking them to vote?

You may not like it, and you can doubt the feasibility, but that’s my math and that’s why I don’t want ballots mailed out to every registered voter. 

BTW, I worked at the elections department in Siskiyou County, California in 1996, so I do have some experience.  And the state of voting in most places would be overwhelmed by vote by mail.

 

Finally, I found this article from fivethirtyeight.com, a left leaning site, which seems pretty honest, and also states that fraud is rare… but it’s always rare until it isn’t, and I don’t trust politicians who believe killing unborn children is a right.

538 article