The World Turned Upside Down

I've referred to this before.  Purportedly the British army, in surrendering to the Americans (and French) under General Washington at Yorktown, played the popular tune, "The World Turned Upside Down."  How could the great British army under General Lord Cornwallis lose to the rag-tag army of Washington?

Sometimes that's what I feel like today.  According to newspaper reports around here, the ACLU is defending the Detroit-area doctor who performed female genital mutilation on young girls.  The ACLU is also opposing efforts in Maine to criminalize FGM.  Huh?  The rights group bases its opinion on the First Amendment's free exercise of religion clause.  Yet, the ACLU defends the right to have abortions?  There seems to be a disconnect somewhere.  It's OK to mutilate young girls, but not OK to protect unborn children from death?

Toss in this one, too.  Religious freedom grants the right to perform mutilations, but not the right to refuse to allow gay marriages on one's own private property?  I, for one, would willingly host any gay or lesbian marriages--if I ran such an establishment and the payment was forthcoming.  But many Christians see this as an abrogation of their religion.  Why can't these Christians have their freedom of religion like Muslim doctors and parents mutilating their kids?

And unless I'm way out in left field (which might well be likely), what is the big deal about pulling out of the Paris Accords?  Americans have, voluntarily I might add, decreased their "carbon footprints," pollution, etc. more than just about any other country.  Despite signing the Accords, both India and China, with the two largest populations in the world, haven't taken any real steps in such reductions.  What is it, their promise kicks in in 2030?  And who believes anything the commies in China say?  It seems much ado about nothing.  BTW, I'd bet all those protesters of the pull-out either haven't lost their jobs or aren't in danger of losing them due to the Accords.  Just a guess......

While the mobs protest Paris, the beat goes on in the cities of the US.  Over the weekend, there were more murders in Detroit.  Oh, there might be a vigil or two, but where are the protests over killing so many people?

If you've been following some of the stuff coming out of the Ivy League colleges lately, I don't need to explain.  I just hope the students and even the professors (!) have been quoted out of context on some of the things they've said.  If not, well, the Ivies have lowered their standards a great deal since I was there.

I'm just curious as to how Major League umpires can be so inconsistent on calling balls and strikes?  I have seen pitches nowhere close to the plate called strikes and others that take big chunks of the plate called balls.  Yesterday, Miguel Cabrera was called out on a pitch about halfway between his feet and knees, yes, his knees, the low point for a strike. Even when the catcher pulled up the pitch about half a foot, the ball was low.  I turned off the game......  How can an umpire call out the best hitter in the game on such a terrible pitch?  If they can, I don't have to watch.

My US History class this spring is really fun to teach!  The class is loaded, with 30-some students.  I haven't counted recently, since drops and adds.  There's a strong nucleus which asks some very good questions--thoughtful and relevant.  Some of the students are even translating what we learned from some events to other events that happened later.  The mid-term is tomorrow and I'm betting many of the exams will be good.  I doubt any of these students will come to class to take an exam without bringing paper and pen/pencil--as happened several times during the winter term.