Because serfs and government dependents can be ruled, thinking citizens not so much

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“They'll turn us all into beggars 'cause they're easier to please”

And the parents who keep these rulers in power obviously want the same thing: “don’t give us any o’dat thinking stuff, we want some of d’em culturally responsive holding pens.”

Team Mamdani cheers hip-hop high school despite aborting AI-focused high school plans — what a sick joke

A week after they united in canceling an AI-focused Manhattan public high school over bogus “racial justice” concerns, Chancellor Kamar Samuels proudly joined Mayor Zohran Mamdani to give the Bronx … Hip-Hop High. 

Samuels bragged that it and four other new schools will deliver “innovative and culturally responsive instruction” and “build a stronger, more equitable future” for the city.

Which school is more likely to put students on a solid career path?

Next Gen Tech was to be academically rigorous, with a strong math and science curriculum including calculus and coding.

The School of Hip-Hop plans to teach “hip-hop foundations,” entrepreneurship,” and “civic engagement through music” — blatantly vaporous stuff — with the vague promise that kids will “graduate not only academically prepared, but performance-ready.” 

AI and STEM skills generally are vital to the future economy; hip-hop is a music genre founded 50 years ago — whose future is behind it. 

What a tale of two schools: Samuels rejected the one that set the academic bar high, then embraced the one that’s transparently an academic joke.

And, ooh, the racism: First in the cries that screening for ability to do Next Gen Tech classwork would exclude black and Hispanic students, and then the smirking “gift” to mainly minority Bronx kids of a school “rooted” in the “five elements” of hip-hop: emceeing, DJing, graffiti, breaking and knowledge of self. 

Of course, this “soft bigotry of low expectations,” as a former president termed it, goes all the way up to the anti-education State Education Department, which now pretends that “project-based learning” is a fine pathway to a high school diploma.

New York City parents need leaders dedicated to preparing their children to succeed in school and in life; instead they’ve got Mamdani and Samuels, who plainly see the public schools as some combination of a con and a joke.

Way back in 1986, the Rainmakers had this scam pegged, and wrote a song about it, “Government Cheese”

Give a man a free house and he'll bust out the windows
Put his family on food stamps, now he's a big spender
No food on the table and the bills ain't paid
'Cause he spent it on cigarettes and P.G.A
They'll turn us all into beggars 'cause they're easier to please
They're feeding our people that government cheese

Give a man free food and he'll figure out a way
To steal more than he can eat 'cause he doesn't have to pay
Give a woman free kids and you'll find them in the dirt
Learning how to carry on the family line of work
It's the man in the White House, the man under the steeple
Passing out drugs to the American people
I don't believe in anything, nothing is free
They're feeding our people the government cheese
Government cheese
Government cheese
Government

(Decline and fall)
Fall down baby
(Decline and fall)
I said fall way down now
(Decline and fall)
Come on fall down little mama
(Decline and fall)
Decline and fall

Two new listings, one in Riverside proper, one in NoPo

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First up, Riverside south of Post Road, 73 Lockwood Road, $3.995 million. There’s nothing else out there in this range, so I’m guessing it’ll be gone by Monday morning.

two top negotiators are standiNg by, reADY TO ASSIST

And over in NoPo, 110 Sheephill Road, new construction, has hit the listings with a guide price of $5.150 million. Even though the house is actually on a small dead end off of Sheephill, this is not a price I’d have associated with this location, but I’m constantly being surprised these days, so ….

If only Old Greenwich's Pat White had been born Somalian

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“Who? Patricia White? Never heard of her, and she’s not on our donor rolls, so ….”

Connecticut siblings convicted of fraud in Pennsylvania must return $1.2 million to state treasuries

Patricia White, 70, of Old Greenwich, received a nine-month prison sentence for submitting false claims for unclaimed properties to around 30 state treasuries.

Brother Henry, 75, sentenced to three years, one month.

HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Patricia A. White, age 70, resident of Old Greenwich, Connecticut, was sentenced on April 27, 2026, to nine months’ imprisonment by United States District Judge Karoline Mehalchick for submitting false and fraudulent claims for unclaimed property to state treasuries.  White was also ordered to pay $1,208,271.40 in restitution to approximately 30 state treasuries.

According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller, White, along with her brother and codefendant, Henry A. White, Jr., together received over $1.2 million in false and fraudulent claims for unclaimed property from state treasuries around the United States.  Henry White using the names of corporate entities with which he was not affiliated and which he had no lawful authority to use, applied for and received unclaimed property from state treasuries throughout the United States.  The scheme took place over the course of approximately ten years, from 2013 until around 2022.  State treasuries, relying on the certifications provided by Henry White under penalty of perjury, issued payment checks, which were generally sent by U.S. mail to the shared home address of both defendants.

From there, the Whites deposited and cashed these fraudulently obtained payment checks into a joint bank account, and they used these funds for personal expenses, including for mortgage payments for their shared home in Connecticut. At the time of her guilty plea, Patricia White admitted to personally depositing some of these fraudulently obtained checks.

Henry White was sentenced on December 17, 2025 to 37 months in prison and was ordered to pay the same restitution amount as Patricia White.

Patricia White will surrender herself to the Bureau of Prisons on May 8, 2026. 

So, okay, the Whites did wrong, and now they must pay; fair enough, but their crime involved stealing $1.2 million of dormant funds resting in unclaimed property accounts; Suppose they had stolen $2.2 million as part of an $18BN theft? Wow! They’d have really had the book thrown at them, eh?

Well, that would depend on where they were born, and what politicians they had in their pocket. Sadly for the White siblings, they picked the wrong nationality, and had no friends in the state government.

This guy, however, had both:

Minnesota fraudster cuts no-jail plea deal with key condition tied to alleged mastermind

Said Awil Ibrahim gets five years probation after pleading guilty in Minnesota's largest Medicaid fraud case ever

A Minnesota Medicaid fraud defendant is expected to avoid serving jail time under a plea deal that requires him to cooperate with authorities pursuing his fugitive co-defendant, whom a judge granted bond despite warnings from law enforcement that he may flee the country.

Said Awil Ibrahim pleaded guilty May 1 under a deal with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office that calls for five years of supervised probation and a stayed 150-day jail sentence in a nearly $11 million case Ellison’s office has called the state's largest Medicaid fraud prosecution. Per the terms of his plea agreement, he will also be required to help authorities track down his missing fugitive co-defendant, alleged mastermind Abdirashid Ismail Said.

So where is this alleged mastermind? He was given a ticket to ride, far from U.S. jurisdiction and safely removed from the inquisitive eyes of federal authorites who might have wanted to probe his ties with Minnesota politicians.

MINNESOTA FRAUD SUSPECT SKIPS COURT, FORFEITS BOND, THROWING $11M MEDICAID CASE INTO DOUBT

Said failed to show up for a mandated court appearance in early April after Hennepin County District Court Judge Juan Hoyos granted him a bond set at $150,000. The terms of the bond allowed Said to retain possession of his passport, even as the Medicare Fraud Control Unit, which is within the attorney general's office, warned the judge that he may be a flight risk.

"Given the nature and severity of the charges, and SAID’s familial ties outside the jurisdiction of Minnesota, I believe there is a potential SAID may flee, hide, or otherwise prevent the execution of the warrant," a police detective wrote in the criminal complaint against Said. The complaint noted that Said has a wife and child in Kenya, where he is believed to have fled.

Ibrahim’s role in Said’s operation included defrauding Minnesota taxpayers of $2.2 million using false claims and paying himself over half a million dollars through the scheme. As part of his plea deal, Ibrahim has acknowledged that he stole from the state and agreed to return the $2.2 million through a payment plan that will be determined at his sentencing hearing. 

His jail sentence will be stayed if he complies with probation and a payment plan. 

And there’s this lagniappe:

Said had previously been convicted of fraud in Minnesota in 2021, receiving probation and community service instead of a jail sentence. 

Known for years, ignored by their advocates for just as long; Northern school districts should have consulted with their physics teachers before committing millions to new Kamala Bus fleets

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AAA Finds EV Range Drops 39% in Cold Weather and Costs Jump

Updated AAA data shows that EVs and hybrids lose up to 40 percent of their range in 20-degree weather.

Key Points

  • AAA study finds EVs lose 39 percent range and 35.6 percent efficiency at 20°F.

  • Winter EV operating costs rise by up to $76.93 per 1,000 miles using public charging.

  • 35 percent of buyers now favor hybrids, which perform better than EVs in cold weather.

AAA Temperature Study

In an expansive May 2026 study, AAA engineers strapped modern electrified powertrains to climate-controlled dynamometers – simply put, automotive treadmills operating in extreme temperatures ranging from 20°F to 95°F. The results shatter the narrative of consistent range and robust drivetrains. While automakers have successfully engineered a defense against summer heat by using advanced liquid cooling and heat pumps, the cold weather penalty remains significant.

When the mercury drops to 20°F, electric vehicles lose an agonizing 39 percent of their driving range and suffer a 35.6 percent collapse in overall efficiency. For the everyday commuter, this is not merely a logistical headache; it is a direct financial penalty. AAA calculates that winter EV operating costs surge by $32.11 per 1,000 miles when charging at home. If a driver is forced into the wild to rely on public charging infrastructure, that cold-weather penalty skyrockets to an extra $76.93 per 1,000 miles.

Hybrids are not immune to the freeze. Vehicles utilizing internal combustion engines alongside battery packs saw fuel economy plummet by 22.8 percent at 20°F, adding an extra $28.44 per 1,000 miles to the operational burn rate. However, because hybrids can harvest engine heat to warm the cabin, their drop in efficiency remains far less catastrophic than their fully electric counterparts.

Does the EV Buyer Care?

According to AAA’s accompanying survey data, 35 percent of prospective buyers are currently pivoting toward hybrid platforms. If you live in a region that regularly sees winter weather, the EPA-estimated range is hugely inaccurate. Until industrial battery chemistry can robustly withstand the elements, buying a modern BEV means accepting that nearly 40 percent of your range—and a larger chunk of your wallet—will simply vanish into the cold.

I just checked GROK:

Yes, it's accurate.

AAA released a study on May 1, 2026, testing EVs (and hybrids) on a chassis dynamometer at different temperatures with the cabin HVAC set to 72°F. At 20°F (cold conditions) compared to a baseline of 75°F (moderate), they found:

  • EVs: ~39% decrease in calculated driving range and a 35.6% drop in MPGe (efficiency).

    newsroom.aaa.com

  • This matches what you read exactly.

For context, hot temperatures (95°F) only reduced range by about 8.5% on average.

Quick notes on the study

  • It tested multiple modern EVs.

  • The big cold-weather hit comes from two main factors: battery chemistry performs worse in low temps (slower chemical reactions), and a lot of energy goes to heating the cabin (unlike gas cars that use engine waste heat).

  • This is consistent with AAA’s prior tests (e.g., ~41% loss in 2019, ~32–41% in earlier cold tests), showing limited improvement in winter performance despite battery/tech advances.

    npr.org

Real-world results can vary based on the specific EV model, driving style, preconditioning (warming the car while plugged in), battery size, and how aggressively you use heat. Many owners mitigate it by preconditioning and using seat/steering wheel heaters instead of full cabin heat. But the AAA lab figures are a solid, standardized benchmark.

Of course, this little difficulty is not confined to school buses (or semis); the same physics apply to passenger cars. These wretched things will get you to Starbucks and Whole Foods, but you won’t be driving one to your Stratton Mountain condo.

Math R hard? Not really,but understanding what numbers mean can be difficult — impossible, for some

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“I’ll take 13% = 52%, Alex, for a quarter and a cup of coffee”

We hear all the time about "food deserts," "pharmacy deserts," and about how corporate capitalist exploiters don't care about the poor. 

Every time a store closes due to problems with crime, the race grifters come out to protest about the conspiracy to harm black and brown people by depriving them of the means to survive. 

It's tiresome, and it is ultimately self-destructive to the very people who complain bitterly about their lot in life. 

Another absurd scene unfolded in Chicago this week at a Walgreens that is closing. It is beset by crime. People regularly steal millions of dollars of product, and the company's employees feel at risk. 

The response? Demands that the corporation be forced to stay open because they are creating a pharmacy desert, and how will those shoplifters earn money if they can't steal?

Shoplifting has become an industry, and its perpetrators these days don't even try to hide what they are doing. Employees who try to stop it can face dismissal from their jobs or even criminal charges if they try to interfere. 

Shocker: house sells for less than asking price

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41 Londonderry Drive, listed at $3.495 million, has sold for $3.330. It was only on the market for 14 days, so subtracting a week or so for contract negotiations, the owners were presumably satisfied with this offer and saw no need to wait for a better price. I really liked the house, especially its views over the Burning Tree golf course.

Buyers are from the Jersey City Zip, 07302; no word whether they’re golfers.

Find me a conspiracy theory that doesn't prove true — please.

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beans. it’s what’s for dinner

In Canada, they’ve run out of money to provide “free” medical care to all, so they’re encouraging voluntary suicide. For the elderly and depressed, now, but as costs rise, we can expect that effort to expand to the general population.

In the US, when states discover that, while their spending demands are unlimited, the number of billionaires is not, so taxes will rise for all who have any assets to seize.

And in bothe countries,

And in “Green” Land, punishing nursing home residents will do nothing to reduce greenhouse gases — they no longer drive, for instance, nor are they jetting off the Hollywood — and the state will turn from punishing old people for past sins to rationing the meat (and energy) consumption of all residents, imported Africans and native Squareheads alike.

And note, these are nursing home residents; they’re no longer driving or generating any significant amount of dreaded greenhouse gases — the sole purpose here, as admitted by the government, is to punish them for past sins.

Copenhagen Climate Cultists Cut Almost All Meat Out of Diet for Senior Citizens [2.8 oz per week]

A Green party rep explained the logic: the elderly "have been the biggest climate sinners throughout their lives."

🇩🇰 Copenhagen's Green-led council is limiting elderly care residents to 80 grams of beef per week for climate reasons. 

That works out to 11.4 grams [0.4021 oz] a day, which is less meat than most people put in a single taco.

A Green party rep explained the logic: the elderly "have been the biggest climate sinners throughout their lives." 

So the plan is apparently to make them atone for it in their final years, one thimble of mince at a time.

Critics, including opposition parties and elderly advocates, say the policy risks undernutrition in a population already vulnerable to it. 

The council says it's flexible, but the elderly eating climate penance for dinner might disagree.

Source: BT, Ekstra Bladet

I like t check out claims made on the Internet, so I asked Grok: yes, it’s true

x.com

The policy stems from Copenhagen's climate and food strategies (e.g., the 2019 Mad- og Måltidsstrategi), which prioritize organic food, reduced waste, and lower emissions while aiming for palatable meals. Similar efforts exist for schools and other public settings.

This has sparked significant recent backlash (early May 2026), with viral posts criticizing it as undignified for elderly residents ("climate sinners" phrasing from one Green/Alternativet representative drew particular ire). A proposal for exemptions reportedly failed along party lines. Critics argue it prioritizes ideology over resident well-being; defenders say it's about sustainable, healthier options overall (more veggies, legumes, etc.) without rigid enforcement.

In short: The 80g beef/week figure comes directly from official municipal guidance documents/research for nursing home menus. It's real and tied to climate goals, but framed by the city as advisory targets rather than hard "restrictions" on what individuals can eat. Implementation can vary by home, and nutrition/taste remain priorities on paper. The viral outrage reflects real concerns about how it's applied in practice for vulnerable elderly people.

At the very least, we want AI to keep up with us and match our moral development; so far, so good

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THE SOFT BIGOTRY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS, DIGITAL EDITION: AI praises ‘black’ students’ essays, gives useful feedback to ‘white’ essays. “AI models are trained by seeing how human teachers grade essays. ‘They are picking up on the biases that humans exhibit,’ said Mei Tan, lead author of the study.”

(Somewhat) related, from the NYT’s pet progressive, Nick Kristof;