And there was (not) a great wailing and gnashing of teeth. Bishop Berkeley and ICE in the forest (Updated)

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if he falls and the NYT doesn’t report it, will he have made a sound?

ICE Tactics Deflate Media and Activist Outrage and Boost Arrest Numbers

Deportations officers have changed how they arrest illegal migrants, successfully expanding detention numbers while deflating media outrage and nullifying activist protests, the New York Times complains.

Starting in June, the numbers of illegals arrested and detained for deportation proceedings soared to close to 50,000 arrests per month — with August even exceeding that number — however, the violent protests seen last year were oddly absent from the media during the summer surge. It wasn’t because supporters of illegals tired of the pursuit, but because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made an important and effective change in its deployment policies in pursuit of fulfilling the president’s 2024 election mandate to implement mass deportations.

The change in tactics gave lower priority to the fixed bases in big cities that were giving left-wingers tempting targets for mounting protests, instead sending ICE officers out into the wider countryside to confront illegals.

ICE officers turned up in small towns, at suburban construction sites, truck stops, laundromats, outside airports, hospitals, near schools, and more. They raided both small and large businesses and fanned out to nearly every state, from desert towns in Arizona, the plains of Wyoming, and throughout the south, the New York Times recently reported.

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deployed several new tactics that gave the left fewer opportunities to grandstand.

“This gradual rise everywhere all at once, through a lot of means, is enabling the operation to fly under the radar,” he told the Times.

The shift made for fewer raucous headlines in the news media, but still very quietly allowed the Department of Homeland Security to pump up its deportation numbers. DHS added in a statement, “This is promises made and promises kept in action. The results speak for themselves.”

ICE also made much greater use of its cooperative agreements with local law enforcement agencies all across the country instead of launching high profile named operations in deep blue cities where extremist, pro-illegal migrant groups are primarily located.

Arrest numbers soared in states that had not yet seen large-scale operations, including Oregon, Montana, Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont, and New Jersey.

In June, DHS highlighted the fact that deportation flights had reached a record high.

“DEPORTATION FLIGHTS AT A RECORD HIGH,” DHS wrote in a post on X, replying to a post in which the Washington Examiner shared that nearly 900,000 illegal aliens have been deported since the start of the Trump administration in January 2025.

“Our message is clear: LEAVE NOW or we will find you, arrest you, and deport you,” {DHS posted] on X.

ICE reported that 49,000 illegals were taken into custody in June, and in August they took in a record of almost 51,000.

UPDATE:

Comments received from several puzzled readers have made me realize that not as many people as I had assumed know of Bishop Berkeley and the famous conundrum attributed to him, so here’s ChatGTP to explain all:

George Berkeley (1685–1753), usually pronounced “Barkley,” was an Irish philosopher and Anglican clergyman who eventually became Bishop of Cloyne. He is best remembered for defending immaterialism (or subjective idealism): the startling view that material objects do not exist independently of minds. What we call a tree, a rock, or a table consists of ideas or perceptions. Berkeley summarized the central thought with the Latin phrase esse est percipi—“to be is to be perceived.”

The tree in the forest

Berkeley almost certainly never asked the familiar question:

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

But the question captures a genuine problem raised by his philosophy. If the sensible world consists of things as perceived, what happens to the tree when no human being is perceiving it?

Berkeley’s answer is often missed in modern versions of the puzzle: God is always perceiving it. Objects therefore do not blink in and out of existence as people enter and leave rooms. Their continued existence is secured because they remain ideas in the infinite mind of God.

The “tree falls in the forest” formulation arose much later. It turns Berkeley's metaphysical problem into a somewhat different question about the meaning of “sound”: is sound the physical vibration of air, or the auditory experience produced in a hearer? Berkeley's concern was broader—whether it makes sense to speak of a material world existing completely independently of perception.

Samuel Johnson and the rock

Berkeley's philosophy famously irritated people who thought it contradicted common sense. The best-known response came from Samuel Johnson. James Boswell records that in 1763 he and Johnson were discussing Berkeley's claim that matter did not exist independently of perception. Boswell remarked that although the doctrine seemed obviously wrong, it was difficult to refute.

Johnson responded by striking his foot forcefully against a large stone and declaring:

“I refute it thus.”

It's a wonderful gesture, but philosophically it doesn't actually refute Berkeley. Berkeley did not claim that rocks are imaginary, that you can walk through walls, or that kicking a stone won't hurt. He fully accepted the solidity and resistance Johnson experienced. His claim was about what that experience ultimately consists in. Johnson's painful encounter with the rock was therefore exactly the sort of sensory experience Berkeley expected him to have.

That is part of what makes the anecdote so enduring. Johnson thought the rock demonstrated the undeniable reality of matter; Berkeley could simply reply that Johnson had demonstrated the undeniable reality of his perception of a rock.

So the tree and the rock neatly bracket Berkeley's philosophy. The tree asks, What becomes of the world when nobody perceives it? Berkeley answers, God perceives it. Johnson's rock asks, How can you possibly deny that this solid thing is real? Berkeley's answer would essentially be, I don't deny that it's real—I deny your account of what its reality consists in.

Funnies

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Sunday Smiles from David Strom. This week, it’s predominantly devoted to Tweets from hypocrites and idiots, but they can be fun too.

You may want to remember this when the nation's universities demand more federal money to pay for critical educational needs

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UConn to hold three sex toy workshops this fall

The University of Connecticut (UConn) in Storrs will hold three workshops on Oct. 6, Oct. 22, and Nov. 16 where students can handle demonstration versions of sex toys, including vibrators and plugs.

The events, titled 'Good Vibrations: A Pleasure Pop-Up Workshop,' will be led by the 'Sexperts' student group and are being advertised by the university’s Student Health and Wellness.

UConn charges full-time undergraduates on its main campus a $448 “Student Health and Wellness Fee” each semester, which supports the health office’s medical support and programs. The university does not specify whether the funds support the “Good Vibrations” event.

The Student Health and Wellness web page says that the Sexperts is a “paid peer health education program composed of 8 highly dedicated students who are passionate about promoting sexual health on the UConn campus.”

UConn charges full-time undergraduates on its main campus a $448 “Student Health and Wellness Fee” each semester, which supports the health office’s medical support and programs. The university does not specify whether the funds support the “Good Vibrations” event.

The Student Health and Wellness web page says that the Sexperts is a “paid peer health education program composed of 8 highly dedicated students who are passionate about promoting sexual health on the UConn campus.”

How many administrators are your tax dollars and students going into debt to support? A lot. Here are some of them:

Student Health and Wellness

Office of the Executive Director
Hilda May Williams building, lower level

Phone: (860) 486-0744
Fax: (860) 486-5300

Sheyda Younessi, MBA
Director of Fiscal & Business Operations
sheyda.younessi@uconn.edu
(860) 486-0741

Heather Hildebrandt CPA, RN
Director, Health Information Compliance & Clinical Data Analytics
heather.hildebrandt@uconn.edu
(860) 486-5532

Desiree Latacela LMSW
Director, Health Equity and Access to Care
ink25002@uconn.edu
(860) 486-5532

Laurie J. Loehr
Administrative Support/ Recruiting Specialist
laurie.loehr@uconn.edu
Office: 860-486-8132

Michael Wilkinson
Administrative Support/ Internal Communications
michael.wilkinson@uconn.edu
(860) 486-0754

You won’t be surprised that all our major universities and many insignificant ones run similar departments.

AI Overview

College and university administrative staff numbers have more than doubled since 1976, growing significantly faster than both student enrollment and full-time faculty counts. [1]

Overview of Administrative Growth

Data from federal sources like the U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS tracks the long-term expansion of non-instructional personnel in higher education:

  • Administrators (Since 1976): Up approximately 156% to 164%.

  • Professional Staff: Experienced even sharper upward trajectories (surging over 400% across multi-decade tracking periods).

  • Full-Time Faculty: Up roughly 88% to 92% over comparable long-term spans.

  • Student Enrollment: Up roughly 78% to 80%, meaning administrative hiring has outpaced student growth roughly 2-to-1. [1, 2]

Key Drivers of Growth

  • Compliance and Regulation: Institutions regularly cite expanding federal, state, and local mandates requiring specialized oversight.

  • Student Services: Increased demand for mental health counseling, student life programming, tech support, and career advising.

  • Institutional Management: Added layers of management, coordination, and institutional advancement offices. [1, 2]

As for K-12 …

No doubt they'll receive a pamphlet explaining why such behavior is naughty, then released back into the general population (Updated)

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The Daily Mail obtained photos after counterterrorism police in Britain arrested five men and seized three vans after identifying an attempted terrorist attack on RAF Fairford. A nearby resident tipped police off to suspicious activity. The British Army brought in a special bomb disposal robot with its explosive ordnance disposal team.

Police are holding the suspected terrorists under the Explosives Act after they found incendiary devices and chemicals inside the vans, The Daily Mail explained. 

(Note this for use in the update below) :

The heroic local is understood to have phoned the air base to no avail before she dialled 999 at 12.45am to report men 'acting suspiciously' around the white vans, prompting a major counter-terror operation.

Footage showed the men being arrested and sitting on the road shirtless while handcuffed, indicating officers may also have suspected they were wearing suicide vests… RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, is the US Air Force's command outpost for operations from Europe and has been used for American strikes on Iranian missile sites that have been attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

UPDATE:

The Daily Mail

Viable incendiary devices and chemicals were found inside one of the vans, police said. 

The men are in custody on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act and offences under the Explosives Act.

A bomb disposal robot from the Army's specialist explosive ordnance disposal team was later seen moving between the three parked vans. The rear doors of two of the vehicles were open and what appeared to be large black barrels could be seen scattered outside. 

RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, is the US Air Force's command outpost for operations from Europe and has been used for American strikes on Iranian missile sites that have been attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

It was the subject of a warning from Iran's Revolutionary Guard in July, with the regime warning Britain not to allow US bombers to fly from the base.

Today's arrests are not believed to be part of a pre-planned operation, meaning police were previously unaware of the plot.

And then there’s this:

Trump says terror suspects in possible Iran-linked plot to attack UK base were being watched: ‘Looking to do big damage’

“We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort, and working with the British worked out great.”

“We had them under view for a long time and we got them.”

Who ya gonna believe? Sadly, I’m going with the Daily Mail. If these were people already under investigation and “looking to do big damage to our fort”, would the British woman’s repeated calls to the airbase really have been dismissed/ignored?

Why, why, it's what true gentlemen simply will not do! Better we go down in defeat than engage in ... THAT!

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National Review’s RINOs would undoubtedly also have joined their WW 1 British colleagues in condemning spying on the enemy.

GHS cellphone ban seems to be working

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Although a few School Board members like Wendy Vizzo-Walsh opposed it (“Think about the handicapped! Think about mass shootings! (presumably, students could throw their phones at the perpetrator), cell phones were banned this year, and the results are good:

Three weeks into the school year, feedback on the “Away All Day” cell phone policy at Greenwich High School was positive at  Thursday’s Board of Education meeting, the first business meeting for the two new Republican members, Jeff and Jonathan Katz, who were sworn in on Aug 31.

Despite some rumors to the contrary last week about cell phones and WiFi at the high school on the Greenwich Connections Facebook group that triggered hundreds of comments, the entire school is covered by WiFi, and all laptops have access to the internet throughout the entire school day.

Last June the school board voted 5-3 to approve the new policy though there were students and even the PTAC president who testified with their opposition.

The “Away All Day” cell phone policy requires students to store their phones in their backpacks all day.

If a parent needs to reach their child, they can call their child’s house office. And, there are offices within the building where students can make a private phone call to a family member.  Students should reach out to their guidance counselor to make those arrangements.

…. Back in June, then board member Wendy Vizzo-Walsh and Karen Hirsh spoke out strongly against the ban. They were No votes, along with Paul Cappiali. Voting in favor were: Dr. Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony, Veronica Chiavaroli, Bob Chaney, Sophie Koven and Karen Krause.

… At Thursday’s school board meeting, GHS student body president Ben Varghese shared the student point of view.

He said there had been abundant feedback on what he referred to as a cell phone ban. Student phones should be off and away as soon as they step foot on campus.

“While initial reception of the new policy was negative, a lot of students are noticing significant improvements in their commute to and from classes, the student center environment, and other social settings – specifically lunch, Ben said. “Cell phones being prohibited has undoubtedly made students more engaged and aware throughout the day, which we can all appreciate.”

…. “In short, the new policy was is certainly an adjustment, just like everything and that he believed students would continue to acclimate to and grow to appreciate over the course of the school year.”

“I am absolutely thrilled with what I see at the high school,” [School Superintendent Terri Jones] said. “It’s calmer. Students are playing games with one another. At student government, they were just talking with one another. And when you walk down the hall, it used to be that literally almost every student had a phone in their hand.”

No wonder the Democrats are so against reform: skilled parking lot attendants don't just grow on trees

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Universities hire legions of H-1B workers, lawmakers advance legislation to rein in ‘visa scam’

Universities are continuing to hire hundreds of H-1B workers.

Republican congressmen have advanced legislation seeking to crack down on the 'H-1B visa scam.'

Campus Reform has routinely monitored how universities across the country are hotbeds for H-1B mass hirings. 

For example, Case Western Reserve University filed a Labor Condition Application (LCA) with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) intending to hire a foreign assistant parking director. Annual compensation for the position is between $52,705 and $66,672.

New York University filed LCAs for three “Assistant Professor” jobs with opening dates from July 30 to Aug. 13. 

A Campus Reform investigation also revealed that over the course of 2025 and 2026, Cornell University filed LCAs seeking to onboard hundreds of H-1B workers. The DOL certified 171 LCAs in 2025 alone.

And looking east …

THIS IS A PROBLEM, BECAUSE?  Why an H-1B visa hopeful decided to give up on work in the US. [VIDEO]

Indian national Shreya Mishra Reddy graduated from Duke University in 2022 with a master’s in engineering management. She had set her sights on working and living in the US. But after learning that potential employers might have to pay a $100,000 fee to hire her, she pivoted.

Playing to type — next will they'll rip out the watermelon patch?

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Bill Glahn, PowerLine:

Suburban MN church removes basketball hoops after “disturbance”

Shots fired at Edina basketball court prompts church to remove community hoops.

The photo accompanying the story shows backboards now missing rims and nets, following the latest “disturbance” in this once-quiet, prosperous suburb that borders Minneapolis.

Police said shots were fired Tuesday night outside Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, where witnesses said a group of teenagers was fired upon at the church’s basketball court. No one was hurt.

…. As a result of this week’s incident,

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church has removed its community hoops from the backboards after the gunfire.

Problem solved? Over at American Experiment, I’ve been logging these disturbances and the city’s unwillingness to decribe the WHO or the WHY, even as the what, when, and where are open for anyone to see.

But as FOX 9 reports, the situation has gotten so dire that the local police chief has uttered the S-word,

For the second time in recent months, Somali teens and young adults have been the targets of or have had some level of responsibility for shootings in community gathering places.

Technically, the church is private property, but point taken. What is to be done? FOX-9 reports,

Edina police are also working with Somali community leaders, families and youth organizations to help put an end to the gun violence.

No one is asking me, but I’m not sure negotiation is the correct approach.

Decline is a choice.

Previous youthful party fests in this Minneapolis suburb reported by Glahn: