Golden State residents go for ‘The Bachelor’; others opt for ‘Survivor’

searches. The fairly new game show follows Gen Z tropes in which participants “catfish,” befriend and flirt their way to the

“Big Brother” has 1,300 yearly searches, which follows strangers who are forced to coexist in a house while completely cut off from the Applicants have a 0.005% and 0.012% chance, respectively, of ultimately appearing on

In fourth place was “The Bachelor,” which sees several women go on dates with a bachelor and week-by-week the bachelor gets closer to choosing a woman to win the show and continue a relationship with.

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Arakelyan (Issachar), Melody Payne (Asher), Charlotte Borlek (Dan), Macey Cook (Zebulon), Raquel Fortney (Gad), Kaylani Martinez (Benjamin) and Aniani Ruiz (Judah). They shone on tunes like the country/western number “One More Angel in Heaven,” “Benjamin Calypso” and the up-tempo “Go, Go, Go Joseph.” I was blown away by their vocals and their energetic choreographed dancing that included flips and splits and more.

By the way, the program had an oopsie in it as it didn’t list the choreographer, but I didn’t need anyone to tell me that it was Kevin Gruwell. The movements throughout were crisp, clean, expressive and fun, and had Gruwell’s fingerprints all over them.

Martin Lehman was a new face and was doubly delightful as Potiphar and Pharaoh. In the latter role, he crushed the Elvis-esque tune “Song then used search engine optimisation Ahrefs to determine search volumes for questions relating to the desire to sign up for each.

The game shows Californians are most interested in appearing in: n “The Bachelor,” 81% n “Love Island,” 76% n “Alone,” 65% n “Big Brother,” 55% n “Too Hot To Handle,” 47%.

Outside California, Americans chose “Survi- of the King.” During that tune there was a great example of why I love MST – their attention to detail. Alvarez and an Egyptian (Macey Cook) were sitting in the box on the side of the stage watching Lehman sing. Now they could have just been sitting there and it would have been fine, but instead they were also munching on movie theater-size buckets of popcorn.

The rest of the cast all added sparkle to the show, including Victor Barajas (Jacob), Judith Boreham (Jacob’s wife) and Vanessa Kearns, Airalyn Martinez, Savannah Rivers, and Molly Skinner, all in the ensemble.

Having seen the show four times now I should have the colors that are recited in one of my favorite songs “Joseph’s Coat” down by now, but I do not. The lyrics read like the contents of those big Crayola boxes with the sharpener in the back.

“Red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and peach and ruby and olive and violet and fawn and vor,” “The Circle,” “Big Brother” and “The Bachelor,” in that order. lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and cream and crimson and silver and rose and azure and lemon and russet and grey and purple and white and pink and orange and blue!”

Americancasinoguide. com found “Survivor” is the game show that Americans most want to appear on. Contestants are placed in a remote location with no resources except the clothes on their back. The ‘survivor’ at the end wins a cash prize of $2 million.

I don’t like to make reviews all about myself, but I must mention that I brought a friend, Rick Prusso, who, like many

Search volumes for ‘Survivor application’ reached 5,100 yearly searches in America, the most of all the game shows in the research. As just 18 participants are ultimately picked to take part on the show, they have a 0.004% chance of receiving a call to appear on “Survivor.”

“The Circle” had 2,500 total yearly

Fairfielders, didn’t know about the theater and the magic that MST creates when the lights go down and the curtains go up. Afterward, he kept saying “I can’t believe I’m in Fairfield!”

Fairfield freelance humor columnist and accidental local historian Tony Wade writes two weekly columns: “The Last Laugh” on Mondays and “Back in the Day” on Fridays. Wade is also the author of The History Press books “Growing Up In Fairfield, California” and “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California” and hosts the Channel 26 government access TV show “Local Legends.”

“The Bachelor” application process reached 1,240 searches. The show just completed its 27th season, with casting already open for the next series.

Applicants have a 0.020% chance of landing a place on a season of “The Bachelor.” Rounding up the top five is “Love Island” with 1,000 yearly searches for an application and a 0.0034% chance of getting on the show.

Truancy has reached crisis levels in California schools

Gadflies – people obsessed with righting some perceived wrong and pester politicians and journalists to take up their causes –are a constant feature of politics.

One of the state’s more persistent gadflies these days is Thomas Carter, an accountant in Sherman Oaks who sends out almost daily barrages of emails about truancy in public schools, demanding that authorities recognize and address what he regards as a crisis.

“From what school will come the next ignored student to commit crimes, including a mass gun shooting, or be an ignored child abused at a school or in a home, or to become homeless, if a dropout?” is a typical heading on one of Carter’s lengthy emails.

Carter, in an interview, said he became concerned about the issue more than 30 years ago when, as a single parent, he discovered that his son had been missing school and he was not informed of the absences.

“Since then, I’ve been asking the questions,” Carter said. His complaints include sections of the education code that permit, but do not require, chronic truancy to be reported to law enforcement authorities, who could intervene but rarely do.

Carter may be a gadfly whose emails are automatically diverted into the junk file of many recipients, but he has a point about truancy. Surprisingly large numbers of the state’s almost 6 million public school students often don’t show up in class.

Two new reports from the Public Policy Institute of California frame the issue.

“Thirty percent of California public school students were chronically absent from school in 2021-22 – a near tripling of the percentage in 2018-19,” PPIC policy director Laura Hill and research associate Emmanuel Prunty wrote in the first report. “Although we do not know if this stark increase in chronic absenteeism, defined as missing at least 10% of the school year or at least 18 days, will continue, the data from last year raises concerns about the pace of students’ learning recovery after the educational setbacks of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The PPIC added that “this measure of chronic absenteeism – which includes both excused and unexcused absences – actually underestimates the true scope of missed school because it does not include students who missed fewer than 18 days and does not capture exactly how much instruction students missed (some students may have missed many more than 18 days).”

The second report, merging data about truancy with academic test results, declares, “We find that schools with greater increases in chronic absenteeism saw steeper drops in proficiency rates on the Smarter Balanced (SBAC) English and math tests, when comparing pre-pandemic levels (2018-19) to 2021-22.”

Some of the truancy surge can be attributed to the aftereffects of schools being shuttered during the pandemic – but not all, because the problem isn’t a new one. A 2013 report by the state Department of Justice tabbed chronic truancy at about 20% and declared, “California is facing an attendance crisis, with dire consequences for our economy, our safety, and our children.”

So, one might wonder, why is this evident crisis not given as much attention as it warrants?

State school finance is based largely on attendance and when students are chronically absent, it should have negative financial consequences. However, during the pandemic, the state loosened up on the attendance-based formulas, including allowing reimbursable attendance to be calculated over several years rather than year-by-year, so the immediate financial impacts are muted.

Moreover, there’s been a push by school officials, particularly those with declining numbers of students, to change financial aid from using attendance to enrollment, which would allow them to get money even for enrolled students who are chronically absent.

Such a change would indirectly encourage authorities to ignore chronic truancy. CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

Solano is home to over 150 species of birds. It is up to us to save them

Each year, at least a billion birds migrate along the Pacific Flyway, a small fraction compared to those that used it within this century. Although the combination of habitat loss and climate change have been major contributors to the loss of birds along the Pacific Highway, we have a new threat on the horizon. The creation of wind farms – turbines that convert the kinetic energy of wind into electric energy – have had a significant impact on the increase of deaths to our Aves community.

While turbines may have the lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions compared to other energy sources, they pose a constant threat to our bird population. Relative to humans, birds have a narrow binocular frontal field of view and cannot view the blades while they are in motion. Studies show that passive visual cues may enhance the visibility of these blades, which will enable the birds to take the necessary action to prevent direct impact.

Very few deterrents or mitigation efforts have been developed, but it has been proven that painting one of the three blades black minimizes the motion smear. With the simple action of painting one blade black, you can reduce the annual fatality rate of our Aves community by 70%. Solano County is in the Pacific Flyway, so there are already thousands of migratory birds that make their way through the area each year, with a large population of resident birds as well. We strongly recommend and urge that you take action on this very important matter. You have the choice to choose life for our Aves community!

Princess Washington, co-chair Sierra Club of Solano County Suisun City

School board circus strikes again

Calmatters Commentary Letters To The Editor Commentary

What did the FSUSD superintendent say that was so bad that the school board had to censure an 18-year-old over a recording he made before he was elected? What was so bad that an entire group of grown ups HAD to gang up on one of their own who is just trying to do better for his community? What are y’all trying to cover up?

What could she have said that is worse than when she said, “I have a disappointment for a son and can’t keep a gold fish alive?” What could she have said that is worse than her speak- ing at Armijo High School’s graduation and being less articulate than the kids who spoke before her?

Honestly, they censured Jack Flynn for recording her and I want to know what we pay her $300,000 a year to say behind closed doors. What was she saying that was so bad that the board had to vote to silence a kid? Also, how do you hear from six people who all do not want you to vote to censure someone and still do it? You realize that if we wanted to we could just vote you out?

One more thing, why are there two representatives for District 5, and if that’s the case, who isn’t being represented?

Last time I posted here, I got harassed in the comments by members of the board. Super classy of you all. One more time, you work for us and she works for you. Next time you want to come for me send Bethany Smith since I’m one of hers. Not that we ever see her in this community.

Last thing, I think the local chapter of the ACLU or someone needs to take a look at this board. It feels like illegal things are happening here!

Sandy Phan Suisun City

The causes of debt for students

One parable that’s somewhat hard to embrace is that of the prodigal son. No consequences for him, just kiss off his debts and start over while poo pooing the remonstrations of the sensible sibling who played the game.

Having gleaned these tender feelings of forgiveness and amnesty from a recent bible study group, the current administration is seeking to erase the easy earned debt of thousands of potential voters prior to fall of ‘24.

Alas, this is not addressing the core of a recurring problem. Why is there all this runaway debt you ask? Many factors contribute.

Factor No. 1: Dropping the bar for admission applications allows more unprepared kids to run up a year or two of debt and then bail out prior to graduation. No degree, no job, but debt.

Factor No. 2: Pandering to special interest groups by offering degrees in esoteric fields with few hirable qualities. Now our graduate, with a degree in “whatever studies,” finds it a tough sell at HR. No job, but debt.

Factor No. 3: Continuing to pack a top-heavy administration with additional deans such as an “Office of Diversity and Inclusion” and “Office of Multicultural Engagement” runs up a tab. These “academics” and their staff, if they do any actual work, do not work for free, thus tuition soars along with debt.

Factor No. 4: College, once upon a time, was a period of growth in maturity, self reliance and independency. Now the campus is flooded with concerned adults offering the same cozy nurturing nets and “safety” feel-good options that were supposed to have been left behind with mom and her sofa. These extraneous campus-baggers could be eliminated or else there is more debt.

In short, as long as the college environment and atmosphere persists in deviating from its original purpose, which was to teach and not coddle, costs will remain above the practical and the prodigal will proliferate.

Bill Ferguson Vacaville

Biden’s Chinese spy balloon credibility goes pfffffft

The overwhelming majority of the news world might be obsessed with what was going on in a New York City courthouse this week, but that circus overshadowed significant news the Biden administration might be glad was little-noticed.

NBC News reported that the Chinese spy balloon – which similarly dominated news cycles as it drifted across the United States before finally being shot down off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4 – “was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts.”

Two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official told NBC News that China had enough control over the balloon to steer it to make multiple passes over some sites, at times flying figure-eight formations, and the balloon transmitted the information back to Beijing in real time.

The intelligence gathered by equipment the balloon carried was characterized as “mostly from electronic signals” picked up from weapons systems and base personnel, rather than images.

The first casualty of NBC News’s scoop is the contention by the Biden administration and its defenders during the drawn-out affair that, well, China has spy satellites so this balloon is no big deal. But that was hardly the only blow to the White House’s credibility in this matter. While the spy balloon was traversing the country, administration officials and President Biden kept assuring the public that the targeted sites were sufficiently safeguarded from prying sensors hovering overhead. Perhaps we can forgive Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for not being up to speed on all of the national security implications of the balloon when he said on Feb. 5 on CNN, after the shootdown, “steps were taken to prevent any problems in terms of intelligence collection.”

But the following day, national security adviser Jake Sullivan boasted, “we were also able to ensure the protection of any sensitive information that the balloon would not be able to collect against us.” The same day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “we protected against Chinese intelligence collection because we knew exactly where the balloon was going ... We protected civilians, and we gained more intel while protecting our own sensitive information.” Finally, on Feb. 16, Biden said, “we were able to protect sensitive sites against collection.”

Eh, never mind. The Biden’s administration’s inflated claims keep exploding when pricked by the facts. Consider the White House’s spread-the-blame contention, as criticism of its performance mounted, that the Trump administration had been aware of intrusions by Chinese balloons and had done nothing about them.

Also bogus. Officials soon clarified that the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, had not been able to identify balloons as Chinese spy probes during the Trump administration. “Our awareness and understanding of this capability has increased over the last couple of years,” said the Pentagon’s press secretary, Brig. Gen.

Pat Ryder, on Feb. 8. He noted that in some cases, “subsequent analysis, subsequent intelligence analysis did enable us to indicate that these were Chinese balloons.”

Perhaps this week the Biden team was exhaling a sigh of relief, knowing that few Americans will pay much attention to the NBC News article. But the development fits a continuing pattern at the Biden White House. Everything is always going great, there’s never anything to worry about and the public should go back to watching “American Idol.” The staggering influx of migrants at the border is just part of a seasonal pattern that happens “every single solitary year,” inflation is merely “transitory” and the economy is “strong as hell.”

And who can forget this 2021 summer classic: The Afghan military is “better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war” and “There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy in the – of the United States from Afghanistan.”

Yes, every administration spins, omits unpleasant facts and shades the truth. But Biden asked the country to judge him by the toughest standard, pledging in his inaugural address, “Before God and all of you, I give you my word, I will always level with you.” That same day, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s “objective and his commitment is to bring transparency and truth back to government.”

Do the administration’s statements about the spy balloon seem transparent and true to you?

Jim Geraghty is National Review’s

senior political correspondent.