Missy Foxman

The follow-up parent/teacher conference was yesterday My wife went alone I watched her pull out of the driveway Then I called my analyst He was already in his car Parked in the alley Engine running I wore cargo shorts Six pockets Pocket three had the school handbook Pocket five had a highlighter We arrived at 3:42pm Three minutes early My wife saw my analyst in the hallway before she saw me She stopped walking Then she saw me She said "why is he here" I said "support" She said "for what" I said "the meeting" She said "this is a parent-teacher conference and you aren't supposed to be here" I said "every meeting is a negotiation" She didn't move I held the door The teacher was waiting She was not alone The principal was seated beside her Arms folded They brought backup So did I My analyst sat down and opened his laptop He asked for the WiFi password The teacher said "we don't give that to visitors" He said "no problem" and turned on his hotspot I taught him well My wife put her head in her hands The principal introduced himself Firm handshake Said he wanted to "make sure we're all on the same page" I said "I love alignment" My wife looked at the ceiling The teacher pulled out a folder Same color-coded tabs as last time I respected the consistency She said our son has made "some improvements" but there are still "areas of concern" I said "can you quantify that" She said "it's not really a numbers-based assessment" I looked at my analyst He looked at me We didn't say anything The teacher said he still "challenges classroom structure" I pulled the school handbook from pocket three Page 34 Section 2.7 Parent Rights and Student Evaluation Standards I had highlighted six lines The principal looked at the handbook Then looked at my cargo shorts Then back at the handbook The teacher said there was an incident with a multiple-choice question She pulled out the test I pulled my copy from pocket two The teacher stopped talking My wife closed her eyes The question listed fifteen gender options My son selected none of them He wrote "Not applicable" Below that he wrote "Identified: Chromosome XY" Below that he wrote "Source: Biology textbook, page 217" With a footnote My wife looked at me She said "oh my god he's becoming you" I said "thank you" She said "that wasn't a compliment" The teacher said "that's not how multiple choice works" I said "was his answer correct" She paused The teacher looked at the ceiling Why does everyone keep doing that The principal stepped in He said "the concern isn't accuracy. It's compliance." I said "interesting. My auditors say the same thing." My analyst typed something I didn't ask what My wife looked at the ceiling again The principal said he thinks our son would "benefit from learning to work within established frameworks" I said "he will. And then he'll spend his career fixing them." Nobody spoke The teacher closed her folder The principal didn't shake my hand My analyst asked if there would be a follow-up The teacher said "I hope not" In the parking lot my wife said "you wore cargo shorts to a school meeting that you weren't invited to" I said "I needed the pockets" She didn't argue She said "we need to talk about this at couples therapy" I said "only if I can bring my analyst" She got in her car My analyst sent me his notes before I got to mine Formatted Bulleted With action items There were none Except for Plz Fix. Thx. Sent from my iPhone

Is there anything worse than a crying baby on a plane? I wish parents would control their children. It’s so disruptive. I refuse to believe a baby cries for 10 hours. At some point this is just bad parenting, right?

Senators don’t know the level of power they have. It’s rarely explained to them. And, even then, there are social/decorum reasons to not exercise it. Plus, the Senate is a constant chess game of mutually assured destruction. I didn’t see the entire exchange. But, Kennedy supposedly made a motion to pass his bill to block Senate pay during the shutdown. Schatz objected and left. Kennedy could have then made another Unanimous Consent request to simply pass the bill, and if no one objected (Schatz left) it would have passed the entire Senate and gone to the House. But, Kennedy wanted Schatz to come back to explain his objection.

Today there is a roll call vote on paying TSA workers. No tricks, no other issues. Up or down. Pay them or not. I’m a yes. And because no other issues are covered in the legislative text, it is not very easy to explain voting no, other than using big words about unrelated stuff.

Catholics aren’t just present in American public life—they’re helping shape it, from Congress to the governor’s mansion to the Supreme Court. Catholics now make up over 20% of the US population. At the 2026 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, Michael Knowles drove that point home ending his speech by saying, “Not only can a Catholic become president, but an American can even be the Pope.”