I'm Still Stuck In Covington

Tucker Carlson and Caitlin Flanagan wrote n the media meltdown over the Covington HS kids. Mr. Carlson claims the incident shows that the media hates a lot of the oppressive, privileged whites with whom they are forced to share a country:

Tucker Carlson: There's no sympathy for Covington Catholic teens in America's newsrooms

...

For a few overheated hours on Saturday, a group of boys from a Catholic high school in Kentucky became the most hated figures in America.

Television anchors denounced them as bigots. Journalists with Harvard degrees called them “privileged.” Republican commentators scolded them as bad Christians. Famous actors suggested they should be hunted down and punched in the face. Some on social media called for them to be killed.

...

You’d think somebody, at some point, in media land, would wonder how all this misreporting is affecting the kids who were falsely accused. But no. There’s no sympathy for Covington Catholic in America’s newsrooms. In the mind of your average reporter in Washington, these kids are from a different country. Less than that, actually. They’re from hostile country, a place we must subdue for our own safety.

Ms. Flanagan provides an excellent recap but does not take as alarmist a tone:

The Media Botched the Covington Catholic Story

And the damage to their credibility will be lasting.

...

How could the elite media—The New York Times, let’s say—have protected themselves from this event, which has served to reinforce millions of Americans’ belief that traditional journalistic outlets are purveyors of “fake news”? They might have hewed to a concept that once went by the quaint term “journalistic ethics.” Among other things, journalistic ethics held that if you didn’t have the reporting to support a story, and if that story had the potential to hurt its subjects, and if those subjects were private citizens, and if they were moreover minors, you didn’t run the story. You kept reporting it; you let yourself get scooped; and you accepted that speed is not the highest value. Otherwise, you were the trash press.

I don't think the problem is simply that some news is "Fake", as in wrong and not credible. And its not even simply that the liberal press routinely slants to the left. The problem is as Tucker described it: they hate us.

OK, not all of them, and hopefully, not all of us. But our divisions are deeper and certain forms of bigotry have moved from common to fashionable. As an example, I had a friend tell me twenty years ago that Catholic-bashing was the last acceptable bigotry. However true that was then, today it seems to have moved from "acceptable" to required out on the left.

Or, think about how folks on the left spent Martin Luther King weekend calling for teenagers to be hunted down and punched in the face. Uhh, non-violence is no longer the answer? I guess not. To Be Fair, after The Nation wrote some Resistance Porn glorifying the antifa and their use of violence they felt obliged to auto-rebut. And when the NY Times ran a faux-balanced piece on the antifa and the ethics of punching Nazis their readers revolted in the comments. The bradly shared view was that questions about the appropriate use of political violence are much simpler than the Times seemed to think. My fave "Questions were raised" passage, from the story:

In the past, antifa activists have engaged with people who were clearly something less than outright neo-Nazis, raising questions about who, if anyone, deserves to be punched and whether there is such a thing as legitimate political violence.

I want to beleive that punching high school boys remains a fringe pre-occupation on the left. However, the idea that this attitude of "I love America, its just the damn people in flyover country that I can't stand" did not start with Trump. It didn't start with Obama, either, but in recent years his 'bitter-clinger' pop sociology remains a high water mark:

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter,they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Hillary's "basket of deplorables" comes from the same bi-coastal elitism:

"I know there are only 60 days left to make our case -- and don't get complacent, don't see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think, well, he's done this time. We are living in a volatile political environment. You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic -- you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people -- now 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks -- they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America."

Obviously, once you start looking more examples are easy to find. A few losers, presumably mostly white and male, harrassed Sarah Jeong, so that makes it OK for her to work on the Times editorial desk while hating white people. Well, because the "hate" is really just a fun way to display her Wokeness. Har de har. But let's have a second "To be Fair" moment - back in a NY Times column on this topic the readers actually seemed to hold stale, bourgeoisie values about casual displays of hateful rhetoric.

I remain hopeful that most people would be appalled by the prevalence of sewer rats polluting Twitter. But our news media has taken up residence there and is starting to embrace the values, and the stench.

MORE ON COVINGTON: Times pundits fear for the media and the country.

Frank Bruni: Covington and the Pundit Apocalypse /  Our hasty condemnation of these teenagers reveals the cold truth about hot takes.

Ross Douthat: The Covington Scissor /  Welcome to another controversy algorithmically designed to tear America apart.

David Brooks: How We Destroy Lives Today / Will the Covington Catholic High School fiasco change social media?

Farhad Manjoo: Never Tweet/  The controversy over the Covington students shows why American journalism should disengage from Twitter.

I will let Frank Bruni speak for all:

But will we [in the media] pause next time to make sure that we understand what we’re reacting to and whom we’re condemning? Even if that means fewer retweets? Will we filter our responses through a mature acknowledgment of what, in real time, we can and cannot take for granted?

Only if we're honest about what we’ve been doing and why we’ve been doing it.

With everything from Twitter followers to television bookings, we’re rewarded for fierce conviction, for utter certainty, for emphatically taking sides and staying unconditionally faithful to what we’ve pushed for and against in the past. We each have our brand, and the narrower and more unyielding it is, the more currency it has and the more loyal our consumers. Instead of bucking the political tribalism in America, we ride it.

We react to news by trying to fit it into the argument that we routinely make, the grievance that we usually raise, the fury or angst or sorrow that we typically peddle. We have our narrative, and we’re on the lookout for comments and developments that back it up. The response to the initial footage of the Covington boys — and, in particular, to the one who wore a red MAGA cap as he stood before and stared at the drumming veteran — adhered to this dynamic.

We have an economically troubled media world where journalists and pundits are trying to secure their brands (and paychecks) by appealing to the folks who buy books, orovide clicks and likes, retweet stories, tune in to see them on television, and so on.

By and large, that means they are trying to appeal to the passionate and engaged. Folks from the political fringes tend to be over-represented among those who care. That reality has made Rush, Sean, Rachel and Paul plenty of money. Back in the day, appealing to the fringes would NOT have helpful for broadcasters, who needed to appeal to a... wait for it... broad audience. In the new internet world of narrowcasting cable, websites, downloadable books and so on, a narrow but enthusiastic audience is suitably rewarding, emotionally and financially.

And here we are. A divided country with media coverage provided by journalists riding those divisions for their own relevance and paycheck. Not to mention a current President who barely pretends to be trying to appeal to everyone (unlike our recent "Uniter, not a Divider" and "Not a Red America and a Blue America but a Purple America", where there was at least a pretense of appealing to unity.)

I don't see this ending well. But have a great day!

OK, SERIOUSLY, SMILE: If -IF - these guys really have found a cause and cure for Alzheimer's, current patients may be stabilized or reversed and aging Boomers and their families will be spared a long, difficult demise. Of course, the founder may become a billionaire and President Ocasio-Cortez will feel obliged to denounce his shameless exploitation of the rest of us, but on balance, good news.

 

Comments

[Narciso79]

No it was deliberate, if it was a botch they would admit it.

[Narciso79]

How do you appeal to everyone, you can fake it like Obama when the press is your cheering section, from minute one they made up their story.

[anonamom]

It's not going to end well.
Well, it may END ok, because of the side that has the guns, but it's going to be hellacious getting to the end.

The blood has already been spilled---in Dallas and wherever that practice field was that Steve Scalise nearly died on.

It's clear one side isn't interested in allowing us to settle our differences in the voting booth, or by traditional political negotiations.

Wake up and smell the covfefe.
And pick a side. Because it's time.

[D]

President Trump not attempting to connect with voters other than his base.
I do not buy this premise.
Obama promised he would and didn’t.
Note vendor one day.
All he could offer was I won and and Repubs sit in the back of the bus, a slam at pre- civil rights act events.
Partisan and hateful, Obama like Holder was all about Black first.
He also lied about his religion and denied we were a Judeo/ Christian nation.
He tried to remake us in his image but we resisted.

[D]

Anonamom:
I have picked my side and I am ready.
It could end in civil war.
We shall see.
We need a lot of really old and corrupt democrats to buy the farm in the next ten years.
All that hate inside them should be slowly killing them.

[Narciso79]

You see in Caracas what happens when this group is fully weaponized. They dont have the mad skills of other insurgent groups but give them a little time. T

They got every part of the story wrong except thede were teen boys and a native American

[anonamom]

Robert A. Heinlein — 'An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.'

[Narciso79]

There is no story of a Caracas spring in many of the papers in fact they hide that story under a bushel basket.

[anonamom]

i'm gonna be a dick about this sell out all weekend long. i didn't vote for strategic retreats-i've seen a triptych of failure theater-no more, no more losing. i've had enough.

Which means---exactly what?
I say call janet and do whatever she suggests.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Brush twice daily and Make America Great Again!

[matt - deplore me if you must]

So people are now giving TSA checkers gift cards. Isn't that a violation of the emoluments clause?

Frontier Airlines is asking passengers to tip their flight attendants, which sure is degrading in my opinion. A tip jar as you exit?

Airlines are using the manuals from the Spanish Inquisition to design new and more horrible ways of torturing passengers. Service is pretty much out the window these days as government intrudes on the private sector. Pretty soon life will be like a Soviet bread line for all except the rich.

First Class is sort of like being in the movie Big now. Giant puffy chair for $12,000, Alex. Or to avoid TSA lines and the hot polo buy your own jet.

It really is a brave new world.

[henry]

Matt, I’m surprised we don’t have to tip the TSA when they gripe on ways not allowed at a lap dance.

[henry]

Grope

[JimNorCal]

Commenters at BJG blog:
"it took TWENTY-NINE very heavily armed Gestapo agents to subdue ONE barefoot old man."
"and don’t forget his dangerous deaf wife (who I imagine had no fking clue what was going on getting woken up at gun point and being unable to hear ‘commands’).
That part I didn’t know till last night."

[Jim Eagle]

Coincidentally, I am watch the MIllwall v. Everton FA Cup 4th round game, and I am reminded of the Millwall chant:

"No one likes us, and we don't care."

An anthem for the Covington kids?

[Catsmeat]

GUS! The venison burgers worked great in a sous vide--highly recommended (for whenever you nail the next large bit of wildlife that strolls across your lawn!)...

[Sandy Daze]

Jim,SunnyvaleCA,USA ...

The otehr night, late night, you posted a series of images which IIRC, were very funny, good.

I wanted to pay you back, don't know if this following is suits, but I very much enjoyed, and hope you do too. (Other JoMers are welcomes to watch!):

https://business.facebook.com/NAVAIR/videos/194125684808919/

NavAir Makes an Impact !

M A G A

[MissMarple2]

Seems to me that Trump IS trying to appeal to a broad range of Americans:

Prison reform

Emphasis on low unemployment in the black community

Reopening government in order to get federal employees paid (which the GOP voted to approve unanimously at least twice, maybe 3 times, while the dems voted AGAINST it)

Border security which helps both legal Hispanic communities and black communities

Helping blue collar workers by bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US

=================
Just because he talks like my dad did doesn't mean he doesn't care about the entire country and isn't working to lift everyone.

[Sandy Daze]

I am about half-way through Ron Chernow's GRANT
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34237826-grant).

A couple things pop out:

Grant didn't win every engagement, but he did win the war...

Things can be a helluvalot worse than they are right now.

M
A
G
A

[Jim Eagle]

For when rse shows up:)

Frederick meets Mark Shriver!

[MissMarple2]

I told you guys she is pushing assessing the possessions of the wealthy and taxing them on those as well:

Elizabeth Warren
‏Verified account @ewarren

This billionaire NFL owner just paid $100M for a "superyacht" with its own iMax theater. I'm pretty sure he can pay my new #UltraMillionaireTax to help the millions of yacht-less Americans struggling with student loan debt.

===============================
Notice how she ties this to student loan debt, which is a big complaint of Millennials.

[Jim Eagle]

Sandy,

My USNA friends here have been passing that China Lake video around. My question is how much they are paying the guy driving the trailer:)

I think it is auto-pilot on the cab

[Catsmeat]

Oh, GUS, also, who in the world could object to a Huskers hat? Utterly benign object!

[MissMarple2]

This is what I said to Elizabeth Warren:

Student loans are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, and colleges have used the easy availability to lure students into forking out higher and higher tuition while they pay tons of administrators, consultants, and professors at higher and higher salaries, which YOU should know!

[JimNorCal]

Sandy 1:04 Very exciting!
I had a CompSci prof back in the 80s who worked st China Lake every summer.

I hope no future Dem President uses this against citizens.

[boatbuilder]

Not to mention a current President who barely pretends to be trying to appeal to everyone

And Rush is on the "political fringe."

You really need to stop reading the NYT, TM.

As you point out, not even their readership buys their BS anymore.

[D]

I see both sides :
Henry’s and MM’s.
I have to admit I had hoped this whole shutdown would have been played better by the Trump administration.
But we are where we are, so let us make sure on February 15 we are in fact the winners and that all this has been worth it.
I withhold final judgment until this all plays out.
Agree with poster who said publicity and getting the word out about how all forms of security and the Wall should be an absolute necessity for a safer, secure America.
I expect this effort to begin Monday giving the administration the weekend to get their communication effort ready.
Offense people will carry us to victory.
Secretly I am happy that our President appears to be smarter than Schumer and Pelosi.
As commander in Chief , he must accept his share of the blame for our current situation.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11800

Home Depot co-founder: Socialism 'comes right out of the universities.' He's not wrong. (VIDEO)

[Jane]

I'm a ledge dweller but I'm not as freaked out as the rest of you. It ain't over til it's over!

[Buckeye]

I hope no future Dem President uses this against citizens.

I can't imagine too many Navy men following those orders.

[Jim Eagle]

I am with Jane.

How many times in the last 3+ years has he suffered from self-inflicted wounds, and counted out by the MSM?

So now that is smarty-pants Pelosi, and slimeball Schumer, we are to believe this is where he puts his .45 into his mouth and pulls?

[Sandy Daze]

Early in my Naval Service, I became extremely interested in nukes.

I had an occasion to spend a few days at China Lake on a Weapons fam/tour. The 'mad scientists' there were grrrreat.

I asked one of them, what was the smallest nuke warhead that could be developed? For instance could a nuke warhead be the size of a baseball or softball?

My idea was that perhaps small, very small nukes could be replaced as warheads on AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles, or on other small diameter air-to-air, air-to-ground weapons systems.

The gent's eyes absolutely sparkled. He started discussing the physical constraints, and the production variables. The more he talked, the more impassioned he became.

It was a joy to see a scientist so enthused about his work !

That's the fun stuff, right there.

Short answer: All of the above.

M
..A
...G
....A

[James D.]

Not to mention a current President who barely pretends to be trying to appeal to everyone (unlike our recent "Uniter, not a Divider" and "Not a Red America and a Blue America but a Purple America", where there was at least a pretense of appealing to unity.)

It wasn’t even a pretense with Obama. His words and his actions and his policies showed he had zero interest in uniting anybody, from day one. It’s rewriting history to pretend otherwise.

And as for President Trump, his social policies and actions have been a hell of a lot more unifying and beneficial than any president since Reagan. Build more products here, create more jobs at home, address the opioid crisis, negotiate better trade deals that benefit Ameroxa rather than our trade partners, calm nuclear tensions with North Korea, lower unemployment, become energy-independent, secure our border so we can have an orderly immigration system.

What the hell is dovidove about ANY of that? How can anyone who actually loves this country oppose any of those things?

[Jane]

MM,

The real problem with student loans started when government took them over. Schools doubled and tripled their prices overnight, because they were no longer worried that kids couldn't get loans.

I borrowed $48k for law school and paid it off when I was 48 - with a 25k lump sum. Otherwise I'd still have a monthly payment I suspect. That was before the gvt interference.

[henry]

I don’t see anyone as “freaked out.” That is merely the latest insult of the mind readers. I see no evidence that Pelosi’s house votes are degrading faster than McConnell’s Senate votes... and McConnell needs a bunch of Schumer’s core to weaken. None of that will happen, “negotiations” or not. Neither will the proverbial Hawaiian judge care about options being exhausted. So the only question is whether Roberts calls it a tax or crisis. That track record is not good,

[anonamom]

I am not in the least bit freaked out, and yesterday was almost a non-event to me.
And last weekend just confirmed what I have known for at least a decade now.

Loved that video Sandy. Very envious--that looks like a real blast! ;-)

Reminded me of the first time my cousin took me out to the shooting range up at the lake.
"Why would anybody golf when you can do this?"

[JimNorCal]

re: TM's lengthy screed, this was an excellent post. I really appreciate the research and, even more, the critical thought that Tom puts into them.

[Jane]

I agree Jim, and I always forget to say so. Thanks TM.

[JimNorCal]

From the previous thread (and I appreciate that TomR won't read this for some time), I understand your point to be that Stone's arrest can be a positive because open minded people will be jarred by the "overkill" used for his arrest.
I *think* (perhaps you can confirm) that you don't necessarily believe that some combination of Mueller, Stone and (perhaps) a Trump representative got together and came up with a plan?
Or do you think this could be a planned operation?

[Account Deleted]

"i'm gonna be a dick about this sell out all weekend long. i didn't vote for strategic retreats-i've seen a triptych of failure theater-no more, no more losing. i've had enough."

it's not for me to begrudge this position. i've been running into it here in the Bay Area among my conservative cronies.

asking them not to begrudge mine--- Trump knows what he is doing and he's gaining the advantage by his strategic retreat--- we agreed on something important.

i agreed with them to listen. and when we disengage i'll reflect on what is inside their view based on principle. i didn't vote for strategic retreats either. but neither did i vote for pyrrhic moral victories over our enemies within.

i'm pledging not to stake my views and actions on reactive disappointment. all that does is assign me to the same line that characterizes the Left: being AGAINST what disappoints while abandoning principles which give me and mine the power to advance in life, liberty and the pursuit.

[Sandy Daze]

I've got to scoot, am enjoying mostly lurking after a bit of a hiatus.

Here's something to consider. Lots of great ideas here, like daddy's idea for everyone to be wearing MAGA Red caps. (I see Don jr had some similar thoughts, probably after readng daddy's comment.)

When you've got a good idea, send it to the White house:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

M
__A
____G
______A

[JimNorCal]

Regarding the Trump Wall, here is a snip from an email. Recall that if you asked for your money to be returned, then you got your pledge back. If you took no action, your money was also refunded.
Only if you specifically opted-in did your money go to a new effort to build sections of the wall on private property where the landowner agreed to accept the wall.

"Thanks to all of your generous support, the scoreboard at www.gofundme.com/thetrumpwall will not drop below $20,000,000 even after GoFundMe has processed the refunds of donors who chose to opt-out"

[MissMarple2]

Jane,

When I was getting my geology degree in the mid-70's, my tuition at Indiana University was $20 per credit hour. For me, that worked out to about $750 per year.

Tuition and fees now are almost $11,000 and that does not count room and board. (I was a commuter student.)

For four years of schooling the average student will be in debt for almost $100,000.

And that is for an in-state student at a state university.

My granddaughter at DePauw is on a full scholarship and I about fainted when I discovered the cost for ONE YEAR is $62,000!
Fortunately, she only haas to pay a few nominal fees.

IU is chock full of diversity experts, women's studies professors, lobbyists to the legislature and Congress, etc. etc. It is the biggest employer in Monroe County.

Students need to understand why tuition is so high and what they are paying for.

I bet that student loan reform in 2005 where they were made non-dischargeable in bankruptcy was pushed by both the universities (to get more money) and the BANKS, who saw a guaranteed good deal.

[James D.]

The real problem with student loans started when government took them over. Schools doubled and tripled their prices overnight, because they were no longer worried that kids couldn't get loans.

Exactly.

And it’s such an obvious point that it’s impossible to believe that the architects of federal student loan policy didn’t see it. Which tells me that they WANTED precisely the situation we have now: trillions of dollars of student debt that pays the salaries of tens of thousands of diversity bureaucrats and Grievance Studies professors, and for which the rXpaueds are ultimately on the hook.

[D]

JamesD:
Once again an admirable post.
Agree with what you are saying.
All the things our President has accomplished are good for the country.
People who don’t see that just aren’t very smart.

[Robin, eff 'em all]

It reminds them of the failure of the Bathhouse Rat to fundamentally transform the country with the complicity of the MFM and Soviet level socialist realism symbols. Instead 63 million citizens said fuck that shit and there's been a two year tantrum ever since as their zero hero fades into complete irrelevance.

The hat is a symbol of all that.

Posted by: Captain Hate | January 26, 2019 at 08:38 AM

Gosh yes!!!!

One thing I like about Trump is that he is willing to expend political capital because he doesn’t see it as finite. It’s fluid. He gave Congressional Republicans what they asked for - that was smart. Sure it cost him something in the short term, but the potential gain is very very good with small risk.

There was not a whole lot of gloating on FB about govt starting back up. My guess is that Democrats are trying to figure out where the win is.

[Buckeye]

Ahia State snaps their 5 game losing streak.

Huskers go down.

[Pinandpuller]

If your FBI Entry Team party is eight or more an automatic 20% gratuity will be attatched to your warrant.

[MissMarple2]

What could be done for all of those Millennials who are saddled with student loans?

Reduce payments? Tax credits? I don't know. It's just a bad situation and as far as I am concerned, the universities luring them into taking majors in areas in which there are NO JOBS are guilty of fraud.

[D]

I had a similar experience with college.
800.00 renewable scholarship if I kept a B average.
The remaining 200.00 I put in from my 3 part time jobs and correcting history exams for a professor.
I was a commuter as well.

[D]

Buckeye:
Do you think they will get into the March Madness event this year?

[JimNorCal]

JiB: My USNA friends here have been passing that China Lake video around. My question is how much they are paying the guy driving the trailer

Yeah, that was my thought too! And I came to your conclusion: must be a aelf-driving vehicle.

[D]

I made sure my children only signed up for minimal loans.
No overhanging debt.

[henry]

Jim, JiB, the gray paint 🎨 very the entire towing pickup (including windshield) may be a hint. ;)

[Robin, eff 'em all]

What could be done for all of those Millennials who are saddled with student loans?

Reduce payments? Tax credits? I don't know. It's just a bad situation and as far as I am concerned, the universities luring them into taking majors in areas in which there are NO JOBS are guilty of fraud.

Posted by: MissMarple2 | January 26, 2019 at 02:08 P

I would be happy to waive those loans if 1. All colleges and universities had to give up their endowments - every penny to help pay for it. 2. They lost their tax exempt status - they are corporations, let’s not pretend otherwise.

[anonamom]

And if you "can't" wear a MAGA red cap, get another one and wear it--
a Made You Look one, or a team hat, or just a red one.

Make those who think they hold the high ground realize how quick to judge they are!

[D]

Robin:
Agree and good to hear that Dems could be struggling to find the exit ramp.
How are you surviving the snow?
I know it can be a challenge but I still love the 4 seasons, winter included.

[MissMarple2]

This is what I deal with here. My daughter, as I have said before, was encouraged to take out massive student loans for her Masters Degree in library science, which she never got a job in because when she graduated all of the libraries were cutting staff (which the department knew when they signed her up, but she was in Wisconsin so I didn't have any input).

In addition, the loan also could cover "living expenses" and her first husband and his sister encouraged her to take out the maximum so he could work on his painting and not have to have a job. (I didn't know this, either. I only found out when she divorced him and moved back home.)

So, I am trying to get everybody's finances in order and I asked her what her mortgage interest rate was. No idea. She didn't understand refinancing to get a lower rate, either. (You can imagine me gritting my teeth and trying hard not to roll my eyes.)
I am going to try to get her to understand some simple financial truths. This might take me a while.

[Buckeye]

Do you think they will get into the March Madness event this year?

Iffy.

Got to keep winning and I am not sure they are as disciplined as they need to be.

[JimNorCal]

maryrose: "I withhold final judgment until this all plays out."

Me too.
I'm pretty sure this was a weakening for our side, likely due to Senate RINOs beginning to betray us again. I could be wrong. Doesn't matter.

Pray for the best, prepare for the worst.
I've chosen sides, there's no going back.

[MissMarple2]

maryrose,

I forgot to say that she got her undergraduate degree with no loans at all. Paid for out of her dad's and my salaries in cash. No debt.

That is why I was so horrified when I found out about that Master's degree debt!

Grandson has no debt and graduated in midterm. He got a scholarship and worked and took some cheaper on-line courses. I am very proud of him.

Granddaughter so far has no debt. I don't know what will happen when she goes to study in France. I need to talk to my son about that.

[MissMarple2]

Robin,

Send that idea to the White House!

[MissMarple2]

This is a thread by a French guy who posts videos of the yellow vest protests, today from Paris, Dunkerque, and Rouen.

https://twitter.com/PartisanDE/status/1089176793238650880

[lurkersusie]

I guess she feels embolden.
Her whole twitter feed states reasons for impeachment.

Nancy Pelosi
@SpeakerPelosi
·
Replying to @SpeakerPelosiWhat does Putin have on @realDonaldTrump
, politically, personally or financially?

[henry]

Doesn’t sound like someone who will negotiate.

[Jane]

Get the government out of the loan business. Tuition will go down and kids who shouldn't be in college won't be.

[Catsmeat]

Daughter A did just a year at Rhodes, but the loans were a nightmare for us both.

Son B got a full ride, everything but airfare, to W&L, but still racked up $16K serving as his frat's president--these are mostly gone with me helping. Frats at W&L are expected to provide all the sites for campus drinking (and the booze). I shuddered when I saw their basement party room and disco ball. There was very luckily a fire (not caused by drinking) in his senior year and some alumni lawyers in Nashville came in and fixed everything--and closed the basement for a considerable time.

Daughter C got full tuition at UNL and I paid the rest--so no loans and she will graduate this year owing nothing.

Son D will also get full tuition at UNL and perhaps other scholarships--but we will never do loans again!

I've been a mom a long time--firstborn in '83, last born in 2002--I find one gets better at it.

[Pinandpuller]

I heard another good one today:

The Fridge over the River Kwai

It actually goes well with the story of a guy helping the enemy to build a narrative.

[JimNorCal]

.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

They build their own drones at China Lake. Cars and trucks are probably easier. Maybe Elon Musk should take lessons.

[James D.]

I’ve been pushing Robins idea for months now, too.

[Manuel Transmission]

I’ve passed Matt’s and Joan’s comments around to my home boys. Here’s what one of my buds said re Joan’s:

Joan’s, comments re Trumps current circumstance, reinforces my belief that we need to come up with clear cogent arguments against this socialist platform that appears to be emerging regarding free healthcare and free college. Unfortunately, I believe that message resonates.

Reinforcing their socialist agenda is the so-called evidence of Scandinavia having 70% tax rates and yet high levels of citizen satisfaction. We need a clear, succinct articulation righting this interpretation here as well.

We are in one hell of a fight for 2020, and therefore need to be prepared with arguments against the socialists. The rabid pro abortion movement pushing late stage abortions (see Cuomo of NY) is designed to put this divisive issue in the forefront during this upcoming election cycle - calculated to further alienate women voters from Republicans. Given that lates stage abortion is so abhorrent hopefully it will backfire on the Dems.

As I currently see it, socialism, abortion, anti gun, and open borders will be the democratic platform, along with a virulent anti Trump (he’s disgusting) overlay see Muller report. Of course, the Dems still need a compelling candidate, a selection they are likely (hopefully) going to screw-up. Obviously, we also need a succinct and compelling platform, which I have yet to hear.

As far as exogenous events go, who knows, but Macron is in trouble as France and Europe (Germany) are not doing well re GDP and unemployment. A Brexit reversal is likely to cause a voter revolt in the UK. Also, the Chinese economy is taking a nosedive. And then there is Venezuela, likely to be violent. This brings up the very real possibility of recession here in the US going into 2020. And, Ruth is not likely to make it another 2 years, assuming she’s even alive now.

The next election would appear to have the makings of an all out brawl. Time to get a helmet and chest protector to go with my, yet to be purchased, yellow vest.

[MissMarple2]

https://nypost.com/2019/01/26/i-was-a-secret-trump-supporter-model-feared-politics-would-kill-her-career/?utm_medium=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter

[Pinandpuller]

Pin,

Mrs H said she knows where you lived; she said she lived outside of town near the edge of the prairie close to the Hat 6 ranch.

Posted by: Captain Hate | January 26, 2019 at 08:21 AM

Tell your wife we were both neighbors of Doc Stuckenhoff. She'll probably know what you mean.

Actually that's the part of town where all the new growth is concentrated. Ask your wife if she knew any Lathrops.

[Manuel Transmission]

Buckeye,

We flew our Bu up to Chilliwack a couple weeks ago for a paint job. Took me a day and a half just to get all the ducks lined up to cross the border after a 15 min. flight. No bill yet, but I’m sure it’s coming.

[Threadkiller]

Name one person on the current political scene who you think would be better for what you would like to see happen.

That person would be Trump 2.0 after loyalists like me gave him negative feedback.

When Trump wins this in 3 weeks I am going to rag you unmercifully. Fair warning!

And I will also be unmerciful when I make the case that "wait and see" groupies don't steer the ship as much as scorned believers in MAGA.

If anything better happens in three weeks it will be in response to those who were vocally disappointed not to the fan base that never finds fault.

[Tom R]

Kurt's column is a great antidote to the complaints by the Naboobs of Negativity.

The Ledge has some competition for best term to label the pessimists and cynics.

[MissMarple2]

TK,

I see. You will claim credit for his success because of your criticism, even though I have predicted it all along.

Exactly HOW has your criticism helped? Could you please explain? Thanks!

[clarice]

A healthy reminder:https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2019/01/25/gee-i-guess-now-im-going-to-have-to-be-happy-with-only-90-of-the-stuff-i-wanted-trump-to-do-n2540292

[Threadkiller]

Sure, MM. The Art of The Deal suggests that I should always negotiate and I should hold out for what I really want.

Trump responds to these negotiations.

[Pinandpuller]

Send him to Pelosi's house.

"A man who was in Border Patrol custody had to be treated for a flesh-eating bacteria."
Posted by: pagar | January 26, 2019 at 10:35 AM

What's a Foot Washing ceremony without some Betadine?

[daddy]

Trump has to get control of his FBI. They are rogue. I don't know how he can get control of that Agency but he might consider demanding the names of all 29 FBI Agents who appeared outside Roger Stone's House. Have them all appear somewhere and individually have them all put under oath and ask them 3 questions.

1) Do you know if the Media had been told of the Timing of the Roger Stone arrest. Yes or no.

2) Do you know who told the media of the timing of the Roger Stone arrest, and if so, who?

3) Did you tell the media of the timing of the Roger Stone arrest?

Then put them all under lie detector investigations. Any inconsistencies leading to automatic suspensions.

What else can he do?

[Threadkiller]

Heading to a funeral.

Back later.

[Tom R]

I *think* (perhaps you can confirm) that you don't necessarily believe that some combination of Mueller, Stone and (perhaps) a Trump representative got together and came up with a plan?
Or do you think this could be a planned operation?

One of the debate tactics I like to use is adopt the position of people who disagree with me and then follow the flow of logic from there.

Last week when Mueller debunked the Buzzfeed accusations I made the assertion that Mueller performed a White Hat action and protected Trump. This prompted the large majority of people here to disagree with me and claim it was nothing more than Mueller trying to protect the credibility of his SC investigation. OK lets assume that opinion is 100% accurate.

If last week Mueller protected Trump only because he was trying to protect the credibility of the SC investigation, the PR stunt he used yesterday to arrest Stone is one of the stupidest PR blunders I have ever seen. Like a I said in the last thread, reasonable Americans should be abhorred by the display of Soviet/Gestapo like behavior. The way the Stone arrest was conducted should cause the needle to move away from "credible investigation" towards "witch hunt".

In two weeks we have to completely opposite actions by Mueller that affect his credibility. One improved it and one weakened it. Both actions actually help Trump IMO. To me there are still a lot of dots that aren't logically connecting.

[Account Deleted]

taxing endowments isn't the answer.

making college available to fewer Americans isn't the answer.

unrestricted government loans (Hey! Major in Underwater Basket Weaving? Sure! Why not?) are not the answer.

having a sane labor policy (independent from labor union direction) to identify strategic employment fields for our competitiveness as a national economy is a big part of a credible answer to the "loan crisis."

lend money to degree seekers in those fields. all others pay cash for a grievance studies degree.

also, reduce allowable overhead charges by non-profit college and university corporations.

example:in 1982 a regional state university where i was employed had over $3 billion annually in life science, social science, basic r and d, engineering and technology etc research grants and contracts.

the overhead charge to each and every contract was 15%. this was in 1982.

the overhead charge was a source of corruption and undue influence on the political process for funding the four regional state universities competing with the land grant university and its satellite operations around the world.

that was federal taxpayer money. it also created excess production capacity--- buildings, equipment, housing, and "general facilities"-- all which had to be maintained. student loans don't pay for that. endowments should pay for that.

what student loans do pay for are cash burners such as costly/inefficient "food service" contracts run by major corps like Marriott and other "hospitality corporations". the money is literally for eating and throwing away food.

those outfits overcharge because they are federally subsidized by federal loan dollars.

the other part of the answer is to slow down the money printing function of the Treasury and the blank check casino accounts of private lenders getting cheap money from the Fed.

i'm not sure, but federally chartered land grant institutions and state-funded institutions should be mandated to balance loan funds with endowment-based expenditures to cover student need-based aid and overhead charges.

skin in the game will reduce abdication of institutional fiduciary ethics and responsibility in this liar's poker game.

also, part of the answer is hiking international student tuition, housing, fees, and the rest of it by 20%. revitalize exchange student programs. but the study full-time in America only skews local housing markets, displaces American students who pay less....(not to mention reducing the disappearance rate of student visa holders in the US).

the "diplomacy" dividend between nations is highly overrated and hyped. witness our relations with EU, China, Mexxyko, and MENA nations.

come on over for a year or six months. chalk it up to your undergrad experience and apply for a longer visa when you graduate. otherwise, see ya. end the cash-cow laziness at UC Berkeley and other land grants.

[Tom R]

Daddy @ 3:25

Your three suggestions on what Trump should to reign in the rogue FBI make a lot of sense and are reasonable suggestions to me.

If Trump or Whitaker/Barr do nothing at all in regards to how the Stone arrest was conducted, does that warrant considering the possibility that there is more to the story than what we were led to believe?

[Tom R]

Pelosi's tweet accusing Trump of being a pawn of Putin is beyond reprehensible. I suppose there are many ways to interpret what is going thru her mind right now but to me that tweet reeks of desperation on her part.

[MissMarple2]

daddy,

Lindsay Graham needs to haul Wray in front of his committee and ask:

1. Why did you feel like it was appropriate to criticize the President in a video to your agents?

2. Because you were so angry in that vieo, did you schedule the raid on Roger Stone with maximum firepower as revenge or a warning to him?

3. Who notified CNN? (Use tiyr questions at this point.)

4. Why are interviewees not recorded or taped? Why are 302's only based on an agent's memory and interpretation?

[Tom R]

KK @ 3:33

I didn't see you mention anything about reducing the salary of the tenured professors. What is your opinion on that?

[MissMarple2]

A little ammo provided from Twitter:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dx2_7W-WsAEKoQ-.jpg:large

[Pinandpuller]

I don't know why this father is going to jail, but I DO know that if he were an illegal alien he probably would have skated. Watch this video and I dare you not to have sympathy for this young boy:
— ❌Charrise Lane❌ (@CharriseLane) January 26, 2019
Posted by: MissMarple2 | January 26, 2019 at 12:42 PM

Does it have anything to do with riding a tender age minor around without a car seat or seat belt?

[Jim Eagle]

Maybe Trump should tweet that Nancy is a Knight or a Bishop of the Sinclair drug cartel. Let’s play real chess, not 4D chess.

[Narciso79]

Well which signed off on the search warrant, that's a different thing, the lack of curiosity is rather astounding

[Jim Eagle]

....Sinclair should be Sinaloa....autocucumber... sigh

[rse]

Very nice picture jib. I think their mom's work with the special olympics influenced all those kids and they are the only cousins in that clan that are not largely dysfunctional. I remember one of the boys married a vandy law grad as I knew someone in the wedding years ago.

A'mom-there is a push among both progressives and public policy think tanks that sell themselves as conservative or libertarian to push an affirmative vision that politizes everything. https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/01/48003/ is an example where there is utter disdain for the individual and the state is viewed as entirely within its rights in establishing prevailing norms and communitarian values.

We also end up with a different view of the law. This is a quote from Professor Robin West of G'town Law.

"it would see a large rather than constrained community; its impulse is toward a global as well as local acknowledgment of duty and responsibility. If accepted, it would align law. the idea of law, and the idea of legal equality, not with the traditions of the past or the economic liberty of individual and corporations, but rather, with the hopes for a community of world citizens. It would align law, legal justice, lawyers, and lawyering, professionally, with a recognition of universal human rights, grounded in a shared humanity, shared vulnerabilities, and ultimately a shared fate. It would align the idea of law and the ideals of law with the global politics of the greatest moment, and that is the struggle to secure basic rights for oppressed persons both here and abroad who lack them, because they are regarded as both different from and less than some shared human essence."

It's a vision of what politicians should be doing that means there is no area where they cannot justify intervening and we have a duty to support anyone who can make it to this country.

[daddy]

Why doesn't TM just read Der Spiegel and cut out the pretense he's going to find anything of value in the Times.

BTW TM, left out David Brooks who apparently sill hasn't got off his ass and taken his long promised exploration of Flyover Country:

Brooks: It’s hard to believe that people are going to continue forever on platforms where they are so cruel to one another. It’s hard to believe that people are going to be content, year after year, to distort their own personalities in service to a platform, making themselves humorless, semi-blind, joyless and grim.

You do it everyday Mr Brooks, without raising a sweat.

Also BTW, here's what David Brooks was wearing when he was the same age as that Covington kid in the MAGA hat;

According to the Times, one of these 2 images is the personification of Evil. I think it's the one that's "humorless, semi-blind, joyless and grim," but that's just me.

[Jim Eagle]

rse,

Frederick is more to the right than me, and said Mark was excellent. Said an inspiring speech, non-political but all about your future and how you will respond when it takes turns you never expected.

I think OL remembers the Shriver estate on River Road behind a huge privacy berm. Very private, not outspoken like Teddy or RFK’s kids.

[Buckeye]

Jr.'s good friend Greg from high school is also a physician. He went the high brow route.

Northwestern undergrad

Harvard Med

Between undergrad and med school he got married to his high school sweetheart, so she did Harvard Law.

At one time, between the two of them, they had nearly $750K of debt.

Greg did Residency and Fellowship at Rush and is now at OSU as a Orthopedic Surgeon.

I think he is paid about the same as Jr. who has $0K debt.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
4m4 minutes ago

Only fools, or people with a political agenda, don’t want a Wall or Steel Barrier to protect our Country from Crime, Drugs and Human Trafficking. It will happen - it always does!

[MissMarple2]

Pinandpuller,

I confess I didn't notice. Maybe the mom forgot because she was upset, too.