Mrs Whiggins

I'm not requoting that Dilbert cartoonist's tweet, so Wow. Just wow.

I do not wholly disagree with your points @atomheartbevo and I do agree that no one wishes to be associated with the butt of a joke, etc. However, my stance is that the tipping point has been reached (w/respect to higher ed) and the descent has begun. Yes, DeSantis is using it as a performative stunt and I know he is a Yale/Harvard grad but this is who he is and I've seen nothing he's done to indicate he will not continue to do so. Just as with Rv.W, other states are going to follow suit. With what(?), 23 states under GOP control, that seems (to me) to change the landscape enough to affect all sorts of things does it not? Sure, money (as in football money) talks and affects things too because that is big business and that is somewhat at the root of all of this (a tentacle of fascism beneficial to the oligarchs is not only the break-up of the US, but all of the smaller schisms that happen prior to that--the destruction of public services and infrastructures that can be privatized and monetized) but the country is in the legal phase of authoritarianism/fascism/whatever you want to call it. Laws against protesting, electors, out groups, and so on. Laws that are vague enough that in GOP dominant states can pretty much visit cruelty on those that are not in the protected wealthy class. I know this is the DeSantis thread, but that MTG is getting a nationwide discussion regarding a break-up is and should be alarming but they've (and 'they' is a big umbrella) normalized it. It's more than that and people like DeSantis are going to keep using that as that snowball rolling down the hill grows. Laws for thee and not for me and whatnot.

Why? Why do you think those donors would care about those “meaningless” libtard departments that don’t “do” anything (i.e. the equivalent of the oft trotted out underwater basketweaving example). Do some large money donors care about the big picture or long term trajectory of higher ed? I’m sure they’re out there. But I suspect many more don’t view it the way you think they do. There are numerous donors that seem to reject quite a bit of what their alma maters have offered in terms of broadening perspectives and critical thinking skills and have turned into angry older men yelling about how young people today are weak betas who don’t have what it takes to succeed. These outraged “alphas” pay little attention to accreditation or retention or grade inflation or the sifting and winnowing of knowledge, ideas, and perspectives. I suspect to many of them, those classes have no value in their eyes. Why would they when they are mostly about and taught by people who are NOT supposed to be the powerful and leaders in our society? Apologies; have had that extra glass of cab tonight and am a little fiesty.

No, admittedly we don’t. However, her statement implies a naïveté or perhaps disgruntlement that might indicate one of the two I mentioned wouldn’t you think?

Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Coolidge and I'm in.

No worries. Since she seems concerned about overcrowding, just tell her the GOP can have all the states with <500,000 people.

Second and third sentences in the article: "When Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, and Florida banned abortions after 15 weeks, she did not think it would affect her. “Never thought I would be stuck right in the middle of it, the laws changing,” she said. I have some sympathy for her, but not much. When one does not vote or votes with the 'it won't happen to me' crowd, empathy is in shorter supply for all citizens and one reaps the consequences.

Over a year ago several of us mentioned that affirmative action and Title IX were on the table either overtly or covertly to be overturned and that the movement (behind the scenes) was to create even more gaps between the privileged and the out groups with religious and cultural beliefs about gender and race the undercurrent. Sort of a Southern White Male shall rise again strategy (perhaps appealing for the "lower" tiers of society the way the wealthy planters viewed them) and that has the extreme zealots pushing for an American Taliban educational system. If that seems hyperbolic, think about the faculty that stand on the sidelines figuring this won't affect them but don't have the foresight to see that it eventually will. The biologists who will need to eschew anything other than creationism, the technology that somehow is deemed suspect unless it can be used against out groups for surveillance and control. The history that disappears and which was already underappreciated because it was only now coming to light due to the work of those who searched for the unsung and overlooked citizens of our country. We were told Roe v. Wade was not in danger and nothing would happen. Yeah, that's in the rearview mirror now. They're still tidying up some loose ends with the pharma and interstate criminal charges, but mostly have moved on to the next phase and they've got the higher ed and K-12 strategies fully in focus now. They will really get things moving after school lets out and most folks eyes are turned elsewhere. The hiring w/o faculty input is no surprise. Can keep hiring the lowest denominator to drive the wage down, right? Many parents wouldn't care as long as the kid gets the piece of paper because they have the attitude of the trope: 'those that can't do, teach,' which is one of the stupidest phrases that they've stupidly decided means that the faculty aren't fit for anything else. Weird flex to have regarding the people who have written, discovered, cured, and so on but you know it's the simulation we're in...

The early heat and then the early quite cold freeze just about broke me this past year. I have several commitments this May into early June that I cannot miss and that is prime season for growing so I'm adopting a bit of a devil may care attitude with the garden this year. I've got some tomatoes ready to go in and will continue with the lettuces and spinach as long as the cooler weather goes along, but I'm forgoing some of the regular veg and more high maintenance flowers in favor of keeping the lawn respectable while I'm working. The bulbs have had a very nice time of it lately. The snowdrops(?) have been blooming for 2 weeks and the daffodils etc have been coming up and getting ready. I had some hyacinths in pots that have bloomed already and the scent was divine. Too bad they are more like annuals here, but I like to buy a small bag of them in the fall for the reward that eventually arrives just as everything else looks droopy and gray. The white allyssum I grew from seed complimented the showy bulbs very well.

Also....

Apparently Reuters had to fact check a rumor spreading on Facebook that the U.S. Army executed Mike Pompeo. The Department of Defense stated that the rumors are fabricated. The Q people are still out there. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N35124N

The comment about the moms at the grocery store was pretty funny. I'm mostly a practical sort when it comes to vehicles. I mean, I looove the look of some sports cars, classic cars, etc but I'm not going to lay out the cash for them. But this cyber truck and what they're claiming it can do and for what they want for it---it looks like some hobbyist tried to build a Delorean out of a fastfood cardboard drinks container. Just bleccch.

Ummm, I guess prohibiting faculty from visiting the public campus of a public university for the duration of an election would make total sense to Aggie. I mean not like elections occur during class time or anything. I get it though. Can't have those young folks voting. But using safety when they already allow guns on campuses is pretty stupid.

How can you all overlook this little tidbit of information? Some poor guy is walking around his house in the city and every time he farts the channel on the television changes.

The realist story that pre-dates Cocaine Bear is that there was Cocaine Cat but no one knew because cats be like that.

The coach was hired about five years ago (2018) and when winning is more important than anything else (including and especially academics) the townspeople are apparently willing to overlook: 1. In 2014 he resigned from Tuttle HS after a parent demanded the coach be fired for repeatedly using crude names to refer to the players. 2. In 2016, he resigned from Clinton HS after a controversial incident involving his players. An investigation found no wrong doing. At the time of his hire in Ringling, a *resident was quoted as saying Koons had an old school coaching style: ""If people really realized what goes on in them [sic] locker rooms, and what's shown, and what's said, then maybe some other people would have different opinions about this man." The resident was speaking in favor of Koons. Yes, you read that right. I''m totally not surprised at all that a coach in Oklahoma who has his players do naked burpees as punishment is allowed to go from job to job leaving a trail of bullied students in his wake. Like @YGIFS has said, coaching and pastoring are two fields where abusing and or grooming young people are viewed with obscured lenses. *This was from an article where some parents were actually not in favor of the hire but were afraid to speak out in public. Also may be why the other schools were unable to get traction on any investigations.

1) Fuck Meatball Ron. Ewwww, no, gross. (2) First Amendment lawyers will have a field day with this law if when passed. Outside of my lane, so I'll withhold comment. (3) Fuck Florida. Should have turned the entire state into a National Park (with a carve out for the space program) a long time ago.

With one more flag and a nice wind that little cart may just happen to fly into those power lines. Even the boat rallies couldn't top those kind of fireworks on film.

How was this? We haven't seen it yet but I like Olivia Colman. Amazingly talented and a lot of range. Although I'm not a regular award show watcher, her speech at the Academy Awards (for The Favorite) was a hoot.

The video editor started it off with Rogan so I'm putting it in his thread; it is remarkably similar to any discussion these two would have and rather funny if you follow along:

We usually enjoy British shows and comedy in particular, but we didn't make it through the first episode with this one. We knew what it was going in but for whatever reason, the night we were watching it wasn't bringing the laughs. There is a quick show of about an hour regarding film cliches that we saw earlier this week. It's hosted by Rob Lowe, and if you ignore him and his script, it's actually not too bad. Not a glowing review, but it covered a lot of films over the decades. The section about how the Hays Code (which led to what we now have as a content rating system) was begun was interesting. Can't recall the title but it might have been in the documentary section.

Rubric. Thank you, that is a much more accurate description than catechism for the way the textual conversation appeared to me at first glance. Until someone can teach that computer to follow my train of thought the way my spouse does after many many years of marriage and complete with random observations, side tangents, topics about people whom he doesn't know but is presumed to have in depth knowledge about, that thing that we both experienced twenty years ago but obviously one of us remembers better than the other, and why I did something that was very important to me but not to anyone else in the known universe but by God everyone should acknowledge that it was done at great sacrifice and at the expense of great time and effort, then that machine has quite a ways to go.

Thank you for posting the article; interesting read. It's not my area at all, so my observations are not backed by anything other than rando person on the internet opinion: it was interesting that the name is essentially gender neutral (like the way Sam or Alex or Ashley can be these days) and that the machine uses the catch-all 'spouse' when stating that the reporter's spouse is underwhelming (paraphrase). When texting with the machine, one wonders what the demographic data would be on who assigns a gender (while typing with the machine), what gender they assign, and so on. The repetitive phrases still make it seem so machine-like to me and have a very insistent quality (don't know if that is the right word)--like the big brain IT in "A Wrinkle In Time" and that sets my teeth on edge even though I know it is just a machine. I'm not supposing that the AI is a stand in for evil like in the children's book, but as of right now, the conversation has a catechism quality to it? Fascinating.

Given that his staff has been severely reduced, I'm rather surprised no one has hacked the platform to mess with him and his account. Or did those issues get resolved? I have no account, but in the past it seemed as if people got compromised fairly easily. Was that simply being tricked into giving out their password and not a deeper intrusion into the system? Not a tech person so that is out of my lane by a mile.

Do I have this correct? Missouri allows for minors to carry guns on public land because "just because a child is carrying a weapon doesn't mean they're going to harm someone" (per Rep Lovasco in the article) so that the next time a Missouri police officer shoots a young black minor with a gun (which turns out to not be a gun but a phone) and citizens protest in the street, then a group of minor Kyle Rittenhouse wanna-bees are free to carry their weapons up and down the street 'hunting?' Sounds about right for Missouri.