The Biden Administration and All Things Politics

[Al-O-Meter]

Academic Freedom Guidelines and Best Practices | OAH

Prepared by the OAH Committee on Academic Freedom Academic Freedom: What is it & Why does it matter? Academic freedom is the principle of freedom of exp...

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That is nice but education isn't for educators. The woke culture nearly ubiquitous in academia which is imposing things like Social Emotional Leaning and Identity Studies are having a system-wide negative impact. Even before the pandemic hit, test scores were falling.

Meanwhile the costs of this ever worsening education has been crazy.

These education costs have consequences with the youth of today being saddled with mountains of debt that cannot even be disposed in bankruptcy. There is far too much power in academia. They don't need more power and more privileges.

 

[Al-O-Meter]

Yep, the two party system sucks. democrats vs republicans instead of what is best for the country. I agree.
I mean imagine if Biden said he loved the republicans proposal? Or if senate democrats did. They would be in danger of being called DINO's and voted out or censured.

It isn’t our two party system doing that. That is the product of our media, our culture, and throngs of really angry people.

The Thriller’s claim of the Republicans wanting to crash the economy is a perfect example. What RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said, as quoted in the article, was:

“The vast majority of Americans feel like we’re not heading in the right track. And then you look at this debt ceiling crisis. You look at us about to default, and you see that president took 90 days out from negotiating. He refused to come to the table with Republicans. Republicans have put a plan on the table and this is an MIA president when it comes to problems that the American people are facing – whether it’s energy independence, whether it’s fentanyl, whether it’s a broken border, whether it’s crime surging in our streets.

This is a president that is failing the American people. So I think that bodes very well for the Republican field.”

The thing in Ronna McDaniel’s mind that bodes very well for the Republican field is this:

Poll finds 71% of Americans believe country is on wrong track

First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day’s most important political stories and why they matter.

www.nbcnews.com

Elections are about public sentiment. It isn't that Dems have failed on addressing fentanyl, failed on addressing energy independence, failed on the broken border, failed in how crime statistics are surging, or failed to negotiate on the debt limit. None of that matters in the election if the public supported it. Ronna McDaniel isn't hoping for failure. She is seeing a statistic in public sentiment polling that favors the Republican field. The majority of Americans by a roughly 13 point margin do feel we currently have a president that is failing the American people, and she lists off a number of reasons driving the sentiment. The numbers coming from the polling of that sentiment bodes well for Republicans in the upcoming election and that is clearly what she is saying, but that is obvious and obvious is boring which doesn't get clicks. The obvious gets spiced up with the spiciest bit of all used as the title and tagline.

Then angry people read the tagline, think they now know the story because it affirms what they already "know", embellish it just a smidge and use it to project their anger. What starts as a mundane statement about public sentiment polling becomes a deliberate evil plot to inflict harm.

 

[One Brow]

No two are the same. If you don't want to dox yourself then pick a research institution you believe is comparable in size and we can pick through the financials. Be aware that not everything classified as a grant is what you think it is.

I know not everything is a grant for scientific research, but some of it is. The point is that these grants specifically covers the researcher's salary plus those of others. Typically a researcher will have more than one grant, and completely cover their salary as well as providing excess income. Here's a sample of how they get filled out:

https://sam.research.sc.edu/pdf/BJsample.pdf

 

[One Brow]

Even CBS cant hide Bidens blatant corruption.

No one has question Hunter Biden's corruption.

... Biden even fires the entire investigation team looking into these things.

You have take the position that the Trump campaign should have been treated with more deference (the findings of Durham's report), yet want to deny the Biden family the same consideration. Also, the investigators weren't fired, just moved to other cases.

Imagine having your place of work in possible default and your boss going on vacation like Biden is.

McCarthy is also going on vacation, as is all of Congress. No venom for them?

What don't you like about Republicans proposal exactly?

It doesn't repeal the Trump tax cuts.

But Democrats need me to pay off their loans they took out so I understand why they don't understand fiscal responsibility.

The Republicans cut taxes without cutting spending, and now want Biden to do their dirty work for them.

 

[Al-O-Meter]

McCarthy is also going on vacation, as is all of Congress. No venom for them?

McCarthy is going on vacation AFTER he passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling.

 

[One Brow]

Even before the pandemic hit, test scores were falling.


Meanwhile the costs of this ever worsening education has been crazy.

You're saying that students are less prepared for college-level material, and the costs of college are going as they take in the less-prepared students. What a mystery!

These education costs have consequences with the youth of today being saddled with mountains of debt that cannot even be disposed in bankruptcy. There is far too much power in academia. They don't need more power and more privileges.

There is way too much spending. My community college is putting up a new building even though we've seen severe enrollment declines in the last decade. Other colleges around me are building dorms, gyms, and other facilities hoping to attract more students. Cafeterias are much nicer than when I went to college. These are things that are raising prices. DEI spending is a drop in the bucket by comparison.

 

[One Brow]

McCarthy is going on vacation AFTER he passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling.

Biden also made a proposal for raising the debt ceiling months ago. You do understand how negotiations work, right?

 

[LogGrad98]

I should have gone straight into an MBA program right out of college. It was reasonable then and I had looked at several programs I could have afforded even on my first low salary. Now I'm at my peak earning and I can't touch an MBA program for anything remotely affordable even for what I make now. It's common for most state school MBA's now to cost into the 6 figures. On the low end they are 30k+. I'm not convinced that the kind of increases we are seeing are justified by actual costs incurred, even at the entry level. You don't hear much about major universities facing bankruptcy unless they raise prices.

 

[Al-O-Meter]

My community college is putting up a new building even though we've seen severe enrollment declines in the last decade. Other colleges around me are building dorms, gyms, and other facilities hoping to attract more students. Cafeterias are much nicer than when I went to college. These are things that are raising prices. DEI spending is a drop in the bucket by comparison.

Building new facilities at state run schools like your community college don't impact tuition prices because those funds come from bonds and accounts tied to the state budget. It increases taxes but not tuition. In a private school it could increase tuition in theory but in practice those buildings are almost always financed by donors who want their name on a building.

The majority of the rise in tuition prices is due to the out-of-control rise in non-teaching staff with another large culprit being marketing costs to attract students.

 

[Al-O-Meter]

Biden also made a proposal for raising the debt ceiling months ago. You do understand how negotiations work, right?

There is a huge difference between making a proposal while issuing public declarations he was not open to any negotiations (which he was not for 89 days), and crafting a bill, getting the votes, and passing it though the House. The House Republicans passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling before going on vacation. All of the responsibility for the mess we are in lays at the feet of President No-Negotiations and Senator Do-Nothing, both Democrats.

 

[fishonjazz]

Does the quality of the of the bill and what it contains bear any responsibility or is crafting any old bill and getting the other party line voting politicians to vote for it count as a job well done?

 

[One Brow]

Building new facilities at state run schools like your community college don't impact tuition prices because those funds come from bonds and accounts tied to the state budget. It increases taxes but not tuition. In a private school it could increase tuition in theory but in practice those buildings are almost always financed by donors who want their name on a building.

The initial building cost is financed. The building won't heat/cool itself, doesn't empty the wastebaskets, and doesn't charge admission to cover these expenses. That will come out of tuition.

The majority of the rise in tuition prices is due to the out-of-control rise in non-teaching staff with another large culprit being marketing costs to attract students.

I agree these are also significant contributors.

There is a huge difference between making a proposal while issuing public declarations he was not open to any negotiations (which he was not for 89 days), and crafting a bill, getting the votes, and passing it though the House. The House Republicans passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling before going on vacation.

Biden has continually proposed an unaccompanied debt ceiling increase, which happened three times under the prior administration. That was his position. McCarthy's House made their position in April, and there has been bargaining ever since. How do you negotiate with an entity that has no position from which to negotiate?

All of the responsibility for the mess we are in lays at the feet of President No-Negotiations and Senator Do-Nothing, both Democrats.

Wishful thinking.