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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Updated: Friday Night Open Thread: Hope Is On The Ballot

Updated: Friday Night Open Thread: Hope Is On The Ballot

by | 210 Comments

This post is in: 

Updated to add this powerful video:

Auto Draft 14

I have nothing important to say, but I thought I’d share some positive items I’ve collected the last few days.

ETA: More detail on the corn portrait:

Biden was not my first choice, not even my second, but I’ve always liked him. What I learned over the last four days was that I now believe he may be the right man for the moment.  And Harris was everything I believed and will be an extraordinary VP.

This seems significant:

Joe Biden: “Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They’re all on the ballot. Who we are as a nation. What we stand for. Most importantly, who we want to be.”

How’s everyone doing?

Open thread

 

Reader Interactions

210Comments

  1. 1.

    RaflW

    i’ve pretty much been holding it together for months. But my partner’s dad had hip replacement two weeks ago. Today he had to have a second mop-up surgery due to internal bleeding. His baseline health was not great, we knew there were risks. This caught everyone, including the orthopedic guy (very, very highly recommended) by surprise.

    He’s out of surgery and stable. But it sucks, and of course I’m 5 hrs away by car, my partner was at the hospital but out in the parking lot (fortunately it has grass and trees and shade) and only his mom can be in the building but not in the recovery room. Just his regular hospital room once he gets back there.

    Covid f\\\king makes everything a layer or two harder. Gaaah.

  2. 2.

    sxjames

    One thing I’ve noticed about effective leaders is that they are able to slot the right person into the right job (one which they will be effective and successful).  My hope is that Kamala’s selection is just the first of a number of great picks from Biden.

  4. 4.

    Martin

    Doing okay. It’s hot, but we’re free of the fires plaguing the rest of the state.

    This week tamped down a lot of anxiety. I thought the convention was great. Not perfect, but I like the format better than 12 hours of people wearing goofy glasses ignoring the speakers and the pundits  doing the talking instead. Obama’s speech is making the rounds of the young people, so it found the intended target. Everyone loves Gabby Giffords all over again. Half of a nation is super-proud of Brayden Harrington.

    I thought the tone was just right – policy through voters, showing who will be helped. I thought that was much better told through voters. My realization that’s how Biden works kind of all comes together here. I was worried about Kamala following Obama, because, damn, but it worked really well. Obama really knew what he was doing with that one. A come to jesus moment with Obama kind of hurts, and Kamala lifts up from there.

    I’ve always been optimistic long-term and wildly pessimistic short term, but this week helped me move my focus more toward the long term.

    Today I’m thinking of retiring, which emotionally feels like a terrible idea, and intellectually makes perfect sense.

  5. 5.

    randy khan

    I have to echo the thought about Biden not being my first or second (or third) choice, but having always liked him.*  And I think that helped him enormously in the primaries this time around.  Whether they agree 100% with him on the issues, they feel like he comes at everything in good faith and with a desire to help people.  That makes a huge difference.

     

    *By the time the primaries actually came around, two of the people I would have chosen ahead of him already had dropped out, and by the time Virginia voted, well, you get the idea.  Oh, well.

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    “Love is more powerful than hate, hope is more powerful than fear, and light is more powerful than dark.”

    And Donald Trump is Jabba the Hutt.  Jobiwan Kenobi, you’re our only hope!

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Shame on whoever thought horns in golf carts would be a good idea.

     

    @RaflW:

    Hope partner’s dad is back in his hospital room very soon.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    @RaflW: My sympathies and hopes for his full recovery. My mother was in the hospital earlier this year, and it was horrible not being able to visit her.

  10. 10.

    CaseyL

    Feeling hopeful is such a rarity these days, I hardly know what to do with the emotion. According to Twitter, Kanye has not managed to get onto the ballot in any of the swing states the GOP was hoping to ratfuck.  His signatures always came up short, often obviously and ludicrously so.  That makes me happy, too!

    @RaflW: That must be excruciating.  Very glad to hear your partner’s Dad came through surgery and is stable; best wishes for a full recovery.

  11. 11.

    randy khan

    Speaking of why people like Biden, here’s a long, but really fantastic Facebook post by Danica Roem, the first transgender person elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, about her experiences with him.

    Joe didn’t forget me

  13. 13.

    Martin

    @debbie: I swear, if this election is narrated through competing Villages golf cart and boat parades, I’m going to lose my shit and demand the Villages get nuked from orbit.

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    Joe had many good lines, but my favorite went something like, “We’ll ask you to wear a mask, not as a burden, but as your patriotic duty to protect other people.” It’s as simple as that. If our leaders had been saying this consistently as soon as the science was clear, we’d be in a very different place.

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    @debbie:

    I adored that. A little disappointed that CT didn’t go with something more scenic, but it was kind of appropriate that it was a couple of Italian guys in front of a firehouse.

  20. 20.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @RaflW: I can empathize – so difficult when my dad was in the hospital with pretty significant aphasia, none of us could be there to advocate for him.

    Good thoughts to you and your family.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sxjames: Here you go:

    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/21/joe-biden-cabinet-picks-397905

    I also know some of the retired senior military leaders who are supporting and working with him, many of whom are conservatives and/or had been Republicans until the President came along, which will provide even more depth as some of them may be tapped for senior appointments in the nat-sec realm, or in other areas of their expertise from their post-retirement careers, as well as for some of the people that they have worked with over the years.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    @randy khan:

    It seems to me that if Joe and his allies had attempted to “sell” his niceness during the primary, there would have been a lot of snide comments by the savvy about the lameness of that strategy.  It feels so perfect now.

  23. 23.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Mr DAW was just watching a news report on the DeJoy hearing and suggested a response to DeJoy’s “promise” that ballots will be delivered on time: “Can we execute you if they aren’t? Let’s have some skin in the game here, Mr. DeJoy.”

  25. 25.

    RaflW

    I will say that the Democratic convention being this week, and so well done, and getting to see people seeking leadership because they genuinely like other people, want to help them, and have found the paths thru life with all the pain of loss while retaining hope and clarity, that has helped a lot.

    And thanks for the good thoughts and wishes. It’s going OK. The mister is driving home tonight, arriving at about midnight which isn’t my favorite but he’s a mad night owl, so he should be safe (and I’ll still be up, I’m just a half-mad, semi-night owl).

  26. 26.

    surfk9

    @Martin:

    I recommend retirement. I loved my job and the people I worked with for the State of California. But at 62 the numbers compelled me to retire. It was a great decision (I miss my co-workers) and it was the right thing to do.  I have been retired for five years and have zero regrets.

  27. 27.

    Ken

    That field art is very impressive. I had no idea the artists had developed the technique to that extent. You can follow the links to a video that shows how they do it, the different colors are from natural materials – compost, sand, wood chips – that will work into the soil over the next few months. He did a Biden circle early this year, which is visible in one picture as the faded circle above the new one.

  32. 32.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    There was a great deal to like that I hope will be kept for future conventions. The shorter, tighter format also works well for today’s younger generation that absorbs information in shorter chunks. It was smooth, uplifting and reflected the power of the diverse voices in the Democratic coalition. I feel positive for the first time since 2016.

    The WaPo has an article today on who should fill the Cabinet. Suggestions came from various columnists. Way too many suggestions would gut Congress of competent people. And a few Hell no’s to some of the suggestions. Romney as Secretary of Health and Human Services! Blech! Hope one of the front pagers will put something up soon for the jackelariat to sink their teeth into. Who would be best for each of the Cabinet slots?

    @Martin: My husband plans to retire early. He was going to officially put his notice in next week and then an email came out offering early retirement as of Oct. 1st, so he’s going to wait until then to see what kind of retirement package he can get. But he looks forward to enjoying his free time and watching lots of baseball!

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @Martin:

    Today I’m thinking of retiring…

    I wish you could see how big my eyes got when I read that.  Looking to reduce stress?  Your crystal ball says the next 2 years at a university are going to suck, so you wonder if you should bail?

  34. 34.

    lamh36

    @TaMara (HFG): yes…that laugh will totally disarm Pence…cause ya know Mother don’t like him near attractive women…or women at all.  He’s gonna be clutching his pearls I’m sure…LOL

    As for Chump, he has convinced himself that Biden is senile or slow or something?  My money is his strategy will be to try to bluster his way against Biden

  36. 36.

    Gvg

    It must feel weird to be told someone has made a picture of your face with plants in a field…..sometimes I notice how strange we humans are.

  38. 38.

    Sloane Ranger

    I’m missing a lot of the personal interaction I enjoyed pre-COVID. I had an active social life, volunteering at both the local library and museum, member of a creative writing group, a social history group, a walking group, an AmDram group and a Sunday lunch group. We’re keeping a lot of these groups going through Zoom, email and social media but it’s not the same. Added to which, I had several holidays planned this year, all of which have been cancelled or, in one case, the company has gone bust.

    Also getting increasingly worried about what will happen after the Brexit transitional period ends later this year as the trade talks with the EU seem to be going nowhere.

    Still,  could be worse for me personally. I have my health (fingers crossed) and a decent government pension so I’m not like the poor sods who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic and the others who will lose theirs in the self inflicted wound of Brexit.

    Best wishes for the recovery of your partner’s Dad RaflW.

  39. 39.

    Ken

    @tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat): Romney as Secretary of Health and Human Services!

    Well, no, but are there any Republican Senators who are (1) dumb or vain enough to accept a cabinet position from Biden, and (2) from a state where a Democratic governor can appoint a Democratic replacement?  Because if so, Biden should appoint them all, and then regretfully fire them two hours after each replacement takes the oath.

  41. 41.

    Ken

    @Adam L Silverman: I prefer the “In brightest day, in blackest night” one.  Of the negative oaths, I’ve never been able to decide whether the Red or the Black is most hardcore.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    @Gvg: I see it like a talent.  It makes me think of the amazing art that donnah makes with tiny little strips of wool.

    I shake my head when I try to think of how they can see that before it’s there, and know what it will look like,  Amazing.

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Rachel just mentioned that the Trump International Hotel hiked its rates by 60% for next week, once Trump announced that D.C. would be the geographical centre of the RNC.

  45. 45.

    Ken

    @SiubhanDuinne: He does understand it’s going to be online, doesn’t he?  Or is he demanding everyone attend?

    Oh lord, he’s going to have all the participants in the hotel auditorium as a live audience, isn’t he?

  46. 46.

    CaseyL

    @Ken: Ooh, I like the way you think!

    And, yes, I did notice how many of politico’s “Dream Cabinet” members were Democratic Senators in states with Republican Governors.  Nice try, politico.

  48. 48.

    Martin

    @surfk9: I’m 51, and I can afford to retire (despite my state job I managed to become unexpectedly wealthy) but I have 3 household members with pre-existing conditions, and even though Covered California is the best exchange in the country, I’m terrified to drop my employer coverage. I am willing to work another decade just to keep it.

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    Some more good news out of Virginia – https://bluevirginia.us/2020/08/court-approves-ag-mark-herrings-agreement-to-promote-safe-absentee-voting-by-mail-in-november

    RICHMOND (August 21, 2020) – Attorney General Mark R. Herring today announced that a federal court has approved a consent decree negotiated by his office that will promote public health and participation in elections by encouraging safe absentee voting by mail in the November election. Under the terms of the approved consent decree, the Commonwealth will accept absentee ballots without the signature of a witness “for voters who believe they may not safely have a witness present while completing their ballot.” The order was approved by Judge Norman K. Moon despite the objections of the Republican Party of Virginia, which intervened in the case and opposed the proposed agreement.

    “This agreement is another big win for Virginia voters and for democracy, and it’s another important step in ensuring that we can have free, fair, safe elections this fall despite the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic,” said Attorney General Herring. “Safe voting has been one of my top priorities for the last six months because no one should ever have to choose between their health and their fundamental right to cast their vote.”

    In approving the agreement, Judge Moon found that “The same reasons that motivated the Court to approve the parties’ previous consent decree carry even more force today, as the pandemic has resurged.” Attorney General Herring previously reached an agreement, also approved by Judge Moon, to promote safe voting by mail for the June 23rd primaries by allowing for the acceptance of absentee ballots without a witness signature “for voters who believe they may not safely have a witness present while completing their ballot.”

    Judge Moon wrote that despite the Republican Party of Virginia’s objections to this commonsense agreement, “every indication before the Court is that the June primary was conducted without the witness signature requirement and without any corresponding increase in voter confusion or election fraud—the RPV has not provided any evidence to the contrary…” He also wrote that “the RPV has not brought forth any evidence that would permit the Court to overcome its presumption of good faith and fair dealing in the settlement negotiations between the Plaintiffs’ and State Defendants—instead, it relies on speculation and circumstantial evidence.”

    […]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  53. 53.

    dmsilev

    @Ken: He really really really misses his hate-rallies, and the Convention was supposed to be one of the biggest. He’s going to do whatever he can to get that fix.
    And apparently, he thought the DNC’s use of pretaped speeches was lame or cheating or something, so he wants the RNC to Do It Live as much as possible. Pretty much the only reason to watch will be to witness the very probable amusing trainwrecks when the tech doesn’t work quite right.

  54. 54.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @mrmoshpotato: I’m a block over the county line into Lake County. I’m assuming info on drop boxes, etc will come with the ballot, but I can look it up if it doesn’t. What a crazy time.

    @SiubhanDuinne: We have her on too. It’s all so corrupt that she’s laughing because what else can you do?

  59. 59.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Ken: He wants an all live event. Apparently he thought the recorded sections of the Democratic Convention were flat and unexciting. Also, he needs a crowd of adoring fans to play off when he speaks.

    Wouldn’t surprise me if he was insisting that the Covington kid, the gun humping couple et al were flown to Washington and put up at the hotel at RNC expense. Politics as gift is the operating philosophy of this administration after all.

  60. 60.

    Martin

    @WaterGirl: So, it’s a bit worse than that, I’m afraid to say. I can afford to retire mostly through my investing hobby, which has mostly focused on understanding how industries/companies fail and others take their place.

    Everything tells me that universities are basically fucked. Covid is the catalyst more than the cause. State unis like mine will be fine because government will prop them up for a whole host of reasons, but we have almost universally lost the plot for what our customers are looking for, and we are too stubborn and entrenched to change to their needs. Costs are growing far faster than value, and you can paper that over a bit with financial aid but that can only go so far, and we’ve gotten most of the value out of that.

    So I’m extremely pessimistic about the future of traditional universities that exist solely due to reputation and not actual delivered value. And that’s dangerous because its an invitation for someone to come in and eat our lunch. I don’t know who that will be, but there’s too much pent-up demand for someone to not come in and do it. All I know is that we won’t do it from the inside.

    Covid just accelerates that a bit. I’ve taken plenty of online courses  to know that you can do great online courses, better than the in person equivalents. But I’ve never seen one of those out of a university, because they break our business model too badly. They  create problems we don’t know how to or don’t want to address.

    Part of my retirement thinking is trying to join that not-yet defined competitor.

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    What I learned over the last four days was that I now believe he may be the right man for the moment.

    COMETH THE HOUR, COMETH THE MAN

  65. 65.

    Another Scott

    @different-church-lady: Just like what Ben said a while ago.  (Repost)

    Off all the bad polling numbers for Trump his fall among seniors is the most important. They move slowly in polling and are not real swingy once they make their mind up. Without seniors going GOP the Congressional losses could be historic downballot. Everything is in play.
    — Ben Tribbett (@notlarrysabato) June 16, 2020

    (Emphasis added.)

    I suspect that 95 year old veteran is going to convince a few people as well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  66. 66.

    Ken

    @dmsilev: @Sloane Ranger: So is that hotel on Federal land, or City land? Because if Trump’s plan is to crowd all the Senators and guests and campaign staff into a room so they can shout hosannas and heils, it would be no end of amusing if the city put everyone in a two-week quarantine before they could leave the hotel.

  68. 68.

    TS (the original)

    Watching Rachel – maybe to convince myself that someone gets it. Listening to her explain how trump breaks laws & conventions, how he makes money out of every last public event & how he fiddled while the coronavirus spread, I cannot understand why Biden is not leading by 30 points in every state.

    And in my world we have just had our first outbreak of covid via community spread since I don’t know when – probably April, maybe May. I had just decided to rejoin a life outside of the home & this happens. Compared to so many, I have little to complain about, but I will always blame trump for what he has done to the US & what he has done to the world, culminating in providing zero leadership & zero assistance in the fight against the coronavirus.

    Even on the other side of the world – we miss Obama. His leadership at this point in time – despite the screams of the GOP would have been riveting, resourceful and effective.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Martin:

    But I’ve never seen one of those out of a university, because they break our business model too badly.

    The only place that does it right/very well as an academic, albeit a niche professional degree, endeavor is US Army War College’s (USAWC) Department of Distance Education (DDE). They’ve spent decades building the distance version of the residential course because there’s only about 250 to 300 lieutenant colonels and colonels every year who are allowed to matriculate into the resident course, but the Army needs far, far more lieutenant colonels and colonels to have that degree. They’ve built an amazing platform and an amazing program of delivering the course through it.

  75. 75.

    Another Scott

    @Ken: He’s pissing off the Congressman that represent the locals, also too.

    The President isn't just putting people's lives at risk by flouting safety guidelines, he's breaking public health laws which limit public gatherings and requiring face coverings.https://t.co/VPnuu2OyHDhttps://t.co/9uc6e1p7MrSTOP HOLDING SUPER-SPREADER EVENTS IN MY DISTRICT https://t.co/INFdXMO3Tr

    — Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) August 21, 2020

    I really do think that this is building into a huge wave of anger and disgust.

    … gradually, and then suddenly…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  76. 76.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RaflW:

    I am so sorry that you, your partner, and your partner’s family are having to go through this nightmare. Holding your father-in-law in my heart and mind for a good recovery.

  77. 77.

    p.a.

    Joe can name a republican as ambassador to some rock off the coast of Antarctica, other than that, fuck no.  He wasn’t my first choice, and while I think he is the man for the moment, I hope he doesn’t think there will be any comity with the human trash he served across the aisle from in the Senate.  8 yrs as Obama’s veep better have knocked that delusion from his head.  They’ll try to destroy him from day 1 also.

  79. 79.

    Mike in NC

    Boat parades. I think I’ve known about four people in my entire life who owned a boat. An uncle of mine had a boat, where in the 60s we’d goof off near Quincy, MA and hope to catch the occasional flounder. He and my dad would drink beer and we kids would eat peanut butter sandwiches.

    How many Real Americans own frigging boats?

  80. 80.

    Martin

    @Adam L Silverman: Wouldn’t surprise me.

    To be clear, we could do it. But how the institutions are structured don’t permit it. They are fully structured around in-person  instruction. Some institutions have been able to pull more away from this than others (ASU and MIT come to mind) but I’m convinced the changes needed are too big for any existing universities. Maybe a Stanford and an MIT can pull it off, and I can see smaller schools like community colleges and not highly  ranked schools making the move (for example SNHU) but the vast majority of recognized major universities are caught in this middle risk-adverse ground. Maybe we’ll move once it’s too late.

  81. 81.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TS (the original): White Christian evangelicals have 71% approval of the President. White men without college degrees have 59% approval of the President. And rural Americans have 59% approval of the President. That’s from a recent WaPo-ABC News national poll from last weekend. If I’m remembering correctly he’s also got 41% approval from college educated white men. That’s what’s propping up his support. And given the total numbers of the people in those categories, almost all of them white, and the fact that they still make up a small majority of American voters combined with where they live in regard to the Electoral College vote, that’s how he could once again lost the popular vote while eking out a very narrow Electoral College victory.

  82. 82.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @TaMara (HFG):

    I just love how indignant Joe gets on behalf of Kamala. It’s not at all a “protecting the little woman” or in any way patronising — it’s simply righteous indignation against injustice.

  86. 86.

    Raven

    @Martin: From my friend and editor of the Flagpole, a weekly music and newspaper”.

    It is the duty of the old to share their experience with the young. It is not the duty of the young to listen.

    Nevertheless, our young students are returning to a University of Georgia quite different from the one they left in March, with the very real possibility that the university may be further diminished in response to the pandemic threatening business as usual.

    My duty here is to reassure our young scholars that the potential diminishment of their college need not impinge upon their thoughts as they hurry to ingest as much alcohol by midnight as they formerly did by 2 a.m.

    The UGA I knew, compared to today’s was the very definition of diminished.

    Let’s start at the top. When I matriculated at our dear old alma mater, the university had only the president—no vice presidents, no provosts. Enrollment was 5,000. Today’s UGA has, in addition to the president, 10 vice presidents and, in addition to the provost, two vice provosts and six associate provosts. That is 20 highly paid administrators and their staffs to run the university. UGA’s enrollment last fall was 39,000.

    In other words, 20 times more administrators manage eight times more students.

    I counted 73 uniformed officers in the staff photo on the UGA police website. My university had only one campus policeman, Dusty. He patrolled mainly at night. His uniform was a gray work shirt and matching trousers, with his .38 revolver stuck in his hip pocket.

    We did have the Dawgs, and the stadium was still its original natural bowl shape—no upper decks, no skyboxes and no bridge. The science center was building on south campus, and to get over there, you had to go down a long flight of steps and then up the other side—quite a feat to accomplish between classes. There was no bus system, so between classes students got out on Lumpkin Street and hitchhiked. At least the women did, because they got all the rides, anyway. There were local people who had the class schedules memorized and always went out of their way to cruise Lumpkin at the top of the hour.

    There was no legal whiskey and only a couple of bars where you could get a beer. I didn’t expect one at the Methodist student center. No clubs. A couple of restaurants downtown and a few more scattered around Normaltown, Five Points and the Atlanta Highway.

    Men could have apartments. Women could not and could not visit men in theirs. Women could not wear shorts on campus, unless covered by a raincoat, and then only for the purpose of P.E. classes. Women had to be back in their dorms by 11:15 p.m., slightly later on weekends. There were no luxury high-rise dorms.

    There were no admission requirements, other than graduating from high school and being white. (Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes arrived my junior year). There was no Hope Scholarship but relatively low tuition.

    The real enforcer on campus was Dean William Tate, the scourge of any student doing anything wrong. When Dean Tate demanded your student I.D., you had to surrender it, and you had to drop by his office for a chat.

    If he kept your I.D., you were out of school. No appeal to higher authority.

    Sure, this is all nostalgia, but it is a cautionary tale, too. The pandemic has already changed things, and we don’t yet know what lies ahead. Will we have the Dawgs? Will we continue with on-campus classes? Will the bars remain open? Will students drift away to other colleges with bars and football? Can the university sustain 20 top administrators? Will the Terry College of Business secede from the university?

    Only time will tell, but I am here to bear witness to the fact that the University of Georgia can adjust and continue to deliver a first-class education as long as teachers can teach—by whatever method—and students can learn in some meaningful form, whatever that may turn out to be in the long run.

    In the short run, welcome back to Athens and to a whole new ball game, or maybe no ball games. Everything is up in the air as never before at the university and in Athens, but the main enterprise remains teaching and learning. Stay safe, and do what it takes to get an education and enjoy our college town.

  88. 88.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Martin:

    All Real Americans™ own a boat.

    All Real Americans™ are one-truck contractors with undocument immigrant workers whom they underpay and fire the instant they get hurt.  They also rail against those furriners comin’ here to take our jobs and live off our welfare.  Salt of the earth, those guys.  They deserve their boats, every foot of ’em.

  89. 89.

    Puddinhead

    @Adam L Silverman:  I was thinking Bill Cosby or Sammy Davis Jr. They are doing this on a very tight timeline so the mistakes will be bigger. I just wonder if they will float the theory that Hillary had him killed.

  92. 92.

    TS (the original)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The figures provide the statistics, the mindset behind the white people who support him is what I cannot understand. What I hear

    • they are racist
    • they are uneducated
    • they only watch Fox
    • they want to give it to the liberals

    All I see is a group of people taken in by a snake oil salesman who has taken over a political party.

    Thanks for the stats, I know not where to go with this reality. The 4 sessions of the dem convention were uplifting. Trying not to get buried in depression now that is over is hard – I applaud everyone supporting Biden & the democrats who retain their optimism. May it be rewarded.

  93. 93.

    PAM Dirac

    @randy khan: This really encapsulated why I am so enthusiastic to vote Biden-Harris even though like most jackels, Biden was not near the top of my choices.  The 2016 election was incredibly depressing. The 2017 Va elections was a ray of hope. The D’s were hoping for around a +6 in the Va House and they got +16 and missed taking the House by a coin flip. Danica Roem was one of the long shots that won and here I see that one of the reasons for that win was the support of Joe Biden. But that isn’t the even the biggest reason for my enthusiasm. In 2019 when everyone thought she didn’t need help, Biden was STILL THERE. The commitment to support smart people with a commitment to public service is exactly what we need to rid us of the assholes  currently in power  and I am I member of team “crawl over broken glass” to vote for Biden/Harris.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Martin: No arguments from me. I grew up on a university campus, spent a lot of time getting a lot of alphabet soup after my name, and then was a professor for a while until I realized I needed to do something else and agreed when recruited to go to work for the Army and be deployed to a war zone.

  95. 95.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Raven: I was already thinking about pulling the plug early next year, but this WFH situation has iced it. There are various reasons why it’s much better for me to do it in the first calendar quarter, but as of today I suspect I’m six months away.

  96. 96.

    surfk9

    @Martin: I retired at 62 after 25 years with the State. Social Security was the difference, PERS replaced the salary, SSA was all bonus

  97. 97.

    Quantum man

    We are not doing well.  Our Great Dane died 10 days ago, and our Wolfhound is in the last stages of kidney disease.  We will be losing her soon.  Hard to handle all the other carp going on when grieving for Lina and Faith.

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    @lamh36:

    The laugh from Kamala is epic. Ya know Chump hates to be laughed at by strong women!

    And I love how casually she dismissed Trump’s nonsense.  Did not give it any consideration at all.

    And she and Biden are always on point. Harris makes the case against Trump. And she makes the case for Biden/Harris.

    So far, this is exactly what I have been looking for.

    They can say, “even if you liked Trump’s policies, the fact is that he is incompetent and dangerously unstable. We are not wild eyed radicals. We think that we have better policies. And in addition, we will never do crazy or stupid crap that hurts the American people.”

  100. 100.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Quantum man: My deepest sympathies. They leave such huge pawprints on our hearts. Snuggle your wolfhound as long as you can and take heart in knowing they were both loved well and that’s all pups really want in life.  [[hugs]]

  102. 102.

    trollhattan

    Just spotted a 747 tanker fly off into the westernmurk, followed a few minutes later by a DC10. There aren’t any bigger guns in our firefighting arsenal to my knowledge and I’ll wager they seem like squirt guns–welcome ones–to the folks on the ground.

    LFG!

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Puddinhead: John Lewis.

    They seem to have issues with this sort of thing.

    Updated: Friday Night Open Thread: Hope Is On The Ballot

    Dang nabbit Phil, I told you you had to pick up the Black guy. Listen Alice, don’t blaspheme at me. I picked up the donuts and box of Joe, it was Larry’s job to get the Black guy…

    It seems to be an ongoing issue.

    Maybe they mean Tallahassse black dresses for Trump?

  107. 107.

    geg6

    @Martin:

    I’m not sure I agree with this but perhaps my evidence against is too anecdotal.  But I’ll leap in anyway.

    You know where I work and we have a robust and respected World Campus option for people bound by circumstances or geography.  It’s been one of our highest growth colleges for most of my time there (celebrating 22 years in September!?!?!?).  It would not be my cup of tea but it can be done by big universities.

  109. 109.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TS (the original): It is white Christian herrenvolkism. It is both radical and reactionary in that the radicalism is rooted in both reactionary racial and religious beliefs. That’s it. The boater thing is a great example. Those folks are all white. Some have college degrees, a lot don’t. But even among the latter, they have good enough jobs and enough disposable income and/or available credit to own a boat and the truck and trailer needed to haul it to the water, into and out of the water, and then back home. These are people that by every measure are doing well. And yet they resent everyone else in the US who isn’t just like them and who won’t cater to their grievance based whims. To the point that they hate everyone else in the US who isn’t just like them and who won’t cater to their grievance based whims. While claiming to be both the descendants of the real, true Americans and the actual real, true Americans they actually hate the real, true America and spend all of their time fighting against it.

  111. 111.

    West of the Cascades

    @Another Scott: I suspect that 95 year old veteran is going to convince a few people as well.

    Wouldn’t you know it, Edward Good’s appearance was exactly 1:00 minute long, and the Biden campaign has LOTS of money to run this on loops in places where seniors will see it.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Quantum man: I am so sorry to read that. We’re keeping good thoughts for you and for your wolfhound to have as many easy and comfortable days left with you as possible.

  113. 113.

    Barbara

    @PPCLI: The Forces of the American Revolution had the foresight to take over the airports, but they couldn’t figure out the way to Thigh-Land. Laughing so I don’t have to cry.

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: Her candidacy got hosed in the Democratic primary for Senate in 2016 by that idiot Patrick Murphy. But she’s won her primary this year for the House. It is considered to be a solid Republican district and she’s running against the incumbent, Brian Mast, a former US Army ordnance officer who lost both legs in Iraq when he stepped on an IED. However, if this turns into a big enough wave year this year, then anything is possible.

  115. 115.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Adam L Silverman: And when those of us without boats argue that we need to tax carbon to, y’know, save the damn human species, they argue “but muh boat” as a reason why it’s wrong, wrong, wrong I TELLYA to tax carbon.

  116. 116.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The answer is No. Trump’s still doing speeches to live audiences. He did one in Scranton during the Democratic Convention where he came out with a Biden Birther story.

    The fact is that a narcissist gets off on the idea that people will put their lives and health on the line for them.

  118. 118.

    Martin

    @Raven: So, that points to a different concern I have. I understand the proliferation of administrators because I’ve witnessed the entire history of it at my institution.

    It’s not because of some kind of mismanagement, but because the moment that the state cuts funding below sustainable levels, the universities looks for new revenue streams to fill the gap. Mind you, we do that as a subsidy to the in-state students, but we still need administrators to run those programs. So we now have summer camps and for-fee services and all of these revenue generators that all need to be managed, but which do generate positive cash flow above their administrative costs. Did we have those 30 years ago? No, because the state was covering the cost of education, and now it doesn’t.

    And one of the aspects of how the state universities are run now is quite troubling to me, and I don’t know how they’re going to resolve it. The state wants us to add value ahead of adding cost, which we’ve demonstrated we’ve done, but the state doesn’t want  to match the cost. So we have x seats reserved for in-state students, that which the state will pay for, and we have additional seats for out-of-state students that are non-subsidized. And in-state parents are upset that we’ve got seats that their kids can’t take. And that’s true. But it’s because we have no way to make that happen – in-state seats are supply  constrained by the state, not by the university. We’d universally prefer to fill every seat with in-state students, but we can’t create a mechanism that allows an in-state student to attend without a state subsidy. We could offer scholarships that cover the subsidy, but we’re simply not allowed to do that.

    And I think there are real problems with equity of access with mechanisms like this, and real frustration and anger from the public, and it creates serious disincentives for how we admit students to do it this way. And yes, you  get a proliferation of administration to address the problem because every additional revenue stream we add doesn’t involve faculty – they look much more like traditional businesses, and I don’t particularly enjoy doing cost analyses on these new businesses, but it allows me to focus on how to funnel as much money as possible to support for in-state students. Those new dorms we need for growth are 100% paid for by out of state students, and if the state increases how many students they subsidize, those new resident students won’t need to pay for the dorms because Chinese students paid for them.

    I don’t like that kind of slight of hand, but that’s pretty routine across the country. So the explosion of administrators is a symptom of a problem nobody is really looking it – it reflects our efforts to grow and service students faster than our states will allow.

  119. 119.

    Anotherlurker

    @Raven: Nope, not Fluke (AKA Summer Flounder).   Quincy was home to an epic run of Winter Flounder (AKA Blackbacks).  Th elfish were plentiful and chunky. During the Spring run, you could also add schoolie Cod and Pollack and the occasional Lobster.   Full bushel baskets were the norm.

    The fishery was adversely effected by overfishing by sporties and Boston Harbor’s legendary pollution problem.  The fishery was closed by State and Federal anti-pollution measures.  These measures have been effective and the harbor is now much cleaner than it has been in many years.

    The flounder run is still going on but it is now more controlled by the State DEC.  Bag limits are enforced.

  120. 120.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    @Martin: I love your comments on universities because you come from the administrative side of things. I’m on the faculty side and I’m in Japan where decision-making is slow, conservative and about ten years behind what’s happening in higher ed in the US. This term was a disaster in so many ways. My school was slow to decide and then decided to go remote for the first three weeks. Then gradually introduced face-to-face teaching. It didn’t last long before a student contracted Covid and we were back online. They gave us a crappy LMS to work with and about three days to get used to it.

    I want to deliver a good online experience to students because that’s the reality we’re in right now, but limitations and lack of vision and investment above make it next to impossible. So, I and my team will cobble the best program we can based on the resources we have and pray that we can deliver the value the students deserve. It isn’t for want of trying, but it’s certainly for want of leadership and good choices.

    If you do find that competitive position in the future, I look forward to following your second career!

  122. 122.

    sxjames

    @Adam L Silverman: Thank for the link :).  Yes, this.  I was encouraged when it was made known that Joe stole with pride adopted most of Elizabeth Warren’s economic plan for his own :) I’m even more encouraged to think that the filibuster will be toast.

    Now, the real task is to get the Senate….

  123. 123.

    Brachiator

    @Martin:

    It’s good to have some choice in the matter of retirement. It’s got to be a little tough, though, because we don’t know entirely what work or retirement will look like in this ongoing pandemic environment.

    Good luck with your decisions.

  124. 124.

    geg6

    @Mike in NC:

    A lot. Around here anyway.  The three rivers is one of the highest number of boat owners per capita of any region not on a coast.  My ex and I were boaters, moving from a 19 foot cruiser to, by the end of our 18 years together, a 36 foot yacht.  We weren’t rich, with him teaching welding at a vo-tech high school and me (at the time) moving from a community college position to a branch campus of my current employer.  We docked ours at a private boat club, but most boaters here trailer theirs from home to the Ohio or a tributary.  Boats are ubiquitous here.

  127. 127.

    Subsole

    @Adam L Silverman: Adam, speaking of natsec, I had a qanon question I wanted to bounce off you: is the guy running it the same guy that owns 8chan? Or has he been muscled out by Russia?

  130. 130.

    Martin

    @geg6: Yeah, we have programs like that as well – but did that scale to the rest of the institution when covid broke out? No.

    We can do it as add-on services, but not full replacements.

    And to be clear, I don’t advocate for moving all instruction online, but there are courses that are MUCH better run through an online, particularly self-paced format which are resource sinks that could be deployed in places where experiential, in-person instruction could be much better. So we’re taking courses that could be great online and making them worse and because of those lost resources causing courses that could be great in-person to be underfunded.

  131. 131.

    bbleh

    Just tuning in sorry.  I LOVE the Eleven Films short.  I watched it THREE times and I still love it.

    Elizabeth Warren and Pam Keith are scary…

  132. 132.

    cain

    @Martin: Part of my retirement thinking is trying to join that not-yet defined competitor.

    I’ve noticed this a bit with computer science and open source. What’s going out there with traditional coding jobs have changed completely.

    To not introduce students to the open source method of writing code is criminal – but it’s just not the way it is taught.

    But I think I agree that there is going to be a reckoning with how universities are traditionally run. Plus, we are finding all kinds of new challenges to the traditional ways that students learn.

    After all – is a straight A student really smart or did they just figure out the system?

  135. 135.

    Subsole

    @Ken:  Red is short sharp and brutal, black is a little more poetic. I vote red oath.

    And Orange was written by the President, apparently…?

  136. 136.

    Kay

    This amazed me. Directing the Democratic convention from his house:

    Janis Friedlander Svendsen is with Glenn Weiss in Brentwood.
    22 hrs ·
    This is my fiancé and I could not be prouder of this man than I am at this historic moment in time. He has been on endless Zoom calls for months working on production aspects and directing the Democratic National Convention. Throughout these past few months, the pandemic has had the production team pivoting on a daily basis. First Glenn was going to Milwaukee, then Delaware and in the end and since there were so many LIVE remotes anyway, he had an entire control room set up in the house.
    I have had the privilege to watch Glenn (from our Family Room) plan out and bring in all the technology to direct 58 cameras from around the country, deal with dozens of speakers and talent, and hundreds of folks on the production team. Watching the process of Glenn and his partner, Ricky Kirshner work with the leadership of the DNC and Biden campaign to make this all happen has been astonishing. The level of detail has been extraordinary. We even have a generator in our backyard as the heatwave has caused blackouts in our area.
    I have played the role of Craft Services, “Truck PA”, and more. Glenn at the helm is steady, creative, calm, funny, polite, and decisive. I know I am biased, but Glenn’s talent and experience were exactly what this unconventional convention needed. As a proud Democrat and American citizen (and loving partner), I am so grateful we had Glenn’s leadership and instincts helping to make this coming together of our party so successful and meaningful. I hope that these past four days have inspired people to vote for the Biden/Harris ticket. #WeThePeople #RiseUp #Biden2020 #BuildBackBetter #GivePeopleLight #HopeLightLove

  138. 138.

    Martin

    So, I’m watching Ali Velshi in this interview that finally reveals the real problem with the USPS.

    In the free market, if you fall behind on production, it’s kind of okay. Some other company will fill that gap, or prices will go up as supply/demand get out of balance and so on. Those are all normal mechanisms that market competition permits. And if someone can’t buy the product, that’s totally okay.

    But for a public service, it’s different. The USPS has a certain volume that comes in, and the USPS must meet that demand. It doesn’t have the option of not, at least for first class and a few other categories of mail (they can put bulk rate straight in the garbage, btw). So if they fall behind, they have to catch up. They have no choice. Maybe if Monday is too heavy and Tuesday is too light it’ll balance out, but if that’s a daily problem, it compounds.

    I know this from advising universities on dealing with time to degree. One of my resume items is that the programs that I oversaw never saw a degradation of time to degree. Students could always graduate in 4 years. Always. And the key to that is never falling behind in per-course enrollment. Once a course on the critical path gets oversubscribed, you’re fucked. If you are 50 seats short this year, and your student population isn’t falling, you’ll be 100 seats short next year, and 150 the year after that, and so on.  It only takes one course to destroy a program. So if you don’t have the resources to teach those 50 students, how likely are you to have the resource the next year when it’s 100? Falling behind is lethal. And if you find yourself with 5-6 year graduation rates, it’s so unbelievably expensive to fix that it becomes nearly impossible to find those resources, and you get stuck there – and the only reason it doesn’t continue to get worse is that students give up. They run out of financial aid, they walk away.

    In a public service you cannot, ever, under any circumstance fall behind, because you will land in a state where you need increasing resources to recover which will never come for the very reasons you didn’t get them in the first place. That applies to patients at the VA, the USPS, schools and universities, the DMV, and so on.

    You cannot run it like a business. It will fail spectacularly, faster than you can imagine and become almost unrecoverable. I know that’s the point, but we need people saying that to the public so they understand.

  141. 141.

    geg6

    @Martin:

    Actually, the University did feel it scaled.  We have almost endless capacity in it and faculty that have been doing online and hybrid instruction for over twenty years.  The switch to online learning here moved pretty quickly and as seamlessly as can be hoped due to the years of expertise that was provided by having the World Campus.  And our structure (“One University, geographically disbursed”) made it even easier.  Students can, and have for all my time there, take classes at any one of our campuses virtually at any time if there is “room” in the class.  In the summer, in one of my roles as VA Certifying Official for my campus, I might certify a single student’s enrollment at five or six different campuses.  We’ve done this for years.  This fall, my campus is only down 10 students, which I find amazing.  We have no increase in students who are in academic probation.  It is being done but it was because the structure was already there.  No one foresaw this situation, but we may have been uniquely situated to handle it well when the challenges hit.

  142. 142.

    Martin

    @Nelle: I think it’s very good. For a not-ivy, not no-name university, they’ve done a remarkable job of moving into online out of a traditional university.

    That said, it’s still fairly conventional. It’s a good implementation and it’s ambitious for a conventional program but it’s not really looking at online as ‘how can we do this better than in-person?’ And to be clear, there are lots of place I don’t think you can, at least not yet and not at reasonable cost, but there are clearly places where the best educational experience looks nothing like what the rest of us are doing. And ASU aren’t ready to go there. Nobody else in higher ed is, to be fair.

  145. 145.

    James E Powell

    @TS (the original):

    I cannot understand why Biden is not leading by 30 points in every state.

    Because the people who support Trump hate the rest of us. They chose Trump because he hates the rest of us too. And unlike other Republicans, he never pretends that he doesn’t hate the rest of us.

    His incompetence and corruption are of no matter to his supporters. Their shared hatred and bigotry has welded them together for all time.

  146. 146.

    Subsole

    @p.a.: I cannot imagine he stood next to Barack for almost a decade and foesn’t know what he faces.

    Even if he doesn’t, he owes Kamala and the CBC big time. I know those folks have no illusions about the other side of the aisle.

  147. 147.

    Punchy

    FWIW….off-shore odds took a precipitous dip for Biden this week.  Whats odd is that every single major swing state is either moderately or heavily favoring the Dems, yet Biden is barely more than a coin flip.  Something doesnt add up,

  148. 148.

    Jean

    @Another Scott: I’m in VA too, and just when our numbers (reproduction rate) are back in the green, under 1.00, I wished they had been prohibited from this event by governor’s current mandate about distancing and masks in public.

  149. 149.

    trollhattan

    Sweet home Alabama.

    University of Alabama on-campus testing had a 29% positivity rate Thursday. It was less than 1% on re-entry tests.

  150. 150.

    p.a.

    @Anotherlurker: Oh!  I remember flounder fishing Quincy Bay, Harvey’s Boat Livery rentals IIRC.  We’d bring a case of Bud, an ounce of weed, whatever munchies we could grab, and have a grand old time.  Chum with commercial gallon plastic mayo jars filled with catfood.  Catch hundreds, they’d fillet (but not skin) them at the dock for a few cents each.  The SST was running out of Logan at the time.

  153. 153.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Subsole: I seriously cannot imagine going back to the way we used to do conventions.

    Same!  I don’t need all of the pageantry bullshit.  Just give me your vision (and plan) for America.  Give me the night’s speakers speaking directly to the American people.  And that virtual roll call was MAGNIFICENT!

  154. 154.

    James E Powell

    @Adam L Silverman:

    White Christian evangelicals have 71% approval of the President. White men without college degrees have 59% approval of the President. And rural Americans have 59% approval of the President. That’s from a recent WaPo-ABC News national poll from last weekend.

    I don’t have the time to check right now, but if memory serves, those numbers are all down a bit from 2016. The white evangelicals were around 80% and white males w/o college were mid 60s.

    I’m not getting complacent, but I do think the American Nightmare is finally sinking into the heads of some white people.

  155. 155.

    Kay

    @trollhattan:

    I think they hit the perfect spot, where you’re watching and thinking “look how great these ordinary people are doing at this!” but really it was the work of skilled professionals, so it was actually good :)

  157. 157.

    mrmoshpotato

    @bbleh:

    Just tuning in sorry.  I LOVE the Eleven Films short.  I watched it THREE times and I still love it.

    Elizabeth Warren and Pam Keith are scary…

    SPW and Keith aren’t coming for you.  Unless…  But then you know what you did! :)

  159. 159.

    Martin

    Related, sorta, I see Aunt Becky is supposed to do 2 months in the slammer.

    I’m slightly sympathetic, not because they broke the law, but because this process is so opaque and difficult for students and parents to navigate, and because if your goal is to attend UCLA, you cannot guarantee that regardless of how much money you throw at it. Don’t think our dropping of the SAT wasn’t related in part to this. We’ve come close many times before and I’ve been part of that deliberation, because SATs are more an indicator of wealth than anything else in this age – either through infinite test prep, or through paying Donald Trumps sister to take the test for them, or whatever the fuck.

    Ultimately this is a supply/demand problem. We have WAY too many qualified students than we have seats, and as noted in my prior comment at 118, we have taken to creative solutions to this problem, but despite those efforts, we’re still turning down 4.0 students because they’re uncompetitive – and that’s fucking bullshit. So, I don’t blame folks for getting creative on the other side – it would be shocking if they didn’t. Kid does everything right and still can’t get a seat at a public university.

    Capitalism does provide a useful solution to this by allowing us to charge lots and lots of money to Aunt Becky for a seat (which it would seem she was more than happy to pay) and we use that to dramatically expand capacity. But we’re not allowed to do that, so we turn your well-deserving kid down instead. Not saying it wouldn’t result in a massive number of other abuses, but we’re also already in that situation.

  163. 163.

    Kay

    @Martin:

    As someone who worked at the post office I would like to tell DeJoy that anyone can get the trucks out on time. You tell the driver to go at 8:10 and he goes. The entire job in the post office is getting the mail on the truck when it leaves at 8:10. That’s where it gets complicated. He had a perfect on time record for trucks, but we’re not delivering trucks. We’re delivering mail.

    Telling the carriers “we want you back in at 4:10 so don’t take all the mail with you“? Why didn’t I think of that?

  164. 164.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Martin: martin, wait, that’s not completely accurate is it?  If Lawbreaker Loughlin had donated millions, her lazy idiot spawn could have gotten into -any- good school in the country — they have their price.  But Loughlin wasn’t willing to pay that price, so she got a fixer to arrange for a *lower* price.  She was trying to get in the side-door, when there was a love, ornate, VIP entrance — she just couldn’t afford the price of admission.

    I’m also *completely* unconvinced that there is an oversupply of qualified students.  Sure, there’s an oversupply of “students with qualifications”, but that’s not at all the same thing.  Not.  At. All.  Because more and more, to get those great SAT score, have the time to do all those extracurricular activities, play all those sports, you have to have *rich* parents.  Certainly in my field, I’ve seen neither an increase, nor a decrease, in the overall quality of the pool of graduates.

  167. 167.

    Gvg

    @Mike in NC: uhh quite a few in boat places. The “boat parade“ was in Florida, and we have 1300 miles of coast lines, plus a lot of rivers and lakes. Poor people have boats here. Not all of them, maybe small ones, but boats are really really common. My dad has had one for about 45 years, a ski boat because that’s his thing. We also have a canoe and 2 kayaks. My barely middle class neighborhood has a lot of boats, some of the big enough for some ocean trips parked in driveways and we are 50 miles inland but there is water everywhere in this state.
    other states we have visited vary a lot on boat population. Oklahoma didn’t have many as I recall.

  170. 170.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Martin: I feel like it’s worth noting that back when this scandal broke, a -number- of the spawn of these criminal parents were exposed as lazy, shiftless, impossible-to-educate idiots.  They’d have fit right in with the Marching Morons — pretty, airbrushed, with great skin and great hair, and ….. nothing more.  To call these people “qualified” was an insult to actually qualified students.

  173. 173.

    Kent

    @Martin: Everything tells me that universities are basically fucked. Covid is the catalyst more than the cause. State unis like mine will be fine because government will prop them up for a whole host of reasons, but we have almost universally lost the plot for what our customers are looking for, and we are too stubborn and entrenched to change to their needs. Costs are growing far faster than value, and you can paper that over a bit with financial aid but that can only go so far, and we’ve gotten most of the value out of that.

    Yet here I am with my daughter drifting down the California coast visiting universities on our own DIY tour of pandemic-closed campuses.  Yesterday we popped into University of San Francisco.  Daughter was not particularly impressed.  Smaller that she was expecting and has a very 1930s to 1950s institutional look to many of the buildings.   Today we are in Santa Clara visiting Santa Clara University.  Much posher place.  Daughter likes the campus but needs to return some day with students here to get a better sense.  No sight or smell of fire here in Santa Clara tonight.

    We aren’t visiting any CA state schools because why bother when we have UW available at 1/2 the price.  I think it unlikely that she will pick one of these CA privates unless they throw merit aid money at her.   It will probably come down to UW, WWU or UO if she goes public, or University of Puget Sound, Whitman, or Lewis & Clark if she goes private.  But it is still a fun trip to see what else is out there.

    I don’t know what the future of universities is going to be either.  But I’m skeptical we will ever be in an all-online world.  People will still seek status and exclusivity and the peer groups that schools provide.  And it is also a way to launch out of the house.  I don’t know what I’d do if my kids never leave home and just spend years of college study from the kitchen table.

    Oldest daughter just graduated from University of Arkansas last spring and it was the best thing that ever happened to her moving out of the house and going to college for four years.  Even if she doesn’t have that marketable of a degree in PR and marketing.  She grew up a bunch living away from home for four years and is a better person for it.  I’m not sure how else you get that.

  176. 176.

    NoraLenderbee

    @Punchy: Don’t candidates typically get a bounce in the polls  after the convention? Perhaps the odds-makers are treating Biden’s convention bump as something already accounted for, and anticipating Dump’s bounce.

    But what do I know. I never gamble.

  179. 179.

    Martin

    @Chetan Murthy: UCs really don’t. Put another way, if your kid is qualified and would have been admitted anyway, yeah, we’ll take your money and guaranteed their admission because shit, we were going to do that anyway. But you can’t turn a non-admit into an admit, unless NCAA is involved. (See: Aunt Becky).

    So, we pretty much ignore the SATs and the like. On pure academics – just grades – we have large programs at a mid-tier ranked public with median GPAs near 4.3. It’s absurd. I’m not kidding that we’re turning away 4.0 students.

    Are the students getting better? Well, no. George Bush created a full generation of students that only know how  to pass standardized tests. They can’t be demanded to rise above the institutions they are mandated to attend. But 4 years of straight ‘A’s should be a solid indicator of student quality, above everything else, regardless of the reputation of the school district.

  180. 180.

    frosty

    @Raven: @surfk9: I retired at the end of January. I liked my job, my clients, the work I did, and the company I worked for. I have no interest in ever working a 40-hour week again and I am extremely happy I don’t have to fill out a timesheet any more.

    I miss my co-workers — the mutual support of the work, and the camaraderie. They were my everyday social circle. Between retiring and COVID, it’s been a lonely summer. I’m starting to make plans for lunches and happy hours with some of them (outdoors and distanced) and I’m hoping that will fix some of the isolated feeling.

  181. 181.

    Kent

    @Martin:

    I’m slightly sympathetic, not because they broke the law, but because this process is so opaque and difficult for students and parents to navigate, and because if your goal is to attend UCLA, you cannot guarantee that regardless of how much money you throw at it. Don’t think our dropping of the SAT wasn’t related in part to this. We’ve come close many times before and I’ve been part of that deliberation, because SATs are more an indicator of wealth than anything else in this age – either through infinite test prep, or through paying Donald Trumps sister to take the test for them, or whatever the fuck.

    Ultimately this is a supply/demand problem. We have WAY too many qualified students than we have seats, and as noted in my prior comment at 118, we have taken to creative solutions to this problem, but despite those efforts, we’re still turning down 4.0 students because they’re uncompetitive – and that’s fucking bullshit. So, I don’t blame folks for getting creative on the other side – it would be shocking if they didn’t. Kid does everything right and still can’t get a seat at a public university.

    UCLA and USC most certainly have a shortage of seats relative to the demand.  But I’m willing to bet that the greater Los Angeles area has a wealth of higher education opportunities.  With all the Cal States, and Community colleges and other suburban campuses, how many seats are there for incoming freshmen?  These are infinitely scalable if necessary.  How much can it cost to bring in more professors to meet the demand

    I expect that the real problem is that affluent white parents just don’t want their kids going to Long Beach State or Fullerton State where their kids will be in the minority.

  182. 182.

    Martin

    @Chetan Murthy: Yeah, I can’t say these specific students were qualified, but we could easily admit double the number of students we are currently and easily get them to a degree in 4 years with solid grades. There’s no shortage of really good students out in the world that get denied. And everyone knows that here in CA.

  184. 184.

    dww44

    @randy khan: As an infrequent user of Facebook I clicked on your link.  It’s making me, a classic FB user,  decide RIGHT NOW to choose the light or dark mode of the new version.  I like neither and I absolutely hate being forced to go through a tour of the new Facebook when I simply want to read a post.

    Please know I’m not ranting at you.  I just despise the forcing of consumers to opt into  the version of electronic media they want us to use.  There is no real choice. Now we can add Facebook to Adobe and their PDF’s  at the top of my list for about to be monopolies that I more than resent.

  186. 186.

    Martin

    @Kent: There’s space in the privates, but the CSUs are getting pretty darn selective themselves. Is there space at Biola and Channel Islands? Sure. But do they have the program you want to study? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    How selective are the UCs? We’re denying students that are getting into MIT and Harvard. And we’re not Berkeley, who might have cause to do that. We’re considered part of the back end of the UC train.

  187. 187.

    RaflW

    @Martin: Wow. This really puts it plain what happened to me in college (and, honestly, 30 years later I’m glad for it, but it sucked then).

    My alma mater took in way too many computer science students in my entering year. So my second year, they took a third year 4 credit class and, in theory, made it easier by creating a two semester 6 credit sophomore class.

    My section was taught by a nice but struggling young guy. When I went to him to sign my drop-slip on the last possible day before it would have impacted my GPA, he broke the code of silence (I’m speculating when I say that bit) to tell me: Yeah, you and like 10 others. This was designed to be a wash-out class. Grrrr.

    I took studio art classes, and ended up minoring in urban studies, and eventually graduated Cum Laude with a business degree (and 16 credits more ‘electives’  than needed for graduation). Only my dad who had to help foot the bill was, ultimately, mad.

    But now i understand the funnel that school had. They also had, as I recall, a situation where they wouldn’t really know the enrollment size of any entering class till way late. The school was good but not highly competitive, so people didn’t tend to commit till late.

  188. 188.

    Kent

    @Martin:  I’m not arguing that the UC system hasn’t gotten crazy selective. Just that there are plenty of other options in CA, and for that matter across the entire west for CA students who want to use WUE to attend some place like Boise State or Northern Arizona. There are worse fates to suffer than a denial letter from UCLA.

  190. 190.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Martin:

    But 4 years of straight ‘A’s should be a solid indicator of student quality, above everything else, regardless of the reputation of the school district.

    Oh you sweet summerchild.  Grade inflation is a thing, and it’s been going on a long, long time.  So is hiring people to write your kid’s essays, etc, etc.  Coach your kid thru the application process.  Teach your kid to pass the standardized tests.  Etc.

  191. 191.

    Chetan Murthy

    @RaflW: In 1983, when I entered college, chemical engineering was the thing.  My year, it was EE, and by 3 years later, it was computer science.  How could Rice have coped?  Students don’t declare their majors when they apply: at best, Rice knew I was a science/engineering/pre-med.  Hell, I didn’t know I was an EE until my sophomore year.  So of course there are going to be wash-out courses, b/c there’s no way you can double or triple the capacity of the CS department, and proportionally decrease the capacity of the ChemE department, in a single year.  It’s not happenin’.

  193. 193.

    trollhattan

    @Martin:

    The kid was accepted to thee UCs and waitlisted at a fourth. One of those is presently on fire and I’m not confident Cal and Santa Barbara are in the clear. Check back in December. ALL the kids (HS class of 2020) compare notes and there’s clearly far more than metrics at work on who is and is not accepted, because numbers on a page can be effectively identical with very different outcomes.

    Not singling out UC btw, it’s across the board.

    Between club soccer and admission fees we’re no longer spending we should be able to pay for a few of those books. (Not kidding, a feminism text for fall is $380. Does Trump know about college textbooks yet?)

  194. 194.

    trollhattan

    @RaflW:

    Clearly, Pompeo took the brown acid at some point. Ever notice he looks like Jerry Falwell on a steroids and burgers diet?

  195. 195.

    Chetan Murthy

    @trollhattan: Uh, for some of these textbooks, one presumes you’re aware of the other ways of (ahem) acquiring them, yes?  Though if these are the new-fangled “online interactive” textbooks, I guess that’s not really possible.

  197. 197.

    Ann Marie

    @RaflW: That’s awful.  Hang in there.  Even though you can’t be there with your partner, you are still providing support.  Sending good thoughts to your partner’s father and all your family.

  198. 198.

    RaflW

    @Chetan Murthy: Yup. I started college in ’83. Considered Rice, though I didn’t apply.

    I did get in at RPI in NY, and Rose-Hulman. I’m actually glad I went to a more general ed university, as I was destined to be too much of a slacker to be a CS guy, and by being at TCU (where the real CS majors were excited to get mainframe time at 1am on a Saturday, when I was drunk) I could be ‘undeclared’ and have lots of options by the time i ‘grew up’.

  199. 199.

    Kent

    @trollhattan:Between club soccer and admission fees we’re no longer spending we should be able to pay for a few of those books. (Not kidding, a feminism text for fall is $380. Does Trump know about college textbooks yet?)

    Get your kid a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 https://www.amazon.com/Fujitsu-ScanSnap-iX1500-Document-Scanner/dp/B07J3DB57C/

    Get her a subscription to Adobe Acrobat which should be cheap on campus.

    Go to Kinkos and get the bindings sheared off those textbooks so they can be double-sided scanned through the sheet feeder.

    Instant supply of perfect editable .pdfs of every textbook to sell to friends for $50 a pop or whatever.  Better than the paper texts because they are word searchable if you run the .pdf scan through the Adobe OCR engine.

    Yet it is illegal as hell. But fuck Pearson.

    That is what I’d be doing if I was still in college.

  200. 200.

    Kent

    @trollhattan: ALL the kids (HS class of 2020) compare notes and there’s clearly far more than metrics at work on who is and is not accepted, because numbers on a page can be effectively identical with very different outcomes.

    I think a lot of it has to do with trying to construct a balanced freshman class.  Not too many boys, not too many girls.  Good geographic distribution so your alumni network will be spread wide.  Trying to achieve ethnic and economic diversity.  And so forth.  Public schools are a lot more constrained than privates in that respect.  But not entirely so.

  201. 201.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Kent: From what I  understand, the kids these days have other means of achieving the same end.  That is to say, that somebody else has already done this work.  At least, that’s what I understand from the Youngs I know.

  202. 202.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    Joe’s quote reminds me of the late Jack Layton – Canadian Leader of the New Democratic Party (who was almost elected prime minister).

    “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

    Jack Layton’s last letter to Canadians

  203. 203.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    Interesting. He’s actually sort of quoting a Canadian politician in that meme above, Jack Layton. It’s from his last letter to his party (the NDP) and Canadiansbefore he died of cancer. You can find a copy of his last letter on the CBC website here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jack-layton-s-last-letter-to-canadians-1.991992; in particular read the last paragraph.

    I see that some folks are already pulling in the “plagiarism” label for it, esp. Conservative media up here (I’d be surprised if Cons down with you folks are that aware of him though I’m sure it won’t be long before they twig if they haven’t already); I’d recommend owning it, basically have Biden say “you’re damned right I did, he had the right of it when he said that.”

  204. 204.

    Ann Marie

    @Quantum man: I’m so sorry.  It is so hard to lose beloved pets, and two in short order is too much.  I’m worrying about my older cat who is in decent health, with a little kidney disease, but has started howling for no apparent reason.  I think he may either be losing some of his hearing, or having some dementia.  I can’t bear to think about losing him.

  206. 206.

    featheredsprite

    @Ann Marie: I had an older cat who did some howling during her last few months. She was comforted with a small bowl of cool water and a little company. Good luck to you both.

  208. 208.

    J R in WV

    @Quantum man: 

    SO sorry for both your recent loss and your impending loss. It is so sad that the biggest furry babies live so fast…

    Keep us posted on the Wolfhound baby, sometimes they really surprise you by staying healthy enough for quite a while. In the meantime, love on her, that’s what they want most!

    And take care of yourselves, too!

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