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NOVEMBER 11,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

BOOLA BOOLA – YALE IN THE NEWS – OVERNIGHT, FROM LEGAL INSURRECTION:   The Yale Daily News reports:  "Over the last two decades, the number of managerial and professional staff that Yale employs has risen three times faster than the undergraduate student body, according to University financial reports. The group’s 44.7 percent expansion since 2003 has had detrimental effects on faculty, students and tuition, according to eight faculty members.  In 2003, when 5,307 undergraduate students studied on campus, the University employed 3,500 administrators and managers. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on student enrollment, only 600 more students were living and studying at Yale, yet the number of administrators had risen by more than 1,500 — a nearly 45 percent hike. In 2018, The Chronicle of Higher Education found that Yale had the highest manager-to-student ratio of any Ivy League university, and the fifth highest in the nation among four-year private colleges.  According to eight members of the Yale faculty, this administration size imposes unnecessary costs, interferes with students’ lives and faculty’s teaching, spreads the burden of leadership and adds excessive regulation. By contrast, administrators noted much of this increase can be attributed to growing numbers of medical staff, and that the University has proportionally increased its faculty size."  When will we realize that education is a business?  Some universities today resemble large corporations.  And Yale, despite the bloat, gets vast amounts of your taxpayer money.  It is time to break the "higher education" bubble.  Yes, universities can do some wonderful things, and their medical schools prove it.  But they can also be centers of nonsense, political slant, and oversized bureaucracy.  Many college presidents are paid much more than the president of the United States.  Time to demand an accounting, and to recalibrate our federal aid.

November 11, 2021       Permalink 

YIKES!  DOUBLE YIKES.  OVERNIGHT:  The president is slipping even more in the polls.  If this were the old Soviet Union, he'd be made to disappear.  Ah, for the old days.  From the Federalist:

President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are nose-diving, according to a new poll from The Federalist and Susquehanna Polling & Research.

The poll, which surveyed 800 likely voters nationwide from Nov. 1 through Nov. 9 of 2021, shows Biden’s overall approval rating slipping to just 36 percent, with disapproval at 52 percent. Biden’s approval rating among registered Democrats is just 70 percent, according to the poll, with one in five registered Democrats saying they did not approve of the job Biden is doing as president. Among voters who are registered as independents, only 29 percent said they approved of Biden’s job as president, while 50 percent said they did not approve of Biden.

The poll from The Federalist and Susquehanna also found widespread dissatisfaction with Biden’s economic and immigration policies thus far. On immigration, only 23 percent of voters surveyed approved of Biden’s efforts to stop illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border, while 51 percent said they disapproved of Biden’s policies on immigration.

Similarly, 34 percent of voters said they approved of how Biden has handled economic policies, while 51 percent said they did not approve of the job he has done on the economy. When asked who they thought was most responsible for skyrocketing gas prices, a plurality of voters — 46 percent — said they blamed Biden and congressional Democrats. Only 7 percent blamed Republicans, while 43 percent blamed other economic factors.

The lone bright spot in the poll for the 46th president is his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fifty-one percent said they approved of how he has handled the pandemic, while 46 percent said they did not approve of his COVID-19 efforts.

Critical race theory, which teaches that white people are inherently racist, is extremely unpopular nationwide across nearly all major demographics, the poll also found. When asked whether they believed critical race theory should be taught in government K-12 schools, 59 percent of likely voters surveyed said it should not be taught, with just 26 percent of voters saying the controversial curriculum should be taught in government schools. Even a majority of registered Democrats — 51 percent — said critical race theory should not be taught in schools.

Opposition to critical race theory also transcends race, according to the poll. A plurality of black voters polled — 49 percent — said critical race theory should not be taught, with 42 percent saying it should be taught in school. Sixty-one percent of white voters and 56 percent of Hispanic voters said that critical race theory should not be taught in government K-12 schools.

The American public also has very little regard for the trustworthiness of corporate media outlets, the poll found. When asked whether they “trust the corporate news media to tell the truth,” only 14 percent of respondents agreed. Seventy-eight percent of those polled said they believed “the corporate news media misrepresents facts to push a political agenda.” Among registered independent voters, a whopping 85 percent said they thought the news media misrepresented facts to push political agendas.

The poll also found widespread pessimism about the future of the American public. Instead of asking whether the nation was on the right or wrong track, the poll asked respondents if they believed America is a nation in permanent decline, or if they believed the country’s best days were still ahead of it. Forty-six percent said they believed America’s best days were ahead of it, while 45 percent said they believed America is now a nation in permanent decline.

COMMENT:  Those are the grimmest poll results I've seen so far...if you're a Democrat.  If you're a Republican, there'd have to be an overwhelming desire to go up to your rooftop and shout, "I told you so."

It seems to me that what this poll is saying is that Americans are "on" to the political left.  They know exactly what is being done to them.

However, we must caution, as we always do, that polls are snapshots in time.  We must also caution that the sponsors of the poll are on the political right.  I'd want to see some confirming polls, but I think we will in fact see them.  Maybe not exactly the same numbers, but reasonably close.

The "woke" era is not yet over, but I see rays of sunlight.

November 11, 2021       Permalink

NOVEMBER 10,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE YEAR 2021 – FROM AP:   EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s attorney general apologized Wednesday and said she drank too much booze before last month’s Michigan-Michigan State football game.  “I might be a terrible bartender,” Dana Nessel said.  Nessel told her story on Facebook, even posting a photo of herself slumped in a seat at Spartan Stadium on Oct. 30 with a Michigan hat covering her face.  Nessel, a Democrat, said she had two Bloody Marys on an empty stomach while attending a tailgate party. She joked that “as long as you put enough vegetables in them, it’s practically a salad.”  “I proceeded to go to the game … and started to feel ill. I laid low for a while, but my friends recommended that I leave," Nessel wrote.  She said she was assisted in getting up the stairs and then someone “grabbed a wheelchair so as to prevent me from stumbling in the parking lot.” Nessel said she was driven home.  “I am human. Sometimes I screw up,” she said. “This was definitely one of those times. My apologies to the entire state of Michigan for this mishap, but especially that Michigan fan sitting behind me. Some things you can’t un-see.”  Nessel has said she is running for reelection in 2022.  She'll probably claim she was driven to drink by Donald Trump, and will then go on to win. Clearly, a future Democratic nominee for the Supreme Court.

November 10, 2021      Permalink

FLORIDA BY A KNOCKOUT – OVERNIGHT:  It is clear that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has outmarted California Governor Gavin Newsom in fighting the Covid 19 virus, but don't expect to see it on CNN.  From PJ Media:  

The rate of new COVID-19 cases in California is currently more than twice the rate in Florida, prompting debate about draconian public health measures implemented across the Golden State, like vaccine mandates for small children.

California is averaging 16 new cases per 100,000 residents the last week compared to just seven in Florida.

California’s full vaccination rate (62%) is higher than places like Florida (60) and Texas (54), where state leaders do not enforce mask policies or support strict mandates.

Gavin Newsom: "This is hard for me to say… California is now experiencing an increase. Well, we know why. There's a seasonality to COVID."https://t.co/46u4XXCFQ3 pic.twitter.com/t1HvtDwkq2

The Golden State has seen a surge of more than 60% in new cases in the last two weeks, compared to a 20% drop in the Sunshine State. Clearly, their progressive edicts failed to quell recent outbreaks.

“Gov. DeSantis is proud of Florida’s success with launching monoclonal antibody treatment sites throughout the state, which made a huge impact on lowering hospitalizations and saving lives. Early treatment – getting the monoclonal antibodies as soon as possible after testing positive or experiencing symptoms – cuts the risk of hospitalization by 70% or more,” DeSantis Press Secretary Christina Pushaw told Fox News.

After the delta variant surge in the late summer, coronavirus case and death rates have fallen rapidly throughout the southeast in recent weeks, especially in Florida.

At the same time, some parts of the west and northern plains are seeing a rise in cases as winter weather sets in.

COMMENT:  Wait, wait.  Weren't we supposed to "follow the science"?  Which science were we supposed to follow?  It's perfectly clear that there are a number of approaches to the virus, and that Florida used real science more effectively than did California. 

Will Gov. DeSantis get any credit from the mainstream media for his leadership of Florida during this period of success?  Are you kidding?  Don't even bother to ask.

November 10,  2021     Permalink