He thinks the federal government is a college student’s friend—an e-mail exchange

Really?  Your source?  Did you know the government and its own predatory loans, grants, scholarships, etc. is the main reason the bubble of student loans is bigger than the housing bubble of 2007?  When I entered Manchester College (private) in 1957, a college education was about $1,000 a year with tuition, fees, housing, food and transportation. My sophomore year at the University of Illinois (public) was about the same. 

If you use a calculator for 1957-58 dollars and convert to 2018 dollars, 60 years later, you’ll see what throwing money at colleges does to the costs.  College costs have soared far higher and at a faster rate than medical costs, even though medicine has gone through far greater changes and technological and pharmaceutical improvements. Our lives have been extended by the medical improvements.  A college education has been cheapened; a BA or BS is today not worth a lot except to go on to graduate school and leave with $70,000 in debt.  Colleges have made few changes except to shift most of the faculty to the left of center, add programs in “area studies,” remove Shakespeare and American history, and deny conservatives their right to a bias-free education. The more money government provides to students, the more the universities and colleges raise their tuition and fees. Funny how the “market” works, isn’t it?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, prices in 2018 are 772.10% higher than prices in 1958. The dollar experienced an average inflation rate of 3.68% per year during this period.  In other words, $1,000 in 1958 is equivalent in purchasing power to $8,721.04 in 2018, a difference of $7,721.04 over 60 years.

Do you know any college/university where a student can attend for $8,721 a year? All costs, not just tuition and fees. Administrative costs have soared as more and more non-faculty are added, especially in the huge departments of equality, diversity, disability that may have 50 or so employees (at OSU) as well as those assigned to the individual departments, courses are watered down or expanded so it now takes 5-6 years to finish rather than 4, young men and women are encouraged to remain adolescents longer and remain in parents’ care until late 20s, very odd courses are required for students, staff and faculty like “hate speech” or “appropriate non-sexist dating behavior” which chew up many hours that could be  useful for studying and which make the old “in loco parentis” of my era look like wild freedom.

No one can reverse this overbearing, interfering federal meddling in higher education except the Department of Education, and since even Republicans don’t like to give up power, I think not much will come of this except more money being thrown at the problem, and a bigger bureaucracy to make sure the tax payers get screwed again.

What is the infrastructure candidates talk about?

Infrastructure.  Trump talked about it, so did Obama, so did Bush and Clinton.  We only seem to hear about it when someone (of either party) is running for president. But the federal government’s percentage of ownership and cost is very small, so why?

About 97% of what we call infrastructure  is owned and paid for by local governments and private interests.   I found this one really enlightening—I had no idea, but then, we don’t know what we don’t know.  In 2015, private infrastructure assets of $40.7 trillion were four times larger than state and local assets of $10.1 trillion, and 27 times larger than federal assets of $1.5 trillion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Where the federal government does figure for this issue is regulation of and taxes on—I think Donald Trump being in real estate, realizes the heavy hand of government squeezing all businesses. 

https://www.cato.org/publications/tax-budget-bulletin/who-owns-us-infrastructure

Politics and healthcare

At the coffee shop today I was reading the Oct. 9, JAMA and noticed an editorial on "Politics and Healthcare." JAMA's left of center, but I thought I'd take a look. Praise for Lyndon Johnson and Medicare in 1965, praise for Barack Obama and PPACA (Obamacare) in 2010 and then 3-4 paragraphs lambasting President Trump who, but for McCain, would have been able to undo Obama's disastrous grab of the private sector and 1/5 of the economy. It's one of the reasons Trump was elected--the people hated it, especially those who lost good coverage or lost their doctor or were forced to buy coverage for contraception and abortion. Obamacare was the only significant piece of social legislation that got zero support from Republicans, who had supported FDR and social security, and LBJ and Medicare. In fact, it's doubtful those programs would have passed without Republican support. It is the Obama administration that created the extreme partisanship we see today, not President Trump.

Yes indeed. Politics and healthcare in black and white in JAMA. So I looked up the author, Donald M Berwick--he's retired, but has been on just about every government board and committee to give us socialized medicine, was part of the Clinton administration, and even worked with the British National Health Service and was knighted by the Queen! I would not have expected anything else from him.

Have you heard of this scam?

This warning about a delivery scam came in my e-mail. It did not happen to me. And I have no idea who the "victim" writing in first person is. But we receive odd phone calls everyday about changing our utilities carrier, packages about to be delivered, asking about our pain, telling us our computer has a problem and that we have college debt to settle. So this one just sounds like a new wrinkle. If these scams didn't work (maybe one out of thousands), they would go away. I only removed the part about passing it along to friends and family. “This is a new scam! This is very clever.  I would probably fall for it if not warned. Give this wide distribution.  This scam is actually very clever.  Just when you thought you'd heard it all.  Be very careful out there!  Beware of people bearing gifts. The following is a recounting of the incident from the victim: Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone saying that he was from some outfit called: "Express Couriers," ( The name could be any courier company).  He asked if I was going to be home because there was a package for me that required a signature. The caller said that the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour. Sure enough, about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and a bottle of wine. I was very surprised since there was no special occasion or holiday, and I certainly didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued, I inquired as to who the sender was. The courier replied, "I don't know, I'm only delivering the package." Apparently, a greeting card was being sent separately. (The card has never arrived!) There was also a consignment note with the gift. He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a $3.50 "delivery/ verification charge," providing proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult (of legal drinking age), and not just left it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by anyone, especially a minor. This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the delivery company required payment to be by credit or debit card only, so that everything is properly accounted for, and this would help in keeping a legal record of the transaction. He added, "Couriers don't carry cash to avoid loss or likely targets for robbery." My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled out his credit card, and the "delivery man," asked him to swipe the card on a small mobile card machine with a small screen and keypad. Frank, my husband, was asked to enter his PIN number and a receipt was printed out. He was given a copy of the transaction. The guy said everything was in order, and wished us good day. To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, $4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various ATM machines. Apparently the "mobile credit card machine," which the deliveryman carried now had all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card with all our card details including the PIN number. Upon finding out about the illegal transactions on our card, we immediately notified the bank which issued us a new card, and our credit/debit account was closed. We also personally went to the police, where it was confirmed that it is definitely a scam because several households had been similarly hit. WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package," which you neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind of payment as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also, never accept anything If you do not personally know or there is no proper identification of who the sender is. Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit card information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!”

It’s not about breakfast cereal anymore

Today I received in my e-mail a notice about The Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Reading through the blurb it appears to be an organization to funnel voters into the Democrat Party because there's no policy or plans, just vague buzz words about racial healing, equity and full potential: Nine organizations.

• NAACP;
• Advancement Project’s national office;
• Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF);
• Demos;
• Faith in Action;
• National Congress of American Indians,
• National Urban League;
• Race Forward;
• UnidosUS.

Seems to have evolved out of the Ferguson riots 4 years ago.

We have so many wealthy foundations and non-profits throwing money at social justice and racial equity projects I'm beginning to see them as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. I'm wondering if the bureaucracy of the NGOs (there are 1.5 million in the U.S.) isn't rivaling that of the federal government.

The wage gap myth

Women earn less than men in the same job at the same hourly wage with the same union benefits because they choose to. Yes. With everything else the same, the paycheck is less because men work more overtime. And on a broader scale, men take the jobs with more risk, and they are more willing to move where the better jobs are. A study of librarians over 20 years ago showed that--men moved more often and had more publications. For over a decade, more women have been graduating from college, but not in the same fields as men. There are limited opportunities for dance majors and art historians. In the trades, there are wonderful opportunities, but women aren't flocking there--don't want to mess up the manicure. We live in a competitive, capitalist country (except where the government interferes) and if the CEO can make more money hiring qualified women, she will do it.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/12/harvard-study-confirms-the-gender-wage-gap-is-just-a-myth/

MS-13 in Maryland

“MS-13 is a gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, with members operating in the state of Maryland, including Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Frederick County, and throughout the United States.  Branches or “cliques” of MS-13 often work together cooperatively to engage in criminal activity and to assist one another in avoiding detection by law enforcement.  In Maryland and the surrounding area, these cliques include ParkView Locos Salvatrucha (PVLS), Normandie Locos Salvatrucha  or “Normandie,” Sailors Locos Salvatrucha Westside or Langley Park Salvatrucha, Weedoms Locos Salvatrucha “Weedoms”, and Cabanas Locos Salvatruchas.  MS-13 cliques often combine and work together as “Programs,” with the purpose of increasing the gang’s levels of organization, violence, extortion, and other criminal activity. A person within the participating cliques is selected as the program leader.

To protect the gang and to enhance its reputation, MS-13 members and associates are expected to use any means necessary to force respect from those who show disrespect, including acts of intimidation and violence.  MS-13’s creed is based on one of its mottos, “Mata, roba, viola, controla,” which translates to, “kill, steal, rape, control.””

https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2018/09/07/maryland-ms-13-program-leader-pleads-guilty

“Organized in local MS-13 units called “cliques,” the Maryland gangs put prospective members under long periods of “observations” before allowing them in. Ascension in the gang involves at least five rank designations, according to federal court records, with clique leaders using social media and coded words to stay in constant contact with superiors in the United States and El Salvador.”

The Washington Post article refers to crimes carried out many years before Trump became president, yet so many insist that there is no danger here—just prejudice and racism. Tell that to the families of the murdered men.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/behind-the-rise-in-seemingly-chaotic-ms-13-violence-a-structured-hierarchy/2017/03/18/53ee3f76-051a-11e7-b1e9-a05d3c21f7cf_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bd5999c0be8d

If only CNN had been on the job then

A few years ago (Dec. 2015) the Blaze published an expose about Muslims in the Obama White House, but the link gave me the dreaded 404 message. But I found it at one of those archive sites.

https://whatyouthoughtiwentaway.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/a-detailed-look-at-the-purge-of-u-s-counter-terrorism-training-by-the-obama-administration/?

But no scandals for Obama; not a one.

"Purges, blacklists, book banning, mandatory “re-education” and punishment would otherwise sound like a program by the Khmer Rouge, not so-called U.S. “civil rights” organizations. But these events of “Black October” would set in motion a radical shift in our nation’s national security and counter-terrorism policies."

If we just had had a free press during the Obama years. . . Like a CNN watchdog over the presidency like we have now.

Black man wants to help people in the “hood.”

What happened to a Columbus couple who came out for Trump. The left tried to destroy their business (and succeeded). Imagine what would have happened if someone from the right had tried to destroy a black family business.  CNN would have been hectoring us for weeks.

https://youtu.be/N1IH6e4p3wk

https://www.thegoodfrank.com/redwave

The predictable New Old Left of the 21st century

Today's New Old Left has merged with the New Left of the 1960s--Jerry Rubin, Jane Fonda, and Bill Ayers, Obama's old neighborhood buddy, who helped launch his presidency. The New Old Left uses the methods of Mao and Stalin, yet instead of organizing coal miners, they want to destroy the coal industry. They've got a long list of forbidden words, whereas the New Left liked to shout out obscene words to shock.

"No wonder the New Old Left shares the worst traits of both inheritances: protestors shout profanities and yell in classrooms and lecture halls, but their shouts are boring and predictable. With all the boilerplate directives of “white privilege”, “intersectionality” and “institutional racism,” Antifa protestors sound like hippies as they shout out New Left obscenities, but they also put on black riot gear and masks, and resemble the old well-organized communist street mobs of the 1930s."

Victor Davis Hanson, “The Rise of the New Old Left.” https://www.hoover.org/research/rise-new-old-left?

Condo Christmas party

We had a wonderful Christmas party/progressive dinner with our neighbors last night. Such fun and delightful people.

News of the day, Monday December 10

*I am so done with "hate speech." With AI we'll soon have "hate thoughts" and even if no word was uttered, you'll lose a job, or a position of honor or a Heisman Trophy. Right now we're down to two categories that can be insulted with impunity--Trump supporters and old ladies with white hair (I've had to leave the liberal social media platforms for the threats due to my age--"die old hag--make room on the planet for people worth it"). I hope the reporter who dug through the twitter trash of a 14 year old is happy.

I'm about to start sticking up for the ridiculous rap artists who say ugly things about light skin black women (the only black women allowed in their videos) just so they can have freedom of speech and act dumb when asked about it, denying they mean any disrespect.

**It's perfectly clear now. It has always been about getting Trump out of office, to undo the will of the people and never was about Russia. If it were about Russia, they'd be investigating Clinton and the deep state that works within the "Just-Us" Department.  They’d be going after Strzok, and Comey, and Ohl, instead of trying to rescue Obama’s “legacy” and saving Hillary. Millions of tax dollars have gone to a slush fund to protect the offices and skin of members of Congress who have been sued for various problems, but no out of control prosecutor has tried to kick them out of office. If Trump paid off a prostitute, it was his own money.  Democrats intend to do nothing of the “people’s work” the next two years, and believe they were elected to try to unseat Trump.

***Same old, same old for 40 years. Global warming aka climate change.  I think the agnostics/atheists care deeply about the creation because they don't believe the Creator, or that there was one. Let's get our priorities right. Clean up our own messes first, house, yard, neighborhood, then work outward. Rid ourselves of hate, anger and lies, then work on the plastic bottles, Styrofoam cups and plastic straws. Work up to not flying our luxury jets to climate conferences.

****If a conservative mob on social media had attacked a black business man and destroyed his small business, it would have been national news for weeks on CNN. But if leftist haters do it, then it's just business as usual.  Marcella Jackson and her husband will rebuild because they believe in the American dream, and that isn't socialism.

Marcella was a “closet conservative. . . “ until a few months ago when a radical LEFTIST attacked my and my husband's small sausage business after being seen on stage at a Delaware Trump rally.

I watched in horror as leftists smeared my husband online and called him a racist and a hate monger. I watched them leave nasty messages, write bad reviews and down vote our business without having ever tried our amazing sausages or vegan products.

Frankly, I knew people could be mean spirited, but I did not expect them to harass our business customers or convince our landlord not to renew our rental agreement. I never thought people would attack a stranger without so much as verifying if the information that they were acting on was true.

But they did. In about a weeks time we found ourselves essentially without income.”

Latinx and other made up words

More phony words from leftists. ". . . Latinx Pop Culture class take us on a journey into his co-curated exhibit, Tales from La Vida: Latinx Comics, at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State." (announcement from Ohio State University) 

Wikipedia: “Latinx is a gender neutral term sometimes used in lieu of Latino or Latina. The -x replaces the standard o/a ending in Spanish and Portuguese forming nouns of the masculine and feminine genders, respectively. The term is a political neologism that has gained traction among advocacy groups combining racial and gender identity politics.”

The Census Bureau made up the words Latina and Latino and Hispanic to reflect the ethnicity/heritage of someone from Mexico, Central America, South America (except Brazil) and some of the islands (not those with French or Dutch colonial history), but not Spain the nation. When the Left decided gender, a grammar term, was actually biological bad science, that got messy. Spanish is a language with gender sensitive nouns and adjectives so the mighty American Left which speaks English, a Germanic language, has decided gender in fake Spanish needs to go.

“In 2015, over 9,000 Latinx people were diagnosed, and nearly 80% of these were among MSM. The CDC has estimated that if such rates persist, one in four Latinx gay and bisexual men will have HIV in their lifetimes.” (Resource Center for Latinos)

Conservatory a great place to take kids

We had a Lakeside event at the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Thursday evening, and it was fun to see our summer friends. However, when we toured the building all decked out with wonderful Christmas themes in flowers, plants, model trains, topiary flamingos decked in neon, a gingerbread competition and glass bulb Christmas trees (there are at least 16 special displays), we were particularly impressed by the young people and families flooding in with babies, children and friends. Even when we left about 8 p.m. they were standing in line for tickets.

What are liberals doing to college students?

Some of us, usually Republicans or Conservatives, think it's a bad idea to have such a high percent of our college faculty  liberal/Democrat/progressive. They are turning out graduates with $70,000 debt much of it from the government, who leave with social science degrees and poor earning potential, who can't afford to get married, or to buy a home, or to have children. Then with envy in their hearts they listen to socialists and vote for Democrats. Is this the Democrats' secret plan to bring down the country?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8427-2005Mar28.html  (2005)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/11/the-dramatic-shift-among-college-professors-thats-hurting-students-education/?utm_term=.60388b5d2ab4  (2016)

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/27/research-confirms-professors-lean-left-questions-assumptions-about-what-means (2017) defensive

http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/05/07/nearly-40-percent-top-liberal-arts-colleges-have-no-republican-professors (2018)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/most-u-s-college-students-afraid-to-disagree-with-professors-1540588198 (2018, James Freeman)

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/college-students-love-socialism-dont-have-clue-what-it-means

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/01/10/students-more-liberal-but-its-not-because-their-professors-james-piereson-naomi-riley-column/1012622001/ (opposite viewpoint)

Marketplace—a fascinating website

Sometimes I see something on Columbus Marketplace and wonder what Chip and Joanna Gaines (HGTV) could do with this?

When selling property, it never hurts to remove the trash bags from the front yard.  Of course, it says, “as is” and I guess new owner gets the trash.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/columbus/

“4BR 2bath 1846sf SF house in Grove City OH 43123
WB fireplace, finished attic/loft (can be converted to 5th BR), finished basement, 0.3 acre lot, built 1938, Southwestern school district. As-Is. cash/hard money/conventional loan”

https://www.countryliving.com/home-design/a37022/chip-and-joanna-gaines-christmas-decor/

https://www.countryliving.com/shopping/g3403/magnolia-home-decor/

Are they Bush values, and what happened to them?

Daniel Henninger remembers what happened in the 1990s, and it wasn’t President Trump in the Wall Street Journal.

“Most of the Bush values can be found on any list of what are called—or used to be called—virtues. It is telling that these same simple virtues are now being praised by a media that has done so much in the past 30 years to undermine them.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-didnt-kill-the-bush-values-1544053897?fbclid=IwAR3VqUXD2tkEEw39P17-ak0voNmiht5V_InCevSLoZ7sOqK0zTMfkCASJS8

I wasn’t even a Republican back then, yet I thought the way the media savaged Barbara Bush and Dan Quayle was disgraceful. The attacks on the religious right were loud and proud, and Jeff Bezos didn’t even own WaPo then!

Some worry that the Trumps didn’t sing the hymns or recite the creed at Bush 41 funeral

I am a Lutheran and our one congregation has 3 styles of worship, traditional, contemporary and loud rock, and I don't sing many of the praise/songs at some of the alternative services because I don't know them or I don't like them. Also, not all Christian churches use the Apostles Creed, and not all Christians are familiar with it. I've attended services where it sounds like a local committee wrote the creed of the day, and I don't say it. There are 35,000 (approx.) Protestant and non-denominational/Bible only groups, plus multiple rites within the Catholic tradition, many orthodox and Eastern Christian groups. Christianity is a very big tent, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-language and multi-liturgy or no liturgy, and there are no requirements to sing or recite anything, especially when in unfamiliar territory. The trick to attending a different service is to always sit in the back row and observe--which obviously the Trumps couldn't do.

Unfortunately, many in the media used the very lovely tributes to Bush 41 to slam Trump.  They just can’t help themselves.

Deadly dogs

How awful for the pet owner. Can't even imagine how terrible to experience this. A Yorkshire terrier (adorable, fluff balls) being walked by his owner on a leash, was attacked and killed by two pit bulls off leash in the Columbus Polaris area (heard on radio, don't have link). The pit bulls have been put down. I know those of you who have pit bulls love them and claim they are gentle, but they have been bred to attack and kill if they perceive a prey or a threat. All dogs will bite, but some have the strength and jaws to be lethal.

When I tried to find a link, I was horrified by the number of stories about Yorkies being killed by pit bulls that came up for different states and years.

Christmas party attire

We attended a lovely Christmas dinner with our Conestoga group (Ohio history) last night in Clintonville.  I wore a nice black dress, with full coverage, but that makes no difference when it’s made of a synthetic fabric.  I was freezing, and since we were there early because the couple we went with had some responsibilities, I wore my coat for about an hour before dinner.  We have another dinner tonight with our Lakeside friends at the Conservatory on the east side of Columbus. I’m still not going to wear slacks like most older ladies do, but I’m thinking of a black sweater and skirt with a red jacket with a nice seasonable pin so I can at least be comfortable.  In the “olden days” of wool winter clothing, drafty banquet halls were not such a problem, or else my blood was thicker.