Monday Open Comments

elitism

If you don’t think dumbing down the SAT isn’t one more front in the assault on the American Ideal, think again.

As we’ve written before, “We have the terms ‘privileged’ and ‘disadvantaged’ for a reason: Some people are born into more fortunate circumstances than others. Tinkering with the SAT won’t change this fundamental fact of life.” The College Board should do everything in its power to make the SAT as fair and predictive as possible. But it was probably a mistake—and a distraction from other, more important efforts—for the test-maker to create the expectation that its revamped exam would deal a major blow to socioeconomic inequality in America.

As Professor Glenn Reynolds said: You want to reduce inequality? Make success less contingent on attending expensive institutions.


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75 responses to “Monday Open Comments”

  1. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Hey, It’s Monday!!
    Back to the salt mine.
    Mornin’ Gang

  2. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Monday Wahoo!!

  3. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Good morning Hamsters. Peaceful and still with 62 at 6, but that won’t last long according to the weather service web and TV weathermen. Wind advisory is up for later today, and it looks to be pretty vigorous heralding in the rainy days. It’s good that our immediate outside chores were taken care of on the weekend.

    So forward march onto the next primaries or caucuses.

  4. Sarge Avatar

    I was a yugely bad weekend for Donald Trump

    Louisiana, however, was a primary rather than a caucus. Trump won the state on strength of early voters. He lost among people who showed up on election day. The RealClearPolitics polling average showed him leading by 15.6 percentage points, but he only carried Louisiana by 3.6 points.

    Trump finished on the low end of his March polling, with a shade more than 41 percent of the vote, while Cruz overperformed even the high end at better than 37 percent.

    If there was any sign that an anti-Trump vote is coming together, we saw it in Louisiana.

  5. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Evidence suggests that new voting restrictions are at least a contributing factor.

    Eight out of the 16 states that have held primaries or caucuses so far have implemented new voter ID or other restrictive voting laws since 2010. Democratic turnout has dropped 37 percent overall in those eight states, but just 13 percent in the states that didn’t enact new voter restrictions. To put it another way, Democratic voter turnout was 285 percent worse in states with new voter ID laws.

    Or as Thomas Lifson says:

    The numbers tell a story, and you can draw the obvious conclusions. Because the mainstream media certainly won’t. Keep this statistic in mind the next time some progressive tries to claim voter fraud is not a serious problem.

  6. Sarge Avatar

    And as bad as Trump’s weekend was, and despite the ass kicking he gave Trump in Puerto Rico, Marco Rubio’s weekend was even worse.

    To my mind, the most fascinating and important aspect of Ted Cruz’s Super Saturday is what has become of the GOP’s formerly sparkling golden boy, Marco Rubio. The poster child for the party’s hopefulness of audacity has simply failed, limping out of Saturday night’s matchups with zero wins and 13 delegates. Rubio has now competed in 19 presidential primaries and caucuses. He’s lost 18 of them.

    As important as it is for Republicans to comprehend why Trump and Cruz have done so well, they could benefit even more from coming to terms with why Rubio has done so poorly. For Trump’s support is a mirror image of the party’s full court press for Rubio.

    From the beginning, Rubio was the face of establishmentarianism today, establishmentarianism tomorrow, and establishmentarianism forever. More Dubya-esque even than Jeb, more chipper than even Lindsey Graham, he was, on paper, the perfect dauphin: Change generations and ethnicities, and pow — no further change needed!

  7. Sarge Avatar

    This post explains just how bad Louisiana actually was for Trump.

    Ted Cruz erased a 20-point gap in Louisiana in less than a week and actually won the Election Day vote. That’s absolutely incredible.

    And as of late tonight, the projection is that Trump will get 15 Louisiana delegates to Cruz’ 14, with 22 yet to be allotted at the state convention March 12. Essentially, Louisiana was a tie.

    And while Louisiana is next door to Cruz’ stomping grounds in Texas, and in fact his mother graduated from St. Joseph’s Academy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is a state better suited for Trump than anyone else. Louisiana voters have traditionally gone for the most bombastic, the most inappropriate and the most entertaining candidates in the race, regardless of ideology. That’s how Huey Long became the Kingfish, it’s how Earl Long was able to win election from the state mental hospital, it’s how Jimmy Davis won the governorship almost solely thanks to “You Are My Sunshine,” it’s how Edwin Edwards managed to do what he did and it’s why Billy Nungesser and Jeff Landry are the GOP’s two rising stars in the state. Big personalities pay off here, so there is no reason Trump wouldn’t.

    And yet Cruz beat Trump by half a point among the Election Day votes.

    Trump was beating Cruz by almost 24 points before the debate, and early voting shows that. But those who made up their minds after the debate nearly erased that lead.

  8. Sarge Avatar

    After Congressional District distribution of delegates, Trump and Cruz are now exactly tied in Louisiana.

    Louisiana has 6 Congressional Districts, and each gets 3 delegates (18 total). In five of those districts the state GOP is unofficially calling it as Cruz, Rubio, and Trump all getting 1 delegate… except in LA-05, where Cruz gets 2 and Trump gets 1. Thus, the current score is 18-18, with 5 for Rubio and the other 5 officially unaffiliated*. All of this, by the way, will be the subject of much vigorous debate and discussion in Louisiana political circles over the next week, which probably means that there’s going to be a brawl at the upcoming state convention.

    Still: if you thought that Donald Trump’s awful, no-good night was at least over for him, rest assured: it’s not. The universe itself conspires to come back to the tableau* of his humiliation and dump one last small, yet stinking, dollop of embarrassment on his head. As it stands now, the guy didn’t even win the delegate count in Louisiana.

  9. El Gordo Avatar

    Rudio has got to exemplify what the short person syndrome is all about. He assumed that once he told the people what they wanted to hear and got himself elected that he was free to do as he saw fit and to heck with the promises he had made to them. His ambition led him to believe that he was on the fast track to stardom, and off he went lying and deceiving all the way. So long Rudio, I’ve had enough of your kind (I suspect a few others have as well). It’s a real shame because you could have been a good one if you had any principles that you could adhere to.

  10. Tedtam Avatar

    Just saw something posted on FB about rattlesnake warnings, what with the weather warming and all. Showed a full grown snake with a bunch of baby snakes…

    ….nursing.

    Holy crap, are people really that stupid?

    Oh, there are the Hillary voters….

  11. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    This is a Trump “Deal”.

    Trump Tower Funded by Rich Chinese Who Invest Cash for Visas

    Yet no skills are required of the wealthy Chinese being courted by a Chinese-subtitled video to help finance a huge Trump-branded tower in New Jersey. The video leads viewers behind the wheel of a car into Jersey City with scenes of the tower, all to the tune of the theme song from The Sopranos, “Woke Up This Morning.”

    The video was produced to help raise tens of millions of dollars through a controversial government program that offers expedited visas to foreign investors overwhelmingly from China. While the program has many supporters who argue it attracts foreign capital and creates jobs at no U.S. taxpayer cost, congressional overseers and Homeland Security have raised sharp concerns. Applicants are sometimes cleared in less than a month and the critics say the government is essentially selling visas to wealthy foreigners with no proven skills, paving the way for money laundering and compromising national security.

  12. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Caution Everyone ! Hell Just Froze Over !

    Michael MooreVerified account
    ‏@MMFlint

    Flint has voted for Dems for 84 straight yrs. What did it get us? For 18 months Dems remained silent &ignored pleas while Flint was poisoned

    RETWEETS
    1,008
    LIKES
    1,178

    2:40 PM – 6 Mar 2016

  13. Sarge Avatar

    The owner of casinos in Atlantic City has mob ties?

    C’mon—–who you tryna kid?

  14. squawkbox Avatar
    squawkbox

    Friggin Houston has USURPED Flawidahs crown for weirdness.

    HIGHWAY 290 SHUT DOWN FOLLOWING CRASH, NAKED WOMAN ON FREEWAY

  15. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    10 Tedtam

    That’s the little-known cow snake.

  16. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    14 SQK
    Been watching all morning. Confirming my suspicions, at one point she held up a sign,
    while dancing on top of the tractor trailer, “Been missing you, Squawk!”.

  17. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    16 Shannon

    That woman is Squawk’s former swamper and she’s been waiting all this time for Squawk to come back and start driving that truck again.

  18. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    17
    Cousin Myrtle!!

  19. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Related: I hear that prices paid for scrap metal won’t even pay for gasoline to haul it. Clearly, China isn’t buying it in previous volumes….

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/global-steel-slump-roots-china-shakes-mining-towns-37461210

  20. Tedtam Avatar

    Had some more stress with Mom this morning…then I made a gratitude list.

    Suddenly, she’s not such a problem any more.

  21. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Wind warning is in effect all night and well into tomorrow. Some gusts out here are getting pretty potent. Am thinking it would be wise to bring flowerpots up near or onto the back porch for protection. The wind isn’t going away when the rain starts.

    The eGOP keep rending garments and gnashing teeth over the latest citizen votes. Getting the idea they don’t like us any more. We keep poking holes in their bubbles.

    Paul Ryan needs to stay as far away as he can from lunatics who want to plug him in as a candidate for President. Flat out say NO and skip the “I’m flattered” part. Same goes for Romney, who apparently does not mind being courted.

    Gad. Can you say parallel universe?

  22. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    “Trump has nothing to do with politics or ideology. He has to do with himself… The problem with saying that guys like that are monsters is that we don’t see them coming when they turn out to be human, which they all are. Everyone is. Trump is a messed up guy with a hole in his heart that he tries to fill with money and attention. He can never ever have enough of either and he’ll never stop trying. He’s sick. Which makes him really really interesting. And he pulls you towards him which somehow feels good or fascinatingly bad. He’s not a monster. He’s a sad man. But all this makes him horribly dangerous if he becomes president. Give him another TV show. Let him pay to put his name on buildings. But please stop voting for him.”–Louis CK

  23. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    GERMANY BANS SAUSAGES: Pork banned in cafes and schools to ‘not offend refugees’

    Pretty amazing. Those Germans don’t eat much beef and the beef they do eat is horrible.

    Chicken futures going up?

  24. Tedtam Avatar

    Chicken futures going up?

    Well, certainly in the GOP headquarters. I’m sure they’re all wetting their respective boxers or briefs.

  25. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Shannon, please tell me your #24 is a joke! Pretty please!

  26. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    26 Texmo
    See Drudge

  27. Tedtam Avatar

    Germany, once one of the most feared countries in the world, reduced to a sniveling mass of quivering jelly over dietary exposure to the public.

    Sad.

  28. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Oh the insanity of it all! Have no fear though, this Irish, French, German, Czech mutt will proudly carry on the tradition of consuming pork in its associated German forms.

  29. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    An Eckermanns Sausage in every pot, I always say.

    Texas’ Finest, from Shelby, TX.

    http://www.eckermannsmeatmarket.com/product/garlic-smoked-sausage-2/

  30. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Two weeks ago I found out that my children’s piano teacher has breast cancer. They originally thought that it was stage 2. Last week she found out that it has metastasized and has spread throughout her entire body.

    Her husband died about 10 years ago due to cancer and had an absolute horrendous experience. She does not want a repeat of what he went through. She said all that she is asking God is for grace and dignity in her death. It seems her prayers are being answered. She went in for her first chemo last Thursday and my children’s lessons are on Fridays. I could not tell that she had a treatment and neither could she. In fact she asked the nurse that called her on Friday morning to check on her whether or not they had given her chemo or if it was a placebo. She was assured that she had received the real deal.

    The piano teacher is opting for a low dose chemo just to buy her time to get her affairs in order. She probably has only 6 months to live. Teaching piano is her joy and purpose in life and I agreed that I would keep bringing my children to her as long as she was willing and able to teach. I expect this to be a somewhat surreal experience for me to meet with her week after week knowing that her end in this world is very close.

    She does not want prayers for healing. As she puts it she only wants prayers for “grace and dignity”.

  31. Hamous Avatar

    “The Evangelicals love me!” Well…maybe not so much.

    For example, when looking at Super Tuesday exit polls in the southern states several things are striking. First, while Trump has in some states carried a plurality of evangelical voters, the same data reveals that, on average, 64% of evangelicals in all southern states voted for someone other than Trump.

    None of the media even questioned his “We won with the Evangelicals” meme.

    We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.

    So he’s got dat going for him…which is nice.

  32. Hamous Avatar

    Prayers up, TexMo.

  33. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    Trump’s public verbal faux pas are started to be cleaned up by staffers. I just heard on a Medved interview that Trump’s statement about how the military would do anything he told them to do, because he’s a leader, has been corrected. But it was corrected in writing, apparently delivered to WSJ. This happened several days ago, but I had not previously seen or heard it mentioned.
    http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/04/did-trump-just-reverse-himself-on-making-the-military-obey-illegal-orders/

  34. squawkbox Avatar
    squawkbox

    Add her to my prayer list Texmo. I will pray according to her wishes.

  35. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    This is for Adee’s eyes only. Well, or anyone else who doesn’t do FB but wants a peek at

  36. fat albert Avatar
    fat albert

    I’ve come to the conclusion that Trumpites are much like Paulistans (the 2 groups probably overlap to some degree). They’re not interested in rational discussions, they’re not interested in facts, and they’re not interested in agreeing to disagree. Either you submit and agree or you are an establishment/liberal idiot.

    The only way to deal with them is to simply refuse to discuss any aspect of politics at all. The irrationality is breathtaking.

  37. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    #31 TexMo

    What a terrible shock for this brave lady and for all who are her friends. This must be a huge event in your children’s lives, for which loving guidance is essential for them to cope with and understand what is happening. It’s a sad but unavoidable milestone on the road to maturity.

    Kneemail launched that her prayers are answered.

  38. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    #36 mharper42

    Gypsy’s little family sure is growing fast thanks to their good home and good food. They are darling and especially endearing because Gypsy looks very much like our beloved Valentine 2 who is resting peacefully in a spot he favored in the back yard.

  39. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Prayers up, Texmo

  40. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    All of these aging female media whores now talk so glowingly about Nancy Reagan, after ridiculing her, at best, way back when.

    /further comment self deleted.

  41. Hamous Avatar

    #41 – I thought the same thing when I read an article from that screeching Myna bird Eleanor Clift.

  42. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Misting/drizzle over here since noon.
    Now drizzle/rain.

  43. El Gordo Avatar

    Fun stuff like this never happens out here. There are some things I really miss about the city, such as this incident out on 290 this morning
    http://www.ktrh.com/onair/michael-berry-13986/kenny-allen-the-great-crazy-nekid-14459518/

  44. phil Avatar
    phil

    #37

    I’m going to have to irrationally agree to disagree with you.

    Not interested in facts? The facts are The Halloween Conservatives, that would rather have Hillary than Trump, are reaping what they’ve sown for years and years and especially the last 8.

    When you’ve been stabbed in the back so many times you have no back left, it’s time for a change.

  45. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Newman’s Own Pepperoni Thin & Crispy Whole Grain Crust Pizza is remarkably good.
    Like with any other frozen pizza I still add extra sauce, pepperoni, and mozzarella, but they have the crust down pat. Darn near perfect. If you like thin crust.

    Recommend cooking an extra two minutes. And add jalapeños, of course.

  46. Hamous Avatar

    The facts are The Halloween Conservatives, that would rather have Hillary than Trump, are reaping what they’ve sown for years and years and especially the last 8.

    Out of the 14 candidates they’ve thrust upon us this year only two are left standing and they’re dead men walking. Not too many people are paying any mind to what they want.

  47. phil Avatar
    phil

    My reference is to all the ones in the House, the Senate and the Halloween Conservative media.

  48. phil Avatar
    phil

    Not to mention all the Rove type apparatus in the GOeP.

  49. El Gordo Avatar

    I knew that those cats weren’t moving out any time soon.

  50. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    EG, be reasonable. 🙂 Have to be weaned before they can be adopted.

  51. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Some Rubio advisers say get out before Florida.
    AMEN!! He WILL LOSE Florida, to Trump, unless is Cruz/Trump head to head then it’s 50/50. Cruz will have a good chance to win the whole thing. Yanno’ if the little Cuban Midget cared about ANYTHNG besides his over inflated ego, he’d bow out now!……………………….SPITS ~

  52. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    As our candidates debate the size of one of their penises, meanwhile……

    A FATHER has been hospitalised after being attacked by a ‘Sharia patrol’ in Vienna, sparking fears that parts of the Austrian capital are becoming no-go areas, according to reports

    Migrants have reportedly been sweeping through the European city’s bars and clubs, hassling women to dress and act appropriately, allegedly leaving many fearing to go outside on their own.

    Groups of migrants are also said to be establishing their own territory by staking claims in parts of the Millennium City, while it has been reported that factions have ordered women to act and dress appropriately.

  53. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    I could be wrong but I’m having trouble envisioning Sharia patrols making much headway, say, in Baytown or Pearland bars.

  54. Sarge Avatar

    I’ve come to the conclusion that Trumpites are much like Paulistans (the 2 groups probably overlap to some degree). They’re not interested in rational discussions, they’re not interested in facts, and they’re not interested in agreeing to disagree. Either you submit and agree or you are an establishment/liberal idiot.

    They just want their safe space. Call in some muscle.

  55. Hamous Avatar

    Well, this will surely sink Cruz for Phil.

    What was it that someone said the other day? What’s wrong with Cruz? He got elected.

  56. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    56
    Heh.

    But you might get fired.

  57. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    I can tell Cruz is gaining momentum by the “Cruz is worse than Trump” apoplectic foaming at the mouth stories appearing in my FB news feed from lefty liberal friends.

  58. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Thank you Lord for the wisdom you gave me in shutting down my FB page.

  59. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    I just can’t see these Sharia patrols making headway in Vienna. I spent some time at the Austrian Consulate Generals house in Casablanca… let’s just say they are not too inhibited on quite a few social, ahem behavoirs.

    Of course I found out that Germans are now embracing the other white meat…chicken.

  60. Katfish Avatar

    Texmo kneemail is UP for God’s will (and the teacher;s wishes!)

  61. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #60
    Shannon, that’s what the Unfollow button is for.
    :mrgreen:

  62. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Shannon I look at FB as a window that allows me to see things and try to make sense of their reasoning. I have had a FB account for about 7 years now. That freakin window still has a translucent film on it and I still can’t make heads or tails of what/how/why they think the things they do.

  63. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Thank you everyone for the prayers.

  64. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Plus FB allows you to see pictures of the naked lady on 290 this morning. Of course now I will never be able to unsee pictures of this naked lady on 290.

    -where’s that eye bleach!

  65. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    I have been FB-free for at least 2000 days.
    Try it. You’ll like it.

  66. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    67
    I like my digital experience the same way I like my women….
    Low maintenance.

  67. El Gordo Avatar

    I thought the “busted can of biscuits” description was pretty accurate.

  68. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    If I had FB I would have known Burge King is now selling grilled hotdogs.

    http://m.nrn.com/blog/burger-king-apparently-selling-lot-hot-dogs

  69. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    #70

    I did not know that!

    But, just as I always suspected, Burger King is officially un-American – their chili dog chili contains beans.

  70. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    “Busted can of biscuits” is damned funny!

  71. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    “Busted can of biscuits” is damned funny!

    ditto!

  72. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Blowing a gale and 69 out here at 6, humid, and storms are on the march from the south. Batten down for later today.

  73. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    TUESDAY THREAD IS POSTED.

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