Not a fool. To each their own. I just gave up on a bunch of liberal like minded journalists who masquerade under the guises of "free speech". There are a handful of peeps over there that write decent stuff, but for the most part, no.
My lifelong friends, formerly mainstream Democrats, are all in socialists. Work if you want to, abolish ICE, defund police, basic income, the government can take care of us, etc.. they’re in their 70’s. Worked their entire lives. Now, this. Brian, I think the indoctrination is complete. It’s very sad and terrifying.
It is fear. Their ability to keep the communistas at bay is crumbling. The party dinosaurs and moderates now have to pretend they’re on board. They are weak. Obsequious senate minority leader Schumer will wave the SDA flag knowing his relevance to the left wing and Dem voters is plummeting . The SDA sure as hell wouldn’t support him for reelection and he knows it. But he’ll sing their tune, hunched over with that phony grin peering over his glasses perched at the end of his nose while dying inside.
That's the thing. They have reason to be terrified. They are very well aware that these people have no limits (something the party has been taking advantage of for the past ten years), and if the rest of the Dems can't stop them (which looks increasingly unlikely), the calculus of survival does demand that that they play along. They understand the power of Cancellation all too well.
Their inability to articulate any meaningful policy or vision for America besides a tired decade old drumbeat of “Trump is a racist Nazi” is why they’re where they are today.
They went from ‘Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow’ to ‘Don’t Stop Talking About Trump’. It didn’t work and they are the only ones who can’t see it. The moderate voters are now in a desperate situation where they could either stay with a completely useless wing of the party or the wing that at least shows signs of life. The only other alternatives are voting red (highly unlikely) or sitting it out. Time will tell.
The DSA aren't articulating any meaningful ideas either. Abdul was interviewed and he said he was the only one talking about wanting to make life more affordable ...... but he never says what he plans to do to accomplish that!
The raccoon one made me laugh only because one of the Aga servicemen was terrified of chickens. He used to have to be escorted from the gate to the door.
Over here, the Arday affair continues to raise a smile. They are now starting to go after the people who appointed him. Interestingly, at least one of the super woke has broken with the people who signed the letter supporting.
And if you have not read the Atlantic article comparing the book proposal to the actual book, it is worth it. Arday has now lost the Atlantic as well as the Guardian.
My boss when I was working as a security guard was afraid of chickens. One turned up in the parking lot where we both worked at that time (a frequent escapee, according to animal control), and she didn't dare go near it. I had to catch it for the animal control guy to pick up.
This story is pure gold. Can't get enough of it. Especially because it's CAMBRIDGE. Can't get any better. The elite universities continue to implode at their own hands.
It is the Cambridge education dept which appears to operate by different rules ...but it is dragging all of Cambridge down. My eldest did his Phd in Modern History there and one of his best mates was just made a fellow after nearly ten years so it is somewhat personal from that respect.
The bigger question is how much did Simon and Schuster know as the book is v different from the proposal. Two different types of cancer etc.
I'm surprised this happened at Cambridge. I've always had a lot of respect for Cambridge (have met and worked with graduates in the past)...but I guess they are now just like all the other higher 'learing' institutions. Basically no different than the ivy league schools. Imbeciles running the nut houses.
It is also down to the panel who hired him (sounded v woke -- interested in decolonization etc) and of course the master at Jesus College who is not an academic but an activist. But it is all about the direction of travel. The sr dons at Cambridge will be less than impressed as their reputation is severely dented.
Yes, but the question is, will they really be concerned with their reputation, or will they simply cave to the woke and allow the institution to erode further?
My two daughters and I were Christmas shopping in a cute downtown shopping district one year and stopped for coffee at a little restaurant. One daughter ordered a decaf. I heard the waitress yell, “2 regulars and 1 Why Bother!”
Yesterday, my normally brilliant husband decided to toss a good-sized broken branch from one side of our mountain road (where we would only hit it if we drove into the gutter) to the other side, where it would roll down the mountain. He impulsively stopped the car to do so. On the log’s airborne journey, it bounced off the hood of our car. Thus began our day.
Fingers crossed and prayers said we have a more blessed day today.
I hope it’s not contagious. My husband, 70, and his pal, 66, intend to replace the bulb on our church projector suspended 14 feet above a couple rows of pews. If the 10-foot ladder’s too short, they plan to position it on the pews.
Noooooo! Your husband should check out Jeff Foxworthy's Facebook. He has several examples of how that type of jerry-rigging can go horribly wrong! (This advice comes from someone who taught ladder safety for 30 years, then missed the bottom step on a short one two years ago and found herself in rehab!)
I guess that I did come across kinda judgmental. Not intended! Approximately 64 years ago at my first Real Job at Friendly Ice Cream (it was NOT "Friendly's," notwithstanding that most people called it that even back then) I introduced myself to coffee. What was called "regular" coffee had cream in it so I assumed that was the way to go (and that the adulterated version would be more (wait for it) friendly). Gack. Sugar maybe? Double gack -- brought back unbidden memories of Aunt Pauline's candy dish with coffee "candy" to snare the unwary kid. Ok, black then? Aha. Never went back. But YMMV -- mine is admittedly a minority opinion.
GROK: "A coordinator instructing you not to provide background knowledge on mid-to-late 20th century U.S. history because you are white (and therefore students “might think” you are a “white supremacist”) is race-based differential treatment. That violates X policy on Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination, which requires the university to employ and assign work without regard to race and defines discrimination as treating someone differently or less favorably because of race.
The stated reason—stereotyping you as potentially a “white supremacist” solely because of your race—is itself racial stereotyping, which the law does not permit as a basis for restricting an employee’s duties. Competence to teach historical facts does not depend on the instructor’s race.This is not a close or ambiguous case. Restricting what material an instructor may present to students on racial grounds is unlawful discrimination. You may document the conversation and report it through X formal complaint channels (Chief Diversity Officer / Equal Opportunity office or the centralized reporting process) if you choose to pursue it."
I am going to get this off my chest, so to speak, and try to push it out of my head. Over twenty years ago, I noticed that the newly adopted district textbook claimed the USA should not be thought of as a melting pot. It must now be thought of as a mixed salad. I was teaching Geography at the time. It wasn't long before Geography was dropped from the curriculum, and replaced with World Cultures.
My grandson came home from school on Columbus Day in 2nd grade and told me Christopher Columbus was an evil villain. I had to explain to a 7 year old, that that was not the case during the Age of Exploration! This is all off topic, but Dog L's comment sent me back there.
Would that be synonymous with 'melting pot' or 'multi-cultural'?
The problem with multiculturalism is the alienation it causes. My mother moved back to her old neighborhood. The closest grocery store was Mexican. She could not buy food there (I thought she was nuts, but found that there wasn't much I could eat there, either).
The nurse had a thick accent, and my mother was certain that she has misunderstood the doctor's orders. She was terrified of returning to the doctor because of that.
My hometown -- once an assimilated place -- is now colonized by Burmese, Mexicans, and Russians/Polish. They operate their colonies within the jurisdiction of what was once a town were we all shared the same culture.
There have always been enclaves. But in the past, most immigrants aimed for their children to be fully American, even if they could not manage it themselves. The message has changed completely: "Cater to OUR demands and OUR culture!"
Yes. Some immigrants did so to a fault, not even teaching their children their (the parents’) native language, arguably doing them a disservice. (Missed opportunity to grow up bilingual — it’s far easier to learn a second language as a child; harder for the kids to connect to extended family; and the children’s own English not necessarily helped by hearing a thickly accented version at home.)
As for Canada’s “mosaic” metaphor, I believe it is meant to be more “mixed salad” than “melting pot.” And Canadians will say or do just about anything to be perceived as Not American. So I think this phrasing is one way to make that distinction.
Exactly right. My parents were both brought with multiple languages in Eastern Europe and realized I'd learn English the moment I walked out the front door so only spoke Yiddish to me. I learned English from everyone else as kids were pretty independent then and didn't need adults to play outside. I was able to speak to relatives in Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, and Israel and the older generation in the U.S. (My grandfather knew much more English than he let on, but knew his audience. For the 'write a sentence in English' part of his citizenship test he wrote 'I love America.')
My father's particular gift involved learning languages quickly and he spoke English about as well as I do, but went through a few years of night school when he got here, in his early 40s, to learn it properly. He had a very slight accent many people thought was French. We read the NY Times at home. I was reluctant to do SAT practice tests--I found them boring, and my talent is doing obscenely well on standardized tests--so he challenged me to take one with him. We swapped sections midway and got very similar scores. My mother was witty in almost-grammatical English and very funny in Yiddish, and I'm glad I got to hear her charm her friends and family on trips abroad.
In the area around Forest Hills/Rego Park, New York, there was a great deal of immigration in the '90's/'00's, but almost everyone was Jewish and had that shared background. I remember walking into small grocery stores and watching the actual thought processes of clerks as they picked a language for me (English? Hebrew? Russian?). I'd sometimes mess with them and order in Russian when addressed in English; I knew enough to buy a herring.
Clearly the powers that be are deliberately dividing us, and undoing the shared American identity that was the effect of the 20th century "pause" on immigration.
That is one of the things I got "in trouble" for saying in class. There was a flawed essay in the textbook that the department recommended on the topic of assimilation. Both the flawed essay and the acceptable model were from the immigrants' perspective.
There is a topic sentence in the acceptable essay that reads: This does not correspond to my experience.
So I told them that the assertion "The United States has always been a multi-cultural society" is not entirely true. That when I was growing up, the propaganda was "melting pot." Of course they had never heard this before. I compared the two terms to maps of Europe versus the United States. Europe is multi-cultural. The United States is one country. While it has many sub-cultures, it was not "multi-cultural" until recently.
(That it is considered off the table to interrogate this is tyranny.)
Every immigrant objectively encounters the question of assimilation. To label this topic "too sensitive" is absurd.
Every example I gave was pretty wholesome, too. I described a multi-racial place with a shared identity, e.g. we all loved Led Zeppelin and sang the same songs on our way to school. Perhaps some houses had burritos for dinner, but we all considered ourselves Americans.
The two indoctrinators presiding over my struggle session also informed me that asking the students whether they would consider themselves Americans if they remain in the country for the rest of their lives is "offensive" because many of them find Americans repulsive.
Yes, the Japanese-American woman said this.
So my bon homie stories of a shared identity is cause for alarm, whereas telling me that Americans are repulsive, and describing what it was like when everyone was more or less assimilated is "white supremacy" is a perfectly acceptable thing to say to someone.
Add to this that the male coordinator wears his pants so tight I feel sexually harassed. Talk about creating discomfort.
I actually didn't even want this summer job. I have a novel to rewrite. This bullshit demoralized me something fierce. I lost a week of my life to it.
The question is: Do I tell this guy that he violated CUNY policy by telling me that because of my race, I shouldn't talk about recent US history? I have nothing to lose at this point. Not returning to teach there.
Since you don't plan to go back, sounds like it would be useful to complain. If they give you a runaround, contact one of the organizations that help teachers who have been the victim of Woke at work.
O believe me, I want to AT LEAST tell Mr. Big Pants what I posted above. I am so sick of this shit. I have ended up in these meetings for the most absurd "reasons."
HOWEVER, it's a CUNY, and so is the other school where I taught in the spring. NYC college ESL is a small world. The Director knows my current Director at the school where I have worked for over 20 years. (Ha, she told the new director that my speciality is CRITICAL THINKING!) (Now I wonder what they think critical thinking means?) I'm still waiting for my fall course assignment at the CUNY where I hope to remain for the duration. At least there one just goes to class and they leave you alone, whereas THIS program is insanely controlling. Too much soliciting of students' opinions, as if they're courting complaints. Very low trust.
Anyway, complaining is a fraught situation. I might just tell HIM -- Mr DON'T NEED THOSE PRONOUNS IN YOUR BIO BUDDY -- that what he said was against CUNY policy and leave it at that.
We had a department chairs meeting earlier this week where we were presented the results of a study about student success at our university and recommendations on how to improve things. Surprisingly, when we began accepting every applicant who met the minimum standard (2.0 HS GPA) our retention rates and 6 year graduation rates fell off the table and our % of D, F, and Withdrawal grades spiked. But...we closed the "achievement gap" as our black and hispanic students graduation rates are now as "high" as those of white students. What was both funny and sad was the reaction of some of my colleagues when presented with the data on race of our students. The % of white students has declined to only about 66% and has been that way for a number of years and some of the chairs were shocked it was that low and complained how our school has always been "soooo white". The loudest were those from the education department and those who also have teacher training programs (e.g., history, English). The people, mostly white middle-aged women, training our elementary and HS teachers are the most anti-white cohort on the faculty it seems. But, I'm sure that doesn't have any affect on what is happening in schools across the state.
Well, that is what they want. But the complaint was 66% was way too low based on their perception of our small campus. They literally jumped out of their chairs to say our students are much whiter than the data show. The presenter mentioned these were self-reported stats and I don't think it ever sunk in with some of them that many of our hispanic students look pretty white...and there might be incentives to self-identify that way, too, on applications and internal surveys.
Watched an IG video by Hylton_with_a_y speaking to the ARC. Brilliant speaker. Addressing all the white guilt baked in to our culture now by Boomers and GenX in schools and video. She declares the genie in the bottle is out unless our home values return to conservative traditional morals and values of life and community. Without it these DSA and beyond types keep getting elected and those voting for them cant see the forest for the trees. Her take on Henry Novak’s death as a result of this moral change is disturbing.
I think the economy plays a big role in people's perceptions of their life and how they are doing. When many in the middle class are having a difficult time buying homes, unlike their parents, it is easy to be influenced by ones who prey upon that discontent and frustration and it gives them somewhere to rest the blame. I think Trump is aware of this and is helping some with it. With people not having families as much now and living single lives, it is headed in the wrong direction. I don't know what can be done, but whatever changes are made, need to have the general economy at the forefront.
Thanks Celia for the chuckles. It helped cleanse my palette as I just read this distressing article by Daniel Cox about the sex divide in politics among GenZ. (I just can't deal with the word "gender" anymore)
I know there are some who would immediately use this data to gripe about "feminism" (whatever that even means today), but IMO that's too convenient an excuse and also just a lazy way for those who hate feminism to air their own gripes. It is also not helpful because it offers no solution to change or reverse the problem.
There's something seriously wrong happening in our entire culture right now that's causing so many young women to shift left at a time when the left is becoming ever more parochial, backward, sexist, misogynist, and racist. Their politics today is basically anarchy (abolish the police and prisons), which flies in the face of a cohesive society and safety for themselves and is anything but instinctively female. I get how some may have a distorted view of the police as male coded, but the normalization of wanting to abolish prisons and let violent rapists go free makes no sense. Even suicidal empathy doesn't explain it. This generation, especially young women, were brought up to see the world as full of dangers in every corner, with men being the source of every danger. But then how does it make any sense to let all the worst violent men and rapists go free?
Maybe I just don't know enough young women or talk to any enough to understand them. Can someone who know more young people explain it all to me?
It isn't that I think the right offer them anything uniquely appealing. The things that make the right side better now comparing to the left is universal to everyone, with certain things tipping more in favor of men. The right has never cared much to appeal to issues that attract women, and their position on abortion by default drive away a lot of women. I get that. But not supporting the right doesn't mean one must then fall to the cult of the left. It feels to me something is very rotten in our society right now that GenZ women are shifting left in masses.
Perhaps some might say, why is young women moving left a problem but young men moving right is not? But it seems to me the two, at this particular moment in time, is not equivalent. Maybe I should be worried that Andrew Tate has such a huge following of young men that he's topping the Substack chart. Maybe I am blind and his millions of followers should be an alarm that young men shifting right is a sign of imminent doom. The difference to me is that no one serious on the right celebrates Andrew Tate. The leading cultural influencer among conservative men, by all data, is Joe Rogan, not Andrew Tate. Most adults see Tate as a loser. In contrast, Hasan Piker is the leading cultural voice of the left. (Might I add, if any Hasan Piker fangirls think he's any kind of champion for women, they've got another think coming.)
There's so much talk about Democrats needing to win back male votes, especially young male votes. But what we should be talking about is how the right needs to win back a balance of female votes. The two parties being what they are today, we'll be fine--more than fine--if the Democrats utterly fail to get the male votes. But I can't say the same if the right can't win back enough female votes to at least maintain some balance.
The only thing I can take heart in with Daniel Cox's article is that GenX women are the outliers. The chart in his article shows less than 50% of GenX women identify as liberal or liberal leaning independents. It was reported that GenX pushed Trump over the finish line in 2024. As GenX male votes aren't that different from male votes of other generations, it looks like GenX women were the ones who tipped the scale and puled the country back from the brink. I'm just happy to gloat that my own generation hasn't collectively lost our f'king minds.
My gut from having two daughters, age 30 and 25, is that they see the bad stuff about the right pushed in their faces all the time, but they do not see, because their media eco chamber does not cover it, the bad stuff about the far left. They curry favor with the liberal progressive mindset because of “emotions” and the “virtue signaling” culture they belong to.
Here’s an example, my daughter wanted advice on a good stock to buy. I told her Palantir because it sits on top of the AI stack and helps companies make better decisions with their data. She went away and came back and said no, because of the stuff she read on line about Palantir helping ICE find illegals and deporting them. This is how they make financial decisions, emotions - not raw economic assessment. They are simply brainwashed and no amount of facts are going to change their mind. I’ve given up with my girls. I don’t spend any more time on this stuff because it’s always two against one.
Spent last week with a cousin, big into investments, but also a staunch conservative. He is heavily into Microsoft, I was giving him a hard time about Bill Gates. He just pointed to the bottom line and said "I don't care, I can not like the man, but I do like the ROI"
The younger generations have been so protected and have such a good quality of life they simply believe this happens naturally as part of human nature. That they can erase the perceived and real inequalities built into our systems of civilization by simply abolishing all laws, guardrails and societal protections history worked so hard to build because they believe them to be fundamentally racist and therefore must simply be annihilated to correct. They are supported by deluded parents, mostly highly educated suburban professionals, who believe that simply handing their children everything- giving, buying, consuming- will simply create a good life and superior children. I use the word simply. They are simply simple and, unfortunately, will have to learn the hard way. Unless… AI saves them from their folly ☺️ We are all old enough to watch from the sidelines shaking our heads because they- simply- don’t even ask their elders anymore. The train has well and truly left the station and won’t be stopped. Maybe AI will save them from themselves.
I think that the encouragement of self-endangering policies is a combination of things. A big part of it is virtue-signaling: young white women, to atone for the 'sin' of being white, have to express their willingness to sacrifice themselves for non-white men. Whether they would *actually* be willing to do so, they themselves may not know until push comes to shove.
But another big factor is that for most young white women, it is a luxury belief. They have been taught that women can and should be able to be safe anywhere, doing anything. And the movies have taught them that women are just as strong as men. So they don't actually perceive themselves to be in danger (despite the constant rhetoric about men being evil).
Many great points Alex. A fair amount of younger women I know are conservative. They grew up in feminist times but seem to have a healthy balance of standing for women’s issues and at the same time exercising common sense. I think the media has played a huge and successful role in demonizing conservativism and men in general. And praising the left to the point women see them as the better alternative, despite policies like no police and no prisons that make their lives much less safe. Abortion is one of those issues that women take an immovable stance on and conservatives are on the wrong side as far as many are concerned.
You asked what feminism means today. That is a question for the fairer sex.
In the case of trans women playing in the WNBA we had Sophie Cunningham standing alone against all the other players, coaches and owners against competing with men. Is she the one standing up for women, or is it the entire rest of the league are? The league and left media would have you believe the latter. Confusing.
It’s no surprise that young males are drawn to Trump. He is an alpha male who projects strength. For that they are scolded and encouraged to be more impressed with feminized men. No thanks. They haven’t and will never accomplish anything. And I’d bet all the guys here, like me, don’t know squat about Andrew Tate and don’t care at all about him. He’s only a villain the left likes to attach to the GOP. So what if he has a huge following? So does Hasan Piker who praises brutal leaders and regimes with a history of treating women horribly. Both are villains that I only hear about in media. Not in my conversations with anyone.
And the latest Matt cartoon raised a smile --FIFA HQ 'Infantino doesn't need to stay here. Cambridge University want him for their professor of ethics and moral philosophy.' https://x.com/MattCartoonist/status/2085405851167166505
I'm not a fan of Starbucks -- never have been, never will be. It blows my mind to see how much money that some people spend every day on fancy, expensive, sugar filled drinks -- especially people who are having a difficult time paying their monthly rent or car payment.
Back before I retired, some of the salesmen that worked for me were Starbucks devotees, and they'd drag me along. When I ordered, I'd intentionally never use the "Starbucks lingo", and instead would always ask for a small black coffee just to see how the barista responded.
In some cases, getting a decent small back coffee was more difficult and time consuming than if I was to have ordered one of their special caramel, oat-milk, chocolate, iced frappucino mappacino's (or whatever the heck they're called).
Small chuckle at a few of them. A couple I didn’t get. O’well.
Things are stressful over here. Not much to laugh about these days.
Anyone else freaking out about the D MI Senatorial candidate?!? We don’t need another crazy Muslim in Congress.
They shouldn't take study, the nuked pizza was clearest, showing my age from another age.
Now I'm going over to TFP and scan TGIF, see if I get a bit of sense out of what has become blathering, best I can describe it.
I find myself more at peace and relaxed after abandoning that rag. Never been back.
Then after reading for 80 some years, I must consider myself a fool.
Not a fool. To each their own. I just gave up on a bunch of liberal like minded journalists who masquerade under the guises of "free speech". There are a handful of peeps over there that write decent stuff, but for the most part, no.
And, you must know, at 88 years I'm a little weary of it all.
This morning I had a message from dear Abdul, via the DNC. Democrats are all in with the far left. As if it’s a surprise.
I’ve seen some normal liberals getting disgusted with the DSA.
Let’s see how long it takes for the DSA to crush the feeble liberal resistance to socialism.
My lifelong friends, formerly mainstream Democrats, are all in socialists. Work if you want to, abolish ICE, defund police, basic income, the government can take care of us, etc.. they’re in their 70’s. Worked their entire lives. Now, this. Brian, I think the indoctrination is complete. It’s very sad and terrifying.
Hmmm, very troubling.
It is fear. Their ability to keep the communistas at bay is crumbling. The party dinosaurs and moderates now have to pretend they’re on board. They are weak. Obsequious senate minority leader Schumer will wave the SDA flag knowing his relevance to the left wing and Dem voters is plummeting . The SDA sure as hell wouldn’t support him for reelection and he knows it. But he’ll sing their tune, hunched over with that phony grin peering over his glasses perched at the end of his nose while dying inside.
That's the thing. They have reason to be terrified. They are very well aware that these people have no limits (something the party has been taking advantage of for the past ten years), and if the rest of the Dems can't stop them (which looks increasingly unlikely), the calculus of survival does demand that that they play along. They understand the power of Cancellation all too well.
Their inability to articulate any meaningful policy or vision for America besides a tired decade old drumbeat of “Trump is a racist Nazi” is why they’re where they are today.
They went from ‘Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow’ to ‘Don’t Stop Talking About Trump’. It didn’t work and they are the only ones who can’t see it. The moderate voters are now in a desperate situation where they could either stay with a completely useless wing of the party or the wing that at least shows signs of life. The only other alternatives are voting red (highly unlikely) or sitting it out. Time will tell.
The DSA aren't articulating any meaningful ideas either. Abdul was interviewed and he said he was the only one talking about wanting to make life more affordable ...... but he never says what he plans to do to accomplish that!
None of them have any idea how to accomplish their idiotic ideas. They are total morons, catering to millions of morons.
Hating Elon Musk is another loyalty test for democrats.
The raccoon one made me laugh only because one of the Aga servicemen was terrified of chickens. He used to have to be escorted from the gate to the door.
Over here, the Arday affair continues to raise a smile. They are now starting to go after the people who appointed him. Interestingly, at least one of the super woke has broken with the people who signed the letter supporting.
And if you have not read the Atlantic article comparing the book proposal to the actual book, it is worth it. Arday has now lost the Atlantic as well as the Guardian.
My boss when I was working as a security guard was afraid of chickens. One turned up in the parking lot where we both worked at that time (a frequent escapee, according to animal control), and she didn't dare go near it. I had to catch it for the animal control guy to pick up.
The terror was real for this man. It was fine once I knew. I think he'd been pecked as a child. He was a nice man.
Phobias do not respond to logic.
This story is pure gold. Can't get enough of it. Especially because it's CAMBRIDGE. Can't get any better. The elite universities continue to implode at their own hands.
It is the Cambridge education dept which appears to operate by different rules ...but it is dragging all of Cambridge down. My eldest did his Phd in Modern History there and one of his best mates was just made a fellow after nearly ten years so it is somewhat personal from that respect.
The bigger question is how much did Simon and Schuster know as the book is v different from the proposal. Two different types of cancer etc.
I'm surprised this happened at Cambridge. I've always had a lot of respect for Cambridge (have met and worked with graduates in the past)...but I guess they are now just like all the other higher 'learing' institutions. Basically no different than the ivy league schools. Imbeciles running the nut houses.
You and me both. My eldest did his Phd there. I know academics from there and the pressure to publish. The chancellor was hired from Princeton btw.
Well that makes a lot of sense (chancellor hired from Princeton).
It is also down to the panel who hired him (sounded v woke -- interested in decolonization etc) and of course the master at Jesus College who is not an academic but an activist. But it is all about the direction of travel. The sr dons at Cambridge will be less than impressed as their reputation is severely dented.
Yes, but the question is, will they really be concerned with their reputation, or will they simply cave to the woke and allow the institution to erode further?
My two daughters and I were Christmas shopping in a cute downtown shopping district one year and stopped for coffee at a little restaurant. One daughter ordered a decaf. I heard the waitress yell, “2 regulars and 1 Why Bother!”
Best joke of the day 🤣🤣🤣
Godzilla 😆😆
Yesterday, my normally brilliant husband decided to toss a good-sized broken branch from one side of our mountain road (where we would only hit it if we drove into the gutter) to the other side, where it would roll down the mountain. He impulsively stopped the car to do so. On the log’s airborne journey, it bounced off the hood of our car. Thus began our day.
Fingers crossed and prayers said we have a more blessed day today.
I hope it’s not contagious. My husband, 70, and his pal, 66, intend to replace the bulb on our church projector suspended 14 feet above a couple rows of pews. If the 10-foot ladder’s too short, they plan to position it on the pews.
Here, bro, hold my beer.
Or get a snorkel lift. But why be safer eh?
Sounds like a blond joke….
I once saw a video of "men and ladders"--definitely Darwin Award competitors out there.
I had a ladder mishap in my younger years. Luckily only a minor injury. I’ve had a healthy respect for them since
Noooooo! Your husband should check out Jeff Foxworthy's Facebook. He has several examples of how that type of jerry-rigging can go horribly wrong! (This advice comes from someone who taught ladder safety for 30 years, then missed the bottom step on a short one two years ago and found herself in rehab!)
Yikes!
The coffee guide and the roomba are definitely smile worthy. But the roomba one is a bigger smile.
I object, a flat white is most definitely not just a white coffee!
The rest make sense 😉
Irrelevant. To Some of Us, anyway -- if it isn't black (aka just the way God made it) it isn't coffee'
💖😁
I like my coffee like I like my women
hot, dark and bitter
for some reason, my wife doesn't appreciate my jokes
Hey, He also gave is condiments like cream, to use and abuse
I guess that I did come across kinda judgmental. Not intended! Approximately 64 years ago at my first Real Job at Friendly Ice Cream (it was NOT "Friendly's," notwithstanding that most people called it that even back then) I introduced myself to coffee. What was called "regular" coffee had cream in it so I assumed that was the way to go (and that the adulterated version would be more (wait for it) friendly). Gack. Sugar maybe? Double gack -- brought back unbidden memories of Aunt Pauline's candy dish with coffee "candy" to snare the unwary kid. Ok, black then? Aha. Never went back. But YMMV -- mine is admittedly a minority opinion.
I don’t drink coffee anymore for religious reasons, but if I could drink it, I would drink it black.
I always loved my aunt’s coffee-flavored candy. And I still pick mocha-flavored desserts. It’s not coffee, but it’s the closest I can get.
Friendly actually had coffee ice cream -- not a top seller, but it did move.
Not judgemental 😀
GROK: "A coordinator instructing you not to provide background knowledge on mid-to-late 20th century U.S. history because you are white (and therefore students “might think” you are a “white supremacist”) is race-based differential treatment. That violates X policy on Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination, which requires the university to employ and assign work without regard to race and defines discrimination as treating someone differently or less favorably because of race.
The stated reason—stereotyping you as potentially a “white supremacist” solely because of your race—is itself racial stereotyping, which the law does not permit as a basis for restricting an employee’s duties. Competence to teach historical facts does not depend on the instructor’s race.This is not a close or ambiguous case. Restricting what material an instructor may present to students on racial grounds is unlawful discrimination. You may document the conversation and report it through X formal complaint channels (Chief Diversity Officer / Equal Opportunity office or the centralized reporting process) if you choose to pursue it."
I am going to get this off my chest, so to speak, and try to push it out of my head. Over twenty years ago, I noticed that the newly adopted district textbook claimed the USA should not be thought of as a melting pot. It must now be thought of as a mixed salad. I was teaching Geography at the time. It wasn't long before Geography was dropped from the curriculum, and replaced with World Cultures.
My grandson came home from school on Columbus Day in 2nd grade and told me Christopher Columbus was an evil villain. I had to explain to a 7 year old, that that was not the case during the Age of Exploration! This is all off topic, but Dog L's comment sent me back there.
I believe Canada refers to itself as a “cultural mosaic.”
Would that be synonymous with 'melting pot' or 'multi-cultural'?
The problem with multiculturalism is the alienation it causes. My mother moved back to her old neighborhood. The closest grocery store was Mexican. She could not buy food there (I thought she was nuts, but found that there wasn't much I could eat there, either).
The nurse had a thick accent, and my mother was certain that she has misunderstood the doctor's orders. She was terrified of returning to the doctor because of that.
My hometown -- once an assimilated place -- is now colonized by Burmese, Mexicans, and Russians/Polish. They operate their colonies within the jurisdiction of what was once a town were we all shared the same culture.
There have always been enclaves. But in the past, most immigrants aimed for their children to be fully American, even if they could not manage it themselves. The message has changed completely: "Cater to OUR demands and OUR culture!"
Yes. Some immigrants did so to a fault, not even teaching their children their (the parents’) native language, arguably doing them a disservice. (Missed opportunity to grow up bilingual — it’s far easier to learn a second language as a child; harder for the kids to connect to extended family; and the children’s own English not necessarily helped by hearing a thickly accented version at home.)
As for Canada’s “mosaic” metaphor, I believe it is meant to be more “mixed salad” than “melting pot.” And Canadians will say or do just about anything to be perceived as Not American. So I think this phrasing is one way to make that distinction.
Exactly right. My parents were both brought with multiple languages in Eastern Europe and realized I'd learn English the moment I walked out the front door so only spoke Yiddish to me. I learned English from everyone else as kids were pretty independent then and didn't need adults to play outside. I was able to speak to relatives in Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, and Israel and the older generation in the U.S. (My grandfather knew much more English than he let on, but knew his audience. For the 'write a sentence in English' part of his citizenship test he wrote 'I love America.')
My father's particular gift involved learning languages quickly and he spoke English about as well as I do, but went through a few years of night school when he got here, in his early 40s, to learn it properly. He had a very slight accent many people thought was French. We read the NY Times at home. I was reluctant to do SAT practice tests--I found them boring, and my talent is doing obscenely well on standardized tests--so he challenged me to take one with him. We swapped sections midway and got very similar scores. My mother was witty in almost-grammatical English and very funny in Yiddish, and I'm glad I got to hear her charm her friends and family on trips abroad.
In the area around Forest Hills/Rego Park, New York, there was a great deal of immigration in the '90's/'00's, but almost everyone was Jewish and had that shared background. I remember walking into small grocery stores and watching the actual thought processes of clerks as they picked a language for me (English? Hebrew? Russian?). I'd sometimes mess with them and order in Russian when addressed in English; I knew enough to buy a herring.
Clearly the powers that be are deliberately dividing us, and undoing the shared American identity that was the effect of the 20th century "pause" on immigration.
That is one of the things I got "in trouble" for saying in class. There was a flawed essay in the textbook that the department recommended on the topic of assimilation. Both the flawed essay and the acceptable model were from the immigrants' perspective.
There is a topic sentence in the acceptable essay that reads: This does not correspond to my experience.
So I told them that the assertion "The United States has always been a multi-cultural society" is not entirely true. That when I was growing up, the propaganda was "melting pot." Of course they had never heard this before. I compared the two terms to maps of Europe versus the United States. Europe is multi-cultural. The United States is one country. While it has many sub-cultures, it was not "multi-cultural" until recently.
(That it is considered off the table to interrogate this is tyranny.)
Every immigrant objectively encounters the question of assimilation. To label this topic "too sensitive" is absurd.
Every example I gave was pretty wholesome, too. I described a multi-racial place with a shared identity, e.g. we all loved Led Zeppelin and sang the same songs on our way to school. Perhaps some houses had burritos for dinner, but we all considered ourselves Americans.
The two indoctrinators presiding over my struggle session also informed me that asking the students whether they would consider themselves Americans if they remain in the country for the rest of their lives is "offensive" because many of them find Americans repulsive.
Yes, the Japanese-American woman said this.
So my bon homie stories of a shared identity is cause for alarm, whereas telling me that Americans are repulsive, and describing what it was like when everyone was more or less assimilated is "white supremacy" is a perfectly acceptable thing to say to someone.
Add to this that the male coordinator wears his pants so tight I feel sexually harassed. Talk about creating discomfort.
My husband, a true scholar of history and geology, tried to hang on - to buck the system
He was targeted and punished for resisting the degradation of his field.
He finally chose early retirement, rather than teach lies and ignorance.
I'm headed that way.
I actually didn't even want this summer job. I have a novel to rewrite. This bullshit demoralized me something fierce. I lost a week of my life to it.
The question is: Do I tell this guy that he violated CUNY policy by telling me that because of my race, I shouldn't talk about recent US history? I have nothing to lose at this point. Not returning to teach there.
I would!
Since you don't plan to go back, sounds like it would be useful to complain. If they give you a runaround, contact one of the organizations that help teachers who have been the victim of Woke at work.
O believe me, I want to AT LEAST tell Mr. Big Pants what I posted above. I am so sick of this shit. I have ended up in these meetings for the most absurd "reasons."
HOWEVER, it's a CUNY, and so is the other school where I taught in the spring. NYC college ESL is a small world. The Director knows my current Director at the school where I have worked for over 20 years. (Ha, she told the new director that my speciality is CRITICAL THINKING!) (Now I wonder what they think critical thinking means?) I'm still waiting for my fall course assignment at the CUNY where I hope to remain for the duration. At least there one just goes to class and they leave you alone, whereas THIS program is insanely controlling. Too much soliciting of students' opinions, as if they're courting complaints. Very low trust.
Anyway, complaining is a fraught situation. I might just tell HIM -- Mr DON'T NEED THOSE PRONOUNS IN YOUR BIO BUDDY -- that what he said was against CUNY policy and leave it at that.
So tempting!
The pants, or filing the complaint?
Filing the complaint. The pants are definitely sexual harassment.
Especially if he holds his hands on his hips, creating a natural downward path for your eyes.
🤣🤦♂️
We had a department chairs meeting earlier this week where we were presented the results of a study about student success at our university and recommendations on how to improve things. Surprisingly, when we began accepting every applicant who met the minimum standard (2.0 HS GPA) our retention rates and 6 year graduation rates fell off the table and our % of D, F, and Withdrawal grades spiked. But...we closed the "achievement gap" as our black and hispanic students graduation rates are now as "high" as those of white students. What was both funny and sad was the reaction of some of my colleagues when presented with the data on race of our students. The % of white students has declined to only about 66% and has been that way for a number of years and some of the chairs were shocked it was that low and complained how our school has always been "soooo white". The loudest were those from the education department and those who also have teacher training programs (e.g., history, English). The people, mostly white middle-aged women, training our elementary and HS teachers are the most anti-white cohort on the faculty it seems. But, I'm sure that doesn't have any affect on what is happening in schools across the state.
They think the white percentage should be even lower?
Well, that is what they want. But the complaint was 66% was way too low based on their perception of our small campus. They literally jumped out of their chairs to say our students are much whiter than the data show. The presenter mentioned these were self-reported stats and I don't think it ever sunk in with some of them that many of our hispanic students look pretty white...and there might be incentives to self-identify that way, too, on applications and internal surveys.
I mean the incentive is to identify as Hispanic.
Watched an IG video by Hylton_with_a_y speaking to the ARC. Brilliant speaker. Addressing all the white guilt baked in to our culture now by Boomers and GenX in schools and video. She declares the genie in the bottle is out unless our home values return to conservative traditional morals and values of life and community. Without it these DSA and beyond types keep getting elected and those voting for them cant see the forest for the trees. Her take on Henry Novak’s death as a result of this moral change is disturbing.
I think the economy plays a big role in people's perceptions of their life and how they are doing. When many in the middle class are having a difficult time buying homes, unlike their parents, it is easy to be influenced by ones who prey upon that discontent and frustration and it gives them somewhere to rest the blame. I think Trump is aware of this and is helping some with it. With people not having families as much now and living single lives, it is headed in the wrong direction. I don't know what can be done, but whatever changes are made, need to have the general economy at the forefront.
Thanks Celia for the chuckles. It helped cleanse my palette as I just read this distressing article by Daniel Cox about the sex divide in politics among GenZ. (I just can't deal with the word "gender" anymore)
https://storylines.substack.com/p/the-gen-z-gender-divide-is-larger?
I know there are some who would immediately use this data to gripe about "feminism" (whatever that even means today), but IMO that's too convenient an excuse and also just a lazy way for those who hate feminism to air their own gripes. It is also not helpful because it offers no solution to change or reverse the problem.
There's something seriously wrong happening in our entire culture right now that's causing so many young women to shift left at a time when the left is becoming ever more parochial, backward, sexist, misogynist, and racist. Their politics today is basically anarchy (abolish the police and prisons), which flies in the face of a cohesive society and safety for themselves and is anything but instinctively female. I get how some may have a distorted view of the police as male coded, but the normalization of wanting to abolish prisons and let violent rapists go free makes no sense. Even suicidal empathy doesn't explain it. This generation, especially young women, were brought up to see the world as full of dangers in every corner, with men being the source of every danger. But then how does it make any sense to let all the worst violent men and rapists go free?
Maybe I just don't know enough young women or talk to any enough to understand them. Can someone who know more young people explain it all to me?
It isn't that I think the right offer them anything uniquely appealing. The things that make the right side better now comparing to the left is universal to everyone, with certain things tipping more in favor of men. The right has never cared much to appeal to issues that attract women, and their position on abortion by default drive away a lot of women. I get that. But not supporting the right doesn't mean one must then fall to the cult of the left. It feels to me something is very rotten in our society right now that GenZ women are shifting left in masses.
Perhaps some might say, why is young women moving left a problem but young men moving right is not? But it seems to me the two, at this particular moment in time, is not equivalent. Maybe I should be worried that Andrew Tate has such a huge following of young men that he's topping the Substack chart. Maybe I am blind and his millions of followers should be an alarm that young men shifting right is a sign of imminent doom. The difference to me is that no one serious on the right celebrates Andrew Tate. The leading cultural influencer among conservative men, by all data, is Joe Rogan, not Andrew Tate. Most adults see Tate as a loser. In contrast, Hasan Piker is the leading cultural voice of the left. (Might I add, if any Hasan Piker fangirls think he's any kind of champion for women, they've got another think coming.)
There's so much talk about Democrats needing to win back male votes, especially young male votes. But what we should be talking about is how the right needs to win back a balance of female votes. The two parties being what they are today, we'll be fine--more than fine--if the Democrats utterly fail to get the male votes. But I can't say the same if the right can't win back enough female votes to at least maintain some balance.
The only thing I can take heart in with Daniel Cox's article is that GenX women are the outliers. The chart in his article shows less than 50% of GenX women identify as liberal or liberal leaning independents. It was reported that GenX pushed Trump over the finish line in 2024. As GenX male votes aren't that different from male votes of other generations, it looks like GenX women were the ones who tipped the scale and puled the country back from the brink. I'm just happy to gloat that my own generation hasn't collectively lost our f'king minds.
I think an equally big problem is actually getting the people who are right of center to VOTE at all! That in itself would help signficantly!
My gut from having two daughters, age 30 and 25, is that they see the bad stuff about the right pushed in their faces all the time, but they do not see, because their media eco chamber does not cover it, the bad stuff about the far left. They curry favor with the liberal progressive mindset because of “emotions” and the “virtue signaling” culture they belong to.
Here’s an example, my daughter wanted advice on a good stock to buy. I told her Palantir because it sits on top of the AI stack and helps companies make better decisions with their data. She went away and came back and said no, because of the stuff she read on line about Palantir helping ICE find illegals and deporting them. This is how they make financial decisions, emotions - not raw economic assessment. They are simply brainwashed and no amount of facts are going to change their mind. I’ve given up with my girls. I don’t spend any more time on this stuff because it’s always two against one.
Spent last week with a cousin, big into investments, but also a staunch conservative. He is heavily into Microsoft, I was giving him a hard time about Bill Gates. He just pointed to the bottom line and said "I don't care, I can not like the man, but I do like the ROI"
Yup.
As soon as emotions are in play, all reason goes out the door.
The younger generations have been so protected and have such a good quality of life they simply believe this happens naturally as part of human nature. That they can erase the perceived and real inequalities built into our systems of civilization by simply abolishing all laws, guardrails and societal protections history worked so hard to build because they believe them to be fundamentally racist and therefore must simply be annihilated to correct. They are supported by deluded parents, mostly highly educated suburban professionals, who believe that simply handing their children everything- giving, buying, consuming- will simply create a good life and superior children. I use the word simply. They are simply simple and, unfortunately, will have to learn the hard way. Unless… AI saves them from their folly ☺️ We are all old enough to watch from the sidelines shaking our heads because they- simply- don’t even ask their elders anymore. The train has well and truly left the station and won’t be stopped. Maybe AI will save them from themselves.
I think that the encouragement of self-endangering policies is a combination of things. A big part of it is virtue-signaling: young white women, to atone for the 'sin' of being white, have to express their willingness to sacrifice themselves for non-white men. Whether they would *actually* be willing to do so, they themselves may not know until push comes to shove.
But another big factor is that for most young white women, it is a luxury belief. They have been taught that women can and should be able to be safe anywhere, doing anything. And the movies have taught them that women are just as strong as men. So they don't actually perceive themselves to be in danger (despite the constant rhetoric about men being evil).
Very true.
Many great points Alex. A fair amount of younger women I know are conservative. They grew up in feminist times but seem to have a healthy balance of standing for women’s issues and at the same time exercising common sense. I think the media has played a huge and successful role in demonizing conservativism and men in general. And praising the left to the point women see them as the better alternative, despite policies like no police and no prisons that make their lives much less safe. Abortion is one of those issues that women take an immovable stance on and conservatives are on the wrong side as far as many are concerned.
You asked what feminism means today. That is a question for the fairer sex.
In the case of trans women playing in the WNBA we had Sophie Cunningham standing alone against all the other players, coaches and owners against competing with men. Is she the one standing up for women, or is it the entire rest of the league are? The league and left media would have you believe the latter. Confusing.
It’s no surprise that young males are drawn to Trump. He is an alpha male who projects strength. For that they are scolded and encouraged to be more impressed with feminized men. No thanks. They haven’t and will never accomplish anything. And I’d bet all the guys here, like me, don’t know squat about Andrew Tate and don’t care at all about him. He’s only a villain the left likes to attach to the GOP. So what if he has a huge following? So does Hasan Piker who praises brutal leaders and regimes with a history of treating women horribly. Both are villains that I only hear about in media. Not in my conversations with anyone.
Roomba and Pizza FTW! Actually lol'd at the Roomba one.
Thanks Celia!
Yup, I can just see the rumba rolling down the street eating all of the dogs in its path.
Nature abhors a vacuum 😂
Definitely the pick of the litter.
My fav is the Devil's "you know that's why you're here- right?" It'll be my epitaph!
And the latest Matt cartoon raised a smile --FIFA HQ 'Infantino doesn't need to stay here. Cambridge University want him for their professor of ethics and moral philosophy.' https://x.com/MattCartoonist/status/2085405851167166505
Regarding the coffee cartoon...
I'm not a fan of Starbucks -- never have been, never will be. It blows my mind to see how much money that some people spend every day on fancy, expensive, sugar filled drinks -- especially people who are having a difficult time paying their monthly rent or car payment.
Back before I retired, some of the salesmen that worked for me were Starbucks devotees, and they'd drag me along. When I ordered, I'd intentionally never use the "Starbucks lingo", and instead would always ask for a small black coffee just to see how the barista responded.
In some cases, getting a decent small back coffee was more difficult and time consuming than if I was to have ordered one of their special caramel, oat-milk, chocolate, iced frappucino mappacino's (or whatever the heck they're called).
I haven’t seen anything from Rainbow in a while. Or maybe I missed it? Hope everything is OK with her and her husband 🙏
She checked in a few days ago. I, too, hope that everything is okay with her husband.
the hangman joke. CLASSIC!
Congratulations on the floor Celia!
*takes a bow*