GEORGE KORDA ON the education situation.
March 29, 2024
CHANGE: New Georgia Voting Rules Approved. “While there are plenty of people talking about improving election security, Georgia appears to be doing something about it. Just in time for this year’s elections, the Georgia legislature has passed reforms that will impact access to the presidential ballot. They have also altered the rules defining the criteria for being able to submit a ballot and how ballots can be challenged. Ballot challenges will be under strict scrutiny this year with more people expected to be monitoring the process from each party, particularly in swing states like Georgia. The measure has been sent to Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is expected to sign it into law. Needless to say, many Georgia Democrats are not happy about this.” Of course they’re not. It makes cheating harder.
Also: Shocking Court Ruling Says Ballots Must Be Signed and Dated.
ERIC SWALWELL MOST AT RISK: Next epidemic to spill out of China could be SUPER GONORRHEA – where rate of antibiotic-resistant STIs are 40x higher than US and UK. “These findings underscore the urgent need for a comprehensive approach to address antibiotic-resistant N. gonorrhoeae in China, including identifying factors contributing to this high resistance rate.”
NOBODY CONDESCENDS MORE, WITH LESS BASIS FOR CONDESCENSION: Liberal Media Scream: Condescending ‘Really?’ to Rubio’s wish to be Trump VP.
“INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE.” BUT FOLLOW THE SCIENCE! Biden Admin Could Use ‘Indigenous Knowledge’ To Kill Critical Mining Project.
THE TIMES LOOKS BACK ON COVID: “The New York Times looks back on covid, four years down the road, and says ‘Here’s what we’ve learned.’ I would say we have learned some things that the Times doesn’t touch, like the idiocy of shutting down stores, businesses, churches and, especially, schools. But admitting that would be a bridge too far for the Times. Even on the lessons the Times acknowledges, you sometimes have to read between the lines.”
JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: My chat (+transcript) with Spencer Weart on the history of nuclear energy fear.
Interesting, but missing here is that as the Vietnam War ended, activists turned to the anti-nuclear movement — in some sense created it — in order to preserve the infrastructure, and fundraising, that had been created for the Vietnam antiwar movement. The issue is never the issue, the issue is always the revolution. And the grift. Always the grift.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: The Department of Education’s FAFSA Fiasco.
If, like me, you have a college-bound high-school senior in your family, you’ve likely been on the receiving end of yet another colossal screw-up by our federal government: the overhaul of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as the FAFSA. Every year, students (or more commonly their parents) need to fill out the FAFSA with information about their income, assets, and expenses in order to qualify for federal student aid. Many colleges require the FAFSA before awarding other forms of need-based aid, and some require it to be filed even by people without need before they can qualify for scholarship aid. There’s a more detailed and onerous form, the CSS, operated by the College Board and required by some schools. Filling these out is like doing your taxes, only more so. Typically, the forms are available in October, and schools may set filing deadlines in the fall so that they can deliver financial-aid awards at or near the time they send out acceptances.
Not this year. The FAFSA wasn’t even fully available until January 8, after the Department of Education briefly flicked on the lights on the form on December 30 just so it could claim that it launched in 2023. I was on two college visits over the weekend; one school said that it was just starting to receive the first batch of FAFSA need assessments for its accepted students, and the other had decided in the fall that this was going to be a disaster and pushed its date for students to commit to the school back from May 1 to June 1. For schools with rolling deadlines, that means that students who are ready to commit now will have a leg up on those whose decisions hinge on available aid. It also means that undecided students may end up wasting time visiting campuses they would otherwise have crossed off their lists by now. On Monday, Gavin Newsom signed an emergency law extending by a month the deadline for California students to apply for scholarships, and the state has already pushed back the commitment date to May 15.
From there, things get worse:
Even so, in late 2022, Republicans were willing to pony up more funding for the project, but with one condition: Not a penny of the money could be spent on Biden’s illegal student-loan-forgiveness program. Biden chose to turn down the money and let the FAFSA burn rather than accept that condition, and then the Supreme Court struck down his loan-forgiveness scheme anyway. Now, the bill for that brinksmanship is coming due, and college applicants and their parents are the ones who’ve been stuck with it.
Never underestimate Joe’s ability — or eagerness — to f*** things up.
LIGHTNING DEAL: 16X52 Monocular Telescope High Powered for Adults. #CommissionEarned
CONSPIRACY THEORIES WELCOME: Why Aren’t Dems Talking About RFK Jr’s Dirtiest Not-So-Secret?
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The War at Stanford. “We’re only in our third week of college, and we’re afraid to be here.”
I WON’T SAY I WAS RIGHT. I WAS IN FACT TOO PESSIMISTIC ABOUT AMERICA’S ABILITY TO DEAL WITH STUPIDITY FROM ABOVE: Cures and Diseases – a blast from the past from 3/24/2020.
WHAT HE SAYS. ALL OF IT: Gaza: Truths Behind All the Lies.
PERHAPS IT’S TIME TO IGNORE THEIR TANTRUMS: Part 3: The expected tantrum of madness should Biden actually lose the election.
YEAH. THERE IS A VERY GOOD REASON FOR THAT: Chinese Cultural Revolution Scene in New Netflix Series is Disturbing Parallel of Cancel Culture, Campus Struggle Sessions.
DEAR AMERICAN FARMERS: LEARN: Proposed European Climate Change Plan Flails Amid Farmer Protests.
WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT TOP EXECS? Boeing has ‘serious work ahead’ after Alaska Airlines mess: top exec.
IS THAT ALL? Bud Light may lose 18% of grocery store shelf space after Dylan Mulvaney boycott.
Those are rookie numbers. We got to bring those numbers up.
I WAS TOLD THEY WERE DOING THE JOBS AMERICANS WON’T DO? Migrant influencer Leonel Moreno waves around cash as he mocks US taxpayers who ‘work like slaves’ after he urged fellow illegals to become squatters in US homes.
SO THAT’S WHERE ALL THEIR SLIME CAME FROM! Nickelodeon hired or worked with 5 accused child molesters and pedophiles: report.