The Burning Platform

The Biggest Fools on the Planet—–Reflections On A University Graduation Day

Guest Post by Bill Bonner

Gassy Hacks and Big Quacks

Today, we recall the “commencement” at the end of four years at the University of Vermont. The university itself is imposing and a little intimidating. The rest of the world works in warehouses or common office spaces. Academia labors in hallowed “halls” and prestigious “centers.”

vermont The path to the hallowed halls of the University of Vermont

Photo via hercampus.com

People in the Main Street world work for profits… and are subject to market economics. The professoriate is above it all; no profit and loss statements… no profit motives or incentive bonuses… and (for those with “tenure”) no chance of getting fired, no matter how incompetent, irrelevant, or wrong they are. The private sector depends on output and results; academia harbors gassy hacks who may never produce much of anything at all.

The ceremony on Sunday opened with the procession of the university luminati, led by bagpipers of the St. Andrews Society. Ordinary people – even presidents of the United States of America – wear common coats and ties; the academic elite are gussied up with all manner of robes, funny hats, cowls, tassels, honors… and a line of capital letters following their names like baby ducks behind a waddling quack.

“All that brainpower… working on our Justin… it must have done him some good,” parents say to themselves. Then, they have their doubts. Justin seems to think that “diversity” is what really matters, that Bernie Sanders has the right idea, and that eating gluten is a sin.

Privately, they wonder if they haven’t just been the biggest fools on the planet, spending more than $100,000 to put their boy through four years of brainwashing, with no visible improvement in his critical thinking. But this is no time to say anything. It’s too late. So, they take their seats, along with thousands of others. At least, those were the dark thoughts gathering in our mind as we sat in a plastic chair on the green, waiting for the festivities to begin.

Continue reading “The Biggest Fools on the Planet—–Reflections On A University Graduation Day”

DETROIT SCHOOLS JUST NEED MORE TAXPAYER MONEY TO SUCCEED

This is called the “No School Administrator Left Behind” Program. The utter corruption of liberal led, union controlled school districts in urban ghetto kill zones across America is disgusting to behold. The Democratic party controls every one of these shithole cities and is 100% responsible for the administration of these criminal school districts. They matriculate functionally illiterate dumbasses into society while enriching themselves with taxpayer money. Vote for Hillary if you want more of this.

And of course the liberal MSM wouldn’t possibly put a picture of this despicable human being in their story, so I found one. Is that raciss?

Feds: Detroit school official made $1.2M for phantom tutoring

(CNN)Federal investigators revealed another blow to Detroit Public Schools this week — the system’s former grant-development director has been charged on suspicion of obtaining nearly $1.3 million by lying about children’s tutoring services.

Carolyn StarkeyDarden set up a company and allegedly ran a scheme between 2005 and 2012 in which she submitted fake invoices for tutoring services that were never provided to students, according to charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Michigan’s Eastern District.

StarkeyDarden, 69, was charged Monday with federal program theft, for which she could receive up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 if convicted.

“Ms. StarkeyDarden cheated the students of Detroit Public Schools out of valuable resources by fraudulently billing for her company’s services,” said David P. Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit. “In fact, Detroit students were cheated twice by this scheme.

“Students that needed tutoring never received it, and money that could have been spent on other resources was paid to Ms. StarkeyDarden as part of her fraud scheme.”

Continue reading “DETROIT SCHOOLS JUST NEED MORE TAXPAYER MONEY TO SUCCEED”

A Libertarian Lexicon

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Well, an EPautos Libertarian Lexicon!

I get asked frequently about the meaning of some commonly used terms, known to EPautos regulars but less well-known to people new to this corner of the Libertarian universe. These form the core lingua franca of the dialogue here, but much more important, they serve as a convenient shorthand for conveying certain concepts easily and efficiently – without the need to go into a long explanation. Ideally, they will become anti-authoritarian/pro-liberty memes.

Help spread the word!

* Clover –

The root cause of every affront to liberty. The spoonful of shit that ruins a gallon of ice cream. Clovers do not believe in live and let live. They believe in telling others how to live – at gunpoint, if necessary. Clovers can’t abide the organic society, voluntary interaction or free exchange.

You are not free to disagree with a Clover.

They always have “plans” and speak in terms of “we” – as if you agreed to their plans. As if they have the right to speak for you.

A Clover will speak of “our children” when he means your children.

Clovers believe that their feelings about what “someone” might do justify imposing restrictions on people who haven’t actually done anything to cause harm to anyone.

Clovers believe in group guilt – and that you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

Clovers believe the end (their end, whatever they deem worthwhile) always justifies the means.

A Clover isn’t stopped in his tracks by a moral principle; for example, that it’s wrong to presume every driver on a given stretch of road is a “dangerous drunk” until he proves to the satisfaction of a cop that he isn’t.

Continue reading “A Libertarian Lexicon”

SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE UPDATE

These morons are too funny. Idiocracy in all its glory. It ain’t a movie anymore. It’s the real thing on college campuses across the U.S.

Via The Week

Oberlin students want to abolish midterms and any grades below C

iStock

Students at Oberlin College are asking the school to put academics on the back burner so they can better turn their attention to activism. More than 1,300 students at the Midwestern liberal arts college have now signed a petition asking that the college get rid of any grade below a C for the semester, and some students are requesting alternatives to the standard written midterm examination, such as a conversation with a professor in lieu of an essay.

The students say that between their activism work and their heavy course load, finding success within the usual grading parameters is increasingly difficult. “A lot of us worked alongside community members in Cleveland who were protesting,” Megan Bautista, a co-liaison in Oberlin’s student government, said, referring to the protests surrounding the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a police officer in 2014. “But we needed to organize on campus as well — it wasn’t sustainable to keep driving 40 minutes away. A lot of us started suffering academically.”

The student activists’ request doesn’t come without precedence: In the 1970s, Oberlin adjusted its grading to accommodate student activists protesting the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings, The New Yorker reports. But current students contend that same luxury was not granted to them even though the recent Rice protests were over a police shooting that took place just 30 miles east of campus.

“You know, we’re paying for a service. We’re paying for our attendance here. We need to be able to get what we need in a way that we can actually consume it,” student Zakiya Acey told The New Yorker. “Because I’m dealing with having been arrested on campus, or having to deal with the things that my family are going through because of larger systems — having to deal with all of that, I can’t produce the work that they want me to do. But I understand the material, and I can give it to you in different ways.”

Read the full story on the ongoing battle at Oberlin over at The New Yorker.