Tidbits Political Quotations
To Accompany the June 30, 2020 Edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/Tidbits063020.htm             
Bob Jensen at
Trinity University




My Latest Web Document
Over 600 Examples of Critical Thinking and Illustrations of How to Mislead With Statistics --
-
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/MisleadWithStatistics.htm

Animated  Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth Over 200 Years (1790 – 2010) ---
A Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth Over 200 Years (1790 – 2010)

USA Debt Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/
The published national debt is a lie
Here's the real federal debt ---
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt

Debt to GDP Ratio by Country 2020 ---
https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-by-national-debt/

Human Population Over Time on Earth ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OE 

MIT's Links to Covid-19 Trackers Around the World ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/07/1000961/launching-mittr-covid-tracing-tracker/

Johns Hopkins University:  Updated Map and Table on the Number of Coronavirus Cases for Every Nation ---
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
Accuracy is subject to wide margins of error for every nation and varies greatly between nations.

Covid019 in New Hampshire ---
https://www.nh.gov/covid19/

The best maps for comparing counties and towns in your state are provided by your state. For example, here's the map showing the distribution of cases for New Hampshire counties and towns ---
https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-coronavirus-map/32009329#
 


 

Beautiful News Daily (news and statistics to offset all of today's bad news) ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/

 

 Here's a humorous and serious TED talk that seriously argues why the world needs billionaires

https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_eia_where_in_the_world_is_it_easiest_to_get_rich
 

Why did Cuba abandon its socialist/communist dream of equality for everybody?
The Guardian:  This was the egalitarian dream of Cuba in the 1960s: For years in Cuba, jobs as varied as farm workers and doctors only had a difference in their wages of the equivalent of a few US dollars a month.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/12/cuba 

 

Here's a somber and serious Guardian article on why the Cuban model of income equality for all is a disaster ---
Fidel Castro says his economic system is failing ---
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/09/fidel-castro-cuba-economic-model

 

The Singapore Dream:  How Singapore's richest man went from welding in a factory for $14 per hour to owning a $17 billion hotpot restaurant chain ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/life-of-singapore-richest-man-from-welder-to-hotpot-billionaire-2020-1

 

While a move is underway to destroy the American Dream of rags to riches (by taxing away the riches) the Chinese dream is on the rise.
The Chinese Dream
How a Chinese billionaire went from making $16 a month in a factory to being one of the world's richest self-made women with an $8.3 billion real-estate empire ---

https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-richest-self-made-woman-wu-yajun-net-worth-2019-2

Top 50 Billionaires in China ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_by_net_worth

Jensen Comment
The question for students to debate is why a supposed communist country allows so many billionaires to rise up from poverty.
That's supposed to happen in the USA where a child growing up in deep poverty (think Oprah Winfrey or Howard Shultz) became a multi-billionaires.
But is it also supposed to happen under communism? If so, why?

 

One reason is that many billionaires can afford to pour lots of money into high risk ventures. When's the last time you heard about a high risk (think Silicon Valley) venture in Europe?

 


 

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admits they were WRONG for 'not listening' to Colin Kaepernick's protests against police brutality and that players can kneel from now on ---
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-8393793/NFL-commissioner-Roger-Goodell-admits-WRONG-handling-Colin-Kaepernick.html
NFL says players' protests during national anthem should be allowed ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52945934
 


Wikiquote from Wikipedia --- https://www.wikiquote.org/

 

The True Meaning of Memorial Day Isn’t a Three-Day Weekend ---
https://www.ozy.com/news-and-politics/the-true-meaning-of-memorial-day-isnt-a-three-day-weekend/78579/?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyDose%20%282020-05-25%2016:37:44%29&utm_content=B

 

When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name, one unforgiveable sin (racial profiling) outweighs all the good you've done in life.

Bob Jensen

 

Kobe Bryant:  We need to make the most of every minute we have ---
https://www.newsweek.com/i-wont-take-see-you-later-granted-148449

 

Hermann Weyl born in Hamburg, Germany. He wrote, "One may say that mathematics talks about the things which are of no concern to men. Mathematics has the inhuman quality of starlight---brilliant, sharp, but cold ... thus we are clearest where knowledge matters least: in mathematics, especially number theory." ---
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Weyl.html
Also see Mathematical Analytics in Plato's Cave
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm#Analytics

 

And nevertheless conclude that the optimum amount of restriction of immigration is zero point zero, zero, zero? Amazing. Economics are generally skeptical models that yield corner solutions ---
https://www.econlib.org/do-you-talk-about-it-in-open-borders-yes/
Jensen Comment
To the list of questions I would add "Do your talk about the Tragedy of the Commons?"
The problem with open borders is somewhat related to the economic problem of "The Sharing of the Commons" where giving everybody the right to use a free resource leads to everybody losing that resource. At what point will allowing billions of people share in the free medical care, free college, and other scarce resources ruin it for everybody ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

 

History of United States Immigration Laws ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwGCkZzrvQkcFbRplBPwBFwmFDs

 

Open immigration can’t exist with a strong social safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-net

 

History will prove former President Donald Trump was correct about Mexico one day funding an impenetrable wall --- to keep out over 2 billion starving green immigrants seeking to enter Mexico from the north.
Bob Jensen

 

Assorted Charlie Munger Quotations ---

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-charlie-munger-12-best-quotes-2020-5-1029210949

 

Walter E. Williams:  Insults to Black History ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/06/24/insults-to-black-history-n2571095?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=06/24/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

Walter E. Williams:  The True Plight of Black Americans

https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/06/10/the-true-plight-of-black-americans-n2570249

 

Some Fatherly Words of Wisdom from Jack Bogle, Founder of Vanguard Investments, to My Sons ---
https://jborden.com/2019/06/16/some-fatherly-words-of-wisdom-from-jack-bogle-founder-of-vanguard-investments-to-my-sons/

 

Walter A. Williams:  The Nation's Report Card
How are K-12 schools doing under President Trump versus President Obama?
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/05/06/the-nations-report-card-n2568167?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=05/06/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Jensen's Comment
Most K-12 schools were probably doing better when I was a child than they're doing today. The downhill slide is greatest in the gang-ridden schools, drug-infested urban schools like Chicago and New Orleans. Throwing money at such schools is not the answer until life at home recovers. Finland knows this, which is why Finland's dads spend more time with school children than the moms or the teachers.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/dec/04/finland-only-country-world-dad-more-time-kids-moms

 

Walter E. Williams:  Insane News Tidbits ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/05/27/insane-news-tidbits-n2569329?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=05/27/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

Milton Friedman:  The Lesson of the Spoons ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/08/spoons-are-in-aisle-9.html
Chopsticks would be even better

 

 

"In Praise of Cheap Labor," by Paul Krugman, Slate, March 21, 1997 ---
https://slate.com/business/1997/03/in-praise-of-cheap-labor.html

 

Corruption in general has a deleterious effect on the readiness of economic agents to invest. In the long run, it leads to a paralysis of economic life. But very often it is not that economic agents themselves have had the bad experience of being cheated and ruined, they just know that in this country, or in this part of the economy, or this building scene, there is a high likelihood that you will get cheated and that free riders can get away with it. Here again, reputation is absolutely essential, which is why transparency is so important. Trust can only be engendered by transparency. It's no coincidence that the name of the most influential non-governmental organization dealing with corruption is Transparency International.
A Conversation with Karl Sigmund:  When Rule of Law is Not Working
https://www.edge.org/conversation/karl_sigmund-when-the-rule-of-law-is-not-working

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so on ad infinitum ---

Augustus De Morgan

Prior to 1980 what was unique about the year of his birth in 1871?
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/De_Morgan.html

Also see
 

The enemy is fear
We think it's hate
But, it's fear

Gandhi

 

12 inspiring quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.---
https://www.businessinsider.com/inspiring-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-2017-1

 

‘Never Be Afraid’: William Faulkner’s Speech to His Daughter’s Graduating Class in 1951 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/05/never-be-afraid-william-faulkners-speech-to-his-daughters-graduating-class-in-1951.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

 

21 outstanding Warren Buffet quotations ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-21-best-quotes-2019-2
Also see
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-25-best-warren-buffett-quotes-in-one-infographic/

 

History of United States Immigration Laws ---
https://rapidvisa.com/history-of-united-states-immigration-laws/

Walter E. Williams:  Rotten Education Isn't Preordained:  in 2016, in 13 Baltimore high schools, not a single student tested proficient in math ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/05/20/rotten-education-isnt-preordained-n2569005?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=05/20/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Islamic Riots in France Turn Deadly ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/921156-france-on-fire-islamic-gangs-destroying-country-chant-down-with-the-west?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=837UbNi_k5iDkCXwiuEQU4rmVAxgzJzjnTja7lRCSGMo.A
The USA media is relatively quiet about these violent riots --- probably because Islamic factions are making war with both the west and with each other
If it isn't a George Floyd protest it isn't newsworthy in the USA
 

Only 5% Of Black First-Time Takers Passed February California Bar Exam, Compared To 52% Of Whites, 42% Of Asians, And 31% Of Hispanics ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/06/only-5-of-black-first-time-takers-passed-february-california-bar-exam-compared-to-52-of-whites-4.html


California's Dirty Little Secret Is Threatening Its Climate Ambitions

https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/californias-dirty-little-secret-is-threatening-its-climate-ambitions ---
The state’s goal is to cut carbon intensity of all transportation fuels by 20% by 2030. But the oilfields are an outlier.

 

FSU Student Leaders Stick By Anti-Semitic Senate President ---
https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/fsu-student-leaders-stick-by-anti-semitic-senate-president/

 

A new study published Thursday in Nature Medicine suggests that coronavirus antibodies may last only two to three months, especially in people who never show clinical symptoms while they get infected ---
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-06-21/Coronavirus-antibodies-may-last-only-2-3-months-after-infection-study-RuV0BHZV72/index.html

 

The history of Black management reveals an overlooked study of capitalism ---
https://qz.com/work/1868106/black-business-history-reveals-potent-management-lessons
Also see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_businesses

 

Photographing Freetowns: African American Kentucky through the Lens of Helen Balfour Morrison, 1935-1946 ---
http://publications.newberry.org/dig/photographing-freetowns/index
 

CHAZ gets Chopped: Seattle Mayor Admits Experiment Failed:  Police Free Does Not Equate to Crime Free ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/927673-chaz-gets-chopped-seattle-mayor-admits-experiment-failed?utm_source=c-am&utm_medium=c-am-email&utm_term=c-am-GI&utm_content=837UbNi_k5iDkCXwiuEQU4rmVAxgzJzjnTja7lRCSGMo.A

Seattle Times:  The irony of the no-cop CHOP: It showed how much we still need the police after all ---
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-irony-of-the-no-cop-chop-it-showed-how-much-we-still-need-the-police-after-all/

 

The Greece bailout was 43% of Greek gdp in 2011 ---
https://www.nber.org/papers/w27403#fromrss

 

The American Hospital Association lost its legal bid to stop the Trump administration from requiring hospitals to disclose secret rates they negotiate with insurance companies ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-price-transparency-rule-covering-hospitals-upheld-11592945973?mod=djemCFO

Jensen Comment
This is analogous to those secret rates for-profit publishers of journals negotiate with selective libraries. To my knowledge those journal rates are still secret.

 

The New Yorker:  How Racist Was Flannery O’Connor?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/22/how-racist-was-flannery-oconnor
Jensen Comment
Hypocritically her defenders pardon her for being a racist of her time while being unwilling to forgive George Washington, Thomas Jefferson for being slave owners, albeit kindly slave owners, of their time. But then hypocritical scholars are often hypocritical in defending their own for sins that they rant about against conservatives.

 

A Winner of Four Academy Awards is Now Available for Streaming and It's Not What You Think ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/the-gaslighting-of-parasite.html

 

The rapid rollout of the Paycheck Protection Program raises fraud risk, government watchdog finds  ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/25/fast-rollout-of-the-paycheck-protection-program-raises-fraud-risk-gao.html
Accountants caught with their internal controls down

 




 

Who decides which books to burn?

When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name, one unforgiveable sin (racial profiling) outweighs all the good you've done in life.
(No that's not quite right)
 

Woodrow Wilson (the 28th President (a Democrat) of the USA) ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson

Author

During his academic career, Wilson authored several works of history and political science and became a regular contributor to Political Science Quarterly, an academic journal.[55] Wilson's first political work, Congressional Government (1885), critically described the U.S. system of government and advocated adopting reforms to move the U.S. closer to a parliamentary system.[56] Wilson believed the Constitution had a "radical defect" because it did not establish a branch of government that could "decide at once and with conclusive authority what shall be done."[57] He singled out the United States House of Representatives for particular criticism, writing, divided up, as it were, into forty-seven seignories, in each of which a standing committee is the court-baron and its chairman lord-proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.[58]

Wilson's second publication was a textbook, entitled The State, that was used widely in college courses throughout the country until the 1920s.[59] In The State, Wilson wrote that governments could legitimately promote the general welfare "by forbidding child labor, by supervising the sanitary conditions of factories, by limiting the employment of women in occupations hurtful to their health, by instituting official tests of the purity or the quality of goods sold, by limiting the hours of labor in certain trades, [and] by a hundred and one limitations of the power of unscrupulous or heartless men to out-do the scrupulous and merciful in trade or industry."[60][page needed] He also wrote that charity efforts should be removed from the private domain and "made the imperative legal duty of the whole," a position which, according to historian Robert M. Saunders, seemed to indicate that Wilson "was laying the groundwork for the modern welfare state."[61]

His third book, entitled Division and Reunion, was published in 1893.[62] It became a standard university textbook for teaching mid- and late-19th century U.S. history.[51] In 1897, Houghton Mifflin published Wilson's biography on George Washington; Berg describes it as "Wilson's poorest literary effort."[63] Wilson's fourth major publication, a five-volume work entitled History of the American People, was the culmination of a series of articles written for Harper's, and was published in 1902.[64] In 1908, Wilson published his last major scholarly work, Constitutional Government of the United States.[65]

 

President of Princeton University

See also: History of Princeton University § Woodrow Wilson

In June 1902, Princeton trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president, replacing Patton, whom the trustees perceived to be an inefficient administrator.[66] Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman's C" with serious study. To emphasize the development of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements. Students were to meet in groups of six under the guidance of teaching assistants known as preceptors.[67][page needed] To fund these new programs, Wilson undertook an ambitious and successful fundraising campaign, convincing alumni such as Moses Taylor Pyne and philanthropists such as Andrew Carnegie to donate to the school.[68] Wilson appointed the first Jew and the first Roman Catholic to the faculty, and helped liberate the board from domination by conservative Presbyterians.[69] He also worked to keep African Americans out of the school, even as other Ivy League schools were accepting small numbers of blacks.[70][a]

Wilson's efforts to reform Princeton earned him national notoriety, but they also took a toll on his health.[72] In 1906, Wilson awoke to find himself blind in the left eye, the result of a blood clot and hypertension. Modern medical opinion surmises Wilson had suffered a stroke—he later was diagnosed, as his father had been, with hardening of the arteries. He began to exhibit his father's traits of impatience and intolerance, which would on occasion lead to errors of judgment.[73] When Wilson began vacationing in Bermuda in 1906, he met a socialite, Mary Hulbert Peck. Their visits together became a regular occurrence on his return. Wilson in his letters home to Ellen openly related these gatherings as well his other social events. According to biographer August Heckscher, Wilson's friendship with Peck became the topic of frank discussion between Wilson and his wife. Wilson historians have not conclusively established there was an affair; but Wilson did on one occasion write a musing in shorthand—on the reverse side of a draft for an editorial: "my precious one, my beloved Mary."[74] Wilson also sent very personal letters to her which would later be used against him by his adversaries.[75]

Having reorganized the school's curriculum and established the preceptorial system, Wilson next attempted to curtail the influence of social elites at Princeton by abolishing the upper-class eating clubs.[76] He proposed moving the students into colleges, also known as quadrangles, but Wilson's Quad Plan was met with fierce opposition from Princeton's alumni.[77] In October 1907, due to the intensity of alumni opposition, the Board of Trustees instructed Wilson to withdraw the Quad Plan.[78] Late in his tenure, Wilson had a confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, dean of the graduate school, and also West's ally ex-President Grover Cleveland, who was a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate a proposed graduate school building into the campus core, while West preferred a more distant campus site. In 1909, Princeton's board accepted a gift made to the graduate school campaign subject to the graduate school being located off campus.[79]

Wilson became disenchanted with his job due to the resistance to his recommendations, and he began considering a run for office. Prior to the 1908 Democratic National Convention, Wilson dropped hints to some influential players in the Democratic Party of his interest in the ticket. While he had no real expectations of being placed on the ticket, he left instructions that he should not be offered the vice presidential nomination. Party regulars considered his ideas politically as well as geographically detached and fanciful, but the seeds had been sown.[80] McGeorge Bundy in 1956 described Wilson's contribution to Princeton: "Wilson was right in his conviction that Princeton must be more than a wonderfully pleasant and decent home for nice young men; it has been more ever since his time".[81]

. . .

Historical reputation

 

Wilson is generally ranked by historians and political scientists as one of the better presidents.[2] More than any of his predecessors, Wilson took steps towards the creation of a strong federal government that would protect ordinary citizens against the overwhelming power of large corporations.[328] He is generally regarded as a key figure in the establishment of modern American liberalism, and a strong influence on future presidents such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.[2] Cooper argues that in terms of impact and ambition, only the New Deal and the Great Society rival the domestic accomplishments of Wilson's presidency.[329] Many of Wilson's accomplishments, including the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, the graduated income tax, and labor laws, continued to influence the United States long after Wilson's death.[2] Wilson's idealistic foreign policy, which came to be known as Wilsonianism, also cast a long shadow over American foreign policy, and Wilson's League of Nations influenced the development of the United Nations.[2] Saladin Ambar writes that Wilson was "the first statesman of world stature to speak out not only against European imperialism but against the newer form of economic domination sometimes described as 'informal imperialism.'"[330]

Notwithstanding his accomplishments in office, Wilson has received criticism for his record on race relations and civil liberties, for his interventions in Latin America, and for his failure to win ratification of the Treaty of Versailles.[3][330] Sigmund Freud and William Christian Bullitt Jr., an American diplomat, collaborated in the 1930s on a psychological study that was published in 1966. [331] They argued that Wilson resolved his Oedipus complex by becoming highly neurotic, casting his father as God and himself as Christ, the savior of mankind.[332] Historians rejected the interpretation. Diplomatic historian A. J. P. Taylor called it a "disgrace" and asked: "How did anyone ever manage to take Freud seriously?"[333]

Many conservatives have attacked Wilson for his role in expanding the federal government.[334][335][336] In 2018, conservative columnist George Will wrote on The Washington Post that Theodore Roosevelt and Wilson were the "progenitors of today's imperial presidency."[337]

In the wake of the Charleston church shooting, during a debate over the removal of Confederate monuments, some individuals demanded the removal of Wilson's name from institutions affiliated with Princeton due to his administration's segregation of government offices.[338][339] On June 26, 2020, Princeton University removed Wilson's name from its public policy school due to his "racist thinking and policies."[340] The Princeton University Board of Trustees voted to remove Wilson’s name from the university’s School of Public and International Affairs, changing the name to the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The Board also accelerated the retirement of the name of a soon-to-be-closed residential college, changing the name from Wilson College to “First College.” However, the Board did not change the name of the university's highest honor for an undergraduate alumnus or alumna, The Woodrow Wilson Award, because it is the result of a gift. The Board stated that when the university accepted that gift, it took on a legal obligation to name the prize for Wilson.[341]

Continued in article

 

Princeton Strips Wilson Name From School, College
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/06/29/princeton-strips-wilson-name-school-college?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=33ab119ab6-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-33ab119ab6-197565045&mc_cid=33ab119ab6&mc_eid=1e78f7c952 \

Princeton University on Saturday removed Woodrow Wilson's name from its School of Public and International Affairs and a residential college. Wilson was a Princeton alumnus and president of the university. Christopher L. Eisgruber, the current president, wrote to the campus, where protests in 2015 (and before that) called for removal of the name. In April 2016, a campus committee "recommended a number of reforms to make this university more inclusive and more honest about its history. The committee and the board, however, left Wilson’s name on the school and the college," Eisgruber wrote.

Today, he wrote, "the tragic killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks drew renewed attention to the long and damaging history of racism in America."

He added that the board acted because "Wilson’s racism was significant and consequential even by the standards of his own time. He segregated the federal civil service after it had been racially integrated for decades, thereby taking America backward in its pursuit of justice. He not only acquiesced in but added to the persistent practice of racism in this country, a practice that continues to do harm today. Wilson’s segregationist policies make him an especially inappropriate namesake for a public policy school."

Jensen Comment
I started this thread module with the following:

When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name, one unforgiveable sin (racial profiling) outweighs all the good you've done in life.

That's not entirely true. Hypocritical scholars will forgive you if you had sufficient political correctness like Flannery O'Connor ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannery_O%27Connor

The New Yorker:  How Racist Was Flannery O’Connor?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/22/how-racist-was-flannery-oconnor
Jensen Comment
Hypocritically her defenders pardon her for being a racist of her time while being unwilling to forgive George Washington, Thomas Jefferson for being slave owners, albeit kindly slave owners, of their time. But then scholars are often hypocritical in defending their own for sins that they rant about in others.

Like Woodrow Wilson, Flannery O'Connor's racism was mixed with both bad racism and good things for Blacks. Wilson for example, fought against child labor and better working conditions for workers of all races with "a hundred and one limitations of the power of unscrupulous or heartless men to out-do the scrupulous and merciful in trade or industry." Woodrow Wilson must be erased from history.

Flannery O'Connor in her personal life was a racist. But in her many writings liberal scholars point out that there are some of her memorable words for fighting against racism ---
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/06/how-flannery-oconnor-fought-racism
Flannery O'Connor must live on.

Liberal scholars will praise her political fight against racism whereas they will tear down all the good things Woodrow Wilson did for Blacks and other minorities. Hence the following:

When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name, one unforgiveable sin (racial profiling) outweighs all the good you've done in life unless you were sufficient in political correctness.
Bob Jensen

I doubt that any university will remove any awards or praises to Flannery O'Connor like they are in the process of removing all awards and praises of Woodrow Wilson.

And guess who gets left in the curriculum?

Who decides which books to burn?

Bob Jensen's threads on political correctness ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectness

 


How to Mislead With Statistics

New York algebra fact of the day---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/new-york-fact-of-the-day-2.html

Take here in New York, where in 2016 the passing rate for the Regents Examination in Algebra I test was 72 percent. Unfortunately, this (relatively) higher rate of success does not indicate some sort of revolutionary pedagogy on the part of New York state educators. As the New York Post complained in 2017, passing rates were so high in large measure because the cutoff for passing was absurdly low — so low that students needed only to answer 31.4 percent of the questions correctly to pass the 2017 exam.

Walter A. Williams:  The Nation's Report Card
How are K-12 schools doing under President Trump versus President Obama?
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/05/06/the-nations-report-card-n2568167?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=05/06/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Jensen's Comment
Most K-12 schools were probably doing better when I was a child than they're doing today. The downhill slide is greatest in the gang-ridden schools, drug-infested urban schools like Chicago and New Orleans. But the slide is virtually everywhere in the USA.

 

Throwing money at such schools is not the answer until life at home recovers. Finland knows this, which is why Finland's dads spend more time with school children than the moms or the teachers.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/dec/04/finland-only-country-world-dad-more-time-kids-moms

 


Over the past half century, the United States has been the birthplace of the majority of the world’s biomedical innovations ---
https://www.americanactionforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2016-05-17-Drug-Patents-Checkup.pdf
Especially note the 1991-2010 trend.

Rewarding financial risk taking is the main reason for this trend.

 

The Nation and The Little Red Hen:  The Covid-19 Vaccine Should Belong to the People ---
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/the-covid-19-vaccine-should-belong-to-the-people/

 

Jensen Comment
Consider this scenario. The clear winner by far in the vaccine race ends up being a patented vaccine from a company that invested in the high risk race of developing a Covid-19 vaccine. The Nation argues that the company should not profit from its high risk investment for the public good. I argue that it's the story of The Little Red Hen all over again between the original and revised versions of this fable ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Red_Hen#Revisions
The Nation is actually praising Malvina Reynolds' version  of The Little Red Hen with short-term myopia. If companies cannot profit from investment risks guess what happens. For the next pandemic down the road companies will not invest in vaccines or cures if it becomes highly likely that there will be no rewards for risky investments. Risk taking investments are then left to governments --- the least efficient and most corrupt monopolies worldwide.

 

The days it's popular to lambaste the big pharma patent cartels, and I'd be the first to admit that there are enormous abuses in buying up patents on existing reasonably-priced medications and jacking up prices. Thus I conclude that clear abuses should be punished.

 

But when the next pandemic rolls along in the USA where financial risk taking is not rewarded for the invention of new cures and vaccines, you will be greatly reducing the probabilities of finding the best new cures and vaccines. The Nation's editors are long-time advocates of socialism, but are unable to point to a single nation that has ever sustained itself with socialism. All socialist experiments are reverted to or are in the process of reverting to capitalism that rewards risky investments.

 


 

Racial Profiling Concerns Are More Important Than Public Health
Facemasks are required in Lincoln County, Oregon with the following exceptions:

https://www.co.lincoln.or.us/sites/default/files/fileattachments/health_amp_human_services/page/7581/directive_6-16-2020.pdf
Also see Newsweek ---
https://www.newsweek.com/oregon-county-exempts-non-white-people-mandatory-face-mask-order-1512895

The following individuals do not need to comply with this Directive: 


Hi Zafar,

The best the USA can do is Rank 23 on the Government Corruption Index ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
We barely beat out Chile at Rank 24 and the Bahamas at Rank 29

You would have us believe the USA will jump to Number 1 in the world as soon as Donald Trump and all those other Republicans are thrown out of power in November 2020.
I hope you're correct on this.

It will be a breath of fresh air once Joe Biden takes over. He never helped his son become a multi-millionaire. It's a dirty Republican lie.

Democrats in government are above corruption. I really looking forward to all that honesty moving into power, especially once this power becomes monopoly power.

One of the hallmarks of socialism's failures in practice has been government corruption. Your beloved Cuba, Zafar, comes in at a very corrupt Rank 60 among corrupt government officials. Bolivia is at Rank 123. Must be all those corrupt Republicans in government positions in Cuba and Bolivia.
Wonder why Venezuela isn't even ranked?

Seriously, one of the big sources of government corruption is nation size. Most of the high-ranking nations in the corruption index linked above are relatively low population nations that are much more subjected to voter watchdogs. By the way, those high ranking nations all have billionaires (alas Iceland only has one) in the private sector, most of whom got rich from financial risk taking in capitalist economies.

 

And to Elliot I will say that closing the wealth disparity problem that worries you so much will not help matters if the poor become worse off, which is what will happen with open borders. Wealth disparity is not the problem. The problem is the degree of poverty among a nation's poorest residents. On this the Gini index is horribly misleading since being poor in Somolia is not the same as being poor in the USA where our poorest citizens have the safety nets of food stamps, Medicaid, housing subsidies, welfare, free k-12 education, etc.

Sweden and nearly 90% of the other developed nations that lowered their top marginal tax rates did so because they discovered that very high marginal tax rates were dysfunctional to their entire economies (including the poor) ---
https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/MarginalTaxRates.html
Especially note socialist Bolivia

Nations lowering their top marginal tax rates increased rather than decreased wealth disparity.


 

Table 1 Maximum Marginal Tax Rates on Individual Income
*. Hong Kong�s maximum tax (the �standard rate�) has normally been 15 percent, effectively capping the marginal rate at high income levels (in exchange for no personal exemptions).
**. The highest U.S. tax rate of 39.6 percent after 1993 was reduced to 38.6 percent in 2002 and to 35 percent in 2003.

  1979 1990 2002
Argentina 45 30 35
Australia 62 48 47
Austria 62 50 50
Belgium 76 55 52
Bolivia 48 10 13
Botswana 75 50 25
Brazil 55 25 28
Canada (Ontario) 58 47 46
Chile 60 50 43
Colombia 56 30 35
Denmark 73 68 59
Egypt 80 65 40
Finland 71 43 37
France 60 52 50
Germany 56 53 49
Greece 60 50 40
Guatemala 40 34 31
Hong Kong 25* 25 16
Hungary 60 50 40
India 60 50 30
Indonesia 50 35 35
Iran 90 75 35
Ireland 65 56 42
Israel 66 48 50
Italy 72 50 52
Jamaica 58 33 25
Japan 75 50 50
South Korea 89 50 36
Malaysia 60 45 28
Mauritius 50 35 25
Mexico 55 35 40
Netherlands 72 60 52
New Zealand 60 33 39
Norway 75 54 48
Pakistan 55 45 35
Philippines 70 35 32
Portugal 84 40 40
Puerto Rico 79 43 33
Russia NA 60 13
Singapore 55 33 26
Spain 66 56 48
Sweden 87 65 56
Thailand 60 55 37
Trinidad and Tobago 70 35 35
Turkey 75 50 45
United Kingdom 83 40 40
United States 70 33 39**

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers; International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation.

 

 

 


Taxpayers Still on the Hook for Stadium Debts, Even Though Coronavirus Canceled Sports (taxpayers also hit with paying for unemployment and stadium unemployment)

https://reason.com/2020/06/19/the-coronavirus-put-a-stop-to-many-sports-but-cities-still-owe-stadium-debt/

 

American cities are going to lose about $360 billion in revenue over the next three years, according to a projection from the National League of Cities. The coronavirus pandemic isn't just emptying stadiums and eliminating ticket revenue. It's causing all sorts of economic spending to crater—including the common "tourist taxes" that cities often use to back debt, like those applied to hotel rooms and rental cars.

But these stadium projects were bad deals even before the pandemic-induced economic shutdown.

"The pandemic and the event cancellations it has generated have seriously disrupted the financial calculations that cities made in building stadiums at taxpayers' expense," writes David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute. "But they were never a good bargain."

The projections used to justify Worcester's investment in the stadium were iffy even under the best of circumstances. When the Worcester Business Journal surveyed 10 experts about the viability of the city's plan, nine of them expressed skepticism that the ballpark would pay for itself. The only dissenter was a Smith College economist hired by the city to make the case for the project. Study after study after study has debunked the idea that publicly funded stadiums are financially beneficial to anyone other than the team owners, who get free infrastructure for their business.

Continued in article

 


What's the glaring loophole in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision holding that employers can’t discriminate against workers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-16/lgbtq-workers-still-face-on-job-bias-risk-from-small-businesses?cmpid=BBD061620_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=200616&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

 

The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision holding that employers can’t discriminate against workers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity has a glaring loophole: It doesn’t apply to small businesses that employ as many as one in six Americans.

A 1960s-era ban on sex discrimination in the workplace was extended to millions of LGBT workers with the court’s 6-3 decision on Monday -- the most significant LGBT ruling since same-sex marriage was legalized in 2015. But the law doesn’t cover companies with fewer than 15 employees.

Nor did the decision address other civil rights questions, such as whether LGBT people can be refused access to housing or denied services from businesses including restaurants or movie theaters, and whether discrimination is justified by religious beliefs.

The ruling is a “monumental decision for the LGBTQ community, but it is not the end of our struggle,” said Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for LGBT rights. “We’re still fighting to make sure LGBTQ people are protected in all aspects of their lives.”

The statute at issue is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which granted a wide array of protections to many American workers for the first time, including a ban on “sex” discrimination. Advocates argued the definition of “sex” also barred employment discrimination against the LGBT community, and the court agreed over objections from the Trump administration.

The exclusion for smaller companies was “one of several subtleties that got lost in the headlines given the significance of the decision, which is certainly a landmark,” said Jon Nadler, a Philadelphia-based lawyer who represents businesses in employment litigation. “Today’s decision interprets only this one statute and did not interpret the U.S. Constitution or anything else.”

Before Monday’s ruling, 22 states prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and Wisconsin protects for sexual orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Another 10 states had some level of protection for public employees only.

There are 17 states with no protection at any level, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Continued in article

 

Small Business --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_business

 

The Guardian:  Policy allowing transgender athletes to compete as girls found to violate US law ---
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/may/28/connecticut-transgender-federal-civil-rights-lawsuit

 

 


 

Masks:   32 lawsuits filed against grocery chain Giant Eagle over pandemic mask requirement policy ---

https://triblive.com/local/regional/32-lawsuits-filed-against-giant-eagle-for-pandemic-mask-policy/

More than 30 lawsuits have been filed against Giant Eagle over the grocery chain’s mask policy, with plaintiffs claiming it is discriminatory under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A wave of lawsuits against Giant Eagle began in late May with seven cases filed in federal court. Plaintiffs included residents of the Alle-Kiski Valley, Cranberry and other areas surrounding Pittsburgh. They described grocery store employees yelling at them and physically escorting them from the premises after they tried to shop without masks.

In the span of just three weeks, the number of lawsuits in the region has grown to 32, all represented by attorney Thomas Anderson. Four new lawsuits have been filed this week.

The lawsuits argue Giant Eagle’s policy surpasses the state-ordered mandate for masks in public places. Gov. Tom Wolf’s order makes allowances for children and for people with disabilities, and also states that customers do not need a medical excuse to forgo a mask.

In a statement in late May, when the first round of lawsuits emerged, Giant Eagle spokesman Dick Roberts said the chain was reviewing the complaints and declined further comment. Roberts did not respond to a request for additional comment Wednesday.

Several of the complaints quote the owner of an unnamed Giant Eagle store, who allegedly posted publicly, “It’s too easy to make up an excuse not to wear a mask, and we refuse to put our team members and customers who do wear a mask at any more risk than they already are.”

The newest complaints were filed Tuesday.

One came from Tammie Aiken. According to Aiken’s complaint, she has a history of lung fibrosis, stroke and vertigo that limits her breathing and prevents her from wearing a mask. She was shopping at the Cranberry Mall Giant Eagle on May 28 when she was told to leave the store. An employee allegedly yelled at Aiken, causing everyone to look and drawing attention to her medical condition.

The other lawsuit filed Tuesday was from Katherine Duckstein, of Seven Fields in Butler County. According to her complaint, Duckstein has vasovagal syncope, a condition where blood pressure and heart rate suddenly drop, causing her to faint; post-traumatic stress disorder; and a form of anxiety that makes it difficult to breathe while wearing a mask. She had shopped at a store without a mask in late May, after confirming with the company that she could forgo a mask as long as she had a medical condition. However, when she tried to shop there again on June 8, she said Giant Eagle had “reinstituted” its no-exception mask policy.

Continued in Article

Jensen Comment
it would seem like this can be resolved for people with disabilities by having special services (filling orders and delivery), but this probably runs into privacy protections where people don't want to disclose and/or prove their disabilities.

 


 

One of my scholarly heroes in life is Frank Partnoy. You can track his revelations about financial derivative financial instruments frauds in my timeline at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRottenPart2.htm
 

Frank Partnoy --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Partnoy

Derivative Financial Instrument --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_(finance)

Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateralized_debt_obligation

Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateralized_loan_obligation

2020:  Have Banks Drifted Back Into Subprime Hell?
https://www.ozy.com/presidential-daily-brief/pdb-340967/crash-course-340968/
 

Here’s another reason to panic. Berkeley Law financial markets scholar Frank Partnoy is sounding the alarm about collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). Sound familiar? Partnoy likens them to collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis. CDOs bundled high-risk home mortgage debt that “too big to fail” financial institutions had stockpiled. While the current global economic threats are worse now than 12 years ago, most experts see the banking system as sound. Partnoy disagrees, saying often-concealed CLO troves could once again destabilize a system that U.S. lawmakers are unwilling to bail out yet again.

Bob Jensen's threads on CDOs in the 2008 subprime scandals are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm

 

 


 

The destruction of family structure and religious impacts on public safety took decades.

It will take many more decades to bring such public safety back --- especially to where it was before the age of single parent majority, empty churches, street narcotics, and synthetic drugs.

Public safety may evolve into several forms, but accelerating anarchy on the streets today will most assuredly lead to Big Brother predicted prematurely for 1984 ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984



FiveThirtyEight:  Most Americans balk at defunding the police ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-like-the-ideas-behind-defunding-the-police-more-than-the-slogan-itself/
Defunding police departments will not be a 2020 winning election platform, although replacing corrupt officers and increasing police budgets may be a winner like in Camden, NJ. But Camden is a city of 77,000 residents. How do you replace an entire police force in a city with over a million residents?

 

. . .

 

The slogan is unpopular with most demographic groups, too, with two notable exceptions: Black Americans and Democrats. In the two polls where results were broken down by race, Black respondents said they supported defunding the police by an average of 45 percent to 28 percent, while white respondents opposed it by an average of 61 percent to 23 percent. This is in line with other polls that have consistently shown that white people mostly see police in a favorable light, while Black people are likelier to have experienced mistreatment at officers’ hands and take the problem of police violence seriously. So what we’re seeing here may be another reflection of Black and white Americans’ different experiences with police.

Similarly, in the three polls with breakdowns by party, Democrats on average supported the “defund the police” movement 50 percent to 34 percent, and Republicans on average opposed it 84 percent to 11 percent. Granted, only about a quarter of Democrats “strongly” supported it, per Morning Consult/Politico and Reuters/Ipsos, but three-quarters of Republicans “strongly” opposed it.

However, “defund the police” is also a simplistic slogan, and the poll results above do not capture public opinion on the movement’s more concrete policy goals. Specifically, defunding the police is only half of its goal; activists also want to reallocate the money spent on policing to other parts of the social safety net. Indeed, in those very same polls, some of these policy ideas enjoy far more backing among the American public than the slogan does — though the level of support does vary pretty widely depending on the details of the proposal.

For instance, when Reuters/Ipsos queried people about “proposals to move some money currently going to police budgets into better officer training, local programs for homelessness, mental health assistance, and domestic violence,” a whopping 76 percent of people who were familiar with those proposals supported them, with only 22 percent opposed. Democrats and independents supported these proposals in huge numbers while Republicans were split, 51 percent in favor to 47 percent opposed.

Meanwhile, Morning Consult/Politico asked respondents whether they supported “redirecting funding for the police department in [their] local community to support community development programs,” and just 43 percent of register voters said they supported it, while 42 percent opposed it. Still, this was a significant increase in support from the pollster’s question about support for the “movement to ‘defund the police’” (which, to reiterate, was 28 percent support vs. 58 percent opposition).

Overall, questions that seemed to emphasize how police departments would be affected found less support. Reuters/Ipsos respondents who were familiar with “proposals to completely dismantle police departments and give more financial support to address homelessness, mental health, and domestic violence” said they opposed those proposals, 58 percent to 39 percent. That was virtually identical to the way respondents broke down in the pollster’s question about the “‘defund the police’ movement.” And finally, per ABC News/Ipsos, 39 percent supported and 60 percent opposed “reducing the budget of the police department in your community, even if that means fewer police officers, if the money is shifted to programs related to mental health, housing, and education.” That made the specific proposal slightly more popular than “the movement to ‘defund the police’” (34 percent support vs. 64 percent opposition), but the difference was well within the pollster’s margin of error.

The idea of redirecting funding from police departments is a new one to most Americans, so the contours of the debate are still being defined — and so is public opinion. While the “defund the police” slogan itself is quite unpopular, there does appear to be some support for rethinking police departments’ role in local budgets and the community, so public opinion on this issue could very well lead to policy change

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
Be careful what you wish for; You may get it!

 

The New York Times Carried the Best Donald Trump Campaign Advertisement to Date ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

 

The Atlantic:  Defund the Police  ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/defund-police/612682/

NYT:  Cities Ask if It’s Time to Defund Police and ‘Reimagine’ Public Safety ---
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cities-ask-if-it-s-time-to-defund-police-and-reimagine-public-safety/ar-BB156BUO?ocid=msedgntp

 

New York City is responding to to this NYT piece with a $1 billion cut in its police department
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL PUSHES FOR $1 BILLION CUT FROM NYPD BUDGET

“There is no doubt that this is an ambitious goal, but it is one that the time we are in calls for–both here in New York City and nationwide.”

The statement also identifies areas where the budget could be cut, which includes reducing uniform headcount, cutting overtime, and shifting responsibilities away from the NYPD. That money would then be redirected towards community initiatives.

“As we do this, we must prioritize the most impacted communities and hear their demands and needs across all areas during this budget process,” reads the statement.

According to CBS New York, the Police Benevolent Association criticized the move, saying: For decades, every time a city agency failed at its task, the city’s answer was to take the job away and give it to the NYPD. If the City Council wants to give responsibilities back to those failing agencies, that’s their choice. But they will bear the blame for every new victim, for every New Yorker in need of help who falls through the cracks. They won’t be able to throw cops under the bus anymore.”

Jensen Comment

Will Mayor Bill de Blasio really blame himself and the City Council for the increased delays in response time for 911 domestic violence phone calls?
Are social workers so infallible replacing the police quickly in 2021? Social change takes time and much more money than will be available to cities in 2021.
Welcome to an explosion of street muggings and turf-war drug gangs as NYC tries to become more like Chicago.
Add fear as well as expense of your next overnight stay in NYC

 

Do you think the majority of voters in the USA favor such enormous defunding of police departments while simultaneously emptying the prisons?

These are losing campaign platforms for November 2020 that could even lead to the re-election of of a paranoid like Donald Trump.


 

What are the most dangerous 911 calls?
According to the FBI, domestic disturbance calls lead to about 14 percent of officer deaths every year. A slew of recent events has put a spotlight on the dangers of responding to such calls for the men in blue.
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/the-most-dangerous-calls-for-police-domestic-disturbances/law-enforcement-defense-security

 

Jensen Comment
Are defunded police departments going to be relieved of these responsibilities where social workers are sent out to answer domestic disturbance 911 calls?

I imagine that police departments virtually everywhere would love to have social workers take those 911 domestic disturbance calls.

In my opinion what's really going to happen is that reduced-budget police departments are still going have to respond to domestic disturbance calls that typically arise because someone in a household is crazed on booze or drugs.

 

What's likely to happen with reduced police budgets and new racism constraints is that it will take much longer to assemble a team of police officers and a social worker to respond to each call in an effort to restrain any single officer from using excessive force. Due to delays ambulances will have to go along with the teams.

 

 

The confusing one for me is Albuquerque where unarmed social workers (and not police) will be sent out instead of police on "some" 911 calls. How is it decided which calls and how much longer will it take to get social workers to the scenes is not at all clear. It's easier for police to respond quickly to 911 calls since police patrols are usually nearby in nearly all larger cities. In Albuquerque nearby police patrols will not be allowed to respond to some 911 emergency calls ---

https://www.foxnews.com/us/albuquerque-social-workers-911-calls

 

Why Activists Are Insulted—And Worried—By Biden’s Play-It-Safe Police Reforms ---
Click Here
Jensen Comment
The above article suggests that ,because of not wanting to defund police, activists won't want to vote for Biden. That's misleading. Activists will vote for Biden to get rid of Trump irrespective of Biden's campaign platform. Biden could even advocate a balanced budget (which he won't) or tight border controls (he already promises loose border controls that please activists even thought these will increase Black unemployment).

 

Ben & Jerry's, the ice cream company, is calling on Americans to entirely defund and dismantle the so-called "racist" police. The company made the demand in a tweet that included an image of ice cream representing the country's police budget being scooped into smaller bowls representing various welfare programs, like "affordable housing" and "substance-abuse treatment." (and reparations plus minimum annual income)
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2020/06/19/ben-jerrys-demands-we-defund-and-dismantle-the-police-n2570960

Jensen Comment
Apparently Ben and Jerry's is not worried about white flight from USA cities as the police are eliminated from the streets.
 

I don't want to be too cynical here. There are areas where social workers may have more public safety success than the police, including teen violence and some mental health emergencies. I doubt that social workers in a rush of time will have more success with domestic violence and hardened drug gang warfare like we see in Chicago.

 

There are no easy solutions to alcoholic violence and economies where drug dealing is more rewarding than respectful work.

 

Radicals are taking their wrecking balls and naive hopes too far this time. They may just end up with four more years of Donald Trump if Biden caves to their demands for police defunding.

Gun sellers must be delighted as people fear for their homes and jobs.

 

Public safety may evolve into several forms, but accelerating anarchy on the streets today may ultimately lead to Big Brother predicted prematurely for 1984 ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984

 


In spite of a failed war on drugs both white-on-white  and black on black violence declined dramatically 1984-2015
Will the downward trend violence continue or will urban violence increase after the 2020 protests?

Racial Profiles in the USA ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States

Self-identified race

Percent of population

Non-Hispanic white

60.4%

Hispanic and Latino (of any race)

18.3%

Black or African American

13.4%

Asian

5.9%

Native Americans and Alaska Natives

1.3%

Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders

0.2%

Two or more races

2.7%

 

Racial profiles of crime victims and offenders ---
https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6106

During 2012-15, half (51%) of violent victimizations were intraracial, that is both victims and offenders were the same race or both were of Hispanic origin.

In the majority of violent victimizations, white victims' offenders were white (57%) and black victims' offenders were black (63%).

The rates of total violent crime, serious violent crime, and simple assault were higher for intraracial victimizations than for interracial victimizations.

From 1994 to 2015, white-on-white violence (down 79%) and black-on-black violence (down 78%) declined at a similar rate. During 2012-15, there were no differences among white, black, and Hispanic intraracial victimizations reported to police.

Will black-on-white and black-on-black crime continue its decline as police departments on defunded and reduced in size and efficiency ?

I'm not optimistic about USA cities becoming safer as legislatures and government officials try to do away with predictive policing.

 

Here are my latest thoughts on predictive policing intended to further prevent domestic abuse, frauds, robberies, rapes, home invasions, drug dealings, arson, murder, and even racial profiling patterns.

 

Tearing down statues is cosmetic as long as we don't also burn the history books, but when 1,500+ mathematicians want to ban predictive policing big data analysis (including facial recognition) they're talking about making it easier to victimize others in the name of also preventing racial profiling. The fact that some minorities are caught in the net of predictive policing should not justify making it easier to commit crimes because they're minorities.

 

The fact of the matter is that minorities perpetrating domestic abuse, frauds, drug dealings, rape, murder, etc. are victimizing too many minorities. Tearing down a monument probably will not prevent those crimes, but predictive policing can take a serious bite out of those serious crimes against minorities as well as those privileged whites.

 
If 1,500+ mathematicians don't want to help whites from being victimized don't they care about victims who are Black, Native American,  Hispanic, Asian, or whatever?
 
And serious crimes in our largest cities will only get worse as the whites and upwardly mobile minorities with their tax dollars flee the cities out of fear.
 
The massive protests currently taking place are making racial profiling prevention such a major priority that they are fanning the fires of of domestic abuse, frauds, robberies, rapes, home invasions, drug dealings, and murder in ever-increasing ghettos.
 
Join me in protesting the 1,500+ mathematicians plus IBM and Amazon for refusing facial recognition software as part of predictive policing and nabbing of suspects. 
 
How can smart scholars and companies be so myopic and lemming-like when confronted with a fired up ignorant media?

 

 

Predictive Policing:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictive_policing

 

Over 1,500 mathematicians have signed a letter urging the community to stop working with police:  Don't those mathematician's care about black victims of fraud, robbery, rapes, arson, and murder?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/24/mathematicians-urge-cutting-ties-police?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=5feb7348e1-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-5feb7348e1-197565045&mc_cid=5feb7348e1&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Nationwide protests against anti-Black racism and police violence have sparked demands and reckonings in several corners of higher education and academe.

The latest to join the fray is the discipline of mathematics. Ten mathematicians from eight universities and one company wrote an open letter last week calling for mathematicians to cease collaborating with police departments. The letter also urges math scholars to publicly audit influential algorithms and to embed learning outcomes related to ethics in data science curriculums.

 

"It's a political belief, that collaborating with police in any capacity contributes to white supremacist violence and oppression," said Tarik Aougab, a math professor at Haverford College and one of the letter writers, speaking personally on his motivations. "Really any collaboration between mathematics, which is something that I love and that I find extremely beautiful, and the institution of policing shouldn't happen."

The letter has 1,500 verified signatures from mathematicians, Aougab said, although that number is not limited to academic mathematicians. The letter has been submitted to and accepted by the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

 

The letter writers take particular aim at "predictive policing," which involves using data and mathematics to predict where crime will happen.

"Many of our colleagues can and do work with police departments to provide modeling and data work," the letter said, noting that in 2016 the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics at Brown University held a one-week workshop on predictive policing.

 

PredPol, a major predictive policing company, says that its technology is being used to protect one out of every 33 people in the United States.

Opposition to predictive policing is not new. Academics have raised concerns in recent years about the mathematical theory underlying the technology and its tendency to create self-reinforcing feedback loops ("It is predicting future policing, not future crime," said a 2017 paper on the subject).

 

Although the group has gotten some pushback for not having personally worked with predictive policing mathematics, Aougab said that for them, opposition to the technology isn't based on finding errors in equations or formulas.

Continued in article

 

Jensen Comment
Those 1,500+ mathematicians promoting an end to predictive policing are also promoting white flight from USA cities just as our cities were becoming much safer because of predictive policing and "big data analysis."

 

By banning predictive policing mathematicians are now supporting bigger and less safe ghettos where Blacks are the main victims of crime.

 

 Don't those mathematician's care about black victims of fraud, robbery, rapes, arson, and murder?
Aren't these Black and other minority victims also paying a price for destruction of predictive policing?

 

Sorry, I did not make a very good case for my protest of fingerprinting and DNA use by police.
I'll let AOC and M|SNBC make a case for that.

 


USA Cities:  Will there be another white flight along with the flight of upwardly mobile minorities in general?

 

If you fear continued living in USA cities after the pandemic and police defunding here's something to contemplate
Incentives were once reserved for employers. Now remote workers can receive up to $15,000 for relocating to certain small cities ---
https://www.fastcompany.com/90517270/cities-offer-cash-as-they-compete-for-new-residents-amid-remote-work-boom
You might even be able to keep your old job and work remotely with occasional scary visits back to your employer's home base
And you may not even have to pay private school tuition for your children.

 

With Covid-19, Remote Working, and Police Defunding:  Is another exodus ahead for U.S. Cities?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-another-exodus-ahead-for-u-s-cities-11592488220

Without the right policy response, the pandemic and civil unrest could undo decades of urban progress.

 

. . .

 

As recently as February, it was hard to imagine that the workers, investors and entrepreneurs who have flocked to America’s cities in recent years would flee en masse, not least because most cities had become so safe. Violent crime in the U.S. has fallen by half since the early 1990s, when the crack epidemic was raging in neighborhoods around the country. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been spared as a result of this extraordinary crime decline. Communities that saw steep declines in violence also saw increases in academic achievement, according to a 2014 study in the journal Sociological Science by Patrick Sharkey and colleagues.

The crime decline helped to stem the flow of people out of inner-city neighborhoods. It led a not insignificant number of high-income and college-educated families to choose to build their lives in neighborhoods that were once blighted and abandoned. It also created opportunities for less-skilled workers, many of them immigrants. Even as middle-skill jobs in production and clerical work evaporated, a large and growing urban service economy was a hopeful sign. Jobs in hospitality or entertainment, for example, depend on face-to-face interaction and a modicum of human warmth, making them resistant to automation.

Then the pandemic struck, causing a massive rupture in urban life that left millions of service workers unemployed, idle and angry. This development almost certainly contributed to the recent outbreaks of violence that were intertwined with the Floyd protests. Inevitably, the crippling of the service economy has also made urban life less attractive for the skilled professionals who fueled its expansion with their spending.

 

. . .

 

Part of the story is that the arrival of poor black migrants changed the composition of the municipal electorate, shifting the political balance in favor of increased spending on public services, which meant higher taxes. In other words, white flight often amounted to people fleeing taxes, some of whom surely thought of themselves as committed to the cause of racial justice. And though this middle-class exodus started with white city-dwellers, many upwardly mobile black families soon made the same journey.

 

. . .

 

As recently as February, it was hard to imagine that the workers, investors and entrepreneurs who have flocked to America’s cities in recent years would flee en masse, not least because most cities had become so safe. Violent crime in the U.S. has fallen by half since the early 1990s, when the crack epidemic was raging in neighborhoods around the country. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been spared as a result of this extraordinary crime decline. Communities that saw steep declines in violence also saw increases in academic achievement, according to a 2014 study in the journal Sociological Science by Patrick Sharkey and colleagues.

The crime decline helped to stem the flow of people out of inner-city neighborhoods. It led a not insignificant number of high-income and college-educated families to choose to build their lives in neighborhoods that were once blighted and abandoned. It also created opportunities for less-skilled workers, many of them immigrants. Even as middle-skill jobs in production and clerical work evaporated, a large and growing urban service economy was a hopeful sign. Jobs in hospitality or entertainment, for example, depend on face-to-face interaction and a modicum of human warmth, making them resistant to automation.

Then the pandemic struck, causing a massive rupture in urban life that left millions of service workers unemployed, idle and angry. This development almost certainly contributed to the recent outbreaks of violence that were intertwined with the Floyd protests. Inevitably, the crippling of the service economy has also made urban life less attractive for the skilled professionals who fueled its expansion with their spending.

Continued in Article

 



How to Mislead With Statistics
Demolishing Washington Post's Racist Police Narrative With Their Own Data

https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/darrenbradynelson/2020/06/22/demolishing-washpo-racist-police-narrative-with-their-own-data-n2571074?bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&utm_campaign=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=thdaily

 


When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name, one particular sin outweighs all the good you've done in life.

 

These are white-privileged soldiers returning from World War II on the Queen Elizabeth troop ship
In WW II Black Soldiers were segregated on their own bases and ships
 

It's a shame that more of the white privileged USA soldiers weren't killed, especially those that returned home and became police officers.
The ungrateful (think UN, EU, and BLM radicals) encourage toppling statues of Churchill and FDR  from the face of the earth ---
https://247sports.com/college/texas-tech/Board/102960/Contents/Take-Down-All-Statues-of-FDR-106347237/
 

Cultural Revolution: New Lenin Statue Erected as Washington, Jefferson, and More Fall ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/926855-cultural-revolution-new-lenin-statue-erected-as-washington-jefferson-and-more-fall-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=1Cugtgg08BDw-1AwBlaN1Qmmriw..A

 

Roosevelt, Grant Statues Fall Along With Confederates in National Purge ---
https://www.newsmax.com/headline/roosevelt-statue-grant-toppled/2020/06/21/id/973367/
Boston wants to remove a statue of Lincoln

Among the three major leaders who defeated Hitler (Stalin, Churchill, and FDR) only statues of Stalin will be allowed to remain on the face of the earth ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/926855-cultural-revolution-new-lenin-statue-erected-as-washington-jefferson-and-more-fall-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=1Cugtgg08BDw-1AwBlaN1Qmmriw..A
When moving into the White House President Obama at least had the courtesy to return the bust of Churchill to England rather than breaking it into pieces

 

When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name, one unforgiveable sin (racial profiling) outweighs all the good you've done in life.

 

 




Updates on Medical Insurance

 

None right now except to say that Joe Biden promises both weak enforcement of borders along with free healthcare for all illegal immigrants.

 

Open immigration can’t exist with a strong social safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-net

 

Bob Jensen's threads on health insurance ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm

 




Bob Jensen's Tidbits Archives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbitsdirectory.htm 

Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Summary of Major Accounting Scandals --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals

Bob Jensen's threads on such scandals:

Bob Jensen's threads on audit firm litigation and negligence ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm

Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Enron --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm

Rotten to the Core --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm

American History of Fraud --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudAmericanHistory.htm

Bob Jensen's fraud conclusions ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on auditor professionalism and independence are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001c.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on corporate governance are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm#Governance 

 

Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm

·     With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review (TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier

·     With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams

·     With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of Accountancy Ignores TAR

·     With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research into Undergraduate Accounting Courses

Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave  --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
By Bob Jensen

What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?  ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong

The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most Accountants ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm

Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the vegetable nutrition paradox) that probably will never be solved ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews

Bob Jensen's economic crisis messaging http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm

Bob Jensen's threads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/