Tidbits Political Quotations
To Accompany the July 15, 2020 Edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/Tidbits071520.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

 

Rep. Ilhan Omar Calls For “Dismantling” of US “Economy and Political Systems” (VIDEO) ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/944250-radical-seattle-city-councilmember-kshama-sawant-vows-to-overthrow-the-united-states-and-replace-with-a-socialist-world?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=1Cugtgg08BDw-1AwBlaN1Qmmriw..A
Jensen Comment
Republicans are most grateful that Omar played a huge role in getting Biden nominated

 

Radical Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant Vows to Militantly (think Castro) Overthrow the United States and Replace with “a Socialist World” ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/944250-radical-seattle-city-councilmember-kshama-sawant-vows-to-overthrow-the-united-states-and-replace-with-a-socialist-world?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=1Cugtgg08BDw-1AwBlaN1Qmmriw..A
Also see
https://mynorthwest.com/1850633/rantz-socialist-kshama-sawant-militant-takeover-amazon/?
Jensen Comment
Do you think she's being paid a lot of money under the table by Trump to improve his election chances?

 

"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

As of 2018 nearly a third of all Russia’s medical facilities had no running water and more than half lacked hot water. Around 40% lacked central heating and in 35% the sewage (removal) didn’t work.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/russia-fact-of-the-day-6.html
Jensen Comment
But the Russians led the way in hacking USA's computer networks and elections. Much depends upon the setting of priorities by political leaders. These leaders probably defend their decisions by saying that destroying the USA and capitalism in general have longer-term benefits than hospital hot water and sewage removal.

More On the Way:  Budget deficit rises to record $2.7 trillion amid pandemic: CBO ---
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/506460-deficit-rises-to-record-27-trillion-amid-pandemic-cbo
Jensen Comment
The simple solution is to print trillions of dollars without having to borrow or tax to reduce the deficit

China & Kazakhstan disagree over designation of ‘new’ virus as worse than COVID-19 ---
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/07/china-kazakhstan-disagree-over-designation-of-new-virus-as-worse-than-covid-19/

The Guardian:  China's Great Firewall descends on Hong Kong internet users ---
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/08/china-great-firewall-descends-hong-kong-internet-users
Jensen Comment
Just another step in China's strategy to take over the world

Six Weeks, Six Cities, 600 Murders ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2020/07/05/six-weeks-six-cities-600-murders-n2571887?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Do Trump's Border Walls Work?
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/do-walls-work.html

More than a dozen businesses and property owners are suing the city of Seattle over its tolerance of, and alleged support for, an "autonomous" protest zone in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The city's approach, they argue, has led to lawlessness, property damage, and a decline in commerce and property values ---
https://reason.com/2020/06/25/seattle-autonomous-zone-sparks-class-action-lawsuit-from-local-businesses/

This Progressive City Has Been Releasing Vandals, Arsonists, & Violent Protesters Back To The Streets  ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/946763-this-progressive-city-has-been-releasing-vandals-violent-protesters-back-to-the-streets?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=06zogopD0FR_-qkpQTYmRsUU8Iw..A
Would you want to move to Portland after all this?
Why do Portland police even bother anymore?
Portland is an example of how urban anarchy commences before criminal gangs move in to restore order

Willie Nelson to Headline Joe Biden’s $100,000 Per Person Virtual Fundraiser ---
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/06/29/willie-nelson-to-headline-joe-bidens-100000-per-person-virtual-fundraiser/

Sister pulls out gun and saves her brother from would-be robbers (who nevertheless shot her brother) ---
https://www.arklatexhomepage.com/news/sister-pulls-out-gun-and-saves-her-brother-from-would-be-robbers/

A typically divided Supreme Court ordered changes to a government consumer-finance watchdog created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, ruling the agency’s structure was unconstitutional because its director held too much unchecked power ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-orders-restructuring-of-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-11593441215?mod=djemCFO

AOC says proposed $1B budget cut to NYPD isn't enough: 'Defunding police means defunding police’
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/aoc-asked-defunding-police-her-130800430.html

The Guardian:  China sterilising ethnic minority women in Xinjiang, report says ---
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/29/china-sterilising-ethnic-minority-women-in-xinjiang-report-says

All conservatives are racist
Nov 3 We Will Find Out How Many Racists Live in America
---

Rob Reiner
https://entertainment--news.com/2020/07/04/rob-reiner-says-we-will-find-out-how-many-racists-live-in-america-on-election-day/
In other words the USA election of the USA president and members of Congress is only about one issue --- racism. There are no debatable election issues such as the economy, unemployment, foreign trade, taxation, defense, government spending, legalizing shoplifting, defunding police ala NYC versus Minneapolis, climate change, health care, illegal immigration, infrastructure, abortion, freedom of speech, gun control, burning selected history books, etc. If you vote for a conservative you are by Reiner's definition a racist.

Hey, Disney, Hamilton Betrayed His Wife And His Country ---
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/rogermckinney/2020/07/06/hey-disney-hamilton-betrayed-his-wife-and-his-country-n2571933?bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&utm_campaign=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=thdaily

Supreme Court's LGBT Discrimination Ruling Forces Harvard To End Ban on Single-Gender Clubs ---
https://reason.com/2020/07/01/supreme-courts-lgbt-discrimination-ruling-forces-harvard-to-end-ban-on-single-gender-clubs/
Jensen Comment
I assume this also applies to single-gender fraternity/sorority houses. Welcome to the 1950s; Not really since fraternities and sororities can no longer be binary.
In 2020 "single gender" clubs and fraternities will face the issue that there is no longer a concept of binary "single-gender." Can testosterone tests be required for club membership like such tests are required in athletics (not in Connecticut)?

Largest Amphetamine Bust In The World Nets 15 Tons Of Pills Reportedly Made By ISI ---
https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/01/largest-drug-bust-italey-fifteen-tons-captagon-pills-isis/

California's Energy Regulations Hurt the Poor, While 'Green' Subsidies Benefit the Rich ---
https://reason.com/2020/07/10/californias-energy-regulations-hurt-the-poor-while-subsidies-benefit-the-rich/

CNN:  Hydroxychloroquine helped save coronavirus patients, study shows patients less likely to die ---
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/study-finds-hydroxychloroquine-helped-coronavirus-patients-survive-better/ar-BB16hifu?li=BBorjTa
This study supports an earlier finding by a NYU Medical School Study ---
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/05/12/nyu-study-looks-at-hydroxychloroquine-zinc-azithromycin-combo-on-decreasing-covid-19-deaths

As COVID-19 cases spike in US, mask misinformation also spreads ---
https://factcheck.afp.com/covid-19-cases-spike-us-mask-misinformation-also-spreads
Jensen Comment
Requiring almost perfect masks for nearly 8 billion people in the world almost certainly won't pass any realistic cost/benefit test just like demanding perfection in most anything in life does not pass the cost/benefit test. This is what gave rise to the decision theory term of satisficing ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing
How much does it cost to make, distribute, and maintain 8 billion space suits with air tanks even though doing so might reverse dire overpopulation forecasts and racial profiling?

WHO Quietly Admits China Didn’t Self-Report Coronavirus, Contrary to Prior Report ---
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/07/who-quietly-admits-china-didnt-self-report-coronavirus/

NY Times: Philanthropy Rises In Pandemic As Donors Heed The Call For Help ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/07/ny-times-philanthropy-rises-in-pandemic-as-donors-heed-the-call-for-help.html
Jensen Comment
This is a blessing given that tax breaks for charitable deductions were greatly eliminated under Trump's tax "cuts." Congress is now working to restore some of those tax benefits of gifts to charities.

In a remote area of Papua, a box of instant noodles costs 2 grams of gold ---
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/07/03/in-a-remote-area-of-papua-a-box-of-instant-noodles-costs-2-grams-of-gold.html
Jensen Comment
This illustrates how markets get complicated when remote tribes have increased demand for goods (think cell phones and instant noodles) manufactured far away. Either they must have something to trade (e.g., gold or other natural resources) or they must be subsidized by central governments. It's harder and harder for tribes on earth to maintain hunter/gatherer economies. Although Covid-19 is not devastating as pandemics go, such tribes are vulnerable to deadly pandemics evidenced in history.

The epicenter of Christianity has moved south from North America and Europe to South America and Africa ---
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/7-exciting-trends-in-global-christianity-no-5-will-surprise-you.html

BBC:  Hong Kong security law: Pro-democracy books pulled from libraries ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53296810

The BBC and Sky News media figures suddenly discover that UK Black Lives Matter is a radically left-wing group ---
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/07/british-media-outlets-wake-up-begin-distancing-themselves-from-uk-black-lives-matter-organization/

Huge Setback to Fight Against Climate Change
Local governments in China are
 accelerating their construction of coal-fired power plants as part of pandemic recovery. Some analysts worry that impulse will extend to Central Asia and Africa, where China is the top investor in mines and power projects.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2020-06-27/bloomberg-new-economy-china-s-post-covid-climate-choice?sref=ZCCexVBt

Toilet paper and tissues are major drivers of deforestation in Canada’s boreal forest, according to a new report ---
https://www.nrdc.org/resources/issue-tissue-how-americans-are-flushing-forests-down-toilet

Washington and Lee faculty vote to change the university's name ---
https://columns.wlu.edu/professor-brandon-hasbrouck-on-university-name-change/
 

CBS:  Non-Hispanic whites are now a minority in California, according to new census data ---
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whites-now-a-minority-in-california/ 

Would it be racial discrimination if only the white minority had to pay tuition at Caifornia state universities?



Tesla Shareholders Rebel Against Elon Musk’s Whopping $56 Billion Pay Package ---

https://observer.com/2020/07/tesla-shareholder-seek-oust-elon-musk-stock-pay-plan/


The Harpers free speech letter and controversy ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/the-harpers-free-speech-letter-and-controversy.html
Bob Jensen's threads on the tragedies of political correctness ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectness

NBC was caught ‘padding’ their coronavirus coverage in a big way ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/946832-coronavirus-infections-and-deaths-continue-to-rise-in-us-at-alarming-rate?utm_source=c-mid&utm_medium=c-mid-email&utm_term=c-mid-GI&utm_content=5iEzoSRA3OwmMZouDYnIqL3RgHsaffHcB6hB5DcjF-f0.A

Coronavirus: Kenyan schools to remain closed until 2021 ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53325741?utm_term=OZY&utm_campaign=daily-dose&UTM_content=Wednesday_07.08.20&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Final

India Has Banned TikTok --- plus 58 Chinese apps
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/29/1004616/india-bans-tiktok-plus-58-other-chinese-apps/

LA County schools won't open in the fall due to COVID-19 ---
https://www.turnto23.com/news/coronavirus/la-county-schools-wont-open-in-the-fall-due-to-covid-19

Trump administration rescinds foreign students rule ---
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/507293-trump-administration-rescinds-policy-to-strip-visas-from-foreign

Trump gets no special protections because he’s president and must release financial records, Supreme Court rules

The Faculty Association at California State universities  has demanded that all “Black Native, and Indigenous students” should be given free tuition as a “redress for systemic anti-Black racism in the CSU” ---
https://summit.news/2020/07/07/california-faculty-demands-free-studies-for-all-black-students-charges-that-education-is-grounded-in-white-supremacism/
Jensen Comment
California would like tuition to be free for all students but cannot deal with it now given the enormous deficit (well on its way toward $100 billion) in the state budget for existing social programs (think out-of control Medicaid).
Left for administrators and legislators are the operational definitions of "black native" and "indigenous" students. Another question is when Hispanic students are also indigenous since there are various genetic origins among Hispanics.
Also left undefined is which universities participate. Would this include free tuition at flagship universities or only universities in the CSU System?
Would this cover both legal and undocumented immigrants in California or are they considered not "native"?
When I was on the faculty at the University of Maine tuition was free for residents of Indian reservations. This was not exactly a success since so most parents on these reservations discouraged their children from going to colleges and leaving the reservation. I once had a Penobscot student whose parents disowned her when she went to the nearby University of Maine. She toughed it out and got her diploma while standing alone at the graduation ceremony.

 




 

Political Correctness --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness

Penn State Retracts Statement Saying Conservative Voices Are Important:  Leftist Ideology is the Only Politically Correct Ideology ---
https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/09/penn-state-retracts-statement-saying-conservative-voices-are-important/

“Dear conservative students. Your viewpoints are important,” the announcement read, referencing the isolation and self-censorship many conservative students experience on left-wing campuses. According to the schools Director of Strategic Communications, it was part of a statement aimed at creating a supporting and inclusive environment for students.

. . .

 

The University quickly crumpled, and retracted the statement.

Jensen Comment
By withdrawing support for debating ideologies that are not politically correct Penn State is ignoring the appeals of Norm Chomsky and some other liberals
That hints that academe is marching lockstep toward one ideology. Noam and others are worried!
The inmates are guarding the asylum.

Penn State University training film on how to liberal faculty can deal with military veterans who refuse to be politically correct ---
An analysis by The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/PennStateVeteran.htm
Penn State issued a public apology for producing the video --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/13/qt#196252


 

The Harpers free speech letter and controversy ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/the-harpers-free-speech-letter-and-controversy.html

 

Noam Chomsky and Other Scholars Feer the Dangers of Losing Open Debate and Toleration of Differences in Ideology ---
https://www.ibtimes.com/noam-chomsky-malcolm-gladwell-address-cancel-culture-open-letter-3007684

In an open letter, a group of public figures and writers warn readers about the pros and cons of the current world climate (mania). 

The piece, titled " A Letter on Justice and Open Debate," featuring signatures from 150 public figures including the likes of J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, and Noam Chomsky, was published on the Harper's Magazine website on Tuesday with plans to make a reemergence in the October issue of the magazine. 

"Our cultural institutions are facing a moment of trial," the letter begins. "Powerful protests for racial and social justice are leading to overdue demands for police reform, along with wider calls for greater equality and inclusion across our society, not least in higher education, journalism, philanthropy, and the arts."

"But this needed reckoning has also intensified a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity."

Specifically speaking to their craft and the dire consequences if mindsets don't change lanes, they conclude, "As writers we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk taking, and even mistakes. We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences. If we won’t defend the very thing on which our work depends, we shouldn’t expect the public or the state to defend it for us."

It seems not everyone was happy with the letter, though. After it was published both historian Kerri Greenidge and trans activist Jennifer Finney Boylan announced the withdrawal of their support on Twitter.  

Who decides which books to burn?

Franklin Pierce Biographer Urges Consideration Of 14th President's Progressive Civil Liberties Record Before Removal Of His Name From UNH Law School ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/06/franklin-pierce-biographer-urges-consideration-of-14th-presidents-progressive-civil-liberties-record.html
No chance

'Black Lives Matter' was painted on the streets of New York City and Washington, D.C. as a way of city officials showing their support for the movement. Questions have been asked (address to the NYC Mayor) about whether or not other political groups and organizations should have the ability to paint their messages on city-owned and maintained streets ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/07/11/conservative-womens-group-has-an-interesting-request-for-bill-de-blasio-n2572317?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=07/12/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
Only politically correct messages, in the socialist Mayor's eyes, are allowed. The Mayor actually helped the mob paint the streets with BLM graffiti in front of Trump Tower ---
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/07/de-blasio-bans-large-gatherings-after-he-helps-paint-black-lives-matter-in-front-of-trump-tower/

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


 

From the Chronicle of Higher Education on July 9, 2020

Some Scholars Have Long Talked About Abolishing the Police. Now People Are Listening. What Comes Next?
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Some-Scholars-Have-Long-Talked/249149?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1357562&cid=at&source=ams&sourceId=296279

A few years ago, Forrest Stuart would find himself in an academic version of "Who’s on First."

To write Down, Out, and Under Arrest: Policing and Everyday Life in Skid Rowthe associate professor of sociology at Stanford University spent five years roaming one of Los Angeles’s poorest neighborhoods. He watched citizens contort their lives to avoid interactions with police officers, who would frequently question them for sitting on a corner. Stuart himself was stopped 14 times that first year. He spent evenings with those officers, listening to what he called their discordant ideas about punishment and compassion. The officers saw the two ideas as mutually dependent, Stuart wrote, even as he watched the people entangled in the criminal-justice system lose their housing, their jobs, and their hope.

At book talks, Stuart would lay out these themes and talk about the need for systemic changes, like the necessity of a large-scale redistribution of wealth. But then someone would inevitably ask: What reforms did he think were needed? How should the police be dealing with the people of Skid Row?

He would answer: The police shouldn’t be interacting with these people.

More hands would fill the air. Stuart didn’t understand the original question, people insisted. What new policies did he recommend?

Again, Stuart would tell them that no new policy would yield good results. What we need, he’d say, is less policing. Back and forth they’d go, speaking past each other. Even other sociologists, outside of his subfield, would look at Stuart as if he were some “crazy radical,” he said.

But that was before. Before May 2020, when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for nearly eight minutes as he died, igniting protests around the world.

“Nobody looks at me [like I’m] crazy when I say this anymore,” Stuart said in a recent interview, “which is just totally nuts.”

. . .

The Limits of Academe

However, traditional channels of academe have their limits. Lisa Guenther, a philosopher at Queen’s University, in Ontario, and a social activist, sees a tension between the imperatives to represent the university and to build the abolitionist movement. Universities “hire someone who, you know, maybe has a title like Queen’s National Scholar in Critical Prison Studies and Political Philosophy, which is my title, and then they write some articles and publish them and you might get some grants and that sort of thing,” she said. But that can operate as a sort of alibi, deflecting attention “from the ways that the university, itself, is operating in continuity with colonialism, with anti-Black racism.”

Certain social-science disciplines have long overlooked the roles of the criminal-justice system and policing. After the uprising over the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, many scholars in political science “appeared to be caught off-guard, as if events had pushed them onto unfamiliar empirical and conceptual terrain,” the researchers Joe Soss and Vesla Weaver wrote in a 2017 paper that called out the mainstream subfield of American politics for “largely and unreflectively ignoring the role of the police.”

Now, said Weaver, an associate professor of political science and sociology at Johns Hopkins, that’s changing. Otherwise, she said, “look how stupid and obsolete we look if we can’t say anything about police power when this is the central issue of the day.”

But historically, the Black radical tradition did not come out of the university, said Joy James, a professor of humanities and political science at Williams College, who spent years anthologizing the writings of incarcerated intellectuals. Academics sometimes assume that articles and talks are really beneficial to their subjects, James said. But while prison-abolition scholarship might lead other free people to sign a petition, make a donation, or vote accordingly, “it doesn’t really open prison doors.”

Sometimes students, too, get caught up in the theoretical and lose sight of the real, practical work, said Carl Suddler, an assistant professor of history at Emory University, who wrote Presumed Criminal: Black Youth and the Justice System in Postwar New York. He remembers when he was an eager undergraduate who traveled to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help with the reconstruction effort. “I went in thinking about the big picture, like, How are we going to destroy structural racism in a week?” That is, until a woman in the Lower Ninth Ward told him, “Honey, we’re just trying to get speed bumps in our neighborhood.”

That served as an “earth-shattering” lesson for Suddler about the balance between study and practice — one that he passes along to students who want to dismantle oppressive and racist systems. You can read. You can theorize. But you’ve also “got to get into these communities,” he said, and listen to them.

Forrest Stuart, of Stanford, thinks academics like himself will have to grapple with a somewhat different role. Previously he saw his work as that of diagnosis, exposing the damage done by exploitative systems. That’s what sociologists do. But they hesitated, he said, to offer tangible recommendations.

Now more people are convinced by the diagnosis, Stuart said. Not only that, but they want to know what’s next. They want a prescription.

Essentially, the world has changed, and scholars will decide how to change with it.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
The trick is to abolish police without turning the largest cities back into Black ghettos and ganglands while rural White homes and towns become armed fortresses.
If you want to scare older Republicans, older Democrats, and especially older minorities living in high crime hot spots in the USA into voting for Trump in November 2020 articles like the ones above and below might do the trick.

 

Joe Biden Says Police Have 'Become the Enemy,' 'Absolutely' Should Defund Them ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2020/07/08/joe-biden-says-police-have-become-the-enemy-entertains-defunding-them-n2572130?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
Jensen Comment
Defunding police in praise of Kaspernik is not a smart way to attract older voters from the very, very large subset of older voters. It's also not a good way to attract tourists to our USA cities and other tourist attractions. Is this helping Trump more than hurting Trump?

Pew Research:  Recent protest attendees are more racially and ethnically diverse, younger than Americans overall ---
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/24/recent-protest-attendees-are-more-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-younger-than-americans-overall/
Jensen Comment
Media coverage at the protests, especially persons chosen to interview, leads us to believe that there were many more than 17% Black people in those protests.
Pew analysts make the point that ethnicity among protesters differs greatly from ethnicity of the total voting public in the USA. This probably is the reason that Biden and the Democratic Party are not quick to support all of the protest leader demands, including legalizing shoplifting, reparations for Blacks, defunding of police, guaranteed annual income, Medicare-for-All, etc. Some of these demands are losers in the 2020 Presidential campaign.

BBC News:  Antifa: Left-wing militants on the rise (in the entire free world) ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40930831

St Louis and Baltimore Beat Out Chicago In Rankings of the Most Dangerous Cities on Earth---
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2020/07/09/the-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-3/2/
Jensen Comment
Not good news for tourism, business development, or police defunding, although existing police seem to be failing a lot in the world's most dangerous cities (think solving fewer and fewer murders). NYC is striving to overtake St Louis with defunding and deteriorating police relations under a socialist mayor. How much will police defunding contribute to upper income and business flight from our largest USA cities?
This article especially reveals how criminal gangs have ruined policing in Mexico's cities.

Seattle will cut its police force down to 630 police officers for a city of over 750,000 residents having over 800,000 911 calls annually. There will be no emergency SWAT force ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/948019-seattle-city-council-to-defund-police-leave-600-officers-no-tactical-or-heavy-arms?utm_source=c-mid&utm_medium=c-mid-email&utm_term=c-mid-GI&utm_content=697zxgAhCmuHg4vas74EBzlnoWM3eNVp0oCrhLuQnY-I.A
Jensen Comment
I wonder if the entire city will become a no-go zone unsafe for tourists, sports fans, and conventioners. Don't you wonder what this will do to the price of real estate and the number of businesses that will close because of fear? Will shoplifting and looting now be legal in Seattle? Would you want to be a firefighter without armed police protection?
USA cities with the most and the least police
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2018/05/15/cities-with-the-most-and-least-police/
Ankeny, Iowa has the most law enforcement officers with 104.7 per 100,000 residents
University Place, Washington has the least law officers with 48.2 officers per 100,000 residence

Six Weeks, Six Cities, 600 Murders ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2020/07/05/six-weeks-six-cities-600-murders-n2571887?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

AOC says proposed $1B budget cut to NYPD isn't enough: "Defunding police means defunding police"
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/aoc-asked-defunding-police-her-130800430.html

Connecticut is Counting on Flight From NYC
Connecticut's Big Bet on the Suburbs Might Finally Pay Off ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/connecticut-suburbs-coronavirus-new-york-real-estate-houses-for-sale-weston-fairfield-11594558882?mod=djm_dailydiscvrtst

The New York Times: Defund the Police
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/

New York City's Mayor is Jumping for Joy:  NYC's Police Applications for Retirement are Now Running 100 Per Day
https://nypost.com/2020/07/08/nypd-limits-retirement-applications-amid-411-surge-this-week/

Portland Rioters Assault Police With Sling Shots and Lasers ---
https://www.foxnews.com/us/riot-declared-in-portland-cops-oder-protesters-to-leave

Six Weeks, Six Cities, 600 Murders ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2020/07/05/six-weeks-six-cities-600-murders-n2571887?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Do Trump's Border Walls Work?
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/do-walls-work.html

More than a dozen businesses and property owners are suing the city of Seattle over its tolerance of, and alleged support for, an "autonomous" protest zone in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The city's approach, they argue, has led to lawlessness, property damage, and a decline in commerce and property values ---
https://reason.com/2020/06/25/seattle-autonomous-zone-sparks-class-action-lawsuit-from-local-businesses/

This Progressive City Has Been Releasing Vandals, Arsonists, & Violent Protesters Back To The Streets  ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/946763-this-progressive-city-has-been-releasing-vandals-violent-protesters-back-to-the-streets?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=06zogopD0FR_-qkpQTYmRsUU8Iw..A
Would you want to move to Portland after all this?
Why do Portland police even bother anymore?
Portland is an example of how urban anarchy commences before criminal gangs move in to restore order

Young Mother Killed By BLM Mob for Allegedly Saying ‘All Lives Matter,’ National Media Fully Ignores ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/947222-young-white-mother-killed-by-black-lives-matter-mob-for-allegedly-saying-all-lives-matter-national-media-fully-ignores-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=1Cugtgg08BDw-1AwBlaN1Qmmriw..A

Video: Black Lives Matter protestors demand that Target stop calling the police on shoplifters ---
https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2020/06/29/video-black-lives-matter-protestors-demand-that-target-stop-calling-the-police-on-shoplifters/
Otherwise they threaten to shut it down

The New Yorker on the Dark Side of Dollar Stores ---
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/06/the-true-cost-of-dollar-stores?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1331449&cid=db&source=ams&sourceId=296279
Jensen Comment
Imagine what low income neighborhood stores will become with defunded police?
Ask AOC, the New York Times, and The Atlantic about what the solution is to the "Dark Side of Dollar Stores"?

The Present Moment Has Set Blacks Back a Half-Century ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2020/06/30/the-present-moment-has-set-blacks-back-a-halfcentury-n2571585?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=06/30/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

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 and dismantling police departments ala Minneapolis will not be a 2020 winning election platform stance, 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 dismantle and replace an entire police force in a city with over a 300,000 residents?

Jensen Closing Comment
Is academe playing a much larger role in re-electing Donald Trump than it wants to admit?
The surprise may come in November unless academe along with city governments and Joe Biden tone down the rhetoric on defunding police.

 

Liberals are tipping their hands too early on police defunding.

Destroy the USA later after Donald Trump is out of the barn.

 

How long has it been since you watched the movie entitled Mad Max ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max

 


How to Mislead With Statistics

California's Energy Regulations Hurt the Poor, While 'Green' Subsidies Benefit the Rich ---
https://reason.com/2020/07/10/californias-energy-regulations-hurt-the-poor-while-subsidies-benefit-the-rich/

Jensen Comment
This is a classic problem of short-term versus long-term benefits.

The real issue is whether subsidies to wealthy corporations and wealthy universities might greatly benefit all earthlings (rich and poor) in the long-run. For example, R&D supplements to Big Oil may help those companies find and develop low-carbon energy solutions that are much more important to the planet than solar panels on housing for the rich and poor owners.

And it's not just R&D. Big Oil companies are already investing heavily in alternative energies (think windmill farms) --- possibly more than the public sector is investing in such alternatives. Subsidies to Big Oil might hasten their replacement of carbon-based energies.
 


How to Mislead With Statistics

New York Is Having a Violent Summer, But It's Not Because of Bail Reform ---
https://reason.com/2020/07/09/new-york-is-having-a-violent-summer-but-its-not-because-of-bail-reform/

Jensen Comment
This article is misleading because it fails to mention the effect of bail reform on lesser crimes, particularly shoplifting. To the extent that bail reform essentially legalizes shoplifting it can do great harm to areas where shoplifting is heaviest. For example, in the poor parts of Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, and Baltimore having no punishments for shoplifters means that stores in those poor parts will eventually close up giving less shopping alternatives (think grocery stores, pharmacies, Walmarts, Targets, etc.) to the poorest residents of the cities.

 

If you want more stores in the ghettos you have to prevent shoplifting in most every way possible, including punishing the shoplifters.

 


Will half of Oklahoma and other swaths of the USA become Indian reservations?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/american-indian-lands-include-eastern-oklahoma-supreme-court-rules-11594304003?mod=djm_dailydiscvrtst

WASHINGTON—Oklahoma state officials and business groups reacted cautiously to a Supreme Court ruling Thursday that declared a swath of the state near Tulsa to be part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s reservation, as the implications for criminal cases, taxes and regulation remained unclear.

The 5-4 court decision by Justice Neil Gorsuch enforced 19th-century treaties the U.S. made with the Creek, a landmark recognition of Native American rights that potentially could lead to nearly half the state being classified as Indian country, if similar agreements with the neighboring Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole tribes are honored.
 

At issue was whether Oklahoma’s admission to the Union in 1907 dissolved the Muscogee (Creek) reservation that now adjoins its second most populous city, Tulsa. The Supreme Court case arose when Native Americans prosecuted in Oklahoma state courts began contesting their convictions, arguing that as residents of an Indian reservation they could only be tried in federal court.
 

Justice Gorsuch based his opinion firmly on the ground that despite the many steps Congress had taken to diminish Creek self-government, it never formally extinguished the tribe’s sovereignty. To disestablish the reservation, he wrote, Congress must explicitly say so.

But from its opening lines the opinion made clear that the sometimes shameful treatment of Native Americans solidified the court’s resolve to recognize the Creeks’ rights.

“On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise,” Justice Gorsuch wrote, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. “Forced to leave their ancestral lands in Georgia and Alabama, the Creek Nation received assurances that their new lands in the West would be secure forever.”

Over time, “Congress has since broken more than a few of its promises to the Tribe,” he wrote. But Thursday, “we hold the government to its word.”

Continued in article

 

No, the Supreme Court didn’t give away half of Oklahoma — but it is a big deal ---
https://www.vox.com/2020/7/10/21318796/supreme-court-mcgirt-oklahoma-native-american-neil-gorsuch

 

Jensen Comment
In 2020 the USA will probably at last negotiate "fair compensation" for these stolen lands. But "fair compensation" will probably mean running money printing presses 24/7.

My reply to Jagdish Gangollon on July 12, 2020

A lot depends upon what you mean by "human and civilized." The "happiest societies" (think Finland) in debatable rankings are those that embrace capitalism and productivity. Will Indian tribes use their windfalls for capitalism and productivity?

 

My one piece of anecdotal evidence took place two years after I left the University of Maine. A nearby small Penobscot Indian Island Reservation where residents were dirt poor received an $81 million settlement windfall for century-old treaty violations --- a few of the deeded islands in the Penobscot River were criminally taken away by government (one of the larger islands became the University of Maine at Orono Campus along with the a town known as Old Town where my daughter and her husband retired). The ploy used to take the University of Maine/Old Town island was to rename the south fork of the Penobscot river going around the Island. To this day that short fork is called the Stillwater River even that begins on one end of the island and becomes part of the Penobscot River at the opposite end of the island. In the fraud the government reasoned that land between rivers was not an island covered by the treaty.

http://www.native-languages.org/penobscot.htm

History: Like other Wabanaki tribes, the Penobscot Indians were longstanding enemies of the Iroquois, particularly the Mohawk. This led them to side with the French and Algonquins in the costly war against the English and Iroquoians. The English paid out bounties for dead Penobscots, but it was European diseases (especially smallpox) that really decimated their nation, killing at least 75% of the population. Still angry with the British, the much-reduced Penobscot tribe supported the Americans in the Revolutionary War, and having picked the winning side they were not expelled from New England, remaining on reservations in their native Maine to this day. Recently the Penobscot Indians and their Passamaquoddy allies--despite formidable harassment from white neighbors--successfully argued that their treaty rights had been violated, and in 1980 received a settlement of $81 million for land that was illegally stolen from them. The Penobscot tribe was able to buy back some of their ancestral lands, and today they are a sovereign nation working to maintain their traditions, language, and self-sufficiency.


Jensen Comment
While visiting my daughter in 2010 I drove across the bridge (next to Old Town) that leads to the sparsely populated Penobscot Island Reservation. It seemed to me that, aside from having new Bingo Pavilion, the island looked as poverty-stricken as it did while I was on the faculty of the University of Maine 1969-1978. Some of the former residents of the Island may be living in Monaco, but I doubt it.

 
I worry about what tribes  will do with future windfall gains of possibly hundreds of billions of dollars, especially if the windfall is simply divided up among residents of reservations.
 
One thing to study about windfall gains is to study winners of lotteries. The productivity that comes with such windfalls tends to be short-lived as winners quit their jobs and begin to spend bigtime for pleasures. The happiness that comes with such windfalls varies greatly with both the amount of the windfall and the unique characteristics of the winners. 
 
Nearly all lottery winners are besieged by extended family, friends, charities, legitimate venture capitalists, and fraudsters.
 
Here's part of the story on the winners of the largest lotteries --- 
https://www.lotterycritic.com/lottery-winners/the-biggest-lottery-winners-where-are-they-now/
Most tend to besieged  as mentioned above, and nearly all live luxuriously. 
Be assured that some of them will move to Monaco if a serious wealth tax is imposed in their home countries. Some have moved to tax havens already.
 
For lottery winners having less than $10 million windfalls the story is different in that so many of them end up poor or suicidal after having lost their winnings after being besieged as mentioned above. 
Many wish they'd never won a lottery --- 
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-019-00079-w
 
Many lottery winners are  like professional sports stars who had and then lost windfalls. The classic example is fighter Joe Louis who famously said:  "I've been rich, and I've been poor. Rich is better!" You can read about what happened to Joe Louis in the end at 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis 
 
Another is Mickey Mantle --- 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mantle 
 
Money lessons learned from pro athletes’ financial fouls ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/14/money-lessons-learned-from-pro-athletes-financial-fouls.html

·        Sixty percent of NBA players go broke within five years of departing the league. And 78 percent of former NFL players experience financial distress two years after retirement.

·        Most professional athlete earnings are compressed into just a handful of years.

·        Keeping up with the Joneses can be financially fatal for newly rich athletes.

There are of course exceptions such as Michael Jordan who still lives in luxury (with one of the most expensive yachts in the world). Many become very successful in business and often are leading  philanthropists for very worthy causes --- 
https://www.sportscasting.com/the-most-generous-athletes-involved-in-philanthropy/
 

 

Are there any scientific studies that address the differences in Covid-19 death rates among Blacks in the USA versus most Black nations around the world?

 

COVID-19 More Prevalent, Deadlier in U.S. Counties with Higher Black Populations ---
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-haiti-virus-infections-peaked.html 
 

Why are the USA's Blacks are dying at higher rates from COVID-19?
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/04/09/why-are-blacks-dying-at-higher-rates-from-covid-19/

 

Jensen Comment
Haiti is filled with Black and mostly poor residents. Haiti claims only 79 people died from the virus as of June 28, 2020 (Johns Hopkins University put this number at 105 dead).
Given that Haiti's health statistics are perhaps dubious, it nevertheless seems that scientists are still unable to explain why the virus death rates among detected Covid-19 cases are so low in Haiti relative to the USA

 

Since the first cases were detected on March 19, Haiti has only had 4,309 people test positive for the new coronavirus, of whom 73 have died, according to figures published on June 28, 2020 ---
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-haiti-virus-infections-peaked.html

The authorities admit however that the statistics do not represent the full scope of the disease in the country, given the low number of tests carried out. But they insisted nevertheless that the figures allowed them to assess the disease's progress across the country.

"We had expected to reach the peak during the 27th week of the epidemic," which would have been the last week of June, "yet, on the basis of our observations, from the 22nd week, at the end of May, we saw a downward tendency in the numbers we are counting," said Dr Dely.

"We cannot be complacent because we don't know what changes may arise as we speak. Will we see another wave? We cannot know how the disease is going to behave," he said, noting that Haiti was still in "a period of strong transmission."

In a country of 11.2 million people, scientists predict a best-case scenario of around 2,000 deaths during the epidemic, while gloomier predictions put the final toll closer to 20,000.

Many Haitians have dismissed the seriousness of the disease, shrugging it off as a "small fever" and refusing to get tested, especially in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Even as the airports, schools and the border with the Dominican Republic have been closed since March 19, most day-to-day activities have carried on across the country.

Staying at home is not an option for the vast majority of Haitians, who depend on the informal economy for their survival.

Continued in article

Johns Hopkins University dashboard statistics on Covid-19 accumulated cases and deaths among all racial groups as of June 30, 2020 ---
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

USA 127,425 dead/2,636,538 cases (out of 330+ million, with 60% White, 18% Hispanic, 13% Black)

Nigeria 2,657 dead/25,694 cases (out of 207 million, with less than 1% white)
Nigeria has a relatively low number of reported cases with a very high death rate among those reported cases

South Africa 2,529 dead/159,201 cases (out of 60 million, 80% of whom are Black and 8% white)

Kenya 148 dead/6,366 cases (out of 49 million, 82% of whom are Black and less than 1% white)

Haiti 105 dead/5,975 cases (out of 11 million, 95% of whom are Black and 5% mulatto or white

Ethiopia 103 dead/5,846 cases (out of 104 million, with less than 1% white)

Somalia (90 dead/2,924 cases)
Somalia has a somewhat higher death rate but less than the USA's death rate

Chad 74 dead/866 cases
Chad has a relatively high death rate but probably only detected very serious cases

Niger 67 dead/25,694 cases

Gabon 42 dead/5,394 cases

South Sudan 36 dead/2,007 cases

Guinea 31 dead/2,001 cases

Zambia 22 dead/1,594 cases

Tanzania 21 dead/509 cases
Tanzania has a somewhat high death rate but probably only detected very serious cases

I understand that Black nations most likely have under-reported Covid-19 cases, but I also suspect that something important is going on to protect most Black nations from Covid-19 high death rates among detected cases.
The higher death rate Black nations (Nigeria, Somalia, Chad, and Tanzania) may have only detected Covid-19 in their most serious cases

I repeat:
What makes Blacks in the USA seemingly much more prone to dying from Covid-19 than Blacks living in most Black nations?

Things to consider:
Something to look at are that life expectancies for Blacks are higher in the USA ,and Covid-19 is much more deadly for older people.
Survivors of all deadly diseases in poor nations are more apt to have stronger anti-bodies since they have endured more diseases with inadequate health services.
Mostly Black nations have relatively fewer foreign visitors from the outside world, but this does not explain why death rates among detected Covid-19 cases are so much lower than in the USA.

Are there any scientific studies that address the differences in Covid-19 death rates among Blacks in the USA versus Black nations around the world?


College Fall 2020 Plans And U.S. News Rankings: Higher Ranked Schools Are More Likely Online, Lower Ranked Schools Are More Likely On-Ground ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/06/college-fall-2020-plans-and-us-news-rankings-higher-ranked-schools-are-more-likely-online-lower-rank.html
Jensen Comment
The higher ranked schools are apt to get a superior incoming class whether they are online or onsite --- what Harvard students want most is the name "Harvard University" on their diplomas and the grade inflation assurance that they most likely will graduate from Harvard with a cumulative gpa of A- or higher whether their classes were online or onsite.

Lower ranked schools are most apt to get is a better incoming class if they promise nearly all onsite courses.
Reasons are complicated, but students seeking an on-campus experience in a lower-ranked university are not after the prestige name of the university as much as they're after all things they can get only on campus --- getting away from home, a face-to-face social life, a love life, and (alas) student parties.

What are they sacrificing by choosing a lower-ranked university?
That prestigious name on the diploma and assurances of that A- graduation gpa. And they're losing that powerful alumni club provided by the Ivy League universities where old alumni lean toward hiring new alumni or admitting new alumni into their prestigious graduate programs.
In the Ivy League it's still pretty much of an alumni club.

I know one applicant accepted by both Harvard and Texas A&M who chose Harvard because it was easier to be a 4.0 graduate from Harvard where the median grade averages of all graduates is A-
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/harvard-grade-inflation-_n_4384848
Professor Mansfield gave two grades to every student who took his Harvard course. One was an A for the student's transcript. The other was a secret grade to let the student know about actual performance in the course.
 


Are the $1 billion NYPD budget cuts "accounting gimmicks"? ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/nypd-budget-cuts-an-accounting-gimmick-former-commissioner
Jensen Comment
These "budget cuts" are not reductions in spending. However, the real test is whether the the shifting of funds can lead to more effective outcomes. For example, will shifting of funds from the NYPD to the NYC Department of Education lead to greater safety of children? This is especially important where NYC public school students are the least safe such as when protecting them from rival gangs, drive bye shootings, and drug purchase temptations. I'm dubious of the NYC Mayor's plan for most of the police budgeting shifts. He announced that much of it will go for new public housing. Urban crime festers in public housing. Will he just be creating more crime with less police to fight crime?

Having fewer police on patrols has to create slower response time to emergencies.

There are also what economists call externalities. By not having the police and courts discouraging shoplifting we will have more people not being punished for shoplifting. But the externality of not restraining shoplifting is that there will be fewer stores in areas of NYC where shoplifting is the most prevalent.

There will probably be a lot more police officer overtime rewards since fewer police officers increases the probability that the ones that remain will be paid for more security details like sporting events, theatre district patrolling, business watching, wealthy neighborhood watching, etc. Most of those rewards will be off-budget and paid directly to police officers. Are overworked police officers less effective in their day jobs?

New York City's Mayor is Jumping for Joy:  NYC's Police Applications for Retirement are Now Running 100 Per Day
https://nypost.com/2020/07/08/nypd-limits-retirement-applications-amid-411-surge-this-week/

 


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 --- Wilson or O'Connor?

Who decides which books to burn?

Franklin Pierce Biographer Urges Consideration Of 14th President's Progressive Civil Liberties Record Before Removal Of His Name From UNH Law School ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/06/franklin-pierce-biographer-urges-consideration-of-14th-presidents-progressive-civil-liberties-record.html
No chance

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


How PwC is using VR to shake up bias trainings and get employees to think about their hidden prejudices
https://www.businessinsider.com/using-virtual-reality-for-diversity-and-inclusion-trainings-2020-7

 .       PwC and tech startup Talespin have teamed up to train employees on implicit bias using virtual reality. 
·        VR-based implicit bias training immerses its participants in scenarios where they learn to make inclusive hiring decisions and point out instances of discrimination.
·        Studies have shown VR learners required less time to learn, had a stronger emotional connection to the training content, were more focused when learning, and were more confident about their takeaways from the training. 
·        It comes at a time of public reckoning that current corporate diversity and inclusion initiatives aren't doing enough, especially when it comes to implicit bias during the hiring process. 

Virtual reality could permanently alter the way businesses approach diversity and inclusion trainings.

Despite spending billions of dollars on D&I initiatives, US companies are more segregated now than they were 40 years ago, and implicit bias in hiring remains one of the biggest culprits. Implicit bias refers to the unknown assumptions people make about others based on their gender, ethnicity, age, or minority status, rather than their professional qualifications.

Some companies are exploring new options for diversity trainings. PwC is one of them.

The professional-services firm is working with software company Talespin to implement VR-based implicit-bias training programs —and it could be a new frontier for how companies approach diversity, equity, and inclusion training. 

The Big 4 consulting and tax firm completed a pilot with Talespin last year, and it has since used virtual reality programming to train over 4,000 employees on implicit bias.

How the VR training works 

The training places employees in simulated office settings designed after actual PwC offices, where they speak with virtual characters through a head-mounted display. During the five-to-seven-minute training modules, they are prompted to make decisions about who to hire and promote, and must use inclusive leadership practices introduced prior to the simulation.

Kyle Jackson, CEO of Talespin, told Business Insider that PwC employees using the VR tool are trained on how to recognize unconscious bias when hiring. They have to think about how even a candidate's name on a résumé can stir up implicit biases, he said. 

Studies have shown, for example, that résumés with names that sound "white" get more call backs than those that don't. Employees using the VR training are asked to formulate responses if these biases are expressed in a hiring meeting by a colleague, or a senior partner.

 Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on Tools and Tricks of the Trade ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

 


 

Double Standard: Black Washington Post Editor Goes Racist On White Women, Paper Defends Her Racist Comments
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/06/28/screenshot-wapo-global-opinions-editor-deletes-vile-tweet-warning-white-women-of-revenge/ 

Karen Attiah, the Washington Post’s Global Opinions editor, just deleted this that said, “White women are lucky that we are just calling them ‘Karen’s’. And not calling for revenge”:

The lies & tears of White women hath wrought:

-The 1921 Tulsa Massacre
-Murder of Emmet Till
-Exclusion of Black women from feminist movements
-53% of white women voting for Trump.

White women are lucky that we are just calling them "Karen's".

And not calling for revenge.

— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) June 28, 2020

 


The Deleted Clause of the Declaration of Independence ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/the-deleted-clause-of-the-declaration-of-independence.html
Also see
https://notesonliberty.com/2017/07/04/the-deleted-clause-of-the-declaration-of-independence/

Jensen Comment
Eliminating slavery in the USA proved not so simple as leaving the above phrase in the Declaration of Independence. Nearly 100 years later it would take over $32 trillion and unimaginable suffering in a tragic Civil War to free the slaves.

The following quotation is taken from
https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare/

The Civil War was one of the most devastating events in the history of the United States. It lasted from 1861 to 1865 and has been estimated to have a direct cost of about $6.7 billion valued in 1860 dollars. If this number were evaluated in dollars of today using the GDP deflator it would be $160 billion, less than one-fourth of the current Department of Defense budget. This would be inappropriate, as would be using the wage or income indexes. The only measure that makes sense for an expenditure of this size is to use the share of GDP, as the war impacted the output of the entire country. Thus the relative value of $6.7 billion of 1860 would be $32.7 trillion today, or over 150% of our current GDP. The $6.7 billion does not take into account that the war disrupted the economy and had an impact of lower production into the future. Some economic historians have estimated this additional, or indirect cost, to be another $7.3 billion measured in 1860 dollars. This means the cost of the war (as a share of the output of the economy) was nearly $68 trillion as measured in current dollars.


 

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 E. Williams:  Charter Schools and Their Enemies ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/07/08/charter-schools-and-their-enemies-n2571960?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=07/08/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

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.

 

 

 


 

How to Mislead With Statistics

Surprising study: Urban density doesn’t cause more COVID-19 infections, even promotes lower death rates ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/surprising-study-urban-density-doesnt-cause-more-covid-19-infections-even-promotes-lower-death-rates/

Crowded city streets, subways, and buses have been considered the most likely places to become infected with COVID-19 over the past few months. Surprisingly, however, a new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concludes that densely populated spaces aren’t actually linked to higher infection rates.

Even more confounding, the study’s analysis indicates that crowded, dense locations are associated with lower coronavirus death rates.

In all, COVID-19 infection and death rates were assessed across 913 U.S. metropolitan counties. After researchers accounted for additional factors like race and education, the population density within each county was not significantly linked to infection rates. As mentioned, denser counties, as opposed to more rural, sprawling areas with smaller populations, were associated with lower death rates. The study’s authors speculate this is because denser, urban areas often offer better healthcare services.

Instead, higher coronavirus infection and death rates seem to be linked to a metropolitan area’s size, not its density. So, cities that are very big and stretch across multiple counties that are “tightly linked together through economic, social, and commuting relationships” appear to be most at risk of high coronavirus infection rates

Continued in Article

Jensen Comment
I think the populated density issues are more complicated than density per se (think population per square mile). For example, the above study concludes that "densely populated spaces aren’t actually linked to higher infection rates". However, I contend that the most dense populations vary greatly  in terms of lifestyles. Los Angeles differs greatly from New York City in many ways, including the LA's relative lack of public transportation relative to NYC. Also in NCC it's extremely common for workers to move out of NYC when they retire. And if they retire in a another dense area like Miami or LA their lifestyles change because they are no longer commuting daily over long distances by public transportation to get to and from jobs. The public indoor places of Manhattan and San Francisco are crowded many hours of each day relative to the public indoor places of Miami, LA, and Houston.

My point here is that population density as a predictor of Covid-19 infections and deaths confounds many other issues like demographic differences of residents, lifestyle differences, etc. But density should not be eliminated as a contributing factor to the multivariate set of interactive causes.

 

Both the risks of infection from Covid-19 and the risk of dying when infected are multivariate and interactive.
Except for age I don't think we can factor out any one variable (like population per square mile) from all the other interactive causes.


And density is a continuum. Southern New Hampshire is much less densely populated than Northern New Hampshire. And Southern New Hampshire is very much less densely populated than New York City.

New York State has a population of 19.5 million out of which over 8.2 million live in NYC. New Hampshire has a population of 1.4 million out of which 110,000 live in Manchester, NH.

 

As a retired total recluse living on food and drink ordered from Amazon, your odds of testing positive for Covid-10 are probably about the same in NYC or New Hampshire's Manchester or Littleton in the north. If you're a patrol cop or hospital worker your probability of testing positive is much higher in dense NYC or Manchester. However your probability is even lower in Littleton relative to Manchester and points along I-93 leading toward Massachusetts.

Now consider the following map of New Hampshire where the state's highest population density is skewed toward the southern part of the state ---
https://www.nh.gov/covid19/
Note that "50+" in the color coding includes such large numbers as 500 and 800.

 

 

In the middle of New Hampshire my guess is that nursing home residents contributed to nearly all of the  6, 7, AND 16 numbers shown on the map below.

I contend that the Covid-19 infection rates along the southeastern boundary are relatively high because this is where NH workers commuting to Massachusetts (think Boston) are most likely to live in NH. These NH state line residents most likely were infected due to working in Massachusetts (think NH medical professionals who work in Massachusetts hospitals)

Contrary to the conclusion of the above "Surprising Study," the one thing I'm certain of is that people who move from New York City to northern New Hampshire at the present time ipso facto have lower probabilities of becoming infected unless they live like a recluses before and after the move.

 


IRS Releases 2019 Data Book ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/07/irs-releases-2019-data-book.html

The new Data Book shows that during FY 2019, the IRS:

·        Processed more than 253 million individual and business tax returns and forms, with nearly 73% of them filed electronically. Of that total, about 154 million were individual income tax returns, with about 89% of them being e-filed.

·        Collected more than $3.5 trillion in Federal taxes paid by individuals and businesses, with the individual income tax accounting for about 56% of the total.

·        Issued nearly 121.9 million refunds to individuals and businesses totaling more than $452 billion. The bulk of them — more than 119.8 million totaling over $270 billion — went to individual income tax filers. Of that total, nearly 17.3 million included a refundable Child Tax Credit and nearly 24.6 million included a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit.

·        Attracted nearly 651 million visits to IRS.gov, its popular website.

·        Set up more than 2.8 million new payment or installment agreements, with nearly 1.1 million of them established online at IRS.gov.

·        Reinvigorated its non-filer compliance initiative by closing over 364,000 cases under the Automated Substitute for Return Program, resulting in nearly $6.6 billion in additional assessments.

·        Completed nearly 2,800 criminal investigations.

 

 




Updates on Medical Insurance

 

Trump's Medicare chief has a big decision to make over whether doctors should be paid for phone calls and video visits. Here are the 3 biggest concerns she's weighing over the future of healthcare ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/cms-administrator-seema-verma-on-the-future-of-telehealth-2020-7

The Trump administration's Medicare chief is presiding over a major healthcare overhaul during the coronavirus pandemic, where millions more people are seeing doctors over phone and video.  

·        The move to virtual care happened because of temporary changes pushed by Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, overseen by Seema Verma. The changes caused a huge jump in telemedicine use. Before the pandemic, about 13,000 people on Medicare saw a doctor over telehealth in a week. By the week ending April 25, 1.7 million patients had these visits, according to figures from CMS.

·        But in the months ahead and ultimately once the pandemic is over, policymakers will face big decisions about how much virtual care should continue, how much to pay for it, and who gets it.

·        "I think that it is crystal clear that we need to continue telehealth," Verma told Business Insider. "I think in what capacity, how we do reimbursement, determining in what types of medicine it works best in — all of that is going to continue to evolve. But the case for telehealth is clear." 

·        CMS will have a major influence, but the agency can't go at it alone: It's up to Congress to decide which providers can use video visits and whether patients can see a doctor from home.

·        Still, CMS has the power to change a slew of regulations. Both state and federal lawmakers will watch what happens with the temporary telehealth changes in Medicare, which reaches 40 million seniors, to decide whether to make them permanent and whether to overhaul rules on private health insurance. 

Continued in article


 

 

Walmart will begin offering health insurance to consumers ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-breaks-into-health-insurance-2020-7?IR=T&utm_medium=email&utm_term=BII_Daily&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_campaign=BII Weekender 2020.7.10 - Marketing

 

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/