Just One Thing: Chris Rufo vs higher education
A new Wall Street Journal article describes how anti-DEI warrior Chris Rufo has contacts and influence within the Trump administration and is expected to work with them to devise ways to use financial levers to force universities to abandon DEI schemes. The Journal says, “Rufo supports closing the Education Department and forcing schools to advertise the earnings of graduates from specific programs so students understand their risks when they enroll. If students default on their loans, he says universities should have responsibility for paying some of it back. Ultimately, Rufo would like to see the number of Americans who enroll in four-year colleges slashed by more than half.” The first part of that has been talked about before and I support it. The latter is revolutionary and deserves a real debate.
Christopher Rufo Has Trump’s Ear and Wants to End DEI for Good - WSJ
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Today's Guest
Nationally syndicated talk show host and Fox News contributor Guy Benson joins me in studio. I have no idea what we'll talk about but it's always great talking with him. The ultra-rational part of the GOP.
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Other Stuff
I often quote Oscar Wilde (by way of hearing the line in a Monty Python skit), that especially for someone in politics or media, "the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." I'm not at all sure Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is winning here even though he's being talked about: Elon Musk, Republicans blast Denver mayor for ‘insurrection’ — but what does the law say?
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This is an article that every Democratic candidate and strategist should read and understand. Until they do, they'll keep losing (or not winning as much as they could). And for the record, I hope they keep losing (at least in most cases.) Rep. Seth Moulton: Democrats Are Wearing an ‘Ideological Straitjacket’ | The Free Press
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This is an interesting and dangerous experiment. In particular Trump is going to punish American consumers and businesses in an effort to punish other countries. Yes, it will hurt the other countries too, but at what cost to us? I'm VERY worried about this: Trump Plans to Impose 25 Percent Tariffs on Products from Canada, Mexico | National Review
Trump threatens to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China | AP News
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Interesting business story. (See also the Starbucks story below): Target is losing its high-income shoppers to Walmart
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This would be darn close to an act of war: Danish Navy boards Chinese ship suspected in European undersea cable sabotage — Sweden’s Defense Ministry put freighter at the time and place of the disruption
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Related: Interesting point by the judge about the player having been on the team since 2022: Federal judge rules in favor of Mountain West in lawsuit over transgender player
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I would not want to have to make this decision: Court says birth parents of girl born in IVF mix-up must give her to genetic parents | The Times of Israel
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If you're interested in the "hunting mountain lions" debate: Wildlife commission approves new lion plan, demands respect for employees - The Colorado Sun
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He really doesn't have a choice: Jack Smith moves to abandon two criminal cases against Trump | AP News
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Gotta say this doesn't look good for The Onion: Alex Jones Attempts to Stop The Onion from Buying InfoWars | National Review
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I owe you these from yesterday:
This is what politics is. This is what politics ALWAYS is. Inside the insidious Democratic plot to keep Biden in office using harassment tactics out of a spy novel | Daily Mail Online
Even your Jewish talk show host loves this story: Deus in machina: Swiss church installs AI-powered Jesus | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian
I don't really care because I don't drink coffee, but as a business story this is interesting: Can Starbucks fix long lines at its airport cafes?
I think they're way too worried, especially since Trump's picks for the health-related parts of the administration seem like liberals: Patients rush to get reproductive care before Trump takes office
Less crazy than yesterday's story about The Hague banning public outdoor advertising of fossil fuels or long-distance air travel: For the First Time, Part of the Ocean Has Been Granted Legal Personhood | Hakai Magazine
I guess this is real! Swedish Minister’s Bizarre Banana Phobia Makes International News Headlines
Fear of Bananas Phobia – Bananaphobia
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Today's Video
Nerd out with me!
This is my next project and I hope to start on it over the Thanksgiving holiday. In fact, I was up too late last night ordering some extra high-end capacitors and upgraded resistors for this project. I hope this amp might become my primary amp for some years even though it's quite inexpensive. (I'll probably be fully finished with the amp, including all upgrade costs, for around $1300 because I bought the unit itself very cheap recently, and that includes an upgraded transformer which is pretty expensive. I hope to offset a bit of the cost by selling the original transformer.)
This is the website for where I'm getting the upgrade: Home - Miller Audio
And this is where I buy high-end components, wire, etc, for audio projects: Parts Connexion