At Some Point, Irony and Hypocrisy Become Indistinguishable

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following is from the Daily Kos’s daily newsletter Elections Digest for Saturday, December 10; this edition of the newsletter is subtitled “Voting Rights Roundup”: “Michigan: Without warning last week, Michigan Republicans began talking about introducing a strict voter ID law, and now the state House has passed the measure over Democratic opposition. Odds…

A Christmas Standard Reworked on the Eve of Trump

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In a recent post, Hank Reichman provided a post-election playlist that did a great deal to mitigate my post-election despondency. That playlist could not have included this just released video of Fiona Apple singing a Christmas standard reworked for this particular holiday season: Whether you enjoy the song or not, Fiona…

Nice Work If You Can Get It

POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is excerpted from a story in Pensions and Investments online and reposted on the blog of the UCLA Faculty Association under the above title.  University of California gives CIO $841,000 bonus despite year of negative returns By Randy Diamond | December 9, 2016 The University of California Regents approved…

Charles Reed, Assessment, and "The Great Mistake"

BY HANK REICHMAN Charles Reed, former head of the now-dismantled Florida state university system and for sixteen years (1996-2012) Chancellor of the twenty-three-campus California State University (CSU), died this week at the age of 75.  Known to friend and foe alike as just “Charlie,” Reed was a highly controversial leader whose brusque, even bullying style…

"Professor Watch List?" Notre Dame Profs Say Sign Us Up!

BY HANK REICHMAN The latest attempt to blacklist dissenting faculty members is the so-called “Professor Watchlist,” a project of a group called Turning Point USA founded by an ambitious twenty-something named Charlie Kirk.  The group’s website says it seeks to “to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values and…