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The assault on New College

The only gripe I have with your posts are that the 70% seems high.

The poll sited is the only one that I've found with that high of a number. Everyone else is mid 50% to some saying 6 in 10. Still a good majority, but 70% seems really high, considering we know how party lines are usually followed.

Otherwise, agree with you.
A quibble, that was the NYT number, not mine, and it asked whether we should cover those topics with elementary school kids. The Florida bill banned discussing those topics K-3. I don't think that 70% figure is an outlier to be honest. I think you will break more to that 50/50 split the older the students get, but at that young age, I completely believe the 70%.
 
Well, that is why the country is swirling the drain, in my opinion. Each side is worried only about their side winning, and no one is worried about the good of the country. So in that sense, the basketball analogy doesn't hold up, I don't think.

I don't think I'm being idealistic about this, either. Our institutions depend on a certain amount of trust and public perception of neutrality. Once that is eroded, I think we are on the path towards civil war or perhaps some type of authoritarianism (which could come from either side). We aren't there yet (as seen by how our institutions responded to Trump, despite all the hand wringing and calls of fascism from the partisan left) but I am worried about our trajectory.
You have to win elections to govern.
 
I don't think I'm being idealistic about this, either. Our institutions depend on a certain amount of trust and public perception of neutrality. Once that is eroded, I think we are on the path towards civil war or perhaps some type of authoritarianism (which could come from either side).

That's the inherent problem with populism. It depends on demonizing those who oppose you rather than dealing with them for a resolution.
 
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That's the inherent problem with populism. It depends on demonizing those who oppose you rather than dealing with them for a resolution.
Oh, I don't think that's just a problem with populism. Elitists do the same thing--see Hillary Clinton and The Deplorables (which could be a good punk rock band name).
 
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So I know most of the right wing posters love DeSantis and in their eyes he can do no wrong. But exactly what is the beneficial rationale to staging a coup and replacing the current trustees of New College with 6 personal political appointments, some of whom have no ties to FL (Hillsdale religious zealot Spalding) and Ruffo (anti-CRT crusader and political hack) spring to mind.

In fact here is the press release from Ronnie's office, and these biographies really stretch to make these people sound qualified to "revise" a University they have no previous ties to. I mean Ruffo's "qualifications" are that he is a "senior fellow" at the Manhattan Institute and a tv documentarian with ties to "Conservative Governors"? Now that's impressive...:rolleyes: This list is a joke...


And exactly what needs to be "fixed" at New college which only has 672 or so enrolled students, who are extremely happy with their situation? Or at least they were happy...

And why shouldn't they be? I have no idea how US News rankings are currently viewed among academic ranking snobs, but I assume that they still carry some weight. So I'm not sure how Ron can argue with a straight face that New College was in need of better academic quality. Because they were ranked as the #5 PUBLIC school in the 2022-23 Best college rankings...

And before someone wants to reply with some DANC level of nonsense about "wokeness" influencing the rankings, be advised that the top 4 public schools ranked higher are in order US Navy,West Point, Air Force and VMI. So exactly how does a fruitcake idealogue like Ruffo figure to improve their academic standing?


In addition this Beast article which spawned this thread maintains that New College is also known for "pumping out Fullright Scholars", and when I checked I saw 86 in the 55 yrs since 1968.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tiny-college-hijacked-woke-obsessed-021158986.html

So exactly how does paying Corcoran ($700,000) which is more than twice the salary of his predecessor benefit anyone but DeSantis and his cronies/political allies? One of the alumni who is helping to lead the fight back effort from students,faculty,parents and alumni is an Associate Professor at Oxford.

So with a litany of extremely successful alumni as testament to the school's academic prowess, how does DeSantis's Chief of staff telling the Daily Caller that the goal is to turn New College into "the Hillsboro of the South" remotely strike anyone with half a brain as sensible or desirable?

And now comes word that Florida's GOP is flirting with switching their standardized testing from the SAT to the CLT which is characterized as a "classical and Christian alternative"? And they are contemplating eliminating AP courses altogether. What's next, Ruffo as the nationwide curriculum Czar?


IMHO, this is why DeSantis will never win a general election nationally. He's too much of an idealogue and borderline religious zealot/authoritarian to win in battleground states.

The more these sort of dictatorial moves are exposed, the less appealing he will be to moderates. I think appearing with both Mastriano and Lake at rallies in PA and AZ respectively were moves that will help him in GOP Primaries, but video that will come back to haunt him in both states should he be the GOP nominee.
Hmmmmm . . . I've been re-reading An Instance of the Fingerpost and I was trying to figure out why DeSantis had anything to do with any aspect of Oxford University.
 
If Hickory is on Twitter, Reddit,
On Reddit I'm a full blown Trumper b/c I dared to note that IPS gets more money per student than Hamilton Co schools and that maybe, just maybe, IPS's failure weren't totally b/c of racist white people policies.

The point is that Florida has historically been closely divided and considered a swing state. Desantis blew it out of the water
1984 Reagan destroys Mondale.
1992 Bill Clinton elected.

We're a finicky bunch here in the US of A.
 
Do you think the Florida electorate mirrors the national one? I don't know.

Plus, doing things just to get elected isn't what I think leaders should do. They should also think about what is good for their govt. unit that they are supposed to be representing/managing.
Do you think the Florida electorate mirrors the national one? I don't know.

Not according to the 2022 midterms... The Governor candidates that DeSantis campaigned for in battleground states (WI,PA,AZ and MI) all lost universally. And a big reason is that the culture war issues that worked for RD in FL simply did not translate to the type of purple states that Ron would need to try and win...

Look at WI, where the pronosticators claimed that Evers was vulnerable due to his Covid policies and sort of laid back reputation. But while Johnson was able to survive his Senate race due to an infusion of advertsing cash, Ron's issues and Ron's personal appearances weren't enough to get Michels elected...

Johnson won by 1% and got about 20,000 more votes than Barnes. But Michels who ran on a DeSantis-like agenda, including specifically Education issues (vouchers, anti CRT) lost by about 4% and received about 100,000 votes less than Evers...In fact Evers beat Michels more soundly than he beat Walker in 2018...

Non-MAGA types did not show out for the same issues that DeSantis used to win a 2022 election in FL that showed nearly a 1 Million drop in turnout compared to 2018. Dems did not show up for Crist in FL, but Dems and Independents turned out in force for Evers in WI...

 
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Do you think the Florida electorate mirrors the national one? I don't know.

Not according to the 2022 midterms... The Governor candidates that DeSantis campaigned for in battleground states (WI,PA,AZ and MI) all lost universally. And a big reason is that the culture war issues that worked for RD in FL simply did not translate to the type of purple states that Ron would need to try and win...

Look at WI, where the pronosticators claimed that Evers was vulnerable due to his Covid policies and sort of laid back reputation. But while Johnson was able to survive his Senate race due to an infusion of advertsing cash, Ron's issues and Ron's personal appearances weren't enough to get Michels elected...

Johnson won by 1% and got about 20,000 more votes than Barnes. But Michels who ran on a DeSantis-like agenda, including specifically Education issues (vouchers, anti CRT) lost by about 4% and received about 100,000 votes less than Evers...In fact Evers beat Michels more soundly than he beat Walker in 2018...

Non-MAGA types did not show out for the same issues that DeSantis used to win a 2022 election in FL that showed nearly a 1 Million drop in turnout compared to 2018. Dems did not show up for Crist in FL, but Dems and Independents turned out in force for Evers in WI...

Culture wars don’t tell the whole story in fla. He’s a hell of an administrator. Attracting business. Deftly dealing with hurricanes. Maybe Floridians appreciate that. I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine same
 
Culture wars don’t tell the whole story in fla. He’s a hell of an administrator. Attracting business. Deftly dealing with hurricanes. Maybe Floridians appreciate that. I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine same
If he could lose the whiff of trump that seems to surround him his chances outside Florida would rise.
 
If he could lose the whiff of trump that seems to surround him his chances outside Florida would rise.
yeah he has a hard job though because he has to appeal to the trumpers and nontrumpers. without both conservatives can't win. there's just not enough voters from each faction
 
yeah he has a hard job though because he has to appeal to the trumpers and nontrumpers. without both conservatives can't win. there's just not enough voters from each faction
At some point he will have to distinguish himself from Trump. That's when the shit will start flying.
 
That all do. Haley, Scott, Pompeo, all of 'em.
so all of these people need ot rally around desantis. i suspect trump has about 35% of the republican party that are unshakable. hardcore trumpers. so if the rnc and everyone rallies around desantis he will beat trump. if in the primary the field opposing him is split three or more ways that 35% plurality will guarantee trump a victory.

so again they need to step out and support desantis. then then then. we'll see if trump is just the spiteful prick we know that he is and throws his hat in as independent. then once again the dems will win handily
 
so all of these people need ot rally around desantis. i suspect trump has about 35% of the republican party that are unshakable. hardcore trumpers. so if the rnc and everyone rallies around desantis he will beat trump. if in the primary the field opposing him is split three or more ways that 35% plurality will guarantee trump a victory.

so again they need to step out and support desantis. then then then. we'll see if trump is just the spiteful prick we know that he is and throws his hat in as independent. then once again the dems will win handily
Kemp wants the Georgia Republican party to leave the Georgia Republican party: https://apple.news/A1xEGBBs0SjG0masqGMcI4A
 
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