Wednesday Potpourri

First, the wit and wisdom of President Joe Biden. Having scheduled the ultimate soft-ball interview with Ryan Seacrest, Biden offered a word salad worthy of Kamala Harris:

"Well, one of the big highlights stands out for me is—my dad used to have an expression. He said, ‘Joey, a job's about a lot more than a paycheck; it's about your dignity. It's about respect.' So many people through the midwest and in the center in the country, their factories are shipped overseas the last couple of times are out."

Second, at the risk of being redundant, Chris Rufo offers a few words about diversity hires. Think Harvard President Claudine Gay, a living, breathing embarrassment:

DEI in hiring is particularly insidious because it creates an end-to-end problem: if you hire someone incompetent based on race, you cannot easily fire that person, because of the same racial calculation. When you put identity over competence, your institution is compromised.

Third, Portland, Oregon has problems galore. It is falling apart and it exists within a state that is falling apart. 

Nevertheless, it has found a novel solution to an important psychological problem, fear of flying. The local airport will provide travelers with therapy, by allowing them to hug llamas. 

The New York Post has the story:

Holiday travels can leave frequent flyers feeling stressed — that’s why one airport introduced therapy animals as a way for people to cope.

But these aren’t your typical comfort canines; instead, the Portland International Airport is employing llamas.

The incredibly furry, huggable and mammoth llamas named Beni and Prince took a trip to the travel hub this month dressed their best in festive garb: their necks adorned with holly red bows and poinsettias with a pair of antlers atop their heads.

For your further edification in the country of Chile, serious golfers use llamas as caddies. I am not sure why that might be relevant, but it is true.

Fourth, everyone is beyond appalled that the Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine has vetoed a bill banning child mutilation and also banning biological males from women’s sports.

Some people have suggested that he simply caved to the trans lobby, or even to the hospitals that are getting rich through such mutilations.

Unfortunately, in the matter of what is falsely called gender affirming care, more and more professionals are going along to get along. They consider that defying the transgender lobby is not worth the grief.

Prof. Gary Francione explains:

I have heard from friends who are medical doctors and psychologists that they regard "gender-affirming care" as at least very troubling if not into the territory of unethical. But they don't want to speak out as many of them are in universities and, although I think things are getting better, universities are, in essence, businesses that depend on consumers (students). Given that we have a generation of students who need "safe spaces" and golden retriever cuddles if they are exposed to the trauma of disagreement, many faculty are unwilling to speak out. 

Academia attracts a lot of people who want a quiet life and to avoid controversy at all costs. I think a lot of the medical people are hoping that insurance companies will not defend malpractice suits involving at least trans procedures that involve children, and that will allow doctors to point the finger at insurance companies. I move in a number of progressive circles where many people support trans ideology. The reality is that most of them do not believe, for example, that a male who identifies as a woman is, indeed, a woman. It is common to hear people say, "yeah, I agree it's silly, but what's the harm?" It's imperative to be ready to discuss the harm. Most of them, including a lot of women, aren't aware of the harms.

If this does not signal a culture in severe decline, I do not know what it would take.

Fifth, from the Wall Street Journal, a ray of sunshine regarding the stock market. Those who know the markets best say this:

Wall Street is feeling sunny about the stock market as the calendar flips to 2024.

Last year’s widespread skepticism proved to be misplaced. Stocks rose through much of 2023, powered by the rise of artificial intelligence and an economy that stayed stronger than nearly all of Wall Street had anticipated. The recession that investors had largely agreed was imminent never came.

Now, with the S&P 500 within 0.6% of a record high, the crowd is much more optimistic.

Let’s see. Last year the crowd was pessimistic and the market went up. This year the crowd is optimistic-- does that mean that it’s time to sell. Contrary opinion indicators would say so.

Sixth, you have certainly heard all about the importance of positive emotions. And yet, you have surely also heard about how you can have too much of a good thing. The rule applies to emotion.

The New York Post has the story:

Recently, social media has been buzzing about “toxic positivity” — begging the question of whether too much optimism hinders employee productivity.

As one person on Reddit wrote of toxic positivity, “If you’re going through something bad in your life, just smile and be positive. Loved one died? That sucks, but keep smiling. Got divorced, lost a job? Well, find the silver lining!”

The individual added, “That’s toxic because by suppressing negative emotions at all times, you’re basically gaslighting yourself into believing that you can’t feel anger, sadness, grief — all normal human emotions that you should be allowing yourself to feel.”

Surely, the world would be a better place if we got out of our minds and into our lives. 

Besides, to be clear about it, you do better to have balance, whether emotional or mental, than to look on the bright side all the time.

When I was in college, one of my fellow students denounced those who wanted to cleanse the gates of their perception. If you do that, he said, you are going to be blinded by the sunlight.

In other words, there is a downside to always seeing the bright side.

Seventh, naturally, you are totally aware of the calamity that is the property market in China. Right? 

Did you know that looming before us is our own property meltdown. Empty office buildings and non-performing mortgages spell trouble.

The Daily Mail has the story:

Billions of dollars in loans on office buildings that are about to come due could play havoc with the US economy after interest rates soared.

About $117 billion worth is expected to be due this year and needs to be repaid or refinanced, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

A big chunk of it is at risk of defaulting and costing banks and developers huge sums, sending some into insolvency.

Eighth, the bottom story of the day involves releasing the names of the men who accompanied Jeffrey Epstein on his Lolita Express trips to his private island. We are still waiting to see the names.

Everyone is agog over the fact that Bill Clinton’s name is likely to be on the list. Isn’t that the least shocking story of the day? Are you surprised to discover that Hillary’s husband was involved with underaged females?

Ninth, Claudine, we hardly knew you. You have doubtless read that Harvard president Claudine Gay did the right thing and resigned her office. Many people have been recommending as much for some time now. 

Unfortunately, I cannot offer congratulations. True to her character defects, Gay declared that she was being persecuted for her race, not because she had done anything wrong.

Tenth, in the prescience department, on July 18, 2022 I reported on an article written by retired professor Robert Weissberg, for the James Martin Center for Academic Renewal.

Weissberg reports on what happened to academic departments, like his department, political science, when colleges started admitting more and more affirmative action candidates:

The adage “no good deed goes unpunished” captures this culpability. In a nutshell—and here I will speak only for myself and those I knew personally from the late 1960s onward—I am referring to lowering academic standards for black students and faculty in order to promote racial progress, a Weltanschauung in which the path to racial equality lay through education and, ultimately, the act of recruiting as many black students as possible and ensuring that they graduated.

And then there was the plagiarism. There was nothing especially unique about Claudine Gay.

One of my students, a troubled junior-college transfer, submitted a dreadful paper, an unambiguous “F,” but he also accidentally included the $25 invoice from an Internet site (“My Professor Sucks”). I did not fail him or begin proceedings to have him expelled. Instead, I consulted our department’s undergraduate advisor on how he could drop the course despite the official drop-date having passed. This was arranged, and he continued his college career.

Even blatant plagiarism was ignored, since it was apparent that culprits would never be prosecuted, and even filing charges put one’s career at risk.

For decades now universities have been handing out credentials to people who did not earn them and have been giving jobs to people who cannot do them. All for social justice. It is simply a systemic fraud, one that seems now to be exposed to the light of day.

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