January 22-26, 2019

Jan 22 01:55 A student becomes our teacher
Jan 22 02:32 Disturbing enrollment trends at MnSCU
Jan 22 07:03 SC Times, the CNN of newspapers

Jan 23 02:18 Joy Behar's disgusting hatred
Jan 23 10:00 Ilhan Omar's disgusting tweet
Jan 23 14:09 Pelosi in God's little acre

Jan 24 01:40 Pelosi's crumbling wall?

Jan 26 08:26 Let's defeat a DFL dynasty

Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

A student becomes our teacher

If this article teaches us anything, it's that the media near the Lincoln Memorial should learn from Nick Sandmann, the student in the crowd.

Unfortunately, the media highlighted "the initial short clip of the incident" in which Sandmann, "who identified himself on Sunday," can be seen standing in front of Phillips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as the Native American elder, Nathan Phillips, sings and beats on a drum. Other young people standing close by can be seen encircling Phillips and the student. In response to the widespread media coverage, lawmakers, Native-American leaders, and the Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School were quick to condemn Sandmann's behavior. The school announced it was investigating the situation and said he could be expelled."

The adults were quick to judge Sandmann, which is shameful. They should learn from his statement:

Because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student in our group asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin our school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group. We would not have done that without obtaining permission from the adults in charge of our group.

I was not intentionally making faces at the protester. I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation. I harbor no ill will for this person. I respect this person's right to protest and engage in free speech activities, and I support his chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial any day of the week. I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make.

What's worse is Rep. John Yarmuth's reaction on Twitter:




Congressman Yarmuth should be thrown out of the House for those asinine statements. It's bad enough that he didn't wait to find out what happened. (PS- It's understatement to say this wasn't a good week for the media either.) Yarmuth then decided to throw out the First Amendment because he hates President Trump. That's the personification of a bigot.

Posted Tuesday, January 22, 2019 1:55 AM

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Disturbing enrollment trends at MnSCU

Disturbing Enrollment Trends in the Minnesota State University System
by Silence Dogood

A post last fall to the SCSU Discussion list gave the enrollments for the seven Minnesota State Universities and the projected enrollments for FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021. NOTE: The current 2018-2019 academic year is FY2019.

Except for Metropolitan State University, enrollment for all the universities is clearly trending downward. However, the data shows some universities are declining a lot faster than others.

The data contained in the table above can be overwhelming to process making it somewhat difficult to see the whole enrollment picture. If we take the actual enrollment for FY2010 as the starting point and compare it to the projected FY2019 enrollment (for which summer is in the books; at the time the projection was made in October, fall semester was essentially complete and registration for spring was almost finished), the data is graphically presented in the following figure.

Additionally, SCSU's enrollment drop is larger than the total enrollment of either Bemidji State University or Southwest State University. If the current trend continues for another 667 FYE, the enrollment drop at SCSU will exceed the total enrollment at Minnesota State University Moorhead as well. Since SCSU likes to compare itself with MSU - Mankato, it is also interesting to note that SCSU's enrollment drop is more than seven times larger than Mankato's.

In FY2010, SCSU's FYE enrollment was 758 larger than MSU-Mankato. In FY2019, MSU-Mankato's FYE enrollment is 2,525 larger than SCSU's! The differential is 3,283 FYE, which is nearly equal to the total enrollment of Southwest Minnesota State University!

Since the universities in the Minnesota State University System are not the same size, using percent measures may give a relative comparison but not accurately illustrate the magnitude of the problem of declining enrollment. The following Table shows the numeric decline in enrollment at each university and how much of the university system's enrollment decline is due to each university as a percentage of the total decline. NOTE: Metropolitan State University is omitted from the Table because its' enrollment increased.

The sum of the third column in the Table shows that from FY2010 to the anticipated FY2019 enrollments, the Minnesota State University System's universities enrollment declined by 8,631 FYE, which corresponds to a decline of 16.45%. From the data in the Table, nearly, 52% of the Minnesota State University system's enrollment decline is due to St. Cloud State University! That needs to be said again. More than half of the enrollment decline in the Minnesota State University system's universities is due to one university alone - SCSU! Perhaps, SCSU should not try to be so 'AMAZING.'

Sometimes a picture is helpful to see the 'Big Picture.' When depicted as a pie chart, the enrollment decline in the Minnesota State System Universities attributed to each university is quite spectacular.

Metropolitan State has shown an enrollment growth over this period of 10.37%. Bemidji (-5.02%), Minnesota State University, Mankato (-5.62%), and Southwest Minnesota State University (-8.27%)--all show declines less than 10% over this same time. Winona State University is next with a decline of 17.36%, followed by Minnesota State University, Moorhead with a 23.69% decline. However, St. Cloud State University stands out from the pack with a whopping decline of 29.62%!

In a nine-year period, St. Cloud State University has lost nearly 30% of its FYE enrollment!

The big red section in the Figure is the percentage of the enrollment decline in Minnesota State System Universities due to St. Cloud State University.

Some see this as a problem. Others just call it 'Fake News.' The administration of the Minnesota State System and SCSU's administration has explained SCSU's enrollment decline over the past few years by first saying it wasn't real. Then, saying that it was due to 'Right Sizing.' This was then followed by blaming 'Demographics.' This are just the 'big three', the actual list of excuses, however, is much longer.

The first step in solving a problem is to admit that you have a problem. Otherwise, you are just reacting and blaming external forces for what is happening - both of which have happened a lot at SCSU over the past nine years. Secondly, unless you understand how you got into the situation in the first place, it is very difficult to develop a plan to successfully solve the problem. Rebranding (Unleashing Amazing), 'Right Sizing' or reorganizing will not likely solve St. Cloud State's problems. Essentially, one might just see these efforts as putting 'lipstick on a pig,' with apologies to pigs.

Several of the plans by the administration have sounded a lot like the overly optimistic plans of the former Soviet Union. Plans are great. However, unless you assess how your plans have achieved their goals, all you are doing is 'spin.' Consider, President Potter repeatedly calling the loss of more than 10 million dollars on the Coborn's Plaza Apartments a 'SUCCESS.'

What is needed to solve SCSU's enrollment decline is a detailed plan with built in assessment AND buy in from the faculty and staff. Simply cutting staff positions, increasing class sizes and teaching loads will not likely accomplish what will be necessary to turn the university around.

It seems that the comics often provide a relevant way to see the logic behind certain actions. The Wizard of ID Comic recently had the following exchange:

Unfortunately, it seems like the administration is continuing denying the reality of the enrollment decline, which for FY2019 may be higher than 7% as well as the significant financial strain that such an enrollment decline places on the financial resources of the university. But more importantly, it seems that the administration is working their 'alternative math' to show that the enrollment decline is a good thing. Maybe all the people who have lost their jobs at the university since the reorganization in 2011 might disagree about how good it is. Additionally, the landlords and businesses that were supported by the students that make up those 4,471 FYE that are no longer enrolled might also not see it as a good thing.

At least no one seems to be complaining about not being able to find a parking space! Maybe this enrollment decline is a good thing after all!

Posted Tuesday, January 22, 2019 2:32 AM

Comment 1 by John Palmer at 22-Jan-19 03:06 PM
It has been some time since we heard from Silence. Unfortunately during Silence's silence, enrollment at SCSU and MNState things have only gotten worse. I do hope people with the ability to initiate pressure for improvement at SCSU and MnSTATE will take a look at this excellent commentary and examine Silence's body of work at this blog. Limbo, a game popular in the 60's, often included the chant "How low can you go?" That chant has a different meaning when asked in the context of SCSU. How low will enrollment go at SCSU and how much more negative economic news can St. Cloud take?

Comment 2 by John Smith 2 at 24-Jan-19 01:23 PM
The incidental reason for the enrollment slide across the system is the economy improving from the start of the 2008 recession. As more jobs are available high school students and older adult students joined the workforce instead of attending college.

The bigger problem on the horizon for all of the state universities is as costs to deliver educational programming keep increasing the amount of full time equivalent student funding has decreased over the past decade and fifty years. Other institutions in the region such as NDSU, SDSU, USD, ISU, UND even UNI have become more competitive and implemented research programs. Meanwhile in Minnesota, even the largest SCSU and MNSU have not. Students as a result see these institutions as places of either convenience (it's nearby), cost (it's cheap) or a last resort (I didn't get in at other university x).

As a result of the squeezing of the financial base, these institutions are not competing well. Even within Minnesota institutions like University of Minnesota, Duluth are more successful. Long term Metro State will continue to grow at the other's expense merely because of location. In the past middle class students would travel to Mankato or St. Cloud to attend college. Now, in today's market, it's becoming a much more difficult value proposition to make when the 'flagship' is in the Twin Cities and every student is chasing dreams of big U'.

SC Times, the CNN of newspapers

After reading this Our View editorial , there's no doubt that the SC Times is as far left as CNN. In talking about the shutdown, the Times' editorial says "Republicans in Congress, especially the Senate, have the most clout in this political game - aside, of course, from the White House. While Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell remains entrenched in Trump's camp, national political pundits generally agree it would take only about a half-dozen Republican senators to talk up Democratic proposals (or speak against Trump's demand) and there would be progress toward a solution ."

I don't even slightly agree. The Times should be ashamed of themselves for suggesting such stupidity. Since when have drones and sensors alone stopped caravans? The Democrats' plan, as enunciated by Nancy Pelosi, calls for a high tech barrier. That's worthless. Period. While that would end the government shutdown, it wouldn't stop illegal immigration. That's the gospel according to experts like Brandon Judd, Bryan Dean Wright and Thomas Homan. Homan is the former acting director of ICE, Judd is the former president of the Border Patrol Union while Wright is a former CIA operations officer and a Democrat. Here's what he said in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson:

"between 1,000 and 3,000 people who cross the southern border every day. Now that should be a starting point to say 'what we're doing now isn't working.' Now the Democrats are proposing spending $1.3 billion, just like they did last year and years prior. What that tells me is that my party is saying 'look, let's keep doing business-as-usual' even though business-as-usual is getting us 1,000-3,000 people across the border every day. Now that's just crazy. Everybody watching this program, the most reasonable people, will say 'why are we doubling down on stupid? Why are we doubling down on broken.' That doesn't make any sense.

Here's the interview:
[Video no longer available]
Nothing in the Democrats' plan is a solution. Period. That means that nothing in the Times' editorial provides a solution, either. The Democrats' goal is to re-open the government while letting tons of illegal aliens into the country. That isn't a solution. That's the opposite of a solution.

Democrats in Congress need to keep pushing proposals that end the shutdown and seek to bolster border security. They started down the right track upon taking power in the House by approving (with some Republican support) measures partially reopened government and put $1.3 billion toward border security. Now up those antes by allowing some money to pay for new or improved walls where security experts say they make sense.

Until Sunday, Democrats hadn't proposed anything substantive. Pelosi started by saying she wouldn't spend a penny on Trump's wall. The next time they met, she said she'd offer Trump $1. That isn't a typo. She didn't offer $1,000,000,000. Pelosi offered a dollar.

The upside to the Times' plan is that it'll remove the gavel from Ms. Pelosi's hand. The downside is that it'll take 2 years to happen.

Posted Tuesday, January 22, 2019 7:03 AM

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Joy Behar's disgusting hatred

Joy Behar's hatred of all things Trump is disgusting. The Left is constantly lecturing conservatives that 'this isn't who we are as Americans'. Behar's supposedly glib statement in this video truly isn't who we are as Americans:
[Video no longer available]
That's America at its worst. That woman isn't anyone I want to associate with. I wouldn't want her as a co-worker. I definitely wouldn't want her as a neighbor. Adriana Cohen's article summarizes things quite nicely:

Some teenagers at the March for Life Rally, who dared to use their constitutionally protected right to free speech by wearing 'MAGA' hats, quickly became targets of a rabid mob of anti-Trump forces eager to perpetuate the false political narrative that white conservative men who support the president are racists and bullies who harass minorities.

A deceptively edited video of a kerfuffle between a few of the teens and a Native American man quickly went viral, to which the New York Times and scores of other Trump-hating media outlets depicted a gross mischaracterization of what happened fueling a hate filled frenzy on social media and beyond, subjecting the students to an onslaught of verbal assaults and even death threats, in addition to the possibility of expulsion from their high school.

Here's the kicker: it was all a lie, enthusiastically disseminated by the media, Democrat lawmakers and other Trump-haters who didn't bother to research the facts, watch the full video or hear all sides before condemning these poor kids. Now after a massive smear campaign putting the students in harm's way, it turns out the teens were the ones harassed, not the other way around.

Rep. John Yarmuth might've been the worst-reacting politician in this sordid event:




I don't know what's worse -- Rep. Yarmuth wanting to gut the First Amendment or his jumping to the wrong conclusion without any fact-checking. In the end, they're both terrible.

Posted Wednesday, January 23, 2019 2:18 AM

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Ilhan Omar's disgusting tweet

I wish it was news that Democrat Ilhan Omar's disgusting tweet was news. Unfortunately, it isn't. The latest DFL embarrassment from Minnesota jumped into the Covington Catholic dispute with this tweet:


Robby Starbuck put an end to that nonsense with this tweet:


Rep. Omar is a disgusting human being. She's anti-Semitic. She apparently spews hateful language at people she disagrees with, too.

That's sickening.

Posted Wednesday, January 23, 2019 10:00 AM

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Pelosi in God's little acre

President Trump has put Speaker Pelosi into what I call God's little acre -- east of the rock, west of the hard place. He did that by accepting her half-hearted invitation to deliver the State of the Union address from the House chamber.

In a letter sent from President Trump to Speaker Pelosi, President Trump "rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's request to delay his State of the Union speech until after the government shutdown ends, intensifying the brinkmanship between the two leaders." He then wrote "It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!"

If Speaker Pelosi allows President Trump to deliver the speech, President Trump will gain a tremendous opportunity to address the nation unfiltered. That's something Mrs. Pelosi didn't want to give him. On the other hand, if she prevents him from speaking, she'll look incredibly petty. Then again, at this point, that might not be a major consideration.


I guess we didn't have to wait long. Mrs. Pelosi decided to act like the petty person that she is. She just sent this letter saying that she won't let President Trump to deliver the SOTU in the House chamber:


House Minority Leader McCarthy has submitted a resolution to invite President Trump to the House on January 29. I don't see a way of this ending gracefully because, putting it bluntly, Nancy Pelosi is a bitch. She's determined to play tit-for-tat. The question is whether anyone is willing to legitimately stand up to her from her side. I'm betting they aren't. They're only willing to make half-hearted meaningless gestures. Doing something that requires real courage isn't in the Democrats' playbook.

Posted Wednesday, January 23, 2019 2:09 PM

Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 24-Jan-19 08:40 AM
Latest news is that Trump has agreed to delay SOTU until the government re-opens. He can now blame Pelosi for THAT delay, as well as the delay and the delay in securing the border, the delay in making Americans safe, the delay in stopping dangerous drugs and criminals, the delay in disaster relief, the delay in the government opening, and the delay in relief for the DACA kids. My guess, after the Senate filibusters both bills today, he will declare a national emergency, and require Congress to give him the $5.7B to fund it, no strings.

Pelosi's crumbling wall?

There's no question that Nancy Pelosi is stubborn when it comes to building a physical wall on the US-Mexico border. That doesn't mean there's no chance of that wall crumbling. Steny Hoyer said that he isn't opposed to having a strategically-placed wall:

Look, I think physical barriers are part of the solution... Look, I think it depends upon what a wall is used for whether its moral or immoral. If it's protecting people, it's moral. If it's imprisoning people, it may well be immoral. But that's not the issue. The issue is, we want border security. We want to make sure that people who come into the United States of America are authorized to do so, and we know that they have come in. We don't want contraband. We don't want drugs coming in. We don't want dangerous people coming into the country. So, we're for border security, and I think we can get there.

Bennie Thompson, the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that Democrats aren't ruling out walls or physical barriers .

The bottom line is that Pelosi's Democrat opposition to the wall appears to be crumbling. She can't stay belligerent while other Democrats modify their positions. Remember that she wasn't that popular. I suspect that she still isn't that popular.
[Video no longer available]

Posted Thursday, January 24, 2019 1:40 AM

Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 25-Jan-19 08:46 AM
MN Democrat Colin Peterson had the right idea.

Let's defeat a DFL dynasty

Harold Hamilton's weekly commentary contained a great pop quiz on a DFL family dynasty:

Candidate #1: Union electrician. Started his own electrical contracting company, which is also union. Never went to college; educated in the electrician's apprenticeship training program. Likes to snowmobile, ice fish, and hunt deer. Lives in a rural area of the district and drives a pick-up.

Candidate #2: Lists a work history in politics. No private sector experience. Graduate of Carleton College. Has been living in Washington, DC (AKA The Swamp) for the past year. Comes from a political dynasty that has been in political office for decades.

If you guessed that the Democrat was candidate #1, you would be WRONG. Candidate #1 is Jason Rarick, who is the Republican candidate for Senate District 11.

This district will elect a new state Senator on February 5th to replace the incumbent, who was appointed to a political patronage job by Governor Tim Walz. Jason Rarick doesn't come from a background of any prominence or privilege. His daddy was no one of any note.

He didn't go to an elite private college, where the tuition is $55,000 per year, which is more than the median annual household income in Senate District 11 by a long shot. Instead, Rarick graduated high school and enrolled in the electrician's apprenticeship program, where he learned to become a skilled tradesman and work with his hands. After mastering the craft of the electrician, he took the risk of starting his own company, Rarick Electric.

He started out like every entrepreneur, with one truck, one employee, and big dreams. He knows what it means to worry about feeding a family. He knows what it's like to worry about work and where the next job will come from. He knows what it's like to work with your hands. He knows how to assemble, disassemble, and perform a functions check on a deer rifle. He knows how to change the oil in truck and a snowmobile.

The Democrat, Stu Lourey, couldn't be more different. After graduating from Carleton College, he immediately went to work in politics, working for both Senator Al 'happy hands' Franken and Senator Tina Smith. Beyond that, Lourey has no work history. His only real credentials for serving the people the Senate District 11 is that he has the correct last name.

You see, Stu's dad has been the state Senator for some years. And before that, Stu's grand mama was the senator. In short, he comes from a political dynasty. And dynasties always believe that DNA is really the only qualification to propagate dynasties. Put another way, if Stu's last name was 'Jones' or 'Lundquist' or 'O'Leary', he wouldn't have had a shot at this office.

How ironic that the party of the 'working man' is backing a privileged kid who has a powerful daddy for office over a true working man who boasts of nothing more than a belief that an honest day's work will get you an honest day's pay.

In other words, Stu Lourey is just another career politician. Then there's this:

To get a great visual presentation of what we're describing, head on over to Stu's web site. Take a look at the photos. You see him all dressed up in Carhart work gear and Gamehide hunting gear.

There's just one minor problem. None of the gear has a single rip or stain. No coffee stains. No blood stains. No mud. No dust. It looks like Stu borrowed the gear from John Kerry.

https://www.stulourey.com/meet/

In other words, Lourey is a total phony. He's as much a part of the working class as Kerry. It's time to retire this family dynasty.

Finally, Tony Lourey was one of the authors of the disaster we call MNsure.

Posted Saturday, January 26, 2019 8:26 AM

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