Majority of Republicans think higher education is bad for the country. Well that explains a lot.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Fifty-eight percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the country, according to a new Pew Research Center study. This marks a 45 percent increase from last year's study. Comparatively, 72 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents say higher education has a positive impact on the country. Fifty-five percent of the general population was also found to think positively of higher education. 

I have said it before, and I will say it again, Republicans want the American people to be as dumb as possible.

They have been attacking public education and the intellectually elite for decades now because they know full well that smart people do not fall for their bullshit.

When Donald Trump said "I love the poorly educated" he was not just blowing smoke.

Without them he would NEVER have been elected.

Edward Snowden is being paid as much as $30,000 to speak by satellite, from the comfort of his Moscow apartment, to American college students. And that is WRONG!

Snowden's Russian ID.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The university paid $30,000 through an American speakers’ bureau to digitally host Snowden, one of his largest known contracts to date, according to documents obtained by Yahoo Finance. The Ohio State event was one of a series of speeches that have netted Snowden — who is still a fugitive in the eyes of the U.S. government — well over $200,000 in the past two years, as Yahoo News first reported last year. He has continued to give paid speeches, including at U.S. colleges, in 2017. 

The ongoing speaking contracts come at a time when Snowden’s fate and influence are more uncertain than ever. A campaign by Snowden’s supporters to win him a pardon was rebuffed by the outgoing Obama White House, and new President Donald Trump previously labeled him a “terrible traitor.” 

Moreover, Snowden’s efforts to present himself as an Internet privacy pioneer are now complicated by an American political environment colored by increasing wariness and hostility toward Snowden’s host since June 2013: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Gee, no shit!

In my opinion Snowden should receive NO funds from American colleges or universities in the wake of the hack of our 2016 election by the Russians.

I think it is now beyond obvious that this the new Russian expertise in hacking American companies, political organizations, and US citizens is due to their access to the materials that Snowden pilfered from the NSA.

In my opinion Snowden is the worst kind of traitor and I believe his actions have undermined our very democracy,

Keep in mind that it was Julian Assange who sent one of his compatriots to assist Edward Snowden and helped him to gain entry into Russia, after dissuading him from going to Latin America.

As we now know it was through Wikileaks that Russia released the information they hacked during the 2016 campaign, leaving no doubt that they are Russian stooges.

And I am 100% certain that when Snowden arrived in Russia, with the NSA tools that he smuggled out of America, that they immediately found their way into the hands of the FSB, Russian Intelligence, and that THAT was the impetus for all of the hacking and manipulations that we have seen since.

Remember, Wikileaks JUST released those CIA hacking tools.

How could they have possibly gotten their hands on that without the information that Snowden carried with him into Russia?

They couldn't have.

It is time for all of these Snowden fan boys to finally recognize that their idol is at best a "useful tool" of the Russian government, and at worst a spy for Vladimir Putin.

California passes automatic voter registration. You're eighteen years old, you have a driver's license, and are not a Kardashian, congratulations you are a registered voter. (Okay I made up that Kardashian part, but I think we can all agree it's a good idea.)

California Governor Jerry Brown.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:

Gov. Jerry Brown has approved legislation to make California the second state in the nation to begin automatically registering eligible voters when they obtain or renew their driver's licenses. 

AB1461 by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, aims to boost California's voter rolls by registering visitors to the Department of Motor Vehicles and was among dozens of bills that Brown announced Saturday he had signed. 

It follows Oregon's move earlier this year to adopt the nation's first automatic voter registration law. 

The legislation backed by Democratic Secretary of State Alex Padilla calls for data collected by the DMV to be provided to the secretary of state's office, which would verify a resident's legal eligibility to vote before registering them. Drivers would have the option to opt out or cancel their voter registration at any time. 

Padilla praised the signing of the automatic registration bill. 

"Citizens should not be required to opt-in to their fundamental right to vote," he said in a statement. "We do not have to opt-in to other rights, such as free speech or due process. The right to vote should be no different." 

You know that makes so much sense that it pisses me off that this is not the law in EVERY state.

In fact I would like to see it expanded so that you get per-registered on the day you are born, and on the day you turn eighteen you receive your voter ID in the mail.

And if THAT makes you respect California just a little more get a load of this courtesy of The Sacramento Bee: 

Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed legislation to ban the concealed carry of handguns at colleges and schools, further tightening California firearms restrictions that are already among the strictest in the nation. 

Current California law makes it illegal to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school or on a college campus without permission from administrators, but it exempts those with concealed carry permits. 

Senate Bill 707, by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, expands the prohibition on school and college grounds to include concealed weapons, while keeping the same rules in place for the 1,000-foot zone surrounding schools. Active and retire law enforcement officers are not covered by the law. 

I swear sometimes California does something that really sets it apart from the rest of the country in a good way.

If they were not always on the brink of bankruptcy, constantly on fire, and home to some of the most vacuous people on the planet, it might even be nice place to live.

NCAA drops hammer on Penn State in response to horrific charges of child abuse at the hands of Jerry Sandusky.

Workers remove Joe Paterno statue.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

The N.C.A.A. announced significant penalties against Penn State and its football program Monday, including a $60 million fine and a four-year postseason ban, in the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal involving the former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. 

The punishment also included the loss of some scholarships and the vacating of all of the team’s victories from 1998 to 2011, but stopped short of forcing the university to shut down the football team for a season or more, the so-called death penalty. Still, the penalties are serious enough that it is expected to take Penn State’s football program, one of the most successful in the country, years before it will be able to return to the sport’s top echelon. 

The postseason ban and the scholarship restrictions essentially prevent the program from fielding a team that can be competitive in the Big Ten. The N.C.A.A. will also allow Penn State players to transfer to another university where they could play immediately, inviting the possibility of a mass exodus. 

The N.C.A.A.'s penalty, announced by the organization’s president, Mark Emmert, is the latest action to stem from the scandal involving Sandusky, who was convicted last month of being a serial pedophile. The release of a grand jury report detailing Sandusky’s actions last November led to the firing of the legendary coach Joe Paterno; the removal of the university’s president, Graham B. Spanier; and charges against two other top university officials.

I have to say that there is no lack of victims here.

My heart of course goes out to the young victims of Jerry Sandusky's predation, but I also feel badly for the athletes who played for the Penn State football team, as well as the students that attended classes there, as they will now have to look back on their time in that school with a sense of remorse, if not shame.

Personally I think the NCAA did the right thing, perhaps they could have implemented their version of a  "death penalty" but I am not sure if that was a necessary step considering how much damage this scandal, and the penalties already handed down, have already done to Penn State's reputation, and ability to conduct a successful football program. 

So what do you think? Was this adequate or should the program have been completely dismantled?

Rick Santorum tells Glenn Beck that colleges are "indoctrination mills." Isn't he thinking of churches?

"I fear smart people. And so should you."

Courtesy of CBS News:

In an hour-long interview with conservative television host Glenn Beck, Santorum also defended his record on abortion and his vote in favor of President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind education law. 

On the president's efforts to boost college attendance, Santorum said, "I understand why Barack Obama wants to send every kid to college, because of their indoctrination mills, absolutely ... The indoctrination that is going on at the university level is a harm to our country." 

He claimed that "62 percent of kids who go into college with a faith commitment leave without it," but declined to cite a source for the figure. And he floated the idea of requiring universities that receive public funds have "intellectual diversity" on campus.

I have the feeling that Santorum's version of "intellectual diversity" means setting up college courses to teach students to stop listening to university professors and to instead get their education from religious leaders and priests. ("Don't think, believe!")

In some ways I almost have to agree with Santorum that people who are raised with a religious background DEFINITELY question their beliefs and preconceived notions once they are introduced to a wider range of facts and ideas.

However where we part ways is that I believe that any idea, or faith, which cannot stand up to scrutiny is one not worth embracing. (A point of view that I share with a certain founder of an alternative religion than one supported by Santorum too by the way.)

We have long known that Republicans are of the mind that education is an anti-conservative plot, but Santorum is just more blunt about voicing that opinion out loud. You know, where sane people can hear him.

That is why the conservatives are always trying to strip public schools of much needed funding while promoting the idea of vouchers and religious home schooling options.

That way they can ensure that the public stays ignorant enough to actually believe the bullshit they are selling them.

I think the point that Rick "Frothy Mixture" Santorum is making is this, "Smart, well educated people don't vote Republican."

And on that point he and I are in full agreement.

Gee, maybe miracles do happen!