Category: Uncategorized

Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk—they come from families with money – Quartz

When basic needs are met, it’s easier to be creative; when you know you have a safety net, you are more willing to take risks. “Many other researchers have replicated the finding that entrepreneurship is more about cash than dash,” University of Warwick professor Andrew Oswald tells Quartz. “Genes probably matter, as in most things… Continue reading Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk—they come from families with money – Quartz

Slavery’s Long Shadow

the political scientist Larry Bartels, analyzed the move of the white working class away from Democrats, a move made famous in Thomas Frank’s “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” Mr. Frank argued that working-class whites were being induced to vote against their own interests by the right’s exploitation of cultural issues. But Mr. Bartels showed that… Continue reading Slavery’s Long Shadow

Homegrown Extremists Tied to Deadlier Toll in U.S. Since 9/11 – The New York Times

the breakdown of extremist ideologies behind those attacks may come as a surprise. Since Sept. 11, 2001, nearly twice as many people have been killed by white supremacists, antigovernment fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims (via Homegrown Extremists Tied to Deadlier Toll in U.S. Since 9/11 – The New York Times) The… Continue reading Homegrown Extremists Tied to Deadlier Toll in U.S. Since 9/11 – The New York Times

Rich Californians balk at limits: ‘We’re not all equal when it comes to water’

Rich Californians balk at limits: ‘We’re not all equal when it comes to water’

Yuhas lives in the ultra-wealthy enclave of Rancho Santa Fe, a bucolic Southern California hamlet of ranches, gated communities and country clubs that guzzles five times more water per capita than the statewide average. In April, after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) called for a 25 percent reduction in water use, consumption in Rancho Santa Fe went up by 9 percent.

I was a liberal adjunct professor. My liberal students didn’t scare me at all.

I was a liberal adjunct professor. My liberal students didn’t scare me at all.

it’s truthy: it offers a conclusion that feels as if it should be true, even though it isn’t accompanied by much in the way of actual evidence. In this case, that truthy conclusion is that the rise of identity politics is doing real harm — that this new kind of discourse, whether you call it “identity politics” or “call-out culture” or “political correctness,” is not just annoying or upsetting to the people it targets, but a danger to academic freedom and therefore an actual substantive problem to be addressed.

You’re not allowed to question if this bullshit about out of control political correctness is real.

I’m a liberal professor, and my liberal students terrify me

I’m a liberal professor, and my liberal students terrify me

“What about Fannie and Freddie?” he asked. “Government kept giving homes to black people, to help out black people, white people didn’t get anything, and then they couldn’t pay for them. What about that?”

…

The next week, I got called into my director’s office. I was shown an email, sender name redacted, alleging that I “possessed communistical [sic] sympathies and refused to tell more than one side of the story.” The story in question wasn’t described, but I suspect it had do to with whether or not the economic collapse was caused by poor black people.

That was a liberal student?!? It sounds like a libertarian, not a liberal. I’ve never seen a liberal call someone out as a commie for suggesting that poor people didn’t cause the banking collapse.

This is the kicker:

This new understanding of social justice politics resembles what University of Pennsylvania political science professor Adolph Reed Jr. calls a politics of personal testimony, in which the feelings of individuals are the primary or even exclusive means through which social issues are understood and discussed.

And he wishes to fight this by talking about how he fears his students because of their opinions.

Um, yeah.