Archive for 2020

LIKE SO MANY OTHER SCHOOLS, the University of Tennessee will go all-online after Spring Break ends, until at least April 3. I’d be surprised not to see that extended until the end of the semester since the semester ends just 3 weeks later. But we’ll see. Plenty of time to let the situation develop. It could still be a fizzle, and I hope, but doubt, that it will.

ADVICE ON HIGHER ED, CORONAVIRUS, AND THE SUDDEN SHIFT TO ONLINE TEACHING: “You may be tempted to radically rethink what you’re doing right now. Please don’t. A radical redesign of your course or the introduction of radically new technology will take an enormous amount of time for you to plan and for your students to learn, all at a time when everyone is already stressed.” I think that’s good advice.

THE PRESS IS GARBAGE: ‘Trump’s Chernobyl’: Media Wuhan Virus Hysteria Stokes Public Panic. “Not only is it clear that corporate media can’t be trusted to provide accurate information about an issue of public concern, it’s clear they don’t care about public health or the economy.” I think the Wuhan virus is a real threat. I also think the press is trying to use it politically against Trump. Both can be true at the same time.

SUNSHINE WEEK STARTS SUNDAY AND JONI ERNST HAS A SUGGESTION: How about disclosing to taxpayers the actual costs of “studies” like the one that found live turtles are hardly faster on a treadmill than dead ones!

 

LAW: Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Maintain Remain-In-Mexico Immigration Policy.

Within hours of the Ninth Circuit court’s decision blocking the policy, hundreds of migrants queued at ports of entry in San Diego, El Paso, Texas, and Brownsville, Texas, some clutching printed copies of the court’s ruling, asking border officials to allow them into the U.S. They were turned away. The administration had been preparing military backup to guard U.S. points of entry in case migrants rushed the border, which it warned, in its filing with the Supreme Court, could happen if its policy was blocked.

The appeals court had agreed to postpone the effect of its decision temporarily, and it eventually gave the administration a week to seek intervention from the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is unlikely to give full consideration to the policy until its next term, which begins in October.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said the administration was “gratified” for the Supreme Court’s action. The policy, she said, has been “critical to restoring the government’s ability to manage the Southwest border and to work cooperatively with the Mexican government to address illegal immigration.”

The administration also has argued recently that ending “Remain in Mexico” could also pose a risk amid the worsening coronavirus crisis, although the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. far exceeds the number in Mexico.

The migrant crowd sounds surprisingly well organized.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Joe Biden Slams Bernie Sanders for “Joining” Donald Trump. “I’m not sure what Biden meant by that, and judging by some of his recent public appearances, Biden might not be entirely sure, either.”

Plus: His own campaign, the DNC, and the press (but I repeat myself) are all circling the wagons to keep their own frontrunner out of the public eye as much as possible.