53 Comments
Oct 18, 2023Liked by CDR Salamander

Outstanding Remarks. Thanks for sharing along with your brilliant commentary. We appreciate you.

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Better than my alma mater. Gave a statement stating it was wrong. Then retracted it for bullshit about needing context.

And I shudder at what my wife’s private college said, or the big public across the river from my office.

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Oct 18, 2023Liked by CDR Salamander

It is very sad that the bar for defining “humanity” is so low these days. The UF response should have been the response seen on every college campus across the nation.

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He’s following the path Mitch Daniels forged at Purdue. He’s gonna be great.

President Frank also made some great comments from University of Miami, notable not least because it’s small, selective, and private.

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I give Ben an Honorary Full Bore Wednesday - Saaa-lute.

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Fine words which I wholeheartedly applaud.

Ben Sasse sat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). Too bad, he didn't say anything when 51 former intelligence officers lied through their teeth about Hunter's laptop being Russian disinformation. If he had, America, Ukraine, Israel and other nations might not be in the situations they find themselves today.

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author

DSA ... of course. If you don't have them protesting you, you are not the right person for the job.

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Thought you'd get a chuckle.

Wonder how long before the petition begins to remove him for supporting Israel.

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beyond helping his polling, what would that accomplish?

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I don't believe the board of regents would budge.

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agree. Considering that the Gov appoints 14 of 17 board members

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Board_of_Governors

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Thanks for sharing these thoughts...

My favorite: "Our Constitution protects the rights of people to make abject idiots of themselves."

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Unless of course you are a shaman aimlessly walking around the capital on 1/6/21. Then the entire apparatus of the federal government will come down upon you.

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There is a vast difference between the entire apparatus of the federal government and our Constitution. But I see your point!

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There is a vast difference between the entire apparatus of the federal government and our Constitution.

This truth is likely at the root of all our problems. If the office isn't listed in the Constitution, it shouldn't exist as a Federal office.

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"...isn't listed in the Constitution, it shouldn't exist as a Federal office."

I can't strongly disagree, but I might remain slightly ajar to one or two. Does that make sense? 99.9% of all current offices could/should be closed or reduced to mere shadows of their former selves and cause those former government employees to search for meaningful employ.

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Yes, perfect sense. I like to take the extreme position as an opening argument

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Kudos to Sasse. Unfortunately, he's a bright light in a sea of darkness. The marxist / post modern movement that has dominated the universities has now also taken over the teaching of k12 public education. By the time they get to the university level, the vast majority are fervent decolonizers and all the bad behavior that implies. It remains to be seen if this situation generates lasting change / pushback in the teaching profession. Really hard to be optimistic about that. When behavior is rewarded, you get more of it. Need about ten thousand soon to be graduates losing their job offer to get college attendees and universities tenured professors attention. Negative incentives work!

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Colleges have been quite liberal and anti American since the Vietnam war, outspoken in their admiration for the enemies of the US, and their hatred for the military and veterans.

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Just the opinion of an old man, but there are things that are true and do not need "context." Some acts are just evil.

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I have been cautiously optimistic about Sasse. There is an element in internet posters and talk radio that goes off on "career politicians." But, if you go back to the dictionary, a "politician" is simply someone who gets things done in the public sphere. Florida is a public institution. Anyone who runs a state university is a politician; even when their degree is in astrophysics. That Sasse is deft and skilled at navigating opposing viewpoints is not a detriment.

Florida took a massive hit during Covid when the administration buckled and did not permit faculty scientists to testify about facts within their field of expertise. Then, the school put an unqualified ideologue on the staff of the medical school because the executive demanded it. This political interference puts at risk the school's reputation, which has been decades in the making. I hope that Sasse has enough heft, or gravitas, that some Huey Long wanna-be in Tallahassee can't push him around.

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founding
Oct 19, 2023·edited Oct 19, 2023

Tom, as a claimed descendant of the Timucua..

(although I bet you would have a hard time definitively establishing it: https://www.wuft.org/news/2022/10/11/decolonizing-the-curriculum-2/ "Today, there are no known descendants of the Timucua tribe.")

Why are you not trying to decolonize the stolen lands of Florida?

(From the River[s] to the Sea[s]!!!)

(From I-4 to the Shores!!!!)

https://announcements.fsu.edu/article/decolonizing-knowledge-virtual-roundtable-and-meet

"The Native American and Indigenous Studies Ad Hoc Committee was formed in the spring of 2021 to explicitly address the need for increased presence, prevalence, and resources for Indigenous scholars, scholarship, and allies at research universities, with the eventual aim of establishing a formal Native American and Indigenous Studies program here at Florida State University."

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My conquistadores, overruled the Tequsta. “We took it. We’re keeping it. Go away.”

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founding

Thats nonsensical.

Back to the topic at hand:

Here are the 'Oppressed' you defend...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Uip6Jijbwd8

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Hamas is a dictatorial regime. The folks livening under their control are as helpless as the folks in Castro’s Cuba, or Putin’s Russia.

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founding

Far ...far... from being that binary Tom.

You obsessive Progressive need to be all dramatically empathetic to whomever the duty "Downtrodden People" are is clouding you seeing the reality.

Bet an honest poll in Palestine would show that a majority want to see Israel...and the Israelis wiped off the earth.

Turn up the volume and listen to how wrong your are....

https://x.com/Doranimated/status/1715845336877437216?s=20

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Nice straw man. While the fact that an incompetent right-wing government may have made the attack successful is not an excuse for sais attack.

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founding
Oct 21, 2023·edited Oct 21, 2023

Tell me again how you can live in stolen lands Tom...

Now, thats a strawman. By all accounts, planning for this attack predates the latest Netanyahu government.

Or are you one of the frothy mouthed Trump Deranged Zombies still running around and blame it all on him?

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Still holding out hope for a future Ben Sasse Presidential run.

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Be careful what you wish for. Woodrow Wilson was a college president.

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If Sasse was president of my alma mater, I'd have to think about donating again.

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Are you suggesting his position on this issue is wrong?

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Sorry, I see I wasn't clear. I haven't given any money to my alma mater in over 20 years, since the word diversity appeared in its mission statement. I meant to say I'd have to think about starting again.

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Speak the truth. He is the lighthouse illuminating the shoals.

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Am a proud dad of a University of Florida graduate, Dr. Sally Flowers. Gainesville never had that bad vibe you sometimes see in a college town. Used to like to visit my daughter there, despite the grueling drive from the far west Florida Panhandle which involved dueling with speeding behemoth kamikaze RV's with Quebec license plates driven by chain-smoking proto-hominids heading to the Land of Mickey Rat on I-75. The Steak 'n Shake on SW 13th St. was my go-to place to dine in Gainesville. Cheap & good. Was on a budget, tuition wasn't cheap. Sally was a college student for 11 years. Biggest pay raise of my life was when she finally graduated.

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"Sally was a college student for 11 years. Biggest pay raise of my life was when she finally graduated."

Ditto. Times TWO.

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The younger daughter went 4 years to a local university and then got married like her sister. I have lived happily ever after since.

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Bright futures saved me a fortune!

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Ditto, plus magnet schools, AP courses and myriad other scholarships. Rent, a vehicle and pizza were killers.

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Well, I hope to begin a residency, not to begin a career as a Adjunct professor in 'feminist dance studies'.

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I read the entry requirements to be an Army Field Artillery Officer. It included "In Good Moral Standing". Check. Can you call cadence? If so, you might just be the guy that professorship needs. Viz, them dancing to the tune of ♫ Shaka Laka BOOM BOOM but all wholesome-like for once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H27Rv7NCX0&ab_channel=GeetMP3

(My brother-in-law is a former Navy & Army Enlisted, retired Major in Artillery in the Missouri National Guard. A fine fellow.)

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