Trump's America

[BigRedBuster]

 

In 1998, according to sources familiar with the gift, the New York University alumnus [Charles Kushner] pledged $2.5 million to Harvard, to be paid in annual installments of $250,000. ... At the time of the pledge, Kushner’s older son, Jared, was starting the college admissions process at the Frisch School, a Jewish high school in Paramus, New Jersey. A senior in 1998-99, Jared was not in the school’s highest academic track in all courses, and his test scores were below Ivy League standards. Frisch officials were surprised when he applied to Harvard — and dismayed when he was admitted.

“There was no way anybody in the administrative office of the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard,” a former school official told me. “His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it. We thought for sure, there was no way this was going to happen. Then, lo and behold, Jared was accepted. It was a little bit disappointing because there were at the time other kids we thought should really get in on the merits, and they did not” ...

... Margot Krebs, who was director of Frisch’s college preparatory program at the time, said, “Jared was certainly not anywhere near the top of his class. He had some very strong personal qualities. He’s a very charming young man with a great deal of poise, the sort of kid you would look at him and say, ‘This is a future politician.’ It was an unusual choice for Harvard to make.”

A source close to the family told me that New Jersey senator Frank Lautenberg, to whom Kushner and his family gave nearly $100,000 from 1992 to 2002, turned to Massachusetts senator Edward Kennedy to boost Jared’s Harvard prospects. Senator Kennedy, a Harvard alumnus whose family has been associated with the university for three generations, is said to have contacted admissions dean William Fitzsimmons, who then spoke with Kushner.

[BigRedBuster]

[zoogs]

We always had a clear answer!

[zoogs]

Nebraska: no buyer's remorse http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/politics/nebraska-voters-donald-trump/index.html?sr=twCNN080217nebraska-voters-donald-trump0147PMVODtopLink

 

Miles of cornfields dominate the landscape on the roads into David City, which are lined with religious and anti-abortion rights billboards. (...) One storefront window features a handwritten list of 22 reasons to vote for Donald Trump: "1. Barak [sic] Hussein Obama does not support Donald Trump."

 

"He hasn't had the accomplishments because he hasn't had the cooperation of the majority in Congress, and they need to get on board with him," said John Svec, who teaches high school government, standing on the side of the town's pool, which he manages during the summer.

Wow. Fascinating. We, as a country, need to help out places like this. They're part of America, too. To the bolded (emphasis mine), :'(

[jsneb83]

Nebraska: no buyer's remorse http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/politics/nebraska-voters-donald-trump/index.html?sr=twCNN080217nebraska-voters-donald-trump0147PMVODtopLink

 

 

Miles of cornfields dominate the landscape on the roads into David City, which are lined with religious and anti-abortion rights billboards. (...) One storefront window features a handwritten list of 22 reasons to vote for Donald Trump: "1. Barak [sic] Hussein Obama does not support Donald Trump."

 

"He hasn't had the accomplishments because he hasn't had the cooperation of the majority in Congress, and they need to get on board with him," said John Svec, who teaches high school government, standing on the side of the town's pool, which he manages during the summer.

Wow. Fascinating. We, as a country, need to help out places like this. They're part of America, too. To the bolded (emphasis mine), :'(

You can lead a horse to water...

[knapplc]

I can just about throw a rock off my back porch and hit Butler County. That absolutely lines up with the kind of thinking I hear from folks around there... and Seward County, & Saunders & Dodge & Gage & Saline & Colfax...

 

They absolutely think Trump is the answer. And any evidence to the contrary is ignored or talked over. The anger is probably the most disheartening thing. If you try to talk truth to them, they just get mad.

[Landlord]

I can just about throw a rock off my back porch and hit Butler County. That absolutely lines up with the kind of thinking I hear from folks around there... and Seward County, & Saunders & Dodge & Gage & Saline & Colfax...

 

They absolutely think Trump is the answer. And any evidence to the contrary is ignored or talked over. The anger is probably the most disheartening thing. If you try to talk truth to them, they just get mad.

 

 

Yep. I went to middle/high school in Butler County, and grew up with racial epitaphs and jokes being as normal as you could imagine. What else do you expect when 99.9% of the people all look the same, make the same amount of money, and don't get any outside info from various cultures?

 

 

Zoogs thinks we need to help people like that out. Being someone who was one of those people, I'm tempted to say that we should just ignore them entirely on issues like this. They're mostly harmless, sticking to their isolated bubbles of interaction, and most are beyond the point where anyone or anything other than their own heart will help them not get out of their own way.

[NM11046]

But he TEACHES. Fine to let him hang out in the wind but the kids he influences - thats hard to repair. They are who we need to help.

 

(At least class size ia small in DC right?)

 

Edit: and btw I grew up in one of Knapp's forementioned counties. I have blocked about 80% of my high school and college friends because of their attitudes. No time for it.

[knapplc]

I grew up in Dodge County and racism was so prevalent when I was a kid - even in my own household - that I didn't even know what I was hearing & seeing every day was wrong.

 

It wasn't until I became went to college that I realized how bad it was.

[BigRedBuster]

I grew up in Dodge County and racism was so prevalent when I was a kid - even in my own household - that I didn't even know what I was hearing & seeing every day was wrong.

 

It wasn't until I became went to college that I realized how bad it was.

See.....Universities have damaged America.

[ColoradoHusk]

I have mixed feelings for those in rural areas, especially in Nebraska. They have seen their communities dwindle and their opinions become less relevant over the past few decades. They are generally good and hard-working people, but most of them just don't know any different. As their voices became less and less relevant over the past few decades, they became convinced that Trump was the answer for them. I give Trump credit for going after this percentage of the population, and Hillary blew it when she assumed that middle America couldn't make a difference. It is concerning when they are too stubborn to think that voting for Trump was a mistake, but that typically fits the stereotype of the rural American.

[Landlord]

Rural voices have only at all become less relevant because they were over-represented in the first place.

 

 

I had teachers like the aforementioned David City guy. I, like knapp, was so exposed to this mindless tribalism sprinkled with racism that I didn't even know what it was. But as soon as I started meeting black/muslim/gay/trans/poor/southern/non-american people those interactions started chipping away at my ideas.

 

That's something that only happens internally, imo. There's no eloquent speech or facts that will make David City Joe understand how he's racist. I view people like that the way I view my 94 year old grandma - she's got some extremely antiquated and disappointing viewpoints, but they don't really matter in the world so I'm fine to let her continue on in them.

[knapplc]

Apparently Trump's taking a vacation in Bedminster, NJ for three weeks?

 

[BigRedBuster]

[Kiyoat Husker]

Apparently Trump's taking a vacation in Bedminster, NJ for three weeks?

 

 

Here's a local news story on it, from a week ago:

 

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NJ-Town-Braces-for-President-Trumps-Weeks-Long-Vacation--435928753.html

 

(not sure how to embed the video)

 

President Trump has announced plans to spend 18 days vacationing at his “summer White House” in Bedminster, New Jersey, in August, and while some residents look forward to the commander in chief’s stay, others see days of protests and added inconveniences, including a miles-wide flight restriction on the area.