Blog

The Supreme Court is going to hear arguments in a case about racial preferences. Harvard University and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (where I once was a faculty member) are accused of discriminating against Asian-American applicants. The students lost in a lower court but their appeal is going to be heard by the Supreme Court. That the students lost was a surprise and the reasoning of the lower court was a bit bizarre. Data had shown – with no argument from the defendants – that a black applicant in the lowest quartile had a statistically better chance of admission to Harvard than an Asian applicant in the highest quartile. Clearly the Asian applicant was subject to discrimination. The court agreed but yet still ruled in case of Harvard. The Supreme Court had ruled previously in 2003 in Grutter versus Bollinger that schools could use race on a limited and temporary basis as one consideration for admission. The same is true in a ruling in 2013 permitting the University of Texas to reject white applicants in favor of blacks. In the Harvard case, the university argued that Asians consistently scored lower on “personal quality” ratings – a subjective evaluation. It is amazing that the court considered this argument as persuasive. The court concluded that the plaintiffs could not prove that the evaluation results were due to racism. It seems to me that the burden of proof should have been on the university. It is akin to rejecting a black applicant due to the biases of the evaluator. No wonder the Supreme Court is hearing the case on appeal.

Harvard is quite experienced in this area. In the early 1900s, it discriminated against Jews as the percentage of Jewish students rose significantly from 7 percent in 1900 to 27% in 1925. Adopting similar criteria as today’s Harvard, Jewish enrollment fell by half by 1935. As we fast forward, colleges who wished to diversity the racial composition of their student body found that reliance on standardized test scores for admission disadvantaged black and Hispanic applicants. The same was true for GPAs as a criterion for admission to elite public high schools. Thus, school systems in Fairfax County, Virginia, San Francisco and New York changed their admissions criteria that resulted in a diminution of Asian enrollment and an increase in black and Hispanic students. Again the courts will have to decide the appropriateness of such policies.

It is not surprising that the education establishment has come down almost 100 percent behind the continuation of race based admissions. In the briefs filed in the court, not one university supported the position of the Asian students. These schools contend that without race based preferences they would be unable to obtain their desired racial mix. Indeed, most schools contend that being racially blind would reduce their populations of blacks and Hispanics by half. But could admission actually help or harm these students? Evidence suggests that the admission of lower qualified blacks and Hispanics is harmful to those admitted. These critics point to higher dropout rates and lower GPAs than these students would have achieved at a lesser university. I am of a different view. Many of my black students during my university years were first generation college students and just wanted a chance to succeed at a more rigorous institution. Many of them excelled while many did not. One of my doctoral students was admitted with the lowest GPA and test scores in his class. After struggling the first year, he excelled and received his Ph.D. prompting one professor to admit he was wrong to base admissions solely on test scores. My suggestion harks back to a different era. When I was in high school in the late 1950s, HBCUs offered an on campus one year pre-college program to smart black students with low test scores from the all black secondary schools in the segregated south. That pre-college program was intensive instruction in math, English and the basic sciences. At the successful completion of the program, the students were admitted to the freshman class. One of those students I know went on to earn a Ph.D. In physics from Cal Tech – the genius school. So why not have the elite universities devote a small portion of their considerable endowments to replicate the one year pre-college curriculum of the HBCUs? That way there would be no need for continuing ironic discrimination against Asian-Americans in order to achieve “diversity” at their expense.

The Wall Street Journal had an article about a nurse who was fired because she refused to take a test to reveal any implicit bias. Her reasons mainly involved her insisting she was not biased in the administration of her duties. Moreover the most common administered test of implicit bias is notoriously uneven, indicating bias one time and no bias another time for the same individual. While I am sympathetic to her view, I would love to take such a test because I would be curious to find any implicit biasness. 

I know what are my explicit biases. I do not like “progressives”. I do not like those who hate the Constitution and the foundations of our republic. I don’t like those who prefer mob rule. I don’t like socialists. I do not like communists. I do not like fascists. I don’t like racists. I don’t like white supremacists. I hate the rebel flag. I don’t like Black Lives Matter. I don’t like those who hate the first amendment. I don’t like those who want to annul the second amendment. I don’t like those who hate the Founding Fathers. I don’t like Critical Race Theory. I don’t like the Green New Deal. I do not like the Squad. I don’t like those who think minorities are victims. I don’t like the cancel culture. I don’t like the “woke” military. I don’t like “spokesmen”. I don’t like those who would perform transgender surgeries on children. I don’t like discretionary monetary policy. I don’t like the politicization of the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, the Department of “Justice.” I don’t like “settled science.” I don’t like the term “misinformation” or those who use it on conflicting evidence. I don’t like those who would silence opinions on campuses, in schools, in the press, in the media or anywhere in the universe. I don’t like open borders. I don’t like inflation. I don’t like teacher’s unions. I don’t like colleges of “education.” I don’t care for those who are not intellectually curious. I don’t like the dumbing down of education at all levels. I hate it that our kids can’t read or do math or write coherent sentences. I do not like the uptick in crime. I do not like low or no bail for repeat offenders. I do not like those who just are too nice to say no to those who are saying that every white person is racist. I don’t like those attempting to change our language (re: Latinx and womxn). I don’t care for vaccine mandates or mask mandates or lockdowns or those government officials who abuse their authority. I don’t like violent movie trailers. I don’t like snobs. I don’t like climate change zealots. I don’t like ESG or woke corporations. I don’t like whiners who always feel “threaten” or are “hurtful”. I don’t care for those who want to know my pronouns. 

So I admit my explicit biases. But that does not mean that I treat people differently in my professional capacity. When I was in a leadership role in the federal government, I consciously made it a point to treat everyone fairly. As a professor I endeavored to do the same – although students may not have agreed. It was the work that mattered and not who they voted for in the past election. I have strong beliefs and those are built on my upbring and my education in economics and finance. Anyone who loves the basics of those disciplines tends to be laissez-faire and pro-markets. Given that those principles are baked into the foundation of this country (read Alexander Hamilton), one also understands the power and freedom for all built into our founding documents. I occasionally get an email saying “How can you write what you do because you are black?” My answers is always “I write what I do because I am black.” I have always said “prove me wrong.” If you do, then I will adopt your opinion.

Those are some of my explicit biases. What are my implicit biases and if I have any, then so what?

Liz Chaney

Liz Chaney has completely lost it. She is sending $500,000 in attack ads to Arizona to try to defeat Kari Lake. She also is endorsing a democrat Elissa Slotkin in a Michigan congressional race. In both races, the republicans questioned the outcome of the presidential race. So I guess that is consistent with her obsessing about Trump and her participation in the sham January 6 witch hunt ( no offense to witches). What is Chaney doing? She will likely change to being an official democrat rather than a de facto one. Perhaps she will run again for the congress but this time from her native Virginia. Although she represented Wyoming in the congress, she was born in Madison, Wisconsin and grew up in northern Virginia while her father was a representative from Wyoming. I don’t believe that she has ever lived in Wyoming for any length of time.

Cultural Appropriation

I don’t understand the term “cultural appropriation”. Sure I know what the dictionary says “adoption of certain language, behavior, clothing, or tradition belonging to a minority culture or social group by a dominant culture or group in a way that is exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical.” That means a minority cannot culturally appropriate? So its ok for a black person to appear in a play in whiteface? Or wear the tribal dress of a native American at Halloween?

Whites are being criticized for wearing dreadlocks – even though it’s a stunning lock on certain women – but blacks can speak English, wear western suits, ties, shoes without being accused of cultural appropriation. Joe Biden wants the Atlanta Braves to change their name and get rid of the tomahawk chop. I guess the same would be true for Florida State which originated the chop. Even I admit that the Braves were inappropriate early on with the Chief Knock-A-Homa and his teepee in center field. I hated that caricature and the gap tooth Indian brave that resided there. I also hated the Cleveland Indians logo – which also featured a gap tooth Indian. But I don’t want the Braves to change their name even though I am 1 percent Native American (I don’t know which of the 157 distinct tribes but its most likely Cherokee. What about music? Should white musicians be “allowed” to play jazz? Or blues? But, of course, its ok for blacks to play bluegrass or country (The Carolina Chocolate Drops).

Joe Biden

I don’t recall a more disastrous first two years of a presidency than Joe Biden’s. His administration deliberately tanked the economy in the name of climate change. The anti-fossil fuel strategy transformed the country from energy independence to importing a million barrels of oil a day. Its attack on refineries has led to a critical shortage of diesel fuel which imperils the entire economy and may be enough to plunge the country into a depression – rather than a mere recession. Afghanistan, COVID mismanagement, energy prices, inflation, supply chain woes, baby formula, low labor force participation rates, immigration, fentanyl, IRS, DOJ, FBI, woke military, woke Fed – did I leave anything out? That this administration will be in power for two more years is truly scary. Republican takeover of the House and Senate will lessen some of this lunacy but not all. Biden, like Obama before him, will test the limits of executive actions (perhaps the president has too much power). Yet 40% of voters approve of his administration and would vote for him again. What am I missing? As goes the Chinese curse: we live in interesting times.

Harold A Black

That the Left overplays its hand seems to be universal. In this country, the majority of its citizens do not approve of the Biden Administration. Pushing gender identity and Critical Race Theory in all cabinet departments, including the military, the Afghanistan fiasco, the open southern border, vaccines mandates, turning the FBI into domestic terrorists, prosecuting those who vocally disagree with the administration, disastrous energy policy, failures in foreign policy, inflation, energy prices, the surge in crime, drug deaths, supply chain fiasco, baby formula shortage, the war on parents protesting federal dictates to their schools, the incredible preponderance of executive orders and the massive increase in spending mostly payoffs to their supporters have created an economic disaster that few of us thought could occur in such a short period of time. Most pundits predict that the voters will repudiate the Democrats in the midterm elections and vote in a Republican majority in both the House and the Senate. Personally, I don’t understand how anyone could vote for a Democrat who does not repudiate Biden’s policies. Yet their silence is deafening. The Democrats are trying to run on abortion and against Donald Trump. One of my friends says that the only good thing Biden has done was to defeat Donald Trump and would vote again for Biden if Trump runs. 

In Europe, right wing parties have arisen in response to the socialists in the EU and won elections in Poland, Sweden and Italy. I found it amusing the reactions to Italy from both the left and the right in this country. Those on the left called the party with the most votes – the Brothers of Italy – a fascist organization due to its past. Yet Democrats were this country’s most vocal racists. They opposed the freeing of the slaves and rioted when the Emancipation Proclamation was announced. Democrats were the Klu Klux Klan, the Dixiecrats and Jim Crow. Yet the Democrats dismiss as fascists the Brothers of Italy when they themselves are the political descendants of racists. Those on the right have talked about the massive victory in Italy and that American politicians should take heed and speak directly to the issues. Yet the Brothers of Italy only received 26% of the vote – not exactly a ringing vote of confidence. It is only when all the votes of their coalition are totaled do they reach 44%, still not a ringing vote of confidence. However, what is notable is that Italy’s soon to be prime minister, Giorgia Meloni does not mince words. She preaches God, family and country. For that, the mainstream media smears her and her party as far right fascists. 

Here in this country, few of the leaders of the Republican party are like Meloni. Their utterances are milquetoast. Sure there are some representatives and senators who do not mince words. Yet their legislative leaders have sat on their hands while the Biden Administration is undermining the foundations of the country and literally ripping the country apart. You would think that the Republican leadership would shut down the business of the government while the border remains wide open, while Biden is throwing billions at his green energy cronies and attempting to alter the social fabric of the country. But they are not. I think that there would be a more resounding victory if Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell took their cue from Meloni and emphasized God, family and country. They have a template from Harriet Hageman who handed Liz Chaney an emphatic beatdown. Her “fed up” speech was one of the best I have ever heard (https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5026082/user-clip-harriet-hageman-fed-speech). I know McCarthy and McConnell are looking forward to becoming majority leaders but I wish for stronger leadership from the Republicans.

Harold A Black

Critical race theory (CRT) is being used in many public school systems as an excuse to deflect from their inability to teach our children how to read, how to spell and how to do math. We have a system – the Education Industrial Complex – in which only the teachers care about teaching the children and they are handicaped by having to rely on methods that are a proven failure. The textbook authors, publishers, colleges of education, teachers’ unions, accreditation boards and sadly our local school administrators and PTAs don’t care about teaching students. If they did, they would not accept the dismal reading and math proficiency scores in our schools. It is embarrassing. Instead of correcting the problem – and there are well established methods that can do so – many school systems have trotted out CRT as an excuse. CRT asserts that systemic racism in the public schools is the reason for the poor academic performance of black children. Even if that were true, then what excuse is given for the poor academic performance of white children? As a friend of mine who teaches physics in a major southern city has said “What do I tell my white students who are struggling?” 

That racism once existed in public education is undeniable. Black schools in the segregated south were woefully underfunded. In K-12 I never had a text that did not have some white school’s name in it. Local school boards were generally all white as were virtually all of the school system administrators. It could be inferred that any difference between black and white student achievement could be the result of systemic racism stemming from the inequality of facilities and equipment. However, the overt systemic racism of the past is gone. Is the racism of the past so deeply embedded in our schools that the differentials in achievement persist even though many urban school systems have significant numbers of black teachers and black administrators? 

The basic reason that most kids – regardless of race – struggle in school is highly correlated to economic status. Poor children often find themselves in classrooms where they do not speak the same language as the teachers and other students. In essence, they have to learn English as a foreign language while at the same time trying to master the schoolwork. It is a daunting task for most and many simply fail to catch up. In grades 1-3, students learn to read and thereafter, read to learn. Some years ago I approached the then Knoxville school superintendent with a proven program that catches up students who have reading deficiencies and asked to implement it in our worse performing schools. He rejected it because the accreditation board would not approve it because it contained too much reading! I kid you not. 

The Education Consumer Group (https://education-consumers.org) has produced charts showing that in certain schools, poor children perform as well or better than in schools where there are few disadvantaged students. These may be charter schools or schools that have rejected the standard teaching method employed in most public schools. 

The reading scores for American students are abysmal. Nationally less than 34% of fourth graders read at grade level. Less than half of Tennessee’s third graders read proficiently. In Boston, fewer than 25% of black children are proficient readers, yet I bet you they are proficient in CRT, gender identity and climate change. The poor reading results results cannot be explained by claiming systemic racism nor can they be corrected by teaching Critical Race Theory. I defy its proponents to show me one study that demonstrates that reading proficiency is improved in those schools where CRT is taught. That evidence does not exist. Systemic racism cannot explain racial disparities in student proficiency. Those disparities have more to do with economics than with race. Systemic racism is being used by our public school “educators” as an excuse to mask their failure to teach our children. 

Importantly, parents can take matters into their own hands and catch up their kids themselves. A proven method, Funnix, is available online. I know it works because I along with several retirees used it to teach second graders to read in an after school program at one of the lowest performing Knoxville schools. It is highly recommended (https://education-consumers.org/computer-based-instruction-produces-catch-growth/). Lastly, if any school system institutes instruction in CRT, I encourage all parents, regardless of the achievement level of their children, to organize to replace the entire school apparatus, except the teachers. Fire the entire school administration, vote out the PTAs and the Board of “Education”. They do not have the children’s interests at heart and need to be replaced.

. 

Harold A Black

George Will once referred to the Republicans as being the “dumb” party – although some have called it the “stupid” party. Either may be apropos when it seems like its leadership is trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Mitch McConnell is no friend of Donald Trump and Trump is no friend of Mitch McConnell – although Trump should be forever thankful that McConnell blocked Merrick Garland from sitting on the Supreme Court. McConnell said that the Republicans chances of taking back the House are greater than taking back the Senate. It is an obvious indictment of the Trump-endorsed MAGA candidates who won their primaries in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Ohio. McConnell’s Leadership Fund has responded by cutting off campaign funding to Blake Masters in Arizona although the incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly is vulnerable. The question is why isn’t Trump with his considerable resources and his PAC stepping into the void and helping out Masters? Mind you, Kelly voted against hiring additional border patrol personnel while his state is being flooded with illegals. That alone makes him vulnerable. Yet while the Democrats are spending over $60 million to get him re-elected, Masters is struggling for funds. It will be interesting to see how much of an impact dollars will have on this race where the incumbent seems to be more aligned with the national party than with the interests of his local constituents. 

On the other hand, the Democrats don’t seem to have any problem with supporting fringe candidates in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Fetterman in Pennsylvania seems to have no positives. Aside from always wearing a hoodie and sporting a variety of tattoos he appears to have never had a job, instead relying on the largesse of his rich parents. He actually pulled a gun on a black jogger – sounds like what happened in Georgia. He favors letting one third of Pennsylvania’s inmates loose and low bail. You would think that in today’s climate, Fetterman would be toxic. Instead the Democrats have stood behind him unflinchingly. Lastly, he suffered a severe stroke and has trouble speaking. To hide that fact, he has refused to debate and has limited campaign appearances where his speech is obviously impaired. He is perhaps taking Biden’s cure from campaigning from his basement. Biden won so why can’t Fetterman? I am clueless as to why anyone would vote for him unless voters have an intense dislike for the Republican, Dr Oz. By the way, the three contenders in the Pennsylvania Republican primary all sought Trump’s blessing. If it had gone to David McCormick instead, the Republicans would easily beat Fetterman. Instead, the polls show him leading Dr. Oz.

In Wisconsin, the Democrat is Mandala Barnes, who like Fetterman is the state’s lieutenant governor. Barnes is a climate change zealot and anticapitalist. He asserts that the free enterprise system is leading the world down a path to destruction. Someone needs to point out to him that the world’s greatest polluters are China and Russia. Unlike Fetterman who wants to reduce Pennsylvania’s prison population by a third, Barnes wants to cut it in half. He has called for defunding the police. He wants to abolish Immigration and Customs enforcement, favors government funded health care, college tuition for illegals, eliminating the Senate filibuster and packing the Supreme Court. Somehow, the polls show him leading the incumbent Republican, Ron Johnson.

I wish McConnell would put aside his personal enmity for Trump and wholeheartedly support the Republican senate candidates. He may not like Masters or OZ. He may not like Herschel Walker in Georgia. But Georgia’s Warnock and Arizona’s Kelly have been a rubber stamp for Biden’s policies and Fetterman and Barnes are just plain frightening. If McConnell and the Republicans continue down this path, they are indeed the “stupid party.”

The government wants you to buy an electric vehicle. Just like “I’m from the government and I am here to help you” if the government is encouraging an action, it is buyer beware. EVs won’t save the planet. They actually may be more damaging to the environment than gas vehicles – especially their batteries. Yet the government is offering a subsidy if you buy one, although the fine print limits the vehicles that qualify. There is an incentive to buy a used EV. Just hope you don’t have to replace the battery bank which may cost more than the vehicle. Also make sure that the used EV is still supported by the manufacturer. Recently a woman bought a used EV. Soon it needed new batteries. The batteries would have cost more than the vehicle but were no longer available. Caveat emptor.

But there are other issues that need to be considered. Have you ever been stuck in the traffic jam to end all traffic jams? I was caught between Knoxville and Asheville for four hours due to an accident on I-40. I’ve been in others as well. I left the Outer Banks in 2011 one day before it was ordered evacuated because of Hurricane Irene. News reports said that the delay coming on to the mainland was over 6 hours. I was riding my motorcycle years ago near Laramie, WY and noticed that there were gates at the entrances to the interstate. Seems that in the wintertime, they closed the interstates during snowstorms. Remember the storm in 1998 that closed I-40 near Monterey, TN for 18 hours? Traffic was backed up for 13 miles. Motorists were stranded. The state dropped food and blankets to help motorists survive. Over 100,000 residents lost power.

In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans, the city was ordered to evacuate. I told my friends there that they could come stay with me but they chose to go to Houston to stay with family. A five hour trip took them 12 hours. When Hurricane Irma threatened Florida in 2017, almost the entire state was ordered to evacuate. My niece in Oregon asked if her daughter and her boyfriend who were in Tampa could stay at my farm in Gray, Ga. I happened to be at the farm and said yes. The interstates had turned into parking lots. There were no hotels available in Georgia. My niece’s daughter arrived after nearly 24 hours. The hurricane was supposed to track to the east toward South Carolina but as luck would have it, the hurricane shifted west and the eye came over the farm. As the eye approached, I was afraid that trees would fall on the house or that the roof would be torn off. Luckily none of that happened. But I was in the basement with my dogs.

In 2020, I-95 was shut down for 24 hours in northern Virginia after a crash of big rig trucks during a snowstorm. One congressman said that the trip from Richmond to DC took him 27 hours. Cars ran out of gas. There was no food or water available as people and their pets were stuck for hours.

Every year there is a hurricane season, a tornado season and cars crash. Remember the great fog crash on I-75 near Calhoun in 1990? Can you imagine if you were in an electric vehicle? Its bad enough if you an in a gas powered car, but an EV? Currently finding a charging station – especially one that works – is a challenge especially if you are planning a trip beyond the range of the batteries. What happens if you are stuck for hours and run out of juice? You are going to have to wait for a tow because AAA might be able to bring others gas, but I don’t think you can jump start a dead EV. And what do you do, if the power grid is down as often happens in hurricanes and snowstorms? Even if you can get a tow you won’t be able to charge your vehicle until the power comes back on. Let’s hope that the grid isn’t dependent upon “renewables” or else it might be a really long wait.

With all the Teslas in west Knoxville, I only hope that these cars are second vehicles and just used for commuting. It is too risky to take them on a long trip, even if the weather forecast is benign. That the government wants you to buy an EV is enough to give you pause. Buy one if you want, but one day you will remember that I told you caveat emptor.

I never have liked Joe Biden. I wrote in my old blog (haroldblack.blogspot.com) on August 12, 2012, that Biden was a racist and had he been a Republican that he would have been forced out of the Senate. Nothing Biden has done while in office has changed my mind. Don’t get me wrong. I do not care for Donald Trump. He reeks of self-importance. He is a bully. While I liked the majority of his policies, his anti-trade actions with our allies were ill-advised. But he is better than Biden – which is a sad commentary on the state of American politics.

Biden said that “MAGA” Republicans were a threat to democracy and described Trump as “semi-fascist”. He did not cite any examples. However, if fascism is state authoritarianism, then it is Biden who is the fascist.

Biden thinks he has carte blanche to control the United States any way he wants to. This was demonstrated by the unprecedent flood of 40 executive orders within the first week of his administration and his actions afterwards.

He rejoined the Paris Climate Accords.

He started renegotiating the Iran nuclear deal.

He completely botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

He removed the constraints at the border allowing a flood of over 2 million illegals into the country.

He “forgave” $10,000 in student debt without the approval of congress and exceeded his Constitutional authority.

He shut down of the Keystone pipeline, shutoff of energy permits and is conducting a war on fossil fuels in the name of “climate change”.

He invoked the Defense Production Act to force private companies to “secure American production of critical materials to bolster our clean energy economy,” specifically the raw materials to make batteries for electric vehicles. 

Remember the proposed creation of a “Ministry of Truth” – the so-called “Governance Disinformation Board?

What about the raid on Mar-a-Lago? 

What about the arrests and raids on Trump’s lieutenants? Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, George Nader, George Papadopoulos and Rudy Giuliani have all been harassed either by the FBI or Mueller’s Russia witch hunt. Yet Trump is greatly diminished in my eyes by not using his considerable resources to help his friends fight persecution. 

If Trump were a fascist, then why didn’t he sic the FBI on Hillary Clinton’s server and email deletion and Obama’s taking of 30 million pages classified materials when he left office? 

What about the targeting of the FBI on parents opposed to teaching gender identity and CRT in the schools and labelling them as domestic terrorists?

What about use of the FBI and its role in the Russian hoax?

What about the FBI’s role in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop? 

What about doubling the size of the IRS in the mislabeled “Inflation Reduction Act”? We all know that the purpose is to further harass American taxpayers.

What the use of the FBI, the EPA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the real domestic terrorist groups?

What about invoking the Defense Production Act to increase the production of more baby formula while sending formula to the border to be used by illegals.

What about pandering to the LBGTQ community declaring monkey pox a national emergency even though there have been few cases and no deaths? Where is the national emergency?

What about the pressuring of social media giants to censor free speech?

What about Biden using an executive order to force schools to prevent “discrimination” on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation that allows boys to compete in girls’ sports and have full access to girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms?

What about using his executive powers to try to work around the Supreme Court’s overturing of Roe?

What about his chilling threat to the unvaccinated claiming that the unvaccinated are a threat to the safety of the country? “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us”. 

I am sure there are more. So Biden thinks Trump is a semi-fascist. Well there is nothing “semi” about Joe Biden. He is demonstrably a fascist.

Janet Yellen is one of the few in Biden’s cabinet that is actually qualified for her job as Treasury Secretary. She has been president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She has a PhD in economics from Yale, held a chaired professorship at Berkeley and is married to a Nobel Laureate in Economics, George Akerlof. So unlike Pete Buttigieg at Transportation, Jennifer Granholm at Energy, Marcia Fudge at HUD, Xavier Becerra at HHS and Alejandro Mayorkas at Homeland Security, Yellen should know what she is doing. However, she seems to have no pride and instead of educating the president on basic economics, she has become a political hack.

Remember when she said that the proposal that the IRS monitor bank transactions over $600 was intended to address tax fraud among the wealthy and not spy on ordinary folks? No one believed her and certainly she didn’t believe it either. Yellen knows that a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GNP growth. Yet she has stated “This is not an economy that’s in recession, but we’re in a period of transition in which growth is slowing.” A period of transition in which growth is slowing? Give me a break. We are in a recession and Yellen knows it. By trying to redefine it, she has no shame. Saying that the economy is not in recession is akin to Mayorkas saying that the border is under control. 

She has repeated Biden’s talking points about the economy and inflation, blaming Putin and Covid.  She said, “The pandemic has been calling the shots for the economy and for inflation.” Thus, inflation, in her view, is not a result of an out of control Federal Reserve and Congressional spending but is because of pent up consumer demand unleashed by the waning of the pandemic.

She testified before Congress that overturning Roe would damage the economy saying, “I believe that eliminating the rights of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades.” Yellen, citing some economic studies, implies that overturning Roe would mean that some women would be kept from completing their education and would lower the labor force participation rate. What Yellen is saying is disingenuous at best. She implies that women would not have access to abortion when the vast majority of states will still allow the procedure. She also implies that because these women will have  babies that they will have to stay home and not complete college (I guess because she is old she doesn’t know about the internet) and will not enter the labor force (I guess she never heard of working from home via the internet).

Lately, she has been pushing for a global 15 percent corporate income tax. But countries with lower taxes like Ireland and Hungary haven’t been receptive. The Biden administration is threatening to end its trading treaty with Hungary unless it caves. Countries with lower taxes are attractive to corporations chartered in other countries. Yellen is a trained economist. Yet she is denying the benefits from competition and trying to enshrine the inefficiencies of high tax countries.

Yellen stated that inflation was “transitory”. How she did this with a straight face is a mystery to me. Now she admits that she was wrong saying  “there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that have boosted energy and food prices and supply bottlenecks that have affected our economy badly that I, at the time, didn’t fully understand, but we recognize that now.” I’m sorry. She didn’t fully understand that Biden’s war on domestic energy, the Congress’ 1.2 trillion dollar “infrastructure” bill, 1.5 trillion dollar stop gap government spending bill and Ukraine were inflationary? If that were true she deserves to be fired and have Yale revoke her PhD. But in this administration, no one is fired because they are all repeating the same lies as the president. I’m not disappointed with the other cabinet members because they don’t know what they are doing. However, I am disappointed in Janet Yellen.

Black-Diallo-Miller Residence Hall

On August 4, 2022, my alma mater the University of Georgia held ceremonies naming its newest residence hall, Black-Diallo-Miller Hall honoring the first blacks to enroll as freshmen and graduate from the university. It was an emotional day. In 1962, the university was in its second year of forced desegregation, having been ordered by the courts to admit Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter in January 1961. Holmes and Hunter had their applications rejected as being not qualified when they applied their senior year out of Turner High School in Atlanta. They sued and when the court ordered them admitted, they were college seniors: Holmes at Morehouse and Hunter at Wayne State in Detroit. Given that Georgia had a two year residency requirement, we all thought that they would simply graduate from their schools the next semester. We were surprised when they decided to enroll at Georgia. That September the university did not admit any black undergraduates but admitted Mary Frances Early in a one year’s master’s program in education. She became its first black graduate. Holmes and Hunter were indeed qualified. Hunter was Phi Beta Kappa in pre-med while Hunter became a well-known PBS correspondent.

Admitting Hunter and Holmes changed my life. My brother Charles was a junior at Purdue. Since he wanted to be an engineer and no black state university offered that major, the state paid his tuition to go to leave the state. Over 600 black students at that time were also gifted tuition. I loved Purdue and was set on joining my brother there. However, desegregating the University of Georgia prompted the state legislature to stop the tuition grants. My father broke my heart when he told me that he could not afford to pay out of state tuition for both of us. “Harold, you are going to have to find another place to go.” I knew I was going to receive scholarships from black schools – I had gotten an early admission scholarship to Morehouse out of the 10^th and 11^th grades. Dad graduated from Savannah State and Mother was the first four year graduate of Fort Valley State. But I wanted to go to a school that was integrated. So I got a catalog from Georgia. Tuition was $98 a quarter. Dad said that he could afford it but “They will never accept you.”

I applied and was told that I had to come to Athens for an interview. It was with the registrar who was an unrepentant racist. He did not shake our hands. He did not ask us to sit. His first words were “Why do you want to come there because we don’t want you here.” I relied. “That’s why I want to come.” That did not sit well and soon he casually used the N-word. Dad was furious and pulled me out of my seat and we left going back to Atlanta. Dad said “That didn’t go well. What’s Plan B?” There was no Plan B. However, to our shock, two weeks later a letter arrived with a red and black banner proclaiming “Official Acceptance: The University of Georgia.” 

I was 16 when I graduated high school and turned 17 the month before I enrolled at Georgia. When we got to campus and went into the freshman men’s dormitory, Reed Hall, it was like Moses parting the Red Sea. Everyone moved out of our way as we went to the desk to check in. The house mother then took us to my room. It had one bed in it. Mother said, “Is he going to be the only colored boy here.?” “Yes” was the answer. When we went back to the car, Mother was crying and said “Get in. You are not going back in there.” I had never seen my mother cry. I looked at Dad who said, “I’ll borrow the money to send you to Purdue.” I said that my stuff was already in the room and Mother countered “We can get you new stuff – get in.” I shook my head and said that I would try it for one quarter and watched them drive away.

Dad had warned me that I wasn’t going to have any friends. He said that they would have to give up their friends to be mine. They would be harassed, called all sorts of names and would be ostracized. He was wrong. There was a dorm meeting that evening and being back of the bus days, when I walked into the auditorium and walked down the aisle until I found a seat close to the front. Everyone on that row got up and left. The three boys directly in front turned around and said, “Can we sit with you?” They did and leaving two of their friends joined us. We went back to my room and talked all night. I had never talked to a white person before going to Athens and they had never talked to a black person on a peer level. They became my close friends that year.

My windows were broken so often that a window crew came by every morning to see if I needed a replacement. Obscenities were scratched on my door. Firecrackers were put on the door slats so a solid board was installed. The room was set on fire three times. I carried a gunk extraction kit in case my keyhole was stuffed with chewing gum. I had a large bathroom all to myself. One morning, all the knobs had been removed from the face bowls. Toilet paper was crammed into the toilets. The shower heads were gone and obscenities were scrawled in soap on the mirrors. I walked down to their bathroom which was full of kids getting ready to go to class. I sat on every toilet, washed my hands in every face bowl, tried to urinate in every urinal and ran through every shower. I announced that if they messed with my bathroom again then I would use theirs. That ended that. My bath was never bothered again.

My friends in the dorm were constantly badgered and harassed. The ringleader was a big boy called “Smoke”. He projected a tough guy image with a duck-tailed haircut, leather jacket and tight jeans. He told one friend that he was going to beat him up. This had to stop so one day when I was in the cafeteria, I saw him at a table with all his friends. I went over, sat down and said “Hi Smoke.” His buddies all left causing him to plead with them to stay because he was not my friend, No avail. I told him that if he kept threatening my friends then I would be his best friend, so leave them alone. He did. I think that I shocked everyone in not being scared and not taking any grief. I often wonder if he, and others like him, ever regretted how they behaved.

The three freshmen women who were admitted had completely different experiences. Marly Blackwell (Diallo) was from Athens and lived at home. Kerry Rushin (Miller) and Alice Henderson shared a suite of rooms in a women’s dorm with Charlayne Hunter. Charlayne was a senior and resented having been invaded by two young 18 year old freshmen. She was no mother hen, leaving Kerry and Alice to fend for themselves. Alice did not come back after our freshman year. When I called her to find out why her mother answered and said “Never call back. I don’t want anything associated with the University of Georgia near my daughter.” Mary had an awful set of experiences and Kerry had buried many of her memories deep within her.

When the University decided to name its newest residence hall after us, I was shocked.  When the vice provost called me, I could not believe my ears and had her repeat it three times. What I was most proud of was that I was told that the naming was not just because we were the first but that we all had made the university proud. Mary was a professor of French at Florida A&M university with a PhD from Emory. Kerry was a math major and had a distinguished business career. 

The naming ceremony was emotional. Family and friends gathered together. We all gave brief remarks. Mine can be seen at https://news.uga.edu/harold-alonza-black/. We had come full circle. It was almost 60 years to the day that I walked into Reed Hall as a 17 year old freshman that students would walk into the new Black-Diallo-Miller Hall. We have all come a long way and I, for one, have enjoyed every day of that journey. Go Dawgs!