10-1: The Insufferable Hubris of the Well-Credentialed PLUS Drudge ♥️ Trump no longer AND Newsom nixes high school Ethnic Studies requirement PLUS prof fired for mentioning others' use of N-word

✅Professor Fired for Using N-Word in Class

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Central Michigan University fired Tim Boudreau, a tenured professor and chair of the journalism department, for creating a hostile environment by using the N-word in class, MLive reported. 

     Boudreau “created a hostile learning environment through his reckless use of the n-word (and other racial and homophobic slurs) in his instruction,” said a report investigating the professor. “There was no defensible reason for [Boudreau’s] choice to use uncensored racial slurs. CMU will not permit such hostility to go unchecked and, as such, the employer finds separation of employment to be the appropriate sanction.” 

     An alumna filed a complaint. She said Boudreau used the N-word in describing the firing of a former basketball coach -- for using the N-word....

[Again, Boudreau didn't "use" the N-word; rather, he "mentioned" it, which is something entirely different and is entirely defensible. Political correctness—or something very like it—run amok. Example: "'Cunt' is a highly toxic word." That remark is not using the C-word, it's mentioning it; it is saying, essentially, that it is a word most of us should avoid using. That's what Boudreau did with the N-word, apparently, quoting a coach who controversially used that word in class many years ago. (Boudreau's course was about the 1st Amendment and its meaning. He was raising the question of whether the coach's remark was protected speech.) This kind of "use" (i.e., mentioning) is in no sense objectionable, at least among mature and intelligent adults. What is objectionable is that Boudreau was fired over such perfectly reasonable commentary. Outrageous! —RB See here.]

✅The Insufferable Hubris of the Well-Credentialed 

A four-year university degree has become necessary for dignified work. Michael Sandel says that’s a huge mistake. 

—CHE 

     ...Sandel: Meritocracy is an attractive, even inspiring ideal, but it has a dark side: It generates hubris among the winners and humiliation among the losers. I suppose you could say this is a reading of the moral psychology of our political moment. 

     The meritocratic hubris of elites is the conviction by those who land on top that their success is their own doing, that they have risen through a fair competition, that they therefore deserve the material benefits that the market showers upon their talents. Meritocratic hubris is the tendency of the successful to inhale too deeply of their success, to forget the luck and good fortune that helped them on their way. It goes along with the tendency to look down on those less fortunate, and less credentialed, than themselves. That gives rise to the sense of humiliation and resentment of those who are left out…. 

✅‘Mighty whiteboard of truth’: The weapon Rep. Katie Porter used to school a pharma exec — and plenty others 

—WashPo

✅Asian Americans still being targeted in Covid-related hate incidents 

—OC Reg 

✅How Trump Voters View His Position on Pre-existing Conditions 

He has pursued policies to weaken insurance protections, but that’s not reflected in polling of Republicans. 

—NYT 

     ...“I think people should be able to have insurance even if they have pre-existing conditions,” said Ms. Locke, 59, who works in Jacksonville, Fla., as a children’s museum director. She recalls jumping from one plan to another before Obamacare, when her husband’s heart condition threatened to cut them off from coverage. She plans to cast her vote for President Trump in November, and expects he’ll do a good job on the issue, despite a policy record that is at odds with that premise…. 

✅Drudge Report, a Trump Ally in 2016, Stops Boosting Him for 2020 

A rift between the president and the online news pioneer Matt Drudge is playing out in pithy headlines and needling tweets as the campaign heats up. 

—NYT 

✅California moves toward policing changes, but activists hoped for far more -- California will ban certain police choke holds and establish independent investigations for some law enforcement shootings under legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday — the remnants of what activists once hoped would be a far more ambitious overhaul of policing practices. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Hannah Wiley in the Sacramento Bee$ Nico Savidge in the San Jose Mercury$ Don Thompson Associated Press Alexander Nieves Politico-- 10/1/20 

✅Ethnic studies requirement for California high school graduation is vetoed by Newsom -- Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have required all high school students in California to take an ethnic studies course to graduate — a move he said was driven by concerns that the draft curriculum was biased. Dustin Gardiner in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/1/20 

Tom Fuentes & St. Ronald

✅Trump call for poll watchers evokes chilling memories of Orange County, 1988 -- When debate moderator Chris Wallace asked President Donald Trump last night whether he would urge his supporters “not to engage in any civil unrest” while ballots are being counted and to “not declare victory until the election has been independently certified,” the president responded with a very different appeal to his base. Ben Christopher CalMatters -- 10/1/20 

✅Mental health ‘tsunami’ looms: Can California prevent a surge in suicides? -- Humboldt County, tucked into the redwoods on the state’s far North Coast, also has a much higher suicide rate than most of California. The pandemic has fueled new concerns. Jocelyn Wiener CalMatters -- 10/1/20 

✅Police in L.A. and across California disproportionately cite Black people for minor infractions, study finds -- Police in Los Angeles and other major cities across California issue citations to Black residents for minor infractions such as loitering, drinking in public and sleeping on the street at far higher rates than white residents, according to a new study by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/1/20 

✅Belligerent Trump debate performance stokes fears among Republicans about November -- The aftermath of the first presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden triggered a reckoning among Republicans on Wednesday about the incumbent’s incendiary remarks on white supremacy and his baseless claims of electoral fraud, with GOP officials privately expressing alarm about the fallout with key voters as the president’s allies argued that he electrified his core supporters. Robert Costa and Matt Viser in the Washington Post$ -- 10/1/20 

✅Coronavirus economy: California is years away from jobs recovery, report says -- The California job market, which was at an all-time best level only last February, appears to be years away from a return to the lofty heights it enjoyed before the coronavirus unleashed wide-ranging economic woes, an unsettling forecast released Wednesday shows. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ Margot Roosevelt in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/30/20