9-5: Covid deaths more than doubling by year's end? Twindemic disaster afoot? The heat!

✅President’s alleged ‘losers’ description of slain service members leaves military leaders off balance
—WashPo
     Senior and former military leaders appeared to struggle with how to respond to a report that President Trump disparaged U.S. service members killed in combat.

 

✅A bad flu season colliding with pandemic could be overwhelming

—WashPo

 

✅FBI pondered whether Trump was ‘a Manchurian candidate elected,’ former agent alleges in new book

     Peter Strzok’s book, “Compromised,” describes the FBI’s investigation into Trump and his ties with Russia.

—WashPo

 

✅Professor’s death after collapsing in virtual class is a ‘sad reminder that the virus is real,’ friend says

—WashPo

 

✅Experts warn U.S. covid-19 deaths could more than double by year’s end

     The new projection reinforces warnings that cooler, less humid weather and people’s failure to practice social distancing indoors could lead to a surge in viral transmission this fall and winter.

—WashPo

 

✅GWU plans to replace Jessica Krug, the professor who admitted to falsely claiming Black identity

The school wants to continue Krug’s classes on African and Latin American history without her.

—WashPo

     “There is no ignorance, no innocence, nothing to claim, nothing to defend,” Krug wrote in the blog post. “I have moved wrong in every way for years.”

 

✅Trump contradicts health officials, says 'probably' a Covid-19 vaccine in October

—Politico

     The president's remarks came a day after the head of the government's vaccine accelerator, Moncef Slaoui, said that the government was "very unlikely" to greenlight a vaccine by early November, because data from late-stage clinical trials of leading vaccine candidates would not be ready by then.

 

✅Sanders: America must be prepared for when Trump refuses to leave office

—Politico

     ....“[A]t a time when some states like Pennsylvania are finding that they don’t have the resources right now to count votes, their mail-in ballots, in a rapid way, that it is possible that in some states Trump will be winning on election night, and yet when all of the votes are counted, he will be behind. He will lose,” Sanders said of Trump. “But that during that interval, he will create chaos and confusion by claiming that there is massive fraud within the mail-in ballot process.”....

From Rough&Tumble:

✅Coronavirus updates: 19% of Californians know someone who died of COVID-19, poll says -- But according to a recent poll released by the California Health Care Foundation and survey firm Ipsis, 19% of Californians — nearly one-in-five — personally knew someone who died of COVID-19. For Black and Latino populations, who have died at disproportionate rates from the respiratory disease, those figures jump to 28% and 29%, respectively. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/5/20

✅White House directs federal agencies to cancel race-related training sessions it calls ‘un-American propaganda’ -- Vought says OMB will instruct federal agencies to come up with a list of all contracts related to training sessions involving “white privilege” or “critical race theory,” and do everything possible within the law to cancel those contracts, the memo states. Josh Dawsey and Jeff Stein in the Washington Post$ -- 9/5/20

✅Trump Faces Uproar Over Reported Remarks Disparaging Fallen Soldiers -- A report in The Atlantic said the president called troops killed in combat “losers” and “suckers.” He strenuously denied it, but some close to him said it was in keeping with other private comments he has made disparaging soldiers. Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times$ -- 9/5/20

✅State of emergency declared as California faces historic heat, possible power outages -- With scorching temperatures set to sear California through Labor Day weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation aimed at shoring up the state’s energy capacity.... Luke Money in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/20

 

✅Labor Day weekend sparks fears of new coronavirus outbreaks in California -- The next big test of whether Californians can slow the spread of the coronavirus will come this holiday weekend, with officials hoping the public will refrain from the large gatherings and risky behavior that contributed to a spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths after a disastrous Memorial Day weekend. Colleen Shalby in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/20

✅UC Davis distributes free school pride face masks to students and staff -- UC Davis will distribute thousands of branded face coverings this fall as part of an effort to boost compliance with public health guidelines. Although Davis will be emptier than usual this year given that most activities have shifted online, students and employees who are on campus will be asked to follow pandemic rules — and encouraged to do so while showing school spirit. Jasmine Kerber in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/4/20

✅Today's OC Covid count: 251 new cases; 9 new deaths.

Saddleback College's GAUCHO still causes OUCHO followed by GROUCHO

I have been informed that Saddleback College is inviting community members to attend an online discussion of the college’s mascot, the Gaucho, September 22, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.—a Tuesday, I think. (Click HERE if you wish to attend.)

The person who contacted me—a venerated faculty member at Saddleback—also explained that

     This is one of four discussions the college is hosting to determine if the mascot should be discontinued and replaced with another mascot.  In addition to giving our community a forum to share their thoughts, we will also be hosting discussions for employees and students.  

     The discussion will be moderated so that guests will be given an allotted amount of time to speak.  Whether this is a topic you’ve been following closely or are just learning about, we encourage you to attend!  Our goal is to have a respectful discussion where diverse views can be expressed and heard. 

I do believe that the mascot was originally chosen by the first district board of trustees. As I explained previously,

   According to the district website, “Saddleback College was officially named by action of the board on February 26, 1968. In June of that year, the board approved the Gaucho as mascot and school colors as cardinal and gold.”
     But since (according to the website) the first students didn’t arrive until September, it follows (more or less) that students didn’t choose the “Gaucho.” (The Protean Name)

TWO ISSUES

 

Perhaps this is already clear, but I should mention that there are really two issues here. First, should the gaucho—that iconic cowboy of the South American pampas (in Argentina, Chile, and Peru, I’m told)—be the college mascot? Second, should the college continue to use images of the “gaucho” that portray him in ways reminiscent of iconic (and unfortunate) representations of Mexican bandits (who, naturally, are not called “gauchos”; neither are Mexican cowboys, who are called “vaqueros”).

The latter question raises issues of prejudicial misrepresentation of groups and racism. The former does not, or not obviously so. Given the images that have been used (from the beginning? certainly for a long time) to represent the “Gaucho” at Saddleback College, many Saddlebackians seem to think that a gaucho is a Mexican cowboy or bandit. That’s just clueless.

 

My guess is that Saddleback’s using the gaucho as its mascot inspires well-informed outsiders to think: “what on Earth do these distant South American cowboys have to do with Southern California? Maybe Saddleback folks are thinking of Mexican cowboys, but those guys aren’t gauchos, they’re vaqueros!”

 

So my vote would definitely be against continuing with the gaucho mascot. But I'm not a Saddlebackian.

 

The second issue is more important, but it's simpler. Wanna be racist? No? OK, don't appeal to ugly racist stereotypes. According to recent reports, this last issue has already been addressed, to some extent:

Saddleback removes racist mascot images around campus

Lariat

12/08/2019

     “We will continue to remove and/or paint over historical depictions that dishonor the Gaucho until the last one is gone,” says Jennie McCue director of marketing and communications at Saddleback, in a written statement to the Lariat. “The college’s gaucho mascot workgroup is currently overseeing a college-wide process to establish a new visual interpretation of the mascot that honors it and the culture from which it comes.”

. . .

     Bravo, who informed the President, is a part of the IDSC, is working on a resolution to stop usage of the image and to implement another standing on the term Gaucho. Efforts of Saddleback removing the images started two years ago, for the gym, Student Services Center, and other campus locations had the depictions removed. “We will continue to remove and/or paint over historical depictions that dishonor the Gaucho until the last one is gone,” says McCue.

     As for the Saddleback students voted on Jan. 25, as the new President of Saddleback College, Stern sent an email releasing the results of the student and faculty poll concerning the redesign of Saddleback’s mascot, the Gaucho.

     The results out of 6,693 faculty, staff, students, and alumni, a relatively high response rate for a school poll. 66.5 percent of students and alumni voted to keep the Gaucho, and 64.4 percent of faculty and staff voted to do the same. And it was Carmenmara Hernandez Bravo back in 2014, who was head of the foreign language department, and the Equity and Diversity Committee at Saddleback College raised concerns over the decision to keep the name....

 

Here’s some of our coverage of this issue, going back to at least early 2006:

 

Gauchos confront the "Gaucho" issue and come up with shite

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Finally, Council voted unanimously to recommend immediate formation of a working group representing stakeholders across campus, including students, to plan and oversee development of a new symbolic logo for the Gaucho (one that honors the Gaucho and the culture from which it comes) and the re-design of our “G.”  [From an early 2019 letter to the SC community from Saddleback College President Elliot Stern]

Gauchos? Vaqueros?

Thursday, April 28, 2011

     It seems likely that it was the district’s original board of trustees who were responsible for (as I argue) mistakenly embracing the “Gaucho”—imagined as a Mexican bandito/cowboy, not a South American cowboy—as the college mascot. As we’ve reported previously, that original crew was, well, seriously conservative. (Ahem.) One easily imagines that these antediluvian Orange Countians chose the “Gaucho,” thinking that the term named Mexican cowboys or something.
     Nope, nope, nope.

Saddleback College Gauchos moving to South America?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

…[S]omething good is being attempted by students by Saddleback College's Diversity Student Council (DSC). They are trying to have the school modify its Gauchos mascot, which currently looks more like a Mexican greaser than a cowboy of the pampas. [Quote of Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly; Arellano noted that DtB had raised this issue years earlier.]

Gustavo Arellano v. Saddleback's "Gaucho"

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

…Look, Saddleback: if you're going to use Latino stereotypes, at least use the right ones. Compare your gaucho to the one below used by the University of California, Santa Barbara. Notice the flat hat, the eye mask to add a bit of Zorro flair even though the Gay Blade wasn't Argie. Admit that whoever illustrated your "gaucho" instead relied on the Mexican bandito archetype because it's easier to remember than trying to explain the differences among Latin American rancheros. I'd tell ustedes to change it, but isn't it telling that only in Orange County do people not care when a college makes an ethnic mistake as laughable as Saddleback's?.... [--Arellano]

Gaucho & Laser ridiculosity

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Recently, a student friend of mine encountered a Latino instructor who expressed annoyance that the Lariat has evidently decided to use an angry Mexican bandit to represent the "Gaucho," Saddleback College's mascot.

The problem: Gauchos are not angry bandits, they are dignified cowboys. Further, Gauchos are not known for wearing Mexican sombreros (not that there's anything wrong with Mexican sombreros!). Gauchos are Argentinian cowboys that have an identity--and a hat--all their own. 

Plus there's a good reason that Frito Lay abandoned its "Frito Bandito" character--a character so like the angry Sombrero-wearing bandit. It's an offensive stereotype....

The Lariat "gaucho"

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

About a week ago, Rebel Girl seemed particularly peevish, and so I asked her what was up, and she showed me the Sports page of the latest Lariat...  

According to Rebel Girl, the Lariat's "Gaucho" bears an unfortunately close resemblance to the "Frito Bandito," a character used to sell Fritos corn chips in the 60s--until Frito Lay was pressured to drop the bandit, owing to complaints that he presented a negative stereotype (the sneaky thief).

Oddly, Rebel Girl remembered the Frito Bandito song, which she proceeded to sing….

 

The Frito Bandito was sly and sneaky, but the Lariat's Gaucho appears to be more angry and cross-eyed. Still, the two characters are cousins.

Like the Frito Bandito, the Lariat's "Gaucho" appears to be Mexican, for he is wearing a sombrero. Mexican cowboys ("vaqueros") wear sombreros, I guess. But the Gaucho is not Mexican, but Argentinean, and he doesn't wear no stinkin' sombrero. (Students, Argentina is on a different continent, the one to the south.)

. . .

I showed the Lariat Gaucho to knowledgeable Latino colleagues, who assured me that that "Gaucho" causes OUCHO followed by GROUCHO.

The angry bandito of the Sierra Madre

9-4: So Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’? 24 new Covid deaths in OC

✅Orange County Democratic Party Vice Chair Resigns Amid Uproar Over Ho Chi Minh Post
—Voice of OC
     A top official with Orange County’s Democratic Party resigned Wednesday in the face of uproar among local politicians and community members in Little Saigon over a Facebook post he shared three days ago praising Vietnamese Communist figure Ho Chi Minh.
. . .
     His resignation came three days after he shared a Facebook post praising the late Communist leader as someone who “liberated an entire poor, colonized nation from 2 of the most powerful military forces in the world” — which he deleted 90 minutes later….

✅OC Reopening Plans Lack Engagement of Regional Worker Groups or Enforcement of School Reopening Rules

—Voice of OC

     County of Orange officials on Thursday noted they haven’t discussed reopening plans with the region’s labor groups on the eve of more business reopenings, and are largely distancing themselves from enforcement responsibilities when it comes to schools’ compliance with state reopening guidelines.

     Gloria Alvarado, executive director of the OC Labor Federation, said she and other labor representatives have not been speaking with any county officials about reopening plans.

“Is there a plan and if so, where is it? And is it being communicated to the community so the community is following it? Those are questions to remain before we reopen,” Alvarado said in a Thursday phone interview. 

“What are we doing to put together a committee on reopening? Why are we not at the table? We in labor say, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” she said….

✅Orange County school districts will have local power to manage any COVID-19 outbreaks
—OC Reg
County CEO Kim said school districts will be able to decide if they need to close due to a COVID-19 outbreak on their campuses. They will also be the ones deciding when to start in-person instruction.

✅PolitiFact California: Despite Trump’s Suggestion, Voting Twice In An Election Is Illegal Under California And Federal Law -- President Donald Trump during a campaign stop in North Carolina on Wednesday encouraged people to vote both by mail and in person this fall, before walking back some of his comments a day later. Voting twice in the same election is illegal under California and federal law. Chris Nichols Capital Public Radio -- 9/3/20

✅Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ -- When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true. Jeffrey Goldberg The Atlantic -- 9/4/20

 

✅Trump furiously denies report he disparaged military service, insulted dead and disabled troops -- President Donald Trump on Thursday vehemently disputed a report that alleged he criticized U.S. service members on multiple occasions, including asking that disabled veterans be excluded from military parades and referring to American war dead as “losers.” Evan Semones Politico -- 9/4/20

 

✅Veterans scorn Trump following bombshell report that president and aides have denied

—WashPo

 

✅Next up: Californians brace for the ‘twindemic’ -- For months, health experts have warned about a possible spike in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations for the fall and winter months, when colder weather will drive people indoors and holidays will likely bring friends and extended families together. That, on top of the impending flu season, could create what Gov. Gavin Newsom and others have referred to as a “twindemic.” Ana B. Ibarra CalMatters -- 9/3/20

 

✅White Lies
Prominent scholar outs herself as white just as she faced exposure for presenting herself as Black.
—Insider Higher Ed
     Following a marathon of deceit, Jessica Krug, associate professor of history at George Washington University, admitted Thursday that she is white and not Black, as she had long claimed.
     In an essay on Medium called “The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies,” Krug said that to “an escalating degree over my adult life, I have eschewed my lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then U.S. rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness.”
. . .
     Scholars and acquaintances of Krug’s said on social media that she was about to be outed and guessed that the truth would never have come out otherwise….

 

✅COVID-19 Roundup: More Cases and Controversy

     More colleges and universities report hundreds of positive cases; report about myocarditis in college athletes as some big-time football programs withhold COVID-19 numbers.

—Inside Higher Ed

 

✅Fauci Urges Colleges Not to Send Students Home

—Inside Higher Ed

     …"It's the worst thing you could do," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday on NBC's Today show. "When you send them home, particularly when you're dealing with a university where people come from multiple different locations, you could be seeding the different places with infection."….

 

✅Experts warn U.S. covid-19 deaths could more than double by year’s end

     This new estimate reinforces warnings by many experts that cooler, less humid weather and increased time spent indoors, could lead to a surge in viral transmission this fall and winter.

—WashPo

 

✅The QAnon problem facing local journalism this election season

     As supporters of the bogus conspiracy theory run for office, reporters grapple with how to cover them.

—WashPo

✅Today's County Covid numbers: 313 new cases; 24 new deaths.

9-3: Vote early and vote often! PLUS OC Supes suck

✅Santana: Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 1,000 as OC Supervisors Keep Politicizing Public Health
—Voice of OC

By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.

     More than 1,000 Orange County residents are now dead from the Coronavirus.

     Yet County of Orange officials continue to double down on politicizing the public health department.

     After fumbling the public messaging for the Memorial Day reopening along with lax restaurant enforcement since June, the County of Orange this past month quietly lowered medical standards to install a new County Health Officer [Dr. Clayton Chau] and also tasked him with running the county’s billion dollar Health Care Agency.

     Those are two pretty big jobs to combine.

     Not to mention that leaves Orange County with the least qualified medical doctor protecting residents in any of our neighboring Southern California counties.

     Instead, OC’s new county health officer is celebrated for his ability to deal with regulators, politicians and business interests.

. . .

     County officials never publicly released any information about the other candidates for the position nor about Chau’s compensation or contracts for both jobs.

     When I attempted to ask questions about Chau’s appointment at last week’s press conference, I was cut off by the County’s Public Information Officer.

     Note that for a county of three million people, county supervisors only allow about 20 minutes of questions to officials each week. That’s after reporters are forced to sit through Chairwoman [Michelle] Steel’s latest 15-minute campaign speech for Congress.

     There’s still lots of confusion about how the virus numbers are being reported and a new state tiering system that indicates Orange County is moving to reopen large gatherings – like schools – again.

     Out in front is Chau – echoing supervisors’ sentiments – seemingly moving in an aggressive manner to reopen venues, even having to walk aback a tweet this past weekend about reopening schools as early as Sept. 8.

     Note that public health isn’t the only accountability mechanism county supervisors have short circuited in recent years.

     Years back, supervisors created an innovate position called the performance audit division, which went out and conducted management audits throughout the county. After the office showed multiple instances of fraud, waste and abuse throughout the government, county supervisors forced out the chief auditor and then kept the position vacant for years.

     Similarly, they created the Office of Independent Review after the 2006 jail beating death of John Derek Chamberlain and again after years of dysfunction left it vacant until recently filling the position.

     Former Auditor Controller Eric Woolery fought supervisors on numerous fronts – including their questionable use of official county mail for campaigning, pension benefits and spending. Supervisors eventually took out most of his staff, leaving him with no ability to check them.

     Woolery felt the pressure. He died last August, reportedly of heart issues.

     Orange County supervisors don’t like to be told no.

     Yet that’s a dangerous way to run public health.

 

✅In Scathing Report, OC Grand Jury Describes Shackles During Birthing, Care Delays in Custody

—Voice of OC

     The Orange County Grand Jury is raising alarms about deaths of unborn children to pregnant inmates in county jail, including medical records allegedly showing a cooperative prisoner was improperly shackled while giving birth to a stillborn baby in a hospital.

     In another case, the grand jury described an inmate giving birth to a dead baby on the way to the hospital after her mother pleaded, with no success, for two weeks for urgent medical attention and then faced over an hour and a half delay in being taken to the hospital by ambulance.

     Grand jurors investigated ten of the infant deaths at OC Women’s Central Jail, including subpoenaing medical records and interviewing officials and inmates, before issuing a scathing report in late June.

     When the document came to the Orange County Board of Supervisors for a response last week, the supervisors said nothing about it, while Sheriff Don Barnes described the report as riddled with errors.

     “Care ranged from adequate prenatal care to handcuffing of an inmate during labor and delivery, to ignoring urgent requests for medical care. The grand jury also learned that some of these pregnancies ended in the death of the fetus,” grand jurors wrote in their report. An inmate giving birth was kept shackled by a sheriff’s deputy at a hospital despite doctors asking that they be removed because she was cooperative and immobilized by an epidural, grand jurors found. State law bans shackles during labor unless necessary for safety, and says the restraints must be removed if doctors determine that’s medically necessary, grand jurors wrote.

. . .

     County supervisors said nothing when the report came to them last week for a response. After hearing from public commenters critical of how pregnant inmates were allegedly treated, the supervisors voted unanimously without discussion to approve their written response disputing many of the grand jury’s findings….

 

✅Stall tactics. Distractions. Lobbying. How police reform was derailed in California -- By the time the sun set at the Capitol on Monday evening, hours from a legal deadline to pass bills for the year, state Sen. Steven Bradford knew his proposal to strip badges from troubled officers was in trouble. Anita Chabria in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/2/20

 

✅California’s coronavirus stimulus was a bust…what now? -- So much for California saving itself from the economic wreckage of the coronavirus. As state lawmakers ended the year with a profanity-laced, partially remote late-night voting session this week, several pillars of a sweeping $100 billion economic stimulus proposal became political casualties of a chaotic summer at the Capitol. Lauren Hepler CalMatters -- 9/2/20

 

✅California Poised to Increase Oversight of Former For-Profits

—Inside Higher Ed

     A bill aiming to prevent for-profit colleges from evading oversight by posing as nonprofit colleges was passed by the California State Assembly this week. If approved by Governor Gavin Newsom by Sept. 30, the changes will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2022….

 

✅ Trump tries to clarify comment that voters cast ballots twice

—WashPo

     The president encouraged people to vote twice — once by mail and once in person — to test the protections intended to guard against double voting. Intentionally voting twice is illegal, and in many states, including North Carolina, it is a felony.

 

✅She was the aggressor’: Former Liberty student alleges sexual encounter with Becki Falwell

—Politico

     A former student at the evangelical university opens up about a 2008 incident with the wife of the school’s president.

9-2: so much for sweeping police reforms! PLUS the "Ho Chi Minh as liberator" brouhaha. And OC Covid deaths cross the 1,000 mark

✅OC Democratic Leader’s Praise for Ho Chi Minh Sends Little Saigon Into Uproar
—Voice of OC
     An Orange County Democratic Party leader’s sharing of a Facebook post praising Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh has sent Little Saigon into uproar and drawn staunch objections from local politicians both on the left and right....
     It’s only the latest incident where public statements revolving around the Vietnam War and ideas about communism have sent this area of Orange County ... into a political frenzy.
     The resharing of a Facebook post by Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) vice chair Jeff LeTourneau — praising the dead communist leader as someone who “liberated an entire poor, colonized nation from 2 of the most powerful military forces in the world” — was deleted off Facebook 90 minutes after he reposted it Monday.
     But by then, his post had already been screenshotted and shared on social media, with local Republicans and Democrats reacting.
     “Many Vietnamese Americans have direct relatives who gave their lives fighting for freedom and democracy against Ho Chi Minh,” said Republican state Assembly candidate Janet Nguyen in a Monday Facebook post.
     Nguyen, who wasn’t available to speak with Voice of OC, in the same post then challenged her Democratic opponent for the 72nd State Assembly District seat, Deidre Nguyen, “to reject the Orange County Democratic Party’s endorsement and money if this is what they stand for.”
     Indeed, Deidre Nguyen was among a group of local Democrats like Congressman Harley Rouda and county Democratic Party Chair Ada Briceño who appeared at Westminster’s Freedom Park, a Vietnam War memorial, to denounce LeTourneau’s remarks in a Tuesday news conference.
. . .
     “Let me be very clear … We condemn any communist propaganda and any communist sympathizers .. as Democrats, we fight for every human right, for democracy in Vietnam,” Deidre Nguyen said.
     Ho Chi Minh, who died around six years before the Fall of Saigon in 1975 that marked victory for his north Vietnamese party in the Vietnam War, has come to symbolize despotism for the thousands of south Vietnamese who fled the country fearing reprisal after the war. Saigon was later renamed after him.
     LeTourneau over the phone Tuesday said his resharing of the remarks were [sic] meant to appreciate how Ho Chi Minh “was able to get his country free from colonialism and military occupation” despite his stature and lack of wealth.
     “To me it meant this: ‘Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do great things because you don’t have an office or money or power … don’t let anyone tell you you can’t be a leader — leaders come in all shapes and sizes,’” he added.
     Still, LaTourneau issued an apology statement on Tuesday, saying “These memories of atrocities and pain come fresh to mind, and I want to let the Vietnamese community (know) that I’m not insensitive to their pain. I pledge to learn and be better. As an LGBTQ+ activist of over forty years, I recognize the power that words have on people.”….

✅U of California Barred From Considering SAT/ACT Scores

Preliminary injunction cites impact of testing on students with disabilities.

—Inside Higher Ed

     A California judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction barring University of California campuses from considering SAT or ACT scores in admissions or financial aid decisions.

     While the ruling is not permanent, the judge indicated that the plaintiffs bringing the suit -- a coalition of organizations serving low-income and minority Californians -- are likely to prevail.

     The ruling is the latest development in the battle over standardized tests in admissions, and it appears to represent a significant victory for critics of testing. That is because the ruling came after the University of California Board of Regents voted, in May, to approve a five-year plan to phase out the use of the SAT and ACT. In the first two years of that plan, the university system was to be test optional, meaning applicants could continue to submit scores, but they didn't have to. Now the university system must be test blind, meaning that no student can submit a test score.

     "While they decry the asserted, racially discriminatory and classist impact of the tests, their primary argument is that the current 'test optional' at most of the UC campuses denies … applicants with disabilities meaningful access to the additional admissions opportunities that test-submitters will enjoy, in large part because they will not have taken these tests and will not be able to take them with appropriate accommodations during the COVID-19 pandemic," wrote Judge Brad Seligman….

 

✅Community College Shuts Off Remote Work

Most classes are still remote at Hagerstown Community College, but staff and faculty have had VPN access revoked and must now return to campus to work.

—Inside Higher Ed

     Students at Hagerstown Community College in Maryland will be attending class online this fall, except for labs and hands-on disciplines. Many colleges are doing the same as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ebb and flow across the nation.

     But faculty and staff members at Hagerstown are being required to report to campus, despite safety concerns. The college's president says this is meant to protect the technological security of Hagerstown, but the move demonstrates tensions that can play out on college campuses where administrators want to see employees in offices instead of on Zoom. It also creates a tricky situation under employment law, according to one legal expert….

 

✅Covid-19 Is Threatening the In-Person Semester. Can Wastewater Testing Help Save It?

—CHE

     ….Wastewater testing, or surveillance, may prove to be an important tool in detecting and stopping coronavirus outbreaks — at a time when campuses need all the help they can get. So far, the national return-to-campus-during-a-pandemic experiment has yielded sobering results, with campuses like the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and Illinois State University topping 1,000 cases of Covid-19 and other colleges quickly moving instruction online as cases skyrocket. As more students return to more colleges, sewage testing may be a welcome bright spot….

 

✅How 3 Colleges Are Using Student ‘Ambassadors’ to Enforce Social Distancing

—CHE

     As many colleges and universities welcome students back to campus for the fall, some have seen big outbreaks of Covid-19. While several have blamed the outbreaks on students who violate social-distancing guidelines, others have deployed students to help enforce the rules.

     The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, for example, has hired teams of student “public-health ambassadors” to enforce Covid-19 regulations among their classmates. “If we’re going to be successful in preventing them [outbreaks] from happening, it has to be peers working with peers,” said Laura Blake Jones, the university’s dean of students.

     Ambassadors work in teams of two to three people, including both students and staff members, on four-hour shifts. They walk around the most populous areas of campus and remind students to wear masks and socially distance….

✅Today's county Covid numbers. 317 new cases; 19 deaths; 1007 total deaths.

9-1: "Paint is not bullets," Trump says, as he also defends an apparent killer; PLUS unnamed people in “dark shadows” control Biden, he notes

✅President Trump calls his supporters ‘peaceful’ and defends a 17-year-old who shot three people in Wisconsin -- President Trump on Monday defended a teenage supporter accused of killing two people during unrest in Wisconsin, and declined to condemn his supporters’ use of paintballs and pepper spray against protesters in Portland, Ore., over the weekend, calling his supporters “peaceful” and saying, “Paint is not bullets.” Maggie Haberman in the New York Times$ -- 9/1/20

Mr. Trump defended Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old supporter of the president who was charged last week with two counts of first-degree homicide and one count of attempted homicide after he shot three protesters in Kenosha, Wis., in the unrest that has followed the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake. One of the people whom Mr. Rittenhouse is accused of shooting is said to have had his hands in the air.

✅Reopening of Orange County schools now delayed to Sept. 22, at the earliest -- Orange County’s schools may be able to open in-person on Sept. 22 – not Sept. 8 – the Orange County Health Care Agency announced late Monday night via Twitter. Under a new four-color, tiered monitoring system, Orange County is in the most restrictive of the tiers, but it’s on track to bump up to the next tier on Sept. 8. Roxana Kopetman in the Orange County Register -- 9/1/20

 

✅For-Profits Fear a Biden Presidency

—Inside Higher Ed

They worry Democratic control over the White House and Senate will bring a return of Obama administration policies. Many are donating to Republicans to keep it from happening.

     If Steve Gunderson didn’t know what awaits for-profit colleges should Democrats capture the White House, he thought it became clear when he heard vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention lump the colleges he represents with rapists and the mob.

     “I’ve fought for children and survivors of sexual assault. I've fought against transnational criminal organizations. I took on the biggest banks,” Harris said, “and helped take down one of the biggest for-profit colleges…

 

✅‘Precursor for the Fall’

—Inside Higher Ed

     College enrollments declined sharply this summer among Black undergraduates and men, and at community colleges and rural institutions, raising worries about the fall and worsening equity gaps.

     As some experts feared, the biggest college enrollment declines this summer were among vulnerable student populations, potentially widening equity gaps in college access for Black students, students who attend community colleges and for-profits, and men….

 

✅Liberty Retains Forensic Firm to Investigate Falwell's Tenure
—Inside Higher Ed
     The executive committee of the Board of Trustees at Liberty announced the investigation yesterday. Liberty, a conservative Christian university based in Lynchburg, Va., with a massive online presence, has retained a forensic firm to investigate aspects of Falwell’s tenure including the university’s financial, real estate and legal operations….

 

✅Summer Enrollment Numbers Are In, and the Patterns Are Confounding

—CHE

     Many close observers of the fiscal health of higher education in the Covid-19 era have been focused on colleges’ fall enrollments. And while initial signals about the fall have been emerging, newly released figures on summer enrollments offer insights on changes that are already happening. Some of what the numbers say is surprising.

. . .

     The organization’s data counts 7 million students enrolled in summer sessions at 2,300 colleges. Enrollments among Black students and male students saw the largest declines. And of the four institution types highlighted in the report — community colleges, and four-year public, private, and for-profit institutions — community colleges and for-profit colleges suffered the most.

     As a tattered economy and a pandemic play out simultaneously, some of the enrollment patterns were unexpected, said Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director. For instance, community-college enrollment, according to the data, fell nearly 6 percent from the summer of 2019….

 

✅Making false, racist 911 calls could soon be a crime in California under bill sent to Newsom -- The legislation comes amid a nationwide reckoning on systemic racism and following confrontations across the country in which primarily white people have made discriminatory emergency calls to the police when encountering people of color bird watching and barbecuing in a park, among other everyday activities. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/1/20

 ✅Profanity, followed by Republicans on mute: Welcome to California's last night of session -- The final night of the California legislative session reached a boiling point Monday evening when frustrated Republican senators, barred from the capitol after Sen. Brian Jones (R-Santee) tested positive for the coronavirus last week, accused Democrats of taking advantage of their quarantine. Mackenzie Mays Politico -- 9/1/20

 

✅California renters poised to receive COVID-19 eviction protections under plan sent to governor -- The California Legislature acted Monday to avert a crisis by approving emergency legislation to extend protections against evictions by five months for Californians facing financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times$ Adam Beam Associated Press -- 9/1/20

 

✅California lawmakers approve bills to address racism in criminal charges and jury selection -- In a year marked by protests across the nation against police killings of Black men and women, the legislation was among only a handful of bills addressing racial discrimination in the criminal justice system that progressed to the governor’s desk. Taryn Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/1/20

 

✅Ethnic studies requirement for California high school students passes Legislature -- Every high school student in California would be required to take a course on the contributions of racial and ethnic groups that have been oppressed and exploited through U.S. history, under a bill now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Dustin Gardiner in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/1/20

 

✅Trump alleges Biden controlled by people in ‘dark shadows’ -- President Donald Trump alleged unnamed people in “dark shadows” are controlling Democratic nominee Joe Biden in an interview with Laura Ingraham that aired Monday night on Fox News. David Cohen Politico -- 9/1/20

 

✅UC must immediately drop use of the SAT and ACT for admissions and scholarships, judge rules

—LA Times

✅University of South Carolina Cracks Down on Greek Houses for Virus Violations

—NYT

✅Today's County Covid numbers. 287 new cases. 8 deaths.