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Post by hcpride on Jul 5, 2023 4:37:12 GMT -5
Dr Sowell is brilliant and has a great ability to explain complex issues in a clear and understandable way This is first I’ve heard that Justice Thomas finished 9th in his class at HC. Many people no doubt hate hearing that I suspect some of CT’s political opponents know he’s bright but he’s a prominent black conservative so all manner of insults are hurled his way. And the folks doing it, in The Boston Globe and otherwise, feel very good about themselves. And never apologize.
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Post by hcpride on Jul 4, 2023 19:42:46 GMT -5
Thank you, Breezy. I note only one Ivy commit. Are we not recruiting against them as much as we have in the past, or are we just winning this head-to-heads more? About 5 years ago a wise Crossporter (may have been SoV) described HC’s recruiting route to national FCS power as beating the top CAA teams consistently for recruits and also winning MAC battles now and again. Patriot, NEC, Ivy, really not players in this space.) Our facilities, campus, coaching staff, and academic reputation are extremely competitive v this group. That does seem to be what’s going on.
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Post by hcpride on Jul 4, 2023 19:18:26 GMT -5
It is interesting that Clarence Thomas’ arrival at Holy Cross may indeed have had little to do with Father Brooks’ recruiting trip (s) down south. Much less a lowered academic standard to gain admission.
Nothing gets in the way of a political point but that would mean much of the recent criticism of Justice Thomas (in The Boston Globe and otherwise) may be even more faux than we imagined.
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Post by hcpride on Jul 2, 2023 15:11:48 GMT -5
Colleges can spend their admissions outreach budget where they want but can't put their thumb on the scales for any race. So the better skilled at recruiting students from desired ethnic groups will be more diverse. And print their percentages of enrollees from those groups with pride. Game on. Can Holy Cross compete? Compete? Compete?!!! You're kidding! We've got a 55 year head start on most other colleges and universities! We'll lap the field! When Admissions goes to underserved schools, they just have to bring free copies of "Fraternity." Supreme Court justice, top flight DC lawyer, deputy mayor of NYC, Super Bowl champion, Pulitzer prize winner. Who the heck wouldn't want to try to get into that school? Seems unfathomable to me that Holy Cross will see either a jump in Asian student acceptances or a dive in black student acceptances in the wake of the halt in racially discriminatory admission practices. Since the elite colleges claim they did not racially discriminate against white and Asian students during the college admissions process (Harvard made this point over and over during the various court appearances and filings), absolutory nothing will change with the Supreme Court's recent ban on racial discrimination during the college admission process. Why would it? Numbers of various racial and cultural groups will stay the same. Although the (faux?) extreme drama from the academic, media and political left wing worlds has been both predictable and entertaining.
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Post by hcpride on Jul 2, 2023 10:56:43 GMT -5
Here’s my question for the group, putting aside discussion of Clarence specifically, what Fr. Brooks did in the late 60’s,: 1. Is that considered “Affirmative Action” or just an acceptable recruiting trip? Similar to what Admissions has done for eons at high schools, especially Catholic high schools? Lawyers here, especially the constitutional type, welcome to comment.😊 In my opinion it is just a recruiting trip aimed to generate applications from a target group of potential students. It's not affirmative action, in my opinion, if you hold those applicants to the same standards as all other groups who apply. Hopefully Crossporters will be amused by this bit from the always amusing Babylon Bee, paraphrasing, "Asian students celebrate the SCOTUS decision by taking a five minute break from studying" Been chuckling since I read it a few days ago. Babylon Bee is on a roll, I almost posted the article regarding Harvard sauces but figured it’d trigger at least one person. Their take on the overreaction to the student debt scheme decision is priceless: Democrats Devastated As Supreme Court Bans Robbing The Poor (WASHINGTON, D.C. — Leftists are devastated this morning after the Supreme Court passed down a new ruling that will ban robbing those who didn't attend college to pay for the expensive and useless degrees of those who did. "If the useless poor can't pay for my $300,000 Diversity and Belonging Doctorate degree, what good are they?" said Dr. Mikayla Barnes, a local Starbucks shift manager…)
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Post by hcpride on Jun 30, 2023 13:00:36 GMT -5
MSNBC is very very sad to see college admissions decisions based on race finally go away. Justice Thomas, BTW, was one of 6 votes in the 6-3 decision.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 30, 2023 11:16:20 GMT -5
I do suspect this (now unconstitutional) discrimination was much more common at the ‘elite’ schools. I don’t even know to what extent (or even if) HC practiced race-based admissions to favor Black and Hispanic students on account of their race. I’m sure we’re all in on the (amorphous) racial diversity program if I read President Rougeau correctly but the former is not necessarily a component of the latter. Correct me if I am wrong, up until the most recent SCOTUS decision, these were indeed " constitutional" until the Court reversed itself or, if you prefer, "reinterpreted" the prior ruling. Similar to Rowe v. Wade reversal. Until then, abortions were not unconstitutional or illegal, within certain restrictions, until it was (federally speaking, of course). I thought the ‘now’ was understood. The US Supreme Court‘s unsurprising ruling that race-based admissions decisions are unconstitutional was definitely yesterday. (But I inserted it for clarity given your reply.)
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Post by hcpride on Jun 30, 2023 5:22:27 GMT -5
Ironically, I don't believe HCBU's use race based admissions. They accept most applicants so they don't have to. I do suspect this (unconstitutional) discrimination was much more common at the ‘elite’ schools. I don’t even know to what extent (or even if) HC practiced race-based admissions to favor Black and Hispanic students on account of their race. I’m sure we’re all in on the (amorphous) racial diversity program if I read President Rougeau correctly but the former is not necessarily a component of the latter.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 29, 2023 15:57:36 GMT -5
Harvard published an open letter today reaffirming their commitment to diversity and noting they will obey the Supreme Court’s decision. www.harvard.edu/admissionscase/2023/06/29/supreme-court-decision/No mention of the Asians. Not even a passing acknowledgement of the discriminatory treatment they received at the hands of Harvard on account of their (Asian) race….much less a public apology and a promise to do better.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 29, 2023 11:32:45 GMT -5
Or he should transfer to another program at a higher level. I don't see that as likely. DeMorat didn't do that and now he is signed. DeMorat played five years at Fordham. By that logic Sluka must play 5 years at HC (I kinda like that logic now that I think about it ) All kidding aside, the two QB's couldn't be more dissimilar in terms of skillsets. And, not that it matters, the undrafted DeMorat is still a long way from making a roster. Call me crazy but QB might not even be Sluka's best hope for making an NFL roster.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 29, 2023 11:06:07 GMT -5
Agree. An alternative 'use by date' could be the graduation of the last of the Covid 5th-years. Just after the 2024 season. (Sluka, BTW, has that option as part of that final covid cohort.) If Sluka is considered a candidate for the NFL draft after his senior season he will have to think hard about taking a leave of absence for second semester to maintain eligibility to return to HC for a fifth year. I'm not saying this would be a wise or unwise move or if this option would even be available to him but perhaps he graduates and goes FBS for his Covid year to prove himself against tougher opposition?
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Post by hcpride on Jun 29, 2023 10:58:43 GMT -5
Not a shocker as the unpopular use of race in admissions decisions (whereby Asians, for example, are discriminated against on account of their race) is going the way of the dodo.
That portion of what is generally thought of as 'affirmative action' has been kicked to the curb (obviously this has nothing to do with outreach, etc. as those are not admissions decisions).
In an era of drama I'd expect some hyperventilating on the issue. Dissenting Justices and otherwise.
I do think that particular schools looking for racial diversity reflecting the approximate racial diversity of college-age America (if that's is what they are looking for and I have no idea if that is what they are looking for) have other avenues.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 29, 2023 10:37:08 GMT -5
HC football is at peak freshness now. Use by date: the next head coach change. Could still be very good after that but not a sure thing. Agree. An alternative 'use by date' could be the graduation of the last of the Covid 5th-years. Just after the 2024 season. (Sluka, BTW, has that option as part of that final covid cohort.)
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Post by hcpride on Jun 29, 2023 5:19:24 GMT -5
A long list of “accomplished alumni”. A few have achieved national prominence. Curious they couldn’t squeeze ‘Rhodes Scholar” into Jim Collins’ description.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 28, 2023 16:55:47 GMT -5
I would like to see us invite South Dakota State University to Fitton. Would love this to take place. I have a feeling we are midway thru a very small HC window of opportunity for a national championship. On the one hand we have numerous 5th years, a special QB, and a coveted coach while on the other NIL has not yet been disruptive at our level. Things could be very different in a couple of years. Sooo, let’s get them to Fitton ASAP.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 28, 2023 16:28:39 GMT -5
I would posit that Jon Favreau, Obama speechwriter and host of Pod Save America, might outpace Cousy, Matthews and maybe Simmons on this list. He’s big for liberals who follow that stuff and know the identity of an Obama speech writer (or watch his podcast) but the other Jon Favreau is better known, IMHO. Now if they both went to HC, I’d put the name at the top of that group.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 28, 2023 14:38:29 GMT -5
I don’t know. Thomas has been quite prominently featured in a plethora of op-Ed’s and articles as of late. WSJ, Boston Globe, National Review, etc. etc. And during the abortion excitement a couple of years ago. And certainly a Supreme Court Justice is a very senior position constitutionally. He’s probably our most prominent graduate at this point . Cousy may have been many years ago.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 27, 2023 12:45:24 GMT -5
I was just looking at this schedule closer (nice to have six OOC games), and it got me thinking -- Best OOC slate since...? Two Ivy games (H and Y), local New England CAA games (UNH and URI), a nearby game against Bryant, and then on the road against a team we have historically played frequently (Syracuse). All games against quality opponents that are within a "drive" for most alums. We often talk about what an OOC schedule should look like -- this seems damn close to a perfect one. A much better situation would be a competitive Patriot League. But a nice OOC (and this is a nice one) makes the best of a bad situation. Syracuse (a team we played pretty regularly 50 years ago) may be down a talented RB in 2024 (looks like he’s not playing in 2023): dailyorange.com/2023/06/syracuse-running-back-lequint-allen-issued-suspension-after-altercation/
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Post by hcpride on Jun 27, 2023 11:14:58 GMT -5
Not precisely my point (note ‘rather unsurprising’). Almost miraculous that Prighozin seemed to have Intel regarding Russian disposition of forces, knowledge that Russia was unaware of the pending march, best routes to avoid regular army ground units, an ability to conceal the pending move from the Kremlin, and perfect timing when launched. Quite an operation. Wagner used the Military HQ in Rostov as a rear logistics HQ also so their comings and goings were not unusual. They "took over" the city of a million people and the military HQ for video clip purposes, but nobody seemed to think they were captured or invaded. It was like a block party. Yes. Given Russia’s top down military, chronic miscommunications, their disposition of forces, the element of surprise, and the fact there are frequent comings and goings of various military (regular and irregular) vehicles along this route this is not a stunning accomplishment. But one could play it as such.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 27, 2023 10:28:39 GMT -5
The Intel (including signal, geo and imagery) gap between Russia and the US (and the US’ means to deliver that Intel in an actionable and encrypted manner) has been a decisive strategic and tactical component of the entire war.
Although various weapons systems have received much popular press.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 27, 2023 8:39:11 GMT -5
Apparently this latest episode was known to us (but not Moscow) in significant advance and in very great detail.
We could have warned Putin, but didn’t. This was an upcoming win (in 50 directions at once) for us. No matter the outcome. We may have tossed a few deniable intel scraps (see my comment, above) Prigozhin’s way to increase the win.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 27, 2023 3:44:24 GMT -5
Not precisely my point (note ‘rather unsurprising’). Almost miraculous that Prighozin seemed to have Intel regarding Russian disposition of forces, knowledge that Russia was unaware of the pending march, best routes to avoid regular army ground units, an ability to conceal the pending move from the Kremlin, and perfect timing when launched. Quite an operation.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 26, 2023 19:02:02 GMT -5
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Post by hcpride on Jun 25, 2023 15:59:30 GMT -5
There is no question the kids at that non-selective public school are very very bright (beyond the 50 NMSF/NMCS there were 5 Regeneron semifinalists in the senior class - two of them made finalist.)
At the same time there might be a valedictorian number that is ridiculous … and I was thinking 15 was getting pretty close to that number.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 25, 2023 10:27:16 GMT -5
OK, this is not about Holy Cross and is only vaguely tangential to our discussion regarding the increased number of students at HC graduating with 'honors' and whether that is due to kids being smarter and harder working or grade inflation or some combination therein. A local Long Island public school this year named 15 valedictorians. Turns out they use unweighted grades to calculate (unweighted) GPAs for the purpose of determining valedictorian and 15 (!) kids had a perfect (4.0) unweighted average. For what it is worth, this public high school had 11 national merit semifinalists and 39 national merit commended students in its 315-member senior class. And a boatload will attend Ivies, MIT, Johns Hopkins, etc. So it is a VERY bright crew. How many will speak at graduation.? 15 (of course). 90 secs each. Thankfully (if you are attending the ceremony), they did not name a salutatorian. Newsday stumbles upon a very good question (and one that arose during our discussion of Holy Cross graduation honors): Does the growing number render the distinction, well, less distinctive? Probably a paywall but it's a lengthy discussion of weighted v unweighted, etc.: www.newsday.com/long-island/education/graduations/jericho-high-school-valedictorians-ex285xua
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