Saturday, September 1, 2018

A Commencement Address Never Given But Oft Quoted

I received this email and link from a Republican friend.

Richard;

You may not like this commencement address, but I l like it, especially the points at the end.
 Bill

My response was as follows:

Bill;

This was written as a tongue-in-cheek protest by Neal Boortz* for never having been invited to deliver a commencement speech. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/texas-am-commencement-address/

Interestingly, the sentiments expressed reflect a growing sense of frustration among the “new right” (Trump’s Republican Party) that universities are “indoctrinating" students to be liberals. In fact, an Iowa state Sen. Mark Chelgren* proposed a bill that would institute a hiring freeze at state universities until the number of registered Republicans on faculty comes within 10 percent of the number of registered Democrats. Sen. Chelgren — who, it should be noted, claimed to hold a degree in business that turned out to be a certificate from a Sizzler steakhouse — is not an outlier. Not among Trump Republicans.

That being said here’s what I agree with in Boortz’s piece:

Heading off with a diploma doesn’t mean learning is over, or even that your smarter than the mechanic who works on your car, although you’re probably smarter than the President

People need to pay more attention to what’s going on in the world and despite what the President says about "fake news," read newspapers, especially your local paper, and listen to a variety of news sources. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet, especially if its a tweet by the President (or something sent to you by one of your many gullible Republican friends).

The rest of this piece by Boortz is conventional conservative bias against those who think things such as the Americans with Disabilities Act is government overreach.

I haven’t had time yet to address your contention that the Press is unfair to Trump.

Cheers,

Richard
 _____________________________________________
*Neal Boortz is an American author, attorney, and former Libertarian radio host. Boortz writing about his talk show, said, "Don't believe anything you read on [the Neal Boortz] web page or, for that matter, anything you hear on The Neal Boortz Show unless it is consistent with what you already know to be true, or unless you have taken the time to research the matter to prove its accuracy to your own satisfaction."

*Mark Chelgren is an American politician who serves in the Iowa Senate. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. He represents District 41. He has said that immigrant felons who enter the country illegally should be executed.

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