It Shouldn't Be So Easy to Go to Grad School

Well, it wasn't particularly easy for me to to go grad school.

I wasn't funded my first year. I took loans. After doing very well that first year, the university gave me a full four-year ride: tuition fellowships, minority fellowships, and teaching assistantships, etc. I was so happy: I was overjoyed when the letter from the graduate division arrived!

In any case, I don't recommend my students go for the Ph.D. in political science, not in this job market, unless it's a die-hard dream for them, something to achieve out of love of the discipline. It's probably better to get a master degree in a professional program, like public public policy or international relations.

In any case, at Instapundit, "HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Megan Mcardle: It Shouldn’t Be So Easy to Go to Grad School: Universities are milking the huge loan sums from grad students to subsidize the cost of undergraduate degrees. This system is broken."

Shop Today

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

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Decilne in Visas Issued to Six Nations Targeted by Trump Administration Travel Ban

That's great news!

At Politico, "Muslim nations targeted by Trump’s travel ban see steep visa drop."

Demonizing Heterosexuals

Actually, this op-ed doesn't appear very supportive. In fact, the author demonizes normal people as grotesque monsters. And she spews fake "research" suggesting the most successful family arrangement for raising kids is lesbian partnerships. So stupid.

I get angry reading these leftist screeds sometimes. They're so fucked up.

Let's consider frankly an aspect of the same-sex marriage debate not adequately covered so far: heterosexuality https://t.co/IOiCUBwsed

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) September 29, 2017

My wife and I have six children. Gonna bet that's six more children than Dr. Pryor has.

— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) September 29, 2017

Tomi Lahren on National Anthem Protests in the NFL (VIDEO)

At Fox News.

I think Ms. Tomi's lucky to have landed that gig at Fox. She burned some bridges going on the View. So stupid.

Nina Agdal Will Blow You Away (VIDEO)

One can only hope.

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Garth Kemp's Weekend Weather Forecast

He's a cool guy.

It's been pretty hot in the afternoons, and nippy overnight.

For CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

By the Book with Jennifer Egan

I posted the other day, "Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad."

She has a new book out next week, at Amazon, Manhattan Beach: A Novel.

And at NYT, "Jennifer Egan: By the Book."

Jennifer Egan doesn't read memoirs. "My feeling is always that I’m saving them for later." https://t.co/xCyPgLfkR6

— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) September 28, 2017

Jerry Pournelle Remembered at Instapundit

Mr. Pournelle died September 8th.

The New York Times' obituary is here, "Jerry Pournelle, Science Fiction Novelist and Computer Guide, Dies at 84."

And check Instapundit for all kinds of commemoration.

Here's the link I posed a couple of minutes ago, for Niven and Pournelle, The Mote in God's Eye.

Also, The Gripping Hand, and The Legacy of Heorot.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, The Mote in God's Eye

I read this years ago --- decades ago --- when I was about 19.

I'm getting fired up again about science fiction. It's a trip, heh.

At Amazon, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, The Mote in God's Eye.

Amanda Holden's Plunging Dress on 'Britain's Got Talent'

She was almost topless up there, so I can understand all the complaints.

At the Telegraph U.K., "Amanda Holden's plunging Britain's Got Talent dress attracts the most Ofcom complaints of the year."

Tori Praver, Jessica White, and Jarah Mariano in Hawaii (VIDEO)

For Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.

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Spectacular Samantha Hoopes

At Sports Illustrated:

Mondaze with mega babe @SamanthaHoopes... 😍 https://t.co/zPrhYFAU6T pic.twitter.com/dzfaHdAZc8

— SI Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) September 25, 2017

Alejandro Villanueva Apologizes for Standing for National Anthem (VIDEO)

We're in a bad place in America, where you have to apologize for standing up for your country. And it's especially bad that this guy groveled: He served in Afghanistan. Three tours. Three f***ing tours. Mike Tomlin, the entire Steelers organization, and the NFL need to apologize to him.

Folks are saying they're done with the NFL. Lifelong fans as saying they're through. The higher-ups surrounding Roger Goodell need to do some serious damage control. This is getting existential.

And I was angry today talking about this with my wife. I felt pure anger.

#Villanueva Says He Made A Mistake
Standing For The Anthem

Watch The Hostage Video

You Can Return Your Jerseys Nowpic.twitter.com/3IPhBITTUh

— Dr. Marty Fox (@DrMartyFox) September 26, 2017

John M. Del Vecchio, The 13th Valley

At Amazon, John M. Del Vecchio, The 13th Valley: A Novel.

A work that has served as a literary cornerstone for the Vietnam generation, The 13th Valley follows the strange and terrifying Vietnam combat experiences of James Chelini, a telephone-systems installer who finds himself an infantryman in territory controlled by the North Vietnamese Army. Spiraling deeper and deeper into a world of conflict and darkness, this harrowing account of Chelini's plunge and immersion into jungle warfare traces his evolution from a semi-pacifist to an all-out warmonger. The seminal novel on the Vietnam experience, The 13th Valley is a classic that illuminates the war in Southeast Asia like no other book.

The Politicization of Everything

At WSJ:

"This is the kind of rant you’d hear in a lousy sports bar." https://t.co/d4JqjHSCX9

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 25, 2017

No doubt most Americans agree with Mr. Trump that they don’t want their flag disrespected, especially by millionaire athletes. But Mr. Trump never stops at reasonable, and so he called for kneeling players to be fired or suspended, and if the league didn’t comply for fans to “boycott” the NFL.

He also plunged into the debate over head injuries without a speck of knowledge about the latest brain science, claiming that the NFL was “ruining the game” by trying to stop dangerous physical hits. This is the kind of rant you’d hear in a lousy sports bar.

Mr. Trump has managed to unite the players and owners against him, though several owners supported him for President and donated to his inaugural. The owners were almost obliged to defend their sport, even if their complaints that Mr. Trump was “divisive” ignored the divisive acts by Mr. Kaepernick and his media allies that injected politics into football in the first place.

Americans don’t begrudge athletes their free-speech rights—see the popularity of Charles Barkley —but disrespecting the national anthem puts partisanship above a symbol of nationhood that thousands have died for. Players who chose to kneel shouldn’t be surprised that fans around the country booed them on Sunday. This is the patriotic sentiment that they are helping Mr. Trump exploit for what he no doubt thinks is his own political advantage.

American democracy was healthier when politics at the ballpark was limited to fans booing politicians who threw out the first ball—almost as a bipartisan obligation. This showed a healthy skepticism toward the political class. But now the players want to be politicians and use their fame to lecture other Americans, the parsons of the press corps want to make them moral spokesmen, and the President wants to run against the players.

The losers are the millions of Americans who would rather cheer for their teams on Sunday as a respite from work and the other divisions of American life.

And at Instapundit, "WALL STREET JOURNAL: The Politicization of Everything."

Sarah Sentilles, Draw Your Weapons

At Amazon, Sarah Sentilles, Draw Your Weapons.

A single book might not change the world. But this utterly original meditation on art and war might transform the way you see the world—and that makes all the difference.

“How to live in the face of so much suffering? What difference can one person make in this beautiful, imperfect, and imperiled world?”

Through a dazzling combination of memoir, history, reporting, visual culture, literature, and theology, Sarah Sentilles offers an impassioned defense of life lived by peace and principle. It is a literary collage with an urgent hope at its core: that art might offer tools for remaking the world.

In Draw Your Weapons, Sentilles tells the true stories of Howard, a conscientious objector during World War II, and Miles, a former prison guard at Abu Ghraib, and in the process she challenges conventional thinking about how war is waged, witnessed, and resisted. The pacifist and the soldier both create art in response to war: Howard builds a violin; Miles paints portraits of detainees. With echoes of Susan Sontag and Maggie Nelson, Sentilles investigates images of violence from the era of slavery to the drone age. In doing so, she wrestles with some of our most profound questions: What does it take to inspire compassion? What impact can one person have? How should we respond to violence when it feels like it can’t be stopped?

Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You.

Kelly Gale in Necklace and Bikini Bottoms (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: