News and Views
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Why is college tuition so expensive? Because of Monifa McKnight’s contribution to administrative bloat
Read more: Why is college tuition so expensive? Because of Monifa McKnight’s contribution to administrative bloatThe outrage over Monifa McKnight’s appointment to a cush job at the University of Maryland centers on qualification: does she really deserve that job after her horrific behavior at MCPS? There’s another aspect of her appointment that needs to be discussed: necessity. Study after study has identified the causes of an American university’s outrageous tuition.…
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MCPS Juniors and Seniors: Ditch the SAT, the colleges need you more than you need them.
Read more: MCPS Juniors and Seniors: Ditch the SAT, the colleges need you more than you need them.I was talking with a general contractor a few weeks ago. He was dismayed at the bills he gets from plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, and disaster remediation specialists. “It costs me $250 just to get a plumber to walk through the door,” he wailed. “In 10 years they’ll be asking for a whole lot more.”…
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The Many Times CE Marc Elrich “Gets Personal” When Discussing the Political or Mundane
Read more: The Many Times CE Marc Elrich “Gets Personal” When Discussing the Political or MundaneWhen does the political get “personal”? Increasingly, with MoCo County Exec Marc Elrich, it appears to occur whenever someone has a different policy idea or theory on governing than him. Take, for example, his recent personal jab on Reardon “Sully” Sullivan as reported by Adam Pagnucco (himself reporting on Fox 5’s Tom Fitzgerald’s interview with…
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Jawando, Mink, and Sayles throw cannabis prisoners under the CASA bus
Read more: Jawando, Mink, and Sayles throw cannabis prisoners under the CASA busUnder the Revenue Act of 1862, the Union seized land from Southern landowners, and eventually auctioned those lands to freed slaves. In 1865, General Sherman issued Special Field Orders 15, allowing the confiscation of 400,000 acres of land in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, dividing it into parcels of 40 acres to be settled by…
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MoCo Chief Exec Sweats Out the Heatwave, Demands All A/Cs Be Turned Off “In Solidarity” with Him, Mother Gaia
Read more: MoCo Chief Exec Sweats Out the Heatwave, Demands All A/Cs Be Turned Off “In Solidarity” with Him, Mother GaiaCE Marc Elrich (Democrat, 30+ years in office) has been without air conditioning at his Takoma Park home for about a month from June-July (per a radio report by WMAL Newstalk local), as he waits for an A/C unit part to be delivered. Yesterday, the sweaty and fed up Montgomery Chief Executive issued a strongly…
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Positive News on Licensing
Read more: Positive News on LicensingYou probably know the maxim “even a broken clock is right twice a day.” The earliest instance we have of that maxim is from London’s The Spectator, a daily publication during the years 1711–1712. Just as today’s coffee shops provide free WiFi to bring in customers, so London’s coffee shops shared copies of The Spectator…
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Forcing MoCo’s Poor to Pay for Our Renewable Sensibilities
Read more: Forcing MoCo’s Poor to Pay for Our Renewable SensibilitiesHere at Clean Slate MoCo we are very cautious about discussing issues at the national level. I’m begging an exception for this post, because we have a confluence of policies at the national and local level that can only be considered a war against the poor. In May 2024 President Biden increased the tariff on…
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Child Investment Fund: bigotry now, prosperity never
Read more: Child Investment Fund: bigotry now, prosperity neverOne of the most amazing books I ever read is Poverty and Prosperity by the economist Deepak Lal. In that book, Professor Lal outlines how freeing the economic markets in India and China raised fully one-fourth of the entire world’s population out of crushing poverty and wealth inequality within 40 years. This book is so…
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Council Member Really Wants You to Know: He was Named ‘2024 Legislator of the Year’
Read more: Council Member Really Wants You to Know: He was Named ‘2024 Legislator of the Year’MoCo Councilmember “At Large” Gabe Albornoz (Democrat) really really wants you to know he was named “Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Legislator of the Year”. So much so that he begins his e-mail to tax-paying constituents about his award… and then continues the whole communication to residents talking about… this award. Here is another excerpt…
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GWCF’s Reparations: Too Little and Too Late
Read more: GWCF’s Reparations: Too Little and Too LateRarely do I get cranky when writing a post for Clean Slate MoCo. Folks, there is a limit to how emotionally invested you can get about zoning and the liquor monopoly. Reading White Oak School First to Pilot Brilliant Futures Savings Program for Kindergartners, though, made me extremely upset. The article describes the inauguration of…