MeanGreenTeeth

So, I guess I don't fully understand... I agree that it seems really heavy-handed to send international students back due to just one semester of online only school (what a headache if in-person school starts back in the spring), but it does seem reasonable that if this goes on for multiple more semesters (which seems likely) at some point the whole justification for them being here on a student visa doesn't exist as they can do their classes in their home country. What am I missing here, if anything?

Yeah. I agree. I think it's pretty unlikely at this point. The logistics of it working out seem too complex to me unless you're going to quarantine the entire teams for the whole season. I could see teams maybe playing a couple exhibition games against local opponents, but not much more. Hopefully I'm wrong though.

I can't speak to the validity of their complaints, but I will say that the UTSA grads I know are some of the whiniest people I've ever met. But then again, I guess when you donate to a school cannon, and you get a paper box in return, you probably have some reason to think the world is against you.

I don't accept this as a very apt comparison, but I think 1) engaging in a dialogue with the person would be the first, best solution (we've all had bosses/co-workers who've had various issues); and 2) if that didn't work, I would give appropriate notice and do my work until that time. I wouldn't light my paperwork on fire or anything similar in protest.

Your argument is complete nonsense. The 1st amendment does not simply mean the government cannot imprison/arrest you for speaking and there isn't a constitutional scholar in the world who would agree with you. The government can't infringe on your free speech..period... which means that a government institution can't kick you out or punish you in any way for exercising it. There are of course a handful of exceptions to free speech, but none of them are satisfied here. Here is one of the most famous cases related to this... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doe_v._University_of_Michigan

Again.. principles matter. I don't care if he's the grand dragon of the White People and Mayonnaise Superiority glee club, his 1st amendment rights apply at a government institution. That doesn't mean he can scream "White Power" in the middle of a lecture, but it does mean he can say anything ideological on the public square. Regardless of that.. I'm just saying that people need to understand that there are jackasses in life that you have to deal with as an adult. One twit out of 20k students doesn't make the institution bad and it isn't an excuse to not carry through with your commitments. It's not a rational nor mature response. Having integrity means doing the right thing even if others don't.

No, but public (government) universities should have no honor code that violates an individual's 1st amendment rights. I'm pretty sure UNT's code is consistent with this. Private universities can have whatever honor code they like and restrict whatever speech they want on whatever arbitrary grounds they choose.

It doesn't matter what I think or what you think. That's the whole point of free speech. There is no need to protect popular speech. He will get what is coming to him in the court of public opinion, but there is no reason for the government (a state run school in this instance) to punish him for expressing his beliefs. That's the same whether he is a member of the communist party, nazi party, Nation of Islam, Westboro Baptist, or a Wahhabi Muslim. I get confused why this has suddenly become so controversial a stance in certain circles. It has been the mainstream free speech view of both the Democratic and Republican parties and the US courts for as long as I'm aware. You don't have a right not to be offended.

His tweet was definitely disrespectful and in poor taste, but under that standard almost all the students would be expelled at some point. Was it racist? No. Not explicitly at least. Slander? Nope. Threatening? Nope. A university should be a place where people are free to express their ideas, even if they're unpopular. The athletes really need to grow up and understand that you don't have a right not to be offended.

Well.. UTSA is the trailer house version of a university...

This may be bad for football, but is not really bad news in the big scheme of things. It seems to indicate that COVID has gotten seriously widespread at this point yet our hospitals are not even close to being overrun. If you're not immunocompromised in some way (due to age or other factor) it isn't really a big deal.

I'm not sure what we're even arguing about. I never claimed that the war didn't start over slavery nor am defending what came afterwards. I'm simply stating that slavery wasn't much of an issue to the vast majority of the soldiers. Nor did the soldiers consider themselves traitors. In their minds the situation was analogous to the Revolutionary War. I mean, I guess they were traitors in a technical sense, but no less so than their grandparents had been during the revolution. Ha! It must be so amazing to so easily pass moral judgement on a whole group of people from 160 years ago, the vast majority of whom had probably never been further than 50 miles from their homes, were little educated, poor, and yet fought bravely to defend what they viewed as an invasion of their homeland. I think it is not irrational to feel sympathy and admiration for people who acted bravely even if the governments under which they fought were unjust.

I respect most of what you said, but that portion can't stand. That's just factually incorrect. The overarching cause of the Civil War may have been slavery, but that's not what drove the vast majority to fight (hell.. many were conscripts). The civil war only occurred a little over 70 years after the adoption of the Constitution. Folks were much more loyal to their states in those days and many still considered themselves citizens of separate little countries within a federal system. Calling them traitors isn't fair and frankly is counterproductive. Lincoln fully recognized this. Badmouthing people's ancestors isn't going to get people on your side and frankly helps poison the well of civil discussion. No. But he was unquestionably the major hero at the battle of Saratoga which was a vital victory for the patriots. I believe there is a statue of the leg he lost there to honor the part of him that remained a hero. 🙂

Yeah 1. So.. to have a more apt example.. should we bring down statues of Washington, rename Washington DC (and state), and close down Mt Vernon? Surely slaveholding is much more offending than a rather innocuous song on its face that was first sung by a minstrel group (which no doubt is despicable) . 2. Let's have another thought experiment. If we were to find a lost cartoon of Mickey Mouse. Let's say it was the first one and it was forgotten to time. Then let's say it was super-racist and Mickey was portrayed as a black person in the most disparaging way. To your way of thinking, should all Mickey Mouse merchandise, cartoons, etc., be eliminated in the present day or would it be more rational to say that for the last 90 years Mickey has had no racial connotation and the discovery of some original sin in his production shouldn't invalidate everything that came afterwards? 3. Snowflakes are terms for people who are easily offended. As if offends me in no way for the song to be taken down, I can't see how that applies to me. I'm not saying that the people who want it taking down are snowflakes either, I'm just saying that this sort of puritanical stance will in fact lead to a slippery slope. It may not "cancel" sofas and bridges, but it surely will a lot. It's important to keep in mind that this song is just a very small piece of the grievances being raised. 4. I have no problem with the athletes not being forced to sing it, or anything for that matter.

The problem with all of this is if you take it to it's logical ends, then almost everything has to be cancelled/torn down/renamed. Austin itself would need to be renamed because SFA was a slaveowner. One of the most cherished Christian Hymns, "Amazing Grace", was written by a slaver. Disney probably needs to be renamed and many works expunged as racist and anti-Semitic themes are found in Walt's work. Statues of Washington and Jefferson would need to be toppled. LBJ, despite shepherding in the civil rights act, was quite racist on a personal level, so the LBJ library would need to be closed. As pretty much everyone was pretty dang racist by today's standards, almost anything that pays tribute to a white person before 1950 would need to be removed as, no doubt, they did not see blacks as true equals. This process would literally never end, because there is a plausible argument that so many things had racist roots or were created by people who were themselves racist.

Libs just eating their own. Neal isn't exactly anything close to a right-winger, much less a racist. I wonder how long these witch hunts will go on before there is finally blowback.

As long as they give his girlfriend a centerfold, I'm okay with this.

Yes. We absolutely need term limits. 12 years max (2 senate terms or 6 house terms). The fact that we have folks who've been in congress since the 70s and 80s is shameful. Politics shouldn't be a career. It should be something people do for a few years to help their community (or district, state, country, etc.) Folks act like there will be some huge experience gap, but honestly, it's not all that complicated and most of our current legislators are more about showboating than doing serious work. Maybe if they weren't trying to get re-elected all the time they could actually focus on what's best for the country and less on what was going to extend their career.

A confusing snip from the middle of a Twitter discussion with no context referencing a game from 61 years ago with no additional details given, makes it a pretty random thread in my estimation. I didn't realize making a snarky remark to point it out would mean I hated history and old people. My apologies. I'll start putting a trigger warning before all my posts going forward.

Good Lord. Don't get your panties in a such a twist. It just seemed like a completely random thread.

1959? Why is this coming up? Probably 85% of the people at that game are dead by now.

Ha. That's the only thing that went through my mind.. "Does this mean we will finally be getting NCAA football 2021?"

If I recall correctly his senior year was a slight letdown as he was pretty beat up and not in prime shape. I don't have the stats in front of me though, so I'll be happy to be corrected.

As a point of comparison, Abilene Christian has had 5 players drafted since that time.

Should have made it out of Starburst.