Tom Toles for March 14, 2019

The system is rigged. Billionaires, corporations — the few richest elites (the top 1% of the top 1%) who already have the most — play by their own set of rules while selling false hopes to others that if you work hard and play by the rules, you, too, have a chance.

Sure, there is the rare exception that breaks through, but when you run a 100-yard dash and allow a few to start on the ten yard line, funny thing how much talent they display.

So, it’s possible that W. and the Rump didn’t get into collage on their academic merits alone.

Kushner was admitted to Harvard University after his father, Charles, pledged a $2.5 million donation to the school.

Hey, if it’s good enough for the president…college? I thought you were talking about grade school.

It’s good to be rich (and white) in America. Everyone else can lump it.

Like all things Money, bribes don’t trickle down to the janitor.

We have lost our honor and integrity, as (e.g.) the Boeing data will be sent to European officials to be examined … not here. The once “can-do” America is now the “cover-up” America. Do those who lie, cheat, and steal think no one notices?

Donald Trump, Jr. made the hilarious mistake of trying to “pwn” Hollywood by calling them out, apparently ignorant of the fact that his father suddenly donated to Junior’s alma mater just in time for him to get accepted, and again when Ivanka needed to get in.

Oh, and an admissions officer at Wharton ADMITTED that #45 himself was admitted as a favor to Fred Trump.

None of the Trumps deserved to get in, and they should show a little more humility about the fact that they were allowed in.

Having said that, I got into Harvard on Early Admission, with massive financial aid (approximately 80% grants and 20% loans), and I don’t object to letting in a few people who donate buildings or the equivalent to the school, because this benefits everyone at the school. Most people don’t realize that somewhere around 80% of Harvard students (and indeed most of Ivy League students generally) are on financial aid, precisely because of donations by alumni and investments thereof.

This group bypassed the system through fraud, which is why people are calling it out as different. And what this has illuminated is the fact that coaches get to completely bypass the system without oversight. Admissions people were not involved.

Seeing as how the Current Occupant knew everything to start with (he threw an eraser at his second grade music teacher, claiming she knew nothing about music) I really don’t understand why he needed to go to college. Unless it was to teach the professors some of the things he was born knowing.

There is plenty that needs to be looked at on college campuses. Fraternities and sororities seem to be more about partying than anything else; this leads to an increase in rapes and deaths from alcohol poisoning and hazing. Secret societies – remember when Kerry ran against Bush; they were both members of Skull and Bones. “Donations” to buy admission into a school may be legal but they are unethical since they take a slot away from someone else. Tuition costs have risen far faster than inflation. Grad students teach classes instead of professors.

Hopefully the students in question will be tossed from the schools as well as the parents going to jail.

They couldn’t get accepted to Trump U. without pull.

The middle class is getting left behind here. Having a college student, we heard lots about the needs community, as they called it, so they are looking out for kids who are without $ but have good grades. The students who have millions to donate are doing fine too, of course. A large percentage of those attending colleges and universities could not do so without financial aid.

Didja hear about the parents who shelled out a hundred grand to send their kid to college and all they got was a quarterback?

The big college football and basketball factories have always been cesspools of corruption—but now the sports tail is wagging the university dog more than ever at any time of history. (If everything about the big football and basketball factories that could be known was actually known—a big if—and IF the NCAA followed it’s own rules—a much bigger if—would any football team be eligible for bowl games, or any basketball team eligible for the tournament? In a word, no.) Okay, I don’t like it, but I accept it. And I don’t like unqualified people getting into high-toned schools (social capital can be as important as monetary capital) only because of legacies. I also don’t like the dreaded “gentleman’s C” but that’s another story. But this HERE scandal right shocks me!

The scheme began to unravel when somebody photoshopped the head of a 400 pound student onto the body of a racehorse jockey…….

Go to your state school to get an education. Go to a prestige school to make connections. Though you won’t actually do that unless your parents already have connections. Prestige universities are (among other things) a way for the rich to maintain their hold.

Oops; college, not collage.