I was on a call with @i am herdman and @big_country90 this morning discussing where in Chicago we were going to meet for breakfast, and we got talking about Marshall academics and enrollment.

Big Country mentioned a really good discussion point: When Bradley Smith was leading Intuit, the company took extreme advantage over the poorest Americans while also showing horrendous ethics by manipulating an agreement with the U.S. government. Intuit did this for the sole sake of earning more revenue (with direct deposits into Bradley's personal account). You can read about that issue here:


Big Country felt like Bradley's initial strategies for success at Marshall is his way of making amends for the illegal and morally repugnant practices he led at Intuit: even though he took extreme advantage over the poorest of Americans, he seems to be making amends by giving many Appalachian youths the chance of college by watering down entrance requirements.

@i am herdman then mentioned that Intuit, just this year, got hammered by the FTC for "deceptive advertising" during Bradley's reign leading the company. Intuit immediately appealed by arguing an unconstitutional aspect of the proceedings. All 50 state attorney generals formed a coalition urging the government to reject the appeal. It's important to note that even though Intuit, during Bradley's time leading the company, spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying the government (including high donations to Biden) and hiring away top IRS employees, the company still had to pay nearly $150 million in punishment for other deceptive business practices related to the same issues. You can read about those lawsuits here:




Of course, Bradley personally made hundreds of millions of dollars as a direct result of the company's growth from these unethical and illegal tactics, then took his coffers of cash and ran home before the litigation started, leaving the mess to be cleaned up by more loyal and far less compensated employees. Does anybody think his compensation will be clawed back from these huge fines and lawsuits? Of course not.

In the meantime, Bradley has moved onto Marshall University under the guise of wanting to turn around the college allegedly out of altruism. However, what he is now doing is (as I have posted about before) concerning for the long-term success and viability of the college. He is utilizing tactics to give a quick boost in enrollment and revenue (both of which will directly benefit him) while ignoring the long-term harm it will do to the college. Herdman and Big Country made a good point that the quick success from Bradley's strategy will earn him some wins in front of west virginian taxpayers who are too short-sighted to see the damage it will eventually cause. But if/when Bradley then runs for office, he will secure those votes and can point to his "success" leading Marshall to all-time revenue and enrollment numbers. When the shit hits the fan, he will be long gone from Marshall, onto his next allegedly altruistic pursuit, while leaving the mess to be cleaned up by others.

It's a good talking point about if Bradley's strategy of dumbing down admittance (and eventually retention) at Marshall constantly taking pictures of his name on buildings is best for Marshall's long-term success.

@MichiganHerd , since you're a fan of a school with great academics, that just won a national championship in football, and that has had major cheating/ethical issues from multiple leaders at its institution, what are your thoughts on Herdman's and BC's views? Are they misguided or are their concerns legitimate for a poor, downtrodden, overlooked school like Marshall?

Crazy if True.

If I bought my house 15 years ago for 250k and it is worth 500k now, she is saying I need to pay the govt on the 250k unrealized capital gain??? For real?

Also on my IRA's, stock, 401k? My savings account?

These people are lunatics. She can kiss my ass.

These people and insane commies.

That's the only way you can win.

Does this moron always come across so pompous and disingenuous? I hate when people don't say "please" and "thank you" when ordering. Figures this fraud would be one of them:

How many American flags have been burned at the DNC so far?

Dems are right back in panic mode.

Hahahahaha!!!

RNC lawsuit claims Detroit hired seven times more Dem poll workers than Republicans, violating state law

Trump is so mad, that he's going to go home and smack the Asperger's out of Barron.

CONVICTED FELON X 34!

Democrats, their policies and their bleaters are destroying our country

This didn't just happen overnight. For many years, the quality of the Marshall cheerleaders has continued to decline. On this squad, there are no definites and two maybes (no, '06, it's not the guys).

How can Marshall have declined so much that they don't have a definite on their squad and only have two maybes? Who is in charge of selecting the squad? Do they know what people want to see? In my days, I had a different cheerleader each month servicing me, and they were all definites. How can an FBS cheerleading squad have no definites? Do you know what recruits must think when they come to our games?

If we have to watch an average football team, the least we can get is something good to look at in skirts. Yet the football team is even outperforming our cheerleaders now.

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H

Will this become common?

This season Oklahoma State players will wear helmets adorned with QR codes that direct fans to a webpage where they can donate to the program's NIL collective, Cowboys coach Mike Gundy announced Tuesday. The decals will be just 1.5 square inches and won't usurp Oklahoma State's normal helmet logo.

Once again, I will be sitting first row at the Mets vs. Padres game tonight. This time, instead of directly behind home plate, I will be in the front row directly behind the Mets dugout. I hope people don't ask for pictures and/or claim they recognize me and need a reminder of how they know me.

Both be like...

Has anyone watched this yet and is there really only one, seven minute video so far?

Democrats, their policies and their bleaters are destroying our country. They take no accountability and just point fingers

So far, Commie-la is going to raise taxes, (including a job-killing 7% hike in corporate tax) provide more handouts and hates Trump. That's her platform and bleaters are lined up to vote for that? That's how much party-loyalty and hatred has blinded them.

LINK: 'Democrats have mostly controlled this country.... and somehow it's still all Trump's fault and somehow [Commie-la Harris] hasn't been at the center of it,' Scott Jennings said

​

People are turning away from shitholes like California, Oregon and Washington and headed to Red states. Today's Democrat policies suck.



LINK: SANDPOINT, Idaho — Taylor grinned at his parents as he rolled away on his push-bike, gravel crunching under the wheels.

The three-and-a-half-year-old was headed to play with friends who live a couple houses down at the end of their quiet North Idaho cul-de-sac.

"He just can take off on his bike and it’s so safe," Ashley Manning, his mother, said. "Everybody just watches out for him."

"It’s been the best experience," she added.

It’s a scenario she can’t imagine playing out in their old neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.

Manning, her husband Nick Kostenborder and a then-9-month-old Taylor packed up and moved east in 2021. That same year, families from Seattle and San Diego also arrived on their road near Sandpoint.

"It’s this kind of weird little expat group that we all found ourselves here," Kostenborder said.

Gem State growth

Idaho’s population soared more than 12% from 2018 to 2023, making it one of the fastest growing states in the nation. Most of the growth is due to people moving in — local real estate agent Trent Grandstaff estimates 98% of his clients are from outside of Idaho.

While they come from all over the country, and even the world, the West Coast dominates the in-migration.

"California, Washington and Oregon — those are the three primary states from which people come," Coeur d’Alene Mayor Jim Hammond told Fox News Digital.

In Sandpoint, a small city that saw its population grow nearly 13% from 2020 to 2022, Mayor Jeremy Grimm said many new residents he speaks to are looking for a community and government that’s more "aligned with their political philosophies."

"It's mostly major cities ... or just outside of major cities where they're going, 'I'm not OK with what's going on. I don't want my guns taken away. Get me to Idaho,'" Grandstaff said.

The rapid growth isn’t without drawbacks. Housing prices have soared, new developments are sprouting in open fields and previously wooded areas, and there are more cars on the roads.

"Growing up in a wide-open space like this, people get used to having elbow room," Bonner County Commissioner Luke Omodt said. "And we're struggling with the fact that there's other people that want to share the same beauty that we do."

What’s driving people out of their home states

Kostenborder took Oregon’s natural beauty for granted as a kid brought up on the outskirts of Salem.

"It’s one of the best places on Earth," he said, recalling the times he and his friends would jump from low bridges into the Santiam River, or waterski on Detroit Lake.

He grew up conservative, listening to Rush Limbaugh in his dad’s work truck. As an adult, he drifted toward libertarianism, moved to Portland and played drums in a series of bands. He didn’t mind that his political views were considered fringe in the blue stronghold because he felt like he was "participating in the marketplace of ideas."

"Then when the lockdowns happened, the marketplace got closed," he said. "If you wanted to [transition] kids or whatever, then you can say that all you want. But if you question the lockdowns or the mask mandates, then you’re banished."

With a baby on the way in summer 2020 — coinciding with protests and riots that lasted more than 100 consecutive nights — Kostenborder said his eyes were opened to other problems in the City of Roses.

"If I would have had a kid, I probably would have noticed it a few years earlier," he said. "You’re worried about someone else besides yourself. So you start to notice threats more. Like, it's no longer charming to have the homeless guy asleep in front of the grocery store. Now it's like, all right, this actually might be dangerous."

Portlanders have ranked homelessness and crime as top issues facing the region in numerous surveys. They've also grown increasingly pessimistic about their city's direction, with just 21% saying the city was on the right track in 2023, according to DHM Research, down from more than 70% in the 1990s.

"That's just historically really, really bad," DHM Research Senior Vice President John Horvick said. "Now you walk around town, you go to church, you talk to your friends at the bar and pretty much everybody feels negative about things. It's a whole different world."

Oregon’s strict pandemic restrictions and mask mandates — which would last until spring 2022 — were the final straw for Manning and Kostenborder.

"The number one objective was that [Taylor] have a normal childhood," Kostenborder said. "We want him to go to church. We want him to go to the park and play with friends … we’re not going to have our kid not see any human faces for the first two years of his life. We’re not taking that chance."

So in April 2021, they sold their freshly renovated home in Northeast Portland and moved to Sandpoint.

Bryan Zielinski and his wife considered moving from the Seattle area to Idaho for about six years. He was the general manager of one of the largest independently owned gun stores in western Washington, a place where it’s not easy to be a conservative.

"Everything is political," Zielinski said. "Whether it's the car you drive, where you work. You’re wearing a mask, you're not wearing a mask."

Zielinski said a victim culture was also growing in the Evergreen State.

"So much to the point that you couldn't even have a conversation with anyone without getting the term ‘fascist’ or ‘racist’ or whatever thrown at you by just trying to state your opinion or what you believed as fact," he said.

He had a front row seat as Washington’s restrictions on firearms accelerated. Lawmakers banned the sale of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds in 2022. The next spring, they outlawed the sale or import of "assault weapons" — primarily semiautomatic rifles — and many of the parts used to build them.

Between COVID restrictions, educational policies and the new gun laws, Washington's political climate reached "a crescendo," Zielinski said.

June will mark one year since his family moved to Idaho, and just over four months since he opened North Idaho Arms in Post Falls.

He’s been back to Washington a couple of times since moving.

"Everything is horns honking, people screaming, homeless people, tents everywhere," he said. "It’s horrible."

Migration trend expected to continue

Local real estate agents like Grandstaff and Seth Horst don't see an end to the migration any time soon, despite rising home prices and interest rates.

"We get calls every day from people that are interested in moving here," Horst said. "They’re willing to do anything, it seems like, to get to a place for their kids where they can raise them safely. And I think that's kind of the trend that may continue for a while."

Horst deeply understands that drive — after about 14 years as a California Highway Patrol officer, his family bought a house in Coeur d'Alene sight-unseen in fall 2020, sold their home in Chico and moved by the end of the year. Now he co-owns Your North Idaho Agent, a real estate team comprised of former first responders, and said April was their busiest month yet.

"My wife was really pushing, like, ‘Hey, we need to get out of here because California does not feel safe anymore,'"he recalled. "We felt like we were losing a lot of our freedoms as far as medical freedom and the choice to where our kids went to school, what happened at school, things like that."

The family briefly considered Bend, Oregon, but when they visited, they immediately noticed the tents and ramshackle RVs.

"The homeless population was looking exactly like California," Horst said.

"I’m not mean-hearted, but I just don’t want to raise my family around that," he said.

A friend suggested the family visit Coeur d’Alene, a city Horst had previously envisioned as "some podunk town." Instead, he discovered a vibrant downtown nestled on the shores of Idaho’s second-largest lake. He remembers walking up to the water’s edge, staring awestruck at the trees and hills.

"I knew right away," he said. "This is where we need to be."

Democrats are woke folk. Their policies and their bleaters are destroying our country

Whatever it is, I parked in the reserved spot for them anyway. Memebership has its privileges.