On Thursday, March 14, 2019, Crooks and Liars published a blog titled 'College Cheating Scandal Shows Why Elite Colleges Should Use A Lottery To Admit Students' by The Conversation.

The article talks about the college admission scandal that surfaced on March 12 that involved celebrities and the wealthy who bought their children's way into an elite university, university sports team, or improvement of SAT and ACT scores. The author of the blog claimed that the best way to avoid this type of corruption is by developing an admissions lottery that is solely based on chance and not on merit, wealth, or access to advantageous resources. It was also explained that it would save universities time and money by not having admissions officers vote for hours and get paid for endless hours of work. I believe his intended audience was universities because he provides reasons as to why an admissions lottery can benefit the admissions process in many universities, and he provides steps and possible outcomes that come with acquiring an admissions lottery.  I think the author is credible because they provide claims on how this approach is similar to other approaches that are made in other areas. For example, the author states, "Some colleges might be reluctant to be the first to adopt an admissions lottery. Those colleges should consider how colleges like Bates and Bowdoin became the first to go test-optional when it comes to the SAT, long before hundreds of other colleges did. Even so, these schools achieved greater diversity and kept their graduation rates about the same", indicating that if they are knowledgeable of the positive that can come out of other similar tactics that have indeed occurred, then they probably are trustworthy in the way that this is a good approach to test out. 

I do agree with the author that an admission lottery could be a good approach to prevent corruption like we saw on March 12 where the wealthy and well known have a better advantage of getting accepted; however, I do believe that merit should be a factor that should greatly be considered. I believe this because I know there are hardworking low-income students who have worked hard to achieve the intellectual standards that certain universities require. Such hard work should not go unnoticed and should not be critiqued based on where someone came from. Just because someone has a lot of riches, does not mean they are entitled or deserving of an elite spot in an elite university. A student who is of low-income and extraordinary intellectual abilities is just as entitled and even more deserving of a spot in an elite university. 

On Friday, March 1, 2019, Crooks and Liars published a blog called Lets Say It: Trump Excuses Murder of Americans Overseas By Dictators. 

I read a blog post by Frances Langum where he comments and expresses his opinions on the fact that Donald Trump excused the murder of Americans overseas by dictators.  He explains that the story of the killing of kids, along with Otto Warmbier, by the North Korean’s was the most horrifying stories he has ever had to write about in a blog post. He argues that Trump is siding with evil and finds it outrageous that as the President of the United States of America he would do such a thing. He includes evidence of this issue by including a clip of a news broadcast on fox news where Trump’s political consultant and counselor, KellyanneConway, explains that Trump agrees with North Korea’s political leader that he was unaware that the killing of these Americans was happening. Logically, everyone knows this is the truest form of betrayal to our country when our very own President can take the side of an evil dictator who is killing our Americans in his country. I very much agree with all that Langum said. Kellyanne Conway and Donald Trump are insensitive and just completely bad people for actually believing and siding with the “idea” that North Korea’s leader was not indeed aware of the killing of American babies’ situation. This is completely inhumane and not right. How can we trust our President when he won’t even take a stand for us and defend us?