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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#270751: Feb 9th 2019 at 5:20:33 PM

I’m genuinely not trying to doomsay here, but a big part of me worries that if a Dem beats Trump, someone is going to try and assassinate them in his name. It’s just a gut feeling that won’t go away.

Obama faced an unprecedented amount of hatred and he's just fine, the Secret Service is good at what they do.

There's no need to worry.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#270752: Feb 9th 2019 at 5:37:50 PM

Key word is "try". Between intelligence gathering and the effectiveness of Secret Service close protection, most nut bars won't get very far.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#270753: Feb 9th 2019 at 5:38:20 PM

Booker needs to provide more detail regarding his economic plans before I could wholeheardedly support him, but he says the right things about jobs and wealth disparity.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#270754: Feb 9th 2019 at 5:42:32 PM

I should probably take the time to read up on charter schools more, turns out a bunch of right-wing nutters, whose thinking process is basically "if the USA does it, then it's good", are trying to adopt this model on the Brazilian school system.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#270755: Feb 9th 2019 at 5:43:44 PM

Charter Schools are just another idea in the desire to figure out a way to deprive the poor of education.

The GOP has tried to make it harder for poor people to go to college for a long time and they're the reason the government charges excessive interest and payment plans for student loans.

They hope to crush the people who did it.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#270756: Feb 9th 2019 at 5:48:56 PM

Booker needs to provide more detail regarding his economic plans before I could wholeheardedly support him, but he says the right things about jobs and wealth disparity.

What exactly does he say about jobs and wealth disparity?

Because his support for Charter schools pretty much means that all of that is less than worthless, education is vital to future success and by supporting such 'reform' he's advocating for stacking the deck in favor of the rich.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#270757: Feb 9th 2019 at 5:55:44 PM

Is Booker's support for Charter schools a major element of his career? A Single-Issue Wonk for him? Or is it something he can flip or yield on?

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#270758: Feb 9th 2019 at 6:10:07 PM

Its something he said once. His real issue is racial justice. He once proposed giving every poor newborn baby in the US an interest bearing account so that they can have a nest egg when they become adults.

From the other wiki: "He supports long-term deficit reduction efforts to ensure economic prosperity, Cap and Trade taxation to combat climate change, and increased funding for education.[6] He has spoken in favor of creating a federal jobs guarantee and baby bonds (low-risk savings accounts that minors get access to at age 18).[2] In the Senate, he has emphasized issues of racial and social justice.[2] He played a leading role in the push to pass the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill.[2] He supports ending the War on Drugs.[7] Booker supports abortion rights and affirmative action.[5][8][9] Booker supports a single-payer health care plan. In September 2017, he joined Bernie Sanders and 14 other co-sponsors in submitting a single-payer health care plan to congress called the "Medicare for All" bill.[10]

On foreign policy, Booker supports scaling down U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and is against intervention in Syria.[11][12] After the US strike on Syria in April 2017, Booker criticized military action "without a clear plan" or authorization from Congress.[13] He supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. On Iran, Booker has supported the Iran nuclear deal framework.[14]"

Edited by DeMarquis on Feb 9th 2019 at 9:13:05 AM

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
singularityshot Since: Dec, 2012
#270759: Feb 9th 2019 at 6:11:37 PM

If you really want to see what Charter schools could if adopted nationwide then look at what Free Schools and Academies have done to the UK education sector.

Academies are probably the closet equivalent. They are private organisations running schools, having complete control over syllabus, uniform, staffing etc. They are funded from central government, with very little transparency as to who decides which organisation will take over a school. The most controversial aspect is that schools that are deemed to be failing are forced to become academies, if they are not already. Previously schools were owned and maintained by the local authority. However, when converted ALL the assets associated with the school are handed over to the academy chain. So unnoticed in the UK, huge swathes of publicly owned land and buildings are now in private hands. Educational standards haven't really been improved - by all accounts it just appears to be an avenue for graft and profiteering.

It's Free Schools however where the fun begins. Essentially these are schools set up by anyone, with very little checks on who these people are and their real intentions.

As a result there have been some crazy schools created, all publicly funded, all because the Education Secretary at the time thought he knew better than professional educators (he referred to them as 'the blob') and so he again wanted choice to reign.

It hasn't worked. We just got crazy instead. To wit, a free school is under investigation in Kent for horrifically poor standards. As part of this investigation, it was discovered that some of the teachers (who btw do NOT have to be qualified to teach at a Free School) had ticked every box on the form when asked to disclose their ethnicity. This was because they believed that they had been all those races in past lives and had thus 'graduated' to their current (white) ethnicity in this reincarnation...

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#270760: Feb 9th 2019 at 6:14:15 PM

Basically, a Charter School is a private school in which the taxpayers are helping cover the costs. Clever, really.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#270761: Feb 9th 2019 at 6:18:59 PM

Charter schools, from what I've read, is basically turning a social service into a business, or at least their worst examples are.

Doesn't take a Quantum physicist to figure it out why that is a terrible idea.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#270762: Feb 9th 2019 at 6:43:58 PM

Free school especially pissed of proponents of child-focused schooling in the UK, as schools where children had freedom were the original users of the term free school, but now we’ve lost that term.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#270763: Feb 9th 2019 at 6:46:32 PM

I vaguely recall at least one charter school kept its record of high performance by expelling the lowest performing students before people checked up on it.

DeathorCake Since: Mar, 2016
#270764: Feb 9th 2019 at 7:46:15 PM

[up]x5

My school turned into an academy for my last two years there. Don't know why exactly since it's a pretty good school and as far as I'm aware they haven't changed anything else about how it works there, but it did mean I took the time to develop a burning hatred for Michael Gove.

It coincided with changing the headmaster from a man who stopped to chat about Discworld and seventies sci-fi with Year Sevens and we all liked so much we made a fifteen-square-metre poster of his face to put on the Sixth Form block when he left to an extremely boring speechifying type who kept going on and on about exam results and never left his office outside of assemblies. Parallels can fairly easily be drawn to the country as a whole around then.

Don't do private schools kids. Or parents. Or governments. Also don't do "long-term deficit reduction" and "cap-and-trade" on a leftie platform, but I can't really complain about that, they're fairly common positions.

Edited by DeathorCake on Feb 9th 2019 at 3:46:59 PM

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#270765: Feb 9th 2019 at 7:51:10 PM

I’ll defend private schools here for a second, they can be a good way for a child to get an education that suits their specific needs, alongside that they can be a place for alternative methods of education to be explored and tried out.

However they should never been a necessity, they should always be a luxury for people who want something different, not something people need to use because the state system has failed.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Imca (Veteran)
#270766: Feb 9th 2019 at 8:08:53 PM

I have been too busy to pay attention to things since right before Trump did his whole speech (dont even know what happened with it)

Any thing major happen in the past.... like week I guess?

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#270767: Feb 9th 2019 at 8:14:14 PM

He openly praised Kim Jong Un, for starters.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#270768: Feb 9th 2019 at 8:19:48 PM

Virginia's scandals got much worse with the luetenant (I don't know how to spell that word) governor being accused by two women of sexual assault which means people want him out even more than Northam now. And they want Northam out pretty badly.

Imca (Veteran)
#270769: Feb 9th 2019 at 8:26:20 PM

[up][up] I dont know if its bad that that doesnt even suprise or concern me any more since its just buisness as usual for him. :/

[up] Oh fun..... so whats going to happen over there?

Also I could have sworn I heard something related to Kauvanagan or however you spell it from somewhere else, but I dont know what it was....

sorry.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#270770: Feb 9th 2019 at 8:51:59 PM

Kavanaugh wrote the dissent against the Supreme Court's decision to put a hold on Louisiana's anti abortion law.

A right wing justice doing so wouldn't be news except for the fact that Kavanaugh had promised Susan Collins he would respect the precedent of Roe v Wade. So he lied, she probably knew he was lying, and her reason to support him was a giant sham.

Sivartis Captionless One from Lubberland, or the Isle of Lazye Since: Apr, 2009
Captionless One
#270771: Feb 9th 2019 at 9:55:07 PM

@Imca: The latest, greatest debacle involves him randomly capitalizing the word "TRAIL" in a tweet about Elizabeth Warren officially announcing her campaign, leading many to think he's intentionally joking about the forced relocation of Native Americans called the Trail of Tears.

Edited by Sivartis on Feb 9th 2019 at 9:55:40 AM

♭What.
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#270772: Feb 10th 2019 at 12:26:47 AM

Mumps outbreak at Houston ICE center.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#270773: Feb 10th 2019 at 12:36:16 AM

I hope Booker stays pro-charter school.

I REALLY don't like Harris...GHASTLY on criminal justice.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#270774: Feb 10th 2019 at 1:39:46 AM

Booker is going to have more problems than charter schools, given his connections to Wall Street and the oh-so-hated pharma industry.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Grafite Since: Apr, 2016 Relationship Status: Less than three
#270775: Feb 10th 2019 at 2:32:29 AM

I remember when Obama wasn't that tough on corporations after the financial crisis, but Booker still went out of his way to defend Bain Capital, calling on democrats to "stop attacking private equity" and Obama's criticism "nauseating". Bottom choice for me.

Life is unfair...

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