Nov 2023 Mod notice:
There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines
before posting here.
Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.
If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules
when posting here.
In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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.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 YangIs 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.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.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...
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
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
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![]()
I dont know if its bad that that doesnt even suprise or concern me any more since its just buisness as usual for him. :/
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.
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.
@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.Mumps outbreak at Houston ICE center.
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...

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