Trump Thread

[Husar]

That was satirical, wasn't it?

No?

I think it wasn't.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/i...ss_secret.html

Scientists also suggest that some forests of Washington and Oregon are overstocked and need to be thinned.

This gives it some perspective, at first it sounded like he just wanted to chop away at all the forests. It still sounds a lot like he cares more about the monetary gain than anything else. Spicer's answer that Trump wants to make use of all the resources on US soil sounds like he agrees about environmental concerns being secondary. Considering that forest fires are partially started by humans to clear the land etc., it all seems a bit cynical to me.

[Montmorency]

I think it wasn't.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/i...ss_secret.html



This gives it some perspective, at first it sounded like he just wanted to chop away at all the forests. It still sounds a lot like he cares more about the monetary gain than anything else. Spicer's answer that Trump wants to make use of all the resources on US soil sounds like he agrees about environmental concerns being secondary. Considering that forest fires are partially started by humans to clear the land etc., it all seems a bit cynical to me.

I was thinking more the bit on forest-fire control costing too much, so cut down the forests to keep them from burning down. Like a satirical distortion of curation efforts which mitigate risk of fire by clearing and shaping growth.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Trump's insanity is finally forcing me to interact with my Congressman. Not that it will do any good.

[HopAlongBunny]

Well, you can't trust the media.
The judiciary is suspect.
Thank God we have Dear Leader to guide us through these uncertain times!

[Pannonian]

I was thinking more the bit on forest-fire control costing too much, so cut down the forests to keep them from burning down. Like a satirical distortion of curation efforts which mitigate risk of fire by clearing and shaping growth.

Rolling back Obamacare makes sense now. If you kill off anyone who's unhealthy, you no longer have a healthcare problem.

[CrossLOPER]

Rolling back Obamacare makes sense now. If you kill off anyone who's unhealthy, you no longer have a healthcare problem.

If everyone is dead, there is no one to have any problems... ever again.

[Strike For The South]

We just witnessed someone buy a political office.

This is why Trump got elected

wait.

[Greyblades]

Sorry my intercontinental telepathy is acting up today, what are you talking about?

[a completely inoffensive name]

Sorry my intercontinental telepathy is acting up today, what are you talking about?

Betsy Devos got confirmed because Pence had to use his tie breaker vote. She is no matter what your politics...not the sharpest knife in the rack.

[Greyblades]

It was the buying part I do not understand.

[Husar]

It was the buying part I do not understand.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-trump-cabinet

Her family spent millions advancing Pence’s voucher program in Indiana. On Fox News on Sunday, Pence called it a “high honor” to cast the deciding vote in her confirmation.

I assume that is meant.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Devos' Predecessors:

Hufstedler -- No education degree, little or no classroom teaching experience, lawyer and jurist
Bell -- Education doctorate, 12+ years classroom teaching experience
Bennet -- No education degree, little or no classroom teaching experience, primarily a GOP operative
Cavazos -- No education degree, 3-4 years of classroom teaching experience (college/med school), physiologist
Alexander -- No education degree, little or no classroom teaching experience, lawyer and politician [parents were both educators in public schools]
Riley -- No education degree, little or no classroom teaching experience, lawyer and politician
Paige -- Doctorate in Physical Education, 7 years classroom teaching experience, football coach
Spelling -- No education degree, little or no classroom teaching experience, political operative and specialized in education reform
Duncan -- No education degree, limited classroom teaching experience, worked in education administration, mostly in underprivileged urban areas
King -- Doctorate in education, 3 years classroom teaching experience, worked in education administration

Devos -- No education degree, little or no classroom teaching experience, businesswoman and political operative

[Bolded names had "silver spoon" upbringings by USA standards]



All-in-all, her appointment is run of the mill. Truly skilled educators reaching the position are the exception. The post is typically a political sinecure.

[Idaho]

So 78 unreported terror attacks. Hmm... because we all know that the press underplay terror attacks.

Your president is actively seeking to increase fear to push through his agenda. You need to do something about it. If this is his opening play, it's very dangerous indeed.

[HopAlongBunny]

A little look at immigration and crime:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...esearch-shows/

Hint: If you want to live in a low crime area...move to a place with a high %'age of immigrants.

[Idaho]

A little look at immigration and crime:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...esearch-shows/

Hint: If you want to live in a low crime area...move to a place with a high %'age of immigrants.

And if you are anything like the UK, if you are freaked out by immigrants, you probably live in an area with very few of them.

[Greyblades]

Ah, another article that keeps it's evidence behind links to paywalls, what joy.

How does the author know immigrants commit fewer crimes? Well you can find out by paying £28 for a day's access. Want to know why we're saying cities with high immigrant population haver lower crime rates? $35.95 please. Want to know the numbers of our own study? Pay up.

As an aside, it's sad the Scientific American has been driven to outsourcing thier articles from theconversation.com.

Times must be tough indeed.

[Montmorency]

Ah, another article that keeps it's evidence behind links to paywalls, what joy.

How does the author know immigrants commit fewer crimes? Well you can find out by paying £28 for a day's access. Want to know why we're saying cities with high immigrant population haver lower crime rates? $35.95 please. Want to know the numbers of our own study? Pay up.

As an aside, it's sad the Scientific American has been driven to outsourcing thier articles from theconversation.com.

Times must be tough indeed.

Yes, paywalls are another contentious issue. If you really want to circumvent them there are various unauthorized databases operating from Russia (which you are enjoined from accessing).

I know less about the underlying with the second point, but you should have noticed by now that online publications regularly host and repost each other's content.

[Xiahou]

Betsy Devos got confirmed because Pence had to use his tie breaker vote. She is no matter what your politics...not the sharpest knife in the rack.

If she successfully expands voucher programs, I'm satisfied. The current system pretty much guarantees that the worst neighborhoods get the worst schools, and the poor children living there have no way out of them. Let them have a choice.

[Greyblades]

And if she kills the identity politics obsession in universities; bonus.

[a completely inoffensive name]

If she successfully expands voucher programs, I'm satisfied. The current system pretty much guarantees that the worst neighborhoods get the worst schools, and the poor children living there have no way out of them. Let them have a choice.

Voucher system is no different. Everyone needs education, what is the incentive for private schools to outperform public schools?

Another case of where the free market fetishists cant overcome their arousal to think about whether the proper incentives are even there.

And if she kills the identity politics obsession in universities; bonus.

You don't even know what this positions does do you?

[a completely inoffensive name]

It was the buying part I do not understand.

Marco Rubio (among others) got $100,000 from Devos prior to the confirmation.

[Sarmatian]

You don't even know what this positions does do you?

You're gonna waste a lot of time this way. Just assume he doesn't know anything and save time by not asking.

[Viking]

A little look at immigration and crime:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...esearch-shows/

Hint: If you want to live in a low crime area...move to a place with a high %'age of immigrants.

I've never really gotten the impression that immigration from Mexico was strongly correlated with crime in the US, though here's a word of caution from the end of one of the scientific articles referred to:

The question remains, however, why is it that after just one generation in the USA, the rate of involvement in crime among immigrants quickly rises to levels that mirror those of the native-born population? Is this pattern reflective of a general process of assimilating into the normative behavioral repertoire of mainstream American youth or, as segmented assimilation theory would suggest, are certain segments of the immigrant second generation are on a downward trajectory assimilating into cultures espousing deviant behavior? Future research should aim at uncovering the factors that buffer first generation immigrants from crime and relatedly, the factors that promote criminal behavior among the children of immigrants.

For reference:

While empirical studies have demonstrated an increase in crime among the children of immigrants compared to their foreign-born peers, the strategy of analyzing group averages may mask important deviations from the mean trajectory. The potential for, and perhaps expectations of, deviations from average trajectories is explicit in contemporary theory aimed at understanding immigrant processes. For instance, noting the enormous diversity found within today's immigrant population, Portes and Zhou (1993) proposed a theory of segmented assimilation. Whereas classic assimilation theory assumed a relatively uniform, linear process of adaptation and assimilation across successive immigrant generations (see, e.g. Warner & Srole, 1945), segmented assimilation theory posited that not all immigrants follow a pattern of ascendance up the social ladder. Although some (and perhaps most) immigrants follow the traditional pathway of upward mobility, others evidence no mobility or may even follow a pathway of downward mobility assimilating into a deviant lifestyle exhibiting low educational achievement, marginal occupational status, and involvement in crime (Portes & Rumbaut, 2006).

[Greyblades]

You don't even know what this positions does do you?

Among other things she will handle matters related to discrimination in schools and colleges on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics.

If Devos can end the inordinate amount of horseshit your country's educational services have pulled over the last decade to pander to every random nutjob's warped definition of discrimination you might actually get a university system that isnt the subject of cautionary tales.

[Xiahou]

Voucher system is no different. Everyone needs education, what is the incentive for private schools to outperform public schools?

Private schools have the ability to fail and go out of business if they underperform. Students can attend other schools and take their funding with them. I thought that was obvious.

[Idaho]

Private schools have the ability to fail and go out of business if they underperform. Students can attend other schools and take their funding with them. I thought that was obvious.

In the UK they get tax breaks on everything, don't have to hire qualified teachers and can cherry pick the easiest exam boards. All to give rich kids that important leg up in life that they really don't need.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

And if she kills the identity politics obsession in universities; bonus.

That brand of identity politics is a component of the American Political left co-culture. Altering it is a cultural change process and well past the ability of any government appointee to do more than nudge a bit.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Among other things she will handle matters related to discrimination in schools and colleges on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics.

If Devos can end the inordinate amount of horseshit your country's educational services have pulled over the last decade to pander to every random nutjob's warped definition of discrimination you might actually get a university system that isnt the subject of cautionary tales.

The only leverage tool she has on the college level is government funding. Using that would pose a threat to the state university systems -- not likely to win points with the Senators of said states who are often alumni of those very institutions. The SoE, via regulation, has far more impact on the K-12 portion of the education system -- though the Trump admin is so far taking a fairly staunch reduce regulation stance, so she'd have to reduce regulations to write others she favored.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Voucher system is no different. Everyone needs education, what is the incentive for private schools to outperform public schools?

Another case of where the free market fetishists cant overcome their arousal to think about whether the proper incentives are even there.

The TRUE 'free market fetishist' would assert that mandated education itself should be abolished, and that it should be each parent's decision to educate their children or not and it should be their own financial decision as to how to fund that education if they do so.

[Greyblades]

There is a multiquote function you know.

The only leverage tool she has on the college level is government funding. Using that would pose a threat to the state university systems -- not likely to win points with the Senators of said states who are often alumni of those very institutions.

Primarily Democrat senators who arent in trump's interest to woo, what with all but a few being unwilling or incapable or of cooperating with the current administration at this point.