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[Carpe Libertatem]

I really hope our educators are looking for ways to train students on effectively sifting through the news for the truth.

I was just thinking that I don't know anyone that goes in on left-leaning fake news or conspiracies and then immediately when I checked Facebook a middle aged public school teacher I know posted a link to a Bipartisan Report article saying that all 8 sitting SCOTUS Justices signed a unanimous letter opposing Gorsuch's confirmation.

Fuck.

lol

 

[CrimzonSamurai]

I found the article. It's a remarkable leap of logic from a unanimous SCOTUS decision overturning a Gorsuch decision.

I'm honestly physically upset that she had enough faith in its validity to even share the link. I mean she shared it from someone else, which is like 1% less bad, I guess.

She's just so desperate for this whole administration to be over I guess she's grasping at any straw of hope.

I commented and explained what it actually was (that opinion from like 2 weeks ago) but I'm shifting back and forth trying to decide if I should go back and give her a harder time.

 

[CoffeeJanitor]

I'm honestly physically upset that she had enough faith in its validity to even share the link. I mean she shared it from someone else, which is like 1% less bad, I guess.

She's just so desperate for this whole administration to be over I guess she's grasping at any straw of hope.

I commented and explained what it actually was (that opinion from like 2 weeks ago) but I'm shifting back and forth trying to decide if I should go back and give her a harder time.

I personally find it much more gratifying to just follow the facts of how this presidency and congress have gone thus far...There's no need to grasp at hope when these guys are failing at every turn.

 

[AntraxSuicide]

I really hope our educators are looking for ways to train students on effectively sifting through the news for the truth.

Our educators aren't really up to the task until you get to late high school if you're talking about a good school, and not until college otherwise (which you might not go to). My high school education consisted of wasting time for 80% of the curriculum, across all subjects. I suspect many of my teachers didn't have degrees that qualified them for the jobs (they were all veterans of over 30 years, which is admirable, but the needed qualifications to be a teacher in rural Mississippi back then were most likely not as high as they should've been).

Teaching needs to be elevated to a professional job, as opposed to its current salary where we actually see people with degrees in Education making less (on average) than people who just never went to college in the first place. If they were paid better, you could ask for better classrooms with better classes.

To hop on my soapbox here, I teach math at a university, and if we changed the numbers so that the math literacy level in this country was actually the reading literacy level, people would think it was a national crisis. I have students who need a calculator to do things like 5*7, which is literally 3rd grade math. If you saw whole classes of kids in a Lit class who couldn't read Hank the Cowdog, we'd be dumping money on schools. Our math skills in this country are atrocious, and it's destroying a lot of people's chances at some careers that are actually dying for new hires. STEM fields in some areas are basically open hiring anyone with a related degree, but a shit ton of high school grads would never get above a 10% on a Calculus 1 exam to ever get those degrees.

*hops off soap box*

 

[More_Badass]

To hop on my soapbox here, I teach math at a university, and if we changed the numbers so that the math literacy level in this country was actually the reading literacy level, people would think it was a national crisis. I have students who need a calculator to do things like 5*7, which is literally 3rd grade math. If you saw whole classes of kids in a Lit class who couldn't read Hank the Cowdog, we'd be dumping money on schools. Our math skills in this country are atrocious, and it's destroying a lot of people's chances at some careers that are actually dying for new hires. STEM fields in some areas are basically open hiring anyone with a related degree, but a shit ton of high school grads would never get above a 10% on a Calculus 1 exam to ever get those degrees.

*hops off soap box*

That's crazy. I thought learning the multiplication table until you can do it in your sleep was a constant among schools.

 

[Zolo]

That's crazy. I thought learning the multiplication table until you can do it in your sleep was a constant among schools.

Yeah. I had to recently reteach myself how to do 2-step and beyond multiplication after using a calculator for years, but I was able to pick it back up easily.

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

Our educators aren't really up to the task until you get to late high school if you're talking about a good school, and not until college otherwise (which you might not go to). My high school education consisted of wasting time for 80% of the curriculum, across all subjects. I suspect many of my teachers didn't have degrees that qualified them for the jobs (they were all veterans of over 30 years, which is admirable, but the needed qualifications to be a teacher in rural Mississippi back then were most likely not as high as they should've been).

Teaching needs to be elevated to a professional job, as opposed to its current salary where we actually see people with degrees in Education making less (on average) than people who just never went to college in the first place. If they were paid better, you could ask for better classrooms with better classes.

To hop on my soapbox here, I teach math at a university, and if we changed the numbers so that the math literacy level in this country was actually the reading literacy level, people would think it was a national crisis. I have students who need a calculator to do things like 5*7, which is literally 3rd grade math. If you saw whole classes of kids in a Lit class who couldn't read Hank the Cowdog, we'd be dumping money on schools. Our math skills in this country are atrocious, and it's destroying a lot of people's chances at some careers that are actually dying for new hires. STEM fields in some areas are basically open hiring anyone with a related degree, but a shit ton of high school grads would never get above a 10% on a Calculus 1 exam to ever get those degrees.

*hops off soap box*

weren't you just lecturing me the other day on STEM worship

I think both equalizing school funding (so no more basing it in property taxes) as well as hiring more teachers and paying our existing teachers is a pretty important issue. It's why charter school bullshit needs to just be stopped, since they're just a way to fuck over teachers and poor students while making education a commodity. Of course, the biggest correlating factor to educational outcomes is just wealth so maybe we should do some of that welfare redistribution stuff.

 

[hydragonwarrior]

That's crazy. I thought learning the multiplication table until you can do it in your sleep was a constant among schools.

In Canada, I had to master it by Grade 2... But it really depends on your school too. When my parents moved, I found out mastery of the multiplication table in the new school I moved to only took place at Grade 4! This gave me an amazing edge at the time

 

[Zolo]

In Canada, I had to master it by Grade 2... But it really depends on your school too. When my parents moved, I found out mastery of the multiplication table in the new school I moved to only took place at Grade 4! This gave me an amazing edge at the time

Think it was grade 3 for me.

 

[CygnusXS]

In Canada, I had to master it by Grade 2... But it really depends on your school too. When my parents moved, I found out mastery of the multiplication table in the new school I moved to only took place at Grade 4! This gave me an amazing edge at the time

Yeah, I remember doing it in Grade 1 in south Ontario.

 

[Nordicus]

Ha if true

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/325865-report-ryan-pleaded-on-one-knee-for-obamacare-repeal-vote

Paul pulling a Paulson?

From being kneeled to, to doing the kneeling.

The quality of Speakers sure has plummeted.

 

[Crocodile]

Old at this point but I just ran into this so LOL

 

[neurosisxeno]

So today we're going to cripple climate change efforts? Sounds good.

 

[Chumley]

Donald started sending Joe checks again.

 

[chadskin]

Senate investigators plan to question Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and a close adviser, as part of their broad inquiry into ties between Trump associates and Russian officials or others linked to the Kremlin, according to administration and congressional officials.

The White House Counsel's Office was informed this month that the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, wanted to question Mr. Kushner about meetings he arranged with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, according to the government officials. The meetings included a previously unreported sit-down with the head of Russia's state-owned development bank.

https://nytimes.com/2017/03/27/us/politics/senate-jared-kushner-russia.html

 

[Wilsongt]

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump

Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!
8:21 AM · Mar 26, 2017

That attack line falls a bit flat you orange boob when that is a good thing for people overall.

 

[Carpe Libertatem]

weren't you just lecturing me the other day on STEM worship

I think both equalizing school funding (so no more basing it in property taxes) as well as hiring more teachers and paying our existing teachers is a pretty important issue. It's why charter school bullshit needs to just be stopped, since they're just a way to fuck over teachers and poor students while making education a commodity. Of course, the biggest correlating factor to educational outcomes is just wealth so maybe we should do some of that welfare redistribution stuff.

I wouldn't say that charter schools (at least public ones - private is a different story) fuck over poor students. Teachers, sure, since they often aren't part of a union.

They make sense for large urban districts as a way to provide options for students whose schools are generally not great. The results are often no better than public schools, but some charter schools do interesting & useful things. School choice is not a bad thing, except when Republicans try to justify giving government money to private or religious schools.

 

[jmood88]

I wouldn't say that charter schools (at least public ones - private is a different story) fuck over poor students. Teachers, sure, since they often aren't part of a union.

They make sense for large urban districts as a way to provide options for students whose schools are generally not great. The results are often no better than public schools, but some charter schools do interesting & useful things. School choice is not a bad thing, except when Republicans try to justify giving government money to private or religious schools.

There's nothing inherently wrong with charter schools but the problem is that too many cities/states are giving them wide latitude to do whatever they want with almost no oversight or consequences.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

For those wondering, here's some more info on how fucked Trump and the GOP are on tax reform:

On tax reform, Republicans are already divided over Speaker Paul Ryan's border-adjustment-tax proposal. "It's virtually guaranteed that the companies who will pay more because of the proposed changes will fight at least as hard as those that will pay less. That will make the tax reform debate longer, tougher and much nastier than anyone is currently assuming," budget expert Stan Collender writes. On keeping the government funded, Axios says the issue of Planned Parenthood could potentially shut down the government. "The conservative House Freedom Caucus … will almost certainly make defunding the women's health group and country's biggest abortion provider a non-negotiable condition for it to support the government funding bill." And on raising the debt limit, well, we've seen that movie before, right?

So if unifying Republicans doesn't work, Trump and his team can turn to Democrats. "In the end, there's a group of people in this party who just won't say yes," Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) told the New York Times. "At some point, I think that means looking beyond our conference. The president is a deal maker, and Ronald Reagan cut some of his most important deals with Democrats."

But here's the problem with that: Democratic voters are almost universally opposed to Trump, so any Democrat who reaches out to work with the president on these issues (or other ones like infrastructure) will face a backlash. Trump reaching out initially to Democrats after his surprise presidential victory might have boxed in some Democrats. But with his approval rating now in the 30s and 40s — and much, much lower than that among Democrats — the opposition party already smells blood in the water and is looking ahead to the midterms.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...re-defeat-trump-s-two-options-are-bad-n738861

 

[balladofwindfishes]

A shut down when they hold all three branches would be even more embarrassing than the Health Care debacle

The FC wants the government shut down, so it's not like they're coming to the table in good faith. The government shuts down and they get what they wanted. They defund PP and they get what they wanted. It's win win for them. There's no reason for them to cooperate.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

A shut down when they hold all three branches would be even more embarrassing than the Health Care debacle

The FC wants the government shut down, so it's not like they're coming to the table in good faith. The government shuts down and they get what they wanted. They defund PP and they get what they wanted. It's win win for them. There's no reason for them to cooperate.

Right. And good fucking luck trying to get a border tax. Special interests will eat Ryan for lunch.

 

[Surfinn]

https://nytimes.com/2017/03/27/us/politics/senate-jared-kushner-russia.html

Seems kinda big?

 

[Wilsongt]

We were worried about how fucked we would be with the GOP controlling all branches of government.

It's hilarious just how incompetent these chucklefucks are.

 

[Carpe Libertatem]

There's nothing inherently wrong with charter schools but the problem is that too many cities/states are giving them wide latitude to do whatever they want with almost no oversight or consequences.

Right, but I also think this is changing as charter schools become more prevalent. They are relatively new, after all, especially in some areas.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

We were worried about how fucked we would be with the GOP controlling all branches of government.

It's hilarious just how incompetent these chucklefucks are.

I was taught in school that the government generally works better when there's bipartisan decisions being made. We're seeing now why that is generally accepted as fact.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

Moderate Democrats better not fall for Trump's "reach across the aisle" bullshit. He just wants a win and will immediately throw anyone under the bus, even if they work with him. I guess the positive is that if he really tries to work with Democrats, that might be the thing that jump starts impeachment hearings.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Moderate Democrats better not fall for Trump's "reach across the aisle" bullshit. He just wants a win and will immediately throw anyone under the bus, even if they work with him. I guess the positive is that if he really tries to work with Democrats, that might be the thing that jump starts impeachment hearings.

Democrats have no reason to work with Trump. Their base absolutely hates him and are fired up.

It's also pretty hard to (successfully) blame the Democrats if the government shuts down, since they're the minority in all branches

 

[AndyD]

All the Dems have to do is help the republicans craft a really good infrastructure bill like the one they wanted as soon as Obama took office for it to instantly be shot down by the conservatives. The Dems take no damage as they looked like trying to build a bridge with the other side and get shot down. It's all L's for the GOP no matter what at this point.

Pretty much the way I see it. They need to start putting forth credible bills. On tax, on infrastructure, even on fixing ACA issues. Because they can then compare them to the Republican bills and unlike Republicans who just ran on not-Obama, they can show substantive work behind their rhetoric.

 

[Plinko]

What are the odds republicans actually realize they need democrats and put forth quality bills that benefit the poor and middle-class that bring democrats into the fold?

I'm guessing under 10%.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

What are the odds republicans actually realize they need democrats and put forth quality bills that benefit the poor and middle-class that bring democrats into the fold?

I'm guessing under 10%.

lol/10

 

[BoogieWoogie]

What are the odds republicans actually realize they need democrats and put forth quality bills that benefit the poor and middle-class that bring democrats into the fold?

I'm guessing under 10%.

Benefit the...poor?

DOES NOT COMPUTE

 

[dramatis]

More like under 0

 

[Nazgul_Hunter]

So Devin Nunes told Jake Tapper he was at the White House the day before he announced the vindicating wire tapping info.

Can this be any more transparent? The White House gave him the intel and then they put on the disaster of a show and Nunes seems ready to squeal.

 

[Zeke]

Wtf was with the defense force over trump golfing every weekend on msnbc? That really bugged me.

 

[Blader]

What are the odds republicans actually realize they need democrats and put forth quality bills that benefit the poor and middle-class that bring democrats into the fold?

I'm guessing under 10%.

I was with you up until "benefit the poor."

 

[Pandora012]

Would be nice to see moderate Republicans and Democrats to team up. I wonder how many there are in each party.

 

[Wilsongt]

Wtf was with the defense force over trump golfing every weekend on msnbc? That really bugged me.

Republicans held to a different standard than Democrats.

Obama golfing was the ultimate sin because people were being shot in Chicago every day and he should have been dealing with it.

Trump running to Mar-a-Lagom every weekend is fine.

In his defense, the more he is away from Washington, the less time he is spending fucking us. Still, treating being president as a M-F job is awfully dumb.

 

[Suikoguy]

Would be nice to see moderate Republicans and Democrats to team up. I wonder how many there are in each party.

There are not enough to get a majority.
The incrementalist in me wishes there was, as it's better then the stagnation we have now.

 

[NewFresh]

Republicans held to a different standard than Democrats.

Obama golfing was the ultimate sin because people were being shot in Chicago every day and he should have been dealing with it.

Trump running to Mar-a-Lagom every weekend is fine.

In his defense, the more he is away from Washington, the less time he is spending fucking us. Still, treating being president as a M-F job is awfully dumb.

Friday is for travel. So really M-T job.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I don't want the Democrats to work with the GOP at all because it just feeds into Trump being a good negotiator and legitimizes him.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

I don't want the Democrats to work with the GOP at all because it just feeds into Trump being a good negotiator and legitimizes him.

Zero reason to work with him. They draft up good Dem polices as bills to counter the GOP fumbling to get stuff done. Have a positive message to run with as well as obstruction.

 

[AndyD]

Republicans held to a different standard than Democrats.

Obama golfing was the ultimate sin because people were being shot in Chicago every day and he should have been dealing with it.

Trump running to Mar-a-Lagom every weekend is fine.

In his defense, the more he is away from Washington, the less time he is spending fucking us. Still, treating being president as a M-F job is awfully dumb.

Yep. That said, has there been discussion on the significant casualties to the bomb strike last week? Was it another go hard, no intel job?

 

[AntraxSuicide]

weren't you just lecturing me the other day on STEM worship

I think both equalizing school funding (so no more basing it in property taxes) as well as hiring more teachers and paying our existing teachers is a pretty important issue. It's why charter school bullshit needs to just be stopped, since they're just a way to fuck over teachers and poor students while making education a commodity. Of course, the biggest correlating factor to educational outcomes is just wealth so maybe we should do some of that welfare redistribution stuff.

It's not that everyone should go into STEM, but all career paths should be available once you start college. That's not the case with STEM in the US; if you don't know calculus 1, you won't be able to get virtually any STEM degree, even the medical ones (which at my university requires at least a few calculus classes).

 

[mclem]

All the Dems have to do is help the republicans craft a really good infrastructure bill like the one they wanted as soon as Obama took office for it to instantly be shot down by the conservatives. The Dems take no damage as they looked like trying to build a bridge with the other side and get shot down. It's all L's for the GOP no matter what at this point.

Literally, in some ways.

 

[More_Badass]

It's not that everyone should go into STEM, but all career paths should be available once you start college. That's not the case with STEM in the US; if you don't know calculus 1, you won't be able to get virtually any STEM degree, even the medical ones (which at my university requires at least a few calculus classes).

How would that even be possible? Math especially is cumulative. All career paths can't be available once you start college, because you need that foundational math knowledge before you get to college.

 

[Cesare Borgia]

I don't want the Democrats to work with the GOP at all because it just feeds into Trump being a good negotiator and legitimizes him.

He's proven that he's not a good negotiator; Nancy Pelosi would have no problem getting the best of him if she was Speaker. I think he's vindictive enough to work with democrats to spite the Freedom Caucus, depending on the issue.

I'm very curious to see how tax reform goes. From what I understand the legislation is basically already written. I'm curious how Trump will react to that. Does he want to take the reigns, have the WH+congressional allies draft something instead? Or will he let Ryan steer the ship again.

 

[sazzy]

Yet the blame game is taking a toll on an exhausted White House. At the highest levels of the West Wing, the mood has grown so tense that staffers have begun calling up reporters inquiring whether other senior aides are leaking damaging information about them.

wowza

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-blame-agenda-stalls-236508

 

[More_Badass]

wowza

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-blame-agenda-stalls-236508

That sounds like a functional government

Although doesn't asking about damaging information imply that damaging information exists?

 

[AndyD]

How would that even be possible? Math especially is cumulative. All career paths can't be available once you start college, because you need that foundational math knowledge before you get to college.

You can certainly work your way up or start with calculus once in college if you didn't before. That said if you never took any math beyond Algebra at lower levels, you won't have the time in college to catch up without effort on your part.

Most classes are cumulative not just STEM though in order to really excel and get the best our of your degree. Languages, including English are a very good example.

 

[Manmademan]

He's proven that he's not a good negotiator; Nancy Pelosi would have no problem getting the best of him if she was Speaker. I think he's vindictive enough to work with democrats to spite the Freedom Caucus, depending on the issue.

I'm very curious to see how tax reform goes. From what I understand the legislation is basically already written. I'm curious how Trump will react to that. Does he want to take the reigns, have the WH+congressional allies draft something instead? Or will he let Ryan steer the ship again.

Tax reform is dead. Without the millions saved from axing Medicaid in the AHCA bill, trumps Tax Reform violates the Byrd rule and reconciliation can't be used to pass it.

That means it has a 60 vote threshold instead of 51, and there are no democrats that will back that kind of bill.