American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[GirlySports]

It's all about framing. race theory stuff is all find if it's not at the expense of something else. Same with diversity in general.


For example, as he was slipping in the polls the last few days and his double digit lead was gone, in his last Hail Mary, McAuliffe actually said, "50% of the students at Va. schools K-12, 50% are students of color & yet 80 percent of teachers are white. We all know what we have to do in a school to make everybody feel comfortable in school. So, let’s diversify"


There's got to be a better way to say that. Like, "We need programs to encourage more young people to choose teaching as a profession. We need to make it enticing to people who have not had the opportunity to pursue this profession in the past"

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Azure

You're from Virginia. What do you think about school choice?

Honest question. I didn't know it was a thing. Is it a thing here in Canada even?

I'm not entirely sure exactly what school choice entails but here in Alberta we have quite a bit of school choice. It isn't a fully open system where you can apply to any school but we obviously have the option between private and public and on the public side we have regular public and Catholic. There is also a wide variety of charter school options for people looking for specific educational needs like girls only, STEM based, gifted programs, etc. In the public system there is also the option of enrollment in specific language programs like French, Spanish, Mandarin, etc. With many of these schools anyone can apply for a spot but entry is based on space and often involves a lottery or waitlist. With my kid's they went to French immersion and our school had a large catchment basin for about half the NW and until a couple years ago had a lottery for kids not in the community. Recently a new French immersion elementary opened and took a lot of pressure off our school for enrollment.

[Lanny_McDonald]

School choice is a big problem in the US. What you describe is not really the same problem in Canada, because Canada has standards and requirements to be met by all education institutions, regardless of status. In the US it is very different. Charter schools have become little indoctrination centers for ideology, and most of them driven by likes you would expect. With names like Benjamin Franklin Academy, American Leadership Academy, American Heritage School, Legacy Traditional School, etc., you get an idea where their focus is going to be and the type of students they are going to attract. What is worse, these schools receive public funding, but do not have to follow any guidance on their curriculum. They are becoming another dividing factor in the country, where they have their own facts and spin on history. It is dangerous and weakens the fabric of the nation. If there were enforced national standards it might be easier to manage these institutions, but when they can go and teach whatever they want, how ever they want, it causes decay to the very thing that should keep us together.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I'm not entirely sure exactly what school choice entails but here in Alberta we have quite a bit of school choice. It isn't a fully open system where you can apply to any school but we obviously have the option between private and public and on the public side we have regular public and Catholic. There is also a wide variety of charter school options for people looking for specific educational needs like girls only, STEM based, gifted programs, etc. In the public system there is also the option of enrollment in specific language programs like French, Spanish, Mandarin, etc. With many of these schools anyone can apply for a spot but entry is based on space and often involves a lottery or waitlist. With my kid's they went to French immersion and our school had a large catchment basin for about half the NW and until a couple years ago had a lottery for kids not in the community. Recently a new French immersion elementary opened and took a lot of pressure off our school for enrollment.

Well that is kind of what I'm wondering. Everyone is talking about school choice in the US, and I'm wondering what it actually means based on someone that lives there versus the usual rhetoric about 'PPC IS BADD!! OMG BOOOGYMANWEARELIKEUSTRUMPBAD!!@#@!#@!.'

I also remember going to school in Alberta and students moved to different schools all the time. Even within a small town there were 2 choices for a high school, and I had friends that did grade 11 in one school & grade 12 in the other and often times it was because of class & teacher availability.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Azure

Well that is kind of what I'm wondering. Everyone is talking about school choice in the US, and I'm wondering what it actually means based on someone that lives there versus the usual rhetoric about 'PPC IS BADD!! OMG BOOOGYMANWEARELIKEUSTRUMPBAD!!@#@!#@!.'

I also remember going to school in Alberta and students moved to different schools all the time. Even within a small town there were 2 choices for a high school, and I had friends that did grade 11 in one school & grade 12 in the other and often times it was because of class & teacher availability.

No one said that. Calm down friend.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

School choice is a big problem in the US. What you describe is not really the same problem in Canada, because Canada has standards and requirements to be met by all education institutions, regardless of status. In the US it is very different. Charter schools have become little indoctrination centers for ideology, and most of them driven by likes you would expect. With names like Benjamin Franklin Academy, American Leadership Academy, American Heritage School, Legacy Traditional School, etc., you get an idea where their focus is going to be and the type of students they are going to attract. What is worse, these schools receive public funding, but do not have to follow any guidance on their curriculum. They are becoming another dividing factor in the country, where they have their own facts and spin on history. It is dangerous and weakens the fabric of the nation. If there were enforced national standards it might be easier to manage these institutions, but when they can go and teach whatever they want, how ever they want, it causes decay to the very thing that should keep us together.

Haven't charter schools also become a Dem cornerstone in recent years? Seem to remember both Biden and Obama being pro-charter schools. As usual, I'd imagine this is lobbyists playing (paying) both sides.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

"And now...culture wars" lol where have you been the past 40 years? Culture wars are not some new approach for the GOP. It's just become arguably their number one go to now in the social media era, but they've been battling the culture wars since Reagan.

Remember the GOP initiative in 2004 to put SSM on as many ballots as possible to increase conservative turnout?

[activeStick]

Someone should ask the GOP if yesterday's election results can be trusted.

[Azure]

Well this is fun.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1455883633626132480

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Haven't charter schools also become a Dem cornerstone in recent years? Seem to remember both Biden and Obama being pro-charter schools. As usual, I'd imagine this is lobbyists playing (paying) both sides.

Charter schools aren’t private schools. They’re not for-profit. They’re publicly-funded schools that have a non-standard focus (athletics, art, language, etc). So I’m not sure who these lobbyists would be and why they would pay.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Charter schools aren’t private schools. They’re not for-profit. They’re publicly-funded schools that have a non-standard focus (athletics, art, language, etc). So I’m not sure who these lobbyists would be and why they would pay.

Are you seriously this uninformed? The Devos family doesn't ring any bells?

[opendoor]

LOL, yeah no one ever finds a way to profit from nonprofits. Just a couple of examples of how people profit from charter schools off the top of my head:

-the charter school itself is non-profit, but they contract a for-profit "management organization" to effectively run the school. There's no requirement that the two organizations be at arm's length, so often they're basically the same people running both.

-charter school is non-profit, but they rent their facilities at a grossly inflated rate from a for-profit company. One example I read about was a company renting a facility for ~$275K a year, but then turning around and subletting it to its own charter school for more than 10x that rate.

And of course that money has to come from somewhere. So when the government gives these schools money, instead of going to front line education, a good chunk of it flows to companies and their shareholders.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Azure

Well this is fun.

I always found it strange that the US Federal Government actually allows you deduct your state and local taxes off their tax bill when in Canada, the various levels of taxes are separate and how much you pay to one government doesn't affect how much you pay to the other.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by opendoor

LOL, yeah no one ever finds a way to profit from nonprofits. Just a couple of examples of how people profit from charter schools off the top of my head:

-the charter school itself is non-profit, but they contract a for-profit "management organization" to effectively run the school. There's no requirement that the two organizations be at arm's length, so often they're basically the same people running both.

-charter school is non-profit, but they rent their facilities at a grossly inflated rate from a for-profit company. One example I read about was a company renting a facility for ~$275K a year, but then turning around and subletting it to its own charter school for more than 10x that rate.

And of course that money has to come from somewhere. So when the government gives these schools money, instead of going to front line education, a good chunk of it flows to companies and their shareholders.

He literally noted a reason for why they'd be motivated to lobby in his post (public money), too. Just lol all around.

All of that plus the ideologically-motivated reasons that Lanny mentioned for wanting more charter schools.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

POS Donald Trump Jr. is selling the following t-shirts:
Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people

Originally Posted by Sliver

k, I can kinda see the humour in that, though.

Originally Posted by dino7c

Its still a dbag move...someone's wife/mother/daughter is dead. You wear that because he made fun of your dad on a skit show that has poked fun at every president ever?

How many died in the ego riot again?

Yeah, but I can hold multiple thoughts in my head at once. Of course Jr. is an #######, dooshbag, arrogant prick, etc. Of course it's sad somebody died. I can also see the humour in the jab. I don't have to pretend there isn't an element of humour in it just because it's a right-wing joke and I'm a left leaner.

[rubecube]

So if it wasn't negligence, does that mean it was malice? The only other option is gross incompetence which, in this situation, should equal negligence.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1455966749095079942

[rubecube]

Bad news for people who still believed that means-testing actually works. Good thing we delayed getting stimulus cheques out to people who needed them to ensure this exact thing didn't happen.

https://www.propublica.org/article/t...g-the-pandemic

EDIT: And yes, I'm aware this happened under Trump. If you think it went any differently under Biden in 2021, I have a bridge to sell you.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Bad news for people who still believed that means-testing actually works. Good thing we delayed getting stimulus cheques out to people who needed them to ensure this exact thing didn't happen.

https://www.propublica.org/article/t...g-the-pandemic

EDIT: And yes, I'm aware this happened under Trump. If you think it went any differently under Biden in 2021, I have a bridge to sell you.

Meanwhile, I got laid off in March, 2020, and haven’t had paid employment since, and neither I nor my wife received any stimulus check, all because our income was “too high” in 2019. Humph.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Charter schools aren’t private schools. They’re not for-profit. They’re publicly-funded schools that have a non-standard focus (athletics, art, language, etc). So I’m not sure who these lobbyists would be and why they would pay.

In the United States charter schools are privately operated, but receive public funding. There are requirements for students to meet to have access to the school, at the discretion of the management of the “institution”, and those that don’t meet that standard are asked to leave. This is a big thing, because funding is tied to performance, and students that aren’t cutting it are quickly weeded out, so the public coffers remain open. There are many that are quite good, but for every one that is good, there is another one that is a scam. Education in the US is a big business, and charter schools are just another way of exploiting the system.

[direwolf]

Dems get a win in New Jersey...barely.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/03/polit...lts/index.html

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has become the first Democratic governor in more than four decades to win reelection in the Garden State, CNN projects Wednesday, narrowly surviving a closer-than-expected race that dragged well past Election Day.

Murphy's victory over Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli, albeit slim, defied the state's trend of voting in the party out of the White House in its off-year gubernatorial contests. Virginia -- the only other with odd-year gubernatorial elections -- held to that historical pattern on Tuesday, electing Republican Glenn Youngkin in a resounding blow to Democrats who had made recent gains in the state.

But like Virginia, the results in New Jersey -- another state that President Joe Biden carried by double digits in 2020 -- are raising alarms for Democrats who will be fighting to hold onto the suburbs in next year's midterm elections.

Murphy was saved, in the end, by the overwhelming advantage registered Democrats enjoy over registered Republicans -- more than a million in New Jersey, though voters there have shown a willingness to support moderate GOP candidates, like two-term former Govs. Christie Todd Whitman and, before Murphy's 2017 election, Chris Christie.