All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Gray Lensman]

This is pretty much how I feel, since if we're going to have Laws there needs to be a system in place to Enforce them. Many Laws need work just like the Enforcement wing does, but that doesn't mean that the concept of Law Enforcement is itself wrong and needs to be abolished.

Minneapolis might very well be right to get rid of the police and start over. Besides having been ground zero for where all this began, we have film of the police breaking stuff and slashing tires themselves, to say nothing of the other violent acts. Sometimes something is just so rotten you need to start over from scratch.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

That might depend on the city. In some places it really looks like they need to burn the police department to the ground and start over with a 100% new one. In others they might not need to do anything at all other than review some policies to make sure the department stays a good one. Or something in between.

There are no good police departments.

The solution is to find an alternative to the police, not more reforms that will strengthen the police.

[Mister Mets]

He just keeps helping Russia. Possibly in exchange for Putin's continued help until November.


You're likely corresponding with one there.

Nope.

My particular situation might not be applicable elsewhere, so it may not be relevant to the problems of a teacher in another state.

In New York City, teachers are reimbursed for up to $250 each year, which mitigates much of these costs.

https://www.uft.org/your-union/uft-p...eachers-choice

There are also various supply giveaways.

I don't mind teachers spending some money out of pocket, as long as salaries are reasonable. They're going to understand their individual needs better than others will. When the school pays for everything, that creates a layer of bureaucracy that can be burdensome. There can also be the expectation that items that are purchased on school funds can only be used for school purposes, so it's easier to use an item that you own where these things don't need to be justified.

find me a public school teacher who isn't using their own money to buy supplies for their classes/students

take the money out of police budgets and put it in education and you fix a lot of these problems

and when this administration is done, bring DeVos in front of a Congressional panel and demand answers

then charge her with criminal malfeasance and defrauding in various states where she has slashed budgets to funnel money to private schools

Washington was the state with the median instruction spending per student, at about $6,538 per student per year (with an additional $4,525 on average for support services) so the problem might not be that most states spend too little (unless you want radical changes like classes of 3-10 kids being the norm) but that they're spending it in the wrong ways.

As for charging DeVos with criminal malfeasance and defrauding states, that would depend on the understanding that she clearly violated key statutes. Any precedent set in an investigation of her would be used by the next Republican President and Congress.

[Mister Mets]

How can you even ask something like this when over the course of the protests, it is the the police that is responsible for almost all the of the violent crime?

Law enforcement is an abject failure. The police commit more violence than your average person, even in their personal lives.

Research suggests that family violence is two to four times higher in the law-enforcement community than in the general population. So where's the public outrage?

Most people have not come to the conclusion that police are responsible for almost all of the violent crime, so that's going to affect their policy suggestions.

Which doesn't discount that Trump is a fascist.

If Trump were really a fascist, his critics would be afraid to say so publicly for fear of retribution.

[Tami]

This is pretty much how I feel, since if we're going to have Laws there needs to be a system in place to Enforce them. Many Laws need work just like the Enforcement wing does, but that doesn't mean that the concept of Law Enforcement is itself wrong and needs to be abolished.

Just because we have one bad President (Trump) doesn't mean we should abolish the Executive Branch and burn down the White House.

For a nation this large, there is no viable alternative to a civil Police Force. Only, in some cases, the Police Force has forgotten how to be civil, they have forgotten what they are hired to do.

[Tami]

Most people have not come to the conclusion that people are responsible for almost all of the violent crime, so that's going to affect their policy suggestions.

If Trump were really a fascist, his critics would be afraid to say so publicly.

Uh, why? America has never been afraid to speak her mind. Trump is a lot of things, and those things will be brought up again and again until he is out of office, and maybe for some time afterwards.

[Malvolio]

Mainly because it is the response of bigots who want to ignore what BLM is protesting.

The phrase "All Lives Matter" makes the assumption that "Black Lives Matter" is an either/or statement, that anyone saying "Black Lives Matter" is also saying that white lives don't matter. Of course that's not true. The bottom line is that people who say "All Lives Matter" want to pretend that racism no longer exists and the Black Lives Matter movement makes it really hard for them to maintain that delusion.

[aja_christopher]

No one said Trump is good at being a fascist -- just that he is one.

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"Pelosi, House Democratic Leaders on Ryan Republican Budget Cuts to Education"

"Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Members of the House Democratic Caucus will hold a press availability today at 9:45 a.m. at the Will Rogers stakeout location on the impact of the Ryan Republican Budget's devastating cuts to education. Leader Pelosi and House Democrats will highlight the budget's callous cuts to education, from Head Start to K-12 initiatives to job training, threatening our nation's competitiveness for generations to come."

[worstblogever]

Oh WBE! Here you go! Another crazy for the list! Meet Rep. Dave Williams of Colorado. Here's him spreading a conspiracy theory of saying Democrats are planning to kill Republicans.




Here's him part of a lawsuit against a red flag gun law.




Here's him calling Democrats Anti-Christians and him defending homophobia.




Here's Dave regarding vaccinations.




And here is alongside Republican of the Day regular, Stephen Humpery, with pushing some anti-LGBT laws.




He is perfect for you to cover WBE!

Already in the queue... although damn, that's a lot of research already.

[sammy_hansen]

And serious question, what is offensive with the phrase "All Lives Matter?" Don't they?

This is what is really frustrating at the moment. There is literally no excuse for ignorance anymore. There are multitudes of resources available to educate yourself.

[Dalak]

There are no good police departments.

The solution is to find an alternative to the police, not more reforms that will strengthen the police.

Just because we have one bad President (Trump) doesn't mean we should abolish the Executive Branch and burn down the White House.

For a nation this large, there is no viable alternative to a civil Police Force. Only, in some cases, the Police Force has forgotten how to be civil, they have forgotten what they are hired to do.

To reply to both: I'm a Discworld fan, and I know there's always got to be a Watchman. Whatever we wind up calling Police needs to be even handed it's law enforcement, but that's only step one. The Courts and the Laws they enforce also need work in many cases to expunge codified bigotry of all stripes.

[InformationGeek]

Already in the queue... although damn, that's a lot of research already.

Yeah. I saw the conspiracy tweet being mentioned by someone I follow online and checking it out, it made me curious about this fool. So diving in, I found a lot of information without even really trying. This guy goes deep in his crazy. >_<

[aja_christopher]

To reply to both: I'm a Discworld fan, and I know there's always got to be a Watchman. Whatever we wind up calling Police needs to be even handed it's law enforcement, but that's only step one. The Courts and the Laws they enforce also need work in many cases to expunge codified bigotry of all stripes.

[Electricmastro]

There are no good police departments.

The solution is to find an alternative to the police, not more reforms that will strengthen the police.

That’s like saying to eradicate every one of the Christian churches on the basis of quite a number of priests being convicted of committing sexual-related crimes. The police system doesn’t necessarily have to be gotten just more production that will value in holding the departments to more responsibility.

[aja_christopher]

"Unarmed black man handcuffed by Alameda police for 'dancing in the street'"