Twitter Link Powell isn't just voting Democrat, he's P.O.'s at the Republicans in government.Notably Colin Powell in @jaketapper interview doesn’t just eviscerate Trump for lying, dividing and threatening the Constitution, but also condemns GOP lawmakers for not speaking up and acting. “We’re not a country of just a president. We have a Congress. We have a Supreme Court”
As for the other, I do get that a group can call themselves 'The High Holy Worshipers of the Sacred Constitution' and still be a violent extremist group out to kill anyone whose skin color isn't as pale as a pearl and/or whose last name isn't West Germanic.
However, most groups do tend to name themselves as they see themselves. If there is any confusion, there are plenty of books and articles written on various political groups that give clear definitions or assessments of these groups and how they see themselves.
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
It's very easy to talk past one another if terms like smaller class sizes are not defined.
If you want classes of less than ten people to be the norm, that is a very different policy discussion than wanting classes with about 20 students each.
We could probably get to significantly smaller classrooms, by reprioritizing current spending.
The state with the lowest spending per student is Arizona, at about $4,077 a student for instruction (with an additional $3,105 allocated per student for support services.)
https://www.governing.com/gov-data/e...upil-data.html
That leaves over $80,000 an year to pay for the teachers for those 20 students. I get there are complicating factors (average spending doesn't indicate disparities between wealthier and poorer districts, teachers have prep time so you'll always need more than one teacher per class, etc.) but this is a different discussion than whether we should have classes with 3-10 students.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
"Trump Tax Cuts Helped Billionaires Pay Less Taxes Than The Working Class In 2018"
"For the first time in American history, the 400 wealthiest people paid a lower tax rate than any other group, according to a new study by economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman at the University of California, Berkeley.
The startling data was brought to light on Monday in a New York Times column, and is based on an analysis by Saez and Zucman in their new book, The Triumph Of Injustice. Some critics of the new research say that the data is skewed, or even potentially wrong. However, the fact that the ultra-rich potentially pay a lower tax rate than the working class is a massive problem. The Trump administration’s tax cuts for the wealthy highlight the fact that policy is moving in the wrong direction. Especially when there’s worry of a potential recession.
Bill Gates agrees and has previously said, “There’s no doubt that what we want government to do in terms of better education and better health care means that we need to collect more in taxes. And there’s no doubt that as we raise taxes, we can have most of that additional money come from those who are better off... I need to pay higher taxes.”
Our schools lag those of other countries (the U.S. ranks 30th in math and 19th in science), our citizens are less healthy (the U.S. ranks 26th in life expectancy and 29th in infant mortality), and Americans are unhappy (the U.S. ranks 19th in happiness). Improving our schools, health care, and well-being all require a large collective investment in the form of taxes.
One worrying trend however, is the fact that views of taxation are increasingly falling along political party lines. The breakdown between Republicans and Democrats is fairly even among income brackets until you get to incomes below $30,000, at which point more identify as Democrats. This leads me to believe that an outsized portion of low-income Republicans still believe that the present federal tax system is very or moderately fair.
This comes into conflict with the reams of data available to show that the system is, after all, not fair. Income inequality is widening to record levels and there’s no reason to believe the trend will slow down.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was the largest tax overhaul in over three decades. It was rushed through congress and it’s working exactly as it was intended to do so: to line the pockets of the wealthy at the expense of the working class. Optically, it was championed as a way to boost the economy, but the fact is that unemployment was already low and the cuts came amidst a long bull market.
The tax cuts are deficit-financed which, according to William Gale, the Arjay and Frances Fearing Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy at Brookings, means that “resources will be taken away from future generations as well as today’s working class.” In the past, we’ve seen that the government can create innovations like the 401(k), so clearly, it’s possible to pass tax reform that will actually help the average person.
A more fair tax system isn’t intended to curb income inequality, but rather make sure that billionaires pay their fair share for public works and shared resources. The very same resources they rely on to build their companies. Shrinking inequality would simply be a nice side-effect.
If nothing else, it’s clear that there’s a taxation problem in America and the current solution is only making it worse. I don’t know about you, but fair isn’t the word that I would use to describe a system in which those with the most contribute the least, by virtue of lower tax rates.
But the data shows a lot of you disagree, and it might be due to the fact that you didn’t realize the current system really only benefits those at the very top.
Now we know."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/camilom...class-in-2018/
Last edited by aja_christopher; 06-07-2020 at 08:50 AM.
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
Last edited by Jack Dracula; 06-07-2020 at 09:51 AM.
The Cover Contest Weekly Winners ThreadSo much winning!!
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis
“It’s your party and you can cry if you want to.” - Captain Europe
CDC: 19% Of Americans Have Put Bleach On Food To Kill Coronavirus, How Instead To Keep Food Clean
There are some simple things that you can do to stay safe. Such as look both ways before you cross the street. Don’t use a toaster while taking a bath. Oh, and don’t eat or drink bleach.
The last piece of advice should be relatively straightforward, because after all, you are not a toilet bowl. Yet, according to survey results just published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 39% of the Americans surveyed have done high-risk things with household cleaners in attempts to stay safe from the Covid-19 coronavirus. Yeah, when people encourage you to take risks in life, this is probably not what they mean.
These high-risk activities included drinking or gargling diluted bleach solutions, soapy water, and other cleaning and disinfectant solutions, which 4% of the survey respondents said they have done. (A total of 502 adults were administered the Internet-based survey on May 4.) It also including trying to clean their hands or skin (18%) or misting their bodies (10%) with household cleaning and disinfectant products. There was also the 6% that have inhaled the vapors of such products, even though such products are not bacon or fresh-baked cookies.These are all no-no’s, as in “noooooo.”
But the most common high-risk thing to do was applying bleach to food items such as fruits and vegetables, which 19% did. Umm, don’t do this. Your food isn’t a bathroom tile. You can’t just apply bleach to food and then expect to wipe it off completely. Anything that you put on food could potentially seep into the food and eventually make it into your mouth, assuming that’s where you end up putting your food.
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
I pay for copies of my drawings for students at FedEx because a lot of schools can't spare the paper.
And don't get me started on their art and technical supplies -- or lack thereof.
The primary thing preventing progress on that front -- and many others -- is the Republican party.
Last edited by aja_christopher; 06-07-2020 at 10:36 AM.