US Politics Mega-thread - Page 6336

On November 30 2016 03:12 xDaunt wrote:


Do you not think that that there would be vast improvement in the shitty inner city schools if the societies where these schools are located improved greatly?

On November 30 2016 03:51 ticklishmusic wrote:


So how do you suggest we improve the underlying problems with our society? Rip off the band aid and let the patient bleed to death?

In the days following Donald Trump's presidential victory, students in Kansas chanted, "Trump won, you're going back to Mexico," to students from other countries, according to a high school teacher in a suburban community within the state.

...

Those are just a few of the examples given by more than 10,000 educators, 90% of whom are teachers, who responded to an online survey sponsored by Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is dedicated to reducing prejudice and improving relations among school children across the country. The organization has been critical of Donald Trump following comments from the candidate it characterized as fueling racism and bigotry. The educators were asked to answer a series of questions about the climate at their schools following the presidential election.

In the first national snapshot of what teachers are observing, nine out of 10 educators who responded to the survey said the election has negatively impacted students' behavior and mood. Forty percent said they have heard derogatory language used against students of color, Muslims, immigrants and other students based on gender or sexual orientation.

On November 30 2016 03:51 ticklishmusic wrote:


So how do you suggest we improve the underlying problems with our society? Rip off the band aid and let the patient bleed to death?

On November 30 2016 03:15 zlefin wrote:
This is reminiscent of a possible problem I see in many tax credit and subsidies:
they benefit those who are good at managing their money. People who know how to use every credit, bonus, loophole, and deduction. People who are good at saving their money and living frugally.

IIRC there are some stats on the utilization rates (that is, how many people eligible for a program make use of it), but I'm not sure where they all are.

the concern is that some things give more of a benefit for good money manager than bad; but in practice people who're good with their money probably tend to have fewer problems in general and deal wtih them better. While people who're bad at managing their money are more likely to need help; (or at least that's my guess, it seems very plausible, though I'd want it verified of course).

So in terms of program design, it's something I'd like to factor in.

this seems to be somewhat parallel to the issue of some school choice programs providing more benefit to children of parents who are actively involved with their children's education.

On November 30 2016 04:25 xDaunt wrote:

That's the big question, isn't it? All I know is that the solution can't be imposed from the top down. It has to start at the local/community level. Sure, it could involve some federal funding, but it has to be about boots on the ground. Probably the best organizations to use would be churches and other faith-based outfits.

On November 30 2016 05:38 LegalLord wrote:

At times like this I comfort myself by trying to imagine who Hillary Clinton would have appointed if she had the chance in Trump's place.

We sort of get pond scum all around either way.

A longtime business and lobbying partner of Paul Manafort, the former Donald Trump campaign manager who was ousted last summer over his ties to a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine, has resurfaced as a key figure in planning the Trump inauguration, according to four Republican sources familiar with matter.

The business partner, Rick Gates, was not mentioned in the Trump transition team’s Nov. 15 public announcement naming the members of the inaugural committee. But behind the scenes Gates is serving as the chief deputy to Thomas Barrack, the private equity investor and close friend of Trump who is inaugural chairman, the sources said.

...

Manafort’s resignation came after disclosures that Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau was investigating entries in a ledger book supposedly showing $12.7 million in “off the books” payments to Manafort between 2007 and 2012 from the Party of Regions headed by Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych is the former Ukrainian president, aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who fled the country in 2014 and now lives in Moscow. Manafort has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the payments.

Gates was Manafort’s deputy on the Party of Regions account while their firm, Davis Manafort International, advised Yunukovych’s election campaigns.

...

Gates did not respond to email and phone requests for comment. But sources said that he quietly weathered the storm of Manafort’s resignation and continued to do major work on the Trump campaign, serving a key role as a liaison to the Republican National Committee.

Manafort left the Trump campaign under a cloud as the Associated Press and others, including Yahoo News, reported that he and Gates were the go-betweens in hiring two high-powered Washington firms to secretly lobby for Yanukovych’s party, under the cover of representing a Belgian nonprofit group. According to a source close to the Ukrainian government, those allegations prompted an inquiry by the FBI into possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The status of that investigation is unclear. (Manafort recently told NBC News he was unaware of any FBI investigation.) Bloomberg News reported this week that Manafort has recently quietly resurfaced in Trump’s camp and has been in regular contact with Vice President-elect Mike Pence and other members of the transition team, as well as inaugural chair Barrack, with whom he has a longtime relationship.

Among Donald Trump's many potential conflicts of interest, one stands out: His organization's lease with the federal government to redevelop and run a luxury hotel in the iconic Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol.

How, critics wondered, could President Trump become his own landlord?

Now comes a new twist: Two federal procurement experts are arguing that not only will Trump have an ethics challenge — he will be in violation of the terms of the lease as soon as he takes the oath of office.

Steven L. Schooner, a professor of government procurement law at the George Washington University Law School, and Daniel I. Gordon, a senior advisor to GW's Government Procurement Law Program (and President Obama's first administrator for federal procurement policy) pointed out this week in Government Executive magazine that a provision in Trump's lease with the General Services Administration states that "No ... elected official of the Government of the United States ... shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom..."

On November 30 2016 05:48 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote:
I'm a little annoyed that everyone waited till now to bring up these kind of conflict of interest things. I would have rather this actually talked about instead of pointless arguing over the same things. A lot of them I think are a bit overstated but this time he's actually in violation of his lease (at least he appears to be)



http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-will-violate-dc-hotel-lease-taking-office-say-experts-n689146

On November 30 2016 06:00 Gorsameth wrote:

Wha?
Potential conflicts of interests and his intent to not completely sever ties with his businesses were mentioned multiple times during the election.
Its just that (as with so many Trump issues) no one cared enough about it.

On November 30 2016 06:02 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote:


Maybe. seemed to me people mentioned it a few times but never really went into much detail on it. Good point though that nobody seemed to care about it