US Politics Mega-thread - Page 7797

But the idea that the administration is cowering to a bat wielding mob rule is laughable yet here we are.

On June 08 2017 17:25 Nebuchad wrote:
It's interesting that 86 staff and faculty members signed a statement Friday supporting the student protesters. I wonder if that was mentioned on the fair and balanced Rubin Report.

On June 08 2017 17:27 Falling wrote:

Yes it was- or at least the Joe Rogan one. It was actually read on air, if I recall. (4.5 hours of interviews makes it hard to remember which you heard where. It might have been both.) Actually, checking the date. If the statement came out last Friday, the Rubin Report came out two day before; therefore it must have been the Joe Rogan Show. So unless time travelling is an option, your sarcasm misses the mark.

On June 08 2017 17:21 Falling wrote:
Maybe I should have qualified my simile even more with a "sounds like it is edging towards'. I do not favour students arming themselves. The leader of the campus police is a former student, and as I understand very interested in justly treating all students. Regardless of the role in slave catching that some police had in the 1800s, in the South, I do not think that is reason to abandon the entire idea of a police force to serve and protect.


Administration has capitulated to students, but not to bat wielding ones, but to their own desperate desire to not cause a scene and not be considered racist. (Maybe in that order?) Have you seen the president 'address' where the students are yelling and swearing at him, bullying him on what he should do with his hands and then laughing at him as desperately obeys like a game of Simon Says? He mispeaks once and rather than simply admitting that he mispoke, he repents of his internal racist sins, though his confessors were having none of it.

The campus police were told to stand down on the students' demands, so they stayed cooped up while students apparently searched from car to car for someone- police suspected Bret, so they called to tell him to stay away. The administration has stopped short of firing Bret but have been desperate to please in their own fuddy, duddy bureacratic way.

On June 08 2017 17:43 GreenHorizons wrote:
You and many of these trash articles keep acting like the college listening to the people of color who are helping to pay the tuition that keep the lights on is a problem. Like instead they should just tell their students to endure their oppression, persecution, and obscurity and keep paying them to tell them "tough shit".

Like it's problematic for them to acknowledge the campus occupies stolen land, or that it's a longstanding tradition of bigotry and prejudice that has resulted in the marginalization of several overlapping communities on campus. I understand for those intending to perpetuate white supremacy, or those unwitting to its pervasive influence, why calling attention to it is problematic, but for those who want to end white supremacy what they are doing is perfectly reasonable (if not a bit little and a lot late).

So you're telling me the police cowered in fear from students as they searched car to car for a professor to do what you suspect?

On June 08 2017 17:55 Falling wrote:

Okay this get's back to a question I asked a while back but I never got an answer to. In what way are the university students experiencing oppression from the university? Is it from their professors? Is it from other students? Bret claims we are seeing the protest on universities because they are soft targets (soft because it's open/ accessible and faculty are generally sympathetic or receptive to the protestors beliefs). He sees real injustice in the American justice system, but because the justice system is so gargantuan and inert to change, the correct frustration in a broken system is being redirected to the wrong target. You likely disagree with that assessment. So I ask again so that I may genuinely know. In what way is there bigotry that has resulted in marginalization on that particular campus?

Stolen land seems to be a distractor because I don't know how many indigenous folk are a part of these protest. That certainly didn't seem to be the main thrust of the protest demands I was hearing. I know at least one indigenous woman was apparently dismayed when a Greek-American professor was told that the opening cermony in the on campus Long House wasn't really for people of the professor's colour. (The Long House is a place of welcome.) But beyond that, I haven't heard much from the indigenous. I saw mostly blacks and whites doing the protesting.

I begin our time together today by acknowledging the indigenous people of the Medicine Creek Treaty, whose land was stolen and on which the college stands. I would like to acknowledge the Squaxin people who are the traditional custodians of this land and pay respect to elders past and present of the Squaxin Island Tribe. I extend that respect to other Native people present.

In response to Native Student Alliance requests, we commit to opening every event with this acknowledgement.

We also received requests from our Native students late yesterday. We discussed many issues they seek to have addressed. We are working on these requests, too. In our meeting, I committed that Native American students, staff, and faculty can sustainably collect, gather, and harvest the natural resources from any of The Evergreen State College’s lands for ceremonial purposes with legal impunity and asking no permission. Their additional requests include but are not limited to important items such as: funding and resources for the recruitment and retaining of Native students; paid positions to support the Native Student Alliance; a pre-orientation retreat for new and continuing Native students; funding for a Native American graduation; exemption from the catering and cooking prohibitions so that Native students may cook and eat Native foods in freedom.

These will be the focus of much work and commitment in the weeks ahead.

No, not cowered in fear. Administration told police to stay put, so they did. Students were searching from car to car, looking for someone. Police had reason to believe their object was Bret. They called Bret to stay away. I do not know what they intended to do. Bret believes that if the police were correct, the students also did not know what they intended to do if they found Bret. That's what Joe Rogan figured was actually the scary part- not that the students had a plan, but that the students likely didn't have a plan because people in groups of people when tensions are high tend to do stupid stuff. We don't know. And we won't ever know. But the bad part to me is telling police to back off when there was a reasonable reason to have police.

President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate deal wasn’t surprising. He’s detached from reality, and his administration lives in special interests’ pockets. Their only accomplishments include dividing Americans and hurting kids, farmworkers, marginalized communities and baby bears.

As “The Dude” in the iconic movie “The Big Lebowski” said, “This aggression will not stand, man.” We can’t let corrupt miscreants pee on Earth while the billionaire Koch brothers sit high and dry in their oil tower. San Franciscans must rise against greed and stupidity with passionate resistance and wisdom. We must be the United States we wish to see in the world.

Surprisingly, the San Francisco Retirement Board, the agency charged with managing city employees’ pensions, is offering us a chance to show Trump and his polluting pals our resolve.

For four years, the board has played the role of San Francisco’s skeleton-in-the-closet, stubbornly betting on a fossil-rich future as The City reduces its reliance on dirty energy. Then, last month, out of the blue, Commissioner Victor Makras proposed divesting from fossil fuels citing their dismal performance.

“It’s not a hard decision to get out of a loser,” he said.

Commissioner Leona Bridges seconded his motion, but the item was continued to give the public notice. Supervisor Malia Cohen, president of the Retirement Board, told staff to put it on the calendar for the June 14 meeting. Cohen previously told me she’s “personally committed to continuing to push the board to lead on this issue.”

After all this time, The City could become the biggest pension in the country to divest from fossil fuels.

For years, San Franciscans have pressured the Retirement Board to act. Executive Director Jay Huish has been publicly chastised for slowing progress and not responding to commissioners. Before accepting the mayor’s appointment of Commissioner Wendy Paskin Jordan, the Board of Supervisors wanted assurance she would fight for divestment.

“I think taking a position — a leadership role in that area — is something I easily can do,” she promised.

But she has yet to fulfill her promise.

Instead of acting, she and other commissioners have watched the pension’s energy funds lose money. Coal isn’t king anymore. Advances in technology are reducing oil demand. Experts, including the Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission under President Ronald Reagan, have explained the risks of continued fossil fuel investment to the board. Their decision to keep coal and oil holdings is confounding.

Newly elected Commissioner Al Casciato is the only member who’s played no part in the delay. Instead, he’s used his short time on the board to eliminate burdens slowing divestment decisions. He appears to understand his duty to make good economic and social investments.

It would be “yuugge” if Commissioner Casciato joins Makras, Bridges, Cohen and Paskin Jordan (if she honors her promise) in voting for divestment. The other two commissioners, Joseph Driscoll and Brian Stansbury, may recognize the economic benefits of divestment, too.

A vote against fossil fuels would send a clear message to the oil henchmen behind our withdrawal from the Paris deal.

Of course, the motion could also get delayed or rejected. I’ve been told staff is already claiming they need more time to get information that the board has debated for years. But Commissioner Stansbury, who may become board president in June, is willing to keeping the conversation open.

“I’m not against divestment,” he told me. “I want to make sure whatever decision the board makes is based on sound investment rationale.”

We can’t let divestment die. Supervisor Aaron Peskin has talked about proposing a charter amendment, which would take the decision out of commissioners’ hands. Attorneys are also reviewing whether the board has violated its fiduciary duty, according to insiders. If San Francisco is committed to fighting climate change, we must get divestment passed.

“San Francisco can’t afford to be Paris-blind and remain invested in this life-destroying industry,” said Jed Holtzman, senior policy analyst of 350 Bay Area, a leader of the Fossil Free SF campaign, a long-time advocate for the pension’s divestment. “It’s incumbent to put our money where our mouth is.”

On June 08 2017 18:14 GreenHorizons wrote:
This literally started because a silly professor interpreted the white work groups being held off campus as an anti-white day

Senate appropriators told Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday that the Education Department’s budget request was dead on arrival in Congress, with Republicans and Democrats alike defending programs the department proposes to slash or eliminate in fiscal 2018.

At the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, DeVos also clarified remarks she made in the House last month. She pledged Tuesday to ensure that federal school choice programs would require schools to follow laws for students with disabilities. She didn’t commit to any protections not in federal law.

DeVos declined to say whether the federal government would intervene if states sent vouchers to schools that discriminated against LGBT or minority students.
The department’s budget request proposed a $9.2 billion cut in fiscal 2018, to $59 billion from $68.2 billion in the annualized spending levels from the fiscal 2017 continuing resolution enacted in December. Several school choice programs, including vouchers and charter schools, would receive an additional $1.4 billion.

Sen. Roy Blunt, the subcommittee chairman, said students would be hurt if programs that promoted career and technical education and helped disadvantaged students attend college were cut. The Missouri Republican said that when it came to ending federal assistance to before- and after-school programs, it would “be all but impossible to get those kinds of cuts through this committee.”

“The kinds of cuts that are proposed in this budget will not occur,” he said.

The programs on the chopping block in the budget request include 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which received about $1.2 billion in fiscal 2017 to provide educational before- and after-school programs as well as summer learning; comprehensive literacy development grants, which received $190 million this fiscal year to help states increase literacy in primary education; and the federal supplemental education opportunity grants, which received $732 million in fiscal 2017 to provide grants to college students to help “reduce financial barriers to postsecondary education.”

Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran raised concerns about cuts to grant programs to provide professional development grants to teachers.

“We need to train teachers and support the training of teachers,” the Mississippi Republican said. “There are federal programs that are legitimate and need to be on the front burner for the support and strengthening of our federal programs that help us teach our children.”

DeVos defended the proposed cuts, telling committee members the 22 programs cut in the budget were “duplicative, ineffective, or are better supported through state, local, or private efforts.”

When questioned about 21st Century Community Learning Centers, DeVos said the program did not focus on the school day, and therefore wasn’t a part of the department’s core mission.

“We made some tough choices and tough decisions around this,” she said. “But this one was deemed to be one that was not effective.”

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, picked up on a line of questioning from a House hearing last month on whether DeVos would ensure students in a proposed $250 million voucher program would not be discriminated against by private schools they chose to attend.

DeVos committed to ensuring students in the voucher program would be protected under a law for student with disabilities. She declined to make that commitment last month before the House panel.

But DeVos did not commit to ensuring those students in the programs would be covered under a wider array of civil rights laws. Murray pushed back on her rhetoric that such choices should be left to states and localities.

“You are seeking authority for a new federal program,” Murray said. “It is paid by my taxpayers, so it can’t just be left to states.”

“Let me be clear,” DeVos said. “Schools that receive federal funds must follow federal law. Period.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., also quizzed DeVos about discrimination in her proposed school choice programs, noting that federal law is not always clear on issues such as LGBT students.

But despite a heated exchange, DeVos did not elaborate beyond stating that schools receiving federal dollars must follow the federal law.

“On areas where the law is unsettled, this department isn’t going to be issuing decrees,” she said.

On June 08 2017 22:19 farvacola wrote:
DeVos belongs to a specific sect of folks in education that will do anything to get as much private influence in the game as possible. That'd be why she's so tepid when it comes to describing the motivations of her department, as she has zero experience with the actual administration of anything public. Between her and Rick Perry, Trump really harkened back to the original specter of the spoils system in a hurry (which may explain his love for Andrew Jackson somewhat )

On June 08 2017 16:06 GreenHorizons wrote:


roflmao. Now I don't know if you really don't get it or you're just trying to save face.

I'm a gun owner in Washington state and have been since before college. I'm fully aware of the rules on Evergreen's campus. I actually happen to shoot not far from there. I mean you can go with your "deep play" conspiracy if you want, but I think the point I'm making is pretty clear. You're upset about bats, but you would support students being able to have guns on campus and that is a laughably silly position. There is a whole other angle about how oblivious you are to how you're turning people carrying bats as a form of self-defense into them intimidating the whites on campus but you're still struggling with the first part so we won't go there yet.

But since you seem to already forgotten let's go back to the beginning of your non-sense.



That's what you started with. That stupidity. Did you want to stand by the tweet, that



Like that's what you think is happening on the Evergreen campus? If you were to describe it? But hey that's just the trash tweet with the throwaway oneliner, what about actually reading the article?

That's the first trash sentence in the trash article. "coerced white students and faculty to leave campus" lol. Only someone who has no idea what was actually going on would think that's not obviously misinformed.

But hey, maybe it's just clickbaity headline and hook, what's next...

Ah so the Administration is cowering in capitulation to student mob rule, that's what you actually think is happening?

Doesn't directly say it, just heavily implies that the bat wielding vigilantes (lol) are the cause instead of, I don't know, what they may be community policing? Perhaps someplace.....other.....than....that....trash would have some helpful information?

But no here you are comparing cops (paid to deal with danger) to vulnerable students (paying good money for a safe campus) like that isn't a cherry of absurdity on a decadent sundae of stupid that is this argument. It's late though and you've been spamming so you may be not playing at full speed right now.

Take the L. You can bounce back tomorrow.