TriGirl

What I predicted in Nov 2016.

yep -- my sister was one of those. Got just a BA from a state school, and 16 years later still owes about $20k. She came to Florida and ended up teaching at a special needs charter school for many years, so she has applied several times for the loan forgiveness under that program. It has been denied each time either with no explanation, or a reason that was clearly not true based on the supporting evidence provided.

Not the way I heard it. If you paid during the pandemic, while payments were suspended, you can get that money back (again, as the way the above podcaster relayed it).

First, IMHO, more money should be spent (and spent better) on secondary education. Regarding the debt reduction -- I listened to a podcast this morning that covered some other details not found in MSM reporting (from any side). For the full podcast, check out Opening Arguments #625. What I found interesting is 1) the cost of college tuition has tripled in the past 40 years, and 2) the reason for that increase is mostly the fault of legislators who wanted to cut budgets. How? because state schools used to benefit from about $100 mil annually. Eventually, someone had the bright idea to stop paying FOR things at the schools, and give the money as discretionary spending to the states, to decide on their own how to apply the funds to state schools. Further along, since it was just a bunch of money being allocated to states, it was cut in half, then nearly eradicated over the course of several years as part of budget cuts. (that is a super simplified synopsis of course)

I drove my parents' truck that had a gun rack in the back window. To be clear, I never had rifles in the rack while at school. However, what we did have was strict training and supervision before being able to handle a firearm (as a minor). No one seemed to have a problem with common sense gun rules (training, background check, licensing) in my small town.

Abortion is a part of reproductive health care. Any attempt to redefine it as something else would be Political Correctness gone mad. And now they're talking about limiting other types of reproductive health care, such as contraception. Not all contraception is prescribed for preventing pregnancy. Some is used to treat other reproductive health issues, and some to prevent transmission of infections.

Florida Rs established an election police force, ostensibly for punishing election fraud. Except, it hasn't imposed any penalties on the fraud committed by Republicans in the last election. I'm concerned for this November.

Marials?

But wait! There's more... https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3570308-hawley-mocked-over-new-jan-6-video Two excellent suggestions from this article: also from the article:

Trump is 3 months older than my father. Melania is younger than me by 2 days. Ew.

Florida is proposing something similar, but worse: veterans would be eligible to be hired as teachers, regardless of whether they have any university-level education. Currently, B.S./B.A. holders can be employed as teachers without a teaching certificate, but they must test and earn all applicable certificates within two years to keep the position. While I would hope the veteran proposal would require the same, I don't know whether it does.

Sounds eerily similar to Lauren Bobert's use of campaign funds to keep her restaurant afloat.

Studied Russian in college, which was buried under Japanese during two years in Okinawa. My Arabic education was too short (2 classes), and immersion was only a year, so I even have trouble sounding out pronunciations anymore. Finally studied Turkish for a year before working in Turkey for three years. I then picked up a little Tok Pisin while in Papua New Guinea the past two years, but really only a few words. These days, if I try to reference even pleasantries in Japanese, Russian or Turkish, I can usually count on the wrong language coming out. On a few select occasions I have even started a sentence in one language and finished it in another! Thinking of using some of my education benefits to go back to formal university study of Turkish and Russian. I have always wanted to add French, so perhaps I will consider a second Baccalaureate in linguistics once I retire.

Yeah, I know. The thread was just about to hit that terminal drift before being locked!

So the embryo just successfully implanted after 28 years in storage has missed out on 10 years of elections, 12 years of driving, and seven years of drinking/gambling. OTOH, they will always win at the carnival when someone tries to guess their age.

And back to the topic at hand... Evan McMullin was on Chuck Todd's podcast last week. If anyone has heard him discuss issues, can you imagine him in an election debate with Pete Buttigieg? [sigh]

Wow. OTOH, imagine how painful it would be had Herschel Walker actually participated in any debates against Raphael Warnock in Georgia. Walker can’t even finish a coherent sentence when he’s in a one-on-one conversation with a FOX anchor (presumably with the questions provided in advance). At least the yahoos in the WY event (mostly) had their talking points ready and could form complete sentences — even if those sentences were patently false.

They currently are not bound by the state employment rules, and curriculum only to the point of a minimum for accreditation (a pretty low bar). I agree that if someone tried to sue for the other issues you mention, they will scream "religious freedom" and get away with it.

If any of those organizations want to establish a private secondary school and get it accredited, I absolutely advocate for them doing the exact same thing. The quickest and surest way to get these fundies to lose their minds though is by setting up the counter example with a religion they actually take seriously. It's also the only way it gets due consideration by the courts, unfortunately.

I'm a little concerned about the just-released opinion on using public funds at religion-sponsored schools. The people who brought the case chose the right example -- Maine has failed to provide public options for all students, and so in some places the parents have only two private options: the secular school which can be funded by vouchers, or the sectarian school that can't. I think the real complaint should have been against the state of Maine for not providing sufficient public options for more students. Unfortunately, at least according to the coverage playing at my office on FOX (CNN is across the room), it's being hyped as saying (all) parochial schools should be eligible for vouchers the same as secular private schools. If this is in fact the decision by the SC, we're in trouble. However, if the majority decision was written in a way to highlight that in THIS case (due to lack of available options for publicly funded education), the religious schools should be eligible for vouchers, but that in general, religious institutions are still not eligible for public funding, then I imagine the FOX analyst is being deliberately selective in her summary. And I actually would be okay with that decision if it is followed up with a timeline or other requirement for Maine to get their affairs in order and establish a few more schools in more rural areas. Otherwise, I would recommend Jewish and Muslim organizations quickly establish similar education institutions and petition for vouchers to support "school choice" and see what happens.

I have known that the commentary shows on FOX Prop at night are insanely skewed (Tucker, Judge Jeanine, etc). That’s fine, because it’s commentary. I have seen as well some partisan disingenuous crap spewed during the day as well, but at least the news programs try to do better. Now this weekend: I’m visiting my dad, who tends to watch an awful lot of FOX. Last visit he couldn’t keep from parroting the crap, but he’s been much better during this visit. However, he just turned on this show I hadn’t heard of called “Life, Liberty & Levin.” Wow. This guy spews out crap in the style of Donald Trump. Misstatements delivered at the cyclic rate, moving from false premise to outright untruth with little if any thread of logical connection. I have a deal with my step-mother that I will refrain from trying to refute (or at least, keep from arguing). So far Dad has still refrained from speaking up while this show is going on, but the fact that he loves this show and watched every Sunday evening is concerning. Note: I put this post in the Jan 6 thread because the first 10-12 minutes of the show was this guy’s diatribe against the Commission, Nancy Pelosi, Jaime Raskin and the hearings (totally mischaracterizing the purpose of the hearings as the premise of the digs at the individual characters, including how Michael Luttig’s testimony was crap because he isn’t really a lawyer — huh?). Anyone else familiar with this show?

I wish. Here in the UK we're about to hit £10 per gallon ($12.30). A significance in impact being that the UK has much better public transportation options around the country, and particularly in the densely populated areas, than the US does. I have no doubt that this is not perfect, but I can guarantee it beats options available in the US. Had areas like California, Florida and Texas initiated rail systems supporting and connecting major population centers when we had these fuel hikes 13-14 years ago, the current situation wouldn't be nearly the issue (especially for lower income citizens) that it is now. Unfortunately, at least here in the Tampa area, right when proposals were up for consideration the prices came back down, so the ideas were put in a drawer. Now we're back where we started with no new infrastructure to support a different response.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they have only been advertised since he left office (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

He actually does commercials on FOX News channel for a similar illustrated book about "all the good things Trump did for America!" It supposedly covers how the government works, the three branches, etc. -- but all the illustrations have the former president and his people. It's scary.

I heard on a podcast today that the apathy response is, "it's in the past, it didn't ultimately change anything, let it go." Though I will allow that perhaps your comment refers to the top 10 things US citizens care about on a day-to-day basis (think pocketbook/kitchen table issues), if by chance it instead follows the "it's in the past" mindset, this is a sad state of affairs on multiple levels. Social Studies and Civics need to be restored to the public school curriculum through Grade 12 (local government, federal government, history, comparative politics, geography, legislative process, etc). Those who really don't care, who are truly apathetic because it's "in the past" have no idea just how precarious our democratic model is, and what is at stake should it be dismantled. I for one am impressed that the committee considered the NHL playoffs and other broadcast events when scheduling the public hearings, so that the electorate can actually watch the hearings themselves instead of relying on their favorite news channels to summarize and tell them what they should take from the proceedings. (recall the Republican woman who attended the Mitt Romney town hall who later commented that she had not idea, had never heard, that anything had been reported against President Trump from the Comey investigation).