Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[NeedsAdjustments]

His focus is laser-like.

Well, Melania announced that they are renovating the Rose Garden to make it friendlier to her "husband's" TV appearances so not everyone in the WH is pretending that hundreds of Americans per day aren't dying of a virus this administration failed to contain.

[Echo4]

http://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/portland-conservative/614626/

A call to Congress (i.e. the Senate) to engage in governmental oversight is likely to work about as well as thoughts and prayers.

[Echo4]

http://www.dcreport.org/2020/07/27/trump-tries-dominating-the-streets-and-the-political-landscape/

"Trump’s words are divisive, raw, unheeding, misogynistic, racist and wrong."

And have been, from the start. From before he got elected.

And the bulk of those who voted for him the first time around stand ready to do so, again.

Ward wondered why I didn't use the word deplorable, when I was talking about the ignorance and stupidity of the average American citizen. And he accused me of racism, because I think Americans are dumb. (And he leaps to accuse people of being unable to read. Hah!)

But... those Americans who would support a president and candidate of whom it can be rightly said that his "words are divisive, raw, unheeding, misogynistic, racist and wrong," are deplorable. Their personal or familial family wealth, weighed against this kind of wrong-doing, wrong-thinking, and wrong-speaking, is reprehensible --> of a magnitude similar to Senator Cotton's cry about the necessity of slavery!!

(And has ever a senator been so aptly named for a topic as Sen. Cotton on slavery?)

It's not that I disagree with either paper so much as I wonder where the hell these folks have been that they are saying these things in July of 2020. It's about as timely as Trump's "patriotic" gesture of wearing a mask (part of the time that it is appropriate) or Walmart's making masks mandatory now. Great. Thanks for doing it.

But it sure feels late in coming.

[Echo4]

His focus is laser-like.

When the laser is unplugged and the light generator is broken.

[Echo4]

Educators are confused because they keep thinking that principles are involved, when it is all posturing.

Sure, DeVos said “In the internet age, the tendency to equate ‘education’ with ‘specific school buildings’ is going to be greatly diminished.” in 2013, but she had no power, then. Now she does, contingent upon remaining in her position. Now it is incumbent upon her to embrace the principles of the Trump administration, which are to say whatever they are told to say whenever they are told to say it, even if it is self-contradictory.

Has Education Secretary Betsy DeVos cooled on remote learning?

DeVos has recently called for school buildings across the country to fully reopen, threatened to find ways to withhold funding from schools that stick with full-time remote learning, and derided the Fairfax County district in Virginia for its plan to combine in-person and virtual instruction.

For many in the education world, these comments from DeVos come as a big surprise. The secretary was an enthusiastic supporter of virtual education earlier in the pandemic—before President Donald Trump started putting pressure on school districts this month to reopen buildings and return to in-person instruction for the 2020-21 academic year.

Just this spring, for example, as school buildings closed and millions of students transitioned rapidly to remote learning, DeVos praised schools’ flexibility and willingness to transition to online learning.

“I think it’s very clear that we have an opportunity to embrace distance learning and remote education in a way that two months ago would not have been thought possible,” DeVos told reporters in April. “And it’s happening very well in many places and—out of necessity—many others are getting up to speed.”

ater that month, DeVos’ Education Department announced it would provide more than $180 million in grants to boost statewide virtual learning programs and help families access technology that’s essential for learning at home. Applications for those grants were due June 29. The department did not respond to questions from Education Week about the status of that program.

DeVos still believes “well-executed” online programs can be valuable for some students, according to department spokesperson Angela Morabito. “Many public charter and private schools and some districts did an excellent job of making the pivot, on very short notice, and were able to keep education going,” Morabito wrote in an email. “Those were notable exceptions, and based on the science and data, Secretary DeVos is urging every school to plan for a return” to full-time, in-person learning this fall.

The department has also said children will experience psychological setbacks and miss out on access to in-school meals and health care if buildings remain closed. Many parents have jobs that can’t be done remotely, which will make child care an issue, the department has said.

DeVos’ recent public comments pushing for schools to reopen and return to in-person instruction have been ignored in many places. As of July 23, nine of the nation’s 15 largest school districts had announced they will be using full-time remote learning as their back-to-school instructional model, affecting more than 2 million students, according to Education Week’s school reopening tracker. Many other districts plan to open buildings only on certain days of the week.

The Fairfax district, meanwhile, on July 21 reversed its reopening plan and resolved to keep buildings closed when the year begins.

Contradictory Rhetoric Confuses Educators
Confusing and contradictory rhetoric from federal officials such as DeVos represents a failure of productive leadership during a period when schools and the families they serve urgently need support and consistent messaging, many education leaders argue.

For educators nationwide, federal recommendations are “full of mixed messages right now,” said Kristin Ishmael, director of primary and secondary education for Open Education Global and a senior research fellow at the policy research firm New America. “A lot of district leaders don’t necessarily know where to go from here.”

DeVos has long advocated for online learning and other alternatives to the traditional public school model. During a speech at the 2017 ASU+GSV summit, a conference on technology, business, and education, she outlined how she would transform American education: “We would build a system centered on knowledge, skills, and achievement, not on delivery methods.” In 2018, she toured the country observing and spotlighting a program that brought online education to rural K-12 students.

She has touted virtual charter schools despite evidence that some of those programs yield poor student outcomes. In addition, prior to her federal tenure DeVos and her husband were investors in K12, Inc., a publicly traded online learning company that supports or operates many virtual charter schools. In higher education as well, she has proposed revamped regulations that would allow more online schools to access federal aid.

In a 2013 interview with Philanthropy Magazine, DeVos said the rapid evolution of technology was an encouraging sign of the possibilities for improving education. “In the internet age, the tendency to equate ‘education’ with ‘specific school buildings’ is going to be greatly diminished,” she said.

DeVos’ ‘Non-Nuanced View’ on Reopenings
John Watson, founder of the Evergreen Education Group, a K-12 digital learning research and consulting firm, believes there’s some validity to the idea that online learning is less desirable when it’s mandatory, as it will be in many schools this year, than when it’s one option among many. He and other online learning proponents have advocated for thinking of schools’ efforts this spring as “emergency remote learning” or “crisis learning” rather than “online learning,” which is typically more strategic and planned over a longer period of time.

But he hasn’t seen DeVos draw that distinction. Trump hasn’t made it either—on July 10, he tweeted that “Virtual Learning has proven to be TERRIBLE compared to In School, or On Campus, Learning” now that schools across the country have tried it.

“The politicizing of this encourages other people to take a similarly non-nuanced view and say that all schools should be open or all schools should be closed,” Watson said. “Anything that takes away from really thinking about these issues and shifts it to the overly simplified view that our political situation unfortunately devolves to these days is negative for everybody involved.”

Meanwhile, Ishmael thinks DeVos’ apparent 180-degree shift on virtual education might make state and district leaders who applied for federal online education grants earlier this year wonder whether the department supports their proposals.

Longer-term, Ishmael believes a sudden reversal for the federal government’s attitude towards online learning could put up another roadblock to rethinking antiquated policies around instructional time and delivery methods. In her home state of Nebraska, where she worked as a teacher, state laws slowed down efforts to create a new online public school.

“There’s a ripple effect that will potentially happen because of this as well,” she said.

[LarryBnDC]

Nothing like mocking the naked Emperor

https://twitter.com/rexchapman/status/1287894528888897537?s=21

[Echo4]

I keep complaining about Rasmussen's "poll" on Trump's approval rating.

Here, for a comparison, is Morning Consult's Biden vs. Trump 3 day averages going back two and a half months:
https://morningconsult.com/2020-presidential-election-tracker/

Note the narrow range of results in any given period. Looking back, one can see the changes, but they are measured, not sharply different.

They explain:

The latest results reflect surveys conducted with 12,235 likely voters from July 24 to July 26. Morning Consult’s reported results reflect data among likely voters based on a 3-day moving average with a margin of error of +/- 1%. Morning Consult conducts daily interviews with a representative sample of 4,400 likely voters in the United States via stratified sampling based on age, gender, and language (English/Spanish). This daily sample is weighted based on age, education, ethnicity, gender, geographic region, home ownership, marital status and 2016 presidential vote history.

[Echo4]

[Echo4]

I have previously been chided by Ward for my failure to make my pictures smaller - and then I have asked him how.

Since he has not told me and the dozen or so ways I have tried have not worked, I am open to somebody else telling me.

[NeedsAdjustments]

"Ever since I made it clear that I was going to do everything I could to get to the bottom of the grave abuses involved in the bogus 'Russiagate' scandal, many of the Democrats on this Committee have attempted to discredit me by conjuring up a narrative that I am simply the President's factotum who disposes of criminal cases according to his instructions. Judging from the letter inviting me to this hearing, that appears to be your agenda today."

- Barr making it clear today that he is going to go into this hearing as the partisan he is, not the professional he isn't.

Every evil totalitarian regime needs its soulless toadies.  Barr is the absolute cream of that crop.

[Hamilton Samuels]

The District is truly sending Brother John Lewis home in style.

Timing is everything and anytime is the right time to get in #GoodTrouble

His influence on the 2020 election will be immense.

Explain who is influenced and why.

To quote Louis Armstrong “If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.”

If you don’t know understand the impact of a John Lewis, well...

That's not an explanation. It's just a dodge.

An eloquent LOL, as Red would use.

I'll respond to you, anyway.

"Don't overestimate the decency of the human race."

H. L. Mencken

Explain who is influenced and why.


Nah.

Somehow you’ll make it about Botswana...

No need to consider your opinion, Lawrence, if you aren't willing to truly give it.

You'd be a lousy Tswani. They work hard, are responsible, considerate and self-reliant. Whereas you want others to just do for you. Based in what, God knows why.

[Hamilton Samuels]

I have previously been chided by Ward for my failure to make my pictures smaller - and then I have asked him how.

Since he has not told me and the dozen or so ways I have tried have not worked, I am open to somebody else telling me.

Don't ask Larry.

[barton]

Every evil totalitarian regime needs its soulless toadies.  Barr is the absolute cream of that crop.

And a bumper crop it is,  lately.   

Barr's resemblance to a toad is a useful visual for his toadyism.   



And BTW if Dr Stella Immanuel wants urine samples,  I got her fresh sample right here...

[bankshot1]

So...Trump announces that he is throwing out the first pitch at the Yankee game on August 15th.  He makes that announcement because he is jealous that Fauci got to do it when they played the Nationals for the first game of the season.

Only problem is, the Yankees didn't invite him, and had no idea he was making this plan.  So naturally, the Yankees are like, uh, no.  To save face, Trump gracelessly turns down the invitation that was never extended to him, saying he is booked because he is way too busy fighting the "China Virus."

The day before, Trump spent the day golfing with Brett Favre.

This is your "president" America.  Good job.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/us/politics/trump-yankees-fauci.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

This is so fucking funny and sad at the same time.

The two faces of our clown president.


But if Trump can't pitch for the Ys on 8-15, if he solves the China virus thing and gets 40 million people back to work,maybe he can pitch for the Sox-they're desperate for starting pitching.

he's a fucking clown, but not like Ronald McDonald, or Bozo, but more like a John Wayne Gacy.

[LarryBnDC]

The District is truly sending Brother John Lewis home in style.

Timing is everything and anytime is the right time to get in #GoodTrouble

His influence on the 2020 election will be immense.

Explain who is influenced and why.

To quote Louis Armstrong “If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.”

If you don’t know understand the impact of a John Lewis, well...

That's not an explanation. It's just a dodge.

An eloquent LOL, as Red would use.

I'll respond to you, anyway.

"Don't overestimate the decency of the human race."

H. L. Mencken

Explain who is influenced and why.


Nah.

Somehow you’ll make it about Botswana...

No need to consider your opinion, Lawrence, if you aren't willing to truly give it.

You'd be a lousy Tswani. They work hard, are responsible, considerate and self-reliant. Whereas you want others to just do for you. Based in what, God knows why.

Look. I said what I said about John Lewis. Interpret it the way you like.

You assert I don’t work hard, I’m not responsible, I’m not considerate or self-reliant and I want folks to do for me.

One thing I’d love for you to do for me.

Go fuck yourself.