9 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

1. It's a new dawn and a new day.

   But the same old Trumpstink with a side of Bolton stench.

   Stay upwind, America.  

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   1. The stinky one   is back on live TV in Ohio. In no particular order, he's rambling about how he was a "better builder than a President", (then walked that back) random shots at Hillary Clinton, that he will make a deal with North Korea. (!) that attacking China will bring jobs back to the US, that he's building a wall (no, he isn't).  3 million jobs since election day. I just found out that this speech is supposed to be on the topic of infrastructure.

      He is definitely going to be pushing new VA secretary nominee Dr. Jackson for privatization. In his speech, he's rambling about "choice", how veterans deserve choice, etc. The Choice Card is the program supposed to allow vets to get seen faster than the VA has appointments or beds . It does not work well now. Imagine the issues if the VA is suddenly dismantled in favor of a debit card program. 

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2. Bush vs. Trump. FOOD FIGHT!

   https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/politics/jeb-bush-donald-trump-jr/index.html

   It's okay, my children only love me for my money AND I'm broke.

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3. With the failure of the American public education system to teach so many of today’s youth the valuable life skills* they will require in the future, is it any wonder that home-schooling has soared in popularity?

   https://newrepublic.com/article/147683/culture-violent-white-guys

   *bomb making, automatic weapons, racial and political intimidation . . .

    

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   1. It's paywalled. Can you quote or summarize the article?

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      1. Really?  I didn’t realize that, I’m fairly certain I’ve never paid any subscription fee?

         It’s a comparison and contrast between how racial and ethnic differences in our society result in different treatment from the media and law enforcement, when crime occurs.  (Bundys, Black Panthers, Eric Garner, Sean Bell, Mike Brown, AR15 armed Arizona gun march counter protestestors.)

         Anyway, I’ll do what I can here and try not to violate any of this site’s fair use TOS:

         For nearly three weeks, the people of Austin and San Antonio were terrorized by news of a bomber among them. A guy who killed two people, wounded four more, and left two cities on edge. His first victim, Anthony Stephan House, a prominent member of Austin’s African-American community, was initially treated as a suspect in his own bombing death. But after police identified Mark Anthony Conditt, who is white, as the bomber who killed House, Austin’s police chief sounded a sympathetic note: “This is a very troubled young man who was talking about challenges in his life that led him to the point in his life that led him to take the actions that he took.”

         . . .

         It has since emerged that Conditt was homeschooled in a conservative Christian environment. One of Conditt’s childhood friends, who “ran in the same conservative survivalist circles as Conditt in high school,” saidthey were both involved in a group called Righteous Invasion of Truth (RIOT), which taught kids how to use guns, identify dangerous chemicals, and bond over weapons. Another childhood friend described the experience of a lot of his homeschooled friends as one of “loneliness. …It’s just very difficult for a lot of kids to find a way to fit in once they are out in the real world. I have a feeling that is what happened with Mark. I don’t remember him ever being sure of what he wanted to do.”

         . . .

         In America white guys receive lots of signals—from the news, from their communities, from elected leaders—that violence might be an acceptable answer to their troubles. People of other colors and non-Christian faiths don’t.

         . . . 

         So it’s sadly not surprising that we occasionally end up with guys like Conditt, or Timothy McVeigh, or the Unabomber, who step beyond the norms governing violence in this country. Especially in an era where the president has indicated that domestic terrorism, which is largely committed by white guys, isn’t an enforcement priority. We have to teach our white guys who feel angry or sad that violence isn’t the answer.

          

          

          

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      2. Curious. I didn't hit a paywall.

          

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         1. I tried again. There is a microscopic X to x out of the "subscribe for $10" on the New Republic page. I have an ad blocker enabled, so it's possible that triggers more roadblocks for me. At any rate, I can read the article  now. Thanks, Dio.

            On the actual article, right wing Christian parents are not the only ones who homeschool their kids.

            Gay and transgender kids are disproportionately homeschooled; it's the easiest way to get the credits without the bullying. Kids on the autistic spectrum, or disabled children generally, who really need wraparound SPED services, but can't obtain them through their local district, often end up being homeschooled.

            Girls who have been raped or harassed often go to online or home schools. Gifted kids whose district doesn't offer appropriate challenges are often homeschooled.  Anybody who doesn't "fit" can end up in an online or home school, or, if they're lucky, a public charter school that addresses their unique needs.

            Funding these "special" schools is, of course, always an issue, especially in Colorado.

            The rest of the article does a good job of exposing the new terrorists – Christian white guys who don't fit in. Their most common characteristic is a history of domestic violence. They may or may not manifest mental illness symptoms.

            Roger Edwards (powerful pear on here) was particularly insistent that I had it all wrong, that there were no Christian white guy terrorists, that terrorists by definition were Muslims and non-citizens. And he’s running for an official position that would require him to make decisions about who is and isn’t a terrorist. Like Trump and most of those presently in power, he is being willfully blind to this threat.

             

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            1. Good points about not all home schooling being based in science denial, magical thinking, and fear of contamination by secular humanism.

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