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Open Thread 2-5

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It is always amazing to me when I read things like this. “I’m old enough to remember the shock, replaced quickly by compassion fatigue, when urban homelessness first energed as a problem in the early ’80s,. Before then, hard as it is to imagine now, cities didn’t have homelessness issues – just a few random drunks and what were then quaintly called hoboes.” Geov isn’t the first person I’ve read with similar observations, and while I believe it, it’s tough to internalize. What seems like an intractable problem that has been there forever is actually a bit younger than me.

G.O.P. Debate (sans one Trumphole)

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Its happening tonight starting at 6pm local, another FAUX News Republican Debate.

And there WILL BE BLOOD…from whereever. (Hmmmm…reminds me of this debate from the 2008 campaign.)

There will be one notable change: There will be no Donald J. Trump at this debate. It seems that Donald Trump is afraid of a girl.

I’ll liveblog when I get the chance. Use the comment thread for your own penetrating analyses.

Or, just fling your own poo.

6:08: You can stream the debate live at foxnews.com.

6:09: Rubio, in his opening salvo, still comes off as irrationally angry and defensive like an adolescent. Or…as Atrios puts it…

6:15: Kasich is so general that is words get lost.

6:17: Ben Carson: “We need people who can think out of the box.” Let’s call it “Pyramid Thinking.”

6:19: Earth to Marco: ISIS is NOT the most dangerous terrorist group ever. Not even close.

6:30: Please, please, please, Ted…WALK OFF STAGE!!!!!

6:30: Let’s sell…Rubio attacked Ted over whining about moderators inciting attacks on Ted…

6:34: Rubio seems to think his path to electoral success is his daring stance to send people to Gitmo.

6:36: Rubio is continuing with his petulant ‘tude. Sorry, Marco, it is getting really old.

6:38: Ben Carson seems to believe we would “defeat ISIS” if only we could collectively stop being politically correct. What a moron!

6:39: Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Megyn Kelly got a nose bleed?

6:40: Someone should mention to Gov. Kasich…he is wearing his flaggy flag flag pin WAY TOO HIGH on his lapel. What a dork.

6:49: Chris Christie boasts about trashing women’s health care access in NJ. Way to go tough guy! No White House for you.

6:51: Cruz unloads a big fat lie about negatives of ObamaCare. Lies, lies, lies.

6:54: O’oh oh. We are into to the “Science Denial” segment of the debate.

6:57: Rubio talks Cap & Trade with the same petulant, alarmist tone that he talks about ISIS. Hope he can find peace-o-mind in a bunker somewhere.

7:01: Now Marco is getting defensive and angry over immigration. One trick pony!

7:01: Jeb! “I’m kind of confused…”

7:07: Ted Cruz totally dodges talking about his support of the immigration bill.

7:08: I think Rand Paul just cleaned Ted Cruz’s clock!

7:09: Ted…isn’t it about time for you to WALK OFF STAGE???

7:10: Apparently Ted Cruz flip-flopped on amnesty AND mean questions.

7:14: Jeb: “Dulce Candy is now an entrepreneur of The YouTube” (The Ghost of Ted Stevens takes notice.)

7:16: Ted: “Am not the candidate of the career politician of Washington” says the man who want to spend the next 8 years as exactly that.

7:30: Rubio delivers an ANGRY answer on how Americans are the most generous people on earth.

7:32: Aqua Buddah talks his virtuous philosophy. (Dodging the real question.)

7:34: Ben Carson: “Putin is an opportunist.” Can you say PROJECTION?

6:39: Wait…did Chris Christie just TOTALLY dodge the “ground troops Libya” question by talking about Hillary Clinton dodging questions??

7:44: The debate turns to the topic of SEX. Specifically…a brief 20 year old affair.

7:49: Cruz obfuscates his unpopular (in Iowa) position on Ethanol subsidies by confusing the hell out of everyone.

7:58: Carson just plagiarized 90% of his closing statement….

7:59:

8:02: Carson: “I’ve had more 2am phone calls than all here on the stage.” No shit. Get some sleep, man!

8:10: Megyn Kelly seems pained having an on-air conversation with Charles Krauthammer.

Fucking His Own Constituents

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Back when Rodney Tom was complaining about the Seattle Sick Leave / Safe Leave and minimum wage laws, I thought it was horrible. If you’re a State Senator, you should at least ostensibly have the interests of the state in mind. And you know, he was promoting terrible policy. But at least I understand if you’re going to try to argue that the Eastside is better than Seattle, you’re going to have to argue with what you have. So claim East King County’s bad labor laws compared to Seattle are an advantage for business, sure if that’s your thing. But if you represent a city that just passed a sick leave / safe leave law, embrace it.

Not so much with Senator Baumgartner. He has prioritized pushing against his own constituents’ being able to take off if they’re sick or having an emergency!

Republican Sen. Mike Baumgartner introduced Tuesday what he’s calling the “Seattle quarantine” bill, which would prevent city councils across the state from placing new worker rules on businesses. As currently written, it would void laws already such as the family and medical leave ordinance which the Spokane Council passed Monday over Mayor David Condon’s veto but Baumgartner conceded Tuesday existing laws would likely have to be grandfathered in later discussions.

You know quarantine. When you force sick people to go to work lest they risk being fired. Quarantine. It’s also an admission that his side can’t win on ideas qua ideas. Can’t have his constituents seeing what good is happening in Seattle.

Quarantine Spokane from Seattle. When Spokane people elect leaders running on a platform of workplace rules like this, and those same people enact that agenda. That’s why they need to be quarantined.

Also, the bill would stop Seattle the same as anywhere else. And if places are grandfathered in, Seattle is still prevented from doing future workplace stuff. So quarantine doesn’t work to describe the thing it’s meant to describe even close to correctly. And don’t get me started on how quarantines generally are supposed to be temporary. All around, solid metaphoring.

“The goal of the bill is not to gut what’s already been done, it’s to prevent future damage,” he said.

Damage like a decent minimum wage and a bit of sick leave or safe leave. That’s damage. Damage of local elected officials saying the minimum set out by the state can be improved on. Is damage.

Baumgartner referred to the Spokane Council as a “mini Me” to the Seattle council, where the minimum wage is being raised to $15 an hour in phases over the next two to five years. “The state cannot afford to have labor laws made city by city by liberal city officials chasing progressive fads,” he said.

Excellent reference. I’m sure all the kids today are making Austin Powers jokes. Or not even jokes so much as half-assed mentions of a character who only appears in the sequels. I’m sure Baumgartner is fun at parties. He probably quotes Monty Python, blurting it — and other ancient pop culture ephemera — out at inappropriate times. I bet this has happened at at least one of his fundraisers:

“This music is kind of loud.”
“Well it goes to 11.”
“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you to make a horribly dated reference for no reason.”
“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.”
“Yeah…”
“Yeah, Baby!”
“I’m leaving.”
“Running away, eh? You yellow bastards!”
“There’s only one of me and you already made a Monty Python reference. Now I’m leaving for real.”
“Come back here and take what’s coming to ya! I’ll bite your legs off!”

It’s possible I’m reading too much into that Mini-Me thing and have lost the thread. So… back to the larger point. Spokane made a choice. For the record, one that this Seattle resident approves of whole hog. But it was ultimately Spokane elected officials who ran on a platform enacting that platform.

The only way that Seattle had something to do with it is how our (and Sea-Tac’s) example worked so far. If we had become the horrible shit hole that minimum wage opponents claim, we wouldn’t be an example. Also, we, and Spokane can reverse course. If this $15 minimum wage thing doesn’t work out, elected officials can change it. If opponents of the sick leave / safe leave law don’t like it, and can elect people who’ll repeal it, it’ll get repealed. But so far, advocates of these sorts of laws that have generally been reelected, and when they haven’t been, it’s for other reasons.

Rather than quarantine yourself from a large part of the state — one with outsized economic and cultural influence — you can embrace it. We’re doing great things, and in many ways it’s transferable to the rest of the state. I guess, if your economic ideas are more dated than your movie references, maybe Seattle is a problem. But if you actually look at what’s happening with the $15 minimum wage and the sick leave / safe leave laws, you can see why other places might want to imitate it.

Spokane Sick Leave/ Safe Leave Law

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Spokane is moving toward having its version of a sick leave/ safe leave law. It would be require employers with fewer than 10 people to have 3 days of sick leave and employers that are larger than that to have 5 days. While Mayor David Condon has vetoed it, it did pass 6 to 1. So it’ll likely still pass the council.

I have to say, I’m really glad that they’re passing something, but this makes me pretty nervous:

Calling the law “arbitrary,” Condon said his decision to veto also came from a lack of clarity on how the city would enforce the new requirements, or how much it would cost the city. He suggested he prefers incentives to requirements.

“I’m more of a carrot than a stick type of person,” Condon said.

Here in Seattle, we’ve had a tough enough time enforcing our sick leave/safe leave law with mayors who ostensibly support it. I hope he’ll enforce it when it does become law, but if you want to contact him and make sure, you can do that here. If you want to contact the city council and ask them to override the veto, you an do that here.

Also, just like in Seattle, this is a sick leave/ safe leave law, not just a sick leave law. News reports I’ve been reading about this don’t mention it, and they really should.* I couldn’t figure out exactly what qualifies people for safe leave on Spokane’s website, but all their material is pretty clear that it’s a part of the law. If anyone has more details, I’d love to know them.

[Read more…]

HA Bible Study: Revelation 9:7-10

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Revelation 9:7-10
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces. They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion. They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people.

Discuss.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Matthew Filipowicz: My NSFW Phone-Banking Call With An Angry Conservative.

Farron Cousins: How bad will Republican hate get in Obama’s final year?

135 years of warmin in 30 seconds.

The 2016 G.O.P. BaffoonFest:

President Obama asked about tampon tax by YouTuber Ingrid Nilsen.

Bill Maher wants Barack Obama for his 60th birthday.

Red State Update: Benghazi movie flop.

Why?

Why #Blacklivesmatter protests are happening all over America:

How to become a millionaire in one easy step.

White House: West Wing Week.

David Pakman: Conservatives are loosing it over “gender-inclusive” bathrooms.

Malicious Militia Men:

Thom: Finding America’s missing voters.

David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: Congressional factions.

How the Tea Party is splitting the G.O.P.

This billionaire thinks you should be paid more.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about memory.

Making a Killing: Guns, Greed & The NRA.

World of Water Woes:

Follow the money: The truth about Citizens United.

Seth Meyers: Bernie and Hillary.

Comedy Central: Wrestling with History in Whitesboro, NY.

Thom with The Good, the Bad and The Very, Very Cleocentricly Ugly!

How to build a car.

Trevor Noah: Breaking down the Republican and Democratic debates.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

WA State Rep. Mary Dye (R-Scoldville) Asks Lobbying Teens If They’re Virgins

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WA state Rep. Mary Dye: protective den mother or victorian scold?

WA state Rep. Mary Dye: protective den mother or victorian scold?

Republican state Rep. Mary Dye is getting a lot of grief over her encounter with some teen lobbyists:

OLYMPIA — Walking into a meeting Monday morning with state Rep. Mary Dye, a group of Eastern Washington high-school students didn’t expect to be asked about their virginity.

But visiting as part of Planned Parenthood’s annual Teen Lobbying Day, the group of about a half-dozen got that question from Dye, a Republican lawmaker from Pomeroy, Garfield County. … Dye asked if the students were virgins and suggested one was not, according to the students and Rachel Todd, a Planned Parenthood worker accompanying the kids.

… “I’ve never been in any type of meeting, especially with teens,” Todd said, “where an adult, especially an adult legislator, was so incredibly disrespectful and inappropriate.”

Incredibly inappropriate for sure. But in her defense, perhaps Dye’s lecture on abstinence was merely meant to protect them from Rep. Matt Manweller?

Republican Clown Show Open Thread

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I’m heading over to the Roanoke Park Place Tavern (our DL bar) to meet a couple of friends and watch the “debate”. Please join me if you feel so inclined. Otherwise join the fun in the comment thread below.

5:47: Talking heads populate the tube in the Roanoke.

5:53: Reince Priebus makes the laughable claim that the Republicans are the party of diversity. Riiiiiigggggghhhhht.

5:58: Goddamnit. If they are going to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the start of a debate, I fucking want a ball, referees with whistles, timeouts, injuries, and the occasional physical altercation.

6:04: What the fuck the Canadian guy dodges the question about employment and economic growth to babble about Obama not mentioning “prisoners” that Obama knew were not prisoners? What a putz!

6:08: Kasich is in a particularly babbly mood this evening. No idea what the take-home was from that.

6:10: Chris Christie thinks Americans are cowards!

6:12: It is funny watching Cruz and Christie try to make something evil out of the Iranian incident. It is like they’ve rehearsed and rehearsed and then when it turns out to be absolutely nothing, they couldn’t not go ahead with their talking points.

6:16: Rubio seems angry….

6:17: Carson suggests that we no longer have “airforces” in 21st century warfare.

6:19: Paris has the “strictest no-good policy”, says Trump? It seems Trump got together before the debate to share in his stash of babble pills.

6:21: Ted Cruz does not seem to understand the difference between the news branch and the editorial branch of the NYT.

6:22: Cruz admitted he made a “paperwork error”. He’s toast. G.O.P. rule #12, “Never admit to an error!”

6:27: Birferism! Birferism!

6:30 Holy fuck…Trump bringing up how well he is doing in the polls borders on psychopathology. Totally inappropriate and awkward.

6:32: Cruz delivers a zinger, “I’ve been arguing before the Supreme Court…and I am not going to talk legal advice from Donald Trump.”

6:37: Really, Rubio? Common Core is a threat to our nation? Somebody’s been dipping into the Drama Pill stash.

6:43: Someone should point out to Kasich…he is the Bernie Sanders of the Republican field.

6:47: So far, Donald Trump has make a total ass of himself. Ben Carson and John Kasich have engaged in quasi-random babble. Ted Cruz has offered Trump the VP slot. Christie has endorsed Rubio. Rubio has come off as an angry psychopath. And Jeb Bush has almost smiled. Once.


(Terrible news for Puddybud)

7:03: Wait…why is Cruz babbling on about NY?

7:03: Oh…for punchline, “Not a lot of conservatives come from NY”. Trump: “Well…William F. Buckley….” Trump does a nice job modulating down to make Cruz come off as a bit hyper.

7:05: Trump goes all Rudy on us. 9/11 9/11 9/11

7:06: Jeb Bush points out that the U.S. Navy is only 1/2 the size as it was in Desert Storm. Ummm…someone should inform the Gov. that most of the decline happened under his brother.

7:13: Someone should point out to Marco Rubio during this debate that he is not running against Obama.

7:14: FAUX Business moderators went out of their way to humiliate Lindsey Graham by calling him out as an audience member. Classy!

7:15: Carson is embarrassingly clueless about all things international. Please make him stop talking…for his own sake.

7:24: Please Donald….tell us you want to torture the baby of the two TERRIBLE San Bernardino people.

7:27: Again…Rubio goes after Obama instead of Clinton. Is he fishing for the KKK demographic?

7:37: OH MY GWAD….CHINA DEVALUED THE YEN!!!!

8:04: Kasich created a task force about a year ago. Clearly qualified to be POTUS.

8:16: Holy crap…this is a Debate Moderator FILLIBUSTER!

8:22: Christie; “…fight…fight…fight…fight…fight…” Ummm…this isn’t a man I want in charge of the nuclear codes….

8:27: Trump: Iranian wise guys?!? Didn’t three of them visit Jesus?

So Now The Plan Is To Take Money Directly From Other Sources?

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If the people who supported charter schools still want it in the wake of the recent state supreme court rulings, they might do well to find a new source of revenue. Maybe an income tax! Definitely an income tax! OK, maybe some other tax that can be dedicated to charters.

But that’s tough when charter school supporters are writing press releases about how they’re going to take money out of the Washington Opportunity Pathways account to pay for it. I’m not going to quote the whole thing, but I wanted to highlight a few things:

The legislation, sponsored in the Senate by Litzow and Sens. Joe Fain, R-Auburn, Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah and Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, makes a series of updates which include directing charter school funding to come from the state’s Opportunity Pathways Account, which contains state lottery revenues not restricted to common schools.

I emailed Litzow’s office on Sunday asking about what in the fund the bill would cut to make room for charters and he didn’t respond (in the same email, I also asked about the demographics of charter schools and we’ll get to that in a bit). It seems pretty obvious to me that if you want to pay for charters with an existing pot of money that you’ll have less money in that pot to pay for the things it’s paying for now. So I wanted to know if the plan is to take all of the money from one thing or to partial it out a bit from each.

For reference, here’s a list of the programs the Washington Opportunities Pathways fund goes to now:

  • State Need Grant
  • College Bound Scholarship
  • State Work Study
  • Passport to College Program for Foster Youth
  • American Indian Endowed Scholarship
  • Health Professional Loan Repayment & Scholarship Programs
  • Federal/State Loan Repayment Program (FSLRP)
  • Health Professional Loan Repayment Program
  • John R. Justice Loan Repayment
  • Aerospace Loan Program
  • Alternative Routes to Teaching

You can get more info about any of those programs at the link above. There is a pretty big disparity in how much money goes to each thing, and the press release doesn’t say how much the charter schools cost. But any dollar you add to charters under the plan has to come from one, some, or all of them. It seems like taking any money out of any of those is going to be taking money away from education at a time when we need more money in education. Maybe charters are better than some or any of them. But supporters make it seem like they found a new pot of money instead of using a pot of money that’s already allocated.

The press release also talks about low income and minority children: The title of the release says it will help “address education inequality” and it quotes Senator Pettigrew (who I generally like) as such:

“The opportunity to get a great education should be available to everyone, regardless of their zip code or the color of their skin. But many students, especially students of color, are not getting the education they deserve in our current system,”

I agree! That is important! It’s so important it’s why we have have public education in the first place. But the press release just takes at face value that the charters do a better job educating minorities. It certainly doesn’t provide any evidence that they’re better than public schools at this. The press release didn’t mention how they would ensure that charters would serve minorities going forward. Or for that matter even track if it does.

I asked what the demographics of the current charters are versus the state as a whole and versus the districts where charters were set up. Since the legislation doesn’t propose changes to the charter system as far as I could tell, that seems like a fair proxy for how they work at that goal at least initially. But again the email wasn’t answered.

State of the Union Open Thread

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Okay…I’m late. Long day at work and bad traffic. But here ya go!

6:16: Are you better off today then you were in 2009? Almost everyone with an income under $200,000 should say yes, unless ordinary scenescence has brought you down. And then, you have health insurance, so there ya go.

6:20: It’s hard to take Obama seriously for this State of the Union Address…what with Eddie Munster sitting behind him and all.

6:24: Obama isn’t really introducing policy…rather he is systematically laying out the case why most Americans should be Democrats.

6:32: Shit…now Republicans are going to start denying Sputnik…

6:37: Obama mentions “tea partiers”. Still conflict averse, or he would have said “tea baggers”.

6:38: I wonder if Obama, Biden, and Eddie coordinated their ties in advance….

6:58: What the fuck is up with dwelling on Kim Davis? She is a circus freak. Only deserves about 3 seconds….

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottlePlease join us this evening for a State of the Union edition of the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. Normally, we start at 8:00pm…but show up early for the 6:00pm (PDT) start of Obama’s final address.

Note: We’ll have sound and video for the State of the Union address. But the pub has other customers, so the sound may not be as loud as you want, especially with the background noises of a busy tavern and peripheral conversations. If you are intent on hearing every word, I recommend you bring stuff to stream the audio. The pub has free wifi available.



Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities and Redmond chapters also meet. The Kent chapter meets on Thursday. And next Monday, the Aberdeen and Yakima chapters meet.

There are 188 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or go out and start—a chapter near you.

Is it Too Soon To Go Back On Break?

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When I was looking for stuff to write about, I came across this press release about Inslee’s budget by Representative Bruce Chandler. I don’t think I can improve on it’s terribleness, except to say that people vote for him. Like actual humans in Washington see his name on a ballot every two years since 2008 and mark the little circle.

“The governor is required to introduce his ideas for state spending before the Legislature convenes each year. We thank Governor Inslee for his proposal and for his staff’s efforts in providing a starting point from which the Legislature can begin its work.

So far, fine. Let’s follow it up with the dumbest paragraph ever written.

“At first glance, we’re pleased to see emergency money allocated for fire suppression efforts across the state. While we may not agree on the cause of this year’s horrendous forest fires, we certainly agree on the need to allocate adequate resources to fire suppression now, and in the future we believe there is ample opportunity to restore forest health and develop more effective state and local fire response strategies.

Sometimes when you do a metacommentary piece, you have to leave jokes on the table. Here are some things I left out because if I went in depth on them, I’d never finish writing this:

  • If you’ve taken the time to write 8 paragraphs, it’s not first glance.
  • There’s no mention of how he wants to pay for the fire suppression stuff.
  • That monster second sentence could be, like, 3 sentences.
  • Is “we” the whole GOP Caucus? It sort of sounds like that from future paragraphs, but it’s never explicitly stated.

OK. With that out of the way: As far as I can tell “we may not agree on the cause of this year’s horrendous forest fires,” is Representative Chandler’s way of saying he doesn’t believe humans caused global warming. Or possibly he doesn’t think global warming is even a thing? Look, on the one hand, you have Governor Inslee’s side: Basically all the scientists that study the issue, and the fact of the actual forest season that we’re actually talking about. On the other side, you have Representative Chandler: Nu huh.

Seriously, global warming is real. It did contribute to the fire season being bad. It will contribute to future bad fire seasons.

“We agree with the governor that a supplemental budget year is not the time for substantial policy changes that balloon state spending down the road. The 2015-17 biennial budget was signed into law less than six months ago. Significant policy additions – outside of emergency caseload adjustments – are better suited for the deliberation and scrutiny of a 105-day session during budget-writing years.

Fine whatever. Although I’d prefer yearly budgets, that’s not the process.

“However, in his proposal for additional policy changes, we find it disappointing that Governor Inslee has decided to trot out four tax increases we’ve all seen before. These tax increases have either been rejected by voters in the past, like the tax on bottled water, or already reviewed by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee. The Legislature had ample opportunity to impose these new tax increases over the last few years, but after citizen input and careful scrutiny, chose not to. If the governor felt it was an emergency to add further growth to state government, the public would be better served by innovation and new ideas rather than a continuation of failed efforts of taking more from taxpayers.

Innovation and new ideas? Look, if you could just innovate greater revenue, people would have already done it. Why does Governor Inslee propose minor tax increases when he hasn’t even tried magic?

“We’re also disappointed that Governor Inslee failed to make a strong commitment to public charter schools in our state. During today’s press conference, he had the opportunity to lend his support to bipartisan legislative efforts to ensure all students and parents of our state are served equally. Legislators will invest precious time and political capital in crafting a solution to our state’s voter-approved public charter school system. However, without the engagement of our governor in those efforts, the solution will be more difficult.

Charter schools were ruled unconstitutional. What possible commitment could you make to them if you swore to uphold the state constitution? Gaaah.

In any event, given the McCleary decision, I’d think it would probably make sense to include something about public school funding more generally in this press release if it’s going to have an education section. But no. Just take us home a no-transitions-needed ending.

“We look forward to further discussions with the governor and the other caucuses to arrive at timely, common sense solutions so that the 2016 session can end on time.”

Is ending the session on time really the highest priority? I would think making some situation where you aren’t in contempt of court for shortchanging education would at least get a mention. Oh well.

HA Bible Study: 2 Samuel 13:10-15

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2 Samuel 13:10-15
And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.”

“No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.

Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!”

Discuss.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Stephen: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power explains the world.

Minute Physics: The physics of car crashes.

The 2016 Krazzzy Klown Kar:

David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: 2016 Calendar.

Phillip Chang comedy: It ain’t easy being Asian-American.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about holidays.

Farron Cousins and Howard Nations: Koch brothers attempt to infiltrate progressive organizations.

Young Turks: Judge swears in on Koran to “conservative” outrage.

Climate Summit:

Stephen: Walk like a Putin.

Maddow: Anti-Muslim attacks in U.S. more than double.

Thom: Time to cure 21st century America of its original sin and prosecute Bush, Cheney, & Co.

Adam Ruins Everything: The reason we thing vitamin supplements are good for us.

Thom: The Good, The Bad & The Very Very Clinquantly Ugly!

Merry War On Christmas:

Young Turks: Congressman pranked by C-SPAN Caller.

Jimmy Dore: Your fear is being used against you.

Stephen: Creepy advertisements.

White House: West Wing Week.

Sydney Robinson: Baby boomers brought us this Republican creep show.

David Pakman: The disastrous impact of income & wealth inequality.

Non-Shutdown Accomplished:

Thom: The Good, The Bad and The Very, Very Orecticly Ugly!.

Songify the News: The Fish Awakens:

Congressional hits and misses of the week.

Maddow: New clues about mysterious buyer of Nevada’s largest newspaper.

Adam Ruins Everything: Why orange juice is so unnatural.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

G.O.P. Debate Open Thread

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The debate should start at 5:30. I’ll be at Drinking Liberally and live-blogging the event (internet bandwidth permitting).

To get this thread started, here is an interesting video that was released today:

Does this provide any insights about one particular G.O.P. candidate’s (1) truthfulness, (2) great memory, (3) campaign substance?

5:10: The kiddie debate is over. Caught the closing statements. Sen. Man-on-dog wins just because he had such an upbeat way of talking about death.

5:25: What the fuck, CNN? “Trump arrives at debate” isn’t fucking news.

5:33: Someone named “Rinse Prius” or something is giving some bullshit talk. He sounds like a used car salesman.

5:36: Is Donald Trump holding up the show? Holy fuck…start without him!

5:43: Rand Paul has morphed into Ron Paul: Unelectable oddball.

5:44: Red ties are in.

5:46: Again?!? Seriously? The national anthem? This debate better involve some sort of physical test of skill!

5:48: Did Paul just say the Constitution is wrong?

5:52: Hey, Chris Christie, those LA father’s are probably thankful they aren’t crossing a bridge in NJ!

5:55: Jeb Bush: “I’ll keep our country safe, secure, and free”…just like my Brother did.

5:58: Carson pauses for a moment of silence. Don’t be fooled…he just REALLY needed to close his eyes.

6:02: Jeb: “Trump would be a Kaos president.” Get Smart!

6:05: Cruz is a one issue candidate tonight: “Obama won’t say ‘radical Islamic Terrorism’, so vote for me.

6:08: Is Christie wearing a “junk” pin on his lapel?

6:20: Christie needs to make an executive decision to straighten his tie.

6:22: Carson bails on a question…and looks really bad doing it. Wow.

6:26: Fiorina throws around “CEO” as if Americans have a positive association with the term.

6:36: Aaaaaaahhhh…a Muslimey looking questioner! Everyone duck under your podiums!!! (podia?)

6:39: Actually, Donald, Bush seems a little more energetic than you do this evening….

7:08: This debate has become exceptionally empty and repetitive.

7:11: “Punch Russia in ‘The Nose'” Nikolai Gogol smiled.

7:12: Earth to Fiorina: The withdrawal from Iraq was Bush’s doing.

7:19: Trump hurt himself with his juvenile “tough guy” insults to Jeb and then talking poll numbers. He should save that crap for campaign events.

7:32: Donald Trump. A totally low energy debater. Low ENERGY. Am I right?

7:37: Kasich says stuff that doesn’t sound extreme. But doesn’t really say anything at all.

7:45: As President, Dr. Carson could do brain surgery on “unstable” Kim Jong Un

7:45: Carson memorized a bunch of military stuff!

7:47: Ummm…Jeb Bush used a private email server while Gubernator of FL.

7:55: At this point Carson seems almost incapable of speaking…

8:03: Jeb bush stumbles his way through his closing comments. He was doing okish until then.

8:04: Rubio: “Now millions of Americans feel left behind”…like most Muslim Americans?

8:05: Carson’s “exceptionalism” closing statement makes him sound like he munched on lead paint chips as a lad.

Wrap-up. Another retched debate. My complaints is that WAAAAYYYYYY too much time was spent on security and terrorism. Fact is…foreign terrorism is a pretty minor threat in the U.S. Domestic terrorism is a much bigger threat, but no real discussion of that. That’s because IT DOESN’T SCARE VOTERS enough. I missed a chunk of the debate, but I didn’t hear anything about climate change, the environment, air polution, the economy, health care, domestic infrastructure, gun safety, white collar & Wall Street crime, higher education, primary education, mass transit & reducing traffic congestion, tax relief for the poor, reducing income inequality, energy independence, credit card fraud, etc., etc. These are issues that affect Americans every single day. And there was nothing.

These guys are in a political campaign bubble, and completely out of touch with the real America. But they got that fear thing going….

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