ReidRansom posted:

I'll give him points for consistency.

ReidRansom posted:

I'll give him points for consistency.

But he still has a really low number of points.

Joementum posted:

The Obama administration has just announced that the US will comply* with the Ottawa Convention, a.k.a. the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.








_{some exclusions named Korea may apply}

oxbrain posted:

Not as lovely as McCain or Romney is a pretty loving low bar.

AATREK CURES KIDS posted:

We just got done with this argument, can we please talk about something else?

oxbrain posted:

Not as lovely as McCain or Romney is a pretty loving low bar.

Joementum posted:

joeburz posted:

It's taxation that causes people to be poor, not the systemic inequalities perpetuated by inordinately wealthy people complaining about being taxed!

quote:

How many open-minded people actually believe 11 million americans actually need sustinence.

Nonsense posted:

Transfer all your care to Congress. Stop worrying about the White House. Dems have that locked up in 2016, regardless of whomever you back.

Congress not so much, and Republicans are doing the most damage there, so please focus on that and not Obama's suit color or his taste for liking people who anger everybody.

Pohl posted:

It may appear right now that there is no way for a Republican to win the Presidency in 2016, but never ever assume that will hold.

stinkles1112 posted:

Not only that but he's arguing AGAINST welfare for the poor, and arguing FOR the rich keeping all their money, all based on what Christianity taught him, for gently caress's sake. It's just so incredibly backwards and heartless. Christ teaches you the literal opposite of that.

quote:

Students at Arvada, Arvada West and Ralston Valley high schools have been planning online for walkouts.

A 7NEWS viewer said students walked out of Golden High School a little after 9 a.m.

The dispute is over an effort to review how classes like Advanced Placement U.S. History are taught.

The school district proposed creating a panel that would make sure materials do not "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law."

That has many students, parents and educators concerned about censorship.

"What we really want is a promise from them that they won't restrict the content that is taught in our classes," said student Eric Temple. "Because we believe that if they restrict that content then we're not going to get the education that we think we should."

A Facebook page called Arvada West Walk Out said: "The plan is to walk out during the passing period between advisement and 3rd period on Tuesday, September 23rd. The point is to make a statement about being against these changes, so instead of simply leaving the school we will line up along 64th with posters, signs, anything that shows that we are standing up for ourselves and our teachers."

A similar Facebook page was created by Pomona High School students encouraging the same thing.

At least a hundred students from Evergreen High School protested Monday at the Jefferson County School District headquarters on Denver West Boulevard. A handful had the chance to meet with Superintendent Daniel McMinimee.

Students said they found some agreement from the superintendent, who told them he also opposes a curriculum review board.

However, that idea was tabled by the school board without a vote.

quote:

[JeffCo Board of Education Member] Julie Williams says this is necessary after all the changes to academic standards under the Common Core movement.

"When there is enough discussion around the country, it warrants looking into," Williams said.

The second part of the proposal reads in part, "Materials should promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights. Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law."

"I don't think we should encourage kids to be little rebels," Williams said. "We should encourage kids to be good citizens."

[...]

Williams says the committee would only focus on curriculum and materials and have no bearing on teacher's evaluation.

"I don't think there's any harm," Williams said. "Only good can come out of that."

Williams says she just wants to make sure students get an objective view.

"I want to bring history back to be taught accurately without opinion," Williams said.

quote:

The latest “experts don’t know as much as me” nonsense has emerged in one of the worst places possible: high school textbooks. Over the past few months, a new set of books has emerged from the nation’s publishers, the first since the State Board of Education in Texas, driven by political conservatives and Christian evangelicals, adopted standards in 2010 for what should be included in them. And the decisions by Texans don’t just inflict this foolishness on Texas kids; because the state is such a huge purchaser of school textbooks, publishers often opt to print whatever the Lone Star State wants for students all over the country.

Now the books based on those standards are out, and, unsurprisingly, history and knowledge have been tossed aside in favor of politics, propaganda and faith. The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, a group organized to strengthen public schools and counter the influence of the Christian right in education, asked experts—people with doctorates who teach these topics at university levels—to review the textbooks, and their opinions were scathing.

Did you know Moses played a role in the writing of the U.S. Constitution? I didn’t. Apparently neither did the Founding Fathers, since he’s not mentioned in the Federalist Papers or any other relevant document. But students reading Perfection Learning’s new textbook on American history will think Moses was right up there with John Locke and Charles de Montesquieu in influencing Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and their brethren. What role did Moses supposedly play? The textbook claims he contributed the concept that “a nation needs a written code of behavior.” Forget the biblical ignorance shown in suggesting Moses provided the code for a “nation” rather than for the Jewish people, who had no nation (failing to reach the Promised Land was kind of key to the Book of Deuteronomy). Forget the legal ignorance in suggesting the Constitution had anything to do with a “code of behavior” rather than establishing democratic government and the rights guaranteed to citizens. Forget the historical ignorance in suggesting that the first laws came from Moses when the sixth Amorite king of Babylon established one of the first written set of laws, known as Hammurabi's Code, hundreds of years earlier.

quote:

"I want to bring history back to be taught accurately without opinion," Williams said.

Cheekio posted:

Sometimes I think the appropriate response really is to just make an uncomfortably long farting noise.

a shameful boehner posted:

A bunch of students here in Colorado are walking out of school today because Republicans are hypocritical idiot assholes (but I repeat myself):

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/student-walk-outs-possible-at-pomona-arvada-west-and-ralston-valley-high-schools-tuesday


http://www.9news.com/story/news/education/2014/09/18/jeffco-curriculum-committee-us-history/15853797/


This ties back to this, of course:

http://www.newsweek.com/textbook-case-bad-textbooking-texas-272351


The bottom line is that the state of Texas should be excised from existence.

Raskolnikov38 posted:

Historians everywhere suddenly groan loudly without knowing why

quote:

Materials should promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights. Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Chris Christie is far more charismatic than Hillary and there's still plenty of time for his scandals to become old news.

stinkles1112 posted:

Not only that but he's arguing AGAINST welfare for the poor, and arguing FOR the rich keeping all their money, all based on what Christianity taught him, for gently caress's sake. It's just so incredibly backwards and heartless. Christ teaches you the literal opposite of that.

a shameful boehner posted:

A bunch of students here in Colorado are walking out of school today because Republicans are hypocritical idiot assholes (but I repeat myself):

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/student-walk-outs-possible-at-pomona-arvada-west-and-ralston-valley-high-schools-tuesday


http://www.9news.com/story/news/education/2014/09/18/jeffco-curriculum-committee-us-history/15853797/


This ties back to this, of course:

http://www.newsweek.com/textbook-case-bad-textbooking-texas-272351


The bottom line is that the state of Texas should be excised from existence.

Evil Fluffy posted:

Yes but it should be done through charity and if the rich don't give enough well then they're bad Christians the poor just need to be grateful for whatever they're given.


Texas should be nuked until there's nothing but a gaping hole connected to the earth's core. Can a conservative justice please just die, by any means, so this can be challenged in court and ruled as religious propaganda that attempts to circumvent separation of church and state?

quote:

Forget the biblical ignorance shown in suggesting Moses provided the code for a “nation” rather than for the Jewish people, who had no nation (failing to reach the Promised Land was kind of key to the Book of Deuteronomy). Forget the legal ignorance in suggesting the Constitution had anything to do with a “code of behavior” rather than establishing democratic government and the rights guaranteed to citizens. Forget the historical ignorance in suggesting that the first laws came from Moses when the sixth Amorite king of Babylon established one of the first written set of laws, known as Hammurabi's Code, hundreds of years earlier.

Tatum Girlparts posted:

Are you legitimately asking why Obama doesn't stick a bunch of people from all over the world, mainly the middle east/north africa, in Puerto Rico and 'give the prisoners paid retirement'?

Like, every chunk of that idea is something he doesn't have the right to do alone, and probably shouldn't, and also would be kinda fuckin dumb even if he did?

"Hey, man, I know you're like twenty and we took you from Yemen in the dead of night because your neighbor lied to us about you totally building an IED one time but don't worry, we're gonna put you in a territory that you don't speak the language of, have no connections to, no future in, and generally no desire to be in, don't worry though I'm using my presidential magic wand to give you 'paid retirement' somehow!"

effectual posted:

Oh ok, guess he should just give up and leave them rotting in prison then.

a shameful boehner posted:

A bunch of students here in Colorado are walking out of school today because Republicans are hypocritical idiot assholes (but I repeat myself):

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/student-walk-outs-possible-at-pomona-arvada-west-and-ralston-valley-high-schools-tuesday

quote:

Review criteria shall include the following: instructional materials should present the most current factual information accurately and objectively. Theories should be distinguished from fact. Materials should promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights. Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law. Instructional materials should present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage. Content pertaining to political and social movements in history should present balanced and factual treatment of the positions.