The Goat Pen

That's weird. Why the socks?

Nervous system disorder or Scleroderma.

Trump made noises today about terrorist attacks that he claims our news media failed to cover. Pressed for clarification and examples, administration officials mentioned the Paris attack, Charlie Hebdo, Nice, San Bernadino, and the Orlando nightclub massacre. Those events weren't covered. By the media. Strangely there was no mention of the Bowling Green massacre.

There's been a lot of speculation this afternoon and evening that the President may have 'gone round the bend'. One member of Congress is pleading for an emergency mental evaluation.

###BREAKING### Shawn Spicer has clarified the President's remarks: "He meant to say 'didn't cover those tragedies enough'. Also, the NYTimes was mistaken about Trump's bathrobe."

Start of week 3

Cletus wrote:Man the people in the tank for this guy are going to have to dig deep and go to some dark places to keep it up.

I told you, eCat is like Capt. Quint driving the Orca while it's on fire.

the Rogue POTUS Twitter account says Trump was going around declaring today that he was the Tom Brady of presidents. That makes me think it's legit b/c I can totally see Trump saying.

FWIW, I don't think DeVoss should be head of the Education Department.

Cletus wrote:Man the people in the tank for this guy are going to have to dig deep and go to some dark places to keep it up.

What's more alarming to me is, I don't think they're having to dig very deep at all. I won't go as far as Hannah Arendt and say it's the banality of evil, but the banality of whatever this type of thinking is that's OK with all this, the fact that it's right there, intractably at the surface of his supporters' character and reality, that's what strikes me as worrisome. eCat is a special case (and I think there are plenty of folks out there like him), he really does seem to have thought about it, and while I don't agree with his conclusions, I find it interesting to hear his take on the whole thing. But folks like Toe and 10ac and the rest of the neanderthals who used to populate puter's place (and the millions of others like them around the country), these know-nothings just straight up don't give a shit about the fundamental cornerstones of an open society, and don't even want to. Every time they post something, I just picture them with their fingers in their ears making loud noises with their mouths. That's pretty much the full extent of their intellectual lives, such as it is...

Basically the people who "support" Trump are the same people who supported people like Huey Long or George Wallace or Jesse Helms or Strom Thurman or Pat Buchanan or any other reactionary "leader" (if you can refer to someone who is desperately trying to hang onto the staus quo as "reactionary") who pop up from time to time throughout history. Of some comfort is the fact that these types are always eventually seen for what they really were. Sadly, it usually takes about a generation (at least) for that understanding to seep into the broader cultural conscience and that's about all the time I've got left...

its clear to me I've entered the Get off My Lawn you damn kids stage of my life.

hedge wrote:Basically the people who "support" Trump are the same people who supported people like Huey Long or George Wallace or Jesse Helms or Strom Thurman or Pat Buchanan or any other reactionary "leader" (if you can refer to someone who is desperately trying to hang onto the staus quo as "reactionary") who pop up from time to time throughout history. Of some comfort is the fact that these types are always eventually seen for what they really were. Sadly, it usually takes about a generation (at least) for that understanding to seep into the broader cultural conscience and that's about all the time I've got left...

Uh, yes you can, because thats the textbook definition of a reactionary.

eCat wrote:its clear to me I've entered the Get off My Lawn you damn kids stage of my life.

I still have hope for your redemption. I normally don't for people.

...and, yeah, Betsy DeVos is one of the worst cabinet picks I can think of. It's probably only rivaled by Rick Perry (I still can't figure out who is more dangerous...the person who will be in charge of setting up the future for the kids in my community, or the mediocre Animal Husbandry degreed politician who will be in charge of safeguarding our nuclear arsenal). That is not thinking outside the box. That is not thinking, at all.

Coming on here lately I feel like Bernie Mac at the Apollo

Y'all people don't understand, I ain't skeered of you motherfuckers!

10ac wrote:That's weird. Why the socks?

His feet get cold.

Jungle Rat wrote:

10ac wrote:That's weird. Why the socks?

His feet get cold.

I'm not sure about the know-nothings part; none of those guys were core supporters. They're left wanting to squeeze some more satisfaction out of the left's misery - can't really blame them - but as Trump and his gang continue to shit the bed the reality sets in.

eCat wrote:FWIW, I don't think DeVoss should be head of the Education Department.

I don't either but maybe or maybe not for the same reasons that you might list. I think that if we are even going to bother to HAVE a Department of Education and Trump appointing someone to head it, that the person in charge needs to question exactly what is going on in K-12 (nationwide) and re-evaluate if our current model (a model based on "tracking") is sufficient to educate our children in the information age such that they all have a chance. Overall, the K-12, 180 day, 6 hour a day, tracking based education model, hasn't changed all that much since the end of World War II. Our economy is very different. I'm not sure DeVoss is sophisticated enough to look at public education deeply enough to evaluate what needs to change and what needs to stay the same.

DeVos does not understand public education and has not shown a shred of acumen in anything she has done besides how to best cash dividend checks. She has a BA from Calvin College in some sort of religious study and has been unimpressive in every thing I've seen her. Truly, only Rick Perry can rival her in "unsuitedness" for the job they are nominated.

Bklyn wrote:DeVos does not understand public education and has not shown a shred of acumen in anything she has done besides how to best cash dividend checks. She has a BA from Calvin College in some sort of religious study and has been unimpressive in every thing I've seen her. Truly, only Rick Perry can rival her in "unsuitedness" for the job they are nominated.

I don't care about where she went to college or how many dividend checks she has cashed. That is not what disqualifies her from being Secretary/Head/Czar for the Department of Education (or whateverthefuck the title is.) How many dividends she has cashed and the education at Calvin College has zero impact on her overall knowledge of public education. You are not asking the right question.

The only question you should be asking regarding DeVoss and her ability to lead this Federal Agency is, does she have enough depth of knowledge regarding what is required (mandated by the federal government) of primary, middle, and high schools, to educate not only their most gifted students, but also the marginal ones who are getting nothing more than remedial learning? I would say she doesn't. If she knew what was really happening out there (what with this infernal thing called "tracking") she would be gutting our entire education system and mandating that all 50 states start educating ALL their children such that the bottom 50% don't look at their meaningless high school diploma with a feeling of despair and utter hopelessness. Our current model ensures that this hopelessness continues unabated. THAT is what is helping to drive this Millennial feeling of.... "inequality."

The states will have so much more money to spend on education when the DOE with its huge bureaucracy is eliminated.

if we're going to go that route, then why not appoint some techno jock from Silicon Valley?

I don't have a problem not going with a Washington Bureaucrat for something as important as Education, but the voucher thing is just typical GOP bullshit.

Schools are a lifeblood of a neighborhood and you can't propose a system that results in only the disengaged or neglected students stay in public schools. You think we have problems now with high school dropouts.

Its also yet another open ended government funded program where private schools would rake in cash above and beyond what was intended for public schools.