Government schools

I've been hearing a lot in the news – even NPR does it to some extent – about how high the unfavorable ratings of both Clinton and Trump are. Melissa McEwen of Shakesville strongly objects to the equivalency.

Donald is disliked, in large part, because he is a bigot and a bully. And Hillary is disliked, in some part, because she refuses to alienate the same marginalized people that Donald targets.
…
I cannot put this any more plainly: Donald is polarizing because he traffics in bigotry. Hillary is polarizing because she advocates eradicating it.
(emphasis in the original)
…
What I'm saying is that the unique (as we keep hearing) levels of dislike for her are not simply attributable to policy differences. And that the reasons she is disliked to the degree that she is are not at all the same reasons for why Trump is.

And I really wish the media would stop pretending otherwise.

The GOP in Kansas has put such a squeeze on the state budget that funding for public schools has collapsed. The state Supremes demanded the schools be funded, but the "solution" is quite temporary.

But that's OK. Because public schools are being rebranded as "government schools." As in, you know, Reagan's famous phrase, "Government is the problem." As in schools where kids get free or reduced cost meals.

As in those people are given an education. This is a part of that old Southern Strategy where gov't is associated with helping the "undeserving" – anyone who isn't white.



The GOP in Texas passed a new law requiring universities to allow guns on campus, including in classrooms. The day before five police officers were killed in Dallas, three female professors at University of Texas at Austin have files suit in an attempt to block the law. Their reasoning:

In the suit, professors say they teach courses that touch emotional issues like gay rights and abortion. The possibility of guns on campus could stifle class discussion, which is a violation of the First Amendment, the suit says.

I'm reminded of my days of teaching in a college classroom. Though I wasn't teaching emotional issues, such as abortion, I would not want a student questioning a grade while it was obvious a gun was within reach. That would be a reason for me to leave that school or decide it was time to retire.



I mentioned yesterday that the new GOP party platform was more conservative than the 2012 platform. Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin says it is the most anti-LGBT GOP platform ever (though, to be fair, back before 1965 the platform didn't need to be anti-LGBT because the whole society was). It is also a lot more anti-LGBT than the party's prez. candidate.

Commenter SharonB summarizes with what must be a tired refrain:

Again, not all Republicans hate me, but everyone who hates me is Republican.