Falwell meets with Trump to discuss role -- Dept of Ed

[biscoffcookies]

According to the Post, they met to discuss Falwell's "potential role" in the Department of Education.  And regardless Falwell tells the media that he will "definitely play a role" in the administration.

Seriously, another day, another report that makes me want to scream and throw things.   Falwell as the head of the Department of Education?   Are they going to amend Common Core to include creationism, and require our history classes teach that the Earth is only 6,000 years old?   At this point that I probably should probably be numb to the GOP's hypocrisy, but it remains able to fill me with fury.   Apparently concerns about "religious freedom" only apply if you are a Christian. For those of you who are athesist, or subscribe to a different religious orthodoxy - well, too damn bad.

The Washington Post

[eclaires]

KILL ME NOW.

JUST DO IT.

[wambam]

^ This right here might make we want to home school my hypothetical child.

Fuck. This. Noise. Right. Here.

[smock]

I'm so conflicted. If Falwell is in charge of the Department of Education, should I hope that Trump follows through on his promise to eliminate the Department of Education?

This is starting to feel a little too much like 1984.

[smock]

Nov 21, 2016 13:14:12 GMT -5 wambam said:

^ This right here might make we want to home school my hypothetical child.

Fuck. This. Noise. Right. Here.

This is another reason why I want to move to a blue state. If education policy reverts completely to the state level, I don't want to be in a state that is openly anti-evolution, anti-climate change, anti-science, and frankly anti-education.

[MrsAxilla]

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

[pitta12]

NO.

[eclaires]

ENJOY CREATIONISM EAST TN! Say goodbye to your science lab coordinator, because I can handle a lot in public ed, but not this.

Guess I better start figuring out our budget to include Catholic school or the local non-religious private that is more than my university per year.

[tessalb]

So, I'm going to have to quit teaching...

[winecat]

WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK IS GOING ON??

[rex]

MAKE IT STOP.

[eclaires]

Nov 21, 2016 13:15:57 GMT -5 smock said:

Nov 21, 2016 13:14:12 GMT -5 wambam said:

^ This right here might make we want to home school my hypothetical child.

Fuck. This. Noise. Right. Here.

This is another reason why I want to move to a blue state. If education policy reverts completely to the state level, I don't want to be in a state that is openly anti-evolution, anti-climate change, anti-science, and frankly anti-education.

This is what concerns me most about staying in TN, because I do really believe in public education and what to advocate for it. But I can't do this.

MH thinks we stay and that he will have job security at the lab for four years - basically wait it out and hope for the best in 4 years. And I get it, he loves his job and his job is valuable. So I guess we start paying for school if things go off the rails, which goes against everything I believe is the right thing to do in our situation. Fuck.

[onomatopoeia]

Nov 21, 2016 13:15:57 GMT -5 smock said:

Nov 21, 2016 13:14:12 GMT -5 wambam said:

^ This right here might make we want to home school my hypothetical child.

Fuck. This. Noise. Right. Here.

This is another reason why I want to move to a blue state. If education policy reverts completely to the state level, I don't want to be in a state that is openly anti-evolution, anti-climate change, anti-science, and frankly anti-education.

Every passing day I am more and more grateful that when I moved to the US, I picked Massachusetts.  Especially since I work in education (state admin).

Why is this story buried?  I have a WP subscription and I don't see it anywhere on the main page. 

Every time I read something Trump related, I think to myself "Now self, would this make you angry if Hilary did this?  Are you perhaps looking at this through a blue colored lens?"  Then I laugh/cry, because Hilary would never fucking do this shit.  Any of it.   

[cookies]

Guys, I can't take this anymore. I don't know how I am going to survive the next month of speculation on appointments or the next 4 years if this all comes to fruition. This is so very bad.

[bowies]

This makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Keep the populace dumb so they don't have critical thinking skills, so they vote for people who appeal only to their basest instincts. And just in case, send those who do value education fleeing to blue states that can't get enough Electoral College votes to win the presidency.

Human civilization is a bell curve isn't it. The peak is behind us.

[pinkdutchtulips]

OH

HELL

NO !!!

and I'm in BLUE CA and I'm terrified of Falwell heading up the Dept of Edu ...this PK has words for that moron !!

ETA - sometimes I think about moving out of CA bc it's so freakishly expensive (especially for a single parent) and daydream about hightailing it to my piece of CA in MI called AnnArbor, but w MI *Red* and what's going on in DC, I'll stay put.

[pugz]

I LITERALLY CANNOT!!!!!

[biscoffcookies]

It is barely 10 am here, and I am now drinking a screwdriver. Because fuck. I feel like we should write an obituary for America as we know it. These choices are being paraded out without any shame, and no one in a position of any influence is calling shenanigans. I know that what we are supposed to do is fight the good fight, and never give up, and everything Hillary said, but fuck if it doesn't feel to me like we're in a death spiral and there's no coming back.

[mbcdefg]

[bowies]

BTW I'm still in shock that the alt right and religious right managed to forge a coalition large enough to do this to America. After so many years of analysis saying they were on the decline. Just....fuck.

[eliseb0323]

Hahahahahahaha. OK, I have a theory on what is going on here. Trump and his minions are floating the most ridiculous people possible for positions to get press. Then he picks someone ALMOST, but not quite as ridiculous who looks less terrible in comparison. At least I hope that is what is happening.

[mrshandy]

[pitta12]

Nov 21, 2016 13:33:47 GMT -5 eliseb0323 said:

Hahahahahahaha. OK, I have a theory on what is going on here. Trump and his minions are floating the most ridiculous people possible for positions to get press. Then he picks someone ALMOST, but not quite as ridiculous who looks less terrible in comparison. At least I hope that is what is happening.

I've thought this sometimes, too, but that would make too much sense.  I think it's more of a giant fuck you, and a clear message that Trump and his buddies GNF what anyone else thinks about anything.

[biscoffcookies]

Nov 21, 2016 13:45:58 GMT -5 luschek said:

Nov 21, 2016 13:33:47 GMT -5 eliseb0323 said:

Hahahahahahaha. OK, I have a theory on what is going on here. Trump and his minions are floating the most ridiculous people possible for positions to get press. Then he picks someone ALMOST, but not quite as ridiculous who looks less terrible in comparison. At least I hope that is what is happening.

Trump and his minions are floating stuff like this to distract the American press from some real shady shit he's doing. Like this:

Cashing in BIGLY in Argentina
By JOSH MARSHALL AND CATHERINE THOMPSON for TPM EDBLOG

Over the weekend, there were a flurry of stories about how Donald Trump and his family are already using the presidency to leverage his overseas businesses as well as his new DC hotel. Well, now there's more. This time in Argentina.

Here's the background.

For a number of years, Trump and his Argentine partners have been trying to build a major office building in Buenos Aires. The project has been held up by a series of complications tied to financing, importation of building materials and various permitting requirements.

According to a report out of Argentina, when Argentine President Mauricio Macri called President-Elect Trump to congratulate him on his election, Trump asked Macri to deal with the permitting issues that are currently holding up the project.

This comes from one of Argentina's most prominent journalists, Jorge Lanata, in a recent TV appearance. Lanata is quoted here in La Nacion, one of Argentina's most prestigious dailies. Said Lanata: “Macri called him. This still hasn’t emerged but Trump asked for them to authorize a building he’s constructing in Buenos Aires, it wasn’t just a geopolitical chat."

(For Spanish speakers, here's the original Spanish we've translated: "Macri llo llamó. Todavía no se contó pero Trump le pidió que autorizaran un edificio que él está construyendo en Buenos Aires, no fue solo una charla geo política.")

Separately, Trump's business partner on the project, Felipe Yaryura, was there on election night at the Trump celebration in New York City.

Why aren't we hearing about this in the American press?

Well, remember, no one knew anything about the visit from Trump's Indian business partners until it appeared in the Indian press either. It seems like this is likely happening on many fronts. It's just being hidden from the American press. We only hear about it when it bubbles to the surface in the countries where Trump is pushing his business deals.

I wonder if using your office as the president-elect to ask a foreign government to help push through your business's venture would satisfy the "federal nexus" test that Chaffetz says he'd have to see to start looking into conflicts of interest issues.

[bernsteincat]

My husband is going to freak the fuck out about this. Mainly because our asshole governor will eat this shit up and push through anything and everything related to creationism, posthaste.

[anonymous]

Nov 21, 2016 13:31:23 GMT -5 biscoffcookies said:

It is barely 10 am here, and I am now drinking a screwdriver. Because fuck. I feel like we should write an obituary for America as we know it. These choices are being paraded out without any shame, and no one in a position of any influence is calling shenanigans. I know that what we are supposed to do is fight the good fight, and never give up, and everything Hillary said, but fuck if it doesn't feel to me like we're in a death spiral and there's no coming back.

and I also feel like there is no fighting back.  I feel completely helpless.  Like how do we stop this?  I actually find myself thinking if Trump becomes the next hitler will some foreign country along to save us, b/c short of that, I don't know how we stop him-congress certainly wont.

[JLV]

This is so, so, so bad. Like makes me want to puke bad.

[was5]

Other than knowing he's the son of a famous televangelist, I don't know much about Jr. I think this article has some good information on what he thinks is important. I mean, it's scary, but good to know.

www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/article_0746e853-cb07-56db-bc35-ba83b65a6f97.html

This speaks to what concerns him in education:
Falwell said higher education has to “get back to the basics of teaching” and eschew the “ivory tower” mentality that has led to “salaries that are out of this world.”


In public K-12 education, Falwell said, school vouchers could “transform the country and the inner cities” by giving parents an educational choice that provides “a whole generation of young people a new lease on life.”

and this

Falwell said he also favors a repeal of the so-called Johnson Amendment, a portion of the federal tax code, named for then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, that prohibits tax-exempt institutions like schools and religious organizations from directly endorsing political causes.

[bellejar]

This just gets worse and worse by the day.

[al320]

How is it that each pick is exponentially worse than the last one? And it started with the worst person in earth! This is starting to really feel like a massive prank.