Fixation 

Nothing but sexism can explain the fixation on Betsy DeVos when there are real evildoers among those cabinet picks. Vouchers, charters – who the ef cares when the damage they can do is non-existent compared to the grim reaper of Alabama, the Putin lap poodle, the mad dog creepo, the ACA Kevorkian, and the rest of them.

28 thoughts on “Fixation 

  1. Have just read a very strong, curious post by tareeva describing her experiences (religious ones) during her visit to Jerusalem in 1996. My family was still living in Ukraine then.

    http://tareeva.livejournal.com/188164.html

    Also, what it is with China and Trump? I saw this:

    враг Трампу очень даже нужен, и по мнению востоковеда Алексея Цветкова, он такого врага нашел.
    Трамп нашел врага, и, что очень важно, скорее экзистенциального, а не военного, не экономического. Врага – как сущность.
    И пытается навязать это мнение всему миру, доказывая, что Китай нарушил некий пакт.

    http://trim-c.livejournal.com/1531890.html

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    1. Unfortunately, I don’t believe Tareeva is writing any longer. I think somebody much much younger is writing in her name. A while ago there was a really scary post about her baking an apple pie in the 1950s. She didn’t call it pirog. She called it pie. In Cyrillic letters. That made it clear it was some 20-year-old writing.

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  2. Disagree. A person who wants to destroy public education as the secretary of education is incredibly dangerous to democracy. You yourself have lamented many times the poor state of education many of your students enter college with. You also wished for rigorous national standards. 90% of students are in public schools. You have also said public education is one of the great achievements of the nation state.

    Also there really isn’t a non disastrous pick in the bunch. Nobody’s singling out her for terribleness. So no, I don’t think sexism has anything to do with it.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Also the teachers are probably the strongest and most sympathetic union left in the country (AFT and NEA). This greatly enhances many people’s interest in de-fanging Devos’s plan to drive a stake through their heart. While I am sure we disagree on this point (i am pro teacher, anti-teacher union), I do agree that this isn’t really sexism in this case.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. “While I am sure we disagree on this point (i am pro teacher, anti-teacher union), I do agree that this isn’t really sexism in this case.”

        • Can you share a couple of cases where you do recognize that there is sexism?

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      2. \ (i am pro teacher, anti-teacher union)

        What do you mean by “pro teacher” then?

        I am from a family of teachers (in FSU and in Israel currently) and teachers’ unions are wonderful to have.

        If somebody is a horrible teacher, the person won’t find employment (or will), with or without teachers’ unions.

        The union works to ensure general basic normal conditions of employment for everybody. There are ways in which teachers may sometimes be compensated more, but not less.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. “What do you mean by “pro teacher” then?”

          • He wants to help teachers by lowering their salaries, robbing them of their benefits and replacing them with uneducated subs at $8 per hour.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. \ replacing them with uneducated subs

            Oh, I understood.

            Fighting unions will destroy the ‘class ceiling’ and make the teaching profession truly accessible to everyone (to practice, not to participate as a student).

            Liked by 1 person

    2. “You yourself have lamented many times the poor state of education many of your students enter college with.”

      • As I said many times, this is 100% on the parents. 100%. Does everybody remember what kind of school I went to? And so what? It had zero impact.

      I believe that vouchers are a great idea. As for charters, I have read an encyclopedia britannica worth of articles making the case against charters. I never read a single article in favor, so I have no idea what the case in favor even is. From everything I have read, not a single sentence raised above the level of simply ludicrous. And I’m guessing that if people whose mission in life is to battle charters can’t say anything coherent against them, then there is nothing.

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      1. If you don’t have educated parents the quality of the school really, really matters. You need educated teachers, books, materials, programs, facilities.

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  3. BREAKING NEWS!! Tony Orlando has agreed to perform at Trump’s inauguration on Friday!

    (I’ll definitely watch now — even if all the anticipated rioting doesn’t break out.)

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      1. You mean Trump? He’s the President-elect.

        Tony Orlando was a singer who had some VERY big hit songs in the 1970s (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree,” etc.), then disappeared for years . He reappeared around ten years ago in TV weight-loss commercials, showing before-and-after pictures of how he’d ballooned up to a 50-inch waist, and then gotten slender again using the Jenny Craig (or whatever) diet. Tonight he was on Fox saying he’d appear at the inauguaration.

        I’m hoping the protestors-vs. bikers riots will be more entertaining. 🙂

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        1. \ Tony Orlando was a singer who had some VERY big hit songs in the 1970s (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree,” etc.),

          This song was in one of my Israeli English textbooks in junior high, and I really liked it.

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  4. While everyone has been watching Trump, other things have been happening. According to “The Hill”, the National Endowment for the Humanities is going to be entirely eliminated shortly. Will this affect you directly?

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  5. My initial response was no, it’s just because she’s bad, but then I remembered that I saw a post about hey on facebook that really rubbed me the wrong way, even though I can’t put a finger on why it was sexist. And she really has received a disproportionate amount of vitriol. There are cabinet members equally bad as her or worse who I haven’t heard a peep about.

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