Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

DeSantis has the power to remove school board members and has used this power in the past to remove people who defied his covid orders. If Moms for Liberty goes squawking to DeSantis and makes a big stink that a school board is ignoring them, you really think DeSantis is about to piss off his base and tell them to get lost?

Also, Martin County is a heavily Republican county. I guess it's possible that the school board is all libs and they just want to embarrass Meatball Ron by caving to the crackpots but...yeah I dunno, man. Not entirely buying this.

So it's also possible it's a Footloose county. But whether it's NAZI BOOK BANNING!!!! or Footloose, what's 100% clear is that it is not compelled by Florida law. At all. If it were, then hundreds of other school districts would be doing the same thing. And it's certainly not compelled by HB1557.

If it's not compelled by Florida law or, mor specifically, HB 1557, then cries of DeSantis as a Nazi Book Banner!!!! are not at all supported by the anecdote.

What is supported is that the local school board are asshats. That, I'd grant you.

[Whitley]

My question on this....is the law clearly written or is it just really vague so people have to guess what would violate the law?

[Mike]

It's supposed to be common sense based so that's one glaring problem. As I understand it, if something seems questionable, the school district can submit it to some sort of review process for an official thumbs up or down. The hair-on-fire screaming is a bunch of theatrical nonsense. The intent is to not teach 1st graders how to blow each other and now people are comparing DeSantis to Hitler. But since we're officially living in Clown World it's just another Thursday.

[iam416]

My question on this....is the law clearly written or is it just really vague so people have to guess what would violate the law?

You're not drafting a specific anti- "obscenity" law. It may be up in the air as to certain works. It is not for Beloved or others.

[lineygoblue]

IMO, kids can wait to learn about how to perform homosexual sex until at least 6th grade. It won't hurt their development to wait that long.

[Mike]

You wouldn't ordinarily think so but, man, lots of people are PISSED that they'll have to wait that long.

[Hannibal]

The Jacksonville school that literally pulled every book from the shelves? Yeah that was a stunt. A conservative school district removing a few dozen books at the request of conservative activists? Yeah, I'm not convinced that's also just a stunt.

Interesting that the fact check websites aren't all over that with a "Pants on Fire" rating.

[Hannibal]

Dominion’s Lawsuit Against Fox News Is Unfounded › American Greatness (amgreatness.com)

Good column on the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News. The article claims that Dominion was invited to be on the air to refute the claims of the President's lawyers, and they refused.

[Tom W]

You're not drafting a specific anti- "obscenity" law. It may be up in the air as to certain works. It is not for Beloved or others.

That way, they can cherry pick which cautionary tales match up with the shade of brown in their shirts. Fahrenheit 451? Sure. 1984? well, maybe not..

[Da Geezer]

Also, Martin County is a heavily Republican county. I guess it's possible that the school board is all libs and they just want to embarrass Meatball Ron by caving to the crackpots but...yeah I dunno, man. Not entirely buying this.

It always amazes me how little Progs know about small-town life and politics.

I grew up in a small town of 2,000 people, and it was fundamentally conservative. The School Board was peopled by liberals elected by the teachers' union. In most small towns, the school is the largest employer. .Add to that that the teachers have a great incentive to elect a pliant school board with which to negotiate future contracts.

If the school employs say 60 teachers and another 30 staff, that is 90 certain votes, about 175 if you count spouses. Add in relatives and friends of the teachers. Oh, and add in all the other unionists in town, and you get a base of around 300-350. That is more than enough to control elections held in May, as school board elections generally are.

Let's say that you own a hardware store in town. Are you going to speak out if you disagree with the board, knowing the teachers will boycott your store if you do? So there is a silent majority who keep their mouth shut, and thus the progs are reelected to the board.

It is the intensity of the school employees versus the apathy of the rest of the electorate to show up in mid-May that makes school boards progressive. One wonders what would happen if on-line voting were allowed.

IMO, public sector unions are the single biggest threat to the future of America. And teacher tenure is the linchpin of the destruction of the government school system.
______________

And let me propose a free-market solution to the problem.

I believe "tenure" or whatever it is called in other governmental employment;, is an earned asset to those who have tenure. That asset should be taxed just like property and inventory are taxed. Let the government employee set a "value" on their tenure, and then tax that asset. For example, if a teacher values their tenure at $ 100,000, the school can buy her out for that and discharge her. If she is not discharged, let her pay, say, 4% on her asset. Never give tenure to any new employee. The result would be a market-oriented approach to paying teachers (and other governmental employees). My guess is that good teachers would value tenure at 0 and bad teachers would value it at $ 300,000 or thereabouts.

My brother-in-law was the Superintendent of Schools in the same small town. He had a teacher with an MA with 12 years of experience who had quit her job to raise her two kids to about age 10. Then she wanted to go back to teaching, but she would "cost" about double what a newly minted teacher would cost. She was rehired immediately. Good teachers are hard to come by, and the small town certainly knew her and wanted her to teach their children. Like any other job, good teachers should be paid more and bad teachers should be fired. This is too important to be left to political manipulations.

[Hannibal]

It has been my observation that school boards really hate it when parents complain or make demands of them. They tend to not be big fans of their constituents.

[Hannibal]

Liberals

[Mike]

Same applies to politicians. When they say crazy shit, believe them. Because they actually are fucking crazy.

[CGVT]

Liberals

Where does she say anything about sex changes?

Alpha News. Ha!

[CGVT]

Not the crisis the right thinks it is... Or presents it to scare you all

https://www.reuters.com/investigates...ansyouth-data/