Comments by "Xyz Same" (@xyzsame4081) on "The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder"
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The progressives did not do well in California, name recognition, complacent base (or indoctrinated with conventional wisdom) , .... Either Feinstein or Pelosi did not even have a challenger, and the establishment candidates with the money and the typical "CV" made it - if they were new. Or the incumbents.
FDR threatened to campaign against certain "Democratic representatives" if they would not support the New Deal. The Dems had a majority or even supermajority in both houses in 1933 (so they did not need the Republicans, which was good or nothing would have ever got done).
FDR did not fight with the dissenters officially but it is known that he twisted the arms of some.
On the other hand he gave in to the Dixiecrats who made sure that black and brown people got less out of the New Deal.
And in 1944 the party establishment hit back and demoted very popular VP Wallace. In 1940 there was a fight - and FDR threatened to not run at all and insisted on the progressive Wallace.
I guess in 1944 the politicians knew that FDR would sooner or later die of his dangerously high bloodpressure (which he did in April 1945) - so they did not bother to fight again and instead made sure their guy - Truman, the war monger - would be VP and ready to take over.
I think progressives should not underestimate the longterm capacity of the "establishment" to bounce back (and their contempt for the unwashed masses and the indignation when they are made to pay their fair share).
The citizens (also in California) are not doing well, and most realize they should do better - but they lack the desperation of the Great Depression - else it is hard to understand why the many progressives that were running escaped their notice.
Maybe the upcoming presidential campaign helps with that - sharpent the awareness. Last time many newcomers run a grassroots campaing with a Bernie platform.
Why the hell are people not doing a web search before elections. even if they know not much about a candidate and have litte energy, interest or time to dig deeper ? For most the status quo has not worked out too well, they can as well try the obscure candidate that says they do not take corporate donations and they usually refer to Bernie style policies.
So it remains to be seen if NEXT time there are serious challengers.
It would help if they come close, they must not even win against the big shots and longterm incumbents. Just enough to scare the shit out of them.
Sanders did not support most of these candidates btw (I think only if it did not "offend" the party establishment) - he hung out Tim Canova (the challenger of Debbie Wasserman Schultz) in Florida. Tim Canova was cheated twice, once in the D primaries and then the next time as Independent. Ongoing court case, recount of paper ballots (the backup) demanded, the court dragged their feet, and the paper ballots were destroyed - by the same clerk that came later under fire in the midterms 2018.
So for now Sanders is playing nice with the establishment. He likely COULD topple Pelosi - but he is not going to do it, for fear of alientating "conservative" Democrats, and the party establishment would go nuts. (Thinking of it: it would be unwise for him to do it, that ugly battle must be fought by the base)
It should be noted how much the people sacrifice who are willing to engage in those David against Goliath primaries (the DCCC ramped it up, every agency, videographer, marketing expert that would do work for the challenger of a Democratic incumbent will be blacklisted).
Since 70 % of the districts are reliably blue the intention is to grant the D incumbents a seat for life protection and to discourage any competition (so they can gladly ignore the constituents, they would not vote Republican - that was was Crowley did, and it worked for 16 years or so. Then AOC came around.
On the other hand those party establishment endorsed marketing experts, and election strategists suck anyway - they may be good fit for the big money circus before the internet, - but not for grassroots campaigns using social media and peer to peer recommendation.
Challenging the big money incumbent with the name recognition worked out for AOC - but a campaign is long and exhausting, especially if there is not a lot of money to grease the works. Money can buy support, services, comfort for the candidate while they concentrate on the race.
If they run from the position as mayor of a town .... well ....they cannot neglect the town or city complety. (On the other hand they have something to fall back on, the campaign may raise the profile in town - and positively - they "only" invest a year or more of their life, with uncertain outcomes. You must be ambitious and a little crazy for that).
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Not all products and services are a good fit for the "free market". Education is a bad fit - it tends towards "natural monopoly". The "choice" is non-existent for low-income families. And it is not a "nice to have, but can do without" service.
It does not make sense to privatize schools if you think about it (if you want the best for all of the citizens that is - private for-profit schools are a fabulous investment niche for rich people to extract money from the low and middle class)
Also real life results proves that it enhances inequality and poor outcomes for children of families that struggle (financially or otherwise).
Kids that come from families hwich struggle, are dysfunctional, where parents have little education, do not appreciate education, or the child has learning disabilities - do have a disadvantage anyway.
Eager and caring, well educated middle class parents can and will counterbalance for instance learning disabilities - other parents will be overwhelmed.
The child is left with much less chances for success. It is not a meritocracy when the income and dedication of the parents massively correlates with the outcomes for the children.
In countries like Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Japan to some degree also France, Netherlands, ... they have well funded non-profit school systems. The Scandinavians and Japanese are especially dedicated to offer a level playing field for all in education - it shows in the results. (btw Sweden tried out private education, one company was allowed to operate, it was a test run. The company went bankrupt, the tax payers had to pick up the tab, the children were of course not left behind. In Sweden you do not mess with the children, they are quite sensitive about that, that was the end of such experiments).
In the U.S. or elsewhere: The teachers have subjects to cover, they do not get into politics. - Although whitewashing MLK or how history is taught - especially what is left out - or a sex-ed where it is forbidden to show and explain the use of a condom seems quite polticially/religiously driven to me. Even young fundamentalistic Christians can profit of that information - they tend to marry young and might not want to have a child immediately.
From the obsession with the appearance of female students (the neckline of your shirt shows your collarbones, that is too much for some of these snowflake teachers who send female students home) - it seems that some schools or teachers are quite "conservative" (more like bigotted). Being a teacher does not make a person automatically lean to the "left" politically. The whole spectrum is assembled
Besides - in the teenage years the teenagers do not necessarily take the word of the teachers as gospel. And if some would like schools to teach their pet outsider positions - like no-sex until marriage, creationism, and Global warming is a hoax - well a) you live in a science oriented secular society b) you can make your case privately to your children (to counteract the "evil" teachings of the public school).
Healthcare is another area that is a terrible fit for the "free market" - it shows in the U.S. expenditures (see the U.S. vs. the other rich countries, you could add 70 % to the expenditures where I live - Germany- and would land at the U.S. level. Never mind everyone is fully covered and the U.S. does worse in parameters like life expectancy and child mortality than most wealthy countries)
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@Kevin Michael BoJo is a narcissist. Brexit is a lose/lose scenario, even now. Some hardliners among the MPs and the riled up supporters * want a hard Brexit.
The Leave base seems to be blissfully unaware of the economic challenges / dangers behind a hard Brexit and not willing to be informed - "Brexit means Brexit !" and "We won" - that seems to be important: people that were fucked by the system or they do well but are culturally irritated that so many "foreigners" are in the country.
"Strongly disliked" foreigners can also include people from Eastern Europe (as citizens of EU member states they can work in other EU nations even though the member states can restrict access of such EU citizens to unemployment benefits, disability and other benefits or demand that they must have a job within 3 months).
These EU migrants are usually very well integrated, working and WHITE. Doesn't help their cause with many U.K. citizens and they tend to be in the Leave camp (and feel now emboldened to show their hostility towards "foreigners").
The last proposal BoJo has got is a SOFT Brexit w/o worker's rights (even Farage called it a softer proposal than the last one May had - but Farage supported the Tories nontheless, the Brexit party did not compete for seats where the Tories had a chance to win, or they would have split the vote).
soft Brexit: selling that to the exited base in a deeply divided country (the Frankenstein monster he created) - or crashing out of the EU with no deal (which means hard brexit). Which is likely very bad for the economy and the business community that normally supports the Tories is panicking about that.
Boris Johnson was not happy the morning after the referendum with the result Leave (in summer 2016) - watch the footage. He should have been, he campaigned for it, so he "won" against the odds. But he had no firm position on leaving (or many other things, he is like Trump in that) before he took up the cause.
BoJo wanted the position of party leader Cameron who is a traditional sleek Tory. BoJo had his base which liked his antics, but he could not beat Cameron - so he had to find a crusade to distinguish himself.
He pestered Cameron and riled up the base with anti immigrationrhetoric as well (also not so subtly agains the legal migrants, many of whom are from other EU countries). the xenophobia of the Tories used to be more subtle. Cameron solved that inner party rivalry by promising a referndum on the EU during the GE 2010. The Tories winning in 2010 made Cameron the Prime Minister of the U.K. (he stepped down after the referendum, he had of course supported Remain along with the business community).
The plan of BoJo: build up your right wing street creds in the Leave campaign, lose honorably. Use the national platform then to challenge Cameron with an activated base AND at that point the people that always vote Tory but would not want to leave the EU had no reason to not vote for him as party leader = PM. The consistent Tory voters are usually well-off, affluent or rich, many do not go for character as long as he will serve their interests (and is not too uncough).
That obstacle (Tory base not in favor of Leave) would have been dealt with in the referendum, surely the referendum would end with Remain, but Boris could present considerable support by the base to bolster his claim that he could appeal to the masses and win a GE for the party. The disappointed base that wanted Leave would be told that "We must respect the referendum" - but if they voted for him now as PM he would do something about immigration nontheless.
He did not want to "win" the Leave campaign (he campaigned along with Farage who also did not strike me too enthusiastic the morning after the referendum, not sure about him, but BoJo was flattened) .... because of course Boris Johnson did not want to deal with Brexit as Prime Minister.
On the other hand some of the oligarchs - not those in manufacturing - but those in finance could see the advantage of a hard brexit and to use the ensuing economic crisis to turn the U.K. (or England) into a tax haven and to crush the rights of workers, consumers and environmental protection while they were at it.
So the tabloid press supported Brexit (anti immigrants) and helped to rile up the masses.
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Duh - look at countries with the best schools and results: most teachers (well most people) are in the middle or slightly above average in their capacities. Embedd them in an excellent structure and they - as group, as organsim will CREATE excellent outcomes together with the children. The forest is more than the sum of the trees !
The ability to nurture children and to teach them how to learn learning - does not lend itself well to competition, to being graded. Humans have an innnate desire to do good work, they are not only motivated by exterior factors .. TRUST a person that likes children and likes to teach and arrange for the right environment - and there will be no need for micromanaging.
How they do it in Finland:
Select for people who LIKE children, have no major personality flaws, have an interest in their subject (it they teach to older students). Select carefully who gets to be a teacher, give them enough funding, embedd them into a nurturing structure, don't appoint jerks as director or (head) adminstrators, pay them enough - and then LET THEM WORK.
And reduce the red tape. The adminstrators should SERVE not run the whole place. There are schools in the U.S. where the adminstrators make much more than the teachers. How so ? I mean one needs some management and people skills sure. but there is no entrepreneurial skill necessary and it is certainly not rocket science.
(I forgot the state, the teachers complained in a meeting the the adminstrator got himself a raise, but not the teachers, the police forced her out of the schooboard meeting).
Testing and grades are overrated. Learning of content/ facts is overrated as well.
Education used to be about useful skills but also and very important - to show off to which socioeconomic CLASS you belonged.
There are not many skills that one absolutely must have (reading, writing, basic calculation, some compter skills, driving a car, operating a mobile phone).
People can get through life and be unable to practically apply the rule of proportion (it does not even enter their mind that they COULD use it) and to solve simple equations. Now, that - unlike a lot of more advanced maths that they also "passed" - is actually useful. Those who did not completely fail must at some point of time have passed the related tests successfully.
And since it is a process and builds up one would expect it to be like when you learned a language or to ride a bike. It should stay with you and be easy to reactivate, as well.
But they never made MATHS their OWN. They learned plenty and more advanced maths. But it is meaningless if the process of acquiring that knowledge is not (mostly) enjoyable.
Anything "maths" is treated by many adults like a minefield (of humiliation !) Some rescue themselves into the admission of their stupidity. To avoid to ever again having to engage with that frustrating/scary/boring/annoying topic. What's the use of being an adult when you cannot refuse to ever again have anything to do with maths.
One can do well w/o the rule of proportion - but if you do not master reading and at least basic writing you are really in trouble. So schools MUST master the art of teaching all children (that do not have developmental problems) to read well.
Some inner city schools fail at that, a sizeable portion of their "graduates" had poor or very poor reading skills. In the lawsuit the judge decided that the students do not have a right to be taught in a way that would raise the overall level of reading skill to the average level in the U.S..
It is a combination of background, stressful environment at home, the area where they live, an underfunded school, likely most teachers flee if they can. Good funding AND making the school a safe haven would help (plus some outside mentoring if the school is so dysfunctional). Lots of social work, nurturing the teachers, the children take the hostility and hardship with them into the social structure of the school.
Teach non-vioent communication.
Learning does not happen when the amygdala is not engaged and gives the green light. Survival and or emotional distractions beat picking up factual information.
For efficient learning a relaxed, SECURE, agreeable environment with a tinge of positive excitement and a little bit of friendly competition is ideal. An adult that is mobbed will underperform in the workplace - it is worse with children.
Motivation, curiosity, ambition can compensate if the subject is boring. And some stuff is boring but you must learn it anyway (in architecture or law, or anatomy. Of course teenagers and young adults can be expected to withstand more drill and boredom - but it is toxic for smaller children. It conditions them to dislike learning and school in general. That happens very often with the subject of mathematics.
School as the place to fill up students with facts/content to which they do relate (to which they do not bond)
I notice that with college students, they like Sanders - but cannot tell the difference between Socialism, or Social Democrat, I wonder if many understand what single payer system means). And THEY are supposed to be the intellectually ambitious. They are enthusiastic about him - but could never be bothered to search even for a short definition ??
They have a certain verbal skill level and I notice a tendency to gloss over with word salad over the embarrassing fact that they did not even know the basics. And if they can they do not simply admit that they are - yet -underinformed.
They have been trained to parrot things, and to do so with a certain degree of eloquence. They were not trained to question, to detect on their own. Admitted that is more challenging for the teachers. And if the goal is that the children should be able to parrot a certain volume of facts at a certain time (teaching to the test) - then you cannot allow for the slow, deep, meandering, organic process where a child immerses itself into a self-chosen ! subject.
In the end it does not matter if they become experts on dinosaurs (you would be surprised how many exist among the young ones) or Japanese tea ceremonies. And it does not matter if they know nothing about the history of the nation. If they are not ALIENATED from LEARNING they will be in the habit of wanting to know and explore things - and as for geography or history: if the bug bites them (at 15, 10, 25 or 65) they will get the information.
School and even more university used to be the hub for information, and to some degree libraries - now so much info is available in digital form, and many colleges have some lectures that are publicly availabe online.
Most of the things we learn in school (history, geography, ...) we forget. Part of it is that the subject was forced upon the students. A good teacher can of course make the subject interesting for MORE children, but will never reach all.
Being bored is the ultimate turn-off for the human brain, and it is worse for the brain of a young homo sapiens. It might be necessary to inflict that on them when they get some drill when it comes to concentrating. Or reading. ... although. Who says every child must learn it at age 6 -7. Some learn it with 5 while for others the age 9 might be right (and then they learn it w/o hassle). Motivation (either fear or ambition can deliver the necessary excitement to overcome boredome, especially with increasing maturity and frustration tolerance).
Example: Finland, Denmark: they make the extra effort to level the playing field. Which is also the reason they never had the underclass like the U.S. - these countries never allowed such an extent of inequality for adults and children.
In a country with a lot of inequality, where children are living in a harsh environment - give GENEROUS fundung for social work, have some anti-mobbing programs, let the school be save havens.
Have programs that watch out for kids who do not integrate well, and do not have good social skills.
School is about learning to learn, learn to concentrate, social skills, learning to present.
And let's be real: to watch over the children while their parents are working in a job.
Especially when they do not live in a nice area and the parents are busy, abusive, will not or cannot help with homework - school can level the playing field. And with after school programs for teenagers it can stand between them and drifting apart form society. The young men ending up in jail and the young girls getting pregnant. Dropping out of school, hanging out on the street.
Philadelphia stopped their Zero Tolerance policy (often minor offenses, could get a teeanger arrested. Like having a fight. Or small amounts of weed). That was very successful.
In Sweden a major part of the 6 - 7 year olds get extra help. when they have a harder time learning to read. It does not depend on the patience, teaching skills, commitment of the parents if the kids are getting help. And since so many get extra attention it is not shameful for the children. (Littel children are highly sensitive to being the "stupid" ones in their class, that is another thing that is completely overlooked.
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Former aristocrats, landlords and monarchs had it easier. The churches colluded with them and supported their claim that they deserved to be on the top, and a crusty class system helped as well. Plus they were the ones that could dress nicely, had "cultivated" speech patterns ("posh accent - especially in the U.K.) and they were educated and at leisture to pursue academic interests (if they wanted to) while the rest of the population was kept undereducated or at least away from the NOBLE institutions of higher learning and clubs. Especially the underclass overworked.
When people are getting more wealth and education (females, citizens in general, the British merchants in the empire, the landlords in the American colony, people of color) - w/o fail they challenge the right of the upper classes to dominate and govern them. They want participation - at least for themselves. (The British merchants or the American revolutionaries did not want a democracy for everyone, THEY wanted more influence on governance).
Back in the day it was not hard to maintain the illusion of superiority. "good manners" and insider rituals of the upper classes, private schools, clubs, marriages within their circles were other means to exclude the masses. Or even trivial things like having access to books and newspapers. Or medical care, good living areas, better food, clean water.
The wealthier commoners were busy trying to emulate and to imitate the 1 %. To some degree they challenged the upper classes but they did not challenge the structure itself - it is just that THEY wanted to be accepted in the club as well. (So wealthy British merchants married their children to broke aristocrats to get a foot into the door of "better" society.)
See for instance in 1776 the wealthy landowners of the American colony who shook off the reign of the foreign parliament (dominated by rich Brits and their nobility) and the foreign king. These landowners allowed some freedoms (like religious freedom) but it was by no means a democracy. Only around 40,000 white males with some wealth had the vote. The did not shake off the reigns to have freedom for everyone - THEY wanted more freedom and influence for themselves, the wealthy / rich commoners.
All these justifications and a lot of the traits of poverty / wealth (education, being well groomed, access to information) have widely vanished in modern secular society. The upper class is much more inclined to deny there is such a thing as class - while cultivating feudal attitudes.
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+ M. Fink the Nazis, the Italian fascists increased gun ownership (they founded gun clubs, civil militias etc.). In Germany only the Jewish people that had firearms were forced to give them up.
No one expected them to use them btw, at that time they were not yet arrested or taken to camps, they started stripping them of citizens rights (government employees, teachers were fired, they could not sit on public park benches, go swimming, etc.)
This was another way to harrass them, humiliate them. Some of the men had of course served in WW1, it is possible that officiers could keep their weapong. Even though they did not idolize weapons like many U.S. citizens do - this was a degradation.
Firearms were expensive - they were not that widespread (also not in the U.S. apart from hunters and famers).
Hunting is not as widespread as in the U.S., the countries in Euirope are more densely populated.
So for people who did have firearms in Germany in the 1930s that meant usually having served in WW1 at a higher rank or being a hunter or farmer - and as Jewish people were rarely farmers - a hunting weapon or being a collector would indicate wealth.
Being forced to give up the firearms was more a measure of degradation.
If any Jews had gunned down police, Gestapo, etc. - they would have brutally killed them and their whole family (and taken it as pretext for more violence). So that was no danger for the tyrannical state.
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