I saw writer earlier today post something asking, why is that, If Rebublican policy works so well, why are the red states so far behind in education, lack high paying jobs, suffer the most with poor health, and have shorter life spans? hmmm.
Yes, I have a friend in GA and when I told her about my son's (Oregon) Obama Care insurance she acted like she had never heard of FREE insurance like that. WOW I know she is upper middle class but really? Do they keep it so hidden there? Hard to learn about ?
Who’s more free? Republicans would like us to believe that people in red states who learn and know less, earn less, own less businesses, are sick more often, and die earlier are somehow more free.
Thank you for today’s letter and yesterday’s letter, both of which speak to the power of public school education for all America’s children.
I’m frightened that the Trump administration will try to give more funding to private schools and vouchers this causes the funding for public education to be reduced and diminished.
They want to destroy the Dept. of Education and “return education to the states” (sound familiar? like Dobbs?). But the DOE doesn’t form the curriculums for the states, that’s what state governors and legislatures, etc. do.
Beyond that, they probably want to redirect all of the public school funding to private schools and home schoolers, and in the process stop all federal efforts to enforce the laws applying to ensure that the federal money is spent fairly and without fraud. So if successful, we taxpayers would be funding all the private schools you could imagine, while they drown the public school system in a bathtub.
Can we address the probability of the vote being digitally hacked using AI ? Without being accused of “undermining our Democracy” which has been undermined plenty ?
I have seen several of my DEM type podcasters say they feel pretty sure it was legit but I can't imagine Elon would not cheat it. He totally would and of course our own Russian Oligarch Donald would think it was BRILLIANT! as he said about the invasion of Ukraine.
It is bad practice to report on conjecture and accusation before one has proof. There's a fair amount of circumstantial evidence that makes it worth investigating, but not enough hard evidence to report on it yet. Write your Secretary of State or local election officials to urge hand counts if you're in a state that you think may have been impacted by election tampering. We need to get local officials and journalists to investigate and turn up hard evidence before anyone can meaningfully report on this at the national level.
I am reading a pattern of our seniors here having hearing problems. I thought maybe Medicare covered the cost of a hearing exam or hearing aids, as that was one of the proposed actions by Bernie Sanders. I see it never made it through. This angers me to no end that in one of Kamala’s proposals, home heath care through Medicare for seniors which will never happen now. Now the twins of privilege and cluelessness (Elon and Vivek) want to cut more? The felon and his cadre of criminals are sickening. I am mad at the people that voted them in too.
As a veteran, I am eligible to get my hearing aids free from the VA. I can demonstrate from my audiograms that my hearing loss occurred during my time in the military, making me service connected. I was never exposed to loud noises during my service and can’t honestly say my hearing loss was caused by my service. The VA is underfunded enough, especially with veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. Since I’m able, I choose to pay (reluctantly) $6000 every few years to take advantage of technical improvements in hearing aids. I really think Medicare should pay at least some of that cost. Poor hearing has an impact on quality of life. This was supposed to be directed at Charlotte L.
Hearing aides do not cost $6000,(VA does not pay that, they negotiate prices as they do for drugs) the markup thanks to lobbing is huge for American consumers. Allowing hearing aides for Medicare and Medicaid, if allowed to negotiate the price could certainly be accomplished.
I have worked over 40 years in Special Ed and still do part time. I am willing to do just about ANYTHING to protect that. SIGN ME UP!! KellyAnn in Oregon
Heather thanks for the history lesson about eliminating the Dept of Education and the hate for transgender Americans. After learning about it, I realize we never stomped out the racism in this country and let it fester like a bad boil that’s now burst.
I SO appreciate that you put present circumstances into historic perspective. We learn that the attempts to impact a policy in government are repeated, over and over, with the desire for different results. That history DOES repeat itself, but that each time there is a different consequence so we try again. Knowing that we have recovered from past attempts to control education and keep people ignorant, and failed or did not succeed to the originators intent, really helps me feel more confident that we will always perform two-steps forward - one step back, but we do make progress over time.
Ignorance of Democracy in the USA and how it works is so much more profound than I realized until this election. I raised 5 college educated educators and I am just now realizing now how poorly their social and government education was in our universities. I cry for my grandkids and their future if Public Education does not survive and do a much better job than it has so far this century. They will bear the true misery.
Educational differences seem to be the greatest determinant in how people in America vote. With higher education comes a greater sense of connection to the whole of the world and society , while making it harder to relate to those without that kind of educational backdrop. It is a hearsay world without a college education. Having some sense of having dealt directly with source material, higher education cements belief in a fact and logic based world rather than a world upheld by lore. A wise man observed that most people tend to believe literature over history (especially relating to religion). Ergo, a societal education problem!
The wisdom of Thomas Jefferson falls on deaf ears of too many Americans. And the data you share has little meaning or impact on those who elected trump. As much as I understand virtually every bit of wisdom you share, I am overwhelmed with how much it sounds like a sermon to the choir. What is your insight on how we emerge from this mess we are in and how will our freedoms and democratic way of life survive? I understand your crystal ball may not focus you on definitive answers but a little cloudy perspective might help.
The people that want to break the government and turn it over to the billionaire kleptocrat class have been handed their best possible chance to do just that, by nearly one half of the people who bothered to vote. This will be the acid test of whether we, the people, will protect the Constitution and our rule of law from the wolf at the White House door. Trump is relaxing the rule of law with his own channeling of Victor Orban and other autocrats: Rule by Decree. We will have to pick up the pieces after they overestimate their mandate and burn the whole thing down. Fear and loathing: the barbarians are at the gate.
In contemplating what I ( an 83 yr old white female voter) can possibly do to protect MY country from the chaos to come, I have so far decided that communicating to my state and national representatives is a doable option. I hope to get the best online sources for factual news (voting records of my reps) and then let them know my opinions EACH WEEK. I shall up date my email contacts to do this. Perhaps I'm naive (I certainly was about the American electorate in the presidential race) but I hope to make it a commitment.
As a veteran teacher of hundreds of children in public schools, I believe that public education is the only way to level the playing field of life and promise. Despite some parents' arrogance and disdain at mixing students from various backgrounds, socio-economic status, religious beliefs, and sexual identities, the young people continue on learning from each other. Also, in my home state of VA, I served under several governors. When a Republican governor was in charge, funds were often cut, teacher salaries kept low, and there was an underlying feeling that the public schools were not good enough. In years of Democratic governors and a Dem majority in the statehouses, public schools were cared for and supported. So- Jefferson was so right! And the Republicans want an ignorant electorate, as it is much easier to gain their votes. Shame!
I think the DOGElon’s main effort to help Trump win was by buying Twitter for more than $40 billion ($44?), with investors including foreign governments such as from the Middle East; these investors apparently are willing to eat the losses that many of them incurred by Elon’s firing most of the staff and turning Twitter into a cesspool of hate, bigotry, misogyny, propaganda and disinformation posing as free speech.
“X” is now worth only around 25% of what he paid for it, so why are big name investors so happy? Because it helped them to get Trump elected since they know he is open to deals with dictators that might not pass the smell test, and also that he can be so easily manipulated by pushing the right buttons. Sort of like the Saudi wealth fund investing big in Jared Kushner to gain access to Trump; the mysterious $10 million from Egypt perhaps going into Trump’s campaign? and other graft and pay-to-play schemes. So yeah, the DOGElon spent only about $118 million to help Trump directly, but he and his investor appear to have swallowed something like $20-30 billion to take over Twitter for political-business reasons. This doesn’t sound like something that they just dreamed up or got from the Heritage Foundation. It smells because it involve a collaboration between the world’s richest man and a bunch of princes and potentates to undermine our foreign and domestic policy (such as the Saudi’s sucking all the water out of the ground to grow hay in the southwest).
The beauty of all this is that technically it’s all legal…. Or is it? Seems like they got away with while the BBC dems were dragged leftwards and into oblivion.
I saw writer earlier today post something asking, why is that, If Rebublican policy works so well, why are the red states so far behind in education, lack high paying jobs, suffer the most with poor health, and have shorter life spans? hmmm.
Yes, I have a friend in GA and when I told her about my son's (Oregon) Obama Care insurance she acted like she had never heard of FREE insurance like that. WOW I know she is upper middle class but really? Do they keep it so hidden there? Hard to learn about ?
Who’s more free? Republicans would like us to believe that people in red states who learn and know less, earn less, own less businesses, are sick more often, and die earlier are somehow more free.
Thank you for today’s letter and yesterday’s letter, both of which speak to the power of public school education for all America’s children.
I’m frightened that the Trump administration will try to give more funding to private schools and vouchers this causes the funding for public education to be reduced and diminished.
They want to destroy the Dept. of Education and “return education to the states” (sound familiar? like Dobbs?). But the DOE doesn’t form the curriculums for the states, that’s what state governors and legislatures, etc. do.
Beyond that, they probably want to redirect all of the public school funding to private schools and home schoolers, and in the process stop all federal efforts to enforce the laws applying to ensure that the federal money is spent fairly and without fraud. So if successful, we taxpayers would be funding all the private schools you could imagine, while they drown the public school system in a bathtub.
Can we address the probability of the vote being digitally hacked using AI ? Without being accused of “undermining our Democracy” which has been undermined plenty ?
I have seen several of my DEM type podcasters say they feel pretty sure it was legit but I can't imagine Elon would not cheat it. He totally would and of course our own Russian Oligarch Donald would think it was BRILLIANT! as he said about the invasion of Ukraine.
It is bad practice to report on conjecture and accusation before one has proof. There's a fair amount of circumstantial evidence that makes it worth investigating, but not enough hard evidence to report on it yet. Write your Secretary of State or local election officials to urge hand counts if you're in a state that you think may have been impacted by election tampering. We need to get local officials and journalists to investigate and turn up hard evidence before anyone can meaningfully report on this at the national level.
I am reading a pattern of our seniors here having hearing problems. I thought maybe Medicare covered the cost of a hearing exam or hearing aids, as that was one of the proposed actions by Bernie Sanders. I see it never made it through. This angers me to no end that in one of Kamala’s proposals, home heath care through Medicare for seniors which will never happen now. Now the twins of privilege and cluelessness (Elon and Vivek) want to cut more? The felon and his cadre of criminals are sickening. I am mad at the people that voted them in too.
As a veteran, I am eligible to get my hearing aids free from the VA. I can demonstrate from my audiograms that my hearing loss occurred during my time in the military, making me service connected. I was never exposed to loud noises during my service and can’t honestly say my hearing loss was caused by my service. The VA is underfunded enough, especially with veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. Since I’m able, I choose to pay (reluctantly) $6000 every few years to take advantage of technical improvements in hearing aids. I really think Medicare should pay at least some of that cost. Poor hearing has an impact on quality of life. This was supposed to be directed at Charlotte L.
Hearing aides do not cost $6000,(VA does not pay that, they negotiate prices as they do for drugs) the markup thanks to lobbing is huge for American consumers. Allowing hearing aides for Medicare and Medicaid, if allowed to negotiate the price could certainly be accomplished.
I have worked over 40 years in Special Ed and still do part time. I am willing to do just about ANYTHING to protect that. SIGN ME UP!! KellyAnn in Oregon
I too am concerned about funds being diverted from public education.
Heather thanks for the history lesson about eliminating the Dept of Education and the hate for transgender Americans. After learning about it, I realize we never stomped out the racism in this country and let it fester like a bad boil that’s now burst.
Thank you for this enlightening post. I liked the quote from Thomas Jefferson.
I SO appreciate that you put present circumstances into historic perspective. We learn that the attempts to impact a policy in government are repeated, over and over, with the desire for different results. That history DOES repeat itself, but that each time there is a different consequence so we try again. Knowing that we have recovered from past attempts to control education and keep people ignorant, and failed or did not succeed to the originators intent, really helps me feel more confident that we will always perform two-steps forward - one step back, but we do make progress over time.
Ignorance of Democracy in the USA and how it works is so much more profound than I realized until this election. I raised 5 college educated educators and I am just now realizing now how poorly their social and government education was in our universities. I cry for my grandkids and their future if Public Education does not survive and do a much better job than it has so far this century. They will bear the true misery.
Educational differences seem to be the greatest determinant in how people in America vote. With higher education comes a greater sense of connection to the whole of the world and society , while making it harder to relate to those without that kind of educational backdrop. It is a hearsay world without a college education. Having some sense of having dealt directly with source material, higher education cements belief in a fact and logic based world rather than a world upheld by lore. A wise man observed that most people tend to believe literature over history (especially relating to religion). Ergo, a societal education problem!
The wisdom of Thomas Jefferson falls on deaf ears of too many Americans. And the data you share has little meaning or impact on those who elected trump. As much as I understand virtually every bit of wisdom you share, I am overwhelmed with how much it sounds like a sermon to the choir. What is your insight on how we emerge from this mess we are in and how will our freedoms and democratic way of life survive? I understand your crystal ball may not focus you on definitive answers but a little cloudy perspective might help.
The people that want to break the government and turn it over to the billionaire kleptocrat class have been handed their best possible chance to do just that, by nearly one half of the people who bothered to vote. This will be the acid test of whether we, the people, will protect the Constitution and our rule of law from the wolf at the White House door. Trump is relaxing the rule of law with his own channeling of Victor Orban and other autocrats: Rule by Decree. We will have to pick up the pieces after they overestimate their mandate and burn the whole thing down. Fear and loathing: the barbarians are at the gate.
Cannot hear clearly or read today! Sorry
In contemplating what I ( an 83 yr old white female voter) can possibly do to protect MY country from the chaos to come, I have so far decided that communicating to my state and national representatives is a doable option. I hope to get the best online sources for factual news (voting records of my reps) and then let them know my opinions EACH WEEK. I shall up date my email contacts to do this. Perhaps I'm naive (I certainly was about the American electorate in the presidential race) but I hope to make it a commitment.
As a veteran teacher of hundreds of children in public schools, I believe that public education is the only way to level the playing field of life and promise. Despite some parents' arrogance and disdain at mixing students from various backgrounds, socio-economic status, religious beliefs, and sexual identities, the young people continue on learning from each other. Also, in my home state of VA, I served under several governors. When a Republican governor was in charge, funds were often cut, teacher salaries kept low, and there was an underlying feeling that the public schools were not good enough. In years of Democratic governors and a Dem majority in the statehouses, public schools were cared for and supported. So- Jefferson was so right! And the Republicans want an ignorant electorate, as it is much easier to gain their votes. Shame!
Thanks for liking my comments cuz I replied to and liked yours. I hope someone does a real check into Elon cheating
I think the DOGElon’s main effort to help Trump win was by buying Twitter for more than $40 billion ($44?), with investors including foreign governments such as from the Middle East; these investors apparently are willing to eat the losses that many of them incurred by Elon’s firing most of the staff and turning Twitter into a cesspool of hate, bigotry, misogyny, propaganda and disinformation posing as free speech.
“X” is now worth only around 25% of what he paid for it, so why are big name investors so happy? Because it helped them to get Trump elected since they know he is open to deals with dictators that might not pass the smell test, and also that he can be so easily manipulated by pushing the right buttons. Sort of like the Saudi wealth fund investing big in Jared Kushner to gain access to Trump; the mysterious $10 million from Egypt perhaps going into Trump’s campaign? and other graft and pay-to-play schemes. So yeah, the DOGElon spent only about $118 million to help Trump directly, but he and his investor appear to have swallowed something like $20-30 billion to take over Twitter for political-business reasons. This doesn’t sound like something that they just dreamed up or got from the Heritage Foundation. It smells because it involve a collaboration between the world’s richest man and a bunch of princes and potentates to undermine our foreign and domestic policy (such as the Saudi’s sucking all the water out of the ground to grow hay in the southwest).
The beauty of all this is that technically it’s all legal…. Or is it? Seems like they got away with while the BBC dems were dragged leftwards and into oblivion.