DL Open Thread: Thursday, April 14, 2022
Absolute Must-Read: Pro Publica On Tax Avoidance By The Wealthy. Award-worthy, great graphics, and exceedingly aggravating.
You Ever Get Mail From Hillsdale College? I do. Buncha RWNJ’s pretending to be a college. They’re now building a string of charter schools to combat ‘leftist academics’:
With only 1,500 students on a small-town campus in southern Michigan, Hillsdale College is far from the power corridors of government and top-ranked universities.
But it has outsize influence in the conservative world, with strong ties to the Washington elite. Republican leaders frequently visit, and Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the 2016 commencement address, calling Hillsdale a “shining city on a hill” for its devotion to “liberty as an antecedent of government, not a benefit from government.”
Now the college is making new efforts to reach beyond its campus, this time with an even younger audience. The college is fighting what it calls “progressive” and “leftist academics” by expanding its footprint in the charter school world, pushing the boundaries on the use of taxpayer money for politically tinged education.
Hillsdale has ambitious plans to add to its network of classical public charter schools, which focus on “the centrality of the Western tradition.” And Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee recently invited the college to start 50 schools using public funds, including $32 million set aside for charter facilities. Hillsdale’s network currently includes 24 schools in 13 states.
“I’ve been following charter schools over the last 25 years, and I’ve never seen a governor attempting to use charters in such an overtly political way,” said Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. “You’ve had governors who’ve encouraged the growth of charters to provide more high-quality options for parents, but it’s highly unusual to see a governor deploy the charter mechanism for admittedly political purposes.”
Feel-Good Bad News For Russia. Russian Warship Seriously Damaged:
Russia said its top warship in the Black Sea sustained significant damage from a fire that detonated ammunition on board — while Ukraine said it struck the ship in a cruise missile attack. As conflicting reports swirled about the fate of Russia’s flagship — the missile cruiser Moskva — analysts said the episode could boost the morale of beleaguered Ukrainian forces and deal a symbolic blow to Russia as the invasion stretches into its 50th day.
World’s Largest Super-Yacht Seized:
The shipbuilder behind the world’s largest yacht describes it as “one of the most complex and challenging yachts ever built,” with “entertainment and recreation spaces never before seen on” such a vessel, and an interior of “rare and exclusive luxury materials.”
Germany’s federal police said Tuesday that “through extensive investigations despite offshore concealment,” it found that the yacht is owned by Gulbakhor Ismailova, the sister of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
After police confirmed with Brussels that the vessel’s owner was sanctioned, the superyacht — named Dilbar, after Usmanov’s mother, according to the U.S. Treasury Department — was impounded. It is being held in the Port of Hamburg in Germany.
Would This Cop Have Even Broken The Law In Delaware? Shot a kid in the back of the head in Grand Rapids. Caught on tape:
The unedited footage released by Grand Rapids Police Department depicts the 26-year-old Black man moments before he died. In the video, Lyoya can be seen lying face down on the ground when an officer shoots him in the back of the head. The shooting was described by a representative of the family who saw it as “execution-style,” CNN reported.
More Voter Fraud. Uh, not from Dems, though. Two denizens of The Villages each voted for twice for Trump. Their punishment? They have to take a Civics class. Mark Meadows removed from N. C. voter rolls b/c, uh, he didn’t live there.
MAGAts Up In Arms Over Trump’s Oz Endorsement. By MAGAts, I’m talking dueling Fox hosts. Something tells me he’s not playing Three-D chess.
Yo, Biden You’re The President. Cancel Student Debt. In addition to Manchin, the so-called Third Way ‘centrists’ are opposed. All the more reason to do it. What a wuss.
Revisiting The Seaford Miracle. Hey, entire religions, not to mention limitless scams, have been built on the fictions of Divine Miracles. It’s been too long since my last soupcon of Sondheim (I mean, he died), but here he is, writing about one of those fake miracles that the mayor of a podunk town tries to turn into a tourist attraction:
What do you want to talk about?
It’s very easy to see where the repubes will focus their energies – it’s whatever they are screaming the democrats are doing to ruin our society- voter fraud – check – indoctrinesucation – check – financial favors – check The biggest difference is they say they are against it before they do it. Dems don’t seem to have a problem with anything and em therefore don’t do anything
The title track of “Anyone Can Whistle” might be Sondheim’s best lesser-known song. And right on about “miracles.”
So many great songs in a show that even Sondheim admitted was a mess.
Speaking of PA endorsements, the aggressively racist Bill McSwain got Trump’s anti-endorsement for not promoting the “Big Lie” with sufficient ardor.
https://whyy.org/articles/mcswain-trump-anti-endorseme-pa-governor-racent/
Wouldn’t you just LOVE to see Trump huddled with Castle, Jane his wife, Oz, the Copelands, Elise (rhymes with sleaze) duPont, and Bill Freeborn perhaps out on a weekend pass, at the Vicmead Hunt Club?
How many times would Trump send his cheeseburger back to the kitchen b/c it wasn’t well-done enough?
Kathy McGuinness finally performs an audit:
LOL… just try telling the officer that you shouldn’t get a ticket because everybody else was speeding too.
Yeah. Except the judge went for that bullshit.
Is this the reason for urgency on pot legalization?:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/weed/legal-marijuana-new-jersey-sale-begin-20220414.html
It’s why it should have been done already.