532 Comments

I’d like to point out how companies like Walmart are being subsidized by our taxes. They don’t pay a living wage so what they do is instruct new employees how to file for food stamps etc.

Walmart is no mom and pop company. They are on the Fortune Five Hundred list. By not paying their workers a living wage they are forcing their employees to have to get government subsidies to make ends meet. Who pays for those benefits? It’s certainly not the 1% who enjoy trumps tax cuts and plenty of loopholes.

I have no problem with feeding the needy but I resent subsidizing rich corporations like Walmart. Not only are they cheating taxpayers they are also denying their employees of the dignity of supporting their families.

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Not only does Walmart not pay a living wage, it keeps the hours of most low level employees below 30 hours per week. That means they are not eligible for health benefits and other benefits that full time employees receive.

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Koolkankat, then they have all kinds of programs at WalMart to tap into workers' enthusiasm for the company. The rah rah is supposed to make up for the lousy wages. My sister worked there for a couple of years, earning little, but still, years later, finds herself loyal to the WalMart Corporation. Republicans don't want to acknowledge that one of their big donors is cheating the government and tax-payers. They don't mind because they have found ways to cheat on their own taxes, so they aren't paying for WalMart and their ilk anyway. It is a neat little package that should be torn open so the American people can really see what is going on, not just the "woke" people who are following what is happening in our nation.

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That’s quite a story. The right wing invented the story that it’s patriotic to cheat on your taxes. We have a lot of rethinking to do in this country.

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Keep writing, Ruth! I love your stuff!

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Sandra, thank you so much. It means a lot to me that people on this thread like what I write. I certainly do appreciate what the other participants on the thread contribute. It is a great conversation every day. Ruth

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Didn't know Walmart was donating money to the Republican party.

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There has to be a better way to do business. Why this endless beggar thy neighbor bs from the 1percent? It’s as pathetic as it is revolting.

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What the world needs is an economy based on corporations that are owned by their workers but compete in the open market with each other. Neither capitalists nor labor unions are in favor of this arrangement because both would become redundant.

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Alden: A question. Although I generally agree with you about worker ownership, in a competition, would the same tendency to achieve monopoly, that drives corporations today, still be operating and effective? It is a reasonable response to competition (which no corporation, no matter how owned, actually desires). It is partly what makes capitalism an unstable system but would worker ownership change it? I have written a book which goes beyond worker ownership to true democratic control of all politics, called Parasites Lost, available at gettingtozerowaste.com, which I think answers this question.

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I like the title of your book.

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Do as I do....refuse to enter their stores. Don't online shop with them. Support all your local businesses, even if it cost a couple bucks more. In the long run, it's worth it for everyone. If you don't hit them in the pocketbook, they just laugh at us.

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IMHO, boycotting Walmart to address the low wages they pay their employees will hurt the employees much more than corporate Walmart. The company will simply fire workers and/or close stores in response to reduced business. The workers are worse off. They will NOT increase wages in response to less business! A better solution is to press governments to raise the minimum wage enough to force the Walmart to pay their employees a living wage.

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Patronizing other stores that pay a living wage, such as Costco and Target, where possible will only help. It will shift jobs, however incrementally, to better paying jobs.

And, most certainly be an activist working to elect pro labor, pro fairness, people, people who will #ProtectOurFreedoms.

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Did not know that Costco and Target paid a living wage. I thought all the big box stores paid about the same slave wages. Thanks for the info! Neither are nearby in my rural area, but I will consider Target for online purchases vice Walmart/Amazon in the future.

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It is a classic comparison of a sweat shop (Walmart) to a unionized business that values its employees (Costco). Costco proves that you don't have to treat your employees like slaves to be successful.

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YW.

Lowes is much preferred over Home Depot as well.

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If you evaluate the members of the Republican party on an individual basis you will find a number of them are very qualified politicians. However, a few of them challenge the mind as to how in the hell they ever got elected in the first place. Either Marijuana has been in use longer than it's been legal in their states or the Oracle of Delphi has a new location, including the gaseous vapors that entranced the young virgins as they predicted the future. That party has been infiltrated by a number of mentally impaired individuals whose presents in our governmental chambers are doing neither party any good. In addition to the children who have no business being where they currently are the Republicans are being barraged by candidates running for various positions throughout the country that live by the 5 fake crises Robert has just explained. They possess no real qualities that would afford them a real possibility of being elected so they attack their Democratic opponents with lies. One heck of a way to gain respect among your constituents. When all you have to go on are lies the only thing you have to lose is your self-respect.

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I like your reference to the Oracle at Delphi.

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As if they ever had any...

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Great point, but it will require a Dem majority in both House and Senate. And it still won't get ME to walk thru their doors.

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Agree that changing the national minimum wage is a real challenge, but some local and state governments have had success raising the minimum wage in their jurisdictions.

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'Cept that Ohio is trying its DAMNEDEST to catch up with Floriduh and Texass, so......

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Yes. I call my home state of Ohio Ohiossippi because it is trying to vie with several Draconian states that are in the south.

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Like THAT will ever happen! Our politicians are forced to do Corporate bidding because advertising on our corporate owned TV and radio stations is so expensive that our politicians, even the honest few there are, have to spend three days out of five dialing for dollars just to keep their jobs. Then a "friendly" corporation shows up and offers them millions, with the understanding that the politician will do the corporation's bidding or lose that funding before the next election. Looks like a rigged system to anyone with two eyes (or even one).

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Tim: You are right, I think. It is necessary to think of future consequences, in a deep way, not just the first thought to pop into your mind. That is what drives Zero Waste Theory in my formulation. Design all products for future reuse, again and again, instead of just throwing them out for consumption, basically designed for discard, which will necessarily send them to the dump or into the environment after a single use (think of those Slurpee cups everyone carries around).

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Mega-box stores like Walmart are so huge..have such a large share of consumers that no boycott will be effective. Walmart became massive by closing down all surrounding "mom, pop" stores. They have no real competition and that is our problem in America today. These huge companies like Amazon & Walmart can freely screw both their workers and their customers & their CEOs laugh all the way to the bank.

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Shop at Costco instead.

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I guess I'm lucky, Andrea. Where I live, we still have a decent selection of Mom & Pop's to support.

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Walmart has gotten, and earned, the reputation of a second or third rate shopping experience in my area; a joke, mostly. Shop Target or Costco instead. I won’t go near any Walmart.

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There has to be a better way. I read an interesting book called Viking Economics which at least presents functional alternatives to our present system.

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I don't know where you live, but if it's in rural America, you probably don't have much choice but to shop in Walmart's.

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I'm fortunate to live just east of Cleveland, Ohio, and we still have quite a few Mom & Pop's that we can support.

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I live in Vacaville CA, a shopper's paradise with endless small stores, but I end up buying from Amazon repeatedly. I buy a lot of technical products which I can't even imagine getting at a local store. Left hand threaded bolts, for example. 5000 grit polishing compound. Easy on Amazon. Impossible otherwise.

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As a woodworker, I can relate. But I'll always try the locals before I go online!

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And that is because as someone has already said, Walmart ran all the small retailers out with the cheap made inching merchandise they sell. Sam Walton was a good man but his offspring are just greedy snots who want more and more.

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We lost Target, Kmart, Shopko, grocery store/fuel station, several auto parts stores, and the last mid-level department store at the now abandoned Mall, over a period of four years, when Walmart expanded to groceries. We've added an Aldi's and several nation-wide bank branches. Coffee huts have cropped up around the county seat. We were walmarted. It's still happening.

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How about Dollar Stores? They and their variations seem to pop up everywhere people are struggling.

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I shop a lot in Canada at Dollarama. You can buy their shares on the Canadian stock market. When they started business in Canada, they relied on buying non-saleable end runs and such from other stores. They have become a real alternative now. I just spent $30 on garden supplies from them that would have cost me twice that elsewhere for similar quality. Most of their items are produced and packaged under their own labels. As always, the management and sales staff are the foundation of the business. The Dollarama closest to where I live has the best staff and management, so they'll get my business for a long time to come.

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Yes, one of those moved into our empty shopping mall, but they were here before the "crash". Another thing I didn't mention is that Walmart is on the other side of the highway where they don't have to charge city or county taxes. It's the outer edge of the next county over. Nobody in this town gets any benefit from Walmart's location.

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They don't even bother to be good community citizens, do they?

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That’s sadly true.

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We’ve crossed the country by bicycle several times and can verify that. It’s the only times we shop at Walmart.

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I have entered a Walmart store only once in my life. That was to buy a Journey CD that was unavailable anywhere else. I went in to buy my CD & got out as quickly as possible.

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You're lucky! Where I live, you have no choice for many needed items. When I was young and went shopping with my mother, everything was local "mom and pop" stores. She dealt with the shop owners. They knew her, and she knew them. They were friends and neighbors. Shopping was a pleasant experience. Walmart and other large corporations destroyed this. Shopping at Walmart is a grind!

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That’s an interesting point. Shopping is a social activity. Making it only about deals and transactions misses some intangible but inherently human piece that people need. There may be a market for that need just now, both in politics and in economics.

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Yep. It is all about the plan to cause us all to be as separated as possible from one another. Common occurrences of connecting with neighbors in small shops keeps humans connected. while disconnection breeds a whole different attitude and one that does not offer the intangible things that humans need so much such as neighborly care and concern.

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Probably because neighborly care and concern are from the heart, not the wallet.

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When Walmart wanted to move into our town, there was lots of resistance by the locals. They moved in, anyway, but their business here has been quite anemic. I've never shopped there.

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I too avoid the stores unless there is nowhere else to purchase it. And that is rarely the case.

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May 31, 2023
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I think it was 2009. The album I bought was a double album with half greatest hits & half new material. Can't remember what it's called, but virtually all Journey albums have similar 1 word titles & similar album covers featuring an eagle like symbol.

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May 31, 2023
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Yes. I'm surprised but happy about the comeback by vinyl, but overall it's getting harder to find albums of any kind in the stores.

My favorite band is probably the Moody Blues, & they really had impressive artwork on their albums (by the same artist). It fit the magnificence of their music.

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Not been to a WalMart in decades.

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I’m with you Daniel Kunsman.

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I try to do that as much as possible. Good strategy.🙏

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I would love to do this and I've done this when we lived in Bklyn, NY where you can get to a store by subway or bus. But how do you do this here in Tucson, AZ???? You have to have a car!! which we do not. And cars are destroying the Earth...We simply cannot win..

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Shop online at Costco.

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I totally agree with what you are saying. As a former social worker,I had several employees of Walmart in my caseload. The company would schedule them with just enough hours to work that would make them eligible for programs like Medicaid and Snap(food stamps). I had one client, a single-mother who was a supervisor at one of the stores. She was always embarrassed to come into the office when her review was due. Walmart knows exactly what it is doing and taxpayers are footing the bill.Shame on them.

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That is especially sad to use a single mother hostage like that.

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We have a lot of collective rethinking to do.

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Walmart and its ilk aren't job creators. They are slave creators.

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Here's an item I posted late yesterday that supports your position, for anyone who missed it:

For those who are not aware of this:

- CHAIRMAN WHITEHOUSE BREAKS DOWN HOW TAXPAYERS ARE SUBSIDIZING FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY'S BOTTOM LINE:

https://youtu.be/1iptJrA9hJE

I know. It's not overtly seditious. They just want to make sure things remain status-quo - by any means necessary. It's business as usual having gained all their business acumen waging the Cold War.

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Yes and if you mention the word UNION in a WalMart you will be gone. They brought "union busting "to a whole new level which is being followed by the other big companies like Target, Starbucks, Amazon, Tesla and most other corporations in America !

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Yep. And the second worst president in modern American history got THAT ball rolling when he busted the Air Traffic Controllers Union.

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The second worst president has dropped to third place.

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Why, did you slip one of the Bush's in there?

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Yes. I had George junior in mind.

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Daniel: In ranking presidents, George Bush ranks as the worst. No other president conspired to bring down three buildings housing three thousand Americans, with explosives, while pretending some Muslims did the deed, just so that he could invade and destroy two other countries with popular support. Of course he didn't carry it off by himself, but he was the titular head.

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Don't forget weapons of mass destruction concocted to invade Iraq !

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Whoooosh. That was the sweep of the Great Wand in the Sky granting your wish, Susan Gorman Gerke. Magically, now Walmart pays a living wage and your taxes are lowered accordingly. So are Walmart shareholders' revenues reduced too? Get serious! The 1% *never* pay, they just compromise quality and raise prices. No matter what the route to their pockets, Walmart employees' decent pay is going to come out of your own, not Walmart profits.

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We keep going 'round 'n 'round this mulberry bush in discussion after discussion. You're right, of course. The snag is developing the political support the Democrats are failing to get, and then wielding that power "turncoat free!" The option is voting Republican, 3rd party, or abstention - and >any of that< inevitably leads to more of what we'll get when Republicans >own< all 3 branches of government! What needs done if there's ever a credible Democratic, Social Democratic, or even Socialist party in charge is >first< bust the big money like the big money has successfully busted the unions - and the Democratic friggin' party! (That's a tip of my hat to the person out here who already obliquely referenced how Ronald McReagan managed to bust the air traffic controllers in the '80s.)

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Well, yes to all that, DZK, and dump the Electoral College and Citizens United and the malignant parts of SCotUS.

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I'm open to term limiting SCOTUS justices, particularly the chief justice. I'm thinking whoever wins the WH should select a chief justice from the currently sitting justices. I could also be interested in some scheme whereby the number of justices from each political orientation - right or left, conservative or liberal, or such like - be balanced. However, that would require some scheme be put in place to break deadlocked decisions - perhaps throw that decision over to the Senate judiciary committee to argue the merits of opposing views and cast a final vote, or somethin' like that. But that's just me a'spit-ballin'. (God forbid a RTG-type be seated on such a committee - for instance!) That'd take erudite legal scholars to figure out how to work. (And I >certainly< wouldn't be one of 'em! LOL!)

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If Biden created two new justice positions, we could find balance. It would still be comprised of one more justice for the wacko side than for the sane people, so how could the wacko's complain? Then we'd impeach Thomas and replace him with a Lakota woman, or similar.

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BTW: I failed to mention I've come to agree with you concerning the Electoral College. That and the SCOTUS are structural/functional issues. However, Citizens United is purely a purely political ruling that should be overturned at the first possible opportunity - if a possible opportunity should ever present itself, but that could be a generation away. I doubt I'll live to see it.

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We need to stop thinking of welfare as mostly serving people in need as opposed to wealthy interests that enjoy record low tax rates, subsidies, cost plus contracts, etc.

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Does anybody know how much money in subsidies Walmart gets and why?

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May I applaud you for your narrative, and if I could suggest one more "false crisis" I see repeated all too frequently: Failing schools. I am an educator, and it pains me to hear this refrain. Can schools do better? Of course. But to label schools as "failing" is an inaccurate over-reach.

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And the reason that schools are “failing” in any sense of the word? Yet again, it’s due to the GOP & their efforts to dismantle public education- along with anything else that actually benefits the American people. Can’t have an ignorant & obedient base if people actually learn facts & truths

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I can’t speak for other states but here in FL, Governor DeSatan has made it his personal goal to destroy our public educational system, especially in the bigger cities. (the most bang for his buck) His interest, touted as protecting children extends even to influence school board elections such that the next generations will be indoctrinated just as were the “Hitler Youth” and the “Young Chinese Youth Party”. Scapegoats and banned books ought to be red flags!

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If my kids were school age, I’d be doing everything in my power to get out of the state. I’m hoping there’ll be a backlash against all this nazi bs in the next gubernatorial election, but it is Florida so I’m not exactly holding my breath

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Carol Ann, you are certainly right about the DeSantis. He is supposedly "brilliant" or that is what I heard, but he is ignorant in so many ways that count. He does know, though that public schools are the backbone of this nation, not the "exclusive private schools" that so many Republican leaders at all levels attended, which explains his targeting of public schools. I understand he attended public schools, so I am wondering what happened to him that he has such a vendetta against them. Those "exclusive" private schools either teach selfishness and manipulation of others or just attract those people to their hallowed halls. We need more people to stand up for public schools and make sure they are funded sufficiently.

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While it is difficult to govern independent thinkers, or well educated people, it is easy to rule poor thinkers, and the poorly educated. Does that clear up why the GOP are attacking public schools, or are seeking to undermine teachers, librarians, and public schools and libraries?

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One does wonder if DeSantan was bullied. To have such a vendetta against all who are ‘different’ certainly appears as if there was something in his past that derailed his view of the World. I do think he is brilliant and very dangerous. fortunately his charisma is lacking which makes it more difficult for him to slyly gather a nation-wide following.

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Carol Anne, it is clear there is something not quite right about DeSantis. I heard someone in media say that DeSantis was able to speak excitedly and articulately, with emotion, but I think the person was making that up to make DeSantis seem more human, more of a worthy candidate for president, something our media just loves to do with inept people like Trump and DeSantis. His affect is all wrong and what he says is pretty much irrelevant. He speaks in talking points, just as Trump does, but DeSantis's don't seem to reach many people, unless those people are already primed to like the harm DeSantis is causing the vulnerable populations of Florida. I can't help but wonder what he is holding over the Florida Legislature. With his "nearly photographic memory," has he seen or read things that he can stamp into his pathetic brain and use a little blackmail to get them to do the outrageous things they have been doing to the people of Florida? Do those mostly white male legislators even care what they have done and the ramifications? I suspect DeSantis's "brilliance" has enabled him to read the whiny white people representing the state and pushing just the right buttons to feed into their "inborn Southern" racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, xenophobia. I suspect he has pushed them by telling them just how great they are and how on the cutting edge they are. He forgot to tell them that it was the cutting edge of Nazism and fascism in general they were on.

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Ruth: I haven't been to Florida for many decades, but as I hear about the crazy politics, I have to wonder what happened to all those "liberal" New Yorkers that used to retire down there. Are they really a small minority? Or really not so liberal?

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Only I would rather hear the term, "public education" than "public schools." We need to abandon the classroom in favor of the village learning environment. End child apartheid. Keep all the teachers, but change their job descriptions. Set up a system where kids learn a lot more about what is truly interesting to them.

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If we keep allowing porn in classrooms there will be no children left in public schools. They will be shuttered and only private schools will remain. No parent wants kids reading that smut at school.

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They don't call it Floriduh for nothing.

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You nailed it. I’m so over the blessed base.

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Thank you, Craig. As a retired public high school English teacher, I always said this and couldn’t agree with you more. I helped thousands of people think more critically, read more deeply and write more clear and cohesively during my 31 years of public service. And let me add that I did this despite levy failures and a 5-year salary freeze after the 2009 financial crisis. The only failure was the public support, and Ohio’s state legislators attempt to destroy collective bargaining for teachers.

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I hate ignorant people trashing teachers. I’m glad you didn’t give up teaching. It can be one of the most rewarding careers out there, especially if you have some support behind you.

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Craig, I totally agree. As a recently retired public school teacher and current school volunteer tutor, I am so tired of Republicans, media, and others reporting on "failing schools," implying it is the teachers' fault, or the parents' lack of caring for their children, or some other crap they grab onto so Republicans and other conservatives can undermine public schools. This came to a head during and after COVID. The distraction, whine about "failing schools" then do nothing to help those schools meet the needs of their students. I can't help but wonder how many of those Republican whiners attended public schools that, at the time, were lacking in resources. I doubt none of them because that would have given them a bit of empathy for what is really causing schools and their students to struggle. They might actually want more funding for schools if they had.

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I remember them mocking the First Lady for her work promoting community colleges. They’re great for those who can’t afford four full years of elite schools at Ivy League prices, or don’t want that, period. It’s odd how many of the MAGA loudmouths went to Yale.

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I wonder what Yale is like. My idealized picture of the Ivies is REALLY wrong. I figured that out after the indictment of rich parents paying their way in.

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A visit to New Haven to examine Yale is worth the trip from anywhere if you feast on Frank Pepe's pizza while you're in town.

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Yep. They are our current and future leaders and SCOTUSes whether we like it or not; Peter Principle be damned.

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Jude: You take note of how many of the MAGA loudmouths went to Yale. I went to Yale, as a grad student in Science. Let me report something that may surprise you. Even though I went to a good college and had lots of smart friends, I never before knew the kind of intellectual brilliance I encountered at Yale. That "Ivy League" reputation is well-earned. That's what carries the Yale reputation, not the sleazy lines of future politicians and backward thinking, smarmy conservatives that seem to congregate there.

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Thank you for pointing that out, that they are the anomalies, not the norm. As usual, the loudmouths get all the attention, even mine. I still find it interesting, though.

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You took the words out of my mouth. There are a surprisingly large number of very narrow minded bigoted people who have recently grabbed the MAGAphone who are Yale graduates. What creepy hypocrites. Junior Colleges have some terrific teachers and they are sadly under appreciated. The MAGA crowd is all about ignorance because that fuels their base.

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I read the Network For Public Education, and also the Diane Ravitch blog, that offer the facts on the ongoing war on public education.

An ignorant citizenry is the goal, not merely enriching the many people and corporations that thrive on providing material s and services that have nothing to do with learning

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Schools in Florida are failing, under Governor DeSantis laws.

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In some states, like Idaho, legislators ensure that "failing schools" are by refusing to fund them--for building repairs and updates, teacher salaries, supplies, etc. In fact, after promising to deliver over $300 M for our schools, we now find that Gov. Little will NOT be delivering over $115M. No wonder Idaho ranks 51st in the nation for it's education!

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Absolute truth!

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