Quote of the day (yesterday) goes to Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) at Betsy DeVos’s appearance before Congress on the 2018 Education Department budget:
Education is not mayonnaise, and, frankly, the day we start treating the education of our children like we do the marketing of a condiment is the day we have given up on our kids.
This was in response to a Republican Senator’s (R-La.) comment that choosing a school should be like going to the store to choose from six kinds of mayonnaise. Louisiana was ranked #46 out of 50 states in USNews’ 2017 report and last in an independent 2016 study.
Interesting...
- September 25
Coup attempts have happened all over the world, and over half have failed. That’s because coups are hard to orchestrate. They are a violation of norms that require quick seizure of multiple levels of institutions with a claim that they are the rightful heir.
Coups tend to fail when government institutions (like elections) are trusted, there is an active citizenry and other nations are ready to become involved.
The role of citizenry is crucial. That’s because during the period right after a coup attempt— when the new government is claiming it is the “real” government — all the institutions have to decide who to listen to.
10 Things You Need to Know to Stop a Coup, from Waging Nonviolence (emphasis mine).
September 22
Marilyn Mosby is a sociopath and the Baltimore Police Department is literally a drug-dealing gang that happens to wear badges and has committed more murders than it has solved. So when the Ravens put out a cool tweet like this, it’s INSTANTLY undermined by a city that treats its citizens like shit and a governor that treats that city like it’s fucking Baghdad.
Ah, Why Your Team Sucks, I've missed you. I paid $80 and subscribed to Defector yesterday because all the other blogs I used to like suck now; good stuff costs money.
September 12
This is one of the most well-written obituaries of an incredible life ever published. Rick Rescorla was English by birth, fought in the Vietnam War for the U.S. Army in a pivotal early battle, and later became a writer and lawyer. He was the chief of security for Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center on September 11, and died getting his personnel out of the building. Recommended reading: We Were Soldiers Once...And Young.
September 8
So there's a International World Games of Lacrosse happening in 2020, and somehow the Iroquois Nation's team, having qualified to play based on World Cup play held in 2018, were deemed ineligible to compete because they were not a sovereign nation. The Irish national team decided this was not fair and gave up their place in the tournament to allow the Iroquois to play.
September 8
Dammit. After 81 episodes and 16 years, The Venture Brothers has been cancelled by Adult Swim. I've spoken previously about my love for this show; Adult Swim is now saying they're in talks to keep things going somehow.
