Tap Dancing around the Truth with Trump - 44 days in for POTUS 45.

[Dumdedumdedum]

The Trump thread, continued from here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2867981-I-never-met-someone-from-NM-to-discuss-MN-Honest-Trump-thread-cont?watched=1&msgid=67412870#67412870

That's interesting about grammar schools in the UK. We have grammar schools here in Australia (my kids go to one), but they are private schools and due to that often have very costly fees and a higher proportion of better off families. There is rarely an admittance test, but there are usually bursaries, scholarships, and admittance via test leading to part or full scholarship. Additionally, in the public school system there are selective secondary schools that have admittance via test. Just a different perspective!

TheClaws, your grammar schools sound like our Independent (or Private) schools.

This is worth a read

Meet the Hundreds of Officials Trump Has Quietly Installed Across the Government
www.propublica.org/article/meet-hundreds-of-officials-trump-has-quietly-installed-across-government

US hails '40% drop' in illegal immigrants from Mexico
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39215655?ocid=socialflow_twitter

Kitten, confusingly, not all are called 'grammar schools'. As a catch all, they are called private schools. Only some, like ours, have 'Grammar School' in the title. No idea why. Sorry to derail!

Merry a very succinct and possibly the best summary I have read of the UK Grammar system. Thank you.

There are private 'grammar' schools in the UK too. Some are ex state grammars and some are just using a word that used to mean something different hundreds of years (from traditional classical education?)

I think the point is that an individual child might do better in a grammar school, but as a whole they don't provide a better skilled or more highly educated population, and many grammar school children would do well anywhere. There is no real reason for the government to support grammar schools.

I agree that the whole thing is very Betsy de Vos.

Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but it seems as if Trump's wooing of Rand Paul has not worked. I first saw this in Breitbart, but this link is from Fox (I like to keep my reading sources wide, OK!). I feel reasonably confident it isn't that shaky. We could see an outraged tweet on this topic in a day or so, I predict.

insider.foxnews.com/2017/03/07/gop-unveils-obamacare-lite-conservatives-object-repeal-replace-plan

Another vote on Scottish independence is being talked about at again. I think it will only happen if Sturgeon is confident they will win. She will use it as a bargaining chip with May though.

Late 2018 could be best time for new Scottish referendum, says Sturgeon
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/09/late-2018-could-be-best-time-for-new-scottish-referendum-says-sturgeon?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

So, Trumpcare it is

Donald Trump does not want Obamacare replacement to be called 'Trumpcare'
www.independent.co.uk/news/donald-trump-obamacare-dont-call-it-trumpcare-affordable-care-act-replacement-a7619701.html

twitter.com/EnergyCommerce/status/839626751546384384

This moment is worth clocking: Joe Kennedy gets the Trumpers to admit that mental health care has dropped off the radar when it comes to the new bill.

Ooo I'm starting to like Trevor Noah too, I remember that QI bit. Clicking languages are so weird and cool - my mum's friend sings a lovely song with clicks (not sure which language it is), she had to learn it when she studied Linguistics and still remembers it and sings it to all her grandchildren, so lovely.

Anyway nice news from Finland yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/katariina_15_takes_over_finnish_premiers_office_for_day_of_the_girl/9498003
Do you think Trump would let a girl take over his job for one day?

Apologies as have not traveled through the whole 21 pages.
So this may have been asked/posted before. I'm wondering if the whole 'wire-tap'-gate debacle might be the down fall of DT. I know that Narcissists do usually end up shooting themselves in the foot, because of their own foolishness. Did he actually go too far? I don't think the allegations he's made should now just be brushed under the carpet. Surely now he needs the back them up.

I know this has been mentioned before, but Chelsea Clinton is definitely getting more vocal and active. I wonder if she has ambitions.

I think she does. I just hope it'd not for the Presidency. :)

They are really tying themselves up in knots over those wire tapping tweets. They can't seem to work out how to say that Trump wasn't just making shit up, while also maintaining he is not part of any investigation into dodgy dealings with Russia.
www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/us/politics/white-house-trump-wiretap-obama.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

I don't understand Republicans as they are extremely keen on people having guns.......which as we know when in the wrong hands kill.

They hate the idea of universal cheaper or god forbid free healthcare.........which as we know if you can't afford it then you could possibly end up dead.

So on one hand Republicans like people dying & subtly encourage death.

However the Republican party abhor abortion..........as it kills babies/ tiny humans (in their words.)

What a contrary set of values.........are they trying to re-act Little House on the Prairie?
Makes the idea of voting for Kim Jong-un the most sensible idea ever.

Oh yes, abortion even in the case of rape is a crime against God, but creating a system where you allow people to die of an easily preventable illness just because they don't have a huge bank balance is apparently fine. These are people who would step over a dieing man on their way to harangue a woman aborting a fetus with a severe life limiting illness. Basically they are bastarding shits of the highest order

House panel nears 24-hour mark on markup of GOP's ObamaCare repeal bill
thehill.com/policy/healthcare/323111-house-panel-nears-24-hour-mark-on-gops-obamacare-repeal-bill

so.... the slavery-immigrant thing.

I heard it without hearing who was saying it and thought "ok I'm white so I don't get this but I don't get quite why the person would be pilloried"

then I googled it and found it was someone in DT's team so I had an immediate suspicious knee-jerk reaction.

Am I being stupid? (does it matter?). Can someone misjudge without being evil in intent? Is it what the guy said or is it that we suspect his motives? (which obviously we do because he chose to work for DT).

Help me here guys.....

Immigrant suggests someone who chooses to move to a country for whatever reason. People who were rounded up, forced into ships in chains and taken from their homes to work as slaves in a different country did not choose. To call them immigrants is at best insensitive, at worst a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts to make centuries of enslavement and racial discrimination seem not such a bad thing. After all they got to come to their awesome country that is America, so hey, it's not all bad right.

I can't imagine anyone who would not get pilloried in America for this statement.

This follows after many instances of republicans referring to refugees as immigrants as well. Which puts people forced to flee a country because their life is in danger due to persecution or war in the same group as someone who moves to America for the nice weather and a new job. This referring to slaves as immigrants is therefore part of a trend that fails to acknowledge that many people who enter a country do not do so by choice. It is deeply damaging in my view. Language matters.

I noticed on the Ted Kennedy Twitter thread someone had used #DonTcare

...instead of #TrumpCare, which I thought was quite good. (Posted too soon)

The Hill's Whip List: Where Republicans stand on ObamaCare repeal plan
thehill.com/homenews/house/322903-the-hills-whip-list-where-republicans-stand-on-obamacare-repeal-plan