More than 60 years after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling, a Governmental Accountability Office report finds the nation's schools increasingly segregated by race and income. The number of segregated schools has more than doubled over the last decade and a half, meaning these students have less access to Advanced Placement classes, less access to college, less access to opportunities for a better life, really. But I wish the article had explained why this segregation is happening (cough redlining cough) rather than just let the Dept. of Education yammer on about grant programs and a "new urgency" to fix the problem.
Surprise, surprise, the "liberal" media point to one New Jersey hedge fund manager moving to Florida as an example of how high income tax rates "force" millionaires to leave certain states for certain other states. Say it with me: one anecdote does not create a broad trend!New Jersey is still home to an admirably progressive income tax code despite Gov. Christie's best efforts, and most folks who move out (ahem!) actually wind up paying higher state income taxes wherever they go, but doing research and finding out the facts is hard work, and the "liberal" media hates hard work more than any imaginary welfare queen. The punchline: this hedge fund manager has apparently moved to Florida because his mother and sister live there.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), whose son is transgendered, cuts an ad in Spanish decrying the mistreatment of transgendered folks via "bathroom bills." Frankly, as a Republican Latina, she has a terrific opportunity to reach a lot of people who might otherwise settle for the bathroom jokes you've likely seen on Facebook, so good for her for taking it. And don't waste your time telling me that she only opposes mistreatment of transgendered folks because her son is one, as if we should only learn things by conducting thought experiments.
Joshua Holland, writing at The Nation, explains "What Everyone Gets Wrong About Independent Voters." Long story short, from the subtitle: "Most independents are just partisans who are turned off by partisanship," and the swing voter is a dying breed, though if it's "around 5 percent of the electorate," per the penultimate paragraph, then it's still enough to swing a close election, which is the kind of election we're going to have for the foreseeable future. Of course, the way to get someone to vote against their interests is to appeal to their independence -- Americans won't do evil unless they think they have to, and even then it still has to feel like their idea.
From the "Shoulda Seen This Coming" file: confronted with the reality that video evidence is easy to come by these days, South Carolina police agencies are now suppressing it, when they can, apparently to protect their officers. This is much easier to do with a body camera or a dashboard camera than with a citizen shooting footage on a cellphone -- but even the latter generally has to be publicly released before police departments will act. And no, the alleged "War on Cops" is not an excuse -- if you really value law enforcement, and public service, you'd punish officers who do wrong. (As an aside, this is a tremendous piece of reporting -- Radley Balko has really outdone himself, and that's saying a lot.)
Finally, Bill Berkowitz, writing at TruthOut, wonders if Christian evangelical voters will "walk down the aisle" with presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump. And concludes that they likely will, rather than vote for Hillary Clinton -- as one source puts it, "(i)t may not be a warm embrace, but a side hug will do." And n.b. what I said in the fourth paragraph above: evangelicals, like everyone else, will have to feel like they have no other choice than to vote for Mr. Trump, and it has to feel like their idea (which I think Ralph Reed reveals in the fourth-to-last paragraph, with all that malarkey about "forgiveness" and "mercy").
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