BREAKING: Senate confirms DeVos as Education secretary Vice President Pence breaks 50-50 tie

a reply to: Xcalibur254

I see, so when you spouted off about nobody you've asked being able to provide tangible qualifications for supporting Devos, what you were really saying was "I refuse to accept anyone's opinion that disagrees with my own biases on Devos."

In that case, we have nothing further to discuss here.

Lol, so I was curious how Kleenex as a stock has done since November to current... Well, Kleenex is made by Kimberly-Clark Co. and stock seems to be doing well! haha

originally posted by: Slanter
I don't get how anyone can be happy about this. The president, who promised to get rid of lobbyists and special interest groups, just appointed a lobbyist as head of education. So "pay to play" is ok now?

Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Trump is surrounding himself with billionaires that have nothing in common with the average american worker, and his fans are happy about this?

Look at the layers. You focus on just the superfluous and fail to examine the big picture and the underlying issues.

Do you want to continue putting professional politicians that KNOW very little....people that focus on fund raising and donor schmoozing with little to no results in leadership positions?! We need REAL leaders at this juncture.

The people Donald Trump is nominating are real solutions-oriented successful individuals, highly knowledgeable, and not in anyone's pocket. They are in it to solve Big Problems, disrupt the ineffective status quo, and bring our country solidly into the 21st century.

originally posted by: BlueAjah
Excellent!

I hope that she can get things done and is not held down by Unions and bureaucracy.

Our kids need a real change if they are going to have a better future.
I hope that we change educational goals from common core, liberal indoctrination to a more well rounded functional education.

School choice will help everyone.
(except the unions, but their time is done)

I like you, BlueAjah, and have respect for your opinions...but on this one about teachers unions, I disagree....what I have seen from the right on ATS as well as some on the left, is that when talking about unions, they fail to understand why they were formed in the first place, and how hard those legal battles were, even to the point where workers who wanted to form unions, and were unable to negotiate even for modest improvements, were routinely beaten and some killed, by the hired goons paid off by the wealthy and corporate......

it's the same thing with the "regulations" that trump wants to get rid of....regulations were/are passed, due to harm done before, or that might happen in the future....they are not passed to stifle business or kill jobs. they are put in place because there are unethical people that take advantage of honest people.

originally posted by: queenofswords

originally posted by: Slanter
I don't get how anyone can be happy about this. The president, who promised to get rid of lobbyists and special interest groups, just appointed a lobbyist as head of education. So "pay to play" is ok now?

Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Trump is surrounding himself with billionaires that have nothing in common with the average american worker, and his fans are happy about this?

Look at the layers. You focus on just the superfluous and fail to examine the big picture and the underlying issues.

Do you want to continue putting professional politicians that KNOW very little....people that focus on fund raising and donor schmoozing with little to no results in leadership positions?! We need REAL leaders at this juncture.

The people Donald Trump is nominating are real solutions-oriented successful individuals, highly knowledgeable, and not in anyone's pocket. They are in it to solve Big Problems, disrupt the ineffective status quo, and bring our country solidly into the 21st century.

The problem I have with that is she isn't a "successful individual." She didn't make her money from hard work and perseverance, she made it by being born rich and marrying richer. But apparently there was nobody more qualified to serve the position that hadn't donated over 200 million dollars to the republican party?

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: AboveBoard
a reply to: xuenchen

Let's hope America still educates the disabled.

How would DeVos stop the education of the disabled ?

a reply to: FamCore

Yes, her brother is Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater. Erik Prince has reportedly been advising President Trump. Erik Prince and his mother (and Betsy DeVos's mother) gave a total of $150k to the Mercer family's pro-Trump super PAC.

Erik Prince is tight with Bannon and has made frequent appearances on Breitbart Radio.

When questioned by Bernie Sanders, Betsy DeVos admitted that it was possible that her family has donated $200 MILLION to the GOP. She and her husband gave almost $3 million this past election cycle but it wasn't to Trump but rather super PACs supporting Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. She said of Trump that people would realize that he couldn't be trusted and apparently called him an "interloper" in the Republican Party.

Her and her husband are donors to the Clinton Foundation and not that I gaf but some on the right have accused her of actually supporting Common Core as organizations she's been a part of have endorsed the standards. She denies supporting Common Core. I understand what CC is and as such, I don't have the irrational disdain for it popular among many on the right but I thought I'd throw that out there.

Also, she apparently admitted in a 1997 op-ed that her family spends large sums of money with an expectation that they're buing influence:

"My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party … I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence," the piece reads. "Now, I simply concede the point. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment; we expect a good and honest government. Furthermore, we expect the Republican Party to use the money to promote these policies and, yes, to win elections."

There's a bit of info for you. They might as well just go ahead and confirm everyone else now. If an unqualified swamp creature can spend her way into a cabinet position, there's clearly nothing the GOP will balk at.

a reply to: xuenchen

Our educational system sucks right now.

She can only make it better.

Lord knows she couldn't make it worse.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Public schools already sucks.
Can't see how she will change that for the better or worse.

Not all public schools are failing. We dont need school choice, we need to fix the schools we already have.

a reply to: xuenchen

Davos has the Elite Dems shaking in their boots that inner city children might have the ability to attend the elite schools they send their children and grandchildren too!

originally posted by: Pyle

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Public schools already sucks.
Can't see how she will change that for the better or worse.

Not all public schools are failing. We dont need school choice, we need to fix the schools we already have.

Too many crappy teachers that were themselves educated in a crappy system prevent that. It has become endemic.

I'm looking forward to the end results, but the transition and process will, I'm sure, be met with all kinds of obstruction tactics organized by people like this:www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thank goodness we have some new fresh leadership over the public school system. Common Core was the most asinine idiotic thing to ever be pushed into public schools.

School choice is definitely the way of the future. You cannot sit back from your cozy suburb/empire/throne and tell inner city children they have no choices available but to attend their failing violence ridden inner city school system.

So out of 360 million people the only one qualified was the one who's family donated 150-200 mill..ya such a breath of fresh air.
Carry on.

originally posted by: seeker1963
a reply to: xuenchen

Davos has the Elite Dems shaking in their boots that inner city children might have the ability to attend the elite schools they send their children and grandchildren too!

My heart breaks to think of how many inner city children that could have achieved so much more were held back because of crappy teachers in crappy schools.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: matafuchs

Did you see Senator Warren grilling her about preventing fraud and misuse of funds in education? She didn't seem to have much to say about that - but other than that Warren questioning her video, I don't know much about DeVos.

If curious, here ya go

PS from a conspiracy sense I am surprised no one bring up her brother.....

DeVos brother is reportedly Erik Prince, the founder of the controversial private for-hire mercenary group "Blackwater"?

Link: www.democracynow.org...

Looks like Senator Warren is a complete and utter &%^@#. I wouldn't have answered any of her questions. I would have told her right off the handle, "When you stop talking down to me and acting like a a$$hole to me, maybe, just maybe then will I answer your questions. BTW, we're not under your Obama's administration anymore".

and further more....

Trump wasn't lawyer enough or politician enough to be president. So far he's doing a pretty damn good job. We put him there because we needed someone who isn't corrupted by BS politics and all the things our politicians are corrupted by. She's basically the same thing. It's worth my attention to see someone who isn't related to the system to give a new perspective on the issues that need to be addressed.

Yeah, it's funny to see an "Rocket Engineer working as a Theoretical Physicist' but damn I love a good mixing of perspectives.

It's like putting a baker in a cop's uniform. In the end, he'll have a whole new perspective and he just might give cops a few pointers on how to do things a little differently... how to make bread, if you will.

originally posted by: seeker1963
a reply to: xuenchen

Davos has the Elite Dems shaking in their boots that inner city children might have the ability to attend the elite schools they send their children and grandchildren too!

you do know that private schools can pick and choose the students that attend them, right?....

a reply to: seeker1963

I don't see how this is going to work. Are the private schools going to start sending schoolbusses out to the projects? Or are single mothers going to have to find time between their two jobs to drive their kids to and from a private school?

I have a feeling that the scenario "Disadvantaged kid gets to attend quality school and excellent education" is less likely than "lower and middle-class Americans get to subsidize education costs for the upper class."

a reply to: seeker1963

I fail to see how her "school choice" philosophy does anything to help inner city kids in anyway. A poor inner city kid doesn't exactly have the means to get to a nice school in the suburbs on a daily basis.

On the other hand a more well off kid does have the means to potentially leave their underperforming school for something a little better. Of course that means that inner city schools are then getting even less funding causing those kids who are already behind to fall further behind.

a reply to: FamCore

You are using Warren to prove a point?

Betsy DeVos's Wikipage

Atlantic Magazine noted that DeVos had indicated in a 1997 op-ed that she expects to benefit from her political contributions. “My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party.

I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence,” she wrote. “Now I simply concede the point.

They are right."[43] She also stated in the op-ed, “We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues…We expect a return on our investment; we expect a good and honest government.

Furthermore, we expect the Republican Party to use the money to promote these policies and, yes, to win elections."[44]

Simply by making party contributions should not lead to an automatic 'right' to a seat at the head table

Especially since :

Detroit Free Press editorial page editor Stephen Henderson expressed concerns over DeVos’s nomination, noting that "DeVos isn't an educator, or an education leader. She's not an expert in pedagogy or curriculum or school governance. In fact, she has no relevant credentials or experience for a job setting standards and guiding dollars for the nation's public schools. She is, in essence, a lobbyist - someone who has used her extraordinary wealth to influence the conversation about education reform, and to bend that conversation to her ideological convictions despite the dearth of evidence supporting them. "[51][52] Rebecca Mead of The New Yorker questioned the efficacy of Michigan's charter school system, which DeVos has supported.[18]

Wait, what ?
The new Education secretary is neither an educator nor a pedagog, has no credentials or experience within this field, how is that going to work out well ?

PostedHere yesterday