Today’s comic by Mark Fiore is Learn to Draw Republican Turkeys:
What’s coming up on Sunday Kos …
- Another barrier to Democratic downballot majorities: Are Democratic voters more 'bipartisan'? by Steve Singiser
- This is fascism, and we should say it clearly ... while we can, by Mark Sumner
- 'At long last, have you no decency, Mr. Trump?' Rubio, Cruz and Jeb aren't brave enough to ask that, by Ian Reifowitz
- A red, white and blue zone for Muslims in America, by Jon Perr
- The hidden social costs of violent videos, by Vann R Newkirk II
- The women of Daesh, by Susan Grigsby
- Some millionaires are fighting the good fight, by Egberto Willies
- We went to Howard - not Harvard, by Denise Oliver Velez
Today is Native American Heritage Day. A prominent Ogala Lakota says it’s badly timed:
Black Friday. It's a de facto commercial holiday when millions of Americans stand in line for hours on end outside chain stores, often in bone-chilling temperatures, in the hopes of getting the latest and shiniest whatever at discounted prices.
This, folks, is egregious. [...]
The obscure Bureau of Indian Education has a long history of miseducating Native children. Efforts to make it better are underfunded, poorly communicated and heavily resisted:
The network of schools for Native American children run by an obscure agency of the Interior Department remains arguably the worst school system in the United States, a disgrace the government has known about for eight decades and never successfully reformed. Earlier this fall, POLITICO asked President Barack Obama’s secretary of education, Arne Duncan, about what is perhaps the federal government’s longest-running problem: “It's just the epitome of broken,” he said. “Just utterly bankrupt.” [...]
A year ago, Obama decided to finally tackle the problem, a decision he pushed his team to make after an emotional visit to a Sioux reservation in the Dakotas. He told his Cabinet to “establish a pathway that leads to change” and that he would hold them accountable. His Interior Department has proposed a sweeping plan to allow more tribal control over the schools and rework the Bureau of Indian Education into a streamlined, modern school system — preferably before the end of Obama's term. But resistance, both within the agency and on the reservations, is high. Critics say the changes are rushed and poorly communicated. They warn that paring back the federal government’s role will only make it easier to under-invest in schools that, by almost any measure, need money and resources the most.
When all the Washington fighting is over, it’s possible, those critics say, that some of the worst schools in America will get even worse.
Two physicists say neither the Russian nor Turkish accounts of downed jet makes sense.
Amazonian deforestation up 16 percent over previous year, a setback:
Trees covering an area more than seven times the territory of New York City have been cleared in the Brazilian Amazon over the past year, in a major setback for government efforts to combat deforestation.
The grim statistics from Brazil’s environment ministry, which were released on Thursday, underscore the growing climate threat posed by deforestation ahead of a United Nations conference in Paris that aims to reduce global carbon emissions.
Oopsy! Harris Faulkner taken aback when Foxaganda co-host Brian Kilmeade asked if she made Kool-Aid with her meals.
Here’s an antidote to Black Friday: Buy Nothing Project:
Why the Buy Nothing Project? The Buy Nothing Project is brought to you by the creators of Trash Backwards (www.trashbackwards.com,) an app that helps you with the last of the 3 Rs, “Reusing” and “Recycling” the everyday things in your life. The Buy Nothing Project addresses the first of the 3 R’s, “Reduce” as well as the lesser-known Rs “Refuse” and “Rethink.” Participating in a local Buy Nothing Project group allows individuals and communities to reduce their own dependence on single-use and virgin materials by extending the life of existing items through gifting and sharing between group members.