Education Dept. Says It Will Scale Back Civil Rights Investigations
61 replies, posted
[url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/us/politics/education-department-civil-rights-betsy-devos.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur]Source[/url]
[QUOTE]WASHINGTON — The Department of Education is scaling back investigations into civil rights violations at the nation’s public schools and universities, easing off mandates imposed by the Obama administration that the new leadership says have bogged down the agency.
According to an internal memo issued by Candice E. Jackson, the acting head of the department’s office for civil rights, requirements that investigators broaden their inquiries to identify systemic issues and whole classes of victims will be scaled back. Also, regional offices will no longer be required to alert department officials in Washington of all highly sensitive complaints on issues such as the disproportionate disciplining of minority students and the mishandling of sexual assaults on college campuses.
The new directives are the first steps taken under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to reshape her agency’s approach to civil rights enforcement, which was bolstered while President Barack Obama was in office. The efforts during Mr. Obama’s administration resulted in far-reaching investigations and resolutions that required schools and colleges to overhaul policies addressing a number of civil rights concerns.
That approach sent complaints soaring, and the civil rights office found itself understaffed and struggling to meet the department’s stated goal of closing cases within 180 days.
The office’s processing times have “skyrocketed,” the Education Department spokeswoman, Liz Hill, said, adding that its backlog of cases has “exploded.” The new guidelines were to ensure that “every individual complainant gets the care and attention they deserve,” she said.
In the memo, which was first published by ProPublica, Ms. Jackson emphasized that the new protocols were aimed at resolving cases quickly.
“Justice delayed is justice denied, and justice for many complainants has been denied for too long,” Ms. Hill said in a statement.
But civil rights leaders believe that the new directives will have the opposite effect. They say that Education Department staff members would be discouraged from opening cases and that investigations could be weakened because efficiency would take priority over thoroughness.
“If we want to have assembly-line justice, and I say ‘justice’ in quotes, then that’s the direction that we should go,” said Catherine Lhamon, who was the assistant secretary of the Education Department’s civil rights office under Mr. Obama, and who now heads the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
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I can't even get mad anymore. I don't have any fight left in me.
Tbh if something could have any amount of improvement just ditch it, I'd say
MAGA
Make America....
Something undesirable
[QUOTE=ZakkShock;52371454]I can't even get mad anymore. I don't have any fight left in me.[/QUOTE]
this is what lets them win
anyone else been super depressed and anxious lately? i feel like the constant shock and thinking they can't make any shittier decisions, then the anger and shit that comes after has been so emotionally draining
[QUOTE=LZTYBRN;52371663]anyone else been super depressed and anxious lately? i feel like the constant shock and thinking they can't make any shittier decisions, then the anger and shit that comes after has been so emotionally draining[/QUOTE]
The past 6 months have turned me from a cynical idealist to a borderline nihilist.
How much of this is related to current events and how much is just my poorly treated depression, I can't say.
[editline]17th June 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=Judas;52371585]this is what lets them win[/QUOTE]
They've already won the future. We just don't know it yet.
[QUOTE=Judas;52371585]this is what lets them win[/QUOTE]
When in reality, folks should be stockpiling guns, making battle plans, and convincing themselves that there's something better on the other side.
Instead of saying "he will not divide us", folks should be saying "WE WILL DIVIDE THEM. INTO BLOODY CHUNKS. [B]TO WAR.[/B]" before storming the barricades and tearing everything down. After all, wasn't that one of the plans of the founding fathers? That if shit got like it is now, that we should tear it all down and start again?
But who has the money or the time for that besides the rich?
Well, there are only so many rich folks out there, and a lot more people who aren't AS rich but can still afford to buy guns and ammo. Despite the horrific reshuffling our reality has suffered, many is still more than a few. 10k angry people with guns are still more than a few hundred frightened fat cats with guns. That's simple mathematics.
[QUOTE=ironman17;52371834]Well, there are only so many rich folks out there, and a lot more people who aren't AS rich but can still afford to buy guns and ammo. Despite the horrific reshuffling our reality has suffered, many is still more than a few. 10k angry people with guns are still more than a few hundred frightened fat cats with guns. That's simple mathematics.[/QUOTE]
What is:
SWAT?
The FBI?
The NSA?
The National Guard?
The Secret Service?
Private Contractors?
The notion that a 10k armed civilians with widely varied levels of training, most likely horrible logistics and fragmented organisation and little to no intelligence or cyber-warfare capability could stand up to just one of these organisations is close enough to insanity. That's also not accounting for the fact that in such an event, the government might defy the constitution and deploy the US Armed Forces for full effect. The 2nd amendment doesn't apply when the pinnacle of military technology isn't the rifle anymore.
An attempt at violent overthrow in the US would at "best" result in an insurgency, which would open the door to even more heinous restrictions on civil rights and liberty.
This isn't even going into the economic and geo-political fallout, as well as the morality of the execution/imprisonment/banishment of such "fat cats", which is what you seem to be advocating. Not all bad people are rich and not all rich people are bad.
I'd like to see the world's governments truly held to account as much as the next guy, but it's not going to happen in such a romanticised fashion. Let's say a rebellion went through without a hitch, without a drop of blood spilled; The people who rule through wealth or office are there because they're opportunists, and they exploit their positions for personal gain because they're opportunists. That type of person isn't going to cease existing, so what would come after?
Yeah
so in all honesty, it's game over.
The billionaires have bought and sold this world, and us regular folks are just living by their graces.
50 years from now, that will only be infinitely more true.
It's beyond sad.
[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;52371923]What is:
SWAT?
The FBI?
The NSA?
The National Guard?
The Secret Service?
Private Contractors?
The notion that a 10k armed civilians with widely varied levels of training, most likely horrible logistics and fragmented organisation and little to no intelligence or cyber-warfare capability could stand up to just one of these organisations is close enough to insanity. That's also not accounting for the fact that in such an event, the government might defy the constitution and deploy the US Armed Forces for full effect.
[/QUOTE]
that's assuming that all those agencies stay in perfect union. in the case of a full armed revolt i imagine many police officers and military members would defect, some with high levels of training and intricate knowledge of the inner workings of such organizations which would spell very bad news for the remaining government forces.
[QUOTE=TheHydra;52371949]that's assuming that all those agencies stay in perfect union. in the case of a full armed revolt i imagine many police officers and soldiers would defect.[/QUOTE]
To assume complete loyalty from every single member of an organization would be pretty foolish, tbh. There would be a chance of defectors, which would even the overall odds, especially considering the current division of opinion running throughout the whole of American society.
[QUOTE=TheHydra;52371949]that's assuming that all those agencies stay in perfect union. in the case of a full armed revolt i imagine many police officers and military members would defect, some with high levels of training and intricate knowledge of the inner workings of such organizations which would spell very bad news for the remaining government forces.[/QUOTE]
This is true, but it's also assuming perfect union within defecting units/departments. Those defectors also give up the logistical, organisational and technological edges the military and law enforcement agencies afford. Even then, in such a situation you're looking at a catastrophic conflict, costly in all aspects. A civil war which would make Syria look like a bootleg fireworks display isn't what you should be advocating.
[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;52371991]This is true, but it's also assuming perfect union within defecting units/departments. Those defectors also give up the logistical, organisational and technological edges the military and law enforcement agencies afford. Even then, in such a situation you're looking at a catastrophic conflict, costly in all aspects. A civil war which would make Syria look like a bootleg fireworks display isn't what you should be advocating.[/QUOTE]
I don't imagine it'll be easy to get soldiers to fire on their friends and families and country men but hey, what do I know
it could be really easy after all
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;52372007]I don't imagine it'll be easy to get soldiers to fire on their friends and families and country men but hey, what do I know
it could be really easy after all[/QUOTE]
You underestimate the power of the media, the public conscience and peoples' desire to maintain the status quo.
like I said
it could be really easy
I honestly do believe what I said
this world isn't ours, we only live here by the grace of a few fucking assholes.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;52371469]Make America....
Something undesirable[/QUOTE]
Trump and conservatives are simply about "Make America White Again"
Congratulations, we're all on a watch list now. :v:
For real though nobody is going to be able to change anything in this current climate. There's not much to gain and too much to lose for most people to even try. People are barely able to make ends meet and are trying to look out for themselves, they can't afford to put a target on their backs by being politically active.
:snip:
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;52371929]Yeah
so in all honesty, it's game over.
The billionaires have bought and sold this world, and us regular folks are just living by their graces.
50 years from now, that will only be infinitely more true.
It's beyond sad.[/QUOTE]
Wow, we should all kill ourselves.
Polidicks has gotten so damn defeatist lately. Were you all sounding these alarm clarions a year ago when Barack was in office? Wait until at least the midterms before you eat that bullet.
[QUOTE=Popularvote;52372111]Wow, we should all kill ourselves.
Polidicks has gotten so damn defeatist lately. Were you all sounding these alarm clarions a year ago when Barack was in office? Wait until at least the midterms before you eat that bullet.[/QUOTE]
Oh that's a good argument, that Obama and Trump and the policies enacted by the two are the same
I'm sorry
but you need to do better than to just say random words and assume they make an argument that's coherent and cogent at arguing the point you seem to want to make.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;52372116]Oh that's a good argument, that Obama and Trump and the policies enacted by the two are the same
I'm sorry
but you need to do better than to just say random words and assume they make an argument that's coherent and cogent at arguing the point you seem to want to make.[/QUOTE]
Trump and Barack are incredibly different. One won the popular vote twice, the other lost by three million against the worst candidate that could have been fielded against him. One has charisma and seems generally intelligent, the other seems to run on spite and ignorance. One seems to have genuinely had the best interests of the nation at heart, one is using it as his personal playhouse.
But they're alike in the most important way.
They're both just men.
Barack Obama made some great progress. Trump is fucking it all up. But he'll eventually leave office, and the next guy will make changes, and so on.
I'm not saying don't be mad. I'm fucking livid every second I read the news. But the general attitude of the past few days has been that America is a lost cause, and I just don't believe that.
When Trump tries to take away guns or abolish term limits, THEN is the time for guerilla warfare. But until then I think the ship can be righted if enough people care.
[B]Edit:[/B]I guess what I'm saying is, where has the FIGHT gone in Polidicks? What happened to "Get 'em Mueller" and "How low can it [Trump's approval rating] go?" Trump is STILL an unpopular guy, and that can STILL be capitalized upon.
[QUOTE=Popularvote;52372201]Trump and Barack are incredibly different. One won the popular vote twice, the other lost by three million against the worst candidate that could have been fielded against him. One has charisma and seems generally intelligent, the other seems to run on spite and ignorance. One seems to have genuinely had the best interests of the nation at heart, one is using it as his personal playhouse.
But they're alike in the most important way.
They're both just men.
Barack Obama made some great progress. Trump is fucking it all up. But he'll eventually leave office, and the next guy will make changes, and so on.
I'm not saying don't be mad. I'm fucking livid every second I read the news. But the general attitude of the past few days has been that America is a lost cause, and I just don't believe that.
When Trump tries to take away guns or abolish term limits, THEN is the time for guerilla warfare. But until then I think the ship can be righted if enough people care.[/QUOTE]
we're literally looking at a semi successful attempt by the Koch brothers to fuck the constitution. Nothing to see here says the news, so the majority believes it. Trump is literally lying publicly about something new every other day, yet we can't even get his supporters to question him for a minute.
Just a week ago a politician choke slammed a reporter. Now that same guy is calling for "Civil politics", and has essentially avoided all damages that [B]SHOULD[/B] have done to his campaign, signalling something very bad about what's to come.
Lastly, Trump isn't the problem. I really wish people would get that. He'll be gone in 2020, maybe earlier, we'll see. But he'll be gone in 2020. What comes next is significantly worse. Someone is waiting, watching, and learning. Trump, had he been competent, would be absolutely able to do whatever he wanted at this point. There's a person out in the wings who is watching him fuck up, and taking notes, and when that person manages to get in power, the basic premise of what has caused Trump to be opposable, and preventable in some vein will be gone.
Based on the views of the right and how hard they hold their views, and based on the reactions of the left, the media has made a narrative that's going to continue to make things worse. No one can stop that narrative from rolling out and doing the damage it currently is, creating a larger and more negative divide. You can't stop that. I can't stop that. It's a corporate machine at this stage and it's doing it's job well.
I honestly think people need to look at the 2 million different factors of massive change that are going to coalesce in the next 10-15 years that will render much of this political landscape unrecognizable.
[editline]17th June 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=Popularvote;52372201]
[B]Edit:[/B]I guess what I'm saying is, where has the FIGHT gone in Polidicks? What happened to "Get 'em Mueller" and "How low can it [Trump's approval rating] go?" Trump is STILL an unpopular guy, and that can STILL be capitalized upon.[/QUOTE]
Because if we're honest with ourselves, Trump can't be impeached. Impeachment isn't a legal process. It's a political one, and he still has [B]ALL[/B] the political capital in the world with his consituents and by extensions the republicans. We can find out that he personally acted as Putins Cockholster for a whole 24 hour period in the most literal sense possible, and he still can't be impeached.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;52372218]we're literally looking at a semi successful attempt by the Koch brothers to fuck the constitution. Nothing to see here says the news, so the majority believes it. Trump is literally lying publicly about something new every other day, yet we can't even get his supporters to question him for a minute.
Just a week ago a politician choke slammed a reporter. Now that same guy is calling for "Civil politics", and has essentially avoided all damages that [B]SHOULD[/B] have done to his campaign, signalling something very bad about what's to come.
Lastly, Trump isn't the problem. I really wish people would get that. He'll be gone in 2020, maybe earlier, we'll see. But he'll be gone in 2020. What comes next is significantly worse. Someone is waiting, watching, and learning. Trump, had he been competent, would be absolutely able to do whatever he wanted at this point. There's a person out in the wings who is watching him fuck up, and taking notes, and when that person manages to get in power, the basic premise of what has caused Trump to be opposable, and preventable in some vein will be gone.
Based on the views of the right and how hard they hold their views, and based on the reactions of the left, the media has made a narrative that's going to continue to make things worse. No one can stop that narrative from rolling out and doing the damage it currently is, creating a larger and more negative divide. You can't stop that. I can't stop that. It's a corporate machine at this stage and it's doing it's job well.
I honestly think people need to look at the 2 million different factors of massive change that are going to coalesce in the next 10-15 years that will render much of this political landscape unrecognizable.[/QUOTE]
So if there's nothing we can do then see my original point. Let's all kill ourselves.
[QUOTE=Popularvote;52372223]So if there's nothing we can do then see my original point. Let's all kill ourselves.[/QUOTE]
sure, you start
because that was never my point
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;52372226]sure, you start
because that was never my point[/QUOTE]
Then what was your point beyond "shit sucks and it's forever?"
I really want to know.
[QUOTE=Popularvote;52372242]Then what was your point beyond "shit sucks and it's forever?"
I really want to know.[/QUOTE]
That this is monumentally more serious than you even remotely let on when you say stupid shit like [QUOTE]Were you all sounding these alarm clarions a year ago when Barack was in office? Wait until at least the midterms before you eat that bullet.[/QUOTE]
Maybe because Barack wasn't worth sounding alarms over at the time? Maybe people were sounding alarms that you weren't listening to. Maybe there's more to this than you have allowed yourself to believe.
Yeah, I'm pretty defeatist at this point because, I have to ask, what are you going to do to change the system meaningfully without causing a ruckus? You seem to be under the impression that everything that people oppose, they can get changed just through democratic actions but that doesn't seem to be the case right now.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;52372275]That this is monumentally more serious than you even remotely let on when you say stupid shit like
Maybe because Barack wasn't worth sounding alarms over at the time? Maybe people were sounding alarms that you weren't listening to. Maybe there's more to this than you have allowed yourself to believe. [/QUOTE]
You act like I don't know this is serious. You act like I haven't marched, I haven't written my representatives, I haven't acted.
[QUOTE]Yeah, I'm pretty defeatist at this point because, I have to ask, what are you going to do to change the system meaningfully without causing a ruckus? You seem to be under the impression that everything that people oppose, they can get changed just through democratic actions but that doesn't seem to be the case right now.[/QUOTE]
I guess I'm just not ready to give up on America yet. And I'm definitely not ready to start busting heads.
I'm not trying to pick a fight with you here. I'm trying to find my own reasons to go on. Because if there really is no hope, then yeah, I'll take you up on that offer and eat that first bullet.
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