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Education Department Is Threatening to Cut All Federal Funding for Maine Schools
- fracus 1y agoThey need to get their bluff called. You have to stand up to this stuff.
- redczar 1y agoIf states can’t trust the federal government to disperse funds in a fair manner then the reason for being part of the union ceases to exist. Secession becomes a reasonable response.
- seanmcdirmid 1y agoYa, it’s actually required to be fair, but the Supreme Court is totally in Trump’s pocket so it doesn’t really matter how illegal his behavior is. A constitutional convention is highly likely in the next few years (our first since the 70s).
- krapp 1y agoSecession is a pipe dream. No one is going to defy the US to do business with the Republic of Maine. Bigger states like New York or California might be able to go it alone, but being part of a global superpower and having access to its infrastructure and economy isn't something you just give up.
- redczar 1y agoThe breakup of an empire is always a pipe dream until it occurs. The U.S. will not defy history and last forever. At some point it will fracture.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> If states can’t trust the federal government to disperse funds in a fair manner then the reason for being part of the union ceases to exist That’s an interesting idea. States have a lot of control over their banks. Just…sanction the federal government. It will get overturned by the courts. But New York, California and other net-payer states withholding payments would create a leverageable mess.
- busyant 1y ago> But New York, California and other net-payer states withholding payments would create a leverageable mess. How do you withhold payments, exactly? Do you tell the citizens of Maine to send their federal tax money to the state capital?
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> How do you withhold payments, exactly? Have state bank regulators flag and freeze all payments to the Treasury for 30 days. (Ideally, during a window where your citizens won’t get hit with penalties, i.e. away from April or October 15 and away from the ends of calendar quarters.)
- busyant 1y ago> state bank regulators flag and freeze all payments to the Treasury for 30 days. It's crazy that we're even floating ideas like this. But something like this might actually happen.
- duxup 1y agoIt doesn't make constitutional sense to me that congress passed laws to fund education ... but to be only dispersed if a later executive branch approves / doesn't have a personal gripe with them. All these executive branch actions seem blatantly unconstitutional.
- jalapenos 1y agoOnly if they don't have a legal pretext for it. For instance, if a state's schools had decided to reintroduce segregation, obviously cutting off funding for them would be defensible as pursuant to executing civil rights laws.
- duxup 1y agoI’m not convinced cutting off all educational funding across a state is valid simply by executive branch decision… even if something unlawful occurs.
- jalapenos 1y ago[flagged]
- bglazer 1y agoAssuming you’re asking in good faith, I’ll try to answer. I have two core principles that motivate my beliefs about government policy regarding trans people. First, I don’t fucking care which bathroom you use. It’s none of my goddamn business. It’s especially not the government’s business and the threat of state violence over this is insane. Second, human sexuality is not binary. That’s just an observable fact. Intersex people exist. There are undoubtedly people all over the spectrum in between. Finally and most importantly we should respect people’s dignity and right to self-determination. If you want to present as a woman or man, that is your right to decide and not mine
- jalapenos 1y agoI think that's fair that's your position, as that's how you feel towards those people and them going into the same bathroom as you despite being opposite sex. But why is it right that that position then be extended to be binding on third parties, like families with little girls who don't want growth men in their private spaces where they're getting changed, or to their daughters who want fair competition in their chosen sports?
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> families with little girls who don't want growth men in their private spaces where they're getting changed, or to their daughters who want fair competition in their chosen sports? They…can go somewhere else? Like, there are religions in which a man can’t sit next to a woman on a plane. That’s sort of on them to deal with. Not society.
- jalapenos 1y agoI suppose that's the point - they were here first. So it's the radicals who should go somewhere else, and leave normal, mentally healthy people be.