Education
“As data from the
U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights shows, Black
girls are more likely to be suspended than any other group of students other
than Black boys. Nationwide, Black girls are 5.5 times more likely than white
girls to be suspended from schools across several states. In the District of
Columbia, Black girls make up 73% of girls enrolled in schools, and 94% of all
girls suspended. This is not a result of worse behavior in classrooms, but the
result of racist stereotyping
of Black women as aggressive or hypersexual. Half of Black girls’
suspensions are for minor offenses such as violating the dress code, chewing
gum, or talking back to a teacher. These behaviors don’t pose threats to
classmates or disrupt teaching. But they challenge society’s idea of
femininity– white femininity.
As a result, these girls are seen as disruptive and unfit
for the classroom environment.
Even when students’ behaviors rise beyond these minor,
subjective offenses, there are many creative solutions schools can employ other
than immediately suspending or expelling students of color. Schools can start
teaching conflict resolution practices, yoga, or meditation, all of which
target the issue head on and are valuable skills for later life as well.
Schools could also bring kids in the classrooms together to solve problems as
group. Or, as an alternative to focusing on the punishment, schools can start
focusing on prevention. Finally, instead of spending money on law enforcement
officers, schools can hire more counselors who have experience with kids going
through issues.
The stakes are just too high to push girls out of school.
Studies have shown being suspended once increases a child’s chance of dropping
out of school.”
Flint, Michigan, Water Crisis, Good Deeds
“Will and Jaden Smith
founded JUST in 2015 to provide a green alternative to plastic bottles and to
invest in communities. JUST’s bottles are 82 percent plant-based, and the
company has initiated long-term investments in
Glens Falls, New York, the city where the water is sourced.
The Flint water crisis
became a national topic in 2014 after city officials began using the Flint
River as the town’s main water source. The city’s pipes were dangerously
corroded, and they polluted the water with dangerously high levels of lead. In
one study, the Environmental Protection Agency found lead levels in the city’s
water to be as high as 397 parts per billion,
far above the federal limit of 15 ppb.”
Legacy, School Lunches, Good Deeds
“The initial intention was to
raise $5,000 to pay off the lunch debt at J.J. Hill, knowing that Castile
himself would regularly dip into his own pocket to ensure kids who had no money
could still get their lunch.
But as the
money rolled in, the fundraisers broadened their goal, attempting to feed all
students in St. Paul.
And they did
just that, FOX
9 reports that this week they presented a check of more than
$106,000 to St. Paul schools that is enough to cover the lunch debt of all 56
public schools in St. Paul.
"That
means that no parent of the 37,000 kids who eat meals at school need worry
about how to pay that overdue debt," fundraisers
wrote on YouCaring.
"Philando
is STILL reaching into his pocket, and helping a kid out. One by one. With your
help," it added. "Your donations will fill that pocket for years to
come. Thank you for your generosity."”
Medical Debt, Good
Deeds
““In 2014, Ashton joined
up with Craig Antico, who also worked in debt collections, to form RIP Medical
Debt, a nonprofit organization, which focuses on buying and forgiving medical
debt.
Their effort went slowly
at first. “The first couple of years our wives were wondering why we were going
into debt to get other people out of debt,” he said. “We were struggling.”
“If it had not been for
John,” he said, “we would be standing on a street corner with a paper cup."
Ashton is referring to
John Oliver, who, on a June 2016 episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, did
a scathing report on credit collection practices and the people targeted with
repeated phone calls, calls to employers, garnishing wages, court cases, and so
on.
It’s all too common an
experience: About a third of Americans with credit were contacted by a debt
collector or creditor within a year of a recent survey by the Consumer Finance
Protection Bureau. Of those, more than half of people who were contacted about
a past-due bill were contacted about a medical bill.
Oliver, after excoriating the medical debt system and the
politicians who enable it, made an announcement. He had formed a collection
agency of his own (which, he said, proves that a complete idiot can create a
collections agency), and—with no credentials apart from a minimalist website—purchased
nearly $15 million worth of debt for just under $60,000, less than half a cent
on the dollar. This purchase entitled him to the names, current addresses, and
social security numbers of those who owed the debt, even if the debt was so old
it was called zombie debt. And with this information, he acquired the right to
try to collect debt.””
Read more to find out what happened next.
Environment, Energy,
Regulations
“President Donald Trump’s administration has been
on a deregulatory
bender, particularly when it comes to environmental regulations.
As of January, the New York Times counted 67 environmental
rules on the chopping block under Trump.
This
is not one of Trump’s idiosyncrasies, though. His administration is more
ham-handed and flagrant about it, but the antipathy it expresses toward federal
regulation falls firmly within the GOP mainstream.
Republicans have been complaining about
“burdensome” and “job-killing”
regulations for so long that their opposition to any particular health, safety,
or environmental regulation is now just taken for granted.
For instance, why would the Environmental
Protection Agency close a
program investigating the effects of toxins on children’s
health? Is there some evidence that the money is wasted or poorly spent? Why
would the EPA allow more unregulated
disposal of toxic coal ash? Don’t people in coal regions deserve
clean air and water? Is there any reason to think coal ash is currently
well-regulated?
These questions barely come up anymore.
Republicans oppose regulations because they are regulations; it’s become
reflexive, both for the party and for the media the covers them.
The report was released late on a Friday, with
Congress out of session and multiple
Trump scandals dominating the headlines. A cynical observer
might conclude that the administration wanted the report to go unnoticed.
Why might that be? Well, in a nutshell, it shows
that the GOP is wrong about regulations as a general matter and wrong about
Obama’s regulations specifically. Those regulations had benefits far in excess
of their costs, and they had no discernible effect on jobs or economic growth.”
Career Advice, Inspiration
She
runs her own company, Borderline Amazing Productions, and makes a multi-million
dollar living as a woman in comedy, an industry dominated by men.
In
2012, she made Time Magazine's list of Most Influential People, and she has also been on Forbes'
Celebrity 100 list.
She
is, by all accounts, extremely successful.
But
she didn't start out that way. She wasn't born with a silver spoon in her
mouth; in fact, her first job was as a waitress, where she brought spoons to
others.
It
was during that waitressing gig at 23 years old that she learned a lesson
that would serve her for the rest of her career, and what she passes along now
as her best career advice:
"When
you make a commitment, keep it."”
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