Betsy Devos vs. Special Olympics

[Lumpenproletariat]

"Social Media" idiots are kicking Betsy Devos around because she would cut funding to the Special Olympics. E.g.,

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahkim/2019/03/27/devos-special-olympics/#19302fe95b8c

There are many charity programs which spread niceness and good will and provide benefits to victims.

Should every such charity program receive federal tax dollars? What about Little League?

How about chess tournaments for the mentally-retarded?

The above article implies that the purpose of the Special Olympics is to save the intellectually challenged from getting arrested and ending up in prison because they were caught sleeping on the sidewalk. It says "anyone over the age of eight and who identifies as having an intellectual disability can participate in the Special Olympics."

(I'm surprised that it focuses on this kind of disability. There might be some logic to it if it was for amputees or those confined to wheel-chairs. That would have some value for the spectators. But apparently it's not about wheel-chair races or wheel-chair basketball, etc.)

How high is the crime rate among this intellectually disabled category? Before this program did we have gangs of mentally-retardeds rampaging through our streets? too many of them sleeping in doorways? What is the pressing need being served by this program? How much is it saving us on law enforcement costs? How much is it saving businesses which were losing profits because of too many intellectually-disabled sleeping in their doorways?

Did businesses start recovering from these losses, or did the walkways become less cluttered, after the intellectually-disabled were scooped up off the sidewalks and put into the Special Olympics program?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

“I say, let them crash.”

I suppose the point is funding something like Special Olympics isn’t actually a bad thing.

 

[James Brown]

"We used to exploit the poor and disadvantaged. Now we just resent them."


Five Trump Trips to Mar-a-Lago Would Cover Special Olympics Cuts

"Last month, we reported on new data from the Government Accountability Office which determined that Trump’s trips to his private club in Florida cost taxpayers about $3.4 million apiece, largely as a function of transporting the president and support material to the state. Looking at it another way, the federal government had spent about as much on getting Trump to Mar-a-Lago by his second month in office as DeVos now wants to cut from supporting the Special Olympics."

 

[Keith&Co.]

"Social Media" idiots are kicking Betsy Devos around because she would cut funding to the Special Olympics. E.g.,

Wait, wait, wait.
Trump wants to give money to rich people, starting with himself.
In order to do that, AND to have the things he promised his base, he's got to cut some funding somewhere. He chose to cut Special Olympics. Betsy just has to defend this idea that someone else made, and the idea is getting pushback.

Why does pushback mean that the people who are pushing back are idiots?

There are many charity programs which spread niceness and good will and provide benefits to victims.

Should every such charity program receive federal tax dollars?

Um, sure? Why not? I mean, goodness, niceness, benefits to victims? If they're actual charities, and not Trump Foundation-like scams, why would they NOT get federal dollars?

Or should federal dollars ONLY go to the US Army, spreading nastiness and explosions and creating victims?

What would you say the better purchase is? Victims or benefits to victims?

What about Little League?

How do you get from charity to Little League in one breath?

But, sure. Federal subsidies to little league. Why the fuck not? cut one Presidential state dinner a year and spread that money around for the kids' benefit. Or maybe two air shows?

 

[PyramidHead]

I wish people gave this much of a shit about the disabled all the time instead of just when they participate in sporting events for our entertainment. That said, Devos is a ghoul and in the running for the worst Trump appointee behind Abrams

 

[funinspace]

Wait, wait, wait.
Trump wants to give money to rich people, starting with himself.
In order to do that, AND to have the things he promised his base, he's got to cut some funding somewhere. He chose to cut Special Olympics. Betsy just has to defend this idea that someone else made, and the idea is getting pushback.

Why does pushback mean that the people who are pushing back are idiots?

Um, sure? Why not? I mean, goodness, niceness, benefits to victims? If they're actual charities, and not Trump Foundation-like scams, why would they NOT get federal dollars?

Or should federal dollars ONLY go to the US Army, spreading nastiness and explosions and creating victims?

Lumpy might have a point, after all Jesus said: Take from the penny from the widow and orphan and give them to the rich. Let the hungry first go to the fields to work. Do not let freeloaders glean from your field. Let the naked find more temperate climate. Tell the needy to straighten themselves out. And finally, blessed are the rich.

 

[Harry Bosch]

I wish people gave this much of a shit about the disabled all the time instead of just when they participate in sporting events for our entertainment. That said, Devos is a ghoul and in the running for the worst Trump appointee behind Abrams

Yea, but you have to give credit for Devos for protecting college males who rape co-eds. It's time that we turn the tables against meanie co-eds!

 

[ideologyhunter]

Meanwhile, what would Jesus do? I'm thinking, a ten-foot wide lightning bolt into the next Trump cabinet meeting. See, religionists, this is why it's childish to believe in your god of justice and righteousness.

 

[Keith&Co.]

after all Jesus said: Take from the penny from the widow and orphan and give them to the rich. Let the hungry first go to the fields to work. Do not let freeloaders glean from your field. Let the naked find more temperate climate. Tell the needy to straighten themselves out. And finally, blessed are the rich.

Yeah, but Lumpy's quite willing to ignore all that. Anything Jesus is quoted as saying could be a latter addition from someone with an agenda. Only the miracle stories came through all the editing and translation without embellishment or error. Because reasons.

But you may be right, for everyone else in Trump's Base. Jesus saying 'let the children come to me' probably meant the healthy children, with the mental capacity to understand the need for salvation. That whole 'Salvation for the Learning Disabled' program the Catholics produced was just a money grab, anyway.

 

[Politesse]

On the one hand, it is a low blow and completely unnecessary to target the Special Olympics.

On the other hand, as usual the media is focusing on something that looks good in a headline, and failing to even report on the rest of the story. And as usual, Congresspersons are buying their line and focusing on it. This means that to most of the American public, the story is now "over", since Trump got on camera and reversed the Special Olympics thing. It's like a metaphor for the whole presidency; do something clownish for the cameras, evade any attention paid to the real evils you're engaging in. The cuts to the SO were NOT the most dangerous part of DeVos' proposal. We are talking about the destruction of 12% of the total budget of the Dept of Education. In a country where most schools are already underfunded, some to the point of total systemic malfunction. This is a tiny line item. It is not what will destroy public education in this country. The real disaster is still coming, no matter what Trump does or does not reverse with respect to the special Olympics. I understand it is hard to capture the American public's attention, especially since we barely bother to teach literacy any more (after school literacy programs are also on the chopping block incidentally). But what good is it going to do to have the Olympics, if those who compete in it have no access to education when they aren't competing? What is more important?

If this thing rolls out as proposed, many of my students are going to have to drop out of college outright. A lot of them rely on federal grants for textbooks and tuition that are on the block. Luckily it probably won't (Jesus Christ I HOPE it won't) pass the House, but I'm still pretty horrified to think what the "across-the-aisle compromise" is going to look like, when the Democrats don't even seem to be paying attention to the most dangerous elements of the plan.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Trump is our hero. He saved the Special Olympics from his own alleged decision to defund it thru Devos. This is why we need a benevolent dictator like Trump instead of Congress, budgets, and all the other stuff no one is talking about.

 

[dismal]

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
- James Madison

 

[ZiprHead]

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
- James Madison

George Washington used taxes to pay for welfare for women and children.

 

[Arctish]

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
- James Madison

He can't even undertake to lay his finger on a piece of paper? Talk about lazy!

 

[Lumpenproletariat]

How about federal funding to BALLET DANCING CLASSES for the mentally retarded?

Or federal funding for this message board? Doesn't this website offer a social benefit, and keep some trouble-makers off the streets?


So, everyone agrees: funding Special Olympics is just symbolic feel-goodism, with no practical benefit or reason why this is more important than hundreds/thousands of other private charities which don't get any federal tax funding.

How do they choose which programs to give such funding to? Do they put a list of several thousand such charities on the wall and then throw darts at it? Or mix up the names of them in a large drum and draw out the lucky winners?

 

[bleubird]

Or federal funding for this message board? Doesn't this website offer a social benefit, and keep some trouble-makers off the streets?


So, everyone agrees: funding Special Olympics is just symbolic feel-goodism, with no practical benefit or reason why this is more important than hundreds/thousands of other private charities which don't get any federal tax funding.

How do they choose which programs to give such funding to? Do they put a list of several thousand such charities on the wall and then throw darts at it? Or mix up the names of them in a large drum and draw out the lucky winners?

You seem to me to be a particularly unpleasant person.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

It says "anyone over the age of eight and who identifies as having an intellectual disability can participate in the Special Olympics."

Who identifies as? That makes is sound like there is no test or criteria other than the participant saying so. That can't be right, can it? Surely you can't just randomly declare yourself as having an intellectual disability and enter yourself in the special Olympics lol That would be nuts.

(I'm surprised that it focuses on this kind of disability. There might be some logic to it if it was for amputees or those confined to wheel-chairs. That would have some value for the spectators. But apparently it's not about wheel-chair races or wheel-chair basketball, etc.)

That surprises me too. Wheelchair basketball is fun to watch. And actually I see no reason why all shouldn't feel free to participate in it, normally confined to a wheelchair or not.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

How do they choose which programs to give such funding to?

Good question. The criteria should be transparent and a sporting event should probably not top the list of applicant charities.

 

[ideologyhunter]

And remember, as of 2017 our DOJ was pledged to investigate instances of discrimination against Caucasians -- so we clearly need to readjust our spending priorities. I'm Caucasian, and, well, by any means prerequisite, y'know? Right on!!

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

How about federal funding to BALLET DANCING CLASSES for the mentally retarded?

Or federal funding for this message board? Doesn't this website offer a social benefit, and keep some trouble-makers off the streets?


So, everyone agrees: funding Special Olympics is just symbolic feel-goodism, with no practical benefit or reason why this is more important than hundreds/thousands of other private charities which don't get any federal tax funding.

How do they choose which programs to give such funding to? Do they put a list of several thousand such charities on the wall and then throw darts at it? Or mix up the names of them in a large drum and draw out the lucky winners?

I think a better analogy would be your posts. I would actually be in favor of federal spending to support your posts so long as it could be demonstrated that with minimal funding, your posts could improve.