Why We Need School Choice NOW! 3 Reason Events in LA, Vegas, & DC

Next week, in three great events, Nick Gillespie & Lisa Snell will lay out the urgent need for school choice in America.

Reason.com

Everywhere around us, our lives are getting more individualized and personalized—and technological and commercial innovation is bringing better and cheaper services into our lives. One of the great exceptions to that is elementary and secondary education, where per-pupil spending climbs as student achievement stays flat or even declines.

If you live in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, or Washington, D.C. make time to come hear Reason Foundation's Director of Education Lisa Snell and me make the case for why we need school choice NOW and explain the best ways to expand K-12 reform.

Event details below.

For the past several years, Reason has been a media sponsor of National School Choice Week, which celebrates the idea of giving kids and parents more options when it comes to K-12 education.

This year, Reason Foundation Director of Education Lisa Snell and I will be headlining events in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C.

As Reason calls BS on public education abuses, you'll find out more about zero-tolerance discipline policies, outrageous school spending, and other egregious examples that drive parents to seek school choice.

Also on the curriculum: why competition is healthy, how it leads to better outcomes and what makes it a moral and financial imperative. 

Celebrate school choice with Reason at the following events:

1) Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Los Angeles

Reason Foundation HQ

5737 Mesmer Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90230

6:00pm - 8:00pm

Open bar and food truck

Valet Parking

Please RSVP to Mary Toledo at [e-mail] or 310-391-2245 by January 15, 2016. 

2) Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Las Vegas

Barrel Room, Rio Hotel

3700 W. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89103

6:00pm - 8:00pm

Open bar and appetizers

Please RSVP to Mary Toledo at [e-mail] or 310-391-2245 by January 18, 2016. 

3) Thursday, January 21, 2016

Washington, DC

Capitale

1301 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005

5:30pm - 7:30pm

Open bar and appetizers

Please RSVP to Mary Toledo at [e-mail] or 310-391-2245 by January 18, 2016. 

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Walls aren't structurally sound if the bricks aren't uniform.

[GILMORE?]

Shut up that was pink floyd's worst album

[some guy]

Pink Floyd's worst album is better than most bands' best album.

[Dark Lord of the cis]

And it wasn't The Wall, it was The Division Bell.

[Warty]

THE GRASS WAS GREEEEEENER
THE LIGHT WAS BRIIIIIGHTER

[Citizen X]

+1 world of magnets and miracles

[Fist of Etiquette]

CHECK THE ALT TEXT

[Hyperion]

All of your choices are belong to us.

/the government

[Hyperion]

I remember that Alice Cooper song. Can't remember what year of school it was for me. But I loved it. The radical extremist was already coming out in me I guess.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"Open bar and food truck"

Wait... which food truck?
Kogi?
Tulpa's favorite.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Tulpa-repellant

We should find some way to digitize that and use it as a firewall.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Ha! With his favorite kind of beverage, passover coke!

[Notorious UGCC]

I saw some kosher water once.

[Heroic Mulatto]

What ever happened to TWC?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

His wife still works for Reason LA.

[DEG]

His blog is still around and has, among other things, good wine reviews.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Good to know.

[Warty]

Oh good. I liked that guy.

[John]

Set aside your personal opinions about Trump for a moment and allow yourself to enjoy some schadenfreude.

http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....y-gop.html

For decades these assholes have been selling out their supporters for their own personal gain and junior membership in the Washington Bi Partisan fusion party and now they just can't understand why their supporters are not going to take it anymore.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Conservative elite, sounding a bit panicked, says Trump will destroy GOP

I think the GOP has done a fine job of destroying the GOP, all on its own.

[John]

Whatever you think of Trump, the idea that he will "destroy the GOP" is fucking laughable. How is a candidate who is attracting the very people who sat out 08 and 12 and polls are showing would pull 30% of the other parties' vote going to "destroy the party"?

He would only destroy the party in the sense that it might not function as device for making people like Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham rich.

[Dark Lord of the cis]

That's why I can't bring my self to shit my pants over him, I'm enjoying his trolling too much.

[John]

Me too. After Obama, exactly how could he be any worse? And even if he is just as bad, he will at least be sticking it to a whole lot of people who deserve it.

I can't defend Trump except to say that the prospect of him being President seems to be scaring the hell out of a whole lot of the right people.

[kinnath]

Trump is a hustler.

At this point, I'm not sure that is a bad thing -- domestically or internationally.

[John]

Trump might actually be driven by events to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Contrast that with our last two Presidents, both of whom were and are committed to an ideology and firm in their commitment to make the world a better place.

[Hyperion]

John, just say that Trump is a fascist. You're not going to any of the cocktail parties you know.

[Los Doyers]

why their supporters are not going to take it anymore.

And instead are going to take it good and hard from an out-and-out fascist. Yeah, a real brain those supporters have on their heads.

[John]

Oh piss off. Trump is not a fascist. If that is the best you can do, then maybe Trump isn't so bad.

[Los Doyers]

You're right. Trump cheered for Obama in '08, so he's all over the place. Oh, wait, sorry, he just got caught up in the feelz.

[tarran]

Trump *is* a fascist. The term fascist is so misused that when a genuine one waddles up on the stage and quacks, most people start disbelieving like the townspeople in the Boy Who Cried Duck

[H]e believes that he is running to be the CEO of the country ? not just of the government... but of the entire country. In this capacity, he believes that he will make deals with other countries that cause the U.S. to come out on top, whatever that could mean. He conjures up visions of himself or one of his associates sitting across the table from some Indian or Chinese leader and making wild demands that they will buy such and such amount of product else "we" won't buy their product.
...
What's distinct about Trumpism, and the tradition of thought it represents, is that it is non-leftist in its cultural and political outlook and yet still totalitarian in the sense that it seeks total control of society and economy and places no limits on state power. The left has long waged war on bourgeois institutions like family, church, and property. In contrast, right fascism has made its peace with all three. It (very wisely) seeks political strategies that call on the organic matter of the social structure and inspire masses of people to rally around the nation as a personified ideal in history, under the leadership of a great and highly accomplished man.

Trump believes himself to be that man.

[John]

Stop it. Every President since FDR has seen themselves as the CEO of the country. And "total control of society"? Trump seems to be about dead center economically. He is Clinton without the free trade. Not that that is good, but no rational person could conclude he wants total control of society.

The bottom line is you and the people on this board are shitting your pants over Trump because he is unapologetically closed borders. And you guys have lost that debate so badly with the public and events here and abroad have exposed your position as lunacy so thoroughly that you have nothing left but the scream fascist!! It is not a convincing act.

[tarran]

The bottom line is you and the people on this board are shitting your pants over Trump because he is unapologetically closed borders

John, Sweetie, I am not shitting my pants over Trump. I am no more shitting my pants over him than I was about Obama, or McCain (although I came close to sharting inmy pants over McCain, very close) or Bush, or Kerry, or Clinton (Mr or Mrs).

Nor is my problem with Trump over his closed border stance. My problem with Trump is actually summed up by the article I've linked to.... or maybe what I wrote a few days ago.

If I were to judge Trump by the content of his campaign speeches, the guy is an imbecille who couldn't count to potato. The reality is he's smarter than that; he just panders to voters who struggle to count to potato and tells them that they are, in fact, the only ones smart enough to vote for him.

The central plank of his policy prescriptions is that he will get things done(tm). It's like a caricature of the strongman from Hayek's Road to Serfdom. He is a fascist.

Just accept the fact that the Republican Party's contempt for its base has given an opening for a fascist to make a play for its nomination. Their stupidity is not my problem (other than the fact that at the end of the process we end up with a President - which we were doomed to get anyway)!

[Warty]

He's not a fascist, you stupid beaner. He's a caudillo at worst. That's Mexican for shut up, you stupid beaner.

[Los Doyers]

He's not a true caudillo until he sports a Pancho Villa mustache and a nice bandolera, GABACHO.

[Warty]

HACER MEXICO GRANDE DE NUEVO

[Los Doyers]

VIVA AZTL?N

[Citizen X]

QUIT ALL THE SHOUTING, SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO HAVE A SIESTA UNDER A CACTUS WITH A SOMBRERO PULLED DOWN OVER OUR FACES.

[some guy]

He's a statist demagogue, not a fascist. Words have meanings.

[Warty]

Fascist hasn't had any meaning since about 1930.

The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable". The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different.

[Drake]

Fascism: A couple dashes of socialism (control of big business through policy and direction rather than government ownership flavor), along with a double helping of nationalism. Generally more socially conservative than the pure socialists.

Unlike the International Socialists who run most of Western Europe and now have infested DC, the Fascist are not hostile to the idea of nationalism. They actually want to preserve and protect their native cultures - although they usually took that idea way too far (i.e. rebuilding the Roman Empire or exterminating racially undesirables).

[John]

Sure words have meanings, except "statist", at least how it is used on here, is not one of them.

[RBS]

Sure words have meanings, except "statist"

And mayo.

[Warty]

More from Orwell:

By 'Fascism' they mean, roughly speaking, something cruel, unscrupulous, arrogant, obscurantist, anti-liberal and anti-working-class. Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept 'bully' as a synonym for 'Fascist'. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.
But Fascism is also a political and economic system. Why, then, cannot we have a clear and generally accepted definition of it? Alas! we shall not get one ? not yet, anyway. To say why would take too long, but basically it is because it is impossible to define Fascism satisfactorily without making admissions which neither the Fascists themselves, nor the Conservatives, nor Socialists of any colour, are willing to make. All one can do for the moment is to use the word with a certain amount of circumspection and not, as is usually done, degrade it to the level of a swearword.

Fascist is absolutely as good a word as any for Trump.

[some guy]

I see your (his) point. But I'm pretty sure Los Doyers was using it as a swearword.

[Warty]

He's a bullying, stupid, grasping, lowbrow loudmouth who wants power for the sake of having power. What else can you call him?

[some guy]

A cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit?

[Drake]

A politician?

[Los Doyers]

Nope, not using it as a swear word. Just condensing everything Warty said below into one nice package. Plus it has a nice ring to it. Fascist. Faaascist. Fascista. Fascisti. Hmm, sounds even better in Italian.

[Los Doyers]

WHYCOME U DONT LIKE STICKIN IT 2 MAINSTREAM MEDIA?

[some guy]

If Trump promised to destroy the GOP if elected President, I would vote for him.

[Lee G]

Some potentially good news

Collective bargaining, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said, is inherently political when the government is the employer, and issues like merit pay, promotions and classroom size are subject to negotiation.

[Hyperion]

I told you to STFU, Kennedy, those things are all penaltaxes!

/Roberts

[some guy]

Ah, but the Penaltax protection only apply to laws passed by Congress, right? It doesn't protect stupid state/local level laws.

[Hyperion]

*furiously writes up way to re-interpret state law...*

Penaltax!

/Roberts

[some guy]

"Incorporated under the 14th. NEXT CASE!"

[Hyperion]

Journalist 1: So, judge Roberts, what exactly is this penaltax?

Roberts: Well, sometimes it's a penalty, and when it's not, it's a tax.

Journalist 2: So, how do we know when it's a penalty?

Roberts: When it's not a tax.

Journalist 1: Um... never mind.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Open bar and appetizers

?!!

[Marshall Gill]

I am unequivocally in favor of Open Bars. I didn't even know that it was a political position.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

LA people:
Should we try and get together before or after this? Who can go?

I'm down for anywhere but Wharo. We went last time after the Matt Welch reception and it was expensive, small portions, and not very good. Oh, and the charcoal is a lie.

[Hyperion]

So are the pork ribs, that's dog!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Along those lines, I've been trying to get seated at Yamakase for almost a year. Invitation only, and I was out of town for the date they offered.

The chef is the guy who got caught serving whale meat, so you know it's legit.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

If he didn't commit ritual Seppuku, it ain't legit.

[Hyperion]

WTF? Whale? Does he serve dolphin too? If so, nothing can stop me from going, just so I can tell my proggy friends. Fuck a you whaaaales! And fuck a you dolpeeeeens!

[Los Doyers]

I'll be in Mexico City for, uh, reasons, so I can't make it. But I can offer a food recommendation that is close-ish to the Reason office: Ramen Yamadaya. The service there is usually meh, but their pork broth is superb.

[Just say Nikki]

Be careful, I hear that place is full of rapists.

[Warty]

Gangs of them?

[Heroic Mulatto]

I blame Japanese AV culture.

[Los Doyers]

Well, I wouldn't say I'm counting on that... *drops soap*

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Be careful, I hear that place is full of rapists.

Not until Los Doyers gets there.

[Los Doyers]

If you're referring to the incident with Epi's mom, she came onto me.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Phrasing.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He knows what he said, and it was accurate.

[some guy]

He knows what he said.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Oh, and you spelled "yamatte" wrong.

[Los Doyers]

Tonkotsu is my safe space, HM. Why must you fill it with such smut?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Needs more tentacles.

[Loki]

the charcoal is a lie

So's the cake.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Anyone in DC going?

[Scalro Humillimus]

Probably not. It ends after the last train out. I need more incentive to brave 95 on a Thursday.

[Drake]

Because I'm paying $1k in property taxes and more in high school tuition every month?

[colorblindkid]

Can Reason please start making their graphs and charts large enough to read?

[Slammer]

There are articles with stuff in them?

[some guy]

Zoom. Enhance.
Zoom. Enhance.
Zoom. Enhance.
Zoom. Enhance.
Zoom. Enhance.
Zoom. Enhance.
Zoom. Enhance.
Zoom. Enhance.

[GILMORE?]

You can buy this house as long as you let the creepy old man hang around until he dies

Frankly i find it a bit of a turn-off. Imagine you're having your own coke/hookers fueled party, and someone's like, "What's that smell"?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It'll go for maybe 40% of ask. Nobody wants grandpa hanging around, hitting people with his oatmeal spoon...

[RBS]

hitting people with his oatmeal spoon...

That's what he calls it?

[some guy]

It's nothing a good industrial cleaning can't fix.

[4liberty1776]

Can you please have an event on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? Or, maybe just a wee bit more notice?
Do it for the children (who need babysitters so their parents can go and listen and, hopefully, make better choices)!