1. The Republicans finally get a win. Now the two competing tax bills have to become one through the conference procedure. Most likely, the Senate version with adjustments will prevail because the Senate must preserve a version that meets their reconciliation rules lest they open the chamber to a Democrat filibuster.
2. The life lesson that it is always dangerous to believe one's own line of <ahem, think garbage, nonsense, you figure out the word> is in play. The Republicans really believe that their bill will benefit the working poor and middle class. Once those tax bills begin going up, we will see a political tsunami in Washington.
3. Cue up the top 10 list from 1973: With Michael Flynn cutting a deal and cooperating, a whole lot more <ahem> is coming in 2018. 1973 Top Ten songs
4. If the surrounding countries would support the logistics, we could flatten the Taliban in Afghanistan. Take them out. However, that would mean the deaths of too many innocent civilians and of those who are left, we would receive their undying hatred. Something worse would appear. That's a nuance that Trump doesn't get.
5. Same thing with North Korea and the chest-beating line that we are going to be tougher now. War is not an option because any action on the peninsula would bring action from China.
6. You want to get North Korea's goat? Take a lesson from a teacher: planned ignoring. That is the one thing that drives them crazy.
7. In her latest appearance, Betsy Devos is reported to have delivered a message to her opponents (teachers, teachers' unions, people who actually know something about education): I'm not going away. That's okay, Betsy, neither are we.
8. It's been reported before, but we pay $1,000,000 a month for a security detail for Devos. If I was president, that alone would be enough for a sacking, but doesn't the woman ever wonder why she feels threatened? And if she were truly the conservative she pretends to be, she wouldn't allow the government to pay for it but would spend the chump change from her investments (she is a billionaire, after all) for her security detail.
9. The Democrats remain hapless on the state level because, while they solicit donations, they never ask for help. I would spend my weekends working tirelessly in Florida for a change in power in Tallahassee, but they don't seem interested.
10. I don't know whether to be happy or angry about my upcoming week at work. My district has expanded its midyear testing to two days, which means that the entire week will be wasted. No learning will be happening in my classroom. Now if the testing gave me useful insights ... no, wait, the purpose of this testing is for the district to predict what test scores will be in April. It's useless for a classroom teacher.
11. District testing always gripes me because the people who run it put on airs. They surround it with threats and intimidation as if it was a state exam. They forbid teachers to even look at the test when the superintendent sends out emails telling teachers to go over the test with students after the testing period ends. Then, they say we can review questions with the class, but only by displaying a question and lecturing children. We are not allowed to have the students rework problems at their desk. How out of touch to think that children will sit still for 90 minutes while an adult drones about something they don't have even the remotest interest in.
12. We had a bomb threat this past week, but it didn't make the news. Instead of an evacuation, we went on a Code Red. Turn the lights out, drop to the floor, stay away from windows, and absolute silence ... which makes sense, because as everyone knows, bombs have ears and can walk around the building.
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