“Family first” is unidirectional. Parents put their kids first. That’s the job. I signed up for it, and I’m going to prioritize then as much as I can.

Nothing, as far as I can tell, but political opponents have been running attack ads and blaming him for everything that’s gone wrong in the local (and global, for that matter) economy for the last decade.

I think he did amazingly well in the Trump presidency threading the needle of not giving in to Trump but also not antagonizing him, so Canada had limited personal vendettas and attacks from Trump.

He’s very articulate and careful with his words, and his pauses to think carefully about wording are seen as a lack of confidence. And, granted, it does make him a less inspiring/exciting/dynamic speaker.

Contrast that with Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Cons, who’s not at all worried about offending minorities and is constantly telling people how Trudeau has ruined everything, is ruining everything, and will ruin everything, for exemple by letting in immigrants, allowing schools to support trans kids (provincially controlled, not in Trudeau’s jurisdiction), and for long medical waiting times (also provincial), etc. Literally everything.

Pierre Poilievre is going to do the same in Canada, too. He’s been threatening to defund the CBC (Canada BBC, basically). And our current PM, Trudeau, is reviled by so many Canadians that he’s unelectable, so the Cons are going to cruise to an easy majority next year.

It sucks knowing that the country is going to be in a worse place 5 years from now but being unable to do anything about it. At least the US has a 50-50 shot of coming out okay, if the polls are to be believed. (I’m more optimistic about the actual election results, personally, but very concerned about a coup/civil unrest of some sort.)

Attacks on the press are attacks on democracy, and the Canadian press is crumbling.

One of them is a literal fascist who has publicly stated they will become a dictator. Pretending they’re at all equivalent is lunacy.

I wonder:

1. How many of those YouTube comments are posted by bots paid for by Russia/China/Iran?
2. How many of those YouTube comments are posted by people who have been radicalized by Internet echo chambers?
3. And how many are getting most of their news from alt-right, conspiracy theories, and Fox?

It’s a cesspool.

A protest vote does nothing. The system sucks, but with an election this close, a protest vote is a half vote for fascism. Project 2025 makes it very clear that a Republican victory might very well be the end of democracy in the US. Literally—not speaking hyperbolically.

As a non-American, it’s very disturbing to see how few Americans seem to take the rise of fascism in their country seriously. There are so many parallels to the Third Reich it’s deeply unsettling.

It’s also becoming abundantly clear that Russian/Chinese/Iranian interference in elections is pushing for fascism, and their anti-democratic rhetoric, memes, and talking points are being shared widely.

Voting for a third party, with what the Republican Party is saying they’ll do if elected, is voting for fascism being an acceptable outcome.

The fact the polls are in a dead heat is disturbing.

Fake news. Harris had a high conviction rate for nonviolent drug offenses because she was allowing them to complete a program instead of serving time for a guilty plea. She had great results for reducing recidivism rates.

Sure, the war on drugs itself is a problem, but Harris wasn’t locking people up for nonviolent drug offenses; that completely flips and mischaracterizes her work as a DA.

But you’re just sea lioning anyway. I look forward to seeing how you move the conversation to another Russian/Chinese talking point in your inevitable reply.

Edit: 4 autocorrect fails

So your stance is that the Democrats under Obama should have used political capital to push for legal abortion when abortion was already legal? Or am I missing something?

An excellent summary that should sound reasonable to anyone who’s looking at the situation rationally. As an outsider, I can’t really understand why it’s so close.

That said, in BC, Canada, our election in 18 days is too close to call, and the BC Cons are basing policy on American QAnon conspiracy theories (that teachers are part of a secret cabal brainwashing children). And our federal Cons are polling to coast to an easy majority government next year… with even more unhinged views. So it’s not like we’re doing much better up here.

I don’t understand how these elections can be this close. How can ~47% of the population support anti-trans, misogynist, racist bullies? It makes me want to weep.

You can get a cheap mp3 player for literally $5. Digital textbooks can be viewed just fine on a laptop, and schools have hundreds of those.

Smart phones are addiction machines. I’m very glad to see schools banning them. Hopefully, parents take note and realize how harmful they are for child development and start buying them dumb phones instead until they’re older (16+).

Exactly my thought on reading the article.

In the US, even regulatory capture follows partisan divisions… Insanity.

The most interesting insight from this article, imho, is that abortion rights in Florida are on the ballot in 2024, abortion rights have passed in every referendum on the topic since the recent Supreme Court fuckery, and that women coming to the polls to vote for their reproductive rights might skew the numbers more in favour of Democrats, independent of polling.

So Democrat victories in Florida (including a senator seat) are looking like a real possibility.

I can’t speak to the US, but that’s not what’s happening in Canada, generally. I hear the UK public system is having difficulties, too, but idk the details.

There are some places in Canada that are struggling, particularly in remote rural areas, Indigenous or not (but even moreso for Indigenous schools for historical inequity issues that we’re working on meaningfully addressing with national Truth and Reconciliation work.)

Teacher:

Myth: The job is mostly about delivering lessons and grading tests and assignments, so once you’ve done a course once, you can coast forever.

Reality: designing and delivering a lecture is just about the easiest thing in teaching. And also very ineffective teaching, so it’s not done very often.

Myth: School is the same as it was a generation ago, when parents were in school.

Reality: There have been huge shifts in education, with research-supported practices replacing a lot of old, ineffective strategies. The teachers who are “old school” are usually ignoring educational research out of arrogance and/or laziness.

Exactly this.

I’ll never vote Green (as a Canadian) since it’s strategically equivalent to not voting at all.

Thoroughly explained and well supported. I want to save this in case this topic ever comes up again so I can copy-pasta this.

That’s terrible, but so are the treatments this article is suggesting. ABA is abuse.

Behaviorism, in general, has lots of research supporting its efficacy in changing behavior, but completely ignores the mental health effects of the trauma from the behaviorist interventions.

This might be made more clear with a thought experiment from Dr Becky Kennedy’s mostly-unrelated parenting book, The Good Inside. (Great book, btw. Highly recommended for all parents.) I know a 100% effective treatment for any childhood behavior: when the child engages in the behaviour, lock them outside in a cage overnight. It will take at most 3 treatments and they’ll never exhibit that behavior again, guaranteed!

Aside from the hypothetical example obviously not passing ethics review, that’s literally how behaviorism research is conducted: the only thing they measure is efficacy in altering behaviour. That’s a really low bar.

ABA is “effective” because children are being conditioned to avoid being abused.

Developed, Developing, or Least Developed, according to the UN.

I didn’t like summers or winters where I used to live, so I moved to somewhere where I like both seasons. Then moved again to somewhere that I love all four seasons.

But I get what you’re saying; you’re describing the summers of my childhood. Hot and humid so you feel like you need a cold shower within 5 minutes of walking outside. Sticky by day, swarmed by mosquitos at night.

But you lost me at the sand bit. I love the beach and ocean when it’s like 10-30°C out. Colder and hotter are okay, too, but not as nice.

Do videogame records count? A friend of mine from uni holds dozens of works records for a reasonably well known indie game. She’s showcased it on a Games Done Quick charity Steam, too.

I can’t say the game or it’ll doxx her, though. She has most of the records.