The School Shootings That Weren't

[Glocktogo]

The Department of Education is a government agency overseen by Trump appointee Betsy DeVos.
NPR is generally (on places like OSA) considered to be a liberal news organization.
Headline should read: Liberal Media Debunks Trump Administration Bull Shi+.
Just thought I'd clear that up.

The Trump administration runs the data collection point, NOT the submission points that incorrectly entered the false data. Therefore the headline should actually read:

Broken NPR clock may be right twice per day, debunks liberal schools falsely submitting erroneous data to the U.S. Dept. of Education.

Sorry the facts don't support your liberal bias nernt.

 

[Dave70968]

Y'all are so busy bashing NPR that you missed the point.

First of all, @dennishoddy and @TonyKane1, this isn't the media lying; this is the media disproving .gov's claim. This is the media doing what it's supposed to be doing. As to whether .gov was lying or merely incompetent, I won't weigh in, but this is not something that should be blamed on the media.

Second, and even more important, this is our own adversaries putting out information that helps us tremendously. If this had been on, say, Breitbart, it would be dismissed instantly by about half the population. Because it's on NPR, though, I have liberal friends who want to know more. And not just liberal; master's-degree-in-social-work liberal. They're listening, because they can't dismiss it as being right-wing propaganda.

Moreover, it's well-sourced: it is not just original research, but also cites to sources they like, and still supports us. Sources like Everytown. If we take the numbers put out by Everytown at face value, then the official numbers are "only" overstating things by a factor of eight. If we take NPRs investigation-based analysis, it's closer to a factor of thirty. And when contacted about the discrepancy, the .gov agency in charge had no intention of re-releasing the numbers to be accurate.

If we're going to use the official report to drive policy, that report needs to have some basis in reality; this one doesn't. Articles like this, from sources the left trusts, are some of the most useful, effective arguments we have, and y'all want to squabble over media bias?

 

[ignerntbend]

The thread merge threw the whole thing out of whack. I was reacting (mostly) to Dennis's funny OP which showed-up on the board one minute before Dave's.

 

[TerryMiller]

The thread merge threw the whole thing out of whack. I was reacting (mostly) to Dennis's funny OP which showed-up on the board one minute before Dave's.

Then we should always merge threads when you have commented...

...should make for some very humorous (or perhaps outlandish) reading. Of course, it might make you look somewhat idiotic.

 

[ignerntbend]

I didn't bring the idiotic in this thread, Terry.

 

[Dave70968]

The thread merge threw the whole thing out of whack. I was reacting (mostly) to Dennis's funny OP which showed-up on the board one minute before Dave's.

I know what you were doing, and I enjoyed it (and yes, Dennis beat me by seconds, but I actually provided useful sources). I'm talking about the substantial discussion afterward that completely missed the point. We got a gift on a silver platter here, and we're busy complaining that we don't like the delivery guy.

 

[Dale00]

Whew...glad I skimmed over this thread instead of getting riled up. Pretzels are for eatin, not being.

It does seem to point out that facts aren't facts in today's biased infotainmentworld.

 

[Dave70968]

And while we're on the subject, let's talk about the Department of Education's refusal to reissue the report. This was a 2015 report; that occurred under the Obama administration. Still, DeVos's DoE chooses to say "bad data, not our fault, go away." If the administration wanted to correct the record, it could; that's the benefit of being the boss. If nothing else, DeVos could hold a presser calling attention to the YUUUUGE discrepancy and hanging the incompetence and/or dishonesty on the Democrats, and during election season, no less.

And yet...crickets. Wagon circling.

So tell me again how the administration is "draining the swamp."

 

[Glocktogo]

And while we're on the subject, let's talk about the Department of Education's refusal to reissue the report. This was a 2015 report; that occurred under the Obama administration. Still, DeVos's DoE chooses to say "bad data, not our fault, go away." If the administration wanted to correct the record, it could; that's the benefit of being the boss. If nothing else, DeVos could hold a presser calling attention to the YUUUUGE discrepancy and hanging the incompetence and/or dishonesty on the Democrats, and during election season, no less.

And yet...crickets. Wagon circling.

So tell me again how the administration is "draining the swamp."

I assume she's busy repairing the family yacht.

 

[Dave70968]

Second, and even more important, this is our own adversaries putting out information that helps us tremendously. If this had been on, say, Breitbart, it would be dismissed instantly by about half the population. Because it's on NPR, though, I have liberal friends who want to know more. And not just liberal; master's-degree-in-social-work liberal. They're listening, because they can't dismiss it as being right-wing propaganda.

Of course, there are always the total bat-****-crazy types who will find a way to blame Republicans no matter what:

We're not trying to reach them; we're wise to use them as foils, to fence with them as a chance to expose idiocy for the benefit of those who would actually listen.

(And now I will weigh in: I favor the "incompetence" theory. I also think that those authoring and publishing reports have a duty to validate their facts and conclusions, and that they failed in that duty. Not lies per se, just willful and sanctioned incompetence. But that seems to have been par for the course from that administration.)