(02-07-2017, 01:54 PM)Qvait Wrote: Betsy DeVos has just been confirmed to be the Secretary of Education by a vote of 51–50. 50 Republican Senators and one Mike Pence just made the next generation of Americans a bunch of illiterates.

I guess the silver lining is that now there will be more protection against grizzly bears in public schools (if those are still a thing in the future and aren't replaced by religious indoctrination).

@Ausstan: Not trying to be blunt or anything, but have you heard of the White Australia policy?. Let's not forget also that succesive Australian governments used the colonists' designation of Australia as a "Terra Nullius" ("land without inhabitants", which of course wasn't true at all) as justification for stealing aboriginal land for decades. Considering that indigenous communities still have less access to education and healthcare, I think their complaints have merit.

The "Stolen Generations" thing is unjustifiable. Thousands of children were forcibly taken from their parents and forced to give up their language and culture in order to force them to assimilate into white society. There is no silver lining there.