3 Stories You Should Read 4/10/2019: STEM School Highlands Ranch, Zuckerberg, James Comey

May 10, 2019 Confluence

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In the category of: Preventable?

Concerned parent describes ‘pressure-cooker’ environment at site of Colorado school shooting

One of the first things she noticed was that her child, and other students at STEM School Highlands Ranch, weren’t getting enough sleep. The academic workload, she said, seemed crushing. The parent noticed kids stressing out, and lashing out. She said she heard reports of violence, sexual assault and bullying. Yet school officials, she said, seemed to be ignoring the mounting problems.

When she finally picked up the phone to talk to a county school board member in December, she said she was worried that a “perfect storm” was brewing “for something like a Columbine” shooting.

The woman’s concerns were detailed in a CNN story this week following a shooting at the suburban Denver school that left one student dead and eight others injured. The mother, who showed CNN evidence of her affiliation with the school but asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation against her or her child, gave an interview Thursday expanding on her worries about the “pressure-cooker” environment on campus.

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In the category of: Is it tameable?

Facebook is a capitalism problem, not a Mark Zuckerberg problem

Regulating social media is more important than breaking up Facebook.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes’s call to break up the company hit like a bomb Thursday. But the more I thought about his proposed solution, the less confident I was that it addressed the right problem. I don’t think Facebook should’ve been permitted to buy Instagram or WhatsApp, and I’m not opposed to severing the connection now. But Hughes’s confidence in the healing power of competition is misplaced.

Capitalism created our Facebook problem. It’s not going to fix it.

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In the category of: The truth hurts

James Comey Called Donald Trump a ‘Chronic Liar’ on National TV and Y’all’s Little ‘President’ Is Pissed

Two years to the date after he was unceremoniously fired from his job as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by Donald Trump, James Comey took questions Thursday night at a CNN town hall hosted by Anderson Cooper.

Comey, who has previously gone on record to say he does not believe Trump is “morally fit to be president of the United States,” took questions from a town hall audience made up of students and professionals from more than a dozen states who now live in the D.C. area.

When asked why voters should prioritize Trump’s personal flaws over their own economic well-being, Comey kept it all the way real.

“You cannot have a president who’s a chronic liar. I don’t care what’s your passions around tax cuts or regulation or immigration—I respect difference there. The president of the United States cannot be someone who lies constantly. I thought Republicans agreed with that. It’s one of the reasons I’m no longer a Republican. I hope the American people will realize we have to start at that values level no matter what our political background and answer that question first. And if that’s a close question in an election, then get to the important policy differences.”

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