Brock Beauchamp

Yes, adoption was part of it but ICWA is just hard overall. It adds another layer of uncertainty to a situation already rife with uncertainty. Perhaps the most important job of a foster parent is to provide security and stability. ICWA makes an already hard job almost impossible.

Really, AZ wouldn't let you specify age? That's absurd. In MN, you can specify pretty much anything you want and they'll go with it, though they obviously prefer you stay open to as broad a spectrum of kids as possible. Our initial parameters were ages 0-3, no ICWA.

Minnesota has pretty good resources but, like most things, you have to roll up your sleeves and prepare to fight to get some of them. In our case, we basically told the social worker how this was going to play out before we even took the child. The state had no options left with her, as she was such a disruptive force in the house that no one else was interested in taking her. But mostly, her lack of services fall back to a lack of trying on the part of previous foster parents... though her first placement, who we now know pretty well, was flat-out denied services because the child was new to the system and the state didn't see a need for specialized services. Where the state really failed the child is in her second placement, which treated her mostly with indifference. I *really* dislike the second placement and their attitude (we also know them fairly well).

I specifically targeted foster because I wanted to help Minnesota kids more than I wanted to help, say, Mississippi kids. Minnesota largely gets things right but even so, this process is arduous. What fascinates me about this situation is that the child was basically hell on wheels. Yet the foster parents didn't put her in preschool, because... why? Hell, if a kid was as bad as she was on a daily basis, I'd be shipping her off to whatever the **** institution would take her for free.

I think Biden can go **** himself and it's an obvious, cheap play. Can you say "token"? It covers his moderate nature and makes him seem far more progressive than he is. It's a lame political play. Now, there's one exception... If Biden declares himself a one term president at the same time, I'll listen.

Holy ****ing balls. That's absurd. Probably also market value but still absurd.

I believe he's referencing that cold weather kids are often a bit more raw because they don't get to play 10-12 months a year.

Yep. I'm going to experience that rift in the coming years. The five year old we took in was developmentally delayed all over the place. Since we've taken her (eleven months now), she has caught up in many ways: her vocabulary has exploded (it was age 2.5-3 when we got her, now is pretty close to a five year old) and while she can count to 40 reliably and knows her alphabet, reading is off the table for quite some time. She's doing all sorts of emotional work and while we push academics, we can't push too hard (the poor kid is already working 9+ hour days five days a week). Meanwhile, her sister, who we took out of the hospital, is now 19 months old and developmentally on target across the board. I fully expect her to enter preschool at age three or four and be reading by the time she enters kindergarten. While I'm on the subject, the foster care system really grinds my gears. So many foster homes out there just phone it in with these kids. There was no excuse for the five year old to be where she was when we got her: an emotional mess that hadn't progressed in any meaningful way in the two (!) full years she had already been in the system. Hell, they didn't even bother getting her into preschool until she was nearly five years old and there was only 6-8 weeks left in the school year.

Sigh. There are LOTS of reasons why people go on welfare, not one (being a deadbeat screwup, as you just implied).

I’ve long thought this was a good idea but don’t know enough about the specifics to really know if it’s possible or reasonable to implement.

Agreed across the board. Not really sure about free but something has to be done (and, as usual, I’d prefer to see Washington incentivize state operated implementations).

Actually, given that we're a federalist republic, that's a pretty big assumption we'd never start with it.

Authenticity will mean a lot but I think Klobuchar has too small a chance to win because she's an easy target for crap like mining, tempered conservation, and moderate agriculture reform. But that's the problem. She's actually talking to the people the Democrats need to win because she's not pandering to the ridiculous demands that the Democrats already have. I lived in SoCal after living in rural Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Utah for years growing up. The average coastal city dweller has about as many realistic expectations of rural America as a walrus does about French politics. They don't understand the situation at all, they don't care to learn about it, yet they want to impose their will ferociously and without hesitation.

And that's very possible, but she's also rather progressive in a lot of ways. I think too many coasters are dragging her down because she plays more to Midwestern sensibilities of "progressive", which has a lot to do with agriculture, conservation, etc. I was recently ripped into because I defended Klobuchar's attempt to remove Minnesota gray wolves from federal protected species list and returning the power to manage gray wolves back to Minnesota. Despite my attempts to explain to him that: 1. Minnesota is liberal 2. There are more gray wolves in Minnesota than the rest of the country 3. Other states - with far fewer gray wolves - already have a federal exception that Minnesota doesn't have 4. Minnesota's DNR has proven itself to be a quite capable regulatory agency 5. Minnesotans absolutely care more about their local environment than outsiders, as we are an outdoorsy people who link our personal identities to our environment He protested and called me a butcher, a wolf murderer, and all sorts of other nonsense... even though I wasn't in favor of killing wolves so much as the return of animal management to a state that has proven itself quite capable of doing the job. It was a really good example of why Democrats don't win in the Midwest. I own a cabin on a lake. I care about wolves and the Minnesota environment approximately 10,000x more than this man from the Philadelphia suburbs, a man whose likelihood of seeing a wild gray wolf in his life is approximately 1%. Yet I'm the ******* because I trust the MN DNR to do right more than I trust Washington. And THAT'S what Democrats need to fix. Talk to people who live in the areas you're trying to regulate. Attempt to distribute regulation where it fits. Basically, don't talk down to people. Shockingly, they won't like it much.

Oh, it's pretty widely known she's ****ing hilarious. It simply does not translate to what we see. (also, edited my last post while you responded so please read the rest)

What befuddles me about Klobuchar is how she's considered one of the funniest people in Washington, how beloved she is at insider parties, and how little that translates to pretty much... everything... we see. But I disagree that Klobuchar doesn't bring anything that Clinton didn't bring. First, Klobuchar can easily stump in places like Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan... and win. She has the ability to speak to those people with honesty and experience. She can "farm up" and do it earnestly. And if she plays it hard enough, she can make Trump look like the actual outsider he is to the Midwest. That, in itself, basically guarantees victory in a general.

Out of curiosity, why?

I agree that Biden is likely the early favorite if he runs but it makes me nauseous. He's the last thing the party needs right now. Sanders may be old and white but at least he's progressive. Beto may be centrist and white but at least he's young and interesting. Biden is an old, white, corporate, establishment Democrat and I sure as hell hope he doesn't win. And you're right that the Dem path to victory is pretty easy, provided they don't find Hillary Clinton, redux. And right now, I don't know who that person is but we have plenty of time to figure that out before the primaries.

It could absolutely get worse without the EC, though it would definitely minimize the party that's currently insane. But short term solutions usually suck once you leave the short-term so I'd prefer the hybrid version.

Good point. I like that Warren is proposing loads of controversial (but often smart and well thought-out) policy, like breaking up Silicon Valley. She's a hell of a smart woman and that's why I support her. I simply think she missed the mark a bit on this one.

Let's take about five to ten percent off there, Squirelly Dan.* John Kerry was charming? The guy who looks like a cheap Bed Bath & Beyond candle left burning over a long weekend while college students did keg stands on the patio? *if you don't get the joke, watch Letterkenny... or just go watch Letterkenny, period

Honestly, I think Beto is a crap candidate because he's all flash. If we're going with "electable and moderate", give me Klobuchar all day. At least the woman has both experience and the ability to actually, god forbid, accomplish something. And I'm not even really a Klobuchar supporter (I like her quite a bit where she is).

Given how this month started, it's kind of hard to believe we might get good home opener weather. I'm. So. Done. With. Winter. Carrying a 30 lb toddler the past few weeks has been quite the... adventure. Mostly terrifying, but I'll go with "adventure" for diplomacy's sake. My personal favorite was the moment I slammed the door on a 4,500 lb SUV and the entire car literally slid a foot sideways... thankfully, away from me, because I was standing on glare ice, holding a toddler with absolutely no ability to move.

My biggest problem with the EC has little to do with its "unfairness" and a whole lot to do with its "let's drive a wedge to divide the country in two, allowing politicians to crawl to their respective corners instead of the middle". So, yes, let's fix that part of it. If a presidential candidate can flat-out ignore 40% of the country and still win, the system is broken and needs repair.

Don't stump for it. Just ignore it. Also, it's basically a pie-in-the-sky proposition. She may as well be out there stumping for mandated Taco Tuesdays. It won't get through the legislature in the numbers needed. Also, we like to ignore that Obama actually overperformed the popular vote in the EC, too. This can swing both ways. Instead of complaining about rules that can't be changed, Democrats should spend a little time reflecting why they're consistently getting their asses kicked under that ruleset.