We have to spend billions to upgrade the grid, to handle "Green" power sources that are more expensive than their competitors.

Agree, but let's not forget we (as a country) 'encourage' green energy by:
A) directly sponsoring research & development of green energy
B) directly sponsoring manufacturing of green energy devices
C) directly sponsoring the training of installers of green technology devices
D) indirectly (through tax subsidies) subsidise the purchase of green technology
E) indirectly (though inflated 'guaranteed sale' requirements imposed on utility companies) subsidise the ongoing operation of green technology

Underwriting basic research (A above) is a perfectly appropriate function of government, but the others (B thru E) are market distortions intended to achieve a political end regardless of the financial cost.

We spend more on prisons than we spend on higher education.

Bullshit.

Prove it.

I'm also personally not against gender segregated high schools, although they do need to be equal in their resources and what they offer.

Separate, but equal - what a great idea, where have I heard that before?

The very idea that there might be a high school full of tech goodies that I wouldn't allowed to go to just because I was a boy is just torture.

You don't understand, they aren't denying you access to the 'tech goodies', they are only making them available yo girls in order to make things even/fair...

"republican-controlled media" - good one.

MS is paying taxes in NV, where the licensing corp is located.

It is not right to say MS isn't paying taxes, it simply is avoiding Washigton State's higher tax rate. I bet if Washington state lowered it's tax rate to equal Nevada's MS would consider relocating MS licensing group back to Washington State... How about it Washington state, do you want the tax revenues or the talking point against MS?

MS is paying to educate NV kids, where their license corp. is located. This is something current law allows, locating parts of your business anywhere you want - want to make that illegal?

So they won't do this again

You understand it was contract employees that stole the data, not AT&T Corporate...

Employees at three call centers in Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines sold hundreds of thousands of AT&T customer records, including names and Social Security numbers

So a couple low-level workers go all Snowden/Manning and steal company data and sell it on the open market, and their employer is stuck with a $25M fine... Seems fair.

part of the "No Child Left Behind" act that Obama later repealed by decree

And by "repealed" you mean defended and threatened to veto the Republican bill to eliminate federally mandated testing in 2013?

House Republicans voted Friday to dismantle the troubled No Child Left Behind law for evaluating America's students and schools, saying states and local school districts rather than Washington should be setting rules for ensuring that kids are getting good educations.

The legislation would eliminate federally required testing of students, which has been controversial from the start. But the measure passed with no Democratic support and drew a veto threat from the Obama administration, which said it would be a "step backward" in efforts to better prepare children for colleges and careers and to bring improvements to low-performing schools.

Democrats in the Senate, where they hold the majority, are working on their own bill. It would also give states greater flexibility in designing school improvement standards. But it would maintain the authority of the federal education secretary to approve those plans. A Senate vote on that legislation is unlikely until autumn.

Did anyone consider the race of the victims, the students?

That's not "No Child Left Behind" - That's teachers failing that child, repeatedly. Shame on you for letting teachers blame their failings on something like NCLB.

The main thrust of NCLB was to ensure that special needs children had their needs met, even if it came at the expense of Gifted and Talented students.

Racketeering requires an underlying crime - it is an aggravating crime, not an independent crime.

They were convicted of fraud, that they worked together opened the door for a racketeering conviction.

They did it for years.

They did it thousands of times each year.

They conspired to punish teachers that threatened to expose the test cheating.

Their annual salary increases were based in large part on the test scores.

The teachers organized "erasure parties" to facilitate their crime in a fun, social setting.

Standardized test are used, in the aggregate, to evaluate teacher/school performance because, well, it's the only option left for educators. Teachers unions refuse any other form of teacher evaluation - peer evaluation results in a building full of "exceptional" teachers, even if half the high school graduates can't read their diploma.

Teachers whose students showed higher levels of achievement were given larger pay raises.

He cheated to "help" his students?

They didn't know the answers, they deserved the low scores their "teacher" protected them from.

By inflating their grades, the students were denied the education they deserved, many of which were special needs students.

I don't care about how many pencils he bought out of his own pocket, that doesn't change the fact that his students did poorly on the tests and he choose to change their answers, not teach them what they were supposed to be taught.

This corruption went all the way up to the district superintencent, who avoided prosecution only by dropping dead before the trial.