Reportedly, long essays with big words also help your SAT writing score. And in my state - which shall remain nameless - it definitely seems to help on the standardized writing tests.

Grading is about the grade. Learning is about the feedback. Unfortunately, more and more, the educational experience is about the grade or standardized test score rather than learning. . .and learning to love learning. . .and learning how to learn. Kids don't have to show how their work in math anymore; all the teachers care about is the answer. We shouldn't be surprised at this latest development - well, not too terribly surprised.

I'm currently tutoring my daughter in statistics for the same reason. She's in college and while she's flipping through her homework appliication and her e-textbook, I'm flipping through my old statistics books, plus a couple of study guides I picked up. Also, sometimes the homework application is simply wrong. (Doesn't every tool/program have at least one bug?) My sister, a teacher, uses one - mandated by the community college where she teaches. Occasionally, she has to override the application so that she can mark correct problems that the application marked wrong. The students alert her, she checks and then overrides when the application is clearly wrong.

Thanks. My brain is biased towards congested airports. Used to live near DC. And there's an occasional news story about air mishaps in/near NY that always mention an errant helicopter.

I care about previous administrations. And I too, speak up about the current administration. But I always state in a way that indicates that it's the government period, not just the current adminstration, lest anyone start about how any one administration is infinitely better than the other. You choose not to do that. Fine. I choose to do that.

Hasn't the general public known for quite some time? Not the details, but the generalities. And the politicians have known "forever"? What will they do? Absolutely nothing. A former presidential candidate stood behind the "I've managed my money in accordance with applicable laws blah-blah". And the lawmakers will ensure that those loopholes. Actually, I think only poor and middle-class folks consider them loopholes. The barely rich aspire to use them and the super-rich just shrug their shoulders. Legislators consider them good for the economy, innovation, blah-blah.

You mean to launder it?

I would find it hard to believe that there's anything currently on the books that would justify such a classification, though not for lack of trying. And if I'm, right, I'm sure that some legislator will step forward with a law to close that gap so that they can indeed be classified.

Love your first point. But wouldn't helicopters at least use air traffic control? Or something analogous that's still publicly funded?

Start with the fact that they are politicians first and lawmakers second. Add to that the fact that there are some who are not particularly bright.

Not only a bother, but intellectually beyond the reach of some members of Congress.

As opposed to previous administrations, which did none of that, ever.

Just because we haven't heard about it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. If it has happened, revealing it would justify the TSA's actions, but it would scare the hell out of the public, especially the flying public, and put a real dent in airline traffic and profits - at least for a while. Fear of great economic harm would be a reason to keep it quiet. The government AND airlines would have a reason to keep it quiet.

And the smart terrorists would know this. But I'm sure there are dumb ones out there, especially domestic ones. Or dumb wanna-be terrorists, whether domestic or not. Just because we don't hear about them doesn't mean they don't exist and don't get caught. And no, I'm not a fan of the TSA.