Washington 2017: The U.S. Political RP: IC [CLOSED]

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Is it really just a propaganda campaign, then?" Hazelelponi asked. "For no other reason than assurance" isn't really a reason. We're talking about turning back people we can help, so we can feel safer, even if it's not actually being safer?"

"What about the safety of American Citizens? Lets take some time reinforce our system and in the meantime set up refugee camps in the region."

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Zero fatal terror attacks Senator, I already told you that, zero, and dozens of school shootings. You can't say it's about the safety of the American citizens when you're not willing to address the issue that's actually killing people, and going after the one that's been safe for decades." Hazelelponi lays out.

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Zero fatal terror attacks Senator, I already told you that, zero, and dozens of school shootings. You can't say it's about the safety of the American citizens when you're not willing to address the issue that's actually killing people, and going after the one that's been safe for decades." Hazelelponi lays out.

"Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan refugee, pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in a failed attack on the New York City subway system. According to the National Counterterrorism Center, individuals with ties to Syrian terrorist groups have already attempted to infiltrate the refugee system. And the USRAP has admitted to settling terrorists in America before, luckily we caught most of them."

"Beyond that resettling one refugee to the U.S. is about 12 times costlier than providing for that refugee in a camp closer to his home for five years. So establishing camps in the region can allow us to help 12 times as many for the same cost."

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"That's one thing, in thirty, thirty-five years, and it didn't even happen. We've had dozens of school shootings, we had Oklahoma City, we've had tens of thousands die shot in inner cities in that time, and there's only one example from a refugee that didn't even end up happening. The system stopped it, it worked! It's just, worrying about a really low chance possible danger in the future doesn't let us ignore actually-happening real dangers right now."

"What's the plan with making camps? Invasion? And what's the long-term objective there? How does it end?" Hazelelponi asks in succession.

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"That's one thing, in thirty, thirty-five years, and it didn't even happen. We've had dozens of school shootings, we had Oklahoma City, we've had tens of thousands die shot in inner cities in that time, and there's only one example from a refugee that didn't even end up happening. The system stopped it, it worked! It's just, worrying about a really low chance possible danger in the future doesn't let us ignore actually-happening real dangers right now."

"What's the plan with making camps? Invasion? And what's the long-term objective there? How does it end?" Hazelelponi asks in succession.

"Firstly we are at war with ISIS already, secondly a number of states like Jordan have already expressed a willingness to take refugees we just need to provide financial support"

[Velahor]

Juneau, Alaska
The morning of Monday, January 2nd

The sunlight coming in the window woke up Jimmy Miles. He squinted, then tried to force his eyes closed. He laid on his side facing the window, but realizing that he could just roll over to not be blinded by the early morning sun, he turned over.

"What the f***?" he thought to himself as he saw a woman easily half his age laying next to him sleeping. She had beautiful blonde hair, and she was wrapped up in the blanket to the point where he couldn't see if she was clothed at all.

He thought to himself what to do. He could reach over and hug the girl, and cuddle her. That would be the normal thing to do. But then she would stay longer. And that would lead to the problem of her name. Alexandra? Cassie? Taylor? "Sh!t, I don't know."

He could wake her up and tell her to leave. It's not like he hadn't done that before. But good luck on a second time with her. It's not like the dating pool in Juneau was any good, especially for a 53 year old millionaire lawyer politician. Okay, there actually were women who wanted that, but they wanted the money, not the man. "Cut out that thinking, she'll wake up any minute, and then I'm f*cked," thought Jimmy.

He had to act quick. If she woke up with him there, he would have to face the woman whose name he didn't know. He looked at the Apple Watch on his arm; he had exactly 30 minutes to get to work.

Finally a plan popped into his head. He would just leave. The house had security cameras, he'd know if she took something. He had to be quiet getting ready, he didn't want her getting up.

He went downstairs, because she definitely would not hear the water running in the sink. "Monica? No it definitely wasn't Monica. Maybe Rachel? Eh, I'm just thinking Friends names." He washed his face, combed his hair, and then reached down in his briefcase. There was a pencil bag in there. His stash.

He laid out two white lines on the bathroom counter, using the back of the comb. "Better than coffee, and I won't burn my tongue", he thought. Usually, coke before work wasn't his thing, but today had to be the exception.

He felt the rush of the drug as he put on his suit, a stylish dark gray Perry Ellis with an Alaskan state flag lapel pin.

He closed the door quietly, and then sprinted out to his car, a white Ferrari Testarossa. He felt his pockets "Where the hell are my keys???", he thought. He slammed his fist against the side of the car, remembering having seen them on his nightstand. He snuck back in the house quietly, and snatched them, the girl still fast asleep. "She's a hard sleeper...I'm lucky." He got a better look at her face. She definitely looked 25 at the oldest. He remembered her name when he saw her face. "Brooke!" he thought. And then he realized he hadn't thought it, but yelled it. The girl rolled over, "Who's Brooke?" she asked.

With no time to talk, and perhaps a bit embarrassed, Jimmy turned and ran. He sprinted out the front door and to his car. He got in, backed out of the garage, and peeled out, leaving the smell of rubber while mashing the pedal to the floor.

He ran through the first stop sign at the end of his street. The coast was clear, no police in sight. He began to head down the Main Street towards his office. Red and blue lights flashed in the dark northern morning. He slowed down and rolled over to the side of the road. Jimmy's heart raced a million miles an hour in a coke-induced fury. But he kept himself together. Making a run for it would only risk everything he had. He just had to keep his cool for several seconds as he responded to the cop. Maybe he would just get a speeding ticket. Maybe the cop wouldn't make him take off his sunglasses and make him show his bloodshot eyes.

The officer stepped up to the car "Sir, do you know how fast you were...wait....you're the state attorney general right?"

Jimmy responded "Yes, sorry sir, just trying to make it to work on time."

The officer got a faux-stern look on his face "Consider this a warning...slow down. The laws apply to you too. You're free to go."

James put the car into drive slowly and left. He only had a few blocks to go, but only 3 minutes to get to his office.

He found his reserved parking spot, parked the car, and ran inside to the elevator. He pushed the call button once. Nothing. Pushed it again. Nothing. "Damn. The elevator must be broken." He thought to himself. He turned and ran up the five flights of stairs. Breathing heavily, he threw open the door to his office. Inside was his secretary. Seeing his exhaustion, his secretary said "Good morning Mr. Miles. Is everything alright?" Jimmy replied " I'm fine. Great actually. Just had to hurry into work. What's my first meeting for the day?" She replied "You have an 8:15 with Chuck Thompson, a 9:00 call with some doctor from Montana, and...oh! You got a call from a Natalie about how to lock the doors at your house? Sounds weird but I don't know."

"Okay, sounds good. Keep all of those booked." replied Miles, while shutting the door of his individual office room. He then slammed his fist on the desk. "F*ck!", he yelled. "Her name was Natalie! Natalie!"

He sat down in his chair, and tried to begin a normal day, not as the drug-fueled maniac of earlier this morning, but as normal lawyer and Attorney General of Alaska James Miles Jr.

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

Hazelelponi sighed. "Look, yes, we're at war with ISIS. We're not with Syria, or Iraq. If you want something like that, that's a different issue. But this is not a long-term solution. Jordan can barely keep hold of what it's got now, let alone building more camps, and it's still not a permanent one, they're still in that frying pan. Unless you think we're going to solve the crisis in the Middle East, it's not really a solution for these people, and it's out of fear of something that's never happened."

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

Hazelelponi sighed. "Look, yes, we're at war with ISIS. We're not with Syria, or Iraq. If you want something like that, that's a different issue. But this is not a long-term solution. Jordan can barely keep hold of what it's got now, let alone building more camps, and it's still not a permanent one, they're still in that frying pan. Unless you think we're going to solve the crisis in the Middle East, it's not really a solution for these people, and it's out of fear of something that's never happened."

"That's why we need to support countries harboring refugees... look this isn't something we will agree on, we agreed on 4 of the 6 topics let's focus on those."

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

Hazelelponi let out her breath to get back on track. She went to run her hand back through her hair, but stopped with a wince upon reminding herself of her wound. She eventually just settled forward on the couch.

"OK. Which topics? We had twelve."

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

Hazelelponi let out her breath to get back on track. She went to run her hand back through her hair, but stopped with a wince upon reminding herself of her wound. She eventually just settled forward on the couch.

"OK. Which topics? We had twelve."

"Let's talk education"

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"OK. You start this time, or me?"

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"OK. You start this time, or me?"

"Please I insist, what plans do you have for education reform?"

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

Hazelelponi shifted a little at the comment.

"Like what I said, I want to really reinforce and encourage homeschooling, and I want to get schools in the poorest districts fixed. I think we can get somewhere with making funding available for those who want to homeschool, and possibly connecting them with resources as well. For the poor schools, we're really never going to find a solution staying with the patchwork system we have, it's exactly what gives us these no-go neighborhoods and districts, high poverty, no education, stays like that forever. What we really need is a universal funding standard to get the dollars into where they aren't coming locally."

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

Hazelelponi shifted a little at the comment.

"Like what I said, I want to really reinforce and encourage homeschooling, and I want to get schools in the poorest districts fixed. I think we can get somewhere with making funding available for those who want to homeschool, and possibly connecting them with resources as well. For the poor schools, we're really never going to find a solution staying with the patchwork system we have, it's exactly what gives us these no-go neighborhoods and districts, high poverty, no education, stays like that forever. What we really need is a universal funding standard to get the dollars into where they aren't coming locally."

"I can get with that but we need to pair it with a school choice programs, vouchers and education savings accounts"

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"I'm really not too sure about how much I support school choice programs. You end up funneling public education dollars into businesses, and students with learning disabilities or other problems, they end up being the ones left behind in a public system that had all it's money sent away."

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"I'm really not too sure about how much I support school choice programs. You end up funneling public education dollars into businesses, and students with learning disabilities or other problems, they end up being the ones left behind in a public system that had all it's money sent away."

"Specialist schools do special education better, public schools fail constantly and private schools outperform them consistently and for much lower costs. My wife runs the largest charter school organization in the country, her students graduation rates test scores and every other metric outperform public schools, even when taking students from underperforming schools. I care about results and public schools don't get them"

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Is taking away their funding a solution somehow? Private schools have rich backers, and students coming from well-off and well-educated families. Of course they do better when they take in the cream of the crop. When public schools are struggling, especially in the most disadvantaged areas, steering money away from them, and towards for-profit businesses is the last thing we should be doing."

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Is taking away their funding a solution somehow? Private schools have rich backers, and students coming from well-off and well-educated families. Of course they do better when they take in the cream of the crop. When public schools are struggling, especially in the most disadvantaged areas, steering money away from them, and towards for-profit businesses is the last thing we should be doing."

"Taking away funding? Rich schools only have backers who think the school deserves money. Every time vouchers have been tried and poor students have been given the opportunity they excel. The only money getting steered away is when students choose to go to better schools, the money goes straight to students and families, students aren't getting a dime less."

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Yes, taking away funding. The rich schools already have the backers, and then they get public money coming in. They accept the top students, use the money to pay the best teachers the highest salaries."

"But what about the student that struggles to learn, or has a learning disability? Of course the rich for-profit schools won't accept him or her, because they don't want their scores to go down. Look what you said about your wife's charter schools, the highest scores, it's what people like to brag about. You don't accept the low-scoring students because it's not good for business. Someone who struggles doesn't help your profit margins. They'll all be left behind, and in a public system that's had it's money redirected to businesses that pick out only the creme of the crop."

She rubs her head. "I mean, it should be obvious, right? It's like, a sports team. You pick the best kids for your team, not the kid in the wheelchair. This has all the for-profit schools pick the high scorers and leave the ones who struggle behind."

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Yes, taking away funding. The rich schools already have the backers, and then they get public money coming in. They accept the top students, use the money to pay the best teachers the highest salaries."

"But what about the student that struggles to learn, or has a learning disability? Of course the rich for-profit schools won't accept him or her, because they don't want their scores to go down. Look what you said about your wife's charter schools, the highest scores, it's what people like to brag about. You don't accept the low-scoring students because it's not good for business. Someone who struggles doesn't help your profit margins. They'll all be left behind, and in a public system that's had it's money redirected to businesses that pick out only the creme of the crop."

She rubs her head. "I mean, it should be obvious, right? It's like, a sports team. You pick the best kids for your team, not the kid in the wheelchair. This has all the for-profit schools pick the high scorers and leave the ones who struggle behind."

"Wait a second, why home school and not private school?"

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Parents aren't a business. I mean, think of it. If you're a for-profit school and you've got students who can't perform, and you can get higher-scoring students, you want the higher-scoring students, don't you? Like you said, your wife's schools are the highest-scoring, and they wouldn't be like that if they were mostly kids who having trouble learning or learning disabilities. But if it's your own child, you're not worrying about scores, or profit from bringing in new students-you just try to do what's best for them." She ends.

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"Parents aren't a business. I mean, think of it. If you're a for-profit school and you've got students who can't perform, and you can get higher-scoring students, you want the higher-scoring students, don't you? Like you said, your wife's schools are the highest-scoring, and they wouldn't be like that if they were mostly kids who having trouble learning or learning disabilities. But if it's your own child, you're not worrying about scores, or profit from bringing in new students-you just try to do what's best for them." She ends.

Fowler takes a moment. Thinking to himself "this woman doesn't know what the hell she is talking about, I could take her to task point by point but I'm not here to make enemies"

Out loud Fowler says "so what would you propose for home schools? How do we support them?"

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"The most direct way would just be a tax credit or direct payment, or potentially something more targeted for teaching materials SNAP-style, even if I wouldn't want that to be the entirety of it. The law would have to clarify a federal right to home-schooling, and what I was talking about with resources, that could be something involving putting out potential curricula for at-home use that parents could have access to, and offering courses or experts and other resources to help run ease them into how to teach."

[Dentali]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"The most direct way would just be a tax credit or direct payment, or potentially something more targeted for teaching materials SNAP-style, even if I wouldn't want that to be the entirety of it. The law would have to clarify a federal right to home-schooling, and what I was talking about with resources, that could be something involving putting out potential curricula for at-home use that parents could have access to, and offering courses or experts and other resources to help run ease them into how to teach."

"I can get on board with that but I'd want to get you on board with a bill of mine. 40% of former military members cite 'a lack of quality schools for my family' as the reason for leaving the military. I want a bill that supports education for military families, they pick up their whole lives and families to move all over the world. Least we can do is provide good education for them while they are stationed."

[Prolieum]

Hazelelponi's Office, Russell Senate Office Building

"You want a veteran signing off on it for you." Hazelelponi nodded. "I get it. I can support that."