Rouge Forum Dispatch: Reformers Only Mornin’Glories…Plunkett*
We Say Fight Back!
Tacoma teachers join list of districts on strike
Teachers in Tacoma are officially on strike, delaying the start of school scheduled for Thursday.
The teacher’s union made the announcement shortly after 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, after they did not reach a tentative contract agreement with the school district.
“There was no tentative agreement reached by the strike deadline and so tomorrow morning my members, the Tacoma Education Association, will be on strike,” said Angel Morton, president of the Tacoma Education Association.
The teacher’s union made the announcement shortly after 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, after they did not reach a tentative contract agreement with the school district.
“There was no tentative agreement reached by the strike deadline and so tomorrow morning my members, the Tacoma Education Association, will be on strike,” said Angel Morton, president of the Tacoma Education Association.
The picket signs are getting made and plans are being put in place for teachers to walk the picket line outside schools starting tomorrow.
“I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed that the district is blocking the McCleary money that was sent to our school district for salaries,” said Morton. “I hope they get serious about getting the job done.”
The teacher’s union said 83-percent of it’s membership voted Tuesday night, and of that, 93 percent voted in favor of a strike, if no deal was reached by Wednesday evening.
However, Tacoma school district officials said the money is just not there.
Officials said the state gave them $50 million in new money but also took away $46 million in local levies. komonews.com/news/local/tacoma-teachers-join-list-of-districts-on-strike
www.facebook.com/JediGuybrarian/videos/10216008962484280/?t=29
UTLA members vote overwhelmingly to authorize strike
98% of ballots marked YES to strike
In a significant show of strength and unity, 98% of UTLA members voting said yes to authorize a strike, should one become necessary. During the week-long vote at school-sites, 81% of members cast ballots. Because of this historic turnout, a small number of ballots are still being counted tonight.
“Our members have spoken, with one big, united voice,” said Arlene Inoyue, chair of the UTLA Bargaining Team. “After 17 months of bargaining with LAUSD, educators are frustrated and angry. We want a district that partners with us—not fights us—on critical issues like lower class sizes, fair pay, and bringing more staff to work with our students.”
The results were a sharp rebuke to Austin Beutner and his austerity agenda to ultimately cut pay, healthcare, pensions, staffing, and student services, starving schools of resources and opening the door to dismantling the district. The huge turnout shows that educators in LA know what’s on the line and are ready to take action, connecting with the national teacher rebellions to stand up for public education. www.utla.net/news/utla-members-vote-overwhelmingly-authorize-strike
As Nationwide Prison Strike Reaches Second Week, Inmates Accuse Officials of Retaliating With Solitary Confinement
“The retaliation and repression was instantaneous and constant. Leaders were picked off, one by one, and thrown into solitary in anticipation of the strike that was coming.”
As a nationwide prison strike demanding an end to brutal conditions and slave labor continues into its second week, inmates and advocates are accusing prison officials of retaliating against participants in the non-violent action by revoking communication privileges and subjecting demonstrators to solitary confinement.
“The retaliation and repression was instantaneous and constant,” Brooke Terpstra, a spokesperson for the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee—a coalition of groups that is helping to publicize the strike—told the Guardian. “Leaders were picked off, one by one, and thrown into solitary in anticipation of the strike that was coming.
In an op-ed for the Guardian last week, Kevin Rashid Johnson—a Virginia prison strike leader who is among those claiming retaliation by officials—noted that he “was moved to Sussex state prison in Waverly, Virginia, and placed in a cell in death row.”
“I have never been sentenced to the death penalty, so there can be only one reason they have put me here—to shut me up and prevent me fraternizing with other prisoners as they fear I will radicalize them and encourage them to resist their oppression,” Johnson wrote.
The strike—which is reportedly taking place in as many as 17 states, and is set to continue through Sept. 9—has consisted of hunger strikes, work stoppages, and sit-ins aimed at calling attention to the horrific treatment of inmates throughout the United States. www.commondreams.org/news/2018/09/01/nationwide-prison-strike-reaches-second-week-inmates-accuse-officials-retaliating
75 hotel workers arrested at Labor Day protest in California
San Francisco police arrested 75 hotel workers protesting outside the J. W. Marriott’s Westin St. Francis hotel on Labor Day for blocking a street in one of the city’s busiest tourist areas.
About 900 Marriott hotel workers demonstrated Monday at Union Square as they consider a vote to authorize a strike, said Unite Here Local 2 spokesman Ted Waechter.
He said 8,000 workers in more than 50 hotels in San Francisco and six other North American cities are working without a contract.
Waechter says many hotel workers hold two jobs to support their families and their salaries have increased by only 7 percent in a decade.
A Marriott spokesman said the hotel has a longstanding and productive relationship with Unite Here and is negotiating in good faith.
San Francisco police spokeswoman Officer Grace Gatpandan said those arrested face misdemeanor charges of failing to obey a police officer. www.kcra.com/article/75-hotel-workers-arrested-at-labor-day-protest-in-california/22943101
| Presidio 27 Mutiny Commemoration Gathering | |
| Date | Tuesday October 14 |
| Time | 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM |
| Location Details | |
| 1267 Storey Ave, San Francisco CA 94129 – in The Presidio, across from the The Presidio Log Cabin. |
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/10/13/18544402.php
Congratulations on the publication of:
Women March in the Heart of Delhi… And Big Media Shuts Its Eyes
NEW DELHI: Thousands of women descended on Delhi from all over the country. They came on buses, trains, trekked long distances on foot and then walked in torrential rain (see video) with grit and determination. Carrying tired babies, in torn chappals, lugging bags with some clothes and food, the women travelled to the national capital from 23 states to ask for gender security, food security and job security.
Shouting “haat me kaam do, kaam ka pura dam do” (Give us work now, and pay for it in full) the women were well aware of why they had travelled the Delhi. They knew what they were marching for. There was no ambiguity. The Citizen reporter walking through the orderly lines was surprised at the political determination of visibly poor women, many of them landless labourers, and all having a story to tell. Stories of hardship made worse by price rise, and the linking of ration cards to Aadhar cards which have deprived many of the one source of cheaper food that had earlier been available to them.
All India Democratic Women’s Association president Malini Bhattacharya told The Citizen that the three primary demands were:
– Arrest those responsible for the increasing violence against women and children instead of letting them go scot free. www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/newsdetail/index/2/14885/women-march-in-the-heart-of-delhi-and-the-big-media-shuts-its-eyes
Progressive theatre activists are a different species altogether. Their lives are performances and performance is in their living. In the memorial meeting of Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore today, Girish Karnad could not get up to the stage. He could not speak because of his falling health. He just sat there and his silence spoke volumes.
50 years after student massacre, Mexico students strike
Students at Mexico‘s largest university went on strike Wednesday and thousands marched to protest a campus attack against protesters in which two students were seriously injured.
Students at Mexico’s National Autonomous University in Mexico City were demanding an end to violence by groups of thugs who are often registered but don’t attend classes.
Some of those thugs beat up protesters from a university-affiliated high school who were demonstrating Monday against fees and for free speech. The attack included the use of gasoline bombs, rocks, sticks and knives.
The university has announced that 18 of the alleged attackers have been expelled. University Rector Enrique Graue said the attack was staged by people “who represent outside interests that evidently want to destabilize the university.” He did not specify who he was referring to.
The university’s various campuses have about 350,000 students, 115,000 of those at the equivalent of high school level.
The march comes on the 50th anniversary of a student pro-democracy movement truncated by the massacre of students by troops on Oct. 2, 1968, which became a rallying cry for decades of anti-government activists. abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/50-years-student-massacre-mexico-students-strike-57621670
Special Sale — 50% off (paperbacks and ebooks) — Theodore W. Allen’s “The Invention of the White Race” (2 vols.) is on sale at 50% off .
See www.versobooks.com/…/1039-the-invention-of-the-whit… and www.versobooks.com/…/1048-the-invention-of-the-whit…
This is an extraordinary sale from Verso Books that is scheduled to end at midnight on Sptember 30, 2018 . These new volumes have much supplemental front and back matter including internal study guides. Help to spread the word!
The Little Red Schoolhouse
NYU’s president was paid
$1.8M his first year
New York University is paying top dollar for its top boss.
Andrew Hamilton, who took the helm of the institution in 2016, received $1.8 million in compensation that year, NYU’s newly released tax filings show.
Hamilton’s base pay of $1,368,434 is likely among the highest in the country for a university president. His 2016 package included an additional $250,000 in deferred compensation, a sum he will receive every year for five years and can collect at the end of that period.
And he doesn’t have to worry about a long commute, with NYU providing a coveted duplex penthouse apartment on Washington Square for him. The university spent at least
$1 million renovating it for Hamilton’s use.
While NYU previously refused to reveal Hamilton’s hefty salary, it had no choice but to divulge it through its tax filings, which must be made public. nypost.com/2018/07/21/nyus-president-was-paid-1-8m-his-first-year/
The Student Debt Problem Is Worse Than We Imagined
There are two ways to measure whether borrowers can repay those loans: There’s what the federal government looks at to judge colleges, and then there’s the real story. The latter is coming to light, and it’s not pretty.
Consider the official statistics: Of borrowers who started repaying in 2012, just over 10 percent had defaulted three years later. That’s not too bad — but it’s not the whole story. Federal data never before released shows that the default rate continued climbing to 16 percent over the next two years, after official tracking ended, meaning more than 841,000 borrowers were in default. Nearly as many were severely delinquent or not repaying their loans (for reasons besides going back to school or being in the military). The share of students facing serious struggles rose to 30 percent over all.
Collectively, these borrowers owed over $23 billion, including more than $9 billion in default.
Nationally, those are crisis-level results, and they reveal how colleges are benefiting from billions in financial aid while students are left with debt they cannot repay. The Department of Education recently provided this new data on over 5,000 schools across the country in response to my Freedom of Information Act request.
The new data makes clear that the federal government overlooks early warning signs by focusing solely on default rates over the first three years of repayment. That’s the time period Congress requires the Department of Education to use when calculating default rates.
At that time, about one-quarter of the cohort — or nearly 1.3 million borrowers — were not in default, but were either severely delinquent or not paying their loans. Two years later, many of these borrowers were either still not paying or had defaulted. Nearly 280,000 borrowers defaulted between years three and five.
Federal laws attempting to keep schools accountable are not doing enough to stop loan problems. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/25/opinion/sunday/student-debt-loan-default-college.html
To the Editor:
Re “Student Debt: It’s Worse Than We Imagined,” by Ben Miller (Sunday Review, Aug. 26):
A university president I know was invited to an Obama administration meeting regarding default rates on student loans. One administration official admonished the invited presidents on their default rates and the potential loss of funding if their default rate was too high. The next administrator admonished them on needing to make more loans to students with a high risk of default, many of whom are from disadvantaged families and minorities.
The presidents asked how do we square these two conflicting goals. There was no answer forthcoming. I hope this will get better under the Trump administration, but all policy wonks have to understand that their requirements are not being applied in a vacuum.
Mike Fuljenz
Beaumont, Tex
New Agriculture secretary says he’ll roll back Michelle Obama’s healthy school lunches initiative (let ’em eat cake)
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Monday that he would roll back part of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s healthy eating initiative: stricter nutritional standards for school lunches.
Perdue, who became head of the agency last week, announced he would be relaxing guidelines and providing greater flexibility in nutrition requirements for schools’ meal programs.
“This announcement is the result of years of feedback from students, schools and food service experts about the challenges they are facing in meeting the final regulations for school meals,” Perdue said during a visit to Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Va.
“If kids aren’t eating the food, and it’s ending up in the trash, they aren’t getting any nutrition — thus undermining the intent of the program,” said Perdue, who was accompanied by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Patricia Montague of the School Nutrition Assn. Under the changes to the federal nutrition standards, schools won’t have to cut salt in meals, states will be able to allow some schools to serve fewer whole grains, and schools will be allowed to serve 1% milk rather than only nonfat milk. www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-school-lunches-20170501-story.html
Detroit schools chief says end of drinking fountains might be near
Detroit’s school superintendent said drinking fountains could be eliminated in city schools as he looks for alternatives to bring clean water to the district’s students.
On Tuesday, as thousands of children walked into schools for the first day of school in Detroit, Vitti said he is working on a solution to create “new stations of water” with a new piping process that would involve frequent water testing so the district does not have to rely on water coolers.
Vitti said the idea would be to have central water stations similar to water coolers but from a new water distribution system that connects to a main source into the building. www.detroitnews.com/story/news/education/2018/09/04/detroit-schools-chief-says-end-drinking-fountains-might-near/1191600002/
How Miami-Dade Schools Made Thousands Of Fights Disappear
In the 2014-2015 school year, Madison Middle School in Miami reported 55 fights to the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE)—nearly one for every three days school was in session. The very next year, that number fell to zero, even though one fight made the news after a student landed in the hospital with a broken jaw.
The drop in reported fights was replicated across the district: Cutler Bay Middle School went from 77 fights to zero; Carol City Senior High, 58 to zero; and Brownsville Middle School, which led the district with 104 reported fights in 2014-2015, didn’t report a single fight to the state in 2015-2016. (You can look at the data here.)
“Nonsense,” said Miami Gardens foster parent Hortense McGilvery, after hearing that her daughter’s school, North Dade Middle, went from 75 fights to a single one in the same period. “I don’t understand how there could be such a drastic drop in the amount of fights that occur in the school from one year to another, when the kids are getting worse.”
“Monday we had two fights after school, today we had three—I don’t know about the rest of the week,” her daughter added.
WHAT MAKES A FIGHT A FIGHT?
In 2015-16, Miami-Dade County Public Schools reported a total of 311 fights to the state. The year before that, it reported more than 5,000. The difference isn’t a dramatic turnaround in student behavior at the district’s most troubled schools, but a reporting change that keeps the vast majority of fights out of state records. www.wlrn.org/post/how-miami-dade-schools-made-thousands-fights-disappear
UC Berkeley discovers capitalist schooling, then declares a Liberty U degree is making it.
There are some kids who are on escalators that are going up smoothly floor after floor and then there are some kids who are on stairwells with missing hand rails broken steps .
And if you’re on a stairwell with missing hand rails and broken steps you might not get to the top 60% of people who grow up in high-income families complete bachelor’s degrees. By the time they’re 25 . But if you’re from a low-income family , your chances are only one in 10 . voysearch.com/2018/09/02/uc-berkeley-public-media-montgomery-college-and-more/
A Teacher made a Hitler salute in a classroom. It tore an elitist’s school apart. It’s not always about the money, but it is Capitalist Schooling.
Frisch’s former students describe him as eccentric, nerdy, prone to lengthy classroom digressions about his stamp collection, dinosaurs or childhood snow days spent sledding. Any teacher who spends three decades in the classroom, speaking extemporaneously for hours on end to a roomful of teenagers, is going to have awkward moments. Frisch might have had more of them, and they may have been a bit more awkward. But that was how he connected, and it was perhaps a way of connecting that is no longer possible. “Everybody knew this guy was off — weird behavior, quirky,” said one parent who, fearing retribution against her child, insisted on anonymity. “Maybe in the ’70s that would have been O.K., but not when you’re paying $45,000 a year in tuition.”
California bans for-profit charter schools
SACRAMENTO — California has just kicked for-profit management companies out of the charter school business.
A bill signed into law Friday afternoon prohibits companies from managing or running the state’s taxpayer-funded, independently run charter schools. Assembly Bill 406 was inspired, in part, by an investigation by this news organization into allegations of profiteering at the expense of children’s educations.
The 2016 news investigation focused on K12 Inc., a for-profit company based in Virginia and traded on Wall Street that manages publicly funded charter schools in California and other states. The K12-run network, California Virtual Academies, with an enrollment of roughly 15,000, graduated fewer than half of its high school students, and some teachers said they were pressured to inflate grades and enrollment records. www.mercurynews.com/2018/09/07/california-bans-for-profit-charter-schools/amp/
Teaching has its ups and down, my biggest consistent down is my pay check.
Teaching today is not an easy job. You have all of the responsibility put on your shoulders but increasingly autonomy as well as flexibility and creativity is being stripped away.
Come to my room, you will fill it filled with visuals and permanent products on the walls which my kids could care less about but which my administration has demanded.
I am a special education teacher, and my kids are taking the same pretest that they took last year and the year before that. They will take it again at the end of the year and this will be used to determine my growth scores or half of my evaluation.
That’s not to say all things are bad. I love interacting with my kids and building those relationships. There is nothing better than seeing that light come on when they get a lesson, or some advice you gave sinking in to solve a problem.
Yes teaching has its ups and downs but perhaps my biggest down is my paycheck.
I literally get depressed every two weeks when my paycheck hits my bank account and that feeling lasts longer and longer as I get older. You see after 18 years teaching and after my student loans come out I take home 1,034 dollars. You know you don’t go into teaching for the money, but at some point I thought I wouldn’t have to scrimp and sacrifice so much. At some point i thought I would have a cushion. jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2018/09/teaching-has-its-ups-and-down-my.html?spref=fb
DfE warns teachers against expressing ‘political views’
Headteachers and unions vow to defy government advice after school funding cuts
Headteachers and teaching unions have said they will defy any attempts by the Department for Education to block legitimate criticism, after it issued advice warning teachers in England against expressing “political views”.
A revision issued on Wednesday to the DfE’s document entitled Staffing and employment advice for schools – billed as departmental advice for school leaders, governing bodies and local authorities – contained a new paragraph with a blunt statement in a staff management section.
“All staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act appropriately in terms of their behaviour, the views they express (in particular political views) and the use of school resources at all times, and should not use school resources for party political purposes,” the paragraph states.
The warning, first reported by Schools Week, comes after campaigns by school leaders over budget cuts that have dogged the government, and high-profile union activity targeting parents during the previous general election campaign, which is widely believed to have cost the Conservative party votes. www.theguardian.com/education/2018/sep/05/education-department-teachers-express-political-views-headteachers-unions
Parents at Chinese kindergarten horrified by pole-dancing act (Skipped video…)
Parents attending a ceremony at a kindergarten in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Monday were horrified when a scantily clad pole dancer took to the stage and proceeded with a well-oiled number in plain view of their children.
The performance, part of a ceremony observing the start of China’s school year, was quickly denounced by the local education bureau. The authority has since called for the dismissal of the kindergarten director.
In a social media post, the education bureau of Baoan district also warned other kindergartens against inappropriate behavior.
The outrage at the unusual choice of performance followed nationwide complaints over the weekend by parents who had to sit through 12 minutes of television adverts with their children to watch a government-mandated program ahead of the start of the school year on Monday. www.reuters.com/article/us-china-education-poledancing/parents-at-chinese-kindergarten-horrified-by-pole-dancing-act-idUSKCN1LJ0ZB
The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor
Remembering September 11, 2001 and…
The U.S. Military is Winning. No, Really, It Is!
A Simple Equation Proves That the U.S. Armed Forces Have Triumphed in the War on Terror
By Nick Turse
..The American Legion focused on the fiscal irresponsibility of Trump’s proposed march, but its postponement should have raised an even more significant question: What would “victory” in the war on terror even look like? What, in fact, constitutes an American military victory in the world today? Would it in any way resemble the end of the Civil War, or of the war to end all wars, or of the war that made that moniker obsolete? And here’s another question: Is victory a necessary prerequisite for a military parade?
The easiest of those questions to resolve is the last one and the American Legion should already know the answer. Members of that veterans group played key roles in a mammoth “We Support Our Boys in Vietnam” parade in New York City in 1967 and in a 1973 parade in that same city honoringveterans of that war. Then, 10 years after the last U.S. troops snuck out of South Vietnam — abandoning their allies and scrambling aboard helicopters as Saigon fell — the Big Apple would host yet another parade honoring Vietnam veterans, reportedly the largest such celebration in the city’s history. So, quite obviously, winning a war isn’t a prerequisite for a winning parade.
And that’s only one of many lessons the disastrous American War in Vietnam still offers us. More salient perhaps are those that highlight the limits of military might and destructive force on this planet or that focus on the ability of North Vietnam, a “little fourth-rate” country — to quote Henry Kissinger, the national security advisor of that moment — to best a superpower that had previously (with much assistance) defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan at the same time. The Vietnam War — and Kissinger — provide a useful lens through which to examine the remaining questions about victory and what it means today, but more on that later. www.tomdispatch.com/post/176463/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_victory_in_our_time/
‘Time for This War in Afghanistan to End,’ Says Departing U.S. Commander (whose wife is more interesting than he is)
…He sought to provide a reminder about why the United States was in Afghanistan in the first place, a narrative that is increasingly lost on much of the public.
The war has dragged on so long that it is now fought by a generation of soldiers too young to remember the day when planes flown by members of Al Qaeda, which had found protection in Afghanistan under the Taliban, struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon….
Ms. MacDonald’s years of work in Afghanistan, which she paused after General Nicholson took command, defied easy labels to those who saw her in action.
She distributed emergency food to families displaced by the “bombings and eradication campaigns” of the United States-led military coalition, wrote research papers and provided video reportage from difficult corners of the country, vocal against the “blowback” of operations pushing young men to the arms of the Taliban.
A strong theme of her work was grass-roots mobilization against the eradication of poppies, passionately arguing that Afghanistan could gain by legalizing the crop for medicinal purposes. www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/world/asia/afghan-commander-us-john-nicholson.html
An Afghan policeman with coffins containing corpses following clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban fighters, Ghazni, Afghanistan, August 14, 2018
In Kabul, Echoes of Saigon
It was one more sign of the times that, on the day before the start of the Muslim religious holiday Eid al-Adha, when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was delivering a speech in what must be one of the most heavily-fortified city centers in the world, multiple mortar rounds struck Kabul’s diplomatic quarter. Ghani was offering the Taliban a ceasefire over the holidays. On this occasion, two attackers were eventually found and killed.
The wars in Afghanistan that have endured for nearly thirty-nine years, during which time US troops have been involved in fighting for close to seventeen of them, would be surreal if the resulting bloodshed were not so very real. But for a joyous moment at long last, a three-day ceasefire did take effect in June. The political logjam behind this unending, unwinnable war appeared to be breaking up. According to The New York Times, the Trump administration agreed in July to accept a longstanding Taliban demand for direct talks between the US and the Taliban without the Afghan government’s participation.
Shortly afterward, the State Department’s Alice Wells led a US government delegation to meet with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar. In these confidential talks, I later learned, the two sides discussed terms for that second ceasefire over Eid. Evidently, this meeting did not end in an agreement—and further talks would now depend on a second ceasefire taking effect for a much longer period, during which more substantive discussions could take place.
Since that July meeting, the Taliban appear to have escalated their demands: prisoners would have to be freed from jail and all foreign troops must leave the country. …
An equally pressing issue, which the US forces, especially, have yet to address, concerns the source, or sources, of all the Taliban’s new equipment. Providing logistics, massing fighters, and coordinating serial attacks around the country are the task of a well-drilled, well-supplied command structure. That is what Washington and Kabul are dealing with: a Taliban force, once considered a rag-tag army of militants, that now has the savvy of generals and the resources of a serious army.
For the US, this development is surely resonant of Vietnam.…
For all the US rhetoric about stability and security, as in Vietnam, the Americans are looking for an exit. Although some in the US military are still averse to the idea of a total withdrawal, perhaps because they are too young to remember the lessons of history, others are more than ready to get out. Unlike Vietnam, though, there are no mass American casualties, no draft, and no peace movement for the military planners and political decision-makers to contend with. The melancholy fact is that the American public is not much engaged with what happens in Afghanistan, either way. For Afghans who know their history, it is looking more and more like the abandonment they suffered after the Soviets left in 1989. www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/08/28/in-kabul-echoes-of-saigon/
Here’s the blueprint for Erik Prince’s $5 billion plan to privatize the Afghanistan war
Blackwater founder Erik Prince thinks the time is right to try a new approach in Afghanistan, one that he says will reduce war spending to a sliver of its current levels, get most troops home and eliminate Pakistan’s influence on U.S. policy there: Let him run it.
In an exclusive interview with Military Times, Prince shared new details about his proposed force and why he believes a small footprint of private military contractors and even smaller footprint of U.S. special operators may be able to accomplish what hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and NATO forces over the last 17 years could not.
Prince first presented the idea as President Donald Trump took office last year, hoping that the president’s long-stated opposition to keeping U.S. forces in Afghanistan would open the door to a privatized presence.
But Trump listened to his national security team instead, including critics of the plan like Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
Now, more than a year later, Prince senses opportunity again. McMaster and Tillerson are no longer working for the White House; Mattis’ ability to influence the president seems to have waned and new National Security Adviser John Bolton told ABC News this month he’s “always open to new ideas.” www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/09/05/heres-the-blueprint-for-erik-princes-5-billion-plan-to-privatize-the-afghanistan-war/
Mapping Taliban controlled and contested districts in Afghanistan: LWJ vs US military assessments
Today, The New York Times published an article titled “How the U.S. Government Misleads the Public on Afghanistan.” FDD’s Long War Journal data on Taliban controlled and contested districts is compared to US military data. The side-by side comparison is striking. LWJ has long argued that the US military has provided a Pollyannish, best-case scenario of Taliban controlled & contested districts that downplays the Taliban’s territorial influence.
The NYT article also points out several areas where the US government is exaggerating and misleading the public on Afghanistan. For instance, the the report looks at Afghan and Taliban force strengths, and how they are perceived by the US military and the Afghan government. The article finishes with a side-by-side comparison of US military statements vs NYT reporting about the Taliban’s incursion into Ghazni that is wildly unflattering. LWJ noted from the beginning of the Ghazni attack up until the end that the US military was issuing statements that did not comport to the reality on the ground. www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/09/mapping-taliban-controlled-and-contested-districts-in-afghanistan-lwj-vs-us-military-assessments.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28FDD%27s+Long+War+Journal+Update%29
Pentagon sends reinforcements to remote Syria base after Russia threatens attack (crow-hopping to WW3)
More than 100 U.S. Marines were sent as reinforcements to a remote coalition outpost in southern Syria on Friday after Russia threatened to attack militants in the area, the Pentagon said.
The troops were flown by helicopter to the base at Tanf — a small town near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan. The base is used by U.S. special forces to train Syrian fighters who are confronting Islamic State militants. (NOT)
Moscow has sent messages to the U.S. in recent days, warning that Russian military and Syrian government units were planning an attack on what they refer to as terrorists near Tanf, U.S. officials said.
The Russian threats may be a way of testing U.S. resolve to keep troops in Syria now that President Bashar Assad’s forces, backed by Russian troops and warplanes, have succeeded in defeating rebels everywhere except Idlib province and areas of eastern Syria controlled by the U.S. and its allies.
U.S. military officials bluntly warned Russian and Syria not to go forward with an attack within a 35-mile-wide security zone that the U.S. maintains around Tanf, a key strategic outpost.
“The United States does not seek to fight the Russians, the government of Syria or any groups that may be providing support to Syria in the Syrian civil war,” said Lt. Col. Earl Brown, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. “However, the United States will not hesitate to use necessary and proportionate force to defend U.S., coalition or partner forces.” www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/la-fg-syria-troops-20180907-story.html
Before and after ISIS (add USA): Welcome to ‘free’ Raqqa
Three years later, as Martins returned to Raqqa just weeks after the city was liberated from ISIS, “a surprisingly significant number of women still dressed according to ISIS rules,” she told In Sight. “Locals claim most still simply did not feel safe and feared the militants could capture the city again at any time.”
This is the story of Raqqa, a city destroyed during four years of occupation and the U.S.- and Kurdish-led military operation that freed it from the clutches of extremism.
That story, told in the pages of The Washington Post over the last year, is now the subject of an exhibition — “Welcome to Free Raqqa!” at Visa pour l’Image, the world’s largest photojournalism festival, held each year, and for the past 30 years, in Perpignan, France.
It’s the story of a city that continues to deal with the unprecedented destruction that befell it. “The city is still strewn with unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices, and the stench of decomposing bodies is all around,” Martins said after her latest excursion into Raqqa, in March 2018. “An underequipped and understaffed civil defense unit struggles to retrieve bodies from the rubble, unable to identify many of the remains and burying them in mass graves. Civilians who were displaced during the military operation remain in camps in the countryside, some making day trips to the city to begin rebuilding their homes, but most simply cannot afford it. Many are maimed or killed as they enter buildings that haven’t been cleared of explosives, to try and collect any valuables they may find.”
A deep sense of injustice dominated the conversations among survivors and refugees who returned to the shattered city, said Martins. “Several people we spoke to question the way the operation was conducted: Was there any concern for civilian lives? Were the bombs used to take out a single sniper that often also caused the death of several civilians an acceptable choice?”
These are not the only questions that remain unanswered. Another one — a crucial one — is uncertain. Will Raqqa be free again?
A woman walks by a building targeted in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in which several civilians were killed during the operation to expel ISIS militants from Raqqa province. (Alice Martins/For The Washington Post) www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2018/09/05/before-and-after-isis-welcome-to-free-raqqa/?utm_term=.c13444a63301
Marines are on Sweden’s coast preparing for largest NATO exercise as Russia grumbles
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About 75 U.S. Marines are training with Swedish counterparts to conduct raids and amphibious operations in Sweden’s complicated coastal terrain, which consists of thousands of small islands known as the Stockholm archipelago.
The exercise, dubbed Archipelago Endeavor, is a run up to one of NATO’s largest exercises in more than a decade, known as Trident Juncture, slated to kick off later this fall. The Norway-hosted exercise is expected to include nearly 40,000 NATO forces and dozens of ships.
But views from Moscow see the impending large-scale offensive and defensive NATO maneuvers in the Scandinavian region as a potential header for a war with Russia. www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/09/04/marines-are-on-swedens-coast-preparing-for-largest-nato-exercise-as-russia-grumbles/
Navy’s ‘Fat Leonard’ case implodes
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With the close of the Navy’s first “Fat Leonard” court-martial trial, the defendant is going to the brig but he escaped the most serious charges and potentially jeopardized future federal fraud cases against a string of past and present sailors.
Cmdr. David Morales was found guilty of only two of the five charges he faced — conduct unbecoming an officer and failing to report foreign contacts on his security clearance renewal.
After closing arguments on Friday, the Navy trial judge, Capt. Charles N. Purnell, deliberated overnight and delivered a verdict that stripped out the conspiracy, bribery and making a false official statement charges.
On Saturday, Purnell sentenced the fighter pilot to 165 days of confinement, forfeiture of $30,000 in pay over the next five months and an additional $5,000 fine.
Morales faced 17 years behind bars if he was convicted on the original charges….
Arrested in a San Diego sting operation in 2013, Francis pleaded guilty two years later to defrauding the Navy of at least $35 million in bloated invoices and fraudulent fees incurred while servicing American warships.
He has yet to be sentenced.
Francis secured those dirty deals by bribing Navy officials with “Thai SEAL team” prostitutes, luxury hotel rooms, top shelf booze, opulent feasts and cash tucked into envelopes…
They’ve charged 32 defendants, and 20 have pleaded guilty to public corruption charges. On Aug. 17, a grand jury in San Diego indicted three more retired sailors: Capt. David W. Haas, Master Chief Petty Officer Ricarte Icmat David and Chief Petty Officer Brooks Alonzo Parks.
Those cases will be tried in federal district court, not before a military judge. www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/09/01/navys-fat-leonard-case-implodes/
Contaminated Food Left 15 Marines With A Life-Threatening Disease, Ending Their Careers
Vincent Grano suffered from nausea and cramps for three days before alerting his drill instructor. The 19-year-old Marine recruit waited as long as he could, but his symptoms became so severe that he had to be admitted to the emergency room. Days after his release, he woke to find himself again in a hospital bed, having lost consciousness the day before. For the next month, he remained at Balboa Naval Medical Center, where he suffered from kidney failure and seizures.
At the time, he could not have known that just by eating the food served at boot camp he had developed a life-threatening disease known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, that would ultimately result in his discharge from the service he was trying to join.
Grano’s condition results from an E. Coli outbreak at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego last year. Court documents and a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allege that the outbreak was the result of undercooked ground beef prepared by Sodexo, a food service company contracted by the Department of Defense. The CDC joined the Navy in its investigation, which showed that the outbreak impacted up to 244 Marine recruits, 15 of whom were diagnosed with HUS.
Although it is unclear exactly how many recruits were discharged due to illnesses caused by the outbreak, three have since filed lawsuits against Sodexo. Tristan Abbott, also 19, is the latest to file charges. taskandpurpose.com/contaminated-food-marines-hus-disease/?bsft_eid=be8299e8-a157-4c92-b5ad-b8d12dc9d992&bsft_pid=c770bb6d-3565-4ad3-a0ad-dfd715816f6b&utm_campaign=tp_daily_wednesday_pm&utm_source=blueshift&utm_medium=email&utm_content=tp_daily_pm_ricks&bsft_clkid=e530895e-81f9-43de-b2fb-6f3e184f29f9&bsft_uid=7c674a6c-ae11-4ec4-84f1-aef0c34e44e5&bsft_mid=89ea6a34-c930-45ca-a3d0-580dec8ff07c&bsft_pp=2
‘I begged him (the merc) not to’: He loved the CIA. And that’s what led to his death.
They came from all corners of his life. His New England boarding school. His small liberal arts college. The Marines. And the CIA.
Family, friends and colleagues gathered on a summer Monday to pay tribute to George “Alexi” Whitney, who was killed in Afghanistan just before Christmas in 2016 and was finally being buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
His family had fought hard for that honor. Because the 38-year-old was a CIA contractor when he died, they needed special permission for his remains to be buried underground, rather than in the columbarium. They had enlisted the aid of Mike Pompeo, the former director of the CIA, which had recognized Whitney with a star on its Memorial Wall without publicly acknowledging its affiliation with him
The July 23 ceremony at Arlington appeared to be like one of the many funerals held here for a slain U.S. service member. Six horses pulled a caisson carrying a flag-draped coffin containing his urn. A bugler played taps.
But Whitney is among a tiny group of CIA contractors killed in the longest war in U.S. history. That includes Jeremy Wise and Dane Paresi, who were among the seven agency operatives killed in 2009 by a suicide bomber in Khost, one of the deadliest attacks in CIA history, and Jay Henigan, an agency contractor and plumber killed in Kabul in 2011.
Overall, the war has claimed the lives of more than 1,700 U.S. contractors, according to one Labor Department report, and nearly 2,400 American service members, according to the Defense Department. www.washingtonpost.com/local/i-begged-him-not-to-he-loved-the-cia-and-thats-what-led-to-his-death/2018/09/03/48160e36-aa0a-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c_story.html?utm_term=.932832f4ffdd
Army Soldier Killed In Afghanistan Insider Attack Was On His 13th Deployment
U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Bolyard was on his thirteenth overseas deployment when he was killed during an apparent insider attack in Afghanistan on September 3, Newsweek reports.
- Bolyard, 42, was the highest enlisted soldier in the 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, which deployed to Afghanistan with the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) in March.
- Bolyard’s decorations included six Bronze Stars — two with valor devices — earned on six different occasions during his eight combat deployments, per Newsweek.
- According to Newsweek, the insider attack “was carried out by a member of the Afghan National Police … who was visiting American forces on an undisclosed base” in the eastern part of the country.
- Afghan military commander Gen. Abdul Raziq told Stars & Stripes that the attack began after gunfire “erupted from a police Humvee, hitting American servicemembers in the back.”
- The insider attack was the second in as many months following the shooting death of Army Cpl. Joseph Maciel, also deployed to Afghanistan in support of the 1st SFAB, in the southern part of the country in early July. (Task and Purpose 9/4/18)
Hundreds escape Libya prison amid deadly clashes in Tripoli
Some 400 prisoners have escaped from a facility near the Libyan capital Tripoli amid deadly violence between militia groups in the city, police say.
“The detainees were able to force open the doors” in order to leave the Ain Zara prison, the local police said.
They added that guards, fearing for their lives, were unable to prevent the breakout following riots at the jail.
Clashes between militias in the city have led Libya’s UN-backed government to declare a state of emergency.
The incident on Sunday took place during armed violence between rival factions around the facility, which houses only male inmates.
Many of the prisoners held at the Ain Zara prison in south-east Tripoli were reportedly supporters of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and had been found guilty of killings during the uprising against his government in 2011. www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45392172
The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor
Little Relief in Sight as Emerging Stocks Slide Near Bear Market
The rout in emerging markets showed few signs of abating, even as some of the worst-hit currencies took a breather, as an index of stocks slipped toward bear territory and a basket of currencies traded near its lowest since May 2017.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index of shares extended its slide to 19.7 percent from a January peak. Among the worst-hit stock markets were Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, where benchmark indexes tumbled by the most in about two years. The Argentina peso and Turkish lira, which have led global losses this year, eked out gains as the nations took measures to curb the damage.
he declines added to concern that investor anxiety is beginning to infect markets whose economies are more robust than others. The negative tone was set Tuesday by a U.S. manufacturing report that boosted the odds of further Federal Reserve rate increases and a strengthening dollar, and South African data showing the economy entered into a recession in the second quarter.
It’s “no longer just about EM fundamentals,” Sameer Goel, the head of macro strategy for Asia at Deutsche Bank AG in Singapore, said in a Bloomberg TV interview with David Ingles. It’s “increasingly about contagion, which largely happens because of cross-holdings and the pressure of redemptions.” www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-05/emerging-market-contagion-fears-deepen-rupiah-in-cross-hairs
If You Don’t Hate the Government You’re Not Paying Attention
Imagine a store that makes its customers miserable. This interior is ugly and uncomfortable. At best the staff is indifferent and slow; at worst rude and incompetent. You pay sky-high prices for inferior goods. Often you pay full price yet leave the place empty-handed.
You don’t have to be a marketing expert to guess what would happen to such an establishment. It would go out of business. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if a mob of ripped-off consumers burned the place down.
I’ve just described the U.S. government.
You interact with government many times each day. How many of those encounters are positive?
Close to zero.
Let’s look at the single-most common connection between governments and citizens: the payment of taxes. Sales taxes on goods and services — painful and annoying. Income taxes — the same. What do you get back for paying for your taxes? Nothing specially for you. Sure you benefit from public schools, roads and so on. But those bennies are shared. And you might not even use those. What if you don’t have kids, or send your kids to private school because the public school isn’t good enough? Aside from the occasional unemployment check, most people never receive direct help from “their” government.
When we interact with agents of the state — the employees of the metaphorical store I described up top — it’s a miserable experience. OK, you’re thrilled when the firefighters show up. But you’ll probably never have to call them more than once in your life. The vast majority of the government workers you meet aren’t there to help you. They’re out to lower your quality of life.
Here, in rough order of frequency, are the government workers you are most likely to come into contact with:
Cops: they exist to give you tickets. Fines for minor offenses are exorbitant: $150 on average, up to $2400 in some states. Points raise your insurance rates. You might even lose your license. If you’re black they harass you; they might kill you. Once in a blue moon, they might save you from danger. Mostly it’s about the tickets. www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/05/if-you-dont-hate-the-government-youre-not-paying-attention/
That Glorious Scam:Theranos Is Shutting Down
The Silicon Valley startup is expected to shutter its operations after it failed to deliver revolutionary lab-testing amid allegations of fraud.
…Founded in 2003 by Elizabeth Holmes, a 19-year-old Stanford University dropout, Theranos promised to shake up the entire lab industry, making blood tests much easier and less expensive than traditional methods.
A charismatic executive who wore black turtlenecks and spoke passionately about giving people control over their health information, Ms. Holmes attracted high-profile investors and assembled a Who’s Who of directors, including two former secretaries of state and two former United States senators. Gen. Jim Mattis, the current secretary of defense, also served on the board.
At its peak, the privately held company was valued at a lofty $9 billion, and Ms. Holmes was promoted as one of the nation’s most successful female entrepreneurs. But questions emerged about the accuracy of the company’s testing, and federal regulators barred Ms. Holmes from owning and operating a laboratory for two years in 2016.
In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ms. Holmes with widespread fraud, accusing her of exaggerating — even lying — about her technology. In announcing the charges, the S.E.C. said that Theranos and Ms. Holmes agreed to a settlement. www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/health/theranos-shutting-down.html
Among the scammers: In July 2011, Holmes was introduced to former Secretary of State George Shultz, who joined the Theranos board of directors that month.[70] Over the next three years, Shultz helped to introduce almost all the outside directors on the “all-star board,” which included William Perry (former Secretary of Defense), Henry Kissinger (former Secretary of State), Sam Nunn (former U.S. Senator), Bill Frist (former U.S. Senator and heart-transplant surgeon), Gary Roughead (Admiral, USN, retired), James Mattis (General, USMC), Richard Kovacevich (former Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO) and Riley Bechtel (chairman of the board and former CEO at Bechtel Group).[70][71][72]
Dozens of Superfluous People attend Ralph Lauren Fashion Show. Deplorables not allowed.
The Rich are Different from Us. They have a LOT more money and they are hoarding it.
The sixth edition of the World Ultra Wealth Report analyzes the state of the world’s ultra wealthy population, or those with $30m or more in net worth, which expanded strongly in 2017, rising by 12.9% to 255,810 individuals. This was a sharp acceleration from growth of 3.5% in 2016, reflecting significantly more favorable conditions for wealth creation, despite still volatile geopolitics.
Buoyed by a synchronized upturn in the world economy, rising asset markets, and robust corporate earnings, the combined net worth of the ultra high net worth (UHNW) population increased by 16.3% to $31.5trn, implying healthy gains in average net wealth. A testament to the auspicious economic climate, the ultra wealthy population and its total net worth increased in all seven major regions, contrasting with the diverse performances seen a year earlier. www.wealthx.com/report/world-ultra-wealth-report-2018/#downloadform
The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement and The War on Reason
‘Urban Naxals is a term to demonise dissent’ (India)
Senior lawyer Vrinda Grover turns the spotlight on the arrest of five human right activists
Dissent, said Justice DY Chandrachud, is the safety valve of democracy. “If it is not allowed, the safety valve will burst,” he said on Wednesday, responding to a petition filed by a group of academics and others, seeking the release of five activists arrested by the Pune police from different parts of the country. The activists — Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves — were on Wednesday placed under house arrest by the Supreme Court till September 6. Senior advocate Vrinda Grover, who represents lawyer-cum-human rights activist Bharadwaj, told BLink that this is a case of dissent being criminalised.
What is significant about the timing of the arrests?
I think we need to locate this in the present political context and time. The next general elections are a few months away. Across the country, particularly among the marginalised communities — the poor, the workers, the labour classes — there is a high level of economic distress. Serious questions about the government’s performance, policies and priorities need to be asked. However, the public discourse is being engineered to create anxiety, alarm and fear amongst the public. This distracts the public discourse from anger at state failure.
I’ll speak specifically of my client, Sudha Bharadwaj, who has been teaching at National Law University, Delhi. Earlier, she was working in Chhattisgarh as a human rights lawyer representing people whose land, resources and jobs are being snatched. It is well known that the government is parcelling out natural resources, particularly in areas of adivasi population, to the corporate sector. Perhaps representing the interests of the people of this country is what has made Sudha the target of the wrath of the state. www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/urban-naxals-is-a-term-to-demonise-dissent/article24828924.ece
September 9, 1971
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNzSV6AVpAQ
Solidarity for Never
Sellout in Seattle: teachers reach tentative contract deal, avert strike–wrecks statewide school strike
Seattle students will return to school as scheduled next week after the state’s largest school district reached a tentative contract deal late Friday with its teachers union.
Seattle Public Schools announced the agreement on its website about 10 p.m.
The district did not provide a copy of the package but listed some of its details, including “a competitive pay schedule that will not only honor the work of our current educators, but help us attract and retain new professionals.” The deal also would increase the number of counselors in secondary schools and nurses, while expanding school-based racial-equity teams and health-care benefits for substitute teachers.
The union represents 6,000 classroom teachers, substitutes, paraprofessionals, instructional assistants and office professionals.
The announcement from the district did not include an estimated cost for the proposed contract but in its statement said, “every new state dollar that could be used for salaries has been offered during negotiations.”
The statement added that details would be released after the union-membership vote, which is scheduled for next Saturday at Benroya Hall. The Seattle School Board must also vote on the contract. A regular board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.
Phyllis Campano, president of the Seattle Education Association, said late Friday she could not share more details of the contract until it had been presented to the union’s board of directors and general membership. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/seattle-teachers-reach-tentative-contract-deal-avert-strike/
Mornin’Glory Ayanna Pressley Upsets Capuano in Massachusetts House Race
Ayanna Pressley upended the Massachusetts political order on Tuesday, scoring a stunning upset of 10-term Representative Michael Capuano and positioning herself to become the first African-American woman to represent the state in Congress. www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/us/politics/ayanna-pressley-massachusetts.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Idiot Massachusetts AFL-CIO endorses Michael Capuano in House race (spends millions)
The state’s largest labor organization has endorsed US Representative Michael E. Capuano in his re-election bid.
In a statement, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO called the Somerville Democrat “an outspoken supporter of the right to organize.” Capuano, said the group, has “written letters supporting workers’ rights, and has walked picket lines.” www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/12/mass-labor-group-endorses-capuano/iCREdCXk4gGMHBFPeby2NP/story.html
Half-wit Teachers union to back Capuano
The Massachusetts Teachers Association, largest labor union in the state, announced yesterday that it will back US Representative Michael E. Capuano in the four-way Democratic primary to fill the Senate seat of Edward M. Kennedy, giving Capuano one of the most significant union endorsements in the race.
MTA president Anne Wass cited Capuano’s “strong pro-education track record along with a deep understanding of the challenges facing urban public schools’’ as key factors in the decision to recommend him in the Dec. 8 primary to its 107,000 members. The decision was made by a standing committee elected by union members.
Capuano, a six-term congressman and former mayor of Somerville, has a voting record that earned a 96 percent rating by the National Education Association, of which the MTA is the state affiliate, and he voted for more than $100 billion in education and state aid under the two-year economic recovery bill, the MTA said in its announcement. archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/23/teachers_union_to_back_capuano/
www.facebook.com/sandra.nunez.1420/videos/10156658871932250/?t=35
NEA’s National Staff Organization (union) sanctions huge Florida local
Staffers Accuse California Teachers Association of ‘Betrayal’ Over Post-Janus Cuts
Employees who work for the California Teachers Association claim union managers are trying to renege on an agreement in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus ruling, which ended the practice of unions charging agency fees to represent non-members.
With teachers now free to withhold payments, CTA expects a significant loss of membership and slashed its 2018-19 budget by more than $20 million. The union reached a memorandum of understanding with its almost 200 professional staffers prior to the Janus ruling to cut eight positions over a three-year period.
The employees claim CTA is violating the agreement by, among other things, denying all staff transfers into vacant positions, even those unaffected by the cuts. The staff union says CTA committed a breach of faith. Employees have filed five grievances over management actions since the Janus ruling.
The staff union instituted a campaign to address “patterns of poor management behavior” and adopted a resolution to “participate in an escalation of actions designed to confront the trend of disrespect.” www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2018/09/05/staffers-accuse-california-teachers-association-of-betrayal-over-post-janus-cuts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Intercepts+%28Intercepts%29
Jesse Sharkey named new president of Chicago Teachers Union (sold out ISO, having run CTU for years, takes over officially)
New leadership is taking over the Chicago Teacher’s Union after Karen Lewis announced her retirement.
Jesse Sharkey will take over as president and the union’s political director, Stacy Davis Gates, is now vice president.
Sharkey worked alongside Karen Lewis and had served as CTU’s vice president since 2010.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to work with Karen as a colleague and a partner in our battle for educational justice for our students and for the rights and dignity of our 27,000 members,” said Sharkey. abc7chicago.com/education/jesse-sharkey-named-new-president-of-ctu/4160885/
Spy versus Spy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEsaW21jEz0
Elissa Slotkin–Militarist CIA Spy Dem Running for Congress from Michigan
Former Trump aide George Papadopoulos sentenced to 14 days for lying to federal agents
George Papadopoulos, the former foreign policy advisor to President Trump’s campaign whose suspicious conversations triggered the Russia investigation, was sentenced Friday to 14 days in prison and one year of supervised release.
The sentencing, coming nearly one year after he pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents, ends an important yet mysterious story line in the examination of whether anyone from Trump’s team conspired with Moscow to influence the presidential election.
Judge Randolph D. Moss said the sentence could have been higher but he sensed “genuine remorse” from Papadopoulos. The judge said there’s no evidence Papadopoulos had “any desire to aid Russia in any way.” However, by lying to the FBI in hopes of maintaining his shot at a job www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-papadopoulos-mueller-sentencing-20180907-story.htmlin the Trump administration, he placed “self-interest over the national interest,” Moss said.
CIA Imposter Sentenced to Prison for Fraud (Reminder of Cracks in the Empire)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Wayne Shelby Simmons, 62, of Annapolis, Maryland, a former Fox News commentator who has falsely claimed he spent 27 years working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for major fraud against the government, wire fraud, and a firearms offense. Simmons was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, to forfeit two firearms and $175,612 in criminal proceeds, and to pay restitution to his victims.
“Wayne Simmons is a fraud,” said Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Simmons has no military or intelligence background, or any skills relevant to the positions he attained through his frauds. He is quite simply a criminal and a con man, and his fraud had the potential to endanger national security and put American lives at risk in Afghanistan. I want to thank the agents and prosecutors for their efforts on this complicated case.”
“With this sentencing, Simmons now faces the consequences of his criminal activity, deceit, and dishonesty,” said Paul M. Abbate, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “He fraudulently obtained positions with the U.S. government by lying about his previous employment and history, and further, defrauded a victim through a bogus real estate investment scheme. Simmons abused people’s trust for his own selfish gain, and in doing so placed lives at risk and jeopardized national security.”
“Mr. Simmons never worked at CIA and we are pleased that justice was served in this case,” said Dean Boyd, Director of CIA’s Office of Public Affairs.
Simmons pleaded guilty on April 29. According to court documents, Simmons defrauded the government in 2008 when he obtained work as a team leader in the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain Systems program, in 2009 when he attempted to obtain work with the State Department’s Worldwide Protective Service, and again in 2010 when he was deployed to Afghanistan as a senior intelligence advisor on the International Security Assistance Force’s Counterinsurgency Advisory and Assistance Team (CAAT). To obtain these positions and the security clearances they required, Simmons made false statements about his financial, employment, and criminal history, including that he had worked for the CIA, that he had previously possessed a top secret security clearance, and that his prior criminal convictions related to his supposed clandestine work.
In order to obtain the CAAT position, Simmons also lied about the nature of the work he had done just a year earlier with the Human Terrain Systems program, a program from which he had been forced to resign prior to deployment. The government’s investigation determined that Simmons was never associated with the CIA in any capacity and that during the years he claims to have worked for the agency, he was instead working in a variety of capacities and having various run-ins with the law. His work activities from 1973-2000 include: defensive back for the New Orleans Saints NFL team, nightclub doorman, manager at a rent-by-the-hour hot tub business, bookie, operator of a limousine business and an AIDS-testing business, mortgage broker, and employment at an anti-graffiti business. During that time, the defendant was also convicted of state firearms, assault, and gambling charges and federal firearms charges. www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/cia-imposter-sentenced-prison-fraud
Prosecutors say they were ‘mistaken’ in sex claim against accused Russian spy Maria Butina
Prosecutors say they were “mistaken” in claiming Maria Butina, an alleged Russian spy, traded sex for access to political organizations.
The retraction was made in a federal court filing Friday discussing a possible bond for Butina, who has been attempting to fight off the charges and that particular accusation since she was indicted in July on charges of acting as a Russian foreign agent.
“On at least one occasion, Butina offered an individual other than U.S. Person 1 sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization,” prosecutors said in a July court filing.
Prosecutors said they initially came to that conclusion because of a series of text messages and other communications, but Butina’s attorney has fiercely opposed the accusation, calling it a joke between longtime friends.
Robert Driscoll, her attorney, said the accusations painted Butina “as some type of Kremlin-trained seductress, or spy-novel honeypot character, trading sex for access and power” and could have a negative impact on her case and trial.
“The only evidence the government relied on for its explosive claim was an excerpt from an innocuous three-year-old text exchange sent in Russia between Ms. Butina and DK, her longtime friend, assistant, and public relations man for The Right to Bear Arms gun rights group that she founded,” Driscoll, wrote in a court filing. DK is not identified.
The messages between the pair were sent after DK took Butina’s car for a yearly inspection. www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/08/maria-butina-prosecutors-mistaken-sex-claim-against-alleged-spy/1240388002/
The Magical Mystery Tour
Franklin Graham: God’s Wrath Awaits Those Who Discuss Trump’s Extramarital Affairs
Franklin GrahamVerified account @Franklin_Graham
Everyone in the media is talking about the just-released tape & what the President said or didn’t say, what he meant or didn’t mean. It is a good moment to point out that everyone should realize that every word that is spoken or thought is recorded by God. 1/3
At hearing, Kavanaugh highlights his Catholic Charities’ volunteer work
During the second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Sept. 5, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh said his experience serving the homeless with Catholic Charities and tutoring at Washington Jesuit Academy has influenced him as a judge because of the importance of “standing in the shoes of others.” www.ncronline.org/news/people/hearing-kavanaugh-highlights-his-catholic-charities-volunteer-work
The anti-abortion conservative quietly guiding Trump’s supreme court pick
Just 20 months ago, Leonard Leo’s life’s work appeared in jeopardy. Hillary Clinton would soon be elected president. A liberal judge would be chosen to replace Antonin Scalia, the late lodestar of American conservatism, on the supreme court.
“Staring at that vacancy, fear permeated every day in that countdown to November 8,” Leo recalled last year, in a speech to fellow religious conservatives. His three-decade fight to push the US judiciary to the right – and enable a crackdown on abortion – looked to be lost.
A political miracle interceded. Clinton narrowly lost to Donald Trump, a thrice-married former “very pro-choice” Democrat, who now proposed “punishment” for women having abortions.
“What an amazing turn of events,” Leo, of the conservative Federalist Society, said in his speech with a smile.
Leo gave himself no public credit. But by helping then candidate Trump put together an unprecedented shortlist of approved supreme court nominees, Leo may have secured critical support from wavering rightwingers. “It was the decisive move in the entire campaign,” said Carrie Severino, an ally and chief counsel of the Judicial Crisis Network.
This weekend, Leo will be advising Trump on his second nominee to the supreme court, having helped the president install Neil Gorsuch to Scalia’s seat last year. The new appointment, which follows the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, promises to create the court’s first dependable conservative majority in half a century…
Working more behind the scenes is Ann Corkery, a Washington lawyer and fundraiser, who in the 1990s said she was a member of Opus Dei, the hardline Catholic order. Corkery defended the group’s practice of self-flagellation. “People don’t understand sacrifice, the whole idea of why anyone would inflict pain, because the modern notion is to avoid suffering,” she said. Corkery did not respond to emailed questions.
Leo and his wife, Sally, have themselves donated money to a Washington-area school that states its “orientation and spiritual formation are entrusted to Opus Dei”, which has not previously been reported. Leo did not respond to calls and a spokesman did not respond to emailed questions.
Brian Finnerty, a spokesman for Opus Dei in the US, said in an email that the group adheres to the church’s view that “abortion is always wrong”. He said: “The US bishops have been clear that Roe has been a great tragedy for this country, and that the decision should be overturned.” www.theguardian.com/law/2018/jul/06/leonard-leo-supreme-court-replacement-trump-justice-nomination-abortion
State Investigations of Sex Abuse by Catholic Priests Expands to New York and New Jersey
Attorneys general across the United States are taking a newly aggressive stance in investigating sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, opening investigations into malfeasance and issuing subpoenas for documents.
On Thursday alone, the New York State attorney general issued subpoenas to all eight Catholic dioceses in the state as part of a sweeping civil investigation into whether institutions covered up allegations of sexual abuse of children, officials said. The attorney general in New Jersey announced a criminal investigation.
The new inquiries come several weeks after an explosive Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed the abuse of more than 1,000 children by hundreds of priests over decades. With Catholics clamoring for more transparency from their church, demanding that bishops release the names of accused priests, civil authorities are beginning to step up to force disclosure.
In the three weeks since the release of the Pennsylvania report, the attorneys general of Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and New Mexico have also said they will investigate sex abuse by Catholic priests in their states and have asked local dioceses for records. Most bishops have been saying they will cooperate. www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/nyregion/catholic-sex-abuse.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Retired N.J. priest says his complaints were dismissed by Boston Archdiocese
A retired Roman Catholic monsignor said this week that his efforts to report accusations of clergy sexual misconduct to Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley were rebuffed by the prelate’s secretary, the second reported instance of such allegations running into a dead end in the cardinal’s office.
Monsignor Kenneth Lasch of Pompton Plains, N.J., told The Boston Globe that the Rev. Robert Kickham, the cardinal’s secretary, “dismissed” his written concerns in January that a current priest in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., allegedly had seduced an 18-year-old man from Lasch’s parish in the mid-1980s. www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/09/08/retired-priest-says-his-complaints-were-dismissed-boston-archdiocese/TvHKhwpVj6yVrC6eUkfZlJ/story.html
NINTH CIRCLE, HELL—Stressing that the situation in the underworld was quickly spiraling out of control, Satan, the Great Tempter and Father of Lies, announced Wednesday that he would not allow any more Catholic priests to enter hell. “This place is completely overrun with those monsters, and frankly, they kind of creep me out,” said the Prince of Darkness, adding that every time he looked up, he saw another recently deceased member of the Roman Catholic clergy being cast down into the fires of hell, where each is expected to be tortured until the end of time by Satan and his minions. “We’re used to having every manner of unrepentant sinner down here, but those guys are beyond messed up. I swear, if I see one more of those sick bastards, I’m going to throw myself into the eternal flames.” In response, God has reportedly instituted a secret policy whereby the priests would no longer face damnation but would instead attend mandatory counseling sessions and then be quietly transferred into heaven. www.theonion.com/satan-refuses-to-accept-any-more-catholic-priests-in-he-1828696347
The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World
Woodward: Queeg in the White House
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So Long
Jalaluddin Haqqani dead: What is the militant network, how was it formed
What’s the Haqqani network?
The Haqqani network is a terrorist group which is fighting against US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan and the Afghan government. While it operates in Afghanistan, the group’s leadership is based in Pakistan.
What is it known for?
The Haqqani network attacked the Indian consulate in Jalalabad twice in 2007, and bombed the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008, in which 58 people were killed. The group attacked the embassy again in 2009, killing 17 people. It also carried out several attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan. The group exploded a truck bomb in the middle of a crowded intersection in Kabul in 2017, killing over 150. The network has also been accused of assassinating top Afghan officials and holding kidnapped Westerners for ransom.
Read | Who was Jalaluddin Haqqani?
How was it formed?
The Haqqani network came to be during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The US and Pakistan reached out to Jalaluddin Haqqani for his military prowess, and funded him with arms and money to fight the Russians. Haqqani helped Osama bin Laden set up terror training camps and launch his efforts for global jihad. After 9/11, Haqqani turned against the US. indianexpress.com/article/explained/jalaluddin-haqqani-dead-what-is-the-militant-network-how-was-it-formed-5340183/
Proxies of ISI
US officials have long considered Jalaluddin and Sirajuddin Haqqani to be among the closest proxies for Pakistan’s ISI. Analysts say Pakistan appears to view the Haqqanis as an asset holding India at bay in Afghanistan.
Funeral services set for Amway founder Richard DeVos (hooray)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A private funeral service has been scheduled for billionaire Richard DeVos , the co-founder of direct-selling giant Amway, owner of the NBA’s Orlando Magic and father-in-law of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Details of next Thursday’s invitation-only services at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids were announced Friday, a day after his death. Others will be able to watch a simulcast at the city’s DeVos Place convention center. www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/09/07/amway-founder-richard-devos-funeral/1221175002/
*Reformers Only Mornin’glories from Plunkett of Tammany Hall: “COLLEGE professors and philosophers who go up in a balloon to think are always discussin’ the question: “Why Reform Administrations Never Succeed Themselves!” The reason is plain to anybody who has learned the a, b, c of politics.
I can’t tell just how many of these movements I’ve seen started in New York during my forty years in politics, but I can tell you how many have lasted more than a few years – none. There have been reform committees of fifty, of sixty, of seventy, of one hundred and all sorts of numbers that started Out to do up the regular political Organizations. They were mornin’ glories – looked lovely in the mornin’ and withered up in a short time, while the regular machines went on flourishin’ forever, like fine old oaks. Say, that’s the first poetry I ever worked off. Ain’t it great?” savingcommunities.org/docs/plunkitt.gw/morninglories.html