We Say Fight Back!

Teacher strikes are illegal in Nevada. The union is pushing for one anyway.

TN Teachers Against Vouchers Calling In Sick To Flood The Capitol Tuesday 4/9

A Tennessee teacher writes about the education policies that make her sick.

I’m sick.

Sick of my students being over-tested and our schools being underfunded.

Sick of teachers leaving the profession because they are underpaid and undervalued.

Sick of Tennessee being 45th in the nation in per pupil funding.

Sick of being disrespected by a Governor who has proposed increasing state funding for unaccountable charter schools by 100% while only increasing funding for teachers by 2%.

And how I feel is only going to get worse if the state government passes voucher legislation, which will further drain the resources our students need from public schools and hand them over to unaccountable private companies.

That’s why there’s a movement of teachers planning on calling in sick on Tuesday, April 9^th to travel to Nashville and flood the capitol.

We plan on letting our state’s politicians know just how sick we are. And we plan on making it clear to them: the war on public education in Tennessee ends now.

I’m a member of the Tennessee Education Association, but I know that there are many in the state leadership who think that collective action is too aggressive and premature. They still believe that we can work amicably with state politicians. I disagree.

Anyone still entertaining that idea should have had a rude awakening last week when Betsy DeVos visited our state and held closed door meetings with privatizers and politicians.

Several months back, when Governor Lee announced his unfortunate choice for the TN Commissioner of Education, I publicly stated that he had declared war on public education. Some may have thought that was a bit dramatic. However, the Governor wouldn’t have invited the most vilified Secretary of Education in history to the state if he didn’t plan on dropping an atomic bomb on public education. His voucher and charter bills are just that.  tnholler.com/2019/04/tn-teachers-against-vouchers-calling-in-sick-to-flood-the-capitol-tuesday-4-9/?fbclid=IwAR1sU3nbfj1SyJ_Wa27inyvevtp5bwQMcNbOnU3dFQ8h2Cf6gNk4oK550o8

‘Put up or shut up’: Mississippi teachers mull strike in wake of ‘insulting’ pay raise, secretive voucher funding move

Lawmakers wrapped up the 2019 legislative session with a $1,500 pay raise for public school teachers, but many are so outraged by the amount that they’re considering a strike — something Mississippi law expressly forbids.

Last week, educators and advocates called the amount of the pay increase an insulting gesture from lawmakers in an election year. First-year public school teachers with a bachelor’s degree earn $34,390 without any district supplements, and the statewide average salary was $44,926, during 2017-18 school year. The anger amongst some educators and advocacy organizations intensified once it became public knowledge that Republican leaders slipped $2 million in a non-education budget bill for a program similar to vouchers, which use public funds to send special needs children to private schools.

“We’re not getting paid what we’re worth. We don’t just pass out worksheets … and write detention slips. We do so much of what it takes to build up responsible citizens,” said Jennifer Bradford, a middle school English teacher in the Jackson County School District. “My job is to make sure I give 100 percent to that child’s future and it’s frustrating that they don’t appreciate that.”

Meanwhile, on a Facebook page called Pay Raise for Mississippi Teachers, debate about a potential strike has stirred under a post with more than 280 comments.   mississippitoday.org/2019/04/03/put-up-or-shut-up-mississippi-teachers-mull-strike-in-wake-of-insulting-pay-raise-secretive-voucher-funding-move/?fbclid=IwAR1et4Q_2yhY77PsBzqEhbtep2Ou5FkVo6000TtGQn4znKzqeK2dFwGWfa8

Teachers union at Sacramento City Unified announces one-day strike for April 11 (Then wildcat and carry it on!_

Marx Was Right: Five Surprising Ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014 or/19

tThere’s a lot of talk of Karl Marx in the air these days – from Rush Limbaugh accusing Pope Francis of promoting “pure Marxism” to a Washington Times writer claiming that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is an “unrepentant Marxist.” But few people actually understand Marx’s trenchant critique of capitalism. Most people are vaguely aware of the radical economist’s prediction that capitalism would inevitably be replaced by communism, but they often misunderstand why he believed this to be true. And while Marx was wrong about some things, his writings (many of which pre-date the American Civil War) accurately predicted several aspects of contemporary capitalism, from the Great Recession to the iPhone 5S in your pocket.  www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/marx-was-right-five-surprising-ways-karl-marx-predicted-2014-237285/

Mexico: Armed civilians kidnap, detain 11 Puebla cops for 24 hours

The Little Red Schoolhouse

SDSU (home of Aztec racists)  $575-an-hour lobbying deal revealed

JMI Moores lawyer in on secret Qualcomm land talks

When last we checked in on closed-door negotiations between the city of San Diego, led by Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and the California State University system regarding the city-owned real estate once known as Qualcomm Stadium, university officials were playing hardball.

“Agreements entered between CSU and outside legal firms are protected by the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product doctrine and will not be disclosed,” wrote university counsel Sasha K. Danna in a February 25 email in response to a request under the California Public Records Act for the contract between the university system and the white-shoe law and lobbying outfit of Sheppard Mullin.

The university’s refusal to make the document public came despite a January 15 lobbyist filing by Sheppard Mullin with the city of San Diego which revealed that the firm has been retained by CSU to lobby for “approval of agreement for the acquisition of the stadium site in Mission Valley from the city of San Diego.”

In response to a follow-up, which noted that state law contains no exemptions for the release of lobbying contracts entered into by public agencies, Assistant Vice Chancellor & Chief Counsel – External Affairs Carrie Reith asserted that Sheppard Mullin’s San Diego disclosure does not mean the firm is actually lobbying for the university system, but instead “merely satisfies a local municipal disclosure requirement.”  www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2019/apr/01/ticker-sdsu-575-hour-lobbying-deal-revealed/#

www.facebook.com/inewsource/videos/1130936903780024/?t=30

Noxious odors sickened students, staff at SDSU; county air authorities investigating

County officials are investigating odors that led San Diego State University to close a building on campus after faculty, students and others complained they were sick with sore throats, itchy eyes, nausea, headaches and nosebleeds.

The odors arose from a chemical used during roof repairs to the Professional Studies and Fine Arts building, which was closed on March 13 — six weeks after the university was told of the problem and began air monitoring tests. Students and professors who occupied the building despite the smells said the university did a poor job of notifying them or giving them options.  inewsource.org/2019/04/02/sdsu-psfa-building-odors-sick-students-staff/

San Diego Unified Moved a Problem Principal to Districtwide Role, Then Paid Him to Leave (and why name a school after the invader Serra?)

San Diego Unified School District has a history of moving problem principals into a role known as “principal on special assignment” at the central office.

One principal who transferred to the program allegedly covered up sexual abuse at Green Elementary School. A second racked up $200,000 in donations that weren’t backed up by receipts. Another appeared to have falsified his credentials – presenting a Ph.D. from a university in England that seemed to be nothing more than a website. That was Vincent Mays, and the Ph.D. was just a small part of his story.

New documents obtained by Voice of San Diego through a public records request show Mays’ problems in the district went far beyond a fake diploma. A district investigation concluded he also engaged in quid-pro-quo sexual harassment and created a hostile work environment at Junipero Serra High School in Tierrasanta.

And Mays got much more than a central office job for his dubious record, the new documents show. After about a year of working on special assignment – making roughly $143,000 a year – the district then paid him an additional $110,000 just to make him go away.  www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/san-diego-unified-moved-a-problem-principal-to-districtwide-role-then-paid-him-to-leave/

Harvard Is Investigating Fencing Coach for Sale of Home to Prospective Student’s Father

Harvard is investigating its longtime fencing coach after learning that he sold his house for a vastly inflated price to the father of a current student, shortly before the student was admitted.

The inquiry into the coach, Peter Brand, comes as universities around the country are scrambling to respond to a sweeping investigation of college admissions fraud, which has raised questions about athletic recruitment and whether coaches have enriched themselves by essentially selling recruiting slots.

The United States attorney’s office in Boston has charged 50 people in the case, including eight coaches and 33 parents, among them Hollywood celebrities and prominent business people.

Harvard has so far not been tied to the scandal in court documents. A university official said in an email to students and faculty members on Thursday that she did not believe the circumstances surrounding Mr. Brand, first reported by The Boston Globe, were connected to that case.  www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/us/harvard-coach-admissions.html

UC Davis Pepper Spray  chancellor who resigned after ethics probe to return as professor

Education Department Has Stalled on Debt Relief for Defrauded Students

The Education Department failed to approve a single application for federal student loan relief in the second half of last year, according to new department data that signals that students who claim they were cheated by their colleges cannot count on help from Washington anytime soon.

The department neither approved nor denied any relief claims filed by students under the so-called borrower defense program from June to December 2018, even after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s foot-dragging was illegal. In October, the judge ordered the Education Department to enforce a long-delayed Obama-era rule that expanded and expedited loan relief for defrauded students, many of whom attended for-profit colleges.

Amid that inaction, the number of pending claims has swelled to more than 150,000 — over double the number of applications the department inherited from the previous administration. And with no firm timeline to process them, advocates say the department has referred borrowers to the Treasury Department to have their tax refunds garnished to offset debts that have piled up while their claim is pending.

Liz Hill, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, blamed the delay on the swirl of lawsuits filed by advocates pressing for a more generous response to loan-relief applicants.  www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/us/politics/betsy-devos-student-loan-debt-relief.html

Why Are Kids Impatient, Bored, Friendless, and Entitled?

“Kids today are in a devastating emotional state! Most come to school emotionally unavailable for learning. There are many factors in our modern lifestyle that contribute to this.” ~V.P.

In her practice, my friend Victoria Prooday, OT is seeing something so widespread and alarming that I asked if I could share her thoughts. Due to the overwhelming interest and conversation on this topic, I am re-sharing her post. This article is also now translated into German and Russian. Spanish is coming soon!

I encourage every parent who cares about the future of his/her children to read it. I know that many would choose not to hear what she says in the article, but your children needs you to hear this message.  deeprootsathome.com/kids-friendless-bored-impatient/

The Child in the link below is NOT bored:

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2236473546367633&t=34

Idiot State lawmakers consider banning not-utterly-stupid Teach For America members from most high-poverty schools

Education committee members in the state Assembly voted last week in favor of a bill that would prevent certain California public schools from hiring or paying for educators provided by third-party organizations.

The legislation, which was proposed by Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, would ban about 80 credentialing organizations, including Teach for America, from placing educators in Title 1 schools, where more than 40 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Teach for America (TFA) is a national nonprofit that recruits college graduates who are not education majors to work for two years in public schools. It currently places educators in four California regions: the Bay Area, California Capital Valley, Los Angeles and San Diego.

San Diego County schools employ 42 TFA educators and statewide, there are more than 720 TFA educators in public schools, the group said.  www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2019-04-05/sd-me-teachforamerica-ban

Mom sentenced for embezzling thousands from South Bay PTA

The onetime head of a South Bay parent-teacher association was sentenced Wednesday to three years probation for embezzling around $14,000 from the organization.

Kaitlyn Faith Birchman, the former president of the Imperial Beach Charter School PTA, pleaded guilty in February to a felony forgery count. Had she gone to trial and been convicted of forgery and grand theft, she would have faced a potential three-year, eight-month prison sentence, according to the prosecution.

Per the terms of her probation, Birchman will have to complete 15 public work service days and make $10,000 in restitution to the PTA. If she pays the $10,000, her forgery conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor, according to prosecutors.

Birchman, 30, was taken into custody in early January at her Temecula home on an arrest warrant issued in November. She cooperated with investigators, according to Sgt. Karl Miller, who said the thefts occurred over a roughly year-long period. At the time, Birchman’s children were attending the charter school, he said.  fox5sandiego.com/2019/04/03/former-south-bay-pta-mom-sentenced-for-embezzling-14000/

3 ex-Penn State fraternity members sentenced in student’s hazing death

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor

I was an Army grunt at the pointy end of the American spear. But no longer

The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor                          

Investors in collateralized loan obligations are ignoring the signs of danger.

 

                    Professor Pollock’s Rules–almost as good as Macawber

U.N. report: With 40M in poverty, U.S. most unequal developed nation

A study for the U.N. Human Rights Council has concluded 40 million people in the United States live in poverty — and more than half of those live in “extreme” or “absolute” poverty.

The 20-page report by Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, says U.S. policies benefit the rich and exacerbate poverty.

“The United States has the highest income inequality in the Western world, and this can only be made worse by the massive new tax cuts overwhelmingly benefiting the wealthy,” Alston said in a statement about the report.

The report cites vast numbers of middle-class Americans “perched on the edge,” with 40 percent of the adult population saying they would be unable to cover an unexpected $400 expense.

Alston criticized the Trump administration for stigmatizing the poor and saying those receiving government benefits are lazy and should be working. The report found just 7 percent of benefits recipients are not working.

“The statistics that are available show that the great majority of people who, for example, are on Medicaid, are either working in full-time work — around half of them — or they are in school or they are giving full-time care to others,” Alston said.

The report also criticized President Donald Trump‘s $1.5 trillion tax cut package, which Alston said overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy and worsens the situation for the poor.

“The share of the top 1 percent of the population in the United States has grown steadily in recent years,” the report notes. “In relation to both wealth and income the share of the bottom 90 percent has fallen in most of the past 25 years.  www.upi.com/amp/Top_News/US/2018/06/22/UN-report-With-40M-in-poverty-US-most-unequal-developed-nation/8671529664548/?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR1xmxesm624MhQ8Nm8TCw4Gl-8crmZUar-2O0Dy-5kD5SMUjGdeY0m2_rs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbaLZXEWrYY

The extremely loud and incredibly expensive renovations that have shattered a formerly quiet residential block in Manhattan.

In the middle of West 69th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, behind some scaffolding and a green wooden wall, stand a few precarious inches of facade. It is a Potemkin-like sop to local landmark laws, all that remains of two brownstones from an earlier Gilded Age that were leveled unceremoniously last summer.

A few years from now, this remnant will be grafted onto a mansion that may well cost $100 million by the time it’s finally finished. But for now, all they’re doing is digging.

Every morning at 8 o’clock sharp, the jackhammering begins. All day long the drilling and banging and beeping go on. Only on weekends and the holidays of the politically potent — Christmas and Rosh Hashana, for example, but not Martin Luther King’s Birthday — does it cease. It was supposed to end last December, then in February, then this month. Now, they say, it could last all summer.  www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/nyregion/gentrification-one-percent-manhattan.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

Below, Hillbillary and corrupt UAW Hack

Gangster Fiat Chrysler’s retooling of Mack Engine would mean 700 temporary layoffs

If city and state officials greenlight Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ plan to convert its Mack Avenue Engine factory in Detroit to an assembly plant, about 700 people who work there will be laid off.

Those layoffs, which would start May 30, would be temporary as FCA retools the Mack plant for future Jeep production, FCA said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) filed with the state of Michigan on April 1.

“FCA US anticipates that most, if not all, of the affected employees will have the opportunity to work at another FCA US location during the temporary closing of the plant,” said Jason Nault, FCA human resources manager. https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2019/04/05/fiat-chrysler-jeep-mack-engine-plant-layoffs/3358539002/

Below, “partners in production” corrupt UAW and FCA

Ford to transfer over 1,000 workers at Flat Rock assembly plant

Ford is expected to begin eliminating more than 1,000 jobs at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant beginning Monday. Those workers affected will be transferred to other locations in southeast Michigan.

The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement and The War on Reason

Guantánamo Trials Grapple With How Much Evidence to Allow About Torture

Seven years ago, when a former C.I.A. prisoner, Majid Khan, pleaded guilty at Guantánamo to being a courier for Al Qaeda, his lawyers were warned that any mention of the word “torture” would lead a court security officer to trigger a mute button so the public, listening on a 40-second delay, would not hear it.

This week the question of his treatment was front and center, this time in a pre-sentencing hearing. Mr. Khan’s lawyers asked a military judge on Monday to order prosecutors to produce evidence and witnesses about the secret prison network where the intelligence agency kept Mr. Khan incommunicado from March 2003 to September 2006.

“The material we seek, that is uniquely in the possession of the government, concerns Mr. Khan’s torture,” one of his lawyers, Katya Jestin, told the judge. “The C.I.A. torture program in this case, your honor, appears to be the third rail.”

No security officer hit the mute button. A red light on the judge’s bench used to signal a security breach never lit up.

Seventeen-and-a-half years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and a decade after President Barack Obama ordered the C.I.A. to dismantle any remnants of its global prison network, the military commission system is still wrestling with how to handle evidence of what the United States did to the Qaeda suspects it held at C.I.A. black sites. While the topic of torture can now be discussed in open court, there is still a dispute about how evidence of it can be gathered and used in the proceedings at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

By law, prosecutors cannot use evidence gained through torture — or any other involuntary statements — at the war court, where eight of Guantánamo’s 40 prisoners are accused of being complicit in terrorist attacks. Prosecutors have made clear that nothing the defendants said at the black sites will be used as evidence.  www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/us/politics/guantanamo-trials-torture.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

U.S. revokes ICC prosecutor’s entry visa over Afghanistan investigation

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The United States has revoked the entry visa of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, her office said on Thursday, a response to her inquiry into possible war crimes by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month the U.S. would withdraw or deny visas to ICC staff investigating such allegations against U.S. forces or their allies .

United Nations human rights experts called the reaction “improper interference” in the work of the world’s permanent war crimes court. It also drew criticism from within the European Union.

“We can confirm that the U.S. authorities have revoked the prosecutor’s visa for entry into the U.S.,” Bensouda’s office told Reuters in an e-mail.

It said it understood the move should not impact Bensouda’s travel to the U.S. to meet her United Nations obligations.  www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-icc-prosecutor/u-s-revokes-icc-prosecutors-entry-visa-over-afghanistan-investigation-idUSKCN1RG2NP

Highlander Center: ‘White-power’ graffiti found spray-painted at scene of massive fire

Graffiti associated with the “white-power movement” was found at the scene of the massive fire that destroyed the main offices of the Highlander Education and Research Center in New Market, Tennessee, the nonprofit said Tuesday.

The graffiti was found spray-painted in the parking lot outside the main office, according to a news release. The building was destroyed in a fire early Friday, along with decades of archives housed inside.

“While we do not know the names of the culprits, we know that the white power movement has been increasing and consolidating power across the South, across the nation, and globally,” the release states.  nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/highlander-center-fire-destroys-building-not-its-mission.html

American Dystopia: The State, Surveillance, and Illusion of Choice

A new series from The Intercept, “The Threat Within,” takes a deep dive into examining federal terrorism prosecutions in the United States since 9/11. This week on Intercepted: The Intercept’s Alice Speri discusses her investigation into the FBI’s creation of the term “black identity extremist” and explains why this label is so dangerous. Science fiction author Cory Doctorow walks us through the dystopian, yet highly plausible, futures in his new book “Radicalized.” Doctorow also breaks down the newly passed European Copyright Directive and its implications for the internet as we know it. Plus, Katie Alice Greer of the band Priests describes how history and mythology influenced their new record, “The Seduction of Kansas.”

Donald J. Trump [at press conference]: Obamacare is dead. Obamacare is in a total death spiral. The dead carcass of Obamacare.

[Scary music plays.]

DJT: The Republican Party will become the party of great healthcare. It’s good.

Steve McQueen as Steve Andrews: Now, this thing, it killed the doc.

John Benson as Sgt. Jim Bert: Well, what was it?

SM: It’s kind of like a mass. It keeps getting bigger and bigger.

DJT: The Republican Party will soon be known as the party of healthcare.theintercept.com/2019/04/03/american-dystopia-the-state-surveillance-and-illusion-of-choice/?utm_source=The+Intercept+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ba3cbdfbf8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e00a5122d3-ba3cbdfbf8-131514793

Movie Announcer: And this is the shocking result.

Solidarity for Never

See Ya ISO, playpen of Jessie Sharkey, Mike Davis and opportunists everywhere: The collapse of the International Socialist Organization

The International Socialist Organization is collapsing just over a month after its national convention, amidst factionally instigated denunciations of sexual assault and cover-up.

In the midst of a vicious purge of long-time leaders, ISO members have been stampeded into voting for a resolution, proposed by the surviving leadership, “for building a new model of revolutionary socialism” that begins with “develop[ing] a process for dissolving the ISO.” The membership also voted to shut down, within the next two weeks, the organization’s principal publication, SocialistWorker.org. These decisions effectively liquidate the International Socialist Organization.

The ISO’s collapse has taken place with extraordinary speed. The chronology of the crisis leaves no doubt that the collapse was instigated by a factional conspiracy organized by a section of the leadership, which was implemented in two stages.

The operation began barely one month ago. In late February, the ISO held its annual convention. A statement posted March 15 on SocialistWorker.org describes the event as the “most painful” in the history of the organization. The convention, according to the statement, was “devoted to reckoning with the damaging impacts of our past practices and internal political culture.”  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/02/inte-a02.html

“I wasn’t perfect,’ guilty UAW exec Jewell tells judge

Norwood Jewell, the disgraced former United Auto Workers vice president, pleaded guilty to breaking federal labor laws Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking labor leader convicted in an ongoing investigation of corruption within the U.S. auto industry.

The plea to one count of labor conspiracy capped a prolonged downward spiral for one of the most powerful leaders of the UAW but spares him from cooperating with an ongoing investigation that has embroiled his former boss, retired UAW President Dennis Williams.

As prosecutors spent the last two years securing the convictions of six former UAW officials and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives, Jewell was repeatedly referenced in court records as living a luxury lifestyle, including a coast-to-coast spree of $7,000 steakhouse dinners, $30,000 cigar and wine parties and months-long stays at California golf resorts, all bankrolled by Fiat Chrysler executives intent on wringing concessions from him at the bargaining table.

With a pinky ring on his left hand and a grim expression dominating a face notable for a trademark Chevron mustache, Jewell, 61, stood before U.S. District Judge Paul Borman and admitted receiving thousands of dollars worth of illegal benefits from Fiat Chrysler executives.

“I wasn’t perfect,” Jewell told the judge. “I was getting stuff from Chrysler and I can’t do that.”  www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/chrysler/2019/04/02/uaw-legal-fees-rise-amid-corruption-scandal-jewell/3331454002/

NYC teachers union honcho ousted in office sex scandal: sources

SEIU Runs the Corporate Playbook

Dave Jamieson wrote an excellent piece in the Huffington Post last week about the contract dispute between the Service Employees International Union and its own employees. The staff authorized a strike at the union’s headquarters in DC should it become necessary.

Read all of Jamieson’s article if you want a taste of how labor unions can behave when they are in the role of management. Here are a few highlights:

* Management’s talking points include the assertion that SEIU “will be well prepared to conduct the business of our members without interruption in the event of a strike.”

* SEIU wants to institute a two-tier system for job security.

* SEIU wants to split its headquarters staff and pension fund staff into two separate bargaining units.

* The size of the staff has already been cut by 25 percent over the last five years.

* The union spent the same amount on two public relations firms as it did on staff salaries.  www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2019/04/02/seiu-runs-the-corporate-playbook/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Intercepts+%28Intercepts%29

Security chief: corruption was protected, supported at highest levels

Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo told a conference Saturday in Sonora that criminal organizations in Mexico have grown and thrived as a direct result of protection and support from the highest levels of government in the country.

“Corruption in our country was designed and managed from Los Pinos,” he said, referring to what was the official residence of the president until the change of government last December 1.

Durazo recalled that in 2000 Mexico ranked 53rd in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s corruption rankings. By last year, Mexico has sunk to 138, which the security chief described as a grade “worthy of a Nobel Prize.”

Durazo also said that violence of the last two decades has reached levels not seen since the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century.

During the conference, called “The importance of the business sector in public security strategy,” the nation’s head of security said that nation-wide insecurity has taken a significant financial toll on business owners.

“The World Economic Forum estimates that insecurity costs Mexico 21.9% of its GDP.”  mexiconewsdaily.com/news/corruption-was-protected-supported-at-highest-levels/?utm_source=Mexico+News+Today&utm_campaign=b8d257dfc3-MNT+apr01-2019&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f1536a3787-b8d257dfc3-349631657

Spy versus Spy

China’s 5 Steps for Recruiting Spies

Beware of Chinese spies offering laptops, women, or educational stipends—and especially watch out for odd LinkedIn requests.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department unsealed new charges against 10 Chinese intelligence officers and hackers who it says perpetrated a years-long scheme to steal trade secrets from aerospace companies. The case continues an impressive tempo from the Justice Department, as it continues to try curb China’s massive, wide-ranging, and long-running espionage campaign. In fact, it’s the third time since September alone that the US government has charged Chinese intelligence officers and spies, including one of its biggest coups in years: The extradition earlier this month of an alleged Chinese intelligence officer, caught in Europe, who will face a US courtroom.

That arrest marks the first time the US has prosecuted an officer of China’s Ministry of State Security. The feds believe that the suspect, Yanjun Xu, spent years cultivating a person he thought was a potential asset inside GE Aviation, which makes closely held jet engine technology.  www.wired.com/story/china-spy-recruitment-us/

The Magical Mystery Tour

Polish priests burn parishioners’ ‘Harry Potter’ books

Warsaw, Poland – Priests at a Catholic parish in northern Poland have drawn criticism after they burned books, including from the “Harry Potter” series, and other items that their owners said had evil forces.

Images from the burning at Gdansk’s Mother of Church parish on Sunday were posted on Facebook by Catholic foundation SMS z Nieba (SMS from Heaven,) which uses unconventional means to carry out its religious work.

In the pictures, flames are consuming an African wooden mask, a small Buddhist figure, figurines of elephants and books on personality and magic, as well as those by J.K. Rowling. They were all brought in by parishioners, who were encouraged by the priests to clear their homes of objects that had evil forces. Influential in Poland, the Catholic Church objects to “Harry Potter” books, which are international best-sellers, saying they promote sorcery.

In the photos, priests and altar boys can be seen watching the burning objects.  The foundation said the book burning was intended to alert parishioners to bad influences that it says come from magic and the occult  www.detroitnews.com/story/news/world/2019/04/02/book-burning-poland/39286923/

www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/01/mich-church-pastor-charged-sexual-assaults-men/39286039/

Mich. church pastor charged in sexual assaults of 2 men

Traverse City – The pastor of a church in northern Michigan has been charged in the sexual assault of two men after they allegedly were given drugs.

The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports that 41-year-old Christopher Cox was arraigned Monday on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of delivering or manufacturing methamphetamine.

Court records show the alleged assaults occurred March 12 and in October at Cox’s Traverse City home. The March 12 accuser told authorities his life was threatened if he told anyone about the incident.

Cox is jailed on a $100,000 bond. Cox’s attorney, Paul Jarboe, told The Associated Press that he has not “been provided with any law enforcement reports to reply to the allegations.”

Cox is pastor of Long Lake Church in Traverse City.  www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/01/mich-church-pastor-charged-sexual-assaults-men/39286039/

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=302170257098818&t=121

The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World

www.facebook.com/Brentterhune/videos/2091901427525915/?t=115

Alan Lomax’s Massive Music Archive Is Online: Features 17,000 Historic Blues & Folk Recordings

A huge treasure trove of songs and interviews recorded by the legendary folklorist Alan Lomax from the 1940s into the 1990s have been digitized and made available online for free listening. The Association for Cultural Equity, a nonprofit organization founded by Lomax in the 1980s, has posted some 17,000 recordings. When you click to this page, see the navigation on the right.

“For the first time,” Cultural Equity Executive Director Don Fleming told NPR’s Joel Rose, “everything that we’ve digitized of Alan’s field recording trips are online, on our Web site. It’s every take, all the way through. False takes, interviews, music.”  www.openculture.com/2019/04/alan-lomaxs-massive-music-archive-is-online.html?fbclid=IwAR2ayFDazph1W-WmQFSJ7M1CeDGsgNHCVe_sveGci-ofljAonYeHdAJJlJY

www.facebook.com/the.Beligian.Malinois/videos/1744396829000162/?t=33

Suspected rhino poacher killed by elephant then eaten by lions in South Africa, authorities say

www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/suspected-rhino-poacher-killed-by-elephant-then-eaten-by-lions-in-south-africa-authorities-say/ar-BBVGBcT?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280&fbclid=IwAR25jA1wlKUI88g7j_YGFHk-JPZ2G0eL01GPMVv1a-D9oj-L5G4zjMgM9a0

 

So Long

Detroit TV’s Ron ‘The Ghoul’ Sweed dies at age 70