{"id":22348,"date":"2018-12-16T00:07:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T08:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=22348"},"modified":"2018-12-16T00:07:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T08:07:07","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-ever-more-unfit-to-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-ever-more-unfit-to-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Ever More Unfit to Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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French Workers Go on General Strike in Support of Yellow Vests<\/h1>\n

\u00a0In solidarity with the popular \u2018yellow vests\u2019 movement, France\u2019s workers have gone on national strike Friday, a move called by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT).<\/em><\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The best way to protest is to go on strike,\u201d the CGT\u2019s Philippe Martinez told BFM TV Friday. \u201cWe must multiply actions at companies. We must strike everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

The French trade union announced the day of action Tuesday after negotiations with the government over unemployment benefits failed.<\/p>\n

“The CGT, like the yellow vests, is fighting for claims on salaries, what (French president Emmanuel) Macron announced is not enough because there isn’t any general raise in salaries,\u201d Union representative for health workers Francoise Doriate told Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minimum wage isn’t a minimum wage… the increase of an income tax on only a part of pensioners is a scam and there is a freeze on pensions which means we are losing buying power.”<\/p>\n

On Monday, President Macron announced wage rises for the poorest workers and tax cuts for pensioners in further concessions meant to quell weeks of often violent protests that have challenged his authority. However, the government\u2019s decision has been seen by some as a sham.\u00a0 www.telesurenglish.net\/news\/French-Workers-Go-on-General-Strike-in-Support-of-Yellow-Vests-20181214-0009.html?fbclid=IwAR2b_zvMdem97a25HHJqvtaJw1O07ETymVGUmqAm_cL25c26MJL-Yf0mPig<\/a><\/p>\n

www.facebook.com\/SputnikNews\/videos\/1013168728869319\/<\/a><\/p>\n

www.facebook.com\/craig.gordon.1428\/videos\/10157991750962519\/?t=59<\/a><\/p>\n

Yellow Vest protesters erect a GUILLOTINE in Paris bearing French President’s political party name amid revolt that has forced Macron to address the furious nation Monday evening<\/h2>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Yellow Vest protesters in Paris erected a guillotine bearing the name of Emmanuel Macron’s political party in a direct threat to the under-fire French President.<\/p>\n

The move came as the country’s finance minister warned the violent protests sweeping the country are a ‘catastrophe’ for the nation’s economy.<\/p>\n

The demonstrators torched cars, vandalised and looted shops and restaurants, and hurled stones in a fourth weekend of protests in Paris.\u00a0 www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-6477953\/Yellow-Vest-protesters-erect-GUILLOTINE-bearing-French-Presidents-political-party-amid-riots.html?fbclid=IwAR1lAlcS9L5tvtWcC6fvOg6RzXd4qikik20mMTWjsWOEBb3tdxe4lGHk-IU<\/a><\/p>\n

Police arrest roughly 17 members of CUNY’s faculty union during contract rally<\/h1>\n

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Police arrested roughly 17 leaders of the City University of New York\u2019s faculty and staff union after they blocked the entrance of Baruch College \u2014 where the CUNY board of trustees was meeting \u2014 to demand a fair contract.<\/p>\n

“We are going to block the CUNY doors unless they give us the contract we need,” Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, shouted ahead of the action.<\/p>\n

The leaders from PSC \u2014 which represents more than 30,000 full-time and adjunct faculty and staff \u2014 blocked the main entrance of Baruch on 24th Street and Lexington Avenue late Monday afternoon. Protesters hoped to pressure the board to push city and state leaders for funding to offer faculty and staff competitive salaries as well as raise the pay for adjuncts from $3,500 to $7,000 a course.<\/p>\n

The arrested leaders included Bowen, the PSC vice president and secretary, along with local campus leaders and union executive council members.<\/p>\n

Members of the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group were seen arresting the union members as roughly 200 other protesters yelled in support of the action. Officers could be heard saying that the leaders would be arrested for disorderly conduct if they did not move.\u00a0 www.politico.com\/states\/new-york\/city-hall\/story\/2018\/12\/10\/police-arrest-roughly-17-members-of-cunys-faculty-union-during-contract-rally-736620<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Wildcat Underground<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Oakland, California<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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www.wildcatunderground.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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www.google.com\/search?q=oakland+wildcat&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwisvOaE76PfAhVVHjQIHUU5D00Q_AUIDigB&biw=1280&bih=888#imgrc=ExBkxbtQ0w4eiM<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Indonesia\u2019s Forgotten Bloodbath<\/h1>\n

Cold War Crime and Cover-Up<\/h2>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

In The Killing Season<\/em>, an authoritative and harrowing account of the massacres in Indonesia and their aftermath, Geoffrey Robinson seeks to recover this episode from historical oblivion. Robinson, a history professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who previously worked for Amnesty International, tempers his indignation with scholarly rigor. Confronted with a void, he fills it with archival citations. What emerges is a scathing and persuasive indictment of the Indonesian military and the foreign powers\u2014especially the United States and the United Kingdom\u2014that were complicit in the brutality.<\/p>\n

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Comic Strip of Alan Watts’ Lecture: What If Money Was No\u00a0Object?<\/h1>\n

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www.filmsforaction.org\/articles\/what-if-money-was-no-object\/?fbclid=IwAR163XfDzx7HcohYzRBCGuKj9zRCgVknqwZ-o0LJJHFWNjWxwt21F9iGPEI<\/a><\/p>\n

Kaiser psych employees start five-day statewide strike<\/h1>\n

\"Kaiser<\/p>\n

Kaiser Permanente<\/a> San Diego has rescheduled an unspecified number of non-urgent mental health appointments this week due to a five-day statewide strike over a range of issues from staffing and resource management to pay and benefits.<\/p>\n

Though its San Diego-area hospital emergency rooms remained open to handle urgent psychiatric illnesses, Jennifer Dailard, a spokeswoman for Kaiser San Diego, said in an email that the strike made it necessary to pull back on office-based care.\u00a0 www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/health\/sd-no-kaiser-strike-20181210-story.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Border Angels below, thirty two arrested at SW US border<\/h1>\n

www.facebook.com\/SputnikNews\/videos\/2322263881335392\/?t=17<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

More U.S. University Presidents Rake in Millions of Dollars<\/h1>\n
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Lucrative packages\u00a0rise\u00a0as the\u00a0student loan crisis worsens. Clinton nemesis Ken\u00a0Starr tops the latest list\u2014with an asterisk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As tuition continues to rise and the U.S. student debt crisis intensifies, some private college presidents are bringing home more money than ever. Sixty-one of them, to be exact, are being paid more than $1 million.<\/p>\n

That figure, from the Chronicle of Higher Education\u2019s ranking of compensation<\/a> for the heads of U.S. colleges, is up from the previous year\u2019s total of 58 million-dollar winners. Former Baylor University president Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who pursued President Bill Clinton, led the pack for 2016, the latest year for which data are available\u2014but there should be a big asterisk next to his name.<\/p>\n

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Ken\u00a0Starr<\/div>\n
Photographer: David Scull<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The former Baylor University president saw his compensation more than triple to $4.9 million due to his severance agreement with the school, according to the report, published Sunday. Starr left after an investigation found that the university mishandled sexual assault allegations against football players. In 2015, he was 29th on the list.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-12-09\/more-u-s-university-presidents-rake-in-millions-of-dollars?fbclid=IwAR0fV_wLt3v20aZ_dfjr6Hdk8v181M-CNdP1ftuC-P2sHzLUPpRwwXJFtSs<\/a><\/p>\n

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There is an abundance of rankings of US institutions of higher education. In compiling the\u00a0100 most militarized schools in America<\/a>, we did not endeavor to determine the “best” of anything. We instead calculated what universities and colleges had the closest ties to US national security, in terms of education and training, and ranked them accordingly. To do that, we asked the essential questions: What schools did the people who work in and around US intelligence attend, and what did they study?<\/p>\n

To determine this, we started with a unique dataset of resumes of more than 90,000 people who have worked for, in, and around the Intelligence Community (IC) since 9\/11. These include military personnel, government civilian employees, and contractors at the federal, state, and local levels. The criteria for inclusion in the dataset is the possession of a Top Secret clearance or, in cases where an individual did not identify his or her security clearance level, direct employment in one of the 17 agencies that comprise the IC. Apart from the overwhelming number of resumes that explicitly identify a Top Secret clearance, we have used material evidence, including job announcements and descriptions, to deduce that everyone who works in a “substantive” job in the national intelligence program has a Top Secret clearance.\u00a0 news.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/ywjbpj\/the-most-militarized-universities-in-america-our-ranking-methodology-explained<\/a><\/p>\n

Completely Rebuilt Lincoln High School was designed to fail<\/h1>\n

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A father of two former Lincoln High School<\/a> students says San Diego Unified School District filed false criminal charges against him after he started speaking out against the district for their failures to protect children in schools. He says he wants San Diegans to know the true nature of the people overseeing their children\u2019s education. But he withholds his full name because he and his family have been through a nightmare they don\u2019t wish to relive.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall me SD,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Bullies vs. brothers<\/strong><\/p>\n

On September 28, 2017, SD Harris and T Daniels were at home with their oldest son, a 16-year-old junior at Lincoln High School, who was browsing videos on Snapchat.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at Lincoln High School, the bell rang and their younger son, a 15-year-old honor roll student, walked down the hallways of education, eager to learn about the world and his place in it. But he didn\u2019t make it to his next class. He was jumped by a group of bullies, one of whom stood by and recorded the attack. The video was uploaded to the internet and went viral.<\/p>\n

As the eldest son browsed the video sharing site at home, he saw the fight. Then he noticed the face of the victim \u2014 it was his younger brother. Terrified, he ran to tell his parents.<\/p>\n

Harris and Daniels rushed down Imperial Avenue to Lincoln. On their way, they tried calling the office repeatedly. Nobody answered. Nobody called back. When they arrived to evac their younger son, the office staff was clueless about the fight.<\/p>\n

Harris and Daniels say the video shows security guards standing idly by during the attack. The principal was nowhere to be found. They were assured he would call them. He never did.<\/p>\n

Over the next couple of months, both brothers were repeatedly harassed and threatened by the same group of bullies.<\/p>\n

In the past, Lincoln staff members have suffered the wrath of principal Jose Soto Ramos and vice principal Myeshia Whigham when they spoke out about problems that needed to be solved. A few have joined Harris and Daniels to expose what has been happening at the school, but they ask for anonymity. \u201cWhigham and Soto don\u2019t do anything without each other. It\u2019s really bizarre,\u201d says one. Another says that while Whigham projects strict authority, Soto lets people do whatever they want, except speak out about problems at Lincoln.<\/p>\n

They all agree that for the better part of a year, the two top Lincoln administrators allowed a gang of bullies to rampage across campus, seemingly with impunity. Multiple victims were left in their wake. Incident after incident followed the attack on Harris\u2019 and Daniel\u2019s son. Some Lincoln insiders say the main bully was especially hostile toward the two brothers while enjoying special protection from Whigham.\u00a0 www.sandiegoreader.com\/news\/2018\/dec\/12\/lincoln-high-school-was-designed-fail\/#<\/a><\/p>\n

San Ysidro School District still waiting on refund for $276,000 program that never happened<\/h1>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been two months since inewsource<\/em> reported<\/a> that the San Ysidro School District was trying to recoup some or all of the $276,000 it paid for an after-school program that never happened, but so far it hasn\u2019t received any reimbursement.<\/p>\n

The Greater San Diego After-School All-Stars, a nonprofit run by Tyree Dillingham, was given a no-bid contract in 2016 to provide a yearlong sports and cheer program for more than 1,600 San Ysidro students. The district canceled the contract<\/a> three months later when no program had started.<\/p>\n

District officials first requested reimbursement from the company in 2016 under former Superintendent Julio Fonseca, and again this past October when inewsource<\/em> began asking questions about the payment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe District\u2019s legal counsel is still in the process of negotiating the details of the reimbursement with Ms. Dillingham and her attorney,\u201d district spokesman Francisco Mata told inewsource in a statement<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n

Mata did not answer questions about how much money the district has asked to be refunded or what has caused negotiations to last more than two months.\u00a0 inewsource.org\/2018\/12\/11\/san-ysidro-school-district-refund\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The Learning Curve: Unfunded Pension Liabilities, the Gift San Diego Keeps on Giving Itself<\/h1>\n

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An audit that found $400 million worth of pension debt on San Diego Unified\u2019s books. Board members were told about the audit at the same meeting where they also learned they may need to cut $37 million from next year\u2019s budget and an additional $38 million the following year.<\/p>\n

Pension debt is like a snowball rolling down a hill in a far-off forest. No one notices it until it crashes through the tree line and is heading straight for the ski lodge full of hundreds of people (or teachers\u2019 jobs in this case).<\/p>\n

Why, you might ask, are so many districts in the state facing perpetual budget cuts, even as the state has been making large spending increases in education each year for the last several years? Well, a few things:<\/p>\n

One: The increases aren\u2019t exactly increases like you might think. The state has actually been making these large \u201cincreases\u201d to make up for post-recession cuts. This is the first year local school districts have received pre-recession levels of funding.<\/p>\n

But two: That doesn\u2019t totally explain it. School districts also made lots of cuts during the recession, so in theory they should only be adding back to their budgets now, not taking away.<\/p>\n

Three: This is the real problem. Districts costs are increasing faster than the money coming from the state. Special education costs are going up. Mandated pension costs are going up. And to boot, lots of districts like San Diego Unified are shedding students. One less kid, means that much less money from the state.<\/p>\n

Finally: There is one cost districts can control. It\u2019s a cost they don\u2019t want to talk about and they probably think I\u2019m part of the alt-right for talking about it. (Will H. is funded by Michael Blooberg and Wal-Mart, they will say!) What I\u2019m talking about is teacher raises.\u00a0 www.voiceofsandiego.org\/topics\/education\/the-learning-curve-unfunded-pension-liabilities-the-gift-san-diego-keeps-on-giving-itself\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Too few Michigan students are showing up to school. This study says fix unstable housing, not schools. Remember Jean Anyon!<\/h1>\n

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All of the educational techniques that have ever been tried have one thing in common. They don\u2019t work if the students don\u2019t show up.<\/p>\n

Michigan is learning this firsthand. \u00a0It has the nation\u2019s sixth-worst rate of chronic absenteeism: Fifteen percent of Michigan students miss 1 in 10 school days. The state\u2019s policymakers have responded by tying consequences for schools to their attendance rates.<\/p>\n

However, a new study suggests that the most important solutions start with the family. Using new data on student homelessness, researchers at Poverty Solutions, a project at the University of Michigan, found that housing instability is by far the largest predictor of chronic absenteeism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to actually improve attendance, we need to think about how poverty and homelessness are contributing to kids\u2019 being absent,\u201d said Jennifer Erb-Downward, a research fellow at Poverty Solutions who co-authored the study.<\/p>\n

Other factors like race and poverty also predict whether a student will show up regularly for school, but housing insecurity has the largest effect by far, according to the study.<\/p>\n

Consider the Detroit city district, the Michigan district that has been hit hardest<\/a> by declining school attendance. Its rate of chronic absenteeism for all students is 56 percent \u2014 already a staggering number of missed school days.<\/p>\n

The rate for homeless students? Eighty-six percent.\u00a0 chalkbeat.org\/posts\/detroit\/2018\/12\/06\/too-few-michigan-students-are-showing-up-to-school-this-study-says-fix-unstable-housing-not-schools\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Private School Superintendent and Teacher Resign<\/h1>\n

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Late Wednesday, Coastal Christian Academy posted on Facebook<\/a> an email it had sent parents announcing that the superintendent of the school and the teacher who were subjects of our story Monday<\/a> have resigned. The school\u2019s Cathy Dobbs wrote:<\/p>\n

As discussed at yesterday\u2019s meeting, both Mr. Cates and Mr. Brady have resigned and are no longer at the school.<\/p>\n

I have had the pleasure of teaching your elementary school children for the past 1 1\/2 years, and during that time I have also assisted the Superintendent on several occasions on various matters at Coastal. With that, I have been appointed as the acting Superintendent of Coastal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

VOSD\u2019s Kayla Jimenez reported Monday that school officials in Oceanside had substantiated multiple incidents of misconduct by Brady against students, as well as harassment complaints made by Brady\u2019s female coworkers, and that he\u2019d found employment at Coastal Christian Academy despite his teaching credential being revoked over those incidents.\u00a0 www.voiceofsandiego.org\/topics\/news\/morning-report-the-city-said-it-had-no-lead-pipes-the-truth-is-it-doesnt-know\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sleepless No More In Seattle \u2014 Later School Start Time Pays Off For Teens<\/h1>\n

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Many American teenagers try to put in a full day of school, homework, after-school activities, sports and college prep on too little sleep<\/a>. As evidence grows that chronic sleep deprivation puts teens at risk<\/a> for physical and mental health problems, there is increasing pressure on school districts around the country to consider a later start time.<\/p>\n

In Seattle, school and city officials recently made the shift. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the district moved the official start times for middle and high schools nearly an hour later, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. This was no easy feat; it meant rescheduling extracurricular activities and bus routes. But the bottom line goal was met: Teenagers used the extra time to sleep in.<\/p>\n

Researchers at the University of Washington studied the high school students both before and after the start-time change. Their findings appear in a study published Wednesday <\/a>in the journal Science Advances<\/em>. They found students got 34 minutes more sleep on average with the later school start time. This boosted their total nightly sleep from 6 hours and 50 minutes to 7 hours and 24 minutes. www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2018\/12\/12\/676118782\/sleepless-no-more-in-seattle-later-school-start-time-pays-off-for-teens?fbclid=IwAR1UKi6OGMUD2xAHwn8Y8YDicYN3PrfrE5AVV23GaX7MEr6VOGP8gePKLno<\/a><\/p>\n

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Yemeni Dead: Six Times Higher Than Previously Reported<\/a><\/h1>\n

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The number of people killed by the violence in\u00a0Yemen<\/a>\u00a0has for the first time risen above 3,000 dead in a single month, bringing the total number of fatalities to over 60,000 since the start of 2016. The figure is six times greater than the out-of-date figure of 10,000 dead often cited in the media and by politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have recorded 3,068 people killed in November, bringing the total number of Yemenis who have died in the violence to 60,223 since January 2016,\u201d says Andrea Carboni, a researcher on Yemen for the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), formerly based at Sussex University, that studies conflicts and seeks to establish the real casualty level.<\/p>\n

The figures do not include the Yemenis who have died through starvation or\u00a0malnutrition<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the country is on the brink of famine,\u00a0according to the UN<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 or from illnesses caused by the war such as\u00a0cholera<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This number of Yemenis dying in the war has been played down by the Saudi and UAE-led coalition, which has active military support from the US, UK and France, and has an interest in minimising the human cost of the conflict. The coalition has been trying since March 2015 to reinstate in power\u00a0Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, whose government had been overthrown by the rebel Houthi movement in late 2014.\u00a0 www.counterpunch.org\/2018\/12\/14\/the-yemeni-dead-six-times-higher-than-previously-reported\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The head of US special operations is putting out new guidance following ethics concerns, high-profile scandals in his force<\/h1>\n

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In the midst of a Defense Department review of U.S. Special Operations Command<\/a>, including a dissection of the organizations ethics programs, the four-star in charge of all American special operations troops is calling for an in-house analysis starting in the new year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In an email to the force sent Wednesday morning, Army Gen. Tony Thomas<\/a> alluded to a raft of alleged criminal activity<\/a> that has put his special operations forces in the headlines in recent months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cA survey of allegations of serious misconduct across our formations over the last year indicate that USSOCOM faces a deeper challenge of a disordered view of the team and the individual in our SOF culture,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Thomas and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict Owen West are calling for a 90-day review to focus on the organization\u2019s core values and identify where they might be falling short.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cLeft unchecked, a disordered value system threatens to erode the trust of our fellow comrades, our senior leaders, and ultimately the American people. Correcting this trend will take committed leadership at all levels of our command and personal moral courage by all,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0 www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2018\/12\/13\/the-head-of-us-special-operations-is-putting-out-new-guidance-following-ethics-concerns-high-profile-scandals-in-his-force\/?utm_campaign=Socialflow+MAR&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR25HDCsHIdFhnhtxBDOHEA4czwZ0Nyt1Y8TlHPdDJLWRadYHGQsTxvTVpg<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bill to extend Agent Orange benefits to U.S. Navy Vietnam vets dies in U.S. Senate<\/h1>\n