{"id":24429,"date":"2019-11-23T23:08:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T07:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=24429"},"modified":"2019-11-24T02:15:09","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T10:15:09","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-genius-is-the-impudent-assumption-of-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-genius-is-the-impudent-assumption-of-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Genius is the Impudent Assumption of Power!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Indiana teachers make sea of red outside statehouse<\/h1>\n

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Thousands of Indiana educators are rallying outside the statehouse Tuesday morning in what they\u2019re calling Red for Ed action day.<\/p>\n

Teacher unions say about half of Indiana\u2019s nearly 300 school districts will be closed Tuesday while their teachers attend the rally as legislators head to work.<\/p>\n

Fort Wayne Community Schools<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0East Allen County Schools<\/a>\u00a0joined the list of districts closing their doors.<\/p>\n

Northwest Allen County Schools and Southwest Allen County Schools plan to remain open and take part in \u201cWalk-ins,\u201d where teachers are encouraged to wear the color red.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s rally includes a meeting with lawmakers, a march on the statehouse grounds and teachers sharing stories.<\/p>\n

Teacher unions say members are frustrated over seeing little or no pay raises in a decade but face additional demands from the state.\u00a0 wpta21.com\/news\/top-stories\/2019\/11\/19\/indiana-teachers-make-sea-of-red-outside-statehouse\/?fbclid=IwAR1VuuqyGod432-CueWHC9oo3TTsg_NYap7rSRKyqomM_BrzSLiMFs6nv6I<\/a><\/p>\n

Two, Three, Many Uprisings: Chile, Ecuador, Algeria, Haiti, Lebanon, Sudan, Hong Kong and in the USA? Rumblings…<\/span><\/h1>\n
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\"Critics<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Bolivia interim president announces peace talks amid renewed fury over deaths<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/cite>Interim Bolivian President Jeanine A\u00f1ez has agreed to meet with opposition groups Saturday to “bring peace to the country” after weeks of deadly political clashes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Public Works Minister Yerko Nunez said the meeting will take place Saturday about 4 p.m. (local time) at Palacio Quemado, the presidential residence in La Paz.<\/div>\n
The social movements who agreed to the dialogue were organized under the Bolivian Workers’ Center, a trade union federation.<\/div>\n
The meeting was announced as the Bolivian capital of La Paz <\/a>has become increasingly isolated after five weeks of violent political clashes that have left more than 30 people dead, according to the country’s ombudsman.<\/div>\n
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Supporters of former President Evo Morales, who stepped down earlier this month after mass protests and at the suggestion of the military, have set up roadblocks across the country and particularly around La Paz. They’re demanding the resignation of A\u00f1ez and calling for Morales to return to power.<\/div>\n
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“We are going to continue until she’s gone,” said Lucio Kesper, 65, referring to A\u00f1ez, while manning one of the blockades in the outskirts of the city.\u00a0\u00a0 www.cnn.com\/2019\/11\/22\/americas\/bolivia-protests-el-alto-intl\/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2KV6qumhn1xY_SKTkaUyIxI7BLaKFKo2K-S2VPqzMtcuTffbk-NzipZ1Q<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Mourners<\/div>\n
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‘What happened was a massacre’: grief and rage in Bolivia after day of deadly violence<\/h1>\n

T<\/span><\/span>ears filled Primitivo Quisbert\u2019s bloodshot eyes as he contemplated his son\u2019s swollen, lifeless face \u2013 and why someone else\u2019s struggle for political supremacy had condemned his child to an early grave.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so painful, se\u00f1or<\/em>. So very painful,\u201d the 61-year-old carpenter sobbed. \u201cJust look at what they have done to my boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before him, on a church\u2019s wooden pew, lay the body of Pedro Quisbert Mamani, 37, a factory worker and father of two \u2013 and one of at least eight young Bolivians killed on Tuesday when the country\u2019s political crisis exploded into deadly violence in the city of El Alto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nearby lay another five bodies, their feet poking from blankets or flags, their names and ages printed on A4 sheets placed on top of the corpses. \u201cJoel Colque Patty, 22\u201d; \u201cDevi Posto Cusi, 34\u201d; \u201cAntonio Ronald Quispe Ticona, 23\u201d; \u201cClemente Eloy Mamani Santander, 23\u201d; \u201cJuan Jose Tenorio Mamani, 23\u201d. www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=24429&action=edit&classic-editor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Google workers protest suspensions of activist employees<\/h1>\n

About 200 Google employees and other tech workers assembled outside the company\u2019s downtown San Francisco office on Friday to call for the reinstatement of two workers placed on leave this month for reasons they claim are connected to their internal activism.<\/p>\n

The protesters accused the company of suspending the employees, Laurence Berland and Rebecca Rivers, to intimidate and silence others inside the Alphabet-owned internet giant who have spoken out on a variety of issues including the company\u2019s pursuit of defense contracts and decreasing internal transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur co-workers…have been on the front lines of this struggle for freedom and good jobs for all here at Google,\u201d Stephanie Parker, a Google employee and one of the organizers of a November 2018 walkout by 20,000 Googlers<\/a>, said at the rally. \u201cTheir reward? Google has suspended them from their jobs and interrogated them for speaking out. We are here today to show them our support and demand that Google bring them back immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company said the employees were placed on administrative leave as they are investigated for violating company policy by accessing and sharing documents they did not have permissions for and tracking the publicly shared calendar of other employees on the communications and human resources teams. Sleuthing by staffers on calendar entries reportedly revealed<\/a> Google\u2019s hiring of a law firm known for its work against unionization campaigns.\u00a0\u00a0 www.latimes.com\/business\/technology\/story\/2019-11-22\/google-workers-rally-activists-protests?fbclid=IwAR3hcfA-6Sq9le2mds_60n0pi4mePqO9F7dvFDoTxw-1vUHjrjtMmvMIo08<\/a><\/p>\n

The Invention of Thanksgiving<\/h1>\n

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Massacres, myths, and the making of the great November holiday.<\/h2>\n

Autumn is the season for Native America. There are the cool nights and warm days of Indian summer and the genial query \u201cWhat\u2019s Indian about this weather?\u201d More wearisome is the annual fight over the legacy of Christopher Columbus\u2014a bold explorer dear to Italian-American communities, but someone who brought to this continent forms of slavery that would devastate indigenous populations for centuries. Football season is in full swing, and the team in the nation\u2019s capital revels each week in a racist performance passed off as \u201cjust good fun.\u201d As baseball season closes, one prays that Atlanta (or even semi-evolved Cleveland) will not advance to the World Series. Next up is Halloween, typically featuring \u201cNative American Brave\u201d and \u201cSexy Indian Princess\u201d costumes. November brings Native American Heritage Month and tracks a smooth countdown to Thanksgiving. In the elementary-school curriculum, the holiday traditionally meant a pageant, with students in construction-paper headdresses and Pilgrim hats re\u00ebnacting the original celebration. If today\u2019s teachers aim for less pageantry and a slightly more complicated history, many students still complete an American education unsure about the place of Native people in the nation\u2019s past\u2014or in its present. Cap the season off with Thanksgiving, a turkey dinner, and a fable of interracial harmony. Is it any wonder that by the time the holiday arrives a lot of American Indian people are thankful that autumn is nearly over?<\/p>\n

Americans have been celebrating Thanksgiving for nearly four centuries, commemorating that solemn dinner in <\/a>, 1621. We know the story well, or think we do.<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/p>\n

Students storm field at halftime of Harvard-Yale demanding action on climate change<\/h1>\n
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. \u2014 Protesters wearing the colors of both Harvard and Yale staged a sit-in at midfield of Yale Bowl during halftime of the 136th edition of the annual football rivalry known as The Game. Most left after about an hour when they were escorted off by police; a handful who remained were told by police they were under arrest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A few dozen protesters initially trickled onto the field as the Yale band finished performing its halftime routine. They held up banners asking the schools’ presidents to divest from the fossil fuel industry, while other signs raised issues of Puerto Rican debt and the treatment of the Uighurs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Largely of college age but with a few older protesters mixed in, the group chanted: “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!” One banner read “This is an emergency.”<\/p>\n

Police in yellow vests lined up alongside the sit-in but did not intervene. When the 15-minute halftime expired and the protest continued, hundreds more fans streamed onto the field to join in. Fans remaining in the stands began to boo, but only briefly.\u00a0\u00a0 www.nydailynews.com\/sports\/college\/ny-climate-change-protest-harvard-yale-20191123-zojhuw6gojdtbgv2e3dyned6gi-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2AlEZ0GTju8fVlbBP_Q63RmKQTEj8N73fqQ1zx88uUxA3fg3Ejc5_64nM<\/a><\/p>\n

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

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Poisoned Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs<\/h1>\n

Skyrocketing special education costs and debt are squeezing Flint Community Schools to the point its superintendent wants to close four of its 12 school buildings.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Derrick Lopez said the district is facing a\u00a0$5.7\u00a0million budget deficit stemming from\u00a0$3.6 million in special education costs not covered by the state and\u00a0$2.1 million in legacy debt,\u00a0which together have forced the district to enter into a deficit elimination plan.<\/p>\n

Fueling the district’s economic problems is the fact that 24% of the 3,750 students in Flint Community Schools are designated as special education, a number that is nearly twice as high as the 13.2% statewide average.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe district’s current financial hardship is a result of longstanding loans to be repaid, in combination with a disproportionate number of students requiring special education services, compared to state averages,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n

The number of special education students in Flint schools has substantially increased from just below 15% in the 2014-15 school year \u2014 as Flint’s water crisis began \u2014 to 24% currently, a figure provided by Lopez.\u00a0\u00a0 www.detroitnews.com\/story\/news\/education\/2019\/11\/19\/flint-weighs-school-closures-grapples-special-ed-costs\/3921929002\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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114,000 Students in N.Y.C. Are Homeless. <\/span><\/h1>\n
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The number of school-age children in New York City who live in shelters or \u201cdoubled up\u201d in apartments with family or friends has swelled by 70 percent over the past decade \u2014 a crisis without precedent in the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

By day, New York\u2019s 114,085 homeless students live in plain sight: They study on the subway and sprint through playgrounds. At night, these children sometimes sleep in squalid, unsafe rooms, often for just a few months until they move again. School is the only stable place they know.\u00a0\u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2019\/11\/19\/nyregion\/student-homelessness-nyc.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Syracuse<\/p>\n

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Racist Manifesto Lands on Syracuse Students\u2019 Phones, Deepening Crisis<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for an outside monitor after a series of racist incidents that has left Syracuse University besieged.<\/p>\n

It was an ordinary cram session, around midnight, when the screed appeared on students\u2019 phones. A racist manifesto, sent to a small clutch of people sitting at a Syracuse University library on Tuesday morning, warned of \u201cthe great replacement,\u201d a right-wing conspiracy theory that predicts white genocide at the hands of minority groups.<\/p>\n

It was just the latest example of racist activity that has left the private university besieged, with officials confronted by student sit-ins and harsh critiques from faculty members and federal agents crawling the campus.<\/p>\n

The incidents, which began less than two weeks ago, have included racist graffiti, swastikas and hate speech hurled at black and Asian students.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the university suspended all social activities at fraternities<\/a> for the rest of the semester, after a group of students, including members of one fraternity, accosted a female African-American student on Saturday night and used a racial slur.\u00a0\u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2019\/11\/19\/nyregion\/syracuse-manifesto-racism-fraternity.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage<\/a><\/p>\n

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MSU survey: Nearly 13% of female undergraduates sexually assaulted last year<\/h1>\n

Nearly 13% of female undergraduates at\u00a0Michigan State University said\u00a0they were\u00a0sexually assaulted in the 2018-19\u00a0academic year, according to a\u00a0survey released Thursday.<\/p>\n

More than 15,000 students, faculty and staff, nearly a quarter of the campus community,\u00a0shared their experiences with sexual misconduct and relationship violence through the MSU Campus Climate Survey, giving the university\u00a0a snapshot of a campus culture that concerns many students.<\/p>\n

“We’ve certainly had challenges in this area,\u201d said MSU President Samuel Stanley Jr. \u201cWay more than any university in the country.”<\/p>\n

The optional, campus-wide, online survey\u00a0was\u00a0launched in March.<\/p>\n

“That was a very rocky time in our organizational history and the data bore that out,” said\u00a0Rebecca Campbell, professor of psychology and adviser to the president on RVSM issues<\/p>\n

4.3% of undergraduate women said they were raped last\u00a0year<\/h2>\n

The survey defined sexual assault as unwanted, non-consensual sexual contact. Sexual harassment or coerced sexual contact was not included.\u00a0 www.freep.com\/story\/news\/2019\/11\/21\/msu-michigan-state-university-sexual-assault-rape-nassar-climate-survey\/4258131002\/?fbclid=IwAR2lT8AZCa98taClWEF35owyswKplzmv8J1Ifodjy51HTQiGFwj0mn0PrYA<\/a><\/p>\n

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Thomas Jefferson School of Law\u2019s last try to keep national accreditation fails<\/h1>\n

Officials with the American Bar Association this week upheld a decision to strip national accreditation from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in downtown San Diego.<\/p>\n

The school will lose national accreditation effective Dec. 17, the day after the end of its fall semester.<\/p>\n

The school plans to continue operating but with accreditation from the state.<\/p>\n

Accreditation from the State Bar of California allows the school\u2019s students to take the state bar exam, but not bar exams in other states. National accreditation allows law graduates to take any state\u2019s bar exam.\u00a0 www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/education\/story\/2019-11-22\/thomas-jefferson-school-of-laws-last-attempt-to-keep-national-accreditation-fails<\/a><\/p>\n

Cal State math proposal would create an unfair barrier for black and Latino students, critics say<\/h1>\n

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A controversial Cal State University proposal to require a fourth year of math-related coursework for admission came under robust questioning and at times harsh criticism Wednesday from top state educators and others who said it would unfairly block black and Latino students from the system with no guarantee that it would improve graduation rates.<\/p>\n

More than 90 social justice groups, education organizations, and school district and legislative leaders from across the state have voiced their opposition to the plan, first proposed in 2016 and enthusiastically embraced by CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White as a way to raise standards and graduation rates, close achievement equity gaps and better prepare California\u2019s future workforce.<\/p>\n

In the fifth board hearing this year on the issue, tensions surfaced in testimony. The proposal calls for CSU admits to take an additional year of math, science or other quantitative coursework, such as computer science or personal finance. At the heart of the debate are questions about educational access<\/a> for the hundreds of thousands of students who apply to and attend the nation\u2019s largest public four-year university system. www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2019-11-21\/csu-proposes-delay-to-increased-admissions-requirements<\/a><\/p>\n

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