Archive for the ‘Betsy DeVos’ Category

Perhaps the more accurate title of this post should be ‘When will Leftists protest these civil rights’? FIRE’s Susan Kruth’s article on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s revised regulations outlines changes to Obama administration’s anti-due process regulations.

Let’s be clear. The Obama administration’s Education Department was anti-civil rights. When it came to dealing with alleged sexual assault on campus, the Obama administration’s Education Department “encouraged schools to have a single investigator adjudicate sexual misconduct cases through a series of separate meetings with the parties and witnesses.” By contrast, the DeVos-proposed regulations pertaining to alleged sexual assault “requires that schools ‘must provide for a live hearing’ when adjudicating a case.”

In other words, universities must allow a cross-examination of the accuser. Nameless, faceless accusers won’t have their ‘day in court’. Kruth continues with this:

Having a live hearing ensures that all parties can see exactly the same evidence and testimony that the fact-finder is seeing, so that he or she can rebut that evidence and testimony as fully as he or she is able.

The department’s new rules go on to require a typical and critically important feature of live hearings: cross-examination of all witnesses, including the parties. The Supreme Court has called cross-examination the “greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth,” and it can be especially paramount in cases that hinge on witness testimony, as the Sixth Circuit emphasized just two months ago.

How an administration that swore an oath to uphold the Constitution can deprive people of this basic civil right is startling. Further, it’s time to admit that leftist Democrats are now fascists and/or anarchists. IF you think I’m kidding, check out Eric Swalwell’s proposal:

In a USA Today op-ed entitled “Ban assault weapons, buy them back, go after resisters,” Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., argued Thursday that prior proposals to ban assault weapons “would leave millions of assault weapons in our communities for decades to come.”

Look at the mental gymnastics Rep. Swalwell employs to justify this confiscation:

You’re probably wondering what gun confiscation has to do with due process rights. That’s a fair question. They’re both part of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. The right to keep and bear arms is a sacred right. I prefer referring to it as the right to protect myself and my family. It’s a natural right. The Supreme Court has called the right to due process and to confront your accuser the “greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth.”

It isn’t supposition to say that Democrats have opposed the right to protect yourself and your family from burglars and criminals as vigorously as they’ve opposed the right of people to cross-examine their accusers. What other constitutional rights do Democrats want to sacrifice on the altar of political correctness?

It’s time to end what’s known as ‘rule by letter’ governance. Let’s finish it ASAP. ‘Rule by letter’ policies were implemented by, surprise, surprise, the Obama administration. Arne Duncan issued a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter in 2014 that threatened federal civil rights lawsuits “unless they reduce law-enforcement referrals, suspensions and expulsions of minority students.” The “2014 ‘Dear Colleague’ letter on school discipline” was “a joint guidance by the Education and Justice departments.”

Though the Obama administration is out of office, their policies live on. “Justice Department attorney Jeremy Thompson recently cited Broward and Miami-Dade as Florida school districts that have experienced ‘positive outcomes as a result of replacing zero-tolerance policies with restorative justice policies. By adopting programs similar to Miami-Dade and Broward County, other school districts can help eliminate the School-to-Prison Pipeline and decrease the disparate incarceration rates in the U.S.,’ Mr. Thompson said in the Feb. 2 edition of the Harvard Law and Policy Review.”

This ‘Dear Colleague Letter’ is what helped Nikolas Cruz escape discipline, which led to his shooting up Marjory Stoneman-Douglas HS. Why wouldn’t we totally scrap Mr. Holder’s program immediately? Here’s a possible reason why it won’t happen:

Any effort by Mrs. DeVos to overhaul the school-discipline directive undoubtedly would unleash a political outcry. “It’s almost a certainty that she will get clobbered by this by the education establishment, and it’s possible she’ll get clobbered about it by media establishment,” said Mr. Eden. “It’s my hope that with enough public debate and awareness, it will become, ‘The guidance tried to address it, it went too far, and we need a more balanced approach.'”

Libertarians like Rand Paul and Kennedy will be upset. Scheming progressives like Eric Holder will threaten lawsuits. Let them file lawsuits, then defend their lawsuits. I can’t wait to hear Democrats explain why thugs like Cruz deserve kid glove treatment while plotting their mass murder raids.

The students that everyone was praising are starting to show their true (progressive) colors. They’re showing that they’re really just pawns of organizations like Moms Demand Action or Everytown.

These students have gone through a ton of stuff that I wish they’d never gone through. That doesn’t mean I should be expected to tolerate their disrespectful actions. The types of things they’ve endured doesn’t mean they get to act like brats.

The bottom line is this: it’s time to fix the Obama administration’s mistakes. Tolerating policies that have gotten students killed isn’t acceptable.

This article features a tweet from a “community college professor” who tweeted “I’m not wishing for it…but I’d be ok if #BetsyDevos was sexually assaulted. #SexualAssault #TitleIX”.

The professor’s name is Robert Ranco. He’s “currently an adjunct Professor of Paralegal Studies at Austin Community College, where he teaches the ‘Advanced Research and Writing’ class. He is also a member of The Carlson Law Firm.” What type of disgusting person would make a statement like that? Here’s hoping that Professor Ranco doesn’t have his contract renewed. Saying that you’re ok with a person getting sexually assaulted is about as disgusting as it gets.

Later, Professor Ranco tweeted “Yes, @twitter. My words were harsh. I don’t wish harm on anyone. I wish there’s some way #BetsyDevos would understand and care about others.” Rather than stop there, Ranco tweeted “Twitter trolls are now due process experts! Priceless. #TitleIX” If that isn’t dripping condescension, it doesn’t exist. Why does Professor Ranco think it’s beyond Twitter users’ ability to understand one of the foundational principles of the Constitution? Here’s another of Professor Ranco’s tweets:

While I don’t know this for certain, I’d say there’s a 90+ percent chance that Ranco is a Democrat. First, he’s a lawyer. Next, he’s a college professor. While that doesn’t guarantee that he’s a Democrat, it’s still highly likely that he’s a bitter Democrat.

This article contains a little wishful thinking. Sen. Franken told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that “no Democrat will vote to confirm Betsy DeVos” and that “Democrats were actively looking for Republicans to vote against her.”

That’s wishful thinking and then some. There isn’t a chance that Republicans will vote against an education secretary that’s a major advocate for school choice. Further, I’m more than a little skeptical that all Democrats will vote against DeVos.

If all 48 Democrats and independents vote against school choice, Republicans will hang that around their necks in 2018. If Democrats play their obstructionist card on DeVos, they’ll get painted as the obstructionists that they are.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was in full pander mode to the Democrats’ special interest allies, saying “The President’s decision to ask Betsy DeVos to run the Department of Education should offend every single American man, woman, and child who has benefitted from the public education system in this country. Public education has lifted millions out of poverty, has put millions in good paying jobs, and has been the launching pad for people who went on to cure disease and to create inventions that have changed our society for the better.”

What Sen. Schumer omitted is that public schools have destroyed lots of young people’s lives while demolishing their potential. Then he said this:

Betsy DeVos would single-handedly decimate our public education system if she were confirmed. Her plan to privatize education would deprive students from a good public education, while helping students from wealthy families get another leg up. It would deprive teachers of a decent salary, and it would make it harder for parents to get a good education for their kids.

That’s more than a little over-the-top. That’s bordering on outright lying. Nobody thinks that a cabinet secretary can do all that without help from Congress, the Senate, the President and state legislatures.

This Reuters article is breathtakingly misguided. First, the article is a hatchet job about Betsy DeVos’s confirmation hearing. What’s important to know is that Reuters says “Next Tuesday, the Education Committee will likely approve sending her name to the full chamber when it votes in an executive session. Then, Democrats could block the nomination with a filibuster on the Senate floor.”

Has Reuters been hiding in Saddam Hussein’s rabbit hole hideout the last 4 years? Have they paid attention to the Democrats’ whining the last month? NEWS BULLETIN TO REUTERS: Harry Reid killed the filibuster of presidential cabinet nominees in 2013.

What’s noteworthy about the hearing itself is how bitchy Democrats are. For instance, the Reuters article says “Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, an advocate of tough financial regulation, asked whether DeVos or her children had attended public schools, borrowed student loans or received federal financial help known as Pell grants. ‘You have no experience with financial aid,’ Warren summed up when DeVos answered ‘no.'”

She’s a billionaire who’s contributed millions of dollars to school choice scholarship funds. Why would she then require her children to rack up a pile of student loan debt?

Many were dismayed DeVos would not pledge to carry out rules on sexual assault, for-profit colleges and fair access for students with disabilities, only saying she would review the policies.

TRANSLATION: Democrats are upset that Trump’s pick isn’t a doctrinaire liberal who supports teachers unions. My advice for them is simple: put on your big boy britches. Get over it. You lost. The new president will be taking the nation in a different, more prosperous, direction.

NOTICE TO ELIZABETH WARREN: Keep doing what you’re doing, which is acting like a bitch. You’ve been letting your hostility flood the hearings. It isn’t attractive.

Finally, it’s difficult to trust Reuters as a news organization when they don’t know basic Senate rules. It’s impossible to think of Sen. Warren as a presidential candidate. She’s a bigger bitch than Hillary, which is saying a lot, and she hates anyone who’s been successful.

One of the great things about President-Elect Trump’s cabinet picks is that it’s forcing Democrats to defend the indefensible. Contained in this article is something that’s totally black-white.

The opening paragraph states “Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department, stood firm about her long held beliefs that parents, not the government, should be able to choose where to send children to school, pledging Tuesday to push voucher programs should she be confirmed to lead the nation’s education system.”

Only a union member would disagree with that statement. Parents should have the right to pick the schools their children attend. As for those defending the failed status quo in education, which is what the Democrats are doing, check out Randi Weingarten’s statement about Mrs. DeVos. I don’t think that unhinged is a strong enough word. Weingarten said “She has no connections to public schools,” Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federal of Teachers, told CNN on Tuesday. “What she wants to do is actually drain the public system of dollars it desperately needs.”

Al Franken’s round of questioning was what you’d expect from a political hack like him. This video showed that he was a political hack with a pre-orchestrated script to follow:

Then there’s this:

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, questioned whether DeVos has the “breadth and depth” of knowledge to serve as education secretary. Franken started his turn at questioning by asking DeVos whether she believes in judging children on growth or proficiency. DeVos stumbled on the question and seemingly didn’t know that this was a debate within the education community. “It surprises me that you don’t know this issue,” Franken said, later adding that he is, in fact, “not that surprised that you don’t know this issue.”

Franken then turned to DeVos’ donation to Focus on the Family, an organization that believes conversion therapy for LGBT. Franken directly asked DeVos whether she “still believes” in conversion therapy. “I have never believed in that,” DeVos said, adding, “I fully embrace equality.”

Let’s inventory Franken’s questioning. First, he insisted that the expert wasn’t an expert because she didn’t give into his liberal groupthink. Next, he insults Mrs. DeVos for not being qualified. Finally, Sen. Franken assumed that Mrs. DeVos believed something because she’s a devout Christian.

That’s fair game with Democrats like Sen. Franken. It’s considered bigotry amongst civilized, thoughtful people. Apparently, Sen. Franken isn’t a civilized, thoughtful person. Sen. Franken, like other Democrats, are guilt-by-association people. Check this article out:

DeVos’s stance on LGBT rights is not known—she has declined to comment ahead of the confirmation hearings—but there are, to put it mildly, reasons for concern.

The DeVos family has been the primary funder of some of the most anti-LGBT organizations in the country, to the tune of more than $200 million. Her father-in-law, Richard DeVos, was one of the first mega-funders of the Christian right in the 1970s, and his foundation is now a fixture at The Gathering, the Woodstock of Christian right funders, and a major funder of Focus on the Family. The DeVos Center for Religion and Society at the Heritage Foundation has promoted a quasi-theocratic worldview. And Betsy DeVos’s father, Edgar Prince, was a founder of the Family Research Council.

That’s right. Admit that they don’t know her position on something. Then, in the next breath, attack her because she’s related. Don’t find out for yourself. Just make unsubstantiated assumptions.