Steven Singer watched the Betsy DeVos hearings and was taken aback by her ignorance of education policy and her arrogance in thinking she is qualified to be Secretary of Education.
He writes:
Betsy DeVos wouldn’t commit to protecting students with special needs.
She wouldn’t commit to keeping guns out of school campuses.
She wouldn’t commit to holding charter and voucher schools to the same standards as traditional public schools.
She didn’t know the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was a federal law.
And she couldn’t explain the difference between proficiency and growth.
That’s your nominee for Secretary of Education, America!
During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) tonight, DeVos showed herself to be hopelessly out of her depth.
She tried to cover her ignorance by being noncommittal. But it was obvious that she had no idea what she was talking about more than half the time….
Betsy DeVos was never anything. She has never held a real job. She’s never had a job interview, nor has she ever been hired by anyone!
Her entire portfolio is being a rich Republican mega-donor. All she’s ever done is use her and her family’s obscene fortune to push for school vouchers, remove charter school accountability, advocate for Common Core and persecute LGBT people.
Of course there will be more questions! It’s not because she’s a Republican or that she was nominated by GOP President-elect Donald Trump!
It’s because she’s a twit!…..
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What is your opinion on Alexander? He appeared to be protecting her. Puppetmaster?
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I was disappointed but not surprised by Sen Alexander. He is a strong advocate for choice. He seemed to realize that he had to protect her because she knows nothing about federal law or policy.
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He is a strong advocate for choice.
His own.
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If he represented a New England or West Coast state and was a strong advocate for choice, that might be easily explainable by his conviction to education rightly or wrongly. .
Coming from a former Slave State, that sets off my personal alarm bells as to his political motives which may or may not be his personal convictions .
Actually that may be true in way more than the Confederacy . As Eric Dyson said this morning the election of Trump had a very strong overriding racial component!
Make America great again translates to make America white again.Picking the candidate who ran against the legitimacy of America ever electing a Black President. A candidate who surrounds him self with blatant racists.
The Republican Party has been there for a long time . Even here in NY the push for a voucher tax scheme is a way for parents to avoid integrated public schools in districts where real estate values vary widely. From certain South Shore districts of Long Island to dare I say the Upper West side of Manhattan. And the more blatant example of Kiryas Joel which would love the State to pay for their isolated religious education.
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“A strong advocate of choice”
An advocate of choice
The choice that is his own
He’d like to give a voice
To voice on dictaphone
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Kudos to senator AL Franken who grilled and embarrassed Devos stumbled and sounded like a clown regarding the debate of growth and proficiency. Further, Devos did not know that IDEA the state mandated disabilities act was a federal law, instead ole Betsy said we’ll just leave it to the states to decide. What?? A federally mandated law left up to the states to decide?? CLEARLY, Devos came off as a debutante with just the money behind her and not much of anything else. If Devos is somehow appointed I feel for the special education kids AND one final note on this post I feel sorry for LGBT or any other gay rights groups as Devos spends tens of thousands of dollars promoting “conversion therapy” which is some pseudo science aimed at “fixing” a persons sexual preferences!!!! Diane, you cannot make this crap up.
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Sad to see every single Republican Senator give support to Devos ONLY because she was nominated by a republican. Our government is a bunch of prejudiced creeps who are not honest and we have two cults running our country, dems and repubs. We desperately need a legit third party in this country otherwise we are headed to the abyss.
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As Bernie pointed out, she has given $200 million to Republicans. That helps.
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Indiana’s junior senator, republican Todd Young lauds DeVos. I wrote him back in December and received no reply. I wrote senior democratic Joe Donnelly and received a personal reply.
It is documented that Senator Todd Young’s campaign received $48,000 from the DeVos family during a six-month period in 2016. Four other members of the HELP committee have received more than $200,000 from the DeVos family. The DeVos family has given a total of more than $950,000 to 21 senators who will have the opportunity to vote on her confirmation.
For her part, DeVos, a long-time Republican mega-donor, has made clear that her extensive campaign donations are meant to sway policymakers. “I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence,” DeVos once remarked. “Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect something in return.”
As John Cleese so aptly put it on Twitter, “It looks as though Trump is assembling the crew for a pirate ship.” A follow up tweet said “More like a Borg cube.”
For more see:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/news/2017/01/12/296231/conflicts-of-devos/
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It’s called The DeVos Kludger Effect (sometimes referred to as the Divas Kludger Effect and also known as Duncan Kludger Effect and originally kown as the Dunning Kruger Effect)
Hope that helps.
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“It’s time for unity…If you hate Trump more than you love America, you never loved America.” That’s the evangelical/conservative “campaign message that’s been tested and positively received across the political spectrum.” It’s PR content, planned for Jan. 19, on the “Thunderclap” platform, for Facebook and twitter. It’s reassurance aimed at the ditto heads of the religious right.
Quoting the Eagle Forum about public schools, “84% of Christian parents send their children to schools teaching an alternative religion…The schools are billed as religiously neutral….”
Minority faiths have every reason to suspect they will be denied financial support for schools reflecting religious pluralism.
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It’s time for every Dem who attends the inauguration to turn their backs to tRump as he puts his hand on a bible (or maybe a Racing Form) and is sworn in as 45. It’s time for upheaval and marches to protest tRump and his agenda to Make America Segregated Again. It’s time to not roll over and feed into “unity” and “the new normal” of liars, cheats, and frauds.
It’s time right this minute to call all Senators (just got a robocall to this end) and let them know they must vote against these bums, especially Sessions the bigot, Tillerson the greed meister liar, Mnuchin the greed meister crook, and DeVos the debutante who would be Queen of Ed. Also a few others, but this is my personal vomit list.
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Ellen,
Bad news. Trump will take the oath of office using Lincoln’s Bible. The only other President to do that, from what I read, was Obama.
Sacrilege!
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Thank God she’s not Jewish.
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Jewish women would have done their homework, known the answers, and would probably be Dems.
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“Newly elected Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) got $48,600 from the DeVos family in 2016.”
Gee, I wonder who my new Senator will confirm as Secretary of Education?
I’ve written and called his office to protest her confirmation but I didn’t send any money so I guess my thoughts on the subject don’t matter.
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Here’s a link to the full hearings, courtesy of C-SPAN:
https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?421224-1/education-secretary-nominee-betsy-devos-testifies-confirmation-hearing
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//www.c-span.org/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=421224-1
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Tabloid Headlines:
“Trump’s Education pick Betsy DeVos argues that teachers should be allowed to take guns to school… in case they are attacked by GRIZZLY BEARS.”
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What was clear from the hearings was that DeVos has nothing to offer the DOE other than bias. Her knowledge and understanding of the issues in education are so limited. I thank the Democrats that were aggressive in putting DeVos on the spot, especially Elizabeth Warren. It was clear DeVos had been prompted to say she will investigate and study the topic in any question rather addressing the question asked. I believe that teachers and parents have been flooding Democrats’ offices with requests to show that DeVos knows little to nothing about education. They made their point. All of this was interesting political theater, but most likely the Republicans will appoint DeVos despite the fact she knows nothing and wants to destroy public schools.
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Warren is a tiger..fierce and informed. She and Franken should be our next Prez and VP.
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Hamlet was right: the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.
But I must have slept through the earlier act wherein Democrats challenged Arne Duncan at his own confirmation hearing.
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Exactly, SDP. Senator Alexander noted that the questioning procedure is identical to that given to nominees Duncan and King. Under the political principle of two wrongs make a right, we can expect no extension of questioning.
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Lamar Alexander has been in DC, in the seat of power, for way too long. His blatant bias and protection of the Amway billionaire ignoramus, was an embarrassment to the US and the to the Senate.
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AGREE. Alexander et al have enabled the dumbing down of America. He is one of the swamp monsters.
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”
During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) tonight, DeVos showed herself to be hopelessly out of her depth.”
I was happy to see Maggie Hassan in there asking questions. Re: being “noncommittal” Maggie said “it is not about sensitivity ; it is about knowing the rules (of IDEA) and seeing that the rules and legislation are followed. ” (a “twit” yes — she knows nothing about the system of public education but wants to destroy it)
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What is her depth?
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“Out of her depth”
Out of her depth
Like fish on the beach
Completely inept
Unable to teach
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the use of “twit” reminded me that in the Nixon era we called him a “moral imbecile”… I hadn’t heard that used since the early 70s and that is what some of these people are…. Nixon’s last years showed how a “twit” or, in his case a “moral imbecile” can also be dangerous (not like the children’s book about the 5 sillies).
Governor Baker in MA is also a “twit” because he goes on camera and cries crocodile tears to get elected. He recently said “we need to remove the stigma from opioid addiction” but it costs him nothing to appear to be “sensitive” as Devos told Maggie Hassan she would always promise to be. In the other hand is Baker’s knife to cut the budgets of the projects that are doing rehab for addictions. So he is more than a “twit”… he is lethal (like trumpeltiltskin shows us the lethal side of a dracula.)
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Good one–trumpeltiltskin.
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this article basically was written for democrats telling them to stand for the party and help improve things; I liked his opening paragraph and I was reminded of “twit” and Sarah Palin…
“In less than a year, the Republican Party has transformed itself into an ugly, snarling, bigoted faction beyond recognition. By nominating Donald Trump for president and working toward his successful election, the party’s leaders and voters made themselves complicit in not only the greatest Russian espionage operation since Rosenberg pilfered nuclear secrets but the egotistical psychodrama of an authoritarian race-baiting man-child. In retrospect, the signs that the Republican Party might one day be hijacked by such a dangerous figure were clear, John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate—and the GOP base’s enthusiastic embrace of her resentful stupidity—offering the prime example. I spoke early and often, in this space and elsewhere, about the threatTrump posed to the republic and the free world, but to no avail.”
so along with the “twit” we need to add “resentful stupidity ” and this author wrote that they are DANGEROUS and a THREAT…. like Nixon during Viet Nam… Trump is even worse …. and we can’t set aside that danger and threat aspect.
(article is from TABLET ; i will look up the author’s name)
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Agree Jean…Hassan was excellent in sticking it to DeVos without rudeness but showing up the debutante’s stupidity and lack of interest in special needs students.
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Ellen,
“Debutante.” Perfect.
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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/betsy-devos-confirmation-hearing-bernie-sanders-al-franken-real-bad
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https://www.thenation.com/article/betsy-devos-just-flunked-her-senate-test/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DAILY_2017_01_18&utm_term=daily
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I tried to watch the hearing at 5:00 pm (eastern) and I was so angry I had to turn it off. They did a replay later at night and I saw Maggie and Patty and Elizabeth and Kaine… I thought that Alexander was “smirking” when he called Elizabeth a diligent lawyer… but I want to go through some of the testimony again when I can not get that angry attitude …. http://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/nomination-of-betsy-devos-to-serve-as-secretary-of-education (p.s. thanks to Northeast indiana for posting this where I found it)
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downloadable version (thanks to Northeast Indiana blog)
Click to access DeVos.pdf
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like the Bill Phillis OH E&A articles, I try to read the posts every day from Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education ; they are on Facebook whereas OH E&A sends email announcements)
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Senator Elizabeth Warren questions Betsy DeVos at Senate confirmation hearing…Detroit Free Press
…Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee were given five minutes apiece to ask DeVos questions, and Warren used her allotted time to grill DeVos on a variety of topics.
In one exchange, Warren asked DeVos if she or any family members had ever taken out a loan or been awarded a grant from the federal government to pay for college. DeVos said she hadn’t.
Warren then noted that Trump last year paid a $25-million settlement to students of Trump University who complained that they didn’t get what they paid for. Asked if DeVos would enforce rules that require career colleges to offer salable skills to students, DeVos said instead that she would “review” the rule.
“I don’t understand about ‘reviewing’ it. We talked about this in my office,” Warren said. “There are already rules in place to stop waste, fraud and abuse and I don’t understand how you cannot be sure about enforcing them. … If you can’t commit to use the tools that are already available to you in the Department of Education, then I don’t see how you can be the secretary.”…
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This comes from the Washington Post:
DeVos’s subsequently spotty performance showed why Republicans were so eager to make the hearing so late in the day and to keep it so short. Take this back-and-forth with Tim Kaine:
Kaine: “If confirmed, will you insist upon equal accountability in any K-12 school or educational program that receives taxpayer funding whether public, public charter or private?”
DeVos: “I support accountability.”
Kaine: “Equal accountability?”
DeVos: “I support accountability.”
Kaine: “Is that a yes or a no?”
DeVos: “I support accountability.”
Kaine: “Do you not want to answer my question?”
DeVos: “I support accountability.”
Kaine: “Let me ask you this. I think all schools that receive taxpayer funding should be equally accountable. Do you agree?”
DeVos: “Well they don’t, they are not today.”
Kaine: “Well, I think they should. Do you agree with me?”
DeVos: “Well, no.”
After she ducked other questions, the Virginia senator told her that if they were in a courtroom he’d tell the judge to make her answer. “But you’re not here under subpoena,” the 2016 Democratic vice-presidential nominee lamented.
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I loved that part; thanks for capturing it here….
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Senator Patty Murray, a former early childhood teacher, supported kids and public education. She exposed DeVos had not been cleared by the ethics committee. She nailed her down asking if DeVos would promise not to reroute Public Ed funding to Charters and Vouchers. She also argued fiercely against senator Alexander’s 5 min limit on questioning DeVos.
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Laura…had always been a fan of Murray, but last week she and 12 other Dems voted with the Repubs to defeat Bernie Sanders legislation to control big Pharma in gouging seniors on med pricing.
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Trump’s Pick for Education Secretary Refuses to Disavow Teaching Intelligent Design in Public Schools @alternet
…In September 2006, Dick DeVos wrote on the website for his gubernatorial campaign: “I’ve always believed that our children should be provided with more knowledge, not less. Lots of intelligent people can disagree about the origins of life. In the end, I believe in our system of local control. Local school boards should have the opportunity to offer evolution and intelligent design in their curriculums.”
Dick DeVos’ position on the issue is relevant because he and his wife run a well-heeled foundation that finances a gamut of conservative causes actively advancing religious education. In a 2001 interview with The Gathering, Betsy DeVos outlined her philanthropic philosophy, proclaiming: “Our desire is to confront the culture in ways that will continue to advance God’s Kingdom.”…
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/trumps-pick-education-secretary-refuses-disavow-teaching-intelligent-design-public#.WIC8hlgoaxk.email
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