Anita Senkowski is a fearless investigative blogger in Michigan who is the scourge of charter frauds. Her blogs, for example, exposed fraud at a charter chain that involved the misappropriation of millions of dollars, and the fraudster is bound for prison.
In this post, she examines the evangelical Christian roots of Neurocore, the biofeedback company that Betsy DeVos likes so much that she refuses to sell her stock despite the obvious conflict of interest with her role as Secretary of Education. Decisions made by the Department could enrich the company and her stock portfolio. Not that she needs the money.
Under normal circumstances, if a nominee for the Cabinet refused to divest a conflict of interest, that would be the end of his or her nomination. But these are not normal circumstances. We have a president who never released his tax returns and refuses to separate himself from control of his business empire, which is rife with conflicts of interest. He hasn’t even given up the 60-year lease on the Trump Hotel in D.C., a block from the White House, even though the lease with the Government Services Administration explicitly says that no elected official may be a beneficiary of the lease. Trump seems to live by the saying, “Never apologize, never explain.”
Senkowski also points out that the head of the company received his “degrees” from a for-profit online “university.”
Her Facebook site has this motto: “So sue me already.” Apparently no one has, because she is still biting the frauds, cons, and scams in northern Michigan. It sounds like a full-time job!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Betsy goes to church and claims she’s honest. What is she ON? Must be her white entitlement.
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Sitting in church no more makes someone a Christian than sitting in a garage would make them a car.
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Virulent, fundamentalist, expansionist, anti-intellectual, tent-revival-type, insane Christianity has become normalized and legitimized in not only our political culture but also our social culture.
The lessons of the Enlightenment are nearly forgotten even among many on the left, with an obvious reluctance and fear to “go there.”
The fundamentalist impulse has been a global phenomenon and its transatlantic derivative has taken deep root in many branches of Christianity in the United States over the past 40 years. This has gone wildly unchecked in spite of the fact the the Enlightenment gave us, in the 18th Century, all of the appropriate vaccinations against it. Unfortunately, we have plenty of “anti-vaxxers” on this front, on our side even, who think it best to equivocate and imagine that fundamentalism isn’t a thing. It is.
Our cultural enemy should be fundamentalism of any sort, as it is a close relative to fascism. It is a toxic thing. Christian, Jewish, Islamic…..etc…..when they run fundamentalist, things get ugly.
It’s ok to be intolerant of fundamentalisms globally and fundamentalists personally.
That DeVos is such….well, why would we expect anything different? Unaddressed fundamentalism invading at least half of our political culture for the past 40 years has consequences. She is one of them.
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We practically need a new word instead of “Christian”, which came from “Christ follower”, so that the level of 1984-speak doesn’t overwhelm reality.
After all, how does “love your neighbor”, forgive seventy times seven”, “do good to those that spite you” and all the teachings of the Christ connect to the modern usage we see today?
Even the word “fundamentalism” has become a newish thing that doesn’t really align with the natural meaning of ‘fundamental’, since obviously it would be ‘fundamental’ to a ‘Christ follower’ to “love your enemy” and such.
I suppose I’m saying that the teachings of Christ are too important to simply lose in modern politics, and I think that those who actually know and respect those teachings should do a counter-offensive against the loss of…..well, of “love your neighbor”. It’s just too important to be lost for the momentary political battle of the day.
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You are absolutely correct about a counter offensive. If the mega churches get tax money for their schools, they will become the hub of social activity in the community, spelling the final blow to other denominations. And, minority faiths will be made vulnerable by their isolation.
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Anita has been tireless in her investigations of these unscrupulous activities in the North country of Michigan–she’s amazing!
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Amazing research. See also Jack’s work and the video (below).
I just checked on the status of biofeedback at our children’s hospital, said to be one of the best in the nation, and a university based mental health department. Here are some briefs and caveats I found about biofeedback–without the evangelical messaging.
Children’s Hospital. “Biofeedback is a training technique used to alleviate pain and stress. There is strong research evidence of biofeedback’s use in treating pediatric migraines and headaches. Patients are taught to control a variety of body functions such as skin temperature, heart rate, breathing and muscle tension by using signals from their own bodies. Patients are trained in relaxation skills such as deep breathing, guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation while they receive feedback on a computer screen.”
University Mental Health Service. Provides dedicated space for use by appointment and with training. “Biofeedback therapy is not recommended for certain persons such as those with severe psychosis or obsessional neurosis. Also, anyone taking insulin should be aware that by enhancing the body’s use of glucose, biofeedback therapy can lower blood glucose levels for up to four hours after a session. “
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It seems that biofeedback has a solid medical base. Neurocore is probably like a charter school: while they have a solid base in education, they employ untrained, young (hence low paid) TFA-ers and take gullible people’s $.
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Neurocore’s original name was “HOPE 139”. The 139 refers to a verse in the Bible’s “Book of Psalms”: Psalm 139.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
PSALM 139: “I praise You (God), because I am fearfully and wonderfully made by You.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Go back a few threads, and I do a detailed study of a video of a Neurocore seminar — with the video embedded.
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Indeed, Jack. I didn’t see your comment, where you even made the TFA comparison already. So what these guys do is take something reasonable (biofeedback?) and they turn it into Scientology.
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So, what to make of… an educational consultant to the Gates Foundation, who was formerly, president of evangelist, Pat Robertson’s university?
What to make of… the Conservative Leaders for Education (CL4E) website recommendations, for U.S. Secretary of Education (1) DeVos, who won (2) a Fellow of the Gates-funded Aspen Pahara Institute, and (3) the aforementioned president of Robertson’s university?
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Neurocore, gay conversion therapy, anti-vaccine, climate change denial, fossil fuels are the future, education and health care choice, your lying eyes, your malleable memory…
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Humm “evangelical roots” of a biofeedback system or company….really? As a believer myself, nowhere in the Scriptures is there an explicit principle or methodology for biofeedback (not that an argument from silence has weight).
The reason I point this out is that some like to use labels (ex. “evangelical”) when all they are really doing is making a stereotype, or don’t have enough knowledge about what a term means, the source from where it is derived from, or the position of those that are labeled as such.
My faith teaches that while one can study, work hard, be diligent and persevere through difficulty to learn some knowledge or skills, there is no “magic bullet” biofeedback mechanism that can guarantee success (though any good metacognitive strategy can increase the probability of meaningful learning).
So, using labels, stereotyping and making possible inferences about companies has it’s place in discourse, but we all need to make sure we separate what the label really means versus how others love to throw it around.
For example, if the biofeedback company was run by “humanistic materialists” would that be reason to use the label and infer things about those who run it?
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My original story revealed the hidden right-wing, Christian ethos that underpinned the foundation of Hope 139, now known as Neurocore. In my opinion, Betsy DeVos has a not-so-hidden agenda to dismantle public education while deceptively bringing a sectarian influence into the sector.
Here’s a question for you from someone in Michigan: why didn’t Betsy DeVos just reveal the information herself?
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Rick Lapworth,
Have the “humanistic materialists” built mega churches, that are similar to Walmart’s, in their effect of eliminating other community denominations/ local retail, respectively?
Are false equivalencies taught or, are they symptomatic of under developed intellect?
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Why isn’t the Emma Brown at the Washington Post, or Kate Taylor at the New York Times not covering this?
This should be a major story.
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“Senkowski also points out that the head of the company received his “degrees” from a for-profit online “university.””
And there you have it. Why so many TRUMP deplorables voted for TRUMP. Leftist academic elitism.
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How does this feedback on the service at Neurocore sound? It sounds like, they employ people who are trained like the TFA kids.
I feel sorry for Jackie and have had a similar experience with NEUROCORE formerly Hope
The staff is young, uneducated and barely trained in brain solving issues but their training is mostly in selling you the program. It is a mass production enterprise that doesn’t pay attention in results but mostly in signing you up for an over $3000 program. They have a computerized system to make appointments that is not verified, so many mistakes are made and double appointments are booked.One assistant is supposed to view/adjust your progress during the session and do 7 other people at the same time in the same room…very unreliable!Some of the staff are rude and hygiene is not their priority.They reuse the same earphones and other device, from one person to another, without any cleaning. The Ten20 cleanser and conductive cream they use, are highly toxic and applied on the ears and the cranium.Research has shown some of the ingredients like methyl and propyl-parabens in their cream to be carcinogenic and one would think the application on the skin with an electrode makes it even more absorbed by the body. Glycerin and Polyoxyethylene20 cetyl Ether also have a long list of side effects that nobody at NEUROCORE wants to hear about…liability is the issue here…They are pushing you to refer people before you ever know what the session is all about and frankly are unaware of people needs. No therapy here and the contract is worded carefully so that if you don’t get any result, you can’t blame them. Do your research before spending your money there.
See more at
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