A federal judge found Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in contempt of court and fined her Department $100,000, which is less than a slap in the wrist. It won’t begin to cover the losses suffered by students who were hounded by the Department to repay fraudulent student loans for a fraudulent education at for-profit colleges. DeVos believes it is her duty to protect the fraudsters, not the students.
“There is no question that the defendants violated the preliminary injunction. There is also no question that defendants’ violations harmed individual borrowers,” Kim wrote in her ruling Thursday. “Defendants have not provided evidence that they were unable to comply with the preliminary injunction, and the evidence shows only minimal efforts to comply.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So we pay her fine? Why not fine her personally? Or haul her tail off to jail?
A pathetic ruling!
Ofc, the taxpayers, and not Ditzy DeVoid, get to pay this!
Fines Ed Department $100k. Seriously, the taxpayers have to pay the fine for Betsy the Brainless’s crimes?
She should have to pay that fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And this just in:
Guiliani will no longer be serving as the head of Don the Con’s private legal defense team. Now the “Justice” Department will do that.
Yes. Barr will lead the vendetta against everyone that Trump regards as an enemy. The “Justice” Department initiative will bring criminal charges against the officials, many already fired, who started the investigations into Trump’s misdeeds. The potential targets include Comey, Muller, and others. This makes it clear that the Barr is Trump’s lawyer. Five democrats wrote a letter telling Barr he should recuse himself from this venture because Trump named Barr in the phone calls with the involving a quid pro quo….. And another “pillar” of democracy is being destroyed–an independent judiciary.
The New York Bar Association passed a resolution advising Barr to recuse himself from the Ukraine investigation. They have the power to suspend his license to practice law.
This is all very disturbing. The US becoming Chile under Pinochet.
A judge fined the federal department for DeVos’s contempt? So people will pay to people? Nice. I want a job like this.
$100,000 is enough money to fuel one of Betsy DeVos’ ten yachts for a only few months. It’s alternatively enough to pay for the crew for a few weeks. It’s enough money to fuel one of her two private Boeing 737s for a while. She also has two Gulfstreams, by the way. There are so many purchasing, crew, fueling, hangar, docking, maintenance, licensing, and insurance costs for all those crafts. An obscene amount of money, just for flying and floating. In the government she controls, $100,000 is enough to pay for DeVos’ publicly funded, private security detail for just four and a half days. For Betsy DeVos, $100,000 is nothing. To the victims of her crime who had their wages and tax refunds garnished to pay for fraudulent educations and have yet to be repaid, that money is very important.
There should be no billionaires.
LeftCoastTeacher indeed. First they came for the billionaires. Then they came for the millionaires. Then they came for those with $100,000 a year. Then they came for you. And private property was no longer permitted. That’s what socialists want. No private property for anyone. That used to be called slavery, to the state this time.
Wait: what?
Omigod, Harlan. If they tax billionaires, we are all at risk of having to pay the bills for public services. Scary!
You do keep us readers amused. “No private property for anyone.”
That sounds like the direction Trump is going. That tax cut for corporations and the wealthy is working!!
………………………………………………….
Forbes:
Sep 29, 2017 · Put another way, the top 1% would see an average $129,030 tax cut and the top 0.1% would save an average of $722,510, while those in the middle quintile would save an average of $660 per family.
……………………………………………………
Trump Is Planning Another Tax Cut for the 1%—Without Congress …
The White House is reportedly working on a tax break from which 86% of the benefits would go to the 1%.
JUNE 27, 2019
Back in December 2017, Donald Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, claiming the bill was going to do wonders for the middle class….And now, less than two years later, Trump is pretty sure the über-wealthy could use another tax break…
Search domain http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/06/trump-capital-gains-tax-cuthttps://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/06/trump-capital-gains-tax-cut
Please. The type of socialism some Democrats favor is the same type that is in Scandinavia where there’s lots of private property. They want to give people health care. If you drive on a public road or cross a public bridge, it’s socialism. We all pay in and share in the benefit as we do with the military, another form of socialism.
Here’s the real quote from Martin Niemöller in opposing the Third Reich:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Harlan sees it this way: First they taxed the billionaires, then then taxed the millionaires, then they came for me. No taxing of billionaires!
Harlan clearly worships the billionaires and millionaires and his dreams and fantasies probably focus on Harlan being a billionaire with the same corrupted power that Bill Gates, the Waltons, Eli Broad, and the Koch’s buy with their foul wealth.
Here is the actual proposal from AOC that kicked off the latest GOP tsunami of fake conspiracy theories about Socialists taking over the country like Trump wants to do and then those Socialists take away everything everyone owns so the government owns everything. Now, Trump, on the other hand, one of the alleged billionaires that Harlan clearly worships, wants “it” all for himself and the “hell” with the rest of us.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is proposing a new 70% tax bracket on income above $10 million. The increased tax on the wealthy would fund what Ocasio-Cortez calls a “Green New Deal,” which would combat both climate change and economic inequality.
https://www.fool.com/taxes/2019/01/24/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-70-tax-plan-what-all-ame.aspx
Then there was the NON-Socialist tax system we had after World War II to pay off the massive debt from fighting that war.
It’s true that the top marginal individual income tax rate under Eisenhower was very high – 91 percent during the bulk of his tenure, which lasted from 1953 to 1961.
However, conservative commentators correctly note that hardly anyone paid that much.
In 1958, only around 10,000 out of 45.6 million tax filers had incomes that put them in the 81 percent bracket or higher, according to The Wall Street Journal. That amounts to about 0.02 percent of filers subject to the 81 percent rate, let alone the 91 percent rate.
Additionally, top income earners paid much lower average rates under Eisenhower.
The U.S. uses a marginal income tax system, meaning not all income is taxed at the same rate, and those who reach higher brackets still pay the lower tax bracket rate on some of their income.
For example, in 2018, a married couple filing jointly that makes $100,000 is subject to a 10 percent tax on the first $19,050, 12 percent on the next $58,350 and 22 percent on the remaining $22,600.
In 1955, any income that married couples filing jointly earned up to $4,000 was taxed at 20 percent, while the 91 percent rate kicked in for each dollar earned over $400,000 – the equivalent of $3,426,776 in constant 2013 dollars, according to the right-leaning Tax Foundation.
Actual tax paid as a percentage of income is called an effective or average tax rate.
https://checkyourfact.com/2019/01/09/fact-check-90-percent-taxes-eisenhower-1950s/
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.” — Harlan Underhill
Ha ha ha.
Thanks for the good laugh, LCT
Harlan is not a socialist, not a Jew, none of the people they came for. He will be alone when they come for him.
First they came for Gates
First they came for Gates
And I did not speak out
About the taxing rates
Cuz Gates was just a lout
Then they came for those
Who have a hundred mill
And I did not oppose
Cuz they were simply swill
Then they came for those
Who have 100k
And I did not impose
No chance, no how, no way
Then they came for me
Who hasn’t got a cent
And I was glad, you see
Cuz jail means food and rent
That is so great!
Perfect poem showing why the last people standing will be tired of being homeless and will welcome jail.
In addition, we will all be inside “with the billionaires and millionaires” to shive in the showers.
$100,000 to compensate the 16,000 people harmed by the federal agency’s actions?
Wow! $6.25 per person!
Man, I hope that comes with financial planning advice like people get when they win the Powerball lottery.
Otherwise those people will go on a spending spree and use it all up in the first year.
Do the students get the money?
If the $6.25 fine is paid to the Justice Dept., it will help cover
Barr’s expenses related to finding cover for Trump’s lawbreaking.
First they came for Gates
First they came for Gates
And I did not speak out
About the taxing rates
Cuz Gates was just a lout
Then they came for those
Who have a hundred mill
And I did not oppose
Cuz they were simply swill
Then they came for those
Who have 100k
And I did not impose
No chance, no how, no way
Then they came for me
Who hasn’t got a cent
And I was glad, you see
Cuz jail means meal and rent
Harlan got it wrong- “they came first” for the vulnerable and locked them up. America has the most incarcerated population in the world. The convicted aren’t the rich, they’re the poor.
Harlan is very concerned for the safety and well-being of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Betsy DeVos, and other billionaires. Tax them and we all will suffer, he says.
Thanks for the succinct summary. Essentially correct. Why? Law should apply equally to all, even those nasty billionaires.
Contempt of court is the right move. Not sure criticism of fine amount is justified. As I understand it, DofEd was injuncted from collection activity on these debts while Manriquez v DeVos [filed Dec 2017] awaits decision. DofEd ignored/ dragged feet so got held in contempt/ fined, w/fine amount directed toward harmed students rather than court. Not. lawyer so correct me if I’m wrong: I’m assuming Court can’t independently direct x amount to make illegally-hounded debtors whole. But DofEd would be well-advised to allocate budget & start doing so ahead of inevitable lawsuits.
In my opinion, the fine was way too much.
The judge should have made the fine a penny and just tossed it to the crowd of 16, 000 who were harmed and let them fight for it.
And, by the way, injuncted is a very good word.
Injunktion
When Betsy was injuncted
She thought it meant to trash
Her legal course, she flunked it
It really was a hash
Heh, heh: caught me. Logophile here. You & a couple of others here would probaby love my other fave forum, https://wordcraft.infopop.cc/eve/forums
We’re small but a nice mix of US, UK, Aussie– & could sure use some new blood. A couple of learned linguisticians chime in now & then but we’re mostly a motley mix exploring word usage trends. We even have game section including regular limerick contest, fictionary [definition-bluffing] et al – a poetry section ranging from ditties to erudiitties 😉 – questionable or plainly blooper ‘as seen in print’ – etc!
Thanks
I’ll have to check that out.
I love wordplay. As you can probably tell
Yay!
Hold the “Yay” for when Betsy’s in lockup for contempt.
When Hell is quite frozen
Then Betsy will serve
A sentence in prison
That’s surely deserved
When Hell is quite frozen
Then Betsy will chill
In place where she’s chosen
Forever to fill
It is disconcerting that the self-appointed representatives of religion delude themselves about Christ’s view of their actions.
Betsy’s church is Calvinist in origin & ‘confessional’ in nature – which does not refer to confession RC-style, but rather the necessity to swallow the church doctrine whole to be in good standing. They sound more interested in their particular view than Christ’s. Like the Pharisees.
Think of how much fun the students will have when their check for $6.25 arrives. Of course by the time it actually filters down to the 16,000 people it might not be quite that much.
Imagine how much tax they’ll have to pay. [sarcasm]
<
blockquote
❝All accumulation of personal property, beyond what a man’s own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came.❞
— Thomas Paine • Agrarian Justice
http://thomaspaine.org/major-works/agrarian-justice.html
— Thomas Paine • Agrarian Justice
http://thomaspaine.org/major-works/agrarian-justice.html
How can you make America great again when you don’t have a clue what made America America in the first place?
Make America America Again (MAAA)
Cluelessness is learned-
Trump was educated at a private school just like Bill and Melinda Gates and Zuckerberg were-grew up among the clueless-associate with the clueless.
Melinda Gates said she lost sleep over gender inequality. So, she decided money from her could fast-track women (except she excluded advancement in the sectors of religion or education).
Evidently, income inequality doesn’t make her lose sleep. Being submissive to your husband’s viewpoints leads to odd philanthropic spending and spin.
“Melinda Gates said she lost sleep over gender inequality.”
That was just a dig at Bill’s focus on his own needs in bed.
Thanks for the laugh.
But, like an ear worm, the mental image is tough to shake.