NBC News Investigates the Hunter Biden Laptop Story

By dianeravitch
November 1, 2020 //
63

NBC News assigned two investigative reporters to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story. What they discovered was worthy of a James Bond movie (farewell to Sean Connery, the best of the Bonds).

NBC investigators Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny pursued the origins of a document that was widely circulated on rightwing media.

One month before a purported leak of files from Hunter Biden’s laptop, a fake “intelligence” document about him went viral on the right-wing internet, asserting an elaborate conspiracy theory involving former Vice President Joe Biden’s son and business in China.

The document, a 64-page composition that was later disseminated by close associates of President Donald Trump, appears to be the work of a fake “intelligence firm” called Typhoon Investigations, according to researchers and public documents.

The author of the document, a self-identified Swiss security analyst named Martin Aspen, is a fabricated identity, according to analysis by disinformation researchers, who also concluded that Aspen’s profile picture was created with an artificial intelligence face generator. The intelligence firm that Aspen lists as his previous employer said that no one by that name had ever worked for the company and that no one by that name lives in Switzerland, according to public records and social media searches.

One of the original posters of the document, a blogger and professor named Christopher Balding, took credit for writing parts of it when asked about it and said Aspen does not exist.

Despite the document’s questionable authorship and anonymous sourcing, its claims that Hunter Biden has a problematic connection to the Communist Party of China have been used by people who oppose the Chinese government, as well as by far-right influencers, to baselessly accuse candidate Joe Biden of being beholden to the Chinese government.

The document and its spread have become part of a wider effort to smear Hunter Biden and weaken Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, which moved from the fringes of the internet to more mainstream conservative news outlets.

An unverified leak of documents — including salacious pictures from what President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and a Delaware Apple repair store owner claimed to be Hunter Biden’s hard drive — were published in the New York Post on Oct. 14. Associates close to Trump, including Giuliani and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, have promised more blockbuster leaks and secrets, which have yet to materialize.

The fake intelligence document, however, preceded the leak by months, and it helped lay the groundwork among right-wing media for what would become a failed October surprise: a viral pile-on of conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden.

The story about Hunter Biden’s laptop first appeared in Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post in mid-October. The gist of the story is that Hunter Biden allegedly dropped off computers at a repair shop in Delaware in 2019, telling the shop owner that they had suffered water damage and needed to be fixed. He never returned to pick them up.

The shop owner decided to examine the contents of the hard drive and discovered emails that showed that Hunter had introduced his father to officials in Ukraine, that he had persuaded his father to get involved in a business deal in China in 2017 (when Joe Biden was a private citizen), and salacious videos of Hunter Biden. The shop owner says he turned over the hard drive to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, and to the FBI. Giuliani then distributed the contents of the hard drive to the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal.

The story was supposed to be the Trump campaign’s October surprise, an expose that would destroy Biden. But the mainstream media was wary and treated the story skeptically. The reporter for the New York Post who wrote it refused to put his name on it. Some wondered why Hunter Biden, who lives in Los Angeles, would fly to Philadelphia and take a train to Wilmington to have his computer repaired, then forget to retrieve it.

As soon as the New York Post published the expose about Hunter’s emails, Devin Coldewey of TechCrunch wrote that the provenance of the laptop was extremely fishy. Some suspected that Russian disinformation was involved. Coldewey wrote, “But even supposing no global influence effort existed, the provenance of this so-called leak would be difficult to swallow. So much so that major news organizations have held off coverage, and Facebook and Twitter have both limited the distribution of the NY Post article.” As a techie, he finds the whole story not credible. He gives several reasons why it defies common sense. He writes:

It is beyond the worst operational security in the world to give an unencrypted device with confidential data on it to a third party. It is, however, very much a valid way for someone to make a device appear to be from a person or organization without providing any verification that it is so...

The repair shop supposedly could not identify Hunter Biden, who lives in Los Angeles, as the customer. But the invoice (for $85 — remarkably cheap for diagnosis, recovery, and backup of three damaged Macs) has “Hunter Biden” written right on it, with a phone number and one of the email addresses he reportedly used. It seems unlikely that Hunter Biden’s personal laptop — again, loaded with personal and confidential information, and possibly communications with the VP — would be given to a small repair shop (rather than an Apple Store or vetted dealer) and that shop would be given his personal details for contact...

The idea that Biden or his assistant or whoever would not return to pick up the laptop or pay for the services is extremely suspicious. Again, these are supposedly the personal devices of someone who communicated regularly with the VP, and whose work had come under intense scrutiny long before they were dropped off. They would not be treated lightly or forgotten. On the other hand, someone who wanted this data to be inspected would do exactly this…

That the laptops themselves were open and unencrypted is ridiculous. The serial number of the laptop suggests it was a 2017 MacBook Pro, probably running Mojave. Every Mac running Lion or later has easily enabled built-in encryption. It would be unusual for anyone to provide a laptop for repair that had no password or protection whatsoever on its files, let alone a person like Hunter Biden — again, years into efforts to uncover personal data relating to his work in Ukraine. ..

That this information would be inspected by the repair shop at all is very suspect indeed. Recovery of an ostensibly damaged Mac would likely take the form of cloning the drive and checking its integrity against the original. There is no reason the files or apps themselves would need to be looked at in the course of the work in the first place. Some shops have software that checks file hashes, if they can see them, against a database of known child sex abuse material. And there have been notable breaches of trust where repair staff illicitly accessed the contents of a laptop to get personal data. But there’s really no legitimate reason for this business to inspect the contents of the devices they are working on, let alone share that information with anyone, let alone a partisan operative. The owner, an avid Trump supporter, gave an interview this morning giving inconsistent information on what had happened and suggested he investigated the laptops of his own volition and retained copies for personal protection.

The data itself is not convincing. The Post has published screenshots of emails instead of the full text with metadata — something you would want to do if you wanted to show they were authentic. For stories with potential political implications, it’s wise to verify.

Since Trump can’t explain his inability or unwillingness to control the pandemic, since he refuses to admit that his administration is trying to have the Affordable Care Act thrown out by the Supreme Court, since he can’t produce the health insurance plan that he claims will be better than the Affordable Care Act, since he has no policies that he can defend, all he has left is throwing mud at Joe Biden. Let’s hope the American people are not fooled.


Categories Biden, Education Reform, Hoax, Trump

Texas: Trump Supporters Blockade Biden Campaign Bus, Forcing Event Cancellation

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2020 //
82

A Biden campaign bus driving from San Antonio to Austin was surrounded by Trump supporters who slowed it down and endangered those on the bus. Some of the Trumpers were armed.

They appeared following a call from Don Trump Jr. to show up at Biden-Harris events.

In a video ahead of a Friday event by Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, Trump Jr. encouraged his father’s supporters to show up at Harris’s event.

“Hey Laredo, Don Jr. here,” he said. “I heard you had an awesome turnout for the Trump Train. It’d be great if you guys would all get together, head down to McAllen and give Kamala Harris a nice Trump Train welcome. Get out there, have some fun, enjoy it. Don’t forget to vote and bring all of your friends. Let’s show them how strong Texas still is as Trump country. Get out there, guys.”

Some Trump supporters appeared to heed the call. At least one Facebook event with more than 700 responses, viewed by The Daily Beast, encouraged Trump fans to attend a Harris event in Fort Worth, Texas on Friday and “give Kamala Harris a big Texas welcome….. TRUMP STYLE!” The event was listed as canceled ahead of time, although its organizers acknowledged that some people might still try to attend, “and that’s your right.”

These guys are thugs. We can’t let our country be ruled by armed vigilantes.

Categories Education Reform

George T. Conway III: I Believe the President

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2020 //
21

George T. Conway III is a conservative Republican who co-founded The Lincoln Project. He is a contributor to the Washington Post, where this satirical column appeared.

He writes:

I believe, more than ever, in the president.

I believe Sleepy Joe Biden and that “monster” Kamala D. Harris would turn America into a “socialist hellhole,” and we’d all have “to speak Chinese.” I believe they “want to take out the cows” and “any form of animals.” There will be “no airplanes,” they’ll “rip down the Empire State Building,” and we’ll only have “little, tiny windows.”

I believe Sleepy Joe leads an “organized crime family.” I believe he and President Barack Obama committed “the greatest political crime in the history of our country,” and it will be “a very sad, sad situation” if the attorney general doesn’t indict them.

I believe Hunter Biden is a criminal, because someone got hold ofhis “laptop from hell,” and because of some guy named Bobulinski, whoever he is. I believe Fake News reporters are also criminals because they won’t report this.

I believe the laptop didn’t come from Russian intelligence. I believe Hunter Biden flew from his home in Los Angeles to Philadelphia, and then took a train to Delaware, because he needed a legally blind repairman there to fix his laptop. I believe Rudy Giuliani when he says the odds are “no better than 50/50”he worked with a Russian agent to dig up dirt on the Bidens.

I believe “the president knows all about this” dirt-digging, so all the dirt must be true. I believe Giuliani may have been duped by fake Kazakh rubes but could never be conned by real Russian spies.

I believe Giuliani was just tucking in his shirt.

I believe the president doesn’t know much about QAnon other than “they like me very much,” and that it’s not “a bad thing” they are “very much against pedophilia.” I believe people should be able to make up their own minds whether Biden had Seal Team Six killed to cover up the faking of Osama bin Laden’s death.

I believe Harris is “nasty,” a “communist” and a “madwoman.” I believe we can’t have “a socialist president — especially a female socialist president.” I believe she has a funny name, and it’s possible “she doesn’t meet the requirements” for the vice presidency because her parents were born abroad.

I believe the president is the “least racist person” in any room he’s in. I believe it was fine for him to tell the Proud Boys to “stand by,” because “somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left.” I believe “corona” sounds like a “beautiful seaside island in Italy,” and so we must say “China plague.”

I believe the president has already announced his new, “incredible” health care plan, and it’s something “nobody has seen … before.” But I believe if it hasn’t been announced yet, it will be “very soon,” perhaps in two weeks. I believe that the president will improve on Obamacare by getting the Supreme Court to “end it,” which would be “so good.”

I believe it was the strategy of a stable genius for the president to urge Congress to pass a stimulus bill, and then, three days later, refuse to negotiate one, and then, seven hours after that, demand Congress “IMMEDIATELY Approve” one.

I believe the president was “not looking to be dishonest” about the China virus and that he played it down because he didn’t want “to create a panic.” I also believe he “up-played” it. I believe he doesn’t and shouldn’t “take responsibility at all” for his handling of it, but that he does take “full responsibility” and that it’s not his fault.

I believe the virus “affects virtually nobody,” and that the death count would be “very low” if we didn’t count Democrat states. I believe doctors and hospitals have overcounted deaths because they “get more money” for doing so.

I believe we’re “rounding the final turn” with the virus and that we have more new cases than ever because we have “the best testing in the world by far.” I believe other countries test only “when somebody comes into the hospital and throws up all over the floor.”

I believe we will develop “herd mentality,” which will make the virus “go away.” I believe a vaccine is “ready,” coming “momentarily,” “within weeks.” And I believe Deborah Birx is “Pathetic!” for saying the virus was “extraordinarily widespread,” that Anthony S. Fauci, who has “been here for 500 years,” is a “disaster,” and that all the scientists are “idiots.”

I believe the Fake News people are “dumb bastards” because “all they cover” is “covid, covid, pandemic, covid, covid,” because “they’re trying to scare everybody” from voting. I believe it “should be an election law violation!” I believe that “on November 4, you won’t hear about it anymore.”

I believe “the Fake News only shows the Fake Polls.” That includes Fox News, whose polls are “totally FAKE.” I believe a “SILENT MAJORITY!” supports the president — look at all those boaters. I believe he has a 96 percent approval rating among Republicans — up from 93 percent, 94 percent and 95 percent.

I believe “the ballots are out of control,” and people should vote by mail and then vote again in person, to test the system. I believe the only way the president will lose “is if the election is rigged” and that he’s right not to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

I believe the president will not only win, but he’ll also “negotiate” a third term, which he’s entitled to because Obama and Biden spied on him.

I believe that if the president somehow does lose, he might “have to leave the country.” I believe he probably should.


I believe Giuliani was just tucking in his shirt.

I believe the president doesn’t know much about QAnon other than “they like me very much,” and that it’s not “a bad thing” they are “very much against pedophilia.” I believe people should be able to make up their own minds whether Biden had Seal Team Six killed to cover up the faking of Osama bin Laden’s death.AD

I believe Harris is “nasty,” a “communist” and a “madwoman.” I believe we can’t have “a socialist president — especially a female socialist president.” I believe she has a funny name, and it’s possible “she doesn’t meet the requirements” for the vice presidency because her parents were born abroad.

Our Democracy in Peril: A series on the damage Trump has caused — and the danger he would pose in a second term

I believe the president is the “least racist person” in any room he’s in. I believe it was fine for him to tell the Proud Boys to “stand by,” because “somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left.” I believe “corona” sounds like a “beautiful seaside island in Italy,” and so we must say “China plague.”

I believe the president has already announced his new, “incredible” health care plan, and it’s something “nobody has seen … before.” But I believe if it hasn’t been announced yet, it will be “very soon,” perhaps in two weeks. I believe that the president will improve on Obamacare by getting the Supreme Court to “end it,” which would be “so good.”AD

I believe it was the strategy of a stable genius for the president to urge Congress to pass a stimulus bill, and then, three days later, refuse to negotiate one, and then, seven hours after that, demand Congress “IMMEDIATELY Approve” one.

I believe the president was “not looking to be dishonest” about the China virus and that he played it down because he didn’t want “to create a panic.” I also believe he “up-played” it. I believe he doesn’t and shouldn’t “take responsibility at all” for his handling of it, but that he does take “full responsibility” and that it’s not his fault.

I believe the virus “affects virtually nobody,” and that the death count would be “very low” if we didn’t count Democrat states. I believe doctors and hospitals have overcounted deaths because they “get more money” for doing so.ADhttps://01b67c073f58f52309fae988292c3ecf.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

I believe we’re “rounding the final turn” with the virus and that we have more new cases than ever because we have “the best testing in the world by far.” I believe other countries test only “when somebody comes into the hospital and throws up all over the floor.”

I believe we will develop “herd mentality,” which will make the virus “go away.” I believe a vaccine is “ready,” coming “momentarily,” “within weeks.” And I believe Deborah Birx is “Pathetic!” for saying the virus was “extraordinarily widespread,” that Anthony S. Fauci, who has “been here for 500 years,” is a “disaster,” and that all the scientists are “idiots.”

I believe the Fake News people are “dumb bastards” because “all they cover” is “covid, covid, pandemic, covid, covid,” because “they’re trying to scare everybody” from voting. I believe it “should be an election law violation!” I believe that “on November 4, you won’t hear about it anymore.”ADhttps://01b67c073f58f52309fae988292c3ecf.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

I believe “the Fake News only shows the Fake Polls.” That includes Fox News, whose polls are “totally FAKE.” I believe a “SILENT MAJORITY!” supports the president — look at all those boaters. I believe he has a 96 percent approval rating among Republicans — up from 93 percent, 94 percent and 95 percent.

I believe “the ballots are out of control,” and people should vote by mail and then vote again in person, to test the system. I believe the only way the president will lose “is if the election is rigged” and that he’s right not to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

I believe the president will not only win, but he’ll also “negotiate” a third term, which he’s entitled to because Obama and Biden spied on him.

I believe that if the president somehow does lose, he might “have to leave the country.” I believe he probably should.

Categories Trump

Mercedes Schneider: Surviving Hurricanes, COVID, and DeVos

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2020 //
8

Mercedes Schneider teaches English to high school students in Louisiana.

In this post, she describes her triumphs of recent months: one hurricane after another has swept across her state. COVID threatens. DeVos expresses her contempt for public schools and their teachers, like Mercedes.

Yet she feels triumphant!

Well, Betsy, my public school is a good school, and I am a good public school teacher.

In the last several weeks, seven new students have enrolled in my Eng IV classes. Six arrived from other schools. That would not happen in a private school. There is no obligation to enroll whoever shows up on the private school doorstep. But we enroll students as they arrive, and each one enters my classroom with a circumstance that I must figure out how to navigate so that the student can become part of my class as successfully and seamlessly as is possible.

It is quite a challenge, but we do not turn students away. We. Do. Not. Turn. Students. Away. That is profound, and the likes of Betsy DeVos, steeped in her ideological bias, completely misses it. 

Then there are the numerous specialized situations in which students and their families find themselves, circumstances that necessitate individualized, often instantaneous and creative, solutions. Longterm illness and disease. Comprehension issues. Physical limitations. Psychological challenges. Homelife instabilities...

The bottom line: My students and I are moving forward, despite COVID, despite hurricanes, despite DeVos.

And that, my friends, is success.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Education Reform, Louisiana, Teaching

The Cast of “Hamilton” Sings: VOTE!

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2020 //
1

Lin-Manuel Miranda and the original cast of “Hamilton” (not all, but many) have made an excellent video to appeal to young people with this simple message: REGISTER AND VOTE.

The best way to vote is IN PERSON, so your vote is certain to be counted.

If you can’t get to the polling place in person, vote by mail but vote EARLY.

Categories Accountability, Citizenship, Elections

Jesse Jackson: Black Americans Are Not Fooled by Trump’s Lies

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2020 //
79

Jesse Jackson wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that Black Americans will not fall for Trump’s absurd claims about the great things he claims to have done for them.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2020/10/26/21535175/black-americans-vote-trump-civil-rights-jesse-jackson

He wrote:

If a lie is repeated often enough, the truth may never catch up. Donald Trump understands this better than anyone, as he showers Americans with lies — often the same ones repeated over and over — knowing that more voters will hear him than the fact-checkers. 

One of his favorite howlers is his oft-repeated claim that “I’ve done more for African Americans than anybody, except for the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln.” 

No one should fall for the con.

For example, Trump doesn’t come close to Harry Truman who desegregated the U.S. military, an act of simple justice that took immense courage. He’s done nothing as important as Dwight Eisenhower who dispatched troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to overcome resistance to school integration. He can’t hold a candle to Lyndon Johnson, who, working with Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, passed the Civil Rights Bill ending segregation in public facilities, the Voting Rights Act enforcing the right to vote, and the War on Poverty that reduced poverty to levels still not matched.

But comparing Trump to presidents who actually made things better is to fall into his trap, for Trump hasn’t done things for African Americans, he has done things to them. 

He’s embraced the Republican strategy of race-bait politics, only he’s replaced their dog whistles with a bullhorn. He celebrated the neo-Nazis and other extremists marching against civil rights protesters in Charlottesville. He’s scorned African countries and Haiti as “s…-holes,” suggesting the only immigrants he wanted were whites from countries like Norway. 

He sowed racial fears, painting the largely nonviolent Black Lives Matter demonstrators as “thugs,” and the demonstrations as “riots.” He’s tried to rouse support from suburbanites by charging that Biden’s support for affordable housing would “destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream.” He’s labeled cities with large minority populations like New York City as “anarchist jurisdictions” that should be stripped of federal support…

Trump’s Small Business Administration stiffed African Americans in dispensing loans through the Pay Protection Plan. More than 9 of 10 Black-owned small businesses that applied for loans were denied. That led directly to over 40% of Black-owned businesses shutting down in the pandemic. 

Trump measures the economy’s success not by the health of the people, but by the health of the stock market, but while 61% of whites participate in the stock market (although for most the holdings are meager), only one-third of blacks own stocks. Nearly one-half of Black women report that they are unable to pay for necessities like food and housing, even though most work. Over half have less than $200 in savings. Trump doesn’t help. He did nothing to raise the minimum wage and has been actively hostile to unions that help workers bargain a fair wage.

Essential workers are disproportionately African American. Blacks are disproportionately in low-wage jobs, often without employer-based health care. The pandemic has killed Black people at double the rate of Whites. African Americans have suffered the most from Trump’s mismanagement. Blacks have been more likely to be denied health care, and less likely to have paid sick days. 

And Trump has basically been AWOL as the Republican Senate blocked action on a relief plan as unemployment insurance was running out, and states and cities were facing massive cuts in services and jobs — disproportionately held by people of color — in the wake of the pandemic-caused fiscal crisis.

Trump touts the modest criminal justice reforms that he signed off on that will help reduce mass incarceration a bit, but he has actively undermined equal justice under the law. He encouraged police to rough up those that they arrest. He defended vigilantes shooting at those protesting the murder of George Floyd. He terminated the Obama Justice Department’s police department investigations and consent decrees that were reforming police practices. He boasts of arming police forces with military weaponry. He even terminated racial-sensitivity training in the federal government, mostly as a grandstand appeal to his base of angry White men. He’s appointed the most federal Appeals Court judges since Jimmy Carter; not one of them is Black. 

Trump not only has done nothing to revive the Voting Right Act, gutted by the right-wing gang of five on the Supreme Court, he and his party have actively worked to suppress Black voting — passing ID requirements, shutting down polling places, purging voter lists, making registration harder, limiting early voting, undermining vote by mail, gerrymandering districts and more — all designed with laser focus to reduce the Black vote.

In short, Trump has left African Americans in the deepest hole with the shortest rope. Not surprisingly, most won’t fall for Trump’s big con. African Americans — and particularly African-American women — will vote overwhelmingly for Joe Biden. The base for Trump and Republicans will continue to be those not repelled by his racially divisive rhetoric and policies. 

Periodically, however, it is useful to remind people that night is not day, that hate is not love. When Lincoln freed the slaves, they joined the Union armies in large numbers and helped save the Republic. Trump can’t be mentioned in the same breath as Lincoln, and African Americans aren’t about to save him.

Categories Accountability, Civil Rights, Democracy, Equity, Justice, Lies, Racism, Trump

Texas Parent PAC: A Model of Action for Every State

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2020 //
6

Parents in Texas got disgusted 15 years ago when the Legislature almost passed a voucher law. They organized the Texas Parent PAC, which is a highly effective voice on behalf of public schools and more than five million students.

The website of Texas Parent PAC has a list of the endorsed candidates, both Democrats and Republicans.

Their guiding principles are a model for parents, grandparents, and civic activists in other states.

I recently heard from Dinah Miller, co-founder and co-chair, who explained the PAC’s origins. She wrote:

Texas Parent PAC formed in 2005 after taxpayer-funded private school vouchers failed to pass the Texas House by only one vote. Five PTA moms called a press conference during PTA Summer Seminar in Austin and announced we were forming a political action committee to elect better talent to the Texas House who would oppose vouchers and support public schools. We recruited Diane Patrick from Arlington who had local and state school board experience to run against hostile Texas House Public Education Committee Chair Kent Grusendorf who had been in office 20 years. We beat Grusendorf in the primary along with others and then knocked off another hostile education committee member in the general election. Those races put us on the map.

From our website: Texas Parent PAC is a bipartisan political action committee for parents, grandparents, parents-to-be, and anyone who supports high quality public education. The PAC has a track record of success, helping to elect over 63 current members of the Texas Legislature, and defeat 23 incumbents who were hostile to public education.

Endorsed candidates reflect traditional mainstream American values that honor and support children and their families, quality public education, strong communities, unlimited opportunities, and maximum citizen participation in our democracy. All endorsed candidates support the Texas Parent PAC Guiding Principles.

Fifteen years later, our volunteers are still fundraising for our endorsed bipartisan candidates for the November 3, 2020 election. Our website is www.txparentpac.com

Sincerely, Your Fan,

Dinah Miller

Co-chair and Co-founder

Texas Parent PAC

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Funding, Parent Groups, Resistance, Texas, Vouchers

Trump Regime Expels Immigrant Children to Mexico, Not Their Home Country

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2020 //
37

When the history books are written in years to come, the Trump administration’s cruel, callous, inhumane treatment of immigrant children may well be the most horrifying chapter.

Caitlin Dickerson writes in the New York Times that border officials are sending unaccompanied minors to Mexico, even though it is not their home country and they have no family there.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/us/migrant-children-expulsions-mexico.html?referringSource=articleShare

U.S. border authorities have been expelling migrant children from other countries into Mexico, violating a diplomatic agreement with Mexico and testing the limits of immigration and child welfare laws.

The expulsions, laid out in a sharply critical internal email from a senior Border Patrol official, have taken place under an aggressive border closure policy the Trump administration has said is necessary to prevent the coronavirus from spreading into the United States. But they conflict with the terms upon which the Mexican government agreed to help implement the order, which were that only Mexican children and others who had adult supervision could be pushed back into Mexico after attempting to cross the border.

The expulsions put children from countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador at risk by sending them with no accompanying adult into a country where they have no family connections. Most appear to have been put, at least at first, into the care of Mexican child welfare authorities, who oversee shelters operated by religious organizations and other private groups.

The expulsions, which appear to number more than 200 over the past eight months, reflect the haphazard nature with which many of the administration’s most aggressive immigration policies have been introduced. In many cases, they have led to the shuffling of young children between U.S. government agencies and now, between the governments of countries that are not their own. For years now, the Trump administration’s handling of migrant children has left members of families separated for months on end and unable to reach one another.

A report to the courts earlier this month revealed that the parents of 545 such children currently in the United States, some of them separated from their families as long ago as 2017, still have not been located.

Under existing diplomatic agreements and U.S. policies, children from countries other than Mexico are supposed to be put on flights operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to their home countries, where they can be reunited with their families.

Rumors of children from other countries being expelled into Mexico have swirled among nonprofit workers advocating for child welfare in Mexico and the United States. But locating any such children has been difficult because of spotty reporting from Mexican government authorities.

But an email from the U.S. Border Patrol’s assistant chief, Eduardo Sanchez, obtained by The New York Times, makes it clear that such transfers have not only occurred, but that they are a clear violation of U.S. policy.

“Recently, we have identified several suspected instances where Single Minors (SM) from countries other than Mexico have been expelled via ports of entry rather than referred to ICE Air Operations for expulsion flights,” Mr. Sanchez wrote.

Categories Accountability, Cruelty, Education Reform, Trump

Trump Appointee Seeks to Destroy Voice of America

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2020 //
16

For many years, the American government’s broadcast outlet was widely perceived as independent and nonpartisan. Trump has sought to demolish that reputation by putting a loyal Trumper in charge.

The Washington Post editorial board wrote:

THE U.S. government’s international broadcasting has long had one big advantage over its Russian and Chinese competition: a commitment to independent journalism, rather than official propaganda. Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other outlets are staffed by professionals who deliver unbiased news reports, including about the U.S. government, earning them credibility and influence with audiences around the world — especially in countries that lack free media.


President Trump is bent on destroying that legacy. Last spring, infuriated by VOA’s failure to echo his hyperbolic rhetoric about the “China virus,” he bullied reluctant Republican senators into confirming his highly partisan nominee to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees U.S. broadcasting. That official, Michael Pack, immediately embarked on a purge of the journalistic leadership of the organizations; he also refused to renew visas of dozens of foreign journalists who work for them.


Now Mr. Pack has launched a direct assault on the journalistic code that has been the U.S. calling card. Late Monday night, he unilaterally issued an order he said revoked a USAGM regulation creating a “firewall” between management and the journalism of the networks. His objection is to the rule’s prohibition of “attempts” by USAGM executives “to direct, pressure, coerce, threaten, interfere with, or otherwise impermissibly influence any of the USAGM Networks . . . in the performance of their journalistic and broadcasting duties.”
Mr. Pack would like to do all those things in advancement of his aim to repress reporting that might offend the White House. For example, he already ordered an investigation of veteran VOA reporter Steve Herman for supposed anti-Trump bias. Mr. Herman’s sin was to report, accurately, that Vice President Pence had failed to wear a mask during a visit to the Mayo Clinic. The probe was a blatant violation of the firewall that Mr. Pack now says he has dismantled. In a memo to staff, he unabashedly said he acted so that he could “enforce consequences for . . . biased reporting.”




Unfortunately for Mr. Trump’s minion, the independence of VOA’s journalism is guaranteed not just by the regulation he said he repealed but also by a law passed by Congress, which mandates the “professional independence and integrity” of U.S. broadcasting. But Mr. Pack is not much deterred by legal barriers. According to a half-dozen whistleblowers who filed a complaint with the State Department’s inspector general, he has improperly diverted funds, sidelined executives who told him he was violating the law and tried to investigate the voting history of USAGM employees.
Mr. Pack has drawn bipartisan criticism from both houses of Congress — which he reacted to by ignoring a subpoena to testify to a House committee.

On Tuesday, the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul (Tex.), tweeted that “it is unclear why CEO Pack is opposed to journalistic objectivity at USAGM and its networks. Without it, the mission and effectiveness of the agency is undermined.” In fact, Mr. Pack’s motives appear perfectly clear: He wishes to turn U.S. broadcasting into a pro-Trump propaganda operation. Unless Mr. Trump is defeated and Mr. Pack removed, the unique power of U.S. foreign broadcasting will likely be destroyed.

Categories Corruption, Propaganda, Trump

Florida: Voucher Schools Still Firing Gay Teachers

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2020 //
14

Last year, the Orlando Sentinel reviewed the websites of the state’s voucher schools and discovered that scores of them publicly admitted that they do not admit the children of gay families and do not hire gay staff. The legislature then refused to require that voucher schools stop discriminating against gays; mustn’t trample on their freedom to be bigots.

Some voucher schools removed the language from their websites, but continue to fire gay teachers.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/scott-maxwell-commentary/os-op-gay-teacher-fired-florida-scott-maxwell-20201023-mnfwdiqejrd2blf4cermulgeji-story.html

The voucher schools, apples of the eyes of Betsy DeVos and Jeb Bush, skim $1 billion a year of public funds that should have gone to public schools or used for public purposes, where discrimination is prohibited.

Categories Bias, Bigotry, Florida
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »