September 21, 2016


News and Views


“CHANGING THE NARRATIVE”


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/keith-lamont-scott-shooting-charlotte-police-say-he-was-holding-a-gun-when-shot/

Keith Lamont Scott shooting: Charlotte police say he was holding a gun when shot
CBS/AP
September 21, 2016, 10:07 AM

20 Photos -- Police officers wearing riot gear block a road during protests after police fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 20, 2016. ADAM RHEW/CHARLOTTE MAGAZINE/REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Violence erupts in Charlotte after cops kill man


CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Charlotte officials are attempting to “change the narrative” after violent protests in the city following the shooting death of a black man at the hands of police officers.

At a news conference in reaction to official statements, regional civil rights leaders speaking on behalf of the family said the narrative is right, and police killed an innocent man.

Kerr Putney, chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, said at a press conference Wednesday morning that Keith Lamont Scott, 43, had a gun in his hand when he was shot by police officers. A family member has claimed he was unarmed and reading a book when officers first approached him.

“I can tell you a weapon was seized,” Putney said. “I can tell you we did not find a book.”

Putney said there is video of the incident, but he had not viewed all of it, and was basing his assessment on witness and police statements.

On Tuesday, Putney said officers were executing a search for a man with outstanding warrants when they witnessed Scott get into a car with a handgun. Scott was not the man they were looking for, but police engaged him when he then got out of and back into the car with the gun, Putney said.

Officers approached Scott and gave him multiple warnings to drop the weapon, Putney said. Scott then attempted to get out of the vehicle with the gun in his hand, which is when he was shot by Officer Brentley Vinson, who is black and has been placed on administrative leave, as is standard procedure in such cases. Vinson has been with the department for two years.

Putney said officers called for medical help immediately after the shooting. He said he hoped a thorough explanation of the shooting will help calm the unrest in the city.

“It’s time to change the narrative,” Putney said Wednesday. “The story is a little bit different than it’s been portrayed so far.”

Putney may have been speaking in response to a woman claiming to be Scott’s daughter, who streamed the aftermath of the shooting live on Facebook, saying, “The police just shot my daddy four times for being black.”

The video has already been viewed more than half a million times and shows frustration building from members of the community, looking for answers.

“A life has been lost today, a life was taken and y’all want to block everybody out!” one community member said in a Facebook video.

Scott’s sister said he was unarmed and was reading a book while waiting for his son to get off the school bus, when police approached him.

“They jumped out their truck. They said, ‘Hands up! He got a gun! He got a gun!’ Pow, pow, pow, pow,” she said. “That’s it. He had no gun.”

At a news conference following the press availability of Charlotte officials, John C. Barnett, a civil rights activist who said he was speaking on behalf of the family, said Scott was just waiting at the bus stop for his kid when officers approached him.

Barnett and other civil rights leaders said that while they don’t encourage violent protests, they understood why people in Charlotte are on edge. He cited as an example the shooting of Jonathan Farrell, an unarmed former college football player shot 12 times by police in Charlotte after he left his wrecked car seeking help from a nearby home.

Barnett said the Scott shooting was part of a larger pattern of injustice.

An outspoken leader of the Nation of Islam, B.J. Murphy, called for an economic boycott of Charlotte at the press conference over the Scott shooting.

Murphy said that if black lives don’t matter, black money shouldn’t matter.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/protests-turn-violent-after-fatal-police-shooting-in-charlotte/

Protests turn violent after fatal police shooting in Charlotte
CBS/AP
September 21, 2016, 1:54 AM

Photograph -- Protesters demonstrate in front of officers in riot gear after police fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott in parking lot of apartment complex in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 20, 2016 REUTERS
Photograph – protestoverpoliceshootingcharlotte092016.jpg, Officers surround police cruiser in Charlotte trying to protect it from demonstrators on night of September 20, 2016 WBTV


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A black police officer shot an armed black man at an apartment complex Tuesday, authorities said, prompting angry street protests late into the night and into the early morning hours.

The man’s family disputes the police account, reports CBS Charlotte affiliate WBTV.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tweeted that demonstrators were destroying marked police vehicles and that approximately 12 officers had been injured, including one who was hit in the face with a rock. WBTV said 7 officers and a civilian were brought to an area hospital.

Water bottles were also thrown. Television coverage showed police firing tear gas to break up the crowd. Arrests were kept to a minimum, the station said.

Early Wednesday, protesters made their way to Interstate 85 and began throwing rocks at passing traffic, prompting police to close the highway. WBTV tweeted:


View image on Twitter
Follow
Sarah-Blake Morgan ✔ @SarahBlakeWBTV
I85 completely shut down here. @WBTV_News
2:20 AM - 21 Sep 2016
17 17 Retweets 6 6 likes

Another Charlotte station tweeted that things escalated:

Follow
Bill Melugin ✔ @BillFOX46
[VIDEO] Riots continue on I-85 in Charlotte, as rioters have blocked traffic, looted trucks, and burned the cargo following police shooting.
2:54 AM - 21 Sep 2016
37 37 Retweets 14 14 likes


Later, WBTV tweeted that police formed a line enabling traffic to get by, the road re-opened, and protesters moved to another location.

The came word that a Walmart had been damaged by demonstrators.

The protests came just hours after another demonstration in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over the shooting there of an unarmed black man by police.

Charlotte police went to the apartment complex about 4 p.m. looking for a suspect with an outstanding warrant when they saw the man -- not the suspect they were looking for -- inside a car, department spokesman Keith Trietley said in a statement.

Officers saw the man get out of the car with a gun and then get back in, Trietley said. When officers approached, the man exited the car with the gun again. At that point, officers deemed the man a threat and at least one fired a weapon, he said.

| WBTV Charlotte

The man, identified as 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, was taken to Carolinas Medical Center and pronounced dead.

Officer Brentley Vinson, who shot Scott, has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in such cases. Vinson has been with the department for two years.

Detectives recovered a firearm at the scene and were interviewing witnesses, Trietley said.

CMPD Chief Kerr Putney told reporters it’s uncertain whether there was a connection between the suspect police had been seeking and Scott, WBTV says.

A woman claiming to be Scott’s daughter live streamed the scene on Facebook for more than an hour after the shooting, the station says.

In the video, she said her father was unarmed when he was shot.

She said Scott was sitting in his vehicle reading a book and waiting for the school bus to drop off his son. In the video, she is heard saying police came up to him, yelled for him to get his hands up and broke open the car window.

She claims he was Tasered, then shot four times. In the video, she said her father was disabled, didn’t have a gun and was even scared of them.

A woman who identified herself as Scott’s sister was also at the scene. She also said her brother didn’t have a gun.

WBTV tweeted about it:


Follow
Sarah-Blake Morgan ✔ @SarahBlakeWBTV
Here's the man's sister. She says he did not have a gun. @CMPD says he did. @WBTV_News
6:26 PM - 20 Sep 2016
5,615 5,615 Retweets 3,768 3,768 likes

Police blocked access to the area, which is about a mile from the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, as protesters gathered after the shooting.

Local television video showed police in riot gear stretched across a two-lane road confronting protesters at the apartment complex later in the night. Some of the officers flanked the main line on one side of the road.

Some protesters were heard yelling “Black lives matter,” and “Hands up, don’t shoot!” One person held up a sign saying “Stop Killing Us.”

Other footage showed protesters lingering around a police vehicle after shattering its windows.

Earlier, a tow truck was brought in to take another police cruiser away. Local media outlets reported that car suffered damage to its rear end.

It appeared at one point the crowds were blocking patrol cars from moving in the street, even climbing on top of them, reports WBTV.

The CMPD tweeted just after 10 p.m. that its Civil Emergency Unit was deployed “to safely remove our officers from old concord [sic]” after demonstrators surrounded officers trying to leave the scene.

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
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Alex Giles WBTV ✔ @AlexGilesNews
#BREAKING It appears gas has just been sent into the crowd @WBTV_News
10:57 PM - 20 Sep 2016
157 157 Retweets 59 59 likes

One television news crew retreated from the scene after demonstrators began rocking their remote van, which was parked near the apartment complex where the shooting occurred.

A WBTV photographer was injured:

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
Follow
Alex Giles WBTV ✔ @AlexGilesNews
At the hospital with @kconnollywbtv-he was hit in the head during #KeithLamontScott protests @WBTV_News
1:27 AM - 21 Sep 2016
32 32 Retweets 12 12 likes

Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts appealed for calm and tweeted that “the community deserves answers.”


In Tulsa, hundreds of people rallied outside police headquarters calling for the firing of police officer Betty Shelby, who shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher on Friday in a confrontation that was captured on police dashcam and helicopter video.

Shelby’s attorney has said Crutcher was not following the officers’ commands and that Shelby was concerned because he kept reaching for his pocket as if he was carrying a weapon. An attorney representing Crutcher’s family says Crutcher committed no crime and gave officers no reason to shoot him.

Local and federal investigations into that shooting are ongoing.



CIVIL EMERGENCY UNITS

http://wunc.org/post/greensboro-police-department-look-civil-emergency-unit#stream/0

Greensboro Police Department: A Look At The Civil Emergency Unit
By REBECCA MARTINEZ • JAN 5, 2016

Graphics -- Greensboro Police Department's new Civil Emergency Unit is training for public response and has new equipment.


The Greensboro Police Department has been training and deploying its new Civil Emergency Unit.

Captain John Wolfe commands the 90-member team, which is most often mobilized to observe and respond to public demonstrations. The CEU trains several times a year. Wolfe says it has learned from the mistakes of departments who have sent untrained officers to deal with tense protesters.

"They're trained in de-escalation. They're trained in civil rights. They're trained in force continuums. You know, fear can shake your discipline and our people, we train them to take a lot of abuse and to not react out of some personal anger. And that makes a big difference when you're standing on a line in front of an unruly crowd."

Wolfe says Greensboro's CEU has been to more than a dozen protests in the past year and has reported minimal use of force.

The unit has a new high-power voice amplification machine called a Long Range Acoustic Device* to boost messages over a distance or competing noise.

Capt. Wolfe says the amplifier can be controlled better than tear gas to control an unruly crowd of protesters.

"My device has to be able to make my message clear to the people in that group so that the folks trying to peacefully demonstrate have the opportunity to separate themselves from people who will do whatever it takes to get arrested or cause damage or create disruption."

Wolfe says the department paid about $13,000 last year for the LARD* [sic], which can also be useful in searches for missing seniors, children and people with disabilities.


*LRAD -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSMyY3_dmrM – Long Range Acoustic Device* -- Check this out! It isn’t brutal, and it’s effective. Greensboro’s Civil Emergency Unit is impressive in a couple of ways.

There are 90 members to the team, which can decrease the tendency for cops to Shoot First and Think Later, partly due to fear, and partly due to a lack of oversight on the street where things are really happening. They simply are able to get away with it without being punished in any meaningful way.

The officers in Capt. Wolfe’s team are also trained in de-escalation rather than contributing to a wild melee, which seems to be what happened in Charlotte last night. That is so important, to stop the all too numerous deadly shootings.

For the Tulsa story, see below. That looks more like “police brutality” to me.



The Tulsa story is on yesterday’s Blog: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/disturbing-helicopter-footage-shows-oklahoma-police-kill-unarmed-man-n650866




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-spent-more-than-250k-from-foundation-to-settle-lawsuits/

Donald Trump spent more than $250K from foundation to settle lawsuits
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
September 20, 2016, 5:30 PM

Donald Trump used his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits that involved his businesses, spending more than $250,000 from the Trump Foundation over the last decade.

The revelations, first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, detailed how four newly documented expenditures show that he used the foundation’s money to settle a lawsuit with Palm Beach, Florida, another lawsuit involving one of his golf courses in New York, and he spent money to buy a portrait of himself at a charity fundraiser. CBS News confirmed all of these expenditures.

The GOP presidential nominee might have violated laws that ban nonprofit leaders from using charity money to benefits their businesses or themselves -- pointed out by the Post, which has reported extensively on the Trump Foundation.

One of the cases involved the height of a flagpole at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. Palm Beach fined him $120,000 in 2007. The city said it would waive the fines, the Post reported, if the club made a $100,000 donation to a veterans charity. But Trump sent a check to the charity using money from his foundation.

In 2010, a man named Martin Greenberg won a hole-in-one contest at one at one of Trump’s golf courses in Westchester County, New York during a charity tournament. On the 13th hole, he hit a hole-in-one, according to the Washington Post, winning a $1 million prize. The rules stipulated that the ball had to travel 150 yards, but the golf course said the hole was short of that, and he won nothing, according to the Post. Greenberg sued. The golf course agreed to settle the case that would have required it to make a donation to a charity, but instead, the Trump Foundation donated $158,000 to a foundation in Greenberg’s name, the report said.

The remaining amount involved smaller expenditures, the Post said. In 2014, Trump spent $10,000 of his foundation’s money, for example, to buy a portrait of himself at a charity fundraiser, the Post said.

This comes as New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman revealed last week that his office is investigating the Trump Foundation’s activities to see if it violated state law.

Schneiderman explained that the initial line of inquiry involved the breaking of tax laws by his foundation when it made a $25,000 political contribution to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. The Washington Post recently reported that the Trump might have also violated IRS rules by spending his nonprofit’s money to buy a $20,000 portrait of himself and a $12,000 autographed football helmet.



I wonder how Hillary has used her foundation. Politicians are USUALLY not squeaky clean if enough stones are overturned. However, the gift to Pam Bondi from his foundation in exchange for her dropping the lawsuit, is not only illegal, it’s unethical, and settling a lawsuit that way is just as bad. When he bought his portrait with Foundation money, that shows his conceit.

Many of these things, if they happened among kids on the playground, would be called out immediately as “cheating.” There aren’t any laws there, but every kid knows when they have been treated unfairly.


CLINTON AND TRUMP ON EDUCATION

Read these two articles for yourselves. They are clear and informational. It is obvious to me that Clinton cares about people’s lives, and loves dealing with educational issues; and Trump, as the article openly says, wants the Federal government to have little or nothing to do with education, leaving it to the states instead. As we all know, that would mean that many kids, due to their state of residence, would have a much poorer quality of education if the states were left to their own devices in this way. Many Americans just don’t care whether anyone other than their own precious children manage to get an education at all, much less a college degree.

And, I sadly declare, I think those most “conservative” Republicans want to see the “permanent underclass” that most of us fear remain “in their place,” because those people would then have to work in the factories all their lives for a very, very small wage, thus saving more money for the wealthiest. As a result, they are not in favor of Federally run Public Education. And of course, there are those among us who believe, secretly, that the poor ARE POOR BECAUSE they are either lazy or unintelligent, and they deserve what is happening to them. I’ve heard people say that more than once during my lifetime. Such people don’t need education, after all, because they “can’t learn,” ya know!

Remember the “workus” (workhouse) kids in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist? One of the Tea Party crowd during this last couple of years actually suggested that people nowadays who are in debt could be placed in residential factory settings just like those of the 1800s until they work off their debt. That was someone on a level with Gov. Perry of Texas. That’s called Indentured Servitude, and it was outlawed in the US, Britain and Ireland in the 20th century at differing times.

For a history of these “poorhouses,” See: www.poorhousestory.com/history.htm, and in England and Ireland, later than the US. England abolished its’ workhouses in 1948 under the National Assistance Act. Ireland’s history is much more shocking than that – 1996!

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/05/16854772-ireland-sent-girls-women-to-catholic-workhouses-until-1996-report-finds; while in the US poorhouses and poor farms were abolished when the New Deal came into place providing funds for the indigent. They still have to have a place to stay, but in the US today, there is subsidized housing available to all who fall below the federal poverty level, if they are able to get to the government centers and fill out the paperwork.

Those people living in parks today usually do it for reasons like – they are wanted by the police, they are so mentally uncoordinated that they can’t keep food and water and shelter together in one place, or they won’t take their mental health drugs because it makes them “feel funny.”

They’re migrants of a sort. If the weather is bad they move under a bridge or something. That is very often because they are chronic users of their “drug of choice,” usually alcohol, and if they go to a city shelter for help their drugs will be confiscated and destroyed, so that’s no good.

What concerns me most is that this story isn’t really finished. The poorest people are simply living on the streets. A lack of education is one of the main things that binds them to the street life, so educating the poor would gradually change the number of the people of that type for the better, but it is only one of the problems that they have. There is a park in downtown Jacksonville which has at least several homeless people sleeping on the grass every night.

It was said in an article at the time that Ferguson became the center of our attention, in reference to the increasing phenomenon of cops arresting rather than merely fining those Black and brown-skinned who had a broken taillight, and then when they can’t pay the fine because they are too poor, the judge sentences them to jail until they can get the money together. Yeah, right! The emergence of the “for profit prisons” also plays into this, causing Police departments and courts to advocate such unnecessary incarcerations. It makes money all the way up the chain, even to the state government.


CLINTON

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-on-education/

By JULIA BOCCAGNO CBS NEWS September 20, 2016, 6:00 AM
Where Hillary Clinton stands on education

By the end of 2016, student loan debt will have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. In fact, estimates report that approximately 43 million students in the United States will owe nearly $1.3 trillion. That means the average class of 2016 graduate has nearly $38,000 in debt--a six percent increase from last year.

Hillary Clinton, a longtime education advocate [sic] Hillary Clinton emphasizes education policy in her presidential agenda--pushing for early as well as higher education reform.

“The public school system has been, I believe, second to the Constitution, the most important institution in making America the great country that we have been over the last 200 plus years,” Clinton said in 2015.

Her original plan cost $350 billion over a decade, but she expanded the college affordability portion of the plan significantly in July. There has not been an updated cost estimate. The plan would be paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy.

Here are the key components to Clinton’s educational policy:

Early education:

Make preschool and quality childcare “available to every child in America” in the next decade

End the school-to-prison-pipeline by reforming harsh discipline standards in schools. “A classroom should be a safe place for our children, we shouldn’t even have to say that,” she said in a February speech. “This isn’t just an education issue, this is a civil rights issue and we can’t ignore it any longer.”

College affordability:

Enact policy that would allow families who make less than $125,000 attend public colleges for free--a leftward shift in Clinton’s education platform thanks to pressure from Sen. Bernie Sanders and his devout supporters who called for “free-tuition-for-all.” The plan has a five-year phase-in, but families making $85,000 or less would immediately be exempt from tuition at in-state public schools.

Pell Grants* for low-income students would be expanded

Her “New Compact Plan” would incentivize states to keep tuition rates down and provide grant money to those who demonstrate “a commitment to college affordability”

Student debt:

Expand student loan repayment options, such as refinancing and deferment, so that “debt won’t hold [them] back”

Would give student borrowers a three-month moratorium on student loan payments, during which time the government could help graduates either refinance, consolidate or enter into an income-based repayment program

Implement a “expiration date” for student loans to prevent the government from “making money off of lending money to young people to get their education”

John Wasik contributed to this article

With the upcoming election, CBS News is bringing you a new feature series on the two major party nominees and their positions on important policy issues.

Check out our list of stories and videos below:

Where Donald Trump stands on gun control
Where Hillary Clinton stands on gun control

Where Donald Trump stands on terrorism
Where Hillary Clinton stands on terrorism



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pell_Grant

Pell Grant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled in certain post-baccalaureate programs, through participating institutions.[1] The Pell Grant is named after Democratic U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, and was originally known as the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant. A Pell Grant is generally considered the foundation of a student's financial aid package, to which other forms of aid are added.[2] The Federal Pell Grant program is administered by the United States Department of Education, which determines the student's financial need and through it, the student's Pell eligibility. The U.S. Department of Education uses a standard formula to evaluate financial information reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for determining the student's expected family contribution (EFC).[3]

Pell Grants were created by the Higher Education Act of 1965. These federal funded grants are not like loans, and need not be repaid. Students may use their grants at any one of approximately 5,400 participating postsecondary institutions. These federally funded grants help about 5.4 million full-time and part-time college and vocational school students nationally.[4] As of 2016, eight of the top ten colleges (by total Pell Grant money awarded) were public or non-profit institutions.[5]

. . . . [FOR A THOROUGH AND INTERESTING HISTORY OF FEDERAL EDUCATION AID FOR THE LOWER AND MIDDLE INCOME STUDENTS READ THIS WHOLE ARTICLE.]



Clinton’s plan above is the best explanation of the available financing for poor students I’ve read. Her information is mainly about college tuition, while that in Trump’s article below is about high school. All those conservatives want to abolish the Federally subsidized public education system and funnel all kids into private settings. They want to regulate the government aid more tightly, and they prefer to use State aid in all cases, rather than Federal. The religious wing of the party wants to get involved (WHICH IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL) so they can make money on the schools, and so they can control the academic matter, from basic information to views and opinions, that will be taught to the kids. They will not be taught EVOLUTION, RACIAL EQUALITY, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL PROGRESSIVISM, and a few other things of that type. This really is a very divided nation in our views and attitudes.

See Trump’s views below.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-donald-trump-stands-on-education/

Where Donald Trump stands on education
By JULIA BOCCAGNO CBS NEWS
September 20, 2016, 6:00 AM

Related: Donald Trump slams Clinton's foreign policies during education speech by CBS News on YouTube


Broadly speaking, Donald Trump favors school vouchers* and has denounced the involvement of the federal government in the nation’s schools.

The GOP nominee and founder of the now-defunct Trump University-- tackled education reform in a recent September speech.

“As your president, I will be the biggest cheerleader for school choice you’ve ever seen,” he said, promising that in his White House “parents can home school their children.” Trump’s website does not appear to specifically address education, though in September, he unveiled a proposal on education vouchers. Here are the components of Trump’s educational platform so far:

School choice:

Like most Republicans, Trump supports education vouchers that allow students to attend private rather than public schools--arguing that they create healthy competition in the education market. “I will establish the national goal of providing school choice to every American child living in poverty,” Trump said in September. He recently unveiled plans to create a $20 billion block grant that would expand charter and private school options for low-income children. Trump would divert federal funding from schools to pay for the block grants.

He also has expressed an interest in eliminating the Department of Education because it has “been taken over by the bureaucrats in Washington.”

Trump has called Common Core a “disaster.” “Education has to be local,” he declared during his June 2015 presidential announcement.

College affordability:
“There’s no such thing as free education,” Trump said during a town hall with Chris Matthews. “You know, ultimately, somebody is going to be paying for that education, and it’s the taxpayers.” He acknowledged that students are “up to their neck in debt” and has suggested he would remove the federal government from the student loan system and privatize it, though doing this isn’t likely to reduce the cost of a degree, says John Wasik, author of “The Debt-Free Degree.”

Trump’s education policy surrogate, Sam Clovis, has suggested the colleges should screen their students more closely to accept those who are likely to graduate on time, which he seemed to suggest would effectively reduce the student debt burden.

John Wasik contributed to this article



*SCHOOL VOUCHERS AND SCHOOL CHOICE –

http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/school-choice-vouchers.aspx

School vouchers, also referred to as opportunity scholarships, are state-funded scholarships that pay for students to attend private school rather than public school. Private schools must meet minimum standards established by legislatures in order to accept voucher recipients. Legislatures also set parameters for student eligibility that typically target subgroups of students. These can be low-income students that meet a specified income threshold, students attending chronically low performing schools, students with disabilities, or students in military families or foster care.

History

The practice of state support for private school education has existed in Maine and Vermont for nearly 140 years. They have ongoing programs that provide public funding to private schools for rural students who do not have a public school in close proximity to their home. However, it was economist Milton Friedman’s 1955 paper, “The Role of Government in Education”, that launched modern efforts to use public dollars to pay private school tuition in hopes that competition among schools will lead to increased student achievement and decreased education costs.

In 1989, the Wisconsin legislature passed the nation’s first modern school voucher program targeting students from low income households in the Milwaukee School District.

In 2001, Florida enacted the John M. McKay Scholarships Program for Students with Disabilities becoming the first state to offer private school vouchers to students with disabilities.

In 2004, the first federally funded and administered voucher program was enacted by Congress in Washington, D.C. It offered private school vouchers to low income students, giving priority to those attending low-performing public schools

In 2007, the Utah legislature passed legislation creating the first statewide universal school voucher program, meaning it was available to any student in state with no limitations on student eligibility. A petition effort successfully placed the legislation on the state ballot for voter approval. In November 2007, the ballot measure was voted down and the new voucher program was never implemented. Utah’s existing special needs voucher program was not affected by the vote.

In 2011, Indiana created the nation’s first state-wide school voucher program for low income students

Arguments For and Against

What the Proponents Say: Private school choice proponents contend that when parents can choose where to send their child to school, they will choose the highest performing options. Those schools performing poorly will be forced to either improve or risk losing students and the funding tied to those students. While public school choice policies like charter schools serve a similar purpose, private schools have more flexibility in staffing, budgeting, curriculum, academic standards and accountability systems than even charter schools. This flexibility, supporters argue, fosters the best environment for market competition and cost efficiency.

>What the Opponents Say: Opponents of private school choice raise a number of concerns. They argue shifting a handful of students from a public school into private schools will not decrease what the public school must pay for teachers and facilities, but funding for those costs will decrease as students leave. Some also see government incentives to attend private religious schools as violating the separation of church and state. Others believe the positive effects of school competition on student achievement are overstated by proponents.



SOME SERIOUSLY ANGRY ARTICLES AGAINST TRUMP AND ONE AGAINST CLINTON


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/why-the-new-child-rape-ca_b_10619944.html

Why The New Child Rape Case Filed Against Donald Trump Should Not Be Ignored
Lisa Bloom
06/29/2016 01:17 pm ET | Updated Jul 01, 2016


http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/07/donald-trumps-love-affair-white-supremacists

Donald Trump's Love Affair With White Supremacists
KEVIN DRUM
JUL. 5, 2016 2:56 PM



DIRTY HILLARY, OR A RIGHTWING SMEAR?

Note: the Washington Times is a conservative newspaper. The Washington Post is moderate to liberal. Huffington Post and CNN do confirm the story in articles on that same day, however, Mediamatters disputes it, placing the original blame on ABC. I usually trust Huffington Post and CNN, but not always, apparently. My regular standby CBS and NPR, however this vicious swipe against Hillary caught my eye.



http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/06/11/conservative-media-run-faulty-abc-report-allege-hillary-clinton-sold-seat-intelligence-advisory/210871

Conservative Media Run With Faulty ABC Report To Allege Hillary Clinton “Sold A Seat” On An Intelligence Advisory Board
Research ››› June 11, 2016 4:56 PM EDT ››› MATT GERTZ

Conservative media figures are running with an ABC News report to claim that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “sold a seat” on the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) to Rajiv K. Fernando, a donor to the Clinton Foundation who was allegedly unqualified for the position. But the appointee in question is an expert in financial systems and serves on other national security boards. Contrary to ABC News’ implications, ISAB’s work includes financial security, and a general who works works with Fernando -- and who also currently sits on the ISAB -- says Fernando’s ”expertise in cyber-security is a great asset to our national security.”

ABC News Publishes Story Suggesting Seat For State Board Was Given Slot Due To Donations

ABC News Reports “How Clinton Donor Got On Sensitive Intelligence Board.” From ABC News’ June 10 article:

Newly released State Department emails help reveal how a major Clinton Foundation donor was placed on a sensitive government intelligence advisory board even though he had no obvious experience in the field, a decision that appeared to baffle the department’s professional staff.

The emails further reveal how, after inquiries from ABC News, the Clinton staff sought to “protect the name” of the Secretary, “stall” the ABC News reporter and ultimately accept the resignation of the donor just two days later.

Copies of dozens of internal emails were provided to ABC News by the conservative political group Citizens United, which obtained them under the Freedom of Information Act after more the [sic] two years of litigation with the government.

A prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates and contributor to the Clinton Foundation, who later traveled with Bill Clinton on a trip to Africa, Rajiv K. Fernando’s only known qualification for a seat on the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) was his technological know-how. The Chicago securities trader, who specialized in electronic investing, sat alongside an august collection of nuclear scientists, former cabinet secretaries and members of Congress to advise Hillary Clinton on the use of tactical nuclear weapons and on other crucial arms control issues. [ABC News, 6/10/16]

Conservative Media Run Wild With The Story, Claiming It Proves State Department Was “Up For Sale”

The Federalist: “Hillary Clinton Put Crony Donor On Top-Secret State Dept. Security Board.” The Federalist cited the ABC News report and attacked Clinton for appointing “a grossly unqualified Clinton Foundation donor to a State Department advisory board that handled top-secret national security information.” [The Federalist, 6/10/16]

Townhall: “It Seems As If Anything Is Up For Sale If You Give Enough Money To The Clinton Foundation.” Associate editor Matt Vespa wrote of the ABC News report: “It seems as if anything is up for sale if you give enough money to the Clinton Foundation, even positions on a national security intelligence board that has access to top-secret information.” [Townhall, 6/10/16]

Hot Air: “Hillary Sold Access To The ISAB As A Payback For Political And Clinton Foundation Donations.” Hot Air writer Ed Morrissey responded to the ABC News report by writing: “While that’s a serious problem, the internal response to ABC’s initial probe five years ago was high comedy. No one could come up with an explanation for Fernando’s appointment, even after two days of trying. The best that the combined efforts of State’s legal and executive team could do was to hail Fernando’s “relative youth, enthusiasm, a business perspective, and expertise in cyber security,” a description that would apply to thousands if not millions of mid-level executives in the US.” [Hot Air, 6/10/16]

Ben Shapiro: ABC Report Shows Hillary Will Be More Corrupt “By A Long Shot” Than Trump. Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro responded to the ABC News report by concluding it shows Clinton would be more corrupt than Trump as president: “So, who’s more corrupt? Hillary, by a long shot. We don’t know just what Trump would do as president – but it wouldn’t be honest. We do know Hillary. Hillary is the devil we know, and have known on an unfortunately intimate basis for three decades.” [Daily Wire, 6/10/16]

Newt Gingrich: Appointment Shows Clinton “In Effect, Sold A Seat.” While appearing on Fox News, contributor Newt Gingrich claimed the report shows that "Clinton, in effect, sold a seat on a nuclear weapons advisory group to a financier from Chicago who had no technical knowledge." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/10/16, via Newsmax]

New York Post Editorial About ABC News Report: “Another Sign Hillary Clinton’s State Department Was For Sale.” [New York Post, 6/10/16]

ABC News' Implications Are Undermined By Their Own Reporting That Fernando Had Relevant "Technical Know-How”

State Department Spokesperson: ISAB Board Is “Looking For A Broad Range Of Experiences.” From ABC’s report:

Today State Department spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters that Fernando had been fully vetted, but Toner said he could not speak to his specific qualifications. When asked if he came from a security background, Toner said, “I don’t believe so.”

“I apologize, I don’t have his [resume] in front of me,” Toner said. “All I know is that the charter does lay out or stipulate that [they're] looking for a broad range of experiences. It’s not unimaginable that a businessman, an international businessman, might bring a certain level of expertise or knowledge or experience to such a job.” [ABC News, 6/10/16]

ISAB Charter States The Board “Shall Reflect A Balance Of Backgrounds.” The board’s charter, posted on the State Department’s website, states of its membership: “The ISAB shall reflect a balance of backgrounds, points of view, and demographic diversity and shall include a wide variety of scientific, military, diplomatic, and political backgrounds. All members shall hold a Top Secret security clearance.” [State.gov, accessed 6/11/16]

ABC Notes Fernando Was Technical Expert Who “Specialized In Electronic Investing.” From ABC’s report:

A prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates and contributor to the Clinton Foundation, who later traveled with Bill Clinton on a trip to Africa, Rajiv K. Fernando’s only known qualification for a seat on the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) was his technological know-how. The Chicago securities trader, who specialized in electronic investing, sat alongside an august collection of nuclear scientists, former cabinet secretaries and members of Congress to advise Hillary Clinton on the use of tactical nuclear weapons and on other crucial arms control issues. [ABC News, 6/10/16]

Fernando Has Extensive Experience In The Financial Sector. Fernando’s biography states of his financial experience:

Raj Fernando is the founder and CEO of The Chopper Group, which is working on a new Internet venture. He is the former founder and CEO of Chopper Trading, a Chicago-based trading firm he founded in 2002 and sold in 2015. Prior to Chopper Trading, Raj held a variety of trading positions at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade from 1991-2001. [American Security Project, accessed 6/11/16]

Fernando Participated In Government Roundtable On Financial Systems In 2010. Fernando was part of a staff roundtable discussion on disruptive trading practices in December 2010 for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an independent government agency. [CFTC.gov, 12/2/10]

Contrary To ABC's Suggestion, ISAB's Work Covers Financial Security Issues, Not Just Arms Control

ABC: Fernando Was “Placed On A Sensitive Government Intelligence Advisory Board Even Though He Had No Obvious Experience In The Field.” [ABC News, 6/10/16]

But Recent ISAB Report Covered Cybersecurity In Financial Industry. A 2014 ISAB report covered cybersecurity in the financial industry. From the report’s conclusion:

The open nature of cyberspace, the access to information it enables, and the creativity that results, encourages a growing potential for a unique and accelerating process of innovation. This process also threatens individual privacy and the function of national infrastructure and financial systems in an historically unprecedented way. As the National Academy of Sciences points out, “cybersecurity is important to the United States, but the nation has other interests as well, some of which conflict with the imperatives of cybersecurity. It is important to recognize that tradeoffs are inevitable, and the nation’s political and policymaking bodies will have to decide on a case-by-case basis which national interests supersede increased cyber security.” By encouraging best practice, supporting and promulgating a modified theory of deterrence, and fostering international consensus on conduct in cyberspace among allies and friends, the Department can help in the national effort to allow the greatest utility from cyberspace in ways that do no harm. [State.gov, 7/2/14]

Fernando Serves On Multiple National Security And Foreign Policy Boards

ABC Acknowledged That Fernando Is Now A Board Member Of The American Security Project. ABC wrote:

Fernando is now a board member of a private group called the American Security Project, which describes itself as “a nonpartisan organization created to educate the American public and the world about the changing nature of national security in the 21st Century.” He also identifies himself online as a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and says he's involved with a Washington think tank. [ABC News, 6/10/16]

Brigadier General Stephen A. Cheney And Current ISAB Member: Fernando’s “Expertise In Cyber-Security Is A Great Asset To Our National Security.” Retired Brigadier General Stephen A. Cheney is the CEO of the American Security Project, where Fernando is a board member. He tweeted of Fernando: “I serve on the ISAB. #RajFernando expertise in cyber-security is a great asset to our national security.” [Twitter.com, 6/11/16]

Fernando Also “Serves On The Foreign Policy Program Leadership Committee At The Brookings Institution And Is A Member Of The Chicago Council On Global Affairs.” [American Security Project, accessed 6/11/16]

Brookings VP: "I’ve Always Valued His Foreign Policy Insights." Brookings executive vice president and former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk promoted Stephen Cheney's praise of Fernando, adding, "Can’t speak to #RajFernando role on ISAB but I’ve always valued his foreign policy insights." [Twitter.com, 6/11/16]



It's a dangerous world out there. ABC published an incorrect story and 8 or 10 conservative outlets republished it without checking it. Finally, mediamatters did correct the error. Good for them!