January 9, 2018


News and Views


POLITICS, POLITICS, POLITICS! THESE ARTICLES SHOW SOME OF THE PROBABLE CANDIDATES AND THEIR VIEWS AS OF TODAY. TO A TYPICAL REPUBLICAN, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ILL-GOTTEN GAINS, AND ANY SHARING OF INCOME FOR ANY REASON IS IMMORAL -- EXCEPT FOR THOSE LIKE FLAKE, MCCAIN AND A HANDFUL OF OTHERS. THE "CONSERVATIVE" ATTITUDE IS THAT THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE – EAT OR BE EATEN – SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED, NO MATTER THE NEED OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT WELL-TO-DO, MENTALLY UNHEALTHY, OR UNABLE TO WORK. THE GOP MOTTO IS “WHAT’S MINE IS MINE, AND WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE!” AS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, THOSE SHOULD BE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN EXCEPT TO THE RULING CLASSES. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!


THE SANDERS TRAIL

http://www.heraldsun.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article193771394.html
DURHAM COUNTY
Bernie Sanders coming to Duke for conversation on race
BY JOE JOHNSON
JANUARY 09, 2018 03:23 PM

jjohnson@heraldsun.com

Photograph -- Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders talks to supporters during a rally at Bonny Field on Monday May 9, 2016 in Sacramento, Calif. Paul Kitagaki Jr. pkitagaki@sacbee.com
FILE - North Carolina NAACP president Rev. William J. Barber II announces that he is stepping down as NAACP president on Monday, May 15, 2017 in Raleigh, N.C. Robert Willett rwillett@newsobserver.com

DURHAM

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Rev. William Barber are having a sit-down at Duke.

They’re holding a public conversation at Duke University Chapel on Jan. 19. It’s called “The Enduring Challenge of a Moral Economy: 50 Years After Dr. King Challenged Racism, Poverty, and Militarism” and will be moderated by Duke Chapel Dean Luke Powery.

“In joining with others to begin organizing the Poor People’s Campaign 50 years ago, Dr. King was working out of a Christian conviction that racial equity, economic justice and peace among nations were interrelated issues – and all matters of faith,” Powery said in a news release. “Through this public conversation, we have an opportunity to bring together the insights of a preacher and a politician on the present-day work toward a just, moral economy.”

The public conversation is part of Duke’s 2018 Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration and Duke Chapel’s Bridge Panel series.


VIDEO -- Rev. Barber ends NAACP farewell speech with passionate song
Rev. William Barber II recounted the many accomplishments the NC chapter of the NAACP has made in the last 12 years, fervently claiming that he was “so glad” that everyone was available to help in the cause of seeking justice across NC and the nation. He spoke, and sang, to a packed room at the Raleigh Convention Center on Saturday Oct. 7, 2017.

Julia Wall jwall@newsobserver.com
Barber, who was the president of the N.C. NAACP from 2006-17, presently is a national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. It aims to address systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s morality. He is also the president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, a nonprofit that seeks to build a moral agenda. Barber is an alumnus of Duke Divinity School. He is the pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro.

Sanders is an Independent senator from Vermont. His 2016 campaign for the Democratic nomination for president focused on policy issues that included universal health care, free tuition at public universities and a $15-per-hour minimum wage. He was first elected to public office in 1981 as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and has since served 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and 11 years in the U.S. Senate.

The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required for entry.

The Duke University Box Office will make tickets available to students beginning Thursday, Jan. 11, and to the general public Friday, Jan. 12. There is a limit of one ticket per person. Tickets may be reserved in person at the Bryan Center box office, online, or by calling 919-684-4444.

Free parking will be available in the Bryan Center Parking Garage at 125 Science Drive, with overflow parking in the Chemistry Lot at the intersection of Towerview Road and Circuit Drive. ADA parking will be available in the Bryan Center Surface Lot. Public parking will not be available in front of the chapel, and access to Chapel Drive will be limited around the time of the event.

A live video stream of the event will be available on the chapel’s website.


ARPAIO VERSUS FLAKE

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-arpaio/ex-arizona-sheriff-arpaio-says-he-will-run-for-senate-idUSKBN1EY1Z3
#POLITICSJANUARY 9, 2018 / 11:37 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Ex-Arizona sheriff Arpaio says he will run for Senate
Reuters Staff
4 MIN READ

(Reuters) - Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff known for his tough stance on illegal immigration and a close ally of President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday he would run for the U.S. Senate to replace Trump critic Jeff Flake, a fellow Republican who is retiring.

“I am running for the U.S. Senate from the Great State of Arizona, for one unwavering reason: to support the agenda and policies of President Donald Trump in his mission to Make America Great Again,” Arpaio said on Twitter.

He promised in an email to supporters that he would represent “a conservative vote” on which Trump, a fellow Republican, could count.

His candidacy added a twist to the hopes of the Democratic Party in one of only two Republican-held Senate seats Democrats see as possible to flip in November’s midterm elections. Republicans hold a 51-49 edge in the U.S. Senate.

Arpaio, 85, was convicted in July of criminal contempt of court in a racial profiling case that highlighted tensions over U.S. immigration policy, but was pardoned by Trump the following month. The pardon

A federal judge had ruled that Arpaio wilfully violated a 2011 injunction barring his officers from detaining Latino drivers solely on the suspicion that they were in the county illegally.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a 2011 report that Arpaio had nurtured a culture in his office of racially discriminating against Latinos in breach of the U.S Constitution, a charge Arpaio denied.

Arpaio, who dubbed himself “the toughest sheriff in America,” lost a bid for re-election in 2016 in Arizona’s Maricopa County, one of the largest counties in the United States, after 24 years in office.

His tenure, including his hard stance on illegal immigration, made him one of the most widely known sheriffs in the country. He reinstated chain gangs, made inmates wear uniforms that were pink or had old-fashioned black-and-white stripes and forbade them coffee, salt and pepper.

FILE PHOTO: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio arrives at a campaign rally for Republican U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. June 18, 2016. REUTERS/Nancy Wiechec/File Photo

Flake said in October he would step down from his Arizona seat in a speech on the Senate floor, criticizing Trump’s manner of governing as “reckless, outrageous and undignified” and saying he felt out of step with the rest of his party.

Flake, speaking to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, was dismissive of Arpaio’s Senate bid, the Washington Examiner reported.

“Write about it fast because it won’t last long,” the paper quoted Flake as saying.

FILE PHOTO: Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks in front of an image of a border fence during the last day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Arpaio, in his email to supporters, said he would defend gun owners, oppose abortion and work to reduce the national debt.

Krysten Sinema, a Democrat who was the first openly bisexual person elected to Conress, [sic] is hoping to flip the seat to her party in November.

Kelli Ward, a former doctor and Arizona state senator, positioned her candidacy as a Republican to the right of Flake, but may now find herself overshadowed by Arpaio’s candidacy at the primary contests in August.

“Joe Arpaio has 100 percent name recognition with voters,” Stan Barnes, a Republican political strategist in Arizona, said in a telephone interview. “And for all intents and purposes he’s going to be wearing a Donald Trump mask and run as if he is Donald Trump, and with that added together he cannot be dismissed as a candidate.”

Ward has “great respect” for Arpaio and welcomed him to the race, her campaign chairman, Ed Rollins, said in a statement.

“His candidacy shows that conservatives in Arizona are fed up with the status quo and know that we need senators who support President Trump and the (president‘s) America First agenda,” Rollins said.

Martha McSally, a Republican congresswoman for the state seen as a more moderate candidate by the national party, is due to announce her run for Flake’s seat on Friday, CNN reported on Tuesday.

Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Blake Brittain in Washington; editing by Susan Thomas and Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.



FLAKE’S STATEMENT OF BELIEFS -- “WE MUST BE WILLING TO RISK OUR CAREERS TO SAVE OUR PRINCIPLES.” THESE ARE GREAT VALUES IN MY VIEW. UNFORTUNATELY, THAT MAY BE WHY THE GOP DON’T LIKE HIM, IN MANY CASES. THE FOLLOWING IS HIS NEW BOOK. IT’S ONLY 160 PAGES LONG, AND COSTS WELL UNDER $15.00 NEW. “CONSCIENCE OF A CONSERVATIVE: A REJECTION OF DESTRUCTIVE POLITICS AND A RETURN TO PRINCIPLE.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/can-jeff-flake-survive-the-role-of-chief-republican-antagonist-to-trump/2017/08/13/302717bc-7e9f-11e7-9026-4a0a64977c92_story.html?utm_term=.7031a2f2ae1f
Politics
Can Jeff Flake survive the role of chief Republican antagonist to Trump?
By Ed O'Keefe August 13, 2017

Photograph -- Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) recently released a book criticizing the Trump administration and the Republican Party’s embrace of the president. (Caitlin O'Hara/For The Washington Post)

PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Over two months, Sen. Jeff Flake has dodged bullets on a baseball field, buried his elderly father and watched one of his political mentors, Sen. John McCain, battle terminal brain cancer.

And that was all before he published a book that doubles down on his criticisms of President Trump, which in less than two weeks since its release has once again put him at odds with members of his own party.

The best-selling book may make Flake (Ariz.) the most high-profile Republican casualty of the Trump era. Or, he may prove that embracing one’s core principles can still be appealing to voters.

He was already facing a primary challenge from a nationalist who campaigns with sharp-edged, Trump-style bombast when his party launched a revolt against his 160-page critique on the president. On Friday, a Democratic congresswoman who has a sizable campaign war chest also signaled that she is likely to run against Flake.

For now, he is laughing off his newfound challenges.

“It’s been quite a summer, it really has,” he said after meeting with business executives here, explaining later, “We knew from the beginning that we’d have a tough primary, we’d have a tough general” election.

Confronted with the challenge, Flake added, “You just do it.”

That approach helps explain his new book, “Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle.” Not even his closest political advisers knew that he’d been working on the book for more than a year. After its Aug. 1 release, the book quickly jumped on to the New York Times bestseller list — although a far funnier, less serious tome by a colleague, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), currently outranks him.

Page after page, Flake lobs strong broadsides against Trump, like how he wooed voters with “easy answers to hard questions, sweetened by free stuff” — basically a “late-night infomercial” that was “free of significant thought.”

Flake became “heartsick,” he said, as Republicans embraced Trump. Now, there’s “more nastiness and dysfunction in the election’s wake,” he writes.

But the challenges Flake faced in recent months helped temper some of that nastiness and dysfunction, at least temporarily.

In mid-June, Flake was on the baseball field in Alexandria, Va., when House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot. After ducking out of the line of fire, Flake ran onto the field to help treat a wounded congressional aide and Scalise. Congress quickly resumed its duties after the shooting, and Flake has taken time to reflect on what happened.

“When the volley of shots rang out, I remember turning to the dugout and seeing where I had to run and bullets hitting the gravel,” he said. “And I just remember for some reason — the thought just seemed to last awhile — but: Why? Us? Here? It just seemed so incongruent, and I still have a hard time understanding how somebody can look out at a bunch of middle-aged men playing baseball and see the enemy.”

Flake acknowledged the irony of being the target of a political assassination attempt while he was putting the finishing touches on a book that conveys his worry about how the coarse nature of modern politics could spark violence.

“It’s just — it’s just got to stop,” he said.

Less than two weeks after the shooting — and just after his book went to print — Flake’s 85-year-old father died, and the Arizonan’s absence further stalled the Senate’s consideration of a GOP health-care overhaul plan. Without Flake, it was impossible for Republicans to hold a procedural vote to advance the bill.

Flake quickly returned to Washington, but then another life event interrupted the health-care debate — the unexpected cancer diagnosis of McCain, who eventually derailed the bill by blocking further consideration of it. In the final minutes before McCain’s dramatic late-night vote against the measure, Flake tried one last time on the Senate floor to persuade his senior colleague to support the bill.

It didn’t work — and then Flake released his book.

Now, the most partisan of Arizona Republicans believe that Flake — despite supporting the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and supporting Trump’s judicial and Cabinet nominees — is among those most responsible for blocking Trump’s legislative agenda. They don’t like that he supported a bipartisan immigration plan in 2013, flew to Cuba at President Barack Obama’s request to help relaunch diplomatic relations in 2014 and supports global trade pacts such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“The Flake model is you have to be conservative every six years,” said Constantin Querard, a conservative Republican campaign consultant based in Phoenix who does not support Flake.

“What is unusual from the break in his normal behavior is that this time, instead of campaigning as a conservative that conservatives would recognize, he’s chosen to redefine it and tell all the conservatives that they’re wrong and not really conservatives and that he’s not only a conservative but he’s going to teach us what conservatism is,” Querard said. “And he just doesn’t have any credibility among the grass roots to attempt that.”

That’s why Kelli Ward believes she has a chance to defeat Flake. An osteopathic physician and former state lawmaker, Ward tried and failed to defeat McCain in a primary two years ago by making his age an issue. This time, she will use Flake’s dislike of Trump against him in a state that supported the president last year by 3.5 points.

Ward is unapologetically strident in her approach, embracing the tone and temperament that Flake repeatedly abhors in his book and describes as “a shatter politics.” She recently sent a fundraising letter to supporters with envelopes emblazoned with the widely rebuked image of comedian Kathy Griffin posing with what appears to be Trump’s severed head.

Inside the envelope, Ward wrote that she used the image because, “it’s important to see what we’re up against.”

In an interview, Ward said that Flake’s national television interviews to promote the book are helping her. “Every time he’s on, I’m gaining money and manpower.”

While she won nearly 40 percent of the primary electorate in 2016, Ward says her support will grow this year because of Flake’s decision to lash out at Trump. Much of her financial support comes from out of state, she said, because Republican voters “want somebody that is strong with a backbone, with a brain who will go do the job.”

Did she mean to suggest that Flake has no backbone or brain?

“You said it,” Ward said. “I don’t think that Jeff Flake has represented — his values don’t align with those of his constituents.”

Trump has vowed that Flake will lose his reelection fight next year, and some of his allies are falling in line behind Ward. On Friday, she hired consultants Eric Beach and Brent Lowder, who in 2016 ran the Great America PAC, which spent nearly $30 million to back Trump. And a super PAC launched to support her bid recently picked up a $300,000 donation from Robert Mercer, the secretive billionaire who supported Trump’s campaign.

But Ryan O’Daniel, who managed McCain’s 2016 reelection campaign, said that Flake faces a political dynamic similar to the one that McCain faced two years ago. Despite Ward’s concerns, Flake is likely to earn the support of national conservative groups because of his solid conservative voting record, he said.

“He’s always fought against earmarks and for smaller government, so it’s going to be very hard for anyone to out-conservative Jeff Flake in this primary,” O’Daniel said. “Especially somebody who doesn’t have the positive name ID, infrastructure or money.”

Democrats, meanwhile, might have caught a break in their bid to unseat Flake. On Friday, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who represents a Phoenix-area district, said in a statement that she is “seriously considering” entering the race, and several Democrats now think she is all but certain to run.

Despite coming up short in statewide races since 2010, Democratic leaders think that Sinema’s moderate voting record and $3 million campaign war chest can help them capitalize on the growing anti-Trump and anti-Washington sentiment among voters.

As he travels the state this month, Flake is eager to remind voters about his book — and that despite its content, he does occasionally agree with Trump.

“I haven’t always agreed with this administration. There’s a book out there,” he said during the meeting with business leaders. He explained that he’s “more than pleased” with how the Trump administration is handling regulatory issues and how the Environmental Protection Agency is now working to ease Obama-era federal oversight of western lands.

In an interview afterward, Flake noted that after being elected to the House in 2000, he opposed George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” education bill and his Medicare prescription-drug benefit plan. “But I was with him on other things.”

The situation with Trump “is the same,” he said. “You shouldn’t be a rubber stamp. I think that’s what Arizona voters expect of me.”

Or, as Flake writes in his book, “We must be willing to risk our careers to save our principles.”



https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2017/10/24/why-senator-jeff-flake-says-he-wont-run-drops-out-race-trump-gop-politics/795497001/
Why Sen. Jeff Flake says he won't run for re-election to the Senate
The Republic | azcentral.com Published 1:43 p.m. MT Oct. 24, 2017
'Cascading effect': Sen. Jeff Flake's announcement jolts political world, Senate race
Dan Nowicki and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, The Republic | azcentral.com
Published 7:40 p.m. MT Oct. 24, 2017 | Updated 8:58 p.m. MT Oct. 24, 2017

SEN. JEFF FLAKE'S REMARKS FROM SENATE FLOOR

ARIZONA SEN. JEFF FLAKE IN THE NEWS
Sen. Jeff Flake's remarks from Senate floor | 4:54
Sen. Jeff Flake on Tuesday condemned the nastiness of politics and announced he will not seek re-election in 2018. C-SPAN

ARIZONA SEN. JEFF FLAKE IN THE NEWS
Sen. John McCain praises Flake | 2:36
Sen. John McCain praised Sen. Jeff Flake for his service immediately after Flake announced from the floor that he would not seek re-election. C-SPAN.

ARIZONA SEN. JEFF FLAKE IN THE NEWS
Mitch McConnell praises Flake | 1:01
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Sen. Jeff Flake for his service immediately after Flake announced from the floor that he would not seek re-election. C-SPAN

ARIZONA SEN. JEFF FLAKE IN THE NEWS
Sen. Jeff Flake announces he will not seek re-election | 3:22
The bombshell, which Flake, R-Ariz., detailed Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor, will further roil Republican hopes of keeping the party's 52-seat Senate majority in the midterm elections of Trump's first term. azcentral.com

ARIZONA SEN. JEFF FLAKE IN THE NEWS
Kelli Ward answers questions after Jeff Flake announces he won't run again | 14:05
Republic reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez asks former state lawmaker Kelli Ward about U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake's announcement he won't run again, President Donald Trump, and what Arizona voters want next. Nate Kelly/azcentral.com

ARIZONA SEN. JEFF FLAKE IN THE NEWS
Jeff Flake's new book takes a swipe at Trump | 0:50
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake criticizes the politics and policies of President Trump in his new book, Conscience of a Conservative. Wochit

ARIZONA SEN. JEFF FLAKE IN THE NEWS
Sen. John McCain on Sen. Jeff Flake's book | 1:49
Sen. John McCain talks about his respect for fellow Arizona senator Jeff Flake and discusses Flake's new book during an interview with The Arizona Republic on Aug. 3, 2017. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral.com


HOW TRUMP IS FARING TODAY:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/09/federal-judge-blocks-trump-daca/1019530001/?csp=chromepush
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s decision to end DACA
Sudhin Thanawala and Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press Published 11:27 p.m. ET Jan. 9, 2018 | Updated 11:52 p.m. ET Jan. 9, 2018

Photograph -- Pushing for compromise on immigration reform, President Donald Trump urged a bipartisan group of lawmakers gathered at the White House to put "country before party" and negotiate a deal in two phases, first by addressing young immigrants. (Jan. 9) AP
14 Photographs – Dreamers


SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Tuesday night temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s decision to end a program protecting young immigrants from deportation.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted a request by California and other plaintiffs to prevent President Trump from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program while their lawsuits play out in court.

Alsup said lawyers in favor of DACA clearly demonstrated that the young immigrants “were likely to suffer serious, irreparable harm” without court action. The judge also said the lawyers have a strong chance of succeeding at trial.

DACA has protected about 800,000 people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children or came with families who overstayed visas. The program includes hundreds of thousands of college-age students.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in September that the program would be phased out, saying former President Barack Obama had exceeded his authority when he implemented it in 2012.

More: In extraordinary public negotiation with Congress, Trump promises to sign DACA bill

Related: How Trump's wall pledge is complicating a DACA bill for 'Dreamers'

The move sparked a flurry of lawsuits nationwide.

Alsup considered five separate lawsuits filed in Northern California, including one by the state and another by the governing board of the University of California school system.

During a court hearing on Dec. 20, the judge grilled an attorney for the Department of Justice over the government’s justification for ending DACA, saying many people had come to rely on it and faced a “real” and “palpable” hardship from its loss.

Alsup also questioned whether the administration had conducted a thorough review before ending the program.

Brad Rosenberg, a Justice Department attorney, said the administration considered the effects of ending DACA and decided to phase it out over time instead of cutting it immediately.

DACA recipients will be allowed to stay in the U.S. for the remainder of their two-year authorizations. Any recipient whose status was due to expire within six months also got a month to apply for another two-year term.

The Justice Department said in court documents that DACA was facing the possibility of an abrupt end by court order, but Alsup was critical of that argument.

People took out loans, enrolled in school and even made decisions about whether to get married and start families on the basis of DACA and now face “horrific” consequences from the loss of the program, said Jeffrey Davidson, an attorney for the University of California governing board.

“The government considered none of this at all when they decided to rescind DACA,” he said at the hearing.

DACA recipients are commonly referred to as “dreamers,” based on never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act that would have provided similar protections for young immigrants.

******** *********

THERE ARE, INDEED THREE STORIES HERE, BUT THEY ALL ADD INFORMATION, SO I HAVE INCLUDED THEM ALL. THIS TEACHER DID ASSERTIVELY AND PERSONALLY CONFRONT THE SUPERINTENDENT ON A SENSITIVE MATTER, BUT NOT ONE THAT WAS UNFAIR, AND YET SHE WAS TREATED WITH AGGRESSIVE ROUGHNESS. I THINK SHE’LL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH, THOUGH.

IMPORTANT DETAILS –

“... MOMENTS BEFORE, HARGRAVE TOLD DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT JEROME PUYAU THAT IT WAS “A SLAP IN THE FACE” THAT HE WOULD GET A RAISE EVEN THOUGH TEACHERS AND SUPPORT STAFF HAD NOT SEEN A PAY HIKE IN YEARS.”

“... WAS ASKED TO LEAVE THE MEETING BECAUSE SHE WAS ASKING QUESTIONS INSTEAD OF MAKING DECLARATIVE STATEMENTS....”

“... ONCE A CITY MARSHAL GOT HER OUT INTO A HALLWAY, HE STARTED ROUGHING HER UP AS HE SLAPPED ON THE SILVER BRACELETS.”

“... BOTH OF WHOM SAID THAT A NEW CONTRACT FOR PUYAU GIVE HIM THE OPPORTUNITY TO EARN AS MUCH AS $38,000 MORE PER YEAR, WHILE THE BOARD HASN’T RAISED TEACHER SALARIES IN MORE THAN A DECADE.”

“SO FAR IN 3 YEARS, ONLY WOMEN HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM BOARD ROOM MEETINGS ....”

NOT ONLY DOES THIS SHOW THAT MEN ARE BEING CLEARLY FAVORED, BUT THAT WOMEN ARE BEING POSITIVELY TREATED TO A PRETTY CLEAR SORT OF PERSECUTION. BUT THAT’S THE DEEP SOUTH. IT’S TIME FOR TEACHERS TO STRIKE AGAIN, AND ON A NATIONAL LEVEL, IN MY VIEW. THIS IS A VERY DISTURBING EVENT TO ME. IT SEEMS TO ME TO BE MORE OVERT AUTHORITARIANISM AND ANTI-LABOR ACTION. THERE IS A TEACHER’S UNION, AND THEY, UNQUESTIONABLY, SHOULD BE ABLE TO SPEAK IN SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS. SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS SHOULD BE OPEN TO ALL ISSUES, AND TO ALL SPEAKERS.

IF THIS TEACHER BECAME ABUSIVE, THAT IS ANOTHER ISSUE, BUT BEING ARRESTED FOR MERELY SPEAKING UP IS RIDICULOUS. WHAT SHE DID WAS “QUESTION THEM” RATHER THAN MERELY VOICING A PERSONAL COMPLAINT OR PLEA FOR MERCY – CLEARLY NOT ACCEPTABLE FROM A WOMAN. “SUPERINTENDENT JEROME PUYAU TOLD THE STATION HE CALLED TO MADE [SIC] SURE POLICE KNEW THE SYSTEM WAS NOT PRESSING CHARGES.” I THINK THE SUPERINTENDENT KNOWS HE CROSSED A RED LINE HERE.

DO WATCH THE VIDEO. SHE WAS IN FACT “PUSHED TO THE FLOOR,” AFTER WHICH THE OFFICER SAID “STOP RESISTING.” I SAW NO SIGN AT ALL OF HER “RESISTING,” BUT THAT OCCURS TOO FREQUENTLY IN INTERACTIONS BY POLICE WITH THE COMMUNITY. THEY USE EXCUSES FOR THEIR ABUSIVE, BULLYING AND DOWNRIGHT VIOLENT BEHAVIOR. UNTIL THE COURTS STOP BACKING THEM UP, THAT WILL UNDOUBTEDLY CONTINUE; OR MAYBE MORE AND LARGER STREET DEMONSTRATIONS WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THEY CERTAINLY HAVE IN A NUMBER OF CASES OF POLICE ABUSE AND DEADLY FORCE.

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE EVENTUALITY IN THIS CASE WILL BE. SEE ALSO THE SEVERAL FOLLOWUP STORIES BELOW. THE CBS VIDEO – TO MY GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT – IS A VERSION OF THE EVENT THAT DOES NOT SHOW THE BRIEF, BUT ROUGH AND VIOLENT, ARREST OF THIS WOMAN, WHILE THE LONGER ONES DO. NOT ONLY IS THAT VIDEO SANITIZED, BUT MY MAIN NEWS SOURCE CBS APPEARS TO BE THE ONE THAT DID THAT, PRESUMABLY ON THEIR OWN. SHAME ON YOU, CBS. CAVING IN, ARE YOU? BOTH THE ACLU AND THE LOUISIANA TEACHERS’ UNION HAVE FILED SUIT. WE WILL HEAR MORE ABOUT THIS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vermillion-louisiana-teacher-handcuffed-school-board-meeting-abbeville/
CBS/AP January 9, 2018, 11:26 AM
Teacher handcuffed after speaking out about pay at Vermillion schools meeting

Photograph -- Teacher Deyshia Hargrave being approached by an officer at a school board meeting in Vermillion, Louisiana. She was later removed in handcuffs. KATC
Photograph -- Teacher Deyshia Hargrave being removed in handcuffs from a school board meeting in Vermillion, Louisiana. KATC
SEE CBS THIS MORNING for video of this event.

ABBEVILLE, La.-- A Louisiana teacher who spoke out about teacher pay at a school board meeting was handcuffed by a law officer as she screamed on the floor while the officer tried to gain control of her in a brief struggle. In dramatic video posted by KATC-TV, the teacher yells at the officer that he'd just pushed her to the ground. The officer orders her to "stop resisting."

KATC reports that the skirmish involving Deyshia Hargrave, a middle school language arts teacher, and an Abbeville city marshal happened Monday during a meeting of the Vermillion Parish schools.

0109-news-teacher-00-00-19-01-still001.jpg
Teacher Deyshia Hargrave being removed in handcuffs from a school board meeting in Vermillion, Louisiana. KATC

The station says the teacher had addressed the board about teacher salaries and raises, and school board president Anthony Fontana at one point ruled her "out of order."

A city marshal on duty at the meeting approached her as she continued to speak and directed her to leave the room. She was then apprehended in the hallway.

KATC reports the teacher was booked into jail. Superintendent Jerome Puyau told the station he called to made [sic] sure police knew the system was not pressing charges.

0109-news-teacher-00-01-15-22-still002.jpg
Teacher Deyshia Hargrave being approached by an officer at a school board meeting in Vermillion, Louisiana. She was later removed in handcuffs. KATC

It is unclear whether the marshal acted on board members' orders or his own accord, according to KATC.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


https://nypost.com/2018/01/09/teacher-removed-from-school-board-meeting-in-handcuffs/
Teacher removed from school board meeting in handcuffs
By Max Jaeger January 9, 2018 | 10:57am | Update

A Louisiana teacher was violently arrested at a public school board meeting Monday night after she questioned her superintendent for giving himself a raise when teachers and administrators were made to go without.

Rene Rost Middle School English teacher Deyshia Hargrave was asked to leave the meeting because she was asking questions instead of making declarative statements during a public-comment portion of the Vermilion Parish school board meeting, according to KATC TV-3.

But once a city marshal got her out into a hallway, he started roughing her up as he slapped on the silver bracelets.

“Stop resisting,” the marshal warns in cellphone footage aired by KATC.

“I’m not — you just pushed me to the floor,” a visibly frightened Hargrave responds, her voice cracking.

“Hold on, I am way smaller than you,” the woman then pleads as the marshal, who appears more than a foot taller than Hargrave, shoves her toward a school exit.

Moments before, Hargrave told district Superintendent Jerome Puyau that it was “a slap in the face” that he would get a raise even though teachers and support staff had not seen a pay hike in years.

She also posed several questions, and was warned to restrict her statements to comments only — even though the board was answering her questions, KATV reported. When she was called on to speak a second time, board president Anthony Fontana ruled her out of order and called in the marshal, the outlet reported.

The district will not press any charges against Hargrave, Puyau told the station.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/teacher-is-handcuffed-by-officer-at-school-board-meeting/2018/01/09/f3c87d82-f546-11e7-9af7-a50bc3300042_story.html
National
A teacher in handcuffs has a school board under scrutiny
By Kevin McGill | AP January 9 at 4:14 PM

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana teacher was removed from a school board meeting, forcibly handcuffed and jailed after questioning pay policies during a public comment period. The teacher’s union and the ACLU are investigating and two board members are complaining that the board treats women unfairly.

A video posted by KATC-TV shows middle-school English teacher Deyshia Hargrave complying with a city marshal’s orders to leave Monday night’s Vermilion Parish School Board meeting in Abbeville, west of New Orleans. Next, she is seen on the hallway floor, screaming as the marshal handcuffs her behind her back.

“Stop resisting,” the marshal says, hustling Hargrave toward an exit after lifting her to her feet.

“I am not, you just pushed me to the floor,” Hargrave responds.

Hargrave later bonded out of the Abbeville jail on charges of “remaining after being forbidden” and resisting an officer, according to KATC.

The station reported that board president Anthony Fontana had ruled Hargrave out of order for asking questions during a time reserved for public comment. Later in the same meeting, she spoke again in response to a question from the board, and was confronted by the marshal despite objections from the audience. “She was recognized!” several people said.

“This is the most disgraceful and distasteful thing I have ever seen,” another audience member said as Hargrave made her way out.

Women have several times been told to leave meetings, while men who speak out have not been removed, board member Laura LeBeouf told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

“When she realized she had to get out, she picked up her purse and walked out,” LeBeouf said. “Women in this parish are not getting the same treatment.”

THE BOARD’S OTHER WOMAN MEMBER EXPRESSED SIMILAR SENTIMENTS.

“No reason for anyone to be treated this way. SO FAR IN 3 YEARS, ONLY WOMEN HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM BOARD ROOM MEETINGS,” Sara Duplechain wrote in an emailed response to AP’s questions.

It remains unclear why Hargrave was handcuffed. In a longer video posted on YouTube by a reporter for the Abbeville Meridional, the officer is heard telling Hargrave outside the building that he had given her “many lawful orders to leave.”

“And that’s exactly what I was doing,” Hargrave insists.

Neither the board president nor Superintendent Jerome Puyau returned phone calls or emails seeking comment. Puyau told media in southwest Louisiana that the school system would not seek to have Hargrave prosecuted.

Longstanding divisions on the eight-member school board preceded the meeting, according to LeBeouf and board member Kibbie Pillette, both of whom said that a new contract for Puyau give him the opportunity to earn as much as $38,000 more per year, while the board hasn’t raised teacher salaries in more than a decade.

Pillette said he wouldn’t be surprised if teachers decide to walk out to protest Hargrave’s treatment, although they were at work Tuesday.

Other board members either declined comment or didn’t respond to queries Tuesday.

The Louisiana Association of Educators has a lawyer supporting Hargrave.

“As an organization that advocates for the dedicated school employees of Louisiana, we firmly denounce the mistreatment of Ms. Hargrave, a loving parent and dedicated teacher serving the students of Vermilion Parish,” the union’s statement said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana said it was investigating as well.

“Deyshia Hargrave’s expulsion from a public meeting and subsequent arrest are unacceptable and raise serious constitutional concerns,” the organization said in an emailed news release.

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