AZ teachers deserve lumps of coal, not 20% pay hike

Students continue to fail basic AzMERIT tests; ADE’s solution? Change its name to AzM2!

AzMERIT is the educrats’ highly touted program that measures what should be proficiency in student ability to comprehend basic math and reading skills. The recently released scores illuminate the abysmal failures being turned out by Arizona public schools that continually ask for bond overrides and increased school spending.

The Arizona Department of Education appears to go to great lengths to derail active searches of overall scores and those of individual schools. Navigating the 37-page AzMERIT Reporting Guide requires more skills than renowned voyager Magellan likely possessed. We suggest you start here, but make no promises.

The bottom line is that Arizona students are doing even worse on tests than their previously low scores. More than half the students who took the tests failed — for the FIFTH year in a row!

This marks the first year high schools were given the ability to opt out of participating in this specific assessment, which no doubt thrilled the school administrators.

 Since school funding is based in part on student proficiency in basic skills, some schools are resorting to trickery to boost scores, giving those who earn a “B,” for example, a bright shiny “A,” if they were deemed “proficient.” These shortchanged students will be in for a rude awakening when they have to survive in the real world, where they will be expected to perform based on actual ability, a broad range of knowledge, creative thinking aptitudes and effective communication skills.

The Federalist reports schools now have social agendas that have nothing to do with education. Illinois, for example, recently passed a law requiring children as young as preschoolers to be taught LGBT history. Districts can only purchase textbooks that include positive contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in their history curriculum.

NPR affiliate Illinois Public Radio labeled Christian and conservative opposition to this law while it was being considered as stemming from “hate groups.”

In 2018 Seeing Red AZ wrote, #REDS for ED: Union thugs demand more $ for less. It’s chock full of facts and worth your time to review.

Advertisements

Forbes list of billionaires features 7 Arizonans

America: The land of opportunity

The Forbes 400 is known as the definitive list of wealth in America, profiling and ranking the nation’s billionaires by their estimated net worth. The 2019 ratings show people of every ethnicity and background have risen to the top due to diligence, hard work and the resolve to succeed. Contrary to what you would be led to believe if you rely on the local press for information, of Arizona’s 7 billionaires 3 are Hispanic. (Scroll down on this link and click on “state.”)

New to the list this year is 37-year-old Ernest Garcia III, the co-founder of used-car e-commerce site Carvana. In 2012, he had the idea to sell cars online, but his boss — his father, Ernest II — had his doubts. “I wasn’t sure people would buy a used car online without seeing it,” Ernie II says. According to Forbes, the Garcia’s were already motor moguls, owners of used-car dealerships from Atlanta to Albuquerque.

Ernie III was able to persuade his father, and today Carvana is a publicly traded, nearly $2 billion-in-sales business. The stock has more than doubled since January. Ernie III is president, CEO and chairman; his father is the largest shareholder.

Tucson native, Arturo Moreno, a former billboard industry executive, owns the Los Angeles Angels. Moreno, the oldest of 11 children born to Mexican parents who settled in Tucson, got his start working for outdoor advertising business mogul Karl Eller, who later merged his business with KTAR radio and television in 1968 to form Combined Communications, Inc. Moreno is a Vietnam vet and University of Arizona alum with a degree in marketing.

America’s Richest Self-Made Women is another interesting list to explore.

Capitalism, reviled by the Socialist-leaning Democrat presidential candidates, is responsible for leveling the playing field, and providing opportunity for those with relentless determination to succeed. 

Reasons AZ Republic continues hemorrhaging subscribers

Deliberate mischaracterization of issues is hallmark of what has been identified as fake news

The Phoenix New Times documents the surge in upheaval at the newly acquired Arizona Republic. Some employees are promoting union representation. The announcement comes days after newbie executive editor Greg Burton sent out a strange email to newsroom employees accusing union organizers of “surveilling colleagues.” After being homeless, the newspaper’s parent company Gannett was gobbled up by Gatehouse Media in a massive buyout deal, though continuing to use the Gannett name. The future remains bleak. As readership continues to plummet, the Republic advertised a “Fall Sale” with a rate of 99 cents a month — nowhere near enough to sustain its shaky life. Rather than Fall Sale, it should read Fail Sale.

A major problem for the far left-wing, Hillary endorsing Arizona Republic is its disconnect with its remaining reader base, overwhelmingly senior citizens as evidenced by numerous pages of hearing aid ads.

A couple of recent examples: Following the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling supporting the free speech and religious liberty rights of the Christian artist/owners of custom wedding painting and calligraphy Brush & Nib studio, the newspaper used the front page to blast the decision as anti-LGBTQ, bizarrely accusing the court of “siding with proprietor’s rights.”

National Review took a decidedly different approach, headlining its article by David French, “The Arizona Supreme Court Strikes a Powerful Blow for Free Speech and Religious Freedom.”  Arizonans can be justifiably proud of the legal team from Scottsdale-based Alliance Defending Freedom, which struck an important victory for religious freedom and freedom of speech.

Via an ASU Cronkite student reporter, the newspaper also headlines a South Phoenix “Dad-son graffiti tag-team.” The 50-year-old father who calls himself Noe Such Styles Baez and his son, Champ, 27, are extolled as talented artists who are passing their aerosol paint can skills to the next generation, while the reporter ridiculously declares that “graffiti is growing in acceptance.” Graffiti is vandalism.  It is expensive. Not only in in terms of covering it up, but most significantly by its damaging effects on neighborhoods. Buses, subway cars, buildings and bridges are frequent targets in major cities. Gangs use graffiti as a form of communication or for “tagging” their territory.  Read 5 Ways Graffiti Vandals Damage Your Community, for a realistic view of the  problem plaguing many American cities. Graffiti is not art. It is a crime.

If you are among the rapidly decreasing and unreported number of subscribers to this leftist rag passing as a journalistic endeavor, stop fooling yourself that you are being informed. Cancel.

Shazam! AZ Regents gift illegals college tuition break & Update featuring Ducey response

Chicanery on display as ABOR manipulate tuition, disregard law

The Arizona Board of Regents is an assemblage boasting an august moniker and eight-year terms — longer than any elected official — including the President of the United States.

Working sub-rosa, they take their grandiose title seriously, using it to magically reconfigure illegals into “non-residents.”

With a bit of “Abracadabra” dust sprinkled over our tax dollars, the Regents just pulled a new rabbit out of its collective hat. They unanimously voted Thursday that the three Arizona universities (ASU, UofA and NAU) will charge illegal alien students a non-resident tuition rate that is less expensive than the out-of-state rate they previously were expected to pay.

Notice the coy language used to describe the illegals:

“A student who graduated from an Arizona high school, but who is not otherwise eligible for resident tuition status….”

Even Merlin would have trouble figuring that jargon out, but it’s perfectly coherent to the mystical Regents.

Bottom line? What the Regents voted to approve gives significant tuition breaks to illegal aliens. Your Arizona-born niece who was raised in California but will be attending ASU will have to pay considerably more than an illegal invader.

It also flies in the face of Proposition 300, overwhelmingly passed by Arizona citizens in 2006 — by a vote of 71.4% to 28.6% — and clearly defines, “a state university or community college student who is not a United States citizen and who does not otherwise possess lawful immigration status in this country is not entitled to waivers, grants or any other financial assistance paid in whole or part with state funds.”

Previous to the Regents’ action, illegal aliens attending our state schools had to pay about $30,000, the out-of-state tuition rate. Now with the Regent’s sleight of hand chicanery, they will only pay about half that amount, approximately $16,000.  That’s only $5,000 more than the in-state, American citizen student base rate of $11,000.

Who do you think makes up the difference? 

SRAZ’s April 2019 post, “Scandal rocks AZ State University, Pres. Michael Crow slides,” provides additional information about ASU President Michael Crow, the nation’s highest paid public university president. Although not mentioned by the generous Regents, he has been an unwavering advocate for elevating illegals over Arizona’s citizen students.

Waiting a week to address this preposterous gifting of our tax dollars to fund tuition discounts to illegal aliens, Arizona’s lame duck Gov. Doug Ducey emerges to applaud the Regent’s generosity. Channeling his political mentor, John McCain, Ducey warmly states, “Somebody who graduates from an Arizona high school is an Arizona kid.”

Remember that when he seeks higher office.

AZ jury awards Planned Parenthood informant $3M

Victory for life in Arizona! 

It’s always been mystifying that a group that exists primarily to slaughter pre-born human babies could call itself Planned Parenthood. The abhorrent concept is analogous to Auschwitz, a notorious Nazi death camp, blandly referring to itself a care center.

There is some good news, however, concerning the abortion mill. LifeSiteNews reports:

An Arizona jury has unanimously awarded $3 million in damages to a former Planned Parenthood director who was fired after reporting an abortionist’s illegal conduct and high complication rates, falsification of affidavits and patient records, incomplete abortions, and failure to report statutory rape.

Mayra Rodriguez, who ran three Planned Parenthood clinics in Arizona and worked for the organization for 17 years, sued after being wrongfully terminated from her position in October 2017 for repeatedly reporting that Planned Parenthood was endangering the health and safety of its patients, according to And Then There Were None (ATTWN), a non-profit that helps former abortion workers leave the industry.

Rodriguez’ lawyer, Tim Casey, hadn’t asked the jury for any dollar amount during the trial. Yet after only three hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously awarded her $3 million in damages following the two-week trial, which ended last Friday, August 16, 2019.

Bryan Howard, president of Planned Parenthood Arizona, was reported to be “disappointed” with the verdict.

Just like Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood director turned pro-life advocate, Rodriguez won Employee of the Year the year before she left. Johnson now runs ATTWN.

 “I’ve stared down Planned Parenthood in court. I know how hard it is watching your friends lie about you,” said Johnson. “It’s always good to take down Planned Parenthood but it’s not without hurt.”

Johnson’s conversion story is told in the movie. “Unplanned,” which as of August 7, 2019 made $18.9 million after being produced with a $6 million budget, according to boxofficemojo.com. The movie just became available on DVD and was the top selling film on Amazon on the day of its release.

“When Mayra came to And Then There Were None with her incredible story, I felt solidarity with her, having gone through a similar situation when I worked for Planned Parenthood. Standing with her through the trial and rejoicing in the ultimate victory has been amazing,” said Johnson.

The abuses Rodriguez documented are serious. Complications from abortions can result in severe, permanent health problems for women — even death. Incomplete abortions can similarly cause serious health problems for the mothers in whose uteruses parts of their aborted unborn babies are left. ATTWN didn’t specify how old the minor was whose sexual relationship with an adult Planned Parenthood covered up, but the age of consent in Arizona is 18.

And Then There Were None, is a ministry founded by Abby Johnson that has helped more than 500 abortion workers leave their jobs.

Abby Johnson will be the keynote speaker at the next Arizona for Life March & Rally on January 18, 2020. Find out more about Arizona’s biggest pro-life event here.

Illegal aliens: The stark realities

A favorite cliché is “they’re just coming to do the jobs Americans refuse to do.”

We’ve heard the mantra incessantly over the years. The open-borders/amnesty influence peddlers on the left have been phenomenally successful at getting the Beltway elite and the media to embrace their blanket platitudes about illegal alien invaders. In fact the term itself has been declared verboten by none other than Associated Press.

The deceit surges as elections near. Democrats exploit the issue to lay the groundwork for embracing a racial divide they hope will benefit them. Presidential candidates and U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, both part of this leftist horde of two dozen challenging President Trump, are vowing to create a White House office to combat “white supremacy” and hate crimes if elected.

Ignored are the vicious crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens.

This headline is a recent example: Illegal alien impregnates 11-year-old Phoenix girl.

Child rapist Carlos Jacinto Cobo-Perez must have been inspired by Enrique Jacobo-Valdez, another illegal alien with a proclivity for 11-year-olds.

Mauricio Berrar-Navidad, 29, and Carlos Palacios-Amaya, 28, both in the United States illegally, though previously deported, repeatedly raped an 11-year-old child in Maryland.

Fidel Lopez, boasting a sixth-grade education preferred raping a small dog, which subsequently had to be euthanized.

United States Illegal Alien Crime Report is filled with recent crimes committed by illegal aliens. The wide variety of criminal categories includes: Terrorism, Assault, Murder, Cop Killings. Drug Crimes, Rape, Children, DUIs, Identity Theft and Most Wanted. Spend some time on the site for a dose of harsh reality.

Don’t be conned by the open borders leftists. Our sieve-like border must be secured. The safety of American citizens takes precedence over misguided and dangerous political correctness.

Aging small fry used against Bill Montgomery’s Supreme Court appt

There’s a new, albeit pathetic arrow, in the quiver of the leftist newspaper’s relentless campaign to scuttle Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s appointment to the Arizona Supreme Court. Since Montgomery made the short list, the partisan war against him has revved into high gear.

Gov. Doug Ducey has approximately 6 weeks to name the replacement to the seat of recently retired state Supreme Court Justice John Pelander.

Republican Montgomery was initially elected to lead the prosecutor’s office in the nation’s fourth most populous county in 2010, bringing a résumé of impressive credentials. A West Point graduate, decorated Gulf War veteran, former deputy county attorney and a professional prosecutor, he has dedicated his personal and professional life to serving others.

Though Montgomery’s credentials makes others pale in comparison, he has attracted a distinctly marginal detractor described in the newspaper’s Page One headline as a “son.” For a man in his 60s that’s more of a put-down than what he’s maliciously trying to serve to Montgomery. The “son” is the grandpa-aged child of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. A RINO apple who didn’t fall far from his maternal tree — Sandra O’Connor reveled in being the swing vote frequently siding with the high court’s Democrats — Scott  thinks Montgomery is “too political” to be an effective Arizona Supreme Court Justice — an absurdity on it’s face.

Prior to Scott’s mother being appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, she also had a “political career.” Sandra O’Connor campaigned and was elected to the Arizona state senate, and later (prior to the current system of judicial selection) campaigned, ran and won a seat on the Maricopa County Superior Court as a Republican. But she was sufficiently left-leaning enough for liberal Democrat Bruce Babbitt, that the then-governor appointed her to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979. That fact alone should have given President Reagan pause.

Unfortunately, she was able to con President Reagan who nominated her as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, where she delighted in being the swing vote, regularly aligning with Democrats. Reagan knew the O’Connor’s as friends of his Arizona in-laws.

In 2012, O’Connor’s son was the appropriately distrusted GOP Legislative District 28 chairman. At the time SRAZ wrote, ”Dist. 28 (formerly 11) recertifies its RINO status Update: O’Connor responds.”

A few other posts to bring you up to date:

 March 24, 2009: Sandra O’Connor: Case closed

Oct. 5, 2009: O’Connor denounces more conservative court, regrets her rulings “dismantled

Feb. 19, 2016: Sandra O’Connor comes clean

March 28, 2018: Foul-mouthed radical leftist wins Sandra Day O’Connor award