Higher education reaches its nadir*

Illegal invaders now charity recipients, courtesy of Berkeley

Gone are the days when a university degree was indicative of attaining a higher education. Nurtured in a curriculum of liberal indoctrination from the earliest grades, students are pawns in an ideological crusade. This appalling example from Edina, Minnesota is not an anomaly, but is reflective of teaching throughout the United States.

Is it any wonder that by the time the barely out of wet-diaper toddlerdom, kindergartners are propagandized, matriculating as brainwashed high school students, ultimately reaching institutions such as Berkeley or Princeton, they engage in full-throated lunacy?

The student government at the University of California, Berkeley, “voted to financially fund the migrant caravan in a resolution passed by the student senate,” as Breitbart reported. “US imperialism and white colonialism has been implemented in Central American countries,” said a teary-eyed student, adding that she would be ashamed to see anyone in the student senate vote against funding the migrant caravan. Once again students illiterate of history accuse anyone they disagree with as being “Nazis,” although there are no brutal labor camps with ovens specially constructed for humans or gas streaming from shower heads, killing men, women and children given bars of soap to make the victims more compliant. Janet Napolitano, formerly Arizona’s radically leftist governor and Obama’s appointee as a worthless Homeland Security chieftain, is now the president of the University of California system.

On the East coast, Princeton sophomore Noa Wollstein was so offended by the “toxic masculinity” expressed in the song, “Kiss the Girl,” she was moved to write to the student newspaper, The Daily Princetonian to complain.  She declared the Disney song performed by an all-male a cappella group, the Princeton Tigertones, was misogynistic and dismissive of consent. In the cartoon film, The little Mermaid, it is sung by Sebastian a talking crab, urging him to kiss Ariel, the little mermaid.

“Remove the context of magic and mermaids,” Wollstein wrote, “and the lyrics blatantly encourage a man to try to make physical advances on a woman without her consent.”

FrontPage mag exposed, “Another week of leftist lunacy,” writing, “One worrying illustration of this comes from – none other than – the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) with, chapters at more than 500 universities and colleges throughout the U.S. According to Campus Reform, the AAUP is urging its members to combat legislative proposals meant for “the protection of free speech” on campus.”

Imagine that?

* That’s ‘rock bottom’ for those of you who graduated from an Ivy League school.

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Ducey still appeasing educrats with Dem ABOR app’t

After backtracking on his pledge not to reward Arizona’s striking #REDS for ED public school teachers who disregarded their contractual agreements as they abandoned over 840,000  students for a week, Gov. Doug Ducey caved in to their demands for a 20% salary increase for their part-time jobs. His acquiescence emboldened the unionists further as they wielded their new-found influence in the recent Nov. 6, election, turning previously red Arizona a deep purple.

Now easily reelected to his final term as governor by his teacher comrades, Ducey with no further constraints, has appointed Democrat Fred DuVal, his former 2014 gubernatorial rival, to the Arizona Board of Regents. This is the second, non-consecutive, term for retread DuVal, who was initially appointed by Janet Napolitano. His liberal bona fides are exactly what would be expected. During his previous tenure he was a reliable university tuition hike advocate. DuVal was previously an aide to Democrat Gov. Bruce Babbitt and worked as Bill Clinton’s White House Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.

This is the enthusiastic welcome leftist DuVal received from the Board of Regents. Not to be outdone, Ducey heaped even more praise (via linked press release) on his former foe, then derided as an “arrogant Washington insider and career influence peddler.” It’s easy to be gracious after emerging victorious 53.4% to 41.6% but do you have to be foolish?  Are there no worthy Republicans to appoint to the Arizona Board of Regents?

DuVal is a darling of the educrats, whose gratitude for their taxpayer-funded raise was demonstrated by a colossal slap in the face to Arizona parents. With the support of the increasingly radical, Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic newspaper, public school teachers led the vote against Prop. 305, which would have expanded eligibility for education empowerment scholarship accounts. The liberal educrats organized to deny parental choice in education. They also united to elect leftist Democrat Kathy Hoffman as Superintendent of Public Instruction. Her background? She was a preschool teacher for less than two years and a school speech therapist for five. Her sole qualification that mattered to them is a “D” after her name.

If you like AZ’s leftist election results, thank a teacher

Today, over a week after the general elections took place, is the drop-dead, court-extended day for ballot tabulations.

Republican Martha McSally has already conceded the 6-year open Arizona senate seat to leftist chameleon Kyrsten Sinema, who presented herself as an “independent,” shunning the word, “Democrat.“ The Green Party candidate siphoned off 2.37%.

We don’t need a diviner to set forth the disturbing facts. Red Arizona is veering into Purpleland. The Secretary of State’s Nov. 6, 2018 updated election returns show a decidedly putrid puce.

In the nine state congressional races, Arizona retained Republicans Paul Gosar (CD-4), Andy Biggs (CD-5), David Schweikert (CD-6), and Debbie Lesko (CD-8), by wide margins, though Democrats took districts 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9. In CD-7, only a bizarre Green Party challenge was mounted against the Dem.

Although Republicans Gov. Doug Ducey (leading by 330,677 votes), Attorney General Mark Brnovich (leading by 89,401 votes) and State Treasurer Kimberly Yee (leading by 197,076 votes) hold comfortable margins, other GOP candidates are not so fortunate.

In the race for Secretary of State, Republican Steve Gaynor inexplicably trails second-rate Democrat Katie Hobbs with a tight 49.09% to 50.1%.

Republican Frank Riggs, a far superior candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, falls behind Democrat Kathy Hoffman 48.8% to 51.2% as she leads by 53,780 votes.

Republicans have lost one seat of the two available on the utility rate setting Corporation Commission, with Justin Olson the single GOP victor in what surprisingly turned out to be a tight race.

Post election quarterbacking has been non-stop, with various reasons emerging such as the bogus claim of the “awakening” of women voters. Don’t kid yourselves. Women have never been asleep at the voting wheel. The reason is far more insidious. Look no further than the striking, far-left unionists, #Reds for Ed teachers who thumbed their noses at their contractual agreements, as they abandoned Arizona’s 840.000 students for a week as they followed a Socialist Pied Piper, demanding — and getting — a 20% pay hike for their less than full time jobs, that still didn’t placate them.

With the support of the increasingly radical, Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic newspaper, public school teachers also led the vote against Prop. 305, which would have expanded eligibility for education empowerment scholarship accounts. The educrats organized to deny parental choice in education.

We’ve all been behind cars displaying the bumper sticker that says, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” It’s time for a new bumper sticker: “If you like liberals taking over AZ, thank a teacher.” They’d sell like hotcakes.

AZ Nov. 2018 Election: Snafus persist, lawsuit filed

Extreme liberal partisan Adrian Fontes, who squeaked into office by a single percentage point, now oversees Maricopa County Elections

With votes still being counted days after Tuesday’s election, are upsets in the works? In the latest update from the Secretary of State’s Office, Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat, that appeared to be won by Republican Martha McSally is in limbo as far left radical Kyrsten Sinema, posing as an “independent” has now mysteriously surged ahead by 9,163 votes — 49.08% to McSally’s 48.61%.

In the election for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Republican Frank Riggs has fallen behind Democrat Kathy Hoffman — 49.5% – 50.5%. Thank the #Reds for Ed teachers who abandoned Arizona’s 800,000 students for a week during their union organized strike.  Obviously giving in to their 20% salary increase demands didn’t placate them.  With the support of the leftist, Hillary Clinton-endorsing Arizona Republic newspaper, public school teachers also led the vote against Prop. 305, which would have expanded eligibility for education empowerment scholarship accounts. The educrats organized to deny parental choice in education.

Current Secretary of State, Michele Reagan, who lost in the Primary to Steve Gaynor, (both are Republicans) advises 100% of the precincts have reported, raising the question where are the discrepancies arising from? And who is the final arbiter deciding when the numbers have all been tabulated?  Does extreme partisan Adrian Fontes have an overseer?  Gaynor leads Democrat Katie Hobbs by nearly 20,000 votes in a tight 50.5% to 49.5 % race.

Our votes are our voice. These results show with laser beam clarity how crucial it is to be an informed voter.

Democrat Adrian Fontes was elected as Maricopa County Recorder after longtime Republican Recorder Helen Purcell presided over a tumultuous election day after years of flawless handling of the monumental job. Adhering to the far-left party line, he ran on the contrivance of halting “voter suppression.”

A joint lawsuit by the Republican Parties in the counties of Maricopa, Apache, Navajo and Yuma has been filed challenging the signature verification process on mail-in ballots dropped off at polling places on Election Day, rather than being mailed in. Nearly a half million such ballots are still being counted statewide. Another court hearing is set in Maricopa County Superior Court mid-afternoon today.

We can’t allow ourselves to lose sight of who Adrian Fontes actually is. For some background on Fontes, we direct our readers to these posts:

Apr. 3, 2017:  Mail-in ballots should be a choice not a mandate (Puts efficiency ahead of safeguarding ballot integrity)

Apr. 20, 2017: Keep your eye on the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office

May 4, 2017:  MC Recorder Fontes compares voter verification to slavery

Nov. 3, 2017: MC Recorder Adrian Fontes tells voter to F-himself

Harassment claims lobbed, $$ demanded: Who are the victims?

Claims of sexual harassment rock a Valley charter school

The facts of the case are obscured by “she said” allegations in this age of #MeTooism, but the report in the daily newspaper raises red flags on several fronts.

Charter schools have been in the newspaper’s sights editorially, in contrived news reports and gnawed on by the toady columnists, seeking job security, awaiting their retirement and Social Security checks to kick in.  Parental choice in the education of their children is deemed risky and inappropriate.

Charters, which frequently outperform government schools, (US News and World Report clearly shows AZ Charter high schools topping the national list) are the go-to, reliable whipping boys when there is no actual news. Those in charge of the schools earn “too much,” a mantra never sung about the overpaid university presidents at ASU, UofA or NAU.

Now a lengthy headline blasts this accusation, “Glendale charter school teachers accuse principal, vice principal of sexual harassment.”

Despite the headline, the report makes it clear that these two women, now issuing a multi-page demand letter for $200,000 each, were less than victims. One went out for drinks with the man she now accuses of drugging and sexually harassing her. The other engaged in a consensual sexual relationship, only complaining after the ongoing liaison concluded. They were so damaged that only a couple of hundred thousand dollars and the firing of the principal and vice principal, effectively destroying their careers, will make the women whole again.

The two men and the school are named in the second sentence of the news report. The women are referred to as “the women.” As is too often the case, allegations carry the same heft as guilt.

Cold cash and retribution appear to be the most soothing balms.

The school’s superintendent said she received no complaints of harassment from school employees, including from the two teachers, who have since left their jobs.

An attorney for the school says an investigation of the women’s claims in underway, but added that they have “serious credibility problems” and the school “disputes nearly all of the factual allegations” in the demand letter.

The actual facts of the case have yet to be established. But the principal and vice principal are already guilty as charged by “the women.” They are toxic men, after all.

School shootings: Who’s to blame?

Another school shooting has taken the lives of what is being reported as 9 students and a teacher‘s aide. Twelve others were wounded by the 17-year-old murderer, This time the massacre was in Santa Fe Texas, a small town of approximately 80,000 residents south of Houston.

The Houston Chronicle described the assassin with these words: “He posted a photo on his Facebook page of a “born to kill” T-shirt and wrote in a journal about shooting people and committing suicide. His Facebook cover photo comes from an album called “Dangerous Days” by a dystopian cyberpunk band called Pertubator with a track that took on a haunting quality before 8 a.m. on Friday morning: “Humans Are Such Easy Prey”

The newspaper wrote, “The signs of dark, violent fantasies were ubiquitous in (the killer’s) social persona and private ramblings.”

Like the 1999 Columbine High School killers, he had a penchant for wearing a trench coat. Presenting a dichotomy of personalities, he had been an honor roll student, played on the high school football team and expressed a wholesome desire to join the Marines.

Seventeen were killed at a Parkland, Florida high school just three months ago on Valentine’s Day. This list of school shootings goes back to 1990.

The immediate reaction by many on the left is to go after guns — confiscate and destroy them. Eradicate the Second Amendment as outdated.  Blame the NRA. Then comes the talk of mandatory mental health evaluations and permitting involuntary commitments.

Lost in the mix is the undeniable fact that violence, passing as entertainment,  has for far too long, permeated our society.  Music lyrics were once taken on by Tipper Gore, then-wife of Sen. Al Gore. She testified before a senate panel in 1985, saying, “…in virtually every medium, the communications industry offers increasingly explicit images of sex and violence to younger and younger children. In the course of my work, I’ve encountered a degree of callousness toward children that I never imagined existed. No one asks what is in the product or its effect on kids, only how well it will sell.”

Her efforts to expose the encroachment were vociferously fought by the music industry. In 1985, the graphic violence was mild compared to today. According to Quora, the Internet “became mainstream among researchers by 1989, among Silicon Valley movers and shakers by mid 1995, and by most US households by 2001.”

In 2018, many children are isolated, unsupervised and fatherless. The Internet provides them with explicit images and social media sites to “express themselves.”  Their entertainment is raw and often violent.  Fewer families than ever before are involved in a faith-based community. Values are no longer taught. Parents increasingly put their own pursuits ahead of their children. These are the areas that beg for attention, since they create the personalities that revel in violence.

Families owned firearms throughout our history and mass shootings were not perpetrated at schools by adolescents. The cause is too uncomfortable to address, but it’s time to remind parents that their children are their primary responsibility. Economic pressure must be applied to the entertainment and music industries. The NRA, which protects freedom, is not the problem.

R U appreciating extortionist teachers during Teachers Week?

National Teacher Appreciation Week began on Monday May 7, and runs through Friday May 11. That’s obviously not a week, but the National Education Association (NEA) informs us that it is. Who’d want to take on a group that has mega $millions and marching goons at its disposal? 

We saw teachers at work here in Arizona last week. Not actually “at work,” as they abandoned the students they contracted to educate while they staged their brassy REDSforEd protests over salaries — led by a 24-year-old self-identified Socialist and Bernie Sander’s Arizona presidential campaign organizer who teaches hip-hop music.

When they got the outrageous 20% increase they demanded, it wasn’t enough. Baring themselves as lockstep liberal union thugs, they proceeded to file an extortive Initiative to permanently “tax the rich,” to enrich themselves.

Of course they’ll use that money judiciously, lobbying on behalf of candidates and causes that the organization believes will make our country better for the students entrusted to them. The question is, why are those issues and candidates they back overwhelmingly left-wing Democrats?

The organization is no fan of Charter Schools, which give parents the ability to make educational choices for their own children. Charters often outperform the government schools which have become hotbeds of liberalism, promoting “social justice” and illegal immigration over education — intentionally blurring the lines between actual immigrants and those who invade our country. The NEA site even includes this form to “Tell your representatives to oppose any private school voucher program for military-connected students.”  After it’s filled out, the ham-fisted NEA takes over getting the message to the representatives.

The NEA promotes the now-yearly ‘Day of Silence’ where students remain silent all day in support of all things “LGBTQIA.”  Not much learning going on but celebrating homosexuality in all its incarnations takes center stage. The NEA declares ”sexual literacy will be essential to address through critical comprehensive sexuality education in grades K-12.” It commends the “transition” of a kindergarten boy who became a girl halfway through the school year.

Diversity trumps unity. But their union activism takes first place.

Ninety-four percent of the funds teachers unions (NEA and AFT) contribute go to Democrats.

This video is from 2009, but it clearly spells out the views of the NEA regarding the children they are charged with educating. The words are spoken by Bob Chanin, the NEA legal counsel in a brief excerpt from his revealing retirement speech.

James O’Keefe latest Project Veritas undercover video “School Corruption Exposed” features New Jersey Teachers Union President Dr. David Perry. Watch as he blatantly states, “We need to know the truth so we can bend the truth,” as he covers up child abuse, protects drug-using and shoplifting teachers.