Dem. Gov. Hobbs Pushing to Close Ariz. School Choice Program w/out Authority

Wire Editor
-
0

(Cole Lauterbach – The Center Square) Arizona Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs’s first budget proposal to lawmakers included the dissolution of the state’s new program allowing parents to spend some tax dollars tied to their child’s public school education on a school of their choice. Although governors wield immense authority, Hobbs can’t do that alone, according to one authority on state education policy.

Former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey ushered through the Arizona Legislature an expansion of the Empowerment Scholarship Account program to apply to any student, not just those whose parents are low-income or have a disability. The ESA program allows around $7,000 for parents to either spend on private school tuition or on educational materials approved by the State Department of Education.

The program rapidly expanded when it was opened to all of the state’s 1.1 million students and now has more than 30,000 children participating.

Hobbs said in her State of the State address that the program would bankrupt the state’s budget.

“Funding this expansion is poised to cost Arizona taxpayers an estimated $1.5 billion over the next 10 years if left unaddressed,” she said.

As Goldwater Institute Director of Education Policy Matt Beienburg stated in a Friday post, Hobbs can aim to abolish the program, but her hands are tied due to the legislative process handing the reins to other statewide officers.

“Policymakers should remember that the only Arizona incumbent to lose a statewide race (of either party) in Arizona this past cycle was the left-leaning champion of the teachers unions who opposed school choice and ESAs, and who voters replaced with State Superintendent Tom Horne, who has pledged to uphold and protect the program,” he said. “And fortunately, the continued distribution of funds for ESA families rests squarely with the offices of Superintendent Horne and school choice champion Treasurer Kimberly Yee – neither of whom report to the governor.”

He added that Goldwater is ready to challenge the governor’s office in court should she attempt to hinder the ESA program via executive order.

NSA Argues for Renewed Spying Powers Ahead of Congressional Review

Ken Silva
-
0
NSA Argues for Renewed Spying Powers Ahead of Congressional Review

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) During a Friday hearing of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, the director of the National Security Agency urged Congress to renew statutory authorities that allow them to engage in warrantless surveillance Americans’ communications.

The Friday hearing by PCLOB—a governmental agency designed to provide oversight of government’s anti-terrorism efforts—comes as Congress is set to debate whether to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes the warrantless surveillance of electronic communications content stored by U.S. internet service providers. Unless Congress acts, Section 702 will expire at the end of the year.

Political pundits expect this year’s reauthorization debate to be the most contentious since Section 702 was enacted in 2008—due in large part to increasing skepticism of federal security agencies among Republicans.

Among leading Republicans who have expressed opposition to the spying authority is House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

“We need to make changes to the FISA process. I think we should not even reauthorize FISA, which is going to come up in the next Congress,” Jordan reportedly told Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo in November.

On Friday, NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone urged Congress to renew Section 702, arguing that it’s vital to America’s national security.

“We have learned about espionage plots to obtain sensitive U.S. technological information. We have used information from FISA Section 702 to prevent weapon components from reaching hostile foreign actors. We have identified threats to U.S. troops.,” Nakasone said.

“We have discovered sanctions of Asians and disrupted foreign cyberattacks. And intelligence acquired under this authority has stopped significant terrorist plots, saving American lives.”

Nakasone was light on specifics, telling the PCLOB that the NSA must be “limit what we share publicly because our foreign adversaries are paying close attention.”

The NSA director did cite two examples of where Section 702 was allegedly used to thwart terrorism from ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and another where it was used to thwart a cyberattack.

“In harkening back to the counterterrorism origins of the authority, FISA section 702 information contributed to a successful U.S. government operation against one of the last remaining 9/11 architects, Ayman al-Zawahiri,” he added, referring to the recent drone assassination of Al-Qaeda’s leader.

Civil liberties advocate Cindy Cohn, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, also spoke at the PCLOB hearing, warning against the government overreach.

“I think we have to be honest at this point that the U.S. has de facto created a national security exception to the U.S. Constitution,” Cohn said.

Jeff Kosseth, a cybersecurity professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, also spoke against Section 702. He said he initially supported the legislative authority, but has reconsidered in light of recent FBI abuses.

“At a certain point, we must stop giving the nation’s largest law enforcement agency every benefit of the doubt. The FBI cannot play fast and loose with Americans’ most private information,” he said. “This has to stop now. And if the FBI cannot stop itself, the Congress has to step in.”

A report last year from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence revealed that the number of searches conducted by the FBI of Americans’ communications doubled from 2020 to 2021.

According to the report, the FBI used its Section 702 powers to collect the data of roughly 3.4 million U.S. people in 2021—up from 1.3 million a year before. The report only provides statistics for 2020 and 2021.

Senior Biden administration officials reportedly attributed the uptick in FBI searches to Russian cyberattacks throughout 2021.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

POLL: Anti-Semitism Worst Among Blacks, Young Adults & Democrats

Jacob Bruns
-
0
POLL: Anti-Semitism Worst Among Blacks, Young Adults & Democrats

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Anti-Semitism is on the rise in America, particularly among blacks, young adults and Democrats.

A report from Just the News, drawing on a UMass Amherst poll, detailed the responses of various demographics to questions surrounding Jews and their relation to America, among various other race-related topics.

According to the poll, 3 out of 10 blacks believe that “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust,” whereas a mere 15% of white Americans agreed with the same statement.

Further, when asked whether “Jews have too much power in the business world,” nearly 1 in 3 blacks agreed.

Joining her fellow blacks in their anti-Semitism is The View host Whoopi Goldberg, who has gotten herself in hot water on multiple occasions for her anti-semitic views and commentary.

Another 29% also agreed with the statement that “Jews think they are better than other people.” In total, 17% of Democrats agreed with that statement compared to 15% of Republicans.

Perhaps more surprisingly, given their passion for fascist-hunting, young leftists showed a strong hostility toward Jews while simultaneously maintaining support for slavery reparations for blacks.

Of those polled between 18 and 29, 57% of people said that they supported financial reparations for descendants of slaves.

In addition, pollsters found that those with some level of postgraduate education tended to be extreme leftists, especially on questions of systemic racism. Per the report, 69% of those polled with postgraduate degrees believed in systemic racism, whereas only 45% of high school graduates held the same view.

The poll was released just prior to MLK Day, to commemorate the work that he did to promote the Jews in America.

Ex-Intel Official Who Claimed Hunter’s Laptop Was Disinfo Admits He Lied

Jacob Bruns
-
0
Ex-Intel Official Who Claimed Hunter’s Laptop Was Disinfo Admits He Lied

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) In the days leading up to the 2020 election the Hunter Biden laptop story broke, sending the leftist media into a frenzy wherein 51 intelligence “community” veterans penned a letter calling the report Russian misinformation.

Now, one of those veterans has admitted to signing the letter with the full knowledge that the laptop reports were legitimate, the Daily Wire reported.

According to the report, former Defense Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Douglas Wise told The Australian that he and others knew “a significant portion of that content had to be real.”

Wise said the intelligence officers were just trying to be helpful by pointing out all possibilities to the American electorate.

“The letter said it had the earmarks of Russian deceit and we should consider that as a possibility,” he claimed. “It did not say Hunter Biden was a good guy, it didn’t say what he did was right and it wasn’t exculpatory, it was just a cautionary letter.”

Of course, the letter was created and used as a weapon to manipulate public opinion ahead of the 2020 election. Other signers included former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.

The ex-officials claimed at the time that the report “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Wise, despite admitting that the letter contained important inaccuracies, also noted that he does not regret signing the letter.

In the interview he claimed that “context is important” and noted that the laptop’s “chain of custody” meant that it was possible that “Russians or even ill-intended conservative elements could have planted stuff in there.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is on the record saying that Republicans intend to subpoena dozens of officials who signed the letter.

“Those 51 intel agents that signed a letter that said the Hunter Biden information was all wrong, was Russia collusion, many of them have a security clearance,” McCarthy said.

“We’re going to bring them before a committee. I’m going to have them have a hearing​,​ bring them and subpoena them before a committee. Why did they sign it? Why did they lie to the American public?”

Update: Greta Thunberg Arrest Exposed as Staged Photo-Op

Editor 1
-
0
Update: Greta Thunberg Arrest Exposed as Staged Photo-Op

UPDATE: Extended video of Greta Thunberg’s arrest by German police appeared to show that photographs spread in mainstream media were fake.

The video shows the teen eco-activist instead grinning and cavorting with the police while cooperatively posing for photographs with them.

Original Associated Press story below:

(Headline USA) Police in western Germany carried Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters away Tuesday from the edge of an open coal pit mine where they demonstrated against the ongoing destruction of a village to make way for the mine’s expansion, German news agency dpa reported.

Thunberg was among hundreds of people who resumed anti-mining protests at multiple locations in the western German state of North Rhine–Westphalia a day after the last two climate activists holed up in a tunnel beneath the village of Luetzerath left the site.

The German government reached a deal with energy company RWE last year allowing it to destroy the village in return for ending coal use by 2030, rather than 2038.

Both argue the coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security that’s squeezed by the cut in supply of Russian gas due to the war in Ukraine.

But environmentalists say bulldozing Luetzerath will result in vast greenhouse gas emissions. Germany is expected to miss its ambitious climate targets for the second year in a row.

Amid the heated coal debate in Germany, the European Union pushed forward on Tuesday with a major clean tech industrial project designed to boost its plans for a greener future as the 27-nation bloc pursues the goal of being climate neutral by 2050.

Elsewhere in western Germany, dozens of climate activists glued themselves to a main street in Germany’s western city of Cologne and to a state government building in Duesseldorf. Near Rommerskirchen, a group of about 120 activists also occupied the coal railroad tracks to the Neurath power plant, according to police and RWE.

Those who refused to leave the tracks were carried away, dpa reported.

In addition, several people occupied a giant digger at the coal mine of Inden, while hundreds of other protesters joined a march near Luetzerath. The village itself was evacuated by the police in recent days and is sealed off.

Once again, there were a few clashes with the police.

Several activists ran over to the Garzweiler open pit mine, according to dpa. They stood at the brink of the open pit, which has a sharp break-off edge. Police said it was dangerous and people were prohibited from staying there.

Thunberg had traveled to western Germany to participate in weekend demonstrations against the expanded mine and also took part in Tuesday’s protest near Luetzerath. Police in nearby Aachen said a group of around 50 protesters got dangerously close to the rim of the mine and did not want to leave despite being asked to do so.

All the people in that group had to be carried away from the edge of the mine and were then temporarily held to determine their identities, police said. Photos from the scene showed Thunberg was one of those whom officers took away.

One protester was able to enter the mine, RWE said, calling the move “very reckless,” dpa said.

A police spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity as is customary in Germany, said he was not permitted to give out any details on Thunberg or any other individuals who participated in the protest due to privacy rules.

Police and RWE started evicting protesters from Luetzerath on Jan. 11, removing roadblocks, chopping down treehouses and bulldozing buildings.

Activists have cited the symbolic importance of Luetzerath for years, and thousands of people demonstrated Saturday against the razing of the village by RWE for the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

San Fran. Reparations Committee Proposes $5M for Every Black Resident

Contributing Author
-
0
San Fran. Reparations Committee Proposes $5M for Every Black Resident

(Headline USA) A San Francisco committee urged city officials to adopt a proposal that would give every black resident $5 million in reparations for decades of racism and “systemic oppression.”

The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee released its 60-page proposal this week, detailing reparations plans and requirements that people have to meet in order to receive monetary compensation.

The committee’s goal is “to address the public policies explicitly created to subjugate Black people in San Francisco by upholding and expanding the intent and legacy of chattel slavery,” the report said.

“While neither San Francisco, nor California, formally adopted the institution of chattel slavery, the tenets of segregation, white supremacy and systematic repression and exclusion of Black people were codified through legal and extralegal actions, social codes, and judicial enforcement,” it continued.

To receive a one-time $5 million reparations payment, a person must have identified as “black/African America” on public documents for at least 10 years and be 18 years or older.

Residents must also meet at least two criteria, which include but are not limited to being “born in San Francisco between 1940 and 1996” and “personally, or the direct descendant of someone, incarcerated by the failed War on Drugs.” 

Residents are also eligible if they are a descendant of someone enslaved through chattel slavery before 1865, though it is not clear how they would prove this.

“A lump sum payment would compensate the affected population for the decades of harms that they have experienced, and will redress the economic and opportunity losses that Black San Franciscans have endured, collectively, as the result of both intentional decisions and unintended harms perpetuated by City policy,” the proposal said.

The massive $5 million payments are necessary because of the “significant racial wealth gap in the city of San Francisco,” according to the committee.

“By elevating income to match [the area’s median income], black people can better afford housing and achieve a better quality of life,” they said.

A separate state-level task force empaneled by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom has also floated the possibility of large payouts, with proposals ballooning from an estimated $223,200 per black resident in December to $1 million per resident a month later.

It is unclear whether the municipal payouts would supplant or compound the state-level payments, should either come to pass.

Last week, House Democrats reopened the idea of pursuing reparations at the federal level, as well, alongside a “national apology” for slavery, although the proposal is unlikely to gain traction in a Republican-led Congress.

The practice ended officially in 1865 with the passage of the 13th Amendment, following then-President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in the rebelling Confederate states.

California, which became a state in 1850, never allowed slavery.

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

Series Reveals Sordid Details about Gay Couple Accused of Raping Adopted Sons

Ken Silva
-
0
Series Reveals Sordid Details about Gay Couple Accused of Raping Adopted Sons

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Townhall published Tuesday the first of a four-part investigation into an LGBTQ pedophile ring that allegedly operated in the Atlanta area, detailing gruesome details of a gay couple accused of raping their adopted sons.

The Townhall expose stems from last July’s arrest of a gay couple accused of using their two adopted children to record child pornography. Noting that there has been a virtual media blackout of the case since the arrests, Townhall said its investigation found that details of the incident are “far, far worse than what was first reported.”

“Not only did the married men allegedly rape the two boys who were adopted through a Christian special-needs adoption agency, they were pimping out their children to nearby pedophiles in Atlanta-area suburbs, Townhall’s follow-up investigation discovered,” the news site reported.

The adoptive fathers, 33-year-old government worker William Dale Zulock Jr. and 35-year-old banker Zachary “Zack” Jacoby Zulock—who was previously accused of raping a child—from Oxford, Georgia, have been indicted by a grand jury on charges of incest, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, felony sexual exploitation of children, and felony prostitution of a minor, Townhall reported.

William and Zachary are reportedly each facing over nine life sentences. They’ve pleaded not guilty.

Townhall suggested that its four-part series will reveal that the Zulocks were members of a much wider network of pedophiles.

William (left) and Zachary Zulock (right) mugshots: Walton County Sheriff’s Office

Citing an unnamed family member of the couple, Townhall reported that the Zulocks owned a mansion with surveillance cameras installed in “every square foot” of the property—a similar setup seen used by sex criminals such as Jeffrey Epstein and Craig Spence.

“There was also a ‘secret,’ windowless room the size of a closet without any doors hidden behind a moveable bookcase in the home office that the cops left open, which felt like something out of ‘a horror movie,’ the relative said. Another ‘creepy’ interior room devoid of windows was purportedly used as a ‘home theater,’” Townhall reported.

Part two, set to be released Thursday, will chronicle some of the co-conspirators in the scheme and consider whether the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act—a law used against organized crime networks—can be applied to this case.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

FEMA Didn’t Stop $3.7B in Improper Payments

Wire Editor
-
0
FEMA Didn’t Stop $3.7B in Improper Payments

(Adam Andrzejewski – RealClear Wire) The Federal Emergency Management Agency did not have controls in place to prevent over $3.7 billion of improper payments from the lost wages assistance program, a recent report from the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security found.

In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, FEMA took funds from the Disaster Relief Fund for lost wages assistance to “help ease the economic burden for people who lost work because of coronavirus disease.” FEMA partnered with 54 state workforce agencies to rush $44 billion out the door to people who lost their jobs due to Covid-19.

Thanks to a lack of basic accounting controls, 21 of those 54 agencies distributed more than $3.7 billion in improper payments — in just six weeks. Included in the $3.7 billion of improper payments is $3.3 billion in potentially fraudulent payments, $21.6 million in overpayments, and $403 million in payments made without required self-certification attestations.

The report found FEMA did not institute policies to ensure state workforce agencies would not make improper payments, despite being required to do so by federal law. It also failed to ensure these agencies promptly reported allegations of fraud to appropriate agencies.

The report blamed the rushed implementation of this program for its failures, citing the short time of 11 days that the agency had to begin disbursing $44 billion worth of funds

Unfortunately, this carelessness is part of a broader trend of improper payments. In 2021, the Government Accountability Office found $281 billion worth of improper payments across government agencies in just one year.

While it’s understandable that there will be some improper payments in Covid-era programs, it’s unacceptable to make $3.7 billion in improper payments in just six weeks because of a lack of basic accounting controls.

LAPD Chief Bans ‘Thin Blue Line’ Flag, Citing ‘Racial Extremism’

Contributing Author
-
0
LAPD Chief Bans ‘Thin Blue Line’ Flag, Citing ‘Racial Extremism’

(Headline USA) Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore banned the public display of the pro-police “thin blue line” flag within the department, claiming it’s only used by racial extremists.

Moore’s decision to ban the flag reportedly followed a single complaint from a department staffer who tied the flag to the Proud Boys and other far-Right organizations, according to Fox News.

“It’s unfortunate that extremist groups have hijacked the use of the Thin Blue Line flag to symbolize their undemocratic, racist and bigoted views,” Moore said in a statement.

Officers will still be allowed to hang the symbol above their “workspace, locker door, or personal vehicle,” according to the department.

Joseph Imperatrice, founder of Blue Lives Matter NYC, blasted Moore for catering to the Left instead of focusing on the more than 9,000 officers under his command.

“That blue line is the only thing that’s separating the darkness and the chaos,” Imperatrice said. “So every once in a while it is nice or would be nice, as an executive at a police department around the nation, just stood up and just explained it a little bit more because morale’s in the gutter.”

Moore was appointed by the Los Angeles mayor and has already implemented a number of leftist policies. Last year, for example, he slashed the budget of the Robbery-Homicide Division. He also publicly took a knee with Black Lives Matter rioters in 2020.

“We need the community and our executives and all the high brass to stand behind their cops and say, ‘If you go out there and do policing to the best of your ability and don’t do anything criminal and genuinely want to help, the public will stand behind you, but if you do cross that line, we are going to go after you because you need to be held to a higher standard,'” Imperatrice added.

Nearly 350 Educators Arrested for Child Sex-Crimes in 2022

Contributing Author
-
0
Nearly 350 Educators Arrested for Child Sex-Crimes in 2022

(Headline USA) Nearly 350 public school employees were arrested for child sex-related crimes last year, an alarming that is causing an outcry from parents and child advocates around the country.

The crimes of which these employees were convicted ranged from child porn to grooming to sexual assault, the year-long analysis found, and the employees included K-12 teachers as well as upper levels of schools’ administrations, according to Fox News.

Five principals, three assistant principals, 290 teachers, 26 substitute teachers and 25 teachers’ aides were convicted last year. Almost every single state in the country saw some sort of conviction.

Just 16% of the crimes did not involve students, and the vast majority of the offenders (82%) were men.

In one case, Eugene Pratt, 57, who worked as a former principal, elementary school teacher and coach, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in August 2022 after sexually assaulting at least 15 boys and young men. Law enforcement officials said Pratt sought out positions of authority in the education system so he would have easy access to victims.

“This isn’t surprising or new, though it is hard to accept,” Erika Sanzi, director of outreach at Parents Defending Education, told Fox News. “Since the dawn of time, sexual predators have found a way to embed themselves in child rich environments and schools are no exception.

“Smart phones and encrypted apps have increased access to young children and adolescents and while it is a tiny fraction of educators who engage in this predatory behavior, we must do a much better job protecting children while also respecting due process,” Sanzi said.

Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, said parents deserve to know just how widespread sexual threats are in their public schools. 

“In fact, a 2004 report from the U.S. Department of Education estimated that around one in ten public school students will experience educator sexual misconduct by the time they graduate from high school. The Department of Education should update the report as soon as possible to shine a light on this abuse,” he said.

1...2,2372,2382,239...3,893Page 2,238 of 3,893