California Teachers Union Accused of Spying on Parents Who Wanted Schools to Reopen

By Eric Lendrum September 7, 2022

In California, a teachers union has been accused of spying on the parents of students who demanded the reopening of schools and the rollback of COVID-era restrictions.

The New York Post reports that emails from the California Teachers Association (CTA) were recently uncovered showing that theunion had hired a “researcher” to do opposition research on San Diego parentswho had successfully sued to have the state reopen schools in March of 2021.

Obtained through a public records request, the emails revealed that the CTA had hiredAnn Swinburnin April of 2021, just one month after the successful lawsuit, for the purpose of uncovering “some of the ideological leaning of groups that are funding the reopen lawsuits.” Swinburn, in now-archived tweets, had previously claimed, with no evidence, that parental rights groups and other organizations that supported reopening were funded by right-wing groups and big money.

The group that uncovered the emails,Reopen California Schools, responded to the findings by reaffirming that they were not funded by larger organizations, and instead simply consists of concerned parents who wanted to see their children return to a regular school routine. Meanwhile, the CTA did not respond to requests for comment by the Post.

Lance Christensen, the Republican nominee for California Superintendent of Public Instruction, released a statement condemning the CTA’s newly-revealed conduct.

“Conducting opposition research is a common practice in political campaigns,” Christensen noted. “But to have the teachers’ union dedicate personnel to politically target moms and dads protecting their own children and expressing their First Amendment rights is both startling and disgusting.”

https://amgreatness.com/2022/09/07/California-teachers-union-accused-of-spying-on-parents-who-wanted-schools-to-reopen/

Teachers Union Takes Credit for Biden Forgiveness of Student Loans for Teachers

By Eric Lendrum September 6, 2022

The largest teachers’ union in the nation has taken credit for one aspect of Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness planthat includes total forgiveness of loans for teachers and public employee.

According to the Daily Wire, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) credited their lobbying efforts for Biden’s decision to include a waiver that would stop enforcing the rules for an ongoing program that forgives all student loan debt for anyone who spends 10 years or more working for either the government or a nonprofit.

This program, known as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), was first created in 2007 and had since seen the forgiveness of roughly $1 billion in student loan debt up until 2021.

In the first year of the Biden Administration, however, the federal government stopped enforcing most of the program’s rules in a manner that drastically expanded the eligibility for such forgiveness, leading to over $9 billion being forgiven in 2021 alone.

In a Labor Day speech, AFT president Randi Weingarten declared that the union “worked directly with the Biden administration on the latest PSLF fixes and the recent game-changing announcement on student debt cancellation. Through the AFT’s advocacy around PSLF, $10 billion of student debt has been forgiven for 175,000 public service workers so far.”

“Here’s just one example,” Weingarten continued. “This summer,we helped an AFT member in California wipe out her $450,000 student debt.”

Under the PSLF program, the average discharged by waivers was approximately $61,000, which is significantly higher than the $10,000 worth of forgiveness offered to non-government and non-nonprofit employees under Biden’s more widely-publicized plan announced last month. In addition, while the broader forgiveness plan only applies to those making less than $125,000 a year, the changes to the PSLF make forgiveness eligible to anyone regardless of income.

In another Labor Day message, the AFT took direct aim at “conservatives” and “extremist politicians” for allegedly “politicizing education,” after the last two years saw hundreds of spontaneous and grassroots protests against school boards over far-left political indoctrination being forced on the students. The union declared that such parents and activists “oppose public education and teaching children to have tolerance, empathy, and the skills, knowledge and ability to think critically that they need to achieve their dreams.”

https://amgreatness.com/2022/09/06/teachers-union-takes-credit-for-biden-forgiveness-of-student-loans-for-teachers/

Unfucking believable

09.01.2022

Grassley, Ernst, Miller-Meeks Sound Alarm with DoD on Sourcing of Critical Defense Minerals

They write: “Ensuring the United States maintains critical mineral and material independence from our adversaries is a vital national security interest that compels your swift attention.”

DES MOINES, IOWA – Following recent reports that the only smelter producing, high-purity aluminum plant in the U.S. is set to curtail the production due to high energy costs, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) as well as Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-02), are sounding the alarm with the Department of Defense (DoD) on their plans to source this critical mineral, ensuring the United States is not dependent on hostile nations for the products that source our military’s weapons systems.

In a letter to the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, the Iowa officials write: “U.S. manufacturers who make crucial components for the aerospace, aviation, and defense sector are now forced to source HPA from foreign sources (including Russia) at an increased cost. Increasing our reliance on Russia for this critical material, particularly after Russia’s unwarranted invasion of Ukraine and its increasingly malign behavior, is unacceptable. There is one domestic company now producing HPA with an efficient refining process that uses primary aluminum as an input material – the only company in North America making HPA at scale for defense applications today.”

They go on to write: “Ensuring the United States maintains critical mineral and material independence from our adversaries is a vital national security interest that compels your swift attention. The undersigned members of Congress urge a written response and follow-on briefing regarding the Department of Defense’s efforts to secure domestic and allied sources of HPA within the next ninety days to ensure the continued viability and lethality of our military’s weapons platforms.”

To read the full letter, click HERE.

https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-ernst-miller-meeks-sound-alarm-with-dod-on-sourcing-of-critical-defense-minerals

Bigoted New York Times Enlists White, All-Male Legal Scholars To Attack Latina, Female Judge In Trump Raid Dispute

By: Eddie Scarry September 07, 2022PART 1 OF 2

What’s it called when a Latina judge issues a ruling, and a white, male reporter then lines up other white men to attack her as ignorant?

What is it called when a Latina federal judge issues a ruling and a white, male New York Times reporter responds by lining up a bunch of other white men to attack her legal opinion as ignorant, unsophisticated, and even “radical”?

I have a slight hunch as to what the Times would call it if not for the ruling having been in favor of former President Donald Trump. The paper on Monday published an article citing a slew of “experts” who not only disagreed with Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to grant Trump’s request for a special master to review the documents seized from his home by the FBI, butwho also belittled her ruling as uninformed and unserious.

Reporter Charlie Savage began his piece asserting that “legal specialists” were taken aback by Cannon’s order, viewing it as an “extraordinary” move to “interject” in the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Trump for possessing documents that allegedly belong to the government. By “interject,” Savage presumably means “issue a ruling in a legal dispute,” the thing judges are paid to do each day.

The point of a special master isn’t to thwart the investigation. It’s to ensure that the constitutional rights and reputation of a private citizen haven’t been and won’t be infringed upon, in the event that federal agents seized more than what they were legally entitled to. The investigation, which apparently centers on confidential government information and how Trump handled it since leaving the White House, will proceed sooner or later, one way or another.

There is absolutely no way Democrats are letting that one go.

Savage also said his gang of legal minds believed that Cannon, who is of Cuban descent, “showed unusual solicitude” toward Trump, who nominated her to the court in 2020. In other words, she seemed motivated by personal interest rather than legal soundness. Perhaps they wish Canon would have been less emotional.

The ruling wasn’t the biggest surprise, given that Cannon had indicated several days ago that she was inclined to permit the use of a special master, which isn’t some novelty invented by Trump’s counsel, but a regular tool that attempts to ensure impartiality of certain legal procedures. But because Cannon had signaled her preference in advance, rather than pretend this would be a hotly contested issue, Savage complained that the judge wasn’t “far more modest.” Yeah, and maybe someone could tell her to cover up a little, too.

Assisting Savage was a mix of seven lawyers and legal scholars, all but one of whom were white men, to doubt Cannon’s acumen and sincerity. (I wouldn’t mention their skin color, but leftists always do it so why not?)

• University of Texas law professor Stephen I. Vladeck: “An unprecedented intervention by a federal district judge…”

• Paul Rosenzweig, former Homeland Security official: “untenable…”

• New York University law professor Ryan Goodman: “Judge Cannon had a reasonable path she could have taken. … Instead, she chose a radical path.” (Goodman might even consider telling Cannon that she should calm down.)

• NYU legal scholar Peter Shane: “[Her] opinion seems oblivious to the nature of executive privilege.” (What a bimbo, that Cannon!)

• Duke University law professor Samuel Buell: “This ruling is laughably bad, and the written justification is even flimsier.”…

https://thefederalist.com/2022/09/07/bigoted-new-york-times-enlists-white-all-male-legal-scholars-to-attack-latina-female-judge-in-trump-raid-dispute/

>>17511014

PART 2 OF 2

The very plainly written ruling thoroughly explains the logic and mitigating factors that led to Cannon’s decision: This is uncharted legal territory involving the criminal investigation of a former president; the record reflects that Trump had been in open communication with the government about the records in question; that he and his associates had previously voluntarily turned over requested materials; and that the government admitted to having seized private and personal belongings, such as medical records and communications protected by attorney-client privilege, which the search warrant may not have permitted.

The ways that the raid and its accompanying criminal investigation could wrongfully harm Trump, or anyone else who might end up in similar circumstances, are infinite, especially if there were a steady stream of leaks from the Justice Department that characterize what they seized in ways meant to damage the former president’s reputation. Cannon acknowledged that reality in her ruling, which was then characterized by Savage as “a footnote” that “insinuated” potential leaks.

But Cannon didn’t insinuate anything. She cited thegovernment’s legal team as having conceded in court “the unfortunate existence of leaks to the press.” (It's not an unfortunate existence of leaks to the press, it's forbidden by the government and many agents were reprimanded and punished for doing it in Russiagate, it's illegal)

Imagine: Someone in the government anonymously providing a reporter with confidential information that might make Trump look bad. No! Never! It’s offensive that anyone would even suggest the possibility!

But sure. Belittle the completely innocuous legal ruling of a Latina graduate of Duke University.

It’s not as if Trump won the Mega Millions. His grand prize is a legal agent who gets to look at the thousands of documents snatched from his home and determine how many, if any, have no business being in government hands. Once that’s over, Savage can rest assured that Biden’s federal agents will continue doing what they do best: harassing his political opposition.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/09/07/bigoted-new-york-times-enlists-white-all-male-legal-scholars-to-attack-latina-female-judge-in-trump-raid-dispute/