Posts Tagged ‘Houston Independent School District’
Thursday, November 7th, 2024
Fallout from Trump’s decisive victory over the Obama Machine continues to land fast and heavy. So let’s do a roundup before the Friday LinkSwarm gets unwieldy.
Harris officially conceded. In a sane world, this would be the end of Democrats “we have to keep Trump out of office by any means necessary” efforts, but alas, the TDS-wrecked Democratic Party is far from sane…
“David McCormick Wins Pennsylvania Senate Seat, Ousting Longtime Incumbent Democrat Bob Casey.” Casey’s team says they still think they can win, so don’t put it past Pennsylvania Democrats to “discover” a whole bunch of “uncounted” ballots…
Tablet’s Park MacDougald calls Trump’s win a landslide.
For months now, they have been saying that mainstream pollsters and pundits predicting a Harris victory were full of it. They were right. The late Harris surge in the polls was a mirage. The stories that recently appeared in outlets such as Politico about massive last-minute swings to Harris among independents, Hispanics offended by a comic’s Puerto Rico joke, and educated women—all of it was bullshit, invented out of whole cloth by Harris campaign operatives and repeated by journalists such as Jonathan Martin as if it were fact. In the end, none of it was real. The election wasn’t even close.
How did Trump do it? We’ve seen some suggestive exit polls showing, for instance, Trump winning more than 40% of the Jewish vote in New York City; that sounds right, but we’d caution that exit polls are notoriously unreliable. County data, on the other hand, is rock-solid…
To put that in simple terms: Pretty much the entire country shifted toward Trump. That includes deep-blue strongholds. The New York Post reported Wednesday morning that Harris was leading New York by a little more than 11% with 95% of votes counted—the worst performance by a Democrat in the Empire State since Michael Dukakis in 1988. Trump cracked 30% in New York City—also the best performance by a Republican since 1988, driven by a 35% improvement in the Bronx relative to 2020 and improvements of 20% and 16.5% in Manhattan and Queens, respectively. Finally, Trump blew the doors off of several heavily minority counties across the country, flipping Florida’s Osceola County (home to a large Puerto Rican population) and Texas’s 97% Hispanic Starr County. He won the latter by nearly 16% after losing it by 5% to Biden—a 21-point swing in four years. It was, as Ryan Girdusky observed on X, the first time Starr County had voted for a Republican since 1892.
We’ve seen some talk of a “realignment election,” with the Republicans broadening their appeal among the multiracial working class while the Democrats become more entrenched in affluent white suburbs. We’ll have to wait for more detailed demographic breakdowns to say for sure, but what the above table suggests to us is something different: a “whole of society” (to borrow a term) rejection of Kamala Harris and her party. Punchbowl’s congressional reporter, Max Cohen, cited a Democratic House source this morning who summed up the result nicely: “This was a total and complete repudiation of the Democratic Party. People are not buying what we’re selling. Period.”
“This was a marriage gap election, not a gender gap election.”
Now that we have the election results, it appears that the gender gap actually shrunk.
In 2020, President Joe Biden won women by a 15-point margin, 57% to 42%. This year, Vice President Kamala Harris won women by a much smaller 8-point, 53% to 45% margin.
But while the gap between men and women actually shrank this year, another gap widened. In 2020, married voters narrowly chose President Donald Trump by a 7-point, 53% to 46% margin. This year that margin grew to 13 points at 56% to 43%.
For all the talk of Trump’s problem with women, Trump actually won married women by three points, 51 to 48. To repeat, Trump won a majority of not just married white women, but a majority of all married women.
Trump also handily won married men 60-38 and he even eked out a victory among unmarried men 49-47. Where Trump got crushed was among unmarried women, who chose Harris (who didn’t get married until age 50, by the way) by a 60-38 margin.
Republicans trimmed the Democratic advantage in Harris County. Harris won Harris County by 5 points, but four years ago Biden won it by 12. Likewise, Ted Cruz lost Harris County (where he lives) by 9 points, but in 2018, the year of Betomania, he lost it by 17 points. As I keep reminding people, Harris County was a competitive Republican county not that long ago, and Bush43 won it in 2004.
Speaking of Harris County, Houston voters actually turned down a $4.4 billion HISD bond package.
Well, this is mighty curious, isn’t it?
…or C.) Call voters racist and sexist?
“California Voters Overwhelmingly Say ‘No’ to Soft-on-Crime Policies and Prosecutors.”
Voters in the state [reversed] course after previously supporting a measure that lightened penalties for theft and otherwise gutted crime-control efforts in this state. California Proposition 36, also known as the “Allows Felony Charges and Increases Sentences for Certain Drug and Theft Crimes” measure, passed with over 70% of the vote.
Proposition 36 would walk back much of the decade-old Proposition 47, turning some theft misdemeanors into felonies, requiring a warning about a possible murder charge for selling or providing drugs, and creating a new “treatment-mandated felony,” according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
…[T]he Family Business Association of California has called Proposition 47 “catastrophic” for the state, saying homelessness has gone up by 51% and smash-and-grab crimes have cost businesses nearly $9 billion a year. It says Proposition 36 will fix a loophole in Proposition 47 that allows thieves to take less than $950 in property from different stores and remain a misdemeanor.
Under Proposition 36, theft would be classified as a felony offense if the suspect has two or more past convictions for certain theft crimes, such as shoplifting, burglary and carjacking. The sentence would then be up to three years in county jail or state prison.
A leftwing initiative to impose rent control on all of California backfires spectacularly.
With 51 percent of the vote reported, Proposition 33—which would have repealed all state-level limitations on local rent control policies—is capturing the support of just 38 percent of voters. The New York Times is declaring the initiative done and dusted.
This is the third failed ballot initiative sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) that would have loosened or repealed California’s state-level limits on rent control. Prop. 33 could also be the AHF’s last ballot initiative.
That’s thanks to the apparent (narrow, but not yet confirmed) victory for Proposition 34, which would effectively prevent AHF from spending money on political activism.
Prop. 34 requires beneficiaries of federal discount prescription drug programs to spend 98 percent of their revenue on direct patient care.
AHF benefits from just such a federal program that requires pharmaceutical companies to sell their drugs at discounted rates to hospitals and other organizations that primarily serve low-income patients. Those discount drug–buying organizations are then allowed to bill federal insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid the standard reimbursement rates for those drugs.
The AHF has benefited handsomely from this program through its network of discount pharmacies serving AIDS patients. It has spent the proceeds on the heterodox pet causes of AHF President Michael Weinstein, which includes supporting rent control policies.
This deserves a Nelson.
(Hat tip: Dwight.)
And the beat goes on. “Leftist Arrested for Threatening to Kill Trump and Conservative Christians if Trump Wins.” “Isaac Sissel, a 25-year-old from Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been charged by the Department of Justice following an online threat of political violence.”
https://thetexan.news/elections/2024/voters-resoundingly-reject-4-4-billion-bond-for-houston-independent-school-district/
Rasmussen crows about getting things right, including trump winning the popular vote. “What you probably heard on the media, over and over again like a mantra, is that Donald Trump has a hard ceiling at 47%. No, he’s been at 49% this entire time. Turns out Kamala Harris is the one with the ceiling. And the reason that it came out that way is because all of their polls are bogus, they’re leftward leaning, they always show that Donald Trump has a favorability disadvantage.” Also:
This is the shill period right here. Boom! All of a sudden Trump dropped a point when Kamala Harris went in the race. It’s like everybody gave her a shove to get her over the starting line, and then they massively shift left. They shilled for Harris all fall, and then right at the end they decided ‘Well, it’s time to save our credibility,’ and Trump, look at that, all of a sudden Trump got this great momentum. Where’d it come from? Oh, he never lost it. This is all fake all here this whole period, and Trump was actually up in the national popular vote and nobody said sorry.
“Fort Bend County Commissioner Meyers Defeats Democratic Challenger Indicted Over Faked Racist Messages. Democratic candidate Taral Patel, who faces nine criminal charges, took 41 percent of the vote.”
“America Unburdens Itself From What Has Been.”
“Kamala Calls For Peaceful Transfer Of Power To Adolf Hitler.”
Tags:2024 Election, 2024 Presidential Race, Babylon Bee, Bob Casey, California, Crime, David McCormick, Donald Trump, Florida, Fort Bend County, Harris County, Hispanics, Houston Independent School District, Isaac Sissel, Kamala Harris, Laura Helmuth, LinkSwarm, Osceola County, Park MacDougald, Pennsylvania, Proposition 36, Proposition 47 (California), Rasmussen, rent control, Starr County, Taral Patel, Ted Cruz, Texas, Trump Assassination Attempt, Trump Derangement Syndrome
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, October 15th, 2024
It’s bad enough that Venezuelan illegal alien gang Tren de Aragua is taking over apartment complexes in San Antonio and hotels in El Paso, but now they’re recruiting Houston middle school students.
Authorities have arrested a confirmed Tren de Aragua gang member, after he allegedly recruited students from two Houston middle schools to join the Venezuelan gang.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Jorgenys Robertson Cova—an illegal alien from Venezuela—entered the United States two years ago.
Cova is suspected to have recruited students from Jane Long Academy and Las Americas—both of which are located in the Houston Independent School District. He was arrested last week after being wanted in Pearland for theft and was accused of recruiting the students.
The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed Cova was part of the Venezuelan gang after observing known tattoos related to the gang on his arms that included a five-point crown and a clock and roses. Other known tattoos include stars, Ak-47s, and trains.
Via FAIR, here are some of the tattoos DPS seems to be focusing on.
Cova was scheduled for an asylum hearing in Houston on the same day he was taken into custody and booked into the Brazoria County Jail.
A Houston ISD spokesperson told Texas Scorecard that they have not been made aware of any activities related to the gang member, but will work with law enforcement to provide any information they need.
The gang has also been spotted in North Dallas, with Dallas Police officers confirming they have infiltrated the city. Members of the Tren De Aragua gang have congregated with other Venezuelans in the northern part of Dallas, nicknamed “Villa Dallas.” Since the gang’s arrival, the neighborhood has become riddled with illegal street racing, beatings, shootings, and extortion attempts.
It was bad enough when gangs recruited high schoolers, but now their dragging middle schoolers into a life of crime. Thanks, Joe Biden.
As I noted before, I never read about Tren de Aragua until the Biden-Harris Administration decided to flood America with illegal aliens, and now they seem to be popping up everywhere. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has designated Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization and is offering up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to capture of members.
There’s just no end to the vibrant diversity that Democrats have inflicted on ordinary Americans…
Tags:Border Controls, Crime, Dallas, Democrats, Houston, Houston Independent School District, Illegal Aliens, Jorgenys Robertson Cova, Pearland, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Tren de Aragua, Venezuela
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | 5 Comments »
Friday, January 27th, 2023
Democrats enabling sexual predators (yet again), more tanks for Ukraine information, and the unexpected return of Storm Drain Woman. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
Democrat-run California loves releasing pedophiles from prison early.
Published in November of 2022, the story indicated “thousands of child molesters are being let out after just a few months, despite sentencing guidelines.”
The story reported that more than 7,000 inmates convicted of “lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age” were released from prison the same year they were incarcerated.
The Daily Mail’s analysis was conducted using a database—created in 1994 after the federal Megan’s Law was passed—requiring law enforcement to make public information regarding registered sex offenders. The news organization examined data in California through July of 2019.
“Everyone should be really upset and frightened by this,” Dordulian said.
According to Dordulian, child molesters are the least likely of criminals to be rehabilitated and are four times more likely to commit the same crime again.
“Once they’re out,” he said, “they are going to re-offend and there’s going to be another child that is victimized by these people.”
California’s repeal of an anti-loitering law has enabled pimps and human traffickers.
Senate Bill 357. Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in July, the measure decriminalized loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution. The bill did not officially take effect until January 1 of this year; but, from the moment it became law back in July, these women say, the on-the-ground reality changed. “The minute the governor signed it, you started seeing an uptick on the streets,” Powell said. “And on social media, the pimps were saying: ‘You better get out there and work because the streets are ours.’”
The pimps were right: police stopped making arrests for crimes that would no longer be charged. The anti-loitering statute had provided the grounds for officers to question women and children whom they suspected might be trapped in a prostitution ring. “As a police officer, you need probable cause to stop and investigate,” Powell explained. “So if I have a law that says you can’t loiter in this area, with pasties and a G-string, flagging down cars, I could stop you for that because you’re loitering. But if I just say I’m stopping you because you look kind of young, that’s a little weak. So, it takes away a tool.” Without the statute, police hands were suddenly tied. Henceforth, questioning the girls—and potentially provoking a violent confrontation with pimps—came to seem a Pyrrhic gamble, one that California’s police officers would now avoid.
(Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Gavin Newsom’s wife’s films shown in school promote both the radical transexual agenda and Democrats.
The films, which include “Miss Representation,” “The Mask You Live In,” “The Great American Lie” and “Fair Play,” are licensed to taxpayer-funded schools across every state and sometimes contain sexually explicit imagery and push students to feel “shame and sorrow” about American society split by privilege and oppression. They are paired with curricula that include discussion on Gov. Newsom’s comments within the films, urging them to gather their friends and vote for aligned politicians that support a “care economy” that “embraces universal human values.”
(Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
Former Beaverton, Oregon Democratic mayor Dennis ‘Denny’ Doyle sentenced to six months for possessing child pornography. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Closer to home: “Prosper ISD [Dallas County Metroplex] School Board President Arrested for Indecency with a Child.”
George Soros’ right-hand political man is working hand-in-glove with the Biden White House. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Suchomimus has a video breakdown of which tanks from where are going to Ukraine.
Not mentioned: Morocco is sending upgraded T-72s.
Union membership hits record lows.
Scott Adams admits Flu Manchu vaccine critics were right.
When real life imitates The Babylon Bee: Illinois Democratic Governor “Pritzker Demands Black Queer History in AP African-American Studies.”
“Former Arlington teachers union president charged with embezzlement. A former president of the Arlington teachers union, who was ousted last spring, has been charged with embezzling more than $400,000 from the organization. Ingrid Gant, 54, of Woodbridge, was arrested yesterday (Monday) in Prince William County on four counts of embezzlement.” (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
“Thirty years ago, Guan County, Shandong Province launched the ‘Hundred Childless Days‘ campaign under the aegis of national family planning, known in the West as the ‘one-child policy.’ The birthplace of the “Boxers” was deemed to have too high a birth rate by the provincial government. County officials sought to correct this by ensuring that not a single baby was born between May 1 and August 10, 1991.” (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
EU: Eat the bugs, peasants.
The Five > All of CNN.
“Austin hair salon could shut down due to neighboring homeless camp.”
North says they do not feel safe anymore, and she believes it all ties back to the large homeless encampment located only feet away from the salon.
“Our safety started to become a big issue. We suffered from multiple break-ins. We’ve had our cars broken into. We clean up feces and needles on a weekly basis. It increased from that to, you know, people approaching us and threatening us with weapons, threatening rape, murder, all of those things,” said North.
The salon has been up and running just off Ben White Blvd. for four years now. North says she has seen an uptick in crime for a while now, but the dangerous behavior from people living in this encampment picked up recently.
“In the past year, it’s gotten increasingly worse and, in the past couple of weeks, it’s gotten to the point where I actually finally felt like this might shut my business down,” said North.
Erin Mutschler, another co-owner of the salon, says they have called the police every time they have dealt with a situation like the one caught on video, but she says police often take 45 minutes to an hour for anyone to show up.
The mayorship of Steve Adler is the gift that just keeps giving, even with him out of office… (Hat tip: Dwight.)
“Former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s entire legal team has asked a federal judge to withdraw from representing the city’s top prosecutor.” (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Stop! Hammertime!
Insurance companies are refusing to insure Hyundais and Kias because they’re too easy to steal.
How easy? This easy. All you need is a screwdriver and a USB cable…
Intel reports quarterly loss.
Follow-up: Democratic State Rep. Harold Dutton: “Don’t Blame Abbott, Houston ISD Takeover Plan Was My Idea.” (Previously.)
A Florida woman was pulled from a storm drain for the third time in two years. Maybe she was looking for David Icke’s lizard people. Also, she sounds like a real winner: “Police said her license had been suspended 17 times from 2007 to 2020.” (Previously.) (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Jay Leno broke his collarbone, several ribs and both kneecaps in a motorcycle accident. But it sounds like a freak accident: “So I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it…I didn’t see it until it was too late. It just clothesline me and, boom, knocked me off the bike.” (There’s no evidence the line was strung there by Conan O’Brien.) “But I’m OK!…I’m working this weekend.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
“Hillary Clinton Boasts Of Having No Classified Documents From Her Time As President.”
Tags:Arlington, Austin, Baltimore, Beaverton, China, CNN, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Dennis ‘Denny’ Doyle, EU, Florida, Florida Man, fraud, Harold Dutton, Hillary Clinton, Houston Independent School District, Hyundai, Ingrid Gant, insects, Intel, Jay Leno, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Kia, Leopard 2, LinkSwarm, M1A1, Marilyn Mosby, Media Watch, mental illness, Military, Oregon, Paul Pelosi, pedophilia, Prosper ISD, Russo-Ukrainian War, Scott Adams, Semiconductors, Social Justice Warriors, Suchomimus, tanks, Ukraine, Virginia
Posted in Austin, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Media Watch, Military, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud | 3 Comments »
Saturday, January 14th, 2023
This seems like big news.
The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) on Friday reversed a lower court judgment that has prevented the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from taking over the troubled Houston Independent School District (HISD) since 2019.
In overturning a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by a Travis County trial court, SCOTX cited legislation passed by the state Legislature in 2021 that strengthened the authority of the TEA commissioner to intervene in districts failing to meet minimum state standards.
In 2019, a TEA investigation concluded that several HISD board members had violated the Open Meetings Act and state laws related to contracting, all while district schools struggled to meet performance standards.
After TEA Commissioner Mike Morath initiated proceedings under state law to replace the elected board of trustees with an appointed board of managers, the district sued, arguing that Morath had exceeded his authority.
A U.S. District court judge dismissed the case from the federal court system, but the state district court judge issued an injunction blocking TEA action. The injunction was upheld by the Third District Court of Appeals and then temporarily by the state Supreme Court while the case was under consideration.
Attorneys for HISD argued that although Wheatley High School had incurred “F” ratings every year between 2013 and 2019, since the school was not rated in 2018 due to Hurricane Harvey, there were not enough “consecutive” years of failure to trigger state intervention. They also asserted that Morath did not have the authority to place a conservator over the district in lieu of a superintendent, and could not delegate to an agency the underling authority to review the district’s objections.
The injunction blocking TEA action prompted state Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) and Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) to both introduce legislation to address legal ambiguities identified in the HISD case, with Bettencourt’s Senate Bill (SB) 1365 receiving final approval from both chambers.
In the SCOTX opinion written by Justice Jane Bland. the court referred to SB 1365 provisions, writing, “In sum, the Legislature abrogated much of the court of appeal’s interpretation of the Education Code provisions that govern this case.”
In addition to changes in the law, SCOTX notes that since 2019, voters have elected several new HISD board members and hired a new permanent superintendent. With such changes, the court concludes there is no basis to continue the TRO against the TEA Commissioner’s appointment of a board of managers.
“We hold that the District failed to demonstrate that the Commissioner and his conservator’s planned conduct violates the law,” the SCOTX decision reads. “Thus, the District is not entitled to injunctive relief. We remand the case to the trial court, however, to permit the parties to fully develop the record in light of intervening legal and factual changes.”
“Accordingly, we reverse the court of appeals’ judgment, vacate the temporary injunction, and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Bettencourt hailed the SCOTX opinion, saying the intent of his bill was to “have a school accountability system that worked.”
“This Supreme Court ruling is a much-needed step to reverse the Third Court of Appeals and return the case to the intent of the Legislature back to having a conservator take additional steps to help improve public education in school districts,” said Bettencourt in a statement.
Many HISD schools, especially in minority neighborhoods, were already sketchy when I grew up and have gotten worse, any Critical Race Theory was a hot issue in 2021 HISD elections. Hopefully TEA can get things moving in the right direction.
Tags:education, Harold Dutton, Holly Hansen, Houston, Houston Independent School District, Mike Morath, Paul Bettencourt, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Texas Education Agency, Texas Supreme Court
Posted in Republicans, Texas | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, February 5th, 2019
Sometimes you link piece because you read it and go “What the hell?” Such is the case with this piece on the Houston Independent School District School Board:
Three days after the stunning ouster of Houston ISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan in mid-October, an unexpected move that further divided the already-fractured school board, district leaders gathered for training on how to govern.
Instead, HISD leaders spent four straight hours lobbing blistering accusations of disingenuous, duplicitous and dismissive behavior by their colleagues. Through raised voices and tears, they bemoaned the disintegration of trust and productivity on the board, with one trustee describing his service as “a step below hell” and another likening her experience to “an abusive relationship.”
The intervention-style airing of grievances, captured on video and reported here for the first time, culminated with Trustee Wanda Adams standing up and yelling at Trustee Elizabeth Santos, angry that board members did not defend her after she received threats while serving as board president in 2017.
Well, there’s one problem. You’re supposed to hold off of the Festivus Airing of Grievances until December 23.
“Did y’all come to my defense? Hell no,” Adams shouted as she slowly walked toward Santos, prompting a top Texas Education Agency official in the room to position himself between the two trustees. “So, you want to know how I felt last year? I was quiet the whole year. So, don’t come up here crying ‘woe is me’ when people came to my house, attacked me.”
Houston ISD Trustee Wanda Adams shouted at fellow board member Elizabeth Santos for about 90 seconds during a mid-October board meeting, slowly walking toward her until Texas Education Agency Deputy Commissioner of Governance AJ Crabill stepped between them. The exchange marked the highest point of tension during a heated meeting in the aftermath of Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan’s unexpected ouster, which was later reversed.
The remarkably candid meeting laid bare the dysfunction that critics say has weakened the Houston school board’s ability to serve the district’s 213,000 children and prompted calls for major state intervention over the past several months. The turmoil has stalled efforts to tackle some of the biggest issues facing the district, including poor academic performance among many low-income students, inequities in funding between campuses and unstable administrative leadership. Houston ISD leaders also suspect the board’s disharmony has contributed to the district’s largest enrollment decline in 12 years.
“I have felt like this year (in 2018), there’s been no productive work done by the board,” Trustee Anne Sung said during the October meeting.
Details of the seven-hour mid-October meeting have not been publicly disclosed until now, largely because it was not attended by local media and HISD officials did not post video of the meeting online. The Houston Chronicle obtained a copy of the video through a public records request.
The video depicts a beaten-down board compromised by grudges, clashing personalities and heightened suspicions. Some trustees have said they were unaware they were being recorded during the meeting, resulting in an unfiltered look at the fragmented board.
Houston ISD Trustee Anne Sung explained to colleagues the frustration she felt in 2018 while serving on the school board, as well as part of her rationale for voting to replace Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan.
“There’s so much back-biting and back-stabbing and all of these little freaking agendas,” then-Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones said during the meeting. “Every single freaking person here contributed to that. And until we take responsibility for that, it’s not going to change. And the public sees that. They see right through us.”
The articles portrays a school board at each other’s throats, with the biggest battles about personal respect rather than what’s best for students. It’s like an episode of one of those reality talk shows where poor people scream at each other for an hour. Except these people oversee the eighth largest school district in the country.
The relative inaction does not bode well for HISD’s prospects of maintaining local control over the district. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has had legal authority to replace the district’s school board since September 2017, the result of HISD’s inability to prove strong governance practices and improve academics at long-struggling schools. Morath has not exercised that option, but Gov. Greg Abbott’s blistering comments about the district’s leadership last month — a “disaster,” he tweeted — and a fresh state investigation into potential Open Meetings Act violations by several trustees raises the stakes for HISD.
Even if Morath resists pulling the takeover trigger, chronically low performance at four campuses could prompt a legally required state takeover of the board later this year.
Snip.
The school board has been riddled with distrust and in-fighting for years, often cutting across the class, ethnic and racial lines that cleave the diverse district. The interpersonal grievances frequently are well known in local education circles but less visible to the public.
The mid-October meeting, however, illustrates how the current iteration of the board — three new members were seated to begin 2018 — became Houston’s most maligned governing group.
One by one, trustees voiced frustration with fellow board members or the district administration, accusing colleagues of undermining them, distorting the truth or offering inadequate support.
Skillern-Jones, for example, spent several minutes criticizing nearly all of the trustees for failing to defend her leadership in 2018, noting that she reluctantly assumed the presidency after Trustee Jolanda Jones scuttled Sung’s candidacy. Skillern-Jones drew flak in April when she ordered HISD police to clear the audience from the room during a raucous board meeting, which precipitated the arrests of two women.
Me me me me me.
I believe in subsidiarity, the idea that power should devolve to the lowest level of government possible, but it may very well be time for the state to take over HISD.
(Hat tip: Holly Hansen’s Twitter feed. I also noticed that Holly has a new blog that wasn’t on the blogroll, a situation I’ve now rectified.)
Tags:Anne Sung, education, Elizabeth Santos, Grenita Lathan, Holly Hansen, Houston, Houston Independent School District, Mike Morath, Rhonda Skillern-Jones, Texas, Wanda Adams
Posted in Texas | 2 Comments »
Friday, July 27th, 2018
Good economic news tops today’s LinkSwarm. Meanwhile, a passel of Middle East conflict news will have to wait until tomorrow…
The U.S. economy grew at 4.1% in Q2. Remember how Paul Krugman said the economy would “never” recover from Donald Trump being elected President?
Vice reports what I’ve been covering for quite a while: Twitter shadowbans mainstream conservatives and Republicans.
“Say anything you want about this president – I get it, he can be vulgar, he can be crude, he can be undignified at times. I don’t care. I can’t spare this man. He fights.”
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan has thrown his hate into the ring to replace Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
“New UAW Corruption Scandal Details Implicate Union at Highest Level.” And not just the union:
Remember the multi-million dollar corruption scandal involving UAW officials? Apparently, it was even more corrupt than previously reported. While the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center is suing both Fiat Chrysler and the union members involved, recent developments point to the money scheme being greenlit by former UAW President Dennis Williams.
As part of a plea agreement filed this week, ex-labor official Nancy Adams Johnson told investigators that Williams specifically directed union members to use funds from Detroit’s automakers, funneled through training centers, to pay for union travel, meals, entertainment, and more. If true, the accusation not only implicates the UAW of corruption at the highest level but also the potential involvement of staff from both Ford and General Motors — something the FBI is already looking into.
I believe the official industry term for something like this is a “shit show.”
(Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Attention everyone: They’re called “illegal aliens,” not “undocumented immigrants.” Deal with it…
Is the Trump Administration preparing to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities? A report worth taking with several grains of salt.
Alt-right protestors call black police officers “f**king n****r” in Portland protest. Oh, wait, did I say “alt-right”? I meant “anti-ICE.” (Hat tip: Derek Hunter on Twitter.)
Retired Sgt. Maj. John Canley received a phone call from President Donald Trump telling him he was receiving the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Battle of Hue in 1968.
“Man Indicted for Threatening to Kill Rep. Diane Black, Tennessee Republican in high-profile governor race.” (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
Masculine fathers raise strong daughters. Plus this: “A glance at the public figures felled in the #MeToo purges—not to mention Bill Clinton —should cure us of the idea that progressive politics incline men to better treatment of women.”
“Sexual inequality makes marriage work.” Marriages work better when the husband earns more. Also: “The more traditional the division of labor, meaning the greater the husband’s share of masculine chores compared with feminine ones, the greater his wife’s reported sexual satisfaction.”
“Challenger Tracy Booker Gray won the Republican nomination for Kaufman County Court at Law No. 1 over incumbent Dennis Jones in a July 21 do-over election. A judge ordered a new election after finding voter fraud and other irregularities tainted the outcome of the March 6 primary.”
Houston ISD spends almost $1 million on a school with no students.
UK father who raped and fathered three children with his own daughter sentenced to only four years in jail. Guess the ethnicity of the rapist. (Hat tip: The Other McCain.)
Texas lawn mowing company owner prints cards stating his company is an alternative to illegal alien labor. Good for him.
American semiconductor company Qualcomm’s merger with Dutch company NXP collapses after regulatory approval withheld…by China. Earlier this year, Qualcomm’s attempted merger with Broadcomm was blocked by the Trump Administration.
Meanwhile, the merger between Disney and 1st Century Fox was approved, which means we might finally get a Fantastic Four movie that doesn’t suck.
Facebook just lost $120 billion in market cap. How about they stop worrying about censoring the news and stop switching the view from “Most Recent” to “Top Stories”?
Allegations of vote fraud in Mission mayoral runoff in Hidalgo County.
“Confused Mueller Reminds Nation Russia Investigation Wrapped Up Months Ago.” (Hat tip: American Digest.)
The Magic Power of Socialism:
(Hat tip: Say Uncle.)
Trump Trolling: Master Class:
Every book I bought in the first half of this year.
Finally, the Hello Kitty Exorcism Kit.
Tags:21st Century Fox, Border Controls, China, Congressional Medal of Honor, Crime, Democrats, Dennis Williams, Disney, Facebook, Hidalgo County, Houston, Houston Independent School District, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Iran, Jihad, Jim Jordan, John Canley, LinkSwarm, Military, Portland, Qualcomm, rape, Republicans, Russia, Semiconductors, shadowban, Tennessee, Texas, Twitter, UAW, unions, Vietnam War
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Jihad, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, unions | No Comments »
Friday, June 17th, 2016
Today is a quadruple witching hour for markets, so try not to freak out if there’s more than the usual market volatility today.
“Obama Is Bringing 100 Syrian Refugees Into U.S. Every Day.”
And Syrian refugees are blowing big holes in Sweden’s welfare budget. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
The rich aren’t paying their “fair share,” they’re paying everyone’s share. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Swiss overwhelmingly turn down “guaranteed income,” the latest pie-in-the-sky socialist scheme to rob every Peter to pay every Paul.
David Horowitz believes that Donald Trump’s post-Orlando foreign policy speech is a game changer. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Not a game-changer: Continued vapid liberal cheer-leading for multiculturalism at all costs. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“Orlando wasn’t about ‘gun violence’ or ‘homophobia.’ It was about Islam. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Yet another MSM journalist caught lying about guns.
“Why it’s called a ‘modern sporting rifle‘ and not an ‘assault weapon.'” (Hat tip: Instapundit, who notes “Remember, none of this is about saving lives. It’s about the cultural domination of the people in flyover country, by their coastal ‘betters’ who get a near-erotic thrill out of such domination, and who are reduced to blind rage whenever their efforts at domination fail.”)
Aside: Is the Washington Examiner paying Ashe Schow enough? She’s like some indefatigable writing machine…
The Corrosive Politics of the New York Times Editorial Board Led to the Orlando Shooting. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“Right now the debate seems choked with people who don’t know, are proud of not knowing, and think you’re a redneck gun-nut asshole if you want them to know because they feel very strongly about this.” (Hat tip: Dwight.)
No charges for officer Brad Miller. He’s the one who shot the “unarmed teen” who had driving his Jeep through a plate glass window and was in the process of vandalizing cars.
And here’s a police shooting where the use of lethal force was clearly justified.
JFK and LSD. Meh. It’s not that I think Kennedy wouldn’t have dropped acid given a chance, but Timothy Leary was basically a con man, and we already know that Nina Burleigh is irrational.
Wow, believe it or not, still another reason to never visit Oklahoma. “I’m going to need your driver’s license and all the money on your prepaid debit cards.”
“The prohibition of comments that are considered biased or hateful is an explicit denial of freedom of speech.” (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Australia’s women’s Olympic soccer team defeated by teenage boys.
Are shipping containers the future of farming?
Your auditor finds huge cost discrepancies in Houston ISD construction costs. Does HISD: A.) Call in an outside auditor, B.) Launch a criminal investigation or C.) Suspend the auditor who found the problems?
New UT President Greg Fenves is a vast improvement over Bill Powers merely by being mediocre.
Land’s End decides to commit suicide.
Father buys car for son to go to college. Son decides to smoke pot and hang with no-good friends instead. Father sells car.
You’re not authorized to know the dire secrets of the Amtrak snack car! (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Affluent buyers snapping up Hill Country land and building mansions.
Tags:2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Ashe Schow, Border Controls, Crime, David Horowitz, Democrats, Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Greg Fenves, Guns, Hill Country, Houston, Houston Independent School District, JFK, Jihad, Land's End, Media Watch, Nina Burleigh, Orlando, Switzerland, Texas, University of Texas, Welfare State
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad, Texas, Welfare State | No Comments »