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               Both Pompeo and Haspel are highly qualified but the landscape of the United States Senate has changed significantly since President Trump took office in January 2016. While Republicans will be able to push the two nominations out of the respective committees for a floor vote, there isn’t a guarantee that the nominees will be confirmed. Currently, the GOP holds a 51-49 edge in the Senate, but with Rand Paul going on record saying he doesn’t support either nominee and rino-John McCain’s cancer treatment regimen keeping him on the sidelines since December, the Republican Party has very little margin for error.
               An analysis of the two nominations shows that the Pompeo proceedings will be the most combative. While he was confirmed for the CIA director position last year by a 66-32 vote, several Democrats have announced either reconsidering their votes or that they remain on the fence until he testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
                Recent reports indicate that Pompeo will face a brutal confirmation fight. And even if he makes it through the questioning with no major errors, his nomination may still face obstacles. If Paul and all of the Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee cast a “no” vote, then the Republican Party leadership would be forced to use an obscure rule that would still allow the nomination for a Senate-wide vote.
               This type of maneuver has never been utilized in the history of the Senate and would, according to Foreign Policy magazine, “be the first time in modern history a secretary of state nominee moves to a Senate-wide vote without the approval of the foreign relations committee.”
               The Haspel nomination, on the other hand, looks to be the easier fight for the Republican Party, but not by very much. Haspel, a decorated career intelligence officer, is expected to face numerous questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee pertaining to her oversight of the CIA’s black-site interrogation program in Thailand. The program, where waterboarding was conducted on a regular basis, has drawn the attention of numerous Republican and Democrat committee members and will be the topic of much of the questioning of Haspel.
               According to numerous reports, Haspel is considered by her peers as the consummate professional and has the skillset to lead the CIA. However, as Rich Lowry pointed out last week, Republicans must ensure that her nomination doesn’t degenerate into a 21st century “Borking.”
               The U.S. foreign and intelligence communities need proven leadership that can guide them against the plethora of threats that face our nation on a daily basis. A failure with either nomination would be a severe blow to the country as a whole. That’s why the Trump administration must put all of its energies into ensuring that both Pompeo and Haspel are confirmed.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55129-two-big-confirmation-battles-loom

                When Trump ended Barack liar-nObama’s unconstitutional order to create the DACA program, he gave Congress six months to come up with a permanent legislative fix. During that time, Trump signaled a willingness to end deportations, extend citizenship to the so-called “Dreamers,” and offer amnesty to close to two million illegal immigrants. In return, he wanted an end to the visa lottery and chain migration, which the Left now claims is a racist term, and money set aside to start building the wall. And even that was up for negotiation, as the president appeared willing to break out the $25 billion tab for the wall over three years.
                    Democrats refused everything put in front of them. They sought neither compromise nor any alternatives. The reason for this is simple: Democrats don’t want a solution to DACA. They want to keep the issue alive for the midterms because they believe it will drive support among Latino voters and they can use it as a cudgel against the Republicans by claiming the GOP doesn’t care about immigrants. Democrats will claim Republicans are using immigration as a political wedge issue, even though that is precisely what Democrats are doing.
                    Where to from here now that DACA is dead? (Well, maybe not technically dead. A federal judge recently ruled that Trump doesn’t have the authority to end the program by executive order, even though the program was created by executive order by his predecessor. Stay tuned on that one.)
               Trump suggested that Senate Republicans go nuclear — end the filibuster even on legislation — and pass tough immigration legislation on their own. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will not end the filibuster. Such a move would surely come back to haunt the Republicans later since they won’t be in the majority forever.
               Now, to Trump’s threats to dump NAFTA if Mexico doesn’t help stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the U.S. He referred specifically to a caravan of anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 people currently making their way through Mexico from Honduras headed for the U.S. border. Mexican authorities had been turning a blind eye to this group, allowing them free passage through their country. The caravan reportedly plans to cross the U.S. border this weekend by any means necessary, then demand asylum or just blend into the masses once they arrive. However, Trump’s threat might have worked — the Mexican government appears poised to break up the group.
               Of course, Trump has threatened to dump NAFTA before, but, as negotiations to revamp the deal continue, he can still pull the plug. Mexico stands to lose big if that happens; it sends close to three quarters of all its exports to the U.S. And whether Trump will make good on his most recent call to end NAFTA is uncertain. He’s very likely posturing for a better deal by going for the extreme position, forcing Mexico to come further his way than it otherwise would. Again, that might already be working.
               Either way, if there is going to be any true immigration reform, then Republicans are going to have to do it themselves just like with the tax cuts. Democrats can’t be counted on to do the right thing here. In fact, they can’t be counted on to do anything.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55102-daca-nafta-and-a-caravan-dot-dot-dot-oh-my

               Last week, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who had previously hosted Hogg on her show, tweeted a link to a Daily Wire story, saying, “David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.)” It was a pretty innocuous tweet, even if it did hit him personally.
               Hogg quickly responded, “Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers … Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts” Naturally, he soon thereafter produced a list, and at least 14 folded almost immediately, pulling ads from her show — even after she apologized. Ingraham promptly went on vacation.
               For his part, Hogg very ungraciously rejected Ingraham’s apology and called for her total and unconditional surrender instead: “An apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I [sic] in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.” If this 17-year-old “child” can get on national TV to lie and besmirch the character of millions of Americans, he should expect a little bit of pushback.
               As The Washington Post marveled, “The swift results showcase the power that the Parkland survivors have, not just in organizing rallies but in spurring corporate America to act.” (For more on the term “survivors,” see Mark Alexander’s thoughts to correct that record.) But more to the point, it is astounding how these kids have been given a supposedly unassailable moral authority from which to push the agenda of their anti-Second Amendment backers. They are pawns in a much bigger game.
               In related news, CNN’s Joan Walsh berated Parkland student Kyle Kashuv, who supports the Second Amendment. No word on boycotting CNN advertisers.
               On a final note, this is a great example of why The Patriot Post does not accept advertising. We don’t wish to be at the mercy of corporations that are afraid of their own shadows and susceptible to these rabble-rousing boycotts.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55081-one-parkland-teens-outsized-influence

               Every serious problem this nation currently endures can be traced back to a single source. To be blunt, we’re creating legions of useful idiots in public schools across America. At least two generations of Americans can no longer add and subtract simple numbers in their heads, know next to nothing about the nation’s history or government, and cast a jaundiced eye toward inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution — all while remaining well-versed in progressive ideology. The time for complaining is over. It’s time to do something about it.
                "One of President Trump’s promises to the American people was that he would provide billions to fund private school choice for parents, especially low-income families,” writes columnist Glenn Delk. “By allocating zero dollars for school choice, congressional Republicans, in their $1.3 trillion spending bill, made it crystal clear, to both the President and families with school-age children, that they have no intention of ever fulfilling that promise. Given the congressional slap in the face, President Trump should now order Attorney General Sessions to file suit on behalf of the United States against all 50 states seeking to break up the monopoly known as public schools.”
               Americans should be clear on this point. Despite education being controlled by the states, public schools remain monopolistic, unionized fiefdoms of unaccountability that have promised — and failed — to deliver reform for over 40 years.
               And it shows. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey reveals that American 15-year olds who took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in 2015 finished in 24th place in science, 38th place in math, and 24th place in reading out of 73 countries. Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy sounded the alarm, warning, “The United States cannot long operate a world-class economy if our workers are … among the worst-educated in the world.”
               Why did the decline occur? Tucker insists it’s because “the standards movement was stolen by the accountability movement.” In fact, he writes, “Facing tough sanctions from the federal government for low test scores, many states lowered whatever standards they had for high school students, so they could escape the consequences of poor student performance.”
               Thus, as he further reveals, “High school textbooks that used to be written at the 12th-grade level for 12th graders are now written at the 7th- or 8th-grade level,” and “many community college teachers do not assign much writing at all to their first-year students because they cannot write.”
               And as night follows day, the lowering of standards engendered the inevitable fraud necessary to maintain them. Two Google searches, “public schools issue worthless diplomas” and “public schools, grade fixing scandals” reveal the intentional dumbing-down of our nation’s youth to satisfy contemptible political interests has occurred all over the nation.
               Yet while education dies, progressive indoctrination flies. As columnist Daniel Greenfield reveals, schools in New York City, Minnesota,  Virginia and Missouri are force-feeding the Left’s “white privilege” agenda to kindergarten students. That agenda includes “separating whites in classes where they’re made to feel awful about their ‘whiteness,’ and all the ‘kids of color’ in other rooms where they’re taught to feel proud about their race and are rewarded with treats and other privileges,” the NY Post reports.
               Unsurprisingly, the transgender agenda has also been inflicted on kindergarteners in California, Washington and Minnesota. Moreover, California’s state legislature purposefully excluded “gender identity” from their parental opt-out requirements — meaning parents must either withdraw their child from school or allow them to be subjected to an agenda replete  with LGBT-inclusive textbooks.
               Civics? A 2017 report released by the National Association of Scholars reveals that U.S. civics education, “if it exists at all, is being transformed into a political machine to push left-wing causes, undermine American government, and incite civil unrest,” reveals The Federalist’s Joy Pullmann.
               Why do so many teachers embrace indoctrination masquerading as education? “Since the publication of the English edition in 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed has achieved near-iconic status in America’s teacher-training programs,” explained Manhattan Institute senior fellow Sol Stern in 2009. Stern further revealed how this “ed-school bestseller” serves the progressive agenda, noting that it is “a utopian political tract calling for the overthrow of capitalist hegemony and the creation of classless societies.”
               That is only part of the picture. When two Supreme Court  rulings  made in the ‘60s asserted Judeo-Christian ethics were an “establishment of religion” and removed them from the classroom, an intellectual/ethical vacuum was created. It was filled with the Left’s secular humanist worldview — one that became non-rebuttable as a result.
               This paradigm shift — despite the reality the Left’s socialist utopian agenda is as much a faith-based proposition as any religion — remains the status quo.
               Steven Calabresi, a Northwestern University law professor, and the Federalist Society’s chairman of the board, envisions a remedy. In a number of law review articles, he makes it clear that a system with a 90% market share that is sole recipient of state education funds is no different than 19th century monopolies. Monopolies outlawed by the 14th Amendment.
               Delk also reminds us that the Justice Department successfully ended monopolies enjoyed by the likes of Standard Oil, IBM, AT&T, and the airlines, and that the same pressure should be applied to public schools. He urges Trump to seek a Supreme Court decision ordering state governments to make vouchers available to any student who wants a private education — secular or religious.
               That would be a second Supreme court ruling in that regard. In the 1954 case, Brown v. Board of Education, SCOTUS unanimously ruled that education is “a right which must be made available on equal terms.”
               Ever since, “Big Ed” has made a mockery of that ruling, and Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean James Ryan spells out exactly why, stating, “Right now, there exist an almost ironclad link between a child’s ZIP code and his/her chances of success.”
               In 2013, Slate columnist Allison Benedikt revealed the Left’s genuine public school agenda, insisting that if “every single parent sent every single child to public school, public schools would improve,” she wrote. “This would not happen immediately. It could take generations … but it will be worth it, for the eventual common good.”
               Few things are more despicable than the notion one should sacrifice the future of one’s own children for the “common good.” Yet far too many public schools continue to embrace this socialist/Marxist worldview, along with the Left’s unrelenting effort to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” — one indoctrinated child after another.
               This de facto sedition must be met head on. While Sessions sues, Congress should hold nationally televised hearings and put the white-hot spotlight on “educators” who see nothing wrong with teaching children what to feel instead of how to think, or using them as cannon fodder for leftist political causes. That same spotlight should also shine on politicians who champion public schools — but put their own children in private ones.
               America has endured this contemptible combination of indoctrination, incompetency and hypocrisy long enough.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55071-breaking-up-the-public-school-monopoly

               Every serious problem this nation currently endures can be traced back to a single source. To be blunt, we’re creating legions of useful idiots in public schools across America. At least two generations of Americans can no longer add and subtract simple numbers in their heads, know next to nothing about the nation’s history or government, and cast a jaundiced eye toward inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution — all while remaining well-versed in progressive ideology. The time for complaining is over. It’s time to do something about it.
                "One of President Trump’s promises to the American people was that he would provide billions to fund private school choice for parents, especially low-income families,” writes columnist Glenn Delk. “By allocating zero dollars for school choice, congressional Republicans, in their $1.3 trillion spending bill, made it crystal clear, to both the President and families with school-age children, that they have no intention of ever fulfilling that promise. Given the congressional slap in the face, President Trump should now order Attorney General Sessions to file suit on behalf of the United States against all 50 states seeking to break up the monopoly known as public schools.”
               Americans should be clear on this point. Despite education being controlled by the states, public schools remain monopolistic, unionized fiefdoms of unaccountability that have promised — and failed — to deliver reform for over 40 years.
               And it shows. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey reveals that American 15-year olds who took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in 2015 finished in 24th place in science, 38th place in math, and 24th place in reading out of 73 countries. Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy sounded the alarm, warning, “The United States cannot long operate a world-class economy if our workers are … among the worst-educated in the world.”
               Why did the decline occur? Tucker insists it’s because “the standards movement was stolen by the accountability movement.” In fact, he writes, “Facing tough sanctions from the federal government for low test scores, many states lowered whatever standards they had for high school students, so they could escape the consequences of poor student performance.”
               Thus, as he further reveals, “High school textbooks that used to be written at the 12th-grade level for 12th graders are now written at the 7th- or 8th-grade level,” and “many community college teachers do not assign much writing at all to their first-year students because they cannot write.”
               And as night follows day, the lowering of standards engendered the inevitable fraud necessary to maintain them. Two Google searches, “public schools issue worthless diplomas” and “public schools, grade fixing scandals” reveal the intentional dumbing-down of our nation’s youth to satisfy contemptible political interests has occurred all over the nation.
               Yet while education dies, progressive indoctrination flies. As columnist Daniel Greenfield reveals, schools in New York City, Minnesota,  Virginia and Missouri are force-feeding the Left’s “white privilege” agenda to kindergarten students. That agenda includes “separating whites in classes where they’re made to feel awful about their ‘whiteness,’ and all the ‘kids of color’ in other rooms where they’re taught to feel proud about their race and are rewarded with treats and other privileges,” the NY Post reports.
               Unsurprisingly, the transgender agenda has also been inflicted on kindergarteners in California, Washington and Minnesota. Moreover, California’s state legislature purposefully excluded “gender identity” from their parental opt-out requirements — meaning parents must either withdraw their child from school or allow them to be subjected to an agenda replete  with LGBT-inclusive textbooks.
               Civics? A 2017 report released by the National Association of Scholars reveals that U.S. civics education, “if it exists at all, is being transformed into a political machine to push left-wing causes, undermine American government, and incite civil unrest,” reveals The Federalist’s Joy Pullmann.
               Why do so many teachers embrace indoctrination masquerading as education? “Since the publication of the English edition in 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed has achieved near-iconic status in America’s teacher-training programs,” explained Manhattan Institute senior fellow Sol Stern in 2009. Stern further revealed how this “ed-school bestseller” serves the progressive agenda, noting that it is “a utopian political tract calling for the overthrow of capitalist hegemony and the creation of classless societies.”
               That is only part of the picture. When two Supreme Court  rulings  made in the ‘60s asserted Judeo-Christian ethics were an “establishment of religion” and removed them from the classroom, an intellectual/ethical vacuum was created. It was filled with the Left’s secular humanist worldview — one that became non-rebuttable as a result.
               This paradigm shift — despite the reality the Left’s socialist utopian agenda is as much a faith-based proposition as any religion — remains the status quo.
               Steven Calabresi, a Northwestern University law professor, and the Federalist Society’s chairman of the board, envisions a remedy. In a number of law review articles, he makes it clear that a system with a 90% market share that is sole recipient of state education funds is no different than 19th century monopolies. Monopolies outlawed by the 14th Amendment.
               Delk also reminds us that the Justice Department successfully ended monopolies enjoyed by the likes of Standard Oil, IBM, AT&T, and the airlines, and that the same pressure should be applied to public schools. He urges Trump to seek a Supreme Court decision ordering state governments to make vouchers available to any student who wants a private education — secular or religious.
               That would be a second Supreme court ruling in that regard. In the 1954 case, Brown v. Board of Education, SCOTUS unanimously ruled that education is “a right which must be made available on equal terms.”
               Ever since, “Big Ed” has made a mockery of that ruling, and Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean James Ryan spells out exactly why, stating, “Right now, there exist an almost ironclad link between a child’s ZIP code and his/her chances of success.”
               In 2013, Slate columnist Allison Benedikt revealed the Left’s genuine public school agenda, insisting that if “every single parent sent every single child to public school, public schools would improve,” she wrote. “This would not happen immediately. It could take generations … but it will be worth it, for the eventual common good.”
               Few things are more despicable than the notion one should sacrifice the future of one’s own children for the “common good.” Yet far too many public schools continue to embrace this socialist/Marxist worldview, along with the Left’s unrelenting effort to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” — one indoctrinated child after another.
               This de facto sedition must be met head on. While Sessions sues, Congress should hold nationally televised hearings and put the white-hot spotlight on “educators” who see nothing wrong with teaching children what to feel instead of how to think, or using them as cannon fodder for leftist political causes. That same spotlight should also shine on politicians who champion public schools — but put their own children in private ones.
               America has endured this contemptible combination of indoctrination, incompetency and hypocrisy long enough.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55071-breaking-up-the-public-school-monopoly

               Every serious problem this nation currently endures can be traced back to a single source. To be blunt, we’re creating legions of useful idiots in public schools across America. At least two generations of Americans can no longer add and subtract simple numbers in their heads, know next to nothing about the nation’s history or government, and cast a jaundiced eye toward inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution — all while remaining well-versed in progressive ideology. The time for complaining is over. It’s time to do something about it.
                "One of President Trump’s promises to the American people was that he would provide billions to fund private school choice for parents, especially low-income families,” writes columnist Glenn Delk. “By allocating zero dollars for school choice, congressional Republicans, in their $1.3 trillion spending bill, made it crystal clear, to both the President and families with school-age children, that they have no intention of ever fulfilling that promise. Given the congressional slap in the face, President Trump should now order Attorney General Sessions to file suit on behalf of the United States against all 50 states seeking to break up the monopoly known as public schools.”
               Americans should be clear on this point. Despite education being controlled by the states, public schools remain monopolistic, unionized fiefdoms of unaccountability that have promised — and failed — to deliver reform for over 40 years.
               And it shows. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey reveals that American 15-year olds who took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in 2015 finished in 24th place in science, 38th place in math, and 24th place in reading out of 73 countries. Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy sounded the alarm, warning, “The United States cannot long operate a world-class economy if our workers are … among the worst-educated in the world.”
               Why did the decline occur? Tucker insists it’s because “the standards movement was stolen by the accountability movement.” In fact, he writes, “Facing tough sanctions from the federal government for low test scores, many states lowered whatever standards they had for high school students, so they could escape the consequences of poor student performance.”
               Thus, as he further reveals, “High school textbooks that used to be written at the 12th-grade level for 12th graders are now written at the 7th- or 8th-grade level,” and “many community college teachers do not assign much writing at all to their first-year students because they cannot write.”
               And as night follows day, the lowering of standards engendered the inevitable fraud necessary to maintain them. Two Google searches, “public schools issue worthless diplomas” and “public schools, grade fixing scandals” reveal the intentional dumbing-down of our nation’s youth to satisfy contemptible political interests has occurred all over the nation.
               Yet while education dies, progressive indoctrination flies. As columnist Daniel Greenfield reveals, schools in New York City, Minnesota,  Virginia and Missouri are force-feeding the Left’s “white privilege” agenda to kindergarten students. That agenda includes “separating whites in classes where they’re made to feel awful about their ‘whiteness,’ and all the ‘kids of color’ in other rooms where they’re taught to feel proud about their race and are rewarded with treats and other privileges,” the NY Post reports.
               Unsurprisingly, the transgender agenda has also been inflicted on kindergarteners in California, Washington and Minnesota. Moreover, California’s state legislature purposefully excluded “gender identity” from their parental opt-out requirements — meaning parents must either withdraw their child from school or allow them to be subjected to an agenda replete  with LGBT-inclusive textbooks.
               Civics? A 2017 report released by the National Association of Scholars reveals that U.S. civics education, “if it exists at all, is being transformed into a political machine to push left-wing causes, undermine American government, and incite civil unrest,” reveals The Federalist’s Joy Pullmann.
               Why do so many teachers embrace indoctrination masquerading as education? “Since the publication of the English edition in 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed has achieved near-iconic status in America’s teacher-training programs,” explained Manhattan Institute senior fellow Sol Stern in 2009. Stern further revealed how this “ed-school bestseller” serves the progressive agenda, noting that it is “a utopian political tract calling for the overthrow of capitalist hegemony and the creation of classless societies.”
               That is only part of the picture. When two Supreme Court  rulings  made in the ‘60s asserted Judeo-Christian ethics were an “establishment of religion” and removed them from the classroom, an intellectual/ethical vacuum was created. It was filled with the Left’s secular humanist worldview — one that became non-rebuttable as a result.
               This paradigm shift — despite the reality the Left’s socialist utopian agenda is as much a faith-based proposition as any religion — remains the status quo.
               Steven Calabresi, a Northwestern University law professor, and the Federalist Society’s chairman of the board, envisions a remedy. In a number of law review articles, he makes it clear that a system with a 90% market share that is sole recipient of state education funds is no different than 19th century monopolies. Monopolies outlawed by the 14th Amendment.
               Delk also reminds us that the Justice Department successfully ended monopolies enjoyed by the likes of Standard Oil, IBM, AT&T, and the airlines, and that the same pressure should be applied to public schools. He urges Trump to seek a Supreme Court decision ordering state governments to make vouchers available to any student who wants a private education — secular or religious.
               That would be a second Supreme court ruling in that regard. In the 1954 case, Brown v. Board of Education, SCOTUS unanimously ruled that education is “a right which must be made available on equal terms.”
               Ever since, “Big Ed” has made a mockery of that ruling, and Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean James Ryan spells out exactly why, stating, “Right now, there exist an almost ironclad link between a child’s ZIP code and his/her chances of success.”
               In 2013, Slate columnist Allison Benedikt revealed the Left’s genuine public school agenda, insisting that if “every single parent sent every single child to public school, public schools would improve,” she wrote. “This would not happen immediately. It could take generations … but it will be worth it, for the eventual common good.”
               Few things are more despicable than the notion one should sacrifice the future of one’s own children for the “common good.” Yet far too many public schools continue to embrace this socialist/Marxist worldview, along with the Left’s unrelenting effort to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” — one indoctrinated child after another.
               This de facto sedition must be met head on. While Sessions sues, Congress should hold nationally televised hearings and put the white-hot spotlight on “educators” who see nothing wrong with teaching children what to feel instead of how to think, or using them as cannon fodder for leftist political causes. That same spotlight should also shine on politicians who champion public schools — but put their own children in private ones.
               America has endured this contemptible combination of indoctrination, incompetency and hypocrisy long enough.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55071-breaking-up-the-public-school-monopoly

               Every serious problem this nation currently endures can be traced back to a single source. To be blunt, we’re creating legions of useful idiots in public schools across America. At least two generations of Americans can no longer add and subtract simple numbers in their heads, know next to nothing about the nation’s history or government, and cast a jaundiced eye toward inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution — all while remaining well-versed in progressive ideology. The time for complaining is over. It’s time to do something about it.
                "One of President Trump’s promises to the American people was that he would provide billions to fund private school choice for parents, especially low-income families,” writes columnist Glenn Delk. “By allocating zero dollars for school choice, congressional Republicans, in their $1.3 trillion spending bill, made it crystal clear, to both the President and families with school-age children, that they have no intention of ever fulfilling that promise. Given the congressional slap in the face, President Trump should now order Attorney General Sessions to file suit on behalf of the United States against all 50 states seeking to break up the monopoly known as public schools.”
               Americans should be clear on this point. Despite education being controlled by the states, public schools remain monopolistic, unionized fiefdoms of unaccountability that have promised — and failed — to deliver reform for over 40 years.
               And it shows. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey reveals that American 15-year olds who took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in 2015 finished in 24th place in science, 38th place in math, and 24th place in reading out of 73 countries. Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy sounded the alarm, warning, “The United States cannot long operate a world-class economy if our workers are … among the worst-educated in the world.”
               Why did the decline occur? Tucker insists it’s because “the standards movement was stolen by the accountability movement.” In fact, he writes, “Facing tough sanctions from the federal government for low test scores, many states lowered whatever standards they had for high school students, so they could escape the consequences of poor student performance.”
               Thus, as he further reveals, “High school textbooks that used to be written at the 12th-grade level for 12th graders are now written at the 7th- or 8th-grade level,” and “many community college teachers do not assign much writing at all to their first-year students because they cannot write.”
               And as night follows day, the lowering of standards engendered the inevitable fraud necessary to maintain them. Two Google searches, “public schools issue worthless diplomas” and “public schools, grade fixing scandals” reveal the intentional dumbing-down of our nation’s youth to satisfy contemptible political interests has occurred all over the nation.
               Yet while education dies, progressive indoctrination flies. As columnist Daniel Greenfield reveals, schools in New York City, Minnesota,  Virginia and Missouri are force-feeding the Left’s “white privilege” agenda to kindergarten students. That agenda includes “separating whites in classes where they’re made to feel awful about their ‘whiteness,’ and all the ‘kids of color’ in other rooms where they’re taught to feel proud about their race and are rewarded with treats and other privileges,” the NY Post reports.
               Unsurprisingly, the transgender agenda has also been inflicted on kindergarteners in California, Washington and Minnesota. Moreover, California’s state legislature purposefully excluded “gender identity” from their parental opt-out requirements — meaning parents must either withdraw their child from school or allow them to be subjected to an agenda replete  with LGBT-inclusive textbooks.
               Civics? A 2017 report released by the National Association of Scholars reveals that U.S. civics education, “if it exists at all, is being transformed into a political machine to push left-wing causes, undermine American government, and incite civil unrest,” reveals The Federalist’s Joy Pullmann.
               Why do so many teachers embrace indoctrination masquerading as education? “Since the publication of the English edition in 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed has achieved near-iconic status in America’s teacher-training programs,” explained Manhattan Institute senior fellow Sol Stern in 2009. Stern further revealed how this “ed-school bestseller” serves the progressive agenda, noting that it is “a utopian political tract calling for the overthrow of capitalist hegemony and the creation of classless societies.”
               That is only part of the picture. When two Supreme Court  rulings  made in the ‘60s asserted Judeo-Christian ethics were an “establishment of religion” and removed them from the classroom, an intellectual/ethical vacuum was created. It was filled with the Left’s secular humanist worldview — one that became non-rebuttable as a result.
               This paradigm shift — despite the reality the Left’s socialist utopian agenda is as much a faith-based proposition as any religion — remains the status quo.
               Steven Calabresi, a Northwestern University law professor, and the Federalist Society’s chairman of the board, envisions a remedy. In a number of law review articles, he makes it clear that a system with a 90% market share that is sole recipient of state education funds is no different than 19th century monopolies. Monopolies outlawed by the 14th Amendment.
               Delk also reminds us that the Justice Department successfully ended monopolies enjoyed by the likes of Standard Oil, IBM, AT&T, and the airlines, and that the same pressure should be applied to public schools. He urges Trump to seek a Supreme Court decision ordering state governments to make vouchers available to any student who wants a private education — secular or religious.
               That would be a second Supreme court ruling in that regard. In the 1954 case, Brown v. Board of Education, SCOTUS unanimously ruled that education is “a right which must be made available on equal terms.”
               Ever since, “Big Ed” has made a mockery of that ruling, and Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean James Ryan spells out exactly why, stating, “Right now, there exist an almost ironclad link between a child’s ZIP code and his/her chances of success.”
               In 2013, Slate columnist Allison Benedikt revealed the Left’s genuine public school agenda, insisting that if “every single parent sent every single child to public school, public schools would improve,” she wrote. “This would not happen immediately. It could take generations … but it will be worth it, for the eventual common good.”
               Few things are more despicable than the notion one should sacrifice the future of one’s own children for the “common good.” Yet far too many public schools continue to embrace this socialist/Marxist worldview, along with the Left’s unrelenting effort to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” — one indoctrinated child after another.
               This de facto sedition must be met head on. While Sessions sues, Congress should hold nationally televised hearings and put the white-hot spotlight on “educators” who see nothing wrong with teaching children what to feel instead of how to think, or using them as cannon fodder for leftist political causes. That same spotlight should also shine on politicians who champion public schools — but put their own children in private ones.
               America has endured this contemptible combination of indoctrination, incompetency and hypocrisy long enough.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55071-breaking-up-the-public-school-monopoly

               Every serious problem this nation currently endures can be traced back to a single source. To be blunt, we’re creating legions of useful idiots in public schools across America. At least two generations of Americans can no longer add and subtract simple numbers in their heads, know next to nothing about the nation’s history or government, and cast a jaundiced eye toward inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution — all while remaining well-versed in progressive ideology. The time for complaining is over. It’s time to do something about it.
                "One of President Trump’s promises to the American people was that he would provide billions to fund private school choice for parents, especially low-income families,” writes columnist Glenn Delk. “By allocating zero dollars for school choice, congressional Republicans, in their $1.3 trillion spending bill, made it crystal clear, to both the President and families with school-age children, that they have no intention of ever fulfilling that promise. Given the congressional slap in the face, President Trump should now order Attorney General Sessions to file suit on behalf of the United States against all 50 states seeking to break up the monopoly known as public schools.”
               Americans should be clear on this point. Despite education being controlled by the states, public schools remain monopolistic, unionized fiefdoms of unaccountability that have promised — and failed — to deliver reform for over 40 years.
               And it shows. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey reveals that American 15-year olds who took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in 2015 finished in 24th place in science, 38th place in math, and 24th place in reading out of 73 countries. Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy sounded the alarm, warning, “The United States cannot long operate a world-class economy if our workers are … among the worst-educated in the world.”
               Why did the decline occur? Tucker insists it’s because “the standards movement was stolen by the accountability movement.” In fact, he writes, “Facing tough sanctions from the federal government for low test scores, many states lowered whatever standards they had for high school students, so they could escape the consequences of poor student performance.”
               Thus, as he further reveals, “High school textbooks that used to be written at the 12th-grade level for 12th graders are now written at the 7th- or 8th-grade level,” and “many community college teachers do not assign much writing at all to their first-year students because they cannot write.”
               And as night follows day, the lowering of standards engendered the inevitable fraud necessary to maintain them. Two Google searches, “public schools issue worthless diplomas” and “public schools, grade fixing scandals” reveal the intentional dumbing-down of our nation’s youth to satisfy contemptible political interests has occurred all over the nation.
               Yet while education dies, progressive indoctrination flies. As columnist Daniel Greenfield reveals, schools in New York City, Minnesota,  Virginia and Missouri are force-feeding the Left’s “white privilege” agenda to kindergarten students. That agenda includes “separating whites in classes where they’re made to feel awful about their ‘whiteness,’ and all the ‘kids of color’ in other rooms where they’re taught to feel proud about their race and are rewarded with treats and other privileges,” the NY Post reports.
               Unsurprisingly, the transgender agenda has also been inflicted on kindergarteners in California, Washington and Minnesota. Moreover, California’s state legislature purposefully excluded “gender identity” from their parental opt-out requirements — meaning parents must either withdraw their child from school or allow them to be subjected to an agenda replete  with LGBT-inclusive textbooks.
               Civics? A 2017 report released by the National Association of Scholars reveals that U.S. civics education, “if it exists at all, is being transformed into a political machine to push left-wing causes, undermine American government, and incite civil unrest,” reveals The Federalist’s Joy Pullmann.
               Why do so many teachers embrace indoctrination masquerading as education? “Since the publication of the English edition in 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed has achieved near-iconic status in America’s teacher-training programs,” explained Manhattan Institute senior fellow Sol Stern in 2009. Stern further revealed how this “ed-school bestseller” serves the progressive agenda, noting that it is “a utopian political tract calling for the overthrow of capitalist hegemony and the creation of classless societies.”
               That is only part of the picture. When two Supreme Court  rulings  made in the ‘60s asserted Judeo-Christian ethics were an “establishment of religion” and removed them from the classroom, an intellectual/ethical vacuum was created. It was filled with the Left’s secular humanist worldview — one that became non-rebuttable as a result.
               This paradigm shift — despite the reality the Left’s socialist utopian agenda is as much a faith-based proposition as any religion — remains the status quo.
               Steven Calabresi, a Northwestern University law professor, and the Federalist Society’s chairman of the board, envisions a remedy. In a number of law review articles, he makes it clear that a system with a 90% market share that is sole recipient of state education funds is no different than 19th century monopolies. Monopolies outlawed by the 14th Amendment.
               Delk also reminds us that the Justice Department successfully ended monopolies enjoyed by the likes of Standard Oil, IBM, AT&T, and the airlines, and that the same pressure should be applied to public schools. He urges Trump to seek a Supreme Court decision ordering state governments to make vouchers available to any student who wants a private education — secular or religious.
               That would be a second Supreme court ruling in that regard. In the 1954 case, Brown v. Board of Education, SCOTUS unanimously ruled that education is “a right which must be made available on equal terms.”
               Ever since, “Big Ed” has made a mockery of that ruling, and Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean James Ryan spells out exactly why, stating, “Right now, there exist an almost ironclad link between a child’s ZIP code and his/her chances of success.”
               In 2013, Slate columnist Allison Benedikt revealed the Left’s genuine public school agenda, insisting that if “every single parent sent every single child to public school, public schools would improve,” she wrote. “This would not happen immediately. It could take generations … but it will be worth it, for the eventual common good.”
               Few things are more despicable than the notion one should sacrifice the future of one’s own children for the “common good.” Yet far too many public schools continue to embrace this socialist/Marxist worldview, along with the Left’s unrelenting effort to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” — one indoctrinated child after another.
               This de facto sedition must be met head on. While Sessions sues, Congress should hold nationally televised hearings and put the white-hot spotlight on “educators” who see nothing wrong with teaching children what to feel instead of how to think, or using them as cannon fodder for leftist political causes. That same spotlight should also shine on politicians who champion public schools — but put their own children in private ones.
               America has endured this contemptible combination of indoctrination, incompetency and hypocrisy long enough.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55071-breaking-up-the-public-school-monopoly

               Half of the operations costs are due to support expenditures tied to Lockheed’s “program management, depot maintenance, part repair, software maintenance and engineering,” noted Air Force spokesman Ann Stefanek, and costs “are growing with the increase in flight hours.”
               The Pentagon has plans to use the F-35 fighter through 2070, and it estimates that maintenance costs alone for the jet will top $1.1 trillion over that period. In other words, it’s expensive. The question is whether the F-35 is worth the ballooning cost. U.S. allies, who also have orders in for the fighter, are asking the same question. Stephen Lovegrove, Great Britain’s No. 2 civilian defense official, expressed his government’s frustration, telling reporters recently, “I am constantly being asked by parliamentarians in the UK what the total cost is going to be and they are sometimes, understandably, a bit frustrated when I have to tell them, ‘at the moment nobody is entirely sure.’”
               It now appears that either the Air Force finds ways to significantly cut operational and support costs or the number of F-35s ordered will be cut. The same thing already happened to the F-22.
               The real lesson here is that bureaucracy and cronyism don’t make for cost-effective measures. That’s true in health care, the financial sector, national security and pretty much everywhere else. The F-35 has been a two-decade boondoggle because it can’t be the jack-of-all-trades aircraft that Pentagon bureaucrats want it to be, and because Lockheed has no interest in providing a cheaper product when it can continue raking in government (read: taxpayer) dough.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55051-ballooning-costs-may-force-usaf-to-cut-f-35-orders

               Far worse, NBC News marked the sacred occasion with a piece entitled, “On Easter Sunday, Christians must remember how easily and often our faith is used to defend white supremacy.” The article relays a story of a bunch of white southern racists who murdered several blacks and other defenders of Reconstruction one Easter Sunday in 1873 in Colfax County, Louisiana. It is indeed a horrific story, but it is far from emblematic of Christian beliefs or practices. And it was 145 years ago. Ironically, the article does exactly what it condemns — it seeks to co-opt the Christian message, ignoring its central teachings, so as to promote an anti-Donald Trump pro-leftist political cause. The question once again is how did the MSM get the Christian doctrine of Easter this wrong?
               But then there was what may have been the worst understanding of Easter — this one from CNN. In an article titled, “How Easter became a #MeToo moment,” which was not listed as an opinion piece, author John Blake asserted that Jesus was a victim of sexual humiliation as a result of being hung naked on the cross, and therefore “if linking the Easter story with the #MeToo movement is offensive and bewildering to some, perhaps that is fitting.” Additionally, Mary Magdalene was a #MeToo victim of male authority. Blake continued, “The Easter stories in the Gospels have a jarring, unexpected quality about them as well. … The stories are enigmatic and elusive. They continue to yield surprises even 2,000 years later. They are, in some ways, much like the figure of Jesus himself.” While attempting to sound profound, Blake reveals once again a shocking amount of ignorance of what Easter is actually all about.
               A journalist should be primarily concerned with accurately reporting the news, not promoting an agenda. However, the vast majority of MSM reporters have committed themselves to the promotion of the “progressive” cause. And in so doing, they have created simplistic and flawed caricatures of those they revile, like Christians. Then speaking as if they fully grasp the true motives and beliefs of those they oppose, they label them foolish and backwards. As the Apostle Paul astutely predicted, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).
               Christianity is not about promoting white supremacy, a political agenda or as a means of awakening Americans to some “social justice” cause. The message of Easter is that Christ accomplished what He came into the world to do — defeat sin and death and rescue sinners from hell. All who believe in Jesus can rest in certain hope that they like Him will one day rise from the grave and live with Him in Heaven forever, having been fully forgiven and cleansed from all their sins. This is what Christians celebrate at Easter.  ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55089-leftmedias-deliberate-mischaracterization-of-christianity

               A few years back, Mark Alexander summed up the accident on that fateful summer night in 1969: On the night of 18 July, Kennedy left a party [on Massachusetts’ Chappaquiddick Island] with an attractive young intern en route to a private secluded beach on the far side of Dike Bridge. Kennedy lost control on the single-lane bridge and his vehicle overturned in the shallow tidal water.
               Kennedy freed himself from the vehicle, leaving his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, to suffocate in an air pocket inside the overturned car. Nine hours later, after sobering up and conferring with political advisors and lawyers, Kennedy called authorities to report the incident. Kopechne’s body had already been discovered.
               To produce the new film about that fateful night, the creative team of writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, director John Curran, and Kennedy portrayer Jason Clarke leaned heavily on a 763-page inquest released the year following Kopechne’s death. This decision confines the narrative to the short time period between the night of the accident and Kennedy’s nationally televised mea culpa a few days later after he received nothing more than a suspended sentence from a local judge for leaving the scene of an accident.
               So while critic Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter laments  that Allen and Logan “have done their homework in organizing the material but haven’t brought an argument to the table that might have zapped the film to life,” others analyzing the film are relieved that the treatment of Kennedy wasn’t overly dramatic.
               Director Curran contends that the perspective on the film will vary with one’s politics. “I realize that in this climate a viewer’s reaction to the film will be largely based on the political prism they watch it through. In that sense I endeavored to strike a very non-partisan, factual tone.” But that’s a bit of a cop-out, because the major facts of the story aren’t in dispute. As we have often said over the years, Kopechne’s life was snuffed out and Ted Kennedy spent the rest of his life trying to live down his decision to flee the scene. (As CNN put it to the derision of many Twitter followers, Chappaquiddick was “one of” Kennedy’s darkest hours.) We learned that the “Lion of the Senate” was cowardly when it most counted.
               Because this incident was nearly a half-century ago and practically all of the major characters have passed away, it’s a wonder Chappaquiddick the movie was ever made at all. It did bring out the excuse to retell the Kopechne side by replaying a 1991 interview with a family member, but this morality tale reminds us of a bygone era where secrets could be kept secret.
               As the reviewer McCarthy notes, “It’s impossible to watch this film without imagining how such an incident would be covered today; very likely, the young woman would not have died had there been cellphones, as she was apparently still alive in the submerged car for at least two hours, maybe three or four. But even more astounding was Ted Kennedy’s not reporting the incident for 10 hours, then the fact that a story that otherwise would have provided endless headlines became an afterthought when the first moon landing took place two days later.”
               No one is expecting great things from this movie; in fact, it was bumped back from an original plan for a limited release late last year at a time when award-seeking movies are put out. But it is a reminder about how bad decisions can last a lifetime, even when you’re in a position where they can be covered up. While Ted Kennedy died in 2009 still in office as the senior senator from Massachusetts — having been re-elected seven times after the accident — the 1980 Democrat primary season was the closest he ever came to the presidential brass ring. Despite winning 12 states in the process, Kennedy was soundly beaten by Jimmy Carter at the Democrat convention, finally conceding the nomination there.
               If Ted Kennedy were made of sterner stuff, maybe he would have freed Mary Jo Kopechne and the incident would have been soon forgotten, or even spun into an act of heroism guaranteeing a return to Camelot in the 1972 or 1976 presidential election. Whatever the results would have been for the nation, that’s surely a version of life’s movie Mary Jo’s grieving family would have preferred.   ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/55079-ted-kennedys-darkest-hour-hits-the-big-screen

Note:  The following videos wholeheartedly share my sentiments regarding what we are currently experiencing in America today-You Decide:

A Republic, If You Can Keep It!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGL8CiUtXF0

The Fightin Side of Me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBAzLCA3DQc

When Injustice Becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukzd_vRFpms

“Food for Thought”

Hello: Are Americans Going To Wake Up and Take a Stand Against The Deplorable Obstructionists That Are Doing Their Utmost To Take Down Our Democratically Elected President, His Administration and Ultimately Destroy our Country/Republic?-God Bless America!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&feature=related