DON'T BUY THAT THIS WALKOUT IS STUDENT LEAD There is a "student lead" walkout planned for today, allegedly to protest the firing of the popular with teachers Superintendent in Douglas County. I've got Board President Mike Peterson on today at 1 to talk about why he and the other Board members thought he needed to go. We're also going to correct the stream of misinformation flowing about the equity plan, teacher pay and IEPs that is being spewed by the Union that this trying to "get it's power back" in DougCo. Just in case you were wondering how "student lead" this walkout here, this was posted on Facebook by a full grown adult who is running around telling people this is "student lead". Sure it is. Liar.
This is exactly the Democrat playbook taken exactly from Washington DC. It goes like this: Dems lose an election so they begin throwing a fit. We had the Women's March in DC and the teacher walkout here. Then when that doesn't do anything, they figure out some stupid trumped up charges and get in front of any microphone they can to scream bloody murder. In DC it was the "Russian Collusion" hoax that they knew was fake from the beginning, and here is was last Monday's press conference where all sorts of allegations took place and yet NO COMPLAINTS HAVE BEEN FILED. Now it's the firing of Corey Wise which is allegedly the issue. Because the fact the minority board went through THREE Superintendents in a few years wasn't instability it was good governance. ONLY NOW is it TERRIBLE to fire a Superintendent. The union is threatening that a bunch of teachers are going to leave because of this. I don't want any teacher to feel unwelcome, but if they are going to leave over politics, I'm fine with that. It will further erode the unions already limited power. I hope they find a district where they are free to tell children about their privilege and how they are oppressors because of an immutable characteristic. I wish them well. There is already a recall effort underway (it's been ready to go since these four got elected from what I understand) and they are going to tell you it's the BOARD creating chaos. Don't fall for this Saul Alinsky crap. Stop making it a strategy that works. Stop giving in to their temper tantrums. Tell them you meant you wanted change in the district and you still feel that way. Tell them by not giving them what they want which is control of our children.
UNION HEAD KEVIN DEPASQUALE BLATANTLY LIED ON COLORADO'S MORNING NEWS TODAY He actually said that the teacher sick out was an "organic" event. If you listen to this show you know that isn't just a lie, it's a damnable lie. They had an entire meeting, lead by the union and Kevin himself, asking teachers to shut down the schools. They asked people to commit to a walkout. THEY LEAD THE WALKOUT. My head is exploding. I've got the audio from the meeting hosted by the Douglas County Federation Monday night to show what a liar he is. Kathy Dorman, vice president of Douglas County Federation Local 2765 told the truth. I've got her words to show the union indeed asked for a sickout and are also likely behind the walkout today. LIARS.
THIS AS SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS UNIONS TANKS IN THE STATE And this THRILLS ME. A recent poll done for Ready Colorado shows how much of a hit the teachers unions have taken after keeping our children home for a year based on no science whatsoever. From the newsletter about this survey:
The poll found that Colorado voters strongly oppose closing schools and transitioning to remote learning in the wake of the Omicron variant by a 56%-32% majority, which widens to 3-1 opposition among parents, who overwhelmingly oppose remote learning by a 67-23% margin.
The survey found a dramatic drop off in support for teachers unions, who vociferously pushed for remote learning and delaying the reopening of schools throughout the pandemic. When compared to the previous Ready Colorado survey conducted in December 2019, the favorability of teachers unions fell a stunning 23 points—going from a 55-33% favorable image in December 2019 to a 43-44% unfavorable image in January 2022.
Notably amid national debates about transparency around what kids are taught in school, 76% of all Colorado voters believe that parents should have “a lot” or “some” say over what their children are taught in schools. Unaffiliated and Republican voters are in alignment when it comes to the role that parents should have in determining what schools teach, with 42% of Republicans and 40% of Unaffiliateds saying parents should have “a lot of say” compared to only 12% of Democrats.
The three most popular policies tested were to provide $500 in tax credits for teachers that have used personal funds to pay for classroom supplies (86% support), giving grants to schools to help students recover from learning losses in math (78% support), and requiring school districts to post their curriculum and educational materials on their websites so parents can know what their children are being taught (78% support).
Strong majority support was also found for expanding school choice options for parents, including providing options outside of the traditional public school system, which is supported by 72% of voters, and giving school districts additional funds if they spend at least two-thirds of their budget in the classroom as opposed to administrative overhead, supported by 71% of voters.
Keep it up, Union Stooges, and you will overplay your hand into irrelevance.
DOUGCO CHARTER SCHOOL PARENTS, DIRECTOR DAVID RAY HATES YOUR SCHOOL CHOICE I've known this for a LONG time, but if you missed this little bit of magic from Friday night's meeting this should make it clear. His contempt for school choice and charter schools he doesn't control is so palpable it's almost funny if it weren't so sad.
AND NOW, SO I DON'T LOSE MY MIND AGAIN, IS A TINY VERSION OF JERRY SEINFELD'S APARTMENT This woman is one of those diorama maniacs I've warned you about.
JOE ROGAN, WHO VOTED FOR BERNIE SANDERS, IS NOW A CONSERVATIVE TO THE MEDIA And this is the neatest trick I've seen in SOME TIME. Joe Rogan was openly supportive of Bernie Sanders in the 2020 election cycle. He ENDORSED Bernie for President for criminy's sake. But now that he's under attack for having conversations outside the approved line of Democrat thinking and used the N-word years ago WHEN HE WAS OPENLY A DEMOCRAT, this is how the news media categorizes him:
The bottom-line question should be pretty simple for Spotify, said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business and law professor. The conservative Rogan stands in contrast to the much more liberal musicians who generate the bulk of Spotify's profits, he said.
HE VOTED FOR BERNIE SANDERS FOR GOD'S SAKE. BERNIE FREAKING SANDERS. But that's not the only time they tag him as conservative. Check this:
Having Rogan on Spotify is like having a political party with Donald Trump as the presidential candidate and liberal Elizabeth Warren as vice president. “It isn't going to work,” Gordon said.
Got that? The guy who voted for Bernie Sanders is now Trump. MMkay. How convenient for everyone that they just recast him as a conservative. How convenient.
THIS IS A GREAT INTERVIEW WITH OUR PAL CHRISTIAN TOTO AND JON CALDARA About Christian's new book Virtue Bombs.
SO MANY CRIMINALS LET OUT SO THEY COULD COMMIT EVEN WORSE CRIMES This is more reporting from Chris Osher and Julia Cardi from the trove of documents they uncovered about criminals being allowed to roam freely in society even AFTER their probation or bail had been revoked. This is a list of the many murders allegedly committed by these folks when the criminal justice system failed the rest of us. This must drive cops absolutely insane. And please don't let anyone tell you this is a "complicated" issue. Keep these people in jail, put them in jail, and these victims would likely still be alive. It's really that simple. I say would likely because some of these victims were part of gang violence so there is no guarantee.
MAYOR HANCOCK, HOUSING FIRST IS A FAILED EXPERIMENT And Michael Shellenberger has a great column about the fallacy of the housing first model. Read here before we become San Francisco.
WHY CAN HOMELESS PEOPLE BE ARRESTED AT THE AIRPORT BUT NOT DOWNTOWN? Genuine question though we all know the answer. 9News, who have been getting their asses handed to them on their lack of Union Station coverage, went out to the airport to find the homeless people who have taken to using our airport as shelter. Their excuses for doing so include "just trying to get services" none of which exist at the airport, and "you don't have enough shelters and everyone is sick there anyway". I'm done with the excuse making. I would have loved to ask a few follow ups of these people that 9 didn't. You can also read how our homeless coalitions are trying the above mentioned "housing first" model which has already failed numerous places.
DOES THE CEO OF ASPEN SKI COMPANY THINK HIS EMPLOYEES ARE RACIST? This is a crazy column about the white CEO at Aspen Skiing Company giving special instructions to his staff about how to treat black people during an upcoming event by a black ski group. I'm not sure how telling staff not to tell black people that they can't park in restricted parking spaces lest black people FREAK OUT and think it was racism that protected the parking spot in the first place. Don't worry, he consulted his black friends about what to do here.
ONE MORE THING ABOUT DOUGCO And this is a letter that has made the rounds, and I asked the author if I could share it. Not every employee loves Corey Wise.
I have had several people reach out to me about my perspective about last night. I know Corey well from his days as a principle. I like Corey as a person. He served this district for 26 years and for that I will always be grateful. No one can deny there were things Corey did well. He is beloved by many and is truly seen as one of their own who made good.
But I also must be true to the realities of the situation we found ourselves in last night. DCSD lost 3,000 students and nearly $38,000,000 in funding under Corey's leadership. With funding for teacher pay already in the balance, we can not excuse that.
Yes, absolutely many of Corey's shortcomings went hand in hand with the horrible board who hired him as an afterthough once they realized their origional pick was up on drunk driving charges. I watched him sit in a restaurant alone the night they were to make the announcement it wasnt him. I watched him take the call to save their butts. The awful board and Corey were tied together through desperation and expediency, not the sudden love for him they professed last night.
My distrust of the minority 3 and the bully tactics we saw come out in spades last night shouldn't be something I use to judge Corey's tenure at superintendent. It wasnt him who named the school and child of a fellow director repeatedly. It wasnt him who threatened parents. Those things lie solely on the heads of the minority 3 and I must take Corey's actions as his own.
When Corey took the job so many teachers were ecstatic. They believed in their hearts they would finally have a voice in leadership. Teachers that had worked with him for years were relieved that an actual educator would lead them. Sadly that leadership element was not to be found for most. Corey ignored emails and questions, not only from parents, but from staff. Unless you were a part of his good ol' boys club, you were ignored. Main line teachers felt betrayed and lost, realizing he was truly just another superintendent.
There was 1 question both Corey and the minority 3 refused to answer to my satisfaction last night. Who made the decision to take over the lawsuit financed by Robert Marshal to force all students into masks even though there was no PHO requiring it?
We learned last night that at minimum the previous Board directed Corey to enter the lawsuit in a backroom action without public comment or a public vote AS IS THE BOARD POLICY. Though Elizabeth Hanson also admitted Corey made that decision. Is that true or did the minority 3 throw Corey under the bus again?
The previous Board and the remaining members of that Board set up the majority 4 and used Corey as their sacrificial lamb to do so. Last night should never have happened.
It was said boldly in public tonight that President and VP of this board broke ZERO laws in speaking with Corey about his future with this district as NO action was taken. That means the 3 remaining members LIED to the public and to our teachers to get them to become involved in a sick out. Good people were manipulated and that action has brought the bond/MLO into question.
Do I think last night could have been handled better, absolutely. Make no mistake: from the moment the election results were clear, David Ray set out on a plan to take the new board out by any means necessary. Even if it meant using Corey and the teachers as his collateral damage. We cannot allow our teachers to suffer any more from the antics of the minority 3.
CALIFORNIANS PAY THE HIGHEST GAS PRICES IN THE NATION And since they always vote Democrat I'm glad. Read more here.
SCIENTISTS HAVE DEVELOPED A SUPER STRONG, SUPER LIGHT SUBSTANCE This is a game changer for things like aircraft construction, although one must wonder if we will have landfills full of this stuff that never degrades. Read more here.
DON'T MESS WITH THIS INSURANCE COMPANY This is a great story.
FRONTIER AND SPIRIT AIRLINES TO MERGE TO CREATE LARGEST WORST AIRLINE EVER I have flown them both enough to never fly them again. Read more here.
IDIOCY WINS AT THE BOX OFFICE As Jackass returns and takes the top spot at the box office this weekend.
MIKE COFFMAN ADVOCATES FOR THE URBAN CAMPING BAN And he makes excellent point after excellent point in this Opinion column.
THERE'S NO ESCAPING A SOUTHERN GRANNY
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