McKinsey proposed ICE cut spending on food and medical care for detained migrants to reduce costs.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

McKinsey was brought into the deportation game by the Obama administration, according to the report, which used the firm to carry out an “organizational transformation” in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division grappling with processing and deporting a surge in undocumented migrants. “Organizational transformation,” in consultant speak, roughly translates as: This is too expensive; somebody’s about to get screwed. Could be the workers, and it usually is. Could be anyone. Could be migrant families. And in this case, it was.

…“They proposed cuts in spending on food for migrants, as well as on medical care and supervision of detainees.”

…After its ICE contract ran out, McKinsey slid over and is working on a $10 million gig with Customs and Border Protection that will run at least through September 2020.

McKinsey proposed ICE cut spending on food and medical care for detained migrants to reduce costs.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

In the war between millennials and baby boomers we have forgotten about the work-hard, play-hard Generation X

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Generation X has the benefit of possessing the best characteristics of both the boomers and the millennials, and none of the downsides. We know how to work hard and we know how to play hard. Generation X-ers are very industrious. Boomers don’t understand the internet and millennials were raised on it. Generation X created it. We stripped off and dove into the glittering waters of this brand new thing, and made it what it is today. We had a dot com boom (and a couple of busts), we took those progressive late-boomers Bill Gates and Steve Jobs under our wing and showed them what we could do with their stuff. We walked around with phones the size of rucksacks and sent the first halting text-messages. We knuckled down and worked hard and now we write books and make TV and direct movies, we get up early to go to work, we come out in the middle of the night to fix your burst pipe.

Generation X was breast-fed punk and invented indie, and grunge, and techno, and any bloody musical genre of worth that you care to name. We transformed the Eighties and we owned the Nineties. We had alcopops and ecstasy and we were fearless and stupid and happy, but we still got up for work on Monday morning, no matter how bad we felt.

Boomers live in the past and have ransomed the future. Millennials fear the future and are ignorant of the past. Generation X acknowledges what has gone before, learns from it, and resolves to shape the future into something better. We don’t throw our hands in the air and say the job’s a bust, let’s give up. We know we can’t go back to mythical halcyon days and we know we can’t just rip it up and start again. We work with what we’ve got and try to make it better. We change things from the inside out.

…Generation X is pushing back the envelope of old age, through attitude and health, like never before. We can do the shopping and read comic books and pay the bills and play video games. We can “adult” all you like, but we’re still kids at heart.

…The problem with you millennials and boomers, though you’d never admit it, is you’re too alike. You’re both insular, in different ways. You’re both selfish. You’re both so blinkered, you think you’re the only two factions in this petty little fight of yours.

You forgot about Generation X.

But don’t fret, we’re still here. Working hard, playing hard, innovating, learning from the past and planning the future. So have your little generational war, and when you’re done, don’t worry.

We’re Generation X, and we’ve got this.

we have forgotten about the work-hard, play-hard Generation X | The Independent

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Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Local Interest,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

Fueling the district’s economic problems is the fact that 24% of the 3,750 students in Flint Community Schools are designated as special education, a number that is nearly twice as high as the 13.2% statewide average.

…Flint’s water was contaminated with lead when officials used corrosive river water from April 2014 to October 2015 that wasn’t properly treated. In children, lead exposure can result in serious effects on IQ, ability to pay attention and academic achievement. 

Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs

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Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Local Interest,, Modern Parenting,, Schools,Leave a comment

The contamination of this long-struggling city’s water exposed nearly 30,000 schoolchildren to a neurotoxin known to have detrimental effects on children’s developing brains and nervous systems. Requests for special education or behavioral interventions began rising four years ago, when the water contamination became public, bolstering a class-action lawsuit that demanded more resources for Flint’s children.

…The percentage of the city’s students who qualify for special education services has nearly doubled, to 28 percent, from 15 percent the year the lead crisis began, and the city’s screening center has received more than 1,300 referrals since December 2018. The results: About 70 percent of the students evaluated have required school accommodations for issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as A.D.H.D.; dyslexia; or mild intellectual impairment.

…Pediatricians here caution against overdiagnosing children as irreparably brain damaged, if only to avoid stigmatizing an entire city. 

…The suit accuses the school systems of violating federal and state laws, including the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, by failing to identify students who could qualify for special education services, by failing to provide the mandated instructional services to those who do qualify and by punishing children for disability-related behavior.

Students were denied assessments for education plans or behavioral intervention plans, and then were segregated from their peers, secluded and restrained, repeatedly sent home from school, expelled or arrested, the lawsuit said.

…The district ignored her pleas to accommodate his A.D.H.D., which his pediatrician said was exacerbated by elevated lead levels.

…Bethany Dumanois, who has taught in Flint for 25 years, works two jobs to keep teaching because she said she cannot abandon children whose discolored, rash-covered skin and chunks of exposed scalp haunt her. In the earlier days of the crisis, she spent class time addressing questions from her students about whether they would die from the water like their class lizard, a bearded dragon, did.

…Instead of investing in more teachers, social workers and special education aides, she said the district had pushed laptop computers and iPads, “just jumping on any bandwagon, trying to sugarcoat what’s happening with these kids.”

On a recent night at a local restaurant, Ms. Pascal, the 23-year Flint teaching veteran, vented over the “injustices everywhere.” The district adopted a new reading program with no money to buy the instructional materials. She had been asked to identify a handful of her students for a new behavior support program, but wants to include all 21.

She thinks about quitting, but said she refuses to leave another vacancy for the district to fill.

Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water – The New York Times

sigh…

Gillibrand demands hearing following release of ‘Afghanistan Papers’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Military,Leave a comment

Senior U.S. officials knowingly lied to the public for years about the country’s progress in the conflict.

,,,U.S. officials on numerous occasions acknowledged a lack of understanding, strategy and progress in the war.

The officials acknowledged the problems in private interviews conducted by a watchdog across the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations.

They also described a purposeful disinformation campaign for the public, meant to make discouraging statistics look like the U.S. was winning the war.

Gillibrand demands hearing following release of ‘Afghanistan Papers’ | TheHill

sigh…

Trump’s expected executive order to define Judaism as a ‘nationality.’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Religion,Leave a comment

In doing so, the department said it would rely on a definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. That definition includes “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” applying a double standard to Israel by requiring of it “behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” and comparing “contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

…Trump’s executive order will also use this sweeping definition, which some have criticized as overly broad and an effort to block legitimate criticism of Israel or support for the Palestinians.

…“This executive order, like the stalled congressional legislation it is based on, appears designed less to combat anti-Semitism than to have a chilling effect on free speech and to crack down on campus critics of Israel,” Ben-Ami said in a statement.

…“The order’s move to define Judaism as a ‘nationality’ promotes the classically bigoted idea that American Jews are not American.”

…“We don’t have established religion in America, and the state weighing in on the definition of Jewishness is dangerous,” Waxman said. “That’s the same as what it means to be Christian or Muslim. It comes back to the First Amendment.”

Trump’s expected executive order on campus anti-Semitism draws praise and concern – The Washington Post

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Michigan State Rep Barred From Speaking After ‘Vagina’ Comments

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Local Interest,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Brown, a Democrat, argued that her Jewish faith allowed for therapeutic abortions when the mother’s life is in danger without regard to length of pregnancy.

“I have not asked you to adopt and adhere to my religious beliefs. Why are you asking me to adopt yours?” she said. But what came next is what got her in trouble: “And finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no.'”

…She defended her use of the word “vagina,” saying it is the “anatomically medically correct term.”

“If they are going to legislate my anatomy, I see no reason why I cannot mention it,” she said according to the Free Press.

“Regardless of their reasoning, this is a violation of my First Amendment rights and directly impedes my ability to serve the people who elected me into office,” Brown added.

…”Byrum, D-Onondaga, caused a disturbance on the House floor Wednesday when she wasn’t allowed to introduce an amendment to the abortion regulations bill banning men from getting a vasectomy unless the sterilization procedure was necessary to save a man’s life,” the Detroit News reports.

Michigan State Rep Barred From Speaking After ‘Vagina’ Comments : The Two-Way : NPR

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Senate impeachment trial: Lawmakers would vote on potential charges Trump faces

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

67 senators would need to vote in favor of it, a move that would require 20 Republicans to join with the 47-member Democratic caucus and break with the president.

Senate Republicans, however, still intend to hold a trial and do not plan to dismiss the articles outright, partly because they don’t have the votes to do so. In order to table the articles, lawmakers would need 51 votes, a majority that counts on nearly every Republican voting in favor of this action.

…The 100 lawmakers of the Senate will be sworn in as “jurors” who will hear the evidence presented by both sides; some lawmakers have used this role as a reason for declining to comment on the ongoing inquiry, arguing that they do not want to offer judgments before participating in the trial. Chief Justice John Roberts will preside over the trial, and both sides will have the opportunity to call witnesses, request documents, and present arguments.

On behalf of House lawmakers bringing the impeachment charges, House representatives and their associated counsel are poised to serve as prosecutors, also known as “managers.” Trump’s counsel, meanwhile, will defend him.

Senate impeachment trial: Lawmakers would vote on potential charges Trump faces – Vox

hmmmm

Justice Department watchdog investigating possible FBI leaks to Rudy Giuliani in 2016

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Shortly before the election, Giuliani claimed that he heard about big problems coming soon for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. That was shortly before then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was reopening the criminal probe into Clinton’s email server, which didn’t lead to any criminal charges. The polls shifted after Comey’s comments, and Clinton has said it was a main reason for her defeat.

…Democrats accused Giuliani, who was previously the US attorney in Manhattan, of tapping his network of friends and contacts in law enforcement to get tips about Clinton, which he used to attack her in the press. Comey also raised this possibility in a closed-door deposition with House lawmakers last year, and confirmed that he launched the leak investigation before he was fired in May 2017.

Justice Department watchdog investigating possible FBI leaks to Rudy Giuliani in 2016 – CNNPolitics

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Senate report: all 50 states were targeted by Russian interference ahead of 2016 elections

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

An investigation that found the Russian government directed “extensive activity” against U.S. election systems ahead of the 2016 election. Two years later, ahead of the midterm election, little had changed, as an intelligence assessment reported, “We are aware of a growing volume of malicious activity targeting election infrastructure in 2018.”

…Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday blocked a House-passed bill that would authorize $775 million to beef up state election systems. GOP leaders made the case that the Trump administration has already made great strides in protecting the vote and they say no more funding is needed.

…That measure would have required all states to use paper ballots as a backup to electronic systems if they want to receive federal election money for voting equipment. It would also require that all 50 states conduct audits after elections.

…The Russian influence campaign produced fake Facebook and other social media postings that were viewed by millions of Americans. Hackers gained access to some voter databases in Florida.

Senate report: all 50 states were targeted by Russian interference ahead of 2016 elections | PBS NewsHour

hmmmm

A Federal Judge Orders Sweeping Changes To Bond Hearings In Boston Immigration Court

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Boston,, Domestic Affairs,, Granite State,, Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Saris ruled that asking an undocumented immigrant who is eligible for bond to prove why they are neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community violates the individual’s due process.

Moving forward, the burden of proof will be placed instead on federal immigration officials, similar to how bond hearings are decided in criminal court proceedings. 

Saris additionally ordered immigration judges to consider alternative conditions to detention, like GPS monitoring and orders of supervision that require regular check-ins with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A Federal Judge Orders Sweeping Changes To Bond Hearings In Boston Immigration Court | WBUR News

hmmm

We Just Got a Rare Look at National Security Surveillance. It Was Ugly.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

While clearing the F.B.I. of acting out of political bias, the Justice Department’s independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, and his team uncovered a staggeringly dysfunctional and error-ridden process in how the F.B.I. went about obtaining and renewing court permission under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.

…Most of those targets never learn that their privacy has been invaded, but some are sent to prison on the basis of evidence derived from the surveillance. And unlike in ordinary criminal wiretap cases, defendants are not permitted to see what investigators told the court about them to obtain permission to eavesdrop on their calls and emails.

Civil libertarians for years have called the surveillance court a rubber stamp because it only rarely rejects wiretap applications.

…Everyone involved in the Page wiretap knew that what they were working on was likely to come under close scrutiny, yet they still repeatedly failed to follow policies.

Mr. Horowitz also said senior-level supervisors bore responsibility for permitting systemic failures to fester, and his office has begun a broader audit of unrelated FISA applications.

…The government has fought hard to keep outsiders from seeing what goes into its FISA applications. In 2014, a federal judge in Illinois ordered the government to show a defense lawyer classified materials about the national security surveillance of his client, which would have been the first time a defense lawyer had been given such materials since Congress enacted FISA in 1978.

But the Obama administration appealed, and an appeals court overturned the order, agreeing that letting the defense counsel see the application would create an intolerable risk of disclosing sensitive government secrets.

That stands in contrast to how wiretapping works in ordinary criminal law. Targets are usually told when the surveillance ends. If they are prosecuted based on evidence gathered from the wiretap, they get to see what was in the application so their defense lawyers can argue that the government made a mistake and the evidence should be suppressed.

The prospect of that adversarial second-guessing gives criminal investigators a reason to be scrupulous about what they put into their requests for wiretaps.

We Just Got a Rare Look at National Security Surveillance. It Was Ugly. – The New York Times

hmmmm

DOJ IG Horowitz: Trump’s FBI conspiracy theory is false

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

[Trump] accused his predecessor and federal law enforcement of committing a crime: … [an] out of control “deep state” made up of Obama loyalists in government …were actively working to bring Trump down [during the election.]

…“How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process,” Trump wrote in a subsequent tweet. “This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!.” 

…By insisting career law enforcement officials would act on personal political beliefs in conducting an investigation, [Trump] was in effect accusing FBI agents of violating their constitutional oaths.

…The IG concluded there was no evidence the bureau placed an informant or undercover agent within the Trump campaign, nor did it task its sources with reporting on the campaign.

,,,Furthermore, the IG found the Russia case was properly opened and [that] no “evidence that political bias or improper motivation” influenced the decision to launch the investigation.

…Unfounded conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated allegations of spying serve to chip away at public confidence and make us all less safe.

DOJ IG Horowitz: Trump’s FBI conspiracy theory is false

hmmmm

When a DNA Test Says You’re a Younger Man, Who Lives 5,000 Miles Away

On By peanutgallerynhIn Science and Stuff,1 Comment

 In 2004, investigators in Alaska uploaded a DNA profile extracted from semen to a criminal DNA database. It matched a potential suspect. But there was a problem: The man had been in prison at the time of the assault. It turned out that he had received a bone marrow transplant. The donor, his brother, was eventually convicted.

…The specifics of Mr. Long’s situation raise an inevitable question: What happens if he has a baby? Would he pass on the genes of his German donor or his own to future offspring?

When a DNA Test Says You’re a Younger Man, Who Lives 5,000 Miles Away – The New York Times

wild!

Lessons of the Kamala Harris campaign

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

One, know and establish your political persona before you get in.

…Harris promised a focus on racial issues with an implicit suggestion that Barack Obama, the first African-American president might have been too timid here. By this fall, there appeared to be no focus — race or otherwise.

…A candidate can alter, modify or change a position or two, but the overarching message has to be consistent and coherent.

…Two, when you get that moment in the limelight, be ready to capitalize on it and move on.

…Three, a campaign [organization/staff] matters.  A staff is — to an extent — a mirror reflection of the candidate. [Which makes the Peanut Gallery curious why the Hill singled out her sister and not her stuff in the rest of the paragraph.]

…There is no doubt the political bar is a little higher for women — and more so for minority candidates.

It’s hard to cite this as the major factor in Harris’s collapse: In the past three presidential elections, twice the Democratic nomination went to an African-American, Barack Obama, the other to a woman, Hillary Clinton.

Lessons of the Kamala Harris campaign | TheHill

Yup.

…Also can we stop any talk of nominating sitting Senators to VP or cabinent positions. Enough already. They need to stay where they are.

How Tom Kiefer documents lives via items seized by border patrol

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

While working as a janitor at the same facility from 2003 to 2014, photographer Tom Kiefer secretly collected the belongings and later began shooting them.

How Tom Kiefer documents lives via items seized by border patrol – Los Angeles Times

It bears mentioning that this from 2003-2014. What the same collection would like now is even more mild-blowing.

Not to get all Gen-Xy or anything but, ‘The humanity!’

Active Shooter Drills May Not Stop A School Shooting — But This Method Could

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Schools,Leave a comment

A new comprehensive report from the U.S. Secret Service underlines the agency’s previous findings that there is one safety approach that does work: threat assessment, as part of a comprehensive program of social and emotional support for students.

…Rory, 7, is on the autism spectrum and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

…After seeing Rory’s reaction, Dianne says she doesn’t think any kids should have to participate in drills like these.

“Fair enough,” says Melissa Brymer of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. “But an emergency can happen at any point in a school day.”

Brymer believes these drills can save lives, but as one recent study from Ball State University found, there’s little evidence to prove that.

…According to the report, 83% of the attacks were over in five minutes or less. And 68% of the schools already had a lockdown procedure in place — making it the most common security measure among schools in the report. 

…Schools need a much more comprehensive approach, emphasizing “multidisciplinary” prevention in the years, months and days before a student actually shows up at school with a weapon.

…She defines threat assessment as a proactive approach in which schools “identify students who are doing concerning behavior or may be in distress and getting them the help they need before they even resort to violence as an option.”

One common source of distress, according to the report, is bullying and ostracism.

…Over a decade ago, the Secret Service conducted a small study in which it talked to “bystanders” — students who had heard warnings from a fellow student before a planned attack. In six cases a shooting was prevented, and in a further nine cases a shooting happened.

In the bystander report, students who came forward told investigators they did so because they had a strong relationship with at least one adult at the school and they thought their concerns would be taken seriously. Students who did not come forward said that they thought the school would not take appropriate steps or they would get in trouble themselves.

Active Shooter Drills May Not Stop A School Shooting — But This Method Could : NPR

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