Tag: Betsy DeVos

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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ Crash & Burn Interview On 60 MINUTES

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos struggled mightily last night in a sit-down interview with 60 Minutes journalist Lesley Stahl to answer even simple questions about public school’ performance.

Even on questions about schools in her home state of Michigan, where public schools there have gotten worse, DeVos admitted she hadn’t “intentionally visited schools that are underperforming.”

Stahl’s response? “Maybe you should.”

DeVos became Education Secretary as reward for her family’s huge donations to Republican campaigns and causes. She married an heir to the Amway fortune and has made destroying the public school system the cause of her life.

DeVos says her actions have been to champion “choice” but in truth her goal is for religious schools to take over education in America.

Rather than address the issues with traditional public schools, DeVos’ battlecry is to allow parents to take their children out of public school systems, give them funds in the form of a voucher and then let the parents enroll their children in private religious schools. The problem is that the funds pulled out of public schools cause those schools to slide even further in decline.

And since the vouchers don’t cover the full cost of private schools, lower income families are left behind with the remains of a decaying public school system.

Put simply, DeVos is a huge threat to public education and the separation of church and state in America.

Like the rest of Donald Trump’s cabinet, DeVos is a champion of deregulation. As Secretary of Education she is tasked with overseeing guidelines that protect the civil rights of students.

But mere days after being confirmed, she rescinded Obama-era guidelines that allowed transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice. What a surprise.

Here’s a link to the full transcript of last night’s debacle.

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News Round-Up: June 8, 2017

Nick Sandell – Photo credit: Frank Marando

Some news items you may have missed:

• Fitness model (and Randy Report favorite) Nick Sandell shares the news he’s been signed by the legendary Wilhelmina Agency. Gee, can’t imagine why… 😉

• Education Secretary Betsy DeVos won’t commit to banning LGBTQ discrimination in private schools. Is anyone surprised? Show of hands? No? No? Me neither.

 • As lawmakers in the Lone Star state continue to consider an anti-trans “bathroom bill,” Texas-based Southwest Airlines gives some push-back by highlighting a transgender employee in new Pride Month video.

• Debra Messing & Sean Hayes together with GLAAD urge folks to join in the upcoming June 11th Pride Marches:

• Speaking of this weekend’s Pride Marches, the organizers of D.C.’s annual Capital Pride parade and festival, plus the Equality March for Unity and Pride on Sunday, say the total number of people participating in D.C. could exceed several hundred thousand.

• Capturing the rebelliousness, the high camp, and the joy of the annual Invasion of the Pines, renowned photographer Susan Kravitz is releasing Mascara, Mirth & Mayhem, a collection of photos and interviews from over 30 years of the annual Fire Island event.

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News Round-Up: May 26, 2017

(via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Memorial Day weekend means we head into the dog days of summer. I’m not complaining 😉

• During a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told lawmakers she had no problem with private schools receiving publicly-funded vouchers denying admission to students from LGBTQ families.

• United Airlines wrongly accused a gay dad of having his hand “too close” to his son’s genitals during a flight. United has since apologized but asked the man to “keep it low key” due to the airline’s recent bad press.

• In high school, Wyatt Pertuset was homecoming king, prom king, student body president and an out football player. Check out his terrific coming out story over at OutSports.

• Speaking of out athletes, the former CEO of the Cleveland Browns thinks Michael Sam’s short foray into the NFL could prevent other closeted football players from coming out.

• The White House may have a team of lawyers vet President Trump’s tweets before the Donald sends them out into the interwebs.

• Check out hottie Rob Gronkowski get soaking wet washing his car, serve sushi from his bare bod and literally flip out in a pillow fight in the new “On My Mind” video from dance music DJ/producer 3LAU. I like the song, btw.

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Billionaire Betsy DeVos Confirmed As Education Secretary By Vote Of 51-50

Vice-president Mike Pence

For the first time in history, the vice-president was required to cast a tie breaking vote in order to confirm a president’s cabinet nominee.

Billionaire Betsy DeVos, who has spent many years promoting a voucher system for America’s schools but has no formal experience or training in education, was approved today in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 51-50.

The New York Times reports:

Two Republicans voted against Ms. DeVos’s confirmation, a sign that some members of President Trump’s party are willing to go against him, possibly foreshadowing difficulty on some of the president’s more contentious legislative priorities. It was the first time that a vice president has been summoned to the Capitol to break a tie on a cabinet nomination, according to the Senate historian.

The two Republicans who voted against the nominee, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, announced their opposition to her last week. In back-to-back floor speeches, the lawmakers said Ms. DeVos was unqualified because of a lack of familiarity with public schools and with laws meant to protect students, despite her passion for helping them.

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Betsy DeVos Advances To Final Vote In Senate For Education Secretary

Betsy DeVos

Donald Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary, billionaire Betsy DeVos, advanced to a final vote in the U.S. Senate today.

The Senate voted 52 to 48 on a procedural measure paving the way to the final confirmation vote, which the education committee chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander, said will happen early in the week.

Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have said they will not vote for her, the first Republicans to break party ranks and vote against one of Trump’s cabinet nominees. If one more Republican sides with Democrats against her nomination, DeVos will become only the 10th cabinet nominee in U.S. history rejected by Congress.

Many feel DeVos’ nomination is a reward for donating millions to conservative politicians (including 17 sitting senators) and organizations (like the virulently anti-LGBT  Family Research Council and Focus on the Family) in the past.

She is woefully under qualified for the position with no training or degrees in education.

Her confirmation hearings were a catastrophe, and have become the stuff of legend now.

Folks around the country are organizing calls to senators who may be that 3rd Republican to vote ‘no.’

The two most likely seem to be Senator Dean Heller of Nevada and Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.

Click on those links to make your voice heard. I’ve already reached out to Sen. Heller here in Nevada.

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Billionaire Education Secretary Nominee Betsy DeVos Squeaks By Senate Committee On 12-11 Vote

Although it appears she was caught plagiarizing her answers in written responses to questions from Senators, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was approved out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee by a vote of 12-11.

From ABC News:

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos to be education secretary was sent today to the full U.S. Senate for confirmation on a tight 12-11 party line vote in committee after a fractious debate over her qualifications.

The vote on the nomination of DeVos, a controversial figure in Michigan politics and education, raised hackles among Democrats in the Senate, who argued throughout a contentious hearing two weeks ago and today’s debate that she knows too little about federal education policy and would undermine public schools.

Republicans, in the majority in both the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the full Senate, defended her as being committed to children even if she has been a key supporter of school choice and vouchers — though two GOP members signaled that their votes in the committee today did not necessarily guarantee support on the Senate floor.

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Funny (Not So Funny) Super-Cut Of Education Secretary Nominee Betsy DeVos’ “Defensive Smiling”

The Washington Post reports on the growing pushback on the nomination of billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

Over 300 lawmakers from all 50 states have announced they oppose DeVos for the position, in great part because she has no experience in education.

Labor unions, civil rights leaders and advocates for children with disabilities have all joined the growing chorus of naysayers.

In addition to her lack of experience as an educator, she has no training or degrees in the area of education. She’s worked for years to undermine public schools in favor of a voucher system that would allow parents to take public school money and shift that to private, for-profit schools.

And, of course, we all know the millions she and her family have donated to anti-LGBT groups like the Family Research Council.

After her confirmation hearing, I noted that I found her disingenuous smile to be smug and grating. It looks like I wasn’t the only one.

Check out this viral video (below) from Super Deluxe – “Betsy DeVos: Defensive Smiling”

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Sen. Al Franken: All Senate Democrats Will Oppose Confirming DeVos As Education Secretary

During an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show last night, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota announced all of the Democrats on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will vote against confirming Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, billionaire Betsy DeVos.

From ThinkProgress:

Unlike [Dr. Ben] Carson, who avoided disagreeing with senators during [his] confirmation, DeVos played it less safe and showed her lack of knowledge on education policy in a variety of areas. DeVos was not aware of a federal law protecting the rights of students with disabilities, did not appear to understand a question about measuring school quality, and suggested that schools needed guns to protect students from grizzly bears.

Her grizzly bear comment received the most attention, but DeVos also refused to say she would enforce 2011 guidance that uses a preponderance of evidence standard in investigations of campus sexual assault. This standard allows a disciplinary panel to make a decision based on which party’s evidence has greater weight rather than requiring clear and convincing evidence. Advocates for campus sexual assault survivors have long supported the guidance.

DeVos also avoided making detailed remarks about LGBTQ rights during the hearing. This week, DeVos said she supports same-sex marriage. In 1999, DeVos and her husband gave $275,000 to Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian non-profit organization which believes in gay conversion therapy, a harmful practice, but haven’t given money to the organization since. DeVos’ refusal to say she would support the 2011 guidance on campus rape — as well as her donations to a group that opposes the guidance— would seriously affect LGBTQ people. LGBTQ students are disproportionately the victims of campus sexual violence and harassment.

DeVos’ confirmation process is also different from Carson’s in the respect that well-organized national teachers unions fiercely oppose her. DeVos’ support of vouchers for private schools and for the expansion of charter schools has incensed public school teachers, who don’t want to see schools lose federal funding. During her hearing, DeVos dodged a question to vow that she wouldn’t take a cent from public schools. Last week, teachers and their allies protested against her nomination by gathering in front of schools in over 200 cities.

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Radio Show: Today In LGBT News – President Obama’s LGBT Legacy, WILL & GRACE Is Officially Coming Back To NBC

On this mid-week episode of The Randy Report:

• President Obama, speaking at his final news conference with the White House press corps, spoke about the progress of LGBT rights and protections under his administration. While he acknowledged his team was proud of the movement forward, he gave props to all the out and proud Americans who, through their sheer visibility, helped to bring about a huge change in the way society views LGBTs.

“I think we made useful contributions… but the primary heroes are the activists.”

• President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary, billionaire Betsy DeVos, was directly questioned about her past support for anti-LGBT organizations, and especially so-called “ex-gay” therapy.

• And it’s finally official – the hit TV show that many say helped give much exposure and visibility to the LGBT community, Will & Grace, is coming back to NBC for a 10 episode season next year.