4th Court Rules in Favor of Feelings, Not Facts – #hb2

Posted on April 20, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

ConsequencesThe 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that a lawsuit involving a transgender student suing under Title IX can go forward and sent it back to a lower court.

The court seems to be saying your feelings are what matter, not your actual biology. They’ve seemingly ruled in favor of feelings, not facts. The slippery slope just got more slippery.

Read the Ruling here.

Pay attention to the dissenting opinion from Judge Niemeyer starting on page 47, which in part says, “This unprecedented holding overrules custom, culture, and the very demands inherent in human nature for privacy and 48 safety, which the separation of such facilities is designed to protect. More particularly, it also misconstrues the clear language of Title IX and its regulations. And finally, it reaches an unworkable and illogical result.”

The student, Gavin Grimm, is female but ‘identifies’ as male. Grimm had been using the boys bathrooms until parents complained.

The school district made separate accommodations available to Grimm, but that wasn’t good enough. Grimm insisted on using the boys bathroom and subsequently sued.

News and Record has an AP report and they include this tidbit:

A federal judge had previously rejected Grimm’s sex discrimination claim, but the court said that judge ignored a U.S. Department of Education regulation that transgender students in public schools must be allowed to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

First, it’s not a U.S. Department of Education “regulation”.

The U.S. Department of Education sent out a nonbinding letter on this topic.  There is no federal law including transgender persons  or gender identity.  This is interpretation.

Judge Neimeyer even points out there is no federal law supporting this, stating in his dissent that, “The recent Office for Civil Rights letter, moreover, which is not law but which is the only authority on which the majority relies, states more than the majority acknowledges.”

Neimeyer goes on to point out that Title IX is not ambiguous, writing that, “Title IX and its implementing regulations are not ambiguous. In recognition of physiological privacy and safety concerns, they allow schools to provide “separate living facilities for the different sexes,” 20 U.S.C. § 1686, provided that the facilities are “proportionate” and “comparable,” 34 C.F.R. § 106.32(b), and to provide “separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex,” again provided that the facilities are “comparable,” 34 C.F.R. § 106.33.”

Title IX says in part that, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

The U.S. Department of Education interpreting Title IX. Just like OSHA and the EEOC have interpreted protections to include transgender persons.

Title IX was meant to protect females from exclusion, not force inclusion of a male, who in their head, claims they are female.

There is a clear action states can take: Refuse Title IX funding.

READ:
6 Myths About Allowing Transgender Students to Use Restrooms of the Opposite Sex
McCrory Steps Up, Joins Amicus Brief Sans Cooper

Related:  How far the Democrats have come from ‘protecting’ women to now openly promoting a war on them.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, LEGAL, YWBMTC | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Superintendents Oppose Parental School Choice, Bash Opportunity Scholarships

Posted on April 19, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

parental rights chalkboard memeProtectionism 101.

News and Observer reported on a ‘wish list’ of sorts put together by some of the Central North Carolina region’s superintendents.

The article doesn’t say it outright, but one item on the list was cutting off funding for Opportunity Scholarships.

Excerpt:

Wake County Superintendent Jim Merrill said lawmakers need to change the A through F grading system used to evaluate schools, one based 80 percent on passing rates and 20 percent on academic growth on exams. In addition, a school is now labeled as low performing if it gets a D or F grade and doesn’t exceed growth expectations on tests.

“Clearly the low-performing label lacks even the basic logic that parents should expect of any grading system,” Merrill said.

The superintendents also called for halting the expansion of the program that allows taxpayer dollars to be used to pay for tuition at private schools or any other program that sends taxpayer dollars to private, for-profit entities not held to the same standards as traditional public schools.

Wait, what? Not held to the same standards?

YES, they are. Perhaps these Superintendents are unfamiliar with NC state statutes and the rules for non-public schools.

In fact, one can argue they are held to higher standards because parents aren’t just parents at a private school, they are treated like customers — something Wake County and other districts don’t do and should. Parents hold private schools accountable with their wallets and will pull their kids out.

But wait, there’s more. Superintendent Till whines about testing:

“It’s unfair to test us to do death and then hold us accountable while the people you’re giving money to don’t have to give the same test so we can’t compare apples to apples,” said Cumberland County Superintendent Frank Till.

Dear Superintendent Till — Private schools are required by state statute to test their kids using a nationally recognized, standardized test. They can choose what they want to use. That’s part and parcel of school choice?

If you have a problem with that, take it up with State Superintendent Atkinson, who seems Hell bent on pushing Common Core aligned testing and forcing all 11th graders to take the ACT on the taxpayer dime.

The article also listed some other ‘wish list’ items which included more protectionism,  slighting of Charter schools and relaxing NC’s teacher licensing even more:

Other ideas mentioned Monday include:

▪ Making it easier for teachers who are licensed in other states to be licensed in North Carolina;

▪ Not giving charter schools money for things they don’t have to offer, such as meals and Junior ROTC;

▪ Not passing legislation that would allow charter-school operators to take over some low-performing traditional public schools.

Meanwhile, parents continue to head for the exits — charter school and homeschool enrollment is booming in North Carolina. Perhaps these Superintendents ought to address the why behind that exodus instead of trying to kill parents rights to school choice.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Opportunity Scholarships (OSP), Parental Rights, School Choice, Testing | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Superintendents Oppose Parental School Choice, Bash Opportunity Scholarships

A Look At HRC: Hypocrisy, Money and Agenda – Part II

Posted on April 19, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

You Will Be Made To CareThe following is a multi-part series on the Human Rights Campaign.

Yesterday I posted part I of what will be a multi-part series on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which is the organization leading the attacks on of the state of North Carolina over HB 2.

This is part II.

In part I, the hypocrisy of the Human Rights Campaign’s lack of transparency was the focus. Today, we’ll look at two of the more major figures associated with the organization. Both of these figures have strong connections to the Clinton and to the Obama administrations.

Brief History
HRC was started in 1980 by Steve Endean.

HRC has three branches: HRC Foundation, HRC lobbying, and HRC Political Action Committee.  HRC has possibly the largest lobbying force in Washington, D.C. according to BallotPedia and OpenSecrets.org.

According to OpenSecrets.org, HRC gives money almost exclusively to Democrat campaigns. There have been some exceptions to that spending and a few Republican endorsements by HRC.

One such exception is the recent endorsement of Illinois Senator Mark Kirk. Not coincidentally, Kirk made statements pushing the NBA to pull out of North Carolina over HB 2.  One might recall Kirk’s open mic debacle regarding Lindsey Graham known as the ‘bro with no ho‘ moment.

More details of HRC’s spending will be the subject of a separate installment in this series.

Major Projects of note include Project One America.  The goal is described below.

“The goal of this HRC endeavor is to spread LGBT equality and acceptance in the South through permanent campaigns in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama” – Source: BallotPedia

We can now add North Carolina to that list.

Two HRC Figures With Political Pasts
The current president of HRC is Chad Griffin.

He has an interesting past and it is now clear why Rob Reiner said he would boycott NC over HB 2. Reiner and Griffin have a long history together.

Below are some of the highlights:

  • Hails from Arkansas
  • Dropped out of Ouachita Baptist (1995)
  • Graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (1997)
  • Clinton White House Press Staff (Age 19; youngest ever apparently)
  • “Dee Dee Myers invited Griffin to work in the West Wing press office in 1993 when Griffin was 19. The only paying job Griffin had held previously was working at the Wal-Mart in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.” Source: BallotPedia
  • Griffin Schein Consulting (Co-founder with Michelle Obama’s former Comms Director, Kristina Schake)
  • “The consulting firm Griffin|Schake has a client list that includes the Live Earth global concert series, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Make it Sustainable housing development in New Orleans, which is supported by Brad Pitt” Source: BallotPedia
  • White House liaison to the 1995 film The American President, where he met producer Rob Reiner
  • Lead Rob Reiner’s charity foundation
  • Founded American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) in 2008 with Rob Reiner (This foundation was  specific to overturning CA Prop 8)

According to Griffin’s WikiPedia page, it looks like the only job he held prior to his political position at the White House and subsequent position at HRC, was at Wal-Mart.

Earlier this year, HRC officially endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.  In fact, Chad Griffin joined Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail in Iowa.

This move drew ire from the Sanders campaign, whose supporters launched a Change.Org petition calling for the immediate resignation of Chad Griffin.

The petition cites Griffin’s close ties to the Clintons as well as calling out Griffin for supporting a candidate who opposed gay marriage up until 3 years ago. The petition has not gained much steam and currently only has 85 signatures on it.

Another major figure at  HRC is Terry Bean.

This name may sound familiar to you, as he is a major democratic fundraising figure and was a notable Obama bundler — to the tune of half a million dollars in 2012.

Bean has been a fixture on the Board for HRC’s foundation and has apparently been the driving force behind HRC’s fundraising.

The name may also sound familiar to you due to Bean being charged in a sex abuse case involving a 15-year old boy. Bean claimed at the time he was the victim of an extortion scenario.   When it came time for trial, however, the boy refused to testify and the judge dropped the case.

CNN reported on just how connected to Democrats, including the President, Bean was:

Bean, a real-estate developer and co-founder of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and the Human Rights Campaign, is a powerful figure in Democratic politics.

The Oregonian reported that he helped raise more than half a million dollars for Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, and Federal Election Commission records show he’s contributed thousands to Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others.

Obama’s LGBT campaign contributors

Photos posted online show him with the Obamas, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and aboard Air Force One with the President.

In remarks at a 2009 Human Rights Campaign dinner, President Obama thanked Bean, calling him a “great friend and supporter.”

“A great friend and supporter”, indeed.   View the timeline of Terry Bean’s life and political activism.

In Part III, the money that flows in and out of HRC will be examined.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), NCGA, THE LEFT, YWBMTC | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A Look At HRC: Hypocrisy, Money and Agenda – Part I

Posted on April 18, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

You Will Be Made To CareThe following is a multi-part series on the Human Rights Campaign.

The Human Rights Campaign along with their local NC pal, Equality NC,  are demanding documents related to HB 2 according to ABC 11:

The organizations specifically want all the email correspondence between Gov. Pat McCrory, the Executive Branch, General Assembly, and the groups North Carolina Values Coalition or Alliance Defending Freedom.

Opponents of HB2 believe something is suspect, and that there was some sort of plot to ram the legislation through. They filed an “open records request” Thursday so they could have access to those documents.

What is suspect here is a fishing expedition for names of individuals to target and also hypocritical. Show us your donors, Human Rights Campaign.

“This outside spending group does disclose its donors to the FEC, but no non-generic donors/employers have been identified that have contributed more than $1000. Donations from affiliated organizations are excluded when calculating the top donors.” Source: Open Secrets

No, Human Rights Campaign touts a long list of readily recognizable corporate sponsors, yet won’t divulge any information about which ones fund them and how much.  I’ll have a separate post on the money this week.

Another example of The Human Rights Campaign’s hypocrisy and ‘by any means necessary’ style of attack takes us back to 2012.

In 2012, HRC had no problem posting the tax documents of those they consider their opponents.  The Human Rights Campaign posted the illegally obtained IRS return for the National Organization for Marriage in what was arguably a coordinated effort to take down the Mitt Romney campaign.

In 2013, the IRS identified the employee who committed a felony by leaking the documents and to whom they were given. As a result, the IRS fined $50,000.

According to the Daily Signal, the documents were leaked to Matthew Meisel, a Boston LGBT activist. Meisel then turned around and gave the tax return documents to HRC, who posted them on their website.

The Daily Signal also noted who was president of HRC at the time and who he had dealings with:

HRC’s president at the time, Joe Solmonese, was tapped that same month as a national co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

In 2011, the year before the IRS leak,  Obama attended HRC’s annual dinner and was photographed waving at the crowd in with Solmonese.

Switching gears to the current present, Ghad Griffin, President Obama called him to congratulate him on overturning California’s Proposition 8, which was originally a ballot item passed by a majority of the state’s voters.

Griffin’s apparent main goal is to get a LGBT activist judge nominated to the Supreme Court.

Given the congratulatory history between HRC, Griffin and Obama, the nomination of Garland Merrick is perhaps of greater concern than before.  Elections have consequences.

More to come in part two.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS, LGBTQ Issues, NCGA, THE LEFT, YWBMTC | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

WCPSS Director Of Equity Affairs Leads ‘Discipline’ Forum With Fed Officials

Posted on April 15, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

Zero Tolerance ZoneThe “school to prison pipeline” narrative continues in Wake County Schools.  Suing wasn’t enough.

The statistics are impressive, yet to date no one has investigated the cases involved.

The statistics, by themselves, are being pointed to by various far left activist groups as proof of racism in schools.  No data or cases have been provided, just generalized complaints based on perception.

Excerpt from ABC 11, emphasis added:

Listening to concerned Wake County parents share stories of how their children were disciplined in school, four members of the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights sat on the front row inside a packed community forum, taking notes.

The two-hour forum, put on by activist groups who filed a federal complaint of racial discrimination against the state’s largest school system five years ago, was held at Vital Link School Event Center in Raleigh.

Organizers told ABC11 to stop recording as parents and other stakeholders began speaking at the public meeting.

Dr. Rodney Trice, Assistant Superintendent for Equity Affairs was among Wake County Public School System administrators in the audience. He said he was eager to hear directly from parents and students about how to create solutions to racial disparities in school discipline.

Read the whole thing. Pay attention to the tweets embedded in the article.

Parents want their complaints heard, but according to the “organizers” don’t you dare record any of it?  Why not?

Who are the “organizers”?  Are they referring to the U.S. Department of Education? Rodney Trice?

Or are the “organizers” outfits like far left activist groups? Groups such as the Youth Organizing Institute, NC HEAT, Education Justice Alliance, Dignity In Schools and the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African-American Children (CCCAAC)?  I’ve covered these groups extensively here on the blog.

All roads for these groups and this narrative lead back to the democrat born idea of ‘zero tolerance’ and a union with Black Lives Matter and Blueprint NC.

Also, Trice is actually the Director of Equity Affairs last time I checked.  The  Director of the office of “Equity Affairs” costs taxpayers $125k.

Related Reading:

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), BlackLivesMatter, BlueprintNC, Racial Justice, Social Justice, THE LEFT, Wake County School Board | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

WCPSS Democrat Controlled Board Wants Another Bond

Posted on April 15, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

The Wake County School Board is discussing asking voters to approve yet another bond.

News and Observer:

County finance staff on Wednesday presented potential scenarios involving having a November 2016 school construction bond referendum to cover the next four years or to have the Wake County Board of Commissioners borrow enough money until a school bond is placed on the May 2018 ballot.

The final decision on the timing of the bond referendum rests with commissioners, but the school board will have its say. If a decision is made for a 2016 referendum, the school board has until June 7 to pass a resolution asking commissioners to issue bonds for school projects.

“I want to see the green,” school board member Bill Fletcher said at Wednesday’s facilities committee meeting. “That’s all I’m concerned about. They can fund it any way they want to.”

The last Wake school bond referendum of $810 million was approved by voters in October 2013, with the next one projected to be in October 2017. But that’s no longer an option because a 2014 state law forces Wake to only hold a countywide referendum when all the polling places are open in even-numbered years.

The article goes on to say the WCPSS board is looking for this to be an $850 million dollar bond. And yes, you read the excerpt right — this comes just a few years after an $810 million dollar bond.

Mr. Fletcher likes his “green” — the taxpayer’s.

One commenter on the article kinda nailed it:

 

Last year’s state budget includes additional teacher raises yet our Democratic school board and Commissioners feel the need to give them a third raise in two years. This has increased our real estate taxes by over 15.3% in these two years. The bond passed in November of 2013 increased taxes by 9%. Merrill and the board increased it another 6.3% with the current budget. Add it up. Look at the future increases.

In November of 2016 they will be presenting a two billion dollar school bond that will increase it another 22%. The school system’s plan to increase new teachers’ salaries over the next four years will increase taxes by 2.3% a year for the next four years. Add these up. We could be talking a minimum increase in rates over the next several years of well over 50%.

These increases are for just raises. Do you seriously think they will need more of our money for other things. This does not even include the wasted transit referendum coming in 2016. Our taxes go up naturally with the increase in the value of our homes. The average increase was just 6% which is another tax increase. The Commissioners Board just increased our taxes yet again by voting for assessments every four years instead of eight. Voters that elected these clowns have no basis to complain. At least they campaigned in increasing spending and increasing taxes. I challenge anyone to find another part of the country that has had their real estate taxes increase at these rates.

Another commenter mentioned that WCPSS has yet to get their projected student population right.

This continued pattern of miscalculating enrollment is something Bob Luebke at Civitas has pointed out recently. Luebke also has noted the sharp uptick in homeschool growth in Wake county:

In addition, over the past three years, the number of new homeschoolers is up more than 2,800 students. There are now more than 10,400 homeschoolers in Wake County.

I’ve also noted this trend and, in fact, Wake county has the largest number of homeschools in the state. Read my prior article on the growth of school choice in Wake county under Common Core and this Democratic controlled board.

Wake county taxpayers, it’s time to put our spend-happy board in check.

Posted in EDUCATION, Wake County School Board | Tagged | Comments Off on WCPSS Democrat Controlled Board Wants Another Bond