LL1885

Ricin Letter Sender Complains Solitary Is Unfair

Posted on February 12, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Remember James Everett Dutschke? Dutschke sent letters with Ricin in them to public officials and a judge, but tried to frame another man for them.

We’ve covered the story from the start, as Liberty Speaks managed to track down the original suspect (prior to the FBI announcing the arrest) and who Dutschke framed for the letters, Paul Kevin Curtis.

Well, Dutschke is back and complaining about his life in solitary confinement after he apparently made a threat to kill a FBI agent and attempted to get another inmate’s girlfriend to make more Ricin to send to Senator Wicker again.

No, I’m not kidding. Cue the sad trombone?

Lee County Courier:

James Everett Dutschke, 43, has been claiming “the federal prison system should not hold him in solitary confinement because there is no evidence he is a FBI threat.”

Prosecutors say different, and that they gathered evidence while Dutschke was in jail waiting trial.

They say a fellow inmate of Dutschke, while in jail, said he was attempting to have one of the lead FBI agents killed.

Some of that evidence included letters written by Dutschke and conversations he had with his wife, where he allegedly threatened the FBI agent.

One court filing also says there is evidence he attempted to get the girlfriend of another inmate to manufacture ricin and mail it to U.S. Senator Roger Wicker again.

Prosecutors have said Dutschke has no one to blame but himself for being in solitary confinement.

Dutschke received a 25-year federal sentence for mailing ricin to President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker and Lee County Justic Court Judge Sadie Holland.

Prior Articles On Dutschke

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), LEGAL | Tagged James Everett Dutschke, Paul Kevin Curtis, Ricin | 1 Comment

Concern Over 4th Grade Books? NC Media To The Rescue.

Posted on February 11, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

In the past week, books assigned to 4th graders at a Wake County school have made national headlines, but local media didn’t cover it until that happened.

Now that the story is out there and Wake County Schools are under the microscope, the coverage can arguably be characterized as ‘media to the rescue’.

Note the title at the News and Observer already sets the narrative, Some books at Cary school draw complaints from conservatives. Gosh, what assumptions will the reader make from that title, before they even read the article? One can gauge that just by reading the comments section.

News and Observer followed up with a video starring Rusty Taylor a “coordinator teacher in Wake County Schools”. Remember the title News and Observer gave him.

Taylor thinks the books were appropriate for 9 and 10 year-old children and paints a rosy picture of one of the books in question. When asked if he thought these topics were too heavy for 9 and 10 year-old 4th graders, Taylor said “Absolutely not.”

Well, Mr. Taylor, parents disagree with you. So does the School Library Journal, which places these books at 6-9th grade reading levels. As “Lead Library Media Coordinator at Wake County Public School System“, Mr. Taylor should know that.

ABC 11’s coverage was a bit better, but didn’t link to the original article at StopCommonCoreNC.org. Neither did News and Observer. Gee, wonder why?

ABC 11 had input from the principal of the school involved, “Gamble said he’s disappointed parents didn’t reach out to him first.” Uh, wait what?

Gamble’s statement is misleading – parents were informed their kids would be doing this by newsletter with no opt out or other communication from the school.

Parents out there, I’ve gotten my share of emails about whacky assignments from all over NC, but Please Share Your Story.

Folks, get informed.
Local media will not furnish you with the original articles, however I will.

Read them. Read the excerpts from these books and then return to Mr. Taylor’s comments.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Media Bias | Tagged WCPSS | 5 Comments

Jeb Quits Saying ‘Common Core’. Hopes Parents Forget?

Posted on February 11, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Jeb Bush and his Foundation for Excellence in Education have been one of the loudest proponents on Common Core.

Now Bush is running for president, headed to Iowa soon and he’s going silent on Common Core. Hoping voters forget? Not gonna happen.

Bush made statements about the testing and about opposing Federal involvement. This is pure double-speak.

SBAC and PARCC are the Common Core tests and they are indeed assessments done ‘in a certain way’ as chosen and directed by the U.S. Department of Education.

TIME: Jeb’s education talk omits the words ‘Common Core’

“I am for higher standards,” Bush said, declining to utter the politically charged phrase himself, but dispelling some of the more outlandish misconceptions about the program. “I am for creating real restrictions on the federal government’s role in this so you can alleviate people’s fears that you’re going to have some kind of control by the federal government of content, of curriculum, or even standards. I’m against all that.”

“I’m against the federal government being involved in demanding that assessments are done in a certain way,” he added.

Politico: Jeb Bush: Not Running From Common Core, But Not Saying It Either

Is he trying to reframe the discussion about the term, Bush was asked by a reporter?

“No,” he responded after an educational summit headlined by the former governor headlined here.

“I’ll talk about it,” Bush said. “What do you want to know about it?”

Was he toning down his rhetoric, considering how anathema Common Core is to some conservatives in Iowa, an early vote state?

“I’m for higher standards. And I’m for creating real restrictions of the federal government’s role in this,” Bush said.

Related:

*Sure* Saw the polling data, freaked out. Chris Christie: ‘I Have Grave Concerns’ About Common Core http://t.co/hJ9SRMMm2x #StopCommonCore

— LL1885 – A.P. Dillon (@LadyLiberty1885) February 11, 2015

Posted in Common Core, ELECTIONS | Tagged Election 2016, Jeb Bush, PARCC, SBAC | 1 Comment

Dueling #Narratives On Vouchers

Posted on February 11, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Dueling narratives on “vouchers” have emerged in the last 24 hours. It’s not really a “voucher” issue, it’s about the Opportunity Scholarships.

Yesterday, an Ex-NCAE lobbyist switched sides in voucher debate.

Excerpt from WRAL:
“To say that a $50 million scholarship program for poor children living in poverty is taking away from the public education classroom is wrong,” Lewis said. “I think, in many ways, it is complementing public education.”

Today, the education PR outfit, EducationNC, has the following story up on their site today: NC Policy Watch Panel on Vouchers

Note who was in this conversation — Moral Monday participant, NCAE attorney and newly elected Wake County Commissioner, Jessica Holmes:

“NC Policy Watch held a conversation on the constitutionality and policy implications of vouchers today. “Crucial Conversation – The constitutional challenge to school vouchers,” brought together former State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mike Ward, and attorneys Christine Bischoff of the North Carolina Justice Center and Jessica Holmes of the North Carolina Association of Educators. “

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NCAE | Tagged EducationNC, Jessica Holmes, Opportunity Scholarships, Vouchers | Comments Off

#ChapelHillShootings: “Hardcore Anti-Religion Atheist Progressive” (Updates)

Posted on February 11, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Overnight, 3 people were shot and killed by one Craig Stephen Hicks.

It will be interesting in the coming days to see how the local and national media plays this one.
Update: Sister Toldjah is already responding. More here.

Over at PJ media, the headline reads: Killer of 3 UNC-Chapel Hill Muslim Students Was Hardcore Anti-Religion Atheist Progressive

Snippet from the article, emphasis added:

A review of the Facebook page of the man charged in these murders, Craig Hicks, shows a consistent themes of anti-religion and progressive causes. Included in his many Facebook “likes” are the Huffington Post, Rachel Maddow, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Freedom from Religion Foundation, Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” Neil deGrasse Tyson, Gay Marriage groups, and a host of anti-conservative/Tea Party pages.

Southern Poverty Law Center?

Flashback: SPLC-inspired shooter Floyd Lee Corkins sentenced to 25 years

Voter information shows Hicks is registered unaffiliated, but the history showed Democrat support as did his Facebook page.

UPDATE: Looks like this might have nothing to do with religion or lack thereof and to have been over a parking dispute??

UPDATE: Southern Poverty Law Center Under Scrutiny Over ‘Extremist Watch List’…

UPDATE: ABC News – The article is littered with statements from Hicks family, lawyer and NC officials saying this wasn’t religiously motivated like this one, “U.S. Attorney in North Carolina Ripley Rand said, “We don’t have any information that this was a targeted campaign against Muslims in North Carolina.””

Sorry NC, the FBI is going to show up anyway to investigate. They want to know if it was a ‘hate crime’. Question: Did the FBI investigate Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar for a ‘hate crime’ when he plowed his SUV into ‘The Pit’ at UNC Chapel Hill? Nope, yet in Taheri-azar’s own words, it was religiously motivated.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), CRIME | Tagged UNC Chapel Hill | 1 Comment

Common Core: How Many Teachers And Parents Have To Leave?

Posted on February 10, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Another teacher has resigned over the Common Core testing.

This time it’s the winner of the top teacher award given out by the Live With Kelly And Michael show. This teacher is from Ohio. I wonder if John Kasich will call her resignation ‘hysterical‘?

“Gasps of disbelief” accompanied her announcement.

Why gasps?

Is the general public that clueless on Common Core and how out of control testing in our schools has become? Or are they listening to demagogues like Jeb Bush, who can’t figure out why parents and students are complaining — after all, kids in China don’t complain.

How many teachers have to leave? How many parents have to pull their kids out? What is it going to take before the edu-business complex stop pushing this fundamentally flawed experiment and the related train wreck tests?

What is it going to take?

Instapundit has the full story linked over at his site.

I’ll close with a video from 2013. Educator Beth Dimino raged at NY state’s Education Commissioner John King over Common Core and its testing as child abuse. Since then, King has taken a comfy seat next to Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

I hope this video ‘awakens more mommies’.