Subscribe
Subscribe

Afternoon Links: The School District Deep State, Long Live the Mold-A-Rama, and Paul Ryan’s Crazy Challenger Returns

By Jim Swift

Uncovering the TUSD Deep State. Imagine if your local school district had a secret document. The purpose of this document is to blacklist and retaliate against employees. That’s what the Arizona Daily Star‘s Hank Stephenson uncovered at the Tucson Unified School District.

Recommended Stories

I started on the education beat for the Arizona Daily Starless than six months ago, and heard about the Tucson Unified School District blacklist almost immediately. A longtime school board member told me such a list existed, and had been used to retaliate against employees for at least a decade. He also said he had never seen it. He’d told other reporters about the rumored blacklist, he said, but nobody listened.

Except Stephenson listened, and got the list. Well, a redacted version of it, anyway. It’s a great read but a seriously depressing read for advocates of public education.

The blacklist drove good teachers out of education, and ruined good people’s lives. I’ve heard from veteran teachers who told me that a new principal made their lives miserable until they quit, in the twilight of their otherwise spotless careers. When those teachers applied for teaching jobs in and around the district, they received enthusiastic responses, but were ultimately denied, time and time again. I’ve also heard from people who wouldn’t talk to me before I published the piece, but now feel empowered to go on the record. There’s talk of lawsuits now, and the state Attorney General’s Office is soliciting calls from employees who think they were blacklisted.

Read the original story, and his follow-up at the Columbia Journalism Review.

Speaking of allegations of corruption, this story out of Texas rivals the last we updated you on (Dawnna Dukes). It also involves a Democratic legislator, Sen. Carlos Uresti:

Texas state Sen. Carlos Uresti “groomed” nearly $900,000 out of a former client and grieving mother by cultivating a sexual relationship with her, according to prosecutors in court on Monday.

The grieving mother, Denise Cantu, lost her two children in 2010 when her vehicle rolled over. Uresti was Cantu’s attorney, and then convinced her to invest in what prosecutors say is a ponzi scheme. Uresti’s trial is going on right now, but Cantu has had some recent troubles of her own:

Cantu, 38, was arrested at her home Tuesday [in November, 2017] after a warrant was issued charging her with aggravated robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, both felonies, according to a news release issued by the Harlingen Police Department. … A police report of the Jan. 15 incident says Cantu got into an argument and pulled out a gun from her waistband and pointed it at a woman, identified in the indictment as Nivia Featherstone. Cantu dropped the gun but recovered it and fled the scene with a friend, the report adds.

Wild stuff.

Long live the Mold-A-Rama. People of a certain age certainly remember the Mold-A-Rama, the cooler version of the tourist trap pressed penny that allowed users to make their own injection molded souvenir. Atlas Obscura has a neat write up of the folks who keep these gems running. I haven’t seen one in years, but think fondly back to my summer job running an injection mold for a colorant company. Well, perhaps not too fondly, since I was 18 and getting up at 4 a.m. for the morning shift, cutting into my social schedule.

The return of Crazy Paul Nehlen. Paul Ryan’s perpetual challenger, Paul Nehlen, is in the news again after tweeting a series of images depicting the leadership and on-air talent of major news channels. The racist images were created to show who was Jewish, or who had a Jewish spouse. Nehlen later deleted these tweets, but also got into an exchange with… Larry the Cable Guy, who criticized him for suggesting that Jews (“and others”) will “burn in hell” if they don’t accept Jesus. Nehlen lost to Paul Ryan in his last election by 68 points, and appears to be trying very hard to beat his previous best.

Across the river. Here’s an interesting feature on “Life in a small town split between Belarus and Latvia” from a webpage called Svaboda.org:

The small town of Druja and the village of Piedruja are a mere 200 meters apart, separated by the Western Dźvina (Daugava) river. Once upon a time they were one, and people were able to swim across the river without impediment. Today, Druja and Piedruja are parts of two different countries. One can only get from the Belarusian town of Druja to the Latvian village of Piedruja by car, via a 90km circular route. And a visa is required.

Borders are indeed important, but the status quo here is really quite maddening.

The Case Against Education. At Reason, one of my favorite writers, Bryan Caplan, has a thought-provoking interview with Nick Gillespie discussing his new book on “why the education system is waste of time and money.” What do you think?

Michael Barone’s Guide to Government. Our Washington Examiner colleague Michael Barone, one of the greats, has a new video series you simply must check out. The first video is on free speech, a hot topic of debate in 2018.

Save the date! Join us at the 2018 Weekly Standard summit. This May 17th through 20th at the historic Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, join Stephen F. Hayes, Fred Barnes, and Michael Warren and other special guests as they discuss the future of American politics. Book your tickets now.

Afternoon Links are part of the Daily Standard newsletter, a free daily newsletter that goes out Monday through Friday. Sign up here!

Related Content

Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

NEWS

POLICY

COMMENTARY

RESTORING AMERICA