Demovictory9
Demovictory9's JournalBillionaire offered $25 million to high school alma mater. What he wanted in return was too much
Billionaire offered $25 million to high school alma mater. What he wanted in return was too much for the district.
The school would receive a new name — the Abington Schwarzman High School — and, “for the avoidance of doubt,” officials would make sure the name was displayed, “at a minimum,” at the front and above each of the six entrances.
Parts of the campus would be named after his brothers, former high school track coach and two friends on the track team.
Schwarzman’s portrait would appear “prominently” in the school.
Schwarzman would have input into the construction of the new campus, which is set to be done in 2022, including the right to approve contractors.
He would receive regular reports on the progress of a computer literacy initiative.
The agreement would be kept secret unless Schwarzman approved its release.
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The board approved the pact without community input, and when residents learned that Schwarzman had essentially bought naming rights to the school, they pushed to get details, the story said. The board waited a few weeks after approving the contract to release it to the public — but by then, the board had rescinded the agreement and promised to vote on a new pact with most of the earlier demands stripped out.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/04/12/billionaire-offered-25-million-to-high-school-alma-mater-what-he-wanted-in-return-was-too-much-for-the-district/?utm_term=.4dd0b98b3518
Scott Pruitt never paid rent, took blond aid on 1st class trips
Scott Pruitt never paid any rent to lobbyist 'landlord', took his blonde aide on first class flights, and personally handed out pay raises to favorites: EPA chief's scandal secrets revealed by TRUMP aide
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5608643/Scott-Pruitt-never-paid-rent-lobbyist-landlord-took-aide-class-flights.html
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Trump chooses impulse over strategy as crises mount
But then Wednesday morning, Trump upended it all with a tweet — warning Russia, the Syrian government’s backer, to “get ready” because American missiles “will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’?”
White House advisers were surprised by the missive and found it “alarming” and “distracting,” in the words of one senior official. They quickly regrouped and, together with Pentagon brass, continued readying Syria options for Trump as if nothing had happened.
But the Twitter disruption was emblematic of a president operating on a tornado of impulses — and with no clear strategy — as he faces some of the most consequential decisions of his presidency, including Syria, trade policy and the Russian interference probe that threatens to overwhelm his administration.
“It’s just like everybody wakes up every morning and does whatever is right in front of them,” said one West Wing aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share a candid opinion. “Oh, my God, Trump Tower is on fire. Oh, my God, they raided Michael Cohen’s office. Oh, my God, we’re going to bomb Syria. Whatever is there is what people respond to, and there is no proactive strategic thinking.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-chooses-impulse-over-strategy-as-crises-mount/2018/04/11/884e33c2-3d9d-11e8-974f-aacd97698cef_story.html?utm_term=.62cc456c031d
hit and run vigil interrupted by another hit and run
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hit-and-run-twice-20180411-story.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fktla5%2Fvideos%2F10156564307649614%2F&display=popup&ref=plugin&src=video
A vigil for the victim of a fatal hit-and-run crash in South L.A. Wednesday afternoon was broken up in dramatic fashion by yet another hit and run that was captured on video.
As pedestrians and bicyclists gathered at Manchester and Normandie avenues to mourn a bicyclist who was fatally struck by a car just a day and a half earlier, a gold-colored sedan barreled through the intersection and hit a man crossing the street, sending his body flying through the air, video from KTLA-TV Channel 5 showed.
The vehicle had run a red light and did not stop after hitting the pedestrian. The collision occurred about 1 p.m.
Police said no one had been taken into custody in connection with the crash and the injured pedestrian was taken to the hospital.
The fact that a KTLA news camera was at the intersection was not coincidental. Mourners had gathered at the location after a bicyclist was hit by an SUV there in the previous hit and run, said Officer Luis Garcia.
The vehicle in that incident was described as a white Porsche Cayenne. The driver has not been taken into custody, Garcia said. The investigation into both crashes is ongoing.
Sheriff Donny Youngblood: 'Absolutely' Better 'Financially' to Kill Suspects Than to 'Cripple' Them
A video shows Kern County, Calif., Sheriff Donny Youngblood, who is currently seeking re-election, telling an employees union that it is better "financially" to kill suspects than to "cripple" them.
The Kern County Detention Officers Association (KCDOA) released the 2006 video on Monday as the union, which represents Kern County's jailers, is endorsing Youngblood's opponent Justin Fleeman in the county's 2018 election for sheriff.
In the minute-long clip, Youngblood sits at a table facing an audience that is out of view. He poses a hypothetical situation about a "deputy that shoots someone in the streets," and talked about the deputy training and costs to the sheriff's office.
"When a deputy shoots somebody, which way is better financially? To cripple them or kill them, for the county?" Youngblood asks.
"Kill them?" someone in the audience says.
"Absolutely," Youngblood responds, "because if you cripple them you have to take care of them for life and that cost goes way up."
https://www.diversityinc.com/sheriff-donny-youngblood-absolutely-better-financially-to-kill-suspects-than-to-cripple-them?utm_campaign=wc-ip0411
one in five Americans have either protested or attended a political rally since the start of 2016
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/opinion/working-families-party.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-regionAccording to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, one in five Americans have either protested or attended a political rally since the start of 2016. These activists, many newly minted, are overwhelmingly anti-Trump. Mitchell aims to make sure they turn their revulsion into votes. “There’s all these mass movements, from Occupy all the way down to this most recent student movement, and the Black Lives Matter movement and the #MeToo movement,” he told me. “Could we create an electoral expression of these movements?”
Tom Bossert's exit is the latest sign Trump's White House is emptying in record numbers
The forced resignation of homeland security adviser Tom Bossert on Tuesday is the latest in an absolutely remarkable string of departures from Donald Trump's inner circle and Cabinet, a historic series of exits that amounts to a total overhaul of the White House just 15 months into the President's first term.
Bossert is the 32nd "A Team" -- or most senior -- member of Trump's staff to leave since January 20, 2017, according to statistics maintained by Brookings' Kathryn Dunn Tempas. There are only 65 "A Team" positions in the White House total. Which means that in the 445 days Trump has been president, he has lost 49% of his "A Team" staff. (For more on what constitutes an "A Team" staff member, read this from Tempas.)
How does that compare to past administrations? Badly.
In the 1st year of Trump's presidency, 34% of his top staff left. Although it's only April,15% more have left in his second year. In President Barack Obama's first two full years in office, 24% of his "A Team" staff departed. For George W. Bush it was 33%. Bill Clinton? 38%.
And, these statistics don't even truly capture the full extent of the staff turnover within Trumpworld.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/politics/donald-trump-tom-bossert/index.html
EPA career staffer fired to cover Scott Pruitt corruption
Exclusive: EPA removes staffer who OK’d report on Pruitt’s security
EPA removed a career staffer Tuesday who approved an internal report that undermined Administrator Scott Pruitt's claims that he needed around-the-clock bodyguards and other expensive security protection, according to two former agency employees familiar with the situation.
Mario Caraballo was the deputy associate administrator of EPA's Office of Homeland Security, which in February concluded that an earlier assessment failed to identify credible direct threats against the administrator that would justify his heavy security spending.
Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote to Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on Tuesday requesting oversight hearings and quoting the report, making public its doubts about the need for the heightened security.
One source with direct knowledge of Caraballo's dismissal said the agency claimed he was let go because of a personnel issue from a previous military job nearly a decade ago that had been resolved then and already been reviewed by EPA several years ago. That source said senior officials also were not happy with the report from Caraballo’s office.
“They’re trying right now to just keep pressure on the wound,” the source said. “They’re trying to find out where these leaks are coming from ... They’re in full panic mode right now.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/10/documents-contradict-epa-claims-threats-984459
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