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Super Harvest Moon, partial lunar eclipse to combine for rare celestial trifecta
By Sheri Walsh, UPI Published Sep 17, 2024 9:25 AM EDT | Updated Sep 17, 2024 9:25 AM EDT
Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A Super Harvest Moon with a partial lunar eclipse will light up September's night skies Tuesday in a rare celestial trifecta as summer begins to wind down.
The partial eclipse, that will begin late Tuesday night and run into Wednesday morning, will occur during the Supermoon -- when the moon's orbit is slightly closer to Earth -- and will be visible from most of North and South America, Europe, Africa, western Asia and parts of Antarctica.
A Supermoon, which is the largest and brightest moon of the year, is a full moon that occurs when it is within 90% of its closest orbit to Earth. In this case, it is also called a "harvest moon" because Tuesday's full moon is the closest to Sunday's autumnal equinox, when summer officially ends.
Lunar eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon line up with the Earth casting its shadow on the moon, making it appear darkened and reddish. Tuesday's partial lunar eclipse will shadow a small 8.7% sliver of the moon.
Those parts of the world that will not be able to see the rare lunar trifecta, and areas where weather impedes visibility, will be able to watch livestreams online for free.
TimeAndDate.com will host a livestream of the partial lunar eclipse, starting Tuesday at 9 p.m. EDT. And Adler Planetarium in Chicago will host a lunar eclipse livestream starting at 10 p.m. EDT, featuring astronomers and live commentary.
The full moon will reach its peak in the United States on Tuesday at 10:35 p.m. EDT, according to NASA. The moon will appear full for about three days, through Thursday morning.
The partial lunar eclipse will enter Earth's shadow starting at 8:41 p.m. EDT on Tuesday and will peak at 10:44 p.m. with only the top 8.7% of the moon in full shadow. The partial eclipse is expected to wrap up early Wednesday morning at 12:47 a.m.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/space-news/super-harvest-moon-partial-lunar-eclipse-to-combine-for-rare-celestial-trifecta/1692858
ABC’s David Muir sees newscast ratings tank after his controversial debate moderating
By Brian Flood, Fox News Published Sep. 17, 2024, 2:10 p.m. ET
ABC’s “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir may have driven away some viewers after the Disney-owned network irked conservatives during last week’s presidential debate.
Muir and co-moderator Linsey Davis fact-checked former President Donald Trump five times without ever correcting Vice President Kamala Harris, prompting a plethora of conservatives to suggest the debate wasn’t fair. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America even called for a correction after Davis made an abortion claim made during the debate during one of the fact-checks on Trump that the group said was “100% inaccurate.”
Muir’s “World News Tonight” averaged 6.7 million viewers on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the three episodes following the debate, after averaging 7.6 million in 2024 leading up to the debate.
The 12% drop in viewers for “World News Tonight” is more significant than slight declines “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” saw when comparing the three episodes following ABC’s debate to the year-to-date totals, although Muir’s newscast remained the No. 1 broadcast evening newscast.
While it’s unclear if Trump supporters have tuned out ABC’s newscast on the heels of the debate, the former president has blasted it as “one-sided.” Trump told Fox News that he believed Harris should have been fact-checked on a variety of claims.
“Every one of them should have been questioned by David Muir, who I’ve lost a lot of respect for. Everyone’s lost respect for him,” Trump said last week.
“It was so … one-sided,” he continued. “It was one against three.”
Davis admitted in a post-debate interview that her fact-checking of Trump was influenced by the CNN debate that went disastrously for President Biden in June.
“People were concerned that statements were allowed to just hang and not [be] disputed by the candidate Biden, at the time, or the moderators,” Davis told the Los Angeles Times last week.
On Sunday, ABC News’ Martha Raddatz even noted that Harris was wrong when she said there is “not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world.”
“Our fact-checkers found that to be false,” Raddatz said.
“There are currently 900 US military personnel in Syria, 2,500 US troops in Iraq. All have been under regular threat from drones and missiles for months. We also have action in the Red Sea,” Raddatz continued. “Also, every single day, the Navy SEALs, Delta Forces special operators can be part of any sort of deadly raid.”
Muir and Davis failed to correct Harris in front of the debate’s massive audience of nearly 70 million people.
Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
https://nypost.com/2024/09/17/media/abcs-david-muir-sees-newscast-ratings-tank-after-debate/
Go figure... Chris Cuomo Slams Media, ‘Political Players’ Who Have Downplayed Donald Trump Assassination Attempts
NICK GILBERTSON 17 Sep 2024 2:18
(Video at the link.)
NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo on Monday called out media outlets and “political players” who have downplayed the assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump.
Cuomo’s reality check came during his impassioned opening monologue on his eponymously-named show, Cuomo. He said he is bothered by the “reaction and lack of reaction to the second attempt on Trump in the last couple of months” and called out those who say the suspected would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, “didn’t even shoot.”
“What if it was your father?” Cuomo asked. “Or what if it was Kamala Harris or President Biden, God forbid? [Do] you think that it would be almost a shoulder shrug and more of talk about the Secret Service and allocation of funds than just how crazy it is that this is what’s happening in our country?”
Cuomo emphasized that Trump “had an AK-47 pointed at him” while rebuking those who have reacted by minimizing the significance of the latest assassination attempt on Trump and the one in Bulter, Pennsylvania, in July, where a bullet narrowly missed killing him, instead striking his ear.
“The reaction is unacceptable, and it’s the second time media and political players have gotten away with playing down what should be a cause for panic,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo shared that he had trouble coming up with the words for Monday’s show, which prompted him to talk with Trump on the phone.
“And you can think what you want about Trump. He does not have many more full-throated critics of what he says and does than me,” Cuomo said. “And, yet, I called him today because I am ashamed of how we are responding and not responding to the threats on him.”
Cuomo also called out X owner Elon Musk for his now-deleted post on X Sunday, in which he wrote, “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”
“I’m a believer in this guy’s potential. Now, he hasn’t learned that erasing a tweet doesn’t make it go away, it only shows that he knows what he said was stupid,” Cuomo said.
“That is what hinting about targeting Harris is — it’s stupid,” he added.
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2024/09/17/chris-cuomo-slams-media-political-players-who-have-downplayed-donald-trump-assassination-attempts/
So it goes, eh? Gotta run.
Have fun.
I'm skeptical.
Hiya, Mr. G. Funny... I don't see any stories about liberals screaming to confiscate and ban automatic weapons after the latest assassination attempt on Trump.
Did I miss something?
lol... Same here.
Good point.
Morning, cap. What worries me most is that I get the paranoid sense the gov is part of these attempts.
Trump better be making a list and checking it twice.
The naughty must be on the unemployment line the day he takes office.
If he lives that long.
Thanks and GM, Bull.
It needs to be done starting yesterday.
Third time could be the "charm."
They make me very nervous. The SS excuse for light protection is that Trump is not the sitting president.
So now he's the sitting duck.
Seems to me, the RNC should finance and put together a carefully vetted private security force.
Our government does seem to be doing s.h.i.t.
This piqued my curiosity. Who is Ryan Wesley Routh?
Trump's alleged assassin.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=ryan+wesley+routh&form=ANNTH1
No, Kamala didn’t ‘win,’ Dems’ working-class woes and other commentary
By Post Editorial Board Published Sep. 15, 2024, 4:39 p.m. ET
Media watch: No, Kamala Didn’t ‘Win’
“The press is fist-pumping over Kamala Harris’s ‘win’ ” in last week’s debate, snarks The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel. Yet “in the real world . . . there was no winner”: Americans hoping for answers to their “daily struggles with inflation, migrants, crime” got none. That hurts Harris: She’s “succeeded dodging questions about . . . her agenda” and “did so again Tuesday.” Trump was also short on details, but he doesn’t need a plan: Voters can compare his record to that of the “Biden-Harris economy.” It’s wisest to assume “Americans aren’t stupid” and are “unhappy” and “care” about the agenda. Unless Harris campaigns “in a way that acknowledges as much, she’ll struggle.” And “the press won’t help by spiking the football.”
From the right: Where Hate Is Taught
“Antisemitism isn’t borne of ignorance at Columbia. Antisemitism is taught at Columbia,” thunders alum Bill Barr at The Free Press. “Antisemitism now lies at the ideological heart of the university, smuggled in through postmodern critical theory,” no matter what “the report issued last month by Columbia University’s Task Force on Antisemitism” says. Indeed, “one could be forgiven for thinking that it describes the University of Heidelberg circa 1933,” with “observant Jews being harassed and assaulted, and open calls” for their murder. “This hatred is a danger to all members of the Columbia community.” And “it will take more than a cleanup crew to remove the stain.” “It will take principled leaders with moral courage and ramrod spines, both of which seem to be in short supply.”
From the left: Dems’ Working-Class Woes
Part of Kamala Harris’ game plan, or “what should be her game plan,” doesn’t “appear to be working out so well,” frets The Liberal Patriot’s Ruy Teixeira: It’s “the need to boost support among the working class, which remains a serious weak spot for the Democrats and Harris.” “Harris, relative to Biden in 2020, is doing 10 points worse among white working-class voters and 18 points worse among nonwhite working-class voters.” “There’s no sugarcoating it — this is a serious problem for the Democrats.” It doesn’t mean “Harris can’t win,” but “there are clearly reasons for concern.” “Working-class Americans can contain their enthusiasm” for her; “the Democratic Achilles’ heel remains and could still deliver a second term for Trump.”
Foreign desk: Harris’ Do-Nothing Strategist
“On foreign policy, we don’t have a particularly clear sense of what Kamala Harris would do differently than President Biden,” warns National Review’s Jim Geraghty. And “if Harris wins the election,” Philip Gordon “is likely to be the next US national-security adviser.” To “get a real perspective on” him, look to Gordon’s book, in which he argues that “we should never bother attempting to topple a hostile regime again.” Gordon goes on to “score Iraq, the Obama-era ‘Arab Spring’”, the toppling of Moammar Khaddafi in Libya “and the US operations against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad,” as American failures. Gordon also eschews deterrence and sanctions as policies that either “don’t work, or they take years to work.” So what would Kamala’s foreign-policy prescription be? In short: “Doing nothing.”
Libertarian: The Key Problem With Urban Living
“I often wonder why advocates for urban living rarely grapple with a main reason many people won’t live in cities: the incompetence of urban governments,” grumbles Steven Greenhut at Reason. Understandably, people would “rather live in places where the government is at least responsive.” Big cities “are dominated by public-sector unions that are more interested in spending money than providing quality services.” Therefore, bad schools “are yet another disincentive to embrace urban life.” As a result, “cities such as San Francisco and Seattle have largely become childless thanks to poor schools, a high cost of living, and crime concerns.” It’s time for “innovative” solutions “that give residents a choice.” “Competition is the only way to lower costs and improve service.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
https://nypost.com/2024/09/15/opinion/no-kamala-didnt-win-dems-working-class-woes-and-other-commentary/
You're having a deja vu...
From Friday, September 06, 2024 6:57:55 AM
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=175041332
Shots fired near Donald Trump as he leaves his Florida golf club
By Joe Marino, Ryan King and Chris Nesi Published Sep. 15, 2024, 2:32 p.m. ET
The Secret Service is responding to a shooting near Donald Trump as he left his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to law enforcement sources.
“President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity. No further details at this time,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said Sunday afternoon.
Two people exchanged gunfire outside of Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach. The shooters were targeting each other, and the gunfire was not targeting Trump, the sources said.
Sources said that Trump was never in danger and that the shooting happened in an area outside the club that is known for high crime.
It comes almost exactly two months after Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa. on July 13 — wounding him in the ear.
This is a developing story.
https://nypost.com/2024/09/15/us-news/shooting-reported-at-donald-trumps-golf-club-while-ex-president-was-on-grounds/
It's official -- ABC Moderator Linsey Davis Admits: ‘Fact-checking’ Was Only Planned for Trump
JOEL B. POLLAK 15 Sep 2024 2:40
ABC News’ Linsey Davis, one of two moderators for last week’s presidential debate, admitted to the Los Angeles Times that the plan was only to fact-check former President Donald Trump, and not Vice President Kamala Harris.
As Breitbart News noted, Davis and co-moderator David Muir fact-checked Trump seven times — often incorrectly — while never fact-checking Harris once, even when she used hoaxes, such as the Charlottesville “very fine people” hoax.
Davis told the Times that ABC had deliberately targeted Trump — and only Trump — because of perceptions that he had been allowed to get away with false statements in the CNN debate against President Joe Biden in late June.
As the New York Post noted:
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Davis said she wanted to address concerns that Trump’s statements could be allowed to “hang” there unchallenged by his opponent or the moderators, as they were when Trump and Biden debate on CNN in June.
“Davis, wearing pink glasses while speaking to The Times over breakfast at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia, said the decision to attempt to correct the candidates was in response to the June 27 CNN debate between Trump and President Biden, whose poor performance led to his exit from the race,” the Times reported.
“People were concerned that statements were allowed to just hang and not [be] disputed by the candidate Biden, at the time, or the moderators,” Davis told the outlet on Wednesday morning.
Davis admitted that the moderators studied past statements — “Politicians tend to say the same things again and again” — but somehow did not prepare to check Harris’s repeated use of hoaxes. (Harris used the “very fine people” hoax in 2020 during the vice presidential debate with Mike Pence, who fact-checked her onstage at the time.)
Biden also used the “fine people hoax” and other lies in the June debate, and CNN did not fact-check him, either.
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2024/09/15/abc-moderator-linsey-davis-admits-fact-checking-was-only-planned-for-trump/
Media Bury Kamala Harris’s Disastrous First Solo Interview
JOEL B. POLLAK 15 Sep 2024 5:12
(Is anyone here at all surprised by this report???)
The mainstream media have buried Vice President Kamala Harris’s first solo interview in the eight weeks since she joined the presidential race, either failing to report it or claiming, falsely, that it was a great success.
Harris spoke to Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV, known as 6 ABC, and struggled to express a coherent thought as she rambled through five straightforward questions from reporter Brian Taff.
The Harris campaign trusted a local ABC affiliate after ABC News’ moderators sided with her during last week’s debate. Taff asked specific questions, but — perhaps given time constraints — did not follow up on Harris’s answers.
Asked for specific policies that would bring down costs and make life more affordable for Americans, for example, Harris talked about her supposedly middle-class upbringing, and how her neighbors cared about their lawns.
Several minutes into her answer, Harris eventually landed on a talking point about an “opportunity economy,” mentioning plans for a tax credit for small business owners and help for down payment for first-time home buyers.
Asked what made her different from President Joe Biden, Harris again struggled. She alluded to the fact that she is younger than Biden (“a new generation of leadership”) and repeated her point about the “opportunity economy.” The rest of her answer was incoherent.
The only time Harris gave a somewhat clear response, on gun control, it was contradictory: “We’re not taking anybody’s guns away,” she said, before saying that she supported an “assault weapons ban” that would do just that.
The interview reinforced fears that Harris cannot respond to unscripted questions, and suggested that her debate performance last week, which many viewers thought was strong, was the result of rehearsed answers. (Indeed, on many occasions during the debate, Harris simply evaded the question she was being asked, most notably the first question: “When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?”.)
But the mainstream media either failed to report Harris’s disastrous interview, or distorted what happened.
Deadline reported the interview under the headline: “No Mention Of Anyone Eating Pets, Kamala Harris Promises “New Generation Of Leadership” In First Solo TV Interview Since Becoming POTUS Candidate.” Reporter Dominic Patten wrote that Harris “stuck to her talking points” and “stayed focused on her pitches for the economy, giving working Americans a leg-up, gun ownership, and reducing crime.” (There was no discussion of reducing crime in the interview, and Patten ignored the fact that Harris largely evaded the question of making life more affordable.)
Newsweek published “key takeaways,” telling readers that Harris “gave specifics on her ‘opportunity economy’ plans,” when in fact Harris had avoided specifics, meandering through talking points, especially on her economic policies.
Axios.com gave a more straightforward writeup, but hid the fact that Harris could barely string a sentence together. It cleaned up one of her answers by changing the question Harris was asked. For example, reporter Sareen Habeshian wrote: “Asked about her plan for the economy, Harris pointed to her plans to provide a tax credit for starting a small business and give first-time homebuyers assistance on a down payment.” Harris was not asked about a general economic plan; she was asked for specifics about “bringing down prices and making life more affordable.”
The BBC also published a positive writeup that hid Harris’s poor performance, though it noted — unlike Axios — that when “Harris was asked how she would bring down prices for Americans,” i.e. not a general plan, she mentioned her small business and home ownership plans, and that the “price-tag for the plan and who might qualify are unclear.”
CNN, where Harris gave her first interview of any kind last month since joining the campaign in July, albeit seated alongside running mate Tim Walz, simply published the 6 ABC the interview without further commentary.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/09/15/media-bury-kamala-harris-disastrous-first-solo-interview/
Taylor Swift Endorsing Kamala Harris Backfires as Poll Shows More Voters ‘Much More Likely’ to Vote Trump Over Harris
PAUL BOIS 14 Sep 2024 3:13
A new poll shows that pop star Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president may not have moved the needle in the candidate’s favor, and, in fact, may have backfired.
Surveying 1,120 potential voters between September 11-12 with a ± 3.8% margin of error, the YouGov poll showed that a majority of voters (66 percent) said that Swift’s endorsement made no difference while only 8 percent of voters would either be “somewhat” or “much more likely” to vote for Kamala Harris due to Swift’s endorsement. Conversely, a full 20 percent said they are “somewhat” or “much more likely” to vote for former President Donald Trump.
Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president following the first debate last week, though she advised Americans to do their own research. Perhaps, many already have.
“I think the best thing about a football locker room, and kind of how I grew up in baseball locker rooms, is that people can come together and achieve a common goal,” said Mahomes. “I think that if we can do that as a nation, I think we can get the best out of each other. I think that is something I do every single day.”
“When I hang out with other people I don’t think about political views,” he continued. “I think about how they treat people. And I was with a lot of great people this weekend.”
Despite the polling, some good news did yield for Harris as a result of Swift’s endorsement, with reports indicating that she drove over 400,000 people to register on vote.gov.
Per USA Today:
As of Wednesday evening, a custom URL shared by Swift on her Instagram story that expired after 24 hours had directed 405,999 visitors to vote.gov, according to a spokesperson from the General Services Administration (GSA) speaking to USA TODAY on Thursday.
By comparison, in the week leading up to the debate, from Sep 3-9, 2024, vote.gov received about 30,000 visitors a day.
The Democrats are taking advantage of the pop star’s backing, erecting billboards in Las Vegas and New York City that read “We’re in Our Kamala Era,” a play on Swift Eras Tour.
Last week, Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he will not endorse a candidate for president this election cycle, even though his wife Brittany has liked pro-Trump posts on social media.
“I’ve always said, I don’t want my place and my platform to be used to endorse a candidate — either way,” Mahomes told reporters last week. “I think my place is to get people registered [to vote], do their research and make their best decision for them and their family. Every time I get asked these questions, I’m going to refer back to that because I think that’s what makes America so great.”
Patrick Mahomes emphasized his appreciation for the fact that Americans can see people of different stripes coming together, such as when he and Brittany were seen with Taylor Swift and her boyfriend Travis Kelce at the US Open tennis tournament in New York.
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2024/09/14/poll-taylor-swift-endorsing-kamala-harris-did-not-move-the-needle/
I adore him. So sorry he is gone.
You have a good one too, cap.
lol... Meanie. We'll get what we get.
Got to tell you... at this point as long as I get up each morning and can still take care of myself,
my day is blessed.
Have a good one, Mister.
Morning, Mr. G. I hope so. I just checked out the cookies on line.
$30 for six. Trump's are on back order.
I may order a set later.
Looks like another lovely day ahead.
Enjoy this last bit of summer while you can.
GM back atcha, cap. Of course the price will go up.
The article I read said DirecTV may be looking fo a merger with Dish.
Sigh. I really should upgrade to the modern world but I'm too lazy.
Anyway, this little ditty ran through my mind.
Applies to the political scene as well.
Pennsylvania bakery’s ‘cookie poll’ between Trump and Harris has clear winner: ‘People are upset’
By Elizabeth Heckman, Alexander Hall, Fox News Published Sep. 14, 2024 Updated Sep. 14, 2024, 9:49 a.m. ET
Edit: Here's their website -- https://www.lochelsbakery.com/
A small-town bakery in a key swing state is using cookies to add extra sweetness and competition to the upcoming presidential election.
Lochel’s Bakery in Hatboro, Pa., is tracking the sales of their red Trump cookies and blue Harris cookies as customers from across the country are placing orders to show support for their candidate.
As of Friday morning, the shop has sold a whopping 5,200 Trump cookies vs. 500 Harris cookies.
“I think that people support Trump all over,” owner Kathleen Lochel told “Fox & Friends First” Friday morning.
Lochel’s Bakery in Hatboro, Pa., is tracking the sales of their red Trump cookies and blue Harris cookies.
Instagram/Lochelsbakery
Lochel said her customers are expressing how high costs under the Biden-Harris administration are impacting them.
“A lot of people are upset right now with the cost of things, they’re venting to us,” she said, adding that the bakery stays neutral to all and loves all of their customers regardless of political opinions.
Grocery costs have also put a strain on the shop’s operations.
“Prices are very high for us,” Lochel said.
“We have not raised our prices in three years on almost all items. We’re trying to maintain the prices and have consumer confidence. But we’re getting to the point right now where my husband says this can’t continue. Things are just way too high.”
Lochel credited the cookie competition for saving the bakery in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In 2020, when the pandemic hit, we were almost at a point where we’re like, ‘Are we going to close the bakery? What’s going to happen?’ And I sat the employees down, and we all agreed to do the cookies again.”
“If it was not for these cookies, red and blue, we would not be here today from the cookies in 2020.”
She added that Eric Trump coming to her shop “unexpectedly” to purchase the cookies also helped her business survive during the pandemic.
“The Trump name actually brings in a lot of business for many people,” she said.
One-third of the cookies have been shipped to outside states, with the remaining staying in the Keystone State.
Lochel said almost all the shipments within the battleground state have been red.
“We’ve only shipped seven packages of blue in the state of Pennsylvania,” she said.
Lochel has hosted the informal poll since 2012, predicting the outcome of three of the last four elections, Fox29 reported.
The winning streak ended in 2020 after 31,804 Trump cookies were sold over 5,750 Biden cookies.
The bakery has emphasized the lighthearted nature of the project multiple times, writing in a recent social media post to “Keep calm… its a cookie.”
https://nypost.com/2024/09/14/us-news/trump-harris-cookie-poll-at-pa-bakery-has-clear-winner/
What happens in Disney stays in Disney: NYC educrats took own kids to Magic Kingdom on trips meant for homeless students
By Susan Edelman Published Sep. 15, 2024, 6:00 a.m. ET
A picture's worth a thousand words...
Six Department of Education employees used “forged permission slips” to take their own kids and grandchildren to Disney World and on other city-funded trips meant for homeless students, investigators alleged.
The secret perks robbed some of the city’s most disadvantaged kids of a chance to enjoy the Magic Kingdom — a trip that cost $66,000 for 50 or so adults and kids, a staffer said — and other multiple-day trips in 2016 to 2019 to Washington, D.C; New Orleans; Boston; upstate Rocking Horse Ranch Resort; and Frost Valley YMCA campground, according to a newly released report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools.
Linda M. Wilson, a Queens supervisor of DOE’s “Students in Temporary Housing,” took her own two daughters on trips, and encouraged colleagues to take their sons, daughters and grandkids, but tried to cover up the shady practice when SCI started asking questions, the SCI report said.
“What happens here stays with us,” Wilson allegedly told co-workers.
“She said everyone should stick to the same story that we did not take our children on the trip,” an employee told The Post.
“She told us to lie to the investigators.”
While some homeless students attended the trips, the staffers’ kids took up valuable spots.
One DOE educator “had to beg Wilson to allow him to add two of his students” on a trip to Disney World while Wilson and several staffers she supervised brought family members, the SCI said.
“Taking money meant for homeless students is extremely inappropriate,” said Naveed Hasan, a Manhattan public-school parent and member of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy who advocates for students in need of housing. “I’m shocked.”
Family members are not allowed on field trips, even if the DOE is reimbursed for their expenses, Chancellor’s rules state.
Wilson and other staffers used the names of homeless students to fabricate permission slips, then forged parent signatures on the paperwork, witnesses told investigators.
“Few of the homeless students listed on the paperwork actually attended the trips,” a whistleblower told the SCI.
At first, Wilson used a DOE contractor to book transportation, hotels, food and activities.
The city paid for the trips with a $300,000 federal grant from the National Center for Homeless Education meant to give kids enrichment and incentives to improve their attendance or academics.
Wilson supervised about 20 staffers who worked with students in temporary housing, defined as those living in a shelter, car, park or abandoned building.
Last year, a record 119,320 NYC students—roughly one in nine kids enrolled in public schools—experienced homelessness, according to Advocates for Children of New York.
Most out-of-town trips included four to six staff members as chaperones, and one or two buses for about 30 kids each, the SCI report says.
The buses alone cost about $2,700 each per trip, a staffer said. Those who went to Disney took the train.
Wilson would decide which staff members could attend a trip, assign students to each staff member to chaperone, then replace spots assigned for those students with staff members’ kids, the SCI said.
Wilson planned trips to colleges, including Washington D.C.’s Howard University in 2019, purportedly so homeless kids could tour campuses.
But she didn’t contact the colleges to arrange visits, the SCI alleges.
On a three-day trip purportedly to see Syracuse University in June 2018, the DOE group only ate lunch on the upstate campus, the report says. Then they left for Niagara Falls, more than three hours away.
After planning numerous trips, Wilson abruptly canceled a visit to Philadelphia in 2018 when she was required to process the payments for trips directly through the DOE, instead of going through a contractor.
Wilson, whose last salary was $99,726, brought one or two of her daughters on trips, the SCI said.
Other staffers accused of bringing family members are Mishawn Jack, who took two daughters; Shaquieta Boyd, who took a daughter; Virgen Ramos, who took two granddaughters; Maria Sylvester, who took two daughters, and Joanne Castro, who took two sons.
Boyd was fired, but blamed Wilson: “The supervisor in charge not only gave me permission, she encouraged it, and I had no reason to believe that this was against the rules.”
After completing its probe in January 2023, the SCI recommended Chancellor David Banks terminate all six employees and require them to pay restitution, with the amounts to be determined by the DOE.
The DOE also fired attendance teacher Mishawn Jack on Sept. 5, 2023, records show.
In a settlement last month with the city Conflicts of Interest Board, Jack admitted using slots intended for homeless kids to take her two daughters to see the Broadway show “Wicked” and on a trip to Washington, D.C. in 2016 — excursions she was hired to chaperone.
Jack agreed to pay a $1,200 fine, which the COIB slashed from $3,000, the approximate cost of the trips, due to the “financial hardship” of losing her job.
She also blamed taking the perks on Wilson, saying she “told staff they could bring family members,” according to the COIB settlement.
Reached this week, Wilson flatly denied that her daughters attended trips and that she allowed staff to bring their own children. She insisted that DOE’s “checks and balances” would have prevented such abuses, and called the SCI probe “a witch hunt.”
Wilson, 63, said she wasn’t terminated, but retired from the DOE.
The DOE would not say whether anyone was disciplined or paid restitution. “All staff identified in this report are no longer employed by New York City Public Schools,” said spokeswoman Jenna Lyle.
The SCI decided not to refer the cases for criminal prosecution, citing “the lack of available documentation,” a spokesperson said.
https://nypost.com/2024/09/15/us-news/what-happens-in-disney-stays-in-disney-nyc-educrats-took-own-kids-to-magic-kingdom-on-trips-meant-for-homeless-students/
It's baa-ack... I've got ESPN again.
Wonder how much my DirecTV subscription will cost now.
Harris must do more word salad interviews to assure the American people
they're doing the right thing, when they vote for Trump.
Here's the entire Brian Taff interview... if you can stand 11-plus minutes of looking at her smarmy face and eating word salad.
Kamala Harris First Solo Interview with Local Pennsylvania Reporter Turns into Disaster
WENDELL HUSEBØ 13 Sep 2024 3:48
(There are two Xweets at the link.)
Vice President Kamala Harris, during her second interview on Friday since joining the race, undermined her record in the Biden-Harris administration by stating the administration’s policies are not fit for the “twenty-first century.”
Harris faces a conundrum: She cannot campaign on policies to fix crime, inflation, and border security without undermining the Biden-Harris administration’s policies, but she must tout the administration’s policies to validate her record and candidacy.
Speaking with Brian Taff of Philadelphia’s Action News 6 ABC, as the Harris campaign promised she would Thursday after she was slammed for failing to answer questions during Tuesday’s debate, Harris suggested she has a fresh “approach” with “new ideas” for the “current moment.”
“I wonder if there are one or two spots, policy areas or approaches where you would say I’m a different person [than Joe Biden]?” asked Taff.
“My approach is about new ideas, new policies that are directed at the current moment. And also, to be very honest with you, my focus is very much in what we need to do over the next ten twenty years to catch up to the twenty first century,” Harris replied.
“I’m obviously not Joe Biden, and you know, I offer a new generation of leadership,” she said, providing examples that the Biden-Harris administration failed to achieve, such as helping citizens achieve the American dream:
And so, for example, thinking about developing and creating an opportunity economy where it’s about investing in areas that really need a lot of work, and maybe focusing on again, the aspirations and the dreams, but also just recognizing that at this moment in time, some of the stuff we could take for granted years ago, we can’t take for granted anymore. For example, another plan that I have that is a new approach is to expand the child tax credit to $6,000 for young families for the first year of their child’s life, because that is obviously a very critical stage of development of a child, and a lot of young parents need the help to buy a car seat or a crib or clothes for their kids.
Taff also asked Harris how she would go about bringing “down prices and making life more affordable for people.”
Harris responded with the same rehearsed answer she used in the debate. “I grew up a middle class kid,” Harris replied, again ignoring the question. As Breitbart News reported, Harris’s claim is “mostly false.” Harris grew up with an affluent Canadian upbringing, growing up in Westmount.
When asked what she understands former President Donald Trump’s “appeal to be and how do you speak to his voters [about it],” Harris delivered a word salad and did not answer the question directly. “I, based on experience and and a lived experience, know in my heart, I know in my soul, I know that the vast majority of us as Americans have so much more in common than what separates us,” she rambled. “And I also believe that I am accurate in knowing that most Americans want a leader who brings us together as Americans, and not someone who professes to be a leader who is trying to have us point our fingers at each other.”
“Let’s bring everybody together,” she said.
Harris lastly said she wants to ban guns. “I feel very strongly that it is consistent with the second amendment and your right to own a gun to say that we need an assault weapons ban,” she said. “They’re literally tools of war.”
“We’re not taking anybody’s guns away,” she added in the same breath.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/09/13/kamala-harris-first-solo-interview-with-local-pennsylvania-reporter-turns-into-disaster/
Thanks for the reminder.
I learn something new every day.
I agree, Iggy. I'm on Bergen's mailing list. I think his office is in Denville.
This is the second email of his that I've responded to.
Last time, I got a quick thank you.
He looks young, too. We need fresh, conservative blood.
Hope your friend made it through her surgery this morning and she recovers quickly.
She is included in my prayers.
Nolte: Whistleblower — Lead Secret Service Agent on Day Trump Was Shot Was Promoted After Failing Key Exam
JOHN NOLTE13 Sep 2024 4:05
Per Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a whistleblower claims that the lead Secret Service agent on the day that former President Donald Trump was shot in the head had been promoted even after she failed at least one key training exam.
Despite this exam failure, former and disgraced Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle promoted the agent. The whistleblower says the agent in question is from the Pittsburgh office and was the advance agent that fateful day.
Hawley appeared on Fox News with Jesse Watters on Thursday. Here’s the clip:
NEW @SecretService BOMBSHELL: Sen Josh Hawley says the Lead Secret Service advance agent was a woman from Pittsburgh's field office. She FAILED a key exam, but disgraced former director Kim Cheatle promoted her anyway. Now Homeland Security is telling the Secret Service to cover… pic.twitter.com/iYG6Elw4Y7
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) September 13, 2024
I knew there was a reason to avoid Main Street today...
The crazies gather early in full costume.
BTW, I've never seen this movie.
Friday The 13th – The Original 1980 movie at Roy’s Hall
September 13 at 6:30 pm - 11:30 pm
Two screenings – 6:30PM and 9:00PM
According to mythology, the number 13 has long been considered unlucky. But thanks to the Friday the 13th franchise, horror lovers around the world have reclaimed this day as a celebration.
There’s something special about watching the Friday the 13th on Friday the 13th; in the town where the original 1980 slasher was filmed. Every Friday the 13th hundreds of horror fans make a ritual pilgrimage to Blairstown, NJ in honor of the Mother-Of-All-Modern-Slasher-Films, Friday The 13th Part 1 (1980).
https://ridgeviewecho.com/event/friday-the-13th-the-original-1980-movie-at-roys-hall/
Man, I hope Brian Bergen runs for NJ governor.
This is the text of his email. Sorry, no link.
TRENTON DEMOCRATS ARE NUTS!
Yesterday was the first day back in Trenton after a summer break.
One of the first bills we discussed was STATE WIDE RENT CONTROL???? Unreal!!!
The bill would put RENT CONTROL on Mobile Home Communities and cap their rent increases at 2%, while the cost to the owners are going up WAY more every year! That is just stupid! I mean really really stupid!
This is definitely where they want to start, then they will do rent control on everything. It's awful policy that doesn't work ANYWHERE!
This will kill the mobile home market. And then they'll need to build even more affordable housing in your communities. They are NUTS!
Well, as you can imagine, I didn't let it happen without a fight. Watch my comments below. If this makes it to a full vote after the undressing I gave it here I would be surprised. But I'll stay on it and keep up the fight everyday!
- Assemblyman Brian Bergen
Trump tells The Post why he won’t debate Harris again: ‘Just don’t think that there’s any need for it’
By Diana Glebova Published Sep. 12, 2024, 5:21 p.m. ET
Donald Trump is done with debates.
“We just don’t think that there’s any need for it,” the 45th president exclusively told The Post Thursday after announcing on Truth Social he would not take the stage against Vice President Kamala Harris again.
“We’ve done two. You know, one against Biden [on June 27], one against Comrade Kamala. I did well. I did really well,” the 78-year-old said during a phone interview.
“The debate polls, every single poll, had us winning it.”
Shortly before Trump’s announcement, the campaign blasted out a “confidential memorandum” claiming that its internal polling had showed the Republican nominee gaining two percentage points on Harris among likely voters across seven unidentified “target states.”
The GOP campaign had previously argued that the Harris camp should “stop f—ing around,” in the words of one Trump spokesperson, and take up the former president’s offer of a Sept. 25 debate hosted by NBC News.
Instead, the Harris camp countered by proposing a debate to be held sometime in October.
“There’s no debate on the 25th,” Trump told The Post Thursday afternoon. “Nothing has been arranged.”
Trump remained sore about his treatment Tuesday night by ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, who were criticized for letting Harris skate on her falsehoods while giving Trump the third degree.
“I think she had the questions. And I think that the anchors … were a disgrace to American journalism,” Trump told The Post.
“You saw the way that was done, that was ridiculous,” he added.
“They didn’t challenge her on all of those things that they knew were false.”
The former president had initially proposed three debates with Harris — one hosted by Fox News Sept. 4, one hosted by ABC News Sept. 10, and one hosted by NBC News Sept. 25.
After the Democratic campaign passed up the Fox debate, Trump took part in a town hall in Harrisburg, Pa. alongside primetime host Sean Hannity.
“She was a no-show at the Fox Debate, and refused to do NBC & CBS,” Trump wrote of Harris on Truth Social. “KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
While Trump may be done with debates, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, is set to square off with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Oct. 1 at a showdown hosted by CBS News.
Trump told The Post he had three words of advice for his running mate — “just be yourself” — before predicting the “Hillbilly Elegy” author would be “fantastic.”
https://nypost.com/2024/09/12/us-news/trump-tells-the-post-why-he-wont-debate-harris-again-just-dont-think-that-theres-any-need-for-it/