Bye, Betsy’: Educators Celebrate the End of the DeVos Era

Stakeholders in the education community celebrated Joe Biden’s victory because it means the end of the troubled tenure of Betsy DeVos.

AFTER THE 2020 presidential election was called for Joe Biden on Saturday, the country’s educators released a collective sigh of relief knowing that, at long last, the days were numbered for the woman they consider Public (School) Enemy No. 1: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The national teachers unions, their city and state affiliates, school superintendents, principals, educators and parents took to social media to throw DeVos an early retirement party, posting photos and videos of themselves popping bottles of champagne with tears in their eyes, retweeting GIFs and memes of doors being slammed shut, of actors performing trite “buh-byes” and of photoshopped pictures of DeVos as Cruella de Vil and other Disney movie villains. 

The Chicago Teachers Union lit up Twitter with two words: “Bye Betsy.” Continue reading.

As Trump stews over election, he mostly ignores the public duties of the presidency

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On Thursday, six American service members were killed in a helicopter crash during a peacekeeping mission in Egypt. Tropical Storm Eta made landfall in North Florida, contributing to severe flooding. The number of Americans infected with the novel coronaviruscontinued at a record-setting pace, sending the stock market tumbling.

At the White House, President Trump spent the day as he has most others this week — sequestered from public view, tweeting grievances, falsehoods and misinformation about the election results and about Fox News’s coverage of him.

Neither he nor his aides briefed reporters on the news of the day or reacted to Democratic leaders who accused Republicans of imperiling the pandemic response by “refusing to accept reality” over the election results. Continue reading.

Trump Floats Improbable Survival Scenarios as He Ponders His Future

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There is no grand strategy. President Trump is simply trying to survive from one news cycle to the next.

At a meeting on Wednesday at the White House, President Trump had something he wanted to discuss with his advisers, many of whom have told him his chances of succeeding at changing the results of the 2020 election are thin as a reed.

He then proceeded to press them on whether Republican legislatures could pick pro-Trump electors in a handful of key states and deliver him the electoral votes he needs to change the math and give him a second term, according to people briefed on the discussion.

It was not a detailed conversation, or really a serious one, the people briefed on it said. Nor was it reflective of any obsessive desire of Mr. Trump’s to remain in the White House. Continue reading.

Karl Rove gives Trump the bitter truth: You ‘certainly’ lost

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President Donald Trump is still refusing to concede to President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, and many of his sycophants have been joining him in making baseless claims that the election was stolen from him because of rampant voter fraud — never mind the fact that the New York Times contacted election officials in all 50 states and found no evidence of the type of widespread fraud that Trump is alleging. But veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove gives Trump and his supporters a dose of reality in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on November 11, stressing that Biden will become president whether Trump’s allies like it or not.

Rove notes that although the 2020 election was not the across-the-board blue tsunami that some pundits were predicting, one major Democratic victory was undeniable: Biden won.

He tried to couch the point in a an argument about Democrats underperforming, but the message was clear. Continue reading.

Department of Homeland Security calls election “the most secure in American history”

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A top committee made up of officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and its election partners refuted President Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud and irregularities in a statement Thursday, calling the election “the most secure in American history.”

The big picture: Trump has refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden and is pursuing lawsuits in a number of states with baseless claims of voter fraud. The public statement from the president’s own Department of Homeland Security undermines his narrative and is sure to infuriate him.

What they’re saying: “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised,” members of the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee said in a statement. Continue reading.

Trump retreats from public eye in post-election fight

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President Trump has gone a full week without making any public comments beyond his Twitter feed, a rare instance of extended absence as he refuses to concede the election.

Trump waited four days to make his first official appearance after Saturday’s projection that Joe Biden was the winner of the presidential race. He spent about 10 minutes attending a Veterans Day observance ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday.

The president has not made remarks on camera since Nov. 5, when he declared without evidence that the election was being stolen from him at a hastily scheduled press conference in the White House briefing room. He did not take questions, and has not fielded any from reporters or news hosts since a trip to his campaign headquarters on Election Day. Continue reading.

All Minnesotans ages 18-35 should get tested for COVID-19, health officials say

Are you a Minnesotan between the ages of 18 and 35? If so, Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has a message for you: Please get tested for COVID-19.

With new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths skyrocketing, Gov. Tim Walz rolled out new measures this week to reduce the spread of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that are specifically aimed at younger adults. Health officials say the virus is being disproportionately spread by 18- to 35-year-olds, many of whom may be asymptomatic and unaware they are infected and contagious. So they are encouraging all Minnesotans in that age group to get tested as soon as possible.

“If you’re young and asymptomatic, you can spread it to others,” said MDH assistant commissioner Dan Huff. “If you’re coming home from college or coming home for the holidays for Thanksgiving, get tested before you come home. Everyone should get tested before they come home to visit relatives.” Continue reading.

Wearing a mask isn’t just about protecting other people, the CDC says. It can help you — and might prevent lockdowns.

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NOTE: This article is provided free of charge for all to read by The Washington Post.

As part of a push for stronger messaging, the agency acknowledged masks work both as ‘source control and personal protection’

When the White House coronavirus task force first recommended mask-wearing April 3, officials emphasized that this was not about you. It was about others. Your mom, dad, other family members. Friends. The older woman who always smiles at you at the grocery store, the immunocompromised dad coaching your kid’s basketball team.

Now, a growing body of science suggests that by wearing a mask to prevent spreading the virus, you may be protecting yourself, too. It is further evidence that knowledge about masks, and their benefits, continues to evolve — much as does understanding of the pandemic more broadly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said for the first time, writing in a scientific bulletin posted to its website this week that “the benefit of masking is derived from the combination of source control and personal protection for the mask wearer.” Masks are neither completely selfless nor selfish — they help everyone. Continue reading.

New Yorkers knew Donald Trump first – and they spurned him before many American voters did

Donald J. Trump was a president from, but not of, New York.

In the final months of his presidency, Trump attacked New York as a lawless “ghost town,” and got attacked right back. At least 73% of New Yorkers citywide voted against their hometown candidate in election 2020, with absentee ballots still being counted. In Manhattan, where Trump lived before becoming president, every single voting district went for Joe Biden.

When Trump was elected in 2016, it was his first serious venture into electoral politics. In the half-century before his election, the then 70-year-old Trump had been a real estate developer, serial entrepreneur and reality television star. Continue reading.

Is President Trump directing the GSA to decline to call Joe Biden the president-elect? They won’t say

Agency misses deadline for giving a response to Congress

The General Services Administration has missed a deadline to say whether the decision to not recognize President-elect Joe Biden is at the personal direction of outgoing President Donald Trump.

Three House Democrats wrote to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy on Monday questioning why the agency has not issued an ascertainment that Biden is in fact the president-elect.

Among the questions from Democratic Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. of New Jersey, Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia and Dina Titus of Nevada were about specific interactions between GSA and White House personnel, up to and including the president himself. Continue reading.