An agenda item on TUSD's Tuesday night board meeting asks the question, Should TUSD provide education for the children living at a federal detention facility located in the district?

The agenda item "direct(s) staff to research what authority and responsibility our district has to provide educational support to school aged children held in federal detention at the Southwest Key Program Facility."

The building is located at 1601 N. Oracle Road between Grant and Speedway. The children are school aged. School districts are required to educate children within their boundaries without regard to their immigration status. Though staff say they are educating the students, the facility isn't affiliated with an educational institution, and staff members have been vague about what the "education" entails.

Does TUSD have the responsibility to seek out children in its district? Probably not. But these children have no parents or guardians to enroll them in school, and the Feds aren't interested in making a connection with a local educational institution. That makes this situation unique.

By raising the question, TUSD is spotlighting yet another issue which arises when children are detained by the federal government for an extended period. Some of them were separated from their parents by the Trump administration against the parents' wills. Others arrived in the U.S. unaccompanied. As children, all of them deserve the most comprehensive care and attention we can give them.

If you want more information, Hank Stephenson wrote a detailed article about the TUSD agenda item in the Friday Star. The Weekly's Danyelle Khmara wrote about a visit to the Southwest Key facility by 16 state legislators to the facility in the last issue. 

Dr. Word makes one of his rare appearances on The Range to express his mystification at the tenacity with which certain words stick to certain subjects in the journalistic world, often words inadequate to the task of reporting a story accurately. Such is true of the use of the word "meddling" when referring to Russian actions during the 2016 election.

The Russian government made a sustained, systematic attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election using a multi-pronged approach to swaying voters. A significant majority of the populace, including a sizable number of Republicans, acknowledge Russia's actions, though whether the foreign power's attempts were successful at changing the outcome of the election is a matter of some debate. (The Doctor is of the opinion that the Russians' success is no more debatable than the existence of climate change, or gravity.) What we witnessed in 2016 was a clear example of cyber warfare mounted with hostile intent by a state whose interests, more often or not, are antithetical to those of the United States. To say using the term "meddling" to describe these intrusions is an understatement is, at the risk of sounding redundant, an understatement.

"Meddling" most often refers to a minor offense, such as when a busybody interferes in matters which are not said busybody's concern. A "meddle" often begins with a phrase such as, "If you ask me . . ." in situations where, in point of fact, no one asked. When someone offers advice or performs actions which are neither requested nor appreciated, that qualifies as meddling.

"Interference" is a better term than meddling to describe the level of disruption the Russians created in our 2016 elections, but it is still too neutral. "Attack" is a significantly better term. "Warfare," "Information warfare" or "Cyber warfare," are more accurate still. They capture the nature of the attack.

And yet, when journalists and analysts refer to the Russian attacks in print and audiovisual media, the phrase most often employed is "Russian meddling." One has to wonder two things. First, who initiated the use of "meddling," and why? Second, why have Democrats acquiesced to employing such a weak term when "attack" or "warfare" are more potent and therefore more potentially damaging to Republicans who benefitted from the attack?

.@teambarbara's website says Congress should "abolish ICE and start fresh, building a new immigration enforcement system that is fair, just, compassionate and reflects the values of a nation of immigrants."

She was accidentally booked for a Fox News interview this morning: pic.twitter.com/WFT0JDu88b

— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) July 23, 2018

The Daily Beast reports that this morning, Fox & Friends got bamboozled by a candidate claiming to be Democratic Ann Kirkpatrick, who is running in Arizona's Congressional District 2:

The show began the segment by playing video from last week’s Democratic primary debate for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, in which candidate Ann Kirkpatrick was booed for being the sole participant to offer unqualified support for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE).

Fox host Jillian Mele then wound up for some slow-pitch softball: “And joining us now, that candidate. The only Democrat on stage to support ICE. Ann Kirkpatrick, thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. Tell us why you do support ICE.”

“Good morning. I’m actually here to speak directly to Donald Trump,” the woman began, appearing via satellite. “I feel that what’s happening at the border is wrong. I’m a mother of four and I believe that separating kids from their parents is illegal and inhumane.”

And without pausing, she revealed herself: “I’m actually Barbara L’Italien. I’m a state senator representing a large immigrant community. I’m running for Congress in Massachusetts. I keep thinking about what we’re putting parents through and imagining how terrifying that must be for those families, imagining how it would feel not knowing if I’d ever see my kids again. We have to stop abducting children and ripping them from their parents’ arms, and stop putting kids in cages, and stop making 3-year-olds defend themselves in court.”

Co-host Rob Schmitt, realizing the planned message had been hijacked, attempted to interrupt L’Italien, telling her: “That practice has stopped at this point, Ms. Kirkpatrick, right?”

The real Ann Kirkpatrick, who was booed last week at a forum for her response regarding a congressional vote supporting ICE, sent out a press release stating her own position on ICE:

This didn't happen. Repeat: This did not happen. But what if...

A 72 year old black man living in Miami Beach was about to be evicted from his condo. He was arrested in the act of trying to burn the building down. He had already dumped gasoline down a trash chute. He was caught in the parking garage with two gasoline containers and had 28 more in a storage unit. He said his goal was to "kill the white people" in the building. In his apartment, he had speeches by Louis Farrakhan, black nationalist and leader of the Nation of Islam, and posters from the Black Panther movement of the 1960s.

As I said, it didn't happen. We know that, because if it did, Fox News would have grabbed hold of the story and run it on a loop for days, complete with mug shots, scare graphics, ominous old photos of Black Panthers and archived statements from leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Tweeter In Chief would have been on it as fast as his thumbs could carry him. Newspapers would have picked it up soon after. On CNN and MSNBC, serious talking heads would try to decide if it should be called an potential act of terrorism, mass murder or mental illness. "Was this a random act or part of a larger social phenomenon?" the earnest heads around the table would ask each other.

But here's the thing. Most of the events I described actually did happen. The 72 year old man, the condo, the eviction, the plan to burn the building down, the gasoline. Those are all for real. I just changed three details.

The 72 year old man is white. He said he wanted to "kill all Jews" in the building. And police found swastikas and books about Nazi ideology in his apartment.

What could be more American than taking a good old road trip through the barren patch of earth known as U.S. Highway 93, from Wickenburg to Las Vegas.

The highway, which spans some 1,457 miles from the Dude Ranch Capital of the World to the U.S./Canada border, is the most dangerous in the country, according to ValuePenguin.com.

The stretch of asphalt and concrete has the fourth-longest wait time for Emergency Medical Services, according to the same survey (probably because there's literally no trace of civilization between Sin City and Phoenix).
Along the 200-mile stretch, the most dangerous segment is in Mohave County, Arizona—where 70 fatal crashes reportedly occurred between 2010 and 2016.

Elsewhere in the Grand Canyon State, Interstate 10 and State Road 95 (the road between Yuma and I-40) rank 12th and 33rd overall for their dangerous conditions, according to the report.

For more information on which Arizona highways might kill you, check out ValuePenguin's full list here. 

Sen. @JeffFlake: "Well, we saw earlier this week in Helsinki what was a truly an Orwellian moment."

Full video here: https://t.co/Jk5rOpnh1i pic.twitter.com/lCD0WmTw3I

— CSPAN (@cspan) July 19, 2018

Talking Points Memo notes Sen. Jeff Flake's criticism of President Donald Trump today on the Senate floor as he unsuccessfully tried to get his fellow Republicans to sign onto a resolution in support of law enforcement agencies:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) dramatically called President Donald Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin “Orwellian” on Thursday, in an effort to pass a non-binding Senate resolution that’s little more than a pat on the back for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and which was ultimately blocked.

“We saw earlier this week in Helsinki what was truly an Orwellian moment,” he said from the Senate floor. “What we saw earlier this week in Helsinki is what happens when you wage war on objective reality for nearly two solid years, calling real things fake and fake things real, as if conditioning others to embrace the same confusion.”

After congratulating the Justice Department and intelligence community for their work, the three-page resolution “calls upon relevant committees of the Senate to exercise congressional oversight, including prompt hearings and the release of relevant notes and information” on Trump and Putin’s Helsinki meeting, and “calls for the immediate and full implementation of mandatory sanctions provided for in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act,” which Trump signed into law after overwhelming congressional support last year. (Read the full resolution below.)

“Ultimately,” Flake continued, “you’re rendered unable to tell the difference between the two and are at critical times seemingly rendered incapable of thinking clearly, your mind a hash of conspiracy theory and fragments of old talking points deployed in response to a question no one even asked. Ultimately you fail to summon reality in the face of a despot in defense of your country.”

He added later: “When the American government offers an onslaught on unreality, it puts the whole world at risk. That is the lesson of Helsinki. That is the dose of reality that hit hard. We have indulged myths and fabrications, pretended that it wasn’t so bad and our indulgence got us the capitulation in Helsinki.”

Note: This is my own personal pick, not an endorsement from the Tucson Weekly.

A month ago, my position on the gubernatorial campaign boiled down to a simple slogan: "Democrat For Governor." Whichever Democrat could beat Ducey, that's who I wanted to run in the general. The differences between the three candidates, Steve Farley, Kelly Fryer and David Garcia, are minor compared to the Grand Canyon-sized chasm separating them from the current governor. Ducey has to go. I wanted to back the winner. It was that simple.

I've been watching to see if one of the candidates stumbled on the primary campaign trail. Anyone who was caught flat footed and started hemming, hawing and back-pedaling during the primary would run into serious trouble when they were hit by the tsunami of money and negative campaigning in the general. I haven't seen any serious stumbles from any of them. Democrats have three smart candidates who understand the issues facing Arizona and have remained consistent in their messaging.

Unfortunately, Kelly Fryer isn't a viable candidate, mainly because she's a newcomer. Ramping up from zero to governor in one campaign is nearly impossible, especially when the other candidates already have political identities. I hope to see more of Fryer in the future. She's a leader with a strong voice and relevant experience.

Both Garcia and Farley have a good shot at beating Ducey in November, especially given today's unpredictable political climate at the state and national levels, and both have the makings of a good governor. I pick David Garcia as the stronger of the two.

David Garcia is a much improved candidate from when he ran for Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2014. Four years ago, he was new to the campaign trail and hadn't found his footing. This time, he's far stronger. He looks comfortable in his own skin and sounds confident in his message. He exudes a positive energy, enjoying himself at the same time he's deeply serious about what he's doing. That makes him an attractive candidate.

Another Fourth Avenue bummer: Ordinary Bike Shop, a regular contender in Best of Tucson™, is shuttering its doors. From the bike store's Facebook page:

I want to thank the Tucson community for the opportunity to serve your bicycle needs over the past 24 years. I am beyond grateful to personally have served the downtown/4th Ave area for more than a decade, and will cherish the experiences and relationships made along the way.

It is my duty, with a heavy heart, to announce Ordinary Bike Shop will be closing its physical retail location next week, and will lock the doors at 6pm on Thursday, July 26, 2018.

Until then, my staff and I will still be happy to repair your bike, answer any questions, give bike advice, and will have discounts on all remaining inventory until our last day. Feel free to come by during business hours, or shoot an email to [email protected].

Sincerely,
David and the OBS Crew

*Deposits and gift cards will be eligible for refund (excluding any promotional cards, raffle prizes, etc).

*Any special orders will be cancelled, unless previously arranged.

*Any repairs left past 7/26/18 will be held for 10 days.

*ALL SALES FINAL.

A story on the front page of the Star.

AP Exclusive: Billionaires fuel US charter schools movement

Be still my heart!

Last week I wrote a post about the amount of money the Walton Family Foundation — the Walmart fortune — has poured into charter schools, with a promise of a billion dollars total between 2015 and 2020. The AP story looked beyond the Walton Foundation. It began with a Bill Gates connection I didn't know about. Washington state is one of the last states to resist the charter school movement. Gates put millions into creating a charter school law, then funded the Washington State Charter Schools Association. When the courts ruled the law unconstitutional, Gates spent more money to keep six charters open while they fight to reinstate the law.

Along with charter supporters like Gates and the Waltons, the article mentions the Dell computer family and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. The Billionaire Boys Club stretches much farther than that. A recent example. In the California gubernatorial primary, Netflix founder Reed Hastings plowed $7 million into the candidacy of ex-Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a big charter school supporter. He did it under the cover of a group named Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018, which put more than $13 million into the campaign, almost all of it from a few rich donors. Villaraigosa lost in spite of the funding.

In my earlier post, I wrote that the charter presence in Arizona and around the country would be much smaller if it weren't for the billions of private dollars spent on their behalf. Sometimes it's spent openly, but often it's done by stealth. A favorite method is the use of dozens of pro-charter astroturf groups, supposedly grassroots organizations, with impressive websites and an office address. Often they claim to represent specific groups, like African Americans or Hispanics, to give the impression of a groundswell of support. The actual organization can be a small office with one employee or even a post office box. But in advertising and public relations, perception is everything.

Politico looks at how Democrats once again hope that they will win some statewide races in Arizona:

A new POLITICO/AARP poll shows Democrats ahead by 7 points in generic ballots in both the governor’s and Senate races. But to actually win statewide elections in this highly ethnically polarized state, Democrats will need to juice turnout among younger and especially older Latinos, who have tended to vote at lower rates than other voters in their age group — who also are trending ever more Republican. And not just in purplish Arizona: All across the U.S. Southwest, Latino voters could be the key to flipping Republican strongholds from red to blue, if only the Democratic Party can figure out how to get enough of them to the polls. Solve that mystery, and even a GOP-dominated state like Texas could suddenly be in play.

As Politico notes, it's hardly the first time Democrats have gotten their hopes up. Still, they are hoping that this time, Trump's presence really will get out the Democratic—and Latino—vote: